The Value of Quality Teachers, Compared to Curriculums, Materials, Facilities, etc.

Q: What's the most important - curriculum or teachers?

A: Excellent educators can make amends for a bad curriculum in an educational system that gives creative control to educators, but no curriculum can fix all of the damage done by bad teachers, and even average teachers can reduce the value of a top curriculum.  Teachers may depend on a curriculum to know what to teach, but it is the human factor that trumps all others.

In order for a school to really perform well, the system, teachers, and curriculum must be excellent.  Materials are the next thing to consider and then facilities - as long as they are clean, pleasant and provide the necessities - that is enough.  Extra facilities (swimming pool, archery range, running track, stadium, computer lab, etc.) are nice to have, but they won't guarantee a school's success, or the students’ success.  It is far more important to set your sights on helping EVERY student to achieve the best results they can get while preparing them for life, rather than the typical system of 20-60-20 which fails 80% of students and only prepares them for academic study at best.

Please see my article about the false leads people look at when evaluating schools, as well as my article about evaluating recreation areas in schools.