Forget about any change coming as a result of the recent IPS Board meeting with Eugene White. Michael Brown caved, big time. So almost everything will stay status quo.
Michael Brown, you don't care about kids. What a loser. You talk big when the media is around, but you are nothing but a spineless puppet. Go let your son get into some more trouble at Northwest.
Here we go again with the name calling of high ranking officials in IPS. Please stop crying like a little bitch when decisions are not to your liking. Accept that Dr. White is not going to leave IPS anytime soon. We can make the best of it if everyone involved tries. I would like to see you fire him yourself. See how far you get. Ha Ha
I think the real frustration comes from the increase in salaries for failing individuals. If you have been with IPS for awhile, you know that as long as you are in the "circle", performance doesn't mean a thing. It is morally degrading to do your best and then see those who don't/won't get the pseudo promotions and pay raises while kids, teachers and parents get the shaft.
@Here we go again......go back to doing the work of your Ed. Center administrative job which pays you over $100,000 a year. Let the grownups post on this blog.
QUESTION: Of these 4 school board members, which one has no balls and no spine?
!. Diane Arnold 2. Samantha Adair White 3. Annie Roof 4. Michael Brown
CORRECT ANSWER: #4 Michael Brown
I guess he will continue to get the suspensions and expulsions of his relatives cancelled now that he is kissing White's ass again.
Has anyone seen the posting on Career Builders for ISTEP Proctors? It is through a company called Connections Academy, a company that provides a virtual school experience. Check it out!
Correct me, please, if I am wrong. These personnel changes are being done in hopes (prayers) that the state won't take these schools and award them to a private entity to run as a charter. If that happens, the administrators moved into the turnaround schools will most likely lose their positions. To extend this further-Mr. Yarrell's new job comes with the added bonus of being safe from a takeover.
Quell suprise! The board has always caved and always will cave to Dr. White. When he first came to our district he did some good things. Now he's just in it for the money. It's a sad commentary on our times, when people getting raises and we are laying off classroom staff.
@question - THANK YOU!! I have suspected since the inception of this blog that it is run by Jeff White or his wife (the most vocal Board Member - who cannot coherently answer a question posed to her!). This is case in point that the White family is running this post!
Go to the main page of this blog and cursor down to the bottom. Look at those listed as followers. Mouse over the last icon and you may (or may not) be surprised to see that the name that pops up is Jeffery C. White.
"Yeah Like that's gonna happen. Tony Bennett is not a rational person."
Watched his one-sided show on PBS last night like it was some "education round table." Of course no one from public education or any ISTA teachers were there.It was phony as all hell- mostly corporate solutions to education. Asking these people about solutions to urban education is like going into a music store and asking them what's wrong with your car.The sad thing is this type of TV media manipulation looks balanced and fair to most uninformed people.
We've been talking reform for years. Why did it take a Republican governor to get it going? Educators are looking stupid on this one. ISTA now has to "jump in bed" to get something done.
That repubican governor doesn't care about education or teachers. He's jumped on the teacher bashing bandwagon. Read the account of a teacher from Howard Co who went to lobby last week. It's on the previous thread about Amos Brown.
It's in our e-mail from IEA. IF you are an ips teacher and IF you are an iea member, then you should have your very own copy. Something tells me you are anti-union though.
Why is it that people with their heads in the sand are the biggest supporters of morons?
You're right, I don't belong to the union. And I'm also a fan of Daniels. But regardless, the story posted in the other thread (or in your union e-mail) just seemed fabricated or at least exaggerated. I'm sure there's no verifiable record of him making these comments. It's just an anti-reform op-ed piece.
TheIndyChannel.com IPS To Appeal To State To Avoid Makeup Days District Cancels Classes For 3rd-Straight Day
POSTED: 4:41 pm EST February 2, 2011 UPDATED: 6:11 pm EST February 2, 2011
INDIANAPOLIS -- Indianapolis Public Schools will appeal to the state in an effort to avoid having to make up days missed due to this week's ice storm, officials said.
The district called off classes Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, citing dangerous road conditions, particularly along city side streets, and ice build up around the schools.
"We decided to cancel school tomorrow based on the fact that we are having trouble clearing the walks and the lots at the buildings," said ISP spokeswoman Mary Louise Bewley. "Tomorrow we'll have all custodians and members of facilities management come in, so we expect to have a lot better success clearing the walks and the lots."
Bewley said the district has one day built in that students will not have to make up, but that day was already used earlier in the school year.
She said IPS will request a waiver from the state for the three days closed this week because of the severe weather.
According to the Indiana Department of Education, state law requires that students receive 180 full days of classroom instruction, but school officials do have the authority to make decisions on behalf of their students' safety, such as closing for bad weather.
"Schools may apply for a waiver and, if approved, they will not be required to make up that day," said spokeswoman Emily Acklin. "No decisions on newly-filed waivers have been made at this time."
Indy Snow Force officials said Wednesday they are redirecting 15 trucks to major intersections and streets near schools in an effort to clear those areas as soon as possible.
School officials also asked residents to try and clear snow and ice away from school bus stops.
Bewley said the district is hoping to reopen Friday.
Careful what you wish for. If IPS does not have to make up the 3 days missed for inclement weather, then IPS will not have to pay us for those 3 days. No wonder IPS has requested a waiver. The district would save a huge bundle of money! Three days less pay for me would be around $1000 out of my paycheck.
I asked this earlier today, "Question: how exactly do you know what happened when the board met? There is nothing public that I can find." The blog veered off into the usual us versus them. Can any of the rumors posted on this page be substantiated? It appears that slinging mud is easier than stating facts.
Because we don't have school tomorrow and we will have the extra time, check out our IPS Board President Elizabeth Gore's taped radio interview on Afternoons with Amos. Make up your minds about what she had to say.
Please, let's get the lady's name correct. Her last name is BEWLEY, not Brewley. Each time I see her name spelled 'Brewley', I feel like I'm reading a post written by an ignorant southern hillbilly or an ignorant ghetto banger. (Now everyone can feel equally offended.)
Why shouldn't snow days have to be made up? 180 days out of the year is not asking too much, so there should be a full 180 days. If people in public education start bitching about having to make up snow days, it makes it easier for politicians to bash us for being lazy and caring more for ourselves than for the kids. I'm not saying that this is true, but that will be the perception...and, image is everything.
Regarding magnet schools: The magnet high schools aren't exactly successful. They just aren't failures. But the fact that the best of IPS is still below state averages is evidence that IPS is the problem, not the student and families.
The ironic thing about all the White-haters is that his replacement would almost certainly turn some of the schools into charter schools (it's happening all over the country). I'm not a huge White fan but I'm surprised he doesn't get more loyalty from the tenured teachers he protects by refusing to convert any of the schools to charters.
Actually ISTA and IEA have tried to get IPS to sponsor charter schools. School districts can do that and they still count as part of the system. Eugene has flatly said NO! He wants to keep putting his overpaid buddies and their relatives in these jobs. I think in the end, it is going to cost him his job.
It does not matter one iota what you call the school or who manages it unless schools start to come up with strategies to successfully educate children it is all a waste. The problems faced by urban districts with a high rate of at risk students and dis-enfranchised parents make the problem not just a "school" problem but a community problem.
Beating up on teachers, selling the schools off to not for profit charters, or for profit outfits isn't going to help. A fundamental shift in the approach to education, across the board is needed. There is no simple magic bullet to solve this problem, but what won't work is the firing squad approach we are using now, everyone has a gun, and we're standing in a circle....ready...aim...fire.
The fact that the best of IPS high schools are still below state averages is evidence that IPS is the problem, not the student and families. The townships teach these same single-parent families and these same disinterested kids and get much better results than IPS does. And many of the exact same students who were doing poorly in IPS are excelling in charter schools. (I'm not rabidly pro-charter, but the fact that some of them are doing so well with kids who used to go to IPS supports the claim that IPS was holding these kids back.)
I do not believe that is true about the townships doing better with our kids then we do, back in the days of busing the townships only took kids until they reached a given statistical percentage number, and I asked why that was, and was told that if they took more they would have a double bell curve...Charters some are good, some are bad...and looking at how IPS cooks the books I can't imagine that the charters aren't doing the same thing.
How many kids have come back to you from township schools, they will not tolerate the behavior or the bad attendance that is common place in IPS. Kids and their parents are told "don't you have a relative you can live with in IPS" when they get to the point they are ready to fail or become a drop out. I live in Lawrence township and used to see a car load of kids from my neighborhood driving to my IPS school every morning...so I asked and the kids said Lawrence schools were too hard and they didn't like it there so they just kept coming to IPS.
I don't know who told you that, but the city mandated the percentages, not the townships. But now the townships have as much racial and economic diversity as IPS does. They have the same special ed percentages. We're running out of excuses.
And there's only so much "cooking the books" that's possible. Every teacher can't cheat every year. The SAT board isn't cheating. The AP board isn't cheating.
I've never heard of a single incident where people were lying to get IN to IPS, only out of it. I live in Warren Township/IPS district, and finding alternatives to IPS is a constant concern with my neighbors. You're right, IPS tolerates bad behavior and low achievement in a way that other schools just don't.
@Waiver. Not everyone thinks your an idiot. I thought it was silly to even request the waiver. State law and our teaching contract specify 180 days. Why the big surprise that we have to stick to that?
Why would it cost IPS to extend the school days for snow; teachers are already being paid for these days that they are home, aren't they? They why would they have to be paid again for the make-up days. Are paychecks docked for these snow days now? 180 days is not too much to ask but I doubt that much teaching will occur on those days at the end of the year, anyway.
IPS would SAVE money by getting a waiver for the snow days. Teachers would work two fewer days than now contracted and would not be paid for those two days.
Oh Pete's sake! We get paid a yearly salary, we are contracted for 190 days. 180 days of student atttendance. We should make these days up. We will not see a decrease in our paychecks because we are paid by the year. We will have to work the make up days as "unpaid" days. But since our checks are always the same we won't really notice the unpaid-ness of them. Classified staff will feel the hurt when they don't get paid for these 3 days, but will get paid when we make them up.
Summer vacation, MLK, President's Day, Spring Break, Friday of Thanksgiving and most of Winter Break are unpaid. But once again, our pay is divided up into 26 payments so we don't notice being unpaid, we just enjoy the time off.
The latest from the anti-employee and family IPS administration is they told non-teaching staff employees to stay home Tuesday and Wednesday. They now are saying non teaching staff must use a vacation, personal, or floating holiday to cover the days you were off.
So we must now use days to cover Christmas break, Spring Break, and 2 snow days. So now if someone saved enough days to cover the days needed for when we are not allowed to work during Spring break, they are now 2 days short.
It getting very obvious that IPS cares very little for its employees.
Nice Blazing Saddles reference, and I think its hilarious that people wanted to jump down your throat for grammer. When will those who criticize grammer on here realize that it is asinine to do so? You make yourself look stoopider by doing so.
I got a phone call. It said that despite the hard work of custodial staff, the ice was just too thick (in the parking lots, side walks, on the buses, etc.) to get it all cleared.
Wow, you are complaining about using personal/sick days (non teachers) for the days absent due to the snow days? Where I work we don't get that option. We just aren't paid, simple. Very tough for single parents etc. i would love to be able to use one of my twenty sick days left to have covered all of this time off.
No we can't use sick days. Just vacation days or personal days. I know I've been saving my vacation days for a lovely time gazing at my frozen yard....a vacation I've only dreamed about has now come true. I'm so happy. Thank you anti-employee and anti-family IPS administration.
What is with all this crap talk about Mrs. Bewley's body, her legs, her butt, her whatever? Who gets off talking about a middle-aged white lady who's only doing what she's told to do? Do you really believe that Mrs. Bewley personally invents her public relation releases without their first being approved by Eugene White?
How'd you like for folks to diss Ann Wilkins' picture on the IEA website? How would this sound to you? Ann Wilkins should cover her big obese body with an extra large African caftan, quit posing with those gigantic breasts jutting into the camera like a wide-angle shot of the Grand Tetons, and quit strutting her stuff like she's the nubian princess of IPS. Doesn't sound so correct, does it?
Check to see how many days Bennet got waived during the last year he was superintendent of a failing school system. He had a ton of snow days and he received a waiver for most of them.
WTF! I can't believe we're complaining about make-up days for bad weather! We are paid to work 190 days, of which 180 days are for classroom instuction with the students in attendance. Talk about making public school teachers look bad! Shut our mouths about making up days missed for bad weather.
As for being family friendly, IPS does not make us have children. IPS or any employer, for that fact, does not base our pay or the number of days we work upon whether we have a family or don't have a family. That is a personal choice.
So what if Bennett's former school district had waivers for bad weather? That was then; this is now. Sounds like we're always looking for the easy way out of working!!! Get over it, or get a new profession!
You know what? I'm about sick and tired of some lame teachers posting on this forum about Mary Louise Bewley and making fun of her carrying out her job responsibilities as Dr. White mandates. I have never met Mary Louise Bewley. I have seen her from afar at meetings, but I do not know her nor does she know me.
Why in God's name would teachers or other IPS employees bash this woman for doing her job? She is the paid and contracted mouth piece for the Ed Center. Whatever Mrs. Bewley says to the Media is what Dr. White has directed her to say. That is her job! Frankly, I doubt that she's really happy to be told the things to say to the Media that Dr. White directs her to say. But, hey, just like her, we do a helluva lot of things that we don't like simply because we are 'directed' to do them by our principals, our supervisors, or Dr. White. My simple suggestion is that we, as IPS employees, back off from bashing Mary Louise Bewley because she, like us, is only doing what she is directed. Peace and stay strong!
IPS is anti-family because they hire you in as a full time 12 month employee and then tell you that you have to take Xmas break, Spring Break, and now two snow days off and use vacation days to cover them. Thats funny they only give you 10 vacation days. So I guess I don't get to go on a summer vacation, and guess what my family doesn't have the same spring break schedule.
We now are having our deductions taken out 24 times this year, not 26. They know they are screwing people over and they will not get a paycheck when spring break comes up, because they wont have any time to take. To make it even funnier we have received 2 checks this year and both have been screwed up. We haven't even got a single email explaining what is going on, or how they plan to fix it.
If a company calls you and says DO NOT COME TO WORK I would assume they plan on paying you. If not they should give you the option of coming in to work.
"As for being family friendly, IPS does not make us have children. IPS or any employer, for that fact, does not base our pay or the number of days we work upon whether we have a family or don't have a family. That is a personal choice. "
You would fit in very well at the ED Center. IPS does not make you have kids, but as a decent employers they should quit fucking people over!!!
@You would fit in very well at the ED Center. IPS does not make you have kids, but as a decent employers they should quit fucking people over!!! _____________________________________________
I wrote the post that prompted your outburst. For that post, I do not apologize. And, I should add that I am not an employee of the Ed Center nor am I an administrator in any form with IPS. I am a classroom teacher with IPS.
Decent employers pay us for the days we work. More importantly, if we are contracted as teachers with IPS, we are paid to work precisely 190 days annually. If we do not work 190 days, then we have not fulfilled our contractual obligations to our employer. I suspect you and your ilk should 'get a clue' about real life and real work situations. If you don't work, you don't get paid. Plain and simple. Whether you have a family or have no children or have twenty children, it does not make a difference. Having children is your choice, not your employer's choice. If you believe that IPS or your present employer is f'ing you over, then you should find an employer that is sympathetic to your complaint. As an aside, I wish you 'good luck' in your pursuit.
About 10% of people living in Indiana are unemployed, and here we have people complaining and griping that IPS is "f&*$ing people over" because IPS is not a decent employer!!! Did you get your most recent pay check? If you said yes, then you are ahead of a lot of people in Hoosier land. We get our pay checks from taxpayers who might not even have a job right now, and then some doofus has the nerve to complain about their boss.
Do you know how you sound??? Get a grip!!! Think of all the people who do not have jobs and you have the nerve to bitch that your boss is not friendly to families. For god's sake, just shut up already about your job!
Many of us don't get paid days off at all. My neighbor (also an IPS parent) is a waitress. She's had to pay a sitter all this week so she can go to work and not make money.
Sorry if the rest of us out here in the real world aren't exactly crying rivers that you weren't able to somehow profit from the bad weather.
I totally agree. We as teachers have really awesome jobs with plenty of vacation time. It isn't paid vacation but we make a living wage and we can provide for our families without juggling which bills to pay each month.
As an IPS 10 month employee, who is college educated with a Master's Degree. The 10 month employees do not get paid for any time off that is on the IPS calendar(Christmas, Spring, Fall, etc),nor for school cancellations. We pay more in insurance as a 10 month employee,for example we pay $810.00 a month, for health insurance.
I am blessed to have a spouse who works for a CHARTER school, and was able to get paid for the break, and for these missed days this week. If I did not have the other source of income, how would I pay for my children PRIVATE school education, mortagage, other other expenses.
So teachers quit gripping because there are people in the district who SUPPORT YOU on a daily basis, to make your job a whole lot easier, but are being screwed constantly by the district.
Check the AD postion switch that was supposed to happen between NW and Tech that is now cancelled. That is the key to Brown's vote change. True Board Politics!
I agree that bitching about making up days is absurd. We're paid to work 190 days, so we'll work them now or later in the year. People in these economic times should be grateful to have a job. And, NO, I'm not an Ed. Center bobble brain. I'm a classroom teacher whose spouse was laid off and unemployed for eighteen months. Walk a mile in the shoes of the jobless and see what employment really means.
@As an IPS ten month employee.....I think you are a fraud. Teachers do get paid for snow days. We do not get paid for make up days. No 10 month teacher will miss a day's pay on his/her check this pay period. Classified employees will not be paid. 10 month teachers will not be paid for the make up days. Also 10 months teachers get holiday pay for New Year's Day. We do not get paid for any religious holiday. Your $810 a month must be for a family plan. The full cost for a teacher's medical care is only $600.86 total and that is the combined teacher premium and board premium. You would have to be carrying medical coverage for your spouse. Why doesn't the wonderful charter school where your spouse works pay for his/her medical insurance? Better yet, why doesn't the wonderful charter school cover both of you??
RE: Mary Louise Bewley....Why in the world would you take a job where you had to lie to everyone to protect your boss? There should come a time for everyone when we say this job is not worth selling my soul to the devil to get a paycheck??
@@As an IPS ten month employee.....I think you are a fraud. Teachers do get paid for snow days. We do not get paid for make up days. _______________________________________________
You've been with IPS too long as a union teacher. You know all the rules, regulations, and statutes by memory. That's good. Now take your rules, regulations, and statutes to bed for the evening. Enjoy your rest, and enjoy your paid day off tomorrow for the inclement weather while the taxpayers who pay your wages will be busy chopping their ways out of their icy driveways, busy finding alternative childcare provisions, and busy trying to forget they're paying a mouthy public school teacher to know more about the status of education than the Harvard Educational Review. Sleep well, child.
@RE: Mary Louise Bewley....Why in the world would you take a job where you had to lie to everyone to protect your boss? There should come a time for everyone when we say this job is not worth selling my soul to the devil to get a paycheck??
If Mary Louise Bewley accepted a position with IPS where she ended up having to lie to protect her boss, how does that have relevance to our jobs as classroom teachers? I am unable to find any relevance between what she does in fulfilling her job duties and what I do in fulfilling my job duties. It's sort of like our complaining or bitching if the White House Chief Correspondent supposedly twists the truth about the President's intentions...how, in the big scheme of things, does that make any difference in our daily lives? Geez, the woman accepted an advertised position with IPS; she's just doing what she is told. Are we any different???
It's obvious that they're not a teacher from their post. I'm also not one and I am a 10 month employee. We work at least as hard as you do and get dicked by comparison. Listening to teachers who make more money to start with and then still find time to bitch about getting paid for being off with their vacation days is pretty infuriating for the rest of us peons who do not have a union to lobby for us (even a bad one). Many of you have enormous undeserved egos.
@You've been with IPS too long..... Your condescending attitude says much about you. First, how do you get off referring to an adult teacher as a child? That is vulgar. The post you are referring was in response to someone who posted inaccurate information. While I am aware that some people have childcare problems, I hate to shock you but teachers are not babysitters. Teachers are there to educate your children but they are not your personal babysitters. You need to accept the responsibility to arrange your own childcare. Public school teachers are NOT your child's babysitters. I think that it says much about you that you are not concerned about lost education but more about not wanting to accept your parental responsibilty to arrange childcare. Yes, teachers will be paid for these snow days but will work unpaid when the make up days are scheduled. It is all the same. Teachers do not make or lose one cent on snow days and teachers work for the same amount of time for the snow day pay. The pay comes in February and the work comes in May or June. Why is that concept so hard for you to understand?
@@You've been with IPS too long..... Your condescending attitude says much about you.
______________________________________
Please, get over yourself and your apparent misunderstanding. I am not posting here as a parent; I am an IPS teacher who's grown weary of fellow teachers who spout rules, regulations, and statutes about IN school law as if they're researchers for an educational policy report. I do not care when my pay arrives because I trust that my contract will be honored. I do not care to read about the state guidelines for inclement weather waivers from misinformed teachers. There are Marion County taxpayers whose monies fund our paychecks who do not wish to hear that public school teachers are more busy parsing guidelines about making up or not making up missed days for inclement weather or about when they get paid than they are concerned about providing instructional time for their children.
Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite, missy.
"Actually ISTA and IEA have tried to get IPS to sponsor charter schools."
NEA supports charters too. You know they expect to organize all teachers eventually and probably will. No teacher wants to work in those "zoos" for Wal-Mart wages.
Re: I totally agree. We as teachers have really awesome jobs with plenty of vacation time. It isn't paid vacation but we make a living wage and we can provide for our families without juggling which bills to pay each month.
Many people aren't so lucky.
*****************I am not "lucky" to be an educator. I worked hard to earn this title. Any "luck" would be the financial assistance I obtained. I've paid that back several times over via 30+ years of salary.
When my students tell me I'm "lucky", I don't miss the chance to point out that most luck is actually one's reaction to choices. As an IPS student, I received an excellent educational foundation. Was I "lucky" to decide that a life in a cafeteria kitchen wasn't in the best interest of my two children or my husband? Was I "lucky" to have my family's acceptance of four years of scraping to receive my license?
@Please, get over yourself. Your are a perfect example of the problem and the fact that you claim to be a teacher makes it worse. You carp on and on about the pay schedule for snow days. A true teacher is worried about the loss of educational time.
You're taking a lot for granted. I agree that we create some of our own luck. But if you had enough educational, financial, and family support to be able to attend a 4-year university, you're luckier than 3/4 of the country and luckier than the families in IPS. You might have been an IPS student in the past, but today, even the best IPS students haven't been adequately prepared for college. And even with aid for tuition, most low-income students can't support themselves (or their families) and also attend school full-time, and they don't qualify for aid if they only attend part-time. Most of the nontraditional college programs that offer more flexibility don't offer options for undergraduate teaching degrees. So again, you are taking a lot for granted. You are indeed quite lucky.
Re:It's obvious that they're not a teacher from their post. I'm also not one and I am a 10 month employee. We work at least as hard as you do and get dicked by comparison.
As someone who has worked as a paraprofessional, substitute teacher, technology assistant and now as a teacher I disagree with your assessment above. As a para, sub and tech assistant I worked a lot less then I do now as a teacher. Why, because I never had to take any work home. I resent the assertion that teachers are paid for doing nothing. I spend most of my afternoons working on grading and planning interesting lessons for my students. Not to mention organization of fieldtrips and after school clubs. While I am not saying your job isn't important you might want to reign in the teacher have it soo good whine and do something about it. When I worked as a para I understood that my pay and benefits were directly linked to my level of education. I wanted more and so went back to school while raising three children and working. So don't minimize the fruits of my labor just because you can't or won't change your own situation.
To: "you're taking a lot for granted" I actually agree with you. But things are changing for the better, I think as nontraditional programs that make college more accessible to low-income students from low-income school districts. There is an online program for teachers, although I forget which program it is. I'll check into it and post back. But I agree that before we pat ourselves on the back too hard, we need to acknowledge the ways in which we were blessed to be able to choose the path we did.
Getting an education degree and teaching certificate via an Online college makes for about as much professional acumen as getting an M.D. via an Online medical school.
Would you want to be treated by a physician who'd earned an M.D. from an Online university?
Indiana Western Governors University is the online university I was talking about. To the person above, I disagree that online programs are inferior. If accreditation bodies gave an online M.D. program the same status as a brick and mortar program, then why wouldn't I trust a physician from that program? I attended a traditional school, but change isn't always bad.
I agree. Perhaps the brick and mortar IPS schools could be closed and sold. Taxpayers would save money by using the proceeds of the sales to buy each student a laptop and wireless Internet access rather than paying for the current upkeep on archaic buildings. We'd need no transportation department, no facilities/grounds department, no food service department, no uniform rules, and far fewer teachers. How would that change sound?
Don't take my word for it, the data is available. Check AP classes, SAT scores, ISTEP+ scores etc. Not averages, top scores. Check the scores for the valedictorians and salutatorians of IPS schools.
But nobody's talking about replacing traditional colleges, only offering alternatives. Similar to offering a virtual charter school (which does exist) as an option to traditional brick and mortar schools.
Virtual colleges could perhaps be where people can earn virtual education degrees to become virtual teachers to work in virtual schools and earn virtual salaries. I like that! A simulated career, virtually simulated.
Do you really think people learn so much from lectures? I attended IU before the Internet was even invented, but other than student teaching, I can't imagine why I couldn't have learned all the same material online. And if we want to get technical, money has been virtual since the 1940s when we moved from the gold standard, and now most of us don't touch much cash at all. It's all "virtual" !!
I checked online and the Indiana Western Governors University program has regular student teaching in schools but the rest is online. And it's only for elementary, math and science teachers.
I wish all of you would get over yourselves. You have to have it upstairs to go to college and stay in college and graduate from college. I can't do anything about thoses kids whose mom or daddy did drugs. We all don't start with the same brain power. Not everyone is college material.
@. We all don't start with the same brain power. Not everyone is college material.
Thank you! What you stated is absolutely correct, but in today's climate, it's not PC to mention that some people for whatever reason(s) are more equipped to handle academics than others.
I've actually read transition plans for special education students in IPS that were not realistic. I especially remember the IEP where the parent, student, & teacher decided a student with an IQ of 62 should have post-secondary education to become a pediatrician. I've seen IEP's where the parent and child list NFL or NBA player as the student's chosen career goal, however, the student never played on any sports teams in his entire school career. It seems that we're being dishonest with some students when we do not offer realistic post-secondary goals.
To be rated highly effective under the guidelines hammered out by a statewide panel of nine teachers, principals and administrators, principals must be able to show:
Schoolwide growth on state tests is better than that of at least 80 percent of all schools in the state.
Attendance averaging 95 percent or better.
A majority of students making at least a year and a half of growth on state tests over the academic year.
The teacher evaluation process -- which was not fully unveiled -- will have a similarly high bar to earn the "highly effective" rating, Bennett said.
"A majority of students making at least a year and a half of growth on state tests over the academic year." Yeah, right, sure, umhummmm, like that will happen.
Schoolwide growth on state tests is better than that of at least 80 percent of all schools in the state. _________________________________________________
Well, meeting that schoolwide growth level will surely get rid of a lot of our building principals! My word!!! How will central office administrators be evaluated?
I'm so glad I got my kids out of IPS. We were told that my older son has an IQ of 80, cannot function in a classroom with peers, did not have the attention span to learn to read, required afternoon naps, and would most certainly NOT be promoted that year. We made the difficult decision to move him during the school year to a charter school. One year later, he is a leader among his peers, a helper in the classroom, and has moved from guided reading level A to D. You'd be amazed what kids can do when you love them, set high expectations, and give them things to do that are at their level. Instead, IPS teachers would rather blame me, punish him, and decide that he "doesn't have it upstairs" and "Can't handle college". Pathetic.
Diploma mill....diploma mill....diploma mill.....buy your degree here...extra for teacher certification and even more to be certified as an administrator....half Of IPS admnistrators have gotten their "credentials" from a local diploma mill.......
Regarding having to "have it upstairs" to attend college. I don't disagree that some children aren't mentally equipped to handle college. But anyone with an average IQ can learn college-level material, and most IPS students do have at least average IQs. The reason most IPS students don't go to college is a) they are behind other students and b) it's not financially practical. I tutor students at IUPUI, and there are special programs for IPS graduates, many of whom graduated at the top of their class, to help them get caught up. The students tell me they've never had to do a research paper with source citations, and are surprised to learn that profs in history and science classes will give bad grades for spelling and grammar errors.
Where does the rubric mention pupil attendance? The only thing I see about attendance are students not being idle while teacher takes attendance and then the part about teacher's professionalism and attendance.
To be rated highly effective under the guidelines hammered out by a statewide panel of nine teachers, principals and administrators, principals must be able to show:
Schoolwide growth on state tests is better than that of at least 80 percent of all schools in the state.
Attendance averaging 95 percent or better.
A majority of students making at least a year and a half of growth on state tests over the academic year.
That's kind of the way I feel. Although I think with a rubric even some of the teachers who haven't done great in the past will have constructive goals to aim for rather than simply "perform better." I'm all for more accountability as long as its fair. This seems fair to me.
@The reason most IPS students don't go to college is a) they are behind other students and b) it's not financially practical. I tutor students at IUPUI, and there are special programs for IPS graduates, many of whom graduated at the top of their class, to help them get caught up. The students tell me they've never had to do a research paper with source citations, and are surprised to learn that profs in history and science classes will give bad grades for spelling and grammar errors.
Read this months Educational Leadership and the effect of low reading ability on college prep. Titled "Too dumb for complex texts" http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb11/vol68/num05/Too-Dumb-for-Complex-Texts%C2%A2.aspx then think about Kelly Gallagher's book Readicide...then think about "Springboard." We are sacrificing our students long term success, the ability to be successful adult readers, able to read complex and deep materials, and fostering a generation of aliterate readers, for the districts short term goal...raising test scores. We are shooting our kids in the foot...shame on IPS, shame of teachers for not protesting loudly when this program was implemented, shame on the board for not looking longer at the qualities of this program, shame on parents for not demanding more, and shame on our legislators for creating a system where high stakes tests are more important than authentic learning.
I don't think we have to choose between authentic learning and increased test scores. We can have increased test scores without authentic learning, but I think if we have have authentic learning we're going to have good test scores as well.
@I don't think we have to choose between authentic learning and increased test scores. We can have increased test scores without authentic learning, but I think if we have have authentic learning we're going to have good test scores as well.
I believe I have said this before, good test scores are a byproduct of a quality education, not the goal of an education.
BTW, the schools in KY have benefited greatly from KERA (KY Educational Reform Act) from the late 90's. The turned the whole system upside down and demanded parents, communities, schools, teachers, admin, everyone get involved. and it worked, for the most part anyway.
Boo Hoo. Mitch Daniels is upset because the teacher from Howard County wrote her account about his rude behavior toward the teachers at the statehouse. I guess he forgot that this is the 21st century and news gets around fast.
"BTW, the schools in KY have benefited greatly from KERA (KY Educational Reform Act) from the late 90's. The turned the whole system upside down and demanded parents, communities, schools, teachers, admin, everyone get involved. and it worked, for the most part anyway."
My cousin who is a welfare recipient in Ky. is MANDATED to go to her childrens' schools or else she is reported to the state welfare office. What a concept! Love the idea!
No! We should not use President's Day for a makeup. Some of us have made plans for that day. The students last day was Tuesday, May 24, 2011 and now with the built-in makeup day,( Friday, May 20th) they will still get out on Friday, May 27th--that is soon enough!
I agree with making up a day on President's Day. How many teachers and parents would mind? And yes, students will be done on Friday, May 27th - teachers will have to come back on Tues., May 31st, after Memorial Day. Some of us have made vacation plans.
From anonymous 26 posts upstream from here; "Regarding having to "have it upstairs" to attend college.... most IPS students do have at least average IQs."
Anyone remember the "warmup" questions on the ISTEP from several years back that tested memory recall? I thought the test looked a little suspicious, and did a little asking around. That "a gribble is a grobbet" test was a rudimentary but effective IQ test. The average IQ of the IPS middle school population was 85-88 by that test. I hate to say this, but that places the students at about the 16th percentile on the IQ scale with 100 at the 50th percentile point. Check the deviationss on the bell curve and it isn't a pretty sight. I always wondered why that test was quietly dropped and not used again.
I think you're making that up. First of all, how on earth does it make sense that all of the people who live on one side of a district boundary would be significantly less intelligent than all the people who live on the other side? Your "experience" also goes against every study ever done on urban students, and it goes against everything I've experienced during my own years as a teacher. I think IPS students are every bit as capable as other kids. They just don't have the same resources. If you spent as much energy trying to empower these kids as you do making up excuses about why you're not responsible for teaching them, you might actually accomplish something! Yes, I'm a fellow teacher, and yes, I'm judging you. It breaks my heart that there are practicing teachers who feel the way you do about students and hold such low expectations of them. In my opinion, it's THE biggest factor in the failure of IPS.
@ I think you're making that up -- I agree with you, and history and science agree with you as well. Teacher expectation is (and always has been) more of a factor in student achievement than race or income or educational attainment of parents.
>Teacher expectation is (and always has been) more of a factor in student achievement than race or income or educational attainment of parents.
There is always an exception to the rule: One of the best teachers I've ever seen cannot motivate a certain child to even put his name on his paper. Conferences with mom, principal, nothing works. Teacher expectations are high and have always produced results in the past, however you can't overcome home training. Mom does not care and as a result her two children DO NOT CARE.
We have many very intelligent students in IPS. That said many of them are also very lazy. Some things are affected by the home environment. When a child sees that their parent doesn't have to get up to go to a job, but manages to put food on the table, pay rent etc. thanks to the taxpayer. Why would this child suddenly believe that hard work pays off when lazy will do just fine. It is difficult to want something you don't know or understand. Hence the attitude that a D is just fine.
If only it weren't so. You can can spout all kind of feel good rhetoric but it doesn't change the fact that way too many don't give a damn about anything except socializing, and the rest have been dulled down by worksheets that keep them busy and they think doing their work is enough to guarantee a good grade. You can deny what I've said in good faith and call me a liar, but it still doesn't change that what I saw, heard, and discussed is a true event. The fact that many of the students are apathetic at best and slow at worst doesn't change the fact that I bust my butt trying to teach them something halfway useful in life and hoping that some of them see a light somewhere and go on to succeed. I can't reach them all, but if there's a spark inside somewhere I'll sure try.
Your judgement is in error, and unfortunately I may have to worry about your teaching judgment if you jump to conclusions this quickly in the absence of supportive information to make your claims.
To the above couple conversations: We had 108,000 students in 1968. Now we have 34,000. Think about sampling and a universe. Do we have the same universe now, as we had then? Where have all these children gone and who are the children that have left us? Would one expect that a huge segment of the bell curve is now elsewhere? Just some facts and thoughts to consider, before your fierce rush to judgement!!!
Close your eyes and see a Bell Curve in your mind. Now look at the big hump in the middle and now let your eyes slide down to the right. That's the huge segment that left IPS. The good average ability students and the high ability students gone, gone, gone.
There are many capable students at IPS. But teachers like you all ignore, dismiss, and underestimate them and they graduate high school with an 8th grade education.
Every year, hundreds of IPS's lowest-performing students transfer to charter schools. Within a couple of years, they're outperforming IPS's average (which is inflated by the exclusive magnet programs). Within four or five years, they are performing as well as students in township schools. These are the same kids you were calling lazy thugs, and their parents are the same people you called uncaring welfare queens only a few years ago. Only the school changed. Which means you could have gotten the same results if you'd done things differently.
It's all done this is all a game to make us think they are thinking about it. While it trying to jump ship, but hey his son got that big ass raise before it happen. And he is acting like he knows nothing about it lmao. This is a done deal people hope that state treats us better. What a joke I say keep him on let him be the man that crashed IPS. Don't allow him to bail when he got us in the shape. Trim the fat at the top not teachers. Get rid of Alt options IPS would save a butt load of money there the play judge is getting 100.000 a year for doing what has been done for years at the school level. LET WHITE GO DOWN THE WITH SINKING SHIP HE MADE AND GET OUT THE ALT OPTIONS.
I'm shocked. Shocked, I say.
ReplyDeleteSay it with me: Fire Eugene White.
Michael Brown, you don't care about kids. What a loser. You talk big when the media is around, but you are nothing but a spineless puppet.
ReplyDeleteGo let your son get into some more trouble at Northwest.
Here we go again with the name calling of high ranking officials in IPS. Please stop crying like a little bitch when decisions are not to your liking. Accept that Dr. White is not going to leave IPS anytime soon. We can make the best of it if everyone involved tries. I would like to see you fire him yourself. See how far you get. Ha Ha
ReplyDeleteSo, the administrators are changing assignments, and Big Gene is entrenched?
ReplyDeleteAfter talking to Mr. Brown, he didn't was very adamant that he was NOT going to change his mind. I wonder what happened.
ReplyDeleteI think the real frustration comes from the increase in salaries for failing individuals. If you have been with IPS for awhile, you know that as long as you are in the "circle", performance doesn't mean a thing.
ReplyDeleteIt is morally degrading to do your best and then see those who don't/won't get the pseudo promotions and pay raises while kids, teachers and parents get the shaft.
So, someone must have heard something about the closed door session between Dr. White and the board. Spill the beans and let the rest of us know.
ReplyDelete@Here we go again......go back to doing the work of your Ed. Center administrative job which pays you over $100,000 a year. Let the grownups post on this blog.
ReplyDeleteQUESTION: Of these 4 school board members, which one has no balls and no spine?
!. Diane Arnold
2. Samantha Adair White
3. Annie Roof
4. Michael Brown
CORRECT ANSWER: #4 Michael Brown
I guess he will continue to get the suspensions and expulsions of his relatives cancelled now that he is kissing White's ass again.
Is Brown's son still at Northwest?
ReplyDeleteBrown is another jock sniffer. White probably scored a couple of 2012 Super Bowl tickets for Brown to get him to see things the 'White Way'.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone seen the posting on Career Builders for ISTEP Proctors? It is through a company called Connections Academy, a company that provides a virtual school experience. Check it out!
ReplyDeleteCorrect me, please, if I am wrong. These personnel changes are being done in hopes (prayers) that the state won't take these schools and award them to a private entity to run as a charter. If that happens, the administrators moved into the turnaround schools will most likely lose their positions. To extend this further-Mr. Yarrell's new job comes with the added bonus of being safe from a takeover.
ReplyDeleteQuell suprise! The board has always caved and always will cave to Dr. White. When he first came to our district he did some good things. Now he's just in it for the money. It's a sad commentary on our times, when people getting raises and we are laying off classroom staff.
ReplyDelete"he didn't was very adamant that he was NOT going to change his mind."
ReplyDelete??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
My head hurts.
No school again tomorrow (Thursday)! I have never seen this before in my 12 years teaching in IPS.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet you haven't ever seen an ice storm, either. You're showing your age (as am I!)
ReplyDeleteRe: No school again tomorrow. Were you here in January of 1999? That storm shut down IPS for awhile.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a third day off. It's a 72-hour delay!
ReplyDelete(Now we can finally say IS has had a delay.)
How many days until ISTEP?
Hey, Tony, since virtually every school in the state has been closed, do we all have to make up these days?
I remember in January of 1998 we had an extra week of Chrismtas vacation due to snow. But we had a normal superintendent then.
ReplyDeleteIPS, not IS. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteThat would have been a one hundred twenty-hour delay.
ReplyDeleteStory on www.theindychannel.com looks good, but did we really have a day off this year before this week?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theindychannel.com/news/26717526/detail.html
ReplyDeleteThat's the link to IPS asking to not make up our snow days. Yeah Like that's gonna happen. Tony Bennett is not a rational person.
"Did we really have a day off this year before this week?"
ReplyDeleteMaybe Mary Louise did.
We were off MLK day.
ReplyDeleteWe were off for snow in March of 1999.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: how exactly do you know what happened when the board met? There is nothing public that I can find.
ReplyDelete@question - THANK YOU!! I have suspected since the inception of this blog that it is run by Jeff White or his wife (the most vocal Board Member - who cannot coherently answer a question posed to her!). This is case in point that the White family is running this post!
ReplyDeleteGo to the main page of this blog and cursor down to the bottom. Look at those listed as followers. Mouse over the last icon and you may (or may not) be surprised to see that the name that pops up is Jeffery C. White.
ReplyDelete"Yeah Like that's gonna happen. Tony Bennett is not a rational person."
ReplyDeleteWatched his one-sided show on PBS last night like it was some "education round table." Of course no one from public education or any ISTA teachers were there.It was phony as all hell- mostly corporate solutions to education. Asking these people about solutions to urban education is like going into a music store and asking them what's wrong with your car.The sad thing is this type of TV media manipulation looks balanced and fair to most uninformed people.
Not all teachers are against education reform.
ReplyDeleteI'm not against education reform, I'm against blaming teachers for everything wrong with education.
ReplyDeleteHow many snow days do you think we will have to make up? Indianapolis is suppose to get more snow next week.
ReplyDeleteWe've been talking reform for years. Why did it take a Republican governor to get it going? Educators are looking stupid on this one. ISTA now has to "jump in bed" to get something done.
ReplyDeleteThat repubican governor doesn't care about education or teachers. He's jumped on the teacher bashing bandwagon. Read the account of a teacher from Howard Co who went to lobby last week. It's on the previous thread about Amos Brown.
ReplyDeleteWhy is that the only person who witnessed these comments is an anonymous blogger?
ReplyDeleteIt's in our e-mail from IEA. IF you are an ips teacher and IF you are an iea member, then you should have your very own copy. Something tells me you are anti-union though.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that people with their heads in the sand are the biggest supporters of morons?
You're right, I don't belong to the union. And I'm also a fan of Daniels. But regardless, the story posted in the other thread (or in your union e-mail) just seemed fabricated or at least exaggerated. I'm sure there's no verifiable record of him making these comments. It's just an anti-reform op-ed piece.
ReplyDeleteDr. Tony Bennett got ride of snow day waivers in 2009. All Indiana schools have to go a full 180 days.
ReplyDeleterid
ReplyDeleteIt must be so sad to go through life so cynical and negative.
ReplyDeletePoor White Trash Mary Brewley!
ReplyDeleteTheIndyChannel.com
ReplyDeleteIPS To Appeal To State To Avoid Makeup Days
District Cancels Classes For 3rd-Straight Day
POSTED: 4:41 pm EST February 2, 2011
UPDATED: 6:11 pm EST February 2, 2011
INDIANAPOLIS -- Indianapolis Public Schools will appeal to the state in an effort to avoid having to make up days missed due to this week's ice storm, officials said.
The district called off classes Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, citing dangerous road conditions, particularly along city side streets, and ice build up around the schools.
"We decided to cancel school tomorrow based on the fact that we are having trouble clearing the walks and the lots at the buildings," said ISP spokeswoman Mary Louise Bewley. "Tomorrow we'll have all custodians and members of facilities management come in, so we expect to have a lot better success clearing the walks and the lots."
Bewley said the district has one day built in that students will not have to make up, but that day was already used earlier in the school year.
She said IPS will request a waiver from the state for the three days closed this week because of the severe weather.
According to the Indiana Department of Education, state law requires that students receive 180 full days of classroom instruction, but school officials do have the authority to make decisions on behalf of their students' safety, such as closing for bad weather.
"Schools may apply for a waiver and, if approved, they will not be required to make up that day," said spokeswoman Emily Acklin. "No decisions on newly-filed waivers have been made at this time."
Indy Snow Force officials said Wednesday they are redirecting 15 trucks to major intersections and streets near schools in an effort to clear those areas as soon as possible.
School officials also asked residents to try and clear snow and ice away from school bus stops.
Bewley said the district is hoping to reopen Friday.
Careful what you wish for. If IPS does not have to make up the 3 days missed for inclement weather, then IPS will not have to pay us for those 3 days. No wonder IPS has requested a waiver. The district would save a huge bundle of money! Three days less pay for me would be around $1000 out of my paycheck.
ReplyDeleteI asked this earlier today, "Question: how exactly do you know what happened when the board met? There is nothing public that I can find." The blog veered off into the usual us versus them. Can any of the rumors posted on this page be substantiated? It appears that slinging mud is easier than stating facts.
ReplyDeleteBecause we don't have school tomorrow and we will have the extra time, check out our IPS Board President Elizabeth Gore's taped radio interview on Afternoons with Amos. Make up your minds about what she had to say.
ReplyDeletehttp://praiseindy.com/daily-bread/amosbrown/ips-board-president-elizabeth-gore-discusses-education-issues-on-awa/
Mary Brewley is the leak!
ReplyDelete@Mary Brewley is the leak!
ReplyDelete_______________________________________
Please, let's get the lady's name correct. Her last name is BEWLEY, not Brewley. Each time I see her name spelled 'Brewley', I feel like I'm reading a post written by an ignorant southern hillbilly or an ignorant ghetto banger. (Now everyone can feel equally offended.)
Will someone please educate Gore on our magnet schools.
ReplyDelete2012 School Board Elections....
ReplyDeleteI wonder if White & Johnson having a great time in Dallas?
ReplyDeleteThank you for the spell check.
ReplyDelete@Thank you for the spell check.
ReplyDelete_________________________________
You're welcome.
Why shouldn't snow days have to be made up? 180 days out of the year is not asking too much, so there should be a full 180 days. If people in public education start bitching about having to make up snow days, it makes it easier for politicians to bash us for being lazy and caring more for ourselves than for the kids. I'm not saying that this is true, but that will be the perception...and, image is everything.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the above post.
ReplyDeleteRegarding magnet schools: The magnet high schools aren't exactly successful. They just aren't failures. But the fact that the best of IPS is still below state averages is evidence that IPS is the problem, not the student and families.
ReplyDeleteThe ironic thing about all the White-haters is that his replacement would almost certainly turn some of the schools into charter schools (it's happening all over the country). I'm not a huge White fan but I'm surprised he doesn't get more loyalty from the tenured teachers he protects by refusing to convert any of the schools to charters.
ReplyDeleteActually ISTA and IEA have tried to get IPS to sponsor charter schools. School districts can do that and they still count as part of the system. Eugene has flatly said NO! He wants to keep putting his overpaid buddies and their relatives in these jobs. I think in the end, it is going to cost him his job.
ReplyDeleteQuestion --- Why hasn't IPS started a Charter school? They are allowed.
ReplyDeleteIt does not matter one iota what you call the school or who manages it unless schools start to come up with strategies to successfully educate children it is all a waste. The problems faced by urban districts with a high rate of at risk students and dis-enfranchised parents make the problem not just a "school" problem but a community problem.
ReplyDeleteBeating up on teachers, selling the schools off to not for profit charters, or for profit outfits isn't going to help. A fundamental shift in the approach to education, across the board is needed. There is no simple magic bullet to solve this problem, but what won't work is the firing squad approach we are using now, everyone has a gun, and we're standing in a circle....ready...aim...fire.
The fact that the best of IPS high schools are still below state averages is evidence that IPS is the problem, not the student and families. The townships teach these same single-parent families and these same disinterested kids and get much better results than IPS does. And many of the exact same students who were doing poorly in IPS are excelling in charter schools. (I'm not rabidly pro-charter, but the fact that some of them are doing so well with kids who used to go to IPS supports the claim that IPS was holding these kids back.)
ReplyDeleteDr. White would have to eat crow if he starts to endorse charter schools. It would hurt him more if he had to fire his friends and make his kids work.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that is true about the townships doing better with our kids then we do, back in the days of busing the townships only took kids until they reached a given statistical percentage number, and I asked why that was, and was told that if they took more they would have a double bell curve...Charters some are good, some are bad...and looking at how IPS cooks the books I can't imagine that the charters aren't doing the same thing.
ReplyDeleteHow many kids have come back to you from township schools, they will not tolerate the behavior or the bad attendance that is common place in IPS.
ReplyDeleteKids and their parents are told "don't you have a relative you can live with in IPS" when they get to the point they are ready to fail or become a drop out. I live in Lawrence township and used to see a car load of kids from my neighborhood driving to my IPS school every morning...so I asked and the kids said Lawrence schools were too hard and they didn't like it there so they just kept coming to IPS.
I don't know who told you that, but the city mandated the percentages, not the townships. But now the townships have as much racial and economic diversity as IPS does. They have the same special ed percentages. We're running out of excuses.
ReplyDeleteAnd there's only so much "cooking the books" that's possible. Every teacher can't cheat every year. The SAT board isn't cheating. The AP board isn't cheating.
I've never heard of a single incident where people were lying to get IN to IPS, only out of it. I live in Warren Township/IPS district, and finding alternatives to IPS is a constant concern with my neighbors. You're right, IPS tolerates bad behavior and low achievement in a way that other schools just don't.
ReplyDeleteWAIVER!! IPS don't need no stinkin' waiver.
ReplyDeleteSigned, The State of Indiana, you are suppose to BUILD in snow days just like every other school district.
Thank-you, idiot. Please return to your village. I hear they're looking for you.
ReplyDelete@Waiver. Not everyone thinks your an idiot. I thought it was silly to even request the waiver. State law and our teaching contract specify 180 days. Why the big surprise that we have to stick to that?
ReplyDeleteTony Bennett abolished waivers. I can't imagine why Mary Louise Bewley is talking about this.
ReplyDeleteTo the idiot and his/her defender: take some lessons in proper grammar.
ReplyDeleteWhy would it cost IPS to extend the school days for snow; teachers are already being paid for these days that they are home, aren't they? They why would they have to be paid again for the make-up days. Are paychecks docked for these snow days now? 180 days is not too much to ask but I doubt that much teaching will occur on those days at the end of the year, anyway.
ReplyDeleteIPS would SAVE money by getting a waiver for the snow days. Teachers would work two fewer days than now contracted and would not be paid for those two days.
ReplyDeleteNot a fan of "Blazing Saddles"?
ReplyDeleteOh Pete's sake! We get paid a yearly salary, we are contracted for 190 days. 180 days of student atttendance. We should make these days up. We will not see a decrease in our paychecks because we are paid by the year. We will have to work the make up days as "unpaid" days. But since our checks are always the same we won't really notice the unpaid-ness of them. Classified staff will feel the hurt when they don't get paid for these 3 days, but will get paid when we make them up.
ReplyDeleteSummer vacation, MLK, President's Day, Spring Break, Friday of Thanksgiving and most of Winter Break are unpaid. But once again, our pay is divided up into 26 payments so we don't notice being unpaid, we just enjoy the time off.
Did any of you watch Channel 13 today? Tony Bennett said he isn't granting waivers to any school district for days missed due to snow.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wthr.com/story/13964685/bennett-no-waivers-for-missed-school-days
We know, lol. That's what prompted these last several comments on waivers! :)
ReplyDeleteThe latest from the anti-employee and family IPS administration is they told non-teaching staff employees to stay home Tuesday and Wednesday. They now are saying non teaching staff must use a vacation, personal, or floating holiday to cover the days you were off.
ReplyDeleteSo we must now use days to cover Christmas break, Spring Break, and 2 snow days. So now if someone saved enough days to cover the days needed for when we are not allowed to work during Spring break, they are now 2 days short.
It getting very obvious that IPS cares very little for its employees.
OMG, someone get Mary Louis to Weight Watchers, her legs are so huge, it's unprofessional.
ReplyDeleteWow, school is cancelled for Friday too?! I didn't expect that!
ReplyDeleteNice Blazing Saddles reference, and I think its hilarious that people wanted to jump down your throat for grammer. When will those who criticize grammer on here realize that it is asinine to do so? You make yourself look stoopider by doing so.
ReplyDeleteSchool is canceled? Where and/or when did you see that?
ReplyDeletegrammar
ReplyDeleteGrammer was teacher of the year around 2003.
I got a phone call. It said that despite the hard work of custodial staff, the ice was just too thick (in the parking lots, side walks, on the buses, etc.) to get it all cleared.
ReplyDeleteMe too. And it's listed on wthr.com now too.
ReplyDeleteI like Mrs. Bewley's legs and that fat ass. Also, she dresses professionally in my eyes.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Bewley looks like Flo on Mel's Diner. You got to love her because the way she looks and dresses, you can't tell her shit.
ReplyDeleteReally? You're going to criticize women in their 50s for not having the bodies of 20 year olds? Really? What on earth is WRONG with some of you?!
ReplyDeleteWow, you are complaining about using personal/sick days (non teachers) for the days absent due to the snow days?
ReplyDeleteWhere I work we don't get that option. We just aren't paid, simple.
Very tough for single parents etc. i would love to be able to use one of my twenty sick days left to have covered all of this time off.
No we can't use sick days. Just vacation days or personal days. I know I've been saving my vacation days for a lovely time gazing at my frozen yard....a vacation I've only dreamed about has now come true. I'm so happy. Thank you anti-employee and anti-family IPS administration.
ReplyDeleteWhat is with all this crap talk about Mrs. Bewley's body, her legs, her butt, her whatever? Who gets off talking about a middle-aged white lady who's only doing what she's told to do? Do you really believe that Mrs. Bewley personally invents her public relation releases without their first being approved by Eugene White?
ReplyDeleteHow'd you like for folks to diss Ann Wilkins' picture on the IEA website? How would this sound to you? Ann Wilkins should cover her big obese body with an extra large African caftan, quit posing with those gigantic breasts jutting into the camera like a wide-angle shot of the Grand Tetons, and quit strutting her stuff like she's the nubian princess of IPS. Doesn't sound so correct, does it?
Check to see how many days Bennet got waived during the last year he was superintendent of a failing school system. He had a ton of snow days and he received a waiver for most of them.
ReplyDeleteWTF! I can't believe we're complaining about make-up days for bad weather! We are paid to work 190 days, of which 180 days are for classroom instuction with the students in attendance. Talk about making public school teachers look bad! Shut our mouths about making up days missed for bad weather.
ReplyDeleteAs for being family friendly, IPS does not make us have children. IPS or any employer, for that fact, does not base our pay or the number of days we work upon whether we have a family or don't have a family. That is a personal choice.
So what if Bennett's former school district had waivers for bad weather? That was then; this is now. Sounds like we're always looking for the easy way out of working!!! Get over it, or get a new profession!
You know what? I'm about sick and tired of some lame teachers posting on this forum about Mary Louise Bewley and making fun of her carrying out her job responsibilities as Dr. White mandates. I have never met Mary Louise Bewley. I have seen her from afar at meetings, but I do not know her nor does she know me.
ReplyDeleteWhy in God's name would teachers or other IPS employees bash this woman for doing her job? She is the paid and contracted mouth piece for the Ed Center. Whatever Mrs. Bewley says to the Media is what Dr. White has directed her to say. That is her job! Frankly, I doubt that she's really happy to be told the things to say to the Media that Dr. White directs her to say. But, hey, just like her, we do a helluva lot of things that we don't like simply because we are 'directed' to do them by our principals, our supervisors, or Dr. White. My simple suggestion is that we, as IPS employees, back off from bashing Mary Louise Bewley because she, like us, is only doing what she is directed. Peace and stay strong!
IPS is anti-family because they hire you in as a full time 12 month employee and then tell you that you have to take Xmas break, Spring Break, and now two snow days off and use vacation days to cover them. Thats funny they only give you 10 vacation days. So I guess I don't get to go on a summer vacation, and guess what my family doesn't have the same spring break schedule.
ReplyDeleteWe now are having our deductions taken out 24 times this year, not 26. They know they are screwing people over and they will not get a paycheck when spring break comes up, because they wont have any time to take. To make it even funnier we have received 2 checks this year and both have been screwed up. We haven't even got a single email explaining what is going on, or how they plan to fix it.
If a company calls you and says DO NOT COME TO WORK I would assume they plan on paying you. If not they should give you the option of coming in to work.
"As for being family friendly, IPS does not make us have children. IPS or any employer, for that fact, does not base our pay or the number of days we work upon whether we have a family or don't have a family. That is a personal choice. "
ReplyDeleteYou would fit in very well at the ED Center. IPS does not make you have kids, but as a decent employers they should quit fucking people over!!!
@You would fit in very well at the ED Center. IPS does not make you have kids, but as a decent employers they should quit fucking people over!!!
ReplyDelete_____________________________________________
I wrote the post that prompted your outburst. For that post, I do not apologize. And, I should add that I am not an employee of the Ed Center nor am I an administrator in any form with IPS. I am a classroom teacher with IPS.
Decent employers pay us for the days we work. More importantly, if we are contracted as teachers with IPS, we are paid to work precisely 190 days annually. If we do not work 190 days, then we have not fulfilled our contractual obligations to our employer. I suspect you and your ilk should 'get a clue' about real life and real work situations. If you don't work, you don't get paid. Plain and simple. Whether you have a family or have no children or have twenty children, it does not make a difference. Having children is your choice, not your employer's choice. If you believe that IPS or your present employer is f'ing you over, then you should find an employer that is sympathetic to your complaint. As an aside, I wish you 'good luck' in your pursuit.
About 10% of people living in Indiana are unemployed, and here we have people complaining and griping that IPS is "f&*$ing people over" because IPS is not a decent employer!!! Did you get your most recent pay check? If you said yes, then you are ahead of a lot of people in Hoosier land. We get our pay checks from taxpayers who might not even have a job right now, and then some doofus has the nerve to complain about their boss.
ReplyDeleteDo you know how you sound??? Get a grip!!! Think of all the people who do not have jobs and you have the nerve to bitch that your boss is not friendly to families. For god's sake, just shut up already about your job!
RE: "So I guess I don't get to go on a summer vacation,"
ReplyDeleteBut I bet you got a paycheck this month, didn't you?
Many of us don't get paid days off at all. My neighbor (also an IPS parent) is a waitress. She's had to pay a sitter all this week so she can go to work and not make money.
ReplyDeleteSorry if the rest of us out here in the real world aren't exactly crying rivers that you weren't able to somehow profit from the bad weather.
I totally agree. We as teachers have really awesome jobs with plenty of vacation time. It isn't paid vacation but we make a living wage and we can provide for our families without juggling which bills to pay each month.
ReplyDeleteMany people aren't so lucky.
As an IPS 10 month employee, who is college educated with a Master's Degree. The 10 month employees do not get paid for any time off that is on the IPS calendar(Christmas, Spring, Fall, etc),nor for school cancellations. We pay more in insurance as a 10 month employee,for example we pay $810.00 a month, for health insurance.
ReplyDeleteI am blessed to have a spouse who works for a CHARTER school, and was able to get paid for the break, and for these missed days this week. If I did not have the other source of income, how would I pay for my children PRIVATE school education, mortagage, other other expenses.
So teachers quit gripping because there are people in the district who SUPPORT YOU on a daily basis, to make your job a whole lot easier, but are being screwed constantly by the district.
Check the AD postion switch that was supposed to happen between NW and Tech that is now cancelled. That is the key to Brown's vote change. True Board Politics!
ReplyDeleteI bet Bennett doesn't get re-elected.
ReplyDeleteI agree that bitching about making up days is absurd. We're paid to work 190 days, so we'll work them now or later in the year. People in these economic times should be grateful to have a job. And, NO, I'm not an Ed. Center bobble brain. I'm a classroom teacher whose spouse was laid off and unemployed for eighteen months. Walk a mile in the shoes of the jobless and see what employment really means.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately those who aren't educational workers think he's the greatest. Kinda like everyone who didn't work for IPS thought Zendejas was awesome.
ReplyDelete@As an IPS ten month employee.....I think you are a fraud. Teachers do get paid for snow days. We do not get paid for make up days. No 10 month teacher will miss a day's pay on his/her check this pay period. Classified employees will not be paid. 10 month teachers will not be paid for the make up days. Also 10 months teachers get holiday pay for New Year's Day. We do not get paid for any religious holiday. Your $810 a month must be for a family plan. The full cost for a teacher's medical care is only $600.86 total and that is the combined teacher premium and board premium. You would have to be carrying medical coverage for your spouse. Why doesn't the wonderful charter school where your spouse works pay for his/her medical insurance? Better yet, why doesn't the wonderful charter school cover both of you??
ReplyDeleteRE: Mary Louise Bewley....Why in the world would you take a job where you had to lie to everyone to protect your boss? There should come a time for everyone when we say this job is not worth selling my soul to the devil to get a paycheck??
ReplyDelete@@As an IPS ten month employee.....I think you are a fraud. Teachers do get paid for snow days. We do not get paid for make up days.
ReplyDelete_______________________________________________
You've been with IPS too long as a union teacher. You know all the rules, regulations, and statutes by memory. That's good. Now take your rules, regulations, and statutes to bed for the evening. Enjoy your rest, and enjoy your paid day off tomorrow for the inclement weather while the taxpayers who pay your wages will be busy chopping their ways out of their icy driveways, busy finding alternative childcare provisions, and busy trying to forget they're paying a mouthy public school teacher to know more about the status of education than the Harvard Educational Review. Sleep well, child.
@RE: Mary Louise Bewley....Why in the world would you take a job where you had to lie to everyone to protect your boss? There should come a time for everyone when we say this job is not worth selling my soul to the devil to get a paycheck??
ReplyDeleteIf Mary Louise Bewley accepted a position with IPS where she ended up having to lie to protect her boss, how does that have relevance to our jobs as classroom teachers? I am unable to find any relevance between what she does in fulfilling her job duties and what I do in fulfilling my job duties. It's sort of like our complaining or bitching if the White House Chief Correspondent supposedly twists the truth about the President's intentions...how, in the big scheme of things, does that make any difference in our daily lives? Geez, the woman accepted an advertised position with IPS; she's just doing what she is told. Are we any different???
@Fraud
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious that they're not a teacher from their post. I'm also not one and I am a 10 month employee. We work at least as hard as you do and get dicked by comparison. Listening to teachers who make more money to start with and then still find time to bitch about getting paid for being off with their vacation days is pretty infuriating for the rest of us peons who do not have a union to lobby for us (even a bad one). Many of you have enormous undeserved egos.
@You've been with IPS too long..... Your condescending attitude says much about you. First, how do you get off referring to an adult teacher as a child? That is vulgar. The post you are referring was in response to someone who posted inaccurate information. While I am aware that some people have childcare problems, I hate to shock you but teachers are not babysitters. Teachers are there to educate your children but they are not your personal babysitters. You need to accept the responsibility to arrange your own childcare. Public school teachers are NOT your child's babysitters. I think that it says much about you that you are not concerned about lost education but more about not wanting to accept your parental responsibilty to arrange childcare. Yes, teachers will be paid for these snow days but will work unpaid when the make up days are scheduled. It is all the same. Teachers do not make or lose one cent on snow days and teachers work for the same amount of time for the snow day pay. The pay comes in February and the work comes in May or June. Why is that concept so hard for you to understand?
ReplyDelete@@You've been with IPS too long..... Your condescending attitude says much about you.
ReplyDelete______________________________________
Please, get over yourself and your apparent misunderstanding. I am not posting here as a parent; I am an IPS teacher who's grown weary of fellow teachers who spout rules, regulations, and statutes about IN school law as if they're researchers for an educational policy report. I do not care when my pay arrives because I trust that my contract will be honored. I do not care to read about the state guidelines for inclement weather waivers from misinformed teachers. There are Marion County taxpayers whose monies fund our paychecks who do not wish to hear that public school teachers are more busy parsing guidelines about making up or not making up missed days for inclement weather or about when they get paid than they are concerned about providing instructional time for their children.
Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite, missy.
"Actually ISTA and IEA have tried to get IPS to sponsor charter schools."
ReplyDeleteNEA supports charters too. You know they expect to organize all teachers eventually and probably will. No teacher wants to work in those "zoos" for Wal-Mart wages.
Re: I totally agree. We as teachers have really awesome jobs with plenty of vacation time. It isn't paid vacation but we make a living wage and we can provide for our families without juggling which bills to pay each month.
ReplyDeleteMany people aren't so lucky.
*****************I am not "lucky" to be an educator. I worked hard to earn this title. Any "luck" would be the financial assistance I obtained. I've paid that back several times over via 30+ years of salary.
When my students tell me I'm "lucky", I don't miss the chance to point out that most luck is actually one's reaction to choices. As an IPS student, I received an excellent educational foundation. Was I "lucky" to decide that a life in a cafeteria kitchen wasn't in the best interest of my two children or my husband? Was I "lucky" to have my family's acceptance of four years of scraping to receive my license?
Please don't use the term "luck" lightly.
Karma, perhaps?
@Please, get over yourself. Your are a perfect example of the problem and the fact that you claim to be a teacher makes it worse. You carp on and on about the pay schedule for snow days. A true teacher is worried about the loss of educational time.
ReplyDeleteYou're taking a lot for granted. I agree that we create some of our own luck. But if you had enough educational, financial, and family support to be able to attend a 4-year university, you're luckier than 3/4 of the country and luckier than the families in IPS. You might have been an IPS student in the past, but today, even the best IPS students haven't been adequately prepared for college. And even with aid for tuition, most low-income students can't support themselves (or their families) and also attend school full-time, and they don't qualify for aid if they only attend part-time. Most of the nontraditional college programs that offer more flexibility don't offer options for undergraduate teaching degrees. So again, you are taking a lot for granted. You are indeed quite lucky.
ReplyDeleteRe:It's obvious that they're not a teacher from their post. I'm also not one and I am a 10 month employee. We work at least as hard as you do and get dicked by comparison.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has worked as a paraprofessional, substitute teacher, technology assistant and now as a teacher I disagree with your assessment above. As a para, sub and tech assistant I worked a lot less then I do now as a teacher. Why, because I never had to take any work home. I resent the assertion that teachers are paid for doing nothing. I spend most of my afternoons working on grading and planning interesting lessons for my students. Not to mention organization of fieldtrips and after school clubs. While I am not saying your job isn't important you might want to reign in the teacher have it soo good whine and do something about it. When I worked as a para I understood that my pay and benefits were directly linked to my level of education. I wanted more and so went back to school while raising three children and working. So don't minimize the fruits of my labor just because you can't or won't change your own situation.
To: "you're taking a lot for granted" I actually agree with you. But things are changing for the better, I think as nontraditional programs that make college more accessible to low-income students from low-income school districts. There is an online program for teachers, although I forget which program it is. I'll check into it and post back. But I agree that before we pat ourselves on the back too hard, we need to acknowledge the ways in which we were blessed to be able to choose the path we did.
ReplyDeleteGetting an education degree and teaching certificate via an Online college makes for about as much professional acumen as getting an M.D. via an Online medical school.
ReplyDeleteWould you want to be treated by a physician who'd earned an M.D. from an Online university?
Indiana Western Governors University is the online university I was talking about. To the person above, I disagree that online programs are inferior. If accreditation bodies gave an online M.D. program the same status as a brick and mortar program, then why wouldn't I trust a physician from that program? I attended a traditional school, but change isn't always bad.
ReplyDelete@...change isn't always bad.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Perhaps the brick and mortar IPS schools could be closed and sold. Taxpayers would save money by using the proceeds of the sales to buy each student a laptop and wireless Internet access rather than paying for the current upkeep on archaic buildings. We'd need no transportation department, no facilities/grounds department, no food service department, no uniform rules, and far fewer teachers. How would that change sound?
"but today, even the best IPS students haven't been adequately prepared for college. "
ReplyDeleteBullshit.
Don't take my word for it, the data is available. Check AP classes, SAT scores, ISTEP+ scores etc. Not averages, top scores. Check the scores for the valedictorians and salutatorians of IPS schools.
ReplyDeleteBut nobody's talking about replacing traditional colleges, only offering alternatives. Similar to offering a virtual charter school (which does exist) as an option to traditional brick and mortar schools.
ReplyDeleteVirtual colleges could perhaps be where people can earn virtual education degrees to become virtual teachers to work in virtual schools and earn virtual salaries. I like that! A simulated career, virtually simulated.
ReplyDeleteDo you really think people learn so much from lectures? I attended IU before the Internet was even invented, but other than student teaching, I can't imagine why I couldn't have learned all the same material online. And if we want to get technical, money has been virtual since the 1940s when we moved from the gold standard, and now most of us don't touch much cash at all. It's all "virtual" !!
ReplyDeleteI checked online and the Indiana Western Governors University program has regular student teaching in schools but the rest is online. And it's only for elementary, math and science teachers.
ReplyDeleteI wish all of you would get over yourselves. You have to have it upstairs to go to college and stay in college and graduate from college. I can't do anything about thoses kids whose mom or daddy did drugs. We all don't start with the same brain power. Not everyone is college material.
ReplyDelete@. We all don't start with the same brain power. Not everyone is college material.
ReplyDeleteThank you! What you stated is absolutely correct, but in today's climate, it's not PC to mention that some people for whatever reason(s) are more equipped to handle academics than others.
I've actually read transition plans for special education students in IPS that were not realistic. I especially remember the IEP where the parent, student, & teacher decided a student with an IQ of 62 should have post-secondary education to become a pediatrician. I've seen IEP's where the parent and child list NFL or NBA player as the student's chosen career goal, however, the student never played on any sports teams in his entire school career. It seems that we're being dishonest with some students when we do not offer realistic post-secondary goals.
From Indianapolis Star, 2/4/2011
ReplyDeleteState Considers New Teacher Evaluation
To be rated highly effective under the guidelines hammered out by a statewide panel of nine teachers, principals and administrators, principals must be able to show:
Schoolwide growth on state tests is better than that of at least 80 percent of all schools in the state.
Attendance averaging 95 percent or better.
A majority of students making at least a year and a half of growth on state tests over the academic year.
The teacher evaluation process -- which was not fully unveiled -- will have a similarly high bar to earn the "highly effective" rating, Bennett said.
"A majority of students making at least a year and a half of growth on state tests over the academic year." Yeah, right, sure, umhummmm, like that will happen.
ReplyDeleteI sniff potential cheating!
@principals must be able to show:
ReplyDeleteSchoolwide growth on state tests is better than that of at least 80 percent of all schools in the state.
_________________________________________________
Well, meeting that schoolwide growth level will surely get rid of a lot of our building principals! My word!!! How will central office administrators be evaluated?
I've tried posting the link to today's Star Article twice. Is there a reason why it's being deleted?
ReplyDeleteFYI, go to indystar.com, click News, Education, third headline from top (Raising the Bar for Educators)
I'm so glad I got my kids out of IPS. We were told that my older son has an IQ of 80, cannot function in a classroom with peers, did not have the attention span to learn to read, required afternoon naps, and would most certainly NOT be promoted that year. We made the difficult decision to move him during the school year to a charter school.
ReplyDeleteOne year later, he is a leader among his peers, a helper in the classroom, and has moved from guided reading level A to D.
You'd be amazed what kids can do when you love them, set high expectations, and give them things to do that are at their level. Instead, IPS teachers would rather blame me, punish him, and decide that he "doesn't have it upstairs" and "Can't handle college". Pathetic.
Diploma mill....diploma mill....diploma mill.....buy your degree here...extra for teacher certification and even more to be certified as an administrator....half Of IPS admnistrators have gotten their "credentials" from a local diploma mill.......
ReplyDeleteDear Blogmaster,
ReplyDeletePlease begin a new thread inviting comment on the Legislation's proposed evaluation instrument.
@Dear Blogmaster,
ReplyDeletePlease begin a new thread inviting comment on the Legislation's proposed evaluation instrument.
_________________________________________
I second the above request.
The new evaluation legislation was included in an email sent via Groupwise earlier this week.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.doe.in.gov/puttingstudentsfirst/docs/2011-01-28_teacher_effectiveness_rubric_draft.pdf
ReplyDeleteRegarding having to "have it upstairs" to attend college. I don't disagree that some children aren't mentally equipped to handle college. But anyone with an average IQ can learn college-level material, and most IPS students do have at least average IQs. The reason most IPS students don't go to college is a) they are behind other students and b) it's not financially practical. I tutor students at IUPUI, and there are special programs for IPS graduates, many of whom graduated at the top of their class, to help them get caught up. The students tell me they've never had to do a research paper with source citations, and are surprised to learn that profs in history and science classes will give bad grades for spelling and grammar errors.
ReplyDeleteIPS should be insulted that their top official got away with making this treat. Why has no one done anything to force this issue?
ReplyDeleteI have to say, I'm not opposed to that rubric. At least it focuses on things the teacher can control, unlike test scores!
ReplyDeleteRe: IPS should be insulted that their top official got away with making this treat. Why has no one done anything to force this issue?
ReplyDeleteExactly where have you been? In a snowdrift?
"At least it focuses on things the teacher can control, unlike test scores!"
ReplyDeleteYes, like pupil attendance!
Where does the rubric mention pupil attendance? The only thing I see about attendance are students not being idle while teacher takes attendance and then the part about teacher's professionalism and attendance.
ReplyDeleteFrom Indianapolis Star, 2/4/2011
ReplyDeleteState Considers New Teacher Evaluation
To be rated highly effective under the guidelines hammered out by a statewide panel of nine teachers, principals and administrators, principals must be able to show:
Schoolwide growth on state tests is better than that of at least 80 percent of all schools in the state.
Attendance averaging 95 percent or better.
A majority of students making at least a year and a half of growth on state tests over the academic year.
That's for principals, right? That doesn't seem unfair to me. They are the ones responsible for implementing and enforcing attendance policies, right?
ReplyDeleteAnd what flows downhill?
ReplyDeleteHere's the principal rubric for those interested.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.doe.in.gov/puttingstudentsfirst/docs/2011-01-28_principal_effectiveness_rubric_draft.pdf
I'm honestly surprised so many teachers are against this.
ReplyDeleteWho said we're against it? I welcome housecleaning, even if it's me who is swept away. If I can't do the job, it's time to go.
ReplyDeleteThat's kind of the way I feel. Although I think with a rubric even some of the teachers who haven't done great in the past will have constructive goals to aim for rather than simply "perform better." I'm all for more accountability as long as its fair. This seems fair to me.
ReplyDelete"Schoolwide growth on state tests is better than that of at least 80 percent of all schools in the state."
ReplyDeleteOver time, is this mathematically possible?
I was wondering that same thing! How can everybody be better than 80%? Maybe if we try to be better than 80% of the schools in Illinios.
ReplyDelete@The reason most IPS students don't go to college is a) they are behind other students and b) it's not financially practical. I tutor students at IUPUI, and there are special programs for IPS graduates, many of whom graduated at the top of their class, to help them get caught up. The students tell me they've never had to do a research paper with source citations, and are surprised to learn that profs in history and science classes will give bad grades for spelling and grammar errors.
ReplyDeleteRead this months Educational Leadership and the effect of low reading ability on college prep. Titled "Too dumb for complex texts" http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb11/vol68/num05/Too-Dumb-for-Complex-Texts%C2%A2.aspx
then think about Kelly Gallagher's book Readicide...then think about "Springboard." We are sacrificing our students long term success, the ability to be successful adult readers, able to read complex and deep materials, and fostering a generation of aliterate readers, for the districts short term goal...raising test scores.
We are shooting our kids in the foot...shame on IPS, shame of teachers for not protesting loudly when this program was implemented, shame on the board for not looking longer at the qualities of this program, shame on parents for not demanding more, and shame on our legislators for creating a system where high stakes tests are more important than authentic learning.
I don't think we have to choose between authentic learning and increased test scores. We can have increased test scores without authentic learning, but I think if we have have authentic learning we're going to have good test scores as well.
ReplyDeleteRe: Maybe if we try to be better than 80% of the schools in Illinios.
ReplyDeleteOr Kentucky....across the river from Bennett's old stomping grounds!
@I don't think we have to choose between authentic learning and increased test scores. We can have increased test scores without authentic learning, but I think if we have have authentic learning we're going to have good test scores as well.
ReplyDeleteI believe I have said this before, good test scores are a byproduct of a quality education, not the goal of an education.
I agree 100%
ReplyDeleteBTW, the schools in KY have benefited greatly from KERA (KY Educational Reform Act) from the late 90's. The turned the whole system upside down and demanded parents, communities, schools, teachers, admin, everyone get involved. and it worked, for the most part anyway.
ReplyDeleteBoo Hoo. Mitch Daniels is upset because the teacher from Howard County wrote her account about his rude behavior toward the teachers at the statehouse. I guess he forgot that this is the 21st century and news gets around fast.
ReplyDelete"BTW, the schools in KY have benefited greatly from KERA (KY Educational Reform Act) from the late 90's. The turned the whole system upside down and demanded parents, communities, schools, teachers, admin, everyone get involved. and it worked, for the most part anyway."
ReplyDeleteMy cousin who is a welfare recipient in Ky. is MANDATED to go to her childrens' schools or else she is reported to the state welfare office. What a concept! Love the idea!
Here's a suggestion - make up one of the snow days on Presidents' Day.
ReplyDeleteNo! We should not use President's Day for a makeup. Some of us have made plans for that day. The students last day was Tuesday, May 24, 2011 and now with the built-in makeup day,( Friday, May 20th) they will still get out on Friday, May 27th--that is soon enough!
ReplyDeleteI agree with making up a day on President's Day. How many teachers and parents would mind? And yes, students will be done on Friday, May 27th - teachers will have to come back on Tues., May 31st, after Memorial Day. Some of us have made vacation plans.
ReplyDeleteThat's why God created personal days. Save one.
ReplyDeleteFrom anonymous 26 posts upstream from here;
ReplyDelete"Regarding having to "have it upstairs" to attend college.... most IPS students do have at least average IQs."
Anyone remember the "warmup" questions on the ISTEP from several years back that tested memory recall? I thought the test looked a little suspicious, and did a little asking around. That "a gribble is a grobbet" test was a rudimentary but effective IQ test. The average IQ of the IPS middle school population was 85-88 by that test. I hate to say this, but that places the students at about the 16th percentile on the IQ scale with 100 at the 50th percentile point. Check the deviationss on the bell curve and it isn't a pretty sight. I always wondered why that test was quietly dropped and not used again.
I think you're making that up. First of all, how on earth does it make sense that all of the people who live on one side of a district boundary would be significantly less intelligent than all the people who live on the other side? Your "experience" also goes against every study ever done on urban students, and it goes against everything I've experienced during my own years as a teacher. I think IPS students are every bit as capable as other kids. They just don't have the same resources. If you spent as much energy trying to empower these kids as you do making up excuses about why you're not responsible for teaching them, you might actually accomplish something! Yes, I'm a fellow teacher, and yes, I'm judging you. It breaks my heart that there are practicing teachers who feel the way you do about students and hold such low expectations of them. In my opinion, it's THE biggest factor in the failure of IPS.
ReplyDelete@ " That's why God created personal days...."
ReplyDeleteWe were told we can not take Mondays or Fridays as personal days because they follow a weekend and you could get written up for it.
@ I think you're making that up -- I agree with you, and history and science agree with you as well. Teacher expectation is (and always has been) more of a factor in student achievement than race or income or educational attainment of parents.
ReplyDelete>Teacher expectation is (and always has been) more of a factor in student achievement than race or income or educational attainment of parents.
ReplyDeleteThere is always an exception to the rule: One of the best teachers I've ever seen cannot motivate a certain child to even put his name on his paper. Conferences with mom, principal, nothing works. Teacher expectations are high and have always produced results in the past, however you can't overcome home training. Mom does not care and as a result her two children DO NOT CARE.
We have many very intelligent students in IPS. That said many of them are also very lazy. Some things are affected by the home environment. When a child sees that their parent doesn't have to get up to go to a job, but manages to put food on the table, pay rent etc. thanks to the taxpayer. Why would this child suddenly believe that hard work pays off when lazy will do just fine. It is difficult to want something you don't know or understand. Hence the attitude that a D is just fine.
ReplyDelete@ I think you're making that up...
ReplyDeleteIf only it weren't so. You can can spout all kind of feel good rhetoric but it doesn't change the fact that way too many don't give a damn about anything except socializing, and the rest have been dulled down by worksheets that keep them busy and they think doing their work is enough to guarantee a good grade. You can deny what I've said in good faith and call me a liar, but it still doesn't change that what I saw, heard, and discussed is a true event. The fact that many of the students are apathetic at best and slow at worst doesn't change the fact that I bust my butt trying to teach them something halfway useful in life and hoping that some of them see a light somewhere and go on to succeed. I can't reach them all, but if there's a spark inside somewhere I'll sure try.
Your judgement is in error, and unfortunately I may have to worry about your teaching judgment if you jump to conclusions this quickly in the absence of supportive information to make your claims.
To the above couple conversations: We had 108,000 students in 1968. Now we have 34,000. Think about sampling and a universe. Do we have the same universe now, as we had then?
ReplyDeleteWhere have all these children gone and who are the children that have left us? Would one expect that a huge segment of the bell curve is now elsewhere? Just some facts and thoughts to consider, before your fierce rush to judgement!!!
Close your eyes and see a Bell Curve in your mind. Now look at the big hump in the middle and now let your eyes slide down to the right. That's the huge segment that left IPS. The good average ability students and the high ability students gone, gone, gone.
ReplyDeleteThere are many capable students at IPS. But teachers like you all ignore, dismiss, and underestimate them and they graduate high school with an 8th grade education.
ReplyDeleteEvery year, hundreds of IPS's lowest-performing students transfer to charter schools. Within a couple of years, they're outperforming IPS's average (which is inflated by the exclusive magnet programs). Within four or five years, they are performing as well as students in township schools. These are the same kids you were calling lazy thugs, and their parents are the same people you called uncaring welfare queens only a few years ago. Only the school changed. Which means you could have gotten the same results if you'd done things differently.
ReplyDeleteIt's all done this is all a game to make us think they are thinking about it. While it trying to jump ship, but hey his son got that big ass raise before it happen. And he is acting like he knows nothing about it lmao.
ReplyDeleteThis is a done deal people hope that state treats us better. What a joke I say keep him on let him be the man that crashed IPS. Don't allow him to bail when he got us in the shape. Trim the fat at the top not teachers. Get rid of Alt options IPS would save a butt load of money there the play judge is getting 100.000 a year for doing what has been done for years at the school level.
LET WHITE GO DOWN THE WITH SINKING SHIP HE MADE AND GET OUT THE ALT OPTIONS.