"Too many managers - not enough leaders."
Heard that last week from a passerby teacher and it really hit home on so many levels.
The classroom teachers have lost their leadership and become managers to a program known as "Springboard".
There is so much emphasis on following that curriculum that I considered renaming this blog "The WORDwall".
Remember the phrase de jour "thinking outside the box" and "a new paradigm"? I'm sure our more experienced teachers can remember others. Springboard has effectively smothered them along with teacher creativity.
If we really needed this type of "managed" curriculum to address teacher deficiencies wouldn't it have been a better solution to have hired better teachers*, maybe pay them more, NOT take away the extra planning period and do away with wholesale grade curves and social promotion?
* If eHarmony can can come up with a personality inventory to identify unique personality traits and characteristics, why couldn't HR? It might be a way to avoid some of those nasty problems that have plagued us recently.
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5 comments:
SpringBoard = Joke
FCAT Reading for 9th and 10th grade slipped, yet SpringBoard was suppose to increase reading scores. Hmmmm...
From The GRADEBOOK:
Just three high schools out of more than 30 in Hillsborough — Newsome, Plant, and Sickles — saw more than half their sophomores at proficiency or better in reading.
District officials said raising high school reading scores is an inexact science at best. Even with every ninth-grader in a reading class, many are still behind as sophomores.
"What works at one site sometimes doesn't work at another site," said David Steele, who oversees assessment as chief information officer.
"And it goes in cycles," he said. "Last year was a very good year. This year I'm looking at some schools where we see a drop from last year but a gain from the year before."
So I want to know when the newspaper is going to make the connection between lower reading scores on FCAT and SpringBoard's broken promises... It needs to be addressed. When the county force feeds crap into the mouths of its teachers and children, while spending 30 million to do it, they need to step up and take responsibility when it stinks.
I am sure there will be spin... "SpringBoard will yield long-term benefits." "Our teachers need more training because they readlly didn't do it right."
Blah... blah... blah...
Last year the FCAT scores were inflated, akin to 30pt touchdowns. No wonder 10 high schools were A's. SDHC had no problem breaking their arm patting themselves on the back at that time. This year, as always, it will be the teachers fault.
MaryEllen
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