L.A. public school system wastes $500 million on pointless training, report says

[bemildred]

The Los Angeles Unified School District squanders more than $500 million a year on an academic-improvement strategy that has consistently proven to be ineffective, researchers concluded in a report released Tuesday.

The nation’s second-largest school system spends 25% of its teacher payroll ($519 million a year) to compensate teachers for completing graduate coursework. These courses are a primary means by which teachers earn credits that translate to raises.

Yet such training has shown no overall benefit in improving student performance, said Kate Walsh, president of the Washington-based National Council on Teacher Quality, which conducted the research.

The money would be better spent paying more to teachers who deliver results, such as higher test scores, or to attract proven talent to the system, said Walsh in a presentation at Tuesday's Board of Education meeting.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/06/la-school-system-spends-more-than-500-million-on-pointless-training-report-concludes.html

[rfranklin]

1. And the National council on Teacher Quality is financed by who?

I'll betcha it's the Koch brothers or Bill Gates.

[rfranklin]

2. Actually here they are...anyone recognize these foundations?

The National Council on Teacher Quality receives all of its funding from private foundations. Here is a list of our funders:
Aaron Straus and Lillie Straus Foundation
Abell Foundation
B & L Foundation
Barksdale Reading Institute
Barr Foundation
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Boston Foundation
Bower Foundation
Brookhill Foundation
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Chamberlin Family Foundation
Daniels Fund
Doris and Donald Fisher Fund
Edythe and Eli Broad Foundation
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Finnegan Family Foundation
Foundation for the MidSouth
Garner Foundation
George Gund Foundation
Gleason Family Foundation
Goldsmith Family Foundation
Harold Whitworth Pierce Charitable Trust
Houston Endowment
Joyce Foundation
Longfield Family Foundation
Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education
Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation
Osa Foundation
Phil Hardin Foundation
Polk Bros Foundation
Rockwell Collins, Inc.
Searle Freedom Trust
Steans Family Foundation
The Teaching Commission
Walker Foundation

The National Council on Teacher Quality does not accept any direct funding from the federal government.
http://www.nctq.org/p/about/funders.jsp

[bemildred]

3. That's what I was wondering, it's obvious this is paid political propaganda. nt

[spedtr90]

4. Walsh and her groups' "research" exposed

http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/kate-walsh-nctq-and-us-news-world-report/

"Imagine an organization that decides to assess doctor preparation by establishing its own standards rather than those embraced by the American Medical Association. Or something similar for lawyers, engineers, nurses, police officers, etc. This is what NCTQ does. Whatever our own major professional associations subscribe to, or whatever the research shows, NCTQ assumes its own standards and then assesses our programs based on them. In addition, they do no direct observations of practice, no interviewing of students and school and community partners, and very little follow up of the factual errors that we call to their attention. They simply look at course syllabi, our website and the University catalog, all very limited indicators of what actually takes place in our courses and field experiences and intended as such. How can one come to grand conclusions about the quality of an elementary education or special education program from such limited information? Apparently NCTQ thinks you can. In my view, and those of my colleagues, their efforts would not be sufficient to pass an undergraduate research course."

- Kenneth Teitelbaum, the Dean of the College of Education and Human Services at Southern Illinois University Carbondale

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Graduate degrees are now "pointless training"

Good grief.

From the same newspaper that published false equivalencies rating teachers, leading to a suicide.

[bemildred]

6. Yeah. LAT has beshit itself on this issue.

One assumes there is some "management" moron behind it, but hard to say out here in TV land.