Last week, Bill Gates wrote an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal in which he explained how to solve the world’s biggest problems.
The article was titled, modestly, “My Plan to Fix the World’s Biggest Problems.”
The answer is simple: Measurement.
To prove his point in education, he pointed to the Eagle Valley High School, near Vail, Colorado. He said that the school adopted his recommendations about measuring teacher quality, and test scores went up.
He wrote:
Drawing input from 3,000 classroom teachers, the project highlighted several measures that schools should use to assess teacher performance, including test data, student surveys and assessments by trained evaluators. Over the course of a school year, each of Eagle County’s 470 teachers is evaluated three times and is observed in class at least nine times by master teachers, their principal and peers called mentor teachers.
The Eagle County evaluations are used to give a teacher not only a score but also specific feedback on areas to improve and ways to build on their strengths. In addition to one-on-one coaching, mentors and masters lead weekly group meetings in which teachers collaborate to spread their skills. Teachers are eligible for annual salary increases and bonuses based on the classroom observations and student achievement.
What he didn’t mention was another interesting and sad fact about the school.
Last May, it laid off its three foreign language teachers and replaced them with a computer program.
The school has money to pay bonuses, but apparently cannot afford to retain foreign language teachers.
One teacher had been in the school for 21 years and was four years away from retirement.
The community turned out to support her, but the board voted to dismiss her in the middle of Teacher Appreciation Week.
The board bought a foreign language teaching program. The students will have to pay $150 per semester to take the computer course.
Is this good education? Would they do that at Lakeside Academy in Seattle, where Bill Gates went to school?
Or would they boast of their foreign language department?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“…each of Eagle County’s 470 teachers is evaluated three times and is observed in class at least nine times by master teachers, their principal and peers called mentor teachers.”
Am I the only one who gets ulcers just thinking about that? And I’m not even a teacher.
All this evaluating can only cause more program cuts, as more and more resources go to scrutinizing the teachers that are left. And Pearson (test company) is already taking a huge chuck of school budgets as it is.
Please sign the following petition to President Obama to ask him to eliminate high-stakes standardized testing in our schools. The tests are narrowing our curriculum, pushing out music, art, science, history, even recess. This is not the way to a world-class education system.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/eliminate-high-stakes-testing-american-education-system/xdKMgWp9
The petition needs to gather 100,000 signatures by February 22. If it does, the White House has to give a response to the public. Please pass it on! The hijacking of our education system by test-obsessed non-educators will only end if we all speak out.
Really, he didn’t want to visit a Detroit high school with 60 kids in a class or visit our Miss Katie O in Chicago?
I hear he visits one school a year. It seems his choice of schools is kind of like his “research”.
They are both chosen/planned ahead of time to make sure the outcome matches his previously determined opinion and Bill is always right about everything.
Why do we need Arne and his staff in DC?
As one who has written about the futility “merit pay”, I am not surprised at the consequences of implementing the compensation system Gates proposed. School budgets are always a zero sum game effectively limited by the amount of additional taxes the voters are willing to pay. That means you cannot add an expenditure without finding a corresponding area to reduce. Businessmen cannot get their heads around this notion when they advocate “performance pay” because in the private sector the bottom line is linked to the performance of the business as a whole. In schools, there is NO link between the revenues and performance and so it is possible for a school system to improve (as Eagle County evidently did based on (ulp) test scores) and face budget compromises. In Eagle Valley’s case, they could maintain their “performance bonuses” based on (ulp) test scores, find someplace else to cut, or, heaven forfend, try to see if the local taxpayers are willing to dig a little deeper in their pockets.
He wants me to be observed 13 times a year? Wow…
Dear Diane,
I meant to write you last night; since you posted this today it’s even more fitting.
Yesterday morning, I tuned into an interview w/Bill Gates by Fareed Zakaria on CNN at just the right moment. Zakaria asks Gates if he believes charters, vouchers, etc. are the solution to K-12 education.
Gates, without missing a beat, completely sidesteps the question, and address not one part of it. I believe this is a victory; he could not bring himself to tell that lie on such a big stage as CNN; to be held accountable for all the millions his foundation is giving away in the wrong direction.
BTW, I read your blog everyday. My background, ironically, began in charter schools in Los Angles. As such, I can relate to most of the documented issues you cover in your blog with the reform movement, Michelle Rhee, et al.
Thank you for everything you are doing to catalyze the movement to expose this madness and save public schools.
– Kadar Lewis
for more info: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kadarlewis
*From:* Diane Ravitch’s blog [mailto:comment-reply@wordpress.com] *Sent:* Monday, February 04, 2013 8:41 AM *To:* Kadar Lewis *Subject:* [New post] Is This What Bill Gates Means by Good Education?
dianerav posted: “Last week, Bill Gates wrote an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal in which he explained how to solve the world’s biggest problems. The article was titled, modestly, “My Plan to Fix the World’s Biggest Problems.” The answer is simple: Measurem”
A victory would have been if Zakaria had redirected Gates back to the question asked and held his feet to the fire.
Well, Dienne, it’s CNN…what can we expect from them?
I suppose they’ll be having Michelle back on again, fawning over her book.
Probably true, but it won’t hold a candle to what Fox News will do!!
Well, Michelle Rhee just nixed the idea of merit pay:
Michelle Rhee Can’t Possibly Be This Stupid, Can She?
Oh, my sweet, sweet lord:
Q:You offered thousands of dollars to teachers and principals who brought up their schools’ test scores. Did you ever consider that it would encourage some to cheat?
Rhee: Teachers have integrity. And if money was the motivating factor, they wouldn’t be in education.
Michelle, if money isn’t a motivating factor for teachers, why would you offer them money to bring up test scores?!?!
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2013/02/michelle-rhee-cant-possibly-be-this.html
[…] of Diane Ravitch’s blog posts today updates the happenings in Eagle County CO, the district Bill Gates touted in his annual […]
Words like “data,” “merit,” and “computer program” are derived from Latin.
Not that any students in that Stepford School are likely to learn that anymore. 😦
It is too bad Bill Gates cannot see the light! It would be good to have him on our side. What is his problem?
DAH? #!: he has NO educational background knowledge or experience, but he sure is tied to corporate America’s moneyed
interest in milking education by the billions! His professed compassion and dedication is laughable when you see what his agenda is: Nothing to address teachers’ intensifying problems (since he’s the spear head of many of them), destruction of teachers’ unions and 13 observations a year per teacher that could and ARE
twisted, and edited to an ulterior, hidden agenda, one dear to his heart: destruction of teachers who dare age beyond 40! He’ll never see “the light” because he is the perpetrator of educational darkness!
I can’t bear the thought of him being on “our side.”
He doesn’t have a problem. He just has different goals than you do.
He wants to turn education into a for-profit business. Computerization works out to more money for him, his investments, and his friends. More standardized testing and measurement — ditto. Common Core standards = the same materials can be bundled and sold across the US, and soon, around the world.
The edu-business sector is international. There are huge multinational companies waiting in the wings, and ‘education deform’ is happening around the world.
Milken Institute Global Conference 2012
International Education Investment Opportunities
http://www.milkeninstitute.org/events/gcprogram.taf?function=detail&eventid=gc12&EvID=3451
Yeah, *that* Milken — Michael, the ‘junk bond king’ & felon. He’s deep into ‘education deform,’ with an eye out for the main chance.
And there are hundreds like him; Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Eli Broad, the Walton family, the Fisher family, most of Wall Street and the high-tech sector, plus the established education sector, majors like Pearson, Kaplan, etc.
Plus companies you haven’t heard of yet, but they’re out there:
Privateers Ahoy! The International Charter School Movement (Part I)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×9314623
Gold Rush! The Race to Profit in Global Education Investment (Part 2 of Privateers)
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Starry%20Messenger/132
Your local education tax dollars are going to be sucked out of your local area & given to private multinational companies. It’s coming.
Bill Gates and his acolytes should be held accountable for the misinformation they spread about education. Can these teachers sue him? Otherwise, he and his reformy crown will continue to poison our education system with their nonsense.
Check out Kevin Huffman in TN- he’s spewing foolishness about merit pay and that teacher experience and advanced degrees don’t matter. What doesn’t seem to matter is their hypocrisy and complete lack of accountability.
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130202/NEWS04/302020043/TN-considers-tying-teacher-pay-scores
I do not think that high stakes testing and measurement are the answer to student success. Here are my thoughts about one of the most important factors for students to achieve school, career and life success.
Mindset and Student Success
Students need the right mindset for success. Knowledge, skills and strategies are not enough by themselves for students to have successful lives. They must also learn how to self-regulate, manage and direct their minds. An overemphasis on standardized testing is not the answer.
Fixed Versus Growth Mindset
Carol Dweck, Stanford University Professor of Psychology and author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success contrasts a fixed and growth mindset. Those with a fixed mindset believe that their intelligence and talents are fixed, mistakes mean they are failures and effort is useless. Those with a growth mindset believe that they can grow their intelligence and talents, mistakes are feedback to get on track and effort and practice lead to mastery. Students with a fixed mindset usually give up easily or take easier courses because grades and looking good to others are most important. Students with a growth mindset usually persist in the face of difficulties and take challenging courses because learning and developing their minds are most important. Students with a growth mindset are more likely to use their potential and get the best out of themselves.
Example of a Growth Mindset
After more than 10,000 attempts to create a commercially practical incandescent electric lamp, Thomas Edison was asked by a reporter how it felt to have failed so many times. Edison said that he had not failed, but succeeded in discovering over 10,000 ways that did not work. More than 14,000 attempts were needed before Edison achieved his goal. This is a good example of a growth mindset and success mentality.
Standardized Testing and Mindset
Overemphasis on measuring students and teachers based on standardized test scores encourages them to develop fixed mindsets. They are likely to evaluate their own self-worth based on test scores. Students are less motivated to learn anything that will not be on a test and teachers feel pressured to teach to the test. How will these students develop a love for and commitment to life-long learning?
Mind is Like a Automobile
Our minds can be likened to cars. If we are in the passenger seat we are dependent on the driver to take us where we want to go. We must switch to the driver’s seat to steer the car in the direction we want to travel and to reach our destination. Helping students to manage their minds so that they can get the best out of themselves is one of the greatest gifts teachers can provide. However, teachers cannot do it alone. Communities and schools must provide students and teachers with resources, time and support that are conducive to developing growth mindsets in our students. Then knowledge, skills and strategies plus a growth mindset will be powerful combinations for student success.
Reference:
Dweck, Carol. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Ballantine Books.2007.
Raymond
Coming soon to a school/corporate environment near you: yet another seminar on how you, yes you, can change your “mindset” and change your life!! Born in poverty? Rarely knew where your next meal was coming from? Raised by abusive parents? Trapped in an abusive relationship? Witness frequent violence? Don’t let those become excuses for a “Fixed Mindset”!! Read this book, come to my seminars and learn all about how you too can develop a Growth Mindset in three easy steps!
This is why I said teachers cannot do it alone and both community and school resources, time and support are needed.
It is quite an interesting book. It is not the typical “How to” book, but not the magic answer to poverty either, nor is it billed that way. More an interesting way of looking at how people get stuck in a self defeating narrative. It also offers an explanation for those phenomenal people who manage to extricate themselves from horrible circumstances.
All those people doing all that observing. Sounds like a new admin position, observer.
I wonder how many observers it would take for a district ?
One per school? What kind of experience, training or background would be needed?
Probably going to take a load of $$$
What a load….
So 12 times a year you get pests in your room staring at you and your children and disrupting your teaching. 3 of those times are formal evaluations. And what happens if you are the only severe-profound (or really any other kind of special ed except those who do inclusion) special education teacher in your school and none of those observers know beans about your specialty and could not tell if your class is going well or not?
Foreign languages used to be considered important in schools. Today, a working knowledge of Spanish is almost necessary in certain states. You could not get the highest high school diploma without two years of a foreign language when I was in high school. What has happened to make language study so insignificant that the kids have to pay for it and don’t even get a teacher? And what do the kids do whose parents can’t afford the $150 per semester but who are college prep? I doubt if many on free lunch can. And, hey! Isn’t this a PUBLIC school. Isn’t it supposed to be TUITION FREE. Or have languages been lowered to the level of extracurriculars?
I hope the lady who was 4 years from retirement is able to get another position at a school system that will treasure her and make her decide to stay for 10 more instead of just 4.
I heard some years back, before he started making the big donations, which were reportedly suggested by another very rich guy who is more humanity oriented, Ted Turner, that Bill Gates has Asperger’s Syndrome. When a person has Asperger’s they have great difficulty comprehending human motivations and interpersonal relationships and relate best to technology and are often fascinated by it. This may explain why measurement and technology are so important to Gates. Remember when he suggests this kind of approach that it is very likely a facet of his disability and that he may need to be shown a better way of getting along in the world.
So Melinda has it too? Wouldn’t she, as a mother, be able to guide him?
He may have multiple issues besides that…having lots of money and being the self-appointed king of all of us is another problem. No one wants to tell the emperor it seems. Too bad he can’t find a useful hobby and leave us all alone.
If the man weren’t negatively affecting the lives of MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of people all over the world, I might feel differently. I don’t get to use my Aspergers as an excuse for bad policies, nor do most of the other people I know affected by it. (Incidentally, I cannot find anything that confirms Bill Gates has Aspergers, although it would not surprise me.)
Why are we letting Bill Gates set education policy?
What a ridiculous waste of time. 470 teachers – 12 observations. So 5,640 hours of observation, probably doubled or tripled considering pre-/post-observation meetings (as happens in many schools). I don’t think anybody who talks about this incessant observation, ever sits down and figures out the actual hours.
Student contact time for schools is only 1000 hours per year in my state – although most schools go over that. A little bit of irony in here somewhere.
Sad to hear about Farred’s abdication of his position as a moderator who SHOULD hold his guests’ feet to the fire, but then, he is a big wig in the CFR whose attitudes about American education is in sync with all the ills besetting us! How many times have we all seen guests/experts/talking heads on the news who rarely, if ever are made to account for their misrepresentations/lies concerning their area of “expertise?” Ever seen it happen to Kissinger, the leaders of the tea bag “conservatives,” or the originators of NCL/RTT? Would Arnie Duncan EVER have to face a probing question about his crazy thinking? Ha! Don’t hold your breathe OR hope to see the managed news expose Gates or his cronies…they are all bought and paid for by these corporatist s and their lackeys!
Diane,
Sorry if this is off the topic, but I have a question I’m hoping someone can shed some light on. I am a superintendent in Texas and recently attended the Mid-Winter Conference for administrators in Texas. The Commissioner of Education, Michael Williams, was one of the keynote speakers. Following his speech, there was a Q and A session. A superintendent asked him why he had testified at a state Senate Education committee hearing that schools no longer needed the money (millions) for remediation of students in reading and math. He replied, “I don’t think you need it, you have the Texas Success programs.” He went on to explain that we had two on-line programs that would address all of the children’s needs, no more need to spend that money. The audience sat in stunned silence. He seemed so sure of himself with his answer that it left no doubt it was a canned response.
Those programs I have learned are:
Think Through Math (formerly Apangea Math)
Istation (for reading)
The names I have found associated with these programs include:
for TTM- Robert Marcus, Frank Bonsal III, Jack Martin, Kevin McAiliy, Jeffrey McCormick,Allison Duquette, Robert Bowen
for Istation- Richard Collins, Sandra Kuprion-Thomas, Dan Kuenster, Pat Harrigan
Does anyone know anything about these companies and the people above?
Better yet, does anyone have any insight into how Texas made this decision and how much money it cost?
I can’t find any info other than their own “toots of their horns”. Thanks for your help.
I am lucky if I get observed once a year. Where are these master teachers and peer teachers coming from? How much weight do their observations have on the evaluations? Or is it just the admin whose opinion counts? Where is the money coming from to pay these master teachers? Who is covering the classes of the peer teachers? If I was being observed 13 times a year I might feel that the evaluation actually meant something other than a representation of the hidden agenda of the admin.
In Denver Public Schools the evaluators may be called “master teachers” but that is such an insult! Few “Master teachers” have taught more than three years, invade a classroom with a HUGE check list that is as arbitrary as you can get! Often, very often they grade teachers DOWN for doing what the district demands! How nuts is that??
I guess we know why the foreign language department was disbanded.
Not sure what your point was with that comment. Is it the fault of the teacher if the administrator is not doing their job? I would LOVE to be observed in a meaningful way! If you mean that the foreign language department was disbanded because it was too much work for the administrator to do his job despite being paid double or more what a teacher at the top of the pay scale makes then perhaps we agree.
No, I was suggesting that the $$ that used to go to a foreign language department were going to fund these master teachers who sound a lot like the teacher coaches that have invaded some schools around here.
I figured my emotions were getting in the way of my comprehension. And – I appreciate what I understand as the implied tone toward these “master teachers” to be. While I am willing to grant that length of service is not the only criteria, too often these types of programs pit teacher against teacher rather than actually creating a supportive environment to become a better instructor. I am fully aware that I sound bitter and cynical – I wish I didn’t have so many reasons to feel that way. After 27+ years of teaching, and at least 17 more to go before I hit retirement age, I am just soooo discouraged and, quite frankly, devastated by what I see happening to a system and an ideal that I have dedicated my working life to – free public education for all. I am constantly striving to improve at my work, to bring my best self to my students. And I believe that is true for 98% of teachers. The only reason I don’t say 100% is because, like any profession, there are those who are not suited for this work. When did we become the bad guys in the world?
When they figured out they had support to suck from taxpayer funds otherwise known as the race to the trough. The kids are props and data and data is $$$$. We are the convenient whipping boys diminished to test prep drones. As long as they can profit and demean us at the same time, it shall continue. I am hoping to last five more years if I don’t drop dead first.
I feel the same way. I swing between bitterness, disgust and sadness.
Evaluation by hoard was incorporated the year before I retired. I was at the top of the salary scale as well as on the top of my game ,so it was time for me to go. The push was on. In one class period of 40 students ,four evaluators came into my room.We were studying Spenserian sonnets After the period ended I received copies of each evaluation.One said she wished she was in my class all day since she learned so much. One offered suggestions for improvement like popcicle sticks to call on kids. One noted a kid in the back of the room was on his cell phone and the principal wrote he didn’t know what was going on.
Be thankful you got out. There are people at the beginning and middle of their careers dealing with this nonsense.
Isn’t this a bit of bait and switch? Should teachers be evaluated or not? Do his proposals for evaluating teachers work, or at least contribute to better teaching? This is the question here. Sometimes I think your blog is little more than a diatribe against any and all attempts to do something a little differently, especially if it’s suggested by Bill Gates. Given your antipathy toward high-stakes testing as the basis for evaluating teachers (an antipathy I share), I should think you might find some merit in a proposal based on observations. And do you have any objections to students evaluation? Those of us wh0 have had careers in higher ed accepted this as a given.
No, the question is *not* ‘should teachers be evaluated or not.’ Teachers *are* evaluated, and have always *been* evaluated.
The question is, ‘should teachers be evaluated in this way, by these people, in this amount, with these things riding on it?’
I think it is even more complicated than that!!! Gates is using results obtained at a school where this is actually happening to justify his position. The reality is that very few schools have the money or resources to do this, or people who are actually trained to give effective feedback. I honestly believe that the vast majority of teachers would welcome such an opportunity for this much observation and meaningful feedback if it was truly designed to help them improve instruction and teaching rather than used punitively.
On the other hand, a big part of the Finnish teacher training process is being observed by peers and a master teacher, discussing what went well and what could have been done better, and learning from the insights of others. So the idea of being observed isn’t by itself a bad one. But how it’s implemented and how it helps teachers *improve* instead of just punishing them for not doing x-y-z things on a checklist – big difference there. But I do push back on the notion that all observation is, in itself, intrusive and to be avoided.
Teachers are *already* observed and evaluated in a manner similar to the finnish system, and have always been. There’s no one saying *all* observation is intrusive, etc.
I disagree. Teachers in this country WANT to be observed in a similar manner. Teachers in this country are RARELY observed in this manner. In WA state the law (currently in transition to one that requires more) required two formal observations per semester for beginning/probationary teachers. After that, teachers went to a short form option, rotating back every four years. Administrators rarely take the time or are willing to do the work that is required to truly observe a teacher and actually discuss ways to get better. YEARS ago I was implementing some pretty amazing new things in my classroom and having AMAZING results based on Nancy Atwell’s work. The admin’s only response was “what about spelling?” Never mind that I had just spent 15 minutes explaining the research behind the program to which he obviously gave absolutely no attention.
Which is why a peer coaching system can be so valuable. It is mutual support system where knowledgeable people share their insights and help each other hone their craft. For the short time I got to participate, I found it to be quite useful.
Diane, could you address if you think there are kernels of “good ideas” in anything that Bill Gates is advocating here? I agree that the juxtaposition of firing three teachers together with his measurement program is damning. But it sidesteps the question of what is right or wrong about his actual measurement program. Obviously, evaluating teachers on standardized tests is ridiculous; we can all agree on that. But if you think there should be some kind of teacher evaluation, what should it be?
First of all, as I read your question it implies that there is not already teacher evaluation procedures in place – which is simply not true. The problem with Bill Gates’ model is the time and cost involved as indicated by posts made by other people. Student contact time in most states for an entire year is 1/5 of the time it would take for all of those observations to take place. I would love to be evaluated in a meaningful way in order to truly improve my teaching. Unfortunately, most evaluators come in looking for ways they can tell you what a crappy job you are doing and try to fire you. Most evaluations are not even an accurate reflection of what is happening. How can an administrator, who either hasn’t been in the classroom for 20 years or was only in an elementary classroom for 3 years, or whose background is in trigonometry, effectively observe and give feedback to me in an advanced placement composition course? He doesn’t have a clue about my field or current research in my field. He also will only spend the required time of 60 minutes observing me (if I am on the long form that year) or maybe only 5 minutes if I am on the short form. And I am supposed to take anything he says as constructive feedback? This response isn’t as clear or concise as I would like it to be – emotion gets the better of me. And for everyone reading it whose brain immediately jumps to the thought of “she’s just a bad teacher avoiding accountability” – I am not. My students score highly on state exams, the AP exams and the SAT. Perhaps teachers who question the qualifications of their observers are simply more qualified than said observer and desperate to have intelligent feedback.
Of course they cut the language program. It is not measured. Therefore Language teachers are not needed. Further, if we are measured by any metrics at all it is by how well our students do on their English tests. So I will be measured on how well they speak, read and write English. I may as well stop doing my job and just teach my kids more English, or really, admin should just be honest and let me go. Luckily my district has not progressed that far down the crazy path, but it sounds like this one has.
No one has ever gotten proficient from a computer program who was not already multilingual and a genius to boot.
This also plays into the American mindset of foreign languages not being important because everyone else can just learn English. The other problem with this approach is that, even if there are legitimate areas of weakness that could be focused on, where is the money and time going to come from in order for the teacher to get the PD to improve? For example, at my school I am really weak on conversational Latin, which seems to be growing in importance. There are several relatively cheap options for me to work on this. Though there seems to be unlimited money for iPads for all students and purchasing apps, there isn’t anything for professional development beyond the generic general pd provided a couple of times a year. If this is really about helping teachers, then real funds must also be allotted for PD. I doubt that will happen either.
Our kids are being likened to steam engine design, polio statistics, and child mortality in Ethiopia? If these were mathematically sound comparisons, fine. Of course, they are not.
I’d like to see more feral cats spayed. Should I go about addressing that issue the same way I teach my kids in our classroom?
I continue to be aghast.
Wow. Rhee would award the school with an A+ for their use of innovative online learning or use of technology. Can someone tell me what parent would approve of this? I still keep waiting for the massive tipping point when teachers all over the US start rebelling.
Wow! Sign me up for the protest of truth! Too long teachers have bowed our heads and suffered the slander and blows of the purveyors of disdain from the far right who can’t stack enough false charges against a profession that cares and tries gallantly to serve children to the best of our abilities; often paying for supplies, even food for their students. Ever hear ANY of that on the news sources? Instead we get ignorant
narcissists (the Bush tribe, Gates, etc.)who never taught, never took an education class in a university, but deem themselves “experts” to fix public school ills…which usually has benefited richly some corporation and NOT the students academics! Just today I was chatting with a teacher, Ph. D, who was destroyed by these “remedies.” Her health has been shattered due to the ordeal the school falsely, and with NO reason given, put her through, forcing her resignation of her position OR risk future, damage to s her failing health. She has been financially ruined, may loose, as so many like her, her home and future. No one champions her cause, but rather celebrates the Michele Rhees of the world who wantonly destroy teachers because they can’t raise test scores, which all too often, NO ONE COULD, to the degree they arbitrarily demand. Denver Public Schools, a advocate for any corporate designs and beneficiary of Gates largesse to the multi-million dollars “gifts;” also signed up for computer programs that could be done at home by otherwise, non-graduating seniors. A supposed remedy to the wash out rate at DPS.
The predictable outcome was obvious…the kids banded together, googled the answers
to their computer tests and gamed a simpleton system! Only good thing that came from that was that the farce made the papers!
Shedding light on what teachers DO go through by administrations that force, non-productive programs upon them, then when the tests produce predictably bad results, the administrations are exonerated and the teachers suffer the blame!
I have been asked by a parent, aware of my “interesting” life in public/private school to write a memoir of what I experienced. They have offered to publish it, sight unseen, because they are aware of what the REAL problems are and who, besides the students are the victims!
Let’s do all we can to have an organized offense to possibly balance the scales that are so falsely stacked against us!
I agree with what you say, except that it is far-right based. Duncan and Obama let this get way further out of control than Bush. I can’t believe I’d ever think of Bush’s tenure as the good old days of teaching.
I was referring to who started us down this destructive trend. “W”. Governors such as Chris Christy, aided and abetted by the far right, Fox News, Rush, and evidenced by the GOP plank on education and the clowns they put up for the ’12 race. I agree that O’bama is a major disappointment in education, and Duncan is an idiot, but at least the Dems haven’t lead the pitchfork mob of haters of teachers like the GOP/tea baggers have.
My guestimate would be that 90% of the teachers in this country (outside of the districts in which these mandates have come down) have no clue as to what’s going on. The teachers (and administrators, school board members, parents, etc. . . ) in my district are for the most part clueless, absolutely clueless. They’re going to find out quickly next year as the RATTT waiver process kicks in. I’ve been trying to educate them but most seem to be of the mindset of “well it’s going to happen so let’s make the most of it”, ha ha, jokes on them.
Teachers in my school actually complained about the emails I was sending out concerning all this rheeform nonsense. The younger ones in my school don’t seem to understand how much bleaker education will soon be. I could probably muddle through a decade (or less), but they have their entire careers ahead of them.
I know HOW to teach better –I just need more time to prepare! Instead of evaluating teachers 13 times a year and telling them what they’re doing wrong, how about slashing our teaching load so we have time to teach to the best of our knowledge and ability? I teach seven classes a day –sadly normal by American standards, but not by international standards. I know German and Chinese teachers spend less time in front of kids.
Merde!
Caca in mierda out!
If you have digested your dinner, you might want to try and stomach this. Maybe counting her lies will help pass the time. She appreciates us SO much..puhlease!
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2013/02/michelle-rhee-cant-possibly-be-this.html?m=1
Sorry wrong link:
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2013/02/rhee-on-stewart-breakdown-part-i.html?m=1
Who was that woman really? John Daley had her sounding like a real human being. She was agreeing with everything he said! And, he did it without attacking her. Can we hire him?
The kind of “measuring” of teachers he is talking about is the same type that led to his company’s downturn. I can’t help but wonder if he is invading our profession simply because he isn’t doing as well in his own right now.
See http://lisamyers.org/2013/02/16/following-bill-gates-down-the-microsoft-path-bad-business/ for a list of sources detailing Microsoft’s fall based on Gates’ appraisal system.
I’d bet my now, non-existent pay check on that hidden motive! He is also fleecing the world with his answer to famines…the Monsanto, GMO, non-reproducing seeds that only grow with Monsanto fertilizer, and the GMO’s destructive affects have caused a less gullible Europe to ban them from their grocery shelves! Gates has invested in 500,000 shares! Watch out consumers, the GMO food you consume may truly give credence to its nickname “Frankenfood!”