It would be nice to say that the tentative agreement reached by D.C. Public Schools and its American Federation of Teachers affiliate is any sort of radical revamp that will advance teacher quality reform. The plan for which Chancellor Michelle Rhee battled for long was that step. What she came out with isn’t.
At best, based on the internal documents leaked to Washington City Paper, it is more (slightly) evolutionary, if that. Even though teachers performance pay will be part of the plan, teachers can opt into it; essentially, like the Denver school district’s performance pay plan, most teachers can escape from it. Tenure seems essentially unchanged. And given that D.C. teachers will see a 21 percent salary increase, it continues the longstanding rule that school districts will give much in pay and little in return. At least the IMPACT performance evaluation system remains in place.
Hopefully the final agreement being unveiled today offers something different. But we know this: The contract seems more status quo. For Adrian Fenty, a fire is put out on his path to re-election. The AFT local’s boss is far too happy. Enough said.
Again, all about the adults, not about the kids and families stuck with one of the nation’s worst (albeit improving) school systems. Yes, absolutely disappointing all in all.
@EnglandinVa: Creativity, in and of itself, can exist without an education (at least the formal kind). But, bringing it back to the… in reply to EnglandinVa#
@EnglandinVa classroom, the problem with combining creativity and academic learning is that, more often than not, one the former ends up… in reply to EnglandinVa#
@EnglandinVa crowding out the other to the detriment of a student being able to actually master a subject. If a kid can’t master the basics in reply to EnglandinVa#
@EnglandinVa he won’t have the skills needed to be creative in ways that are actually productive for sustaining his life. This is especially in reply to EnglandinVa#
@EnglandinVa true for poor children, who are coming from bkgds with little academic preparation. As seen in the battle over the use of… in reply to EnglandinVa#
@EnglandinVa Discovery math (and in the converse, the basics-focused Singapore math), “creativity” at expense of “learning” can = trouble. in reply to EnglandinVa#
@EnglandinVa That said, it’s ultimately, the choice of parents (and children) which road to pick. But policymakers should focus on learning. in reply to EnglandinVa#
In NYC, #JoelKlein would be lauded for opening schools during ‘blizzard’. In, DC, #MichelleRhee is pilloried for just thinking about it. #
Young black males need the teaching so they can learn and succeed.
What’s happening in the dropout nation these days:
National Journal is hosting the latest of their weekly questions about education. This week, it is all about whether the No Child Left Behind Act will be reauthorized this year. I have offered my thoughts in this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast.
The president’s budget “freeze” doesn’t include education (of course). Education research also fairs well (according to EdWeek), alongside plans to fund charter schools that follow the Harlem Children’s Zone model (notes Tom Marshall). The Department of Education offers up its series of justifications for its spending priorities.
What role does school choice play in housing prices. Eric Bruner and his colleagues say that choice-based enrollment policies across all school districts (inter-district) and within them can bring home price and income stability to surrounding neighborhoods. Which may prove the value of school choice of all kinds public and private.
Meanwhile in D.C., schools boss Michelle Rhee isn’t exactly polling well, at least according to Bill Turque and Jon Cohen at the Washington Post. Some of it, of course, has to do with Rhee’s PR gaffes and general demeanor. But let’s get real: It is also about some more-unmentionable matters and also about the fact that Rhee is ending D.C. Public Schools’ role as the District’s jobs program and patronage system. This isn’t going to make the adults happy (even if it helps improve the educational opportunities of the kids who actually have to sit in the district’s classrooms).
Jay Mathews, of course, makes no secret of his opinion of Rhee. Whether he thinks she’ll last beyond her current term? He’s not so sure. My opinion: It will depend on whether Adrian Fenty — just as unpopular as Rhee for reasons of his own creation — doesn’t draw strong primary and general election opposition. If he doesn’t, Rhee stays. But if he does…
In Southern California, L.A. Unified’s school choice reform is mired in squabbling, with accusations of favoritism being tossed around by the district’s AFT local, according to the L.A. Daily News. Meanwhile the L.A. Times editorial board is disappointed by all the other problems emerging from the districts handling of the bidding process for the 30 schools offered for the first round of reform.
John Fensterwald notes a recent report on school district finances within the Golden State. Federal stimulus funds may have staved off fiscal belt-tightening for now, according to Fensterwald, but those funds are running out — which means more thoughtful approaches to operations.
In New York City, the local NAACP sues the city’s Department of Education over its shutdown of failing schools, according to Gothamist. As usual, NAACP attempts to strike a blow over the wrong issue — and failing black children in the process.
EducationNews re-runs one of Martin Haberman’s fine pieces on how to train teachers for urban school settings. Enjoy.
In Education Leadership, Eric Sparks, Janet L. Johnson and Patrick Ackos discuss using data in determining which students are at risk for dropping out. They look at 9th-grade performance. But they fail to mention Robert Balfanz’s innovative work in the early dropout indicators arena.
What is dropout nation: Tiny Schuylkill County, Pa., which has high levels of high school dropouts, according to a study cited in the Standard Speaker. The source of the data, Census sampling, may be unreliable for actually measuring the number of dropouts and graduates. But it gives some sense of the problems within Pennsylvania’s coal country.
Kevin Carey takes shots at EdWeek for a report on a for-profit college industry study. Certainly, Carey is no fan of University of Phoenix’s of the world for reasons both good and specious. You go figure out where you stand.
And you can check out this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, this on the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. Enjoy.
As D.C. Public Schools and the American Federation of Teachers’ Beltway local continue to spar over competing contract proposals — and Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s school reform plans — the district’s teacher quality czar continues to implement IMPACT, the performance review program that features the use of student test score data in evaluating teacher performance.
Jason Kamras may be the most-important person in education today. Yes, more important than Arne Duncan or Joel Klein or any of the two national union heads or even Rhee herself. On Rhee’s behalf, he is overseeing the most-comprehensive reform of teacher evaluation and performance management going on today. More importantly, he is already saying that the results he sees from this effort may be used in wide-ranging ways, from rewarding the best teachers to deciding which ed schools are deserving of D.C.’s patronage.
At a meeting with education professionals last night, Kamras admitted that the plan still needed some work. Although D.C. held a mass professional development session early in the school year, along with other meetings, Kamras said the district needed “to do more communication [with teachers]. We can never do enough of that” He also noted that the student benchmark tests given throughout the year aren’t fully included in the value-added analysis used in evaluating teachers; the final value-added assessment isn’t completed and delivered to teachers for their evaluations until July, just when they have to decide whether to stay and go through the remediation (if they are lagging) or quit. That said, Kamras notes that the rest of the evaluation scores, which are given in June, should give teachers more than enough info on where they are likely to stand; especially if their performance is in the proverbial red.
Kamras notes that there is still more work ahead. D.C. Public Schools is working with its test provider on delivering the final standardized test data in time so all the information can be used to fully evaluate teachers in a more-timely manner. There is also some discussion on how to use technology to conduct teacher observations; but, as Kamras noted in response to one question, cameras in the classroom aren’t comforting to teachers (who often prefer in-person observations) and given D.C. law (which requires a person to give permission to being taped on camera), it may not be worth it. Kamras notes that if a teacher rejects the use of cameras, then “we’re back at square one.”
The biggest impact may come in terms of choosing which ed schools from which D.C. and its sister traditional districts and charters schools they choose. Kamras said last night that if an ed school produces far too many laggard instructors, he will tell them that he’s not recruiting from their schools — and will tell his colleagues throughout the D.C.-Virginia-Maryland region as well. He will likely tell those districts about the successful ed schools as well. This could actually result in improvements in teaching quality throughout the area — and ultimately, the nation.
The efforts in D.C. are certainly interesting to watch. Whether or not other school districts will follow its model will largely depend on the willingness of school chief executives to take on the lax performance management cultures and servile relationships districts often have with their union locals. As you can see below, here is a short clip of Kamras’ response to a question about how he thinks performance pay will shake up teaching.
Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty may be getting acclaim nationally for his overhaul of D.C.’s traditional public schools. But there is more to being mayor than education reform — and Fenty still struggles in those roles. Read more in my latest piece in The American Spectator.
Last year, I noted in The American Spectator that President Barack Obama’s appointment of Arnie Duncan as U.S. Secretary of Education was evidence of the increasing strain in the relationship between teachers unions and the Democratic Party. A younger generation of Democrat school reformers, led by such stalwarts as Education Sector’s Andy Rotherham, along with the school reform efforts of urban mayors such as Adrian Fenty in Washington, D.C., would prove to be strong foes against efforts to maintain the status quo by the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). As a result of diverging positions between the two groups on such matters as national standards and teacher compensation, the relationship between Democrats and teachers unions would get interesting, to say the least.
A year later, NEA and AFT leaders finally realize that they can’t count on unquestioned Democrat support. From the divide within the AFT’s DC local over the alternate salary scale (in exchange for ending tenure) proposed by DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee to the mandates for expanding charter schools and implementing performance-based teacher pay contained in the Race to the Top guidelines, teachers unions find themselves in an uncomfortable position. The lack of support from their allies makes the positions of union leaders and the rank-and-file untenable. And the tenuous conditions of heavily-underfunded teacher pensions, along with the desire among new teachers to be rewarded for successful work also means that NEA and AFT locals must think over their stances.
This doesn’t mean that teachers unions won’t hold on for dear life and it certainly doesn’t mean that Democrats will suddenly abandon their most-consistent source of campaign financing and electioneering support. The ascent of Sen. Tom Harken to the chairmanship of the Senate’s education and labor committee means the loss of a strong supporter of school reform (in the form of the late Ted Kennedy) — and gives the AFT and NEA some hope. Whether Duncan (and Obama) will stand behind school reforms will depend as much on Obama’s approval ratings as on finding dollars to add to the funding once Race to the Top dollars are spent.
Meanwhile conservative school reformers such as the Thomas B. Fordham Institute — once stalwart supporters of school reform — have retreated as support from Republicans and institutional dollars has dissipated. If Republicans win back at least the House next year, this will likely mean step backs in school reform efforts at the federal level — which would favor the NEA and AFT overall.
Again, the positioning by school reform Democrats and teachers unions will remain the most-interesting drama in federal education discussions for some time.
On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, RiShawn Biddle takes a look at the Darnell “Dynasty” Young bullying incident in Indianapolis and the Mark Berndt scandal enveloping L.A. Unified, and point out the consequences of failed school leadership. From superintendents such as Eugene White in Indianapolis blaming kids they call “crippled” and “crazy” for failure […]
As the countdown begins for the first annual Summer of Transforming Education fundraising campaign for grassroots reform groups coming this Memorial Day, watch this month’s On the Road podcast featuring Connecticut Parents Union President (and Dropout Nation Contributing Editor) Gwen Samuel’s testimony before the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Commit […]
On this week’s Monitor, RiShawn Biddle notes the House Education and the Workforce subcommittee’s hearing on Parent Power and Family Engagement featuring Connecticut Parents Union President Gwen Samuel; checks out the lawsuit filed by StudentsFirst, Parent Revolution and others against California’s state government over tenure and reverse-seniority layoffs; […]
Dropout Nation is published by The RiShawn Biddle Consultancy LLC and Dropout Nation Publications LLC. Copyright 2010, RiShawn Biddle and The RiShawn Biddle Consultancy LLC. All rights reserved.
