Note to Gov. Christie: Those who live by the accountability sword will die by the accountability sword.
From the moment he was sworn in four years ago, Gov. Christie has been on a personal jihad against public education, unions and teachers. Labeling us “greedy” and “selfish”, and our apartheid schools in high-poverty districts as “failure factories”, he’s done everything possible to brainwash the general public into thinking our schools are overrun with bad teachers who must be held accountable.
He succeeded in getting a new evaluation system passed (my district uses Danielson)* that now tracks every pencil stroke of a student against their teacher. No stone is left unturned as administrators evaluate everything from how a teacher greets her students at the door, to whether students are able to solve their own social problems. And forget about expecting to be found ‘highly effective’ (a score of 4 on a 1-4 scale). Every teacher in New Jersey has been spoon-fed the mantra, “live in 3; vacation in 4”. To be highly effective, students pretty much have to teach themselves and solve their own problems. So, if you are a highly effective teacher, you essentially teach yourself into obsolescence. And yea, that’s totally reasonable, especially with kindergarteners.
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| Oh Charlotte, what have you done? |
But no matter how hard teachers are trained in the new evaluation system, there are some things in our students’ lives that are simply beyond our control; that not even the best teacher in the world can fix.
WE CAN’T STUFF KNOWLEDGE INTO KIDS’ HEADS WHEN THEIR HOME LIVES ARE DYSFUNCTIONAL!
But for no-excuses Christie, that’s no excuse. Teachers must be held accountable! It’s our fault kids struggle to learn because they’re poor. It’s our fault their parents are going through a bitter divorce