Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Too Many Teachers

For many on the Right, the key to "fixing" the current "crisis" in education is firing teachers and shredding their unions because it's too hard to fire underperforming teachers.  It's worthwhile to considered that one reason there aren't more fired teachers is the extremely high attrition rate in the early years of public educators' careers with, by some measures, less effective teachers leaving in greater numbers.  It is also the case that there is an oversupply of teachers so that the whole process of getting a job is extremely competitive.

Consequently it's not really surprising that those who do make it past five years are good enough to stick around for a whole career.

Relatedly, if you are incompetent to comment on pedagogy, you are incompetent to comment on teaching reform.

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