[kingu]

The VAST majority of teachers that I daily observe hardly ever stop working. Even eating their lunch is alternated with grading papers, calling parents, xeroxing handouts (when there is paper to do so!), etc. And the ludicrous Commie Core Curriculum and Danielson evaluation system (nothing but a time-leaching gotcha system) take away further time from the essentials, like WRITING LESSONS. Teachers have to be mainly concerned with jumping through the 22 hoops that the Danielson evaluation system demands, and offer “artifacts” of their teaching, to prove that they taught according to the 22 criteria.

Self inflicted wounds; take away the teacher's unions and most of the dogma goes away, since it is proposed, pushed, and supported by the teacher unions themselves. I have never heard of any private NON-educational group which pushes for anything more than standardized testing to gauge performance. Certainly no conservative group which would push for daily reports of student progress according to 22 criteria.

All I want, what most anyone wants, is schools to turn out students who can read, do basic math, and think through a basic problem, and to think on their own without being told what the 'answer' is.

[EinNYC]

The Danielson evaluation system with its 22 points of "gotcha" is very very NOT wanted by teachers. All I have to do is see their weary, exhausted heads bowed over a computer, gradebook, lesson plan, watch them shake their heads, etc. Or give them a shoutout: "Hey, everybody--who wants Danielson?" I would be "rewarded" with lots of dirty looks for my trouble, you can bet. It is the politicians who constantly push for these things, plus longer school days and years.