Report Finds Better Scores in New Crop of Teachers

This is great to see:

Teaching is attracting better-qualified people than it did just a few years  ago, according to a report released Tuesday by the Educational Testing Service
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/e/educational_testing_service/index.html?inline=nyt-org> .
 
Prospective teachers who took state teacher licensing exams from 2002 to 2005 scored higher on SATs in high school and earned higher grades in college than their counterparts who took the exams in the mid-1990s, the report said.

I'm sure the unions will claim credit, but precisely the opposite is true -- their stifling contracts, which protect mediocrity and don't allow the rewarding of excellence (lockstep pay, lifetime tenure, everything driven by seniority -- the three pillars of mediocrity), are among the biggest deterrents to high-caliber people going into teaching.  Rather, the wave of reform that's starting to sweep the nation (albeit still in its very early stages) is a big driver -- this would include Teach for America, KIPP and other high-profile organizations that are making it "cool" to be a teacher.


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December 12, 2007
Report Finds Better Scores in New Crop of Teachers
By SAM DILLON
www.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/education/12teachers.html

Teaching is attracting better-qualified people than it did just a few years ago, according to a report released Tuesday by the Educational Testing Service.