Often young teachers, having heard of unscrupulous and sadistic administrators inside our public school systems, think the solution is to join the National Education Association teacher union.
Later, they’re surprised to learn — usually through traumatic first-person experience — that NEA local officials often have no intention of fulfilling any of what were cynical promises. Instead, it soon becomes clear, as it has repeatedly here in Southern Nevada, that the union officials are actually allies of the administrators and, like them, just want teachers to shut up and obey. Actually representing teachers, after all, would cost the union time, energy and money, and could tick off the very administrator whose approval you need to get on the school district's fat-job gravy train down the road. Much easier to just unethically pressure teachers to get back in their boxes and be quiet.
The reality of the union, however, turns out to be even worse. As a Bloomberg News investigative report has shown, the union actually preys upon unwary and trusting teachers, with its ‘Valuebuilder’ retirement scam. The union gets kickbacks for helping in the destruction of teacher retirement nest eggs.
Bloomberg’s initial report was released in January and then re-released on Bloomberg Television last night, following new developments in the class-action lawsuit West Coast teachers filed against the NEA.
The program — on retirement scams — was narrated by Bloomberg news anchor Mike Schneider. Here’s a transcript of the long portion of the program that focused on the NEA scheme:
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Mike Antonucci, in the latest Intelligence Agency report:
Sometimes I just can't believe what I'm reading. I read it once, read it again, and read it a third time, wondering if the people involved are dense, or whether they think we're dense. Case in point, a story in the Las Vegas Sun headlined " Mischief-making blockers are signature gatherers' bane."
The story describes a petition blocking campaign in Nevada....
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Americans vastly underestimate spending
on schools and teacher salaries, survey finds
Americans have a thoroughly confused grasp of how much is currently being spent on public education, reports a recent analysis of national survey results published in the summer issue of Education Next magazine.
William Howell, of the University of Chicago, and Martin R. West, of Brown University, report that "the average respondent surveyed in 2007 thought per pupil spending in their district was just $4,231 dollars, even though the actual average spending per pupil among districts was $10,377 in 2005 (the most recent year for which data are available)."
This misunderstanding may be a major factor behind public support for initiatives to increase spending on schools and teacher salaries, says Education Next.
Howell and West also found Americans think that teachers earn far less than is actually the case. On average, the public underestimated average teacher salaries in their own state by $14,370. The average estimate among survey respondents was $33,054, while average teacher salary nationally in 2005 was actually $47,602.
Almost 96 percent of the public underestimate either per-pupil spending in their districts or teacher salaries in their states.
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Teachers weigh in on tenure, evaluations
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD
WASHINGTON (AP) — Think it's hard for schools to get bad teachers out of the classroom? Turns out teachers agree.
More than half of teachers believe it's too difficult to weed out ineffective teachers who have tenure, and nearly half say they personally know such a teacher, according to a survey released Tuesday evening by the Education Sector, a nonpartisan think tank.
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John Taylor Gatto, the libertarian author of The Underground History of American Education and former New York State and New York City Teacher of the Year, is raising money to produce a three-episode, six-hour Ken-Burns-type documentary examining the forces, trends and conscious intentions "behind the persistent dumbing down of our children."
As a country, we are embarrassingly uninformed about the machinery that occupies fully one-half of our waking childhood and shapes us for the remainder of our lives. If we can get excited about an 18-hour series on Baseball, 10 hours on the Civil War and 20 hours on the Old West, there is certainly room in our collective psyche to consider the institution that shapes us throughout our youth. Yet without a context in which to examine American schooling, it is virtually impossible to understand the system we have created. Without such a context we are condemned to repeat our mistakes as we continually try to fix the symptoms rather than the causes of the problems.
Gatto, a long-time foe of compulsory education, has exhaustively documented the omnipresence in public K-12 education of the attitude expressed by Woodrow Wilson to businessmen before the First World War:
Wilson: "We want one class to have a liberal education. We want another much larger class of necessity, to forgo the privilege of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks."
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Do you think federal education dollars are being wasted in Nevada? U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings is offering a pilot project that would allow up to 10 states to spend their federal dollars differently if they'll focus intensely on the schools farthest from achieving their No Child Left Behind goals.
Education Week has a story on the new program at http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/03/26/29spellings_ep.h27.html
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Teachers and Unions Fight Over Who Controls the Classroom
Teachers want more control over their classrooms? How dare they! Who do they think they are? Our public school systems are no place for classroom specific teaching strategies created by teachers who best know how to meet the needs of their students!
Wait a minute. Isn’t that type of school system and teacher exactly what our children need?
Not according to teacher unions in Denver ...
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The word on the street is that there's a new kid in town and she's looking for trouble. Looking to shed light on some of the trouble plaguing the Nevada school systems, that is.
Mary Stubblefield, the newest member of the Nevada Policy Research Institute, is their new Education Initiatives Coordinator and also will be moderating Teacher Talk NV. If you have any comments or suggestions for her regarding TTN or just feel like sayin’ howdy, please feel free to comment here or give her a ring at the NPRI office.
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I read everything Chip Mosher writes. His Socrates in Sodom column has been appearing in Las Vegas CityLife virtually every week since January 2005. If you’re a Nevada teacher and haven’t yet discovered him, you owe it to yourself to check him out. Not only is Chip a talented and often hilarious writer, but he regularly turns up juicy reports on the scams and lunacies of our education overlords that will do your poor oppressed sense of justice genuine good. All that said, however, Chip in one fundamental way is simply a nut. Now, everybody has a right to be a lunatic sometimes, and the reality is that virtually all of us ARE nuts in at least one or two areas of our lives ALL the time.
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Last month a panel of Democrats ignored the prospective anger of teacher union bosses and talked about how charter schools regularly turn out to be the best schools the public education establishment has to offer.
Democrats for Education Reform hosted the panel, along with the Massachusetts Charter Public School Assn.The event was aired on C-SPAN and can be watched here.
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The District of Columbia's schools chancellor, Michelle Rhee, is shaking up and shaping up Washington, D.C. schools.
BY COLLIN LEVY
"I see it as a social justice issue--I want them all to be in excellent schools. The kids in Tenleytown are getting a wildly different educational experience than the kids in Anacostia, so our schools are not serving their purpose."
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The RJ pulled the cover off the Clark County School District's phony violence stats today. All Southern Nevada teachers already know that teaching in Clark County high schools can be dangerous to your health, but now the CCSD's longtime cover-up is falling apart.
Read about it here
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Critics such as EdWatch say the three core mandates of NCLB that must be ended are: • Equalizing outcomes, rather than raising the achievement of all. NCLB is targeted exclusively to the bottom. Average and gifted students are ignored. A...
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Tourists think the shows in Las Vegas are on the Strip. Locals know better, finding drama to rival any Greek tragedy at a recent CCSD school board meeting as recounted by a CCSD teacher and writer. Las Vegas CityLife November...
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We are all familiar with computer service needs being met by technicians in India. How about help with your homework? Technology is providing more educational assistance for students when parents don’t have the time or background to help. Is this...
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Most AP courses pass muster nationally, but 1/3 of classes require greater scrutiny. Most AP Classes Survive Audit By Scott J. Cech Education Week Published Online: November 5, 2007 Despite dramatic growth in the number of high school students taking...
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Will NCLB be fixed, scrapped, or sail on as is? Never mind the details. This confirms one of the foundational criticisms of NCLB, the feds have a long history of making problems worse when stepping into local and state matters...
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Can performance pay for teachers be done fairly? Could it be better than the current, standard salary schedule? The Center for American Progress says yes. What say you? Getting the Facts Straight on Performance Pay in the Proposed Draft of...
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One of the best articles on the ever changing debate and concerns for reauthorization of NCLB is covered in detail by this LA Times article. Who knows what NCLB II will look like? There is a lot to fix and...
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I find the dialogue and discussion on Education Week between educators Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch to be informative and erudite. They tackle the complexities of education well and are worth reading. Bridging Differences Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch have...
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It does seem unfair to have principals delivering district decisions, especially when this particular district has a large communications department. October 30, 2007 LOOKING IN ON: EDUCATION Message to schools: Don't make principals give the bad news By Emily Richmond...
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Often students think that history is cut and dry, all the facts are known, and it is simply memorizing the facts. New information is always being discovered in history. Engaging students with the many mysteries of past events and little...
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I feel Cindi’s pain. While the use of laptops in Maine, see yesterday’s post, has been attributed to improving student writing, technology is a double edged sword. Sloppy English used by students in e-mails, IM’s, and over reliance on Spell...
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The Los Angeles Times has an interesting educators’ blog, The Homeroom, allowing teachers to raise and discuss the issues they face in the classroom. As an example, I’m posting the strand about the plagiarism problem a young teacher published and...
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Many school districts in Nevada are struggling with large numbers of ELL students. Questions have been raised regarding the effectiveness of Reading First and the need to refine it as the main federal tool to deal with ELL students. Published...
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Maine has a creative program to improve student writing with laptops. A follow up study seems to support the program as being effective. Published Online: October 24, 2007 Maine’s Laptops Found to Aid Writing Scores By The Associated Press Maine’s...
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This Las Vegas Sun article raises the question of whether the initiative against gaming really reflects the NSEA’s legislative failures and lack of representing teachers’ interests. Can the NSEA pull off distracting the voters and teachers at the same time...
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Chip Mosher shares a detailed anecdote about how the CCEA fails to represent a dues paying teacher. The union’s answer is “let them eat cake” or in this case literally “bend over.” Sad to say by Chip Mosher Las Vegas...
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Chip Mosher recounts CCEA president’s chilling statement and backpedaling on Las Vegas television. The rest is silence by Chip Mosher Las Vegas City Life October 4, 2007 DEAR READER, I wanted to avoid the banality of school district issues this...
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As the previous post asks what goes wrong in the middle school to high school transition, this post offers sage tips for teachers in handling the elementary to middle school transition. Published: October 3, 2007 Teaching Secrets: Organizing Middle Schoolers...
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Many of us have seen first-hand the majority of students dropping out are in the 9th and 10th grades in Nevada. The study below confirms this nationally. What is it in your opinion that accounts for a large number students...
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The Thomas Fordham Foundation has released today its study showing states have very different levels in determining what is proficient in math and reading. These states even have different levels of difficulty within a subject by not properly aligning and...
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Published in the Green Valley News September 20/21 The teachers of Clark County are currently facing a tough choice. Unfortunately, the choice they are being offered is between two unions, neither of which is designed to address the needs and...
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The Association of American Educators released a survey of their members reflecting direct differences with the unions over performance pay and use of growth models. Many teachers recognize the utilization of growth models are in their interests. Of course the...
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As a nationally respected education reform and research institution, Fordham Foundation’s criticisms and insights into NCLB re-authorization deserve attention. Where we stand We provoked a bit of a stir with last week's piece, featured in the Wall Street Journal and...
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Methinks coercing 17-year-olds to stay in school is a big mistake. They will resent it, potentially disrupt classes, and it will not be effective in making them learn. What say you? Oct. 01, 2007 Las Vegas Review-Journal Dropout age change...
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The Las Vegas Review-Journal correctly pointed out the good idea of administrators spending a little time teaching. Many administrators are completely out of touch with teaching, or at least teaching in the environment which they currently oversee. I remember one...
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Here’s another article about CCEA’s self-serving and arrogant leadership. Charges of gouging an education charity and not representing the interests of CCEA dues paying members may take its toll. Most teachers in the trenches will reconsider the wisdom of paying...
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There’s something fishy in Denmark. In fact a Dane once told me a fish rots from the head. Hold your nose as you read the article below. Charity gravy train: A foundation run by the teachers' union helps instructors --...
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As originally reported by TTNV on August 28, there were 497 CCEA drops in July of 2007. Now available are other important numbers to put this in perspective. The average number of summer window CCEA drops over the last 5...
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Poor record keeping and favoritism raise eyebrows in the wake of Garcia’s departure as head cop for the Clark County School District. September 19, 2007 Accounts questioned after chief leaves: Schools' top cop gave work to an associate, then quits...
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Sadly, we can’t even give away the CCEA or the NSEA. Disgruntled Voter Puts Belgium Up for Sale on EBay Tuesday , September 18, 2007 Associated Press BRUSSELS, Belgium — The keys of the kingdom were posted on eBay. Fed...
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Florida and Las Vegas have a lot in common. Here’s the original article from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Broward Teachers Union negotiates big raises for vets, little for newcomers By Jean-Paul Renaud | South Florida Sun-Sentinel September 7, 2007 Broward...
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I suspect teacher union leaders count on a combination of apathy and members being too buried in work to notice their self-serving activities. Arrogance and chutzpah also play a major role. Teacher’s Union That Represents Few of Their Own Members...
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Schools have been caught in the middle of illegal immigration issues. School districts and the feds are coping with safety and legal rights. Published in Print: September 12, 2007 With Immigrants, Districts Balance Safety, Legalities By Mary Ann Zehr Education...
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Not only have the feds marginalized subjects, but studies are showing NCLB is marginalizing some students too. Published Online: September 10, 2007 High-Achieving Students From Lower-Income Families Fall Behind, Study Finds By Catherine Gewertz Education Week The educational accountability movement’s...
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It seems that NCLB reauthorization may address the disservice done to non-tested subjects. Published in Print: September 12, 2007 House Plan Embraces Subjects Viewed as Neglected By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo Education Week Advocates for broadening the curriculum hope a draft...
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Leading Democrat criticized the NEA over its complete rejection of merit pay. Published: September 11, 2007 Debate Over Merit Pay Heats Up By The Associated Press in Teacher Magazine Washington The head of the nation's largest teacher's union and a...
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Online learning is growing across the nation and in Nevada. Nevada Connections Academy has started its first year of statewide online instruction for grades 4 to 11, planning to add the 12th grade next year. Washoe County School District has...
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Teachers4change is raising an excellent issue regarding CCEA abuses of members; the short, not advertised window to drop membership from only July 1 to 15 each year. You can join anytime of course. Challenging this short drop period has long...
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Our neighbor to the east has drawn Spellings' ire and fire. KCPW in Utah reports: Utah Continues to Draw Fire from Feds Over NCLB Sep 06, 2007 by Julie Rose (KCPW News) The top education official in the nation continues...
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Teachers4Change reports: Last Wednesday Teamsters intercepted this e-mail to all principals in the Clark County School District. This message was sent by none other than Fran Juhasz, CCSD Human Resources. This mistake on their part will spark additional charges against...
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Nevada teachers appreciate Alexander Russo’s reporting as he provides detailed, up-to-date coverage of federal education issues. Alexander Russo's inside scoop on education news. Written by former Senate education staffer and journalist Alexander Russo, This Week in Education covers education news,...
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Do not under any circumstances break test guidelines or security. CYA! Make sure administration assigns at least 2 teachers to monitor testing in each classroom. If you are assigned to test alone, you are vulnerable to potential allegations and should...
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How widespread is cheating by students? Most of us are shocked by the lazy nature of it to avoid simply studying combined with the lack of remorse when we catch them. September 06, 2007 For cheaters, iPods are playing their...
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Accomplished, veteran teachers are speaking up and out about union misrepresentation and coercion used against them when they exercise their right to free speech and question union spending. They recount cases of their union refusing to represent them and working...
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Major poll shows as public awareness of NCLB increases, so does dislike. Published in Print: August 29, 2007 Poll Finds Rise in Unfavorable Views of NCLB Education Week By Andrew Trotter More Americans say they are knowledgeable about the No...
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Published Online: August 29, 2007 Education Week By Debra Viadero Although some 90 percent of teachers may be considered "highly qualified'' under the teacher-quality provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, varying state definitions of what counts as highly...
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The House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor is asking for teachers’ comments by September 5 on the draft to change and renew NCLB. This is a great opportunity to voice your opinion and provide your professional insights. The...
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TeacherTalk NV Exclusive Despite having only 9 business days annually to drop CCEA membership (July 1 to 15), 497 teachers (source: CCSD) in Clark County concluded paying $600 a year to a union that does not represent their interests is...
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Humor is to teaching what oil is for engines, the lack of which all freezes up. On a special Teacher's Day, a kindergarten teacher was receiving teacher appreciation gifts from her pupils. The florist's son handed her a gift. She...
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Why do school air conditioners work from October to March and are out April to September? August 21, 2007 Teacher Magazine Blogboard A Hot Topic The first day of school has Junior High School Teacher sweating bullets—and it’s not from...
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Teachers who are new to a school have their hands full getting to know their new environment, colleagues, administrators, policies and procedures while preparing their classrooms and curricula before the first students arrive. Add to that the stresses of moving...
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Should we get more for students scoring well and how would one measure and distribute it? Published: August 18, 2007 View of Merit Pay Shifting By The Associated Press Washington While the words "merit pay" drew hisses and boos at...
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I remember watching the Challenger disaster on television as if it was only yesterday. Teacher Magazine Published: August 15, 2007 Barbara Morgan Holds Class By The Associated Press Cape Canaveral, Fla. Teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan transformed the space shuttle and space...
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A teacher of gifted students posted excellent points on the Education Week blog regarding the lack of attention for these special students to reach their potential and why. http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/unwrapping_the_gifted/ Unwrapping the Gifted By Tamara Fisher Tamara Fisher is a K-12...
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Is it unreasonable for qualified and properly trained teachers volunteering to carry guns as a measure against random school shootings? The CCEA claims to represent teachers saying, "I'm a common-sense guy, but it's hard to wade through this," said John...
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Are smaller high schools the answer to losing students? One Clark County School District teacher thinks it may be. Aug. 03, 2007 Las Vegas Review-Journal LETTERS: We're losing students in high school To the editor: As a high school teacher...
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What can we do to address Nevada’s high drop out rate given we are a service economy with numerous jobs that do not require a high school diploma? Nevada kids fare better but problems persist July 24, 2007 Lenita Powers...
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Should teachers be awarded school wide or individually, assuming a fair individual measuring system was utilized? August 01, 2007 Empowerment teachers get little something extra By Emily Richmond Las Vegas Sun Pay bonuses - the kind of incentives that typically...
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What say you to Nevada’s school board members voting for their own raises? Jul. 27, 2007 Divided Clark County School Board approves pay raises for trustees By Beth Walton Las Vegas Review-Journal Clark County School Board trustees gave themselves a...
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Call me cynical, but isn’t this an oxymoron? Updated: August 3, 2007 Congress Passes ‘Competitiveness’ Bill By Sean Cavanagh Education Week Congress approved legislation Thursday that seeks to bolster mathematics and science education through improved teacher recruitment and training and...
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The study below contradicts that there is widespread teacher dissatisfaction with the profession. It would be interesting to see what a Nevada specific survey would show. I suspect from experience Nevada teachers’ dissatisfaction level would be high. Published Online: August...
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A number of financial incentive programs, including here in Nevada, have been set up to lure more people into teaching, particularly in math and science. This article reports the programs may not be working. It also lists some programs many...
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It seems neither side of the aisle is happy with NCLB. It will be interesting to see if it is reauthorized and in what form. Published Online: July 30, 2007 Includes correction(s): August 1, 2007 Miller Outlines Proposed Changes for...
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This one burns me up as I’ve seen it done to other teachers. Web Watch Teacher Magazine August 2, 2007 Principal Pulls Rank, Teacher Quits According to a New York Times article, Austin Lampros, a New York City math teacher,...
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We all knew they were doing it and a recently released national survey confirms non-tested subjects are being squeezed out to meet NCLB’s AYP measures. Published in Print: August 1, 2007 Survey: Subjects Trimmed To Boost Math and Science By...
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Here they go again. It is nothing new and actually is a pattern and practice. Whether they’re lining their pockets at members’ expense or ignoring pervasive building level harassment, the NEA and its affiliates do not have our best interests...
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I print
Posted by Slim
on 07-23-2007 at 3:01 PM:
This article from TeacherMagazine hit home with me. I had a very hard time with cursive being left-handed. The only way I could make my cursive look decently was to go very slowly to the point my hand hurt. I...
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Today's Reno Gazette-Journal has an interesting article recognizing why teachers are leaving jobs and the profession as a whole. Tough to keep newer teachers Maggie O'Neill Reno Gazette-Journal July 23, 2007 Half of new teachers leave the field within five...
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By The Associated Press Little Rock A one-year moratorium on new teaching guidelines set to take effect this fall is being sought by historians upset with what they say will be a watering down of the teaching of Arkansas history...
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By The Associated Press Las Vegas The Clark County School District has reduced its teacher shortage by more than half by recruiting in Midwest cities that have laid off teachers or that have an abundance of unemployed teachers. The school...
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By Debra Viadero EducationWeek Washington A new study of Chicago students suggests that the federal No Child Left Behind Act may indeed be leaving behind students at the far ends of the academic ability spectrum—the least able students and those...
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The following was posted on the Clark County Teachers’ Lounge by its moderator. You can listen live to the radio broadcast if you are out of the area on their Web site at http://www.knpr.org/son/index.cfm. A few educators, a phone call...
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The 2007 Legislative Session passed raises for Nevada school board members, which will go into effect in January of 2009. School boards may vote in these new pay levels anytime prior to 2009. SB 328 set the rates based on...
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The following op-ed ran as a letter yesterday in the Las Vegas Review Journal. http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/8386412.html Professional choice To the editor: Because more and more teachers in Clark County have expressed discontent with their representative unit, the Clark County Education Association,...
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Re-posted from Teacher Magazine Web Watch http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/webwatch July 10, 2007 Turning to Teachers Unhappy with a new curriculum developed by an outside firm, Pittsburgh's school district is diverting money from the company’s contract to hire district teachers and academic coaches...
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Below is a thought provoking and repeated look at the devolution of math education. The Evolution of Math in the United States Last week I purchased a burger and fries at McDonalds for $3.58. The counter girl took my $4.00...
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Re-posted from Teacher Magazine Web Watch http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/webwatch July 9, 2007 Don't Hurry Math Pennsylvania is learning the hard way that modernizing math instruction does not always further comprehension. The state’s students are faltering in math placement tests, in spite of...
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Re-posted from Teacher Magazine Web Watch http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/webwatch July 6, 2007 A New Yardstick As the debate over evaluating test scores continues, many schools across the country are shifting their method of evaluating student progress. More than two dozen states, including...
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Re-posted from Teacher Magazine Web Watch http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/webwatch June 27, 2007 Teachers Attacked Reports of assaults against teachers seem to growing, particularly in big city schools. Sometimes they are verbal. Sometimes they are violent physical attacks. NPR’s Fresh Air host Terry...
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That ever so short period to drop union membership has arrived. I for one dropped after years of being a building representative in rural Nevada. I wanted to know exactly how our dues were being spent. I asked and was...
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How do we professionalize teaching? This is a central question pondered by Ronald Wolk below. It’s a relevant question in Nevada in terms of how it could relate to “empowerment schools.” What do you think? Published: May 1, 2007 Teacher...
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It’s been many years since I had to jump through the licensing hurdles in Nevada. I remember some elements made sense, yet other hurdles seemed rather bizarre and unnecessary. What aspects of teaching licensing are unneeded and prevent good teachers...
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Posted on Teacher Magazine's Web Watch by Amanda Jones Despite continuing concerns about school safety, some state lawmakers are questioning zero-tolerance policies on weapons, alcohol, and drugs in schools, saying they can unfairly punish students who have harmless intentions. “A...
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Posted in Teacher Magazine's Web Watch by Elizabeth Rich A combination of strong forces, including baby boomer retirements and increased career options for women, is creating growing teacher shortages around the nation, says a Washington Post story. Some three quarters...
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Education Week Schools Have No Handle on $7 Billion Cost of Teacher Turnover, Study Finds By Vaishali Honawar Teacher turnover is “spiraling out of control” and is estimated to have cost the nation more than $7 billion in the 2003-04...
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The temptation for administrators to cheat for the appearance of achievement instead of actually attaining it is too strong for some. When NCLB was first passed, a former principal told staff a mouthful stating, “Honest principals will be punished under...
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A 3-year Rand Study on the impact of NCLB in California, Georgia, and Pennsylvania offers important insights from teachers that should be seriously considered by policy makers. Education Week’s report on the study, “Teachers Say NCLB Has Changed Classroom Practice”...
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The CCEA and other NSEA affiliates don’t have a monopoly for arrogance and screwing its members. Local examples can be read at Teachers4change at www.teachers4change.net. By being frankly honest in testimony before the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the political use...
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There are two articles in the Las Vegas papers today about the success of empowerment schools. In addition to the key ingredient of empowering teachers in empowerment schools, such innovations as teaching students based on ability levels instead of chronological...
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The professional opportunities provided by empowerment convinced a Clark County teacher to remain in education as recently reported in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Antonio Planas reported in his June 9th article Switch is on to recharge schools that second-grade instructor...
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The voice of teachers is not heard in Carson City during education policy debates and decisions. Yes, the NSEA postures itself as being that voice, but many concerns of teachers are not addressed by the union as it pursues its...
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Here’s another insightful article from www.teachers4change.net about the CCEA pursuing its own agenda at the (literal) expense of teachers. While selling teachers out in Carson City by blocking statutory protections, administrative harassment is good for union business, they’re fleecing the...
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While the federal gorilla struggles with NCLB tuxedo, there’s been some interesting monkey business in the Nevada State Legislature. There’s a reason Carson City has never found it necessary to build a zoo. The state provides one of its own...
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Watching the feds struggle with education reminds me of a gorilla getting into a tuxedo. It can be done, but it is not natural and serves only a superficial purpose. Education Week House Freshmen Could Be Pivotal on NCLB Renewal...
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Transparency is embraced by the best and feared by the worst. TeacherTalk NV is on the cutting edge of applying the new media nationally and in Nevada. Education Week Published in Print: May 2, 2007 Leaders’ Blogs Offer Candid Views...
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TeacherTalk NV raised this issue on March 19, 2007. Do you feel safe? Are Nevada’s schools and districts doing enough to protect students and teachers? There are policies and then there are realities, which vary from site to site. Read...
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Students' Violent Writings Test Teachers Sunday, May 20, 2007 Associated Press BOULDER, Colo. — Writing teachers are being tested themselves these days in trying to discern whether a student is another Stephen King, a Seung-Hui Cho, Eric Harris or Dylan...
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The Review-Journal today ran an article that, unfortunately, strikes a chord with too many Southern Nevada public school teachers. "No one got upset when this woman was called a 'ho'" was the R-J's headline. Actually, the teacher -- after much abuse -- did get upset, but the administrators did not, and told her to "get over it": it was just the "students' culture," they said. In truth, it was also the culture of what candidly are, often, essentially depraved administrators.
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Surveys show schools where teachers were most content, student achievement was also high. Published online: May 14, 2007 Teacher Magazine Ask the Teacher Policymakers survey educators' work needs. By Steven Saint In 2004, a group of teachers at Salem Middle...
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I had a clever teacher when I was in high school who wanted to learn about cheating techniques that he may not be aware. He asked our class to use any and all types of cheating methods for a quiz...
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Many of us have filled the gap for administration, district or building, for the betterment of our schools. Here's an interesting article about teacher leadership. Leadership by Teachers Gains Notice By Lynn Olson This article was originally published in Education...
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3 important bills will be heard early this afternoon in the Senate Human Resources & Education Committee. Granted, most teachers will be in classes when it starts but the meeting should still be in full swing once school gets out....
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Clark County School District teacher, Chip Mosher, writes about the abusive practices of some administrators in his latest column, Socrates in Sodom, for Las Vegas City Life. He certainly doesn't pull any punches. Bite me by Chip Mosher SHE WAS...
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Will empowerment help our system of education? I believe it will if we are also empowered as individual teachers. We can be far more effective if given the professional freedom for innovation we deserve to get results. Many of us...
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Bipartisan support for a bill to protect teachers advanced out of the Assembly. Hopefully, it will be amended for statewide application and not just Clark County. Bill for teachers advances Instructors would gain new rights By ED VOGEL REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL...
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It would behoove Nevada's school districts' administrators to read the research regarding why teachers leave the profession, particularly Clark County. How many good teachers are driven out of the system in Nevada because of the same issues faced by Meghan...
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Do tighter school dress codes help? How vulnerable are male teachers when they enforce it on scantily clad female students and does the administration back them up? Emily Richmond with the LV Sun ran the following article today. She raises...
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The article below ran in the Las Vegas Sun today. Is it just an issue of teachers' pay or is it also how they treat teachers? Are abusive administrators driving out good teachers or is it the system itself? Teacher...
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The following ran in the Reno Gazette-Journal today: Classes resume at UNR after lock down Posted: 4/20/2007 Classes resumed on Friday at the University of Nevada, Reno, after being canceled while officials looked for a former student who made what...
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Izzit.org announces free, new educational DVD for teachers. They write, "We’re excited to introduce the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, in our latest production titled Pennies a Day.” Click here to preview and receive yours....
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The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports on the Desert Pines lockdown in their article "Handgun sighting triggers Desert Pines lockdown." Worried parents rush to high school after fight in which gun was flashed By ANTONIO PLANAS and DAVID KIHARA REVIEW-JOURNAL With...
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Teacher Magazine has a discussion forum about the Virginia Tech Massacre. Click on the title link below to join the discussion. They write, The Virginia Tech Massacre The massacre at Virginia Tech University this week has shaken the education community,...
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Videos on Demand Teachers now have their very own version of YouTube. By Anthony Rebora Teacher Magazine April 11, 2007 TeacherTube, launched in March 2007, is video-sharing site designed exclusively for educators. Created by a 14-year veteran educator (with technical...
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By Betsy Rogers Teacher Magazine www.teachermagazine.org Published: April 11, 2007 A few years ago, an excellent young teacher asked a question I could not answer. Nodding down the hall at a distant figure, she wondered: "Why do I get the...
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The horror of the killings this morning at Virginia Tech University is a shock to us all. So far there are reports of 32 killed and 15 wounded by a lone gunman. It is said to be the worst school...
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I've found teacher evaluations to be superficial and subjective during my career. Now a number of Nevada's districts have adopted overly complex and cumbersome evaluation programs. The Charlotte Danielson model is a prime example of wasting my time that could...
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We have had in-services and observations under Teach 4 Success. I think the bottom line is the district is using it to blame teachers instead of the system for low student achievement. These pretended observations are drive by in nature....
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Reading about the concept of selling lesson plans got me to thinking why I spent so much time developing original lessons. It is a lot of work, but our love of the given subject and desire to teach it drives...
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We have all developed original lessons to improve on the materials districts provide and enhance student learning. I just came across an article in Teacher Magazine where an entrepreneur, former teacher is making money buying and selling original lessons. He...
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With all the debate in the Legislature about reforming education, what do you recommend? Is it Empowerment, All-day kindergarten, or something else? What's relevant? Let us know....
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There's more telling it like it is, now in the Legislature with Assemblyman Segerblom's Teachers' Bill of Rights bill.
Apr. 03, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Ex-judge says school district abuses teachers
Thompson backs teacher bill of rights
By ED VOGEL
REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU
CARSON CITY -- A former district judge charged Monday that the Clark County School District is not able to hire enough teachers because administrators too frequently abuse the teachers they already have.
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Low standards are acceptable to the system, but not the teachers
Apr. 01, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
CLARK COUNTY CLASSROOMS: Mass-produced ignorance
Grades are going up, but educational standards are sinking like the Titanic
By GREG BARONE
SPECIAL TO THE REVIEW-JOURNAL
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In the name of NCLB, many administrators have chosen to micromanage teachers. Empowerment has the opposite approach, allowing those of us in the trenches to make the judgments necessary to get results. Do you feel "Empowered" or micromanaged? Easing Rules...
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National media attention has finally forced the Philadelphia School District to address student violence against teachers. If only districts could do what is right on their own. What major changes would we see in Nevada if the media paid attention?...
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MUNCIE, Ind. — An eighth-grader faces expulsion after admitting he put urine in a teacher's coffee pot, officials said. The Wilson Middle School teacher noticed that the coffee had an unusual odor Friday and reported it to the principal, Muncie...
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Isn't it time to make parents pay for their kids (non-students) peeing in the educational pool? As we know, it only takes a few real pissers to disrupt the learning for an entire class (the educational pool). All your preparation...
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How extensive is violence against teachers in Nevada? Recently it was reported by Bill O'Reilly that a teacher in Philadelphia was attacked by an 8th grade female student. The teacher repeatedly asked the student to get off her cell phone...
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Are good grades becoming an entitlement? A number of veteran teachers report seeing expectations of good grades with less effort from students. While these reports are experiential and anecdotal, a new study finds this is a measurable trend in the...
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Tom Shuford, a retired teacher in North Carolina who writes for EdNews.org, last week published a wonderful analysis of how the "we're-from-the-government-and-we're-here-to-help-you" types have, for decades, been progressively destroying effective local community education.
No doubt Southern Nevada, with its massive, inhuman schools and its distant Egyptian-priesthood of educrats, is a perfect example. Its metastasizing centralization necessarily ends up classifying teachers, families and neighborhoods as "problems" to solve and pawns to move about on its chess board. And the result of this runaway centralization is the education wasteland that we all face.
With great clarity and many examples, Tom illuminates how government-wielding "reformers" systematically gut the basic social & community infrastructure upon which successful community schools rely. His essay is at http://ednews.org, specifically here.
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In his State of the State speech new Nevada governor Jim Gibbons described his new "Empowerment" plan for Nevada schools as a "bold new approach" that "started in Canada 30 years ago." Then he introduced Michael Strembitsky, in the audience, as "the architect and father of the Edmonton Empowerment Program." Edmonton has been in Nevada news since then. So what IS the 'Edmonton Model'? Here's an interview with the man who took the Edmonton school system over when Strembitsky stepped down. It's part of a report an Ohio school reform group did: The Edmonton Model of Public School Reform
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Unfortunately, Miss Kitty's situation with her lying, sadistic principal -- read about it at Slim's post below or here -- is, in its broad outlines, much more common in Nevada and around the country than the public knows or teacher unions will ever admit (as it shows they don't protect teachers).
But a new book is entirely devoted to the subject and suggests that the number of sadistic principals who indulge their bullying appetites inside our public schools is quite large ...
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Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. It has become a pattern and practice among too many principals to drive out veteran teachers who are likely to point out the emperor has no clothes. The hypocrisy of the public education...
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During the long haul between Christmas and Easter vacation, teachers need to consider ways to avoid the mid-winter burnout blues. Happy teachers are effective teachers. Hanne Denney, a special education teacher from Maryland, has some good suggestions published in Teacher Magazine.
Countdown to Happiness
They aren’t really resolutions, but here's a countdown of ten ideas that may help you become a better teacher, or at least a happier one. Some have already worked for me, and others are goals for this year. I'm not telling which is which.
Click here to view Hanne's suggestions.
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This letter to the editor in the January 16, 2007 Las Vegas Review-Journal caught my attention. I suggest we go even further, requiring all building administrators to teach at least 1 class to see how their decisions impact teaching in...
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The following is from a humorous e-mail currently being passed around. It may well be a hoax. While I can't vouch for its veracity, many of us can relate to its substance. It is purported to be the actual Pacific...
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Richard Segerblom is an experienced Las Vegas attorney specializing in worker litigation and elected to the Assembly last November. Richard has handled numerous cases representing teachers against the Clark County School District. Richard gave the following answers in a September...
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This piece from New York's City Lights magazine spotlights a subject that gets far too little public attention -- the fact that our compulsory attendance laws often effectively turn our public school classrooms over to little savages and thugs, and teachers are expected to simply cope with them. How I joined Teach for America
— and got sued for $20 millionBy Joshua Kaplowitz
It was May 2000, and the guy at Al Gore’s polling firm seemed baffled. A Yale political-science major, I’d already walked away from a high-paying consulting job a few weeks earlier, and now I was walking away from a job working on a presidential campaign to do . . . what?
Well, when push came to shove, I didn’t want to devote my life to helping the rich get richer or crunching numbers to see what views were most popular for the vice president to adopt. This wasn’t what my 17 years of education were for.
My doctor parents had drummed into me that education was the key to every door, the one thing they couldn’t take away from my ancestors during pogroms and persecutions. They had also filled me with a strong sense of social justice. I couldn’t help feeling guilty dismay when I thought of the millions of kids who’d never even tasted the great teaching—not to mention the supportive family—I’d enjoyed for my entire life.
I told the Al Gore guy, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Weird as he might have thought it, I had decided to teach in an inner-city school. Read the full story
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As we start a new year those of us who support parental choice continue to deal with an old question: Why should we establish public policies and educational programs that give America’s poor and working class parents the power to choose the best learning environment for their children?
Sarah Lawrence Lightfoot in asserting the relationship between power and education made this point:
A critically important ingredient of educational success for black and white children lies in the power relationships between communities and schools, rather than in the nature of the school population…. the nature and distribution of power among schools, families and communities is a crucial piece of the complex puzzle leading toward educational success for all children.
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Next round begins for No Child Left Behind
By Amanda Paulson
Christian Science Monitor
January 8, 2007
"When President Bush signed the landmark No Child Left Behind Act five years ago Monday, he conducted a three-state road show, touted its bipartisan roots, and promised it would put US schools "on a new path of reform, and a new path of results.
In the five years since, critics and admirers of the bill tend to agree about the reform part, but say they're still waiting for results."
Click here to read Paulson's entire article.
Views in Paulson's article about NCLB include:
"The goal [of NCLB] is reasonable - the structure and way it's been implemented have been a disaster," says Monty Neill, director of FairTest and chairman of the forum (Forum on Educational Accountability)."
"Michael Petrilli, vice president for national programs and policy of the foundation and an early supporter of NCLB, admits that by this point, he's convinced that the federal government simply can't accomplish what it wants. He'd keep the goals of NCLB, but put the federal government's effort into setting strong national standards - instead of the widely varying state standards that currently exist - and have the states and districts figure out on their own how to get students to meet those standards."
What do you think about NCLB?
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I ran across this article a couple of years ago and just now found it again. It's an interesting argument for vouchers and more flexibility in our public school systems. This fifth-grade teacher asks:
"Are happy, productive, educated, rational children a source of joy for you? They are for me; that is why I became a schoolteacher. But, my experience in the public schools has awakened in me a profound frustration — and deep sorrow — at how the needs of children are, in policy and on principle, last on the agenda of many politicized school boards and distant state educational bureaucracies."
This teacher-author chose to remain anonymous, for reasons that any teacher coming to TTN can probably appreciate. But what especially struck me was his vision of how
"...for every family that would place their child into a voucher school a
seat would open up in the suffocating, packed public schools. Fewer children in my classroom would mean that I would have more time to spend with each student."
Those of us in the Clark County School District can certainly appreciate that possibility....
The Friedman Foundation published this article in their magazine, School Choice Advocate.
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Ryan Boots, over at Edspresso.com, posted a remarkable article a couple of weeks ago. Going into the history of how school boards came to be, it documents how they were designed from the beginning to override the educational values of the parents and communities that they supposedly were to represent.
"... it really is quite inappropriate to talk about the local school board as a mechanism for local, democratic governance of schools. Their creators intended nothing of the kind, and their very makeup frustrates attempts to make schools more responsive to their communities. Worst of all, school boards by their very nature frustrate the creators' original vision of non-political control of schools."
The whole article, and a follow-up posted later, are well worth every would-be education reformer's attention.
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Doubletalk
Posted by Flatnose
on 12-24-2006 at 12:05 PM:
By Yippee
One of the biggest problems in our public schools today, based upon my 23 years of employment experiences in three public high schools in two public school districts, is what I will refer to as 'doubletalk'.
School leaders, at the district level and the school level, talk about increasing standards and improving learning but do many things and create numerous programs that undermine any efforts to truly achieve these things.
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One of the big reasons some of us got together & started TeacherTalk Nevada was because of all the double talk that saturates Nevada's school system. It always grates, but, worse than that, it's more often than we like to think an actual cover for outright fraud. Personally, I think school district bigwigs in those cases really ought to go to jail. Yippee -- one of our founding gang members -- recently sent in a perfect example of one such ongoing major fraud on the Nevada public. It's a first-person account that starts out with his general reflections, but then gets into what really, when you stop to think about it, is a heartbreaking situation -- for both teachers and kids:
DOUBLETALKBy Yippee One of the biggest problems in our public schools today, based upon my 23 years of employment experiences in three public high schools in two public school districts, is what I will refer to as 'doubletalk'.
School leaders, at the district level and the school level, talk about increasing standards and improving learning but do many things and create numerous programs that undermine any efforts to truly achieve these things.
read the rest of Doubletalk
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By Yippee
During almost all of my twenty three years of teaching I taught senior high school students a course they were required to pass to graduate. Not once did a prospective employer contact me to obtain a reference for or evaluation of one of my students. Apparently employers have no interest in what I might know or have observed about any of my students. Doesn’t this ‘sound’ ridiculous to anyone other than me?
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As a young teacher at Riverview Middle School entering my third year in the classroom back in 1994, I knew—despite my inexperience—what the number one problem of the perpetually underperforming Memphis City Schools was: the deviant, dysfunctional, disrespectful, indecent and even criminal behavior exhibited daily by a large percentage of the students. In a guest column I wrote for The Commercial Appeal at the time, I called for the school system to expel these “non-students,” for whom normal behavior is a rare occurrence and appears to be an alien concept.
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A leading teacher-educator says most teachers get poor training from colleges of education.
Arthur E. Levine's latest study says American teacher preparation is in a poor state and needs a major overhaul and new accreditation standards.
Levine, president of Teachers College at Columbia University until recently, is now president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.
This is the second of four reports on the broad subject of American public education. The first report, issued in March 2005, criticized the nation's preparation of school leaders and administrators.
Levine claims that most future teachers are in low-quality programs and relatively unprepared for classroom teaching. Universities bear much of the blame, he says, for paying too little attention to their schools of education, other than to treat them as convenient cash cows.
He also maintains that today's licensing and accreditation processes don’t pay enough attention to actual student achievements.
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Mojave High School, Elizondo Elementary School and three other schools in North Las Vegas were placed in lockdown after a person described as a nonstudent dropped a small-caliber semiautomatic handgun in the high school quad before school began this morning....
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Public Agenda, a New York-based nonprofit that does opinion surveys on a range of issues, has a new "Reality Check" study out that "finds that most public school superintendents -– and principals to a lesser extent -– think local schools...
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KLAS-TV --- A 14-year-old boy has been arrested in Henderson. He is accused of sending threatening messages through the Internet. Henderson police say they received information on Wednesday that the boy made several references to the 1999 Columbine shooting in...
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By Greg ToppoUSA TODAY When the fed-up young teacher decided to quit her job in rural North Carolina in June, her resignation letter was brief — three lines. But she had more to say. So she spoke her mind online,...
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Value-added assessment is a clean and objective way to measure the exact effects of a school district, a school or an individual teacher on the rate of students' academic progress. It was during the early '80s, that research by William...
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