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Teacher Evaluation tools

Teachers are very skeptical about new teacher evaluations tied to student achievement test scores.

There is a fear that one bad year (the one where you had that one "really bad" kid that spoiled everything for your classroom) will ruin any gains you may have made in your own evaluation process. We've found some tools to help you stay ahead of things. You need to document your classroom successes. There's an accountability notebook approach at the link below. It gives you a way to keep all your evaluations and assessments in one place. There's a book with it that provides complete instructions for collecting and documenting student (and your) work. There's a chapter on using technology (basic step by step) to help in the process, all using free software you already have. It's very much worth the cost.



Will waivers change Supplemental Educational Services (SES)?

Many districts have been overburdened by required 20% setasides in Title I funds for Supplemental Educational Services (SES). This enormous investment in the private sector has mixed reviews. School districts that want to use Title I funds to improve after school programs of their own have been handicapped by this requirement that private sector tutoring companies come in to provide tutoring to students in schools that are struggling. Parents may choose the vendors, the vendors have sprung up like weeds to get a piece of this Title I pie. The teachers they hire do not have to be certified, the teachers the company hires cannot be from the district in which the services are provided (conflict of interest?). Providers charge up to $85 per hour per child to provide online, individual, in home, in schools, whatever services they can dream up that have shown little effect in raising academic achievement. They have become expert at making sure each student is tutored for the number of hours the state has said will produce the per-child maximum exposure they can acquire.  Districts spend additional funds to monitor the tutors, they fear it will take only one bad apple to put a child in danger in their home or in community agencies that host the services.

Parents love the program, it's free and children are in a "safe" place after school. Urban districts are especially targeted by the companies, their per pupil amounts are high, and the potential profits are enormous.

State waivers from requirements like these have been greeted with applause by districts that need to maximize every penny just to provide basic services for students. Here's an article that explores this particular issue in some detail:

Waivers from NCLB

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