3,000 CITY TEACHERS FLUNK OUT OF JOBS

New York Post ^ | August 28, 2003 | CARL CAMPANILE

[sarcasm]

August 28, 2003 -- Three thousand city public school teachers have just been booted because they flunked competency exams or failed to meet other criteria to earn their state license, Department of Education officials said yesterday.

The bombshell was disclosed as scores of teachers who failed the tests - some a dozen or more times - cried racism at a rally in City Hall Park, charging the exams are culturally biased against blacks and Hispanics.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

The bombshell was disclosed as scores of teachers who failed the tests - some a dozen or more times - cried racism at a rally in City Hall Park, charging the exams are culturally biased against blacks and Hispanics.

"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son."-Dean Wormer

[agitator]

I went to PS 152.

The teachers were blue-hairs in orthopedic shoes and they could have written the test that these idiots can't pass after 13 tries. By the way, why are they getting 13 tries anyway?

Yep. It's discrimination to get rid of incompetents.

[nightdriver]

"Teachers must also eventually earn a master's degree."

I don't know that I agree with that part. There's no way that an advanced degree makes you a better teacher. It's just a political point with the phony accrediting agencies.

Is there any way we could see a sample of that test?

[martin_fierro]

[VietVet]

You can't teach what you don't know.

VietVet

[meadsjn]

Is there any way we could see a sample of that test?

Here's a link to the test outline:

Field 01: Liberal Arts and Sciences Test (LAST)

[Fraulein]

BTTT

[raisincane]

The bombshell was disclosed as scores of teachers who failed the tests - some a dozen or more times - cried racism at a rally in City Hall Park, charging the exams are culturally biased against blacks and Hispanics.

The test must have been written in English.

[Susannah]

Liberal Arts and Science Test

Always underline the real problem!

[GUNDEK]

Is this why I cannot get tax credits for sending my daughter to private school?

[rockprof]

Dumb as stumps.

[knarf]

"At the rally, Cardina Mangual, a teacher at PS 149 in Jackson Heights, Queens, said she just failed the LAST for the 12th time.

"It's discrimination. The test doesn't tell you anything you could point to in the classroom," said the native of Puerto Rico."

WTF????

[rusty millet]

Culturally biased, my foot.

It appears that the real problem is that it expects something of the test-takers (see link at 7).

[Ed_in_NJ]

This is hilarious!

They probably get 50% credit for spelling their name right, and passing grade is probably 60%!

[yankeedame]

The bombshell was disclosed as scores of teachers who failed the tests - some a dozen or more times - cried racism at a rally in City Hall Park, charging the exams are culturally biased against blacks and Hispanics.

"Women and miniorities to suffer most."

[PatrioticAmerican]

Another unfortunate item: That Masters can be in "edumacation".

[ladylib]

A 36-year-veteran of NYC's public school system called into WABC's radio talk show today and mocked out the teachers who couldn't pass the test.

He said when he trained to become a teacher 36 years ago, you would never be permitted to take a test a dozen times. You would be booted out of the education school.

He also said that if a teacher has a speech impediment such as a lisp, that teacher would be required to go to speech therapy before he was allowed in the classroom. He said that teachers with heavy foreign accents (such as a German accent) either cleared up that accent or they were not permitted to teach in the classroom. The thought back then (how novel) was that students had a right to understand what the teacher was saying.

In K-8, teachers had to be able to teach all subjects. If the principal wanted an English teacher to teach 8th grade math because of staff constraints, that teacher had to be able to do it successfully.

He said the problem began in the early 70's when teaching became a jobs program rife with cronyism.

[KC_for_Freedom]

Looks like the test covers the things a teacher should know, and it does appear that it is biased against an undeucated person. For example, the math related questions appear to be at a level that would not be passed by someone who has never studied math or who studied math but did not understand it or do well.

Likewise, the requirement for an essay will verify that a candidate can reason logically and present ideas in an expository order. This is something that most high school kids have a little trouble with, so I would assume a teacher without preparation in essay writing would have trouble.

The bottom like is that teachers should know the material they teahch be able to pass the kinds of tests they expect their students to be able to pass.

[ladylib]

"Stupid women and minorities suffer most."