Next Bargaining: Wednesday, February 1, 4pm ESF
bftrocks
Click here to go to Latest News page for proposed salary comparison.
Where is Dan? Dan's page
Read Dan's tribute to Riverview
Why does redistricting matter to teachers?
click here for the answer
"Promoting, supporting and inspiring members through integrity and professionalism, one teacher at a time."
Mission Statement
Are you writing your area Board Member with your concerns?
Karen Henderson
Amy Kneessy
Dr. Mike Krupp
Dr. Barbara Murray
Andy Ziegler
Click here for the latest news, local events and more!
> read more
Your Team
Meet your team!
Teachers
Discover the latest news that will impact you...
LATEST ADVISOR
AdvisorNovember30.pdf
PAST ADVISORS
Advisor Sept 1 2011.pdf
August3-Advisor.pdf
Aug15The Brevard Federation of Teachers Advisor.pdf
TheSept19Advisor.pdf
AdvisorOctober15.pdf
AdvisorOctober31.pdf
AdvisorNovember15.pdf
AdvisorSept30.pdf
"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."
Henry Ford
Welcome! Here are several documents that may be of interest to you including the nomination form for this spring's elections, BFT Application for membership, Frequently asked questions and the current BFT contract.
election Spring 2012 nomination form.pdf
BFTapp.pdf
2011 bargaining documents
June28BargainingReport.pdf
Bargaining report 7-13-11.pdf
June 14 Bargaining Report.pdf
Bargaining from 6-16-11.pdf
June20BargainingUpdate.pdf
DOE FAQ on A money.pdf
Constitution And ByLaws 2009 Brevard Federation of Teachers.pdf
BFT MEMBER? Click below to request your password to the Members area of our site.
faq.pdf
Contract10-11 with correction.pdf
TA Language as of July 22.pdf
40HourWeekLetterToTeachers.pdf
PASSWORD request
Non-Member Teachers
Join the BFT listserv
How do I become a member of BFT?
You can fax the application to 636-4366.
It's very simple. There are 3 easy ways to become a member.
Brevard Federation of Teachers
1007 S. Florida Avenue
Rockledge, FL 32955
Cost of membership - Dues
BFT reduced dues by 5% beginning in the 2008-2009 school year. That reduction will occur until further notice.
21 pays - $28.80 per pay date
26 pays - $23.25 per pay date
21 pays (PT*) - $19.85 per pay date
26 pays (PT*) - $17.47 per pay date
*PT - part time
BFT dues are calculated per school year based on the beginning teacher salary.
DUES ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE!
When you become a member of the Brevard Federation of Teachers (BFT), you become a member of the Florida Education Association (FEA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the National Education Association (NEA), and the AFL-CIO for one low fee.
Click on the pdf document and you can read the November Newsletter
Retirees money savings ideas.pdf
BFTR November 2011.pdf
Florida Lead Legislators
Govenor Rick Scott
Email:
Phone: 954.915.3360
Mailing Address: 420 The Capitol
402 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, Fl 32399-1300
Senator Mike Haridopolos
Senate President
Email: haridopolos.mike.web_flsenate.gov
Phone: 850.487.5056
Phone: 321.752.3131
Senate VOIP: 42600
Mailing Address: 409 The Capitol
404 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, Fl 32399-1100
Representative Dean Cannon
House Speaker
Email: dean.cannon_myfloridahouse.gove
Phone: 850.488.2742
Phone: 407.623.5740
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300
850.487.5056
321.752.3131
haridopolos.mike.web_flsenate.gov
______________________________
Senator Thad Altman
850.487.5053
321.752.3138
altman.thad.web_flsenate.gov
Rep. Tom Goodson
850.488.3006
tom.goodson_myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Ritch Workman
850.488.9720
321.757.7019
ritch.workman_myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. John Tobia
850.488.2528
321.984.4848
john.tobia_myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Steve Crisafulli
850.488.4669
321.449.5111
steve.crisafulli_myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Debbie Mayfield
850.488.0952
772.778.5077 (Vero Beach - very small piece of Brevard)
debbie.mayfield_myfloridahouse.gov
The fact that public-school teachers are undervalued in this country has become something of a truism. They are "desperately underpaid," according to Education Secretary Arne Duncan. They are "the most undervalued resource in our society," claimed talk show host Tavis Smiley. "Salaries are too low," said George W. Bush in 2003. But a new report suggests that the opposite may be true.
Jason Richwine and Andrew Biggs, researchers at the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute, two leading conservative think tanks, argue in a new report that the country's 3.2 million teachers may be overpaid by over 50 percent or more, given their salary, benefits, job security, and intellectual ability.
This isn't the first study to take on the politically sizzling issue of how much we pay the molders of our nation's young. And shockingly, the results fall pretty cleanly along ideological lines.
According to Census data, Richwine and Biggs admit that teachers do look underpaid; they receive a 20 percent lower salary than private-sector workers with the same level of education, and have benefits approximately the same.
These numbers are flawed, however, according to Richwine and Biggs. They show that the typical worker who moves from the private sector into teaching receives a salary increase of 8.8 percent, and the typical teacher who enters the private sector receives a pay cut of 3.1 percent. If teachers were underpaid, they write, "this is the opposite of what one would expect." Teachers moving from industry to teaching get years of experience (plus two years of military experience!). Teachers moving from teaching to industry are not granted years of experience.
They also admit, however, that given the small sample size of workers who switch between teaching and non-teaching, "these data should not be considered precise." It is also probable that a private sector worker who would receive a significant pay cut from becoming a teacher is less likely to fulfill that mid-career calling.
Schools Out For the Summer!
The report further claims that the truncated work year of the average teacher skews the numbers. Teachers receive their salary for an average of nine months of work, which means their average workweek salary is higher than that of private employees, whose salary is for a full-year of labor.
This argument rehashes a 2007 report by The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, another conservative think tank. That research looked at hourly wages. In weeks teachers worked, they labored apparently for 36.5 hours, and took home $34.06 for each of those hours, more than architects, psychologists, chemists, mechanical engineers, economists, and reporters. There's just one minor hole in this analysis: Teachers work 36.5 hours a week?
Teachers alleged higher salaries are cushioned by higher job security. The average unemployment rate for public school teachers between 2005 and 2010 was 2.1 percent, the report states, compared to an average of 3.8 percent for workers in similarly skilled occupations. That means less time, on average, job hunting without pay.
Earning Above Their IQ?
Since 2003, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute has been doing a running study on how much teachers earn compared to other occupations with similar education and work experience, like accountants, reporters, computer programmers and clergy. As of 2010, teachers earned 12 percent less than members of those professions, 9 percent less if you tally in benefits.
The level of education measure obscures some important facts, according to Richwine and Biggs. While a large proportion of teachers have bachelor's or master's degrees, over two thirds have their highest degree in education, which they claim is not a particularly rigorous path of study. And their evidence of this statement IS? Research please. You don't have to work as hard and it's easier to score an A in education, supposedly, than in the sciences, social sciences or humanities.
While teachers score above average on national intelligence tests, they allegedly fare worse than other college graduates. Richwine and Biggs therefore conclude that teachers are overpaid, given their average raw intelligence. They get more bucks per IQ point (with IQ determined by the perhaps dubious measure of standardized tests).
But this also suggests that the teaching profession fails to attract and retain the highest skilled college students. So examined through a reverse lens, this could be an argument for even higher salaries. And that is if they can show research for this sweeping statement.
Retiring In Style
The report also argues that teachers' benefits are more generous than private employees'. On the surface, both teachers and private sector workers receive benefits at about 41 percent of their salaries.
Pensions, however, are financed differently in the public and private sector. The public sector, the researchers claim, invests in risky assets with an approximately 8 percent rate of return. Not in Florida! We get 1.6. If the investments fall in value, the "public employers -- meaning, ultimately, taxpayers -- must increase their contributions to the pension funds."
If teachers and private employees contribute the same percent of their salaries to their pension funds, teachers will receive retirement benefits 4.5 times higher, according the report, because teachers have a guaranteed higher rate of return. Again, not in Florida!
Richwine and Biggs emphasize that they are talking about the average teacher, not the best ones, and they recommend a pay system that rewards high performing teachers. Merit-based pay raises are already under consideration in Ohio and Florida. Thus eliminating another point of their argument.
In a statement, the American Federation of Teachers, a union that represents 1.5 million educators, stated that the report "defies common sense." The researchers ignore the fact, the AFT argued, that teachers work long hours outside the classroom grading papers, planning lessons and attending school events. The AFT also stated that teachers spend hundreds of dollars out-of-pocket, buying supplies for their students.
"Does this mean we should go out and arbitrarily cut teacher salaries? No," Biggs said at a briefing. The researchers simply wanted to correct the assumption that teachers were paid below market rates. Trimming benefits, they argue, won't cause a mass exodus of educators. Again, their research on this dubious point IS?
First things first, can we all please throttle back on the knee-jerk reactions? Just a little?
My school email box blew up today with comments and reactions to a proposal that was on the agenda for tonight's School Board meeting....you know the one, TWENTY THOUSAND dollar raises get my attention, too. I'll bet we all would have tempered our emotions were we first given the rationale behind the restructuring of a department. From everything I've heard, Christal Broadbent is a good person, and I winced every time I saw her name associated with such angry utterances! I asked Andy Ziegler what the fuss was about, and his response made great sense. Perhaps when this proposal is reintroduced (and it will be-trust in that) the School Board will remember to have good explanations ready before they go on the record proposing what appears to be a huge expenditure of funds.
The intensity of the responses that were generated by our fellow teachers is an indicator of our deeply-rooted dissatisfaction at the lack of sensitivity shown us by our employer. When you think about us, most of us treat our dogs better! (Don't think about that for too long, you'll get depressed!) It gets ponderous sometimes, feeling like a mushroom...(kept in the dark, fed a diet of manure) and this communication gap must be corrected.
That's what I've been trying to do with my "irregular rants..." in my own simply way to foster improved communication among our membership in hopes that through improved communication we will have a stronger, better educated Union, and that we all will become more active participants in the political process that so deeply affects our lives. Fact is, we teachers do a pretty bad job of sticking up for ourselves - - but we sure can chew on our Building Rep's! Don't leave the work up to your B.R....lean in and shoulder some of the load.
At tonight's School Board meeting we were well represented. Half a dozen of your brethren stepped up to take turns at the podium reading the full text of an Open Letter to President Obama...copy and paste this link into your browser (see the home page) The members of the Board were quite impressed, and asked Richard to provide them each with a copy. We (Richard) cordially thanked them for listening....because you could tell - they WERE listening.
I am cautiously optimistic that we teachers may be party to positive change in the near future. Our employer has shown an interest in REAL movement up the salary scale and might even soften their stance on contract language that "chains us to our desks." This could be evidence that our voices have finally reached a volume that lets them be heard over all the noise. This also means that we must NOT let up! If you have written your Board members and state representatives, do it again! If you still have not found the courage to tap out a short-but heartfelt-message, I encourage you to do it soon. Comfort zone is a funny thing...step out of it once and it is remarkable...do it again and it becomes easy....do it often and you feel empowered!
Thanks for reading, It's going to be a late meeting
John P. Chybion
Latest Local Events
Comparison of BPS proposal and BFT counter-proposal
ComparisonOfSalaryProposals 1-19-12.pdf
Much of what I will say relates to the article to the right about Fair Districts. This is the non-partisan group who sucessfully passed (64%) amendments to the Florida constitution that intended to remove the ability of politicians to pick their voters . 64% of Floridians feel that WE should pick who is in the legislature.
Why is this so important to you as a teacher, as a parent, or as a citizen?
The abuse of power that has been going on is DIRECTLY tied to gerrymandering (a process where the legislators pick which groups of voters can vote for them). This process has in the past benefitted both Democrats and Reapublicans.
IT NEEDS TO BE STOPPED!
Amendments 5 & 6 state that districts should be compact and have a reasonable shape.
What has occurred is a supermajority of Republican members (67%) when the per centage of registered Republicans in the state is less than 40%. Worse, these members simply vote as they are told to vote without considering what is in the best interests of the citizens. This has caused educational spending in the state to plummet. And that leads to closed schools, pay freezes of teachers and programs being cut.
The school boards are really not the villians in this situation but are victims as well. They are being forced to make decisions that they would never consider otherwise.
So that is why. Read the article on Fair Districts to get the complete story on how the legislature intends to ignore the will of the people.
The Fair Districts coalition broke its silence on the legislature's nearly completed redistricting maps late Thursday and delivered a 12-page letter to lawmakers lambasting their proposals for manipulating the political boundaries for partisan and incumbent advantage, in violation of the state Constitution.
"It appears that all maps under consideration were drawn with an intent to gain partisan advantage and/or to protect incumbents," the group wrote in its letter to House Redistricting Chairman Will Weatherford. "The Legislatures refusal to follow this efficient and logical redistricting method proves that it wanted to retain its ability to surreptitiously favor a party or incumbents, and the numbers bear this out."
In short, the group which helped bring new state's redistricting standards to the state Constitution, accuses lawmakers of not only strategically protecting incumbents with the drawing of districts but doing it to strengthen weak districts, pick favorites in competitive areas, pack minority voters into districts and strategically secure a Republican majority for the next decade.
Each of those tactics is implicitly prohibited in the constitution under the new Fair District amendments 5 and 6, the group claims.
Neither map reflects the true partisan performance of Floridians,'' the coalition said, and "would still cement a severe partisan imbalance.
As an alternative, the coalition has offered maps for Congress, the Senate and the House districts by nesting "House Districts within Senate Districts so that not a single House seat breaks a single Senate line. This nesting gives voters the advantage of having a more efficient and logical form of representation with a dedicated delegation that can work together to serve the needs of Floridas communities,'' the letter states. "In our maps, there is a ratio of three House districts to every Senate district."
Weatherford will offer the House and congressional maps when the committee meets this morning. He had asked the group to provide the committee to appear in the Redistricting Committee to explain their methodology for drawing their proposed House, Senate and congressional maps but chose to send the letter instead. Their alternative maps are expected to be soundly defeated.
The House is expected to vote out its maps next week, followed by a vote of approval by the Senate. The attorney general will then send the legislative maps to the Florida Supreme Court for the required 30-day review and the congressional map will go to the governor for his signature.
The coalition, which includes the League of Women Voters, the National Council of La Raza and Common Cause of Florida had offered little detail about their objections to the redistricting plans, except that they believed they were not compliant with the new redistricting standards. Its letter reads like a summary of its legal argument in the court proceeding. Download Ltr to Weatherford1-26-12
Here is the letter Weatherford sent to the coalition: Download Letter from Weatherford to LWV
Here are some highlights:
Congress:
* Legislators manipulated the boundary lines to stengthen the districts of incumbents in weaker seats. For example, the newly drawn congressional District 27 "was used as a way to remove high-performing Democratic areas from vulnerable incumbent Republicans districts, thereby making their seats safer." The group said the districts of Republican Dan Webster of Orlando
* The group commends the House for attempt to comply with the amendments prohibition on political favoritism to a greater degree than did the Congressional or Senate map but says the Houses proposed map would still cement a severe partisan imbalance.
* On average, each Senate district is comprised of parts of 7.325 House districts. The Senates proposed minority Districts 19 and 34 are each comprised of no less than 12 House Districts. No Senate District has less than 4 House districts and eight Senate districts have 10 or more House districts.
* In the congressional map, District 27 was used as a way to remove high-performing Democratic areas from vulnerable incumbent Republicans districts, thereby making their seats safer. The group alleges that both maps benefit Republican Dan Websters district. For example, Republican Daniel Websters district had performed Democratic in recent presidential and gubernatorial elections, but after pulling his districts Democratic voters into the new District 27, Websters proposed new district performs over 50% Republican.
* Republican U.S. Rep. Sandy Adams had previously represented a vulnerable Republican district. Her new district excludes the significantly Democratic voters she currently represents, thereby increasing the Republican lean in her new district. Republican Dennis Rosss new District 12 shed a group of Democratic voters by giving them to the new District 27, making his new District 15 approximately two points safer than his old District.
* And Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, of Congressional District 15, was able to shed Democratic voters into the new District 27 and now has a safely Republican seat.
* The Houses congressional map was also able to improve the Republican performance of Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinens district by about 1.5%, thereby reducing her vulnerability. In recent elections, Ros-Lehtinens district that had been trending increasingly Democratic.
* The group also criticized the way lawmakers handled minority districts. For example, in District 21, Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart received more Republican voters to make his seat safer by about two points. Under the Houses proposed map, Diaz-Balarts will run in District 25, a district that votes solidly Republican.
* Under the Houses map, the group alleges that at least 16 of the 25 incumbents will run in safely Democratic or Republican districts in 2012.
* The Senate and House proposals both have 14 safe Republican seats and only 7 safe Democratic seats. If candidates run good campaigns, connect with the voters and turn out the vote, either party should be able to claim a majority of Floridas Congressional delegation. Under almost any calculation, the Senate will be 2 to 1 Republican. This proposed map is even more firmly skewed than the 2002 map.
* The Coalition Map was drawn without regard to political party control. This is evidenced by the fact that the Coalition Map nests its House districts within its Senate districts. This has the effect of making it easier for voters to know who their representatives are, and provides a more efficient and logical form of representation.
* Some districts were clearly designed to help shore up vulnerable Republican incumbents or to create seats for Republican state legislators planning to run for higher office.73% of the existing constituents are kept in the same districts under the Senates proposed Congressional map.
Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/01/the-maps-proposed-by-the-house-and-senate-redistricting-committees-promise-to-perpetuate-a-system-of-one-party-control-in.html#storylink=cpy
President's Page
After reading the press release below, I believe the following syllogism can be constructed:
Florida has the nations Best Teachers. Floridas teachers are the nations most poorly paid.
Therefore: The more poorly a state pays its teachers, the better they'll teach.
Sunshine State earns nation's highest overall grade in 2011
TALLAHASSEE - The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) 2011 State Teacher Policy Yearbook released yesterday awarded Florida an overall grade of "B," highest in the nation, in its biennial report. This was up from a grade of "C" in 2009. The state also received high marks for making progress in policies and practices that govern the teaching profession.
"Ranking first in the nation is a tribute to our teachers and clear evidence of their commitment to continuous improvement when it comes to providing opportunities for high-quality education for our students," said Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson. "School districts from Miami-Dade to Hillsborough to the panhandle are truly leading the nation. I congratulate Florida's teachers and commend the successful leadership practices that are a catalyst for local change. I am confident we will continue to improve because of the courage and dedication of our educators to their students and their profession."
Commissioner Robinson added that this significant recognition demonstrates statewide collaboration with teachers, superintendents, and education stakeholders as they work together to assure the best education for students.
The 2011 State Teacher Policy Yearbook includes NCTQ's biennial, full review of Florida's laws, rules and regulations that govern the teaching profession. This year's report measures Florida's progress against a set of 36 policy goals focused on helping states put in place a comprehensive framework in support of preparing, retaining and rewarding effective teachers. For the first time, the Yearbook includes a progress rating on goals that have been measured over time.
The 2011 State Teacher Policy Yearbook awards state grades in five individual categories. Florida boosted its grade in four out of five categories since 2009.
• Delivering Well Prepared Teachers - "B-" (up from "C" in 2009)
• Expanding the Teaching Pool - "B-"
• Identifying Effective Teachers - "B" (up from "C-" in 2009)
• Retaining Effective Teachers - "B-" (up from "C" in 2009)
• Exiting Ineffective Teachers - "B+" (up from "C" in 2009)
To view Florida's 2011 State Teacher Policy Yearbook, visit http://www.nctq.org/stpy11/reports/stpy11_florida_report.pdf (PDF)
Click here for my response to the article claiming teachers are overpaid. No, that isn't a typo.
What Dan Learned Today
Riverview, a crown jewel? Maybe not, but it is a HIDDEN TREASURE. Here's my tribute to a great school, and the bond that will be forged in these final months.
WhatDanLearnedAboutRiverview.pdf
AFT Negotiations Conference.pdf
Heading into Impasse.pdf
Dan arrives home from Baltimore.
DanGetsCalledOut--MaybeDanNeverLearns.pdf
DanFantasy,WhatDanLearnedToday.pdf
Awaking the sleeping giant -- What Dan Learned Today, 11.13.11.pdf
Shacking Up--What Dan Learned Nov. 30.pdf
ValueAddedModel--What Dan learned today.pdf
Part2,ValueAddedModel.pdf
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2011
A Teacher's Letter to Obama: A Lesson in Irony
The Facebook page Teachers' Letters to Obama offers a lot more than just letters to the president, but I've been thinking for some time about what I would write to the president... or the secretary of education. Or anyone in power who might possibly listen... This is what I finally arrived at as my message.
Dear President Obama,
I am half a year into my twentieth year of teaching here in Florida. I am not sure how much longer I will last in the profession I thought I would never want to leave. I wonder how much longer I can last because as an English teacher, I teach my students to keep a sharp eye out for irony. I practice what I preach, and my irony radar is on full-tilt, bell-ringing, red-strobe-lights-blinking, high alert. The ironies have grown too much for me to bear; I am nearly crushed beneath them, yet people like you seem to be unaware of them. So let me teach you, as I might my students, about Irony. When I use the second person "You" in this letter, I refer not just to you, but to all the "powers that be" in education reform.
Where to begin? There are so many ironies to choose from. Let's begin with the stated goals of education reform. Supposedly, education reform's goal was to improve the public schools. But as 2015 approaches, and the public schools have not achieved 100% success with 100% of its students, it becomes clear that the real goal, all along, was to force public schools into failure by setting impossible goals for them, and then to privatize education. They said one thing: "Let's save the schools." They meant something else: "Let's drive them to their own destruction." That's called Verbal Irony.
Then there's the irony that many teachers voted for you, President Obama, in the hopes that you might turn things around, only to find that you did indeed turn them around-- 360 degrees. You brought us the wonderful world of Race to the Top, which made competition for grants the way to improve education. To compete, states had to push for even more testing and data, and agree to all kinds of top-down initiatives to "improve" teaching. You reversed course, taking what the previous administration had done, and instead of reversing it, reinforced it. This is called Situational Irony.
Then there's the irony we teachers are guilty of. We didn't see what was coming. We pretended that if we just tried harder, everything would be all right, for us, and for our students. Every time more demands were made on us, we simply pushed ourselves and our students harder to meet those demands. Every time we showed improvement, the demands grew harsher. For every obstacle that was thrown in our path, we jumped higher. For every budget cut, we spent more of our own money on our classrooms. We went on believing that at some point what we did would be good enough. In reality, nothing we will ever do will be good enough. In reality, the goal was never to let us succeed, but to close down the public schools. We were unaware of the big picture. This is called Dramatic Irony.
But those are just the Big Three ironies. What really gets me down is all the other, smaller, yet more insidious ironies piling up on top of us.
For instance, the more we succeed on raising test scores, the less likely it is our students are actually learning anything useful, since standardized tests represent only a myopic, narrow, constrictive, binary, reductionist view of what learning is. So as our test scores go up, real learning goes down. Situational.
On a similar note-- we worry that bad teachers wasting tax payer money, so we scrutinize them by using a whole array of testing and data to analyze their effectiveness. We hire testing companies to create and score tests, third person companies to evaluate the reliability of the tests, test security companies to make sure the test is secure, statisticians who know nothing about teaching but create value-added statistical formulas to evaluate them based on data-- all on the tax payer "dime." And who is making sure these companies are actually doing their jobs? Who evaluates the evaluators? Situational.
We accuse teachers, who actually work with our students on the front lines of education because they care about students, of greed. We never accuse testing companies and statisticians of greed. They are obviously in it for the good they know they are doing students. (That last sentence was verbal irony on my part.)
Testing companies actually say that their tests shouldn't be used for teacher evaluations. But they never refuse to supply a test to districts on principle.
Our relentless desire to raise test scores causes us to focus relentlessly on our lowest students. The lowest students are put in "intensive classes" where they are skilled and drilled on test scores. If we actually looked at why our highest scoring students score high, it's not because they were skilled and drilled a lot, but because they read a lot.
And meanwhile, as we focus our misguided attention on our lowest students, our highest achieving students, who need to be challenged and pushed beyond what standardized teaching can provide, are still putting up with test prep.
Our value-added models are based on learning gains, so teachers who teach the gifted are sometimes unlikely to show many gains. High level students are in as much need of excellent instruction at their level as supposedly low-level students are. Gifted students drop out at a higher rate than the general population-- in part because they are bored. One wonders if teachers of the gifted will start to drop out, too, to go to a position where they can show more value-added gains.
Apparently business leaders are calling for more creativity in their workers. We are killing off creativity in schools, in both teachers and students, and getting ready for multiple choice questions does not make anyone, teachers or students, creative.
You say you want teachers to be in the profession because they care about students. But you assume they are actually in it for the money and try to bribe them with merit pay.
You say you want excellence, which implies that some teachers can do a better job than others, but then micromanage teachers to make them all the same. You tell teachers they will be evaluated on results, but then tell them exactly how to teach, so that they aren't really responsible for the results.
Great teachers are insightful about their subjects, always seeking to grow, to read, to research, to find new ways to think about their subjects and improve their teaching, so you create a set of Common Core Standards that reduce academic subjects to a series of calcified, petrified skills and make growth, change and innovation all but impossible.
