Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Blaming Teachers Is Easy, But Is It Fair?

Central Falls High, a struggling school in Rhode Island, recently fired all its teachers, in large part because only 7 percent of its 11th graders passed the state's math test.

But here's the question: Are the teachers at fault?

According to George McLaughlin, one of those fired teachers: No. They probably deserve a portion of the blame but now, we're just being stepped on.

[If] you ignore your own policies of due process,
you ignore the rights of employees.
I mean, how do you look in the face of a PE teacher,
a history teacher or a cafeteria worker and say:
The reason you don't have a job is because our fourth graders,
compared to last year's fourth graders,
didn't do well on a math and reading test?
NEA President Dennis Van Roekel:

This from NPR:

When schools are failing and students aren't learning, who is responsible? The answer these days seems to be teachers. When it comes to education reform, most of the current focus is on making teachers accountable for their students' performance. But is it fair to assign so much of the burden for the success or failure of schools to teachers? NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports.

Listen to the Story
[4 min 24 sec]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

As an employee of Fayette County Public Schools, I've gotten used to being blamed. Isn't that the way it should be in "It about Kids" world.

Anonymous said...

Why are the first teachers a child ever has not blamed? The parents are the preschool teachers before anyone else. They mold and shape that child. Their role model skills are continually watched by that child. But alas, they grow weary and turn it over to the babysitting TV. Do I need to say more? Fire those parents first for failing to be real parents. Parents are responsible for that life from the time it is conceived. It is a continuous learning experience for both child and parents. Growth is with all . It takes everyone working together to produce a good student, and it starts and ends with the child's first teachers, the parents.