Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The Career Path for Ambitious Teachers

Just stating the obvious on top of 5 Reasons Mr. Vilson Isn’t Becoming An Administrator … Yet -- this idea in reformy circles that there is no career path for ambitious teachers has always been silly. There is and always will be a chronic lack of competent administrators, and it isn't like once you become a principal you never see another student. This is another one of those "you are at a different stadium than where the game is happening" reform talking points.

2 comments:

doyle said...

Dear Tom,

One quibble--as much as I detest the term "educator" here is a good place to use it.

An ambitious teacher fights like a cornered wolverine to stay in the classroom. I'll leave the other jobs to the educators.

Jose Vilson said...

Thank you for this. You did make me think of one thing: there's so much more than administration that teachers can do, as evidenced by the proliferation of our writing. We can do so much more, and yet it's always about admin. And a good principal does see a fair amount of their kids, but it's still a move away from getting to know the group of kids intimately.

Ed-reformers never have to deal with the kids they're supposed to be serving.