Sunday, August 29, 2010

Grading teachers | Press-Enterprise Editorials | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California

Grading teachers


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10:00 PM PDT on Saturday, August 28, 2010

The Press-Enterprise

California needs a better method of evaluating teachers than infrequent, pre-announced classroom visits by school principals. School districts should provide more comprehensive and valuable teacher assessments by including student test scores, as well as less objective measurements, in that process.

News reports this month that analyzed test scores to grade teachers in Los Angeles put the issue directly in the public spotlight. Not surprisingly, some teachers excelled while others lagged.

More troubling than the results of that analysis, however, was the revelation that the Los Angeles Unified School District had the same information, but did not use it in evaluating teachers. Superintendent Ramon Cortines said last week the district would develop a method for incorporating test scores into teacher assessments, though the teachers union would have to agree to any such approach.

But there is no good reason to exclude testing data from teacher evaluations.

State of Our Schools: Budget cuts stretch support staff thin; Maintenance, libraries among those struggling - San Jose Mercury News

State of Our Schools: Budget cuts stretch support staff thin; Maintenance, libraries among those struggling

By Cathy Kelly - Santa Cruz Sentinel

Posted: 08/28/2010 07:04:51 AM PDT

Updated: 08/28/2010 01:53:28 PM PDT

Click photo to enlarge

Raul Gonzales tosses cardboard into a recycling bin, just one of his... (Bill Lovejoy/Sentinel)

The three-day series takes an in-depth look at education in Santa Cruz County in a time of unprecedented financial hardship |About the series

WATSONVILLE — Pajaro Val ley school district groundskeeper Michael Rebelo is learning how to say “no” these days.

He has to. Rebelo is one of just 13 remaining groundskeepers in a sprawling district that had 19 last year.

He hits two schools each day, traveling in a rusting, district -issue 1982 Ford F-250, which he calls “a hazard to the road.” Rebelo, 30, said he is happy to have a job, but hopes some of the groundskeepers who were laid off can be hired back.

It's tough to spend four hours at a school and keep telling teach ers and principals he doesn't have time to do the extra landscaping duties they want done, he said.

“It's pretty much mow, blow and go,” said Rebelo, who earns $13.85 an hour. “We are running around like chickens with our heads cut off, and I think we are underpaid for the work we do.”

In lean funding years, school leaders strive to keep budget cuts away from the classroom. Rebelo is one example of what happens when the budget ax falls else where.

In the third year of plummet ing funding for education, losses are being keenly felt in school counseling, library and adminis trative offices and seen in deteriorating building and overgrown landscaping.

Can California keep achievement high as funding drops? After public schools take $17 billion hit, the question looms large - Santa Cruz Sentinel

Can California keep achievement high as funding drops? After public schools take $17 billion hit, the question looms large

By DONNA JONES djones@santacruzsentinel.com -

Posted: 08/29/2010 01:30:41 AM PDT

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Calabassas third grade teacher Deborah Wine keeps her students well... (Bill Lovejoy/Sentinel)

WATSONVILLE

During the next three years, Calabasas Elementary School will get $2 million in federal money to improve student achievement.

The extra money will pay for three additional teachers to boost the literacy skills of struggling students and to organize and train parents to help out at school and with their children's assignments at home.

Principal Terry Eastman also will pay classroom teachers to work longer so they can help colleagues in an after-school program reinforce lessons taught earlier in the day. There's also money to provide teachers with training and coaching.

"I'm thrilled," Eastman said after the grant was announced Wednesday. "This is going to help us a lot."

But Calabasas, which was eligible for the grant because in March

Race to Top shows the reach of Big Brother | Our View

Race to Top shows the reach of Big Brother

By Editorial Board

Published Aug 29, 2010 12:00 am | Last updated Aug 29, 2010 12:00 am

Our formula is as simple as it is sweeping: The federal government has no constitutional authority to be involved in school curricula or to control jobs in the workplace. That is why we will abolish the Department of Education and end federal meddling in our schools..."

— The Republican platform, 2000.

Yes, times do change. Last week it was mainly Republicans and conservative organizations that were lambasting Maine's failure to obtain federal Race to the Top funding for the state.

It's hard to imagine a more meddlesome, top-down, heavy-handed government program than this one.

The Department of Education dangles the usual carrot — money — and the states, badly in need of money, must comply with detailed guidelines to obtain it.

All-star roster of education researchers: Test scores unreliable, unfair and unhelpful in evaluating teachers | Get Schooled

All-star roster of education researchers: Test scores unreliable, unfair and unhelpful in evaluating teachers

9:21 am August 29, 2010, by Maureen Downey

In the midst of a controversial LA Times series linking teacher performance in that district to test scores, a new briefing paper was released today by the Economic Policy Institute cautioning against the use of test scores, the Value Added Model, to judge teacher performance.

The 27-page paper — by a blue ribbon collection of educaion researchers including Eva L. Baker, Paul E. Barton, Linda Darling-Hammond, Edward Haertel, Helen F. Ladd , Robe rt L. Linn, Diane Ravitch, Richard Rothstein, Richard J. Shavelson, and Lorrie A. Shepard - lists many negative impacts from judging teachers largely on student test scores. They also point to studies that cite the unreliability of scores.

My first response to this paper is wonder if there is any school system with the time, resources or staffing to conduct the thoughtful and deeper evaluations that these researchers recommend. The comprehensive evaluation model they suggest could be applied in many professions, except that it calls for resources and time that I don’t think too many companies have any longer. And I certainly don’t think schools do in this current bleak climate that will likely persist for a few more years.

Here are key passages, but please read the entire paper. I think many of you will be applauding

Los Angeles Teacher Ratings - Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Teacher Ratings

About 6,000 Los Angeles elementary school teachers and 470 elementary schools are included in The Times' database of "value-added" ratings.

Third-, fourth- and fifth-grade teachers who taught at least 60 students from the 2002-03 through 2008-09 academic years were evaluated in the Times analysis. Most of Los Angeles Unified School District's elementary schools are included. Test scores for charter schools that do not report directly to the district were not available.

A teacher's value-added rating is based on his or her students' progress on the California Standards Tests for English and math. The difference between a student's expected growth and actual performance is the "value" a teacher added or subtracted during the year. A school's value-added rating is based on the performance of all students tested there during that period.

Although value-added measures do not capture everything that goes into making a good teacher or school, The Times decided to make the ratings available because they bear on the performance of public employees who provide an important service, and in the belief that parents and the public have a right to the information.

20 area districts hiring or looking for new school superintendents - The Boston Globe

Many changes in school leaders

20+ local districts hire or are looking

By Katheleen Conti

Globe Staff / August 29, 2010

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Nearly two dozen districts in the region will kick off the upcoming school year with new superintendents or searching for new ones, analysts say, in the most dramatic leadership overhaul the area has experienced in more than a decade.

Superintendent retirements last school year are the main reason behind the seismic shift at the helm throughout districts north of Boston, said Michael Gilbert, field director for the Massachusetts Association of School Committees.

“In terms of the north of Boston area, it was their turn,’’ Gilbert said. “I think it

GLOBE EDUCATION NEWS

Four new charter schools propose to serve south suburbs

A total of 42 proposals for new charter schools were submitted to the state by this month’s deadline, three times the 14 submitted at this time last year, state education officials say. Four of the 42 — Southeastern Entrepreneurial Leadership Regional Charter School, Greater Life Academy of Performing Arts and Technology, Excel Academy for Scholastic Achievement, and Boston Global Leadership ... (By Christine Legere, Globe Correspondent)

200 turn out to meet Randolph’s new school superintendent

RANDOLPH — About 200 residents and local officials welcomed Oscar Santos as Randolph’s new school superintendent at a dinner reception Tuesday night hosted by the School Committee. (By Wendy Chow, Globe Staff)

Burlington High principal plans to incorporate more technology in learning

Patrick Larkin envisions a day when all students bring to school is a laptop, iPad, or cellphone. To the dismay of schoolchildren everywhere, snow days would be a thing of the past since students could complete their class work even when snowbound. (By Sara Brown, Globe Correspondent)

20+ area districts hiring or looking for new school superintendents

Principal brings world to Revere

Lourenço Garcia has come a long way from his days as a Cape Verdean native growing up on his family’s farm in Angola to his new role as principal of Revere High School. (By John Laidler, Globe Correspondent)

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Sacramento teacher inspires math turnaround at Grant High - Sacramento City News - sacbee.com

Sacramento teacher inspires math turnaround at Grant High

By Melody Gutierrez - Updated: 12:08 am

Grant High School math teacher Kadhir Rajagopal took a group of eighth-grade students that failed algebra and has them studying pre-calculus in 10th grade thanks to an intensive summer program.

Grant High School math class improves

U.S. selects firm to take over EdFund

By Kevin Yamamura - Published: Saturday, August 28 2010 - 12:00 am

The U.S. Department of Education has tapped a Minnesota firm to take over California's student-loan guaranty business at the end of October, federal officials said Friday.

Schwarzenegger pumps up weightlifting team with fundraiser

By Matt Kawahara - Updated: Friday, August 27 2010 - 2:54 am

Three years ago, Sae Vang didn't think he'd ever get on an airplane, much less travel the world competing in Olympic weightlifting meets.

Worst Idea of the Millennium � The Quick and the Ed

Worst Idea of the Millennium

by Kevin Carey

Via Jon Chait, that would be the proposal to move the annual Ohio State vs. Michigan football game from its traditional slot at the end of the season. Earlier this year, the Big Ten stole Nebraska from the Big 12, thus increasing the number of Big Ten teams from 11 to 12. Traditionally, the Big Ten championship has been awarded using a complex and archaic formula whose origins are shrouded in the mists of time but can be best summarized as “the team with the best record at the end of the season wins the league championship.” Twelve teams allows the Big Ten to split into two divisions, the winners

Saturday, August 28, 2010

New Orleans' Lower Ninth Draws Tourists, Not Aid | Womens eNews

New Orleans' Lower Ninth Draws Tourists, Not Aid

by Kimberly Seals Allers

Kimberley Allers Seals (WOMENSENEWS)--Recently I attended a conference on health disparities in communities of color. The National Health Policy Training Alliance for Communities of Color hosted over 40 journalists of all hues and ethnic origins to convene in New Orleans to discuss how we can better cover health care-related issues and the health disparities that still plague our communities.

Local News | Seattle Public Schools, city's teachers union closer to agreement | Seattle Times Newspaper

Seattle Public Schools, city's teachers union closer to agreement

Seattle Public Schools and the city's teachers union could reach a tentative agreement as early as Sunday on a new teacher contract, possibly ending their fight over whether to use student test scores as part of teacher evaluations.

By Linda Shaw

Times education reporter

Seattle Public Schools and the city's teachers union could reach a tentative agreement as early as Sunday on a new teacher contract, which could end the first major clash in Washington state over whether to use student test scores as part of teacher evaluations.

Both parties reported progress in their talks this week, which included a marathon session Thursday that lasted 13 hours.

On Friday, the district's spokeswoman said the two sides are close to an agreement. The union wouldn't go that far, saying only that they are much closer.

"We still have some issues that have to be worked out, but both sides have moved a long way," said Glen

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