All of the teachers fired at a Rhode Island school

Good. They need to come to Hugo, Ok.and fire some of these teachers. My 8th grade cousin doesn't know what 6X6 is.

I just watched your interview with the two teachers, Campbell, and you did hit the nail on the head with one point...these students are preforming poorly and there needs to be accountability. The problem is that NO ONE is demanding accountability from the families involved. We, as teachers, have students for 47 minutes per day. That is when they bother to come to school. Others that come regularly, have home lives that are so dysfunctional they come to school for the peace, the sense of order, and for at least two good meals. Are there bad teachers...sure, just as there are bad journalists, but to fire a whole staff, especially in the environment they are trying to teach in, is just horrendous and genuinely demonstrates the total lack of understanding. I might add that for CNN to blindly jump on the side of the administration without looking at the deeper social issues involved here is equally distressing. Heaven help the future of our kids when supposedly intelligent people are so short sighted and narrow minded! We have a nation of unhealthy kids also, why don't we fire all the doctors??? That should fix it!

Please excuse the spelling and grammar errors...I do know how to spell pERform, but it is 12:15 AM and I am a bit upset about the animosity directed toward teachers and education. I also feel terribly for these teachers, whom I do not even know. Where is their due process??? What about the administration that is getting paid BIG bucks to evaluate teacher performance? Bad teachers can be released, despite popular opinion, if they are proven to be ineffective. That is done by frequent observation and documentation. Get rid of the bad teachers and keep the best....why would do an across the board firing? Now that school will need to hire all new teachers, probably young, inexperienced teachers. Hmmm. would definitely save the district a lot of money, but will it help the kids?

Dear Ms. Brown,

The tone of your voice betrays a lack of respect for people who are doing a very difficult job. You clearly do not understand the massive amounts of time that teachers spend outside of class preparing for the school day. To sneer at the thought that teachers might be asked to "work seven hours" clearly shows that you have no idea when those teachers might be checking the work that they assign during the school day. Time in the classroom is only a small part of what teachers do. A great deal of time is spent creating assignments and providing meaningful feedback to the students. Many teachers also spend a substantial portion of their own income buy supplies for their classrooms, supplies that should be provided from the school budget but are not.

I teach in an urban community college. Each week, I am in class for 24 hours. I routinely put in an additional 35-40 hours each week on other aspects of the job, meeting with students for advising and tutoring, developing and refining, experiments, assignments and tutorials, grading papers, writing recommendation letters for students and serving on committees. I bought a laser printer and go through over $500 of toner and $100 of toner every year to supplement the amount of copying that I can have done at work. During the semester, I sleep 6 hours or less a night. I cannot imagine what the life of a K-12 teacher would be like if they had to be in class for 7 hours every day. I cannot begin comprehend how much work would need to be done outside of class with 35 hours spent in class.

Add to this the fact that college is technically optional. Students who make it to college at least have had some support behind them to get there. College professors do not have to deal with pressure to pass failing students. College professors have the ability focus on the students who want to be there and do not have to worry about someone trying to hold them accountable for the actions of others. I cannot imagine how it feels to be essentially told that you are responsible for making sure all your students succeed, but then be given little support when it comes to making sure that all students are actually in class, are actually trying to participate and actually have the skills to be able to participate at their supposed grade level.

An organization that feels compelled to fire everyone on the bottom level has some serious issues in the upper levels. It is so easy to blame the most visible person in the educational system. It is simple and dramatic to fire a bunch teachers. It is much more difficult to look at individual teachers and individual students and ask, "What, as administrators, can we do to support you in your teaching and learning?" or "What, as a community, a state, a nation, can we do to support the efforts of people who work hard to prepare children for the future." If these questions are not asked and answered, these children will experience permanent chaos with an endless parade of hired-and-fired teachers.

While I think there is culpability on both sides, teachers and Administration. Why do the parents of these children get a free pass. As a parent I know I am more responsible for my childs education than any school. I need make certain they do their homework, make it to school on time, be fully rested and not cause any trouble. That is my responsibility not the schools.
We know the demographics of this school, I would also like to know the class size. I have found that when my childrens class size went up, my wife and I had to spend more time with our children in homework, plus go outside the box to insure they knoew the material. Why because when you have a class size of over twenty and two or three disruptive students. Not much teaching can happen. The teachers can send the disruptive student out, but they eventually come back or replaced by more disruptive students. I may be cynical, but it is reality and Mr Perry can take his plutonic thoughts and put them somewhere. Let him put his money where his mouth is; come to any school in Dillon, South Carolina, or at Central Falls, Rhode Islad, teach for two years; then I would like to see how many of his students improve.

If memory serves, when Campbell Brown began her show on CNN, the (unofficial?) slogan was "no bull". So much for that . . .

The school guidance counselor, George McLaughlin, argues that comparing Central Falls to other schools in wealthier neighborhoods was unfair because their school has a more transient population, more ESL students, and more special ed. students among other challenges.

What's education contributor Steve Perry's response? In the midst of an emotional segment in which he says that Mr. McLaughlin "has some nerve," he declares that Central Falls' teachers are failing solely based on the fact that 93% of its students failed the state math exam last year. He continues on to say that "it's not a valid argument" and seems to argue that school achievement scores should be evaluated completely absent of any and all context

It's hard to debate Mr. Perry's points, because arguing that context doesn't matter in education is like arguing that height doesn't matter in basketball - I'm not sure where to begin.

But I will address his other misstep - using one snapshot figure. Even if we imagine, for a second, a world where poverty, homelessness, non-native languages, and so forth don't hinder one's academic performance in the least, we still can't evaluate schools in that manner. In this world, Central Falls teachers have the exact same kids in their classes as do those in Newport. Except for one thing. When they start high school, 100% of the kids in Newport are passing and 100% in Central Falls are failing (numbers are made up). The following year, 10% of the Central Falls kids pass the test, while 50% of the Newport kids pass the test. Which school has better teachers? Obviously Newport, because they have more kids passing the test. That's essentially Perry's argument.

Please don't start believing this kind of baloney . . . even when the host promises that there won't be any.

http://www.edpolicythoughts.com/2010/02/dont-start-believin.html

I stated yesterday and I repeat it. This crisis is a systemic crisis. Just like the crisis Wall Street is experiencing – and which the president requested, namely that Wall Street be restructured!

The ideas that underpin education is of a similar nature as that informing the economy and political structures. We are experiencing a crisis of ideas here.

The solution to resolving the crisis requires input from all stake-holders. From students, parents, school districts and teachers unions. But the way the schools, teachers unions and district themselves are structured, secures the alienation of constituents and a voiceless sub-constituency to develop.

Even our White House and Congress need to be restructured too.

Democracy requires that the locus of decision-making be as close as possible to those they impact.

Just look at how congress structures itself: some members in there are being accused of operating like distant and cold monarchs! The majority so rich that they lost all contact with those they represent.

Now this structural inefficiency cripples our seat of power, it cripples Wall Street and it cripples education.

It's always easier to come down hard on the lowest common denominator; in this case to just fire a whole teaching core. I bet some even blames the students -simply because it's easier to blame them in their powerless condition.

Be serious about restructuring and we'll ameliorate the development of a society of victims. With transparency, consultation we can secure accountability. Not accountability; but without consultation of those impacted by decisions made. Neither transparency but without consultation!

Let's get serious about Democracy in all sectors of our political, social as well as economic realm.

In 92083 a math class of 16 has 10 that are below grade level, 4 that are at grade level and 2 that are above grade level. How do I teach? I move to 90210 and now I have 14 at grade level and 2 that are between at grade and above grade. Which school do I appear to do a better job?

I slept on my emotions so that I would not rant without a chance to calm down. Regarding Campbell Brown's interview with the two Rhode Island teachers who were fired: 1. While I was listening, I did not hear anything about the responsibility of the parents and 2. Ms. Brown's comment in an unnecessary tone that most people work longer then 6 1/2 hours a day, has she ever been a teacher? Does she have an office with a chair and a desk where she can sit? Most teachers today do not sit at a desk, they stand, walk around the classroom. Please go and shadow a teacher for a day and then talk about how other people work longer hours. The hours in a school cannot be compared to the hours one works at CNN.

Mr. Perry obviously is not an educator. For him to make comments that teachers work only 6.5 hours a day and 5 days a week is outrageous. I as a teacher work numerous hours beyond the bell and weekends and summers without compensation. I also live in a low income community with a large immigrant population and the school system has created many opportunities for failing students who continue to fail. It takes a community to educate a child and the teachers are not the only ones to be blamed. Most importantly, students also need to be responsible. Over the years, students are given numerous opportunities to make up credit and many do not care. With talking to their parents, many have given up on their children. Teachers are expected to motivate students who do not care and their parents have given up! I was in the school library and an ELL teacher brought students in who barely knew the English language and they had to select a book to read and write a report on. The books that were provided for them were at 1st to 3rd grade reading level. Do you honestly think that these students will pass state math and reading exams? In our district , the SAT exam is part of the state exam at the junior year. Will these students pass this exam? I am so tired of outsiders dictating curriculum, exams, etc. Why not give power back to the teacher?

Give me a break, Campbell. Where did all those "statistics" come from–someone is not being truthful. Clearly this school board has had a long history of adversity with their teachers and administrators and they have wielded their power without considering the kids. Firing all the teachers for failing students is the same thinking as eliminating a physician because the patient didn't get well. Thanks for your good work. P.S. - yes, i am a teacher !

I saw your piece on teachers being fired. I am a teacher and I don't believe in excuses. Our kids are capable of wonderful things. But we can not control their sleep habits, eating habits, emotional well being when not in school. I work in a city district and have seen marked increases in professional counseling (taken out of class time) and needs for emotional support. We must address the primary needs of our children if we expect them to blossom in the academics. This is society's downfall.
On a personal not, I must say that I resent you telling me that I only work 6.5 hours a day because that is the time I am with students. There are papers to grade, lessons to plan, supplies to gather, meetings to attend, etc. Your comment is akin to someone saying that you only work while in front of the camera.

I ha ve 25 yrs. experience researching teaching and working with teachers. Steve Perry misrepresented good teachers. A good teacher puts in more than 6-7 hrs. a day toward teaching, not all in the building and is worth every penny they get. The testing situation is a disaster. Passing a test in math does not equate to learning math. In my opinion, giving early tenure saddles a school district with bad teachers. There are models that show that it takes 4-5 yrs. before one will be an excellent teacher (or not). The mass firing is ridiculous; easy way out. Did the administration, in years past, evaluate the teachers and set up improvement goals?? Many questions need to be asked. There is so much more to say, but no space.

I watched the store concerning a Rhode Island High School firing of all its teachers last night, and am amazed by a few items. To start I am a teacher in an inner city National Blue Ribbon award winning school. We consistantly have test scores in the 90th percential. This is accomplished by excellent teaching and incredible support from parents. I was disappointed in the teachers not wanting to be held accountable for the failure of the school. I am also dissappointed in the finger pointing by Ms. Brown and Mr. Perry. The blame can not soley rest with the teachers. Parents must also be held accountable for their childrens progress. Instead of pointing fingers we should be collabortating on methods that work. Finally I found Mr. Perry to be a total blow hole. He obviously is trying to make a name for himself with his comments. His school is successful, but also is selective in who can attend. Furthermore, his teachers aren't hamstrung by the broken system in place.

My wife has been teaching for over 10 years. Cambell said that most of us work for at leat 8 hours, but for teachers work is not done when you leave the school. There are at leat 3 more hours at home preparing for the next day. "Eating lunch with the students": My wife would love that one, her lunch is a yogurt because she is too busy to have an actual lunch. The school year for teacher start way before school starts, so in reality teachers only have a month off. $70,000 for this teacher? my wife's starting salary here is Seattle was less than 40K and it stay like that for a long time. Teacher can only do so much in the few hours that the students are at the school, the rest has to be done at HOME, by the students and the parents. HOMEWORK, get it done.

Your report seemed to be incomplete. The administrations data at 50% complete failures and the guidance counselors 4.5% should tell you something. Better research on your part you be extremely helpful in telling a truthful story. Some schools are extremely proficient. Most teachers are very good. Some parents do their jobs very well. And some schools need a lot of help because of any number of valid reasons. If you have disinterested uninvolved parents what kind of kids are they sending to the school. The major problem is the parents. When parents do their job as parents their children are successful at school. When parents fail their children usually fail. At that point who is responsible for the success of those children?

Teachers work more than the seven hour day you commented about last night. Grading papers and preparing lessons takes up most evenings and weekends. Teachers do not get the summers off, with pay. Those days are not contracted days and teachers do not get paid for their summer vacations. Teachers contracts are for 188 – 190 days a year. Summers are spent doing graduate work or working at another job to supplement their income. Teachers get paid only for the days that they are contracted. There are no paid vacation days or paid holidays. 75 hours a week times 36 weeks equals 2700 hours. 40 hours a week times 50 weeks equals 2000 hours. Who works more?

Many people will always have an input when it comes to teaching the correct way and how "THE TEACHERS" should go about on how to educate students the right way in whatever the circumstance may be (Poverty, Living in Foster Care, Getting abused by parents or someone else, No food, etc.). These factors are not important to the people who input about teaching the correct way. However, my challenge to everyone is to just teach for a week and see all these factors and more. And with those factors in hand, also see how teachers truly take everything they have to reach these children, and try to make them a better student for the future. My opinion, no one knows how difficult it is until you are in the classroom. No Analyst. No Professor. No Journalist. Not even Parents, until they can experience truly on a day by day basis. The year 2010 is not the same as 1955 or even 1985. Times have change. Please give the teachers a small amount of credit, that not everything in numbers (DATA) is factual because students will perform different on a daily basis.

The guidance teacher from Rhode Island who was a guest on you show (February 25) does not have the correct facts about the Shaker Heights Schools in Shaker Heights, Ohio. 52% of the student population at our high school are minority students. We have been an integrated school district since the 1970s...CNN has done several shows about the Shaker Schools, the City of Shaker Heights and its commitment to quality education for all students. there is still a lot to be done, but we have been working hard at this from many years. In addition to a dedicated staff, we have a community who continues to pass school levies, even in hard economic times. We are no longer a "Upper-Middle" class socio-economic community.
I am a semi-retired educator who supports teacher accountability, merit pay and on-going assessments to monitor students' progress. Good for Rhode Island! It's time to get rid of the dead wood that plagues our schools. We must prepare our students to meet the challenges of a high technological society...all students.
Sincerely,
Mary White

Many of the problems the lady mentions at the school can be fixed, contrary to her defeatist comments, but it requires immense, almost super-human effort. And I bet the kids are passing their classes, but their performance on the tests shows that what ever it is they're being evaluate on isn't preparing them at a level comparable to the rest of their state. Where I teach, it is not abnormal for entire schools to be shut down. It happens several times a year, and it doesn't make CNN. Ultimately, the buck must stop somewhere.

However, I find Mr. Perry's tone to be incredibly demeaning. For him to cast these teachers as a bunch of wastrels is ignorant and cynical. Yes, teachers teach for about 6 1/2 hours per day. But most teachers work way more than that. I spend many additional hours a day planning lessons, attending professional development, grading, calling parents, assistant coaching, making connections with community organizations, and the list goes on. I make ZERO additional dollars for these activities.

Teaching, especially in the inner city, is an extremely tough job. High stakes tests, parents ranging from meddling to downright neglectful, rowdy children, and hypercritical administrators impede the job on a daily basis. Many of my students bring with them to school unbelievable amounts of emotional baggage, and I have to try to teach them high school math, despite the fact that many of them suffer from having attended absolutely horrible middle schools. I defy Mr. Perry to try to control–let alone, teach–my students for just a day, to experience the reality of what teaching is like in a rough area.

For, Mr. Perry to slam Mr. McLoughlin is pretty sad. How would Mr. Perry know what Mr. McLoughlin is or is not doing? Most failing schools have at least some incredible teachers. But if the culture isn't thoroughly ironclad, an urban school will fail. What it takes to run a successful school in a rough area is an entire team of incredibly talented, motivated and resourceful people.

I am an Ivy League-educated electrical engineer working as a teacher, and teaching in the inner city is, by far, the hardest thing I've ever done. I'm not saying my credentials mean I'm "all that", but if I attended a university that supposed to be among the best of the best and I find this job to be spectacularly difficult and frustrating, then what hope is there to staff all inner city schools with people more qualified than me?

Closing failing schools is an important short-term tactical move, but understand that the cycle will continue until major systemic changes are made to education in this country.

In hearing the interview of Mr. McLaughlin and Ms. Webb I took notice that Mr. McLaughlin was actually upset that someone (the school board) had the nerve to actually hold him and other teachers responsible for their performance, which turns out to be far below acceptable.

I also took notice that Mr. McLaughlin took special pains in noting his experience in teaching (3 degrees and 5 certifications) and guidance counseling, and that he was actually quite offended knowing that his work performance was “still” subject to review despite 32 years on the job. A little arrogant on your part in my opinion sir. Unlike the teaching profession, in any other business it really doesn’t matter how many degrees or awards you accumulate, you are still working for someone else and therefore you are required to produce results, and if you are not giving those results then you are subject to review and termination. It’s as simple as that.

What Mr. McLaughlin is really upset about is the fact that he is being fired and that he has the need to blame someone besides himself and his fellow teachers. He is probably afraid (and rightly so) that after so much time on the job, he has to be on the hunt for employment, especially at his age and experience level. Mr. McLaughlin has to come to terms that he has to start over again, with a lower paying job, and maybe in a different profession besides teaching. Hard things to come to terms with, but that is the nature of the times that we live in.

I for one, who has a son graduating from high school this year, must commend Mr. McLaughlin’s school district in this case. They took the difficult responsibility in saying that what is happening in that high school is failing, miserably, and that something drastic has to happen to turn these horrible numbers around. If that means that they have to make the teachers work longer hours, so be it, if it means that they are required to tutor students, so be it, if that means that they have to take developmental courses during the summer, so be it. And it means that if a teacher or teachers are not cutting the mustard in getting results, and therefore are subject to termination, then so be it.

Harsh times mean harsh solutions.

Mr. McLaughlin, good luck on your next career sir. I figure with your three degrees you could find something.

I would like to know who Steve Perry is and what qualifies him to be an education contributor to CNN? Apparantly he has never taught in a classroom. After 32 years in a classroom, and teaching in four different districts in two states, I never saw a teacher work a 6.5 hour day. My day starts at 6:00 AM in my classroom and ends at 6:00, 7:00, or sometimes 8:00 PM. I have also worked in schools with transient populations, with a high number of ESL, poverty, and special education students. The teachers and staff at these schools work tirelessly to educate these students. I take offense to the comments by Mr. Perry, that teachers are overpaid and underworked. Most teachers spend their summers in Professional Development and planning for the year to come. The reason why struggling schools are successful is due to the collaboration of teachers and leadership. When a schools has good leadership everyone involved, including administrators, teachers, parents and students take ownership in the learning process.
Why are teachers the only ones held accountable for student success?
Why aren't the administrators, parents, and students held accountable?
Only when everyone involved in the learning is held accountable, will education in this country be successful.

Mrs. Brown, I love your new educator contributer Steve Perry, but at the same time, I am so sick of him. I do commend him for his contribution to education and his committment to urban education, but his dogmatic and negative stance regarding unions, educators, diminishing the importance of parental and community support in the process is laughable at best and insulting to the core.

However, I like to render a comment regarding the firing of the Rhode Island teaching staff. First, I accept that there is a such thing as bad teachers. I have worked with many of them over the years. And, in other past lives, I have worked with bad taxi drivers, bad administrators, bad eleccted officials, bad food service workers. They do exist.

In additon, the problems that exist in Rhode Island, exist inmy state in New Jersey and many other communities across the nation. And the questionis who is at fault? We can blame it on some bad teachers, and the principals who dropped the ball when it comes to weeded out incompetencies, and making sure that professional development and teachers inservices speaks to the training needs for that given community and educational standards.

We can blame bad principals, and the superintendents with obscene salaries, splendid benefit packages, who often are detached from the needs of the community and are not aware of the latest research and best practice in education (including urban education) to better serve the students and those troubling community.

We can blame superintendents. And, we can blame countless board of educations of these troubling districts. Instead of knowing something about education, buy into the hype of picking starlet politicians and failed businessman instead of hiring education ceo's with a proven track record of educational success (Arne Duncan doesn't fit) and knows how to do needs assessment and knows approaches by Margaret Mead, Harry Wong, and the Dewey Decimal System, and been in the classroom.

We can blame board of eds. We can blame politicians. We can blame stupid state and federal mandate. We can blame teachers that often in many urban settings are harassed, assaulted, abused, and frustrated but dedicated to do their job and are the whipping boys for the Gallos, Duncans, and Perrys of the world. We can blame teacher unions and there purpose to make sure that teachers get a fair shake and fair deal. We can blame so many people for the failure of that community and those kids.

I'll just blame the parents.

Being a retired civil service employee, I used to work where a number of people weren't very productive but it was nearly impossible to get rid of them. A system that is based on performance not longevity is one thing that is needed.

As both a parent and educator, I am very concerned about the state of our public education today. Firing the entire staff at Rhode Island High School is not a solution. Are teachers to be held accountable? Absolutely. However, it is simply wrong and in no way helps our students when total responsibility and punishment is placed on teachers. The comments made by Mr. Steve Perry only seemed to sensationalize the issue. He cited failing test scores to show that these teachers were doing a terrible job. Yet, Mr. Perry himself admitted in an interview with Soledad O'Brien that he could not control low test scores and referred to "economics", "race", and "other things" for such scores. When these same factors were given for the situation in Rhode Island, he basically called them excuses and inferred that the teachers were not qualified to teach students with such circumstances. Although I admire the passion and dedication that Mr. Perry has shown for educating our children, I must say I was very disappointed at many of his comments. There were many overgeneralizations and spins on what was presented. Most teachers do not make 70 to 80,000/yr. Most teachers do not work just 6 1/2 hours a day; on the contrary, they work long hours and often on the week end. Those were just good "sound bites" . Furthermore, Mr. Perry is the principal of a magnet school that is specifically designed to provide students and teachers with an environment that supports success in teaching and learning. He is to be commended for this. However, most public high schools across the nation are nothing like Mr. Perry's school. He obviously saw that traditional education was not working for many of our kids which motivated him to create his magnet school. Again, he is to be commended. However, lets be fair and present the full picture. Yes, there are bad teachers. Look at any profession and you will find individuals performing poorly or even unethically in their duties. Do we fire them all across the board? Of course not. Let's get real. I agree that the teacher is the single most important factor in the education of our students. I agree that teachers must be held to high standards and accountability. However, they are only one factor.

About time someone had the backbone to stand up for this. Stop dumbing down our kids. Make the standards higher to get the best and brightest, average just does not cut it in the world today, never has. AND if your child comes home with less than the best then the parent should take some of the responsibility in teaching them.

I am a school teacher of twenty years in a rural setting in SE Oklahoma. I'm very frustrated with the difficuties that are going on in education today. I heard a couple of things on the cnn report that just is not true. Teachers may have less than a 7 hour work day during normal scheduled hours but they grade papers for hours at end at home, work ball games, do fun raisers and many other nightly and weekend activites that are not taken into consideration. Also to say that the language barrier that has taken place at Central Falls is not
or should not be a issue in low performance scores is outrageous. We are a english speaking nation that is now being told that if we do not speak another language (Spanish) that we are not good educators. If we go to another country we are expected to learn that language to succeed. The world is changing and we have more and more different ethnic groups coming into our country than every before. As educators, are we going to be expected to learn all those languages as well? The last thing I would say is that education is a
community affair. The teacher does his/her part, the student does their part, and the parent does their part. It should be this way but often is not. If any part of the community is not doing their part the child will fail. This is the issue at Central Falls that should be taken into careful consideration. As a teacher I would not want to work in a community that would fire me for doing my job just because others were not or because there are obviuous language barriers which is no person's fault.

I watched your 5:30 segment blaming teachers for student failure. I work in an alternative school similar to the one you described in the segment. Every teacher at my school works many hours beyond a six-hour day. Six hours is only the number of hours we are teaching in the classroom. Please be aware that we have no breaks even to use the restroom. Teachers grade papers, create lessons, attend meetings, make parent calls, and go to workshops after their six hours of teaching. Yes, we have summers free but receive no pay. The ten weeks we have off are usually spent attending workshops, studying, and revising our lessons for the coming year. Very seldom are we paid for planning time which is a never-ending process. In addition, most of us work after-school programs for little or no money. Some teachers volunteer to teach soccer, martial arts, sewing, and tutoring for a stipend if we are lucky. We often take our students on field trips on the weekends receiving no compensation.

Perhaps you should shadow a teacher and see what he/she does in a work day. I get to work an hour before school starts to watch the garden which I planted, revise my lesson plans, and grade papers. My teaching day starts at 7:30 and ends at 2:10. I am lucky if I get a twenty minute lunch. I usually stay after school to revise lesson plans, grade papers and sometimes tutor students. I also have volunteered to teach students sewing. That is on my own time and my own dollar. My colleagues do the same. (I am also buying supplies for the sewing class.)

Do you honestly believe that you can force a student to learn if he/she is resistent for any reason? Think about this: If you fire the teachers who teach at-risk students or if you give merit pay to schools to improve their test scores, who do you think will be willing to teach our growing number of at-risk children?

Most of our students have issues that take precedent over learning. They take drugs. Their parents are in prison. They have children of their own. They have serious emotional problems. They have to work to help out their families. We deal with all these issues the best we can. We try everything we can think of to engage our students. With the issues they face, it isn't impossible, but it isn't easy.

Our students are transient and so we may only teach them for a few months.(That doesn't leave a lot of time to make improvements in their education.) During that time they are absent or tardy. It is difficult to make a difference in a student's academics when we may only see them for a few months. The students who do remain at our school for a considerable length of time usually show marked improvement. They are few and far between. I challenge anyone to try to teach for a year and see how many obstacles there can be in a single academic school year.

At what point do we put the responsibility for learning on the student? If a student believes that the teacher has all the responsibility for their education as they constantly hear in the media, how will they ever take responsibility for learning? If a student refuses to work in class, refuses to do homework, and refuses to take a test seriously, what can one do? Surely you had classes in college where the teachers were no very good. You learned in spite of them because you were interested and motivated.

Almost every half-hour lunch period my colleagues debate these questions. We talk about our small successes and our failures. We
are committed to improving our students' lives. We must all–parents, communities, teachers, and students must work together to remedy the situation. Blaming one group will not solve the problem.

This same program was tried by Arnie Duncan in Chicago. He fired all the teachers in a "low performing" high school and replaced them with a new faculty. The result was disastrous. The reconstituted school did no better and violence actually went up. You have to rememeber that Duncan has no formal training in education or education theory. He makes things up as he goes along with no real knowledge of how children learn. His ideas did not work in Chicago and won't work for the nation. The teachers are being scape goated for poor adminstrative policies. If the schools administrators held students and parents as accountable as teachers and offered a cirriculum that the students found interesting, they would see positive results.

I take issue with the way the "Facts" were presented (Rhode Island fires all teachers in a school district). We depend on the news (and for me CNN is the one I watch) to be sure they have and present accurate information. A 7 hour school day is not the same as a teacher work day. That means that students attend school for 7 hours. Teachers work a regular (usually longer) workday just like you. Most teachers work early, late, and take work home on weekends. Also, I'd be interested in finding out what the facts are on the statistics that were given to you by the school district in Rhode Island. If indeed 50% of all students are failing ALL of their classes then this is an extreme situation that needs radical intervention. Doesn't the state have a "report card" for schools like we do in Oregon. Maybe that would allow you to get more accurate information. Also - please remember that schools do not educate students in a vacuum and it's not appropriate to compare results from an extremely high poverty school and all that entails, with a school or district that is wealthy with all THAT entails. Teachers have to work much harder to help these children with survival issues. They do not start from the same place. So they have a much longer distance to go to get from point A to point B. Teachers in general are some of the most hard working people in this country and the most dedicated. There are always workers in every profession who are just sliding by, but I think that educators are getting discouraged with being the scapegoat for the ills of society. Let's make education better, let's make government better, let's make news coverage better, let's feed our children, mend their ills etc. Also, your correspondent was totally inaccurate in how he presented his "facts", and he was also extremely unprofessional – he seemed to really hate educators.

While watching the video about the teachers in Rhode Island, I was surprised to hear your comment in regards to teachers working less than 7 hours. Do you really believe that teachers only work when they have students? If so, when do you think they do lesson planning, prepping, or grading? I can’t begin to tell you of the endless hours my husband and I spend working outside our contract time. I arrive on average at school at 6:30 AM and leave between 3:30 and 4:00 PM. When I arrive home, I usually take care of family and then back to work for anotherthree to four hours. Not to mention the countless hours I work on the weekends. Please do not assume nor imply that teachers work less than 7 hours. I am sure that you spend countless hours working beyond what you are paid for, so have some respect for other professionals, who deserve your respect. A Teacher, CA

I found your negative comments regarding the Rhode Island teachers to be unprofessional and completely biased against all the dedicated teachers in this country. Shame on you for blaming ALL teachers for the student's failures. Where do the parents and the students themselves have any responsibility????
Teachers may only work in the classroom 7 hours a day, but they spend countless hours at home grading papers and preparing for class.

No Teachers will do any better there!!!! That place is a cesspool!!!!
The city is less than 1.5 square miles and has about 18000 people living there.
Almost everyone who lives there wants to live in either neighboring Lincoln or Cumberland. The whole city is like one big housing project. If Central Falls schools were merged with any of its neighboring school districts, nobody would be complaining about those schools test averages because the Central Falls students poor performances would be diluted by the higher averages of the students from the more wealthy communities.
The teachers there NEED to be paid more as well because NOBODY wants to go there.

Dear Campbell,

Re: The Rhode Island firing of teachers

I am an Ivy League educated public high school teacher who has been successfully working with at risk students for over 11 years, as measured by the increased pass rates and standardized exam pass rates of students I work with.

Four major things need to be done to improve the pass rate of this Rhode Island high school:

1) Make sure the kids are attending their classes–parents', teachers', kids', and administrators' responsibility. Parents' job–wake kids up, feed them, love them, make sure they are at the school's gate, bus stop etc. Teachers' job–report on kids who are cutting their individual classes and phone home to parents. Kids' job–stop playing video games, staying up too late, and start getting out of bed to school. Once there pay attention in class and do your work. Stop text messaging! Administrators' job–have an attendance officer who phones home to let parents know if kids didn't make it to school at all; regularly absent kids should have their parents charged with educational neglect by the school district until they start attending.

2) Make sure that the teachers are in fact effectively teaching the kids what they need to know for their in class exams and standardized exams by regularly visiting these classes unannounced and examining the materials the teachers are using to teach, while at the same time not blaming the teachers but having specific conversations with them about what they are doing right and how they can improve. If exams are the measure of educational progress, and they should be, then teachers will have to make sure that they are preparing students to pass these exams. Any teachers who after this process don't show improvement in test scores after a three year period should be fired, but only after making sure that regularly absent students' exam scores aren't counted in evaluating these teachers. One cannot teach students who are absent!

3) Accepting , but not condoning, the fact that these students will need an after school program and extra help during the day to complete their out of class assignments because their parents are obviously not structuring their home environments to make sure these kids value education and that these kids are doing their homework. Abolish study halls! Instead hire extra teaching assistants to work with failing students one on one throughout the day as student schedules can accommodate these sessions. One thing to say about the importance of parental involvement: Vietnamese boat people parents–who were both very poor and didn't even know English–nonetheless produced students who excelled in disadvantaged urban school districts in the 1980s! Unfortunately the reality is that not all parents are going to be like the Vietnamese boat people parents. There are a lot of reasons why parents aren't doing their job, but the bottom line is that if you want to increase the pass rates of this school, then as a school you need to take responsibility for making students do all of the work they need to do at school, not home. In fact, the Board of Education should mandate all failing to students to stay after and attend extra help sessions during the school day.

4) With students just beginning kindergarten in this district, a program should be developed, in which each family is informed about what they should be doing at home to help their children be good students. Obviously some parents will still be "deadbeats" but other parents who care will be informed about how to structure their home environments so that their kids will be academically successful. A lot of parents do care but are frustrated and need help to help their kids at home actually get their work done. The earlier a school district starts working on this problem the more amazing the results will be.

Elizabeth

P.S. Get rid of that horrible "educational expert" you keep having on. He is incredibly ignorant and combative. Solely blaming teachers and teachers' unions is unhelpful. Teachers' unions aren't perfect by any means but teachers, who must now have a Master's Degree and who do work evening nights and weekends to prepare for their classes and grade papers, do deserve to be compensated at competitive rates. Teachers earn far below what similarly educated people in the private and public sectors do and it is a high stress, demanding job. That's why 50% of first year teachers leave the profession. Just get rid of the teachers who aren't performing after doing what I've indicated above.