It isn't comfy, but it takes an excellent teacher to teach at
the challenging schools and make gains. Some special teachers
are up for the challenge. To best serve these children, the
districts have to attempt to get strong teachers into these
schools. I understand what they are trying to do. I may
not "like" it, but I understand.

On 6/22/09, Marina wrote:
> On 6/22/09, This sucks wrote:
>> From Orlando Sentinel Education Blog:
>>
>> The Orange County school district declared a hiring freeze
>> late Friday, saying no teacher jobs could be filled but for
>> those at nine campuses.
>>
>> The nine schools did not make adequate yearly progress in
>> 2008-09 under the federal No Child Left Behind law. Some,
>> but not all, of them did poorly on Florida's school report
>> card last week, too.
>>
>> The state's new Differentiated Accountability system -- a
>> complicated system that combines state grades and NCLB to
>> judge performance-- is the reason for the hiring freeze,
>> the district says.
>>
>> I don't yet have a detailed explanation, and the nine
>> schools were not all in the same "D.A." category last year.
>>
>> But this much is clear: All jobs that had been open at
>> other Orange County public schools are now on hold.
>>
>> The district's goal is get "high-performing staff" hired
>> for the 9 schools first and then resume hiring for other
>> schools, said Kathy Marsh, a district spokesman.
>>
>> The nine schools are Catalina, Ivey Lane, Hiawassee, Lovell
>> and Wheatley elementary schools and Carver, Memorial,
>> Walker and Westridge middle schools.
>>
>> District administrators are reviewing the current teachers
>> at those nine schools to find out if any did not make
>> "performance gains," Marsh said. Some of those instructors
>> could be shifted to other campuses, she added.
>>
>> Administrators are also looking over the records of
>> teachers at other schools to see if anyone would be a good
>> match for jobs at the nine, she said.
>>
>> At the moment, they do not know how many teachers they will
>> need at the nine schools.
>>
>> Once the jobs at the nine schools are filled,
>> administrators will resume hiring for other schools, Marsh
>> said, with the hope that all hiring is complete by
>> mid-July.
>
> Yuck. Your reward for being a good teacher is that you may be
> moved from your school to an under-performing school? And
> your reward for having low test scores is that they move you
> to a higher-performing school? What a way to encourage the
> teachers. Where's the union???

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