The Teachers of 2030

How will the teaching profession change in the next 20 years? Teacher leaders describe their vision of the future.

At the end of the new millennium's first decade, the fate of the teaching profession still appears to be up for grabs. Debates rage over whether teachers need more pedagogical preparation or less, whether they should receive higher pay for increasing their students' standardized test scores, and whether tenure should be abolished. These long-standing debates are intensified by the 24-hour news cycle and the omnipresent blogosphere.

Rarely, however, are the voices of our best teachers included in these discussions. Policymakers seldom ask successful classroom educators for their ideas about creating a modern teaching profession that will give all students the education they deserve.