Legislature will consider teacher report cards
I have been working on a column for the AJC’s Monday education page on an effort this upcoming legislative session to formulate a bill creating teacher report cards in Georgia and just chatted with House Majority Whip Edward Lindsey, R-Atlanta, about his interest in the issue.
Along with state Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan, D-Austell, Lindsey visited Colorado recently to meet with the legislator there led a successful effort to pass a teacher effectiveness bill this year.
We talked about a range of education initiatives that Lindsey would like to see this session, including improving the substance of pre-k, reviewing how much testing we do in our schools, enhancing technical education in high school and saving HOPE.
But we talked mostly about whether Georgia was ready and able to rate teachers given the available data and all the controversies about whether such measures are fair:
His reply to my question on whether this was the time for report cards for teachers:
“If not now, when? We now have a situation where 50 percent of low-income students who enter ninth grade are not graduating. That is atrocious. We cannot allow demographics to control destiny. You have a wide range of people across the spectrum who believe that — from myself in the Republican category to the Secretary of Education to Alisha Morgan and lots of folks in between.
I am a great believer that given our present state of education nationwide, we need to be trying to figure out ways to move forward. Whether that means the present year or 2012 for all these education initiatives, I am about building coalitions and moving legislation. But I feel strongly that we have to move forward now. The status quo in education is not acceptable.”
Lindsey was not surprised when I predicted strong teacher opposition to public report cards, but said that he wants to hear from teachers.
So, here is your first chance to comment on this possible legislation.
– By Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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304 comments Add your comment
Maureen Downey
December 28th, 2010
2:52 pm
@Quit, I get tired of these comments as they are without meaning and they demean teaching by suggesting that people think they should be able to teach without training.
I could turn around and say, “I would like to see ‘Smug Quit’ cover a six-hour legislative hearing, drive back to the office and turn around a 30-inch story in 15 minutes, while trying to track down the correct spellings of the 20 people who testified, get the sponsor of the bill on the phone for additional questions and deal with three editors breathing down her/his neck, an online producer who wants a homepage burst and a photographer who needs caption information. And get all the details right so that not one of a half million readers calls the next day to complain.”
I can do my job under even extreme pressure because I have trained to do so and spent a long time doing it. I could no more do your job without training and education than I could walk into my brother’s dental office tomorrow and perform oral surgery.
Maureen
Retired Educator
December 28th, 2010
2:54 pm
Government as related to education Report Cards
Central Office Report Cards
School Administrators Report Cards
Teacher Report Cards
Student Report Cards
Parent Report Cards
Community Report Cards
Leave out either of the above and you can’t get an accurate assessment. Now WHO is going to do the grading? Who is qualified to do the grading?
Politicians, stop playing these games. Stop blowing all that hot air to make it look like you are doing something good and noble. I suggest you let the good and bad teachers grade the politicians, because the good and bad politicians seem to feel qualified to grade the teachers.
Ed Johnson
December 28th, 2010
3:01 pm
So, Ed Lindsey and Alisha Thomas Morgan want to legalize “The New Stupid:”
http://tinyurl.com/35ko9ga
As @TopSchool points out, the problem is at the top, with Administration. Nothing like APS offers the “perfect storm” of a learning opportunity to see this and to move away from The New Stupid.
Can someone explain why the very people – generally those who claim their distant forbearers experienced much maltreatment – that can least afford The New Stupid seem so zealous to run to it and embrace it? And why aren’t these people especially sensitive to that history so as to know that blaming others, those deemed less worthy, is down right evil and leads to more problems and solves none?
Georgia and our country simply cannot afford for The New Stupid come to pass. But, sadly, Obama and his basketball buddy Duncan are greatly fostering The New Stupid.
Hurry up 2012 and get here!
So what's the point of all this, really?
December 28th, 2010
3:02 pm
As a parent, I don’t have a choice of what school to attend. There is a district map, and unless I want to sell my house and move, I am stuck with the school where I live.
If Teacher Report Cards becomes the law, now I see that of the twenty teachers in my school, 10 are ‘A’ teachers, 5 are ‘B’ teachers and 5 are ‘C’ teachers.
Do I get to choose which teachers teach my child? No.
Can I choose another school? No.
So what, exactly was the point of this exercise?
The COST of administering such a program for over 100,000 Georgia teachers will be at least a couple of million dollars (that we don’t have).
What is the benefit to Georgia students?
The only benefit I can see is when legislation is being debated to publicly fund private schools and Charter Schools, these report cards will be the ‘proof’ that public education is no good and unworthy of funding.
TopSchool
December 28th, 2010
3:03 pm
Honesty, Integrity and Ethics…
Parenting and teaching…a reflection of our society mirrored in our children.
Those children lacking the parents to raise them properly and those parents caught up in “keeping up with false society norms” are all in the same boat.
Neglected children from the top end are as bad off as the children at the lower end…only the rich buy their way out of bad situations.
Unfortunately, those on the upper end of neglect won’t feel the results until much later in life.
A neglected child that struggles and rises to the top regardless of circumstances…often has more of the integrity that our society desperately lacks. The current parental generation does not want their child to struggle.
Holding TEACHERS responsible for developing these internal values will never work in a society gone mad with corruption.
ALL OF Society TOP and BOTTOM… needs to “Look at the man in the mirror. Your children are a reflection of you…”
The top buy their way out…and the bottom STRUGGLE with the hope they can survive their way out…
irisheyes
December 28th, 2010
3:03 pm
But, Maureen, according to at least half the people on this blog (and the vast majority of the state legislature), ANYONE can teach! I mean, how hard is it to teach a bunch of kids how to add 2 + 2! We’re all the idiots who couldn’t get into a real major anyway! Plus, we’re overpaid and underworked too.
Bama Bill
December 28th, 2010
3:12 pm
Simple problem – The Georgia State Pay Schedule is based on years of service and degress obtained (lousy service and mail-order degrees don’t come into play) – nothing for performance or effectiveness – so the fix must be from the State on “their” compensation pay schedule for teachers – same should apply to legislators !
Mikey D
December 28th, 2010
3:12 pm
@Maureen
Thanks for publishing Rep Lindsey’s contact info. I will be contacting him (or attempting to) today, and hope that he is sincere in his statements about wanting input. I fear that I’ll get lip service, as I have every other time I have contacted public officials, but I will at least give him the opportunity to have a discussion. I’ll post if I have any success… (Not holding my breath….)
No Brainer
December 28th, 2010
3:13 pm
What needs to be done is to allow the teachers get back to teaching. Get rid of NCLB; get rid of teaching to the testing. Each child is an individual and not a clone of another child. Test at the end of each week on what was taught in the class that week. At the end of the grading period, test on everything taught during that 9 week period; at the end of the semester, test on what was taught that semester. In this manner the teacher gets a handle on what a child is not understand and where a child needs additional help. Being forced to teach to the tests from the first day of school is pure nonsense and does not help the students in any manner. But don’t look for the Gold Dome Brigade to even consider this – they have been in Sonny’s back pocket for so long that they think education in this State is a game and they are the only ones who know how to play it and win.
qwerty
December 28th, 2010
3:16 pm
Let’s say Teacher X and Teacher Y teach the same exact subject at the same school, but Teacher X received a lower score their report card this year.
If a child is placed with Teacher X, will the parents complain?
If the child doesn’t perform well in that class for any reason, will some parents blame the fact that they weren’t with Teacher Y?
If the child doesn’t get high SAT scores and/or get into a good college, will the parents blame teachers like Teacher Y?
Grading a teacher is subjective. You can have millions of rubrics. The administrators grading the teachers can have tons of hours of training. It will always be subjective.
Maybe our state will spend lots of money coming up with this system, and most teachers will get great grades regardless of their performance. If I’m a principal grading the staff I hired, why would I give them low score?? My school would look bad. I would look bad. Why would I do that?
Tw Clabby
December 28th, 2010
3:26 pm
Wow -Dr. No-what terrific teacher filled your head with such malicious stuff?
If you blame the teachers-what about the parents? Years ago, a dear friend and terrific
teacher tried everything-from phone calls to certified mail to get the parents/parent of 10 of her 4th
graders to come speak to her-NO RESPONSE!!!!!!!
Maureen Downey
December 28th, 2010
3:27 pm
@So what’s the point, I also talked this week to Cobb board member David Morgan, who accompanied Lindsey to Colorado and asked those same questions of him. He believes that parents who get ineffective teachers won’t stand for it and will put pressure on principals to either get the teacher help to improve or will get rid of the teacher.
Maureen
justbrowsing
December 28th, 2010
3:28 pm
Good observation qwerty- such a rating system would do little to bridge already frazzled parent-teacher relationships. When Georgia unveils this- they can forget about ever having a stable teaching force anywhere.
Please Defend Public Education
December 28th, 2010
3:37 pm
Here’s a better idea and great concept: Let’s have a report card for parents and our elected state officials. It is time to get real. Without encouragement and support at home, we can throw money and ideas at education all we want without any results. Case in point: No Child Left Behind was suppose to be the “saving grace”, so to speak. Yet, here we are still scratching our heads because we still do not get “it”. Better education starts with higher expectations inside the home. Also, all these politicians and “so-called” experts are trying to re-do the wheel, so Georgia and our nation can “catch up”. Never mind these other countries we are being compared to do NOT teach all children. By the way, we can just try a new program, like getting teachers to dress in clown suits and stand on their heads to make learning more interesting. Here’s some information just coming out: these nations which are suppose to be ahead of the USA are using a great new teaching technique (sarcasim intended here) called teacher lecture as their main delivery for teaching. What a novel concept. Teachers teach and students learn. But we can not do this in Georgia and in the USA, because some “for profit” business will not be able to sell their bull or “research-based” bull to us anymore. I will leave with a question and answer. Does everyone know why it is so hard to get rid of the CRCT, which is creating ineffective teaching and learning? The answer is simple. Some people are making money on testing. Follow the money. As far as teacher report cards go….give them all an A-plus…for putting up with the disrespect and nonsense from state politicians and people from the public who do not have a clue as to how to teach and learn.
Toto: speakin' the truth to power
December 28th, 2010
3:40 pm
Government as related to education Report Cards
Central Office Report Cards
School Administrators Report Cards
Teacher Report Cards
Student Report Cards
Parent Report Cards
Community Report Cards
Retired educator,
The only real report card on your list is the “Student Report Card”. These grades will often determine the future opportunities for the student- whether they get a full ride to a university or drop out of school. Admittedly, teachers dishing out the grades are of varying talent and are subject to teaching only politically approved curriculum. The modern school setting is not appropriate for many students. Yet students have been forced to be subjectively graded and sorted like eggs since the beginning of public education. Where is your outrage for them? Of course, you made your livelihood off of this process. The government officials do have a report card of sorts, called the ballot box. And why do they never seem to respond to the wishes of the majority? Simple, they’ve been bought off. As for the parent report card, in a free-market education setting, the parent is the customer. If a private school doesn’t want their brat, they are free to forego the tuition and reject him. A parent becomes motivated to prepare their child responsibly for an education when there is the risk that they will have to home school their brat because there is no alternative. The school superintendent ( originally elected by the locals) is ultimately responsible for ALL public school hires! If the teachers are of such poor quality, why aren’t superintendents being fired left and right? The real problem is that compulsory education violates the First and 14th Amendment of the Constitution. If the foundation is corrupt, there are no meaningful “fixes”. The ultimate solution is to overturn the state compulsory education law. Free-market education will sort the wheat from the chaff in the most equitable and cost-effective way. It is morally superior.
Joey M
December 28th, 2010
3:42 pm
As long as teachers and students are rated blindly, I’m all for firing teachers that don’t teach our kids. Judge them strictly based on performance. Leave gender, race, age, etc out of the equation. Make the teachers take tests with a random number on them that is matched back up with the teacher only after the tests are completed and graded. Make it fair. Just because some kids go to poorer school districts doesn’t mean they should have dumb teachers.
MaryPop
December 28th, 2010
3:47 pm
Sorry Maurren, you’ve run this topic in the ground. Let’s see you get out and help these underperforming schools. Perhaps you can’t put everything off on the teacher. You’ve gotten as much mileage as you can out of this topic.
MaryPop
December 28th, 2010
3:48 pm
And, if you had bothered to do your homeword (i.e. research) you would know that teachers are fired everyday in this country. Contracts are consistently NOT renewed, teachers are often FIRED. So, why are you not printing THAT INFO? Does it clash with your agenda?
TopSchool
December 28th, 2010
3:50 pm
@ So what’s the point of all this, really?
Well, that depends on how much money you have and where you live in Atlanta.
PUBLIC does not always mean PUBLIC… when it is allowed to operate like a PRIVATE SCHOOL..
Most children on the Northside of Atlanta come to the SCHOOL HOUSE smart…
The teachers are not all that SUPERIOR to others in the APS system.
If anything…the teachers on the Northside are able to be a little less than SUPERIOR INNOVATORS IN EDUCATION…because they can be SLACK without any one noticing. These teachers really don’t need to think of ways to teach creatively since most children “get it” in the first lesson.
Northside private schools will very quickly place your child in a “workbook” approach to teaching…Again, it does not take much of a teacher to follow this approach to a basic education.
Teacher’s are bought and sold on the Northside of Atlanta….and so are the open slots for children in the public schools.
Many of the children in this APS neighborhood school do not live in the neighborhood…
You will need to be a former APS teacher to breathe a word about the secrets in the Northside, Atlanta Public Schools…because to “tell the truth” will cost you your job.
Donations/Jackson Elementary…explaining how it works.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TopSchoolAtlanta#p/u/36/XE6fjYH8sc8
“Jackson operated like a private school funded by the taxpayers,” said Sam. “If you had the right parents or your family came from the right background you could enroll at Jackson, no matter where you lived in or outside of Atlanta. If not, you didn’t stand a chance.” Mr. Sam expressed concerns about the process and data used to justify Jackson’s application for recognition as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the federal Department of Education. He raised concerns about submissions to the Georgia State Pay for Performance program.
Further, the complaint alleges that when Mr. Sam requested that minutes from school Leadership Team Meetings be accurate or to tape record the meetings, Reich and others threatened him, humilated him in front of colleagues, and forced him to stay in closed door meetings while he was verbally abused for extended periods by Reich. “At that moment I realized I had no option but to file a grievance. When that failed to bring about an end to the corrupt practices and the retailation escalated. I felt I had to file this lawsuit so I could regain my career and inform the public of the issues plaguing Jackson Elementary and many others in Atlanta Public Schools. Teachers are petrified to speak out. All they have to do is look at what happened to me at the hands of my Principal and the APS Administration to know they need to keep their mouth shut unless they want to find a new career.”
plain and simple
December 28th, 2010
3:52 pm
“50 percent of low-income students who enter ninth grade are not graduating.” Well, we all know you can’t make chicken salad out of chicken s***
oneofeach4me
December 28th, 2010
3:53 pm
Isn’t it odd how most Republicans favor small government, yet the only thing they REALLY want TOTAL government control over is public education? Does no one find this to be odd?? Could it be because they want to stop paying taxes that fund these schools?? The teacher report card is strictly due to the fact that public schools are publicly funded.
Most Republicans do not believe that it takes a village to raise a child and do not want to contribute to the education of that child or those children. I say, if we want our children to go to public schools then we will pay those taxes to fund it and those who do not want to pay the taxes must send their children to private schools and pay to do so. Cause hey, let’s face it, there is probably only about 5% of the population that can actually afford to pay for private school. Let those who want public school pay for it and do away with the “teach report cards”, standardized testing (other than the basic once a year testing) and allow the administrators in the schools to ADMINISTRATE.
In my opinion, public school worked out and produced very intelligent beings when the government was less involved and standardized testing was minimal. I cannot think of one teacher I had up through the year 1995 that didn’t really love teaching and have a passion for it. Same goes for my sisters who graduated in 2002. These teachers are fed up and as one poster has urged on here, they feel as though they are better off leaving the profession. All this standardized testing and such has done nothing but suppress great, passionate, thoughtful, and imaginative teachers. Before all this… if your child failed school… it was YOUR fault as a parent, NOT the teachers. Now, with my two children, I feel the same way. I get involved and volunteer and help with homework as much as I possibly can.
I know this is more complicated than my simple solution. I am just nervous about my kids’ education as I cannot afford private school for them. One thing I do know for sure…the government has the grip FAR TOO TIGHT on public education. PLEASE, I stress PLEASE, do NOT implement teacher grading to an already financially stressed and struggling school system. OUR SCHOOLS CANNOT AFFORD ANYMORE CUTS!!!!
oldtimer
December 28th, 2010
3:53 pm
As a retired teacher, Maureen, you are correct. Teachers will be judged on tests scores and hopefully other factors. It is not “fair” but much of life isn’t. Teachers need to become part of the process. I work with CRCT standards and testing for middle school. Is it great? No! Is it the best we could do? Probably!
Bear in mind no one wanted NCLB. It was a bipartisian congressional effort led by Ted Kennedy. It came and we had to change to deal with it. Now more changes are coming and you corrent group of talented teachers will do your best, as always, and see that most children get educated.
teachergirl
December 28th, 2010
3:58 pm
First, someone please explain to me why David Morgan and his wife, Alisha Thomas Morgan, were on this little junket to Colorado. They can talk all they want to about education, but it appears as though they were taking a little vacay. Please, stop wasting our money on your little getaways and LET US TEACH. And Maureen, there is no need to get testy – I am firmly convinced that politicians believe that anyone with breath in their bodies and a lesson plan from the county can teach. That is how much respect we receive as teachers. This “report card” is just another way teachers are being told that they are second class citizens – glorified babysitters.
teacher&mom
December 28th, 2010
3:59 pm
Rep. Lindsey,
Thank you for participating in the conversation. I have a few questions that perhaps you can answer.
Do you intend to publicize the teacher report cards the first year of implementation?
How will you ensure the first round of report cards will be an accurate reflection of teacher effectiveness?
If you are unable to ensure the grading system will be fair, especially in the early stages, are you prepared to address the enormous damage that may result from inaccurate grades?
How will the report card account for variables such as class size, number of ESL students, number of special education students, high absentee rates, etc.? Please understand that I have no control over the number of students on my class rolls…the number of ESL students, the number of special education students, etc. My administrators control those variables. For example, I once had an eighth grade class with 13 special education students (several were EBD), 10 SST students, and 4 regular education students. I was not given an inclusion teacher, a para-pro, or any support. Because the class was the last period of the day, My AP was new to the job and discipline support was lacking that year. When I tried to appeal to my administrator for help, I was told they had complete confidence in my teaching abilities and they were sure everything would work out just fine. My scores for that class were the lowest in my 16 years of teaching. Would I have received a poor grade for that class?
Do you agree that access to adequate lab supplies, technology, supplemental materials, etc. may have an impact? Should I be held personally accountable for the lack of lab supplies?
Do you understand that school-wide decisions such as changing bell schedules (traditional vs block vs A/B), changing teaching assignments/grade levels, instituting school-wide initiatives (Reading First), eliminating staff development, eliminating or reducing teacher workdays, have the potential to impact scores?
Will the loss of instructional days be considered?
Will the report card be tied to the Class Keys? If so, will you give the same grade to the first year teacher and the veteran teacher? It is perfectly reasonable to expect new teachers to score emerging but will you give them a lower grade because they are not proficient or exemplary? Is that fair? Will the grade take into account professional growth? For example, will a teacher who is emerging receive a fair grade if s/he shows growth according to the Class Keys?
These are just a few examples of the many questions that come to mind. I appreciate your willingness to ask teachers for constructive input. I hope you appreciate and understand that recent decisions by the Governor’s office, the DOE, and the legislators have created a tremendous amount of distrust.
You are in a position to change the working relationship between educators and the Gold Dome. I would love to bring a group of educators to your office and discuss how to improve education in Georgia. Are you willing to listen?
Retired Educator
December 28th, 2010
4:01 pm
Politicians are just smacking their chops to get their grubby hands around the RTTT money. There is no telling what all they will do with this money ole Sonny was so anxious to get for GA. Bet ole Sonny will get his cut for pitching for it.
ben
December 28th, 2010
4:01 pm
Dr.NO,
It certainly doesn’t surprise me your child has an IEP. SPED’s usually dont fall far from the tree.
HS Math Teacher
December 28th, 2010
4:06 pm
Ok, Ms. Downey, I will shape my discussion in somewhat of a constructive way, given the “inevitable”. I’m not totally against Teacher Report Cards, as long as the measuring stick is how far a teacher has brought students along during an academic year, given a pre & post test. If the measuring sticks are the existing EOCT’s, then I’m against it, due to the social promotion problem (from middle schools & poorly-run Summer schools). The pre & post test deal is about as fair as you can make this. I have no problem with kids taking the post-test seriously, as I would make their score a significant part of their overall class grade.
Last note: Where is the SCHOOL PRINCIPAL in all this? Giving teachers report cards apparently takes the SCHOOL PRINCIPAL out of the management loop. I assume the teacher report cards will/would be generated by the State, and not the Principal.
Fled
December 28th, 2010
4:07 pm
@ Maureen: Thanks for your reply. What stand do you honestly see the teachers in Georgia making? I wonder if you think they will do anything–or just take it. My frustration was that as long as I worked in the plantation system, I never saw teachers do anything but grumble among themselves.
It is true that Dubai is not to everyone’s taste, but I can tell you that my children are in an excellent, world-class private school, not in their substandard north Futlon so-called school, and I am paid quite well. Yes, teaching is challenging everywhere, so I would not say it is a gravy train. But it is much better than Georgia.
Teachers, stay in Georgia and be punished, demeaned, and constantly disrespected by people who really want you to go away, if that’s what you want. Otherwise, and I say it again, there are plenty of places you can go. I personally love Dubai and am grateful to be here everyday, especially as I think about having to return to Georgia. However, there are a lot of other places that want and need us.
Does Georgia act like it wants and needs you? The choice is yours.
Maureen Downey
December 28th, 2010
4:11 pm
@HSmath, Erin Hames last week reiterated that the measure will be progress — if a 5th grade teacher gets a kid who is reading at a second grade level and gets the child to third grade by year’s end, that is progress.
But the problem yet to be resolved is how to judge the teachers of untested subjects. One idea is portfolio, but does a principal look at a student’s ink drawings or listen to a student’s rendition of a Sousa march on a tuba to determine whether the art and band teachers have done their jobs?
That is the harder challenge.
Maureen
Fled
December 28th, 2010
4:14 pm
Did I mention that I get free housing, free medical, no taxes on income or purchases, and a bonus?
Go ahead and let Deal have his way with you. After all, it’s scary to try something new.. Y’all deserve much better than you’re ever going to get there.
ben
December 28th, 2010
4:16 pm
How would you test PE, Band, Chorus, Art, and etc? It isn;t the PE teachers fault when a child doesn’t dress out or participate. Will teachers be able to kick out unruly children in their classrooms, or will hey be forced to keep the ignorant ba$tard who doesn’t know who his daddy is in there? Do we keep the dope head in there that his parents don’t give a rats a$$ what he does? Do we keep the kid that just got released from YDC in the class. The problem isn’t as much as the teachers as it is incompetent parenting.
teacher&mom
December 28th, 2010
4:18 pm
@Maureen
“I also talked this week to Cobb board member David Morgan, who accompanied Lindsey to Colorado and asked those same questions of him. He believes that parents who get ineffective teachers won’t stand for it and will put pressure on principals to either get the teacher help to improve or will get rid of the teacher.”
Who’s to say this doesn’t already take place? Even in my rural district, you can bet parents call their local board members about ineffective teachers. However, one board member once confided that while one group of parents push to fire a teacher, another group of parents will vehemently defend the same teacher. I have personally witnessed different teachers, who were “ineffective” in one teaching assignment, given a different assignment and excel. If they didn’t show improvement, they were quietly non-renewed.
I’m not against accountability. I’m fearful we will waste a tremendous amount of money and energy to develop a report card system for teachers that will solve absolutely nothing. This will create more paperwork, more administrative positions at the DOE and local BOE’s, and at the end of the day will it truly improve the teaching profession? Will it really close the achievement gap?
JW6
December 28th, 2010
4:19 pm
Ms. Downey,
This is directed at your 2:52 pm comments.
You make a very excellent point, and it is a point that I have seen many teachers try to make on this blog for years without much success.
Teaching requires special skills and training to be successful. However, why is it that everyone under the sun considers himself/herself an education expert or school-improvement guru.
Politicians have ruined public schools in this country with their constant meddling, and yet they are allowed to continuously insert themselves into the business of educating students even though they lack the required skills and training to be educators.
Ms. Downey, how would your brother feel if dentists were CONSTANTLY being interfered with by politicians with no training in dentistry? It is really rather insulting when you stop to think about it.
While budgets are being cut, furloughs being implemented, and class sizes rising, should we be surprised that teachers are skeptical about anything a politician has to say these days?
If anyone can come up with a way to rate/grade teachers based on what they do each day while eliminating factors they have no control over, I think you would get teacher support. Until then, everybody should worry about doing their own jobs to the best of their abilities and leave teaching to those who are truly education experts – the teachers.
J
December 28th, 2010
4:23 pm
Notice he said 50 percent of “low income students.” Maybe the parents of these low income students should act like parents and provide for their kids or else don’t have any. Teachers are left to pick up the pieces when some parents don’t want to raise their children and help them learn. I would know….I teach in a low income school! Screw politicians who have no idea what they are talking about. Report cards? Start with PARENT report cards and then we’ll talk!
Maureen Downey
December 28th, 2010
4:23 pm
@Teacher@mom, I have seen parents deplore a teacher who other parents worship. I think it is very hard to assess quality now as personality often plays a role in how parents perceive teachers. As a parent, I would like to see several years worth of MAP scores for teachers. (My district does MAP testing so the data exist.)
Maureen
J
December 28th, 2010
4:24 pm
Totally agree with JW6! Right on!
Let them Eat Cake
December 28th, 2010
4:24 pm
Grade the parents. Especially the ones that have kids illegitamately.
Then, grade the politicians that spend our tax money on bottled water, cronies in hyped up positions, and all other wasteful “perks” that they bestow upon themselves. Then pay teachers and you won’t wind up with people who take teaching positions because they couldn’t get the higher paying Fry Cook job at the local eatery.
HS Public Teacher
December 28th, 2010
4:31 pm
If the politicans in Georgia insist upon doing this, and….
if the teachers in Georgia have no back bone to stand up and stop this nonsense, then…
the least that teachers can do is to organize and boycott any and all publications that actually publish this sort of thing!
Note
December 28th, 2010
4:33 pm
I will support Rep. Lindsey’s efforts to post teacher grades when he and the rest of the GA legislature agree to provide specific information regarding the type of lobbyist gifts, paid dinners, and the amount of contact time spent with specific lobbyist groups, and this data is made public in an easy to find and read format.
teacher&mom
December 28th, 2010
4:37 pm
@Maureen
So do you think parents are incapable of accurately judging a teacher’s ability? We’ve had this discussion before haven’t we
Wandless
December 28th, 2010
4:41 pm
Come on people get your heads out of the sand. Anyone with half of a brain realizes that the problems facing our schools cannot just be about teacher performance. Take a look at test scores in any county in Georgia and you will plainly see that socio- economic status of the schools are indicative of how well the students perform. What part of that does a teacher have responsibility for? (Absolutely, none of it.) What a teacher does have responsibility for is meeting his/her students where they are academically and taking them further than they were. Teacher do not have magic wands, we have skills and strategies to enhance learning. We can solve academic needs, not social, political, economic, parental, and racial and a host of other social ills that plague this society. The school system is a reflection of the societal norms. The elected officials obviously find it easier to point fingers at teachers; as we tend to be quiet easy targets. Go ahead, give your report cards, do nothing else to legislate real educational reform, and watch the educational gap grow bigger and bigger.
TopSchool
December 28th, 2010
4:41 pm
This issue really brings out the savage beast in people.
CW
December 28th, 2010
4:48 pm
You can evaluate me as a teacher when parents decide to become more involved and we begin to hold students accountable for learning also. I have been in teaching for 3 years. I have had gifted kids and not so gifted kids. One thing that I have learned in teaching is that if the kid does not care and the parents do not care, there’s not much a teacher can do.
HS Math Teacher
December 28th, 2010
4:51 pm
Ms. Downey: Thanks for your response. After a little reflection, I can live with this. If the tests are well-crafted, the report cards should help the hard-working, talented teachers shine. There have got to be loads of truly good teachers already taking it on the chin for 9th grade percent passing results on EOCT’s, especially for the sequential subjects (Math & English).
On another positive note, the pre and post test option would really give the teacher the motivation to not let those who are failing during the year fall by the wayside. The growth of EACH student would be foremost in the teacher’s mind, as it really should be. I’ve been guilty of marching ahead, and just teaching to those who will listen, and leave the ones who won’t try in the ditch. I do try to motivate students; however, some just give up. The challenge here will be to devise a way to keep the failing kids motivated during the year. Maybe offering a few “correction tests” that will count as a “smidgen” in their averages will help. Also, as mentioned earlier, if the post-test results are given back in time, I could make their “growth grade” count significantly toward their second semester average.
By nature, I’m conservative, don’t like change, and view a lot of these measures and proposals as “tinkering” and “meddling”. On the surface, it does appear that way, especially considering all the education improvement initiatives we have endured in the last ten years. Hopefully, this new team of folks at the State will put a great deal of thought into what they’re doing or proposing, and also have the hard-working, good teacher in mind. To put teachers’ names on a public list that can be viewed by thousands is a radical step, and it’s highly critical that this process be done RIGHT.
teacher&mom
December 28th, 2010
4:52 pm
@Maureen.
The MAP system sounds interesting. Perhaps a possible compromise would be to allow those parents, who are actually interested in examining a teacher’s data, access to the data either in the school or district building.
Granted my little fishbowl of existence is a small one but here’s what I have observed…schools basically get a report called AYP. How many parents visit the web site to view their schools data? Wasn’t the basic premise behind NCLB to identify failing schools, give them a chance to improve, and if they don’t improve allow parents to send their students to a different school? Wasn’t that suppose to solve the problem? Wasn’t that the answer to closing the achievement gap?
If you don’t publish the teacher report card but make it available at the local BOE, I wonder how many parents would check?
Once again, I ask the question….is this worth the expense, effort, and time?
Frustrated
December 28th, 2010
4:54 pm
Just my opinion, but nothing is going to “fix” public education in Georgia or in the United States in it’s current form. Report cards for teachers is just another example of “grasping at straws” to fix something that the public at large does not begin to understand. Everyone wants to compare U.S. students to students from Europe or Japan, but that is like comparing apples to oranges. In schools in almost every other industrialized nation in the world, everyone attends grade school and then students are “tracked” according to ability. Some students continue on to high school and college and others begin training in a trade. (And there is natural accountability for student performance because students know that options depend on their performance!) The idea that every student in the U.S. should take exactly the same classes and pass exactly the same tests through 12th grade is ridiculous and totally unfair to the very students we say we want to help. Many students drop out of high school because THEY HATE IT!!! Now the buzz from the White House on down is that every American student should attend college. Really??? I am encouraging my own children to learn a trade because college degrees will soon be as worthless as the paper on which they are printed. What we need, and will never get from politicians who deal in sound bytes, is some sanity restored to a system that is broken. I don’t hold out much hope that this will happen!
long time educator
December 28th, 2010
4:55 pm
Part of the answer to reforming education is to give administrators the power that parents and most teachers think they already have: the power to get rid of bad teachers. A good administrator knows who the good, bad and ugly are. I was an administrator for 8 years and every year I had one or more tenured teachers on a Professional Development Plan. (No administrator puts a teacher on a PDP unless they are trying to get rid of them; it is way too much paperwork.) Most of the time, they would improve just enough to earn the next contract. In speaking to other administrators, they admitted to not even starting the process because it was so much work for so little return. The only true power I had was to hire great teachers and non-renew less-than-great non-tenured teachers which I did more once.
David
December 28th, 2010
4:57 pm
What is wrong with teachers? Any professional knows and understands that there is an evaluation process. You get graded. Why should teachers get a pass? Many people have had bad bosses who didn’t give them a “fair” evaluation. Should teachers get a pass? The reality is simple, it is too easy for teachers to say, what about parents, what about administrators, what about the students? You are a teacher, you choose to get a higher degree in education to help people to learn. Stop making excuses, do your job, do it well and you don’t really have much to worry about. Do it poorly and you should be worried. Have a bad administrator (who also need to be evaluated) find a different job at a different school, your not married to the school you teach at.
College
December 28th, 2010
5:00 pm
Let’s put some of the blame where it is deserved – the teacher education programs. Ask almost any college student who has failed in a more rigorous major what they plan to do, and the answer is “teach.” The education programs let in students who can’t write a complete sentence or add three numbers together. And SURPRISE! They go from being F students in a liberal arts or science major to an A student in the education department. If education programs turned out better teachers, perhaps the public would respect the profession.
Husband of Teacher
December 28th, 2010
5:01 pm
In a previous school district, my wife was named Teacher of the Year just 3 years after graduating from college.
The next year, the principal changed and the year after that she was forced to leave when the principal CHANGED all of her students report card grades because “They are too low.” He didn’t curve them, he just arbitrarily raised everyone’s grades. This after he gave her exemplary evaluations.
Her students have always had lower scores because she EXPECTS the students to do the work assigned to them, and if they do not, they receive a zero. One zero can really bring down a student’s average. When the students finally understand that they are being held accountable for their work unlike other classes, most bring their scores up.
Each year I have several opportunities to assess seniors in several different high schools in my area. At most schools, the attitude and behavior of these students is appalling and the administrators have very little control. But there are a few schools where administrators are respected and the students are under control and take learning seriously.
Hold children accountable for their behavior and attitude while in school beginning in the first grade, and most of this problems will solve themselves.
I think our educational system is backward. We spend a lot of money building and staffing alternative schools for the unruly students and take our outstanding students for granted – they learn in spite of the problem students. I propose sending these exceptional students to an alternative school where they can learn from the best teachers using the best labs and materials, and if we have to keep the troublemakers somewhere, keep them in the regular schools.
More time and effort should be spent on the good kids and LESS on those who won’t learn and don’t have parents to make them behave.
I will never understand why teachers, who have gone to college and received a degree, are treated as unprofessionally as they are. What other profession does not give their employees at least a 30 minute lunch and several breaks during the day?