Brian Crosby, Capital Books, Inc.
2002
Though the title implies that the author will argue for whopping teacher salaries as a way to improve education, Brian Crosby's proposals are actually far more nuanced, though no less controversial. He thinks we've wasted billions on education reform that has been misdirected toward curriculum and standards development, small schools, smaller classes, and--worst of all--state testing. Instead, he says, the only way to improve education is to refocus our resources on improving the teacher workforce. This, in turn, requires establishment of a pay scale that rewards quality and hard work, providing administrators more flexibility to dismiss ineffective teachers, and granting teachers the same perks granted to other kinds of professionals. (Unfortunately, Crosby tends to treat state certification and recognition by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards as proxies for teacher quality.) While conceding that his proposals will be expensive, the author says such an increase would be marginal if we eliminated other--in his view fruitless--reform schemes (including programs such as Title 1) and redirected those resources into teacher salaries and benefits. For information about obtaining this book, go to http://www.100000teacher.com/.
