"Virginia youngsters encounter SOL exams for the first time in third grade, and it's a pile-on. No other elementary grade undergoes four exams, and no other students are tested on cumulative knowledge as third-graders are. They must recall history and science facts gathered from kindergarten on. Every other grade is tested solely on the knowledge gained that particular year."
Testing third graders like we do goes against EVERYTHING in which I professionally believe and understand. If test proponents could see what a third grade class looks like on the first day of school, maybe they'd begin to understand my fury. These are worldly innocent children; ego-centric and self-absorbed; yet delightful, creative and unique. That's the way it is with children this age, as it has always been. For some reason, we, as a society, have deemed third grade as THE YEAR OF RECKONING in life. We demand that these innocent souls shed their innocence and dress-up in adult clothing. We are demanding more, pound-for-pound, of our eight and nine year-olds than we are of grown adults in high-pressured work environments. It makes me furious and makes me more determined to be a buffer, one who interprets this alien world to and creates a safety zone for these wonderful people.
But even that's getting harder and harder to do.
Make no mistake about it. Third grade teachers are feeling piled-onto as well. Then again, all teachers are under assault from all sides right now. These attacks (teacher contracts, accountability, evaluations, test scores, salary, pensions, pointless mandates, etc) are brain-numbing, maddening, and just plain sad.
We teach for the children. We choose to care.
Many times, I think the rest of the world operates under a different broad understanding, "We CHOSE to care."
Tim Summers, RCEA vice president, recently delivered important comments to the Roanoke County School Board during the public comment section of their regular meeting on May 26, 2011. Summers told the stark truth about the rush to implement nonsensical evaluation measures.
Regarding Teacher Evaluation
May 26, 2011
Roanoke County School Board Meeting
Tim Summers, RCEA Vice President
Good evening members of the school board, Dr. Lange.Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight.As Vice President of the RCEA, it falls to me to address you as our school year draws to a close.
This year has been a trying one by any measure.With so many obstacles before you, the RCEA wishes to congratulate both the board and administration on shepherding our school system through the most difficult times in the memory of most.
The RCEA would like to express our appreciation for being included as council and confidante in dealing with many of the issues faced by us all in the 2010 – 11 school year.Through our joint lobbying efforts and our several mutual showings of support for our schools and students at rallies, media events and in Richmond, many of the negative outcomes we faced as an educational system were averted.
However, we are speaking tonight to an issue which still needs work.
We have concerns that the decision to modify the evaluation process for teaching staff in Roanoke County was done hastily and failed to take into consideration a variety of factors which render the new policy unwieldy to administer and uneven in its application to the variety of staff involved.
It was decided that the new evaluation process should be implemented for this year’s teacher evaluations based upon incomplete advance information from the state department of education and finally a 200 page document which was released by the Virginia Board of Education on April 28. The rush to implement changes and to formulate new policy hardly seems necessary when you consider the state’s mandated implementation date of July 2012. In other words, the change in localities’ evaluation of teachers at this time remains optional as far as the state Board of Education is concerned.Alleghany and Washington Counties as well as Covington and others around the state have chosen to wait until a future date to consider making these changes.Incidentally, by all accounts, VA board of education officials have failed to be able to provide guidance or to answer questions posed by the VEA and by representatives of various localities regarding the requirements of the 200 page document itself. With the state board lacking sufficient understanding of its own document or, in our estimation, of the basic inner workings of a school setting, perhaps holding off on new evaluations would have been more prudent. In fact on page 68 of the aforementioned document the state board writes “it is critical that teachers understand the requirements before the evaluation cycle begins.” End quote.
Since I am limited in my time for making this presentation, I would like to briefly outline some of the more prescient concerns over this new policy.
First, how is the issue of those teachers who do not teach SOL related subjects to be handled since 40% of the evaluation is to be based on student progress with emphasis on SOL test scores. Yes, teacher evaluations should be reflective of student learning. SOL test scores, however, as often as not, do not equate to student learning. As any teacher knows, student progress is measured in many ways, often quite subjective, but no less valid by having not been given a quantitative assignation.
How will federal government action affect the evaluation process? With NCLB up for renewal and probable modification, will the state modify its stance on evaluations? Common sense indicates that the state of Virginia will be forced to adopt the National Core Curriculum. Will that not necessitate further changes to the evaluation process?
RCEA is particularly concerned with morale issues and teacher effectiveness. The new evaluation process, among other new initiatives, has already begun to stifle collegiality among staff and begun to pit teachers against each other.What incentive is there to teach challenged students when teacher effectiveness is judged by student performance on standardized tests and when teachers are judged against each other as grounds for increased compensation for some.
What we would suggest is that you please review the evaluation process, roll back the new plan and that a committee be formed including RCEA representatives so that together we can develop a more thoughtful system which will address the issues at hand and can still be implemented timely.
Thank you again for the opportunity to speak. RCEA would like to present each board member and ranking central office personnel members with a gift which we hope you will find useful in understanding the RCEA’s position regarding teacher evaluation and the general state of education today. [Each official received a copy of Diane Ravitch’s amazing book, “The Death and Life of the Great American School System.”]
We would like to announce the Million Teacher March in support of free public education and the nation’s teachers which is to be held July 30th in Washington DC. We have chartered a bus for our members who plan to go.We hope you will attend with us in support of the teachers who work so hard and care so much for the children of this community.
[Please contact your school representative immediately if you plan to join us in Washington. We already have a bus reserved, but we'll get as many as we need. This IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY to make a difference.]
Who is Your RCEA President and What are We Doing This Year?
I feel the need to get this information out as we dive in to this upcoming year of change.I look over membership lists and there are many names that I can connect a face to but there are more and more that I have not been able to meet or connect with.I believe that the same can be said about many members who do not know who I am.So, here goes…
I am originally from Damascus, Virginia (about two hours south of Roanoke).Damascus is a small town that is known for the trails that run through it.Main Street is on the Appalachian Trail and the Virginia Creeper (bike trail) also goes through town.I have a house there that I often retreat to on weekends and long breaks.I cannot get the mountains out of my system and my family is there keeping me grounded.
My college background is Virginia Tech.I came out of a very small high school and even though Tech is huge by standards that I was used to, it allowed me to be a comfortable distance from home.I started out in engineering but decided my fourth year that I wanted to follow in my beloved uncle’s footsteps and be a teacher.I like to think that my uncle “fathered” me every way except biologically and he continues to be a huge influence on me today. (I was also in the Marching Virginians at VT, along with Thom Ryder…small world!)
I was married for twenty two years and my husband and I are currently separated.I relocated to Roanoke in January and brought one of my daughters with me.She will be a 7th grader at Northside Middle and she loves it there.If you are a part of the Northside Middle staff, thank you for everything you do to make my daughter’s experience such a positive one!!My oldest daughter will enter Radford University at the end of this month.She wants to be a middle school teacher and I discussed that decision with her.Her response to my concern was that no matter what I have to face as an educator, she knows that I love the students and I love my career.I discovered that I have absolutely no argument for that statement!Go Highlanders J
This year will be my 23rd year as an educator and my 23rd year as a member of the Education Association.Wow, how time flies.I teach at Northside High School and this year my assignment will be CB Chemistry, Advanced Chemistry and AP Chemistry.I am also Science Department Chair.I have taught science down through sixth grade.I have done long term substitute work at the elementary level.I have taught in several systems in SW Virginia before finally settling in Roanoke County.
Why did I join the Education Association?When I was a student at Virginia Tech, the Science Foundations teacher (who was also my advisor) told us that we needed to join a professional organization, it would look good on a resume and it just needed to be an active part of our career.He told us the best organization was the Education Association.Our membership would involve a local, state, and national organization (so actually three instead of one).He told us we probably would not always agree with the politics of the national level but the most important work would be achieved at the state and local level.I joined and have never looked back or have never said “I can’t afford it”.
Twenty three years later, here we are….
I give tremendous credit to the entire staff of Roanoke County Schools.The hard work that takes place here takes my breath away.We face economic change that is changing the face of everything that we have grown comfortable with.Unfortunately our careers are driven by a testing system that is changing on top of the socio-economic change we are challenged with in our everyday lives as well as in the lives of our students.The schools and staff are assuming more of the parenting roles than ever before, while dealing with less funding or more strings attached to existing funding….I know I am “preaching to the choir” but we must “sing loudly.”
Where are we headed this year????
Pat Wood (our devoted Uniserv Director) and Thom Ryder (past president and current exec board member and techno guru, gardener extreme….) have been meeting with Board of Supervisor members and School Board members driving home the point that raises are LONG OVERDUE and we absolutely, without a doubt, have to do something to generate funds.That is the only way we can move forward and continue to deliver high quality instruction to our students.MEMBERSHIP is our top priority and we want to see it climb.The RCEA has a great working relationship with our current School Board and Central Office.We are working on the Board of Supervisors.During the year we push out email information encouraging members to be vigilant about emailing local, state, and national legislators.This is becoming an excellent means of helping make a difference because we heard this past year that elected officials really do take notice (if nothing else they figure there must be something going on when they receive 1000+ emails).
You will be receiving information from the organization throughout the year and I would like to thank our BUILDING REPS for distributing the information.They do a GREAT JOB and I know that everyone has a full load, family schedule, and life in general so THANK YOU for everything!
Thom (techno guru…) has a blog that everyone needs to check out.He is a fantastic writer and understands all that computer stuff…For those of us who are on Facebook, Thom has set up a group that we can also get going with….you can search it out and I encourage all of you social networkers to check it out!
OK, this is enough from me….I would much rather leave the writing to Thom…I would like to encourage everyone to welcome the new people (yes there are some new people on board).Get caught up with existing membership….and invite a non-member to join.Everyone is welcome to check out our rep meetings (I have sent a separate schedule).Please note the location has changed to the Northside HIGH School Cafeteria.The Uniserv Office is downtown in the Jefferson Center (you can check out some amazing artwork).We attend School Board meetings and work sessions, and Board of Supervisors meetings.If you have never attended those meetings they get interesting!There are also opportunities to attend trainings, conferences and to serve on committees.If you are interested, let one of our building reps know or you can let me know directly.Please let us know of any concerns or suggestions you have!
New member Dallas Washburn and executive board member, Kenya Huffman, became famous today! They were featured on the special VEA blog: Our Next Member. Check it out! Welcome Dallas and way to go Kenya!
It's not too late to join us. We are the largest and most active professional education association in the Roanoke area. In fact, we are the largest employee group of any kind in the valley and surrounding area from here to Timbuktu. Join us! We can make a positive difference if we stick together.
We live in challenging changing times.During my teaching career, we’ve gone from no computers in the classroom to classroom technology that seems to be sent to us from outer space.
The buzz for several years now has been “social networks.”It’s all about having a conversation with each other and sharing information rapidly.Over the past three years, since it opened itself up to the general public, Facebook has exploded with users.These days, if you want to find out something, you most likely can find it out on Facebook.
This document is a collection of social networking sites both on Facebook and on the more “old-fashioned” blogs (weblogs).
Facebook Groups
Lots of education groups are jumping into Facebook, including RCEA.You should be able to monitor these groups without a Facebook account, but if you wish to join the conversation, you will need a free account.Beware of what personal information you share.
Focused specifically on saving VRS,this group supports our brothers in fire-fighting, law enforcement, state employees, paramedics, and teachers in our battle to save our VRS.
Hey, it’s easy to update this group with happenings in the RCEA.We try to get the word out about simple legislative action requests through this venue.Be sure to JOIN us!
You can keep abreast of the goings on in our school district.
Blogs
Blogs have been around since the mid-1990’s.They grew out of the old Listserv’s that were popular in the late 80’s and early 90’s.They are an excellent way to share specific content.The RCEA has used our blog instead of a newsletter this year.
We try to keep our site updated several times a month.Our beat is the local school board meetings as well as how state education issues our professional environment.
Rob Jones and Doris Boitnott work hard for us in Richmond.During budget season, they update this blog daily.You can find all the sad and depressing news here, along with a sparkle of sunshine every now and then.
I leave you with a link to Kevin Myatt’s blog at Roanoke.com.Kevin is a true inspiration when it comes to weather.If more people would read Kevin’s blog,perhaps I’d get fewer questions about the weather.
Armed with your collection of social network sites, you can confidently join the conversation.
Have you ever just wanted to go up to the top of a mountain and scream,
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING???????”
When I listen to state legislators callously calling for reductions in state support for public school education with the same emotion as they would use to pass a junked car ordinance, I’m deeply saddened.Unfortunately, we live today in that state.Education has passed from the world of savvy investment to the world of over-cooked commodity.In a floundering economy, we, public school educators, possess the large target that the partisan political warriors have been hoping to detonate for so many years.
Virginia is a governmentally peculiar state. By law, our governors may only serve one four-year term.This arbitrary rule may change in the near future. There is legislative movement to alter the rule to allow a governor to run for reelection.Another bizarre governmental quirk in Virginia is that the governor must present a budget to the General Assembly at unusual times.The new governor’s first budget is due at the end of the second year of the term and the second budget is due as the term expires after four years.How realistic is it to expect a new governor from a different political party to accept and adopt a budget prepared by his predecessor?
Governor Tim Kaine, recently replaced in the position by Bob McDonnell, presented his lame-duck budget in December.In it, Kaine had the audacity to ask for a state income tax increase to help offset the gigantic negative state revenue numbers. Even with the tax increase, Kaine’s budget would UNFUND the state’s share for14,375 public school education jobs.These are jobs that are mandated by the state‘s own standards of quality (SOQ).
What is this “State Share?”According to JLARC (the General Assembly’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission), the state pays localities about 55% of the cost of each mandated education position.In past years, the battle we generally had at the state level was in determining exactly what positions the state would fund.For years, many necessary teaching positions were excluded from the state formula, leaving the localities to pick up 100% of the tab.Over the past few years, we’ve seen a better reconciliation of state support in relation to the localities’ needs.With Governor Kaine’s budget proposal, all that progress will be permanently erased, if approved by the General Assembly.
However, Governor Kaine has left office and the new governor, Bob McDonnell, has been elected by the citizens to take charge. Governor McDonnell has the opportunity to amend Governor Kaine’s budget.He could choose to lessen the drastic impact on public school education; however, McDonnell has point blank stated that he will not support ANY tax increase.With Delegate Morgan Griffith (Salem), House of Delegates Majority Leader, on his side, McDonnell is in a strong position to carry out his pledge.
So what will happen?Will the state budget be pushed through with no infusion of revenue as suggested by Governor Bob McDonnell?If so, according to the State Senate Finance Committee, funding for 22, 875 education jobs will be abolished.That means 22,875 public school education jobs will go unfunded by the Commonwealth of Virginia.
What will localities do?They will have to make tough choices.Can they afford to fund all 22,875 positions?Can they make up the 55% share that the state will vacate?Do they have any untapped revenue sources?The answer to each question is, sadly, no.
Silly Little Secrets.
Virginians, relatively speaking, have it pretty good.According to the latest statistics, Virginia ranks 7th in the nation in per-capita family income.That’s right…7th.Virginia also ranks 31st in teacher salaries and 37th in per pupil spending.Taxes.You always hear about taxes, right?Well, comparatively speaking, Virginia is a low tax state.In 2008, Virginia ranked 41st out of all 50 states with 5.7% of personal income devoted to state taxes.The national average is 6.7%.Facts are facts.
We aren’t living in reasonable times. As we approach the 100% line of perfection for NCLB, educators know very well the effort required to make it this far.We’ve revamped everything we do so that our children can meet the federal standards.Yet, the “Average Joe” believes that public schools are a failure.That failure message, hammered into the social consciousness over and over since Education Secretary Bell released the historic “A Nation At Risk” report in April of 1983, haunts the whispered background of today’s public school education discussions.How is it possible for schools to have met every challenge placed before them and yet still be chained with failure?
Without a doubt, we live in challenging financial times.Tough decisions will need to be made by legislators and supervisors on the state and local levels to determine how completely education will be supported.Lost in the discussion is the simple fact that education is the bedrock of a strong, vibrant, and free society.Virginia has a constitutional obligation to provide adequate funding for our schools.
Today’s children are being torn in so many directions, yet public schools are the one constant in the lives of many children. Gutting our educational program now would have a devastating impact on those we hold dear- our future, our present.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING???????”
That’s what I scream in my quiet moments when I have time to think.
Thom Ryder
RCEA Executive Board
So you stayed with this editorial so far…want more information?Visit some of these websites and learn more about the politics of money that will affect everything we do for children.
VEA Daily Reports:Follow the actions at the General Assembly as they relate to public school education.Updated regularly! http://www.veadailyreports.com/
VEA:The main site for the Virginia Education Association.Full of excellent information and member benefits.http://www.veanea.org/
RCEA Blog:Updated when time permits with stories and commentary.http://rcea4.blogspot.com/
Rob Jones, VEA's Government relations director, sent an email out today calling attention to a dire threat facing every one of Virginia's educators during the next General Assembly session.
In the General Assembly session ahead, one thing we can count on is that the benefits offered by the Virginia Retirement System will be under attack. In these tough times, legislators will be looking under every rock to find ways to cut costs.
Thanks to a Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission(JLARC) report released a year ago, seven proposals are up for consideration, including eliminating the current traditional pension plan and replacing it with a 401(k) personal risk account.
According to Rob, many of our members simply do not understand the true benefit and promise of our current system. Why? Perhaps they haven't experienced the real ebb and flow of investment life. More likely, they have never invested at all.
Do you realize that before Roanoke County Schools revamped our 403-b investment program last year, about 18% of our employees took advantage of the program? When we switched over to the Hartford management team after an intense selection process necessitated by IRS tax law changes, participation has dropped to 9.6%. Folks, the industry average for 401-k (similar to 403-b) participation in the business world is 79%. Given time and a strong effort by our Hartford representatives, Kyle Scully and Rob Mangano, this percentage should slowly grow back.
As a career educator, I fully understand why it’s easy to let retirement thoughts slide. We face so much in our daily PRESENT lives serving others that it's hard to carve out time to think about our own futures.
My wife and I are that unique educator couple. We both teach elementary school and have been investing in 403-b's since the mid-1980's. We began investing simply because we wanted a full retirement option when we decided that teaching was over for us. We wanted the ability to live comfortably and maybe travel a bit.
We were confident to develop an investment plan because we knew that we had two components in place already, the defined benefits offered by Social Security and VRS.With that security in mind, we scrimped and saved pennies from our meager salaries (I started at $10,500 a year) and strode out into the investment world. We developed a relationship with a financial planner in whom we have grown to trust implicitly.We knew that, between VRS and Social Security, we could expect a constant sum of money that would allow us to live.Our 403-b’s would just be icing on the cake and allow us to experience life.
Like many others, the 403-b dream has been mixed.We’ve invested faithfully for over 20 years in solid funds but the inherent risky nature of the product doomed us in the down times.The technology bubble burst bashed our accounts and the recent crash sank us.
Here’s what I’m getting at.We knew the risks and were willing to take them because we had security in our hip pocket.Now, some legislators want to take my security away.They want to turn my DEFINED BENEFIT RETIREMENTPLANinto a PERSONAL RISK ACCOUNT.
On top of switching VRS from a defined benefit plan to a personal risk account, the General Assembly is eyeing the giant pile of money being held by VRS in our name.They covet these billions.Even though these billions were earned by us and were kept in guarded trust for us, sometimes in lieu of salary increases, this money is a very tempting pot of gold that could cure the state of what ails it in the short-term, so they believe.
According to Rob’s analysis of JLARC’s report,a retiring teacher can expect a 48% REDUCTION in benefits from VRS.48% .I’m trying hard to understand why someone could possibly think that idea is acceptable or advised.Perhaps such people are taking advantage of Math SOL 4.5 (Front End Estimation).48% written as a decimal would be 0.48.Using the front-end method, underline the front digit and drop the rest 0.48.Hence 0.48 can accurately be estimated as 0 or 0% using front-end estimation.Of course, most of the rest of us would simply round off 48 to 50 and advertise the 50% reduction in benefits (Also Math SOL 4.5).
That’s right, there are people who don’t care and may even be blind to the fact that educators will endure a 50% cut in benefits if we go to Personal Risk Accounts.I fully expect Rob to share more information in the coming weeks of how exactly these accounts will impact us.
We need to educate our colleagues about both the benefits of the current system, which provides a guaranteed benefit for life following retirement, and the shortcomings of the 401(k). The current issue of Time magazine includes an excellent article entitled, "Why It's Time to Retire the 401(k)."
