Race To The Top Funds-1.4 Mil
Printed From: MiddletownUSA.com
Category: Middletown City Schools
Forum Name: Other School Issues
Forum Description: Discuss other issues such as school security, student activities, etc.
URL: http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3633
Printed Date: Nov 22 2024 at 7:51am
Topic: Race To The Top Funds-1.4 Mil
Posted By: VietVet
Subject: Race To The Top Funds-1.4 Mil
Date Posted: Jan 29 2011 at 8:53am
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Race To The Top.......No Child Left Behind......"gimmicky" little slogans aren't they? But what will they really do for the money spent to implement them? Has anyone seen anything positive or noteworthy at all with the "No Child Left Behind" program. Or, was the public event held in Hamilton with Boehner looking on as W. Bush signed the paperwork to activate it just a load of crap? How much has been spent on this program and what has the taxpayer gotten out of it since? I'm betting little to nothing. Never really hear about it anymore, do we? Another important education process that has now become "Gone With The Wind". I'm also betting that this new educational program "Race To The Top", will be dead on arrival in a year or two also. I like the comments from Rasmussen in the Journal today......
Middletown schools will receive the $1.4 million over the next four years. Superintendent Greg Rasmussen said the district will use the federal money to develop an electronic system of data collection and to redesign its forms of teacher and principal evaluations, which will soon tie in student performance. I really like this "educational jibberish".... “We’re going to develop a system of data to be able to really gain a deeper understanding and how to target it more efficiently and effectively,” he said. “And the (evaluations) are designed to support growth and target what educators really need to know more about.” What? "Target what educators really need to know more about". Kinda of a vague and non-descript comment having what specific meaning, Mr. Superintendent? Middletown will get 1.4 million for their fair share. The surrounding districts aren't even close in their monetary distribution. In the end, after the smoke has cleared, and they have their 1.4 million, which will disappear into the abyss, little to nothing will have been improved, if history repeats itself. The district will still be in perpetual "continued improvement", the proficiency scores will still be at the bottom and the indicators will still be locked on 5 of 30 as they have been for the last 5+ years. Same old people, using the same old methods, teaching the same old way, producing the same old results, but receiving more pay and support money to do so. Why do we have people on the school board that allows this to go on year after year, without asking for any accountability in performance and apparently "looking the other way" as to the continued decline of the district as compared to former years of accomplishments. C'mon people, radical changes are needed in the way this district operates to allow any real progress. JMO  
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Posted By: VietVet
Date Posted: Feb 06 2011 at 8:53am
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From Today's Journal...
Student growth to reflect on teachers Middletown schools to add criteria to yearly evaluations of instructors as part of Race to the Top program. MIDDLETOWN — Middletown City Schools is positioning itself to start tying student performance to teacher evaluations. The change comes as a result of the district’s participation in the federal Race to the Top program....... Really?  shouldn't this have been done all along prior to this program? Why just now?
The Middletown Teachers Association must negotiate and approve the details of the system....... Why do we need their approval? It is built into the design of the Race to the Top program and the Midd. school leaders knew this when they asked to be included in the program and for the additional funds. Too much influence given to this group. Currently, Middletown teachers undergo evaluations every three years. Three observations by building principals are part of a final end-of-year evaluation. New teachers are evaluated every year for the first three years. But the new process asks that all teachers be evaluated yearly....... The teachers will finally be under the same evaluation frequency that we in private industry have been in since at least the 50's. I have received an evaluation yearly for close to 40 years now. It is commonplace outside the dreamworld of academia. Imagine that...pay increases based on merit. Step increases, if present (like in city government), should be eliminated too, IMO. While Middletown’s Race to the Top team continues to discuss various options for teacher and principal evaluations, board member Chris Fiora in November asked to see Dublin City Schools’ teacher evaluation forms. In Dublin schools, student performance is tied to evaluations by multiple measures including performance on standardized tests but also in-classroom assignments such as papers, lab reports or speeches, according to Jamie Meade, Dublin’s director of data assessment. Like Middletown, Dublin’s previous evaluation process was based on classroom observations. “I think in Dublin it started with a dissatisfaction with the existing tool,” she said. Excellent.....hopefully, accountability at last. Next up....dealing with tenure and the consequences of that concept. |