The Education School Master’s Degree Factory
Simply by giving up the extra payment awarded to teachers with master’s degrees, school districts in Florida could save better than 3 percent of their teaching personnel costs without losing any of their classroom effectiveness.
A Modest Proposal for Pension Reform
Fundamental reform—based on tying benefits to contributions—is needed to fix these broken systems.
Teachers and Their Bitter Harvest
“Teachers wonder, why the heapings of scorn?” is the front page headline over a Trip Gabriel story in today’s New York Times. And, indeed, teachers have been taking it on the chin of late.
Blocked, Diluted, and Co-opted
Interest groups wage war against merit pay
Interest groups wage war against merit pay
The Dead End of Scientific Progressivism
In Education Myths I argued that we needed to rely on science rather than our direct experience to identify effective policies. Our eyes can mislead us, while scientific evidence has the systematic rigor to guide us more accurately. That’s true, but I am now more aware of the opposite failing — believing that we can resolve all policy disputes and identify the “right way” to educate all children solely by relying on science.
Brookings, Baseball and Value Added Assessments of Teachers
I have always been suspicious of consensus documents with multiple signatures. They have the patina of authority but usually produce pabulum. So it was a pleasant surprise to read the latest consensus document from the Brookings Institution on “the important role of value added” when assessing teacher performance.
Proposals for a Cost-Conscious Era: Gold Star Teachers
The Gold Star program offers teachers who are at least reasonably effective the opportunity, should they so choose, to teach more kids per class and to be rewarded for taking on a larger workload. Such a state-level program would offer a chance to reshuffle the incentives and create a productivity-enhancing dynamic.
Cracks in the Ivory Tower? The Views of Education Professors Circa 2010
Fordham’s newest report, Cracks in the Ivory Tower? The Views of Education Professors Circa 2010, authored by veteran analysts Steve Farkas and Ann Duffett, surveyed over 700 education professors across the land to determine how they view their own roles and what they think of myriad K-12 policy developments that have taken place over the last decade
Research and Policy: Master’s Degrees
There are a variety of educational policies that simply conflict with research. One of the largest is pay for master’s degrees.
Current Strategies Won’t Solve Our Teacher Quality Challenges
In our new report, Opportunity at the Top: How America’s Best Teachers Could Close the Gaps, Raise the Bar, and Keep Our Nation Great, Emily Ayscue Hassel and I asked a simple question: “Will our nation’s bold efforts to recruit more top teachers and remove the least effective teachers put a great teacher in every classroom?” We ran the numbers and discovered a disappointing answer: No. Even if these reforms were wildly successful, most classrooms still would not have great teachers.
An Effective Teacher in Every Classroom
A lofty goal, but how to do it?
A lofty goal, but how to do it?
Edutopian Vision
George Lucas reimagines the American classroom
George Lucas reimagines the American classroom
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.
We Need Fewer Teachers, Not More
In Sunday’s NYT, Elizabeth Green explains beautifully the challenges of classroom teaching. She says we will need millions of additional teachers to cover baby boom retirements, and wonders how we can find enough good ones. The answer is that we can’t.
Total Student Load
Maybe worth a longer look, but hardly a revolution
Review of William Ouchi’s The Secret of TSL
Dedicated, Decorated, and Disappointing
Rafe Esquith’s latest is a manual for parents, not policymakers
Review of Rafe Esquith’s Lighting Their Fires
Can Catholic Schools Be Saved?
Lacking nuns and often students, a shrinking system looks for answers
Lacking nuns and often students, a shrinking system looks for answers
How Much Teacher Unions Spend in Your State
Teacher unions are quietly undermining charter and merit pay legislation that is supposed to help states “race to the top.” To exercise such power, a hefty cash box comes in handy.
Scrap the Sacrosanct Salary Schedule
How about more pay for new teachers, less for older ones?
How about more pay for new teachers, less for older ones?
Gender Gap
Are boys being shortchanged in K–12 schooling?
Are boys being shortchanged in K–12 schooling?
Teacher Training, Tailor-Made
Top candidates win customized teacher education
Top candidates win customized teacher education
The Minnesota Re-Education of Educators
Readers may have heard about recent developments of the Teacher Education Redesign Initiative at the University of Minnesota. It’s a project to revise the training of teachers, and it has infuriated conservative, libertarian, and First Amendment groups. Among the elements of the process is the Task Force for Race, Culture, Class, and Gender, which issued its recommendations in September. The Outcomes of the document read like a parody of academic identity politics, but they stand loud and clear in black and white.
