Master teachers: effective evaluations of teachers and principals

Was it SDUSD Superintendent Cindy Marten (above)
who convinced reporter Mario Koran that student test scores are no
longer of any interest to anyone in San Diego Unified for measuring
teacher performance? Or was it one of Voice of San Diego's donors?

Voice of San Diego education reporter Mario Koran isn't a big fan of objective measures of teacher quality. In the story below, he gives the impression that the current, failed practice of having principals do subjective teacher evaluations is just fine. Just because one school can improve without reforming this policy proves absolutely nothing. There have always been some schools that did a good job--but those schools were successful in spite of, not because of, having subjective teacher evaluations.

“The [San Diego Unified] district is focused on finding a way to replicate success like Marshall after it grew disillusioned with the school reform movement,” VOSD’s Mario Koran reports, “which focuses intensely on test scores as a way to gauge progress, and is now looking for a measurable alternative.”

Wait a minute. "Disillusioned with the school reform movement"? The whole movement? Everything? That's a rather sweeping statement. It implies that the school reform movement is limited to using "test scores as a way to gauge progress."

I would suggest that the district use the test scores intelligently, focusing intensely on the 10% of teachers who get the best improvement in student scores year after year.

It appears that VOSD doesn't want to focus on highly effective teachers any more than CTA does; they both prefer power politics for deciding which teachers are listened to.

Schools don't know who the best teachers are. The current process of principal evaluations (that often involve no classroom observations) is highly lax and political. Bad teachers with influence often get good evaluations; good teachers who don't support the agenda of the principal are often not fully acknowledged.

Schools would benefit if they had clear, unbiased information about which teachers were fully effective. For one thing, the best teachers could do training of other teachers, saving the obscene costs of hiring consultants selling the latest gimmick is monstrous.

But unbiased evaluations would interfere with school politics--and district politics. It would allow people to advance who weren't necessarily popular and politically connected--people who might change things, disturbing the smooth surface that covers up the dysfunction in our schools.

SDUSD's initial proposal to teachers April 15, 2014: district offer: A new evaluation article and process, focused on fostering meaningful professional growth and development for all certificated personnel

Here's another VOSD story:

The Case That Could Blow Up Teacher Tenure
By: Mario Koran
Voice of San Diego
April 28, 2014

Comments

DDunn
District Tenure:
In reading the San Diego board meeting agenda item re: Central Office Reorganization. This is when and how the district moves and shuffles worn out people and positions to create the illusion that something is improving. However some of the names and faces have been around and moved around for years. Not much will change, except the job titles and pay grade - look a bit deeper.

As for teacher evaluations - what is in place via State Assembly Stull Bill is quite adequate. It's the follow through by administrators that fails. Specifically, if an administrator finds a teacher as "needs improvement" or "not satisfactory", that administrator is required by contract to develop a plan (with a stringent timeline) to bring the teacher up to satisfactory - and this can take up to 2 years, and few administrators actually know how or what to do. (see SDEA contract Performance Evaluations). Also, by contract, an administrator can opt for a Special Evaluation at any time - but the plan, timeline, and work involved is heavy.

Now for student/parent evaluation input. Professionals need to be evaluated by professionals. So, next time you're out for diner with the family and get a "How'd we do" card from your server, hand it to your 10 year old to fill out. And for parents - your child is not the same child in class as she/he is at home...Sorry!

Kathy S

@DDunn But that rich guy Bill Gates says.....Gates "wants the country to spend $5 billion for every teacher in every classroom in every district to be filmed in action so they can be evaluated and, maybe, improve."

The philanthropist has dedicated resources in the last few years to identifying and developing effective teaching. His foundation funded the $45 million MET project designed to determine how to best identify and promote great teaching. They enlisted the help of 3,000 teachers and many experts to determine the best way to do this.

In regards to teacher evaluations, the MET project concluded that a three-step approach is best. This includes: student test scores, classroom observations by multiple reviewers, and teacher evaluations from students.

And cameras....

As for the Gates Foundation, this idea has been brewing for quite some time. Thomas Kane, a professor of education and economics at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the director of the MET project, said in a 2011 interview with Education Next that there are a lot of advantages to having cameras in classrooms. He said:

One is it gives you a common piece of evidence to discuss with an instructional coach or supervisor. Second, it will prove to be economically much more viable because you’re not paying observers to drive around to various schools to do observations. If a teacher doesn’t think that their principal is giving them a fair evaluation because of some vendetta, they can have an external expert with no personal ax to grind watch and give feedback. (Thomas J. Kane, a professor at Harvard, testifies for the plaintiffs in Vergara v. California)

Maura Larkins' comment

I agree with you that administrators tend to be very neglectful when it comes to working with weak teachers. But another problem is the principal's original evaluation of a teacher. Principals are in a difficult situation: they are vastly outnumbered by the people they're evaluating. They can be bullied by teacher cliques. As a result of this, and as a result of simply being fallible human beings, many principals give good evaluations to teachers who are their friends or allies, and bad evaluations to teachers who disagree with them. It would make more sense to have evaluations done by unbiased individuals, and let the principals do the follow-up. Also, it would be easier for principals to help teachers improve if they weren't the ones who gave the bad evaluation in the first place. The teachers couldn't tell themselves that the evaluation was biased, and they'd trust the principal more.

Maura Larkins' comment: Principals are NOT chosen from among the most effective teachers. Principals don't ask for advice and support from the most effective teachers. Politics and effectiveness do not overlap a whole lot. How are principals chosen? By very subjective means, heavily influenced by politics.

Chief educator: Q&A with Cindy Marten
By U-T San Diego
May 10, 2014

...A: An evaluation process is something that should be highly relevant and meaningful to our most effective educators, as well as helpful for our educators who are struggling. I always look at evaluation as a tool and a resource. I look at what I call growth and development of our teachers. And do we have an evaluation system that allows us to give meaningful, relevant feedback on an ongoing basis. It shouldn’t be once a year or twice a year where an administrator comes in a room and sits in the back for 45 minutes. Feedback needs to be something that’s ongoing and a teacher finds it most relevant when the principal knows instruction, the principal knows what high-quality teaching and learning looks like, knows when you’re able to deliver a lesson that meets the needs of every learner in the class not just learners that are struggling or learners that are achieving at high levels. I expect my principals to be in classrooms all the time...

One other part that got a lot of attention was parents and students. I think that’s one that people are very interested in and that parents and students are a part of a system that gives meaningful feedback to our educators. Vision 20/20 (the district’s long-term plan) was adopted by the board before I even began. The mission and vision around that is to have a quality school in every neighborhood, and we’ve defined quality as more than the API score, more than a test score.

...When it comes to the formal evaluation, the principal is the one who’s the evaluator. The principal is the one who went to college, has the administrative credential, has been trained on formal evaluation processes, but we know that when teachers get to hear immediate and direct feedback from a student and from a parent, that changes and improves their practice.

Should schools fire school employees who are found groping each other after hours?

These parents are worried about something important:
teachers sexually abusing students. Sadly, schools
often worry more about relationships between adult employees.

The story below of two female teachers in New York reminded me of a similar event at Chula Vista Elementary School District a few years ago. The two stories developed in dramatically different manners. While the two lesbian teachers in New York were fired, the principal in Chula Vista was given a good-paying job at the district office.

The important factor in my view is that both events took place after hours and no students were present. I'd urge schools to spend more time observing teachers and principals during school hours, and less time worrying about what they do after hours. I'd also urge schools to be more vigilant about employees who are sexually abusing students.

High school teachers fired for half-naked lesbian classroom tryst get their jobs back
The Daily Caller
March 22, 2014

Rest easy, America, because a state appeals court has ruled that New York City’s Department of Education had no right to fire two female foreign language instructors at Brooklyn’s James Madison High School for getting busy in a classroom one steamy night way back in 2009.

In a decision handed down on Thursday, the appellate judges concluded that the teachers’ behavior “demonstrated a lapse in judgment” but was just “a one-time mistake,” reports CBS New York.

The instructors involved in the raunchy rendezvous are Spanish teacher Alina Brito, 34, and French teacher Cindy Mauro, 38.

Investigators say they had returned to school to see a student musical performance after going out for dinner and a few shots together, explains the New York Daily News.

At some point, they stole away to a dimly lit Room 337 at James Madison High for a quick romp. Specifically, the investigation alleges, one of the teachers was stripped from the waist up. The other one was down on her knees.

An unidentified janitor who had no appreciation for live teacher-on-teacher classroom action caught the couple in the act and made a report to school officials.

After spending time in New York City’s infamous teacher rubber rooms, Brito and Mauro were fired in January 2011.

The teachers defended their actions by saying that Brito, a diabetic, needed candy for her blood sugar. However, nobody – not even the appellate judges – appeared to buy this version of events.

At the same time, the five-judge panel observed that both teachers had otherwise exemplary records and, consequently, a half-naked, consensual lesbian groping session in a classroom did not merit termination.

Calling termination “shockingly disproportionate,” the appeals court remanded the case to city education officials for a more lenient punishment.

Obviously, Brito and Mauro are pleased with the outcome.

“My clients will be happy to be back in the classroom doing a job they love,” attorney Michael Valentine told the Daily News.

“They were both good at what they did,” Valentine added.

It’s not clear if Brito and Mauro will now actually seek to have their jobs reinstated. However, Valentine said, they will definitely seek back pay.

City education officials are mulling an appeal.

“We are disappointed with the decision and are considering our options,” Education Department spokesman David Pena told the Daily News.

Little boy draws a soldier, ninja and Star Wars character, each holding a knife or gun; Arizona school freaks out

Obviously, this school, like so many other schools, is run by geniuses.

Arizona Student's Halloween Costume Drawings Cause Firestorm At School
The Huffington Post
By Rebecca Klein
11/04/2013

Where one pair of parents saw innocent drawings of ninjas and soldiers, school administrators reportedly saw disturbing and threatening images.

Last week, the parents pulled their sons out of Scottsdale Country Day School in Arizona after the school’s headmaster reportedly threatened to expel their 8-year-old over a set of drawings. According to the child’s father, the drawings of a soldier, ninja and Star Wars character were meant to depict Halloween costumes. However, school administrators were upset that the drawings showed each character holding either a knife or a gun, according to CBS local affiliate KPHO-TV.

The school’s headmaster was also reportedly upset about what he saw as violent passages from the child’s journal, including ones about scenarios with killer zombies. The child’s father, Jeff, whose last name was omitted from the report, told KPHO that the journal contained other passages about saving the world and that his son has no history of violence.

Kathy Prahcharov, the school’s director of operations, told The Huffington Post that reports of the incident have been inaccurate. While she could not elaborate on what happened for confidentiality reasons, she said the student “was not threatened or expelled from the school.”

[Maura Larkins comment: Obviously the school made a stink about the pictures, or we wouldn't be hearing about it on national news. I think we're looking at some pathologically paranoid individuals who can't get a grip on the real world. How can we expect people with this mentality to recognize real problems?]

The charter school’s handbook states that “[a]ny behavior that is deemed threatening such as violent behavior, drawings depicting weapons, blood, or aggression” can be grounds for expulsion.

A number of schools across the country appear to have cracked down on students who use drawings, food or toys to depict guns and violence. In recent months, students have been suspended for actions such as chewing pastries into the shapes of guns or having gun key chains.

A school official’s unbelievably racist texts

Many people in top jobs at school districts have no business being there. Politics, not professionalism or even good will, rules most school districts. The Pennsylvania school superintendent in the story below was obviously very good at putting on a hail-fellow-well-met facade to hide the sickness within.

Now how do we go about replacing the other corrupt, callous and incompetent school officials? It's hard, because when administrators get in trouble, usually the problem is covered up, and they're sent on to another district with a warm recommendation. Also, since school firings are so often politically motivated, there's a good chance that the fired person is an excellent employee. Obviously, the people in power want to keep playing their game. If problems were revealed, then they'd have to clean them up. Perhaps that is why San Diego County Office of Education and Chula Vista Elementary School District are supporting the effort to shut down this blog by paying taxpayer dollars to Stutz law firm to quash subpoenas.


A school official’s unbelievably racist texts
Tip to bigots: Don't text on your work-issued phone
By Mary Elizabeth Williams
Salon.com
Sep 24, 2013

Not your best moment, Keystone State. Just last week, Pennsylvania was in the news when gun-loving small town police chief Mark Kessler’s expletive-infused rants against “libtards” went viral – and cost him his job. Now, Coatesville Area School District superintendent Richard Como and Director of Athletics and Activities Jim Donato have gained national attention for their abrupt departures from their positions – and the slew of hateful and racist messages discovered on their district-issued cell phones. Board president Neil Campbell has called the texts “sickening and obviously unacceptable.”

The incendiary messages, which all date from this past June, are a regular cavalcade of bigotry. And a source told the Philadelphia Inquirer Monday that “What has been made public represents a fraction of the messages between the men.” In one exchange, the two riff on how “All should have whatever first names they want… then last name is [n-word]!” Over the course of their messages, they also speculate in details on other people’s sex lives, discuss a “Jew red haired ESL” teacher, “that ape,” “cotton pickers” and a “skinny bitch,” among others. Intriguingly, there’s also a reference to a “MAJOR sneak” who “made at least 1500 – 2000 on kickback.”

But to be honest, my favorite is the damming understatement that “This fucking phone! No idea how to work!”

A district IT worker allegedly discovered the messages last month while transferring data to a new device. Superintendent Como announced his retirement shortly after on the district’s Web site – a letter that now appears to have been quietly scrubbed. Director Jim Donato resigned a few days later. On the District’s site now, there’s a new letter from Acting Superintendent Angelo Romaniello, Jr., acknowledging “inappropriate and racial comments… made by people we trusted.” The Times-Herald reports that “the departures were the direct result of discoveries found on Donato’s cell phone.” And because of questions regarding the extent to which the District was aware of the texts and whether appropriate protocols were followed in Como and Donato’s departures, the District Attorney’s office is now conducting a criminal investigation.

According to records obtained by reporters Michael N. Price and Kristina Scala, Como’s 2010 salary was $192,897 – not a bad income for someone with a barely disguised loathing for the students and faculty he works with. But a comfortable salary can’t buy basic human decency. And for that matter, it definitely can’t provide a working understanding that if you’re going to be a hateful jackass, you should really consider whether you want a text record of that hateful jackassery – or least whether you want to be mouthing off on the equipment your employer issued you.

There is so much that’s contemptible about the exchanges between Como and Donato – the simmering, near constant anger they display, the grotesque, dehumanizing way they view pretty much anybody who isn’t a white man (to their credit, though, I didn’t notice any gay slurs in the lot) and the jaw-dropping amount of arrogance and privilege it takes to speak that hatefully, that freely. But what stinks most is the betrayal it represents, the lie that their jobs were. The disgust they had for their own kids. “They were friendly to our faces,” Zhaqweyza Armstrong, a 16 year-old Coatesville High junior, told the Inquirer Monday, “and then they talked about us behind our backs.”

Mary Elizabeth Williams is a staff writer for Salon and the author of "Gimme Shelter: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream." Follow her on Twitter: @embeedub.

Elementary School Principal Arrested for Gun, Drug Possession

Elementary School Principal Arrested for Gun, Drug Possession
The Lee Elementary School principal has been placed on administrative leave.
Khari Johnson (Editor)
September 11, 2013
Patch

Lee Elementary School Principal Rachel Yolanda Escobedo of La Mesa was arrested in the Rolando Park area on Saturday for possession of a stolen gun and drugs, according to San Diego police.

The principal of Lee Elementary School in Paradise Hills was placed on leave following her weekend arrest on suspicion of possessing illegal drugs and a stolen gun, authorities reported Wednesday.

Rachel Yolanda Escobedo of La Mesa was arrested in the Rolando Park area on Saturday, according to San Diego police. Popular Stories

Shortly before 8:30 that evening, an officer responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle in the 6800 block of Missy Court found Escobedo sitting in her parked 1993 Honda Accord with a 60-year-old man, SDPD public-affairs Lt. Kevin Mayer said.

The patrolman spotted an open vodka bottle inside the vehicle and a small amount of what turned out to be marijuana in an ashtray, the lieutenant said.

After getting permission to search the car from Escobedo, who was in the driver's seat, the officer allegedly found a loaded .22-caliber pistol in the trunk, along with about two dozen prescription pills that appeared to be hydrocodone and four small baggies containing a white crystalline powder, Mayer said.

The apparent drugs were submitted for lab testing to positively identify them, he said, adding that a computer check showed that the handgun had been reported stolen.

Escobedo, 45, was taken into custody without incident on suspicion of illegally possessing a loaded firearm and controlled substances. Her companion, whose relationship to her was unclear, was released.

The educator posted $25,000 bail the next day and was given a Sept. 17 arraignment date.

Escobedo worked her usual shift on Monday, as her supervisors had yet to learn of her arrest, said Jack Brandais, spokesman for San Diego Unified School District. She was suspended Tuesday pending the outcome of the criminal case.

Retired SDUSD principal Judy Fogel agreed to fill in for Escobedo on a temporary basis, Brandais said.

–City News Service

State-by-state education report cards

Click on graphic to enlarge.

CollegeStats.org produced the graphic below.

Why is school reform happening so slowly?

Why is school reform happening so slowly? Because those is control aren't thinkers and explorers; they have a clerk mentality. Every day, everyone and everything should be in the same place it was in the day before. That's the philosophy of most teachers and administrators.

This is not true of all teachers and educators, but it's the pervasive ethos of the profession.

The problem with most educators is that they are not in a learning mode. They like to have their system controlled, wrapped-up, routine, smooth, always the same. They don't like uncertainty, experimentation, open discussion, exploration. They like hierarchy and top-down decision-making, and uniformity. This is true of most union leaders as well as most administrators. They don't believe in democracy. They think students and parents should be required to jump through their idiosyncratic hoops before the kids are considered worthy of educating.

Terry Grier says SUHSD principals not properly evaluated

I agree that school districts need to find a good way to evaluate principals. However, I suspect that the $250,000 the SDUSD board has authorized for this effort will be wasted on people who will simply look for ways to make it legal to continue making arbitrary personnel decisions. I used to have hope that Superintendent Terry Grier would be an agent of change, but his association with the Aspen Group International makes me think he's getting lazy and just wants his job to be easy.

Voice of San Diego
Seeking New Ways to Evaluate Principals
EMILY ALPERT
November 18, 2008

The San Diego Unified school board approved a proposal Tuesday night to hire an outside group to help craft evaluation criteria and procedures for school principals, despite complaints about its cost and objections from the principals association.

The proposal to craft new ways to evaluate principals gained more poignancy on the heels of a San Diego Unified report that found the district delinquent in evaluating its principals and administrators. Evaluating staffers has proved thorny in the past: San Diego Unified has twice fended off lawsuits in recent years about improper firings or evaluations of principals, said school board president Katherine Nakamura, who estimated that some administrators had not been evaluated in over a decade.

Superintendent Terry Grier attributed the problem to vague language in the school district agreement with principals that made it unclear how to evaluate principals without avoiding legal peril, and said those agreements need to be renegotiated. Grier said the $250,000 contract with a Colorado-based group would help solve the problem.

"In the long run, if you want us to hold principals accountable," Grier said, "... there has to be a different instrument."

Several stakeholders found the $250,000 contract objectionable in light of the budget crisis looming ahead for San Diego Unified. Administrators Association Executive Director Jeannie Steeg said that the amount was excessive, even though a new evaluation system was "desperately needed." Her comments were echoed by school board member Shelia Jackson, who called the proposal "irresponsible" and insulting to district staffers who Jackson believed could do the same work at a lesser expense...

[Blogger's note: District staffers clearly cannot do the job. Sadly, I don't think the people collecting $250,000 can do the job, either. What is needed is a change in culture.]