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17330. arkymalarky - 11/3/2005 1:19:25 AM Yes, it does. And a lot of people in the Little Rock area are very opposed to small rural schools like the one I work in, saying they're inefficient and waste resources, even though we have far more success with disadvantaged students than large poor districts do and we don't spend more per pupil than large poor districts--we spend less.
I get paid less, but I enjoy my job a lot more, feel much more appreciated, and feel like I can have more positive impact on students--not just academically, but socially, which imo is not emphasized like it needs to be. There are lots of jobs that are important that don't require college degrees, but do require people with integrity, commitment, and a willingness to work hard--CNA's, for example.
But--that said--the richest districts in the state also pay teachers the most and come with excellent working conditions and facilities. They don't like us either, and they try to compare student performance in ways that don't account for the different conditions kids come in with and the local resources the districts have. 17331. arkymalarky - 11/3/2005 1:21:54 AM How will student performance be determined, Arky?
That's the $64,000 question. Districts know which teachers aren't doing well. They need to make it easier to get rid of them, and as Jen points out, to attract good teachers who will stay by good pay AND good working conditions.
In AR, people leave poor rural schools for more money in large districts like Little Rock and from there, rather than go back to low pay, they leave the system entirely, making the problem of teacher shortages worse.
17332. arkymalarky - 11/3/2005 1:24:11 AM Little Rock's school system, btw, like that of most cities that have areas with a lot of poverty, is a very mixed bag. I have friends and family who've made careers there, and ones who left the system after a very short time. 17333. wonkers2 - 11/3/2005 2:00:31 AM In my experience pay-for-performance systems are hard to administer, lead to a lot of dissatisfaction and gaming of the system. 17334. wonkers2 - 11/3/2005 2:13:56 AM My experience has been in industry and government, not education, but I did study behavioral science with some of the best in the business such as William Foote Whyte. A contemporary writer on the subject is Alfie Kohn 17335. wonkers2 - 11/3/2005 2:18:27 AM Of course being against pay for performance in quite counter-intuitive in American society. It can work of course in some situations where actual individual performance can be measured accurately, such as in the case of door-to-door salesmen or professinal athletes where comprehensive performance statistics do provide pretty good insight into the individual's contribution. But most people's jobs are less susceptible to accurate measures of their performance because their contribution is hard to separate from others in their organization, long time span for results, etc. 17336. judithathome - 11/3/2005 2:58:18 AM I get paid less, but I enjoy my job a lot more, feel much more appreciated, and feel like I can have more positive impact on students
Judging from how many times we're stopped (when we're visiting) by former students gushing over Arky and what a difference she's made in their lives, I'd say Arky's teacher performance scores are out the roof! 17337. wonkers2 - 11/3/2005 4:17:58 AM I'm sure she's a great teacher. 17338. arkymalarky - 11/3/2005 4:29:07 AM Oh, gee, y'all! Thanks! 17339. arkymalarky - 11/3/2005 4:33:49 AM The problem with teacher pay-for-performance in particular is that their pay is dependent on someone else's performance. If that's not done with careful regard and acknowledgement that students don't come in at the same level to a given teacher, it can't be fair. It just gives the "haves" more, and that's being done more than enough as it is.
WRT it as implemented policy, my dad as a university department chairman was required to carry out a "merit pay" policy, which he disapproved of, but he tried to do it as was required rather than simply rotating it as other department chairs did. It resulted in hard feelings and low morale in what had been a very close-knit English department. The university dropped the policy, but the damage was done. 17340. Ulgine Barrows - 11/3/2005 10:02:30 AM 17212. jayackroyd - 10/25/2005 5:51:09 PM
...seamonsters that the author coined a word for, klabauter.
...The translator wants to call it a "goblin" but the author objects to that, saying that would be a hackneyed solution.
jayackroyd, "goblin" is boring to the USA public, I rather think klabauter will go over well...or go kerblooie.
The Harry Potter things have introduced any number of wierd names, part of the appeal. 17341. Ulgine Barrows - 11/3/2005 10:07:13 AM skissor 17342. Ulgine Barrows - 11/3/2005 10:09:21 AM wabbit!
bauterscyll, that kind of thing.
O, that is excellent! 17343. jayackroyd - 11/3/2005 1:49:01 PM I'll let you know how the monster naming thing comes out.
On a different topic, I'm convinced that this is spudboy:
Newspeak, you may recall, has a special quality: It combines two ideas that, conventionally speaking, are virtual (if not precise) opposites, and presents them as identical -- thereby nullifying the meaning contained in each word: "War is Peace." "Ignorance is Strength." "Freedom is Slavery." -- David Neiwert
Am I wrong about that?
17344. judithathome - 11/3/2005 1:57:54 PM No, you're not wrong...that's our Spudboy! 17345. judithathome - 11/3/2005 2:00:37 PM I am up early because I had to drink a bottle of "tracer" for my cat scan today. Have to have another bottle in 2 hours. This stuff is truly vile; it tastes like baby powder smells.
I hope they decide what's wrong with my gallbladder today because I certainly don't want baby powder for breakfast ever again. 17346. thoughtful - 11/3/2005 2:21:30 PM good luck judithah...if they decide to remove it, get it done laporoscoply...mom & dad both had it done that way with fairly easy recovery. 17347. wonkers2 - 11/3/2005 2:31:22 PM Is he implying our president is a practitioner of "newspeak?" 17348. jayackroyd - 11/3/2005 4:54:49 PM He has a site www.orcinius.com which has been getting linked to at some of the high volume blogosphere sites, in this case dailykos.com. This, in particular, is in reference to Michelle Malkin, who apparently worked for him sometime in the past. 17349. jayackroyd - 11/3/2005 4:58:31 PM Sorry. Here's a correct link for spudboy's blog.
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