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Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has been touring the state to discuss his six-point education reform proposal , and most of the reaction has centered on his proposed changes to the long-standing teacher tenure system in Connecticut.
"This is the evaluation system that the teachers' unions negotiated through a two-year process," Malloy said earlier this month at a forum in West Hartford. Connecticut, according to the governor, defense travel system will rely on standardized tests as a measure to a much lesser degree than many other states do. "Should we just maintain the status quo?" he asked.
Teacher tenure defense travel system was changed in FL along w/reforms like mandating merit pay based on student's grades on one standardized test score. FL also stopped paying teachers more for Masters degrees. (logic there?) None of these punitive reforms improved education. What it has done, however, was ratchet up the stakes on standardized tests where teachers' livelihoods and the school's future depends upon the almighty standardized test.
That led to 'teaching to a mindless bubble test' which led to narrowing of the curriculum since there is now no time left for the arts, civics, history, PE, language, music.We have obsessive focus on test prep instead. That led to worse education.
Slapping silly accountability measures- which were PROVEN FAILURES - (see Vanderbilt's study over a 3 yr period on merit pay) won't improve the quality of education. It won't improve the achievement gap. Take attacks on teacher's union into a Conf Room and negotiate w/them. Stop destroying the quality of public education with these insane defense travel system 'reforms' harmful to education.
Who will enter the teaching profession while it's under assault? Who will remain in teaching? You still need seasoned teachers defense travel system to assist new ones. Stop the punitive - revengeful -- measures and focus on the students and focus on delivering a complete curriculum.
R Eleved - there are better sources than Wikipedia and you apparently missed the part where Finnish students who are on the vocational tract can still opt for the higher ed tract. And if you wish to spout the accountability card, look at yourself in the mirror as all parents, students, and politicians who set the curriculum/regulations should do.
As a former member of the Town Council I can tell you the Town Council has no power over the Board of Education other than approving the budgeted amount. The council can increase or decrease the amount, however it has nothing to say on how the funds are spent. That is the sole domain of the BoE.
Never said anything about the various tracts, defense travel system however it argues against earlier starts to school. In the US the tract idea might not be acceptable to many. Unlike other European schools in which kids take exams that set the tract for that student, and that would be wholly unacceptable to US parents.
If tenure is tied to student achievement, defense travel system no teacher will want to teach the slow learner defense travel system students who deserve the extra attention but do not show the growth defense travel system of the gifted - a better way to improve student performance is to raise the educational standards of those entering the field!
The question is not the teachers it is the mandated administrators which eat up all of the education monies that shouls go to teachers salaries This will help getting better teachers and better students. There are too many administrators eating up need monies. multiple principlas and assistant principals in High school now when years ago we had more nation merit scholars with less administrator but better teachers.
Bills are a place for politicians to hide there real agendas. If you actually read this bill it isn't about teacher tenure at all. It is about setting up the system so that the State will be running (or have the ability to) run all the schools. People need to stop listening defense travel system to what the news tells them and read it for themselves. Teachers don't care about the tenure defense travel system aspect that much. We are upset because it takes away the rights of public schooling and gives the commissioner of education overarching power over every school district in CT. All I can say is stop and read the bill and you will be shocked to see what is really written into it. It's not easy reading but even if you skim it you can get the gist of the tone in which it is written. For easy access I have attached a link to a copy of the bill.
Matt, that ruins it for the argument mongers.... I will tell you that most legislators never read in the entirety the bills they pass.... they do what they are told... Next time ask that question to the person running for office defense travel system if they read the bills you believe are important that they voted for against in there entirety! The answer will surprise you. Then vote out the incumbents!
Many good points were made in the last few comments. For a teacher that has gone the extra step, such as a masters or extra courses . Should they not be rewarded for their professional defense travel system achievements. Most all other professions are. To tie evaluations and student performance to the tenure issue seems wrong. For the teachers whose students have some type of issue that would prevent them from making great strides or ever making the grade. You would be penalizing these teachers. We would lose good teachers with this reform proposal. Why would you stay teaching if you know your students will not make the grade?
I agree with Matt. This bill is about centralizing control of schools and eliminating the supposed obstacles to school reform...teachers and Teacher Associations. The governor is looking for a way to avoid the messy and time consuming processes of collaboration, consulting research and consensus building defense travel system so he can sweep in with the latest corporate backed reform movement du jour and fix our schools. These ideas have not worked elsewhere and will not work here. The problem is a complex one that will only be solved when politicians decide defense travel system to ask for solutions from the true professionals who have dedicated their lives to students...teachers! I can only guess that they have not been asked because solving this long term social problem takes a long term committed approach and MONEY!
A large investment in early childhood education would be a good way to start. So I will be asking the governor to: eliminate proposals in his Education Reform Bill #24 that would weaken high-quality education for our students and fix it to:
There are classrooms where ALL children Do achieve. Why aren't we asking those teachers what worked? Teachers voices will need to be heard, not silenced if we truly want a better education defense travel system for our students.
Just as a parent defense travel system gets children, some wonderful learners and some not, a teacher gets a class. Sometimes just the mix of those students in the particular class: defiant, poor, no value in learning, hyper active, no home support, etc, make for a poor learning situation. That's why it's a good thing that classes are as diverse as your portfolio. There are some types of learning, like street smarts that can't be tested defense travel system on a pencil test. A teacher can only do so much--much as a parent--to defense travel system teach for the test.
Now, about compensation of teachers based on the tests. How will you compensate the gym, art, music, and speech teachers?? The social worker, librarian, psychological examiner, and guidance teacher? In fact, that's a good analogy--does the psychological examiner get poor compensation because all her referrals are somehow unable to do well on the pencil test???
This whole idea shows how uninformed the Governor is about the problems in education. Chris Powell has it right, the problem is no families, no fathers, no money, and no love. Teachers do their best to make all things equal, and allowing parents to choose what schools their children attend will only add to the problem.
Maybe we should review the 'art' of teaching vs the 'science' of teaching. Teaching, and the ability to teach, is an art, and not a science. defense travel system Think about that for a few minutes. defense travel system The data based approach is very much a science approach to teaching and not an art approach.
I do not like tenure, and I am still waiting defense travel system for an argument as to why teachers require tenure. I have heard the argument made for college professors but have yet to hear a valid argument for public school defense travel system teachers.
I have even suggested teachers get a 10K annual raise and all future comp based upon that higher lever if they relinquish their tenure. Most administrators would love this, and younger teachers defense travel system would take it, however others would not. Something else to ponder.
I've seen tenured teachers who couldn't lose their job because they had tenure, even though they had no business teaching. (Yelling at students, inapropriate behaviour that was never dealt with) All the while, young, brilliant defense travel system teachers who had not obtained tenure, but who had amazing teaching tallents defense travel system and were beloved by students and parents, lose their jobs because of buget cuts. The teachers who are not good at their jobs are the ones that should be let go, not the teachers who are new to teaching and bring enthusiasm for learning into the classroom.
Any principal can get rid of a bad tenured teacher. They just have to do their jobs observing and documenting. They can also make life extremely uncomfortable for bad teachers. Maybe schools should fire their administrators if they don't observe and document like they should. I teach and wouldn't defense travel system want a lousy colleague to stay on in my school. defense travel system I know of teachers that have given the principal documentation to help them get rid of a lousy teacher but the administrator never followed through with observing and documenting.
Here is a link to a concise summary of the CT Teacher defense travel system Tenure Law. What is basically does is guarantee tenure
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