As a reporter, it's always irritating to discover that another paper has beaten you to a story you've had in mind, in this case following a teacher through the peer-assistance and -review process. Nevertheless, this Washington Post article is a pretty thorough look at things in Montgomery County, Md., and includes a glimpse at the PAR panel that makes the call on whether to renew teachers or proceed with dismissal....

That could have been the title, anyway, of this Web site on peer-assistance and -review programs. Created by the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, the Web site is part of an ongoing research investigation that's being headed up by Susan Moore Johnson. It is probably the most extensive resource in existence on the PAR process, and contains all the research that the team has done. (You can find a summary report in PDF format on the Web page, but if you're interested in just one or two areas, try the tabs on ...

The perspective it offers is going to be challenging for pretty much everyone who's got skin in this particular game.

Finally putting on the record what has to have been just about the worst-kept secret in Washington (and New York City, for that matter), AFT President Randi Weingarten announced yesterday that she'll be stepping down as the head of the union's largest affiliate, the United Federation of Teachers, on July 31. I was a bit amused to find that the UFT press release that celebrates Weingarten's tenure (and pending departure) is more than 1,500 words long and quotes from everyone you can think of, while the AFT press release announcing her intention to work full time for the parent ...

From Guest Blogger Lesli A. Maxwell Nine months after opening a charter high school together in the Bronx, Randi Weingarten, the president of the New York City teachers' union and the American Federation of Teachers, and Steve Barr, the founder of the Los Angeles-based Green Dot Public Schools, announced a three-year agreement for teachers that both leaders said should be a model for more union and charter collaboration. Gotham Schools has a copy of the contract here. The tenure-free New York contract is similar to those that Green Dot has with teachers in Los Angeles, though Barr said this week ...

Team R & R over at the Center for American Progress has a primer out on the Teacher Incentive Fund. Worth a look if you're not well versed in this federal performance-pay initiative, especially since the Teacher Incentive Fund is practically guaranteed to be one of the more hotly contested programs in the FY 2010 education budget....

In something of a nail-biter, the Connecticut legislature passed a bill in the waning days of a special session that will broaden some of the state's certification requirements. Like other states, Connecticut officials anticipate retirements in the near future and hope to attract more young teachers, as well as professionals seeking new careers. According to this editorial in support of the changes, there was quite a bit of back and forth on the bill. Among other items, the bill will expand the Teach For America program in the state, allow teachers of math and science to take content tests rather ...

The Washington community is abuzz about the chancellor's http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/18/AR2009061803844.html">latest move, which is to pare another 250 teachers from the city's teaching force. It's already engendered quite a bit of drama. Apparently, some forces within the Washington Teachers Union are seeking pro bono assistance to avert the layoffs. But one interesting thing here, it seems to me, is that these layoffs are not aimed just at veteran teachers. One of the rumors flying around last year during the contract drama accused Rhee of firing veterans to replace them with ...

I'll be hitting the road over the next three weeks to do some reporting out in my home state of California. For the first week, I'll be at the Council of Chief State School Officers' assessment conference, in Los Angeles. Look for some blog items on testing over at Curriculum Matters, in addition to posts here at Teacher Beat. I've even arranged for some guest-bloggers, so fear not: There will be plenty of juicy teacher-policy news for you. Now, with all this recent talk of the American Federation of Teachers and Randi Weingarten, you may be wondering what happened to ...

Five EdWeek reporters sat down with American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten earlier this week over coffee for a wide-ranging conversation. I can't say there's any groundbreaking news to report as a result, but it was, nevertheless, a substantive conversation that yielded glimpses into Weingarten's thinking, especially on the Obama administration's recent moves. Overall, she said that she's optimistic that this administration will seek to work with teachers rather than imposing policy on them, a big break from the union's perception of things under George W. Bush. But, as always, these things come down to details, and there are ...