Obama renews call to remove underperforming teachers, lengthen school year (THUMBS UP!!)
source: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0928-obama-schools-20100928,0,5296880.story
In 'Today' show interview, he also comments that teachers unions are sometimes resistant to change 'when things aren't working.'
Reporting from Washington —
President Obama on Monday renewed his call to purge public schools of underperforming teachers and lengthen the school year so that the U.S. keeps pace with other advanced countries.
"We've got to be able to identify teachers who are doing well [and] teachers who are not doing well. We've got to give them the support and the training to do well," Obama said in an interview on NBC's "Today" show. "And, ultimately, if some teachers aren't doing a good job, they've got to go.''
The president's comments echoed some of his earlier remarks as well as comments made by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. The Obama administration has made teacher evaluation one of the centerpieces of its "Race to the Top" education reform funding.
In Los Angeles, school district officials have begun negotiating a new contract with the teachers union and have called for including "value-added" analysis in formal evaluations. Value-added estimates teachers' effectiveness by analyzing student improvement on standardized tests. It has been embraced by many education reformers and policymakers, including Duncan, as a way to bring a measure of objectivity to evaluations.
The local teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, has resisted efforts to include student test scores in evaluations.
Unions remain an important part of the Democratic Party base. Yet, Obama's view of teachers' unions, while positive, was also tempered.
"I'm a strong supporter of the notion that a union can protect its members and help be part of the solution, as opposed to part of the problem," he said in the interview.
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THOSE LIBERALIZED LAUSD TEACHER'S UNION IS THE PROBLEM
Reporting from Washington —
President Obama on Monday renewed his call to purge public schools of underperforming teachers and lengthen the school year so that the U.S. keeps pace with other advanced countries.
"We've got to be able to identify teachers who are doing well [and] teachers who are not doing well. We've got to give them the support and the training to do well," Obama said in an interview on NBC's "Today" show. "And, ultimately, if some teachers aren't doing a good job, they've got to go.''
The president's comments echoed some of his earlier remarks as well as comments made by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. The Obama administration has made teacher evaluation one of the centerpieces of its "Race to the Top" education reform funding.
In Los Angeles, school district officials have begun negotiating a new contract with the teachers union and have called for including "value-added" analysis in formal evaluations. Value-added estimates teachers' effectiveness by analyzing student improvement on standardized tests. It has been embraced by many education reformers and policymakers, including Duncan, as a way to bring a measure of objectivity to evaluations.
The local teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, has resisted efforts to include student test scores in evaluations.
Unions remain an important part of the Democratic Party base. Yet, Obama's view of teachers' unions, while positive, was also tempered.
"I'm a strong supporter of the notion that a union can protect its members and help be part of the solution, as opposed to part of the problem," he said in the interview.
************
THOSE LIBERALIZED LAUSD TEACHER'S UNION IS THE PROBLEM
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- groups:
- Community, Learn, Education Crisis
