WA State Charter Schools ruled unconstitutional

[WinstonSmith4740]

36. Depends upon the state.

I'm not trying to insinuate that your daughter is in any way, shape, or form not qualified to teach, or that she doesn't care about her students or school. Hell, I work at what can be a fairly tough high school in Las Vegas, but I wouldn't go anywhere else for love or money. I love those kids like they were my own...it's a place that I feel I can really make a difference in young lives and minds, and I'm sure your daughter feels the same way about her students. Nobody goes into teaching to get wealthy or powerful...you've got to love the job.

But not all states demand a teaching degree for their charter schools. Some will accept work experience or a degree in something besides teaching if the degree is in the course to be taught. I'm sure your daughter will agree that teaching is not something just anyone can do because they happen to know a lot about a particular subject.

And then there's this:http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/surprise-dc-admits-school-test-tampering-at-meridian-public-charter/2013/04/25/818ccb2e-ad66-11e2-a8b9-2a63d75b5459_blog.html

There's no doubt that this occurs in public schools, too, although with the controls we have in place, it's has to be tough to pull off. No Child Left Behind (or as some of us put it, No Child's Behind Left!) pretty much set the stage for this kind of cheating. You can not take a "cookie cutter" approach to education. It simply won't work. Some of our learning disabled kids have to take those damn proficiency tests, and the frustration level it causes these kids is off the scale, as well as pulling our overall test results down, which in turn, affects our funding. My school almost got "reconstituted" this year, even though our graduation rates and overall GPA's went UP, because we didn't make enough "annual yearly progress" according to some damn bureaucrat who never spent a minute in front of a classroom. And you try looking into a crying kid's eyes because they're not going to be able to "walk" at graduation, even though they passed all their courses and had all the necessary credits, but didn't pass one of the proficiency tests. NCLB has completely pounded the creativity out of the classroom, because when EVERYTHING is riding on those results, you teach to the test. Nothing else is taken into consideration, not the level of poverty in the community (it's tough for hungry kids to learn), classroom size (mine average 38), or available resources.

Do teachers need to be competent & highly qualified? Of course we do...we're helping to form the next generation. Our new teachers are observed a minimum of 9 times during the school year, and it isn't just an administrator poking their heads in a classroom for a few seconds to make sure the kids aren't burning the classroom down. These are hardcore, period-long observations with a three page evaluation afterward...and you better not have forgotten to put things like your daily objectives on the board, or be doing something besides what your submitted lesson plan said you'd be doing. My colleague has been at our school for almost 30 years and she still goes through this evaluation 3 times a year, along with many more less rigorous ones. And trust me, 37 of my 38 students in any given class can be fully engaged, but I guarantee I'll hear about the one who's daydreaming.

Teaching is an art, with some better at it than others. But I learned more about teaching during my practicum and student teaching experience than I ever did in any classroom while in college, and that's the kind of stuff you don't get without a teaching degree.

Peace.