What about the parents? How are the teachers going to be held responsible for students who do not attend school? It's an impossible task. A teacher has a student for 35-50 minutes per day - that's all. Are they supposed to work a miracle?

I subscribe to the old adage that "Show me an ineffective teacher, and I'll show you an ineffective administrator." I've seen administrators who have used evaluations as a way to drive good teachers out, so the thought of giving these administrators more power is hard to stomach. I'm not buying the language about "incompetent" no longer being adequate.

I wish Mr. Ferguson would look to reform education in a slightly different way, instead of jumping on the blame-the-teachers bandwagon. How about tax incentives for parents who attend parent/teacher conferences? How about a law that forces businesses to allow parents the time off to go to parent/teacher conferences on the scheduled day? Both of these tactics are currently being negotiated between the legislation and the teachers union in Michigan, and that's the kind of forward-thinking education reform Maryland needs right now. Teachers have given enough power to administrators already with the BCPSS contract (which I voted for); now it's time for some responsibility to go to the parents.

Ah, yes, isn't this "Bill" who used to post here quite a bit? He's someone who taught for a brief moment in time and then became an Alonso toady at North Ave.. Are we surprised? Alonso will now be playing Edgar Bergen to Ferguson's Charlie McCarthy for the remainder of his term.

This is exactly what's wrong with the current reform movement. People like this (Michelle Rhee included) believe that teachers and our unions are the problem. Instead of vilifying us they need to listen to us and support us. As the people who are in the trenches every day with our students, we have a far better idea of what is going on and what is needed. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to register with them. The students are the ones who are paying the price and they don't see it or don't care.

Same, Bill! He graduated from HIGH SCHOOL exactly ten years ago and has known it all for at least the last three years! While I am not arguing that age should be the only factor, experience is vital. Bill may have a long list of credits but his obvious inexperience becomes more and more evident.

@Avalon

You are correct... Sad but true and now we will have to deal with the results.

@avalon, wise educator, check

If you think the bill is bad or the policies are bad, talk about the bill and the policies. If you want to make anonymous ad hominem attacks, keep it to yourself and leave this space for people who want to discuss actual policy.

I'm sorry I'm just getting a chance to clarify, I often find myself wishing I had more time to process and reflect these days (not to mention check-in on Inside Ed).

In any case, I wanted to clear the air a bit while I had time on a Sunday evening. Hopefully some of these thoughts will give you a better idea as to where I'm coming from.

- Same "Bill" as before, taught at a breakout academy of the old Southwestern HS and worked for Dr. Alonso. Working in a different capacity these days.

- Most important note: I think effective teachers are the hardest-working employees in any industry, private or public sector. I try to make sure that I say this in pretty much any public forum where it’s possible. My job today in elected office is not nearly as difficult, nor as emotionally challenging, as my efforts were when I was struggling to be an effective classroom teacher. The quality of our teachers and school leaders is the single most important driving factor that has led to higher achievement in the City Schools.

- I think unions are absolutely essential, particularly in teaching. They are the only existing entity that empowers teacher voice. While I disagree with some policy stances, I am a firm believer in the ideals of the labor movement (my mom worked for the ATU in DC for 24 years). Just because I disagree on a few particular issues with some unions doesn’t at all mean that I think they’re foundational to the problem in public education today – those problems are incredibly complex, historical, and entrenched. In my opinion, disagreements are healthy, and differences of opinion work to push all parties to continually improve.

- I absolutely believe that parents/guardians are critical to school reform and community redevelopment. In Maryland, we have a single-subject rule for legislation, so you can only submit a bill that addresses one subject. I've submitted a "package" of bills, but this article only deals with one.

- Without question, I've spent the vast majority of my time while in Annapolis strategizing and discussing ways to prevent the passage of the proposed K-12 public ed budget that cuts at least $17 mil. from City Schools funding. That is undoubtedly my #1 priority.

- My other bills/priorities are the following:

(a) Providing a no-cost means for charters to access empty school facilities.

(b) Codifying & applying statewide a standard in charter hiring policies that is already in place in Baltimore City right now (and has been in practice for the last 3 years). That standard is “mutual consent” in teacher hiring and transfer.

(c) Adding ineffectiveness to the code so that great teachers (like the ones posting on this article and who care so deeply about policy issues) can finally benefit from the public's elevation of the profession. Until we can get past this "our teachers aren't good enough" atmosphere, the ed community will continue to suffer from in-fighting and will fail to come together and work jointly to fight for adequate educational opportunities for all students. This bill only ties to what is already in law and was passed last year. Additionally, the adding of “ineffectiveness” would actually give administrators LESS authority! Often times, the most contentious grievances from the union stemmed from a toxic teacher-principal relationship where the principal incorporated personal feelings about a teacher in the evaluation. Effectiveness is an attempt to reduce that flaw in the evaluative process by focusing on the kids. If the kids are learning, the teacher can worry less about whether his or her principal “likes” him or her. The outcome measure gives teachers the power to show that his or her work is producing results, regardless of the principal’s arbitrary feelings. For this reason, my friends in the classroom are huge advocates of including effectiveness as a professional standard.

(d) Creation of Childhood Obesity Fund - This would eliminate the exemption of the sales tax on snacks (chips, cheese curls, etc.) to fund three things: (a) general funds to help fill gap in education funding, (b) programs providing nutrition education or structured play opportunities to kids in public schools, and (c) expanding access of fresh fruits and vegetables to "food desert" communities (no fresh market within 1.5 mile radius of a low-income neighborhood).

- I didn’t propose the “mandatory time-off for parent conferences” bill, but I wish I had learned of it a few weeks ago. I love this idea. I’m going to research it and figure out how we can try for something similar in Maryland. I’m really glad you brought that up, @epiph. Please feel free to send along any articles you’ve seen about the issue.

[I have a few other pieces of legislation as well, and I’ve commented a bit more at length on those here: http://www.facebook.com/wcferguson/posts/129001867169508?notif_t=share_comment]

- I admire and respect Dr. Alonso a great deal. He was an incredible boss, and he gave me the opportunity to learn throughout my experience working for him. I believe he absolutely and genuinely wants the best for the City Schools and the kids of Baltimore. Do I agree with everything he does? Absolutely not. Do I respect his opinion even if I disagree? Yes. The bigger point, though, is that I would be doing a disservice to the families in my district if I didn’t seek his input and opinion on my legislative ideas, even when he likely disagrees with them. At the end of the day, I work for one group – the people who exercised their fundamental right to vote and who put me here – the residents and families in the 46th district.

- Teachers are the people who made this elected office opportunity possible. My entire campaign team and volunteer base were composed of educators. My best friends in the City are teachers. But not all teachers agree on what policies are best (case and point: my wife and I, both former teachers, disagreed almost everyday as to what would be best practice for our school/classrooms – and we continue to disagree today!). So, I’m bound to have at least some teachers upset at some point, even if the vast majority of teachers may feel otherwise. I’m quickly learning that this is the nature of the job. If we avoid hyperbole about who respects or disrespects whom, I think we’ll better be able to engage in rational discussion about legitimate policy differences.

- Still 27 years old, can't really change that one. I have the experience that I have, or rather, it is what it is. There is no question whatsoever, I have much, much, much to learn! I ran for office because I believe that all kids in our City should have the chance to attend great schools. To do that, we need to reward, attract, and retain great teachers and school leaders; we need to provide facilities that respect the hard work of kids, teachers, and administrators; and we need to fully fund programs and activities that meet kids needs in ways that teachers may not be able to do (mental health services, engaging parents, structured play programming, experienced-based learning opportunities, arts enrichment, sports, mentoring, etc.). Providing these resources is incredibly complex and difficult to accomplish. But I absolutely believe that it’s possible if we, as a society or as a City, choose to fight for it.

- Simon, thanks for your comment. However, again as I’m learning quickly, this job comes with accepting the fact that some people may think I’m a bad person. I’m alright with that – the work is too important to let my own personal feelings get in the way. That said, questioning whether I care about kids or whether I’m choosing to ignore their interests truly is unnecessary and extremely unfortunate.

This posting got much longer than I intended! I guess this is what happens when I have a free Sunday evening… In any case, I wanted to close out by saying that we all have to consider the power we’d have if we came together to fight for the bigger issues – namely, providing adequate and equitable resources for public schools in Maryland. We can absolutely disagree on the margins, but on the fundamental issues, the potential harms are too big and the stakes are too high. I believe the posters to this forum (especially the teachers) care deeply about public education in Baltimore City. I believe that your passion stems from your commitment to what you know is possible, but what that you know is not yet being provided. And I honestly thank you for demanding better.

Hope to see you all at the Rally in Annapolis, sponsored by the Baltimore Education Coalition on February 28th (please pull me aside if you’re interested in connecting in person): http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/2011/02/education_aid_road_maintenance.html

@Simon-Respectfully asking, how is pointing out a lack of experience on the part of an elected official an attack and not relative to the question of whether the policy is solid or not? I have never noticed you not speaking your mind. Just because a person can get elected does not make them experts on school reform. I suppose I am sensitive because I am sick of the knee jerk reaction to blame teachers. As in any field, there are some who should go but the longer I teach, the more in awe I am of teachers. They do an amazing job serving in multiple roles and deserve more respect than Bill and others have ever given. I think I need to leave this blog again.Not a problem.

I thought the old adage was "innefective teachers leave the classroom after three years and follow the CEO around waiting for their turn to judge hardworking classroom teachers by running for senate"

The fact is reformers like Bill aren't in the classroom for a reason. There's a lot to fix in the school system, and anyone with a sound mind knows blaming it all on teachers is ineffective and doesn't solve a damn thing... but it IS easier than going after the problems.

@wise educator

Respectfully, is that the new standard now? No one can introduce laws about education unless they've been a teacher for 10 years with 100% of their students scored a 5 on the AP exam? If that's the standards you want to use, I hope you hold every legislator to the same standard. Are you also criticizing mayors who want to make laws about reducing crime because they weren't police officers? Or presidents who want to make laws about regulating pollution because they weren't environmental scientists? It's an unreasonable standard to which to hold lawmakers.

That said...I'm interested to hear what you mean when you say teachers are being blamed or disrespected. Could you be more specific about what you mean?

@wise educator
Talking about experience in a respectful way is important, but it's your snarky tone that shuts down honest disagreement ("...has known it all for at least the last three years!") I am still interested in your opinion, if you can find a way to disagree in a way that doesn't include disdain for someone who stepped up to try to make education a priority for our legislature.

I think what confuses me in some of the responses is what, specifically, seems to be leading people to believe that any of these bills are about blaming ALL teachers? If anything, they seem to be trying to elevate the status of the profession by exiting people who are not good for kids.

I don't think anyone who has worked in the city schools (I taught for 5 years in the city) can claim with a straight face that all city teachers are hard-working and good for kids and their achievement. We all knew the teachers in our school who yelled at students, belittled them, and did little to no teaching (I'm talking about second and third grade teachers who were just downright mean to 7 and 8 year olds). It's these teachers who have to go or we will never be able to truly transform the city schools or any other urban systems.

So back to a variation on my original question - Why exactly is giving administrators and systems lee-way to dismiss these ineffective teachers a bad thing?

And if people don't like Bill's bill, I'd love to hear other ideas on how to clear out the truly ineffective teachers, while protecting and rewarding the truly good ones?

@Simon

Search this blog for everything I have ever written and you will find ample evidence of teacher blame, teacher abuse, and using teachers as the target or scapegoat for failing public schools.

The issue is clear as day to me, a 6 year city teacher veteran (to be clear, I consider 6 years young, new, and not even close to a fully developed teacher). Reformers in this country, like Bill but not exclusively him, are very quick to say "testing works, data works, bad teachers and bad unions are hurting our children". Now Bill said he is not anti-union, and I'm not attempting to vilify him with this post (see above for that).

The fact is these reformers themselves do not have experience in the classroom nor do they have personal experience using their reformist methods to improve education. Things like teaching to a test and merit pay are either untested or have been proven ineffective, yet these people keep stressing how they are the be all end all in saving schools. No, it is not a requirement to have experience in the classroom to write legislation on how we should fire teachers... but if you honestly can't see how experienced educators who are consistently ignored and unheard in place of goons with an agenda wouldn't be an issue... kindly put your head back in the sand.

I meant to add the link below as an example of how an acclaimed reformer's lack of experience would have resulted in getting fired under their own policies. Enjoy.

http://gfbrandenburg.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/the-rhee-miracle-examined-again-by-cohort/

Thank, you, Brandon, for not addressing once how THESE proposed policies blame teachers. Thank you for lumping all reformers together into one group as if everyone who wants to improve the public school system has the same agenda. Thanks you for saying that all proposed reforms are basically the same idea. Most of all, thank you for using an absolutely embarrassing use of data and journalism to justify not using data.

Without making any judgments about Michelle Rhee or her policies, I think we can agree that Brandenburg's "analysis" is truly an embarrassing use of data. For anyone interested in the details, please read here:

http://www.frederickhess.org/2011/02/jay-mathews-lazy-swipe-at-michelle-rhee

Or something similar here: http://www.eduwonk.com/2011/02/no-value-added.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Eduwonk+%28Eduwonk.com%29

Or from Rhee's website here: http://www.studentsfirst.org/blog/entry/a-response-to-the-unfounded-attacks-on-michelle-rhee/#

Now...does anyone want to argue that "ineffectiveness" shouldn't be used as one of multiple ways to evaluate teachers? Or address one of the other proposed bills?

Simon, as it stands administrators can use ineffectiveness during an evaluation under the PBES system. Despite popular belief, a teacher already CAN be fired for being ineffective IF the evaluating administrator takes the right steps throughout the year. The fact is, most do not and then blame the union.

Step 1: Evaluate the teacher via formal and/or informal evaluation.
Step 2: Meet about ineffective practices.
Step 3: Put the teacher on Professional Improvement Plan (PIP) that documents what areas the teacher needs to improve, a plan on how to improve them, and scheduled meetings (usually monthly) to document whether the teacher is improving.
Step 4: Actually HAVE the meetings. Actually KEEP documentation. Actually OFFER interventions.
Step 5a: The teacher improves and is retained, promoting consistency and accountability.
Step 5b: The teacher does not improve, the administrator documents their interventions, meetings, etc. and informs the teacher before May 1st that they will be ranked unsatisfactory & fired.

Like I said before, most administrators might go as far as step 3. I have yet to see any admins follow through with keeping meetings or meeting the May 1st deadline. Therefore, ineffective teachers get retained until their school eventually fails. My point, boiled down through these multiple posts, are that Senators and reformers who are quick to blame teachers don't know the system. Bill's bill essentially will add either nothing, or an incredibly unfair and easy way to fire staff.

In all seriousness this time, thank you for clarifying, Brandon. Now I can respond more specifically to your concerns.

The PBES Staff handbook, which you say explains how a teacher can be fired for ineffectiveness, mentions dismissal only in that it refers to Education Article 6-202, which can be found here: http://law.justia.com/maryland/codes/2005/ged/6-202.html

Student learning outcomes (which is how I interpret "effectiveness," but others might do it differently) are not listed among the 5 reasons why a teacher can be dismissed. This bill would add "ineffectiveness" to this list. Also, the 4 domains in which teachers are evaluated through PBES are Planning & Preparation, Learning Environment, Instruction, and Professional Responsibilities...all of which measure teacher inputs, but none measure student outputs.

By saying "Therefore, ineffective teachers get retained until their school eventually fails," it seems that YOU are the one blaming ineffective teachers for failing schools. But then you go on to "blame" administrators who aren't following the PBES timelines to remove these ineffective teachers in the first place. But if these teachers need to go before they cause their schools to fail, why not give districts the power to make that happen? Why force an extra layer of administrative bureaucracy, one that can allow principals to provide cover to their ineffective favorites?

And to anticipate probably responses to this comment, I'll also add that we DO need to have better, more effective school leaders AND we need to continue to improve our already-improving teacher support systems.

I guess where we differ this time, Simon, is that I don't see administrators following the steps I outlined as bureaucracy... I see it as administrators doing a significant part of their job. If they can't dedicate a lot of time to the evaluation and intervention of teachers(both effective and ineffective ones), than I don't understand how we can justify pinning evaluations to teacher pay. Currently I get two evaluations a year. As a 6 year veteran I know I could benefit from more evaluations with more critique and more input. I know I would become even better at my job.

Of COURSE I blame ineffective teachers for the decline of schools. I have worked with some real choice grade A idiots in my day, but making it easier to fire someone is not the solution. That kind of write off power can and will lead to unjust, undocumented, firings. Despite being a "good" teacher, I am vocal about contract law and administrative initiatives that are unfair to teachers (things that may end in teachers doing all the legwork without support, for example)

If you're going to argue that we need legislation that will essentially allow admins to interact and observe their staff LESS but fire them MORE, I don't understand your logic.

Simon ought to read the UMBC report himself, rather than relying on Fred Hess who said he doesn't believe Michelle Rhee could ever lie.

You pointed to the wrong eduwonk postings.
One of them laid out the data showing that in order for the students who test scores are in the report to have scored at the 90th percentile, as Miss Rhee claimed, the rest of the children would have had their scores excluded because they would have had the same score as a child who did nothing. Considering there were 4 classes of 3rd graders at Harlem Park, half were taught by Miss Rhee (she put that number at 70) The other half were taught by two other teachers.
When the data is examined, in order to have a likely test score, you could only get about 20 who scored at the 90th percentile.
Now according to Miss Rhee, 63 of her students (90% of 70) scored at the 90th percentile.
As you can see, the numbers don't add up. Rick Hess tried to argue that the test scores of those 63 kids were not Miss Rhee's kids, as it seems Simon does as well.

Maybe Simon, Rick the eduwonk crew think Guy went back in a time machine and stole the test scores of those 63 kids so that in 2011 he could claim she was lying.
Go to Jay Mathews' several columns on washingtonpost.com/education on this issue and read the comments.

I guess Simon didn't read that Michelle Rhee has backed off the claim