"Teachers & Parents for Real Education Reform"

Showdown Over Individual Teacher Talent May Be the Wrong Focus

2009-10-24T12:42:00.006-04:00

The escalating conflict over firing and hiring individual teachers may be the result of an ill conceived reform strategy in DCPS. To the extent that even the budget crisis that led to firing 229 teachers after hiring over 900 over the summer fits into a long term strategy of turning over the teacher workforce, that strategy may fly in the face of research on what works.In a new Policy Brief

Uniting for Real Education Reform -- a teacher reports on the impact of the Oct. 8 Rally for Respect

2009-10-14T18:41:00.008-04:00

After a stressful few weeks of uncertainty from the impending RIFs followed by 16 lay offs at my school alone, it was a welcomed feeling to board a bus full of colleagues to last Thursday's Washington Teachers Union rally. New teachers alongside veteran teachers rode together as we joined the thousands of others rallying around the unjust budget cuts made a month and a half into the school

Rhee Fires Teachers, Apparently Without Cause -- Budgetary or Competence

2009-10-03T13:18:00.018-04:00

The RIFs came down Friday as 229 teachers and others totaling 388 school employees got pink slips. They will be put on paid leave until November 2, when they will no longer have jobs. The Washington POST dutifully wrote an editorial Saturday applauding the RIFs. Incredibly, the POST reasoned that since there are some bad teachers in DCPS, therefore any firing of teachers must be justified, no

SHAPPE Letter Questions $ Cuts and RIFs

2009-09-30T16:36:00.010-04:00

On this day when budget cuts were due to be translated into pick slips delivered to teachers in every school, the Senior High Alliance of Principals, Parents and Educators (SHAPPE) today delivered a carefully worded letter to the City Council. It called for Council hearings and closer oversight over DCPS to make up for a lack of central planning and accountability that schools need from the

The Cat's Out of the Bag on Budget Cuts

2009-09-23T10:30:00.005-04:00

Over the weekend City Councilmember David Catania revealed privately to "Teachers and Parents for..." member Kerry Sylvia that the purpose of the contrived budget cuts was to get principals to ID their least competent teachers for removal. Today the Washington Post announced the same thing in their lead editorial. So what's the problem with this?The problem is that the Chancellor has had more

Mass Hiring and Mass Layoff -- What Gives?

2009-09-21T10:57:00.003-04:00

DC teacher Dan Brown's September 18 Huffington Post article on the DCPS budget cut to schools hits the nail on the head. He explains why hiring 900 newbies over the summer and mass teacher layoffs in the fall is an ill conceived strategy.

Marginalized For Life

2009-09-13T23:47:00.002-04:00

Ten years working with students as a DCPS social worker and I can confidently say that David’s situation is not remarkable. Due to concerns about privacy I am not going to discuss specifics about his life but speak about typical circumstances of students like him.Who shares the blame for David being in the fifth grade and not being able to read? It is a multi-system failure starting with his

Marginalized taking the DC BAS

2009-09-09T23:10:00.004-04:00

Only two days after Labor Day and the high stakes testing frenzy is in full swing across DC Public Schools. At my school students started the first day of the DC BAS today. It is not as long as DC CAS and is supposed to serve as a baseline to track student progress for the April tests.Without getting into all of the politics of standardized testing, I thought I would share my experience today

2009-08-20T16:01:00.005-04:00

PROGRESS? IT DEPENDS HOW YOU MEASURE IT!By Guy Brandenburg, retired DCPS math teacherQuestion: Can the statisticians in the group check the following claim, made in the intro to the PBS segment on DCPS progress under chancellor Rhee? “…almost half of elementary students are now on grade level, according to the city’s year-end DC-CAS test. That may not sound like much,

2009-08-19T21:40:00.002-04:00

REGULAR DCPS ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OUT-PERFORM THEIR CHARTER SCHOOL COUNTERPARTS -- Situation Almost Exactly Reversed at the Secondary Level By: Guy Brandenburg, retired DCPS mathematics teacher The results from last year’s DC-CAS flatly contradict the media-spread ‘wisdom’ that public charter schools always do better than regular urban public schools. In fact, regular DC public

"Value Added" Test Score Method Probed

2009-07-18T08:45:00.012-04:00

An article in this week's Education Week (July 15) points to controversy over whether "value added" assessment of teacher effectiveness might be built on "shaky assumptions." The "Value Added" method is based on judgements as to whether individual teachers are getting greater, lesser or on par student test score gains compared with those historically predicted for their students. While

Testing Tactics Fuel DC CAS Gains

2009-07-17T09:00:00.005-04:00

In a surprisingly candid article in the Washington Post today, even the Rhee administration admits that they used strategies to target and test prep students on the cusp to bump the percentage of students deemed "proficient" under NCLB. In the piece, Kerry Sylvia calls it "less about serving children and more about making the adults who run the school system look good." Teachers and Parents for

What's Green Dot Got To Do With It ??

2009-07-03T11:13:00.011-04:00

In an article by Bill Turque in yesterday's Washington Post it turns out that Chancellor Rhee is actively exploring with education iconoclast Steve Barr offering Green Dot an opportunity to run schools in DC. The question to ask is what expertise, if any, does Green Dot bring to the equation? Steve Barr instigated a masterful political movement of parents and then teachers in LA through Green Dot

The Reform that's Needed

2009-06-26T11:10:00.002-04:00

After reading the previous post, I realized that my January 15th blog entry was my last one. I knew it had been a while, but hadn't realized just how long I've been silent. While there has been plenty to write about, I've allowed the oppressive conditions of working within DCPS to get the better of me this school year. After 9 years in DCPS, I was really feeling discouraged and began

"Saturday Scholars" Program Ripped in Ed Week

2009-06-24T13:54:00.005-04:00

In this week's Ed Week Commentary, Columbia University researcher Jennifer Jennings slams Chancellor Michelle Rhee for engaging in practices that make the adults look good but leave the neediest children behind. Echoing Teachers and Parents for Real Education Reform blogger Kerry Sylvia's post from January, Jennings describes how NCLB causes school districts across the country to do what makes

Is technology all that?

2009-04-26T19:46:00.003-04:00

I had the opportunity to visit the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics annual conference in Washington DC. Unfortunately, few DCPS mathematics teachers were able to attend because of DCCAS testing. I went after school on Thursday evening and Saturday until 12:00 just before the conference ended.I was struck by the number of exhibits that relied on expensive technology. Texas Instruments,

How to Reform a Teacher Salary Schedule...

2009-04-21T10:17:00.006-04:00

A new national study by Ed Sector demonstrates that not all teacher salary schedules are created equal. By studying how experience and credentials are valued differently in different school sytems policy makers and unions can tweak their existing single salary schedule to have a powerful impact without opting for risky and unproven pay for performance schemes. This study should make for

Juking the Stats

2009-04-19T13:57:00.012-04:00

As an Algebra and Geometry support teacher at The Duke Ellington School of the Arts, I am concerned about the influence that national tests have on my, and other teachers', teaching. David Simon, who is responsible for my all time favorite TV series, "The Wire", was on Bill Moyers last night. He referred to our national zeal for test taking as "juking the stats", a quote that comes from an

Scandal At Three Ed Reform Organizations

2009-04-01T18:15:00.011-04:00

In an unusual piece of investigative journalism by Juan Gonzales, reporter at the New York Daily News, a long-standing kickback scheme was uncovered involving Al Sharpton, leader of the Education Equality project of which Michelle Rhee and Joel Klein are key members, and a Connecticut hedge fund. Also implicated are Education Reform Now, Democrats for Education Reform, and Sharpton's

Dan Brown makes a great point...

2009-03-31T10:06:00.005-04:00

In his recent column on the Huffington Post, DC Charter School teacher, Dan Brown describes here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-brown/hey-nicholas-kristof-and_b_178124.html#comments the fallacy in Chancellor Rhee's argument, not just about the number of "bad" teachers in DCPS, but more importantly about where good teachers come from. This is the point that Teachers and Parents for Real

What's Wrong With Accountability By The Numbers?

2009-03-19T16:25:00.004-04:00

Education researcher Richard Rothstein makes a powerful argument that the current accountability system under No Child Left Behind makes all the mistakes that have been proven wrong in the private sector. He argues for a very different kind of accountability system in this month's AFT Magazine (click here). Its a must read for everyone in public education today.

Union Bashing Won't Reform Our Schools

2009-03-11T11:17:00.007-04:00

In a thoughtful Commentary in EdWeek today, CUNY Professor Jennifer Goldstein argues that union bashing and union protectionism are keeping us from the important work of collaborating on improving the quality of teaching and learning. Goldstein Commentary pdf version here

2009-02-22T10:54:00.008-05:00

In response to a note from Linda Darling-Hammond to friends that she is returning home to Stanford and will no longer be seeking a role in the Obama administration, two prominent education researchers, Gary Orfield and Diane Ravitch articulated a stunning critique of Arne Duncan's direction at the US Department of Education.Posted on Politico.com On Sat, Feb 21, 2009 by Diane Ravitch, Historian

New teacher evaluation system...the devil's in the details

2009-01-27T14:54:00.007-05:00

On January 16, City Council Chairman Vincent Gray organized a full-day hearing on the state of human capital development in DCPS. National experts and eloquent DCPS teachers testified for 11 hours before the full Council. Councilmembers heard different perspectives, but a powerful critique emerged of a lack of support for high quality teaching in the school system, and a teacher work force

What are DCPS’ priorities?

2009-01-15T15:58:00.003-05:00

Right before the holiday break I received an e-mail inviting me to be a teacher in this year’s 2009 Saturday Scholars program. After looking at the details provided, it seems like the program is going to be a huge investment—hundreds of teachers will be paid $30/hour for 5 ½ hours each Saturday, January 24--April 18, 2009 (with a few exceptions like Easter weekend).With so many students in DCPS