Here’s some specifics: My final appraisal for the 2011-2012 school year: Evaluation summary scores: Lesson Study: 100/100 points x .20 (20%) = 20 points Principal Appraisal: 88/100 points x .40 (40%) = 35.2 points VAM Data: 10/100 x .40 (40%) = 4 points Total points = 59.2 (Unsatisfactory) The VAM data comes from Alachua Elementary […]
Guest Post: What was DiCarlo thinking?
November 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment
By John Thompson As conservative school “reformers” bemoan their defeat in the 2012 election, and as some seem to admit the failure of their “reforms,” some accountability hawks are doing some self-criticism. For instance, Fordham’s Kathleen Porter-Magee says that the reform movement suffers from “group think,” and it could be heading for its educational Bay […]
Refocusing LAUSD on reading and learning instead of testing
November 24, 2012 By 6 Comments
The Hard Bigotry of Low Expectations in Florida
November 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment
With the ink barely dry on the outcome of the Presidential election in Florida, the FL school Board is now looking for new and innovative ways to keep the FCAT, virtual schools and private money machine rolling. This way Jeb Bush’s buddies. K-12 and other for-profit education outfits who make their money off the backs […]
Interesting conversations continue via @anthonycody, this time on #VAM
November 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment
An exchange on VAM and seniority based layoffs with a reform neoliberal. Nothing sticks in the craw of a neolib more than the issue layoffs. Man, they like to fire them some teachers. But, according to Mitt Romnah, we can’t “kill” our way out of this. Absolutely. If we persist in the conference upon teachers perpetual […]
How the VAM/AGT pseudoscience worm turns
October 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment
While value-added models are intended estimate teacher effects on student achievement growth, they fail to do so in any accurate or precise way — Dr. Bruce D. Baker Maybe it’s karma, but Kyle Hunsberger of the Gates Foundation backed astroturf TeachPlus, and one of Los Angeles Unified School District’s biggest cheerleaders of the highly discredited […]
In Search of An Accountable Education Editor at the New York Times
September 17, 2012 By 2 Comments
Brent Staples has long been the education editorialist at the New York Times, and his function as a rubber stamp for corporate education reform has assured his continuing tenure there. His opining never fails to parrot the Business Roundtable talking points on education, a subject for which the privatizers are the least prepared to talk […]
Rothstein Considers the First Teacher Strike Against Corporate Education Reform’s Notion of Accountability
September 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment
From Economic Policy Institute by Richard Rothstein: Teacher accountability and the Chicago teachers strike Posted September 14, 2012 at 9:56 am by RICHARD ROTHSTEIN It was bound to happen, whether in Chicago or elsewhere. What is surprising about the Chicago teachers’ strike is that something like this did not happen sooner. The strike represents the first open rebellion […]
Guest Post: The Education Sector Attempts to Head Off a Common Core Trainwreck
July 3, 2012 By 1 Comment
By John Thompson The Education Sector’s new report, Getting to 2014 (and Beyond): The Choices and the Challenges Ahead, could have been entitled “Whistling Past the Graveyard.” The report starts with the standard proclamation that “new accountability systems will reflect the expectation that tremendous progress in students outcomes across the country could occur through the […]
Evaluate This! Shows the way forward for authentic education reform
June 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment
“I am heading for a four-year college. The classes that most helped me prepare for this were NOT test prep classes. They were the ones where I got to explore stuff and do projects.” — Tiffany Tuggle (CEJ Member and Senior at UCLA Community School) Jessica Kochick teaches at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex in […]
Guest Post: LAUSD Should Fund Schools in Need, Not District Offices
March 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
By David Lyell First published in the Huffington Post Dear LAUSD School Board Members, Superintendent Deasy, Secretary Duncan, and President Obama, We all want to provide the educational opportunities for children and our communities. Please help me receive clarity on the following: Instead of sending Title I, II, and III money to school sites, as […]
#edreformers: War Pigs!
In this latest installment of “someone has to say it” I again reveal my attempt to engage EDweek and Teacher Beat author Stephen Sawchuk in a legitimate discussion concerning education reform. Last week EDweek published Stephen’s story on the “proposed” changes to teacher accreditation unveiled by the new Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). In case […]