WEBVTT

00:00:01.549 --> 00:00:06.970
(ESTV - The Best Teachers in the World Clip 1)

00:00:06.970 --> 00:00:12.111
[Jeff Selingo] You talk a lot in the book (?) - uh - between recruiting better teachers

00:00:12.111 --> 00:00:15.581
and better students to become teachers and training of teachers,

00:00:15.597 --> 00:00:19.725
and talking about quality instructors, what's more important?

00:00:19.725 --> 00:00:27.908
Is it recruiting the best person upfront or does training matter just as much or even more,

00:00:27.908 --> 00:00:30.927
in terms of that, in terms of that would-be teacher?

00:00:31.295 --> 00:00:38.424
[John Chubb] Well, the evidence - the evidence on what drives teachers' quality

00:00:38.424 --> 00:00:44.281
is essentially - and this is the first great part - is essentially

00:00:44.281 --> 00:00:53.948
that most of the skills that teachers demonstrate in the classroom tend to be learned in the classroom, right?

00:00:53.948 --> 00:01:06.615
So - so, selection matters, aptitude matters, certain affective predisposition,

00:01:06.615 --> 00:01:10.969
emotional affective attributes matter.

00:01:10.969 --> 00:01:17.763
And there has been a lot of research on this, and there are - there are screening tools

00:01:17.763 --> 00:01:23.580
that school districts can use to identify people who have a higher probability of success.

00:01:23.580 --> 00:01:30.914
But in the end, the dominant explanation of success is what teachers learn on the job, right?

00:01:30.914 --> 00:01:35.736
So - so training is critical - training is critical.

00:01:35.736 --> 00:01:43.829
Most of it right now is done pre-service and what's done in-service leaves a lot to be desired.

00:01:43.829 --> 00:01:47.671
And there's a tremendous amount of research on professional development,

00:01:47.671 --> 00:01:51.125
which I review in the book, and it's overwhelmingly negative.

00:01:51.125 --> 00:01:56.138
And in school districts, people who are responsible for professional development understand this,

00:01:56.138 --> 00:01:58.184
but there hasn't been a lot of improvement.

00:01:58.184 --> 00:02:03.580
But the evidence suggests that teachers do learn on the job, they learn differentially.

00:02:03.580 --> 00:02:08.874
So not - by the time teachers are four years on the job, some of them are unbelievably great

00:02:08.874 --> 00:02:11.808
and some of them really haven't made it. So -

00:02:11.808 --> 00:02:13.324
[Selingo] So then, why do we need training programs at all,

00:02:13.324 --> 00:02:15.515
why don't we just pick the best students from

00:02:15.515 --> 00:02:18.826
- in some ways, like Teach For America, pick the best students,

00:02:18.826 --> 00:02:22.278
put them through a short training program ..... to learn more on the job?

00:02:22.294 --> 00:02:26.236
[Chubb] Because what - well, what matters is how the experience -

00:02:26.236 --> 00:02:29.978
whether the experience on the job is structured or not, right?

00:02:29.978 --> 00:02:34.826
So, and I - sorry - one of the chapters in the book and one of the main recommendations

00:02:34.826 --> 00:02:37.592
is to take a look at leadership, right?

00:02:37.592 --> 00:02:39.684
I don't want to get ahead of the questioning

00:02:39.684 --> 00:02:46.414
but there is a huge variation in teacher improvement on the job.

00:02:46.414 --> 00:02:50.224
And it's very strongly associated with the kind of context

00:02:50.224 --> 00:02:53.328
that a school leader provides for teachers to lean it (?).

00:02:53.328 --> 00:02:58.636
So, does the school principal create a culture in which - a culture and structure

00:02:58.636 --> 00:03:02.270
in which teachers have an opportunity to work with one another, to learn with one another,

00:03:02.270 --> 00:03:05.043
is a reform of mentoring structure set up,

00:03:05.043 --> 00:03:09.018
is there a structure of teams ...... teachers that's effective,

00:03:09.018 --> 00:03:14.508
does the principal herself or himself really know what good instruction looks like,

00:03:14.508 --> 00:03:18.256
so that the principal can identify the right people to be the mentors,

00:03:18.256 --> 00:03:19.402
the right people, the right people to structure that,

00:03:19.402 --> 00:03:24.108
does the principal know what kind of training is really needed?

00:03:24.108 --> 00:03:28.221
It's not that external training and professional development is inherently bad.

00:03:28.221 --> 00:03:30.044
That's not - that's not it.

00:03:30.044 --> 00:03:38.208
It's that if it's applied across the board without sensitivity to what teachers need, when they need it,

00:03:38.208 --> 00:03:42.122
how it's going to be followed up upon, then it is a waste, you know,

00:03:42.122 --> 00:03:45.581
it's the so-called "drive by" professional development.

00:03:45.581 --> 00:03:48.940
Somebody comes in, does a workshop in the cafeteria, leaves,

00:03:48.940 --> 00:03:50.575
and then it's supposed to make a difference.

00:03:50.575 --> 00:03:52.013
Well how, you know, how could it?

00:03:52.013 --> 00:03:56.888
(This has been a production of EducationSector Independant Analysis. Innovative Ideas
www.educationsector.org)