Throughout the country school
districts have instituted different methods of weakening teacher tenure. In
California, as in some other states this policy is called Peer Assistance and
Review.
What is Peer Assistance and Review?
Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) is a
remedial program for teachers who receive an unsatisfactory performance review.
The teacher participates in the program from 1-2 years. If the teacher has
shown “satisfactory” improvement
the teacher is exited out of the program. However, if the teacher hasn’t
shown enough improvement as measured by the PAR Panel, they are recommended for
termination.
Even the most progressive educators
argue that PAR is a vital program for teacher quality and remediation. PAR is
beloved among union leaders and progressive educators alike.
“One reform for improving teacher quality – Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) – offers an alternative approach to these
cursory evaluation systems. PAR focuses not only on supporting and assessing
individual teachers, but also on expanding the capacity of the school and
district to improve teaching and learning. Recently, many educational observers
and policymakers, including President Barack Obama, Secretary of Education Arne
Duncan, and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, have
pointed to PAR as an approach with great potential for improving professional
evaluation and teacher quality (Obama, 2009; Duncan, 2009; Dillon, 2008; Toch
& Rothman, 2008; Goldstein, 2007; Koppich, 2005; Goldstein, 2004).” Reference: (http://www.gse.harvard.edu/~ngt/PAR%20Costs%20and%20Benefits%20-%20January%202011.pdf)
Historian Diane Ravitch writes about PAR in
her blog:
“There have been few litigation challenges to the discharges. The
overwhelming majority of teachers think the system is fair. There is no
high-stakes-testing, with all its adverse side effects. Briefly, principals
identify teachers as possibly poor-performers; senior consulting teachers (who
do not report to the principal) intensively monitor/evaluate the identified
teachers; a consulting-teachers/principals committee makes the final discharge
decision. It’s unclear why PAR has received so little public attention. The NY
Times wrote a column praising PAR. But, the media and ed bloggers have
otherwise largely ignored it. Opponents of high-stakes-testing should study and
publicize PAR — or something like it — as an inexpensive, productive alternative to the destructive
high-stakes-testing as a way to identify/remove ineffective teachers.” (Reference: DianeRavitch.net April 24, 2012)
Who are the Bad Teachers?: Strong Evidence of
Discrimination
Although PAR has been praised publicly, there
has been little publicity about the teachers who are placed in this program.
Who are these bad teachers? What does the PAR process look like in action?
We outline here our experience with PAR in
Berkeley, California, the city known internationally as a bastion of progressive
ideas with a history of defending freedom of expression. We begin by describing
the demographics of the 41 teachers selected for PAR since the beginning of the
program in 2002. This data was obtained through a California public records
request by author Brian Crowell (at that point Brian was a union rep at
Berkeley High.) The district did not share the data until school board
president Josh Daniels intervened. Although we expected the data to show bias,
we were shocked at the extent of the disparity.
·
In a district that
is composed of about 6.5% African American teachers, a startling 10 out of 41
teachers (or 24%) were referred to PAR.
·
Thirty-five of the
41 teachers placed in PAR were in column 6 or 7 representing the most highly
educated teachers on the salary schedule.
·
The average step
placement of all teachers in PAR was 15 years of experience.
·
Of the 22 women
placed in PAR, 20 the women were 55 years of age or older. The women teachers
also had more years of experience (were at higher steps on the salary
schedule.)
Math teachers at Berkeley High School analyzed
this data more. Specifically we wondered how likely it was that data like this
would happen by accident, or randomly.
First we looked at the African American
teacher statistics. How likely is it that 10 out of 41 teachers would be
African American if chosen randomly from a pool of 6.5%? Using some advanced
high school math we found this probability to be a tiny 0.022%. Legally
speaking, this would fall in the category of disparate impact discrimination.
Next we looked at the numbers for women age 55
and older. What is the probability that 19 of 21 women teachers in the district
would be over the 55 and older if chosen randomly? This probability turned out
to be even more dramatic. In our estimate of the California state demographic
for teachers, roughly 21.5% of teachers are over the age of 55. Again using
some advanced high school math, the chances that 19 of 21 female teachers would
be 55 and over if chosen randomly is an astonishing 0.000000013%. This small
probability would fall under the legal definition of disparate treatment discrimination.
Who are the Bad Teachers?: Two Case Studies
This year 3 additional teachers have been
referred to the PAR program. Two of them are teachers of color; one of them is
a woman over 55. We describe two of these teachers below.
Bad Teacher #1: The Black Teacher
Brian Crowell is a 36-year old African
American history teacher at Berkeley High. Brian served as a union
representative for 4 years. Immediately after disclosure of the statistics
described above Brian received a failing evaluation and was immediately
referred to PAR. He was then threatened by the Berkeley Unified central
administration with immediate termination. Previous to his disclosure of the
PAR data Brian’s teaching had been praised by administration. Here is a quote about
Brian Crowell’s teaching from Berkeley High principal Pasquale Scuderi written a
few months earlier:
“Really was reminded of early observations of you back in ‘06. You are such a
good storyteller and while I am sometimes cautious about teacher talk/lecture,
you really had a big chunk of the class engaged and seemed, if I’m right, to be
connecting early European trade/explorations with how those arrangements look
today.
Feedback: Widespread engagement — several students were really dialed into your
presentation. very pleased to see multiple African-American students actively
engaged in the discussion; we need this type of involvement to be more
commonplace in all classrooms for students of color.”
Principal Pasquale Scuderi email to Brian
Crowell, Sept. 18, 2012
Students responded loudly when they heard of
their history teacher’s job being threatened. Here is a quote from a junior written
directly to the school board.
Hello Board Members,
..... I am a junior at Berkeley High School in
Academic Choice. Upon hearing of Brian Crowell being put on BPAR, I felt
compelled to write to you. I had Mr. Crowell for both Freshman and Sophomore
year and can tell you he has been one of the best, most supportive teachers I
have ever had. Mr. Crowell was amazing in the way he connected the past to the
present and the way in which he prepared us for AP classes, STAR testing and
the future. He taught us to use our own thoughts to make important arguments
through our research papers, and also gave us all a strong understanding of our
government… (3/28/13)
Bad
Teacher #2: The Experienced Woman
Lucinda
Daly is a 61-year-old experienced photography teacher at Berkeley High. She had
been teaching for 25 years with strong evaluations and positive experiences
with students. She maintains two darkrooms, brings students on annual field
trips to Yosemite, and has regular photo exhibits popular among parents and
other community members. She had never heard of PAR and was amazed to find
herself referred.
Students describe Daly’s teaching in
glowing terms. Here is a letter to the school board from a graduate:
“After taking
two years of photo with Ms Daly, I have grown in unexpected and lasting ways as
an artist and as a person. She is exceptional at teaching the fundamental techniques while allowing enough
flexibility for students to work however they need to.
I understand that she was given
an "unsatisfactory" evaluation by Mr. Melgoza, perhaps because of the
loose structure of the class. But that productive chaos is actually crucial for
allowing the artistic process to take place. In my opinion,
the quality of work coming out of her classes would not be at nearly the same
level if the class were quiet and orderly, and more aspects of the work process
were stringently regulated.
The way to judge the quality of
Ms. Daly's teaching should be in the evaluation of the work her students
produce, not how orderly her class may appear to be. Her
encouragement to push the boundaries of what the assignments ask for and
openness to experimentation with techniques (which can sometimes be messy and
disorganized) has taken me to artistic places I never thought I would reach
when I first enrolled in her class.
Furthermore, in an academic
environment where students are constantly pressured to take increasingly
rigorous classes, it is easy to become over-stressed. The positive
effect of having a space in which to set aside traditional measures of success
and achievement, and simply spend time creating in a low-pressure environment,
cannot be overstated.”
Teacher’s Health and
Future after PAR
One observation shared by every
teacher put in PAR was a significant negative impact on their health. Teachers report anxiety, depression,
insomnia, panic disorder, lack of appetite, paranoia, disorientation and
confusion. These illnesses were documented repeatedly by doctors. In a
profession that is already increasingly challenging, the experience of having
one’s job scrutinized and job security threatened pushes teachers to the edge.
Indeed, what jobs are available to an experienced teacher who has been
dismissed? Where are the education ads for a teacher with 10+ years of
experience?
Our experience with PAR in
Berkeley raises these questions for all of us.
Silencing Our Voices and
Threatening Academic Freedom
We have outlined the way the PAR
has unfairly targeted subgroups of teachers. We conclude with an observation
about what this means to our students and classrooms.
These kinds of programs diminish
teacher power, and attempt to silence the voices of teachers. Teachers who
speak or teach differently can be especially popular targets. Teachers of color
and experienced women are often the most expressive, creative, and
pedagogically divergent teachers. We worry that through racial profiling and
age and gender discrimination, these voices will be silenced.
In a time when our students and
world need rich, thoughtful and courageous classroom experiences, programs like
PAR are especially destructive to public education. California’s per pupil
funding is down 13.8% since The Great Recession. Do other states and districts
have similar demographics when in comes to PAR participants? This is just the
beginning of a long discussion about education, labor, civil rights and the
future of public education at large.
Masha Albrecht is a Math Teacher
at Berkeley High School
Brian Crowell is a Social Science
Teacher at Berkeley High School
Footnotes:
3. Article on Berkeley Peer Assistance and Review
http://www.bhsjacket.com/april_19/skewed_demographics_fuel_teacher_resentment_bpar
4.Berkeley NAACP Report
on Discrimination http://www.berkeleyside.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/1-1-1-Town-Hall-Summary-and-RecommendationsFinal1.pdf
3 comments:
This is also the situation in Los Angeles. Here PAR coaches are in weekly contact with principals and pressure is put upon them to report what administration wants to hear. One example; a veteran math teacher was coached by PAR and received excellent evaluations by the coach. The teacher made copies of the evaluations - this is not allowed now. The coach was forced to change the evaluations to reflect failure. Even though the favorable evaluations were presented at the same time as the 'official' evaluations, the teacher lost his job through the 'teacher jail' process due to incompetence
PAR coaches regularly greet teachers with the suggestion that it's time to resign or retire.
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