Wellesley Centers for Women 

Wellesley Centers for Women

Wellesley Centers for Women

Commentary: Creating Equitable Schools with Teachers at the Forefront

• News
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• Peggy McIntosh
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• SEED

Research & Action Report, Spring/Summer 2011

by Peggy McIntosh, Ph.D.

U.S. education is in trouble . Many types of school reform have been proposed and tried, but most are not working. They are not creating real solutions to problems. I believe that education reform will continue to falter unless it treats teachers as whole human beings, not as neutral pass-throughs, or as failing parts of machinery. Too often teachers are punished, disrespected, and excluded from conversations on what might actually make education successful for all of our students. What teachers know, what they can contribute, is left out of most efforts to reform education. We cannot change our schools, our systems, without respecting the deep experience of teachers.