Comments on: Florida House Passes Bill Linking Teacher Pay To Student Performace

By: taylor4730

taylor4730 — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 22:57:52 +0000

I hate this for the teacher’s they already have a hard enough job as it is. How about if your kid has 2 unexcused absences in a 9 week period they have to be home schooled. These kids and parents these days need to be held accountable for what they do and do not do. This has nothing to do with the quality of teachers we have. Same as the cops they have a hard job and always get the bad rap. Stop and look at your own children and their grades if you can’t make them learn and behave how is a teacher going to do it 1-5 hours a day.

By: Donna

Donna — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 21:24:39 +0000

justsayin:

I feel the same way you do. I would love for anyone who feels it is necessary to come and observe me as I teach. In fact, I welcome it. I also agree that I am so over all of this.

By: justsayin

justsayin — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 04:26:19 +0000

CONCERNED PARENT, I paid well over $10 to certify in two subject areas, along with other required endorsements. I spend countless hours of my off time in classes to keep my current certification. The state of Florida did not contribute one penny to my education.

So, if you want to discuss how this compares to other licensing, I don’t have certification insurance. I don’t have liability insurance. I don’t have a lawyer on retainer. My certification isn’t dependent on my breaking the law, it will be dependent on the type of students sitting in my class and the test they that was designed by A TEXTBOOK company. Is your driver’s license connected to the type of car you drive or the quality of the roads? Really?

If this bill passes, I won’t have any assurance of my employment unless I can pick my students. There are other ways to assess the quality of my work. I would welcome an administrator to spend more than 10 minutes in my classroom. I would love to have other teachers observe my teaching. I’m happy to put it on video for all to see. I’ll be happy to take a test annually to prove my competence. I’ll pass it because I am highly qualified for my job. I have no problem with proving that I’m a dedicated professional with the necessary skills to do my job.

Just please don’t penalize me if my students do not fit in the “highest percentile” in the school. If you do that, then you’ll soon find that students are lumped together by ability. Teachers with political pull and family/social connections will have high performing students, the rest of us will not. There will be an invisible line drawn between the kids that excel and those who do not.

This bill is not for the children of Florida. It is designed to sell a test to the state then sell curriculum to the state that is based on the test. They, the publishing companies, have milked the FCAT all they can. They, the publishing companies, are running scared because states are running out of money to buy shiny new books with inaccurate information in them. What if there was a law that mandated you purchase all new appliances for your home every six years? It doesn’t matter that the old ones work. It doesn’t matter if you were successful with the old appliances. By the way, your neighbors voted for this particular brand so you must also purchase that brand. bah! I grow tired of this!

I have nothing further to say on this matter. I’m over it.

By: A. Davis

A. Davis — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 04:03:19 +0000

As a parent with children with disabilities I think this is great maybe now they will be able to learn instead of being changed around so much maybe this will show how these children are left behind.

By: Concerned Parent

Concerned Parent — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 22:20:49 +0000

Old Cherokee~ This bill does not work like that. You don’t just have one year of kids perform well and get a raise, then move that same class to the next teacher! The teacher will have to have their students make the “set level” of gains each year to get his/her salary…it is not a raise. There are so many problems with this bill. The first of which is they have not created the tests yet and we don’t know what the requirements will be to show gains. The state of Florida already spends MILLIONS of dollars on the FCAT and that only impacts students in grades 3-10. Now the district (our tax dollars at work here) we have to create tests to all the other grades and all subjects. This includes music, art, phy. ed, biology, physics, web design, agriculture, band, chorus, video productions, learning strategies, Spanish, French, social studies, Am. Govn’t, shall I go on? Does anyone else see $$$$$$$$$$$$$? Did I mention that after we spend the money to create these tests, then we have to pay to have them graded, then we have to pay to have the data analyzed, then we have to pay someone to figure out which teachers have the highest scores and pay them a set amount, and so on and so on.

But hey, this is GREAT for the state of Florida. Think of all the jobs it will create, unless they outsource it to another state or county. Have you hever heard of Ignite! It is a software company developed by Neil Bush to help students perform well on Standardized tests. It is very big in the states of Texas and Florida…I am not sure why…perhaps because he had bothers that worked in those states. Ignite recently fired 42% of their employees and outsourced the work to Mexico.

By: test test test

test test test — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:46:54 +0000

I hope ever one will not be up set about their children teacher next year because all the good ones will be gone. How can a teacher teach a child that comes to school 2 days this week 3 the next and 1 the next week? How can a child that is on a third grade level taking a fifth grade level fcat pass it. YOU THINK THIS IS FAIR TO THE TEACHERS ? To the person that thinks this is the best thing for the state of Flordia. No it is the best thing for the other states because all our great teachers are going to be teaching in these states.I agree that bad teachers should go but this should not be based on a childs test scores. Pray for all the teachers next year when a student comes to school to take the FCAT that has been up all night parents are fighting,the teacher that sees a student christmas tree in all their answers after she has worked after school with out pay to help these students, a students that is mad , a student that has lost a parent or grandparent 2 or 3 days before the FCAT. If you do not like what the teachers are doing send them back to Alabama. Some of you making these statements have family coning to Flordia schools that live in Alabama. I have always been in support of these children coming to our schools because they are great kids.

By: Just An Old Soldier

Just An Old Soldier — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 15:37:22 +0000

Every time big government gets involved in the process it adds cost, not quality. Every taxpayer will pay more (and the State already has a BIG deficit – so who is going to pay the bill? – rhetorical), and teachers will see the writing on the wall and leave an already difficult job for something easier to do for better money. Our public schools work best under local control and that is under parents, local school boards, and the county citizens for whom the school system works in the public interest – and without unions, another cost-adder and quality decreaser, I might add.

It’s a sad day in Florida to see this bill passed – sad for students, teachers, parents, and our state citizens at large. I hope Gov. Christ has the intestinal fortitude to veto it.

By: Donna, formerly B

Donna, formerly B — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:57:57 +0000

Responding to wish you were in office:

What do you think is going to happen now? Do you really think that this will stop “teaching to the test”? That won’t happen because this bill does nothing to address the fact that “bad” teachers will still be employeed, no matter what. They may not get a raise but as long as they have that contract, they are safe. New teachers on the other hand, will be terrified to do anything else for fear of losing their certification based on circumstances that may be out of their control. Stop blaming all teachers for everything that is wrong with the education system. Yes, there are some bad apples, but throw those out, not the whole crop!

By: Old Cherokee

Old Cherokee — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 11:02:53 +0000

Concerned Parent–In response to your question, “Do you think this will encourage cooperation and sharing of resources among teachers or competition”?
If it were me, I’d say cooperation. I’d say “Hey guys, lets put all the fast learners in one class, draw straws to see who gets to teach it first”. As soon as that teacher gets a raise, hand that class off to the next teacher in line, and so on.

By: A Watchman

A Watchman — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 10:44:40 +0000

The teachers are not in control of the system, the school district is.
WHY ISN’T MR. THOMAS’s pay indexed to the performance of the district schools?

The entire syystem of education is out of date, designed for an economy and a society of 200 years ago! We must redesign the way teachers are taught to change the way they teach and the outcome of their teaching.

Doing the same thing the same way and expecting a different result is MADNESS. Beating an over-loaded horse will only kill the horse not lighten the load. Where is the wisdom in that?

We need wisdom & character in the state legislature, not showmanship! Vote em ALL OUT!