By 2020, the United States will need to hire more than 3 million teachers. Currently, nationwide, 3.7 million schoolteachers serving grades K-12 will outnumber all doctors, lawyers, and engineers in the country combined. 

Sara Mosle, writer for The Atlantic, however, believes that there are too many teacher-training programs. Each year, she said, these programs churn out twice as many graduates than schools need, and once hired, they are left to either "sink or swim." But how, Mosle asks, do we build better teachers?

"In recent years, several states have adopted controversial accountability measures, known as 'value added' metrics, with a view toward winnowing out poor performers who haven’t produced student improvement on standardized tests; helping teachers hone their craft has seldom made it onto the agenda," she said. "But perhaps we’re finally ready to focus attention on the far bigger and more important question of how to attract and retain the top teachers we want."

Elizabeth Green, a co-founder of Gotham Schools, recently published the book Building Better Teachers. Mosle said it couldn't be better timed. 

"At the heart of Green’s exploration is a powerfully simple idea: that teaching is not some mystical talent but a set of best practices that can be codified and learned through extensive hands-on coaching, self-scrutiny and collaboration," Mosle said. "Yet her account suggests that implementing this vision may entail a bigger transformation than she quite realizes."

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Article by Kassondra Granata, EducationWorld Contributor