Regular readers know that I'm no great fan of simple-minded value-added systems. As we've seen just this week with the L.A. Times value-added brouhaha (which I hope to address in the next couple days), it's easy for would-be reformers to overreach or oversell (see "Pyrrhic Victories?" for a more ex... Read Full Post >
Note: Dan Goldhaber, an economist and professor at the University of Washington, is guest-posting this week. I've had a lot of opportunity lately to talk with both Race to the Top states and other states and localities that are working on incorporating student achievement measures into their teache... Read Full Post >
On Sunday, the L.A. Times ran its controversial analysis of teacher value-added scores in L.A. Unified School District (LAUSD). The paper used seven years of reading and math scores to calculate performance for individual teachers who've taught grades three through five, and plans to publish the ef... Read Full Post >
This morning, Columbia University professor Aaron Pallas sounded a responsible (if hasty) retreat from last week's attack on DCPS. After writing last week that DCPS had seemingly used "preposterous" assumptions to adopt an "idiotic" teacher evaluation policy, Pallas wrote this morning in the Washin... Read Full Post >
In response to the mail I've received since Monday's column critiquing Aaron Pallas's attack on the DCPS teacher firings, I think it's useful for me to weigh in on the live-wire question of value-added systems. Monday's column was not meant to be a simple-minded defense of value-added systems, but... Read Full Post >
Last week, Columbia University sociologist Aaron Pallas savaged the DC Public Schools IMPACT teacher evaluation system in the Washington Post's "The Answer Sheet" blog, attacking the teacher evaluation system as "idiotic" and based on "preposterous" assumptions. Pallas asked, "Did DCPS completely bo... Read Full Post >
Big news yesterday out of the West. While at the NewSchools Venture Fund Annual Summit, got word that Mike Johnston's path-breaking teacher quality bill (SB 10-191) had made it through the Colorado House on a 36-29 vote. This, as I've said previously in the midst of the fight over Florida SB 6, is... Read Full Post >
Much as I'd feared, preparations for round two of Race to the Top (RTT) seem to be impelling states to overshoot the mark when it comes to teacher evaluation and pay. Generally laudable proposals like Florida's Senate Bill 6 and Colorado's Senate Bill 10-191 suffer from the "fix the world in one pa... Read Full Post >
I've been meaning to do a longer postmortem on Florida's Senate Bill 6. As I've noted before, I enthusiastically supported it even though I thought it a deeply flawed bill. The flaw? Its ham-fisted attempt to strip out one set of anachronistic strictures (governing tenure and step-and-lane pay sca... Read Full Post >
Florida Governor Charlie Crist, already desperately trying to claw his way back into the Senate GOP primary that he once dominated, has found himself in the middle of another maelstrom. Sitting on his desk, awaiting his signature or veto, is the most ambitious teacher quality legislation any state ... Read Full Post >
Recent Comments