and the RATS, take another one in the..............................HA ha!!!
Posted on 09/28/2010 3:20:01 PM PDT by hecht
Christie Announces Sweeping N.J. Education Reform Governor Ready To Test Teachers In Reading And Math September 28, 2010 5:30 PM
OLD BRIDGE, N.J. (CBS 2) — Determined to turn New Jersey’s education system on its head, Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday unveiled a tough-love reform package that will make classroom achievement — not seniority or tenure — the basis for pay hikes and career advancement in Garden State public schools. Christie is turning his take-no-prisoner’s style to the classroom, demanding a top to bottom overhaul of how New Jersey students learn and teachers teach. And that means undoing tenure, seniority and other union work rules. “We cannot wait. Your children are sitting in these classrooms today. We cannot wait to make it better,” Christie told CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer. Unqualified teachers will feel the lash. The governor is demanding that teachers in kindergarten through fifth grade actually pass tests in reading and math in order to be certified. “It might lead to the firing of teachers and principals who hurt our children,” Christie said. The governor wants to turn the old seniority system inside out and put quality teaching ahead of lack-luster performance. He will: * Prohibit salary scales based on seniority * Grant raises based on classroom performance * Give tenure based on classroom performance “We are paying a fortune for something that is not giving our children the hope and the feeling that their tomorrow can be better than their future,” Christie said. The governor said he would appoint a task force to come up with standards to measure teacher achievement. Educational experts applauded the governor’s actions. “He is with excellence in education for everyone by prioritizing teachers — their brilliance, their art and their skills. We will dramatically improve the quality of education of our kids in New Jersey, particularly those most in need,” said Derrell Bradford, director of Excellent Education for Everyone. The governor needs the state Legislature to approve the changes to seniority and tenure. The rest of the things he did by signing executive orders. A spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association attacked the governor’s plan saying that once again he was “trying to implement education reform without any input from educators.”
I bet there is a guy in Sacramento whining “ that could have been me”
Chritie rocks. He is a man of action.
Is that sort of like trying to implement criminal reforms without any input from criminals?
That aren’t fair!
This is Da’ Man in action. May God bless, strengthen and protect him.
To quote Idiocracy: “You have a bucket with 3 gallons of water and a bucket with 5 gallons of water...how many buckets do you have?”
The problem goes all the way back to the Education departments at the colleges. Dump the “Education” degree and require degrees in English to teach English. Degree in Mathematics to teach Math.....etc.
He will: * Prohibit salary scales based on seniority * Grant raises based on classroom performance * Give tenure based on classroom performance.”
Bill Clinton tried this in Arkansas in the ‘80s to garner support for the ‘education Governor’ - pencil and paper tests will not measure ‘good’ or ‘bad’ teaching; Clinton was effective in wasting 2-3 million dollars of taxpayers’ money on silly tests which accomplished nothing...
I’m pleased, as a teacher/professor of over 40 years, that his ‘plan’ includes ‘classroom performance’ which, to me, means that a competent overseer will visit the classroom and will witness the teacher in action. I once worked in a middle school (many years back) where the principal and three assistants visited my social studies classroom three times each, total of 12 visits. I felt they knew what I was doing and my style and rapport with students. If Christie’s measures include scores on tests, the universities where teachers graduated already have this; you cannot measure teacher effectiveness unless you have guidelines and specific, measureable behaviors that can be observed. Then, the most effective step in all this measurement: follow-up with the overseer, who is hopefully a competent teacher who knows the qualities and behaviors of effective teaching.
Will the test be offered in ebonics?
>A spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association attacked the governor’s plan saying that once again he was “trying to implement education reform without any input from educators.”
**
LOL! Those so-called “ejucators” are the problem. What is the obsession with libtards and “reform”?
“They should also publish the teachers SAT scores.”
Who wants to bet a good number don’t have any.
Bush, Kerry and Gore;
http://www.insidepolitics.org/heard/heard32300.html
What did Obama do on his?
Most will fail and a lot will cheat. They are gonna scream bloody murder.
Christie has become buddies with the mayor of Newark on trying to make improvements in inner cities. I am not sure where that will go but the guy is smart.
Our country and states need to spend money on things that will return future returns (highways, nuke energy, etc.) rather than on the waste currently making up most of the budgets.
They should also publish the teachers SAT scores. Christie ‘12
Paul Allen: 1600
Microsoft co-founder
Bill Gates: 1590
Microsoft co-founder
Bill O’Reilly: 1585
Political commentator and host of The O’Reilly Factor
James Woods: 1579
Actor (Scary Movie 2, Any Given Sunday)
Ben Stein: 1573
Actor and game show host (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Win Ben Stein’s Money)
Al Gore: 1355
45th Vice President of the United States
Stephen King: 1300s
Author (The Shining, The Green Mile)
Meredith Vieira: 1300s
Television Host (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, The Today Show)
George W. Bush: 1206
43rd President of the United States
Amy Tan: 1100s
Author (The Joy Luck Club)
Bill Clinton: 1032
42nd President of the United States
Al Franken: 1020
Actor, author, and political commentator (Saturday Night Live)
Janeane Garofalo: 950
Actress (Dogma, Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion)
Howard Stern: 870
Radio Personality
Never saw that before. “stoopid” Bush had higher scores than rapist Clinton.
This guy could easily be the man we want for president in 2012.
“Never saw that before. “stoopid” Bush had higher scores than rapist Clinton.”
Bush also scored higher on his OCS testing than Gore.
Where’s Obama’s history in school?
Totally great idea. The quality of teachers being cranked out is a national embarrassment.
The paychecks need to end for the teachers who are only in it for indoctrination purposes, healthcare and a pension.
If people don’t stand up and expect excellence, they won’t get excellence.
Pencil and paper tests, if they aren’t set at the level of the 8th grade, will identify the many semi-literates currently receiving welfare in NJ by pretending to be teachers.
As for the literate and at least theoretically capable, the L.A. Times has had a “value-added” evaluation performed of every teacher in LAUSD. “Value-added” is the right measure and is vastly preferrable to someone coming in to visit.
Schools of education need to closed everywhere. They are cesspools of stupidity masquerading as bastions of expertise and have ruined the lives of many children by inflicting absurd pedagogical theories and by promoting a marxist worldview.
Of course, the real solution is to get rid of our single-payer, socialist government school system with all of its “experts”, administrators, facilitators, bureaucrats, board members, etc. Nevertheless, if Christie follolws through with a real test, the taxpayers of NJ will be shocked to find out who they have been paying large salaries plus benefits to as teachers in NJ.
>Where’s Obama’s history in school?
***
in a madrasa somewhere in Indonesia.
In New Jersey you have to pass a Praxis exam to get your teaching degree. It is a proficiency test in your major, like Social Studies or Language arts, etc. THAT is what they need to publish.
Why does it take 6 years to get a degree to teach??
Because it’s a racket........
Since, ostensibly, IQ scores are protected, how do you know these are valid? sd
Nyuk. ;-)
“Since, ostensibly, IQ scores are protected, how do you know these are valid? sd”
These are SAT scores ... I didn’t know they WERE protected ... except for The Won.
Have them take the test students take to graduate, or any standardized high-school-level test. Watch them fail.
Booyah! I’m proud to say I voted for this man. (And given the losers that abound even on Republican tickets, it’s not often I get to say that.)
In every university, the education department is the intellectual slum. Students with the highest GPA and the lowest IQ.
Innumerable tests over many decades have shown that the mental test scores of people who specialize in education are among the lowest of any college students. This is not an accident. Given the incredibly bad courses in education that abound, in even the top universities, intelligent people are repelled, while mediocrities and incompetents sail through.
Squishy courses are designed to drive out results oriented individuals. An entire curriculum designed to weed out conservatives.
Mine was 1510, in 1983. Why are Zero’s scores a secret?
This guy is the biggest breath of fresh air that the country has seen in a long time in politics.
Normally it is a 4 year BA and a “masters”, which can be done in one year, to get tenure. All you need is the BA to start. The “masters” degrees, by the way, are utterly bogus. In fact, education MAs are notorious for their lack of substance. The reason for the MA is just to impress the gullible so that the unions can demand more money.
Man, am I glad this is behind the curtain. I was thinking IQ, not SAT. I am suitably embarrassed. Too many enchiladas. sd
But the Praxis is not much of a test, and last time I checked only 29 states used it . Moreover, the passing level is set by each state. As a result the passing scores selected by the states are quite low. In fact, not long ago only Virginia required teachers to be able to read at or above the national average. In DC and Florida, for example, you could take the Praxis and score below the 25th percentile in reading and still be hired as a highly trained education professional.
Prior to the dumbing down of the SAT’s in 1994, a score of 1250 qualified you for Mensa.
I didn’t realize that BOr was so bright and am shocked at how low Clinton was.
Franken and Garafalo are not a surprise.
Dont be. The SATS used to be an intelligence test and were accepted by Mensa. That is untli they dumbed down the exam in 1994.
take-no-prisoner’s style
&&&
Just an example of why this writer would not fare well on the test.
You are correct. A degree in education is a joke.
Praxis is a joke. I took it in MD.
Why is it that tests are used inside the classroom by the teachers to give the students grades for the year and that’s OK yet, when the subject comes up of using tests from outside the classroom to see how the students are doing that’s not OK?
If you want to get certified for just about anything in the business world there are standardized tests for them. From Real Estate salesmen to IT professionals (government tests to private industry tests). Most places require attendance at a certified school prior to being able to take any of the tests for that given field. How is this different then the public schools? and why is it so difficult in creating these tests (millions of dollars)?
The concept of generalized testing isn’t a ‘new’ idea nor is it rocket science. The problem I see is that the public school system is pushing back and making it as difficult or as impossible as it can so that it can do what ever it wants however it wants with no accountability.
These tests don’t have to be mini SAT tests, something as simple as 10 questions (from a pool of a hundred or so) in each of the core fields should be enough to show that the student has a basic understanding of the subject well enough.
The GOP has done this education “improvement” many times before. Nothing changes. The unions are permanent and although a few teachers will get zinged (most, if not all will cheat) while the public is watching and Christie is Govenor, soon they will change the rules in the name of diversity and move back down to the lowest common denominator. These kind of tests “discriminate” against non-English speakers.
In addition when a teacher fails the test they get to take it over and over again until they find a way to cheat and pass it. The few honest incompetent teachers get nailed and the most dishonest and incompetent teachers get by.
I’m with you. I don’t believe these scores. No way O’Reily scored that high. I also don’t believe Al Gore’s score.
“Chritie rocks. He is a man of action.”
He needs to pick up Michelle Rhee for Education Minister (Asian babe who understands just how bad schools are screwed up).
***Where’s Obama’s history in school?***
Oh, we forgot to tell you—Obama doesn’t have any history in school. Or in anything else. He was born full grown and came equipped with a set of teleprompters.
Knowing ‘stuff’ and scoring high on exams/tests do not relate with the ability to TEACH another person...that’s my point.
This works only if the Governor is willing to test the parents, too.
Anyone who thinks the problem with the education system doesn’t start in the home, is a fool. A great teacher can achieve nothing with a child who’s raised in a FUBAR household, unless the child possesses some incredible gift for perserverance and ambition. And this is a major metropolitan suburb, not the inner city.
The kids/parents have gotten so bad, my wife has seriously considered flat-out quitting over the past few years, but she is just too passionate about her calling. Thank God, this year has a great crop of families who are involved with their kids. But the trend has been otherwise moving towards parents complaining to the principal why their kid was kept in from recess due to his bad behavior, instead of straightening their own kid out who disrupts the class.
At the end of the day, we’re all looking for scapegoats. The teachers unions are an easy target. But the unintended consequence of cutting out pensions for current teachers and/or requiring pay-for-performance, will be an exodus, first, of the best teachers who are able to take early retirement, followed by those who have worked their tails off only to see their retirements go up in smoke. If you think the education system is poor now, wait until we entirely destroy the morale of the best and brightest among them.
The retirement system in my state has been funded by the teachers and districts, per the contract with the state. The state, however, is way WAY behind in funding it. That’s not the fault of the teachers. That’s the fault of the governor and his staff, who allowed the state budget to go completely off the rails. So now the answer is to punish the teachers (the vast majority of which are NOT getting plum pensions) for the state’s own neglect and malfeasance?
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