To the editor:
So Brownback wants to evaluate teachers based on a one-shot test, among other things, and post the evaluation on the Internet. The Kansas State Department of Education is already working on an evaluation system for educators in Kansas. KEEP, or Kansas Educator Evaluation Protocol, is being tested in 17 school districts in Kansas. This program has been developed with the input of teachers. The proposal by Brownback doesn’t look like KEEP at all. We should let people who know education best develop the proper evaluation system for Kansas teachers.
Comments
grammaddy 1 year, 3 months ago
Agreed! And we need to stop trying to punish teachers and give them the credit they are due. I visit the Grands' classrooms frequently.From what I've seen, if your child isn't learning, it's probably not the teacher's fault.Teach your kids to show some respect.
thebigspoon 1 year, 3 months ago
The alteration you suggest would add credence to the man's position, and I do not believe the writer has a lot of respect for the man. But that does not have anything to do with his respect for the office. What he is saying is lost to you in your comment, which says nothing about the content of the letter. But, then, your comments rarely address the issues stated but become tirades against the posters as you have little to say about the issues and much to say about your support for anything anti-people, as do most of Brownback's policy presentations.
crazyks 1 year, 3 months ago
Kind of like you always refer to the man in the White House as President Obama? And if you don't, LJW fixes that for you before it lets your post appear?
Didn't think so...
vertigo 1 year, 3 months ago
This coming from the guy who call the President "The Anointed One".
Blaspheme much?
vertigo 1 year, 3 months ago
How about respect for the Office of the Presidency?
Respect the position even if you don't respect the man.
Or would that be to mature for you?
thebigspoon 1 year, 3 months ago
What has he fixed? I am really interested in your answer, will not call you names or dennigrate you as a person, but I am quite interested in what he (Brownback, which is his name, not his position) has repaired or made better.
thebigspoon 1 year, 3 months ago
What? That's an answer? Still waiting for a civil, thoughtful, fact-based answer. Got one? The fact that you are disappointed that Obama was elected is not an answer, nor does it suggest you have any answers to my question. Perhaps your angst over losing an election colors your perception of winning one.
Still waiting.
vertigo 1 year, 3 months ago
Please find one post of mine from that time period disrespecting former Pres Bush.
It won't happen. In fact if you look at my posts from 2004ish you'll notice me defending Bush.
I'll wait for your apology for assuming I disrespected President Bush while he was in the office.
Getaroom 1 year, 3 months ago
And showing a real badge of courage, look at what a fine "respect" lawman it's_just_math is and being the quick draw he is, was at the ready with a clever come back and so early too.
You see Lawrence it must be true, the more CC permits there are, the safer we all will be from such "crimes of omission". If anyone spots such a crime and needs assistance from ...math, just call: 911StopOmissions and the Math-a-nator will hunt them down, calculate the fine for the crime, and teach them how to respect their leaders properly.
imastinker 1 year, 3 months ago
Wiat, isn't this the same group of morons that keeps making national news by debating whether to teach Charles Darwin?
merrill 1 year, 3 months ago
Let's not forget Gov Sam Brownback is from the party that gave public school education NO Child Left Behind. For the moment let's refer to that party as the ALEC Party. Now the NCLB concept is getting left behind because of the incompetence attached to it. NCLB was designed to make public education appear to be a failure.
The Gov Brownback party has a strategy. ALEC. When that party of ALEC wants to move more of OUR tax dollars in to the bank accounts of their special interest campaign donors immediately the Brownback party of incompetence begins to paint the public school system as this evil failure.
They never shut up and keep saying nasty things until enough taxpayers believe it.
This strategy gets direction from the people who want want OUR trillions of tax dollars in their bank accounts. Who might that be? The privatization of public school lobby. Ever heard of ALEC?
This evaluation of teachers coming from the Brownback party will be one more misinformation tool used to badger the public school system.
How many more times are taxpayers going to fall for this fraudulent nonsense?
Medicare,Medicaid and Social Security Insurance are also victims of the ALEC message. The message of evil. How many more times are taxpayers going to fall for this fraudulent nonsense?
rvjayhawk 1 year, 3 months ago
merrill is showing his stupidity again. The No Child Left Behind program was and still is a horrible idea. But it was a bipartisan bill, supported by many Democrats. So the the blame should be shared. As usual, blame Bush for everything.
jafs 1 year, 3 months ago
I believe that's right, as far as it goes.
But, I also believe that Democrats wanted to fund it, and Republicans stopped that from happening.
It would be a rather better program if there were funding.
Renaissance 1 year, 3 months ago
Ted Kennedy co-authored that bill and it passed with nearly 100% support, fyi
friendlyjhawk 1 year, 3 months ago
If teachers are rated and hung out on a line to wave in the wind, then the REAL teachers of children, the parents, should also have their skills evaluated and put out in public for everyone to see. Also all that home school should have the same evaluation as teachers in real live schools where they have obtained education and training to do their jobs. Buying a computer program and having it administered by a high school grad (at best) doesn't make the parent a teacher. There are bad performers in every occupation but to make teachers more responsible then parents is wrong. Mom and Dad it is your gene pool and you are ultimately the most responsible when your kid doesn't do well. Don't give them an excuse to fail. And don't be the excuse for their failing.
thebigspoon 1 year, 3 months ago
Noise. Noise. Noise. Got any real comments? Anything that will add to the discussion or suggest solutions to real problems?
Thought not.
thebigspoon 1 year, 3 months ago
Seems like a real solution to a perceived problem. FHNC, do you have any idea how petty you sound in your posts? I'm really interested in what you think will fix things, per this letter. Will you stand up for your convictions, or will you simply continue to rail against anything and everything? Or is your only conviction that the whole band is out of step except FalseHopeNoCshange?
thebigspoon 1 year, 3 months ago
There seems to be no starting place, but here I go:
First, and foremost, I do not "hate" nor post with "meanness". I simply asked you to justify your position that Brownback has made something better. Politely, and pointedly. You refuse to reply.
Secondly, your sarcasm is useless as a reply, as it does nothing toward answering my question.
Third, I really am interested, as I am not completely convinced the Democrats have anything much better in mind. I'm interested in differing viewpoints, and solutions, in order that I can make informed decisions at voting time.
Finally, "are" relationship may be shakey, but any relationship, to be solid, has to have honest input from both sides to work. I don't want to marry you, but I am reaching for information that will lead me to believe you have a "better idea" when it comes to the discussion at hand.
Is that too much to ask?
Agnostick 1 year, 3 months ago
You? "Honest?"
We both know you're being dishonest... on several levels.
Deleting references to past usernames doesn't change history. Nothing deletes history.
thebigspoon 1 year, 3 months ago
Apparently it was too much to ask.
vertigo 1 year, 3 months ago
You're being "excoriated" not for being on Obama's case, but rather for your blatant hypocrisy when you chided the LTE writer for not using the governor's title when in nearly every single post your refer to the President as every denigrating name in the book besides his title.
crazyks 1 year, 3 months ago
You forgot to call him Governor Brownback in your own post...
Agnostick 1 year, 3 months ago
Zombies are very, very easy creatures to spot, and they take little or no time to figure out.
They have no respect for private property, whatsoever (despite hypocritical claims that they do). Once dispatched, they return... invading the same area over and over and over again. Many attempt feeble, childish disguises: a different jacket, a new name tag, the occasional pair of "Groucho glasses." Most watchful, alert humans see right through these disguises, though.
Their staggering and swaying is likely due to a severe degradation and decay of their spinal column--they really have no backbone to work with.
Their loud, droning, sometimes guttural sounds are easy to detect, but almost impossible to decipher. Vocabulary is generally limited to a meager handful of words and phrases. For this reason, logical debate or conversation of any kind is impossible.
jaywalker 1 year, 3 months ago
Check me if I'm wrong, but isn't a "two shot deal"? I thought the teacher's got two years of review.
xclusive85 1 year, 3 months ago
You are correct, but I don't think that is exactly what the writer meant. I think he meant that we would be evaluating based on the standardized test scores, which students get only one chance to take each year.
streetman 1 year, 3 months ago
How dare the governor suggest that not all teachers are above average? Heresy! And certainly "the people who know education the best" can be trusted to come up -- in a few more decades -- with a meaningful evaluation process that will not only reward the best (at least 99.9% of educators) while identifying those few who are merely average.
Agnostick 1 year, 3 months ago
What would your solution look like, streetman?
How, in particular, would you factor in responsibility for factors beyond control of the teachers, and the schools at large? Things like parental involvement, discipline in the home, proper childhood development and nutrition?
Should the teachers be graded and rated on those things... things that directly impact student performance in the classroom, but are beyond the control of the teachers?
jaywalker 1 year, 3 months ago
Eaaasy, Agno! Strike a nerve? Wouldn't be a member of that fine and unappreciated profession perhaps?
I take it you're against the proposal. I'd like to hear your opinion on it because I thought it sounded pretty good to me when I first read about it.
Agnostick 1 year, 3 months ago
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
streetman 1 year, 3 months ago
Example: each student's progress can be measured year-to-year in critical subjects (e.g. Iowa Basic Skills Test). A teacher's class can be compared as a whole to other teachers' classes in the area and/or state in these key subjects, for example. Factor in parents' opinions. I'm sure that the "factors beyond control of the teachers" would even-out in a local, and should not be cited as an excuse to avoid being held accountable.
budwhysir 1 year, 3 months ago
I sure hope all those teachers get a good nights sleep and eat a healthy meal the morning of the test.....
Paul R. Getto 1 year, 3 months ago
Good point, and maybe the principal will give them orange juice and cookies like they do at the blood bank after you donate your pint.
crazyks 1 year, 3 months ago
I think Governor Brownback should be evaluated by the same process...
3up3down 1 year, 3 months ago
Good by brownie......move to Missouri............PLEASE!!!!
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