Get Schooled

By catlady

November 26, 2008 8:58 AM | Link to this

I don’t think it is really “lighter” reading: regarding that Buckhead mama who went dumpster diving for “her kid’s” project. Telling parts of the story: SHE brought the project to school, SHE had glued the missing part on, she stated that her son did not care about the project (he’s too busy playing video games) but SHE cared enough to try to order school employees around and then SHE climbed in a dumpster! And we are to believe it is HER CHILD’S project???All those statements indicate he did not do the project, so was undeserving of the grade. Mama, on the other hand, gets a grade of F for not allowing her kid to grow up and do his own work. Will she try out for the football team for him as well? Good grief! This mama, by her actions, should not be allowed to roam unsupervised around that school.

On the “qualified teachers”. We have a teacher at our school, who, through political favoritism, is teaching out of her level of certification. Because of who her husband is, she calls the shots: when and who she will teach, what rules (if any) she will follow. It is totally demoralizing to the rest of the staff to see what she is allowed to get by with, nevermind the fact that she isn’t certified to teach what she is teaching.

We used to publish a booklet with info about our teachers and administrators: how long they have been teaching, what grades, what their certification is, degrees earned and from where, awards won, etc. That was done away with in the last few years when we got a principal with limited classroom experience with her degress from Diploma Mill U.

By jim d

November 26, 2008 9:00 AM | Link to this

How do you define a highly qualified teacher

For whom?

Until such time as we realize that all students are not the same we will never truly have a highly qualified teacher teaching a class. It is totally unrealistic expect a teacher to be highly qualified to teach a class where students IQ range from 65 - 130. It just can’t happen

By jim d

November 26, 2008 9:21 AM | Link to this

Here’s a thought.

Perhaps the government should mandate that students be highly qualified to learn as well to be allowed to attend school.

THAT MIGHT JUST WORK!!

By Effective teachers

November 26, 2008 9:46 AM | Link to this

Want a “highly effective teacher”? Give them the authority to discipline. Give them a highly effective administration with the integrity to hold students accountable for their behavior.

Don’t waste their time with endless meetings and “reforms” that are destined to fail, because the public schools won’t do either of the above.

Unfortunately, these are the truths we chose not to hold as self-evident.

By Tony

November 26, 2008 10:27 AM | Link to this

People should be asking who is currently defining “highly qualified”. It turns out in Georgia that to be highly qualified you must pass a test in your field of teaching. Certification rules have become secondary to passing these tests. Whose pushing an agenda like this?

To be a highly qualified special education teacher for high school subjects the teacher must hold highly qualified status for the subject (passed the test) and hold highly qualified status for special education (passed the test) and have the certificate for special education teacher (earned a degree).

On the surface it sounds like a reasonable plan to assure that teachers are knowledgeable of the subject matter. For high school special education teachers who teach multiple subjects, they must pass the test in every subject. This comes at a cost of hundreds of dollars and is riddled with fallacies about teaching. The biggest fallacy is that because someone can pass a test in a subject then they are qualified to teach the subject.

The idea of report of the Education Trust sounds rather magnanimous in that there is a desire for all children to have access to highly qualified teachers. Let’s ask a few questions about why these teachers are so difficult to find in rural and inner city settings. Can it be that the good teachers desire to be in schools with a better climate for teaching? Where do they find these schools? Should school systems force good teachers to return to the schools from which they fled? Should the state intervene with a mechanism to make sure every school has an equal distribution of highly qualified teachers?

Based on some of the statistics being gathered by federal mandate, it would appear that teachers will be hammered with some of these ideas. One of the statistics and ratings in the beginning phases is one that is related to the longevity of teachers in a particular. Some type of ratio has been developed that will indicate high turnover as well as longevity in schools. It turns out that we are being told that both factors will cause schools to be scrutinized. Allowing teachers to stay in one school for too long is apparently as bad as having a high turnover rate.

In the end, the people who truly decide if a teacher is highly qualified are the parents who send their children to school. A teacher that is able to reach children, challenge them to reach high levels of learning, and demonstrate their care for the students will certainly be highly qualified in the parents’ eyes.

Will it matter that the teacher has advanced degrees? Will it matter that the teacher has passed every test? Will it matter that the teacher has highly qualified status as defined by the state? NO. All that will matter is that the child received the very best from that teacher.

Look out. Your good school may soon be robbed of its best teachers in order to redistribute the “wealth”.

By Tony

November 26, 2008 10:31 AM | Link to this

About the mad mama - Why didn’t she check in at the office as required by law? Why didn’t she notify the teacher of the delivery? Leaving a box at the door of a classroom these days can set of a full-scale lock down with the bomb squad being called in. I don’t know all the facts of the situation, but it certainly smells fishy to me.

By say what?

November 26, 2008 10:53 AM | Link to this

Tony…how can a district force a teacher to return to a school or how can teachers be “redistributed”? I know the contracts we sign aren’t specific about which school we teach at, but it is pretty much a given that we return to the school we were at unless we are transferred and that is pretty apparent before we sign the contract. If districts try moving teachers around after contracts are signed that could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

WTH was that mom thinking? I think even the other helicopter parents will look at her like a freak!

On point- I know a few teachers who didn’t pass their subject area test the first time (or the first several times). I didn’t think the tests were all that difficult so I think these folks must be a little less than “highly qualified”. BTW, these were the science tests. If you graduated from college with coursework in the science area you are testing in, it should’ve been a breeze. Having said that some of these teachers are enthusiastic and love teaching.

By luvs2teach

November 26, 2008 10:56 AM | Link to this

Tony - sort of off-topic, but that turnover/longevity thing you mentioned scares me! Not so much turnover - it’s pretty well-known and accepted that too much turnover is going to be found in schools that either have tough populations, poor administration, or both - but the idea of punishing a teacher or school for longevity is ludicrous. I teach in my neighborhood school - that was a conscious choice I made - I have no desire to go anywhere else. Why would I or my school be punished for that? That’s just stupid.

By Old School

November 26, 2008 11:32 AM | Link to this

Finally some good news for me! I’m evidently “highly qualified” because, in addition to my BS-Ed (Industrial Artis) and MEd (Adult & Career Ed w/Voc. Director add-on), I am fully certificated (having passed with flying colors the NOCTI in Architecture) and am a Certified Mechanical Drafter (having passed with room to spare the ADDA Certification Exam). I also have the work experience required of Trade & Industry instructors (cartographer, plant engineer).

Yet, with all that and 35 years of teaching (plus 7 summers in GHP) under my belt, Georgia and my local school board don’t think I know what I’m doing. Max Thompson is the guru du jour and I am expected to mend my ways (35 years of success) and become a Max clone.

Yeah, that’ll fix things.

By Tony

November 26, 2008 11:39 AM | Link to this

School systems and the state DOE are required to file a plan that assures we are working toward the goal of having highly qualified teachers in every school. As situations become more desperate in trying to reach these lofty goals, school system may be forced to move personnel - even against their will - to the more needy schools. Right now, a lot of attention has been placed on plans that offer financial incentives to teachers to move to high need schools.

luvs, I agree that schools and teachers should not be punished for the ability to maintain long-term relationships. I also hope I am wrong on my hypothesis regarding this issue. The ratio that I spoke of considers the average length of the teachers’ tenure in the school versus the length of time the school has been open. Our ratio is rather high because we have many teachers with 15 or more years at the same school. I was told that a ratio of .65 or higher would get scrutinized.

when I looked at the math involved in this formula, another flaw in logic immediately jumped out: schools recently opened will have a ratio of very near to 1.0. What does this mean?

More details about this formula are available at Georgia Professional Standards Commission. Look under Teacher Prep/No Child Left Behind then find Title II-A Equity Tools.

By Tony

November 26, 2008 11:43 AM | Link to this

Old School - Max Thompson has put together some very effective strategies for teaching. The sad thing is that districts misapply research like his all the time. They develop a one-size-fits-all checklist for administrators to “monitor” instruction. The teacher who does not have the Essential Question posted properly gets zapped even though all the students may be engaged in learning.

This research also comes from schools heavily impacted by poverty and racial disparities. Do these apply to your school or system?

By Jeff

November 26, 2008 11:57 AM | Link to this

Ummm… Computer Science major (a branch of mathematics, in both essence and truth) with 5 yrs teaching experience in programming AND everything required for a Mathematics Education degree except Student Teaching (but including passing all state-required tests)

is NOT highly qualified.

I knew (and know) more math than 75% of any K-12 faculty I’ve ever met, but evidently that isn’t enough knowledge for GA schools.

But hey, not really complaining - life is SOOOOO much easier outside the classroom - just pointing out the irony…

By Old School

November 26, 2008 12:19 PM | Link to this

Tony, that’s EXACTLY what’s going on here. Their point of pride is that 100% of the system’s teachers have been put through the Max Thompson cloning program. In addition we are expected to speak in LOTS (language of the standards) and so are our students.

I have absolutely no problem having standards or QCCs or any other rules to adhere to. My problem with all this is not having the freedom to use the tools (Max, Wong, or whomever) that best fit my own teaching style. I’m T&I (CTAE, Vocational or whatever you want to call us) and we have ALWAYS been learner focused. Being a skills based course, we lay a foundation of knowledge and skills and give our students opportunities to ply those skills in either classroom assignments that mimic the workplace or the actual workplace. Why my students need to be able to tell an admin what specific standard in the language of that standard he or she is working on at that particular time is beyond me. I think what they really need to know is that we have specific guidelines that we are expected to follow and why. They also need to know that they’ll always run into guidelines and rules that must be followed.

They also need to know that the basic skills we give them can be modified to fit the job at hand and that it’s all right if they find their own solutions. I don’t think they are getting that anymore.

By Gobbler

November 26, 2008 12:21 PM | Link to this

Jeff - all of your acheivements don’t mean squat because you lack people skills and the ability to convey information to young people. It doesn’t matter how much you know if you can’t break it down so that your students can understand it too.

By Jeff

November 26, 2008 12:46 PM | Link to this

Gobbler:

What do you think I was doing when I was teaching programming for 5 years???

The issue was never quality of instruction delivered. It was quality of students delivered to.

As jimd and others have mentioned, there needs to be quality control on the STUDENT end before you can realistically ask for it on the Teacher end.

Example: If I give you very weak metal, you aint gonna make Excalibur, no matter HOW hard you try.

Conversely, if I give you high-end titanium, I wouldn’t want to meet you in a sword fight with the sword you could make.

And I lack people skills? Not at all - and anyone I’ve ever worked with outside of education can testify to that.

What I lack is the ability to deal with BS - I tend to call it out.

Problem is, schools these days are absolutely full of it, from top to bottom and in every aspect.

By Tony

November 26, 2008 1:11 PM | Link to this

Old school - you are exactly right on every point. One of Max’s slogans is “Adapt don’t adopt.” I took that literally and allowed my teachers to adapt strategies that worked for them and their students.

The “standardistas” can take all their stuff to the absurd. When I visit a classroom I expect the students to be able to tell me about what they are learning. I do not ask for a standard. It sounds like your system has implemented a bunch of strategies that don’t mean squat to the kids’ learning, but they are certainly able to check of items on their walk-through check sheet.

By T

November 26, 2008 2:33 PM | Link to this

Jeff Will you get off that damn computer and come help me with the turkey!

By mythbuster

November 26, 2008 5:53 PM | Link to this

Anyone who claims that virtually all teachers are “highly” qualified is LYING. They know it and we know it. Most teachers are “marginally” qualified. All beginning teachers are at this stage. I don’t know of any other profession where all new practitioners are just as “highly” qualified as someone who have been practicing the craft for 20+ years. It is true that just having years of experience will not necessarily make anyone “highly” qualified, but I don’t believe all new teachers are at the same level as those more experienced ones. I don’t understand why teachers aren’t upset about this type of classification. There is just NO way that all teachers are above average.

As new teachers gain more experience, some will develop professionally and move closer to “highly” qualified status (I suppose we can call them “moderately” qualified), but only few will actually reach that status. [I believe only those who achieve at least “moderately” qualified should become administrators if they really want to be instructional leaders. We can hire someone with more business experiences/talents to be the persons in charge of running schools financially.]

Passing a subject test may be a prerequisite, but it does not get anywhere near even the “marginally” qualified status. If it does, then any reasonable HS graduate will probably qualify as elementary school teachers, and some will qualify as subject area secondary school teachers.

We should leave the myth of “all children be taught by “highly qualified” teachers” behind. We should aim at making sure all teachers are taught by at least “marginally” qualified teachers.

By Sam

November 26, 2008 6:35 PM | Link to this

How do you define a highly qualified teacher?

Ask the students. They can tell.

By Tony

November 26, 2008 8:45 PM | Link to this

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you Get Schooled bloggers.

By Notateacher,notamom

November 26, 2008 9:55 PM | Link to this

Read about the mad mom and I have no sympathy for her. Why would her child think that it is ok to leave something in the hall for the teacher to pick up and put in his/her room. We had rock projects here last week and there were dozens of projects just dumped in front of the science teacher’s door. Some of those projects didn’t even have the kid’s name on them. Those students were very upset when they were told that they had to pick up their projects and bring them into the classroom themselves. Parents only worry about their kids. Teachers have to worry about dozens.

By Dr. Craig Spinks/Augusta

November 27, 2008 2:44 AM | Link to this

Should the more appropriate question be “How do you define a highly qualified teacher?” or “How do you define a highly effective teacher?”

By Lee

November 27, 2008 12:09 PM | Link to this

Highly qualified or highly effective? That is the question.

Highly qualified relates to the combination of education, certifications, and experience. IMHO, you can be highly qualify and not be a good teacher.

Highly effective relates to how well the teacher can draw on that experience and knowledge and put it in use. Highly effective also encompasses all the other intangibles such as interpersonal skills, communication skills, judgement, empathy, etc, etc, that makes the difference between an instructor and a teacher.

By Dr. Craig Spinks/Augusta

November 28, 2008 8:29 AM | Link to this

Lee is correct: one can be “highly qualified” in terms of degrees, certifications and experience but can be ineffective in promoting kids’ learning. “Highly qualified” connotes an inputs-orientation whereas “highly effective” connotes an student output/learning view.

By mystery poster

December 1, 2008 10:37 AM | Link to this

Tony: How right you are. I got marked off on my evaluation one year because I dared to call my bulletin board “What am I learning?” rather than “Essential Questions.

By TheBlogger

December 1, 2008 11:22 AM | Link to this

Sam, While you are correct in that students can tell who is qualified, please do not use them as the real barometer!

Check out web sites where students rate teachers. Every one of them has highly rated teachers as the “easy” teachers or ones that don’t give homework, ones that give all grades of As, and so on. This is what kids like and they will “grade” teachers accordingly.

Talk about dumbing down the classroom!