Thursday, August 02, 2012

It is Always Year Zero in School Reform

John Thompson:

The TNTP concludes that, "Focusing on smart retention can help schools quickly and dramatically improve the quality of teaching they provide to their students, which is the key to boosting student learning." And even better, one dose of "smart retention" would be enough to permanently transform underperforming schools because, "As uncomfortable as it might be to dismiss or counsel out a large number of experienced low performers, it’s something that districts should only have to do once on a large scale if coupled with more rigorous standards for hiring and tenure."

The New Teacher Project might want to reflect on the fact that they designed and lead the hiring practices used in Providence three years ago to start two schools from scratch. Both those schools are already considered by their partners at RIDE as being in need of intervention. So maybe it isn't a "do it once" situation after all.

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