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WESTPORT, Conn. – Gov. Dannel Malloy’s proposal for education reform, including plans for stricter teacher evaluations, makes some educators such as Westport teacher Kerstin Warner feel vulnerable.
Warner, a teacher in the gifted program at Bedford Middle School, told Westport and Weston state legislators that she and many of her colleagues believe school administrators would be given too much power under the proposed reforms.
“I fear what would happen to me if the administration took a disliking to me and gave me poor evaluations. My license could go down; I can lose my job and not get hired in another district,” Warner, who has been teaching for 26 years, said during Wednesday night’s public forum. It was led by state Sen. Toni Boucher, a Republican; Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, a Democrat; Rep. John Shaban, a Republican; and Sen. John McKinney, a Republican.
Under the proposed education reforms, a new four-level rating system for teacher evaluations would be imposed. The evaluations would focus heavily on student growth and development.
“I feel this reduces us from teachers to line items,” Warner said. “This is the first year I’ve felt incredibly vulnerable. Why? Simply because I see administrators can hire two beginning teachers for the price of one veteran teacher.”
Staples High School teacher Angela Simpson echoed Warner’s concerns. She said she finds it troubling that student performance will weigh heavily on teacher evaluations because a number of factors outside the classroom can affect a student’s performance.
Simpson also expressed concern over changes to teacher certification and tenure. Under the proposal, certification would be changed to three levels: "initial," "professional" and "master," and would be based on performance instead of seat time-based regulations. Tenure would also be awarded based on readiness, not time, and would essentially be based on evaluations.
“I think about the tens of thousands I spent on my education, going beyond a master’s,” Simpson said. “I’d like to be reassured that that would be weighed into how I’m evaluated.”
John Horrigan, a teacher and librarian at Coleytown Middle School, told the state legislators he believes the proposed reforms, as written, would discourage people from going into the education field.
Steinberg, who represents Westport, said the proposal is meant to get legislators thinking. He told the educators in attendance not give up hope.
“Don’t get discouraged yet. It’s too early to be discouraged," he said. "It would be a tragedy for our students in Connecticut if our teachers decide prematurely that it’s all over."
Read more about the governor's proposal on education reform below.
Attached: (educationreform2012.pdf)
Comments (3)
The vast majority of teachers work very hard and do a good job. That said, it's frustrating to hear some teachers trot out the same old tired arguments every time there is an attempt to measure their performance or institute some accountability. "This system is no good because it creates the potential for unfairness," they cry. So should we not make any attempt at all to measure whether or not students are learning or whether or not a particular teacher is effective? No evaluation system will be perfect, but there needs to be some sort of yardstick to evaluate what kind of return taxpayers get on all the money spent on education. Teachers should be part of the process, and I would be thrilled to see teachers take some initiative and propose a reasonable evaluation which minimizes the possibility of unfair bias or politics leading to a negative review.
In private businesses, an employee who said "you can't evaluate my performance because the evaluation process might be unfair" would be laughed out of the building.
At the same time that we are talking about accountability for teachers, how about some accountability for parents? Ultimately what happens at home between 3PM and 7AM is just as important, if not more important, than what happens at school. How about financial penalties for parents of chronically misbehaving or nonperforming students? Let those uninvolved parents reimburse taxpayers for wasting the resources spent on trying to educate their children. If we as taxpayers pay the high cost of teachers, textbooks, school buildings, etc, and you allow your son or daughter to waste it all by acting out or not doing homework, then kindly reimburse us. Cash, check, or money order will be fine.
The teachers should be fearful. Finally, just like every other profession their job security would be based on performance rather than the make believe land of tenure. The potential shift of power from the teacher’s unions to the administrators, where it belongs, should have them quaking in their boots. Teachers will actually have to prove their competence and commitment beyond the first three years of employment. Any teacher discouraged from the field because of reform, good riddance. When a teacher is fearful, that spells real reform.
Can someone explain to me the benefits of tenure to a school system?
Thank you,
dawn egan