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Note to teachers: Thanks for loving our kids

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Dear Teachers,

This is the first of much correspondence you'll receive from us this year.

We'll write to beg for an extension on our children's math assignment.

"Soccer practice went late last night and there was no time for homework and we're sure you'll understand because it's Jake's first year in select and it really matters."

We'll scribble a note to ask that you move our sensitive Lucy away from domineering Evelyn - but not near chatty Suzy and as far away as possible from mean Renee.

We will write to remind you of our children's orthodontist appointments, allergy shots, physical therapy sessions for the torn ACL, early dismissals every Thursday so we can get them to ballet classes on the other side of town.

And please note that Aaron will be gone the entire week after Thanksgiving since we couldn't schedule our winter vacation any other time.

We'll email a request for extra science homework for our Anthony, who you'll recall is gifted. But could you lighten up on that weekly vocabulary list? Asking fifth-graders to remember eight definitions every week is just too stressful.

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Certainty And Good Policymaking Don’t Mix

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Using value-added and other types of growth model estimates in teacher evaluations is probably the most controversial and oft-discussed issue in education policy over the past few years.

Many people (including a large proportion of teachers) are opposed to using student test scores in their evaluations, as they feel that the measures are not valid or reliable, and that they will incentivize perverse behavior, such as cheating or competition between teachers. Advocates, on the other hand, argue that student performance is a vital part of teachers’ performance evaluations, and that the growth model estimates, while imperfect, represent the best available option.

I am sympathetic to both views. In fact, in my opinion, there are only two unsupportable positions in this debate: Certainty that using these measures in evaluations will work; and certainty that it won’t. Unfortunately, that’s often how the debate has proceeded – two deeply-entrenched sides convinced of their absolutist positions, and resolved that any nuance in or compromise of their views will only preclude the success of their efforts. You’re with them or against them. The problem is that it’s the nuance – the details – that determine policy effects.

Let’s be clear about something: I’m not aware of a shred of evidence – not a shred – that the use of growth model estimates in teacher evaluations improves performance of either teachers or students.

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The Missing Link in School Reform

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In trying to improve American public schools, educators, policymakers, and philanthropists are overselling the role of the highly skilled individual teacher and undervaluing the benefits that come from teacher collaborations that strengthen skills, competence, and a school’s overall social capital.

How to Reform Public Schools

THE PREDOMINANT IDEOLOGY

  • Power of the Individual: Reform efforts are focused on improving the capabilities of the individual teacher.
  • Wisdom of the Outsider: Bring in outside experts—or even novices—to solve problems.
  • Principal as Instructional Leader: The principal is the leader of school instructional reform.

THE REALITY

  • The Power of the Collective: The teaching staff is engaged in school reform collectively.
  • Reform from Within: Trust and meaningful communication among teachers are the bases of true reform efforts.
  • Principal as Protector: The principal supports teacher reform efforts through building external relations.

Here's the full article

The Missing Link in School Reform

SB5 arguments language

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Here's the language for the yes and NO on issue 2 that will appear on the ballots

Argument and Explanation in Opposition to Issue 2

VOTE NO ON ISSUE 2, REPEAL SB 5 UNSAFE, UNFAIR AND HURTS OHIO'S MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES

UNSAFE

  • Issue 2 puts all our families' safety at risk—making it harder for emergency responders, police and firefighters to negotiate for critical safety equipment and training that protects us all.
  • Issue 2 will make our nursing shortage worse. It makes it illegal for nurses, hospital and clinic workers to demand reasonable safe staffing levels—so nurses will juggle more patients while their salaries and benefits are cut.

Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans Educational Fund, Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, Ohio Association of Professional Firefighters say NO on Issue 2

UNFAIR

  • The same Columbus politicians who call for "shared sacrifice" exploited a loophole, giving a special exception to politicians and upper management.
  • Ohio's public employees have already sacrificed—saving Ohio taxpayers over $350 million through concessions, including pay freezes and unpaid furlough days.
  • It's not Ohio values to let firefighters, police and teachers lose their rights and see wages and benefits gutted, while insiders, politicians and people at the top sacrifice nothing.

HURTS US ALL

  • Instead of creating jobs to fix our economy, politicians like Governor Kasich gave away hundreds of millions in corporate tax breaks—draining our state budget while Ohio continues to lose jobs—and passed flawed laws like SB 5 to pay back their campaign donors.
  • Teachers, nurses, firefighters are not the reason Ohio's budget is in trouble. Big corporations. their high-paid lobbyists and the politicians they fund are blaming middle class Ohioans for a problem they caused.

Issue 2: Another example of the politicians turning their backs on Ohio's middle class.
Send Them a Message- Stop Working for the Special Interests. Start Working for We the People.
VOTE NO ON ISSUE 2

Official Argument and Explanation for Issue 2

Vote YES on Issue 2

A YES vote on Issue 2 will make long overdue reforms to unfair and costly government employment practices in Ohio, while helping to get government spending under control and making government more accountable to taxpayers.
Your YES vote on Issue 2 will:

Protect Good Teachers and Improve Our Schools

  • Issue 2 keeps the best teachers in the classroom by ending the unfair practice of seniority-based layoffs, which forces struggling schools to cut many of our best teachers first.
  • Issue 2 returns control of our schools to taxpayers by bringing increased transparency to teacher contract negotiations.
  • Issue 2 enables schools to retain and reward good teachers by allowing them to base pay raises on job performance.

Restore Balance and Ensure Fairness

  • Issue 2 ensures that government employees receive quality health care, but asks them to pay a mere 15% of their health insurance coverage, which is still less than half of what the average private sector worker pays (31%).
  • Issue 2 asks government employees to make a fair contribution (10%) to their taxpayer funded retirement plans instead of requiring taxpayers to provide these pension benefits for free. Many private sector workers get no retirement benefits at all.
  • Issue 2 allows good job performance to be considered when awarding pay raises to government employees. Private sector workers earn their paychecks by doing a good job, and so should government employees.

Get Spending Under Control, Retain Jobs, and Protect Taxpayers

  • Issue 2 will save our communities millions of dollars annually, helping them balance their budgets and retain jobs.
  • Issue 2 will protect taxpayers by giving them the right to reject unaffordable government employment contracts.
  • Issue 2 is the right change at the right time

Vote YES on Issue 2

Ohio Issue 2 arguments

Proving SB5 unnecessary, public schools show significant gains

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The freshly released 2010-2011 state report card has some great news to demonstrate that public schools in Ohio are not in some crisis, and radical, extreme reforms are not needed in order for our students to recevie a quality education.

The percentage of students scoring proficient on state tests increased on 21 of 26 indicators, with the strongest gains in third-grade math, eighth-grade math and 10th-grade writing. Overall, students met the state goal on 17 out of 26 indicators, one less than last year. The statewide average for all students’ test scores, known as the Performance Index, jumped 1.7 points to 95, the biggest gain since 2004-2005.

For 2010-2011, the number of districts ranked Excellent with Distinction or Excellent increased by 56 to 352. The number of schools in those same categories grew by 186 to 1,769.

76% of traditional public schools statewide have a B or better this year.

Value-Added results, which show whether students meet the expected one year of growth for students in grades 3-8 in reading and math. In 2010-2011, 79.5 percent of districts and 81.4 percent of schools met or exceeded expected Value-Added gains.

The Performance Index looks at the performance of every student, not just those who score proficient or higher. In 2010-11, 89.3 percent of districts and 71 percent of schools improved their Performance Index scores.

We'll be taking a closer look at this results and bringing you all the latest findings.