San Antonio Alliance

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Recently, there has been some confusion between learning/data walks and walk-throughs.

Learning/Data Walk — Can be as brief as 2-3 minutes or longer if necessary. The focus of these is professional growth and development, rather than evaluation. Feedback is provided to teachers through the District’s Data Walk System. Typically, this is not intended for or applied to the appraisal, unless the appraiser determines, based on the observation, that the learning walk should become a walk-through.

Walk-Through — Is generally 10-15 minutes, but can extend a full class period. The intent is to observe performance and collect data that may be used on the teacher’s appraisal through the use of cumulative data. Feedback is provided through the District’s Eduphoria/EASy System.

If you have additional questions about the difference between walk-throughs and learning walks, please contact the Alliance Office at 210-225-7174.

The San Antonio Alliance will be holding a Know Your Rights workshop on two separate day to educate employees on their rights in the district.

Who: SAISD Employees

What: Know Your Rights Workshop

Where: Alliance Office (120 Adams Street, 78210)

When: Monday January 30, 2012 from 4:45pm-6:15pm OR Tuesday January 31, 2012 from 6:00pm-7:30pm (Select One)

For those that are interested in attending, please contact the Alliance at 225-7174.

Here in Texas we’re already seeing the beginnings of a new attack on retirement security for school employees and other state and local public employees in the 2013 legislative session. (See the October 31, 2011, Hotline:  http://texasaftblog.com/hotline/?p=1382.) The same sort of assault on pensions is being mounted all across the country. It calls for a national response as well as a state-level counter, and part of the response involves marshaling the relevant facts to correct myths being propagated to undermine public pension systems. Read More

The Winter 2011-2012 edition of American Educator (http://www.aft.org/newspubs/periodicals/ae/index.cfm), professional magazine of the American Federation of Teachers, offers some clarifying commentaries on what is going awry these days in educational policy and politics. Everyone involved in public education should read “The Cult of Success” by Diana Senechal and “Bipartisan, But Unfounded: The Assault on Teachers’ Unions” by Richard D. Kahlenberg.  In combination, the two pieces add up to a portrait you will recognize of unproductive policy and destructive politics doing serious damage to our public schools.

Here’s a preview of Senechal’s argument:  Over the past few decades, success has too often been defined as whatever we can see and measure, be it individual wealth or corporate profits, school test scores or student rankings, Facebook friends or Twitter followers. Senechal writes: “In research studies, newspaper articles, and general education discussions, there is far more talk of achievement than of the actual stuff that gets achieved.” Such talk has resulted in a cult of success that, in its preoccupation with image, money, and power, has distorted what it really means to succeed. Read More

Today’s hearing of the Texas House Public Education Committee showcased a rising tide of discontent in Texas with standardized testing. The message came from parents, teachers, principals, superintendents—all agreed something is badly awry. And their critique of standardized testing was not confined to the narrow issue of end-of-course tests as a factor in students’ grades.

On that particular issue, by the way, the Texas Education Agency’s top lawyer under questioning from the committee said today that school districts have wide latitude to decide for themselves how a student’s standardized end-of-course score will count toward the student’s grade-point average. Apparently, though a school district must count each end-of-course exam as 15 percent of a student’s grade in the course, it doesn’t have to count that score toward the GPA. Read More

Earlier this school year, the Alliance filed a group grievance on behalf of Pre-K and Head Start teachers and assistants.  Over 150 teachers and assistants signed onto the grievance.  The grievance was heard at level one on November 15, 2011, and on December 16, we received Ms. Brightman’s response, click here to view response. Click here to view a side-by-side chart showing the remedies we requested in the grievance and the administration’s response for each remedy.

Our Alliance Pre-K/Head Start Advisory Team met on January 4, 2012 to review and discuss the response.  The decision was to appeal the decision to level two, which is the superintendent’s level.  That appeal was filed last week.  We are awaiting a hearing date for the level two hearing.  If any of you who signed onto the grievance disagrees with proceeding to level two, please let the Alliance Office know by calling 225-7174.  If any of you who did not sign onto the grievance would like to add your name, please let us know. Thank you for all that you do for our students and their families.  Please let us know if you have any questions about the grievance.

The Alliance co-sponsors professional developments opportunities with SAISD. Two of the classes that are set for 2012 are the Foundations of Effective Teaching course and the Managing Antisocial Behavior (MAB) course. Both courses are free and you can register for either on epath.

Foundations of Effective Teaching-The course is facilitated by current SAISD teachers who understand the classroom. The course provides 28-30 hours of CPE credit for certificate renewal. SAISD provide a substitute for you on the four days that you participate in the course. Foundations provides you with the opportunity to network with other new teachers. It also helps you make connections between topics so that you can fully integrate the ideas and concepts into your classroom practice.

Dates: FDN112 (All Saturdays) 1/21, 2/18, 3/31, 4/21 FDN212 (Tuesdays) 1/10, 1/31, 2/29 (Day 4 will be Online). Continue reading →

Since March of 2011, Save Texas Schools has stayed active in mobilizing and educating people around the state about how we can turn around this funding crisis.

The next conference is coming right to you! On Feb. 3 and 4, Save Texas Schools will be holding a San Antonio Regional Conference at the Northside Activity Center (Friday) and Holmes High School (Saturday).

Mayor Julian Castro, Rep. Mike Villarreal, Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, and superintendent, Dr. Folks, are among the speakers. On Saturday, there will be a series of workshops to help people understand the budget cuts and how to mobilize others to change the situation in the next legislative session (including how to get people out to vote in the primaries).

This is a crucial time. What happens over the next several months in the primaries will greatly determine whether we face another $5 billion in cuts next session on top of what we are currently facing. Continue reading →