Teachers Battle Image Problem, Mistrust, Empowerment Gap

Publication: El Paso Times
Date: July 13, 2008

Summary: Jonna Perrillo, director of the West Texas Writing Project, explores the historical reasons why some leaders who have no "experience or expertise in the classroom" are chosen to head the state's education board.

Excerpt from Article

The reality is that standardized tests have done little to improve students' education and nothing to address overcrowded and underresourced schools. Instead, many good teachers say they struggle to keep their classrooms from being the passionless environments that schoolmarms were accused of creating.

The fallout has led to other political problems, too. As one teacher described it to me, teachers are treated as "professional enough to solve problems in the classroom, but not professional enough to have a role in making big education decisions."

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Read Teachers Battle Image Problem, Mistrust, Empowerment Gap in the El Paso Times.