On Sept. 14, hundreds of teachers held a rally in front of the downtown Los Angeles Times building. The cause of the protest was the long-standing teacher bashing agenda of the LA Times. The LA teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles, called the protest, attended by supporters including members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
The LA Times has recently intensified a campaign against teachers, publishing the student test scores of each individual teacher, which are widely known to be considerably flawed, and rating a teacher’s effectiveness based on a formula called value-added analysis. This method of judging teachers is opposed by a broad array of civil rights groups and teacher unions across the United States. The method is so convoluted that The LA Times itself wrote in an Aug. 15 article that a person would need a doctorate to understand it.
Many hard-working and dedicated LA teachers have been labeled “less than effective” because of their value-added analysis scores, and have had their names printed on the LA Times Web site for all to see. The LA Times has so far printed the names of 6,000 teachers of grades three to five, next to their value-added analysis, and promises to print thousands more soon. The names of junior high and high school teachers will be printed in the coming months.
UTLA members first marched together in a large picket line chanting, “We teach to the kids, not to the test!” and “LA Times bottom line, nothing but a dollar sign!” Afterwards there was a rally where UTLA President A.J. Duffy told the crowd that the LA Times “is full of s—.” Teachers then proceeded to point at the LA Times and shout “Shame, shame, shame!”
The modestly sized crowd was militant, and the movement against value-added analysis has the potential to grow as more teachers in the coming months have their names slandered in LA’s major newspaper.
Teachers must recognize what the current attacks are—attempts to divide UTLA members and take away the rights that earlier generations of teachers struggled for. Ultimately the goal of the LA Times as a mouthpiece for the capitalists is to assist in the elimination of health care benefits and job security altogether. Value-added analysis is a divide-and-conquer tactic used to achieve that end.
Capitalists aim to make education more like the corporate world. People become teachers because they want to teach kids and provide what every person has a right to have access to—education. Those of us who want a better world must unite against the ongoing attacks on the teaching profession. Parents, teachers, students and community members are all on the same side. Together we can fight and win. On Sept. 14, hundreds of teachers held a rally in front of the downtown Los Angeles Times building. The cause of the protest was the long-standing teacher bashing agenda of the LA Times. The LA teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles, called the protest, attended by supporters including members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation..
The LA Times has recently intensified a campaign against teachers, publishing the student test scores of each individual teacher, which are widely known to be considerably flawed, and rating a teacher’s effectiveness based on a formula called value-added analysis. This method of judging teachers is opposed by a broad array of civil rights groups and teacher unions across the United States. The method is so convoluted that The LA Times itself wrote in an Aug. 15 article that a person would need a doctorate to understand it.
Many hard-working and dedicated LA teachers have been labeled “less than effective” because of their value-added analysis scores, and have had their names printed on the LA Times Web site for all to see. The LA Times has so far printed the names of 6,000 teachers of grades three to five, next to their value-added analysis, and promises to print thousands more soon. The names of junior high and high school teachers will be printed in the coming months.
UTLA members first marched together in a large picket line chanting, “We teach to the kids, not to the test!” and “LA Times bottom line, nothing but a dollar sign!” Afterwards there was a rally where UTLA President A.J. Duffy told the crowd that the LA Times “is full of s—.” Teachers then proceeded to point at the LA Times and shout “Shame, shame, shame!”
The modestly sized crowd was militant, and the movement against value-added analysis has the potential to grow as more teachers in the coming months have their names slandered in LA’s major newspaper.
Teachers must recognize what the current attacks are—attempts to divide UTLA members and take away the rights that earlier generations of teachers struggled for. Ultimately the goal of the LA Times as a mouthpiece for the capitalists is to assist in the elimination of health care benefits and job security altogether. Value-added analysis is a divide-and-conquer tactic used to achieve that end.
Capitalists aim to make education more like the corporate world. People become teachers because they want to teach kids and provide what every person has a right to have access to—education. Those of us who want a better world must unite against the ongoing attacks on the teaching profession. Parents, teachers, students and community members are all on the same side. Together we can fight and win.
