Week 7 Blog Assignment - Plan to fire all its teachers roils poor RI city

"Central Falls High School has long been one of the worst-performing in Rhode Island. Just 7 percent of 11th graders tested in the fall were proficient in math. Only 33 percent were proficient in writing, and just 55 percent were proficient in reading. In 2008, just 52 percent of students graduated within four years and 30 percent dropped out."

A small paragraph that speaks volumes to the decision for Officials to fire all the teachers in Central Falls, RI. However, what stuck out to me most in the article was how the schools wanted teachers to work extra hours without paying them extra. As an aspiring teacher, I understand there is work that must take place on their own time to be an effective teacher. Grading homework and tests, Coming up with projects to help the students learn in multiple ways, devising new strategies to making teaching more effective are just a few of the things that teachers do during hours off the clock to be effective, or at least things they should be doing. Teachers are already under payed for a profession that is so essential to everyday life, asking them to do things such as provide tutoring, while understandable, warrants the request to be payed more money. On the opposite side of the issue, teachers whom are not doing what they should deserve the fate that awaits them. However, when an entire school system is failing, the question must be raised: Is the lack of progression of the students directly related to the performance of all the teachers, or is there something more that is inhibiting the teachers from doing the best job they possibly can? Only upon coming to the truthful conclusion of that question as opposed to having many scapegoats can a decision such as firing all the teachers of a school district be made justifiably.