Teachers: Can't predict 'em, can't live without 'em

Malcolm Gladwell (Mr. Tipping Point) in the December 15, 2008 New Yorker, says, "Teaching should be open to anyone with a pulse and a college degree—and teachers should be judged after they have started their jobs, not before. That means that the profession has to be more rigorous in how it evaluates young teachers…"

Gladwell draws comparisons to the recruitment and training of pro quarterbacks and financial advisers, and points to this kind of research about teachers: "A group of researchers—Thomas J. Kane, an economist at Harvard’s school of education; Douglas Staiger, an economist at Dartmouth; and Robert Gordon, a policy analyst at the Center for American Progress—have investigated whether it helps to have a teacher who has earned a teaching certification or a master’s degree. Both are expensive, time-consuming credentials that almost every district expects teachers to acquire; neither makes a difference in the classroom."

Compelling challenge. Of course, it's an idea that would only apply to K-12 teachers. Right?

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AAC&U Meeting in Minneapolis October, 2009

How's this for exciting? The Association of American Colleges and Universities is holding a national meeting on ethics and civic engagement here in town next fall. Call for proposals open through January 30, 2009. Let's make sure our public colleges and universities are well represented!

Educating for Personal and Social Responsibility: Deepening Student and Campus Commitments

Network for Academic Renewal Conference

October 1-3, 2009

Minneapolis, Minnesota

About the Conference

Educating for Personal and Social Responsibility: Deepening Student and Campus Commitments will bring together faculty, student affairs personnel, academic administrators, students, and others to explore how to move education for personal and social responsibility to the center
of institutional culture and academic practice. The program will feature promising practices that develop students’ civic engagement and social responsibility in both a local and global context; personal and academic integrity; ability to examine and understand differing (and often competing) perspectives; and ethical and moral reasoning.

The central premise of the conference is that personal integrity and ethics cannot be developed in isolation from a commitment to and engagement with others, and that students’ ethical, civic, and moral development must be addressed as part of their basic responsibilities as learners.

Educating for Personal and Social Responsibility | Conference Overview

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