Cloonan grouping pilot offers lessons for middle school reform - The Advocat

Cloonan grouping pilot offers lessons for middle school reform - The Advocate

"Students assigned to lower ability groups said that it felt good to 'feel equal,' " according to the report. Teachers, too, remarked the difference and worried that returning to the old grouping system would be a "huge disappointment" for these students.

At the other end, high-achieving students reported, "It felt good to support and help others;" however, they also complained of more disruptions and receiving less support and leniency from teachers.

"Not one person interviewed mentioned that this pilot was beneficial in any way for high-achieving children, other than 'helping' lower-achieving children," Arda Arslanian, the mother of a former sixth-grade participant, wrote in an e-mail. "This point is what many parents who have questioned the district's non-ability grouping drive are concerned about."

While some students perceived a jump in discipline problems, Rudolph said that disciplinary referrals dropped to zero during the seven weeks. By comparison, the administration typically received three or four disciplinary referrals during a regular week.

As for concerns about higher achieving students, he said, they had received a rigorous curriculum, and for the most part were challenged by it. However, instruction wasn't perfect.

"That's why we wanted to do the pilot," he said. "We needed to see where we had to tighten up, and where we fall short -- and we found out at times we did."

Oakland's big algebra push - Inside Bay Area

Oakland's big algebra push - Inside Bay Area:

"It's widely agreed that students' success in high school and even college can hinge on whether they master algebra — and that far too many fall short, especially in poor communities. An Oakland school district analysis this spring found that students were no more likely to pass Algebra I as ninth-graders, after an extra year of preparation, than as eighth-graders, said Brad Stam, the district's chief academic officer.
But the algebra problem itself is so deeply rooted, its solutions so complex, that some say the 'algebra for all' approach is too simplistic and that it will end up hurting some students."

Why teachers like me can't stay | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Why teachers like me can't stay detnews.com The Detroit News:

"But high teacher turnover, in my millennial opinion, still matters, even with eager rookies waiting in the wings.

Having a base of teachers who teach for more than a token few years is critical to school reform. It helps principals and school leaders develop trusting relationships with teachers. It helps teachers collaborate with one another. Most of all, it helps students. A teacher with experience is not always a good teacher, but a good teacher is always better after a few years of experience. As my former principal not-so-subtly put it: 'The kids don't need one-year wonders. There is no such thing as a one-year wonder.'

Four-year wonders are better than nothing, but still not enough.
Sarah Fine was a teacher, department chair and instructional coach"

Teachers promised: 'We will succeed' - MassLive.com

Teachers promised: 'We will succeed' - MassLive.com:

"'We will succeed, I promise you,' Ingram said. 'I believe there is a special place in heaven reserved for teachers and others who dedicate their lives to making the lives of children better. There are plenty of jobs that pay more money than that of being a teacher, but no job in America is more important.'

Ingram said he stands united with teachers, and promised that the 'number one core value is what is best for kids, and kids will always come first.'

Teachers in attendance said the convocation is an uplifting start to the school year, including the speeches and musical performances by students.

'This always kind of motivates me, especially seeing the children perform,' said Sara N. Tourscher, a 6th grade teacher at Duggan Middle School. 'It always brings a tear to my eye.'
'I felt really good,' said Arria N. Coburn, a special education teacher at Springfield Renaissance School. 'I felt we are really equipped this year to go in and start fresh.'

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, chairman of the School Committee, said the city is making physical improvements to the schools, but 'it's really you - teachers, staff and administrators - that make the place shine.' Sarno praised the impact that teachers have on the future success of students.

Timothy T. Collins, president of the Springfield Education Association, said the schools have been under severe financial constraints. The improvements still being made are 'a testament to the energy, idealism and enthusiasm of both the new people to our school district and the loyalty and dedication of our veteran teachers.'"

City schools seek $50 million from Gates Foundation

City schools seek $50 million from Gates Foundation:

"Until today, details of Pittsburgh's proposal, including the amount sought from the foundation, had been known only to a handful of senior district and union officials. Union President John Tarka said he would provide highlights at a meeting of building representatives this morning.

The proposal calls for performance pay for teachers, extra pay for those taking on special assignments and creation of an 'academy' to train new and experienced teachers. The proposal also calls for changing the tenure system and systematically pushing out ineffective teachers.

Many provisions, including performance pay, would require union members' approval through the collective bargaining process.
Last spring, Pittsburgh, eight other districts nationwide and a group of Los Angeles charter schools were invited to submit proposals for the Gates Foundation's $500 million initiative on teacher effectiveness"

How to Get the Teachers We Want : Education Next

How to Get the Teachers We Want : Education Next:

"Schools require all teachers to devote time and energy to bureaucratic duties, patrolling hallways and cafeterias, taking attendance, and compiling report cards. The problem here is that school and district officials are conscious of expenses related to salary and materials but fail to account for the opportunity costs of not leveraging the talent already in the schools. Even schools that tout their commitment to professional development and data-driven instruction press teachers to operate as generalists rather than leveraging their particular skills.

Two decades of surveys by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) suggest that the typical teacher spends only about 68 percent of classroom time on instruction related to core academic subjects, with the remainder consumed by administrative tasks, fund-raising, assemblies, socialization, and so forth. Provisions for substantial numbers of sick days as well as collective bargaining agreements and management practices that result in the universal imposition of noninstructional responsibilities have all conspired to ensure that schools do not maximize the contributions from the talent they do have."

Forced to Hire From Within, New York City Principals Leave Jobs Unfilled - NYTimes.com

Forced to Hire From Within, New York City Principals Leave Jobs Unfilled - NYTimes.com:

"Facing steep budget cuts, the Education Department enacted a hiring freeze in the spring, requiring principals with openings to hire teachers who are already on the city’s payroll but who have no permanent position, often because their schools were closed for poor performance.

But many principals prefer new teachers. So in an act of quiet defiance, they are allowing jobs to sit vacant, leading to one of the most difficult hiring seasons in recent history despite the large number of vacancies and the thousands of candidates who could fill them.

Teachers who lost their old posts are frustrated about the scarcity of job offers. New teachers who cannot get hired are furious after upending their lives to begin careers they must now delay. And principals are upset that after years of choosing their work force, their options are being drastically limited."

Comment of the day: The rest of the story on teacher pay raises - OregonLive.com

Comment of the day: The rest of the story on teacher pay raises - OregonLive.com:


"Negotiations are a process, as you well know. What concessions are being offered for the 2% request on the table? Districts want additional hours and duties be added to the school day, a lengthened school year and furlough days. If an employer wants more hours AND more days AND more responsibility ... wait a second. Who's greedy? My, my, you've omitted more than half the story. I can't tell if you wish to prevent, or want to incite, new angry mobs now that the town hall frenzy has subsided.

Presently, my colleagues are already looking at larger class sizes. The numbers are up to 28-29 in primary grades at one of the more economically challenged schools. This is not counting the children whose parents will mosey in to register them a week after school has begun. This isn't a matter of increasing class sizes to give teachers a raise. It's a matter of class sizes already being huge, and making them even larger with no compensation. That, Jack Flack, is unreasonable."

'Cooperative education must for India, China, US': Rediff Business News, Latest India business news, India Economy news, World Business, Finance news, Latest business headlines, business videos and business articles.

'Cooperative education must for India, China, US': Rediff Business News, Latest India business news, India Economy news, World Business, Finance news, Latest business headlines, business videos and business articles.:

"If India, China and the United States are to prosper in a globalised economy, a joint, cooperative transformation of their higher education systems was imperative, believes B M Naik, former principal of the engineering school at the Guru Gobind Singh College in Nanded, Maharashtra. Naik is now a consultant on entrepreneurship focusing on science, technology and engineering for private sector investors setting up higher education institutions.

Naik, who has published extensively policy articles on how to alleviate India's higher education and served on several accreditation boards, said, 'To bring about this transformation from one level to the high level and to the global level and quality standard education, what is most important is that these ideas must move fast from one country to another.'"

Detroit teachers’ union blocks strike action against wage cuts, layoffs

Detroit teachers’ union blocks strike action against wage cuts, layoffs:

"The Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) on Wednesday agreed to extend its current contract until October 31, preempting a possible strike by 6,000 teachers as schools open September 8. The teachers, whose contract expired in late June, are opposing demands for sweeping wage and benefit concessions from a financial manager appointed by Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm.

The DFT had called a mass membership meeting for Sunday afternoon where teachers were scheduled to vote on whether or not to strike. It is evident that the union leadership, which has publicly opposed strike action, was concerned they could lose control of the meeting and have a repeat of the experiences of 1999 and 2006, when teachers voted overwhelmingly to walk out."

An experiment in teacher pay | PRI.ORG

An experiment in teacher pay PRI.ORG:

"The average salary for middle-school teachers is $46,000, according to the Department of Labor. But a charter school in New York's Washington Heights will be paying a salary of $125,000, trying to find out if better pay means a better education.

Zeke Vanderhoek, the founder and principal of the charter school The Equity Project (TEP).

Vanderhoek believes teacher quality is key to student achievement, and a higher salary will attract quality, 'The point of the money is two-fold: one, it really values outstanding people who are in teaching right now ... and opposed to simply paying lip-service to valuing them. And the other is the hope is it attracts a broader pool of candidates into teaching itself, and a more talented pool as a whole.'"

New York Charter School Has Big Dreams for Small Cash Flow - ABC News

New York Charter School Has Big Dreams for Small Cash Flow - ABC News:

"In addition to the rigorous standards for test scores, attendance, and parent satisfaction by which all New York charter schools are measured, The Equity Project has set its own goals. It expects students to show progress in writing, for instance, by adding a sample to a portfolio every two weeks from each subject area. And within four years, they should be able to perform competently in a musical ensemble."

DOCTORS AND TEACHERS MORE ALIKE THAN DIFFERENT

DOCTORS AND TEACHERS MORE ALIKE THAN DIFFERENT:

"Teaching and student learning; health care and better health are not linear relationships. There are too many human variables that , up to now, have been uncontrollable.

All the expertise of the physician gets undermined when patients don’t follow through on medical advice such as don’t smoke, don’t eat too much salt. Many patients, even those with sufficient funds, don’t fill and take their prescriptions.

All the expertise of a teacher gets undermined when children are poorly fed, left unsupervised at home , and come to school without encouragement from home to do their best.

There is an eagerness of patients and families to forgive and forget their own personal responsibility for better health and stronger education."

Title I School Improvement Grants

Title I School Improvement Grants:


"Every state must identify the bottom five percent of its Title I schools in school improvement status and target the majority of the school improvement funds to implement robust and comprehensive reforms to dramatically transform school culture and improve student academic outcomes. The Secretary is offering states flexibility to concentrate funding over multiple years to support the kind of dramatic, far-reaching changes that have not been possible under the existing program. Because Title I disproportionately supports elementary schools, the Secretary will grant waivers allowing states and districts to use school improvement funds to intervene in low-performing secondary schools that are eligible for, but don't receive, Title I money."

Editorial - Accountability in Public Schools - NYTimes.com

Editorial - Accountability in Public Schools - NYTimes.com:

"Of course, those systems need to be sensible and fair. But the country will never get where it needs to be if we take the approach — as union leaders have sometimes done — that student test scores should be out of bounds when it comes to judging teacher effectiveness. That is an indefensible position. The unions can either help to create this system, or get left behind."

An Interview with Philanthropist Eli Broad - WSJ.com

An Interview with Philanthropist Eli Broad - WSJ.com:

"The Broad Foundation funds charter schools, including KIPP academies and the Green Dot network, as well as Teach for America. It trains reform-minded school administrators. And it offers financial rewards to urban school districts that improve performance through initiatives like merit pay for teachers. Mr. Broad tells me, 'we're at a golden moment now,' with a president and an education secretary who, he says, agree with his reform agenda.

The son of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, Mr. Broad grew up in Detroit where he became the youngest person in the state of Michigan to pass the CPA exam. Since retiring, he and his wife Edythe, whom he met there, spend much of their time figuring out how to give away the $2.1 billion of the foundation that bears their names."

Pastorek: State likely to run New Orleans public schools for years - NOLA.com

Pastorek: State likely to run New Orleans public schools for years - NOLA.com:

"Though well-intentioned, the local board, with several newly elected members, needs more 'seasoning' and isn't prepared to take back schools, he said. Further, the Recovery District and the many charter schools it oversees have not had sufficient time to stabilize reform efforts. The Recovery District's first two years were consumed with crisis management, he said, and so in essence can't be counted as progress toward sustainable reform."