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Jill, I really enjoyed this article! It is an interesting perspective for me, an elementary teacher, who never gets a chance to witness the great things that are being done at the high school level. Like you, I think it's truly important for higher education discussions to begin earlier than high school...the earlier, the better. Students need to have the mentality that they CAN and WILL go to college because it is their educational right, despite any hardships they may have to face. Building excitement in school based on school spirit days (Represent Your Alma Mater Day) or field trips to see what is available can instill the excitement and motivation of higher education. Thanks for sharing!

Wow! Jill what a great program to be a part of. How do your students react to this experience? Are they open to asking questions? Do they show genuine interest and intrigue? Also, I agree that there needs to be a "YES I CAN" attitude. This takes more than just a teacher though. It takes a the school as a community to instill these ideas into students. By teaching students the possibilities and starting their intrigue in higher education earlier, I think there can be a change in mind-set. At the high school level, I see many of my ELL students doubt their abilities or chances of attending college, so they never allow that dream to come into their minds. With the right encouragement and guidance, this can change.

Great article Jill. Pike started a really neat college initiative this year that involved the elementary, middle and high schools. It involved teachers discussing colleges during academic advisory times, decorating classrooms and wearing college gear on certain days. Although I do not have college bound students in my classroom, we still decorated my door and I had several students come in my classroom asking about IU. I was able to share my experience with them. This initiative was able to provide students with a chance to talk with teachers about real life experiences. I don't know what they were doing at the elementary level, but I would be interested to see what activities took place, as I think early exposure is necessary. It would be worthwhile to also have parents involved at an early age, especially for students whose parents did not attend college.

This article discusses how teachers who work to improve students test scores are leaving a lasting impression on their students. The more education they are getting by "good teachers" increases the students chances of succeeding. Teachers are working to improve these students test scores and while they are doing this the students are learning more than just what is needed to pass the tests. Schools need better teachers to help students in the long run.

"Mr. Jones might regularly help raise test scores more than Ms. Smith, but maybe that is because his students are from wealthier families, or because he has a harder-working class - factors that can be difficult for researchers to discern. " This quote stood out to me because it is similar to the argument against merit based pay for teachers in Indiana. We all know that students come to us with an array of prior knowledge, much of which is based on previous experiences and their environment. However, all students are capable of academic growth. What's the harm in evaluating teachers based on the growth their students made during the school year?

I knew I want to be a teacher since fourth and fifth grade when I had Mr. Cearfoss. He was one of those effective teachers who changed my life by making me feel successful on a daily basis and believe that I could be successful on a daily basis if I saw value in everything I did. Kind of deep for a fourth and fifth grade teacher, but I remember him attending my baseball games late in the evenings and calling home when he thought I was slacking. He made it clear to me, and the rest of the students, that while he cared about our education in his classroom, he cared even more that we used our education to make the right decisions in our lives after we left his classroom. The average effect of one teacher on a single student is modest. I did not find it surprising that, according to the article, "All else equal, a student with one excellent teacher for one year between fourth and eighth grade would gain $4,600 in lifetime income, compared to a student of similar demographics who has an average teacher. The student with the excellent teacher would also be 0.5 percent more likely to attend college." This is the power that vested, compassionate teachers can have on a student's life. While some of my students will say they like me and others will say the exact opposite, all my students would say that I care about them and care about their success. When a student feels that a person, especially a teacher, cares and believes in them, that student will strive to retain that faith others have in him/her.