A Stand Up Teacher is Laid to Rest

Teachers can learn some valuable lessons from this man's obit on how to effectively respond to the bullying and bashing by today's politicians.  

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Duh!

Here is the editorial in yesterday's Star Ledger filled again with absurdity and fuzzy thinking.

It begins by claiming that the current actions by politicians and “educrats” are to "reform" seniority and tenure. Why do they refuse to call it what it is - ELIMINATION. Since when does reform = elimination?

They go on to claim that elimination of these rights, which have endured for over one hundred years, will make teaching more attractive and will help to recruit more highly qualified people.

Duh!

The editorial writer seems to think that academically talented people will flock to colleges and universities, dole out hundreds of thousands of dollars and devote countless hours of study to become a teacher. They will do this to get a job where they will become an "at will employee", can accrue no seniority, must work until 65 in order to retire, will pay an ever increasing portion of their health benefits costs, can look forward to a bankrupt pension system, be evaluated by the test taking skills of children on tests which may or may not be appropriate or accurate and endure constant criticism and degradation by the media and the public.

The editorial goes on to say "teachers must earn respect". Just exactly how can that be done in a situation where everything about your job comes from on high and often from those who have never taught or if they did it was decades ago in a private school for only four or five years at most. To make things even more difficult every new administration comes with a new educational scheme, new "experts" and plethoras of mandates and paperwork. 

These people tell you what to teach, when to teach it, how to teach it and then hold you responsible when it doesn't work.

How can someone earn respect when he is held as the scapegoat for high taxes and the "failing schools" that exist in impoverished communities?

How can teachers earn respect when they are held responsible for poor student performance but are given no tools to correct it? If a child refuses to study and cooperate no teacher, not even Socrates can make them learn.

The constant cry from the "educrats" and the media is the teacher is required to make it interesting - engage the student. So in other words, the teacher must be a teacher and an entertainer and a constant cajoler or else he is a poor teacher.

And what about disruptive behavior? How is he/she to deal with that?

Certainly corporal punishment is out as well it should be but now even raising one's voice might be considered "bullying". How about continually asking a student to pay attention or act appropriately? Could that be "bullying" or "singling out"?

If students do poorly on State testing is it because of a "poor" teacher? Is "poor student" participation in the learning process ever considered? And how about a poor attitude fostered at home?

I must assume that the writer of this editorial is a product of the American educational system. Considering that, I would have to agree that there must be some poor teachers in the system and those that taught him logic and reasoning must be among them.

PS

The article extols the virtues of Finish education. I have posted information about that system directly underneath the editorial and underlined some key ideas. It is interesting how it compares with our approach to education and educators. The key factor in their successful educational system is attitude which is exactly what American education lacks.

Americans seem to be saying - "We send them to school and it's your job to make them smart and if you can't do it you're a poor teacher!"

Finns seem to be saying - "Let's work together and do whatever we can to educate our children". They avoid finger pointing and name calling and constantly invoking the new schemes dreamed up the "education experts" year in and year out.

Here They Are! The Titans of Education "Reform" !

These are the people that are telling teachers what to teach, when to teach and how to teach? How many other professions would stand idly by and allow this to happen without protest?
Would we ever expect to have a Surgeon General without medical experience?
Would we ever expect to have an Attorney General without legal experience?"
Only in the world of education could this be possible!
BTW here is an excerpt from Mr. Cerf's (NJ Commissioner of Education) bio - "Mr. Cerf served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. He graduated from the Broad Urban Superintendents Academy in 2004. Prior to attending law school, he spent four years as a high school history teacher in Cincinnati, Ohio."

Congrats Mr. Braun!

Congrats Mr. Braun!
I could never have said it as well as you have. You have covered all the based and hit a home run.Unfortunately, in a country that elected George Bush TWICE, there are few who will listen to you. 

They have proven that they appreciate sideshow antics much more than their own best interests !

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Interesting info from a reader
I am a retired hedge fund trader who worked for Dean Witter Reynolds/Morgan Stanley from 1982-2009. I am writing this in response to Mr. Tom Moran’s comment….apparently he is hard to contact during normal business hours. I take exception to his statement that David Tepper* is “trying to help” the education process. David’s main focus in professional life was to make money for his customers, and make even more for himself. He is not in it “to help”. As a portfolio manager from 1987-2009, I was responsible for the managment of emerging companies and industries. Both Kaplan and Apollo Group were companies that were part of David’s spectrum. Apollo is the owner of the University of Phoenix, the world’s largest for-profit university. Kaplan is the naiton’s largest test prep company. Both companies are extremely profitable…and David has shared in that profit. Whatever plans David has for “education” has only one goal in mind….to make David even more wealthy. You failed to mention another former hedge fund director from FL who is now the state’s Superintendent of Schools…Christopher Cerf. Mr Cerf made quite a pretty penny when he was managing the Edison Group, the owners of the Edison Schools. Because Cerf’s name and background were brought up during a criminal indictment in Central Florida, he is no longer able to hold a Securities license in either FL or NY State. I do not know if there is a reciprocity agreement in NJ…apparently so, since his name does not turn up on the SEC list.

*Tepper is a prime sponsor of Better Education for Kids - B4Kids - An education "reform" organization. 

"Smart Teachers" - A Contradiction in Terms

Just when I'm about ready to quit writing this blog another inane article about education and educational schemes appears in the paper and I can't help myself  but to comment on it !
Here the state wants only "Smart Teachers" and a GPA of 3.0  or better will insure that ?
Do we really think that a student studying Basket Weaving with a GPA or 3.0 is smarter than one studying Nuclear Engineering with a GPA of 2.9 let's say ?
How naive can you be, especially when there is a continual dearth of science and math teachers.
It looks like the state educrats in their wisdom, have  issued a blanket statement without much thought and in doing so, maybe it shows that they themselves aren't really that smart ! 
Additionally, how smart can anyone be, who would spend tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollar to obtain a job in a "profession" that is constantly humiliated, denigrated and disrespected.
What "smart" individual would enter a "profession" where job security has been eliminated and is now, more than ever, subject to political whim and expediency ?
Who would start a career where pension benefits and benefits in general are continually "reformed" (reduced).
Why would an intelligent person enter a "profession" filled with greedy and lazy people who are only in it for "summers off" as described by a plethora politicians and newspaper articles.
Who would want a job where they are held accountable for the performance of others over which they have little or no control and  where attempts at control can be seen as bullying or harassment?
Why would anyone enter employment where even the slightest accusation of impropriety by anyone, results in instantaneous suspension or dismissal, front page news and the immediate assumption of guilty. 
The way things have gone for the teaching "profession" during  the past ten years and are continuing to go, makes me think that anyone, even those with GPA of 4.0, who enter teaching, can't be that smart !!
It is truly unfortunate that politicians, with the cooperation of the media, have turned a noble profession into one of ridicule and detain ! 


 

He Is Kidding - Isn't He ?

Maybe they could go to Newark Academy  instead ! $33,300

Or maybe Pingry !     $34,714

Or Delbarton $30,200

Or Kushner Academy  $22,295

Just Another Stop on the Union Busting / Privatization Tour

*  "an American original" bully and loud mouth - is this a person that we should teach children to emulate ?
 

** "with children fidgeting in their seats" - evidently he didn't "engage" the children in the lesson very well !

*** "who he said cares more about pensions" - so no one should care when the State fails to make good on the decades old promise of a reliable pension ?

**** "consistently good grades" - as assigned by whom and on what basis ?? 

PS

Having been educated by such a poor public system how did our Governor rise to his current station ? Does he think it was all accomplished exclusively by his own efforts and his public school education played little if any part? 

Testing New Jersey Taxpayers

AND
speaking of wasteful spending of taxpayer's money, remember this one  -


AND
 Meanwhile, local BOEs are prevented from awarding life long employees any acknowledge of     their years of service upon retirement. 
So much as a "Happy Meal" at MacDonald's is now illegal !
Why?
We must be frugal with taxpayer money! 

 Well, I guess that the State's frugality depends upon for whom taxpayer money is being spent and it is certainly not you or me  !!!

How Many Lies Does It Take to Make a Man a Liar ?

My Three Rs of Public Education Privatization - Ripoff , Robbery and Repugnant

"Committee for Our Children", "B4 Kids", "Students First", etc. -
How do they constantly come up with these flowery, lofty titles. 
They must lay awake all night thinking these up!
I'm sure that I can come with more apt titles for these organizations.
How about: 
"Committee for Stealing All We Can From Public Education" or
"Students Second Profits First" or
"B4 for My Kids at Home" or
"Committee to End Tenure So We Can Get Cheaper Teachers" ?

Notice the words "private schools" and "hedge funds". 
Those two phrases appearing in the same article is certainly telling!

New Jersey Pension "Deform"!

Republican Christine Todd Whitman, running on a tax-cutting platform, defeated Florio in the 1993 governor's race. To help pay for her promised tax cuts, Whitman, like her predecessor, turned to the pension fund. In 1994, at her urging, the legislature adopted another pension "reform" act that allowed her to reduce state and local contributions to the plan by nearly $1.5 billion in 1994 and 1995, according to the task force report. Florio's and Whitman's accounting changes were "the one-two punch from which the retirement system has never recovered," says Douglas Forrester, who was the assistant state treasurer under Kean.

For all the miscues, New Jersey's pension woes can't be blamed on particularly poor investment results. An examination of state reports shows that the fund's returns have more or less tracked the broad stock market's. The real problem has been the underfunding.

If union concessions, cost cutting, and higher taxes are not enough, then what? Inevitably, New Jersey and other states would turn to Uncle Sam for help. The pressure on Congress would be great. "How will they say no to state workers when they've said yes to bankers?"

(*Congress is very good at funding foreign wars, occupations and "rebuilding" - Maybe it's time to "rebuild" the good old USA!)

"The pension obligations could spark a huge problem for New Jersey," says Thomas Kean, a former Republican governor. "They must be paid because they are absolutely an obligation of the state, but as it is, the budget is balanced with chewing gum and sealing wax"

(*"must be paid" because they are an "absolute obligation" - How then can the COLA be eliminated and call the pension obligation being paid?)

Sources -

http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/12/news/economy/benner_pension.fortune/index.htm
Star Ledger - January 2013 

A New Approach to Classroom Discipline

What Do You Think??

I have received comments about my proposal to ask for your ideas regarding educational questions in my future posts.

I am including them below and also posing a question as I suggested I would.

Here is a prelude to the question.

In Jersee (as we like to call it), we have had over the past decades,  the following educational schemes, instituted and imposed by the State:

The Renaissance Act

The Urban Hope Act

No Child Left Behind  (NCLB)

The Race to the Top

The Quality Education Act  (QEA)

Thorough and Efficient   (T&E)

High School Proficiency   (HSPT),    (HSPT9), (HSTP11)

Grade Eight Proficiency  Assessment   (GEPA)

Quality Single Accountability  Continuum   (QSAC)

Comprehensive Education Improvement and Financing Act   (CEIFA)

The School Funding Reform Act

The New Jersey Assessment of    Skills and Knowledge  (NJ ASK)

NJ ASK 3, NJ ASK 4, NJ ASK 3-8

Minimum Basic Skills testing program  (MBS)

Early Warning Test (EWT)

Alternate Proficiency Assessment (APA)

Elementary School Proficiency Assessment (ESPA)

The Open Classroom

Core Curriculum Content Standards

and

The Charter School craze!

I hope I haven't missed any. There's an allow lot to remember!  If I have, please remind me.

Question:

Which, if any of the aforementioned plans, have had any success in improving New Jersey education or education in general?

Which, if any, have proved negative for education and teaching?

And, if you could devise a plan to improve education, what would be its prime components?

Please your reply to: 

wsautter@optonline.net

****

Here are some of the letters which I have received regarding my previous post:

Walt,

I stumbled upon your blog through High School Herd, through Pinterest, while looking for math ideas for my high school classroom in Ohio. I am at a career and technical center serving grades 11 and 12, teaching Intermediate Algebra/Geometry and Algebra 2. I am also the numeracy coach (for one period of the day).

Your comments and feelings are echoed here in Ohio. I assume the culture of the profession and unions is similar across the country. I think the site is a great idea and would be proud to contribute to the cause. At worst, I could occasionally share some perspective from my state.

It was surprising that your blog was only a few days old. I was expecting at least a few years worth of comments. I have been teaching since 1999 and my first full year started with an eight day strike. I have been at my current district since 2007 and have certainly noticed a shift in the mindset of communities as well as union members.

Back to teaching! Looking forward to hearing back from you.

Jeff E.

*****

Sounds great! I'm in.

Peg Nicholson
Missouri Information Coordinator



Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action

Washington, D.C. & Nationwide | July 28-31, 2011

http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org

Follow SOS on Twitter: @SOSMarch
NEW! Connect With Other Supporters in the SOS Forums!

Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action

****

Thank you Jeff and Peg for your replies.

 

NJ Commissioner of Education's Report to the Governor

Fear of Firing

I read an article on the front page of  the Ledger on September 24th. It was lengthy so let me summarize. It pertained to a law suit regarding the firing of Mr. Jose Cotto, a non tenured Newark Public School teacher.

            Mr. Cotto received a death threat from a student during class. The boy was sent out of class only to return a short time later. Mr. Cotto, fearing for his safety, called the Newark Police who where turned away when they arrived at the school.

            Subsequently, Mr. Cotto was fired for "making too much noise" about the incident. He then filed a suit claiming wrongful dismissal and was awarded $225,000. The boy has since been jailed for the murder to two people during a hold up.

            The principal of the school has since been place on "principal without placement" status (whatever that means?).

The jury unanimously declared the teacher was fired for being a "whistle blower" while the city cited Mr. Cotto as a poor teacher who "normally tasked students with memorization and did little to improve his lesson plans" (again - whatever that means?).

            I have several serious questions about this whole thing aside from the main issue of  the teacher's unlawful dismissal and the refusal by the administration to provide a safe working environment for  him and his other students.

            Firstly, Mr. Cotto taught Spanish. How can anyone learn Spanish without memorization. If you don't memorize Spanish vocabulary how can you speak Spanish. This points clearly to the absurdity of allowing those who know little or nothing about the subject to evaluate a teacher.

            Secondly, if evaluations by poor or incompetent administrators are allowed to determine whether a teacher is going to receive a raise or possibly even be fired, can we expect many more incidents of administrative failure to go unreported?

            How many times have you experienced or heard of disruptive students being sent to the office only to return shortly with little or no consequences.

            How many times have you experienced or heard "don't send them to the office - if you are a 'good teacher' you should be able to handle classroom discipline".

            How many times have you experienced or heard "if the teacher made the class interesting there would be no discipline problems".

            If tenure is eliminated and the "merit system" is introduced (as the politicians would like) expect even more of this. It doesn't bode well for the teaching profession and the learning by students in a chaotic environment.

PS

            Mr. Cotto worked in the Newark Public School System. Newark (as well as Paterson, Camden, Jersey City, etc.) has been run by the state for over a decade.

            Wouldn't one think that with all the "education experts" at NJDOE, the problems of all of these districts would now be in the rear view mirror?

            Could it be that the State has found the rehabilitation of these systems is a task that they have not and cannot accomplish? I guess, now, instead of being held accountable for their failure, they find it much easier to blame on the "hordes" of "poor teachers" in these schools.

           

Anything Goes In The Privatization War

Please read these.
It shows how people's attitudes can molded by promotion , hype and fake documentaries.
The lengths that some will go to further their attempts at privatization and union busting are astonishing.
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2012/08/teachers-rock-2012-insult-to-teachers.html
And
http://parentsacrossamerica.org/2012/06/parents-give-wont-back-down-movie-trailer-a-thumbs-down/

I've Got Lots of Questions??

I've got lots of questions for our editor. 

* How many principals and administrators have obtained their positions not by superior teaching abilities but instead through relatives and friends with political connections? 

** How naive can this editor be. How many people have you known who got on the "wrong side" of an administrator and then "paid the price"?

*** Since when has education become an athletic competition?

**** Compensation - yes! But also how about - low status, constant public criticism and degradation, being deluged with mandates and dictates by the DOE, being observed and critiqued by those with little or knowledge of the subject matter, seeing "pension reform" stealing their future, observing the cry of politicians to end seniority and any semblance of job security, being held responsible for a student's unwillingness to participate in the learning process, lack of meaningful discipline measures by the administration, confrontations with parents with little or no backup by administrators and last but not least, a bleak outlook for the teaching profession as whole?

I am sure that there is much more that I have failed to mention.  

Maybe you would like to fill the blanks? 

***** "a career ladder" - what does that mean and to whom will it be available?

Will it be attained primarily by those who follow the same "career path" as the administrators I mentioned in the first sentence?  

Education A Through Z

As in days of old, when the new king was crowned, his first task was to dispose of the offspring of the former king and replaces them with his own. So it seems to be in Trenton and Washington.
With every new administration a new educational scheme, with an official sounding acronym, is concocted while the old one is exiled to a dusty basement file somewhere in the state’s or nation’s capitol.
Meanwhile, teachers and administrators scurry to conform to the new set of edicts and demands. The role of the school often becomes that of a test preparatory program and the sole goal of the teacher is to be sure that the students score well.
For example, way back in the seventies, we had “T and E” (Thorough and Efficient”), QEA in the 1980s (Quality Education Act), QSAC in the 2000s (Quality Single Accountability Continuum), NCLB in the 2000s (No Child Left Behind) and CCCS in the 2000s (Core Curriculum Content Standards). Additionally, we have endured a plethora of tests, again each with its own acronym designation ESPA, GEPA, HSPT and SRA.
Oh, and let’s not forget the “Open Classroom”. Although it wasn’t a test or an official state program it was a very popular educational scheme. Also, how about the current “Educational Reforms” and the additional proposed “Educational Reforms” of the present administration? They too, I think qualify as educational schemes.
There are a few questions that should be asked about the aforementioned.
“Have any of the programs helped in the education of our children?”
“Have any made the work of teachers and the schools more productive?”
“If any of the previous plans experienced any success why then are they continually replaced with new ones?”
The real question then is, “Does all this benefit the learning of the children?
Or are they politically and PR motivated?”
I don’t really know but I do wonder – a lot?
You probably have some other questions and ideas about this. Let’s hear them!

An Unmeritorious System

I was going to write on another subject today but I happened to see a discussion of merit pay and tenure on News 12 – “12 In Our Schools” and immediately decided to change my topic.
I have had very limited experience with merit pay during my forty years of teaching however, very early in my career (back in the sixties) I did work in a district that used the merit system. I have always remembered the way in which it operated primarily because it was so absurd.
The system evaluated teachers on a one to five rating (five = best and one = poor I don't know if anyone ever got a zero?). Ratings were given by four administrators, the department chairman, the principal, the vice principal and the superintendent.
The rating from the department chairman was often a function of which department you happened to work. If you were in the math department the chairman's philosophy was “I would never hire a poor teacher” – everybody was five. If you were in the English department, well “Nobody was as gifted a teacher as the chairman”– everybody got less than a five.
The principal ruled with an iron hand and although I didn’t know his philosophy on merit ratings, I did know that the vice principal (a timid little man) always, somehow gave the same exact ratings as the principal.
The superintendent was rarely seen in the building. When I asked how he could possibly give a legitimate merit rating when he had never seen the teaching of many of those whom he rated, the answer was “He knows!”. I guess you had to have faith in his omnipotence.
That was the merit system as I experienced it. Not too good, from my standpoint anyway. I'm sure there are better systems (and probably some worse) but I certainly found it to be unfair, arbitrary, divisive and intimidating. Needless to say, I left that system at my first opportunity.
There is another interesting point about the evaluation system, not only at the school I have just mentioned but state wide. It is that a supervisor has the authority to evaluate any teacher in any area as long as he has proper certification. This means that if I had a certificate and was a chemistry teacher I could evaluate a French teacher. I don't even know how to say “French” in French! How could I possibly know if the teacher was even teaching the correct information much less teaching it well? I find this incredible but these are the rules that are currently in place.
In an article, “Up Pay for Math, Science Teachers, Christie Says – Governor: Give gym instructors less cash” in the Ledger the Governor indicates that he feels that gym teachers are less valuable than science teachers. I am mindful of the fact that many ex gym teachers become principals and supervisors. It is they who then become authorized to evaluate the math and science teachers!
The more I hear about “Educational Reform” the “curiouser and curiouser” it becomes?

Kids Should Respect Their Teachers??