Doesn't Matter Where They Learn...As Long As They Are Successful!

I came across a decent article today by Don Soifer on the successful components of charter schools…

Incredibly rewarding to read about studies researching which factors contribute to the success (this study was done on New York City public charter schools)…so the strongest turns out to be the teacher pay given which was computed on performance evaluations…in other words if students had positive achievement, teachers benefited.  Seems pretty straightforward…you innovate and help students to learn and understand what they need to no matter if you’re a first year teacher or twenty year teacher…you are compensated!  It’s not just based on how long you’ve survived the system or how many letters you have after your name.  I, for one, personally agree with that assessment and wish that the public school system would see the value in rewarding the best and brightest, not the tenured and over self-educated, unless you provide the  innovation and motivation for students then you win as well.

Other factors were also shown to influence success like:  having a mission statement, focusing on academic performance, longer school years, and percentage of time devoted to English and Math.  Things that did not significantly impact success?  Class size, years in operation, and using parent contracts….hhhmmmm?

Why not take this information to help the masses???  It’s not rocket science folks…