University of Arkansas education professor Jay P. Greene has weighed in on the BIll and Melinda Gates Foundation’s conclusions about its teacher evaluation study. Greene says the foundation’s conclusions were based on the politics of convincing teachers and school districts of the merits of evaluations, and not data. He takes particular aim at classroom observations, […]
The Gates Foundation says teacher performance can be accurately evaluated using data-based statistical formulas, but the best teacher evaluations also include student ratings and classroom observation. That’s the conclusions from a three-year, $45 million study of a number of big school districts across the country including Hillsborough County, Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Memphis, New York City […]
Hillsborough County schools are retaining more than nine of every ten new teachers they hire with the help of a mentoring program funded by a $100 million dollar grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Teacher retention has been a persistent problem nationally, with some studies finding as many as half of all new […]
What if you threw a party, but no one who was invited appreciated your hospitality? That’s what happened with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which recently sponsored a teacher town hall meeting as part of the American Graduate project. A group of Hillsborough County teachers boarded a bus to Jacksonville for the event. The […]
The Washington Post published a story looking at the Montgomery County teachers’ union, and how union leadership has worked with the school district on training teachers, firing low-performing teacher and setting budget priorities. The cooperation is one reason the suburban D.C. district is one of the nation’s best public school systems, according to some quoted […]
Hillsborough County Classroom Teachers Association president Jean Clements says dual efforts to toughen Florida’s school grading system and approve a law allowing a majority of parents to choose how to restructure their child’s failing school amount to an education land grab for private business. Clements’ op-ed was published on the Washington Post’s Answer Sheet blog. […]
The leading advocate for modern, complex teacher evaluation formulas argues they should not be used for their most basic purpose — comparing one teacher’s score to another. In an op-ed in the New York Times, Microsoft founder Bill Gates argues individual teacher scores should not be a tool to publicly shame low-rated teachers. To do […]
A Hillsborough County high school teacher suspended last week over his objection to a new evaluation has apparently posted his emails with school and union officials online. Newsome High School teacher Joseph Thomas objected to a peer evaluator he believed did not have enough experience. The review is part of a new teacher evaluation system […]
Hillsborough County has won another national education grant, this time to improve principal training. The Wallace Foundation announced Hillsborough was one of six districts to share a $75 million, six-year grant. Districts will receive $7.5 million to $12.5 million to develop programs in four areas: rigorous job requirements, high-quality training, selective hiring, and on-the-job evaluation […]
The best Miami-Dade teachers could buy a new car with their bonuses this year while most of their colleagues may only be able to replace an alternator with their bonuses. The difference in the size of those checks is an attempt to pay teachers based on their performance and that of their students, also known […]
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