Economists Raj Chetty and John N. Friedman of Harvard and
Jonah E. Rockoff of Columbia conducted the study and followed 2.5 million
students across a large urban school district. The amazing part it isn’t the
scale, it’s the amount of time. These students were followed for 20 years, from
fourth grade to adulthood.
As I read through this study the information they found
shocked me. For example, just on the financial side of things they found that
if a school district replaced a teacher with a value-added rating in the bottom
5% with a teacher of average quality their students have a lifetime earnings
worth $250,000 more.
It goes on to show that every aspect of a student’s life
is affect by the quality of the teacher. Students are:
· More
likely to attend college
· Earn
higher salaries
· Live
in better neighborhoods
· Save
more money for retirement
· Have
a lower chance of having a child as a teenager
All of these studies show the lasting impact a good
teacher can have on a student, but to look at a broader scale they even have an
impact on the school district. When a good teacher comes into a school, test
score rise in the grade where the teacher is working. On the other hand, when
that teacher leaves, scores fall back down.
The conclusions of this study are concrete; to have the
best education you need the best teachers. We don’t care enough to change the
current system that runs the education in the country. A change that is necessary if we want to improve our future.
Teachers need to be evaluated and fired if they are not
doing as well as they should be. The change that would come if we switched out
bad teachers with good ones would be dramatic. We would see a rise in high
school graduates, less government money going out in retirement funds, and less
teenage pregnancies.
I found this extremely interesting. The study you used was very powerful in portraying your argument. You gave great facts that made me even more persuaded by your side than I was before. I agree that teachers can have a huge impact on our lives. I still remember all of the names of teachers since kindergarten that have had an impact on my life. I love that you point out if teachers aren't good they should be fired because it is scientifically proven to help schools not only with smarter more productive students but also financially. The only suggestion I would have is to maybe include a personal experience, such as a specific teacher that made an impact on your life. Include how they impacted you and what you learned from them. Overall I really enjoyed reading your blog, I found it very interesting and I learned a lot. I most definitely agree with you that bad teachers should be fired!
ReplyDeleteThank you for all of the positive feedback. I agree, a personal experience would make the entire thing way more meaningful. I will definitely add that later on. Thank you again for all of the comments.
DeleteLike Madeline, I also found your post very enlightening. I like how you based your whole argument off of this study - this made it really easy to follow and agree with. After all, who can argue with a good, reliable statistic? I've heard of lots of educational studies, but never of one quite like this. I'm sure we all can appreciate a good teacher, but often their value is underestimated. Looking back, I can remember the name of every teacher I've ever had and the impact they've had on my life and my ambition. I hadn't realized that the effects were this far-reaching. Could we perhaps propose better teachers education programs? Further workshops to enhance teaching ability? Do these teachers need to be fired, or do they just need to be better trained? Where does the real problem stem? Is it apathy or laziness on the part of the teacher, or a lack of sufficient training? Your post provided quite a bit of food for thought!
ReplyDeleteI've never thought of putting in a new education program. That's a brilliant Idea. I think I will also find a statistic about whether bad teachers improve with more training. Also, I found your point about where the problem originates super important. Thank you for your comments, it added a lot of thought to my subject.
DeleteLove the introduction! That pulled me right in! One suggestion just for the introduction would be to include the link from that research so that way I can read that article!
ReplyDeleteAnd overall I find your argument compelling, but I have some questions. What are the qualities of a "good teacher"? And what kind of a test or evaluation can be done in order to ensure schools that they have good teachers? Is there a cost-effect to this?
I think the best way to support your argument is like what Madeleine and Juliana said in that you should add personal experiences as well as provide solutions for this problem!
As I read your comment about the link I thought, "Dang, I meant to do that." Thanks for the reminder. Thanks for your questions. I haven't thought of most of them. Also, I will definitely add a personal experience. I agree that it makes the argument so much more powerful.
DeleteI found this subject very interesting! Your study at the beginning was very intriguing. Why is it that students with good teachers earn so much more over their lifetime? Are good teachers the ones who plant seeds of college and careers in children's heads? What exactly is it that makes a good teacher?
ReplyDeleteI would definitely agree that some of my best and favorite teachers have been very influential in my life. They have taught me valuable life and academic lessons, but I don't remember them ever really pushing me towards college or a career. However, in hindsight I can recognize that many of them would talk to my peers and me as if we already held those expectations for ourselves. Should teachers be required to talk to students as if they all plan to take the next step after elementary school, middle school, and high school? How could the numbers of "good teachers" be increased?
You raise some awesome points. I really like the questions about teachers and if they planted the seeds of college or not. Also, how I could improve the numbers of "good teachers" is an interesting question that I haven't really thought about. Thank you for your comments I really appreciate them.
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