On another post Anonymous wrote:
"Questioner, I'm disappointed that you have failed to link yesterday's PG
article about the new method of cutting teachers via the 'cut off' idea
of RISE. Where are you Questioner? Are you still in disbelief that next
summer will bring the furloughs of even more teachers but NO central
administrators? Are you in disbelief that even more schools will be
closed???? Where are you and Pure Reform.
Perhaps you should check Nina's letter at pft400.org for a whiff of what is coming."
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55 comments:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/education/new-pittsburgh-teacher-ratings-tougher-than-ones-now-698254/
This is going to be an incredibly dire year for PPS. Lane seems to believe that maintaining the status quo where administrators is concerned trumps the idea of keeping the teaching staff intact. She seems to feel that closing schools is much more cost effective than eliminating the huge number of administrators in the district or tightening the belt where consultants are concerned.
It strikes me that this article is something between 'testing the waters' and 'preparing the city' for the shock which is to come.
Nina's letter verifies this and her concern should not be taken lightly. This is not speculation, as Nina states, but rather the bona fide direction Lane intends, which is echoed in the PG article.
In the last 5 years, the PG has been a sounding board for Lane and Roosevelt before her. It has urged teachers to accept two contracts which did not provide even a cost of living increase to veterans while providing NO raise to teachers with less than 10 years experience. It has applauded the RISE program, which is clearly a method in which administrators can dump salary, and nothing more. It has urged the union to give in on the idea of taking experience into account where furloughs are concerned and has allowed numerous foundation heads to write op-ed pieces that talk about the various crises in urban education du jour without consulting teachers or spending a moment in a classroom.
This is an amazing time to be a teacher, and it truly is time that Pure Reform and parents who care understand what is transpiring. If 300 teachers were furloughed last year, even more will be furloughed NEXT year, with school closures, to boot.
What is truly galling in all of this is the fact that Lane and her crew will continue to bend over backwards to accept Gates money and Broad ideas--philosophies that entail retaining administrators and consultants who are NOT IN THE CLASSROOM in any way, shape or form.
Education is student and teacher, period. It is best served in neighborhood schools. It is not administrators concocting policy from ivory towers.
That Lane and PPS can continue to get away with such unconscionable plans is one thing, that our kids continue to under-achieve with canned curriculum is another.
Where is the outcry? Will the Promise mean anything at all if students are not prepared to achieve in college?
Lane and this administration must go.
Perhaps you should link Nina's letter on the PFT site, too. It speaks volumes.
Give me a break 8:25pm~! Nina is the worse thing that ever happened to our union. I watched her on the attack of a veteran principal at my school years ago because the principal expected excellence from the staff, students and themselves. I for one bought into the agenda because the principal was always in your corner if you came to work and did your job! Now we have principals who have drunk the Kool-Aid with limited experience in the classroom and as a teacher their performance was average at best.
John and Nina, you sold out your members and now veteran teachers are being RISE'ed right out of their job. Nina and company are scrambling at straws. Fondy and Sherm have to be turning in their graves.
You give ME a break, 10:01. While I agree with the idea that the union gave away all of its powers, please don't tell me about 'Al and Sherm.' What baloney. Sherm was never a fighter and Al actually began the give-backs as a trade for a few more pennies for older teachers who had been his colleagues.
Do you even have a clue?
Yes, I agree about Nina but at this point, the PFT is all you have. I'm just hopeful that they grow some backbone--and quickly--over there on the south side. It is going to get very ugly this year.
People have no idea how ugly it is going to get. Teachers do need to be evaluated like any profession,however, people need to realize how teaching changes in the classroom day to day and that your rating is based on your clients. Having multiple measures to evaluate is good, and the RISE observation is 50% of the evaluation and teachers can somewhat control by submitting evidence and having a conversation. I'm not saying that this is a good thing because as a professional you should be doing this evidence stuff without having to prove yourself, but the other measures, teachers cannot control. The TRIPOD survey has language that students cannot understand or interpret, test scores--teachers cannot even test their own students. I'm not saying that other teachers couldn't test them, but their classroom testing atmosphere may be different than the atmosphere that you create. School success being measured again is unfair--you have students not attending school and you try to contact parents, but phones are disconnected and their isn't a way to get in contact. Then inside the school building you have teachers teaching the tested areas, but then other teachers not teaching the subjects (related arts) and the pressure academic teachers vs related arts teachers. There is a large amount of people employed by PPS, however, only a percentage of people can be evaluated. It really is a lousy feeling that you could do a job like like this for 15 + years rated proficiently and then all of a sudden be told how lousy you are. Not sure how many people are going to be lining up to take over when a great percentage of people are let go. Again, you have no idea how ugly of year it is going to be.
My personal opinion is that you could never have SCRIPTED Al or Sherm-- they often spoke out of turn-- but they spoke. Nina should be writing apology for all the sucking in she has done. I saw her be totally shocked in the beginning of RISE--"Don't you love it?" Hell no Nina we don't! WE saw this coming--people were quieted at union meetings by the kool-aid drinkers--
First they came for the old and I wasnt old so I said nothing, then they came for the loud and I wasnt loud and I said nothing, now they've come for.....
Bollocks, 9:34, pure bollocks. I guess you are a bit younger than me and have no clue about what being a union leader is all about. In my first ten yard or so, Al *was* that leader, but he softened too, and he did so for loud mouths near retirement who wanted a few dollars more.
Sorry, but I would not look at either the latter days of Al or the leadership of Sherm as being what we need now.
I am in complete agreement with you about RISE---a complete sham. A way to get rid of salary. Nothing more. It empowers no one except administrators.
And I agree about Tarka and Nina...but let's go one step further...lets blame all of the teachers who voted these people in. Let's blame the people who voted for the last two contracts. I am older and voted no, because they forgot about the younger teachers.
That's all water under the bridge.
Someone has to fight now. Someone has to push the message about what Lane is planning for teachers. Decorum prohibits me from saying what I truly feel about Lane, Lippert, Otuwa and Stein.
Al and Sherm may not have been perfect especially at the end but at least they wouldn't have given up the store. When teachers are rated unsatisfactory while implementing district scripted curriculum lessons that are boring and repetitive well that would never have flied. Now couple that with principals who fail to set clear expectations and consequences for inappropriate student behavior and we have a recipe for disaster in many schools. Ask yourself who is held accountable? TEACHERS! It used to be that students were concerned when they were referred to the office. Now, the office referral is logged against the teacher who wrote it and the student gets a pass. Wonder why so many teachers have resigned? It's not about content knowledge but classroom management. Just wait until the "new and improved district Code of Conduct" is implemented in September to minimize disciplinary action. No wonder why the Pittsburgh Police want to move out of the city. They cite our schools as an issue. Hey, let's quite living in Lala Land. Behaviors that are accepted in many PPS would NEVER be acceptable in our neighboring suburban schools. Wonder why? Parents wouldn't tolerate it! Instead our colleagues are rated unsatisfactory when in fact it's the persons who never touch a student in a classroom who are really the unsatisfactory employees.
3:54-- you are totally correct- the membership voted- or didnt vote!-- for this nonsense- both Nina and the contracts. I personally know that a union official SAID to someone-"why do you care- you are at the top?" well the person they spoke to had integrity, and believed strongly in trade unions. The only answer today has to be mass rebellion- Nina says ooo the cut-offs are too high-- hey you signed off on letting admin make these decisions-- and gee they did you in and the rest of us too!
When someone else has to solve all of your problems, whether discipline or curriculum, they will never be solved to your satisfaction. Take care of business in your own classroom or go somewhere that you can handle the business.
The whole venue on this site defies logic! Please if one teacher can do it so can the rest or they don't belong there!
Teachers seem to be saying that if they need to deviate from the script in order to take care of business they are likely to be fired.
I'm surprised that Questioner continues to allow the vitriol that spills from 'solutions-r-us's' fingers to show up here on Pure Reform. This is the continuous diatribe: teachers, it's all your fault. Have some backbone and do what is ethically correct. Never mind that if will mean your job.
6:07, here is yet another invitation to you:
spend a week in my classroom and let's see what your reaction is. I say you don't last a day. I say that what you will see and hear will shock you. And I am talking about the venom that comes from administration.
Yes, that is what they are saying. What is the evidence for this?
Does it make sense? If teachers taught without a script so that kids learned and demonstrated mastery of the required skills these teachers certainly would not be fired, would they?
So, if ALL teachers taught the SKILLS required for proficiency, you cannot state that they would ALL be fired? How many teachers, thousands?, would be fired? Impossible! Absolutely impossible for dozens of reasons!
? . . . . . . . . ?
If all the teachers coordinated and tossed the scripts at the same time then they would not be fired but that kind of coordination is easier said than done. Look at the history of the steel and other unions those who tried to organize concerted action were tossed out and used as examples to discourage others.
Looks like unions as well as the masses of teachers who seem to be complaining and students achievement scores that continue to slide downward. Frankly, this cannot be compared to the steel industry or other unions who deal in products.
Also, if you give up before you take action, you have nothing to complain about. The arguments offered here are impotent based the issue at hand.
6:40 you are totally right- and the history of trade unionism in this country was one of hard decisions and brave workers-- but imagine telling those workers they PAID a union to do this to them?
Teachers need to organize outside of PFT-- and get legal help. Perhaps focus on one issue-- no matter WHAT admin makes up-- when disturbed disruptive students act out-- no sane person outside of PPS would say- yes, that is the teacher's fault-- the script would stop that!
The point is being missed here. This really is not about scripts. Well, MAYBE a first time teacher might be helped by a script, initially, but come on who ever heard of a teacher using a script. Natural or trained teachers are presumably and relatively
intelligent people; they're not just people answering a phone. There is nothing about a script that will realize concepts of teaching and learning, truly NOTHING! This whole thing, again, defies common sense. Hundreds, or thousands of PPS teachers are helpless? What happened to them? Were they always this way? Unable to unite to solve a serious problem that is destroying their credibility?
7:43 -- Let's be honest: people aren't going to unite over the issue of scripted curriculum. Non-core teachers don't use scripts. And principals in several (many?) schools have started the new mantra that the "curriculum is the floor, not the ceiling," and allow teachers to use other ways to teach the same material. Some principals in PPS actually are smart and know how to support their staff. I'm one of the lucky ones at the moment, but I also realize this is a tenuous position -- principals shift at a moment's notice, sometimes teacher positions change -- I could easily end up working for the wrong kind of principal again, I realize.
The union can do little with a divided membership. The union's power can only come from a position of strength in numbers. Personally, I think the PFT bashing only hurts us. It would be better to show up at PFT meetings, air your gripes, talk/argue it out, be hammered down (I've been hammered down in the past -- it's part of the process), and everyone should be prepared for some compromises. The attitude on PURE Reform for too long has been that this is a forum for disgruntled, whiny, vehemently anti-union teachers who use hyperbole and emotions to prove their points. Not everyone is having a terrible time of it out here. While I don't wear rose colored glasses, I also know there are mechanisms -- albeit imperfect ones, like the PFT -- to make things better and I use them.
Some posters may be disappointed with the PFT, but the PURE forum itself is not by any means anti-union.
You're right, Questioner. I didn't intend that comment for you or other moderators.
My disdain for the public only is heightened when I come here. To read someone saying 'impossible' and then equate this current situation with teachers being the problem is truly sickening.
I'll say it again:
I have a number of degrees. I could do many different things other than teach in a failing system. I have no apologies for making a salary that some in the public think is high. What a laugh. On one hand, I could be making much more at NA or Peters, etc., and on the other, I could be making much more in industry.
Instead, like most PPS teachers, I dedicate myself to working with kids who largely forgotten by society. I am a better human being than most of my colleagues in suburban districts...and a much better human being than the people in administration---for the simple reason that I have dedicated myself to caring and to working through the absolute horror many of my kids come from.
And I come here and have to read baloney from ungrateful parents?
And I have to hear from administration that 15% of my brother and sister teachers---equally as good people and teachers as me---are going to be fired next year????
I--like those brother and sister teachers--am too good for this district. I've had a long career of helping kids move toward their dreams, only to have know-nothing administrators like Linda Lane and Jeri Lippert tell me I am worthless....and only to have couch-strapped parents tell me I am the problem.
This city and this district deserves what it is getting.
Low achieving schools....lower enrollment...lack of discipline....horrible curriculum and even more schools closing...congratulations. It's all thanks to your disbelief or buying into the district's blame game of teachers.
I've truly had it with administration, parents and a website that would rather be seen as 'balanced' and 'politically correct' than to address the issues.
There are no exaggerations coming from teachers.
We have had two successive horrible administrations in PPS, but just wait until this year.
8:18's comments are reflective of the problem within the PFT. I am taking it that this is an individual who enjoys a decent salary thanks to the efforts of those of us who have been around for decades...the ones who vetoed contract proposals, threatened strikes and understood solidarity. The ones who understood that a union must naturally be adversarial with administration. The ones who voiced opinions when principals crossed the line.
The comment about all of us not having difficult times speaks volumes. THAT'S the problem.
Solidarity means addressing the atrocities that a portion of the rank and file is going through. Just like I vetoed the last two contracts because young teachers got NOTHING (and I am a veteran), I feel for teachers who work in places where the principals are actively going after teachers. (I could name myriad schools here). In solidarity, the union should make an effort to stop the RISE sham and cut off NOW. Walk outs and strikes make sense....for solidarity.
That's what a union is.
And the hyperbole can never be understood by someone who was not there to understand how a union functions. You don't win via negotiations and then give it back. All you have done is to effectively lose all negotiating power.
There is a reason Linda Lane can make statements as she has, or that central admin can tell principals to target veteran teachers as they have: They have no fear of union and collective bargaining.
Your comments are so convoluted that they are almost insulting to the veterans who fought to negotiate your salary and benefits.
Here's hoping you can wake up, and soon.
Read the article in today's pg about Philly and let it soak in.....there is nothing anyone can do for public education now. If Chicago's union couldn't do it, we have no chance. What happens in Philly this fall will be us next year.
9:10- you are total right. People in this city worked hard for solidarity. People went to jail for the PFT. Some of those folks went on the BE principals-the veteran principals that we miss. So they did respect the essence of the union
All that this union has accomplished was through rough battles-- as it should be.
I honestly don't understand Nina's letter- when I heard what the ratings were about- I expected the union to say- statistical errors, just practice etc. I did not expect a whiny ooo the board did different cutoffs, and newspaper articles that BRAGGED about their non working system.
When Tarka/ Roosevelt love affair came to power, we had some schools that were close to the top in the state- We had award-winning programs (SAM at Westinghouse, strong middle school programs etc)
People here talk about research- where is the research to kill middle school programs and return K-8? Gee I guess the suburbs missed the memo?!?
As the teachers have said-- they
didnt just "get bad"! This is being totally engineered so that top-of -the scale folks are gone, and junior faculty are intimidated.
WE NEED A REAL UNION NOW!
To 9:10 -- I've been around a while now. I'm a veteran teacher. You are too. I also voted down the last two contracts. We have some things in common. Oh, and I was the target of two principals in my career. I know that feeling. I've been there.
Yup, we need solidarity -- but there isn't any right now. And part of the problem is you and people like you that put blinders up to what's going on around us at a national level. RISE isn't going anywhere, my brother or sister. A version of RISE has been adopted by the state to evaluate teachers in all 501 school districts here. It's. Not. Going. Anywhere. (Yes, it can be a tool for bad administrators. Yes, I see through the PR campaign to make us think that RISE is only there to help us grow. But it's not going anywhere. No where.) On a national level, teachers are too often scapegoated for the problems with this system -- and despite some recent feedback in the media to contradict this, most of the unthinking US adult population still thinks we're a bunch of lazy, overpaid 3-month-vacation-enjoying, underwhelming public servants.
So how to build solidarity again under these circumstances? Stay engaged with our union. Be that voice -- as I often am, having been gaveled down by Al and John both in the past -- and continue to remind the union leadership that they represent ALL of us. That's what I try to do when I can. But I also try to stay positive because my students need that, my family needs that, and I need that. When I start sounding like Old Timer, then I'd better apply to NA or to a randome company in industry and move along because that would indicate that I'm way burned out and doing little good for my students.
You misconstrue, 10:19.
I agree with you about RISE.
It's not going anywhere.
I would go one further to say that while Gates money will run out, the actual grant opened up the doors to many like-minded philanthropists and foundations pouring money into this district. The agenda behind Gates is going nowhere, as well.
But you are misrepresenting me if you think I am on the ledge of the 11th floor with veins popping out of my forehead. I am the picture of positive where students and family are concerned. I am also one who believes in empathy in all regards.
You've been gaveled down by Al and John, and I had long conversations with both of them urging them to reconsider their ideas as it lacked foresight. Been there, done that, and repeatedly.
I disagree with you about union in this regard. While I would hope Nina would see herself as being cornered and come out fighting, I also know that the proverbial genie is out of the bottle where negotiation power is concerned. How does the union get it back? Why would PPS ever allow the PFT any power when it refuses to take extreme action?
And while you may point to Chicago, I would point to Tacoma. There is power in solidarity. There is power in action.
Thanks for the insult. You could not be more wrong.
Nina sent a memo out last night asking teachers to get involved. Meet with community members, go to board members, write letters to the editor.
Nice. This would have been great 7 or 8 years ago.
Too late, Nina. You have no power except to strike---and you and your executive board are too cowardly for that. As such, you're laughed at on Bellefield. You're looked at as a complete joke.
Gee Nina let's see:
-letters to editor hmm- your "dream team" Broad taught admin how to keep this down
-contact board members- you stopped their involvement in individual schools, calling it micro-managing so that none of them felt they had the ability to BE a presence in the schools again(again a Broad tactic)
-community- bought off with the Promise (yup another Broad tactic)
Broad has taught admin to just let all the chatter go on and it will die down
The ONLY thing NOT in the Broad mandate was traditional labor/ management adversary dealings--you know what you have to do and so does your membership- get tough or get moving!
Nina won't take a page from Tacoma. She doesn't understand that her counterparts see her and the executive board as being weak, and then wonders why they change the terms of 'agreements' she thought she had in place.
Uh, message to Nina: because they don't feel they have to run anything by you or your board.
Walkouts and strikes are the only thing administration will understand. Simply put, there are not a 100 fools who would take a teaching job in PPS, let alone 2000.
Take a moment to study the people associated with the last strike. Understand courage and resolve. Understand solidarity. This is strength. When I first came into this union, I had the benefit of working many of those on the front line. They even laughed at police threats, saying, 'Come on. Arrest all 3000 of us.' Can you imagine Nina or her friends doing such a thing?
Thanks to that strength, we enjoyed good pay and benefits. And conversely, thanks to concessions made by Tarka and Nina, we have lost pay and given benefits back. All to appear 'cooperative.'
The Roosevelt playbook has forced the PFT's hand. The media is 'owned' by PPS, so you have nothing to lose. This woman needs to show some backbone and leadership---and not wait until cuts are announced. The time is now. Right now.
Does anyone else wonder WTF we are paying Nina to do- if the membership is suppose to do all these things- uh maybe teachers should teach and union PAID staff should get busy! Please do not tell me they work hard-- they are in AC, and can use the facilities whenever they want ;) I know who works hard in this district and it is the rank and file, who teach and now have to "present themselves on stage and off"
Put Nina and Co. back in the classroom to earn their "pay."
I have watched this district get rid of many, many talented teachers of all backgrounds and experience in the past two years. Roosevelt was bad, but Lane simply feels 'empowered' to do as she pleases. I have watched the most devious of tactics:
-asking kids about what is going on in the classroom and lending credence to the kids who never do classwork or study, resulting in the eventual termination of the teacher. (Then watching those students tell other teachers, "We got Mrs.Smith fired. We can get you fired, too.")
-telling veterans they have heard wonderful things about them and as such, 'learning observations to see what is so wonderful' will be done. In many of those cases, the veteran teacher was placed on an improvement plan.
-Watching outstanding teachers, seeing nothing wrong, and then going after their bulletin boards.
-Watching outstanding teachers, seeing nothing wrong, and then going after them for not having 'fidelity to the curriculum'
-Calling in teachers who have been placed on improvement plans and then giving them the 'you can resign or we'll terminate you' talk
And there is much, much more.
And yes, I can name names.
Point is, if this type of fighting is acceptable to central administration and building principals, no amount of talk and negotiation is going to work. These people are truly evil. They'll only understand a walk out. A Tacoma walk out.
Then, maybe Andy Sheehan will wake up and look deeply at the dirt on Bellefield Avenue. He could spend weeks and do a great many reports.
Only extreme action will aid the teaching staff in PPS.
10:41pm AGREED! Time for Nina and company to be empowered by being RISEN! I'm willing to bet her performance would be FAILING!
Funny how everyone you talk to says they didn't vote for the current union..... let's talk about the "growth model". They won't tell you what the Growth you need to achieve is in advance because it is determined AFTER the scores come out. And God forbid your students stay proficient the following year. Isn't that a year of growth? They are where they should be. But because they may have been proficient the prior year they didnt grow. How is that when they have just achieved another year of proficiency? Hmmm Hmmm... doesnt make sense.........to me it means they grew a year..... and God forbid they ever release the formula they say nooneno one could ever understand...........
3:32, you're right on target.
1000 members did not vote at all. 1000. Sheesh.
The people running against this lot also believes you can talk, negotiate and make progress. Sorry---that's ridiculous.
I'm all for a walk out. Right now. I've seen too many outstanding teachers---outstanding people----fired or placed under extreme stress. Over nothing.
This administration needs to pay.
I am just a parent, but I really believe a walk out would result in pps HR going into a hiring frenzy to fill positions. I would not be surprised if somewhere in the contract your leadership gave the admin the ability to do so. I have been observing the district for a dozen years and when a board meeting includes talk about approving a contract for a provider to review applications for teaching jobs when a massive amount of layoffs occurred...well...somebody should stop the madness. I would love to hear from some of the 1000 who did not vote. Those who could have contributed to stopping the madness. And about my fellow parents, I can't imagine how many have been hoodwinked into offering full support to the nonsense. I have to wonder if being asked to participate on a subcommittee strokes an ego to the point of where you just follow the sheep ahead of you. Or maybe a parent might think a teacher had done his kid wrong once and decided to vilify the district's entire professional teaching staff. The parents who show up have the greatest say and it is sometimes a detriment. And it is hard to be the dissenting parent when you are the only one.
Yes, 12:05, you've stated it accurately! Moreover, the decision-making parents/community/organizations (depending on the committee) are chosen by the district, very selectively, to include only those people that the district can count on for total acquiescence to 'whatever' the agenda or purpose. CO dismisses or ignores any participants who challenge the status quo--even for an ENVISIONING process or the new PPS blog which are, supposedly, looking for innovative and fresh ideas. Challenging anything now in place, is an exercise in futility!
To the last two parents, thanks for your comments.
I disagree with your comments about walk outs, the union and HR, of course. You don't take the ability to walk out or strike off the table, and you certainly don't put it into writing.
As far as HR goes, this department and its "office of talent management" is such a mess that I would actually enjoy watching it try to fill jobs. Number one, there aren't that many people who want to teach in city schools, are licensed to teach or are competent to teach. Two, while a walk out might result in a loss of pay for a day or two, the contract is just that.
I would join such a movement tomorrow, and enjoy watching HR place secondary -certified teachers in elementary schools, and vice versa, and science teachers in front of english classes.
This was a labor town. This was a union town. This town was built on courage and sticking it to bullies masquerading as management. Well, it's about time to stand up to these pretenders. They could care less about you or your children. It's all about smiling, bowing and bringing in more Gates money. It's all about self preservation. It's all about hiding from the classroom.
Lane, Lippert, Otuwa, Stein and their cronies....wouldnt last a day in a comprehensive school. (And have never had even a modicum of success there during their careers)
NOT ONE teacher should have been furloughed last year, but I can name numerous central administrators who would not have been missed.
NOT ONE teacher should be furloughed this coming year and again, I can name countless 'administrators' using tax dollars to do nothing.
So just out of curiosity, what legal recourse do we have with any of this? Does PPS have a legal obligation to demonstrate how each and every one of us received our VAM score? It would seem labor lawyers would be licking their chops to get this stuff in court.
Unfortunately folks, the horse has left the barn. The PFT has no power and Bellefield knows it. There is no turning back the clock. The PFT leadership sold out and our teachers are left at the mercy of Bellefield. There will never be a strike. Are you kidding? When so many members never even bothered to vote before, how would you ever get a vote to strike? It will never happen. The ship is sinking fast.
I feel sorry for our current teachers and thank the Lord each and every day that I retired before this travesty permeated the district.
PFT leadership should be ashamed. How can they look in the mirror? Imagine what the next teachers' contract will look like?
From above, this is the article that got me thinking about legal issues
http://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/pondering-legal-implications-of-value-added-teacher-evaluation/
..and everyone should keep this in their back pockets. It's a nice little piece put together by Mathmatica and the DOE stating how unreliable VAM is and how hard it is to really factor out the statistical "noise"
http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/PDFs/education/error_rates.pdf
A few months ago, one of Dr.Poncelet's cronies got on this site and put her foot in her mouth. She made the ridiculous but true statement that statistics could always be bent in her office's favor.
I could only applaud her for her arrogance in reporting what we already knew.
Secondly, it is interesting to me that once again, we are reading the words 'labor lawyers.' We've seen this repeatedly on this site and on the other list. Where are these lawyers? Why hasn't anybody hired one? I have read one individual here saying that many of those forced to resign have hired lawyers and have won suits or settled out of court with the provision that no comments would be made.
I'm not so sure.
I actually have talked with lawyers about numerous issues within this district. And I actually feel buoyed by their comments with regards to worker rights, contract or no contract.
Lastly, I agree with my retired colleague about the selling out of our rights and benefits by the last two PFT administrations. I sense however that there are many teachers who are fed up with the tyranny and mutation coming from central ad, and I think there are just as many who are fed up by Nina's cowardly tactics. That said, does the rank and file really need a union that is complicit in what has transpired? Do they really need a puppet's ok to walk out?
Perhaps now that the new ratings have appeared- and people who thought they were on the plus side-- have had a big reality check--all the scores being raised...and yet...VAM creamed them, perhaps we have some questioning colleagues out there. We can all go back a bunch of contracts and say-- hey YOU voted wrong, or voted for the wrong candidate for the union. We have to move forward--and come together- whatever you felt 7 years ago-- what are you feeling now? If a majority of parents and teachers are seeing that students aren't benefiting-- it is time to speak up and out.
In response to the lawyer question, there was a precedent set in Florida where the teachers felt the union abandoned them and were therefore able to hire private attorneys.
The lawyers are there, the question is do we have a right, as a public entity, to see how and why we are actually getting fired. The difference would be in a private company where you can be fired for wearing brown pants on a Thursday.
The information is out there to arm yourselves with. If they show you a VAM score ask to see how it was obtained. As far as tripod surveys, there should be a survey afterwards asking the students how many of the questions they understood.
If an election or even just a meeting were held tomorrow can anyone say for sure that the missing 1000 would vote/attend? Is it unfair that the public might think the 1000 are happy with the way things are?
Heinz Co. is streamlining and cutting executives. Hint, hint PPS...
And the PR machine keeps cranking. From today's PG:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/education/new-evaluation-process-set-to-begin-in-pittsburgh-schools-699126/
Unless I am mistaken, Philadelphia's public schools cut a great many *administrators* as PPS was firing teachers a year and a half ago. PPS decided its administrators were far too valuable and then explained that administrators were paid from grants and other funding, etc., which was a lie.
I write this note for Questioner and any other member of the public who either thinks teachers are embellishing the facts or that we all have sort of hidden agenda:
This year will be a bloodbath for teachers.
The PG keeps sending Chute to write these PR pieces for the board, and anyone who doesn't see A+ as simply an arm of Bellefield Avenue must need psychological help.
I see only extreme actions as the only viable actions left for rank and file. I do not see the press, the public, Pure Reform or anyone else as a people who have sympathy for us. In fact, I see just the opposite.
When Judy Johnston became part of A+ Schools the fix was in. She is one of the high paid "consultants" doing "learning walks" in schools and working for Pitt and she is making mucho bucks. How can she be objective? You don't bite the hand that feeds you...
After reading all of the posts and comments I have come to realize that a lot of people just don't get it. As a teacher this used to be a wonderful, exciting time-new year, great kids, planning new and exciting things etc. It is becoming harder to hold on to that feeling. We have had more meetings about RISE than we have about reading. The new formula is so complicated that you need calculators and a masters degree in math to figure it all out.RISE changes constantly, I think we are on version 12, but don't worry they have hired someone to get busy on the next version. The district has been moving teachers all over the place and then penalizes them for not having three years worth of results to use in their "score". They have also furloughed paraprofessionals, removing a support from the most struggling students and then increased the class sizes. I will be there for my students and make them the main focus, as it should be, for another year with all the enthusiasm I have always had. I only wish that the administration would remember that this is still about the children.
A+ Schools and its opinion have become irrelevant with their evaluation of RISE being endorsed as a teacher improvement device. It seems the whole group is like-minded. What was the last thing they opposed? Maybe I am off, maybe this year's version of RISE will truly help those few teachers who really need to improve their practice. I only know what I see in the papers, but it doesn't seem right to me that pps is not using the same version as the rest of PA. How different is our eval system?
Nina sent out another memo this week entitled something along the lines of "The Things I said to the Board."
Sheesh.
After reading a great deal of blather from her and in full realization that she was voted into her position last year, it is clear to me that the winds have shifted and that truly, she represents the majority to teacher interests in PPS. There are dinosaurs like me who understand what a union is supposed to be, how its mandate is to fight for its rank and file and are cognizant of the union's history in attaining salary and benefits.
But it's clear to me that the average teacher in PPS does not care about yesterday, is conciliatory where salary and benefits are concerned because after all, we are all in this together, and are of the belief that Gates/Broad and 'Courageous Conversations' truly do examine what has been wrong in education, especially with the past way of doing things.
When the rank and file votes this type of individual in, when many members sign letters that salute her 'vision' and 'efforts' as they did during the last campaign, and when they jump on board these latest efforts, you know that you are mired in the past.
This is not the PFT of 1980 and as such, PPS has gained a huge upper hand. Our salaries have stagnated and we have given back a great many, many benefits.
This is not the rank and file of 1980, and as such PFT leadership can be allowed to act as meekly as it has. Terminations, forced resignations, outrageous stress and a RISE evaluation system that is loaded against teachers are here and get nary a whimper from the PFT.
It is what it is, to be sure. I have given up. I want to do my last few years as best I can for my kids and then relax. The teaching staff is a different breed now, and no amount of convincing is going to change mindsets. Why get stressed about it?
Keep your head down, keep your mouth shut, follow the script, and enjoy life.
No one cares, and I am not going to give a damn about the future of our teaching force with this in mind.
have to agree with 8:06-at union meetings the high school people spoke out and were shouted and shot down. The scripting began intensely with elementary because they wouldnt scream " academic freedom"- they would "try to get along"Admittedly, their students are less identified, and until their students get help, they are dealing with some heavy issues. But when meetings stopped being an "exchange" and teachers' answered were as scripted as the students- they didnt say NO. The 50% rule didnt rile them up the same way. So yes, they saw their colleagues leave but they thought they could kinda play through. Please if something honestly thinks they are a better teacher through RISE-- post it here- not what you are told to think butsomething real.
Oh I truly agree, 9:45, this new way of thinking began in the elementary schools. If you read those letters of support for Nina that hit your mailbox last year, you saw a lot of names and almost all were from the elementary level. I cannot fathom how any teacher would continually lay down for all of this but again, this is what the majority of the rank and file want. This is why people like Nina win and why she does not feel the proverbial flame to her butt during these times.
It's interesting to me then that PPS is planning to close elementary schools in preparation of this next budget crisis:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/pittsburgh-public-schools-presents-first-draft-of-envisioning-process-for-future-699491/
Once again, you will notice that not even a mention of tightening belts through the elimination of administrators or their staffs is mentioned. It didn't happen a couple years ago and won't happen next year. What is wrong with this scenario?
Oh well, again, it is what it is.
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