The Answer Sheet - Willingham: Big questions about the LA Times teachers project

The Answer Sheet - Willingham: Big questions about the LA Times teachers project

I am glad Willingham called the LA Times on the status of the science on value-added models. The National Academies of Science, in their report on use of VA models said they should not be used to make high stakes decisions, and publicly posting teachers' results seems about as high a stake as you can get in this day and age, short of actually firing folks. So, I think it is important to improve the science.

But he makes a second, more important in my mind, point. Teachers and teachers unions need to begin to adopt some of the recommendations and practices of monitoring and evaluating teachers that work, such as the AFT-affiliated unions in Toledo and other districts in Ohio that do peer evaluations that lead to more terminations, and more importantly improvements, than do most district administrator-based evaluation systems. Until teachers allow their profession to remain professional and put in place stronger protections for the profession, others will do it for them. And probably not well.

Science and Subpoenas - Inside Higher Ed

In the piece Science and Subpoenas - Inside Higher Ed, Felice Levine does an excellent job of outlining the research ethics issues in the Arizona cases.

Education Week: Arizona Subpoena Seeks Researchers' ELL Data

Education Week: Arizona Subpoena Seeks Researchers' ELL Data

This seems to be an egregious misuse of power. I would never turn over data that I promised to be confidential. At best, I would work with my IRB to find another expert witness of the opposite side's choosing to review the data with me present only. And it would have to be anonymous versions of the data, particularly without teachers' names on it. Once the data is turned over, I would not be able to promise that it would be used ethically, which is the commitment I made when I collected the data and the informed consent. If I were one of the participating teachers, I would be waiving that consent form around and making sure there was no transfer of material of any sort that might implicate me. This kind of action would be stifling for future research on contentious issues where the participants' responses were promised confidentiality for the purposes of candor.

How should we teach our future teachers?

How should we teach our future teachers?

There is a lot not known about how we should teach our future teachers. A lot more needs to be implemented that is currently not being implemented in colleges of education. Until we, as a community, acknowledge what we are not doing well and align our work to the needs of the field, while supporting generative growth in teachers, we will continue to be attacked and replaced.

I am not a fan of Teach for America, but I recognize that most programs in schools of education are not satisfactory. I have pushed my colleagues to include classroom management and working with students with special needs into our methods courses, with practical foci, not just the ideas. What we know about learning is that we have to meet students, including preservice and inservice teachers, where they are. We spend so much time trying to get them to appreciate the things we find interesting, when they are worried about things that will matter in classrooms but are often seen as beneath the academy. On the other hand, I don't think expanding the pool of places that can offer quick and dirty programs will be the answer.

We need to sit down and really rethink a lot about teacher education. I do think the university structure that is focused on courses and fitting with the university culture and timeline instead of timelines best made for students to learn to become good teachers is an impediment. If I didn't try to fit a program into a semester system, but just moved between coursework and fieldwork in ways that make more sense for learning a clinical practice, I would be able to do so much more as a teacher educator. Medical schools do not operate on the regular semester calendar, so why should we? We need to be more creative and willing to envision new ways of thinking about teacher education that is not hamstrung by university constraints, as Race to the Top will allow others to do this without us. The handwriting is clear for teacher education, and we should be listening, not just trying to defend the status quo.

Education Week: Panel Finds No Favorite in Teacher-Prep Pathways

Education Week: Panel Finds No Favorite in Teacher-Prep Pathways
I am glad this report finally came out. It is very frustrating to teach in a teacher preparation program where many either think research has nothing to say, or that the research is definitive in what we should do in teacher preparation. I hope the call for more research is heeded, and that the focus is on what program elements matter, for whom, and why. I am skeptical that these large data-sets can do support that kind of research without greater clarity about measuring "field experiences," for example, beyond hours spent student teaching and not looking at quality and growth. Fundamentally, until we as teacher educators become more critical of our practice, and the level of regulation of teacher education programs is realigned to allow for real experimentation with true oversight, we are not going to be able to learn much. Teacher education is a major industry in the US, and in most places it is not treated or regulated in ways that support research-based or research-generating practice. I hope this report spurs change.

Bracketology - NCAA 1985 - 2009 - Leonardo Aranda's posterous

Bracketology - NCAA 1985 - 2009 - Leonardo Aranda's posterous

This is really cool. It would be nice to always name the regions, but he is right about the inconsistency with which teams are placed in a region. But the relative imbalance across some of the regions is pretty sharp. In the top right region, not team beyond the #1 team wins. Does not bode well for WVA this year against DUKE if you are looking at the standard brackets for this year. Interesting. I share in the spirit of my totally busted bracket (as the defending champion who is about to go down in her bracketology group). Happy spring and enjoy the games this weekend.

Bridging a class divide, one English lesson at a time - washingtonpost.com

Bridging a class divide, one English lesson at a time - washingtonpost.com

This is a great idea and one I'd love to see at college campuses across the country, especially ones like mine!

Education Week: Book Trains Critical Eye on AP Program's Impact

Education Week: Book Trains Critical Eye on AP Program's Impact
As someone who benefited greatly from AP science and calculus courses, I finished college in 3 years with a degree in mathematics. However, I worry about the push to AP over all others. The rankings that focus on AP as a proxy measure for a good high school seem terribly off, especially when they do not consider passing rates on the test. The test is the measure of the rigor of the AP course. If all of the students are failing the test, it is not really serving the AP purpose. The likelihood of the courses labeled AP as being "course-inflated" meaning a higher title than the actual content taught in the class, the less likely the courses will matter. As AP continues to scale up, it will need staffing that can support college-level curriculum taught in a high school context. I'm not sure we have the mass of teachers who can effectively pull off AP instruction, especially those teachers with other, often competing, demands to work with struggling students.

Success adds up for D.C. schools' math program - washingtonpost.com

Success adds up for D.C. schools' math program - washingtonpost.com - Interesting article on Everyday Math. I was just talking with an elementary teacher and potential doctoral student about the "spiral" curriculum of Everyday Math and how much it requires trust in one's colleagues to pick up things in the next grade and provide the appropriate foundation from the previous grade. I wonder how those teachers who "opt out" handle that trust issue, or if whole schools are opting out.

Found Math (from the MAA Focus) - Orthogonal

Mr. Friedman: I think that issue is entirely orthogonal to the

issue here because the Commonwealth is acknowledging —

Chief Justice Roberts: I’m sorry. Entirely what?

Mr. Friedman: Orthogonal. Right angle. Unrelated. Irrelevant.

Chief Justice Roberts: Oh.

Justice Scalia: What was that adjective? I liked that.

Mr. Friedman: Orthogonal.

Chief Justice Roberts: Orthogonal.

Mr. Friedman: Right, right.

Justice Scalia: Orthogonal, ooh.

Justice Kennedy: I knew this case presented us a problem.

Mr. Friedman: I should have — I probably should have said

—

Justice Scalia: I think we should use that in the opinion.

Mr. Friedman: I thought — I thought I had seen it before.

Justice Scalia: Or the dissent.

Mr. Friedman: Th at is a bit of professorship creeping in, I

suppose.

— Richard Friedman, arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court

in Briscoe v. Virginia

(Th anks to Deanna Haunsperger and Th e Volokh Conspiracy;

see http://volokh.com/2010/01/11/orthogonal-ooh/)

Building a Better Teacher - NYTimes.com

This is a great article about teacher education and professional development. I hope policymakers and teacher educators pay attention. I think there is a need to blend both discipline-based and general pedagogical knowledge to build a better teacher. I also wish they would attend to developmental differences and how things work differently from elementary to high school. Worth a read. Building a Better Teacher - NYTimes.com