The caption. Perusing this subreddit I've read some awful things about evaluations. How they're rigged and bogus from the start. How it is literally impossible by design to get a "4" or max out because they'll get in trouble for not dinging you on something.

Or how dinging you makes admin look good on their evaluations so they can get that bonus or fluff up their resume.

Is this true from your experience? If so, how the heck did we get here? Is there a company behind this?

Goodhart's Law has woven itself into our educational system in the shadow of a world reshaped by calamity. Among the ruins, where once stood pillars of learning, now linger the ghosts of standards, with graduation rates becoming the beacon by which the guardians of knowledge, our Principals, navigate the murky waters of achievement.

In the enclave I serve, a banner flies high, proclaiming a 96% graduation rate, a figure that sparkles amidst the desolation like a false beacon of hope. Yet, beneath this veneer of success, the truth lies buried in the rubble: merely 58% of our survivors grasp the essence of ELA, a scant 30% can navigate the numerical wastelands of math, and only 31% have the tools to decipher the mysteries of science.

How can such disparity exist? The answer echoes through the abandoned halls: grade inflation, the specter that haunts our attempts to rebuild, and a relentless push to hand diplomas to anyone who merely survives the four-year gauntlet, regardless of the knowledge they've gleaned from the ruins.

Hello, my org is putting together kits to give to about 10-15 elementary (likely 3rd-5th) classrooms/teachers who are experiencing an influx of new students after their school count. These are the items my team and I are thinking of purchasing for the kits. I'd appreciate your input as to what you or your classroom needs as well as if something should be taken off or replaced.

Headphones (a big ask from our local schools)

Kleenex

Hand sanitizer

Highlighters pack

Pens pack

Pencils (mechanical and sharpening)

Erasers

Post-its

Expo Markers

Crayons

Markers

Printer paper (some schools make you pay for it- yikes)

Two pocket folders

Trying to figure out if this is unique to my district or an everywhere problem… I teach high school English. For context, we are a tiny district with roughly 100 kids 9-12. Freshman year, students are required to stay on campus, but 10th-12th grade, students are can opt to take as many (online) college courses as they wish, at the expense of the school. They may also take courses from our neighboring “career center” which is located in a separate district (about a 15 minute drive from us) and offers classes in trade skills. Typically, our average junior might take one or two classes on our campus, and the rest of the day they have “release” which essentially means free time to work on their online college classes or go to the career center. Most students have admitted they use their “release” time to go home and sleep or play video games (which may explain why so many of them struggle to keep their grades up).

Our guidance counselor seems to not see any issue with this, but I have to fight to get kids in my classes. I teach junior/senior regular English, AP Lit (juniors), and AP Lang (seniors) and my class sizes usually come out to around 6 or 7 kids. For instance, our current senior class is 24 students, but I only teach 5 of them total. The rest are enrolled in some sort of online dual enrollment option. Their reasoning is that these online classes are easier to cheat on, and the career center courses are an easy A.

I’m just wondering if other districts (particularly small districts that simply don’t have the money or resources to offer tons of options in-house) are having similar issues? Do you ever feel like you’re competing with dual enrollment/online education? Am I crazy to feel like we’re letting our kids grow up way too fast by allowing them to take on a full-time community college load at 15?

High school social studies department chair here. Our director for curriculum & instruction just informed us that we need to think of things (PD, resources, PLCs, etc.) that we would like to purchase if we “hypothetically” have extra funding for it. Any suggestions for 9-12th grade social studies (World History, US History, American Government, electives)? Thanks in advance for your recommendations!

I have been teaching in the "South" for 4 years now after 15 plus years in the "North". A lot is different but today I found out that the nurse can only give out pads, not tampons!

What 15 yo girl wants pads?!? I cannot for the life of me imagine why they have this policy - does anyone know?

I'm in a large public HS btw.

Had my first day today and it was overwhelming. I think part of the reason was the teacher was gone for a training for part of the day. It’s a severe classroom with several other paras, but it seems like they’re cliquey and they probably don’t like me already.

I feel trapped and like I want to quit already, but I’m trying to stick it out to eventually get something else (an RSP position, or another kind of job entirely). I feel in over my head. Has anyone been in a similar situation. If so, how did you handle it? I genuinely don’t know what to do at this point. I needed a job desperately and this is what I got.

Not sure what I'm looking for here, so I'll just throw out the situation as my thoughts will allow.

I teach online. I'm also going on maternity leave in about a month. I just got a new student with all sorts of behavioral and bonding issues looking for stability. And here I am about to say "Bye and good luck!" in a few weeks.

I'm definitely down with my leave being my leave, but I kind of feel for the family.

I really appreciate my mentor. We worked together before my practicum hours. I just finished 120 hours with her and am doing my student teaching with her in the fall. I ordered her this Stanley engraved with Disney stuff and her name because she loves Disney. I feel maybe I went over the top? I thought it was cute but now I am having anxiety. Should I wait until student teaching is over in the fall, or just give it to her now on my last day of practicum?

I came back from a weekend funeral to find my classroom ransacked and someone rummaged through my closet and stole 4 Nintendo switches meant for my students.

I am heartbroken. I feel like I’m going to get fired. Idk. I haven’t had something like this happen with my clubs. I am just anxious and scared. My poor kids.

Hey all.

So I have an English 3 class that I teach at 8:15 in the morning. Many of the students are unmotivated and barely awake so, when trying to read over extended texts, I see I lose a lot of them. This last assignment I gave them - half the class did the assigned work and half didn’t.

This just won’t do.

How can I raise morale and keep the students alert and attentive for the hour and half I have them? Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I had an interview where the principal told me she contacted my current principal for a reference. I did not list his name or use him as a reference on my application. I did put my current school on my resume. However I listed three separate references on my application. I was in completely shock when she shared that she reached out to my current principal for a reference. She said he provided a great reference but was shocked that I was looking.

I am so upset. Confused and downright uncomfortable. Of course I didn’t tell my current principal, who I do like and respect, that I was looking. I have not signed a contract and would of course let him know if I did accept a job. But who tells their current boss they are looking? That is a risk to my livelihood if I don’t find and secure a position. I would appreciate any and all advice on if I should bring it up or see if he comes to me first. What should I say? Thanks!

I do understand back door references are a thing but who tells the applicant that?!? I was shocked.

Fourth grade teacher here. I need five chaperones for our field trip and just about every parent wants to go. I decided the best option would be to send out an email, and the first five parents with clearances on file who respond would be chosen as chaperones. After I checked for clearances the following day and sent an email out letting people know that the decision has been made, I then get a nasty email from a parent who wasn’t chosen letting me know very clearly that this was not fair. I wonder where the kids get it from….

My 5th grade math lesson for the edTPA will be regarding coordinate grids. How could I assess students’ conceptual understanding of coordinate grids in a work sample, as opposed to their procedural fluency or mathematical reasoning/problem solving? I’m stuck on this one.

I'm working on a free spaced repetition-based product and struggling a bit to find the first ~100 motivated students that are looking for Algebra help, ACT prep, etc. Where do you recommend finding folks to offer the product to without spamming anybody?

A few days ago, I posted about how I implemented this policy.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/s/UWXVv3AqJf

TLDR: unless you have an emergency, you need to get work done before you get a bathroom break. If you keep having emergencies, I’m going to keep track of them and ask for you to get more help and accommodations.

Lo and behold, everything is going great. My students stopped interrupting my lessons asking me to use the bathroom if they hadn’t done any work. So far, none of the kids who don’t do any work have had any emergencies. Some of them even started doing their work because they knew that they could go have a bathroom (break) as soon as they did some work.

The administration thinks it’s a fair policy and have stated that they’ll be happy to help kids get the help they need if any issues come up.

Sadly, a few pretend teachers on the internet aren’t so happy about it. But they’re always welcome to become teachers and show us how better they are at classroom management. Just say the word and I’ll help you get connected as a substitute.

Hello, I am going to be teaching a lesson plan in my field experience Tomorrow. evert time I have done this so far, I have had basically a panic attack during the lesson, and it severely impacts how I can teach. did any of you feel the way I did? what are some ways I might be able to prevent this if possible? it doesn't help that I'm getting graded the whole time and watched by my field teacher and my classroom teacher.

I am an event coach for hs track, i have a few kids who think its "playtime" or social hour whats the best ideal way to deal with this, go to the head coach?

Fyi I am in college and going into special education

Sarcastic question of course. I hope teachers know better than that.

Out of 10 years of teaching, this is the first year where a nonsignificant amount of students retort with "but I do/turn-in my work" after being told to stop talking, stop moving seats to be with your friends, stop horsing around, stop playing music on your phone, stop eating, stop playfighting, etc. etc.

I honestly do not get how they think that as long as they turn in their work (whether it's good or not is another story), that it is a green card for them to now do whatever they wish, norms be damn. How did we get here? I have never had this issue before this year.

(Copied from r/teaching) I don’t think my friend should be teaching

Sorry if this post is all over the place but I cannot believe someone like this is allowed to teach. For context I’m not a teacher but I did double major in history/poli sci and am very concerned with the quality of education these kids are getting.

I have a friend who teaches hs at a private school & I have no idea how they’re allowed to teach. They teach catholic studies and some kind of CRT class but have very misinformed knowledge on history (has claimed Irish and Jewish people were mostly behind slavery in the U.S, doesn’t know common land mark Supreme Court cases), is VERY mentally unwell (believes they can speak to & see spirits, demons, etc.) & they also have a self-proclaimed weed addiction.

This person (white) also constantly tells us about their black students in such an infantilizing way our friend group has had to confront them about it, has given their students “readings” where they hold their hands (this has stopped bc someone reported it), is SUPER left leaning/non-objective in their teaching (they’ve also been reported for this), and is very into conspiracy TikTok which has led them to say some very anti-Semitic stuff recently. Everyone in our friend group is concerned but don’t know how to go about confronting this. How do you even get certified to teach social studies being so clearly unwell?!

Have any of you been in this position??

TL;DR: I have a friend whose behavior regarding teaching gives me great concern for the education her students are receiving. If anyone’s been in a similar situation advice would be much appreciated!

Didn’t know how to flair this one.

New York State teachers (of Tier 6), do you have a plan (or even an “expiry date”) related to the Tier 6 rollout? For example, I believe I will probably pull out of the benefit system and look for different options (maybe even priv. schools with better resources/pay if they exist) if they do not indicate that they will revise Tier 6 to Tier 4 by 2028/2029. Does anyone have a similar plan/timeline?? Any suggestions as to whether this date is reasonable? I should graduate with my master’s in 2025 and assume, if things go well, I’d receive tenure somewhere around 2029. All speculation.

The second grade class I’m in as a para has a student who only speaks Spanish. He’s finally warmed up to me enough that now he asks me for help when needed. They had a test today, and it took a while to try and explain a specific problem(money, especially since the currency in his home country is different than USD). I eventually made fake bills with all the values on them and he immediately understood how he needed to get to the amount the question asked for. While we were talking about it through the translator app, another student asked why I was smiling so much. I can’t help it! I love when I finally figure out a way to help one of my students understand the assignment and I see that light bulb turn on!!

I see educational experts literally tallying the minutes for time on learning as if they're always 100% on task. What percent of the school day is totally focused on work by students? Sometimes it feels like its 30% 😔

As the title suggests, I have an issue with bullies in my new semester class. The course started at the end of January.

For context, two of the bullies were bullying another one of my students outside of my class prior to the semester starting and in the first week of class the victim ended up transferring out of district to get away from these bullies.

So now the bullies have picked a new student to target - he is also in my class and they are also bullying him in the hallway and in their other classes together. Today the new victim asked me to move his seat so I did. The bullies responded by finding every possible opportunity to get out of their seat (get a drink of water, get a tissue) and walk by the other student so they could whisper snide comments to him. One of the comments was racist - I documented everything and reported it.

At the end of class I asked the student being bullied if he is OK and I let him know that I documented everything. He asked me not to report anything because he’s fearful of repercussion from the bullies - at this point he tells me he’s late for the bus BUT I shouldn’t worry because he is prepared to defend himself (he quickly shows me a children’s elementary scissors in his pocket) and then he runs for his bus. I don’t have time to react - and by the time he’s gone I realize I should have confiscated the scissors.

Immediately tell the vice principal in charge of discipline and the AP administrators for the house is that the students are in. They make a plan to talk to all the students in the morning as soon as they arrive to school. They reassured me that I did the right thing by telling them but I still feel that I lacked professional judgment by not confiscating the scissors.

I’m worried that this lapse could lose me my job as I am not tenured. I am worried about preventing further instances of bullying in my classroom as the semester goes on. I am also worried about how my school is handling the discipline because these students have gotten away with this before and yet they’re still allowed to come to school and operate as usual.

Ugh.

Middle school science here, formerly high school/college math. Next year I'll be back in HS math, but for this semester I'm doing middle school science. And I'm completely demoralized right now. I cannot for the life of me get these kids to behave. I've tried every trick I know. I've called for support. I've given consequences, called parents, lunch detentions, everything. And I still have kids at top volume who can't even sit in a fucking chair for 5 minutes at a stretch, let alone learn any science. I spend hours creating engaging lessons for them, and we can't even get through half of it because we spend most of it trying to get them to sit down in a chair and turn down their personal volume so I can be heard over the ruckus. I'm crying right now. Every lesson is like pulling teeth without anesthesia.

I'm at my wit's end and don't know what to do. If I be straight with them about what their behavior is doing to me, they'll just do it harder. They have no compassion and will show me no mercy.

Any ideas on how to make an American Imperialism Apush Dbq worksheet for my students to read. How can I make this a more creative worksheet that pops when I hand them out?? Please help as I'm looking forward to reading everyone's tips & tricks lol

The nominees for my school were just announced and it reminded me once again that TOY is a very mixed bag in my opinion. I'm sorry if I'm ranting here, but I feel like I don't like it at the end of the day. I have been nominated before, so it's not like I'm bitter. But I feel like every year when we decide who the nominees are, and ultimately who wins, it boils down to sort of like a mixed popularity contest/how present are you in the school? The people that win always deserve it, but I feel like it sometimes gets used in a way that is not reflective of what a great teacher should be. I've worked in schools where it was the same clique of teachers always getting nominated because they just kept putting each other on the ballot. I've worked in schools where, in protest, teachers would nominate teachers who either were lousy or would have upset the administration if they won. I've worked in schools where it's only ever school counselors, trade teachers, or instructional coaches who keep getting it, and never somebody teaching a core subject. I worked in a school where "everyone" got it, but you had to basically schmooze administration to make sure that your name is on the list for that coming year. And currently in my school it seems like TOY gets used as a way to both recognize people who are genuinely liked and do a lot for the school, but we also always get nominees too who pretty much are on there for pity points and everybody knows it.

In my personal opinion, I think that TOY should maybe be replaced with something a little bit more community focused like maybe having multiple teachers win per year, having different categories, or something else that becomes more inclusive. My district makes a big deal about TOY and that's fine and dandy, but every year it feels like there are lots of good teachers who put in a lot of good effort or do a lot of good for the school and if you just don't get noticed by people your number will never get called. And I think that's kind of shitty. I'm not saying everyone deserves a trophy, even though I am a millennial so I'm the generation that grew up with it, but I do think that the idea of TOY in its most common forms is a little unhealthy for the profession and school communities as a whole.

Anybody else just feel defeated a lot with the expectations? I'm not super Type A and I have ADHD, so I find myself falling behind and forgetting even with the regular expectations of teaching.

Only 45 minutes of prep (that I also have to sacrifice about twice a week) that's supposed to cover all grading, email responses, paperwork, entering grades, lesson planning, classroom material prep, printing, etc. I don't volunteer or do anything after school, but I have two kids I have to take care of so I usually don't have time to stay after school. I teach math, and the way I teach bell to bell (like they ALWAYS ASK) makes it so difficult for me to stop and reply to emails people send or to do anything other than teach and monitor kids. It doesn't even feel effective because they often act shitty anyways.

I had a parent ask me if there was another teacher, a MALE teacher, that they could switch their son to that he might respect more because he did better under his male math teacher last year. Admin emailed to tell me I need to do more for my study hall group and I know it's because I don't usually structure study hall-- I'm so fucking burnt out I tell them to do something quiet, school appropriate, and approach me with questions just so I can get something DONE. Now it has to be an actual class with grading and skills being taught and I want to SCREAM.

I feel guilty. I feel like I'm not organized and able to juggle so many things at once like my coworkers. Every time I'm late to turn in some dumb paperwork or I have to adjust attendance because I wasn't paying attention or I forget to sign up for something stupid, I feel so shitty, especially because people on my team always have it done and managed.

The hours and expectations just get to me. As a charter school we go from 7:30-3:45, with three 90 minute blocks and two specials, the last one being really short at the end of the day. I know there isn't much I can do because I picked this place to work and if I want to continue I need to buck up and do my best but DAMN, the amount of shit to remember and complete is hell for me sometimes.

Especially summer?

i’m not a teacher but at my school we have a lot of incidents involving fights and lockdowns. i’m a sophmore and we’ve already had 2 real lockdowns. my question is: if you were teaching and there was an immediate threat, what would you do? my teacher usually corners us in the classroom corner away from doors and windows.