Rodolfo Espinoza reports that Lafayette, Louisiana, is experiencing a major exodus of teachers who have resigned because of confusing and conflicting directions from the state bureaucracy. Espinoza is president of the local teachers’ association.
He writes:
Lafayette is in a crisis of employee resignations and early retirements. Changes in state policies spearheaded by unqualified state leaders, combined with the failure of our local district to advocate for its employees have left teachers overwhelmed and frustrated.
Since 2012, 556 teachers have left our system. Resignations are far outpacing retirements with 343 teacher resignations compared with 184 retirements since 2012. In 2012 alone, teacher resignations doubled from 81 to 164.
Bureaucracy created by the current data-driven accountability system is a major source of teachers’ frustrations. The state and districts are consumed by a school letter grade, the formula for which constantly changes under State Superintendent John White and BESE. For example, high schools are now judged on the ACT scores of all students, regardless of whether or not they are going to attend college. We now require students to take not only the ACT but also the “Practice ACT” plus hours of ACT test prep. This numbers game does little to help struggling students academically or emotionally. It is yet another mandate that allows adults sitting in offices to say they are helping “the kids” and holding schools accountable, while Johnny still can’t comprehend what he’s reading. This year in Lafayette, a typical sophomore will take 25 district and state standardized tests, consuming 25 percent of the school calendar for the sake of “data.”
The outcome: A predictable school letter grade that punishes schools and the personnel who serve at-risk populations.
At some point, even Louisiana has to worry how they will replace the teachers who have retired and resigned. And who will want to become a teacher when working conditions are so poor and teachers are treated so poorly by the state education department.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I am guessing here but I would say that the next wave of ALEC laws will be to eliminate the need for certification to teach. They’ve been heading in this direction for quite some time, promoting TFA and alternative certification routes.
They’ve prepared the ground and bamboozling the public to prepare them for uncertified teachers by demonizing teacher preparation programs with astroturf organizations like the “Center for Teaching Quality”.
I’m sure that there will be a national push of talking points about how the best private and parochial schools don’t require teacher certification and they produce “better” results with their creamed student populations.
Here in Florida there will be massive firings within the next 2 – 3 years from the state law that requires districts to strip the teaching certificate from teachers with 2 low ratings; the Danielson rubric scam will ensure that most teachers will receive those low ratings and then they will have thousands of positions to fill. Since Florida teachers who have been stripped of their license cannot be hired by law they will have to look outside the state and most likely outside the profession to hire enough personnel to cover the classrooms.
Should be interesting to watch; it is typical conservative overreach where the ideology outstrips the reality. They are so determined to prove that their ideology is correct that they’ve neglected to plan for the obvious outcome when you fire and bar a majority of citizens from being hired who, exactly, do they think they WILL hire? It’s not like the schools of education are churning out massive numbers of new teachers to replace the estimated 70% or more that the Danielson rubrics will remove from the profession.
In my own district we have 13 (out of 17) elementary schools that have been rated “F” and whose teachers are prevented, by state VAM law, of receiving an “effective” or “highly effective” rating no matter the principal observations or actual test performance of students — an “F” school grade MUST mean ineffective teachers no matter what the voodoo data says so principals are prevented from rating ANY teacher in any of these schools as worth keeping on the payroll. We’re talking a couple of thousand teachers here. Are there thousands of new teachers waiting in the wings to take their places? Not if past job application data holds true.
It’s a statewide disaster writ large and looming on the near horizon.
“. . . it is typical conservative overreach where the ideology outstrips the reality.”
NO, it’s not “typical conservative overreach”. It is typical bought off politicians of both the major parties. It is “typical NEOLIBERAL overreach” but that type of behavior is certainly not “conservative”. A true conservative seeks to keep the best of what’s good in society, to conserve it. A true conservative does not attempt to destroy a constitutionally mandated charge, i.e., public schools.
Unfortunately, one has to go back before Uncle Ronnie Raygun to find true conservative politicians as those who currently call themselves conservative are reactionaries and neoliberals.
If there weren’t so many examples of conservative overreach in my lifetime (52+ years) I might agree with you Duane.
Ah, the “one true conservative” defense. Conservatism can’t fail. It can only be failed, right?
My argument would be that the neoliberals have simply embraced the worst of conservatism without the best of the thinking old-school conservative traditions from which my family came.
And I don’t mean to paint with broad brushes either but Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, Indiana, Texas, and most of the worst ALEC-driven legislatures and/or governors are conservative or tea party Republicans.
My Republican grandfather is turning over in his grave over this attack on public education, I’m sure, which included 3 of his children, 4 of his grandchildren, 2 (so far) of his great-grandchildren, and dozens of in-laws.
I know, however, that the neo-liberal Democrats are just as bad. I’m not giving them a pass by any means.
Vote Independent! Bernie Sanders for President!
I worked in an inner city charter (total junky hell hole) in Detroit where virtually all of the teachers in tested subjects were rated ineffective. Now how stupid can it all get !! But guess what? The CEO and his family are still in charge and getting the corporate welfare from the taxpayers. A total scam!!
US whites do almost as well on the PISA tests as Finland. US whites beat all other white dominated countries. Finland’s principal advantage is that they have very few blacks or Mestizo students.
I’m guessing, Jim, that the scores of low SES whites are nothing to write home about.
Jim, I am guessing that at this point you make these racist posts because you enjoy provoking a reaction.
OK. Reaction:
sigh
Bob…once again you make me smile…wish I could be as sanguine about Jim and Harlan.
Don’t worry Wendy Kopp will disperse her army of emergency temporary subs.
All sarcasm aside, if I was able to retire I wouldn’t hesitate. I remember years ago when my teachers taught past retirement, because it was their passion, drive and joy that extended their retirement. My dad worked over forty years in another field before he retired. Why? Because he loved his job. It kept him young. Currently, teaching isn’t fun and it makes you old when you’re young. As in any job, people stay in their jobs because it fulfills them. When they have the freedom to enhance their potential it allows them to have a purpose to give of themselves–to make a contribution.
What teachers don’t understand who embrace common core is that they will eventually hit a wall and come to a realization that standards dictate what they have to do with no room to grow their creativity. They embrace it at first because they unconsciously like being told what to do–it’s laid out for them.
Another observation is that the questions at teacher collaboration centers around “How are students meeting standards,” when it should be “How is my student making progress from where they started.” Students shouldn’t be judged on a one-size fits all rubric or test. Collaboration centered around students, scores, and standards are disgraceful.
I had many students who did not meet the requirements for the reading program I was running through special education. That was fine until special education department was subordinated to the data meisters. Under the special education department I took all students because I taught the students not the program. The program was subordinate to my professional judgement as to what a student needed. Enter the data meisters. No professional judgement allowed! My third year evaluation all of a sudden was based on factors over which I had no control such as room set-up and the way I carried out class procedures dictated by the program. (It took me 2+ years to get a table for individual and small group work. I scrounged the halls to find desks that did not have holes and gouges in the tops to replace the worst ones in my room.) All of a sudden, I was being judged on the “progress” of each student without any consideration for individual student characteristics. It didn’t matter that students were placed in my class when no one else could handle them. It didn’t matter if they were functionally illiterate or ELL and didn’t belong in the class. I took them and then was judged by standards not designed for them.
I didn’t want to leave. The throwaway kids were learning! In the end, what they really wanted was somebody straight out of college with no advanced degrees or experience who would be $15,000+ cheaper. I wonder how many of us they cut to make the budget number?
Ironic to your situation, our middle schools have hired teachers for the “throwaway kids,” if you can believe it. Poor teachers have to “dig deep” to find ways to motivate these unmotivated kids.
Instead of figuring out how not to let kids fall threw the cracks in elementary, they rather try to remediate them in middlle school–uh, too late! Get rid of one-size fits all standards, testing and instruction and we might see a remedy.
Don’t allow this period of reform destroy your pedagogy and joy of teaching. We have to muddle through unfortunately until we get the oligarchs off our backs.
I wonder if creating a teacher shortage is the point. When they can’t find enough teachers, they will run computer-based classrooms with low paid aides watching, but not delivering instruction to students.
Sounds like a plan! Create a teacher shortage and then hire drive-by temps from TFA to monitor the computers. Kids taught by machines with human overseers. The result will be that communities lose their history and their traditions when they lose their experienced teachers.
I agree with your analysis. I know that many teachers still find it hard to believe that the reformers are really out to destroy us and our profession. They need to wake up and soon.
Hi Rudi! I miss my days of living in Lafayette so much. But I do not miss the bullshit that I have been hearing lots of in Lafayette. I now teach for the Department of Defense and I can tell you the best thing about it is that we are union!! We have no unification in Louisiana but we are totally union for the federal government and they would never pull this bullshit on us. The union would go apeship!! I still have bullshit to deal with but not as much as you have!! Stand together! Unionize!!! Luv and miss Lafayette High for life!! Lisa
Diane,
Louisiana IS NOT WORRIED about the loss of teachers.
(Keep reading… trust me!)
Why not?
Oh, because the “highly-qualified” label is no longer used in describing our teachers. Now it’s something akin to “meets certification requirements” (Oh, c’mon, they’re REALLY the same thing, right?).
These kiddos that are cheaply-hired are just HAPPY to have a job. A lot of our teaching jobs are increasingly farmed out-of-state via charter management companies.
Aside: Governor Jindal says he’s worked wonders – MIRACLES, in fact – for the LA economy! We have the miraculous “Jindal Jobs” – miraculous because they are invisible – pretty darn near undetectable! Funny, I know someone RIGHT NOW in CA working with a bunch of Loozy-folk who couldn’t make it on the wages/jobs here. Some are even FORMER TEACHERS (I know you’re shocked!)
Anyhoo, these kiddos don’t “need” retirement (They’re not aware they’ll be old one day). They will accept a “job” without benefits ( Magic, I say!).
Superintendent John White paved that road (I thought GOPers didn’t believe in “public works projects”),
I believe that Mr. White is making good on his promise to promote TFA in all his future career endeavors (that’s what you promise after the sleep deprivation, isolation from family and friends, and all the other cult-indoctrination tactics utilized).
2012 Act 1 (meant to rid the state of as many “costly” teachers as possible and replace them with “temps”) is getting a make-over from LA House Rep. Nancy Landry (Putting a ring in a sow’s ear now?). Oh, Mr. Espinoza called Rep. Landry to “account” back in 2012, but she got a wee-bit skittish on-camera. Now she tweets that he is a “union boss”. Hmmm…. Funny how “bullies” can be when teachers are “held down” by hands that have taken away earned job protections.
Oh, one last little tidbit of info. This is about Lafayette. When BESE made our district open its doors to charters, thus disenfranchising voters via subverting the will of the duly-elected school board members, our local superintendent said something curious. Something that may have gone unnoticed. It was only reported by maybe one newspaper reporter. He said quite loudly that he was fine with more charters coming into Lafayette. He went further and said he’d be happy if most schools became charters because it would save money in “legacy costs”. (pin drop)
But, really, retirements remain “level” and teachers are leaving for the same reasons they always have. They’re not transferring to other parishes for any particular reason that would’ve increased numbers for the past two years.
Like, really?