Posted on December 16th, 2008 by jkelly
President-elect Barack Obama named Chicago schools Chief Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education on Tuesday. Known for taking bold steps to reform the nation’s third largest school district, Duncan maintained respectful relationships with teacher unions while replacing ineffective teachers, closing failing schools, and experimenting with performance pay programs, mostly with improved results.
In a New York [...]
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Posted on December 12th, 2008 by jkelly
In this wide-ranging NPR interview, UFT and AFT president Randi Weingarten discusses a wide range of education issues, explaining her views that “everything should be on the table that is fair to teachers and good for students.”
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Posted on December 2nd, 2008 by jkelly
This story in Education Week focuses attention on the need for broad, thoughtful human resource strategies that connect the major components of school districts’ personnel systems. Citing the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s increased focus on teacher quality, the SMHC Case Studies and the SMHC National Conference, Education Week reporter Lesli A. Maxwell examines the [...]
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Posted on November 25th, 2008 by arodden
The Achievement Reporting and Innovation System (ARIS), a tool designed to streamline educators’ access to information from Department of Education computer systems, is now available to all New York City classroom teachers. Introduced last year to principals and a small number of teachers, ARIS will help teachers to raise student achievement by expanding their access [...]
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Posted on November 24th, 2008 by arodden
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) announced its support for the SMHC Case Studies, applauding SMHC’s comprehensive and rigorous approach to addressing the challenges of recruiting, retaining, and rewarding effective teachers and principals in urban school districts.
States CCSSO Executive Director Gene Wilhoit, “We agree with SMHC’s finding that a practical system for measuring [...]
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Posted on November 18th, 2008 by arodden
SMHC today, at a press conference led by Governor Pawlenty and former Governor Hunt, released a series of case studies on five top-performing districts, one state and three organizations. The SMHC Case Studies assess progress on teacher and principal recruitment, selection, and placement; induction and mentoring; professional development; performance management (evaluation); and compensation, and chronicle: Boston, Chicago, Fairfax County, [...]
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Posted on November 17th, 2008 by arodden
This long article in Education Week profiles SMHC Task Force member Beverly Hall, who is superintendent of the Atlanta Public Schools. The article describes both the overall education improvement strategy Hall implemented and many of her talent and human capital management practices as well. Moreover, her initiatives have worked! Atlanta student performance has increased dramatically [...]
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Posted on October 20th, 2008 by arodden
Education Week reports that Minnesota Governor and SMHC Task Force Chair Tim Pawlenty is putting forth an ambitious teacher quality improvement plan. Under Gov. Pawlenty’s “Teacher Transformation Act,” all districts would be required to tie annual teacher pay increases to student performance; enforce tighter admission standards for teacher education programs; actively recruit mid-career professionals from
other [...]
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Posted on October 2nd, 2008 by arodden
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that teachers in Cincinnati Public Schools recently received incentive pay checks of between $500 and $1,000 for helping students at struggling elementary schools by improving student performance and raising attendance levels. The pilot program is using funds from the federal Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) for the Teacher Advancement Program, or TAP, which provides [...]
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Posted on September 26th, 2008 by admin
Guest post by Matthew Kramer, president and chief program officer of Teach For America, and SMHC Task Force Member
A core idea in the SMHC action plan is that a talented workforce, at all levels, is critical to turning around the performance of our largest school districts. Teach For America shares that view so we focus [...]
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