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DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing

Daily Archives: June 18, 2014

WHY PARENTS SHOULD NOT FEAR TEACHER TENURE

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by David Greene in Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Now Co- authored

DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing

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Co-authored by: Glen Dalgleish: Parent, Education Advocate, co-Founder “Stop Common Core in New York State”.

David Greene: Teacher, Parent, Author: Doing The Right Thing: A Teacher Speaks, Public Education Advocate. Treasurer Save Our Schools March, Program Consultant WISE Services.

Since the Vergara ruling in California, there has been a lot of discussion about “tenure” but there has also been a lot of different interpretations what it actually means and unfortunately there has also been a lot of misinformation. Glen and I will try and put some more clarity around the subject with this brief description and explanation. We also hope to try and demonstrate its significance in a teacher’s professional life.

What Tenure is:

“Tenure is legal protection granted to some teachers that requires the school district to prove just cause before a termination. Tenure is obtained through a multi-year evaluation process of a teacher in a probationary track position…

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FROM A HORSE’S MOUTH:

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by David Greene in Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

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Dr. Louisa Moats, the nationally-renowned teacher, psychologist, researcher and author, was one of the contributing writers of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

I will let Dr Moats speak for herself. I only add one comment at the end.

The following is from an interview that appeared in:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/child-development-central/201401/when-will-we-ever-learn

Dr. Bertin:  What has actually happened in its implementation?

Dr. Moats:  I never imagined when we were drafting standards in 2010 that major financial support would be funneled immediately into the development of standards-related tests. How naïve I was. The CCSS represent lofty aspirational goals for students aiming for four year, highly selective colleges. 

 

Our lofty standards are appropriate for the most academically able, but what are we going to do for the huge numbers of kids that are going to “fail” the PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) test?  We need to create a wide range of educational choices and pathways to high school graduation, employment, and citizenship. The Europeans got this right a long time ago.

 

What is good for older students (e.g., the emphasis on text complexity, comprehension of difficult text, written composition, use of internet resources) is not necessarily good for younger students who need to acquire the basic skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Novice readers (typically through grade 3) need a stronger emphasis on the foundational skills of reading, language, and writing than on the “higher level” academic activities that depend on those foundations, until they are fluent readers. Basic findings of reading and literacy research, information about individual differences in reading and language ability, and explicit teaching procedures are really being lost in this shuffle.

 

Dr.  Bertin:  What has the impact been on classroom teachers?

Dr. Moats:  Classroom teachers are confused, lacking in training and skills to implement the standards, overstressed, and the victims of misinformed directives from administrators who are not well grounded in reading research.  I’m beginning to get messages from very frustrated educators who threw out what was working in favor of a new “CCSS aligned” program, and now find that they don’t have the tools to teach kids how to read and write. Teachers are told to use “grade level” texts, for example; if half the kids are below grade level by definition, what does the teacher do? She has to decide whether to teach “the standard” or teach the kids.

 

Dr. Bertin:   In an article for the International Dyslexia Association, you wrote “raising standards and expectations, without sufficient attention to known cause and remedies for reading and academic failure, and without a substantial influx of new resources to educate and support teachers, is not likely to benefit students with mild, moderate, or severe learning difficulties.”   You also mention that 34% of the population as a whole is behind academically in fourth grade, and in high poverty areas 70-80% of students are at risk for reading failure.

How does the CCSS impact children who turn out to need additional academic supports for learning disabilities, ADHD or other educational concerns?

Dr. Moats:   I have not yet seen a well-informed policy directive that addresses the needs of these populations. There are absurd directives about “universal design for learning” and endless accommodations, like reading a test aloud, to kids with learning disabilities. Why would we want to do that? The test itself is inappropriate for many kids.

 

Dr. Bertin:   How does it relate to concerns you have about teacher training in general? 

Dr. Moats:   What little time there is for professional development is being taken up by poorly designed workshops on teaching comprehension of difficult text or getting kids to compose arguments and essays. 

 

I’ve been around a long time, and this feels like 1987 all over again, with different words attached to the same problems. When will we ever learn?

 

Indeed, when will THEY, the policy makers, ever learn, what we as teachers have always known. Each child is an individual.

 

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David Greene has spent 58 of his 66 years in Public Schools. He taught high school social studies and coached football for 38 years. He was an adjunct and field supervisor for Fordham University mentoring new teachers in the Bronx and formertreasurer of Save Our Schools. He is presently a program consultant for WISE Services. David Greene’s book, DOING THE RIGHT THING: A Teacher Speaks is a result of his experiences and his desire to pay forward what he has learned over the years as he continues to fight for students and quality education in PUBLIC schools. His essays have appeared in Diane Ravitch's website, Education Weekly, US News and World Report, and the Washington Post. He wrote the most responded-to Sunday Dialogue letter in the New York Times entitled, “A Talent For Teaching”. He has appeared on radio, local TV, Lo-Hud newspaper articles, and has given several talks about Common Core, APPR, TFA, teacher preparation, the teaching profession, and other issues regarding education. Most recently he appeared on: The growing movement against Teach For America, December 11, 2014 11:00PM ET, by Lisa Binns & Christof Putzel He is presently a contributor to Ed Circuit: Powering The Global Education Conversation.

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