GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• Nate Silver’s take on objective measures of teacher quality: Maybe we shouldn’t try to find them. (Reddit)
• The UFT’s elections process should have started by now, but it hasn’t yet. What gives? (Ed Notes)
• TFA might cycle some teachers out of the classroom, but no one else is urging them in. (Eric Horowitz)
• The U.S. Senate will look into the fact that 35 states now can evade federal education law. (Politics K-12)
• The city says this year’s parent council elections will beat 2011′s disastrous ones. (Insideschools)
• One reason Mississippi doesn’t have charter schools is that black leaders don’t want them. (Hechinger)
• A city teacher lists the student demographics of the schools the city wants to close. (Music & Beyond)
• City teens and Radio Rookies live-chatted about the problem of sexual cyber-bullying. (SchoolBook)

The Gates Foundation's latest report from its teacher-effectiveness study concludes that many evaluation models can be useful as long as they include multiple measures.

Now that the city and teachers union are back at the negotiating table to work on teacher evaluations, the Gates Foundation has some tips.

The foundation today released the third and final report about the Measures of Effective Teaching project, an ambitious three-year study that included 3,000 teachers in seven districts, including New York City. The study concludes that teacher effectiveness can indeed be measured and identifies strategies for grading teachers.

Having multiple people observe the same teacher is more effective than having one person observe the teacher multiple times, the study found. Student surveys are stronger predictors of teachers’ ability to raise test scores than observations. And counting state test scores for a third to half of a teacher’s rating is better than weighting the scores less or more.

With the report, the foundation takes a bold stance on a policy issue that remains hotly contested, even as states and school districts across the country have adopted new evaluation systems. But foundation officials are confident because the latest report reflects a change in the study’s design that they say proves that teacher evaluation systems really do measure teachers. (more…)

Investigators who look into the city’s schools received more allegations and opened more cases than ever last year. But they found wrongdoing less often than at any time in the last decade.

And once again, only a tiny fraction of the investigations were made public.

The Office of the Special Commissioner of Investigation received 4,173 complaints in 2012, 20 percent more than in the previous year, according to the annual report it released today. The complaints prompted 795 investigations.

SCI looks into alleged violations of law and department regulations, from accusations of sexual misconduct to concerns about fraud and embezzlement, to allegations of cheating on tests. (The Department of Education also has an internal investigative unit, the Office of Special Investigations.) (more…)

The Department of Education has named nine more schools it intends to close or shrink, bringing the final tally of schools it will try to shutter this year to 26.

Seven of the new additions would phase out over time, while two would have some of their grades lopped off under the city’s plans. P.S. 156 in Queens and the Academy for Social Action in Manhattan would lose their middle schools but their high schools would remain open.

On Monday, the department announced that it would seek to close or phase out 17 other schools.

That means 32 schools that the city considered closing will stay open instead, and department officials said they were considering “a wide range of potential interventions” to help the schools get better. They said the options could include, for schools that are eligible, federally prescribed school overhaul strategies like the ones the city has tried to use in the past.

The schools that evaded closure this year, the last when the Bloomberg administration will be able to carry out closure plans, include Boys and Girls High School, Murry Bergtraum High School, and DeWitt Clinton High School. The three comprehensive schools have some of the weakest performance statistics in the city — and some of the most ardent defenders. (more…)

• Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned the city and UFT that he won’t extend his evaluations deadline. (WSJ)
• The Department of Education named 17 schools it wants to close this year. (GothamSchools, Post, NY1)
• A dustup over Mayor Bloomberg’s UFT-NRA analogy continued on Monday. (GothamSchools, Post)
• Bloomberg has floated a mayoral run to multiple people as he searches for a stronger successor. (Times)
• A student with a chaotic home life has pressed on even after multiple setbacks in high school. (Times)
• Students returned Monday to P.S./M.S. 105 in Queens, which was damaged by Hurricane Sandy. (NY1)
• City schools are focusing more on science, math, and technology as the economy changes. (Daily News)
• The city continued to hold a firm line about whether it will offer seniority rights to school bus drivers. (Post)
• A columnist argues that curbing the bus drivers union would send a strong message to all unions. (Post)
• A documentary airing tonight argues that Washington, D.C., downplayed cheating claims. (USA Today)
• Advocates in Chicago are charging the city with depriving students with disabilities of services. (Times)