I am very frustrated by the lack of investment from many of our “best teachers” in helping mentor their less experienced and less confident colleagues.
In a post in May, I raised the question – Do experienced teachers give enough back to the profession? I argued that these experienced teachers could be a vital resource for improving teacher quality.
It seems President Obama agrees:
President Barack Obama on Wednesday proposed a $1 billion program to recruit high-performing math and science teachers to mentor and evaluate their peers and help students excel.
The so-called Master Teacher Corps program calls for recruiting 2,500 such educators at the outset and increasing that to 10,000 over four years, paying them $20,000 stipends on top of their base salaries. Each teacher would be required to serve at least four years.
To help launch the program, the Obama administration has pledged to release $100 million already available to school districts that have made plans to develop and retain effective teachers of science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the plan would raise the prestige of the profession and increase teacher retention.
I just wish experienced teachers could offer more voluntarily without having to be bribed to help with costly incentives.
Click on the link to read my post, Do experienced teachers give enough back to the profession?
Topical Teaching 