Editorial: Bryant offers some good ideas

2 comments:

• Shadith posted at 5:20 pm on Sun, Jan 29, 2012.

  Posts: 47

  Once again, we apparently have elected officials making plans to screw around with teacher pay based on a false assumption. I've said it before, but apparently no one is listening yet again. Here is the bottom line: the current system of testing students to determine a teacher's and school's effectiveness is based on the incorrect and grossly naive assumption that each and every child will give 100% of their best effort on their mandatory state tests. If you believe that, I have some really nice ocean-front property in Kansas I'll see you for a really good price! All it takes is 10 kids to go through that test and simply bubble in a random answer rather than read the question to totally send a district's scores into the negatives. Is anyone really so naive as to think a 12 year old kid will not make the conscious decision to intentionally fail the state test if he/she thinks it will get their most hated teacher fired? Seriously? Have we become that blind to reality? We're talking about kids on the cusp of puberty who not only are not capable of making decisions that will affect their lives 10 years from now, they are not capable of making decisions that will affect their lives 10 hours from now! That's why we don't let 12 year old kids drive or vote. Yet our governor is apparently planning to give these kids the power to determine the earning potential of college-educated, mature adults! And if you think the kids haven't figured this out, you are either brain dead or a complete and total moron!I love teaching. I am very good at it. But even I cannot force a child to do his/her very best on anything if he/she does not want to do it that day. And these state tests are a one-day, one-time a year shot to get it right. Under this proposed merit pay idea that ties my salary potential to test scores, I can work all year long but if Susie's boyfriend dumps her the night before the test, I can kiss any hope of a raise....or possibly any hope of continued employment...goodbye. Johnny dumps Susie, Susie refuses to focus on her test because her 12 year old brain thinks her life is over, and my child is the one that will go hungry when I'm out of a job. What is wrong with this picture??I will be willing to accept merit pay based on student performance when doctors are willing to let their 12 year old patients decide how much the doctor gets paid for taking out the tonsils. I will be wiling to accept a 12 year old as the decision maker when it comes to my earning potential when the lawyers agree to let the criminal sitting in jail for life determine how much the lawyer's services are worth. There are no consequences to the student or parents for a child not scoring an acceptable grade on the MCT2 state test in elementary or junior high. The kid doesn't have to get a single question correct, yet he/she will be promoted to the next grade. The kid has no horse in this race, yet he/she is determining the payout for those of us who are out there running our butts off every day to reach the finish line. Am I the only one who sees this as insanity?If this idea of tying my paycheck to Susie's mood on test day becomes the law of the land, I'll be finding another line of work.

  Edited by staff.

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• Anonymous Comment posted at 8:36 pm on Thu, Jan 26, 2012.

  Posts: 1954

  To improve education, you need to go back to the time when teachers were allowed to teach and be in control of the classroom. Get rid of the numerous 'support' staffs who earn more money than the teachers and do much less work and have one county superintendent and one county central office with an appropriate staff to perform the needed 'support' services and have the three public school systems all on the same page. But the people earning the big money will fight this tooth and nail, so I doubt it will happen any time soon. I do like to think that with our new republican governor we will start moving toward more conservative ideals for schools. Yes, I know Mr. Barbor was a republican, too, but he tended to lean toward the monied peoplelll, so..... All I can say is, please, Mr. Bryant, look at how the education money is spent, cut back on state department and central office department staff and bulk up the teachers in the classroom where education funding should be located. If you do this, you will see great improvement in morale and success. It is very demoralizing to have supervisors continue to come up with responsibilites for the teachers to prove their doing their jobs in the classroom to justify the jobs of the 'support' staff.

  -Educator

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