That is, of course, Professor Bruce Baker deconstructing the latest pile of cant from NJDOE Commissioner Chris Cerf. You owe it to yourself to read the entire thing, and then ask yourself a question:I was reviewing the past few days of news coverage on NJ teacher evaluations and came across the following quote, which was not-so-amazingly left unchallenged:Cerf said research shows test scores are “far and away” the best gauge of teacher effectiveness, and to not use test score data would be “very anti-child.”Here’s a reporters’ guide to follow up questions….Mr. Cerf… can you show me exactly what research comes to that conclusion? (this should always be the immediate follow up to the ambiguous “research shows” comment)Exactly how is “far and away” measured in that research?And what is meant by “best gauge of effectiveness?”That is, what is the valid measure of effectiveness against which test scores are gauged? (answer… uh… test scores themselves)
Why would any New Jersey educator or parent or elected official or journalist or citizen believe anything that comes out of the NJDOE these days?
Oh, golly, do I sound overheated? Gosh, forgive me. It's only my freakin' career...
Accountability begins at home.
This comment is off this immediate topic and belongs to the story of several days ago on "Cerf's Friends" but I did not want it to go unnoticed!
ReplyDeleteI'M DISAPPOINTED IN YOU JAZZMAN!
In Patrick Flynn's incredible bio, you forgot to pick up on...."and has consulted on school improvement initiatives internationally in the United Arab Emirates with the Abu Dhabi Education Council."
We have to wonder if Flynn did "teacher evaluation" classes for the Abu Dhabi teachers. And how did that go? Did they do Danielson or do they have a much superior Dubai evaluation program developed by Cerf's Dubai entrepreneur friend Sunny Varkey? Does Varkey hold a Broad Superintendent Residency certificate?
Why do Cerf and all his people connect with the United Arab Emirates?
Remember Mount Olive superintendent Larrie Reynolds? A best friend of Cerf's? He wanted to bring a "Twilight" program to Mount Olive with the state paying big bucks and he wanted to cut back on teacher expenses so the teachers would all come from GEMS education, a Dubai company where Reynolds was a consultant but he wouldn't be getting any money what so ever from this "Twilight - Dubai" arrangement. After all, he's just connecting a few good friends for a good cause.