If you are not local to Oregon, you may want to skip this blog. It's the political rantings of a teacher about two Oregon ballot measures that make no sense.
I've had the opportunity to speak at length with people who are much smarter and have much more experience than I about Measures 58 and 60, and since this is my blog and I can say whatever I want here, I'm going to use this space to try to convince you to see things my way.
Measure 58 has to do with the length of time students can be in ESL classrooms. The way I understand it, students entering the American public school system for the first time (meaning they've immigrated to us from another country, most likely) will receive limited ESL help. Those who enter for the first time between Kindergarten and 4th grade will receive 1 year of ESL. Those entering between 5th and 8th will receive 1.5 years. Those entering during high school will receive 2 years of ESL.
The way the bill is written makes it sound as if all ESL students are receiving unlimited ESL instruction being delivered in their native language. Obviously I can't speak to all schools and all classrooms, but I can tell you that's not the way it is in my school. Sheltered ESL/ELD/ELL means the kids are being taught English for beginners. Basically, the stuff you and I learned as toddlers and early elementary school kids. They are just beginning to know the language and at this point are having a difficult time even with survival language skills. But they are being taught in English, because their classrooms are a mix of cultures and first languages. How in the world do you expect a teacher to deliver instruction in everyone's native tongue when the classroom is made up of Spanish, Purepecha, Russian, and Ukrainian native speakers? While some instruction in some ESL classes may be delivered in the student's native tongue, it is far from all instruction in all classrooms state wide.
If this measure passes, we will be forced to phase kids out of their ESL classes in 1.5 years at the middle school level. I'm not sure what language level that translates to, but I can tell you that in 4 years of German I managed to make it to a first grade reading level. There is no way a kid at a first grade reading level is going to survive in a mainstreamed 8th grade classroom. This is setting them up for failure, 100%.
Yes, students need to learn the language. Yes, they need to be phased out of the program. But it needs to be done when the student has learned enough to be successful in the "real world," as opposed to on a timeline that suits politicians and people who don't have the everyday experience of teaching students who simply don't speak English. I have two kids like this. I don't think I could handle an entire case load of students who have been mainstreamed because the law says it's time.
Measure 60 is all about merit pay. Now, before we get into it, let me say this - I agree with merit pay for teachers. I think we should be paid based on our ability and achievements, just like people in the corporate world. I agree that teachers who are ineffective should be the first to be cut, rather than cutting on seniority.
HOWEVER, Measure 60 gives us no definition of how teachers' performance will be evaluated. This will be left up to politicians to decide. Experience says my pay and job security will then be tied to standardized test scores. But wait! How will that work for me? I'm an electives teacher, there is no standardized test for my subject. Does this mean that we'll now have to create one?
And let's just pretend for a minute that I teach a "real" class, like Language Arts. Am I to be punished because 40% of my students don't speak the language well enough to pass the test, and in fact have lived in the country less than 5 years? Should I be punished because my students didn't score above the cut score, even if they did make a 17% gain in their scores over last year? Is it really fair to expect a child who comes to me at a 3rd grade reading level to make that jump from 3rd to 8th grade in one academic year?
If measures 58 and 60 pass, it will make it harder for schools in poor and culturally diverse areas to find teachers, because our pay will likely be based on our students' performance on standardized tests - and those students will not be getting the services they so desperately need to be able to one day pass the tests. As I tell my students every day, I can present them the information they need to know and I can create new, fun and exciting ways of getting that information from my head to theirs, but I cannot force them to learn it. I also cannot force them to learn at a faster speed than they are capable. Please, vote no on 58 and 60.
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