Panel discusses importance of teaching and educational inequity

Tufts community members came together on Tuesday for a panel discussion, entitled "One Goal, Many Paths: Addressing the Challenge of Educational Inequity," which featured three panelists from different educational backgrounds. The event, which took place in the Lincoln Filene Center Rabb Room, was co-sponsored by Teach for America and the Eliot-Pearson Department of Education.

Howard Woolf, associate director of the Experimental College, served as the moderator for the panel and first introduced the three panelists, including Steve Cohen, senior lecturer of education, Josh Bieber, executive director of the Massachusetts chapter of Teach for America, and Randall Lahann, director of curriculum and assessment of Match Charter Public School's Teacher Residency program.

Woolf began by posing a number of questions to the panelists.

"How [do] we deal with educational inequity?” he asked, citing that eight percent of children growing up in poverty will graduate college by age 24. "What are the ways to address that?”

Woolf then asked the panelists how they would advise students considering a career in education.

"There are tons of different ways to get into the profession," Bieber said, underscoring the need for more talented and dedicated people in teaching.

He explained that the three most important components are to get an education, to teach and to be thoughtful.

Lahann also underscored the large number of ways to make a difference in the field of education and the meaningfulness of teachers arriving in their profession by different routes, encouraging students to choose the path if it fits them best.

"There has to be something that really angers you," he said, noting the need for those interested in education to have a specific reason for choosing the profession.

"I would research and really see if teaching really is that way to save the world that you want to do,” Lahann added.

Cohen emphasized that throughout the thousands of school districts across the United States, all students need good teachers. He also discussed the importance of understanding the material that a teacher chooses to teach.

"What a teacher brings to the classroom is creativity and a mind and thinking of who the students are in front of him or her," Cohen said.

Woolf then asked the panelists for what changes they see as most necessary for the educational system in Massachusetts.

Lahann cited the need to encourage technique in teaching, explaining that Match Charter School, a public school in Boston, views an increased focus on technique as a way to help new teachers survive.

Secondly, Lahann emphasized the lack of teachers of color returning to teach in their communities -- a decision that, if made, may allow teachers to be successful members of a community.

"We desperately need more teachers of color choosing teaching and being well prepared," he said.

Cohen discussed the importance of making class sizes smaller, particularly at the elementary school level. He also noted the importance of real training during a teacher's higher education, explaining that both the technique and intellectual work of teaching help make a person a better teacher.

Further, Cohen mentioned that frequent turn-over in schools functions as a disservice to a school's institutional memory.

Bieber spoke more from the perspective of a policymaker, citing, for instance, the development of policy structure incentives that help motivate strong people to come into teaching. He also discussed the need to make schools more autonomous in managing their resources.

Next, Woolf asked panelists where money for increased funding of schools might come from.

Cohen proposed re-channeling money spent on standardized testing and subsequent scoring costs, noting that he believes it is senseless to evaluate teachers by test scores.

"It's a waste of money and time," he said.

However, Bieber emphasized that while funding is vital, it is not the sole determinant for a school's success. Instead, he argued that there is still a need for individual people to be involved in the hard and arduous work needed in urban low-income settings.

"The simple concept that dollars equal success isn’t always true," he said. "It’s not just about a ballot initiative to get more funding."

Cohen asked audience members to consider how much the U.S. government spends on wars versus on education.

Woolf then opened the conversation up to questions from the audience. One participant asked the panelists to further discuss how to get teachers of color to return to their communities.

Cohen said that before teachers of color can return to teach in their communities, the dynamics of these schools must be changed so that these teachers can successfully implement more improvements. He added that one of the first jobs of a teacher is not just teaching the students, but also finding allies among the faculty in order to lead the necessary changes.

Lahann said that he has seen changes on the curriculum level, but that it is vital to bring knowledge or experience of the community into a classroom. He noted that while there has been a lot of progress, it's a "matter of time and demography."

Bieber discussed Teach for America's journey of progress toward being more equitable and the need for cultural learning.

"You can become part of a community, but you have to be invited," he said.

Another audience member asked about the purpose of education, which Bieber identified as a way for people to grow and gain opportunities to grow. Lahann mentioned the need for kids across zip codes to have the same choices through more equal opportunities.