Yeah, We can’t go with anything naughty associated with our Archivist…

The lovely, and off the market, Marie Bernadette (@MariebernadetteE), the Castle Archivist writes:

Dear Dr. J.: 

Good insight into the TN school system way of things in today’s post. A few comments. 

1) Guess what? I work in a state with no teacher’s unions! So… we can’t be bought by the local politicians. That’s kinda nice. It also means that your evaluation isn’t based on a high-stakes test that your kids may or may not pass. I honestly think that if conservatives want GOOD teachers, they’ve got to stop playing the high-stakes test card. It doesn’t make for good teachers — it makes for good test trainers. And that’s a useless skill. 

2) The corollary to your Metro School Board Representative is the self-describing conservative who says, “if you’re a public school teacher and your kids don’t go to the public school, you’re a hypocrite and bring shame upon yourself” (or some derivation to that effect). Because I don’t even have kids, and I’ve been told that’s the case. Apparently choice only applies if you have no interest in the topic. Because, you know, someone who works as a baghandler for Delta Airlines surely can’t fly on USAir (despite finding their service superior) because hypocrite! 

Oh wait…. that’s ridiculous. 

Anyway. Good stuff. Write more! 

Marie, Castle Archivist 

P.S. Also, I just saw the post below it… write more, but also get yo self to Mass!

Dr. J. thinks that tests as accountability is the sort of idea that makes sense to folks who want accountability from a distance. If Dr. J.’s in the state capital or in D.C. and he would want assurances that the checks that he’s cutting are providing value. Given the number of check being cut, some hard numbers are easier to digest than visiting and comprehensive evaluations on the front lines, and trusting headmasters to make tough decisions. It is a data driven accountability method that creates its own set of perverse incentives for the teachers.

Contrast that against independent schools where the headmaster is accountable to the board of trust and, ultimately to the tuition paying parents. He (or she) is expected to make the tough decisions or families vote with their feet.

With regard to your second point. Most conservatives do not feel teachers who choose independent schools as hypocrites. We find ‘anti-school choice’ individuals and public school associated folks who pour the haterade upon us while they also send their kids to independent schools as hypocrites. In the case of our Metro Public School Board rep, we think for someone with her credentials, she’s picked poorly from a school standpoint. If we had to go public in New Atlantis, we’d live in a different neighborhood and rest soundly for K-4, but then pray our little ones got into the magnet schools, otherwise we’d have to go south to the ‘burbs…

Dr. J.