Conversations Between TFA's Wendy Kopp and NEA's Dennis Van Roekel

This from Ed Week:

Teach For America founder and CEO Wendy Kopp and NEA President Dennis Van Roekel had a substantive discussion about the teaching profession today, showing that while some of their strategies for improving it may differ, they're on the same page on many issues.

Though set up as a press conference on the Department of Education's teacher-training reform initiatives, the Q & A opportunity morphed into a conversation between Kopp and Van Roekel—with such interesting comments on both sides that we reporters eventually just sat and listened to it unfold.

Kopp and Van Roekel probably agreed on about 90 percent of the things they discussed, parting ways in only a few instances. For example, both made a point of saying they really want to get beyond negative stereotyping of the teaching profession. Kopp lamented: "For the last 20 years, we've been blaming kids and families [for poor achievement], and then ... it went to blaming teachers."

Both agreed that school systems need to do a better job of improving the teaching force, through a combination of strong preparation, recruiting practices, and teacher support...