- NCTQ puts a big premium on undermining tenure. I've asked this before: where is the research that shows that poor teachers who were granted tenure is a big problem? I'm always astonished at how many people "know" that burned out teachers are a huge issue - are they? Where's the proof?
- NCTQ loves them some standardized testing. Too bad they don't seem to care about the quality of these tests, and whether anyone is looking at whether they are an accurate measure of teacher quality (or student quality, for that matter). And who decided 50% was some sort of magic number for weighting these tests?
- No where does NCTQ take into consideration the many criticisms Bruce Baker and others have made of value-added assessment: the 25% to 35% error rates, the massive legal issues, the fact that so many teachers won't be evaluated by standardized testing, the problems with cheating. Shouldn't the RTTT applications have to deal with this stuff? Or is it just OK to just slap some high-stakes testing in there and call it a day?
- I never saw such hoopla over so little money. $4 billion: we spent that in Afghanistan each month in 2009. And this is a one-shot deal.
We are radically messing with our education system for a few peanuts, promoting ideas that are either untried, untested, or have been shown to be failures. And groups like NCTQ haven't even stopped to think about it.
But don't mind me - full speed ahead!
We may be lost, but we're making great time!
UPDATE: In the comments, Thinker adds:
So let me get this straight, the governor's office hemmed and hawed about taking the federal money to put teachers back in the classroom, even threatening not to take the funds because...it was a one shot deal and they were concerned about what strings could be attached. On the other hand, they have been sprinting forward to try to get their hands on the rttt money even though....is is a one shot deal and there are strings attached. Ok, I see now...ummmm, not really.Spot on. There is no hypocrisy capable of shaming this governor.
2 comments:
And let's not forget that all these mandates that come along with the rttt funds are not going to go away when the federal cash does. So let me get this straight, the governor's office hemmed and hawed about taking the federal money to put teachers back in the classroom, even threatening not to take the funds because...it was a one shot deal and they were concerned about what strings could be attached. On the other hand, they have been sprinting forward to try to get their hands on the rttt money even though....is is a one shot deal and there are strings attached. Ok, I see now...ummmm, not really. They are both one shot deals and I'm no expert but I'm seeing a whole lot more strings, and probably pricey ones, from rttt then from the fedral funding for rehiring teachers. So a suspicious person (or maybe just someone who uses logic) might say that this doesn't actually make sense on the face of it. I wonder what it is then that is driving the governor's push for getting his hands on the rttt money. It couldn't be any other sort of agenda that rttt just happens to serve, could it? Nah!
Good point - updating it to the post.
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