Given what we
know about teacher retention and / or the cognitive development of young children, this is incredibly dismaying (and not limited to Massachusetts).
I want to step back first and be clear about what we want to accomplish, and then talk
about teacher retention as one of a number of critical issues facing the overall effort to ensure educational opportunity for all.
I've been thinking a
lot about teacher retention ever since our Celebrate Oakland Teachers Night (plus all those news reports about California's dire teacher shortage)-- so of course I had to dig deeper!
And it shows that well - designed and carefully implemented teacher evaluations can serve as an important district improvement strategy — so long as states and districts are also willing to make tough, performance - based
decisions about teacher retention, development, and pay.
It teaches
them about teacher retention and how to support and develop their staff.