There's No Time!

NOTE: The following is an opinion piece I have submitted to the Daily News:

We simply cannot allow another day to go by without teacher evaluations tied to test scores.

Our students are not receiving the world class education they deserve, but as soon as we tie teacher evaluations to test scores, add high stakes standardized tests and standardized Common Core assessments in every grade in every subject in every classroom in every district in every state, our students will get that world class education.

Never mind that the proponents of Common Core and high stakes testing and teacher evaluations tied to test scores send their kids to Waldorf schools or Quaker schools or the Lab School where none of those are in place.

Our leaders - especially our business leaders - know what is best for us and our children.

After all, haven't they done a great job stewarding the economy and giving our citizens world class economic opportunities to work at fast food restaurants after they've been laid off because the corporation needed to outsource jobs to Sri Lanka in order to keep CEO compensation at 560% of everybody else in the company?

Of course they have.

And now our business leaders want to bring that same world class plan to education.

Don't your children deserve a world class plan for education?

You bet they do, and we simply cannot afford to wait one moment longer before instituting these much-needed reforms so that we can once again reclaim our "We're Number 1!" status in international test comparisons (and so what if that's never been the case dating back to 1964 when they first started to doing them?)

Because if we don't institute these reforms soon, the Russians will beat us, er, I mean the Japanese will beat us, er, I mean the Chinese will beat us and we'll become a Third World nation that cannot feed its people, provide good jobs for its graduates, health care for its sick and retirement benefits for its old people.

Who knows, maybe we won't even be able to keep the power on at the Super Bowl!

So we simply must rush to institute these reforms as soon as possible and I for one am glad that the United Federation of Mulgrews has ceded its power to Governor Cuomo, Regents Chancellor Tisch and NYSED Commissioner King to give them the power to institute whatever kind of teacher evaluation system they want so that teachers can be graded using the Pineapple and the Hare tests.

We'll all be better for this - or at least Pearson, Murdoch/Klein, the hedge fundies/ed entrepreneurs, and other edu-predators will.

And isn't that all that matters?