Hechinger Report | Why school leadership matters

Hechinger Report | Why school leadership matters

Why school leadership matters Central Falls High School When 93 teachers and staffers were fired from Rhode Island’s Central Falls High School in 2010, it fueled a nationwide debate over how failing schools might be resurrected. But of all the school’s dismal statistics, and ...

Leadership crisis: Issues of quality, not quantity? PS 64 Manhattan Principal Marlon Hosang (Photo by Yuridia Peña/CSA) Training programs abound, but few do a first-rate job of preparing principals and superintendents for today’s challenges. Given the rising demands of the job descriptions – not to ...

What teachers want (in a principal) Ask any teacher, rookie or veteran, what he or she most needs to succeed and the answer is likely to be fairly straightforward: a supportive but demanding principal. Profile: Public School Principals *Gender* 50.3% female 49.7% male ...

New expectations place tough demands on principals * * Bronx Center for Science and Math Principal Edward Tom (Photo by Yuridia Peña/CSA) Today’s school leaders must guide instruction, manage campuses and deal with parents and the community. The job of being a principal is nothing if not an ...

Supply vs. demand: Rock-star superintendents They command six-figure salaries, often with annual bonuses and car allowances. (Generous health-care and pension plans are a given.) Sometimes their employers also foot the bill for their life-insurance policies. Go Deep on leadership • Why school ...

The modern superintendent Michelle Rhee No longer managers, they now must not only navigate but reform the local landscape. The job of a modern school superintendent is drastically different from the original job description, when, in 1837, Oliver G. Steele, a Buffalo, New ...

ThinkProgress » Americans Overwhelmingly Support Millionaires Surtax To Tackle Deficit, Reject Cuts To Social Programs

ThinkProgress » Americans Overwhelmingly Support Millionaires Surtax To Tackle Deficit, Reject Cuts To Social Programs

Americans Overwhelmingly Support Millionaires Surtax To Tackle Deficit, Reject Cuts To Social Programs

For months, Republicans have relentlessly promoted the Tea Party-driven message that the government spends too much, and that social welfare programs should be first on the chopping block. “To not address entitlement programs, as is the case with the budget the president has put forward, would be an economic and moral failure,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) declared.

But a comprehensive new Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll suggests Republicans significantly overestimated the public’s eagerness to tackle the federal deficit by cutting programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. As reflected in the growing “Main Street Movement,” the poll, released yesterday, foundsizable majorities of Americans prefer steps like eliminating oil company subsidies, enacting a surtax on the income of millionaires, and rolling back the Bush cuts. Only

Wisconsin Labor Fight Spurs Surge in Union Pride, Liberal Support | Elections #StateSOS #WIunion #SolidarityWI

Wisconsin Labor Fight Spurs Surge in Union Pride, Liberal Support | Elections

Wisconsin Labor Fight Spurs Surge in Union Pride, Liberal Support

by Jon Walker

The very public fight in Wisconsin over labor unions’ collective bargaining rights seems to have resulted in a strong surge in union pride among labor households, and made liberal Democrats’ support of labor significantly stronger.

A new Pew poll compared the change in opinions about labor unions over the past few weeks as the Wisconsin fight over collective bargaining rights has been taking place. Among all Americans, there has been a modest increase in unions’ net favorable rates, and, looking at the internals, a huge 18-point surge among labor households and liberal Democrats who now hold a “very favorable” opinion of unions.

This public showdown with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has

Duncan: Test Scores Not the Best Way to Evaluate Teachers of Nontraditional Subjects - Dana Goldstein

Duncan: Test Scores Not the Best Way to Evaluate Teachers of Nontraditional Subjects - Dana Goldstein

Duncan: Test Scores Not the Best Way to Evaluate Teachers of Nontraditional Subjects

by Dana Goldstein

This one is really wonky, folks, but if you're concerned about standardized testing, I urge you to read on!

Over breakfast this morning, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan acknowledged that the administration's success, via Race to the Top, in getting states to agree to evaluate teachers based on student achievement data has outpaced the ability of states to create the student assessments that make such teacher evaluation possible.

"This is clearly going to be a choppy transition period," Duncan said, later adding, "We're clearly, as a country, in our infancy" on using student data to evaluate teachers.

Here's the problem: Currently, fewer than half of all public school teachers teach a tested subject in a tested grade. As states embrace value-added teacher evaluation, however, schools will need to collect data on the

NYC Public School Parents: Change of venue for Diane Ravitch viewing party!

NYC Public School Parents: Change of venue for Diane Ravitch viewing party!

Change of venue for Diane Ravitch viewing party!

Reminder to join Diane, me and other parent activists and colleagues tonight at 9:30 PM to celebrate and watch her appearance on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Due to technical difficulties; the venue for tonight's viewing party has changed:

When: Thursday, March 3, at 9:30 PM -11:30 PM

Where: Club Room, Affinia Hotel, 155 E. 50 St. (off 3rd Ave.)

Tickets are $50; $25 for students/teachers; contributions are tax-deductible.

To order tickets, and for more info, please click here:

http://www.nycharities.org/events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=3295

thanks!

Expanded gambling okay in NJ, but only if it involves gambling on teachers’ jobs! « School Finance 101

Expanded gambling okay in NJ, but only if it involves gambling on teachers’ jobs! « School Finance 101

Expanded gambling okay in NJ, but only if it involves gambling on teachers’ jobs!

by schoolfinance101

I may be the only one in New Jersey who had a twisted enough view of today’s news stories to pick up on this connection. Seemingly irrelevant to my blog, today, the Governor of New Jersey vetoed a bill that would have approved online gambling. At the same time, the Governor’s teacher effectiveness task force released its long-awaited report. And it did not disappoint. Well, I guess that’s a matter of expectations. I had very low expectations to begin with – fully expecting a poorly written, ill-conceived rant about how to connect teacher evaluations to test scores – growth scores – and how it is imperative that a large share of teacher evaluation be based on growth scores. And I got all of that and more!!!!!

I have written about this topic on multiple occasions.

For the full series on this topic, see: http://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com/category/race-to-the-top/value-added-teacher-evaluation/

And for my presentation slides on this topic, including summaries of the relevant research, see:

Wisconsin Recall Efforts Off to Strong Start | FDL News Desk #StateSOS #WIunion #SolidarityWI

Wisconsin Recall Efforts Off to Strong Start | FDL News Desk

Wisconsin Recall Efforts Off to Strong Start

by David Dayen

The Wisconsin GOP is already losing in the court of public opinion; will they also lose at the polls? (photo: markonf1re)

The Wisconsin recall effort is only a day old, but it’s going strong. The state Democratic Party has launched a website called Recall the Republican 8 to coordinate events. They have volunteer and contribution pages. There’s also a separate ActBlue page set up for the recall. A separate effort to air a powerful TV ad from the PCCC and DFA, filmed on the day of the 100,000-plus protests last Saturday, has already raised over $225,000.

SEIU has been organizing on the recall as well, both on a special Web page and through offline efforts. Other unions have engaged in traditional organizing on this as well, going back to last week. According to SEIU, they

Senate orders arrest of missing Democrats #StateSOS #WIunion #SolidarityWI

Senate orders arrest of missing Democrats

Senate orders arrest of missing Democrats

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State Journal staff | (112) Comments | Posted: Thursday, March 3, 2011 12:30 pm

Wisconsin Senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald listens during a special session of the Senate in this January file photo.MIKE DeVRIES — The Capital Times archives

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	Madison.com Politics @MadPolitics All Wisconsin politics. All the time. For the junkie in us all.

The Wisconsin Senate passed a resolution Thursday ordering the arrest of the 14 Democratic senators who left the state two weeks ago to avoid a vote on Gov. Scott Walker's controversial budget repair bill.

It's unclear whether the move to force the senators back to the Capitol is constitutional. The state Constitution prohibits the arrest of legislators while in session unless they're suspected of committing felonies, treason or breach of the peace.

James Troupis, a private attorney hired by Fitzgerald, contended Thursday that the move is legal. He cited a portion of the state Constitution that provides that each house "may compel the

Breakfast with Arne: On ESEA, RTT Losers & Union Fights - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Breakfast with Arne: On ESEA, RTT Losers & Union Fights - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Breakfast with Arne: On ESEA, RTT Losers & Union Fights

By Michele McNeil on March 3, 2011 2:00 PM | No comments | No recommendations

This morning Arne Duncan held court with six education bloggers for an hour of Q&A. Joining in the dialogue, besides Politics K-12, were Mike Petrilli from Flypaper, "Straight Up" Rick Hess, new Education Sector executive director Richard Lee Colvin, who writes for the Quick & the Ed, Dropout Nation's RiShawn Biddle, and Dana Goldstein, formerly of the Daily Beast and American Prospect.

Highlights of the conversation:

• First off, the Department released two guides for states: one on "smart ideas to increase productivity and student achievement" and another on flexibility states have in using existing federal dollars. Both are meant to help states navigate the persisting fiscal woes, which Duncan first told my colleague and fellow blogger Sean Cavanagh about. I'll post the links to the document

Think Progress: BREAKING: Wisconsin Voters Launch Recall Campaign Against Eight GOP State Senators | www.kochwatch.org #WIunion #SolidarityWI

Think Progress: BREAKING: Wisconsin Voters Launch Recall Campaign Against Eight GOP State Senators | www.kochwatch.org

Thom Hartmann: Fox News...Unfair and Completely Unbalanced? WATCH ON YOUTUBE:

The Nation: With State Budgets Withering, Get Ready for the 'Womancession' *March 2, 2011- *Attacks on public employees, in Wisconsin and other budget-crunched states, may not sound like they’re specifically targeting female workers—but they’ll end up doing just that. Governor Scott Walker wants to strip collective ...

Think Progress: BREAKING: Wisconsin Voters Launch Recall Campaign Against Eight GOP State Senators*March 3, 2011-* Last month, ThinkProgress reported that Wisconsin law allows any elected official who has served at least one year of their current term to be recalled from office. Today, a group of Wisconsin voters took the first step towards ...

Ed Schultz & Mike Papantonio: The Koch's - It's All About Privatizing Everything WATCH ON YOUTUBE:

Talking Points Memo: Poll: Democrats Poised To Keep Wisconsin Senate Seat In 2012 *March 3, 2011-* Sen. Herb Kohl (D) is in solid position to hold his seat if he runs for reelection in 2012, according to a new PPP poll. But if he retires, as some observers believe he will, Democrats could still hold the seat if they nominate a ...

Talking Points Memo: Polls Consistently Show Six In Ten Oppose Eliminating Collective Bargaining For State Unions *March 3, 2011-* For the third time in the past two weeks, a national poll has found that roughly 60% of all Americans oppose eliminating collective bargaining rights for public employee unions, the highly contentious proposal put forward by ...

This is a Marching in Lockstep, Run from Washington, GOP Battle Against the Very Core of Democratic Policies - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com

This is a Marching in Lockstep, Run from Washington, GOP Battle Against the Very Core of Democratic Policies - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com

This is a Marching in Lockstep, Run from Washington, GOP Battle Against the Very Core of Democratic Policies

The Democrats Can't Abandon the Working Man Ever, so the GOP Will Do Anything to Eradicate Them!

brian conners, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Mar 2, 2011 "Contribute content like this. Start Here."

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It has all of the signs of a Karl Rove run blitzkrieg as the GOP are just attempting to steal from that bottom 99% again! Remember how Rove used the Katrina disaster to trot out GOP economic experiments while people were suffering and dying? The GOP is heartless.

The article "Boehner wades into Wisconsin labor battle, backing GOP governor" shows how the GOP is using this as a lab experience for its attempts to shaft the bottom 99%!

The article states "House Speaker John Boehner released a statement on Thursday afternoon backing Walker and his package of aggressive labor reforms that would force increased contributions by state workers to benefits and pension plans, and limit collective bargaining rights for some.

"Republicans in Congress — and reform-minded GOP governors like Scott Walker, John Kasich and