Teachers union threatens
The Los Angeles teachers union president said Sunday he was organizing a “massive boycott” of The Times after the newspaper began publishing a series of articles that uses student test scores to estimate the effectiveness of district teachers.
“You’re leading people in a dangerous direction, making it seem like you can judge the quality of a teacher by … a test,” said A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, which has more than 40,000 members.
Can you IMAGINE grading someone based on test performance??? No WONDER the teachers union is so upset.
i like the idea of grading someone on test performance ... as long as it is an objective evaluation
what kind of test performance would be expected of a classroom of historically high achieving students
now, what test results would you expect from a classroom filled with historically poor performing students
if we measured the performance each of the students in each class from the beginning of the year until the end, and compared the improvement in scores over that time, weighted by the student's historic performance - then i think you will have begun to establish an objective measure
and the teacher's assessment of their administrative staff at their schools should be used to the same extent of the administrators' subjective assessments of the teachers (360 degree performance appraisal)
go to
RateMyTeachers.com | Teacher and Campus Ratings provided by Students and Parents ... the students know who is and is not a good teacher ... so do the other teachers. they also know who is an ineffective prinicipal
here were a couple of quotes in the story (
Los Angeles ) that jumped out at me:
She quotes a sentiment that Duffy and UTLA officials have made into something of a motto: "It's so subjective, and getting rid of teachers should never be subjective."
in reading this article, we find that a staff of SIX attorneys is unable to process more than seven terminations for cause. only one of which the teacher did not prevail. the lament should be about the piss poor administration (1) which cannot negotiate reasonable terms in the union contract to expedite the out processing of teachers found inadequate; (2) which issues tenure without adequate justification (and why the need for tenure, anyway); (3) which cannot/will not objectively document the record and initiate the outprocessing of inadequate teachers
there is a group in the education system which is clearly not doing it job to properly educate our children - it's the (mis)management of the education system
Duffy disagrees with her assessment, saying, "The vast majority of teachers are doing a good job. I can't begin to tell you how many vindictive principals there are."
there are LOTS of administrators in positions of authority who abuse that authority because their subordinate is someone with whom they personally dislike - frequently because that teacher will not act obsequious
my wife is a retired teacher; i am an active union official (but not of a teachers' union). abuses of authority by principals was frequently found ... but almost always ignore by the higher ups
our kids deserve good teachers
they need a good education
but it is the management of the education system which is inadequate
that is where the change needs to happen