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After reading this article, I felt that our noble profession was being bashed by Schmoker's view on classroom instruction. Perhaps his views have some merit and validity, but it is difficult to accept this because I have a passion for what I do. There are teachers who isolate themselves and don't follow the curriculum, and perhaps do little instruction at all. These teachers are not effective and are glorified baby sitters. Unfortunately, they may go unnoticed, and at times may appear to be doing a good job (during an evaluation). The "Buffer", as Schmoker refers to it, allows teachers to become complacent and do "whatever" in the classroom. This is a problem and it needs to be addressed.
Visiting the classroom could help uncover ineffective practices or even prevent teachers from developing these poor instruction techniques. Teachers collaborating on curriculum and lesson plans will allow teachers to share ideas and help the instruction process to be more consistent. Administrators should be more involved in the development of the curriculum and more so the implementation of the curriculum through instruction. Administration needs to observe and give feedback to the instructors. Constructive criticism is beneficial and necessary to help maintain effectiveness.
I realize that this article focused on the negative components of our profession, and didn't give just blame to government programs like NCLB that are poorly funded with unrealistic goals. We could however, improve the level of effectiveness of classroom instruction by working together as a team and avoiding isolated classroom instruction practice.