January 16th, 2012
05:46 PM ET
Study: Teachers affect student salaries, college, teen pregnancy
Randi Weingarten and Justin Snider discuss a controversial study that uses standardized test data to measure teacher effectiveness. Christine Romans moderates.
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Randi Weingarten is correct we need to change the current educational climate in the US. Society needs to respect teachers & grant more funding. This will allow for larger salaries that the qualified professionals are searching for.
I studied in college as a science major and many groups & organizations tried to recruit me and my peers for teaching professions but no one was interested early on (because in the end its not a good investment). Only those people that failed at their chosen profession started to look at teaching as a viable career (explaining why its so hard to get quality teachers in the science and math fields).
If you read the study, you will find that the increase in earnings in really only $250/year. The increase in college rate is only 1%. What does this mean? It means that standardized tests are a lousy measure of later success.
It's awfully easy to say we should fire bad teachers, but like the lady said, firing would be nonstop for 1st-year teachers, because they are generally all awful. If they still suck after a couple years, firing them is a fine plan. This solution is awfully inefficient, though. If teacher salaries were higher... say 45K instead of starting at 34K, for example (using lee county florida as an example), more capable candidates would become teachers. Up the starting salary or increase the frequency of guaranteed raises, and schools might snag some real intellectuals and talented teachers.