America's Teachers See Growing Poverty Up Close
14 January 12
If you want to know the human impact of the current recession, ask America's teachers
ne of the things I've discovered in recent years is that when it comes to education policy, the last people asked for input are America's teachers. We have a President who holds an "education summit" that includes the nation's top business leaders and foundation heads, but no teachers; we have billionaires lobbying to privatize education and break teachers unions; we have an organization that purports to work for educational equity that encourages its recruits to leave teaching after two years because they can influence policy more by moving into other, more prestigious careers, rather than spending a lifetime as a "mere teacher."
The results are plain to see. After ten years of No Child Left Behind, three years of Race to the Top, and twenty years of Teach for America, we have seen no change in the global standing of America's schools and no reduction in the test score gap between racially and economically disadvantaged groups and the rest of the population.
But we lose something more than an opportunity to improve our schools by excluding teacher's voices -
