What Makes a Rock Star Teacher?

January 6, 2010

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Regular JBGB readers may recall the series of posts about Rock Star Pay for Rock Star Teachers based the Goldwater Institute report New Millenium Schools: Delivering Six-Figure Teacher Salaries in Return for Outstanding Student Learning Gains.

You may also remember Super Chart! from the Brookings Institution:

 

Super Chart! basically shows that there isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between traditionally certified, alternatively certified and uncertified teachers. The logical conclusion: shut down the education schools, let the schools hire who they think best, and allow them to reward success and remove failures.

Of course, this would be even better if we had an effective screen to help keep ineffective teachers out of the profession in the first place. In researching the $100k study, it became apparent to me that some of the high-quality foreign systems seemed to have figured this out, but I had never learned the secret. Statistical efforts to predict effective teaching in America have generally proven unsatisfying. 

The Atlantic weighs in with an important article revealing the results of 20 years of Teach for America data answering the question: what makes an effective teacher? Read it now and watch the videos.

Really, go read it now. I’ll be here when you get back.

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Okay, so now tell me what you think in the comments section. It’s really not so complicated after all, and it screams out against our entire system of K-12 human resource development, doesn’t it?

10 Comments | teacher quality | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

Creative Destruction Uber Alles!

December 31, 2009

 (Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

And the winner of the Aughts is….GOOGLE! Chris Thompson account of Google’s decade reminds me of a bands name: And You Will Know Us by Our Trail of Dead. Thompson concludes:

In industry after industry, by offering services for nothing, Google has metastasized the modern economic dilemma: Everything is free, but no one has a job. This was probably inevitable, and maybe we should thank Google for forcing us to face reality now, and in such a dramatic fashion. But as we look back on the last 10 years, one thing is clear: Google should change its slogan from “Don’t be evil” to “Be everywhere.”

Now if these guys would team up with Oxford to offer free university degrees…

Happy New Year!

1 Comment | higher education | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

Mike Thomas: Florida Teacher Unions Contemplate Hari Kari

December 22, 2009

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Mike Thomas of the Orlando Sentinel points out the beyond-the-pale hypocrisy of Florida’s teacher unions in standing against Florida’s Race to the Top application.  Money quote:

If the Florida Education Association manages to block this grant, the political fallout will be brutal. Florida has an 11.5 percent unemployment rate. It is losing more jobs than any state in the union.

Given all that, imagine the headline: Teachers’ union blocks $700 million for schools.

Followed by the headline: Schools face $515 million shortfall.

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Posted by matthewladner

A Colbert State of Mind

December 20, 2009

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Colbert raps with Alicia Keyes. Colbert keeps it real- really suburban.

Leave a Comment » | random pop culture | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

Cool Charter School Map

December 18, 2009

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Cool charter school map from U.S. News and World Report.

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Posted by matthewladner

Pass the Popcorn: Black Dynamite

December 18, 2009

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

All of western civilization was merely a dull prelude to BLACK DYNAMITE. Why oh why did we have to wait until 2009 until someone made this film? Aughts, you stand redeemed!

Okay, so I am exaggerating, but only a little.

Mix one part spoof, two parts homage, add generous amounts of kung-fu, crypto-racial conspiracy and revenge fantasy. The result: the best Blaxploitation flick since Truck Turner.

Avatar? Yawn…I prefer films that have a bad plot on purpose. Besides, Black Dynamite would kill James Cameron’s evil space marines with his nunchuk in about 10 minutes. Roll credits! Those 12 foot tall blue Scotty Pippen looking aliens would build a Black Dynamite statue and worship him like Ewoks who found a new protocol droid. Except it would be in 3D this time.

Black Dynamite battles THE MAN and his anti-brother conspiracy, and his fight takes him through drug pushers, the CIA, an evil Chinese super-villian, and all the way to the “Honky House.”  THE MAN is doomed and the ladies swoon. Run, don’t walk to the theatre!

Leave a Comment » | Pass the Popcorn | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

What’s so funny about peace, Rawls and understanding?

December 17, 2009

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Turns out that I am not the only libertarian with an interest in John Rawls. David Gordon laid out the thinking of a small group of libertarian Rawlsians in this American Conservative article back in 2004.

Greg- talk me off the ledge before I jump!

10 Comments | politics | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

It’s the End of the Aughts as we know it…and I feel fine

December 10, 2009

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

So this decade is almost over, at least as such things are normally reckoned. Does anyone care?

I feel profoundly indifferent about the aughts. In terms of politics, all of the same problems that we faced at the start of the decade (out of control health care spending, unsustainable entilement programs, gawd-awful schools) we still face at the end. The Obama administration seems determined to make some of these problems worse rather than better.

Some of the newer problems that arose (Islamo-fascist terrorism and government nutured housing bubble) are far from resolution as well.  The only big thing I can think of to feel positive about was the continuing splintering of mass culture into subcultures. Oh, and mashups. Mashups are cool.

Best to put this decade to bed as a write-off and move on. Discuss amongst yourselves.

12 Comments | politics | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

Arizona Zombie Association Objects to NEA Comparison

December 6, 2009

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

I received the following email yesterday from the Arizona Zombie Association (AZA) objecting to being compared to the Arizona Education Association (AEA). The email read:

Dr. Ladner,

I serve as President of the Arizona chapter of the American Zombie Association.  I want to let you know that the Zombie community is deeply offended by your comparison between long-suffering zombies and self-serving human groups such as the Arizona Education Association. Zombies have suffered a long history of discrimination, prejudice and oppression. Sadly your latest writing only reinforces this legacy.

Given your obvious ignorance, I will inform you of the many redeeming features of zombies. True, while being infected with the zombie virus does produce an overwhelming desire to consume human flesh, you may have forgotten that it also gives you killer dance moves:

You walking lunches humans living without the benefit of the zombie virus fail to appreciate how much zombies drive human innovation. For example, in the absence of zombies, does anyone seriously believe that humanity would have developed the ingenuity to develop machine gun/grenade launcher prosthetic limbs?

Also, we zombies have served as a constant source of artistic inspiration in ambulatory snack culture. How soon you forget such classics as this from your Irish Indie Rock subgenre:

Now that you hopefully have a greater appreciation of the greatness of Zombie culture, I will get to the crux our complaint.  Your writing on the actions of the AEA pointed to a study by the Brookings Institution showing very plainly that some teachers are much more effective than others. You then note that in defending mindless seniority, that the AEA were putting students at academic risk by threatening the careers of highly effective young teachers while defending experienced but highly ineffective senior teachers.

Why you chose to drag the zombie community into this discussion I will never understand. We zombies do indeed eat humans, but you may notice that we never attack each other. Despite the ignorant prejudices to which you seem to subscribe, we zombies do have a code of ethics: no zombie has ever harmed another, especially zombie children. Rest assured, if we zombies ever do set up a system of schools, we would never stoop to the level of defending the employment interests of adult zombies over the academic interests of zombie children. After all, there are literally thousands of other professions available which would not involve damaging the long-term interests of zombie children.

Sincerely,

GRRRRRR EATBRAIN

President, Arizona Zombie Association

My reply:

Dear President Eatbrain

Thank you for writing. You make a number of interesting points about zombies. Having grown up near the southwest border of Louisiana, I have known several zombies, and count myself stronger and more resourceful to have survived them.

Relating to the teacher quality post, I simply want to point out, however, that I was merely referencing the rules of survival in the movie Zombieland and drew no equivalence between zombies and the AEA. Any offense taken by the zombie community was purely unintentional.

Sincerely,

Matthew Ladner

3 Comments | teacher quality | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

Arizona Legislature Single Taps Union Zombie

December 4, 2009

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

The movie Zombieland delivers a humorous take the zombie movie genre. The protaganist is a person who has survived the outbreak of zombe-ism by following a set of self-developed rules. “Cardio” is rule number one (i.e. stay in shape so you can out run the zombies when necessary). Rule #2: double tap. When you have shot a zombie, don’t leave them lying around wounded so that they can try to kill you later. Go ahead and finish the job.

In any case, last session the Arizona legislature passed some profoundly wise policy changes regarding public schools. They prohibited districts from paying people school district salaries to do union jobs. They required school district employees to use vacation days to do association work. Finally, in the event of a reduction in force, they prohibited the use of seniority as the sole criteria for deciding which teachers ought to be let go.

The first two items fall into the no-brainer category. No one should be getting paid to do classroom work without working in the classroom. The final item is the most important of all. The figure above is from a Brookings study, showing differences in academic gains by Los Angeles teachers. In short, some teachers are great- getting large gains, and some produce terrible results: not only failing to produce gains, but actually dragging their students down.

The Arizona Education Association is actively seeking to have these policy changes overturned. Rumor has it that this will be a condition for Democratic support in current budget session. One problem: it would be IMMORAL to keep highly ineffective teachers in the classroom simply because they had already spent years miseducating students. No one- conservative, liberal, libertarian or vegetarian should support such a policy. The AEA brings disgrace upon itself for seeking it, and any member carrying this water should be ashamed of themselves for doing so.

In short these policies represent a good start, but still only a single tap. Taking a cue from Zombieland, the Arizona legislature should go ahead and double tap the zombie by making it illegal for school districts to collect union dues from employee paychecks. School districts won’t collect dues for any other private associations, there is no case for them spending public money to do so for the AEA.

If people find the services of the AEA useful, they can write them a check in the same fashion that you do for any private organization that you support.

6 Comments | teacher quality, teacher union | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

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