Post by Chris_Wendt on Jan 10, 2015 8:57:15 GMT -5
The block-quoted text is from the Newsday Editorial Board, January 7, 2014. Additional commentary is mine.
• A bad or inappropriate curriculum?
• Poor implementation of an untried curriculum?
• Bad tests?
• Stupid kids?
• Poor parenting?
• Ineffective teaching?
There you have the heart of this whole thing:
• Let’s stir-up the teachers unions which will, in turn, stir-up public anti-teacher sentiment
• Then we can ride that negative public sentiment to:
o increase charter schools
o offer AP courses taught by other than public school teachers
o toughen teacher training and certification
o streamline the teacher firing process
o pursue school district mergers
Yes, this already has the teachers unions stirred up, and rightfully so.
Yes, it will lead to an increase of charter schools, which is both inevitable and something I support and endorse.
Newsday missed the boat on AP Courses, however: this is really aimed at passing legislation allowing online AP Courses in NY State, a growing trend in the nation, and also an inevitable development which I also support and encourage.
Tougher teacher training and certification is a double-edged sword. We already import teachers from Europe and recruit people from the business world because there are not enough “qualified” teachers who want to teach in our most needy schools. At the same time, we are about to start the blame game, pointing fingers and firing otherwise qualified teachers because of bad tests, a questionable curriculum, and an admittedly bad implementation; this, as massive numbers of teachers are reaching retirement age. Be careful what we wish for, here.
YES! Streamline the teacher firing process; amend Section 3020a of the Education Law to allow school principals & department heads to recommend firing teachers subject to the authority of the Superintendent and appeal to the Board of Education. That will solve the teacher firing problem.
The pursuit of school district mergers is wishful thinking. This cannot be legally mandated from on-high. If the majority of voters in both potentially merging districts do not want to merge, then a merger cannot happen. But there are more ways to address the segregation issue than school district mergers:
• Magnet Schools
• School Vouchers
• Voluntarily pooled educational opportunities, e.g. with AP course offerings, language offerings, STEM courses, arts & music curricula among groups of districts, such as Wantagh, Seaford, Plainedge, and Island Trees.
Newsday’s Editorial Board is also clueless. The Legislature will follow the winds of public opinion.
“…(A)nd the teachers unions, which likely will have to be forced to fall in line”, is perhaps the most stupid statement Newsday ever allowed in print.
Amazed (not)
Chris Wendt
chriswendt117@gmail.com
Link to source Newsday Editorial
"…Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is targeting sacred cows of education policy. For the most part, it appears the Board of Regents agrees with him.”We need to stop and think…what do these results, the above numbers, actually reflect:
“Cuomo's state operations director recently sent a letter to Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch and …education Commissioner John B. King Jr. It pointed out that statewide only 34.8 percent of students are proficient in math, only 31.4 percent are proficient in English and only 37.2 percent of graduating high schoolers are ready for college.”
• A bad or inappropriate curriculum?
• Poor implementation of an untried curriculum?
• Bad tests?
• Stupid kids?
• Poor parenting?
• Ineffective teaching?
”Those unacceptable statistics are in sharp contrast to the latest statewide teacher performance figures, which rated 95.6 percent of teachers either highly effective or effective. Those numbers just don't add up. Still, the unions were surprised when Cuomo vetoed a "safety net" bill on Dec. 29 that would have protected teachers for two years from the consequences of the new evaluation system.…”Yes, those results are unacceptable, but without understanding why, further discussion is futile. More to my point, prematurely affixing the blame on teachers and teaching is not supported by historical results or the facts, especially across most of Long Island and Westchester.
”The letter asked Tisch and King… pointed questions sure to stir up teachers unions and set the outlines of Cuomo's next big policy fight. The queries involve increasing the number of charter schools; offering advanced placement courses taught by non-public school teachers, such as college professors; toughening teacher training and certification; streamlining the teacher firing process and pursuing school district mergers.”
There you have the heart of this whole thing:
• Let’s stir-up the teachers unions which will, in turn, stir-up public anti-teacher sentiment
• Then we can ride that negative public sentiment to:
o increase charter schools
o offer AP courses taught by other than public school teachers
o toughen teacher training and certification
o streamline the teacher firing process
o pursue school district mergers
Yes, this already has the teachers unions stirred up, and rightfully so.
Yes, it will lead to an increase of charter schools, which is both inevitable and something I support and endorse.
Newsday missed the boat on AP Courses, however: this is really aimed at passing legislation allowing online AP Courses in NY State, a growing trend in the nation, and also an inevitable development which I also support and encourage.
Tougher teacher training and certification is a double-edged sword. We already import teachers from Europe and recruit people from the business world because there are not enough “qualified” teachers who want to teach in our most needy schools. At the same time, we are about to start the blame game, pointing fingers and firing otherwise qualified teachers because of bad tests, a questionable curriculum, and an admittedly bad implementation; this, as massive numbers of teachers are reaching retirement age. Be careful what we wish for, here.
YES! Streamline the teacher firing process; amend Section 3020a of the Education Law to allow school principals & department heads to recommend firing teachers subject to the authority of the Superintendent and appeal to the Board of Education. That will solve the teacher firing problem.
The pursuit of school district mergers is wishful thinking. This cannot be legally mandated from on-high. If the majority of voters in both potentially merging districts do not want to merge, then a merger cannot happen. But there are more ways to address the segregation issue than school district mergers:
• Magnet Schools
• School Vouchers
• Voluntarily pooled educational opportunities, e.g. with AP course offerings, language offerings, STEM courses, arts & music curricula among groups of districts, such as Wantagh, Seaford, Plainedge, and Island Trees.
”The Regents responded with a 20-page letter outlining possible improvements, including basing more of teachers' evaluations on state tests, setting some standards for the non-test portions of those evaluations and extending the probationary period of new teachers from three years to five so poor performers could be let go more easily.”In my opinion, the Regents are clueless.
“The Regents' letter also highlighted another problem too rarely confronted statewide: Segregation, both racial and economic, has led to huge disparities in education funding and facilities from district to district. As long as those gaps are not effectively addressed, achievement gaps will persist.”Where are the proposed solutions from the Regents? …the governor?
“Cuomo believes educators care about kids, but that the education bureaucracy's only mission is maintaining the status quo. He has enormous power over education spending and should use that as leverage in 2015 to fashion further education reform, including a more meaningful teacher evaluation system. The Regents say they're on his side. That leaves the State Legislature, which must be convinced, and the teachers unions, which likely will have to be forced to fall into line.”
Newsday’s Editorial Board is also clueless. The Legislature will follow the winds of public opinion.
“…(A)nd the teachers unions, which likely will have to be forced to fall in line”, is perhaps the most stupid statement Newsday ever allowed in print.
Amazed (not)
Chris Wendt
chriswendt117@gmail.com
Link to source Newsday Editorial