Bad Teachers: The Essential Guide for Concerned Parents

This handbook for parents is sure to spark controversy. ""In the legal definition of incompetence, the children are irrelevant,"" the author correctly points out in his discussion of our nation's public schools. He is careful to remind us that teaching is an almost impossible task, and that most teachers range from competent to excellent. School administrators will still panic when they see how Strickland educates parents in how to handle a parent-teacher conference and, when that fails, how to bypass on-site administrators and seek aid from the school board. More anecdotal and less academic than most books in this field, Strickland proves his points with a series of hypothetical vignettes, including realistic translations from a teacher's lingo to English. Before he became an educational consultant, Strickland was clearly a good teacher and a savvy administrator; he incorporates learning styles, learning disabilities, legal caveats and behind-the-scenes politics in this helpful guide. He reminds us that ""teaching is a service industry"" and that increasingly the best college students avoid teaching, while many of the best teachers leave the profession. Most importantly, Strickland drives home the grave importance of protecting children from bad teachers and answers the specter of the public school bureaucracy with a refreshing dose of realpolitik. ""Save your own,"" Strickland says. And he tells parents just how to do just that. (Mar.)