Those Who Can’t Do Make Educational Policies

Michelle Rhee, the DC Public School’s Chancellor with the brief and questionable teaching record, has proposed a new plan to eliminate teacher seniority. According to the Washington Post, under Rhee’s new plan, teachers will be classified into two “tiers” - red and green. Teachers who choose to stay in the red tier will continue to receive “traditional raises and would maintain tenure.” Teachers who choose to enter the green tier “would receive thousands of dollars in bonuses and raises.”

Teachers in the green tier would be evaluated “early” and would only be able to continue in their jobs if they raised test scores and “passed an evaluation.”

An evaluation huh…?

So, I’ve been thinking about the concept of administering such an evaluation, and I came up with a great way to test it out:

Give it to Wendy Kopp.

Kopp is of course the founder of Teach for America, the program that spawned the likes of Rhee. Given Kopp’s embarrassing performance on The Charlie Rose Show, it would be a lot of fun to see how she does.

I would imagine that it would go something like this:

1. State one pedagogical practice that you feel has significantly increased student performance.

Kopp: Uhm that’s a good question. Let me tell you a story about Jean Smith, a Teach for America member who is doing great things in her elementary classroom.

2. How do you incorporate Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences into your teaching?

Kopp: Wow. We talk about this all the time. Let me just give you an example of Harry Burns, a Teach for America member who I was just talking to.

3. Discuss the German influence on the current model of public school education:

Kopp: Uhhh… We have a lot of German teachers in Teach for America. I was just talking to Klauss, who teaches in an inner city school in Harlem.

4. What cognitive skills should a child of ten years be able to perform?

Kopp: Wow. Good question. Let me just start by telling you that after teaching for two years, Teach for America members really understand that all kids really can learn. I was talking to Joseph, a corp member from the Bronx, who really thinks this.

5. How do you apply Brain Based Research to educational practices and what are your feelings about its relevance?

Kopp: So here’s the thing about our alumnus. They come out of their two years experience understanding that there is no simple solution. Let’s take Henry for example. I was just talking to him, and he tells me that all kids have brains.

6. Explain Lee Cantor’s concept of Assertive Discipline and jusitfy or discount its merits.

Kopp: Wow. When it comes to discipline, there’s no greater expert than Chancellor Rhee. When she was teaching some really scary inner city second graders, she got them in line by murdering an insect and swallowing it in front of them. Now that’s assertive discipline!

So what do think? Did she pass?

These are the people who are influencing our educational system.

Selling the Public on Temporary Teachers

“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”

-George W. Bush in a May 2005 speech at Greece Athena Middle and High School

Here’s a challenge for you:

Find any biographical information on Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America, that doesn’t begin with or include the following phrase:

“From her dorm room at Princeton University, Wendy Kopp created a plan for a new national corps called Teach For America”-The John Glenn Institute

“In 1988, from her dorm room at Princeton University, college senior Wendy Kopp developed a plan…”Teach For America Website

“In 1989, Wendy Kopp proposed the creation of Teach for America in her undergraduate thesis at Princeton University” Wikipedia

“While still an undergraduate at Princeton University, Wendy Kopp outlined her idea for Teach for America in her college thesis…” JFK Library

“As a senior at Princeton University, Ms. Kopp had neither a thesis topic nor a job offer. But she had an idea…” New York Times

We’ve all heard the above phrase over and over again. As a propagandist technique, it’s truly brilliant; an innocent college student with a big heart dreams up a crazy idea to save public education - not just any college, by the way - she was a student at Princeton.

Great stuff, really, and if you wanted to sell an otherwise skeptical public on the concept of creating a temporary teaching force, what better way to do so than to repeat such a sweet story over and over again?

That being said, Wendy Kopp has given an interview on the Charlie Rose Show. It’s particularly interesting because like the official Kopp biography, the interview doesn’t really tell us that much. Instead, Kopp avoids directly answering questions and instead utilizes other propagandist techniques.

Here’s the link to the interview. The comments below the video are of particular interest and show that not everyone buys the hype.

You may want to compare her answers with this link from Source Watch that outlines various propagandist techniques:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Propaganda#Techniques_of_Propaganda_Generation

Also check out the Ed Notes take on the interview for some interesting commentary on the interview.

The Teach for America Support System

This is actually very sad.

Ed Notes has written a post about a situation that was reported by The New York Sun concerning a Teach for America member in the South Bronx. The TFA teacher was working for Principal John Hughes, a man who has been encouraging his staff to “help” students during standardized tests by “guiding” them to the correct answer. Apparently, Hughes has been asking his teachers to help students for quite a while, according to allegations reported by The Sun.

When the Teach for America teacher refused to provide students with the correct answers, Hughes began harassing her by “making her working conditions miserable.”

The Teach for America organization who apparently prides themselves on the “support” that they offer their recruits, has apparently shown it-to Principal Hughes.

According to The New York Sun, the executive director of Teach For America’s New York City branch, Jemina Bernard, would not comment on the teacher’s situation, but she said the group is maintaining its relationship with Mr. Hughes.

“Principal Hughes is a strong partner. We continue to work with him. We have several corps members at the school, and we look forward to working with him and our over 300 schools throughout the city to place our incoming corps,” Ms. Bernard said.

As for the teacher, Teach for America has apparently “released her from its regular two-year commitment.”

So, do we still think it’s all about improving the achievement gap?

New York City Teaching Fellows-Biting the Hand that Feeds Them

I still have a problem with alternative teacher certification programs; I don’t feel that they address the real problems that face our schools and I have serious concerns about sending people with no training to work with our neediest students.

That being said, I’ve noticed something interesting about the New York City Teaching Fellows Program - it’s kind of working. I probably have to eat a lot of crow over this, but I’m starting to see some successes with the program.

Several teachers are staying past the two years. In my school, some are staying into their fifth year. They’re learning their craft and becoming-well, they’re becoming like us.

They’re griping about the system and challenging leadership. They’re questioning curriculum and attending union meetings. At this point, you can’t even tell the difference between who came in through a tradional route and who did not.

It must be freaking Bloom/Klein out.

The program, which seemed to be created in part, to bring in individuals who don’t think like teachers, is creating people who think like teachers. It seems like the divisiveness that the program helps to foster melts away when the fellows stay for a little while.

So, noticing this interesting trend, it should come as no surprise that New York City Chancellor Joel Klein has suggested cutting funding to the Fellows. In a May 21st letter to principals he “walked” them through the budget situation and offered several ways to “restructure” some of the spending. Among his proposals was “Reducing program expenditures, such as New York City Teaching Fellows.”

Now, we all know that despite the philosophical arguments that we have over the program, they’re filling positions. People aren’t exactly banging down doors to work in the inner cities. So where is the staff going to come from?

Given Klein’s cosy relationship with Michelle Rhee, I would venture a guess…

There are some definite, fundamental differences between the Fellows and Teach for America. The Fellows seems to focus on recruiting career changers or individuals who are interested in becoming teachers. TFA, on the other hand, seems to recruit people who want to do some volunteer work for a couple of years.

There is some elitism with the Fellows program, but it seems to be an intellectual elitism that is fostered upon entering the program. TFA’s elitism is more of a moral superiority - I’m taking time out of my very busy life to help some poor kids. This is a very big difference and will translate into every aspect of a teacher’s approach.

The Fellows also appears to be an alternate path towards becoming a teacher, where as TFA provides individuals with several ways out of teaching - corporate jobs and connections. This again, creates a very different approach.

It’s therefore no small wonder that Klein wants to cut funding to the Fellows. The program is working- and we can’t have that. The fellows might actually be able to help children, and heaven forbid this transpires.

Who will work in the service industry if all of our children receive quality teaching?