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Our school system is clearly failing. It will take major reform to right what is so clearly nonfunctional. In California I think the first step should be to abolish the CTA. That would open the door for the firing of incompetent teachers and bringing in some badly needed new blood.
I don't know that I would agree that the exam results from this "national" exam demonstrate that CA's education system is failing. As the article mentions, the sample is certainly not representative of the entire state (much less the county when you see that about 100 8th graders took the exam from our county!). Also, many students who participate in these exams do not do their best if they know it has nothing to do with them "graduating" and moving on to the next level.
What do you mean "failing". This IS the result of reform. And it's happening all across America.
And how are they addressing it...well they are lowering standards and recalibrating SAT scores, that's how.
Our school system is clearly failing. It will take major reform to right what is so clearly nonfunctional. In California I think the first step should be to abolish the CTA. That would open the door for the firing of incompetent teachers and bringing in some badly needed new blood.
Don't count on it. Missouri only has two unionized districts left, both of which are under the control of the state of Missouri. And the state is still trying to figure out new laws to get rid of incompetent teachers and bring in new teachers.
So far they are failing at both, even after getting rid of tenure and seniority. And test scores continue to slide.
That would open the door for the firing of incompetent teachers and bringing in some badly needed new blood.
Because it's solely the teacher's fault?
What about parents who are not continuing the help at home?
What about students who are more worried about what their last meal will come from than trying to understand ecosystems?
What about special needs students who aren't getting additional help?
What about ENL students?
What about the unfairness of standardized tests not fully representing comprehension?
You're right- booting "incompetent teachers" would fix this.
Open your eyes.
Our school system is clearly failing. It will take major reform to right what is so clearly nonfunctional. In California I think the first step should be to abolish the CTA. That would open the door for the firing of incompetent teachers and bringing in some badly needed new blood.
And how are you going to entice this new blood?
Seriously, if you took away the union, I'd be out of teaching with about 2/3 of the teachers I work with. I'm sorry but I need someone on my side when parents complain or administrators have agendas. I'm in a situation right now where an administrator wants to bump me from the position I was hired for because of my expertise because he wants to hire someone who doensn't have all of the qualifications for the open position. I happen to have the one the person they want to hire doesn't but it's not the one I was hired for. The plan is to move someone who is less qualified than me into my position and bump me to a position I have no experience in (I am considered highly qualified though) so they can hire this person. I'm kind of liking that the union has taken up my case here. Their stance is the school needs to hire someone who has the qualifications they need instead of using my credentials to slip someone in who only has half of what they need but is legal to teach my subject on a lesser cert.
I have never been pro union until I became a teacher. I worked in a non union school for two years and I will NEVER do that again. I did without classroom supplies, I did without safety equipment, I did without support, I taught in tiny over crowded classrooms without enough texts. Thanks to the union, my lab classes stay small enough to be safe, I have books, supplies and I have support. I also know that when the day comes when I face THAT parent (and it's only a matter of time) they will have my back side.
Because it's solely the teacher's fault?
What about parents who are not continuing the help at home?
What about students who are more worried about what their last meal will come from than trying to understand ecosystems?
What about special needs students who aren't getting additional help?
What about ENL students?
What about the unfairness of standardized tests not fully representing comprehension?
You're right- booting "incompetent teachers" would fix this.
Open your eyes.
First you must define incompetent and then you need to ask yourself what is worse, an inexperienced teacher who will take years to come up to speed or the one you have.
Most of the time, if you do have an incompetent employee the thing to do is train them. You can turn them into a competent employee faster than you can a new hire who has to learn everything from the ground up.
Our school system is clearly failing. It will take major reform to right what is so clearly nonfunctional. In California I think the first step should be to abolish the CTA. That would open the door for the firing of incompetent teachers and bringing in some badly needed new blood.
Seriously, if you took away the union, I'd be out of teaching with about 2/3 of the teachers I work with. I'm sorry but I need someone on my side when parents complain or administrators have agendas. I'm in a situation right now where an administrator wants to bump me from the position I was hired for because of my expertise because he wants to hire someone who doensn't have all of the qualifications for the open position. I happen to have the one the person they want to hire doesn't but it's not the one I was hired for. The plan is to move someone who is less qualified than me into my position and bump me to a position I have no experience in (I am considered highly qualified though) so they can hire this person. I'm kind of liking that the union has taken up my case here. Their stance is the school needs to hire someone who has the qualifications they need instead of using my credentials to slip someone in who only has half of what they need but is legal to teach my subject on a lesser cert.
I have never been pro union until I became a teacher. I worked in a non union school for two years and I will NEVER do that again. I did without classroom supplies, I did without safety equipment, I did without support, I taught in tiny over crowded classrooms without enough texts. Thanks to the union, my lab classes stay small enough to be safe, I have books, supplies and I have support. I also know that when the day comes when I face THAT parent (and it's only a matter of time) they will have my back side.
Yeh all that new blood will surely want to get into teaching once they realize the hatred of teachers that exists in this country.
Yeh all that new blood will surely want to get into teaching once they realize the hatred of teachers that exists in this country.
Yup. Especially after you take away any union protection and they face a firing squad every time a parent gets upset and lower their wages because they're over paid (because we're really part time employees ya know.).
It amazes me that people actually think that if you strip teaching of the only perks it has that people will flock to the profession???? Um, NOT!!!
If my only option is teaching in non union school, I will quit and double my salary by going back into engineering. Seriously folks, just what kind of people do you think you will attract with low wages, stripped benefits and no job security??? If they succeed in what they're trying to do with teaching, they'll be crying to get their "incompetent" teachers back because the only ones they'll have are those who no one wants in industry and that rare person who doesn't need wages, benefits or job security who likes being dissed every day by strangers, politicians, admins, parents and students.
The union is the only thing that makes my job sane. Take that away and you won't even see my tail lights as I speed out of the parking lot because of the cloud of black smoke from my squeeling tires as I peel away...
This is really funny because I didn't think anything could get me to be pro union but teaching just doesn't have the natural checks and balances you have in industry. In industry, if I'm a better employee, I'm worth more to the company which gives me negotiating power for wages and job security. In teaching, since $$ are attached to students, I'm only worth more if being better means you can put more kids in my class. It doesn't matter how good I am at teaching or how well I know my subject.
What matters is how big a class I can handle and the bigger the better. The bargain in teaching isn't the teacher who knows how to teach and knows their subject. The bargain in teaching is the cheapest person you can hire who can get the job done to a minimally acceptable standard while teaching the largest class possible. It's not like we're making a product that people can decide whether or not to buy. Quality, sadly, does not matter. Just the number of heads in our classrooms and the size of our paychecks. If they can't increase the first one, they'll decrease the second and neither of these strategies will improve education.
What people don't realize is that teachers are a cost to the system and the system seeks to reduce cost. In industry, I could increase revenues or decrease waste and increase my value. I can't do that in teaching. Everything I do costs. Teaching is one area I see a need for a union because the natural checks and balances that exist in industry just don't exist for us. It doesn't matter how good I am or how bad I am, because the quality of my work does not impact the bottom line. One could, successfully, argue that I am worth less than other teachers because my class sizes have to be kept small to safely conduct labs in spite of the fact I have a degree that is very valuable in the open market and teach subjects where there is a national shortage of qualified teachers (there is a shortage of highly qualified teachers here too but they allow minimally qualified teachers to teach science, in Michigan, just to have warm bodies in the classroom so we actually have a glut of people legal to teach high school science.).
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First you must define incompetent and then you need to ask yourself what is worse, an inexperienced teacher who will take years to come up to speed or the one you have.
Um, NOT!!!
