Good vs. bad teachers: Who decides and how?
Michelle Rhee criticized last-in-first-out approaches to teacher layoffs while speaking to the Legislature in February. (AJC Photo)
I am talking to Michelle Rhee later today about the role her new organization StudentsFirst played in the passage of what she calls the “Teacher Lifo” bill.
While “Lifo” refers to the Last In-First Out policy of teacher layoffs, I always thing of something else when I hear the acronym.
I think it sounds like the Teacher Lipo bill, meaning liposuction.
And some teachers might argue that the bill passed yesterday by the Georgia House does make a large sucking sound. After a quick review by the Senate, Senate Bill 184 goes to Gov. Nathan Deal, who is expected to sign it with great delight.
In essence, SB 184 requires local school systems to use teacher performance as the primary factor when deciding layoffs. Supporters argue that the policy change will give job security to the best educators and give mediocre teachers reason to improve. Seniority is no longer a consideration in who gets the boot in a budget crunch.
Rhee and her group have made the elimination of Lifo a major thrust and she was here earlier in the year to meet with legislators and the governor about it. She is due back in Atlanta Thursday evening for a Spelman College panel at 6:30 at the Sisters Chapel.
This morning I received a note from a Georgia teacher that raises good questions about this bill and others like it around the country. Here is the teacher’s note:
Ms. Downey, As an educator for a number of years, I am intrigued by the current discussion about “good vs. bad” teachers. I think that the biggest problem is there is not a standard to be compared to. How do you judge good or bad? What is an educated child? I’ve run into students that I’ve taught who hold jobs, have families, pay taxes and are good members of the community. I have former students in jail. I have former students thank me for what I did while they were in my class. I have students who are indifferent to me and I have students who don’t care for me even years after they were in my class. How am I to decide if I’m doing a good job?
I think it is a simple question with complicated answers. How should we decide?
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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136 comments Add your comment
????
April 12th, 2011
12:29 pm
Hey Raquel Morris, if the “classroom is not about us (teachers)” then evaluate the students and leave us alone! Yeah right, won’t happen. It IS about us because we are the ones who deal with the kids every single day.
I have no problem with being evaluated and rewarded/reprimanded based on results of that evaluation but there is no easy fix and no easy way to do that, but more importantly there is no standard on which we are to be judged. Evaluating us on standardized tests, however, should be one of many ways but it certainly should be at the bottom of the list. Should my undergrad college professors be fired because I failed the GRE? Should parents be arrested and jailed because their kids get in trouble? Of course not!
dawgfan
April 12th, 2011
12:34 pm
Socrates, do you have employees who are 10 years old, born to drug addicted mothers, have no father, have never seen a book let alone read one, eat Cheetos for dinner, have been shot at, have shot at some one, or bring knives and other dangerous objects to the workplace? Do any of these fit the decription of your employees? If so, then I guess you are qualified to run your mouth about how easy teaching is.
Thanks.
????
April 12th, 2011
12:34 pm
Socrates, you are doing the same thing so many others do- you are comparing public education to the business world. It’s apples and oranges, and sad that I keep having to tell people that. You are equating a supervisor telling PAID employees to do something and evaluating their performance to a teacher trying like crazy to get a 15 yr old to give a flip about a test. NO COMPARISON! Please bring your “business world” mentality to my classroom and give it a try. I guarantee you won’t last a month. Please folks, stop trying to make a comparison between public educators and the corporate world. The comparisons don’t work. Two different animals, and the problem is the ones trying to fix the system are the ones who equate the two… time and time and time again…
jarvis
April 12th, 2011
12:34 pm
You create a standard performance evaluation system. That’s how you do it….same way every company on earth does it.
Raquel Morris
April 12th, 2011
12:36 pm
@Mikey D,
So, what are your thoughts on an effective teacher evaluation plan? I’ve seen some suggestions from other posters (360 evaluations, peer reviews and weighing parental involvement sound good). How about you? How would you design a system for evaluating yourself and your colleagues? How would you get that system implemented?
Instead of complaining that no one has asked for teacher’s input, get up from behind your computer and demand to be heard. Organize. Publish a blog. Put together a Facebook page. Lobby the elected officials who can implement the system you want.
Stop focusing on what you don’t like (test scores, anything related to Michele Rhee, etc.) and do the grassroots work to make your profession what you think it should be. Whatever you do, please don’t tell me that you don’t have the time to change your profession. If you do, you’re no better than the parents who “don’t have the time” to educate their children.
Mikey D
April 12th, 2011
12:37 pm
Socrates is another person who obviously knows everything there is to know about education because he went to school once.
historydawg
April 12th, 2011
12:39 pm
Corporate America can fire those who do not perform. Teachers cannot fire students, because education in a democracy is available to all, whether or not they appreciate it. This is why public education for all students is a uniquely American contribution to our global community. This is why people who rely on data fail to recognize human beings and why corporate America has so many problems understanding schools–because schools are institutions that are built upon cherished principles (equality, liberty, the preservation of the Republic, etc.), not supply and demand, not a bottom line.
sloboffthestreet
April 12th, 2011
12:39 pm
Oh my, “This is going to be a mess”,,,,, “We need parental support”,,,,, “The teachers work so hard”,,,,
Perhaps all the teachers and education associations can assemble to have a pity party. Oh wait a minute, they have this blog already. My bad,,, You people cry about parental involvment until you have it. Then you make the “You don’t know anything, your just a parent” face. The majority of you are overpaid, underworked CRY BABIES!!! As to Great Teachers with advanced degrees, the only reason I see the majority of educators having these so called advanced degrees is so they could suck more cash out of the system and demand people call them DOCTOR!!! What a joke! How about the majority get over your over inflated self importance and do what you are paid to do. Educate Georgia’s children. As to one comment about 90% of education happens at home. That is one comment on here I do agree with because what I have seen in six years, the majority of Georgia’s teachers couldn’t teach a dog to sit, nevermind have the ability and skills to educate a child. If you have a Georgia High School Diploma,,, Thank Your Parents!!!
Mikey D
April 12th, 2011
12:41 pm
@Raquel:
Would you like a dated list of every contact I’ve tried to make with leaders in this state? Guess how many times my requests have been honored? Zero. If you’ve got a magic formula for “demanding to be heard” that will somehow magically make these people start returning my calls, I’m all ears.
(Also find it humorous that you give me advice to get up from behind my computer and publish a blog or organize a facebook page. Irony, anyone?)
Raquel Morris
April 12th, 2011
12:42 pm
@Mikey,
No, it’s not ironic at all. I got what I wanted. Georgia’s teachers will no longer get preference during layoffs based purely on their length of service.
Fedup
April 12th, 2011
12:46 pm
I sometimes think Trotter has a screw loose, but he is on target with this topic…..
historydawg
April 12th, 2011
12:46 pm
How many arenas of life–work, family, play–are measured to be successful solely through multiple-chioce exams? How many businesses evaluate their employees using multiple-choice exams, much less multiple-choice exams of employees’ subordinates? The theoretical assumptions of Rhee, et al are skewed beyond the ability to recognize reality.
HS Public Teacher
April 12th, 2011
12:50 pm
SERIOUSLY,
Before any can decide what makes a “good” or “bad” teacher, you MUST define the job of the teacher.
The job description of a teacher has NEVER been defined. So many of you want to compare the corporate world to teaching (and I have done both), I KNOW that in the corporate world every job has a clear job description with specific duties.
Look at any teacher contract in the State of Georgia, and there is ALWAYS a final clause that says something to the effect that, “the teacher must accept all additional responsibilities as decided by the Principal.” In other words, this is an undefined position with duties that are created on the spot.
Before anyone deems me “good” or “bad” you must give me some explanation of what the heck you are looking for!
Mikey D
April 12th, 2011
12:51 pm
@Raquel:
I don’t know why you assume I disagree with you. I think layoffs should be performance based as well. I just happen to believe that performance should be measured by something a little more reliable than a poorly written multiple guess test. If you think that’s a reliable measure and you’re alright with ending someone’s career based on that one score while discounting every other factor that influences the education of a child, then you need to develop some depth to your character.
HS Public Teacher
April 12th, 2011
12:51 pm
@Maureen – PLEASE ask Rhee about my post above. I would love to hear her response!
Tonya C.
April 12th, 2011
12:51 pm
dawgfan:
Just one question:
Did you have my husband’s students from last year? Cause all those cases sound awfully familiar?;)
historydawg
April 12th, 2011
12:52 pm
@slob, surely you can understand why teachers seemingly complain so much. How many professions are under as much public scrutiny with so little compensation? Few people endure the entire population considering themselves to be an expert at their particular career/job. Maybe Mark Richt, but he gets paid well for his troubles. Few people endure such public ridicule from 13-year-olds and the adults who act like 13-year-olds. Teachers should be able to participate in the discourse about education, given that they live this every day. I am sure that teachers would not tell the doctor, electrician, etc. that they are wrong because their own children don’t particularly like said doctor, electrician, etc. Why must teachers be the only ones fighting against legislatures, corporations, etc., on behalf of the children?
Raquel Morris
April 12th, 2011
12:56 pm
@Mikey,
In my first comment I said that standardized test scores are not the way to evaluate teacher performance.
In fact, the bill passed yesterday only says that one measure of educator performance “may be” student academic performance.
mike
April 12th, 2011
12:58 pm
Between the governor, his buddies in the state legislature and all the teacher haters here, I suppose the status of public education will continue to slip. There might be some bad teachers as in all professions. Under the current climate how do you expect to maintain good teachers? It can’t be the money. It is more of this negative attitude towards them. A guy on wall street gets more respect when he steals millions of dollars compared to the way teachers are treated in this state.
Roach
April 12th, 2011
1:09 pm
Yes, there are bad teachers. I ran into one once. Every night my kid was bringing home piles of stuff as homework–stuff that was supposed to have been done during the school day. But my kid wasn’t doing it in school. I asked the teacher, “Well what is my kid doing in school all day?” The teacher replied, “I don’t know.” That was a bad teacher.
My kid’s test scores didn’t show it. We taught our kids at home to love reading. (That’s what my kid was doing–sneaking books from the classroom stacks and reading them whenever the teacher was gone for coffee or wasn’t paying attention.) My kid’s test scores were excellent, even if the busywork didn’t get done. But my kids’ good test scores were no reflection on the teacher.
Michael Moore
April 12th, 2011
1:13 pm
Last week, Mayor Bloomberg didn’t have much to say as he quietly dismantled his 75 million-teacher incentive pay experiment.
Begun in 2007 through 2010, the merit pay program involved 20,000 teachers in 200 high needs schools, and provided that teachers could receive $3000 in raises if they met their targets, which were based largely on state tests. Teachers could earn $1500 if their students showed improvement.
Harvard economist, Roland Fry, in his study of the experiment published as a working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research, said, “If anything, student achievement declined.”
Using math and English test scores as the main indicators, researchers were surprised that middle school students were actually statistically worse off, as scores declined across the experiment.
Another study on the same experiment conducted by researchers at Columbia University concluded: “We find little evidence that the program led to an overall increase in student achievement or had any impact on a variety of other outcomes, including classroom activities, tutoring, or administrative decisions. Nor did the program reduce teacher turnover or improve the quality of the teaching pool within eligible schools.”
Barak Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan are strong advocates of incentive programs, especially the Teacher Incentive Fund that funds local experiments. However, the research results keep pouring in.
The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences stated, “VAM (Valued added Measures) of teacher effectiveness should not be used to make operational decisions because such estimates are far too unstable to be considered fair or reliable.
The Educational Testing Service and the RAND Corporation have both recently said basically the same thing. RAND was succinct: “The research base is currently insufficient to support the use of VAM for high-stakes decisions about individual teachers or schools.”
You can imagine the influence this developing body of scholarship will have. Put charitably, Georgia has never been a state to let a few research reports stand in the way of great political sound bites and the irresistible pull of legislative “cures.”
William Casey
April 12th, 2011
1:19 pm
@ Tad Jackson: thanks for saying most of what I had to say. I’m retired now, but during my career, I CRAVED the kind of evaluation you suggest.
On seniority as the basis for retaining teachers during periods of layoffs. I have problems with this but have a caveat. There is a lot of data indicating high attrition rates among teachers (”good” and “bad”) during the first five years of teaching. Keeping this in mind, using any method of evaluating effective teaching runs the risk of increasing teacher turnover until a person is committed to the profession as a career. Just saying.
On evaluations of teachers by students and parents. I welcomed this as well. However, I’ve seen this data used selectively against teachers who have been targetted for dismissal… i.e…. a teacher receives 95 good evaluations and five bad ones. The good are ignored and the bad used as “documentation.” Happens in the “real world” of public education.
On comparing public education with the corporate world. This will be valid ONLY when corporations are required to hire anyone who walks in the door.
Dr. John Trotter
April 12th, 2011
1:30 pm
Some of you might perchance wonder why I act the fool many times. (Most of you, I am sure, don’t give a rat’s ass why I act any such way. I am not on your radar screen.) I often deal with imbecilic morons in the arena of public education. There are some fine administrators out there, but the ones with whom I deal are often times imbeciles, petty, small-minded, often incompetent, and mean-spirited. Then, you have these educational jackanapes like Michelle Rhee to come along. They are charlatans. If you investigate their claims, you find out that they are just educational Elmer Gantries. But, these legislators always fall for the latest messiah. They are led out into the desert by these false messiahs of education…only to find out when it is too late that they are perishing in this educational desert.
There is nothing new under the sun, no not one thing. All is vanity and striving after the wind, especially in the field of public education.
Tad Jackson
April 12th, 2011
1:32 pm
Mr. Casey … thank you … I had a principal (”Lurlene Brownlow” in A Dixie Diary) who did all of those things except come along on field trips. I think she just wasn’t as enthused about the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center in Columbus as us guys were. And other places we loved to visit around the state. No problem.
Anyway, she did those things and I welcomed them and learned from them as a professional, and human being, and she was as firm and fair as any great boss I’ve ever had. So hugely supportive and encouraging. I was in the corporate world, too, before I became a teacher. Honestly, because of the way she handled herself she is sacred, in my opinion, and still doing her great work there.
Sure, she had only 50 kids and an assistant principal and only 8 teachers … but she evaluated in the ways I mentioned earlier. She up and did it. I know size of the group of charges is a consideration. But she did it that way and I’m grateful. I’m so grateful to her. Plus, she had a great sense of humor and wit. Something we can all use!
Teach on! Never give up!
tim
April 12th, 2011
1:40 pm
We all took tests when we were in school, and NO ONE blamed a teacher if we didn’t do well or pass them. It was OUR responsibility.
Today, it’s ALWAYS blame someone else for failings……
Good teacher? Bad teacher?
How about BAD STUDENT???
Now, go give your “child” another pill cuz he has a “disorder”
Gullable! Yes you are………..
Jan
April 12th, 2011
1:40 pm
@ Socrates
If you tie the hands of your supervisor on his back, blindfold him, tie his legs together, give him a large number of employees who don’t want to work, pay him half of what he can make at another company, gag him, make him keep detailed data on every event, and remind him he can be fired at will at any time, I don’t want to be your supervisor.
Nobody claims that teachers should not be accountable but you just want to make this a simple problem
Another Math Teacher
April 12th, 2011
1:41 pm
Dunwoody Mom:
“The problem is that they are powerless in getting rid of these teachers.”
That is simply not true. If a principal can not get rid of a “bad” teacher, only one of two things are happening:
1) The principal is “bad” and can not do the proper paperwork to get it done. The principal needs to be let go.
2) The principal did the paperwork properly and the higher ups decided the principal was wrong and the teacher is not “bad.”
Struggling
April 12th, 2011
1:47 pm
I don’t have a problem at all with undergoing a fair and reasonable evaluation process. The problem with standardized testing (and there are many) is that there are SO many things beyond my control that it is wholly unfair and inaccurate. I am working so hard right now to prepare my high school kids for their EOCTs, but several kids have been absent due to field trips, competitions, seminars, workshops, and even trips to local middle schools to do danec performances and “pep rallies” for the rising 9th graders. Seriously, someone tell me how I am supposed to prepare and review material with kids who aren’t in class and who won’t do it on their own. The apathy in my school is astounding, and there is very little I can do about it. So I’m to be penalized because half of my classes last week were gone for tennis matches, soccer games, baseball games, youth leadership conferences, and pep rallies at other schools? Someone please explain how that works? Do you folks in the corporate world get penalized when your employees aren’t at work and therefore are unable to perform? I don’t think so.
Dunwoody Mom
April 12th, 2011
1:47 pm
@Another Math Teacher….Sorry, I know what I am talking about.
Dr. John Trotter
April 12th, 2011
1:49 pm
2nd attempt to post…
Dr. John Trotter
April 12th, 2011
1:50 pm
Maureen, I have one in the filter…
Dr. John Trotter
April 12th, 2011
1:51 pm
2nd attempt to post…
@ tim: You are absolutely correct. I have been saying this for years. You can’t learn the kid (it’s even bad English); you can only teach the kid. The children and their parents should shoulder the lionshare of the responsibility. Most teachers are hard-working and dedicated. Like in all professions, you will have a few bad apples who soil the reputation of the many. But, no one seems to want to lay the responsibility right where it belongs…at the doorsteps of the child and parents.
Jack
April 12th, 2011
1:51 pm
I sometimes think the people who “guide” public education (and who themselves have never actually been teachers) are a lot like my students … they have all the answers, but they don’t have a clue as to what the questions are or what they mean.
Robert Penland
April 12th, 2011
1:53 pm
DUNWOODY MOM, YOU MUST BE IN DeDALB COUNTY
Cindy of Cobb
April 12th, 2011
1:58 pm
I say fire any teacher that does not know the difference bt there, their and they’re. Also please fire any teacher that says AKS vs ASK. I am so thankful to have moved from Dekalb where this was the norm and regularly received letters form both my child’s teacher and other faculty members with constant misspellings. Utterly ridiculous and inexcusable.
KCS
April 12th, 2011
2:01 pm
I would suggest that if this teacher does not know if she’s a good teacher or not then perhaps she should try a simpler profession. A standard for good teaching does exist and has very little to do with test scores, sadly though too many teachers are not held accountable in meeting it. A good teacher provides engaging content, is excited about the material, has effective classroom management, connects with students, and has the ability to assess student progress in order to differentiate instruction. While learning is ultimately up to the student, good teachers and good schools provide every opportunity to learn. I have seen children succeed who have had nothing but the determination and dedication of their teachers to motivate them.
Having 3 children in school over the past 10 years we have experienced both the best and the worst teachers.
Here’s a real example to judge:
Teacher A hands out worksheets to students, talks on her cell phone and plays on Facebook all day, every day for years. My student receives an “A” and exceeds the CRCT in this subject.
Good or bad?
Tad Jackson
April 12th, 2011
2:07 pm
Anybody else enthusiastically buy for one untaxed dollar at their local gas station, “Just Busted?” What an engaging publication!
In a recent edition I came across the picture of a parent of one of my former students. She did not look happy. Anyhow, I had sat across the table from her during a student-teacher-parent conference. I had seen her pick up her child at the end of the day … around campus … here and there. Way too much money and way-too-easy access to powerful prescription pills. That’s what I think. She busted up some public property it said.
In the current issue there’s a picture of one of my former students … just busted in Forsyth for impersonating an officer and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. How mischievous!
Does that make me a bad teacher? I guess there’s only so many social studies tests a kid can take before he snaps.
http://www.adixiediary.com
HStchr
April 12th, 2011
2:09 pm
Socrates: Are you a teacher? Evidently not or you’d realize that children are not quality controlled, inert lumps that can be made into anything you desire. If you taught, you’d understand the complexities of working with human beings who are developing and changing as we work with them. A standardized test score, to a high school student who has been tested over and over again, means nothing. They don’t score low because they don’t know, they score low because they don’t want to be tested again and again and again. Emotions affect everything they do, and we cannot control who is happy, well-fed, or loved at home. Until you can control all that, you can’t just judge by one test score. It simply isn’t that simple and never will be. I work with kids labeled as “at-risk” every day, so I can tell you about the human element that cannot be controlled like a factory.
Another Math Teacher
April 12th, 2011
2:12 pm
Dunwoody Mom:
“@Another Math Teacher….Sorry, I know what I am talking about.”
Not by what you posted. You either do not know what you are talking about or are presenting false facts.
You lose credibility when you post “facts.”
drew (former teacher)
April 12th, 2011
2:15 pm
@Tad Jackson…thank you for laying out a thorough and perfectly reasonable approach to teacher evaluations. You’ve done a great job answering the “how” portion of the blog headline. Kudos!
Unfortunately, it’ll never happen. Administrators don’t want to do the work necessary to compile a complete and thorough evaluation. Most would love nothing more than condense it all to a key strokes and mouse clicks once test scores have been posted.
The vast majority of teachers do not fear evaulations, nor the use of testing data in evaluation. All they want is a complete evaluation; something consisting of more than just test scores.
Jeeeezzz…I’m so glad I’m not a teacher right now. I don’t think there’s ever been a time when teachers were being shat on as much as they are today.
Struggling
April 12th, 2011
2:17 pm
I have been teaching for 7 years. My first year, the test scores were awful. My second year, they were surprisingly high. Then my third year they were below average. 4th year, OK but not great. 5th year, my scores were the best they have ever been. Last year they dropped again below average. Apparently the fine folks under the Gold Dome and Mrs. Rhee feel that I suddenly forgot how to teach, then magically remembered how to be effective, then forgot again. I don’t mind being evaluated, just not on something that is an horribly inexact measure.
justbrowsing
April 12th, 2011
2:18 pm
Perhaps the school districts acquiece to lower standards and less rigor, to pacify their tax base at the expense of teachers. We are simply middle men, essentially doing our jobs, but not supported in doing them. Schools have the power to turn things around at any point they choose, the question is when will that be? Perhaps when they have thinned the ranks of veteran teachers, in lieu of newer, less expensive new teachers. At that point, they may decide to enforce the rules already on the books. It is interesting that we do not enforce them now.
Robert Penland
April 12th, 2011
2:25 pm
I CANNOT SPELL DeDALB! IT IS (BAD TEACHER’S) BUT I NEVER HAD TYPING
A Conservative Voice
April 12th, 2011
2:48 pm
Maureen, why are you still talking to this nut job?
Tad Jackson
April 12th, 2011
2:53 pm
drew … thank you. That’s the beauty of old school, common sense thinking. Lord have mercy … it still works!
Cindy Lutenbacher
April 12th, 2011
3:21 pm
Lisa…your comments are on the right track. The qualities you note are notoriously difficult to measure but very easy to actually see. Let’s keep our voices out there.
And Trotter, I totally agree with your assessment of Rhee. Even her own classroom testing scores have proven to be bogus. She’s out for money and fame, not our kids.
Socrates, I recommend that you study up on the value of standardized testing. There is none. Standardized testing shows economic well-being of a neighborhood. Its test questions are chosen to be biased toward higher SES students. You’ll not find unbiased research that shows standardized testing to be a measure of learning AT ALL. It truly does not measure learning.
chuck
April 12th, 2011
3:34 pm
Raquel,
I have NO PROBLEM being evaluated. My principal has been in my classroom numerous times. He has observed me in action. He has seen how I handle discipline issues and he sees my test scores. The current system of evaluation works fine when administrators do their jobs. My principal does that and all of us feel like our evaluation was fair and an effective tool for determining whether or not we are doing what we are supposed to be doing as teachers.
I would love for you to go to the “CLASS Keys” evaluation area on the doe website. There are about 40 pages of rubrics for the observer to fill out and the amount of paperwork for teachers (documentation) is increased exponentially. This documentation TAKES AWAY from preparation and teaching so that somebody in central office can stick it in a file and start working on additional ways to suck the life out of teaching.
Let me ask YOU RAQUEL…How are you evaluated in YOUR JOB?
wtw
April 12th, 2011
3:46 pm
It is hard to differentiate between “good” and “bad” teachers. Certainly criteria must guide this distinction. I think one of the reasons schools are “under-performing” is obvious–many students (and their parents) who would rather be anywhere else but there.
Perhaps if we changed the bar for compulsory education downward so that students and parents can decide at, say, 8th grade, if they want to continue. However, the Hobson’s choice I suggest has consequences. If students decide to drop out, they are not eligible for ANY government assistance. Perhaps the remaining students would have sufficient incentive to achieve Annual Yearly Progress.
I do not suggest this to increase the gap between classes. We’ve tried to reward bad behavior with unending second chances. Let’s suggest a course correction to indicate bad behavior has consequences.
With sufficiently motivated students, I suggest our teachers would rise to the occasion.
chuck
April 12th, 2011
3:59 pm
When employees are evaluated in the real world, they have specific objectives that they must meet and a mans of documenting that they met the objectives as well as the time to document. It is part of their day to day job performance. More essentially, they have a STANDARD controlling the raw material used in meeting those objectives.
Assume that you are an auto worker and you are required to insert 20 rivets per minute into the frame of a vehicle. Would it be fair to evaluate your performance in meeting your objective if one third of the rivets provided to you were defective? What if the frame that came to you on the assembly line was bent out of shape or was delivered 5 feet over your head?
I would assume that it would be easy to evaluate an auto worker if the rivets were made correctly and the frame was not bent and it was delivered on time and in the right position. Evaluating teachers is NOT THAT EASY. Lay people assume that if we are doing our jobs that every student should meet the standard on the standardized test. There is a right way to teach and a wrong way to teach and if you do it the right way, it will work.
That is NOT the case. I have had students who came in having a bad morning who just bubbled in answers. Some have finished the test in as little as 10 minutes. I can’t make them go back and read the questions and do it right. In fact, IF I TRY that, I will be accused of cheating and subject to disciplinary action.
Political Mongrel
April 12th, 2011
4:21 pm
@Dunwoody Mom: Sorry, but you are assuming that the problems in your area are everywhere. They are not. Over the years I have REPEATEDLY watched principals remove bad teachers. It takes documentation, sure, but it’s not that difficult if there’s really something to document. There are a few local systems where system policy makes it difficult, but that’s not a statewide problem. Maybe you need to check into your local system’s policies.
I’ve also watched people go on vendettas against individual teachers that they think need to be fired, but the evidence against them is often not there. In one case, I saw a superb teacher become the object of a campaign of harassment by two families because their children got well-deserved F’s. They took this matter to the newspapers, to the school board, to the state board, and to court. Several hundred people rose to this teacher’s defense. The families are still at it.