This is the blog section of the PURE Reform website. Please leave your thoughts and comments here.
PURE Reform has created this blog as a forum for parents, teachers and community members to share information and voice concerns regrading the reform process in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Although we would like to foster constructive dialogue, PURE Reform does not edit content. The views expressed by bloggers in this forum are not necessarily views held by PURE Reform.
To comment on an existing topic, go to the line at the bottom of the post for that topic that begins "Posted by..." That line will list "1 comment," "2 comments," etc. Click on "comments," then leave your comment in the box provided. To post as Anonymous, no registration is required, OR you can choose an identity.
To suggest a new topic, go to this month's post labeled "Start a New Post" and add your comment (as described above) about the new suggested topic. PURE Reform will use these comments to start new posts.
Good for Secretary Tomalis! Given current 'irregularities' it will be helpful to have a review of 2010 PSSA results in the next month.
The School Scores will be released to Districts early next week and since we know that there are often many creative representations of the DATA, a review may help Districts be more straightforward in the release of PSSA results.
In a time when there is no money for public education, I'm at a loss to explain how anyone can laud Tomalis for what amounts to yet another attempt to castigate teachers. To Mr.Tomalis, teachers do not handle PSSA testing in PPS. They administer and proctor tests but essentially have the tests delivered to them and picked up from them by administration. Sorry, pal. And Tomalis should know that no administrator I have ever known would lower him-or herself to change answers, the pressure he speaks of notwithstanding. When will political hacks like Tomalis be told to find real work that does not depend on living off of the blood and sweat of taxpayers? And when will the general public see republicans for what they are? Here in Pennsylvania, the picture is clear: smash teachers but line your pockets with profits from energy companies.
Your perspective is always defensive, no matter what the issue, you by your defensiveness imply that teachers are being blamed for something, anything, whatever is wrong with education even when teachers are not mentioned or indicated as the problem. It is very self-defeating. Such bitterness rubs off in ways that certainly are not advantageous to the honorable profession of teaching.
The "irregularities" come in varied forms and to defend teachers carte blanche and ad infinitum does good teachers a great disservice.
Friend, please understand the landscape and understand the times. Whether you care for my defensiveness or not, the fact remains that teachers are under the gun. Whether you like my posture or not, the fact remains that we have no viable union to represent our interests. Perhaps you are not familiar with Secretary Tomalis's comments about testing and teachers. That's what prompted my comments. As for defending teachers, please know that I will consistently choose to believe that most teachers are "the good teachers" you make reference to and instead continue to embrace the philosophy that failure to speak up in the era of governmental, business world and ivory tower types who wish to run public education with an agenda as a disservice to all teachers, everywhere. In other words, I'm not too concerned about your perceptions.
I agree with your postings here. What isn't understood is that most times when teachers speak up with solutions to problems, no one listens to them. If the ivory tower had considered the teachers in the first place, our district might not be where it is today.
Most of the community is unaware that today's "coversations" and in-services with teachers are very controlled. If teachers honestly look back even 3 years, there was a different climate, open discussion, sharing of ideas, etc. Teachers have grown in this environment. They honestly dont know how to respond when questioning means you have a problem; a feeling that you will be harassed more for questioning. Education was never a place before where the word FIDELITY to the script was even discussed. It is Orwellian.
Old Timer and Others: Teachers do not need to "speak up." Instead, they need to do the right thing. They need to use what they have learned, as "highly-qualified teachers" to EDUCATE the children in each of their classroom to the highest possible standard. (If in doubt about this, check the PDE website for ways and means to this end.)
Teachers far outnumber and far outweigh administrators in "influence" upon children (and thereby parents). Teachers are the experts, teachers are responsible, teachers are in a position each and every day to profoundly impact the lives of each and every student. Do that with the knowledge, the influence, and the opportunity for success! You will trump any administrator or foundation or business entrepreneur that comes down the pike!
If a school has 85% of the children NOT proficient, it should be closed since we are 10 years into the effort to improve education.
Sounds like we do not need those schools as it certainly would appear that whether or not the teachers are "refusing" to educate as you say; but, rather, that they are clearly NOT UP TO THE TASK.
How can there be any doubt about that?
Schools exist (with teachers employed) to educate children, if they cannot do better that a 15% proficiency rate what justification is there to continue this rate of failure?
What if a school has already been closed and reopened? For example, what if a low percentage of 11th graders at Milliones scored proficient in math this year? And Westinghouse is technically "closing" this year, but plans for next year don't seem all that different from what is already happening. Do the teachers just need to be shuffled around and reminded to use their skills?
"Old Timer and Others: Teachers do not need to "speak up." Instead, they need to do the right thing. They need to use what they have learned, as "highly-qualified teachers" to EDUCATE the children in each of their classroom to the highest possible standard."
Have you seen the curriculum? Teachers are NOT, absolutely NOT allowed to use what they learned to be "highly qualified" nor to use what they've learned in years of teaching.
They are asked (at least at the K-5 level) to "point to where you are in the script right now" when a district observer or principal comes in.
Do you understand what that means? That means that if they are not within a minute or two of where "they should be" in that script, they will be told to improve and observed again.
Honestly, with this curriculum, it would almost be better to have it presented by robots to the children. At least then there would be "proof" that the curriculum was presented as intended and when scores went down even further, we'd know it was...the curriculum and not the teachers or robots.
Teaching as it currently is envisioned by the "reform movement" aren't respected professionals who can have opinions and ideas and who can work with other teachers. Nope, they are just "delivery systems."
If you think this isn't true, you need to visit some schools.
Another thing to consider is the time required to obtain help students need. If for example there are in a school 30 students per teacher and 10 students each need maybe 8 hourse of work obtaining counseling, referrals, eyeglasses, behavioral services, etc., and the school day plus several hours after school are already booked with teaching, preparation, paperwork and contacting parents- where do the 80 hours (generally between 8 to 4 on weekdays) to obtain social services come from?
14 comments:
http://motherjones.com/contributor/2011/07/education-reform-paul-tough-geoffrey-canada
Good for Secretary Tomalis! Given current 'irregularities' it will be helpful to have a review of 2010 PSSA results in the next month.
The School Scores will be released to Districts early next week and since we know that there are often many creative representations of the DATA, a review may help Districts be more straightforward in the release of PSSA results.
In a time when there is no money for public education, I'm at a loss to explain how anyone can laud Tomalis for what amounts to yet another attempt to castigate teachers. To Mr.Tomalis, teachers do not handle PSSA testing in PPS. They administer and proctor tests but essentially have the tests delivered to them and picked up from them by administration. Sorry, pal.
And Tomalis should know that no administrator I have ever known would lower him-or herself to change answers, the pressure he speaks of notwithstanding.
When will political hacks like Tomalis be told to find real work that does not depend on living off of the blood and sweat of taxpayers?
And when will the general public see republicans for what they are? Here in Pennsylvania, the picture is clear: smash teachers but line your pockets with profits from energy companies.
Old Timer:
Your perspective is always defensive, no matter what the issue, you by your defensiveness imply that teachers are being blamed for something, anything, whatever is wrong with education even when teachers are not mentioned or indicated as the problem. It is very self-defeating. Such bitterness rubs off in ways that certainly are not advantageous to the honorable profession of teaching.
The "irregularities" come in varied forms and to defend teachers carte blanche and ad infinitum does good teachers a great disservice.
Friend, please understand the landscape and understand the times. Whether you care for my defensiveness or not, the fact remains that teachers are under the gun. Whether you like my posture or not, the fact remains that we have no viable union to represent our interests.
Perhaps you are not familiar with Secretary Tomalis's comments about testing and teachers. That's what prompted my comments.
As for defending teachers, please know that I will consistently choose to believe that most teachers are "the good teachers" you make reference to and instead continue to embrace the philosophy that failure to speak up in the era of governmental, business world and ivory tower types who wish to run public education with an agenda as a disservice to all teachers, everywhere.
In other words, I'm not too concerned about your perceptions.
Old Timer:
Nicely stated! Especially the part about embracing the philosophy to speak up!
(Please, though, speak up with 'solutions' and eliminate the 'castigations' making your comments much more powerful.)
1:03
Old Timer:
I agree with your postings here. What isn't understood is that most times when teachers speak up with solutions to problems, no one listens to them. If the ivory tower had considered the teachers in the first place, our district might not be where it is today.
Most of the community is unaware that today's "coversations" and in-services with teachers are very controlled. If teachers honestly look back even 3 years, there was a different climate, open discussion, sharing of ideas, etc.
Teachers have grown in this environment. They honestly dont know how to respond when questioning means you have a problem; a feeling that you will be harassed more for questioning. Education was never a place before where the word FIDELITY to the script was even discussed. It is
Orwellian.
Old Timer and Others: Teachers do not need to "speak up." Instead, they need to do the right thing. They need to use what they have learned, as "highly-qualified teachers" to EDUCATE the children in each of their classroom to the highest possible standard. (If in doubt about this, check the PDE website for ways and means to this end.)
Teachers far outnumber and far outweigh administrators in "influence" upon children (and thereby parents). Teachers are the experts, teachers are responsible, teachers are in a position each and every day to profoundly impact the lives of each and every student. Do that with the knowledge, the influence, and the opportunity for success! You will trump any administrator or foundation or business entrepreneur that comes down the pike!
There are schools where 85% of students are not proficient.
Are 85% of teachers in those schools refusing to use their skills to EDUCATE the children? Do they just need a pep talk?
If a school has 85% of the children NOT proficient, it should be closed since we are 10 years into the effort to improve education.
Sounds like we do not need those schools as it certainly would appear that whether or not the teachers are "refusing" to educate as you say; but, rather, that they are clearly NOT UP TO THE TASK.
How can there be any doubt about that?
Schools exist (with teachers employed) to educate children, if they cannot do better that a 15% proficiency rate what justification is there to continue this rate of failure?
What if a school has already been closed and reopened? For example, what if a low percentage of 11th graders at Milliones scored proficient in math this year? And Westinghouse is technically "closing" this year, but plans for next year don't seem all that different from what is already happening. Do the teachers just need to be shuffled around and reminded to use their skills?
"Old Timer and Others: Teachers do not need to "speak up." Instead, they need to do the right thing. They need to use what they have learned, as "highly-qualified teachers" to EDUCATE the children in each of their classroom to the highest possible standard."
Have you seen the curriculum? Teachers are NOT, absolutely NOT allowed to use what they learned to be "highly qualified" nor to use what they've learned in years of teaching.
They are asked (at least at the K-5 level) to "point to where you are in the script right now" when a district observer or principal comes in.
Do you understand what that means? That means that if they are not within a minute or two of where "they should be" in that script, they will be told to improve and observed again.
Honestly, with this curriculum, it would almost be better to have it presented by robots to the children. At least then there would be "proof" that the curriculum was presented as intended and when scores went down even further, we'd know it was...the curriculum and not the teachers or robots.
Teaching as it currently is envisioned by the "reform movement" aren't respected professionals who can have opinions and ideas and who can work with other teachers. Nope, they are just "delivery systems."
If you think this isn't true, you need to visit some schools.
Another thing to consider is the time required to obtain help students need. If for example there are in a school 30 students per teacher and 10 students each need maybe 8 hourse of work obtaining counseling, referrals, eyeglasses, behavioral services, etc., and the school day plus several hours after school are already booked with teaching, preparation, paperwork and contacting parents- where do the 80 hours (generally between 8 to 4 on weekdays) to obtain social services come from?
Post a Comment