How Red Tape hurts students: Now with Graphs!

A friend pointed this graphic out to me the other day, which comes from the Chicago Tribune Editorial Page, as well as a post by Rich over at CapitolFax (which is a brilliant blog for all things Illinois) http://capitolfax.com/2011/03/07/bad-teachers-or-bad-administrators/

Keep in mind, this only applies to Chicago Public Schools. Don’t get antsy yet.

Now I want you to look at this graphic and let it sink in. Had enough time? Good. Now, what seems to be the major problem? Is it that it takes almost a year to get a terrible teacher out of a classroom? Could be. Is it that you have to go through about a billion steps to even start a Remediation plan? That could be it too. 

But that’s not my major issue. My major issue is that throughout this time, while the principal and the teacher are basically playing the bureaucratic equivalent of whack-a-mole you have kids who are at a disadvantage.  You have kids who aren’t being taught because a) the teacher’s terrible and b) the teacher’s stressed out because they’re about to lose their jobs.

Also what the graphic doesn’t show you is that there could be serious interruptions to this process. Almost all of the CPS principals I’ve known have spent more time in meetings than actually in the school building.

I guess what I’m trying to say is it appears the tenure system (at least within CPS) is kind of screwed. Maybe we should look at that before we start to place the blame other places?  It seems to me by the time an incompetent teacher is fired, the principal could have hired any number of teachers who are fresh, passionate and ready to do the work plus extra to make sure the students succeed.

Anyways, this made me mad and a little sad at the same time. The Chicago Public Schools system has a great need for change and it makes me sad to see the all this red tape blocking the change.