This guy like all right wingers simply has a union busting agenda on this issue and little more. First, they look at education like a for-profit business and students as little machines that just need to be "fixed" by the "best classroom mechanics." So if you just pay the best "mechanics" more money, they will do a better job "fixing" the "broken" kids. That is NOT how it works. The education process is VERY complex, and most teachers are NOT motivated by money. If they were, they would not be teaching in the first place. Some of the best teachers are assigned to the most challenging students who may only show minimal progress. That is not the fault of the teachers. There are many other factors such as family life, parenting, economic status, etc. When you are talking about middle and high school level teachers with 100 or more students, you can't evaluate those teachers exactly the same as those with smaller self-contained classrooms. Most school systems already expect teachers to get a masters degree, and most do, there is constant professional development for recertification, and schools are already filled with batteries of standardized testing and numerous interventions to assist struggling learners. The way to provide excellent education is to have a good administration which supports the staff, establishes a congenial work environment, and establishes a school culture from top to bottom that the school is about learning and growing and that bad behavior will not be tolerated. Then teachers must be expected to be good classroom managers and good instructors. Learning to be an effective teacher takes time. Usually three to five years of practice before real proficiency is reached. It is a very complex process. So this idea that these fresh-out-of-college folks are going to walk into classrooms and be "excellent" on day one is just bunk. Just pure bunk. As to schemes like charter schools, some work and some don't. Those that do work do so for the same reasons that good public schools do, as I have said above. The unions strongly support good, effective teaching and have laid out time and again how best to accomplish it (much being what I have said) and how best to evaluate teachers which is through looking at multiple areas and with the right kind of observational evaluations by multiple veteran educators. The unions just don't believe that teachers should be evaluated based solely on standardized test scores due to the myriad factors which affect standardized test score results.
the teacher is only one piece. The administration, the PARENTS, and the STUDENTS THEMSELVES must also take THEIR responsibility. Scarborough and his ilk don't know a damn thing.
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