Dismissing teachers

Who says test scores aren't meaningful? When unions fret about "high stakes testing," it isn't because the student will be judged.

June 21, 2008 - According to the Palm Beach Post, Palm Beach school principals dismissed 190 non-tenured teachers last year, four times as many as 2003. Last year, they dismissed 273 teachers by not renewing their contracts. One of the reasons?

Tracking test scores has become sophisticated, so a principal can compare the success of one teacher's students against another's in an instant, making it easier to tell which teachers are effective.

Teachers don't believe the driving factor is their students' academic success because teachers were let go before they got state test score results.

"I was told I'm not a good match," said Gail O'Donnell, one of nine teachers from Park Vista High whose contract wasn't renewed. "If my kids have good scores, I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing."

TT - Not exactly. In order to let a teacher go, the school has to give notice by a date specified in their contract. This may be as early as May, and in some districts earlier. So principals have to rely on earlier test scores and past performance.

Compounding the problem is that Florida colleges are, in the words of the reporter, "churning out" far fewer teachers than schools need. An increasing number of teachers do not study education in college.

In Florida, many professionals can enter teaching by passing a general knowledge test, which gives them a teaching certificate good for three years. Many career changers do well. Some do not. Replacing staff at struggling schools has proven successful in some instances, according to the article.
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TT - Sad to say, "churning out" teachers is one of the major problems in classrooms. Colleges have done that for decades. Teaching, for them, is not a craft or a gift or a vocation. It's a civil service job and if they got to place people in a Department of Motor Vehicles job for the same amount of money, they would.

No one holds the colleges responsible for the high number of teachers who will never be certified because while the teacher gets a bachelor's degree and incurs tens of thousand of dollars in student loans, the teacher-wannabe can't pass basic reading, writing and math Praxis exams. Or competency exams in a core academic subject.

That is another reason why schools across the country are dismissing teachers early. No Child Left Behind requires teachers to be highly-qualified.

Highly qualified means 1) A bachelor's degree (at a minimum,) 2) full state credentialing - translation: many schools hire teachers new to the profession who are given a period of time to pass the PraxisI exams. (Reading, writing and math.) But NCLB doesn't allow them to stay in the classroom forever. They can only have waivers for three years. The last requirement is that 3) the teacher demonstrate competence in core academic subjects**. If you want to teach history, you have to demonstrate that knowledge in testing.

** Core academic subjects are English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography.

From the article:

Principals of low-performing schools are more likely to get rid of teachers because the stakes for not meeting academic goals are so high. Under No Child Left Behind, schools where a majority of students don't perform on grade level carries the stigma of a failing school that could be taken over by the state.

That's incentive in a nutshell.

So when they tell you that they dismissed 200 non-tenured teachers, it doesn't tell you if it was because the teacher was unable to qualify to be a fully-certified teacher, or if performance problems and demonstrable unsuitability were deciding factors.

But if schools had that NCLB incentive twenty years ago to rid themselves of bad teachers before they got tenure, teacher quality and the quality of education colleges would be a lot higher than it is now.

Teacher Discipline

We've often said that unless a teacher is caught having sex with a five-year-old in the school cafeteria on Parents' Open House Day, it's nearly impossible to fire 'em. Taking their license is even harder.

May 27, 2008 - The state of Florida is considering a settlement with Michael David Smith, 37, to suspend him for two years. He was sentenced on March 28, 2007 to serve three years of community supervision for the drug-related offenses and one year of community supervision for the trespass and petty theft offenses.

He was arrested May 16, 2006 on charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of methadone without a prescription, possession of cyclobenzaprine without a prescription, possession of lunesta without a prescription, possession of Phenobarbital without a prescription, possession of drug paraphernalia and tampering with physical evidence.

TT - Taking the license of a drug-addicted teacher in Florida is virtually impossible without their permission unless they are convicted of felony dealing because drug addiction is considered a health issue for which the teacher is considered temporarily incapacitated and a subject for rehabilitation so they can be speedily returned to the classroom. The same is true for alcoholism or attempted suicide even if it is at an elementary school.

Parents can look online to see if teachers in their district have been disciplined, although the records only go back to Jan 2006.

If you really want to be aggravated, visit the State of Florida - Division of Administrative Hearings web site and search "school" or "school district" or "revocation" or "drunk" or " school and drugs." Skip the cases where the party is identified by initials - those are student names and usually involve requests for services.

Even when a license is revoked, it may only be for a period of time. Revocation is not permanent unless it is specified.

Lowered Standards

Speaking of lowered standards.

May 6, 2008 - A teacher wanna-be who posted pictures on MySpace claimed in a federal lawsuit scheduled to go to trial Tuesday that Millersville University (Millersburg, PA) refused to give her a teaching credential after school administrators learned of a photo on her MySpace page labeled "drunken pirate."

She said school officials accused her of promoting underage drinking after seeing the photo, which showed Snyder wearing a pirate hat and drinking out of a yellow cup.

"I don't think it's fair," her father said. "She could have been a great teacher."

Millersville University claimed it would have refused to give her a teaching degree even without the Web page, alleging unsatisfactory performance and unprofessional behavior.
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TT - Don't you wonder who funds these ridiculous lawsuits?

She isn't the only teacher or wannabe teachers who are a concern. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District in North Carolina is writing a policy for online behavior. Teachers in Ohio have already been given fair warning. In Indiana, a teacher posted nude pictures of his wife on his MySpace page. More than one intern has been fired for inappropriate MySpace pages. Entry And more than one teacher has been arrested, convicted and sentenced for sex with a student they contacted through MySpace or other social networking sites. Click on label MySpace.

Portsmouth, MAINE

Lowering standards in teaching have convinced even the least-qualified to think that they can be teachers. And they are encouraged by a media with even lower standards to think so.

COMING TO A CLASSROOM NEAR YOU SOON -

May 6, 2008 - A 335-pound lineman at the University of Maine was in court to answer to carjacking charges. Bryan Grier, 23, waived his right to a probable cause hearing and outlined his mental health treatment and career plans.

He is charged with felony theft and misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct and robbery. He's receiving mental health treatment since his arrest for carjacking a jeep from a woman. He also forced another car to stop and demanded the male driver hand over his cell phone so he could call his girlfriend.

His lawyer says that Grier has since returned to the university, where he is finishing his senior year, and is expected to graduate with a degree in child development. He wants to be a teacher.

Every newspaper article, including the sympathetic report of his arrest and another article on his entering a mental health facility to address "what may be the underlying cause of his alleged criminal behavior," end with his good grades and his being recognized for breaking the school record in the squat.
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TT - It takes a mental defect to think that anyone with such a history should ever be in a classroom. But chances are he might because more and more states are waiving prior criminal conduct to accept teachers and their behavior. In Oregon, a Senate Committee on Education approved a bill to allow schools to hire teachers who have been convicted of misdemeanor prostitution in the past.

And it isn't just criminal conduct that is accepted. In Massachusetts, the House passed a bill to allow teachers who have failed competency exams three times to appeal and teach anyway. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniel vetoed a similar bill. The teachers union in Dallas is opposed to closing low-performing schools.

What all that tells you is that children are the very last concern of educrats who lower standards, determine that prior criminal history is not a deterrent to becoming a teacher, decide that alcoholism and drug addiction is a disability and teachers convicted of drunk driving four and even five times should still be in the classroom.

Worse, educrats routinely issue dispensation to the guilty in a grand display of beneficence. Suspension where revocation should be dictated is no more than the secular version of the Catholic Church absolving priests of blame for abusing those under their care.

Mandatory reporting laws in all 50 states require teachers and administrators to notify authorities when they have reason to suspect or know of abuse of a child. Yet few are ever charged with failure to report and when they are charged, it's a misdemeanor and does not affect their licenses.

It's an arrogance of power unchecked by public scrutiny because the media largely ignore the problem and politicians who are elected through the efforts and campaign contributions of unions have no interest or incentive to rock the boat and endanger their own well-being.

A society that accepts known drug dealers and addicts to become rap stars and still allow their children to buy the music, and accepts known drug addicts and worse to become movie and t.v. stars and still watch the programs or go to the movie, have little problem accepting teachers with criminal histories and absolutely no aptitude for teaching to be in a classroom.

It's our job - all of us - to say enough is enough.

Teacher Quality

The Massachusetts Senate voted on a bill to allow even less-qualified teachers into classrooms.

April 4, 2008 - Voting records for week of March 31-April 4.

Senate 34-5, voted strictly along party lines, approved and sent to the House a bill allowing appeals by candidates who are applying to be teachers but have failed one of the teacher certification tests. All five GOP senators voted against the measure that allows a candidate who has failed a test three times but came very close to passing, to appeal his or her case to the Education Commissioner.

The bill is designed to allow these candidates to demonstrate sufficient knowledge and skills to compensate for failing a test. Supporters said that this would simply allow a candidate who meets a myriad of other qualifications to appeal a test score that is only a few points away from passing. They noted that the test scoring system is a complicated one that is based on a curve that is often unfair to some candidates. Some argued that this appeal process would increase the number of teachers who are certified.

Opponents said that the bill is outrageous and gives candidates who have failed a test a backdoor route into the important teaching profession. They argued that the state should not waive requirements for potential teachers who are entrusted with the education of our children. Opponents also offered a series of amendments to set up the same appeal process for candidates taking tests to qualify to be licensed in a variety of professions including accountant, architect, dentist, nurse and psychologist. They noted that they were trying to make a point about the silliness of the teacher bill. All the amendments were defeated on voice votes without a roll call.

A “Yes” vote is for the bill allowing the appeal process for teacher candidates. A No” vote is against the appeal process.

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TT - Dumbing down education and educators. It's a political game. As one poster put it at the story:

Senate 34-5, voted strictly along party lines
House 155-0, Senate 39-0
Senate 39-0, approved and sent to Gov. Patrick .....
The House gave initial approval ......
The House gave initial approval to a bill requiring ......

voted along party lines? What party? Communist Party?
Where is the debate in all this that there is such unanimity?
Democracy is dead in Massachusetts and the liberals accuse
George Bush of saying...my way or the highway....hmmmm

But this is KK Klan country...Kennedy/Kerrey Klan and everyone is
saying ....huhhhh?

Bad Teachers

Why bad teachers remain in the classroom.

March 15, 2008 - The Center for Union Facts launched a national campaign this week, targeting about two dozen school districts the group says fail to get rid of poor-performing teachers. One of those districts is Lubbock (TX) Independent School District.

In Lubbock, 1,545 teachers have "term" contracts, which the center said entitle teachers "to the equivalent of criminal proceedings if the district attempts to terminate them." From 2002 through 2006, no single term-contract teacher was fired in Lubbock, the group said.

Lubbock officials defended themselves by saying that bad teachers aren't fired; they usually resigned.

But allowing teachers to resign isn't good enough, a center spokesman said, adding that that allows the worst teachers to remain in the profession. When teachers resign, they move on to another school district and the problem is perpetuated all over again.

The bottom line: school districts have to pay $50,000 - $60,000 in legal fees for grievance hearings when a teacher is fired.

[TT- By contrast, there is no economic burden for the bad teacher. The union supplies a lawyer for the proceedings at no cost to the teacher.]
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The Center for Union Facts Web site

Teacher Quality

March 14, 2008 - Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a number of bills, but not his one. Daniels vetoed.

House Bill 1210 — The bill would have allowed an individual who failed the teacher licensing exam twice to demonstrate proficiency to the Department of Education. The individual would have had to successfully complete all other requirements of a teacher education program; attain certain grade-point averages; and demonstrate a successful student teaching experience.

HB 1210 Digest Latest printing PDF

Tampa, FLORIDA

March 15, 2008 - "Florida School District Knows Sex Scandals" Sub-head: Tampa-Area District Made Infamous by Debra Lafave Racks Up Female Teacher Sex Arrests

Don't miss the photos of slutty female teachers.

Dallas, TEXAS

Honestly, can they be this stupid? Oh yeah. And more.

March 7, 2008 - WFAA (ABC) on "The Boiling Point" (complete with a Boiling Point graphic)

The largest teachers union in Dallas is taking off the gloves.
Some DISD teachers and their union leaders are saying they are tired of being the scapegoats of big business and state lawmakers.

They say it's time for teachers to take back the education system and oppose legislation aimed at closing low-perfoming schools.

The language being used by educators is as harsh, including phrases like: "Time bomb legislation," "absurd scapegoating of teachers" and "students who need to be accountable for their learning."

Their number one target is state legislation passed three years ago that requires a school to be taken over by private company if it is declared academically deficient two years in a row.

See video report.
[Notice the panel of six in an empty room with only media cameras.]
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TT - This is why teachers, particularly bad teachers, and their unions hate standardized testing. Not because standardized tests are "high stakes" for the students, but because the tests are a measurement of what teachers are not doing in the classroom. Failing schools should be closed and they should be privatized to give students a chance to learn and an opportunity to escape the same fate as their parents.

When public schools fail to teach, the victims are children who desperately need a way out of poverty, ignorance and the continuing cycle that means 40 years from now, their grandchildren will be functionally illiterate, too. That's not an overstatement because it has been happening since the 1960s with absolutely no accountability for the money or the time or the results.

Why would any responsible adult want children to remain in academically failing schools?

Queens, NEW YORK

You can't fire me no matter what I do and what the hell school officials think.

March 24, 2008 - A principal at a middle school in Queens was charged with three administrative counts of corporal punishment against students and three counts of intimidating a subordinate. School officials wanted to fire him, but an administrative judge overruled their judgement.

The aritrator ordered the Education Department to find him a principal's job in District 30 in Queens - an order that doesn't sit right with parents or teachers at the school.

Last week, he was found guilty on two counts of intimidation and one count of corporal punishment. He was told he could get his job back after paying a $6,000 fine and serving a 10-day suspension without pay, a schools spokeswoman said.

YouTube video. "Can't Touch Me"

Dallas, TEXAS

He has five college and graduate degrees, including two master's degrees and a doctorate.

Jan 5, 2008 - He's turning his life around, according to the Dallas Morning News. A Lancaster High School teacher who was arrested in Dec 2006 for stealing school computers to support a drug habit has repaid the district for the computers, began repaying approximately $2,000 worth of hot checks through the district attorney's check diversion program, and is now working for the Union Gospel Mission.

He is still awaiting sentencing on the three burglary charges filed by Lancaster police. His drug problems and run-ins with the law stretch back many years.

After earning his doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1991, the Mississippi native found a job teaching nursing in Louisiana. Not long after, he tried his first hit of crack cocaine and quickly became hooked.

His addiction led to the revocation of his Louisiana nursing license in 1994.

Back in Mississippi, he enrolled in a three-year rehabilitation program for nurses, but two months shy of finishing the program, he began using cocaine again. He surrendered his Mississippi nursing license in 1998; soon after, a round of hot checks landed him in jail.

Two years later, Dr. Smith decided to make a fresh start in Texas. His sister, Rosie Smith of Mesquite, bought him new clothes and found him a car. But after Lancaster ISD hired him to teach special education, Dr. Smith moved to Lancaster and cut ties with his family.

His family knew by his actions that he was doing drugs again.

He taught at Lancaster High from June 2001 until his arrest on Dec. 29, 2006. For the last three of those years, he took crack cocaine at least every other day while teaching about medical careers.

Superintendent Larry Lewis says the district would hire him back.

He's a drug addict for roughly sixteen years, has been off drugs for two years. He hasn't even been sentenced for his burglary charges and they want to hire him back? What kind of insanity is that? It's irresponsible.

Stifling Reform

This is how newspapers stifle reforms needed in the classroom.

Nov 16, 2007 - The headline, "Tougher road for future teachers" Subhead: Controversial new standards worry local schools, warns you upfront that it's a gripe piece against new certification standards approved by the state Board of Education last May.

The new standards won't go into effect until 2013. It's already time to carp about money.

RECRUITMENT COMPLAINT
It will hurt recruitment efforts - an assistant superintendent of one school district claimed.
We already have a hard time "acquiring" special education teachers.

HIGHER SALARIES
The former 12-year president of a local teachers union, agrees with the assistant superintendent on the revisions' effect on recruiting efforts. And both say requiring more credentials will mean paying higher salaries.

THAT DARN NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT
In addition, under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, every teacher must attain "highly qualified" status.

First off, the new certification requires a special education teacher to be certified in either pre-K-8 or grades 7-12. They do this by passing Praxis exams, demonstrating knowledge in their teaching subjects. Isn't that what you thought teachers were supposed to do anyway? Be competent in the classroom? How much more do you need to pay a teacher to pass an exam that college should have prepared them for and they should easily pass?

Secondly, that "Highly Qualified status" under No Child Left Behind requires a teacher to have only three things:
1. A bachelors degree;
2. A state credential or license within three years of employment;
3. Demonstrated competence in their core subject.
See U.S. Department of Education Terms to Know Link
See TT - Highly Qualified Teachers Link

Many teachers can't be certified because they can't pass qualifying exams. They can't demonstrate basic competency and they can't pass exams in the subject they want to teach.
See TT - Teacher Competency Link

THE SHELL GAME
The current game is to rollover teachers before the three-year interim certificate can no longer be renewed. You can see this in Board minutes in every state where they act on licenses in public session. The result is that children are taught by unqualified teachers for three years unil the districts begin a search for another "interim" teacher.

NEW STANDARDS
The reasons for the new standards in Pennsylvania are bluntly stated, but appear only 3/4ths of the way down the article.

One-third of students across the state in grades 3, 5 and 8, are not proficient in reading on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment.

And, one-third of students in grades 5 and 8 are not proficient on the state test in math, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Proficient means at grade level. Not highly accomplished. Not superstar status. Proficient = at grade level. One-third of students in grades 3, 5 and 8 can't read at grade level. One-third of students in grades 5 and 8 are unable to perform basic math requirements that would qualify them to move onto the next grade.

Cheating children out of an adequate education by undermining reform efforts is despicable. Extorting money from taxpayers for higher salaries that are neither warranted or even, at present, earned, is a typical union tactic.

And it's sad that newspapers that depend upon readers who can actually read aren't the first ones complaining about the inadequacy of education.

Progress on Teacher Quality

June 27, 2007 - The Tucson Citizen reported on the National Council on Teacher Quality report.

While annual reviews may be a fact of life in many businesses, only about a quarter of states require annual evaluations for teachers, according to the report. Hawaii, Missouri and Tennessee let teachers go as long as five years without a formal review, the report says.

And only about half the states require reviews to include a classroom observation.

They provide this additional summarized information:

GRADING TEACHERS
Fourteen states require teachers to have annual evaluations: Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wyoming. ** (See Below)

States vary in how quickly they give public school teachers job security [TENURE] after a probationary period:
● After one year: North Dakota.
● After two years: California, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, Vermont and Washington.
● After three years: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
● After four years: Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan and North Carolina.
● After five years: Indiana and Missouri.
● There is no state policy regarding tenure in Wisconsin or in the District of Columbia.
Source: National Council on Teacher Quality

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The newspaper does not provide a link to the report. It can be found at the think tank's web site. PDF.

Some Findings:
** Only 14 states require annual evaluations, and only 7 direct districts that they can dismiss teachers after two unsatisfactory evaluations.
(Report page 7, PDF page 9)
States are not paying enough attention to who goes into teaching.
(Pg 7, PDF 9 )
States do not appropriately oversee teacher preparation programs
(Pg 8, PDF 10 )
Twenty-three states still allow some teachers trained for the elementary classroom to teach seventh and eighth grades.
(Pg 9, PDF 11)
The interests of adults frequently come before the needs of the children.
(Pg 11 - PDF 13)

Only 4 states require classroom effectiveness to be the preponderant criterion for evaluating teacher performance, with other states giving equal weight to factors such as attending faculty meetings.

Only 3 states require teachers to pass licensure tests before entering the classroom.