By: protector on 1/3/12
I would give my eye tooth to see Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville), House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville), Sen. Delores Gresham (R-Somerville) and Rep. Richard Montgomery (R-Sevierville) to teach in ANY grade they choose for ONLY 1 grading period and undergo the SCORE evaluation process! Baaaa-haaa-haaaaa.

Or better yet, let the teachers of this great state put together a comparable rubric with detail given to every breath they make while at their job and be rated on if it is too quickly, too deep, too shallow, in the wrong direction, etc. by each teacher on a 1 to 5 scale. Oh, wait a minute....we will see those numbers the next time they run for office!

BTW, oh brillant law makers, what about all the Federal laws and money that trickles into our system under IDEA...and yet....an evaluation rubric is used for the ENTIRE state of Tn...which ABSOLUTELY NO consideration given to individuals with disabilities. It seems to me the education dept of Tn and clearly the brillant law makers are not in touch with IDEA! The eval. is saying loud and clear that students with sped. services, rather it be LD or severe/profound.....ARE NOT CONSIDERED! It's almost as if this eval. is a violation of IDEA itself and an embarrassment to the state to that end.

Yes, it is a wonderful guideline for the typically developing student...no doubt with all complaining aside. Agreed it is a useful tool to bring betterment for teachers.

But what about those children in CDC classes born with half a brain....and how many higher order thinking, expressing oneself through writing, etc...can they do? Really?! Are these students not even worth considering by the state of TN? Shame on you, above mentioned!

Go back to the drawing board with IDEA laws in mind as well as it's funding and not only give a little consideration for ALL students within the public school system, but also let's include them as valuable human beings......as their teachers care for them!

By: cmac on 1/4/12
It appears Mr. Fitzhugh is the only logical voice from that wilderness called government.
The current "evaluation" system has created the worst kind of education. It is referred to as "teaching to the test".

A few years ago teaching to the test was considered a no-no by those who understand and practice education. Today it is used to maintain high test scores in order to give the appearance of "quality" education. Teaching to the test is nothing more than a gimmick to insure that all robots are exactly alike.

Real educators understand, of course, that you cannot make all robots exactly alike. But, teachers who fail to clone exact robots now fail the evaluation system.

Indeed, Mr. Fitzhugh, something needs to be changed. And, it isn't the teachers.

By: protector on 1/5/12
And it's hard to clone students who are born with diagnosed disabilities which render them nonverbal, poor range of motion....though intellectually capable. And then therr is the vast multitude who lack that cognition process as well. Judging the teachers across this state who labor to bring about educational excellence for this population should not be judge with a tool that sets not only their students, but also themselves as failures in their profession. Shame on you lawmakers! Public education is just that for the PUBLIC, despite disabilities. Should we go back to the days where families kept their children with disabilities hidden at home under the porch? Come on legislatures.....let's serve the PUBLIC and the public school educators!

By: publius on 1/8/12
I think everyone agrees that our public schools need to change, But I think that the problems are not going to be fixed by legislation. How many kids are in each class, and how many books, and computers are available. How much parental support is there.
Why is it republicans always want government to get out of our lives and then legislate every aspect of our lives.
Get politics out of our schools our kids and grand-kids deserve better from us.