As a former teacher who came to feel that the the public education system - including the union mentality - was doing a gigantic diservice to our students and taxpayers alike, I am very excited to see how at least one idea is proving education can be outstanding without high governemnt budgets or stifling union regulations.
Outstanding? Their test scores were ' disappointing'. The Harlem Children's Zone of Waiting For Superman fame has millions of foundation and grant dollars poured into it and STILL has a 29% graduation rate. There ARE problems with education in our country. Blaming them all on teachers and unions is simplistic and unproductive. But we need a scapegoat don't we? That's much easier than dealing wirh the root causes. We love the 'easy' fix. Nothing of worth is ever easy. Until there is honest and objective discourse in this country about education; we'll go from ' new idea' to new idea and solve nothing.
I appreciated the energy demonstrated in these classrooms. As a recent retiree after 20 years of teaching, (teaching was my second career.) I had never seen clapping and stomping used as a transition to a new topic. I wish I had. It's a shame that a young teacher felt 80-90 hour workweeks were necessary. I'm not surprised it didn't work. For myself and many coworkers 50-60 hour workweeks were typical but consistent hours beyond this without necessary rest and recreation becomes counterproductive. I was disappointed that the myth that tenure ensures retention of ineffective teachers was repeated. Tenure simply means that an administrator must document a teacher's shortcomings and the teacher given the means and opportunity to become effective. This is basic to any evaluation process. Perhaps the problem is not so much ineffective teachers as it is ineffective administrators.
Does anyone else think it's ridiculous to ask these people to work 80 hours a week? No matter what the amount of money they are being paid it is simply unrealistic to think that a person will work that many hours for any length of time. This is too much to ask and it is why unions were formed in the first place. I guarantee these "excellent" teachers will be burned out in a few years.
I completely agree that it's ridiculous to ask teachers to work 80 hours a week. Teaching is a uniquely human endeavor that requires a delicate balance of art and science. Expecting teachers to devote that much time (often at the expense of family life and personal health) upsets the balance and doesn't allow teachers to regenerate. Ultimately, the students suffer.
Be very interesting what the Wisconsin teachers would say about this system since Wisconsin itself is going through their own problems of budget and unions.
The evidence thus far at least calls into question the initial valuation of the teachers; but there's so much statistical noise possible in a single year's results that it's too soon to consider this very interesting experiment a failure. Nonetheless, while I like the fact that the school is spending its money on its teachers, I favor hiring more teachers, cutting class sizes, and reducing contact time to this approach of depending upon highly paid all-stars, which is not replicable on a national scale.
I support teachers evaluating themselves with cameras and their peers, they are also doing that in japan and other places. I worked at a gas station and learned that a lot of inappropriateness is eliminated when you are recorded on video 24/7 and the boss watches those tapes right next to you the very next day which they did at both Shell and the former Diamond Shamrock and they would call you out on things they saw. I always suspect customer service at other places would be much better if they had to work with that much accountability.
and teaching is too important to let teachers not be held accountable. I've been to both great schools in asia (as a military brat) and some of the worst schools such as in Las Vegas which has been called one of the worst in the nation. bad teachers vs. good teachers make a difference, we need good teachers and let the bad find a different job
There is no guaranteed job security with tenure. An incompetent or bullying administrator can make a teacher's job so unbearable that he or she will quit. Please please read "When Teachers Talk" by Rosalyn Schnall to hear true stories about teachers who were abused by their principals. Even distinguished teachers in the U.S. have lost their jobs due to questionable job performance reviews.
Please warn teachers not to be injured on the job. The union will not help and he or she will be out of the job!
a bullying administrator certainly can make a teacher's life so unpleasant that she has to quit. i am not sure a union can help...that just insures an incompetent teacher a job. teaching is a talent...how do you test for that.
The Obama administration has spent about $150B artificially propping up states and public unions during the last 2 years. There's no more $. In fact, there's less money for the foreseeable future. Even if there were additional money as there has been over the last decade I've been teaching, more money isn't going to fix failing public schools or reform a system that retains poor teachers. There are too many average teachers and too many "failure factories." Union collective bargaining needs to be reformed. The tenure system is flawed. Parents and students need options and charter schools like this are needed.
The average amount spent per student in your state should be made available to parents in the form of tax credits so they have the option to try experimental charter schools both private and public.
This country is far behind many foreigners in achievement and we'll never make orders of magnitude in student achievement while teacher unions have this much power to stop reasonable reforms. At risk is another generation of underachievement putting our country at increasing risk of not being able to compete on the world stage with an undereducated workforce.
Both my parents were teachers and they complained about the system back in the 60s & 70s when schools were considered great. I have the same complaints they had many years later and reforms of the last 10 years are not good enough.
Why does everyone assume that other countries don't have unions? They do. Also, we need to stop comparing our schools to those in other countries unless we are willing to replicate the entire culture in those countries. We continue to have a 'quick fix' obsession where the next new thing to be done in the classroom will be the answer. As for experimental schools; when are we going to deal with real issues and stop treating our students like
'products'?
Having been a teacher in a variety of settings and socieconomic impacted schools, I have experienced inner city tough schools, as well as high achieving, and affluent schools. I am always surprised by the focus on working late hours, dedication, and test scores, as new and odd ideals that aren't typical. In every school I have been lucky to be apart of, most of the teachers have given it their all. There is a large majority of us who spend our time, money, summers, and weekends to learn new things, refine our practice, and ensure that every student has the chance to mold our future into a better place. Please stop focusing on the "special schools", the teach for america teachers, and the "bad teachers" and union stuff. Go out there and find a great school with a hard working staff and show what happens each and every day. Show our commitment to teaching and learning. I don't really want more money or a job until I die, I want my love and passion to be respected and not pigeon holed into a battle of politics and ideas. Sure, it does need to get better, everywhere and in every job. Please shine the spotlight on those of us who want to teach and continue to learn new ways to work with kids and families to touch and inspire our future. I have learned so much from many of the wonderful principals, teaching partners, students, and student teachers I have worked with and yet with each battle, budget cut, and media exploitation, these are the people who go unseen and are consistently ignored. Many of us don't have reading specialists, extra money, and have huge classes but we make it work because that is what we do. It is not pretty, perfect, or followed by a secret recipe or sure fit ideal philosophy. Everyone wants to be right but there is not a one way approach, the only approach is to help highlight positive, thoughtful, and real situations.
I first would like to admit I liked some of the energetic approaches to teaching presented in this segment. However, children know how to work a room, so I do wonder if this is an accurate veiw of the classes presented. In addition, while tenure is not so much the problem, but the lack of support from the community.It would seem at the rate of violence in schools today, tenure would help keep teachers in the classroom. Besides studies have shown parent involvement has a great impact on the level of achievement of students. However, we all know that not every parent is willing and able to assist in their child's education. My concern about this story is, how can a school get rid of a teacher who is putting in more effort than a little, but students, such as ESE students still struggle to retain information? In addition, did anyone think of the relationships students build. When did we start accepting stoicness for achievement? Do we not teach our children it is not about winning, but about going out their and having fun? I think we are sending our children mix messages. I would like to know the correlation between the social-emotional affects and the students achievement levels. I think more and more children have self-esteem issues because societies ideas say that they have to be geniuses or else. Katie you failed to report the actual gains. I mean they might not have been an "A" school (Florida reference), but did the students make gains overall? I was all over the place on this, but I could not help it, getting all emotional about this issue that comes from groups that know little about how it really is in the classroom.
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I was disappointed that the myth that tenure ensures retention of ineffective teachers was repeated. Tenure simply means that an administrator must document a teacher's shortcomings and the teacher given the means and opportunity to become effective. This is basic to any evaluation process. Perhaps the problem is not so much ineffective teachers as it is ineffective administrators.
There is no guaranteed job security with tenure. An incompetent or bullying administrator can make a teacher's job so unbearable that he or she will quit. Please please read "When Teachers Talk" by Rosalyn Schnall to hear true stories about teachers who were abused by their principals. Even distinguished teachers in the U.S. have lost their jobs due to questionable job performance reviews.
Please warn teachers not to be injured on the job. The union will not help and he or she will be out of the job!
The average amount spent per student in your state should be made available to parents in the form of tax credits so they have the option to try experimental charter schools both private and public.
This country is far behind many foreigners in achievement and we'll never make orders of magnitude in student achievement while teacher unions have this much power to stop reasonable reforms. At risk is another generation of underachievement putting our country at increasing risk of not being able to compete on the world stage with an undereducated workforce.
Both my parents were teachers and they complained about the system back in the 60s & 70s when schools were considered great. I have the same complaints they had many years later and reforms of the last 10 years are not good enough.
We continue to have a 'quick fix' obsession where the next new thing to be done in the classroom will be the answer. As for experimental schools; when are we going to deal with real issues and stop treating our students like
'products'?