An annoying year

Stephen Pizzo has written a characteristically amusing and insightful piece on the twenty things that have most annoyed him in the last year.  Here's an example:

"I'm sick and tired of my country listing among our 'friends and allies' creepy, unsavory, smarmy, self-indulgent, utterly despicable regimes -- to wit -- Saudi Arabia and the Saudi 'royal' family. John Gotti's family had more royal blood in it than the 7000-odd dictatorial, misogynistic sheiks that run Saudi Arabia."

At the end of his rant he asked readers to contribute their own list of annoyances, so here's one of mine:

I'm sick and tired of people, especially the ones who should know better, bashing public schools*, public school teachers, and teachers' unions.  That's what Pizzo did in annoyance number 11:

"I'm sick and tired of teachers absolving themselves of any responsibility for the dismal state of American education."

It's an easy target, but an investigative reporter like Pizzo who once almost won a Pulitzer Prize is one of the people who should know better.  But on this issue he obviously did little investigation. 

Is the state on American public education dismal?  No, not by any objective standard, like test scores or the gradual narrowing of the "achievement gap" (a trend which predates  No Child Left Behind, by the way.)   Today's students are arguably more literate and tolerant than those of my generation.    Any educational deficiencies they suffer have less to do with what's not taught (or not taught well) than to the proliferation of electronica --cell phones, video games, mindless reality TV shows-- in American culture.

Yet Pizzo compares the state of American education to the state of Somalia.  Funny, but wrong!

Then he blames teachers and their unions for shunning accountability by 1.) refusing to accept merit pay, and 2.) protecting the "losers" who only pretend to be classroom teachers.

Two questions, Mr. Pizzo:  How do you determine which "exceptional" teachers deserve higher pay?  And, do you believe that teachers should be sacked arbitrarily without any semblance of due process?

It's a myth that good principals cannot rid their staffs of incompetent teachers.  I once worked with an exceptionally good principal who, over a period of three years, got rid of nearly 20% of our middle school certified teaching staff, most of whom were well past  probationary status. 

American public education suffers from the one-two punch of a widespread a disdain for taxes resulting in inadequate school funding, and a concerted effort by school privatizers to impose test-based accountability on schools, the kind of accountability that Pizzo accuses  teachers of "absolving" themselves from.  Rightfully so, I say.  Teachers would rather teach than test.

If Pizzo had written about those, I would gleefully recommend that you read his piece.  And laugh aloud, as I did.  But... the gratuitous teacher bashing bathes the entire piece in a less favorable light. 

(* Lord knows that there's lots wrong with our schools.  And the unions should by no means be exempt from criticism.  But to call public education a disaster on the scale of Somalia, and then to blame it all on teachers and their unions,  is just pure educational ignorance.)

Comments

[marcia]

Pizzo just made my list of most annoying people of 2007. Right behind Vicki Phillips.

[Howard]

terry: Didn't Pizzo refute his allegation by citing the "dismal state of American education"? His first error is in failing to distinguish public from private (K-12) education. His larger error is in treating American public K-12 schools as homogeneous. You have referred to a two-tiered system while many concur in a three-tiered public K-12 education system described by author/commentator John Merrow as mostly excellent public schools in affluent neighborhoods, good enough schools in middle-class neighborhoods and mostly bad public schools in low-income neighborhoods.

I would like to hear more about the outstanding middle school principal who: "over a period of three years, got rid of nearly 20% of our middle school certified teaching staff, most of whom were well past probationary status". How many teachers in the middle school? Were the outsourced teachers fired or encouraged to transfer or retire? Was the district large or small? Would the same tactics work in a larger district like PPS?

[Terry]

Hillsboro School District, Evergreen Junior High (at the time--now it's a middle school) enrrollment around 800 with a certified teaching staff numbering 35 to 40, not counting counselors or the librarian. The principal was MaryAnn Barnekoff.

As I recall, at least three teachers were terminated, a couple of others were forced into early retirement, and others transferred. One of the terminated teachers I recall most vividly was a member of my 8th grade teaching team who had the classroom right next door to mine. Other team members were encouraged to observe his class, so the decision to fire him was not an arbitrary or top-down decision. That was key to the process.

The 20% figure I cited may have been slightly inflated, but only slightly. The point is that some teachers are not fit for the classroom while others are not a good fit for the collaborative programs adopted by schools intent on reform.

A good principal, with the help of her staff (through peer evaluation), is crucial in recruiting and retaining an effective corps of teachers. It's been my experience that unions, while ensuring due process, are not the obstacles to ridding the system of incompetent or mis-assigned teachers as they are often portrayed by anti-union zealots.

[Marcia]

"Other team members were encouraged to observe his class, so the decision to fire him was not an arbitrary or top-down decision. That was key to the process." I find this interesting for a couple of reasons. This year our staff was encouraged to do peer observations with the intent of offering "suggestions" to those observed....Maybe a good idea...maybe not. I think it can lead to all types of issues, not all pleasant...Including what you have stated happened above. This is an administrative job in my mind, not the job of the teachers to evaluate their peers. I objected to it with these points in mind...I also do not want to be evaluated by my peers...

[howard]

Thank you Terry and Marcia. I believe the PPS collective bargaining agreement provides for a teacher deemed unsatisfactory to be given a plan of improvement for one year entailing supervisory and peer review. After one year the cloud is lifted, extended another year or termination ensues. Would that be more satisfactory to you and your peers Marcia?

[Zarwen]

Marcia has made a good point. As I recall, the PPS teacher contract specifically FORBIDS teachers from participating in the evaluation of their peers, unless that has changed in the last 7 years.

And Howard is correct. A teacher deemed "unsatisfactory" has to be put on a written "plan of assistance," which it is the principal's job to write and administer. If the principal does not meet the evaluation timelines and provide the assistance specified in the plan s/he wrote, then the teacher gets a bye. Otherwise, it plays out as Howard wrote.

I have always believed that principals, more than unions, are responsible for the presence of poor teachers in the classroom. There have always been ways to get rid of poor teachers, but every single one of them requires extra work from the principal, and many (if not most) just don't want to put in that extra effort. I found this to be true in NY as well as here in PDX.

[howard]

"There have always been ways to get rid of poor teachers, but every single one of them requires extra work from the principal, and many (if not most) just don't want to put in that extra effort."

Zarwen: I suggest that in larger districts such as PPS principals often lack the security and authority to discipline, motivate or terminate problem teachers. Principals are stuck in the middle of stakeholder groups playing power politics forcing most principals to go along to get along. A couple years ago there was a matter in which the school board overruled a principal and Blanchard building administrators to give the unsatisfactory employee an additional probationary year.

Until clear lines of authority and responsibility are drawn in PPS I see PPS continuing to shrink and fragment with education continuing to give way to power politics.

[Zarwen]

Howard, with all due respect, the situation you mentioned is the exception, not the rule. I worked as a teacher in PPS for 8 years, and in three other states before that; unfortunately, most of the principals I knew acted in the way I described. At any rate, they do not "lack the security and authority to discipline, motivate or terminate problem teachers." The authority is specifically delegated to them in the PAT contract. What they lack is energy, creativity, and the desire to help others. Again, I have seen this across the country, not just here in PDX.

Size of the district is also irrelevant; if you think small towns don't have "stakeholder groups playing power politics," guess again! The game is the same, just the names have changed.

[howard]

"Size of the district is also irrelevant; if you think small towns don't have "stakeholder groups playing power politics," guess again! The game is the same, just the names have changed."

I don't think so, Zarwen. PPS with over 2,000 teachers represented by the PAT has been outlasted and overpowered in contract negotiations for years as administrators and the board can not stand up to the teachers union and local politicians backing them with monetary and political pressure. That doesn't happen in rural districts.

The PAT bargaining team is composed of people few Portlanders see every day and cam draw lines in the samd. Teachers can't do that in a district like Corbett (750 students) where rverybody knows names and where they live.

[Zarwen]

Howard,

I taught in three rural public school districts in upstate NY. Based on my experiences there, I am standing by my earlier statements.

[Zarwen]

Oh, and I also had some teaching experience in rural Ohio.

[howard]

Zarwen: I stand by my conviction that a larger district like "PPS with over 2,000 teachers represented by the PAT has been outlasted and overpowered in contract negotiations for years as administrators and the board can not stand up to the teachers union and local politicians backing them with monetary and political pressure. That doesn't happen in rural districts."

Sure there are power struggles in some rural public school districts. The difference is that in smaller rural districts the power is less likely to be held by union teachers and the politicians they support at election time. Also as mentioned there are the "numbers" and "anonymity" factors enjoyed by 2,000 or more teachers making demands through representatives rather than in the midst of a smaller community.