With so many believing the United States is severely behind other countries in education, it is noble that the Apple Valley/Eagan/Rosemount school district (ISD196) is looking for ways to better the instruction of its students in an attempt to compete. However some may question whether further decreasing the amount of days a student is in the classroom is the best way to do that.
From a recent Pioneer Press article:
Board members also are considering giving teachers more time to study student performance data so they can realign and improve instruction.
Tom Pederstuen, district human resources director, introduced a proposed change to the current school calendar that would give middle- and elementary-school teachers March 9 as a day for professional development. High school teachers already use the day for training and collaboration.
[...]
Although students would have fewer classroom days, school leaders hope giving teachers more time to use test scores and other data to hone instruction will result in better achievement.
However, as has been discussed on Lazy Lightning before, US students are lagging behind their international counterparts at least partially due to over a month less spent in school each year (~40 days). While this single day will certainly not lose much ground in this area, some may wonder whether the district should be doing more to push the needle back the other way; increasing the number of days educators should be in front of students in the classroom, instead of less.
Will this single day of work without the distraction of students really be able to provide a big jump in the quality of education provided? Are you glad that the district was able to come to an amicable agreement with the union without the need for excessive raises? Do you think more should have come out of this for the taxpayers (or conversely: the teachers)? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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December 14th, 2011 at 7:32 am
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December 14th, 2011 at 7:51 am
I thought that there was a state mandated policy of X instructional days a school district had to offer in MN.
Anyway, looking at my Outlook calendar, March 9th falls on a Friday in 2012. Sounds like a cheesey way to squeeze an extra 3 day weekend in their schedule (sure I’ll be evaluating performance levels on that Friday at home you betcha!)
December 14th, 2011 at 8:04 am
They could make the school year a month shorter, and make the kids smarter if they could convince the student’s parents to care.
December 14th, 2011 at 9:15 am
It’s the middle of the bell curve that drives public policy. Most all of the research and academic papers I’ve read on this topic support MORE time in the classroom, not less. Academic rigor in those countries that truly value education makes the U.S. look anemic. That said, the whole world clamors to attend our universities because they are superior to most all others. So, the really good U.S. students (smart, disciplined) excel in any school, including sub-par ones, and end up at highly rated colleges and universities. It’s the muddy middle we worry about.
As for ISD196, it does pretty well on average (the muddy middle again) – because our kids are way above average – just ask any parent about their junior and princess.
December 14th, 2011 at 10:01 am
Questions (probably best answered by a teacher, curriculum leader, or administrator): Why March? Is it because that’s when some sort of data become available? Is this the standard time of year when curriculum development occurs?
It seems like by the time they do their analysis and determine what they need to “realign” to improve instruction, end of March will be too late to implement for the current school year.
Other questions: Why would they have to shut the entire school down to do this? Why not have rolling small groups with substitutes or guest instructors in while this is going on? Or why not make this type of collaboration/activity an expectation of the week leading into the school year when teachers are honing their curricula already?
Also, is the “use of data to realign and improve instruction” NOT CURRENTLY what they do during their conferences, development time? When my wife was a teacher and district curriculum lead, I seem to recall her doing this pretty much all the time as an integral part of her job and development. What’s missing now and isn’t this already a basic expectation?
Disclaimer: I have three “way above average” kids (ha C&V!) in District 196 and I am 100% satisfied/happy with the school. The teachers and staff there are nothing short of exceptional in my opinion. Nothing above should be read with any “slant” or agenda. These are real questions — on the surface, the idea being floated doesn’t make sense.
December 14th, 2011 at 10:04 am
I have never understood why this country continues its 3 month summer vacation school year when the rest of the world has a round the year school calendar. Its a relic of our agricultural past when a majority of the population farmed. The lack of those other 40 days of instruction , not to mention the pause in learning is not good for our muddy middle. C&V is right that the world values our higher education , the sad thing is that it is becoming too expensive for most Americans to afford without going into extreme debt.
I doubt the one day off in March will mean much, in any case one would think they could swap a day of Christmas vacation for this day if the teacher training is that meaningfully required.
December 14th, 2011 at 10:16 am
mulch,
It’s as simple as: I want to take three consecutive weeks of vacation with my family every year. But aside from that, I really and honestly believe kids are spending too much time in the classroom and too much money is being spent compared to other nations. When the comparative output is as low as it is, I think we have other things to consider:
1. Unions and the damage their typical actions do to any public education institution at any level.
2. Not allowing people who are uninterested in school to fail.
3. The politicizing of education.
—
We simply have a broken system and I really and highly doubt that moving to a year-round system will be the single shot to the system we apparently need.
December 14th, 2011 at 10:19 am
I have always felt that new teachers should spend their first year paired with a very experienced teacher. Their second year they go it alone and in their third year they would be measured by their results. Any pay increase to that point would be for cost of living, if any, only. If their third year-end shows they are producing good test results from a set percentage of the students, only then will a raise be discussed. Very similar to how the military promotions worked back when I served. A certain ‘time in grade’ requirement, plus one had to pass a test in their skill area or specialty before the next stripe was earned. Some advanced quickly, some didn’t. Today in the schools you get more pay just for being there, not for taking charge of your class and creatively inspiring the young minds to want to learn and to show them why they need to know what is assigned to them. Something has to change. Ending the union would be a big first step in my opinion.
December 14th, 2011 at 10:23 am
Really, a whole day to look at this? This is crazy to me.
Say I were a teacher and all my kids scored lower than the district average vs their peers on a math test. I don’t need a day off to figure out I need to either go back to the basics and/or assign additional homework/assignments to the kids. How soon are teachers getting these results after the tests anyway? If the kids take the test in the fall and the teachers are taking the time in the spring to “realign and improve instruction” it is already TOO LATE.
December 14th, 2011 at 10:39 am
Lots of really well said opinions above. I have nothing intelligent to add.
I do have a 4 year old and am currently trying to decide where he will attend preschool next fall. We live in Burnsville and are somewhat apprehensive about what we have heard about our home school district. We have looked into various south metro private and charter schools, as well as open enrollment. Now we find ourselves nearing the deadline for open enrollment, and no closer to making a decision on what is best for our child. If anyone has any recent experience in these schools, or thoughts on what we are in the middle of, I would love for you to share them with me, either here, or through email if that is better for you.
December 14th, 2011 at 10:47 am
I’m not going to distract myself with counting the number of days students are in school. I’m more focused on results than hours. My experience with modern day 196 is that school time is for social learning. Obviously kids learn core subjects at school, but what they learn could be done in a fraction of the time with an individual approach.
I would encourage the district to allocate more time for parent-teacher communication. I know it is common to bitch about parents that do not care, but my experience as a parent that does care has been painful. I don’t like formal twice a year conferences. They seem to be a replacement for regular and timely communication. I can go on and about the kid factory. Perhaps this is all just the nature of the education system that we have in place.
December 14th, 2011 at 11:11 am
JP, how often to you proactively engage with the school? My wife or I have almost daily communication with our kids’ school. Emails are responded to immediately, without fail. Many of the teachers can be reached via smart phone. Hell, we are even Facebook friends with some of the folks at the school. The school’s Gifted and Talented head (sorry, I’m blanking on the “official” title) is coming over to our house tomorrow night. As opposed to frustrated, I’ve been absolutely shocked in a positive way at the quality of communication with District 196. I never expected public schools to be this high quality an experience.
Quick anecdote: Last night at 7:30, my kid’s saxophone broke. By 9:00, we had confirmation from the band teacher via text that a replacement would be prepped and available for him for his band class today.
p.s. – Chad, obviously, I would enthusiastically recommend our kids’ school as well as the two preschools the kids attended. If you don’t already have it, Bill can connect you with my email.
December 14th, 2011 at 11:20 am
Chad, I sent you MSPD’s personal e-mail address to your personal e-mail address.
December 14th, 2011 at 11:28 am
MSPD, I was trying not to go into the specifics of my situation. It is awesome that you have good individuals around you right now. I am in the opposite situation this year. Perhaps the student to teacher ratio is too high, or maybe that is an excuse. I have no idea.
December 14th, 2011 at 11:35 am
Thank you Bill and MSPD. I am at work, and while I know I have MSDP’s email address someplace here, I will respond when I get home tonight.
December 14th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
I agree with MSPD, parental involvement is much more important than the actual location of the school. Stay involved at the school and with the kids and you will have success. of course you dont want a school where classes are disrupted by unruly students or where safety is a problem. There are good public elementary schools in Burnsville and Eagan and Apple Valley. (I have philosophical reasons why i strongly insist we keep and improve public education in the USA, and I went to Catholic school for 9 years , my wife went for 13 years; our 4 kids went to zero years of Catholic school)
I do feel the year round system is superior, and I do think it would yield better results if used here. I think that results are good in many European countries and they have unionized teachers so i dont agree that is the problem.
i agree the entire system needs reform, but as you say, people are used to having the summer for vacation and activities. its a bit like the home mortgage interest deduction…. possibly untouchable politically? (maybe not)
Our country doesnt need every kid to go to college. It needs a two track system like Europe’s…even Japan’s… where there is a vocational and an academic/professional track. some of the muddy middle kids dont need to go to a 4 year college, their failure there and their redundancy in the job market shows that. I say strip out some of the federal college aid/subsidies that is given now for support of 4 year college and instead offer every kid either free tuition for 2 years at a vo-tech in a legitimate program, and a very greatly reduced tuition (max 25% of the actual amount ) to kids to go to community college on the way to a 4 year degree. This alone would help solve some of the problem… it would put alot of pricing pressure on the overpriced 4 year institutions, and it would deliver many more graduates with marketable skilled trades to be technicians, electricians, welders, etc. which even in our depressed economy still are in demand. These are jobs that generally are not outsourced.
December 14th, 2011 at 1:24 pm
I argue we cannot make valid and equal comparisons across international borders when it comes to unionization. Our nation has a much different outlook on taxes, pay structures and advancement, and we have to deal with rising healthcare costs whereas the rest of the world generally does not.
December 14th, 2011 at 3:45 pm
Bill, re: teacher’s union. What is your solution to the MN teacher’s unions? Would you follow Gov. Walker and try to eliminate collective bargaining? Or just tell the districts to hold the line? What?
December 14th, 2011 at 6:29 pm
C&V,
As someone who previously worked under a union and who believes that individual achievement should come far and long ahead of seniority, I see absolutely no reason why anyone would want to be in a union. That said, I definitely believe WI had the right idea. Unions are damaging to the taxbase and serve absolutely no use representing an educated, white collar workforce. That said, I would not go as far as mandating they go away, I would just simply limit their effectiveness.
1. No discrimination based on refusing to join a union-dominated workplace.
2. Unions must put every single dollar collected back to the union members directly. This means that if a union negotiator is hired they must come from private donations. The money collected would be used solely to pay union members if/when a strike occurs–nothing else.
3. Unions are not allowed to have contracts which base promotions and salary based on seniority.
I think that’s pretty fair.
December 14th, 2011 at 7:11 pm
March is likely the time where the state receives the reporting back from some of the standardized tests taken earlier in the year. I don’t work with Minnesota, but I know of 2 states doing testing in Jan and Feb who are due to have reports back in March. I think MN still uses Pearson, even after the massive error in 2000. http://www.substancenews.com/archive/Jan03/testsecrecy.htm
I suppose things are better now.
December 14th, 2011 at 7:31 pm
Then you want to regress to a time when workers had no recourse but to just take their beating and like it or get fired.
I’m all for restricting the excesses of unions but to take an approach like they did in WI is reprehensible on so many levels.
As an example, many of these people stand to lose their deferred compensation that they were promised when they accepted their jobs in the public sector. It’s out and out theft. Good luck in attracting good people from the private sector, you will end up with incompetents at worst and marginal people at best.
Tell the thousands of WI teachers that will be laid off this year due to the 800+ million school aid cut that killing the CBA rights will help a declining educational system. I’m sure the WI public school system will be churning out thousands of future MBA’s and PhD’s with 45 or more kids in the classroom and no money for textbooks.
Your point #2 is a fantasy world. It never worked that way, and never should.
Point #3 is one of the reasons unions exist – to eliminate unfair promotions because you’re the bosses pet or you don’t like a particular political party. How would you structure it then? I’m all for simplifying the way of getting rid of an incompetent malcontent public employee than what we have now.
You act like unions never compromise and give up pay raises and benefits and that’s simply not true, they do it all of the time so they can save jobs.
December 14th, 2011 at 7:42 pm
As someone who should have been promoted quickly and often, I was tied to a schedule of time invested while I watched ineffective and useless individuals be promoted at the same time as me.
I left to go to the private sector where my skills are appreciated, those who slack are fired, and people aren’t more concerned with biding their time until retirement than doing excellent work.
But hey, I’m glad there exists a program for people who are little more than wastes of space. I’m just unhappy my tax dollars fund it.
December 14th, 2011 at 7:43 pm
Great reply to Bill, Nurd52.
A question for Bill. How does your libertarian view on government implement a policy that the majority of citizens voted for. For example, teacher’s unions are voted into existence by the teachers themselves. How does a libertarian impose his will on the masses?
December 14th, 2011 at 7:55 pm
I have already stated what we should do to limit the perceived power of unions. However the general public doesn’t support them like they used to and thus their biggest weapon, the strike, has been rendered more or less useless.
Hopefully as the generations continue to become more educated and have a desire to be judged on their own merits (“you’re a snowflake, you can do anything”) people, like me, will avoid joining unions all together.
December 14th, 2011 at 8:31 pm
nurd52 – teacher workshop data days count as school days.
MSPD – march is right before mandated testing, I’m guessing it has to do with cramming some more stuff in before the test. Substitutes cost money. Though there are districts that do it this way. It’s arguable that a day with a sub is a lost instruction day anyway, so it’s cheaper to keep the kids at home. AS for the time, yes we do data-driven things during August workshop, but as we get closer and closer to 2014, when 100& proficiency will be required, that simply isn’t enough time. The closer we get, the more we need to teach 30 different ways to 30 different kids.
Marty – I’m an experienced reading specialist teacher who teaches students who have a history of failing their tests. Should i be fired at the end of every year because kids aren’t passing their tests? They may not pass their test, but they learned to read in that year.
DSW – The numerous sub-strands and nuances and intricacies of the 3-4 different standardized tests students take every year take a long time to decipher, especially if you have 200+ students as some of my colleagues do. In all honestly, one day is not nearly enough to aid in differentiated instruction
I’m not touching the union debate. Though I hate that my union money is used for political reasons.
Most of what I said should be read with a fact-stating tone.
December 14th, 2011 at 8:39 pm
dm, as far as interpreting standardized test scores, doesn’t a good teacher already know how his/her students are progressing? Or are there just too many students to do this?
December 14th, 2011 at 8:58 pm
sandy, there’s a difference between progressing in class and raising their test score. With the increased emphasis on passing a test, teachers are having to implement more and more and more interventions specific to particular students. For example, three years ago Student A was passing their tests at 75%. Now, the requirement to pass is 85%, so that student now needs specific instruction in order to pass the strands of the test they aren’t passing. But, because this student is one of 220, time is needed to interpret the test history over the last however many years to look at dips and peaks in different areas of the test. Then time is needed to collaborate with colleagues to determine who is doing what and what works for this individual students. This is all after teachers have attempted to determine the reason for the scores, anxiety, ability, attitude, what is the cause?
So, while it appears that teachers teach 5-7 classes a day, really, they’re teaching a class to every individual student and adapting that instruction on a daily basis.
December 14th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
dm,
You have my admiration – for what that’s worth.
December 14th, 2011 at 10:46 pm
In an ideal world, the test score would reflect success in classes….?
December 15th, 2011 at 6:05 am
As a parent who had more of an average type of student go through ISD 196 I can say that another day off for the teachers isn’t going to do much for that group of students. I found that the district was more about what your kid could do for their image instead of what they could do for your kid. Of course, if you were an exceptional student, they are drooling all over you. I was an involved parent as much as possible without being a helicopter parent. I e-mailed the teachers when issues came up, went to every parent-teacher conference and waited in those long lines to talk to every single one of her teachers, but the response was very poor. It was too bad. I based my home buying on research about school districts–those ratings sure don’t mean much in real life!! That being said, she did have a couple teachers that were real helpful and responsive, but overall, I can say it was not a good experience. I can’t really say it was all a teacher issue(I think there are many good individual teachers)–it was more of an overall school culture issue at Eastview. It really felt like if you didn’t take their honors classes, you were much less important to them.
December 15th, 2011 at 7:22 am
Sandy, in an ideal world that would be true. But we live in a world of canned results.
December 15th, 2011 at 8:25 pm
seems to me to be a mess then if teachers have spent months teaching kids, and are having to take a day just before the tests to re-focus their teaching in specific areas. Are the tests not aligned with the curriculum, or the curriculum aligned with the tests?
December 15th, 2011 at 8:38 pm
Mikeh,
Isn’t that a big contention point? People don’t want teachers teaching the tests?
December 15th, 2011 at 10:07 pm
I’m too far out of the loop to know what goes on. My mothers sister is a teacher in a small town in South Dakota. Less than 100 kids. She was lamenting the fact that the state was now requiring her to actually have a lesson plan. She prefers to get a feel of the kids and go from there.
I don’t want teachers teaching to a test. I want teachers teaching curriculum that has proven to be effective at education a large percentage of students. I want tests that help indicate the effectiveness of curriculum for a particular student. And I want alternative curriculum proven to assist those students that are found to be struggling with the primary curriculum. Such that in the end, 100% of the students are able to achieve. Or at least 100% of those that are only limited by their understanding. You’ll always have some portion of students which simply will never achieve regardless of the efforts of teachers. But we should be able to do better than we do now.
Now my guess is that tests are not aligned with curriculum and in most cases there are are not alternatives to try with students. Public education in America has been going on since the 17th century. And yet we still have yet to figure out how to educate each of our children such that they can achieve. It’s almost like the education machine simply doesn’t want to succeed.
December 29th, 2011 at 11:37 am
Hi, all. As the resident 196 school board member on this fine blog, I wanted to correct several misconceptions above related to the addition of our teacher in-service days.
1. These are not teacher vacation days. Teachers will report to work (as will other staffers), analyze student data and collaborate on the best way to teach individual students to raise performance.
2. ISD 196 far exceeds state-required student in-school days at every grade level. The addition of an additional staff-only day per trimester for teacher data analysis and prep will still leave us well above the state-mandated number of school days. The idea is to enhance teaching practices and to improve student performance by better using the student data available to us.
2a. Year-round schools are another discussion altogether, but my guess is that it wouldn’t be teachers fighting against it, but parents and students. We have considered setting up a school as a year-round school experiment. I’d be curious to hear the thoughts of district residents on this — would you send your own children to year-round school if it were offered as an option?
3. We use multiple measures to assess student performance. State-required standardized tests are just one measure. They are not the be-all/end-all of assessment. Historically, schools have used summative assessments (What did we learn in the last chapter? How much of that material did you absorb/retain?) In 196, we emphasize formative assessments (Where is each student in his/her mastery of the subject matter at this moment? and what can we do to improve his/her learning of the material?) Teachers need time to analyze this data, devise strategies and revise teaching methods.
4. The timing of the March date had nothing to do with state testing schedules. Students at one level (can’t remember off-hand whether it was elementary, middle or high) were already off for teacher in-service and we added the other grade levels to that day to pose the least disruption to families with children in more than one level.
5. Our curriculum and instruction are aligned with state standards. There is an involved, ongoing community-advised process for updating and revising curriculum. In fact, I got my start in volunteering with the district as a parent member of the Curriculum and Instruction Advisory Council. The CIAC’s meetings are open to the public. Feel free to attend a meeting and see how curriculum is assessed and revised in the district.
December 29th, 2011 at 3:28 pm
I rescued UWTM’s comment from the spam filter. Thankfully his appeared in there and concluded my testing of a new script which will automatically save comments from already approved readers from the spam bin. It’ll run every 5 minutes so if you don’t see your comment wait at least 15 before e-mailing me that it may be in the spam queue.
Yay!
December 29th, 2011 at 3:43 pm
Thanks for digging it up, amigo.
December 29th, 2011 at 4:01 pm
Yes.
I’m in the camp that believes we should abandon the antiquated September – June school year, albeit part of a broad revolutionizing of the U.S. educational system that will almost certainly never happen.
December 29th, 2011 at 6:30 pm
I don’t know how to do the quotes, but in regards to the year-round school year, I wouldn’t teach in one unless it came with a substantial raise in pay. If I’m working 12 months, I want to get paid for 12 months.
I spend the first two weeks of almost every summer break in a near-coma re-energizing from the school year. Teaching is exhausting. Rewarding, but exhausting.
December 29th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
So are many jobs that don’t get as many days off a year and pay less. I really don’t have any sympathy for teachers in that regard.
December 29th, 2011 at 7:18 pm
I think the year round school would be great.
I also think teachers are currently compensated as full time employees.
December 29th, 2011 at 7:53 pm
A lot of interesting data at this link:
http://www.teachersalaryinfo.com/minnesota/teacher-salary-in-rosemount-apple-valley-eagan/
Average salaries look suspiciously like 9-month jobs to me.
December 29th, 2011 at 7:57 pm
From that link you provide:
I didn’t get paid that much money until 2009 and I was working full-time, year-round. I also didn’t make as much as the 10th percentile until 2006 when I was out of college and in the workforce for over 5 years.
Don’t be giving me this bullshit sob story that teachers are underpaid. They’re not.
December 29th, 2011 at 8:05 pm
Not trying to BS you, Bill. I just happen to think the numbers look low to me for all that teachers are required to do. Just my opinion.
December 29th, 2011 at 8:25 pm
C&V, every job has its downsides and can be daunting and difficult. In addition, no one gets paid enough and thus it’s really a tired argument. Compared to other year-round jobs, teachers make good wages–even at the 10th percentile and most definitely at the average.
December 30th, 2011 at 8:23 am
But you would really need to look at the total hours worked in a year to get an accurate picture either way. Three months off doesn’t mean as much if teachers are working more than 40-hour weeks during the year, which I would think they often are.
For example, I work full time and year round as well, but that comes to 1952 hours of actual work time for me (40 hours/week, minus six paid holidays and two weeks of PTO). I’m not sure how many hours per year teachers work on average (not just teaching in the classroom, but all the prep time, grading, etc. as well), but I would be curious to know — DM, your thoughts?
December 30th, 2011 at 8:38 am
Tim,
I am on salary now and even when I wasn’t I was not fairly compensated for my mandatory OT (instead of getting PTO at 1.5x we were just given arbitrary mid-week PTO at 1.0x). Do you really expect the general public to care that a teacher has to work a couple extra hours a day, just like they do for their salary?
Sorry but another argument that just doesn’t fly with me.
December 30th, 2011 at 9:27 am
Okay, so how many total hours did you work in a year when that was the case? That is what I am trying to get at — how many hours teachers spend working in a year compared to everyone else. I don’t know, which is why I am asking, and why I put mine out there.
December 30th, 2011 at 9:40 am
I have no idea, I’m salaried and thus we don’t keep track. When I was hourly and worked for the state we had to fill out a time card but it was always 8 hours regardless of the true time you worked.
December 30th, 2011 at 9:49 am
I am a salaried employee. With my bonus (if I get it), my yearly income is around that listed as the average salary for a teacher above. I work 45 to 50 hours per week on average. Very seldom less than 40, and up to 60 on a busy week. I receive no extra compensation for this and I deal with very difficult subject matter in a somewhat depressing field.
My wife makes considerable more than the amount listed as the average for teachers. She often works 10 hours a day, sits with a laptop at home at night while watching TV, and often logs in during the weekend to get some work done before the new week starts. Tim, I think you will find that in the world of salaried employees, the number who actually get to work 40 hours per week is pretty low.
While I have a great respect for the job that teachers do, the idea that they are undercompensated is laughable at best. This is an old topic on here, but nothing has changed. Teachers are well paid and get great benefits, and have little to no actual accountability.
December 30th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Teachers have a great deal of accountability, Chad. They are held accountable by the feds, state, the local district, by their principals and the parents and students they serve. Their pay, in our district at least, is based in part on their performance against goals set annually at the classroom and school level. We can and do remove bad teachers from the district. As with any employer, we discipline employees who transgress, push for performance improvement from those who don’t measure up to standards and continuously analyze student performance data to identify areas for strengthening and improvement. We have a great corps of teachers in ISD 196, which is reflected in our student performance across the district at all grade levels. We hire for A Players, nurture them once they are employed and hold them accountable for results.
December 30th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Only looking at salary is not sufficient when comparing teachers to the non-education job market. If not for my wife working for a large corporation which allows us to have very basic health care coverage for a reasonable amount, I’d have to be using insurance from the company I work for. It would cost me an additional $4800 per year for the basic health care coverage, and it would cover less.
Most medium to small businesses have passed the additional costs for health care onto their employees. The increases have been so great, even those in the public sector have seen cost increases for health care. But public sector health care costs are still much lower than you might find in the private sector.
That being said, I don’t have a problem with jobs that require specific education credentials to pay more than a job that simply requires someone to be breathing. You can be the largest superstar ever to exist at educating people. You can be so good you can educate a rock. Yet if you don’t have the papers, you don’t get to be an educator. And to get those papers you have to write a check. Place those requirements on a job, that job needs to pay enough to make it worth it. Otherwise who is going to bother to become an educator?
A quick thought. Has a curriculum group ever met and taken a look, and simply said, let it ride? I can recall it seeming odd how things would change mid way through school, and the lack of alignment with teaching across the state.
December 31st, 2011 at 7:38 am
Year round school? Yes! It would be great to see a plan on how it would work and have a public dialogue about it. Doesn’t Padaia academy, the 196 charter in AV have a year round schedule? How has that worked/ been received?
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:41 am
Whit, my knowledge of Padaia comes strictly from working in a neighboring district. In my district, parents would frequently pull their children thinking that Padaia would be a great fit for their child. I would estimate that 80-85% of the students that left were back in the district within a year.
I would be happy to track the number how hours I work, contract and outside of contract and report back to those who feel that teacher’s are currently paid for full-time work. I can track starting today until the end of the school year.
January 2nd, 2012 at 4:53 pm
Doesn’t really seem like a year round schedule. But certainly different.
January 8th, 2012 at 12:48 pm
Whit, and interesting study on public schools in Texas, with a focus on the fallibility of charter schools.
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/public-education/is-poverty-the-key-factor-in-student-outcomes/
January 8th, 2012 at 3:41 pm
Is there any point to charter schools? A lot of the studies I’ve heard about seem to say that they don’t have any particular advantage to public schools in terms of academic achievement. Indeed, a lot of them close down due to mismanagement and low enrollment.
Why are we wasting public resources on them? It seems to me that it is a way to skirt the desegregation mandate that all districts have to adhere to. Am I wrong?
Someone please enlighten me as to why charter schools are a good thing.
April 18th, 2012 at 7:02 am
[...] Are you a parent in ISD191? If so what do you think about lengthening the school day but removing one day every other week? Would this cause you problems finding affordable daycare for your children while you work? Would your work allow you a more flexible work schedule to meet the demands of the district? Do you believe that this will save the the money the district claims? Do you think that the additional days set aside for teachers to improve instruction will be helpful? [...]
August 13th, 2012 at 12:22 pm
More on this here: http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_21298230/literacy-data-get-rosemount-apple-valley-eagan-teachers
One reader commented on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/charrier/status/235063293557997568