What they talk about in D.C. during Spring Break: THE “EDUCATION INDUSTRY” EVALUATES TEACHERS + PLUS SCHOOL DISTRICTS ARE THE PROBLEM!

from Fitzwire

smf:

• The privatizers need a clubhouse…. so of course there is an “Education Industry Association”.  Who better to commission studies from academia to conclude what you’ve wanted to believe all along?
• And what if it isn’t just Bad Teachers and Bad Teachers’ Unions that produce all those bad test scores, bad grad rates and bad data?  What if it’s Bad School Districts?  OMG!  

…and Michelle Rhee agrees, so it must be true!

Wednesday, March 27, Performing Teacher Evaluations - an Education Industry Association webinar at 1:30 PM EDT

Race to the Top and NCLB Waivers have included mandates for districts to evaluate teachers in a more systematic way that includes their student's growth as part of the process. In response, state legislators have passed evaluation legislation and departments of education are issuing new regulations around teacher evaluation. In all cases, 50% of a teacher's evaluation must be based on student growth. Despite the highly politicized nature of the new policies, districts across the country are scrambling to develop (or purchase) evaluation frameworks, manage evaluation data, and train evaluators and teachers on the new process. Private organizations who have experience with teacher or program evaluation, online data management systems, and/or professional development programs for teachers and administrators have an opportunity to partner with districts who lack capacity in some or all of these areas. In this webinar, you will learn how to identify which states and districts have the greatest needs for partnership with private vendors and how to align your services with their evaluation plans.  Isaak Aronson with SmartStart Tutoring will be presenting this webinar.

Participation is free to EIA members and is designed to help Members diversify and grow their enterprises.  Non-members may attend for just $49. Register for Webinar Series.

For assistance with registration, EIA membership or questions about the series, please contact Clare Sladic, 301-253-2915, or email at clare@educationindustry.org.  

Wednesday, March 27, How Important Are School Districts?

Many popular education reforms focus on improving school districts whereas others, such as charter schools, are premised on school districts being the problem rather than the solution.

On March 27, Russ Whitehurst and Matthew Chingos from the Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings will release findings from a new study examining the importance of school districts to student achievement. The study uses ten years of student data from North Carolina and Florida to determine how much districts influence student learning compared to schools and teachers, and to identify districts that show exceptional patterns of performance across time such as moving from low- to high-performing status.

Following the authors' presentation of their findings, Michelle Rhee of Students First will draw on her experiences as chancellor of D.C. Public Schools from 2007 to 2010 in a keynote address on the role of districts in improving student achievement. Whitehurst and Rhee will then engage in a discussion and take questions from the audience.

This discussion can be followed on Twitter using hashtag #BCdistricts.

Introduction and Moderator

• Russ Whitehurst, Senior Fellow and Director, Brown Center on Education Policy, The Brookings Institution
  

Speakers

• Michelle Rhee, Founder and CEO, Students First
  Matthew Chingos, Fellow, The Brookings Institution

To be held from 10:30 am - NOON
The Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC
To RSVP for this event, please call the Office of Communications at 202.797.6105