Blaming teachers won’t fix problems

James L. Kring, Las Vegas

Wednesday, March 23, 2011 | 2:03 a.m.

Now retired, my wife and I have developed curricula and taught in early childhood, K-12 and college classrooms. A few thoughts:

• Teachers have become an easy target for budget-busting politicians. We need a massive paradigm shift in public education, but we don’t know how to implement it. So we blame the classroom teacher for our failures, while having her buy her own supplies. Yes, this is a women’s issue. Too many kids, impossible demands, reduced pay, little appreciation.

• Grandfather in currently certified teachers in the existing pay/benefits system. Then hire probationary new teachers for one year. Guide, supervise, evaluate. Then offer successful new teachers a firm three-year contract, renewable yearly. If a teacher falters, don’t renew the contract. Establish commensurate pay grades similar to other government agencies (e.g., T-1, T-5, T-9). Master’s degrees, longevity pay and tenure become nonissues. This offers reasonable job security and accountability.

• Establish a nonpartisan, unpaid think tank with diverse civic-minded folks. Have it accept innovative, simply stated ideas from everywhere in the known universe. Compile the top 10 ideas. File the next 100 and throw out the rest. Then hire a retired (noneducator, nonunion, nonpolitician) entrepreneurial outsider to figure implementation and costs.

• Don’t promise “no new taxes” when our children are educationally starving. We need to invest lots of money in after-school, family outreach and summer enrichment programs.

Hey, it isn’t rocket science, but for some lucky kid it could be.