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San Jose teachers, board adopt landmark teacher evaluation system
Breaking new ground in California, San Jose Unified has adopted an innovative teacher evaluation process that gives teachers a role in reviewing their peers and greatly revises the current – and some say outmoded – method of measuring teacher success. The new system would deny automatic raises to unsatisfactory performers and give evaluators the option of adding another year to the probationary period for new teachers – a provision at odds with the state teachers union. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Evaluations, Featured, Reporting & Analysis, Teacher Collaboration, Teacher Pay, Teacher Unions, Tenure, U.S. Education Policy
California looks to Ontario schools’ reformer for guidance
Michael Fullan may be coming soon to a school district near you. The man credited with transforming the Canadian province of Ontario into one of the world’s most effective school systems is ready to help California do the same. Fullan, though, would lead the state in a sharply different direction from the forced march that federal officials … Read entire article »
Filed under: Achievement Gap, Featured, International Comparisons, No Child Left Behind, Program innovation, Race to the Top, Reporting & Analysis, Research, Standardized tests, Systemic Change, Teacher Collaboration, Teacher Unions, Teachers, Turning around failing schools
Duncan says it’s still possible for state to get NCLB waiver
California remains interested in receiving a waiver from sanctions under the No Child Left Behind law, and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Wednesday it remains possible for the state to get one. But, Duncan said in an interview after an event in Sunnyvale, “It’s late in the game” to apply for a state waiver to take effect this fall. (Go here for the transcript of the interview.) Duncan wasn’t more forthcoming about a deadline or … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, No Child Left Behind, Reporting & Analysis, Title I
Duncan admits flaws in current standardized testing
SAN FRANCISCO – Secretary of Education Arne Duncan acknowledged serious flaws in the standardized tests that currently drive American schools, telling an audience of education researchers on Tuesday that the tests are an inadequate gauge of student and teacher performance. Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Duncan criticized “high-stakes testing where children’s lives or teachers’ careers are based on one test,” but he said that abandoning standardized testing was not the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Common Core standards, Featured, No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, Reporting & Analysis, Standardized tests, Tests & Assessments, U.S. Education Policy
Advocacy groups urge rejection of NCLB waiver for California districts
Seven advocacy and civil rights organizations, led by Washington-based The Education Trust, have called on Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to deny nine California districts a waiver from the No Child Left Behind law, saying any deviation from a statewide waiver “would be the wrong path forward.” “Instead, we urge California’s district and state leaders … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, No Child Left Behind, Reporting & Analysis
U.S. Ed Department agrees to review 9 districts’ plan for NCLB waiver
The nine California districts seeking a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind Act have gotten their foot in the door. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it has accepted their waiver application and will treat it as they would an application from other states, with a formal review. Given that the districts “collectively serve 1.2 million students – more than most states – we believe their request merits careful consideration,” the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Common Core standards, Evaluations, Featured, No Child Left Behind, Reporting & Analysis, Turning around failing schools
Torlakson, Kirst write letter supporting nine-district NCLB waiver
State Board of Education President Michael Kirst and State Superintendent Tom Torlakson expressed support Friday for nine districts’ application for a waiver from the No Child Left Behind law. In letter to the U.S. Department of Education, they also raised questions about how the waiver would be implemented and enforced. While stating that they would have preferred that Congress revise NCLB (or the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as it’s formally known), which they called a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, No Child Left Behind, Reporting & Analysis, State Board of Education
Most State Board members back districts’ NCLB waiver
A majority of State Board of Education members expressed strong support at their meeting Thursday for a consortium of districts’ unconventional request for a waiver from constraints of the federal No Child Left Behind law. “Congratulations,” Board member Carl Cohn told two superintendents representing the nine districts in the California Office to Reform Education, or CORE, seeking the waiver. “This restores our state’s reputation for bold experimentation. It will be interesting to see the extent to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Common Core standards, Evaluations, Featured, No Child Left Behind, Reporting & Analysis, Teacher Unions
State Board to discuss districts’ request for NCLB waiver
The State Superintendent of Public Instruction and members of the State Board of Education will speak publicly this week for the first time on the effort by a consortium of California school districts to seek their own waiver from some regulations and consequences of the federal No Child Left Behind law. At its meeting Thursday, the State Board of Education will discuss whether to issue a formal response on the waiver application from the California Office to Reform Education, or CORE, and if so, what to say about it. Nine of the ten CORE districts, which together educate more than a million California students, have signed on to the proposal, which they decided to pursue after the U.S. Department of Education rejected the state’s application last year. The Board is allowed to comment … Read entire article »
Filed under: No Child Left Behind, Quick Hits, State Board of Education, U.S. Education Policy
Washington and Sacramento must end Cold War on education
April 29th, 2013 | 12 Comments | By Louis Freedberg
Some high level diplomacy is called for to end the Cold War between Sacramento and Washington that has frozen out the state from benefiting from the major education initiatives of President Obama’s education reform agenda. The administration has awarded 34 states and the District of Columbia waivers from onerous provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation signed into law a decade ago by Obama’s predecessor. But the administration has rejected California’s request for a waiver … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Featured, No Child Left Behind