Guest Commentary: Let These Teachers … Teach

The most important determinant of a school’s success in advancing student learning is the effectiveness of its teachers. And all students, particularly students of color, benefit from a diverse teacher workforce. For the last several years, more of Philadelphia’s teacher vacancies have been filled with aspiring educators who want to make an impact on the lives of students but who do not yet hold certification.

This trend has had a marked impact, with one in every three teachers in Philadelphia’s lowest-performing district schools holding an “emergency permit”. However, the emergency-permitted teachers in our schools who have answered the call to teach in an era of declines in certification program enrollment are not a problem to solve; they represent an opportunity.

These are talented ed