The high school where President Obama appeared today is called a "turnaround." That is considered one of the least extreme of Arne and Obama's reform methods. It entails firing at least 50% of the teachers, firing the principal, and reorganizing the school structure.
Here are more details on the structured requirements of their reform methods. Any resemblance to the policies of Bush I and II is strictly on purpose. We all know it, but we are supposed to act like we don't. We condemned these tactics when Bush and Rod Paige pushed them, but now we are supposed to look the other way.
Reform requirements from the Education website.#In its application to the state, each school district would be required to demonstrate its commitment to raising student achievement by implementing, in each Tier I and Tier II school, one of the following rigorous interventions:
#Turnaround Model – This would include among other actions, replacing the principal and at least 50 percent of the school's staff, adopting a new governance structure and implementing a new or revised instructional program.
#Restart Model – School districts would close failing schools and reopen them under the management of a charter school operator, a charter management organization or an educational management organization selected through a rigorous review process. A restart school would be required to admit, within the grades it serves, any former student who wishes to attend.
#School Closure – The district would close a failing school and enroll the students who attended that school in other high-achieving schools in the district.
# Transformational Model – Districts would address four specific areas: 1) developing teacher and school leader effectiveness, which includes replacing the principal who led the school prior to commencement of the transformational model, 2) implementing comprehensive instructional reform strategies, 3) extending learning and teacher planning time and creating community-oriented schools, and 4) providing operating flexibility and sustained support.
I have read several articles tonight, and none tell me just how many experienced teachers lost their jobs to this method of "reform."
Apparently they were replaced by 20 Teach for America teachers. Another thing I can not find is how much extra it cost the county to "recruit" these TFA teachers. I know they can hire locally for free, just interview and resume'. But it cost several thousand extra to hire TFA teachers who are considered more elite than just old everyday normal certified teachers like I was...like most are.
They are not certified when they are hired, yet they are presented to the public as fully qualified. Something is wrong with the picture.
Here is what I found today, something to while the hours away as I contemplated how easily teachers and other public workers have been sold down the river by both parties.
Obama's rock star greeting.With help from a $785,000 federal grant, a new principal was brought in, students moved into a new facility and half of the faculty was sent elsewhere.
For 10 years in a row, Central had received D and F grades from the state, making it the worst performing public school in Florida. It was considered dangerous and unkempt. On the verge of having to close the school, Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho instituted some changes. He brought in the state's principal of the year, Douglas Rodriguez, who built an environment of respect and discipline at the school. More than half the teachers were removed and replaced.
More:
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who also attended the Miami event, said the decision to appear with Bush is an example of Obama's bipartisan approach to education policy.
"We have gone from first in the world to ninth" in graduates, Duncan said in an interview before the event. "We all have to work together. Working across the aisle regardless of politics is important."
They appear to be more concerned about "bipartisanship" than they are about reaching out to and standing up for teachers who are being battered and insulted.
One question I need answered. We were not allowed to be alone with a class unless our teaching credentials were up to date. The TFA folks are given 5 weeks training and sent out to teach. How is a school able to do this? Have they changed the rules?
More:
The Miami Herald mentions the school's partnership with TFA.
Obama picks Miami CentralIn 2008, the school hired the state’s top principal and replaced more than half of its teachers. Central also developed a partnership with Teach for America, a national program that places top college graduates into struggling schools.
Here is the source that mentions that 20 TFA teachers were hired.
Students At Miami Central High School Aim High"Teachers who want to be here at Central," she said.
There are more than 20 of them. They have come from all parts of the country and from all lines of work as a part of the nationwide Teach for America program. James Watkins is one of the teachers. He deferred a promotion on Wall Street to teach his students advanced calculus.
"I made a decision against the recommendation of my closest advisors and peers and I haven't looked back," Watkins said.
He cares, and because of that, so do the students at Central.
I have a feeling that the teachers who were uprooted or fired or laid off probably cared a lot as well. I wonder at the criteria used to decide who was going to go. I wonder if any of them had continuing contracts, which are awarded after 3 years to good teachers...aka tenure. I wonder a lot how much it hurt them inside to be pushed aside and replaced with graduates that the county had to pay to recruit.
Many teachers' lives and careers are on the line now. The last two years have seen respect for teachers at a very low level. The right wing has made it their goal to make teachers sound unworthy. Unfortunately our own party leaders are more concerned with "bipartisanship" than with the devastating effects on teachers and other public employees.
Many believe that getting rid of experienced teachers and replacing them TFA graduates or those from the New Teacher project are simply ploys...that they are ways to hire teachers who have not reached a higher salary level.
Teach for America. A way to replace experienced, higher-salaried teachers?On top of failing to make a dent in poverty, Teach for America actually detracts from social justice by hurting real teachers. Teach for America students take low, entrance-level pay while also receiving a government subsidy for their salary in the form of Americorps stipends. Schools lay off teachers and then hire Teach for America teachers to fill positions that real teachers would otherwise be filling. Teach for America teachers are undercutting the wage needs of real teachers and causing them to be laid off as a result.
Imagine this: a well-off college student takes a subsidized teaching position at an impossibly low wage and displaces actual teachers who might already be struggling to get by — all for social justice!
For anyone who has any concern for labor rights, this is extremely abusive. Not undercutting wage demands of often unionized workers is rule number one of how to be a serious social justice advocate.
Today our president appeared at this school which laid off over half its teachers, which hired 20 TFA teachers in an apparently contractual deal with a private company. He stood with Jeb Bush whose foundation has as its goal the privatization of education.
And I am not supposed to show concern and worry that there is no opposing party speaking out for teachers, other public employees, and their unions.
There is a difference, a big one, in sort of defending teachers and unions when asked specifically about it....and in actually speaking out firmly for us and making it an important stand-alone issue.
Defending public employees and their unions in a casual way is not enough. The other side is relentless, and we are way too noncommittal.
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