Another major city caves in; ends tenure pay scheme; starts pay for student perfomance

[Stinky The Clown]

Baltimore schools and teachers union came to an agreement to pay teachers based on student performance.

YeeHA, let's teach that test. That'll do it. You betcha.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-teacher-contract-20100928,0,5828183.story

[Hannah Bell]

1. have you noticed how this is going through minority/poor districts first?

good luck baltimore teachers.

[Fumesucker]

2. And even more good luck to the Baltimore students..

I think they're going to need it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Most reforms start with the poor kids

They've been lab rats for generations.

Think about it. No way would the latte drinking soccer moms in the burbs allow any unproven radical reform tried out on their college bound kids. The uproar would be deafening.

[craigmatic]

3. exactly they'll teach the test and not how to think critically

[sandnsea]

4. American Federation of Teachers "deeply involved"

"The leadership of the city school district and union announced Friday that they had reached an agreement, which still must be ratified by the union's membership and the school board. English said in a statement last week, "I think teachers are going to like this contract because it addresses many of the concerns they expressed in a survey we conducted last school year."

Alonso said in the statement Friday that the new deal would "put instructional effectiveness at the core of everything, which is where it should be."

The American Federation of Teachers, the national organization that represents the union, was deeply involved in the negotiations and will be part of the announcement Wednesday."

All the way at the end, of course.

[lostnfound]

5. Every "experiment" these days gets rolled out like a tidal wave, trampling common sense

in the process. Things like co-ops or farmers markets or recycling or children's health insurance get rolled out in baby steps, fought the entire way. But school reform, purportedly "locally controlled", or electronic voting machines, get rolled out like a tidal wave so fast that there's little time for comparison of the old system to the new, little time for anyone to organize opposition. It's further proof of the extent to which Big Money controls the agenda. Like the emperor that it is, the political machines are told to jump and they say "how high?"

[Stinky The Clown]

6. "Like the emperor that it is, the political machines are told to jump and they say "how high?" "

And therein lies the problem

[DirkGently]

7. It'll be such a surprise when we discover desperate teachers helping kids cheat these tests.

Of course, maybe that's the point.

[MadHound]

9. It's already happened

Worse yet, it is shaping the entire school curriculum to meet these tests. Testing madness has already let down one generation of kids, how many more will be let down in the future?

[DirkGently]

10. Jesus. When will we realize the" business model" destroys critical services?

Medicine, education, law enforcement, prisons, the military. All are subject to horrendous corruption and dumbing down when profit becomes the motive. Capitalists sell widgets for profit. You just can't use that model where life and death or children's futures are the "product."

[Starry Messenger]

8. What about subjects that don't get tested?

I teach Ceramics (laugh, I'll wait....ok) and I have no idea how someone could assess my students' progress with standardized testing. It's just a ridiculous concept. This penalizes teachers that work with the most challenging classrooms.

[maryf]

14. we art teachers are expendable

what kids need to learn is rote facts, how to read simple directions, and basic arithmetic (not too much of that, calculators and cash registers do most the work). Who needs to know things like creative problem solving, micro coordination skills, critical thinking skills...they might start "looking at" too much if they develop their perceptual skills...can't have them perceiving the truth...

[Starry Messenger]

15. I joke around with them that their academics are cutting into valuable art class time.

:D Art is their only time to de-stress too!

[maryf]

17. It gets them into another head, or part of it literallly!

and the more parts of the brain you tap, the more synapses get activated...and, yes, its a major de stressor!

[struggle4progress]

12. Translation: teach in a school with more affluent kids, get paid more

[ChoralScholar]

13. By the time mainstream America realizes how fucking stupid this is

it will be too late, and our education system will be farther behind the rest of the world than it is now.

[SoCalDem]

16. Going back to the Master/Governess teaching plan

How 18th Century:(