DALLAS ISD

Posted by Kathryn Brothers @ 10:47 AM Fri, Jan 25, 2008

I am on the video. I will not deny that. But pay very close attention to my words. I NEVER say that I support the plan.I will not go into details as to why/how I ended up on the video. Suffice it to say it was a terrible decision on my part and if I had to do it over again I wouldn't be on the video. I will take responsibility for my actions and take my lumps from anyone who wants to criticize me or question my integrity. Believe me, I have learned my lesson. But go to the link below for my real feelings about the plan. Also, I have publicly asked how the district is planning to correct some of the inherent inaccuracies of calculating the indices if they are going to use them and up to this point I have heard nothing.

http://dallasisd.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2

Click on the 11/29/07 Meeting video.

Posted by Diane Birdwell @ 7:36 PM Fri, Jan 25, 2008

A truly good product sells itself. They are not only pushing this DVD, there are reminders in forms of notices in boxes. There was even the mistaken advice handed around that all teachers in pilot schools needed to check Oracle. Word was that teachers would have to either "opt in" or "opt out."

So I checked. I wondered why, since I am NOT signing up for this plan, and I was told only to go to Oracle if I was to opt IN. Is this a quick ploy to trick people into signing up? Did anyone accidentally sign up?

When people ask me (or other members of NEA Dallas) why I refuse to go for a chance to "get more money," I remind them that principles are worth more than money. If enough of us refuse to fall for the bait of money, as if that is why we teach in the first place, maybe they will see that we can think for ourselves.

Teachers are not afraid of accountablility. We are afraid of an inaccurate, flawed and unexplainable formula--which they refuse to show to the public-- being used to determine how our careers proceed.

Posted by Raymie @ 9:09 PM Sun, Jan 27, 2008

If this program is anything like the Teacher Advancement Program used in a few low performing Richardson ISD schools, it is destined to create a divisive teaching environment and make no significant difference in test scores. Plus, it will cost the district an exhorbitant amount of cash.

Posted by Mark Harrington @ 6:47 AM Mon, Jan 28, 2008

The devil is in the details. The so called "bonus" plan is designed so that very few individuals qualify. First a school's SEI must be 60 or greater. Then a teachers CEI must be 60 or higher. Given the arbitrary and apparently miraculous methodology by which CEIs are computed, it is no wonder the plan is meeting such disdain from those who work in the classroom. I challenge the DMN to print the assumptions that are the basis for computing CEIs. The asumptions are bogus and have led to an evaluation tool that has a margin of error that is so great as to render CEIs useless.

Posted by Kent Fischer @ 9:23 AM Mon, Jan 28, 2008

Mark,

Through this blog and articles on Dallasnews.com, we've posted several original district documents that explain the assumptions (as you put it) behind the CEIs. You can find those links at the post here titled, "Things we're not allowed to know" at

http://dallasisd.beloblog.com/archives/2008/01/back_in_october_we_asked.html

Posted by Diane Birdwell @ 9:55 PM Mon, Jan 28, 2008

Why did we get phone calls on a Sunday afternoon, with a recorded message telling us we still needed to sign up? Weren't we told originally (at least by LTC Olsen at the BAHS meeting) that if we did NOT want to sign up for the bonus pay plan, then we should do NOTHING. Kind of like Ocean's 11. You are in our out. Okay.

Then why am I and other teachers being told we HAVE to go into the Oracle system to accept or decline? And first, we have to hit an "agree" button? AND we have to state WHY we are declining? Is there a reason this is so confusing?

Again, NEA-Dallas opposed this program because of its use of CEI's as the basis of judging the value of a teacher. We in the NEA believe that a student is more than a test score, and that the CEI formula is not valid enough to be used to determine teacher effectiveness. We back that with our reputation. We don't say we are against CEI's and then tell you to go ahead and do it.

Think back everyone. Who was your best teacher? Would they have been able to prove it with a number? And why you remember them still?

Posted by Mark Harrington @ 5:11 PM Wed, Jan 30, 2008

Kent: The assumptions of which I speak are assumptions that are made about student populations. I've been at meetings in which Dr. Mendro has told us that the district's methodology is able to determine, and I quote, "What a student should have learned." Yes, that's correct, he told us that DISD has developed a way to measure what should have occurred. Why hasn't anyone picked up on this story. Imagine! We now have a way to predict what should occur - it's breathtaking. Breathtakingly moronic. What is missing from the district's methodology says more about the process than that which it includes. Where in the methodology is it taken into account that a student's parents committed suicide? Where does it take into account child abuse? Where does it take into account a student who refuses to learn because he or she just isn't interested. You see Kent, I teach humans. I thank God for this. It is what makes my job so special and rewarding. CEIs don't measure and cannot measure the many shades and hues that comprise a person's being. CEIs are nothing more than a feeble attempt to quantify that which cannot be quantified. The day that my effectiveness can be determined using nothing more than mathematical calculations is the day I exit the scene.

Posted by Kent Fischer @ 5:16 PM Wed, Jan 30, 2008

Mark,

Point taken.

Kent

Posted by Diane Birdwell @ 9:02 PM Wed, Jan 30, 2008

Does anybody notice that the members of Dallas Achieves--the high standing community members of Dallas---have not been blogging on any of this?

Come on, if you want us to ACHIEVE, you have to let us teach. You have to listen to the parents.

Where are you guys? Why not invite me or other teachers to dinner and let us tell you all about teaching in DISD?