Teachbad and Jay Mathews: Part I
Happy Back to School time to everybody. I’m sorry.
Do you know what you need? A good read and some magnets.
Last week Jay Mathews at the Washington Post ran a piece, not exactly about me, but using me as an example in order to propose an argument. It was called Maybe Schools Shouldn’t Work As Teams.
The summary is that Mathews believes school principals should be like general managers of baseball teams. Principals should be able to get rid of people at will if they aren’t working out on ‘the team.’ He suggests that I am ‘bright’, an ‘interesting teacher’ and that I have an ‘independent spirit.’ The question he poses is whether or not the principal should have been allowed to fire me because in some ways I was unwilling to ‘adapt to her system.’
My response follows. (The next post will be the email exchange between Jay and myself over the next few days. After that, I think I the new song will be ready.) (And I apologize that some of this is a little inside baseball for DC people.)
TEACHBAD RESPONSE:
I will attempt to respond in sports team terms and extend the analogy, though it is somewhat outside my comfort zone.
Let’s start with the New York Yankees. They are a baseball team. People hate them because they can overwhelm the competition with money; poaching young, promising players just as they’ve started to prove themselves and giving huge contracts to stars that other teams cannot match. That money, which Kansas City, for example, simply does not have, has translated into pretty good baseball success for the Yankees.
The school where I worked, the Columbia Heights Education Campus (CHEC), is a bit like the Yankees of DC Public Schools. There exists, created and administered by CHEC’s principal, the Multicultural Intern Program (MCIP). The only purpose of this organization is to raise money for CHEC, a DC public school. The first two bullet points of its charter read as follows:
Operate as the not-for-profit fundraising arm of the Columbia Heights Educational Campus (CHEC).
Mmaintain [sic] and raise funds for the programs of CHEC including, but not limited to education, career development, counseling, family and youth support, and multicultural program components.
How much money this is, I don’t know. But it seems to be a lot and the donor list is impressive. The Corporate Amigos of MCIP/CHEC include Bank of America, ExxonMobile, IBM, KPMG, and Pepco. There are a number of full-time employees at CHEC who are paid and formally employed by MCIP, rather than DCPS. These include, but are not limited to, a personal secretary for the principal, facilities managers, technology administrators, dedicated staff to make copies for teachers, publicity and fundraising personnel.
The facilities at CHEC are amazing and brand new. Teachers have computers and internet access in their rooms, laptops if they want them. LCD projectors, smart boards and fully equipped science labs are everywhere. There are so many science labs that I, a social studies teacher, taught in one of these very expensive rooms last year. I was the only social studies teacher with nine sinks in my room…many more than I needed.
There is a brand new artificial turf soccer/football field. There is a beautiful auditorium in which the back third of the seats can rotate on a platform into a completely different room on the other side of the main hall. (Stop and think about that.) There are video screens in the hallways providing inspirational quotes and announcements. In three years, I had never once heard a teacher complain about resources. In terms of facilities administration and resources, CHEC is an easy A-plus. The principal, Maria Tukeva, is an amazing fundraiser and I want to be clear that none of this is illegal or improper. Rather, it is brilliant.
But…do you remember the Yankees? They spend a lot of money, too. Here’s what they have to show for it in the past 15 years: Four American League Eastern Division Titles, Two American League Pennants, and Five World Series Championships. That’s 11 times out of 15 when they did way better than almost everybody else. This year doesn’t look bad either. Right now they are only a half-game behind Boston and have the third best record in baseball.
The Yankees have a lot of money. They use it effectively to win baseball games.
Now back to CHEC. We know it has a lot of money. But how would we know if it was “winning”? The whole idea of winning makes most of us in education uncomfortable. Winners and losers? Parents, politicians and principals are rightly squeamish about putting winners and losers into separate piles when it comes to kids. The solution to that bit of discomfort is to ease the pressure on students and parents. But your physics teacher will tell you that that pressure and energy has to go somewhere.
One function of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has been to absorb and re-channel this pressure and energy. It generates benchmarks against which we; as districts, schools, and teachers may measure ourselves and compare one to another. The measures may be arbitrary and crude. They may be punitive and unreasonable. But, for now, they’re all we’ve got. We can find the winners and the losers; the wheat and the chaff.
Mr. Mathews compares school principals to the general manager of a baseball team. So, how does Team CHEC stack up under the management of Maria Tukeva? Are they winning? The short answer, I think, is no.
In the last three years, since Bell Multicultural High School and Lincoln Middle School merged to form CHEC, CHEC has failed to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) in both reading and math. Is CHEC doing better than most DC secondary campuses? I suspect it is. But it exists within an open sea of mostly desperately awful schools. All Ms. Tukeva has to do in order to be left alone by downtown is to keep the wheels from completely falling off. She has been doing this and sometimes more for several decades.
So, with all that extra money and the decades of administrative experience, one might expect to hear the thunder clap of the Achievement Gap slamming shut. But it’s pretty quiet at CHEC.
Why?
Mathews is right to say that I did not want to be on the CHEC Team and that the GM insists on a very high degree of conformity. To be honest, I cannot think of a single teacher who likes being on this team. Just as I have never heard a teacher complain about resources, I have also never heard a teacher say they like being there. Teachers come and go at CHEC like hobos on a boxcar. Many get fired (21 on the last day of school back in the final year of PPEP), but many more leave just as soon as they can.
In the three years I taught at CHEC, Maria Tukeva and the CHEC assistant GMs had to hire about 235 teachers for about 85 teaching jobs. If you are firing or otherwise alienating that many people, even with all of your extra resources, and still not making AYP, somebody at a higher level than me ought to see that there is a big problem and have the guts to fix it.
In fact, there are two problems. In no particular order, they are that 1) the performance benchmarks set by No Child Left Behind are clearly ridiculous and 2) Tukeva and Company are shockingly poor managers and motivators of people.
I have often lamented the waste of human capital at CHEC and the team that could be created there if the administration would give up only a little bit of control. I have suggested that principals should be evaluated partially on teacher retention. It is extremely expensive to recruit, hire and train new teachers; and, last but not least, there must be a cost to students of constant teacher turnover at CHEC and around the country.
CHEC hires extremely smart, creative people with hearts in the right place. But the only quality truly valued at Team CHEC is OBEDIENCE. Smart, creative people do not thrive on that and their hearts are not filled. They move on to other teams or, sadly, other sports entirely because their experience on Team CHEC has been both deeply unpleasant and fatally formative.
You can write me off as a disgruntled former employee. I don’t mind and, in fact, it’s true. But the numbers speak for themselves: 3 years; 85 teaching positions; 235 teachers. Nobody working in that sort of environment has time to worry about “The Team”. They are just trying to survive. I’m told there are 53 new teachers starting at CHEC this week. And so they roll on…
Great response. The resources at your old school are impressive, but the turnover rate is horrible. We are experiencing the same thing, minus the fancy resources. I fear what rock bottom will look like when we hit it.
Great points, Teachbad. Given the Yankees analogy, however, does this mean you are the Billy Martin of CHEC? The analogy is also ripe for some kind of Cubs mention—always losing and breaking hearts.
Your response makes me sad for two reasons: 1. if I switched out the location and names it could be about my school; 2. you are so right about everything and there is no light yet…
TeachBad,
I was sorry to hear about your dismissal from CHEC and the DC school district. I loved your blogs and videos. I shared them often with colleagues. However, I was not surprised by your dismissal. You district was run by that dragon queen Michelle Rhee. Her underlings must have been a scary crew of misfits. The probably runs the schools like the local dairy queen. Hire a warm body that keeps their mouth shut. If they complain about their schedule, find another warm body to replace them.
The problem with the baseball analogy is that baseball managers and most GM’s are baseball people. They have years of experience as players or scouts. Education administrators today do not have extensive classroom experience. As I recall Rhee had three years of classroom experience and her scores as a teacher are now suspect.
Any high achiever willing to Arab someone in the back can be an administrator today. Carry a knife and you are principal material. You will get promoted and your pension will double. Know the district office speak of rubrics and best practices. And you are superintendant material. The state of education today is the result of politicians and test makers looking to make education a commodity. They have completed their task, increased their bank accounts, and left us farther behind then when we started the game. Where is the dragon lady today? Looking for her next victim. How stupid can we be?
Correction. There were some typos in my previous post. I can’t stand iPhone auto correct. It was stab someone in the back.
Dear Ms. Carlson,
Don’t worry so much. It’s funny. Initially, I was stunned by your lack of CORRECT political correctness. I know “to gyp” someone or “to jew down” someone, but “to arab” someone? A new slander in our vocabulary, and it’s your fault! Congrats! You’re famous.
(No offense was meant to anybody by this post).
Correction. There were some typos in my previous post. I can’t stand iPhone auto correct. It was stab someone in the back. Sorry for the confusion.
Wow, 235 teachers for 85 positions in three years. You really don’t need to say anymore than that!
As a former public school teacher, I’m sorry that you went through this. Unfortunately, most county systems wind up valuing obedience over all, because the state testing has gotten out of control, due to Federal idiots like Margaret Spellman. Shit rolls downhill, but idiocy rises straight up.
We can throw money at the education problem, but I guarantee it will never work. Until education is made a priority in the HOME, it is doomed to fail in the classroom.
To continue the sports analogy, the best team isn’t always the most expensive team; it’s the one with the best team chemistry, other things being equal. The Yankees tried to buy the World Series from 2001-2008, but were unsuccessful because they may have had some of the best players money could buy, but not the best teammates. In 2009 they won it all with some creative, lesser talented sorts like Nick Swisher, Brett Gardner, and others.
I have worked in poorer schools with creative and sometimes anti authoritarian sorts including me that were wonderful places for their kids to succeed. In fact I am off to a 40th reunion of a senior class for one such school from the Bronx.
You’re absolutely right on all counts. To understand how ridiculous NCLB is, one need look no further or “dig deeper” than to look at its stated goal: that by 2014, 100% of students will be proficient. Any statistician (or anyone with common sense who is above the age of 10) knows full well that there IS no such thing as 100% when you’re talking about people. There will ALWAYS be at least a few children left behind, and not necessarily by their teachers or even their lousy administrators…they get left behind by their parents, by their lawmakers, by society. There are kids who, despite having parents who DO love them and care about them, also happen to have parents working 3 jobs just to keep the lights on (and even then not necessarily succeeding). They therefore have no one home to tell them to do their homework, to put them to bed on time, to talk to the teacher when she calls to talk about the failing grade, or even to really get a good look at that report card. Would YOU have time to follow up on a missing-in-action report card if you were working literally 16-20 hours out of every day? Obviously there are also kids whose parents really DON’T care, too, even if they’re sitting on the couch all day with all the time in the world to follow up. But it’s just to show that even parents with the best intentions can produce kids who get “left behind.” And in those cases, it’s not the teacher’s fault…God knows I cannot stop at the home of each of my students in the morning, wake them up, get them dressed, feed them breakfast and get them to school on time (oh, and make sure they’ve done their homework and studied for their tests). And it’s not really the parents’ fault, in the sense that they’re fighting for survival and feeding the kids has to take priority over talking to the kids’ teachers and making sure the kids do their homework. But it IS society’s fault. That it is possible to work 3 jobs in this, the richest country in the world, and barely be able to feed your family and keep a roof over their heads, is a really, really sad statement about where this country is. And until we fix that problem–that without a higher education or trade skills, one cannot live with dignity and raise one’s family properly–we will ALWAYS have children left behind. (And even if we were to fix those problems, we would STILL have children left behind because, let’s face it, there are a few kids out there with all the resources and love in the world who just seem to WANT to be left behind.) Statistics…there IS no 100%. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive for it, but to make it a “goal” with punitive consequences for not reaching it is nothing short of absurd…and abusive to those of us who work our tails off every single day, really caring and really trying to get through to those “left-behind” kids who are nothing more than a test score to anyone outside our class.
Jennie-
I agree with you wholeheartedly. Test scores do not a child make.
When politicians can influence 100% of registered voters to show up and cast their ballots on an election day, then I will believe that 100% of anyone can do anything…
The turnover rate is just plain shocking. The fact that the district office has caused/allowed it is even more shocking. Obviously sanity has left the room along with Elvis.
All the more reason I am happy I was able to get out when I did…
More and more I am convinced that the whole enterprise of schooling is dysfunctional at its core and the direction in which it is currently heading is just the logical unfolding of a model flawed to begin with.
I’m so glad someone else out there thinks public education as we have know hasn’t fully crashed and burned yet….
Sorry-that should have been “public education as we have known it”….
I’m sympathetic to everything you wrote yet I still believe it is unreasonable to put a principal in charge of a school, then tell that principal that she/he cannot choose a staff that is loyal to the leader. The turnover numbers you cite seem to prove that this principal is a poor motivator, to say the least. Yet to require him to retain you, someone who wishes to teach in a different style, seems crazy to me. Will you be able to find another school where the principal values your strengths? And will you not be happier there? I’ve been fired a few times in my life. I won’t pollyanna that experiences by saying I was always glad it happened–and many of my bosses were fools–but overall my life was improved by the sacking. And I won’t pretend that your principal will someday be found out to be a charlatan–that would be too convenient for my argument–but I still want him to have the tools to do (or, probably, not do) his job, including assembling a staff of like-minded souls.
It’s all about checks and balances-power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
this was in our paper today…..http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/
Georgia leads the way in teachers leaving to go overseas. The two teachers I know who choose this are pretty darn happy and they are women in Saudi Arabi. That’s a pretty bad statement on American education that as a woman you feel more freedom to teach in that country than here. And they feel more respected….really says it all.
Teachbad…this was a great blog you just posted….235 teachers for 85 positions in 3 years. It would be funny except the ramifications are just horrible.
Oh, my goodness! I went to the blog site, & I think y’all are going to have worse troubles than losing teachers. I was very interested in the article (& read it) about a superintendent candidate, Dr. Atkinson. I read the candidate’s resume, as well as all 87 comments. Unless I missed something, no one had mentioned one of her proudly touted qualifications–noted at the beginning of her cover letter–that she is a Broad Superintendent’s Academy Fellow!
Now, let’s see–who else came from there? Oh, yes–D.C.’s Michele Rhee! AND
controversial former superintendent of Rochester, N.Y., & present superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools–Jean-Claude Brizard (who received a salary bump to $250k &, when asked on a radio interview,said his salary was actually quite low & that he needed this pay because he has ‘”a family to feed”‘ & ‘”he has to be able to pay the mortgage”‘ after 1,200 CPS
teachers were laid off AND 4% negotiated salary increases for teachers were revoked). I’m sure there are some other fine examples of Broad Superintendent’s Academy Fellows, but I can’t think of any now. (If you’re
curious, Google it!) Good luck to those of you in that district!
I understand the overseas. My son graduated in Dec. from a local university. 3.8 GPA, president of his frat, member of the school’s student government, was on the school president’s advisory board. He can’t buy a job. He put in 200 applications to schools and he received ONE interview. There were 79 other people who had applied. He will be going to Daejeon, South Korea for a year to teach English. More money than a Texas teacher, furnished apartment included. He said he was going to save every Won he can and go to law school when he returns. He said public education in America is done….
Its all very true CHEC has had great teachers who are not there any more. I believe thats its a tragedy that CHEC tries to be a great school and yet when it comes to having great teachers it has dismissed and lost many people! people who are encouraging and are there for the students without doing it because its their job! Every school can be nice and almost perfect on the outside ( awards on test and such) but if the people managing the inside (teachers) are not so good at what they do then the school will fail their students…just the though’s of a recent high school graduate
We have the same change-your-partners, skip to-my-lou song and dance here in Philly. Every year teachers all over the district try to improve their miserable condition or are given “forced transfers.” Based on seniority they get a teaching spot in another school within the district.
But this year, due to more administrative mayhem than ever, roughly 1,000 teachers don’t know where they’re teaching on the first day of school (2 weeks away!) The “pick a number, pick a school” extravaganza has been put off until Aug 24: exactly one week before school opens. How’s that for quality education?
And guess who will get the brunt with harsh observations, walk-throughs and check-lists? ain’t going to be the administration, that’s for sure! teacher stress is at all an time high before the year even opens.
Anyone asking questions about that? Not likely: Our superintendent stands to gain a $1.5 million severance if our district ends her contract now and she’s loving it. Our district is $650 million in the hole so who’s going to fire her?
This place is crazy. I tell every teacher I know *Don’t* come to Philly
I meant to say “who can afford to fire her?”
Of course there are the secret donations being solicited:
Business leaders solicited for Ackerman buyout donations http://articles.philly.com/2011-08-18/news/29900989_1_ackerman-buyout-business-leaders
Hey Mr. Teachbad, so sorry about getting sacked, but ultimately, I’m happy you got out of that snake pit.
To answer your musings, in 2008 (the last year data is available to the public) Ms. Tukeva’s personal 501c3 brought in 1.5 million dollars.
The 990s (the tax forms nonprofits have to submit) are all available on guidestar.org. You have to register, but you can get the 990 info for free. You should take a look and examine the program expenditures. As you indicated, most of it goes towards salaries.
Also, if you want to see more recent 990s you can ask any nonprofit directly. They are required, by law, to give you a copy.
Thanks. I plan to but just haven’t had the time yet. It’s odd that at CHEC the foundation is very hush-hush. There has never ever been a faculty meeting where it was explained what they do, who is employed by who, what the chain of command is…it’s like she has this private armada that everybody can see but nobody can find. Maybe now is the time.
It disgusts me that Mathews used a baseball analogy to address an issue in education. Baseball is a sport. At the professional level, sports are entertainment. Ultimately, in the grand scheme of human existence, if a baseball team loses a game, or a series, or the even World Series, it doesn’t really matter. The fans of the team are disappointed, but they go back to their families and schools and jobs and live their lives. The players will collect a fat paycheck despite the loss. Some may be traded, most will not; the number of lives negatively affected will be small.
Failure in education has far greater ramifications for a society than that. Education is not a game. Gaining a good education can mean the difference, for millions of people, between a good life or a bad one, comfortable days or a hard existence, money in the bank or bills piled high, wisdom or ignorance.
And, if the baseball analogy has to be used, it needs to be stated that if the manager cannot inspire the players to stay on the team, then the owners should realize that it’s not the players who need to go.
Team work can exist alongside individual creativity. They balance each other out. Authoritarianism, however, never works; not in education, or sports, or government…
Uhhh…I think that was the point? And I believe Mr. Teachbad made the baseball analogy, but my reading comprehension skills could be lacking.
But I think the point was, if the product on the field sucks, it’s not necessarily the players who need to go, but possibly the manager. Which, should be true in education. If the school is sucking, it’s not necessarily the teachers (players) who suck, but could quite possibly be the principal/administration (manager).