Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, April 15, 2011

Education Research Report: New systems for measuring teacher effectiveness

Education Research Report: New systems for measuring teacher effectiveness

New systems for measuring teacher effectiveness

Ambitious reforms across the country are reshaping teacher evaluation and performance management. Designing new systems for measuring teacher effectiveness and using that information to increase student achievement are at the heart of these efforts and at the center of important policy debates. Yet little information exists about how these systems work in practice and how to use evaluations in concert with other levers to improve teaching and learning.

As policymakers and education leaders seek to accelerate reform in this area, it is essential to learn from efforts already underway. The Education & Society Program of the Aspen Institute published three new reports: profiles of the performance management work in District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) and the Achievement First (AF) charter school network; and a synthesis of issues that emerge from the two profiles. Both DCPS and AF are at the forefront of efforts to re-design teacher evaluation, performance management, and compensation policies. The commonalities, distinctions, and early lessons learned in these initiatives represent an important learning laboratory for the field.

Download Building Teacher Evaluation Systems: Learning from Leading Efforts.

Download Achievement First: Developing a Teacher Performance Management System that Recognizes Excellence.

Download District of Columbia Public Schools: Defining Instructional Expectations and Aligning Accountability and Support.

CEOs Are Richer Than Ever. So Where’s The Trickle Down?

CEOs Are Richer Than Ever. So Where’s The Trickle Down?

CEOs Are Richer Than Ever. So Where’s The Trickle Down?


Not a CEO? NO $$ FOR YOU!

It is practically carved in stone among conservatives and the GOP that the more money the rich and corporations make, the better off everyone else will be. This is called alternately “Reaganomics”, “Supply Side Economics”, “Trickle Down Economics” or, as Bush Sr., the far more intelligent of the Bush presidents, put it: “Voodoo Economics”. The most recent nickname for this is “Uncertainty” as in, “Everything is so uncertain, we have to make sure businesses feel secure enough to hire by lowering their taxes.”

The concept is that corporations will take their profits and hire more workers and reinvest in the United States. Sounds good. We have 30 years worth of empirical data

Chicago Teachers Union | Stacking the Odds in Favor of Charter Schools

Chicago Teachers Union | Stacking the Odds in Favor of Charter Schools

Stacking the Odds in Favor of Charter Schools

BY BEN JORAVSKY FOR CHICAGO READER | 04/14/2011

On February 16, the Union League Club gave out its Democracy in Action award to deserving local high school students, and Mayor Daley was on hand to give a rousing speech—calling on regular public schools to make like the charters and transform ordinary neighborhood students into high-scoring, high-achieving, college-bound stars.

Specifically, the mayor was hailing Urban Prep High School, a south-side charter school. But his unspoken message to all teachers was "work harder and stop whining."

Consider it one last middle finger from Daley to the teachers and their unions because—well, why not?

Watching it all with a mixture of revulsion and disbelief was Eric Wagner, a social studies teacher at Kelvyn Park High School on the predominantly Hispanic northwest side. "I was there because one of my

If they are so great why are there so many CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS AND WHY DO THEY KEEP PUSHING THEM?

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

Harris Interactive: Harris Polls > Most Americans Opposed to Banning Any Books

Harris Interactive: Harris Polls > Most Americans Opposed to Banning Any Books

Most Americans Opposed to Banning Any Books

Large majorities, including most African Americans, oppose changing 'nigger' to 'slave' in "Huckleberry Finn"

NEW YORK, N.Y. - April 12, 2011 - Banning or censoring books has been debated for years. A new Harris Poll shows, however, that a majority of Americans think no books should be banned completely (56%) while fewer than one in five say there are books which should be banned (18%); a quarter are not at all sure (26%). The older and less educated people are, the more likely they are to say that there are some books which should be banned completely. Opinions on banning books are linked to political philosophy: almost three quarters of Liberals (73%) say no books should be banned, compared to six in ten Moderates (60%) but only two in five Conservatives (41%) who say no books should be banned.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,379 adults surveyed online between March 7 and 14, 2011 by Harris Interactive.

Books in School Libraries

While few Americans think that there are books which should be banned completely, opinions differ on books that should be available to children in school libraries. Strong majorities say that children should be able to get The Holy Bible (83%) and books

Obama Not Horny!

Obama Exclusive: I Was Born in Hawaii and I Don’t 'Have Horns' - George Stephanopoulos' Bottom Line

Obama Exclusive: I Was Born in Hawaii and I Don’t 'Have Horns'

April 14, 2011 6:31 PM

I thought the president would take a pass when I asked him aboutDonald Trump’s rise to the top of the Republican field in my exclusive interview today.

Far from it.

He grabbed at the chance with a big smile – saying he thinks the whole issue will be a problem for Republicans.

“I think that over the last two and a half years there's been an effort to go at me in a way that is politically expedient in the short-term for Republicans. But [it] creates, I think a problem for them when they want to actually run in a general election where most people feel pretty confident the President was born where he says he was, in Hawaii. He-- he doesn't have horns…we're not really worrying about conspiracy

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: TFA News and Facts

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: TFA News and Facts

TFA News and Facts

I'm not sure if some of these facts have yet been spelled out on the blog. Maybe they have; maybe they haven't. Even if they have, they merit repetition.

1. Seattle Public Schools has hired a recruiter who is a former Teach for America corps member. There is reason to believe that this person views TfA favorably and may promote TfA corps members to schools making hiring decisions. I'm not entirely sure what a recruiter's job is, but it may include filtering the hiring pool and rejecting some applicants before the hiring committees at the schools get to see them. I am tempted to apply for a teaching job, just to see if I am rejected out of hand due to my lack of a teaching certificate. If I am, then I wonder why Teach for America corps members would not also be rejected out of hand on the same basis.

2. We have been told that Teach for America corps members will only be considered during the Tier 3 hiring period, after transferring and RIFed teachers have already been considered. This is a convenient bit of misinformation. The TfA corps members are only interested in teaching at Level 1 and Level 2 schools. Those schools go directly to Tier 3 for hiring. They don't have a Tier 1 or Tier 2 hiring period. Consequently, the restriction of TfA candidates to Tier 3 is no restriction at all. The Board didn't seem to be aware of this and the

This Week In Education: Thompson: Rating Schemes Get Rid Of Top Performers, Too

This Week In Education: Thompson: Rating Schemes Get Rid Of Top Performers, Too

Thompson: Rating Schemes Get Rid Of Top Performers, Too

El-al-cards-bigAs Dana Goldstein explains in The Test Generation, it' not hard to identify the least effective teachers. Test score-driven evaluation can kill two birds with one stone, however, by getting rid of the worst performers as well as veteran teachers who are not on board with education's brave new world. Goldstein reports that the Harrison District in Colorado has removed 1/3rd of teachers in the bottom two categories of effectiveness. That comes out to 4% of the teaching force. The district lost 11% of it top performers. It also loses 25 days to "high-stress testing." Their teacher attrition rate is the

Native Americans to occupy Glen Cove « occupy california

Native Americans to occupy Glen Cove « occupy california

Native Americans to occupy Glen Cove

from NativeTimes:

Vallejo, California (April 14, 2011) – Faced with the imminent arrival of bulldozers at the Native American sacred burial site at Glen Cove, Vallejo, members of the local Native American community will hold a religious ceremony to commence an occupation of Sogorea Te, otherwise known as Glen Cove, in the City of Vallejo beginning at 8 am on Friday, April 15, 2011. Native Americans and their supporters have vowed to physically block bulldozers or any other work that would desecrate the burial site.

Native American activists consider this to be the last stand in a struggle that has been going on for over a decade, since the Greater Vallejo Recreation District (GVRD) first proposed plans for a “fully featured public park” including construction of a paved parking lot, paved hiking trails, 1000 pound picnic tables and a public restroom on top of the 3500 year old burial site.

On Wednesday, April 13th, Sacred Site Protection and Rights of Indigenous Tribes (SSP&RIT), a Vallejo-based

Michelle Rhee nominated for award by group connected to Tea Party backers

Michelle Rhee nominated for award by group connected to Tea Party backers

Michelle Rhee nominated for award by group connected to Tea Party backers

Originally posted April 10, 2011, on Blue Virginia.

Believe it or not, this is not a parody (at least not intentional), it really happened.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli won the Public Servant of the Year Award presented by the Sam Adams Alliance and announced Friday evening in Chicago.[...]

AG Cuccinelli won the Public Servant Award for challenging the constitutionality of the federal health care law

According to the Sam Adams Alliance website, the other two finalists for the “Public Servant” award (I know – hahahahahahaha) were Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, for his fine work busting unions, attacking working people, and being the most polarizing governor in America. Yay! And the other candidate? Michelle Rhee, who “repeatedly clashed with the Washington Teacher’s Union in seeking reform measures like merit pay…[then] resigned as chancellor and formed StudentsFirst, an organization designed to transform public education

Who Is Drawing The Dirty Pictures? | Dailycensored.com

Who Is Drawing The Dirty Pictures? | Dailycensored.com

Who Is Drawing The Dirty Pictures?

BRACELETs 300x217 Who Is Drawing The Dirty Pictures?

Does anyone remember the old story about the psychiatrist who showed his patient a drawing of a square and asked his patient what it reminded him of?

The patient replied, “Sex.

The doctor than showed him a picture of a circle, with the same question.

Again, the patient replied, “Sex.”

Finally the doctor produced a picture of a triangle and posed the same question and again he received the same reply, “Sex.”

At this point, the Doc said, “You seem to have

My Best Posts On Parent Engagement Over The Past Six Months — April, 2010 | Engaging Parents In School...

My Best Posts On Parent Engagement Over The Past Six Months — April, 2010 | Engaging Parents In School...

My Best Posts On Parent Engagement Over The Past Six Months — April, 2010

Over the past two years, I have posted:

My Best Posts On Building Parent Engagement In Schools — 2010

My Best Posts On Parent Engagement Over The Past Six Months

My Best Posts & Articles About Building Parent Engagement In Schools — 2009

My Best Posts On Parent Engagement So Far This Year

It’s been six months since I shared my latest “picks” from my Engaging Parents In School blog, which I began when my book, Building Parent Engagement In Schools, was published.

So, here are my choices for The Best Posts On Parent Engagement Over The Past Six Months (not listed in any order of preference):

Education or Subjugation – Power & Empowerment in Schools « Cooperative Catalyst

Education or Subjugation – Power & Empowerment in Schools « Cooperative Catalyst

Education or Subjugation – Power & Empowerment in Schools

;-) (Note: ‘subjugation’!? Sorry, I just had to use that word. It rhymes!)

I have been thinking, once again, about empowerment and what it means- both theoretically and practically.

Rules to Follow (CC by Editor B

You will think about the term and its ramifications quite differently depending on the lens you are using (your upbringing, your values and beliefs, your profession, your education, your life’s mission).

What do we mean by ‘empowerment’?

Some definitions demonstrate the diversity of interpretation attributed to the concept of empowerment.

empower - To give permission or power to do something; Abstractly, to give the confidence to do something.

empowerment - The granting of political, social or economic power to an individual or group; The process of

Jersey Jazzman: Pot, Meet Kettle

Jersey Jazzman: Pot, Meet Kettle

Pot, Meet Kettle

Today, Governor Christie's spokesman, Michael Drewniak, apologized to an obscure teachers union official for making such a big deal about a joke taken out of context:
Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said Christie was taking the obscure union official's comments out of context. "That’s a complete contextual distortion," he said, adding that anyone who was "in the room would know that."
It has been obvious to anyone that Christie's assertion that this official "prayed for my death" has been taken way out of context, as the "prayer" in question was clearly a joke told in poor taste:
"Dear Lord this year you have taken away my favorite actor, Patrick Swayze, my

Friday notes from a Traditional Teacher. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Friday notes from a Traditional Teacher. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Friday notes from a Traditional Teacher.

I was having my coffee and my cell rang. “Wow,” said our Local president. She had been at the a union Region meeting last night where the Swanson and Soglin seniority sellout was explained. By the time she got out of the meeting, the Illinois Senate had already passed it 59 to 0.

From Duncan to his senior advisor and former IEA Executive Director Jo Anderson. From Anderson to Anderson’s former colleague and now IEA Executive Director Audrey Soglin. From Soglin to Swanson. This bill has Duncan’s fingerprints all over it. A retired teacher friend called it a conspiracy theory. Hey. It’s not like