My letter to President Obama. I would like for him to respond, but I also want him to know that his policy of Race to the Top, at the very least, "seems" to be targeting hardworking teachers, and will not necessarily do anything to actually help education.
Mr President,
Why have you crafted a policy of punishing teachers first? With your "Race to the Top" policy, you have placed the entire burden of education on teachers and administration, while flatly ignoring the importance of community, and per pupil spending. Not only that, but you have given private testing companies (whose economic benefits are to fail students and teachers and break teachers unions) the sole measure of deciding what is to be tested.
As a new teacher (4th year), I have recieved my third pink slip because my school district has had it's budget cut for every year I have been teaching (I have been fortunate to be rehired each year, barely). How does your policy help? How can teachers who are so demoralized feel good about policies which are apparantly targeted at them? How can I improve teaching in a state that is 49th in per pupil spending with high levels of minority students, and our budget is cut each year? I don't even know if I will be able to get copies next week for my students. Do you hate teachers so much that you must target them first?