Comments on: On the agenda: a $742,000 contract with WestEd

By: ED

ED — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 22:38:12 +0000

In response to Dave Orphal: A team of 12 teachers? Not all teachers support this training. Teachers want to teach! Unfortunately money will have been spent that could have gone to keep more positions for counselors, teachers, and adult education. Meanwhile, you’ll have lost valuable players that support students. Perhaps, WestEd will take your job one day!

Yes, the out-sourcing of these services have become vultures. These agencies are supposed to be non-profit. From the sounds of it, they make more money than teachers. These people don’t have to answer to anyone in the district either.

Hiring outside overpaid consultants to do district mandated, one-size fits all PD is outrageous. Our school used new and experiences teachers to provide some excellent PD’s. I too was excited at the beginning of the year when I learned about the task force, but it is the same old thing. How many times will we re-invent the wheel? Take the dedicated teachers, counselors, and staff that you have and work with them! This whole movement is taking valuable jobs from some of our more tenured and experienced teachers, not to mention wasting our Oakland dollars. I am extremely disappointed in the leadership of Tony Smith. He is supposed to be working for OUSD employees, students, and parents not overpaid consultants.

By: Jennifer Brouhard

Jennifer Brouhard — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 06:38:25 +0000

This is absolutely NOT what the over 200 teachers had in mind during the two-day conference. This is the same old OUSD — hiring outside overpaid consultants to do district mandated, one-size fits all PD. What we were saying is that sites should be able to choose the PD that would best benefit each site. We also felt that teachers, with stipends, could lead site-initiated PD. When I first signed on to the task force, I thought there really was new direction from the superintendent’s office, but it’s really the same old thing. I am disappointed in the leadership of Tony Smith and Maria Santos.

By: Lisa Capuano

Lisa Capuano — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 05:02:39 +0000

The West Ed contract is very disturbing.
How West Ed then pays out salaries to people in OUSD to supplement their salaries makes it look like they are more of a money laundering operation.
Who in the district is on the payroll of West Ed, Katy? Whose salaries are supplemented by West Ed? This should be public information since it is a non-profit, right?

By: 4th year Oakland teacher

4th year Oakland teacher — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 04:42:56 +0000

I attended a WestEd ELD training a couple summers ago. out of the week of training, I have used 3 techniques that they taught for ELD support in my mainstream class, so I did get something useful from it, but not necessarily a week’s worth.

I also finished BTSA a couple years ago. I did not feel that the process really helped me. I had a coach from a different subject and grade level, so they did not have much concrete for me to offer. The process itself seemed like a lot of ridiculous busywork.

My best professional development has been the result of lesson sharing with teachers in my subject area from other schools, or from peer observation and critique with teachers from my school.

By: J.R.

J.R. — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 22:50:58 +0000

“Our school board is not equipped to watchdog a district of this size and complexity”.

Several public sector community activists,an educator,a few lawyers, a volunteer or two and you expect better? It’s pretty much in line with the academic results we get, on target to me. Not enough competency, I do agree. That’s the result of “one man, one vote”, not enough intelligent people vote.

By: Cranky Teacher

Cranky Teacher — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 21:38:54 +0000

Gordon,

I guess my overall feeling is that with so little money for ALL the important things, costly PD is just something that we need to live without right now. Sure, in an ideal world we’d have all kinds of cash to pay professional mentors to come in and coach us up, but a) I believe even the best PD (if it exists) only marginally improves teachers; and b) we are in a triage situation in terms of spending.

(I actually did BTSA in two different districts and kept in touch with all the folks from my credential program during that time — almost universally it was believe that BTSA was in the main a joke, another hoop mandated by the state to further “professionalize” teaching’s image. Dull one-size-fits-all seminars, building pointless portfolios, filling out dozens of forms — all while you are enduring the tsunami of real-world expectations in your first two years of teaching. Simply not that helpful!)

I don’t think folks really grasp the magnitude of the budget crisis the banks have foisted on us here. It took a couple years, but the carnage wrought by the housing bubble collapse are just now really taking hold.

However, if the WestEd contract is just taking money that was going to in-house PD and outsourcing it for roughly the same amount, than nothing has been accomplished but pushing more cash to people who make $120K a year.

I fear our school board is not equipped to watchdog a district of this size and complexity.

By: Steven Weinberg

Steven Weinberg — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 17:44:39 +0000

FormerBTSAstaff, thank you for the information in your posting. I know that BTSA has conducted many surveys to determine the most effective ways to deliver services to new teachers, and it is a shame that the data from those surveys is being ignored by someone in the district administration.
If you are correct that the decision not to use retired teachers as BTSA mentors was made in an effort to reduce consultant expenses, it is completely misguided. Many retired BTSA mentors are in the substitute pool and are paid on extended contract, not consultant contracts.

By: Gordon Danning

Gordon Danning — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 05:52:45 +0000

I have no idea whether BTSA is any good. That being said, I do not understand why people think that OUSD teachers are particularly qualified to be be mentors and trainers. I, for one, have never done research on how to train teachers, nor have I read research on that topic, nor do I have experience training teachers. If teacher training is important, then it should be done professionally. Normally, that means done by professionals.

Again, I have no idea whether WestEd is particularly qualified; I can certainly attest that most professional development that I have attended has been amateurish and/or incompetent. But the solution is to demand higher quality professional development, not to give that job to under-qualified, overworked colleagues.

By: Ms. J.

Ms. J. — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 23:01:30 +0000

Wow. This feels outrageous to me, too, for all of the reasons cited above. I was at the convention and I CERTAINLY did not hear people clamoring for WestEd or other outside consultants; we repeated over and over that current OUSD teachers are our best mentors and trainers. And it just does not seem right to extend a contract by such a huge amount at this date–it does indeed seem cynical if not downright dishonest. SO frustrating and demoralizing.

By: formerBTSAstaff

formerBTSAstaff — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 22:35:29 +0000

In response to BTSA Mentor, Cranky, and Steven, the retired coaches are among the most effective (Participating Teacher survey results) coaches the progam has. Their not being asked back has nothing to do with the quality of their work. It was simply a directive from above that consultant expenditures had to be cut; no consideration of what the expenditures are or why they’re there. They just have to go. Nevermind that the coach gets the same amount of money to support the participant whether the coach is an employee or a consultant. This means it will save exactly $0.

While it would be ideal to have an on-site coach for every participant, it has been difficult historically to recruit good classroom teachers to become coaches because they simply have so little time to consistently dedicate to someone else. Many of them are heavily involved in school committees, after school activities, etc. And (sorry for Cranky’s experience), it does take a fair amount of time from the coach to really take the participant through the process thoroughly. The retired coaches really have been a great way to help get more effective coaching to more participants.

It seems more than a little ironic that the same higher-ups who were complaining about consultant expenditures now want drop all this cash on West-Ed. Does anyone find it odd that Maria Santos’ good friend just got a fat contract for what looks like services already rendered? What happened to getting approval before doing the work? So they wait until teachers are gone for the year to “adjust” the expenditure for 3/4 of million dollars, presumably to cut down on outrage. Do you think they didn’t know they were going to exceed the $68,000 until now? This is just dirty and someone really ought to do an investigation on the Maria Santos – WestEd relationship.