Coming soon from Teachers College Press

Teaching 2030: What We Must Do for Our Students and Our Public Schools —Now and in the Future

by Barnett Berry and the TeacherSolutions 2030 Team

In the raging controversy over how to fix the nation’s underperforming schools, the voices of America’s best teachers are seldom heard. Now, in a provocative book about the future of teaching and learning, 12 of America’s most accomplished classroom educators join a leading advocate for a 21st-century teaching profession to bring expert classroom know-how and fresh policy ideas to the school reform debate.

Together they identify trends that will shape the learning experience of the next iGeneration and propose actions to guarantee that every student will have excellent teachers. Policymakers and the public, they say, must work with teachers to:

• Create a richer learning experience for students and teachers, and better ways to measure school success;

• Accelerate digital learning while reinventing brick and mortar schools as 24/7 support hubs for students and families;

• Reimagine teaching as a well-paid career with many pathways, where teaching expertise is constantly spread;

• Establish a leadership force of 600,000 “teacherpreneurs” — classroom experts who teach students regularly while also serving as teacher educators, researchers, community organizers, and trustees of their profession.

Advance praise for Teaching 2030:

“A fresh take on the real future of teaching, Teaching 2030 delves into the myriad of issues that face teachers today and will confront them in the future. They point out how we should restructure accountability and more, in order to provide our nation’s children the education they deserve.” — Richard Riley, former U. S. Secretary of Education and former Governor of South Carolina

“Teaching 2030 is a brilliant look at the future of teaching in America from the perspective of those who know most about what it is and should be. Everyone who cares about teaching and learning should read this book.” — Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University

“This provocative work is a welcome contribution to thinking about how we can get our kids the teachers they need.”— Frederick M. Hess, Director of Education Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute

“Teaching 2030 is a remarkable, revolutionary picture of the future of our schools. Blasting the intellectual meltdown shaping too much of today's education policy, Berry and his colleagues reveal extraordinary opportunities to improve our schools and serve every student. Deeply respectful of teachers, Teaching 2030 proposes how teachers and support professionals can help craft and take more ownership of their professions. This is an exciting and hopeful vision of possibility.” — Dennis Van Roekel, president, National Education Association

About the authors

Barnett Berry is founder and president of the Center for Teaching Quality, based in North Carolina—a nonprofit that seeks to dramatically improve student achievement nationwide by conducting timely research, crafting smart policy, and cultivating teacher leadership. The TeacherSolutions 2030 Team includes Jennifer Barnett (Alabama) • Kilian Betlach (California) • Shannon C’de Baca (Iowa) • Susie Highley (Indiana)• John M. Holland (Virginia) • Carrie J. Kamm (Illinois) • Renee Moore (Mississippi) • Cindi Rigsbee (North Carolina) • Ariel Sacks (New York) • Emily Vickery (Florida) • Jose Vilson (New York) • Laurie Wasserman (Massachusetts).

The development of Teaching 2030 was generously supported by MetLife Foundation.

Pre-order now at Amazon or Barnes & Noble

In a recent interview with prominent teacher-blogger Larry Ferlazzo, CTQ president and CEO Barnett Berry expressed deep concern over the “near uniform enmity” among journalists and pundits toward traditional teacher education programs and teacher unions. “(T)here is a lot wrong with both preparation programs and teacher unions,” Berry told Ferlazzo. “But their shortcomings are pale when compared to the administrators who seek to silence even the best teachers, the ideological researchers who produce shoddy evidence about what works or doesn’t, and the politicians who make decisions about the best interests of themselves and the lobbyists who influence them, and not about students and the teachers who serve them. I would suggest the pushback against teacher education and unions is more about those who do not want a well-educated professional workforce, filled with empowered teachers who will not necessarily comply with those currently in power.”

Asked by Ferlazzo what he would do if he were Secretary of Education, Berry said he'd begin by creating "a public engagement campaign to promote teaching as a knowledge-based profession. My approach would be on the order of what the federal government did to promote the idea that cigarette smoking was bad for our health. Second, I would develop incentives for P-12 schools, higher education, health and social service providers, and community-based organizations to align resources and programs to serve students and their families. Finally, I would pay for 20,000 highly prepared teachers annually — through the urban teaching residency model — and build a plan for spreading their expertise in and out of cyberspace." Read the complete interview.

CTQ President Barnett Berry and Renee Moore, part of the Teacher Leaders Network and the TeacherSolutions 2030 team, have published "The Teachers of 2030" in May's issue of Educational Leadership (log in is required to read the full text). This edition of the journal focuses on "the key to changing the teaching profession." Berry and Moore share the voices of the TeacherSolutions 2030 team, offering a compelling glimpse into the forces shaping the future of education - and the lead teachers will take in preparing students and schools for a successful future. If you're thinking that's a topic worthy of a whole book, you won't be disappointed. The Teachers of 2030 is forthcoming from Teachers College Press, offering an extended look at the future of teaching and learning - and starting a conversation about how we get where we need to go.

Often times the debates over teaching quality tailspin into either/or propositions: Paying teachers for any year of experience and credential versus paying them for producing higher student achievement scores on once-a-year standardized tests. In Florida this debate is very hot. Education Policy Council Chair Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel has claimed that “We have so many great teachers in the state of Florida and we've got to find creative ways to reward them." Unfortunately the proposed legislation looks like many failed merit pay plans of the past – penalizing school districts that do not toss aside their current salary schedules and pay teachers for test score gains.....

On April 5, 2010, Barnett Berry testified before the Florida House Education Policy Council about a bill that proposes changes to teachers' contracts, including a performance pay measure that has drawn criticism for its narrow reliance on standardized tests as the sole measure of student achievement. You can read a news article about the hearing and view Barnett Berry's presentation slides.

The Professional Educator Standards Board of Washington State held their first meeting of the year this week. On March 24, Barnett Berry led a panel via conference call from Denver, CO (where power thankfully stayed connected during a sudden snow storm). Berry discussed the urban teacher residency (UTR) model and its implications for teacher preparation. You can view his presentation slides to learn about several current UTR programs and their components.