Legislature will consider teacher report cards

He has absolutely no desire to hear from teachers. He won’t read this, either.
Why is it so hard to simply fire ineffective teachers? This would save money all the way around. Why do politicians go around their a$$e$ to get to their elbows?
Fire bad teachers and be done with it!

• Link
• Report this comment

Fine…as long as parents are rated, too. Suggested criteria: 1) hours spend with student on homework per week, 2) number of teacher conferences attended per year, 3) time put into school volunteer activities per month, 4) time spent taking student to library, after school or weekend enrichment programs (music, art, language (including ESOL), math, technology, or other nonsports activities), 5) ratio of household income spent on student’s school activities and enrichment to household income spent on parent’s cell phone, hair, nails, shoes, clothes (should be greater than 1, obviously).

To those who say low income families cannot afford enrichment – poppycock! Art museums, universities, and public recreation programs all offer low cost, free, or scholarship based activities for youngsters on weekends or after school, and public transit will take you almost anywhere in town.

You could throw in parent self-improvement as well – it takes a good role model for kids to see that bettering oneself is a lifelong goal.

• Link
• Report this comment

Maureen, if Rep. Lindsey is truly interested in the “50 percent of low-income students who enter ninth grade [and] are not graduating” the first thing he needs to look at is what percentage of those students were committee promoted after failing the [sub-minimal performance] CRCT. Between the AJC and the GaDOE, those data ought to be available.

I will note that the General Assembly is the body that enabled committee promotion to begin with, thus ensuring that students without adequate skills could be socially promoted without remediation and eventually end up in high school without having the skills to do high-school level work.

• Link
• Report this comment

Although I support the concept, if he looks into CO, LA, and NYC have done it will always be an imperfect system. Teachers have no control of the quality of input (students) they receive each year and are told to do the best with what they got (less and less resources). A teachers “grade” will fluctuate year to year based on the students she has. Also, the more affluent districts will almost assuredly have the majority highest rated teachers because many of their students come to school with great pre-K, traditionally less chaotic social-economic life, etc. Using APS as example Sutton vs Harper Archer. A teacher at HA may just trying to reach proficient while those at Sutton are reaching for exceeds. Another question is will the “grade” factor in if the previous years teachers did an poor job (5th grade) that will reflect in subsequent years (6th grade+).

I agree we need something but we need a strong and robust discussion (with a lot of teachers) before we march off with another GA baked approach to teacher quality.

• Link
• Report this comment

Any way they can- they will throw whatever and whomever under the bus to make way for cheaper, less experienced teachers. It is an absolutely atrocious and disgusting idea. Where is legislation being crafted to address similar areas? (Police, social workers, etc). When will they craft legislation to ensure the quality of what we inherently teach- or improve the communities we teach in? Stupid idea- the sad part is that they know it and continue running towards brick walls. We can be no more accountable than they can for the success or failure of the communities they represent.

• Link
• Report this comment

My EOCT scores are pretty good compared to state averages, particularly considering the number of socially promoted, IEP, RTI, and SST students in my classes. (I’m not sure that EOCT scores are anything to brag about in any case, considering that a student only needs to get about 43% of the questions correct to “pass” but most of my students who can read and who pay attention do pass.)

I choose to teach the lower-level students, but if you look at the honors-level classes, most of those students could pass the [sub-minimal performance] EOCT with at least a minimal score on the first day of school, and after instruction most will – and all should – pass the EOCT at the “exceeds” level.

Under Rep. Lindsey’s plan, which teacher will get the better report card grade? The one who teaches the lower-level students and has some pass, or the teacher who has the higher-level classes where all pass?

• Link
• Report this comment

I fear they’ve already made up their minds that GA teachers are ineffective. They just want a “failing” report card to push their political agenda. They don’t want to talk to the teachers. They see us as the problem not the solution.

Of course, they won’t accept responsibility for their decisions or lack of decisions. Umm…just look at the thread about the HOPE scholarship and how the legislators failed to heed warnings from as far back as 2003).

I would really LOVE to have a seat at the table to discuss how to improve education in GA. I would love to have a voice in decisions that are made at the DOE and Gold Dome.

I don’t mind being evaluated through a fair and realistic process. I think professional growth is important and necessary.

I’ve learned in my classroom that a punitive atmosphere inhibits growth and learning. It simply does not work and it won’t work to improve the teaching force in Georgia. Playing “gotcha” only makes things worse.

Mr. Lindsey….you have the ability to invite the teachers of GA to the table. If you really want to push an educational agenda, how about visiting schools in GA and not Colorado? How about conducting district town hall meetings. Go to each local RESA and invite teacher representatives to discuss their visions for better schools. Ask us what we need! Don’t assume. You may find the answers you are looking for right under your nose.

• Link
• Report this comment

Perhaps if the Concerned Black Clergy of Atl were to lead us in a few versus of Kum-Bi-Ya things might improve. Im sure they think that would be a grand idea.

• Link
• Report this comment

” would really LOVE to have a seat at the table to discuss how to improve education in GA. I would love to have a voice in decisions that are made at the DOE and Gold Dome.”

Thats exactly part of the problem. Too many “know-it-alls” with stupid opinions to express that have no logic nor reason. Just do your job and let the grownups handle things.

• Link
• Report this comment

This is great news. Way too many awful teachers (my middle schooler has 3 wonderful teachers, and one amazingly awful one, who has been complained about for years, and had absolutely nothing done about her). It amazes me that people like her are allowed to continue ruining our kid’s education, and our government run/funded education system. Fortunately my wife is an ex-teacher, and can teach our daughter at night to make up for what is being done (nothing!) in the classroom.

I’m rated and ranked at work, as teachers should be as well. The ones on the bottom (and teachers, you all know who the worst teachers are in your departments) need to be put on probation, given some additional “help”, and then if that doesn’t improve them given “help” out the door.

• Link
• Report this comment

LOL…atleast you are intelligent to know your place. Other than that no doubt your report card will reflect “F”s across the board.

• Link
• Report this comment

I think it’s fair to have report cards that reflect teacher scores. It’s important, also, to reflect student scores as they begin the year, and than again at the end. And teacher performance should be judged based on what they have to work with.
And we should also have lawmaker report cards. They should show exactly how much campaign contributions (and any other “considerations”) a lawmaker received from various industries and organizations, and exactly how they voted on any legislation that might affect those interests.

• Link
• Report this comment

@Maureen….in the past when I’ve contacted legislators, I usually get a scripted response. “Thank you for your time and interest. We’ll take what you say into consideration. Have a good day.”

Perhaps Rep. Lindsay is different. I’ll give it a try.

@Dr. No — most days I don’t respond to trolls but here goes: You need to take your own advice and keep your stupid opinions to yourself. What logic or reason do you bring to the table? I’ve yet to hear anything of substance from you. Instead of making immature jabs, why don’t you give offer up a few intelligent solutions. BTW—firing the bottom 5% isn’t an intelligent solution since the attrition rate nationwide indicates that anywhere between 5-8% teachers leave the profession each year.

• Link
• Report this comment

David, the pre-post test is very cheatable. Tell kids that it has no impact on their grade, and they are playing bubble guess. We can’t grade them on what they don’t know, either, so what is the solution?
The answer is to see how they did from post test to post test, but that requires annual testing, which is expensive and time consuming.

• Link
• Report this comment

Im not aware of attrition rates, however, thanks for bringing that bit of info to the table. I will be placing a Gold Star beside your name on the teacher of the day calendar. Feel better now?

5-8% leave via attrition…very well let me revise my number to the FIRING of 10-13% or we could increase that number of well deserved firings…no?

• Link
• Report this comment

As long as the “report card” factors in ineffective parent and student inputs, as well as interference from administrators and legislators, I can support this. How will he do this? Should we expect, no matter how dedicated the teachers, with students from my school (70% free lunch, 50% single parent, 20% drug/alcohol abusing, 20% ELL, $28,000 average annual family income, 50% parents with high school education) would seem nearly as “effective” as a teacher in a school where the family income averages above $100,000, etc ? Yet many of our teachers ARE quite effective, coaxing a year’s worth of growth (if it could be accurately measured–another problem) out of students who come into third grade working on first grade level. Students who come to school reeking of marijuana smoke (from their parents). Kids whose parents have abandoned them to be raised by grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, or DFACS. Kids whose goal it is to quit at 16 and work at the chicken plant. Kids who will be parents themselves in less than 10 years.

I get sick of folks saying SES doesn’t matter. If it didn’t matter, 75% (or whatever high percentage it is) of the HOPE scholars wouldn’t be from middle or upper class homes. Should we give up on poor kids? Absolutely not, but we have to be aware that they have many challenges to overcome, in 8 short hours a day/180 days per year, the messages absorbed the 16 other hours be day.

I spend every day not only teaching the GPS, but trying to make up for years of non-exposure to things middle class folks take for granted. Things you have to know to understand how the world works. Things you have to know to understand your textbooks. Things you have to believe in order to break out of generations of poverty and ignorance.

Measure that, sir, and we can talk.

• Link
• Report this comment

Another problem witih pre-post test is those students who are promoted to high school without adequate reading skills but without IEPs stating that tests will be read aloud. If the student can’t read and comprehend the pretest or the posttest, s/he won’t pass either, even if s/he has learned the subject matter.

• Link
• Report this comment

Maureen,
I contacted Rep. Lindsey via email. I will let you know if he responds. I will not hold my breath.

• Link
• Report this comment

As a retired teacher and principal I am opposed to a teacher’s report card. Education has gone downhill ever since the government has become more involved. If the government would provide the resources and support, then stay out of it, the educator’s could fix the problem. I possibly could change my mind if there was a report card for our legislators.

• Link
• Report this comment

I guess that I will never cease to be amazed at dumbass efforts from politicians to “improve” public education. No improvement will occur unless the lack of classroom discipline and the lack of student motivation are addressed.

I will continue to re-state MACE’s mantra until I am blue in the face: You cannot have good learning conditions until you first have good teaching conditions. Hey, Lindsey, the problem lies with the students and their parents (or lack of parents), not the teachers.

• Link
• Report this comment

IEP is the parents responsibility. One of my children was in the IEP program and I constantly was up at the school dishing out verbal harassment to these sorry teachers. Always with the “forgive me, I didnt know” response.

Well that wasnt good enough and after I began the public reamings and humiliation of the teachers in question thing vastly improved. Yeppers…I shamed and bashed them right in front of their collegues and others and it paid dividends for my son.

Plus I kindve enjoyed embarrassing, degrading these college educated egg-heads. Turns out they didnt know much about anything.

• Link
• Report this comment

I’m in. I’ll call tomorrow, as I do want to be a part of this process. We need more teachers who are willing to stop complaining and start actually volunteering their time to be heard.

• Link
• Report this comment

People sure are quick to fire other people from their jobs. This report card thing is just another attempt at job evaluation that has been going on for the past 1,000 years. With this “new” report card we get hire new vendors to “study the issue,” more vendors to create the forms, more bureaucrats to review the data, and more Ph.D. candidates to write papers describing the data. It’s just another jobs program.

• Link
• Report this comment

I have not seen this mentioned so I thought I’d bring it up. File this under the “unintended consequences” category that seems to be growing every day: if teachers are graded on their students’ performance, who do you think is going to go to the most needy students? If your income or job security is based on the performance of your students you are NOT going to go to the schools where students are chronically underachieving. Don’t you think this will just increase the divide between the haves and the have-nots? I see this as increasing the dropout rate of the very students Rep. Lindsey says he’s trying to help.

• Link
• Report this comment

This is a true story. I was evaluated by my administration to be a middle of the road teacher due to my lack of differentation in the instructional delivery process. 100% of my students that year (and close to a 100% in most of the other years) have achieved the following results.

1) 100% passed the EOCT w/ approx. 81% exceeding standards (it should be noted these results were not only from the high achieving classes but the regular class I instruct).

2) In my A.P. classes over 84% of the students made an 3 or higher (3 is considered passing)

3) In my team taught classes, almost 90% of the students passed the EOCT. Those who failed were in the high 60’s.

But somehow I am considered to be a middle of the road teacher. Although my husband laughed at the evaluation, do you really think I want this middle of the road report card to be made public? The report cards are only the reflection of an administrator who spent about an hour for the entire school year in my room.

P.S. this evaluation was supported by the principal. If this bill passes, you can go the bank that the number of teachers leaving the classroom will go to 5-8% + 1 teacher.

• Link
• Report this comment

@ Catlady, I agree 110 %. My daughter teaches school in South Georgia. The stories she tell me about her students and the conditions they live in and how she tries to motivate them to learn on a daily basis. In 2010 we still have kids who only have outside restrooms (outhouse) and are lucky to get one good meal a day! I know Mr. Lindsey can relate to this level of trying to learn and teach in these type of conditions. Yea Really!!!!! I am sure the majority of the lawmakers have looked into this with open eyes????

• Link
• Report this comment

Just curious… when the legislature draws up this bill requiring mandatory report cards for teachers — and I’m assuming deserved reward/penalty associated therewith — will they be requiring mandatory report cards for the legislature? If there is a group of people most famous for coming up with “circumstances beyond their control” to explain away their failures, it’s legislators everywhere. Seems kind of an obvious step to take, along the lines of “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” type of accountability. Anyway… just curious.

• Link
• Report this comment

we start at the school level. The data should include not only the students’ CRCT/EOCT scores (no names attached, of course) but also the indication of their previous grades (CRCT scores, GPA, etc.), the number of absences, the number of referrals due to misbehavior, etc. The data on teachers should include the name of teacher education programs, years of teaching experiences, the list of professional development activities they participated in the last 2-3 years (for which they have earned PLUs), total number of students, the number of special education students (ESOL and others), and the number of support teachers available to them to deal with special needs students. The administrator data should include the types of degrees and the names of institutions they hold, the years of experiences as classroom teachers, as an AP, and as a Principal.

• Link
• Report this comment

The dentist analogy fits real well here. If children don’t brush their teeth, don’t floss and don’t get help from their parents on the importance of dental health do we then fire the dentist? It works the same way in education. Parents, somewhere, somehow must be held accaountable. Most of my 10th and 11th graders don’t bring pencil and paper to class. Many cannot read or write a complete sentance. I spend at least 5 hours on Sunday night preparing my weekly plans and at least 2 hours at home each night either grading papers or trying to make up a “dog and pony “activity that they might enjoy . Discipline becomes my number one daily activity. They simply don’t care to learn the things the state curriculum dictates they are to learn.

• Link
• Report this comment

In the spring of 2011, my name will be the only teacher’s name printed on the CRCT results for the students in my 4th grade classroom. I teach five of these students for only forty minutes each school day (writing/language arts) because they are pulled out for SpED resource classes (reading and math). Again, only my name will be listed on their CRCT scores. I also have ELL, EIP, and SpED co-teachers working with many of my other students. I would like to see the names of all teachers who teach the students printed on the CRCT results… SpED resource teachers, SpED co-teachers in the classrooms, ELL teachers, EIP teachers, etc. I’m just tired of my name being the only one that’s printed. And if it were up to me, I would simplify the number of teachers who are working with my students. Having so many adults coming and going, and having very little, if any, time for collaborative planning, can make for a rather disruptive, watered-down instructional day. But though I am the one who is held accountable, I have no say over any of this.

• Link
• Report this comment

Another idiot politican that knows NOTHING about education stepping in to blame teachers – what a shock!

The only thing that will make a difference to improve education in GA? If all teachers grow a back bone, ban together, form a REAL teacher union (whether legal in GA or not, who cares at this point?), and require education reform that WE know works. ALL teachers need to be willing to walk out of their job for the sake of the children and REQUIRE real education reform.

As a teacher of many years, I am sick to death of being the scape goat for education in GA. Might it be the continual budget cut backs? Naw – students don’t need supplies or heat to learn. Could it be the teacher lay offs and furloughs? Naw – students can learn just fine with 50 kids in a room with one adult. Could it be the top heavy administrations in the DOE and every school system? Naw – just ’cause the money goes there doesn’t hurt anything.

Every teacher that I know, without exception, is doing their utmost for the students placed in their classroom. We are forced to juggle everything from lesson plans to students with disabilities to hall/lunch duty to bus duty to club/sports sponsorship to after school tutoring to grading every night and on weekends to ON AND ON. Then, we have to deal with administrators (their gut filled with doughnuts in their plush office), the news, and politicans telling us that WE are the cause of poor education in GA.

I am currently making arrangements to move the heck out of Georgia for this reason. It’ll take me a couple of years for the transition, but I will be VERY happy to get out of this occupation in GA. Any other state cannot be worse that Georgia!

• Link
• Report this comment

Cough- Cough- wow I have the chills- perhaps the chalkboard flu is going around….

• Link
• Report this comment

And the same old beat keeps going on and on and on – those energizer batteries must really be good. Wake up Legislature – you haven’t come up with a winning idea in 20 years. Pick a different instrument to play because you have worn out the one you are playing.

• Link
• Report this comment

Your definition of a “bad teacher” is pretty dead on. A math teacher my daughter had in a high school for high achievers met most of that criteria. She sat at her desk and had the students read out of the math book round robin. She called it “spirit reading” – a student would read until the spirit moved him to stop and then the next student would read. She rarely got up to show them how to work a problem. You either got it on your own or you didn’t get it. Denigration of students was her preferred method of discipline. She left the campus for lunch, and often she returned late. The students patiently stood outside her classroom waiting for her since her door was locked. She was out of the school early by 3:15 every day even though the school day was until 4:00. On top of this she was department chair even though the other math teachers didn’t want her in that position. A number of good math teachers left the school. As department head she only taught 3 classes a day.

Guess what – almost all of her students did great in math on the standardized test. Did she teach them? No. They taught themselves. They were the cream of the crop in the county so they could figure it out themselves. I told my daughter it was good practice for college since she was going to get some teachers that expected students to “get it on their own”.

So “bad” teachers can have students who get high scores if they have really talented and hard working students. Conversely, “good” teachers can get students who get “low” scores if they have students that are behind and/or lack the talent and/or motivation to catch up.

BTW: The administration finally got rid of that teacher – they succeeded in getting her moved to a fairly low performing school.

• Link
• Report this comment

A ticked off teacher

December 28th, 2010
12:57 pm

Sounds as if you may have forgotten to kiss one or two hineys?

• Link
• Report this comment

In response to a few of the comments here, I actually do read Maureen’s blog and get a great deal out of the comments that are posted here. As I told Maureen earlier today, we are looking at a wide range of education reforms and I would appreciate teacher, parent, student, and other interested parties comments and thoughts on any constructive reform ideas you have on improving education in Georgia. While I have appreciated the thoughts of people across the country, I am most interested in listening to the people most impacted by our Georgia’s education system. You can post your comments here or e mail me at edward.lindsey@house.ga.gov. Also, my capitol office number is 404-656-5024.

Rep. Edward Lindsey (R-Atlanta)
Georgia House Majority Whip

• Link
• Report this comment

@Dekalbite- I work with teachers like that, but, because they meet all the other criteria on the list- they are misinterpreted as being effective. Converesely, there are teachers who are effective in the classroom, yet administrative subjectivity seems to bear heavily in their assessments of these teachers performance. Some will refuse to give credit to an effective teacher and will even LIE about it. How would Representative Lindley handle those scenarios? Has he taken the time to examine the administrators in the schools? While not all schools have poor administrators, I think he would be shocked at the practices of a great majority of them.

• Link
• Report this comment

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Cho Pei Chin. Cho Pei Chin said: Legislature will consider teacher report cards: You could throw in parent self-improvement as well – it takes a … http://bit.ly/fPVADz [...]

• Link
• Report this comment

PSS…Respectfully and sincerely yours, Dr NO!

• Link
• Report this comment

If you look at what happened to many Cobb and Gwinnett and perhaps other districts’ teachers where they cut these people off at the knees JUST FOR BUDGETARY REASONS by evaluating them UNSATISFACTORY PERFORMANCE, knowing that this would ruin their careers, however will you be able to trust that you will get a fair evaluation on these bogus report cards? There is not one faction of our society now that can be trusted to be fair and do the right thing. Everyone has their own agenda and be damned how they reach it.

I strongly suggest that ANYONE considering education as a career to STIFLE THE THOUGHT. Choose another occupation. What you go through in education today is 100% not worth it. Don’t even go there young people. Also, you can NEVER trust Republicans to do the right thing. They will slit your throat and swear you did it yourself.

• Link
• Report this comment

Dr. No, I couldn’t have been more eloquent. Big Dennis, MACE Stalwart, and I are headed for a late lunch. You guys hold the fort down, OK? I’ve only gained about five pounds during these holidays! Ouch!

• Link
• Report this comment

My advice to those of you who are young in education, especially if you don’t have tenure and especially if you hold advance degrees where you would command a higher salary, (which once was a source of pride for any district), GET OUT NOW!!! They are going to screw you over and mess up your life and the lives of your families. You will never be secure in your job, which everyone deserves a degree of, no matter your profession. You deserve better and you will save yourself a life of undue stress and pressure. Anyone who really wants their kids educated, let them find a way.

This is such a growing mess that even the concept of education tastes bad. Don’t hang around and wait for them to mess you over. GET OUT!

• Link
• Report this comment

Legislature, show us YOUR report cards! I almost threw up when I read this!!

Georgia Teachers, it’s time for you to organize! Stop this nonsense!

• Link
• Report this comment

While teacher accountability is a good idea, the whole ‘report card’ thing is nothing more than a political gimmick that will do little to improve the education of our children.

School administrators spend a considerable amount of time and energy monitoring and managing the performance of their teachers. Will these folks in the Georgia legislature do a better job? I would seriously doubt it.

Let school leaders do their job, and reward/punish the school leaders if their school wins or loses.

As a parent, with children enrolled in public school, I don’t have any choice about what teachers my children have.

If this silly political gimmick comes to pass, and we have teacher report cards, what’s the point?

If I learn that there are three science teachers at my child’s school, and two of them were rated B- and one was rated C+, what exactly does that mean to me as a parent? Zero, Zilch, Nada. And, as a parent, you cannot choose which teachers your child has, the school does that. And if the C+ teacher has half of his students who are just leaning English, who is really the better teacher?

My suspicion is that this ‘report card’ nonsense is just part of a push to make regular public-funded schools look bad, as an excuse to denying them proper funding, while promoting Charter Schools.

• Link
• Report this comment

@Maureen!!! SHAPE THE DISCUSSION? Is that what you said? Help me to stop laughing.

Teachers, if you can’t pick up and go, GET OUT OF THE PROFESSION. Like Maureen said, IT’S COMING, like it or not. One thing you can be absolutely sure of is that it will NOT be fair. They are looking for ways to screw you over, so get out. There is no solution because no one has yet acknowledged the problem. You can’t put the cart before the horse. I continue to say…GET OUT!!!

• Link
• Report this comment

This is so typical. Our state gov’t. has no clue what is going on . Since Georgia won monies for the Race to the Top, teacher evaluations are about to change in major ways. Please keep up. You are supposed to know what is going on.
And while we are doing report cards, I would like to give the following people F’s -Tommy Irvin, Gov. Perdue and the entire black caucus.

• Link
• Report this comment

Hey, Fled! Give us more details!

• Link
• Report this comment

The Government spends Billions every year on Federal Administrators, Policy Wonks, Testing Agencies,and Beauracrats. Every State spends Millions on State level Administrators, Policy Wonks, Testing Agencies, Lobbyists, and Beauracrats. Each County spends Millions on Administrators, Policy Wonks, Required Testing, Lobbyists, and Beauracrats. Fulton County has 1 Administator for every 4 teachers.
Yet somehow the problem is all because of bad teachers? This is like a massive army blaming it’s failures on it’s soldiers who can’t function under the weight of the Beauracracy. The US spends more money on Education per child than almost all countries. But very little of that money actually makes it to the classroom. Teachers often resort to buying hundreds of dollars worth of basic supplies for their students out of their won pockets. Meanwhile folks like Beverly Hall are pocketing large salaries while committing fraud.

• Link
• Report this comment

I think the leg. should first pass a law establishing an unbaised report card on themselves. Not one based on liberal, conservative or democract republican.Next, someone should establish a report card on parents. Then and only then would I be in favor of a report card on teachers. Should teachers be held accountable. HELL YES. However, so should should everyone else.

• Link
• Report this comment

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!

• Link
• Report this comment

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…

• Link
• Report this comment

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 !

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

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!!!!!!!

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

@ 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.”

• Link
• Report this comment

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!!!!

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

@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?

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

Teacher report cards are another stuipd idea and a poor legislative initiative. There are still way too many students who come to school who are totally unmotivated and resist learning anything or doing any work at home. I think if some parents could actually see how their children acted at school they would be shocked. Maybe not? Try as we might, it is hard to motivate a student to care about a future they see so far off in the distance.

Blaming teachers for poor student performance is where public ed has gone so wrong. No child left behind is the biggest hoax ever place on Public Ed. You can’t blame it all on the kids with too many latch-key children and single parents stressed out. This is a society problem, not a teacher problem.

It is amazing to me that with all the huge problems that face government today at both the state and federal level, that these same people want to do for education what they have done to how our government is managed? I don’t think so.

Please leave the education of our children to the Department of Education. We don’t need another legislative initiative.

• Link
• Report this comment

Since I have about 15 years left, I will use the contact info and get involved. On the first day of Math I training, I along with about 40 other high school math teachers were told that our concerns over the new curriculum we totally unfounded. The current math curriculum was explained to all of us idiots and we learned that we have been teaching high school math incorrectly for years. It is such strong leadership that has given me so much confidence in our state’s education leaders.

• Link
• Report this comment

We will never be able to “fairly grade” our teachers under the evaluation tools we have in place in Georgia. All teachers are evaluated and either pass or are placed on a professional development plan. Also, principals are charged with evaluating teachers–not all are equipped/trained to objectively evaluate personnel and too often personalities keep evaluations from being fair and unbiased. Maybe we should let the custodians evaluate all staff–it’s been my experience they know everything that goes on in school and are very honest about it when asked!
One example -two fourth grade teachers pass their evaluation, make the same salary, receive the same pay raises. What you don’t see is one teacher working herself and her students from the minute they get to school until the minute they leave (and arrives early every morning to tutor any student that can get there) and the other teacher does the minimum and has “Fun Friday” every week to play and watch videos. Since the purpose of school is to learn, I would want my child with the hard-working teacher.
So many blame the parents for not being involved with their children and that is the problem. I see it differently. I think a bigger problem are the parents who don’t let their children accept responsibility, for anything. They make excuses for them, they do their work for them and interrupt class checking their child out early. They expect the teacher to treat their child as if they are the only one in the class–instead of having 30. These children are the ones who are able to do the work, but lack motivation–and their numbers are growing!
Society has changed and education has to keep up. Until everyone sits down at the table– communities, parents,students, teachers, administrators and those who hold the purse strings–we won’t be able to change anything. We need to spell out what everyone’s role in the education of the child is, what is expected of each one. Maybe then everyone can be on the same page.

• Link
• Report this comment

Teachers of core-subjects, who will be the most effected by this idea should make more money. Seriously there will be no way to grade an Art, PE, Foreign Language, ect…. teachers so they will get a free pass. This is one more way to end public education in this state, and we should not be surprised if the State Constitution is amended in several years to do just that.

• Link
• Report this comment

teacher&mom

December 28th, 2010
12:19 pm
@Maureen….in the past when I’ve contacted legislators, I usually get a scripted response. “Thank you for your time and interest. We’ll take what you say into consideration. Have a good day.”

You can try if you want to but I can tell you from my dealings with Ed in the past that he really does not care what anyone thinks that is not a major contributor to his campaign. He is a attorney by trade and an butt head if you want my opinion. Remember I am a conservative and do not like him.

• Link
• Report this comment

Concerned Parent’s 2:33, David’s 4:27, and Jim’s 5:04 all alude to teachers somehow being exempt from yearly evaluation like other jobs and professions. Strangely, I have been evaluated every year, much like I was in the “real world.” Oddly enough, the evaluation contains many similar items as a “real world” evaluation – professional duties and responsiblities, etc. Even more strange is the fact that the evaluation states that too many Needs Improvement or Unsatisfactory ratings will result in no step increase (huh, just like the “real world”) and placement on a PDP, Professional Development Plan (although teachers with less than three years can just be let go).

My thoughts? If a bad teacher is still in the building – especially after years of poor evals and parent complaints – that’s an ADMINISTRATIVE problem – a problem of LEADERSHIP – not teaching. If the paperwork is too daunting to get rid of a poor teacher, then fix it. The admin of a building also already know who does well and who doesn’t on the state tests.

As far as the “new” report card idea goes, it’s not a good one. Parents should already know how their school is doing – we already have loads of information from NCLB reports to tools like the AJC’s School Guide. All this is is another program that will require paperwork and highly paid central office staff and will do little to nothing to improve a student’s day to day educational experience. Without making the tests count for the students, without controlling for variables such as incoming reading levels and transiency, without factoring in what say parents will or won’t have when the report cards come out, the idea will prove to be politically popular (yeah, let’s grade the teachers – turn the table on’em) yet logistially a nightmare.

• Link
• Report this comment

“Given our present state of education nationwide,” we should have a national school system with national certification for both administrators and teachers, accountability for teachers, parents, and administrators from lead teachers to the Secretary of Education, and yes, national standardized testing. Teachers should have to meet high standards to be hired, they should be well paid, and they should have the support of their administrators.

• Link
• Report this comment

Couple other thoughts…

A few years back, there was a study showing something like 22 variables in the sucessful education of a child – it ranged from SES level and mother’s education to the effectiveness of a teacher. More of the variables were NOT school or teacher-related however.

Also a few years back, there was a study about teacher effectiveness that showed the extended reach of a poor or good teacher. Good teachers had an effect that could last into the following year, while a poor teacher’s effect could last 2 or 3 years into the future. While that is an argument for better teachers, it’s also a poor argument for teacher report cards based on test scores – what about the effective teacher that gets an overwhelming number of kids from a poor teacher’s previous year’s class?

Schools of ed need to do a better job weeding the crop, and then preparing them for “market” so to speak. Admin needs to do a better job hiring and supporting teachers. Teachers need to the best job they can professionally. Politicians need to leave this alone.

• Link
• Report this comment

Repeat after me….Inform PARENTS of the expectations for school success. Parents cannot drop off their children for 18 years and not participate in their educational development. Education is a life-long process; stop relying on the media to provide quick stop-gap information about school systems. Parents must possess the ability to assist their children with homework, if not pay a tutor, return to school themselves to upgrade their skills!!! Stop pointing fingers at the teacher and yes not teachers meet the invisible definition of excellent teacher! Many are called, few are chosen
and some are excellent!

• Link
• Report this comment

Police Escort Teacher out of Jackson Elementary

http://www.youtube.com/user/TopSchoolAtlanta#p/u/17/hIBcd9dOsBc

Reich protects the integrity of the classroom at Warren T. Jackson Elementary School by removing two teachers midyear…replacing a seasoned First Grade teacher with over 13 years of superior classroom experience…with a 1st year teacher with no prior experience. HOW?… YOU ASK… Without any parents questioning Reich’s motives? Reich held private meetings with the parents in Mr. Sam’s classroom assuring them they would be ” taken care of ” when their applications for private schools were filled out in the Spring of 2002. She demanded full cooperation with her decision as Principal of Jackson. Reich reiterated that PRIVATE SCHOOL applications would need recommendations AND signature from the principal. THE POWER WAS IN HER PEN. This silenced the majority of parents. Sworn testimony in this case revealed parents were sorry…but were forced by Reich to do what was best for their families.

• Link
• Report this comment

I know …let’s hold a contest and see who can design the best teacher evaluation tool…
Make it a NATIONAL CONTEST…MAYBE A NATIONAL BLUE RIBBON CONTEST…or Pay for PERFORMANCE…

• Link
• Report this comment

Maureen …living inside the bubble will not help this problem…
First watch what they do with APS…

• Link
• Report this comment

I read alot of people complaining on here about teachers receiving report cards but not alot of suggestions on how to do it. I do agree that teachers would be concerned on how it would be applied to teachers who teach different levels of students (remedial, esol, special needs, gifted, or mixtures of theses in one class) and it be fair. I also support the notation that the teachers of Georgia need to be taken more serious in wanting to be involved in decisions that affect them and their classroom teaching. Teachers are asked to spent more time jumping through hoops for classroom evaluations, presentations and testing preparations that it takes away from the true teaching of students. It takes more than just a teacher to educate a child. It involves parents, teachers, administrators, specialist, communities they live in, legislators, governors and the list goes on and on. I taught for 30 years in public schools before retiring and was President of the local teacher organization of PAGE for 10 years and currently an serving on the PAGE Foundation Board of Trustees. I would be willing to give my time to discuss with other teachers and Rep. Lindsey on teacher evaluation.

• Link
• Report this comment

I am taking issue with Alisha Thomas Morgan joining the bandwagon. Her husband would have received a grade of “F” for his educational efforts. For example, he resigned right before testing in a Cobb County school a few years ago. Also, the charter school where he was principal was closed due to mismanagement. So now they both are proponents of teacher quality? Puh-leeze!

• Link
• Report this comment

I totally agree with LATE TO THE PARTY! Some of these parents are out of their minds! You cant get them to come to the school for nothing but these are the same parents you see at the rec football and basketball games, going to the clubs, at the hair salon and nail shop taking care of themselves instead of coming to see about their disrespectful children.

• Link
• Report this comment

@justbrowsing I’m sorry to say some of these teachers were just lucky enough to pass the test and get in the classroom but half of them should not be there

• Link
• Report this comment

@ A Ticked Off Teacher: this idiocy started when process became more important than results. Idiot administrators think that education can be reduced to adherence to a checklist of “characteristics of good teaching”. Good administrators look at what students accomplish and how involved they are, not whether someone uses a graphic organizer or not, differentiated instruction or not, or provides detailed lesson plans on a %(##!&^## template or not. Adherence to a procedure set in stone is the lazy administrator’s best friend and teacher’s and students enemy.

• Link
• Report this comment

This will be a debacle if enacted. There is no magic formula,
and subjectivity will play a big part in the evaluation. This
will likely expand the D.O.E. when government should
be downsizing.

• Link
• Report this comment

Maybe I should had added that these are 2009 figures. We have less teachers now since teacher positions were cut.

• Link
• Report this comment

I have no problem with the Teacher Report Card. First Amendment Rights! I will publish a parent/student report card with names for all my classes including pre-test scores, reading , Math and recordings of parents cursing me out when I call their homes.

Nannie, Nannie, boo boo; you won’t stop me. I’m calling that guy in Great Britain now!

• Link
• Report this comment

Wipe your feet before you enter in here…this mess is about lip level now!

• Link
• Report this comment

Why call the legislator…that’s kind of like calling the APS school detective to investigate the criminal actions in Atlanta Public Schools.

This mess is all over the place.
They are laughing at you behind closed doors.
and taking their profits to the bank.

• Link
• Report this comment

@parentally involved- i agree and the evaluative system can be strengthened- but fairly. I feel that it does not provide people the dignity and respect they deserve- as professionals. Unless evaluative measures for all others who are working in state government are not done this way- why project teachers in that fashion? It is just too much. They cannot be doing this for less than 10% of the teaching force (ineffective teachers)- this is economically driven, and can be abused in the wrong administrator’s hands.

• Link
• Report this comment

Rep. Morgan,
Are you working with John Barge and the State Board of Education on this proposed legislation? What is your response to the following (@td) comment?

“We have an appointed Board of Education and an elected Superintendent to set policy and practices for our school system. The legislatures responsibility is to oversee the money and set high level goals. Why is the legislature trying to overreach its boundaries and set day the day to day workings of the school system?”

• Link
• Report this comment

People- please don’t waste your time replying to Dr. NO- he/she is just trying to raise your blood pressure. He/she obviously has nothing better to do than to antagonize others. So ignore him/her. It’s not worth the time typing.

• Link
• Report this comment

In nearly all the conversations regarding out failing education systems, hardly ever do I see any mention of the culture variable, it’s always the teacher. As a teacher, I saw the effects of poor parenting daily, and if the lack of parenting wasn’t enough to totally warp the childrens’ attitudes and perspectives, the corporate world completed the task. Just look at what these kids, who now mostly come from one parent homes, watch on TV – hate and confrontation, which inevitably is played out the next day in the classroom. And, if not the TV, there is always Grand Theft Auto or the like video games. Our schools only reflect what is happening in the neighborhoods, and not until such social necessities like empathy and respect are once again taught behind the close doors in these neighborhoods, will we see improved schools.

• Link
• Report this comment

The real issue is who is going to pay for this stupid rating system–I get sick of politician meddling in public schools with these test, performance pay, and other absurd ideas and then wonder why public education gets such a bad rap. Three friends of mine left Georgia to teach in Oregon. I love it when every politician jumps on the band wagon-first standarize testing, then more of it, then a universal taught curriculum, then performance pay, then Race to the Bottom, now this S@@@. These ideas come from the same people who say Government needs to me limited. I hate it when people say it is coming like it or not–but I have seen things come then I see them go–Lived here all my life and never thought I see it this bad since Joe Frank Harris. If I misspelled anything or used wrong grammar–GET OVER IT–it is a blog not an English class.

• Link
• Report this comment

Politicians like this are one reason my wife will retire early and select a new profession in a new state next year. Teaching sucks as a profession in Georgia except for the retirement plan. Too late to change that!

Getting treated as a subhuman gets old after a couple of decades.

Let’s fingerprint and do a background check on Lindsey.

Lindsey must ride one of our short buses.

• Link
• Report this comment

How many teachers in Georgia are currently under provisional certification? I know that at our school, quite a few of those in the “critical needs” fields, such as science, math, special education, and foreign languages, are on provisional certificates because fully certified teachers could not be found for those positions.

Those who speak of school choice, charter schools, and vouchers also love to speak of “market forces”. The same “market force” theories tell one that if teachers are in short supply, if demand exceeds supply, one of two things must occur: either compensation will be raised to make the position appeal to more qualified applicants, or standards for entry into the field will be lowered to make more people eligible to fill the vacant positions. Unfortunately, our legislators and local officials are most inclined to take the latter course, and then complain that the low quality of teachers is the problem.

Rep. Lindsey, if your grading system finds that unqualified teachers are the problem and removes them from the profession, how and where will you find replacements for these inferior teachers? I have heard that in some northern states with strong unions, good working conditions, and excellent pay and benefits packages, teacher turnover is low and there are many qualified applicants for each position. I don’t think that is the case in Georgia.

• Link
• Report this comment

@ Outspoken1 – you said, “I am in agreement with a report card for teachers. We get them in our jobs and in our real life.”

Really? Just what do you do for a living? I was in the military and the private sector for 15 years before I became a teacher. I never once received a “report card.” I was, however, evaluated, much as I am now. My evaluations determined my eligibility for promotions and raises – much as my evaluation does now (contrary to popular belief, a poor evaluation means no raise, and would put you out of the running for a promotion, although other factors are involved there). Never when I was in the military or private sector were my evaluations to be made public – they were between my bosses and me. Never were my grades or my children’s grades made public either – those were between them, their teachers, and me. This proposal is far far removed from the “real world.”

You said, “We are to be held responsible for our actions and the lack there of.” The problem is that TPTB want to base a large part of the so-called “report card” on STUDENT test scores. Those aren’t MY actions – they are the students’ and oftentimes, the students’ “lack there of” – that is why you seeing such resistance…not to mention the fact of the dubious reliability of the tests themselves as well as research that shows evaluating teachers based on tests scores does not produce measurable improvement.

Make the tests reliable and meaningful for the kids – then we can talk.

• Link
• Report this comment

As long as there is a parent effectiveness report card i am with it. It should be based on the child’s homework grades and if the parents sign off on it each and every night. Parents get graded if they meet all six of Epstein’s typologies. If they rank “C” or below then you get NO child tax credit, no tax write offs. If you receive TANF (which has a personal responsibility plan that “requires” a child succeeding in school and graduating on time) then the PRP sanctions go into effect with NO excuses. That should cover many if not all parents in GA.

Otherwise the GA legislature needs to sit on the sidelines with this one. They can push that the PRP requirement be met as that law is already on the books since 1996.

• Link
• Report this comment

Ronald – you are aware that there is no true (collective bargaining) union in Georgia? I’ve been teaching 10 years, and I don’t belong to anything.

As a right to work state, union membership cannot be required for employment. As state employees it has been determined to be likely illegal (although there is no law on the books – this is based on a written legal opinion from the 70s) to engage in collective bargaining.

We’re not making any demands – we’re saying that the report card is a misguided effort. Seriously, what point is it going to serve? Are you going to be allowed to change teachers? Likely not. Is it going to attract better, brighter teachers to the profession? Likely not. Will it be based off valid tests? I doubt it? Will it make some test maker money? Without a doubt. Will it result in more bureaucracy and a nicely paid central office job? Likely so. You tell me why you think it’s a good idea.

You said, “Everyone else in every other industry on the planet is judged and paid according to how effective they are.” I had to laugh, as that is so not true – I’ve worked in the private sector and seen it for myself. But on that thought, you said judged on how effective they are – except the test show how effective the STUDENTS are – not the teachers. Make it a meaningful test for the kids – make it count – make it reliable – and then we can talk. I’m ok with having my test scores released as long as the students names ARE on them as well – let’s all get our names in the paper…what do you think of that?

• Link
• Report this comment

You can’t talk to people like Ronald, they have been told by Fox News that all teachers belong to Unions and we all receive tremendous pay, benefits, and protection from dismissal. The facts won’t matter it doesn’t fit his dogma.

• Link
• Report this comment

@Dr. Craig Spinks/Augusta: “By the way, before we publish teacher report cards, let’s improve the validity, reliability and rigor of the student, school and system report cards we have now. What do “A”s and “B”s on students’ report cards, an AYP-designation on their school’s report card, and an AYP-designation on their system’s report card mean if the Iowa Test of Basic Skills scores of the honor roll kids, their school and their school system fall well below national norms???”

Hear! Hear!

• Link
• Report this comment

This is ridiculous! I would love for these “fine” lawmakers to come visit my classroom and observe some of the behaviors that we have to deal with on a daily basis. I think they are clueless and would be appalled at the disrespect that occurs in the classroom. I will not tell you how to do your job, so don’t tell me how to do mine…unless you have walked in my shoes, you have no idea what you are talking about! Everyone thinks they are an expert when it comes to education, but I guarantee people would change their tune if they actually tried it for a day. I love what I do, but it makes me sad that people want to degrade us so much. Yes, there are some things that need to be changed in our schools, but don’t automatically assume that it is the teacher because in most cases…it isn’t. I understand that it is easy to blame teachers, but please don’t. We are working very hard; we want our students to learn as much as you do. We get to school early, leave late and take papers home at night and on weekends. I brought a lot of paperwork home with me to work on while I’m off (without pay) during our Christmas break. A personal story….I was at dinner with my husband and some of his clients (from Korea). They found out that I teach and they were in awe; they were praising me just because they I teach school and they had never stepped foot in my classroom. They told me how teachers are honored in their country and that everyone respects them. What a difference we are seeing in our country. We just need to ALL work together and quit putting divisions among ourselves.

• Link
• Report this comment

My mother taught High school for 30 years, both of my sisters are teachers, and my wife is an excellent teacher (20 years). I find that the majority of the people that provide general, “fire them” comments on this issue have never taught in a classroom, never had to contend with egotistical administrators, nor try to teach kids that could give a rats-a@@ about being there. When a child isn’t taught by his parents to make school his top priority, it isn’t. When parents don’t monitor their children’s homework, it often isn’t done; when grades and progress reports aren’t discussed in the home, they aren’t effective in the school. And, when children aren’t held accountable for their academic performance by their parents, there is only so much a teacher can do.

• Link
• Report this comment

To Representatives Lindsey and Morgan: May I suggest you read the following book:
http://whygreatteachersquit.com/

If you want to acknowledge the A+ teachers in this state and encourage future teachers to enter the profession, this book may provide some answers. Compare your proposed legislation to the suggestions in the book.

• Link
• Report this comment

This is a joke, right? I don’t know what’s worse: the ignorance of the “representatives” who have the brass to even suggest “teacher report cards,” the “it’s coming whether you like it or not” attitude of the moderator, or the “teachers should be evaluated just like every other profession” posters. Do any and all of these people seriously believe that the teaching profession does not already have an evaluation instrument already in place? Every year every teacher is (supposed to be) evaluated at least once, and some years teachers are evaluated three times. Whether or not these evaluations occur is NOT up to the teacher; evaluation is the domain of the administration. Doesn’t every job have an annual evaluation? Why would you think that teachers do not? The evaluation is already in place. What is NOT in place is the “public” factor. What is the purpose of such a report? What other professions have a public report card? Does yours? Should yours?

• Link
• Report this comment

You know, its absoultly histerical how people who never in their lifetime, wrote lesson plans or IEP’s, created gallery boards, taught GPS standards, graded unsatisfactory student work(classwork, projects, or homework)and can’t give a grade of a lower than a 50, attend PTSA meetings that were made mandatory after hours and none of your parents showed. There were some very good responses that I personally agree with however, these responses came from individuals who have been in the profession or are currently teaching. Yes, these politicians should make it their purpose to subsitiute for a month and be require to write these lesson plans and deal with what teachers deal with on a daily basis. People are always quick to judge us as educators but fail to look at the real problem. Each educator, went to college or university and obtain training in the United States, not only that we completed teacher programs that were mandated and approved by each individual state agency. Some have even went further and obtain higher level degrees. If Georgia’s problem with education is teachers, then why other states are hiring these same individuals who are graduating from these same colleges and univesities teacher programs doing better than us? obviously the problem doesn’t lie with the teachers it lies with these lawmakers making these ridiculous judgements and ill informed decisions in an effort to stay in office. And just in case these lawmakers do have an advisory commitee who were ex-educator, they are so far removed from the profession. I agree that teachers should have some form of assessment that will evaluate and improve areas that are weak and strengthen areas were that teacher is strong, but don’t based it on my test scores or number students graduated. If the goal is to save money to get rid of the older teachers and hire young naive teachers in a effort to save money than say so instead of playing all these game to force people out. Keep these antics up and surely no one will teach in Georgia. Remember the average life expectancy for a teacher now a days is 2 to 5 years.

• Link
• Report this comment

I worked in several areas of business prior to teaching, and I can honestly say that I have never once been evaluated on any variable that was not within my control. I was evaluated on whether or not I was on time, how well I executed my duties, and whether or not I was a team player. I was evaluated on the quality of work I turned out and how efficient I was. Once finished, no one saw the evaluation unless they were a direct supervisor or some type of manager. I was expected to work quickly and efficiently, and yes, the workload did increase whenever economic cutbacks necessitated workforce reductions. It did not, however, increase to a point where I was expected to perform 60-70 hours of work in 40 hours without additional compensation. Nor was I expected to bring my own supplies to work with me. If my job happened to be more difficult and more stressful and required more from me than a co-worker’s, then I was able to negotiate additional compensation of some sort. The company could either pay up or I could go somewhere else and be paid what I was worth, and we both knew it. It made for a more leveled playing field.

And yes, there are bad and unfair managers outside of education, but I can say that in my experience, there are far higher levels of incompetence and just plain stupidity in education “management” (administration and central office) than I ever saw in the business world. This is why so many teachers are so outspoken about the evaluation process. Often times in business, incompetent management will ultimately be discovered and dealt with. I have not seen this to be the case in education—if anything, they are just relocated from one school to another! Sadly, I’m sure there are a small percentage of teachers at many schools who shouldn’t be teaching. I have seen firsthand teachers who can’t speak a grammatically correct sentence and who don’t have any command of the subject that they teach absolutely be left alone while others are gone after seemingly without basis. I think that this is part of what leads to such widespread disrespect of the teaching field in general.

I just wish lawmakers could imagine the unintended consequences of publicly reporting teacher report cards. How would you rate or grade 3 teachers who teach the same grade/content at one school? One handles the advanced and gifted, one handles average, and the other handles the team with all the special ed. and remedial students? Anyone who has ever taught knows that some children merely have to show up to learn, while others require hours and hours of intense remediation and re-teaching just to get the basics. How will the makeup of students be reflected, and what measures will ensure that good teachers will want to continue teaching this group of students? How will the PE or Art teachers (most of whom work nowhere near the hours of math, science, reading, or special ed. teachers) be graded? Will the typing or other non-academic teacher who walks in at 8 and leaves at 3:59 receive a better grade than me or my co-workers (who work from 7-5:30, and then go home and work some more)? All because their students did well on a portfolio, and even after all the extra help, some of mine (some of whom come to me with IQ’s in the low 70-80’s) still didn’t meet the bar?

Many parents are not well versed in educational matters and don’t realize how many variables factor into test scores. When a parent sees that I have a C and the other teacher has an A, what will happen? It will be just another thing for students and parents to blame non-achievement on. Schools will constantly be asked to move students (no one will want their child with a sub-par teacher) and those students stuck with the “C” teacher will want to blame any and everything on that teacher. Anyone who works at a Title 1 school or a school with a more diverse population will see teachers leaving in droves (remember what happened in Clayton County during the first SACs investigation?). I have spoken to teachers in higher SES counties, and they are apalled at some of the things that we (in lower SES districts) are asked to do. You would have to be insane to stay at such a school and risk a lower grade, lower pay, and parental and community scorn when you could simply move on to a school with a higher SES status. What about those like me? I could transition to teaching HS business, marketing, computers, or economics. I would imagine any one of these would involve less pressure than teaching mathematics to remedial students (some of whom are working on a 2nd grade level). I truly enjoy working with remedial students and have been told that I have a knack for explaining things at a level that they can understand, but do you think I would risk my family’s livelihood to continue to do what I do now? After all, I am sure the real purpose of these report cards is so that they can be used for pay-for-performance purposes. It is simply absurd to even consider publishing teacher report cards, particularly when teachers have no control over so many variables involving their students.

• Link
• Report this comment

So once all those pre-test scores, reading, math, science, social studies, and atendance rates for each individual child are made public; people will be able to cross reference teachers and students. Also publish parents and/ or guardians names, number of times parent cones to meetings, interventions, unpaid overtime, time spent calling parents and unpaid tutoring. Everything must be transparent.

It is the only way to be fair. Students names and scores for each teacher should be made public; that child’s entire history; it should not be hidden. That way, students and parents are accountable too. It will make the process more meaningful.

So when a teacher gets a class of 9th graders whose overall grade point average is 54 like what has been assigned to me this semester by my TFA principal, then you will have the proper perspective when trying to compare that teacher with one who has all classes of average and above average 9th graders. And, all the kids get to see their names in lights next to their teacher. It’s the only way to be fair.

• Link
• Report this comment

@ Career Switcher… They do it in Economics too. The TFA teachers got the average and above average students. They gave me, “the over 10 years of experience” teacher the class with attendance issues, trouble with the law, baby mommas, behind one grade or more and GPA’s averaging “F” students. Transparency for all! I will find a way to level that playing field teachers!

• Link
• Report this comment

Ironic that Lindsey is such a hound dog for education. A literate, educated electorate would never have put him and most of his colleagues in office.

• Link
• Report this comment

@Maureen – you hit a nerve with this one. Kudos!

• Link
• Report this comment

As usual, the Ga. legislature is barking up the wrong tree in an effort to get votes. How about allowing the public to grade the legislature on the effectiveness of their legislation and then get refunds when their programs fail. The Ga lottery for the HOPE schlorship should bring a nice rebate.

The best jockey in the world cannot win the Kentucky Derby on a mule…no matter how good a rider he is. A teacher is only as good as the students being taught…the ones mom and dad send out each year. The reason Ga. scores so low in education is because the value of education…as it is perceived in the home…is deemed unimportant. SO…if you want to improve education…have report cards on parents, reduce the number of administrators by about 90%, hire more teachers to reduce class size and allow teachers power to discipline and remove unruly students. But then…how could the legislature grand stand on education. Surely you have not forgotten the results of Roy Barnes attack on the teachers.

• Link
• Report this comment

Hmm… Jealousy. My proofing is off today.

• Link
• Report this comment

I have to laugh at some of the posters here, who seem to be under the impression that teachers are not already formally evaluated. Well, they are. We are evaluated every year by one instrument and every month by another. In addition, there are those “informal evaluations” that we get from the reading coach, math coach, principal, assistant principal, curriculum director–anyone who takes a notion to pop into our rooms and check out what is happening. So please, spare the teachers your “we all get evaluated in our jobs” schtick. Do you get a written evaluation monthly, and even sometimes weekly? Then hush.

What does your work involve? For example, does your “work material” ever fight against being improved? Do your work product inputs harm others? Actively seek to encourage other inputs to abandon their work? Do the forebears of your work material refuse to help you improve them? Do your materials ever come to work missing some parts, or not show up at all? Does your boss make rules that make your job more difficult? Do your superiors continually cut your pay, but demand higher production with these recalcitrant work inputs? If you cannot answer “yes”, then forget about using a “business model” to evaluate me.

Let’s devise a process of evaluating our legislators. Let’s publish the results. You know, try it out on them first.

• Link
• Report this comment

This is one more attempt to gloss over the real problems associated with teaching children so the legislators can feel good about doing something about education without actually tackling the real problems. “We now have a situation where 50 percent of low-income students who enter ninth grade are not graduating. That is atrocious.” This quote points to one of the REAL problems – poverty.

Second, by pointing fingers at teachers instead of shoring up funding for schools, the legislators will divert attention from the budget issues and focus attention on the report card. While all the educators get up in arms over the teacher grading issue, they most likely will not pay attention to the budget issues. School funding and teacher pay will be ransacked once again.

There are too many variables that affect learning for us to waste precious time and resources on grading teachers. It’s high time that our politicians figured this out and stopped with the smoke screens.

• Link
• Report this comment

The sooner the firings begin the better. This bloated Dept Of Education pig needs to be slaughtered. To many Para-Pros (whatever that is supposed to be), Admins, stupid teachers and just loafers have infiltrated the system and need to be flushed out. A

APS is a PRIME EXAMPLE as is Bev “cupcake” Hall…she should be kicked out on her large rump with not benefits whatsoever.

Lets toss this PIG in the fire and roast it!!

• Link
• Report this comment

Hey Maureen, I would agree to a teacher report card of some sort under the following conditions:

1) Report cards include evaluations from other teachers, not just administrators.
2) Privacy laws be relaxed or eliminated so that I can publish the steps that I’ve taken to help specific children. For instance, I should be able to publish the number of days missed by specific students who failed the CRCT, the number of times they came to class unprepared, the number of times homework was not done, etc.
3) That I get back the 5 days of instruction that I am losing due to furloughs
4) That I am left alone to do things the way that I want to do them without interference from administrators who expect me to do it the way THEY want me to because they are trying to make a name for themselves rather than doing it the way I have done it successfully for 20 years.
5) That the report card includes a list of ALL of the duties and responsibilities that are required of me in addition to teaching.

People just don’t understand what is happening in education right now. I have 8 years to retirement and can’t wait to get out, EVEN THOUGH I still LOVE teaching. I teach in a GREAT school with super coworkers. I even love my administrators. Most of our problems come from the Central Office where a bunch of over-paid imbeciles are fighting to make themselves relevant so that they can continue commanding those high salaries. The real tragedy is that our legislators don’t have the guts to address the real problems in education. Get rid of the bloated bureaucracy, give us back our furlough days, and GET OUT of education.

• Link
• Report this comment

@Dr. Craig Spinks–good one–I laughed when I saw your essential question comment. The funniest part is that only those of us who work in education get the joke. The ones who make the laws and cut funding don’t have a clue what it means!

We need to research more thoroughly those running for office and vote, vote, vote!!!!

• Link
• Report this comment

Here’s a thought: report cards on both teachers and legislators. That could be quite interesting.

• Link
• Report this comment

It’s interesting that many of the teachers I work with have their children in private or charter schools.

• Link
• Report this comment

I once worked in an English department and we had teachers who could not carry their weight. The rest of us did extra without much complaint–coming early and staying late… even on Saturday. The children responded. The parents responded, too. The key factor was the administrative support. Disruptive students were disciplined and parents were handled. As a result, our GHSWT and GHSGT results were always high and we made AYP. The sports program was pretty successful, too. With administrative changes came a change in the school atmosphere. What was once no tolerated became the norm. Slack teachers became better slackers and the good teachers got tired of the burden. Disruption became status quo and parents ran amuck. I haven’t worked there for a few years, but I visit time to time. The school is a shell of what it used to be.

• Link
• Report this comment

I would also like to add that I believe that teachers should be given more control to handle discipline issues and to hold children accountable for their lack of effort. This nonsense that kids don’t have to do assignments on time but cannot be given a zero or can talk back or ignore a teacher without ramifications is appalling. Give our teachers some control and then fairly assess their performance in a meaningful way that can be promptly used in compensation and continued employment decisions.

• Link
• Report this comment

Enter your comments here
Yes, rate the teachers. Then see where we go from there. Only 43% of this years 9th graders passed the CRCT reading, and only 38% passed the CRCT Math. Our School is now a SIG school, why only 93% passed the GHSGT in English, 83% Math, and 64% Science (the first time) however 98% of the non PEC will pass all tests by graduation time. This semester of 74 students I had 18 failures due to attendance (excess of 5, 14 had more than 20). I also had 5 incompletes/failing, homebased students all pregnant that turned in less than 25% of the work. Add to that the 7 of 9 PEC students that failed. With a 57% pass rate on the EOCT it means I’m a poor teacher but what about those 30 students that account for 40% of my students?

• Link
• Report this comment

What about giving us the social services sorely needed for low income students? What about giving us the TIME to truly create lessons where students can actively learn and TIME to assess where they are and where to go from there? If we don’t get the basics for our students, how can you assess us? We know more needs to be done! Any teacher can tell you that! Give us the resources, support and professionalism to do so and you will see real changes. This would truly be a step for our students.

• Link
• Report this comment

I don’t know why in Georgia a single scape goat to fixing education seems prevalent…..under performing teachers. Are teachers that much better in the top schools? Let’s see parents on the hook for their kids showing up and completing tasks.Then hold teachers responsible for the performance of these “functioning students”. Maybe less money should be spent on expensive curriculem systems, consultants, administration and instructional coaches and more spent on Social workers to teach parenting skills and hold the parents accountable.
“Non-functioning” students and parents should get a case worker.
With so much marketing of curriculem and millions spent on these “systems”, everyone has forgotten that a lot of bright people were produced without all the latest fuss.

Many of the worst performing schools deal with transient populations. How do you measure results when the school population changes every 6 months. Teacher report cards seem great but will not work on a Macro level.

• Link
• Report this comment

It seems more likely that we need a report card on our legislature representatives.

• Link
• Report this comment

I dont understand why people are so upset over this…If I dont perform up to the standard needed at my job..I get warned..Then i’m written up and so on and so forth…and eventually I would get fired…

Are teachers saying they are better than this?

• Link
• Report this comment

Wow, strong reactions all around. As I have said before, Maureen, one of the biggest impediments in improving education in Georgia is the lack of confidence teachers have in any of the decision makers in power. No wonder given the record of the last eight years, and to be fair the roller coaster of the previous four. Reason rarely rules, but the evaluation process is incredibly weak in Georgia, probably purposely so, given the weakness of so many administrators in the state (not all, but too many) and the lack of support for teacher development. First, we need to develop a high quality evaluation system that includes student performance. I use the we in its truest sense. Teachers like myself have become extremly cynical of the motives of our legislative, gubernatorial, and DOE colleagues. Next, the teaching profession needs to be professionalized, with high entry standards, real mentoring by practicing mentor and master teachers, advacement opportunities that keep teachers teaching, group incentives to improve performance, and a truly professional salary. Yes, underperformers need to be assisted and if not successful counseled out early.
Unfortunately, Georgia has wandered down a different path -underfunding, over testing, and a continual parade of dogma driven legislative “fixes”. Until someone truly puts teachers, yes Maureen – with more than three years experience, at a meaningful place at the “table”, then little will change. I believe that Rep Lindsay is sincere in his efforts; I hope his colleagues, particularly in the senate controlled by anti-public education voucher proponents will be equally as sincere.

• Link
• Report this comment

[...] GA: Legislature will consider teacher report cards By Maureen Downey, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution [...]

• Link
• Report this comment

And all of this is designed to keep your mind going in another direction…while they pull the rug right out from under your feet…

Is this a waste of time and energy?
Watch what happens with ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS ADMINISTRATION…

Hide and Watch…
If criminal charges are not filed by the governor’s office…Teachers will know where they stand in the firing range of HITLER’S REGIME.

• Link
• Report this comment

Report cards for teachers,and term limits for politicians.

• Link
• Report this comment

Mr. Edward Lindsey, if you are going to set up a Teacher Report Card then you need to set up one for every public/state employee. This would include everyone in the legislature, Governor and everyone in his office, police officers, local and state, firemen, judges, court appointed lawyers, etc. Let start by evaluating the Governor and the legislators since you all seem to think it is alright to vote yourself a pay raise and cut every other state employees pay! You and your fellow colleges need to pass a new law which will allow every Georgian the right and the opportunity to vote on whether you deserve a pay raise or not. My vote would be NO! I am evaluated one to two times every year on the job by my administrators. Why do I need you to now think I need a Report Card?

I have taught regular education and special education and am considered to be highly qualified since I am certified to teach in both areas. It is so frustrating to have to deal with students who come to school not wanting to learn nor do they know how to act in the classroom, and then you have to deal with their parents who seem to think their child is an angel and it is the teacher’s fault that their child isn’t learning and that the teacher must have done something to cause their child to act the way they did.

• Link
• Report this comment

[...] I feel strongly that we have to move forward now. The status quo in education is not acceptable.”(more)    Comments (0) Go to main news [...]

• Link
• Report this comment

The problem here is not that we have bad teachers, because we do. Getting rid of bad teachers is fairly easy if you know how to do your job as a Principal.

The real problem is that we have too many Principals that do not do their job.

• Link
• Report this comment

WHAT OTHER JOB DOES NOT RECEIVE SOME SORT OF ‘FITNESS’ REPORT BASED UPON THE JOB’S DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS? Think it is past time! Look at how far the US has fallen behind, while spending the most on public education!!

• Link
• Report this comment

Right now as a “good” teacher I take problem children off of other teachers. This helps the child, my co-worker, and all the other children in the other classroom. Now I should take a pay cut to help out? Not likely! Also teachers will stop collaborating and working together and sharing ideas.

• Link
• Report this comment

Teachers need to get involved in the discussion. This is far from decided. This is a federal initiative that was tied to the “Race To The Top” grant that Georgia received. As it is being carried out one of the major tasks is developing a system that fairly evaluates educators. There are a number of issues involved that must be accounted for like fine arts teachers, PE, CTAE, Special Ed, and alternative ed to name just a few. If teachers just let the bureaucrats decide then it is going to be a “one size fits all” which does not work.

• Link
• Report this comment

Great! More pointless paperwork to generate (manipulate) to pacify the terminally oblivious and perpetually non-accountable dumb masses…ahhh, that’s always the solution.
Or…we could all band together and intentionally use our political and media clout to foster a new culture in which we actually take responsibility for our actions, finances, children.
Nah, sounds like work – just stick to martyring the teachers. We’re all just a bunch of ignorant women who chose this job for the convenient hours anyway, right?

• Link
• Report this comment

This whole thing is stupid and fed by politicians and news media sound bites. Test scores are not always indicative of the quality of the teacher in the classroom. How about classrooms with disabled children? How about kids who don’t care? How about parents who don’t care or get their student to do his/her homework or have high expectations? They didn’t think about that, because it doesn’t fit into their stupid and simplistic soundbite. By the way, parents have a lot more influence in how well students do than teachers, but we don’t see any rating systems or penalties for parents. I guess c_rappy parents have a stronger lobby for themselves than the rightwingers complain about teachers having.

• Link
• Report this comment

Wow….One more blow for us teachers. I mean, yes, accountability and all that, but half of our performance based on test scores??????? So many variables….bad test takers, low IQ, etc. That doesn’t even take into consideration that fact that there just might be some kids who DON”T CARE! APS cheating scandal…..wonder if we will see a rise in things such as that ??????
@ Mr. Pius…..How are teachers in other countries rated? I’d be interested if there were indeed “report cards”. I know that I have heard these other countries are GIVEN plenty of time to plan lessons. At my school, we have had a percentage of our planning time carved out for planning together. Sounds great, but really it is mostly a waste of time…..kinda like an undergrad class. Where do we grade the parents and the administrators? Can I have more authority in my classroom to get rid of those students who do not want to try or who disrupt? And I think I heard a sound bite or read a blurb saying this will bring more “qualified” teachers into our schools? Really? A one sided assessment? Gah…..can’t wait to go back this week. NOT!

• Link
• Report this comment

Oh…the discrimination against children with disabilities will explode…..

No one will want slow learners or kids with cognitive disabilities in their class.

• Link
• Report this comment

First and foremost, I am not a teacher and have never been a teacher. I have volunteered for years in various school systems and have found that respect for teachers has continued on a downward spiral based, it seems, on legislative misinformation and continuing criticism through the media. Until those who vote on new requirements for teacher evaluations are willing to spend one week teaching in a public school and being responsible for the ridiculous amount of report building required for each day’s successes and failures, pretest and post test results, lesson plans, report cards, behavior plans, illnesses both real and feigned, student discipline, making copies, returning emails from parents, and attending incessant “team” and “staff” meetings I will never agree with such legislation. Those who are removed from the classroom do not have enough knowledge of today’s changes in student needs.
Observation is not a sufficient method of evaluation . No principal should be allowed to evaluate a teacher’s ability to teach based on one scheduled “horse and pony” show. Nor should that principal be so removed from the classroom that he or she would be unable to teach a group of students at the same level as expected for teachers at the drop of a hat. When the legislators determine that every person involved in a child’s education is to be evaluated by parents, teachers, administrators and community members not selected by the school principal then I will support their efforts to legislate teacher evaluations.
Education is not a business. It can not be judged by a comparison between how a school system operates and how corporate America operates. I believe that the comparison between the two would only be closely aligned in so much as both are top heavy with overpaid executives. Performance based compensation can not be determined by test scores. Test scores are not evidence of effective teaching. Test scores can be skewed by an empty stomach, a late baseball practice (yes, parents still take their children to scheduled practices during testing periods), how much review the student has done on his/her own, mood, special needs, and a multitude of other individual situations. In the business world performance can be judged by work product and/or sales. Those two things are based on individual performance on individual tasks. The life learned knowledge of an adult should be enough to produce objective performance evaluations. No one test is the determining factor and the evaluation is based on year long productivity. If there are school systems that have found an effective way of evaluating teachers based on test results I would be very interested in learning how their evaluations methods were developed and who participated in their development. Education is not a constant that can be scientifically tested and evaluated. Should the 2011 Georgia Legislature vote to require compensation based on performance for educators I see a mass exodus of excellent teachers on the horizon. That exodus will create an environment of business relocations, smaller tax revenues, and a public education system that can not function.

• Link
• Report this comment

As a high school teacher who has nothing but high stakes testing classes, I am very curious how this would all play out. My first question would be simple – how do you judge a U.S. History or Economics teacher against a World History teacher? World History does not have a state test to use as a judging tool. Can you get an accurate comparison without this tool?

Secondly, let’s presume that you use the Georgia High School Graduation Test scores to judge teachers. For example, would I get graded on how a student I taught last year did on the US History portion of the test? Should I be judged a year later on something I taught them? What if I did not teach anyone who took those tests? What if I only teach seniors? Can I be compared to people who teach subjects that are on the graduation test?

There are a lot of flaws in this theory. What if this is the first time you have ever taught this subject and your scores are lower than someone who has taught it for 5 years? As anyone in the job market knows, experience makes you better and improves performance. Should you judge a new person their first time out against an experienced person? Do you allow for deviation based on experience in teaching the subject?

Another example, what if I teach regular level students but my colleague teaches ESOL students (these are students who have lower levels of English comprehension as they haven’t been in the country for very long). Should we be judged equally even though we aren’t teaching the same type of students? What deviation will you allow for that?

Of what if I teach students who inform me the only reason they come to school is because their parole officer makes them but someone at another school has all college prep students? Should I be penalized for having admittedly lower motivated students? If I have even three students like the parole officer student, I will have lower scores than the college prep teacher. Does this make me a worse teacher? Should I be graded on that scale then?

This is not an easy solution to wave about and promise it will “fix” schools. As someone who teaches in a low-socioeconomic school that has not made AYP it concerns me. No one really looks at why we don’t make AYP, they don’t look at real solutions to fix the problem (our administration has not changed ONE SINGLE plan for improving our graduation rate, in fact they actually removed some of the programs that were previously used and had real data showing improvements were being made), instead they point at the teachers and say you must be bad.

Really? Am I a bad teacher if my students come for the free and reduced lunch but refuse to come to class? Am I a bad teacher if I call home and the parent tells me “well he’s grown and I don’t know what you expect me to do”? Am I a bad teacher if I tell a student to put their phone away, they refuse, I write them up, administration gets around to it three weeks later and the parent asks if we even have the right to deal with their phone? If I am a bad teacher, I would love for these experts who know more than me to come show me how to improve. Not just for one day mind you but how about a few weeks? Come to my classroom for a while and talk to my students, get to know them and then show me how to be a better teacher. I’d welcome that.

As a final note, I don’t want people to think all my students are horrible – I have great students and this past semester had the highest passing rates for my classes in the whole school. But that is my school – if you compared me to other more affluent schools in our county, I’d look like a poor teacher.

• Link
• Report this comment