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I think that schools that provide GOOD staff development end up with better teachers. I started teaching in the mid-1980s. When I first started it was "Here's the key to your classroom. See you in June." Since the mid-1990s, I've seen far better staff development in schools. Where principals take the time for teachers to learn new methods, or to understand more about the way children learn, the teaching is always of a higher quality.

My biggest concern right now is that school budgets have been slashed, and there no longer any money for this kind of in service training.

I also think that more support staff can make a big difference. When I started teaching there was usually a reading teacher in every elementary school. Sometimes there was a math specialist as well and sometimes a staff developer. But in the mid-1990s we started to get many more out of classroom staff - reading recovery teachers, AIS teachers, etc.

Having more people in the building (not JUST smaller class size) means that there are more people to give individual attention to a child who is struggling.

Again, many of these positions have been cut recently, due to smaller school budgets. We are going back to the way it was when I first started in every way. And that is not a pretty picture.

People think that the schools improved because of the reliance on tests. Then they found out that the whole test score mythology was just that - mythology! But truthfully the school system DID get better in places. But not due to testing! It got better because of more staff and more in service training. And we're about to lose all of that!