Are you starting a Student Teaching assignment after the new year?  If so, make sure to check out these Student Teaching Survival Tips in order to make the most of your time in training.

I think the most important way for a student teacher to impress the school staff is to listen carefully, choose words wisely, and volunteer to help wherever you can.

What advice do you have for student teachers?

Merit pay for teachers is always a hot topic among those in the field of Education.  Should teachers be rewarded with extra cash when they turn out exceptional results?  Should they be docked pay for not meeting certain standards?

While these concepts may sound reasonable to professionals in other fields, it's not the way things have traditionally been done in schools.  So do you think Education should adapt into a pay-for-results model?  If you're undecided on the issue, check out the Pros and Cons of Merit Pay for Teachers.

In last week's discussion of the factors that influence student success, the majority of the comments echoed the sentiment that the quality of parental involvement plays a major role in how well students perform in school.  Commenter Carolyn summed it up as such:

Unfortunately, many of their parents do not see the need for algebra, history or other basics that make a student a well-rounded person. The parents are often not well educated, either. If we could break this cycle, our test scores would go up because the student would have bought into the notion that education is needed.

Do you think this assertion is taking the concept too far?  Do parental attitudes about education directly impact student scores?

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert recently examined a new program being offered by Harvard University designed to award doctoral degrees to a new generation of leaders in Education.  He also lays out the compelling - and frankly depressing - case for why such a program is urgently needed today.  Interestingly, the program is going to be run "tuition-free."  That's certainly an innovative approach.

To me, the most shocking and demoralizing fact from the article was: "An American kid drops out of high school at an average rate of one every 26 seconds."  Wow.  It's mind-boggling.

What skills do you think today's Education leaders should be taught?