Texas Teachers!!!

I do really try to keep this blog as a platform for sharing ideas, particularly ones that will challenge your kiddos.

But today I am putting on a political hat. Here in Texas we have bills on the table not only to siphon money from our public education funds to charter schools. But there is also a bill where we will get rid of the current pay schedule by how many years you have been in service. They want to replace it with one where we get paid $27,500 a year (regardless of experience or degrees) and then the rest we can earn with test scores. This scares me so much! First of all, we have begun using test scores for our evaluations. It has been in practice for 3 years-no one can tell me (and I've asked everyone and their mother)-how progress is calculated. What constitutes growth in order to receive an effective rating? They just generate a number 1, 2, 3, 4 from my BOY/EOY test scores (on a 50 question multiple choice test, by the way).

I read a lot of articles and a lot of comments from the general public. I know this sounds like I do not want to be evaluated. That is far from the truth! I can show growth through my running records, portfolios, checklists. I know that my students grew. I can show you my students grew. I may not be able to do that on your test. First of all, relying on multiple choice for 5-year olds is not the most developmentally appropriate way to assess them. Secondly, if my students are reading BOY (which my GT ones usually are)-then I can't show growth EOY. There's nowhere for them to go. They hit a ceiling.

There is still time to oppose this. Make some calls (I have) and let your representatives know how you feel about this. They say we just don't understand, it's all about rewarding good teaching. I know that's not the case. My district has merit pay for those who give STAAR tests. You can reward without lowering salaries. And those of you outside of Texas who may have read this-lots of things that we have been on the forefront of have trickled out to other states!

These are some numbers you can call: 

 SB 893 and HB 2543 are what we don't want them to pass.

The Members of the House Public Education Committee:

Jimmie Don Aycock (Chair) 512-463-0684
Alma Allen (Vice-Chair) 512-463-0744
Dwayne Bohac 512-463-0727
Joe Deshotel 512-463-0662
Harold Dutton 512-463-0510
Ken King 512-463-0736
Dan Huberty 512-463-0520
Mary Gonzalez 512-463-0613
Rick Galindo 512-463-0269
Marsha Farney 512-463-0309
Gary VanDeaver 512-463-0692