Wednesday, March 28, 2012

LAE Calls For Mass Protest At The Capitol!





Governor Bobby Jindal is selling out




kids and our neighborhood schools in an effort to satisfy his own political agenda with a plan that would:


Remove and reassign thousands of dedicated and




effective educators from the classroom.


Judge caring and committed teachers using flawed methods of evaluation.


Rob local funds from our neighborhood schools,




placing them in the hands of private interests.




Our children deserve better!


Join the LAE and other stakeholders




As we stand up in protest for students and public education on Wednesday, April 4th, 2012
on the




Steps of the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge
at
9 AM




Go to http://www.lae.org/ for more information.




Paid for by the Louisiana Fund for Children & Public Education.





Monday, March 26, 2012

A Rush to Judgment Will Harm Louisiana Education

A Rush to Judgment Will Harm Louisiana Education

The decision by the Louisiana Governor and House Leadership concerning House Bills 974 and 976 is a rush to judgment designed specifically to hide the multiple problems found in the bills. The Governor and his supporters should know that there is both a lack of research in favor of much he has proposed and specific research that would refute much of what he wants. There is and should be a wide debate about the cost of these proposals and the lack of accountability involved. In addition, there is a clear desire to insure that many of the educators in this state are not heard.

If teachers, administrators and other educators show up there will be a cry that they have abandoned their students during leap testing week when the truth is, there is no reason that the house bills could not be studied and debated in a more professional fashion. It is the Governor and House Leadership who are participating in "abandonment" and they are harming our children and educators.

Many groups and organizations throughout the state have encouraged greater study and debate to more adequately evaluate the multiple bills crowded into these two pieces of legislation however, The Governor is not about to allow a fair and engaged discussion.

Each of you, those in favor and those who have concerns about the bills, should encourage a wider ranging, more professional debate and process… Isn't that what legislators are supposed to do?

Monday, March 5, 2012

Teachers make lasting impressions

Monroe News Star, editorial

February 2, 2012


 

Teachers make lasting impressions

11:36 PM, Feb. 2, 2012

  • Opinion
  • Teaching political science at the University of Louisiana at Monroe is rewarding; however, the central reward of teaching is the opportunity to pass forward to others the contributions teachers made to my life.

    Ms. Reynolds prepared me for high school by teaching grammar and note-taking. Much of my knowledge about Greek mythology and the Renaissance came from her. Ms. Kimrey made me read Victorian poetry and Romantic literature. Much of my knowledge about symbolism, metaphors and analogies came from her.

    Ms. Gronberg had me read To Kill a Mockingbird, My Name is Asher Lev, The Outsiders, Catcher in the Rye and the Autobiography of Malcolm X. Much of my knowledge about the liberating power of searching for an identity came from her.

    Mr. Arrington eschewed regurgitating a litany of facts. Much of my knowledge about structures, processes, and systems in the context of economics, history and political science came from him.

    I would like to finally and publicly thank these tenured, unionized, public school teachers. None of them gave me a standardized test; none of them were evaluated by standardized tests.

    Alas, Ms. Kimrey, Ms. Gronberg, Ms. Reynolds, and Mr. Arrington (and countless others) are under attack. We claim to acknowledge the importance of education, but we assault, condemn, and undercut those who have devoted their entire lives to education. It makes no sense to me whatsoever.

    The current critique of Louisiana education has two components: first, teachers are a protected class, insulated from accountability by strong unions and tenure; and second, the public school system is fatally flawed and must be abandoned in favor of private enterprise.

    If teachers are indeed lazy incompetents, then how can we change that situation? Judging from the rhetoric and behavior of our politicians, apparently we should cut teacher pay, reduce job security, and belittle them. Personally, I think that's crazy. If teaching were an easy profession, then roughly half of those who enter the field wouldn't leave after five years.

    (Page 2 of 2)


     

    Wisconsin has strong unions and tenure protection; Georgia has no unions and relaxed tenure. Wisconsin students rank second nationally in college preparatory scores, while Georgia falls historically at the bottom of such rankings. Confronted by such evidence, conservatives rush to point out flaws in this comparison. They say social, economic, historical, and cultural differences explain the achievement gap. My response? Exactly.

    Let's take a look at the assault on public education. In the Death and Life of the Great American School System, Diane Ravicth points out numerous studies showing private schools and charter schools do not significantly outperform public schools. Additionally, nations outperforming the United States have managed to produce a superior product using publicly funded, publicly managed schools. They have neither abandoned public education nor privatized it. And, there are those pesky facts — less than 1 percent of all public school students have used vouchers when offered vouchers. School choice, in the form of vouchers and charter schools, has not significantly solved our education problems.

    I know there are bad teachers, just as there are bad businessmen, bankers, police officers and politicians. That's life; that's reality. I'm not here to defend bad teachers.

    In fact, no one wants to protect bad teachers and keep them on the payroll. Equally, I'm not here to defend bad public schools; there are certainly a lot of things our public schools need to do better. Nevertheless, the hysteria that has built up around this notion that teachers are the villains and all public schools are failing is remarkable.

    Diane Ravitch writes, "The fundamentals of good education are to be found in the classroom, the home, the community, and the culture, but reformers in our time continue to look for shortcuts and quick answers." Huge educational improvements will not occur in Louisiana if don't stop looking for shortcuts. Do any of our proposed reforms address the community, culture, or the home?

    My response? Exactly.

    Joshua Stockley is a professor of political science at ULM.