Hundreds of DC school employees to be dismissed

NAGR and dgrubb, you must have had horrible teachers. You can't spell or use punctuation correctly. Must be all the teachers' fault, right? Oh, wait, you said you CAN'T blame everything on others, so ... could it be your fault? Nahh. Perhaps we should apply your philosophy to the comments page here: Perform or get fired. Both of you would be forbidden to participate.

You're right about one thing, though. Teaching is NOT a business. As such, it's not measurable in any valid, fair, or consistent way. Thank god our unions are there to point that out when people rush to assume that teaching is like a science lab, with factors that can be controlled and data that can be measured.

Our unions need to start emphasizing the importance of parenting. As a high school teacher, I can't undo or overcome what happens in my kids' lives for the 23 hours and 20 minutes every day that I DON'T spend with them. Parents need to work WITH the teachers. Of course, then they'd have to stop doing something that's easy, accepted, safe, and, let's face it, even fun: BLAMING teachers!

As a parent of five children I have walked in a classroom to tell the teacher that she needs to dress proper if she wants to be treated with respect from her students. This is not a sex class. Parents today need to be more involved in the education of their children. I do however feel the Union teachers group should hold seminars to teach teachers how to gain control of their classroom from day one, and how to keep control. Something they are not learning when they become a teacher, but in this day and age if all had the same training in this area school would work smoother for all. Something to think about.

I know it's scandalous to do so in today's political climate, but I'm going to suggest that there may actually be a middle ground (gasp!) with the issue of teachers unions and their effect on public education. To fully disclose: I am a teacher and I belong to a union. I'll start off by saying that there are bad teachers out there and there should be a reasonable means to fire them should they be seen as not performing to standard. The key is making it a fair and equitable process and it needs to be negotiated.

One of the reasons that teachers unions are so protective is that teaching is an incredibly political job and the concept of "good teaching" is subjective. A teacher may get a great review from one administrator, then if a new administrator comes in the next year, they may get a terrible review even if they haven't changed a thing in their instructional practices. At the same time, unions want to protect teachers from unwarranted dismissal due to personal vendetta via administrators and/or overzealous parents.

At the same time, the union needs to give a bit and come to the table to find a fair way to evaluate teachers, one that they can feel comfortable with.

Finally, for those that would get rid of the unions: This would be disastrous for our education system. The first thing that would happen is teacher's wages would plummet. The unions are the only force that will fight for a fair wage; if they are gone, it tips the scales. This would make teaching an even less attractive profession to college graduates, which would make the talent pool among teachers very shallow. So even though you could fire the bad teacher, it would be unlikely you would find a good one.

NOMINEE FOR "EMAIL OF THE YEAR"!!!

After being interviewed by the school administration,

the prospective teacher said: 'Let me see if I've got this right.

'You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct

their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse,

monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages,

and instill in them a love for learning.

'You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war

on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their

sense of self esteem and personal pride.


'You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship,

sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote,

balance a checkbook, and apply for a job.

'You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of

antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the final

exams.

'You also want me to provide them with an equal education

regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with

their parents in English, Spanish or any other language, by letter,

telephone, newsletter, and report card.

'You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard,

a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary

that qualifies me for food stamps.

'You want me to do all this and then you tell me....I CAN'T PRAY

hi

hahahahahahah you lazy communist teachers who thought were untouchable were touched lmao!!! its about freaking time. these teachers union have held our children captive far too long. finally now maybe they will learn something from a teacher who actually cares and does there job!!! god bless america!!!!

the teachers union could give a rats @#$% if these communist teachers did their jobs or not. its about time they get a wake up call im sick of all these kids growing up only to have a fifth grade education. ask any kid in california if he can point out mongolia on a map hell shrug his shoulders! these teachers are passing these kids just so their school can continue getting its funding. THESE ARE OUR YOUTHS! TEACHING IS NOT A BUSINESS ITS A SERVICE THAT IS NEEDED TO ENSURE AMERICA STAYS COMPETETIVE IN THE WORLD. IF YOU DONT PERFORM WELL YOUR FIRED! this is great im very happy that this happend. maybe now our kids will learn something.

Well, well! Teacher's welcome to the real world. Preform or get fired. Not an intirely new idea. But one I am sure you have a tuff time understanding.
Always get a tickle when I talk to teachers. I cant teach when they dont want to learn. Like it not thier or the systems fault. If I was to try and use it at work, blame every things else but me, well it just would not work.

This story is flawed,,, it’s like the writer wants you to blame the teachers. Do you not think that why do you want to lose your job in this day and time? Teachers I would think teach with good intentions…right? Teachers are taught the test to meet the “standardized test scores” and now not? Was it the subjects that were taught an issue or was the observer that made it hard for them to teach and students to learn? I did not see any solution why the teachers were "ineffective" and why students could not be taught… Is there something more than just the teachers being fired?

freedomloss aka

1) This is President Obama's education system. His Sec. of Ed. Arne Duncan wants merit pay and teacher employment to be based largely on student performance.

2) Those condemning 'liberals' for being easy on education and wanting to 'rehire' these teachers are not knowledgeable about the current administration's education policy (see #1 above). They also do not recall Sec. Duncan applauding the firing of teachers in one Rhode Island district a few moths ago.

3) Teachers Associations vary (by state) on their support of teachers cited as not meeting standards. Most back a period of professional development (not to exceed one year) and if performance does not improve, they back dismissal. The issue here is that DC fired these teachers with no warning of poor performance (which about 700 other teachers were given). Further, since standardized tests which, in and of themselves, are not always good indicators of student achievement (some states give the tests in October, so the teacher is judged on six weeks work with the students) there are questions surrounding the validity of the measure used to deem teachers as non-proficient. Neither NEA or AFT feel that student performance should be absent in teacher evaluations. They do feel that student performance should be judged on measures including- but not limited to- standardized tests.

4) While different states require different standards for receiving a teaching credential, most states for licensing at the secondary level require a major in the subject a teacher teaches along with education coursework. For elementary teachers, states vary more widely with some requiring a major in at least one subject area plus a second major in education, some requiring a minor in a subject plus education coursework, and a very few mandating less. DC started to hire a lot of 'alternatively' licensed teachers under Michelle Rhee (who is responsible for the firings mentioned in the article.) It would be interesting to see how many of those fired were her alternatively certified (meaning little to no education coursework, but experiences that demonstrate only subject area proficiency) hires. Much of the research data out there supports that the most capable teachers have a solid foundation of content knowledge and education coursework- and are fully licensed. Not the alternatively licensed teachers of whom Ms. Rhee is so fond.