Author
Frederick Hess
Articles
The Accreditation Game
The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (known broadly as NCATE, pronounced “en kate”) was launched in 1954 by a coalition of professional organizations from across the education community. Previously, teacher-training programs had been accredited by states, regional accrediting bodies, or an association of teacher colleges, each equipped with its own benchmarks and methods [...]
The Work Ahead
What if Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computer, and Michael Armstrong, CEO of AT&T, operated in a market where revenues depended hardly at all on attracting or losing customers? What if competition exerted minimal pressure and if market threats could often be trumped by successful efforts to glean government subsidies? What if they had only [...]
Lifting the Barrier
Eliminating the state-mandated licensre of principles and superintendents is the first step in recruiting and training a generation of leaders capable of transforming America’s schools
Technical Difficulties
Information technology could help schools do more with less. If only educators knew how to use it
Johnny Can Read…in Some States
Johnny can’t read … in South Carolina. But if his folks move to Texas, he’ll be reading up a storm. What’s going on?
It turns out that in complying with the requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), some states have decided to be a whole lot more generous than others in determining whether students are [...]
Blog Posts/Multimedia
The HFT Is All About Professional Growth… Not
I’m always surprised at how often teacher unions claiming to be agents of professionalism reflexively slash at measures that are part and parcel of most professions. Even so, it’s not every day that you see a union savaging an effort to promote professional growth as an anti-teacher conspiracy.
Even Its Fans Are Having Second Thoughts About Race to the Top
Last Tuesday, Secretary Duncan announced round-two winners in the Race to the Top program. By Tuesday night, there was outrage that admired reform states had lost while won. By Thursday, there was grumbling that some judges had savaged Colorado for failing to attach a copy of Senate Bill 10-191. By Friday, the big story was not the contest but New Jersey Governor Christie’s decision to fire his commissioner of education. It all brings to mind something I noted last winter: that RTT was a good idea that could all-too-easily go south.
Why I’m Feeling Sorry for Sec. Duncan
Faced with bizarre round two RTT results that identified New York as the second-most accomplished reform state and Hawaii as the third–and that found Louisiana and Colorado out of the money altogether–Duncan had two bad choices. He could either take the scores at face value or he could override them and deal with an ensuing firestorm. This is what we call a lose-lose proposition.
The Nation’s Best (and Worst) Cities for School Reform
The answer: New Orleans, Washington, D.C., New York City, Denver, and Jacksonville. The question: Which cities are in the mix when it comes to being the “Silicon Valley” of K-12 schooling? Or, more simply: If you’re a problem-solver with some successes under your belt, where will you be most welcome?
LAT on Teacher Value-Added: A Disheartening Replay
On Sunday, the L.A. Times ran its controversial analysis of teacher value-added scores in L.A. Unified School District. Given my taste for mean-spirited measures, and the impressive journalistic moxie it showed, I really wanted to endorse the LAT’s effort. But I can’t. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m all for using student achievement to evaluate and reward teachers and for using transparency to recognize excellence and shame mediocrity. But I have three serious problems with what the LAT did.
My Final Word on “Edujobs”: Harmful, Not Just Wasteful
I want to be crystal clear. I think that Edujobs was not just wasteful but was positively harmful. And, yes, I think this even though ED promised to streamline its normal processes so that states will “receive funding as quickly as possible” and whipped up some calculations touting the number of jobs it’s claiming to save in each state.
Two Camps on Ed Tech
I was struck recently by the degree to which we’re having two distinct, contrary conversations about technology and schooling. The romanticist camp traces its roots to Rousseau’s Emile and its radical “progressive” vision of the unchained learner. The productivity camp has more faith in pedestrian notions of essential knowledge and the teacher’s central role.
School Boards as a Symptom, Not the Cause
I’m very sympathetic to the argument that mayoral control, done smart, can be a useful step in turning around troubled school systems. But I’ve been concerned about the tendency to romanticize its promise and to overlook its potential problems.
Sunday NYT Celebrates a -ubious New Policy
In its inimitable style, the New York Times yesterday featured a page one ed story celebrating an aimless new district policy and the superintendent responsible.
Value-Added: The Devil’s in the Details
In response to the mail I’ve received since Monday’s column critiquing Aaron Pallas’s attack on the DCPS teacher firings, I think it’s useful for me to weigh in on the live-wire question of value-added systems.
Professor Pallas’s Inept, Irresponsible Attack on DCPS
Last week, Aaron Pallas savaged the DC Public Schools IMPACT teacher evaluation system in the Washington Post’s “The Answer Sheet” blog, attacking the teacher evaluation system as “idiotic” and based on “preposterous” assumptions. There are three egregious problems with Pallas’s critique.
Liking the NGA’s Tune on “Complete to Compete”
I really like the tone of the release they sent and am modestly hopeful (perhaps foolishly so) that it reflects a more serious tenor brought about by pinched pocketbooks and an awareness that grand plans can backfire.
It’s the Legislation, Stupid
In their terrific new article, teacher quality savants Emily Cohen and Kate Walsh instruct would-be reformers intent on boosting teacher quality not to fixate on contracts or nifty new data analysis techniques. Why? Because, they argue, the first order of business should be fixing state legislation that stifles creative efforts to adopt smarter practices when it comes to pay, evaluation, and dismissal.
Bleak Omens for Obama’s Ed Agenda on the Hill
Congressional Quarterly reported yesterday that House Democratic leaders will accept the Senate’s plan to pass a stripped-down supplemental spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and seek another way to funnel $10 billion in edu-aid to the states. Before turning the page on the Obey-Obama defense supplemental imbroglio, however, a postmortem is in order–especially given some worrisome portents for the administration’s school reform agenda.
“What the Hell, Dude?” Team Players and Edu-Reform
I’ve now had the experience several times in the past few months of having one or another friend of long standing ask me something along the lines of, “What the hell?” The “what” in question is me being critical of or asking questions about proposals and programs that “reformers” are supposed to support.
Lesson from the New D.C. Teacher Contract: How Tight Budgets Can Aid Teacher Quality Reform
One big lesson of the D.C. contract is that context matters.
$23 Billion Equals How Many Jobs?
Consider that the $23 billion is being touted for its ability to save as many as 300,000 education jobs and then do the math. That works out to $76,700 per job preserved.
What the Gulf Oil Spill Can Teach Us About School Spending
Now, analogies are always a tricky business because they depend on one’s angle of vision. But, if you’re standing where I am, this looks like a disheartening parallel to the world of school spending.
Straight Up Conversation: RI Chief Deb Gist on the Central Falls Deal
The success of the Central Falls deal rested significantly on Rhode Island super-chief Deb Gist’s aggressive moves last fall, in which she interpreted the basic education program to mean that seniority would no longer be a factor in school staffing. Yesterday, Gist took a little time to answer a few questions about what to make of the deal.
The Hard-Hitting Pondiscio on Edutopia
Edutopia’s doing some neat stuff. And I’m all in favor of anyone who’s pushing forward on thinking about how to better use technology. But there’s a difference between creative minds at work and claiming to have discovered “what works.”
Budgetpalooza…Or, Mr. Mulgrew, Have I Got a Speechwriter for You
Between the National Journal debate over Senator Tom Harkin’s $23 billion bailout, the European Union ponying up a cool $1 trillion to stanch the bleeding in Greece, Mike Petrilli getting frisky on teacher firing, and my own dalliances in NYC teacher policy, this is turning out to be quite the week for bailout mania.
Watering Greenfield
The lifeblood of efforts to rethink schooling or devise new solutions is the money it takes to make them work. These dollars can come from three sources: profit-seeking investors, philanthropy, or government. To date, the lion’s share of the bucks have come from philanthropy.
Venture Philanthropy and Investing in Innovation
Video: Frederick Hess talks with Education Next about the best and worst ways to fund innovation.
Making the Most of the First Day at AERA
Tomorrow, the nation’s education researchers, professors, and such will convene in Denver for the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association. For those folks, I’m happy to provide the following cheat sheet to help flag the must-see sessions for Friday, AERA’s first day.
Why Strip Mining Might Shrink the Pie
Yesterday, I suggested that reflexive efforts to shift “effective” teachers from high-performing schools and classrooms to others may actually reduce the pool of effective teachers. This would turn strip mining from an effort to redistribute the pie into a strategy that would actually shrink the size of the “good teaching” piece. Why might that be?
Strip Miners in Our Schools
In a new forum in Education Next, Education Trust honcho Kati Haycock and Stanford economist Rick Hanushek address the issue of whether and how to more “equitably” distribute teachers. With characteristic passion, Haycock calls for efforts to focus on attracting good teachers to high-poverty, low-performing schools. I strongly support what Haycock has to say in the exchange, but I worry about the possibility that some of her allies may take her suggestions too far.
Racing to the Jargon: Finalist’s Edition
Whereas greenfield-style measures tend to be cut-and-dry–states either did or did not enact certain legislation–the prescriptive bulk of RTT is about promising to do things. Since this kind of compliance is about plans and intentions rather than actions, it’s harder to demonstrate. The usual result: proving commitment by piling up consultant-provided buzzwords and jargon. And the RTT apps are no exception.
Go New York
Secretary Duncan has repeatedly told us to watch what he does, not what he says. So, I’m watching, but so far I’m not impressed.
A Pernicious Parlor Game
So, the announcement of the round one Race to the Top finalists is upon us. In the run-up, a pernicious parlor game in edu-policy circles has been “name the RTT finalists.” Thankfully, it’s about to come to a close. Unfortunately, it’ll be followed by “name the RTT winners.”
That Darn Constitution
If Congress reauthorizes No Child Left Behind this year and does so “consistent with the President’s plan,” the Obama administration announced this week that it is going to make an extra $1 billion available for edu-spending. The problem with this clever carrot? If you’ll recall your high school civics, it’s the legislative branch that writes the federal budget.
It Depends on What the Meaning of “Transparency” Is
Yesterday, on his Eduwonk blog, Andy Rotherham weighed in on the brewing controversy over the Race to the Top review process. Rotherham suggests that Duncan try a variation of the “it depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is” defense, explaining, “‘Transparent’ is not synonymous with contemporaneous. In other words, a process can be transparent while it is going on or it can be transparent after the fact.” It’ll be amusing to see whether Duncan tries that defense; somehow, I don’t think it’ll play that well.
Shhhhh…Duncan’s Secret Edu-Judges
Late last week, Education Week’s Michele McNeil reported that the Obama administration has secretly selected the reviewers for state grant applications to its $4.35 billion Race to the Top (RTT) fund, but has no intention of publicly revealing who these 60 judges are. Whether the department delivered 60 “disinterested superstars,” as Secretary of Education Arne Duncan promised last September, is unclear.
The WSJ Steps Up on Race to the Top: Scrutinizing the “Selectivity” Standard
For awhile now, there has been some cause for concern that the famously tough-minded Wall Street Journal editorial page seemed to be drinking the Kool-Aid when it came to the much-discussed Race to the Top (RTT) grant program. So, it gives much satisfaction to note that this week’s WSJ featured perhaps the savviest editorial yet penned by any major newspaper on RTT.
Book Alert: Unlearned Lessons
Testing impresario W. James Popham has penned a volume that mixes anecdote, personal experience, and scholarly analysis to ask why American schooling has had such a terrible time designing, adopting, or employing good assessment.
Teacher Specialization
Video: Frederick Hess talks with Education Next about reading specialists, den mothers, and teacher pay in the 21st century.
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