Job Discussion Forums

[my_way]

Hi all....

I am interested in this program and wondering if anyone has applied, joined, or knows anyone who has?
I'm just looking to get some insight into the program.

Thanks!

[ajpos]

If you're talking about http://www.oaklandteachingfellows.org/, it's a decent program. You'll undergo the same training/requirements that Teach for America has.

The parent organization, TNTP, was created by Michelle Rhee (TFA alum and former D.C. Chancellor of Education) to help close the achievement gap.

I went through a TNTP program and thought that the training was quite rigorous and helpful. You are not guaranteed a placement in a school (you may have to do your own job-searching) and you will definitely not have an easy job.

[johnslat]

Ex-Chancellor Rhee does not have not what might be called an unduly high popularity rating among many teachers here in the States:

"Testing scandal
Investigations have questioned some of Rhee's accomplishments in increasing test scores in D.C. schools. In 2008 the Office of the State Superintendent of Education discovered that 103 schools in DC were flagged for suspiciously high wrong-to-right answer changes. The number of schools in DC with abnormal rates of wrong-to-right erasures is more than half of all schools and includes eight of the 10 campuses where Rhee handed out TEAM awards "to recognize, reward and retain high-performing educators and support staff." An investigation by USA Today discovered that at one school in particular, Noyes Elementary, an anomalous number of erasures on student standardized tests were detected by CTB/McGraw-Hill during Rhee's tenure and that Rhee's office was informed of this incident. Erasures consistently changed an incorrect answer to a correct answer. Statisticians contacted by USA Today claimed that "the odds are better for winning the Powerball grand prize than having that many erasures by chance." The radical testing gains made by the school as well as the anomalous erasures raised suspicions that the answer sheets were tampered with after being collected from students.

The gains in test scores made at Noyes Elementary School earned the school recognition as a Blue Ribbon School. Rhee promoted the school as a model for her education reform movement. The article noted that Noyes was only one of 96 schools in D.C. flagged by third parties for abnormally high wrong-to-right changes in answers since 2008. At Phoebe Hearst Elementary, Winston Education Campus, and Aiton Elementary, 85% or more of classrooms were identified as having high erasure rates in 2008. At four other schools, the percentage of classrooms in that category ranged from 17% to 58%. The total number of schools in D.C. with abnormal rates of wrong-to-right erasures is more than half of all schools. The article claimed that among the 96 schools that were flagged for wrong-to-right erasures were eight of the 10 campuses where Rhee handed out TEAM awards "to recognize, reward and retain high-performing educators and support staff." Noyes was one of several schools Rhee awarded after having been flagged for abnormally high erasures.

In return for increased test scores in D.C. schools, Rhee gave performance awards and increased compensation to the teachers and administrators. According to the article, "Rhee bestowed more than $1.5 million in bonuses on principals, teachers and support staff on the basis of big jumps in 2007 and 2008 test scores."

The USA Today report commented that experts said such aberrations should trigger investigations. No investigations occurred in D.C. in 2008. In 2009 a limited investigation was conducted on behalf of OSSE that examined whether protocols were adhered to at eight schools, but never examined whether administrators or teachers may have tampered with the test results. Mary Lord, a state board member, was critical of the decision not to investigate the 2008 scores. "If you are going to add all this weight" to testing, "hanging the principals' reputations ... and the teachers' pay on it, you have to make sure it is totally accurate," Lord says. Current acting chancellor, Kaya Henderson, said that all suspicious scores had been investigated. Henderson was Rhee's deputy chancellor.

Rhee defended herself on the Tavis Smiley Show. She claimed an unnamed "third party" investigated any suspicious scores. Rhee did not explain the high rate of erasures on tests, but called the USA Today article an attack on school reform. She said, "It isn�t surprising that the enemies of school reform once again are trying to argue that the Earth is flat and that there is no way test scores could have improved .... unless someone cheated." Since then she told Washington Post reporter Jay Mathews that her previous remarks were "stupid" and she is glad her successor, Acting Chancellor Kaya Henderson, ordered a new investigation."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Rhee#Support_and_criticism

Eager for Spotlight, but Not if It Is on a Testing Scandal

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/education/22winerip.html?_r=2&hpw

One might wonder if it's really "Students First" or "Scores/Money/Fame First."

Regards,
John

[Captain_Fil]

I used to be a substitute teacher in Oakland.

I'll never do that again!

[Mike E]

Captain_Fil, what kinds of trouble did you have while teaching in Oakland?

[Captain_Fil]