Master's Degree Vs. Student Achievement

A good friend of mine, Deb Jordan, exposed me to the fact that there is no correlation between having a Master's Degree and increased student achievement. So, of course, I had to research this to see if she was correct in her statement. Much to my chagrin, and contrary to everything that I have been trained to believe, I found many websites and studies that actually support her claim. I found ZERO sites that dispute her claim. My day today has pretty much been one that has pleasantly destroyed many of my predispositions on how the education system works and, most importantly, how our district "supports" its teachers.

Self Direction in ECSD

How can I allow my students to be self directed during a math class? In an environment where everything needs to be modeled, and your evaluation scores depend upon a structured classroom, is it possible to allow students the freedom to develop new ideas within the math classroom? I find it odd that we expect our students to be self directed and intrinsically motivated while the the district expects the teachers to be guided by the ever-changing rubric and the extrinsic motivation known as performance pay.