Teacher Quality

Teachers, according to David Berliner, “have been objects of derision for centuries” because teachers have removed themselves from the pursuit of money and because they desire to work with children. Neither of these preferences garners much status in our modern world. Similarly, teacher education is also a low-status, generally low-pay role within higher education, although universities heavily depend on enrollment in teacher education courses, according to the Holmes Group. Despite this low status, educational researchers have continued to devote attention to the study of effective teaching and of how to define teacher quality. Andrew Wayne and Peter Young analyzed 65 of these studies and identified four ways to predict teacher quality: (1) college ratings, (2) test scores, (3) degrees and course work, and (4) certification ...