Keep your federal blood money thank you.
I am a teacher. I chose my vocation knowing the compensation would not ever be what it should in the interest of students, let alone its impact on me personally, and my colleagues. I am an active...
View ArticleHas the Governor Gone Too Far?
Cross Posted from ShapTalk.com:For the past decade, New Jersey 's Governors have slowly but steadily politicized the State's system of higher education, from appointing "cronies" to serve on the Board...
View ArticleLeave No Teacher Behind
Nearly a month ago now, Robert Reich wrote on his blog If teachers want higher salaries, the unions are going to have to accept merit pay. Indeed, that's the whole point. Great teacher should be...
View ArticleMerit Pay and NCLB: George Miller Still Getting it Wrong
(full disclosure: California Teacher's Association has hired me to do online outreach on NCLB)There are a lot of things wrong with NCLB, so why are George Miller and Nancy Pelosi insisting on adding...
View ArticleThoughts on the NYC Performance Pay Plan
Is NYC's plan to reward educators financially a collective or an individual performance pay plan? I see this as an individual plan with an additional step - first, the school must meet benchmarks, and...
View ArticleWhat was wrong with the debate education question
Let me start by disclosing the following. I am an active member of the National Education Association, a teachers’ union. And I resent the way the question was phrased. As I write this I do not...
View ArticleWhy "Merit Pay" For Teachers Is a Horrible Idea
Among my experiences in my short life, I spent several years teaching in a phenomenally ranked school district and prior to that, time teaching in one of the most abominable school districts. I've...
View ArticleMerit Pay for Teachers
I like Obama as our candidate and believe that he will be a good President. The alternative is too terrible to think about. However, there have been some stances that Obama has taken that has caused...
View ArticleSome reflections on merit pay
When I was graduated from high school in 1977, the Shoreline School District -- which is located immediately north of the Seattle city line -- was the only district west of the Mississippi River to...
View ArticleEducation Issues - Merit Pay
During his acceptance speech at Invesco Field, Barack Obama said: Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less...
View ArticleThe Pragmatist: Charter Schools and Merit Pay For Teachers
Barack Obama is a pragmatist.His foreign policy approach wouldn't raise eyebrows in a Bush Senior administration up to a point (the point of greed for resources where the "fasciosphere" drools on its...
View ArticleA Few Thoughts and Questions on Education Reform
In 1968, Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man and follower of Ayn Rand, published a story in Wally Wood's pro-zine, Witzend, where a teacher was stabbed by one of her students. The student was chased...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pry the cold, dead fingers of the GOP off our public schools
It's very odd that the Democratic leadership waited until after the GOP foreign and economic policy had all the positive effects of a 50 megaton nuke before they said those ideas MAYBE don't work. Will...
View Article'S' is for 'Scapegoat'
There's a lot of boogeymen and boogeywomen in American politics. Our discourse is fairly rife with them. Single mothers, gay men, "militant" feminists, corrupt union bosses, welfare queens,...
View ArticleObama Education Agenda & Teacher Rewards
President Obama announced an ambitious program for our education system today that covers kids from pre-school to college. He is determined that we become a nation of achievers and that our schools...
View Articlechanging schools: pay for performance?
Public schools shape the experiences of our children for 13 years. While many public schools serve their students exceptionally well, others are struggling. Inequities in student performance, financial...
View ArticleNew Study - Merit Pay does NOT work
One of the key parts of the Obama-Duncan approach to education form is the implementation of merit pay for teachers. Perhaps in light of the release of a new study by the Economic Policy Institute,...
View ArticleSaturday Morning Open Thread
Good morning fellow moms, dads and caregivers!How are you this morning? I am fried. I managed to fill out and send out approximately 80 holiday cards, buy, wrap and mail out gifts this week. On the...
View ArticleYes, we can improve public education
We often hear about how our public education system is a failure. Politicians and pundits love to talk about what needs to happen in order to fix our "broken" system, yet rarely do they have a real...
View ArticleMerit pay based on test scores is a deeply flawed idea
It would be a dream scenario for any high school basketball coach- arriving at practice every day with an athletic front line, averaging six feet, nine inches tall (and able to handle the ball) and a...
View ArticleResolved: Merit Pay for Firemen.
Posted by Bruce Bourgoine who blogs at Kennebec Blues and Dirigo Blue.
View ArticleI am a Fire Fighter.
This is a response to a suggestion that Fire Fighters get merit based pay.I am a Firefighter.I play ping pong, cook a lot, play dominoes, basketball, croquet, repair computers, clean guns (well, not...
View ArticleThe hypocrisy of "Teachers Against Merit Pay"
Students and their parents are accustomed merit based rewards. They and their children live in a world where increased performance at a given task delivers corresponding greater rewards. This could be...
View ArticleMerit Pay for the Military!
Let's face facts: our military is broken. It's just not destroying stuff at the rate it used to. Despite simultaneous, neverending wars, too many servicemembers are shuffling through their hitches,...
View ArticleCorrelation = Causation
The debate over the problems in American education and some of the proposed solutions, such as merit pay and easy teacher termination, reminds me of one of the cardinal sins of educational statistics:...
View ArticleDC's Heroic Michelle Rhee fires 241 Under performing Teachers
After decades of excuses we are finally seeing leaders put the interest of children ahead of the staff paid to teach them. We don't need to keep employees with poor performance in the public or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What IF Congress was on Merit Pay -- like average folks are
Gridlockgrid·locknoun1. A traffic jam in which no vehicular movement is possible, especially one caused by the blockage of key intersections within a grid of streets.2. A complete lack of movement or...
View ArticleSay Hello to the Millionaires Club, that Works for you
Snapshot of personal wealthSen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile: 52nd wealthiest in 2008 with $1 million net personal wealth.Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa: 21st wealthiest with $7.4 million net personal...
View ArticleHow Teachers Shouldn't Be Evaluated
I just read Teacherken's diary on the subject of teacher evaluations with some interest—one of the reasons I don't feel drawn to write very many diaries is because Teacherken normally says what needs...
View ArticleWhy are CEO Multi-Million Dollar Parachutes Tax Deductible?
First off, I can't claim credit for that question. As she frequently does, Randi Rhodes, gave me the topic, as she was explaining it to a caller on her radio show today. So, sincere Hat Tip to Ms...
View ArticleOnce again, Wall Street rakes in "Exceptional" Bonsuses
Who says we don't believe in American "Exceptionalism" anymore?Record Breaking Bonuses on Wall Street, are treating the select few-- "Exceptionally" Well ... thank you very much!On Street, Pay Vaults...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ohio...Republicans feeling pressure...keep it on!!
Governor Lehman Brothers Kasich is trying to bust up unions much like Governor Walker is doing in Wisconsin. He was met with a similar response: Today is the first sign that Republicans are...
View ArticleGee, It Isn't All About Money to Teachers
Although this will come as a shock, offering incentives to teachers for increased student achievement - a concept referred to as "merit pay" - doesn't seem to produce the results the "reformers" said...
View ArticleNo One Talks About These Education Reforms (with poll)
First of all, I teach in a building that is condemned. I'm amazed each morning when I show up and see that it hasn't burned down overnight. The roof leaks, there are electrical hazards and shorts,...
View ArticleWas NEA endorsement of Obama the lesser of two evils?
The National Education Association wasted no time today endorsing the re-election of President Obama, a decision that came as no surprise to anyone. After all, it doesn’t matter which candidate the...
View ArticleThe Good School; Principals or Principles
copyright © 2012 Betsy L. Angert. Empathy And Education; BeThink or BeThink.orgA few organizations have attempted to answer The Good School Question. Each asks, “What epitomizes a great learning...
View ArticleBittersweet in Education, Competition, and Test Scores
Today I received what in education should be the ultimate compliment: my classes scored higher on the district exam than other classes in the same grade at our school. It genuinely made me feel so...
View ArticleJoe Scarborough: Get a clue on Jeb, Obama and Education Reform
Morning Joe's Joe passionately opined today, at the show's round table (temporarily on the road, in Florida) on the need for Romney to launch some bold ideas to win conservatives and draw a stark...
View ArticleThis is what the War on Workers looks like
It looks like 'No Big Deal' -- until you do the Math.PS. Teachers usually know how to do the Math.Walker reshapes inflation-based raises for teachersWTMJ-TV and JSOnline.com -- msnbc.msn.com --...
View ArticleGates's Cannibalistic Culture: Coming to a School Near You!
Bill Gates has adopted education as a billionaire's hobby for many years—once supporting small schools projects, but more recently focusing on teacher quality.Little attention, however, has been paid...
View ArticleClik here to view.
After stripping billions in school funding, Mich GOP to tie teacher pay...
Oh, I see how this worksCross-posted from Eclectablog.Over the past two years, Michigan Republicans have stripped over a billion dollars from schools and are working to defund them another $825.1...
View Articlethoughts on merit pay for teachers
which was written as a comment on this thread at Diane Ravitch's blog..The presumption of Merit pay for teachers is that the impact of the teacher can in some fashion be immediately measured, usually...
View ArticleSomething I think I finally understand
is that those who insist upon merit pay for teachers are themselves primarily motivated by money and have trouble grasping that for many people, while they want to earn a decent income and be able to...
View ArticleSome reflection on Stiglitz and his words on teachers
I realize that others have written about the magnificent piece by Joe Stiglitz titled In No One We Trust. There were two paragraphs that spoke directly to me, and upon which I would like to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
This Desperate Anti-Charlie Crist Banner Appeared on the Daily Kos Front Page
Gee...I wonder whose campaign came up with this one?I'm inclined to believe that Daily Kos had nothing to do with this being in the ad space, but come on. We can do better than this. More below the...
View Article