Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Tribune article on achievement disparities
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_755254.html
Monday, September 5, 2011
How we got where we are Part XXI (August 2008)
On another post Anonymous wrote:
"How we got where we are, part 21, August 2008
Happy Labor Day to all of my brothers and sisters in the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, AFSCME, and Pittsburgh Building Trades. In your honor and in thanks to all that you do for our students, we present “How we got where we are, part 21, August 2008.”
August 27, 2008: Dr. Judy Johnston is hired at the rate of $1,500 per day “to provide support and consultation and recommendations for executive directors and principals in support of the PULSE program, specifically principal evaluations.”
Like the Focus on Results contract the month before, this contract begs the question, if we have executive directors, why are we paying consultants to do their work?
But the duplication of services was only getting warmed up.
The Board also approved a contract with Dr. Paula Bevan at the rate of $1,800 per day “to provide consultative support on the development of a comprehensive document describing the performance improvement process for school leaders...Dr. Bevan will also work with executive directors and principals to identify appropriate evidence which principals may provide to demonstrate proficiency on standards and components.”
With consultants to be hired, the Communications & Marketing team would not be left behind. The Board approves a contract “Valerie Becker to provide support to the web development team during the redesign and launch of school websites.”
Who can stop at just one more Marketing contract for the Chief of Staff? The Board also authorized “its proper officers to retain a graphic design firm to rework the magnet booklet and provide final production artwork for the 2008-09 magnet program and school options guide, which consists of approximately 64 pages with 4-color cover pages and 2-color on inside pages.”
The Chief of Staff also receives approval to purchase 260 retractable banner stands, including single-sided, double-sided, plus applicable banner stand graphics.
Have you ever wondered how many retractable banner stands are on display in Mt. Lebanon or Upper St. Clair?
The financial statements again warn that “significant efforts must be made to reduce operating costs”, urge “an even greater premium on cutting expenses”, and call for sale of closed school buildings to be a “priority.”
Only Randall Taylor and Mark Brentley seem to heed the warning, with Taylor stating that “I continue to grow very concerned about the level of spending in this District, and the amount of money that continues to be spent, and the amount of resources, particularly in buildings that continue to be wasted.”
Mr. Taylor also comments on the raise proposed for Superintendent Mark Roosevelt: “One of the main reasons I cannot support this is I do believe that the PSSA state scores should be incorporated into any evaluation. Right now, that is not allowed in this Board, though I requested to receive PSSA information prior to us having to submit our evaluation, that was not possible, and I think it's important to the public to know that this Board did an evaluation with access, full access to PSSA scores.”
Mr. Brentley notes that “We owe it to the taxpayers, and we owe it to those parents, especially to those students that we are placing in experimental programs, that we just put together, not sure of its outcome, but we are hoping its going to work out, “But don't worry, because we will have a great press conference there, we will take great pictures, we will get good press, but we don't know what the outcome will possibly be for your children.” That is almost borderline criminal in terms of what we are doing to this District's neediest student body.”
"How we got where we are, part 21, August 2008
Happy Labor Day to all of my brothers and sisters in the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, AFSCME, and Pittsburgh Building Trades. In your honor and in thanks to all that you do for our students, we present “How we got where we are, part 21, August 2008.”
August 27, 2008: Dr. Judy Johnston is hired at the rate of $1,500 per day “to provide support and consultation and recommendations for executive directors and principals in support of the PULSE program, specifically principal evaluations.”
Like the Focus on Results contract the month before, this contract begs the question, if we have executive directors, why are we paying consultants to do their work?
But the duplication of services was only getting warmed up.
The Board also approved a contract with Dr. Paula Bevan at the rate of $1,800 per day “to provide consultative support on the development of a comprehensive document describing the performance improvement process for school leaders...Dr. Bevan will also work with executive directors and principals to identify appropriate evidence which principals may provide to demonstrate proficiency on standards and components.”
With consultants to be hired, the Communications & Marketing team would not be left behind. The Board approves a contract “Valerie Becker to provide support to the web development team during the redesign and launch of school websites.”
Who can stop at just one more Marketing contract for the Chief of Staff? The Board also authorized “its proper officers to retain a graphic design firm to rework the magnet booklet and provide final production artwork for the 2008-09 magnet program and school options guide, which consists of approximately 64 pages with 4-color cover pages and 2-color on inside pages.”
The Chief of Staff also receives approval to purchase 260 retractable banner stands, including single-sided, double-sided, plus applicable banner stand graphics.
Have you ever wondered how many retractable banner stands are on display in Mt. Lebanon or Upper St. Clair?
The financial statements again warn that “significant efforts must be made to reduce operating costs”, urge “an even greater premium on cutting expenses”, and call for sale of closed school buildings to be a “priority.”
Only Randall Taylor and Mark Brentley seem to heed the warning, with Taylor stating that “I continue to grow very concerned about the level of spending in this District, and the amount of money that continues to be spent, and the amount of resources, particularly in buildings that continue to be wasted.”
Mr. Taylor also comments on the raise proposed for Superintendent Mark Roosevelt: “One of the main reasons I cannot support this is I do believe that the PSSA state scores should be incorporated into any evaluation. Right now, that is not allowed in this Board, though I requested to receive PSSA information prior to us having to submit our evaluation, that was not possible, and I think it's important to the public to know that this Board did an evaluation with access, full access to PSSA scores.”
Mr. Brentley notes that “We owe it to the taxpayers, and we owe it to those parents, especially to those students that we are placing in experimental programs, that we just put together, not sure of its outcome, but we are hoping its going to work out, “But don't worry, because we will have a great press conference there, we will take great pictures, we will get good press, but we don't know what the outcome will possibly be for your children.” That is almost borderline criminal in terms of what we are doing to this District's neediest student body.”
Similar problems in K-12 and university management
It is interesting to see that many of the problems we are noticing in PPS (bloated administration, vague and wordy strategic plans, administrators who lack teaching experience) appeared first at the university level.
See this review of "Fall of the Faculty" from the WSJ:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903461304576526353648342500.html
See this review of "Fall of the Faculty" from the WSJ:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903461304576526353648342500.html
Sunday, September 4, 2011
How we got where we are Part XX July 2008
On another post Anonymous wrote:
"How we got where we are, part 20, July 2008
July 23, 2008: The Board approves yet another contract with Focus on Results, this time for $2,400 per day to provide “training and consulting to 18 K-5 principals and their leadership teams around The Seven Areas of Focus - A Strategic Framework for Whole School Improvement. Through this initiative, principals and their teams will develop and refine the skills and strategies they need to lead effective, results-driven efforts at whole school reform. Three consultants will meet monthly for 8 months with principals and their leadership teams. These meetings will consist of professional development training in content and process so that the school based teams can return to their schools better equipped to engage in whole school reform. The consultants will also make school visits to provide additional support as the teams work with classroom teachers on the school's area of focus. The consultants will also plan and debrief with the K-5 executive director. In between visits, the consultants will provide distance coaching, planning, preparation, coordination and collaboration with principals.”
This contract of course begs the question, if we have Focus on Results for $268,650, exactly what are we paying the Executive Director for Elementary Education to do?
The Communications and Marketing team was back at the table, this time recommending a another contract with Dennis Moran Design to “create secondary graphics including: (1) color palette, (2) fonts, and (3) imagery. They will deliver marketing materials including: (1) a capabilities brochure, (2) audience inserts, (3) school summary, (4) letterhead and envelopes, (5) presentation and display boards and (6) electronic mechanical art, and (7) additional materials as needed. Responsibilities of the contractor include print production coordination and management, layout, image creation including illustration or photography, and delivering these complete materials on time and in accordance with the
marketing and communications plan.” All yours for the special price of $150 per hour!
The Fund for Excellence provides $614,000 to pay for an additional half year of cost for the America's Choice model for Accelerated Learning Academies (ALAs) and yet another $612,411to fund the Office of High School Reform (Derrick Lopez) for another school year. Memo to Fund for Excellence: how are you feeling about both of those investments today? Total busts.
The Board hires an Executive Director for Marketing and Communications. Patricia Kennedy would last less than one year working with Chief of Staff Lisa Fischetti. In a move that defies logic, the starting salary of this position is close to $30,000 more than Kennedy was paid for similar work at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit.
Although Pittsburgh had an Office of High School Reform staffed by a highly compensated Chief of High School Reform, duplication of services was the theme of the day, as the Board approves a contract with an Acting Executive Director of High Schools. How is that for organization chart design – the Chief of High School Reform reports to the Superintendent, the Executive Director of High Schools reports to the Deputy Superintendent. Makes perfect sense.
The financial statements again note that “significant efforts must be made to reduce operating costs”, urge “an even greater premium on cutting expenses”, and asks the Board to make the sale of closed school buildings a “priority.”
Mr. Brentley votes no on the entire Committee on Education report, explaining that “my vote represents zero confidence in the leadership of this Board, as well as this administration.”
"How we got where we are, part 20, July 2008
July 23, 2008: The Board approves yet another contract with Focus on Results, this time for $2,400 per day to provide “training and consulting to 18 K-5 principals and their leadership teams around The Seven Areas of Focus - A Strategic Framework for Whole School Improvement. Through this initiative, principals and their teams will develop and refine the skills and strategies they need to lead effective, results-driven efforts at whole school reform. Three consultants will meet monthly for 8 months with principals and their leadership teams. These meetings will consist of professional development training in content and process so that the school based teams can return to their schools better equipped to engage in whole school reform. The consultants will also make school visits to provide additional support as the teams work with classroom teachers on the school's area of focus. The consultants will also plan and debrief with the K-5 executive director. In between visits, the consultants will provide distance coaching, planning, preparation, coordination and collaboration with principals.”
This contract of course begs the question, if we have Focus on Results for $268,650, exactly what are we paying the Executive Director for Elementary Education to do?
The Communications and Marketing team was back at the table, this time recommending a another contract with Dennis Moran Design to “create secondary graphics including: (1) color palette, (2) fonts, and (3) imagery. They will deliver marketing materials including: (1) a capabilities brochure, (2) audience inserts, (3) school summary, (4) letterhead and envelopes, (5) presentation and display boards and (6) electronic mechanical art, and (7) additional materials as needed. Responsibilities of the contractor include print production coordination and management, layout, image creation including illustration or photography, and delivering these complete materials on time and in accordance with the
marketing and communications plan.” All yours for the special price of $150 per hour!
The Fund for Excellence provides $614,000 to pay for an additional half year of cost for the America's Choice model for Accelerated Learning Academies (ALAs) and yet another $612,411to fund the Office of High School Reform (Derrick Lopez) for another school year. Memo to Fund for Excellence: how are you feeling about both of those investments today? Total busts.
The Board hires an Executive Director for Marketing and Communications. Patricia Kennedy would last less than one year working with Chief of Staff Lisa Fischetti. In a move that defies logic, the starting salary of this position is close to $30,000 more than Kennedy was paid for similar work at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit.
Although Pittsburgh had an Office of High School Reform staffed by a highly compensated Chief of High School Reform, duplication of services was the theme of the day, as the Board approves a contract with an Acting Executive Director of High Schools. How is that for organization chart design – the Chief of High School Reform reports to the Superintendent, the Executive Director of High Schools reports to the Deputy Superintendent. Makes perfect sense.
The financial statements again note that “significant efforts must be made to reduce operating costs”, urge “an even greater premium on cutting expenses”, and asks the Board to make the sale of closed school buildings a “priority.”
Mr. Brentley votes no on the entire Committee on Education report, explaining that “my vote represents zero confidence in the leadership of this Board, as well as this administration.”
Friday, September 2, 2011
Teachers' bonus
On another post Anonymous wrote:
"Pittsburgh Public Schools teachers up for bonus
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_754646.html"
"Pittsburgh Public Schools teachers up for bonus
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_754646.html"
Thursday, September 1, 2011
PPS announces AYP
From the PG:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11244/1171469-100.stm
- It would be interesting to see copies of the appeals PPS submitted in connection with the AYP calculation.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11244/1171469-100.stm
- It would be interesting to see copies of the appeals PPS submitted in connection with the AYP calculation.
"Decelerating learning academies"
From the City Paper:
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A99767
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A99767
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