TeacherScribe

Like it or not (I think if you've read this blog enough, you'll know where I fall), national standards are on the horizon.

I'm all in favor . . . as long as we have national standards for -- (in no particular order)

. . . student commitment to academics.

. . . parental commitment to their children.

. . . student attendance and dealing with those dreaded "zeroes."

. . . students to limit their time devoted to such things as sports and part-time jobs.

. . . administrators to effectively run schools.

. . . responsibility and maturity.

. . . school boards to get serious about paying teachers and not cutting programs.

. . . to reward teachers for their performance and commitment - not just how their students perform (what other profession rewards an employee with higher pay the farther they move from their actual job? You want to make the most money in education? Don't teach . . . be an administrator. Do we pay the top flight surgeons in the world to operate or to run hospitals?).

. . . to actually develop tests that truly measure learning and passion and interest (and not those cheap, standardized bubble tests that measure very little in terms of genuine learning).

. . . states to get serious about funding schools and not keeping hundreds of millions of dollars that the federal government sent each state for education.

. . . parents to properly raise and care for their kids.

. . . how the best and brightest should go into education (let's stop doing the - oh, anyone can teach).

. . . how teachers should not have to accept a coaching job just to get hired (as one of my colleague's observed What other profession hires an employee and then expects them to take a second job (and reward them with higher pay) that actually COMPETES with their main job?).

Please feel free to offer your own ideas for what else we need national standards before we can successfully institute national standards in math and English.