Leading mathematician debunks ‘value-added’ - The Answer Sheet. This was written by John Ewing, president of Math for America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving mathematics education in U.S. public high schools by recruiting, training and retaining great teachers. This article originally appeared in the May Notices of the American Mathematics Society. It gives a comprehensive look at the history, current use and problems with the value-added model of assessing teachers. It is long but well worth your time. By John Ewing Mathematicians occasionally worry about the misuse of their subject. But the most common misuse of mathematics is simpler, more pervasive, and (alas) more insidious: mathematics employed as a rhetorical weapon—an intellectual credential to convince the public that an idea or a process is “objective” and hence better than other competing ideas or processes.
The latest instance of the phenomenon is valued-added modeling (VAM), used to interpret test data. Background Today, tests have more consequences. 1. 2. 4. History. Researcharticle_visible_learning. Race to the Top Fund. Race to the Top Fund Race to the Top Phase Three Announcements, Applications, Application Review, Technical Assistance Race to the Top Phase Two Announcements, Applications, Scores and Comments, Application Review, Technical Assistance Race to the Top Phase One Announcements, Applications, Scores and Comments, Application Review, Technical Assistance FY 2011 Budget Request President Obama announced his plans to continue the Race to the Top challenge, requesting $1.35 billion for the program in his FY 2011 budget. For more information, please see the Executive Summary.
Program Office: Implementation and Support Unit (ISU) CFDA Number: 84.395 Program Type: Discretionary/Competitive Grants Through Race to the Top, we are asking States to advance reforms around four specific areas: Awards in Race to the Top will go to States that are leading the way with ambitious yet achievable plans for implementing coherent, compelling, and comprehensive education reform. Read What’s in HB 555, Ohio’s New School Report Card, Etc. Bill. Low-performing dropout recovery charter schools could be closed by the state by 2016 under a new education bill currently moving through Ohio’s state legislature. The major thing that bill, HB 555, would do is establish new school report cards for Ohio schools and school districts. But it would also make other changes affecting Ohio schools. Those changes include creating a separate report-card system for dropout recovery charter schools.
Those are schools that serve older students who have dropped out of traditional schools. Unlike other charter schools, dropout recovery schools have been exempted from state laws that force other low-performing charter schools to close. Other changes include: Making the state Board of Education (rather than the state Department of Education) responsible for deciding who can be a charter-school sponsor. Update, Nov. 15: You can also read the Legislative Service Commission’s analysis of the bill. Teacher Evaluation Impasse Costs New York City Hundreds Of Millions : The Two-Way. In New York City, the failure to agree on a plan for evaluating its teachers is being widely criticized, especially because it means the city will now miss out on hundreds of millions of dollars in state financing. At stake was $250 million in state aid, and another $200 million in grants, according to WNYC's Schoolbook education blog. State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch says that missing the deadline, which was set by Gov.
Andrew Cuomo, is "devastating," writes Schoolbook's Patricia Willens. "'But just as devastating is the failure to implement an evaluation plan to give educators the feedback they need to improve their practice and help their students learn and succeed," Tisch added. "Unfortunately, the adults couldn't or wouldn't come together for the sake of New York's 1.1 million school children. " From member station WNYC (and Schoolbook), Yasmeen Khan filed a report for NPR's Newscast that discusses how the discussions broke down:
Teacher Evaluation Dispute Echoes Beyond Chicago. Hide captionOne of the primary disputes in the Chicago Public Schools teachers' strike is over Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposal to link teacher pay to student performance. Robert Ray/AP One of the primary disputes in the Chicago Public Schools teachers' strike is over Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposal to link teacher pay to student performance.
One of the primary issues at the heart of the the Chicago teachers' strike is whether student test scores should be used to evaluate teachers and determine their pay. Mayor Rahm Emanuel is pushing that approach, as are other officials around the nation. But many teachers insist that it's inherently unfair to grade their teaching based on their students' learning. Just the fact that there's a growing discussion around teacher evaluations is a huge leap for the education industry.
Historically, reviews have been haphazard, ranging from nonexistent to an annual classroom visit from the principal — often referred to as the "drive-by. " 'A Down And Dirty Fight'