Teacher effectiveness debate: good schools attract good teachers
The ‘good teachers make all the difference’ research is now driving edu-investment. The theory goes: make good teachers, schools get better. I hold the opposite theory: good schools make good teachers. Or, more specifically, get the employment bargain and job right, and you’ll attract and retain…
What role should incentives play?
I spent the morning in a school improvement working group. When we came to the subject of incentives there were more questions than answers. I don’t think we know much about this, so here’s some moderately informed speculation 1. Pay for performance won’t work as well as business folks…
The need for edu-innovation
The US won’t spend or reform its way to high and equitable educational attainment. The basic model of age cohorts slogging through print-based content with ability tracking (with equates to race and income tracking) is obsolete, expensive and unjust. Young people in emerging and developing economies (which…
Teaching is love
After my first year in education, full of daunting challenges on a steep learning curve, it was finally summer vacation. Two days of hassled travel and we were finally on the beach with a good book. After walking one hundred yards on the warm white sand beach…
House Ed hears from charter experts
The House Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday, June 4 to examine how supporting outstanding charter schools can help build an innovative, world-class American school system that educates all students to high levels. President Obama has repeatedly called on states to lift restrictions that…
How not to invent the future
eSchool News featured a long piece on the AEI debrief on the rocky start of Philly School of the Future Long story short: some good ideas, sloppy execution. Microsoft provided useful assistance but ran into the disastrous revolving-door leadership common in urban districts. Lesson: running a good school is…
Investing in a revolution
Conclusion to the 10 year report from New Schools Venture Fund: All of these areas – from school turnaround to new approaches to training teachers and leaders – are examples of the types of new ideas, new organizations, and new facts on the ground are so badly needed. To challenges like…
Charter caps, charter block, and Klein on pay
Great post railing on Indiana charter caps by Matthew Tully, IndyStar.com “But when it comes to public education, common sense often flunks out in favor of union contracts, turf-protecting school administrators and the rest of the entrenched education establishment. In Indiana, Statehouse Democrats from Indianapolis, backed by that…
Bill Gates: beginning of tech revolution
“Technology can pull the United States out of recession and help the world’s ailing financial markets work better, Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) Chairman Bill Gates told a high-level business summit at the company he co-founded” reports Reuters. “The drug companies will get back in high productivity mode.
In favor of training and (better) testing
At the Closing the Gap rally in Washington DC , a speaker shouted, “You train dogs not children.” He went on to attack standardized testing and the resulting, “dumbed-down teach-to-the-test curriculum.” It sounded like he was in favor of open-ended discovery learning. I’ve been thinking about his…