A reader has a suggestion:
I suggest that we create similar VAM tests for doctors, lawyers, and politicians and start ranking them according to their contributions. Oh, and reporters and news editors too. That will solve this problem real soon!
Archives for the month of: September, 2012
When I wrote about the Chicago strike, I said that Karen Lewis was one of the few–if not the only–union leader who was a National Board Certified Teacher.
I have heard of two more NBCT union leaders. Let me know if you are aware of others.
Stacey Miller, the president of the Maumee Education Association in Ohio, won NBCT status in 2001. The other is in Tacoma.
A member of the union in Tacoma writes:
One comment, my union, Tacoma Education Association, was on strike last fall for 8 days. We were on strike over how displacement is determined and our union leaders along with a new superintendent put together a great solution. Our president who led us masterfully through the strike is Nationally Board Certified and upon completing his term of office took the position of COO for the National Board. Our current president who was VP for the last term is also National Board Certified. Granted we’re much smaller than Chicago with only about 2400 members in our council but we do elect master teachers to lead us.
This post describes an ad running in Chicago in which Mayor Rahm Emanuel talks about the new contract, while pictures of Chicago schoolrooms are on the screen.
The pictures show a teacher in a library with a class of six students. She is teaching math with an Ipad. They show an art class.
Read this post to learn the truth. Teachers fight for textbooks; they don’t have iPads. Class sizes are not 6 but multiples of 6. Many Chicago schools do not have libraries or arts teachers.
Was Rahm Emanuel dreaming about the schools he wants for Chicago? Wouldn’t that be great?
This teacher has deciphered the absurdity of the reformer crusade to put a great teacher in every classroom. Where are they now?
Periodically, I hear the illogical idea that we need “great” teachers in classrooms, as if great teachers aren’t already in classrooms. From where are all these stealthy “great” teachers supposed to come? Are they now all sitting on their hands at home, waiting to be hired? Is there a secret supply of “great” teachers, hiding somewhere? Why aren’t these armies of “great” teachers in classrooms? Does Mr. Gates really think there are millions of extra “great” teachers, that haven’t already been hired, to fill every classroom (since he implies there is a dearth of great teachers in classrooms now.)
All teachers come from the same education programs. Or is there is a covert training system that produces “great” teachers, whom are then systematically eliminated and prohibited from teaching?
I understand that some teachers are more talented than others. But I think that everyone that criticizes teachers should give teaching a try themselves. They could show the rest of us how easy it is to be “great.”
Maybe the whole system is corrupted, broken and irrelevant.
A reader sends in a group of articles about the Chicago superintendent J.C. Brizard:
Brizard is a graduate of the Broad Superintendents Academy
http://www.broadcenter.org/academy/network/profile/featured-jean-claude-brizard
He stirred up churn in Rochester before coming to Chicago:
The Corporate Agenda for Public Schools: Is Brizard on Board?
http://dragonflyeye.net/jongreenbaum/2009/07/24/the-corporate-agenda-for-public-schools-is-brizard-on-board/
He is one of many Broad Superintendents Academy graduates whose churn has left devastated school districts in their wake:
The Broad Foundation: A Parent’s Guide
http://schoolmatters.knoxnews.com/forum/topics/the-broad-foundation-a-parents
Joy Resmovits reports at Huffington Post that Chicago’s Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard was “nearly invisible” during the strike. He says he was visiting schools.
She says that Brizard got a very bad performance rating and that rumors have been flying that he will soon resign or be fired.
The Chicago saga continues.
A reader writes:
We are stripping the young of their youth. Why on Earth are we shoving the technological world on kids 4 to 10 years old? Kids that age need to be learning socializing skills, study skills, teacher interaction skills, learning to take instructions from people other than their parents. They need to develop their creativity, apply their real-world experiences in their relationships with their peers, and to feel comfortable in learning in mildly competitive environments. This is all more about dollars and less about education.
Tim Slekar of Penn State has been watching NBC’s Education Nation, for which we are all grateful. Someone has to do it.
Today he watched the teacher town hall and discovered that a matter that has been settled in research was turned by NBC into a matter of opinion. And whose opinion counted was, in Tim’s view, questionable.
In response to other posts, Peggy Robertson of United Opt Out offers this advice to parents and teachers:
My advice is to take action. Currently we are asking people to begin to canvas neighborhoods and share the word of opt out. WE are going to have to do this. No one will do it for us. And while we sit around and wait for some corporate politician to change policies in our favor we have kids suffering – they do not have time to wait. Imagine how many childhoods will be lost this year at the hands of corporate education reform. I am angry – most angry because we have the ability to stop this – and instead we keep hoping that someone will share our message in mainstream media or we hope that Obama will hear us. The truth is this – the ball is rolling fast and it will take years to stop it IF we rely on politicians to do this for us. We cannot wait on the media to help us. Corporate media share what they want when they want – they toss us around like a cat playing with a mouse. We are quite capable of spreading the word of opt out. What are we waiting for? Share this link far and wide. Last year my main form of exercise was swimming. This year it will be walking. http://unitedoptout.com/liberator-call-to-action-time-to-canvas-the-neighborhoods/
A reader sent a blog post from Arizona, where the Great Hearts charter school chain is based.
This is the charter that Tennessee Commissioner Kevin Huffman wants to bring to Nashville, over the opposition of the local school board.
It is expensive to go to Great Hearts. The school asks parents for an upfront contribution (voluntary, of course), of $1200-1500. Then there are extra costs for books, supplies, physical education.
But it is still less costly than paying for private school tuition. So it is entirely understandable that white, affluent parents would want to bring Great Hearts to their neighborhood in Nashville.
Diane Ravitch's blog 