Connecticut Public Radio did a story on Race to the Top funding on Saturday in which State Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan says he’s “guardedly optimistic” about Connecticut’s prospects.
Washington wants to see great teachers in disadvantaged areas, and new ways to measure whether they’re doing a good job. Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan says Connecticut’s still coming up to speed in the teacher quality area.
"…partly because the expectations in the grant are demanding a very different orientation around teacher supervision and evaluation than CT has had for some time."NorwalkNet reported in November that Norwalk was not participating in the State's application process. Maybe this has changed? The deadline for Round 1 is January 19 (Round 2 deadline is June 1). If Norwalk does choose to participate in the State's efforts this go around, we'll need to race.
Here is the agenda for the BOE Meeting tonight, the last of the year. The Communications Committee will be voted on, as will putting BOE materials on the website.
BOE Agenda 121509
Posts
Before anyone can race to the top, we have to get out of the gate. Has anyone checked on some of the school websites of late? They are woefully behind in the communication department. Some schools are most egregious in this respect. A recent article in The Hour quoted the principal of one of our middle schools with respect to communication. Sadly, most of the information from this school, i.e. newsletters, newspapers, and school handbooks, are of last year's vintage. Current school team information is nonexistent in some grades. Maybe this is nitpicking, but if we are racing to the top, shouldn't we get with the current program? The last meaningful post on the NPS website is OCT 23(other than the super search blah, blah, blah), ironically about communication!--Is anybody watching the store? If the excuse is no IT supervisor, sorry--it's almost January, and the district looks bad here. Surely the interim super is just counting his days, and will hand the baton to the "chosen one" for the race to the top! Unfortunately,communication is still a problem where it counts (the schools), and that will hinder any efforts for true reform. Anybody out there want to invite Arne Duncan to visit our school system right now? That's OK, we can all be happy to be the tortoise in this race--but the proverbial hare is going to steal the money, just like always in Norwalk!
ReplyDeleteI cannot recall a time when Norwalk had dynamic leadership at the district level. Maybe there has been such a time over the years, but not within my memory. It is pointless to rehash the criticisms of the superintendents, but in every case, there was a failure by the board of education to vet the candidates thoroughly. Had they done so, they wouldn't have hired Herbert or Corda, but they did.
ReplyDeleteBoard members have taken an extraordinarily long time to begin the process of finding a new superintendent, and I worry that they will once again make a hasty choice when they feel that it is the eleventh hour.
Do it right this time. The race to the top requires leadership skills that simply don't exist among people I know in the district. There are too many excuses for the way things have been done or the way they continue to be done; no one accepts personal responsibility. I don't want to hear: "Sal wouldn't allow it, and so it didn't get done" anymore. People who are true leaders make themselves known, and even stick their necks out when it is necessary.
This needs to be a true national, or even international, search, and if it is June and there still isn't an acceptable candidate, it will be an unforgivable breach of duty for the board to appoint an inferior candidate.
One more point: This really shouldn't be about the Race to the Top anyway. It should be about providing the community with a high quality school system that will serve all of Norwalk's students well.
3:43 AM, it is really about breaking union control. Inferior teachers and inferior administrators remain in the system because of very strong union leaders. Many teachers know that they will be protected by the union, so they don't feel the necessity of learning current practices.
ReplyDeleteIt is about a Board of Education who will back a superintendent when the tide turns against change. Do we have that backbone in this board?
It's very clear that Norwalk doesn't have the time or appropriate manpower to apply for this grant. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/education/27educ.html?scp=1&sq=education%20grant&st=cse
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