Merit pay study: Teacher bonuses don't raise student test scores - USATODAY.com

Merit pay study: Teacher bonuses don't raise student test scores - USATODAY.com

Merit pay study: Teacher bonuses don't raise student test scores Updated 2h 21m ago | Comments 7 | Recommend 5 E-mail | Save | Print |

Share Yahoo! Buzz Add to Mixx Facebook Twitter More Subscribe myYahoo iGoogle More By Christopher Connell, The Hechinger Report NASHVILLE — Offering middle-school math teachers bonuses up to $15,000 did not produce gains in student test scores, Vanderbilt University researchers reported Tuesday in what they said was the first scientifically rigorous test of merit pay. The results (pdf) could amount to a cautionary flag about paying teachers for the performance of their students, a reform strategy the Obama administration and many states and school districts have favored despite lukewarm support or outright opposition from teachers' unions. The U.S. Department of Education has put a great deal of effort into prodding school districts and states to try merit-pay systems as part of its Race to the Top competition, although teachers' unions have often objected on the grounds that they don't have fair and reliable ways to measure performance. In most school districts, teacher pay is based on

Schools Matter: Students of Nation Unite: Just Say "I Prefer Not To Take Your Test"

Schools Matter: Students of Nation Unite: Just Say "I Prefer Not To Take Your Test"

Students of Nation Unite: Just Say "I Prefer Not To Take Your Test"

by Jim Horn

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Dealing With The Global Assault On Public Education And Teaching While At The Same Time Dealing With The Same Dysfunction In LAUSD - Perdaily.com

Dealing With The Global Assault On Public Education And Teaching While At The Same Time Dealing With The Same Dysfunction In LAUSD - Perdaily.com

Dealing With The Global Assault On Public Education And Teaching While At The Same Time Dealing With The Same Dysfunction In LAUSD

by Leonard

There is a certain irony to the fact that the same technology that is threatening human existence on the earth is also something that might offer us the greatest weapon in combating the tyranny of its more destructive tendencies. If we are able to evolve our natural tendency of local perspective into a global one, then corporate power, which presently reigns supreme, will finally be held accountable.

The Internet and other related technologies have finally made this balance to unbridled corporate power possible based on the following realities:

1. Something more approximating a direct democracy as opposed to what has become an ever increasingly more corrupt arm's length representative republic form of government is now possible. Craig Newmark of Craig's List fame laid it out to me after a speech he made here in Los Angeles

If the voluminous bank and Wall Street bailout bills had been put on line prior to our elected representative

The Liberaltarian Case Against Excess Higher Ed Regulation � The Quick and the Ed

The Liberaltarian Case Against Excess Higher Ed Regulation � The Quick and the Ed

The Liberaltarian Case Against Excess Higher Ed Regulation

by Kevin Carey

Matt Yglesias has been blogging a lot about how progressives shouldn’t let the general deregulatory enthusiasm of pro-business conservatives dissuade them from opposing regulatory regimes that benefit rent-seeking incumbent firms to the detriment of everyone else. This reminds me of a state higher education regulatory issue that I imagine most people care little about: program approval.

States technically control access to the higher education market by building public colleges and universities and chartering private non-profit institutions, but that hardly ever happens anymore. Price controls are a mixed bag and hard to enforce–witness the proliferation of mandatory fees on many campuses that technically fall outside the umbrella of regulated tuition. In practice, state higher education regulatory bodies spend a lot of time approving and disapproving individual programs at existing public institutions.

Like many regulations, program approval and the broader coordination of institutional missions makes sense on

Stanford biology professor one of 10 winners of Heinz Awards for environmental work - San Jose Mercury News

Stanford biology professor one of 10 winners of Heinz Awards for environmental work - San Jose Mercury News

Stanford biology professor one of 10 winners of Heinz Awards for environmental work

Associated Press

Posted: 09/21/2010 09:46:15 AM PDT

Updated: 09/21/2010 09:46:16 AM PDT

PITTSBURGH, -- A Stanford University biology professor is among 10 people who were named Heinz Award winners today.

This year's awards recognized environmental challenges. The awards each come with a $100,000 prize.

Gretchen Daily, a Stanford professor and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, was recognized for her work to protect natural ecosystems. Daily co-developed InVEST, a software program that identifies ecological assets and their financial value, which is helping decision makers invest more wisely in environmental programs.

The Pittsburgh-based Heinz Family Foundation has presented the awards since 1994 in memory of Sen. John Heinz III, heir to the Heinz food fortune, who died in a 1991 plane crash. The awards will be presented at a private ceremony in November in Washington, D.C.

Other recipients include:

Photographer James Balog, of Boulder, Colo., won for his photographs called Extreme Ice Survey, in which he traveled the world taking hundreds of thousands of pictures of glaciers at each hour of daylight. Balog used 39

Waiting for kryptonite VI. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Waiting for kryptonite VI. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Waiting for kryptonite VI.

by preaprez

Cartoon courtesy of Cuts Hurt Kids.

A chance to learn from Rhee’s mistakes � Larry Miller's Blog

A chance to learn from Rhee’s mistakes � Larry Miller's Blog

A chance to learn from Rhee’s mistakes

Filed under: Michelle Rhee — millerlf @ 4:20 pm

A chance to learn from Rhee’s mistakes

By Mark Simon
Washington

Post editors and reporters appear to have latched on to every possible explanation for the public’s rejection of Mayor Adrian Fenty. Racial politics this week. Fenty’s personality. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s failure to communicate.

But Fenty’s defeat isn’t about race or personality. It’s about bad decisions, particularly on school reform. His school reform strategies, as shoved through by Rhee, alienated the voters.

Rhee certainly rates as smart, charismatic and bold. But she made decisions early in her tenure that alienated every constituency she needed, and she rested her “reforms” on strategies that national education researchers have repeatedly warned against.

Over the course of her tenure, Rhee:

• Over-emphasized standardized student testing and scores as the be-all and end-all of school and teacher quality. (See the Economic Policy Institute’s Aug. 27 report “Problems with the Use of Student Test Scores to Evaluate Teachers.”)
• Failed to understand the importance of community and relationships, and marginalized dedicated and knowledgeable

Chicago loses out on Promise Neighborhood grants Catalyst Notebook

Catalyst Notebook

• Chicago loses out on Promise Neighborhood grants
Posted By The Staff of Catalyst on September 21, 2010

In yet another snub by the former CPS CEO Arne Duncan, none of the communities vying to create so-called Promise Neighborhoods received planning money awarded today by the United States Department of Education. At least five Chicago communities had applied for the planning grant...


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• In the News: CTU to rally at Daley Plaza; poll reveals trust in schools, teachers
Posted By Cassandra West on September 21, 2010

The Chicago Teachers Union will hold a "Rally for Democratic Education Rights" today from 4-6 p.m. in Daley Plaza. Union members, CPS parents, students and community allies will "demand equitable funding, stronger local school control, and an end to Mayoral control and an unelected school board," the CTU media advisory stated...



(1) Comment

Catalyst In Focus

Daley's school legacy still leaves much to do
As much as for anything else, Chicagoans will remember Daley as the mayor who was handed control of the city’s 600-plus public schools and invested his emotional and political capital in improving them. But some question whether changes made under Daley have improved the educational experience of most Chicago children.

Opinions

Letter From the EditorTime to write a new chapter for Chicago Public SchoolsThe public judges schools by test scores, and despite some improvement, Chicago’s scores have yet to reach state standards—not to mention national averages, a better measure of how well schools are preparing students for life and work in the 21st Century.
Whoever wins the coming mayoral free-for-all will have to come up with a strong plan to raise achievement. Chicago is beyond the stage at which the rollout of a big program will cut it.

-Sep 13, 2010

Guest ColumnSchool finance reform doesn't have to be costly--just fairChicago Public Schools now faces a budget crisis of unprecedented severity that has triggered layoffs of teachers and other staff, necessitated increases in classroom sizes, delayed crucial facilities maintenance, and created a sinking, Titanic-like atmosphere inside Clark Street headquarters.

-Sep 13, 2010

Blog U.: College Try - Alma Mater - Inside Higher Ed

Blog U.: College Try - Alma Mater - Inside Higher Ed

BlogU

• 
• 
• 

• College Try

  By Jeff Abernathy September 21, 2010 4:15 pm

  One doesn't grow up wanting to be a college president. Firefighter, yes. Doctor, certainly. But college president? Even the principal's kid wouldn't have thought of it.

  But here I am, starting out my first academic year at Alma College, a liberal arts college I've known and admired for years.

  For colleges and universities, presidential transitions offer a great opportunity to answer lingering questions about identity, to determine aspirations, to recall core values.

  For the new president -- just another freshman, I've been saying on campus as students have returned--the aspiration is to listen and learn from the traditions of the place, even as I prepare for a plan that will inevitably involve change.

  Every day, I have the opportunity to model the sort of president everyone wants: collegial, ready with a joke, reflective, strategic, transparent.

  Of course, I also have the opportunity to model the kind of president no one wants: dull, overly cautious, mushy, living at 5,000 feet, top-down thinker.

Harlem, Sunset Park groups win promise neighborhood grants | GothamSchools

Harlem, Sunset Park groups win promise neighborhood grants | GothamSchools

Harlem, Sunset Park groups win promise neighborhood grants

by Anna Phillips

The Abyssinian Development Corporation's promise neighborhood would sit right on the boarder of the Harlem Children's Zone (marked in blue).

Two New York City groups won federal grants today that will give them one year to figure out how to recreate the Harlem Children’s Zone in other corners of the city.

One winner, the Abyssinian Development Corporation, plans to duplicate the Zone’s work practically next-door to the iconic organization in central Harlem. Another, the Lutheran Family Health Centers would focus on Sunset

The Essence of Excellence – ED.gov Blog

The Essence of Excellence – ED.gov Blog

« College Is “Un Sueño Alcanzable”—An Attainable Dream

The Essence of Excellence

Every day, teachers work to motivate students, increase achievement and create an environment where students take ownership of their learning. As Fellows, we have been fortunate to speak with teachers across the country, and concerns around capturing student growth through standardized testing continue to persist across our schools and communities. Teachers’ concerns run a wide gamut, ranging from the need for assessment that engages multiple intelligences to frustration around the stress that high-stakes testing can create for many students.

In light of ongoing conversations about linking test scores to teacher evaluation, we want to hear more about how teachers measure their own effectiveness. We are thinking a lot about how to best reflect on and learn from our practice, so that we as teachers can actively shape current discussions about what true excellence looks like in the classroom.

In the first few weeks of school, how do you know if you are successful in beginning to impact student learning? Please share with us a personal glimpse of your excellence in the classroom from the start of the school year!

For opportunities to help identify and solve other challenges related to teaching and learning in the classroom, check out the new Challenge to Innovate (C2i) initiative at http://challenge.gov/ED/60-challenge-to-innovate-c2i

Leah Raphael
Teaching Ambassador Fellow

This entry was written by jreeves, posted on September 21, 2010 at 3:30 pm, filed under Headlines, News. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Trackbacks are closed, but you can post a comment.

« College Is “Un Sueño Alcanzable”—An Attainable Dream

Education | Study: Teacher bonuses fail to boost test scores | Seattle Times Newspaper

Education | Study: Teacher bonuses fail to boost test scores | Seattle Times Newspaper

Study: Teacher bonuses fail to boost test scores

Offering big bonuses to teachers failed to raise students' test scores in a three-year study released Tuesday that calls into question the Obama administration's push for merit pay to improve education.

By DORIE TURNER

Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA —

Offering big bonuses to teachers failed to raise students' test scores in a three-year study released Tuesday that calls into question the Obama administration's push for merit pay to improve education.

The study, conducted in the metropolitan Nashville school system by Vanderbilt University's National Center on Performance Incentives, was described by the researchers as the nation's first scientifically rigorous look at merit pay for teachers.

It found that students whose teachers were offered bonuses of up to $15,000 a year for improved test scores registered the same gains on standardized exams as those whose teachers were given no such incentives.

Rights Groups Oppose Obama’s Agenda Education Week: Blogs of the Week

Education Week: Blogs of the Week

Blogs of the Week

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Rights Groups Oppose Obama’s Agenda

In late July, the nation’s leading civil rights organizations issued a withering critique of the Obama administration’s education policies.

I hope that our readers will forget the invective directed against the authors of that report, “Framework for Providing All Students an Opportunity to Learn.” Read it. It contains wisdom and good sense, both as a warning about the errors of current and proposed policies and as a roadmap for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

If you believe that education is a civil right, or that education is of paramount importance

RICK HESS STRAIGHT UP

‘Leading Educators’ In the Big Easy

Word on the street is that a cool new venture is rising in New Orleans, which is well on its way to becoming the Silicon Valley of American education. The newest effort involves taking the Big Easy’s “Leading Educators” program national.

Leading Educators is intended to address the problem of high-energy, entrepreneurial teachers who tend to leave teaching after two to four years. The goal is to create a

TEACHER BEAT

The Elephant in the (Rubber) Room

For years, New York City’s so-called “rubber rooms”—temporary reassignment centers for teachers awaiting disciplinary hearings—were an embarrassment for both the teachers’ union and for the district. Teachers essentially reported to the rooms during contractual work hours and were paid during that time.

Back in April, the United Federation of Teachers and the school district reached an agreement to shutter the rooms. Teachers were to report for clerical duty or assignments

Democurmudgeon: Teacher Incentive Pay Doesn't Work. Unions and Teachers-"We Told You So."

Democurmudgeon: Teacher Incentive Pay Doesn't Work. Unions and Teachers-"We Told You So."

Teacher Incentive Pay Doesn't Work. Unions and Teachers-"We Told You So."

by Democurmudgeon

We've watched the clever cartoon evaluating incentive pay on YouTube and found performance improved for manual labor, and not creative or intellectual work.

Popout

That left many wondering why the Bush and Obama administrations want to persue a system that included merit pay. Now, a new study drives a stake through the heart of the whole teacher incentive pay idea.

Education Week: The most rigorous study of performance-based teacher compensation ever

Davis Guggenheim, Looking For A Hero At Your House : NPR

Davis Guggenheim, Looking For A Hero At Your House : NPR

Davis Guggenheim, Looking For A Hero At Your House

Consider Daisy. She's a fifth-grader who lives in East L.A., and she's got both a tough background and some big dreams.

"She says it right out," says filmmaker Davis Guggenheim, who follows Daisy and other at-risk kids in his new documentary Waiting for Superman. "I say, 'What do you want to do for a living?' and she says, 'I want to be doctor.'"

And here's the thing, Guggenheim tells NPR's Melissa Block: "You actually think Daisy couldbe a doctor. She's already written her [target] college to say, 'Remember me, because I'm going to be applying.' Her father drives a truck, and her mother cleans hospital rooms, but they all believe that with hard work and studying, she can be a doctor."

So in Waiting for Superman — designed to spark debate and spur action around the U.S. educational system the way Guggenheim's An Inconvenient Truth got people talking about climate

This Week In Education: Rebuttal: Quality Education Still Unavailable To Too Many Kids

This Week In Education: Rebuttal: Quality Education Still Unavailable To Too Many Kids

Rebuttal: Quality Education Still Unavailable To Too Many Kids

by Alexander Russo

Here's a great response to Nick Lemann's New Yorker piece from charter schools guru Greg Richmond originally posted on my Facebook page (why aren't we friends yet?):

"This essay is pretty weak. When half of children in urban high schools drop out and many of the graduate have grade-school skill levels, this author wants us to take comfort in the fact that public education didn't really exist

Michelle Rhee