A national debate is taking place on the quality of teachers. Many Americans seem to equate students with manufactured products that can be mass-produced and pass high quality control marks at the end of an assembly line. They want to define great teachers only by retention rates and test scores.
One of the most prominent proponents of this drive (and one of the richest men in the world), Bill Gates, still points to three character traits of his great teachers in his interview with Parade: using class time well, not letting confused students behind, and pairing up high-ability students with low-ability students in a significant learning activity.
Bill Gates also seems to emphasize the need for "understanding great teaching." Dr. Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade of San Francisco State University has studied exactly what it takes to be an effective teacher. His five pillars of effective practice are summarized in this earlier blog entry.
In his tireless fight for quality education for all, Dr. Duncan-Andrade seldom stops talking about his five pillars and how they really contribute to student engagement and achievement. If you are interested, you can watch his February speech at Harvard Graduate School of Education entitled "Note to Educators: Hope Required When Growing Roses in Concrete." The lengthy but dynamic and inspirational talk is available on YouTube. The link is here, but skip to about 13:40 to avoid the technical glitches before his speech. (Thanks to Gary for this info.)
By the way, if you wish to voice your opinion on whether a teacher should be rated by their students' test scores, you can cast your vote at the end of the Bill Gates interview here.
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