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Good rant.

Here are my observations from teaching kindergarten in an upper middle class school and then teaching jr. high Title math in a very poor, rural school.
Good teachers are going to be good no matter their training or education same for bad. Students and teacher either connect and respect/like each other, are indifferent, or hate you. The good teacher will get the poor student to achieve, when the relationship is indifferent, than the student gets by, but when they hate each other, it is very difficult to get through the emotion and down to the task at hand. My main problems with my coworkers was when some coaches (I coached too) shut down their class during their season. They became worksheet teachers and it was very annoying for the kids. The teacher would then collect a homework worksheet and assign it 50 points. If the student didn't do it, they were screwed for the grading period. The other problem is that when a teacher is bad, we basically have to wait for them to retire.

Parent involvement is the main reason why students don't so well. In the poor school, we had 3rd generation reliefers, and there was literally no incentive for the kids because they knew big brother would give them money. We had parents that would take kids to be tested for disabilities so they could qualify for SS disability. Then the kids would literally fail their classes and the parents don't care because they are still getting paid. If the govt is going to give kids SSD, than it should also be tied to achievement. These kids were dumb like a fox. They knew how to play and beat the system at the age of 13. The govt should only give money (whether it is welfare or SSD) based on student achievement or somehow hold their parents accountable. I am sure we would see a big lift in grades and state test scores if that were the case. We had kids getting free lunch and breakfast than selling it to other students! Like I said, dumb like a fox.

I taught Title 1 Math. I was to be in the classroom working with teachers. When teachers didn't want me there, I literally was not allowed to do anything. I was bent down at a student's desk trying to help him and the teacher called on him. When the student wasn't able to answer the teacher, he was yelled at. Then, I was not allowed to remove students from the room because it nay hurt their esteem. My job was to improve students math skills that were at risk, but not special ed. How was I to do that? I was not allowed to introduce new material. I wasn't allowed to remove them from the room. The classroom teacher has control of the room and what they say goes. I was to support them. One of the 4 teacher used to give me Fridays with the whole class where I made games or fun activities based on the week's lesson. Those kids got better, but 25% teacher cooperation is not going to make a successful program. I talked to many higher ups and was told that I was to just do the best I could.

The govt should only give money (whether it is welfare or SSD) based on student achievement or somehow hold their parents accountable. I am sure we would see a big lift in grades and state test scores if that were the case.

Before there was welfare, a kid who did well would be able to support himself, help out his siblings, and be able to take care of his parents in their old age (no social security either), while a kid who did poorly would continue to be a burden to his parents into adulthood.

This was a VERY powerful motivating factor for the parents. Things started falling apart when people could count on a government check for being disfunctional.