Category Archives: Teacher’s Unions

Darrel Deide on Teachers’ Unions

In The Idaho Statesman’s Reader’s View of 10-9-2011, Darrel Deide makes several assertions about teachers’ unions that deserve examination. Is the teachers’ union (IEA)  a monopoly, as Deide says it is? Yes, in the sense that the other large teachers’ … Continue reading

Posted in Education Reform, Teacher's Unions | Comments Off on Darrel Deide on Teachers’ Unions

Finland

They say that comparisons are odious. Nevertheless, the educational achievements of Finland and the U. S. are frequently compared by Reformists (Politicians, Pundits, Polemicists, and all too many Professors who should know better and perhaps do), and the U. S. … Continue reading

Posted in Curriculum, Education Reform, School Program, Teacher Accountability, Teacher's Unions | Comments Off on Finland

Teacher-bonus Strategies

Idaho state law now mandates pay-for-performance for teachers, but school districts retain latitude in how p-f-p plans will be structured and administered. “With a Sept. 1 deadline nearing, administrators and teachers throughout Idaho are hammering out local approaches that will … Continue reading

Posted in Education Reform, Teacher Accountability, Teacher Compensation, Teacher's Unions | Comments Off on Teacher-bonus Strategies

Teacher Rage

Teacher rage? Yes. Why? The media propound the pronouncements of Politicians, Pundits, Polemicists, and all too many Professors Who Should Know Better, that “teacher rage,” insofar as we are capable of such a thing, can be motivated by nothing more … Continue reading

Posted in Education Reform, Teacher's Unions | Comments Off on Teacher Rage

Diane Ravitch Says It…

I will spare you a rant today, because Diane Ravitch says it better than I could, so I send you the link:   http://www.npr.org/2011/04/28/135142895/ravitch-standardized-testing-undermines-teaching The audio, it seems, will not be available until after 5 PM today. The accompanying rebuttal by … Continue reading

Posted in Education Reform, Teacher's Unions | Comments Off on Diane Ravitch Says It…

House Education Committee Remarks for 3-2-2011

Bills 1108 and 1110 We English teachers like booklists. Here are the five best I have read relevant to current issues in School Reform. All are currently in print, I think: The Death and Life of the Great American School … Continue reading

Posted in Education Reform, Teacher's Unions | 1 Comment

Thoughts on Bad Teachers

Politicians, Pundits, Polemicists, and some Professors Who Probably Know Better harp at us through the media that American Public Education is sick unto death. It needs to be reformed from top to bottom. The very assumptions that form the basis … Continue reading

Posted in Education Reform, Teacher Accountability, Teacher's Unions | Comments Off on Thoughts on Bad Teachers

Teacher Bonuses

The Politicians, Pundits, Polemicists, and even some Professors who, of all people, should know better, keep telling us that teachers, especially union members, keep up a mindless litany of “no” at any suggestion of progress. Well, there are some proposed … Continue reading

Posted in Education Reform, Teacher Accountability, Teacher Compensation, Teacher's Unions | Comments Off on Teacher Bonuses

Grading the Teachers

Politicians, Pundits, Polemicists, and Professors Who of All People Should Know Better, love to lament that “teachers unions reflexively reject anything that smacks of accountability.” Or so said Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald, who usually hits the nail right … Continue reading

Posted in Education Reform, Teacher Accountability, Teacher's Unions | Comments Off on Grading the Teachers

Educational Accountability

I am not a Politician, a Pundit, a Polemicist, or a Professor. I have never run for public office nor do I have a Ph. D., so I do not belong to those two clubs, and the middle two would … Continue reading

Posted in Education Reform, Teacher Accountability, Teacher's Unions | 1 Comment