Sunday, July 24, 2016

Doshier: Please let us spend $69,000 for more outside consulting

Just a year after deciding that $100,000 was too much to pay on an annual basis to have an outside consulting firm handle all of the Joplin R-8 School District's educational needs, it appears the district is headed down the same path again.

In documentation provided to the R-8 Board of Education before its 6 p.m. Tuesday meeting, Executive Director of Elementary Education Jennifer Doshier, who signed off on the Core Collaborative proposals that the board rejected last year, explains why Cognitive Coaching is the new miracle cure that will take care of all of the district's educational problems.

Doshier notes that for the bargain price of $69,000 the district can bring Cognitive Coaching experts to Joplin to train three cohorts and also train three people from the district who can serve as trainers in the future preventing the need for any future expenses.

Why is there a need to spend $69,000 for this training? Doshier explains that in the board documentation:

Cognitive Coaching is a process that enhances teachers'  cognitive processes and is an integral part of the empowerment piece that principals and teachers are requesting.

It would appear that Doshier needs training in how to write proposals in clear, understandable language, since her paragraph is only going to make sense to those who pretend to understand educational jargon.

It would also be interesting to get the names of the teachers and principals who think Cognitive Coaching is what is needed in the district. Are these the same teachers and principals who put on a Barnum and Bailey show for the R-8 Board last year on why they so desperately needed Core Collaborative?

(And it should be noted that the former R-8 Curriculum Director Sarah Stevens, the chief supporter of Core Collaborative, after being removed from that position and resigning, was hired by Core Collaborative.)

What do administrators and teachers learn when they attend Cognitive Coaching seminars such as the one for which $4,500 in bills is scheduled to come before the board Tuesday night?

According to the website for the seminars:

Please join us in Folsom, CA for this valuable seminar. Advanced Cognitive Coaching immerses you in a supportive and stimulating environment to provide refinement and depth of learning for those desiring to perfect and deepen their understanding of Cognitive CoachingSM. 

Part 1 Participants will:
  • refine and extend core coaching capabilities and skills
  • develop skills with advanced forms of paraphrasing
  • expand the possibilities of and applications for our identities as mediators
  • develop an understanding of deep structure and processes for coaching for cognitive shift
  • experience and practice the Calibrating Conversation Map
Part 2 Participants wilI:
  • increase craftsmanship with the Problem-Resolving Map
  • increase capacity for coaching for deep structure
  • develop automaticity with the Pace
  • experience mastery of the Lead
  • develop skill in using the Outcome Structure with individuals and groups
  • experience increased efficacy with all the maps and tools of Cognitive Coaching
The cost for the seminar was $750 per participant, indicating the R-8 District sent six people to California earlier this month.

The Thinking Collaborative website goes into more depth about Cognitive Coaching, but with plenty of jargon to spare:

The mission of Cognitive CoachingSM is to produce self-directed persons with the cognitive capacity for excellence both independently and as members of a community. Research indicates that teaching is a complex intellectual activity and that teachers who think at higher levels produce students who are higher achieving, more cooperative, and better problem solvers. It is the invisible skills of teaching, the thinking processes that underlie instructional decisions, which produce superior instruction. Cognitive CoachingSMis a research-based model that capitalizes upon and enhances teachers’ cognitive processes.
In the eight-day Seminars, participants learn how to:
  • develop trust and rapport
  • develop an identity as a mediator of thinking
  • utilize conversation structures for planning, reflecting and problem resolving
  • develop teachers’ autonomy and sense of community
  • develop higher levels of efficacy, consciousness, craftsmanship, flexibility and interdependence
  • apply four support functions: coaching, evaluating, consulting, collaborating
  • utilize the coaching tools of pausing, paraphrasing, and posing questions
  • distinguish among the five forms of feedback
  • use data to mediate thinking

From Core Collaborative to Cognitive Coaching, the unqualified remnants of the C. J. Huff Administration still seem to be covering up a lack of  ability with the belief that highly paid outside consultants and new initiatives can convince the faculty (and the public) that an educational renaissance is right around the corner.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Doshier is not relevant.

Price, Warren, and Johnson are bottom feeders.

Remove them all.

Steve Holmes said...

Develop automaticity with the Pace?
Experience mastery of the Lead?

Jargon-speak or bureaucratese. Plain English, please, for those of us college grads who had to look up "automaticity" -- its correct spelling, by the way.

Anonymous said...

It's just rebranding a concept good thoughtful teachers already do. I'm sure some in-district conversations with principals can find very capable teachers who can collaborate with their peers. I don't teach in Joplin but have done some research on the concept. Yes, research proven in classrooms for years, given new name and spin.

Anonymous said...

I thought PD was supposed to be in-house and teacher driven, according to our new superintendent. What teacher with half a brain would ask for this? I would like to know the justification for wasting tax dollars this way when teachers are being told the district can't afford to purchase basic supplies for the classroom. Are some of the teachers just too inept to know what to do? I guess you could expect that with the high turnover (wasn't it 70 this year?). Does this justify some administrator's job to keep coming up with nonsense? Do ALL teachers have to endure this? If so, expect my resignation. I'm tired of initiatives. Give it a rest. Spend the money on the kids. Pay teachers better so you can retain and attract good ones, This is just so much more educational BS.

Anonymous said...

Just say no. Please. No one needs or wants this except admin. They feel important when they can throw out those big old words. A year ago it was "effect size." But since John Hattie's research claims were fudged, that has faded away. This is just the latest ego boost for administrators who need a crutch because they don't know what to do. Please just leave the teachers alone, or make this a voluntary experience for the wannabes.

Anonymous said...

Just the blurb makes me want to barf. What a waste of money and hot air.

Anonymous said...

Woob woob woob!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9rwF2khUIY

Anonymous said...

This is a Dr. Ridder choice. He's into Cognitive Coaching.

Anonymous said...

Norm'contract must be a sweet deal,thanks Banwart & Jasper 3...wish we could see it,understand he has ample don't call me time off plus consulting with others on the side.

Anonymous said...

How much of a kickback is she getting because perhaps she herself needs to return to school and be retaught the meaning of NO! The board turned down this once before but yet she is stupid enough to keep coming back. She must be getting a kickback from the company, why else would she keep pushing this over and over again?

Anonymous said...

The Southwest Center in Webb City and other training in Greenish took place for something similar. It is a good program for younger teachers. Why California?

Anonymous said...

Nutz

Anonymous said...

Cognitive Coaching is not considered a "classroom" tool but it is a good tool to have. Years ago, principals, a few teachers and some coaches were trained. It's connected with Adaptive Schools but has nothing to do with the Core Collaborative or Hattie. They've been having training the last few years through Southwest Center in Webb City.
If someone isn't interested in learning this, they definitely shouldn't go and "automaticity" has been around for a long time in reference to reading skills. If someone doesn't have that background, they might not know what that means.
Too many words!Let teachers use what they know and build on that.

Anonymous said...

Mike Johnson is "retiring" in August. I was surprised it hasn't made it to the report yet.

Anonymous said...

I'm not in Joplin but I was told each district is required by the state to spend a certain amount on teacher training. Randy van you comment?

Anonymous said...

Well....

Anonymous said...

5:09 are you talking about the 1% PDC budget?

Anonymous said...

Doshier needs to be fired. She's a waste.