Can we hire him?

As the Orange County Board of Education jumps into the Superintendent hiring pool with both feet, I would like to suggest a candidate.

Charles S. Dedrick is the Superintendent of Cohoes City School District near Albany, NY.

If any Board members are interested, I've already done some research and here is his contact information:

Email cdedrick@cohoes.org - Phone: 518-237-0100 ext. 6.

A recent New York Times article profiled how Dedrick's district is using data collected to satisfy federal No Child Left Behind requirements to identify where the district is excelling and where it is lagging behind.

To do this, Cohoes employs "an increasingly popular way of analyzing test scores, called a 'growth model' because it tracks the progress of students as they move from grade to grade rather than comparing, say, this year’s fourth graders with last year’s, the traditional approach."

The growth model approach has support both from "urban educators" who feel it better measures the efforts of "poor and minority students" and from "school officials in affluent suburbs" who like the methods because "they evaluate students at all levels rather than focusing on lifting those at the bottom."

The Cohoes City School District has dubbed its growth model approach "Value Added." According to the district's website, "Value Added is a statistical method used to measure a district and school's influence on the academic growth rates of students from year-to-year. Through the program, districts examine growth data with their achievement data for a more thorough picture of their effectiveness in raising student achievement." Wow, a school district that is actually interested in tracking and raising student achievement. What a novel idea.

The NY Times article pointed out another reason why the growth model approach is gaining popularity and might draw some interest here in Orange County.

"Adding growth models as a way to satisfy federal requirements to demonstrate 'adequate yearly progress' could make it easier for some schools to avoid penalties because they would receive credit for students who improve performance but still fall below proficiency levels."

The use of growth models is being allowed by the federal government under a very limited pilot program. Only 7 states are currently allowed to employ the new approach, but lucky for us, North Carolina is one of the 7. Now all we need is a leader who understands the approach and isn't married to the old ways of doing things. Cue Mr. Dedrick.

The imminent change of Superintendents would be a great opportunity for Orange County Schools to embrace an innovative approach to measuring student performance, while also improving the District's dismal level of accountability to taxpayers for getting results.

"Cohoes school officials have spent more than $1 million on programs for their most struggling students in the past five years, and wanted to find out how much they had progressed. They learned that the lowest-level students were doing fine, while their high achievers were starting to fall behind." Does Orange County know what it is getting for its money?

"'The fact is we serve all students, and not just the lower-end students,' said Mr. Dedrick, who travels across the state to speak about growth models to school superintendents. 'If you’re just concentrating on one group of kids, it’s not fair because both sets of parents pay taxes.'"