>>>>> "David" == David Brauer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
David> On Feb 14, 2005, at 7:33 AM, Michael Atherton wrote:
>> a) Nothing has been done about the problem of there
>> being a disproportionate number of inexperienced teachers
>> in minority schools. A problem that everyone acknowledges
>> is a contributing factor to the poor performance of
>> minority students.
David> I agree with this. It would be good to see a district
David> official and/or School Board member tell the list what's up
David> with this.
The obvious question is: how do we fix this problem without destroying
the successful functioning of schools that have teams that have worked
together well for years?
I'm all for seeing this problem addressed, but I'm worried that the
obvious "solution" will be a ham-fisted scattering of the existing
body of experienced teachers across the whole system. That would just
create a system-side disfunction in place of a localized one. I've
worked with the government (and large businesses) long enough to know
that easy solutions to fairness issues often involve leveling down,
instead of leveling up. Leveling down just leaves everybody worse
off. Remember, if you're inclined to be ok with leveling down, that
you can easily just move your accomplishment gap into a public
school/private school gap, and THAT one is a heck of a lot less
amenable of solution, since you aren't going to be able to level up OR
down across that one, and it's likely to rip away a big hunk of the
tax base needed to do any improvements to the MPS.
So....
Is there any way to use incentives to get more experienced teachers to
want to choose some of these schools?
Has anybody explained why this skill level difference happens, anyway?
I mean what is the MECHANISM? We seem to have had years and years of
teacher layoffs. Where do all of these inexperienced teachers come
from? Seems like we should have plenty of good, experienced teachers
who aren't being used.
Also, does this happen because when you put someone in one of these
schools, they tend to quit, so that no body of experience ever gets
built up there? If so, then any solution must involve making these
places more attractive to teachers.
[...snip...]
David> This is not to suggest Michael is wrong - we shouldn't
David> tolerate failure but it perhaps also proves Steve Cross's
David> larger point that there are larger societal pressures that
David> shouldn't be ignored when evaluating schools.
I agree. Michael's point was that we're not going to eliminate
poverty, so we've just got to fix (and blame) the schools. But that's
like saying "I'm never going to be able to afford a wrench, so I'll
just have to hit this bolt harder with my hammer." If public schools
have to spend all their time teaching kids not to wallop each other;
feeding them, because they don't get good nutrition at home; and
providing the major locus of social services, how are they going to
have the time in the day to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic?
If you've got kids who are lost in the mess of foster care and
homelessness, there's a limit to what you can fix in the schools,
unless you open a public boarding school (hmmm... maybe that wouldn't
be a totally bad idea....).
Best,
R
--
Robert P. Goldman
ECCO
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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