In an earlier post, a parent expressed frustration that her child’s teacher never explained how awful the testing is, how it was stealing time from instruction and was of little or no value.
Many teachers wrote to say that without tenure, they can’t take any risks, can’t upset administrators, can’t speak up without endangering their jobs.
This parent has a different take. I wish Arne Duncan would read this and realize that he is destroying teacher morale and professionalism in schools across the nation. His policies are misguided at best, deceptive and harmful at worst.
I spoke to the teachers at my sons’s school. They are EXHAUSTED. They hate the testing, they are fearful for their jobs but they are even more fearful that their beloved principal will be replaced if they don’t follow these crazy mandates. They are on a watch list now due to NCLB mandates ( special ed failure rate had dipped). This is the BEST school in the whole district- national ranking for newspaper, mock trial, debate, the highest SAT scores in the district, the highest number of AP passing exams score in the district and is ranked in the country. These fantastic teachers, who are dedicated to special needs students and needs of special students, are being crucified by the weekly lesson plans, the state oversight by under-aware and under trained ‘professionals’. These teachers HATE the tests being implemented by this VAM measure that is their prize for winning RTT. They are ridiculous tests that have no merit but the teachers who give their all to the kids in the class and before and after are flat out EXHAUSTED by these VAM measures.
Burning out teachers, who are seasoned and fantastic professionals, for no educational reason at all. That is why parents don’t know.
This parent is correct. We need many more like her. Teachers are getting tired of being vilified. t
Teachers need parents to get the message across to the Chicago motley crew—Rahm Emanuel, Arne Duncan and
BArack Obama who was a disgrace last night in the debate when he spoke of Race to the Top. I would expect
the propaganda to come from Romney the businessman, clueless as to how education works, but not from Obama.
And this short paragraph from the article is so very true:
Many teachers wrote to say that without tenure, they can’t take any risks, can’t upset administrators, can’t speak up without endangering their jobs.
And this is where I thank Diane Ravitch for her tireless crusade to help all teachers in public schools across the country.
She ought to be called St Diane, patron saint of teachers……
Thank you for your blogs and your soon to be finished book…
jo ann
Why don’t the Superintendents take a stand for their teachers.? Are they all on Rhee’s “How much can I buy you for…” list? This nonsense has to stop before TFA teachers are the only ones who have jobs.
Why do the Broad Academy ‘trainees” even get superintendent positions?
Morality and ethics seem to be vices now.
Thanks for keeping us informed and concerned about what is happenening to our schools and the children who are being used by the politicians. You are “The wind beneath our wings”. 🙂
We should never refer to the “privatizers as” as “reformers”…the implication is that they are correcting a situation. They are the the “situation” that needs to be “corrected” at this point in time.
^ A lot of superintendents either are Rheeform bots or have money to gain for supporting corporate reform. Still more oppose the policies but fear for their positions (much like teachers) or the loss of district funding, I suspect.
From what I’ve seen, that’s definitely correct — superintendents are under a huge amount of pressure to find funds to allow their schools to continue, which, of course, is why so many districts went for Race To The Top, and they fear loss of funding, state regulatory harassment, and/or loss of their jobs if they speak out.
It is disgraceful that our teachers are demonized and demoralized. Teachers give and give, but they are also human, and sadly each is slowly at their breaking point in this race to nowhere. Wonderful, caring teachers will soon be a memory. I hope parents come to their rescue soon.
Diane..will you have a moment to highlight this link?
http://publicola.com/2012/10/03/our-public-school-kids-deserve-better-than-i-1240/
Watch for it in a few days.
Read the keynote address given by Arne Duncan linked below for some very ironic words versus actions comparison. He gave this speech to the National Urban Debate Championships – won by the students at the school mentioned above. It is an outstanding Title One school with amazing professionals. it makes me weep to think of these teachers who give so much of themselves for these students being penalized by ridiculousness. The principal even had a homework of his own to help a cadre of students who would have fallen off the rails without some very personalized support and guidance. He never mentioned it to anyone for praise but he got a standing ovation for it at graduation- not a dry eye in the house as what he did for these young people became evident.
Duncan and by his actions, Obama, are killing that very spirit that defines a great urban school.
http://www.education.gov/news/speeches/power-debatebuilding-five-cs-21st-century
Arne has mastered the art of saying one thing and doing another. Sorry to say that Obama does the same re education. We know where Romney stands: consistently against public education.
Sorry keypad errors- home room not homework.
Sensing that something might be amiss…: Arne Duncan tries to smooth relations with teachers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/arne-duncan-tries-to-smooth-relations-with-teachers/2012/10/02/04881100-0ccc-11e2-a310-2363842b7057_story.html
I truly believe in the power of parents. We need to educate the parents of the children we teach. Once parents realize what’s being done to their children, the momentum will shift our way.
Arne Duncan outright refuses to acknowledge our concerns and unfortunately, President Obama is relying on poor information. We’ve seen this before.. Duncan’s faux power will eventually get to him, he’ll slip up and be exposed for what he is.
Unfortunately, it also looks like we’re going to have to wait until after the election, Especially after last night’s debate. Any move by Obama now will be used against him.
I have been trying to push local districts to inform parents and publicize on school calendars ALL MANDATED testing. Most parents are unaware of pre-assessments, RTI, benchmarks, etc. If they knew, the revolution would begin. Why are schools not letting parents know about what is occurring in our children’s classrooms?
Now they suddenly want to show they understand:
Arne Duncan tries to smooth relations with teachers
from the Washington Post
Education Secretary Arne Duncan made a careful effort Tuesday to smooth relations with teachers, saying the Obama administration understands that many educators feel besieged by the national push for new evaluations and faster improvements in student achievement.
http://tinyurl.com/9xepkxy
The man is a stooge and a fraud, and sadly, his boss is a fraud, as well.
So, after throwing us under the bus, they’re having some remorse? I’m not buying it for a second.