Every population of kids is different and they arrive at school
at various points on the ready to learn continuum. Schools and
teachers must be accountable, but there should be various
measures of judging teacher effectiveness for a particular
population of children. Perhaps, more time and effort should be
spent in developing a strong principal corps and giving
principals the training and assistance in evaluation and
mentoring techniques. The Ed Trust report, entitled “Building
and Sustaining Talent: Creating Conditions in High-Poverty
Schools That Support Effective Teaching and Learning,” examines
how several districts have handled the issue of teacher
retention: Specifically, districts should take the following
steps: • Recruit talented school leaders to their highest need
schools, an get them to stay. In addition to the districts
spotlighted earlier, the District of Columbia Public Schools has
taken a rigorous approach to principal recruitment. The district
scours student achievement data from school distr