Measuring Principal Performance: How Rigorous Are Publicly Available Principal Performance Assessment Instruments?

Christopher Condon and Matthew CliffordLearning Point AssociatesDecember 2009

German geography 101

A discerning reader pointed out to us over the holiday break that there are actually three city-states in Germany. In the Recommended Reading “Party of Nein” (December 17, 2009) we erroneously stated that there were two: Berlin and Hamburg.

New Year's Resolutions 2010

As 2009 comes to a close, it’s time to look forward as well as back. For many folks, it’s a time to consider purposeful ways of making the future different from the past (stop smoking, lose weight, quit kicking the cat, etc.).

Education policy 2009: A year in review

Join us as we revisit some of 2009’s highlights (and lowlights), from NCLB to the stimulus, from Sarah Palin to de facto segregation.

Jailhouse schoolhouse

In this thoughtful U.S. News piece, Andy Rotherham sticks up for one of America’s most marginalized populations of students: the incarcerated. There are more than 100,000 behind-bars juveniles around the country, and they attend school just like other students, but do so in prisons or youth detention centers.

680 hours, 58 minutes left

What do you get when schools are on vacation, lawmakers are in recess, and readers are distracted by the holidays? Fluff. This Boxing Day, New York Times readers were treated to a titillating story--on page A14 no less--about the number of hours the federal Department of Education estimates it will take states to complete their Race to the Top applications.

Attention Kmart shoppers

Charter schools have a notoriously difficult time finding facilities, so they take put down in all sorts of incongruous places: churches, office buildings, warehouses.

Weird science--even for Berkeley

Berkeley High School has long faced a stubborn achievement gap between its white and minority pupils. What to do? At a recent meeting of the school's governance council, a proposal was put forward to eliminate science labs, which predominantly serve high-achievers, so as to redirect resources to underperforming students.

2010: The Year of the Tiger, and the Year of the Reauthorization?

Bamboozled--the story of the '00s

I'm a bit behind on my reading, but Frank Rich's??column from last week is worth noting. I usually don't agree with Rich on much--and I don't agree completely with where he takes this argument--but I was struck by his observation at how easily we are bamboozled by the big-wigs...

Today's Quotable and Notable

Quotable: "Chicago is nowhere near the head of the pack in urban school improvement, even though Duncan often cites the successes of his tenure as he crusades to fix public education." -Nick Anderson, Washington Post Staff Writer

Dawn?

Checker's now few-week-old editorial "Dusk" sparked a debate amongst our ranks. Is America in decline? Or are we really on the upswing, despite our economic woes?

Today's Quotable and Notable

Quotable: "This is a very inward-looking social studies curriculum--a lot of gazing at the Texas navel and a very spare looking outward at the world." -Gary Nash, Professor at UCLA and Director of the National Center for History in Schools

A Christmas bonus for Arne

A little more than a year ago, President Obama ended our "name the next education secretary tracking poll" contest by nominating Arne Duncan to head the U.S. Department of Education.

Eduwonk on Detroit

Andy Rotherham turns in a strong op-ed on Detroit's new union contract. If you're following "reform" collective bargaining agreements or the Motor City's reform efforts, you ought to give it a read.

Today's Quotable and Notable

Quotable: "The profession for 150 years was grounded in management, organization, government, politics, and finance. Those things are important, but they are secondary to learning and teaching." - Joseph F. Murphy, developer of the VAL-ED system for evaluating principals

Strike against the RTT application

Many of us complained that the final RTT application was not as strong as the draft version. One area of concern was charter caps. Originally, caps were a nonstarter but in the final regulations, this was eased and only certain types of caps became verboten. So did this small change have any real impact? Yes, absolutely.

Of note

Michigan passes major reform law to compete for RTT (big win for kids and Duncan's strategy too) Los Angeles union sues to stop charter conversions Louisiana unions torn on RTT

Detroit's new teacher contract

I wondered in October whether Robert Bobb, Detroit Public School's Emergency Financial Manager, would be able to deliver on this goals for a transformative new union contract, in which the problems with tenure and teacher seniority are addressed.

Today's Quotable and Notable

Quotable: "[Special Ed parents] are not a group that needs the district to wake up one day and decide that the time is right for inclusion, with experts guiding the process down a path of destruction of the one place we have found where our kids are receiving what they need."

Snow day

It's hard to imagine that there's much educating--or education policymaking--going on along the Eastern seaboard today, as those of us in the Northeast dig out from the Great Blizzard.

Education data in 2025

The latest Education Next includes a shortened version of a chapter Checker wrote last year for Fordham's A Byte at the Apple: Rethinking Education Data for the Post-NCL

The Advanced Placement Debate

Editors over at the New York Times have spurred an interesting discussion about Advanced Placement classes on one of their??blogs, Room for Debate.

The softer side of TFA

Kevin Huffman (a VP at Teach For America) wants hugs for Christmas. -Mike Petrilli

Education entrepreneurs, just another interest group at the federal trough?

What else to make of the announcement that the 2010??NewSchools Venture Fund annual summit will once again be held in Washington, DC, just as in 2008? I felt better about the education innovation crowd when it met every year in Silicon Valley. -Mike Petrilli

Today's Quotable and Notable

Quotable: "This district can be rightly criticized for the promotion of ineffective teachers over the years. That is about to change. We do not owe poor performers a job." -Ramon C. Cortines, Superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District

What's a college diploma worth?

New charter legislation

Charter advocates are pretty excited about just-introduced??legislation that would create a new federal charter school grant program aimed at replications. --Andy Smarick

Klein interview

Jay Mathews does a quick video??interview with superb NYC schools chief Joel Klein for the Post. ??"Systems don't change because you charm them." --Andy Smarick

The Rumble in San Diego