Generation Schools Use Different Approach to Teacher Quality

The Generation Schools model and its pilot school, Brooklyn Generation public high school in New York City, are implementing different reforms centered on two goals: recruiting more talented people into the teaching profession, and raising the stakes and incentives for existing teachers, particularly those in high-poverty schools. The model's use of people and time to solve design problems represents a new way of thinking about how to approach the teacher quality challenge in public education.
Here's some approaches used by the Generation Schools model:

• Teachers aren't isolated, but rather organized into grade- and subject-based teams with blends of different expertise and experience.
• Regular (daily) and ongoing teacher collaboration and planning are built into the day. Ninety minute classes of about 14 students are taught in the morning and the afternoons are divided into shorter elective courses. This allows two hours of daily planning.
• Two times a year, grade-based teaching teams take a four-week break -- three weeks to rest and one week to work with their team and observe colleagues.
• A school year in this model is 200 days for students and occurs for the same cost as a regular school.

Read Education Sector's Report on Generation Schools and check out their website.