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| Name: | Gordon Jones |
| Town or district: | Lake Forest CSD 115 & CSD 67 |
| Comments: | In Lake Forest, the two school districts share a Superintendent, Mr. Harry Griffith. He draws a full salary from each: $173,198 from the High School Dist 115, and $171,198 from the Elementary School District 67. That is a Total Salary of $344,396, and a pretty neat way of staying on the lower end of your lists. I would suppose he will also draw 2 retirements? |
| Name: | Collier County Sunshine Review creator, Flcertifiedteacher |
| Town or district: | re: Colllier County, Naples, Florida |
| Comments: | Hello Rockford folks,
I have previously written to you under my Naples Daily News screen name, flcertifiedteacher. As you know, Collier County, Naples, FL is the place where your former Rockford superintendent Dennis Thompson is the Collier superintendent of schools (he was not renewed in Collier in August 2010). I am writing now to let you know I have created a new website, to document 101 violations of FLorida Public Records Law (Sunshine Laws) and other acts of public corruption. Here is my new web site: Collier County Sunshine Review One of the first and most popular posts concerned Dennis Thompson. You can read that post and another article I wrote about him in the links below: Public Corruption Crime #2: Collier Schools Superintendent Dennis Thompson and His Fake Public Record And here below is a different article I wrote and published on the Sunshine Review.org a national website concerned with Sunshine Law violations -- Collier School Board Cites "Dark Cloud" In Not Renewing Superintendent Dennis Thompson |
| Name: | Collier County Sunshine Review |
| Town or district: | Collier County, Naples, FL |
| Comments: | Hello Rockford folks,
I have previously written to you under my Naples Daily News screen name, flcertifiedteacher. As you know, Collier County, Naples, FL is the place where your former Rockford superintendent Dennis Thompson is the Collier superintendent of schools (he was not renewed in Collier in August 2010). I am writing now to let you know I have created a new website, to document 101 violations of FLorida Public Records Law (Sunshine Laws) and other acts of public corruption. Here is my new web site: http://www.colliercountysunshinereview.blogspot.com One of the first and most popular posts concerned Dennis THompson. You can read that post and another article I wrote about him in the links below: Public Corruption Crime #2: Collier Schools Superintendent Dennis Thompson and His Fake Public Record http://colliercountysunshinereview.blogspot.com/2011/01/public-corruption-crime-2-collier.html And here below is a different article I wrote and published on the Sunshine Review.org a national website concerned with SUnshine Law violations -- Collier School Board Cites "Dark Cloud" In Not Renewing Superintendent Dennis Thompson http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Collier_School Enjoy. |
| Name: | Bailey |
| Town or district: | Wheaton |
| Comments: | "Progressive practices" are mind numbing and useless. "Individual learning styles" are applicable for children with learning disabilities and/or developmental delays. A blind child is not a visual learner. A deaf child is not an auditory learner. An autistic child, needs visuals. Therefore, accomodations are made. Our dear "educators" have taken the concept and applied it to every child. I found that most of the "progressive" educators imagine that they are far superior to those that still teach the fundamentals of grammar, spelling, computation, etc. These grand wizards are wasting students time and taxpayers money. I challenge everyone to visit a private school. Review the curriculum and you will find that your public school pales in comparison. |
| Name: | Exploited |
| Town or district: | NepotismCenter |
| Comments: | I have worked as a sub in a HS district. I only wanted a little part-time job, but I could get a call every day because so many teachers take time off. They have meeting after meeting, seminars, etc. plus their usual personal and sick days. I get no benefits and little pay, and have said nothing until I found out that some of those teachers are getting upwards of $125,000 a year, and the school is failing! One English teacher (ready for retirement) left no lesson plans for 3 days for her class with behavioral isues. I finally showed a movie so that they would behave somewhat. When she returned to work, she showed them the rest of the movie! You would have thought they would have had work to make up. No wonder "Johnny can't read". |
| Name: | Experienced Teachers |
| Town or district: | Everywhere |
| Comments: | Your website is full of incorrect, misleading information. This website gives me hope that the truly intelligent people of the world are actually teaching kids in classrooms - and doing portfolios, using progressive practices, integrating subjects across the curriculum, differentiating instruction, teaching kids to communicate and work together, and using a variety of teaching methodologies. We know developmental theory and how it applies to best practice in teaching, which helps children learn based on their individual learning styles. We are proud of having a positive impact. We make a difference. While you smear facts with your narrow minds, we are working hard to make the world a better place. We are teachers! |
| Name: | Elsie |
| Town or district: | Streamwood |
| Comments: | Are you still updating this website? A lot of the references are from materials 10 years old that aren't being used anymore. Perhaps you need to take donations to continue keeping it updated. |
| Name: | Sarah |
| Town or district: | Maywood District 89 |
| Comments: | I came across a link where you equated 'independent reading' with 'SSR or DEAR' time. The two are not one and the same. During SSR/DEAR students simply spend 15 minutes reading.
'Independent Reading' is actually much different--at least in my class it is. We (the students and I) spend a lot of time working on choosing books that are at the instructional level (called 'just right') books. I conference with the students during their independent reading time to make sure that the students comprehend the material they are reading. There is a lot of instruction that goes before it and the students are held accountable for their thinking and reactions during independent reading. It is not simply 'Here's a book, go read for a few minutes' as SSR and DEAR time were. |
| Name: | Jean |
| Town or district: | Batavia Illinois |
| Comments: | I think Chandra from Rockfalls is missing the obvious. Taxpayers are sick of the snow job. The fact is that most teachers DO NOT work 50-60 hours a week. Most teachers are typical union members that imagine their "work" more important than all others. You rattle off the time you had to spend getting a masters in 4 weeks. Did you mention that your district paid for those classes? Did you mention that you will "earn" an additional $5000 - $7000 a year because you attended class for a few hours one summer? Furthermore, I think a few courses in grammar would have better suited your needs. Taxpayers understand that your salary, benefits and pensions are unsustainable. Public education is a farce. NO NEW TAXES!!! We want vouchers!!!! |
| Name: | chandra |
| Town or district: | rockfalls |
| Comments: | of course, i'm sure that you will acknowledge your misinformation from your prior page when you are informed of the following:
1) The listed "salary" includes wages, health insurance, and pension funding-you know that thing that many people think we shouldn't receive even though we are paying into it and not social security--that's 10-11% of my yearly wage-- 2) Most teachers I know routinely work 50-60 hours a week between teaching/grading papers/planning lessons/tutoring students/etc-during the school year. Even 50 hours a week *40 weeks is 2000 hours. a worker in any other field who works 40 hours a week and gets 2 weeks vacation works 2000 hours. So what's your point? Plus, many workers, if they go over 40 hours, get overtime--not a teacher. The average cost per student in my school district is roughly $9000. You must understand, though, that it costs almost three times as much to educate special education students. (That figure embraces those that can be included in regular education classrooms at various times throughout the day. Many with much more severe disabilities are being serviced in public schools at a much greater than 3X cost.) However, the cost is distributed over the entire student body, which falsely inflates the cost per student. Now, I am not stating that special ed students do not belong in the classroom; I have a son with moderate learning disabilities myself. But you must fairly and accurately represent the cost per student. In addition, you are figuring in high income areas where people intentionally move even though they know they will pay high property taxes simply because they know that the school systems are so good. (Look up New Trier schools in Illinois.) People with that money want their children to go to good public schools and are willing to pay for it. They spend 17,817 per student. Intentionally. Are you figuring that into your "appalling average" spent per student? 3) those figures also include extra activities that teachers take on, like coaching or being the National Honor Society Sponsor. I know football, volley ball coaches that will put in an extra 20-25 hours a week. Honor Society is 7-10 hours a week. Should they do it for free? Don't get me wrong, I think when we don't have money, it should be a pay to play system. I'm not a coach, so . . . But it extracurricular activities cost a lot of money. Those could definitely go right now. I'm with you on that. But I could also see a lot more kids getting in trouble, not finishing school, etc. So we as a society might end up paying for more than the cost of extracurriculars if we cut them?! I hope that you know I understand your frustration. But I'm in there everyday, fighting just as hard for your kids as you are. There is this false perception fed by a few that say teachers are lazy. Ask my husband and kids. I spend most of my own "free" time working on things for my students. This summer was not a vacation for me. I had to take a class. I chose a class in the teaching of reading. A master's level class in 4 weeks. But the last I heard, we take classes we don't need!! Now, i'll spend my last four weeks putting my classroom back together, then working on my curriculum, working on plans and incorporating all the new things I learned this summer. Oh yeah, I'm still waiting for those three months you said I get off! When do they start? |
| Name: | Jean |
| Town or district: | Batavia Illinois |
| Comments: | To: BrandyP - Have your daughter take an online pre-algebra test. This way you can be certain her skills are proficient. These days schools do rely almost entirely on standardized test results for placement. Our kids are being classified by test results these days. The lower percent (20th percentile) qualify for RTI -Right to Intervention. The top percentiles are allowed to enter honors classes. The middle percentile are left to "learn on their own". The principal at your school may allow your daughter into honors math if there is enough room. However, they usually fill the class until they reach their pre-determined cut off. If they do not grant your request, have her take an online course in addition to her regular math class this year. Perhaps, she will then be able to pass the ISAT & qualify for next year's honor class. MathUsee.com has affordable algebra & beyond programs. Hope this helps. Your daughter can progress at her level without the help of a public school. Give the mathusee a try. By time she reaches high school she will test out of algebra & qualify to enter trig. as a freshman! |
| Name: | BRANDYP |
| Town or district: | Belv |
| Comments: | Thank you for your comments! Jean, I agree with your comment on grade inflation (there have been times that I haven't been sure that my son has received a grade that he actually deserves), however, this would not be the case with my daughter. She deserves the good grades she gets because she works her butt off! She is focused and driven, enjoys the challenge, she will start studying for Friday's test on Monday, etc. She has always done above average work and scored high on the ISATs. I think that there is so much emphasis put on this testing that it creates anxiety in some students, and my daughter would definately be one of them. I would never push to have my children put in classes that they weren't ready for just for the "status". But I also agree with Michelle, and parents know their children best, and I KNOW my daughter should be moved ahead. It would not be in her best interest to hold her back from the challenge of honors classes. I am considering the testing, but am wondering if the tutoring facility would be a good place to go. Aren't they in the business to make money; would they give me a fair assessment? Has anyone ever experience resistance with their school when trying to move their children ahead? If so, how did you handle it? I'm just trying to plan ahead! I won't be able to talk to anyone at the school until the first week in August. Thanks! |
| Name: | Jean |
| Town or district: | batavia Illinois |
| Comments: | To: Brandi P -If your daughter did not do well on the ISAT, she probably should not move to honor courses for the 8th grade. Grade inflation on the part of her teachers is probably why she has a 3.7 grade point average. The ISAT is a "dumbed down" test. In another words, your daughter's math abilities are not as proficient as her grades suggest. You may want to have your daughter tested at a private tutoring company -Huntington or Sylvan - or even check possible online testing. MathUsee.com has a pre-algebra/algebra test available. There will be another shock when she moves on to high school. She will most likely NOT test out of pre -algebra again. This is commonplace for many students who "get A's" in middle school math. The school system is broke. The curriculum is lacking. The grading system is deceptive. |
| Name: | michelle |
| Town or district: | Pine Richland near Pittsburgh PA |
| Comments: | to BrandyP - I would push to get into the higher class. AimsWeb is an assessment tool, by Pearson, that in my experience simply tests to see how well a child will do on the state tests, here the PSSAs for NCLB. I lobbied to get my kid moved up to pre-AP English in 8th grade when she was a bit low on one test, and the school made me sign a waiver but allowed it without a hassle. I regretted not moving her to pre-Algebra from Math 6, but I did not realize what the tests meant (or didnt mean). Now my 5th grader scored low in one test to qualify for pre-Algebra for 6th grade and I am calling our Guidance dept to move him up. Parents know best, and I wish I had looked ahead at HS courses back before 6th grade to see how my decisions would affect the future. Good luck! |
| Name: | BrandyP |
| Town or district: | Belvidere |
| Comments: | I am posting to see if anyone has had this experience and what they did about it. My daughter was in 7th grade Honors math (pre-algebra) and honors Language Arts. She received A's and B's in pre-algebra, and a 96% or better in Language Arts for her 7th grade year, and a 3.7 or better GPA for the year. However, she apparently did not do well on the ISAT and a placement test call AIMSweb, which I understand is only a 5 minute test. Now I am fighting with the school to keep her in the honors classes for 8th grade. They expect her to retake pre-algebra as an 8th grader, which would be at a slower pace than she did in 7th grade. Do all schools weigh this testing so heavily, and not take into consideration the student, attendance, grades, etc? |
| Name: | BrandyP |
| Town or district: | Belvidere |
| Comments: | I am posting to see if anyone has had this experience and what they did about it. My daughter was in 7th grade Honors math (pre-algebra) and honors Language Arts. She received A's and B's in pre-algebra, and a 96% or better in Language Arts for her 7th grade year, and a 3.7 or better GPA for the year. However, she apparently did not do well on the ISAT and a placement test call AIMSweb, which I understand is only a 5 minute test. Now I am fighting with the school to keep her in the honors classes for 8th grade. They expect her to retake pre-algebra as an 8th grader, which would be at a slower pace than she did in 7th grade. Do all schools weigh this testing so heavily, and not take into consideration the student, attendance, grades, etc? |
| Name: | Belen Sanchez Leos |
| Town or district: | Inverness Illinois |
| Comments: | My second grade daughter was subjected to a bullying incident that required her to go to the hospital in Febuary of this year. Two fifth grade girls told a fifth grade boy to beat up my daughter and he followed through during an after school talent show practice session where parents and children were present. A police report was filed and the fifth grade boy was suspended for one day and the two fifth grade girls were halted from recess for three days. The principal was very reluctant with acknowledging the incident, until the police report was made. Holy Family solution is to draw an apology card with crayon and the situation will go away. Today, another incident has occurred, where a fifth grade girl has struck a fourth grade student and the fifth grade student was suspended. The parents of the fourth grade student were NOT NOTIFIED! Please advise as to how to file a complaint against Holy Family Catholic Academy in Inverness, Illinois. We pay full tuition without financial assistance for two children. Sincerely, Belen Sanchez Leos , belen.sanchezleos@gmail.com |
| Name: | flcertifiedteacher |
| Town or district: | formerly of Collier County, FL |
| Comments: | PS Here is a live link to my site explained in my comment below:
The Naples Daily Ruse |
| Name: | flcertifiedteacher |
| Town or district: | formerly of Collier County, Naples, FL |
| Comments: | Hi Rockford folks,
I am a FL certified teacher who resided in Collier County, FL when your former superintendent, Dennis Thompson, was hired there. I had made a parody blog about it ("Linda Abbott says Visit ROckford") and she was then voted out of school board office (she had voted for Thompson). One other board member, Richard Calabrese, decided not to run for a 2nd term due to medical reasons and quit, and the 3rd jerk who voted for Thompson is still on the board but says he won't seek another term. There are now a number of upcoming elections on that school board (three contested seats out of five). And I am writing now to let you know of my new parody blog about Thompson -- as I now seriously believe he is a high school drop-out: http://www.naplesruse.blogspot.com Enjoy. PS Feel free to post comments on the above site. It has no ads. No registration required, either. flcertifiedteacher, now living in another state |
| Name: | board member |
| Town or district: | oregon |
| Comments: | Thank you for the invaluable information to help combat the pervasive ideologies that dominate education! Not that we win--because they can't let facts stop fuzzy math--but knowing others are going through this helps keep me sane!
One thing you could add to your arsenal in the Mathematics section is a new study done by What Works Clearinghouse that is actually a well-done, randomized study of 4 math curricula. No surprise--Investigations was the worst! The link: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20094052/summ_2.asp |
| Name: | Parent |
| Town or district: | Batavia Illinois |
| Comments: | Our district is also missing the mark by a mile. Parents are not familiar with curriculum and therefore assume their children are in a great school. Sorry to say, the Batavia Public Schools do not have a solid curriculum. Lots of fluff. No official grammar or spelling instruction. The district uses Everyday Math - just horrendous. History is NOT taught and science instruction is minimal. If parents took the time to get informed, they would demand better for their children. Keep in mind the administration & teachers will insist they do in fact teach grammar, spelling, science etc... However, no such official instruction exists. Ask to see the textbooks, workbooks etc. No such books exist. They may touch on a subject, but does not mean the child is receiving quality instruction. The "impressive" test scores are deceptive. A child that "meets the standard" on the ISAT test, means they scored at least 48% correct. The schools are then able to brag that 95% of their students are "proficient". Really? Since when is scoring 48% considered "proficient"? There is a good chance a monkey could score 48% correct. The only thing that will stop this madness is an awakening on the part of the parents. |
| Name: | Robert F |
| Town or district: | Seattle |
| Comments: | Dear "Teacher" from New Hampshire,
If you happen to read this, please write me at neoreadteach@yahoo.com. I am interested in hearing more about your experience and about your thoughts on education. Like-minded teachers need to get together--our adversaries certainly do. |
| Name: | Jim Lawrence |
| Town or district: | all schools on NICOR |
| Comments: | Public schools on Nicor's system who belong to non-profit natural gas coops pay more for natural gas than a regular Nicor customer. Over $8,000,000 was wasted from 2006 to July 2008 by less than 100 schools. In 2008/09 non-profit member schools paid over 20% more than Nicor's cost. I will pay anyone $2000 if they can find one member school that saved a total of one penny from July 06 through Dec 09. I will furnish the list of 62 schools on Nicor. Phone # 480 907 6078. Your for Better Schools, Jim |
| Name: | Nathan Trent |
| Town or district: | Australia |
| Comments: | What you describe has been done with the Illinois education system has been repeated around the world. It has been done to get women into the work force so that they can pay tax etc, without having to educate more people. This process has been to the detriment to boys.
The thing to do now however is to get education systems changed to so that boys are no longer disadvantaged. More details can be seen in my blog: http://boyseducationaustralia.blogspot.com/2009/10/boys-are-discriminated-against-in.html |
| Name: | Mason |
| Town or district: | Schaumburg |
| Comments: | championnews.net has a list of all the teachers' salaries in the Chicagoland area. There is also a pension report. |
| Name: | turner |
| Town or district: | vvsd |
| Comments: | Is there any law that provides for students to stay in their own home school. We are possibley being moved to a school within our district, but in another town |
| Name: | MARY |
| Town or district: | CHICAGO |
| Comments: | iT IS WRONG THAT CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS SYSTEM IS ALL ABOUT CLOSING MORE AND MORE SCHOOLS WHILE EXISTING SCHOOLS ARE OVERCROWDED.
WHAT KIND OF EDUCATION WOULD TEACHERS PROVIDE TO OVERCROWDED CLASS? AS WE CLAIM SO MUCH FROM TEACHERS WHY WE DO NOT TAKE ACTION TO DEMAND FROM CITY TO SAVE SCHOOLS. GO TO ANOTHER COUNTRIES.IN FRANCE THERE IS A MAXIMUM SIZE OF CLASS UP TO 22 STUDENTS IN HIGHSCHOOL AND 18 IN ELEMENTARY. ALSO ANOTHER COUNTIES DO NOT HAVE CRAZY TESTING SYSTEM DURING SCHOOL YEAR LIKE US. HERE WE TRY TO PUT ALL BURDEN ON TEACHERS,WHILE THEY HAVE ENOUGH BY DEALING WITH 30 OR MORE STUDENTS ,THEIR PARENTS, AND SCHOOL EVIRONMENT ISSUES. WE PARENTS DO NOT SEE REAL PROBLEMS.WE SOMETIMES DO NOT CHECK OUR CHILDREN SCHOOL SUPLIES,NOT MENTION HOMEWORK.WE JUST SEND OUR CHILDREN TO SCHOOLS THINKING THAT FREE EDUCATION SHOULD BE THE BEST EVER.IN ORDER TO BE US TEACHER YOU HAVE TO PASS FEW DIFFICULT TESTS, NOW EVEN MORE DIFFICULT THAN LAWERS AND ENGEENIERS TAKE. ALSO YOU HAVE TO COMPLETE HIGHER EDUCATION COURSES,WHICH COST ABOUT $30.000 -60.000.AND AFTER THAT THEY HAVE TO DEAL WITH BUNCH OF OUR KIDS IN SCHOOLS BUILDINGS WITH LACK OF BASIC MODERNIZATION. I DISAGREE WITH SOME OF OPINIONS THAT ALL IS TEACHERS FAULT. IT IS OUR ISSUE TO FIND MORE MONEY FOR EDUCATION. AND WHY HUBERMAN,WHO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH EDUCATION IS A HEAD OF IT? WHY,BECAUSE HE IS ONE OF DALEY'S FRIENDS? I WONDER WHAT EDUCATION RON HUBERMAN DID POSSES? MARY |
| Name: | Teacher |
| Town or district: | New Hampshire |
| Comments: | I'm a 35-year teacher who speaks all over my state about this nonsense. I am going to do an interview on someone else's radio show on Monday and thought I'd come here and refresh my memory about the pure hell my last 10 years of teaching were. Frankly I have a headache reading about this stuff and remembering how hard it was to be a good teacher while rejecting most of this nonsense.
I wonder how so many supposedly intelligent people could fall for this nonsense. Please do not ever take this site down! |
| Name: | Nathn Trent |
| Town or district: | Australia |
| Comments: | Your website has a lot of interesting information and confirms what I have stated in my blog. I have also proposed solutions to some of the problems that you outline. A lot of the issues that you describe can be overcome by single sex boy’s schools where the teachers are judged on performance, i.e. how many boys get through heir exams. That way you will have boy friendly teaching methods. Also the curriculum needs to be boy friendly. The Cambridge education system as mentioned in my blog is used around the world and is gender neutral in terms of the relative success of both sexes.
http://boyseducationaustralia.blogspot.com/2009/10/boys-are-discriminated-against-in.html |
| Name: | chicago parent |
| Town or district: | city of chicago |
| Comments: | This is probably a bit off topic, but I think that this colors performance across the board including performance in math. I was surprised to learn how much more time students in other countries spend in school. Students in China spend 250 days, in India 225, in Europe, 200. In the US 180 days, in Chicago 176. Now factor in the fact that we test 3 times a year, have such a short school day, have frequent subs (which are always a waste of student time), and such a short school day. We need at least one more month in school. I don't think that students in the US will be at par unless this gap is fixed. |
| Name: | Susan Kelly |
| Town or district: | Northbrook, IL |
| Comments: | If you need a laugh, track down the DVD "People like Us" by the BBC and watch the episode on the "Headteacher." where the interview subject tries to explain the advantage of pupil-centered teaching vs. teacher centered learning and how teachers must stand aside and let students, who don't really know the subject muddle along and make collages, while the teacher's main task is now to distribute glue for collages. |
| Name: | Sharon |
| Town or district: | A town in MA |
| Comments: | Any experience with Glencoe Advanced Mathematical Concepts: Precalculus with Applications? Would appreciate some teacher or parent (well versed with this level of math) opinions. |
| Name: | Robert F |
| Town or district: | Seattle |
| Comments: | If anyone reading this is interested in working on a way out of the mess described on this site, please contact me at neoreadteach@yahoo.com. I fully disagree with the progressive approach. I think the criticisms of the mainstream here are accurate and important. The question is "What is do be done?" How do teachers get out if this trap? As I've said below, I don't need to read any more articles. Reading assignments aren't a solution. If anyone is hearing what I am saying, please write. |
| Name: | Rolf Goehler |
| Town or district: | District 211 |
| Comments: | The school funding system needs urgent control because the spending and budgting, like in all government operations, is exceeding the rational cost benefit crteria. In 211 the per pupil cost is 33% higher and teacher compensation is 25% not to mention the exorbitant pension system than similar suburban districts and the overall performance is mediocre. This represents bad management and a pre-disposition to union demands that are not in the interest of the students and a better education. Massive reform is needed and a reduction in the allowed taxation on local property bills in order of 20% is necessary immediately as a start. |
| Name: | Frank |
| Town or district: | California |
| Comments: | After 15 years of looking at Kumon Math, I continue to believe it is the best curriculum for K-5th grade. It's a great addition to existing school programs though it may be expensive. |
| Name: | Tina |
| Town or district: | Carlsbad, CA |
| Comments: | Our district just adopted SFAW fuzzy math this year. That means we are stuck with the SFAW program for seven years. Apparently, California is willing to experiment with fuzzy math also. From the beginning of this program, my son has been frustrated and confused by lengthy politically correct word problems and confusing instruction on how to do basic computation. Why are they making simple computation so complicated? I'm shocked that this program was picked up. After discussing my concern with a politically correct teacher, she suggested that it was my resistance to the program that was the problem, and not the program itself. I had to laugh out loud! Stop the insanity!
In the meantime, I continue to teach a straight forward math program at home. |
| Name: | Evan |
| Town or district: | Northern Illinois |
| Comments: | Does anyone know if there is a website that breaks down benefits paid in a school district? My wife is a teacher and I hear how teachers make so much and have such great benefits. My wife makes $48,000/year but has $402.00 taken out of her check for family healthcare and $205.00 taken out of her check to contribute to her pension and she is paid every twice a month. I can’t help but think she could move to another school district where the school district picks up some of the benefits and be better off.
Thanks |
| Name: | Jason |
| Town or district: | Illinois |
| Comments: | I just wanted to say your science section is dead on. I'm a chemistry teacher in Illinois with an actual Masters degree in my content area and the nonsense that the "education elites" is pushing is disgusting. We are creating a generation of science idiots thanks to hands-on, touchy feely way of teaching these people are pushing. Nothing is more frustrating when you have a principal, who's a former gym teacher, telling you the best way to teach chemistry just because she has a masters she somehow passed an administrator's exam. |
| Name: | Ann |
| Town or district: | Florida |
| Comments: | Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, for your Eduspeak article! I literally thought I was the only one who noticed this lingo in my search for a school for my son!!!! I can't tell you how relieved I am. I won't need a straight jacket after all, whew!!! After deciding on a private Catholic school, they have now introduced IB this year. I knew something was wrong when I went to the IB site and saw "that strange language" all over the place. I could hear the fuses pop in my head as I navigated the site. Now though, I see my battle has only begun---- |
| Name: | Cubs Fan |
| Comments: | Just wanting some information on Imagine Charter Schools. A friend in Florida has children in one of these schools. They are using what sounds like the Project CHILD method at this school. I'm a little concerned about how they are learning.
I would love to hear from someone who has had some kind of experience with this type of charter school. There are numerous ones throughout the U.S. Any kind of feedback would be extremely helpful. |
| Name: | sarah hochschwender |
| Town or district: | st joseph MO |
| Comments: | i am looking for opinions on unicom-arc. i see an excellent article here...."spinmeisters...." . some in this city are inferring that this is old news, and possibly a single crank.
i was dismayed at the slick and packaged presentation our district got last night. what is your collective experience? |
| Name: | D. Brady |
| Town or district: | Warren Township Dist 50 |
| Comments: | I found the article "Should a District Superintendent Be Paid Like a CEO?"
by Dave Ziffer to be a joke. Obviously Dave hasn't spent much time in Corporate America. CEO's in most cases are overpaid and are very rarely blamed for the failure's that they cause. When they are blamed and fired, it's usually for something the previous CEO did (and was given a bonus for). Most business books & schools will tell you that a CEO's primary function is to make sure that the company's most important assets (manpower) is operating at peak efficiency. There are many other people in the company chain of command that deal with strategy and marketing and the CEO isn't the guy. Look to Marketing for that. Sales implements the vision and ops will make sure the tools are available to get the job done. The CEO makes sure that it all works smoothly. Dave, let me ask, what 2nd level manager do you know that manages HUNDREDS of employees, and THOUSANDS of customers (students)? Get real.... |
| Name: | Kellyn |
| Town or district: | LA |
| Comments: | THECHAMPION.ORG has a database that lists the salaries for all Illinois state teachers & administrators. From the home page, scroll down the right side, click, and your eyes will pop!
So the problems we have with government education is not just flaky curricula and failing schools, it's financially irresponsible politicians who have mismanaged taxpayer dollars by contracting with the unions, terms that are unsustainable going forward. The City of Vallejo filed bankruptcy and put the blame squarely on public employee (gilt-edge pensions) entitlements, San Diego has been teetering for years, and the State of California is headed for a train wreck. But the state employee unions, as adults, can see the sky falling; but in juvenile mode, still want more and more money! But first and foremost I blame the politicians for mismanaging our money, when they should have taken a stand and protected their taxpaying constituents against the childish and irrational demands of the unions. Honestly, Mary from Bolingbrook, I don't know one starving teacher who still buys school supplies for her students. Didn't that go the way of the redbrick schoolhouse? |
| Name: | Mary |
| Town or district: | Bolingbrook |
| Comments: | For those of you who like to trash education, I'd like to see you get right in there and actually practice what you preach. For those of us in poorer districts, we spend our own salaries to purchase supplies for the classroom, because our parents cannot afford to buy things like pencils and crayons, but the student owns a cell phone and a nintendo DS. Because we receive a pension, we are ineligible for social security, even though I work a second job to make ends meet, and spent 10 years in the private sector, so 10 years of my work and 10K a year currently will go to pad YOUR retirement. Sadly, most teachers work a second job, because 40K isn't enough in this economic climate. Lastly, you look to the higher paid superintendents of the IL school districts - most of whom represent the competitive school districts like New Trier. The superintendent's salary is voted on by your school board, people YOU elected to represent you, and now you're calling sour grapes because you have to pay for it. Superintendents work a full year, and spend 12 hours a day most of those days. I don't think anyone on this board got woken with a phone call in the middle of the night telling you that the building where you work lost electricity or heat, and have to make a multi-million dollar decision at the drop of a hat. Most of you never once considered the state of the roof at your office, wondering if it needed replacement or could it hold for another year, because other items were needed, and then when you didn't sleep all night, got up the next morning, and attended the school plays at three different schools, all the while never showing the strain of worry on your face. Spend a year in the school system with parents who say things like, "I can't get her to do her homework," and then when you respond with things like "Take away the DS, turn off the TV, and make her sit there," the parent says, "Oh I can't do that, I want her to like me." Kids are coming into kindergarten and first grade not knowing the alphabet. So don't tell me about my salary, and the salary of my boss. Because I don't tell you how to do your job, but I bet I could, if I had the time. |
| Name: | Vivian Alden |
| Town or district: | Chicago |
| Comments: | I found your site disturbing. The home page lists obscure examples of Illinois education, and when I scrolled down to find some explanation, all I found was that you reviews, apparently to taut your own laurels. I lost any interest there. |
| Name: | Concerned Parent |
| Town or district: | Schaumburg |
| Comments: | This website is great, but it would just be great if you also had a separate list of the school districts and private schools that don't use a fuzzy math program. It would be helpful especially when planning to move. |
| Name: | Wendy |
| Town or district: | Davis Junction |
| Comments: | we should have a cap on all state jobs. there is no good reason to pay more than 80,000 dollars a year for administrators or superintendents. look at the saleries we are paying, who said that was ok. when a super intendent is making over 300,000 dollars a year and those that they are in charge of can't afford new shoes it is truely a disgrace. cut thier saleries!!! |
| Name: | Bruce Deitrick Price |
| Town or district: | Norfolk, Virginia |
| Comments: | I've got about 150 articles on the internet, and recently collected the best excerpts into a book titled "THE EDUCATION ENIGMA--What Happened To American Education." Some of you have visited my site Improve-Education.org and know that my perspective is pro-facts and knowledge, and anti-educators (i.e., the people at the top who caused most of the problems). This book is short, lively, and accessible. It will help people understand that the schools were deliberately dumbed down, and must be smartened up the same way. On Amazon. Or ask your local library to carry it. |
| Name: | Lisa |
| Comments: | Here's a great homeschooling activity.. Learn about other cities, states, countries:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Traveling_Tony/ |
| Name: | Buckeye Girl |
| Town or district: | Naperville 203 |
| Comments: | You described Naperville 203's horrid math program to a T. In our personal experience (and in the opinion of hundreds of parents we know who are so angry that they literally are swearing and crying about how bad it is and the negative effect it is having on their kids' confidence/ability to do math), the program should be trashed IMMEDIATELY!!
We have hard data to prove that it failed our oldest. She jumped from 50 to 97th percentile after 4 months basic tutoring at Sylvan Learning Center in Woodridge. 203 administrators said it was impossible for our daughter to post such large leaps, yet we saw this on multiple standardized tests and in A's (vs. C's - F's) immediately upon Sylvan topics showing up in math class and that improvement continues now that we've pulled her from the clutches of the sub-par curriculum 203 forces on our unsuspecting children. This is the tip of the iceberg. The spelling/vocabulary curriculum is even worse. We are livid that we are paying such high taxes and in return getting such poor curriculum, and that District 203 administrators continue their pattern of denial, obfuscation and retaliation against kids whose parents have the temerity to complain. Someone should band us all together to file a class action lawsuit and demand change! |
| Name: | Buckeye Girl |
| Town or district: | Naperville 203 |
| Comments: | Kudos!! You absolutely NAILED your description of District 203's failed math program. It was uncanny how dead on you were - totally consistent with our current experience.
Specifically, we have a very bright (gifted) daughter who was struggling in math in District 203, supposedly one of the best districts in the state. After only 4 mos tutoring at Sylvan Learning Center in Woodridge IL (a decent program which incidentally District administrators trash), she jumped from 50th percentile to 97th percentile on all her standardized tests. We could tell the exact week when the Sylvan curriculum kicked in - it was the week when she all of a sudden started getting A's - because the sylvan curriculum actually taught her how to do math rather than the mumbo-jumbo senseless garbage District 203's curriculum has been spewing (not the fault of the teachers, but the administrators who selected this horrid curriculum). District 203's curriculum actually destroyed her confidence. She literally thought she was "stupid". Even worse is District 203 administrator arrogance denying that there's a problem. We complained (and I know hundreds of other District parents, including some teachers who are rabid to the point of swearing/crying about how bad the math program is), and 203's response has been denial ("nobody else is complaining"). Then there was retaliation against our daughter because we had the temerity to complain. I finally got our principal to admit District 203 knew there was a problem, but that it's a "7 year cycle to fix the program." Well, the bottom line is that won't do my kids any good. they will be out of 203 before this failed program is drop kicked as it should have been years ago. Shame on you District 203 administrators for denying the problem, blackballing concerned parents, and retaliating against students of parents who rightfully advocate for much needed curriculum change. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. If you think math is bad, you could write an expose about their even worse spelling/vocabulary curriculum. |
| Name: | Ann Duckworth |
| Town or district: | Jacksonville, FL |
| Comments: | Excerpt from - Why Males are Falling Behind Academically and Economically
Males are falling behind in greater numbers each year academically and economically. Our society is still using the nineteenth century belief Males should be strong and Females should be protected. This belief allows much aggression toward Males to make them tough. Any sign of weakness or displaying work that is considered more feminine is a negative in the eyes of society that will only react with more aggression toward such Males. Only Males who have been taught from a young age to not value those physical areas sufficiently and who are valued more so for so-called feminine qualities such as patience, understanding, ease of nature, kindness, mildness, and goodness will be able to also develop other information age skills society still feels is feminine such as mental, emotional, social, and academic skills. You see, all of those skills require more patience, ease of nature, and "low average stress along with proper pace and intensity in approaching those mental areas.” The nineteenth century belief Males should be strong very adversely affects Males from an early age onward in three large areas. The first area of concern: society's belief, Males should be strong allows much aggression toward Males (differences as early as nine months) “Psychology of Sex Differences”. From this aggression given them, Males are operating with much higher average stress that makes learning information age skills much more difficult. The increased aggression Males receive, creates four bad things for Males academically, mentally, emotionally, and socially: 1. It creates higher average layers of mental frictions (redefined from higher average stress) which inhibit thinking, learning, and motivation in mental areas. 2. These higher layers of mental frictions also create improper pace and intensity in approaching mental work (apply too much effort when approaching new material) and higher tension that hurts motivation to learn. 3. The aggression Males receive and less positive (nurturing) attention also create the higher average stress, which then creates the nervous energy or over activity. 4. This extra aggression Males receive creates the Male ego or defensive cushion that the Male develops from an early age to protect them from the aggressions they receive from society. This Male ego or defensive cushion has the negative consequences of further alienating the Male from “any” various mental, emotional, social, and academic supports they “might just” receive from society. When Males hear firm or hard words from others like teachers or others their minds are thinking defense and not thinking about learning and enjoying the learning process. The combination of high layers of mental frictions and defensive cushion are working to create an impediment to learning that accumulates in harm over time for men. The Second area of concern: In society today, men are given love, honor, respect, and support or the essentials of their self-worth only on the “condition of sufficient” achievement, money, power, status or image. Again, this is all a part of the nineteenth century belief Males should be strong. This is what makes Males so competitive. Males are continually vying or competing for the essentials of feelings of self-worth from society. They must fight through the still present, nineteenth century confrontations allowed by society upon them from an early age to achieve those benefits and feelings of self-worth. Those Males who do not achieve in school or other like areas will not only not receive sufficient love, honor, and respect from teacher, parents, and others for this lacking, they may receive more neglect and even more aggression from those persons. Again, society allows this window of aggression upon Males to make them tough. Males who can achieve in the classroom will do so. He will receive sufficient love, honor, respect, and support for academics and will continue to put forth more effort. When a Male Child is not showing a measure of achievement in school, he will tend to receive more neglect, abuse, and ridicule from parents and “teachers” than the Female child. This signals to the Male Child that he will not receive the essentials of self-worth in academics. He will then push himself in areas such as games, sports, and other pursuits to receive love, honor and respect (self-worth) from his peers. Over a period of years, this leaves Males far behind Females in mental, emotional, social, and academic knowledge and skills. Third area of concern: In addition, Males are not given positive mental, emotional, social, and academic support, knowledge and skills (unless by accident). Society in its ignorance from the nineteenth century belief Males should be strong considers such attention and support as coddling the Male child. Society still holds that Males should pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. As a result, Males are not given the tools to develop many mental, emotional, social, and academic skills. This greatly cuts down on their motivation to develop those skills. The combined effect of society only rewarding strength and power to face aggression; neglect in many social and academic areas; not rewarding but acting with more aggression toward Males who attempt to develop mildness, kindness, goodness, and care for others are hurting many Males. Over a period of years, this is leaving many Males grossly unable to compete in the information age, which requires a slow accumulation of many complex mental, emotional, social, academic skills and talents. This is creating the ever growing international Male Crisis that will only get worse for Males and then get much worse for Females when Males begin to take back with interest, their power and status. I feel society will continue maintaining this mistreatment of Males until a critical point is reached. The truth is, little boys need just as much coddling as the girls and just as much mental, emotional, social, and academic support as the girls. While neglect of Male children and boys may have proved useful in the more physical nineteenth century, it is working opposite of need in the information age where it requires much more accumulated mental, emotional, social and academic skills acquired over time. In these areas, Males are being seriously shortchanged. It is incorrect to view the Male Crisis on role models. The lack of role models is the result of the problem, not the cause. If you had a bag full of sand with a hole in the bottom, you would “not” say there is less sand in the bag; you would say there is a hole in the bottom of the bag. Indeed, we should fix the hole in the bag by providing Males with tools to develop long-term, mental/emotional stability so they can better compete mentally and emotionally in the information age. One professional was attempting to find more role models for Male children. He boasted that a Male child’s esteem goes up when they have one positive role model. What he was unknowingly saying was that Males have such little attention that when they do receive that attention, they are very grateful. This creates the large rise in esteem. The fight for attention could be creating misbehavior in Male children. 1. I also fear the use of Male classrooms with more discipline and more time on task will only lead to more stern and even more harsh treatment and stereotyping of Males to perform more physical or menial labor to match the growing caste system being portrayed in the media against Males today. We must learn to realize our current, single/multiple intelligence models were simply accepted out of hand years ago and held on to by many who were in control and apparently felt satisfied enough with their own life. Such ones could not see the tremendous disadvantage and damage such narrow, short-sighted beliefs would have on others, even among some persons who are closely related to them. “Newest Version” by e-mail to everyone. mayfieldga@bellsouth.net |
| Name: | Kellyn |
| Town or district: | Los Angeles |
| Comments: | Re teacher pay. I don't think the problem is what teachers make, too little, or too much. The issue is CAN WE AFFORD IT? Most politicians and union leaders never say WE CAN'T AFFORD THIS. They just throw temper tantrums and through intimidation usually get what they want. Make no mistake about it, big unions are the rulers and winners here! Their racket is secured. |
| Name: | Robert F |
| Town or district: | Seattle |
| Comments: | Oops. In my post on Anna Diaz's comment, I misspelled the singular possessive form of "country."
You make a simple but important point. The field of education is plagued by people who have strong opinions, who read a great deal of research, and who would not stoop to enter an actual school if their countries' future depended on it, which it does. It should say "country's." |
| Name: | Steve F. |
| Town or district: | Illinois |
| Comments: | I've been looking into Robert Marzano since my district seems to have swallowed his rhetoric hook,line and sinker. I smell a rat. Why am I right? Why am I right? Feedback please. Thanks. |
| Name: | DWB |
| Town or district: | Chicago |
| Comments: | Please look at these articles about the scores of students in Massachusetts on the TIMSS exam (used to compare the performance of countries in math and science). State of Massachusetts press release: http://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.asp?id=4457; Boston Globe online article: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/12/10/bright_sign_for_tech_in_mass/.
Massachusetts took the exam as if it were a nation, and its 4th grade math scores placed it 4th in the world and its 8th grade math scores 6th. This is an accomplishment, and suggests that the educators in Massachusetts have some idea what they are doing. Kudos to the teachers and those who support their work. Isn't it interesting that 40% of Massachusetts schools with K-5 classrooms use Everyday Mathematics. The Massachusetts story suggests at least that the choice of curriculum is not the whole story. |
| Name: | Robert Boden |
| Town or district: | Lane County, Oregon |
| Comments: | Gentlemen,
The task of learning to read would be far easier if the letters in text each had but one sound. I think most people would agree with this statement. An illustration: (ten different sounds for the digraph 'ea') heal deaf ear heart break ocean search, reality creates idea But the problem of the miserable spelling of the English language can easily be taken care of (temporarily) by use of modern computer word-processing technology. By use of the Phondot system (www.phondot.com) children could be taught to read efficiently in about three months in Kindergarten. Phondot enables English text to be automatically altered to a form in which the sound of each letter is indicated, but spelling remains unchanged. Children would learn to write using normal text characters, but the text they copy would have pronunciation clearly indicated. This ability to teach reading so simply should result in great cost savings to the schools which use it. Bob Boden bobjoy4@hotmail.com |
| Name: | jan dowling |
| Town or district: | alpine |
| Comments: | THanks Parker, I agree with you. Everyone sounds so bitter emotional, and subjective. In my area I have had children in private, charter and public schools. I loved (as did the kids) the nighborhood schools best. The charter school was fine too but the parents were such annoying activists I was glad when my daughter went to high school and wanted to go to her neighborhood school. As for private, well fortunately I did my research. I actually had to drive past 2 private schools before I could get to one that if my son wanted to transfer back his public high school would accept the credit. And after 1 1/2 years he was able academically to stand the rigors of our neighborhood high school. I am not making that up. It is a tough school. With a strict attendance policy and a dress code that was incredible. A lesson learned, expensive is not necessarily better than free. |
| Name: | Anna Diaz |
| Town or district: | Chicago |
| Comments: | I issue two challanges, first actually print my comments and second, spend one week in a chicago public school on the west side of Chicago AND then tell me what a teacher is worth. I promise to listen then and only then! Editor's note: Our former director, and many participants in the Illinois Loop, HAVE worked in very challenging schools in low income neighborhoods. Teachers who are effective in those schools surely do deserve good compensation. I don't think anyone disagrees with that. |
| Name: | Barbara Ann |
| Town or district: | Park Ridge |
| Comments: | Illinois Loop, please look into community college teachers' contracts. They work 3 hrs/day, 15 hrs/week for only 35 week for 'full-time' salary and benefits. And they teach many college-remedial courses that a student should have passed in high school. Teaching AP Brit Literature in high school is much more demanding that English Composition in a junior college. High school teachers must do attendance, parent contact and heavy paper grading besides teaching 25 hours/wk. College teachers do keep 'office hours' but their students usually drive right off campus after class to their full time job! |
| Name: | Robert F |
| Comments: | My post below was written from frustration. I want to make clear that we all need to work to find our way forward. I agree with a great deal of what I find on this website. The point I am trying to make is that there comes a point where analysis should stop and constructive action should begin. Many have done that by starting their own schools or implementing working reforms in already existing schools. I don't expect to find a ready-made path out of the constructivist mainstream, but I do think that many teachers would benefit from work along those lines. We must be careful not to dismiss or discard teachers who find themselves teaching in mainstream schools. In most cases they have had few options. It would help a great deal to identify quality training and places to work where people are in agreement as to sound practices. |
| Name: | Parker |
| Town or district: | Zion |
| Comments: | How disappointing. When I saw the title of the website, I hoped for some real insight into state regulations and what I might expect as a newcomer to the region. What I found was a lot of bitter, uneducated guesses by presumably education amateurs. Simply because you once taught your child how to ride a bike, this does not make you a master teacher. The process of learning is not something to be made fun of, neither is it the same for every child. Any parent who has successfully taught more than one child something will know that. Simply because you can make up mocking definitions of terms you probably have no professional knowledge of does not make you appear "wise". What is signals is sour grapes. Perhaps, when the writer has bona fide educational credentials---whether or not you agree ideologically---then, you can comment. Imagine, if you come from the world that teachers come from and THEN disagree, you might be worth of some sort of attention. But until then, I'll trust my own interpretation. How sad, and such a waste of bandwidth. |
| Name: | Robert F |
| Town or district: | Seattle |
| Comments: | Hello Illinois Loop,
While I very much appreciate getting a response to my posting, reprinted below, I'm afraid the response missed the point. My point was that I am interested in moving from analysis to solutions, and to that end I asked some specific questions about teacher training. What I am not looking for are more articles to read, and I especially don't need or want to read more blogs. As I said before, I already understand the situation. I am talking about moving beyond complaint to constructive action. Most of the articles included here are written by people who are several steps removed from actually teaching in primary or secondary schools. This distance is a tremendous part of the problem, and one that receives little attention, for obvious reasons. It is becoming clear to me that for all of the strongly held opinions, there is little direct, constructive work being done. If that work is to be done, even answering the most basic questions, we will have to do it ourselves. Back to square one..... Robert F Name: Robert F Town or district: Seattle Comments: Hello. I am a more traditional, instructivist teacher who feels trapped in a constructivist world. I don't need to read all of these articles. The flaws of progressive education have been obvious to me all along. What I am looking for is information that takes me away from all the analysis and complaint and instead points towards solutions. Okay, most education schools are lousy. That isn't news. The question is where to go instead, and what is to be done? Should a person who has been poorly prepared find another teacher education program? Are there any good ones in the entire United States? If not, is there anywhere else to get training? Should we try to repair our deficits ourselves? Are there any groups organizing for this purpose? More to the point, is there anyone in Seattle who reads this site and agrees with its general critique of constructivist methods? I would dearly love to correspond or speak with some like-minded educators. I teach high school, but am interested in talking with anyone seeking to break out of the constructivist education mainstream. Robert F On the "Get Involved" tab on our menu above, see "Other Websites and Organizations". Good luck! |
| Name: | jan dowling |
| Town or district: | alpine school district |
| Comments: | Our district just threw Investigations Math under the bus because of parent outcry. I was disappointed because my children did so well with it. Just out of curiosity I thought I would google search math program comparisons and found this sight. I began reading through it but must admit I found the tone to be not very objective. To a sincere investigator it seems to have an agenda. I returned to my search and finally found what seemed to be an objective analysis of elementary math programs. (Clearinghouse) While Investigations was not on the list because there was not enough research to make an evidence based judgement the program that came out far better than any other was Everyday Math. Perhaps you all should have put your emotions aside and done your research before condemning it. |
| Name: | brian |
| Comments: | this was just terrible. |
| Name: | Amy |
| Town or district: | Oswego IL |
| Comments: | I do NOT agree with the D.I.G program that the Oswego 308 district has put in place at the JR high level. A student can be issued a D.I.G. for any infraction, from violence to breaking dress code to forgetting a pen/paper/planner when coming to class. All D.I.G.s are issued at the discretion
of the teacher, and once a D.I.G. has been issued, it cannot or will not be removed by the teacher/district. The teachers and administration are not willing to work with parents, if there is wrong or erroneous information, it remains on record. |
| Name: | Assigned a Shrink |
| Town or district: | USA |
| Comments: | To David Sharpe from Bournemouth U.K.:
It is unfortunate that this nonsense has gone 'global' and teachers around the world have had to suffer the exact same things. The real tragedy is that your tax dollars are being spent on snake-oil salesmen that as one person here put it, will Delphi you to death! Sadly you can be considered one of the best teachers in your system for years, until this nonsense comes along and if you won't go along with it, you will be downgraded to someone who needs psychiatric help. I am not exaggerating on that one, believe me. The New World Order is very evil indeed...they have used the art of deception to overtake the educational system, weed out the 'good' teachers, and impose their agenda on our students. As you can see from those learning to be teachers, they are not taught how to teach or how to organize and run a classroom, which is essential in the lower grades. Education has become infested with political correctness and naval gazing that has nothing to do with learning. It is just a sick situation and teachers, parents and taxpayers need to revolt and take over the system. |
| Name: | Teacher |
| Town or district: | Taught in Massachusetts 35 Years |
| Comments: | Bravo to the person(s) who compiled this site. Everyone who joins our USPEIN@yahoogroups.com is sent here for background info, as every bit of it is accurate, in my experience.
My last 10 of 35 teaching years were made a veritable NIGHTMARE by this nonsense. Some really good teachers swallowed it for fear of losing their jobs, others were driven out because they failed to use and employ the jargon and dubious methods. It also is upsetting how they are using mountains of tax dollars to promote this stuff. As a well-organized teacher with intent to teach actual skills I was discouraged at every turn. I cannot tell you how frustrating it was to try to explain why these curricular changes were not about learning but more about politics to teachers who ordinarily were not involved in that sort of thing. Finding others who understand what you know is like waking up from a bad dream. :-) Thanks! |
| Name: | Laura Stinson |
| Town or district: | Somonauk |
| Comments: | I would like to know if Saxon addresses the ISAT math extended response. So You new materials include this in everyday instrcution for students? Are samples available? Hints on how to teach it? |
| Name: | Just me |
| Comments: | Teachers on work 9 months out of the year correct? |
| Name: | Teacher in NH |
| Town or district: | Manchester NH |
| Comments: | You folks do a WONDERFUL job of exposing the hype that allows these snake-oil reformers to steal billions of our tax dollars while dumbing down the educational system.
As a teacher it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to teach under this kind of system. When they started questioning who I was having lunch with (all of 20 minutes) I knew then it was time to scream, 'Can you say George Orwell?' This is the biggest scam next to global warming that is being perpetrated on the public. And these dumb school boards fall for it. "Compete in the global marketplace" means buying a UN program from the IBO.org to them, when it really just means "work for less than the Indian guy does". LOL |
| Name: | Sharon |
| Town or district: | Cupertino, CA |
| Comments: | Never, ever let this site die. I have been trying to get colleagues to use real words that parents in the grocery store can use when describing their child's school day that everyone can understand. What the heck is a PBT? Wouldn't "Daily Report" make more sense?
I love your site. |
| Name: | rick lynn |
| Town or district: | Duval County Florida |
| Comments: | The problem will not be solved by looking at learning styles or more compulsive effort on the part of boys. Until they stop looking at genetic factors and begin looking at so many environmental differences in treatment over time, Males, boys, men, will continual to fall behind. The problem with this is boys are given love, honor, respect, support, etc. only on condition of sufficient achievement, power, status, etc. the elements needed for feelings of self-worth. Girls are given love, honor, respect, simply for being girls. The general over protection and support for girls from day one creates much stability and ease of learning. The general over-aggression given Males, including lack of mental, emotional, social support for fear of coddling Males is causing much higher average stress, tension, and lag in mental/emotional growth over time. This must change for Males to have chance and for Society to remain whole. I will place other information as attachments that may be useful. I feel the increase in single mothers “is” the result a big disconnect between overprotected girls and boys not able and also now not willing to care for a family.
1. I fear followers of the genetic models will try to build a case for genetic learning differences or body mass requiring more activity or tactile learning. Note that nice middle class Males do not have this problem. Also the view of differences in brain activity are more due to large differences in differential mental, emotional, social, physical, and educational reinforcement over time, not organic differences. 2. I also fear the use of Male classrooms with more discipline and more time on task will only lead to more stern and even more harsh treatment and stereotyping of Males to perform more physical or menial labor to match the growing cast system being portrayed in the media against Males today. rick lynn Teacher Free to all by e-mail at mayfieldga@bellsouth.net |
| Name: | Robert F |
| Town or district: | Seattle |
| Comments: | Hello. I am a more traditional, instructivist teacher who feels trapped in a constructivist world. I don't need to read all of these articles. The flaws of progressive education have been obvious to me all along. What I am looking for is information that takes me away from all the analysis and complaint and instead points towards solutions. Okay, most education schools are lousy. That isn't news. The question is where to go instead, and what is to be done? Should a person who has been poorly prepared find another teacher education program? Are there any good ones in the entire United States? If not, is there anywhere else to get training? Should we try to repair our deficits ourselves? Are there any groups organizing for this purpose?
More to the point, is there anyone in Seattle who reads this site and agrees with its general critique of constructivist methods? I would dearly love to correspond or speak with some like-minded educators. I teach high school, but am interested in talking with anyone seeking to break out of the constructivist education mainstream. Robert F On the "Get Involved" tab on our menu above, see "Other Websites and Organizations". Good luck! |
| Name: | Math Mom |
| Town or district: | Washington |
| Comments: | May I get the correct link for Everyday Math: Proof that it works? Hardly by Mark Montgomery, September 29, 2006 Your link doesnt not work.
We've now fixed that link, on our page about math programs (under the "Subjects" tab) |
| Name: | Dave Warwak |
| Town or district: | Fox River Grove SD 3 |
| Comments: | "Not only at Fox River Grove Middle School but also in thousands of schools across the country, corporate agribusiness has run amok in the attempt to utilize public education as a place to establish the naturalization of commercial meat and dairy as lifelong eating habits, to generate increased sales, to subsidize the food industry against decreased producer prices, as well as to funnel below-health standards food not fit for public sale. Warwak was correct to demand the riddance of the Dairy Council’s posters as they had in fact already been targeted for removal from approximately 105,000 public schools by the Federal Trade Commission." Richard Kahn PhD, University of North Dakota
http://freire.mcgill.ca/files/kahn-epistemologiesofignorance.pdf |
| Name: | Eric Jensen |
| Town or district: | Joliet |
| Comments: | Hi
I hear my name used over and over on this website by uninformed, misguided, counterproductive, highly opinionated bloggers who claim to know a lot about the brain. They form a part of the "doubt industry" which loves to take a topic and hurl damaging and unsubstantiated claims, hoping that the average educator is too dumb to question their ignorance. This same routine went on in the 70s and 80s with the tobacco industry who never questioned the actual science of lung cancer, they just said "there were two sides" and tried to raise doubts. In the the 1990s and recently, the "doubt industry" worked on global warming. The Bush administration called it the "global warming debate" when there is NO debate at all. Over 900 scientific, peer-reviewed journals have shown that global warning is real and over 90% of the scientists agree humans are mostly to blame. Now we have the anti-brain groupies who blog that neuroscience has nothing to offer our teaching and that teachers are too dumb to make any connections to the classroom. Let's get something straight right now: the most prestigious university in the world, Harvard University, offers a brain-based masters AND doctorate degree. They researched this topic for ten years before offering degree programs. Do the critics think they know more than the certification departments at Harvard? There's a peer reviewed journal on brain-based teaching and hundreds of award-winning scientists endorse neuroscience applications in the classroom. Before you make any decision about whether you buy into brain-based anything, please go to the website www.brain-basedskeptic.com and read it. It's has the facts, not some rant by teacher who ought to be working on improving student learning, but instead chooses to embarrass himself with his lack of knowledge. Go to the site, then decide. Thanks for reading. |
| Name: | Math Mom |
| Town or district: | Washington |
| Comments: | PARENTS BE AWARE.
WHAT YOUR SCHOOL WILL NOT TELL YOU - Please do your own research and come to an informed conclusion. Washington State: Math Education and Inconvenient Truth (Video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr1qee-bTZI A FAILED EXPERIMENT. Our children are not guinea pigs. Fuzzy Math (Everyday Math, TERC, Investigations) etc is a FAILED EXPERIMENT. Stop treating our children as guinea pigs. We ranked # 1 in the World in Math and Science, we are now at # 25 (PISA 2007) http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/2006/nov06/math-teachers.html EVERYDAY MATH RATED WORST Everyday Math rated “worst” - Educational Research Analysis Report -2008 Email them and ask for the 2008 reports TxtbkRevws@aol.com FUN AND GAMES TODAY…..EXCESSIVE HOME TUTORING AND REMEDIATION TOMORROW Remediation: (2008) http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/09/01/2008-09-01_many_entering_cuny_students_failed_place-2.html Remediation: (2008) http://mathunderground.blogspot.com/2008/02/60-uw-faculty-critical-of-current.html Need for tutoring: http://vormath.info/WordPress1/?cat=4 Every Night Math: http://www.nypost.com/seven/12072007/postopinion/letters/everyday_math___junk_778730.htm CALCULATORS CRIPPLE COMPUTATION SKILLS Calculators are introduced in Kindergarten. Ask for your school Math curriculum. • Mathematicians reject the early use of calculators, beginning in kindergarten, and they question the current excessive use of calculators, during all of the K-12 years. • The National Math Advisory Panel Report 2008 cautions: that to the degree that calculators impede the development of automaticity; fluency in computation will be adversely affected. (page 24, point 29) • Educational Research Analysis 2008 Report outlines in detail how Everyday Math Cripples Computation Skills. The main goal of elementary school mathematics education is to get students to think about numbers and to learn arithmetic. Calculators defeat that purpose. They allow students to arrive at answers without thinking. When calculators are introduced in Kindergarten, where is the incentive to learn? In grade 5, there is an entire chapter on how to use a calculator. MATHEMATICIANS REJECT THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES OF EVERYDAY MATH What mathematicians say: http://www.voteboe2007.org/what_professors_say.htm Discovery based learning: http://www.wgquirk.com/NJmathst.html Multiple algorithms: http://www.math.nyu.edu/~braams/links/em-arith.html Estimation as an important part of imprecise Mathematics: http://www.wgquirk.com/chap3.html#Estimation Spiraling Method http://www.nychold.com/em-spiral.html COUNCIL OF TEACHERS OF MATHEMATICS REJECTS EVERYDAY MATH Math teachers: Parents are right http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2006/sept06/06-09-27.html Math teachers reverse course http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/2006/nov06/math-teachers.html WHAT COLLEGE PROFESSORS HAVE TO SAY: What Professors have to say – Remediation: http://mathunderground.blogspot.com/2008/02/60-uw-faculty-critical-of-current.html Washington State: Math Education: A University View (Video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymvSFunUjx0&feature=related CONFLICT OF INTEREST ? • Conflict of Interest: http://illinoisloop.org/mathprograms.html#chicagomath • Conflict of Interest: http://www.ctb.com/static/about_ctb/about_ctb.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673246865&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696535573&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395213825&bmUID=1126020525603 • In the US dept of education findings which reviewed 61 studies on Everyday Math, NONE met evidence standards. One study to show potentially positive effects (2001 Riordan and Noyce) suffers from a huge conflict of interest. • States are dumbing down (State) Student Achievement Tests. Federal funds for education can be withheld from states in which students fail to meet the standards of the state-designed NCLB tests. • The proponents of Fuzzy Math are often the publishers themselves and the school districts which have already spent heavily on instructional materials, not the parents. STOP DUMBING DOWN http://www.georgeallen.com/2008/07/29/allen-stop-dumbing-down-america-washington-times/ http://clivecrook.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/the_dumbing_of_america.php Dumbing Down Tests: http://www.boardofed.idaho.gov/NAEP/info/media(2007-10-30)-PooleyLetter&Response.pdf Dumbing down State Student Achievement tests: http://usgovinfo.about.com/b/2007/06/18/are-states-dumbing-down-student-achievement-tests.htm DON’T BE FOOLED BY JARGON Everyday Math Jargon: http://www.jamerson-es.pinellas.k12.fl.us/docs/vocab.pdf Jargon: Put Two and Two Together By Elizabeth Carson, New York Daily News, October 16, 2006. “If you ask administrators to explain it, they'll use just enough jargon to make it sound decent.” Jargon: Standards should be unambiguous, understandable, and without needless jargon. http://vormath.info/WordPress1/?page_id=4 Requires Reading and Vocabulary proficiency: http://www.edweek.org/login.html?source=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edweek.org%2Few%2Farticles%2F2001%2F12%2F05%2F14mathread.h21.html&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edweek.org%2Few%2Farticles%2F2001%2F12%2F05%2F14mathread.h21.html&levelId=2100&baddebt=false ESL and Everyday Math In a class with one teacher, where is the time for this kind of differentiation? http://dev.wrightgroup.com/download/em/page92.pdf WHAT THE NATIONAL MATH ADVISORY PANEL 2008 REPORT HAS TO SAY The National Math Advisory Panel calls for back to basics systematic approach to Math http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/mathpanel/report/final-report.pdf • requires fluency with the standard algorithms for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (page 19, point 11) • focus on effort increases their engagement in mathematics learning (page 20 point 14) • The Panel cautions that to the degree that calculators impede the development of automaticity; fluency in computation will be adversely affected. (page 24, point 29) • U.S. mathematics textbooks (publishers should make every effort to produce much shorter and more focused (page 24 point 31) • Mathematics literacy is a serious problem in the United States. (page 31) • The need to be globally competitive (page 32) Panel calls for Systematic Basic Approach to Math http://www.edweek.org/login.html?source=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.diigo.com%2Fuser%2Fcheryl_vt%2FNMAP&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edweek.org%2Few%2Farticles%2F2008%2F03%2F19%2F28math_ep.h27.html%3Ftmp%3D425769355&levelId=2100&baddebt=false OUR CHILDREN NEED TO BE GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE: Math Skills suffer in the US - New York Times: http://www.nationalmathandscience.org/index.php/blog/math-skills-suffer-in-us-study-finds.html The need to stay Competitive: http://www.nationalmathandscience.org/index.php/staying-competitive/ Its all about being Globally competitive (VIDEO)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdgNJ4AibMw&feature=related Math and Science Reform http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/PreK-12EducationFactSheet.pdf Rising Above the Gathering Storm – Two Years Later: 2008 http://nationalmathandscience.org/convocation/ Why US kids rank 33rd in the world – http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59262 American Institute of Research – What the US can learn from Singapore’s World class Math system (and what Singapore can learn from the US) 2005 http://www.air.org/news/documents/Singapore%20Report%20(Bookmark%20Version).pdf Math Wars carry on. Texas and California Reject Everyday Math in part South Carolina: Everyday Math Bottoms out at Beaufort http://thevoiceforschoolchoice.wordpress.com/2008/06/25/education-bottoms-out-in-beaufort-with-new-math/ New Jersey - Recall Everyday Math Long Valley http://longvalleymath.com/ New Jersey Long Valley NJ recall Everyday Math http://longvalleymath.com/category/national-math/ Columbia Missouri district back to traditional Math http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/09/24/district-decides-go-back-traditional-math/ Washington State Math Mess- a case against constructivist Math http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2008253262_opin12nutting.html Utah turning to the Far East http://www.highbeam.com:80/doc/1P2-16709447.html Virginia: Stafford County - Everyday Math is dumbing down our children 2008 http://www.schoc.org/id56.html Virginia: Prince William County, Arlington County, Fairfax, Loudoun, Howard Parents Rise against Everyday Math: 2008 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/18/AR2008021802244.html?referrer=emailarticle Virginia Prince William County: Parents take Action (2008) http://www.pwcteachmathright.com/ Texas: http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_93930.asp Humor: Peaceful movement to disarm Fuzzy Math http://www.weaponsofmathdestruction.com/thumbnails.cfm 600 schools in the US have shifted to Singapore Math http://www.illinoisloop.org/mathprograms.html#singapore New Jersey Ridgewood: http://vormath.info:80/WordPress1/?cat=6 New York http://www.nychold.com/let-nydn-0610yy.html New York http://www.nychold.com:80/let-action-0712.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr1qee-bTZI&feature=related New York - Fuzzy Math is not cuddly http://www.nypost.com/seven/11282007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/fuzzy_math_isnt_cuddly_685276.htm?page=0 Massachusetts: http://www.massachusetts.edu/stem/stem_math_woes.html Math bottoms out in Beaufort http://thevoiceforschoolchoice.wordpress.com/2008/06/25/education-bottoms-out-in-beaufort-with-new-math/ Add, subtract, multiply, and divide integers, decimals, and fractions accurately, efficiently, and flexibly without calculators http://gse.berkeley.edu/faculty/AHSchoenfeld/Schoenfeld_MathWars.pdf |
| Name: | Let Down After All These Years |
| Town or district: | Chicago Public School System |
| Comments: | I attended a CPS school and received a good, quality education that has taken me far in life. My son began school in pre-k and is now in 8th grade. He's been at the same school the whole time.
Each year I noticed some problems. He was in the gifted program but never made the grades I thought he should be making. I talked to the teachers who all assured me that he was doing fine because he scored so high on his standardized tests. In 5th he took a decline but still they told me he was doing fine. It wasn't until he was diagnosed with a tic disorder last summer that his neurologist recommended a neuropysch test. After 7 hours of testing they discovered he had a learning disability in both math and writing. The school decided to do their own independent testing when I brought it to their attention. They found out he does have both learning disabilities and is writing at a 5th grade level and his math is even lower. He barely knows his multiplication tables, or how to divide. Yet he's in the gifted program and after all of these years they've just discovered this now. No one noticed anything before because he scored in the 90% percentile on the state testing. Well my theory is that he scored so high because they teach to the test. They spend so much time teaching the things that are going to be on these standardized tests for fear that if their students do poorly, their job will suffer, the school, and so on. In the midst of all of this teaching to the test, they've completely flown past the basic fundamentals that every person should know in life. Things like how to multiply and divide! So now my son is in 8th grade and getting ready for high school and after all these years, they've decided now that he's special ed. I feel completely let down by the Chicago Public School system. I held up my end of the bargain. I've been an involved parent, active in his school, helping with homework, making sure he does the things he needs to do, read with him, worked with him, brought concerns to their attention, etc. Why didn't they live up to their end of the bargain by giving him a good solid education foundation for him to build on? Instead they let it be and never investigated anything simply because he scored well on his state tests. Something needs to be done about this now before more children suffer similar fates. And everyone wonders why the school system is broken. For years I was an advocate for public schools but after this, I've decided I just can't do it anymore. These standardized tests have to go. |
| Name: | Kathleen |
| Town or district: | Park Ridge |
| Comments: | Our teachers spend roughly four hours daily with their classes outside of "specials".Why do so many of them sit glued to their computers while their students work"independently" on packets of busy work during this time? Then they load them up with homework and send home union propaganda to con parents into doing the job they were paid handsomely all day to do.The parents then absorb this stress, after actually DOING their respective jobs all day, as well as the child who, from a child's perspective,has already put in a long day. "Peer-grading", silent reading, self-tutorials and homework are all ways teachers are deflecting their jobs! We must demand more productive classroom time and stop allowing teachers to put it on automatic pilot.This is the root of the problem.
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| Name: | Kellyn |
| Town or district: | Los Angeles |
| Comments: | Nameless: That broken train you speak of is off track in most school districts throughout America. I love the train analogy and your sense of humor -- what a great post!
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| Name: | J. Bohrman |
| Town or district: | Pocono Mountain School DIstrict |
| Comments: | I enjoyed viewing this site, though I can't say I agree with it. In my opinion, the biggest reason our schools our different than when we went is that teachers are limited in the demands they can make of students. Parental support is often lacking and we often spend a large part of the day teaching appropriate behaviors. Should this be more important than skills? If I am forced into the position of making this choice, I will always choose proper behaviors. Teacher-centered classrooms don't work when kids shut down and parents don't support education. Students don't fail grades when they don't perform, because studies show this isn't the answer either. Educators do the best with what they have. We need MANY strategies for many types of students and situations. |
| Name: | dianna |
| Town or district: | plainfield |
| Comments: | Your quote: First graders not taught the mechanics of reading, and instead told to guess at words by their shapes
My response - If a first grader can use more than one clue to decode a word BESIDES "sound it out", like looking at the pattern that the word has (shape), he/she will be able to use that strategy to decode other words. Teachers don't just give students one tool or strategy to decode words, they give them a variety of strategies. Some tools are: using context clues, looking at the picture, using the letter sounds (phonics), looking for little words in bigger words, and others. I appreciate that you are trying to fan the flames of outrage at what bureaucracy has done to schools, but you are a tad unreasonable and/or unfair. I'm all for making public schools better - on that we agree. And - Plainfield Elementary Schools no longer use Everyday Math. Please update your info. Editor's reply: -- Regarding "... looking at the pattern that the word has (shape) ..." That is NOT decoding. -- It's absolutely crucial that children learn and become fluent at decoding, and this cannot be replaced by so-called "strategies" ("see those tall necks at the end of 'giraffes'?") -- We've added a short collection of items on a "Comprehension Strategies" section on our "Reading" page (under "Subjects") -- We have revised our math-by-district page to reflect the good news that Plainfield has finally dumped Everyday Math after parent protests. |
| Name: | fed up |
| Town or district: | small town |
| Comments: | correction to my previous post... I do realize it's August..no school.. (maybe I need a vacation) The months run together when you're not off all summer.
Sorry about the error |
| Name: | fed up |
| Town or district: | small town |
| Comments: | I just had to reply to "gradem", the overworked teacher. YES, you are overpaid and NO, you are not over-worked, but apparently unorganized! What do you do during your free class time? In elementary school, the kids have gym, art, music, library, etc. something each day when they're not in your class. In upper grades teachers have scheduled planning time. Do you teach a different grade each year? Do you teach high school..the same subject..each year?
Many people work 10hr days and yes many of us have work to do at night. What about the hours we spend helping our children with homework? Someone who works 52 weeks per year..5 days a week works 260 days. Teachers have a set number of contract days..188/190 per year (Sept thru Aug inclusive). I wish I had 70 days of vacation a year! (esp holidays). One question..if you have so much work, why are you reading and posting on web sites at 2:59PM? (school day??) |
| Name: | Mom of 4 |
| Town or district: | LaSalle County |
| Comments: | Any thoughts on RtI? It seems to have elementary/middle school teachers in a tizzy, almost as much as ISAT testing-- |
| Name: | gradem |
| Town or district: | chicago |
| Comments: | Are you all crazy? You think teachers are overpaid? True, my salary is only based on 9 months of "actual" work - but during those 9 months my work week averages 90 hours per week. I usually get to school at 6:00 AM; I leave at 4:00 PM (if I'm lucky). I then go home and grade papers and lesson plan for at least 3-4 hours. My salary is $45k per year - and yes, I have a Master's degree. |
| Name: | JP |
| Town or district: | Yorkville |
| Comments: | I searched and was unable to find any references at illinoisloop.org, for the word fiduciary.
Fiduciary duty is an obligation to act in the best interest of another party (like taxpayers). Here's an example of what's happening elsewhere: http://ridgewoodblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/nj-moves-to-prevent-keansburg.html Is such action in Illinois possible? There is also a vote later this year to convene a constitutional convention in Illinois. Would that be an avenue to address this hemorrhaging of our tax dollars? |
| Name: | flcertifiedteacher |
| Town or district: | Collier County, Naples, FL |
| Comments: | Hello again Illinois Parents, Teachers and School Board Members,
I thought you might enjoy anonymously taking a quick quiz, online, only 10 questions, multiple choice, as the subject matter is: The actual background of your former superintendent, Dennis Thompson. Here's the quiz: QUIZ YOURSELF! |
| Name: | NAMELESS |
| Town or district: | SD 89 LOCKPORT |
| Comments: | THIS DISTRICT IS IN A TIME WARP. IT NEEDS HELP IN MANY WAYS. AMINISTRATION AND BOARD ARE WORKING TOGETHER, GOING DOWN A PATH TO NOWHERE. THE TRAIN LEAVES THE STATION EACH SCHOOL YEAR AND FALLS OFF THE TRACK. THE ADMINSTRATION AND BOARD DON'T REALIZE THAT THE TRACK IS BROKEN. THEY KEEP PILING THE CHILDREN INTO THE TRAIN, ON A BROKEN TRACK, GOING ON EDUCATION JOURNEY, TO NOWHERE.
THIS HAS TO STOP. TWENTY OF THIRTY-FIVE STUDENTS FAILED TO GRADUATE ON TO HIGH SCHOOL JUNE 1 2008. THE BOARD AND ADMINSTRATION DIDN'T HAVE MUCH OUTRAGE. THIS SEEMES TO BE HOW THE TRAIN RUNS AT SD 89, WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR. WE'LL PUT THE TRAIN BACK ON THE SAME TRACK, AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS. FOR NOW, LET'S HAVE A PARTY TO CELEBRATE ALL OUR SUPPOSED SUCCESSES IN THE LAST SCHOOL YEAR. THE ENGINEERS OF THIS EDUCATION TRAIN FEEL THEY HAVE DONE A FINE, FINE JOB |
| Name: | concerned in naples |
| Town or district: | naples |
| Comments: | I was very interested in the comments on your website...many are enlightening, since we have just inherited one of your former superintendent's and his crew. It is helpful to see where we are heading...and sometimes scary! |
| Name: | Concerned |
| Town or district: | Norridge |
| Comments: | We have recently been going through a referendun for our high school, so I have been doing alot of research because some in our community think our high school is not good. So I looked into test scores and found that the high school is right around the state average. Going on further I researched some of the data and asked lots of people lots of questions both in our high school and garde schools as well as parents who choose private schools instead of either our few public grade schools or our 1 public high school. What I found was amazing. It seems that our public grade school test results on the ISAT's are through the roof,yet those same kids later bomb the 8th grade enterance exam at our high school as well as private schools in the area. Most kids not reading or doing math at grade level, I found that the dailey herald has several articles on this subject. Also Tribune education reporter Stephanie Banchero has also explored the ISAT /explore test debate. What is the truth? Are the grade schools preparing our kids for high school or for the 8th grade test. The explore test is an act predictor test. If they do poorly on it then was does that tell us about what we are teaching our kids k-8. I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle but our kids are ultimatly suffering. Confused |
| Name: | Kellyn |
| Town or district: | Los Angeles |
| Comments: | Teachers give perfect examples on this forum why we need universal school vouchers. This way all the parents you call "kind" can stick with the PTA and the government schools -- and all the parents you call "lovely" can scram by applying their tax dollar to the school of their choice.
Parents have the fundamental right to control the upbringing of their children. Amen! |
| Name: | E |
| Town or district: | District 205 |
| Comments: | Hello Everyone...
I am a teacher in district 205, and it is interesting how people think they know so much about a teacher's life when they know so very little. First of all, you complain that we make 87,000 for 10 months of work. However, I would have to ask you; how many of you have to work nights and weekends throughout the school year to plan lessons and carefully grade papers, giving thoughtful comments to each student so that you can help them improve? Also, how many of you can say that you are so emotionally invested in your job that you begin to care so much about kids that you think about them night and day? Oh, and don't forget the lovely parents that we must deal with. Many parents are very kind and want to help, and I welcome that, but what you don't know is that many other parents give us grief because they think WE lost their child's homework or we are not being fair. Interesting that most of these parents do not have a degree in education. Finally, I'll leave you with this tidbit. You think we drum students with the ISATS? Well, you can blame your government for that. Ever since NCLB was passed, teachers are being blamed for low test scores, so naturally they feel they must "teach to the test." Just this year, our district has adopted an elementary program that is written by the makers of the ISATS. Anyone who thinks a teacher is in favor of this is a fool and is just showing how very little he or she, and the rest of the public, know about teaching. I personally, make about 43,000. Do I think I am worth every penny for ten months of work? Yes. You know why? While our contract reflects that we must be in attendance from 7:50 AM until 3:20 PM on a daily basis, I generally arrive at about seven, work through my half-hour lunch and then leave at around four, only to bring home a folder full of papers to grade. |
| Name: | Seth Robey |
| Town or district: | Forest Park |
| Comments: | I am an educator at a medium paid district and although it is true that there are some teachers who are paid based on experience rather than performance, there are some things to keep in mind for those people who think that "merit pay" is a good idea:
-Considering that fifty percent of teachers leave the career within 5 years, a commitment to the profession and particularly a district does deserve some reward. -If a "free market" approach were taken, then lower income districts would pay even less than they already do. Who would want to teach in a school that has more problems and much less pay? -If salaries were based on performance (i.e. test scores) then how could a district with students from less educated and stable backgrounds compete with those whose students have stable, highly educated and wealthy households? -A test based pay system would force teachers to "teach to the test" even more than some already feel compelled to do. Any educator knows that this style of teaching is highly detrimental to the students. -If you give the principal the power to choose who gets paid the most, the highest paid teachers will not necessarily be the best but rather those who cow tow to the principal most. While this can happen in the private sector, an incompetent employee in a school district will not bring down the district's "bottom line" as it might in a business. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. |
| Name: | Visitor |
| Town or district: | summit hill district 161 Frankfort |
| Comments: | Hello,
My children attend summit hill school district 161 in frankfort illinois. Recently they took the ISAT tests. Prior to taking those tests, the students were herded into the cafetorium and subjected to a powerpoint presentation on how to perform on those tests. Additionally, the children were threatened with detention if it was discovered that they weren't making a concerted effort to perform on those tests. What the Hell is going on here? The ISAT's are used by the administration to blow up their skirts and show the community that they are doing their job. ISAT scores are such a poor indicator of performance that it is a joke. Meanwhile, the superintendant uses these bogus scores to inflate his already astronomical pay with the help of his handpicked majority on the school board. I wish I could get my children out of there. They are NOT preparing our children for high school. Thanks for letting me rant. I love your website and I tell everyone about it. Keep up the good work. |
| Name: | Mr. Thomas |
| Town or district: | New York City |
| Comments: | We have gone through a grueling time with incumbent school board members. The community is split right down the middle now, because the school board, administration, and others involved didn't tell the voters the whole truth about the full referendum amount, and how much it would ultimately impact the taxpayers...those opposed or who questioned were labeled as "not for the kids" and unsupportive of the schools...yet when we got our tax bills, it was hard not to see that the teacher's retirement fund was what we were all contributing to....the coup de gras was that the referendum was never needed, and the school district had over 5 million dollars in the black beyond their needs...not including many real estate sales that boosted that amount even more....we have no confidence in those who "run" the schools. They have repeatedly lied to us, shut us out of meetings, and will not provide any information freely...we have to go to the Freedom of Information Act to get any information...much of which comes back to us blacked out...most of the questions we ask are just simple straightforward questions that should not require an ACT to answer. Then they blame us for "costing" the district more money! Besides this, the district right next to us, Dist. 300 wants to implement a policy that anyone who "accuses, or implies a false hood" about a school board member will be prosecuted as a class A misdemeanor and fined $5000.00! So this makes questioning anyone on the board dicey, so no one will ever question or counter their actions because they will be too intimidated to do so.
Mr. Thomas http://www.voiceofusa.com |
| Name: | flcertifiedteacher |
| Town or district: | Naples, Florida - Collier County Public School District |
| Comments: | Thank you for your informative web site. I have linked to it
on my new parody blog re: a Florida school district where Dr. Dennis Thompson now holds the title of superintendent. The GRADEBOOK, the education blog of the St. Petersburg Times, recently featured my parody blog on their site here: http://blogs.tampabay.com/schools/2008/04/something-to-la.html I know you will appreciate my work. And, again, I truly appreciate your site here. Thanks again. |
| Name: | Teacher |
| Town or district: | Chicago |
| Comments: | Are you kidding me? You are complaining about superintendents who make $300,000? When CEOs make something closer to $3,000,000. You have got to be kidding. Editor's reply: A superintendent's job doesn't remotely compare with the challenges of being CEO of a major corporation. Read Dave Ziffer's classic article, "Should a Superintendent Be Paid Like a CEO?" Ziffer writes, "Superintendents do not do anything even remotely akin to the primary function of a CEO. Superintendents do not operate in a competitive environment. They do not establish new markets for anything. They have no competition and so do not have to steal others' market share. They do not have to employ military strategy, or in fact any strategy at all, to win or hold market share. Actually, superintendents' 'markets' are pretty much handed to them on a platter by the state..." |
| Name: | totroto |
| Comments: | totoiot |
| Name: | Mary |
| Town or district: | Yorkville |
| Comments: | I would have to disagree with you on the bonus in Niles. People in both business and education get yearly salary increases. To say that they are getting 34% over 5 year as a BONUS does not take into account a normal raise for which all employees would be receiving. The state has limited the last 4 years to a 6% raise per year so if we asssume that a normal bonus might be, for example, 4% then I could agree that they are getting an 8% bonus. You have also chosen one of the best paying school districts in the state. You tend to often choose these school districts and that hurts alot of Illinois school districts where teachers salaries don't come close to these few high paying school districts. |
| Name: | Mary |
| Town or district: | Yorkville |
| Comments: | You need to update your info on large end of career bonuses. The state has put an end to it and you are decieving the public when you inform them that it is still being practiced. Editor's note: The practice has been trimmed somewhat, but generally is still alive and well. See the long article in this same week's Pioneer Press newspapers. As an example, Niles D219 gave 20% raises in each of the last two years before retirement; now they give a still-huge 34% raise but spread over the last five years. |
| Name: | Eric Jensen |
| Town or district: | San Diego, CA |
| Comments: | Killion: The author's premise is stated on the back cover: "...Parents trust that the professionals who teach their children know something about the brain ... but most schools of education offer psychology, not neurology, courses ... [this book] fills this gap.” But this is not a science book as that premise suggests, rather, it is an idea book.
Jensen: Correct, it is an idea book. Teachers are smart enough to read ideas critically and sort them out for themselves. It never was presented as a science book—that’s a different profession. Killion’s problem is that he is reviewing the 1st edition, written in 1995. He would do well to read the revised edition, published in 2005. All of his comments are a moot issue. I read his critiques 10 years ago and every complaint has been addressed. SuperCamp has been independently evaluated and found to be profoundly successful. The longitudinal study was not ready at the book’s publication time. Benn, W. (2003) “New Evaluation Study of Quantum Learning's Impact on Achievement in Multiple Settings.” An independent assessment by William Benn and Associates, Laguna Hills, CA I am quite aware of a wide range of brain research that applies to education. I have made over 45 hands-on visits to real neuroscience laboratories across the United States. I have met with dozens of top-tier neuroscientists and read the journals constantly. Please read the rest of the story from the journal: Phi Delta Kappa at this website. They dedicated a whole journal to brain research. http://www.pdkintl.org/ |
| Name: | Martha |
| Town or district: | Evanston |
| Comments: | We here in Evanston are being Delphi'd every day. Our K-8 Board is the handmaiden of the Administration and does nothing but conduct "studies" that re-confirm the direction they are already taking and which give the illusion of soliciting public input. (While they pack the meetings and focus groups with those who already agree with them.) Those who publicly voice disagreement are treated as cranks who are unrepresentative of the larger community. |
| Name: | Eric Jensen |
| Comments: | Killion’s problem is that he is reviewing the 1st edition, written in 1995. He would do well to read the revised edition, published in 2005. All of his comments are a moot issue. I read his critiques 10 years ago and they are the same ones still posted here. In service to the users of this website, perhaps you should consider posting current information.
Much has changed in 10+ years. Killion quotes sources who have very different perspectives today. For example, a statement from Dr. Kurt Fischer of Harvard University is included, "You can't go from neuroscience to the classrooom, because we don't know enough neuroscience." This is an outdated quote from a very reputable person. Today, Dr. Fischer heads up Harvard's masters and doctoral program in brain-based education and says, "...the program's broadest mission is to create a new field of mind, brain, and education, with educators and researchers who expertly join biology, cognitive science, and education." Sounds like he is on board. To read more about current brain-based learning, please read my new article in Phi Delta Kappa (February 2008) at the following link: http://www.pdkintl.org/ |
| Name: | Dave Montgomery |
| Town or district: | Barrington |
| Comments: | I am admittedly one of those educators that have been excited by the prospect of using better understanding of the brain as a tool for teaching. The Jenson book was the first book I had found that actually tied research (sketchy as you may find it) to teaching. Your review of the book surprised and disappointed me. I did take much of what Jensen said on face value, as it does make sense and there were references. In your view about the omissions however, I believe you are wrong in many of your assertions. The book did cover everything you claim was left out, perhaps this time it was your dismissal of any value to the book that blinded you to what was written. The book may not be the holy grail it is billed as, but it is a text that will help teachers teach more effectively. It's too bad that the real information is not out there, because we could certainly benefit by knowing how the brain works. We are truly like electricians set to wire a house with no idea how electricity works. Of course, that's a bit unrealistic. We are wiring 25 houses at once.
Now that I've vented, where are the answers I seek??? Editor's note: The review on our website was based on the 1998 edition of the book, and we understand that there are some changes in later editions, including some changes that (we were told) were made in response to our comments. |
| Name: | Kellyn |
| Town or district: | Los Angeles |
| Comments: | INFORMED PARENTS ... are a real, mounting threat to the education establishment; so I fully understand why some activists/teachers must instinctly attack websites like this as negative, insult parents, and ridicule the facts. Their dribble is a worn out routine.
Again, thank you IllinoisLoop for a fine and helpful website. |
| Name: | Ms. Anne Thrope |
| Town or district: | Albuquerque, NM |
| Comments: | Are there massive deficiencies in the American educational system? Absolutely. Does an aggressively negative website such as this - launched by need and dissatisfaction but fueled by ignorance, half-truths, and often outright misinformation - do anything at all to effect beneficial change? Absolutely not.
This parent, teacher, American, and activist for change would prefer you not help. |
| Name: | Mary Abrams |
| Town or district: | Columbus, OH |
| Comments: | I am appalled. Have you taken a moment to read Marilyn Burns thoughts on learning Mathematics? Have you taught her methodologies? Likewise, read Comprehending Mathematics, by Arthur Hyde. You are a proponent of that quote "Yours is not to question why, just invert and multiply". Using algorithms without comprehending why they are necessary leads to children who don't know what they are doing...except a procedure. Before you get on your soap box and bash every method out there...do some reading and some authentic teaching that promotes learning and not the regurgitation of facts. |
| Name: | Patty |
| Town or district: | St. Louis, MO |
| Comments: | As a parent and an educator, I appreciate this site and other sites like it (such as NYChold, wheresthemath, and mathematicallycorrect). Parents need to become better informed consumers and need a place to communicate with other parents who share the same interests and concerns.
It's also time that the field of education acknowledge the scarcity of good quality research and demand better. Theory and opinion still rule, unfortunately, but that can be changed if professionals demand it. This could be a place for educators to begin to coordinate their efforts along those lines. Let's hear it for honest, open discussion, and continuous improvement of our educational system(s)! |
| Name: | Kellyn |
| Town or district: | Los Angeles |
| Comments: | Do we really want to return to the schools we had in the 50's? I say "yes," in general. You can't spin the fact that a high school diploma from 50 years ago is equivalent to a BA today. Test scores prove this to be true: by a simple internet search, you'll see how test scores have plummeted over the years. Back in the 50's, the public school curriculum was rigorous, knowledge-based, and had high expectations for its students. Plus the schools were Union free! (Be still my heart!)
Many other parents would disagree with me, and that's the whole point: we need universal vouchers. Parents (regardless of income) should be free to choose and direct their tax dollars to the school they like best for their child(ren). This way, all us parents on this forum who like this or don't like that, can truly have it their way by choosing freely from a variety of schools. Competition will give us a huge assortment of schools to choose: from traditional to progressive and some in between. It's fundamental common sense. Now, everyone's happy! Have a nice day. |
| Name: | rlm |
| Town or district: | batavia, Il |
| Comments: | Thank you so much for exposing the TRUTH about IL schools. We just sat with a 30 something principal that spewed her edubabble to defend choosing Scott Foresman Reading and Harcourt IL math for a parochial school over traditionalist publishers. Parents that don't want to know the truth should just keep saying what great schools we have while over 30% of all Batavia students fail the state minimum testing standards!!! |
| Name: | David Sharpe |
| Town or district: | Bournemouth U.K. |
| Comments: | Congratulations Illinois Loop and Wikipedia. I am a Physics teacher in the U.K. who has been at it for 31 years. My opinion is that our modern society has been achieved by people who have been, at least until recently, educated in the "old" ways. How can they have been so wrong? We teachers in the U.K. are now bombarded by terms such as Brain Based Learning, targets, learning styles, tracking, pupil centred (centered to you!) and so on. The arguments for so many initiatives always have a certain logic to them, but nobody can cite any real evidence. Useful research is swamped by mumbo jumbo that has been fashioned by twisting and exagerrating genuine research that may or may not have any real bearing on education. I don't blame you Americans for creating all this stuff - we don't have to follow you.
The king is in the altogether - thank you for confirming my sanity and, just as importantly, providing the evidence. |
| Name: | Alexa |
| Town or district: | South Dakota |
| Comments: | To whoever moderates this site - Please ask Barbara Shafer to rewrite her "nutshell" article on Multiple Intelligences. Or are you simply interested in inflammatory and misleading "journalism"?
Although at first it appears that Shafer has read Gardner's book, her conclusions demonstrate shallow assumptions. From where did her information come? If her point is really worth considering, she should present information that reflects critical thinking. |
| Name: | Alexa |
| Town or district: | South Dakota |
| Comments: | Several people have commented on how negative this site is. Is the point of this site to return education to the same way things were done in the 50s and 60s?
Teachers are doing their jobs because they want to help your children. Their jobs are emotionally exhausting and quite low paid compared to their reponsibility and training. By the way, please substantiate claims in the comments area. Don't spread unfounded speculation. |
| Name: | Shannon |
| Comments: | My child was recently held back, due to the belief of his teachers he could not do the next grade. I do not want him held back, I feel this will only cause greater harm to his mental well being. He CAN do the work. Do I have to allow them to hold him back |
| Name: | Clarissa |
| Town or district: | U-46 Elgin |
| Comments: | I just stumbled upon this website and started reading and I'm disappointed in the obvious biased and negative way much of the information I've read has been. My children were in Chicago Public Schools and their school was one of the first to adopt Everyday Math and I *LOVE*, *LOVE*, *LOVE* it. My kids are teaching me new ways to do math that is so much easier than the way I learned it. I think it's great. I plan to keep poking around the site and reading the information presented here and I hope I find more positive information and not so much negative. Thank you for having a site for parents and by parents. |
| Name: | Adam |
| Town or district: | Niles |
| Comments: | You're very negative on teachers. I would love to see people in other professions atttempt to handle the workload that teachers have. I know it's not the hardest profession on the planet, but salary doesn't reflect complexity of job either. I have a second job working in retail. Managers in that field make a lot more than some teachers, and those jobs are so much easier. Instead of focusing on the negative, why don't you look at the teachers that are doing their job well; the teachers that make a difference in the lives of there children (there are a few of us left). |