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Friday, November 19, 2010

This Week In Education: Reform: Against Reform Complacency... And Teacher Tenure

This Week In Education: Reform: Against Reform Complacency... And Teacher Tenure
Diversity: Getting Over "Color Blindness" [image: 20x200-mount-ideal42-700] We're going to have to get over the notion that color blindness is ideal (or even achievable) if we're going to make schools and the rest of the world really diverse, according to this recent Miller-McCune article ...
Reform: Against Reform Complacency... And Teacher Tenure [image: Comment_stage_6] This guy isn't going to get invited to *any* of the cool holiday parties if he keeps talking trash about reformers (for complacency) *and *educators (for holding onto tenure too long): "If everyone wants to throw money at ...
Events: Duncan Clears His Media Calendar [image: 55747158-26132039] Look! Over there! EdSec Arne Duncan has nothing public on his schedule for next week besides a Tuesday NASA event in the LBJ Auditorium. See below. It might have something to do with Thanksgiving. *MONDAY, NOV. 22* ...
AM News: TFA's Seige Of Seattle Finally Prevails [image: News2] Improving Lousiana's schools, starting with teachers NPR: University of Louisiana-Monroe raised admissions standards; made students take more courses in the subjects they'd be teaching, like science; and tripled the amount of time ...
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Paranoia? Hey, sometimes someone is really chasing you. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Paranoia? Hey, sometimes someone is really chasing you. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Paranoia? Hey, sometimes someone is really chasing you.

by Fred Klonsky

I’m not normally a conspiracy theorist.

Okay. I do believe that there was a second shooter on the grassy knoll.

And I laughed aloud when Mos Def said when he was on Bill Maher’s show that he still didn’t believe that we walked on the moon .

But, really. Don’t you think this

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3 very weak arguments for using weak indicators « School Finance 101

3 very weak arguments for using weak indicators « School Finance 101

3 very weak arguments for using weak indicators

by schoolfinance101

This post is partly in response to the Brookings Institution report released this week which urged that value-added measures be considered in teacher evaluation:

http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2010/1117_evaluating_teachers/1117_evaluating_teachers.pdf

However, this post is more targeted at the punditry that has followed the Brookings report – the punditry that now latches onto this report as a significant endorsement of using value-added ratings as a major component in high-stakes personnel decisions. Personally, I didn’t read it that way. Nowhere did I see this report arguing strongly for a substantial emphasis on value-added measures. That said, I actually felt that the report based its rather modest conclusions on 3 deeply flawed arguments.

Argument 1 – Other methods of teacher evaluation are ineffective at determining good versus bad teachers because those methods are only weakly correlated with value-added measures.

Or, in other words, current value added measures, while only weak predictors of future value-added, are still

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Schools Matter: Learning About KIPP: Lesson 2, Kipp Crusaders

Schools Matter: Learning About KIPP: Lesson 2, Kipp Crusaders

Learning About KIPP: Lesson 2, Kipp Crusaders

by Jim Horn

Number 2 of 3 posts, based on a book chapter published this fall in a volume edited by Dr. Philip Kovacs: The Gates Foundation and the Future of US Public Schools (Routledge Studies in Education and Neoliberalism):

. . . . KIPP Crusaders
In an interview posted at the weblog, Open Education, on December 11, 2008, David Socol makes the case that KIPP and TFA embody the zeal of well-heeled colonialist missionaries on a crusade to save the souls of indigenous urban poor children by converting them to middle class values and middle class mindsets. The history of missionary efforts is replete, or course, with examples that good intentions offer no immunity from very bad results, with the conversion process often lapsing into indoctrination, exploitation, cultural genocide, or other bad outcomes that would never be accepted in more civilized settings with less primitive souls to save. Socol (2008) makes the same point when he angrily suggests that
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Senators seek probe into education rule making process | Reuters

Senators seek probe into education rule making process | Reuters

Senators seek probe into education rule making process

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BANGALORE | Fri Nov 19, 2010 8:00am EST

(Reuters) - Two Republican senators have asked the U.S. Education Department to investigate the alleged leaking by department officials of proposed rules aimed at tightening regulation of the industry.

In a letter to Kathleen Tighe, the department's inspector general, Senators Richard Burr and Tom Coburn said publicly available documents show the department may have leaked the proposed 'gainful employment' rules to short sellers and others who support the department's position.

Education Department spokesman Justin Hamilton said the department has operated with "transparency and integrity" throughout the rule making process.

The for-profit education sector, a major recipient of taxpayers' money, has been criticized for failing to prepare students for job and leaving them with

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City trying new ways of certifying nontraditional teachers

City trying new ways of certifying nontraditional teachers
City trying new ways of certifying nontraditional teachers
In Pennsylvania, nearly every public school teacher takes a similar path to certification: a teacher preparation program at a college or university. But for the first time since 2002, the state board Thursday approved an alternative route, this time a year-long residency program to be offered by Pittsburgh Public Schools. (Today)
Duquesne University settles bias lawsuit by ex-faculty member
A former faculty member with Duquesne University has settled a discrimination lawsuit she brought against her employer. (Today)
West Mifflin school board will borrow to cover deficit, construction
The board authorized borrowing $7.6 million to pay construction expenses for the new middle school and to spread its $2.6 million debt service costs for 2011 over 22 years. (Today)
Settlement eludes Bethel Park teachers, district
Bethel Park is set to begin the fifth week of a strike by the school district's teachers after negotiations held Thursday failed to produce a settlement. (Today)
Bethel Park talks fail to produce agreement
Bethel Park students will have to endure a fifth week of a strike by their teachers after negotiations today failed to produce a settlement. (Yesterday)


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/education/#ixzz15jdQjLMU
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Research and Markets: US Public Schools K-12 Report: 90,000 Schools Provide Education for 50 Million K-12 students and Have a Combined Annual Budget of $565 Billion | Business Wire

Research and Markets: US Public Schools K-12 Report: 90,000 Schools Provide Education for 50 Million K-12 students and Have a Combined Annual Budget of $565 Billion | Business Wire

Research and Markets: US Public Schools K-12 Report: 90,000 Schools Provide Education for 50 Million K-12 students and Have a Combined Annual Budget of $565 Billion

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/a5e875/public_schools_k1) has announced the addition of the "Public Schools K-12" report to their offering.

About 14,000 US public school districts with approximately 90,000 schools provide education for 50 million K-12 students and have a combined annual budget of $565 billion. School districts vary greatly in size. The 100 largest school districts serve nearly 25 percent of all students.

Private schools, colleges and universities, and education and training services are covered in separate industry profiles.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is driven by population demographics. The success of individual schools depends on funding, the ability to attract effective teachers, and student performance; parental support can be a contributing factor. Schools in affluent communities may receive more local funding support and be able to offer a wider range of instruction.

PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Public schools provide education in basic subjects through a curriculum that is relatively similar in all schools. Students are usually grouped by age. The average public school


Research and Markets: US Private Schools K-12 Analysis: 33,000 Private Primary and Secondary Schools Operate in the US with a Total Enrollment of about 6 Million Students

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/a8e3f8/private_schools_k) has announced the addition of the "Private Schools K-12 " report to their offering.

About 33,000 private primary and secondary schools operate in the US, with a total enrollment of about 6 million students. About 70 percent of private schools are affiliated with religious organizations, 20 percent with the Roman Catholic Church. While most private schools are tax-exempt, nonprofit entities, some operate on a for-profit basis.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is driven by perceived inadequacies in the public school system. The success of an individual school depends largely on its reputation for quality. Large schools can offer a

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OC Register Is Hot for Teacher . . . Salaries - Page 1 - News - Orange County - OC Weekly

OC Register Is Hot for Teacher . . . Salaries - Page 1 - News - Orange County - OC Weekly

OC Register Is Hot for Teacher . . . Salaries

Local educators fume as the daily publishes its latest salary database

A A AComments (1)By MATT COKER Thursday, Nov 18 2010

As the Weekly first reported on our Navel Gazing news blog in late October, an Orange County Register editorial project that relies on the names, campuses and salaries of all 72,000 public-school workers in the county for a database of about 37,000 of those employees is riling many instructors.

Curt Merlo

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The article “Public School Paychecks Hit Six Figures for 3,300” by Fermin Leal and Scott Martindale, along with a database that includes the names, schools and salaries of each of those employees, was published Nov. 14 by the Register, which plans to use more

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