“ The [No Child Left Behind] accountability system, as practiced at urban schools like Douglass, tends to operate like a merry-go-round; principal turnover rates in Baltimore are very high. School leaders get on board, ride until they get dizzy and stumble off, and then new leaders come aboard. ”
from Sarah Reckhow’s guest column in The Eduwonkette. Teach For America had her stationed at Douglass, a struggling school in Baltimore. Her column makes the argument that the focus needs to be on what schools are doing right (certain after-school programs) rather than on what they are doing wrong (poor retention of already generally low-quality teachers).
I think it would be wise to focus on recruitment and training of new teachers: if they want kids to stay after school, they are going to need an assertive, high-quality teacher that serves as a role model and instigator of change in students’ lives. The heartwarming front-page-gracing success stories may come from unique after-school programs, but the vast majority of the real grunt work happens in classrooms with dedicated, qualified, and influential teachers.
