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M. Spencer Green / AP
Parents of Chicago public school students, Carmen Brownlee, left, and, Latonya Williams, right, walk a picket line outside Shoop Elementary School in support of striking CPS teachers, Sept. 11, 2012.
With negotiators trying to hammer out an agreement that would end Chicago’s teachers strike, one of the key sticking points is how to evaluate whether a teacher is doing a good job, an issue that has riled school boards across the U.S. in recent years.
Chicago’s school leaders are proposing that student performance on standardized tests count toward 25 percent of a teacher’s assessment, growing to 40 percent in five years, according to NBCChicago.com.
But Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis is critical of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s push to make great use of standardized tests in teacher reviews, calling the process flawed. Union officials say the system wouldn’t do enough to take into account outside factors such as poverty, crime and homelessness.
"Evaluate us on what we do, not the lives of our children we do not control," Lewis said in announcing the strike. It was unclear what union officials proposed instead.
The battle in Chicago over using student test scores to judge teachers is just one front in a nationwide battle over how to make sure teachers are doing a good job, and that taxpayer dollars and student time aren’t going to waste.
"This is going to become a long-term battle that everyone's watching very closely," said Eric Hanushek, a senior fellow in education at the Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, a conservative research center. "Teacher unions are at a crossroads: Are they going to participate in designing better teacher evaluations or resist and not change anything. The Chicago union seems to be taking the resist option, drawing their line in the sand."
The Chicago Teachers Union and the city's public school district returned to the negotiating table Tuesday as thousands of teachers walked the picket lines for a second day in a strike that affected more than 350,000 students. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.
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The Obama administration, through its $4 billion Race to the Top competition and waivers from the Bush-era No Child Left Behind, has urged states to change teacher assessments to make use of test data as a key component to set a teacher's pay or end their employment. The administration granted waivers to states that promised to show improvements in student and school performance and link teacher evaluations to student test scores.
Supporters say current review tools fail to give administrators a reliable assessment of a teacher's effectiveness, while critics argue there's no evidence linking student performance to a teacher's worth.
"Teacher evaluations should be based on multiple measures," said Marcus Mrowka, a spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers, which has 1.5 million members. "Testing has a role but should not sanction teachers but inform instruction."
Twenty-four states now require teacher evaluations based on some measure of student growth, according to an analysis by the National Council on Teacher Quality, a research and policy group. Public school districts in Tennessee and Washington, D.C., recently implemented new teacher evaluations tying outcomes to merit raises, while Colorado and New York are deep in the process of developing an evaluation system, the council noted.
In the past three years, at least 20 state legislatures have passed bills setting up new teacher evaluation processes, according to the council. Illinois joined the ranks last year when its legislature passed a law mandating new teacher evaluations, with Chicago’s leaders rushing to embrace the system, called the Performance Evaluation Review Act.
“The evaluation system should be built around continuing improvement of instruction,” said Rob Weil, AFT’s director of field programs and educational issues in Washington, D.C. “Evaluations should help people improve and we need to build systems that give teachers the information they need so they can improve. The process should not be punitive.”
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In Chicago, Lewis has warned that as many as 6,000 teachers could lose their jobs under the new evaluation system. The union represents about 25,000 teachers and staff, who walked off the job Monday.
School officials say they do not know how union leaders determined that number, and telephone calls by NBC News to union headquarters went unanswered Tuesday.
Emanuel has promised that teachers would not be fired in the first year of the evaluation process.
Union leaders, however, are still resisting.
“This is no way to measure the effectiveness of an educator,” said the union in a statement. “Further there are too many factors beyond our control which impact how well some students perform on standardized tests such as poverty, exposure to violence, homelessness, hunger and other social issues beyond our control.”
About 60 percent of students in Chicago public schools complete high school, according to the Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.
“We are spending more and more on students, throwing more and more money into the system,” said Ted Dabrowski, vice president of the Illinois Policy Institute. “If you want the best teachers in the system, then teachers should be paid and promoted based on their performance. It’s important that we improve the system, which has become a failed system.”
Do you have an education-related story? Contact Sevil Omer at sevil.omer@msnbc.com
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When students work to meet a teacher's standards, that's a good classroom and a good teacher. Not sure how you measure that, but using standard test results is a lazy way. I taught for 16 years, and I knew who were good teachers and who were mediocre. Bad teachers usually can't stand themselves or the students and usually leave teaching.
Second, school districts are top-heavy with administrators who make far more than teachers. Some have only taught a year or two if that much. They dream up self sustaining programs that cost money and keep them in jobs and teachers troop on with low pay and increasing class sizes
Thats the problem of the school department, it is not a reason to punish taxpayers. Schools were created to educate children, not to create jobs.
Translation: We face many problems as a nation, I only care about the one that affects me because I'm a selfish conservative with no real solutions. But I can whine all day about all the mean libbies and gubment types who want gimme an owie on my booboo.
Jan--while I agree that using standardized test scores as your OWN criteria is not the best way of evaluating students, it IS a valuable tool. I have seen in my own time how much LESS kids are learning now than I did in School, and I KNOW my parents felt the same way. My kids have all graduated now, but a friend still has a High Schooler, and this Junior is excited that she 'gets' to do a book report this year! (NONE last year!)
We did one EVERY quarter, and sometimes in more than one class. And while I'm not necessarily a fan of making kids read 'The Scarlet Letter' (which is incredibly BORING!) I do think we have lost something there.
And MOST years, the kids in our district do NOT finish their text books. And sorry, but that IS a teacher problem.
You're right. Too many administrators, and they have staff, too, remember. The problem I have with the standardized tests is that you are assuming that the kids can take tests without anxiety, and that they were on grade level to start with. If you have a 9th grade science class, and half of them can't read, you've already had a 50% failure on the test. That's because of past programs that said teachers cannot fail students. I left teaching because I didn't think it was fair to secondary teachers to be responsible for the failures of those that taught the students before me. (There was a little more to it, too, like administrators who failed to support teachers, and discipline students who disrupted on a continual basis.) I'm now happily working in the post-secondary system - the only thing I regret is not making the move sooner.
Having taught middle school for ten years I think it isn't too hard to identify less than good teachers. They tend to be the ones who leave campus right after the kids do; show up when the kids do; make little effort to reach out to their students, and their legal guardians; abhor student-led conference night(meet the teacher); avoid all extra-curricular tasks; complain about everything that comes up in emails, staff meetings, district meetings. They tend to be really long-time veteran teachers who know what works and what doesn't, both with kids, and the bureaucracy. They know how to play the system, coast along, and get paid for doing very little. They rarely show up to student activities of all types to support them. Negative attitude, long-time serving, have all the answers deadweights pull down any industry, especially in teaching. Student test scores should not be given much weight in teacher evaluations. No-notice classroom visits by principals and their assts. and school board members are one of the best ways. Classroom management techniques are instantly visible. They're either really working well, or they're not, at all grade levels. The messier a teacher's desk, the better the classroom, is the general rule of thumb. They don't have time to worry about their desk. They're putting their time, energy, skills into their students. First year teachers are not the concern. They will figure out quickly if teaching is their niche or not. It's the long-term veterans who have been around forever that are usually the problem. Chicago teachers earning in the $75k range? Really? Despite city costs of living, that sounds pretty darn good. I never earned more than $35k. I don't think money is the Chicago issue. I think lousy union leadership is part of the problem, and the other part is ramming an unfair evaluation system down veteran teachers' throats. A telling part of the problem was one Chicago area principal's public comment that she definitely wants the ability to choose her staff because the neighborhood she serves is "a war zone." Legal guardians might just want to pay attention to that comment. Four components of successful schools anywhere: Good principal/school board, highly qualified, dedicated teachers, students who are there to learn and not disrupt, and supportive, interested guardians. Get those four on the same page and watch achievement soar, anywhere. Communities rife with gang nonsense, poverty, violence, and living by the idiotic no-snitch rule will never see their schools, their children, receive a quality education.
You sure are simplistic for having been a teacher.
John Schwendler--GOOD for you ! I agree with most of what you said.
And the sad thing is, my daughter taught for 7 years, and finally quit in frustration--she taught elementary Music Ed, and the admin and other teachers treated her like she wasn't a 'real teacher', and the parents were not interested in how their kids were participating in class.
Sad to say that we are burning out teachers like her. There IS a direct connection between kids who do well in music and those who do well in Math.
She went back and got an MBA, and is now, 5 years later, making three times what she did as a teacher, and as she puts it, her bosses appreciate her.
But she REALLY misses the kids, and instilling in them the love of music.
Teachers are underpaid IF they are doing their job correctly and to their fullest.
NOT all teachers are underpaid as many latched onto a career in teaching because
they were in the right spot at the right time. Many teachers are undesirable if
pitted together in the same job interview for the same position they currently hold.
Many are much more dedicated and adept at their craft; and willing to continue to
learn on behalf of their students. But that number of individuals is fewer than one
can imagine.
Some states hire inferior teachers because they hire locally and local "politics" plays
a definite role in the hiring of teaches. Sad, but so true.
Rahm Emanuel is a very smart guy from his past appointments and current position
as Mayor of one of the world's largest cities. He has my vote (not a Chicago resident)
as a person who could be most instrumental in resolving current and future problems
facing taxpayers supporting teacher's unions; and teacher's dedicating their jobs to
students and receiving equal pay for equal abilities. Unionized teachers has caused
the educational system to breakdown and become inferior compared to what it was.
We definitely need changes and quick. Many young lives depend on us to do the right
thing and turn the teacher's contracts back to being for the student and not for the
teacher and with benifits and wages being supported accordingly.
Most people misunderstand the roles of teacher's unions in the school system. The unions are not there to protect the bad teachers - and those teachers are easily spotted. They are there to protect the misuse and abuse of the good teachers. Unfortunately, as in most career fields, there are those who work the system, and stay just inside the border between good and bad so not to be able to get fired. The unions are not covering for them, they are just trying to make sure EVERYONE is treated fairly. I know of one male art teacher who had a female principal take a dislike to him, and she did everything within her power to get rid of him. He was a good teacher, loved the kids, and they loved him - always happy going to his classes, never misbehaved in any of them. One year, she stipped him of supplies, the next she took his classroom. Just because she didn't like him. He ended up quitting and going to another district. The year after that, she started on the music teacher, until he too quit and went to another school. No one has been able to find out why, not even the men involved. (Although it has been thought it was some sort of discrimination because both men were black and she was white, but it very well could have been that they were men. There were very few blacks or males teaching in her school.)
I think that there are other unions which are notorious for being corrupt and that this is what they see when people hear the word UNION. Not all unions are corrupt, and not all unions are doing nothing to help both the workers AND the people they work for.
In Florida, teachers are evaluated on a very strict guideline with several areas that cover what a good teacher should be doing in class. If that teacher doesn't follow that to a tee, he/she is given a negative report that needs to be improved by the next time another evaluation is done. The evaluators are trained to observe this guideline, and many are very good with their recommendations, while others are not. While this is a good system, it should not be the only basis by which a teacher is evaluated and paid. Many teachers need to be more creative in order to teach children who are not interested in school at all. This system does not allow for teachers to be creative at all while still teaching the curriculum. There is a lot more paper work regardng what teachers are teaching in class; proof that teachers are teaching along certain guidelines set up by the state and counties. If a child does not have a good home life, or doesn't care about school at all, or does not receive adequate health care, then these students will perform far below the norm on state and district tests. This is not the fault of the teacher even though we are to be held accountable for this child's progress and success. Many good teachers have already quit teaching as the stress is too much between the parent's demands, the lack of parental discipline, school board's guidelines, the lack of student respect in the classroom, and doing all the paperwork required for proof that teachers are teaching the curriculum. It is not easy to be a teacher in this day when districts and schools are so overwhelmed with serious discipline issues. There is a serious lack of fundamental parenting in this country, and I do not see that improving any time soon. Because of the serious behavior issues with students, parents have also given up as they cannot do anything either to control their children. They look to the teachers and schools to try to do something with their children, but that doesn't always happen. This is a viscious cycle and I wouldn't know where to begin to correct it.
While teachers are responsible to teach in such a manner that students of all levels can equally understand the subject they are teaching, what they cannot be responsible for is whether or not the student applies that knowledge. I see lots of complaints about what the "average" teacher makes in the Chicago Public School System. Well, they earn every penny of it, believe me! They face challenges everyday that most of us will never have to face. As a mother of a teacher I am reminded of something that was sent to me recently. It quickly explains the attitude toward teachers in our country today.
The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life.
One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued,
"What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"
To stress his point he said to another guest;
"You're a teacher, be honest. What do you make?"
The teacher who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied,
"You want to know what I make?
(She paused for a second, then began...)
"Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor winner.
I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't
make them sit for 5 min. without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental.
You want to know what I make?
(She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table)
I make kids wonder.
I make them question.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.
I teach them how to write and then I make them write.
Keyboarding isn't everything.
I make them read, read, read.
I make them show all their work in math.
They use their God given brain, not the man-made calculator.
I make my students from other countries learn everything they need
to know about English while preserving their unique cultural identity.
I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.
Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they
were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life
(She paused one last time and then continued.)
Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant. You want to know what I make?
I MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN ALL YOUR LIVES, EDUCATING KIDS AND PREPARING THEM TO BECOME CEO's, AND DOCTORS AND ENGINEERS....
What do you make Mr. CEO?
His jaw dropped; he went silent.
Oh, so youre proud of teachers for handing out participation trophies and encouraging mediocrity, that explains why our education system is in the toilet.
Basically, you are happy with the d/c- job our teachers are doing, and think they should feel like they are medal of honor winners.
I think you missed the point trudat....
tudat: She said "feel like" It's the parents and school administrators who want the participation trophies and all. A teacher doesn't make those rules - the people who don't want Johnny to be left out do - the teacher just has to do the best with what she has.
Nobody has proven that the standardized tests are valid. Tests are standardized, but students, who are people, are not standardized. Everyone has off days, bad weeks, etc... It would be helpful to look at student PROGRESS and principal evaluations of teachers. It would even help to get input from other teachers on their colleagues as well as how many professional development hours teachers invest during the year. Again, education is not business. Teachers can't send back defective parts that don't work right. It's just not as easy as outsiders would imagine.
So should we have no standards at all? because that is what we have now.
There most certainly are standards... for the classroom. But to compare the entire population of school B with school A, without factoring in environmental conditions (SES, community/family values, etc) results in INVALID results. The bottom line is its flawed, results in skewed scores, and students spend less time doing creative things, thinking outside of the box, etc, due to time spent working on test prep and test score indicators and monitoring programs - according to the government, this is what they want.
trudat: you should thank a teacher that you can write. I'm thinking that in your day, most of the teacher's evaluation didn't rely on how kids did on a standardized test - instead, someone sat in the classroom and watched the teacher teach. That person that watched would have been a teacher him or herself, and would have known how to tell if that teacher was getting through to the kids. Hopefully, that observer would know how to tell a teacher how to make the lesson better, and what the best parts were. Hopefully, that observer would be able to objectively evaluate that teacher based on observation of the teaching style, interaction with the students, and based on the observer's experience, decide whether the teacher was good or not.
Much of the administration today do not come from the experienced teacher rank and file as it used to. Many bypass actual classroom experience to get their master's degree in education which lets them become principals and other administrators without experience to tell the difference between a good teacher and a bad one. Many allow classroom politics and other things to make that decision that should be based solely on whether someone has what it takes to be a teacher. Multiple regulations that make a minefield out of administration of a school have frustrated teachers for decades, until the implimentation of programs that award kids for just being there, and don't do anything to promote scholarship, and the lack of parental involvement - or even interest - making discipline next to impossible, have made most of the experienced teachers reconsider moving out of education into private industry which pays better for the same degree (in the most part). Now, you'll find that over half of the teachers have three or less years of experience, or are almost at retirement age and are unwilling to throw those years of building their pension away. Why get $50K as a 10 year teacher with little room for raises when you can go to private industry for $75K?
The principals know which teachers are good and which are poor, as do the kids (although kind of in reverse as they don't like the good ones that assign homework and like the poor ones that don't ) Dealing with the teachers union is tough. THey control the negioating process to get the most out of school board members that have no idea what they are doing. They need to start with the big picture first and get away from the percentage raises and go to flat raises. This will bring up the starting teachers salaries to a reasonable level and keep the senior teachers in line without rediculas raises.
Surprisingly, the kids don't mind the homework part - they actually will do homework willingly if the teacher treats them with respect, keeps them engaged, and keeps them on grade level. It's when the teacher gives them downtime that they get into trouble. You'd be surprised at the number of teachers who actually plan for one grade using a lower grade level. When I did my student teaching, I had a teacher tell me that while she taught 9th graders, she planned for 7th grade level. That, and a few other incidents made my decision to leave education - you don't treat kids like that. They know when you talk down to them. The last straw was when my state announced that they were going to be tying licensure with standardized tests. I did not believe - still don't - that a secondary school teacher should be penalized because an earlier teacher produced a student that couldn't read and had no study skills. As a science teacher, I didn't have time to teach students how to read higher than a 4th grade level, and the schools did not give the teachers the tools to move these kids into a program that could get them remediated and caught up to grade level. The school where I worked didn't even back teachers up with disciplinary problems, never mind education problems.
When I was "in school" 3 decades ago, there were asses in class and the principle or teacher could toss them out. Well this has changed. My kids are in school. These asses CAN'T be removed. They can only be given in or out of school suspension. Hey, and if junior or juniorette refuse to report to ISS, you can't touch them. They have to break a "real" law. Assault. Rape. Burglary. Theft (have to catch doing it, not just with the stolen items!) My husband and I attend meetings. My sister attends her granddaughters because the parents don't care. I know women waiting for their daughters to turn 16 and be able to drop out so they can "earn" money from men soliciting. (Mothers, not fathers!) A teacher should have multiple unannounced visits and be "graded" on how they've prepared (outlines, lesson plans, work assigned and if it was completed and how good.) If Tammy and Tommy suck at turning their work in or behaving in class , the teacher shouldn't be smacked in the teeth. (Assuming the children have been tested and reports of attempts to work with what adult is responsible for the kid,)
How do you measure a teacher's success? Here is a better question.
How do you measure the federal governments success in improving our educational system?
Obama has been such a failure. he as to go.
Leave No Child Behind was ignorant. More like............stupid.
Strikes dont happen over night in the world of education. The process is usually months or years in the making, and in my experiences has usually resulted in both sides coming to a compromise. I would want to know how the state developed the criteria, as many of the new "programs" and "tests" are developed by people that have no idea of what happens in a real classroom.
When is was decided that all children would be educated at the cost of the public, regardless of socioeconomic status, parental involvement, community involvement, family values, sex, creed, or ability, public schools suffered. Think of it this way. Public schools always have lumped students into fairly heterogeneous mixtures and provide homogenous tests, which sets up the schools for failure. Why does the school do this? Two reasons: 1) Its the only economically feasible option for a public environment and 2) the government dipped its fingers into another place it doesnt belong.
You may be a hell of a mechanic, or a hell of a psychologist, or an engineer, or even a teacher, but that doesnt mean you are good at all of them. You want real results? Set up a track program based on learning styles and interests, and have teachers that specialize at teaching to certain learning styles. The world needs plumbers, mechanics, and carpenters, and there is no reason why history, science, english, and math cant be taught in a more mechanical style (of learning). The same is true for other learning styles and/or tracks. Statistically speaking, we already have the most qualified teachers in the history of American education working. Fixing individuals doesnt fix a broken system. But what do I know, Im just a stupid, lazy, greedy science teacher, according to some folks...
"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid."
~ Albert Einstein
OMG! A track program? You're kidding, right? Who are you to decide what track a student should go in? And learning styles have not been proven to be statistically accurate or valid. So you're basing your decision-making on a non-scientific approach, Mr. Science teacher.
Courses/tracks based on learning styles would be invalid? How do you think students learn what their skills are? Having different teachers and courses taught using different methods are what allow them to figure out how they best learn, and what they are good at.
Why couldn't students chose a workforce track over a college track? They would be taught very similar content, but instructed in a more workforce focused method, as many tech schools offer. The difference is, the technical training isnt there, but all subjects present. No reason why a workforce graduate couldnt attend college... but would have a different preparation path.
It would certainly satisfy more of the job market needs (more prepared/semi-skilled) as well as meet the needs of more students.
NMC: that's exactly why we had a program like No Child Left Behind. Actually Willie's suggestion is a valid one, scientifically. You devise a study, and then base your conclusion on the data, rather than map your data based on what you THINK you know. They have already done these studies to determine what learning styles are, and it's already been shown that students taught in the style to which they best respond do better in school. If a child is a sight learner, he should go into a classroom of someone who used the book and notes on the board to do better. If a person is an aural learner, then they are best in a classroom that has lecture. Surely by now, you know whether you learn better if someone explains it to you or if you read it in a book.
Willie: you're right, That strike didn't happen overnight. Yes, you're right, it's because government stuck their finger in where they don't belong. Most likely culprit is No Child Left Behind. (I say most likely because this is what's been on the forefront for the past 10 years.)
Tennessee has a system where 50 percent of a teacher's evaluation is based on 1 test. Think about that 1 test. You can work your butt off for a whole year and on that day half of your evaluation is going to be decided. The teacher is a teacher. Not a parent. So many variables are out of the teacher's control. A one test evaluation is so subjective. My favorite is the uneven distribution of funds across the state. A teacher from a wealthy district can have a great evaluation on student performance. Put that same teacher in a poverty stricken district and their evaluation might not be the same. Some schools have unbelievable technology and other schools do not. The playing field is not the same across a state but the evaluation system is. Naperville compared to East St. Louis?
Honestly, before all of you "armchair" teachers voice an ignorant opinion. Jump in and teach in an inner city school. You will honestly know what WORK means.
I think the legislative branch of Illinois needs an evaluation system based on performance. Isn't that state broke? Corrupt? Have some of the highest taxes? I know Tennessee is at the bottom of economic, health, and educational indicators. Is that the governments fault? GVAAS, or government value added would be a great way to get rid of crappy politicians. High unemployment+obesity+low graduation rates+infant mortality+low pre-K attendance+low student expenditure+high percentage of kids living in poverty+low percentage of adults with a bachelors degree, etc, etc, etc= awful politician.
Lets get down to what is really happening. Privatization. The fact that the government won't come out and be honest, and open up debate with the parents and the tax payers is disgusting and down right UNAMERICAN. But after all, they are politicians. Nice gaffe Romney. What an idiot!
Well said!
There are so many things wrong here. Who says these tests are the end all be all of what we want our students to learn? I don't trust these tests. And the problem with tying teacher evaluation to student test results is that the teachers will be "forced" to teach to the test. Anyone who compares this type of evaluation with evaluation in the business world is comparing apples and oranges. Give me a product to work with that has some consistency to it and I am willing to accept an evaluation based on how well I do with that product. Humans are different. In a classroom you may have an incredible range of abilities, intelligence and skills to say nothing of the outside factors that impact the success of students. It is wrong to tie teacher evaulation to state assessments.
Keep in mind also that autistic children are often put out of classes, put out of school for being considered "unteachable". I don't mean older kids, but 5, 6, and 7 year old kids. Instead of teaching an autistic kid, the CPS will simply say that they're unteachable and kick them out of school...... and the kid will go home and teach themself reading, writing, math, US geography, and piano somehow. I wonder who's really the unteachable ones here.
If the teachers don't like standardized tests, let quality control inspectors from the Board of Education come into their classes unannounced and give pop quizzes on material the teacher should have covered at that point. Make the teacher take it too. The average student score will determine the teacher's pay for the next year. If the teacher doesn't make a passing grade on the test, the teacher should be immediately fired.
sorry, that's to simple. Please resubmit making it much more complex...
If you grade teachers on standarized test then they will only teach what is on the test. We will also lose all of the good teachers that are in the urban areas because they will all move out to the burbs where the kids arent as bad and they have more parent support. I dont think alot of you understand what it takes to be a teacher these days. There are kids in the class room that barely know any english and that have come straight out of a refugee camp and kids that have never had any education. Should there test scores count against a teachers ability to teach? You cant stack a deck and expect people to perform miracles. I know that the majority of teachers truly care for kids and I know they work very hard at there jobs. Yes, there are some bad teachers and they should be dealt with, however lets not be so quick to be armchair quarterbacks. If you really want to know what goes on in the schools then you should go sit in one for a few days. I think alot of minds would be changed. And no Im not a teacher just tired of hearing all the uneducated comments on here. What you here on your talking head radio station is not researching the facts! Go check it out yourself then get back to me!
"They will only teach what is on the test"
Then we need to make sure everything a student completing the course needs to have learned is on the test.
If the teachers are not allowed to see the tests in advance, then passage of the test means the teacher has done his job, he has taught the subject well enough that his students know the material they were tasked to learn.
Of course the testing has to be policed well enough to prevent fraud. Teachers cannot be allowed to know the contents of the test in advance. No teacher should be allowed to handle the test materials used by students in his class. Grading must be independently handled. Etc.
So teachers should teach subjects and just hope that it's what is expected? "Teachers cannot be allowed to know the contents of the test in advance." If teachers do not know what will be tested, how can they decide what to teach? If only it were as simple as teaching a child to read. It's not.
We already have teachers that teach the test. They don't teach kids how to learn. It's just rote memorization. There are standards which list what needs to be known to answer the questions. They don't need to see the tests. These tests have produced stress in teachers that have led to more physical abuse, cheating scandals, and children with the inability to know anything else beyond what is on the exam.
Well, seems the union has a pretty clear idea how many of its members are incompetent.
Just listening to some of them speak in press interviews should make it pretty clear that many of them have failed to master the English language, proper diction, and grammar. Many of them appear to have failed their health, nutrition, and fitness courses too. I would be willing to hazard the opinion that they have an equally poor mastery of mathematics, science, and the other subjects they are tasked to teach.
Look at it this way: I do not expect my mechanic to have his evaluations and his job based on how the people who drive the cars he fixes (or the livlihoods of the people who make and sell said car). I do not expect my doctor's bosses to base his license to practice on the way his patients take care of themselves. I do not expect my banker's job to be based on how well I handle my finances. Why should I base my child's teacher on how well every child in the class takes a test? What if the children have test anxiety and don't do well on the test because they are stressed out, or what if 1/3 of the high school biology class doesn't know how to read - should the teacher be prepared to pay with their job because someone 5 years ago didn't do theirs? Conversely, these teachers do not get any more money or benefits if more of their students do well on the test - they just get to keep their job.
How would you do if YOUR job was based on how someone else performed? No- I'm not a teacher, however, I used to be one. I decided to leave education BECAUSE they started basing evaluations on testing. I Knew it would cause teacher to teach the test, not teach the student to understand HOW to learn so they could keep learning all their lives. I taught Biology, Physical Science, History, and Computer Science - and yes, I have education in all those fields.
momofateacher--Sorry, but your teacher in your story is NOT typical. I was a good student in HS, loved to read, and loved languages, and only had TWO teachers that I considered really inspiring, and I HATED both of them--BUT respected them both for what they taught me. (and had the sense, 20 years later, to visit them and tell them how much of an influence they had.
There were about 3 other teachers that I ENJOYED their class, because I liked the subject matter.
The rest were ho hum, and what I learned in their classes I either learned despite them or because the TEXT was pretty good.
Like it or not, MANY teachers are in it because they couldn't figure out what the wanted to do in life, so they went into teaching. SOME of those turned into decent teachers. A LOT of them did NOT.
GM, Please Don’t Make Our Teachers The ‘Scapegoats’ For A Failed Educational System!!! Q: Who made the rules when it comes to educating our children? Q: Who was compensated for making the rules? Q: Who’s responsible for educating our children? Q: Who's being held accountable for student academic failure? Please Do Not Aggravate our Teachers, Students, & Parents Because Aggravating Them Will Not Solve Chicago's Deficit.
Awareness: Teachers Can Learn To Evaluate Their Own Practices [My EdD Teacher Leadership Study that was lost in cyberspace, yeah right, go figure]. If CPS Board of Education wants to evaluate our Teachers based on student academic achievement (%), OKAY, but first, CPS Board of Ed will need to review all academic books by subject & grade to make sure that the books are based on state Standards. CPS Board of Ed will also needs to make sure that the publishers base their academic books on state standards and request that the publishers provide additional manuals for Teachers & Students explaining each state standard utilized in each lesson. In addition, CPS Board of Ed will need to bring the educational environments for our students up to part [additional funding to rehire – hire more teachers, teacher assistance, counselors, nurses, air conditioning, as needed, libraries, technology]. CPS Board of Ed will need to bring back courses that keep our children well rounded e.g. music, the arts.
I am sure that our Teachers will not have a problem teaching our Students based on standardized test because our Teachers' creativity will not be hindered, our Students will be given the opportunity to learn about music/the arts, and our Parents will participate as much as they possibly can to assist in educating our children. To CPS Board of Ed: It’s going to take All Of Us!!! Let’s Pull Together To Educate All Of Our Children!!! No Scapegoats Please!!!
Chicago's cost per pupil is over twice the national average. They send over 50% on non teaching costs. Here in Virginia over 90% pass the minimum requirements compared to Chicago at under 60%. At that cost, they should privatize the whole district.
I usually enjoy reading the comments after articles; however, these just make me sick. As a classroom teacher, these comments break my heart. To think that some people actually believe we do not want to be held accountable. How would you like for your evaluation to be based on other people's performance? Especially during one of the most stressful times of the year? I have a student in my class who barely understands English, two who have ADHD, one who may have Autism, one who cannot even draw a straight line (mom called to ask what she should be working on with her child), and will more likely than not have at least three new students within the year who come to me from another school. Yet my effectiveness as a teacher should be based on how they perform on one week's worth of testing? A test that requires these kids to sit still for hours on end and be quite.
Anyone in the education field knows that a multiple choice test is not an accurate way to assess what a student has learned. I am in grad school and for the first time in five years, I took a multiple choice test yesterday. The class was not education based; many of the students are earning a degree to become a counselor. I made an A on the test, but guess what? I doubt I will remember the answers to the quiz a month from now. That's how meaningful this information was to me. I do not give multiple choice tests to my students to assess what they know. I create portfolios to show their progress over time. Yet this is how people want me to be evaluated as a teacher? Give me a break.
MOMaid,
Really?
"Like it or not, MANY teachers are in it because they couldn't figure out what the wanted to do in life, so they went into teaching. SOME of those turned into decent teachers. A LOT of them did NOT."
Because teaching is such an easy job? Right? I get summer's off, no accountability, weekends free, get breaks where I get to hand out with my friends, no parent gets mad at me because I am trying to make their child a self-reliant, productive individual. Shall I go on?
Your statement is sad. I bust my butt to help these kids. I go to professional training during MY time. I grade papers at home, research/plan interesting lessons, spend MY money buying fun things to help the kids learn... not only do I have to teach the kids content (math, science, language arts, social studies), I also have to teach them how to be good citizens, how to get along with one another, tolerance, problem-solving skills, etc. because they do not get these things at home. I have wanted to be a teacher since I was in the 2nd grade. There is no teacher I know that said, "Oh, I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do so I decided to teach."
For those of you that expect a pinkslip whenever you don't perform up to management expectation, I have a few questions:
1. If your materials are broken or malfunctioning, are you allowed to return them for a refund or exchange?
2. If one piece of machinery breaks another piece of machinery, are you allowed to have it fixed by someone qualified to work on it?
3. If your customer/client is disatisfied with your performance yet refuses to leave the premises, do you have someone to protect you from harm?
4. Are you allowed to ask for a raise without inciting public uproar - or more likely in my state - laughter?
5. In your profession are you expected to care more about your client than you do your self or your family? And if you do consider your own wellbeing or that of your family, are you treated as a selfish monster?
The all important one you forgot:
Are you expected to take 100% of the blame when your client refuses to do anything to help themselves? Even when that refusal is compounded by anything your boss or the client's boss does that adds to the refusal to help?
I recall Laura Ingalls Wilder's account of being a school teacher in the 1880s (it might be in "These Happy Golden Years"if I recall.) she was 15 or 16 when she took the job. The schoolhouse was a shack constructed of a single layer of boards through which daylight shone and winds blew. She & her students huddled around the wood stove in the middle of the room trying to keep from freezing-literally freezing-to death while they studied. She taught and they learned. She did not make excuses like "how can they learn anything when it's only 35 F in the classroom?" They didn't have electricity or running water, but they learned. Most of them had no books. they didn't have paper, they did their lessons on slates, with chalk. 50% of children did not live to grow up, yet the survivors learned. Most children experienced the death of at least one parent before they grew up, and still they learned.
Perhaps what Chicago needs is a whole lot of classrooms without heat, insulation, real walls, electricity, running water or books.
Their parents expected them to learn, and the kids did what their parents wanted them to do - instead of treating the parents like piggy banks that let them behave any way they wanted, or just doing what they want to do anyway. A lot of parents don't care whether their kids learn or not, as long as they aren't home getting into trouble all day and they end up with a driver's license and a diploma. Maybe we should make the parents responsible for their children - isn't that a more novel idea?
teachers care less about kids or they woule be in school teaching instead of on a picket line. fire all of them and get teachers that care
Do you know what the real issue here is? The evaluation of the teachers - they are basing 30% (later going to 40%) of the teacher's evaluation on the results of the tests. While that might work for lower grades, the upper grades (9-12), the teachers are supposed to get students who already can read and do simple maths. They are not. Instead they have kids going into Biology without the ability to read on a 3rd grade level, or general math without the ability to add. They have things they need to cover that are on grade level, and don't have time to remediate these kids - and they can't put them in classes that will remediate them because of lack of funding. Additionally, many of these kids that aren't on grade level go on to be disciplinary problems, mostly because the subjects being taught are so far over their head that it's like they were being taught in another language. At least half the class time is taken up with administrative tasks and discipline, so even the kid ON grade level aren't getting all the instruction they need. Some schools with more money can put assistants in the classroom to assist with administrative and disciplinary tasks to allow the teacher to concentrate on the lesson, but not nearly enough. Also because of parental pressure and disciplinary problems, students aren't coming prepared, so precious instruction time has to go through that - and more instruction is being added constantly. Many other people have had issues with the way evaluations are handled - mostly they quit teaching. That is why most of the really good teachers have left teaching - they can get better pay elsewhere doing something else, without the hassle of kids threatening & hurting them or each other, their bosses not backing them up and finding new ways to decide whether they are doing their jobs right, and parents who aren't helping the children - not even when it's a discipline problem - and criticizing the teacher when their children fail because they refuse to do the work. Not to mention everyone saying that the Unions are there to keep bad workers in. The unions are there to keep the good workers protected from the parents who don't discipline their own children and make them do their school work, the administration that tries to use coersion and subterfuge to have them do things that are against their contract. Those teachers care - that is the only way they have to get the administration to listen to their concern about the possiblity of removing good teachers - and setting up new ones to fail. Basing teacher evaluations on exams are like basing mechanics pay on the driving records of the people who drive the cars they service.
Those people who are yelling that teachers always need to show improvement and that Unions are preventing bad teachers from being fired - that is not true. The unions are only preventing the administration from waging vendettas against certain teachers. A truly bad teacher is not protected by the union - the union will just make sure that the administration does it legally, and following the rules that are set forth in the contracts both parties have signed. I know of one teacher that was cussed out by a principal IN FRONT of a 4th grade class (he was an art teacher), then she cut most of his budget, and then the following year, took away his classroom - making him work off a cart AND carry all his supplies. What did he do? The nearest thing he can think of is that he was either black, male, or gay, since she did the same thing to the music teacher who was also black, male, and gay (no they weren't lovers, and they didn't teach or act gay). Both teachers quit after 3 years of this treatment, and were replaced by white females. (The principal was a white female, and there were 6 black teachers, and 7 male teachers after the pair of teachers left that school. The remaining teachers were white females.)
I do not think it is fair for a secondary school teacher (grades 9-12) should be penalized because he or she gets a student who can't, won't, or is too lazy to read. Why should a 12th grade teacher be penalized for the failings of the 11 or 12 teachers who didn't do their jobs before? I can see Kindergarden or 1st grade teachers being penalized if they are supposed to teach reading and the kids can't read - but in 9th grade, the kid should already know how to read and for the teacher to have to teach a child to read, it would really take away from that Biology class, or Math class. They can't have a child who can't add taken out of an Algebra class or a kid that can't read taken out of any class because of other rules. By basing almost half of the evaluation on a single test, you are making that teacher have to deal with the kid that does not have the ability to do grade level work (if he can't read or do simple math, he isn't at grade level when he gets there), as well as the discipline problems (often these same kids cause disciplinary nightmares), as well as making sure she or he covers everything else for the kids that CAN keep up - and if on that ONE test ANY of these kids do badly, they lose their livelyhood. That's like telling the car mechanics that they will lose their jobs based on the driving records of the people who drive the cars they service.