Posted on 08/26/2016 8:35:19 AM PDT by Academiadotorg
Teachers' unions can now point to an academic study to defend themselves against the charge that they prevent the firing of bad teachers, but the study itself is more of a hypothetical defense against very real charges.
Eunice S. Han of Wellesley College, Hillary Clinton's alma mater, finished a study on February 27, 2016 entitled "The Myth of Unions' Overprotection of Bad Teachers: Evidence from the District-Teacher Matched Panel Data on Teacher Turnover." Yet and still, she spends many pages using phrases such as "suppose," "assume," and "predict" and developing "models" in which she adds these suppositions, assumptions and predictions to hard numbers on union membership and teacher salaries.
Moreover, she sort of gives the game away when she virtually admits that she has no hard data on teacher quality. "For teacher quality within each district, I use the variable indicating whether a teacher is recognized as a Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT)," she writes on page 13 of the study. "Although the HQT lacks an explicit link to the actual educational performance of their matched students, it can serve as a proxy for teacher quality, as it helps identify more qualified teachers."
The footnote reads, "The HQT requirement is a provision under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Generally, to be a Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT), a teacher must meet the states’ requirements: 1) have a bachelors' degree; 2) hold full state certification or licensure, including alternative certification; and 3) demonstrate competency in the subject area they teach, such as passing a subject area test administered by the state."
Meanwhile, as the Vergara case shows, parents are so concerned about the correlation of union strongholds and bad schools that they are willing to take their case to court, just about any court.
The dog ate my Bachelor’s Degree..................
Take it from a teacher for 16 years, there are more bad, incompetent, biased and illiterate people in the teaching profession than any other I have been involved with (military and aerospace engineering).
Oh, and I forgot mentally unstable..
I have had some great teachers whom earned my respect. And I have had some really really bad ones. I remember the great ones more.
“Oh, and I forgot mentally unstable..”
And thieving. I ran the bus program for a rural school for two years. Shortly after I started the superintendent called me into his office and asked why I locked up the gas pump at night. He said that the drivers needed to fill up when they returned from evening routes. I told him it had been my policy to fuel them in the morning before morning runs. He got red in the face. It was obvious that he had been filling his own car.
That is a good point.
A great teacher is worth big$$$. Many of them get paid quite well. Unfortunately the bad ones get paid just as much.
Take it from a teacher for 16 years, there are more bad, incompetent, biased and illiterate people in the teaching profession
I learned this just by watching the Jeopardy teacher’s tournament...
Jeopardy’s so committed to the ‘teachers walk on water’ meme that they have to dumb the questions down so the educators won’t apppear less than brilliant...
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