On Top of the News
There Is No ‘War on Teachers’
10/19/10 | The Wall Street Journal

Behind the Headline
An Effective Teacher in Every Classroom
Summer 2010| Education Next

In today’s Wall Street Journal, Rick Hanushek refutes the claim by teachers unions that the reform strategy gaining acceptance today amounts to a war on teachers. “This is not a war on teachers en masse,” he writes. “It is recognition of what every parent knows: Some teachers are exceptional, but a small number are dreadful. And if that is the case, we should think of ways to change the balance.” Hanushek notes that “if we could replace the bottom 5%-10% of teachers with an average teacher—not a superstar—we could dramatically improve student achievement. The U.S. could move from below average in international comparisons to near the top.” Hanushek and Kati Haycock debated strategies for boosting teacher quality in the Summer 2010 issue of Ed Next.