The LA Times noted that teachers make a much larger impact on student achievement than the school which they attend:
Although many parents fixate on picking the right school for their child, it matters far more which teacher the child gets. Teachers had three times as much influence on students' academic development as the school they attend. Yet parents have no access to objective information about individual instructors, and they often have little say in which teacher their child gets. ... On visits to the classrooms of more than 50 elementary school teachers in Los Angeles, Times reporters found that the most effective instructors differed widely in style and personality. Perhaps not surprisingly, they shared a tendency to be strict, maintain high standards and encourage critical thinking. But the surest sign of a teacher's effectiveness was the engagement of his or her students — something that often was obvious from the expressions on their faces.
On a similar vein, the New York Times recently had an article entitled The Case for $320,000 Kindergarten Teachers which argued that the effects of having a good teacher way back in kindergarten had significant impacts later in life, ranging from lower rates of single parenthood, higher income, a greater likelihood of attending college, and better controlled spending habits. I'm a little dubious as to how they came up with the $320,000 figure (as a salary), but it's still something interesting to ponder.
But, of course, a lot of this may be relatively meaningless given the control unions and bureaucrats have on the public education system. See, e.g., a BBC article discussing the comments of the head of Britain's Office for Standards in Education who'd stated that "If kids can manage to cope with one bad teacher that'll be a good learning lesson for them in life - it is not necessarily an absolute disaster"
