The Teacher Evaluation Juggernaut

Ed Week has a piece on the problems new teacher evaluation systems are going to have on resources, and issue we have discussed before.

Teacher evaluation--with all its multiple facets, blind alleys, disputed data models, technocratic hype and roll-out problems-- is on every principal's mind these days. It would be great to think that principals in states with new evaluation plans are eager to begin this work, now having permission to sink more deeply into their roles as instructional guides, to have productive two-way professional conversations with their teachers, thinking together about improving instruction to reach specific goals.

But no. They're worried about another time suck and avalanche of paperwork on top of an already-ridiculous workload. And--you can't blame them. Being a good principal, like being a good teacher, is impossible. There is no way one single human being can cover all the bases, from keeping the buses running on time to staying abreast of the new math curriculum in grades K through 6. Besides, the new evaluation plans have huge problems embedded, beyond the make-work element.

It was the closing comment of this article that caught our attention

In the end, this will be another issue where outcomes are determined by cost-effectiveness. If it's too expensive for principals to fairly evaluate teachers' instructional efficacy, a cheaper strategy--relying more heavily on test data and technology--will be found. In fact, I'm guessing that any number of education publishers and non-profits are working on it right now.

that seems about right, and likely. However, we wouldn't underestimate the significant costs that test and technology based solutions are going to bring either. However you try to dice it, you arrive at the "unfunded mandate" problem. There's simply too much work, and not enough people or money to do it properly.

Corporate education reformers need to step up to the plate and fully fund their projects.

Overpaid? Hardly

The National Education Policy Center debunks that ridiculous AEI report on teachers being overpaid by 52%, and finds evidence to the contrary

This report compares the pay, pension costs and retiree health benefits of teachers with those of similarly qualified private-sector workers. The study concludes that teachers receive total compensation 52% greater than fair market levels, which translates into a $120 billion annual “overcharge” to taxpayers. Built on a series of faulty analyses, this study misrepresents total teacher compensation in fundamental ways. First, teachers’ 12% lower pay is dismissed as being appropriate for their lesser intelligence, although there is no foundation for such a claim. Total benefits are calculated as having a monetary value of 100.8% of pay, while the Department of Labor disagrees, giving a figure of 32.8%—a figure almost identical to that of people employed in the private sector. Pension costs are valued at 32%, but the real number is closer to 8.4%. The shorter work year is said to represent 28.8% additional compensation but the real work year is only 12% shorter. Teachers’ job stability is said to be worth 8.6%, although the case for such a claim is not sustained. In sum, this report is based on an aggregation of such spurious claims. The actual salary and benefits for teachers show they are in fact undercompensated by 19%

TTR TchrCompens Heritage 0

Education News for 02-03-2012

Statewide Education News

• Cuts in Ohio's state budget could make Northeast Ohio communities consider combining services (Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND - Gov. John Kasich's $112 billion state budget, which cut $455 million in funding for local governments, has caused communities statewide to consider collaborating and sharing services. That was the focus of a special forum held before about 55 people Thursday evening at the City Club in downtown Cleveland. Orange Mayor Kathy Mulcahy, one of three panelists, said that regionalism could be good for local governments but that she realizes a lack of trust among city leaders and the potential loss of supportive officials -- if they are not re-elected -- hinders the process. Read More…

• Bill's school scheduling limits draw fire from educators (Times Reporter)

Area superintendents are cool to the idea of restricting the school year from Labor Day to Memorial Day — a measure that proponents say would help Ohio’s tourism industry. “This sends the wrong message to the people of Ohio with new school standards coming out,” said Newcomerstown Schools Superintendent Jeff Staggs. He wondered why the state would condense the time that school districts have to prepare their students to get ready for new tests and curriculum that will take effect in 2014 and 2015. Read More…

• Monroe schools fall into 'fiscal watch' (Enquirer)

MONROE — Despite recent deep budget cuts with more planned in 2012, the Monroe school district was placed in “fiscal watch” Thursday by the Ohio Auditor’s office. “These are undoubtedly tough times for the Monroe Schools that will require difficult decisions,” Ohio Auditor David Yost said. “I encourage the district to utilize every tool available to chart a path back to fiscal health.” The Butler County district had already been placed in “fiscal caution” last fall by the Ohio Department of Education and school district officials said they were not surprised by this latest development. Read More…

• County boards share services, budgets (Dispatch)

Because federal funds won’t be increasing and state money is diminishing, county boards of developmental disabilities across Ohio are cutting their budgets. “The money we all once had isn’t coming back, and programs are adjusting accordingly. And, yes, change is difficult, particularly when our sons and daughters are vulnerable,” John L. Martin, the director of the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities, told board members in charge of such programs in Union County last week. Read More…

Local Issues

• School Background Checks Under Scrutiny (WBNS 10 CBS)

GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS - A California teacher was in jail on $23 million bond on Thursday after being accused of tying up his students and other children up and taking pictures. The teacher, Mark Berndt, had passed his background check, CrimeTracker 10’s Jeff Hogan reported. A central Ohio superintendent said on Thursday that there were checks in place to prevent a school employee from getting away with criminal behavior. Read More…

• CPS rolls out career-counseling tool (Enquirer)

Cincinnati Public Schools’ high school students will soon have their own personal guidance counselors -- ones that start working with the student as early as ninth grade, will be available anytime they’re needed and who memorize their career goals and do college research in a split second. Oh, the counselors aren’t people. They’re embodied in a software program called Naviance Succeed. CPS has partnered with the software giant Naviance, based in Arlington, Va., for a computer program that allows students to create individual success plans for college and career. Read More…

• Hebrew is elementary at Youngstown's Akiva Academy (Vindicator)

Youngstown - By using the Rosetta Stone program, Akiva Academy sixth- grader Alexander Smith, 12, may work on Hebrew at his own pace. “It’s supposed to be one of the easiest [languages], but I struggle,” he said. Using the program, though, lets him focus on areas that give him difficulty. Sixth- and seventh- graders at the school began using Rosetta online about a month ago with plans for fourth- and fifth-graders to begin using it soon. Read More…

• City schools OK tutoring for 2,901 students (Dispatch)

After a long delay, the Columbus City Schools now have approved tutoring for 2,901 students in a federally funded program, and the district is awaiting information from companies that have signed up an additional 600 children. Because of a time lag in invoicing, the district doesn’t know how many students have begun being tutored. As of Wednesday, the district had received bills for 241 students. Read More…

Editorial

• Passing the Blue Ribbon Schools test (L.A. Times)

When the 2011 winners of the coveted National Blue Ribbon Schools award were announced, only one of the 305 recipients was in Los Angeles, and that was a charter school. By contrast, two were located about 30 miles away, in Santa Ana — in a school district less than one-tenth the size of L.A. Unified. Yet Santa Ana Unified is far from affluent. A higher percentage of its students are poor and not fluent in English than in L.A. Unified. Close to 95% are Latino — making Santa Ana the most demographically homogenous school district in Orange County. Read More…

Failing students, falling stock prices, and investor law suits

We've discussed the sorry state of Ohio's virtual schools before, and noted that for-profit virtual school operator K12 is the fastest growing in the state

Despite taking $58,944,956 from the state to run their Virtual academy, and despite packing their classrooms at a student teacher ratio of 51:1, their stock price has been falling rapidly

Shares of online education provider K12 Inc. LRN +1.86% were down 4% Wednesday, touching a one-year low earlier in the session at $20.29 after declining sharply on Tuesday. A New York Times article this week said that one of K12's main charter schools frequently failed to graduate students on time, and fell short of grade-level standards in math and reading.

Now the company is being sued by shareholders for being misleading

A shareholder in Virginia-based K12 Inc. has filed a lawsuit against the virtual-schools operator in federal court, alleging that the firm violated securities law by making false statements to investors about students’ poor performance on standardized tests.
[...]
The lawsuit comes after a spate of national news stories — including in The Washington Post — raised questions about the effectiveness of virtual schools, K12’s in particular. The firm’s stock has since plummeted.

Key among those stories was a New York Times investigation published Dec. 12 that found a mismatch between K12 student achievement and statements made by chief executive Ronald J. Packard.

During one investment conference call, the Times reported, Packard said that test results at one of the company’s largest online schools — Agora Cyber Charter — were “significantly higher than a typical school on state administered tests for growth.”

In fact, the article said: “Weeks earlier, data had been released showing that 42 percent of Agora students tested on grade level or better in math, compared with 75 percent of students statewide. And 52 percent of Agora students had hit the mark in reading, compared with 72 percent statewide. The school was losing ground, not gaining it.”

Despite failing students, falling stock prices, and investor law suits, K12, Inc. CEO Ronald J. Packard earns a windfall

Ronald J. Packard, the chief executive of Herndon-based education company K12 Inc., earned a total compensation package worth $5 million in fiscal 2011, according to an amended annual report filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

That’s nearly twice the $2.67 million Packard earned in 2010. It includes $551,000 in cash, $4.2 million in stock awards and about $290,000 in other compensation.

A awful lot of that fat paycheck came out of the pockets of Ohio tax payers, and some complain about teachers pay.

Education News for 02-02-2012

Statewide Education News

• Bill to delay school start until after Labor Day draws educators’ objections (Dispatch)

A bill that would change how Ohio schools calculate class time came under fire from both state and local school officials yesterday. But supporters say it would not only keep students in school longer, but also help the state’s tourism industry. Representatives of the Ohio School Boards Association, the Ohio Association of School Business Officials and a local school district testified before the House Education Committee in opposition to a bill that proposes a minimum school year based on the number of hours students spend in school, rather than days. Read More…

Local Issues

• Groveport Madison to ask: ‘What can you live without?’ (Dispatch)

Sports programs, high-school busing or all-day kindergarten could be gone this fall, as Groveport Madison school officials consider $4 million in budget cuts for the 2012-13 school year. But before district leaders come up with a plan to make those reductions, they want to hear from parents and community members about what they think is off-limits and what they are willing to live without. The district will play host to the first of two forums to discuss the issue at 7 p.m. Thursday at Groveport Madison High School. Read More…

• Board OKs phys ed opt-outs (Tribune Chronicle)

WARREN - Students of the city school district who participate in athletics and various other activities will now have the option to forego the physical education classes required for graduation. At a special Wednesday afternoon meeting, Warren City Board of Education members Regina Patterson, president, Robert Faulkner and Patricia Limperos approved the second and final reading of the new physical education waiver policy. Board members Andre Coleman and Rhonda Baldwin-Amorganos, who each initially voted against the opt-out policy, were absent. Read More…

• Unique Curriculum at Holmes Middle School Pays Off (WKRC 12 CBS)

Imagine kids who want to go to school... who look forward to learning in colorful rooms, where they sometimes break into a dance. That unique teaching method at the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, has been adopted locally by Covington Independent Schools. Local 12 News Reporter Deborah Dixon takes us to Holmes Middle School, where attendance and grades are up, and discipline problems are down. Students start the day in Ms. Wolf's Language Arts Class. "We are going to brainstorm the traits of a hero." Read More…

• Two companies sue over bus garage (News-Sun)

SPRINGFIELD — Two companies are suing entities involved in building the Springfield City School District’s bus garage, according to documents filed in the common pleas court. But the city schools and the Community Improvement Corporation of Springfield and Clark County are not responsible for the payments the companies are seeking, according to the parties involved. “It’s really a dispute between a contractor and a sub-(contractor),” said Jim Peifer, a local attorney who represent CIC, an economic development nonprofit organization. Read More…

• Lakota board agrees to get ready for $9M in cutbacks (Enquirer)

LIBERTY TWP. – Before Lakota Schools can tackle its looming budget shortfall, all officials need to be on the same page – especially administrators and the governing board, said Superintendent Karen Mantia. Mantia, at Wednesday’s board meeting, asked for clarification as to whether its five members agree that cutting $9 million to balance next school year’s budget is the way to go. The unusual request was brought about in part by an extensive and lengthy public discussion during last month’s board meeting that saw Mantia fielding a series of questions, primarily from veteran board member Joan Powell. Read More…

• No raises for Westerville schools support staff (Dispatch)

Support-staff workers in Westerville schools will receive no pay raises for the next two years under a deal unanimously approved yesterday by the Board of Education. But those provisions and a concession on health-care costs will take effect only if the district’s three other unions also take on more of their health-care costs. If the other unions don’t agree, the Westerville Educational Support Staff Association and district will revisit the contract extension. Read More…

Editorial

• Claymont Junior High School scores with e-reader funds (Times-Reporter)

On Jan. 14, 2012, I was listening to my police scanner when I heard a call for a possible fire at the Lincoln high-rise apartments. When the first officer arrived, he reported the Fire Department needed to step it up, because there was a fully engaged fire. As officers arrived, they entered the building and went to the 4th, 5th and 6th floors. We applaud the initiative shown at Claymont Junior High School, which this week began using Kindle e-readers in seventh- and eighth-grade language arts classes. Read More…

Education News for 02-01-2012

Statewide Education News

• Youngstown academic distress panel gains Cleveland member (Vindicator)

Youngstown - The commission overseeing the city school district’s academics has a new member — again. Stan Heffner, state superintendent of public instruction, announced Tuesday that Paul Williams, retired superintendent of Beachwood City Schools and a professor at Cleveland State University, is the academic-distress commission’s newest member. Williams moves into the seat formerly occupied by Adrienne O’Neill. Read More…

• Ohio receives ‘B’ in report on teaching science in K-12 (Dayton Daily News)

Ohio does a better job of teaching science to students in grades K-12 compared to most other states that “remain mediocre to awful,” according to a new report released Tuesday. Teaching science well is crucial to improving the nation’s ability to compete globally, remain prosperous and scientifically-advanced, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute found. While the news is good for Ohio, which received a “B” grade, the report’s overall findings are troubling because 27 states either earned “Ds” or “Fs” for their standards in a subject many experts said will play a critical role in future high-tech jobs. Read More…

• Terry Johnson introduces teacher appeals bill (Daily Times)

State Reps. Terry Johnson, R-McDermott, and Casey Kozlowski, R-Pierpoint, announced Monday they have introduced legislation to create a formal appeals process for school teachers who receive a letter of admonishment in their files from the Ohio Department of Education (ODE). Currently, when a complaint is filed and investigated, a letter of admonishment may be placed in his or her file as disciplinary action. Read More…

• Schools link smarts, phones (Dispatch)

Teachers in some classrooms confiscate smartphones from students caught texting or surfing social-media websites. Damon Mollenkopf doesn’t bother. The teacher at Westerville North High School actually encourages students to chat with one another on social-networking websites, with the hope that they’re talking about history. Read More…

Local Issues

• Massillon City Schools treasurer abruptly resigns (Repository)

MASSILLON — City School District Treasurer Teresa Emmerling abruptly resigned Tuesday, saying the school board and superintendent are attempting to make her the scapegoat for the district’s financial problems. “I cannot and will not continue to put myself in a situation where the board and superintendent have now started their ‘paper trail’ to corrupt my credibility, integrity and work ethic,” she said, reading a three-page resignation letter at the start of a special board meeting. Read More…

• Cincinnati School Lunches Setting Example With Healthy Makeover (WKRC 12 CBS)

A healthy change is coming which impacts millions of school children. For the first time in fifteen years, nutritional guidelines for school lunches have been revised. Local 12 News Reporter Jeff Hirsh tells us about the change for less junk and more quality. Kids today are getting less tater tots and more produce as part of the new Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010. The guidelines just announced last week by First Lady Michelle Obama ... things like more whole grains, low fat milk and cheese, and vending machines minus junk. Read More…

• School? There’s an MCCTC app for that (Vindicator)

Canfield - Mahoning County Career and Technical Center senior Elizabeth Blythe scrolled through the center’s new mobile application on her iPhone. “You can check grades on here?” she asked. “Yep, on Progress Book,” said Jacqueline Kuffel, career development supervisor at the school. The app, simply called MCCTC app, launched after the first of the year, allows students, parents and others from the community to check out what goes on at the center. Read More…

• District details $2.5M in cuts if levy fails (Dayton Daily News)

BEAVERCREEK — Elementary students’ art, music and physical education programs will be chopped in half while middle school and high school students will face higher pay-to-participate fees and fewer elective classes if Beavercreek City Schools’ 6.7-mill levy fails on March 6. The district announced $2.5 million in cuts to address the projected budget deficit if voters turn down an emergency operating levy request for a third time. Read More…

• Evans under fire from Canton teachers' union (Repository)

CANTON — The superintendent of City Schools is defending her record as the leader of Stark County’s largest school district as the teacher’s union demands a closed-door meeting with the Board of Education to air its concerns. The Canton Professional Educators’ Association has sent a letter to the school board seeking an executive session meeting with the board. If it doesn’t get the meeting, the union says it will make a public statement saying it has no confidence in Superintendent Michele Evans. Read More…

• Bedford schools offered $10,000 for ad-sign contract (Toledo Blade)

TEMPERANCE - The Bedford Public Schools could be in line for additional money for Bedford Community Stadium, the board of education was told at its committee of the whole meeting last week. Superintendent Ted Magrum said a Bedford business has offered to pay $10,000 a year for 10 years in return for being allowed to place ad signs at the press box and baseball and softball fields. The superintendent did not identify the business but said negotiations were under way. The Bedford High School Alumni Association has been the contact with the business, he said. Read More…

Editorial

• Bus stop (Dispatch) Kids who ride school buses operated by First Student Inc. to charter and private schools in Columbus should thank the State Highway Patrol trooper who showed recently that he’s looking out for their well-being. The Columbus City Schools should do the same, by keeping constant vigilance on this private transportation provider. A trooper who stopped a First Student bus for running a red light, which is alarming enough, was so shocked by the condition of the bus that he followed it to the company’s garage to perform some spot-checks on it and other buses. Read More…
• From the Statehouse to Steubenville (Beacon Journal)

If you haven’t noticed yet, John Kasich likes to do things a bit differently. The governor appeared to take pride a year ago in delivering the State of the State address with little in the way of a prepared text. No matter, evidently, that the speech turned into something closer to what you expect at a fund-raiser, complete with the umpteenth rendition of how Kasich once worked with the liberal Ron Dellums during their days in Congress. Read More…