I already did my job search, worked hard to secure a position, interviewed with various schools, and found the perfect match for me. Why should I be held responsible to find another position, especially when there are not enough positions to fill due to budget cuts. I feel some of the decision makers need to come to my class and learn math. It is virtually impossible to successfully place all the excessed teachers if every school is cutting back their budgets.

It makes me feel sad for NYC students, because ultimately they are the ones who will suffer. Qualified, talented, dedicated teachers will simply look for jobs elsewhere such as Westchester county and NJ. What a shame and stupidity from our city.

If the NYP school system were to seek valid methods of accountability, we wouldn’t have to worry too much about a few teachers that haven’t been placed. But it takes two sides approaching an issue in an honorable manner to make a deal. Plenty of us in the teaching profession are seeking compromises that make it easier and more efficient to remove ineffective teachers, and raise our professionalism.

I certainly didn’t expect a public answer, but I’m asking what hard accountability advocates are doing to persuade Klein and his team to seek valid for of accountability?

What are the adavantages and disadvantages of using NYC as a model for national reforms? I assume that anything that comes from the Klein/Bloomberg administration is a lie dow to the commas. Smaller districts ought to be able to approach these issues in a more trustwothy way, shouldn’t they? After all, the key is to integrate the human element into multiple measures, and that should be easier on a smaller scale.

But, on the hopeful side, Ed Sector has expertise. What have you done to persuade the Administration of the need for a valid evaluation system?

What would happen if NYC adopted an evaluation system along the lines suggested from the Ed Sector’s publications, while the school grading system was established along the lines of the UFT’s 360 degrees accountability? Problems associated with a few hundred teachers would then shrink.

And since we all should agree on the importance of removing ineffective teachers – especially before they get tenure – shouldn’t that be a strong argument for adopting real, evidence-based decision-making?

And if the concept of trust, along with social scientifically-defensible use of data, could be adopted, perhaps NYCs approach could be replicated.

Despite your fears, I suspect that the documentation of general teacher support for the new system will be more important to UFT’s leadership than the concerns about the long-term non-selectees (for want of a more gracious term). The latter is a serious issue that is both a practical matter and an issue of ethics. We’re both outside Gotham, and I know better than to predict how the politics will play out…