The Roanoke Slant

Roanoke Times, 8/17/05, Pg 1: Roanoke schools lag behind. Just over half of the city’s schools miss No Child Left Behind benchmarks.
Quote from Superintendent Thompson: Instruction’s the only thing that’s going to change these scores. I plan to make teachers more accountable for student performance.
-
What a difference three weeks make. At the start of August Mr. Thompson (ex-football star and the new Roanoke school chief) held an all hands meeting and was quoted as saying he wasn’t concerned about accreditation. His focus was on staff self-esteem!
Now, three weeks later he’s worried about half of his schools missing the NCLB criteria and he’s going to kick some teacher-butt! How impressive is that!
-
Perhaps what Mr. Thompson should consider is the behavior modification of many of his students and the teaching-learning environment in his classrooms.
Those are the things he should be personally held accountable for and if not significantly improved – his butt should be on the line!
His best teachers with the best lesson plans and teaching techniques cannot teach in an environment of chaos and disrespect.
It’s time for Mr. Thompson to "Stand and Deliver"!
-
See prior item on Mr. Thompson and his challenge:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/08/respect-at-school.html
-