The biggest barrier we've seen to student progress is this: School policies and practices often prevent good teachers from doing great work and even dissuade some talented Americans from entering the profession. This needs to change.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The so-called skills gap is really a gap in education, and that affects all of us.
Studies have identified a significant 'skills gap' between what students are currently being taught and the skills employers are seeking in today's global economy. Our children must be better prepared than they are now to meet the future challenges of our ever-changing world.
I mean, one thing I know about change is we are not going to close the achievement gap without educators.
Teachers today are breaking down obstacles, finding innovative ways to instill old lessons, proving that greatness can be found in everyday places.
I am confident that the vast majority of teachers will work with us towards achieving that goal.
Our experience at Teach For America has been that the more people understand educational inequity, the more they want to do something about it.
Without any doubt at all, teacher quality is the fundamental differentiator. Not just, incidentally, of education, but I would argue, probably the biggest single differentiator of success for the nations of the 21st Century.
Every single major push in education has made it worse and right now it's really bad because everything we've done is de-humanizing education. It's destroying the possibility of the teacher and the student having a warm, friendly, intellectual relationship.
The better the teacher, the better the future of America.
The greatest obstacle to those who hope to reform American education is complacency.