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Society for Quality Education

Reform School

March 27, 2012 by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) at 08:16 AM

As the world waits breathlessly to hear whether the Ontario government is really going to insist on zero pay increases for its teachers, it's worth taking a look at what is going on in Colorado's Harrison School District. If you click here, you can read a little bit about the district's pay-for-performance plan and watch a short clip about how the superintendent thinks it important to align teacher compensation with quality instruction, professional development, student achievement, the evaluation process and so on. A detailed report on the Harrison plan can be downloaded, but the Reader's Digest version is that teachers are paid for performance, and the grid has been abolished. It's early days, but so far the students appear to be doing well: The district’s most recent average ACT scores were up one full point over the previous year, and one elementary school’s third grade scored 100% proficient on Colorado’s state reading test.

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Comments

So far, a Seinfeld budget about nothing much….fill in the blanks later I guess.

Looks though like Dalton’s declared war on the public sector unions. Can’t get too excited about this at all….Dalton will eventually fold like a cheap suit. History will repeat itself.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/03/27/ontario-budget-2012-john-ivison/

Posted by Chuck on 03/27 at 02:40 PM

Actually, there are educational components to this budget that I actually like.

- nixing the Victory laps
- not forcing the ELP on boards that don’t have them yet

And, remember the rumour about McGuinty moving towards a merging LHINS-like configuration with school boards? Well…..I’m thinking it’s in the works.

Posted by Chuck on 03/27 at 06:32 PM

They haven’t actually really nixed the victory lap.  Kids can still take an additional 4 credits beyond the 30 they are required to do.  So they can still hang around for another year to do them.  You were right Chuck, it’s still a Seinfeld budget.

Posted by Doretta on 03/28 at 07:07 AM

Victory Laps are not made equal…..

Catholic School students are required to take a compulsory religion class each and every year of high school - this seriously constricts what else they can explore in terms of electives and passions during their four years…....  as four slots in their secondary elective timetable are not negotiable.

In my experience serious students in Catholic secondary schools take a victory lap because that is the only way they have access to the diverse curriculum offered to public school students.

Posted by Mirka on 03/29 at 07:07 PM

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