Wash Post: “single most important factor in helping children learn is the quality of their teachers” – WRONG!

The Washington Post began an editorial yesterday supporting the Obama Administration’s misguided attempt to “reform” teacher prep programs with a blatantly false statement:

“RESEARCH HAS shown that the single most important factor in helping children learn is the quality of their teachers.”

Actually, all research has shown that factors outside a teacher’s control influence between two-thirds and ninety percent of a student’s academic performance.

You can read about that research at The Best Places To Learn What Impact A Teacher & Outside Factors Have On Student Achievement.

The editorial is just another of what I described in yesterday’s post on Scapegoating Teachers.