Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere close to the 145,000 words of the previous post on testing, but have you noticed the relative lack of news outrage and public opinion aghastation (or aghastiosity) about this year's test scores?
The scores came out, media reports happened that day, but the ongoing hand-wringing hue, cry and wail seems less hueliffic, less wailicious.
Maybe I'm just missing this year's outcry (or maybe...see my previous way too damn long post). And maybe I should stop inventing stupid words. Regardless, KNME is doing its part on the subject of "AYP 2008" by having some folks, including your humble blogger, spew bile on the subject during its "The Line" show on Friday night (repeated, I believe, at some ridiculously early time on Sunday morning). Feel free to watch and see how "hueliffic" your humble blogger can be (extra bonus points for those who can spot my just almost gone "black eye" from a recent bicycle accident).
Meanwhile, us APS teacher folks started back yesterday with a day of "staff meetings". I'll avoid focusing on just how soul-crushing these meetings are from a content perspective and just relate how good it was to see all my teaching colleagues. Or ALMOST all of them. Really, well over 70%.
And speaking of made-up words, my favorite soul-crushing invent-o-word from yesterday is "consensagram". It just about makes me throw up just looking at that word, and I haven't even had breakfast yet.
Today....student registration. In other words, it's "show time, folks!"
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
The Test Scores Are Here! The Test Scores Are Here! 2008 Edition
I come back from out of town and see the "test scores" have arrived! Whoo-hoo! Test scores! Excitement! Drama! Statistics!
Okay, maybe you're not of the uber-nerd variety and would not choose to recover from the muscle soreness and sleep deprivation of five days in the Weminuche Wilderness by going, page by unwieldy page, through the New Mexico Public Education Department's school-by-school report for hours and hours. Yes, I am a dork. (And I really, really, really urge anyone who cares at all about this sort of stuff to raise your dork-o-meter and check the scores out for yourself)
More likely you've run across newspaper and television reports on the new scores. In past years, your humble blogger has written incredibly long-winded, mind-numbingly boring "analysis" about these scores and why the news organizations and, concomitantly, the general public just doesn't get it.
Well, I'm going to spare you the ultra-long-winded recap of this year's scores (okay, this turns out to be a total lie, as you'll see below) because: 1. you deserve to be spared; 2. the news hasn't really changed; 3. my shoulders are really tired from holding up a backpack for days and days.
Instead, I'm just going to make a flimsy point or two now, reserving the opportunity to bore you more when I get the feeling back in my fingers.
APS Test Score Highlights 2008
This is quite definitely the year when the number of "failing" schools got so high, with failing schools found in all sections of the city, that a significant backlash against No Child Left Behind is sure to follow. The old political chestnut "the enemy without unites within" seem to apply here. In the past, some schools failed and others passed. Media, parents, etc. could point to the passing schools and call them "good schools", while bemoaning the horrible "failing" schools as places to avoid.
Well, in 2008....no APS middle school passed. Not even that last domino of "good schoolness" Desert Ridge Middle School was able to "pass". Every middle school is "failing".
Every APS high school is "failing". Yes, even that La Cueva school failed.*(see note way down below)
Now instead of having a socio-political dynamic in which "rich" folks living up in the "passing" Northeast Heights could look down, in more ways than one, at the "failing" lower elevations of town...
We're all in the same boat now, baby. We're all, each and every middle/high school, "failing". Instead of being able to demonize other schools, we are left with no other choice now than to demonize the test itself, and in ways and to an extent never possible when it was only the "poor" schools "failing".
In other words, No Child Left Behind has finally, finally, FINALLY pissed off the wrong people. It will be fun to see how perceptions of the tests change in the next year or so, despite the fact that news organizations are still churning out the horrible drivel linked above (that KOB TV story is particularly unperceptive...heck, let's link to it again and marvel at it's vapidness).
As to why all the middle/high schools failed (I'll get to elementaries in a second), here's a quick, redundant to previous years, explanation:
But getting back to that finishing thing. The testing of "Students With Disabilities" and "English Language Learners" using the current No Child Left Behind criteria is a travesty. As teachers we want accountability, but part of that accountability is taking the incredible amount of bureaucratic time and energy to follow all the steps necessary to place a child in Special Education or as an "English Language Learner".
Having gone through the myriad referral steps, teachers and others make placements for these students and prepare individualized programs for them. They are in these special programs because it has become clear to everyone that they have deficits which must be addressed. Yet, we expect them, at testing time, to miraculously lose the deficits that led them to be placed, and be "just like everyone else".
What a crock. What an incredible disservice to these children. Do you know how many "Students With Disabilities" and "English Language Learners" get the impression that it is "their fault" their school "failed"? Do you have any idea what that does to a kid who already knows they struggle, and thinks of school as a hellish place that continuously points out their inadequacies?
This disservice has to stop. And, in your humble blogger's opinion, the inclusion now of schools like La Cueva and Desert Ridge as "victims" of this travesty will add necessary fuel to the political fire, and bring about the end of No Child Left Behind as we currently know it.
Accountability will go on, and there will continue to be plenty of problems, but at least one incredibly idiotic provision will go away leaving us at least one step closer to a true standard of "passing" or "failing" schools.
Bring the torches, townspeople, let's storm the castle.
P.S.: *From reading around, I see that Sandia HS supposedly "passed", even though its "Students With Disabilties" passage rate was well into "failure" range. Sandia gets a pass with an asterisk due to the "Safe Harbor Provision", which I was going to try avoid describing. "Safe Harbor" states that schools which haven't made AYP in previous years can claim a "pass" in previously failing sub-groups by reducing the number of those non-proficient in those sub-groups by 10% or more. Not that Sandia HS folks will ever have to explain this little asterisk, because nobody in the media is ever likely to bring it up.
Well, I don't count asterisks, whether its Barry Bonds or Sandia High School. So, I'm sticking with Sandia "failed". Period. No asterisk.
And yes, you may think I'm being harsh about this asterisk business, but I can foresee a time...roughly 11 hours from now (9:27 p.m., 8/5/08) in which the folks at Sandia HS are going to get together for their first day of the new school year and celebrate "passing", as if Sandia is doing something different/better/more wonderful than any other high school in APS, when the fact of the matter is that their scores aren't any different when it comes to Special Education kids. 21% of their Special Education kids passed the Math test. 34% passed the Reading test. Numbers right in line with those at "failing" La Cueva, interestingly enough. Or unbelievably maddening, outrageous and preposterous...depending on your point of view.
If I hear of one, just one Sandia HS person gloat about this little asterisk win as if it is anything but a lucky bit of statistical whimsy........argh.
Okay, maybe you're not of the uber-nerd variety and would not choose to recover from the muscle soreness and sleep deprivation of five days in the Weminuche Wilderness by going, page by unwieldy page, through the New Mexico Public Education Department's school-by-school report for hours and hours. Yes, I am a dork. (And I really, really, really urge anyone who cares at all about this sort of stuff to raise your dork-o-meter and check the scores out for yourself)
More likely you've run across newspaper and television reports on the new scores. In past years, your humble blogger has written incredibly long-winded, mind-numbingly boring "analysis" about these scores and why the news organizations and, concomitantly, the general public just doesn't get it.
Well, I'm going to spare you the ultra-long-winded recap of this year's scores (okay, this turns out to be a total lie, as you'll see below) because: 1. you deserve to be spared; 2. the news hasn't really changed; 3. my shoulders are really tired from holding up a backpack for days and days.
Instead, I'm just going to make a flimsy point or two now, reserving the opportunity to bore you more when I get the feeling back in my fingers.
APS Test Score Highlights 2008
This is quite definitely the year when the number of "failing" schools got so high, with failing schools found in all sections of the city, that a significant backlash against No Child Left Behind is sure to follow. The old political chestnut "the enemy without unites within" seem to apply here. In the past, some schools failed and others passed. Media, parents, etc. could point to the passing schools and call them "good schools", while bemoaning the horrible "failing" schools as places to avoid.
Well, in 2008....no APS middle school passed. Not even that last domino of "good schoolness" Desert Ridge Middle School was able to "pass". Every middle school is "failing".
Every APS high school is "failing". Yes, even that La Cueva school failed.*(see note way down below)
Now instead of having a socio-political dynamic in which "rich" folks living up in the "passing" Northeast Heights could look down, in more ways than one, at the "failing" lower elevations of town...
We're all in the same boat now, baby. We're all, each and every middle/high school, "failing". Instead of being able to demonize other schools, we are left with no other choice now than to demonize the test itself, and in ways and to an extent never possible when it was only the "poor" schools "failing".
In other words, No Child Left Behind has finally, finally, FINALLY pissed off the wrong people. It will be fun to see how perceptions of the tests change in the next year or so, despite the fact that news organizations are still churning out the horrible drivel linked above (that KOB TV story is particularly unperceptive...heck, let's link to it again and marvel at it's vapidness).
As to why all the middle/high schools failed (I'll get to elementaries in a second), here's a quick, redundant to previous years, explanation:
- "Students With Disabilities" failed. You basically have two types of public schools: ones really struggling and incapable of having their overall student body make "adequate progress" (by percentage) and another set of schools that pass in ALMOST ALL the many test-taking sub-groups, but "fail" particularly in the areas of Special Education students ("Students With Disabilities") and "English Language Learners" (which, unlike almost all Education jargon, is actually almost a self-explanatory term). "Failure" in these sub-groups meant overall "failure" to a number of schools one might describe as "successful" middle/high schools. La Cueva High School, for instance. Desert Ridge MS. My school, Jefferson MS, once again "failed" with these particular groups.
- One big reason that middle/high schools all "failed" and only many elementary schools "failed" had nothing to do with the quality of education (like that is really the point, anyway), but instead centered on the simple fact that middle/high schools are bigger than elementaries.
- Caution: now we're getting to that statistical stuff that you NEVER, EVER see/hear the media get into when discussing this topic. As you can see when you look at the reports (and I really, really want you to do that), schools had to have 25 students in a particular sub-group test (technically as FAY "Full Academic Year" attendees at the school) to have that sub-group scores count. This is done because statistically such a small number of testers isn't seen as "valid". Well, middle/high schools have hundreds, if not thousands of students, and thus almost always have enough students of every sub-group to be statistically valid.
- Elementary schools are much smaller, and don't always have enough "Students With Disabilities" to count.
- Here's a funny example: I don't make it to Ventana Ranch much, as it is approximately 275 miles from my house in the South Valley, but evidently they have somehow split Ventana Ranch Elementary into two entities: Ventana Ranch Elementary West and Ventana Ranch Elementary East. Ventana Ranch Elementary West is a "passing" school. East is "failing". East is "failing" because of poor scores by its "Students With Disabilities". It just so happened that exactly 25 "Students With Disabilities" took the test at Ventana East and they bombed the test (more about that in a second, promise). Ventana West had only 18 "Students With Disabilities" take the test..and they bombed, as well. Nevertheless, because West had a statistically irrelevant 18 students take the test they are "passing". Huzzah!!!! Glory Be!!!! Ventana Ranch East is "failing" Burn them! Burn!
But getting back to that finishing thing. The testing of "Students With Disabilities" and "English Language Learners" using the current No Child Left Behind criteria is a travesty. As teachers we want accountability, but part of that accountability is taking the incredible amount of bureaucratic time and energy to follow all the steps necessary to place a child in Special Education or as an "English Language Learner".
Having gone through the myriad referral steps, teachers and others make placements for these students and prepare individualized programs for them. They are in these special programs because it has become clear to everyone that they have deficits which must be addressed. Yet, we expect them, at testing time, to miraculously lose the deficits that led them to be placed, and be "just like everyone else".
What a crock. What an incredible disservice to these children. Do you know how many "Students With Disabilities" and "English Language Learners" get the impression that it is "their fault" their school "failed"? Do you have any idea what that does to a kid who already knows they struggle, and thinks of school as a hellish place that continuously points out their inadequacies?
This disservice has to stop. And, in your humble blogger's opinion, the inclusion now of schools like La Cueva and Desert Ridge as "victims" of this travesty will add necessary fuel to the political fire, and bring about the end of No Child Left Behind as we currently know it.
Accountability will go on, and there will continue to be plenty of problems, but at least one incredibly idiotic provision will go away leaving us at least one step closer to a true standard of "passing" or "failing" schools.
Bring the torches, townspeople, let's storm the castle.
P.S.: *From reading around, I see that Sandia HS supposedly "passed", even though its "Students With Disabilties" passage rate was well into "failure" range. Sandia gets a pass with an asterisk due to the "Safe Harbor Provision", which I was going to try avoid describing. "Safe Harbor" states that schools which haven't made AYP in previous years can claim a "pass" in previously failing sub-groups by reducing the number of those non-proficient in those sub-groups by 10% or more. Not that Sandia HS folks will ever have to explain this little asterisk, because nobody in the media is ever likely to bring it up.
Well, I don't count asterisks, whether its Barry Bonds or Sandia High School. So, I'm sticking with Sandia "failed". Period. No asterisk.
And yes, you may think I'm being harsh about this asterisk business, but I can foresee a time...roughly 11 hours from now (9:27 p.m., 8/5/08) in which the folks at Sandia HS are going to get together for their first day of the new school year and celebrate "passing", as if Sandia is doing something different/better/more wonderful than any other high school in APS, when the fact of the matter is that their scores aren't any different when it comes to Special Education kids. 21% of their Special Education kids passed the Math test. 34% passed the Reading test. Numbers right in line with those at "failing" La Cueva, interestingly enough. Or unbelievably maddening, outrageous and preposterous...depending on your point of view.
If I hear of one, just one Sandia HS person gloat about this little asterisk win as if it is anything but a lucky bit of statistical whimsy........argh.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
One More Cup of Vacation Before I Go...
Before the embers of Summer '08 for us teacher types turn cold, I'm heading out for a camping trip to the Weminuche Wilderness of Colorado. I know it's an empty complaint in a world of the two weeks of vacation per year, but we professional public school educators have only got five or six days left at this point. The Weminuche is a great, secluded place to get the 'ol brain recalibrated for next week, when the staff meetings and other craziness will start all over again.
And heading out this morning I ran across these two quotes from Emmylou Harris, who besides being just about the prettiest, prettiest-singing person on the planet also turns out to share a passion for baseball:
And heading out this morning I ran across these two quotes from Emmylou Harris, who besides being just about the prettiest, prettiest-singing person on the planet also turns out to share a passion for baseball:
“All I do during baseball season is watch games. I was so pumped the other night when Greg Maddux stole a base! My team is the Braves, but they don't stand much of a chance.”and
“We don't really have any baseball fans, except for my stage manager, who is a Cubs fan, and my road manager, who is a Red Sox fan,” said Harris...“Unfortunately for the guys in my band, they have to sit and watch the games. As soon as the show is over, I get on the (tour) bus and watch (ESPN's) 'Baseball Tonight.' ”
And yeah, some of you, more cynical, baseball fans are thinking "the Braves?!?" But folks, this is Emmylou Harris we're talking about here. Cut the woman some slack for having a misguided (angel) point of view folks, she's a big-time baseball fan...and sings real, real pretty.
Think I'll head out of town humming the tune to Emmylou singing "Pancho & Lefty". Kinda corny maybe, but it's Emmylou Freakin' Harris people. She could sing a transcript of a George W. Bush press conference and it would sound good.
Have a good last week of recalibration my teaching colleagues...
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Fun With Google and Sitemeter
According to Sitemeter, in straight succession this morning residents of the following cities have run across this humble blog after performing the following searches:
P.S.: Hey, Mangaluru means "auspicious place" in Sanskrit! Maybe I need to get back to work.
- Chateau-Tierry, France: searching for "el vado court"
- Perth, Australia: searching for "lance armstrong tips"
- Mangaluru, India: searching for "planet where extraterrestrials live on"
- La Jolla, California: searching for "terri cole seattle washington"
P.S.: Hey, Mangaluru means "auspicious place" in Sanskrit! Maybe I need to get back to work.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Join "Stink For America"!
I realize I'm late jumping on the bandwagon, but at least I'm bringing a catchy name to the table.
For years I've vacillated on biking to work, primarily because I just don't trust my fellow motorists. At all. But, like many others, the price of gas has helped me overcome my completely rational fear that some jerk in a Ford pickup will either try or succeed in running me over.
It's been great seeing all the other cyclists on the streets of our fair city the last few weeks, and while some of you have been pedaling to work for years and years, we in the bandwagon contingent are stoked to join in, except for one small detail (well, besides the being run over and killed detail).
That detail: by the time I make it up the hill at MLK to the intersection at University I am a sweaty, panting, mess.
Perhaps more importantly, I stink. Like a muskrat exiting a Louisiana swamp. Not to mention the whole bike helmet hair thing.
So I've been thinking things over, and we newbie bike-to-work people have two choices.
P.S.: After riding today I'm not only Stinking For America, I am Injured For America. I took some photos of the result of my classic endo at Lead and 4th (hmmm...perhaps cautiously applying force to the front brakes is the way to go), but you can't tell how horribly disfigured I am from the self-inflicted accident, primarily because of my pre-existing inherent degree of horrible disfigurement. Some scrapes, bruises, and cuts, with a nice little impact kiss spot on the helmet.
Anybody who doesn't wear a helmet because it messes up their hair is...well you know.
For years I've vacillated on biking to work, primarily because I just don't trust my fellow motorists. At all. But, like many others, the price of gas has helped me overcome my completely rational fear that some jerk in a Ford pickup will either try or succeed in running me over.
It's been great seeing all the other cyclists on the streets of our fair city the last few weeks, and while some of you have been pedaling to work for years and years, we in the bandwagon contingent are stoked to join in, except for one small detail (well, besides the being run over and killed detail).
That detail: by the time I make it up the hill at MLK to the intersection at University I am a sweaty, panting, mess.
Perhaps more importantly, I stink. Like a muskrat exiting a Louisiana swamp. Not to mention the whole bike helmet hair thing.
So I've been thinking things over, and we newbie bike-to-work people have two choices.
- Construct eloborate plans to shower at work, adding significant minutes to our commute and giving us that creepy "yikes, I just took a shower at work" feeling.
- Take pride in our stinkiness.
- By stinking we are patriotically lessening U.S. dependence on foreign oil
- By stinking we are benefiting the environment (well, except for the immediate environment around us in our stinkiness)
- By stinking we are doing our part to reduce the pathetic obesity problem in this country
- By stinking we are lowering the overall expectations of personal hygiene in the workplace, thus possibly allowing other, non-cyclists, to pretty much stop showering/bathing altogether and thus help to conserve water.
- By stinking and having bike-helmet hair we help the self-esteem of fellow workers by helping them say to themselves "yeah, my hair looks stupid, but at least it doesn't look as bad as that guy who bikes to work".
P.S.: After riding today I'm not only Stinking For America, I am Injured For America. I took some photos of the result of my classic endo at Lead and 4th (hmmm...perhaps cautiously applying force to the front brakes is the way to go), but you can't tell how horribly disfigured I am from the self-inflicted accident, primarily because of my pre-existing inherent degree of horrible disfigurement. Some scrapes, bruises, and cuts, with a nice little impact kiss spot on the helmet.
Anybody who doesn't wear a helmet because it messes up their hair is...well you know.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Please Make It Stop Now! Move Election Day to 7/29/08
--from email sent 7/28/08, one of the 47 such postings your humble blogger will probably get today on the subjectDear Scot --
Barack recorded a special video invitation for you to join him at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Watch it now and make a donation of $5 or more before midnight this Thursday, July 31st, and you could go backstage with Barack:
Maybe you're like me and have indicated enough interest in an Obama Presidency to make the colossal mistake of getting on some e-mailing lists.
Ugh.
I'm finally unsubscribing today to "Obama for America" and I could claim it was in response to his vote on FISA, but it's really just my unwillingness to put up with Election '08 at this point.
And we still have 99 days to go? Must I go into a total "kill my television/internet/electronics of all kinds" mode to successfully avoid this thing? And I like politics! Well, sorta. Think of those seven or eight remaining "undecided" voters nationwide who are getting carpal-tunnel from trying to avoid Election '08 on their remote controls while simultaneously trying to find out who is winning the far more important contest on "American Idol" or "Insert Reality Show Here"?
Faithful reader(s) of this blog will note that I'm big on the idea of a 90-day campaign, tops. I know many argue that limiting the campaign is unconstitutional as it somehow limits free speech. Not to mention that it provides Wolf Blitzer with a job. But who is a continual campaign really geared for besides Mr. Blitzer? It certainly can't be "undecided" voters and non-voters...they are doing mental somersaults to avoid thinking about the damn election.
Meanwhile, those who do follow this stuff pick sides, get all giddy when the opponent makes a "mistake" and try, very unsuccessfully, to change other people's minds. A total waste of time.
And a total waste of money. Maybe I'm more frugal than most, but I'm not paying $5 to "go backstage with Barack". I have no interest with going backstage with him, having a beer with Big O or trying to drive the lane in a pickup basketball game with the guy. I just want the guy to win the election.
But then I've never understood the "I shook hands with the guy so I must vote for him" mentality. And I've always distrusted anything resembling a cult of personality. Which, if you think about it long enough, is what this whole Election thing tries to be about. For instance, if you're really into this Election thing intersperse viewing the upcoming national party conventions with clips from Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will". It will all start to blur within about 15 minutes, especially if you can switch the 2008 coverage to black & white.
But I'm not going to try to think about that, or anything else regarding Election '08 after this Tuesday the 29th. At least at the Presidential level. I am officially declaring the campaign over tomorrow (the last Tuesday after the last Monday in July), and will simply put my fingers in my ears and go "la, la, la, la, la, la, la" whenever I hear/see/taste/touch/smell anything remotely pertaining to McCain or Obama or Ron Paul or Bob Barr or Cynthia McKinney or the Electoral College or "swing states" or "latest gaffe" or any of that.
Wake me up when the rest of your come to your senses and we can concentrate on organizing the many parties dedicated to celebrating the exit of our current President. Come to think of it, I fully support a continual campaign to celebrate the end of the Bush 43 Presidency. I'm wailing on a party favor and wearing a stupid conical hat with "Ding Dong The Shrub Is Gone" stenciled on it even as I type.
"I'm Barking with post-W Presidential Delight, even if Cynthia McKinney wins!"Friday, July 25, 2008
A Little Backstory On the Two Percent APS Raise
Firmly in the "news you thought you had already heard quite some time ago" department, us APS teachers are getting a 2% raise this year. And yes, that's the raise the Legislature approved months and months ago.
Meanwhile, as the Journal has pointed out in a series of stories that have all said the same thing, insurance premiums for teachers will drown out much of the raise, with gas prices performing a coup de grace on beyond what's left.
I have little to add on the subject, but will point out a little, uh, point left out of the discussion. And no, it's not some bitter remark asking why the Hell we have a teacher's union when they can't fight for anything beyond a 2% raise. In fact, my measly point is anything but bitter.
It is this: public school teaching actually pays pretty good these days. A few years back, when teachers in New Mexico were paid at a level commensurate with a barrista at Satellite Coffee, the union and others fought for a three tier pay scale.
A number of shiny, flaming hoops were instituted for teachers to mind-numblingly jump through, such as a "dossier" (more about that sometime soon), leading from Level 1 (galley slave) to Level 3 (respectably paid galley barrista and whip-holder). It seemed to take forever for the pay to match the Level, but the last two years have seen a 25% pay jump for many of us Level 3 dweebs.
25% is a good chunk of change, especially for us "experienced" teachers who were used to experiencing near-poverty conditions for years and years.
So I'm not feeling like I have much to gripe about with a 2% raise this year. True, if I belonged to the Teamsters I would probably be out threatening APS Board Members kneecaps with a crowbar after being insulted with a 2%. Also true, if this 2% bullshit continues for the next three years I will certainly be investing in a new crowbar.
Still, I'm letting this one slide, and would rather focus on non-pay matters, such as the creeping tendency of schools to want teachers to become mindless automatons reciting scripted curriculums just because the school has "failed" meeting No Child Left Behind standards. Good teachers are already leaving because of this, and some schools have already become glorified Slyvan Learning Centers.
Now that's something worth breaking out the crowbar for.
P.S.: I spent a soul-crushing half-hour yesterday calling State and District trying to find out when test scores would be made public. In every instance, the support staff I spoke to would reply with "what test scores?" and claim that I was pretty much the first person to call their office asking about these scores. Ah bureaucracy, how I have missed you this summer. And no, I haven't found out when the scores are hitting the schools or media yet.
Meanwhile, as the Journal has pointed out in a series of stories that have all said the same thing, insurance premiums for teachers will drown out much of the raise, with gas prices performing a coup de grace on beyond what's left.
I have little to add on the subject, but will point out a little, uh, point left out of the discussion. And no, it's not some bitter remark asking why the Hell we have a teacher's union when they can't fight for anything beyond a 2% raise. In fact, my measly point is anything but bitter.
It is this: public school teaching actually pays pretty good these days. A few years back, when teachers in New Mexico were paid at a level commensurate with a barrista at Satellite Coffee, the union and others fought for a three tier pay scale.
A number of shiny, flaming hoops were instituted for teachers to mind-numblingly jump through, such as a "dossier" (more about that sometime soon), leading from Level 1 (galley slave) to Level 3 (respectably paid galley barrista and whip-holder). It seemed to take forever for the pay to match the Level, but the last two years have seen a 25% pay jump for many of us Level 3 dweebs.
25% is a good chunk of change, especially for us "experienced" teachers who were used to experiencing near-poverty conditions for years and years.
So I'm not feeling like I have much to gripe about with a 2% raise this year. True, if I belonged to the Teamsters I would probably be out threatening APS Board Members kneecaps with a crowbar after being insulted with a 2%. Also true, if this 2% bullshit continues for the next three years I will certainly be investing in a new crowbar.
Still, I'm letting this one slide, and would rather focus on non-pay matters, such as the creeping tendency of schools to want teachers to become mindless automatons reciting scripted curriculums just because the school has "failed" meeting No Child Left Behind standards. Good teachers are already leaving because of this, and some schools have already become glorified Slyvan Learning Centers.
Now that's something worth breaking out the crowbar for.
P.S.: I spent a soul-crushing half-hour yesterday calling State and District trying to find out when test scores would be made public. In every instance, the support staff I spoke to would reply with "what test scores?" and claim that I was pretty much the first person to call their office asking about these scores. Ah bureaucracy, how I have missed you this summer. And no, I haven't found out when the scores are hitting the schools or media yet.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Newly Formed South Valley Lakefront Properties
Our little hobby farmette in the South Valley has picked up, I'm guessing, almost 3 inches of rain in the past two nights. I saw a posting of just over an inch from the National Weather Service from our Monday night rains. I haven't seen such a post from last night's absolute deluge, but the little "total precipitation" radar view had us squarely in the 1.0-1.5 area, and I'm guessing we were at the high point of that.
As a result, the very occasional body of water we pompously refer to as "Lake EsterKey" is at its highest point in the eight years we've lived down here. You might have seen news reports of mighty mud rivers sweeping cars off Rio Bravo at Broadway. And much of the rather ill-engineered wall o' dirt at University and Rio Bravo is now directly on the road surface at University and Rio Bravo. Nothing so dramatic here, but our horses and goats have been equipped with SCUBA equipment and flippers nonetheless. Our glorified lawn tractor and manure spreader sits marooned on a distant island, much too far away to do any stall mucking today. Pity.
In a few weeks all this monsoon stuff will be forgotten and Lake EsterKey will be like those throaty toads resoundingly heard throughout the neighborhood last night, hidden once again. But last night was alot of fun, for the toads especially I'm guessing, and who knows, we South Valleyites (ians?....icitos?...anders?) might again win the monsoonal thunderstorm lottery again tonight and things down here could get really interesting.
As in rejoining the Gulf of Mexico, really old school sea bed and all.
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