John Engler Quotes

Parents matter, buildings count, curriculum choices, materials, resources - all these things are important in a top-class education. But, in the end, it comes down to the teachers.

The single most important thing in a child's performance is the quality of the teacher. Making sure a child spends the maximum amount of time with inspirational teachers is the most important thing.

To be clear, people are the most important part of any classroom. If given the choice between a great teacher and the world's most advanced education technology, I'd pick the teacher any day for my own children.

... good teachers, like Tolstoy's happy families, are alike everywhere.

My time at the Denver Public Schools taught me there is no harder, or more important, job than being a teacher.

You wouldn't tolerate an underperforming surgeon in an operating theatre, or a underperforming midwife at your child's birth. Why is it that we tolerate underperforming teachers in the classroom?

Good teachers know how to bring out the best in students.

We have to provide good teachers, good environment, community involvement with schools.

The simple facts are these: We need higher standards in our schools, and we need to hold teachers accountable for the outcomes in their classrooms.

Teachers know how to improve education.

There is no recipe to be a great teacher, that's what is unique about them.

I think we're doing a dreadful job of educating.

I'm clear that we do need to improve what's happening in our schools.

I do think we know that a teacher who knows what he or she is doing, knows their subject matter, and knows how to impart knowledge to kids is a critical piece of closing the achievement gap.

School district policies and practices have not kept pace with student and teacher needs.

Parents like options when it comes to their children's education. And they respond to quality.

If you want to reform schools, don't do it with testing. We used to say, "If you want elephants to grow, you don't weigh the elephants. You feed the elephants." Children will not grow unless they get quality instruction.

Teaching is hard. It takes years to master the technically demanding work and a lot of effort to do that work well.

In the education of the American people, I am Recess.

Schools can do extraordinary things given the chance; teachers can do remarkable things if we eliminate the paperwork that sometimes binds them and give them a chance to really teach in our schools.

You have to have teachers who are empowered to facilitate great teaching.

Every dollar spent on education should go toward helping our teachers teach and our students learn.

In essence, the education department argues that the quality of the education children receive is irrelevant, as long as someone stands in front of the class.

Teachers must learn how to teach ... they need only to be taught more effective ways of teaching.

I'm a high school teacher. I'm someone who stumbles my way through, leads with my chin in some cases, leads with my heart in all cases.