tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post8893017204003939026..comments2024-03-18T13:27:42.621-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: Teacher Eval: Waist Deep in the Big MuddyPeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-48004949657841456952016-03-10T17:49:46.169-05:002016-03-10T17:49:46.169-05:00For California, I can only go by what I read. It m...For California, I can only go by what I read. It may be that these days in practice people take more than 2 years.<br /><br />Good administrators perhaps can get rid of incompetent teachers, but generally they don't get rid of incompetent teachers. Dismissal hearings appear to be rarely about teaching incompetence. <br /><br />As for students making life miserable for teachers, that is likely true if the special area of incompetence is classroom management. Other areas of incompetence might actually be welcome by some students.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-13714041878906206112016-03-09T15:38:17.378-05:002016-03-09T15:38:17.378-05:00It is possible but quite for a teacher in Californ...It is possible but quite for a teacher in California to receive tenure in less than 2 years. It took me 5 years because my first 3 years were on temporary contracts and did not count toward tenure. I have never met a teacher who got tenure in less than 2 years. <br /><br />Good administrators can get rid of incompetent teachers. I have witnessed it. However, the students make life so difficult for incompetent teachers that most of them quit before approaching tenure.Thomas Ulticanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14347503503072251716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-27091828078409054322016-03-09T08:29:11.193-05:002016-03-09T08:29:11.193-05:00I said the same thing about there being great teac...I said the same thing about there being great teachers, terrible teachers, with most of us in the middle on Dr. Ravitch's blog but found myself roundly criticized for making unwarranted generalizations. Good to see a closer connection to the actual world here.<br /><br />I think you might be a little hard on principals here though. In California, for example, tenure is granted in under two years, giving little opportunity to gather information about how the teacher grows with experience. Dismissing teachers after tenure is a very expensive and lengthy process, likely to result in the teacher not being suspended. I have to think that there are far more incompetent teachers than there are teachers who are sexual predators, yet the most common reason for a tenured teacher to be fired appears to involve sexual misconduct.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-62021394812824218912016-03-08T21:20:46.072-05:002016-03-08T21:20:46.072-05:00VAM sucks, and so does checklist drive-by observat...VAM sucks, and so does checklist drive-by observations, such as Danielson. In business, rating employees is called stack ranking. Microsoft abandoned it because it is a morale killer and therefore a productivity killer. But what's good for the billionaire goose is not apparently good for the gander. Bill Gates promoted similar systems for schools. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00507301983843265873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-38349675991482636232016-03-08T19:57:27.675-05:002016-03-08T19:57:27.675-05:00Thanks, Peter. I was infuriated when I read Toch&...Thanks, Peter. I was infuriated when I read Toch's piece earlier today. I blogged briefly about it and linked to your much more detailed post (http://justicecrusadeblog.com/2016/03/08/griping-about-teacher-unions-in-the-atlantic/).JusticeCrusadeBloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06495822515204247750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-9522562666820695102016-03-08T18:49:41.819-05:002016-03-08T18:49:41.819-05:00Exactly.Exactly.Rebecca deCocahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13168718846105012814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-92010839041296462122016-03-08T17:19:10.070-05:002016-03-08T17:19:10.070-05:00Let me save Toch a whole bunch of time, energy, an...Let me save Toch a whole bunch of time, energy, and money.<br /><br />Every school, college, or university in America, public, private, or pirate (charter) contains roughly the same mix of teacher competencies.<br /><br />A small handful of truly excellent teachers, a very tiny handful of truly incompetent (read: "harmful") teachers; the remainder (majority) of which are satisfactory, ranging from good to mediocre. Sound familiar? Sounds like your workplace too? <br /><br />Now what about that small handful of incompetents doing more harm than good. To begin with, every principal knows who they are. And unless they inherited them, building principals interviewed them, hired them, observed them, evaluated them, and granted them due process protections (tenure). Maybe Mr. Toch would be better off trying to improve administrative management skills rather than waste all his efforts trying to cure the symptom. NY Teacherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06584135103498426410noreply@blogger.com