Save Great Teachers - Let's End Last In, First Out

Take action in your state: http://www.studentsfirst.org/lifovid

Great teachers make a tremendous difference in students' lives. This year we risk losing some of the best teachers in America.

* At least 160,000 teachers face layoffs.

* Most layoffs will be based solely on seniority, not on performance.

* The result: many of our most effective teachers will lose their jobs.

* Even if there have to be layoffs, we can save great teachers.

Take action in your state now: http://www.studentsfirst.org/lifovid

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[bnannylv]

Awful. Talk about manipulative. Where do you begin with such obviously misleading "data".

Tell me, why does Michelle Rhee get such a BIG MICROPHONE to push this propaganda, when there are far smarter, more knowledgeable and more experienced people who can speak about education issues?

Is it just because Rhee gets a boatload of money from the corporations, hedge fund guys, Wall Street and billionaires to push this fraudulent education "reform" agenda? I'm not falling for it.

[specter290]

I MIGHT Also add a picture of that cool girl starting 1:12

[specter290]

nice statistics starting 1:14, im quoting that for my english paper

[viall4diabetes]

What a cute little chart. Try teaching more than three years like Rhee. Find out, if you don't have tenure, what happens if a good teacher challenges a lousy administrator. Find out if we return to the good old days, when school boards dumped veterans and made room for their children, cousins. etc. See how often schools facing deficits DUMP good veterans because young teachers cost less and can be cowed. Tenure is flawed. Rhee's approach is incredibly simplistic.

[MsJanetWood]

@JohnLeeMD Experience grows exponentially, therefore a teacher with 20 years experience is a ZILLION times better than a newbie who merely has 5 years. You are more likely to find a BRILLIANT teacher who has been teaching for 20 years! A teacher with marginal experience may think she has it all figured out, but she is just beginning her career.

[JohnLeeMD]

@mastertech63 This is where you have to have integrity/robustness in the decision-making process. I've advocated having parents give reviews (similar to what we see on amazon.com, etc.) Just like there, one can easily get a strong sense of a product's (in this case, teacher's) quality. Anyone who shops online will tell you how great they are. That sort of SIMPLE thing could add a layer of integrity in the process, giving decision-makers valuable info with which to make personnel decisions.

[JohnLeeMD]

@MsJanetWood Experience absolutely matters. But at a certain point, the AMOUNT of experience that contributes to production becomes marginal. Such that a teacher that has 5-yrs experience is EXPERIENCED ENOUGH, and a 20-yr teacher isn't theoretically 4x better. But experience in an "average" teachers hands means nothing compared to a brilliant teacher with marginal experience. The fact that we SHUT the door to any potential brilliant (young) teachers is flat wrong.

[ericsdale]

LIFO does not make sense for this system

[FixerDad43]

Layoffs due to budget are not the only time teachers get fired. It's possible to fire teachers with DUE PROCESS at any time, and if a teacher can be correctly identified as needing to go then by by. This happens a lot. While some improvements can be made in the existing system, it's BOGUS to pretend that it doesn't work or that the "rubber room" is the rule everywhere. When due process works why wait for LIFO? Busting unions and redefining collective bargaining to allow firing at will is why.

[mpaone]

@FixerDad43 Amen. I think that argument is very weak as well. It's like we're playing for scraps and pennies, meanwhile in the next room, bankers and big businesses are having a money throwing party with big piles of cash. Very disempowering and distracting.