Today's Perspective section of the JG featured a "manifesto" for change written for the Washington Post by the chancellors and superintendents of some of the nations largest public school systems. One of them is Eugene White, Superintendent of Indianapolis Public Schools, who came from FWCS (how did we let him get away?).
Their biggest emphasis is on the importance of teacher quality and the obstacles that teachers unions place in the way of hiring, evaluating, retaining and rewarding the very best teachers for our public schools. They point out that no business, including the ones I worked in for thirty years could survive without the ability to make personnel decisions based on performance, a practice which is adamantly opposed by teachers' unions.
They call for having the courage to close or restructure low performing schools and to accept viable charter schools as an alternative to provide competition to government run public schools. In the case of FWCS that would mean having the courage to act without the threat of a state takeover and without the restraints of teacher seniority and the honesty to point out that "improvements" in test scores have to be relative to their competition. It would mean worrying about their own problems instead of fighting to keep charter schools out of the city.
It's all about how we stack up against the competition - locally, nationally and internationally. We must realize, no matter what school district we live in, that this country can't fix it's broader economic problems and economic inequities without facing up to the education gap within the US.
So, Tracy, thanks for publishing the article. The only thing better would have been if the JG had written it - like maybe about eight years ago. Maybe next time.
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20101017/EDIT05/310179958/1021/EDIT
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10 comments:
Just remove the bad teachers...were it only so simple! I can almost guarantee that behind every bad teacher is a principal unwilling to put in the time and effort to remove a bad teacher. You and I both know a teacher who has been put on probation 3 times in FWCS and is still teaching!! And what about bad principals? The principal sets the culture of the school and good ones hold both students and teachers accountable. Good principals also see education as a collaborative effort between teachers, admins and parents. We have also seen a bad principal create a school atmosphere of paranoia and distrust...and a school district that tolerated it!
I don't think they were saying the problem was mostly bad teachers. It's also not being able to attract promising young teachers to a unionized district who know they will be the first to go in a layoff Who will never make more money than what's set by the union scale no matter how well they perform (if that were even measured objectively)
If they can't attract top talent for teachers they won't attract it for administrators either.
wouldn't it save a lot of bandwidth if the two of you would just call each other on the phone?
Don't worry anonymous. Plenty of others are always listening, if not commenting.
And we just saw each other at the PTA candidate's forum. But judging by the attendance there, the school situation is not a high priority for the "plenty of others".
Anon,
You are too funny...what would be the fun in that?
ECA scores are out...they are on the DOE website. I don't think there will be a celebration at Grile tomorrow. On the other hand, they are well set for great improvement next year!
OK, I give up. All I can find is Tony Bennett's letter which happens to mention Northrup passing Algebra I at 56%, about what I'd expect. Where are the other district results or am I going to have to wait until Wendy and GiaQuinta pop the corks at a press conference?
The problem is that FWCS and other districts provide a Marxist, mediocre education at best. Students learn the test and only the test! They really can't think - and Tony Bennett and others dumb down the test. The only evidence for rising scores, besides making the test easier, is that teacher's have access to prior tests and can teach to them. As a former FWCS, it disgust me to remember how MANY consultants were brought into FWCS to get bubble students up to par the weeks before the test! Maybe the consultants, not the teachers, should be credited in bringing up the scores.
Anon,
And if the state of Indiana begins evaluating teachers partially based on student performance on assessment tests, then what teacher would not teach to the test? How many valuable learning activities will be discarded and replaced with practice of test taking skills? Has our country gone test crazy? Bennett, at NS high school on Thursday, said he favors testing in grades 1 through 11. Yikes! I would not want my first grader taking a state-mandated assessment test.
Found the spreadsheet with the ECA scores. My netbook screen was not big enough to show the tabs at the bottom.
Anon is right in that the improved ISTEP scores and AYP resulted from an easier test. The ECA's,at least the Algebra test I saw, was more rigorous than the GQE,so scores went down. But a 20% passing rate in Algebra I like Wayne and SSHS got on a test over a course they've just taken is pathetic. If anybody (GiaQuinta) says were just around the corner from fixing this they're lying.
I don't agree we've gone overboard with testing. These tests are not that difficult. They should be a non-event. At Concordia the GQE used to be passed out with a disclaimer that "this test may be an insult to your intelligence". These tests just cover the basics we expect them to know. It's not the SAT. Having to "teach to the test" just shows how far behind these kids are. But if that's what we have to do to give them the basics, so be it.
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