A Teacher who knows what Common Core Means to the Teaching Profession

There is an interesting discussion on Hotair.com regarding teacher tenure.  There are some interesting comments specifically about tenure but the conversation expanded on how the real problems in education are much deeper and wider than just teacher tenure.  Read the full article and thread here.

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All I want to do is teach. And I wish people would just let me teach the kids who want to learn. The ones who do not I try my best to inspire.
But in the end, I cannot make them. I should not be held accountable for that.
Badger40 on August 19, 2012 at 2:53 PM

You are absolutely correct. No where in the education “reforms” set forth by this administration or Michelle Rhee (the Democratic progressive Republican RINOs love) is responsibility spelled out for students and parents. What do you do with students who don’t/won’t/can’t learn and parents who don’t/won’t/can’t support their children’s educational progress or lack of progress?

This blaming of teachers (and I know good ones AND bad ones) is a screen for the real problems that plague education and it furthers the privatization movement. But think about it. The privatization is not really “free market”. The charters and vouchers operate under governmental strings. The “entrepreneurs” are using taxpayer money to open these schools, NOT their own money. There’s no gamble. It’s the SAME education.

The teacher tenure issue is something to talk about but it is not the reason schools are in the situation they are in. The reason is local school districts only have the authority to hire teachers and pay for buildings. They can’t set standards, assessments and the curriculum will need to adhere to the Common Core standards. Meanwhile, taxpayers have to pay for whatever expensive boondoggle Congress passes (NCLB) OR the $4.35 Billion check it gave Arne Duncan to “fix” education…it didn’t even VOTE on the plan (Race to the Top) which causes states to sign onto mandates that are unfunded/underfunded. One facet of RTTT, Common Core standards, creates a nationalized curriculum and will cost my state $350 Million (at least) and my state agency is $900 Million underfunded as it is.

Teacher tenure is minor in the big picture and that’s what the elites want people to focus on.

http://www.missourieducationwatchdog.com/2012/01/death-march-takeover-of-american.html

manateespirit on August 19, 2012 at 3:32 PM

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Also – it is time for Conservatives to discuss the coming Common Core Standards authored by Arne Duncan. This is the most insidious attack on local control of education in the history of this nation. I fear it is a done deal and within in 5 years we will have the few remaining teachers with a conscience leaving the system and the children they are forced to leave behind so indoctrinated they will never recover.
InTheBellyoftheBeast on August 19, 2012 at 4:05 PM

I’m sure you’ve been, or will be doing, inservices on this crap. I just got through with 2 days of it.

Now the way they present it, there are some good things about common core. But overall, it steals even more local control from communities. This is an outrageous power grap.

I think it IS a done deal. The state of ND is fed up with NCLB & even if Common Core doesn’t make it, we’ve got something similar they’re implementing called ND Mile. But at least THAT is a state initiative.

This Common Core BS has seriously made me continue considering other employment. I’m really really thinking about quitting teaching here in the next 5 years. I love teaching. I think I was born to do it. But this $hit is just getting more & more ridiculous & I didn’t think that was possible.

Badger40 on August 19, 2012 at 4:59 PM

Reader Calls Carpetbagging StudentsFirst Request Asking Missouri Citizens to "Pick up the Phone...Hooey"--Part II

Educational reform in Missouri?

The carpetbagging organization StudentsFirst is pleased with the passage of HB1526 which is now advancing to the Senate.  This bill states teacher performance, not seniority, should govern teacher layoffs.  From the St. Louis Post Dispatch:


JEFFERSON CITY • The Missouri House's Republican leadership pushed through one of its priorities today, passing a bill aimed at ending some job protections for veteran public school teachers.

Under the bill, school districts that have to let teachers go because of falling enrollment or declining revenue could not base layoff decisions on seniority.

A teacher's performance -- including "evidence of increased student achievement" -- would be the most heavily weighted factor in the decision, according to the bill.

Supporters said teachers should be held accountable for their performance.

"This bill's about freedom, it's about empowerment of local school districts, and it's ultimately about whether your children have the chance to succeed," said Majority Leader Tim Jones, R-Eureka.

Rep. Joe Aull, D-Marshall and a former school administrator, viewed the bill as a slap at teachers.

He said Missouri's teacher pay ranks 47th in the nation. Yet by many yardsticks, such as a 10 percent rise in the state's high school graduation rate, Missouri schools are improving, Aull said.

"These statistics tell me that somebody's doing a pretty good job, and that somebody is teachers," he said.

The House had already scaled back the bill, removing provisions that would have set up a teacher evaluation system based in part on student growth, as measured by standardized tests and other means.

StudentsFirst, a California-based national student advocacy group, has been lobbying for the bill and running television ads touting it. The group said it was pleased to see the slimmed-down version advance.

"We have an opportunity here to take a solid step forward on a truly bold educational reform," said Lea Crusey, state director of StudentsFirst.

Lea Crusey, who has no experience in Missouri as a teacher or administrator once again knows what is best for Missouri students.  Does this sound the same as other special interest lobbying groups knowing what is best for students?  This is a fight between the teacher unions and the educational reformers who want to diminish the unions' hold on educational matters.  

Representative Jones talks about the "empowerment of local school districts" to now make decisions.  That's partially true as districts can make this decision based on state action.  What is lost in this discussion is that the local districts still don't have autonomy to make their own decisions for their own schools in terms of how to fire teachers (that's from the state), assessment choices and in practicality, curriculum decisions since the curricula must fit the assessments.   Are these the same legislators that tout "local control"?
  

The legislature seems content to let the Common Core consortia drive how and what Missouri children learn so why are they so concerned about the control of teacher tenure? Is it because StudentsFirst approves of common core and centralized, nationalized control of education?

Below is another email sent from a reader signed by Ms. Crusey which urged support from Missouri residents on HB 1526.  Note the second paragraph.  Just who should be setting these teacher and principal evaluations?  StudentsFirst?  The unions?  The legislature?  The local school district?  Again, does the parent/taxpayer even have a voice in these decisions?

Take note of her third paragraph.  She's as much special interest as the groups she rails on about.  

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***see remarks below (Email header):" xxx, can you pick up the phone today?"


Dear xxx,

Missouri's education policies must put student interests above all others -- now is the time to stand up for student-focused education reform.

Missouri legislators are considering a bill that would be a big win for our students. HB 1526 will help make sure that every Missouri student has a great teacher by establishing meaningful teacher and principal evaluations statewide that reflect student learning. It is the right thing to do for our kids.

Unfortunately, special interests are coming out in force in defense of the status quo and are lobbying against this bill. Please take a minute to call your legislator and tell them to vote YES on HB 1526 so that every Missouri child has the benefit of an effective teacher. If you click on the link below, we’ll give you all of the information you need and even connect you to your representative.

Call your representative now!

Meaningful teacher and principal evaluations will enable Missouri to build an excellent teacher workforce by finally recognizing and retaining excellent educators and providing support to those who need improvement. In addition, the legislation being considered will make sure that even when layoffs are unfortunately necessary, the most effective teachers will stay in the classroom. Layoffs will no longer be based solely on seniority but will take teacher quality into account.

Teachers have the most significant impact on student success of any in-school factor. Every Missouri student deserves an excellent teacher. Please make sure your voice is heard -- tell your representative to vote in support of HB 1526 so that Missouri's kids have the best teachers possible:

StudentsFirst.org/call-your-missouri-legislator

Thank you for your support at this critical moment.

Lea

Lea Crusey
Missouri State Director, StudentsFirst
Twitter.com/MOStudentsFirst


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****From the reader: 

 I'll pick up the phone when StudentFirst actually put students first: first in line to receive blame for not working, first in line to suffer the consequences of consciously rejecting the educational system.  When my kid sits in class and is surrounded by 5 students who shove the worksheet back in the teacher's hand and say, "Don't even bother.  I ain't doin' that sh**" we need to blame those students first and not the teacher for "failing to motivate them."  What a bunch of hooey.

Carpetbagger StudentsFirst Missouri State Director Knows What's Best for Missouri Students--Part I

Are carpetbagging educational reformers coming to your state?

A reader received an email from one of our new national educational lobbying groups in Missouri, Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst organization.  This article from Fast Company details Rhee's vision and method of operation.  Rhee makes it sounds as if the choice of education would be delivered back to the parents, but that's not accurate.  A different set of laws and regulations written by private corporations, organizations and lawmakers will replace those now in place.  It's one set of power brokers taking over another set of power brokers with the taxpayer/parent looking on from the outside.

StudentsFirst, a private organization, is attempting to determine and drive legislation that it believes is "best for children" in Missouri and other states.  A one-size fits all educational system, whether it be teacher tenure, charters, standards, assessments...should be implemented in all states.  Think of it as a centralized, national plan for children, taxpayers and local school districts.  It's not "choice".  It's an identical plan for every child, every taxpayer, every teacher/administrator in every state.  Taxpayers are funding these decisions made by lobbying groups and implemented by state legislators.  The lobbyists are determining through legislative process how educational decisions should be made and how education is delivered with taxpayer funding.

When children are viewed as human capital and the main purpose of education is to provide human capital for a successful global economy, it would make sense that the Missouri State Director from StudentsFirst who isn't from Missouri, doesn't live in Missouri or even works in Missouri can make statements that she knows what Missouri students, parents, teachers and administrators need.  When you have a centralized system, individualistic and regional differences don't exist. Cogs in the system must be the same and treated as such.

Lea Crusey, Missouri State Director of StudentsFirst, signed her name to the letter below.  Who is Lea Crusey?  From LinkedIn:

Lea Crusey

Education reform advocate

Sacramento, California

Public Policy

Current

• State Director at StudentsFirst

Past

• Director- Financial Operations at LAZ Parking
• President, KIPP Ascend Associate Board at KIPP Ascend Charter School
• Project Coordinator at Chicago Transit Authority

• Product Manager, Smart Cards at Chicago Transit Authority
• Analyst, Part-time and Graduate Intern at Economics Research Associates
• Graduate Policy Fellow at Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna
• Research Assistant- Center for Race, Politics, & Culture at University of Chicago
• Systems Consultant at IMI Indoor Climate
• Instructor at Dimensions Education Group
• Policy Consultant at The Turner Corporation
• Corps Member at Teach for America
• Teach for America Corps Member at Edison McNair Academy
• Intern at Glass, Lewis & Co.
• Undergraduate Intern at Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA)
• Tennis instructor at Silver Bay Association YMCA

Education

• University of Chicago
• Claremont McKenna College
• Princeton High School

She was a former TFA member, Research assistant the the Center for Race Politics and Culture, CTA project manager and President of KIPP schools. Most recently she was working to get rid of cars in downtown Chicago.  Does this background make her uniquely qualified to speak about what Missouri needs in education?  She was in Missouri recently testifying in favor of charter schools, but other than that, there is no evidence of any long term connection to Missouri in terms of employment or residence.

The education reform carpetbaggers are taking over education and using taxpayer money and children for their agenda.

From a StudentsFirst email to a Missouri resident:

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Dear xxxx,


Research shows that the teacher in front of the classroom has the largest impact on student success of any in-school factor. That's why every Missouri student deserves great teacher.

The problem is that current bureaucratic policies and outdated systems do not support the development of an excellent teaching force. In fact, they get in the way. Effective teachers are not recognized for their impact on student learning and struggling teachers are not given the support they need to improve. But we have a chance to change that this year.

Missouri legislators are considering a bill right now which would establish a teacher and principal evaluation system that would reflect student learning and value all the different ways teachers support learning in their classrooms and schools. Missouri's teachers would finally get meaningful feedback about their performance and receive professional development tailored to their specific needs. And principals would be held accountable for student results. The Missouri House will vote on the bill this week and the Senate vote will soon follow.


Please ask your legislators to support meaningful evaluation for Missouri's educators!


Teacher evaluation should be based on multiple factors including student achievement growth, principal observations, and more. Principals should be evaluated based on student learning and their ability to recruit and develop an excellent teaching force. The legislation being considered does just that.


Most importantly, this teacher and principal evaluation system will result in a more effective teaching force. This is what Missouri's students need so they have the best possible teachers and the best chance at success. Please tell your legislators to pass HB1526!


StudentsFirst.org/what-missouri-students-need


Thank you for your continued efforts to make sure every Missouri student gets a quality education. I’ll be in touch again soon.

Lea

Lea Crusey
Missouri State Director, StudentsFirst
Twitter.com/MOStudentsFirst

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We'll have more email requests from Ms. Crusey tomorrow.  She has more advice for us in Missouri on what we need in our schools.

From thefreedictionary.com:

carpetbagger [ˈkɑːpɪtˌbægə]

n

1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) a politician who seeks public office in a locality where he has no real connections

2. (Business / Insurance) (Economics, Accounting & Finance / Banking & Finance) Brit a person who makes a short-term investment in a mutual savings or life-assurance organization in order to benefit from free shares issued following the organization's conversion to a public limited company

3. (Historical Terms) US a Northern White who went to the South after the Civil War to profit from Reconstruction

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

Lesson for the Day: Capitalism is Bad. Teacher Tenure is Good.

Joe Kernen of CNBC's "Squawk Box" writes ' Your Teacher Says What?!' in response to his daughter Blake coming home and telling him what she learned that day in school.

Father and daughter are making the interview circuit and Blake, 11 years old, told the story of how she learned in school how factories pollute and should be shut down, regardless of the consequences to the employees becoming unemployed or products being produced. (Don't the voluminous number of EPA regulations ensure that factories aren't polluting?)

Blake related some of her experiences in class, and while she learned how capitalism is bad and little of the positive aspects of making money and being employed, she did learn the teacher's definition of teacher tenure:

Tenure protects teachers from unimportant boo-boos.


I wonder if teaching half-truths or skewed theories could be considered unimportant boo-boos.

"School Choice Week " Kickoff in the Missouri Legislature and Education Bill Updates

Here is a report on the conversation about school choice with the legislators on Monday from OzarksFirst.com:

Bills tying teacher tenure to student performance and expanding educational options for students with developmental disabilities outside of the public school system, as well as those addressing open enrollment, social promotion, (and) charter school expansion were announced in a news conference today at the Capitol. The group tied its announcement to National School Choice Week, sponsored locally by the Children's Education Council of Missouri.

Rep. Tishaura Jones, D-St. Louis, will sponsor legislation that will allow charter schools to be established outside the St. Louis and Kansas City school districts.

According to a recent DESE study, charter school performance has been mixed, but Jones believes the concept can help students all around the state.

This bill will give superintendents and school boards another tool in their tool box to help their students," Jones said, noting schools could be set up with a specific focus, such as the arts, agriculture or drop-out recovery.

Representative Tishaura Jones may have a great idea for charters, but I see no language in any proposed bill exempting charters from common core standards. Charters focusing on arts, agriculture or drop-out recovery wouldn't seem as if they should be structured to the public school common core mandates, and as schools using public money fall under these mandates, charters would fall under these standards. This is an important issue legislators need to address before expanding charters. I also wonder why legislators are promoting charters to the extent they are when they themselves use a DESE study stating charters have mixed performance.


In the meantime, here are the educational bills currently listed via Homeschool United so you can see additional bills not addressed in today's press conference:

As you are reviewing these bills, ask yourself: Do these bills promote local and parental control AND do they reduce spending?

SB13 - Requires the Joint Committee on Education to oversee a task force on teacher compensation and effectiveness.

Status: Hearing scheduled for 1/26/2011 – Education Committee

SB14 - Requires the State Board of Education to establish criteria for the transfer of students from an unaccredited school district to an accredited district in the same or an adjoining county.

Status: Received its second reading on 1/12/2011 and advanced to the Education Committee

SB20 - Modifies the compulsory attendance age for the St. Louis City School District so that students must attend school from five years of age to eighteen years of age

Status: Received its second reading on 1/12/2011 and advanced to the Education Committee

SB21 - Requires kindergarten attendance at the start of the school year for children who turn age five at any time during the calendar year

Status: Received its second reading on 1/12/2011 and advanced to the Education Committee

HJR10 - Proposes a constitutional amendment removing the current ban on providing state funding to educational facilities controlled by religious organizations

Status: Introduced and read on 1/18/2011. Received its second reading on 1/19/2011.

Watch SB13, SB14 and HJR10. They are crucial to teacher compensation, addressing open enrollment issues and advancing Educated Citizenry 2020. HJR10 may also invoke vouchers in Missouri.

SB 129 --- Sponsor: Lembke, Jim

Exempts the St. Louis City School District from the requirement that it pay tuition and transportation for students who attend an accredited school under certain circumstances

SB 128 --- Sponsor: Lembke, Jim

Allows the mayor of the City of St. Louis to be a charter school sponsor

SB 124 --- Sponsor: Keaveny, Joseph

Requires children in the St. Louis City School District to attend school at age five

SB 123 --- Sponsor: Keaveny, Joseph

Allows foreign language immersion charter schools to enroll four-year-old children

SB 99 --- Sponsor: Chappelle-Nadal, Maria

Modifies provisions relating to elementary and secondary education

HB179 Raised compulsory school age to 18

http://house.mo.gov/billsummary.aspx?bill=HB%20179&year=2011&code=R

An Interesting Conversation Regarding Teacher Tenure

Hillbuzz.org has a great post regarding the subject of teacher tenure via a discussion between a teacher and a non-teacher. I think you can learn more from a subject listening to real people and their concerns vs discussions from policy wonks. This is a snippet:

(Teacher) Her: “You work for a company that’s job is making money. Schools aren’t supposed to make money, but educate kids. Money shouldn’t enter into decisions on who the best teachers are and if they should get fired or not.”
(Non-Teacher) Me: “Everyone has to stick to a budget, both private and public. Private companies have to stick to below what their products bring in and public schools have to stick to the budget sent to them by the state. Last year, the private sector was hit hard. Many companies had at least 10% cuts across the board. The public sector was rescued by the federal government last year, and they are now going to hurt twice as much because they thought the worst was over last year and they didn’t have to do any cutting. Now they do.”

Establishing a task force to study teacher compensation is being taken up in the Missouri Legislature in SB13:

Status

January 26 2011 - Hearing Scheduled S Education Committee

Summary

Requires the Joint Committee on Education to oversee a task force on teacher compensation and effectiveness

It might be helpful if the Task Force had access to this conversation from Kansas and could refer to as they study this situation. These two people talking at a basketball game make sense talking about a subject sure to cause conversations in numerous venues, not just in the Missouri Capitol. It certainly caused quite a few comments on the hillbuzz posting from real people giving their experiences and opinion on teacher tenure.

Educated Citizenry 2020 Committee Reveals Education Goals for Missouri Students.

The Missouri State Senate Panel delivered its education report today entitled "Educated Citizenry 2020".

The St. Louis Beacon has a report on the meeting today in Jefferson City:

If a state Senate panel has its way, Missouri students 10 years from now will be better prepared for kindergarten, three-fourths of them will do well on state standardized tests and 60 percent of them will get college degrees and credentials.

Further, charter schools will expand throughout the state, not just in St. Louis or Kansas City, new lawmakers will have to take lessons to learn how public schools are funded and one agency will oversee education from pre-school through post-graduate degrees.

State Senator David Pearce, the chairman of the education panel said on the subject of teacher pay and tenure:

On specific issues, Pearce said that he has filed legislation to study how teachers are compensated. Specifically, he said, it might be time to ask teachers if they are willing to be paid on a merit basis if they would give up the protections of tenure at the same time.

"If we're going to do this," he said, "it would have to be voluntary for schools as well as for teachers. If teachers want to go on merit-based, performance-based reimbursement, they would have to give up tenure. We need to take a look at that, perhaps beginning with districts that are provisionally accredited or unaccredited.

"Tenure is something that for the most part doesn't resonate well in the state of Missouri. Education is the only place where people have tenure," continued Pearce. "People outside the system don't necessarily support it or appreciate it, and now may be a good time to do some trade offs, like tying it to merit pay."

If you are familiar with Race to the Top mandates, teacher tenure and merit pay was a cornerstone of the legislation, as well as the expansion of charter schools. Governor Nixon took out these items in Missouri's proposal to the Department of Education and the removal of these highly graded goals may have been one reason we did not receive funding from the Department of Education.

Missouri adopted Common Core standards in June 2010, a critical part of the Race to the Top. By adopting these standards, we have given up our state's right to write curriculum. We cannot set state or local standards for students and are under the mandates of a consortium.

If I am reading the Beacon article and Educated Citizenry report correctly, even though Missouri did not win Race to the Top funding, we will have the key important programs in this (RTTT) Department of Education's plan implemented: common core standards, the expansion of charter schools, the termination of teacher tenure and the introduction of merit pay. A difference is in the RTTT plan, the tenure and merit pay issue was mandated; the Missouri Senate's plan is apparently voluntary.

The original RTTT proposal was slated to cost $400 Million. The total we could have received from the Department of Education was $250 Million. This current plan doesn't mention how much money Educated Citizenry will cost. The goals appear to be very similar; the state has received $248 Million in other stimulus funding to begin implementing common core standards, so I am assuming the total will be close to the original $400 Million total cost. Taxpayers should know from the Legislature how much this plan is projected to cost as it will create unfunded mandates.

The Beacon reports:

In public hearings witnesses were asked to respond to these questions:

• What will it mean to be an educated citizen in 2020?
• What will employers need from their employees in 2020?
• What principles will anchor our decisions about education -- flexibility, accessibility, affordability? How do we advance those principles?
• How can the needs of all Missouri students best be balanced?
• If you could change one things about education in Missouri, what would it be?

Questions taxpayers should be asking the legislators involved in this plan include the following:

• What is the total cost of this program?
• If there are unfunded/underfunded mandates in this program, how will these be addressed in this climate of budget cutting in the state?
• How does this plan promote smaller government?
• How does this plan promote more local control?
• Does this plan promote more parental rights and involvement?
• How are charter schools considered a viable alternative as they will operate under the same mandates as traditional public schools?

Taxpayers and constitutionalists may want to study the committee's recommendations and ask questions regarding further involvement of the federal government in terms of setting mandates and providing funding for state programs.

This desire to turn over control of state education and accepting federal funds is in contrast with the 10th Amendment beliefs of many Missouri taxpayers. 71% of voters approved of Missouri not having to acquiesce to the Federal Government in health care legislation. Why has Missouri signed onto Common Core standards and agreed to unfunded mandates? Why is the state acquiescing to the Federal Government in the educational realm?

Waiting for What???

Thousands of teachers nationwide were invited to participate in Education Nation’s town hall meeting on Sunday, hosted by NBC’s Brian Williams. This was a two hour event aimed at allowing teachers from across America have their voices heard and participate in a live web cast and chat. First, you had to register for this event and you were asked to provide one really “BIG” idea that would transform education in America in 100 words or less. OK…I’ll take the bait! Why not allow parents to choose where their child goes to school? After all, parents pay the hefty taxes that support the public schools in our communities. IF parents could choose and the tax dollars followed the child, eventually failing schools would be forced to either improve or close. If these failing schools were not receiving funding, maybe they would take a hard look at why they are failing instead of playing the blame game. In fact, school choice would “transform” education in America to coin a phrase commonly being thrown around today. While we’re at it, throw in some local control and less intrusion from the government! Those were my “BIG” ideas for MSNBC.

Did I honestly think they would even touch on the subject? Not really, but there is always “Hope” that the folks at NBC could “Change” their way of thinking.

As the web cast began, it became apparent to me that this would be just another “Waiting for Superman” Oprah love fest from the left. In fact, the entire two hour time frame was nothing more than arguing the merits of charter schools and going back and forth with the teacher tenure idea. Teacher tenure dominated the entire two hour block.

Wow, I really had my expectations set high with this educational program. Certainly MSNBC could do better than this. With 40.9% + students in America at or below the poverty level and 50% of Missouri students at that level, arguing for two hours about tenure seamed fruitless. In fact, as I waited patiently for my comment to go through, I monitored what teachers across the country were saying. They were begging for NBC to bring up a slew of other issues such as the new National standards, special education, standardized testing, the loss of art, music, and P.E. time due to testing, No Child Left Behind, and parent accountability. Occasionally NBC host Rehema Ellis would post that all comments were being heard and they would get to our issues. Unfortunately, that never happened.

According to MSNBC, thousands of teachers were logged on and participating in the chat. At one point, they said they had received over 8000 comments and couldn't keep up. I too logged on and my comments never even made it to their system. This was supposed to be representative of teachers across America. It became clear to me that unless you were a charter school teacher from New Jersey or New York City, your voice would not be heard. There were a few other teachers thrown in the mix for good measure, but its intentions were clear.

I kept holding out hope that one audience member would have the courage to bring up some other issue besides charter vs. public or teacher tenure. I was wrong. Maybe this is what MSNBC really wanted to happen. Instead of having a great debate about the real issues and how to fix the problems, it pitted teachers against each other in the audience. Brian Williams kept attempting to steer the conversation back to the “Superman” movie and the teachers kept arguing about tenure.

One of the best comments came from a teacher who at the start of her comment, claimed Brian Williams had bonded with her through a mutual teacher they once had in school. She proceeded to state her case and what she believed would help reform education in America. You could hear him agreeing with everything she was saying. As she was wrapping up, she stated that she would NOT be seeing “Waiting for Superman” as her research brought her to the conclusion that this movie was nothing but a propaganda machine of the left! WOW! Can you say ZINGER? Williams didn’t know how to react. It was a beautiful moment. The left media was speechless for a mere second. This is a rare treat in today’s society.

I have to say the single best comment at the microphone came from a retired inner city teacher who had seen the movie. Here is what she had to say.

"Waiting for Superman depresses students into thinking they will never make it if they don't win the educational lottery."

Again, Williams didn't know how to react to that comment. He quickly thanked her and said they needed to move on. Back to the tenure issue!

MSNBC's intent on this issue was good. I wonder what they had hoped to accomplish, because in my opinion, major issues weren't even discussed. I am certain of this...teachers across America are sick and tired of the media bashing. I have always been proud to be a teacher in this great country and still am. It is disheartening to me when people now find out what I do and simply comment by saying "I'm sorry" or "Sorry to hear that" about the profession I chose and love. There are serious problems in America with regards to education and no amount of bickering and bashing is going to fix them.

If there is any hope for fixing the education system in America, we can no longer continue to do the same thing year after year and expect different results. Many will argue that the key is more funding. History proves this wrong. Since 1970, spending on public education has increased by 180% while test scores in reading and math have flat lined. Parents again were left out of today's debate. If we are to begin to fix the problems with education, it must be a shared responsibility between teachers, parents, students, lawmakers, and the entire community! My hope is that the next time MSNBC decides to give teachers a voice; it will truly put its money where its mouth is and explore other options like giving parents a choice.

You can watch the continuing "debate" on MSNBC this week, or follow it online here. Make up your own mind. Do you hear the word "parent" or "taxpayer" mentioned in a decision making role? Does "choice" ever come up in these discussions? Is this what $4.35 Billion buys?