Category Archives: Town Hall

Local, Town Hall

Teacher Town Hall Panelist Dave Orphal on The Oakland Education Blog Part Two

Teacher evaluations — And Surveys of Students and Colleagues
Posted on April 25, 2012
Written by: Dave Orphal

In my last post, I offered an overview of a proposed teacher evaluation system that two Oakland schools are piloting. The proposed system would replace the six performance criteria outlined in the California Standards for the Teaching Profession in favor of five new, but remarkably similar, criteria. I also examined one major departure from the current system of teacher evaluation, specifically the use of student performance data.

In this post, we will look at another significant difference from the current and piloted systems: feedback from a teacher’s students and colleagues.

The proposed teacher evaluation system will add a component called 360-Degree Feedback. In essence, this is corporate jargon for using multiple perspectives and sources of information to inform an evaluation. Jargon aside, I applaud the effort to draw in more voices and viewpoints that just one administrator’s in the evaluation of a teacher.

Read more about the pilot evaluation system.

Events, Local, Town Hall

We’ve Got A Crisis Here: Teachers Weigh in on High School Dropouts

EdSpace Blog
March 14, 2012
Written by Matthew Green

On March 13, teachers, education advocates, and a number of students filled the theater at Laney College in Oakland to address the problem, ask important questions, and share thoughts on how best to tackle this ongoing crisis in American education. The forum was part of American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen, an initiative spearheaded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), in partnership with America’s Promise Alliance and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Moderated by Snap Judgement host Glynn Washington,  Tuesday’s event centered around a panel of seasoned Oakland educators who spoke passionately about the extent of the crisis from their unique perspectives.  While specific opinions and suggested courses of action varied widely, all participants were united in their insistence that a whole generation of young people are being left behind, and that urgent change is desperately needed.

Learn about the overarching themes discussed that night.

Events, Local, Research, Town Hall

Black Students Face More Discipline, Data Suggests

New York Times
Written By Tamar Lewis
March 6, 2012

Black students, especially boys, face much harsher discipline in public schools than other students, according to new data from the Department of Education.
Although black students made up only 18 percent of those enrolled in the schools sampled, they accounted for 35 percent of those suspended once, 46 percent of those suspended more than once and 39 percent of all expulsions. Read more