How to Put an End to VAM-Mania

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1. Kay says:

   September 25, 2012 at 9:08 am

   Posted on earlier entry that I am watching Jeb Bush talk on msnbc…he says to give teachers the deal that if students learn more you get paid more. He says it is complicated but it is doable, particularly with new assessment tools that exist. He says you should get paid more if your students make better gains than the teacher who has like type kids next door, paid more if you work in a more difficult school, paid more if you are teaching science and math, and that differentiated pay was part of issue in Chicago. Joe asks why teachers resist it and Jeb says that is why it is called collective bargaining. The union most represents the teachers who have been in the system longer. LIFO is protected by the union to protect the teachers who pay more dues.

   He ends by saying that middle class families think they are doing ok because they are benchmarking themselves to the inner city. They are not (doing ok). He says we need to benchmark ourselves to the best of the world. This should be something that is a national purpose. The relatively exciting thing, he says, though he isn’t naive about this…”This is a place where there is not as much partisan fighting either. This is almost Switzerland.”

   So the republicans have co-opted the “caring for the poor inner city child and the power of knowledge” message, and the democrats are letting the privatizers take over a bastion of our democracy. And my own children are sick of being tested instead of learning. Maybe we could just MOVE to Switzerland…or Finland.

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2. Duane Swacker says:

   September 25, 2012 at 2:36 pm

   Jebbushie is another no nothing along the likes of his brothers. He can parrot a party line but certainly doesn’t appear capable of “higher order thinking skills”.

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3. Alan says:

   September 25, 2012 at 5:24 pm

   He should abandon politics in favor of a career in the dairy industry. He seems to know a great deal about milk.

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4. Mike Schwaegerl says:

   September 25, 2012 at 5:52 pm

   You forgot to include testing legislators on the bills they vote on and insist on a 75% score in order for them to vote on a bill.

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