Saturday, July 11, 2009

I Finally See The Light


It's official. I am the worst teacher in the department. I just received this e-mail from Mr. AP and he confirmed it. Our regents results were on it and he made sure to let me know where my classes came in.


Dear POd,

How are you? How is your summer so far? I finally figured out the stats and I would like to share it with you.

The last five teachers on the list had MG22R and MG22D class, mostly. [even one regular or honor class would have improved stats. All mine were R classes.] We know the kind of students you all had. I would like to thank you for working with each and everyone of them.

In September, we will work on how to get more of them to pass the Regents exam and more of them to pass with a grade of 85 or higher. We have to begin by making sure that one can hear a pin drop when you teach.

Regards to your family and enjoy the rest of the summer.

Code Rank Teacher Passing % % >= 85 Rank

MG33H 1 100.0 94.8 1.0
2 100.0 80.0 2.0

MG22C 96.7 34.4 1.0

MG22 92.9 33.3 2.0

MG22D 84.8 2.2 4.0

MG22R 76.0 6.0 3.0

1 100.0 57.1 1
2 98.3 48.7 2
3 96.7 34.4 3
4 91.4 25.0 6
5 90.8 31.6 5
6 88.2 32.4 4
7 85.7 20.0 9
8 80.1 24.1 7
9 79.6 23.9 8
10 69.3 8.0 10
11 60.6 1.5 11
12 60.0 0.0 12

Overall P % 82.4 31.3


Well, if Obama gets his way, I lose my tenure.

Too bad these result don't show seven or eight kids that were removed from other classes and put in mine because of conflicts with their teachers. Too bad they don't show the kids that should never have shown up to take the test, but did anyways. Too bad they don't show the kids that should have been dropped but were kept in the hopes of getting them through and the success many of them had.


So now that I officially suck as a teacher, it is understandable why I would be so against merit pay. So be it. I'll be gone before it is instituted in New York.

7 comments:

The Seeker said...

I can't tell how you're feeling from this post, but I hope you aren't beating yourself up.

I've been following you for a while, and I've had the type of students you've had -- only at a younger age. You have inspired them to show up to tutoring sessions. You've had students who have e-mailed you later on. You are a passionate caring teacher -- who doesn't give up on her students.

These grades are relative. The only way to determine who better prepared their students for the tests is to give all teachers the exact same mold of students. Same IQ, same SES, same diet, same self-esteem, same parent involvement, same emotional issues.

That's completely impossible. But if it were, I am pretty sure you'd be at the top of the pile. Your students are lucky to have you. Don't forget that.

Kirchy said...

Same thing happened to me this year, only now my school is on a watch list.... My kids are ELLs... They made great language progress.. Why can't they pass a test aimed at English speakers that expects them to read and write fluently...Well, you see, obviously I suck

Only we don't suck. We like a challenge..

Stay in here with me!

mathman42 said...

And my AP was so excited to report that 48 % of those who took the test passed.

Ricochet said...

I echo your thoughts.

If the only reward is to those teaching the best and the brightest, who wants to teach the great unwashed? But I find more reward in challenging someone to finally pass a math class for the first time in years than in someone getting another A.

Anonymous said...

I think it's such a shame that everything in education is based on test scores. Try not to beat yourself up over this. You are obviously a fantastic teacher...once who truly cares about their students.

Miss S

Anonymous said...

So he had to add the "pin drop" quote. What a bastard!!

Schoolgal

Kate said...

Schoolgal beat me to it... "We have to begin by making sure that one can hear a pin drop when you teach."

We wouldn't want kids explaining, verbally processing, articulating... except that that's what learning looks like. Your AP would hate me. One couldn't hear an anvil drop when I teach.