New Version of Dallas ISD's Teacher RIF Proposal Eliminates CEI, Adds Back Seniority

By Robert Wilonsky Tue., Mar. 15 2011 at 11:34 AM

One week ago today we took a look at Dallas Independent School District trustee Edwin Flores's proposal to rework how the district determines who its "best teachers" are before mass layoffs begin courtesy the state's budget shortfall. After which it went before the board at Thursday's briefing. After which it was reworked considerably: On the other side you'll find the latest draft of the proposal, which will go before the board March 24 as a consent agenda item.

Word is, Flores and fellow trustee Lew Blackburn hammered out a compromise following the board briefing that removes from the equation the controversial Classroom Effectiveness Index, which, depending on who you ask, isn't terribly accurate in the first place. (Recall, one former teacher said the CEI made it "impossible to measure what teachers do all day" and was little more than "some magic formula based on student test scores and fairy dust.")

The new proposal, which follows in full, lists the following criteria "in order of importance," beginning with: certification, performance (with "unsatisfactory overall appraisal rating" topping that particular list) and "additional performance criteria" (including disciplinary issues and "documented failure to follow the directives of District administration"). And I see that seniority has been added back to the list, having been excised in Flores's initial proposal.

I've left a message for the trustee to talk about the changes. I'll update when he calls back. Amended RIF Policy

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Preston Holler

Danny:

Great point.

In this economy, how many of us are struggling to keep employed.

Yet Hiney opening tries to pull the rip cord before the poop hit the fan.

What are the consequences? Flores calls him a rock star and they extend his contract.

Then Hiney goes around giving certain unqualified cronies raises right before his launches "New Reality" which increases classroom size to 50 students. At the same time the DISD brags about all its new construction of schools while enrollment is shrinking.

Then everybody buys into the "Blame Austin" hysteria.

Gimme a break

DISD Teacher

Seniority is way, way down the list.

If it wasn't, it would be buh-bye to Teach for America (Edwin's pet).Lew: don't try to appease the union with some lame compromise that puts seniority back on the list but at the bottom. It might as well not be on there.

Not all TFA teachers are shockingly outstanding, but even the less exceptional ones I've seen are still excellent, so I am glad they'll be staying.

They are so excellent that I think we should axe the entire professional development department (full to the brim with crony and nepotism hires who are simply incompetent) and get all our training from TFA.

PDAS is fair*. CEIs are not valid. What a boondoggle. They are also Edwin's pet.

Of course, no cuts would be necessary if we could get rid of Edwin and Hinojosa. They've brought us the excessively expensive bilingual program. Many parents whose kids are not consigned to the "bilingual" ghetto love the program: as one said to my face, "It eliminates my child's competition for college placement and scholarships. Those kids won't have the English necessary to ace the SAT."

Edwin and Hinojosa also seem to have no interest whatsoever in getting rid of the hundreds of needless administrators and administrative departments.

*Principals are evaluated by their bosses based on their test score data. In theory, no principal would downgrade a teacher with great test scores bc that would ultimately hurt the principal's bonus potential. The hitch comes in when the big bosses show favoritism to principals with bad data.

If there is no consequence for the principal with bad data, the principal will keep his/her favorite teachers regardless of their competence AT THE EXPENSE OF THE KIDS.

Once again, the core problem starts in the administration levels above the campus.Naturally, we see no move to fix those problems.

Guest

"Of course, no cuts would be necessary if we could get rid of Edwin and Hinojosa. They've brought us the excessively expensive bilingual program."

I'd like to see you back this statement up with numbers.

Preston Holler

Guest:

Looks like DISD Teacher walks the walk as well as talking the talking.

He/she backs up the allegations with facts, figures, statistics, and numbers.

Worst. Super. In. the. state. Worst. BoT. in. the. state.

Keep up the pressure where pressure is due.

DISD Teacher

Well, there's no smoking gun link to the ridiculously expensive model they have imposed.; the costs are instead tucked in here and there throughout the budget.

They are very, very savvy about hiding the actual numbers.

But here are the obvious costs that other bilingual programs do not require:-Constant travel abroad to recruit teachers since the model demands so many more bilingual teachers per campus than models used by other districts and there aren't enough domestic bilingual teachers.

-up to $5,000 dollars given in stipends to recruited teachers to woo them here. Many non-bilingual teachers will not assist struggling import teachers due to resentment over the stipends. They figure if the teacher is making 5 grand more for the same job, the teacher can earn it.

-Legal fees spent to get all visas and other paperwork processed. INS, etc. The taxpayer foots the bill for every imported teacher

-Costs to employ people to train and monitor the import teachers since most are not even certified teachers in their home countries. They all have a college degree, but they don't have to be teachers.

-Double sets of textbooks. Now you need a Spanish textbook for every child for every content area (Science, Social Studies, Reading) AND an English set of textbooks. For every grade level K-5.

DISD's model mandates that if you hear Spanish at home, you are stuck in the bilingual program and taught everything but math in Spanish, with a gradual exposure to English (which even the bilingual teachers will tell you doesn't really happen). The theory is that once you are totally fluent and literate in Spanish, you will pick up English in a snap. Yeah, that happens....

CA and AZ have already tried and abandoned this model. ITBS scores at most DISD elementaries are falling, since too many kids are now being taught by "bilingual" teachers who really aren't--the English speakers are falling behind (if you can only afford 1 science teacher for the grade level, it has to be bilingual).

Worst of all, it doesn't work; immersion works. Edwin knows this. Can't imagine why else he sent his kids to school in Mexico. Immersion works. It's the only thing that works. It's worked for centuries. And they don't give the SAT in Spanish.

But it's free. No one profits or gets to travel to Spain every year. The kids don't stand a chance.