No Teacher Left Behind by Elyssa Durant

No Teacher Left Behind.

Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 11:49:47 -0400
From: Elyssa Durant

To the Editor:

The City Paper featured a front-page story (“Metro School district

begins revamp of failing elementary, middle school,” May 21, 2007)

that completely sugar-coated the situation in two metro middle

schools that have fired (via involuntary transfer) the entire staff

and faculty as a result of their failure to meet NCLB benchmarks.

For the last 5 weeks, I have been working as a substitute teacher at

Jere Baxter Middle School and the experience has shaken me to the

core. Everything I used to believe about school finance reform has

been turned upside down. Jere Baxter is a Title I school with

access to numerous resources including a math specialist on site

full time, district mentors to advise and assist new teachers.

They have mental health specialists come into several classrooms on

a weekly basis, and it is not uncommon to see caseworkers and

prevention specialists from a variety of community agencies on

campus.

However, despite the plethora of enhancement activities and access

to resource materials, the majority of the 7th and 8th graders do

not know simple math such as long division, subtraction (if they

have to carry the one) or their times tables. You could throw a

million dollars into this school, and it would not make a bit of

difference!

For the first two weeks, I was assigned to a self-contained

classroom At one point, the Assistant Principal walked in,

observed the children, and even acknowledged the small black and

white television hidden in the teachers aide desk tuned in to the

Young and the Restless. She smiled and walked out. Apparently,

she did not have a problem with the children watching Tom & Jerry,

Sponge Bob and BET music videos from 10 a.m. through dismissal. A

few days later, I gave a make-up assignment during the students

“free time,” (lunch-time through dismissal) and I was told that my

expectations were simply too high. That class in particular lost

15 teachers this year alone—16 including myself.

The children are running the show at Baxter and they know it. The

faculty receives little, if any, support from the administration.

As a result, the majority of the teachers have simply given up.

Dealing with disciplinary problems has become the primary focus in

the classroom displacing teaching, learning, and cooperation.

The numerous behavioral disruptions that occur each and every day

prompted the administrators to pull the most effective teachers out

of the classroom to enforce (or re-enforce) school policy while

their classrooms remained empty or were covered by floating

substitute teachers.

The children are completely out of control and simply refuse to do

any work. I was told not to give any student a grade below 75--

even the one who threw his crumpled up science assignment in my

face and walked out of class shouting profanities. What the

students have learned is that there will be no consequences for

inappropriate behavior or actions. The administration treats

teachers with complete disrespect: in front of students, teachers,

and guests, completely undermining any sense of autonomy, authority

or cohesiveness. Even I was embarrassed for them, and I was only

there for a few weeks!

This is a classic example of a top-down policy failure. As a policy

analyst, I always advocated for equity in education, and believed on

some level that throwing money into poor schools (poor performance &

achievement records to disadvantaged students) might help level the

playing field for disadvantaged schools, translating into better

outcomes for students and the community.

The City Paper glossed over the magnitude of this desperate

situation by calling it a “fresh start.” These teachers have been

treated poorly enough by students and administrators, and now we

have a number of young professionals who are underpaid, uncertain,

and unemployed. We all know that teacher pay is ridiculous to

begin with, but coupled with the added stress of the re-application

process, Metro may lose a large number of educated, motivated,

displaced educators to surrounding districts, counties, and states.

This is simply ridiculous. By cleaning house, Baxter will lose the

few experienced, dedicated teachers they have, prompt the younger

set to leave the profession all together, and discourage future

teachers from applying for jobs in Metro.

Everything we know about the positive outcomes in neighborhood

schools is their strong reliance upon community buy-in and parental

involvement. One thing that makes magnet, lottery, charter schools,

parochial, and private schools so good is the fact that parents,

teachers, students, and administrators fight to get in, and fight

to stay there. The act of choosing, in effect, leads to an

enhanced sense of community and builds a supportive, consistent,

and structured environment. Calling this decision a fresh start is

ridiculous-- it would be more accurate to call it a very bad ending!

In this case, No Child Left Behind is, in effect, leaving No Teachers Left Behind.

Elyssa Durant, Ed.M.

--

Elyssa Durant, Ed.M.

Nashville, Tennessee

E-mail: xx@columbia.edu

"The paradox of education is precisely this-- that as one begins to

become educated, one begins to examine the society in which he [or

she] is being educated." - Baldwin

----- End forwarded message -----
"The paradox of education is precisely this-- that as one begins to
become educated, one begins to examine the society in which he [or
she] is being educated." - Baldwin

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