Chicago’s recent teacher strike was -- for an old teacher like me -- depressing. Depressing because the kids went without school while their teachers complained about many things.
Among the most contentious? The proposed evaluation system, one that comes close to the new teacher evaluation system here in Arizona.
Here’s the system that provoked the strike, the one now instituted in Arizona: Much of a teacher’s evaluation is to be based on students’ scores on standardized tests.
Here in Arizona, those tests are the AIMS tests.
Now, I’m all for accountability; too often in my 36 years in the classroom, I saw colleagues who were -- to be blunt -- just awful. As department chair, I urged principals to fire those incompetent teachers in my department. That never happened, to the detriment of their students and colleagues.
So a system that can evaluate the ability of teachers in an objective manner is one that, potentially anyway, can weed out the bad ones.
But I’m afraid of how this new system is rolled out.
As is, teachers will be judged on their kids’ AIMS performance -- except for those teachers for whom AIMS doesn’t apply. So let’s pretend, for sake of argument, that those teachers don’t exist.
Let’s deal with the teachers whose kids do take the AIMS test each year, the elementary teachers and the secondary English and math teachers.
Each spring, those teachers’ kids take the AIMS tests. But do those scores reveal the ability of teachers?
I don’t think so. Here’s why: As is, we have no pre-test for those classes or grades. So how can we determine if those kids actually improved over the year with their teachers?
Right now, they will compare AIMS scores from year to year, but that’s not really fair. Kids, as we all know, tend to regress over the summer between grades. So to compare the score of a kid in April to how he performs a year later ignores that summer dropoff.
And what about attendance? Is it fair to judge teachers on varying degrees of attendance? That is, some teachers will have classes whose kids have many absences. Others will have classes with sterling attendance. How can we judge the difference between those two?
It can be done. But it has to be done carefully. And I wonder if it is, or if the politicians running the education show right now have their own ideological agendas driving their policies.
If we want to judge teachers on their students’ performance, we have to make two changes.
We have to create a standardized test to be given at the beginning of the year, so that we can compare how the kids do on that test with how they do at the end of the year.
And we have to take into account attendance. That is, teachers should be judged only on those students who attend school consistently. I’ll leave it to the experts to determine what “consistently” means. But kids with poor attendance records clearly do not reflect their teachers’ ability.
Teachers I know welcome increased accountability -- if that is done fairly. Given that too often those in charge at the state level have little if any actual experience in the classroom, however, I’m afraid the new system will be ham-handed and unreflective of what teachers do in their classrooms.
zorgalfish posted at 10:37 am on Thu, Sep 13, 2012.
A lot of perspectives here. A few factual corrections, as far as I understand the new AZ law. Teachers are partly evaluated (33%-50%) based on a bunch of possible measures. The school where I work is using district benchmark tests at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year, not AIMS data. The document outlining the new evaluation process is here: http://www.arizonaea.org/assets/document/ARIZONA_FRAMEWORK2011.pdf
warning: it is extremely confusing.
JMJ posted at 11:28 am on Thu, Sep 13, 2012.
Let's pretend those other teachers who are not evaluated on AIMS don't exist. Ah, but they do. They can make up their own pre- and posttests based on how well a student rolls a hula hoop. Amazingly, their kids will pass this posttest on this game-changing, career-affecting skill, with flying colors,and those teachers will be evaluated as highly-qualified because their kids will make enormous progress.
How many of their students end up in "the bigs"? If we judged PE teachers on whomever actually turned pro, we might have some real measure of success toward that end.
Now, the absentee argument is a great one. However, why would a teacher be evaluated on a student who shows up but sleeps in class all day long? Attendance, alone, did not prepare that particular student to take a test and pass it. And, having had a student such as the one herein described, the largest district in the state did not care if the kid stayed awake, as long as the kid showed up. Posterior in seat means ADM.
Fast forward to high school. Same kid in front of the "oooh--aaah" newest truancy judge--who is long overdue, by the way--and student is now old enough and bigger than his parent to tell Mama, "No, I don't want to go to school," and when said student does show up to grace the classroom, said student...guess what...sleeps in class.
Now, let's talk about the unqualified administrators with whom I had the displeasure of "working?". The current evaluation leaves too much latitude for these dimwits to be able to Shanghai a credible educator's career, based solely on said administrator's aforementioned ineptitude and insecurity and discomfort in being surrounded by those of us who are "on to" their ineffective leadership-by-friends-in-the-Ivory Tower-on-Main.
The ability to fire an underperforming teacher has always been there. You said it, yourself, these poorly qualified teachers were identified, and the lazy, ineffective administrators did nada. As in nada thing. There were always procedures in place. Now, there will be other procedures in place, spiced up with still-ineffective administrators having a shorter leash on which to choke teachers. Stack those teachers' classes with underperforming students who have a long laundry list of at-home problems, poor attendance, poor attention span, and you-name-it, and you have stacked a classroom to effectively fail a teacher.
We don't judge dentists for pulling rotten teeth from patients who show up with rotten teeth. A dentist who pulled healthy teeth for no apparent reason would be dealt with, however. The overseeing board would most likely remove such a dentist's license to practice. The "overseers" in education are myopic and hand-picked chronies. They could, ostensibly, pull totally decent, qualified "teeth" [teachers] with no oversight on their malpractice.
Teachers will still lose their jobs due to the same procedures under this "new and improved" evaluation system--by failed administrators. And, students will be deprived of the best in the business--at the hands of new teachers who are not effective right out of their college classes, as research has shown over and over, again.
I don't miss it.
I am still listening to the quartet playing on the deck--albeit in the distance, now, since I am retired--as "we" sink into the North Atlantic with what we have done to Education in the state of Arizona. Such is the distance between the reality and the lofty goals of an "education makeover". As long as the music is playing, we can fool ourselves, but we are still sinking. As far as the East is from the West are the disparities between who "runs" Education in our state, and what is really needed for its success and the success of our studets.
Back to my nap on my Cadillac pension.
WesternConnections posted at 1:30 pm on Thu, Sep 13, 2012.
@JMJ: "Stack those teachers' classes with underperforming students who have a long laundry list of at-home problems, poor attendance, poor attention span, and you-name-it, and you have stacked a classroom to effectively fail a teacher."
GPS has created a Top-Down Evaluation System, in which the evaluation software determines each teacher's grade and then generates Performance Improvement Plan requirements (from 460 courses) based on the teacher's software-generated grade. We put the work study session online: http://westernconnections.com/teacherevaluations.html
The bottom line for Gilbert teachers: You will be evaluated on a top-down system that has been developed by administrators who will never, ever be evaluated under similar circumstances. In fact, principal Robyn Conrad stated in a work study session that principals take only one class in teacher supervision in their masters degree programs through Northern Arizona University.
Be sure to read about how Gilbert Public Schools is misusing ATI Student Benchmark data: Jason Kane Feld, Ph.D., Vice President, Corporate Projects, Assessment Technology Incorporated, stated in May 2011 that ATI Benchmarks are not intended for teacher evaluation. He added that ATI Benchmark data should not be used to compare teachers, either. But GPS does it anyway. http://westernconnections.com/evaluations.html#summary
Compare this to Scottsdale's approach: "Scottsdale will use its own standardized tests to measure student growth. The tests will be given in the first three weeks of the school year and at the end of the year." http://www.tinyurl.com/scottsdaleteachers
JMJ said it well: "Teachers will still lose their jobs due to the same procedures under this "new and improved" evaluation system--by failed administrators." In other school districts in Arizona, principals and superintendents are evaluated by teachers (anonymously, of course) as a measure of leadership effectiveness.
Mike McClellan posted at 2:54 pm on Thu, Sep 13, 2012.
zog, I read that framework, and if you'll notice, there are two levels of teachers, those whose kids are tested on AIMS and those whose aren't.
The former group will be evaluated, in part, on their kids' AIMS scores.
Mike McClellan posted at 3:04 pm on Thu, Sep 13, 2012.
But you're right about the confusing nature of the explanation. Holy cow!
Leon Ceniceros posted at 3:26 pm on Thu, Sep 13, 2012.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaah..........Waaaaaaaaaaaaah........Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
That's all we ever hear from teachers...year in and year out....well if you...."can't stand the heat = get out of the kitchen" !!!
No one is "FORCING" college and university graduates to become ....TEACHERS.
There is no ....."TEACHER'S DRAFT"....NO..."TEACHER'S SELECTIVE SERVICE CALL-UP".
There are a....zillion...other professions and disciplines out in both the Public and the Private Sectores to chose from.
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM...."TEACHERS"......YOU KNOW WHAT THE AIMS TEST QUESTION WILL BE IN MOST CASES. YOU KNOW WHAT THE STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO LEARN TO PASS THE AIMS TESTS. YOU KNOW WHAT THE TEACHING PLAN IS.................SO....WHAT'S THE PROBLEM.
QUIT THE WHINNING, THE MOANING AND THE GROANING AND GO OUT THERE AND TEACH. IF YOU HAVE STUDENTS WITH A TRUANCY PROBLEM THEN REPORT THEM TO THE TRUANCY OFFICE. IT THE PROBLEM PERSISTS THEN PULL THESE "PROBLEM" STUDENTS OUT OF CLASS AND ASSIGN THEM TO A "SPECIAL NEEDS" CLASS OR SCHOOL THAT IS TRAINED TO DEAL WITH THESE STUDENTS.
The ....."TAX-PAYER SLEEPING GIANT"....has woken up. No more 1970's "UN-ACCOUNTABLE" teachers any longer. Throwing good money at "bad schools" is a thing of the past. Now Nation, the State and the City are demanding Accountability from their teachers.
PBS's LIBERAL TV PROGRAM....'HORIZON"....MODERATOR IS ALWAYS ASKING THE QUESTION...."WHAT'S WRONG WITH ARIZONA ???".....HE SHOULD BE ASKING THE QUESTION....."WHAT'S RIGHT ABOUT ARIZONA ???
ARIZONA DOESN'T HAVE 430,000 OF IT'S STUDENTS OUT ON THE STREET LIKE .....DEMOCRAT-RUN ILLINOIS. EVEN CHICAGO'S ULTRA LEFT-WING LIBERAL DEMOCRAT MAYOR.....RAHM EMMANUEL.....HAD HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH THE ..."COMMIE RED" TEE-SHIRTED STRIKING "WHAT ME WORRY??" TEACHERS UNION MEMBERS......[wink]
mnjcpa posted at 3:32 pm on Thu, Sep 13, 2012.
Mike - your article is terrific! Consider submitting it to other newspapers to see if they will pick it up. Work with other innovators that bring different ideas to the table to hold teachers accountable but pay them for their creativity and innovation.
Conservatives have problems with throwing more and more money at a problem without any accountability. But it takes innovators like yourself to change the course of education.
Great job!
JMJ posted at 4:25 pm on Thu, Sep 13, 2012.
I almost ended my comment with, "Cue, Leon...". Leon: Thanks for letting me say, this week, that you are still a Froot Loop.
WC: Robyn Conrad is one of the few administrators for whom I have great respect. She tells it like it is. I have dealt with her through various organizations and other professional encounters. She is a rare breed in a nepotistic and crony-istic [is that a word??? Probably...!] system.
I agree that the information you have provided is exactly that for GPS: A system which will never be used to scrutinize the administrators who will utilize it to evaluate teachers.
Then, as Mike McClellan mentions in his comment, there will be systems for which AIMS is the benchmark, and other systems which will not utilize AIMS scores for the "growth" measurement of their districts' students.
It's the same old same old in AZ. Schizophrenic evaluation systems, no standardized evaluation system, and just another log on the fire to feed the national move to "evaluate" teachers. Tenure is gone, thanks to the Republican tyranny legislature of Arizona, copycats of the national trend to blame teachers for all things.
The bottom line remains: March in goose-step with the top-down frauds who are imposing these new evaluation systems upon your very livelihood. Keep all your ducks in a row even when your "boss" is a complete jackalope. Districts will keep hiring their cronies, ineffective administrators will strain out the "bad apples" who draw any attention to the people above them who are frauds, and the teachers and the students will continue to lose.
Keep electing these people who shoot holes in any progressive direction for Education in our state. And, now, the guru of all things, Craig Barrett, is under scrutiny, as well, for some kind of questionable activity regarding charters in TN?
Shock. Pass the V-8.
JMJ posted at 4:38 pm on Thu, Sep 13, 2012.
Oh, and, additionally, I left on thing out. Districts are now "training" their administrators in their "new and improved" evaluation of teacher effectiveness. It may take a while, however, as they must teach a few of them multi-syllabic words and how to pronounce them. But, I digress...! [wink]
samkat posted at 5:24 pm on Thu, Sep 13, 2012.
Heck, I think we need annual proficiency tests for our legislators. Just think of the public benefit to be derived if they actually were graded on their performance. Mike: I may have missed it but do you include charter school teachers and administrators in your remarks?
Mike McClellan posted at 5:56 pm on Thu, Sep 13, 2012.
samkat, the evaluation system applies to charter schools, too, since they are quasi-public schools.
Bluepoet posted at 1:25 am on Fri, Sep 14, 2012.
Yeah, I keep thinking, "Who is evaluating the evaluators?"
I also keep thinking that I must be getting old, because I remember that I had teachers that were really good, and teachers that were really awful. However, the mediocrity in all of education is the proclivity to evaluate-by-test. As if learning was the sole product of the ability to guess the best multiple choice answer, on a given day, in the month of May. Or September, for that matter.
But, I digress. Suffice to say that schools teach how to take tests, but life and study are the true tenets of education.
As for teachers--why would anyone want to subject themselves to four years plus of college, followed by internship, to find themselves underpaid, underappreciated, and undersupported in their work? What sort of person would put up with that?
Answer: For the most part, it would be a person who loves to teach...
Here's a thought...how about we fire the administrators, and make it mandatory that all new administrators have at least 3 years of teaching, before they are even qualified to administrate. Then, let's actually fund the school systems, so that they can do their work, which is educating our young, and preparing them for adult lives, in the real world...that would be truly innovative!
I know, what a concept!!
Mike McClellan posted at 5:23 am on Fri, Sep 14, 2012.
Blue, you are exactly right about having competent administrators at each school. And your idea of administrators with teaching experience is only logical. However, three years in the classroom isn't really enough to get a handle on teaching. By three years, most teachers are finally feeling comfortable with what they are doing.
I wrote a column last year suggesting 10 years of classroom experience -- prove yourself as a teacher first and then lead teachers. A legislator in AJ introduced a bill that would've required all administrators to have 5 years experience teaching -- it died in committee.
Irons1 posted at 7:07 am on Fri, Sep 14, 2012.
Mike you are exactly right. Three years is nowhere near enough time to become a good teacher. Yet, the Mesa Public Schools continue to hire principals and assistant principals with three or less years of teaching experience to evaluate experienced teachers. Principals seem to have to fit a profile, but their experience isn't considered. How does someone who never really taught very long tell teachers how to teach? Some of these individuals have the means to go and get the piece of paper, but all they know about effective teaching is what they read out of a book, not from actual experience. The worst thing is that it is getting more prevalent, especially with the new hires at the junior highs and high schools. You should be a superior teacher before you become a principal, but that won't happen in Arizona, it would make sense.
mnjcpa posted at 8:23 am on Fri, Sep 14, 2012.
Don't let that discourage you Mike. Keep at it! I don't think people understand the intricacies of what comes natural to you.
WesternConnections posted at 9:13 am on Fri, Sep 14, 2012.
Mike, your idea of ten years classroom experience before becoming an administrator is something that the governing board can do. No new legislation needed. The current system of allowing software to take over the evalutation is ridiculous -- every administrator will know exactly what numbers to write to arrive at their predetermined evaluation score. That's because it was already determined when the same administrators made student assignments to classrooms. As you indicated, they can set up one teacher to fail, another to excel. When the software assigns a Performance Improvement Plan to a teacher, the administrator can say, "So sorry, there's nothing I can do" and pretend to be sympathetic. What's lacking here is any sense of fairness. The district staff is so busy preening and patting their own backs for having developed this system, they're gonna throw their shoulders out of joint!
what the heck posted at 9:20 am on Fri, Sep 14, 2012.
All right on point, Mr. McClellan! As for Leon, he must've been dropped on his head one too many times as a child.
WesternConnections posted at 10:50 am on Fri, Sep 14, 2012.
Mike, we just read your essay, "I hope my town is better than what's been on display in the past few months." Agreed! If your vignettes included parallel occurrences in GPS, the stories of institutionalized retaliation against teachers would be highlighted. In addition to Glenna's story about retaliation for advocating for special ed students, there's Sarah's story about retaliation for advocating for victims of bullying and opposing racial discrimination. The way the district treated the teacher from Africa is just as appalling as they way the gay family was abused in their neighborhood, if not more. The district helped this teacher with immigration issues when she was first hired, but when Tom Horne began beating the drum to get rid of teachers with accents, GPS went all-out proactive to get rid of an experienced, amazing teacher with a lovely lilting accent and black skin. Worse, GPS ignored reports that the teacher's daughter was bullied at the GPS school where Sarah was reporting bullying and discrimination.
http://westernconnections.com/discrimination.html
Since GPS is the largest employer in town, perhaps administrators should remember that every employee who is treated unfairly (or worse, illegally) has family and friends who might become motivated to quietly oppose the GPS administration. We devoted many years to GPS schools, and we agree that our town, and especially our school district, could and should be better.
JMJ posted at 7:55 pm on Fri, Sep 14, 2012.
The governing boards do not necessarily know what goes on in the political world of teachers versus the administrators to whom they are indentured. I truly believe at least a very minor percentage of the MPS Governing Board is heart and soul dedicated to what a board member should allegedly feel is fair treatment of its teachers. However, there is a huge disconnect between the board being gratuitously able to rub elbows and share belly laughs with the self-back-patting echelon of the superintendency, and how the teacher in the classroom are treated. Board members do not ask, trust me.
MPS promotes PE teachers who have NEVER [0% experience] taught in an academic classroom. They cannot pronounce four letter, two syllable words [so that you don't think I am referring to four letter, one syllable words, which I am sure they can pronounce just because they are mostly rhyming words...]. If you count hula hoops as experience enough to be an administrator in MPS, you have your basic expertise for the nimrods with whom classroom teachers must "work". Those nimrods are one of the reasons I left as soon as I hit my retirement points within ASRS. I couldn't subject myself to stay a few more years until 30 years, and be subjected to the ineptitude and ignorance of these "leaders". 10 years experience IN A CLASSROOM [not just surrounded by plastic bowling pins and bean bags and hula hoops] would be a godsend and wealth of ACTUAL EXPERIENCE to be an administrator, most especially in MPS. The ones who are currently serving in an administrative capacity would fail miserably. Heck. They already ARE failing miserably.
If you are somehow connected socially, or otherwise, to a superintendent in MPS, you are as good as in--even though you're not so good, yourself.
The biggest secret kept by these self-promoting jackalopes is that [a] they are not qualifed, to begin with, and [b] neither are their friends, whom they promote so as to [c] keep the charade going.
No love lost here, trust me. It's showing in how poorly the friends' schools are doing, and with the continuing mass exodus of veteran, experienced and SUCCESSFUL educators, such as myself, who get out as soon as "we" can leave. The "grades" of the schools of some of the best friends of the people in charge have gone down. I feel badly for those educators who are truly stuck with these inept leaders.
Yes, the garbage which educators endure begs the question, "Why stay?" Yes, most of it is because those educators do want to, and love to, teach. They stay in spite of the idiots in charge.
The idiots in charge need to leave and make way for those who are actually qualified. The system will remain flawed and dysfunctional as long as friends can be promoted without being qualified.
Cue, Leon....?
Abstract01 posted at 8:45 pm on Fri, Sep 14, 2012.
It was very enjoyable and informative to read all the comments (except the one I skipped) on this commentary.
Thank you, all!
And thank you, Mike, for the springboard!
k33j88 posted at 6:28 am on Sat, Sep 15, 2012.
Since teachers, by definition, are public servants, collective bargaining should be thrown out. Unions belong in the private sector of our society, but that is a topic for another discussion. Aims tests are a "one size fits all" approach. The building blocks for a complete, proper utilization and implementation, of english and math skills leave little room for innovation. Only in advanced courses of such, does one exercise the tools necessary for an argument complete with facts and supportive evidence. Allowing flexibility in the students ability to utilize the education that he/she receives in the classroom is paramount to convincing arguments and theory. However, to reach such lofty goals require the basics to build upon. Replace AIMS testing with teacher inspired skills. This isn't an abrogation of responsibilities, but a fulfillment of teaching desires to help the student reach their full potential. Standardization testing is obsolete. Flexibility, innovation, thinking "out of the box", these are the tools necessary for students to become critical thinkers. These are our future engineers, scientists, and scholars. Fertile ground is necessary for advanced thinking skills, not a stoic, white-washed, check the box exercise.
Mike McClellan posted at 8:07 am on Sat, Sep 15, 2012.
1. Arizona is a right to work state; thus, we have no collective bargaining in this state with teachers. In fact, what we have is called "meet and confer" between the teacher union and the school board. However, a board can cut off talks at any time and impose policy/salary schedule/etc. unilaterally.
2. AIMS allegedly has been " the basics to build upon." But in two years, AIMS goes bye-bye, replaced by a national test based on the Common Core Standards.
3. Nevertheless, k33 makes an interesting point -- with the focus so much on testing, some teachers (not all) make that testing the sole focus of their classrooms, to the detriment of the students.
4. k33's desire is ironic in that fifteen years ago, the clamor was for testing to ensure at least some uniformity in what was taught.
5. Good teachers can teach to the same standards and still be innovative and challenging.
Tookie88 posted at 5:19 pm on Sat, Sep 15, 2012.
@Leon...do you actually think that teacher's look at the AIMS questions? Do you know that is a fireable offense? AIMS are based on standards that teachers are required to teach...and if they don't teach these standards, their students will not perform well on AIMS.
I don't know what your problem is with teachers...education, maybe....but teachers? You seem to simply HATE them! All I can say after months of reading your posts is, "What is your problem?"
As a teacher, I agree that there does need to be accountability in place. However, I don't like the idea of my teaching being based on one or two tests. I have had students answer incorrectly on the scantron forms, students dealing with a death in the family, a divorce, no food, rough home life, or not having a home at all. Other factors include parents who do not support their child's education and students who are never in class or never do any work...I would like to see more accountability for students and parents in regards to this process. I don't want my job on the line because of variables I cannot control...that is not fair.
wdgnas posted at 6:37 am on Sun, Sep 16, 2012.
how can you compare schools if the a different curriculum is taught at each one?
k33j88 posted at 6:44 am on Sun, Sep 16, 2012.
Dear Mike M.: #1 The Arizona Education Association (AEA) & the National Education Association (NEA) is alive and well in Arizona. Collective bargaining agreements are printed and can be obtained through your local representative. Grievance procedures are stated therin and adhered to. #2 AIMS/Common Core Standards, correct me if I'm wrong, but the federal bureaucracy has no right to be involved in our children's education. These are State and local issues, according to strict Constitutional principles. #3 Thank you for your support on this point. #4. Academia may have the students best interests at heart with testing conformity, but where is the teacher/parent input? Politicians shouldn't be allowed in the classroom. Neither should the Board of Education constrain the talents of educators. .Allowing the student to posses the skills necessary to form well-rounded, logical, reasoned conclusions are paramount to higher forms of intelligent thinking. #5. As with all forms of life, the basic building blocks are necessary to evolve into a higher level of consciousness. Physics, math, chemistry, english, they all share the necessity of basic foundational principles. A professional educator knows the proper ways and means to relate as such, and not be constrained by outside influences.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 9:52 am on Sun, Sep 16, 2012.
THE........"KUMBAYAH" TEACHING (MENTORING IS MORE LIKE IT) METHODS OF THE ..."FLOWER-CHILDEN" IS .....DEAD IN THE WATER.
WHEN ROMANIA, HUNGARY, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, PAKISTAN, INDIA, INDONESIA HAVE HIGHER ....MATH, SCIENCE AND EVEN....."ENGLISH" (OUR NATIVE LANGUAGE...NOT THEIRS) SCORES...........IT'S TIME TO TAKE "EDUCATION" BACK FROM THE INMATES (TEACHERS) AND PUT THE ADMINISTRATION IN CHARGE LIKE IT WAS BEFORE ........"WOODSTOCK".
AMERICA'S TOP COMPANIES ARE GOING TO THESE 3RD WORLD NATIONS AND........"R.E.C.R.U.T.I.N.G."....THE TOP STUDENTS OF THEIR UNIVERSITIES.
M.I.T. AND CAL-TECH SEEK THE "BEST OF THE BEST" FROM THESE 3RD WORLD UNIVERSITIES FOR THEIR .........."GRADUATE PROGRAMS".
AMERICA'S....."UNIONIZED EDUCATION PROGRAM".....HAS FAILED ...2 GENERATIONS ALREADY.....DO WE REALLY WANT TO SEE A 3RD GENERATION THAT CAN'T READ, CAN'T WRITE AND CAN'T ADD....BUT HAVE A................"WONDERFUL SOCIAL LIFE, KNOW HOW TO DRESS AND CAN TWEET AND TWIX LIKE NOBODY'S BUSINESS.
NO MORE "MENTORING" STUDENTS AND GET BACK TO "TEACHING" STUDENTS............K-12 = TEACHERS................12-GRADUATE = EDUCATORS
OUR TEACHERS SHOULD BE BUILDING A STUDENT'S....."FOUNDATION".....NOT THE ..."ROOF"
Mike McClellan posted at 11:24 am on Sun, Sep 16, 2012.
#1 -- kj, those are not collective bargaining agreements -- they are meet and confer decisions made by the local boards. Teacher unions have no control over those decisions beyond what the local boards allow. You are wrong.
#2 -- wrong again. The states choose to adopt the Common Core Standards -- the federal government cannot impose them on any state. If you'd do some research, you'd find that some state have not adopted those standards.
As to the rest, you have a radical view of school boards, in fact a revolutionary one. You suggest that boards should exert no control over the schools they supervise. Really?
More important, you contradict yourself about curriculum -- on the one hand, you argue for a common foundation. On the other hand, you rail against Common Core Standards, which should be the foundation. You can't have it both ways.
k33j88 posted at 7:35 am on Mon, Sep 17, 2012.
Mr McClellan: #1 School boards have to adhere to agreements, grievance procedures, including arbitration. NEA/AEA can and does have a legal team to address issues not in compliance. You, sir, need to think out of the box. #2 I'm talking about recessing the role of limited federal govt involvement into the public education system. Once again, your liberal views cloud your judgment. Our country was built on revolutionary ideals. The ones that support rugged individualism, not collective statism A common foundation of the basics is necessary for the growth of intellectualism. This approach shouldn't be in the hands of bureaucrats, but subject to local review and administered by its peers. In your collectivist, socialist view, the State has the final say and the implementation of policy thereof. Question: How many socialists have you nurtured and brainwashed during your career?
Mike McClellan posted at 8:45 am on Mon, Sep 17, 2012.
#1 -- but you miss the point, k33 -- they only have to adhere if they CHOOSE to agree to adhere -- bargaining is not binding arbitration. No board in this state is required to negotiate anything with a teachers' union. Boards do by CHOICE.
#2 -- first time I've heard of local school boards characterized as "collective statism."
#3 -- again, have you done ANY research on Common Core Standards?If you had, you'd notice that teachers and parents are part of every step in the process of creating those standards. And guess what? Each state has some autonomy in its use of those standards.
#4 -- "collectivist, socialist view"? "How many socialists have you nurtured and brainwashed during your career?"
Really? That kind of rhetoric? You think tossing out a few pejoratives somehow makes a convincing argument for your point of view?
WesternConnections posted at 12:31 pm on Tue, Sep 18, 2012.
We respectfully suggest that GPS doesn't really have bad teachers that need to be weeded out; if there is a problem, it is not in the classroom. The problem is at the administrative level. In recent months, retaliation against teachers has become a proven defining characteristic of Gilbert Public Schools. The federal Office for Civil Rights made official findings recently proving retaliation against a special ed teacher who advocated for her students attending EVIT. Last year, a judge found that GPS discriminated against a teacher based on race and national origin, and did nothing about the teacher's daughter being bullied at a GPS elementary school. To the best of our knowledge, the district has done nothing to hold anyone accountable for the administration's illegal conduct that seriously harms vulnerable students and their teachers.
We hope you will read a GPS Governing Board member's apology to the teacher that Superintendent Dave Allison tried to fire last year. Shane Stapley writes that the board was told NOT to read Sarah's Notice of Claim that gave details about her reports of bullying and racial discrimination. Even more shocking - the board had to vote on dismissing a National Board Certified Teacher, not knowing any details about the case. the public apology is here:
http://westernconnections.com/stapleyapology.html
Spamola5 posted at 12:12 pm on Thu, Oct 4, 2012.
There are a lot of good teachers out there lot of rotten ones,Its not always up to the teachers, as they are afraid of losing there jobs' If they stand up to believe what write, my son is in honors class, and cannot even cursive write, he was in IEP 3 yrs for writing and speech, they took him out, all the sudden after i complain of the way he was being treated, the teachers turn , at first they said what a pleasure it was to have him in there class. After i made a complaint, the teachers went along with the asst superintendent,my son was gorp in private area. Then after 7 yrs in same school they say my son is austic, like he lyes about it. Good teachers afraid to stand up, in fear of losing job''
yiyi posted at 6:42 pm on Mon, Nov 5, 2012.
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