VAM is coming to town.

[LWolf]

The backstory:

My district is heavily involved in our states "Chalkboard" project, including CLASS. For more information:

http://www.chalkboardproject.org/what-we-do/class.php

At the beginning of this year, my administrator made an urgent plea for a volunteer from our site to represent us in the district's committee working on the CLASS project. He was met with silence. We are a small school, and each of us is already overextended with extra duties.

Then he said that the group would be working, this year, on a new method of teacher evaluation which would be implemented in the 2011-2012 school year. So I stepped up. I told him if he could find someone to take my place on SSC, I'd trade that duty for the CLASS project. He jumped on it.

We had my first meeting on Veteran's Day. Yes, on a national holiday. No subs to pay (we got paid for our time) and no breaching of the contract which assigned Friday the 12th as a budget cut day; we're not allowed to work at anything on district budget cut days. When I arrived, I saw that the very large group (40+ people) were divided into 3 groups. The facilitator asked me to choose which group I'd like to work with:

1. A group working on student assessments.

2. A group working on teacher evaluation using Charlotte Danielson's "framework."

3. A group working on the part of teacher evaluation that would include student achievement.

I stared at her. Finally I said, "I will never, beyond my dying breath, support using student achievement to evaluate teachers." She looked uncomfortable. I was shocked, because this was the first I'd heard of my district headed in this direction. She urged me to choose a group. I asked, "Where do you think would be best? In a group I can support with my energy and ideas, or in a group that I would be a constant stumbling block?" She said, "You choose." So...I chose to be the stumbling block. I joined the group deciding how to evaluate teachers using student achievement data.

I knew most of the group already, and it surprised me that they were there. Especially since one of them was an REA rep. They welcomed me. The discussion of the day was to be the use of VAM: "Value Added Measure," for those that need that definition. I stared at them. I asked them why they would even CONSIDER using student achievement to evaluate teachers, knowing that it's a flawed measure. The union rep turned to me and explained, "It's a very popular reform measure right now. Everybody's doing it." You might be able to predict my internal reaction to THAT. I allowed myself a count of ten and some deep breaths, and then said, calmly, "I fail to see why "it's popular" and "everybody's doing it" is a recommendation for doing something that we know is NOT constructive. Popularity and conventional wisdom are often not based on truth." The whole group looked elsewhere...down, to the side, at each other. Nobody would meet my eyes.

After an uncomfortable moment, one of the other teachers spoke up. He said, "We thought it would be better to be the ones deciding how this would be implemented. Better that we design it for ourselves, than that it's done TO us." I acknowledged that point, and the discussion went forward.

I then discovered that 50 FUCKING PERCENT of the evaluation would be based on student achievement. And that some part of that 50% had to be a VAM. Of course, being the stumbling block, I had to ask where the 50% figure came from...who was pulling those strings, if it wasn't up to this group to decide? I didn't like the answer. You see, the money for the CLASS project is coming from a TIF grant. The federal Teacher Incentive Fund. And TIF requires that teacher evaluations include student achievement, and that part of the acheivement data be VAM.

I said that it was too bad our district and state were willing to sell us out taking Federal monies with harmful strings attached, and we moved on.

The rest of our conversation was about how much of the data should be in a VAM model; what should be in or out of the VAM model. Most of the group favored putting the entire 50% under VAM, which, again, shocked me. I asked why. I was told that a VAM attempted to filter out factors that teachers didn't control. For example, Title I, ELL, and SPED scores. That measures outside of a VAM model would include those factors. I said briefly that VAM didn't seem to help LA Unified any. Again, the uncomfortable silence, the looking away. The union leader tried to explain to me that VAM was our best option to keep things as fair as possible.

Have I mentioned that our district superintendent was sitting 2 feet away from me throughout this meeting? He was. I took the opportunity to point out that one of our small district's best strengths was our propensity for teamwork and collaboration, and that I was worried that basing evaluations on student achievement would change that, leaving teachers and schools competing for the students most likely to score well. I then asked how teachers who teach non-tested subjects would be evaluated in this new system. The group's facilitator had time to say, "That's a complication we're still working on," and the group session was over. A special speaker was due from the Chalkboard project.

That speaker focused on the positive things the Chalkboard project has accomplished and is currently working on. He was blistering in his criticism of the happenings in Los Angeles and Rhode Island. So far, so good. But then he said that one goal was to get more mayors to appoint superintendents, rather than elected school boards. I immediately questioned it. To be honest, I don't remember his justifications. I remember that I could see his points, but that they weren't strong enough to outweigh the drawbacks. I said, "That sounds fine, if every mayor would appoint actual educators. What happens to us, though, when they appoint incompetent basketball players?" I was sitting in front. I heard a rise of sound behind me at that question; I'm not sure if it was in support or protest. He said, "No comment," and the day ended.

I don't really see my participation as gaining anything good, other than trying to make sure a corrupt system does as little damage as possible. I sure as hell won't be representing it positively to my colleagues. I wonder what will happen if our association doesn't give approval? We renegotiate our contract this spring. I'm sure it will be part of that negotiation.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Good for you

They need us on these committees. They didn't listen to me on our committee, but I planted several seeds. :)

[LWolf]

5. I figured it was either that or take my ball, go home,

and give up. I don't give up easily. ;)

[Angry Dragon]

2. K&R

I am neither an educator nor a parent. I have always thought that formal education was the building foundation for all further learning.

Question: If they want to use student achievement as a factor why do they not use each individual students' progress and then add those all together and then divide to get an actual well informed assessment?? Some students will be at say a 50% and at the year end they would be at say anywhere from 60% to 75%. That would be improvement from 20% to 50%. Other students would be at 90% and increase to 92%. Not much of a gain but there was not much room to improve. If they want to measure using testing then they should make it more honest.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. That is what they want to do

The problem is that there are so many other factors that impact achievement. You can't fairly hold teachers accountable. What happens in that classroom is only a small part of how kids grow and learn.

[Angry Dragon]

7. So how do fix the system??

Does it boil down to fixing poverty??
Parent involvement??
Better and more teaching aids?? Not people aides.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Reduce class size. Provide social services that address issues of poverty.

Fully fund parent involvement programs. Provide parent education.

Of course all of those ideas cost money and the game nowadays is about spending less not more.

[LWolf]

10. "Fixing" poverty would be a start.

Simply because it is the responsible, ethical thing to do. The improvement you'd see in student learning would be a side benefit.

Parent education and involvement...absolutely.

More people. Period. Teaching aids? The real powerhouse when it comes to helping a student is one-on-one and small group interaction with adults. Not coincidentally, that's the same formula for early childhood development. Attention from adults.

You can get that by reducing class sizes. That means more people. You can get that by having a team of qualified adults there to catch anyone struggling at the moment they slip.

[villager]

3. Good for you, LWolf... I fear this testing-craze won't have subsided

...by the time both my boys are done with school. We need a TSA-stle backlash to it.

Of course, they're still inflicting 4th amendment intrusions on us, but a groundswell -- starting with teachers like you -- would be good...

[LWolf]

6. I know the testing craze won't be done before

your boys are done with school. As a matter of fact, their high school diplomas, and thus college acceptance, could depend on it. :(

Of course, at the rate we're going, within another 5 years there will be few public schools left; most of public education will be in the hands of charters and temporary, cheap, under-qualified TFA-style teachers. I didn't think I'd live to see that happen.

[Starry Messenger]

9. Thank you LWolf.

:thumbsup:

[Chalkboard]

11. Clarifications

Hello LWolf-

I wanted to clarify a few things in your post. I'm happy to have a conversation about the CLASS work as well.

-The CLASS Project is about supporting teachers to do their best work in the classroom. It is a comprehensive initiative that asks districts to design models that integrate new career paths, relevant professional development, effective performance evaluation, and new compensation models. We believe that teachers have to be at the table, designing systems that will strengthen their own practice and raise student achievement. Chalkboard's TIF application was one of the only ones that included teachers in the planning process. This is new work that not many districts have engaged in and we believe that with teachers and administrators at the table together, the CLASS districts can develop comprehensive models that better serve teacher and students.

-The TIF application used as an example of measuring teacher effectiveness, a model in which 50% of a teacher effectiveness rating was linked to student achievement. There is flexibility around that number and around the use of VAM. Each district has to decide how they are going to measure effective teaching. Student achievement must be a "significant factor", but that could include district designed measures such as work samples, formative assessments, etc. as well as a value-added model. We will continue to encourage districts to use multiple measure of student achievement selected and designed by the district.

-In Dan's comments, he was not talking about Mayors appointing Superintendents. He was talking about the COSA policy and vision committee's support for an appointed state superintendent. Right now the state superintendent is elected by the public and does not have to meet any skills criteria.

Best,
Aimee Craig, Chalkboard Project, Communications Manager

[LWolf]

12. I appreciate your clarifications,.

Where did you come from, just in time? :hi:

You are correct about the state superintendent instead of the local supe. I stand by my concern though; appointed people aren't automatically better than elected people. I definitely don't want any more appointed basketball players.

I don't think it's okay to use student data to evaluate me. I want to be evaluated based on what I do, not on what someone else does. This opens a can of worms I don't want to have to walk through.

I'm disappointed that my district, that my state, thinks it's okay to agree to flawed measures in order to get grants. It's like accepting a bribe to favor bad policy. It detracts from the positive work the Chalkboard project has done, and is doing, imo.

In our discussion, the only flexibility I heard was in how much of the 50% would be VAM; it was set in stone that student data would be 50%. I'm also not sure about VAM itself. It's obviously vulnerable to misuse (See LA unified.) The way it was presented to me was completely different from the way I'd heard it before, and I was unsure about the logic I was hearing from the group. The logic there said that using VAM could exclude scores from students with outside factors like SES, ELL, SPED, etc. that affect student performance. That doesn't make sense. It would certainly make my scores look better if I could exclude all of those students, but that's not any more of a valid measure of MY effectiveness than including them all would be.

While I like and respect the people I work with, including those working on the CLASS project, I can't say I'm comfortable with the direction we're headed.

I welcome further information.

[Chalkboard]

14. Further Info

I appreciate the invitation for more information.

VAM and a lot of other education reforms become simplified and divisive when then become part of public discussion, but I don't think they need to be.

-On the appointed vs. elected state superintendent, the COSA policy and vision taskforce has specifically talked about advocating for an appointed superintendent with education credentials. I think they would agree that appointed isn't automatically better than elected. Part of the issue of an elected superintendent however, is that it has to be someone with the time and resources to raise money for a campaign, which could likely be a struggle for a current educator.

-I'm interested in what you mean by being evaluated on what you do. How do you know that what you do is effective if you don't also take outcomes into consideration?

-Part of the issue with talking about VAM is that there is no one VAM. Value-added models vary in how they are put together, what factors they take into consideration and how they are used. The federal government required the use of a VAM for TIF funds in part because they want to see if schools or districts can develop new models that teachers and administrators would find useful. Most of the criticism of VAM currently is that it shouldn't be the only measure used for high-stakes decisions (compensation, placement, etc). And clearly, VAM scores should not be taken as a simple measure of teacher effectiveness or presented to the public (i.e. LA Times) in a manner that does nothing to benefit teachers or students.

-I'll make sure that the CLASS coaches clarify with the districts about the 50% student data piece- our understanding at Chalkboard is that there is no set percentage.

-A value-added model does not exclude students, but it is meant to account for an individual student's prior performance. This is language from an NEA piece on VAM: "Value-added measurement is a statistical technique for measuring growth in student learning that has occurred between two test administrations. It estimates the amount of growth, or gain, that an individual student would ordinarily be expected to make in one school year, based on that same student’s performance in previous years. Teachers whose students make on average greater than expected gains would receive higher value-added scores than teachers whose students made expected gains or less than expected gains." VAMs can include multiple years of data for each student. The more data they include, the more reliable they are seen to be. So, although your scores would not exclude your SES, ELL, or SPED students, the model is meant to account for those students average performance over previous years and compare that to their performance while you have them. And Chalkboard is working with researchers on figuring out how to include multiple formative and summative assessments in the VAM. Again, there is no suggestion that VAM be the only measure of student achievement used. Your district could decide to use multiple formative assessments, student portfolios, etc. And those measures could be combine with an evaluation of what you do, based on classroom visits, peer reviews, etc. The options here are fairly open. If you email me, I'd be happy to send you other research papers on VAM.

-I do want to reiterate that VAM is just a small part of the TIF grant and the CLASS Project. The project is much more about creating models that support teachers to do their best work in the classroom. Integrating career paths and leadership opportunities, professional development, performance evaluation and compensation is part of building a comprehensive system to benefit educators and students.

-Aimee

[Reader Rabbit]

13. Your district's MO sounds a lot like mine.

Having teachers on these committees is just so much window dressing. In my district, decisions are made by central office personnel, then committees are formed, and any teacher input which doesn’t support the predetermined goal is ignored or dismissed out of hand. This procedure creates the illusion of teacher support for some extremely questionable practices. Needless to say, the majority of teachers in our district have learned that the emperor has no clothes, and that these so-called reforms are merely a justification for increasing the power of the bureaucracy.

With this VAM thing, it looks like something similar is happening in you district. Someone in an office decided that VAM was the way to go, and after the fact, a committee was formed to create the facade of a ground-up movement in which all “stakeholders” have an equal say. By including classroom teachers on these essentially toothless committees, district bureaucrats can claim teacher buy-in, where no such buy-in exists. I hope you keep speaking out against the insanity and encourage others to do the same. So many of my colleagues keep claiming that there's nothing that can be done, but if only all the teachers would stand united, you bet the bean-counters would back off.

[Valerie G]

15. Disappointed

I am very saddened that whomever started this thread from the Redmond school district did so after only attending one meeting. If you were a part of our team last year you would have a better understanding of how we (as a CLASS PROJECT TEAM) arrived to the conversations that you have been a part of. I am of the belief that if a person has a problem or a question with something going on or a person, then you should address the person not the world wide web.

We are in uncharted territory and a new age of education. Although I was not a part of your group's meeting, becuase I was leading the evaluation group, I believe that you misunderstood that our district has already set the VAM to include 50% of a student's achievement score on the VAM. I do know that it was part of the discussion, but I don't think it was decided. I feel by you posting this information you are trying to discredit all the work that our TEAM and the district has done for the past year and half.

I am also disappointed in websites like this that allow people to post untrue or half true ideas, make a judgement and not have to have a name attached to the post.

As you know, RSD employee, our district has gone through 4 years of difficult times. Our leadership has been less than honest at times. However, our new leadership is very interested in having honest and open communication and has opened the door to that. I think it is time to let go of the past and move on with our new leader. But by printing unhealthy posts like this, with only half the information, you are conintiuing to perpetuate the mistrust that was of our past! I encourage you to keep attending the CLASS meetings and giving your feedback, however I also encourage you to ask questions when something sounds unfair or unjust or just simply not right in your mind. The only way we can move forward with this is if we are all open and honest during the process.

And in response to Reader Rabbit, I don't appreciate the comment that all district personnel make decissions behind closed doors and then pretend to have a meeting where that actually care and then end up doing whatever it is they want. This CLASS project team has been working for over a year and a half and we have TRULY made every decission from the teachers on up. Again this is uncharted territory and we are all learning together. Our districts current administrators are doing everything they can to listen and create a culture of trust and professionalism. If we are going to make in this new uncharted territory, we can't continue to live in an unhealthy past! It is time we move on together!

[Starry Messenger]

16. lol.

How fascinating. You take a lot of liberties for someone who has made no effort to get to know people here. You and your colleague represent an organization that is touting reforms to get its hands on RTTT money for the school district.

http://www.chalkboardproject.org/news/articles/04032010.php

Oregon dutifully applied for $200 million. Its application was ranked as 7th worst, also known as "34th best" in more affirmative circles.

Federal reviewers saw Oregon's plans as vague and unfocused, as The Oregonian's Betsy Hammond reported last week. Reviewers also noticed that the state seemed to lack authority to intervene in the state's lowest performing schools.

No matter how much the state tried to puff up its innovative prowess, the feds managed to size up Oregon fairly accurately as a small-hat, some-cattle state.

To be clear, this lack of boldness and urgency is true only at the state level. Many districts and individual schools in Oregon have shown signs of true innovation. The Tillamook School District in coastal Oregon, for example, has made breakthroughs with students by embracing a grassroots program called CLASS, intended to help schools define and reward effective teaching.

This program, a brainchild of the ever-persistent nonprofit Chalkboard Project, has expanded to 12 districts in Oregon with eight more reportedly on the waiting list. Done right, bottom-up efforts like this can help compensate for inertia at the top -- and even spark systemic change over time.

<snip>

The Oregon Education Association signed onto the Race for the Top application, but with no measurable enthusiasm. The Portland Association of Teachers took pains to oppose the application and publicly express irritation at the idea of "reform."

The Chalkboard project is the brainchild of private foundations.




How is yours any different from the others who are signing onto union-busting propaganda? You have a problem, teachers smell bullshit. You have come to this obscure little corner of the web to throw your weight around and sloganeer. Maybe this is a good opportunity for you to demonstrate that interest in "honest and open communication".

[Starry Messenger]

17. Oh, and lookie here.

July 1, 2010
Oppose Obey Amendment: Sustain Education Reform, Keep Promises to States and Communities

Dear Congressman:



We are writing to urge you to vote against an amendment being offered today to the supplemental appropriations bill by Congressman David Obey to fund a new "Edujobs" program by using offsets from key Obama Administration reform initiatives that are working in our states and communities, with strong support from elected officials of both political parties and a broad spectrum of stakeholders,to affect real changes in school systems that are benefiting students and offering new hope to parents.



The amendment as constructed is unnecessarily divisive and, in the final analysis, counterproductive. Members of Congress should not be forced to have a vote for teacher jobs and salaries yoked to cuts to reforms that will ensure that precious educational resources are spent to give all children - regardless of race, country of origin, or zip code - a high quality education that prepares them for college and the workforce.



Yesterday, Assistant Secretary of Education, Peter Cunningham, said "If Congress is determined to find offsets, we will help them do that, but these are not the right ones." We urge Congressman Obey and the Congressional Leadership to go back to the drawing board and work with the Administration on a bill that saves jobs without gutting equally important education reforms.



The Obey amendment would cut:

- $500 million from Race to the Top, bringing the total available for state applications already submitted down from $3.4 billion to $2.9 billion;



- $100 million from the Charter Schools Program; and,

- $200 million from the Teacher Incentive Fund.

The federal government must keep its promise to states like New York, California, Illinois, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Ohio, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Colorado, that each undertook bold education reforms with the understanding that they would qualify for the resources needed to pay for them. It must think of the 6,000 jobs in the public charter school sector alone that could be at risk if Congress makes the 40% cut to charter schools that the Obey amendment entails.

The American public is looking for leadership on education, and collaboration between elected officials that reflects and supports the extraordinary work stakeholders are undertaking together at the state and local level. They are certainly not looking for a surprise turnaround of federal policy that undermines their efforts.

Please vote against the Obey amendment and work with your colleagues across ideological and party lines to craft an alternative that does not stop real and important changes in our nation's public school system just as they are beginning to show promise in improving the quality in education for ALL our nation's schoolchildren, especially those who historically have been so woefully and unjustly shortchanged.

Sincerely,

Achievement First

Advance Illinois

City Peace Foundation, Sondra Samuels, President

Civic Builders

Chalkboard Project, Sue Hildick, President

ConnCAN

Democrats for Education Reform

Education Equality Project

Education Reform Now

The Education Trust

The Education Trust West, Arun Ramanathan, Executive Director

Foundation for Excellence in Education

Harlem Success Academy

Hope Street Group

KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program)

KIPP Minnesota, Suzanne Tacheny Kubach, PhD, Board Chair and Mark Chronister,

Vice Chair

League of Education Voters

Mass Insight Education

The Mind Trust

National Alliance of Public Charter Schools

National Council of La Raza (NCLR)

New Schools Venture Fund, Ted Mitchell, CEO

The New Teacher Project

Rodel Foundation of Delaware

Stand for Children

Texas Institute for Education Reform


http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:mbPx6QT3Xb8J:www.dfer.org/list/issues/advocacy/+Sue+Hildick,+President&cd=15&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a


You might want to check your website for satire:

http://www.chalkboardproject.org/about-us/faqs.php

How are you different from other groups working to improve schools?

We’re completely independent from any other group, though we try to find ways to work with those other groups when we can. We came into this work with no pre-conceived agenda – we’re just regular citizens who care about schools, and we don’t represent any special interest group. Most other education groups focus primarily on obtaining more money for schools; while we think adequate, stable resources are important, we’re more concerned with making sure whatever money schools have is targeted in ways that result in long-term gains in student achievement, and that the public feels more confident in how school dollars are being used. Research drives our agenda; we promote only those practices that are proven to raise student achievement, and changes that citizens tell us they want.

[Chalkboard]

18. Conversation

If you would like to talk to me directly about the Chalkboard Project or the CLASS work, please send me an email: craig (at) chalkboardproject (dot) org. I would be happy to continue the conversation.

-Aimee

[Name removed]

19. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[YvonneCa]

20. You DO realize, I hope, that you posted on a public...

...discussion board??? DU is a place to discuss issues of interest...and here in the education forum, that would be education. Did you expect something different?

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Reader Rabbit]

23. Poor first impression

I am of the belief that if a person has a problem or a question with something going on or a person, then you should address the person not the world wide web.

And yet, here you are.

For the record, LWolf did address the people involved—there at the meeting she attended. From her description of the reactions when she spoke up, it appears that her problems and questions were ignored/dismissed.

In addition, LWolf did not out her district on the world wide web; you did. LWolf has been very consistent in not naming the specific district for which she works. Most of us here are similarly discreet.

The only way we can move forward with this is if we are all open and honest during the process...our new leadership is very interested in having honest and open communication and has opened the door to that.

Creating a board account for the sole purpose of attacking a longstanding member of this Internet community does not suggest open and honest communication. Quite the opposite: it smacks of an attempt to intimidate LWolf into silence. Advertising your membership on the committee that brought VAM to the district—and therefore your intimacy with district administration—can easily be perceived as a threat to a fellow teacher’s livelihood. The fact that you somehow found her post amidst thousands of others, on an Internet forum that you do not frequent, certainly feels sinister.

I feel by you posting this information you are trying to discredit all the work that our TEAM and the district has done for the past year and half.

I feel that your posting is a presumptuous and high-handed attempt to silence an individual who disagrees with you.

LWolf’s post was not about you. It was about VAM and how it appears to be a done deal within her district. She came here to share the bad news with people who understand, people who can both sympathize and empathize. That you chose to view it as a personal attack says a great deal more about you than about LWolf.

I am also disappointed in websites like this that allow people to post untrue or half true ideas, make a judgement and not have to have a name attached to the post.

You’re disappointed that there are forums where professionals can have a free exchange of ideas, commiserate with colleagues, and discuss the latest bureaucratic lunacy? What country do you think you’re living in, Saudi Arabia?

To put it bluntly, your sudden presence here, along with your half-baked accusations, validates the decision most of us have made not to use our real names. We have only your first post to go on, but right now, you certainly seem like a person who would have no qualms about destroying someone’s career simply because they have a professional opinion that differs from yours.

And in response to Reader Rabbit, I don't appreciate the comment that all district personnel make decissions {sic} behind closed doors and then pretend to have a meeting where that actually care {sic} and then end up doing whatever it is they want.

If you had read carefully, you would understand that I was speaking of my own district. I’d like to think that I am a little bit more familiar with their practices and methods than you are. I will admit, however, that the arrogance you’ve displayed in thinking that you know what’s best for all teachers in your district, as well as your sense of entitlement that no one should criticize your pet project, would make you a perfect fit at my district’s central office.

This CLASS project team has been working for over a year and a half and we have TRULY made every decission {sic} from the teachers on up.

You mention several times that you and select others have been working on this project for a year and a half, and yet LWolf seems to have been unaware of decisions made by your team. Having known LWolf for several years on this board, I would not call her someone who is ill-informed. Perhaps the “communication and openness” you wish to promote is not as efficient as it needs to be?

Also, how can every decision be made from the “teachers on up” if, as it appears, so many teachers are unaware of your decisions? Is the coming implementation of VAM common knowledge, or is it going to blindside people when their representatives inform them?

I can only compare LWolf’s description and your reaction to it, again, to my own district, which implemented some extremely questionable practices in the past few years. At every meeting at which teachers were ambushed with some new change that added hours to our daily workload, we were greeted with, “These ideas came from you! They came from the teachers!” Try as we might, no one on my staff could figure out which teachers they were talking about, because it certainly wasn’t any of us. Later district-wide meetings revealed similar confusion on other staffs. Whichever teachers these ideas allegedly came from have yet to be identified.

[Valerie G]

24. Nothing has been implemented

I do know that teachers have been making the decisions on what is happening with CLASS because I have been there the whole time. CLASS starts with a small group of teachers who create a plan, nothing but a plan. We spent a year looking at ways to extend teacher career paths, compensate teachers for the extra work that we all do and how to evaluate teachers differently. Last year VAM was not even a part of our vocabulary. It wasn't until this year that we were aware it would be part of our new plan for this year. THERE HAS BEEN NO IMPLEMENTATION OF ANYTHING VAM or any other plan in our district. We are in the planning stage. Anything that we do around this topic will be discussed with all teachers and will have to be approved by all teachers. I am a teacher. I don't want something that is unfair to me either and I don't believe anyone on the CLASS team does.

As to how I became "aware" of LWolf post on this blog... First of all I am not a sinister person. Second, it was brought to our CLASS leadership team's attention via a Chalkboard employee. She found it and as I followed what was being said, I felt the need to respond because I didn't feel that LWolf was being completely honest.

[Catshrink]

25. That's some assumption you're making.

Again, you're attacking a long standing and well respected member of this community. How dare you call her dishonest? Just who do you think we're going to believe anyway? Someone who pops up to defend their company or someone we've "known" for a very long time? Sorry, you have to earn our trust. You need to do your time. We aren't gullible - we are professionals with many years in teaching. We know bullshit when we see it. Please. Peddle yours somewhere else.

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Reader Rabbit]

26. You say you are not "sinister," but look at it from our perspective:

We have enjoyed our little cyber-community here for a number of years. It is a place to express our joys and frustrations, to offer each other encouragement and support, and to learn that we are not alone in our despair over the lunacy that passes for educational reform these days.

Then one day, a well-respected member names an educational "reform" agency at work in her district. This "reform" organization is incredibly well-funded, with a number of powerful corporate sponsors, as Starry Messenger has pointed out. Less than 24 hours after the original post, a representative from that agency appears with her first post on DU—a post that involves a noticeable amount of spin. Your post attacking the integrity of someone we have known for years followed soon after. Add to that the tendency for any thread questioning the legitimacy of education "reform" to garner a number of anonymous "Un-Recs"—a phenomenon that occurs with disturbing frequency here at DU—and you've got a decidedly sinister aura.


I can't speak for the other members of our forum, but I certainly am starting to feel a bit stalked.



And I haven't even mentioned the fact that we have not heard from LWolf in several days.

[Catshrink]

22. I think my district is about to go this route

There is a pretense of including a teachers committee in a decision to move our school in a dramatically different direction. It's clear the superintendent has made up his mind so your description of a window dressing committee is right on. Most teachers who know about this plan are opposed to it, the rest are in the dark.

I wish I could say more but anymore would "identify me."