The Answer Sheet: Schools and Teachers


Posted at 01:51 PM ET, 01/21/2013

Obama's three education references in inaugural speech
By Valerie Strauss
Here are the three references to education that President Obama made in his inaugural speech today.

By Valerie Strauss  |  01:51 PM ET, 01/21/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Inaugural Speech, Schools and Teachers

Posted at 11:55 AM ET, 11/13/2010

Teacher: Data, my new dirty word
By Valerie Strauss
A teacher explains how an obsession with data has led to the redefinition of teaching and learning: "Teaching itself has become redefined as generating, collecting, and using data, and learning has become redefined as the curve connecting data points. This is a fundamental shift in how educators think, talk, and go about educating our children. Unfortunately, it is not a shift that serves anyone but the data-collectors very well."

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:55 AM ET, 11/13/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  data, education, educational data, mad math minutes, mad minutes, nclb, no child left behind, school reform, schools, teachers, teaching and learning, test data

Posted at 09:40 AM ET, 11/12/2010

What’s wrong with releasing names and scores?
By Valerie Strauss
A teacher writing about plans by the NYC Department of Education to release teachers’ names and value-added ratings to the press, says: "Is this sheer stubbornness on the part of school leaders, or do they not understand the harm this would cause?"

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:40 AM ET, 11/12/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  diana senechal, la times, la times teachers, new york city schools, new york times, new york times teachers, nyc doe, school reform, schools and teachers, teacher assessment, teacher evaluation, teachers, the los angeles times, value added, value added assessment

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 08/05/2010

Accountability in DCPS: Details from teacher's IMPACT report
By Valerie Strauss
Aaron Pallas, an education and sociology professor and a statistician who critiqued DCPS's IMPACT teacher evaluation system last week, responds to critics of that post and looks at new data from a teacher's report as he argues that DCPS continues to publicly misrepresent IMPACT's evaluation methods.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 08/05/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  D.C. Schools, D.C. Schools, D.C. Schools, D.C. Schools, D.C. Schools | Tags:  IMPACT and d.c., d.c. teacher evaluations, d.c. teachers, dc schools and teachers, how to evaluate teachers, value added evaluations

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 07/28/2010

Were some D.C. teachers fired based on flawed calculations?
By Valerie Strauss
A professor of sociology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, argues that D.C. Public Schools botched the calculations that were used to decide to fire some of the 241 teachers let go last week.

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:30 AM ET, 07/28/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  D.C. Schools, D.C. Schools | Tags:  DC CAS, IMPACT evaluation system, d.c. public schools and teachers, d.c. schools, d.c. teachers fired, how rhee fired teachers, rhee and d.c. and fire and teachers, rhee fires teachers, value added and teachers, why rhee fired teachers

Posted at 03:31 PM ET, 06/25/2010

Extremism in school reform is not a virtue
By Valerie Strauss
A longtime educator says it is time to recognize the complexity of the challenges presented by ailing school districts and to avoid simplistic, extreme positions which seem so popular today.

By Valerie Strauss  |  03:31 PM ET, 06/25/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  charter schools and teachers, colorado and teachers law, eliminating teacher tenure, merit pay and teachers, teacher tenure, teacher tenure and reform, teachers and accountability, teachers pay and test scores, value of teacher tenure