So I caught a bit of a very interesting episode of NPR's Talk of the Nation earlier this week. The subject was grading teacher performance, and the main guest was Jason Felch of the LA Times. The Times has been running a series called Grading the Teachers, which included analyzing seven years of data that had been collected on the effectiveness of LA Unified's faculty. As a data and research geek, I was naturally intrigued!
Many of the findings of the Times' analysis were, of course, somewhat specific to LA, but some more general findings that I found interesting were:
• Highly effective teachers routinely propel students from below grade level to advanced in a single year. There is a substantial gap at year's end between students whose teachers were in the top 10% in effectiveness and the bottom 10%. The fortunate students ranked 17 percentile points higher in English and 25 points higher in math.
• Many of the factors commonly assumed to be important to teachers' effectiveness were not. Although teachers are paid more for experience, education and training, none of this had much bearing on whether they improved their students' performance.
If you'd like to read more, click here to be transported to the entire first article in the series, which also includes other related links.
Cheers,
Rob
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
New Proposed Drug and Alcohol Policy
I thought we'd start the week with a discussion of the new County-proposed drug and alcohol policy that was given first consideration at the 8/25 Board meeting. For starters, everyone should know that the proposed policy was developed by the Main County Board of Education (BOE) in coordination with Marin County Health & Human Services and the Youth Leadership Institute (YLI). According to the Board's discussion on 8/25, the County BOE has adopted the policy and is requesting local school districts to do the same.
I think all of us engaged parents would agree that serious, smart and sensible policy toward drug and alcohol use by minors is of utmost importance. Given the suspicion with which many kids view adults' attempts to tell them "what's good for you", I really like that the proposed policy was developed in conjunction with the YLI. According to the YLI's website, it has been it operation for over 20 years and is committed to "innovative strategies that encourage youth to examine the environmental and societal factors contributing to the issues at hand—whether they are unhealthy eating, substance abuse, or violence—and to develop programs and strategies that shift those factors."
So, after reading the proposed policy, and checking out the organizations involved in developing it, I think the policy seems quite well formulated. A principal focus of the policy is prohibiting the acceptance of "sponsorship or financial assistance" from alcoholic beverage companies at school events or school-supported events. This doesn't seem to pose any problem, except for a concern I've heard floated that, depending on how one interprets the policy language, adoption could make certain aspects of the annual auction party questionable, such as accepting donations of wine from vineyards or distributors.
In case you're concerned that the Board wouldn't realize this, don't be. At the 8/25 meeting, Board members postponed adoption of the new policy so that specific questions regarding the relevance of the proposed policy to adults-only, fund raising events (e.g. the auction itself and related parties bid on during the auction) could be discussed and resolved with County BOE representatives (and, presumably, with legal staff, if necessary) before formal adoption by our Board is considered. The Board asked Valerie to lead this research and to report back.
Beyond tabling a vote on adopting the policy until questions related to the auction party are answered, the Board also made a noteworthy proposed addition to the language. President Mangan noted that the introductory sentence of the policy references the use of "alcohol and illegal drugs." He suggested that kids' misuse of ostensibly "legal" drugs (e.g. antidepressants, anti-ADD, prescription pain meds) can pose as much of a problem as use of "illegal" drugs. He suggested the language be broadened to take this into account.
The likelihood is that the Board will get answers to its questions and be ready to vote on adoption of drug and alcohol policy at its next meeting on September 22. Your best opportunity to provide input to Board members between now and then is by sending an email to trustees@larkspurshools.org.
I think all of us engaged parents would agree that serious, smart and sensible policy toward drug and alcohol use by minors is of utmost importance. Given the suspicion with which many kids view adults' attempts to tell them "what's good for you", I really like that the proposed policy was developed in conjunction with the YLI. According to the YLI's website, it has been it operation for over 20 years and is committed to "innovative strategies that encourage youth to examine the environmental and societal factors contributing to the issues at hand—whether they are unhealthy eating, substance abuse, or violence—and to develop programs and strategies that shift those factors."
So, after reading the proposed policy, and checking out the organizations involved in developing it, I think the policy seems quite well formulated. A principal focus of the policy is prohibiting the acceptance of "sponsorship or financial assistance" from alcoholic beverage companies at school events or school-supported events. This doesn't seem to pose any problem, except for a concern I've heard floated that, depending on how one interprets the policy language, adoption could make certain aspects of the annual auction party questionable, such as accepting donations of wine from vineyards or distributors.
In case you're concerned that the Board wouldn't realize this, don't be. At the 8/25 meeting, Board members postponed adoption of the new policy so that specific questions regarding the relevance of the proposed policy to adults-only, fund raising events (e.g. the auction itself and related parties bid on during the auction) could be discussed and resolved with County BOE representatives (and, presumably, with legal staff, if necessary) before formal adoption by our Board is considered. The Board asked Valerie to lead this research and to report back.
Beyond tabling a vote on adopting the policy until questions related to the auction party are answered, the Board also made a noteworthy proposed addition to the language. President Mangan noted that the introductory sentence of the policy references the use of "alcohol and illegal drugs." He suggested that kids' misuse of ostensibly "legal" drugs (e.g. antidepressants, anti-ADD, prescription pain meds) can pose as much of a problem as use of "illegal" drugs. He suggested the language be broadened to take this into account.
The likelihood is that the Board will get answers to its questions and be ready to vote on adoption of drug and alcohol policy at its next meeting on September 22. Your best opportunity to provide input to Board members between now and then is by sending an email to trustees@larkspurshools.org.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Summary of the 8/25/10 Monthly Meeting
So I attended the monthly Board meeting last night with my blogger hat firmly in place - and I have 7 1/2 pages of notes to prove it! Don't worry, I won't subject you to that much detail. After all, one of the main objectives of this blog is to summarize only the most interesting things. The things I think you really will want to know. So here goes...
Advisor Services Contract with Ross School District - I highlighted this item in the recent preview post as an item of note. After hearing detailed discussion at the meeting, I find it even more interesting. In attendance at the meeting was a special guest, Mary Jane Burke, Marin County Superintendent of Schools. So, it turns out that the whole idea for the advisory contract - under which Valerie and our facilities director will provide up to 12 hours per week ($60,000 max.) in services to Ross during the coming school year - started with Mary Jane. Ross approached Mary Jane about being a mentor to its new Superintendent/Principal, and Mary Jane in turn contacted Valerie. Several months of discussions and meetings ensued that resulted in the contract that was approved last night. President Mangan said the Board gave special consideration to the potential effect of losing some of Valerie's time to the Ross contract. The agreed-upon solution was to carve out some administrative-oriented duties from Valerie's workload (e.g. coordinating and maintaining the website) and assigning those to others. Both Board members and Mary Jane discussed how routine monitoring and evaluation throughout the coming year will be important to assess the impacts of the contract on both the Larkspur and Ross districts.
Financial management issue - The district's Business Manager, Becky White, reported prelimnary year-end budget numbers for the fiscal year that ended 6/30/10. Although we all know budget issues were tough, it could have been a lot worse. Believe it or not, we actually ended last year with a surplus of $481,000, when our initial projection had been for a deficit of $502,000. That's a total of $983,000 better off than where we projected we would end up. (This would explain the district's ability late last year give the teachers a 2% increase that was retroactive to July 1, 2009.) I, for one, am incredibly happy we all didn't have to live through having almost $1 million less last year. It was a challenging enough year as it was.
President Mangan reported that the County sent the district a letter praising us for:
Generally, our kids continue to score very well on these tests. One score that stood out to me when I previewed the packet materials before the meeting was a seemingly low score for our 7th graders in "general math." At the meeting, I learned (courtesy of Principal Norbutas), that this number is artificially low because it does not include the most advanced 7th graders who took the algebra test instead. These kids' scores were included in the 8th grade score for "algebra."
New portables at Neil Cummins? - Turns out that Neil Cummins is stretched so thin that up to three additional portables may be showing up as soon as this fall. The projected cost for adding three more is $180,000. More to come on this soon, I presume.
Well there you go, school fans, I could write more but I feel it's time to stop for today. If you've made it this far, please take another minute or two to share your feedback with me. Do you like what you've seen so far? Do you have suggestions, requests,...? I'd love to hear from you.
Also, this post just needed to end, so I saved one interesting thing for a separate post to come in a few days. That is, new proposed drug and alcohol policy language supported by the County that some fear will require curtailing the presence of alcohol at fund raising events (auction party?). I don't see it coming to that, but I'll say more soon.
Never stop learning...
-Rob
Advisor Services Contract with Ross School District - I highlighted this item in the recent preview post as an item of note. After hearing detailed discussion at the meeting, I find it even more interesting. In attendance at the meeting was a special guest, Mary Jane Burke, Marin County Superintendent of Schools. So, it turns out that the whole idea for the advisory contract - under which Valerie and our facilities director will provide up to 12 hours per week ($60,000 max.) in services to Ross during the coming school year - started with Mary Jane. Ross approached Mary Jane about being a mentor to its new Superintendent/Principal, and Mary Jane in turn contacted Valerie. Several months of discussions and meetings ensued that resulted in the contract that was approved last night. President Mangan said the Board gave special consideration to the potential effect of losing some of Valerie's time to the Ross contract. The agreed-upon solution was to carve out some administrative-oriented duties from Valerie's workload (e.g. coordinating and maintaining the website) and assigning those to others. Both Board members and Mary Jane discussed how routine monitoring and evaluation throughout the coming year will be important to assess the impacts of the contract on both the Larkspur and Ross districts.
Financial management issue - The district's Business Manager, Becky White, reported prelimnary year-end budget numbers for the fiscal year that ended 6/30/10. Although we all know budget issues were tough, it could have been a lot worse. Believe it or not, we actually ended last year with a surplus of $481,000, when our initial projection had been for a deficit of $502,000. That's a total of $983,000 better off than where we projected we would end up. (This would explain the district's ability late last year give the teachers a 2% increase that was retroactive to July 1, 2009.) I, for one, am incredibly happy we all didn't have to live through having almost $1 million less last year. It was a challenging enough year as it was.
President Mangan reported that the County sent the district a letter praising us for:
- An impressive amount of funds from outside sources (i.e. SPARK and PTA. That's US by the way. Nice donating, all you parents out there.)
- Our ability to maintain a notable reserve fund.
- The overall great work done by Becky White. (Becky is fabulous, by the way. I learned this when I got to sit and chat with her at a previous meeting, one she went to even though she wasn't giving a presentation. If you haven't met her, you should. And when you do, be sure to say thanks for all her excellent work.)
Generally, our kids continue to score very well on these tests. One score that stood out to me when I previewed the packet materials before the meeting was a seemingly low score for our 7th graders in "general math." At the meeting, I learned (courtesy of Principal Norbutas), that this number is artificially low because it does not include the most advanced 7th graders who took the algebra test instead. These kids' scores were included in the 8th grade score for "algebra."
New portables at Neil Cummins? - Turns out that Neil Cummins is stretched so thin that up to three additional portables may be showing up as soon as this fall. The projected cost for adding three more is $180,000. More to come on this soon, I presume.
Well there you go, school fans, I could write more but I feel it's time to stop for today. If you've made it this far, please take another minute or two to share your feedback with me. Do you like what you've seen so far? Do you have suggestions, requests,...? I'd love to hear from you.
Also, this post just needed to end, so I saved one interesting thing for a separate post to come in a few days. That is, new proposed drug and alcohol policy language supported by the County that some fear will require curtailing the presence of alcohol at fund raising events (auction party?). I don't see it coming to that, but I'll say more soon.
Never stop learning...
-Rob
Monday, August 23, 2010
A look at the agenda for the 8/25/10 monthly meeting
Hi there Larkspur school fans! Welcome to my first blog post. My plan is to do a preview post and a summary post regarding each school board meeting. This is a preview post regarding the monthly meeting scheduled for Wednesday, 8/25, at 6:00 pm in the Hall school library. To inform the post, I reviewed the agenda and all the supporting "packet" materials that are posted on the school district's website.
If you see something among my highlights that particularly peaks your interest, please consider either a) attending the Board meeting to hear/participate in the discussion, b) send the Board an email sharing your thoughts to trustees@larkspurschools.org.
Every agenda and meeting of a public board such as ours contains a lot of routine (i.e. boring) items that aren't that interesting. On the flip side, some quite interesting, and potentially controversial items are often buried in the fine print. For my money, here are the most interesting things on the 8/25 agenda:
Item 5- Discussion of STAR/CST standardized test results for the 2009-2010 school year, with detailed breakdown of performance by subject matter and grade level.
Item 6- Discussion of facilities planning issues, with specific focus on the current school year.
Item 10- Discussion of proposed policy language from the Marin County Board of Education regarding drug and alcohol prevention at school and school-related activities.
Item 19- This little nugget was a surprise at the end of the agenda. It seems that our esteemed Superintendent, Valerie Pitts, will be spending up to one day per week over the coming school year serving as an advisor and mentor to the new Superintendent of the Ross School District. Ross will be paying the Larkspur School District up to $60,000 for these advisory services.
Thanks for making it through the whole of my first blog post. If you have thoughts or suggestions, please send me an email. Thanks.
-Rob
(If you'd like to view the full agenda and supporting info, click here.)
If you see something among my highlights that particularly peaks your interest, please consider either a) attending the Board meeting to hear/participate in the discussion, b) send the Board an email sharing your thoughts to trustees@larkspurschools.org.
Every agenda and meeting of a public board such as ours contains a lot of routine (i.e. boring) items that aren't that interesting. On the flip side, some quite interesting, and potentially controversial items are often buried in the fine print. For my money, here are the most interesting things on the 8/25 agenda:
Item 5- Discussion of STAR/CST standardized test results for the 2009-2010 school year, with detailed breakdown of performance by subject matter and grade level.
Item 6- Discussion of facilities planning issues, with specific focus on the current school year.
Item 10- Discussion of proposed policy language from the Marin County Board of Education regarding drug and alcohol prevention at school and school-related activities.
Item 19- This little nugget was a surprise at the end of the agenda. It seems that our esteemed Superintendent, Valerie Pitts, will be spending up to one day per week over the coming school year serving as an advisor and mentor to the new Superintendent of the Ross School District. Ross will be paying the Larkspur School District up to $60,000 for these advisory services.
Thanks for making it through the whole of my first blog post. If you have thoughts or suggestions, please send me an email. Thanks.
-Rob
(If you'd like to view the full agenda and supporting info, click here.)
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