tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post512508323300228383..comments2024-03-29T02:41:52.718-07:00Comments on Seattle Schools Community Forum: The Education of Michelle Rhee (via Frontline)Melissa Westbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17179994245880629080noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-14198120989329736562013-01-13T14:19:37.097-08:002013-01-13T14:19:37.097-08:00Dan, your Walter Williams link was pretty damning....Dan, your Walter Williams link was pretty damning. What are we going to do about that? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-92058897409365648512013-01-13T12:36:21.484-08:002013-01-13T12:36:21.484-08:00Not many post-show comments.
I came away with mo...Not many post-show comments. <br /><br />I came away with more respect for her. She took on the challenge herself as a TFA teacher and succeeded in increasing success for her students. <br /><br />Relying on standard testing scores was the chink in her learning curve. Paying thousands of dollars for increased scores? That was stupid.<br /><br />I think most teachers try hard. I don't think any non-teacher understands how much time, effort and $$$ it takes to really maximize learning for children. Especially those coming from disadvantaged homes. <br /><br />I've seen teachers fired who could have been very good teachers with a little specialized tweaking. But we have few principals who know what makes good teaching. I've seen poor teachers retained because they have rapport with principal and sometimes even the parents. There's a lot of BS in teaching. <br /><br />Schools are very political places. <br /><br />Anyway, I came away with a grudging respect for her personally. She is a great teacher. I agree with Josh that her organization's values which reflect her own are counter-productive to the academic success of children. But I didn't come away disliking her as much as I thought I would. I wonder if she hasn't let ego and celebrity get in the way of good intentions?nnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-66052613128668921312013-01-11T17:15:38.776-08:002013-01-11T17:15:38.776-08:00Right On Steve Preston! Great analogy. Thank you...Right On Steve Preston! Great analogy. Thank you for posting it. WSDWGAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-38060550452693019682013-01-10T09:48:06.234-08:002013-01-10T09:48:06.234-08:00Story: D.C. charter schools expel students at high...Story: <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-school-documents-reveal-expulsion-gap-in-charter-system/2012/12/29/9ed51e54-51e8-11e2-839d-d54cc6e49b63_video.html" rel="nofollow">D.C. charter schools expel students at higher rates than public schools</a><br /><br />and from Matthew Ladner comes this:<br /><br /><a href="http://jaypgreene.com/2013/01/10/expulsion-rates-in-dc/" rel="nofollow">Expulsion Rates in DC</a><br />The video specifies that DCPS expelled three students last year, while the charter schools expelled 200.<br /><br />It seems self-evident to me that 3 was far too low, and it is difficult to know whether 200 is "too many" for the charter sector without a great deal more context. A district where you have to make the FBI Most Wanted List before getting expelled is not a proper baseline for comparison.<br /><br />-- Dan DempseyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-6954944962558450482013-01-10T00:44:39.323-08:002013-01-10T00:44:39.323-08:00Greg Linden,
Thanks for the link above. It is a ...Greg Linden,<br /><br />Thanks for the link above. It is a great summary. Now if only the WA State legislators would read this and Randy Dorn would use it. Ditto for the US Senators, Representatives....... then more folks would realize that Obama/Duncan are pushing destructive practices.dan dempseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15536720661510933983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-1601187016559441632013-01-10T00:32:45.424-08:002013-01-10T00:32:45.424-08:00A bit on High Stakes cheating:
Dishonest Educator...A bit on High Stakes cheating:<br /><br />Dishonest Educators<br />By Walter Williams<br /><br /><a href="http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/williamns010913.php3#.UO57lKU9QVM" rel="nofollow">http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/williamns010913.php3#.UO57lKU9QVM,</a>dan dempseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15536720661510933983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-70946496508856660702013-01-09T09:33:37.277-08:002013-01-09T09:33:37.277-08:00Thank you Dan! I was hoping to catch it online!Thank you Dan! I was hoping to catch it online!mirmac1https://www.blogger.com/profile/10183460709639638172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-89230488472453182602013-01-09T08:39:16.651-08:002013-01-09T08:39:16.651-08:00On that Frontline site, there's a pretty good ...On that Frontline site, there's a pretty good article summarizing all the issues:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/education/education-of-michelle-rhee/the-battle-over-education-reform/" rel="nofollow">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/education/education-of-michelle-rhee/the-battle-over-education-reform/</a>Greg Lindenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09216403000599463072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-44027645896609635062013-01-09T07:07:37.753-08:002013-01-09T07:07:37.753-08:00Link to the Frontline program on Michelle Rhee<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/education-of-michelle-rhee/" rel="nofollow">Link to the Frontline program on Michelle Rhee</a>dan dempseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15536720661510933983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-52162803610652136202013-01-08T02:53:43.820-08:002013-01-08T02:53:43.820-08:00From Erich Martel in WA DC a recently retired teac...From Erich Martel in WA DC a recently retired teacher in DC public schools:<br />=============<br /><br />In 2011, I read the 4 volume, 800 pp Investigation Report produced by the 3 lead investigators of the Atlanta, Georgia cheating scandal. Since that report named names, I wanted to see how the accused staff broke down by their job categories.<br />The climate of intimidation showed many similarities to DCPS. That led to the following review:<br /> <br /> "Teaching in 'A Culture of Fear, Intimidation and Retaliation'" <br /><a href="http://npe.educationnews.org/Review/Essays/v7n7.htm" rel="nofollow">http://npe.educationnews.org/Review/Essays/v7n7.htm</a><br />(includes an embedded spreadsheet listing each of the Atlanta schools and the category of 178 staff cited)<br />Key facts: In 38 of the 44 Atlanta schools where a staff member was cited, <b><i>the principal was also cited either for directly promoting cheating or failing to implement required safeguards to prevent cheating. </i></b><b>Of the 108 teachers cited, all but 17 were in a school where the principal was also cited.</b><br /><br />The report mentions several instances of teachers who faced retaliation when they reported staff cheating to assistant superintendents.<br /> <br />Two good articles on aspects of testing:<br />1) Educators cheating on tests is nothing new; Doing something about it would be [by] Richard P. Phelps*<br /><br /><a href="http://npe.educationnews.org/Review/Essays/v7n5.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://npe.educationnews.org/Review/Essays/v7n5.pdf</a><br />- - - - - - -<br />2) Using Student Achievement Tests to Evaluate Teachers—A Very Bad Idea [by] Dr. Tom Haladyna*<br /><a href="http://npe.educationnews.org/Review/Essays/v7n2.htm" rel="nofollow">http://npe.educationnews.org/Review/Essays/v7n5.pdf</a>dan dempseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15536720661510933983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-34774747107223910172013-01-08T02:40:27.900-08:002013-01-08T02:40:27.900-08:00Tom Freidman in the NY Times recently wrote:
OODA...Tom Freidman in the NY Times recently wrote:<br /><br />OODAA<br /><br />Observe<br />Orient<br />Decide<br />Act<br /><br />Military pilots in combat must do this effectively or be shot down.<br /><br />Education Decision Making is characterized by Deciding and Acting but without Observation and Orientation.<br /><br />When is comes to education BMGF is characterized by ignoring relevant data. The Gates Foundation is a amjor piece in the Education Racket.<br /><br />REMEMBER the CCSS were begun in secret and financed by Gates during that time.<br /><br />dan dempseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15536720661510933983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-11105132788422080012013-01-08T02:32:26.948-08:002013-01-08T02:32:26.948-08:00673HERE ARE THE RACE TO THE TOP DISTRICT WINNERS=&...673HERE ARE THE RACE TO THE TOP DISTRICT WINNERS=><br /><br /><a href="http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-district/awards.html" rel="nofollow">http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-district/awards.html</a><br /><br />Puget Sound ESD consortium got $40 million <br /><br />but KIPP in WA DC got $10 million.dan dempseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15536720661510933983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-64341706202907385862013-01-07T18:04:09.336-08:002013-01-07T18:04:09.336-08:00Jon, absolutely on point. Bill Gates is HUGELY da...Jon, absolutely on point. Bill Gates is HUGELY data-driven and yet, where's the solid data on what he supports?Melissa Westbrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12588239576000641336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-91455521301850111802013-01-07T17:48:24.590-08:002013-01-07T17:48:24.590-08:00On the negative correlation, another quote from th...On the negative correlation, another quote from that article:<br /><br /><i>For a bunch of business-supported technocrats supposedly in love with metrics, there’s absolutely no empirical support for their ambitions.</i><br /><br />This is the problem I have with the Gates Foundation as well. They claim they are in love with data, but, when the data <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_school#Center_for_Research_on_Education_Outcomes" rel="nofollow">says</a> that charter schools as currently implemented do more harm than good, they push charters anyway.Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-41532819826789186682013-01-07T15:40:17.547-08:002013-01-07T15:40:17.547-08:00Ryan, what a great link. I particularly liked this...Ryan, what a great link. I particularly liked this piece of analysis:<br /><br /><i>"Looking more rigorously at the results, the correlation coefficient on the rankings in the StudentsFirst report card with state rankings on reading scores is -0.20. (The correlation coefficient is a measure of the similarity of two sets of numbers, ranging from -1.0, completely dissimilar, to +1.0, perfect similarity.) That’s not a large number, but the negative sign means that the correlation is in the wrong direction: the higher the StudentsFirst score, the lower the NAEP reading score. The correlation on math is even worse, -0.25." </i><br /><br />I'm sure these results are not statistically significant (It's not clear to me whether the author means r or r^2 here; if it's r^2, the coefficient of -0.2 means that about 20% of the variation in reading scores is explained, negatively, by the "grade" assigned in the report), but it shows that the factors Ms. Rhee's organization values are in fact counter-productive for children. Good to have evidence to show that.Josh Hayeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17242600011474990770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-70829281422855196322013-01-07T15:36:59.194-08:002013-01-07T15:36:59.194-08:00Soley blaming teachers for our education problems ... Soley blaming teachers for our education problems is like blaming our soldiers for losing Vietnam. It's about politics.<br /> Before choosing a school for your child, please read this. It's an eye-opener. It is written by a retired educator. Can we ever get back to common sense education ? It's well worth reading: "America's Biggest Hoax," available on Amazon or Kindle.<br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08635720794674268658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-42566251731480939482013-01-07T13:07:03.595-08:002013-01-07T13:07:03.595-08:00My favorite commentary on Michelle's new scree...My favorite commentary on Michelle's new screed:<br /><br />http://lbo-news.com/2013/01/07/more-bogosity-from-michelle-rhee/<br /><br />--Ryan--Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com