Obama Official Applauds Rhode Island Teacher Firings
(CBS)
Central Falls, the smallest and poorest city in Rhode Island, is also one of the state's most troubled school districts, with more than half of the students at the high school not making it to graduation.
Union members are fighting for the teachers' jobs, arguing that the move to fire the school's 70-plus teachers will harm students. George Nee, president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, said at a rally Tuesday that the action was "immoral, illegal, unjust, irresponsible, disgraceful and disrespectful," according to the Journal.
But Duncan says that education officials are "showing courage and doing the right thing for kids."
In order to remain eligible for a portion of financial aid, the Central Falls district had to either come up with a strategy to improve with its existing teaching staff or start from scratch. After negotiations collapsed amid a dispute over how much teachers would be paid for working more hours, officials opted for the latter.
Duncan has mandated that each state's worst performing schools either be closed, converted to charter or charter-like schools, reorganized around a longer school day, or have the entire teaching staff fired. In the last case, a maximum of 50 percent can be rehired in the fall.
"This is hard work and these are tough decisions, but students only have one chance for an education," Duncan said, adding that "when schools continue to struggle we have a collective obligation to take action."
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Hold on before your react No nationwide recalls on this product.
If this was an Auto maker they would be out of business or infront of congress.
This is public education where the best teacher teach the best students and have the gaul to take credit for these top students that would preform well in the total absents of public eduation.
Teachers signatures need to follow all their students the same way my name is on every item I make and any failure is tracked back to me.
And if the failure rate is high for a teacher they need to be stripped of all teaching credientials
There is often little emphasis on learning or education in the US (just read the comments here on how few can spell or properly compose a sentence) unlike in the homogenous countries to which the US is often compared such as S. Korea, Japan and Norway. In those countries students are not distracted by clubs and sports. They go to school to learn, often six days a week. The parents spend extra money to send their students to school every night, often until 9 or 10 p.m., with students even returning home at midnight in South Korea and China. The parents foot that bill b/c getting a good education is of paramount importance. Students in the US will NEVER compete on that level until the American people take responsibility for their children's learning and stop pointing the finger.
Do you realize that parents pay more for day care than when their child begins Kindergarten? A weekly fee for a day care center (school age) is $180 ($25.71 per day). So, let's go with that. Dump tenure and unions and pay teachers $25.71 PER CHILD (x 25 children)= $642.75 per day! Okay, $642.75 x 180 school days= $115,695!!! Good golly, Miss Molly! Believe me, if that is what districts were paying out, teachers would not need unions to bargain for class size----the school board would demand low numbers! Parents would make sure their child were doing their homework, reading to them at night, and holding everyone accountable for the success of their child. You would see parents just on sports night because a college scout is in the building. They would be present for parent conferences making sure their child's education reach beyond being a basketball player, but the athletic training, team doctor, player's accountant, or a franchise owner.
Today's society makes a joke of education---showcasing show after show of young adults becoming famous for being star-hungry idiots. Then, you have the audacity to fire those public servants on the front lines trying to make a difference?!? Get out of here! Before you jump out there and flap off at the mouth about bad teachers, keep in mind that many do their jobs (av. $35,000, even lower in rural areas), and work second jobs to keep their families afloat! I'm a teacher, not "waiting for superman", but SUPER SENSE from legislatures who do not need pass an exam or get a degree to do their jobs. The mere fact that they (or you) can read and respond to this article is because of a teacher. Show a little, no ALOT more respect!
Here is what my opinion is on the subject, if the teachers cannot do their job they should be fired. I live in Rhode Island and I am the aunt or the mother of some of the children who go to school in this state. While I don't live in Central Falls, my daughter teaches those children dance. I have noticed that many of the older kids can't do some of the things that kids their age should be able to do like count change at the store or read books harder than comic books.
It may not be right to fire some of the teachers and not all of them because it is the fault of all of the teachers, the principal, the administrators, the faculty, as it takes a village to care for a child. However, it is the fault of the teachers that it took them till the 11th grade to find out that these children are not able to read or do math, as they should have seen this when they were in the lower grades.
We spend time with our children and teach them ourselves and don't whine and complain that the nanny state doesn't babysit them).
1) The School Board decides what the curriculum is and even micro manages what is being taught down to what text books are approved. This would mean that the school board mandates to the teachers what they have to be taught and then blames the teachers when the kids aren't learning.
2) Education is a long term investment. Most americans are so stuck in the short term of how good the statistics learn on a test versus how the students actually interpret and apply that information. People can get good test scores but still be poorly educated adults who give little contribution to society. Or they can be poor test takers (test anxiety etc) but do well in applying those principles to life. So when we focus on the short term results we harm the students ability to focus on the future.
3) Duncan is completely flawed in her assumption that longer school days, privatizing schools, and completely over-hauling teaching staff are the only factors that are going to affects a students performance. What truly needs to change is the ideologies behind education. Our teach to the test curriculum and load and dump of info methods are not working! Theorist Paulo Friere states that education is an active, reflective and dynamic process. I do not see evidence of those factors in our current school system.
When Americans can start making long term investments in our youths education. When we can stop blaming individuals for our societies lack of initiative and involvement, then we will see improvement in the education of our future society.
The school board didn't target teachers. They were given options, were some of the highest paid workers in the entire area, and instead of taking responsibility, they chose another path. I'm not saying the school board was right, but it was definitely a bold move. Now lets see if it works.
School #1 - This school is a Christian/Baptist High School in Los Angeles. Many of the Student graduate and go on to the best four year colleges in the nation. There is hardly any drop-out rate. The campus is older, but well maintained. Good teachers. Cost per year $7,700 per student.
School #2 - This school is a Public High School in California. The Public High Schools in California average a 38% drop-out rate, in many parts of Los Angeles it is over 50%. The campus has modern equipment. Cost per year paid by the State $14,000 per student.
Something is wrong!