Hillsborough to video 12,000 students for teacher training

Some parents of Hillsborough County public school students soon will be asked to sign permission slips allowing their children to participate in national research.

It's work funded by a $2.2 million grant awarded to the district last year by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study teaching in the classroom.

The Measures of Effective Teaching Project requires researchers to videotape teachers and students during class with the goal of identifying what teachers do that influences student achievement.

School board members will discuss the collection of some 12,000 permission slips during their regular Tuesday board meeting at 3 p.m. today.

The district has tapped the Hillsborough Education Foundation to collect the slips from participating students - fourth- through ninth-graders taking English/language arts, math and science classes.

Parental consent is required for each student. A consultant fee and other costs associated with the collection total $122,400 and are paid through the grant.

The Gates' grant is the second for Hillsborough. The district also received a historic $100 million grant to help fund changes in the way teachers are hired, retained, evaluated and paid.

The idea is to ensure the best teacher is in the classroom and stays there, administrators say.

The school board today also will look at the district's five-year work plan. Among the highlights:

$199 million in maintenance and major repair projects at schools countywide, including roofing, fencing, parking and electrical.

•Another $62 million in new construction projects, including a new middle school in the south county region and an elementary school in Tampa Heights.

•A wish list of $132 million in renovations that is not funded, including remodeling at Alexander Elementary, Hill Middle school and Erwin Area Vocational Technical Center.

•Nearly $2 million for the creation of "high stakes'' testing labs - regular classrooms in which desks can convert into computers that allow students to take assessment tests online. Federal stimulus money will pay for them.

Board meetings take place at the Raymond O. Shelton Administrative Center, 901 E. Kennedy Blvd.