A Teacher's Value Can't Be Determined by a Computerized Test

[GoodWitch58]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/opinion/31lee.html?_r=1&hp

But how exactly do we measure the value of a teacher?

I can now appreciate how much courage it must have taken for those teachers to let me deviate so broadly from the lesson plan. With today?s pressure on teachers to ?teach to the test,? I wonder if any would or could take the time to coax out the potential in a single, shy student.

If we want to understand how much teachers are worth, we should remember how much we were formed by our own schooldays. Good teaching helps make productive and fully realized adults ? a result that won?t show up in each semester?s test scores and statistics.

That?s easy to forget, as budget battles rage and teacher performance is viewed through the cold metrics of the balance sheet. While the love of literature and confidence I gained from Ms. Leibfried?s class shaped my career and my life, after only four short years at Hibbing High School, she was laid off because of budget cuts, and never taught again.

Today's shortsighted approach to balancing the budget will result in devastating results down the line, if some serious thought is not given to the consequences of a taking a meat ax to our safety net of services and our educational system. While lawmakers may congratulate themselves on "cutting and balancing", who will look at the lives that have been adversely affected and the opportunities lost...Florida is about more than a balanced budget--our quality of life and the quality of lives of future Floridians are at stake--and could be lost forever.

 

[GoodWitch58]

Does teacher merit pay bill rely on flawed model? | The Florida Tribune

By the time it?s fully implemented in 2014, the bill mandates that all Florida teachers will be evaluated annually according to the much-touted value-added model. The rubric is a relatively customizable combination of their students? FCAT scores and factors outside a teacher?s control, such as student absenteeism.

Last month, an impressive cadre of Florida teachers converged on the Capitol to deliver a message they say was never heard: that the way SB 736 will carry out the value-added model can?t work to evaluate individual teachers. Studies show they might be right.

I have to wonder about the wisdom of politicians making laws about education without listening to the teachers or looking at the primary source research...

 

[GoodWitch58]

Volunteer to Help Schools...

New education push: 1 million volunteers to help struggling students - CSMonitor.com

United Way Worldwide (UWW) announced Thursday an effort to recruit 1 million volunteers over the next three years to improve education.

People believe communities can?t be strong without strong schools ? and vice versa ? according to a new UWW report based on dozens of community conversations, focus groups, and polling data in urban and rural settings.

Maybe voluntteers can do what the reformers in the legislature and Congress haven't been able to...

 

[idlewind]

New education push: 1 million volunteers to help struggling students - CSMonitor.com

Maybe voluntteers can do what the reformers in the legislature and Congress haven't been able to...

The solution is to end the educational dictatorship of Wshington and Tallahassee and return control of our schools to the local school board. Local people fixing local problems is far better than a one size fits all approach. It is appalling that both parties think bigger is better.

 

[Bob Wells]

The solution is to end the educational dictatorship of Wshington and Tallahassee and return control of our schools to the local school board. Local people fixing local problems is far better than a one size fits all approach. It is appalling that both parties think bigger is better.

Would you also prefer that locals fund the entire cost of local schools?

 

[Bob]

public teachers deserve more than pay cuts, harassment and disrespect

 

[Bob]

Does teacher merit pay bill rely on flawed model? | The Florida Tribune

I have to wonder about the wisdom of politicians making laws about education without listening to the teachers or looking at the primary source research...

the law was about punishing a class of professionals deemed to be aligned with democrats. most teachers at our local elementary school never belonged to the union.

 

[Bob Wells]

And now our Legislators are going to attempt an end run around The class size amendment that the PEOPLE OF FLORIDA PASSED twice.
Lawmakers seek ways around class-size rules - Florida - MiamiHerald.com

 

[GoodWitch58]

who are these people the citizens of Florida have elected?

they are taking us backwards!