Judging Teachers By Test Scores

The Public Agenda web site has some interesting information on evaluating teachers by test scores. Read the summary and click on the links below for more information:

Judging Teachers By Test Scores

The Obama administration's "Race to the Top" on education has a lot of hurdles ahead of it, and one may be the fact that the administration is embracing one of the ideas that teachers have seemed most skeptical about: judging teachers by test scores. To be precise, states can't get funding under the $4.3 billion initiative if they have laws that bar the use of test scores to evaluate teacher performance. That includes some big states like New York and California. The administration argues that using test data to evaluate schools is essential for reform. "You cannot ignore facts," President Obama said. "That is why any state that makes it unlawful to link student progress to teacher evaluations will have to change its ways." Perhaps so. But it's worth noting that Public Agenda research has consistently found that out of all the players in education, teachers are the most doubtful about the value of testing. In 2006, we found 71 percent of teachers said students were required to take "too many" standardized tests, compared to 59 percent of superintendents. Teachers are also less likely than other groups to see standardized testing as valuable, with 62 percent of teachers calling them a "necessary evil," compared to 37 percent of parents. But these are also the very same people whose support must be enlisted if education reform is to have an impact: nothing happens in a classroom unless the teacher makes it happen. Our great challenge is holding teachers accountable while keeping them enthusiastic - - at the same time. To learn more about this critical issue, including details from our research on this subject, see the full story, "Room At The Top For Test Scores?" on our blog. And for more on education reform, check out Education Insights at PublicAgenda.org.

Rock Hill School Board Gives Superintendent Very Positive Evaluation, Gives National Board Pay The Ax

At the July Business meeting of the Rock Hill School Board, the Board voted 6-0 (Rentschler absent because of business) to extend the Superintendent's contract one year (until 2014) and to give a very positive evaluation of her performance. The "very positive" evaluation triggered an automatic 2% increase in annuity payment and a step increase (2%) in salary as spelled out in the Superintendent's contract. Total increase in compensation will be around $6,600. The Superintendent has pledged to donate $3,225 to the Rock Hill School District Foundation.

In other business, the board voted to eliminate future National Board Supplemental pay by a vote of 4-2, with Norwood and Vining against. This came after a vote to table the motion failed 3-3 with Silverman, Norwood, and Vining voting to table.

This was the motion as presented by the Administration:
Administration's Recommendation for National Board Teachers' Local Supplement

July 27, 2009
We recommend discontinuing the local supplement of $3,000 per year for
teachers who receive National Board certification on or after Jan. 1, 2010.

Current NB certified teachers will continue to receive the $3,000 supplement until the end of their first ten-year cycle.

The supplement will also be discontinued for teachers achieving renewal for the second 10-year cycle, effective September 1, 2009.

Teachers who transfer here during the middle of their first ten-year cycle will receive the $3,000 supplement, if they achieved certification prior to January 1,2010.

Anyone who receives National Board certification after January 1, 2010 is not
eligible to receive the local supplement.

The above recommendation is subject to annual budgetary appropriations by the
Rock Hill Board of Trustees and may be altered by majority vote of the Board.

Total savings will be about $60,000 a year (equivalent to saving one teaching position a year). I'll have more comments in a later post.

The board approved 6-0 the following administrative personnel changes as recommended by the administration:

• Jacob Moree as Assistant Principal @ Old Pointe
• Stephanie DiStasio as Assistant Principal @ Rosewood
• Transfer Robert Smalls from ATC to Rawlinson Road as an Assistant Principal
• Transfer Marc Swygert from Rawlinson Road to Independence as an Assistant Principal

The board approved 24 new hires by a vote of 6-0 (included within the Consent Agenda)

The board approved the recommendation to use Build America for our recent bonds to be sold - vote was 6-0

The board approved Ann Reid to attend the School Law Conference in Hilton Head by a vote of 5-0 (Ms. Reid is a member of the state board and her attendance is important for the board - Ms. Reid did not vote)

The board took no action on a recommendation for a long term lease of the Central Child Development Center Annex and suggested the administration investigate options of selling the property.

Board yearly compensation is also about equal to one teacher's salary - no action was taken on this.

Rock Hill School District 2009 High School Football Schedule

Date	Team	Opponent	Site
Friday, August 28, 2009	Rock Hill	Wando	District 3
	South Pointe	JL Mann	JL Mann
	Northwestern	Goose Creek	Goose Creek
Friday, September 04, 2009	Rock Hill	Nation Ford	Nation Ford
	South Pointe	Independence	District South
	Northwestern	Spartanburg	District 3
Friday, September 11, 2009	Rock Hill	Northwestern	Northwestern (District 3)
	South Pointe	Clover	District South
	Northwestern	Rock Hill	District 3
Thursday, September 17, 2009	Northwestern	Chester	District 3
Friday, September 18, 2009	Rock Hill	Clover	District 3
	South Pointe	Fort Mill	Fort Mill
Thursday, September 24, 2009	Rock Hill	Fort Mill	District 3
Friday, September 25, 2009	South Pointe	York	District South
	Northwestern	Lancaster	District 3
Friday, October 02, 2009	Rock Hill	York	York
	South Pointe	Northwestern	South Pointe (District 3)
	Northwestern	South Pointe	South Pointe (District 3)
Friday, October 09, 2009	Rock Hill	Ridge View	Ridge View
	South Pointe	Lancaster	District South (Homecoming)
	Northwestern	Nation Ford	District 3
Friday, October 16, 2009	Rock Hill	Spring Valley	District 3 (Homecoming)
	South Pointe	Ridge View	Ridge View
	Northwestern	Clover	Clover
Friday, October 23, 2009	Rock Hill	Lancaster	Lancaster
	South Pointe	Blythewood	Blythewood
	Northwestern	York	District 3
Friday, October 30, 2009	Rock Hill	Blythewood	District 3
	South Pointe	Spring Valley	Spring Valley
	Northwestern	Fort Mill	Fort Mill
Friday, November 06, 2009	Rock Hill	South Pointe	District 3
	South Pointe	Rock Hill	Rock Hill (District 3)
	Northwestern	Gafney	Gafney

Rock Hill School News For Tuesday, July 28, 2009

The District Volunteer & Partnership Awards Luncheon will honor 55 individuals/businesses/groups on July 29 at Dutchman Creek Middle School. The honorees are those who give of their personal time and financial resources to benefit students and staff in Rock Hill Schools.

The Tax-Free Weekend for school supplies, clothes, footwear, computers, computer equipment, etc.will be the first weekend in August.

Cindy Hunt, with ParentSmart, is pleased to announce that the trustees of the Duke Endowment have approved an appropriation to The Early Learning Partnership of York County in the amount of $110,000 for free clinics (such as in our Family Resource Center) to serve uninsured children.

The Carroll School, a restored Rosenwald School in Rock Hill, is featured in the August edition of Southern Living magazine in a beautiful four-page spread. A crew from the magazine visited the school on April 2 and interviewed teacher Melanie Hornsby and Queenie Hall, instructional specialist.

The Rock Hill Elks Lodge, once again, plans to provide every third-grade student with a complimentary dictionary in late Sept. or early October.

Linda Hutchinson, former C0-Principal of the Central Child Development Center, had an article published in the July/August edition of Exchange magazine, a journal for directors of preschool and day care programs. Dr. Hutchinson's article is about the gardening program teachers and students at the Central Child Development Center did with the assistance of students in the Rebound program.

Rock Hill School Board Gives Superintendent Very Positive Evaluation

Statement from Robert "Bob" Norwood, Board Chairman

Rock Hill School District Three of York County

During tonight's meeting (9/27/09), the Board met in Executive Session to conduct its annual evaluation of its Superintendent, Dr. Lynn Moody. The Board is pleased to report that Dr. Moody received a very positive evaluation.

We are extremely pleased with the progress the District has continued to make during the past school year under Dr. Moody's leadership. We are pleased that Mt. Holly Elementary School and Dutchman Creek Middle School had successful openings at the beginning of this past school year. The administration continues to focus on the Board's primary goals of improving student achievement and lowering the dropout rate. Dr. Moody and her administration have established several effective programs to address these goals. The District also obtained district-wide SACS accreditation for all of its schools.

The Board wishes to express publicly its full support of Dr. Moody and her staff. The Board and administration recognize that the District had significant challenges this past year with the budget due to the uncertainty of federal, state and local funding, which is consistent with experiences school boards across the state have had. The Board and administration remain committed to continuing to manage the District's finances in the best interests of the District and the community. We are grateful for Dr. Moody's outstanding leadership, work ethic, and her commitment to the success of our District.

The Board voted to extend Dr. Moody's contract by one year, or through June 30, 2014. Pursuant to the terms of her contract, and based on her very positive evaluation, Dr. Moody is to receive a 2% salary increase, consistent with the 2% step increase received by teachers. Dr. Moody advised the Board that she plans to return the money to the District with a donation to the Rock Hill Educational Foundation.

July 28, 2009

Dr. Moody will also get a 2% increase in contribution to a retirement account, as specified in her contract.

Creative Students

Worth repeating from the Education Innovation blog:

11 Traits of Highly Creative Students

Dean Rieck is a highly creative and successful direct marketing copywriter. He recently posted this piece “Do You Have These 11 Traits of Highly Creative People?” on the wonderful site Copyblogger.

As my title suggests, these 11 traits should be encouraged and developed in our students. Standards, standardized testing and approved curriculum is important, but is not enough. We need to develop what students will truly need in to be successful in the future. Creativity is the edge they need and we need to do our best develop it.

So with thanks to Dean, here are 11 highly creative traits that students need to develop.

1. "Have the COURAGE to try new things and risk failure. Every big breakthrough starts as a harebrained idea. This doesn’t mean you should constantly go off the deep end, just that you should balance your routine portfolio of solutions with an investment in the new and untried. Over time, the risk is usually worth the reward."

2. "Use INTUITION as well as logic to make decisions and produce ideas. When Matt Drudge designed his Web site, he listened to his gut instead of the Internet gurus. He kept it simple, small, fast, and some would say ugly and primitive. But it works for him, making The Drudge Report one of the most recognizable and popular sites in the world."

3. "Like to PLAY, since humor and fun are the ultimate creative act. Which is to say you just have to lighten up. We all have goals, and quotas, and deadlines, but it’s not life and death. When you enjoy yourself, your brain relaxes and is able to produce more and better ideas. One of those ideas may be just what you’re looking for."

4. "Are EXPRESSIVE and willing to share what they feel and think, to be themselves. Blogging is the ideal arena for injecting your personality into your work. People are emotional creatures and respond better to people who appear real, honest, and open. Not only is it more interesting, it can also be more persuasive."

5. "Can FIND ORDER in confusion and discover hidden meaning in information. Research and critical thinking are key tools for the creative person. Information is to the brain what food is to the stomach. So-called “writer’s block” or creative burnout almost always results from a lack of fresh information and having nothing meaningful to say."

6. "Are MOTIVATED BY A TASK rather than by external rewards. You must like the challenge of writing, explaining, teaching, and persuading. Sure, you can make money along the way, but if you’re in it just for the money, you’re not going to be a fountain of new ideas."

7. "Have a need to FIND SOLUTIONS to challenging problems. Even the most creative writers won’t have a solution for everything. If they claim to, they’ve stopped thinking. Highly creative people are those whose eyes light up at a question they can’t answer. That’s the opportunity to learn something new and produce remarkably creative content."

8. "Will CHALLENGE ASSUMPTIONS and ask hard questions to discover what is real. Writing, blogging, or business rules aren’t really rules, only rules of thumb. If you want to wield true creative power, you will always take what others advise with a grain of salt. (That includes all of us gurus who love to don our pointy wizard hats and pontificate on the secrets of success.) If you don’t know something from personal knowledge or experience, you don’t know it at all."

9. "Can MAKE CONNECTIONS between old ideas to produce new insights. Combine the little doodles you make on a white board with online video and you get CommonCraft, a new approach to explaining things to people in a way they can easily understand. Sometimes the best solutions are simply two old ideas jammed together."

10. "Will PUSH THE ENVELOPE in order to expand the boundaries of what is possible. There was a time when no one thought you could make money on the Internet. Now it’s a huge, multi-national business platform. Instead of dividing the world into the possible and impossible, it’s better to merely divide it into the tried and the untried. What have you not tried yet?"

11. "Are willing to TEST new ideas and compete with others based on results. Isn’t that what they mean by the “market of ideas”? Isn’t that what business competition is about? If you’re afraid of being wrong or losing, your creativity will suffer."

We are sending our students out into a globally competitive world. Core knowledge, literacy, the ability to think and learn should be combined with creative traits to prepare students for the future they will face.