Do Not Apply – new, surprise entry
This summer I assembled a special list of schools – career enders.
There are good schools, bad schools, mediocre schools. But in New York City we have a handful of schools that are so poorly run, so out of control, with administrations that are so incompetent, mean, arbitrary, or vindictive, that getting a job in these schools often means ending your career before it starts.
I only got as far as high schools in Manhattan and the Bronx – but it was good information.
Later this week, a school will be added – guaranteed to surprise you, even money to shock.
For now, a glimpse of the current list:
Manhattan:
- *HS of Art and Design
- *Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis HS
- *Life Sciences HS
- Urban Assembly School for Media Studies (in the MLK building)
- *MLK HS of the Arts and Technology
The Bronx:
- Bronx Aerospace HS (+) (in the Evander building) (follow up)
- Eximius College Prep HS (near Crotona Park) (follow up)
- Bronx Theater HS (in the JFK building)
- DIscovery HS (in the Walton building)
- Fordham HS of the Arts (in the Theodore Roosevelt building)
- HS for Performance and Stagecraft (no longer in the Truman building)
- Fordham Leadership Academy for Business and Technology (in the Theodore Roosevelt building)
- [Pablo Neruda Academy for Architecture and World Studies (in the Stevenson building)]** (disputed)
- [Felisa Rincon de Gautier Institute for Law and Public Policy]*
The sources for this list are (highly) reliable, but I do not have supporting details for all of them. An asterisk next to a school shows that its inclusion is unconfirmed. I believe my sources, I believe that these schools belong, but I still want confirmation. Pablo Neruda’s inclusion has been actively disputed. More information one way or the other is required to remove the asterisk or to remove the school from the list.
Puzzle: Does 60 always divide abc?
So McRib tells me a kid told him that you can tell if three numbers are a Pythagorean triple, just check to see if their product is a multiple of 60.
Well, no. 6, 7, 10 is not a Pythagorean triple.
But, wait. Is every Pythagorean triple a multiple of 60?
3*4*5 = 60
5*12*13 = 780
6*8*10 = 480
7*24*25 = 4200
8*15*17 = 2040
9*12*15 = 1620
20*21*29 = 12180
Ok, so it’s ok for a few. But all?
Well, at least one number needs to be even (even + even = even or odd + even = odd), but where do we get the 2nd factor of 2, and the factors of 3 and 5?
Is this true? Can you explain it?
If we don’t hit any lights…
After a night of drinking at Art Heyman’s place off Union Square, my friend (haven’t seen in forever) Jim Kavanagh gives me a lift to the Bronx. We turn onto First Avenue and roll. We start with a good run, but have to slow down in the thirties to avoid getting to a red before it turns green. I tell Jim that in theory, since the First Avenue lights are well-synched, it’s possible to… We’re paying attention now. Whizz under the UN. Jim hitches himself to the back of a gypsy cab, and we push. We’re looking eight, ten blocks ahead. We make it past the %^&*^&% double parking in the 80s. Uptown, we notice cabs tailing us now. It’s a dance; there’s a rhythm. We haven’t stopped once, and we roll onto the Willis Avenue Bridge.
The little span was near-perfect. Turn right at the end, we’re taking the local street (133?) towards the Bruckner. One green, two greens, just one last and then we veer…. but no. Caught by the last light. 19th Street to the Bronx, all green.
(Art Heyman was at the bar that night, named for his daughter, Tracy, greeting customers from his table in the front, occasionally venturing to tour the joint on his beat up knees. The trip from Tracy J’s Watering Hole to the corner of Bruckner Blvd and St Ann’s was real. The post was inspired by Mildly Melancholy Julie and her well-timed lights…)
Union fights for teaching fellows facing ax
by Dorothy Callaci, NY Teacher, Nov 6, 2008, 3:18 PM
43rd Carnival of Mathematics
With all due respect to the work that goes into hosting any edition of the carnival, I haven’t enjoyed one this much in quite a while. Bravo to Jason, the Number Warrior.
There are 18 links, a good number, and he leads with puzzles, which is a Good Thing. Some of the stuff is too hard for me, but there is a nice mix of application, computers along with the harder stuff. Go, look.
Tuesday night looks
My face does not hide my reactions; most people can instantly tell when I’m happy, angry, confused…
Tuesday around 6 I needed a ride to meet some friends. A woman I met recently offered to give me a lift.
We’re chatting on the way to her car. She’s about 50 – I’d thought a bit younger. She’s thinking of moving somewhere warm. Then she asks about the election (and is anxious to get home, seems concerned that she make it in time, though there’s plenty of time left.)
I tell her I think Obama will win, and fairly easily. It’s not that I’m particularly smart, but I’ve been reading the numbers sites (starting with fivethirtyeight.com) and the analysis seems good.
It’s already dark – she can’t see my reactions, the looks on my face. But you can imagine.
“I’ve always been a Republican” (imagine)
five silent paces
“But eight years is enough” (imagine now)
a few more silent paces
“He cost me my son”
I understood why she was in such a hurry to make sure her vote counted.
Defending ATRs and RTRs
Right now, the most vulnerable members of the United Federation of Teachers are ATRs and RTRs.
ATR (Attendance Teacher Reserve) are mainly teachers whose schools closed and were not picked up by a new school. Many of them have decades of experience. They keep a job, but that job is not teaching. In some schools they are daily subs, in others they are given little to do. The New York City Department of Education wants to fire them, although they cannot without reopening our contract, which the union should not do. The union thinks, I think, probably most of ATRs think that they should take jobs as slots open, and that the DoE should not hire off the street while there are ATRs waiting to be placed. This year some brand new NYC Teaching Fellows had jobs, but got excessed, and became ATRs as well.
RTRs (don’t know what the first R is) are mostly NYC Teaching Fellows who were trained this summer, but not placed. The Department of Education hired too many teachers – probably with the intention of sowing insecurity. The RTRs are being threatened with firing December 5 — and that threat is real.
1. We need a clear, forthright statement that our union will stand up and fight for our most vulnerable members. And we have it.
2. We need to raise public awareness. Jeez, saying “let teachers teach!” is easy, and the message makes too much sense. The November 24 rally is an important step.
3. We need to challenge the predatory Department of Education. In the case of ATRs, we have remained firm on not reopening the contract, on no layoffs. We have also raised a moratorium on new hiring, until all ATRs in that license are placed, but we should campaign more on that.
4. We need to challenge the Department of Education’s threat to fire the RTRs. Last week Central filed a union-initiated grievance, arguing in effect that the DoE had extra-contractually entered into individual agreements with each Teaching Fellow (in violation of collective bargaining.) They expect to bring this forward to arbitration, and even court, if necessary.
But they could also have (and perhaps still should, I am not a grievance specialist or lawyer, so honestly, idk) argue based on the Teachers’ Contract, Article 1, Paragraph 5:
During the term of this agreement, should the Board employ a new title or category of employees having a community of interest with employees in the existing bargaining unit described herein, employees in such new title or category shall be included within the existing bargaining unit, and upon request of the Union the parties shall negotiate the terms and conditions of employment for such new title or category of employees;
that there are negotiations that must be entered into.
5. If we are unable to stop the DoE, we should argue for the creation of a “Preferred List” of Teaching Fellows — those who were RTRs — and we should insist that they be the first hired for cohort 18 in the Spring. This could be something like the preferred lists we maintained during and after the 1975 Fiscal Crisis, to protect our members who lost their jobs.
6. Finally, in unity (small u) there is strength. I understand that some RTRs, poorly treated by the Department of Education, have turned their anger against the union. I understand the frustration, but it is being poorly directed. A few are trying to organize a meeting directly with the DoE, without the union. We should not fall into the employer’s divide and conquer trap. I am sympathetic to the situation of those who are attempting to organize the meeting, but I am opposed to any and all efforts which divide us.
This past summer I spoke with over 100 of the 1600 new teaching fellows. I provided a sober assessment of how difficult their first year would be, warnings about horrible schools to avoid, advisement to avoid looking like the principal’s pet, direction to seek out experienced teachers, direction to participate passively for now in their UFT chapter, membership, Health and Welfare and COPE forms… I attempted to show them the difference between their rights as written in the contract and their rights as upheld by their chapter (and some warning about strong chapters, weak chapters, principal’s chapters, and non-existent chapters).
And more of that sort of stuff. That kind of education work is important. I think, done more widely, it would tend to produce more pro-union fellows, more who would work with central to address these issues. We need to reach more next summer.
Rally in support of ATRs
The United Federation of Teachers (New York teachers union) Executive Board voted tonight in support of a motion brought by President Randi Weingarten to hold a rally in support of ATRs on November 24.
ATRs (Absentee Teacher Reserve) are largely teachers from closing schools or programs who did not get “hired” at a new school. “Hired”? Well, they work for the NYC Department of Education. But under a series of disruptive reforms instituted by Mayor Bloomberg and his chancellor, principals have been discouraged from placing these teachers in the classroom.
Their ranks were swelled this year, as the City hired 1600 Teaching Fellows, as well as assorted other new teachers, critically exceeding the number of open positions. Some of these Fellows worked and were excessed – they are ATRs. But some never were placed – they are called RTRs, and are being threatened with being fired in five weeks.
I don’t know if tonight’s Exec Board motion is now set – or if Delegate Assembly approval is still necessary. In either event, the rally is or will be a go.
Skipping over winning percentages?
(A version of this was once a Putnam problem)
Is it possible to have a winning percentage of .750, and bring it up to a winning percentage of .900, without ever having a winning percentage of exactly .800?
For example:
| wins | losses | per cent | |
| start | 3 | 1 | .750 |
| next | 4 | 1 | .800 |
Oops!
Try instead:
| wins | losses | per cent | |
| start | 3 | 1 | .750 |
| next | 3 | 2 | .600 |
| next | 4 | 2 | .667 |
| next | 5 | 2 | .714 |
| next | 6 | 2 | .750 |
| next | 7 | 2 | .778 |
| next | 8 | 2 | .800 |
Oops again!
Can it be done?
CUNY Board Gives Goldstein a $55,000 Raise – That’s 14%
This caught my attention, not because of the huge raise, but because it was only 14% of the Chancellor’s salary.
From the Professional Staff Congress:
Puzzle – How would you find this sum?
231 + 237 + … + 849 + 855
I know what the sum is, but I am curious how you would find it. And moreso, how you might teach it.
Incomplete background: I’ve taught this one way (A) for some time. I have always noticed some kids doing something different (B); it (B) made sense, but I didn’t teach it. Last year I let the kids explain the alternate method (B), although it remained clear that I considered (A) primary and (B) alternate. This year (B) showed up again (persistent!) and I decided to have the kids who did it explain again, but this time I tried to value (B) for some advantages it might have, and (A) for some advantages it might have.
And I find that the kids still prefer ‘my’ way, but only by about 60-40. Before I tell how I do it and what the other method is, I’d be curious to find out ho you, readers, attack this one.
Thanks!
NYC Teachers’ parking placards expire today
The old ones were good through October 20. For most of us, there are no new ones. I wonder how closely the traffic agents will be looking. Be careful of tickets.
This should have come up at last Wednesday’s Delegate Assembly, but the president’s report ran very long. The agenda should include time for her report, some generous amount, maybe a full hour? Many delegates come to hear the report – but it should not interfere with the Assembly’s ability to conduct business.
Still haven’t gotten an answer about what harm there was in having more permits than spaces, for those of us who occasionally needed them. But I’m not holding my breath.
Teaching Fellows – late October notes
There were 1600 Teaching Fellows hired in New York City this year. That number was too high.
There were teachers already in the system, but who weren’t teaching. These Attendance Teachers in Reserve, or something like that (in any case ATRs) are mostly teachers from schools or programs that closed who did not get picked up by another school. The NYC Department of Education created a disincentive to principals to hire these experienced teachers, and principals responded for the most part by not hiring them.
There were also regularly certified hires (idk how many). And Teach for America temp teachers. (any ideas? about 2-300?) They claim 1000 in NYC, and since only a third teach beyond the second year, I’d guess a ratio of 6 Year 1s to 6 Year 2s to 2 Year 3s to 1 Year 4, which would give 400 new hires, but that seems a lot. Anyone know?
So more NYCTFs were hired, even when NYC had over 1000 teachers who needed slots, and even as other hiring was going on. No surprise, some of the Fellows did not find positions. More of a surprise, the number who got a position and then were almost immediately excessed and became ATRs themselves, and the number who never got a position (about 150).
The teachers who never got a position are in immediate danger: the Department of Education plans to fire them (not lay them off) December 5.
What has the union (United Federation of Teachers) done?
This is an important question, as some teaching fellows are angry at the union. This is understandable, as it is the union’s job to protect all teachers, but it is also wrong, as it is the Department of Education and the NYCTF that have screwed these fellows.
Wednesday, in passing a resolution in support of the ATRs, the UFT also included language vowing to do what it could to prevent the firings. And Fellows who were hired and then excessed, ie Fellow ATRs, cannot be laid off at this point.
The union has also taken the position that all ATRs should be placed in teaching positions before there is any new hiring in their license area. This makes sense. There was a resolution to this effect last year (New Action brought it forward) and it was backed up by some tough talk, especially recently. However, the union is not in a position to do more than ask.
Some related links (some are ATR, some are NYCTF):
- New York Teacher (UFT Newspaper) – ATR article
- EdWize (UFT blog) – open letter by a 4th year teacher/ATR
- Gotham Schools – Teaching Fellows fear layoffs
- NYC Educator – on ATRs
- NYC Public School Parents Blog – on ATRs
Next post:
- why Teaching Fellows matter, and how Fellows and ATRs are linked
- why we can’t do more now
- how did we get in this mess
- how we should be asking
- what we should ask for
Go read about Dad, the mechanic
“The Shrewdness of Apes” by Miss Cornelius is a fun teacher’s blog. I enjoy the movie trivia (she serves up a handful of quotes from a film – you win by adding another), even if I rarely play.
But today she wrote:
“Joe the Plumber?” Tchah. Here’s the real story of Dad the Mechanic.
and you should go read it.
Two about Dallas
I
You are all going to think I am awful. And maybe I am. But for weeks I have been mulling over how much I hate this video [it is the little kid, “I believe in me. Do you believe in me?”]
Look, the kid’s performance is great. But it’s a performance. The district wrote the speech, and trained him (quite well) to deliver it. I didn’t say I wouldn’t applaud. Of course I would. Anyone would.
But then let’s think about the message. There is an implication. An accusation. Someone doesn’t believe in little Dalton, and that someone is in the audience.
Can you imagine how easy it would be to address the problems of teaching and learning in this country if the only difficulty was that a few dolts didn’t believe?
If only you believed! We wouldn’t worry about funding issues. Or class size. Lousy curricula. Endless test prep. Ignore that stuff, tap your heels, believe – because the problems are there because you (who’s you? is it me?) don’t believe.
The text of the speech is available at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub. Part of the same post are some positive comments about the speech from Ed Darrell, the blogger, and a Dallas history teacher. He liked the motivational qualities. And I see them. But we may disagree about the content. (When you go, poke around, leave a comment or two. Ed’s blog is one of the great teacher blogs in this country).
II
Last week the Dallas Independent School District (same place) eliminated 1000 jobs, laid off 375 teachers. They lost track of $80 million or so. Believing in a kid is one thing. Believing in a paycheck, or believing in a job, something else. Do you believe you can make a mortgage without a paycheck? This is cruelly ironic.
Some links: Ed Darrell again, with “cut off your arm, move on,” he works there. North Carolina’s teacher of the year (really!) makes a similar connection “Does Dallas believe in you?” Here’s the story from the Dallas Morning News.
Teaching Fellows – October notes
A few small items, followed by brief comments.
1. The DoE over-engaged Teaching Fellows this summer, leaving a significant number without placement in September.
2. In addition, at least one was recently added to the corps of ATRs – Absence Teacher Reserves – essentially subs. Here’s the message that was posted on the Fellows’ message board:
Is anyone else in this situation? I’ve moved my whole life here to New York City. I’ve made a commitment to my students, my masters, my apartment lease… This is emotional, surprising and defeating I’ve worked so hard, getting very little sleep, thinking about my students 24/7, preparing to be an after school tutor, planning my entire life around my classroom…
God, is anyone else in this situation? What happens now?! Will I be placed in Teacher’s Reserve? Am I guaranteed a salary until December as promised to us? I’m trying to be strong and positive, but I feel like I’ve gotten the worst, most surprising blow to my heart.
3. Fellows hiring for January (Cohort 17) has been canceled.
Comments:
The DoE attempts to use Fellows against senior teachers. We instead should emphasize the unity of all teachers against the aggressive DoE.
No new teachers should have been hired while there remained ATRs needing placement. We (the United Federation of Teachers) passed a resolution to that effect last year (introduced by New Action). But it is not enough. The DoE has actively discouraged principals from hiring ATRs (through grotesque accounting which punishes schools for having experienced teachers) and our response must strike at this injustice directly.
No new teachers should be hired while there remain any ATRs needing placement. This includes all ATRs, including both experienced and new, both Fellows and non-Fellows. We need to stand together. We need to clearly tell one another that we will stand together.
Carnival of Mathematics 41
has been posted at 360, a cool math blog, if you haven’t gone there before. Go look at the Carnival. (I plan on starting with Rod’s bandwith/tragedy of the commons piece. I already read the President (mathematician) Garfield one. And then on to some harder stuff. If I find the time).
I was once in a math war skirmish… (Part 1)
I was teaching at a large Bronx HS back in 1999. All but one of the schools here used the Amsco texts by Dressler (horrible books, imo, but with lots and lots of exercises). I used them as homework resources, and taught lessons independent of the book. That last school used IMP, one of the screaming points for the math wars that were occurring in California.
In the Bronx, our kids were poor, our schools were the most overcrowded in overcrowded New York City (save a couple of new immigrant magnets in Queens). Disruptive reorganizations were shuffling the weakest, most academically vulnerable, and most likely discipline problems from school to school to school. And our scores, lousy for a long time, were falling.
The superintendent decided to pilot two constructivist curricula: IMP, which was already in place in one school, and Math Connections, a new series published in Connecticut (I’ll return to the publisher in the final segment), spanking white covers, books 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, and 3b. Schools got to choose which series to pilot; most, including mine, went for Math Connections, as IMP seemed tough on struggling readers, and most of our schools had many struggling readers.
continued below the fold Read more…
My outlook on teaching math
One of the best pieces on this blog, reprinted in advance of writing more about teaching. Read, critique, praise. Your call.
Updating links
A flurry of link changes. Most involved moving between categories: in particular, there is now a NY Teacher category (since I was following links from Gotham Schools, that’s no surprise), and I swapped between Teachers, Math Teachers, and NY Teachers.
I added a few nice links:
- They call me teacher, NYC teacher
- The Washington Teacher, union activist
- Lorri Giovinco-Harte, staff developer, good read, really good teaching-oriented blog
- Have a Gneiss Day, been around for a while, don’t know how I missed him
- Is our children learning? new, teaches elementary, in the Bronx
I also restored some links I had previously dropped: Miss Malarkey (don’t know why I dropped her) Queen of the Quadratic (she had stopped posting for a long time), Chaz, Polski
I dropped Rocking the System. She announced last winter that she had arthritis, and would stop blogging, but I was hoping she might come back. I’ll keep an eye out.
And I should drop Text Savvy, but I’m still thinking it over. And Michael Paul Goldenberg, possible, but less likely. I’ll probably just add warning text, the way I do for Mathematically Correct and NYC Hold. There’s a story here, and it involves Devlin, and it involves me walking into a Math Wars battlefield, but for another time.
But please, go visit the new links. Go visit the recently restored links. Read. Be happy.
What I learned this summer
Five weeks late, but with two days off last week, one this week, one next… I am finally catching my breath, deep breath, and reflecting.
Summer vacation is important. I didn’t take one. And I am suffering.
I am no longer 20. I am no longer 25…
It is possible to reach new teachers – but it takes an organizer’s mindset and an organizer’s tactics. Over 100 this summer, with a little help, it could be ten times that next summer. And I already have been approached by 5 people (non-partisan) who would like to help.
New teachers, at least Fellows, can be opened to a pro-union message. I don’t know how true this is for TFA. And I don’t think the message carried in the NY Teacher is effective.
I am no longer 20. When I speak to 20 and 25 year olds, it’s not the same as when I was 20. And not the same as speaking with people older than me. I can lecture. Which means, I need to be careful. IRL I am a rabble-rouser, a crank, a careful (and rather annoying) critic. But a 20 year old sees an older guy speaking with authority. It sounds different. Careful, careful.
I also learned that I REALLY like going far away once or twice a year, and New Orleans and Edinburgh (April) didn’t come close t making up for missing Turkey, Bulgaria, Italy, Greece, Germany, or wherever my strange summer plans to foreign lands should have taken me.
Summer is for reading. Not enough reading = a gap in summer.
I’ll try to make some of this up through this year, taking it a little easy here and there, maybe a real trip (or two) and some serious planning so I can get both volunteer work and vacation in next summer, both well-organized, both in serious quantities.
Advice to New Teachers: Your mailbox (and paper)
One of a teacher’s worst enemies, especially in the first year of teaching, is that little pigeon hole with your name pasted under it (or over it) in one of the administrative offices.
The first day you saw it, I bet there was a little smile, a sign you were really a teacher, or a little grimace, they spelled your name wrong. But whichever, there was no theme music from Jaws to warn you about what was lurking in plain sight.
How it attracts garbage! And important stuff. And stuff that might be garbage, but wait, maybe you need it? And what if you just leave it there and decide on your way out of school but oh, how tired you end up being and you find it (or don’t) buried under fresh garbage, er paper, the next day.
1. Don’t let things sit in your box. Take the extra minute, or two, or even three, once a day (morning is best), to carefully empty it out.
2. Identify what’s what. Throw out anything that can be thrown out. Save anything that needs to be saved. Complete anything that needs to be completed, and turn it in (how quickly? see below)
Urgent, but not important
Your Assistant Principal and Principal generate lots of this kind of stuff. They need it now. Ten minutes ago. And you know, and they probably know, that a sheet signing off on the fact that you have seen the postings on the bulletin board, everyone knows that this is not important. Doesn’t matter. They want it back. Assume it is urgent. Fill it in. Be done with it. Let it be gone.
Important, but not urgent
Materials related to pension, certification, requests for materials, etc, etc. No one is in a rush. There is time. No. These things matter to you. Fill them in as soon as you can. No one will push you, or harass you, like they will with “Urgent but not important” but you need to treat it similarly. Get a file system (see below) so that you can tuck these things away safely, and deal with them, not on the spot, but expeditiously.
You might be interested in…
You are a new teacher. You are exhausted. You are tired. You are interested in getting through your first year, and not very much else at all. Read the first few lines.
If the item steals your time (eg, a workshop) Into the trash! If the item relaxes you (weekend hike) you can hold onto to it. If it offers money to steal your time (tutoring opportunities!) Into the trash! (unless you are absolutely desperate for money, in which case do as little as possible. (If your principal wants you to sign off that you have received the notice, see Urgent, but not important, above).
If the item gives you something that you need (eg info about certification) think about whether you can afford to wait and do it at a much later date. If the item offers you progress towards certification, decide if you need it now.
And if it is a union notice: 1. meeting in your building – attend. 2. informational meeting in your borough office – weigh the importance, but probably no. 3. social event in your borough office – your choice, if you think it will be relaxing.
Rule of thumb, most goes into the trash. If you can’t decide, into the trash.
Saving for later: 3 (or 4 or 5) files
You will find things in your box that must be saved. I suggest getting one of those legal accordion folders (I am partial to pale brick red) that is divided into three sections. Or you might get three separate ones.
- Anything related to pension, toss in one section.
- Anything related to certification or licensure, toss in another.
- And anything related to your progress in your school (letter assigning you there, rating sheets, observation reports, etc, etc, in the third.
It’s better if you read these things first, but note, you don’t have to. Do make time, when you are less stressed, to go through them. And please, get everything in there, without exception.
I could imagine up to two more files: a separate file dealing with pay, and yet another dealing with university stuff (masters, credits, etc)
Other posts
(The previous Advice to New Teachers posts were a place to hide and Good Luck to New Teachers (brace yourself). Also, Joel, a music teacher from far away, has an interesting series of posts with a very different sort of advice: Ten things I wish I knew as a first year teacher)
And with time, there will be more of these, here.
A ‘data’ agreement that benefits no teachers
This evening the New York City Department of Education released a letter explaining new “Teacher Data Reports”
The reports will link the teachers who taught a child with that child’s standardized test scores. The initial group of reports will be for 4th through 8th grade teachers, but the DoE intends (and the UFT consents) to reports being generated for all of us.
Readers of this blog knew that this was coming. You read it three weeks ago, you read it over the summer, you even read it last fall.
The UFT’s response has been to attempt to block the use of the data for tenure decisions. They got an agreement to that effect last winter. And now we, all teachers in NYC, will be getting a letter in the next day or two, jointly signed by Randi Weingarten and Bloomberg’s chancellor saying, among other things:
We wish to be clear on one point: the Teacher Data Reports are not to be used for evaluation purposes. That is, they wont be used in tenure determinations or the annual rating process.
On EdWize, Leo Casey blogs this. When he says what the data should not be used for, he also indicates its value:
…this data has the potential to enhance education by providing teachers with new tools to understand the educational needs of our students and to fashion our instruction to meet those needs…
That is, essentially, bunk. These reports will provide new a ways to discipline teachers, and new tools to bend all of our teaching to ‘the test.’
There is a lot that needs to be said, but later. Short form:
- the data is no good. the tests not reliable
- the data cannot be reasonably disaggregated by teacher
- the data was already available to each teacher, and to each principal through normal, in school reports. These new reports make it readily available downtown, which is likely the real point
- some of our chapters are strong and will howl the first sign that the DoE is abusing the agreement (which it will); but many of our chapters are weak or non-functional. We should be concerned, very concerned, about the members we have left in harm’s way.
- the DoE has shown clearly that it cannot be trusted. Look what the DoE has done with the ATRs. They twist, distort, lie, and cheat. There is no reason to assume that this behavior is aberrant for them.
The UFT negotiating for the use of data in this way – shameful. Yelling and screaming at our leaders right now might make us feel better (it would make me feel better), but how can the damage be mitigated? That’s a much better question.
- The agreement does protect us on tenure. We need to make use of that protection.
- We need to watch for abuse, and report it, and tell our chapter leaders and members to watch for abuse, and report it.
- The agreement doesn’t mention the merit pay bonuses. We should ask for clarification that these reports cannot be used for awarding merit pay (formally known as “school-wide bonuses”)
- The agreement does not mention counseling memos. We should seek to expand the understanding to counseling memos.
- The agreement does not mention the items that are later used in rating a teacher. We should seek to expand the understanding to prevent items from these reports from finding their ways into formal observation reports.
There is more to say. In particular, the joint DoE/UFT fetishization of data may put us at deeper risk than most of us realize. But for now,
- let’s make sure all teachers are aware of the “Teacher Data Reports”
- let’s make sure that teachers are aware of the danger,
- let’s make sure that teachers and chapter leaders know about the limited protection the current deal offers, and
- let’s get the above points clarified in our favor.
More on buttons
Follow up to DoE saying no campaign buttons. My post here. Gotham Schools post here.
This e-mail raises an important issue. If you are in a school where the principal instructs your to “de-button,” you should do so, inform your Chapter Leader, who should inform the District Rep. We don’t need teachers and other UFT members getting written up for insubordination while UFT Central is trying to solve this through negotiations (or court)
Expect the UFT to win this, and expect to see lots of Obama buttons in schools…
JD2718 