Administration Bonuses



Based on last year's scholarship report, some assistant principals  and principals got big bonuses.  No wonder they rode everyone so hard to make sure the little kiddies got through. 

And slaves teachers, what did you get for your hard work?  Well, I am sure you got the undying gratitude of those whose pockets you helped fill.  You'll also keep feeling the whip to ensure their wallets don't empty.

Kudos to Mr. AP for taking his department out to celebrate and footing the bill.  He knows who got him the extra bucks and is sharing in a caring way.  I hope he remembers the teachers who left, whose hard work got him the extra bucks.

Adopting Orphans



As I look back on my career, I say thank goodness merit pay was never in place while I was in the classroom.  I think about all the kids I would never have helped and wonder where some of them would be now without that extra care.

I've always felt like an outsider in every phase of my life and because of this, I've always looked to associate myself with people like myself.  Whenever I saw a kid in need, a kid who seemed lost and unable to fit with anyone else, I befriended that kid and did my darnedest to get that kid through.  The students I chose were never in my classes.  (This doesn't mean I didn't help my own students as well.) Not only did I work with these kids on their math skills, I helped them with guidance issues and even got to know parents.  I know I made a difference when I see where many of them are today.

I never would have gotten a penny of merit pay for my efforts.  I never even thought about getting anything for them either, except for the satisfaction of seeing a young person move on with his/her life.  I was never an administration favorite (or even a liked person) as I have a tendency to say what I think, even if it is not politically correct.  It took 30 years for a principal to be outsmarted so the kids could give me this award which had nothing to do with money.

My friend, NYC Ed as well as countless other teachers have done the same over the years.  I worked with ATRs who were never noticed (unless of course something was amiss) who did more for some of these kids than anyone ever did.  Another ATR I know agreed to teach a Saturday lab when none of the regular teachers wanted to work.  That ATR was rewarded with an excess letter at the end of the semester.

Merit pay is the worst idea anyone could ever come up with. Not only will it not make people work any better, it will make them do less.  I know, the orphans I helped along the way would not have gotten that help if I watched others being rewarded for my efforts. 

I don't have an answer to fixing education.  Smaller classes would help.  More relevant curriculum's would be effective too.  And, not expecting everyone to be able to attend Harvard would be a step in the right direction.  The only thing I do know is that merit pay is something that will never work.

Even A $20,000,000 Bonus Wouldn't Have Helped



Hard work and a desire to do well are just not enough to be a success at some things.  If I didn't believe this before, I would believe it now, after completing my first Zumba class. 

I'm looking for activities to fill my days.  While I am enjoying not working, I need to be in motion.  There is a limit to the amount of time I want to spend on the computer or reading.  My friends are doing mahjong and bridge but card games are just too sedentary for me.  When Living Social came up with a $20 coupon for 6 classes, I grabbed it, not knowing what I was getting myself into.

Being born with two left feet, and being extremely unathletic, I worried about looking the fool.  But, I learned I had nothing to fear.  The class had people from 20 to 70 years young, in all physical conditions and with varying levels of talent.  Everyone was so busy doing their own moves, no one had time to look and laugh at me.

The leader was a young man.  He demonstrated the moves and kept us going for an hour.  As we gyrated, he kept his eyes on the mirror, moving around the room and offering individual guidance to many of the needy students.  With 30 students in the class, it was impossible for him to give the individual attention I was desperate to have.  Oh, he tried all right but one teacher cannot successfully guide so many students.  Five minutes was the most time he could give me.

This was a fun class, no one was graded and really, the goal was to keep moving and get lots of exercise, which we all did.  The teacher really did a great job.  I don't know what he is paid, I'm willing to bet it is not very much, but he worked like a dog.  A huge bonus wouldn't get  him to do more.  If the class was smaller and he could have spent more time with me, I know he would have and I might have gotten a tad better.

I get why my Zumba class is big.  This is a business and profit is important.  Kids, on the other hand, are not a business.  They need smaller classes so they can get the attention they need to succeed.  Teachers, even the best, cannot give them what they need with class size as big as they are.  And, just like the Zumba teacher, public school teachers won't be able to do any more, even with the promise of a $20,000 bonus, something most will never see.

FU Bloomberg

I'm fortunately not home so I missed the ass wipe we call mayor's address.   This freak hasn't learned a thing about what teachers do although he is spent part of his own fortune to keep the throne.  Since I can't address him personally, I'll address him here.  He won't read this, but writing it will make me feel a whole lot better.

MAYOR ASS WIPE, YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT EDUCATION.  MERIT PAY DOES NOT MAKE TEACHERS PERFORM ANY BETTER.  WE ALL DO OUR BEST, MANY DO ABOVE AND BEYOND DAILY.  WE DON'T NEED YOUR LITTLE CARROT DANGLING IN OUR FACES.  IN FACT, MERIT PAY WILL HURT THE PROFESSION.  IMAGINE A TEACHER WHO GOES ABOVE AND BEYOND AND IS NEVER GIVEN A NIBBLE BECAUSE HER PRINCIPAL DOESN'T LIKE HER.  MAYBE YOU CAN'T, BUT I CAN.   TYPE SUIT INTO THE SEARCH BAR ON THE SIDE AND YOU WILL SEE WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT.  MERIT PAY WILL ENCOURAGE A TEACHER TO GO TO LUNCH RATHER THAN HELPING A STUDENT NOT ON HER ROSTER AS THIS STUDENT'S IMPROVEMENT WILL ONLY HURT THE TEACHER'S OWN STATISTICS IN COMPARISON.


THANKFULLY WE WILL NEVER MEET SO I WON'T RISK JAIL TIME BY STICKING MY MIDDLE FINGER IN YOUR FACE AND YELLING FU FOR THE WORLD TO HERE.  YOU WON'T READ THIS BUT OTHERS WILL AND GETTING OUT OF MY SYSTEM IS WHAT I NEED AT THE MOMENT.  I DON'T GIVE A DAMN THAT YOU DON'T CARE.

We Don't Do Them Favors When We Exempt Them From Remediation



Alice is one of those kids who managed to place out of remedial math.  While Alice can handle signed numbers and some equations, she can't do much more.  I suggested she go to the department and request a move to the lower level class where she would get a chance to improve her skills. She refused and kept coming to class, doing her best to succeed.  Unfortunately, her best only got her a 5 on the final.

If Alice had been in my class in high school and I was going for merit pay, she would have brought me a step closer to it.  She passed her regents and this improved my stats.  Unfortunately, this did nothing to help her.
I have been trying to convince Alice to take that remedial class before she retakes the class he just failed.  She can always find a teacher to let her audit the class to save the cost.  I don't know if she will.  She's afraid the no credit class will hold up her progress.  I  think I convinced her that failing term after term would be a lot more detrimental to her pursuit of a college degree because I just got an e-mail from her asking to borrow the text I promised to lend for the class she so desperately needs.

Good Teaching Is Not Bought With Merit Pay



I hope those special education students in Washington D.C. know how lucky they are to have  Tiffany Johnson, as their teacher.   Ms. Johnson puts so much effort into figuring out what her students need and that has caused them to improve immensely.  These kids are fortunate to be living in Washington D.C. where 476 our of 3,600 teachers gave up job security for money and now have teachers who will stay with the profession and make sure they succeed.  I pity the ones that have the other 3,124.  Can these teachers possibly be doing as good a job if holding on to their paycheck is a priority?

I'm being sarcastic here.  Teachers like me,  NYCEducator, Chi Town Girl, Ricochet, South Bronx, Norm, Chaz and countless others have stayed in the profession for the love of the job.  Sure, money is important but I know the countless hours we have all devoted to helping our students have nothing to do with merit pay because we don't get or want any.  (We want decent pay for everyone.)  There is no way to justify who deserves it and who doesn't.  There are countless teachers in the profession for upwards of 30 years, teachers who didn't leave because the pay wasn't good enough but, in some cases, stayed in spite of the pay not being good enough. 

I'm not disputing Ms. Johnson's effectiveness.  She probably is an excellent teacher.  But, if her excellence is only brought about by the almighty dollar I pity the children when these dollars run out or when the system realizes that bonuses don't buy good teachers.

The 27% Woman

One year, many years ago, I taught three geometry classes. My passing percentages were 27%, 53% and 92%. What does this say about me? Did I not teach the class with the lowest number of passing students? Did I teach only half the time in the second class? Did I only teach the third class? Is there something wrong with these numbers?

Luckily for me, passing percentages weren't used way back then to judge a teacher. And, if they had been used, the fact that I taught three different groups of the same subject probably would have saved me. Imagine if I only had the class with the 27% passing rate? Would I have been out of a job? Would I be the teacher without merit? Would I now be known as the 27% woman instead of the 60% woman?

I need a drink!

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.

Not Worth The Gamble

When I think about pay for performance and then then I think about kids like Smiley, Nutjob and Rosie, to name a few, I get ready to explode. In fact, I was in bed, mulling over Obama's latest, tying stimulus money to student achievement and I decided I had to get out of bed and write or I would never be able to sleep.

These kids were difficult, trying kids. I succeeded with some and failed with others. But, I tried. Over the years, I've taken in the kids that other teachers did not want. This past term alone, I had four kids that another geometry teacher could not deal with. (Two passed and two failed.) Now Obama says my pay and my tenure should revolve around my success with kids like these. I have to think before I welcome them into my room. I need to toughen up, like the other teacher. I can't take a chance. I can't help as many as I did before because the reality is sinking in. I cannot sacrifice my career in the hopes of saving a few.

I am also thinking about the term I volunteered to teach seniors who had only passed one term of math since ninth grade. These kids were challenging, but I succeeded with most (27 out of 28.) I am not a gambler and with high stakes, I would not have taken the risk.

I don't condone bad teachers. In fact, I believe those that are incompetent should not be in the classroom but competence and quality cannot be judged by data.

There is a push right now to get some of the best teachers into the poorest schools. A law like this will do nothing to encourage anyone to transfer.

Teaching is tough. There is a reason so many people don't go in for this field and so many of the people that do, don't make it. People like Obama and Bloomberg have no idea as to what it is like to be a teacher (or a student) in a regular public school. They have no right to determine how public education should be judged.

Seventh Son

Everybody talkin' 'bout the seventh son
In the whole wide world there is only one
And I'm the one, I'm the one
I'm the one, I'm the one
The one they call the seventh son
I can tell your future, it will come to pass
I can do things to you make your heart feel glad
Look in the sky, predict the rain
Tell when a woman's got another man
I'm the one, oh I'm the one
I'm the one, I'm the one
The one they call the seventh son
I can talk these words that will sound so sweet
They will even make your little heart skip a beat
Heal the sick, raise the dead
Make the little girls talk outta their heads
I'm the one, oh I'm the one
I'm the one, I'm the one
The one they call the seventh son
I can talk these words that will sound so sweet
They will even make your little heart skip a beat
Heal the sick, raise the dead
And make the little girls talk outta their heads
I'm the one, oh I'm the one
I'm the one, I'm the one
The one they call the seventh son

I was just thinking about that old song. Maybe teachers really are the Seventh Son. Maybe we do have the power to get everyone to work just that much harder so they can get at least a 65. Mr. AP wrote:

It is best if you can find a way for him/her to work harder and get better grade.

Heck, if I am that powerful, I am going to use my powers to make sure every blind person works hard enough to see . I will use this power to force the cripples to throw away their wheel chairs and walkers. Maybe Mr. AP is right, I can find a way to get them all to work a little harder so they can all pass with at least a 65.

Or maybe I should just put my powers to better use and leave the education problems to the educational scientists.

We Don't Have Super Powers And Merit Pay Won't Give Us That Power Either

I'm no Anne Bancroft and neither are any of the teachers I know. We don't have super powers. We can't make learning disabled students smart. We can't engage the sleeping student the who has been awake all night listening to his parents fight. We can't force them to come to school when they would rather go to the mall and we can't get them into class when they prefer roaming the halls. We can't make them open a book and we can't make them study.

We can and do do our best to reach every student every day but sometimes our best does not work.

Mr AP says:

If you have students who are getting below 40’s on exams, please take some time to find out the reason. It is best if you can find a way for him/her to work harder and get better grade. If it is in the best interest of the student to be in another class, please take the time to get in touch with the Guidance Counselor. Maybe there is another class in which the student will function better. I don’t believe in leaving a student in a class knowing he/she has no chance to pass. It is late in the term, but it is never too late to do something to help a failing student.

It is time we try to take care of the students who are struggling. Please find a way to teach what they need to get at least a 65. If they do not come to class, you should speak to the Guidance Counselor right away. If they come, please work with them.

The guidance counselors don't know what to do with these kids. For most of them no other class exists. Every ninth grader must pass algebra, we can't get around that. And, many are already in the lowest level so there is no where for them to go. Sometimes working harder is not the answer. I know that if I work really hard, day and night, seven days a week, I will still not be able to do anything about curing cancer or ending the war in Iraq or getting jobs for all the ATRs. As far as never being too late, well, for some it is too late, especially for a math class where all the new work depends upon previous knowledge.

The above memo was from a very nicely written memo. No teacher was threatened, berated or humiliated. Unfortunately, the message here is the same as it has been in every other memo.

IT IS YOUR FAULT THE STUDENTS IN YOUR CLASSES ARE FAILING

Grades are due Tuesday. I am in the middle of marking a geometry test I gave on Thursday. The grades are pathetic. I want to cry. I don't even feel like going back to those classes ever again. I can't come up with a way to get some of these kids to get double digit grades, let alone a 65. My first marking period geometry results are not going to be pretty. Mr. AP will not be happy.

I don't have super powers. I can't go to their homes and make them do homework. I do my best to get them to work in class, but for many that isn't enough. I can't control the cutting even though I call homes, speak to guidance and roam the halls myself looking for my students. (I only do this because I am hyper and can't sit still. I also prefer the kids in the building to most of the adults.)

I'm not Super Teacher. I'm just a mortal doing the best I can. Obama might think merit pay will make me stronger, but I disagree. All the money in the world won't give me the power I need to succeed with them all.

No One Wanted To Believe This

This story mades me sick.

I just sent a letter to the newspaper and Obama expressing my thoughts.

Weingarten is really selling us out!

Merit Bonuses Elude Top Teachers

Thanks to Schoolgal for sending the link.

Merit bonuses elude top teachers
By RACHEL SIMMONSEN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 02, 2007
Of about 400 Martin County teachers and administrators awarded bonuses recently, one name was conspicuously absent: Carol Matthews O'Connor, the district's teacher of the year.
Fewer than half of the teachers of the year at the district's 22 schools earned a bonus under STAR (Special Teachers Are Rewarded), a controversial merit pay plan that was approved reluctantly last school year by the school board and teachers union.
"I'm just as disappointed as those who didn't get the money," school board member David Anderson said.
"I don't even know where to begin," teachers union chief Jeanette Phillips said of the program's faults.
School board members have said they had little choice but to adopt the plan: Florida school districts were required to come up with their own versions of STAR or lose their share of the $147.5 million allotted to the program. If Martin had opted out, it still would have had to come up with a performance-pay plan - and $1 million to pay for it.
Gov. Charlie Crist later repealed the STAR plan, which was adopted under his predecessor, Jeb Bush, but districts had the option of keeping the bonus programs they had approved already.
In August, the Martin school district handed out about $1 million in bonus money to 408 teachers and administrators, or about 28.4 percent of the instructional staff. The bonuses, equal to about 5 percent of an employee's salary, ranged from about $990 to about $3,580.
Many teachers complained that the criteria to qualify were unfair. They were evaluated largely on students' performance on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test and personnel evaluations.
Teachers of subjects not covered by the FCAT were evaluated by their students' performance on other exams, including those created by the district.
To come up with the districtwide tests, teachers were asked to submit 25 questions they thought would be appropriate for an end-of-year exam. District administrators decided which questions would be used for the test, and that choice might have benefited the students at one school more than another, said Phillips, the teachers union chief.
Another problem was that students weren't graded for those district-designed tests, and they knew it. Many didn't take them seriously and performed poorly as a result, Phillips said. Their teachers' chances at bonus money disappeared.
Debra Alessandra, teacher of the year at Spectrum Junior/Senior High School, said there simply wasn't enough time to create good districtwide tests. The exams that were created "may not have accurately measured student growth."
Alessandra didn't receive a bonus. She said she wasn't sure why she fell short, but she doesn't like the idea of teacher bonuses anyway.
"Personally, I just feel like, for students to succeed, teachers need to work together, not feel like they're in competition," she said.
At a recent Warfield Elementary school advisory council meeting, O'Connor, the district's teacher of the year, talked about her own dismay at failing to qualify for a STAR bonus, even when "my evaluation was about as perfect as you can get."
Some teachers might have had the opposite problem, Phillips said. Even if a teacher had the district's highest student scores on standardized tests, he could miss out on a bonus if the evaluation was just satisfactory, not outstanding. The way the STAR grading system was designed, teachers had to meet a minimum standard on their evaluation; if they failed that, it didn't matter how wonderful their student scores were, Phillips said.
She doesn't feel much better about the district's latest bonus plan, the Merit Award Program, which still must be ratified by the teachers union. The school board approved the plan in September.
Under the proposal, each employee would be given an "effectiveness score," 21 percent of which would come from personnel evaluations. The remaining 79 percent of would be determined by student learning gains or proficiency on standardized tests such as the FCAT and district-designed exams, which now will count toward student grades.
Still, Phillips doesn't like the idea of teachers being judged on students' test performance, which falls largely outside teachers' control. She said she has heard too many stories of students performing poorly on tests because they learned the day before that their parents were divorcing or that a grandparent was hospitalized.
Besides, Phillips said, "All of our schools are A schools, so that tells you all of our teachers are working hard."
Many teachers who earned the STAR bonuses have said they don't want to discuss it or share the news with colleagues.
"It created a lot of animosity," said Maureen Basilico, teacher of the year at Challenger School, who earned a bonus. "I felt really bad for those who didn't."
Even so, Basilico said it's not necessarily a bad thing to give teachers an "extra incentive" to work hard. "I don't personally have a problem with that."

Merit Pay Works

Another Thought

I tutor two to three days a week, as do many of my colleagues. If kids do well on the regents, it will be due to our efforts. Our names are not on their transcripts. They are not in our classes. If merit pay is to be distributed by a committee, will those of us who tutor ever see any of it? Can anyone really know how hard I work or for that manner how hard any of my colleagues work? Will we ever be given credit for a job well done? Merit pay will never work.

AT LAST!!!!!!!

This is what I saw after the first day. The base was there but it did not work. There was a part missing.
Looks like there might be something under here. Oh, no, it's locked. Will the custodians come in the morning to adjust the heat? Lucky us, it is a Board of Ed locked box. It only pretends to work. Maybe merit pay would get it locked. (Thank goodness merit pay hasn't come to thermostats yet.) We can adjust the heat or air conditioning to our liking.

A kid said today "It's really cold in here. Please turn up the heat." I looked at her and said "No." I kept teaching. She gave me a strange look, as I never talk to any kid that way. "I then said, "Remember, we have no heat in here." A few minutes later we heard heat coming through the vents. It went on and off, not working yet, but a sign that it might be working soon. I left to go to lunch. There was still no heat. I cam back to teach my last two classes. There was a new thermostat in the back of the room. Unfortunately, it was covered by a metal box. The box looked locked. I wondered if we would be able to adjust it. And then, I flipped the box open! We have a beautiful, electronic, functioning thermostat that is fully accessible.

Now my only worry is the door lock. Sometimes I can lock it, sometimes I can't. I really hope no one comes in and messes with this one.

Thermostat Repair Guys

So three guys showed up period one today to fix the thermostat. My class gave them a standing ovation. One kids yelled, "take a picture", so I did.

The three guys worked for about fifteen minutes. Actually, one guy worked and the others stood around as his support group. Too bad the support group didn't help because after the fifteen minutes they told me they needed a part and left. They returned ten minutes later, stood around, attached something to the wall and left again. The thermostat is not fixed.

While they were trying to fix this, I mentioned that the thermostat is the adjoining trailer was also not working. They told me they knew, but mine was in worse shape. Mine looked worse but not working is not working and that one does not work either.

I don't know if they returned to fix it later in the day. I left the room early (half day, parent teacher conferences). I bet if these guys worked for merit pay the thermostat would be fixed.

Joe Torre

I'm not a baseball fan but what happened to Joe Torre is a good example of why merit pay will never work.

Here is a man who did a great job for the Yankees for lots of years (not being a baseball fan, I don't know the number of years.) Things did not go well this year. Poof! He's offered an insulting contract and he is gone.

Not knowing anything about baseball, I don't know if there was anything he could have done to change the fate of this year's team. But, I do know that there are many factors that influenced the outcomes, some in his control, some not. Would the promise of a big bonus after he won the World Series have help his team do better? Would the promise of keeping his job have helped the Yankees win? If he was given more money could he have done a better job? I'm guessing the answers to all these questions is no. Joe Torre does not need baseball for the money. He needs baseball for his love of the game. Teachers do not become teachers to become rich (although we would like to live a comfortable life style.) We want to help our students accomplish as much as possible. We are already doing everything we can to help our students succeed. Bonuses are not going to change what we do. Money is not going to make us any more successful than we already are.