KIPP, Better Teachers, and another thought

I recently viewed a video with Bill Gates,

He asked "How can we make better teachers", he went on to show the gap from "really good teachers to not so good teachers", he made a comment if we could raise the number of good teachers, it would dramatically affect the number of graduated, and more so the number of college graduates.

He mentioned a couple of great education efforts (one he mentioned was KIPP) in or around Houston Texas.

I got to thinking again, and really wish I could help the foundation try a variation on the most recent idea I blogged about. (see below).

What if we took that idea, and we were able to take the Good teachers, and exponentially expand their sphere of teaching? ie, instead of helping 150 students a day, what if we could expand that to 15000 students per day?

We would need to capture what they do on video, or better yet an interactive learning situation, where the great teachers are supported by teaching staff (either via the web, or at learning centers) across the nation. Remember back to my idea, where we expand the concept from people under 26, to incoming Freshmen in high school.

ie, we offer alternative (or maybe in conjunction with normal education) a way for troubled students to every day attend these "what I would call super classrooms" where they get both one on one support from the "Great Teacher and her staff", and go thru the various subjects that the student has trouble with. If the student excels in the normal classes, great...If they excel in the learning, but want to focus on getting a skill (ie, under 26 idea where by they get accelerated learning on specific skills), they can. It will take infrastructure, and Staffing assignments for the "Great Teacher's and Staff" For example, Take one Great Teacher, she or he teacher their class as normal, except they have the infrastructure to broadcast the class thru to the 15000 students, where the Teacher has a staff of say 50 that can answer the students questions, request one on one time, etc.

Again, a lot has to be flushed out about this idea, but imagine the possibility?? Exponentially expanding the great teachers capabilities to a much larger student audience. The results could be staggering if tried (maybe in small steps)?