The survey group Public Agenda has a new study out entitled Rolling Up Their Sleeves that provides an in-depth look at the opinions of principals and superintendents. While the study covers topics ranging from school finances to NCLB, we were particularly interested in what principals and superintendents think about the quality of their teachers. Only 3 percent of school leaders identified a teacher quality deficit as their school's chief problem (unsurprisingly, most thought that insufficient funding was the primary problem). Fewer than a fifth of those surveyed thought that teachers needed to know more about either pedagogy or their subject area, but a third thought that many teachers needed a better grasp on discipline and over half thought that teachers needed to do better reaching struggling students. Most superintendents (75%) and principals (66%) were gung-ho on professional development, believing that it significantly improves teacher effectiveness (whereas teachers are evenly split on whether development works).

The clearest consensus on teacher-related issues was on the subjects of teacher certification and tenure. All but 5% of superintendents felt that teacher certification only ensures that teachers have minimal skills or "guarantees very little." Around 70% of superintendents and principals believe that tenure does not necessarily mean that teachers have worked hard or proved themselves in the classroom, a result that speaks volumes about the dysfunctional state of the system since it is principals and superintendents who award tenure. Maybe if they took the process more seriously rather than granting tenure automatically--the typical practice in most districts--their view might be different.