"The old-fashioned practice of rating instructors by watching them teach is tricky, labor-intensive, potentially costly and subjective - but perhaps the best way to help them improve, according to a study released Friday by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation... "And the observers, typically the school principal, frequently don't know what to look for anyway. "The best way to evaluate teachers, while also helping them improve, is to use several measures - including data-based methods that rely on students' standardized test scores, along with an updated teacher observation system, the report found.

"These are interesting findings. It's a really cool academic study. It's a freakin' amazing data set! But these findings cannot be immediately translated into what the headlines have suggested - that immediate use of value-added metrics to reshape the teacher workforce can lift the economy, and increase wages across the board! The headlines and media spin have been dreadfully overstated and deceptive. Other headlines and editorial commentary has been simply ignorant and irresponsible. (No Mr. Moran, this one study did not, does not, cannot negate the vast array of concerns that have been raised about using value-added estimates as blunt, heavily weighted instruments in personnel policy in school systems.)"

Economist finds bonuses encourages test coaching and cheating. "education officials should separate the provision of incentives and the measurement of student and educator performance by using separate testing programs for these two tasks"

"The best economic stimulus is a high school diploma," said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia examine the economic value

"as a result of being forced into a lockstep teaching method, I've lost touch with my original vision of teaching, and by extension, my original philosophy - my teaching "religion." "

I learned that students needed to be taught how to make choices. I learned that affect matters as much as cognition. I learned that assessment that supports teaching and learning trumps assessments that label.

book promotion: NCLB failed, parents didn't want choice students avoided tutoring (longer school day) Admin gamed the system or outrighted cheated state officials lowered standards

improving teen literacy by teachers reading aloud, even using picture books, in literature, math and history

NCLB revisions could redefine professional development

scary results.

Good overview of large-scale studies and the results