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Alec Timmerman

Alec Timmerman's picture
Saint Paul, MN
Commenter for
2 years 35 weeks

Recent Comments

Last time the NCTQ released a "study", it was on state teacher policies. Just like this study, the highest rated states had the absolute worst student achievement outcomes on every available measure. Massachusettes and Minnesota fail while the Louisianans and Alabamas of the world get the highest marks.

So, readers, and hopefully reporters, should be aware, that NCTQ ratings have a strong inverse relationship to actual student achievement. The one strong correlation to NCTQ scores is...

Posted on 06/18/13 at 10:36 pm in response to GOP Rep. Jim Abeler enters Senate race

Last time the NCTQ released a "study", it was on state teacher policies. Just like this study, the highest rated states had the absolute worst student achievement outcomes on every available measure. Massachusettes and Minnesota fail while the Louisianans and Alabamas of the world get the highest marks.

So, readers, and hopefully reporters, should be aware, that NCTQ ratings have a strong inverse relationship to actual student achievement. The one strong correlation to NCTQ scores is...

Posted on 05/01/13 at 10:00 am in response to Education Minnesota's election: A change of style, not policy

"And nearly 90 percent agree good teacher evaluations and professional development will help advance student learning."

That's the biggest Rheeformer myth, that teachers are opposed to evaluation. No one wants effective colleagues more than teachers themselves. Just because teachers oppose ineffective and faulty evaluations as proposed by the Rheeform movement, doesn't mean we do not yearn for constructive and effective evaluation. Teachers crave it.

The idea that an Edina...

Posted on 04/24/13 at 06:22 pm in response to Speaker Steve Perry provokes heated exchange on education reform

If dismantling unions is the magic bullet that these reformers lead with, then why are right to work states, where unions are dismantled, not beacons of educational greatness?

The answer is simple, there is zero correlation betweeen strong, professional support for teachers and poor educational outcomes.

When these Rheeformers lead with union bashing, you know for certain their number one objective is labor ideology, not the benefit of kids. It is such a demoralizing, expensive...

Posted on 04/24/13 at 06:25 pm in response to Speaker Steve Perry provokes heated exchange on education reform

How about the fact that Hrvest Prep and its ilk dismiss and suspend at a much, much higher rate than Their comparable public counterparts. They are booting out poor and black kids at an alarming rate. Minneapolis just got raked over the coals for a much smaller rate. They get to play by different rules and get applauded for it.

Posted on 04/25/13 at 06:02 am in response to Speaker Steve Perry provokes heated exchange on education reform

Yes, if you completely ignore every single factor affecting a students achievement, except the classroom teacher, you can put all the blame on the classroom teacher. You literally cannot argue with that.

So tell me, are all the teachers in Edina better teachers than those in St. Paul and Minneapolis?

This is why teachers are angry because the modern Rheeformer paints this whole problem, almost exclusively, that we have an over abundance of lousy teachers.

A bad...

Posted on 04/25/13 at 07:11 am in response to Speaker Steve Perry provokes heated exchange on education reform

The main, and almost solitary thrust of modern education reform revolves around the idea that there are just too many lousy teachers. Every reform argument, as exemplified here, is that the number one problem in education is just "too many lousy teachers and the horrible unions that protect lousy teachers."

It is an almost impossible argument to win. If you speak up for a profession you love and students you love, they accuse you of protecting bad teachers.

A bad teacher needs...

Posted on 04/26/13 at 09:30 am in response to Speaker Steve Perry provokes heated exchange on education reform

There is no data supporting it, but do you honestly think union reform offers the biggest bang for the buck? It seems to be the main thrust of your endeavors? We have seen plenty of evidence of what happens when teacher support is neutralized first, in places like Washington D.C. and Atlanta and the scandals that followed when teachers lost all power to speak up.

Posted on 04/14/13 at 11:00 pm in response to Lots of chances to see me (and a few education experts, too)

.....and make the earth shattering prediction that you have zero practicing teachers in your presentations on educational experts.

Posted on 03/26/13 at 11:38 am in response to RESET effort focuses on achievement gap, and shows ways to close it

I guess articles like this are why I have quit reading MinnPost, not that one reader matters. All of the suggestions from RESET are condescending for those of us who have been quietly doing the work without a million dollar ad campaign. I have been using electronic learner response systems to get 100% feedback from 100% of kids for a decade. I teach how to use them in my graduate course for new teachers at the U of M. They talk of "exit slips" as if that is something new. And try and step...