This guest blog post written by Danny Rosenthal, who is a graduate of Harvard Law School and a former high school math teacher. He practices labor and employment law in Washington, D.C.

Two years ago, Florida’s Alachua County was faced with a dilemma. Under the state’s new teacher evaluation law, the county was required to base 40 percent of evaluations on value-added student achievementContinue Reading »

Say goodbye to traditional testing. Utah is replacing fill-in-the-blank testing with computer-adaptive testing. This will allow students to demonstrate what they know through questions other than multiple choice. (The Salt Lake Tribune, h/t ASCD SmartBrief)

Replacing class with community gatherings.  In response to hateful incidents on campus, Oberlin College and Dartmouth College replacContinue Reading »

As part of Jeff Charbonneau’s victory lap as National Teacher of the Year, he met with President Obama this week at the White House. There was a little kerfuffle because Charbonneau does not share the president’s views regarding teacher evaluation. Like the majority of teachers, Charbonneau opposes linking student standardized test scores to teacher evaluation. It’s unclear, he says, whether thContinue Reading »

Budget fun! The White House, of course, has edu-highlights on President Obama’s proposed budget, released today. Politics K-12 also has a good rundown of what’s most important.

Ask the students. Tom Kane outlines the advantages of using student surveys as a component of teacher evaluations. (Chalkboard/Brookings Institution)

Spelling is for wussies. The National Spelling Bee will Continue Reading »

From a parent’s perspective. Sixty-three percent of Chicago parents say student achievement should count for more than 30 percent of a teacher’s evaluation, according to a new study of Chicago Public Schools and its families. (Joyce Foundation)

Restorative justice in high school. Replacing zero-tolerance policies with “talking circles” has reduced suspension rates from 12 percent to 8 peContinue Reading »

How many teachers should be rated “unsatisfactory”? Matt DiCarlo looks at “the ineffective rating fetish” and how it could hurt efforts to implement new teacher evaluation systems. (Shanker Blog)

Long-term benefits of preschool. A study of New Jersey’s universal pre-K programs shows learning gains through fifth grade, debunking some beliefs that preschool gains aren’t maintaiContinue Reading »

On Tuesday the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) Project released its third and final series of reports. The media has reported the main findings: that we can measure and predict effective teaching. And, because the MET Project randomly assigned students to teachers, we can say that there is causality in this relationship, that teachers with high value-added scores in one year caused studentContinue Reading »

Words of wisdom from educators piloting new teacher evaluation systems. (Hechinger Report)

Everybody wants to be like Nate. Could Nate Silver’s popularity incite interest in math, like CSI did for forensic science? (MindShift)

What is PIE? Not that delicious dessert, but this. (PIE Network)

The biggest education issue of 2012? You choose. Vote here. (Education Next) Tweet Continue Reading »

Don’t mock the jocks. They’re cashing in on their degrees in exercise science. (Wall Street Journal)

“So where is Waldo, really?” This and other offbeat questions are popping up on college applications this year, as admissions officers try to get a better sense of students’ personalities. (Los Angeles Times)

Take it or lose it. New York City schools stand to lose $250 million in sContinue Reading »

Following up on my post earlier this week on the tentative agreement in Los Angeles around how to incorporate student growth in teacher evaluations, there at least four more reasons why combining school-level student growth scores and raw test scores in a teacher’s evaluation is a bad idea: