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!