Barnett Berry

Recruiting Teachers for the 21st Century: The Foundation for Educational Equity

In the coming decade, the nation must replace much of its current teachingforce. This heavy teacher recruitment period will have major implications for both educational quality and equality. Qualified teachers are not only a major determinant of student achievement but also one of the most inequitably distributed educational resources. Poor and minority children are routinely exposed to poorer quality curricula and teaching, which accountfor much of the achievement gap. Drawing on 20 years of wide-ranging research, this article describes policies and programs that can successfully recruit, prepare, retain, and support a diverse, well-qualified teaching force for all communities.

A Qualitative Critique of Teacher Labor Market Studies.

Qualitative studies of the teacher labor market suggest that problems and remedies generated by quantitative research fail to capture the most dynamic variables which are affecting the supply and demand of public school teachers. For example, quantitative research has not accounted for (1) the continual exiting and reentering of urban teachers, (2) the considerable bifurcation between urban and rural teacher labor markets as reflected in teacher mobility and cultural economic opportunities, (3) local definitions of labor market needs and teacher quality, and (4) the demanding and stressful working conditions of teaching, which are having a systemic and adverse effect on the occupation.

The Capability for Enhancing Accountability

Enhancing accountability is a key aspect of current demands for school reform. Much externally driven accountability has not been effective, and internally motivated accountability requires specific organizational capacities. This article examines one poor, rural southeastern American school district to high-light the barriers to effective accountability in a low-achieving district. The study concludes that current accountability models are incapable of altering local practices where needs are probably beyond the scope of educational policy making. Five themes are identified as a set of interrelated micro (district only) and macro (local community) factors affecting efforts at reform. These include racial discord, the power of poverty, the leadership mess, missing ingredients, and unidentified urgency, which together create a dysfunctional local cultural capital that results in an inability to foment significant change. Affecting any of these issues in isolation will not dramatically transform the stifling culture, as change will require altering the micro and macro themes in tandem.

Labor Market Choices and Teacher Reform: Policy Options for the Public Schools of the Twenty-First Century.

Abstract Case studies of the teacher labor market in the United States reveal that “first wave” teacher reforms of the 1980s will have little positive impact on the career choices of teachers and former teachers as well on the talented college students whom policymakers wish to attract to teaching. While “second wave” reforms offer much promise in solving present teacher quality problems, these reforms may go for naught if policymakers ignore the anachronistic teacher selection processes presently used by public schools. New policies not only must address the motivations and actions of labor market decisionmakers, but also must address the underlying tension between the first and second waves of teacher reform.

The dynamic duo of professional learning = collaboration and technology

Teachers’ learning is being tamped down by evaluators of their practice, administrators, and coaches who have never taught the new student standards. Most American teachers have little say when it comes to their professional development. The author nonetheless remains optimistic about the future of the teaching profession — largely on account of three related trends: The proliferation of empirical evidence of how teachers learn; increased visibility of teacher learning in top-performing nations; and the emergence of teacher networking.

Expanded Learning, Expansive Teacher Leadership.

Done well, providing more time for students to learn can be a lever for forcing schools to rethink how teachers teach and how they lead.

Teacherpreneurs: A More Powerful Vision for the Teaching Profession.

Crafting a profession for the future requires identifying and responding to a set of emergent realities that transcends the current debates over teaching.

Accountability, school reform, and equity: The troubling case of Sylvan school district

Most educational accountability systems draw upon relatively simplified indicators of student learning. Despite sufficient criticism and evidence of their misuse, test scores continue to be emphasized—even though they have a deadening effect on the very school district these accountability systems intend to primarily influence. This paper focuses on one of these low-performing school districts. The case study of Sylvan One reveals that the influence of state policy is especially circumscribed in a district like Sylvans that is beset by such prevailing conditions as the politics of race, the culture of poverty, vacuums in communication and leadership, and the uncritical mass of human resources. Each of these conditions limits change and reform dramatically. Account-ability and reform must focus on a rigorous curriculum and well-understood standards—but only in the context of this community, replete with its problems ofrelationships, resources, andracism. These are the “three Rs” that are tantamount to creating and sustaining reform. And this approach is more about political development than anything else. Recommendations for moving beyond the traditional policymaking tools of mandates and inducements are suggested, recognizing that policy may at best promote equality, but not necessarily excellence and equity.

Solving the Teacher Shortage: Revisiting the Lessons We've Learned.

Two decades ago, at a time when much of the country faced looming teacher shortages, a number of states invested in comprehensive strategies for strengthening the teaching profession. For example, and drawing upon recommendations from the National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future, both California and North Carolina built statewide teacher recruitment centers, launched new mentoring and induction programs for beginning teachers, and created incentives for veteran teachers to seek national board certification. However, while such efforts were successful, they were gradually dismantled, mainly for political reasons — and it will take effective political advocacy to reinstate them.

Microcredentials: Teacher learning transformed

Teachers and administrators attest that the current workshop and seat-time approach to professional development has not been working. Microcredentials offer a new approach. Inspired by the badging movement, microcredentials offer teachers opportunities to document their learning using work samples, videos, and other artifacts. Based on this evidence, teachers receive a microcredential that they can share across social media platforms, through email, and on blogs and resumes. Digital Promise and its content partners have developed more than 200 microcredentials. The Tennessee Department of Education is now working on launching a microcredential pilot.Teachers and administrators attest that the current workshop and seat-time approach to professional development has not been working. Microcredentials offer a new approach. Inspired by the badging movement, microcredentials offer teachers opportunities to document their learning using work samples, videos, and other artifacts. Based on this evidence, teachers receive a microcredential that they can share across social media platforms, through email, and on blogs and résumés. Digital Promise and its content partners have developed more than 200 microcredentials. The Tennessee Department of Education is now working on launching a microcredential pilot.