This past Sunday, the Los Angeles Times may have started a revolution by running a story called Who is Teaching Our Kids? What they did was this--
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The Times obtained math and English scores for the California Standards Test for the years 2003-2009 under the California Public Records Act.
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They hired Richard Buddin, a senior economist and education researcher at the Rand Corporation to conduct an analysis of the data.
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The scores were then converted into percentile ratings, dividing them into five equal categories from least effective to most effective
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The first report, including 6,000 third, fourth and fifth grade teachers, will be posted by the Times on its website later this month.
- The Times is giving teachers an opportunity to comment on their ratings.
It is important to note that teacher performance is being measured using the value added technique, which rates teachers “based on their students’ progress on standardized tests year after year. The difference between a student’s expected growth and actual performance is the ‘value’ a teacher adds or subtracts during the year.”
Predictably, AJ Duffy, president of the United Teachers of Los Angeles, who represents 36,000 LA school teachers, threw a tantrum and promptly sent out an autodial phone message to every UTLA member urging them to boycott the Times. Additionally, a lawsuit by the union is being considered. Duffy claims "You're leading people in a dangerous direction, making it seem like you can judge the quality of a teacher by … a test."
Granted, a test should not be the only measure of a teacher’s quality, but it is certainly better than what we have now, which is nothing. The LA Times has done us a great service by initiating this study, informing the public whose hard earned dollars are paying for our substandard education system and taking this issue to another level. It’s about time parents and taxpayers had a way to evaluate the quality of a teacher. Now let’s build on it.
Comments
One big problem with the
One big problem with the report is that it doesn't consider how many hours teachers prep students to take standardizes exams. In one north OC district, teachers spent nearly 100 hours preparing for and taking standardized exams. IMO, teachers should teach the curriculum and not do test prep.
But if the study has only
But if the study has only been done through the school wouldn't this just be biased, because no school want to A. be recognized for having bad teachers and B. to fire teachers and hire new ones is a process no school like to undergo hence some teachers have been in the same spot since the dawn of time.
threw a tantrum got to love
threw a tantrum got to love where this link goes.
Revolution in Teacher Accountability- NOT!
An often used truism in private business is that if you cannot measure something, you cannot manage it. The California Teachers Union leaders and most if not all public sector union leaders consistently refuse to use data-based management principles for a reason.
Duffy's reaction is not only predictable, but telling, supporting the argument I continue to make: In order to fix the state's (and national) public school system, requires a paradigm shift - say, privatizing it - not unlike the most successful for-profit universities.
By the way, for those who think that simply by obtaining records under the Freedom of Information Act and or Public Request Act, they are somehow taking a look under the hood of public institutions, they are sorely mistaken.
So, while being able to analyze test scores, Duffy's temper-tantrum not withstanding, is a good first step, it is simply a giant one step in a 1,000 mile journey in the quest for fixing a broken system, mostly broken by the CTA. Not even an evolution, much less a revolution
Problems w/ this
You can look at the test results all that you want, but you have to also factor in demographics into the equation. I live in a district of mostly mixed households, and over 80% of the students in low income families. Our schools test scores are bad. Is it the teachers or the childs influence at home? Are the parents involved? They're not here and the parents don't show for parent/teacher conferences and don't care if their kids do their homework.
Teachers only have so much time w/ the kids, and teaching to the lowest common denominator is a disservice to those that are learning.
The results of this study will wrongly point the finger at the teachers w/o factoring in the bigger portion, the parents.
Excuses, Excuses, Excuses, Excuses......
Arguably, Jaime Escalante was a game-changer in education, conclusively demonstrating that when willing and competent teachers want to teach, they can teach advanced math to the most disadvantaged students. The CTA fought Escalante when he argued that he could teach advanced placement math in a class with more than 50 students, despite the overwhelming evidence siding with Escalante.
More recently Doug Lemov in his Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College book - featured as the cover and full length feature story in the March 7 issue of the New York Times Magazine - opines that Escalante was a uber-teacher, the likes of which not too many public have seen, and not a good model for the average instructor, arguing that his 49 techniques can be better scaled to fit the more mediocre instructor, instead of trying to convert every teacher into Escalante-like. “A few teachers may be born with an intuitive gift for teaching, but when I watch a great teacher I see mostly hard work and attention to detail,” according to Lenov.
The excuse that “Teachers only have so much time w/ the kids, and teaching to the lowest common denominator is a disservice to those that are learning.” is just that, as Escalante, Lenov and a myriad of CTA-less, independently minded educators will tell us.
And the conclusion that “The results of this study will wrongly point the finger at the teachers w/o factoring in the bigger portion, the parents.” Is simply a reaction to the Palmetto Bug Effect – Palmetto Bugs don’t Like Sunshine!
From a teacher's perspective.
There are problems with this test the kids to test the teacher scenario. First, many students come to school ill-prepared. In the old days (yes I said it) students knew their colors, abc's, and some could even read before they began school. Now, with both parents working and everything else going on in their home life, most children don't have a solid foundation to even begin school with a fighting chance.
In teaching I saw large masses of children starting school at all grade levels with absolutely no English speaking or writing skills. Without English as a national language there is no way that this will be workable. Testing tells who is good at taking tests, and students who do not like their teacher will simply chose to answer wrongly thinking it will get their teacher in trouble or fired. Don't believe me, ask your child.
Education begins at home: The biggest things that could be done in education would be to instill solid learning basics and values at home. This makes parents more responsible for their child's educational foundation. In all honesty, 99% of the parents I saw at Parent/Teacher conferences were the ones whose children were doing fine. It is the ones that are too busy to be involved in their children's lives that you really needed to see. And even with the post-conference calls to them you rarely connect at the level needed to get them involved.
Test a child upon entering school: This would help teachers know where the child is so they have a clear starting point for the education that is to come. If children come from a family whose children score abnormally low it may be an indication that more help is needed for the family or the child may need special aid. Diagnose early because we all know that early intervention in a situation is always the best.
Cut administration: Too many people are telling teacher's what they can and cannot do in their classroom. In most cases getting rid of one administrator means you can hire two more teachers. Too many additional mentors and other so-called experts are interfering with the process and pulling teachers and students away from the task at hand. Don't believe me? Look at the ratio of Administration to Teachers of Catholic schools vs public schools.
Smaller classrooms: On average a teacher spends more time with your child than a parent does, hands down. Still, in large groups it is too easy for a child to not be fully engaged in acquiring knowledge, they slip through the cracks. Lower the ratio and raise the chances for your child to succeed.
Keep them in the classroom: Stop pulling children out of the classroom for so many things! It seems simple, parents drop their child off to school expecting them to be in their classroom all day. This is simply not the case. Children are pulled out for various programs throughout the day, every day, on rotating days, for events, rallies, meetings, additional programs and non-educational related assessments. This is usually followed with a packet that they can do for homework to cover the missed time, but seriously lacks in the added elements of education required for progression and retention.
Summer is not just a vacation: Parents use this time to help your child work on skills that they are behind in. You know what they are, and if you don't ask your teacher before the school year ends. Your child's teacher would be glad to recommend books to read, things to study and may even offer consumable materials that are left from the school year.
No teacher spends their entire educational life working toward their certificate to become a failure. No school hires someone who is highly qualified in hopes that they will fail to do their jobs. Teachers are human, they are among the unsung heroes of our time. Or, at least they should be.
What teachers have become in this modern age is a catch-all for all the wrongs with someone else's children. They teach everything from core classes to hygiene and everything in between. If you want solid values in life and education it has to start at home.
Parents who are cheering this week at sending their child back to school ask yourselves this: What did I do this summer to insure my child will be successful this year in school? Most teachers spent at least half of it in additional training to be better teachers, the rest were busy teaching or doing other jobs so that they could afford to be teachers.
More like from the union leader's perspective:
From a teacher;'s perspective, keep in mind that for the last 30 years in California, students have developed the FDH (Fat, Dumb and Happy) Syndrome, while the union spends some $200 million/every ten years just to pursue its own political agenda, and thousands more in Los Angeles alone to teach students how to prepare sushi, while lobbying the states legislature to "CRIMINALIZE" Home-school. Where has the "teacher's perspective" been all these 30 years, if not outside of school administration and or legislators arguing for a "sensible budget" that increases taxes? Wit the last $26 billion teacher bailout the President characterized as "special interest freebie, ONLY if you think it is a special interest"/
Forget Jaime Escalante - as most teachers would probably not qualify to seat in an advanced placement math class. What part of Doug Lemov's book " Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College" did you not understand?
Enough with the excuses. Enough with passing the devalued Buck. Enough with the deflection. As President Reagan would argue, "public sector organized labor is an anachronism in the 21st century" - Privatizing public education is the only sensible answer.
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Loose loose overalls + same length T, Ugg Boots Günstigso that the original biased also revealed a combination of conventional tooling idle for so little taste; Not only that, nine points of the design in high heels make legs look more relieved against The slim and straight, so with his legs curve for the MM is not worth learning satisfaction.
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