Reflection on KQED's Forum: McKinsey Report on Education- Archive 12/2007

I found the discussion on the McKinsey Report on Education very thought-provoking. The guests on the show were from various educational backgrounds and brought an array of perspectives to the topic. Although I work in a parochial school, I see many teachers experiencing similar frustrations to the problems mentioned by the guests on the show. Most teachers feel frustrated by the lower pay. However, the issue that I see becoming more apparent is that many new teachers feel frustrated by the lack of professional development funds and collegial training.

The first priority in education should be helping teachers become more successful at their profession. We can only expect our students to be highly-motivated, successful, and creative if we, as teachers, strive to do the same. I have heard teachers in various settings comment on the fact that teachers are not treated as professionals. I think that in order to earn that respect, we must make sure that we are developing ourselves as professionals. I, like several of the participants in the Forum discussion, feel that one key to helping teachers become better professionals and better educators of children is to give teachers opportunities for collegial support and professional development within the school. I enjoy attending outside workshops and often feel renewed enthusiasm for teaching after attending them. However, these workshops can be costly for schools and are not available to teachers in many areas. A less costly alternative discussed by Catherine Lewis of Mills College was for teachers to engage in lesson study as it is done in Japan.

I realize that most teachers don't enjoy being observed, but most of us enjoy observing and learning from other teachers. During my graduate studies, I had the opportunity to observe fellow student teachers and Master teachers. Observation, reflection, and feedback (giving and receiving) were essential elements in my graduate program. Although it was challenging, I began to enjoy the feedback. In fact, I found it difficult during my first year of teaching when I was no longer receiving consistent feedback and reflection time.

I feel that having opportunities for collegial feedback would help me become a better teacher. In order to make this happen, all schools should have mentoring programs for new teachers or for teachers that have made transitions to very different grade levels than those in which they previously taught. Schools should also provide teachers with common planning time. If schools do not have the resources to provide substitute teachers periodically so that the classroom teacher can observe a colleague, the school should arrange a schedule that allows teachers to use one preparation period periodically to observe and give feedback to colleagues. I would also enjoy discussing teaching strategies and models of pedagogy in a discussion group. Although our time is very limited, our profession and our students are too important to neglect our professional development needs.

I think that teachers often feel pressured to teach all of the standards as quickly as possible. I believe that the California State Content Standards are important because they give teachers in California common goals at specific grade levels. During the discussion on Forum, Carlos Garcia, the Superintendent of San Francisco schools, made an important curricular point. He said that "textbooks are now the curriculum." I think that teachers often worry about straying from the manual because they want to ensure that they teach all of the California Content Standards. The standards themselves should not be the only objectives to which we limit our teaching.

Like Carlos Garcia, I feel that No Child Left Behind has has some important consequences in the field of education. However, I feel that public schools often focus too much on preparing for tests so that they can meet statistical goals rather than focusing on developing critical thinkers.


I became a teacher after following a circuitous path that led me from working with children to almost attending law school. I had enjoyed working with children in many different capacities and I am from a family of teachers. Because of this, I initially resisted the idea of teaching. The corporate world looked far more glamorous. After working in the corporate world for a time, I realized that my love was working with children, helping them learn, and learning from them.

I enjoyed listening to the podcast of the program. The audio-only program allowed me to focus only on the message of the speakers without being distracted.