Joy Resmovits reports that the Onama administration plans to enforce a provision of NCLB that requires states to put experienced and highly qualified teachers in schools serving high numbers of poor and minority students.
Will this create a crisis for Teach for America, whose corps members have no experience?
Since this administration believes that teachers can be judged by student test scores, watch for policies attempting to reassign teachers from affluent suburbs to inner-city and rural schools. Watch for the next step, when those highly qualified teachers are reclassified as “bad” teachers if they can’t raise scores.
Will the Obama administration ever figure out that test scores reflect socioeconomic conditions more than teachers? They might look at research or even the recent report of the American Statistical Association, which attributed 1-14% of score variation to teachers.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The waivers for TFA temps to be classified as highly qualified has been lobbied for and voted into legislature. This is by design, to exempt TFA, while also giving TFA enormous tax dollars and back-door deals to keep the temps flowing into charters and to use the “evidence” that “anyone can teach” – why, even my very smart dog can teach when trained by Wendy Kopp. Wendy has had a successful run getting donations and government subsidies, as well as full salaries for her temps, plus finder’s fees, plus student loan forgiveness, housing, and a host of other benefits that your regular run-of-the-mill qualified, certified, experienced TEACHERS do not get. Amazing.
That Arne Duncan is just a “yes-man” to the billionaire boys club ed-reformers is by design as well.
I cannot imagine Obama will do anything of the kind that messes with this; this has been going on for years, and they profiteers are both patient and persuasive. Their rhetoric knows no rival.
The crap that Obama’s administration states on educational credentials flies in the face of what it has not only ALLOWED to happen with TFA, but the very loophole/waiver policies its endorses. Up is down. Down is up.
When you think that headway is being made against privatization, just … wait for it…wait for the next bit of rhetorical nonsense policies that come from Obama and his gang.
If up was up and down was down, Jeb Bush and his “excellence foundation” and his miracle policies would have been run out of town, rather than being touted as the new normal.
No, no,no… They will replace the highly effective teachers that were moved to the low performing schools with TFA. The highly effective teachers will be reclassified as ineffective. Uncertified TFA teachers will “appear” effective. Then we can get rid of all the professional education programs, because scores of certified teachers will correlate with low student test scores. We live in an Alice in Wonderland world, where up is down and down is up, and professionally trained teachers are ineffective and minimally trained teachers are effective.
Yes worried, I can see how you got to their ulterior motives, out only for themselves and not for the good of students.
Donna and Worried have the correct picture. My district is hiring TFA left and right while veteran NCLB highly qualified teachers languish without placement.
Knowing how Arnie Duncan thinks and a President too busy to really question how he thinks, Sec. Duncan will put out a list of categories that designate the DOE’s definition of quality teaching: guess which organization will be the first onhis list of quality teaching experiences? One added note, if you think common core caused a mess, wait until the word is out that the DOE is requesting teachers in high test score suburban schools transfer to inner-city schools — I can’t wait for yet another, of Arnie’s Follies.
“Arnie’s Follies.” = Arnie’s Inanities.
Teachers are a “workforce” who have few rights. Look for hiring restrictions to be part of districts receiving federal funds, so that job openings will give priority to applicants who have meet X,Y, Z federal criteria. Look for threats to withhold federal funds if states and districts have collective bargaining rights for teachers (especially if seniority gives any special benefit). Look for experienced teachers to be riffed in order to rearrange the chess board, then rehired to meet the new equity mandate. If Arne has any more discretionary money left, add some state and district incents. Teacher reassignment will be another one of Duncan’s “game-changers” and Obama’s new civil rights issues of our time. Look for some legal opinions from the Office of Civil Rights to support the planned redistribution of experienced and highly qualified teachers to “in need schools.” ALso look for money flowing to a bunch of labor lawyers.
Yeah, of course it is illegal and impeachable. The whole point of redistributing these experienced and higher paid teachers is to force them to “fail” in the “failing” schools and then fire them in order to save money on pensions and benefits.
And, of course, salaries.
“Also look for money flowing to a bunch of labor lawyers.” Right. Rosemary Alito will write the brief and her brother the Justice will right the opinion.
Justice Alito is, in his mind, always “right”, but I did mean “write”.
Sorry.
So they’ll be an exodus from the burbs to the city. I don’t think so. How will the various districts work this out? Another division of Arne’s rabbit hole? What a mess.
The answer is easy: NO.
Because from day one in the war to reform the schools that don’t need test-run reforming, there has always been a double standard. What the public schools are mandated through law to do never applies to the for-profit, private sector that’s taking over.
The private sector can churn out 100% idiots, who seldom if ever take a standardized test, and these for profit schools will be considered successful even if the public schools succeed in successfully teaching 77% of the total and only churning out 23% who don’t measure up.
What is happening is legislated, guaranteed failure for the public schools no matter what the public school do, because the mandated level for being considered successful will always be out of reach. If a public school manages to meet the impossible, then the impossible will be made even more difficult.
That’s because of the neoliberal mantra that the public sector is bad because it is public. Of course these jerks will keep moving the goalposts until ALL public schools “fail.”
As long as they are in power, that’s exactly what they will do, and to get into power, they will lie repeatedly to fool voters—the same as the nation building from the barrel of a gun neo-cons.
Yep, Lloyd. It amazes me that the vast majority of Americans (sic) don’t see that connection. Is it that hard to see?
The latest Gallup pole revealed that 50 percent of the American people have never heard of Common Core and know nothing about it.
A year ago that number was about 62 percent. We are gaining ground and the results of several elections show the results as supporters of the resistance win.
I suggest that we don’t judge the American people until they are informed and then we shall see who the majority supports.
I’m currently reading an advanced galley proof of “The Teacher Wars, A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession” by Dana Goldstein, and what’s happening in public eduction today is nothing new. What the resistance is fighting today, it was fighting in the 19th century and again in the early 20th century and the key was unity and getting the word out to the people to gain their support.
Because the resistance doesn’t own or control the media and 90% of the media is owned and controlled by many of the fake education reformers, we must rely on the Internet and word of mouth to keep spreading the word.
Persistence, persistence, persistence!
Never give up the resistance. Goldstein’s book proves that we can win because those who came before us managed to do it, but the fake reformers keep coming back inside the skin of new one percenters—for instance Bill Gates.
History shows us how to win and drive back the fakes once again. Sad to say, I think this war over public education will never end. There is always going to be a Bill Gates out there who thinks he knows what’s best when he knows nothing.
I’m almost halfway through the book.
Thank you Lloyd for the book recommendation and for giving me hope.
Obama banning TFA is about as likely as him banning Blackwater (or whatever those born-again mercenaries call themselves now).
Praise the lord and pass the ammunition:
and for a newer version:
During the Cold War, it was “Kill a Commie for Christ.”
Now it seems that public school teachers have taken on that Bogeyman role.
Oh gosh will there be enough elite TFA to keep the revolving churn of effective/ineffective going on and on and on.
Turnstile teaching is the latest miracle cure from Arne the Arse.
Hey now, don’t be rude. The arse serves a useful function.
Too bad Arne doesn’t. What a foolish, stupid man.
I am so embarrassed for our country, for our profession, and for all of our children.
Arnie the inane arse.
The President, today:
“Of particular concern is the fact that typically the least experienced teachers, the ones with the least support, often end up in the poorest schools. So we have a problem in which the kids who need the most skilled teachers are the least likely to get them. And the most talented and skilled teachers oftentimes are teaching the kids who are already the best prepared and have the most resources outside of the school in order to succeed.”
It’s just incoherent. I don’t know how he squares this with TFA OR with people running charter schools who have little or no experience.
Is experience valued or not? It’s as if this whole ed reform philosophy wasn’t very well thought out. Nothing they say fits with anything they actually promote.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/07/07/remarks-president-lunch-teachers
@arneduncan @BarackObama so why staff charters/urban schools w/TFA intern churn if experience matters? http://t.co/DBMuwFAhJ4
@arneduncan and @BarackObama have you two lost your minds?
Will Obama Ban TFA? http://t.co/DBMuwFAhJ4 via @DianeRavitch
This is positive but unfortunately highly unlikely scenario is something out of the Onion.
I am one of many NYC teachers who moved from being a great teacher in a Bronx High School (before all this “hi tech data by design” was created to create a cheapening of the teaching profession) to being a greater teacher in a wealthy neighboring suburban HS where my regents pass rate hovered around 95% and my AP US average score was 4+.
To what would Sec. Duncan and his cohort attribute my incredible new success?
Why did I leave my beloved A. E. Stevenson HS in the Bronx after 16 years?
Could it have been a newly growing family, a chance to double my income, and, most importantly, an incredibly professional atmosphere in both the suburban schools where I spent the last 22 of my 38 teaching years .
One of those suburban schools was 30% African American (yet @70% of them were middle class kids). The other was …Scarsdale!
Might that last statement explain my meteoric “data by design” rise in my abilities?
Does anyone think that professionals will want to move in the opposite direction without an incredibly professional atmosphere where they will be paid a respectful wage and be granted due process through tenure?
It really is Obama. The others work for or benefit from him. It all flows down.
Arne’s not this smart. Look who Obama just appointed: Ted Mitchell. Enough said. Yes King, Cuomo, Duncan, they’re all contributing but only because they get a lot of support to do so.
However, they appear more desperate since none of their schemes are working. They keep throwing out one preposterous idea after another. With so many crazy schemes in the works how can they determine what works and what doesn’t? Actually, it doesn’t matter. They don’t care. The goal is total destruction.
I don’t care what he thinks on education. His presidency is a train wreck of Chicago corruption gone national.
He and Duncan need to be impeached over their illegal education policies. Period.
Oh, brother! Another sweeping, simple, one-size-fits-all “solution,” handed down from on high, and applied to the incredibly complex processes of teaching and learning. Move suburban teachers to inner city, where suddenly, they become failing teachers? Is the DOE going to sidestep all of those pesky laws that forbid federal overreach and get states to do their dirty work? Send out letters like, “Dear Teacher from the ‘burbs, pack your bags because you’re moving…” Please. Sadly, I find myself leaning towards the idea that this is a set up to bring more TFA to the population.
And for what it’s worth, I don’t think this is Arne’s idea. He’s not bright enough to create a master plan like this one. He’s just a puppet who says what he’s told to say and collects a paycheck for doing so.
Obama isn’t very bright, either. Most likely it’s Bill Gates and his gang of crooks who are really calling the shots.
Obama is listening to the duds & plutocrats in the business community. Somebody should put this on a billboard so people know what a scam this reform movement really is.
Actually, this moronic plan promotes mediocrity. Stay under the radar. Earn developing or lowly proficient and just keep juking the stats, cooking the books, playing games just like them. If nobody is effective there’s no one to transfer. What a crock of 💩!
State’s pay the teachers. They can adjust the payscale to pay more to low SES districts or low SES schools.
But, the high SES districts will say it is unfair, and then somehow, someway, another mechanism will be invented from this mandate, to actually punish low SES schools and take away more of their resources. Whatever rules Duncan and Co. come up with, the consultants and tinkerers will find ways to make them do the opposite of the original intent.
It’s officially official. Our country is led by babbling bumbling buffoons. Obama is clueless.
What a disaster for our schools and our country.
“State’s (sic) pay the teachers.”
No, they don’t. It is the individual LEA (local education authority) that pays the salaries of the district’s personnel.
So no, they can’t “adjust the payscale to pay more to low SES districts or low SES schools.”
Just received my amended contract for next year from???
The state??? NO!
My district??? YES!
I’ll believe it when we see it. Everything the Obama (and Duncan) administrations have done and encouraged pushed TFA type solutions — and TFA itself, which began getting mullion dollar contracts from Chicago while Duncan was still “CEO” here. Things are getting worse, at least in Chicago. Last year, the CPS administration began using a thing called “Student-Based Budgeting.” Under the mild talking point, the administration limits the amount of dollars each principal can spend on teachers — literally forcing principals (who do the hiring in most schools) to hire the “least expensive” (i.e., youngest and least experienced) teachers. This came at the same time CPS closed 50 real public schools, so the impact on veteran teachers has been devastating.
Previously, positions were budgeted with the allowance factor that gave principals the flexibility to hire veterans, since we all knew and agreed that veterans were, person for person, better for the kids and the schools. No school can survive outside of chaos if all the “teachers” are FNGs the same years. In schools with a decent mix (because of retirements), the veterans engage and mentor the FNGs until, after a year or three, the FNG either gets able or leaves, realizing that Law School is the option she should have exercised all along.
One of the bigger lies comes from, as usual, the CPS administration when this practice is challenged. CPS “Talent Office” chief Alicia Winckler (who was hired to lead educators after a career at Sears Holdings in “Human Resources”) keeps prattling that “60 percent of all displaced teachers are re-hired.”
Nobody has challenged the fact that the number should be 100 percent! And the members of the Board of Education purr about how wonderful that “60 percent” supposedly is. The word from the reality world is that many of these schools that have mostly new (cheap) teachers are bordering on chaos, early and ongoingly. For obvious reasons. Unless they have an administration that has purged the “bad” kids (which is what AUSL does when it moves in to do a hugely subsidized “turnaround”), the FNGs are in way over their heads by Columbus Day, and going home in tears three or four times a week by Halloween. They thought that because (like their TFA counterparts) they had the best lesson plans and believed that “all children can learn” that the waters or ignorance would part before them once the proclaimed their presence.
Only the Obama administration could have gotten along with this scam for this long — six years nationally and five or six before that when Arne was all ours here in Chicago. So I’m skeptical that Barack Obama is going to demand that school districts (a) stop hiring inexpensive FNG teachers and (b) begin re-hiring and hiring mostly veterans.
Of course, with these miracle working disrupters, innovators, and incubators (Duncan, Obama and all their buddies) anything’s possible. After all, the U.S. Secretary of Education never even taught long enough to be dubbed an FNG. Arne was a NEVERWAS. And once the prose smoothies (“Dreams from my Father” and the kludgier “Audacity of Hope”) and oleaginous speechifying was finished, what was Barack Obama? Mostly an FNG executive, a half-empty decision-making suit — with a good line of smarm?
George, in NYC this identical process is called “fair student funding” and has near-identical results: the transformation of senior teachers into nomadic subs with targets on their backs.
FNGs???
Fucking New Guys/Gals???
AUSLs???
Already Useless School Leaders???
I’m AI please help!
tfa-ers have already been designated as highly qualified and according to their own accounts are achieving at the highest levels the outcomes Obama/duncan and their corporate masters are looking to obtain–high profits, low cost teachers, happy parents who will have no local board to which to complain, legislators bought and paid for in case future tax monies need to be transferred to the corporate edreformers, and an endless supply of poorly educated minority and poor students to fill the low wage jobs they are creating. Watch Indiana for how this will be implemented as pence and his mindtrusters move forward.
Let’s say anyone buys into the definition of highly-effective or high-performing. What’s going to happen when parents in higher-performing/higher-income districts start screaming, “Where are you sending our teachers?? Don’t our kids deserve those teachers!!” Only non-educators think any of this makes any sense. In our district when one elementary (in the lower income area) got a D and another in the higher-income area got an A, I suggested that if anyone bought into this BS, we should simply have the two schools switch teachers. Absurd. The parents in both schools saw through the nonsense, but Obama and Duncan can’t?? Not very smart.
What does the President think about this model for low income schools? Inexperienced teachers and aides and 100 students in a class?
“Rocketship maintains that its recipe works. Hiring enthusiastic recent grads from top colleges and employing online learning, the brash nonprofit won awards and attracted investment by getting the hardest-to-educate children to score as high as their wealthier peers. Placing children on computers and with non-credentialed tutors for more than an hour a day has saved on teacher salaries.
The school day, even for young children, is eight hours. Teacher raises depend on test scores.
Staffers’ long hours, however, are both a key to success and a source of burnout. Current and former Rocketship teachers characterized their workday as 11 to 16 hours, with just five weeks for summer vacation.
“You ate, breathed and lived with Rocketship,” said Jennifer Myers, who worked as a teacher, academic dean and substitute. Like others, she initially loved her job — citing the can-do culture at Mateo Sheedy, Rocketship’s pioneer school, and the astonishing and satisfying progress of students.
But she and a teacher who is quitting Rocketship this month both said the hours are unsustainable. Rocketship in recent years has churned through green teachers, many from the nonprofit service group Teach for America, at a furious pace. After 2013, 29 percent of its teachers left.
Teachers — who are at-will employees who can be fired at any time — also criticized Rocketship’s intolerance for dissent, saying it contributed to the disastrous redesign that placed 100 students in a classroom.”
The USDOE pushes “blended learning” constantly. Is this what they had in mind?
Why doesn’t anyone ever ask them any questions when the rhetoric clashes with the reality of what they promote?
Wow. Thank you the Rocketship post. This all reminds me of my youthful entry from college graduation to “helping kids” back in the 1970’s. I “culturally joined” (ie; was hired by) a program that turned around kids with ed/psych mumble jumble along with a bit randomly selected native american wisdom. Turns out this alternative program of which I was so highly enamored and so lowly paid, made most of its profits from real estate years later. The kids and the earnest young staff were just pawns in a long planned out scheme.
There is no such thing as a universally best or better teacher. There are principles of effective teaching, for sure, but a teacher who might thrive in one setting could flounder in another. This peace of common sense somehow escapes the geniuses who concoct these schemes
I agree. In our small high-poverty , high-performing district our English dept divvies up the tougher classes. We’re all veterans with one 3rd year teacher. Everyone gets a diverse mix and ALL kids get the best Except now the teachers who teach 10th and 11th grade are evaluated in a group (state-tested grades) evaluated on student growth. The 9th and 12th grade teachers are in a different group graded on other metrics. Guess which teachers scored lower in our district? Yes, Those whose students are tied to state tests. This happened throughout NM. Next year if we switched classes, the two groups would switch eval scores. Only educators understand this.
Isn’t this new initiative of the Obama DINOs simply the Vergara decision on steroids? If implemented it puts Campbell Brown and her friends out of business and looking for new targets to sue. 4.2 million for the states to develop education equity plans simply translates into ALEC inspired state legislation ending tenure and seniority for teachers in those states which still have active unions. Senior urban teachers rated ineffective will be moved out and replaced by TFAs; senior effective teachers in suburban districts will be ordered (at the point of bayonets?) to urban districts and many will promptly retire, to be replaced in those suburban districts by younger, inexperienced teachers who will work for less and never incur pension costs for the district or state. And the students who Obama claims to be so concerned about, well their “civil rights” will be enforced, I guess.
Now, the RA in Denver is over and we in the NEA have a new leader. How long will we have to wait for her to denounce this latest insult to teachers and our intelligence by the Obama administration? Or is she already working out a way to play ball because the NEA has been bought off.
4.2 million in Philadelphia would go a long way to hiring back many of the teachers, counselors, nurses, aides who have been laid off in the last two years; 4.2 million would surely be a godsend for a dying district like Philadelphia which is now dependent on smoking addicts to pay a $2 per pack tax if it is even to remain open in Sepember. Is Obama so out of touch that he doesn’t know what the schools in the districts whose voters overwhelmingly supported him in ’08 and ’12 really need? Is he so ungrateful to the teachers who overwhelmingly worked for his election that he would join in the conservative efforts to destroy our rights and our dignity?
I hope the new NEA comes out strongly against this concerted effort to destroy public education. Calling for Duncan’s resignation is only a start.
“Senior urban teachers rated ineffective will be moved out and replaced by TFAs; senior effective teachers in suburban districts will be ordered (at the point of bayonets?) to urban districts.
That would be impossible, at least in Missouri and most likely in all states as it’s the Local Education Authorities (LEAS) that contract and hire staff not the SEA (state education authority) unless, perhaps the state has taken over a district, but even then it usually sets up some kind of LEA to govern the district.
Ay, Ay, Ay, where does this crap start.
Wonder why my comment “is awaiting moderation?
Anyone know what triggers that condition?
More than one link
Duane, Yes, currently impossible, but if like the Post-Dispatch is pushing, a Area-Wide school district is formed which encompasses the City and County, you are darned straight that this could occur. Think long-term, big picture. Those that are out to destroy education in the way we know it have time and money on their sides.
Damon,
Wouldn’t be the first time that the Post-Dispatched pushed nonsense. There is absolutely no way in hell the residents of districts like Lindbergh, Mehlville, Kirkwood, Clayton, Ladue, Parkway would allow that to happen. Having grown up on the Lindbergh/Mehlville school district line and having my own children go through Kirkwood schools, I’d bet my life on that never happening. For anyone (hey PD editors) who believes so, I have some great ocean front property for sale over at the Lake of the Ozarks for sale cheaply. Call now! Operators standing by!!
They are SCABs, all legally ordained by the federal gov’t as “highly qualified” to destroy us. (No matter that their “training” is limited to 5 weeks, that English majors are “teaching” Math, etc.)
Teachers as serfs. Go and do as the rulers say. Ask no questions.
This notion has been bandied about a good long time here in Massachusetts by the Pioneer Institute, who thinking people used to dismiss as just a bunch of kooks. Now it’s touted by the DOE.
Teachers have commitments outside of their job duties. They have families. They have children of their own. So willy-nilly they may have to commute a long while to get to a job assignment that rotates as the overlords see fit? Ah, true, we’re just public servants – how dare we presume to have any say in our own lives?
Watch instead for an official redefinition of “highly qualified”, endorsement of quickie/intense teacher training programs, and public praise for these young dedicated future professionals eager to bring their varied skills and interests to classrooms as they embark on pursuits into a variety of fields! This means our most struggling students will benefit from future scientists, doctors, lawyers…possibly even a future president! Well, at least they’ll benefit for maybe a couple months, or a year or so…But hey-that temp teacher will certainly get to know your kids’ names before they’re rotated up into profession or policy, or they should at least come close. The problem with educators with decades of experience is they forget it’s about the numbers. They get bogged down in being a consistently positive and personally vested influence in kids lives and forget that school is about positive returns on investments. TFA is a leader in that area and young teachers are cheap teachers who won’t clog up the machine.
I’d really like to know which civil rights groups think that the lack of high quality teachers is the main issue (or even one of the main issues) facing students at these schools?
Matt, a guess: the groups paid millions by Gates to blame teachers, not poverty.
I am totally disgusted with the bare-faced hypocrisy of President Obama and Arne Duncan. At my school during the Obama administration, in a fairly low socio-economic area, midrange teachers got pushed out because they were treated so badly by ‘reforminess’ administrators. Really talented teachers, particularly in science, were picked up by more affluent surrounding communities. As Resource Specialist who traveled to other rooms, I got to view quite a few ‘who let the dogs out/ lord of the flies’ moments because interns (no experience/ no credentials) were in charge of classrooms. I got the pleasure of administering state testing to a class who had chased out two amateur science interns. Administrators argued they need a credentialed professional to administer state tests, but not to teach to students. Finally, the district chose to buyout those of us with experience. Now the same crew who led the war on teachers is claiming they can’t get experienced, quality professionals into poorer neighborhood schools?
That’s because their own policies pushed experienced, quality teachers out of schools and districts like mine. ‘Reforminess’ types keep slinging adjectives such as ‘good’, ‘excellent’, ‘effective’, and ‘ineffective’ teachers, but never both to define what they mean.
We educators need to be far more militant at exposing the empty rhetoric, fraud, and hypocrisy of this administration. NEA made a good decision in calling for Duncan’s ouster. I realize there are many more Duncans standing in line to fill the post. But we need to be delivering the message we are not the path of least resistance, and Democrats are very close to losing an important segment of their base.
Akron newspaper does some digging:
“A chain of 19 publicly funded Ohio charter schools, founded by Turkish immigrants, is taking the position that the United States lacks a qualified pool of math and science teachers and is importing perhaps hundreds of Turks to fill the void.
The schools are run almost exclusively by persons of Turkish heritage, some of whom are not U.S. citizens — a new twist in Ohio’s controversial charter-school movement.”
“The Beacon Journal also requested records June 12 seeking taxpayer-funded contracts, emails discussing recent FBI investigations and visa applications filed by the schools.
The records were requested of three Concept administrators and 18 school board members.
Only three, all board members, acknowledged that they received the request. One forwarded it to a principal. The other two passed it along to Efe, who has not responded to repeated attempts to reschedule an interview.”
http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/ohio-taxpayers-provide-jobs-to-turkish-immigrants-through-charter-schools-1.501940
More on same story:
http://www.plunderbund.com/2014/07/07/abj-investigation-reveals-more-financial-testing-and-immigration-troubles-at-gulen-charters/
Perhaps the Gulans of the Turkish world can come rescue America’s impoverished kids.
In case you missed this, a young man who was in grade two at the start of NCLB has made a film about his experience of reform, and the experience of also some of his friends and classmates.
The film is long. He does not have polished skills as a filmaker, but he makes points you will not find anywhere else. The movie is called “Listen.”
I just finished watching the movie. Wow!
Where is the link for the aspiring filmmaker and his NCLB experience?
Must be the heat. Ignore Q re: film. I found it. Sorry,
But Arne, WWWSMS (What Will White Suburban Moms Say)?
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140708_Phila__teacher_has_White_House_lunch_with_Obama.html
The above article about the White House lunch appeared in the Phila. Inquirer tonite and a careful reading shows what a farce the whole Obama-Duncan approach to public education is. One of the teachers who ate with the president was from Phila. School District and she is described as a teacher coach working with struggling young teachers on classroom skills. The President is quoted as saying he wants to replicate this program in other parts of the country. The article also reports that this teacher coach is returning to the classroom in the fall as a Phila. “itinerant” ESL teacher.
A couple of observations:
1. Does Obama yet know that 3000 teachers, nurses, counselors and aides were laid off in Phila. this past year? If this teacher was coaching struggling young teachers, most of the time must have ben spent figuring out how they would pay their bills after receiving their notices.
2. This teacher is leaving coaching to return to the classroom. Yes, that’s right. There is no coaching program anymore in Phila. because there is no money. Is this what Obama wants to replicate across the country?
3. The teacher doesn’t say specifically what she and the other teachers discussed with the President and his basketball buddy, but I hope she was able to tell them about the Phila. plan for attracting more strong teachers to the district – a pay cut of 13% and an end to job protections like seniority and tenure.
4. Last, the other teachers were from Arkansas, North Carolina, and Washington. Is there any reporting on why they were invited and what they had to tell the President? Surely the teacher from North Carolina could have informed our absent President about the success that education reformers have had in creating a virtual underground railroad for accomplished teachers to escape to states like Virginia and points north.
All hail the sound bite and photo op!
http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/new-initiative-provide-all-students-access-great-educators
More data, more pressure, less support, more talking. . . meanwhile I grind out real education in my at-risk school inspite of @arneduncan ‘s destructive policies. This is what we spend money on? Another computer system?
Educator Equity Support Network
The Department is investing $4.2 million to launch a new technical assistance network to support states and districts in developing and implementing their plans to ensure all students have access to great educators.
The network will work to develop model plans, share promising practices, provide communities of practice for educators to discuss challenges and share lessons learned with each other, and create a network of support for educators working in high-need schools.
Ah, all hail the sound bite and photo op!
Sorry! I responded to the wrong post. My husband and I have been involved in education technology since the beginning. Nothing is going to work as long as we continue the inconsistent and ever-changing education approaches that are tried and abandoned if the don’t show instant progress. Children need consistency and teachers need to teach consistently; not flit from one program or “big new idea” to another. Children develop over time! Instant fixes don’t work because they aren’t followed long enough to make an lasting impact. Short term gains don’t seem to last long. No one wants to take on the big issue that has the most impact on educational failure: Lack of parental interest in the education of their children and the unwillingness to make it a priority in their family life. Putting all the responsibility on teachers is disingenuous and insulting. How can I, as a teacher, expect my student to excel on a high-stakes test when he came to school angry at his mom for not giving him the #2 pencils he was required to bring. That is our reality.
It doesn’t really surprise me that a request for his resignation – requires Arne to respond with another computer system to collect data. He just doesn’t get it.
What is the “civil rights violation” is that there are 85% of my kids at school, who are impoverished, to teach….
I taught TFA students at Pace University for several years. Many of the participants were bright people looking for a satisfying career change. Sadly, the retention rate was very poor as these individuals were thrown into the most difficult situation without any experience and even less support. Many wanted the fast track to administration or charter schools. Some seemed really passionate about making a difference.
Schools of Education and grad schools are generally not preparing students for what they will encounter when they get to the classroom. But what teacher ever did/ That is a big problem especially today when teachers are expected to be miracle workers, social workers, psychiatric workers and sometimes surrogate parents.
My husband became a teacher in the 60’s when the teacher shortage was great and many young men entered the profession as an alternative to serving in the military during Viet Nam. He remained in the classroom for almost 40 years and turned out to be an outstanding teacher in the inner-city of Brooklyn and Queens. Hiis training: the Instant Teacher Program that “prepared” him for teaching during a 6 week program. Most of what learned was on the job! Courses he took on theory, the history of education, methods, etc. did little to prepare him. But he was doing what he wanted to do and he grew as an educator by instinct and hard work. Eventually, he achieved a Masters in Reading (Literacy) and taught both K-6 and adult education. He survived the turmoil of the late 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. He also recognized when it was time to go!