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OP-ED | A Culture of Mediocrity

OP-ED | A Culture of Mediocrity

by Terry D. Cowgill | Apr 5, 2013 5:30am
Connecticut News Junkie
Posted to: Economics, Education, Labor, Opinion

TERRY COWGILL

The manufacturers of goods and services know that if consumers aren’t satisfied with the quality of what’s offered, they’ll vote with their wallets and choose another product. Such is rarely the case with a government product.

If you want to be a licensed driver, you have to wait in line at the DMV. And, if you want to educate your child, you have to go through your local board of education — that is unless you have extra cash lying around.

With rare exceptions, public education isn’t susceptible to those kinds of market forces. Consequently, the culture of public schools often discourages competition among students and goes to great lengths to avoid damaging the self esteem of those who don’t measure up.

If a recent report in the Connecticut Mirror is any guide, that same culture has insinuated itself into the very system that produces the state’s teachers.

Superintendents complain that a large percentage of Connecticut’s 1,200 first-year teachers are unprepared for the job. And a couple of national surveys (here andhere) confirmed that as much as 60 percent of new teachers felt inadequately trained to face the challenges of a modern classroom.

Of course, it’s difficult to know whether the schools of education are doing a poor job, which is what educators themselves are suggesting, or whether too many students in the teacher education programs are dim bulbs — or, perhaps, some combination of of the two.

Almost half the students earning a teaching degree each year in Connecticut graduated from one of the second-tier state colleges: Western, Central, Southern, and Eastern Connecticut state universities. Unfortunately, those institutions do little or no tracking of how their graduates fair after receiving their degrees.

And the teacher-training programs in those universities aren’t very selective. Last year, of those who applied to Eastern’s teacher education program, more than 95 percent were admitted. At Central, it was 92 percent. By contrast, UConn’s acceptance rate was 66 percent. Graduation rates were unavailable for most of those programs, but for education students at Eastern who enrolled in the program in 2006, 99 percent earned their degrees within six years. That sounds absurdly easy. Either the university has low standards or, like the children of the mythical Lake Wobegon, Eastern’s students are all above average.

Moreover, the effectiveness rates of teachers appear to be overly generous as well. I wasn’t able to locate teacher competency data on the state Department of Education website, but according to the National Council on Teacher Quality,Connecticut gets a D+ on identifying effective teachers. And in New Haven, where a new evaluation system was recently devised, 90 percent of teachers had received the top three ratings (exemplary, strong, or effective) and only 2 percent received the lowest rating (needs improvement).

That seems consistent with trends in other states, where shocking numbers of educators receive high ratings. In Florida, according to the New York Times, 97 percent of teachers were judged effective or highly effective in the most recent evaluations. In Tennessee, 98 percent of teachers were found to be at expectations. In Michigan, 98 percent of teachers were rated effective or higher.

How could this be? No profession I’m aware of has such high rates of competency. Are the evaluators (mainly building principals) reluctant to criticize for fear of being unpopular? Are they concerned that if they push too many teachers out the door, their replacements won’t be much better?

Clearly, we need to improve the quality of at least half the students who aspire to be teachers. And yes, it will cost money. While teachers in Connecticut are paid well compared to most other states, it’s clearly not enough to consistently attract the best and the brightest. But I think it’s safe to say that across-the-board wage increases would not do the trick. That would simply reward those who don’t measure up.

No. What would really help is for the unions to drop their position that all teachers should be paid the same, with the only determining factors being years of service and advanced degrees. If, for example, qualified math and science teachers are so much harder to find than history or art instructors, why not pay the former a higher starting salary? That’s what just about every employer outside of the government does. Pay a premium for skills that are scarce and for unusually high quality, and then the problem tends to go away.

Some education reformers advocate for merit pay. It’s sound like a good idea until you consider that under the current system, almost all teachers are rated good or better. So they’d all get nice raises anyway. No, the culture has to change and that has to come from the top. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy tried to supply such leadership early in his administration but his clumsy rhetoric about teacher tenure set us back a few years. Still, he managed to convince the General Assembly to take some baby steps on teacher evaluations last year. Will he be able to get more? I remain hopeful but am not holding my breath.

Terry Cowgill blogs at ctdevilsadvocate.com and was an editor and senior writer for The Lakeville Journal Company. He can be found on Twitter @terrycowgill.

Tags: education reform, teacher evaluations, teacher training, Connecticut, terry cowgill, dh

A Good Old-Fashioned Education

DAVID KIRP

APRIL 1, 2013

As some districts experiment with charters, voucers, and high-stakes testing, educators in Union City are finding that time-tested, traditional approaches to teaching students work best.

The American Prospect

About the Author

David L. Kirp, James D. Marver Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, is the author ofImprobable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System and a Strategy for America's Schools, from which this article is adapted.

ARTICLES BY DAVID KIRP

RSS FEED OF ARTICLES BY DAVID KIRP

Thanks to CKD For another great link

When it comes to education policy, inconstancy is the only constant. During the past generation, self-styled reformers have pitched such nostrums as vouchers, charter schools, high-stakes accountability for teachers, and a near-total emphasis on reading and math. Nothing seems to be working, though: American students continue to lag on international tests and racial and ethnic achievement gaps stubbornly persist.

Here's the good news: From Houston to Long Beach, Charlotte to Brownsville, school systems across the country—big and small; generously and meagerly funded; mainly Latino, mainly black, or heterogeneous; with elected school boards and mayor-appointed school boards—have figured out how to boost reading and math scores and shrink the achievement gap.    Read More

Another Good Cause, Another Fun Event

Mayor ELDRIDGE MOVING ON UP

Taking on a Second Job

Windham Mayor Ernie Eldridge has announced that he will be taking on an extra job beginning  this month.  He will start his "dream job" working as a greeter at Burger King, here in Windham. The Mayor was kind enough to to talk with us:

Windham Week  A greeter, why?

Mayor Eldridge Well John, I've always considered myself a public relations type of guy. Being Mayor has made me an expert in the field. I feel I should take advantage and run with an asset that I am so blessed with.

Windham Week How do you go about getting a greeter's job? Do just walk in and apply?

Mayor Eldridge Oh no, not even close. Maybe in the early days, the infancy of greeting but no longer. Today greeting is a highly sophisticated business. I attended a mail  order university, The Greeting and Farewell University of Yonkers.

Windham Week The Greeting and Farewell University? What's the Farewell all about?

Mayor Eldridge I knew you would ask , everyone does. It's simple, you can do a greet but at the end you have to do a farewell...get it?

widhamweek How did you academically?

Mayor Eldridge Very good at greetings, not as good at farewells...I'm not good at goodbyes....I sorta get emotional

windhamweek So after graduation you applied for a greeter's job?

Mayor Eldridge No, I worked through G&FU's outplacement. Within three weeks I had three letters of interest from Wall-mart, BJ's and Berger King.

windhamweek Why did you go with Burger King?

Mayor Eldridge  Well, Wall-Mart and BJ's you have to check the shopper"s bag of merchandise against the cash register receipts in 30 seconds That was never my strong suit at University. There isn't any bag check at Burger King and even if there was I know the difference between a burger and fries.
At Burger King I can be kingly and look kingly. I've always had a penchant for outrageous cloths. At Burger King I can live my dream.

windhamweek And finally Mr Mayor what are your duties and responsibility's?

Mayor Eldridge  Of course greetings and farewells are at the top of the list. Kissing babies, cleaning spills and checking the restrooms  are also important. Finally, signage monitoring.

windhamweek What is signage monitoring?

Mayor Eldridge Standing on the street with signage.

windhamweek What does the signage say?

Mayor Eldridge  EAT HERE

windhamweek Thank you Mr. Mayor

Mayor Eldridge Thank you and John.....Happy April Fools Day

Come and Dance Your Brains Out for a Cause

Point-Counter point #3 Kudos to the Town Council

Dear Johnny,

I get it.  I get it.  You "conservatives" believe that in the long run Natchaug School is going to need a lot more work and cost a good deal more.  You do not see this property as a town asset and want to  get rid of it and you're upset that we didn't spend more money on a referendum so your defeated vote against the building would have been counted.

There was a public vote.  It was in a quite large auditorium.  Where were your 300 then?  I know it was dark out.  And no one can drive.  But if it was really important, why didn't you get a bus to bring you all.  You would have been welcome to vote.  Expediency was necessary if those kids were not going to all be cramped into that middle school for another year.  So a public vote at a town meeting (in my mind) was not even needed.  This should have been budgeted by the BOE years ago.  But that's the BOE and I don't want to go there right now.

The point is that enough people on the council understood that in this specific case and with the support of an auditorium full of people we just needed to fix the damn roof and move on.  I think our council deserves kudos for their work on this singular point.  You don't need a committee, or chorus or a council or a town to figure out if a roof should be repaired.  If there's a bucket in the middle of the room when it rains, you fix it when it stops.  A three year old could tell you that.  It is shocking to me that we call you all conservatives when all you want to do is knock things down, drill baby drill, kill with your guns and not contribute a dime to the community.  I think we need a new nomenclature for what you guys are.  Destructionists seems about right.  

That said.  Apparently there were discussions amongst individuals, Ortiz among them, about the roof and Natchaug and its possible sale.  The exact terms of which were unknown to me personally until it was too late to do anything about by then.  Why, exactly, this information was not fully elucidated I do not know and this does make me angry on some level, but, and/or unless the council did have this information in full and still decided not to referendum, I don't blame them for the vote they cast, and neither should anyone else.  They did not usurp the voice of the minority, they fixed a roof because that's what needed to be done.  

What's done is done.  Let us instead move on to something about which we can actually do some necessary work.

Let's get rid of the BOE.

David

P.S. What makes something historic? Longevity is certainly among the earmarks and Natchaug certainly has that. And, if you eat a little coleslaw now and then you might too.

David,

Please refrain from using "Dear Johnny" and "Conservative" in a nearby sentence. The last time I was a conservative Barry Goldwater was the Republican presidential nominee and I wasn't old enough to vote. When I disagree with you I don't call you a conservative. The difference between us is that I look at the big picture you don't.

"Kudos to the town council," when it's convenient you are flattering a body that is at the root of Windham's education problems.   A body that  recently took away our speaking rights at meetings, a body still populated with members that go back to a similar situation when a 1000 signature petition was ignored concerning the magnet school. Tell me David, when was the last time the town council criticized the board of education?  When was the last time they asked the board of education why they were short changing our students? The answer is never, never has the council/board of selectman even remotely questioned that inept body.

With town elections around the corner and the Democrats preparing to introduce their candidate, Dawn Niles, (Yes David, you led me astray) for mayor we are heading into more bleakness. Fifteen year chairmen of the Democrats and what has she done? She has assured that Windham continues, at best, its mediocrity. She has assured that those serving on the board of education have remained and have continued to cheat the future of our students. It has never occurred to her that 

 others may serve the students, not the party. If elected the only thing that the electorate can look forward too is her ability to take up more space than the present space taker.

Sweeney School went through extensive renovations in 1963, Windham Center in 1968 and North Windham in 1986. We had no "swing space" then. Windham did what every other town does, we utilized temporary class rooms. You would think that Natchaug students presently attending the middle school were schooled in a hovel. Give me a break, even as incompetent as our BOE is, they wouldn't endanger a child. If they did the state would move in . If there is a need for more room, which there isn't, add temporary class rooms. 

I envision Natchaug as a future community center or even a rehabilitated school. The east end of Willimantic needs such. It could be the genesis for a successful renewal  and redevelopment project. Unfortunately, after sharing my ideas with central office I received a reply stating that when the schools were finished with Natchaug it would be handed back to the town. So much for thinking outside  the box.

And no David, I'm not a driller nor am I killer. I did spend six years of life in the U.S. Army during an incident in Southeast Asia and because of that I do appreciate democracy and the freedoms that comes with it.

Did you even go to summer camp?