Category Archive

What it’s going to take
Nov 20, 2008

Many teachers have children on their rosters who are chronically absent. The teacher follows procedures, makes the proper reports and talks with the student when she or he does show up. But beyond these steps, teachers often face a locked door. The child is slipping from their hands, and there is little they can do.

Progress Reports not ready for prime time
Oct 23, 2008

Still trying to make sense of the School Progress Reports? Daniel Koretz, a widely respected professor of educational measurement at Harvard, has looked at them, too, and warns that they are based on some shaky assumptions.

Knocking the nonsense out of test scores
Sep 25, 2008

When No Child Left Behind was first adopted, many people viewed achievement testing as a relatively straightforward enterprise whose results could tell us all we needed to know about student performance and school quality, writes testing expert Daniel Koretz in his 2008 book “Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us.” They were sadly mistaken.

Asking the right questions
Jun 05, 2008

What do teachers want? More money? Sure. Autonomy? Often yes. Better oversight? In some situations. Protection? Yes. Challenge? Stability? Change? Yes, yes and yes.

Springtime in education research
May 08, 2008

One amazing thing about education research is just how much of it there is. It’s like grass in spring, sprouting in such abundance it suddenly seems to be everywhere.

Improving teaching: the real value of value-added
Apr 10, 2008

Most teachers would agree with the research showing they are a key factor — probably the key school-based factor — in student achievement growth.

‘Gotcha’ gets data
Feb 14, 2008

The surprise revelation over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend that the Department of Education is looking at ways to evaluate teachers based on student test scores seemed of a piece with the DOE’s earlier efforts to “improve teacher quality.” When the department last went public on this front, it was to announce that it had hired a stable full of high-priced lawyers to help principals get rid of “bad” teachers.

Rethinking Assessments
Dec 06, 2007

Had enough assessment yet? If your answer is no, you still want more, call 1-800-OPL-EASE. For the rest of us, it is time to halt the madness.

Growing an independent voice
Oct 18, 2007

Many people in this city have called for an independent research group that would filter the mountains of data Tweed now both generates and interprets — and offer perhaps a different but more dispassionate view of what it all really means.

Moving Students forward — how do you measure that?
Sep 20, 2007

Starting with the launch of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2002, the hoopla surrounding test results has climbed to a fever pitch.

Pssst! It’s not a scandal Graduation rates show respectable gains
Jun 07, 2007

As Mayor Bloomberg was quick to announce (the day before less-than-stellar ELA scores came out), the city’s four-year graduation rate rose 1.5 percentage points to almost 60 percent last year, the highest in 21 years.

Hard-to-staff schools: Incentives at work
May 24, 2007

Getting as many highly qualified and effective teachers as are needed into hard-to-staff schools may be the toughest challenge yet.

Pay for performance not performing well
Apr 12, 2007

Guess what? New teacher pay-for-performance plans in Florida and Texas have run into big problems. Not surprised? Aha. You may be a teacher.

‘Equalizing’ teachers: Where DOE’s Fair Student Funding falls short
Mar 15, 2007

Who is the true defender of poor and minority student rights? It’s a discussion that’s loaded even before a situation becomes clear.

Fame and Shame: Groups’ campaign welcome;
Feb 15, 2007

District 24, exposed.

Rescuing dropouts in today’s high-stakes schools
Feb 15, 2007

The principal of one of the city’s second-chance, or “transfer,” high schools was worrying recently about two issues that didn’t seem to have much to do with graduation rates or Regents scores.

The toughest choice: Doing what works
Jan 18, 2007

Every teacher has had a brush with the “next big thing” (NBT). A principal talks to some consultant and comes back fired up by the next big thing in teaching or school organization.

The facts about classroom ‘miracle workers’
Oct 05, 2006

Raise your hand if you’ve heard any of these phrases recently: “Teachers change lives”; “teachers do God’s work”; “they produce miracles every day.”

Pomp or circumstance?
Jun 08, 2006

Recent research suggests some links between specific school conditions and graduation rates.

E.T.S. - R.I.P.
Apr 27, 2006

The Department of Education’s decision to end the Extended Time Schools program this summer closes the book on one of the city’s — and nation’s — most successful programs for turning around low-achieving schools.

News you can use
Apr 13, 2006

This month, Reality Check offers summaries of five articles from recent education publications that should be of practical use to people working in schools.

Leveling the playing field of dreams
Mar 16, 2006

Schools must be able to demonstrate that, on a level playing field, their spending and their student results are measured accurately and the public can see how they operate.

The private school advantage? Maybe not
Feb 16, 2006

Comparing private schools and public schools is risky business. It’s not only “apples to oranges” in terms of the cost, or the type of governance.

Early-childhood education a no-brainer — so where’s the funding?
Jan 19, 2006

The National Research Council says pathways being forged in the brain during the first five years of life set the stage for all future cognitive growth. If that is so, it’s powerful evidence for “front-loading” education reform by concentrating resources in the early years

How they count
Dec 08, 2005

States and localities use widely different ways of reporting dropout rates, and many tend to undercount.

Counting dropouts
Dec 08, 2005

No one would argue against a renewed focus on dropout prevention. But it helps to start from reality.

Getting the politics out of graduation rates
Nov 03, 2005

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is campaigning on his success in raising the graduation rate. Yet by some estimates the rate has gone down. Democratic challenger Fernando Ferrer is running on the city’s abysmal graduation rate. But by some estimates, the rate has gone up.

Math scores a mixed picture
Oct 06, 2005

With the release of the state math scores two weeks ago, we have the final piece of standardized test data from last school year. And, despite Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s self-congratulations, the results are decidedly mixed.

Cincinnati’s failed experiment
Feb 17, 2005

Starting in 2000, Cincinnati tried a radically new system for paying teachers. Teachers moved through a series of lateral and vertical pay steps using a standards-based performance evaluation based on frameworks developed by teacher and author Charlotte Danielson.

MERIT PAY: What are they talking about?
Feb 17, 2005

Whether out of cynicism or ignorance, many people have latched onto merit pay as a way to attract higher-quality teachers and drive out the mediocre — as if a salary based on student test scores would attract thousands of trained, talented teachers who until now have been sitting home or pursuing some other line of work!

A test in Denver
Feb 17, 2005

Denver teachers have voted to try a performance pay system in which teachers can earn additional pay in three areas: acquiring new skills and knowledge; passing performance evaluations and increasing student test scores; and working in shortage areas.

Testing charter schools
Jan 20, 2005

After all the assurances from their promoters that charter schools would outperform other public schools on standardized tests, the early results are in. And they aren’t good for charters.