Due to the budget overrides failing to pass, it seems incredibly likely that there will be no salary increases for teachers at all next year. Furthermore, the new evaluation system, mandated by the state and federal governments, is supposed to begin influencing teacher salary next year, with 33 percent of their income based on a combination of test scores and teacher observations by administrators. What this means is that next year teachers will only be guaranteed about two-thirds of their current salary.
The balance of teacher income will be based on ranking as compared to other teachers and, hypothetically, students performance on standardized tests, though there isn’t a standardized test created for history, foreign language, and several other subjects. Teachers who have the lowest test scores and administrative reviews, hypothetically, would only take home two-thirds of their current pay, whereas the best-rated teachers might see their salary go up by one-third. The problem is the subjectivity of the rating process.
East Valley administrators are doing their best to assure inter-rater reliability, but you can foresee nightmare lawsuit scenarios where a teacher, who is having his or her salary cut, might claim that personal grudges or, worse, racism or sexism are the reasons for a low ranking. Even if perfectly implemented, the new system turns the profession into a cut-throat world in which my success is predicated on your failure and that concept, if people were really honest in thinking about it, is not what’s best for students. For example, “good teachers” might feel justified in criticizing their co-workers (as often happens in corporate and political America) either to administrators or to students in the hopes that the negativity might have an adverse impact on student performance and administrator ratings and, therefore, boost the critical teachers’ chances of being ranked higher.
You can argue that a short-term effect of the system will be to encourage “bad teachers” to leave the profession by having their pay cut, and that may happen to some degree, but if the system becomes perpetual then it will prevent new teachers who, fresh out of college, will have to compete directly with seasoned, master teachers and will likely have to live on starting salaries in their first few years of teaching that are one-third smaller than their current levels. Statistically, this would mean that a starting teacher, whose salary might be in the neighborhood of $30,000 today, if they were to rate on the lower end during their first few years, would earn as little as $20,000 — right on the poverty line for a single person and below poverty for one with a family. Another disturbing factor is that these rules do not apply to private and charter schools, meaning that these schools will likely become more attractive to educators, further siphoning good teachers out of the public school system.
Perhaps that is the unspoken goal of our state government; the destruction of the public school system leading to the privatization of education.
Charles Johnson
Queen Creek
JMJ posted at 3:25 am on Mon, Dec 10, 2012.
Agreed. And, interrater reliability in the hands of already inadequate administrators is a scary prospect.
Even before this "new" evaluation system was implemented, the morons at the top of the educational system's food chain were unqualified to be evaluating anyone, let alone professionals with many more years' experience than they, themselves, did not possess.
Who is evaluating the morons?
Dale Whiting posted at 3:34 am on Mon, Dec 10, 2012.
Chuck
We're living in a "Red State!" Who said things have to be fair? Aren't some of these people unionized? Doesn't that make them suspect? Perhaps Leon would not object to our hiring new replacement teachers from south of the border! Here is an investment in the future of our nation that does not involve killing people overseas. Why do we not see it? Raise the sales tax and invest in a future.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 8:25 am on Mon, Dec 10, 2012.
Every "evaluation test" is going to be subjective in one way or another because we are dealing with a ...'HUMAN SITUATION".
So what do we do.....not "EVALUATE" ???
Public Education is paid for the the....."PUBLIC"....they have paid their Arizona State and US Federal Income Taxes based upon their earnings (80% of these taxes are on payroll salary)...........IN OTHER WORDS.....TAXPAYERS ARE PAYING THE SALARIES OF TEACHERS AND IT IS THEIR...."RIGHT"...TO HAVE INPUT (EVALUTATIONS) ON WHERE THEIR HARD-EARNED SALARIES ARE GOING.
TEACHERS DO NOT GO TO WORK WEEK-IN AND WEEK-OUT WITH A 2 WEEKS VACATION AND 10 HOLIDAYS (MANY OF WHICH THE TYPICAL WORKER DOES NOT GIVEN THE DAY OFF AS A TEACHER WOULD).......TEACHERS HAVE ...10DAYS PAID SICK LEAVE, A 2-4 WEEK PAID VACATION, 10 NATIONAL HOLIDAYS OFF AND .....3 MONTHS OFF DURING THE SUMMER = TEACHERS ONLY .."WORK"....7 MONTHS OF THE YEAR .........BUT ARE PAID A FULL............"YEARS SALARY" FOR 7MONTHS WORK.
DOESN'T THE ..."PUBLIC".......IN ....."PUBLIC EDUCATION"....HAVE THE RIGHT TO ..."EVALUATE"....WHERE THERE HARD-EARNED INCOME TAXES (BOTH ARIZONA AND US FEDERAL)............ARE GOING......WHY SHOULD THE "PUBLIC" PAY FOR "PUBLIC SCHOOL" TEACHERS THAT AREN'T ........."TEACHING" ?????
GOVERNMENT WORKERS ARE ......."EVALUATED".
US MILITARY MEN AND WOMEN ARE ..........."EVALUATED"
WHY SHOULDN'T ........"PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS".....BE EVALUATED ALSO.......IF THE PROCESS IS FOUND TO BE UNFAIR ....THEN IT CAN BE ADJUSTED...BUT TO LET....."POOR" OR "BAD" TEACHERS TO RUIN THE EDUCATION OF THE 20-30 STUDENTS WHO ARE............"ENTRUSTED TO THEM"........IS NOT ACCEPTABLE UNDER ANY MEANS.
Arizona Willie posted at 9:37 am on Mon, Dec 10, 2012.
Mr. Johnson, this state's government is dominated by Republicans who believe in making profits from EVERYTHING.
If given free rein they would turn every road into a toll road.
They constantly strip money out of education year after year complaining about " throwing money at the problem " although taking money away from the problem certainly has not helped.
They vote to privatize anything that can possibly be privatized whether it < should > be or not. Witness private prisons.
The only hope for the state is that perhaps one day the big one will finally strike California and drive a few million Democrats East into Aridzona as a large chunk of California floats away to Japan.
DonMey posted at 10:01 am on Mon, Dec 10, 2012.
"For example, “good teachers” might feel justified in criticizing their co-workers (as often happens in corporate and political America)"
You think this doesn't happen now?!?
And I'm going to need a source for your claim that a teacher could potentially lose a third of their salary next year. I could see them being such a bad teacher they don't qualify for raises, but to actually take away a salary they've already earned?
VofReason posted at 2:06 pm on Mon, Dec 10, 2012.
Here is something, per student funding in AZ now is about $9K per kid in public school. Anyone think that that isn't enough money to educate them? So, it means that they are spending the money incorrectly. This is the problem and has been in AZ and every other state for a long time. Many other state spend even more per student and some get less and some get better results. Maybe the discussion should start with- you get get 9K per kid. Figure out how to pay teachers and educate children. If there are 30 kids in a class that is $270,000 of funding per class of kids. The question should be, how can you not pay teachers better, provide supplies and get good education outcomes?
truth posted at 2:27 pm on Mon, Dec 10, 2012.
How can you expect governments to do the right thing? Companies: Tax breaks with uncertain results. Governments give companies billions in tax breaks and rewards each year to encourage the creation of jobs that often don't materialize. Investigation, states, counties and cities give more than $80 billion each year to companies in the form of cash rewards, workers training, and tax breaks. But officials typically don't know "if the money was worth it because they rarely track how many jobs are created." Companies often exploit the fear of outsourcing, pitting local officials "against one another to get the most lucrative package." The New Yourk Times
We the voters have no one else to blame except ourselves, we the voters elect the same morons year after year.
Arizona Willie posted at 3:35 pm on Mon, Dec 10, 2012.
VofReason, I went poking around trying to find the total budget for public education in Arizona without much luck. I know they get both State money from the Legislature and Federal funds -- but how much I've no idea.
I did find this:
As of September 2011, the Arizona K-12 public education system is comprised of the following:
The Arizona Department of Education, the State Board of Education, 15 County School Districts and hundreds of district and charter governing boards
225 School Districts, 374 charter holders and 13 Joint Technological Education Districts
Over 2200 public schools
Over 60,000 certified teachers
Over 1,000,000 students
****************
And this reveals much of the problem. 225 School Districts.
Much money goes into duplicated efforts I'm sure.
They need maybe 20 districts total.
However you claim that we spend over 9K per student and if there are 1,000,000 students that would be 9 BILLION dollars.
I doubt very very much that the total education funds for the State of Aridzona are 9 BILLION dollars a year.
I'm going to go poking around the Legislature website and see if I can find a figure for State Funding, just out of curiosity.
One problem is that a gross figure would include funding for the Universities and Community Colleges too.
Hmm, maybe it would be better to email the Superintendent of Education or whatever his title is and see if we could get a straight answer on how much is spent on K-12 statewide.
Arizona Willie posted at 4:06 pm on Mon, Dec 10, 2012.
Well guess what? I was WRONG :(
I went to the Education Superintendent's pages and found the straight scoop.
http://www.azed.gov/superintendent/files/2011/12/superintendents-annual-report-2010-11-vol-1.pdf
Everything you want to know about education funding.
It appears that the budget was indeed near 9 Billion but 3 Billion went for Maintenance. And there were 957 K students, a bit shy of a million but that is quibbling. Close enough.
As you scroll through the pages it tells you many interesting things, Such as how many schools there are of each type in each county.
There is so much information there it makes my eyes cross :)
The general impression I got was that it looks like Charter schools are draining money from the regular public schools because they have their own buildings and administrations ( with their own buildings too ). Basically Charter schools are a system of private schools paid for by taxpayers for the kids of the elite.
I believe the actual figure for money spent on kids in regular non-charter public schools is close to 6K per child. It would take me more time to figure it out than it's worth. There are so many factors including feeding the kids. It comes out of the education budget but has NOTHING to do with teaching them except that hungry kids don't learn. Just feeding poor kids takes a pretty good chunk of money.
3 Billion dollars spent on maintenance is awfully high I would think, but it would need to be compared to another state similar in population. Probably includes new school construction too. Although why they would build new schools while closing existing schools raises more questions.
Anyway, if people are interested in finding facts this link will certainly provide them all they could wish for.
http://www.azed.gov/superintendent/files/2011/12/superintendents-annual-report-2010-11-vol-1.pdf
larry who cares posted at 9:02 pm on Mon, Dec 10, 2012.
Well teachers, teachers...poor you. You want a raise when many other private companies have frozen employees wages in these tuff economic times. Tax payers keep throwing money your way, but the students don't seem to benefit, at least from reports on national test scores. I do agree, however, that much education money is wasted by top heavy administrative salaries and incompetent school districts. And some qualified dedicated teachers may be more deserving of higher pay. But your unions protect the guilty as well as the innocent. Wise up. Run your public education business like a private business, i.e. get rid of the waste and incompetents and reward the good guys. The tax payers are watching and many like myself are not at all pleased. Thankfully the 1% permanent sales tax increase did not pass. Of course i would think most citizens are for "quality" education, however, the historical records seems to point out that more money ain"t the answer.
DemocraticDad posted at 10:59 pm on Mon, Dec 10, 2012.
The American public needs to wise up. The reason we keep falling further and further behind internationally in how our students do is not the fault of our teachers. The curriculum they follow, the standardized tests that they have to teach to, and the myriad of other mandates they have to adhere to, are dictated to them by laws and regulations developed by the federal government and the states. For the most part, these laws and regulations are developed and passed by people with no background in education; people who have never worked in a classroom and have never taught a kid. Does it surprise you that what they developed in their world of not having a clue as to how kids learn does not work?
We need to look at countries that are successful educationally and model our educational programs after theirs. When we look at what the successful countries do, we find that much of it is the opposite of what we do in the United States. Finland, a country that consistently ranks 1st of 2nd in all subject areas, does things very differently from what we do.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/Why-Are-Finlands-Schools-Successful.html
Now, don't get me wrong. Do I believe that America has some bad teachers? Of course I do, but not any more than the percentages of people who do a poor job in other professions or occupations.
k33j88 posted at 5:16 am on Tue, Dec 11, 2012.
The destruction of, in my humble opinion, of the public school system should be started and, if necessary, take other nations models and mold into something we all can agree on. This is a States' right issue, and should be free of federal govn't influence. Encourage and embrace competitive educational processes, for the benefit of the students. Let the taxpayer have a more direct say in the way monies are being used and designate areas where families wish to invest, or not. Just a few thoughts----thank you.
Irons1 posted at 6:57 am on Tue, Dec 11, 2012.
Leon, you're just ignorant and shouldn't be allowed access to a computer. Larry who cares, what is it you care about? What is a raise? I wouldn't know. I haven't seen one in over five years. That's how long we've been frozen. This idea, that somehow teachers unions are so powerful in Arizona is indicative of how much Kool Aide from the red side you have been drinking. In other states, this might be true, but in wonderful Arizona, not so much. It would appear that many in this state want to just do away with public education, but of course, we all know that a less educated populace is easier to control and more likely to vote the fascist (read corporate) way. Nazis, mein Gott.
Mike McClellan posted at 9:17 am on Tue, Dec 11, 2012.
I think Mr. Johnson is incorrect in his claim that "Furthermore, the new evaluation system, mandated by the state and federal governments, is supposed to begin influencing teacher salary next year, with 33 percent of their income based on a combination of test scores and teacher observations by administrators."
I believe the correct interpretation of the new requirements is that anywhere from 33% to 50% of a teacher's evaluation is based on test results. The teachers' salaries are not based on those scores. I might be wrong, but that's how I read the new laws.
But here's the rub about testing: Will these tests include pre and post tests, or are the evaluations solely based on end of the year tests? That makes a big difference.
Here's why:
If teachers' evaluations are based solely on end of the year tests, how do evaluators know how much progress the kids in the teachers' classes have made? For example, an AP teacher might have super end of the year scores, simply because of the innate intelligence of those kids. But a teacher with struggling students will have lower scores, but might, in fact, be a better teacher.
No, to do a fair evaluation of teachers, evaluators need a pre and post test to determine how much growth the students have made in the course of a year.
Of course, the state won't provide for that, but I hope the new Common Core Curriculum that Arizona and 45 other states have adopted does.
Beyond that, I wonder how we get parents to be parents? I tutor now, and I find that some parents -- not all, but some -- are not holding up their end of the bargain.
Remember when we learned our multiplication tables, going home and drilling and killing those tables, with our parents doing the drilling? Today, I'm amazed at the number of kids who say their parents "don't have the time" to do that.
There are three contracts at school: Teachers contract with parents and kids to do the best they can with the kids; kids contract with the teachers to learn as best they can; parents contract with the kids and teachers to support the kids' learning at home.
We focus a boatload on the first two contracts, but the third one all too often is ignored. And it's a crucial one.
Quick example: We recently learned that American kids are falling behind other countries in vocabulary usage. A major reason the study gave was the relatively weak vocabularies many American kids have when they enter school, often much behind other countries.
Why is that? Because parents don't or can't hold up their end of the bargain, to read to kids and even, simply, to talk to their kids.
VofReason posted at 11:40 am on Tue, Dec 11, 2012.
Something I never get about public education is that people seem to act as though their is some anonimous "they" that make it all happen. Oddly, someone is actually hired and paid very well to hire Education managers at a number of levels. These are the people who are paid to do nothing else but think about, try different things and ultimately carry out the education of our children. If it isn't happening well and for under the 9K per student per year, I am going to question how well they are doing. I fully agree with Mike McC above about the role of parents, but that has nothing to do with school funding. Paying more into education never makes parents care more.
Teacher65 posted at 5:44 pm on Tue, Dec 11, 2012.
Larry who Cares:
Always interesting when folks say run it like a business. Oh how I wish we could. Trouble is educating children is not a business it is an endeavor, project, goal, process, etc. Example: If I am building a house I order roof trusses from a vendor. If they show up at the job sight warped, wrong size, wet, split or misnailed I send them back. I can refuse to accept the inferior materials that will never lead to a quality finished product.
In education we don't do that (thankfully). I take whatever student walks through the door regardless of their deficiencies, special needs, shortcomings, or lot in life. The day I can turn students away from the free quality public education that is offered at my school will be my last day. That would be running it like a business. It would meaning turning away children, who, through no fault of their own, may never be a great finished product. They are human beings.
Private schools pick the students that they want to educate. They are a business and are run as such. They get results because they start with better raw materials. They have a say in who attends their school. Public schools are just that public. If our goal as a society is to maintain an educated populace, then we take all comers. But if our goal is to educate only the capable students then we can run it like a business. I guess the fundemental question is: Is education a right or a privelege? When one answers that question much is learned about them.
DemocraticDad posted at 9:15 pm on Tue, Dec 11, 2012.
Excellent piece Teacher65!
VofReason posted at 11:56 am on Wed, Dec 12, 2012.
I would agree. Teacher65 puts it very well and in a new perspective. I would add though that in that perspective, I think it has to be approached as though not every kid coming out will be a rocket scientist and all we need do is have more funding to allow that to occur. Perhaps we should treat our public education more like other countries that at a point determines if you will be in the group capable of rocket science or not. Then react appropriately.
DonMey posted at 2:09 pm on Thu, Dec 20, 2012.
I wonder what subject this teacher is responsible for. I sure hope it isn't English, as reading comprehension is obviously not a strong suit.