Bill Gates spoke to the Council of Chief State School Officers on November 19. You can find his remarks here. Although the site appears to be editing the comments and striking those that are most critical, we have saved a few for your viewing:
Samantha Marie
This one drove me nuts too:
“We know today that the single most decisive factor in student achievement is excellent teaching. It’s amazing how effective the great teachers are. We should be making the most of their skill. But we don’t. ”
That SHOULD read the factor within school. There are other unmeasurable factors that effect a student’s achievement outside of school, but those factors can not be controled for, so let’s focus on the teachers.
There was one point where I did agree, almost. Yes we aren’t making the most of their (the teachers) skills because of standardized curriculum, enforced pacing guides and testing, teachers have lost their autonomy within their own classrooms. They have lost the ability to BE INNOVATIVE, to use the skills they have to differentiate and address the different learning styles, intelligences, and modalities to effectively educate all children. We are being told what to teach and how to teach it ignoring the fact that any one method will alienate 75% of the student population. I’m just a little frustrated by this. I think all of the “reformers” should have to take a course in educational theory and pedagogy and then then TRY to utilize their new knowledge base in an actual classroom with today’s structures in place. In other words, walk a mile in our shoes.
I really think Mr. Gates should read Diane Ravitch’s “The Death and Life of the Great American school system.” He obviously has NO historical understanding of educational policy. This is to be expected of someone who did not complete the cannon of higher education. If he did have this particular knowledge base he, like others, would understand that the accountability and testing movement ARE the status quo, and it is this exact status quo that has failed our nation’s children. In case you didn’t notice when you were spouting out statistics about flat lines in test scores and achievement rates, it was during the time of high stakes testing and the ideology of test then punish, that achievement stagnated. May I recommend that we focus more on the content of education and less on the outcome, testing. Testing should not be an outcome in and of itself. Teachers are limited in their effectiveness Mr Gates, when they the curricula they are given are flawed in themselves. This effectiveness is further harmed when teachers are stripped of their autonomy and forced to teach ineffective curricula. They are not allowed to deviate from the plan, or embrace teachable moments or review content, even when it’s in the best interests of their students. Mr. Gates, the most “effective” teachers are not the ones with the highest test scores, but the ones who inspire children to WANT to learn.
Today, 13:46:08
TFT
He sounds confused because he is simply trying to create a market for MS to dominate. Again. Forget these reformers who have no idea what they are talking about. Very rich people don’t necessarily have any answers, especially answers that don’t enrich them.
Here is a graphic or two that might help us figure out how to actually reform American Education for the better:
http://www.thefrustratedteacher.com/2010/12/two-charts-about-finlands-education.html
Today, 12:32:38
Bob Dean
Am I the only one who sees the illogic in this presentation? Let me see, there is no benefit from taking graduate courses or earning a Masters degree but we need to make sure that our kids are better educated? And of course the people who are educating them took education courses in order to become a teacher…. Which did nothing! So why are we educating our kids? Evidently, education does nothing. Maybe we need to figure out a different way to measure the affects of education?
“But the remarkable thing about great teachers today is that in most cases nobody taught them how to be great. They figured it out on their own.”
Maybe they did figure it out on their own in which case they don’t need Bill Gates or the Gates foundation to figure it out for them. And they don’t need the electronic gadgets that Bill Gates likes in every part of his life.
In my math classes I use the internet, instructive websites, Khan videos, Youtube, facebook, twitter, interactive online assessments, document cameras, smartboards, and any technical innovation that I can get access to. But you know what tells me the most about how to teach? Looking at the 120 homework papers that I go through every day… What a revelation?
Robert Valiant
Here is a thought. Suggest to Mr. Gates that his proclamations be based on actual research. He could start at
Today, 10:26:29
Caitlin Casement
Mr. Gates seems to be misstating the …research on class size, which is one of only four reforms proven to work to increase learning, according to the Institute of Education Sciences, the research arm of the US DOE, and yet none of the reforms being promoted by Gates or the foundation are on the list. It is also one of the very few reforms that has been shown to significantly narrow the achievement gap.
I also pointed out that contrary to what Mr. Gates writes above, all the controlled studies out of California, and there have been many, found significant gains from class size reduction, even though in many cases, they could only study one cohort, third graders who were in smaller classes for a year or less. The one study that looked at the effect of several years in smaller classes and their effect on NAEP scores (which are considered more reliable than the state tests) found very substantial gains.
Teachers themselves when surveyed at over 95% say that the most effective way to improve the quality of teaching would be to reduce class size. It is also one of the top priorities of public school parents throughout the country. When research, and public school stakeholders support a reform so strongly, why is it that the Gates Foundation should continue to oppose it?
Today, 09:05:46
Schoolgal
I think when history looks back on all this, it will find that you were the catalyst for a generation of students who cannot think or create. This is a job unlike any other job that doesn’t end when the school day ends. Yet you think teachers need to work harder. No! They need to work smarter and that can only happen if each and every student can receive individual attention and an enriched curriculum. Your sardine-can/testing mentality will not support students who need help coping with their own individual struggles that aren’t just academic. If we pressure these kids to pass a test w/o teaching them how to grow into mature, self-respecting adults, then we did not do our job.
Today, 08:08:23
Miriam Cutelis
Let me get this right. So you, Mr. Gates, will send your kids to a public school with 32 kids in the class? I highly doubt it. Have you ever even been in a classroom with that many children for more than an hour? Machanizing education as if our children wire some droids is very scary. Do you really think that by analyzing bits and pieces of video you will get the essence of what makes a great teacher? It is an organic thing that ages and gets better with time. A 2-year TFA teacher may be able to increase standardised test scores yet, the weight and life-changing qualities of these lessons will be watered down and useless for real life-long learning. You should be spending time studying and answering 2 questions.
1. how children learn best and
2. what is the real purpose of education.
Once we answer these questions we will have a better roadmap to our future.
It’s unfortunate that you base your entire research and education-related work on solely standardized tests….a useless form of assessment, that in the end does not provide us with information about what a child is truly able to do.
http://mommyactivist.blogspot.com/2010/11/open-letter-to-arne-duncan.html
Yesterday, 19:39:05
Neil Friesland
I am quite perplexed. I have been in education for a long time and now I am hearing that furthering your education (obtaining a Masters Degree) does not help anyone. No there is no correlation between a Masters Degree and student achievement however it CAN and DOES increase a teachers knowledge Skills and dispositions as a professional education. Most people overlook the variables that contribute to lack of success in the classroom, EX: Motivation, lack of parental support, Culture of learning.
Now, as a professor of Education, I have to tell my teacher candidates that it wont make a difference if you continue on as a life-long learner? It wont increase your success in the classroom, it only means less money schools don’t have to pay out. Yes it is a lucrative career to make 35,000 a year while Bill gates makes billions not putting up with the crap of children day in and day out….. It doesnt make sense
11/30/2010, 08:03:14
“But the remarkable thing about great teachers today is that in most cases nobody taught them how to be great. They figured it out on their own. This is both amazing and troubling.” “Another feature of school budgets is a bump in pay for master’s degrees. But a master’s degree has almost no impact on achievement.” Bill Gates November 19, 2010 http://www.gatesfoundation.org
There is no mystery here. Great teachers first love to learn. They love to share what they have learned. They love it when a student takes what was learned and makes it their own through applied relevant assignments and projects. Great teachers like ministers have a true calling and compassion for their students. Great teachers will sacrifice their time, their energy, their finances, and even their own family to find inroads into each student’s mind under their tutelage. Great teachers will spend hours in the evening and on weekends to develop curriculum, design intriguing lessons, and thinking of ways to explain complex subjects so every student in their classroom will make a connection with understanding and application. Mr. Gates you can’t possibly capture this on film. You will be able to capture great teachers captivating, stretching, and immersing their students in knowledge, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. It is what happens outside the classroom, that make a teacher great.
Great teachers continue their depth of knowledge with master’s degrees, in-services, conferences, and independent readings. Mr. Gates you are right, a master’s degree doesn’t make a great teacher nor make a teacher better if one’s measure is student achievement, but it does expose great teachers to knowledge of pedagogy, philosophy, psychology and assessment in education. These are essential tools to help these great teachers understand critical aspects of their students needs and how to help these students achieve. Does it improve their student scores? No. A master’s degree makes great teachers more efficient. In other words, they spend less time trying new methods to reach each student. Master’s degrees help great teachers reduce redundancies.
Great teachers don’t teach because of money. They choose to be teachers (or should I say teaching chose them) despite financial gain. Great teachers should be paid for helping students become productive citizens and reaching their individual potential. Great teachers should also receive compensation for their depth of knowledge which helps them be more efficient.
Lastly, who is the “god/s” who decides what core competences should be? You tell me what is more important Mr. Gates, a student who can do calculus without being able to apply it to their lives or a student who returns to my classroom years later and quotes me something I said a few days before Christmas when he was in sixth grade. He told me the impact on his life of what I said and then repeated, “Do not dreams of gifts you will receive this season but help others fulfill their dreams.”
Respectfully,
Larry Roberts M.Ed. NBCT
Library Media Teacher
Highlands Middle School
Kennewick, Washington