News round-up
In reading the blogs and articles of those fighting to maintain the status quo in our public schools, a common argument arises: teacher evaluations are just too hard and too expensive to possibly implement in LAUSD. However, places like the New Haven are proposing school reform plans that have comprehensive ways to evaluate teachers. Often, opponents of this reform will argue that teachers are universally against evaluations, however, the New Haven Public School system found that 70% of teachers were in favor of an evaluation system.
The system that New Haven would implement is quite comprehensive, and is a real move towards change in teacher evaluation. There is no doubt that teachers like the late Jaime Escalante are rare, but it is possible that these extraordinary teachers can work together to create a school environment that pushes students to improve, and challenges them to succeed. With a rating system that garners rewards, as well as collaboration between administrators and teachers, the New Haven plan succeeds in evaluating teachers in a fair, and balanced way. Those who defend the status quo oppose any kind of education reform on the basis that there is no way to fix the problem, even when there are real solutions.
In other news, many researchers have come out swinging against the Civil Rights Project’s conclusion that students in charter schools are hyper-segregated. You can read the original study here. The detractors find that the data used in the study is flawed, and has fundamental problems with interpretation. The rebuttals can be found here and here.
