Teacher of the Year Thomas Acampora {Baltimore Sun photo}

Step 3: Treat teachers like professionals.

In recent years, the public has gotten the equivalent of a backstage pass into Baltimore schools.  Mainstream media - thanks in large part to HBO’s “The Wire” and the documentary “Hard Times at Douglass High” - has provided the public with a raw and sadly accurate depiction of what insiders have known for a long time. Baltimore classrooms are hurting.

Then, there are the not-so-mainstream reminders.  Remember Ms. Berry?  Sure you do.  She was the art teacher from Reginald F. Lewis High School who had her clock thoroughly cleaned by a teenage girl while students stood around cheering her attacker on.  According to her administrators, Ms. Berry was at fault because she used “trigger words” to provoke the incident.  Naturally, the whole thing was recorded with a cell phone for the YouTube nation to gawk at and national news outlets to lead with.  A few seconds of shaky video were able to bring home to the public what pages of stale statistics couldn’t.

A large part of the problem lies with the devolving perception of teachers - particularly those in urban public school settings.  Gone is the time when teachers were treated as intellectuals, guardians of knowledge and custodians of thought.  Now, in too many schools, they’ve become glorified babysitters with college degrees.  If only.

What’s the going rate for a baby sitter?  Five bucks per kid per hour?  Multiply that by 30 kids and seven-hour work days and you’d be looking at teachers pushing $200K a year pre-tax.  Imagine all the BMWs in the faculty lot. If only.

It’s taken a perfect storm to cut the teaching profession down to size, with damaging winds of change coming from many directions.    There was a story my grandfather once told me about his dad, a former teacher at Poly.  The principal had come into his classroom during a lesson.  Apparently his presence was a major interruption.   So much so that my great-grandfather allegedly stopped the lesson, calmly placed his chalk on his desk, and bellowed at the administrator, “Get the hell out of my classroom! You’re distracting my students!”  The administrator left.  And nothing was ever said about it.

Extreme case, certainly.  But it underscores what’s happening now.  Teachers are impotent.  And the students know it.  Teachers can no longer send disruptive kids out of the classroom; they’ll be shuffled back in the following day.  Teachers can’t give failing kids the grades they actually earn; the minimum grade teachers can pencil in on a report card is a 55, even if the student showed up twice, set a trash can on fire and threw half the classroom textbooks out the window.  Teachers can’t even call for help; many schools don’t have working intercoms.

What’s worse, the weakening of teachers’ authority has come at a time when their responsibilities have grown.  They’re required to perform educational alchemy, getting kids who are performing at five and six years below grade level to pass standardized tests.  And they’re expected to be surrogate parents, providing everything from school supplies to lessons in morals.  Of course, most teachers have no problem filling in as foster parents.  It’s a part of the job that many embrace.  But being a parent without the powers of a parent makes the job practically impossible.

Then, there’s the aspect of training.  Professional development in the city is neither professional nor developmental.  In my experience, it’s consisted of educational wonks with countless degrees (yet no real teaching experience) visiting schools like traveling snake oil salesmen, selling the latest pedagogical cure.  They slap a brand spanking new name on an existing strategy and have a highly-paid consultant deliver a two-hour crash course in implementation.  Teachers are then directed to begin using this new/old strategy immediately.  Repeat the process four or five times a year, and you’ve got a pretty good idea of how it works.

Commensurate respect, real authority and meaningful training are linchpins of any profession.  The Baltimore City Public Schools System has traditionally failed to provide that to its teachers.  But it’s correctable.

Start by supporting teachers’ efforts.  Stand with them when they’re forced to make difficult decisions, like disciplining a child or, God forbid, defending themselves.  Trust teachers to determine what they need to build a successful classroom, and provide them with the administrative backing to make it happen.  If a kid is kicked out of class, don’t cycle them back in to repeat the behavior.  Find placement for them that will provide the best opportunity to learn, whether it’s a different learning track or a different school.

And finally, stop approaching professional development like we’re training teachers to operate a forklift.  Give them learning opportunities with substance.  Bring in teachers who’ve experienced success teaching in similar situations, not career educational policymakers.  Conduct intensive, full-scale classes for teachers during the summer months-and pay them while they learn.  And, if needed, have mentors accompany teachers in the classroom to help implement these strategies initially.  Show them that these approaches can work.

Most importantly, after all of these supports are provided, hold teachers accountable for results.  They’re professionals.  They must be expected to perform that way.

Previously:

Introduction to the series

Step 1: Leave magnet schools alone.

Step 2: Rediscover what worked before.

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