The New York State Education Department’s accountability system distorts school performance in absurd ways and with perverse results.
Minimum qualifications for NY’s Commissioner of Education
The New York State Education Department has posted the job of Commissioner of Education. The stated qualifications are boilerplate and underwhelming. I suggest that NYSED’s HR department amend the posting to add the following.
Applicants for the position of Commissioner of Education must demonstrate
– The ability to inspire the state’s professional educators to extraordinary levels of performance.
– Evidence of having eliminated wasteful, bureaucratic burdens on school districts.
– A history of transparency as a leader.
The critical importance of target setting
In a recent local appearance, Olympic gold medalist Shannon Miller touched on the critical importance of target setting: “Are you training for a 5K? Set your goals. Are you working toward a promotion? Set your goals. Battling cancer? Set your goals, see them through.” At Prism, we couldn’t agree more: goal setting must be a […]
Two innovations that will disrupt education as we know it
Has the era of the super teacher arrived? Will the role of the traditional teacher be turned upside down? Are we on the cusp of a massive disruption to the standard educational model? Are we witnessing an educational tsunami? Two emerging disruptive technologies — free massive open online courses (MOOCs) and interactive, “flipped” classrooms — suggest that the answer to each of these questions is a resounding, Yes. Read on at http://prismdecision.com/two-innovations-that-will-disrupt-education-as-we-know-it
Benchmarking as an improvement tool
Race to the Top has school improvement teams working especially hard to improve performance. With the the New York State Center for Rural School’s official release of the innovative SchoolBenchmarker™ it’s a perfect time to ask: How can I use benchmarking as a school improvement tool? Read on at http://prismdecision.com/benchmarking-as-an-improvement-tool
Prism releases SchoolBenchmarker? in beta
Prism Decision Systems, LLC has released SchoolBenchmarker™ in beta. Want to try it out? SchoolBenchmarker? helps you identify benchmark schools so that you can Set achievable academic targets based on demonstrated best-in-class performance. Discover the practices that high performing, similar schools use to achieve their best-in-class performance. We believe SchoolBenchmarker™ will be very useful to […]
CohortTracker™ deployed by the Central New York Regional Information Center
The Central New York Regional Information Center (CNYRIC) has now deployed CohortTracker™ to help their schools identify students who are at risk of not graduating.
CNYRIC serves 50 school districts and four Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) across eight counties in the central region of New York State.
NoDropouts.org features CohortTracker™
In a post titled Early identification getting easier ? but must come with compassion and hard work, the folks at NoDropouts.org capture the essence of CohortTracker™ and the roll it plays in promoting successful, on-time graduation.
Screen cast introduces CohortTracker™
View our screen cast introducing CohortTracker™, an early warning web application that allows schools to monitor students? progress towards graduation. Educators can identify students getting off track and intervene before it is too late. The app is designed to be a general-purpose student achievement tracking system that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of any education department.
CohortTracker™ early warning system
CohortTracker™ is an early warning web application that allows schools to monitor students’ progress towards graduation. Educators can identify students getting off track and intervene with them before it is too late. Simple, intuitive and easy to use, CohortTracker™ is now available for license. For more information, read on at http://prismdecision.com/cohorttracker-early-warning-system