Direct Education Scheduler
How the Ofsted chief got his maths wrong on Sats
The head of Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw, said it was long recognised that ‘satisfactory’ was not good enough. Felix Clay
Last night on Newsnight Sir Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector of schools and head of Ofsted, condemned the fact that one in five pupils are leaving primary school without reaching the “national average” in English. His comment led to accusations on Twitter that he had been “statistically incoherent”, including this one from :
Ofsted boss #newsnight “1 in 5 children leave primary school without reaching national average”. Ofsted boss needs a basic statistics lesson
can u find out why he uses “1 in 5 don’t reach average” rather than, say, don’t reach “basic standard”
This is what Sir Michael actually said on Newsnight:
Our standards should be higher.
Bonus pay OK’d for 2 Wake schools
The Wake County school board on Tuesday approved offering bonus pay to teachers and other staff at Walnut Creek Elementary School and the Longview School.
Starting in the 2012-13 school year, grant money will be used to offer to staff signing bonuses and bonuses based on student performance. A similar merit pay program, also using grant money, is offered at four Wake elementary schools.
Walnut Creek is getting the program because it’s a high-poverty school in Southeast Raleigh. But unlike the Longview School, an alternative school in East Raleigh, Walnut Creek’s staff won’t have to reapply to keep their jobs at the school.
Untie teachers’ hands on ed tech
Simply relying on IBM wasn’t a recipe for business success. Schools need to have the flexibility to experiment with new innovations. Photo by Adam Jenkins.
Once upon a time, corporate IT departments lived by the slogan “no one ever got fired for buying IBM.” Big Blue’s products were a safe bet in a rapidly evolving industry. The over-reliance of the Fortune 500 on that safe bet proved to be a problem for those companies, which missed out on innovations adopted by more nimble rivals, and for IBM itself, which stagnated in the absence of pressure from customers to push the envelope. District schools suffer from the same “buy IBM” problem, with state policies and district budget decisions making it difficult for principals and teachers to adopt promising new options for delivering instruction.
An EdWeek piece today documents the struggle ed-tech startups wage to get their products adopted, and catalogues a number of promising companies that are gaining headway despite those challenges.
Leadership Lessons for MBA Applicants From Super Tuesday
So what attributes have made Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul the last candidates standing? And what can MBA applicants learn from the strengths and weaknesses of these contenders?
Whether running for president or campaigning for a seat in a top MBA program, the winning candidates must demonstrate a record of achievement, impact, and consistent integrity. Admissions committees and voters prize these bedrock qualities of true leadership.
How does the Republican field fare when examined against these criteria:
- Achievement. Romney’s robust resume, including stints as founder of Bain Capital, CEO at Bain & Company, and governor of Massachusetts, has become his primary strength, while Gingrich points to “7,000 votes, over 1,500 speeches, thousands of television and radio appearances, thousands of articles and op-eds and 24 books.” Santorum touts his legislative experience – five years as a congressman and twelve years as a senator. Dr. Paul po