Breaking Ranks -- Views and Remedies from a Radical Pragmatist

Bob Woodson Blog

The Missing Issue in Teacher Firing

02/26/2010 09:21 AM

How can you possibly determine the competence of teachers in the presence of violence and disruptions in the school? If there is bullying and intimidation of students and teachers, even in “prestigious” private schools, how can you evaluate the performance of a teacher? Such an atmosphere prevents good teachers from exhibiting their skills and allows poor teachers to escape accountability. But you can’t tell which one is which

 

The decision by the Rhode Island School District to fire some 80 teachers because of the poor performance of students is outrageous not because teachers and schools should not be held accountable but because educators and school reformers continue to try to fix the broken education system by teacher discipline, teacher training, reducing class sizes, or introducing more creative curriculums. All these are done in the isolation from the huge elephant that sits in the middle of the room. This elephant is crime, violence, and the civil disorder that characterizes many of these troubled institutions. The presence of constant disruption, the threat of violence against teachers, and the bullying of students by other students—no one seems to connect these behaviors with the inability of teachers to teach

 

I believe it is impossible to determine which teachers are failures and which ones are successful when you have constant class disruptions and students are hall-walking and not coming to class. Education cannot take place when there is the threat of violence against students and teachers, teachers’ cars are vandalized, and students assault other students.  At Boston Latin, a 15-year old withdrew because of bullying. If you have this level of disorder in a school like that, how can you then fault the teachers in schools that are ministering to the needs of children from high-crime, low-income neighborhoods, some with parents who are limited in their ability to participate in the educational process because of language barriers

 

What is needed first of all is a strategy to reduce violence and disruption. Only in the presence of civil order can you truly evaluate the performance of teachers and school administrators.

 

A violence-reduction strategy that is working.