Posts Categorized: Uncategorized

A new report says that schools spend billions on teacher training, but there’s no evidence that it works. Source: Study: Billions of dollars in annual teacher training is largely a waste – The Washington Post   This study is not a surprise, for a long time data has shown that, at least in this country,… Read more »

This past week, the Florida Board of Education adopted rules establishing, based just on the VAM data, defining what “Highly Effective, Effective, Needs Improvement/Developing, and Unsatisfactory” should mean.  If this model set out in the rule had been applied to the aggregate historical VAM data, the distribution of teachers would have been as below at… Read more »

Once again, more information that the quality of teachers matters, this study was based on Florida student and teacher data. Teachers hired during recession periods appeared to be somewhat more effective boosting students’ math scores than those teachers hired in more secure times, according to a new working paper published by the National Bureau of… Read more »

However, Gary Phillips, a vice president and institute fellow at the American Institutes for Research (and former acting commissioner of NCES), explained Wednesday in a media call about the release that the standards still varied greatly— by up to three or four grade levels. “The rigor of the grade 4 [proficiency] standards in the highest… Read more »

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The state’s teachers union says it is disappointed after another loss in its effort to overturn a 2011 law that set new guidelines on teacher evaluations.A federal appeals court in Atlanta on Tuesday upheld a lower court’s decision last year to throw out the case.Seven teachers from three counties, as well… Read more »

Florida lawmakers’ decision to end mandatory final exams for every class will mean that more teachers’ performance will be judged on subjects they don’t teach. Concerned about the amount of testing in schools — and pressured by activists and educators — this year lawmakers rescinded a state law that requires school districts to have a… Read more »

I have been meaning to write this post for a while. The Pasco school district recently contracted with TNTP, a national non-profit organization working to end educational inequality by ensuring that all students get excellent teachers, for a deep dive evaluation of its district. My hat is off to Kurt Browning for his willingness to… Read more »

Flaw punishes Fla. teachers when students earn perfect scores | www.mypalmbeachpost.com. Article appears to point out an anomaly that could impact teachers with students with perfect scores year over year, although as this teacher, Luke Flynt noted, the few students he had that had a perfect score did not impact his effective teacher ranking and,… Read more »

Virginia pushed into debate of teacher privacy vs. transparency for parents – The Washington Post. Article about the attempt to make teacher evaluation materials available in Virginia, referencing that these materials are available in Florida.

Richard Whitmire: Why top teachers work at great charters – NY Daily News. Interesting discussion of the importance of teacher quality, below are some quotes: Based on the revolving-door staffing history at that school, the real lesson from that school closure is this: The UFT school had all the advantages of operating like a charter…. Read more »