Comments on: A primer on performance pay

By: harold

harold — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 02:08:47 +0000

J.R. – unions DO NOT “set the ground rules”. What they do is bargain with management. And clearly, management has more “power”, when they can just impose a contract on its employees (like the current situation in the OUSD).

There are more than a few terrible administrators in the OUSD. I know a few. Go ask around. I bet you the majority of them were not the best Teachers, before they moved into management.

By: J.R.

J.R. — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 00:23:09 +0000

Cranky,
There seems to be some logical disconnect on your part, while yes principals(technically)do have the authority to give unsatisfactory ratings to teachers, they in fact must build a case(which is a long and laborious process)in order to recommend the dismissal of a teacher(this process takes years documenting everything)so in real terms you have a better chance of winning the lottery than firing a tenured teacher. I think New York was only able to fire a few teachers last year for substandard performance( and no one in their right mind believes that there are only a handful of bad teachers in a whole state, thats just ignorance of the highest magnitude. The unions set the ground rules and that is the real problem, but the tide is turning and parents are PO’ed that we are not keeping teachers based on performance and competence. Not everyone can or should teach, and we must make sure that only those individuals that are capable stand in front of a class regardless of length of service.

By: David

David — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 21:14:18 +0000

http://www.counterpunch.org/cooke06022010.html

“The Democrats demanding these concessions are creating conflicts between the unions to an unheard of degree. If a complete break happens between the unions and Democrats — as it should — the repercussions would be enormous. The New York Times explains: “If unions are the Democratic Party’s base, then teachers’ unions are the base of the base. The two national teachers’ unions — the American Federation of Teachers and the larger National Education Association — together have more than 4.6 million members. That is roughly a quarter of all the union members in the country. Teachers are the best field troops in local elections…. In the last 30 years, the teachers’ unions have contributed nearly $57.4 million to federal campaigns… and they have typically contributed many times more to state and local candidates. About 95 percent of it has gone to Democrats.” Teachers’ unions cannot continue to support a political party that aims to destroy them.”

By: cranky teacher

cranky teacher — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:16:01 +0000

Pepe, the superintendent in D.C. is trying to do something like a cash-for-tenure swap, although I don’t know the details.

J.R., principals HAVE the authority to get rid of teachers, but as in other union and/or goverment jobs, the institution has to do its due diligence: Identify and document problems, offer remediation and training, monitor for improvement and then terminate the contract

All of that takes organization over time which is lacking in troubled schools/districts where everything is run by “crisis management” and hampered by endemic high turnover.

By: J.R.

J.R. — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 05:18:52 +0000

You need to give principals the authority to axe the deficient teachers,teachers who are burnt out and don’t care anymore and teachers who have are habitual no shows.Principals, parents and students are very well aware who the good teachers are, so just develop a metric for identifying good teachers and fire away.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:12:22 +0000

What if you are an involved parent who vounteers at your child’s school. You have a child who is ready, willing and able to learn and in fact learns more during summer school and camps in 8 weeks than during the school year. What do you do to create teachers who teach?

By: J.R.

J.R. — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:56:10 +0000

All these issues have a direct affect on that……. You won’t(cannot) do it if you cannot afford it……. There is no magic formula or gimmick to good education(it’s effort and hard work).

1.Good, highly qualified teachers.
2.Attentive students ready and willing to learn.
3.Involved parents ready to insist on #1 and #2.
4.Sufficiently high standards(not all states insist on high standards).

There you have it! from all the successful districts in this country to you.

By: Duncan: Big $$, if you’re willing to change the “status quo” - The Education Report - Katy Murphy covers what’s going on in the Oakland schools

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:06:49 +0000

[...] A primer on performance pay [...]

By: J.R.

J.R. — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:48:28 +0000

After the multiple layers of Dept. of Education bureaucracy are excised there will be plenty of money for these proposals.Much of the cost of education is not spent directly in the classroom where it should be allocated.We have too many superintendents(and assistants)at every level of government.This is unnecessary and wasteful.

By: TheTruthHurts

TheTruthHurts — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 07:02:18 +0000

Mr. Gordon, you may make a good deal of sense. Has anyone done the math to see what it would take to both bring wages up and provide 15:1? Sounds like a tall order, but at least voters deserve to have the option. It’s our money and our kids. I like the idea of 50% higher wages and no tenure. Let the bad apples find other work less devastating to our collective future. Maybe the unions can get that 15:1 by giving on tenure. I’m sure 15:1 won’t do much if the teacher is crappy. Likewise, the great teacher described above could probably do it with 30. If we’ve got proof something works, let’s get it before the voters.