We like to keep a close eye on Communists in Americas Dairyland.

"One year after his election, President Barack Obama is coaxing states across the country to rewrite education laws and cut deals with unions

Privatize education-voucher system works for all

This is long over due,teachers need to be held accountable,if they can't teach, and are coasting to there retirement,they need to be culled from the herd.bad teachers lead to bad schools, bad students,bad test scores,bad for the entire District, they are allowed to coast through because they gray beards are still using the same plan they used in the 50s and 60s

We like to keep a close eye on Communists in Americas Dairyland.
Better RED than dead- J. P. McCarthy, Wisconsin USA (Sent Wednesday, November 04, 2009 9:19 AM)

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Say, that's right.  Good ol' Joe McCarthy was from America's Fairlyland, wasn't he??

I seriously question the ethics of tieing teacher pay to student performance.  Additionally, schools are not factories nor are students manufactured. If teacher pay is tied to student performance, wouldn't the teachers all want to teach in high performing schools?  What then, would happen to the schools that were not highly performing?  Might there be a shortage of teachers in those schools?  

Teachers in Wisconsin -- and no other public employees, including school administrators --  have had their salaries capped by legislative fiat for the past 15 years.  Teachers in Wisconsin are already teaching to those ridiculous tests, with predictable results.  This measure, born of the desperation caused by huge state deficits, will only exascerbate the problem and throw teachers under the bus for what is essentially an overall legislative failure to address the state's fiscal problems, and in particular the issue of school finance.  

And so one of the perennially top states in the country in ACT and SAT scores finally enters the dark ages.  

Well, I sure am glad my daughter has finished her time in school here and now lives in Minnesota, where there is still some sanity -- unless you count Michelle Bachmann, that is.  

Because this will only make things that are already bad that much worse.  And no one will be any smarter as a result.

 

I seriously question the ethics of tieing teacher pay to student performance.  Additionally, schools are not factories nor are students manufactured. If teacher pay is tied to student performance, wouldn't the teachers all want to teach in high performing schools?  What then, would happen to the schools that were not highly performing?  Might there be a shortage of teachers in those schools?  
Judy in AZ (Sent Wednesday, November 04, 2009 9:27 AM)

Judy, you make a good point. Also consider the pay for teachers. In most states they are among the lowest paid college graduates in the workforce. Maybe if teachers were better paid more people would go into teaching thus giving us enough skilled teachers to fill the need. Now, school distrits take what they can get due to lack of taleted teachers.

Large classes in buildings that are falling apart, with theachers helping supply school supplies, obsolete text books what few there are of them and people expect those under paid teachers in such an environment to perform like super stars. Give them the pay and the tools they need. Restrict class sizes, in other words, give them ideal conditions and then see who does well and who fails as a teacher. Those who fail don't get a renewed contract those that do well continue to teach and, of course, get raises and promotions to principal etc. Tax cuts mean less revenue for states, less revenue that must be spread thin to cover federal mandates, and basic security needs for the states. That doesn't leave much for teachers. Even with state lotteries supposedly supporting schools it isn't enough.

When legislatures want to cut back, education is often one of the first on the chopping block. This is our future but some don't seem to mind. Personally I'd rather pay for schools today rather than prisons later.

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