(This guest blog was written by Scott Joftus, co-founder and president of Cross & Joftus, an education consulting firm based in Bethesda, MD. He can be reached at scott@edstrategies.net.) “People who drive faster than me are jerks. People who drive…
Category Archives: Teacher Quality
Teachers as Policymakers?
May 10, 2012 – 10:18 am
(This guest blog was written by Scott Joftus, co-founder and president of the education-consulting firm Cross & Joftus, based in Bethesda, MD. He can be reached at scott@edstrategies.net.) Should teachers be setting educational policy? Based on the comments to my…
Top-Third Tina, Bottom-Third Barry
April 26, 2012 – 2:56 pm
There’s been some good blogging lately on how to interpret the studies on Teach For America (TFA) teacher effectiveness – see Matthew Di Carlo and Adam Ozimek. But neither addresses the research from a Relinquisher standpoint. Here’s what they say:…
In Praise of ‘Seat Time’
April 10, 2012 – 1:58 pm
“Seat time.” That’s the classic concept of education. Spend three, four or five hours a week in a classroom and get credit for knowledge of the subject. Of course, to get the credit, one has to “earn” a grade. Don’t…
The Value-Added Debate: A Relinquisher Responds
April 3, 2012 – 8:00 am
Both the LA Times and New York Times recently published value-added scores of teachers. Much debate, to say the least, has ensued. So what’s a Relinquisher (someone who supports public regulation but non-profit operation of schools) to make of all…
The Buried Lead: Unions’ Power in Question
April 2, 2012 – 8:00 am
(This post was written by guest blogger Julia Martin, legislative director of the Brustein & Manasevit law firm.) In a March 18 interview on “Fox News Sunday,” former Massachusetts Governor and Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said that if elected…
Professional is as Professional Does
February 23, 2012 – 4:12 pm
We’ve had some excellent talk about professionalism here recently. In “HQT: What the Doctor Ordered?”, Nancy Connor, director of federal programs for the Denver Public Schools, wrote about the value of certification and of NCLB’s High-Quality Teacher provision. In regard to…