Recommended Reading for Roland Fryer and His Colleagues
A reader suggests some reading for Professor Fryer and his colleagues. Fryer has spent years searching for the incentive that works. This reader says he should stop searching and read an article by Frederick Herzberg. No, it did not appear in the Teachers College Record or the Harvard Educational Review or Phi Delta Kappan or an AERA journal. This is the classic article to which he refers:
Check out the Harvard Business Review. There is a classic article there from the . . . 1950s? 1968 originally? often reprinted . . . Frederick Herzberg, “One more time: How do you motivate employees, Harvard Business Review, 46 (January/February), 53–62.
Check out the Harvard Business Review. There is a classic article there from the . . . 1950s? 1968 originally? often reprinted . . . Frederick Herzberg, “One more time: How do you motivate employees, Harvard Business Review, 46 (January/February), 53–62.
VAM Madness in Florida
A reader describes the madness of value-added assessment as practiced in Florida:
I teach English in a Florida high school. Although I taught all juniors last year, my VAM score was based on the school average for 9th and 10th grade. Why? Because they cease testing in 10th grade except for those who don’t pass. Of my juniors who didn’t pass FCAT as sophomores, I had a stellar retake pass rate–but that’s not going to count for me. Only what other teachers are doing with other kids I couldn’t identify if you paid me big bucks.Don’t even get me started about what they’re doing to myAre Charter Schools Public Schools?A school district review in Philadelphia determined that many of the charters set up significant obstacles to students who want to enroll. In one school, applications are available only one day in the year. “Another unnamed charter required applicants to complete an 11-page application, write an essay, respond to 20 short-answer questions, provide three Fearful of an ElectionI read an editorial in the Wall Street Journal this morning about Bridgeport, Connecticut, where the Connecticut Supreme Court has ordered a special election for the city’s school board. Read this editorial. What is amazing about it is the palpable fear of an election. The Wall Street Journal says that an election is a “blow” to school reform. It portrays the aspirants for the elected board in a poor light. The district now has an appointed board (the court said the appointment of the board was illegal). This illegal Arne Duncan Is Imposing NCLB on Teacher EducationThe U.S. Department of Education is trying to compel institutions of higher education to accept regulations that judge the quality of teacher-training institutions by the test scores of students taught by their graduates. If Johnny gets a low score on standardizedtests, Arne Duncan wants to punish his teacher, his principal, his school, and the university that prepared his teacher. Is there no end to these dunder-headed policies? Higher education associations are outraged. A group of major organizations representing higher How Valuable Are Standardized Tests?A recent post noted a story in the New York Times that described a design flaw in the Texas tests created by Pearson (at $100 million per year). It reported that the state tests did not reflect the improvements observed in connection with an outside intervention because the tests are designed to show improvement only in relationship to previous and future versions of the test. I am not a statistician or a psychometrician and do not feel competent to say that this is a Eureka! moment. I Attention, Policymakers! A Teacher Speaks!Policymakers are busy writing laws in every state to evaluate teachers. They think they can create a system that will spot the best and fire the worst. So far, none of those systems is working, and none has made any difference, other than to make teachers nervous and make them wonder what these guys will dream up next to complicate their lives. The economists say that credential don’t matter; that masters’ degrees don’t matter; and that experiences doesn’t matter. They say that no one should be paid extra for getting more education or having more experience. They say only test scores matter, and those can be produced by a first-year teacher as well as a veteran. A reader posted this comment: My department head carries the title of master teacher. She is working on a second masters degree and has Texas Conservatives Turning Against PearsonThe Texas testing system is a pot of gold for Pearson–a five year contract worth $500 million. Pearson has a problem. More than half the school boards in Texas have passed a resolution against high-stakes testing. The parents and citizens have watched the stakes go up and up for the past 20 years and they don’t see how it A Visit from Renowned “Last Stand for Children First”This blog has received a late entry into an already closed contest. Once I realized that the National Lampoon had already threatened to kill the dog on its cover in 1973, I recognized that loss aversion had reached its apogee forty years ago. Nonetheless, this entry was posted by a blogger-tweeter who goes by the name of “Last Stand for Children How to Beat “Loss Aversion” TechniquesA reader says that if Roland Fryer tries loss aversion in her classroom, she would follow the advice of this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYW44WD792Y |