Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Teachers union president criticizes LA Times 'value added' teacher analysis | 89.3 KPCC

Teachers union president criticizes LA Times 'value added' teacher analysis

Aug. 19, 2010 | Adolfo Guzman-Lopez | KPCC

Win McNamee/Getty Images

File photo: Randi Weingarten, president of American Federation of Teachers, speaks during day one of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the Pepsi Center August 25, 2008 in Denver, Colorado.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten spoke to teachers and administrators at the Kedren Head Start Center in Watts. She said the L.A. Times is wrong to release test score data from thousands of L.A. Unified teachers later this month in its "value added" analysis. Weingarten also called for lawmakers to stay away from early childhood education budgets.

The Kedren Head Start Center is a daycare center in the Nickerson Gardens housing projects. It educates more than 100 2- to 5-year-olds.

The center runs on federal and state funding, and Weingarten told the center's staff that lawmakers need to keep their budget axes away from early childhood education.

Weingarten also spoke of the growing debate about teacher effectiveness in public schools. She

Time for Peer Review to Meet the Web? | The Atlantic Wire

GOOD QUESTION!: Time for Peer Review to Meet the Web?

by Heather Horn

Could the hallowed academic tradition of peer review get tossed? The New York Times raised the question Monday, examining attempts to update peer review for the digital era. Humanities scholars who challenge "the monopoly that peer review has on admission to career-making journals," Patricia Cohen writes, "argue that in an era of digital media there is a better way to assess the quality of work. Instead of relying on a few experts selected by leading publications, they advocate using the Internet to expose scholarly thinking to the swift collective judgment of a much broader interested audience."

Cohen recounts the experiment of The Shakespeare Quarterly, which "posted four essays not yet accepted for publication" and then invited "a core group of experts ... to post their signed comments on the Web site MediaCommons ... Others could add their thoughts as

A New Way to Join the Conversation | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

A New Way to Join the Conversation

We’re grateful to the half-million friends who already follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Today I’m happy to announce that we’re launching our community page, a new way for people to take part in the ongoing conversation around global health, development, and education issues.

Melinda Gates in conversation in Malawi

To effectively take on such difficult issues, we need to work together to share our experiences and talk about what we’re leaning---what’s working, and just as importantly, what’s not working. We want to hear your thoughts, and we need your help in making sure that the people in your social networks join the conversation as well.

The community page is also a place where you’ll be able to keep up on the latest news from the foundation and read more about the work our grantees are doing around the world.

One important thread currently being discussed is on the UN Millennium Development Goals, which are set to expire in five years. We’ve made a lot of progress against the MDGs, but we still have much more work to do. We

An Early Read on the Race to Top Winners - Politics K-12 - Education Week

An Early Read on the Race to Top Winners

by Alyson Klein

Posted by guest blogger Sean Cavanagh, with contributions from Sarah D. Sparks and Stephen Sawchuk.

The results are in, and the list of Race to the Top winners in Round Two includes an eclectic mix of 10 states that had put together very different kinds of applications in their funding bids for the $3.4 billion in remaining federal funds.

The winners in this second and final round announced by the U.S. Department of Education today: the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Rhode

New York finishes second in Race to the Top education funds, city could get $240 million

BY RACHEL MONAHAN AND MEREDITH KOLODNER
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Tuesday, August 24th 2010, 12:29 PM

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New York made it to the top, and that means millions for city schools.

The state placed second among 10 winners announced Tuesday in the second round of the competitive federal education contest known as Race to the Top.

New York is slated to get $700 over four years to help build a statewide system for tracking student progress and implementing a new statewide curriculum.

The city could get up to $240 million to lengthen the school day, improve teaching and turn around failing schools.

"Race to the Top has been a tremendous catalyst for precisely the kind of education reform we've supported and implemented in New York City," said Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. "Now it is up to all of us to live up to this commitment and continue the important work that got us here."

After placing 15th among 16 finalists in the first round, New York polished its application by lifting the cap on charter schools to 460 from 200, linking teacher evaluations to student performance, and bringing more local school districts and unions on board.

It also axed over-priced furniture it requested

Five Blogs You Need To Have In Your Feed Right Now � The Core Knowledge Blog

Five Blogs You Need To Have In Your Feed Right Now

by Robert Pondiscio
August 24th, 2010

Tags: education blogs, media
Posted in Education News, Opinion | No Comments »

NYC teacher/blogger Jose Vilson offers Five Blogs You Need To Have In Your Feed Right Now. Good idea, so I’m stealing it.

I treat my Google Reader like the starting lineup for the Indianapolis 500, with feeds running three across. Joanne Jacobs, for example, has been at the upper left, or pole position, for a very long time. The closer to the top, the more often I read it. Once a blog slips toward the bottom, I read it only sporadically.

Picking up on Jose’s meme, here are five blogs I now read avidly that are either recent additions to my feed reader–or that have elbowed their way toward the top:

1. The Answer Sheet is the only “new blog” (it’s almost exactly a year old) to have

Education stocks rise on comments from US Dept of Education - Global Markets - Markets - The Economic Times

Education stocks rise on comments from US Dept of Education

BANGALORE: Shares of most for-profit education companies rose on Tuesday, after the US Department of Education told a private TV channel it would look into Strayer Education Inc's loan repayment data after the company questioned its validity.

The loan repayment data released earlier this month by department showed that most education companies, including Strayer, were under the threat of losing federal student aid. Strayer, whose loan repayment rate was as low as 25 per cent according to the data, had requested the department for details on the calculation as it differed significantly from its own analysis that showed a repayment rate of 55 per cent.

Schools stand to lose federal aid if over 65 per cent of ex-students failed to pay the principal on federal loans, and if graduates' debt was more than 12 per cent of total income. "The Department of Education has heard Strayer's concerns (over loan repayment rates) and will conduct some additional analysis," a private TV channel reported.

Other companies such as Capella Education have also questioned the validity of the department's data. "This

The Educated Guess � Nice try but no Race to the Top grant

Nice try but no Race to the Top grant

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 08:56 AM PDT

California won’t be getting any money in the second round of Race to the Top. Education Week and other sources reported this morning that nine states and the District of Columbia will share $4.3 billion. They are Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Rhode Island. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan [...]

San Diego and San Jose rated reform-resistant

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 01:03 AM PDT

San Diego and San Jose are unrivaled as hubs of innovation in high tech, green tech and biotech. But in terms of fostering a climate for education innovation, San Jose is no Silicon Valley, and San Diego is in the Rust Belt with Detroit and Gary, Indiana. At least that’s view of the Thomas B. Fordham [...]

N.J. will not get federal 'Race to the Top' education funding | NJ.com

N.J. will not get federal 'Race to the Top' education funding

Published: Tuesday, August 24, 2010, 11:31 AM Updated: Tuesday, August 24, 2010, 11:43 AM

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Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerGov. Chris Christie and Education Commissioner Bret Schundler at a Spotswood school in July.

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New Jersey has been shut out of a federal education grant that could have been worth as much as $400 million to transform parts of the state's public school system.

The U.S. Education Department says nine other states and the District of Columbia will receive money through the second round of the Race to the Top Program.

New Jersey was one of 18 finalists.

New Jersey's Education Department had high hopes that the state could win the grant as a way to jump-start programs favored by Gov. Chris Christie. The state said it would have used the money to start paying teachers partly according to how well students perform on tests and to reward top teachers willing to work in tough school districts.

U.S. Education Department spokesman Justin Hamilton said the winners are: Florida, Georgia,

Grading Race to the Top on a Proper Curve :: Frederick M. Hess

Grading Race to the Top on a Proper Curve

by Frederick M. Hess • Aug 24, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Cross-posted from Education Week

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Nope, I'm not talking about grading the Race to the Top (RTT) winners. Frankly, I don't have much confidence in the elaborate scoring system that the Department of Education jury-rigged--especially not after Ohio, Hawaii, and New York finished in the money while Louisiana and Colorado were ludicrously left out in the cold. As if my skeptical natured needed more cause for worry after the post hoc "norming" of i3 grades and the concerns raised regarding judge selection and training, blatant disregard for application guidelines, and emphasis on airy promises rather than concrete actions already taken. And, given the number of new governors, legislators, and state chiefs who will be taking office by early 2011, I'm not sure how much credence to put in the promises states have made. That said, I do want to offer a special congratulations to my hard-charging friends in Rhode Island, D.C., Florida, and Massachusetts, and was glad to see their efforts recognized (Full disclosure: for what it's worth, I served as an advisor on the Massachusetts RTT application).

Rather than play the "who got a rose" game, though, I just want to make two typically dyspeptic points amidst this season of RTT mirth.

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Tuesday, August 24, 2010