On the subject of education reform, measuring teacher effectiveness is the hot topic. In an op-ed for the Post, Bill Gates – co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – reaffirms that the key to both high-quality education and a thriving economy is teacher development.
But at the moment, Gates points out, the United States is on the wrong track. We’ve wasted a lot of money on ineffective ventures – including spending $50 billion a year on automatic raises for teachers who don’t necessarily deserve them. He breaks down the United States’ education shortcomings compared to more successful countries, recommends approaches for policymakers, and lays out his foundation’s strategy:
[O]ur foundation is working with nearly 3,000 teachers in seven urban school districts to develop fair and reliable measures of teacher effectiveness that are tied to gains in student achievement. Research teams are analyzing videos of more than 13,000 lessons – focusing on classes that showed big student gains so it can be understood how the teachers did it. At the same time, teachers are watching their own videos to see what they need to do to improve their practice.
Our goal is a new approach to development and evaluation that teachers endorse and that helps all teachers improve.
A great read from a true issue expert. (WaPo, 2/28)
EDUCATION | The Center for American Progress ranks our region’s school districts based on efficiency. (WaPo, 2/28)
NONPROFITS | Opinion: Ralph Nader says that Obama’s Silence on the Achievements of Struggling Nonprofits Is Deafening. (Chronicle, 2/20)
YOUTH
- Local restaurateur Paul Cohn thinks that there hasn’t been enough done in D.C. to provide work for the city’s residents, so he’s opening a summer camp for DCPS students to learn “core competencies of running a restaurant, including kitchen management, purchasing, marketing and accounting.” (WaPo, 2/28) Neat idea!
- When looking for a summer camp, it is best to plan ahead. (WaPo, 2/27) Possibly even years ahead, from the sound of it.
AGING | The AARP Foundation is hoping to raise between $50 and $100 million to combat hunger issues for older Americans through a sponsorship of car racer Jeff Gordon – the first major cause-related sponsorship for NASCAR. (Forbes, 2/28) And you thought NASCAR was just a bunch of cars driving in circles!
ENVIRONMENT/BUDGETS | The District has abruptly suspended its Renewable Energy Incentive Plan due to the city’s budget gap – meaning many residents who were promised reimbursement for installing solar panels will have to foot the bill themselves. (WaPo, 2/28)
EVENTS
- Wed., March 2: Waiting for Superfunders: How Donors Can Leverage K-12 Education Reform sponsored by Arabella Advisors and featuring a panel that includes Meika Wick of WRAG member CityBridge Foundation.
- Thurs., March 3: Funders Roundtable of Montgomery County: A Conversation with County Executive Ike Leggett
WEATHER | Watch out for…tornadoes? I saw a tornado form in NE D.C. in high school. It was crazy.
I’m a big movie nerd, and I have to take a fairly cynical view of the voting process for the Academy Awards. Sure, The King’s Speech was a very good movie. But The Social Network, The Fighter, and True Grit were truly great movies. And how newcomer Hailee Steinfeld didn’t win an Oscar for True Grit is an unfathomable mystery to me. Yes, these are my opinions, but come on! Steinfeld out-performed Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon at the same time!
