Some time ago,
The Atlantic featured a noteworthy
article titled,
What Makes a Great Teacher? Although the article does not focus on gifted education per se, it is still
worth a close read. The article discusses specific attributes that excellent
teachers with exceptional track records tend to display in the classroom. (It
is important to note that these attributes are based on research that was
conducted by the nonprofit organization, Teach for America, which advocates for
teacher reform. It is also important to note that the group's research focuses
solely on teachers who work in underperforming school districts where the
primary goal in the general education classroom is to get students to perform
at or above grade level.) The article outlines several specific recommendations
that the organization makes for recruiting and hiring successful teachers,
particularly in underserved communities.
For those of us in the gifted education community, the
traits identified in the article may be ones that we should, perhaps, consider
first before we consider any additional teacher characteristics that might be
specific to gifted education.
Amanda Ripley, the author of
The Atlantic article,
writes that although parents worry about sending their children to the “right”
schools, statistical research shows that the schools themselves do not matter
as much as the quality of the individual teachers. Ripley notes: “Teacher
quality tends to vary more
within schools—even supposedly good
schools—than among schools. But we have never identified excellent teachers in
any reliable, objective way."
Teach for America (a
nonprofit organization that recruits college graduates to spend 2 years
teaching in underperforming, high-poverty schools) has been working to change
this. According to Ripley, the organization has spent more than a decade
rigorously studying the educational outcomes of kids in underperforming school
districts in an admirable attempt to explain "why some teachers can move
those kids three grade levels ahead in one year," while others are unable
to accomplish this.
By following students in underperforming school districts
and analyzing the techniques and attributes of the school districts' teachers,
the organization concluded that the most effective teachers in those school
districts displayed five professional qualities. They
- tended
to set big goals for their students
- were
perpetually looking for ways to improve their personal effectiveness
- avidly
recruited students and their families into the process
- maintained
focus, ensuring that everything they did contributed to student learning
- planned
exhaustively and purposefully—for the next day or year ahead—by working
backward from the desired outcome
- worked
relentlessly, refusing to surrender to the combined menaces of poverty,
bureaucracy, and budgetary shortfalls.
Teach for America has also carefully studied what to look
for when hiring candidates for its program. Many of the assumptions that they
held in the early years of the program about which candidates would make
exceptionally effective teachers were found to be unreliable. However, three
traits stood out as very important. Such traits included
- A
history of perseverance. (Recruiters at Teach for America believe that
tenacious, goal-oriented individuals tend to "work harder and stay
committed to their goals longer.")
- A
positive, happy attitude. (As Ripley notes: "Teachers who scored high
in 'life satisfaction'—reporting that they were very content with their
lives—were 43 percent more likely to perform well in the classroom than
their less-satisfied colleagues.")
- A
record of achievement. (Ripley writes: "Recruits who have achieved
big, measurable goals in college tend to do so as teachers. And the two best
metrics of previous success tend to be grade-point average and 'leadership
achievement'—a record of running something and showing tangible
results.")
A master’s degree in education was found to have no impact
on classroom effectiveness.
