tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33431390.post5253815958152655638..comments2024-03-26T11:07:03.496-04:00Comments on Ed Notes Online: Teacher Quality and Working Conditionsed notes onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15018047869059226777noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33431390.post-21388640747506745862008-08-04T00:55:00.000-04:002008-08-04T00:55:00.000-04:00My teachers are very pleased with a change that wa...My teachers are very pleased with a change that was implemented this school year as a result of their responses on the Teacher Working Conditions Survey. A significant number of teachers indicated that more planning time is needed. After I implemented a weekly, uninterrupted, common planning, and collaboration time; teachers continued to thank me for addressing this need. When I visit the common planning time sessions, I see the teachers fast at work planning and sharing to better meet the needs of our students.<BR/>_______________________________<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.educationalwriting.net" REL="nofollow">http://www.educationalwriting.net</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33431390.post-85576217662906971602008-08-01T09:56:00.000-04:002008-08-01T09:56:00.000-04:00when i started to teach, regularly appointed teach...when i started to teach, regularly appointed teachers were placed according to the score received on the teacher exam. the lower scoring teachers were placed in what were called special service schools (the precursor to chapter and title 1 schools). i did not score high so i was sent to williamsburg. many teachers stayed on sub lines to avoid such a placement and got their own jobs in less difficult schools.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33431390.post-88890215689922407602008-08-01T09:47:00.000-04:002008-08-01T09:47:00.000-04:00Hey, thanks for the mention--and do check out the ...Hey, thanks for the mention--and do check out the Center for Teaching Quality, which is as good as it gets.<BR/><BR/>Here's a story:<BR/>I am sitting on the dias with a researcher from Famous Research Org and a honcho from the US Department of Education at a conference convened around the issue of teacher quality. Of course, there are 200 people in the audience and perhaps 4 of them are actually classroom practitioners. But we're having a nice conference to discuss how to fix the, ummm, problems with teachers.<BR/><BR/>Person from USDOE says: We have now achieved a very high percentage of "highly qualified" teachers, through the impact of NCLB. We are turning now to "highly effective" teachers as our next goal. What's a highly effective teacher? One who leverages gains in test scores, of course. Soon, we will have data analysis systems in place in every state and will be able to identify teacher effectiveness such that we can lop off the bottom quartile of ineffective teachers (and replace them, no doubt, with novices who had high SAT scores, and thus are more promising).<BR/><BR/>I ask her: What is the USDOE doing to strengthen actual teaching--you know, the things teachers do that cause these gains?<BR/><BR/>Her response: We're agnostic about that. We don't care what teachers do--only about the measurable results that they get.<BR/><BR/>--<BR/>So there you have it. It's about quality teachers--not about quality teaching.<BR/><BR/>Thanks again--good debate!Nancy Flanaganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00047575960944913289noreply@blogger.com