Something close to panic has seized opponents of new teacher standards in Tennessee.
Among other things tripping their horror reflex is the fact that tenured teachers may no longer skate by with only two evaluations every 10 years. They’re also miffed that a big part of determining a teacher’s proficiency will be subjective classroom observations.
That’s uncanny, considering the fit-pitching we’ve come to expect when anybody tries to use objective measures for that purpose. (A Tennessee Education Association periodical refers to “the agony of relying on student test scores and other acts of God in order to gain and retain the designation of a tenured teacher.”)
Anyway, some weird histrionics about the new requirements were on display recently in the House Education Committee.
* Rep. Jim Coley, R-Bartlett, told of a colleague who had spent hours trying to devise an acceptable lesson plan. The teacher, Coley said, ultimately was reduced to tears and “urinated on himself.”