Post by title1parent on Apr 2, 2010 6:41:29 GMT -5
www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=369190&src=
Duncan's approach will fail students
Letter to the Editor
Published: 4/1/10 DH
.
President Obama selected Arne Duncan to be his education man in Washington. The man quotes education bumper stickers (Stephen Colbert, Oct. 5 2009) and plays basketball.
Let us ask the people who teach in Chicago about Arne Duncan. Let's ask about charter schools that hire noncertified teacher then open and close leaving lots of children behind. Let's talk about charter schools that fail to meet AYP, but still receive permission to open more satellite schools.
What is all this I hear about pay for performance? Call the incentives anything you want, lipstick will never change this merit pay pig. Administrators will find a way to reward their friends. Teachers will be forced to teach to tests even if that means leaving half the children behind.
If test scores become the definition of student achievement (The Texas Miracle) our society will suffer the consequences. In the President's Blueprint for Reform he puts all the responsibility for student growth on teachers. I guess Obama's grandmother had nothing to do with his success.
Teachers of art, music and physical education who change children's lives will not be recognized for their contributions. Ask the folks at Fermi Lab about creative thinking and ISATs. Ask the folks at University of Chicago Hospital about right-brained surgeons. Perhaps Dr. House takes it a little too far, but you cannot learn to drive a car by reading the book. I know. I passed Driver's Education classroom. To quote Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., "No one has ever learned anything from a Scantron."
Shirley Forpe
Palatine
Duncan's approach will fail students
Letter to the Editor
Published: 4/1/10 DH
.
President Obama selected Arne Duncan to be his education man in Washington. The man quotes education bumper stickers (Stephen Colbert, Oct. 5 2009) and plays basketball.
Let us ask the people who teach in Chicago about Arne Duncan. Let's ask about charter schools that hire noncertified teacher then open and close leaving lots of children behind. Let's talk about charter schools that fail to meet AYP, but still receive permission to open more satellite schools.
What is all this I hear about pay for performance? Call the incentives anything you want, lipstick will never change this merit pay pig. Administrators will find a way to reward their friends. Teachers will be forced to teach to tests even if that means leaving half the children behind.
If test scores become the definition of student achievement (The Texas Miracle) our society will suffer the consequences. In the President's Blueprint for Reform he puts all the responsibility for student growth on teachers. I guess Obama's grandmother had nothing to do with his success.
Teachers of art, music and physical education who change children's lives will not be recognized for their contributions. Ask the folks at Fermi Lab about creative thinking and ISATs. Ask the folks at University of Chicago Hospital about right-brained surgeons. Perhaps Dr. House takes it a little too far, but you cannot learn to drive a car by reading the book. I know. I passed Driver's Education classroom. To quote Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., "No one has ever learned anything from a Scantron."
Shirley Forpe
Palatine
