Archives for category: Teacher Evaluations
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Trigger-Happy Florida Senators

By dianeravitch
May 1, 2013 //
4

Just hours after the defeat of parent trigger legislation, some of its advocates moved key portions into another bill.

In this case, this provision was salvaged:

“A bill focused on charter schools (HB 7009) was amended Tuesday afternoon. It now requires that children in classes taught by teachers with an “unsatisfactory” or “needs improvement” ratings during the current school year could not be taught by similar teachers in the same subject next year.”

Sounds reasonable except that the state’s evaluation system is ineffective.

Never say die, especially if there is a chance at harassing public school teachers.

More of the “punish don’t support” theory.

Categories Florida, Parent trigger, Teacher Evaluations, Teachers and Teaching

Why Should Students Care About High Stakes Tests That Don’t Count?

By dianeravitch
May 1, 2013 //
51

Another one of those zany testing stories.

In California, the staff gets the kids all excited about doing well on the state tests. They ave pep rallies, pizza parties, motivational assemblies, prizes, and anything else that might encourage the students to do their best.

But here is the odd part. The tests have no stakes for the students. Their purpose is to evaluate teachers, principals, and schools. The kids have no skin in the game.

Al Shanker used to say about merit pay (I heard him say it): “Let me get this right. The kids will work harder so the teachers can get a bonus? How does that work?”

In California, the kids have it in their power to fire their teachers and close their school, should they choose to do so. Is this a crazy country or what?

Categories California, Students, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

New York’s Evaluation System: Junk Science at Work!

By dianeravitch
May 1, 2013 //
12

Arthur Goldstein is a teacher-blogger who terrifies corporate reformers like State Commissioner John King. That is because Goldstein is a career teacher who knows what he is talking about; also, he writes lucidly and has a dry sense of humor. King, on the other hand, taught for two years in a “no excuses” charter school with a high suspension rate (at the same time that he miraculously earned both a law degree from Yale and a doctorate in education from Teachers College). King has one big advantage over Goldstein: He was a classmate of Merryl Tisch in one of TC’s QuickTime doctorate programs, and Dr. Tisch is now Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, which hired the inexperienced King to be State Commissioner.

In this post on his marvelous blog, Golstein describes the sheer absurdity of the New York State evaluation plan.

Listen to this:

“I’m hearing stories all over about the DOE’s agents doing practice observations with administrators. Armed with their adapted Danielson rubrics, with the three domains they have determined are inevitable, they do 15-minute observations. During these 15 minutes, they determine whether teachers are highly effective, effective, developing, or ineffective. The fact that the evaluation system does not yet exist deters them not at all. The fix is in, they figure, and Reformy John (King) will grant them whatever they ask.”

It just goes downhill from there.

Categories New York, Teacher Evaluations

Walton Foundation Gives $8 Million to Rhee’s StudentsFirst

By dianeravitch
April 30, 2013 //
75

Indifferent to John Merrow’s investigative reports on the cheating scandal during Michelle Rhee’s tenure as DC Chancellor, the Walton Family Foundation gave her organization $8 million to continue pushing its radical agenda of attacking teachers and promoting privatization of the nation’s public schools.

StudentsFirst advocates that test scores should count for 50% of teacher evaluation, although most researchers agree that these measures are inaccurate and unstable. It also advocates charters and vouchers, including for-profit charters.

Categories Rhee, Michelle, StudentsFirst, Teacher Evaluations, Vouchers, Walton Foundation

Parent: I Am Fighting Against the Testing Mania

By dianeravitch
April 27, 2013 //
30

I received an email from a parent in Long Island who has decided to join the campaign against high-stakes  testing. She blames Common Core for her children’s unhappiness with school, but Common Core is just the latest manifestation of the testing obsession embedded in No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. She blogs, writes letter, button holes elected officials. She is fighting for her children and for all other children. With more parents like her, we could turn this situation around.

She writes:

Hi Ms. Ravitch,

I’m a Mom from Long Island, NY. I would like to share my story about how my son’s kindergarten experience  was Hijacked by the Common Core and how this has motivated me to fight harder for Public Education. I attached a picture of the sad reality of what Kindergarten has looked like this year for my son.

My son started Kindergarten this past September and my daughter entered the second grade. I thought my son would love kindergarten since he loved the Universal Pre K program, but I was wrong, he hates school.  I asked my son why he hates school and he said “It’s not fun and all we do is work and it’s too hard.” Knowing my daughter had a wonderful experience in Kindergarten two years prior I thought my son was giving me excuses. I thought maybe he was having trouble making friends, so I asked the teacher and she said, “No everybody loves Mikey. He is very compliant and eager to please.” Then the Pearson worksheets and graded math tests started appearing in my son’s folder. Then I realized my son was right, there is too much work and most of the content was way too hard for a kindergartner. My son’s kindergarten experience has not fostered a love of learning but it has fostered a hatred for school.

Inline image 3

When my 5 year old said I rather be dead than go to school I knew I had to do something more than just opt out of testing.

I increased my research into CCSS, created a Refusal Guide for state tests which is being circulated on LI, in NYS, and nationally, attended the United Opt Out rally in Washington DC for 4 days to occupy the DOE, and began political action by contacting and visiting state politicians. 

My research has led me to a new philosophy.

State and federal Education departments have been applying band aide after band aide on our current education system for the past 50 years. Education Reform has become part of the norm. We create policy after policy, mandate after mandate, yet nothing changes for the better.  It’s time to rip off the band aides and start developing a whole new system.

In order to have a strong education system we need to rid the old one and develop a whole new education system; an education system designed by educators who have spent years in a classroom, instead of our current system that has been designed by lawyers, politicians and corporations.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read about my Son’s Kindergarten Experience 

Warm Wishes,

Sara Wottawa

http://nocommonsenseeducation.blogspot.com/?m=1

Categories Accountability, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

John Thompson: “The Party’s Over” for Corporate Reform

By dianeravitch
April 26, 2013 //
15

John Thompson confidently predicts that corporate reform has passed the high-water mark.

The collapse of the Rhee story is the tip of a melting iceberg.

The “reformers” are facing a genuine popular revolt.

Nothing they advocate works.

All their alleged reforms are a sham.

Who will be the first to bail out?

Will the hedge fund managers go back to investing in polo ponies instead of charter schools?

It is too soon to pop the champagne corks but it is clear that what is called “reform” is headed for the ash heap of history.

Then we can get back to the serious business of improving our schools.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Rhee, Michelle, Teacher Evaluations, Testing, U.S. education

KrazyTA: the Meaning of Leadership

By dianeravitch
April 25, 2013 //
17

KrazyTA, a regular commenter on the blog, offered his definition of leadership in dialogue with other readers. It got a great response.

Here goes:

“I once had a job where I was a clerk typist in an academic library. I had three supervisors: from the bottom up they were a librarian-in-training, a professional librarian, and the librarian who ran the entire department I worked in. **Not bragging: I was a good enough typist that I secured several jobs largely because of my typing skills.** Not just in my evaluations [I did very well indeed] but in my day-to-day work, I never resented any one of them evaluating me or offering me suggestions or guidance. It took me a while to figure out why I enjoyed working ‘under’ them, but it finally dawned on me: any one of them, if necessary, could have done my [overall] job as well or better than I could. That’s why they didn’t [and didn’t need to] bully or order me into doing anything: I knew they understand what I was doing, and how to get it done, and what limitations I worked under, and their orders never needed to be more than gentle suggestions because they really and truly knew what needed to be done and the practicalities of how to get from here to there. I wish I could say all my jobs were like that, but why spoil your day and mine?

😦

“In other words, moral leadership, modesty and personal example. The accountabullies know about carrots and sticks because you can add those up, divide ‘em into percentages, use ‘em in ever greater quantities to humiliate teaching staff—but moral leadership and modesty and personal example, now where would that fit into a VAManiac’s neat little faux formula?”

Categories Accountability, Teacher Evaluations

Warning: Don’t Become a Teacher

By dianeravitch
April 25, 2013 //
22

[WARNING: after the following essay was published in Huffington Post, the writer was suspended from his teaching position. The next post will give details.]

This teacher in Missouri loves teaching but he doesn’t love what the legislature is doing to restrict, evaluate, and control him.

After two decades as a journalist, he became a teacher. He has taught for 14 years.

Today, he would urge young people not to enter teaching because the conditions and lack of respect are so wearing. “Classroom teachers, especially those who are just out of college and entering the profession, are more stressed and less valued than at any previous time in our history.
They have to listen to a long list of politicians who belittle their ability, blame them for every student whose grades do not reach arbitrary standards, and want to take away every fringe benefit they have — everything from the possibility of achieving tenure to receiving a decent pension.”

This week, the Missouri legislature will vote on a proposal to tie 33% of his evaluation to test scores and to add student surveys to his evaluation. He writes:

“Each year, I allow my students to critique me and offer suggestions for my class. I learn a lot from those evaluations and have implemented some of the suggestions the students have made. But there is no way that eighth graders’ opinions should be a part of deciding whether I continue to be employed.”

Categories Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Tenure, Teachers and Teaching

Shameless StudentsFirst Tries to Buy Iowa

By dianeravitch
April 24, 2013 //
14

Even though Michelle Rhee suffered multiple embarrassments in the past few weeks–with John Merrow reporting her refusal to investigate the cheating scandal that occurred on her watch and the Broader Bolder Approach reporting the failure of her “reforms”—her organization continues to push her failed “reforms” on states across the nation.

StudentsFirst pumped over $317,000 into legislative races in Iowa to ensure that legislators would listen to its radical, anti-public education message. It was the single biggest contributor to state races in 2012.

Now it is filling the airwaves with ads urging the legislature to adopt changes that will advance Rhee’s personal vendetta against teachers and public education.

She demands that teacher evaluations be tied to test scores, even though research and experience have shown that this strategy consistently fails, as it failed in DC. She wants a parent trigger law, so that parents can be duped into privatizing their community public school and turning it over to one of the corporate charter chains.

Iowans should demand that StudentsFirst fully disclose the source of its funding so they can find out who is behind this campaign, other than the former leader of one of the nation’s lowest-performing districts. And Iowans should remember John Merrow’s conclusion that DC is worse off after five years of the Rhee-Henderson leadership by almost every measure: test scores, graduation rates, truancy, teacher turnover, enrollments, etc.

Categories Charter Schools, Privatization, Rhee, Michelle, StudentsFirst, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

What Michelle Rhee Told the LA Times About Teacher Evaluation

By dianeravitch
April 22, 2013 //
22

Michelle Rhee was recently invited to meet with the Los Angeles Times editorial board.

The interview occurred after John Merrow published his bombshell post about the mysterious memo, the one showing that Rhee was informed about the likelihood of widespread cheating and did nothing about it. Rhee forgot about the cheating memo or didn’t think it important.

In the same post on his blog, Merrow said that the public schools were worse off after the Rhee-Henderson years than when Rhee started, by every measure, like test scores, graduation fares, teacher turnover, truancy, enrollments, etc.

Nonetheless, the Los Angeles Times wanted to gain Rhee’s wisdom on teacher evaluation. Read the interview. It is clear that she doesn’t know the research, nor has she learned that the high valuation she placed on standardized testing (50% of a teacher’s rating) contributed to the cheating she ignored.

She has her narrative, and she is sticking to it. The Times needs to hear from other people, like David Berliner, who can explain what the research says.

Categories Rhee, Michelle, Teacher Evaluations
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