Accomplished California Teachers Education News

Value-added measurement remains the most problematic aspect of the education reform efforts around the country. If we could dispense with this statistical voodoo we'd have much more productive discussions among education stakeholders and much more sound policies to help teachers help students.

Interesting comparison of the ways French and American cultures view, and shape, childhood behaviors.

Comprehensive study shows that while overall educational achievement has improved for all students in the U.S. in recent decades, the gap between affluent and poor students has grown.

A teacher's open letter to NY state ed. officials supports Common Core Standards, decries the amount of testing students experience.

"Like other teacher groups who are trusted with autonomy to collectively make the decisions influencing school success, Mission Hill's teachers have decided that acknowledging and accommodating students as individuals is the cornerstone of their shared purpose."

Jose Vilson writes:

"Why seek validation from the assortment of “education experts” like mayors, chancellors, politicians, millionaires, billionaires, presidents, random people off the street, corporate CEOs, actors, musicians, artists, and the occasional athlete? Or anyone else with an opinion on education?

"Professors and union leaders sometimes fit in this category, too, because they should know better than to talk down to K-12 practitioners, but some do, and forget to invite teachers to their events and panels even when they say they’re advocating on behalf of us.

"We don’t always want 'on behalf of.' We want to do a lot of this ourselves."

- See more at: http://thejosevilson.com/2013/02/28/a-phillip-randolph-and-who-really-controls-teacher-voice/#sthash.UcMy6HH8.dpuf

Against the backdrop of a national survey showing half of teachers experiencing “great stress” on the job, the head of California’s teacher credentialing commission says that stress levels among the state’s teachers are likely to be even higher.

Larry Ferlazzo shares practitioner wisdom and insights from educators familiar with Peer Assitance and Review programs.

Accomplished California Teachers advocates the expansion of teacher roles and responsibilities within educational systems.  These leadership roles already exist in some schools and districts, including a highly regarded peer evaluation system in San Juan Unified School District.  Read more in this profile from our blog, InterACT.

The Common Core State Standards transition is underway, though much to the chagrin of many educators.  What's the best response for those conflicted individuals?  Fight the policy, or participate in the process to make the best of a flawed situation?

NEA Foundation offering online courses for district/union leaders to promote labor-mgmt collaboration.

Surprise - education reform can be effective when its collaborative and non-punitive. Greg Anrig uses Cincinnati as his example.

David Berliner: "Frankly, it looks to me like our nation is more at risk from critics like these than it is from the hard-working teachers and administrators trying to help poor kids and their families get ahead in a nation that is increasingly stacking the deck against the poor. "

Barnett Berry weighs in: "Withering 'Rhee-form'"

ASCD Conference features interactive leadership Forum, Maya Angelou keynote, and Common Core conversations.

Super-blogger Jose Vilson offers some good reflections and insights about what it really means to be a teacher leader and how that might fit into a school program.

Seems like every time there's a study showing that charter schools are doing better than public schools, a little scrutiny shows that they're not teaching comparable groups of students. In this case it turns out they also have more money with which to do it. Bruce Baker of Rutgers University breaks down the numbers in the latest study from NYC.

ACT associate director David B. Cohen contributed this guest post to the Shanker Blog, discussing advancements in teacher leadership in California and elsewhere in the U.S.