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I had to reread this article several times to make sure I was truly seeing what I thought I was seeing. In a union, Democratic stronghold, it may be possible that teachers will trade tenure, raise guarantees, and seniority for what is in essence merit pay.

If Rhee can get this to go through it will be ground-breaking and may change the face of teacher contracts in both union and non-union districts.

1 posted on 07/03/2008 6:16:20 AM PDT by SoftballMominVA
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To: SoftballMominVA; Gabz; abclily; aberaussie; albertp; AliVeritas; AnAmericanMother; andie74; ...

Public Education Ping

This list is for intellectual discussion of articles and issues related to public education (including charter schools) from the preschool to university level. Items more appropriately placed on the “Naughty Teacher” list, “Another reason to Homeschool” list, or of a general public-school-bashing nature will not be pinged.

If you would like to be on or off this list, please freepmail Amelia, Gabz, Shag377, or SoftballMominVa

2 posted on 07/03/2008 6:17:18 AM PDT by SoftballMominVA
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To: SoftballMominVA

This would crack the union like Humpty Dumpty.


3 posted on 07/03/2008 6:17:50 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: SoftballMominVA

Teachers’ unions would let the scheme go through in order to get that big money. Then, once in, they would sue the daylights out of any district that denied teachers (especially women or minorities) new contracts once they’ve opted for “the green”.


6 posted on 07/03/2008 6:23:34 AM PDT by Migraine (Diversity is great (until it happens to YOU)...)
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To: SoftballMominVA

Giving teacher more money to actually do their jobs the right way? Crazy.


7 posted on 07/03/2008 6:27:26 AM PDT by rawhide
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To: SoftballMominVA
I'd have to see the details but, on the face of it, it's not that impressive. The plan hinges on some amorphous interpretation of "merit". We've all seen how THAT gets padded in public education. It's a practically meaningless concept.

And how would the loss of bumping privileges really affect the teachers? Public education isn't cyclical. It's not like a downturn in the stock market is going to lead to massive layoffs where such privileges would seriously come into play.

To me, it just looks like a sneaky way to slip in an absurd bonus structure.

10 posted on 07/03/2008 6:31:42 AM PDT by Psycho_Bunny (Islam: Imagine a clown car.........with guns.)
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To: SoftballMominVA; All

Hrm. I am sort of on the wall about this one.

While I like the concept, it must be done on a case by case basis. For instance, I teach low performing students. If I raise scores of those students, I have really done something.

What about those who teach the consistently high performing? Do they get anything for that? I mean, most of those kids will be at the maximum point anyway, so there is no room for improvement and ipso facto, no performance raise.

Done correctly and more importantly, fairly, this could be a good thing. I would like to know up front and in writing what would be taken into consideration and such. There are a lot of mitigating factors going into something like this before I would sign off on it.

Knee-jerk reaction is to think ‘Oh Yeah! Stick it to them,” but there are too many things that can go wrong and a good teacher can be without a job.


12 posted on 07/03/2008 6:37:03 AM PDT by shag377 (Illegitimis nil carborundum sunt!)
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To: SoftballMominVA

It may be an attempt to weed out the capitalists and conservative teachers.


17 posted on 07/03/2008 6:59:47 AM PDT by Redleg Duke ("All gave some, and some gave all!")
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To: SoftballMominVA; shag377

very interesting...

like shag, i am especially interested in the details yet to be determined. my primary special ed students can and have made great progress, but passing the sol’s that begin in the 3rd grade can be a very different story.

many years back i was the victim of bumping rights. i had worked as a teacher consultant for the early childhood programs in my district for 5 years but i had only been a teacher there for a total of 7 years. when it came time to cut a consultant position, i had lower seniority than another teacher who had taught there about 10 years but only one as a part time consultant. she took over the early childhood programs even though she had only worked with the upper elementary populations. seniority doesn’t always equal more qualified. i left the state.


18 posted on 07/03/2008 7:09:35 AM PDT by leda (don't forget the baby shoes)
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To: SoftballMominVA

I don’t think there will be too many takers that will relinquish tenure, although they ARE making it very tempting to do so.


19 posted on 07/03/2008 10:08:59 AM PDT by Born Conservative (Visit my blog: Chronic Positivity - http://chronicpositivity.com)
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To: SoftballMominVA
Those who voluntarily go into the green tier would receive thousands of dollars in bonuses and raises, funded with foundation grants, for relinquishing tenure. Teachers in the green tier would be reviewed yearly and would be allowed to continue in their jobs only if they passed an evaluation and boosted students' test scores

Hey, I'd take that bet....and I think I'd win. ;-)

21 posted on 07/03/2008 11:57:45 AM PDT by Amelia
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