Think fast: what's the name of your third grade teacher? I'll bet if you can name the teacher, she was someone who left an indelible mark on your life.  She may have taught you a fail-safe method of memorizing the states and their capitols or the magic of the number nine in multiplication.  One special teacher I know, Mrs. Jolly, created a life-long thirst for reading in her young charges by "letting" students earn entry into the classroom lifelike rocket so they could read quietly in a special place. 

In the debate on education all agree that more needs to be done to reshape the current system in order to provide an opportunity for all kids to acquire the skills they will need for future success.  As all roads in the ancient world led to Rome, all research on what makes a good education leads directly to teacher quality.

In fact, study after study show that student performance does in fact hinge on capable teachers.  Value-added assessment studies in Tennessee show that the difference in achievement between students who attended classes taught by high-quality versus those taught by low-quality teachers for three consecutive years in sizable: approximately 50 percentile points on standardized tests (Sanders & Rivers, 1996).

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires that every teacher working in a public school must be highly qualified.  The difficulty is that no one is quite sure how to measure and designate someone as highly qualified.  If is a certificate? Course work and degrees? Content area expertise? Extended student teaching? Likability?

While the experts debate the topic, I suggest an easier identification process: follow the parents' requests.  Word travels quickly at the local school about high quality teachers.  In fact, most schools now discourage parental requests as top teachers' classes often have students put on waiting lists for a chance to be a part of their class.

Teacher quality, although newly discovered, has always been the doorway for student success.  As we look at making refinements in the way we educate our children, it may be that the answer is hidden in full view.  As there would have been no Plato without Socrates, what we are lacking is the institution of a mentoring system that matches a master teacher with new graduates.  This insurance package provides a way to transfer skills and steps to high performance. 

So what's quality got to do with education?  Everything!

When institutions of higher learning have to provide remedial courses for their incoming freshman in order for them to begin taking "college-level" courses....

A March 2006 Morrison Institute Report, "Beat the Odds," surprise everyone by finding that the top factor in performing schools was not more money.  In fact, the opposite seemed to be the dog that barked.  Commissioned to discover the ingredients that contributed to the educational excellence in 12 Arizona schools with predominately poor Latino students, the team from Morrison found that in every case, the people made the difference.  These schools had all of the risk factors that suggest a one-way ticket to declining student performance.  According to the prognosticators, the 12 should have tanked.  But they didn't.  They beat the odds and excelled.  What's more, they continue to do so each year by showing annual increases in student achievement as measured by state tests.

When you draw the curtain back at these campuses, you find people--the teachers, principals, mentors, tutors, and coaches.  The commonality across these schools was marked by leaders who set achievement goals and wouldn't stop until all were accomplished.  Those is the business of excelling education prove daily in the laboratory of action that what really matters are the intagibles: that an enacted vision, common sense and unleashing local talent within each school are the consistent magic bullets.  To quote the report: "Following these practices in successful schools doesn't require major infusions of capital, new teachers or new structures....Rather the evidence suggests, exceptional performance is achievable by virtually any school with the discipline to analyze over and over and keep focusing on what works."

In Arizona a little over 1/5 of the state budget is dedicated to financing public education.  That speaks loudly of the importance this issue is to the citizens of this state.  Let's begin to look at ways that this incredible financial investment can be wedded to the outcome we all desire: quality education for all children so that they can be prepared to take their place in the economic marvel of the USA. By continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different outcome is I believe the definition of insanity. 

As we begin to rethink our state and local financing plan, consider the words of our 34th president, "We succeed only as we identify in life, or in war, or in anything else, a single overriding objective, and make all other considerations bend to that one objective."  Let's agree to identify our objective, regardless of philosophic viewpoints, as the opportunity for a quality education for all.