‘The good teachers are starting to leave’

[mfcorey1]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/02/27/the-good-teachers-are-starting-to-leave/

Susan Barber has been teaching for the last seven years at Northgate High School in Coweta County, Georgia. In the following compelling open letter to new Georgia state School Superintendent Richard Woods, Barber lays out how standardized testing has affected teachers and students in her school, and asks that he find ways to give teachers more instructional time and reduce pressure to “teach to a test.” Her first paragraph refers to a letter that Woods wrote to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, which is published in the post below this one. Barber’s open letter to Woods, which I am publishing with her permission, appeared on her blog, Teach With Class.



Dear Superintendent Woods,

Welcome to your new job. I cannot imagine being in this position at this time, but you have stepped up to take the lead in Georgia’s education system. I was highly encouraged to read your letter to Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, explaining your concerns with today’s standardized testing crisis.

While you have studied and spoken with multiple teachers and administrators, I would like to share how standardized testing affects my students, my school, and me.

[kelly1mm]

1. My wife retired from teaching after 22 year at age 46 because of increased testing, lack of

administration backing on discipline issues, and lack of any control/input into curriculum in 2014. I believe she was one of the good teachers.

[bvar22]

2. K&R for the Teachers,

....and a Thank You for all they did for me!
(well, except for that one asshole in high school).

[SusanCalvin]

3. And when they have all been chased off

The corporatists will *really* scream about how bad public schools are.

[BrotherIvan]

4. But they will have achieved their goal: funneling all the money out

and paying teachers minimum wage. That's the plan.

[SusanCalvin]

6. Yep.

With the nice side effect of raising a generation that can't think - easier to control.

[appalachiablue]

5. +10