UPD Consulting

Our good friend Justin Cohen over at the “Turnaround Challenge” hit it spot on the in an entry on the relationship between good policy and good execution.  Justin mentions a Matt Yglesias quote on (of…
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The debate, if you can call it that—“jibber jabber” might be a better term (thanks, Mr. T!)—over linking student achievement data to teacher and principal performance started on the wrong foot and seems to be…
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Data-driven does not mean value-added metrics (VAM).  And VAM is not the same thing as merit pay. The last few weeks have been an exciting time for K-12.  There’s all the media attention being showered…
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Anyone who is involved in establishing pay-for-performance compensation models for teachers and principals should spend a little time in advance reading up on Dan Ariely (The Upside of Irrationality), Daniel Pink (Drive) and other behavioral…
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If you missed Rick Hess’ blog interviewing Louisiana State Education Chief Paul Pastorek after the RTT Decisions were made, note two things.  First, in lieu of some of the shenanigans coming out of New Jersey and…
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We have to move beyond this notion that we cannot measure what students know.  We may not have the perfect instrument now, but virtually every other profession, including doctors whom we expect to make real…
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The CitiStat model, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, has expanded and evolved in many different ways over the last decade.  Even during the early years of CitiStat in Baltimore under then-Mayor O’Malley, the Stat…
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Welcome to the UPD Consulting blog.  Several years ago, we were a handful of consultants, survivors of the reform battles we waged from inside government and public education with the scars to prove it, reconstituted…
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