Evaluation system ratified

The Unit A ratification system passed with over 75% of votes in favor, and votes from over half of WEA members. An evaluation section of the WEA website devoted to explaining and aiding with this new system will be in place by the end of the Veterans' Day weekend.

"Want to Ruin Teaching? Give Ratings to Teachers"

The New York Times surprisingly carried a column speaking out against the movement to judge and punish teachers that calls itself "accountability". A principal of a charter school speaks of some principles that all "education" reformers should heed. We cannot survive if we teach test-takers instead of children. One good bit:

A government-run teacher evaluation bureaucracy will make it impossible to attract great teachers and will diminish the motivation of the ones we have. It will make teaching so scripted and controlled that we won’t be able to attract smart, passionate people.

The great battle for public education today is making the profession one that attracts the best potential educators as a lifelong avocation. There exists too real a danger that attacks on public education will make it too unattractive a profession to bring in the people we all need to be preparing the next generation of Americans for the future. Thanks to the friend of Wareham education who sent me this link.