A new state-commissioned review of the lowest-performing schools in Indianapolis Public Schools paints a devastating portrait of unprepared teachers, overwhelmed and distracted principals and meddling central office edicts.
The most basic finding, though, was that at most of the schools many teachers either couldn't or didn't teach.
At Northwest High School, for instance, evaluators saw few teachers making lessons interesting and little response from children: "Students in the main are compliant in classes rather than truly engaged."
Professional educators keep coming up with ever-more exotic ways to improve the process, as if we're going to discover something truly new and startling about the way people learn after all this time. Sometimes it really is as simple as rewarding good teachers and getting rid of bad ones.
