Superintendents all over the state are asking for grade relief. They say changes to the system will result in more schools failing and it won't reflect what is happening in many of our schools.
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-06-19/story/local-superintendents-fear-proposed-changes-fcat-and-end-course-exams#comment-
Here is my two cents, changes in the grading system led to grade inflation and the supers loved it and fair enough who wouldn't but doesn't that make them complaining about how more changes will lead to a drop in grades, hypocrites?
I don't want anybody to think I am defending the system we have in place because I think its horrible, I just hate hypocrisy even more.
The supers should be fighting to junk the whole system, not to make self serving changes here and there, because anything less than that is tacit approval of a failed system and our schools and kids deserve better.
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-06-19/story/local-superintendents-fear-proposed-changes-fcat-and-end-course-exams#comment-
Well, the Duval County School Board is sharing its evaluation of the superintendent and it is not as rosy as his self-assessment. While I could not help but smile about the superintendent's glowing report on himself, I must add that teachers can also have input in their evaluations above and beyond just bantering with administrators who have made up their minds about teacher performance. Another teacher told me how she was the target of a principal's efforts to purge the school of veteran teachers. The principal crafted an evaluation, using the rubric in place, that made that veteran teacher out to be someone who should never have thought about going into teaching. That teacher sent a long rebuttal to the human resources office in the form of a confidential mailing. This mailing included student data, parent feedback (e.g. thank you notes and testimonials, lesson plans and a memo that explained the teacher's work inside and outside work hours. According to the teacher, the cluster chief contacted the principal and asked how there could be such a discrepancy between the principal's poor evaluation of the teacher and the teacher's well-rounded assessment of the teacher's actual work outside of the limited observation. Suffice to say, the teacher was no longer subject to harassment from the principal. I recommend that every teacher should submit their reflections on their evaluation to the human resources office. I did because I was tired of being portrayed as a bumbling incompetent while there was a great deal of work and accomplishment that my school's administration chose to ignore or downplay in their efforts to discredit and disparage me.
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