The lack of expertise has an impact on student achievement, many principals believe. At Tilton Elementary on the West Side, for example, only 14 percent of students scored at grade level on the ITBS in 1998. The school does not have a single teacher endorsed in mathematics. With help from DePaul University's School Achievement Structure, Tilton has carved out time for teachers to meet and discuss teaching strategies. Each teacher has a schedule of skills to teach.
Administrators monitor classrooms.
Math and science are two fields that, unless you have the skills and the staff development you feel you need to do a great job, teachers tend to do the minimum. Without a specialty, teachers don't have time to learn a subject in enough depth to teach effectively at the upper elementary level, he adds. If you're teaching so many subjects, you're torn. Officially, the state and the board require that teachers who specialize be endorsed in their subject areas. When schools don't, Rutherford says, it's usually because they have only one or two teachers at a grade level.