America’s Teacher Advancement ProgramIn business, the most important lessonI have learned is that there is one currency that always plays the key role in forming value, and that is human capital ‚ the knowledge, skills and experiences of people. In education, the same principle applies. We know from research that aside from home and family, the single most important factor driving student performance is the quality of the teacher in the classroom.The most effective teachers produce as much as five times the learning gains of the least effective teachers. Results from landmark studies in the states of Tennessee and Texas, for example, have shown that students who performed equally well in reading and math are separated by as many as 54 percentile points just three years later due to the quality of their teachers. Now based on these facts, you would think that the American K-XII system would be structured in a way to attract large numbers of talented people to teaching, and create an environment in which they would thrive. Sadly, this is not the case. The fact is that none of the hundreds of costly school-reform efforts of the past decades have had the scope, force or focus to attract high-calibre talent into the teaching profession, and reward and motivate the talent to stay. That is a primary reason why more than 50 years after Brown v. Board of Education mandated equal opportunity in education for all American children, over 50 percent of African-American and Hispanic fourth-grade (class IV) students cannot read. In fact, barely one-third of grades IV, VIII and XII students in the US reach proficiency levels in reading or math set by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) ‚ the level of achievement required to secure high quality jobs in the 21st century. Such glaring achievement gaps are the driving force behind the federal No Child Left Behind Act, enacted in 2002 to raise the bar of attainment for all students. Congress emphasised the crucial need for talented teachers in meeting this challenge, by including a provision calling for states to put a highly qualified teacher in every public school classroom.With a law in place to focus the nation‚s attention on student achievement and teacher quality, the opportunity exists to implement comprehensive reforms essential to developing the quality of teachers and ensure that every young person is prepared for a bright future in the age of the knowledge worker. I say this because over the past two decades, I have had the good fortune to interact with more than 2,100 exemplary educators of the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Awards, as well as hundreds of other outstanding teachers. Our work with these educators confirms that we can provide children with the high-quality teachers they need and deserve, provided we commit ourselves to: ‚ Teacher quality development strategies that provide powerful opportunities for career advancement, professional growth and competitive compensation; and ‚ Ensure these strategies address all the key considerations for successful school reform ‚…
