Teacher Evaluations

Do American Schools Need More Classroom Closers?

Sam Chaltain | Posted 05.29.2012

Read More: Teacher Evaluations, Education, Sam Chaltain, Teacher Evaluation, Race to the Top, Obama Administration, Education Reform, Teachers, Learning, Boston Red Sox, Education News

What is the statistical equivalent of a "save" in teaching -- and if we measured it, would it help us better assess a teacher's ability to support the learning and growth of children?

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Addressing the Other Side of Teacher Evaluation

Harriet Sanford | Posted 05.22.2012

Read More: Peer Assistance and Review, Education, Education Reform, Elgin, Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Evaluation, Columbus Ohio, Education News

Instead of just setting a bar for teachers to reach, Peer Assistance and Review programs create teacher-led coaching and support systems to ensure that educators can meet expectations and continue to grow throughout their careers.

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The Worst 8th Grade Math Teacher In New York City

| Aaron Pallas | Posted 05.16.2012

Read More: New York City Schools, New York State Exams, Math Teachers, Video, Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Data Reports, English Language Arts, New York Teacher Evaluations, Carolyn Abbott, New York City Teacher Evaluations, Teachers, Education News

This piece comes to us courtesy of The Hechinger Report's A Sociological Eye on Education blog. For 10 months, Carolyn Abbott waited for the other...

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More Mistakes Found In New York's Error-Laden Exams

Posted 05.09.2012

Read More: New York State Exams, Teacher Evaluations, School Report Cards, New York State Exam Errors, New York State Tests, Standardized Testing, New York Schools, High Stakes Testing, New York, New York Education, Education News

The errors on New York's state exams just keep mounting. Foreign language versions of the state math exams administered to third through eighth gra...

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In Praise of Ordinary Teachers

Terry Curtis Fox | Posted 05.08.2012

Read More: Teacher Quality, Teacher Evaluations, Education, Teachers Unions, Teachers Union, Teachers, Public Education, Teaching, Education News

The crisis in American education is really about how to find and retain and nourish ordinary teachers. They are the ones who do most of the work, have the greatest influence, and are under the greatest stress.

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Struggle Over How To Evaluate Special Ed Teachers

AP | CHRISTINE ARMARIO | Posted 04.24.2012

Read More: Special Education Teachers, Special Ed Teacher Evaluations, Special Ed, Florida Schools, Teacher Evaluations, Video, Florida Teachers, Special Education, South Florida Schools, Race to the Top, Teachers Unions, u.s. Department of Education, Teachers, National Association of Special Education Teachers, Education News

MIAMI -- Since the first day of class this school year, Bev Campbell has been teaching her students how to say their names. Some of the children in h...

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What Do Teachers Need? R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

Tom Allon | Posted 04.16.2012

Read More: Education, Education Reform, Finland Education, Education Crisis, Teacher Evaluations, Value Added Teacher Evaluation, School Closings, Education News

How did we get to a place in this country where our teaching force of more than three million professionals is being made the scapegoat for all the ills of an educational system that has been in decline for more than five decades?

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A People-(Em)Powered Evaluation System

Sabrina Stevens | Posted 05.27.2012

Read More: Public Schools, Teacher Evaluations, Education, Education Policy, Standardized Testing, Education Reform, Teachers, Schools, Education News

We owe it to our students, and our shared future, to marshal the resources and the public will necessary to create school systems that invest in their people instead of tests.

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What Do Teachers Think About Education Reform?

HuffingtonPost.com | Joy Resmovits | Posted 03.26.2012

Read More: Education News, Teacher Tenure, Education, Teacher Evaluations, Obama Education, Teacher Seniority, Teacher Experience, Standardized Tests, Standardized Testing, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Teachers, Education Reform, Ed-Lection 2012, Education News

Revamping the makeup of the teaching profession through tweaks such as altering tenure and teacher evaluations has become a policy debate du jour, one...

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Education Is a 'Both-And' Issue

Martin J. Blank | Posted 05.23.2012

Read More: No Child Left Behind, Education, Teacher Evaluations, Poverty, Community Schools, Undefeated Documentary, Education Reform, Broader Bolder Alliance, Education News

Recent reports suggest that the "both-and" approach of community schools - effective teachers, more opportunity and support -- is a great strategy for helping kids succeed.

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Why Is Miss Grundy So Sad? It's Complicated.

HuffingtonPost.com | Joy Resmovits | Posted 03.21.2012

Read More: Education News, Michelle Rhee, Chris Christie, Teacher Survey, No Child Left Behind, MetLife Survey, Tenure, Education Recession, Standardized Tests, Recession, Education, Teacher Evaluations, Scholastic, Teacher Sentiment, Standardized Testing, Education Reform, Teachers, Gates Foundation, Education News

For the last four years, Beth Sanders has taught ninth and 11th-grade social studies at Tarrant High School in Birmingham, Ala., a school where many s...

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Maybe it's Time to Ask the Teachers?

Linda Darling-Hammond | Posted 05.20.2012

Read More: Teachers Satisfaction, Teacher Quality, Student Test Scores, Teacher Evaluations, Teacher-Test-Scores, Teacher Assessment, Broader Bolder Approach, Value-Added, Teacher-Job-Satisfaction, Education News

We have never heard more policy rhetoric about developing, recruiting and retaining strong teachers. Ironically, our policies have also never done more to ensure that good teachers have little incentive to serve and stay in those schools.

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Great Principals: Leaders, Learners, Innovators

Matthew Resnick | Posted 05.19.2012

Read More: High-School-Principals, New York City Public Schools, Teacher Evaluations, School Principals, Education Reform, Teen News

The main job of a principal is to ensure that the students in their school are receiving an effective education, and they must do whatever it takes to ensure that that happens -- no excuses.

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Education by the Numbers

Randi Weingarten | Posted 05.18.2012

Read More: Michelle Rhee, Parent Trigger, Standardized Testing, Teacher Evaluations, Education, Teachers, Education Reform, Students First, New York Teachers, Education News

Given these discouraging statistics, it comes as no surprise that teacher satisfaction is at a 20-year low. Nearly a third of teachers said they are likely to leave the profession. No other industry would stand for this massive brain drain.

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The Rational Middle

Ama Nyamekye | Posted 05.16.2012

Read More: Good Teaching, Teacher Evaluations, New Teacher Evaluations, Value Added Teacher Evaluation, Lausd, Teacher Effectiveness, Teacher Assessment, Los Angeles News

Our national debate over evaluation lacks the courage and nuance of the real-life conversations I have with hardworking, rational teachers. Instead, the debate is dominated by polarizing sound bites that inspire fear, not rational discourse.

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Improving the Conditions for Teaching and Learning

Martin J. Blank | Posted 05.14.2012

Read More: Public Schools, Teacher Quality, Oakland, Child Poverty, Teacher Evaluations, Oakland Unified School District, Community Schools, Education Reform, Schools, Education News

When there are distractions in the classroom and in children's lives, teachers have a harder time doing their job. That's not an excuse, that's reality.

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Sending Off My Nervous Baby Into the World -- of Standardized Testing

Homa Sabet Tavangar | Posted 05.14.2012

Read More: Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Teacher Evaluations, Pssa, Standardized Testing, Nclb, Testing, Education, Elementary Education, Standardized Testing Elementary School, Standardized Testing Schools, Parents News

I'm mad this morning. My 8 year-old is a nervous wreck. Today is the first day of PSSA standardized testing at her school.

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Reassuring Kids About Failure Boosts Scores, Says Study

HuffingtonPost.com | Joy Resmovits | Posted 03.13.2012

Read More: Education News, Testing, Video, Education, Teacher Evaluations, Psychological Research, Claude Steele, France, Standardized Tests, Standardized Testing, Stereotype Threat, Psychology, Education Reform, Teachers, Education News

Every day for the last four years, Leah Alcala has greeted her Berkeley, California, middle-school students with an exercise she calls "my favorite no...

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Wisconsin Seeks To Evaluate Aspiring Teachers Through Lesson Plans, Classroom Videos

| Erin Richards | Posted 05.12.2012

Read More: Video, Wisconsin Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Evaluations, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Schools, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Wisconsin Portfolio-Based Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Performance Assessment, Teachers, Portfolio-Based Assessment, Education News

This piece comes to us courtesy of The Hechinger Report. MILWAUKEE -- Before he could start student teaching in January at Sennette Middle School i...

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Lessons From a Potential Lemon

Rebecca Joseph | Posted 05.09.2012

Read More: K-12 Education, Bad Teachers, Teacher Evaluations, Education, Arne Duncan, Diane Ravich, Teacher Education, Bill Gates, Education Reform, Teaching, Teacher, Students, Education News

I was a potential lemon, but I had the will and desire to change and others had the same commitment to help me. Yet there are many teachers who lack that will and who never improve year after year.

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Death by Algorithm

Patricia McGuire | Posted 05.08.2012

Read More: IMPACT Tests, Teacher Assessment, Teacher Quality, High Impact Testing, Schools of Education, Teacher Evaluations, Fairfax Public Schools, School Reform, DC Adult Illiteracy, D.C. Public Schools, Value-Added Testing, DC News

If the school reformers truly believe that teachers are the key to the success of children --- and I agree, they certainly are one of the keys --- then the reformers must reconsider the mindless application of the deadly algorithm.

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Teacher Job Satisfaction Plummets (Perhaps Teacher-Bashing Isn't Productive)

Kevin Welner | Posted 05.07.2012

Read More: Michelle Rhee, Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels, Teachers Unions, Democrats for Education Reform, Waiting for Superman, MetLife Survey, Rick Scott, Stand for Children, Teacher Evaluations, Jan Brewer, Scott Walker, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, John Kasich, Teachers, Education News

None of us would want to have our job performance judged on an outcome that we don't really control. But that's where teachers now find themselves.

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Why Would Any Sane Person Want to Teach?

Steve Nelson | Posted 05.05.2012

Read More: Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Rankings, Education Reform, United Federation of Teachers, Race to Nowhere, New York Teachers, NY Teacher Rankings, NYC Department of Education, Education News

The latest skirmish in the education wars came as the New York Times published performance rankings for New York City public school teachers. Teachers don't need metrics-driven scolding. They need small classes, professional development and moral support.

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Confessions Of A 'Bad' Teacher

The New York Times | William Johnson | Posted 05.05.2012

Read More: Bad Teachers, Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Ratings, Value Added, Value Added Assessments, Value Added Teacher Evaluation, New York Teacher Ratings, Education News

I AM a special education teacher. My students have learning disabilities ranging from autism and attention-deficit disorder to cerebral palsy and emot...

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Minn. Senate Passes Bill To Let Schools Fire Teachers Based On Performance

AP | By ALEXANDRA TEMPUS | Posted 02.27.2012

Read More: Teacher Layoffs, Education Minnesota, Teacher Evaluations, Minnesota Schools, Minnesota Teacher Layoffs Bill, Teacher Seniority, Minnesota Teachers, Teacher Assessment, Teachers, Pam Wolf, Teacher Performance, Education News

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Senate passed a bill Monday that would let schools lay off teachers based on their performance in the classroom rathe...

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