I supported our governor for re-election. I even campaigned as part of his team. He won. Not entirely handily in some parts of the state, but nevertheless he won, decisively. Does that mean he is right on all the issues? No. Take education for one.
Test scores being used to evaluate teacher performance are problematic from the get- go. If that is the way we choose to evaluate teacher performance, it is certain that results will be skewed in favor of school districts that are in the higher socio-economics category, demographically speaking.
To put it more clearly,let's analogize the situation using hospitals. If lots of very sick or chronically ill people flood the emergency rooms of certain hospitals, those hospitals would get a bad rep if the cure rate is employed to evaluate doctors and nurses, while hospitals that serve a healthier population would fare well. It is not fair to judge teacher performance by a standard that heavily weighs the test results, without considering the clientele being served. The teachers union is spot on in this fight, and the governor is wrong and acting wrongheadedly.
The governor is right, however, that we need to reform teacher disciplinary procedures under Education Law Section 3020a. It is way too costly and cumbersome to fire bad teachers, and the union needs to fess up to that fact, and support sensible reform. Revamping tenure granting and allowing a longer period for tenure evaluation (five not three years) would also be helpful.
The union is right when they criticize the governor's hyperbolic insistence that "bad" teachers are the problem. It is more more complex than that. Bad funding and poor and over-larded administrative structures should share the blame.
Making teachers the bogeymen is wrong, period. Making teachers an important part of the solution to the problem makes sense.To be a good teacher requires commitment, connection with your students, and lots of passion. Anything that undermines that, undermines education. As Robin Williams character in the movie Dead Poet's Society" said, " A good teacher is an infectious spirit...an emulable stance in life." Good teachers inspire.
When failure occurs in education, it is often because some bad principals failed to do their job, which involves critical evaluation of their staff. Perhaps we have more failing principals than we do failing teachers.
Changing the ways we fund and administer our schools is critical to their success. Otherwise, failing schools will continue to fail, teachers will become more dispirited and demoralized than they already are with educational "reform." Teaching for tests alone is not the answer. Cookie cutter one size fits all Common Core standards are not the answer either. Someone should tell President Obama and his education chief, Arnie Duncan, that they are marching us down the wrong path.
Teaching to boost test scores to please the political class would be a big mistake. Forcing solutions without consultation with those in the front lines of the fight for better educational standards is itself a problem.
Hysterical political hyperbole from both sides does not help the cause of reform, but only hardens the resolve of the combatants. Joining hands to work toward a common sense solution is the real objective here, at least it should be. Who wins? The governor or the union, should not be the transformational issue. They are both right when they say let's put kids first. But let's also put egos and exaggerated political hyperbole a far second. We are after all, in this fight together.