Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Putting the 11th Grade NECAP Math on a Curve

RIDE's NCLB Waiver Request:

I guess that'll help high schools from looking disproportionately bad compared to elementary and middle schools.

I skimmed though the waiver request, but I can't really get into it. Everything I care about has already been destroyed, and I also can't imagine that whatever they come up with won't primarily target Providence schools every year anyhow. It isn't like there is some other 5% of RI schools that they should be turning around.

2 comments:

Sean said...

I wonder the extent to which RIDE will be constrained by, you know, state law. A lot of waiver "mandates" are bargainable according to the state bargaining statute.

It reminds me of the absurd attempt of criterion-based hiring in PPSD.

2009, Gist's letter to Superintendents: "Seniority cannot not the sole criterion in hiring decisions."

2010, RIDE Race to the Top App: "We have abolished criterion-based hiring."

2011, PTU-PPSD CBH document: "The five most senior candidates must be considered for any CBH position."

2011, Rhode Island Superior Court: Portsmouth School Committee vs. Portsmouth NEA: "In the opinion of the Court, there exists a substantial gray area between the black of educational policy, and the white of bargainable employment issues."

So: expect both a) hilariously poor implementation of new waiver initiatives and b) increasingly contentious labor-management relationships going forward.

My money's on the Educator Evaluation System falling flat. Not enough labor buy-in + top heavy scent + too much paperwork + unclear what SLOs even are + overworked principals = an expensive failure.

Tom Hoffman said...

This is mostly constrained by the feds, really. There is a very narrow range of things you can propose in these waivers.