Archives for category: Teacher Evaluations
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Who Are the Zombies?

By dianeravitch
February 15, 2013 //
14

On Wednesday, a large group of high school students staged a zombie protest in front of he Rhode Island Department of Education. They said that the state’s high-stakes testing would turn them into the undead.

New York has zombies too. They are running the State Education Department and they fervently believe that testing is the very essence of education. They think that testing will help poor kids. The zombies think that testing will close the achievement gap. No one ever explained to them that standardized tests are based on a bell curve and the achievement gap is designed into the curve: IT NEVER CLOSES.

There are some brave humans on the New York Board of Regents who are among the living. They are Dr. Kathleen Cashin, an experienced educator who represents Brooklyn; Dr. Betty Rosa, an experienced educator who represents the Bronx; Roger Tilles, a lawyer and businessman who represents Long Island; and Harry Phillips, a business executive who represents The suburban counties north of New York City.

Phillips belatedly realized that New York State made a terrible mistake in accepting Race to the Top funding and accepting its mandate to tie teacher evaluation to test scores. It’s hard to admit that you made an error. He had the courage and wisdom to do so.

Now that there is a solid bloc of four Regents who understand the damage that Race to the Top is inflicting on the schools of the state, perhaps other Regents will shed their zombie status and return to the land of the living, where people and children matter more than data and formulae.

Categories Accountability, New York, Race to the Top, Standardized Testing, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

Do You Like Bloomberg’s Education Policies?

By dianeravitch
February 14, 2013 //
5

Here is a chance to make your voice heard.

Crain’s New York is running an opinion poll, asking which of Bloomberg’s policies the next mayor should get rid of. Bloomberg has promoted high-stakes testing, charter schools, school closings, co-locations of charters, and evaluation of teachers by test scores. Class sizes are at their highest in fourteen years.

Express your views here.

Categories Bloomberg, Michael, Charter Schools, Closing schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

What Is “Cage Busting”? EduShyster Explains It All to You

By dianeravitch
February 12, 2013 //
10

EduShyster wants to help promote Rick Hess’ new book, Cage Busters….or does she?

It is a ritual. Every author of a public policy book must launch it with a panel discussion at a think tank in DC. It’s a way of showcasing the book and branding it

Hess runs the education program at the American Enterprise Institute so he chose his panel. Hess branded his book by offering the views of people he sees as cage busters: Michelle Rhee, Kaya Henderson, Deborah Gist, Chris Barbic, and a little known principal from New York.

EduShyster deconstructs the cage busting concept. In the end, we are left to wonder who is in the cage, why it needs busting, and where these cage busters are taking the children and teachers of this nation.

Categories Charter Schools, Closing schools, Corporate Reformers, Rhee, Michelle, Standardized Testing, Teach for America TFA, Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Tenure, Tennessee

Is There a Method Behind the Madness of “Calibrating” Principals?

By dianeravitch
February 12, 2013 //
16

Jersey Jazzman read Carol Burris’s account of her “training” sessions where she was being “calibrated” by people who know how to calibrate principals.

He saw behind the smokescreen.

The goal is to create a system so “objective” that principals have no room for judgment and teachers may be fired by those allegedly objective criteria.

We must have standards! We must stack and rank our employees! Where have we heard that before?

The answer is in the link.

Categories Accountability, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Teacher Evaluations

Vote for This Man for School Board!

By dianeravitch
February 11, 2013 //
29

I don’t know Michael Weston, but I love his comment below.

He is a teacher in Hillsborough County, Florida, which received many millions of dollars from the Gates Foundation to pilot a new teacher evaluation program.

Bill and Melinda visited the district and expressed great pleasure at the compliments directed their way. They don’t seem to realize that 1) educators are very polite (as a rule), and 2) people are starstruck in the presence of billionaires.

But Michael Weston knows the score.

He decided enough is enough, and look what he is doing:

 

I am the Union Rep at my high school (in Hillsborough County). Just two hours ago I was explaining to some members that there was absolutely nothing (except running for School Board) I could do about:
1. High school science teachers being evaluated by a former sixth grade teacher.
2. That no consideration is given to how long you have been teaching a particular class, nor how many different class preps you have.
3. That a sleeping child will count against you, but God forbid you touch the child’s desk or anything else that may call attention to a particular kid.
4. All of the teachers being fired this year for poor evaluations are over 40.
5. Since it is a totally subjective rating, they can kill you based on your style vs their style.
etc, etc. etc.
And why is there nothing I can do as their Union rep? The Hillsborough Teacher’s Union is a full participant and support of this nonsense.

So, I filed to run for School Board. Someone has to stop this.

Categories Florida, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Teacher Evaluations

Have You Been Calibrated Yet?

By dianeravitch
February 11, 2013 //
20

Carol Burris, principal of South Side High School in Rockville Center, New York, describes how New York is preparing principals and teachers for the new world order decreed by Arne Duncan and his Race to the Top.

She went to a training to learn how to evaluate teachers, something she had been doing successfully in her school for many years.

She learned which words were impermissible.

She was taught to think “out of the box” by conforming to the rules and regulations inside the box.

She was “calibrated.”

She thought she was trapped in a cheesy rendition of “Star Wars.”

She began hoping that Darth Vader would arrive and put everyone out of their misery.

And then she learned–read to the end of her piece–who started this insane process.

Categories Accountability, New York, Race to the Top, Teacher Evaluations

How Florida Politicians Are Wrecking the Schools

By dianeravitch
February 11, 2013 //
12

You may be lucky enough (or unlucky enough) to hear Jeb Bush boasting about the “Florida miracle.”

A useful contrast to his spiel is the story of this teacher in Florida, who is leaving a job she loved.

She didn’t want to leave, but it became clear to her and some of her colleagues that the politicians had taken control and squeezed the joy out of teaching and learning.

The politicians “came up with grandiose-sounding programs, such as “No Child Left Behind,” which instead dragged entire schools down. As the schools sank there were calls for more standardized testing and accountability.

“Instead they ended up forcing schools to “teach to the tests,” all but eliminating any subjects not directly on those tests.

“In Hillsborough, money from the outside was used to set up a system of teacher evaluations. That system became a punitive method of penalizing teachers with evaluations that are inconsistent, unfair and, at best, subjective.”

Hillsborough County was one of the recipients of funding from the Gates Foundation to measure its teachers and come up with a new evaluation system. Did it work? Ask this teacher. Excuse me, ask this ex-teacher.

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Florida, Privatization, Teacher Evaluations, Teachers and Teaching, Testing

Everything You Wanted to Know About Michelle Rhee

By dianeravitch
February 11, 2013 //
22

Here is Michelle Rhee, as reviewed by Mercedes Schneider in part viii of her study of the board of the National Council of Teacher Quality.

Mercedes Schneider is a teacher in Louisiana who holds a Ph.D. In statistics and research methods.

Here she is at her best, doing a close examination of the life and work of Michelle Rhee.

Categories National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), Rhee, Michelle, StudentsFirst, Teach for America TFA, Teacher Evaluations

Bridget, Don’t Give Up!

By dianeravitch
February 10, 2013 //
28

An administrator in Louisiana writes about how the Jindal administration tries to strike fear in the hearts of all educators while boasting of their great success.

Dear Bridget, here is my advice: “Illegitimi non carborundum.”

Be there when their pathetic regime is toppled by the good and great citizens of Louisiana.

Bridget writes:

It definitely is getting more and more difficult for teachers to stay. As an administrator, I see the panic on their faces as the date of the state test looms closer each day. Here in Louisiana, our jobs are tied directly to their VAM score, which over-rides any evaluation score given to them by our team. As administrators, we do our best to help to empower them with information and resources, but it will never be enough. Our governor has set us up for failure. I often think about returning to my special education classroom to finish out my last five years before retiring. Then I realize there may not be a retirement system left in five years. The joke is on me. After dedicating my life to teaching, I will probably not have anything to show for it except memories and/ or nightmares. My starting salary years ago was around $13,000 a year. I definitely didn’t get into this career for the money. Thanks to this blog I stick it out. I now have a place to stay abreast of what is happening across our nation. Don’t know how long I can last… one day at a time. I agree with Jesse that it is unfair to leave in the middle of the school year.

 

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Education Industry, For-Profit, Louisiana, Privatization, Teacher Evaluations, Teachers and Teaching, Testing

Holding Education Hostage

By dianeravitch
February 10, 2013 //
24

A few days ago, I published a post on the blog of the New York Review of Books about the battle over teacher evaluation by test scores.

Unlike this blog, whose readers are mostly educators, the NYRB blog goes to hundreds of thousands of highly literate non-educators. So my challenge was to briefly explain Race to the Top and the bitter struggles over how teachers should be evaluated and by whom.

Please take the time to read this post, read the comments and–if you are so moved–add your own comment to help explicate the issues.

Categories Bloomberg, Michael, New York City, Teacher Evaluations
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