Category Archives: Teacher’s Unions

Darrel Deide on Teachers’ Unions

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Mike

In The Idaho Statesman’s Reader’s View of 10-9-2011, Darrel Deide makes several assertions about teachers’ unions that deserve examination. Is the teachers’ union (IEA)  a monopoly, as Deide says it is? Yes, in the sense that the other large teachers’ … Continue reading →

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Finland

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Mike

They say that comparisons are odious. Nevertheless, the educational achievements of Finland and the U. S. are frequently compared by Reformists (Politicians, Pundits, Polemicists, and all too many Professors who should know better and perhaps do), and the U. S. … Continue reading →

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Teacher-bonus Strategies

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Mike

Idaho state law now mandates pay-for-performance for teachers, but school districts retain latitude in how p-f-p plans will be structured and administered. “With a Sept. 1 deadline nearing, administrators and teachers throughout Idaho are hammering out local approaches that will … Continue reading →

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Teacher Rage

Posted on April 29, 2011 by Mike

Teacher rage? Yes. Why? The media propound the pronouncements of Politicians, Pundits, Polemicists, and all too many Professors Who Should Know Better, that “teacher rage,” insofar as we are capable of such a thing, can be motivated by nothing more … Continue reading →

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Diane Ravitch Says It…

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Mike

I will spare you a rant today, because Diane Ravitch says it better than I could, so I send you the link:   http://www.npr.org/2011/04/28/135142895/ravitch-standardized-testing-undermines-teaching The audio, it seems, will not be available until after 5 PM today. The accompanying rebuttal by … Continue reading →

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House Education Committee Remarks for 3-2-2011

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Mike

Bills 1108 and 1110 We English teachers like booklists. Here are the five best I have read relevant to current issues in School Reform. All are currently in print, I think: The Death and Life of the Great American School … Continue reading →

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Thoughts on Bad Teachers

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Mike

Politicians, Pundits, Polemicists, and some Professors Who Probably Know Better harp at us through the media that American Public Education is sick unto death. It needs to be reformed from top to bottom. The very assumptions that form the basis … Continue reading →

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Teacher Bonuses

Posted on September 29, 2010 by Mike

The Politicians, Pundits, Polemicists, and even some Professors who, of all people, should know better, keep telling us that teachers, especially union members, keep up a mindless litany of “no” at any suggestion of progress. Well, there are some proposed … Continue reading →

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Grading the Teachers

Posted on September 9, 2010 by Mike

Politicians, Pundits, Polemicists, and Professors Who of All People Should Know Better, love to lament that “teachers unions reflexively reject anything that smacks of accountability.” Or so said Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald, who usually hits the nail right … Continue reading →

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Educational Accountability

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Mike

I am not a Politician, a Pundit, a Polemicist, or a Professor. I have never run for public office nor do I have a Ph. D., so I do not belong to those two clubs, and the middle two would … Continue reading →

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