On another post Anonymous wrote:
"
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2013/11/20/Pittsburgh-Public-Schools-board-to-vote-on-new-teachers-agenda.html
This was buried online today. My morning paper P-G did not contain one word about this issue.
Since
TFA survived agenda review, it is obvious that Lane will have the
necessary votes on Tuesday to pass it. Unfortunately, the "new" board,
parents/students, and taxpayers will be the ones who will suffer through
another experiment. And remember that soon Lane will be leaving."
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47 comments:
On another post Anonymous wrote:
"
http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/5113137-74/teach-america-board#axzz2kQkOLrFX
As usual the Tribune Review covered this immediately after the agenda review meeting. The P-G continually fails to cover the whole story..."
I seriously doubt that many parents don't realize the TFA candidates are not trained in teaching practices (beyond the few weeks preparation they get).
It still feels like this is a big rush to get this done and leads us to believe the admin knows the votes won't be there under the new board in December.
The superintendent is quoted as saying that 40% of TFA teachers are people "of color," but in other articles refers specifically to a need for more African American teachers. This TFA press release indicates that 14% of the incoming TFA class is African American:
http://www.teachforamerica.org/press-room/press-releases/2013/900-new-african-american-teachers-enter-classrooms-part-largest-ever
It is not clear whether TFA has a separate "multiracial" category like PPS uses; a multiracial category tends to reduce the specifically AA percentage.
"Ms. Lane said the Teach for America candidates would compete with other applicants"
If the positions are hard to fill I wouldn't expect there to be any other candidates, so can somebody explain. As far back as I can remember there has been a need for foreign language teachers, maybe any TFA contract should be limited to that area.
And a previous article stated that there is no guarantee that PPS would be getting a TFA of "color."
Hmm, 14% of 30 is 4.2 so odds are that half the 8 high schools would receive one AA TFA teacher, the rest none; is TFA really the best way to increase the number of AA teachers?
Another thing to consider is that in the mind of the public, TFA is associated with troubled school districts- New Orleans,Detroit, etc; not great for pps's image at a time when Pps should be working on enrollment.
"Image" is irrelevant to the solution. "Image' will be flipped as soon as the problems have solutions. And there are "solutions" straight-forwrd, high-impact, results-driven, justice-filled, success-based SOLUTIONS. PPS administrators with open-minds, transformative-strategies, and strong-leadership can achieve turn-arounds in short order--one year--by involving parents and community, university and business partners, AND STUDENTS in the positive, productive transformation process.
The parents and community
And the transformative process will take knowledgeable, committed, experienced, passionate teachers who believe in themselves and the students. No one else need apply, including TFA.
And the chances of that actually happening?
I know a lot of pps grads who have gone on to major in education. Some will graduate in May from PA colleges and some graduated in '12 and '13, making them all Promise kids. The point being that The Promise may have put a fire in their bellies to be teachers. Have we made enough effort to tell our 12th graders heading off to college to think about math, science, and foreign languages as areas of concentration? If not, shame on us!!
Does anyone know if these "teachers" will be forced to endure the RISE process?
Don't you think it is doubtful since the commitment is for only
2 years that RISE would apply? I'd have felt a lot more at ease about this thing getting pushed through if the admin would have come forward with the exact positions to be filled. What if this year's TFA candidate pool does not include teachers who can speak the languages we need? Too many unknowns. Too much is vague. Are we doing someone a favor by letting TFA in the Pittsburgh door?
Yes, parent 5:32, it makes you wonder. I am not accusing anyone, but in the face ofvall the negative information on TFA,Gates etc. WHY keep beating Pittsburgh over the head with it? Who is gaining?
Perhaps Pittsburgh will be the place that brings TFA down.
So I'm being held to one standard while the person teaching next to me is held to no standards, then on top of that my building VAM gets affected by someone who gets to come and go as they please? Seriously?
And let's say you do get that Chinese or Arabic teacher; what happens when the teacher leaves after two years? Under the Broad/Gates/PPS corporate model shouldn't we be looking for a good headhunter to find exactly the (certified, experienced) staff we need? Are there headhunters for teachers? If not, what about some area native speakers who might fill in?
8:46 - Who must we protect in all this the District or the innocent children who are being robbed of productive futures because they have not been educated. Either there is some sort of a minimum standard, certification process, or requirement beyond a two year commitment to a "job" that is filling in the gap until you can find a job in the area that you elected/chose to pursue while you were in college. What other serious profession allows people to "practice" with ONLY five weeks of 'training.' Children are our most precious treasure. Children are our future. Why would you want to deliberately and knowingly put their futures at such a risk?
Please, let some other district be the one that "brings TFA down"
What PPS needs more than anything are real experts in education---educated, certified, experienced, committed experts. Recruit those people! You can't tell me that there are no serious educators who take pride in their ability to educate any and all kids! If that isn't the challenge that motivates them, then they chose the wrong career for the wrong reasons.
Step up educators! Become truly successful in your chosen field!
http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/battle-brewing-pittsburgh-public-schools-over-new-/nb26Y/
Finally the union steps up, but will it be too little too late?
Teachers really do need to step up if their certification means anything. Otherwise, why shouldn't other similar organizations with minimal training for teachers form ("Teach for Pennsylvania," "Educate for Equality," etc) to pretty much replace the standard training? Think of the financial incentive as salaries and benefits are driven further and further down by recent graduates who might otherwise be interning for zero pay. TFA should be for areas that are truly unable to attract teachers, and its goal should be its own disappearance as it contributes to the disappearance of those areas of acute need.
Teach for America. It just sounds so impressive, doesn't it? There are places where the TFA corps could be effective, but the time is NOT right for that to be Pittsburgh. Don't give us, parents that is, one more reason to think that our kids are getting less than they should. 5 weeks of training? The desire they have to do the work with passion is not enough and our kids do not have the time to wait for techniques to be perfected. Just because someone has proven to be a good student does not make them a good teacher.
The superintendent herself was once quoted in the newspaper as saying she was better in her second year of teaching than her first, and then better again in subsequent years. We won't hear that kind of quote now but the issue of experience remains.
How many years did the Superintendent actually teach? Wasn't she a kindergarten teacher that whole time?
If there are graduate students (in education) out there looking for a good topic to study, they might look at the progress in Reading and Math of Pittsburgh Public Schools since 2003. If you trace the PSSA scores from 2003 through 2013 at EACH of Pittsburgh schools, you will find that results at each of Pittsburgh's schools has fallen significantly below the minimum standards that were set by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Since the Roosevelt/Lane/Gates/Broad entry into the PPS District, academic achievement has fallen dramatically, comparatively speaking!
Such a study, is needed to identify the specific factors responsible for these very poor results
And why do we assume that TFA candidates are more "passionate" about teaching our students than a candidate who has gone the traditional route of both a subject focus-such as Math-- and education as a major? Why do we assume that anyone can teach what they know? And what do the out-going board members have to gain by shoving this down taxpayers throats? Of course people training for 5 weeks are cheaper? Well duh! You get the 5 week brain surgeon-- I'll take the doctor who went to medical school!
People of Pittsburgh-- someone is again assuming because urban students may have less money they deserve substandard-- "you only need 5 week to teach THERM" This is not TRUE-- we have some great students-- look at the Promise would those students be succeeding in college if the weekend wonders had been teaching them?
Look at PELA and what a disaster putting in the one year practice principals vs the seasoned principals who WERE in charge of their schools. Realize you are being dupped by the venture philanthropists yet again.
Maybe start a Teach for Pittsburgh program to attract and support AA candidates through a certified teaching program?
Good idea questioner!
PA citizens- please remember you have been paying for traditional education learning for many years-- and many of these pre-teachers student taught in PPS and stayed-- because they saw a solid organized district with a fair hiring plan- often better than neighboring suburbs UNTIL GATES-- now these school of education have pulled out their teachers due to the script required by Gates. They needed to prepare teachers for all kinds of school districts. So we lost potential teachers, again because of Gates.
So let's say we start w a class of current grads in science foreign language math how long would it take them to obtain a teaching degree? Or grads w an education degree, how long to get certification in math or a language?
http://www.psea.org/general.aspx?id=1152
If the district wanted to work with local universities, it could EASILY come up with a program (far more likely to be successful than the one the district cooked up on its own) to address this issue.
They could ask universities to meet with students majoring in the related fields and propose some sort of program in which they either began teaching with an emergency cert. or completed a full-time year of training (perhaps including two summers) to get a master's of education if they wanted to be certified.
Instead of paying TFA, they could use that $ per TFA person as a bonus to teachers completing 2 years of satisfactory service in the schools.
It really wouldn't be rocket science to solve this issue without TFA. The biggest issue is the state of discipline and the curriculum in the schools. Highly qualified young people in those fields can often find far less stressful positions elsewhere. Foreign language grads may not find as lucrative positions right out of college, but may also find that the money isn't worth it.
Don't most of our local universities__Pitt, Carlow, Point Park, Robert Morris___have programs that certify teachers? And, what about Chatham?
Why in the world would PPS want a deal with non-certified Teach for America interns?
It doesn't make any sense at all, does it?
Does anyone in leadership care about the students in our schools? Please, someone, give us some evidence!
Has anyone checked with these universities about why they are reportedly not certifying enough students in the sciences and foreign languages and cannot provide the four AA teachers Pps can expect to receive from TFA?
We need new leadership thats all to it.
We do we ignore the obvious. Our superintdent is not the right person to lead our district and some of our board members dont have a clue.
And they know it- hence the rush!
Aren't a lot of our directors, assistants etc. paid with Gates money? We know this is a Gates initiative so maybe these folks need this to happen to keep their jobs. It would definitely explain the rush. Does that sound like a stretch?
When teachers academy candidates were recruited was there a big emphasis on finding AA teachers or is this a new concern for Pps?
(Dont remember hearing a lot sbout AA teachers at that time.)
Hey 4:59: Add Duquesne, Edinboro, Slippery Rock, Westminster and Indiana to the list (of Pitt, Point Park, Robert Morris and Chatham).
That makes at least 9 Universities with teacher certification programs! And, they can't find a way to get the few teachers that PPS claims cannot be found? Is PPS confined to regional teacher training institutions? Can't find teachers? Really?
Also, Judy Johnston (A+ Schools Board) has a letter to the editor yesterday that draws a strange conclusion in that with more than "750 high schools in Pennsylvania" ...."you see the magnitude of the problem." Surely Dr. Johnston is not suggesting that all of the teachers for PA come from this region. In fact, there are hundreds of other higher ed institutions that provide "certificate" for teachers
I still cant see why this board doesn't just walk away from this and the other problems hanging ? Why not take The "praise" for the "job well done" and walk away? THEIR jobs arent hanging so why keep fighting with the huge petition etc.?
They certainly didnt care about AA candidates, either with the new teacher academy or with the PELA initiative. Again, we had better scores, better discipline, more AA administrators and teachers before Roosevelt.
Was it perfect? No, and for that reason alot of people were willing to give the Roosevelt /Gates stuff a try.
Remember when suburban schools looked to US as leaders in fields such as technology, CYE etc. the arts, administration, etc. This was when state organizations came to US for leadership. This is the rich heritage that ended in 2006.
NEW PG ARTICLE on TFA
Novice teachers are not the solution
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2013/11/24/Novice-teachers-are-not-the-solution/stories/201311240133
From the article by Helen F. Ladd is a professor of public policy and economics at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy and a member of the Scholars Strategy Network (hladd@duke.edu).
“Experienced teachers strengthen education in numerous ways beyond improving test scores. Our research suggests that as North Carolina middle-school teachers gain experience, they become increasingly adept at producing other important results, such as reducing student absences and encouraging students to read for recreational purposes outside of the classroom. More experienced teachers often mentor young teachers and help to create and maintain a strong school community.”
“Also, as other research has shown, constant teacher turnover is disruptive for schools and harmful to students, especially in disadvantaged schools. All too often, inexperienced teachers are initially assigned to disadvantaged schools, where the challenges of maintaining order and effectively instructing students can be daunting.”
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2013/11/24/Novice-teachers-are-not-the-solution/stories/201311240133#ixzz2lb8qpZxJ
New article on TFA-- this seems so wise, and obvious I cannot imagine a serious argument against experienced teachers- except for how cheap these teachers come. In some suburban districts they actually talk about "rookie teachers" and their rookie year. I hope this can be stopped-- PPS students deserve the quality they had in the past.
Until this story stirred here in Pittsburgh there were many people who did not understand the TFA program. Many thought the candidates had teaching degrees and entered the program to hone their skills beyond what they had been taught and learned through student teaching. There has been enough shared in the paper, letters-to-the editor, in casual discussion and in doing some reading to know now is not the time to introduce the program here in pps. If the greatest need is in languages we need to recruit from our colleges. Emergency certification is a term new to me but a process that may meet our needs for only the hardest to fill positions in languages for the 2014-15 school year. Are there numbers anywhere on the pps books showing how many emergency certified teachers we have in positions this year?
Options have been discussed among the board members, it will be interesting to see if all but TFA were dismissed.
Once the Board accepted the premise that a Superintendent can be adequately trained in a few weekends, it's not a logical leap to believe that any other trade can be learned in a few weeks. Perhaps the new Board should scrutinize the first assumption.
At the PPS Public Hearing tonight, 17 speakers addressed Teach for America. Only 3 spoke on behalf of TFA. Those three were already connected to PPS and at least one was an Eli Broad trainee. The ironic thing about their testimony is that two of the three spent 2 to 4 years teaching in TFA and then left teaching and moved to administrative positions in TFA!?! So they were prime examples of the cited problem re: TFA. The 3rd speaker was a Pitt candidate for TFA.
Many speakers very strongly voiced their opposition-- with several university professors adamantly against TFA.
Community voices against closing Woolslair were also strong with some actually "envisioning" an alternative to closing the school.
There were 44 speakers listed. The other two issues were Propel at Burgwin in Hazelwood, and no textbooks at Perry with heavy use of worksheets.
Revealing testimony all in all!
Board directors, Fink and McCrea were ABSENT as was Dr. Otuwa.
One person at the public hearing brought this up, it can't be a coincidence that the Teach For America contract is coming to PPS just a couple of months after Cate Reed left PPS for a position as an executive with TFA. I don't know why that sort of cronyism surprises me anymore, it certainly shouldn't.
9:10
I appreciate your detailed summary. Very informative
Thank you
Dont forget sam franklin is a TFA alum....
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