this is partially what they need to do:
washingtonpost.com
Montgomery To Aid or Oust Weak Teachers
By Brigid Schulte
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 20, 2000; Page B05
The letters went out just weeks before school started, notifying 81 Montgomery County teachers that they, in effect, were not cutting it and assigning them to an intensive intervention program.
Within days, 10 percent of those teachers, all of whom had classrooms full of children awaiting them, resigned.
The letters were the first in a bold new teacher evaluation program that officials insist will end the "dance of the lemons"--the stereotype that bad teachers are never fired, only transferred, or "danced," from school to school, and that teachers unions make sure it stays that way.
The new program, peer assistance and review, has gotten off to a rocket start, with eight resignations in recent weeks.
"That's unusual. This is the first year we've seen a significant rise in the number of resignations right at the beginning of the school year," said Elizabeth Arons, associate superintendent for human relations, who is tracking the program. "These were teachers not performing at standard. I think some of them realized they were going to have to work very hard to improve."
Across the Washington region, school districts are focusing on teacher evaluation as a key to weeding out bad teachers and improving their schools. But Montgomery's program is the most intensive, with a set of "consulting teachers" who spend the entire year evaluating all new hires and any struggling teachers, identified by poor marks on previous reviews.
The resignations track with other districts across the country that have peer assistance and review systems: Teachers, they have found, are much tougher evaluating other teachers than are principals, because they know what it takes. "We could be seeing more resignations," Arons said.
And contrary to popular perception, that the most ineffective teachers are usually assigned to the neediest schools, Arons said no pattern was found in either the 81 teachers who were referred to the program, or the eight who have since resigned. They teach at all levels, in virtually all subjects, and have been referred from schools in every area of the county.
The eight who resigned were fairly new to Montgomery County, having taught there for less than three years. But a few taught in other districts for a few years before coming to Montgomery, officials said.
And of the 81 teachers identified as needing intensive help, 44 are still in their two-year probationary period. Thirty-seven are experienced, or tenured, teachers.
"Traditionally, tenured teachers have been more untouchable. But nobody is untouchable under this new system," said Jeni Haven, who coordinates the new teacher evaluation system. "For the younger teachers, when you give them help, you either see immediate improvement or they recognize it's not the profession for them. But once teachers have been in for 20 years, this is their livelihood. They have no other options. We want to be a little more careful with them."
In the past in Montgomery County and in most school districts across the country, principals evaluated teachers, fitting a classroom observation into their generally harried schedules and sitting with a checklist. They could find teachers effective, ineffective or needing improvement, without explanation.
The new program works like this: Teachers who have received one or more "ineffective" or "needs improvement" ratings under the old system are assigned a consulting teacher--a master teacher who not only sits in the classroom observing their teaching style throughout the year and writes long narratives about strengths and weaknesses, but identifies where teachers need help, whether in planning, managing classroom time better, or learning how to teach to different ability levels within the classroom. The consulting teacher then works with the other instructor to improve such skills.
This year, there are 20 full-time consulting teachers, at a cost of $906,965. When the program is fully implemented in the next three years, there will be 60.
The program was not only given the blessing of the teachers union, the union helped design it.
(And I have to choke on this bit of data and give credit where credit is due... But can I ask why it has taken so long to implement such a common-sense program of accountability?...)
"The whole point of this is to raise the level of understanding of the really tough work teachers do, and to finally acknowledge, this is rocket science," said Montgomery County Education Association President Mark Simon.
Simon said that it is in teachers unions' best interests not to be known as protectors of bad teachers at all costs, but to promote high-quality teaching while ensuring that members' rights are protected.
In just the few weeks of working with every new teacher in 35 pilot schools and with the struggling teachers, consulting teachers reported a general sense of relief at a recent meeting.
Some new teachers just needed to know they were doing a great job. And in some cases, instead of the bad teachers whom principals told them to write off, consulting teachers found people overwhelmed or teaching out of their field--who were eager for help.
"The more important thing is that for teachers who are struggling to improve, they're finally getting the support from the school system that they need," Simon said.
© 2000 The Washington Post Company |
