Thank you, labor unions ......

[DinoDoc]

Are you telling me the performance gap between black and white children is a product of lazy teachers?

Do black children not exist outside of Chicago? Because there's a hell of a lot of school districts that seem to have a better educational record than the teachers of that city.

[Lorizael]

Are you telling me that I should just assume that Chicago teachers are either terrible at their jobs or just unable to teach black children?

The third scenario is that there are circumstances beyond the teachers' control that make education in Chicago difficult. I'm sure there are terrible teachers, I'm sure there are teachers who are uninterested, and I'm sure there are teachers who try as hard as they can but run up against societal issues. And I'm sure there are good teachers who get the job done, too. We should find out why some teachers are able to succeed when others can't and promote that.

[giblets]

Do black children not exist outside of Chicago? Because there's a hell of a lot of school districts that seem to have a better educational record than the teachers of that city.

Clearly the only conceivable explanation is that Chicago systematically hires terrible teachers who have no interest in education but decide to babysit a room full of brats for a living anyway.

[Felch]

But Lori, evaluating teacher's performance isn't fair to the lazy pieces of **** who don't care if the kids can read.

[Felch]

Clearly the only conceivable explanation is that Chicago systematically hires terrible teachers who have no interest in education but decide to babysit a room full of brats for a living anyway.

Everybody involved in hiring hires terrible people. The problem Chicago has is that they are unable to identify or eliminate those teachers who suck. It's the union that wants bad teachers in the classroom, not me and not DinoDoc.

[DinoDoc]

Given the hysterical reaction that had to being held accountable for performance, what conclusion are we supposed to draw?

[giblets]

Everybody involved in hiring hires terrible people. The problem Chicago has is that they are unable to identify or eliminate those teachers who suck. It's the union that wants bad teachers in the classroom, not me and not DinoDoc.

Yes, the only conceivable reason to object to standardized testing is a desire to not be held accountable for performance.

[Felch]

Yes, the only conceivable reason to object to standardized testing is a desire to not be held accountable for performance.

Teachers aren't striking over NCLB, or any other standardized testing regime. They're striking to not be held accountable.

Rauner is so politically powerful he brought Stand for Children to Illinois to spearhead the controversial Senate Bill 7, which, among other significant changes, made teacher performance the chief component in job security, not seniority.

God forbid teacher performance be used to see if we should keep them.

[Lorizael]

But Lori, evaluating teacher's performance isn't fair to the lazy pieces of **** who don't care if the kids can read.

Yeah, some teachers need to be fired. The teaching profession is an important, special one in society that needs to be protected, but that doesn't mean every teacher is important and special and in need of protection. In fact, teaching would be better served by getting rid of bad teachers / transforming bad teachers into good teachers.

[Felch]

It's not just getting rid of bad teachers. It's also rewarding the ones who do put in the extra effort, and who give a **** if their kids can read. But I guess gribbler doesn't care if they get the recognition or rewards that they deserve.

[giblets]

Teachers aren't striking over NCLB, or any other standardized testing regime. They're striking to not be held accountable.



God forbid teacher performance be used to see if we should keep them.

How exactly could they strike over federal law? They can't get rid of standardized testing, they can only seek to limit its impact.

[Lorizael]

It's also rewarding the ones who do put in the extra effort, and who give a **** if their kids can read.

Indeed.

[giblets]

I wonder how well you would learn your ABCs in an overcrowded classroom where 10 percent of the children have asthma, 20 percent didn't get a good night's sleep and another 30 percent are recovering from witnessing a shooting in their neighborhood? Not to mention the number of students who haven't had two solid meals since their last school lesson.

Obviously the bad test scores are a product of those no-good lazy teachers.

[Felch]

How exactly could they strike over federal law? They can't get rid of standardized testing, they can only seek to limit its impact.

Right. They don't care about the testing per se, they just don't want to be held accountable for how their student's perform. Which is exactly my point.

Remember, if they really were opposed to testing because they oppose testing, they are within their rights to organize, protest, and petition Congress for a redress of their grievances. Hasn't happened though.

Here's what the AFT has to say about NCLB.

And here's the NEA's take on NCLB.

It's almost as though the two biggest teacher's unions in the US didn't really care about standardized testing. What they hate, what they revile, what they refuse to tolerate, is being held accountable for how their students perform.

[Felch]

Obviously the bad test scores are a product of those no-good lazy teachers.

That's Karen Lewis's pathetic excuse for CPS's widespread failures. I'm not surprised that you mistake an opinion piece for factual journalism.