Focus on Retaining Effective Educators

NEA Executive Committee Member Christy Levings recently wrote an editorial for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). Concerned about recent discussions amongst “education reformers” about ignoring experience as a factor in retaining teachers, Levings related the argument to the medical profession. “No one would question that years of successful practice make a more desirable physician. I firmly agree that the same is true of teachers,” Levings wrote.

Noting the value of having opportunities for educators to advance their knowledge, including the achievement of National Board Certified Teachers, Levings also wrote that the public discourse should be shifted to what we can do to keep the best educators, rather than focus on dismissing others:

The discussion should not be about the picking and choosing of whom to keep and discard. Instead, the conversation should be about what the entire community of policy and education leaders should do to keep talented professionals on the job and schools funded to the level to support every student.

Read the entire editorial on the NBPTS website.