Monday, January 12, 2015

PPS seeking minority teachers for PRC, etc.

From the PG:


New Post:

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2015/01/12/Pittsburgh-pushing-minority-teachers-for-leadership-roles/stories/201501090221

32 comments:

Questioner said...

PPS has not presented convincing proof that these positions are effective, regardless of who holds them.

Anonymous said...

These PRC positions are not effective. The idea itself has some merit, but in typical PPS fashion, the teachers are not free to make their own decisions on anything. So the program has degenerated into another tangled mess.

However, this latest PPS ploy will kick the can down the road for another year or so. That's the bottom line.

Questioner said...

Someone sent a comment that disappeared from the system, would you please resend- thanks.

Anonymous said...

So, in other words if you are white don't even bother to apply because you won't get any of these positions. If the white population did this it would be racist....

PPSparent said...

Obviously, Anonymous, they do give the positions to white teachers. If they didn't, they wouldn't have a disproportionate number of white teachers in these positions.

It seems pretty clear that they are letting everyone know that IF there are two equally qualified candidates, sure, the minority teacher will get the slot.

But if there are positions with no interested minority candidates OR with a candidate who is clearly the best qualified, then that position could be filled by a non-minority teacher. These aren't just random slots that can be filled by any teacher, of any subject.

Anonymous said...

I wasn't talking about "teaching" positions. I was talking about these new positions that they are creating. Believe me, I'm sure that they hire every black teacher that they can get their hands on since the understand how to teach to black children so much better than white teachers do. After all, children are SO different based solely on the color of their skin. I thought as our society progressed we were supposed to see less color not more.......what a shame that we are going back to the 40's and 50's only this time everything is reversed.....reversed discrimination that is....

Anonymous said...

The first thing that HR needs to know how to do is distinguish between who/what IS a quality teacher and who/what IS NOT a quality teacher. When you have a whole crew of young people who know nothing about teaching at all doing all of the processing you will get what we now have----a whole lot of bright, good-looking, young people who do not have a clue about "quality teaching." It is not their fault that they are failing at the task---rather it is because they applied and were selected for all of the wrong reasons on both sides.
Additionally, the failure is in no small part due to teacher preparation institutions who do not have successful programs in place.

And finally, as long as the blame for failure can be displaced to the students, their parents, or the community, there is no hope for students. The adult quest for the almighty dollar always takes priority. 1) Young inexperienced/ill-prepared teachers cost districts less than money; and 2) The universities just want students, the more the better with programs that are outdated with few criteria for certification.

Anonymous said...

To the above comment.....Like it or not Parents are as much to blame (if not more) than the teachers. Today's parents do NOT back up the educational system. They always take their child's side and do not back up the teacher. Most parents don't keep up on their children's homework or classroom expectations let alone make sure that their kids get enough sleep or get out the door in the morning. It's a SHARED responsibility.

Anonymous said...

5:45
Without knowing who applied for the positions, it isn't obvious they give a disproportionate amount to white teachers. They can only hire people who apply. They would need to release the number of black vs white teachers who applied to determinine if a disproportionate were hired.

If 5 black and 5 white applied for 7 positions and 5 white and 2 black were hired, that might point to a problem. But if only 3 black and 7 white applied and 3 black and 5 white were hired, it still looks like a problem because the white still outnumbers the black, but it is actually disproportionate number of black because they would have been hired at a higher rate (100%) than white teachers.

This is how PPS, the PG, A+ schools, etc play to our emotions and first impression and don't expect us to actually THINK about the quality of the data. We can't determine anything without knowing the exact number of black vs. white applicants and how many of each were hired.

PPSparent said...

@ 9:35

I'd hate to say duh, but if you look at it, that's exactly what they're saying with this initiative. That is, that they are reaching out to the minority teachers -- increasing the pool of those who apply, that is.

The disproportionate is in the numbers reported -- %age of minority teachers vs. %age of minority teachers in these positions. That's a pretty clear fact, rather than an easily manipulated variable.

However, unless they break down all the data (years of service, education levels, etc.) you can't really determine the quality of their numbers, though, I agree.

Anonymous said...

7;12 just proved the point since clearly parents and community are not IN schools! As long as those IN schools can BLAME others (who are not IN schools) there is no accountability IN schools.

Anonymous said...

Yes so you all call it reverse DISCRIMINATION ok let's point something out being since you want to go down that.
Say in a predominantly white student population like
Upper ST Clair suppose the majority of teachers were BLACK in they wanted more WHITE teachers and we say REVERSE DISCRIMINATION they say not so yet it be ok for them to say not true !!!!!!!!!!GET THE POINT you are the same ones who follow FOX NEWS RIGHT

Anonymous said...

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2015/01/12/Pittsburgh-pushing-minority-teachers-for-leadership-roles/stories/201501090221

Comments that are posted on P-G at end of the article are right on target.

And if I am a qualified, excellent minority teacher, and have any sense, I don't want to risk being placed in a "troubled" school such as UPrep for $11,00 extra dollars. Taxes eat most of it anyway.
The money isn't worth the aggravation. If I already teach in one of these schools, I want to teach and go home.

Anonymous said...

Lord have mercy! U Prep needs only adults who are committed to the children/students.

Those who are there for the money or to "teach and go home" need not take the position in the first place. Go someplace where you want to be!!! Please!

Anonymous said...

10:28


By teach and go home, I didn't mean I am not there for my students or I don't want to be there. I meant that I am not buying into any PPS BS. All of their rhetoric is just hot air trying to take blame away from Central Administration. They dropped the ball in our schools. I don't need extra money to do my job. I do it and don't need a "title" to do it and do it well.

Anonymous said...


For those of us not in the teaching profession who were lucky enough to work in environments where high morale was the greatest perk, we just can't understand how these newer positions and evaluation systems can't negatively impact performance.

Anonymous said...

Uprep doesn't need any more committed teachers. From what I hear they will all be committed after this semester.

Anonymous said...


Show me a student thirsty to learn and we will all be their teachers.

Anonymous said...

That is so funny. I taught at that nut house. If they aren't committed by the end of the semester, they should be committed for that reason alone. Where is the union in all of this? Where is Lane? How can any union or district not have those two principals fired? I hear students are transferring weekly. I teach one who just transferred last week and the student said Uprep is out of control. Is it really true about administration giving out pizza and hoagies to the worst students in the school? It used to be candy.

Anonymous said...


Yes. The teachers carry the jars of water. But if the student is not thirsty, you cannot not force him to drink.

Anonymous said...

Every student IS THIRSTY to LEARN! They are doing it every moment of every waking hour!

It is the role of the teacher to make it relevant. The key skills to be taught in PA and the US are "thinking skills" NOT so much subject matter.

IF you give the content relevance and connection to context or culture and you will have the attention needed to teach the THINKING SKILLS (which can be done situationally as well as textually).

Professional Development is desperately needed for PPS teachers so that they are substantively aware of the SKILLS that are the Standards (PA and/or CCSS).

Questioner said...

We all know students, sometimes in our own families, who state that they are not interested in one subject or another. We ourselves are not necessarily interested in learning every aspect of every subject. And while everything can conceivably be made relevant in some way, often there are time consuming detailed technical steps (applying a calculus rule several times in succession with lengthy calculations, for example) that by necessity are quite a bit removed from every day relevance. Given limited time and other options, not everyone is going to be interested in this level of detail for every subject.

Anonymous said...



The whole dynamic between teacher/student is dependent on how well the student can listen. Learning to be receptive. That is how one becomes a student. If there is a student he will learn.

Anonymous said...



Malala Yousafzai. A student willing to risk her life for an education. This is being THIRSTY.

( Nobel Peace Prize recipient 2014 )

Anonymous said...


There are children at UPrep/Milliones. The question is, are there any students? If there are students, they will learn.

Anonymous said...

Yes, children and/or students will always learn anything the teacher can teach!

Questioner said...

And teachers will always teach anything children and/or students can learn!

Anonymous said...


Preparing our children to become listening and receptive students. Learning will follow.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=meditation+transforms+roughest+san+franciscohttps:

Anonymous said...


8:54
Poignant!

Anonymous said...

How is an anonymous post immediately taken as being from a u prep teacher who doesn't care? Just curious. And I know more than a few teenagers who will clearly state they have no interest in education.

Anonymous said...

Students cannot learn when they are fearful of their safety, adolescents are filling the halls and not the classrooms, and they are watching their peers be rewarded by administration for acting TERRIBLE.

Anonymous said...

I guess no minority candidates have applied. Human Resources sent out another email today stating that the staffing window for PRC Team Lead Career Ladder positions has been extended to January 25th. The email also says that because of strong interest expressed by teachers outside of core content areas, eligibility requirements for these positions has been expanded to include all content areas.
What this tells me is no one wants these jobs!