On another post Anonymous wrote:
"Speaking of a "changing tide", could it be true that the Bill Gates
Fdn. is "CUTTING FUNDS" to Pittsburgh Public Schools as reported
several times this evening on KDKA news with Linda Lane stating she is
"very concerned" in an interview by Ken Rice?
What is the true scoop on this? Does anyone know?
Hopefully,
this tide WILL CHANGE so that the PPS District is FREE of all
constraints and initiatives IMPOSED via the Gates contracts."
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70 comments:
Remember when the foundations pulled back funds about 10 years ago until the board toed the line? Somehow it doesn't seem like this tactic will work as well this time around.
Yes, the LOCAL foundations withdrew funding until PPS complied; but, this would seem to be a very different circumstance. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (in collaboration with the Eli and Edyth Broad Foundation) have been in total control of Pittsburgh Public Schools since Mark Roosevelt was given a waiver by the state to become our district's Superintendent. These two NATIONAL foundations have invested many millions more than local foundations that withdrew funding.
Also, it is important to note that PPS has acquiesced to the demands of Gates and Broad to an extent never before witnessed in our public education system. YET, achievement in PPS continues to DECLINE in spite of the Gates money. And, remember the recent news article that stated Gates is changing its MO, while PPS continues down the road of serious decline under the former Gates model.
I see that Andy Sheehan will be doing an "investigative" piece with Lane tomorrow during KD's 6:00 news. The teaser question posed to her is something along the lines of "Will this have disastrous consequences?"
Let's be clear: the lack of Gates money will only have disastrous consequences to people who work on Bellefield Avenue and have attached themselves to RISE. End of story. Exclamation point.
Any intimation of "disastrous consequences" or " adversely affecting our work (meaning the 'evaluation of teachers)" is a bald face lie.
Gates money has NO impact on students. In fact, the entire Gates evaluation process has been found to be a complete sham and one that has only produced what we have seen here in Pittsburgh: vindictive administrators subjectively rating teachers using outrageously vague schemes that only doom those "chosen" as basic or below.
It's about time that PureReform stops riding the fence in this regard. Countless good teachers have been dismissed by this district thanks to this "evaluation" system, funded by Gates. New school board members---especially Cindy Falls and Sylvia Wilson---are well aware of this.
This "report" is yet another attempt by the Lane gang to circumvent what is inevitable. We saw this with the 300 teacher layoffs of a couple years ago...when she held interviews, got the editorial board at the PG and had foundation CEO's...to come out in favor of dropping the teacher seniority system, and here we go again.
This is an administration that has been an abject failure for 9 years. Worse, it will cling to its failed philosophies until the end.
I am hopeful that Pittsburgh sees through yet another facade.
Do you think this might play into Gates' decision?
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2014/01/weingartens_retrenchment_on_va.html
Wow, poor Pittsburgh wont be able to afford the 49 page evaluation, or principals sitting and doing tem on laptops,oh my. We may have to return to "real school" with real teachers and principals working to move students forward. Students have always had some struggles, and teachers have stayed up at night, figuring out the best way to get learning across to students-- not trying to make themselves look good for phony domains. This may be the board who sends gates packin' and returns PPS to being real school!
Follow the money! They blew most of it on RISE and the software that does not work, computers for administrators to collect "evidence" and so-called professional development. Too many teachers have become RISE "house slaves" (team members) and they will do anything to save their own phony baloney jobs. Most of them were never effective teachers themselves but now they are ready to sell their souls to Bellefield Avenue. Basically the RISE concept is nothing more than a multimillion dollar "crucifixion" for teachers that aren't able to fix all of the socioeconomic and dysfunctional issues that enter their classrooms on a daily basis. John Tarka and Mark Roosevelt should be in jail! Don't blame Dr. Lane!
The Sheehan piece is probably a deliberate attempt to raise fear by trying to shame the Board into reversing its stance again on the TFA contract. Probably continued renewal of Gates grants and Broad grants comes with the condition that PPS expand to include TFA, Troops for Teachers and other non traditional staffing sources. Broad, for instance, over the last several years has expanded its superintendents academy to include many relatively high ranking military retirees to become superintendents, another sign of how the U.S. keeps moving toward a police state, really. That's a whole other discussion, though. I would bet the only "investigative" aspect of the report will be that Gates threatens to withdraw if Pittsburgh doesn't bring in TFA. This is actually a form of relentless bullying by trying to shame the city into thinking it is acting like a backward cousin or something. The city instead should be asking questions about what happens to those teachers who are pushed out to allow TFA in, and it will be a gradual and building wave of people pushed out. Education is the third largest employer of Pittsburgh citizens currently. This also supports probably a good portion of your families now, and a good portion of the spending teachers and their family members do in the city. If you want to destabilize your larger economy, Pittsburgh, go ahead and gut your teaching force for the sake of a few intellectual ideas voiced by foundation leaders whose greatest fear is their own mortality and loss of their ego oriented identity to time. This is how human suffering continues to be created and cultivated through time, similar to the behaviors seen on the news yesterday and today by Dennis Rodman, who is very thinly separated from Eli Broad and Bill Gates. Anyone who ever saw Gates' reaction when on the stand with federal prosecutors over Microsoft can remember how Gates reacted like a small and spoiled boy who wasn't getting his way and who was having a fit over it just like Rodman is now. That's the kind of behavior you will probably see discussed in Sheehan's report, and that kind of threatening,,pouting behavior is only persuasive to people who are still children themselves. Grown up folks who know what it means to be responsible for others will not be persuaded by such complete nonsense and will continue to say no to TFA. And this tactic of trying to shame grown adults as a way to get them to do what you want instead of what logically makes sense in the best interests of all needs to be dropped by A+ Schools and the foundations. It's just silly. If that's the only thing they've got in the way of strategy, that crazy Board Watch stuff. And it looks like it is. Who needs them? They only talk to themselves anyway. The majority of kids and parents in the majority of schools don't even know who they are or care and aren't influenced by them when they make decisions. Saleem at The Promise has more cred with kids and parents, because they know what The Promise is and Saleem won't lie.
Please. Dr. Lane is as accountable as anyone. She can say no to things that aren't right but consistently does not. That's part of what being a leader means. She is not the victim here.
Dr. Lane is responsible for carrying on what Roosevelt and Tarka started. She was chosen to replace Roosevelt because she is also a Broad trained superintendent who would continue their work. She has had plenty of time to prove otherwise and failed. She had caused as much or more damage than Roosevelt.
Anon 8:18 What are you thinking 'John Tarka and Mark Roosevelt should be in jail! Don't blame Dr. Lane!' While these two were nailing PPS to the cross, Dr. Lane was behind them handing them the nails! As for the earlier years, foundations were withholding funds due to the school boards relationship with Dr. Thompson. They wanted to micro-manage the district. They fought with him on closing school buildings, reducing budgets, etc... When he parted he said he did his job which was reducing the debt. He was never given the task of reducing the racial achievement gap. The board fought with him on almost every issue. I believe what they really hated was his flamboyant lifestyle. I admit, the blue zoot suit, yellow hat with feather did take away any credibility he may of had. But don't blame Dr, Lane, please...
From Anon 8:08 - True, Dr. Lane is not the victim. As I said before, there is enough blame to go around. The PFT sold out to the Board! Too many teachers couldn't handle the classroom so they became administrators, supervisors or worse (RISE team roaches). Some of the admin rats have already abandoned the PPS ship for the suburban high ground and more will follow. Until the day that parents take responsibility for their children's behavior and education, no amount of money will increase test scores. In the end, teachers will be blamed for everything, the school board is always elected by a few people that show up to vote and the PFT cronies get fatter by the day!
Rodman rocks.
Does everyone realize that the state now requires an evaluation system that is Danielson-based? RISE will not go away.
As a PPS teacher who has worked by choice in many "hard to staff schools" I would love nothing more than to see Lane, Stein, Otuwa, and the rest of the henchmen be made to work one year as teachers. That would be justice to me. None of them would last a week. I would love to see even one of them come into my school and teach one class and engage my students. It would be hilarious. I hope that little crybaby, Bill Gates, takes his money goes away. I am sure this has something to do with TFA and the admin. staff is running scared because they might lose their jobs and end up back in the classroom.
I agree 8:49! And A+ schools receives large amounts of Gates money. They are not an objective watchdog of the board when they receive money from the same source as the board. That is such an outright conflict of interest.
Everyone does not have a 49 page evaluation. Everyone doesnt have a so-called union that is mesmerized by names like Gates and Roosevelt.
Everyone is NOT exiting teachers so that the average number of teaching years is cut in half- just to save money. Everyone does not have school boards who think this is good! Other districts have scores that make what they are doing seem way better than us. Other boards would go nuts if after all this Gates crap, their scores went DOWN! Other places would have the news media asking questions after reading this blog!
A true educational leader does what is right for the good of the students in that district. The last two superintendents have done what is good for themselves and their ideologies. While it is clear that ego is a factor in anyone whose charge it is to lead others, in Roosevelt we saw an individual who gave new meaning to the word 'cronyism' and in Lane, an individual who is unwilling to admit an incredible array of mistakes at the expense of students and teachers in PPS. She would rather go down with the ship that to admit fault. How incredibly sad.
Meanwhile, this interview with Sheehan comes straight out of the Roosevelt PR playbook. Become media savvy, play the woe is us card and try to garner both foundation and public support.
I am hopeful that the school board sees through this ploy. I am hopeful that it understands what type of individuals are in place at the highest echelons of PPS. At no time in history has an educational administration gone out of its way to separate itself from teachers and school-based administration. It has set itself on an island and seeks to look down its nose at those in schools. Worst of all, it seeks to make proclamations about how to educate and run schools as it sits in cozy offices, far away from classrooms themselves.
Sending Lane, Lippert, Otuwa and Stein back to the classrooms is not enough. All of the administration at Bellefield and Greenway need to be sent back to the classroom and placed under the auspices of RISE.
I want to see first hand the instructional prowess of these people, along with RISE leader Paula Bevan. I want to see their vision of how to be effective right before my eyes.
Gates and Broad are charlatans. And never fear, we have enough wannabes right here in town.
lotta blame to media here--Why interview someone on the Gates payroll (A+ schools)? Or at least SAY they are on the dole!
KDKA and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are "partners," like WIIC and The Tribune Review are "partners." Enough Said. Andy Sheehan's "investigative report" was just PR for Lane's/Gates's and Bellefield's agendas. What a sham. And A+ Schools is "devastated." They are another fox in the henhouse. Too bad. Gates needs to take his $40 million/Lane/"national model" etc. and leave. If his money is "squandered," and a "black-eye" on PPS, so be it. Let's get back to educating our kids.
Our new mayor has talked about looking into PPS's finances and getting pre-school education for every child. Let's hope he means what he says. Looking into the finances shouldJJOHN oputomi prove interesting...
This is Lane's favorite tactic: appeal to the public to paint teachers as the problem. It didn't work a few years ago and it won't work now.
What horrible "leadership." The worst.
Lost any respect I had for Andy Sheehan. This was investigative? My God.
Here's the link; definitely more of an opinion piece than investigative:
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/video/9709508-gates-foundation-may-pull-pittsburgh-public-school-funding/
In so many ways this is all too late. Many fine teachers were forced to resign because of RISE. Their lives are ruined. Many more teachers, like me, saw the handwriting on the wall and took early retirements.
And an entire generation of students has been irrevocably harmed.
And those parents who could flee the PPS have fled the PPS.
The only people that have benefited are the central administrators. They have their bonuses in the bank, and they have their vested pensions.
Someday some reporter will win a Pulitzer Prize for writing on what really happened here.
What exactly is golden about the opportunity, Andy? Also, Andy, please know that the vigorous and massive resistance Yinzercation has been staging among parents and voters has very much been noticed by the Gates grant officers. That's independent of the PFT. As for why we got this grant in the first place, yes the relationship between the PFT and the district was good. We had 30 years of labor peace--no strikes--BEFORE Roosevelt arrived. He did not create that, but he did infer that he had, and that's part of why Gates said yes. And at the time, what we have now was not spelled out. We just made a promise to work together. The situation has fallen apart since those promises were made. There is no golden opportunity here. Rating people to within an inch of their life does not make them do their job better, especially when those doing the rating are known to have been on improvement plans themselves. As for Carrie Harris, are you seriously expecting anyone to trust her judgment on this? What does she actually know about schools or public education? Not very much--only what Linda Lane tells her. Gates also is not seeing results in Pittsburgh since the project started, and that's another reason to pull. Student achievement continues to decline. Staff continue to cycle out of schools, especially low achieving schools. All PPS gives Gates are charts, spreadsheets, meeting discussion feedback and stuff like that. Gates just isn't seeing in Pittsburgh the kind of changes it is seeing in other project sites,Mao it is time to cut us. And Nina is correct about asking our teachers to be held to a higher standard than the state. The PFT can't agree to that. It is obviously unfair and goes against the PFT's reason for existence, which like all unions is to improve the working conditions of its members, not to make things worse. Even if they did agree, teachers could still bring wrongful firing and harassment and defamation suits against PPS and win, which really would bankrupt the district. Either way, Gates is going to scale back funding, probably, and PPS will do only what the state requires the district to do with evaluating teachers. The grant award was only supposed to last a short time anyway, and then the district was supposed to pick up all EET costs themselves. So Gates isn't doing anything strange here. PPS just doesn't have money to sustain RISE the way it's run now, and it never was going to. So PPS needs more Gates funding to keep it going. Gates isn't going to do that when it sees such outspoken and angry pushback from the public.
There is probably no easy way to find out how much of the 40M has been spent. In a better world the hotline would have been briefed in great detail and he parent/public would have been told to go to the hotine for answers. Parents have continually been told that spending was very defined by the grantgiver. No doubt the EFA tonight will include discussion of the Gates grant status and possibly the Sheehan piece.
A simple question from the parent peanut gallery...if our version of the evaluation system is so good why doesn't the PDE just adopt it and save a few bucks?
Our personal experiences are where our feelings and the opinions we express come from and Ms. Harris has kids in pps. She may be a satisfied stakeholder. In my observation, a few parents who are strong supporters of the evaluation system arrived there because they felt their kid was done wrong by a teacher; the "not my kid" mentality in play.
Nina, for once in your professional life, stand up and show some courage.
Here is a superintendent that continues to say that YOU and your rank and file are the problem in PPS.
And she calls the fact that you are willing to stand up for yourself "personal?????" The nerve of this know-nothing charlatan.
The $40 M was spent in full the first three years, mostly in the first two, of the grant.
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/01/09/peduto-asks-gates-foundation-for-more-time-to-save-school-grant/
Peduto asking Gates for more time to save the school grant. Peduto wants to broker a deal between the PFT and PPS regarding the teacher standards which are higher than the state standards.
Some may be surprised and disappointed at peduto's pro-Gates position but the warning was there when he turned against Schenley and teamed up with bill isler to push through the sale of the building a year and a half ago. Do not set hopes on Peduto as a counterweight to the excessive influence of foundations on the school district.
I distrust anyone who doesn't have or didn't recently have children in the system and who doesn't work in the district.
They get their information from the administration. Unless they really go to an enormous effort to educate themselves about the top to bottom problems that arise from Gates/Broad interventions, they are very likely to accept what they're told. It's hard to be told that a district that is cash-strapped is going to "lose" tens of millions.
Even if it's been spent to no effect and even if money comes with a demand that you match it with your own money, etc.
Yes. Being a sharp eyed naysayer in city council and being mayor are two different things. He has no power over this situation. Do not give your power away, Nina. Do not agree to his staff's involvement. He has no legislative or moral authority to become involved or seize mayoral control of the school district, which has always been a goal of the 1% here and Isler. I wouldn't even sir down at the table with him or his rep there, and Fondy would tell you the same thing.
Of all the things Peduto faces as a new mayor, why would he choose to tie up his time and his staff's time going round in circles with the AFT on a battle he won't win because we simply do not legally have to do more than the state requires in teacher eval for other districts. What a huge waste of taxpayers' money. If Peduto wants to argue to Corbett and legislators that teacher eval requirements should increase statewide, which is probably his only other route, then fine. He will shortly become the most hated mayor in the state. Do not forget how close AFT and PFT are to the AFL CIO. If you've ever been to their meetings, you know how strong they are and how much they support each other. PFT gets attacked by Peduto and team? Then expect backlash from all the rest of unionized labor in the city, which is, what, 85% of the working population in industries that make the economy run and is also the bulk of the democratic voters! the working class! who elected Peduto. Ambition does not make you a leader, Bill.
What became of the idea of grading a teachers based upon the performances of the students taught?
If the union isnt opposing management WHAT is the point?? Yes we had 30 years of "labor peace"-- but most people know that didnt mean rubber stamping! There were issues, meetings GRIEVANCES fought and won,hiring practices, seniority, work conditions were debated. Yes lives were ruined by this administration-- but for many losing the union was akin to a loss of faith. People of Pittsburgh had expectations of what a union meant. IF you still expect people to pay dues-- it's time to stand tall. In the past, even good principals told reps to call the union, when policies werent best fOR CHUILDREN. Note: NO ONE has been able to connect Gates initiative to good scores, kids learning etc-- ANYWHERE in the country.
Turn it around, Nina-- some people DO remember you as a tough but fair negotiator- not a celebrity struck teen who was in love with the Roosevelt name and dazzled by the 40 million. It's mostly spent-- let Gates slip out and lets all get back to the business of educating students.
You guys realize this probably isn't a direct line to Nina, right?
These messages need to be sent directly to her email. I'll be sending out letters to Nina, Sheehan and Peduto this weekend. I encourage everyone to do the same. Now is the time to take action. We can't afford to look bad in any way. Public opinion is not fully on our side, but we work hard and now is the time to let the public see that. Does anyone know if that "Great City Schools" (sorry if I get the name wrong) is planning any type of media blitz?
From Mark Rauterkus:
"What became of the idea of grading a teachers based upon the performances of the students taught?"
I can't imagine how teachers could be evaluated on this as the biggest component of the process. The only way it would work for me is if each teacher taught exactly the same 30 students everyday all year. I have a kid who is a teenage slacker, hopefully just a phase, it is my number one daily duty to motivate him. Pity the poor teacher who gets a class full of kids like him.
Peduto went to Seattle to meet with Gates/his people. Whose dime paid for that trip I wonder?
If the evaluation system was truly meant to "help" teachers become better teachers, then why have so many of our teachers (especially ones at the top of the pay scale) been focused on and quit, retired, retired early, etc.?
Gates wants an "agreement" and the window is "closing" or there will be no more funds. What kind of an "agreement?" Does he want the PFT to roll over and continue to play dead? The evaluation system calls for "other factors." That certainly gives the administration alot of leeway.
I like the way Andy Sheehan says "informed sources." That must mean that Peduto/Lane called him and said "investigate" this. The best thing Peduto could do for the betterment of PPS would be to initiate an investigation into the finances, etc. at Bellefield. He needs to get to the bottom of exactly how the Pittsburgh Public School System fell into such disrepair. Oh, and good luck getting 20,000 people to move into Pittsburgh...
The best thing Peduto can do is a topic for another thread. Hint, hint.
But, ... an investigation by the mayor into PPS is NOT one of them. He could urge our City Controller, Michael Lamb, to do that finance audit, investigation, watchdog thingie.
City Hall has a prime purpose with the school district with the City Controller.
Michael Lamb needs to get those letters too.
If I have 30 kids in my 4th grade classroom, and you have 30 other kids that are also in 4th grade and those youngsters are at a different level, we CAN compare IMPROVEMENT.
But, I am not really defending that line of thinking. I was wondering what was happening there?
This slogan, "It is all about the kids" could be central in the evaluation process.
Much of what is being posted here does not make good sense. It satisfies the poster to have his/her thoughts/opinions posted; but, if you look at the statements there is little connection to the realities of what it takes to manage and produce a successful school system.
It is not really about Gates money and SHOULD NOT BE.
A school system exists to educate its students, ALL of its students. It takes knowledge, expertise, commitment, and taking care of business. Yes, teachers are the bottom line. Whether or not children are engaged in learning is up to teachers. HOWEVER, bad curricula, lack of professional development on critical thinking skills that were part of PA Standards and have become more complex and sophisticated with the integration of common core impacts, negatively, the teaching and learning process. Equally devastating to the educational process in PPS is the lack of autonomy and decision-making for teachers who are held to a one-size-fits-all, scripted curriculum.
When teachers are stripped of their professionalism and "controlled" by an administration that seriously lacks the aforesaid "knowledge, expertise, commitment", and ability to "take care of business" we are left with the current
state of very low academic achievement for the majority of students in PPS.
No amount of money, funding, or interference from Gates, Broad or Peduto can fix the problems PPS is experiencing.
Finally, there are solutions and there are Pittsburgh educators who can provide what is necessary to turn PPS around in a 'hot minute' as they say!
Where and who are they?
Mark at 11:26
"If I have 30 kids in my 4th grade classroom, and you have 30 other kids that are also in 4th grade and those youngsters are at a different level, we CAN compare IMPROVEMENT."
Even then it would be difficult. Let me give you an example from my own experience. A number of years ago I taught an honors science class that had two vulgar and disruptive students. That class, an honors class, was way behind my other classes.
Time that I should've spent teaching was spent just trying to keep those two students quiet, and to keep them from bothering other students.
Calling home made no difference, trying to reason with the students made no difference, writing referrals to administration made no difference.
And this was in an honors class. In mainstream classes the problems can be worse. Talk to good students that are stuck in such situations. They will tell you how frustrating it is.
So there is no point in trying to compare teachers when one might be lucky enough to have calm classes, and the other unlucky enough to have a disruptive class or two.
Oh, and no one please say that disruptive classes are the fault of the teacher.
As with most teachers, I've had disruptive classes and great classes in the same year. Does that mean I'm a bad teacher some of the day, then magically I'm a good teacher at other times?
Everything 7:18 said is true. Many of our students are learning IN SPITE of their classmates. I've actually done the so- called "exit interview" because I see the parents and families who have left our school-- they run up and are very willing to say-- it wasnt the teachers -- it was the other students and the feeling of "nothing being done"-- trust me, calling parents, sending a kid to a in-school playroom etc-- means nothing in " kid culture"-- what goes home is " I sat and watched and heard ____ perform and nothing was done, I was hurt and nothing was done" In the suburbs, in other kinds of schools etc-- even it it is PR-- injured students perceive that something is done. So it seems to all like "no one will disrupt learning in ....... school.
Peduto went to Seattle and met with Gates before he was elected? How is this even ethical? It is about the grant 1:10. Teachers lost all creative autonomy and professional decision making authority when Roosevelt came in. None of the people running the district would be here now if ?Broad and Gates hadn't brought them here. Roosevelt was selected because he was already a Broad. Money and prestige.
It is my understanding that the Gates money was at least partially used to create career ladder positions. These are meant to inspire teachers to do a better job so that they can be promoted and receive a higher salary. I suppose the long term plan was that teachers would be promoted according to their evaluations: RISE, Tripod surveys (87 questions given to students about their teachers) and test scores. In a perfect world all teachers would teach children who come from stable homes, who have no learning disabilities, and who value education. Since we are not in a perfect world where do you think all the "best" teachers are going to be teaching? It is a negative incentive to teach in the most difficult schools. So not only do the teachers in the most challenging schools have a rougher time in their job, they get paid LESS. Please correct me if this is an incorrect assumption.
I watched 4802 last night on wqed and it is pretty obvious that even the highly informed do not understand the Gates grant. I kept hearing from the discussion that it would be wrong to take the money away from the kids and the schools. The money was never meant for kids and schools, at least that is what it seems to me. The money created a new layer of bureaucracy, went to many consultants who were charged with PD and ensuring all grants were used to the letter of the agreements, added to principal workloads, created systems and software that may not work. I am dumbstruck to think the public might believe that losing any part of the $40M will be taking art supplies, books and programs that make a student's day more worthwhile. If Cullen, Green, McDonald-Roberts and Heidelbaugh don't understand how many other don't either.
8:22 You are so right. The District has allowed everyone to believe that the money is somehow supporting the students. IT IS NOT.
As far as cut scores, there are many great dedicated (they have been working with PPS 15 + years)teachers that are being affected by the high cut scores. I'm not saying that teachers should not be evaluated, but it needs to be fair and reasonable. If you have 2 5th grade classes each with 30 students,seems like the field would be even, BUT if one of those classes received extra support then the field is not even. IF one of those classes has more students with differing abilities, then the fields aren't even. IF one of those classes or both of the classes has just one or two dirsuptive kids that require alot of energy and redirection and there are no good resolutions then ALL the kids suffer.
Teachers are told to differentiate their instruction to meet the kids needs'--totally agree with that, we want to prepare them for their futures, BUT then why are these kids taking a standardized test.
Educating children is not like working an assembly line, and society needs to realize that.
The Gates money and the Broad money rid not go to schools or kids ever, and it has all been spent. The district will not be sending money back. School budgets will not be harmed. The Gates and Broad money was used 100% to add staff to the EET office, pat for professional development for teachers, give teachers incentives, system for developing data tools and evaluation measures and tools to rate teachers, communication/marketing EET and paren outreach, and travel and consultants. Broad money was used likewise but for principal development and rating. Money and resources for schools are not bring lost here. The grants were asked for to create evaluation and pd for teachers and principals. That is how the money was used. The grants never were asked for to support school and classroom daily needs. There is a simple solution to see the truth. Just ask for a detailed budget that shows how the grants were spent. If Gates does not renew its grant support, then the district will not be able to pay salaries of many staff running the evaluation systems and won't be able to do pd the way it is done now. Then school budgets might be touched as a way to keep administration and evaluation processes and systems in place. That is probably what the media people are saying, but in a way that makes it sound like the district will be returning grants funds, not possible because the grant is spent already and done. So the choice is do you want to keep the teacher and principal eval structure created by Gates and Broad in place or not. If you do, it will cost a lot of money that the district doesn't have.
http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/education/s_769818.html#axzz2q6DgKr5Z
This article from the Trib. dated 12/1/2011, states that 2 years after PPS received the $40 million dollar grant, 2/3 had been spent or allocated on consultants and contractors - mainly from out of state. Now in 1/2014, how much you think is left of the 1/3 remaining since 12/1/2011?
The end game of Linda Lane is quite transparent, wouldn't you say? I mean, from all accounts, the RISE evaluative system --and its many incarnations--have been abandoned everywhere. In the private sector, the process has been shown to be a complete failure.
That Linda Lane would rather seek to obfuscate the truth with short news segments that she knows will never tell the entire story to the public is all you need to know about her character. She knows quite well that the news media--especially the electronic media---can never devote enough time to tell the sordid details about this NOT being about money that goes to kids. She is aware of this. Completely. She knows that this is yet another way to bend the truth and paint teachers as the 'bad guys' as she did when teacher layoffs were looming a couple years ago, and she wished to rid the district of veteran salaries.
She knows exceedingly well.
And there are those who feel she should be blameless? What can you be thinking?
I expect another editorial in the PG. I expect foundation types to write an op ed piece. I expect Lane to show up on radio shows like the anti teacher slag of Marty Griffin's. We all should.
One expectation I DON'T have is for Nina to do anything. None. Here is one of the individuals who gave away the farm.
I often wonder how John and Nine, as well as their executive committee compatriots, sleep at night in knowing that countless teachers have lost their jobs in this salary dump.
Perhaps I can put them in touch with these people, whose lives have been shattered simply because an administrator had bogey to fill.
Where is Andy Sheehan to cover this angle????
Try to imagine teachers who have won accolades over 20+ years being told they are suddenly below basic and told to resign, by administrators who themselves were not in a classroom for more than a couple years.
What are they supposed to do now?
Where are you Andy??? Whatever happened to journalistic integrity?
it will take one courageous retiree to come forward with a story and evidence to shine a light on what needs to change. do I as just a bystander believe the process of evaluation was rigged in some cases? yes. yet, I also must wonder if the cut scores issue was what finally caused the teachers' union to pause or if something else came in to play. purely speculation, but might a teacher have been RISEN out who had some strong connection to a union executive? probably unfair of me as a know-nothing but the media only tells you parts of stories most of the time. again, the $40M must be close to gone. might there be some chance the district would have to pay back a portion?
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2014/01/13/Teacher-evaluation-fight-may-prove-costly/stories/201401130116
Today's Post-Gazette continues the PR for PPS. Since the district is going broke, how are we supposed to come up with our share of money (that we are contracted to) that is due in 2014, 2015, and 2016?
The expectation for our share of the money has always been there from the beginning with the original grant award and was stated clearly that we would own it after Gates helped us develop it. Omaha Schools had a chance to be part of this same grant initiative from Gates, because that's where Warren a Buffet is from, and he gave his fortune to the Gates foundation to manage and disburse as grants. When Omaha's school staff ran the projections to see what t would do in the long run to their budgets to create and sustain something like this, they ended up saying "no thanks" to Gates. That was reported in numerous news publications at the time, so you can look it up and see for yourself. Omaha Schools could see the Gates teacher piece would bankrupt them, so they said no. PPS saw that same story during the application process but disregarded it and kept on going for the grant. The PG had to run this article today to save PG's own integrity. It's very clear that what they reported before was based on lies that are being told about Gates threatening to withdraw. It's also clear that lies are being told about what the union is drawing the pine on. And it's very clear that the evaluation tool and processes are so, as the article states, convoluted that the people in charge of them can't even explain them or understand them. So the PG has to scramble back now and report some facts for a change. Must feel like a breath of fresh air at last for all those real reporters stuck back in the stacks for so long now. If they had kept Amy Schaarsmith where she was--a person who tells the truth--then you would have had some actual news reported over the last several years instead of all this untrue fluff we've been given. Bottom line, Nina is only asking for equity with what other teachers in the state are required to do. This seems very reasonable. And the state seems to agree and, as stated in the article, has told pps before that the eval we have is being used to harass and target teachers, not develop and improve them, which is the state's intent. More people (staff) are continuing to leave the district each day. Before long, Pps will be in worse shape than Duquesne or Wilkinsburg because of all of this. Then what will you do? The stuff we're doing now has to be scaled way back. We can't pay for it. And it's not making a difference that results in better outcomes for kids or families. It's destroying school culture and creating more violence in schools because of the staff turnover and constant harassment of professional, trained, skilled and experienced staff.
I thought the PG reporting this morning was thorough and may be an article to cut out and save on the fridge. It certainly was enough to let you form an opinion. It should not be expected that a newspaper article should present only one side, but the PG has editorials for the purpose. For me the only issue is the disparity of standards. Why grade more harshly here than the rest of the state?
Grade more harshly because of where PPS performances are now.
Status quo won't catch up. PPS must be better than the rest to come up to the norm.
Perhaps. My pondering only.
I also sense that the evaluation system is charting new territory, Putting a marker of X out there as a target is open to wiggle room as there has not been such a marker in the past.
Furthermore, this new Gates system is pivotal for management and evaluation in PPS and less of a factor elsewhere because the others elsewhere already have robust management, hiring, evaluation methods. Sloppy management / craftsmen need sharp tools.
Perhaps.
Face it. What unfolds in the city is unlike what happens is much smaller districts. Bad situations can fester longer in a giant system and they would not be tolerated in a smaller, well managed, better supervised, more supported learning systems. That observation goes both ways too.
Good teachers and good administrators are not valued enough. And the poor ones (teachers and administrators) are not discounted enough as well, IMHO, in a mega district.
$.02.
PPS is not a giant system. Please. Compare our size to Boston,. We are smaller. Compare to NY or Chicago. Those are giant systems. The Diocese of Pittsburgh schools have more students than we do in the Pittsburgh area. We are a very small system. No one is hiding in the system.. Also, please explain how teacher evaluation makes all the other systems in a school district run better, because it does not. Please explain why asking for parity in cut scores is unreasonable. Nina is not saying to abandon teacher evaluations completely. Knowing which teachers pass or fail has nothing to do with how much your textbooks or school lunches cost. And it doesn't have anything to do with whether or not athletics will run either in the district.
Scores are bad because teachers are working with a required script that does nit give them the chance to meet the learning needs of students. Evaluating teachers more closely to target them does not improve their teaching. This is even bigger of an issue when the evaluators have never taught themselves and or don't know what good instruction looks like. Pedro Noguera talked about publicly at the district session pps had at CAPA with Lynn Freeland.
IMNSHO, Pittsburgh is a GIANT in relationship to the next door neighbors. PPS vs. WPIAL districts. Brentwood. Riverview. Northgate.
There are some larger districts around here -- but they all only have ONE high school.
I think it is bogus for Linda Lane to compare PPS to Scranton, for example. I saw that on a slide a few weeks ago. People in Pittsburgh don't sit around and say, "Gee. I think I'll move from Pittsburgh and go to SCRANTON as that is another larger urban district in PA."
Come on.
The discussions here are about South Park, Woodland Hills, West Allegheny, etc., It depends on lots of factors and family situations too, of course. But, the choices are there within the city and then the bigger headache is to move OUT of the city to a near-by district. Those are decisions of choice.
Please. Why compare to Boston for families of Pittsburgh. Compare to North Hills or Lebo or B.P. or any of another two dozen districts within "spitting distance."
To say that "none" are hiding in PPS is up for debate.
My debate concerns teachers and administrators, -- both.
11:09 and 12:07
Financially speaking, PPS is very close to being much further in debt that either Wilkinsburg or Duquesne. (Examine their budgets.)
Academically speaking, Pittsburgh Public School (with all of the Gates money that Wilkinsburg and Duquesne do not have) is much further behind than either Duquesne or Wilkinsburg. In 2013, the PA Department of Education published the rankings in PA, Pittsburgh was ranked 494 of 500. Wilkinsburg, at 490 was 4 places higher and Duquesne, at 485, was 5 places higher.
So, how has the Gates money moved PPS forward academically?
Schools systems are there to advance students not teachers.
Poverty is a much greater problem in Wilkinsburg and Duquesne than in PPS. And, their cost per student is substantially lower than PPS.
So what is the solution to Pittsburgh' problem?
More money? Hmmmmmmm?
The Gates models pps uses are designed for very large systems like Chicago, not rural systems. Pennsylvania,s single high school districts have long been targeted to become part of larger districts. We cannot compare ourselves to these small surrounding districts either. Not really. They couldn't take on a gates reform either because they don't have a big enough staff to constantly churn. Pittsburgh doesn't know whatnot wants to be--a big city ran small town. If you want a big city wth big city problems and interventions, then try to be like my boston or Chicagoland that is what you're dong now. No. What you want are small neighborhood schools where everyone knows each other. N schools like that, you don't need bit gates reforms
Not really. In schools like that, teachers are very seen and known and are developed to fit the school and community, not treated like a bunch of eggs in a cart to be boiled,,painted, and distributed equally.
THIS article was predictable, as much as the Sheehan "investigative" piece that preceded it. Expect the editorial form the PG and expect someone with a name---whether it's a foundation chief or a Dick Wallace--to write an op ed piece that touts the "important work" that Gates money has enabled.
Right before your eyes, you are not only seeing how the news media has changed but also how the Roosevelt/Lane group understands how it can be used to manipulate public opinion.
When will someone interview a teacher who dedicated his or her life for 20 or more years and was suddenly told he didn't know how to teach?
Names can be provided.
Just don't tell me this "superintendent" is not culpable for what has transpired in this city. Here is a woman who is clueless about what is needed in our classrooms and who is hellbent on pushing her failed ideology forward despite all the facts that it is a complete and abject failure.
I can promise you that the aberrent behaviors of some students- yes obviously disturbed-- would NOT be hidden in any of the afore mentioned districts-- I work full time outside of my district, but surprisingly one trip to the market and you hear about everything that goes on in schools. Constant disruptions would be brought up at school board meetings, council people would be called etc. I think I would also know if a teacher's lack of skill were being hidden too. PPS people have NO idea of how often school board members in neighboring districts get phone calls, email etc. Some are on speed-dial! So who is hiding?? Possibly our former board members
Board members are constantly told not to micromanage, just look at results; but when results are not good the only choice is to terminate administrators or be accused of micromanaging and so they end up doing nothing.
People are fleeing the district and its hard to blame them when it seems that charters, private schools and other districts are the only real choice. Soon there will be few schools left in Pittsburgh, and these poor schools will be the only option for those who need the best schools possible to send them into productive futures.
What's happened in Pittsburgh is not only a travesty, but it is criminal! Education truly is the civil rights issue of our time!
Yes, the era of micromanagement seemed wrong, but in hindsight-- those board members were doing what school boards have done for decades...assuring that schools are functioning well. There is a HUGE gulf between mucromanagement and what has happened. Again, another group of smart taxpaying citizens being snowed by Broad! Broad says no no, WE and our puppet highly funded consultants will tell YOU how schools are functioning. Damn you visiting your schools unexpectedly-- we will tell you all about "bad"teachers-- those seasoned hifly paid professionals are causing the rampant decline in school order!
Eric HOlder said things should be handled in the principal's office not the magistrate-- gee Eric, YOU visit a school unexpectedly. No principal in office-- they are off with an ipad " gathering evidence"
Hopefully the hew board will LISTEN-- that isnt micromanagement, its just not hiding behind the Oz curtain of Broad
Does anyone know how the gates money impacts students directly?
Here's an aside to Randall Taylor or anyone who speaks to or knows a board member: implore them to look into all of the concerns about the Gates evaluation process nationwide.Implore them to have courage of convictions when some many others would sell their souls for a few dollars or to be associated with a name brand.
The RISE evaluation process has destroyed teaching in Pittsburgh. In concert with a poorly devised scripted curriculum, it has made teachers prioritize instruction as per those NOT in the classroom at the expense of the needs of our students.
Our scores are going down...and the RISE evaluation system is the reason why. Our students were better prepared for college in life ten years ago. Our students truly learned back then.
Moreover, thanks to the continual pushing of a flawed and failed dogma that experienced building principals know is faulty, there is more trouble between teachers and administrators than at any time in the past 20 years.
RISE is unreasonable. Its laundry list of items that it denotes as being a distinguished or proficient teacher is so rife with pretzel reasoning that it numbs the mind. I've read it, and can tell you that anyone who says it is 'objective' is pulling the wool over your eyes.
RISE is an opportunity to help the district in a financial sense. It is a way to target and eventually lop off teachers who are making $85000, so as to replace them with fresh faces.
And RISE is a way to ensure those fresh faces NEVER get a raise, because the various benchmarks that would push a teacher toward distinguished designation can never be reached.
I've read the board minutes for the past two years. I've taken note of the many teachers who have either been terminated or been made to resign. I would hope that new board members--especially Sylvia Wilson and Cindy Falls--would ask why so many 20 or 25 year veterans are suddenly leaving.
In this regard, RISE is not an evaluation system at all. It is a financial tool that Lane and her staff have embraced. It is a way to cut staff. It has been used and it has saved the district a great deal of money.
So how does Gates money affect the students? It affects them as administrators in a building are constantly doing evaluations, to the point where discipline has suffered greatly. Someone tell me a school where the halls *aren't* out of control or where referrals aren't met with silence.
It affects the students with a revolving door of teachers. A teacher is taken away and replaced with someone who is inexperienced, but cheap. It affects the students in terms of the continued usage of horrible curriculum across all subject areas. To call Pittsburgh a 'world class' district would be a gross exaggeration.
There are a lot of people currently fooling the public about RISE and the need for Gates. In truthfulness, previous rating systems like epass or PRISM were much more objective, and in the era of site based management, building principals were much more proactive in getting rid of subpar teachers.
Unfortunately, the previous board hired a superintendent who made the district into a corporation, and invited "philanthropists" to come in and push faulty personal agendas backed by millions and name recognition. Funny that in the cold light of day, when the money is waning and the luster of the name has worn off, harsh reality becomes clear.
You have a great many people in charge---people with friends in the media--whose priorities are not in keeping with the needs of urban children.
I would hope board members remember who it is they represent. It is not Bill Gates, or any of his disciples.
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