Students for Teachers, Yale University
Spring 2003
This is the inaugural issue of a publication sponsored by Students for Teachers, a non-profit organization founded last spring by a group of Yale University students "deeply concerned with the future of public education in America" who seek to create a voice for students in the education reform debate. Among the more interesting articles is a column by Aaron Tang who believes that, in order for states to meet the highly-qualified teacher challenge of NCLB, they must reduce the certification barriers that prevent many qualified candidates from entering the field, while also raising teacher pay to attract more highly qualified professionals. In related articles, Ethan Hutt argues for career ladders for teachers that reward quality, rather than simply experience and degrees earned, and Adam Brenner challenges policy leaders to consider merit pay as a way to increase teacher accountability. As a group, the authors of this journal seem mostly to be out-of-the-box thinkers who are open to new remedies for old problems. (Of course they're also quite young!) It can be found at http://www.yale.edu/sft/our%20education-spring03.pdf.