Who's Teaching Your Children? : Why the Teacher Crisis Is Worse Than You Think and What Can Be Done about It

by Vivian Troen and Katherine C. Boles

• ISBN13: 9780300105209
• ISBN10: 0300105207
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2004-07-11
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

The shortage of qualified teachers in our nation's classrooms is critical, and it is getting worse. This thought-provoking book reveals the reasons for the crisis and offers concrete, affordable solutions. "A practical vision of how our children can get the high-quality teaching they deserve--a vision worth pondering and even implementing."--Ted Fiske, former Education Editor of the "New York Times and coauthor of "When Schools Compete: A Cautionary Tale "This book should be read not just by teachers and teacher educators but also by parents, citizens, and policy makers--by all those who need to speak out for children."--Deborah Meier, "Educational Leadership

Author Biography

Vivian Troen and Katherine C. Boles cofounded the Learning/Teaching Collaborative, one of the country's first professional development schools, and Trilemma Solutions, an educational consultancy. Boles is currently a lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Troen is implementing professional development school initiatives at Brandeis University.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Seymour B. Sarason	xi
Acknowledgments	xv
Prologue	1	(4)
Introduction	5	(8)
1 Your Children Aren't Getting the Teachers They Deserve	13	(12)
The Big Questions,	14	(2)
The Big Picture,	16	(9)
2 How Teaching Got to Be This Way	25	(12)
The American Teacher,	25	(7)
Who Chooses to Become a Teacher?	32	(5)
3 Teacher Training: How Bad Is It?	37	(22)
Into the Leaky Pipeline,	37	(1)
Teachers Receive Poor Preparation,	38	(8)
Certification Requirements Are Nearly Irrelevant,	46	(6)
Most 'Professional Development" Is Weak and Ineffective,	52	(7)
4 Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Teachers	59	(30)
Take This Job,	60	(7)
Teaching Is an Isolated, Dead End Job with No Career Path,	67	(10)
Teachers Are Kept at the Bottom of the Power Structure,	77	(4)
Ineffective Leadership Compounds Poor Performance,	81	(8)
5 Band-Aids and Boondoggles: The Myths and Realities of "Educational Reform"	89	(52)
More Testing,	92	(7)
Smaller Classes,	99	(4)
School Vouchers,	103	(4)
Charter Schools,	107	(6)
Schools for Profit,	113	(2)
Incentives for Teacher Recruitment and Retention,	115	(4)
Paying Teachers for Student Performance,	119	(2)
Teacher-Proof Curriculum,	121	(3)
More Homework,	124	(5)
Homeschooling,	129	(2)
Blaming the Unions,	131	(10)
6 The Millennium School: A Total Approach to Solving the Fundamental Problems of Elementary School Education	141	(46)
A New Model for a New Era,	141	(1)
In a Nutshell,	142	(1)
First, Give Teachers a Real Career,	143	(4)
Second, Make Teaching a Real Profession,	147	(8)
Third, Improve Educational Leadership and School Management,	155	(7)
A Day in the Life of a Typical Millennium School,	162	(12)
How Much Will It Cost?	174	(9)
What Can We Do Now?	183	(4)
Epilogue: E Pluribus Unum	187	(2)
Notes	189	(16)
Bibliography	205	(6)
Index	211