Q Comp not expanding this year

The K-12 education policy bill that Governor Tim Pawlenty signed into law earlier this week did not include money to expand Q Comp to all of Minnesota.  The program, also known as “Quality Compensation,” is T-Paw’s pet plan that links teacher pay to a combination of their student’s performance on the MCA tests, and participation in professional development.  As a 2008 investigation from the state’s non-partisan Legislative Auditor highlighted, the program is too young to know if it actually improves teacher quality or student performance.  MPR’s Tom Webber has the story.

Filed under: Minnesota, Achievement Gap, Education, Education Policy, Education Reform, Q Comp, Teacher Quality, Tim Pawlenty

Conference Committees and Education Funding — Why I love MN Budget Bites

They sit in conference committees so we don’t have to.  I admit, I’m a bit of a wonk (My weekend reading will be pouring over a big chunk of data from Minneapolis Public Schools that accompanied the administration’s original proposal), but even I try to avoid legislative sessions like the plague.  Fortunately, there’s Minnesota Budget Bites, who’ve got a very readable rundown on the three competing E-12 budget proposals from the House, Senate, and Governor Tim Pawlenty, that are being hashed out in conference committee this week and next.   Some highlights:

• Use of federal stimulus dollars
• Dollar figures for several reform innitiatives, including the House’s New Minnesota Miracle ($0 — they just want to put the funding formula into law, so it can slowly be phased in from 2014 on), and T-Paw’s expansion of the Q-Comp pay-for-performance program and financial rewards for districts that raise students’ test scores ($91 million for the latter, an unnamed combo of state and increased local contributions for the former)
• Local property tax relief 

Filed under: Minnesota, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Funding, Education Reform, Mindy Greiling, Minnesota, Q Comp, Stimulating Stimuli, Tim Pawlenty

St Paul Public Schools are Downsizing, too! (Updated)

Some innitial thoughts on the St Paul Public Schools’ new downsizing plan (pdf) to be presented at tonight’s school board meeting.  Background available here and here.

1) Similar to Minneapolis’ downsizing plan, this sticks a lot of the richer white neighborhoods off in their own quadrant. both the Mac-Groveland and Highland Park neighborhoods are in the same region.  Both are very white, and median family income is in the $69-79,000 range.  Will this impact district politics by focusing privileged voices around a few schools?

2) This may do an even worse job of solving structural budget issues than the Minneapolis Public Schools plan did.   I can’t find a good breakdown of the SPPS deficit on their website right now, but the total savings listed in the PowerPoint is only $2.2 million from the busing reductions and $2.4 million from closing three elementary schools, folding Humboldt Jr. High into the Sr. High, and rep-purposing one closed elementary building, possibly for administrative space.  That’s a long way from the district’s $25 million shortfall from Fiscal Year 2008-2009 to FY ’09-10.  (By way of comparison: around $9 million of Minneapolis schools’ $28 million budget shortfall is caused by declining enrollment)

3) I’m impressed by the relative openness of the decision-making process: input requested, priorities formulated, and decisions based off of a ranking/grading system that’s put up in the presentation.  This is a far cry from the way Minneapolis carried out their planning — many parents I’ve spoken with complained that they couldn’t see how parents’ input had influenced the development of scenarios.

4) Why the hell did SPPS join Q-Comp?  Why did the SPPS administration propose to join the Q-Comp program? This is a program that has been losing school districts, and was recently canned as not ready to be expanded, because there wasn’t enough evidence to prove it was an effective teacher-development tool.  The St Paul Federation of teachers will have to approve this aspect of the plan in the coming round of contract negotiations.

Filed under: Minnesota, St Paul, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Funding, Minnesota, Q Comp, St Paul Public Schools

A Toast-y Thursday’s Round-up (3/26/09)

Why toasty, if the thermometer didn’t break 30 degrees today in the Twin Cities?  Read on, dear reader!

Photo: Hungry Bruno

• Hard to believe, but there’s even MORE education money this year (Washington Post).  

Filed under: Minneapolis, Minnesota, National, St Paul, Education, Education Funding, Food, MCA, Minneapolis Public Schools, News, Q Comp, St Paul Public Schools, Stimulating Stimuli, Teacher Quality

Krazy for Kale — It’s the Friday Round-up!

After a two-week hiatus, the Friday round-up returns, full of health promoting, sulfur-containing phytonutrients. 

- Firing the newest-hired teachers in a budget crunch (as Minneapolis does) is not good for business.  (Ed Week, 2/17/09)  Doug Mann (and his 2008 last-place finish) is vindicated…

- It’s echoes of Minneapolis’ Fresh Starts as St Paul Public Schools restructures Arlington High, and Humboldt Junior and Senior High Schools — 46 re-assigned teachers say they were imperiously re-assigned, and want more input.   The three schools have persistentnly failed to meet Federal student performance benchmarks under the No Child Left Behind law, which mandates their restructuring.  (Pioneer Press, 2/18/09)

- The Stimulus floods the federal Dept. of Ed with money.  ”What’s this strange stuff?” they ask.  (NYTimes, 2/16/09)

…Amy Wilkins, who as vice president at the Education Trust, a civil rights group, has studied the budgets of several of Mr. Duncan’s predecessors. “Margaret [Spellings, the previous Secretary of Education] was looking for quarters in her pencil drawer.”

Some nitty-gritty deets here and here.

- Obama and Duncan want the stimulus to “transform the Federal role in education” (AP, 2/17/09)

- Gov. Pawlenty’s -er- controversial teacher pay-for-performance scheme  works for us, says Marshal, MN super (Marshall Independent, 2/13/09)

- “The budget boondoggle” at the U of M, MnSCU (MN Daily, 2/18/09)

- Why Americans love peanut butter. (Slate, 2/9/09)

- And lastly, Some Tasty Kale Recipies.

Filed under: Announcements, Minneapolis, Minnesota, National, St Paul, Arne Duncan, Fresh Start, Minneapolis Public Schools, Minnesota, National Issues, News, Peanut Butter, Q Comp, Stimulating Stimuli, Teacher Quality

Q-Comp “not ready for prime time”

As Governor Tim Pawlenty pushes for his prized education reform, called Quality Compensation, or Q-Comp, to be made mandatory for all school districts, the state non-partisan Legislative Auditor has just released a report criticizing oversight of the program, and claiming there’s not enough evidence yet to measure its effectiveness.  This could spur opposition to the Governor’s new education funding ideas as legislators consider Pawlenty’s proposed budget.

Filed under: Minnesota, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Funding, Education Policy, Education Reform, Mindy Greiling, Office of the Legislative Auditor, Q Comp, Tim Pawlenty