Is Education Stepping Up to Problem Performance?

Teacher performance is a hot issue throughout formal education. Washington DC's superintendent, who instituted a new evaluation system (which seems intended to better reflect actual work performance) recently canned 241 teachers who received the lowest ratings (indicating unsatisfactory job performance). That's over 2.5 times more than were let go last year. Tamar Lewin recently filed a report on the situation: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/education/24teachers.html?hpw

The issue is also being addressed at the university level. According to University Affairs, the Faculty Senate at the University of British Columbia, which sets educational policy, had voted to actively use student evaluations of teaching in making personnel decisions, like promotion and tenure. The faculty association (union) challenged it, saying that it violated the union contract, and took the university to court. An appeals judge sided with the Senate. Léo Charbonneau's report primarily focuses on the legal issues involved, but the personnel issues are no less compelling. Check out the report at http://www.universityaffairs.ca/senate-decision-vs-bog.aspx.

More Ups and Downs for Facebook

For those with an interest in social media, check out Susan Feinstein's recent article about a new use for Facebook: telling teachers how much they meant to us. Visit the article at Times at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/nyregion/14facebook.html?pagewanted=all.

And speaking of Facebook, a recent news analysis of the company explores the view by Facebook officials that it is a "utility," and what that means to the way that public officials should approach that company--especially in relation to the company's flawed privacy policies. As one expert cited in the article notes, getting the metaphor right plays a central role in getting the relationship right.

Among the interesting tidbits in that article--Americans are more satisfied filing their taxes online than using Facebook, and the choice of 'metaphors" like ut for

Check it out at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/weekinreview/25brustein.html?ref=weekinreview.

Bad News on the Salary Front

According to Ruth Mantell's June 5, 2010 report in the Wall Street Journal, "The job market may be recovering, but some salary offers are still a few years behind," and employers are "lowballing" salaries for new hires. Check out the details, as well as see some strategies for dealing with the situation at

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB127570395821401453.html?mod=rss_careers.

What's Really Happening with Spending on Training

Training spending hasn’t budged since 1986, according to an analysis of Training Magazine’s Annual Industry Report from 1982-2008. Ingy Bakir and I compiled the statistics, adjusted all expenditures for inflation, and report our results in the February 2010 issue of Training magazine. See http://tinyurl.com/yz7t44m for details.

Caught!

Earlier this month, a video clip of a Toronto subway worker sleeping on the job that had been uploaded to YouTube was a major news story. Some called it an invasion of privacy. The union defended the worker. But others—including the editorial in the Montreal Gazette at http://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/Commuters+revenge+service/2558860/story.html see the situation as nothing more than “commuters getting revenge for bad service.”

In our field, we talk about Web 2.0 technologies (ones that users post information at will) as important to our work.

But as a manager, how would you respond if the result of a Web 2.0 user was something that disparaged your staff?

How would you respond?

And what is the likelihood of this happening in your group?

Looking forward to seeing your responses.

Join the Conversation--How to Post Comments to this Blog

Want to respond to something you read here?

Great! To post a comment:

Note that you should be able to leave comments "anonymously;" that is, without having an account with gmail, blogger or any of the other services listed.

1. At the bottom of a post--in the lower right corner below the last line--you'll see "X comments" (where X is the number of comments that have been posted so far).
2. Click on "X comments."
3. An open box appears, with the instruction "Post a Comment" above it.
4. Type your comment. If you have more comment than space shown on the screen--don't worry. The block will grow to meet the size of your comment.
5. When you're finished typing, click the Post Comment button.
6. The system might ask you to retype some words shown on the screen (to make sure you're not a spam machine writing anonymous responses).
7. Because the system doesn't identify you in that case, it would be helpful if you were to identify yourself in your comments, if that's something that's comfortable for you.

Reader Participation--Send Your Questions

If you have questions about management issues, send them in. Indicate whether you would like for me to answer them myself--or whether you're seeking input from other readers.

Also note that at the end of article-style posts, I've provided discussions. Please join the discussion.

Saul