Writer: Existence Of Poor Quality Teachers Must Be Acknowledged

In a piece for Time (10/21, 3.31M), Andrew J. Rotherham, co-founder and partner at the nonprofit Bellwether Education, writes that education policymakers "seem congenitally unable" to discuss the issue of poor teacher quality in any depth and complexity. "Instead we have a shallow debate dancing around the thing that matters most in schools: instructional quality." Rotherham stresses that US schools are "blessed with many incredibly hardworking, talented, and dedicated teachers. They're worth much more than they're paid and it's been dispiriting to watch them get blamed for issues beyond their control, for instance, bad policy choices that have led to soaring pension costs in some states. But let's also be clear: there are more than a few teachers who shouldn't be teaching."