Comments and Notes:
2009-02-16 sigh...
Actually, my daughter goes to an excellent public school (Borton) here in Tucson and has an amazing teacher. She is doing much more homework than I did at her age, and her writing skills have improved by leaps and bounds over the two years she has been in public school. I could keep bragging but only other parents would understand ;-)
I actually do agree with school choice, charter schools, and merit pay if based on objective metrics probably does have a place. However, other aspects of the 'no child left behind' law and its Arizona implementation are worrisome, and I know some really good and caring teachers who are either frustrated or have left the profession specifically because of the micromanagement that has come about. Last year as I understand it, there was a mandated computer program that had to be applied at specified times during the day on any child who had not reached a specific reading level. This was a ridiculous intrusion into the teaching day. It is certainly necessary to measure and ensure that children learn to read, but micromanaging the day to that extent is absurd.
And no, I do not know whether republicans or democrats implemented that particular measure - I'm not saying that all the problems are the fault of Republicans, or that all Democrats are great. Some actions of our Az Legislature, voted by Republican majority, have me sick to my stomach,but I hope that I never lose an open mind to the point where I'd make a statement like 'Republicans hate teachers', jeez.
The question for me usually comes back to, what can I do to make the situation better? So we support our school, teach our kids, and try to occasionally put in 2c about the big picture. I think maybe the next step for me will be to interview district officials about the controlling scripted programs I'm concerned about, perhaps they've lessened now under Celine - I know that not all schools have to implement them. If you are concerned specifically about merit pay feel free to press the issues now that there is full Republican control of the state, perhaps it will be implemented this year. But what seems to be happening instead is a full scale gutting of K-12 and university education - and refusing the federal dollars that would have helped, from what I recall. " --guest
2009-02-15 Why can't we retain teachers?
Let me explain it to you, "Wonder why."
It's simply that Democrats hate teachers. First, they insist on paying lazy (home by 3pm) incompetent (can't pass AIMS themselves) teachers the same as any other teacher (public education is the best examples of how and why communism doesn't work). Democrats killed Governor Hull’s Education Task Force recommendation in 2001 that Arizona move away from a uniform salary schedule with bonuses based on student progress, achievement, parent satisfaction, and professional development. While Lisa Keegan had initiated the country's first TAP (Teacher's Achievement Program) in 1999 (teachers flocked to apply for positions where they could get better pay for doing better) and pushed through Prop 301 for individual teacher bonuses. But, Jamie Molera fired everyone and effectively killed both. While teachers are on average one of the highest paid professions in America (PA DOL study, 2001 and CNN, 2007), this lack of differential pay means anyone with advanced computer, math, science, or special education skills can make more in the private sector. TAP is used in schools in eight states (Master Teachers in South Carolina, for instance, can easily earn as much as $75,000 to $100,000 a year even though the state ranks 26th for teacher pay… so, stay here if you’re a poor teacher but move if you’re a good one). Recent research by Rivkin, Hhanushek, Kain, Haycock, Thum, Sanders, Horn, and Rockoff have shown that switching from any teacher measured poor by such metrics to one measured as excellent for a single year will, on average, improve a student’s tests scores by 20%.
Sadly, about 60% of teachers and administrators cannot pass a GED exam or the new Massachusetts Educator Certification Test (where many complain it is unfair to expect them to do math without calculators as “legally entitled”). Similarly, 60% of those taking the ETS mathematics teaching certification used in 17 states fail each year. There has been a steady decline in teacher proficiency over the past forty years. Corcoran, Evans, and Schwab found female teachers graduating in 1962-1966 that scored above the 80th percentile dropped from being half of new teachers to only 10% for those that graduated from 1984-1985 while male teachers fell from 20% to 10%. Today, teachers generally come from the 30-35 percentile with SAT scores far below their college bound students. All other professions provide at least a 100% skill premium where individuals producing especially good work or results also command higher pay for their labors (and salaries are widely dispersed reflecting variations in talent, effort, and market demand). Not so for public education.
In the early 1960’s, a female teacher who attended a highly selective college received a 59% pay premium while in 2000 the top 5%, conversely, received essentially no pay premium at all. What is the motivation to work without any pay incentive (perhaps, you have to be a Republican to understand this question)?!? In the current system, an increase for one teacher requires increases for all (a pay increase, say, of $10,000 would therefore necessitate a $40 billion increase in education spending across the US). 83% of TAP award winners are still teaching compared to the national average of 46% that leave teaching in the first five years. So, we know how to retain teachers -- we simply need to get Democrat to get out of the way of progress.
Alas, the 21st Century Education model proposed by many of today's Democrats is really just Dewey's model of a Nineteenth Century model Democrats killed after the 1963 Vocational Education Act. And, the number of excelling AZ schools went from 3 to 132 and the number of underperforming schools dropped from 275 to 136 in 2003 with NO improvements but only Democrats changing the requirements! Plus, today half of “failing” schools are able to raise their ratings on the amazingly accurate complaint that the current AZ Ed board can’t add right (or, in other words, correctly use a spreadsheet)!!
At the same time, state and local officials have strongly advised parents to not concern themselves about the fact that their children are attending schools that are failing the 144 federal “No Child Left Behind” improvement rubrics (surveys show American overwhelmingly support No Child Left Behind educational reforms of annual testing in reading and math, a certifiably quality teacher in every classroom, school report cards for parents, the ability to move children to other schools, and a 39% increase in federal teacher aid including ~$100 million a year in Bush's Teacher Incentive Fund for teacher and school grants... only lazy incompetent teachers are opposed to such measures). Arizona is considered last by professional educators in a country producing on average the same education quality as South Africa. We can easily get twice the current education at half the current cost because that's what Republicans were doing 50 years ago when America could be proud of its public schools. Arizona uses Six Traits for Writing, but it is not in any way based on any educational research (a violation of federal law), but when Bush's administration tried to encourage a change... Democrats managed to kill all efforts to move to programs that actually work. They also killed Lisa Keegan's private efforts by lying about her over billing the government when the reality was she was under billing (how can you tell when a Democrat is lying... yes, their lips are moving).
Finally, the state initiated last year a retirement Medicare supplement program that charged retiring teachers as much as five time the legal limit with the excess going to a governor's private slush fund and then Democrat senators killed Bush's "Crayola Credit" that allowed teachers to deduct up to $400 from their taxes each year for out of pocket classroom expenses. Why would they do this? One can only assume they hate teachers (and our children).
Education Week’s Quality Counts index rates Arizona a grade of D for our present efforts to improve teacher quality and the Fordham Foundation grades the state overall with a C-minus. The only place where Arizona gets an A in education is for its charter schools - and a greater percentage of Arizonans have moved their kids to charter schools than any other state (go visit one and find out what a school is supposed to be like). How many schools in Arizona have won the President’s Baldrige Award for Quality in Education? As a Democrat who supposedly cares about education, I assume you’ve never even heard of the highest award in education and the only one personally presented by the U.S. President. Am I right?" --guest
2009-02-05 Gee I wonder why!
Lets see, the legislature makes it clear that public ed is about the lowest of their priorities; No Child Left Behind creates a testing hysteria in the schools; new teachers face a gauntlet of constant evaluations and classroom oversight; and **scripting teaching methods that are designed specifically for mediocre teachers but required for all!** I don't think requiring more evidence is the key. Just let parents request to move their kids and it will become clear which teachers are less effective. The great teachers don't need constant oversight or a proscribed script, all these policies are designed to require mediocrity - so the great teachers leave. A few schools (like Borton Elementary) are keeping excellent teachers, by giving them freedom to teach! A good principal knows who her top teachers are and needs freedom to nurture them.
I thought Republicans were opposed to systems of centralized control. But that is what has been imposed on our schools. Its not an attempt at reform - its an attempt to destroy the public school system.
We do need changes, kids do need to be tested at some points to make sure they're learning to read, but the methods being used are not the right ones. More choice, more openness, more parent involvement are the only real answers. More resources for teacher pay and teacher training. Just look at http://greatschools.net to find the problem areas and fix those!
" --guest
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