Democrats For Education Reform (DFER) has just published a report on “reforming” teacher evaluations that is — how can I put this — just awful.  It’s called Culture of Countenance: Teachers, Observers and the Effort to Reform Teacher Evaluations (thanks to Alexander Russo for the tip).

I suspect, and hope, that others (maybe Bruce D. Baker at School Finance 101) will make a much more careful look at it than I have, but here are a few quick reflections. Let me know if you have others:

Here’s one excerpt:

Administrators recognize that observations are widely viewed as cursory exercises not expected to yield meaningful information. Correspondingly, today’s teachers expect little feedback, positive or negative, from the observation or the subsequent evaluation.

This seems like a pretty wide assumption to make, don’t you think? It certainly hasn’t been my experience.

Next excerpt:

It describes “The Widget Effect” as “the definitive report on teacher evaluations.” This is a widely criticized — one could almost use the word “discredited” report done by The New Teacher Project. Here’s a pretty thorough critique of that report.

Next excerpt:

I’m writing this at a computer that’s new to to me, and my technical ineptitude is preventing me from inserting a good screenshot of a “hypothetical graph” that’s included in the report. I think you can make it out in this shot, though (the text says “The hypothetical graph above offers another way to visualize administrators’ frustration with observation feedback.”). I wasn’t aware that “hypothetical graphs” were a particular genre used in research reports.

Here’s a tweet by Bruce Baker about it:

@jerseyjazzman@alexanderrusso @larryferlazzo amazing when one can’t even select correct graph type for hypothetical illustration?

— Bruce Baker (@SchlFinance101) May 21, 2013

Excerpt Three:

It says that states should:

Use statutes and regulation to set a foundation for observation system.

Um, how about involving teachers in, let’s say, in something called collective bargaining?

Other comments:

It doesn’t even mention Peer Assistance and Review, which has been proven to be one of the most effective ways to use teacher evaluations (The Best Resources On Peer Assistance & Review (PAR) Programs).

And, most crticially — in my view, at least — the report lists several purposes for teacher observations, but doesn’t including anything explicit about what the most importance purpose should be: for supporting teachers so they can develop their professional skills.

Let me know what you think of the report…..

You might also be interested in The Best Resources For Learning About Effective Student & Teacher Assessments.

Here are some good relatively recent posts and articles on education policy issues:

Which Way Up: At a Glance is from The Center For Public Education and is a report on School Improvement Grants. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The Four School Improvement Grant Models.

On the need for unions and seniority is by David B. Cohen. I’m adding it to The Best Articles For Helping To Understand Both Why Teacher Tenure Is Important & The Reasons Behind Seniority-Based Layoffs.

How to Turn an Urban School District Around—Without Cheating is from The Atlantic.

Failing the Test is by David Kirp at Slate. I’m adding it to The Best Articles Providing An “Overall” Perspective On Education Policy.

The Case Against Grades is from Slate.I’m adding it to
The Best Resources On Grading Practices.

The California Teacher Union Reform Network just had a conference over the weekend, and here are some interesting and useful tweets that came out of it. Most were shared by David B. Cohen. David Berliner and Linda Darling-Hammond were two of the speakers there, and spoke about standardized testing and Common Core (among other topics).

I’ve used Storify to collect the tweets:

Bill Gates announced his multi-billion dollar plan to videotape teachers in his TED Talk earlier this month (see The Best Of “TED Talks On Education”). As part of his talk, he highlighted videos of teacher Sarah Brown Wessling, who just wrote a post in The Huffington Post about it.

One portion of her piece, in particular, caught my eye:

If we want video to be an effective tool for teacher growth, here are some ways to help shore up enthusiasm.

• Keep evaluation and exercises for growth separate. As soon as evaluation becomes part of this process, the process changes. Teachers are far more likely to go into compliance mode, fearful of making mistakes. And when fear prevails, authenticity loses. So, instead, make the purpose of using video very clear: for self-reflection and growth.

This is the same point I made in The Washington Post in Videotaping teachers the right way (not the Gates way).

I don’t think Mr. Gates is too clear on that, though….

I’m adding this post to The Best Posts & Articles About Videotaping Teachers In The Classroom.

Here are some relatively recent good posts on education policy issues:

You’ll Be Shocked by How Many of the World’s Top Students Are American is from The Atlantic. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Getting Some Perspective On International Test Comparison Demagoguery.

Why collaboration is vital to creating effective schools is from The Washington Post. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles About The Importance Of Teacher (& Student) Working Conditions.

Grading writing: The art and science — and why computers can’t do it is from The Washington Post. I’m adding it to The Best Posts On Computer-Graded Essays.

Six Ways to Separate Lies From Statistics is from Bloomberg News. I’m adding to to The Best Resources For Understanding How To Interpret Education Research.

Connecting test scores to teacher evaluations: Why not? is from Dangerously Irrelevant. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The “Value-Added” Approach Towards Teacher Evaluation.

Rebirth of the Teaching Machine through the Seduction of Data Analytics: This Time It’s Personal is by Philip McRae. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On “Race To The Top” (& On “Personalized Learning”).

Students Need 8 Critical Conditions for Success is by John Wilson at Education Week.

What Makes KIPP Effective? Review examines a recent study by Mathematica Policy Research is from The Great Lakes Center. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles Analyzing Charter Schools.

Teacher evaluation panel 2013 Education Writers Association National Seminar is by Ray Salazar, and has some interesting thoughts on teacher evaluations. He also links to a very insightful post he previously wrote on Doug Lemov’s teaching strategies. I’m adding the post to The Best Resources For Learning About Effective Student & Teacher Assessments.

Here are some new additions to The Best Of “TED Talks On Education”:

Bill Gates’s $5 billion plan to videotape America’s teachers is by Valerie Strauss at The Washington Post. She highlights a piece I wrote for her column that I still think is the best thing I’ve ever written, Videotaping teachers the right way (not the Gates way).

TED Talks Education speakers make playlists for you is from TED.

Where Private School Is Not a Privilege is a very interesting column in The New York Time this morning. It talks about two companies offering private education in the developing world — BRAC and Bridge. Here are excerpts describing them:

The two school systems have diametrically opposing philosophies, methods and business models. Anyone familiar with the debate in the United States about American education would recognize these polar opposites. Bridge is a for-profit company which draws income solely from school fees; to be profitable it must keep class size at 50 or larger. One of its investors is Pearson, the media and education company whose tests have proven so controversial in New York. Bridge relies on standardization and technology. At 11 a.m. for example, every single second-grade teacher in every Bridge academy will be teaching the exact same lesson, supplied with a word-for-word script from Bridge headquarters delivered by Nook e-reader.

…the BRAC model… gives teachers almost complete autonomy, looks for small classrooms, combines various ages in one class, is Montessori-like in its methods, pays little attention to standardized tests and emphasizes soft skills.

If you want to learn more about Pearson, you might want to read Pearson ‘Education’ — Who Are These People?

And here’s a video on BRAC:

Rifts Deepen Over Direction of Ed. Policy in U.S. is a good article by Michele McNeil in Education Week.

I have a couple of quotes in it, including this one:

“if you ask teachers and principals what [are] the most important things that can be done, new standards would not even make the top 20. How about social services, new technology, and time for teacher collaboration?”

Class Size has certainly been in the news this weekend. Here are three new additions to The Best Resources For Learning About How Class Size Does Matter:

Does Class Size Count? is by Sara Mosle and appeared in The New York Times (don’t miss the comments).

Rich Parents Love Small Class Sizes is by Dana Goldstein.

Class Size in Japan, Korea, and America is by Emmanuel Parello.