On August 14th, Governor Bill Haslam sent a “Welcome Back” letter to teachers across the state. In the letter, he thanked teachers for their hard work in helping Tennessee improve its student achievement scores. He said he appreciated what they did for Tennessee students every day.

Apparently, some teachers haven’t forgotten that this is the same Bill Haslam who promised to make Tennessee the fastest improving state in the nation in teacher pay in October of 2013 and included a teacher pay raise in his 2014 budget address … only to break that promise in April.

Some teachers sent responses directly back to Haslam. And some of those same teachers sent their responses to TN Ed Report under the condition we keep their names anonymous.  Here are some of the responses we received:

Teacher Response #1:

I appreciate your attempt to understand the inner workings of a classroom and appreciate your words of appreciation for those of us who chose to serve others through teaching. However, I am highly disappointed at the turn of events in which you announced that teachers would not receive pay raises. We already make much less than other TN State employees and much less than teachers of other states.

It is easy to make promises and to break them:
http://tnreport.com/2013/10/04/raising-teacher-pay-a-top-budget-concern-for-haslam-administration/   

I am personally insulted in your lack of support for the teaching profession. My colleagues and I work hard for the families we serve. A normal day for most of us is  7:45 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Though we are only paid to work 8:00 until 3:15, our jobs cannot be completed in those hours. Many times we take student work home with us and are constantly looking for ways to improve our teaching on our own time.

Teachers are generally told “no one teaches for the money”. TRUE, but teachers never expected to be put on the “budget cutting” chopping block each time raises are considered. We feel betrayed with popular campaign promises and rhetoric.

In closing, make no mistake that our hard work is not completed for you or any elected official. Our hard work is for the children we PROMISED to educate when we accepted our jobs. Your letter of appreciation proves that WE have not failed those who have put their trust
in us, including you.


Teacher Response #2

Please tell the PR firm that suggested you send these letters that we teachers are well educated and therefore insulted that they would believe a letter full of empty words could ever make up for what you and your administration have done and are doing to ensure the destruction of public education in Tennessee.

Teaching is more than a job to me. Teaching is my calling. I sincerely love all of my students and work tirelessly for them. I most often work six full days a week to ensure that they have exactly what they need to succeed. I spend hundreds sometimes more than a thousand dollars of my own limited income every year to make sure that their needs are met. I was always proud to be a teacher but, not so much these days. Mostly these days my heart aches for my children. I spend many hours crying for them. Your administration has stripped our classrooms of all joy. Teacher morale is low because we are working in hostile conditions.

Finally, please keep your empty words. This letter is too little, too late.


Teacher Response #3

I am in receipt of your letter of August 14, 2014.
 
I appreciate the welcome back to school. And it is nice to hear the words “thank you.”
 
In your letter, you note that Tennessee is the fastest improving state in the nation in terms of student achievement. You attribute this success directly to teachers.
 
I seem to remember that in October of 2013, you also promised to make Tennessee the fastest improving state in teacher pay — an acknowledgement of the hard work so many Tennessee teachers are doing every single day.
 
Your budget, proposed in early 2014, also indicated at least a nominal raise for teachers was forthcoming.
 
Then, in April, you abandoned that promise.  When the state revenue picture changed, the budget was balanced on the backs of teachers. Not only did your new budget take away promised raises for teachers, but it also reduced BEP funding coming to school districts. Now, teachers are being asked to do more with less.  And students suffer.
 
Your words ring hollow when your actions make it clear that teachers don’t matter. That our schools can wait just one more year for the resources students need to succeed.
 
As for your “thank you” for the work I do, I’d note that I can’t send it to the bank to pay my mortgage. A thank you isn’t going to fix my car when it needs repair. When the price of groceries goes up, I can’t simply use your thank you letter to cover the increase. And when my health insurance premium inevitably rises in January, your letter won’t put money back in my paycheck to cover the cost.
 
The raise you promised but failed to deliver would have helped with all of these things. But your letter does nothing but remind me that you say nice words and shortchange our schools.
 
In my classroom, I place a high value on integrity. That means doing what you say you’re going to do. On that scale, sir, you rate an F.


We received copies of other responses that mentioned the poor communication style of Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman and the loss of collective bargaining rights. While teachers may not have a viable alternative to Haslam on the ballot in November, those sending us copies of their responses made it clear they won’t be supporting Haslam.

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow@TNEdReport

A former worker from the TN Dept. of Ed speaks of the problems with the state of education in TN: 
 
1. The Value Added Model (VAM) is a flawed, inaccurate formula for measuring teacher quality, as more and more data research groups are finding. Be that as it may, I do not believe that Bill Sanders ever intended for his data to be used for teacher evaluations, teacher compensation, nor license renewal requirements.

2. A quality teacher preparation program can produce more effective teachers than a summer boot camp training. [Of course, we need to be constantly striving to update, modernize, and improve!] Also, I believe the time teacher candidates spend in classrooms with good, veteran teachers is the most valuable training tool we have (and the benefit is reciprocal). 

3. Charter schools are often being taken over by corporate entities more interested in turning a profit than in educating children. They are also leading to increased segregation.

4. Teachers cannot be intimidated into improving. They need to be supported, encouraged, well-compensated, and held accountable in a realistic way.

5. 'Merit pay' will never be applied accurately or fairly. (I remember attempts at implementing Merit Pay dating back to the 60's!)

I do believe that there are many good people at the State Board of Education and the TN DOE, who truly believe they are doing the right thing. . . . I believe that they are being led astray by the 'pied piper' of DC mentality in the Michelle Rhee mode. I observed first hand the frenzied efforts to race through the checklist of their reform agenda passing laws, policies, rules, etc. without taking the necessary time to research thoroughly; to gather input from teachers and parents outside of their elite, chosen few; and to develop a plan for implementation that assures all of the pieces are in place and working properly (i.e. the TCAP test results disaster of the past week or so). 

I am a firm believer that the best leaders for policy development and implementation should be 'home-grown' educators who understand the cultural landscape in Tennessee, not people from the Washington, DC crowd who come here solely to promote the national reform agenda. Most of the people I reported to in the last two or three years at the Department were extremely intelligent and well-educated, but are younger than my own children and have less than five years of teaching experience.

GOVERNOR GREETED WITH PROTESTS OVER EDUCATION STANDARDS IN SMITHVILLE, TENNESSEE 
February 27, 2014
by: Dwayne Page

A group of local educators, students, and others opposed to Tennessee Common Core standards greeted Governor Bill Haslam with protest signs and chants as he arrived in Smithville Thursday evening to speak at the local Republican Party's Reagan Day Dinner. The event was held at the county complex auditorium.

The Governor did not acknowledge the protestors as he emerged from his automobile and entered the building where friends and supporters were waiting to welcome him.

Many educators say they are fed up with the pressures put upon them in the classroom and they want the Governor, a supporter of Common Core, to hear their voices. "We're sick and tired of being sick and tired with the way teachers and kids are being treated in education," said Bill Conger, President of the DeKalb County Education Association. "We're over testing and putting too much on the kids. The Common Core and the standards they're trying to set for us are too high, too fast and they're putting pressure on teachers making it difficult for them to do their job every day," said Conger.

"It's difficult for the teachers to live up to all the mandates," said Bryan Jones, an eighth grade science teacher. "We just can't teach school because of all the paperwork. We have so many things going on we have to do to comply with the state. It's also very difficult for the kids. Common Core is something we need to reject as a county and state," added Jones.

Lisa Mabe, a third grade teacher at Northside Elementary, said the evaluations and merit pay system are most unfair to teachers. "We teach our hearts out every day. We want our students to do well but we are judged on an evaluation system that isn't fair. We're scored one through five and we're rarely given five's because we're not perfect. Yet we do everything that is expected of us. We love our kids and we want them to learn. We only ask that they treat us fairly. The merit pay isn't fair. They want to give us raises based on our job performance and our test scores but our classes aren't divided equally. If you want us to have merit pay, you've got to base all our classrooms equally and give all teachers a chance to achieve those standards but it's not set up that way. It never has been. I've been teaching for nineteen years and I've had more evaluations this year than I had my first year of teaching. You are welcome in our classroom anytime. I want to be accountable. I am accountable, but do it fairly," said Mabe.

Dear Representative Harry Brooks from Knoxville & Representative Mark White from Memphis,

We are asking that you please, pretty please, include these:

• Educator Respect and Accountability Act of 2014 (HB 2263 / SB 2047) 
• Repeal Common Core bill (HB 2332 / SB 2405)

on the House Education sub-committee and committee schedules very soon.  Teachers and parents are eager to see these become Law this year.  

As Chairmen of these committees, you have the responsibility of scheduling when Bills are heard and voted upon.  Surely you wouldn't do anything underhanded like delaying those bills until the end of the Legislative Session so the Governor can veto them after all the Legislators have all gone home and cannot over-ride it, now would you, Representative Harry Brooks from Knoxville and Representative Mark White from Memphis???  That would not only be selfish, but it would be an abuse of power by committee chairs.  

We know Governor Haslam isn't happy with these bills, but his job isn't tied to volatile test scores of children using a secret mathematical equation that nobody can explain (His job, like yours, is tied to the ballots cast by us voters, which everyone clearly understands).  And his own children aren't forced to do unproven, untested, developmentally inappropriate standards (Because private schools are wisely not adopting Common Core).  

Representative Brooks from Knoxville, even though you may not agree with the bill to support and respect our children's teachers, 77 of 99  Representatives agree with it strongly enough that they have signed on to the Bill as co-sponsors.  So, it shouldn't take long at all to pass it through your House Education Committee and on to the House Floor so our Representatives can vote on it.  Surely you can squeeze it on your House Education Committee Agenda in the next few weeks, can't you?

Representative White from Memphis, even though your own children aren't affected by Common Core, ours are.  Tennessee parents want this bill heard in a timely manner because a year in our children's lives is too long to wait while we elect new leaders to get rid of Common Core.  Surely you can include this bill in your sub-committee agenda on the March 4th agenda as was originally planned?

We know you're stuck in a difficult situation by the Governor.  In times like these, it is especially important to remember who it is that you have been elected to serve.
 
Sincerely,
Tennessee Parents 

SENATE BILL 2405 
By Beavers 
HOUSE BILL 2332 
By Womick 
 
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, 
Chapter 1; Title 49, Chapter 10; Title 49, Chapter 2 and Title 49, Chapter 6, relative to common core state standards. 
 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE: 
 SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-1-302, is amended by adding the following language as a new, appropriately designated subsection: 
 On July 1, 2014, the state board and the department of education shall discontinue the use of the common core state standards in English language arts and mathematics. Beginning on July 1, 2014, the standards for English language arts and mathematics adopted by the state board that were in use prior to the adoption of the common core state standards shall become the standards for use by LEAs and schools 
until the state board develops and adopts new Tennessee specific standards for English language arts and mathematics. 
 SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it. 

I worked with 3 other amazing 6th grade teachers. We had a handful of kids we knew were pretty much on their own once they went home. Weekends were a terribly long time to these kids. We made sure that each one of them went home each Friday with enough food to last them (and their siblings) the weekend. When winter came - they had coats, hats, gloves and anything else they needed. Evaluate that!
        - A teacher at Boones Creek Middle School in Washington County, Tennessee


Follow #EvaluateTHAT on Twitter and Facebook to read about amazing, inspiring things teachers do for their students
 

We dare anyone to put a numerical value on the compassion of teachers.

 "My resolution: I will shed no more tears over evaluations. When my evaluator gives their opinion, I will remember it is only that. One person giving an opinion after only 50 minutes in my classroom. And I will continue doing the best darn job I can. There. I'm resolved."

~ The voice of an anonymous 2nd grade teacher in Shelby County, TN who teaches in a rusty old portable building. Last year, two students had reactions to the mold in the portables (one asthma, another broke out in an eczema induced rash).  For two weeks, the students met in the library while the mold was remediated.

• Why must evaluations be so oppressively discouraging for teachers?  Students feel this anxiety and pressure, too.

• When do we get to evaluate the classrooms where our children and teachers spend so much of their time?  Because of the lack of capital funding for school renovations, mold is a common problem in our public schools.

 

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently awarded Knox County Schools a one-year grant of $840,000, which Knox County Schools will match with taxpayer dollars in the amount of $360,000 for a grand total of $1.2 million. According to Knox County Schools, this money will be used to strengthen its ability to ensure “resources stay aligned to priorities.”

So where will all this money go- directly to the schools? No, not one penny of the $1.2 million will make it to classrooms. $950,000 of it will go to The Parthenon Group. (Knox County Schools will funnel grant monies to Parthenon in monthly amounts ranging from $140k to $168k over the next year.) The remaining $250,000 will go to Education Resource Strategies (ERS).

The Parthenon Group, a Boston-based (and international) organization, will be paid to “assist with data collection, and resource and return on investment analysis.” Parthenon helped sponsor a conference on January 15, 2013 to teach investors how to make money from public education. The conference was entitled “Private Equity Investing in For-Profit Education Companies– How Breakdowns in Traditional Models & Applications of New Technologies Are Driving Change.” The standard fee to attend this event was $1395. Here is a brochure description: “Private equity investing in for-profit education is soaring, and for good reason — the public and non-profit models are profoundly broken. This is why for-profit education is one of the largest U.S. investment markets, currently topping $1.3 trillion in value.” (This conference was co-sponsored by the law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath and chaired by Harold Levy, former Chancellor of the NYC public schools and now a partner in the Connecticut venture capital firm Palm Ventures that invests in for-profit education.)

According to its website, Education Resource Strategies is a Massachusetts-based non-profit organization “dedicated to transforming how urban school systems organize resources." Although ERS operates as a non-profit organization, its 2011 Form 990 lists six full-time (40 hour/week) employees who are paid salaries ranging from $117,000 to $172,398. It also lists a seventh employee who worked 16 hours per week in 2011 and made $61,400.

Parthenon and ERS support such things as larger class sizes, moving away from class size mandates, and “revamped teacher evaluations” (which I gather would include TN’s current flawed model). These organizations are manned not by education or education policy experts, as one might expect, but by business people, including MBAs, economists, and lawyers.

So in summary, Knox County Schools will receive a one-year grant to analyze “return on investment" that will ultimately cost them $360,000. Although $1.2 million will be generated for this purpose, none of this money will go toward classrooms. The money will go to business consultants (with no particular training in education or education policy) making six-figure-plus salaries and to companies that train “investors” on how to turn a profit from public education. These people will fly in, rake up their money, and then disappear. Meanwhile, our teachers will continue to earn only $46,000 per year on average, and our schools will continue to struggle financially for such necessities as computers for the new state-mandated online testing. 

And that is how you turn a profit off public schools.

(This was written by a smart school board member in Tennessee)

Tennessee parents aren't fooled... and neither are smart legislators and smart school board members.


 

Our music teacher is has a new evaluation process which includes a lengthy portfolio process. Since she only sees our students once every rotation, there is not time for her to have them practice holiday songs. Also, it is frowned upon for us to miss "teaching time" for anything at all. Award programs were cut this year, too.

This isn't right... even jails have fairly elaborate Christmas programs for the inmates! We are becoming more of an institution than actual institutions. We are taking all of the fun out of learning, out of life. Everything we do has to be tied to a "tested objective." I am really becoming ashamed to be a part of teaching. We used to have freedom to make learning fun, now we don't. We are strictly limited to what we can and cannot do.

Since there are so many components that have to be completed by a certain deadline, our music teacher can't stop to practice holiday songs. Basically, it sounds like what has happened with classroom teachers. If we can't tie the activity to an actual tested objective, we can't do it.
 
For example, this week my students are participating in short plays for reading. There is a wealth of research showing that practicing the scripts over and over through repetition helps build reading fluency and comprehension. However, to fully put on one of these short plays, technically called "readers' theaters," I have to give the students a small amount of time to decorate their scenes, work on simple props etc. Since drawing the background for the play is not assessing a tested objective, we aren't supposed to do it at school. It doesn't fit into our evaluation model. However, I cheated today and gave my students about 30 minutes to create their props for their performances tomorrow. Everything we do, and now our music and art teachers do, must be tied to an assessed skill. Since there isn't a music portion on TCAP, yet, our teacher has to turn in portfolios showing the different skills she is teaching the students. Apparently it is extremely rigorous, and she can't miss a single day of teaching what the state deems important to stop and actually sing in class.  
 
We have CC standards that guide our instruction. Supposedly the PARCC test will test these standards. We have always had some sort of standards to guide our instruction. The actual standards are not the main problem. It's all the strings that come with them. I wouldn't focus only on them. It's some of the ways the skills are taught and questionable materials used to teach them. Right now we have tight schedules that squelch teachable moments and creativity.

At this point, they have developed portfolio evaluations along with the regular ones for art and Music teachers. PE teachers are next. I just wish they would leave us all alone to teach.
 
(This was posted anonymously, with permission, to protect the employment of these teachers in TN.  This teacher does not have the freedom to reveal her school district without the possibility of retribution.)

Ethan Young is a high school senior in Knox County.  Ethan courageously spoke at the Knox County Board of Education meeting on November 6, 2013.  Since his video was posted on Youtube just 4 days ago, it has gone viral with over 89,000 views.  His 5 minute speech has gained attention across the nation.

What does Ethan say?  Watch it for yourself.  His understanding, knowledge, and poise will amaze you.  He is the future of TN.  Here is the link:  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PprP5TCZBRI

Here are some highlights:

• He knows more about common core than most grown-ups do.  He is absolutely correct when he says that Congress, the Department of Education, State, or Local Governments never voted on the Common Core standards.  He realizes the $4.35 billion of our tax dollars were used as a bribe to coerce states into participating, and that TN received $500 million. 
• Ethan is smart enough to know that these new standards won't fix our academic deficit.  He knows that there is not even any research even showing common core might work.  Furthermore, he says it shows a mistrust of teachers since they were not consulted in the process.
• Ethan's respect for his teachers is obvious.  As a student, he has been in the classrooms when his teachers have been evaluated.  He sees firsthand how teachers are impacted.  He says it is like "watching your teacher jump through flaming hoops to earn a score."  Students see what administrators, parents, and legislators don't see:  the stress and anxiety teachers are experiencing. Students notice.  So, listen closely to what he is saying.
• "Standards-based education is ruining the way we teach and learn."  He asks WHY we are doing it this way?  Ethan knows the answer, saying it is "Bureaucratic Convenience.  It works with nuclear reactors. It works with business models.  Why can't it work with students?"  However, Ethan is smart enough to realize that "Education is unlike every other bureaucratic institute in our government. The task of teaching is never quantifiable."
• "If everything I learn in high school is a measurable objective, I haven't learned anything."  Wow.  This kid is way more than a test score!!!
• He gets it: "Creativity, appreciation, inquisitiveness - these are impossible to scale, but they're the purpose of education."  
• Yes, yes, yes:  "We teach to free minds.  We teach to inspire.  We teach to equip.  The careers will come naturally... Haven't we gone too far with data?"

Listen to this wise student.  Please.