Teacher performance bill hits a bump and goes back to Rules. Will it return at the 11th hour?
House Education Committee chair Brooks Coleman just asked that Senate Bill 521 be returned to the Rules Committee, which seems to take the controversial measure to judge teachers on their students’ performance off the agenda for the time being. The House agreed to Coleman’s request.
Does the bill — which is actually dual enrollment legislation with the performance language added last week — go back to Rules and come out again in the last hours of the session?
Or does it disappear into the mist? Is this a time delay to garner support? Or a concession that there is no support?
”Sending the legislation back to Rules Committee might be a sign that there is insufficient support to bring it to the floor. We know that educators across the state have been communicating with their representatives – who, unlike the governor, have to face the voters this November,” said Tim Callahan of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators.
“I’d like to believe that, but it may only be a brief tactical retreat to duck safely back into the legislative ’smoke and mirrors’ only to pop out again just prior to sine die when it is more hectic, legislators are more pressed and things can sometimes sneak by,” he said.
According to Marcus W. Downs, director of government relations for the Georgia Association of Educators, “We can only speculate what it means for the bill to have gone back to rules. We would hope that legislators are going to take a closer look at what section four of the bill could mean and will consider striking it from the language. We do not oppose dual enrollment- we do not oppose the development of evaluation tools. It is unfortunate however that such a serious amendment was made without stakeholder input.
“We would like to thank those legislators who have considered our requests – Rep. Coleman has been a supportive chair and has brought our organization to the table. We are trying our best to be a part of the solution to the challenges Georgia is facing in education. We recognize that the solution will never be valuable or credible if done in a vacuum,” said Downs.
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82 comments Add your comment
Georgia Teacher
April 27th, 2010
2:36 pm
They will put it off the radar until Friday… when no one pays attention to the news.
catlady
April 27th, 2010
2:49 pm
Like a roach, it will scuttle back in in the middle of the night!
Teacher in Cobb
April 27th, 2010
3:10 pm
Like the piece of crap “No Child Left Behind” which further allows the parents to place blame on us teachers, this bill will do just the same. Stop placing the failure rate on teachers. Parents need to step up and take charge of their kids. I didn’t lay down to make them, so I shouldn’t have to be the one that has to teach them things like being prepared in school, stop talking and picking up your pants. If you want kids to pass – get the little hoodlums out and in jail.
Veteran teacher, 2
April 27th, 2010
3:11 pm
Possibly, but now we are ALL watching. Keep up the pressure on the legislators, folks.
Mid Ga Retiree
April 27th, 2010
3:14 pm
Merit pay for teachers and all other government employees needs to be implemented. The only way to come up with a system to fairly evaluate employees is to pass the law ahead of implementation. As long as an evaluation system is not mandated, no one will seriously try to come up with a fair evaluation system. The status quo has got to go.
Reality
April 27th, 2010
3:16 pm
Sorry, but the idea of merit pay for teachers is CRAZY. Pay teachers on TEACHER performance, not STUDENT performance.
The republicans are just on a path to do whatever they can (merit pay, fold teacher pension, etc.) to kill public education in GA in favor of their “voucher” system that pays a small flat rate for students. The republicans in GA will continue this path until the voters WAKE UP and stop voting for them!
How’s this for a REAL idea to improve education in GA….. allow the classroom teacher a voice! Permit a real teacher union to represent what is best for student education rather than allowing politicans and administration that know NOTHING about education to make decisions. That is what has worked in most of the NE states that beat out GA in every metric possible wrt public education.
Attentive Parent
April 27th, 2010
3:18 pm
As the full story of what has gone on in education in Georgia during Perdue’s and Kathy Cox’s tenure gradually comes out. they will become infamous.
Why follow their rec’s now?
Tell us one good thing that has happened to Georgia education during their years in office.
Reality
April 27th, 2010
3:18 pm
@Mid GA Retiree
There is already a teacher evaluation in place in GA. It evaluates teacher performance in the classroom. That is totally acceptable to all.
Paying teachers based on STUDENT performance is the problem here. Teacher have no control over the students lives at home or anywhere outside of the classroom during school. There are abusive parents (physical, mental, sexual), students that don’t eat dinner, students that don’t get a good nights sleep, etc. And THEIR performance should have bearing on teacher pay?
Get real!
Reality
April 27th, 2010
3:21 pm
Those reading my comments, please keep in mind that I teach in a high school located in a wealthy area of North Fulton where the student scores normally lead the State. While I might benefit financially from this “merit pay” for teachers, I strongly feel that it is WRONG and UNFAIR.
Teachers that do their best in the worst parts of the State deserve as much compensation as I…. maybe more.
Mid Ga Retiree
April 27th, 2010
3:43 pm
I am real. Merit pay needs to consider ALL aspects of the job. Part of teacher performance is student performance. It needn’t carry the most weight, but for a full and complete evaluation it has to be considered.
catlady
April 27th, 2010
3:50 pm
Mid Ga–obviously you retired a lot time ago. Come back to school.
Legend of Len Barker
April 27th, 2010
3:53 pm
Here is a copy of a scenario from my blog. This was a student I was asked to help tutor in the mornings:
Some years, you might have a child like T. T bounced back and forth between county school systems. Despite being 13 or 14, T’s reading level was somewhere around primer. Our system was only responsible for T’s education every other year or so. Other counties had him in other years. Why should one of T’s 8th grade teachers be held responsible for this student’s achievements? T’s progress was hindered long ago and while the student had a good attitude, I can’t help but wonder how much T was getting out of school. Or how much T even wanted to be there. T’s attendance was never exemplary.
Veteran teacher, 2
April 27th, 2010
3:54 pm
@Mid Ga Retiree. Please do not assume that all students are trying their best on the assessments, or on ANYTHING, for that matter. Last week in discussing options for classes to select for next year, my advanced class had only one question: “which one is easiest?” And anyone wonders why teachers are reluctant to be paid on the basis of student perfomance????
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Mid South Philosopher
April 27th, 2010
3:56 pm
It could just be that the members of the General Assembly are not as forgetful as Sonny. They well remember the taking of Roy Barnes to the! woodshed in 2002
Reality
April 27th, 2010
4:02 pm
@Mid GA Retiree
So then, as a teacher, you would be fine to link YOUR salary to students that are on drugs, prosititue, etc. so have no time to learn, study, do homework, etc. You would be fine to link YOUR salary to students whose parents could care less if they were at school or not. You would be fine to link YOUR salary to students that cannot bring a pencil, their book, or even a piece of paper to class.
Really? I mean, really?
One could be the IDEAL teacher, doing EVERYTHING right. But, there are just too many circumstances totally out of control of the teacher. The teacher cannot be, and should not be, the parent. If I have to be the parent (feed, clothe, provide supplies, etc.), also, I need a PAY RAISE and not furloughs!
An analogy would be the auto worker that gets paid based on the shape of the car he produced 5 years after the owner has driven it. What if the owner never changed the oil? What if the owner had a wreak? There are too many variables for that to be a fair method of measurement.
Reality
April 27th, 2010
4:05 pm
Sonny doesn’t care about being taken to the woodshed. He cannot run for another term anyway. That is why he is pushing through this crap legislation.
Hank Rearden
April 27th, 2010
4:22 pm
As far as RTTT goes, it’s bad enough Sonny ain’t got the stones to raise taxes without him dropping to his knees and begging Washington for a bail-out.
Mid South Philosopher
April 27th, 2010
4:23 pm
Nope, Sonny doesn’t care. But some of these “wanna-be life-long legislators” may feel differently. Teachers and their families are not going to put up with it any longer!
HS tchr
April 27th, 2010
4:24 pm
Mid GA Retiree: The problem is not with pay for performance. If a teacher isn’t performing, they tend not to stay in the profession. There are always going to be a few, but in 22 years, I’ve seen less than five stay in the profession. It’s not like the old days where you were autonomous in your room and nobody cared what you did. There’s much, much more scrutiny now than ever before. This profession weeds them out…trust me!
Pay for performance is fine, but I cannot see the legitimacy of passing a law mandating it with no guidelines for how “effectiveness” is to be measured. Having read the Florida bill, which was much more detailed, I believe any bill on this issue must be carefully worded and presented. Blindsiding us, sneaking it into the last days of the session, or trying to make some backdoor deal certainly isn’t the way to persuade us to embrace it. They can get this- if they do it respectfully and convincingly.
I'm with mid GA
April 27th, 2010
4:24 pm
If not students’ learning, whatelse are we paying teachers for? Babysitting? I must admit there is a value there, but why should tax payers pay teachers if they can’t make difference in students no matter where they come from? If it is fair to evaluate coaches based on their team’s performance, why not evaluate teachers based on their students’ performance?
@ Reality
Actually, the value added system will not favor teachers like you since they will be measuring the change in students – and comparing it to their past performances. If a student makes 0.6 grade advance while they had been making only 0.2, then the teacher did something better than others. In some ways, those teachers teaching at an affluent school may have to deal with the ceiling effect – how much higher can a student go if they come in at 96%?
Teaching Used To Be A Noble Profession
April 27th, 2010
4:39 pm
Nothing is over yet. They may still try to sneak it through on Friday. Keep the pressure on politicians and tell them, “Teachers will remember in November.”
Mid South Philosopher
April 27th, 2010
4:50 pm
All politicians at every level of government might want to remember these words:
“the good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
when the gales of November came early”
Coastal Ga Teacher
April 27th, 2010
4:57 pm
I’m afraid that like many of you have already said, it might get slipped through when we least expect it, like late Friday. Don’t let up on your emails to your legislators. Keep sending them. November elections are just around the corner!
Mid Ga Retiree: Are you a retired teacher? If so, easy for you to say this is a good idea since it won’t affect you. Duh!
Attentive Parent
April 27th, 2010
5:01 pm
So will the parents who are tired of paying for math tutors because Sonny and Kathy sold off how math would be taught to Georgia students and what textbooks would be pushed by the state and insisted on mandating the failed integrated approach to math on Georgia high school students.
Now they’re agreeing to adopt Common Core no matter how controversial and bragging about how they’ve been involved from the beginning. They see Common Core as nationalizing what has worked so poorly in Georgia.
No wonder in particular the comments keep talking about how disjointed and weak the high school math Common Core standards are. That makes perfect sense if Ga is a primary model.
http://www.pioneerinstitute.org/pdf/100402_fair_to_middling.pdf
It was bad enough to impose this mandate on a whole state. Now they’re trying to export it to the other states.
Say no to RTT.
Say no to the Common Core Standards Initiative until more is known on what we’re agreeing to.
Say no to Linda Darling- Hammond’s idea of a new subjective way to assess American students as part of Common Core.
If you think the CRCT is expensive, who will pay the costs of tests that have to be graded individually by teachers (as LDH has said per EdWeek) instead of machines?
How many expensive long term ideas in addition to merit pay will the state agree to trying to bring in a relatively small amount of additional funds?
Kathy Mitcham
April 27th, 2010
5:10 pm
Teachers need to thank Representative Brooks Coleman for trying to stop SB 521 from going forward. I just did
RobertNAtl
April 27th, 2010
5:16 pm
Just a thought, but how about a merit pay system for the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, and the state legislature? We could base their pay on metrics such as lowering unemployment and inflation in the state, decreasing violent crime in the state, etc. Shouldn’t be any harder than devising criteria for teachers! After all, if merit pay can be used to improve educational outcomes in the state, why not apply it to other government employees as well?
Mid South Philosopher
April 27th, 2010
5:21 pm
I am for paying the governor a set salary, but no retirement, save a modest contribution to a 401k. Incidentally, that salary should be fluid and should be the ‘average’ salary of a couple only family in Georgia.
As for state representatives and senators…not one dime in salary. Modest expenses when they are in Atlanta.
Canedawg
April 27th, 2010
5:53 pm
Since when was there a long line of teachers dying to enter our profession? It is hard enough to convince bright, young college students to go into education. Now their job security is going to be based on the performance of teenagers – the most unpredictable animal on the planet!
The entire public education system is spiralling into chaos. In 10 years, the government will be looking for ways to get out of the education business as we know it. The gap between public and private schools and their effectiveness, facilities, and quality of staff will grow and grow. School districts are on the verge of bankruptcy, and over the next 18 months, something has to give. The gap in the education that the poor and the lower middle class get will get bigger and bigger – which will in effect perpetuate the class system in our country and actually make it worse…
Why would anyone enter into our career field now?
history teacher
April 27th, 2010
6:00 pm
To I’m with middle Ga
Please evaluate me like a coach. However treat me like a coach. I must have tryouts for my class, mandatory after school practice, and the freedom to run the fool out of students who cut the fool, and the final say about kicking the trouble makers off my team. When I can do that, then bring merit pay on. I can live with it. In one of my 11th grade classes, I have three students who have a lexile score below 400. In other words, most 4th graders read better.The state talks tough about not letting them leave certain grades without passing the crct. All of us know that is a joke. All parents have to do is sign the waiver and they are promoted. Even if the parents keep them back, what do you do with a 16 year old that can’t read and pass the CRCT?. One thing you cant do it prepare them for the EOCT and the GHSGT. If they cant read it, they cant pass it.
jane
April 27th, 2010
6:02 pm
When test scores are evaluated they do not evaluate how much progress one student makes from one year to the next. They compare the previous year’s class to the current year’s class. Maybe if they were measuring how much a student learns during the year using student data might work. I am not sure how statistics would handle those students who disrupt and derail even some of the best teachers. If you have a class with 4 to 5 class clowns the teacher spends most of the time in and out of the classroom trying to handle those students instead of teaching to the others who are willing to learn.
@ harold
April 27th, 2010
7:06 pm
In DCSS principals and Central Office administrators pressure teachers to change grades and pass the students on. The next year they end up in a classes further behind than ever. They are passed on even though they can’t pass the CRCT, EOCT or any tests in the classes they take. Take a look at grade changing in DeKalb. Governor Perdue and the Legislature want teachers to be responsible, but the cheating is really in the administrative end. Who lost their jobs in these grade changing scandals – you guessed it – the teachers (one of them is a Georgia Tech math major). Who kept their jobs – DCSS administrators. My guess is that DCSS is not the only school system that has this going on. Perdue and the current legislators need to face up to the fact that what they are doing is not working for Georgia students. With any luck, many will be voted out come November. I’m looking for viable candidates to work for:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nlFiNlZ3uo
http://www.wsbtv.com/video/22250810/index.html
.
ffflats
April 27th, 2010
7:30 pm
I hope the kids don’t learn any of these school board moves,I think they have more better morals.
bootney farnsworth
April 27th, 2010
7:31 pm
It’ll be back.
ffflats
April 27th, 2010
7:31 pm
Enter your comments here
TELL THEM NO
April 27th, 2010
7:59 pm
Let them know that your opinion does matter. November is near. Please voice your concerns. Press on until the very end. Perdue, Brantley, and Hames are probably working this group over on the phones.
HOUSE RULES COMMITTEE
wendell.willard@house.ga.gov; bill.hembree@house.ga.gov; james.mills@house.ga.gov; terry.barnard@house.ga.gov; mark.burkhalter@house.ga.gov; linda.marwede@house.ga.gov; sharon.cooper@house.ga.gov; earl@ehrhart.4emm.com; repjacobs@comcast.net; bob.lane@house.ga.gov; rebecca.hammock@house.ga.gov; nikki.randall@house.ga.gov; austin.scott@house.ga.gov; donna.sheldon@house.ga.gov; calvinsmyre@synovus.com; tim.bearden@house.ga.gov; pamela.lewis@house.ga.gov; repcoan@charter.net; katie.dempsey@house.ga.gov; gerald.greene@house.ga.gov; jan.jones@house.ga.gov; john.lunsford@house.ga.gov; doris.littlejohn@house.ga.gov; tom.rice@house.ga.gov; ed.setzler@house.ga.gov; bob.smith@house.ga.gov; quickrxdrugs@yahoo.com; gail.morgart@house.ga.gov; tommy.benton@house.ga.gov; jill.chambers@house.ga.gov; jim@votecole.com; dren16999@aol.com; paula.golden@house.ga.gov; jerry.keen@house.ga.gov; rebecca.hammock@house.ga.gov; butch.parrish@house.ga.gov; jay.roberts@house.ga.gov; jay.shaw@house.ga.gov; lynn.smith@house.ga.gov; lwalker107@gmail.com
How GAE and PAGE fail Georgia teachers
April 27th, 2010
8:11 pm
Do we not have a Republican legislature? The party of rule of law and personal responsibility? GAE and PAGE could be pounding this drumbeat over and over: what will you, as conservatives, specifically do to support teachers in holding students accountable, with meaningful consequences, when students fail to take personal responsibility, follow the rule of law in the classroom, and fail to act in accordance with societal standards?
There’s no real excuse that the Legislature could offer for not doing so, and it’s a serious disservice to Georgia teachers that PAGE and GAE haven’t done so. Maybe PAGE and GAE higher ups who are, or have been administrators, feel they have to protect their administrative members who would suddenly have a real level of accountability if they had to support teachers in such manner.
Is this a case where PAGE and GAE feel they have to protect their administrators, even if it leads to a catastrophic lack of advocacy for the classroom teacher when it comes to having the authority needed to teach?
That might be a really good question for teacher members of GAE and PAGE to ask themselves. If you’re trying to serve two masters, which one gets fed to the wolves when the going gets really tough?
d
April 27th, 2010
8:12 pm
At some point people really have to understand that “student performance” or “student achievement” and “learning” are not in any way the same thing. Once that occurs, and we can say are students learning then we can talk about attaching teacher evaluations to student learning. Are students learning? No, then we have a problem. Student performance makes the children sound like machines that have to produce and only one person who has a small part of that molding is held responsible.
Ray
April 27th, 2010
8:16 pm
The nice thing about merit pay is that it will further wreck education, giving the GOP further ammunition not ot fund it.
That’s what they do – destroy the gov’t so you won’t want it.
How very taliban of them!
d
April 27th, 2010
8:20 pm
How bout this tactic — declare a voice vote that failed to have passed and not allow there to be further debate.
Happy Teacher
April 27th, 2010
8:26 pm
If this were an actual merit pay bill rushed through like this? I’d be livid…but it’s a proposal to develop a teacher evaluation tool someday. I’m having a hard time working myself into a lather over it.
I know that this is a step towards merit pay in the Governor’s eye, but this is the last session he will preside over, so why get so worked up? It’s clearly a ploy to parade in front of the RTTT panel, and frankly, I think they’ll see right through it.
I’m much more curious about the current crop of gubenatorial candidates. That is where any real school reform will come from, so I think that turning our attention towards that is more important. Anything passed now won’t have any real teeth, and would have to be addressed again in any larger reform efforts to come. I haven’t heard much from the candidates about their plans, so the whole thing feels a bit moot to me.
The big fix
April 27th, 2010
8:28 pm
Would you fix a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without peanut butter and jelly?
So how in the $#%# do think you can fix the public schools without discipline?
rosie
April 27th, 2010
8:46 pm
So many valid points on this topic:
History teacher- evaluate me like a coach if I can be treated like a coach.
Mid South Philosopher- let’s put our state office holders on merit pay and evaluate them based on tax collections, unemployment #s, job creation, etc.
@harold- every school system in GA is asking teachers to change grades only to ask another teacher to do the same thing for the same student the next year.
Attentive parent- stop the Common Core Standards
Me- vote Kathy Cox out of office. She hasn’t done anything to help teachers do their jobs in the classroom. The evaluation instrument in this bill has already been developed by Mrs. Cox’s staff. She is just waiting on the okay.
M G
April 27th, 2010
8:50 pm
I was present for the Rules committee meeting. SB 521 has been amended and is going back to the floor. he am
history teacher
April 27th, 2010
9:33 pm
MG how was it amended?
18 years as a teacher
April 27th, 2010
9:37 pm
They watered it down. There’s a story about it on ajc.com.
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/teacher-jobs-evaluation-bill-498387.html
majii
April 27th, 2010
9:42 pm
Even if Senate Bill 521 does not clear both houses in the General Assembly before this session ends, we still need to get the supporters of it out of the legislature this November. If we don’t, this issue will be revived again in January 2011.
Happy Teacher
April 27th, 2010
9:48 pm
Here is the watering:
“Instead, members of the House Rules Committee changed its language to require teacher and public input as new, statewide evaluation rules are developed”
…which seems like a positive step.
GA Teach
April 27th, 2010
10:04 pm
If it passes we will be required to be ruled by RTTT. We will have to be on a Merit Pay. It is one of the requirements.
DO NOT SUPPORT THIS BILL with the new language added to it.
Happy Teacher
April 27th, 2010
10:13 pm
IF it passes, then we might have a microscopically higher chance of receiving RTTT funding, GA Teach…
Just a Thought
April 27th, 2010
10:21 pm
Right. Teacher and public input to the same tune of the survey results they are using to convince the people in Washington that teachers want this (the emails they are now receiving being contrary to that fact). Why would we trust them to do it right next time?
18 years as a teacher
April 27th, 2010
10:25 pm
Personally I do not want Georgia to receive RTTT funds at this point. Why would we want money that comes with so many strings? Especially when that money is limited. It won’t last forever, but we will be stuck with the so-called reforms.
The reforms that really need to be done are not possible. It’s parenting that needs to be reformed. You can tie teacher evaluations or salary to student achievement, but you cannot make the student “achieve” or “perform” on any given evaluation. There are too many other factors at play. Most of which involve parents.
Many parents today spend more time “plugged in” to their phones, computers, or TVs than they do actually parenting their children. Did you know that it’s a surprise to parents that kindergarten students need to be able to do some things independently? The parents have spent the first five years doing everything for them – it takes less time to do that than it does to teach the child how to do it. I could go on, but I’m sure you get the picture.
Just a Thought
April 27th, 2010
10:27 pm
“IF it passes, then we might have a microscopically higher chance of receiving RTTT funding…”
According to my understanding Georgia was already a close third. A real move towards merit pay was one of the main components missing. That seems more than a microscopic chance to me. They wouldn’t be trying to force this through at the last minute if they felt they only had a microscopic chance. They wouldn’t be feeding us this line about the unimportance of teacher buy in if they felt they only had a microscopic chance.
d
April 27th, 2010
10:30 pm
Why have a committee if the chair is going to override the will of the majority?
Happy Teacher
April 27th, 2010
10:33 pm
The results of the first round have no bearing on this round, and this is hardly the type of move towards merit pay that other states have put together. Plus, add in the fact that Sonny is out soon, and this is all he has been able to cobble together…
How “they” feel about our chances is irrelevant. It seems they feel desperate more than anything, since the reviewer that scored our aplication abnormally high last time isn’t guaranteed to evluate us again.
Happy Teacher
April 27th, 2010
10:35 pm
http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2010/04/15/in-second-race-to-the-top-georgia-may-not-have-its-one-big-fan-again/
Just a Thought
April 27th, 2010
10:45 pm
@Happy Teacher….you know what, you just gave me some good news. Thank You!
Happy Teacher
April 27th, 2010
10:47 pm
A miracle! Don’t let the others hear you say that!
Reaper2007
April 27th, 2010
11:28 pm
Teacher in Cobb
April 27th, 2010
3:10 pm
Like the piece of crap “No Child Left Behind” which further allows the parents to place blame on us teachers, this bill will do just the same. Stop placing the failure rate on teachers. Parents need to step up and take charge of their kids. I didn’t lay down to make them, so I shouldn’t have to be the one that has to teach them things like being prepared in school, stop talking and picking up your pants. If you want kids to pass – get the little hoodlums out and in jail.>>>>>>>>>>>First of all, you’re right, the No child left behind plan was idiotic. All that does is make you, the teacher, push kids farther along than they should be simply to keep up and keep getting Fed and State monies for your schools. As far as parents stepping up, again I agree whole heartedly. Many parents today not only don’t take responsibility for thier kids but they don’t even accept it for themselves. However, I DO believe that teachers should be hired and fired based on performance. This should be gauged on teacher testing to ensure that the teachers know what they are supposedly subject matter experts in as well as performance of their students. Let’s face it, if you can’t inspire kids to learn and you can’t get your message or lesson across so that the kids learn and remember the lesson, then you are basically failing at your job!!
M G
April 27th, 2010
11:47 pm
I couldn’t respond earlier, trying to do so on the cell phone was not easy.
The truly scary part of this bill now is that parents and citizens will be involved in the creation of the new teacher evaluation instrument. If that sounds like a good idea to anyone, I’d really like to know if they will allow a committee of teachers to design their job performance criteria.
9th Lit Teacher
April 28th, 2010
1:29 am
Adding to history teacher’s response to I’m with Middle GA:
Count me in! I want to be evaluated, trreated, and paid like a coach too! Send only students that WANT to be in in my class. Send me students who value getting an education so much that they are willing to change their behavior motivated only by the possibility of being kicked out of my class. I would have NO problem being paid based on student performance because performing well will be the ultimate goal and passion of my students. So strong will this passion be, that I will never have to assign homework because my students will take it upon themselves to practice extra hours until they have mastered every concept. It won’t be my job to make them want an education … it will be my job to give them the education that they want. Yeah … I like this plan.
William Casey
April 28th, 2010
1:54 am
I’m retired after 31 years as teacher/administrator/coach so I have no personal stake but I still care very much. Give me the POWER in the classroom that I had in COACHING and you can evaluate me all day long! On the field or in the gym, I had ABSOLUTE POWER over something every player wanted….. playing time. Give me absolute power over something the kid in the classroom really wants (it will differ from kid to kid) and I (and most other teachers) will get some good results. Also give me power over something the PARENT really wants and I’ll get excellent results almost everytime.
9th Lit Teacher
April 28th, 2010
2:02 am
To Reaper 2007:
You said:” … the No child left behind plan was idiotic. All that does is make you, the teacher, push kids farther along than they should be simply to keep up and keep getting Fed and State monies for your schools.”
No, all NCLB does is empower the students and their parents to sit back and relax because *they* aren’t the ones being held accountable. Teachers are not pushing students, we’re spoon feeding them and escalating their grades. No, we were spoon feeding a few years back – it’s gotten to the point now that we’re spoon feeding, chewing, and swallowing for them. Teachers cannot engage students that don’t want to be engaged. It’s time for change. I, for one, refuse to dance naked on my desk just to get their attention. I’ve got their education. If they want it, they are invited to come and get it. I’m not going to beg them to come and get it, I’m not going to cram it down their throats, and I’m not going to water it down and give it to them intravenously. I will, however, jump through hoops of fire to get it to the students who show me they want it ….
Jacob
April 28th, 2010
7:21 am
We need a Bill 521, 522, 523,….for:
- Governor, senators and all government bureaucracy
- School Superintendents and administrators
- Principals and Assistant principals
- Medical doctors and nurses
- etc, etc
No Sir
April 28th, 2010
7:23 am
Please stop this pursuit, GA legislators. It is currently a flawed, ill-defined compensation model. Give it another try after a thorough dialogue among all interested/affected parties are allowed to voice their opinions. What is happening now is dubious at best.
rosie
April 28th, 2010
7:39 am
The evaluation has already been developed without teacher input it is called Class Keys. Please write your legislators and ask them NOT to pass this bill.
Meme (about to retire)
April 28th, 2010
8:55 am
I am very proud of Brooks. As a former educator he know how difficult it will be to determine merit.
Meme (about to retire)
April 28th, 2010
8:55 am
oops – he knows
education major
April 28th, 2010
9:06 am
I am currently in my senior year of college majoring in middle school education. I think the idea of merit pay is CRAZY. There are so many students out there who just don’t care about the tests that they are required to take. Saying that, I am so excited about becoming a teacher in the next year and plan to strive to do the best to my ability to have my future students succeed! I am full of hope that things in education will get better.
Devil's Advocate
April 28th, 2010
9:33 am
Why is it so crazy that teachers that can overcome all the obstacles that (supposedly) hold back other teachers should get a bonus above normal scale.
If the limitations that are beaten to death on this blog hold you back, then fine, you get normal scale pay.
But, if you can overcome the obstacles, you get more money. Nothing fairer than that…
Elizabeth
April 28th, 2010
9:35 am
9th grade lit teacher said it all. I will not dance naked on my desk to get their attention either. But I will go to extreme measures for those who want to get it. I once told an administrator this when she suggested that I provide a pizza party for the ones who scored highest on the CRCT as an incentive. I asked who would buy the pizzas. Her reply: “You will, of course.” I declined to fund this bribery and she declined to support me for the 3 years she was at our school.
Committed Educator
April 28th, 2010
9:44 am
@ Teacher in Cobb – I wonder if you are one of the teachers who are getting laid off? I am appalled at your lack of understanding and dedication to the education of our youth. Calling any child a “hoodlum” and desiring that they be “jailed” shows me that you are definitely in the wrong profession. Perhaps you may consider a field that does not involve the interaction and dedication to the growth of our children.
catlady
April 28th, 2010
9:46 am
Devil: not each teacher will have those obstacles. And those who don’t will be paid a very low rate.
It’s a money-saving ploy. We cannot be satisfied with being 5th best in the Southeast. We want to be dead-last.
catlady
April 28th, 2010
9:54 am
My two requests on the filter showed up, but the 2 substantive comments have not. Oh, the wise and wicked ways of the filter, blessed be its name.
Gwinnett resident
April 28th, 2010
10:02 am
Right now, teachers are told by the STATE and COUNTY the day-to-day material hte teacher MUST cover. Yoo bad if thekids do not get it; how is a teacher supposed to teach effectively when they do not have any control over the classroom time, the material, or the method to teach? nOw. you want to tell them that they will be evaluated based upon their students’ performance?! Get real people, talk to a teacher, find out what he/she is told to do, and what happens when they fail to cover the assigned material on the assigned day and instead decide to take the time to make sure that their students grasp the material!!
Veteran teacher, 2
April 28th, 2010
10:09 am
@Devil’s Advocate…It is pretty obvious that the Governor and some legislative leaders are using this ploy to lower salaries. They could actually have no intention of ever funding the bonuses. Many teachers did the arduous National Board Certification with the promise of a 10% bonus, and the legislature cut that this year. What will stop the legislature from saying, “sorry, thanks for doing a great job, but we don’t have the money this year.”? Without any clear details, few teachers will go along with this supposed plan. It is like building the airplane while flying it.
Devil's Advocate
April 28th, 2010
10:23 am
Sorry VT2, with the economy bouncing back, I just can’t get into the paranoid, conspiracy against teachers groove. I know teachers like to think that education should be beyond cuts, but that is just not reality.
Reality
April 28th, 2010
10:58 am
@Devil’s Advocate:
Teachers would be okay with cuts to go along with the bad economy. The problem is that Perdue and Repubs already had cut education budgets in the GOOD times. We have ALREADY been operating with skin and bones – no fat. Now, the bad economy hits and we cut more?
Just not right.
Veteran teacher, 2
April 28th, 2010
5:17 pm
@Devil’s Advocate…..It took me a long time to see the conspiracy, so I understand your reluctance. However, a trip to the Capitol during the session told me loud and clear what many of the current legislators think of teachers. This whole merit pay deal is simply a way to pay everyone more. The current Governor and many legislators think that teachers and principals just are not working hard enough, and if they did, achievement would immediately rise. The vast majority of people I work with are giving everything they have and more. Students have changed a lot in the past five years. No one should assume that students are now giving their best effort at anything they do. Listen to what most of the “real” teachers are saying, and you will hear similar information.
Veteran teacher, 2
April 28th, 2010
5:18 pm
typo-Should say “This whole merit pay deal is simply a way to pay everyone LESS” Freudian slip!!
Go Indians!
April 29th, 2010
2:40 pm
So we have a faculty meeting after school today – our Principal had met with the county all day to figure what is going to happen. Stay tuned.
battered & bruisedtchr
April 29th, 2010
7:09 pm
@Reaper2007
Where do YOU teach???!! East Cobb?? where most of the students are reading on grade level, know all their multiplication facts by grade 5, and scored level 2 and 3 on CRCT in ALL areas???
just curious, since you feel that if ALL students don’t learn, aren’t inspired to learn and are captivated by school each and every day that the teacher has FAILED at their job???