The Elephant in the Room of American Education

In classrooms across the United States, teachers are working harder than ever, navigating rising challenges like funding cuts, teacher shortages, and growing public scrutiny. Professional communities and journals often focus on celebrating best practices and sharing uplifting success stories, and rightly so. However, beneath this positivity lies an undeniable truth that many avoid discussing. It’s time we confronted the elephant in the room.

Here it is: most American teachers lack the preparation and support needed to deliver the high-impact instruction that every student deserves, and it is not their fault. Legions of practitioners develop to the highest level of expertise anyway by their own fierce initiative,  but they do so on their own. Thousands of such teachers is a wonder, but we need millions. Fix the system, not the people. If we want education to fulfill its promise of reducing inequality and providing every child with a fair shot at success, we must address this issue head-on.

System failure isn’t because of malicious intent. The complexity of teaching is severely underestimated, and few districts have the resources or structures to ensure continuous teacher learning. Without proper support for career long learning, even the most dedicated teachers teachers struggle to sustain high-quality instruction, adapt to evolving educational demands, and meet the diverse needs of their students. Left to navigate professional growth largely on their own, many educators face burnout, frustration, and stagnation.

An expert teacher is proficient with an amazing range of skills that justifies Shulman’s claim:   

• An expert teacher has deep knowledge for diagnosis and application of relevant cognitive science like how to maximize the impact of practice.  The ER  doctor’s equivalent is the scientific medical knowledge and diagnostic ability for best treatment. 
• An expert teacher manages behavior, space, time, and routines to keep the flow going in a complex fast-paced environment just as an ER doctor manages equipment, personnel, and the movement and pace of the ER. 

But an expert teacher goes beyond the role of an ER doctor:

• An expert teacher builds the motivation and confidence of students, especially those who doubt themselves. They teach strategies for effective studying and also how to exert effective effort.
• They build a community of mutual support among the young citizens of the class by teaching productive interaction skills and team skills. And as if that weren’t enough, 
• They make every student feel known and valued personally. 
• Finally for this list, but by no means last in the long list of everything a teacher does, they design lessons that strike a careful balance between challenge empowering all students to engage with rigor and develop critical thinking skills.and 

What other profession demands such a wide-ranging and extraordinary capacity?

The effects of this systemic failure are most devastating for students in under-resourced schools. These children often begin school academically behind and need exceptional teaching to close the gap. Ironically, they’re also the most likely to have underprepared teachers in their classrooms.

If we’re serious about transforming education, we need a system that prioritizes building high-expertise teachers. Other professions, like medicine and law, have well-defined pipelines for developing expertise. High-performing countries have similar systems for educators. The U.S. must follow suit.

Here’s what that could look like:

• Continuous Learning: Professional development must be a career-long commitment, not workshops of the month. Teachers need regular access to research-based practices and personalized coaching.
• Embedded Support: Professional growth must be integrated into teachers’ daily routines. School leaders should act as instructional coaches, supporting and mentoring their teams.
• Clear Standards: We need consistent, rigorous standards for teaching proficiency that guide both certification and career advancement.
• Equitable Resources: Schools serving marginalized communities must receive priority access to professional learning opportunities and resources.

Education is our most powerful tool for reducing inequality. When teachers are equipped to deliver high-quality instruction, students—especially those from underserved backgrounds—make significant academic gains. Research shows that effective teaching can help these students achieve more than a year’s worth of progress in just one school year.

Imagine scaling this impact across the country. Millions of students could graduate with the skills and confidence to succeed in college, careers, and beyond. The ripple effects would be transformative, not just for individual lives but for society as a whole.

Change starts with proof-of-concept districts that prioritize teaching expertise. These districts can serve as models, showing what’s possible when career-long learning about teaching expertise becomes the cornerstone of educational reform. Philanthropic partners and policymakers must step up to invest in these initiatives and sustain them over time.

The elephant in the room can no longer be ignored. Our failure to equip teachers with the skills they need is holding back millions of students. Addressing this challenge won’t be easy, but the rewards are worth it—for our children, our educators, and for our nation.