(World Economic Forum's flickr photostream/Creative Commons)

Talk to a dozen different people who are passionate about school reform, and ask each one: “What is the single most important reform we could make to improve our schools?” You will probably get a dozen different answers. People will talk about raising standards, increasing accountability, improving assessments, lengthening the school day/year, decreasing class size,  more charter schools, support for vouchers, and the list goes on.

Of course there is no single “silver bullet” reform that will fix everything (not even close!), but if I had to choose one area to focus on, it would be teacher quality. Learning takes place at the interface between teachers and students, and any reform that does not change that interaction for the better will do little to improve educational quality for our kids. Specifically, my priorities would be to provide richer professional development opportunities for teachers; create more complex assessments of teacher performance; and offer bonuses as incentives for excellent teaching. According to an article in the Washington Post, it appears that Bill Gates agrees with me. (Or I with him?)

Since the year 2000, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated about $4 billion to improve high schools and increase college access. He concludes that America should have two priorities when it comes to school reform: replicating successful charter schools like KIPP as quickly as possible, and improving teacher effectiveness across the board. (For my take on KIPP schools – I love them too! - see previous post here.) As for improving teacher effectiveness, Gates emphasizes the importance of measuring teacher performance so that the best teachers can be sent to schools that need them the most (with pay raises, of course), the worst teachers can be fired, and most importantly, all teachers who want to improve can get the help they need. That’s key here, and a point not made often enough: some people seem to be born with a special gift and naturally excel at teaching, others should never have chosen teaching in the first place, but most teachers fall somewhere in the middle. They work incredibly hard and want to do their best to help their students succeed. As Gates says:  “The biggest part is taking the people who want to be good — and helping them.” Apparently, President Obama agrees.

During last week’s “Open for Questions Town Hall” held at the White House, the second to last question President Obama answers comes from Bonnee Breese, a high school teacher from West Philadelphia, who wants to know how the President defines “effective teachers,” and if he is “willing to have teachers on the platform, in the committees, as a part of developing [his] plans.” President Obama replies that “teachers are the most important person in the education system. So if we don’t have teacher buy-in, if they’re not enthusiastic about the reforms that we’re initiating, then, ultimately, they’re not going to work.” He then discusses the importance of measuring teacher performance, but not just with high stakes standardized tests. Mentioning a conversation he had with Bill Gates the day before, he recommends using technology like video cameras to evaluate teachers so they can watch themselves and each other interact with students, and learn from their successes as well as their mistakes. He adds that “it can’t be impossible to move out bad teachers, because that brings — that makes everybody depressed in a school…and it makes it harder for the teachers who are inheriting these kids the next year for doing their job.”

So the three of us are in agreement about the importance of teacher effectiveness. Now if only the union would get on board…

takepart in reading the Washington Post’s summary of President Obama’s town hall meeting, or read the full transcript here. Also, check out my previous post on Michelle Rhee’s plan to introduce a more comprehensive evaluation system for DC teachers next fall.