The Washington Post has this story up about the new teacher-evaluation system that D.C. Chancellor Michelle Rhee and her team are devising. The story does a good job talking about the benefits and perils of a "value added" system that uses test-score growth to estimate teacher effectiveness, a mode...
The Washington Teachers' Union is going on the charm offensive for its contract counter-proposal to that provided by Chancellor Michelle Rhee. It is running a series of radio advertisements promoting the contract, and at this new Web site calls its own proposal "progressive, bold and comprehensive."...
District of Columbia schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee turns in a must-read piece in the Washington Post, in which she tries to set the record straight: Broom aside, she's not focused on firing teachers. "I want to be clear about something: I do not blame teachers for the low-achievement levels. I h...
The Washington Teachers' Union and the American Federation of Teachers have submitted their counterproposal to District of Columbia Chancellor Michelle Rhee. There's probably a lot more in the actual proposal, which we apparently won't get to see anytime soon since that's a private matter between u...
There have long been rumors about the high-level of American Federation of Teachers' involvement in the contentious District of Columbia teacher-contract negotiations. Now the union's cards are out on the table: This weekend, the Washington Teachers' Union passed a motion to officially partner with ...
The forum on teacher support I attended on Nov. 5 raised some interesting ideas about how to improve teaching quality. In this post I'm going to attempt to make a little bit of sense of them. A comprehensive system for teacher support, the panelists said, starts with a clear definition of high-qual...
I attended a forum on D.C. teacher professional development last night sponsored by this group and I'll be writing a few posts on it this week. But first I wanted to report what I thought was the most interesting observation of the evening, made by none other than American Federation of Teachers Pre...
Supporters of Chancellor Michelle Rhee's two-tiered pay system are planning a demonstration at the union's headquarters on Oct. 22. They plan to press Washington Teachers Union President George Parker to bring the contract to a vote. And over at D.C. Teacher Chic, there's a link to a petition to the...
Like sands through the hourglass, so continues the soap opera of the D.C. teacher-contract negotiations. The contract hinges on a "red"/"green" tier proposal that would give green-tier teachers the opportunity to earn $20,000 annually in performance bonuses, contingent on their forgoing tenure fo...
The Washington Teachers Union membership is meeting tonight about the proposed D.C. contract, including its "red" and "green" compensation tiers. To my great dismay, media aren't allowed to attend. But I'm betting this will be the contract's make-or-break moment. The head of the WTU, George Parker,...
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