Memphis City Schools has partnered with Teachscape to install a city-wide system of video capture systems that will allow for improved teacher professional growth. The city expects to use the system for teacher development, support, as well as evaluation. Each school will have at least one device as part of the district’s long term goal Read more about Video Teacher Evaluations: Memphis Schools say Yes[…]
With new standards, technology-facilitated curriculum, and extensive formative and summative assessment design, the importance of the teacher is at risk of being overlooked. In study after study, the teacher is held up as the most significant variable for student success. In this month’s issue brief, we explore the importance of teachers and their insights for Read more about January Issue Brief: The Importance of Teachers[…]
The Strategic Data Project (SDP), part of Harvard’s Center for Education Policy Research, has teamed with Los Angeles Public Schools (LAUSD) for the last two years and has just released findings based on “analysis of student achievement data to measure teacher effectiveness.” The formal title of the revealing report is The LAUSD Human Capital Diagnostic. Read more about Analysis of achievement data to measure teacher effectiveness[…]
Yesterday, Katy Farber offered the following letter to the fallen teachers of Sandy Hook Elementary. We repost it here in honor of their memories and in respect for the selfless acts that teachers perform in our nation’s schools each day. To my fallen colleagues, I heard your stories today on the radio, on my way Read more about A teacher’s letter to the fallen teachers of Sandy Hook[…]
In the much-debated world of education policy, particularly over the last few years, teachers have taken much of the flak regarding the lack of student achievement and failing schools. Washington DC public schools (DCPS) stands as a lightning rod for these debates. As we wrote about recently (https://coreeducationllc.com/blog2/is-dcps-a-model-urban-school-district/), some see DCPS as a model for Read more about Trusting Teachers with School Success[…]
A crucial question at the nexus of the issues of student achievement and battles between school districts and teachers unions is the issue of teacher pay scale. A helpful study by Jason A. Grissom of Vanderbilt University and Katharine O. Strunk of the University of Southern California has recently delved deeply into this question and Read more about Teacher raises: What works best?[…]
A new paper recently released by the Center for American Progress argues that excessive teacher absences, as might be expected, cause decreases in student achievement and waste school district resources. However, the paper asserts that problem of these excessive absences could be fairly easily alleviated because “the vast variation in teacher absence behavior means there Read more about Teacher Absenteeism is a “Leading Indicator” of Student Success[…]
The New Teacher Project (TNTP) has recently released a new report, Keeping Irreplaceables in D.C. Public Schools: Lessons in Smart Retention, which holds up the reforms begun in DC public schools by former schools chancellor Michelle Rhee as a model for human capital reform. The main thrust of the reforms highlighted concerns good teacher retention Read more about Is DCPS a model urban school district?[…]
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) demands that “all students have access to qualified teachers, particularly in core academic subjects” and requires that “state and local policies have introduced incentives to attract well-qualified teachers to low-performing and urban schools.” The Institute of Education Sciences/National Center for Education Statistics have recently released comprehensive statistics detailing exactly who Read more about Beginning K–12 Teacher Characteristics and Preparation[…]
Mario Marino of Venture Philanthropy Partners recently blogged on the importance of great people for the success of any education reform. Although his audience consists mostly of nonprofits and philanthropies, his reflections are appropriate for anyone working in the education sector. Marino writes: I’d be the last to discourage innovation, but our problem is not Read more about Great People over Great Models[…]
TNTP, a national nonprofit organization working to ensure that all students get excellent teachers, recently released a first-of-its-kind resource on effective teaching written by and for practicing teachers. The resource, Unlocking Student Effort , is a paper that includes five essays written by the winners of TNTP’s 2012 Fishman Prize for Superlative Classroom Practice, a Read more about Unlocking Student Effort[…]
The 2012 McGraw Prize in Education winners have been named. Each winner will be presented with a $50,000 prize during the gala awards ceremony on Tuesday, September 18. This year, the 25th anniversary of the Prize, honors the following “Game Changers”: John Merrow has spent many years as an education reporter for National Public Radio Read more about Education “Game Changers”[…]
In Cincinnati, newly released research finds that teacher participation in a teacher evaluation system that includes highly structured classroom observations increases student performance. Released in the Fall 2012 edition of Education Next, the study looks at practice-based teacher assessment that relies on multiple, highly structured classroom observations conducted by experienced peer teachers and administrators. Researchers Read more about Does evaluation make teachers more effective?[…]
We all know those teachers — the high-fliers, the irreplacables, the inspiring ones. One of our central concerns in education reform should not just be teacher retention, but retention of the “right” teachers. In this Issue Brief, we explore the many ways schools are offering exceptional teachers with opportunities to remain enthusiastic and growing, without Read more about August Issue Brief: Teacher Leadership[…]
The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) recently released a new study that takes an in-depth look at “teacher quality,” and how our understanding of the concept has changed over the past decade. The report, From Teacher Education to Student Progress: Teacher Quality Since NCLB, notes that prior to NCLB, it was assumed that teacher effectiveness was Read more about Teacher Quality Since NCLB[…]
In a recent article for Slate, Ryan Fisman reflects on the current emphasis on teacher effectiveness. Is firing bad instructors the only way to improve schools? According to new research, maybe not. Few districts have the “luxury” of being able to fire low-performing teachers and replacing them with more effective ones. This being the case, Read more about How to Build a Better Teacher[…]