Originally Posted by aculady
Originally Posted by irishmaggie
And as for the comment that SSD teachers have lower SAT scores. I just can't believe that knowing the wonderful compassionate & dedicated teachers I met. Perhaps I'm just fortunate in my school district who is committed to both gifted & special school options, but really I doubt it.


It is, unfortunately, true.



Irishmaggie, your experiences, however, would suggest that SAT scores alone are not a sufficient measure of who makes a good teacher. The qualities you mention, compassion, dedication, and I would add a huge amount of patience!, are also key characteristics, as well as the ability to explain things well to others, which does not necessarily go along with higher intelligence. We should be careful, I think, not to undervalue these characteristics by focusing too exclusively on SAT scores when measuring teacher skills.