Letter: Education is not a business

I am a longtime vocational educator in Louisiana. My career started with the technical college system in 1978. Therefore, I have seen the changes that have occurred both in voc-ed and secondary education. The simple stupidity of both our secondary and post-secondary systems never ceases to amaze me. This initiative comes,the next one goes. The bottom line is: administration has grown and classroom/facility funding cut. It’s that simple.

I am presently teaching in the secondary system in one of the highest-performing districts in the state. We are dealing with Compass and all of its teacher evaluation. Compass has removed tenure and placed part of my personal evaluation on the performance of my employees (students). Herein lies the problem: We teach “mama’s babies,” not employees, of which I would control the greatest motivator — their paycheck.

It seems to me the voters of this state are not aware of what tenure for a secondary teacher is. It is not job security, it is personal teaching integrity protection. Tenure allows me to teach and grade all students (even the superintendent’s children) without fear of reprisal. It was, indeed, possible for a low-performing teacher to be dismissed with tenure, as long as the proper procedures were implemented.

Compass evaluates teachers according to a business model. Education will never be administered like private enterprise. Compass has placed teachers in a business manager’s position of which we really have very little control. If the voters of this state don’t believe what I’m saying about “Louisiana Believes,” they should spend a day with a teacher.

Bobby Clark

instructor

St. Francisville

Comments

1) Comment by ScotB - 12/03/2013

It has been too big a drain on administration resources to fire ineffective teachers. It can take two years, many hearings, lot of documentation to even attempt to fire a poor performing teacher - and oftentimes the administration loses due to a technicality in the process. This explains why 98% of teachers still get good evaluations in poor performing schools. It is too hard to get rid of the bad teachers. Ask a good teacher. They know. Education may not be a business, but their "product" has been substandard. Poor teachers and a diffucult administrative process for getting rid of them is only a part of the problem. The "raw material" for the "product" is an even bigger part of the problem that no one wants to talk about. It's hard to educate a kid who doesn't care to learn. And whose parents don't care, either.

2) Comment by GardenVariety - 11/03/2013

Thanks so much for an excellent, informative letter, Mr. Clark!

3) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 11/03/2013

Oh, and @agagent: My undergraduate is in Business (summa cum laude) and I chose to get involved in the schools first as a volunteer. I gave up lots of $ to teach, and would do it all over again. Thanks for caring enough to comment on here!

4) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 11/03/2013

@agagent: we actually do have lots of data from the "old evaluation system" and it doesn't look anything like the lies and misdirection of the "reformers." Most teachers leave within their first few years. Of those who remain, the vast majority are doing a very good job. The claims by "reformers" than 98 or 99% received high evaluation is total ***** There is truth (and we see it time and time again) that long-term employees of MOST companies also receive high ratings. What you are never told by those who are really seeking to make more of a profit off the public education dollar is that many teachers who might not receive a "satisfactory" rating actually leave the classroom and schools and go into other careers. Teaching is not for everyone. If we look at all teachers, including new teachers, the % of all teachers either leaving OR getting low evaluations is actually around 50%. This you will never hear from ALEC, BAEO, or the cabal of CABL and their corporate minders. What do we know from vouchers? The data suggest that there is no overall improvement in student outcomes for students taking the vouchers, but there is a large economic impact to the students left behind. No real savings when 10 students leave an elementary school, for example, but then costs MUST be cut. So the children left behind (and most children attend public schools) are suddenly faced with larger class sizes, no music, art, or perhaps counselors, and a few get a kind of "false choice." Charter schools, 17% do better, 34% do worse and the rest do about the same as public schools. We actually don't have very many "failing and underperforming schools." These terms are used by the reformers to point to schools that have higher percentages of students who start school well behind their middle-class peers. Notice I said "start school." They literally, in many cases, are several years behind. As for as poverty impacting student scores, the gap between students from rich and poor (economically speaking only) families is actually greater in the private and parochial schools than it is in public schools. Education, and student achievement, is so much more influenced by factors outside of school than within. The reformers don't want you to know about this. In fact, they hide data to keep researchers like me from demonstrating just how deceitful they are being. I welcome conversations over a cup of coffee with anyone on here who thinks I am wrong about any of this. I'll listen if you will! Seek truth.

5) Comment by agagent - 11/03/2013

For those who hate business and the business model, don’t we have many failing and underperforming public schools under the old system? The old system allows some ineffective teachers to remain in the classroom. If the old evaluation system is producing such poor results why not try reform? Let’s see if the new system cures some of the problems or maybe it will need refining after some use.

6) Comment by SuzanneMS - 11/03/2013

According to the business-minded reformers, the children are not the employees, they are the product. Teachers are considered widget-makers who assemble the children as they pass down the line. They are expected to turn out compliant robots who can be exploited by those same business-minded reformers. Only the few elite who attend private schools are meant to be educated and form the ruling class. Why the working-class in Louisiana is complicit in this is beyond me, except, perhaps, that they were successfully indoctrinated by the public school system in their day.

7) Comment by Mygulfbleedsforu - 11/03/2013

rgerald, good chance no one should attempt to speak for everyone, and you are no exception. My grandchildren are receiving a solid, perhaps exceptional, education in the public school systems. So are the children of friends.

8) Comment by tradewinns - 11/03/2013

the problem with public education is the parents of the kids. until the parents are held responsible for their kids, politicians are going to blame everyone, except the parents (they're the voters afterall) for the mess education is in.

9) Comment by DMJ - 11/03/2013

Wait....students are employees, even though they're the ones who pay? Interesting. I'm sure these employees' parents will be surprised to know their kids should have been getting paychecks this whole time. Plus, I'm pretty sure this would violate child labor laws.

10) Comment by [e-mail] - 11/03/2013

Clark's point is lost in finger pointing but no matter how much people defend the status quo, the fact that we can all see is how education has declined into something that nobody wants for their own child if they can help it. There's always some good in every situation, but that doesn't mitigate what's going on in education today.

11) Comment by Scrooge - 11/03/2013

According to the DoE website and other web research , the person in charge of Compass is Molly Horstman, (this information is not easy to find , wonder why?) who has a year and ten months of teaching experience. For more exercises in frustration, try to locate the teaching credentials and qualifications of most of the top brass at DoE. Wouldn't person in such positions be eager to publicize their qualifications? Shouldn't they be held to the same or actually higher standards than the teachers they oversee? Louisiana is a very depressing, ignorant place.

12) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 11/03/2013

Ah, but for the reformers, it is exactly that! It is profit, pure and simple. That is the reason why ALEC is accelerating "accountability, BAEO and their business backers at BRAC and BRAF and BRAZ are barking at every court appearance and public meeting, and CABL is corralling their corporate companions for another trip to the public trough, courtesy of Conrad Apel and Steve Carter. Why is this so difficult for the citizens of Louisiana to see? Have you asked yourself why some have to make up lame excuses for keeping the public uninformed by disposing of disturbing data that just might cause the public to doubt what it is "Louisiana Believes?" Wake up Louisiana, and smell the corporate takeover! Ask yourself, who profits? Follow the money.

13) Comment by crazycajun - 11/03/2013

no proof reading obviously..... sorry

14) Comment by crazycajun - 11/03/2013

thank you

15) Comment by crazycajun - 11/03/2013

Bobby tyhak you for your article and your dedication to our children. As fro "education is not a business" Rupert Murdoch who owns fox "news"said public education is a 500 billion dollar business that could be exploited .In other words theirs money to be made off of public education.

16) Comment by spqr - 11/03/2013

Bobby, public education is in the hands of the most corrupt business people and politicians in this state's history. What you want is common sense and respect. Not going to happen when charter $chool$ are what is being demanded.

17) Comment by postscript56 - 11/03/2013

But Bobby, according to the governor and his supporters it's all your fault.