BruceDPrice recently ranted;
Do American Students Know Anything?? In response I found an in-depth, twenty-year study which follows students out of the classroom and into their adult life. A student's success in life is tracked against teacher quality over the period of time.
The New York Times just published an article about a study that tracks 2.5 million students over 20 years. The tracking element of the study: "did this student have an especially helpful teacher(s)". Such teachers are called "Value Added Teachers" they are recognized by the study when a student's test scores rise significantly.
RantRave Many of us had one or more teachers more helpful than other teachers. But today the educational system tends toward "dependable" teachers who can "keep control" of their classrooms. This study is one of the few of its kind with enough depth to tell a story we all want to know; i.e. do really good teachers make a real difference.
THE LONG-TERM IMPACTS OF TEACHERS says such teachers make a real big difference. It specifies how in several ways, including the income a former student makes as an adult.
I was happy to read this study. Schools have put a lot of attention on their control of students, and on other things that qualify a school for federal and state money. Happy, successful students are a criteria, but have become less important when schools apply for assistance. Somehow these main parameters have been lost in the money race. This study defines teachers who make a real positive difference as Value Added (VA) teachers. One of the study's conclusions is:
Teachers' impacts on students are substantial. Replacing a teacher whose true VA is in the bottom 5% with a teacher of average quality would generate lifetime earnings gains worth more than $250,000 for the average classroom.