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Teachers who excel among their peers ought to be rewarded with high pay, says a new report by the Goldwater Institute.
The paper sets the tone by kicking off with a quote from New York Times columnist Bob Herbert. After praising “diligent” teachers, Herbert notes:
But there are many, many others who are not remotely interested in these kids. They tell the kids to their faces: ‘I don’t care what you do. I’m still going to get paid.’
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Authors Matthew Ladner, Mark Francis, and Gregory Stone propose a new charter school model in which lousy teachers are replaced by “master teachers.” These talented folks would be so good, they could instruct more kids in each class.
You may have heard that small class sizes are crucial, but that’s just a “myth,” the authors say, arguing that large class sizes work for the South Koreans. Most important is the quality of the teacher, they say.
The report jabs teachers unions and praises Catholic schools, reaching for the lofty goal of reversing “the mistakes of the previous five decades of American public schools.”
