Don't scapegoat the teachers [View All]

Don't scapegoat the teachers

To help students, they need tools, time and trust from administrators.
By Randi Weingarten

Applauding the mass firings at Central Falls High School — despite the real progress underway — is the latest clarion call by the blame-the-teacher crowd. Rather than sharing responsibility, administrators there chose to scapegoat the teachers who have helped bring about double-digit gains in student achievement at the struggling school.

The "fire them all" approach doesn't reflect the complexity of teaching in challenging schools. In their quest for a silver bullet, administrators instead are chasing what experience shows is a failed approach.

Central Falls High School teachers should be lauded for helping to boost reading and writing scores by 22% and 14%, respectively, over the past two years, despite the disruptive turnover in principals, assistant principals and programs with each new administrator. The school board and superintendent should have asked what they could do to help good teachers become great teachers. Teachers need tools, time and trust from administrators to help students succeed.

Great teaching is a crucial, although not the sole, element in a child's education. Teachers believe that they should be heldaccountable, along with others. That's why the Central Falls teachers agreed months before any threat of firing to work collaboratively with school administrators to develop rigorous and fair teacher evaluations and put in place reform programs proven to boost achievement.

Speaking of accountability, let's bust some myths about tenure. Tenure is not a lifetime job guarantee, nor should it be. It ensures a fair hearing before a teacher can be disciplined or fired. School districts need to get serious about properly developing and evaluating teachers. If a teacher is deemed ineffective after being given appropriate support and assistance, then he or she should choose a different profession.

We agree that when teachers are accused of misconduct, they should be removed from the classroom immediately and these cases should be dealt with much faster. The American Federation of Teachers is working with Kenneth Feinberg, known as a master problem-solver, to develop a fair, efficient protocol for dealing with these cases.

The bottom line is that every child needs a well-prepared teacher. We're doing our part by helping to revamp teacher development, evaluation and due process. Now we need others to do their part. Our students deserve nothing less.

Randi Weingarten is president of the American Federation of Teachers.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2010/03/opposing-view-dont-scapegoat-the-teachers.html#more