Teacher quality: State pinning its hopes on better evaluations
On Sunday, the AJC ran another installment in its ongoing teacher quality series.
(The AJC is making this occasional series on teacher quality available only to subscribers. You can read the full article by picking up a copy of Sunday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution or logging on to the paper’s iPad app. Here is a link to the AJC digital options, including an E-subscription, which gives you the actual paper online.)
This latest installment by AJC ed writer Jaime Sarrio focused on a new evaluation approach under way in City Schools of Decatur that relies heavily on teacher observations and measuring academic progress. The story notes that Decatur’s own testing shows students are learning more in one year than they did in 2009 when the first real changes to evaluations were introduced. SAT scores are rising. And there has been an increase in the number of teachers who were not rehired after their contracts expired.
In its ongoing teacher quality series, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has found that Georgia has spent billions on improving teachers over the past decade with little evidence of success. In 2011, only 628 of Georgia’s 114,248 teachers received unsatisfactory job evaluations.
Now, state and local leaders are looking to revamped teacher evaluations as the next big fix.
According to the story:
City Schools of Decatur, a 3,250-student district, is among the first Georgia systems taking a different approach to rating teachers, one that recognizes some teachers are better than others and scores them accordingly. Similar changes are headed to school districts across Georgia in the coming years.
The goal is to build a better teaching workforce by getting help to those who need it, learning from those who don’t and firing those who are beyond repair. “It’s in the middle of everything we do, rather than a necessary evil, ” said Decatur Associate Superintendent Thomas Van Soelen, who oversees the evaluation process.
Some Georgia districts have updated evaluation procedures, with more to come over the next three years under Race to the Top, a federal grant competition that’s triggered significant changes to public education in states across the country. Georgia will use some of the $400 million winnings to pilot its new evaluation tool in 26 districts, with the intention of taking it statewide in coming years. It will rate teachers heavily on student performance and observations, and use the outcome of those evaluations to determine how teachers are trained, paid, promoted — or fired.
Decatur teachers are required to demonstrate their effectiveness throughout the school year using copies of lesson plans, classroom observations and conferences with administrators. Teachers are graded on 26 goals, which touch on everything from knowledge of curriculum to use of technology. How much a student learns is a factor — the district looks at how much a teacher’s students are growing academically each year, and uses those results to set performance goals and make decisions about job assignments.
Observing teachers in the classroom is the cornerstone of the district’s work. Decatur trained district and school leaders on how to observe teachers, requiring teams of two educators to watch a lesson for 15 minutes at least twice a year. The team shares notes on what it saw and emails the teacher the same day with feedback on how to improve.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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93 comments Add your comment
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
1:12 pm
There are good teachers, average teachers, and poor teachers. But THE SINGLE BEST WAY to improve the teaching workforce is to improve teaching CONDITIONS.
When good teachers are supported THEY want to stay. When they aren’t they LEAVE. When good teachers are supported THEY want their deadweight colleagues gone.
But when they CAN’T TRUST THE PROCESS because the process have been show to be UNTRUSTWORTHY, why do you blame teachers for being wary?
Dr NO / Mr Sunshine
December 12th, 2011
1:16 pm
APS will not listen not bend to the guidelines of Decatur city because they, APS, are obviously more intelligent and entrenched.
Tony
December 12th, 2011
1:25 pm
Pinning hopes on a better teacher evaluation system is a pipedream.
Happy St. Pats!
December 12th, 2011
1:25 pm
City Schools of Decatur (CSD) gets it. The biggest problem with teacher evaluation is trying to do it on the cheap. It takes tons of work and requires an A to Z process plus a lot of thought and real expertise. Standardized test scores are cheap and easy, and by themselves tell you squat. Looking for a better school alternative for your kids? Take a hard look at CSD–you will be amazed at the quality. The longer our kids are there, the more impressed we are.
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
1:26 pm
“In its ongoing teacher quality series, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has found that Georgia has spent billions on improving teachers over the past decade with little evidence of success.”
A sad, yet predictable result when you DON’T support teachers in holding students accountable for behavior AND academics.
Yes, when you MANDATE a child who does REFUSES to do an assignment still gets a 50% score; when you allow a student to PHYSICALLY ASSAULT a school resource officer, yet allow him back in school (to help break a student’s jaw a few days later) why are you surprised that BILLIONS spent on “fixing the teacher” has failed to improve public education?
If there are UFO’s out there, they are probably staying away because of our education UFO’s- Unbelievably Foolish Objectives
Tony
December 12th, 2011
1:26 pm
Sidenote: In-depth article from Miami Herald about charter schools.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/19/2541051/florida-charter-schools-big-money.html
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
1:30 pm
Why not let the teachers watch the administrators teach, so they can learn FIRST HAND from their “expertise”?
Or would that be too much like expecting them to actually WALK the WALK?
Happy St. Pats!
December 12th, 2011
1:53 pm
City Schools of Decatur is a charter system. I don’t know exactly what that buys them, but they are making good use of their freedom to innovate.
Horrible
December 12th, 2011
2:03 pm
Interesting that the headline refers to improving teachER quality, rather than improved teachING.
Me
December 12th, 2011
2:06 pm
I would (educated) guess more teachers were let go since 2009 more due to the economy than anything else like most places in the State. Just saying.
Correlation doesn’t always equal causation.
Dr. John Trotter
December 12th, 2011
2:07 pm
This tinkering with the evaluative process is a complete joke. It is all based upon the assumption that the problem in the public schooling process is the lack of teacher quality. Ha! The problem? The lack of student quality. Many students come to school with little or no motivation to learn and then these non-learners are allowed to disrupt the learning processes of those students who have a desire to learn.
Our educrats are unfortunately idiots when it comes to what works in the public schooling process. What works? First, discipline. Without it, you will not have ANY academic achievement. None. The educrats want to ignore the 800 pound gorilla in the parlor knocking over all of the nice marble-topped furniture. It’s the discipline, stupid. It’s not about teacher quality. Sure, there are a few weak teachers, just like their are a few weak lawyers, physicians, dentists, engineers, et al. But, the overwhelming problem is the low quality of today’s students. Don’t blame the dentists when the patients come to the dental office with rotten teeth, especially when the patients refuse to bruth their teeth or to engage in any other preventive treatment. This notion of blaming the teacher is like sending the dentists through many more evaluative processes because his or her patients come to his or her office with rotten teeth and refuse to follow his or her instructions. Stupid!
Our educrats always want to treat a lack of learning as a technical breakdown which can be fixed with more teacher workshops or more stringent evaluative procedures. Oh, how stupid and pitiful is this thinking, but it is self-preserving thinking. It keeps these educrats employed. The best thing that we can do for public education is (1) restore order and discipline in the schools; (2) remove the non-learners from the regular learning environment; and (3) get rid of all of the educrats.
The motivation to learn is a social process or culture phenomenon. You cannot have good learning conditions until you first have good teaching conditions. If a student is not motivated to learn and refuses to learn, not even Arne Duncan, Nathan Deal, Barack Obama, Michelle Rhee, Beverly Hall, Rod Paige, George W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, Dwight Howard, or Herschel Walker can make this student learn. Motivation to learn is the key. It’s not a technical breakdown; it’s a motivational breakdown. Pure and simple. Our educrats don’t want to know this. They enjoy driving their BMWs. It it were as simple as I am saying, then why do we need these useless educrats? Ha! Get rid of the educrats!
I have written extensively on this for years.
http://www.theteachersadvocate.com
http://www.georgiateachersspeakout.com
Me
December 12th, 2011
2:10 pm
Oh wait. “not rehired”. That means they weren’t tenured and easy marks. Many districts play this game now. Let them go before they get due process rights. Hire another newbie. Rinse, repeat.
Keeps personel costs down and circumvents that pesky due process/ tenure thingie too. Win-win.
Me
December 12th, 2011
2:12 pm
Personnel costs. Sorry bout that.
carlosgvv
December 12th, 2011
2:13 pm
So, Georgia has “spent billions on improving teachers over the past decade with little evidence of success”. When you engage in social experimentation to fix a problem that cannot be fixed socially, you will always fail.
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
2:16 pm
What do you want to bet that a good portion of teachers let go are actually good teachers who spoke out for the best interests of their students, and posed a threat to administration in the process?
NOT an uncommon occurrence, but one that could be fixed, with appropriate checks and balances. But it’s so much easier to play “blame the teacher”. MUCH more money to be made that way.
V for Vendetta
December 12th, 2011
2:16 pm
Here are some things I’m pinning my hopes on in 2012:
- my unicorn farm
- the election of a strong, libertarian candidate
- the return of Jesus Christ
- socialist economic policies
- government efficiency
- global warming
- Taylor Swift
- Twitter
- leasing cars I can’t afford
- buying things I can’t afford
- Jesus Christ
- Santa Claus
- Easter Bunny
- and Jesus Christ
Dr. John Trotter
December 12th, 2011
2:20 pm
@ Me: Right on point. This whole public schooling process quit being about the kids long ago. It’s about the big fat salaries of the educational sl-ts (superintendents) and their pimps (school board attorneys). It’s about money, and the due process procedures get in the way. They want to just heartlessly get rid of anyone who questions anything, despite how good a teacher he or she may be. They want to keep a bunch of non-tenured teachers around and expect them to jump through a zillion hoops and make it look to the naive board members that the superintendent-attorneys are doing something. There has been an unholy alliance established between appointed superintendents and school board attorneys (especially those who also act as “search” firms). A very unholy alliance. The Pimps and their Educational Sl-ts. These Educational Sl-ts jump in and out of school board beds, depending on how much they will be paid. Of course the Pimps get their share of the bounty too.
I better stop now! Mr. Filter will probaly capture this post. People can’t really handle the truth. Ha! Just wake for the book, OK?
April
December 12th, 2011
2:55 pm
Its interesting to me as a concerned parent that each time there’s an article on teachers the same people seem to post the same angry comments. How about being solution focused instead of (sarcastically and self righteously) adding nothing to the conversation except hot air?
Education Pitfalls
December 12th, 2011
2:56 pm
Why are teachers never asked to give feedback on their administrative staff? Seems wholly unfair since they (the teachers) get to see every day what goes on in the schools. It’s not like the principals are above reproach now, is it? Oh, no. They are flawed just like everybody else. But once in an administrative position it appears NO checks and balances are in place. So sad teachers have no recourse to oust a worthless principal.
MKO
December 12th, 2011
3:00 pm
On first sight, I thought the article said “pimping hoes.” Ha! I need glasses.
Poor Boy from Alabama
December 12th, 2011
3:02 pm
Ms. Downey,
I suggest you and your readers check out the latest research from Harvard economist, Roland Fryer. Here’s a brief summary of his findings cut and pasted from a recent blog post in The Atlantic:
I learned a long time ago that you can’t solve a problem unless you understand it. The educational community continues to throw money down rat holes because they don’t have a true understanding of what makes for good schools, what motivates students, and how to engage parents.
As has been pointed out by others on this blog, it’s highly unlikely that new teacher evaluation systems will have much of an impact on student achievement.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/12/everything-you-know-about-education-is-wrong/249722/#.TuKHpLDJoNk.email
The study comes courtesy of economist Roland Fryer, an academic heavyweight who was handed a MacArthur Foundation “genius award” earlier this year for his research into the driving forces behind student achievement. Fryer gathered extensive data from 35 New York City charter schools, which generally cater to underprivileged and minority communities. He interviewed students, principals, and teachers, reviewing lesson plans and watching classroom video, to try and pinpoint factors that correlated with higher test scores.
His findings could add some new fire to the debate about what makes a good school. Fryer found that class size, per-pupil spending, and the number of teachers with certifications or advanced degrees had nothing to do with student test scores in language and math.
In fact, schools that poured in more resources actually got worse results.
What did make a difference? The study measures correlation, not causation, so there are no clear answers. But there is a clear pattern. Schools that focused on teacher development, data-driven instruction, creating a culture focused on student achievement, and setting high academic expectations consistently fared better. The results were consistent whether the charter’s program was geared towards the creative arts or hard-core behavioral discipline.
TeacherinGA
December 12th, 2011
3:04 pm
@ April – Because 95% of the articles written on here about ‘education’ are about teachers as if the teachers are alone in the blame for the poor state of education in this country. There’s more to the educational process/problem than teachers, not just in Georgia but all over the country.
Dr. Proud Black Man
December 12th, 2011
3:09 pm
@ April
“Its interesting to me as a concerned parent that each time there’s an article on teachers the same people seem to post the same angry comments.”
Because teachers are SICK AND TIRED of being blamed for societies problems. Does this answer your question?
Courtney
December 12th, 2011
3:11 pm
What a bad idea! I wish teachers had a say in how to improve education instead of all of these people who are never in a classroom.
Devil's Advocate
December 12th, 2011
3:17 pm
Can someone name me one example of a student without disability who was not able to pass a class or score “average” on a standardized test because of a bad teacher?
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
3:19 pm
There is a solution April:
1) Restore the discipline
2) SUPPORT the teacher in both academics and behavior (read: allow a teacher to give a ZERO for refusing to work, not a 50%! Remove a student who assaults a staff member, don’t let him back three days later so he can break another student’s jaw!)
3) Give teachers legitimate means of being protected from administrative RETALIATION (so for example you can report cheating without losing your job!)
4) Allow teachers to evaluate administrators, and send the feedback to a neutral party for both teachers AND administrators to improve
5) Hire smart people (not just those from the colleges of education) and make the teaching conditions attractive enough so they will want to stay
6) Actively encourage collaboration amongst teachers (something that will NOT happen if you have to out score your peer down the hall to get paid)
Then, when you’ve restored some TRUST in the system, involve teachers THEMSELVES as to how best to re-mediate and if necessary, REMOVE the deadweight.
How’s that for starters April?
WAR
December 12th, 2011
3:19 pm
dr. pbm
sick and tired of being sick and tired… good comment.
please put prayer and corporal punishment back in the schools so we can get back to basics!
Dr. John Trotter
December 12th, 2011
3:25 pm
@ April: Are you sure that you don’t work for the educrats — or better yet, for one of the Educational Sl-ts (appointed superintendents) or for one of the Educational Pimps (school board attorneys)? Why such a visceral response? The blog is for anyone who cares to post. It’s just digital space. No waste of paper. Very environmental friendly. Maybe you just can’t handle the “same” people’s arguments. It is plain stupid and non-sensical to blame teachers for students’ lack of effort. Plain stupid…but politically convenient for the politicians, policy-makers, and educrats. I am sorry, April, but I will continue to point out the stupidity and hypocrisy…and I am still open for a public debate on these issues from Mark Elgart, Erroll Davis, Edmond Heatley, Glenn Brock, Beverly Hall, or any other superintendent or school board lawyer or educrat in the State. How can I be more accomodating? Ha!
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
3:28 pm
Why do I get the feeling it MAY be JUNE before we hear back from APRIL?
Devil's Advocate
December 12th, 2011
3:32 pm
Beverly Fraud,
I agree with all but #5. I think what has been lost in the past 20 years is that teaching is more than just a job. I remember in the late 1990s a bunch of tenured teachers were removed from their jobs then a couple of years later we had that big hiring spree including the fast-track certificate for non-education professionals to quickly switch to teaching (Teach Georgia?) because there were too many openings and not enough certified graduates entering the profession. It is important to remember that just because one is “smart” or proficient in a subject does not make them qualified to teach the subject. In a sports analogy, that’s why some of the greatest athletes can’t coach worth a flip while some guys who were proverbial bench warmers turn out to be coaching legends.
I think specialized training is desireable for teaching our youth, in particular. Effectively getting immature minds to understand more complex concepts is a specialty that some people seem to be born with more than others. The “bad” teachers I’ve dealt with first-hand the past several years were “bad” IMO because they couldn’t properly manage a classroom, not because they didn’t know the material being taught.
teacher
December 12th, 2011
3:33 pm
I am not sure what else you want teachers to do. The good ones are worked to death and get no recognition for it.
The bad ones are promoted to administrative jobs in the school and system.
There are no guarantees with kids given their homelife, their dependence on medication and their entertainment mindset that determines if they are going to be motivated or not that day.
If NCLB damaged teachers, Race to the Top will be worse.
Dr. John Trotter
December 12th, 2011
3:34 pm
…or until she gets her MARCHing orders to write another anemic post. Bev, they just can’t handle the truth! But, they love driving those BMWs, don’t they? Ha! I’d rather tell the truth and keep driving my beat-up van! Live is good!
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
3:36 pm
One would think, that at least for starters to restore some trust with teachers, Davis would be willing to publicly address how he intends to make sure APS follows the LAW when it comes to the grievance procedure.
Don’t APS teachers at least deserve THAT?
Maureen, is that not a question that you think is worthy of asking him, considering the now DOCUMENTED (by your very own paper) retaliation against teachers during the Hall era?
April
December 12th, 2011
3:47 pm
Based on the retorts from Trotter, Beverly and Dr. Proud Black Man I can see why there are no applicable solutions. If someone has the audacity to have a different point of view they are part of the problem. From the comments you’ve all posted that simply shows me as a parent being completely involved in my child’s education is the minimum. Protecting her from educators that are bitter and conspiracy focused is number one.
Dr. John Trotter
December 12th, 2011
3:54 pm
The biggest lawbreakers around? The school systems. They just hire the law firms (pimps) who will, for the right price, apparently tell them that they don’t have to follow certain laws. Superintendents (the Educational Sl-ts) love to hide behind school board attorneys (the Educational Pimps).
The grievance law (O. C. G. A. 20-2-989.5 et seq.), the ten day rule for holding a hearing for suspended educators (O. C. G. A. 20-2-940[g]), the duty-free lunch law for elementary teachers (O. C. G. A. 20-2-218), the sick leave law (O. C. G. A. 20-2-850), etc. Heck, the Atlanta Public Schools violates all of these laws. All of them.
Other school systems (Cobb, Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton, and others) also routinely violate State Statutes and Federal Laws. Routinely. They are, in my opinion, gangsta school systems. Some are worse than others. We at MACE have to continuously hold their feet to the fire when it comes to protecting the rights of MACE members. These school systems are thugs, bullies, gangstas. I am just telling you the unvarnished truth. And they apparently think that it is O. K. to violate laws because their school board attorneys apparently give their imprimatur to do so.
I am amused that the Cobb County Board of Education is now going to have to undergo “training” on Open Meeting and/or Open Records. The board is not admitting that it has violated these laws (but it has on many, many occasions), but Sam Olens, fellow Cobb Countian and now Attorney General of Georgia, is telling this rambunctious school board that it needs “training”? What about “training” from the Brock Clay law firm, the firm which has apparently made millions and millions of dollars from this school board?
I have been telling you folks for years that it is all a game. A sham and a farce. It’s all about the cheddar.
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
3:59 pm
April you said no one here offered solutions…then you were offered six tangible suggestions. So tell us, what SPECIFICALLY is wrong with them, that doesn’t make them “applicable”?
Dr. John Trotter
December 12th, 2011
4:00 pm
@ Bev: April’s mind is made up. I don’t think that she’s a parent; I think that she’s a shill.
Devil's Advocate
December 12th, 2011
4:07 pm
April,
In order to find a solution you must first define the problem. So what problems do you see with public education in general?
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
4:12 pm
Let’s see April, one Superintendent, one Dept. Superintendent, one HR head, 4 Executive Directors, THIRTY EIGHT principals, a Chamber of Commerce handpicking a Commission-one that had MILLIONS of dollars of business dealings with APS, a Commission that attempted to “finesse” the report past the governor by throwing a few teachers under the bus…yep, you’d have to be out of you mind to think there was some sort “conspiracy” going on.
Just a bunch of WELL INTENTIONED individuals all acting INDEPENDENTLY of each other, right April?
HS Public Teacher
December 12th, 2011
4:33 pm
RIght off of the bat….. why do you assume that this change in teacher evaluation is “better”????? In my opinion it is worse – far worse. It is created by people that know nothing about education – heck, I’d bet that they have never taught even one day in any classroom.
The legislators (who gave us NCLB and other nuggets of gold in education) push through whatever they feel is blowing with the wind. They know nothing of education.
When will Georgia learn the simplest of things? Why not actually listen to teachers? Why not listen to the people that are in the trenches day in and day out? This has never been tried in Georgia – don’t you think it is time since we seemingly have tried everything else?
Instead, the proposed teacher evaluations will ask children to rate adults on their job performance. Hummmm. How would YOU feel if children were asked to rate YOUR job performance?
Just askin’.
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
4:38 pm
Let’s see April-DCSS officials indicted under RICO statues-you know, they ones they use for ORGANIZED crime.
No conspiracy there right April? Just a bunch of individuals acting INDEPENDENTLY whose actions are simply misunderstood, right?
Dr. John Trotter
December 12th, 2011
4:39 pm
@ HS Public Teacher: It is stupid beyond comprehension. These folk always learn dumber. I have been keenly observing this for nearly 35 years. They don’t have a clue but want to impose their clueless mandates on professional educators…simply to realize a few years later that these mandates not only did not improve ecuation but even made it worse.
Dr. John Trotter
December 12th, 2011
4:40 pm
education, not eduation. Sorry.
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
4:46 pm
Why aren’t GAE and PAGE pushing for teachers to evaluate administrators as part of a LEGITIMATE checks and balances system? Could it be than the administrator members in GAE and PAGE don’t want to be held accountable for getting feedback that’s FREE OF RETALIATION?
Dr. John Trotter
December 12th, 2011
4:53 pm
Actually, I had spelled education “ecuation.” Ha! What meaning hath this? Is “ECUATION” a proper acronym? Educrats Causing Undue Angst Through Inane & Obtuse Nagging (ECUATION)? Yes, I love this new word which I unintentionally created. Serendipity.
We need to improve EDUCATION by eliminating ECUATION in our public schools. Too much ECUATION results in more DUMBINATION.
It’s time for me to eat a late lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s. Boa salada! Saude! Tchau!
Dr. John Trotter
December 12th, 2011
4:59 pm
One more thing: MACE member Darryl Jordan (D – Riverdale, Fayetteville, Jonesboro) introduced The Teachers’ Bill of Rights in the House of Representive the first time in 2001. (Representative Jordan has re-introduced this legislations a couple times later in other sessions.) One of the features of this bill of rights for teachers is the legislative mandate that Georgia teachers evaluate their administrators with third parties collecting the anonymous evaluations and the results being handed over not only to the superintendents but also to the school board members. Now this would tighten up a few folks and would cause some meaningful and beneficial change! MACE obviously had been beating the drum for this bill of rights for teachers, including the teachers evaluating the administrators.
Concerned
December 12th, 2011
5:03 pm
As a teacher, I am appalled at some of the practices of fellow teachers. From students snapping pictures of sleeping teachers in class, to course work (movies, movies, movies, with little or no correlation or work requirement to go along), to highly inappropriate discussions between teachers/students that I would suspend students for discussing, to you name it. While I readily welcome the outright firing of a number of lazy teachers, I am not foolish enough to believe this will fix our problems. It will, however, go a great distance in showing the students that we are serious about what we do. If a teacher is FIRED for not being serious, it will tell the students we expect nothing but the best from them.
I also realize that many of the above-mentioned teachers began with great intentions, to teach. Sadly, over the years, they have been beaten down with little or no support from administration, parents, or the community. As a result they have begun to view their job as futile. Trying to teach someone who doesn’t care and has no one re-enforcing what they learn at home. This is NOT an excuse for those teachers, they just need to find another line of work, period.
Parents MUST be a part of this equation. It takes a lot of time to be a parent when it comes to helping with school work. However, it is the parents’ most important job! If the parent is unable to help due to limited education themselves, then resources must be made available for both the student AND the parent. The parent MUST be a part of the process in order for the best possible success story.
I view myself as a good teacher. I work hard, keep my lessons interesting (as is possible), care about my students, and overall my students do well. However, there are some students that even with all this extra work, I cannot help be successful. It breaks my heart to see, and it is even harder to admit out loud because I feel like a failure. The truth is, many enjoy being in my class, they are active and engaged, but when they leave, life happens. I often feel like I am fighting a losing battle. I won’t give up, and if the day comes that I do, I will do everyone a favor and move to another line of work. As a teacher, I view myself as an investment. I want to offer the highest return that I possibly can. I inform my students that they, too, are an investment. I encourage them to be the best student they can, so that they too will be a worthy investment.
Realizing there has been a great societal shift that has taken place is the first step in making adjustments for the better. Removing ineffective teachers, disciplining (effectively) troublemakers, and equipping (requiring) parents to do their job are the main steps to take in deal with the shift. (I won’t get started on the “upper levels” in education. Many in “higher” positions are in education for the wrong reason. Shame on them, and shame on us for letting them get away with taking advantage of us. If you do not directly impact, or directly support the impact of, the classroom you need to go.)
I should close by saying, I am not in the least bit afraid of the new teacher evaluations. I am quite certain my teaching quality will far surpass what any politician/administrative person would expect, however, I am concerned with the increased time and energy I will have to devote to completing redundant work to prove I am doing my job. I say this to inform that I am not venting about the new procedures, bring it on. But DO NOT expect big changes in the future success of students as a result of these new expectations.
Concerned
December 12th, 2011
5:08 pm
I realize there are a few mistakes in my above writing. I will not bore anyone with the corrections. I certainly should have “proofed” it before I hit “submit.” Sorry for those who were troubled by that.
April
December 12th, 2011
5:33 pm
The problems I see in public education are lack of accountability, lack of passion, little respect for teachers that are passionate with their hearts in it and unions that make it too hard to get rid of people that need to move on. Accountability from parents, board members, students and teachers. If parents aren’t going to be parents and make sure their children understand the business of getting an education through consequences and acknowledgement of a job well done the kids put education as the least priority. If parents are not vocal and involved in the decision process with the board then arbitrary decisions will be made that will most likely not have your child’s best interest as the outcome. Passion needs to be on all levels, if you as a parent see another child dragging the class down-contact the parent. If you as a teacher know another teacher is a slacker talk to them and the union if you don’t trust the administration to be impartial. If as a parent you know a teacher goes above and beyond be just as vocal and supportive as you would be if the teacher was messing up. Support learning at home by knowing what the curriculum is for your child for the year, take trips that support what the child is learning if the class can’t afford field trips. There are lots of things wrong with American education as a whole but we have to get beyond finger pointing. Our kids are the ones that won’t be able to compete in a global economy if we don’t.
catlady
December 12th, 2011
6:15 pm
Folks, can we start tattooing it on April’s @ss (and others) that there are no teacher’s unions in Georgia? That it is, in fact, against the law (Constitution) to have such a thing here?
And, please, please, April, contact another parent about their slacker child! Please have it filmed, and put it on this blog! Be sure your insurance is up to date, and be prepared to move!