A Summary: The New Haven Experiment by Nicholas D Kristoff

By Paul Bucala 

This article addresses the conflict of interests between teacher’s unions and school reform in America and how New Haven, a small city in Connecticut, has taken steps to make teacher unions part of the solution, rather than the problem. The author of this op-ed, Nicholos Kristoff, opens this article with a couple of anecdotes that illustrate how teacher unions prevent incompetent teachers from being fired by school administers. For example, Kristoff tells the story how an L.A. union helped a teacher keep his job after he allegedly mocked one of his students. But as Kristoff states “that’s what makes an experiment under way [in New Haven] so jaw-dropping. New Haven has arguably become ground zero for school reform in America because it is transforming the system with the full cooperation of the union. After all, as Kristoff states, good teachers are a must for reforming America’s ailing public school system but the current anti-teacher union sentiment certainly does not attract talented young people into teaching.  A few years ago, the New Haven school district established a “revolutionary contract” with teachers. In exchange for job security, pay and benefits would rise. A new evaluation system was  also established that would be based off standardized test scores and other measures of learning.  Evaluated teachers would be fully protected by a transparent process Last year, administrators fired 34 teachers (2% of teachers)  and this year is 50 more are scheduled to be fired. The surprising thing is that both Administers and Teacher Unions support this new contract. Davic Cicarella, president of New Haven Federation of Teachers states “ We all recognize that we need to do something. Tenured teachers who are ineffective- that is an issue. We want to do something about it. But it is not fair to blame all the teachers. “ Fair and transparent accountability is welcome, Cicarella states but notes that it is “Not ok any more to just spray and pray.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/opinion/kristof-the-new-haven-experiment.html

Taking a Semester off: The Life of a DC Reads Non-Tutor

 By Caroline Seabolt

After tutoring for 2 straight semesters for DC Reads, accepting an Internship at the Phillips Collection made me feel like a sell-out.  Being in the classrooms helping teachers and students this fall brought me pure joy and I loved every second of it, so the decision was incredibly difficult to make.  I accepted the internship because it was in the Education Department and I would be working with grades K-12. I definitely miss tutoring, but I know that my involvement with DC Reads is going nowhere.  I still attend weekly Advocacy meetings, and am planning to attend some seminars this semester as well.

There is a common misconception that one cannot be involved in DC Reads without tutoring.  However our various committees are open to anyone with an interest in education on campus and the DC Community.

There are a lot of different ways to teach, and I am learning how to do that bye using art.  I plan to use the teaching skills that I am acquiring from observation and practice at the museum and apply them to DC Reads when I come back to tutor next semester.  I can’t wait to come back!

Virgin Media Deploys Online Talent Networking Solution

Market leading companies are embracing enterprise talent networking practices -- to gain a competitive advantage within their industry. While Online collaboration tools have been readily available for some time, few IT managers proactively combine them into a cohesive strategy to advance their organization's productivity.

That being said, it's been the tech-savvy forward-thinking executives that have led the cause to date -- enabling their organization to join the ranks of the early-adopters, and paving the way for others to follow.

Cisco announced that Virgin Media, the UK's top entertainment and digital communications company, is deploying the powerful combination of Cisco Quad, Cisco WebEx and Cisco Unified Communications to its eager employee base.

The solutions are part of the Virgin Media progressive "Flexible Working Initiative" that will enable thousands of employees to collaborate and work remotely -- utilizing video calls and shared documents, all easily accessible via notebook PCs, business tablets and mobile smartphones.

Sharing Tacit Knowledge Across the Enterprise

Cisco Quad will become a virtual knowledge bank that helps support online communities of practice, bringing together talent with common skills and interests. The platform enables the sharing of files or videos with co-workers across projects and workstreams -- offering instant WebEx conferencing sessions or instant messaging chat sessions -- all possible via the browser-based solution.

Quad allows users to quickly find resources or skills, prioritize work and team activities more easily. This platform will incorporate real-time decision making within WebEx conferencing sessions, through communities, activity feeds and watch lists -- all accessible via any browser or through mobile apps.

Finding and Connecting the Unique Talent Assets

Quad essentially allows Virgin Media employees to discover and participate in discussions with relevant internal groups that may have been previously unknown to them. This new capability will support their vision for a truly collaborative and flexible working environment.

"The ability of social media to actively engage audiences is proven, and we're making the most of Cisco's collaboration software to bring new ways of working to Virgin Media," said Elisa Nardi, chief people and services officer at Virgin Media.

Virgin Media will soon roll out the solution to its managers and staff that are working across teams and on company-wide projects.

Highlights of the deployment include:

• Collaboration applications will offer greater flexibility to co-work from a variety of Virgin Media office locations and from participating employee homes.
• The rich media capabilities extended through WebEx high-definition video help engage workers with a more face-to-face online experience.
• Cisco WebEx can help shorten the time to make key business decisions -- just in time -- via quick and easy video chat conversations.
• Cisco Quad can providing rapid access to information and people through its enterprise search capability -- which helps employees find relevant subject matter experts, content and active communities.