posted by Mike Madison at 7:57 PM /
Update: The Pittsburgh Public Schools are on track to invest $85 million in improving the quality of their teaching. Who could have predicted 10 years ago that the city of Pittsburgh would be the talk of the region when it comes to setting the standard for improving public education in Western Pennsylvania? And that Mt. Lebanon would not be?
The original post:
Here's some timely pith from the current New Yorker magazine:
$115 million that we know about and uncounted millions yet to be disclosed will be spent on a new high school facility in Mt. Lebanon.
How much will be spent on hiring and retaining high quality teachers?
The original post:
Here's some timely pith from the current New Yorker magazine:
By now, most serious studies on education reform have concluded that the critical variable when it comes to kids succeeding in school isn’t money spent on buildings or books but, rather, the quality of their teachers.That's neither new nor news. I studied secondary education when I was in college, almost 30 years ago, and even then research showed that the critical variable in educational success was classroom teaching. The School Board? More often part of the problem than part of the solution. The superintendent? Rarely a factor. Changing the superintendent in an underperforming district was (and often is) like hiring a new manager of the Pirates. It's the team that you put on the field that wins ballgames, not the guy calling the signals. In education and in teaching, what counts is who's on the team.
$115 million that we know about and uncounted millions yet to be disclosed will be spent on a new high school facility in Mt. Lebanon.
How much will be spent on hiring and retaining high quality teachers?
Labels: mt. lebanon school district
7 Comments:
WIth all the bickering over surveys, Rs vs. Ds, parking spaces, tennis courts, its sort of funny that educating our kids has gotten lost in the conversation.
Years and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on forums, renderings, surveys, soil testing.... and superintendents.
Wonder how much good any of it did for recent Lebo graduates?
Dean Spahr
Some time ago I looked at the top 50 schools (~10%) in PA ranked by SAT scores. MTL consistently ranks in the middle of the top 10 schools by SAT score.
In addition, I looked at the average educational cost per student as published by the PA Department of Education (PDE) and we were again in the middle.
For cost per student, not the middle of the top 10, but the middle of the top 50 schools ranked by SAT score.
This indicates to me that there is something other than just dollars spent that drives educational achievement.
Mike's proposition that quality teachers are a driving force - is without question.
Say the Board were to consider spending +/-$100,000,000 in a lump sum or its equivalent over time (debt service), where would it choose to spend $100,000,000?
Certainly there is an infrastructure need, but in the big picture, what is needed to sustain and enhance the quality of a MTL education?
How do we move the dial?
(And where are we going to park to do it?)
I can only chuckle:
http://www.postgazette.com/pg/09244/994689-100.stm
Since the first DeJong forums in October 2006, we've graduated what, about 1,600 students from MTL H.S.
If we started construction TODAY, Celli estimates the project won't be done until 2013.
Say approximately another 1,600 graduates.
So, we'll have sent 3,200 of our kids out into the world without that "21st century" educational experience we keep hearing about.
Dean Spahr
I just finished reading this paper. It does a thorough analysis of how to get more productive and efficient schools. Check out page 82 and see where the best place to invest $500 is in order to get better student achievement.
https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/3257/picus.pdf?sequence=1
I'll give you a hint, the building doesn't make the top four.
The paper addresses a number of other factors that do positively affect student outcomes including; increased investment in teacher education and training, hiring experienced teachers, increased teacher salaries, and reduced class size (in that order).
Outside socioeconomic status, quality teachers appear time and again to be the biggest factor in student achievement.
To Bill Matthews point, if we had $100,000,000 to spend, is the best place to put it in the building or in our staff? If we want better achievement, the answer appears to be obvious.
James
I'm sick of beating around the bush. James, what are your colleagues on the Board so afraid of when it comes to talking about this mess? Of course, I don't expect all of them to share their views on this website, and I can understand why many don't. That said, there doesn't seem to be any discussion ANYWHERE among the Board members that is designed to move this project on to or off of a burner.
If I took a poll of the Board members today inquiring on issues such as the scope of the project, timing, cost, source of funds and overall direction, I'd get 9 different answers. With all due respect, given the time and money that has already been invested in this process, that's totally unacceptable to me.
I apologize for preaching to the choir to a degree here, but since the rest of your colleagues refuse to bring these issues to a head (either publicly or privately), I feel compelled to take advantage of your presences on this site and look for answers.
Failing that, I suggest we all carpool out to the Bethel Park ground breaking later this month and ask them for some advice.
To Dave's point...I ask again, Board Members Silhol, Remely, et. al. (I choose them because they are on the ballot and Ms. Posti has at least been clear on supporting $115m plus) - what is your spend number? The world (ok at least Blog Lebo readers) waits and holds our collective breath.
Stuart Getz
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