Interesting article, two quotes

"If you look at the big cities that are really moving educationally, Chicago comes to mind, New York comes to mind, and Washington DC comes to mind," says Duncan.  "What do they have in common?  Mayoral control.   Then you have a city like Los Angeles which frankly has not come to mind in a number of years.  Los Angeles is an outlier."

Huh??  Only in America could they put an illiterate goon in charge of education. On the other hand...

"Too much of this depends on who the mayor is," says Bryant.  "One mayor will be great, but the next mayor could undo the progress.  Or, you end up with an autocratic situation like New York where parents honestly feel like they don't know what's going on and all they get is a cotton candy spin machine."

Anne Bryant is exec director of the National School Boards Assn.  Cotton candy spin machine.  Very good.

Both quotes from Lesli Maxwell, 'Education Secretary Leading Chorus Calling for Big City-Hall Role."  EdWeek 29(7) 14 Oct 2009.

A Washington teacher cries out

The Washington Post's Bill Turque reported on the silly new teacher evaluation system pushed out by Michelle Rhee today.  A teacher commenting under the moniker "Urban Dweller" merits quoting in full:

I teach in DCPS and was one of those career switchers several years ago. I work hard, all of my students, every year, go up on their standardized test scores. I'm not bragging, just being honest. I was fed a bunch of garbage when I came into the system by those recruiting us about how bad the teachers are. There are some bad ones--as there are ineffective folks in every profession. I have learned how to be an effective instructor from the veteran teachers who amaze me that they have been able to work 25 or 30 years and survive in such a dysfunctional institution with incompetent and rude administrators and a majority of students who are complacent and don't care about their education--and their parents are the same. To base a teacher's evaluation solely on student achievement is ridiculous. These kids come to us with a host of social ills which we are not equipped to deal with and which impedes their learning. Over the course of my professional life, I have worked for a lobbyist, in corporate America and ran a non-profit. I have never seen such a ridiculous evaluation system as IMPACT. Furthermore, as one who used to evaluate employees and administer performance appraisals, I would have never rolled out a new evaluation system on a Friday and then fully implemented it on the following Monday as Michelle Rhee did. That's poor management and total disrespect for your employees. The Teaching & Learning Framework which was rolled out in August was enough in itself for us to work with this year. DCPS' recent history is one riddled with a number of superintendents who all roll out their own plans and changes. It's amazing there are any veteran teachers left at all. Most teachers are exhausted from years of dysfunction and change. However, they are still great teachers but fed up with the top-down approach they've been subjected to for years. Rhee says the Teaching & Learning Framework and IMPACT came about from meetings with teachers and input from them. I don't believe one word she says. She, like Fenty, is an autocrat who imposes her ideas and will on her employees. I've never in my professional life seen a more ineffective and incompetent leader. I'm looking for another job now out of education and hope to leave before the end of the school year. I will miss my students tremendously. I love them and I love teaching but I'm tired of the disrespect and the gross mismanagement and the lack of appreciation from her administration. She may be getting rid of the ineffective teachers but she's also pushing good ones out the door in droves. The real losers are the students and that is a crying shame. Great job Michelle!