the albany project - Recent Comments

bad credit loans

jameel123 — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:58:16 GMT

The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, but I actually thought youd have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix if you werent too busy looking for attention.
bad credit loans

Nervous, so let spend some money

BKR — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:11:25 GMT

Making politics nervous is in my opinion a good thing, however nervous people can make mistakes.

Example in Europa: Nederland is nervous about money so they spent money on Greece. But in their mind they know its failure....

In Holland we say: Geld lenen met BKR registratie is niet goed. It means Loaning money with a black list is not good, but what about countries who are in debt?

http://geld-lenen-met-bkr-regi...

On Education Reform and Picking the Right Fights

stevealec247 — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:39:16 GMT

Yes it is very true. It is really informative article for me.
thanks for sharing with us.
Thanks

Thanks!

Roatti — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 07:42:02 GMT

Good job!

Andrew C. White — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:19:38 GMT

Teachers need evauation too

schdy — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:21:43 GMT

I don't think anyone thinks teachers should get a job for life no matter how poorly they perform. The reason I wrote at all was "NYSUT should be working in good faith to create a decent evaluation system."

NYSUT has already been working on a better evaluation system than pure tenure. The unions DO want the taxpayer to know that they are deeply interested in a better system. Your note about public perception is spot on - the teacher's unions almost universally have bad press.

The problem is that there is a distinctly adversarial relationship between Governor Cuomo and all public unions. He wants to be President, and he needs to be seen as independent of the public sector unions in order to have broad appeal outside of New York. And so the Governor makes sure that every interaction he has with the unions - especially the teacher's unions - is specifically framed to paint them as obstructionist, and to portray him as the frustrated knight in shining armor.

Which is how reasonable, thoughtful people can come to wonder aloud why NYSUT isn't doing something other than defending the old system. The fact is, they have been doing something.

Teacher evaluation is a difficult problem, and it won't be solved in one go. Teachers do need to be accountable. They should be rated on the factors they are directly responsible for. The overwhelming difficulty lies in determining what those responsibilities are, and the problem is getting worse with every standardized test that is mandated.

Thank you for the very thoughtful article, and the opportunity to discuss this.

and on your last point

Roatti — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:22:09 GMT

yes, learning is certainly based on home life, family income, and a whole host of other social factors. But schools can't control those. But schools can control the quality of teachers, and they should.

good points but

Roatti — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:21:00 GMT

In regards to your hypothetical, I think that this system should only weigh teachers against their colleagues in the same subjects, so your point on that is well-taken.

And as for your point about diligent teachers getting punished by students in their evaluations, that is why it also takes a negative review from the principal and parents, and I don;t see either of those giving bad reviews because of adherence to homework assignments. In this system, I would say it's highly unlikely or even impossible for a good teacher to get cut, as it would take negative evaluations from all three sources for two straight years.

As for the past deal, that deal should never have been made- it relies too much on standardized tests. And I also refuse to accept that tenure is the best system. In fact, if you compare the US to other wealthy countries, the evidence shows that tenure is probably the worst system.

NYSUT: Big not the same as Bad

schdy — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:58:12 GMT

I read every one of your articles and agree with most of what you write. I would respectfully note that NYSUT has been working on a new teacher evaluation process for some time. Search the web for "NYSUT TED" to see the result.

The Education Department agreed to use the new evaluation system last year http://www.oms.nysed.gov/press... and then Governor Cuomo decided to disregard that agreement - which local school districts were already in the process of implementing - in order to put his own system into practice. They sued and won to stop the Governor's arbitrary plan.

Evaluating teachers is a wicked problem. Let's look at your suggestion, that teachers get rated by the parents and students. For the sake of example only, let's hypothesize two teachers in the same district. Teacher E is easy going, plays music in the class, hands out quizzes with extra credit questions like "Who is buried in Grant's tomb?" and in general has a fun class where the kids learn at a marginally acceptable rate. Teacher S is strict, demands homework every night, no chatter in class, doesn't grade on a curve and in general expects the students to be learning at a superior rate.

Which of these two teachers will be rated higher by her students? Now, a trick question. One of them is a music teacher. Does the answer change? One is a phys ed teacher... any change? One is a librarian... you get the picture.

We crave a simple, easy to apply standard, a mechanical measurement that we can all agree on to point out the 'bad' teachers and be rid of them. The harsh fact is that there isn't any such thing. Take the best teacher in the world and put her in the worst class in the world. That class is going to get better, but it will probably never be as good as the class she used to teach. If her bottom of the barrel class doesn't move up enough in the standardized testing ranks, she's gone - the best teacher in the world.

This is because learning is a separate activity from teaching. Learning impediments come from many places; home life, social standing, peers - none of which any teacher can influence. Then there is the syllabus, the textbooks and supplies a teacher must use; again, not something she can influence. Instead of trying to rate her performance against factors she has exactly no control over, why not rate her against the factors she can influence?

Yeah, that's a lot more complicated.

Tenure sucks, but it's a testament to all other evaluation plans that it remains better than the alternatives.

My bad. Link there now

Roatti — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:00:10 GMT

n/t

Good time to mention the Energy Cooperative of America

neroden — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:35:44 GMT

I decided I wanted my energy purchase to have as little overhead /profit-taking as possible. So a co-op seemed like the right choice. And they do offer a 100% renewable electricity option, so I took that.

If you want to expand the role of co-ops in the economy, and get renewable electricity, you might consider it. I've found it to be slightly cheaper than my utility's default (NON renewable) price.

Agreed, complete and utter garbage.

neroden — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:31:07 GMT

Cuomo had better stick to his promise and veto this trash. The courts would have to do better than this. We have OK courts.

I'm not saying what's ok,

Amherst Guy — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:02:55 GMT

Just that this should not be.

I'm unfamiliar with the Assembly but a look through my previous posts will give you a hint as to my views on Silver.

Sheldon Silver ar work

GOP_RIP — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:33:30 GMT

to eliminate the as many of the freshman Republicans from Suffolk to Erie and even change the district that Democrat Bob Reilly represents since he came within a few hundred votes of losing in 2010.

There's no link in that link.

EightBall — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 01:22:49 GMT

Just sayin'.