part five: January 27, 2010
Can New York City Teachers be Evaluated by their Students’ Test Scores? Should they be?
Sean Corcoran, Assistant Professor of Educational Economics, New York University
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 from 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM (ET)
Where
Professional Staff Congress, CUNY
61 Broadway, 16th floor
cross-streets Rector & Exchange Place
New York NY
In 2009, the New York City Department of Education developed a “value-added” model for measuring teacher effectiveness based on student test scores. This new measurement tool epitomizes a larger national movement to evaluate, promote, compensate, and dismiss teachers in part on the basis of their students’ test results.
Can standardized test scores be used as a meaningful measure of teacher quality? Should New York City teachers be evaluated based on their students’ performance on these tests? In this presentation, Sean Corcoran will describe some of the opportunities and challenges associated with value-added methods of assessing teacher quality. In particular, he will illustrate how standardized test scores can be used (or misused) in evaluating teachers. A particularly important issue is statistical uncertainty: because outside factors play such a large role in student progress, value-added estimates are only a crude estimate of a teacher's true effectiveness. Importantly, this uncertainty – and in turn the utility of value – added measures-varies across schools, grade levels, student subgroups, and communities. He concludes by assessing the potential for these new teacher assessment systems to improve student outcomes in urban school systems like New York.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Richard Condon "Knew" About Principal Cedeno's Misconduct With Boys Yet Did Not Remove Him
Aha!! In my previous article I asked what happened to Principals and APs when the school they were working in was closed and they were excessed, and now we know what happens to administrators who have crossed the line...NOTHING.Evidently Richard Condon and his office (Special Commissioner of Investigation) had been contacted by people at Cedeno's school many months earlier - maybe up to a year earlier - than the date of the NY Daily News article re-posted below, about Cedeno's attacks on the boys in his school, but SCI did nothing about the reports. Anyone still believe that Condon does a good job out there??
Principal axed in perv scandal: Quintin Cedeno allegedly fondled boys at Queens HS
BY Clare Trapasso and Meredith Kolodner, NY DAILY NEWS, January 7th 2010,
LINK
Quintin Cedeno, principal at High School of Construction, Trades, Engineering and Architecture, was fired after allegedly fondling and soliciting sex from boys.
The principal of a popular Queens high school was fired Wednesday after he was accused of fondling and soliciting oral sex from several of his students.
Quintin Cedeno was yanked from the High School of Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture after the disturbing allegations emerged.
A guidance counselor told investigators that a 15-year-old student accused Cedeno, 33, of asking him for oral sex.
In text messages, the principal allegedly propositioned the teen and reminded him that he'd bought him a T-Mobile Sidekick cell phone.
The student's mother told investigators that Cedeno sent more than 100 text messages to her son, including one that said, "All I did for you and you don't want to do for me. You've had a very easy ride so far. If everything stops then it all stops."
Several other students then told officials from the office of the special commissioner of investigation that Cedeno touched their private parts.
One 16-year-old student allegedly told Cedeno that he saw him as a father figure and asked the principal why he hit his genitals. Cedeno told the boy he was joking, the student told investigators.
Another student said Cedeno, who began his career as a math teacher in 2003, offered to buy him "anything" if he let Cedeno perform oral sex on him.
The fired principal told investigators he never offered to buy students gifts nor did he ask students for sex. He said any reference to his genitals was done in jest.
Cedeno, who was making $140,074, said he never called students after 9 p.m. He had no explanation when investigators showed him records of 37 calls to one student from September through November 2008, including one at 9:41 p.m. that lasted 82 minutes. He also allegedly sent the student 126 text messages.
Efforts to reach Cedeno by phone and e-mail were unsuccessful. He told his union he did not want to speak to the press.
The allegations have been referred to the Queens district attorney.
Students at the school were in shock about the allegations against Cedeno, who was also the school's assistant basketball coach.
"He was a good principal. He was just trying to get everyone on the track to graduate," said Tavone Johnson, 18, a senior at the school. "He held the school together."
"I don't believe any of that," said Tiffany Roa, a 17-year-old senior. "He wasn't that type of person. He was respectful to everybody."
mkolodner@nydailynews.com
Principal axed in perv scandal: Quintin Cedeno allegedly fondled boys at Queens HS
BY Clare Trapasso and Meredith Kolodner, NY DAILY NEWS, January 7th 2010,
LINK
Quintin Cedeno, principal at High School of Construction, Trades, Engineering and Architecture, was fired after allegedly fondling and soliciting sex from boys.
The principal of a popular Queens high school was fired Wednesday after he was accused of fondling and soliciting oral sex from several of his students.
Quintin Cedeno was yanked from the High School of Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture after the disturbing allegations emerged.
A guidance counselor told investigators that a 15-year-old student accused Cedeno, 33, of asking him for oral sex.
In text messages, the principal allegedly propositioned the teen and reminded him that he'd bought him a T-Mobile Sidekick cell phone.
The student's mother told investigators that Cedeno sent more than 100 text messages to her son, including one that said, "All I did for you and you don't want to do for me. You've had a very easy ride so far. If everything stops then it all stops."
Several other students then told officials from the office of the special commissioner of investigation that Cedeno touched their private parts.
One 16-year-old student allegedly told Cedeno that he saw him as a father figure and asked the principal why he hit his genitals. Cedeno told the boy he was joking, the student told investigators.
Another student said Cedeno, who began his career as a math teacher in 2003, offered to buy him "anything" if he let Cedeno perform oral sex on him.
The fired principal told investigators he never offered to buy students gifts nor did he ask students for sex. He said any reference to his genitals was done in jest.
Cedeno, who was making $140,074, said he never called students after 9 p.m. He had no explanation when investigators showed him records of 37 calls to one student from September through November 2008, including one at 9:41 p.m. that lasted 82 minutes. He also allegedly sent the student 126 text messages.
Efforts to reach Cedeno by phone and e-mail were unsuccessful. He told his union he did not want to speak to the press.
The allegations have been referred to the Queens district attorney.
Students at the school were in shock about the allegations against Cedeno, who was also the school's assistant basketball coach.
"He was a good principal. He was just trying to get everyone on the track to graduate," said Tavone Johnson, 18, a senior at the school. "He held the school together."
"I don't believe any of that," said Tiffany Roa, a 17-year-old senior. "He wasn't that type of person. He was respectful to everybody."
mkolodner@nydailynews.com