Teach Effectively!

According to a story by Tom O’Neill in the Cincinnati (US, OH) Post, the Kentucky General Assembly is considering legislation to provide incentives for teachers who obtain high scores on teacher-certification tests in math, chemistry, and physics.

Nice.

Better: Provide incentives for teachers who agree to employ evidence-based instructional practices.

Link to Mr. O’Neill’s story.

Today’s the day that chapter 7, The New Millennium, of Zig Engelmann’s book, The Outrage of Project Follow Through: 5 million failed kids later, becomes available at http://zigsite.com. To secure your free copy, you need to download it within the next two weeks.

There will be a brief opportunity to download all the chapters soon. If you missed one earlier, be prepared.

The original schedule called for each chapter being on Zigsite.com for two weeks without ever returning. Several people have indicated that they did not access the earlier chapters. So there will be something of a curtain call:

DURING THE WEEK OF MONDAY, MARCH 12, ALL CHAPTERS WILL BE ON FOR ONE WEEK, THROUGH SUNDAY MARCH 18. Then, for sure, they will not return.

Over on Behavior Concepts Rayna and Andrew Houvouras have a good take down of a weak piece of popular press reporting. They cover an article entitled “How Not to Talk to Your Kids: The Inverse Power of Praise” by Po Bronson and published in the magazine New York. Following the work of motivation psychologist Carol Dweck, the article paints a dim view of the value of praising behavior, overlooking the extensive research showing that specific, contingent praise produces substantial changes in behavior. The Houvourases correct the record. Read their analysis.

Linda Seebach, whose excellent column for the Rocky Mountain News about the Follow Through chapter in Zig Engelmann’s new book was the subject of an earlier post on Teach Effectively, published a column a couple of years ago summarizing advice about choosing senior administrators for local education agencies. In 2005 she was passing this advice along to Michael Bennet, then the new superintendent of the Denver (CO, US) Public Schools (DPS), as he prepared to select a chief academic officer.

Ms. Seebach published suggestions from perhaps a dozen individuals, some of whom would be familiar to people who have read critiques of public education by individuals who strongly advocate rigorous basic education. There are too many to snip and insert here, so I’ll just recommend the entire column to readers. In particular, I recommend this column to boards of education who interview candidates for superintendencies. Not only are there some fun turns of phrase, but many of the recommendations should be taken to heart when choosing administrators. Some of the quips remind me of comments that I’ve heard my friend and colleague, Ben Sayeski, make. Ben was the principal of a worst-to-first elementary school and is now contributing to the Darden-Curry Partnership for Leadership in Education; he has a slightly-but-appropriately-irreverant perspective on some of the actions that pass as administrative leadership.

Ultimately, Mr. Bennet chose Jaime Aquino as Chief Academic Officer. Mr. Aquino left the the New York City Department of Education to join DPS. Mr. Aquino has been on the job for about 18 months now, so it’s probably a little early to judge his accomplishments. Here’s hoping that his plan for DPS is predicated on adopting evidence-based educational practices.

Follow this link to read Ms. Seebach’s column. Read the press release describing Mr. Aquino’s appointment. Learn more about the Curry-Darden Partnership for Leadership in Education.