Well I write about trying to be kinder, more understanding and more sensitive, then I blow it within a day or so... Check out my strong views regarding some Teacher firings in Washington DC at:
The comments should not surprise my long time readers. I have rather strong beliefs that poor teachers must be removed from the classroom ASAP. We owe it to the Students, Parents, Good Teachers, Community and Tax payers...
I mean really..... The kid's don't get a second chance at school or childhood !!! We owe them good and great teachers a lot more than we owe poor/burnout teachers an income !!! Let's get our priorities straightened out !!!
Just like all firings, sometimes good people get caught in the cross fire... However unlike executions, the good teachers will brush themselves off, and get a new and possibly better job. This is how it works in the "non-education" world.
Thoughts welcome and encouraged as always ... Even if you think poor teachers should be kept in the classroom... I would really like to learn your rational.
Washington Post Rhee dismisses 241
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3 comments:
I've watched the Rhee/DC situation with some interest. I think she's making some bold decisions that may pay off. Or they may not. Only time will tell.
I take a little issue with one of your comments over on 281 Ex (I choose not to comment there). You say
"Not “grading” teachers on their ability to help kid’s become more academically capable is like not monitoring which Doctor’s are injuring patients in surgery. It would make no sense, since that is their primary deliverable."
That's an interesting example, but I'm not sure that's a precise metaphor. I'd say it's more like a primary care physician being paid on how healthy his patients are after they've visited his office. Is their BP lower? Have they lost weight? Is their pre-diabetes under control? Most of those conditions can be managed by the patient, but that doctor will produce healthier patients in a middle-class, well-employed suburb than he will in a poor, inner-city project. A great doctor absolutely can make a difference for some people. But some people will continue to eat poorly, smoke, and be sedentary. And some patients may have chronic asthma or congenital heart/lung conditions that can't be improved by treatment. He's presented the same treatment plan to both patients, but it doesn't always have the same effect. Is that really the doctor's fault or are there larger issues at play?
Yes? No?
--Annie
I agree it was not the perfect metaphor. I was getting long winded and wanted to finish up.
I understand your concern, however I see apples and oranges in your example. The primary care physician, dentist, etc sees adults for 15 minutes every month, 6 mths, yr, etc. Whereas the teacher does have students for ~5.5 hrs/day for ~170 days. Some behavior modification and learning should be able to take place in that amount of time. (for most kids...)
Also, earlier in the comment I noted the importance of comparing results for teachers that are in similar classes, demographics, etc. And the importance of evaluating on a "knowledge gained" during the year basis.(ie relative) Not a year end class capability basis. (ie absolute)
I am a huge fan of SMART goals. "Specific" My classes MAP test scores, "Measureable/ Reaistic" will increase on average by ??? points in reading and math, "Time Based" between the initial test in Oct and the final test in April. "Action Oriented" I will accomplish this by doing ????, ???, and ???.
The point of the poor metaphor is this. The teachers have the kids ~1000 hrs/yr. The primary goal is for the children to get "smarter" between Sept and June. If similar classes learn significantly less than their peers. The teacher must improve or be let go.
Since we are not doing this today... Those poor teachers will delay the development of more kids next year. And the year after that... And the year after that...
By the way, one technique being used right now to deal with a very poor teacher is to move them to a lower performing class... The rationale I believe is to put them with students whose parents are less likely to complain. This occured after literally dozens and dozens of parents had complained to the Administration over at least 2 years...
Let's consider this... We take a poorly organized teacher who has a hard time following through with their lesson plan and is challenged with controlling the class behavior, and we place them in with the more disruptive kids who need the best teacher. If I was not so in tune to this on going example, maybe I would not be so sensitive.
One last note, 241 out of 4000 is ~6%. If the bottom 6% of the teachers were released from our district, What good and bad things would happen? (ie keep it simple... 1 out of 16... or 6 out of 100)
I think the good would far out weigh the bad.
My subconscious must keep chugging along while I am sleeping. I often have the most interesting thoughts when I wake up.
How about comparing to a salaried salesperson....
They work with various types of clients. They sell different products in different industries. (depending on their company) They must be good at working with and influencing people. They are rated on how much revenue/profit they generate relative to their peers. This is the key purpose of their being employed.
Would a company continue to employee a sales person that continually lags behind their peers, annoys the customer, etc???
If they did, wouldn't it be irresponsible. Wouldn't they be doing a disservice to the customers, employees and shareholders.
By the way, the company would take their industry, company, economic environment into account while doing this. Therefore they would not compare a jewelry salesperson to a car salesperson... Or boom results to recession results.
Better?
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