Teacher issues
Because government assistance is a bad thing…
Eliminating the class size limit would eliminate up to 12,000 teacher jobs. But according to Florence Shapiro, it’s really about local control. Education Week: Texas Battle Looms on Class-Size Limit “It would give flexibility to superintendents. It strengthens local control and gives them the opportunity to save some dollars,” she said, noting that school officials [...]
Interesting discussion on the value of Teach for America
The Answer Sheet – Valerie vs. Jay on Teach for America, KIPP, etc. Valerie vs. Jay on Teach for America, KIPP, etc. Ultimately, I think I have to side with Jay Mathews on this one. I think Valerie Strauss misses the point. Teach for America isn’t saying that you need “elites” in public schools to [...]
Not even the teachers are safe
As if they don’t have enough to worry about: Robbers Target Elementary School Teachers | WOAI.COM: San Antonio News Northside ISD told News 4 WOAI that burglars, who may be trying to pose as parents, are sneaking into classrooms at the end of the school day and stealing teachers’ wallets and purses. Technorati Tags: teachers, [...]
I don’t think I would survive as a teacher
We have been meeting with several families to do some subjects together and all I can say is that I don’t know how teachers do it. Why do they go before a class of 20 or 30 students, most of whom don’t want to be there, many who don’t have paper or pencil much less [...]
They get two months off, what more do they want?
MySA.com: MySA.com: Jobs: Need a job? The Northside Independent School District needs to hire 800 teachers before the fall semester.So, if you’re qualified and you have teaching credentials, you could have a new job by summer. The teachers are needed because 4,000 new students are expected to enter the school district this year. “We’re going [...]
Do as I say–it’s not about the money
Except it is if you are going to reward effective teachers. Star-Telegram | 03/03/2007 | Report: Future rests on teachers’ shoulders: “Five years with an effective teacher, not just an average teacher, is sufficient to close the achievement gap between middle- and low-income youngsters,” said Sandy Kress, an Austin-based lobbyist and author of the report. [...]
So who would work for Apple?
What kind of person could you get to make broad, sweeping statements on topics about which he’s obviously seriously uninformed? Steve Jobs. Apple CEO Jobs attacks teacher unions | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle: AUSTIN — Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs lambasted teacher unions today, claiming no amount of technology in the classroom would improve public [...]
Accountability
There are so many who want education reform based on “running a business” and accountability that I think it’s time to explain the situation in language they should understand. Let’s pretend that you run a plant nursery. You sell a healthy, well-kept tree to your customer. You give them fertilizer and detailed instructions. You might [...]
HB 557: Holding Parents Accountable
80(R) HB 557 – Introduced version – Bill Text: A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT relating to the failure of a parent to attend a public school parent-teacher conference; providing a criminal penalty. ???????BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: ???????SECTION?1.??Chapter 26, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 26.014 [...]
Why we have ineffective teachers–petty school board politicking?
The latest report on the importance of “teacher effectiveness” by the Governor’s Business Council has really got me thinking. Not about reading the report, I can’t imagine that it states anything new under the sun. But rather about why we seem to hold teachers up as the barrier to education reform in Texas. Any district [...]