I am not a natural storyteller. Often, when I tell my husband about something that has happened at school, he will nod expectantly and say, slightly impatiently, “And...?” to hurry me to the point because he knows it might take a while. I’m tangential.

And that is one reason I believe that writing is a good thing in my life. It allows me to rant, cry, pout, veer off into vectors, and spiral back to what is essential. Revision (i.e. chopping down ideas and putting them in an order that makes sense to someone) is a good thing. In my (wonderful) graduate program, I took a class called “Rewriting a Life” by the wise and lovely Tilly Warnock. The premise of the class was that the act of writing out our lives reshapes them, and makes meaning from our memories. One of our texts was You Must Revise Your Life by poet William Stafford, from which I stole the title of this entry. It helps my stories make more sense to my husband if I go through a bit of a selective process before I tell them.

I remember in my teacher ed classes way back in the early ‘90’s, we were advised to keep a reflective journal. It was a great suggestion. But it is quite a commitment to say you will write each day about your teaching. Hats off to those who manage it. I mean, really. Hats off. It is a courageous act, much like videotaping oneself, to keep a teaching diary. I think if I did that I would never re-read it. It’s too terrible to see who we were yesterday. But, for me, it is incredibly helpful to take stock of who I am today.

I have greatly enjoyed keeping both a personal blog (which often veers toward professional issues) and also contributing here. I think it is good policy for teachers to be writers, and here’s why:

A. Personal and professional development. Much like practicing any art form, writing will shape you and your identity.

B. Learning real writing processes. Writing helps us relate to the writing processes our students go through and become better teachers of writing (which most of us, ultimately, are at some point). (For more thoughts on this, see a speech I delivered about the National Board writing process.)

C. Entering the conversation. If you blog your reflections, and read other ed blogs, you will soon find other voices who enrich your professional life. Also, having readers is nice.

D. Creating a diverse chorus of teacher voices which will at some point take out the Death Star (however you define the Death Star). Many policy makers still have a dim idea of what life in the classroom is like. Ideologies drive much of the public conversation. Ideas can be argued, but it is hard to argue with your experiences. The stories of teachers and students are the reality of education today.

Take some time this summer to jot your thoughts. Join the conversation. Have a great summer!

 

 

 

Recently a friend of mine posted a link on Facebook to a political radio program in which the reporter was revealing the “danger” of Common Core.  Having implemented the Common Cores standards in my classroom this past year, I was intrigued by the comments below her video link.  Moms were asking how to monitor their children’s exposure to Common Core standards in the classroom.  I was curious, whatever do they mean?  My curriculum was explicitly aligned to Common Core standards, and I felt no moral qualms over my pedagogical decisions.  So I watched the link.  Here are the key quotes I listed from this radio program:

1. “Common Core is dumbing down America’s students.”
2. “Common Core encourages Communism.”
3. “Common Core’s New Math lessons are awful.”
4. “Elementary Literacy Curriculum is 70% Classics and 30% Manuals.” 
5. “Common Core is making our kids into slaves.”

Upon hearing this, I was definitely torn between 3 responses: throw up, laugh hysterically, or have a heart attack.  I replied to this post, providing my feedback as a seasoned teacher.  But what would I know?  The media must be the expert in education.

While visiting with friends at a dinner party a few weeks ago, the Sandy Hook school massacre was brought up.  People were passionately debating the issue of arming teachers in the classroom. They discussed how legislation  was introduced in about two dozen states, allowing school personnel to carry guns.  South Dakota has become the first state in the nation to ratify a law allowing school employees to carry guns on the job.  A few people asked my opinion about having a gun in my classroom.  I answered with, “As a first grade teacher who sits on the floor a lot, I would be concerned with accidentally shooting myself.”  That was debated with the idea of having the gun in a safe.  I answered back, "When would I have time to pull out a gun from a safe when someone is ready to shoot me?"  But what would I know?  The legislators must be the experts in education.

Arizona finally completed our week of statewide standardized assessments, otherwise known as the AIMS.  Teachers and administrators were nervous wrecks.  I helped administer the AIMS in several different classrooms this year, and there were 3 kinds of looks on the students’ faces: frustration, indifference, or excitement.  (Unfortunately I only saw one really excited student.)  Our school will receive its “grade” by the summer, and teachers will be contacted with a “grade,” based on the performance of their students on the AIMS.  The Department of Education and our school districts apply our students’ performance on standardized assessments to determine the teachers’ proficiency as educators.  This impacts our evaluations, which in turn affects our salaries.  Yet teachers have consistently communicated for over a decade the pitfalls of standardized assessments.  Teachers have provided administrators with alternative methods of assessment.  Have they been implemented??  Obviously the Department of Educations must be the expert in education.

What’s my point?  Is it to defend Common Core standards, propose school safety measures, or rebel against standardized assessment?  Not today.  I usually do.  But I am tired.  I’ve taught for 15 years in two different states.  I received my National Board Teaching Certification and attended countless professional development sessions, curriculum seminars, and teacher conferences.  I actively read the latest pedagogical articles and books to further myself as a lifelong teacher/ learner.  But am I viewed as an expert?  Unfortunately no.  The nation seems to want to appoint the media, legislators, and state administrators as the experts in education.  The next time you want to believe the “experts in education,” ask yourself, how often are they in the classroom? What makes them the experts?  Who is tuned in to the needs and wants of children?  Maybe it’s time to listen to the teachers.  We do have the answers.

This weekend I was home alone. This was it, my chance to settle in with my National Board renewal process and knock it out. My goal was to revise component one on Friday night, then write component two and three on Saturday, reflection on Sunday. I had my videos ready to watch. I could find the 6 and 10-minute clips I needed.

Well Friday came and went. I caught up on golf, watched ESPN all night. Humph. Okay, I just needed a day to chill out, right? On Saturday, I went for an early run, went to breakfast with a friend, and avoided anything to do with National Board renewal all day. I washed the floor, did laundry, diced carrots, and dusted the blinds. I even ironed! I hate ironing. Okay I still had Sunday. I got up early, went for a run, brewed some coffee, and pulled my National Board standards out of my bag. This was a good sign, right? I found documentation to support my four professional growth experiences. I even watched my videos and logged times that I could use and then it happened.

I started to make excuses why I couldn’t complete the process this year. I am too busy. Next week is AIMS testing and I won’t have any time. I have to focus on teacher evaluations and end of year procedures. I won’t have time to re-videotape the first grade class I am borrowing. If I defer I can really spent time over the summer writing and articulating what I need top for each component. I will be too busy scoring Master Teacher applications. If I defer I can pilot the Standards Continuum Guide with my teachers, I am a first year principal, what was I thinking? The list went on and on. I had myself convinced that I would defer until next year. I even told my husband when he called. Told my mom, too. I said it out loud and I believed it.

I even told teachers at school on Monday. Then I went to a certificate renewal meeting and met with friends and colleagues who are also going through the renewal process. Sitting there and listening, thinking and reflecting, I realized if I had another year I wouldn’t do anything differently. So a huge THANK YOU to Arizona’s renewal candidates and the Arizona K12 Center for supporting me and giving me a nudge when I needed it the most.

Driving home, I realized I can do this renewal and I will do this renewal. My goal is to upload and submit on April 30 – Counting today that leaves 14 days. Game On!

What if school systems were responsive enough to keep up with the pace of technology?

When it comes to my ability to integrate an online learning experience for my students into my courses, I don’t think my saga of frustrations and dead-ends is unique.  I have some good ideas (toward the end), but please indulge me in a bit of the saga first.

I have many goals for my teacher website(s):

• Ongoing communication with students and families.
• Making class handouts and notes available online.
• Building a learning community among my students:  online discussions, responses to each others’ work, using each others’ work as models, helping students to create digital products (podcasts, videos, blogs, etc.)
• Developing a sense of audience for students; showcasing their finished work for each other or publicly.
• Curating a resource for assessment and reflection. A whole collection of student work is  easily available for me to peruse.       

As you can see, at least for me, it is not enough to simply have my name and contact information posted on a school site. Nor is it enough to have a static, Web 1.0 web presence with my students.  We need a site that is responsive, collaborative, and interactive, and that allows students to consume, create and reflect on digital media.

Some districts may provide a platform for this kind of online classroom in every class; mine doesn’t.  We have technology, but it is not nimble enough to meet the demands I’ve listed above, goals which are perfectly reasonable and authentic given the digital environments in which many of our students work and play by choice, and given the world of academic and professional work they will be entering.  

I need to tell my story here, but I’m desperately afraid it will be long, rambling, full of frustrations you won’t want to re-live along with me.  Perhaps I can tell that story with a flowchart.  

 

Click here to view a flowchart of my experience developing an online learning environment.  I actually left out several steps.

Or click this link. 

Of course, now that I have learned Wikispaces and fully integrated it into my class, I am learning about others on campus who use Edmodo and other sites that have a much prettier interface, integrate Google Drive better, etc.  Unfortunately, I’ve already invested so much time in my clunky little wiki world that it’s too late.  I simply can’t shift my classroom community partway through the year.

So, finally, my proposal, my “What If?”

What if districts innovated ways to be responsive to teachers’ needs to use up-to-date web tools as part of their classroom communities?  We are not in a world in which districts can afford to have technology plans take multiple years to be implemented; teachers need the ability to use new tools judiciously as they see fit.  By the time those plans are implemented and teachers are trained, the tech has evolved beyond the original conception.

Here are some components of what I think such a nimble technology plan might include:

• Mini-grants to teachers of $200-$1000 for web-based technology needs.  Short form grant applications similar to the proces for applying for a field trip. Teachers could use these grants as needed to subscribe to podcasting sites or other web tools useful for their instructional goals.
• Tech support that includes teacher-leaders whose job is to assist classroom teachers in discovering, learning and implementing new technology tools to meet learning goals for students.
• Limited administrator access to our own laptops to load software such as printer drivers, updates to browsers, e-book software from the public library, etc.
• Ongoing training for teachers to make them aware of issues of privacy, security, ownership of digital products, copyright issues and other issues inherent in having students work online.
• Flexibility in blocking and unblocking sites for various levels of students or even specific groups of students for particular purposes.
• Development of student leadership and mentorship for tech tools.

Up-to-date hardware and software is only part of the issue, a sort of a minimal entry-level requirement for working with students in digital environments.  Teachers in classrooms have a unique vision of what we and our students need to create the digital environments that will efficiently enhance the learning in the classroom.  Empower us to make key decisions regarding how new online tools can help our students.  Students will learn these things quickly; except for those with very little exposure, they already do.  It is often schools and districts that slow them down.

 

 

Teachers rank adequate opportunities for professional development as a reason for job satisfaction. Most of us, I bet, have experienced PDs that transformed our practice forever.  As often as that, I bet, we've experienced mandatory PDs that numbed the mind, disanimated the spirit, and weakened the body. 

Much of my most valuable professional development came out of nowhere, was free, and lasted minutes - or even seconds.  All I had to do is pay attention.  

Here are some of my favorites.

Parents know best.  That student of yours who's really bright and fun and larger than life?  I have him, too.  I noticed that his grades had been falling, and his behavior was distracting other students.  He was also showing some attitude.  I ran into his mom, who was helping at the school.  She's bright and fun, too.  I expressed my concerns.  She laughed and told me another teacher had just told her the same thing.  I asked if she had any suggestions. She laughed again, and said, "You guys have to stop telling him how smart he is.  He doesn't think he has to work."  Hmmmm.  It turned out to be that easy.  A little less praise and tighter boundaries on behavior turned him around.  Thanks, Mom, you made me a better teacher.

I had to hear it first hand. A while back we had a student suffering from bipolar disorder.  In a meeting with her adopted mother we all spoke of our concerns. The mother was doing everything medical professionals and social workers recommended.  Yet the daughter was intransigent - wouldn't take her medicine because they made her gain weight.  The teachers left, and the mother stayed to talk some more with the school psychologist and social worker.  I had forgot to mention something and came back.  The mother was explaining what went on at home.  It was highly personal and I asked if I should leave, but the mom said no.

The stories that followed transported me to a place I could little imagine.  The knife and threat to carve, "My Mother's a B****" into her stomach.  The picture on the girl's phone of her in a motel with a man.  The temporary hospitalizations.  The refusals by agencies to admit the child long term. 

All my career I've heard  and comprehended that some of our kids' and parents' lives are nightmares.  But never had I heard an unfiltered first-person account of the terror of mental illness on their lives. 

What's your missing piece?  After we completed our most recent projects, I had students complete a short reflection.  The capstone question was, "What piece is missing from your puzzle?"   One learning-disabled student answered: "My missing piece is that all people do is tell me what I get wrong." I prompted, "And you want to know what you're doing right?"  "Yeah, that's all."  The next day he showed me the first part of his next project.  Ignoring some minor errors I pointed out a couple of creative points he had made.  I asked him if he needed help on the next part, "Nah, I got this."   Yeah, that's all it took.

Watch your words, you don't know who's listening (and you may end up with a lump in the throat).  Last Thursday at the end of class, two kids were getting after each other.  It got to the "He started it!" "No, he started it!"  point.  It wasn't really too bad and all I said was, "Why can't anybody ever start the peace instead of the fight?"  The bell rang and I forgot about it.  The next day a girl in the class, who hadn't been in the mini-conflict called me over.  She gave me a poster she had made, "Start the Peace, Not the Fight."  It's the picture accompanying this post. 

Yes, adequate opportunities for professional development are one reason for my job satisfaction.  I wonder what I'll learn tomorrow.

 

There is a LEE rising up from the southwest, a force to be reckoned with, marching onward with a goal in sight!

The League of Extraordinary Educators[1]  is growing in Arizona. I witnessed over 140 of them walk across a stage through a gauntlet of handshakes, a blaze of lights and to the cheers of a crowded banquet hall. The 140+ strong were new National Board Certified Teachers, NBCT Renewals, and Master Teachers, representing a variety of certificate areas, deep content knowledge, and pedagogical expertise.

These are the very teachers our country needs; people who have what it takes to bring Arizona and America out of the educational decline of the last 20 years. Even so, the unique event which celebrates the accomplishments of these teachers, went unnoticed by most people in the state, and the country.

However, it was wonderful to hear a few industry and educational leaders, as well as a member of Congress laude the significant accomplishment of the honorees.  Yet, there was no paparazzi. No press conference. No one to pepper these superstars of education with questions on how and why, as well as flood the news with their stories and faces.

Even so, the evening represented so much more than the well-deserved accolades. It meant that now in Arizona:

• 140 more teachers voluntarily submitted their practice to the scrutiny of learned peers, much like the litmus process engineering, medicine, and law requires for their practitioners.
•  Approximately 1500[2]  more students will benefit from a year in the classroom of one of the best teachers in the country. Period.
• 140 more teacher leaders fostering the habits of collaboration and problem-solving in their students.
• 1500 more learners can break generations of poverty or entitlement, of inequity or ignorance.
• 140 more advocates for transforming teaching and learning, one classroom at a time.
• 1500 more future leaders can move closer to college and/or career readiness.

 While the numbers are interesting, I realize this is not enough. 1500 students only represents the population of one junior high school; 140 teachers can staff only one large high school.  

This is a sobering realization.

 However, when you add the evening’s honorees to the growing number of National Board Certified Teachers already practicing in Arizona, we are a force nearly 1000 strong.  Now, that’s over 10,000 students who will be directly impacted by accomplished teaching!

Not quite as sobering, but still not nearly enough when we consider that there are over 1 million students in Arizona. 10,000 seems a single drop in a deep, deep bucket.

Nevertheless, I cannot help but think exponentially: What would happen if in this next school year, all 1000 of us purposed in our hearts to recruit at least one other teacher to the National Board process, and dedicated our time, energy, and expertise to their success? 

This commitment could potentially yield the following by the year 2020:

At the rate of each one reach one[3], by the year 2020 we could potentially have 128,000 NBCTs practicing in Arizona. Which means that every 1 in 10 students, has an accomplished teacher in the classroom.  This growth is enviable for any state. But more importantly, it can empower districts and schools to make a greater impact on student achievement on a much grander scale. Which begs the question of priorities when looking at educational reform.  But that topic is for another day.  

All students in Arizona deserve a LEE— a League of Extraordinary Educators[1] equipping them for the opportunities that await.  This will only happen, when all of us- every NBCT- rises up from the corner of our classrooms and shares with another teacher about the rewards of the most rigorous, reflective process known as National Board.

 LEE, the call is out: each one, reach one[3]. And, Jaime Casap of Google Global Education put it best, “We need great teachers more than ever!”

Now, go forth!

______________________________________________ 

[1]LEE is a term coined by Alaina Adams, National Board Project Director for the Arizona K12 Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

[2] Determined by the average number of students the various certificate areas represent. For instance, an early childhood or middle childhood educator typically teaches 30 students daily, while the early adolescent or young adult teacher typically connects with 150 students on a daily basis.

 [3]A phrase from a song recorded by B. Mason.

Have you ever felt too professionally developed?  I spent some time talking with teachers about their professional development and made some interesting discoveries.  Some of our teachers are overwhelmed with their structured professional learning, they report having PD that is not differentiated, random in nature and seldom connected to the personal teaching goals they set for themselves.  These are all things that we have either heard teachers say or unfortunately have experienced ourselves.  I did hear something that I had not heard before, it seems that there are now places where teachers are beginning to experience formulated and scripted PD on a regular basis.  At first I didn’t think much about this, I suspected that they might be involved with some type of educational consultants or learning how to use a new program.  As I listened more closely I realized that what was being described was a formula for every PD, consisting of the same components with little deviation or flexibility.  Of course I wanted to hear more about this type of learning, I was hoping that there was something new in adult learning that I could incorporate in the professional developments that I design.

I asked more probing questions hoping to better understand the design.  What I quickly realized was that these teachers are spending a lot of time physically moving and doing versus learning and discovering.  They are sometimes moving information from one piece of paper to another or actually sitting in a circle taking turns answering the same question.  Now I know that there are many different types of “centers” but I have seen centers in classrooms used as nothing more than busy work.  I made the connection right away to adult centers, lots of mindless doing and very little learning.  Cumbersome protocols and graphic organizers seemed to guide the learning instead of skilled facilitation and content.  Teachers looking busy, busy with tasks that have very little depth.

We would never ask students to spend time on trivial tasks, why then do we allow teachers to do it?  We need the most skillful teachers possible in our classrooms and those teachers require high quality professional development that is scaffolded, differentiated and based on the teacher’s goals.  I have heard it said that you can always get something out of any professional development and I disagree. 

I wonder if in our efforts to be efficient and to increase engagement we have gone too far.  Learning structures have their place but when they completely consume the learning and create distance between the participant and the content, then they are just busy work.  We as teachers are busy enough, please stop giving us more to “do” and support us in deciding what we might need to learn and how we might want to learn it.

Dear Dr. Pedicone and the Tucson Unified School Board Members:

Our district deserves hearty thanks for the support they gave me and 38 other people last year in our pursuit of National Board Certification. The district has been through rough times politically and financially in the past few years, and takes hit after hit on the opinion pages of the newspaper. I think it is really important to highlight how the support you gave us last year has led to success for us as teachers, and success for our students. I’m sharing this on my blog, because I believe what TUSD has accomplished might be used as a template for other schools.

Here is a list of the material support I and others received from you. All candidates in the district received the opportunity for this support as long as they met criteria:

1. A district National Board Mentor. Julie Torres is highly trained to coach teachers, and is a leader who trains and plans with the other Candidate Support Providers in the district (CSP’s are NBCT’s who are trained to help candidates through the process.) Julie visited my classroom, provided moral support, technical support and effective advocacy in the district to help communicate what we were accomplishing and the resources we needed. She also ran all the evening meetings and planned our work days in the district.

2. Evening Coaching Meetings with CSP’s. These meetings were designed to respond to our needs and provide essential tools, information, reminders and morale boosts as we found our way.

3. Work Days. We each had three or four work days where we were released from duty, given substitutes and allowed to go spend the entire day working with a coach or independently. This time was essential. It was hard to miss the time in the classroom, but I accomplished a lot on these days.

4. Stipend. We received a stipend which, after taxes, covered the cost of all of the Arizona K12 Coaching Saturdays, weekend work retreats, and the preparation workshop for taking the exam, as well as the cost of a flip video camera for filming our teaching. These tools were highly beneficial.

5. Coaches at our Disposal. Our CSP’s were not just available during meetings, but offered their services outside of the structured times together. My CSP Mary Stevenson met me for a long, angsty conversation over coffee after reading 27 pages of my rambling about one student. I had to reduce it to 5 pages and wasn’t sure how to go about it. Then we connected on Googledocs, and hours and hours and hours later, the rest is history. I gave her multiple drafts of every entry, I think. Her feedback and ongoing support made my success possible. The hours the CSP’s spend giving feedback stretch their stipends out to a slight token of an hourly wage.

6. Building Level Support. Within our school, when I asked for extra student aides because I knew I would have to do filming, or when I asked technical help with software for the flip camera, people came to my aid because they knew I needed those things for my NBC process.

The level of support pleasantly surprised me. With all the austerity of the past several years, I didn’t expect to have release time or the stipend. However, they were essential, because what they did was basically buy time-- time away from family obligations for weekends, time away from classroom duties for a whole day at a time. The depth of thinking and all the swirling mess of issues that come to mind as I wrote required large blocks of time, not a stolen 45 minutes here or an hour there in order to work. The work is too deep. Maybe I could have certified that way, but I had more authentic growth as a teacher because for once in my career, I was given time to think. And that was priceless.

And what made the time so useful was the amount of focus I was able to achieve because of the tools and reflection made possible by our coaches. Unlike early achievers of National Board Certification, I never felt alone. Because of your support, we had a cohort of colleagues who motivated each other to keep on going. Because of the coaches, we had ongoing feedback, cheerleading and critical thinking strategies that kept us from getting stuck, that kept the momentum going and the quality of work high.

I will never look at my students the same way. I have never so deeply felt the responsibility I have toward each and every one of them as individuals. I have never so clearly felt the successes and the obstacles to success for myself and my students. Through National Boards I have gained clarity about why I am here, about my strengths, and my areas of needed improvement.

And so, now, the question of the day is, what will you do with all of these certifiably amazing teachers at your disposal? How will you harvest our reflections to create change? How will you encourage us to share our expertise? How will you learn the solutions we can offer? When and where will be get the tap on the shoulder that lets us know that our potential leadership is welcome and needed? The National Board process has made us better at what we do; how will you use us to make schools better places for student success?

I often find myself reading an insightful educational article, having an eye-opening conversation with colleagues, attending educational events outside of school and learning a new perspective.   During such instances, I am pumped, motivated, and ready to change the world, one student at a time.  And, I am left to wonder why professional development opportunities don’t always make me feel as inspired.  Although our formal professional developments on our school sites get us thinking, I started to wonder what each of us do to learn even more.  Maybe what is presented to us is only to get us thinking; it is not to provide us with all the knowledge we need.

Most recently I saw a post on Facebook which stated teachers should receive some form of professional development for their time spent of Pinterest.  At first I laughed, but then upon reviewing my “Likes” on Facebook and my connections on LinkedIn, I thought this post might be on to something. 

We are in a new era of education.  We have social media and technology which brings learning to us in an instant.  I am sure we can all recall professional development opportunities at our school sites or districts in which we were looking at the ticking clock rather than the presenter.  Yet, there were others which caused us to start thinking about all of the ways we could apply our new knowledge.  But, I now know the responsibility lies with us.  We know there is never enough time, and presenters are left to pick and choose the most crucial information which is immediately applicable to the classroom.  So, as learners, we must also pick and choose what we will further investigate.  I choose to view professional development is a sample, a springboard.  Then, I must further choose what I will make meaningful for my students and me.  And now, with so many opportunities, we are free to learn, investigate, and apply at our leisure.  Now, to get Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and other online outlets to provide professional development hours for all of the time we spend on their sites attempting to make our pedagogy stronger.  One can only hope.

What is your professional development?  Or, better yet, how do you continue to develop yourself as a professional?

Many of us believe that the days of segregation in America are long past.

The reality is that today’s classroom is one of the most segregated places in our country.  Born before the Civil Rights movement, segregation stared me in the face, just like the pictures— testaments of struggles long ago—that lined the entryway of Munroe Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas, where I visited in September.

 As a Teaching Ambassador Fellow for the U.S. Department of Education, I was a part of a team assigned to connect to the community of teachers when Secretary Duncan’s  “Education Drives America” bus tour rolled into town. Renowned for the landmark court case Brown v. Board of Education, Munroe Elementary served as a primary stop on the tour, with its legacy of hope and the promise of change. 

 But as I gazed at the pictures and the immortal words of Chief Justice Warren, “In the field of public education the doctrine of separate but equal has no place; separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”, I knew that the promise of those words, composed nearly 60 years ago, have yet to be fully realized by every student.

 Today, many students are not solely segregated by race, but also by socioeconomics. Low socioeconomics means that students living in remote rural communities, subsidized urban housing, or southern border communities will suffer deficits in their education and contribute heavily to the rapidly growing drop-out rate, due to three main factors: teacher quality, community resources, and school funding.  Since each of these factors warrants individual focus, this article will limit its lens to the first— teacher quality.

 Teacher quality has long been the focus of debate and of some reform. But no matter how we decide as a country to define a highly qualified teacher, an abundance of less qualified teachers are in our poorest, low-performing schools, struggling with our neediest students. The problem is recursive and will remain a vicious cycle until we no longer ignore it.

 To redress years of systemic inequity means that as a nation, we must wrangle with the following questions:

• How do we attract the best teachers to these impoverished, sometimes dangerous school communities?
• How do we equip and support the teachers who are in high-needs, low-performing schools to meet the demands of their students when these teachers lack substantive teacher preparation?
• How do we rigorously prepare future teachers for the 21^st century classroom?

 These are just some of the questions we need to address, and quickly. By the year 2014, the U.S. Department of Education projects that up to one million new teaching positions will be filled by new teachers—novice teachers most of whom, if statistics remain the same, will end up in the neediest schools.

 These schools will never be able to adequately educate the students they serve if the best teachers are not in the schools leading the reform. The true story of the Mitchell 20 illustrates the power of a National Board Certified teacher who led the way to transforming a school and community.

There are plans in place to duplicate this kind of success,  to improve pay structures and provide incentives to highly qualified teachers to serve in schools that need them most. Many of these plans are subsidized by federal grants, and as such represent only a beginning. In the long-term, state and local education agencies will need to find ways to support these pay structures.

 Also, states are beginning to link teacher education programs to student outcomes, so there is a great push to improve programs that are currently “ill-equipped to prepare teachers for the realities of the 21st century classroom”.  Ill-equipped they may be, but I’m not sure linking programs to student outcomes on high stakes tests is the answer. I cannot imagine such a thing occurring in other professions, like medicine, law, or engineering.

 Arthur Levine, the former president of Teachers College, Columbia University, says changes at the university level may be slow because “we don't know what, where, how, or when teacher education is most effective." And if we don’t know, how can we effectively support those new recruits to the classroom who come by way of alternative programs and lack the pedagogical as well as clinical training? And how will this continue to adversely affect students?

 There are more questions than answers at the moment. But I believe that if we decide that teacher quality matters, and is one of the factors necessary to provide educational equity for all students in America, then together we can find the answers to address this issue.  As Secretary Duncan put it, “education is the civil rights issue of our generation.”

  If so, let’s come together as we did in the 60’s and create a new legacy of hope and promise.