Baltimore Teachers Reject "Reform" Contract

[Hannah Bell]

This is good news; word is starting to get out.

"Baltimore teachers said thanks, but no thanks, Thursday night to a new contract that would have based their pay on student outcomes and professional development, instead of seniority and degrees.

The contract had been touted by many in education policy as a potential new model for the state, and even the nation. Even the morning of the vote, the U.S. Department of Education had bragged about the expected deal in a press release highlighting examples of cooperation between teachers and education-redesign minded managers...

The vote drew more than 2,600 teachers, with about 58 percent voting against the contract, schools Chief Executive Officer Andres Alonso said. He issued a statement stressing that he would keep working with the union..."

Next thing to do is vote out the sell-out leadership who tried to sell Baltimore teachers on the "Salary Commensurate With Test Scores and PD" jive. Then take aim at Randi Weingarten and the rest of the sell-outs in the AFT leadership who touted this piece of shit contract as a model for contracts all across the country.

http://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2010/10/baltimore-teachers-reject-reform.html

[mediaman007]

1. Maybe teachers should hold the government accountable for

the huge correlation between poverty and low test scores. No one seems to want to talk about that topic.

On edit: To address poverty is a very uncomfortable topic for the country's leadership, especially with the Wall Street bonuses announced this week.

[dkf]

2. Because poor kids can't succeed? Maybe they don't succeed because they are expected to fail

Why put time and effort into something predetermined right?

[Hannah Bell]

4. disingenuous. because more testing & union-busting will help kids "succeed," right?

as will turning teachers into temps & 86-ing students who test poorly.

[dkf]

10. Maybe teachers will pay more attention to poor kids even though they think they will fail.

That is what I think testing all students is trying to accomplish.

Now all teachers are forced to move everyone up to par.

[Catshrink]

11. Do you really think that the dedicated teachers who choose

to work in those schools don't pay attention to their students? It isn't the teachers who ignore these students. Do you understand that there is a difference in their homelife compared to those of kids in other circumstances? Do you understand the many obstacles thrown in the kids' paths? These are societal issues that need to be resolved. No teacher is saying these children cannot learn. It takes more than a classroom teacher to overcome the trauma many of these kids face. And then there's that whole Maslow thing:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs

Compare the bottom four for kids in high poverty areas vs. those in low poverty areas. Only a fool would suggest that this doesn't affect a child's readiness for and performance in school.

Testing and testing and testing certainly accomplishes one goal: enriching test publishing companies.

As for "teachers are forced to move everyone up to par," how do you propose that a teacher do that in a classroom of 40 kids, half of whom failed or "passed" with a D or D- the prerequisite course? That teacher would need to teach the previous course again as well as the current content to bring all kids up to par. Yeah, those kids shouldn't have been moved along without demonstrating a certain level of mastery but that's not how it works. How are you going to force that teacher to move these kids up to par? Is it fair to base her salary on the performance of those students?

[dkf]

14. The difficulty is that a child needs to be up to speed in all areas to be proficient

and any failure in the past just compounds itself. But if every teacher took extra hours after class and even weekends to get their kids up to speed on an individual basis, that is probably what is needed.

The testing just shows where the kids are at. It is the result.

[Catshrink]

15. Some of us do offer extra time for students to catch up

but the kids don't show up. Part of this is transportation, part of this is that the kids won't show up. You seem to have no problem telling teachers how to do their jobs, how about directing some of your expertise to telling students to do their jobs and parents to more closely monitor their kids? I have 176 students of whom 25% don't have the prerequisites to be in my classes. They won't show up for tutoring to catch up to where they should have been before entering my classes so they effectively hold up the rest of the students.

The difficulty is social promotion and lack of intervention in the lower grades. Should a student show up in high school reading at a 5th grade level?

[dkf]

16. I agree that a high school teacher can't do much for a child that has fallen so far back.

That has to be put at the feet of the teachers that came before. But just imagine if they had done a better job how much easier your job would be. Which goes to my point that every teacher must do what they can to make sure they pass on a student that is ready. To not take care of this is to do a disservice to all future teachers who will have to make up for past inadequacies.

If teachers felt they needed to be accountable to each other wouldn't that also help? And I imagine the teacher that can best assess another teacher is the one that succeeds them and gets that kid the other used to teach. I'm sure we could find patterns there. But I doubt teachers would do that because they are more interested in protecting their colleagues rather than holding them accountable.

[Catshrink]

18. No, it isn't the teachers, it's the administrators.

The teachers in the lower grades are just as frustrated as we are at the high school level. The admins don't want to upset parents. It isn't a conspiracy to protect colleagues so take off your :tinfoilhat:

[dkf]

19. Well replace the admins then. Sounds good to me.

And it's the first time I've heard the teachers pinning things directly on administration. If that is so then we need to do something about it. Maybe parents don't get as involved because they think their kids are doing fine since they moved up a level. Heck my nieces can't move to the next swimming level til they are sufficiently proficient.

And regarding my comment on teachers rating teachers...would you be willing to rate a students proficiency when they get into class if it will be used for or against another teacher?

[Catshrink]

20. I absolutely do that.

I have an assessment I give at the beginning of the school year to see where my students are. But, I would never pin the results solely on the teacher because, as an educator, I realize that more people than the individual teacher are responsible for that child's learning, namely the child and the home environment, not to mention the tendency to "lose learning" over the summer.

But, if the kids aren't being taught concepts that they need to master before getting to my level, I speak up.

And... many teachers here have commented on problems with administrators so either you've ignored those because it's more gratifying for you to bash teachers or you haven't been paying attention to the concerns of teachers.

[dkf]

21. I see administration being blamed in much smaller degrees than all the other things.

Look at all the posts and the proportionality of who comments are aimed at. I bet you will find admin at the bottom of the list.

[Smarmie Doofus]

25. We have "drive -by" admins for the most part.

That is... they drive in from the burbs and return asap each day. I've mentioned this phenomenon in numerous posts.


Does it ( i.e. their emotional and geographic removal from "the situation") influence their ability to establish... and interest in establishing... effective learning environments in our inner-city, low income school?

Well I really don't need to answer that ..... I hope.

The more insulated one is from the situation., the less one *really* cares.

This is human nature, alas.

And it applies in SPADES to the folks who are spearheading the "reform" movement. Talk about knowing "less than nothing"!

Holy cow.

[Hannah Bell]

27. you seem to think kids are automatons who will sit in class for 8, 10, 12 hours & on weekends

while their heads are stuffed.

no, they're kids. they don't *want* to be in school 10 hours a day; it will turn off more than it will help.

it's also ridiculous to think that on teacher "staying after school" or "working weekends" can bring 30 kids who are behind up to speed -- because the things they're not up to speed on are different.

it's also ridiculous to expect teachers to work for 10-14 hours a day & on weekends routinely. Overworking people doesn't lead to good results. Causing people to neglect their own families doesn't lead to good results.

If there's a need for teachers to work evenings & weekends, there's a need to HIRE MORE TEACHERS OR AIDES.

how about smaller classes & targeted individual tutoring.

[adnelson60087]

22. Dude, I love your analysis. This forum is so great

it hits Maslow and Bloom and yet, the reformers NEVER look at the knowledge we know. Amazing stuff.

[dkf]

3. This helps teachers and doesn't help students.

Yet another example of how teachers put themselves ahead of students. I don't see how this can be interpreted in any other way.

[Hannah Bell]

5. school deform doesn't help students. new orleans, new york, milwaukie,

chicago are proof, as are 5 national studies.

you keep pretending that arne's programme "works".

but it doesn't.

it's a fraud, and people know it.

[dkf]

6. Merit pay "deforms" schools?

If anything it is ineffective as studies prove paying teachers more doesn't improve their teaching...which sounds like a disincentive to pay teachers more and nothing for them to be crowing about. But I've seen no evidence that it is detrimental to performance.

[Hannah Bell]

7. Merit pay is completely ineffective. What it is successful at is dividing faculties & reducing

the sharing of ideas & materials.

That's why the deformers looooove it.

You know about as much about school deform as you do about indian & chinese education. The person who presents India as a model -- where half of kids don't even *go* to school because of poverty.

[dkf]

9. How do you think most of the world is paid?

The mentality of public employees is so odd. They actually think that being around longer is more important than doing a good job. Now THAT is deformed thinking.

[Catshrink]

12. You really have no idea

Stop painting public employees with a broad brush. It is clear that you have a deep seated hatred for unions, public employees, and especially public school teachers. Hm... Where have I heard that meme? I'm starting to get the picture.

[dkf]

13. Most of my family are public employees, including state, federal, and education employees.

I know exactly how things work.

[Hannah Bell]

17. do they know you want them to lose their jobs?

or maybe *your* relatives are the *good* public workers, v. all those other *lazy* ones.

[Hannah Bell]

28. you really think that education is served when the educators are

"competing"?

when they don't share ideas or materials or techniques because someone might get a leg up on them, because it might mean they get cut?

you don't know a good goddamn about how education actually occurs, or how good teachers are developed. or about how communities are held together.

[adnelson60087]

23. Unhappy teachers don't lead to productive students.

If a teacher is demotivated, how is a student helped??

[xchrom]

8. Recommend

[Recursion]

24. And yet DC teachers approved theirs by 3 to 1

And yet Baltimore is praised for collaboration, and DC scolded for being confrontational.

[Hannah Bell]

26. DC got suckered into it by their collaborationist union.