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Piles of papers irking many in HISD
Teachers say the neverending forms, intricate lesson plans are violating the law.
By Ericka Mellon
Sarah Medina, a Houston teacher with 22 years of experience, says she feels more like a stenographer these days with all the paperwork the school district requires her to complete.
She must submit three-page lesson plans once a week, special forms for struggling readers and benchmark tests with questions copied from a book.
"They just want us to do so much paperwork that we don't have time to teach the children," said Medina, a first-grade teacher. "It's just paperwork, paperwork, paperwork."
Teachers throughout the Houston Independent School District are complaining about the amount of required paperwork so often that their union has filed three formal complaints with the school board this year and is appealing to the Texas Education Agency for relief.
The Houston Federation of Teachers and the district's other major teacher group contend that HISD is violating a state law known as the Paperwork Reduction Act, which limits the amount of paperwork that districts can require of teachers.
"Certainly, they are not following the spirit, if not the letter, of the law," said Chuck Robinson, executive director of the Congress of Houston Teachers.
District spokesman Terry Abbott countered that the required paperwork is within the law and that the more detailed lesson plans expected at some schools are meant to benefit students.
"Schools are being much more diligent in making sure that teachers are working from lesson plans, because that's the only way to make sure the appropriate approach is being taken in the classroom," Abbott said, noting that student test scores in HISD are on the rise.
"In the past," he said, "we've had some schools that have not been as diligent in their planning. So, perhaps for them, it is an increase in the lesson plan paperwork."
Filling in the boxes
Robinson and Gayle Fallon, president of the HFT, said they understand the need for written lesson plans. They argue, however, that some schools are requiring unnecessary and outlandish documents.
They displayed some plans that ask teachers to note how their activities relate to various educational theories, such as Bloom's Taxonomy. Others ask teachers to fill out grids breaking their lessons into five categories: engage, explore, explain, elaborate and evaluate.
Teachers have protested about the piles of paperwork for years, prompting the Texas Legislature to strengthen the Paperwork Reduction Act in 2003. But Robinson and union leaders said they've received more complaints recently, especially about lesson plans. The HFT says some teachers spend 10 to 15 hours a week on paperwork.
"If you're having to fill out all these little boxes, you don't have time to do creative lesson planning," said Joanna Pasternak, an HFT representative and former teacher.
The state law specifically mentions that districts can order teachers to complete a "weekly lesson plan that outlines, in a brief and general manner, the information to be presented."
The Houston school board unanimously rejected the complaints that the HFT filed this year on behalf of teachers, agreeing that the paperwork is necessary and not excessive. Now, the union plans to submit formal appeals to the Texas Education Agency, which will rule on whether the district is violating the law.
"There's generalized complaining (about paperwork), but it's rare to have a formal complaint lodged," said agency spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe.
ericka.mellon@chron.com
— Ericka Mellon
Houston Chronicle
2006-11-12
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