Education groups deploy for teacher training

Officials of two education groups plan to train 50 teachers to instruct their colleagues on Louisiana’s new educator evaluations and changing curriculum.

The training will be done by the Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana, or A+PEL, and Stand for Children, a non-profit advocacy group.

The two organizations will identify, train and deploy teachers — they are called instructional all-stars — to serve as coaches while the changes are implemented.

Under new state rules, half of the annual evaluation for many teachers will be linked to the growth of student achievement.

The other half will be tied to traditional classroom observations by principals and others.

In addition, the state is ushering in a more rigorous curriculum for public schools that most states have adopted.

Comments

1) Comment by hwilems - 11/11/2012

@deutsch29 You're confusing Stand with Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst. Jonah Edelman is the national SFC leader. (His mother--Marian Wright Edeleman--must be rolling over in her grave.) But you're right that both organizations are fronts for charter orgs & privatizers.

2) Comment by deutsch29 - 10/11/2012

Are you kidding me?? Stand for Chidren is run by Michelle Rhee. From Diane Ravitch: http://dianeravitch.net/2012/06/14/stand-for-children-does-not-stand-for-public-education/ Michelle Rhee is a self-styled, former TFA "reformer." Her DC test scores have been a matter for investigation-- too many erasures resulting in changes to correct answers. She admitted to taping kids' mouths her first year as TFA in the classroom. She offered a camera crew the opportunity to film her firing a principal. She is on record as saying she "wants teachers to feel pressure."

3) Comment by Traveler - 10/11/2012

Comparatively few teachers in Louisiana belong to A+PEL, even though A+PEL's annual dues are much lower than the annual dues of either LFT or AFT. The reason is simple. When an educator finds himself/herself in conflict with the school administration, A+PEL's representation is poor to none. I once talked with a disgruntled A+PEL member who had a conflict with her principal and asked her "professional organization" for representation----the A+PEL member told me that she was advised to "bake her principal some cookies." This so-called "training program" is a not-so-veiled member recruiting ploy on the part of A+PEL. Instead of facilitating the new evaluation plan, which is both absurd in its construct and insulting to educators, an organization that truly supports teachers would be fighting to restore teachers' rights that have been stripped by the Jindal administration and its cronies.

4) Comment by twinkie1cat - 10/11/2012

A+Pel is not really a pro-teacher organization. It is a conservative non-union started for education workers who did not like the groups supported by the NEA and AFT. They do not advocate for teachers. Holly Boffy who Jindal supported with money for BESE was a member of APEL and supports his anti- public school agenda. Beware of anything associated with this group. I believe Stand for Children is also an anti-school group associated with Teach for America the organization that provides non-teachers to schools to place in teaching positions after only 5 weeks of training, but only in schools with substantial numbers of disadvantaged students. Jindal's teacher evaluations which penalize teachers for things they cannot control but which affect learning, such as poverty, malnutrition and unmet medical needs. It is part of the de- professionalization of education and his agenda of punishing people for being poor. The dictator strikes again. The privatization and corporatization of the schools is all part of a Republican scheme to give our money to big business and supporters of the GOP. It is not for anything of value.

5) Comment by jeffsadow - 10/11/2012

Good to see one teachers' organization providing help to improve educational delivery, in marked contrast to the two unions who for selfish reasons divorced from the welfare of children have tried to impede it.