Motivating teachers through fear and reprisal does not work

By John Louis Meeks, Jr.

Thanks to CAST, the teachers are increasingly afraid of their pupils.

With apologies to Morrissey, who wrote a similarly titled song, I must point out how the teacher evaluation system in place is judging teachers based on student behaviors that are typical for their age, but can torpedo a teacher's evaluation score.

For example, I used to frequently doodle in class when I was a student.  I was paying attention, but I preferred to pass the time by making little drawings to pass the time.  Today, this would be evidence that my teacher failed to control my behavior.  What should my teacher have done?  Should he have intercepted my notes and demanded that I conform to the mandated student behavior?

When the observation day comes, teachers try to control every aspect of their lesson and their class, but end up falling prey to the feedback from administrators that focuses on the minor details that put the entire class in a negative light.  

"Mr. Smith, you gave a nice lesson but you failed to notice that a student was twiddling her thumbs.  This is proof that you did not engage that student in learning," goes the typical refrain.

And we wonder why we are creating a system in which we have teachers who are neurotic and insecure about their work.  The result in my opinion, is an increase in teachers who are demanding that students stop acting like students and that students become props in putting on shows that are designed to impress the adults in the room.

This is shameful because even the most eagle-eyed teacher cannot be expected to force children to become silent and still lambs who fit easily into a Stepford classroom filled with children who can be forced into perfect little learners who are devoid of any human element.

There, of course, is a price for many teachers who are literally begging their students to tow the line for administrators.  I know of quite a few teachers who ply their students with incentives (pizza, doughnuts, etc.) for making them look good for the folks with clipboards.  Yes, this is bribery, but it seems to be part of the game.  Others deliberately choose their 'best' classes for observation days with the hopes of limiting the potential damage of an observation.  

This supposedly foolproof observation and evaluation system is already being gamed for better results and we are fooling ourselves if we believe that it cannot be somehow manipulated to avoid failing marks.

The most frustrating aspect of this system, in my opinion, is that a teacher can have the entire class on the reservation, except for one or two who are not 'engaged.'  Those one or two students are the ones who receive the most attention from observers and are the ones who end up defining an entire class period.  It makes me wonder why teachers even bother to plan a decent lesson if their efforts are going to be discarded because CAST is training administrators to deliberately seek out ways that the teacher is not doing his or her job.

The most unintended consequence of the CAST evaluation system is that we are bringing out the aspects of teaching that made education a chore for students.  Ask any average layperson about their experience in school and they would quickly point out that public education is notorious for its treatment of students as mere parts of a larger machine.  The education establishment, however, fails to see the folly in this and continues to value collective conformity among students as a cherished virtue.  This is detrimental because every class is doomed to becoming a clinical clone of other classes for the sake of putting up the appearance of learning.

And what do we make of teaching and learning that is not part of the do-or-die CAST rubric?  Nothing.  I look back to earlier in my career when I was teaching U.S. history and encountered a student who wanted to learn about history beyond the learning schedule.  I crafted an independent study for her in which we discussed the turbulent year of 1968 and focused on the events leading up to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.  It was a highly instructive experience as we compared the political process of the late 1960s with the coming election year.  The result was a student who felt connected with learning and who eventually attended and graduated from Rutgers University.  Yes, I know I am a chronic failure as a teacher because I failed to document her reading scores and failed to pin data to a spreadsheet that made numbers dance across the computer screen.  Did I make a connection through encouraging learning?  Yes.  Did I manage to color between the lines?  No.

And, until we improve the way we evaluate our teachers, we will keep committing the grievous sin of using fear as the best motivator for teachers and we will continue to remove any real joy for teaching as the elements of teaching are reduced to being petty supervisors who are increasingly afraid of their charges acting their age.

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Why are Bill Gates and Rupert Murdoch really interested in Education?

https://www.inbloom.org/sites/default/files/docs-developer-1.0.68-20130118/ch-data_model-

Teacher appreciation week comes to an end, did Obama even notice it happened.

Probably not as he declared this charter school week.

A Charter School Teacher wrote into the Diane Ravitch blog and this is what she said about all that appreciation she was getting.

“I’ve been an educator in Columbus, Ohio since university. In my 8th year, I currently earn 34,000 before taxes at a 9-12 charter school. I can be fired at any time. I have no tenure, no union, and scarce resources to teach. I also act as a librarian, though I wear no such title nor do I earn pay for wearing this hat. Students come in and depart through a revolving door of enrollment procedures I am not privy to. I’ve seen two administrators at two different charter schools resign because they were stealing. One continues his work at another charter in the city. My family needs the money I earn, so I must teach, but I just pray a public school gives me a chance.”

This is what Diane Ravith had to say.

Bear in mind that almost 90% of charters are non-union, that charters may fire teachers at will, that charter teachers do not have tenure, that many charters are known for high teacher turnover due to the stress of longer school days, and that many do not hire certified teachers. In some states, like Ohio, charter teachers earn half as much as public school teachers, because the charter teachers are typically younger and less experienced.

Mr. President it would have been better had you kept silent and let teachers think you were a douche with terrible education policies and a palpable disrespect for teachers rather than to make your idiotic proclamation and confirm it.

Thanks for nothing.

How many years in prison should Jeb Bush get?

How many years in prison should Jeb Bush get?

Pennsylvania judge Mark Ciavarella Jr was sentenced to 28 years in prison for conspiring with private prisons to sentence children to maximum sentences in return for bribes and kickbacks, which totaled millions of dollars. Ciavarella used his public position to trade the lives and futures of children for 30 pieces of silver.

What does this have to do with Jeb Bush? Well isn’t Bush doing the same thing? Isn’t he ruining kids futures to make a buck?

Think about it, charter school operators, virtual school operators, testing companies and voucher proponents, all privateers of public education, fund his foundation. He is making money off of them so they in turn can make money off our children. His brother Neil Bush made lots of money already.

Jeb Bush conspiring with private education concerns has sentenced many children to a mediocre education and a tenuous future at best. This guy in Pennsylvania got 28 years for basically doing the same thing.  

How many years should Jeb Bush get?

The Mythopoly of Public Education

You hear all the time about the monopoly of public education. What about private schools and home schooling aren’t those two options that people have had since the first one room schoolhouse? Public schools have never been a monopoly and that is just another myth that the school choice crowd like to spread.

The real thing is the school choice crowd wants the public to subsidize their choices. Strangely enough most are against welfare in other areas of society, that or they want to profit off of education, taking money out of the classroom and depositing it in their bank accounts. 

12 ways charter schools influence enrollment, i.e. pick who they take and keep

Below is from an article by Kevin Welner from Teachers College record, to read the entire piece click the link at the botton. -DRT

#1: DESCRIPTION AND DESIGN: WHICH NICHE?

The designers of a new charter school face a variety of decisions. Will the school portray itself as focused on rigorous academics? Or perhaps the design will cater to children with autism? Will it have the facilities to provide free or reduced-price lunch? Will it have teachers for English learners and for students with special needs? In short, which niche will it be designed to fill? Given the high-stakes accountability context, a school designed to serve an at-risk student population will face greater survival obstacles. Low test scores lead to lower school performance ratings and eventually to closure. In contrast, high test scores lead to acclaim and to positive word-of-mouth from realtors, press, friends and neighbors. In short, nothing succeeds like success, and the greatest determinants of success are the raw materials – the students who enroll.

#2: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

As has long been recognized by the courts, the siting of a school is an effective way to influence student demographics (Kennedy, 2007). A school that intends to serve students who live in an urban area will locate in that neighborhood, while a school with an intent to serve a suburban population will make a different decision. Because families with less wealth tend to have fewer transportation options, this is particularly important when thinking about disadvantaged groups.

#3: MAD MEN: THE POWER OF MARKETING AND ADVERTISING

Charter schools are not allowed to directly select students based on those students’ demographic characteristics. But if a school wants to enroll English learners, it will produce and distribute materials in the first language of those families. If it does not, it will produce and distribute materials overwhelmingly in English. Similar decisions can be made regarding special needs populations and lower-income populations. And if it wants students with higher incoming test scores and a drive to excel academically, it can advertise as “college prep” and highlight the rigor of its curriculum. Even the visual images used in marketing materials can send distinct messages about who is welcome and who is not. When a school makes deliberate decisions about how and where to market, it is exercising influence over who applies.

#4: HOOPING IT UP: CONDITIONS PLACED ON APPLICATIONS

Through the application process, charter schools can control the pipeline that leads to enrolled students. If less desirable students do not apply, they will not be enrolled. Charter schools are usually in charge of their own application processes, and many impose a daunting array of conditions. These include lengthy application forms such as a required essay simply to get into the lottery, mandatory character references, parents required to visit the school before applying, short time windows to file the applications, special ‘pre-enrollment’ periods for insiders, and admissions tests to determine grade placement or learning group. These policies and practices can directly turn away families (I’m sorry, but you can’t enroll here because you didn’t visit). Further, they can serve their purpose by discouraging parents who lack the time, resources, or overall commitment to jump through the hoops.

#5: AS LONG AS YOU DON’T GET CAUGHT: ILLEGAL AND DICEY PRACTICES

As noted earlier, Simon (2013) documents instances of charter schools that require applications to “present Social Security cards and birth certificates for their applications to be considered, even though such documents cannot be required under federal law.” She also notes some schools that require special needs applicants to document their disabilities – which may or may not be illegal but which is certainly contrary to the intent and spirit of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Such policies will have the effect of discouraging special needs students and, in some communities, minimizing the enrollment of immigrant students. Another troubling, and possibly illegal, practice involves elementary-level charters with attached, private pre-k schools that charge substantial tuition – and the using of that pre-k school to funnel students into the public charter and thereby create a wealthier student demographic (see, e.g., Dreilinger, 2012; Ferguson, 2011; Ferguson & Royal, 2011).

#6: SEND US YOUR BEST: CONDITIONS PLACED ON ENROLLMENT

Simon’s (2013) article also pointed to “One charter high school in [California that] will not consider applicants with less than a 2.0 grade point average. Another will only admit students who passed Algebra I in middle school with a grade of B or better.” She also points to states that allow a charter school to give an admissions preference to students based on a demonstration of interest in that school’s theme or focus: “Some schools use that leeway to screen for students who are ready for advanced math classes or have stellar standardized test scores.” Other charter schools, including KIPP, require that students and their families commit to longer school days and school hours. Many also require so-called ‘sweat equity’ contracts from parents, whereby they commit to contribute service to the school. As with conditions placed on applications, these conditions of enrollment can work by directly turning away families as well as by discouraging families perceived to be less desirable.

#7: THE BUM STEER

Connected to these application and enrollment practices is the old practice of steering away less desirable students (Fiore, et al., 2000). The typical scenario involves the parent of a high-needs child who drops by the school to inquire about enrolling and is told that opportunities for that child will be much richer at the public school down the road. These are among the allegations in the Southern Poverty Law Center’s lawsuit against the Recovery School District in New Orleans (Mock, 2010).

#8: NOT IN SERVICE

As noted above, a charter school may or may not have services designed to meet the needs of a given group of higher-needs children. For instance, teachers with TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) training or certification may be unavailable. Similarly, a charter school may not have the resources necessary to meet the special needs of a child with so-called low-incidence disabilities. But even reading specialists, for instance, may be unavailable. While a charter school may not, under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), be legally entitled to reject a student with special needs and his or her individualized education plan (IEP), pointing out the unavailability of resources and services is often sufficient to do the trick (Welner & Howe, 2005).

#9: THE FITNESS TEST: COUNSELING OUT

Parents of less successful students or those who are viewed as a poor fit may simply be told that they should consider a different option. This is usually accomplished through ongoing meetings with the charter schools’ teachers and administrators. (Bobby isn’t responding well to instruction, getting along well with other students, etc.) In a school choice context, a reasonable way to address a disappointing experience is to seek out a different school, and a nudge from school staff can help move this process along.

#10: FLUNK OR LEAVE: GRADE RETENTION

One such nudge can be provided by telling the student and parent that if the student remains at the school, she will be retained in grade. Grade retention is extensively used, for instance, at KIPP charter schools. One effect of such policies is to rebuke less successful students and to suggest that those students may do better elsewhere (and to inform them that they will have to go elsewhere if they want to graduate on time).

#11: DISCIPLINE AND PUNISH

Charter schools’ discipline policies generally differ from those of their nearby school districts. Washington DC’s charter schools, for example, have much higher expulsion rates than do district schools (Brown, 2013). The New York Times reported in 2012 about a charter school in Chicago that has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines from students for infractions like “not looking a teacher in the eye” (Vevea, 2012). Through direct expulsion and through harsh discipline regimes, such charter schools are able to maintain a more controlled school environment, but one effect of doing so is the selective removal of students who are more disruptive – or, in the case of the Chicago school, less able to afford the fines.

#12: GOING MOBILE (OR NOT)

Low-income communities across the country tend to have high rates of student mobility. Many students exit and enter each year and – most disruptively for all – during the school year. Neighborhood public schools generally have no power to limit this mobility and must focus instead on minimizing the disruption. Charter schools, however, can decide to enroll few or no new students during the year or in higher grades. Researchers refer to this addition of new students as a choice of whether or not to “backfill” the students charters lose through normal attrition or through counseling out. A related issue is the common practice among new charter schools of ‘feeding from below.’ To illustrate, imagine a new charter authorized to serve grades k-8. Such a school would often open with just grades k-2, and then each year would bring in a new kindergarten cohort and extend up one year, to k-3, then k-4, and so on. This approach tends to create stability and to screen out more transient students and families.

http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=17104

The interest on student loans should be?

Elizabeth Warren says students should pay the same rate that banks do.







To read more, click the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/08/elizabeth-warren-student-loans_n_3240407.html

Is anybody else sick of Obama’s education policies too or Obama you don’t thank teachers by stabbing them in the back

I don’t have a problem with Benghazi, the economy, gay marriage, Obamacare or ninety percent of the other things he does but then I come full circle back to his disastrous education polices and think what does that other stuff matter if he destroy the institution, public education, that arguably made this country great?

Oh Obama let me count the ways you are sticking a knife in the back of teachers and public education.

1. You talk the talk but you do not walk the walk. You go on and on about how teachers are important but then all the policies you put in place and support, charter schools, test based evaluations and high stakes tests kneecap us.

2. Race to the Top, when you were elected we thought you were going to get rid of No Child Left Behind but instead you doubled down on it and worse you took districts and states desperation at the height of the economic meltdown and you made them trade local control to what amounts to pennies on the dollar. Plus education is not a freaking race, sheesh!!!

3. Arne Duncan, he is the most reviled secretary of education in history, unless you are hedge fund managers or investment bankers; they are inviting him over and lighting their cigars with hundred dollar bills. His support of corporate reforms is widening the achievement gap and ensuring a generation of kids always stay in poverty.

4. Penny Pritzker, nominated as Secretary of Commerce, is heavily invested in charter schools funded with the tax money taken from the 50+ Chicago Public Schools she approved closing. She even had one named after herself. What Jeb Bush, the granddaddy of the privatize public school movement wasn’t available for a position? 

5. Not realizing this was teacher appreciation week, he declared the week Charter School Week, you know those defacto private schools that steal money from public schools and despite the fact they can pick who they both take and keep, giving them a tremendous advantage, do a poor job. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/05/03/presidential-proclamation-national-charter-schools-week-2013 

I would say he was a complete tool but I have this amazing screwdriver and I don’t want to insult it 

Above was inspired by the Reclaimreform.com post, http://reclaimreform.com/2013/05/07/teacher-appreciation-week-has-drastically-changed-within-one-week/

Many Florida end of course exams start six weeks before school ends

The geometry and biology EOC is scheduled for between 4/23-5/11.

The algebra test gives the kids another week, 4/30-5/18.

What’s wrong with Florida? Why can’t we get anything right? Not only are some of the END OF THE COURSE tests scheduled to start in some cases six weeks before school ends but then just days after the FCAT too.

It's like we are setting kids and schools up for failure. Or maybe that’s the point.

We complain about kids and parents not doing their part but what about the adults that are supposed to be in charge?

Diane Ravitch, schools haven't failed, government policies have!

Bill Gates is wrong. American education is not “broken.”

Federal education policy is broken.

Testing children until they cry is a bad idea. It is educational malpractice.

Basing teachers’ evaluation, their salary, and their tenure on student test scores is a bad idea. It doesn’t work. It is professional malpractice. The Gates Foundation has invested hundreds of millions of dollars trying to make it work. It doesn’t work. Arne Duncan has made it a cardinal principle of federal education policy. It doesn’t work.

Giving bonuses to teachers based on test scores is a failed idea. It has never worked. The U.S. Department of Education under Duncan put $1 billion into such programs. They fail.

Closing schools doesn’t make them better. It shatters communities and sends children to search for a school that will accept them. That’s federal policy. It’s wrong. It is wrong in Chicago and it is wrong everywhere else.

There is no such thing as a “failing school.” Schools are buildings. Buildings don’t fail. If the students in a school have low test scores, it is the responsibility of the superintendent to find out why and to supply the needed staff and resources to improve the school.

When schools struggle, it is the responsibility of the people at the top to help them, not to close them.

Federal education policy, from No Child Left Behind to Race to the Top, is broken. It has failed. It must be changed.

http://dianeravitch.net/2013/05/05/zombie-federal-policies/