Chancellor Faces Fight With Teachers Over How to Improve D.C. Schools

Improving the education system in the nation's capitol is definitely something that we should strive to achieve because it is so valuable to give each child the opportunity to better themselves and accomplish their life goals. The main issue that I see that is on the table is simply the accountability of teachers in ensuring that students do well inside and outside of the classroom. Definitely, teachers play a significant role in providing an education to kids and they should be doing their best to make sure students are getting the most out of their academic experience. If I were a teacher and this new plan is put into place I would struggle with the decision to give up lifetime tenure for a huge increase in salary. Yes the increase would pay teachers more properly for their job and it would keep teachers on their toes and force them to strive for excellence year after year. However, if the accountability standards are going to be with test scores it would be very difficult to really determine if that is the way to encourage learning of knowledge in the classroom. Teaching to a test can be both productive and costly depending on how the class is structured and maybe with this new plan we can finally see the results that we should expect from our school system.