Comments on: Results Vary Widely In Teacher Evaluations

By: Andrea

Andrea — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 03:45:16 +0000

Can anybody find out how much money the company who markets this Danielson model software is making from Escambia County? I’m a teacher in this county, and I can truly say this evaluation system is a load of C – R – A – P. Downtown knows it is dysfunctional, but nobody there is stepping up to say it needs to be thrown out. The DOER is correct in saying that veteran teachers are getting ready to throw in the towel and go teach somewhere else. We need leadership that’s not afraid to admit that something is not working right!

By: David Huie Green

David Huie Green — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 21:16:12 +0000

Billy D,
It would make life and education much better for the rest of the children, the ones who want to learn, and avoid teacher burn-out.

David for loooong time-outs

By: Billy D

Billy D — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 16:24:39 +0000

@ anit, so would you say the same for getting rid of the kids who WILL NOT LEARN? Will you say the same thing about the kids who DON’T GIVE A CRAP? Will you say the same thing about the parents of these same kids who DON’T SUPPORT LEARNING? Yes, there are teachers who really don’t get the message across as well as others and probably should find other employment. But the story here is about how the teachers are evaluated as a whole which is subjective at it’s best and the system is compromised by the “good ol’ boy system” sometimes unfortunately. I’d say a vast majority of teachers are actually good at what they do. I’d also say that a large majority of the kids are getting the message. Sad thing is the people who DON’T CARE are the ones who garner 99% of the attention because at some point ALL the teachers are teaching to the lowest common denominator. The lowest common denominator can ruin your whole day(or career in this instance)

By: anit

anit — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 03:18:58 +0000

Do away with the union that protects the teacher that

1. Cannot teach
2. Will not teach

Period.

The Teachers Union and what they do to protect “teachers” that are mentioned in points one and two, are defenseless…period.

By: David Huie Green

David Huie Green — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 00:12:42 +0000

97.9% were considered at least effective in an evaluation supposedly skewed against them.
One out of fifty wasn’t?

Why are we screaming, crying, cursing????

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 16:18:23 +0000

Very well said Doer. Before determining that being labeled “unsatisfactory” means they are bad teachers and should be fired, think about it. Even if all of your students make adequate yearly progress but do not reach an arbitrary score called VAM (value added model) you can be deemed unsatisfactory. The state is going to need to research this carefully or we will loose some of our best teachers. Even teachers in A+ schools can loose their jobs because they are rated against each other within the school. This is not a true evaluation system of the individual.

By: Billy D

Billy D — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 16:03:16 +0000

@DOER, very well said and when you add in the pure subjective nature of some of the evals it’s even more frustrating. What most people don’t understand(or WANT to hear) is that most teachers out there are putting out a very good product. When you have a group or certain demographic of kids who just don’t care to learn, it compromises the entire process behind a teachers yearly evaluation. A career and technical teacher may administer the math FCAT for a group of kids and THAT teacher will be eval’d and critiqued on that test, even though they have never taught these kids a single day that year! A reading teacher who attempts teaching a group of kids the simple task of reading is often given a substandard grade for kids who could care less about reading but the TEACHER has to suffer for it. Learning starts at home….the sad part is some of what’s being taught is how to get a free ride, not how to acheive greatness with what you have in your head. Too bad some people don’t want to break that cycle. Kuddo’s to our educators everywhere. Many long days and sleepless nights are given with little to no appreciation in return.

By: Gembeaux

Gembeaux — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 13:56:42 +0000

I have experience as a teacher in both public and private schools, high school and college levels, and I have to agree with The DOER. The Danielson model is an example of someone’s (half-baked) pet project run amok. Not only are lazy and poor teachers made comfortable, the majority of capable, dedicated teachers have to suffer from the effects of those less productive instructors.
The meaningless teacher evals, the retention of poor or incompetent teachers, and the churning out of ujprepared, poorly educated graduates of the public school system are the primary reasons that there is such a strong surge in numbers of private schools.

By: M

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 12:39:47 +0000

The headline should read; Bad Teachers fired after recieving unsatisfactory evaluations. Why do we keep them, and why not at least identify them so that parents could at least remove their children from the bad teacher’s classes?

By: The DOER

The DOER — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 12:30:58 +0000

The new teacher evaluation system is preposterous. Everyone would agree, including dedicated instructional leaders, that teachers need to be held accountable, as anyone in a professional position should; however, the new system is nothing more than a paper trail. Using observations, based on a Charlotte Danielson model (for Escambia County, FL), which DEMANDS that all of your instruction is student-led, this alone counts for 50% of the teacher’s score. The Danielson model is the silliest thing I have ever seen in my 25 years of successful teaching. There is nothing wrong with student activities throughout the class period, but now teachers are expected to allow the students to decide what effort they want to put in for the assignments/lessons. This is student-led instruction. Fifty percent of a teacher’s evaluation comes from this new concept. This works well with advanced or highly motivated classes. This is the worst model ever, however, for the majority of the classes.

Isn’t this exactly the OPPOSITE idea of what goes on in a college-setting? Florida needs to wake up. ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Florida needs to wake up.

The remaining 50% of the teacher’s evaluation comes from the learning gains for selected students under his/her instruction. Those gains are only for reading or math. It doesn’t matter what you teach. Oh, and if you simply are employed with the distrcit, let’s say as a tech person, you will get the district average. That really means that this 50% for you can potentially be higher than a PE teacher who is being evaluating on the school’s reading scores. Yea, and you don’t even teach reading.

Many veteran teachers are getting ready to throw in the towel. The new teachers, who can be easily duped because they are so job-scared are left out to dry. In the end, it is our students who suffer the most.