Let’s put teacher ‘savior’ myth to rest
CHICAGO — Last summer a Comedy Central spoof about the career moves of star educators went viral.
Two Sports-Center-like anchors did play-by-play on multimillion-dollar-salary offers for high-performing teachers and astronomical cash incentives for near-perfect test results, complete with screen crawls comparing competing school SAT scores on writing, reading and math as well as coverage of the fictional 2015 “Teacher Draft.”
“If only we could treat our teachers like sports stars,” went the social media chatter.
But “rock star,” “hero” and “savior” teacher archetypes are out there — and they aren’t helping the state of teaching or the students who most need excellent teachers.
Leaving aside the movie characters that so often glorify or over-romanticize the reality of classrooms — “Stand and Deliver,” “Dead Poet’s Society,” “Dangerous Minds,” “Freedom Writers,” “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” the list goes on and on — the media fan the flames of teaching fantasy, too.
Last month, a news story went around about Anthony Yom, a California teacher who propelled a student to becoming one of only 12 in the world to earn a perfect score on the Advanced Placement Calculus exam.
It’s a wonderful story. Kudos to Yom, an extremely talented mathematician and teacher.
But, it has to be said, the headlines didn’t help. One said: “’An Average Guy’ Excels at Teaching Students AP Calculus.” Said another: “Meet one of America’s new top high school math stars.” And “Teacher of East LA Calculus Superstar Credits Success To Love of Teaching.”
OK, let me start here: Yom, who considers himself a fan of the movie “Stand and Deliver,” teaches AP Calculus. In no way am I minimizing Yom’s achievement, but let us understand that this class, by definition, is made up of the cream of a high school’s crop. The very best prepared students.
Yom’s role in itself is a statistical blip — only 60 percent of U.S. high schools even participate in the AP program, which allows students to gain college credit after passing subject tests.
And a smaller per- centage of those schools offer AP Calculus — either because projected student enrollment in such advanced classes is low or because it is difficult to find qualified teachers. And these concerns are magnified in many schools, such as those in rural communities.
Is it really fair to put Yom in the same league as a regular high school math teacher with a pre-Algebra or Algebra 1 classroom, in a low-income school where some kids come into freshman year without basic numeracy skills?
And then there’s the whole love-and-dedication narrative that rankles some educators.
Ray Salazar, a high school English teacher in the Chicago Public Schools system, who blogs as “The White Rhino,” wrote about admiring Yom’s achievement, but disliking journalists who gloss over the details of how to ensure student success.
Referring to a column about Yom in the Los Angeles Times, Salazar wrote:
“The LA Times teacher profile piece encourages the mindset that good teachers enjoy working nonstop, sacrificing themselves for the ultimate student success. (Steve) Lopez’s piece encourages people to think, ‘We need more teachers like that.’
“More importantly, Lopez’s profile misguides readers into thinking that ‘love is the recipe’ to succeed with students. It’s not. ... Love is not the recipe; instead, a dedication to high-quality instruction is. Solid, professional teacher-student relationships follow as a result.”
Last week, the New Teacher Center, a national nonprofit organization hoping to improve student learning, released results from a 50-state review of policies for new educator induction and mentoring. It found that just four states (Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa and Hawaii) provide and fund a highquality system of new educator support and the rest provide insufficient mentoring and support for teachers and principals as they start their careers. “States must ensure that induction support for beginning educators is comprehensive,” said Richard Ingersoll, professor of education and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, in the report’s press release. “Limited mentoring programs of insufficient duration do not achieve the desired impact on classroom teaching and student outcomes.”
Love is great, but what’s really needed is excellent teacher preparation in both subject matter and classroom management, and school support for teachers to succeed over the long haul.
Until this becomes the norm, teacher “stars” will continue to capture our imaginations and distract us from real change. Once we can put the myth of the teacher “savior” to rest we can get to the business of developing h igh- per forming teachers on a consistent basis.