With regard to burnout and frustration, consider that one of the requirements of Common Core is that states must also implement a rigorous teacher evaluation system. Professional evaluation is important and I don’t know of a single profession that doesn’t have an evaluation system, but common sense must prevail. Some of these evaluation tools are profoundly subjective and unfair. When a teacher is marked off on an evaluation because a student put a dab of lotion on her knees during the observation, which obviously means classroom expectations haven’t been taught and the teacher has poor classroom management, frustration will result.
When those observations and evaluations are tied to teacher pay and that annual incentive check comes out, the teacher that has Honors and AP kids will get the big incentive check while the teacher with the low-performing, struggling kids who have not been taught social skills at home gets the very small check. Frustration results.
In reality, teachers aren’t frustrated with their work or with their job. They are frustrated with the system that prevents them from doing their job and that persecutes them for things beyond their control. I don’t know one single teacher who went into the profession to get rich. Every teacher I know does it because of a love for kids and for the opportunity to make a difference in just one kid’s life. When that passion is squelched by a system that ties their hands, strips their decision making, persecutes them, and makes them feel like failures, then there is something wrong with the system, not the teachers.
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"When a teacher is marked off on an evaluation because a student put a dab of lotion on her knees during the observation, which obviously means classroom expectations haven’t been taught and the teacher has poor classroom management, frustration will result.
ReplyDeleteWhen those observations and evaluations are tied to teacher pay and that annual incentive check comes out, the teacher that has Honors and AP kids will get the big incentive check while the teacher with the low-performing, struggling kids who have not been taught social skills at home gets the very small check."
A friend of mine, a veteran of 13 years at the high school was forced into retirement by this very situation. In this case it was by a school administrator. How much he was pressured from above is unknown.
The public's expectations of quality schools are frustrated. Distant government controls and union demands double down. The teachers are caught in the middle and take criticism that is not justified because they are the 'face' of the educational system. That so many remain diligent to their craft is a great credit.