Education News – Kristin Decarr
“New research from Brown University has taken a closer look at the importance of the role teachers play in affecting student achievement and other non-cognitive skills that help students succeed later in life — but admits that we don’t know how much. The paper, “Teaching for Tomorrow’s Economy? Teacher Effects on Complex Cognitive Skills and Social-Emotional Competencies,” notes that “the degree to which teachers are developing students’ abilities to apply knowledge in new contexts, learn on the job, and solve unstructured tasks through a combination of creativity, adaptability, and sustained effort remains an open question.” Researchers say this is due to teacher evaluations being largely dependent on student test scores. Doing so does not allow for an adequate picture of how these teachers are affecting student performance on cognitive measures needed to succeed in today’s workforce, they say.”(more)