Our nation’s schools have become a national security issue. The United States’ failure to educate its students leaves them unprepared to compete and threatens the country’s ability to thrive in a global economy and maintain its leadership role, finds a new Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)–sponsored Independent Task Force report on U.S. Education Reform and National Security.
“Educational failure puts the United States’ future economic prosperity, global position, and physical safety at risk,” warned the task force, chaired by Joel I. Klein, former head of New York City public schools, and Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. secretary of state. The country “will not be able to keep pace—much less lead—globally unless it moves to fix the problems it has allowed to fester for too long,” the task force stated.
Whoa! That’s serious. What can and must be done to rescue the system for total failure?
Student First, a movement to transform public education believes the first step is to abolish “last-in, first out.” Generally, if it becomes necessary for a school district to initiate teacher layoffs, those layoffs would be based on length of service, “not the impact that teachers have on their students’ learning. That means, in most instances, some of the most impactful teachers in a district may be fired because they lack seniority.
A spokesperson for Students First, Jeri Powell, stated that ending the last in, first out policy by enacting state law, would work in concert with the teacher evaluation framework that is in place in Minnesota, with the approval of Gov. Mark Dayton.
The only groups opposed to this change in policy are bad teachers and the Minnesota Education Association, the union that represents state educators.
Right now, the Minnesota State House and Senate have passed measures to change the law. It is in a conference committee where members of both houses will work out differences between the two measures.
If the measure becomes state law, ineffective teachers will be the first to be laid off.
Unless this measure becomes state law, the findings of the task force will place our nation’s security in peril.
Our students will be the beneficiaries of this change in law.
Ultimately, the slump in our nation’s educational system will be eliminated and good educators will be rewarded for excellence in the classroom.
Keith Hansen
Comments (34)
Add commentHumor
You just have to find some humor in an editorial that speaks to eliminating bad teachers and fixing the educational system when the editor spells excellence wrong... I will still take you over Roy Miller any day!
What a bunch
Of un-original drival. Keith, you need to start coming up with some of your own ideas. All the crap you wrote above has been over-stated for the last year. All you have is generic statements that are basically opinions.
Teachers can and should be fired for poor performance!!!! It's up to the principals, superintendents, and school board to do that. Do you think good veteran teachers want terrible veteran teachers around??? Do you think their union wants terrible teachers around??? No they don't!!!!
New teachers struggle, mightily. Just because they are "young" and "fresh" does not mean they are effective. My daughter had a new, fresh teacher in 4th grade and it was the worst of all her school years. Every good teacher she had was a veteran, that still had the passion for the kids. They know what they are doing.
So take your canned editorial and start over with some research based facts.
The so called slump in eduacation is because of the adults that have no business having kids.
Pot
meet kettle.
Oh Boy!
The claws and fangs will come out on this one.
Itter
The word is drivel, not drival. And while it may be up to to others to remove bad teachers, it is not as simple as it seems. As for unions, it is not their position to monitor the effectiveness of a teachers ability to teach, but to get as much money and maintain their position in the school!
pdnet15
The word is teacher's, not teachers.
Wow! What a fun game!
Such misinformation!
How can he say, "the only groups who are opposed are bad teachers and the MEA?" Has he asked everyone else and so come up with such a ridiculous statement? This false rhetoric of the bad teacher has become so pervasive that people just accept it as a societal truth. It is not! There are no more bad teachers than there are bad . And factually, there is no more MEA since they merged with MFT more than ten years ago to form Education Minnesota. Hard to believe there is so much misinformation in one very short article.
If this won't work, what will?
This is an editorial about "Students First" and what they are
trying to accomplish for the kids and the country.
In my opinion, something needs to be done and to place
the subject in an editorial should encourage readers to
discuss the subject. Should we make it easier for school
districts to layoff teachers? I can see a problem with defining
"an effective teacher" .
Thanks for the editorial, but some people will not like
any suggestions for change, but what we have now is not
working.
Attitudes
Time we stop trying to always squeeze every problem into a neat little box. Anyone who has ever had or raised more than 1 child knows how different each one can be. For years its been a blame game and each solution is to dump a bunch of kids in a classroom and see if the teacher can squeeze all their students into the same box. Its not the teacher but the box.
If we start with all the same we can finish the same. Kids are not and as we multiply it from families to communities, to states, we only magnify the problem and don't reduce it.
I think we have to get away from age based education, the sooner the better. Each of my children and granchildren all learned differently and at different paces. Eventually as they got older they evened out but I have done a lot of the refereeing myself. Many kids don't or are unable to receive that type of guidance. It was either motivating the ones it came easier too to keep going or to not give up and fall behind for the ones that it didn't.
Education is a building process for a child and if one block is left out the child is weakened from it.
But first we need to take the first step and get over this self esteem crap. There in lies the real roadblock.....
PDIDDY and FNUB
http://www.examiner.com/k-12-in-topeka/in-what-other-profession
Care to comment on this???
Don't use staffing cuts to eliminate ineffective teachers.
Staffing cuts should not be used to eliminate ineffective teachers. Students deserve the best we can afford, whether staff is being cut or not.
Ineffective teachers need to be removed in a timely fashion and shouldn't wait until staffing cuts are happening. Thus the processes in schools to identify teachers at risk, help them improve or counsel them out. Every public school has such a process. It's long, involved, but it gives school administrators a process to remove poor teachers in an effective and hopefully humane way. It's called due process. Incidentally, teacher unions support such processes and usually work with administration to use them effectively. They want the best for their students, just as parents and community members do.
And Keith, there was an MEA in Minnesota many, many years ago, but I don't believe MEA is a big factor in Minnesota at this time in history.
eyolf
Thats all we've ever done is lay out the cirriculum, throw some money at it and let em have at it, don't work...........
Your workplace is exactly what I'm talking about. To achieve the ends your company really didn't care if anyones feelings got hurt.
In every facet of a childs life we teach our kids to be equals and play fair, they're all special. Everyone gets to play every position and they all get ribbons or trophies, except for school. We don't tell the smart kids to get some wrong on their math test so the other kids don't feel bad. Then all of a sudden they reach a point and find out life isn't like that. Kids are more perceptive than we give them credit for. Its at this point is where we start to lose some of them. About middle school. The one thing that will keep them going is when they individually have some success. For each one to give their best and try to continually improve.
You're right, we do have to remove politics.
Here is something to think about.....Everything about schools, textbooks etc. are done almost exclusively by people who really never struggled in school. We don't lose these people. Its time to think like those that did and why they're failing. The good students do well either way......
Itterditter
Thanks for the link. It brought a smile to my face that even Pdnut couldn't make go away.
suicideispainless
you made more sense in one post than itterditter and the great teacher smartguy have made in months of posting. Thank you for the enlightenment. You other two can go have another drink.
learnin' stuff
Are you really concerned about your kid’s edjukashun? Get‘em out of the public school system right now.
itterslither and smertguber
Read your link. What a whiny individual. Read some of his other letters. Sure is stuck on himself. He makes a lot of comments about how wonderful he and all the other teachers are, and how great the union is, but he seems to forget that his pay is dependent upon the taxpayer's pocket. It is a common fault for those who constantly go to school for bigger and better degrees for the sole purpose of a bigger paycheck. Somehow having as many degrees as possible equals an unmatched ability to actually teach!
PKnob and UFUB
As usual, you both missed the point, wouldn't have expected much more from you two. Get over the fact that you have to pay taxes, if you even do.....
eyolf
"Maybe its a pipe dream, but I believe that when the unions can't unite the worker against the "evil boss" the next logical place to organize is against ineffective and inefficient practices; rather than the reward being more money from the boss's pocket, let the reward be greater satisfaction in your work and more passion, with the union being an agent of change helping the worker get those rewards"
Good idea but totally against union principles.
I actually
agree with what you wrote PDiddy: "It is a common fault for those who constantly go to school for bigger and better degrees for the sole purpose of a bigger paycheck. Somehow having as many degrees as possible equals an unmatched ability to actually teach!"
"you made more sense in one
Fair n Balanced said: "you made more sense in one post than itterditter and the great teacher smartguy have made in months of posting. Thank you for the enlightenment. You other two can go have another drink."
Based on your closing sentence, I hope you include yourself in our little "group". I have suspected you were jealous of teachers, but now it's painfully obvious. This water is raised to you . . . .cheers!
Suicide: We get criticized for catering to the rich . . . . . .we get criticized for catering to the poor; we get criticized for not challenging top students . . . . we get challenged for not reaching at risk students; we get criticized for not integrating technology . . .. we get criticized for overspending on technology; we get criticized for testing too much . . . . we get criticized for not teaching to the test; we get accused of letting students fail . . . . . . we get accused of social promotion and not letting kids realize the learning tool failue can be.
What, may I ask, do you want? Will that be the same way tomorrow?
When society can agree on what it wants public education to do and the process thereof, then I'm all ears. Until then, I have observed this: All these ideas of reform and "accountability" and teaching styles are cyclical. Some expert makes a $100,000 giving professional development seminars on the new way to teach, legislators devote millions to new programs in an effort to get their revolutionary (and usually unproductive) idea implemented. Or teachers are given unattanable goals while being repeatedly prssed upon to the point where Stalin would say we stole his management techniques.
And during this time, I'll continue to do what I know has worked and what my experience has taught me works best for kids.
Keep the reforms and catch all solutions coming. I'll be sure to pretend to feign interest and then smile when that plan gets thrown in the garbage two years later for some new trendy way to guarantee ALL students are catered to (as opposed to taught).
Looks like I need another water.
Hmmm What do I want?
First I want to see everyone put on their big boy pants and stop whining everytime someone disagrees and take everything so personal. You know that self esteem thing.
Everyone involved wants to take credit for the good stuff and to blame others for the bad. You know the blame game.
I don't like the fact that all I see in education is one class of students after another suffering lifes consequences because the ones in charge are so busy running around covering their a--es all we hear are excuses and not seeing results.
The common wisdom is to keep coming up with macro solutions to micro problems.
Nowhere in my 2 posts above did I mention unions once. I like unions, I think unions can raise standard of living of everyone with very minimal government involvement. You know smaller government.
The blame for the failures of our system are now being aimed at the bad teachers and the unions. Sorry but to me this will be another failure and another group of kids will be lost. Some don't care as they want power and not the proper outcome.
Its the system as a whole I see as the problem.
We teach to the group (macro) and expect all the individuals in the group to be exactly the same and acheive equal results(micro).
The solution is to give each individual student an education that fits them. Like I said earlier is to get rid of age based learning. Its obvious the more we tweak the harder it gets and the costlier it gets.
How about...
a updated model of the educational system that put man on the moon with a slide rule and gave Americans the tools to become the economic envy of the world?
You mean......
repeat history?
Good Teacher/Bad Teacher
I bet even smartguy can recall having a Bad Teacher while on his journey to becoming a Good Teacher.
More water please, make it a double "on the rocks" and put it on smartguy's tab.
All he has
is kool aid
MyeyeSure I had teacher's
Myeye
Sure I had teacher's which I didn't care for. I've also had doctors, cashiers, police, construction hands, and other professions that have had bad "apples".
I've also had teachers I couldn't stand at the time and now am thankful for having the high expectations and teaching style of their chosing.
Suicide: I'm sorry, I should have been more specific when I posted my previous message. When I asked what "you" wanted, I was referring to peopleon this thread in general, not just you.
Fair n Balanced: the kool-aid I drink is only available to those who actually have day to day experience and know-how of the system you seme so down on. I suggest if you want to enjoy the flavor, become a teacher. All you need is a salary cut and some khakis. Afterall, even Dayton has greenlighted the process that allows almost anyone to come off the street and teach. Please, join our ranks and tell us how to do our jobs. I'll even buy the first kool-aid for you.
Won't happen smartguy
Fair N Balanced doesn't have the guts, he is much happier on the sideline complaining...
Libs don't want to hear the truth
The truth is that the teachers union doesn't care about good teachers, it only cares about power and what it can get out of the taxpayers. I speant a dozen years as a union benifits rep and dealt with many teachers union members. When they think they are amongst like minded individuals they tell the truth. The kids come after their money and perks,... WAY after. If you want to have the best teachers for our children, get rid of the teachers unions. Until that happens the kids will always be put at the back of the line.
LibsAreWrong
You don't know jack....
Student's have the best teachers!
I am sick and tired of hearing how our schools are failing and our teachers are so poor. This is a lot of media hype that sells newspapers and fires up politics but it is really a bunch of b.s.
I teach in an area school and am proud of the staff I work with and the accomplishments our student's achieve. We are committed and work very hard for our students to be successful. I believe this is probably true of most schools in our area.
If you really care and want to zero in on the root of the problem, look at the administration you hire and the schoolboard members you elect. There are evaluation tools in place and if used properly by qualified administrators, the poor teachers will improve or be terminated. It has happened several times in our school and it is the job of the administration and school board to really know what is happening in the the classrooms of those they hire.
The problem with the proposed changes to the first in, last out seniority law is that it does not address who is determining who is an excellent teacher and who is not. Is it the prinicipal that is not and expert in that subject area, is it a state appointed panel that will evaluate all teachers fairly to determine their quality. Will it be on test scores? Do you have any idea how many variables go in to the test score results that a quality teacher of 1 year experience or 40 years of experience will have absolutely know control over. What about administrations that are more concerned about which teachers are coaching their football and basketball programs to worry about the truth of their classroom success.
Experienced teachers are the strength of our schools and if this ill conceived idea becomes law, our schools will be run be teachers with 1 to 10 years of experience because they will save the school's money. This is wrong for those of us that have dedicated our life to education and to the students we serve. If you are so concerned about quality of teachers in the school's Keith, get in one and watch. Maybe you will learn something.