Here's some edureading for the weekend.
Five Cynical Observationa about Teacher Leadership
I mean to include Nancy Flanagan's insightful list about how teacher leadership isn't happening last week, and then, somehow, I didn't. But here it is. These days Flanagan is one of the consistently rewarding bloggers for Ed Week-- save your limited freebie reads for her.
Educators Release Updates VAM Score for Secretary Duncan
Educators for Shared Responsibility have come up with a VAM formula for evaluating Education Secretaries. Not entirely a joke.
Classroom Surveillance and Testing
At the 21st Century Principal, John Robinson makes the striking observation that our classroom data collection bears a striking resemblance to the tools of surveillance and, well, spying.
Drinking Charter Kool-Aid? Here Is Evidence.
Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig has provided an essential resource. You may not read through it all today, but you'll want to bookmark it somewhere. Here's a very thorough listing of legitimate peer-reviewed research on the effectiveness of charter schools. Handling of special populations, segregation, competition, creaming-- it's all here, and all the real deal. You will want to keep this resource handy.
Stop, Start, Continue
Not always a fan of things I find at Edutopia, but this is a short simple piece focused on three things teachers should stop doing, three things we should start doing, and three things to continue doing. A good piece for sparking a little mental focus.