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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]BASIS doesn't have a policy that prefers professional educators OR subject matter experts in hiring.

I wonder what their commitment is to quality teaching and how they will support teachers in the quest to fulfill BASIS's promises.

Go ahead, Booster. I'm talking to you. Spell it out.[/quote]

Firstly, mere fact of having a teaching license is not necessarily the same thing as being a "professional educator".  There's a matter of definition there.

Secondly, quite a few of the BASIS teaching staff ARE subject matter experts - whereas DCPS and most other schools do NOT have subject matter experts teaching middle school.
[/quote]

Firstly, pp did not mention a teacher's license as being synonymous with being a "professional educator."  The discussion has been about the level of teaching experience among BASIS faculty and the school not clarifying that about all its teachers.

Secondly, your point about teaching staff being "subject matter experts" is quite vague and again suggests a lack of teaching experience.  Does "subject matter expert" apply to a person who holds a BA or more in the subject who is starting their first year of full-time teaching?  If a member of the teaching staff had a degree in education but little or no experience teaching, would they be called "professional educators?"

If BASIS is using these terms to describe its faculty, it is legitimate to ask what the terms mean and exactly how they apply to the BASIS DC faculty.[/quote]

As pointed out - "it's a matter of definition" and there is no uniform or concrete definition for what "professional educator" means.  One could define anyone who makes a living at teaching as "professional educator" but there are no further conclusions to be drawn beyond that.  So it's a term that really doesn't add anything to the conversation.

Secondly, with regard to subject matter, it means things like the teacher teaching science knows and loves science and, actually got a degree in that subject, as opposed to just getting an education degree and winging it through an unfamiliar curriculum with only bare knowledge, unable to answer any deeper questions that students might (and will) ask.  Teaching becomes the easy part when you have a passion for the subject matter.  It makes it interesting and exciting for the students, and doesn't leave them frustrated when the teacher can't answer their questions (as happens in many schools now).  The way our education system has evolved, it has made it all completely backward, with all the emphasis on the activity of teaching as opposed to the real purpose of the subject matter itself.[/quote]

Not at the middle and high school level.  I have a BS in biology with certification in secondary education.  I had to take certification tests in my subject area in order to get licensed to teach biology.  There is no such thing as a general "secondary education degree" in any state that I'm aware.  Of course you need a degree in your subject matter.

If BASIS teachers are not certified, then I don't know what their criteria is for determining whether a teacher is qualified to teach a certain subject.  But saying that the education system has "evolved" in the way you describe is flat out incorrect.[/quote]

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