Help Each Other!

The edutopia article about the schools in Shanghai was very interesting. It explained how they were able to improve the performance of underperforming schools by pairing the lower school with a high performing one. The teachers from the better performing school would work with the other teachers and help them understand what they needed to do to improve. Instead of the teachers just having a single meeting, they would work together to develop lesson plans and the mentor teacher would observe the lessons being taught. It provided a lot of support for the teachers needing to improve. I feel like this would be a way better idea than leaving the underperforming schools to their own devices or taking them over financially. I think the assistance is what we need to give teachers because probably those who are not effective aren’t doing so because they don’t want to be, and they would probably benefit.