ABSTRACT
A body of research now exists which supports the premise that good teachers matter (National Commission of Teaching and America’s Future, 1996; Sanders & Horn, 1998). This research points to the difference an effective teacher can make, even in very challenging circumstances. Teachers are far more than mere conduits of information or of curriculum developed by “experts.” Teachers are the key to what happens in classrooms (Thornton, 1991, 2005). They, along with their students, are the implementers of the actual curriculum. Of course, rules and expectations, along with the speci c contexts of teaching, make a difference. However, ultimately, it is the teacher who makes the decisions about what actually gets taught in the classroom and how it gets taught. It is the teacher who assesses what students have actually learned and what individual needs individual students may have. To use Thornton’s (1991, 2005) term, teachers are the “curricular-instructional gatekeepers.”
