James Weekly Twitter Updates for 2012-10-14

• RT @ktvee Rethinking Classroom Websites http://t.co/PaH0CWjE love to hear ur thoughts on using class site 2 engage #edchat #edtech #moedtech #
• Made mine! RT @edtechninja RT @NathanFillion: Did anyone NOT know Dr. Horrible is airing on tv Tuesday? Whose day did I just make? #
• RT @thecleversheep Twilight amplified #autumn #october #colour http://t.co/nGt3BsA3 #
• RT @algore What will the cost of the climate crisis be? http://t.co/zud2OFeG #
• RT @DeathStarPR If you've ever lost your keys, don't feel too bad. The Jedi couldn't even find a Sith Lord when they were in the same room. #
• RT @educationweek If elected, @MittRomney could face hurdles upholding promise to not cut federal #education spending: http://t.co/K3IgCNw0 #
• RT @TraciLHaley RT @MistyMargaret: The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. ~Walt Disney #
• RT @DianeRavitch Can You Answer This Question? http://t.co/s8Aptf85 via @wordpressdotcom #
• RT @ProneToWonder #drhorrible was my introduction to @NathanFillion @feliciaday @ActuallyNPH. glad I was introduced to this amazing show. #
• "Apparently, LAPD & Capt.Hammer also watch my blog because they were waiting for me at the bridge….He threw a car at my head!" #drhorrible #
• RT @drhorrible Use the hashtag #drhorrible for all your Horrible needs tonight. There's even a stream: http://t.co/qr0ioQXj #

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« James Weekly Twitter Updates for 2012-10-07

James Weekly Twitter Updates for 2012-10-07

• @mmiller7571 Our PBTE comm. is revising #teachereval After doing #KiimMarshall book study, Probably will use mini-obs with #DESEmodel #
• RT @coolcatteacher "Life is tough. Life is tougher if you're stupid." -John Wayne via @hayleeey_h #
• RT @Principal_EL Imagine how a kid feels when you say"I loved you before I met you"! Every child deserves 2 have someone be crazy abt thm! #
• RT @DianeRavitch Ten Years of NCLB: A Student Says, "How Sad." Her Teacher Agrees http://t.co/rnRU5zPy via @wordpressdotcom #
• RT @DianeRavitch A Charter Teacher Tells What Happened http://t.co/OBqRcNdl via @wordpressdotcom #
• RT @march4teachers Join #npredchat Via @nprnews: Join The Education Conversation With Tell Me More http://t.co/Mr7FGpa6 #
• RT @mstacamp @MSTA RT @wmchamberlain: Pretty sure I couldn't belong 2 union that told me I couldn't help my students when I wanted. #badidea #
• RT @march4teachers RT @johnkuhntx: "Teachers Aren't the Problem" by Paul Tough. Character matters, and so does poverty. http://t.co/1uTfqzrC #
• RT @pmhuffman As You Wish: Little-Known Facts About <em>The Princess Bride</em> on Its 25th Anniversary http://t.co/42doLWyq #
• RT @educationweek Josh Boldt, teaches writing @UniversityofGA, shares thoughts on teaching 5paragraph essay: http://t.co/n1r0Oc3z #EWopinion #
• @wmchamberlain Yes. We should teach Digital Citizenship because it raises test scores, right? #notonthetest #edchat #
• RT @ktvee RT @CoralBurbano: "Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you'll be criticized anyway. -Eleanor Roosevelt #quote #
• RT @rmbyrne Free Technology for Teachers: 5 Free and Simple Timers for Teachers http://t.co/TICldm0q #
• RT @educationweek Blog: Romney: 'I'm Not Going to Cut Education Funding' http://t.co/2N3gQtEe #edpolitics #
• RT @rturner229 The story of Joplin's remarkable recovery after the May 22, 2011, tornado: Spirit of Hope: http://t.co/p9Y9CaCb #
• RT @DianeRavitch The Word Not Mentioned in the Debate http://t.co/3sZW870H via @wordpressdotcom #
• RT @thecleversheep I just walked into the shared office of a few colleagues. I see they've replaced the broken monitor http://t.co/KOvxTqlL #
• RT @alfiekohn W/evry decade, length of schling has incrsd…[Can we] conceive of no other way for youth to come into adulthd? -J Coleman, 1973 #
• RT @DianeRavitch RT @cyberjohn07: Remember When Teachers Crashed the Economy? http://t.co/ejN0NujO via @wordpressdotcom via @DianeRavitch: #
• RT @wmchamberlain What if schools only taught art, music, and physical education from kindergarten to second grade? #justhinkin #039; #

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James Weekly Twitter Updates for 2012-10-14 »« James Weekly Twitter Updates for 2012-09-30

James Weekly Twitter Updates for 2012-09-30

• RT @rratto Romney Rep running away from a student's question regarding economic barriers and education @MHarrisPerry #nerdland #classless #
• RT @rratto privatizing education is akin to stealing our national assets @MHarrisPerry #nerdland #
• RT @rratto Biggest prob in ed is being demonstrated on stage right now.. 2 politicians talking ed, not a teacher in sight #nerdland #sham #
• RT @rratto Now we have new improve lousy tests based on an untested social experiment called Common Core #nerdland #
• RT @ktvee #EdNatSTH Putting a computer in a classroom won't change anything. Reshaping lesson structure to embed use of computer? THAT will. #
• RT @rratto Race to the Top is destroying education and robbing valuable resources form our classrooms #nerdland #
• RT @ktvee I cannot believe how many ed discussions zoom RIGHT to HS and getting kids to college. Skipping right over learning. #edchat #
• RT @ktvee RT @Scholastic: Let kids "become captains of their own education." Applause… #ednatsth #
• RT @ktvee RT @InnovativeEdu: #stuvoice at #EdNatSTH #educationnation says, " Students are human beings not products." #
• "not test scores. People want teachers to care about what students care about." @NEA VP #
• "not test scores. People want teachers to care about what students care about." @NEA VP #ednatsth #
• RT @rratto Thousands of public schools outperform Kip Schools! #Nerdland @MHarrisPerry #
• Should be e) All of the above #ednatSTH #nerdland @MHarrisPerry #
• Test prep is mostly low level thinking and antithetical to critical thinking #nerdland #ednatSTH #
• If a strong connection b/w test scores & poverty, is there same degree of connection b/w dropout rates & pov? #ednatSTH #nerdland #
• 78% of students thought ed tech was essential or useful in school. #ednatsth #nerdland #
• Ed tech is powerful tool, but only as effective as the teaching. #ednatsth #nerdland #
• Edtech can help us teach smarter, but we need the training & students need the access to the technology. #ednatSTH #nerdland #
• Can you compare charter schools to public schools when many don't have the same population of students in poverty? #ednatSTH #nerdland #
• RT @rratto Biggest prob in ed is being demonstrated on stage right now.. 2 politicians talking ed, not a teacher in sight #nerdland #sham #
• Students see bttr the adults "@educationnation: #EdNatSTH student audience say about computers in classroom.#nerdland http://t.co/E0OBduHM” #
• #ednatsth #nerdland better educated=less poverty / poverty=lower test scores. We get from system what we measure. Test scores or educated? #
• #ednattth student test data will be a part of teacher eval. Needs to b growth over time, but note it's not perfect measure. #
• #ednatTTH standized test scores more for those outside classroom, than those inside. #
• #ednattth multiple periodic measures of student learning not one stand. test. #
• #EdNatTTH "how about we take some of that $ we spend on testing and spend on wraparound services for students." #
• #EdNatTTH Pearson is biggest testing corp in the country and pushing #edreform toward testing not real reform. #
• #EdNatTTH I like idea of common standards so I can find free resources others share & for me to share. Not sure Common Core is the answer. #
• @march4teachers SW AofD is Oct 12. Sub deadline Oct 5 or can submit at the meeting #
• @march4teachers you're doing your homework on this, so you won't look stupid. #
• @march4teachers IMHO test scores should not 100% of teacher evaluate. That's how I read the resolution. #
• RT @coolcatteacher #GivingTuesday Why I Am Participating in the National Day of Giving on November 27, 2012 http://t.co/0hygZ9PA #
• "Rule 1: Don't sweat the small stuff. Rule 2: It's all small stuff." Dr. Stephen Douglas's brother. #SWTEPS #
• RT @rturner229 My education novel, No Child Left Alive, offers more accurate reporting than Education Nation: http://t.co/NXs8ymFz #
• RT @InnovativeEdu: Really @svanderweide ? Spending billions on #standardizedtests is easier than using the measures teachers already do? … #
• RT @DianeRavitch Of 12 cyber charters in Pennsylvania, only 1 made AYP. The state authorized 4 more to open despite dismal results. #
• RT @alfiekohn “We find children cutest when they display thr ignorance & incompetence. We value their dependency & helplessness” -John Holt #
• RT @Principal_EL Mr. President…we must teach our kids to think! We test too much! http://t.co/4Mdxbh8l @rweingarten @ShellTerrell #
• Review: Anti-union movie ‘Won’t Back Down’ is a step backward http://t.co/iPpL6mcp #
• RT @mmiller7571 My plans for teacher observations this month http://t.co/rmPR1zm1 #

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James Weekly Twitter Updates for 2012-10-07 »« How much of a teachers evaluation should be based on test scores?

How much of a teachers evaluation should be based on test scores?

I have cross-posted this article on MSTA‘s social network The Lounge.

    I attended a workshop last month on DESE’s new Performance Based Teacher Evaluation submitted for the No child Left Behind waiver.  Attendance was dominated by principals and superintendents with just a few teacher like me.  One of the big questions for our discussion group was “How much of student growth data should be part of the teacher evaluation?”  I was a lone voice that said it should not be more than 50% (actually I think it should be less than that).  My Assistant Superintendent thought it should be 100%, and everyone agreed!  I was gobsmacked.  Granted they were talking about student growth over time using multiple measures in addition to MAP scores.  Nevertheless, there were 7 essential principles of teacher evaluation of which student data was only one.
I’ve watched and participated in several conversations in the last month about teacher evaluation.  My district established a PBTE committee in anticipation of Missouri receiving the NCLB wavier.  In looking at our old PBTE, we concluded that the old evaluations were focused on what the teacher taught rather than what the students learned.  We agreed that our primary focus needed to be on student learning.  Students need to understand the learning objective.  Students need to be engaged in their learning.  Students need to know whether they have learned the objective with which they started.
So how are principals going to know whether this is happening in the classroom?  Of course, they should observe in the classroom multiple times.  However, the rubber meets the road in evaluating student performance.  That is easier for core subject classroom teachers than more specialized subjects that don’t have standardized tests like PE, Art, Music, FACS, VoAg, Computer Lab teachers, and so on.
How do we measure student success?  A standardized test?  A summative assessment?  project scoring guide?  A portfolio?  I know what the Pear$on textbook and testing giant would say.  I also know that teachers would say.  It takes us the whole year of getting to know the people in our classrooms everyday as students, as learners, as leaders, as workers, as daughters, as sons, as sisters, as brothers, as friends, as citizens, as failures, and as successes.  Yes, we know their test scores, but that doesn’t necessarily make them who they are.  Does it?
There has been a shift in thinking in education reform over the last few years.  People outside education: politicians, testing and textbook companies, and business people have grown in their influence on public education.  They vilify teachers as greedy, use standardized test scores to label public schools as failures, and promote for-profit charter schools as THE solution.  I reject the corporate mentality of treating students as widgets and teachers as factory workers who can be fired on the whim of their bosses.  We are professionals and our students are human beings.  And we seem to be the only ones who understand that.
Should we be evaluated on how successful we make our students?  Yes, but…  Students are the success they want to be,  They are the success we poke them and prod and push them to be.  They are the success they achieve when they give it their all, and achieve their goals.  You can’t always measure that on a test.

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James Weekly Twitter Updates for 2012-09-30 »« James Weekly Twitter Updates for 2012-09-23

James Weekly Twitter Updates for 2012-09-23

• RT @garystager Please read: Education Nation & Ideological Blindness – http://t.co/Miqx6gux @MHarrisPerry #
• RT @rratto RT @Stoptesting15: Extra $ will be used for test prep in areas of poverty. Drill & skill is what educ has become in urb … #
• RT @rturner229 Eight free copies of my new novel about education, No Child Left Alive, have already been downloaded. http://t.co/8iU9zrme #
• RT @DianeRavitch What's Missing in Chicago Debate http://t.co/hUxpizqC via @wordpressdotcom #
• Enter your favorite K-12 public school to win $25,000 in technology from @ZAGGdaily. Plus, you can win an iMac too http://t.co/cc7K56gW #
• RT @rturner229 From over the weekend: Tim Jones hides ALEC expenses as campaign contributions: http://t.co/eD18xYQT #
• RT @TheDailyShow Bill O'Reilly. Jon Stewart. Two podiums. One air-conditioned auditorium. http://t.co/45n6RJw8 #
• RT @ikereighard: “Trust doesn’t develop from always doing the right thing. It comes from taking responsibility when we do the wrong thin … #
• RT @alfiekohn Fun without trying to beat people: cooperative board games for all ages – http://t.co/16MvdgOh & http://t.co/KrxNrj5v #
• RT @wmchamberlain RT @kschegan: Write WITH your students. Yesterday, 1 of my students asked me "How's YOUR story coming along Mrs. Schegan?" #
• iReading: Do politicians know anything at all about schools and education? Anything? http://t.co/T3YaBH7F by @DianeRavitch (a MUST read) #fb #
• RT @DianeRavitch RT @BAMRadioNetwork: @DianeRavitch receives lifetime achievement #BammyAward – http://t.co/pUgl5u6E #
• @teachtech Not a tablet. Just a wireless track pad for a projector. Not worth it IMHO. #IWB #
• @teachtech Can't argue with that. 2 good points. #
• RT @Downes Seriously, Twitter?
  http://t.co/4J1MmPgE http://t.co/R4dAd7FE #
• RT @wmchamberlain What I don't understand is why anyone wouldn't want to be a teacher. Helping kids learn is where it's at! #
• RT @DianeRavitch Taking Testing too Far! http://t.co/HLz8vseu via @wordpressdotcom #
• @ktvee Is that a Google spreadsheet or a form? Never seen that on a spreadsheet before. #
• RT @ktvee @edtechninja Hey – have you heard of this amazing thing called Twitter? It's better than sliced bread… #
• RT @edtechninja @ktvee What's this Twitter you speak of? #
• @mmiller7571 Interesting. Who puts up the stickies? #
• RT @ktvee Holy cow — Lego Contraption. Awesome. That is all. http://t.co/dE3go2QA #STEM #lego #FLL #

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How much of a teachers evaluation should be based on test scores? »« James Weekly Twitter Updates for 2012-09-16