I’ve often thought that if a school district could fire teachers for not doing their jobs then maybe they could hire those that could and maybe pay them what the market would bear, which would be good all around. I came across this article in the LA Times (its a long one, but worth the read). It had tons of good information, but a couple of passages I wanted to point out
Meanwhile, said Kendra Wallace, principal of Daniel Webster Middle School on Los Angeles’ Westside, an ineffective teacher can instruct 125 to 260 students a year — up to 1,300 in the five years she says it often takes to remove a tenured employee.
and
“The hardest conversation to have is when a student comes in and looks at you and says, ‘Can you please come teach our class?’ ” she said.
When coaching and other improvement efforts don’t work, she said, “You’re in the position of having to look at 125 kids and just say, ‘I’m sorry,’ because the process of removal is really difficult. . . . You’re looking at these kids and knowing they are going to high school and they’re not ready. It is absolutely devastating.”
The article has a lot of things that defies common sense, like evidence collected at the beginning of the processes is often not admissible as it goes on because of the lengths of these proceedings, to the fact that these things are so costly and long that some teachers get promotions while they are happening and others get to simply offer apologies for things like ‘touching’ their swimming students.
There is an ironclad system in place to protect these teachers. Teachers who, according to one example in the article, could not put together a lesson plan for reading and math. I know there are good teachers, I’ve had some, but there is no reason that teaching should not be like any other job. I cannot imagine going to work every day, performing poorly, and my boss taking 5 years to fire me. Its outrageous, and in this case it is a generation of Americans who are losing out so that a few teachers can collect their retirements.
I completely agree! I have been in some classes where students tell me I have taught them more that day then their teacher does ever. Now, we all know that this is not completely true, but when you are in the class and you can tell the child is in need of a teacher, is is disheartening. One thing I will say in teacher defense, is that parents today suck. A lot of parents expect the teachers to be the teacher and the parent. This is not right. If the teacher has students with a well defined base of morals, ethics, trustworthiness, respect, and the understanding of learning, then the teacher can teach. So many teachers spend half the day just keeping students “in line” because they do not care and have no respect. They still need to take care of the situations to the best of their ability and cater to the the needs of the many, and not let the “needs” of the one bother the rest.
Left by Richard on May 4th, 2009