"Standards board faces tough task"

Boo-hoo... Cry me a river...

The newly impaneled Educator Standards Board will have to walk a fine line between establishing ambitious standards for Ohio's new and veteran teachers and driving them away from the field at a crucial time, one board member said.

I believe there is a difference between ensuring that our teachers know their business and forcing teachers to endure unneccessary additional time in the often liberal environment of our colleges and universities.

If the standards are knowledge based and not education based, I have no problem what so ever with the board getting tough.

This doesn't sound all that encouraging to me:

Members of the 17-member standards board were appointed last week by the state Board of Education and were handed the responsibility of developing state standards for teachers and principals. The board also will establish guidelines for educators' professional development and will recommend strategies to narrow the "achievement gaps" in student test scores between racial and socio-economic groups, Ohio Department of Education officials said. And it will be responsible for monitoring compliance with the educator standards and to recommend "appropriate corrective action" to the state Board of Education for those who do not meet the standards.

"Professional development" is liberal for more degrees and endless seminars. The achievement gaps between racial and socio-economic groups occurs because the parents treat the schools like a baby-sitting service instead of a valuable investment in their child's future. Our administrators spend more team creating an environment conducive to liberal indoctrination than actually making sure our kids can read and write.

It will be a delicate task.

I should say...

Already, new teachers face stricter certification and licensing requirements than their predecessors. James Uphoff, president of the Oakwood Board of Education and standards board member, said some form of "grandfathering" of new requirements will likely continue.

What they aren't telling is what exactly those "stricter certification and licensing requirements" are... More certifications and tought licensing requirements doesn't make a teacher.

But the Ohio Department of Education clearly expects that veteran teachers "have a real responsibility not to die on the vine," Uphoff said. Experienced teachers must still seek to improve their methods and embrace new technology and equipment proved to help them teach more effectively, said Uphoff, who also serves as associate director for the Wright State University Center for Teaching and Learning.

You see, it is vitally important for our teachers to utilize computers and stuff. Why? I don't know. Teachers never needed all those gizmos to teach reading and writing before...but we better make sure our teachers are certified and licensed in it.

The other Miami Valley representative to the standards board — Shawn Jackson, who teaches social studies at McKinney Middle School in Yellow Springs — brings his own set of training and mentoring credentials to the panel. Jackson is in his 16th year of teaching, evaluates entry-level teachers and helps train fellow teachers to serve as evaluators, and has mentored young teachers as well.

Now, I don't know Shawn Jackson, but Yellow Springs isn't a bastion of conservatism. I can imagine, without to much effort, what kind of blowhard this is... It comes down to pleasing people like Shawn Jackson so you can get and/or keep your job.

Jackson said he sought the Ohio Education Association nomination to the standards board because he feels teachers should monitor their profession much as medical societies do for doctors and bar associations do for lawyers.

Yes...it is THAT much easier to weed out those evil conservatives that way too.

Legislation signed into law by Gov. Bob Taft in March created the Educator Standards Board and spelled out the board's makeup and duties. The board consists of eight teachers from public schools, one teacher from a chartered private school, four school administrators, one school board member and three representatives from colleges and universities. Nominations were submitted by teachers' unions, the Ohio Board of Regents and education associations. Members receive no compensation other than reimbursement of expenses.

And where are the parents? Just asking...

Go read the whole thing...