I've spent the last few weeks in a sort of mini crisis of faith. Not faith like religion--I already know where I stand there--but faith in my fellow human beings. That faith is in crisis because, everywhere I look lately, my fellow man lets me down. I realize how melodramatic that sounds, and I know that there are still so many good things in life, but others I just can't look past, and that's been a tough pill for me to swallow lately.
Everywhere I look, the public is attacking state employees, especially teachers. It's not just the ridiculous and insulting budget proposed by Florida's new "CEO," either--other states like Wisconsin and Indiana are facing similar crises. The unrest in our states grows every day, and I feel like it's only the beginning.
Lest you think it's just my youth speaking, I asked my considerably more experienced mother if she remembers public opinion toward teachers ever reaching this low, and she said no. The tension troubles me. I feel like we're in a pot that's boiling, and sooner or later it's going to overflow. I'm deeply disturbed when I look in the paper every day and read the letters to the editor that castigate public employees for our "selfishness" in protesting the changes to our pensions, or make claims that we're whiners that don't have it all that bad. Which, sure, compared to a cashier at McDonald's, I'm sure I don't have it all that bad. But I also have a college degree and over 700 hours of continuing education, which I think ought to count for something. Instead I get people with no clue what my job entails calling me names for speaking up in defense of my profession. How is that right?
In the last day or so, however, that bitter pill has begun to go down somewhat easier. It's still bitter, and I don't like taking it, but I've started to realize something--education the way "they" want to make it isnt' sustainable. These proposals might go through, and things will get rough, for teachers AND students, but at the end of the day, it won't last. There's no way it can. Something will have to give, either in a more drastic protest by teachers (and other public employees) to show that we demand the respect that the public refuses to give, or on the side of the legislators when they realize that they can't have their proverbial cake and eat it too. They can't continue to pile demands on our plates without offering some financial support and compensation. You can't mandate MORE testing when we're already looking at cutting 3.3 billion from the education budget. You're not Jean Luc Picard; saying "Make it so" isn't enough.
If it were, teachers would be better paid than doctors and lawyers, because hey--they wouldn't BE doctors and lawyers without teachers!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
New Education Bill
So I read the new education legislation, SB 736, all 37 pages of it. I must say that I don't find nearly as offensive as its predecessory, SB 6, though I'm still troubled by a few points.
Like SB 6, the new proposal also ties teacher evaluations and pay to student performance, but SB 736 is much more clear about how school districts and administrators are expected to reach those conclusions. Honestly, I don't see a problem with using student performance as part of a teacher's evaluation--in fact, there are times during the last few years when I've wished that was part of it. Contrary to popular belief, I don't think most teachers have anything to hide. I think that, for the most part, we're doing everything that's asked of us and working our fingers to the bone to see our students succeed. I also think that any teacher worth his or her shiny red apple would want to be rewarded when we see that hard work pay off.
The way SB 736 sets it up is that every teacher will receive the same base pay, and will receive salary increases based in part on how much growth our students see, which, to be fair, is pretty much how it works everywhere else in business. And before you remind me that the school system isn't like everywhere else, let me say that trust me, I know. But I do think that it's kind of the habit of teachers to want to be like "everywhere else" when it suits us, and to want to be like a school system when it suits us. I'm just as guilty of that double standard as everyone else, but I really think that in this case, it's not necessarily a bad thing for our students' academic growth to be factored in. Look at it this way--when a salesman sells more product, he makes more money. Same goes for us--we facilitate more student achievement, we make more money.
Notice, however, that SB 736 doesn't just link teacher pay to student test scores, which is pretty much what SB 6 did. Instead, it clearly focuses on academic growth over time as the bottom line. I can live with that. Over the past 2 years, I've shown about 75% growth in my level 1 and 2 reading students, a number I'm proud of. Have all of them passed the FCAT? No. But three-quarters of the students who walked into my classroom have gotten that much closer, and I'm proud of them for that. Last year in my first year teaching Advanced Placement, I had 12% pass the exam, and over 50% get a 2. That's pretty impressive in a school where quite a few AP students hadn't passed the FCAT yet. Yeah, I'm bragging, but I also want to show that I'm not trying to hide anything all those times I've argued against achievement-based merit pay. I am against it the way it's been previously presented, but I'm not against measurement of student growth, because I firmly believe that's what I'm there to facilitate.
I am a little troubled that student achievement is a full 50% of the teacher's evaluation, however. That's a pretty big chunk of the assessment pie, considering everything else that goes into being a successful teacher. The bill only vaguely refers to the "additional duties" that will go into the other 50% of the evaluation, leaving it up to the individual district to determine what constitutes the remainder. And therein lies the biggest part of my problem with this new bill--everything else is left up to the district, including the burden of cost for implementing all of these new mandates.
Under SB 736, subject areas which cannot be assessed by state mandated testing (pretty much everything except reading, math and science) will be subject to end-of-course exams or other measurable standards. Who creates these? The district, which will then send the assessment tool to the state for final approval. So here is my question: where is the money coming from? Gov. Scott just proposed a budget that cuts 3.3 billion in education funding. Granted, the legislature has said that the budget won't pass in its entirety, but they've said there will still be some cuts. So if we're already cutting funding, why are we proposing measures that are going to add so much to education's already overflowing plate? It costs a LOT of time and money to create tests like the ones they're talking about; do they think people are just going to volunteer their time? Who is going to be the one in the state department of education who approves these new evaluation measures and student assessments? That's going to be a mountain of work on its own; is this going to be allocated to someone who already works for the DoE, or are they going to have to create new positions? Or, perhaps the legislators will send over their interns for a week or so to help alleviate the increased workload.
We already struggle to meet our obligations in the state budget and we are already facing cuts across the board in both state government and specifically in education. Didn't the legislation learn its lesson about unfunded mandates with the class size amendment debacle?
Apparently not.
Like SB 6, the new proposal also ties teacher evaluations and pay to student performance, but SB 736 is much more clear about how school districts and administrators are expected to reach those conclusions. Honestly, I don't see a problem with using student performance as part of a teacher's evaluation--in fact, there are times during the last few years when I've wished that was part of it. Contrary to popular belief, I don't think most teachers have anything to hide. I think that, for the most part, we're doing everything that's asked of us and working our fingers to the bone to see our students succeed. I also think that any teacher worth his or her shiny red apple would want to be rewarded when we see that hard work pay off.
The way SB 736 sets it up is that every teacher will receive the same base pay, and will receive salary increases based in part on how much growth our students see, which, to be fair, is pretty much how it works everywhere else in business. And before you remind me that the school system isn't like everywhere else, let me say that trust me, I know. But I do think that it's kind of the habit of teachers to want to be like "everywhere else" when it suits us, and to want to be like a school system when it suits us. I'm just as guilty of that double standard as everyone else, but I really think that in this case, it's not necessarily a bad thing for our students' academic growth to be factored in. Look at it this way--when a salesman sells more product, he makes more money. Same goes for us--we facilitate more student achievement, we make more money.
Notice, however, that SB 736 doesn't just link teacher pay to student test scores, which is pretty much what SB 6 did. Instead, it clearly focuses on academic growth over time as the bottom line. I can live with that. Over the past 2 years, I've shown about 75% growth in my level 1 and 2 reading students, a number I'm proud of. Have all of them passed the FCAT? No. But three-quarters of the students who walked into my classroom have gotten that much closer, and I'm proud of them for that. Last year in my first year teaching Advanced Placement, I had 12% pass the exam, and over 50% get a 2. That's pretty impressive in a school where quite a few AP students hadn't passed the FCAT yet. Yeah, I'm bragging, but I also want to show that I'm not trying to hide anything all those times I've argued against achievement-based merit pay. I am against it the way it's been previously presented, but I'm not against measurement of student growth, because I firmly believe that's what I'm there to facilitate.
I am a little troubled that student achievement is a full 50% of the teacher's evaluation, however. That's a pretty big chunk of the assessment pie, considering everything else that goes into being a successful teacher. The bill only vaguely refers to the "additional duties" that will go into the other 50% of the evaluation, leaving it up to the individual district to determine what constitutes the remainder. And therein lies the biggest part of my problem with this new bill--everything else is left up to the district, including the burden of cost for implementing all of these new mandates.
Under SB 736, subject areas which cannot be assessed by state mandated testing (pretty much everything except reading, math and science) will be subject to end-of-course exams or other measurable standards. Who creates these? The district, which will then send the assessment tool to the state for final approval. So here is my question: where is the money coming from? Gov. Scott just proposed a budget that cuts 3.3 billion in education funding. Granted, the legislature has said that the budget won't pass in its entirety, but they've said there will still be some cuts. So if we're already cutting funding, why are we proposing measures that are going to add so much to education's already overflowing plate? It costs a LOT of time and money to create tests like the ones they're talking about; do they think people are just going to volunteer their time? Who is going to be the one in the state department of education who approves these new evaluation measures and student assessments? That's going to be a mountain of work on its own; is this going to be allocated to someone who already works for the DoE, or are they going to have to create new positions? Or, perhaps the legislators will send over their interns for a week or so to help alleviate the increased workload.
We already struggle to meet our obligations in the state budget and we are already facing cuts across the board in both state government and specifically in education. Didn't the legislation learn its lesson about unfunded mandates with the class size amendment debacle?
Apparently not.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
My Voice
A few days ago, my local newspaper, The Ledger, ran a letter to the editor that I had written regarding the deplorable and disheartening $3.4 billion in education cuts our new Governor is proposing. I was pretty excited for a few days, then came back to reality to find everything pretty much the same as before.
I'm so tired.
Tired of being treated as if I should be glad for any scrap the government wants to hand me. Yes, my salary is paid out of our state's taxes. So are a lot of other people's. But I pay taxes too. I pay the salaries of the legislators who talk about "special interests" and refer to state employees as if we are parasites sucking the lifeblood out of the people of the state. Last time I checked, WE are people of the state. Without the infrastructure of state government, all that's left is anarchy.
I'm tired of people who have no clue what my job entails telling me how to do my job. On a daily basis, sometimes it's parents or students. I know what it takes to plan, prepare for, and execute effective lessons and provide what I hope is a quality education, but sometimes I don't think they do. Which is fine...but I don't tell the doctor what pills to prescribe, or a lawyer what defense to argue. And I understand that parents and students are concerned about their education, so I deal with it, even when it annoys me. What I can't deal with are politicians who think it's their divine right to hover over my shoulder and tell me how best to provide an education, when 99.9% of them haven't set foot in a public school since they themselves graduated. I went to college for four years. I've had over 700 hours of ongoing education and professional development in the 5 years since I started teaching (do the math; it comes out to almost nonstop continuing education). I'm not only qualified to teach in several areas, but according to the state of Florida, I'm highly qualified. So listen to me and my colleagues, most of whom are even more qualified than I am, when we say that you, legislators, and you, Rick Scott, are ruining.education.in.Florida. We know what we are talking about. You don't. Back off.
I'm tired of hearing about how horrible public employee worker's unions are. I don't see any legislation trying to limit the bargaining power of the auto worker's union or the AFL-CIO. Why are we different? Why should we be denied a voice? We provide essential services, without which the state would not be able to function, and we provide them to everyone: Democrat, Repulican, Teabagger, whatever. We don't get to choose. If Rick Scott's grandson walked into my classroom tomorrow, I would be professionally and ethically obligated to provide him an equal and equitable education, no matter if I personally would like to move to another state just to avoid the pit of despair Florida is in danger of becoming at the hands of his inept grandsire. All of the people who sit in all of the offices and do all of the tedious paperwork and phone answering and filing and databasing and everything else it takes to run a state the size of Florida--they do their jobs for little pay and no gratitude. Why are all of these people not worthy of the right to stand together and be heard in their demands for equitable wages and working conditions?
I'm tired of the general apathy toward education that seems to plague our society today. Don't tell anyone I said this, but teenagers aren't dumb. (kidding, kidding...mostly) For the past few years, studies have shown that teenagers' stress levels have risen as the economy worsens; though many of them aren't directly affected by the unemployment rate or the housing crisis, their parents are. It's not just adults losing their homes and jobs, it's the entire family, and that means the children. I digress here to show that children, teenagers especially, have a fairly keen grasp on the currents flowing around them, especially when it involves them. When children see on the news that education funds are getting cut (again) or that teachers aren't getting a raise (again) or that Florida schools are among the lowest in student performance (again), they get the message that education isn't important. When they hear their parents talk badly about their teachers and the school system in general, it sends the message that education isn't important. What else are they supposed to think? Children can do basic math--in $5 billion of budget cuts, $3.3 are from education. That's by far the lion's share of the cuts, and hey, if our own governor thinks we're not worth the money, then why should the kids we're trying to teach?
I'm tired of hearing about running the government like a business, or (worse in my book) running schools like a business. It doesn't work people, for the simple reason that we don't get to pick (which I may have mentioned previously). We don't get to throw out a damaged product or fire a nonproductive "employee." I have to take every single student that walks through my doors. Some have two married, working parents, some are from broken homes. Some come from affluent backgrounds, while others have to work to contribute to the family income just so bills can be paid. Some are orphans, while others others are homeless. Some have the newest clothes and designer brands, some wear the same clothes from middle school. Some have children of their own, while others are raising younger siblings, nieces, and nephews. Some will go to college, others won't even graduate. Some have already been to jail, already been in the system almost as long as they've been alive. You name a situation, and a teacher has seen it walk through the door of his or her classroom. I have students who I know are not going to pass a test or even the class, but I can't "throw them out" to make myself and my finished product look better. I have students who will put their heads down and go to sleep rather than take the FCAT, but I can't "fire" them from my classroom for poor performance. I have to give every student, regardless of ability or interest, the same opportunity for success. Ultimately, however, I can't force them to do well in school; so many other factors are essential in a child's success that go so far beyond the time he or she spends in my classroom each day. And this is just an example in education. Other government workers face the same limitations. Firefighters don't get to choose whose house fire they extinguish. Police officers don't get to choose who to protect and serve. When my husband rents a car to someone and they don't pay him, he can choose not to do business with them in the future. If he has an employee who is habitually late or absent from work, he can fire them. I don't have that option, and until I do, until every state employee gets to choose who we do "business" with, stop making that comparison.
I'm tired of all of these things, and worse, I'm tired of feeling like there's nothing I can do about it. I've always heard that if you don't vote, you don't get to complain about the way the government is run. So I voted, and Rick Scott won anyway. I don't like what he's doing, so I wrote to the paper, and my letter got published. Now what? Anything I can do just seems so small in comparison to what it feels like we're facing. I feel like I have so much energy and passion about the subject of education, and I'm terrified of where it's headed, not just for myself but for my students. I feel like I have so much to say about it all--but who do I say it to? I don't even know where to begin.
I'm so tired.
Tired of being treated as if I should be glad for any scrap the government wants to hand me. Yes, my salary is paid out of our state's taxes. So are a lot of other people's. But I pay taxes too. I pay the salaries of the legislators who talk about "special interests" and refer to state employees as if we are parasites sucking the lifeblood out of the people of the state. Last time I checked, WE are people of the state. Without the infrastructure of state government, all that's left is anarchy.
I'm tired of people who have no clue what my job entails telling me how to do my job. On a daily basis, sometimes it's parents or students. I know what it takes to plan, prepare for, and execute effective lessons and provide what I hope is a quality education, but sometimes I don't think they do. Which is fine...but I don't tell the doctor what pills to prescribe, or a lawyer what defense to argue. And I understand that parents and students are concerned about their education, so I deal with it, even when it annoys me. What I can't deal with are politicians who think it's their divine right to hover over my shoulder and tell me how best to provide an education, when 99.9% of them haven't set foot in a public school since they themselves graduated. I went to college for four years. I've had over 700 hours of ongoing education and professional development in the 5 years since I started teaching (do the math; it comes out to almost nonstop continuing education). I'm not only qualified to teach in several areas, but according to the state of Florida, I'm highly qualified. So listen to me and my colleagues, most of whom are even more qualified than I am, when we say that you, legislators, and you, Rick Scott, are ruining.education.in.Florida. We know what we are talking about. You don't. Back off.
I'm tired of hearing about how horrible public employee worker's unions are. I don't see any legislation trying to limit the bargaining power of the auto worker's union or the AFL-CIO. Why are we different? Why should we be denied a voice? We provide essential services, without which the state would not be able to function, and we provide them to everyone: Democrat, Repulican, Teabagger, whatever. We don't get to choose. If Rick Scott's grandson walked into my classroom tomorrow, I would be professionally and ethically obligated to provide him an equal and equitable education, no matter if I personally would like to move to another state just to avoid the pit of despair Florida is in danger of becoming at the hands of his inept grandsire. All of the people who sit in all of the offices and do all of the tedious paperwork and phone answering and filing and databasing and everything else it takes to run a state the size of Florida--they do their jobs for little pay and no gratitude. Why are all of these people not worthy of the right to stand together and be heard in their demands for equitable wages and working conditions?
I'm tired of the general apathy toward education that seems to plague our society today. Don't tell anyone I said this, but teenagers aren't dumb. (kidding, kidding...mostly) For the past few years, studies have shown that teenagers' stress levels have risen as the economy worsens; though many of them aren't directly affected by the unemployment rate or the housing crisis, their parents are. It's not just adults losing their homes and jobs, it's the entire family, and that means the children. I digress here to show that children, teenagers especially, have a fairly keen grasp on the currents flowing around them, especially when it involves them. When children see on the news that education funds are getting cut (again) or that teachers aren't getting a raise (again) or that Florida schools are among the lowest in student performance (again), they get the message that education isn't important. When they hear their parents talk badly about their teachers and the school system in general, it sends the message that education isn't important. What else are they supposed to think? Children can do basic math--in $5 billion of budget cuts, $3.3 are from education. That's by far the lion's share of the cuts, and hey, if our own governor thinks we're not worth the money, then why should the kids we're trying to teach?
I'm tired of hearing about running the government like a business, or (worse in my book) running schools like a business. It doesn't work people, for the simple reason that we don't get to pick (which I may have mentioned previously). We don't get to throw out a damaged product or fire a nonproductive "employee." I have to take every single student that walks through my doors. Some have two married, working parents, some are from broken homes. Some come from affluent backgrounds, while others have to work to contribute to the family income just so bills can be paid. Some are orphans, while others others are homeless. Some have the newest clothes and designer brands, some wear the same clothes from middle school. Some have children of their own, while others are raising younger siblings, nieces, and nephews. Some will go to college, others won't even graduate. Some have already been to jail, already been in the system almost as long as they've been alive. You name a situation, and a teacher has seen it walk through the door of his or her classroom. I have students who I know are not going to pass a test or even the class, but I can't "throw them out" to make myself and my finished product look better. I have students who will put their heads down and go to sleep rather than take the FCAT, but I can't "fire" them from my classroom for poor performance. I have to give every student, regardless of ability or interest, the same opportunity for success. Ultimately, however, I can't force them to do well in school; so many other factors are essential in a child's success that go so far beyond the time he or she spends in my classroom each day. And this is just an example in education. Other government workers face the same limitations. Firefighters don't get to choose whose house fire they extinguish. Police officers don't get to choose who to protect and serve. When my husband rents a car to someone and they don't pay him, he can choose not to do business with them in the future. If he has an employee who is habitually late or absent from work, he can fire them. I don't have that option, and until I do, until every state employee gets to choose who we do "business" with, stop making that comparison.
I'm tired of all of these things, and worse, I'm tired of feeling like there's nothing I can do about it. I've always heard that if you don't vote, you don't get to complain about the way the government is run. So I voted, and Rick Scott won anyway. I don't like what he's doing, so I wrote to the paper, and my letter got published. Now what? Anything I can do just seems so small in comparison to what it feels like we're facing. I feel like I have so much energy and passion about the subject of education, and I'm terrified of where it's headed, not just for myself but for my students. I feel like I have so much to say about it all--but who do I say it to? I don't even know where to begin.
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