Rhode Island teachers all rehired. Now what?

[bettymae1121]

I was responding to a post where someone said that it would be interesting to see this happen and MY OPINION is that if you did this the "bad" school would become the "good" school in one year. We have a lot of teachers at our school that did their first 2-3 years at an inner city school that are EXCELLENT teachers yet their students at the inner city school couldn't seem to read or write or do well on standardized tests and everyone blames the teachers. Funny how all these kids in a better school are just doing fine with the same teachers.

You ain't kidding. My best friend taught in an inner city school for about 6 years or so. She taught 5th grade. There would be kids starting in the fall in her class reading at a 2nd grade level, but if she didn't have them reading and passing a standardized test at 5th grade levels by the end of the year, she was still dinged because they would still be considered "under preforming". She's a fantastic teacher but there is only so much progress that is possible in a single school year. If they go from 2nd grade level to 4th grade, that's two levels in a year but they are still considered "failing". It's not her fault that the teachers before her didn't do their jobs, or that the kid's family is ESL, or the kid's family moved six times in 3 years (thus six new schools), or the kids parents can't help with homework because they each hold down 3 jobs to make ends meet (plus that whole language thing). That's what can happen in poor immagrant areas, and there isn't much the schools can do.

 

[MM27]

An interesting study would be to take the teachers from the best performing school and switch them with the teachers from the worst performing school. Chances are that the students at the best performing school will still be the best and the students from the worst performing school will still be the worst.

There's so much more than just the teacher that determines the test scores of the students.

Which is what one aspect of the Race to the Top money that was recently awarded to states was all about. I can't thank our governor more (New Jersey) for being a screwup and messing up our application. The idea was to pay those suburban teachers more to come teach in the inner city/urban areas. Do I get more because I work there already?? The catch is, they have job security if they decide they don't want to stay

Urban areas already have a high turnover rate for teachers. We don't need people coming in to only turn around and leave when they see what it's like. I student taught in a middle class, suburban town and I can't tell you how different it is from the school I teach at now. I don't think those teachers were any better than our good teachers. The problem is, because people don't want to teach in these areas, you end up with some teachers that are not so good (some that shouldn't have ever stepped foot in a classroom) but because they knew someone, they got a job.

Thank you for that test score comment. Many people don't get it.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

I'm glad the teachers all got their jobs back. Personally, I think it would be worse for the students if all brand new teachers had been hired.

As far as the students attending the after school tutoring sessions - I have always said that teaching is sort of like leading a horse to water - you can take the horse there but if the horse doesn't want to drink, it won't drink. The school district can provide as much after school support as they possibly can, but if the kids aren't interested or just don't care, it won't help a bit.

I know a poster had mentioned that many of the students don't speak English. I wonder if it would help if the district provided English classes for both students and parents outside of school hours? Just a thought...

 

[MM27]

My sister teaches at one of NJ's Abbott districts and they get money/funding up the wazoo for different programs. They did something with Huntington Learning Center where they were offering the families FREE tutoring after school. When nobody signed up, they called parents that said they couldn't get their kids to the tutoring center after school. Okay, I understand that. So then they starting having the tutors come to the school after the school day was over. Some kids took advantage of it, but many did not. So what are you supposed to do if they don't want the extra help?

 

[lovingthemouse]

I teach in a large urban city and have for over 30 yrs. We are experiencing a situation similar to CF, RI, but with no teachers fired. However, 10 of our schools are level 4's (seriously underperforming), and by law through our MA ed laws, 25% of their teaching staffs received involuntary transfers to other schools in the city. Five principals were moved and some of them took their top level staff members with them. Five others, who have been in their present positions less than 2 yrs, have another yr to show improvement.
Our city has begun working with parents this fall by forming an Adult Parenting/Education program, complete with 40 courses offered at schools throughout the city, in English and Spanish, taught by area experts. Things like homework helping, reading, learning about what their child is studying, being supportive, healthy eating habits, etc...are being offered.
As many of you have already mentioned, it must be a collaboration between teachers, students and their parents. No one grp should shoulder the blame or responsibility.
I do hope that the additional time/tutorials can begin to enhance the educational status of CF. As one of you mentioned, it is one thing to offer them, but if the takers are far and few between, we need to educate their parents too. Life goes beyond tomorrow, and the skills they need will last a lifetime!