Blog U.: Ask the Administrator: Swimming Upstream - Confessions of a Community College Dean - Inside Higher Ed

Blog U.: Ask the Administrator: Swimming Upstream - Confessions of a Community College Dean - Inside Higher Ed

• 
• 
• 

• Ask the Administrator: Swimming Upstream

  By Dean Dad August 30, 2010 9:22 pm

  A new correspondent writes:

  I am thinking of making a change in my career path. I am a non-tenure track, full time instructor, starting my 8th year in this job. While I enjoy my job and it is reasonably stable even in a terrible economy & job market, it is obviously untenable as a seriously-long-term career option. But I really like working in a University community and I want to find a way to stay in that environment.

  I have also done some administrative work at this same campus and find that I am reasonably good at it and willing to do it (boring meetings, aside, and yes I know there are lots of those). And the work is never-ending, it seems. So I am considering going back to school and getting an MA (possibly PhD) in Higher Ed Admin from a well-regarded program. Now admitting this to fellow faculty on my campus would be like announcing that I have an undesirable social disease. The relationship between faculty and administrators on our

Value-Added Mashup � The Core Knowledge Blog

Value-Added Mashup � The Core Knowledge Blog

Value-Added Mashup

by Robert Pondiscio
August 30th, 2010

Posted in Assessment and Testing, Teaching, accountability | No Comments »

The Los Angeles Times clearly gave the wrong impression when it put a teacher on its front page and described him as “among the least effective of the district’s elementary school teachers.” We now learn the purpose was not to single out or embarrass bad teachers. The reason the paper has published a database with value-added scores for 6,000 LAUSD teachers is to correct the intolerable injustice of excellent teachers notgetting the credit they deserve.

“The Los Angeles Unified School District has hundreds of Jaime Escalantes — teachers who preside over remarkable successes, year after year, often against incredible odds,” notes the paper’s latest. “But nobody is making a film about them.”

It’s an outrage, I tell you! Emboldened by the Times support for teachers, perhaps theworkers should strike for fame. More VAM commentary from veteran L.A. teacher Walt

San Jose Unified's online school a first in the Bay Area - Inside Bay Area

San Jose Unified's online school a first in the Bay Area - Inside Bay Area

San Jose Unified's online school a first in the Bay Area San Jose Unified's Liberty Online is aimed at independent learners who don't thrive in traditional schools. It is open to any student in grades 6-12 living in Santa Clara County. The school targets truants and students who are 70 or more credits behind. San Jose man charged with murdering woman David Ellison: Computers becoming a key part of education Fremont family donates hundreds of school supplies to foster families Five East Bay districts to receive nearly $45 million in federal grants to reform a dozen low-achieving schools Where are they now? Alums produce trove of info on Skyline High School Class of 1970 Reprieve for 5 of 7 Oakland child care programs Santa Clara Unified board: Trustee Bendis overstepped role

The Education Report First day back Oakland’s CDCs to stay open through December A higher ed dispatch from UC Berkeley Mack is back. My high blood pressure and test scores: The connection is not what you’d think » More from The Education Report

Rory Reid releases budget plan: Cut bureaucracy, Fund education : The Rebel Yell

Rory Reid releases budget plan: Cut bureaucracy, Fund education : The Rebel Yell

Rory Reid releases budget plan:
Cut bureaucracy, Fund education

August 30, 2010 by Haley Etchison

Governor hopeful promises to do opposite of incumbent: give money to higher education

File photo

Nevada’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rory Reid released a budget plan Thursday that promises to reduce state spending by $3 billion without touching education funding.

The document, called “Moving Nevada Forward,” claims Reid will bridge an almost 50 percent state budget shortfall without raising taxes by consolidating state agencies and eliminating government redundancies. But it holds to the candidate’s campaign claims about a plan that would protect state spending on education and use Nevada’s college system as an engine of economic growth.

Reid is banking on that growth to fill in a $500 million gap in his new budget. He asserts that Nevada

Education secretary praises educators for their courageous look at evaluating teachers, principals | syracuse.com

Education secretary praises educators for their courageous look at evaluating teachers, principals | syracuse.com

Education secretary praises educators for their courageous look at evaluating teachers, principals

Published: Monday, August 30, 2010, 5:01 PM Updated: Monday, August 30, 2010, 5:02 PM

Maureen Nolan / The Post-Standard
Follow

Share this story

Story tools

View full sizeStephen D. Cannerelli / The Post-StandardU.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan (right) speaks during a visit Monday to NYSUT headquarters in Latham, near Albany. Duncan visited the largest the state’s largest union days after New York was awarded nearly $700 million in Race to the Top funds. A round table discussion was held as school administrators from around the state talked about their concerns on education. Listening to Duncan make a point is NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi.

3

0

0Share

Latham, NY -- U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan today told a coalition of New York State educators who are developing a new teacher evaluation model that they are working in a national spotlight.

The coalition of labor and management represented six school districts, including North Syracuse.

District Superintendent Jerome Melvin, North Syracuse Education Association President John Kuryla and recent past association President Sylvia Matousek were among the group to meet with Duncan for about an hour at the offices of New York State United Teachers in Latham, outside Albany.

“As you guys know, the implications aren’t just for your state or your district, but the country,” Duncan said.

Duncan and the Obama Administration are pushing to have states hold teachers and principals more accountable for student performance, and states, including New York

CPS embraces online learning; charters recast New Orleans education Catalyst Notebook

Catalyst Notebook

Catalyst writers and editors share their perspectives, analyses and the news behind the news on improving Chicago area public schools. Our on-the-ground reports will tell you what’s happening in schools and education circles here and elsewhere. Our views will tell you what to make of it.

In the News: CPS embraces online learning; charters recast New Orleans educationTribune reporter Azam Ahmed takes a look at online learning programs in Chicago Public Schools, which supporters say are inexpensive, flexible and have the potential to revolutionize education. Critics call online learning untested. CPS now offers a battery of online programs, ranging from math and reading enrichment, to a virtual charter school with students learning almost entirely from home. Two years ago, online courses were offered in only a handful of CPS high schools. This year, all high schools will have them.

Continue Reading In the News: CPS embraces online learning; charters recast New Orleans education »

Posted By: Cassandra West On Mon Aug 30, 2010 In In the News
Permalink | (1) Comments Digg | Del.icio.us | Facebook | Mail

In the News: City Colleges open admissions; Chicago State's high dropout rateSun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell decries the end of open admissions at Chicago's City Colleges, saying "would mean that many of these students could end up being denied access to higher education. If that is our intent, then things are going to get a lot worse before they get better."

Continue Reading In the News: City Colleges open admissions; Chicago State's high dropout rate »

The Magic Number for Value-Added? � The Quick and the Ed

The Magic Number for Value-Added? � The Quick and the Ed

The Magic Number for Value-Added?

by Bill Tucker

IMPACT, the Washington DC teacher evaluation program put in place by Chancellor Michelle Rhee, gives individual value-added measures a 50% weight in teacher evaluation determinations (for teachers who have value-added scores). The magic number for Race to the Top was also 50%. Los Angeles Unified committed to 30% in California’s losing Race to the Top application.

The Economic Policy Institute’s new brief, which details the many concerns with and limitations to current value-added measures, says that 50% is “unwise.” However, despite EPI’s litany of concerns with value-added, the authors, who include Diane Ravitch, Helen Ladd, and Linda Darling-Hammond, conclude that: “Used

Education Week: 'Superman' Documentary Draws Praise, Controversy

Education Week: 'Superman' Documentary Draws Praise, Controversy

'Superman' Documentary Draws Praise, Controversy The buzz is growing around a soon-to-be-released documentary on schools by the director of 'An Inconvenient Truth.'

Texas Turns iTunes Into a Teaching Tool Teachers across Texas will be gaining a new vehicle for sharing professional-development materials and course information this fall.

Ga. Educator Named NASSP Principal of Year The National Association of Secondary School Principals named Georgia educator Wesley Taylor as its national high school principal of the year last week.

Parents Push For Diversity In New Orleans' Schools : NPR

Parents Push For Diversity In New Orleans' Schools : NPR

Parents Push For Diversity In New Orleans' Schools In the city's public schools, test scores are climbing, charter schools are opening all the time, and facilities are being upgraded. But the population of the schools is overwhelmingly African-American. The head of one charter school network says it ...

One School District's Use Of Value-Added Analysis NPR's Robert Siegel talks to Donald Martin, superintendent of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School District in North Carolina, which has been using value-added analysis in evaluating its teachers for the past three years. Martin says the method is ...

What will mayoral control mean for DC Public Schools if Fenty is ousted in the Democratic primary in two weeks? QUICK Hits � The Quick and the Ed

QUICK Hits � The Quick and the Ed

QUICK Hits

by Forrest Hinton

Quick Hits is a short compilation of question-raising news stories, blog posts, and video clips that Education Sector team members are reading or viewing each day.

• What will mayoral control mean for DC Public Schools if Fenty is ousted in the Democratic primary in two weeks? (Rick Hess Straight Up)
• When colleges don’t measure up, who’s to blame? (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
• Can the federal grant review process ever be “pure?” (Edspresso)
• How will Wake County’s student reassignment plan affect the district’s prized magnet schools? (The News & Observer)

The Educated Reporter: This is why teachers tell students to check their work.

The Educated Reporter: This is why teachers tell students to check their work.

This is why teachers tell students to check their work.

Wow—what a week to be away! I’m still sweeping up vacation detritus, so I can’t talk long, and I know I am late on this. But allow me to just pop in to say that it puzzles me that a state otherwise deemed deserving of $400 million in grants would not get it because they filled in one answer wrong. Rules are rules, but, um, wow.