SMHC

New Report from Aspen Institute on Human Capital

jkelly — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:00:34 +0000

From Judy Wurtzel and Nancy Pelz-Paget, Co-Directors of the Aspen Institute Education and Society Program, in the December 16 Aspen Institute eNewsletter:

Thinking and acting strategically about human capital development and management is the lifeblood of most high-performing businesses and organizations. A new report from the Aspen Institute Education and Society Program, Rethinking Human Capital in Education: Singapore as a Model for Teacher Development by Susan Sclafani describes how Singapore’s coherent approach to teacher development has helped make Singapore one of the world’s highest performing education systems.

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Obama: Duncan the “most hands-on of hands-on practitioners”

arodden — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:49:30 +0000

On Tuesday, President-elect Barack Obama nominated Chicago schools Chief Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education. At a press conference held at the Dodge Renaissance Academy in Chicago, the President-elect remarked, “In the next few years, the decisions we make about how to educate our children will shape our future for generations to come…When it comes to school reform, Arne is the most hands-on of hands-on practitioners. For Arne, school reform isn’t just a theory in a book – it’s the cause of his life.”

In the SMHC Case Study “Strategic Management of Human Capital – Chicago,” Duncan’s success in dramatically improving teacher quality is recognized as integral to Chicago’s evolving human resource practices. This progress is a key part of the district’s strategy to produce the impressive gains in student performance highlighted in the case study.

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New York Times Quotes Allan Odden on New Education Secretary

jkelly — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:02:44 +0000

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 Times article on Duncan’s nomination, Allan R. Odden, SMHC Co-Director and co-director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education and Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, expressed his approval of Obama’s appointment. “[Duncan]’s gotten the job done in Chicago,” Odden said. “There’s more to be done, but he’s done a great job of reaching out and recruiting and improving the talent of both teachers and principals.”

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Chicago Succeeds With Performance Pay Teacher Advancement Program

arodden — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:23:16 +0000

Chicago Public School District, one of SMHC’s Case Study districts, is having early success with a federally funded, performance pay pilot program. Chicago Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) is a five-year program that offers bonuses to all staff at nine elementary schools and one high school, depending on the performance of students in those schools. In celebration of the first year’s positive results, U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings joined Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan and Mayor Richard Daley, as well as participating teachers and organizations in Chicago on Thursday, December 11.

As reported in the Chicago Tribune, the district showed approximately a 3.7 percent increase on composite scores, and nine schools increased by 5.2 percentage points this last year. However, the district’s composite score – made up of results on reading, math and science tests – of all students meeting or exceeding state requirements still lags behind the state average.

The district’s partners in TAP include the Chicago Teachers Union, Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, The Chicago Public Education Fund, and the Joyce Foundation. Janet M. Knupp, Founding President of the Chicago Public Education Fund and SMHC Task Force Member, said “The Chicago Public Education Fund marked a significant milestone of one of its recent investments, Chicago TAP, with a press conference featuring Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and Chicago Public School officials. Chicago TAP is a customized initiative based on the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching’s (NIET) proven TAP model. The system encompasses performance based compensation, classroom observations, job-embedded professional development and school-based career opportunities for teachers and principals. As a result of participation in Chicago TAP, teachers can advance professionally and earn higher salaries, just as in other careers. And they can do so without leaving the place they’re needed most - the classroom.”

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In Urban School District, Cultural Understanding Goes Far

jkelly — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:51:12 +0000

The Brownsville Independent School District (BISD) in Texas, subject of a recent post on the Center for Teaching Quality’s blog, was awarded the 2008 Broad Prize for Urban Education, the nation’s largest education prize awarded to the most improved urban district. While BISD serves one of the poorest populations in America, students in all grades outperform those in similar districts statewide in reading and math. The district attributes its success to targeted teacher preparation and professional development. In partnership with the University of Texas, the district implements teacher recruitment and training programs that emphasize how to teach English-language learners, an understanding of students’ adverse circumstances, and local teacher recruitment. The results are a high rate of teacher retention and rising student achievement. Between 2004 and 2007, Brownsville reduced the gap between low-income students and Texas’ non-low-income student average by nine percentage points in high school reading.

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“Union Weighs Merit Pay For Teachers”

jkelly — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:48:00 +0000

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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Fund III: Working on the Toughest Challenges

admin — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:50:03 +0000

Guest Post from Janet M. Knupp, Founding President, Chicago Public Education Fund; SMHC Task Force Member; and Presenter at First SMHC Task Force Meeting.

The Chicago Public Education Fund has long been an advocate for high quality leaders in our schools. Similar to the SMHC action plan, The Fund looks for best practices to recruit, support retain, and reward talented school leaders. After eight years and two funds, The Fund has built an extensive leadership pipeline that serves Chicago Public Schools, with a focus on the lowest performing schools.

On Tuesday, September 23rd The Chicago Public Education Fund launched its third and most ambitious fund to date. Building on the success of the first two funds, Fund III will focus on four strategic priority areas:
▪           Promote management innovation: seed the nation’s best school managers and local leaders to run groups of schools in Chicago with an initial emphasis on chronically underperforming schools.
▪           Differentiate compensation: drive student performance by differentiating compensation for principals and teachers.
▪           Attract and develop the best talent: Identify and cultivate high-potential teachers and school leaders to assume high-need leadership roles.
▪           Use objective and relevant data: Maximize measurement tools to inform decision making and improve principal and teacher performance.

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CAP Looks at Teacher Turnover, Tenure Policies, and the Distribution of Teacher Quality

sappleyard — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:52:20 +0000

This is one of two papers done by the Center for American Progress (CAP) to provide input to the Obama transition team. The papers were the basis of a half-day conference in Washington, D.C. on November 19, 2008.

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Disjointed HR Systems at Root of Poor School Performance

arodden — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:59:20 +0000

An article from Education Daily focuses on the importance of modern staffing and scheduling systems to well-run school districts. Among other factors, antiquated scheduling and staffing systems are behind the significant teacher shortages, low levels of achievement, and large achievements gaps that afflict America’s largest urban districts. Citing the SMHC case studies, this story highlights four strategies that are common to districts that have made notable strides in reforming their approaches to human capital, including the recruitment and training of specialized teachers, and restructuring of teacher application and professional development processes.

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Case Study Examines Teacher Recruiting Organization’s HR Initiatives

jkelly — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:30:33 +0000

A case study on The New Teacher Project (TNTP) is one of nine case studies recently released by SMHC. This case study scrutinizes TNTP’s holistic approach to education, offering a thorough examination of TNTP’s Teacher Fellows recruitment programs, school-level staffing initiatives, and training and certification programs, among other initatives. To review this case study, please see SMHC Resources.

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