Comments on: Q&A: Senator Mike Johnston says we need great principals and teachers ‘in every school’

By: Joyce Marino

Joyce Marino — Tue, 25 May 2010 02:25:02 +0000

The problem here is that students and parents suffer no consequences when students score poorly on these 12 – 16 hour tests. Thus, the students and parents seldom take them seriously. If teachers’ jobs hang in the balance here, it is only fitting that the students’ promotions also hang in the balance. This procedure is all ready in place in other states. No pass, no promote. Also, students should have to pass a readiness exam before admittance to kindergarten. If they are behind, they should have to take a pre-kindergarten remedial class before they can be enrolled. It is interesting that these measures are being promoted by a state that is in the top 15 in wealth and the bottom ten in state funding for education. The legislators had a chance to take a stand on this inequity and voted it down during the same session in which they cut another 260 million from funding and passed this bill. Do I smell scapegoat here? If you want to know what it is like to teach in Colorado, check out the bottom states in the country. Alabama funds its schools better.

By: Ed Fuller

Ed Fuller — Tue, 25 May 2010 00:26:28 +0000

Wow, those were some wimpy questions. I had higher hopes for this on-line journal. I guess my hopes were too high.

By: Kent

Kent — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:16:54 +0000

I have taught in Colorado, the Denver area, for 26 years. The truth behind the headline, “we need quality teachers and principals” sounds like an answer to a problem, but anyone who has been in a classroom for more than a few years, more like a few decades, which is longer than any principal I know except one, knows that the teacher is very important to growth of students. But how many parents would be willing to be evaluated as an “effective” parent on their child’s test scores? Any parent knows that, depending on the chronological or hormonal age, or any other number of uncontrollable factors, the test scores would be an unreliable source for judging their overall effectiveness as a parent. And, following this “business” model, how about letting teachers interview kids and review their test scores to accept them into their classes, just like a business? Problem is, I, the teacher, may not want your kid on my role in the first place. Bottom line, this bill, although asking some of the right questions about teacher quality, over simplifies the complex set of factors that go into a public education designed to help all comers no matter what their parental support, economic status, or early childhood development. The best solution: develop a bill that holds parents and teachers accountable as partners to become an effective “team” that helps each child according to the resources available to each. As for Mr. Johnston’s comment that class size doesn’t matter, clearly he did not teach long enough, or in enough overloaded rooms hour after hour, to know the absolute absurdity of this ridiculously politically motivated throw-away line. Even if you love teaching, overloaded classes are a recipe for burnout!

By: pyntic

pyntic — Mon, 24 May 2010 17:25:32 +0000

1. Create a crisis.
2. Create public fear and outrage.
3. Choose a scapegoat (unions).
4. Develop a plan to privatize.
5. Enlist wealthy donors.
6. Discredit your opponents as protectors of the “status quo”.
7. Ignore/distort contrary data.
8. Control the media message. It’s for the kids!
9. Create a “reformer” persona.
10. Hire paid consultants, lobbyists, and PR firms.
11. Get politicians to read from your script.
12. Find ambitious administrators to implement program.
13. Install your program.
14. Make a bundle.
15. Destroy public education.
16. Blame someone else.