Superintendent’s Summer Policy Institute

This week I joined many of my colleagues for the 2008 Superintendent’s Summer Policy Institute held at the University of Virginia Curry School of Education and Darden Business School. The session began with a presentation on drop-out rates and special education legislation by Dr. Billy Cannaday, Virginia State Superintendent for Public Instruction. Attorney Craig Wood of McGuire Woods led a discussion on legal issues facing public education.
Teachers and school-based administrators joined us on Wednesday for a session entitled, Performance Incentives: A Growing Impact on K12 American Education. Presenters included Dr. Lois Adams-Rogers, Deputy Executive Director for the Council of Chief State Officers; Dr. Grover Whitehurst, U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Services, and Dr. Linda Cavalluzzo, Senior Researcher for CAN Education.
These presenters prompted rigorous debate about the merits, benefits and challenges associated with teacher compensation reform. Dr. Lyle Evans and several members of our Human Resources Department as well as several CCPS educators attended this session.
As a result of this session, I have asked Dr. Evans to work with his team to draft recommendations for differentiated compensation for “hard to fill” positions to be consider for funding in FY 2011.