Source: boston.com
Read Op-Ed Article (boston.com)
Read Ravitch’s Huffington Post Article

Globe columnist Joan Vennochi comments on the mass teacher firings at Central Falls High School that I mentioned before (original article here, as well). She says the students might be the ones who get hurt the most from it and asks if these firings are “good for kids or good for headlines.” She also quotes Diane Ravitch, author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System, a book a recently bought and plan on reading when it gets delivered. A quote from her post on Huffington:

Will it be replaced by a better school? Who knows? Will excellent teachers flock to Central Falls to replace their fired colleagues? Or will it be staffed by inexperienced young college graduates who commit to stay at the school for two years? Will non-English-speaking students start speaking English because their teachers were fired? Will children come to school ready to learn because their teachers were fired?

Hopefully Central Falls stays in the news so we can see if anything does indeed change in the schools. Educators really need to figure out why students aren’t as proficient at math and reading as they should be. Did something go wrong in elementary school? Middle school? We need to focus more on the students. Yes, there are incompetent teachers. But every single one? That can’t be statistically possible. Even the worst NFL team has a few good players; likewise, even the worst school has some good teachers and some good students.