Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

> There are plenty of people who can do the technical side of teaching the curriculum. Most of them can earn more elsewhere [...]

Yes.

One problem I come across repeatedly is: how do you identify whether someone has the technical competence to do the teaching? Is there any way of knowing if they're doing a good job?

As an IC they are implementing features and shipping products. As a teacher...? Test scores going up is uncorrelated with teaching quality, apparently. (NYC, just look at the scatterplot in [1].) So it seems like there's a deep problem here.

Now imagine someone in K-12 hiring a CS teacher. Who do they have that is competent to evaluate the skills of the person they want to hire? Probably nobody at all.

[1] https://garyrubinstein.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/analyzing-re...



> One problem I come across repeatedly is: how do you identify whether someone has the technical competence to do the teaching? Is there any way of knowing if they're doing a good job?

Classroom observation. It's really not that complicated.


There's something called Math for America that offers a substantial stipend to math teachers in New York with an application that involves a written portion, observation reports, recommendations, Praxis test scores, and interviews.

> There are plenty of people who can do the technical side of teaching the curriculum. Most of them can earn more elsewhere [...]

It's funded by a billionaire former mathematician who wanted to address this exact issue.




Consider applying for YC's Summer 2026 batch! Applications are open till May 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: