Does anyone notice a trend that when school's expect a lot from students/staff/parents, that there is always resistance? Michelle Rhee expected a lot from parents, students, unions, and teachers...and "also angered many with teacher layoffs, firings and a brusque style." She improved the student's test scores by expecting more.
Look at this trend in movies: Lean on Me, Coach Carter, Take the Lead. In all these based-upon-real-event movies, the main character expects more from the students...and parents and other teachers resists.
It seems like everyone expects the school leaders to wave a magic wand and everyone will be smarter...they just don't want to be expected to work for it.
We need more schools with backbones that say, "We are doing this in the best interest of the students. We are NOT going to back down when someone complains."
Everyone seems to have an opinion on how to improve education. President Obama recently put out an idea to extend the school year. While that sounds really great, I don't think that in itself will improve education...especially since there are several additional factors in quality education.
One of my chief complaints about extending the school year is when can teachers have vacation? Recently I posted this question on Yahoo! and people just went off on me since teachers have 10-12 weeks during the summer and other holidays scattered throughout the school year. While people may have crazy ideas that teachers do nothing when they are not in school, my point is why can everyone else decide when they take a day off. If a teacher gets married, they cannot have a three-day honeymoon unless it is scheduled around their work schedule. Also, people have this crazy idea they can pull their students out of school to go on vacation; but they hold their teacher to a higher standard and even expect the teacher to adequately teach their students while they are absent.
While reading several responses on the Yahoo! thread, I also found out that many people assume that teachers work only between 9 am and 3 pm. I have no idea where they came up with this work schedule; I believe students/teachers are normally in school an hour or two more than the assumed six hours. Also, teachers have several other duties such as grading papers, parent conferences, lesson plans, student club activities, phone calls, normal HR tasks, paperwork, etc. I find this idea that teachers only work while students are in the classroom as ridicules as saying that your local weatherman only works fifteen minutes because that is all you see them on television.
I also find the idea absurd that the teacher's union is the main reason for our education problems. I believe Dave Glover's radio show best described the flaw in this. When a caller mentioned unions, bad teachers, and an under performing school, Dave Glover wondered out loud, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" He clarified by asking what would happen if you took all the teachers from the poor performing school and switched them with teachers from an excellent school system. Would the teachers switch roles and the broken still be broken and the excelling school still excel? I believe so since a highly supported teaching staff will actually improve itself while a broken system needs to fix the problems before just blaming the teachers. Looking at the big picture, a students education is based on more than the teacher in the classroom; people need to look at the administration, government, and the parents.
While I am not a teacher, I also have my input on how to improve education: Let's expect more from the students. We currently don't want anyone to feel bad, so some schools are implementing a policy of the lowest score possible to be a 65%. Some schools have a policy that students that get caught cheating can have an alternative assignment. Some students assume that if they do no do the work, they can't get a zero for the assignment. Some school districts allow students to miss weeks worth of classes and they can make up the work. Some school districts even allow homework to be turned in during the next semester. Some districts blame the teachers for their horrible school policies!
The most you can expect from a student is the least you expect of them.
Unfortunately, Obama's policy is the same as any other government official's policy. We have administrative officials (whether superintendants, education commissioners, and politicians) who feel like the weight of the educational system is on their shoulders.So, instead of relying on the teachers to do a good job, these non-teaching suits make policies and tasks that take away the teachers attention away from the classroom.This is their way of saying they did something…whether good or bad.
For those people who say that unions are the problem, getting rid of the union will not solve any educational issues.In fact, the only issue I see with the union is that they cannot easily remove an ineffective teacher.To compound that problem, the schools then make policies (like TPS reports) to make up for not firing teachers.For instance, in a local district a teacher was getting a divorce and lived in his classroom instead of finding an apartment.Instead of firing the teacher, the district spent $$$$ to rekey all the schools.This just an example of how schools make bad and broad policies to cover-up bad actions.
I believe the way to make education better is to ask the teachers what they need to help teach the students…I doubt many will say to spend more money.They will mention that they want support/backing from the principals, counselors, and superintendant.They will mention that they want parents to be more involved.They will mention that they want to spend more time teaching and less time doing paperwork.They will mention that they want an effective attendance policy. Some teachers will say we need to expect more from our students. Most teachers will even say that there needs to be a better process to remove ineffective teachers.
Personally, I don’t like the idea of basing a teacher’s salary on how well the students perform.Some classrooms are filled with brilliant students while others are filled with special-needs students while others are filled with gang members.This policy is similar to basing your salary on how well your neighbor’s students perform…you have some influence—but not a whole lot.
Finally, remember that the most we can get out of our students is the least we expect of them.
The other day, my wife and I went to the Home Depot for some items around the house. One item we needed was a nut for a bolt for our daughter's scooter. It was easy enough to find in the store and it only cost six cents.
We proceeded to a cashier to purchase all of our items and I handed the lady the nut. She asked, "What size is this?" and my wife politely answered, "It is a quarter-inch nut." Our jaws dropped when the polite cashier responded with "Is that one slash three or one slash four?"
I can't believe many school districts are trying to do away with homework, grades, and deadlines. Some are even trying to remove any negative consequences for cheating. I believe there is a huge disconnect between some of these decision makers and the teachers that must implement these rules.
Recently, cbs11tv.com reported Plano Independent School District stated that homework will no longer be required for middle school students and the grades for homework assignments that are assigned will not apply to students' report card grades. Furthermore, the district is considering a policy to allow students to turn in any assignment at any time.
The Pittsburgh Public Schools had a grading system that sets 50 percent as the minimum score a student can receive on any test and assignment. This policy was replaced after it was found out that many students were happy to get a 50%. Of course, their new policy still has issues.
Several Knox County middle schools are trying a grading approach that allows students to make up zeros and turn in assignments no matter how late.
Can you imagine the life of the school administration...We just made it easier for students to erase those pesky zeros. We will be viewed better by the state and federal governments since we will have more passing $tudent$.
Can you imagine the life of a student...Freedom! No school work since it will not affect their grade. They can go out each night since they have nothing due the next day! They might even wonder why there is a controversy about the university president and plagiarism. I doubt they lose any sleep trying to complete all the assignments during the last two weeks of term.
Can you imagine the life of a parent...How can we justify that our sons and daughters must do their work outside of school if the school itself doesn't even consider it important?
Can you imagine the life of a teacher...How much extra work is needed to grade each assignment as it comes in? What was the grading scale for that assignment due two months ago? How should was describe their student's performance when calling parents for lack of homework? How should we identify students at risk of failing if there is no continuous way to determine the student's abilities? How are we to motivate our students to study and do their homework?
Can you image the life of a future employer...Why do we keep hiring people that do not know what a deadline is? Why do our employees expect to get paid for zero work? I wish we could import some immigrants who were taught a good work ethic.
Can you imagine how I think about this? Well, once there was this 'great' idea that walls separating classrooms was a bad idea and so this school built a high school without walls. There were no walls between algebra and chemistry. There were no walls between the class that took the English class that took the test yesterday and the one taking it today. This open classroom idea lasted a very short time before the classes were partitioned off. The idea of open classrooms was not a good idea. I don't see how removing homework, grades, deadlines, and discipline is a good idea either.
In general, the most a student will achieve is the least expected of them.
Raikes said the district found that putting a great teacher in a low-income school helped students advance a grade and a half in one year. An ineffective teacher in a high-income school held student achievement back to about half a grade of progress in a year.
Now our society needs to have the school boards, superintendents, and principals recognize the importance of the teachers. This means the people on the top of our educational system need to give more resources to the teachers instead of adding more meaningless chores to the overworked teachers.
I really wish that all superintendents, principals, and political figures were required to teach at least one hour each day. Then maybe they would realize some of the tasks and limitations that teachers are forced to endure.
My wife is a teacher at an urban high school. Some of the policies in place are:
A student's grade cannot be affected by behavior issues. Cheating, however, is considered a behavior and thus cannot be reflected on the student's grade.
A student being present in the classroom is irrelevant. There are very few penalties for being tardy with some students being tardy 14-15 times for one class in one semester. Also, a student can be absent 80% of the time and still get credit.
There is no due date for any homework. If the student wants to turn in all their homework on the last day of school, that is fine by the school's administration. (Boy, I wish my boss was OK with that).
With these MAJOR issues, it is the teacher's that are blamed. They are told they need better classroom management. They are told they need to be more positive. They are told to just say 'Yes' to whatever the student wants. They are told to influence the student's behavior since the administration will not use its backbone with a parent or student.
Maybe the school administration should fix the MAJOR issues before tweaking how the teacher teaches. How can we expect students to learn if we say it is OK to cheat, skip work class, no deadlines, etc.? What are we teaching our students? Do we only have expectations of teachers and no one else?
Schools should do what is best for the students...and that is not always saying 'Yes'
People become teachers because someone sparked an interest that grew into a flame that they want to share with others.
Once becoming a teacher they are ignored, treated with disrespect, and made into scapegoats from politicians, school administrators, parents and students--and the only spark left is of hope.
Literature Review: Research shows that close to thirty percent of new teachers leave teaching within three years and nearly fifty percent quit before five years; most shocking is that fifteen percent leave the profession in the first year (Ingersoll, 2002; Ingersoll & Smith, 2003). Linda Darling-Hammond (2003), citing a Texas study showing that teacher turnover costs the state around $329 million a year, reiterated, “early attrition bears enormous costs” (p. 8). source: Why New Teachers Come and Go-What We Can Do to Help Them Stay
The U.S. Constitution lists several rights that Americans have. These might include freedom of religion, speech, assembly, and privacy. Privacy is not directly mentioned, but it is generally interpreted that way from several of the items in the Bill of Rights. These written rights are defended by all Americans...
...until something happens and then some restrictions are added. You can't yell 'Fire' in a crowded room. You really don't have the right of privacy if you are a celebrity. You can't own a firearm until you are an adult. Even the Constitution itself mentions libel and slander while also mentioning the freedom of speech and press. The end result is that we have some restrictions and responsibilities on each of our rights.
So I am wondering what are the rights, restrictions, and responsibilities of some of our 'rights' that are not specifically written into the Constitution. In particular, what are the boundaries to our 'right' to a quality education, our 'right' to quality health care, and our 'right' to an abortion?
Does anyone notice a trend that when school's expect a lot from students/staff/parents, that there is always resistance? Michelle Rhee expected a lot from parents, students, unions, and teachers...and "also angered many with teacher layoffs, firings and a brusque style." She improved the student's test scores by expecting more.
