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tampabay.com/opinion ;

Making a great teacher; is amat[er oftraining

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BY BRIAN DASSLER AND DAVID R. COI.BURN

The study confirmed two important points.

The first concluded that effective teaching can be measured. "The (MET) data showthatwe can identify groups of teachers who are more efiective in helping shrdents leartr."

ne of today's persistent myths about

education is that great teaching is

innate. In other words, you either.have it or you donlt. Even some highly talented teachers will tell you that their effectiveness in the classroom resulted from some elusive and unidentifiable set of personal draracteristics. Someteachers dohave an advantage overothers in the classroom because oftheir outgoing person-

The second point emphasized that "teach-

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ing is too complex for any single measure,of performance to capture it accurately. ... The challenge is to combine measrues in ways that support effective teaching while avoiding such uninality, enthusiasm about life and positive demeanor. tended consequences as too-narrow a focus on The conclusion, however, that only these peo- one aspect of effective teaching." ple constitute the best teachers is deeply flawed Bill Gates elaborated on this point in aWashas well as damaging to the profession. It implies ington Posf op-ed in April, Cautioning states that struggling teachers lack some innate talent against rushingto use only one measurement in that they will never be able to attain, no matter teacher evaluations. He also criticized the prohowhardtheywork. motion of competitive environments for teachers The accumulated evidence, however, suggests rather than collaborative ones that-$!U!{ teaching is, in !qqt, observable.nqeq The Gates Found.ation study embraced stud.ent feedback in assessing etrective teaching, observ.very important teach- ing: 'TVb found that i wel-designed rt ident p"ringski[-askingquestions.Thereisnothinginnate ception survey can provide reliab]e feedback." how to asI:nr-ffio:rsffirrtrrla Questions such as 'My teacher knows when the elicit U_UI there class understands," and "In this class, we learn AFi6i,f thffiEs tha't-ilakt place to correct our mistakes" are

hishlv correlated with posi

tivestudentachieyementouttive student achieyement out-

plgryJt \ mented, "If someone can,t tO make gfeatef flt'J 11? :$l-H'ilxT,*il I i".:l*.ntJin st<ittea l'Ji* *T h"J,xLT:i':; who raised the first hand. Nor I teaCrung. AIld We Ufge shouldn'tbein ourprofession'
does the teaeher necessarily

\ anotherschoolyear, .o*o. posequestionsthatallstudents / We Call On diStfiCt and This summer Randi Weinilffi;Tf"::ffi;tr,ffi 1l school administrarors ffi;1#flii*:#:H# students the time to
baChefS tO --_ embfaCe --'^"i:r-seekanoralresponse. I ;.-=*-; /I Inese eIrOnS and
Afterwaitinguntilmorestu-

dents raise their hands,

disCusi theii-r8ljiinses

this

tne

we agree in princi-Ufhilg ple with her statement, we beHeve that the preparation andsupportofteachersiscrit-

multiple methods including

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with sfudent
even

another school yea4 we-call after which the teacher might visit the desks of on district a.nd school administrators to make some struggling students to determine if they greater investments in skilled teaching. And we needadditionalsupportorencouragement. urge teachers to embrace these efforts and the As this single skill illustrates, the work of an multiple methods to evaluate them, including effective teacher is nuanced and can often be student perception surveys. Working together in complex. It takes practice, observation and con- this fashion will advance the quality of education versation with one's colleagues and mentor to in our schools and enrich the academic environrefine these skills. Very few of us, in other words, ment for students of that we are certain. -

their answer to the

perceptioirsurveys. Hil;i1T,HYl$; fffilffiffiiiffi: question,

HXH]: ttri sifted teachefwill

will get good on our own.

Earlier this year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation released afinal reportfrom the Measuring Effective Teadring projec't, whidr sought to identiff the particular skills and talents that are essential to great teaching. The project was a multiyear effort involving 3,000 teachers in seven school districts across the country, including Hillsborough Countlr

Doxin R Colburn is thz director ofthe Bob Grahnrn Cenfar for fublic Seruice ar thc Uttiaetsity ofFlorida. He am b e reachcd at dr colh @ gna:il. cotn, Brian D as sln lrs c-hig amfumir offircr, Nao Mmns Cmterfw CyeathseArts, a. public school senring sfudznts from atross Loutisiana. He
can be rearhzd at brian.dasslzr @gmail.corn. Tltzg tarote this eaclush;ely for thz Ta:rnpa Bay Times.