This posting is the email that Kevin Smith emailed recently. This way it is saved on the blog.
Dear Colleagues,
I came across this article from the New York Times and thought you might find it interesting. It is long (9 pages) but does provide some fascinating insights into how researchers are struggling to quantify "good teaching." Something that stands out right away is this quotation:
"Eric Hanushek, a Stanford economist, found that while the top 5 percent of teachers were able to impart a year and a half’s worth of learning to students in one school year, as judged by standardized tests, the weakest 5 percent advanced their students only half a year of material each year."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Teachers-t.html?pagewanted=1
Two other links of interest:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newsweek.com/id/234590 (Newsweek cover article entitled "Why WE Must Fire Bad Teachers")
http://successfulteaching.blogspot.com/2010/03/teachers-need-to-act-like-teachers.html (we'll probably share this with our teachers in the next couple of weeks; it's powerful because it's written by a teacher and not an administrator - echos a little bit of what Ron Clark said during his key-note at NCTIES in regards to pulling teachers down)
Also, if you haven't read The Widget Effect in regards to teacher evaluations that's a great one - I'll have to try and find the link, though...