Five years ago, TNTP (formerly known as The New Teacher Project) released The Widget Effect, a report that influenced the debate about educAre Teachers Still Widgets? Five yearsator workforce policy-making and generated advocacy for policies such as improved teacher performance evaluations, administrator training, and performance-based pay.

According to TNTP, the report identified a widespread problem in schools across the country – “near total failure to acknowledge differences in teacher effectiveness”. The study examined twelve school districts in four states and found that almost all teachers were rated “good” or “great” on their formal performance evaluations, and that very few teachers were given “poor” ratings. These researchers reported that teacher performance played an insignificant role in hiring decisions, compensation, and professional development. In the twelve districts studied, a teacher’s performance only became an issue when it was so problematic that dismissal was considered, yet findings revealed that dismissals rarely occurred.[1]  Continue reading “Are Teachers Still Widgets? Five years after the Widget Report”

How often do you think to yourself as you are learning something new, “That was interesting.”?  Do you ever wonder how often students reflect on a completed lesson, “Hmm, that concept just introduced was interesting.”  Or “My homework was pretty interesting today.”

Now consider this statement.   “Interesting is good.  But Wonderful is better.” Continue reading “Interesting is Good, but Wonderful is Better”

Lesley McSpadden, the mother of Michael Brown, emphatically questioned if we understand the amount of effort required just to see Michael graduate. Unfortunately, the answer to her question would become buried underneath a wealth of information that followed her son’s death and a charged debated about Michael’s character.

At the center of this discussion is whether Michael contributed to his death. The conversation is hard to comprehend because it not only questions if Michael Brown could have prevented the manner in which he was gunned down, but it primes another misguided question: Can behavior modifications in general stop oppressive practices? This line of thinking is problematic because the agents of change are those who experience discrimination, not powerful systems and key players that have a genuine ability to decrease and even stop discrimination. Continue reading “Do We Understand How Hard It Was to Get Michael Brown to Graduate?”

The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Coldest Winter Ever grew into personal favorites because each uses irony to deliver a memorable life lesson.

Oscar Wilde writes about the dangers of coveting physical beauty, while Sister Souljah illustrates how the intersection of poverty, incarceration, and drugs surfaces throughout inner city neighborhoods. The books share striking differences. Most noticeable are the categorizations. The Picture of Dorian Gray is part of the American literary canon while The Coldest Winter Ever is considered a classic from the urban literature genre. Continue reading “Keep Mirrors in Learning Environments and Media”

As an educational leader, it is likely that you have searched for research to support the development of professional learningexperiences for educators and to inform policy design work. Professional developers will immediately recognize the name Bruce Joyce.  Publications by Drs. Bruce Joyce and Beverly Showers, particularly their findings on the effects of peer coaching, are considered to be seminal work in our field (e.g., Student Achievement through Staff Development (Joyce & Showers, 2002). Many preservice educators have designed teacher preparation courses around Models of Teaching. Dr. Joyce and fellow authors, Drs. Marsha Weil and Emily Calhoun recently released the Ninth Edition of Models of Teaching.  It has been my good fortune to include both Bruce Joyce and Emily Calhoun among the colleagues that have shaped my career. Last week, I had the privilege of visiting  Bruce and interviewing him about the Models of Teaching and his current thinking on professional learning. Continue reading “Bruce Joyce Shares Insights about the New Edition of Models of Teaching”