When the Board approves the FY11 Operating Budget as decided by Superintendent Weast they will consent to 20 teachers being laid off on Monday, June 7th. (Wait - Monday is before Tuesday! Yes, teachers will be let go before the Board even votes on the FY11 Operating budget. Apparently the Board vote is meaningless.)
The $542,314 on Tuesday will be going to a company called Wireless Generation. You may recall that is the company Superintendent Weast invested (see page 7 at link) over $500,000 of your tax dollars in, on the gamble that royalties from the sale of the Wireless Generation educational programs would flow into MCPS in an amount in excess of the investment. You can read how that worked out here. (Clue: Not so hot.)
The $542,314 will be going for a procurement that has never been put out for competitive bidding by other companies. Could MCPS get the same educational product for less? Is the product doing what it needs to do? Is there data to show that the initial investment and annual $500,000+ payment for this product are producing results in MCPS classrooms?
One final note: The Wireless Generation product that MCPS invested in, and is paying annual fees for, is a program that depends on teachers using hand held Palm Pilots to input student information.
Palm has discontinued manufacturing Palm Pilots as of this year.
Maybe it's time to put this procurement out for a competitive bid and see what other educational data collection companies have to offer?
If it's worth 8 or 9 teacher salaries, isn't it worth the Board of Education taking some time to evaluate the purchase?
June 8, 2010 Update: One Board member did not vote for the FY11 Budget. See her explanation why here.
There are all kinds of techno-goodies on the BOE agenda for June 8th:
ReplyDelete$632,000 for "identity and access management" to Mythics Inc (apparently your basic "sign in sheet isn't enough anymore).
$474,000 for "iAssessment"
$502,000 to the Northwest Evaluation Association.
That's over $1.6 million dollars right there. Just what, exactly, are we getting for that $1.6 MIL, and could we be getting a similar benefit for less money if we "shopped around." Or, frankly, waited until we could afford it (whatever it is).
Oh well. Looks like the BOE will vote to pay a half million dollars to the Northwest Evaluation Association (whoever they are), and then turn around and say bye bye to some actual employees. But the union folks must be happy with that, right, because didn't they just vote to endorse Shirley, Mike, Judy, and Pat?
Jerry Weast likes the "True North Logic" human capital management system so much, he endorses it right on their marketing materials:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.iassessment.com/library/media/papers/pdf/TNL_HCM%20DataSht%200110.pdf
Funny how he is praising their "team of experts" for their Human Capital Management Platform (whatever that is, but we know it's expensive!!) while simultaneously cutting Human Capital! (How many teacher salaries would $474K pay for?
In case anyone is interested, MCPS has been writing big checks to "TrueNorthLogic" for years: a half million was approved by the BOE to TrueNorthLogic on 6/25/07, and $346K on 4/20/06. Have we gotten our money's worth out of this technology?
ReplyDeleteTeachers are happy with this spending. Their union just endorsed the 4 Board members up for re-election in November.
ReplyDelete$502,000 to the Northwest Evaluation Association:
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the few tech expences that I fully support. They offer the MAP-R test 2 - 3 times a year from elementary through 10th grade (so far). This is the ONLY independant nationaly normed test that does not change year to year. Parents and teachers can see how much, or how little, progress students are making (year to year or season to season) in their reading comprehention, decoding, etc. You can see if interventions are successful. It can also be used to help select reading materials for the kids (using Lexiles).It is a computerized test that kids take in an hour or less and results are available in a day or two. You cannot spin this data, it is what it is, and it is a great tool for families and teachers alike.
Barb Selbst
Barb,
ReplyDeleteThe payment to Northwest Evaluation Association on Tuesday does not appear to be for classroom testing. It appears to be for Professional Development products. Here is what the Board memo says:
"Subscription for Professional Training and Consulting Services—Extension"
Is this a worthwhile expenditure?
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/meetings/agenda/2009-10/2010-0608/4.1.1%20Procurement.pdf
http://www.nwea.org/products-services/professional-development
Here is the procurement for the student assessment from Northwest Evaluation Association:
ReplyDeleteReading Assessment Software
Awardee
Northwest Evaluative Association $ 333,000
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/meetings/minutes/2004/082404.pdf
This is not what the Board is buying on Tuesday, June 8, 2010.
The Board spent over half a million in Consulting from this company in 2009 also:
ReplyDelete4257.1 Subscription for Professional Training and Consulting
Services—Extension
Awardee
Northwest Evaluation Association $546,000
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/meetings/minutes/2009/071409.min.pdf
2007 Payment for student assessment program
ReplyDelete4213.1 Measures of Academic Progress Assessment Program
Awardee
Northwest Evaluation Association $ 525,602
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/meetings/minutes/2007/071707.min.pdf