The biggest challenge in education starts and ends with teachers. We’ve heard this before – the teachers unions are protecting bad teachers, the education programs aren’t tough enough, teachers are lazy – but that’s not what I mean. I believe the problem is that our system does not do enough to learn from the great teachers. There are great teachers out there – they are passionate, committed, smart, keen decision makers, and they focus their data-driven work around what students need. But unfortunately, those teachers are treated in the same way as unmotivated teachers. They are given lesson plans they are forced to follow and they are not given opportunities to make decisions about their own class. In the worst cases, those good teachers are thoroughly ignored, never observed or provided feedback. This process does not allow for strong teachers to grow and be change makers in their community. 

Through policy changes and an enhanced focus on data collection, I feel it has been forgotten that the classroom teachers are the ones that know their students and the curriculum the best. They know the standards and the expectations; they understand how to collect and analyze data. Yet, they still are not given decision making power. In some instances, administrators go so far as to reprimand these good teachers from skewing off the scripted plans to meet students' needs in the moment.

It is inevitable that great teachers will become increasingly frustrated by this process. It is only some time before teachers begin to consider what role they could move into that may yield them some decision-making powers. Unfortunately, when those great teachers look to “grow”, they are forced into roles away from working with kids. They may become literacy or math coaches or move into administration. Those positions take great teachers away from face time with students, as they require a more significant amount of administrative work, such as writing plans, completing assessments or analyzing data. Despite the movement away from the kids, those people then are given decision-making power in their new roles. Realistically, the only thing that has changed about that person is the movement away from kids! There is a fundamental issue with this reality and will ultimately continue to lead to great teachers being pushed out of the profession. 

It will take a significant amount of shift in the way teachers are evaluated and in the way that policies are created in order to generate change. First, teachers should be evaluated more frequently. Classrooms should have open doors where administrators and colleagues are welcomed in to provide feedback and support. This process would allow for administrators to be more proactive when a teacher begins to struggle with instruction. Open dialogue between active classroom teachers and curriculum writers should be a prerequisite for developing new programs. Classroom teachers can provide insight that policy makers may not even think to ask about! Education consultants should consider ways to be “on the floor” and in schools as much as possible. 

In order for any of this to happen, however, we as a society need to find ways to remedy this general lack of trust in all teachers. Just like we do for our students, we should consider how we can presume positive intentions and push others to grow and succeed.