Sudoku puzzles teach an important lesson in project management, that we almost forget- there are fixed costs associated with every project.  In Sudoku, there are different levels of complexity – from the very easy to the excruciatingly difficult ones.  While the time taken is correlated with difficulty, it is not linear.  No matter how easy the puzzle, it takes a finite amount of time to simply fill the puzzle.  This is also true for any project.  Initial project reviews, user-buy in, planning, resource allocation, project briefing, and de-briefing after the project is completed all have a “fixed cost” component to it. While it is impossible or even desirable to eliminate the fixed costs, it will be helpful to streamline the project management process to develop efficiencies. 

These guidelines help in reducing the fixed costs associated with projects:

1. Develop a simplified project management methodology (PM-Lite).

2.  Use simple workflows (automated workflows add more benefits) using a portal approach to oversee these “small projects”.

3.  If you outsource these projects, use a set of pre-screened and pre-credentialed vendors who are specifically suited for delivering small projects.  This is discussed in more detail in this blog.

4. Set limits on the number of deliverables (such as 5 to 7).

5.  Keep the distance between each deliverable small (time and technical relationship).

6.  Set simple success criteria such as 10% within each deliverable’s costs and schedule as green, between 10% and 25% as yellow, and more than 25% variance as red.

This simple guideline should not be construed as one shoe fits all.  For example, risk management, compatibility with enterprise architecture, adherence to standards, and other project management principles also apply, but they should not become onerous and increase the fixed costs of a project. 

A note on the Fixed Costs associated with Outsourcing

Following the ignominious collapse of several major outsourcing deals, IT services providers and customers alike have had to revise their approach to the entire outsourcing business.   The trend towards more small projects is gaining momentum, and it further reinforces the need for organizations to develop an IT governance methodology for small projects. SMB CIOs have an alternative solution in extending their resource capability using project-based sourcing.  Project-based sourcing is a convenient way to balance the need for reducing costs and maintaining core competence in-house.

While outsourcing makes good sense, organizations, particularly SMBs (Small to Mid-Sized Businesses), simply maintain status quo. Either they cite lack of expertise in managing off-shore engagements or perceived quality issues to not engage in off-shoring. To a large extent, their fears are justified. Tier-1 outsourcers seek outsourcing of entire functions – not the ideal method for SMBs which seek help for specific projects.

When outsourcing the projects, the overhead gets accented as procurement and sourcing decisions have their own components of fixed costs.   The lack of a well established Service Provider network who deliver project-based off-shore solutions adds to procurement costs, often negating the benefits of outsourcing. Fortunately, web-based brokerage solutions are emerging. These solutions are built on a solid pre-credentialed Service Provider network to ensure that lower cost is not negated by poor quality.  These web-based solutions benefit both the SMB as well as the Service Provider.  SMBs benefit from low administrative costs and accelerated contracting.  They also benefit from selecting a vendor from a pre-credentialed network.  Many Tier-2 and Tier-3 off-shore Service Providers have the ability to provide niche IT solutions that match SMB project needs.

The concept of outsourcing small projects is relatively new.  Following the ignominious collapse of several major outsourcing deals, IT services providers and customers alike have had to revise their approach to the entire outsourcing business.  In the world where outsourcing services are measured in head-count and SLAs, small-project sourcing provides a viable alternative for businesses to take advantage of global sourcing models to reduce their operational and back-office costs. It also changes the dynamics of the supply chain. It provides an opportunity for smaller service providers an opportunity to play in the outsourcing market.

The challenges with small-project sourcing from a SMB perspective are three-fold: 1. Management issues leading to gaps between expectations and delivery.  Businesses are not adept at managing global sourcing for smaller projects. 2. The sheer number of projects with a large pool of smaller outsourcers makes the job of connecting the “right” provider with the projects extremely challenging. 3. Even though the IT projects are small, the procurement logistics are still time-consuming and complex. Having a single consolidator that manages the smaller outsourcers provides an efficient mechanism to implement small project-sourcing.

Good consolidators perform due-diligence on the service provider network, match project needs to providers, and provide a dashboard to review the service levels. The benefits of having a single consolidator include improving the procurement efficiency by providing a set of reliable and pre-credentialed service providers, a one-stop procurement channel, competition between service providers and complete transparency in sourcing. Businesses will benefit by getting Tier-2/Tier-3 pricing together with a single point of control and total visibility on the engagements. While there are challenges, the cost savings can be enormous, in fact substantially higher than traditional IT outsourcing. Just in the U.S., there are over a quarter million companies who have between 100 and 500 employees. A back of the envelope estimate suggests that the savings can be in billions of dollars even if a small percentage of these firms take advantage of project based-outsourcing in their business.

“The Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009” (“Act”) recently passed by the House of Representatives and awaiting Senate consideration, if enacted, will require U.S. businesses that own or operate “chemical facilities” to conduct security background checks on employees and certain other individuals and implement a detailed and expensive list of other new security processes.

By tightening the regulation of security practices at chemical facilities, Title XXI of the Act seeks to strengthen the security of chemical facilities against terroristic acts or other threats. Businesses manufacturing or handling chemicals or other substances that could cause them to be considered “chemical facilities” should carefully watch this legislation and, if appropriate, communicate any relevant input or concerns to members of the Senate promptly. 

The Act would require any facility (“chemical facility”) at which the owner or operator of the facility possesses or plans to possess at any relevant point in time a substance of concern or that that meets other risk-related criteria identified by the Secretary of Homeland Security (the “Secretary”) to implement processes and procedures that would comply with a broad range of risk-based standards established by the Secretary to ensure or enhance the security of a chemical facility against a chemical facility terrorist incident referred to in the Act as “chemical facility security performance standards” (the “Standards”). 

By their express terms and inherently as part of other requirements, the Standards would require that chemical facilities implement a host of new processes and procedures impacting on the selection, credentialing and management of employees and other service providers.  Among other things, for example, the Act would require chemical facilities to:

• Administer a regularly updated identification system that checks the identification of chemical facility personnel and other persons seeking access to the chemical facility and that discourages abuse through established disciplinary measures;
• Restrict access to facilities and secure site assets, systems, and technology;
• Screen and control access to the facility and to restricted areas within the facility by screening or inspecting individuals and vehicles as they enter, measures to deter the unauthorized introduction of dangerous substances and devices that may facilitate a chemical facility terrorist incident or actions having serious negative consequences for the population surrounding the chemical facility;
• Perform personnel surety for individuals with access to restricted areas or critical assets by conducting appropriate background checks and ensuring appropriate credentials for unescorted visitors and chemical facility personnel, including permanent and part-time personnel, temporary personnel, and contract personnel, including measures designed to verify and validate identity, to check criminal history, to verify and validate legal authorization to work and to identify people with terrorist ties;
• Develop and require that employees and other member of the workforce comply with new processes, plans and procedures for preventing and responding to chemical facility terrorist incidents and other required procedures for deterring and responding to chemical facility terrorist incidents and threats of those incidents; and
• Appoint new security officials responsible for overseeing and administering compliance under the Act.

Beyond these and other specific staffing requirements, the Act also would require chemical facilities implement, retrain and require that members of its workforce comply with a broad range of new procedures required under the Standards, including procedures to:

• Deter chemical facility terrorist incidents through visible, professional, well-maintained security measures and systems, including security personnel, detection systems, barriers and barricades, and hardened or reduced value targets;
• Deter theft or diversion of a substances of concern, insider sabotage, cyber sabotage, unauthorized onsite or remote access to critical process controls; and other critical product elements, data or systems; and
• Comply with a host of other mandates.

As part of some of these required procedures, chemical facilities could expect to be required to adopt and train employees on their specific roles or responsibilities for deterring or responding to a chemical facility terrorist incident

Furthermore, the oversight and enforcement powers granted to the Secretary under the also would create a host of new employer retaliation and whistleblower exposures.  The Act would prohibit employer retaliation, implement new whistleblower safeguards and remedies and grant the Secretary the right to offer non-supervisory employees the opportunity to confidentially communicate information relevant to the employer’s compliance or non-compliance of the chemical facility with the Act or its implementing regulations;  It also would grant “an employee representative of each certified or recognized bargaining agent at the covered chemical facility, if any, or, if none, a non-supervisory employee … the opportunity to accompany the Secretary during a physical inspection of such covered chemical facility for the purpose of aiding in such inspection, if representatives of the owner or operator of the covered chemical facility will also be accompanying the Secretary on such inspection.”

These and other provisions could impose significant new burdens, costs and liabilities on businesses considered to be operating chemical facilities.  Since the precise list of businesses likely to fall within that definition would be decided by the Secretary, businesses in manufacturing, energy, pharmaceutical, or other industries that could fall within the scope of this definition should evaluate the potential implications and if appropriate, communicate any relevant input to Congress.

If you have questions about or need assistance with evaluation and responding to the provisions of the Act or any other employment, compensation, employee benefit, workplace health and safety, corporate ethics and compliance practices, concerns or claims, please contact the author of this article, Curran Tomko Tarski LLP Labor & Employment Practice Group Chair Cynthia Marcotte Stamer.  Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and Chair of the American Bar Association RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Group, Ms. Stamer is experienced with assisting employers and others about compliance with federal and state equal employment opportunity, compensation and employee benefit, workplace safety, and other labor and employment, as well as advising and defending employers and others against tax, employment discrimination and other labor and employment, and other related audits, investigations and litigation, charges, audits, claims and investigations by the IRS, Department of Labor and other federal and state regulators. Ms. Stamer has advised and represented employers on these and other labor and employment, compensation, employee benefit and other personnel and staffing matters for more than 20 years. Ms. Stamer also speaks and writes extensively on these and other related matters. For additional information about Ms. Stamer and her experience or to access other publications by Ms. Stamer see here or contact Ms. Stamer directly.   For additional information about the experience and services of Ms. Stamer and other members of the Curran Tomko Tarksi LLP team, see here.

Other Information & Resources

We hope that this information is useful to you. If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail – by creating or updating your profile here or e-mailing this information here or registering to participate in the distribution of our Solutions Law Press HR & Benefits Update distributions here.  Some other recent updates that may be of interested include the following, which you can access by clicking on the article title:

• House Passes Affordable Health Care For America, Health Care Reform Debate Focus Now Moves To The Senate
• SHRM Urges American’s To Oppose HR 3962, The Affordable Health Care For America Act
• Businesses Cautioned To Strengthen Investigation & Employment Practices To Minimize Potential Exposure To Retaliation Claims In Light Of Recent Supreme Court Retaliation Decision
• OFCCP To Apply Special Procedures, Heightened Scrutiny To Equal Employment Practices of Government Contractors, Subcontractors On ARRA Funded Projects
• US and UK Agree to Share Information & Cooperate On Pension Security As US Defined Benefit Plan Sponsors Face Tough New Defined Benefit Plan Funding Requirements
• Congress Considering Extending & Expanding Group Health Plan COBRA Subsidy Mandates On Heels of Enactment of Expanded Military Leave-Related Family Leave Mandates
• EEOC Prepares To Broaden “Disability” Definition Under ADA Regulations
• Don’t Be a “Rubber Stamp” – Information Concerning the Submission of the Toxic Release Inventory Form
• Tighten Employment, Ethics & Internal Controls Policies & Practices To Minimize DOJ & Other Antitrust Exposures
• IRS Proposes To Update Regulations On Exclusion of Damages Received on Account of Personal Physical Injuries or Physical Sickness To Eliminate Tort Test
• OSHA Final Rule Updates OSHA Personal Protective Equipment Standards
• DOL Proposes Changes To H-2A Temporary & Seasonal Agricultural Nonimmigrant Worker Certification Procedures & Related Rules
• “Disability” Definition Not Retroactive, Employer Action Needed To Manage Post 1/1/2009 Risks
• Employer & Other Health Plans & Other HIPAA-Covered Entities & Their Business Associates Must Comply With New HHS Health Information Data Breach Rules By September 23
• Speak Up America: Where & How To Read & Share Your Feedback About The Health Care Reform Legislation

For important information concerning this communication click here.   If you do not wish to receive these updates in the future, send an e-mail with the word “Remove” in the Subject here.

©2009 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. All rights reserved. 

Formal physician peer review hearings, [in California typically called Judicial Review Committee (JRC) hearings] suffer from excessive length and expense. These concerns plague both the medical staff and the individual physician. Because hearings are most often held at night, only when all the of the necessary parties [members of the committee, witnesses, representatives of the staff, the target physician, the hearing officer and any counsel] are voluntarily available, it is common to only be able to convene a hearing once or twice a month, if that often. And as the hearings are taking place in the evening, often starting about 6:30 and ending sometime between 9pm and 10pm, you can’t get a great deal accomplished in any given evening.

Further, the amount of evidence to be presented is often inflated by both sides because each is so determined to win. The medical staff is highly motivated to rid itself of a physician it considers unfit [and often difficult], and the physician is fighting for his or her professional life. This tends to cause the staff to throw every possible allegation into the hearing, the weak with the strong, and the physician to respond with every possible exculpatory argument. These tendencies further protract a JRC hearing.

Everyone I know involved in this disciplinary system wrings his [or her] hands at the time and cost involved in putting on a disciplinary hearing. For the most part, not much has been accomplished to address this problem as there are various structural impediments to streamlining these hearings. The committee members are most often unpaid volunteers so the hearings take place at night to avoid pulling them away from their practices and there is no subpoena power to compel the attendance of witnesses. It is usually not that difficult to schedule the attorneys and hearing officer, as this is their job, and they are being paid to do it. But for everybody else, peer review hearings are an unwelcome, unpaid distraction from their jobs- their medical practices.

All that said, I have been involved as both a hearing officer and an advocate in three hearings in the last several years where the medical staff was part of a large integrated health system. In each instance, the health system detached the physician committee members from their clinical duties so hearings could be held during the day. The system also staffed the hearing committee with physicians who all worked in the same specialty as the physician [defendant?], but it pulled those committee members from other nearby facilities. This provided a more expert hearing panel and one not immersed in the politics or relationships of the local facility. The system also facilitated the attendance of witnesses, at least those who were testifying for the medical staff. These various efficiencies made it possible to finish these hearings in far less time than would have been necessary if the hearings had been scheduled in the traditional manner, at night when everybody happened to be available. And because you can accomplish a great deal more in a full day than you can in evening sessions, you end up with far fewer, and more productive sessions of hearing. This undoubtedly lowers the final cost.

These steps are somewhat reminiscent of a hearing I had a number of years ago for an Air Force surgeon. As everybody involved was in the Air Force, it simply ordered the full time, daily attendance of all necessary parties, committee members and witnesses and the hearing was started and finished in less than a week. That was highly efficient, fully fair to both sides, and cost effective.

I’ve pondered how the typical medical staff might be able to take advantage of these efficiencies. There is probably no easy answer outside of an integrated system. But many hospitals have a corporate or charitable parent that might be able to make at least some of these economies work, even within a loose system. It’s a goal well worth pursuing. Effective, meaningful peer review is important for the medical profession, the hospitals where they work, and the public. Anything we can do to chip away at the cost and length of disciplinary hearings, while retaining fairness and validity, is well worth attempting.

One of the health law forums recently had a number of comments on it about medical staffs requiring a physician to sign credentialing submissions “under oath”.  The meaning of “under oath” is a little unclear but presumably required the physician to sign an averment that the contents of the application or re-application are true and correct, “under penalty of perjury”, or words to that effect.

My own experience is that virtually all credentialing forms include an admonition that they must be filled out accurately and correctly and that material errors or omissions in the information is grounds for summary denial of credentialing.  Such admonitions are frequently enforced by medical staffs regardless of whether the submission was “under oath”. 

I suspect the likelihood that a local prosecutor would really want to dedicate the time and resources to going after a physician who made a misstatement on a credentialing form for perjury is very slight.  I’d like to think that by now the great majority of physicians understand the importance of accurate credentialing forms.  For the small minority that still do not get it, I doubt some sort of “oath” language in the forms would significantly change their thinking.

Once again I am guilty of an extended absence from my blog.  I had surgery in early May for an abdominal aortic aneurysm and related complications that took me out of action for most of the summer.  I’m better now but wondering at the fact my local hospital billed $182,000 for my 6 day stay [including use of the operating room and a single night in the ICU].  To be clear, this was the hospital bill only, and did not include any professional fees. To me that seemed pretty steep.  The irony is, I’m sure my insurer has a contract under which it will pay a modest fraction of that “retail” bill.  But if I had no insurance, the hospital would undoubtedly negotiate with me based upon the full retail invoice.  The experience reinforced my support for health care reform.  But enough about me…

A case I have recently been handling caused me to revisit a California court of appeal decision that came out last year, Nasim v. Los Robles Regional Medical Center [2008, 165 CA4th 1538].  In that case, Dr. Nasim was a nephrologist who obtained provisional staff privileges at Los Robles Regional Medical Center.  At the time he obtained these privileges he was not board certified in internal medicine or nephrology, but the staff bylaws had no requirement for board certification.  While the decision asserts he had no specific quality of care issues, one wonders because during his provisional tenure the staff leadership imposed a new requirement that all internists and medical subspecialists must obtain board certification in internal medicine and their subspecialty within two years of the completion of their training.  [The decision is a bit fuzzy about whether this requirement applied to both internal medicine and his subspecialty of nephrology or just nephrology.] 

Nasim complained that he could not possible meet the prescribed time window although he was working towards his certification in both internal medicine and nephrology.  While his administrative dispute with the medical staff was pending, he successfully obtained his board certification in internal medicine, and he subsequently obtained his board certification in nephrology.  Testimony revealed that at the time the medical staff leadership adopted this requirement, they specifically discussed Nasim and only Nasim, and he was the only member of the medical staff who was impacted by this new rule.

At a judicial review committee hearing, the JRC committee found no basis to revoke Dr. Nasim’s internal medicine privileges, but sustained the termination of his nephrology privileges because of the new rule about board certification.

Dr. Nasim took the decision up on a writ proceeding and the trial court agreed with his complaint that this was unfair rule making, as did the court of appeal in a published decision.  The court of appeal emphasized that retroactive rule changes that deprive an individual of a vested right are disfavored.  It further noted that in employment law, rules that impose impossible conditions contravene public policy.  The court was further upset by the fact the rule apparently applied to members of the provisional staff, but not members of the active staff.  The transparent imposition of a rule intended to be impossible for only one physician to meet could not possibly pass the requirement of procedural fairness.

The conclusions from this case are pretty obvious.  Nobody disputes that medical staffs are fully empowered and encouraged to set standards for membership.  But those standards better be uniformly applied to all members and retroactive application in ways that cannot possibly be met by one or more current members will be highly suspect.

Thanks for reading.  It’s good to be back.

When I logged in to find emails from 58 ICMA Credentialed Managers within 5 minutes, I knew something was up! If you’re like the hundreds of other ICMA Credentialed Managers who received a lapse notice or odd reminder even though you already submitted or got an extension, please delete! Or, if you can’t get into the system, no worries. It should be fixed by next week. It went crazy and decided to play on April Fool’s Joke on us in September.

On to the real point of this post…it was great to see all the ICMA Credentialed Managers & Candidates at the reception last night. (I promise we did not send out lapse emails just to get higher attendance at the reception, but it may have worked out that way.) Everyone had a good time putting names with faces, chatting with the Credentialing Advisory Board, and meeting each other. If you’re eligible but not yet credentialed, do it this year and we’ll see you at the reception in San Jose!

Staying Current

To work on rehabilitation jobs, professionals not only need to keep their work history current, but many potential employers want to see very detailed updates, including the types of settings in which you’ve worked, case loads you’re accustomed to, and equipment you’re trained on and have experience using. Of course, your license needs to be up to date and in good standing, but if you work Traveling Therapist jobs, you may need to maintain licenses in many different states. Once you have been confirmed to the assignment, new employees need to submit the following:

Medical Information

* Annual drug screen
* Annual physical
* Annual TB test
* Hepatitis B or signed Declination Form
* MMR shot record or titers showing immunity

HR Information

* Orientation Acknowledgement Form
* Orientation Review Form
* Policies and Procedures Checklist
* Employment Agreement
* Confidentiality Agreement
* Handbook Acknowledgement Form
* I9 Form
* W4 Form
* State Tax Form (if applicable)
* Copy of Driver’s License
* Copy of Social Security Card

Credentialing

* Copies of any active state licenses you hold
* National Certification Card
* CPR Card

Job Specific
Sometimes clients have specific requirements, such as:

* 2-step TB
* Varicella titer
* Drug screen within 30 days of start date

For the professional seeking out rehabilitation jobs it may seem like a lot.  However, if you create a reliable system for keeping your files up to date, you’ll find it to much easier than you think.  That’s the topic of my next post:  Tips for keeping your files up to date.

Frameworks such as ITIL have developed guidelines for strategizing, designing, implementing and managing IT Infrastructure that provides best value to businesses.  While the guidelines were designed for Tier-1 firms, they are also applicable for Small to Mid-Sized Businesses.  Ignoring the Fortune 1000, there are 17000+ companies who have between 500 and 10,000 employees.  Let us call these companies Tier-2 companies.  There are probably 200,000+ companies who have more than 100 employees but less than 500.  Let us call these Tier-3 companies.  A challenge Tier-3 companies, and to some extent the Tier-2 enterprises, face is the lack of economies of scale.  If they do not have a outsourced environment, they require systems administration expertise, network management, helpdesk, maintaining the server farms, and maintaining the user devices (PCs, laptops, PDAs, etc.).   One easy way to gain economies of scale is to outsource, particularly off-shoring to leverage the lower costs. 

According to Stephanie Overby (CIO Magazine: Outsourcing: The Pros and Cons of Offshore Remote Infrastructure Management dated: March 18, 2008), the services that can be off-shored are:

Service                % that can be off-shored

While the degree of off-shoring can vary for each enterprise, Stephanie’s insightful article points out the need for a blended model – a combination of on-site expertise backed by Remote Infrastructure Management (RIM) services.  Cost savings are a result of three factors:  1)  labor arbitrage, 2) shared services including SaaS, cloud computing, and, 3) shared expertise.  The best example of labor arbitrage is off-shoring.  Large outsourcers such as IBM, Infosys, and Wipro have provided these cost benefits to Tier-1 companies.  In the past five years, many Tier-2 and Tier-3 outsourcers have provided niche RIM services.   Cloud computing has helped reduce infrastructure costs.  SaaS (Software as a Service) has gained momentum helping companies pay for services actually consumed.  Shared expertise is another strong benefit as outsourcers provide a multitude of expertise that would be very costly to in-source.

Savings can be significant.  Typical savings for e-mail hosting and support can amount to over 100% , over 200% for remote server monitoring, and over 50% for applications monitoring and support. 

In addition to cost savings, RIM offers a much higher level of service.  For example, outsourcers can provide 24-7 support far more economically than in-sourcing.  Another significant benefit of using outsourcers is the ability to provide higher availability of services on demand.  RIM is a proven model for managing IT Infrastructure.  In the past these benefits were limited to Tier-1 firms managing large data centers.  Recently, the growth of highly qualified and credentialed Tier-2 RIM providers makes it easy for Tier-3 enterprises to take advantage of off-shore partners.

It is important as a travel healthcare professional to understand the importance of proper credentialing when it comes to your assignment. For every contract that you work each client will require Cirrus Allied to provide specific documents in order for you to begin your assignment. I know it seems tedious when jumping through the different hoops but believe me it is one of the most important aspects of your employment. Luckily we have one of the best credentialing departments in the business helping you sort things out. So next time someone calls to “nag” about paperwork remember it is all done to maintain your file and make sure that you can start a contract and make a living.

To All Traveling Therapist,

Some important things to keep in mind about getting credentialing done when a holiday is coming up:

• Remember that most businesses will be closed on the holiday, so the “real days” it’ll take to receive results back will be longer.
• Most companies let their employees leave early the day before a holiday, so that may make results take longer as well.
• Employees often take vacation around holidays, so that might also delay results.

Keeping all this in mind, start getting your credentialing done as soon as possible, especially the medical items

Coaches come from a variety of backgrounds — psychology, business, education, and finance– and they usually specialize in one area. 

My specialty is relationships.

Everyone is in relationships and we can all benefit from focusing on and enhancing those important relationships. For example, small business owners have a relationship with their customers. Who would not think it wise to make sure your doing everything in your power to create the most positive relationship possible to attract and retain current customers?

We also have relationships with staff or co-workers. Everyone has relationships with family and friends and usually a significant other. One relationship that most of us forget about is the one we have with ourselves. It can take many forms and in the current financial situation happening in our country our attitudes toward aboundance or scarcity are playing a big role in the decisions we are making. Being aware of our values is an important part of being proactive rather than reactive to decision making.

I recommend interviewing a few coaches before hiring one.

Coaching is a two-way co-creative process and needs to be a good fit. It is important for both the coach and the client to be confident and comfortable in the relationship for it to be successful.

He recommends the following:

Interview several coaches. Introductory sessions are usually given for free.
Look for stylistic similarities and differences to help you determine your compatibility.
Ask questions about their typical time frame of coaching, their specific coach training, their experience as a coach, the number of individuals, organizations and situations they worked with as well as the number of years in the field.
Get referrals from previous clients or ask for examples of how the coach has helped other clients reach their goals.
Find out what specific expertise or specialized skills the coach would bring to the relationship.
Is the Coach a certified coach through the International Coach Federation? 

The idea is you want to find someone you can bond with and build a partnership, someone with whom you can easily relate.

Currently there are no state licensing requirements for coaches. That means it is very important that you choose a coach with coach specific training.

I have a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology and a License in Clinical Social Work however when I transitioned into coaching I found a great coach training program to get some post graduate training. The College of Executive Coaching is where I finished a 128 hour coach specific training program. I am now a Professional Certified Coach through the International Coach Federation.

“Your personal and financial accomplishments spring from a focused, planned, intentional life — which coaching helps deliver.”-Dr. Jeffrey E. Auerbach, President

Feel free to contact me, Chuck Franks, PCC directly for a free consultation about coaching services. 816-885-2526
or by e-mail at Chuck@innerstrengthquest.com 

Chuck is a proud member and accredited coach by the International Coach Federation. Chuck is a founding member of Kansas City’s International Coach Federation Chapter, Heartland Coaches Association , Kansas City’s premier coaching association. I served as President for 2 years and currently serve on the board as Past-President.

http://media.fresnobee.com/smedia/2009/02/20/12/kippreport.source.prod_affiliate.8.pdf

As I was researching a number of items in relationship to previous blogs on college graduation rates and student mobility as it relates to school test scores and year over year turnover of students and staff, I stumbled on a FAQ within KIPP.   I began reading the document to see exactly what was going on at KIPP Fresno that would require specific answers on the KIPP website.   Above is the full document.  I respect KIPP Foundation for being open about this situation and allowing this to be publicly reviewed on line – this takes courage to be critically viewed by outsiders.   It is my hope that not only KIPP Foundation, but all charter school organizations learn something valuable from this document – never should children and teachers have to be subjected to so much mediocrity and actual violations to get charter schools up and running to raise test scores.   There seems to be something so counter intuitive here to what charter schools are about.   I would like to know how Mike and Dave resolved this situation (besides getting rid of the principal) and what steps they have taken to avoid KIPP from ever having to face this at other charter schools in their system.

Although I did not have my ridiculous charter school experience related in a previous blog with KIPP, it is interesting that there are some similar situations and more interesting is that both charter schools are non-union, which is why most of these shenanigans are allowed.  My anecdotals are based on my own experiences with another charter school system and conversations with teacher colleagues and friends who have also taught for yet other schools, unrelated to KIPP or my charter school.  I am open to commentary from others to this blog of situations where charter schools do not operate as noted since I am positive there are many great charter schools out there – I have subbed at some.  Unfortunately the urgency to open and propagate charter schools has left oversight in the dust, as can be seen in this one unfortunate example.

I will do my best to relate my experiences with a charter school to what I have read in the above document and anecdotally comment on the possibility that a child and/or parent may be exaggerating in some instances.  It is clear there were a group of parents focused on an ouster of this principal so allegations can be made that are in fact false, but from the mouth of babes, many a pot of sludge is stirred.  In other instances  I observed, worked through, etc. similar situations as charter schools are not ‘regulated’ in the sense one might think.  As an example here, the school governing body was not able to work with KIPP and/or FUSD to solve some reasonable problems.

I faced a somewhat different battle. Some of the parents on the school governing body where I taught were enamoured with the school principal and so often allowed for his peculiar behaviors and made excuses, as long as it benefitted their child in some manner. Ultimately I believe there were forces beyond anything I was experiencing and I was not aware of as the  then principal moved ‘laterally/somewhat upward’ in the charter school organization at the end of that school year. Without anything more than a gut feeling, I suspect my principal was moved much in the way the principal above was ‘moved’ to salvage anything which could be salvaged at the school (teachers, teacher morale, students, etc.).  I have kept the documentation of e-mails I sent to the charter school corporate offices in the event something comes out about my past  principal and anyone has the gall to say they ‘never saw it coming’.

P. 2 of 63 in document – second paragraph                Sadly, most charter school boards are either not aware or sufficeintly informed of their role and responsibilities to he school.  It is easy for both the principal and the charter school organization to use this lack of information to manipulate situations at the school.    It was nice to see that FUSD decided to have the charter school board properly trained so they could do their job in the best interest of the students.

P. 2 of 63 in document - third paragraph     It is unfortunate that even when the charter school board wanted the principal to address and take action about specific situations, the principal was not held accountable. In addition the FUSD could not assist the charter school board to hold the principal accountable.   Since the principal is in some way a part of the charter, the KIPP foundation would not remove the principal as it would effectively collapse the charter school.  There is clearly something missing in the ed code that would allow this principal to continue when the charter school board asked for his removal, the NAACP visited the school and had concerns and the charter school foundation would not dismiss the principal in spite of all the attached documentation.  This is  one example where charter schools are ‘differently’ accountable than regualr public schools and it is often portrayed as the charter school being a ’school of choice’  so they can behave outside the frame of normal expectations at a public school.

p. 2 and 3 of 63     Where the parents are concerned about psychological punishment by the principal and/or school, I would have to say there is something wrong with the parents. The parents should have immediately pulled their student if this was their concern.   In addition, when CPS had to respond about an issue of  suicide threat, that would have been another indication the parents needed to remove their children from the school.  I hold the parents accountable for indulging the principal and KIPP foundation in some how manipulating them to keep the kids in the school.  It is not uncommon for charter schools to deploy psychological rebuttals to parents indicating the schools superior moral compass for what the parents are not willing to tolerate and the parents are ’shamed’ into keeping the kids at the school.

p. 3 of 63   Where the teacher indicates upon interview she witnessed the principal violating ed code, it is likely the teacher was ‘manipulated’ not to say anything. Since charter schools are non-union, principals and charter school foundations ‘hide’ around this idea of being a school of choice so they are some how not beholden to ed code.   It is disappointing that the teacher did not (1) report this in writing to the KIPP Foundation and make a police report (2) resign her position as teacher.  By not taking action, the teacher in essence condoned the behavior.  Again, charter schools work at manipulating teachers to go along, especially new teachers who may not be familiar with ed code or have reason to question what the principal states.  Most charter school organizations have summer training that is somewhat cultish and works at convincing teachers their principal is their ‘friend’ and the work of the charter school is of great moral conviction and so you must buy in or you don’t ‘belong on the bus’ to quote Jim Collins in  From Good to Great 

Although Jim Collins wrote a version for non-profits (of which charter schools generally are), this is perhaps the bibical text of charter schools and crosses the boundaries of business with education in many ways that are impractical.  Making teachers feel ’special’ for being selected for the specific charter school bus denies the fact that ANYONE can, and often is easily replaceable.  It is false pretense used to inculcate the value of charter schools and why teachers unions are evil.

p. 5 of 63    While I would be willing to bet many of the childrens complaints here are exaggerated (taping to chair, slamming student to wall), I do have to say I have witnessed some pretty unsavory behavior from teachers and principals in the name of ‘tough love’.   I have been party to the line up and marching the playground until the line is straight.  I believe it is some form of corporaal punishment.  Again, when I brought it to the attention of superiors, it was made abundantly clear to me charter schools are schools of choice and this is for the childs own good.   I was shunned for my dissension.  If the parents do not agree, they can take their child to the ’shoddy’ public school down the street.

p. 6 of 63    Item 2     I have seen this and similar other manipulations used on inappropriate student behaviors.  If students did not wear a belt with their uniform, they were given a piece of rope to hold up the pants.  I have seen students have to wear their shirts inside out or borrow a specific shirt from the office that in some bold color indicates they have violated the ‘uniform’  code or some other infraction.

Item 7      Review the comments I made above on p. 5 of 63.  While students may have exaggerated the length of time out in the sun or in line up, I have witnessed as much as 30 minutes.

p. 7  of 63  Item  1   in 2006/2007, Item 2    2007/2008,  p. 8   Item 5 and 6         See comment above on p. 3 of 63

p. 7   of 63 Item 8  See comment on p. 2 and 3 above

p. 7   of 63 paragraph 1          KIPP chose to ‘incorporate’ the relevant ed code into the charter.   It is a positive to see they were willing to incorporate the ed code, it is sad that they were able to apparently skirt the ed code.

p. 9   of 63 Item 1      I have seen a group of students sent to a bathroom to evaluate an incidence of vandalism.  I do not believe the students were in the bathroom for more than a few minutes, however, the students who committed the vandalism were required to remedy the problem.   I do not believe the number of children who went in the bathroom were more than 10.

p. 9   of 63  Item 2   See comment above on p. 3

p. 10  of 63 Item 4    Please take a look at  http://www.aspirepublicschools.org/newsletter/0309/02.html    Staying at school until 10 or 11 PM is in the eye of the beholder as punishment or transformative.

p. 10 of 63  Item 5    I have had this related to me as happening at other KIPP and other charter school systems.

p. 10 of 63  Item 6     This often occured at my school and what the principal ‘wanted’ was what happened, independent of comments from the charter school board or teachers.   Teachers were often talked to in ‘private’ by the principal if they did not support his particular point of view for any reason.

p. 10 of 63  Item 7    See comment above on  p. 3 of 63

p. 11  of 63  paragraph 2, 3 and 4  See commet above on p. 2 of 63

p. 12 of 63  paragraph 2   See comments of p. 2 and 3 above

p. 12 of 63   Item 8    This is a fairly common form of behavior modification used by charter schools.  I have observed this and had it referred to as ‘in house’ suspension.

p. 13 of 63   Item 10  This is common at charter schools. Students may use facilities between classes, at lunch and breaks. Most often this is because there are many problems which occur in bathrooms when students are out of class.  I have never been in a situation where I had to deny a child the right to use a bathroom, however, I have heard from other teachers they view using the bathroom during class time a privilege, not a right.  Note at the end of this item the teacher indicates they tried not to have students ‘miss instruction’ which is typically code for not being out of class. It is difficult to imagine doing 50 minutes of direct instruction.  In addition, I have found that charter schools do not seem to have adequate bathroom facilities. At the school I taught at, the visiting district speech pathologist wanted to report us for having a poor quality staff bathroom, as if we had control over a building we were renting from the district.

p. 14 Item 11  Most principals have this issue at charter schools.  It is not specifically an age issue as much as an experience issue.   See notes above on p. 3 and the author Jim Collins  From Good to Great.  This book endorses getting the right people on the bus which is code for ‘get people who will not question authority and don’t know better about what they are being asked to do at a charter school’.   More often then not, charter school teachers are recently graduated teachers who may not have even completed teacher .  It s very difficult to get experienced teachers to tolerate violations of ed code and human rights.  I find it positive that this principal called a spade a spade – he is definitely one of the few. In addition, older, more experienced teachers tend to be married and/or have children and responsibilities outside their job which means they can not be seen as ‘committed’ to the long hours required at charter schools.  I had a principal try to get me to understand that the mere fact I was questioning anything meant I was not a ‘believer’ and was letting down my colleagues.

p. 14 of 63  Item `13   Ed code violation. I don’t understand this at all. Considering we can’t have peanuts in classrooms, it would seem any one would realize that medication could affect some one in a negative manner.  Perhaps the KIPP training at this school was insufficient.

p. 15 of 63  Item 14  See comments of p. 10  Item 4 above

p. 15 of 63 Item 15   I believe all schools, charter or otherwise are responsible for their own books – which is supposed to be the advantage.  Each principal is in charge of their school and budget and the principal is encouraged to do what is best for his school.  Perhaps in this instance, the principal went above and beyond.

p. 15 of 63  Item 16   This could well be an exaggeration. All teachers and principals have had interactions with parents that were so inappropriate (on the parents end of the conversation) that the parents have to be warned to not yell, not use foul language, not threaten, etc.  If the parents do not comply and they have been warned, it is common practice to hang up the phone until the parent can get a grip.

p. 15 of 63  Item 17  Please see my blog  “Is This Part Of The New TRANSPARENCY” on April 17, 2009. You can make your own opinion about how administrators handle the N, G and R words.

p. 15 and 16 of 63  Item 18   Again, it is apparent KIPP did not do adequate training regarding the ed code and/or use of common sense.

p. 16 of 63  Item 19  This is common at charter schools. The food would get in the way of instructional minutes.

p. 16 of 63  Item 20 second paragraph   I have observed teachers and administration not accept work that was not done in a specific, designated manner. The student could be given a zero or reduced grade for no name, heading, date, etc. I have not seen an assignment ripped up, rather it was returned to student and they were told to re-do assignment for the sake of learning or for partial credit.

p. 17 of 63  Item 22   Exaggeration by parent.   Responsible parents know report cards go out shortly after school is done and not receiving one means they need to contact the school, not assume the school is making sure the parent is checking their mail.  In addition, it is common for students to raid the mail and make report cards or other notices disappear if they know it will cause problems for them. Some schools require parents of students with poor grades to come to the school and sign for receiving the report card.

p. 17 of 63  Item 23  Please see my blog  “Is This Part Of The New TRANSPARENCY” on April 17, 2009. You can make your own opinion about how administrators handle the N, G and R words.

p. 17  of 63 Item 23 third paragraph – Can be exaggeration by parent. A responsible parent would do things in writing and make sure their childs work was collected. Considering teachers at KIPP have cell phones so students can call until fairly late in the evening, it seems the parent and student were not being responsible.

p. 18 of 63  Items 24 and 25    Please see my blog  “Is This Part Of The New TRANSPARENCY” on April 17, 2009. You can make your own opinion about how administrators handle the N, G and R words.    At least there seems to be consistencty between what administration is saying and doing at KIPP Fresno.

p. 18 of 63  Item 26   Most schools require a student to be in either another teachers classroom or the office where there is supervision for extended periods of  time out, especially if student is upset and this is what is causing the disruption.  Giving a student time out is normal and reasonable so students who want to learn can be focused. Teachers are often asked about putting a student out because the student is missing instructional time and it is up to the teacher to ‘control’ all aspects of the class.  Teachers are expected to control situations that are often beyond all reason.

p. 18 of 63    Item 28  This would seem to be a student exaggeration of distance. Furthermore, what on earth is a principal doing shuttling kids to school, much less a female.  This may be part of KIPP   ‘whatever it takes’ and hopefully the parent(s) authorized the principal to drive the kid in his car and saw that he had adequate insurance.  In any event, if you need to bring the child to school, dropping them off anywhere short of the school parking lot is dangerous.  This should have been a reason for the parents to remove their child from this school.

p. 19-21 of 63  South Park Episode   Again, this seems to be a lack of training by KIPP and lack of principal/teacher knowledge of the ed code.

p. 22 of 63   Glad to see the principal was encouraged to take further education/child development classes.  I believe the classes would be effective for this individual if they were in person and not on line classes.  At this point, I would also question why this principal did not have these classes under his belt for his administrative and teaching credential unless, because charter schools can hire who they choose as administrators, he was not an educator by formal training.

 p. 23 of 63   Suspensions and Suspension Procedures based on data from school years 2004-o8        In this particular situation, it seems The KIPP Foundation dropped the ball on so many levels one can not begin to count.  This situation occurs when charter school corporations are busy opening new charter schools and quality goes out the window.  In addition, I have heard the following expression used to explain how charter schools work:  It is like doing engineering repairs on a plane while it is flying in the sky – you have to be careful!  See above comments on p.2 of 63 regarding school board

p. 24 of 63   Various suspension issues that violated the school charter    2004-2005 – I have observed students marching the yard and standing in line at the school I taught at, however, never for more than 1/2 hour.  No matter how short the time, this is in effect, corporal punishment .   School year 2005-2006   please see comments above on p. 3 regarding teacher manipulation.  I would imagine this teacher either was afraid to complain, did not have anyone at KIPP Foundation to complain to or did not entirely realize the issues.   I would imagine this teacher was written off at the end of the year and is no longer with KIPP for not supporting her principal, in spite of her knowing right from wrong.  2006 -2007   See my blog of April 17, 2009 called Is This The New TRANSPARENCY?   It is common that parents or school board at charter and/or public schools are never made aware of this type of situation as it affects the ‘numbers’.   2007-2008  Items 2-5   I have observed similarities of these themes except for children being sent home for the day for not snitching.   Item 5 specifically was true at the school where I taught as the principal never seemed to know what end was up.  Due to the inconsistent standards for disciplining students, the behavior on any given day could swing high and low depending on the principals whim.  My principal did not want students to miss instructional minutes so would tolerate all but the most egregious behavior from students and expect teachers to get on with teaching.

p. 26-28  Law/Charter Violation     This seems to be a situation where KIPP was just not on the ball and doing their work at the Foundation level.  The fact that these situations went on year over year for four years is a complete lack of  professionalism by KIPP  and very much what I observed within the charter school system I worked for.  Anything ‘wrong’  was always noted as ‘teething pains’ and a learning experience rather than the charter school system having the courage to do what was right/correct for students and teaching staff.

p. 29 of 36  Board Composition Issues  Fact 1- 4

I dealt with these issues at the school I taught at. It was often difficult to get a full board for a meeting and people were ‘appointed’ by the principal rather than elected by the parents of the school.  I was the teacher representative on the board and specifically related to Fact 4, heard my own principal state similar things about parents on the board when he felt they were not supporting his wishes/desires.

p. 30-31  Credentialing    It has been my experience that charter schools can hire people with a variety of credentials and credentials per se, do not matter.  Case in point, a college professor with a PhD in the sciences  was asked to teach science with me. The professor questioned the arrangement and the university he worked for was willing to ‘validate’ his experience so he could teach at the middle school level. My charter school organization had no issue with this.  Likewise, my charter school organization hired a practicing attorney on sabbatical to teach, again, without credentials.  How this was able to fly under the CDE radar is still of great amazement to me. Both of these teaching colleagues were outstanding; unfortunately they were never made aware of what they were getting into and both left before the middle of the school year.    These two examples were only at the school I taught at – it is quite possible that these circumstances were much more common throughout my charter school system and I was not aware.  There is a rather odd relationship between charter schools and credentialing.  Charter school principals have been given wide lattitude on who they hire to be the right people on the bus.  What is more egregious to me is that the charter school organizations, in this case KIPP were not in the professional practice of reviewing credentials, which are online and anyone can review with the DOB and SS number of he applicant.  CDE may be slow on processing credentials and performing matriculation as they themselves struggle to keep up with the laws, legislation and practices, however this is no excuse for the charter school organization to hire inappropriately, especially when these schools are stating they are trying to ‘change’ education malfeasance.

In addition to all the general credentialing issuesand  demonstrating a teacher is highly qualified, there are issues where by legislation allows a teacher to teach off credential as long as it is less than 50% of their teaching load.  Charter schools benefit from this practice in two ways. (1) School districts /charter school organizations were allowed to select how their teachers in middle school are credentialed. Choice A is by subject matter and you either have BA/BS in subject area and passed CSET or Choice B where all middle school teachers up to Gr 8 can use the equivalent of  a general credential with emphasis in a specific subject area by passing through so many units of course work.  Choice B was most often selected when Choice A was demonstrated to be difficult to fulfill, particularly in the areas of math and science.   (2) Since the ‘haziness’ surrounding the issue of credentialing changed daily (see blog  CLAD, CBEST, CTEL (not Rotel),CSET, SDAIE, BTSA, HOUSSE Points, social security windfall and STRS….published March 1, 2009) and charter schools basically fly under the radar, less than 50% of the teaching day could be interpreted in a number of ways, especially with block scheduling.  Less than 50% of the teaching load could be broken up in many fashions and when teachers and teaching assignments change year over year at most charter schools, the data gets ‘lost’, confused, massaged, etc. in hopes no one will notice and less people will complain as long as test scores go up.

p. 33 of 63  Criminal background check issues     I am laughing hysterically as I type this. The security detail at the charter school I taught at was none other than the men of ‘Your Black Muslim Bakery’ in Oakland, now even more famous for the assasignation of Chauncey Bailey.  When I expressed to my then principal  (in a school staff meeting with all teachers present) these people made me feel ‘ishy’ which is my word for strange feeling, I was  later counseled privately by my then principal that I needed to learn how to deal with and serve the members of the community for which I was teaching (code for, you are a white racist woman).  The charter school organization that oversaw our school was well aware of this interesting security detail, however, felt that this was the most appropriate group of individuals to protect children in K-8 at a public school.  I did try to bring this to the attention of  Jaxon Vanderbecken and Nanette Asimov at SF Chronicle, however, they were not interested – it was not really news.  I can assure you the security detail at my school was not fingerprinted, so, I guess, one might say fingerprinting is in the eye of the beholder, in spite of what the ed code states.   Since I was new to N. CA, I was not aware of who ‘Your Black Muslim Bakery’ was and, truth be told, I bought food there.  When I later realized what was the ‘what’, I realized the ‘ishy’ feeling was apparently my sensitivity to the behavior of released felons, not actual issues of racism.

p. 43 of 63   State Mandated Testing     Item 6 on p.44 and Items 10, 12, 13 on p. 45  are the same issues which I experienced at my charter school.  Since test scores are the all important factor in charter school success at this time, everything is done to improve scores within ‘reason’.  I sat in a staff meeting where the wink, wink/nudge, nudge was given to our RSP teacher (way to young to understand she had a right to say no) openly so that she would talk to parents of our special needs students about opting out of taking the tests since it would be so stressful.  I was absolutely appalled that the principal at this school was so open about his deceit and yet this is what charter school organizations expect.    Even after I had told my colleagues and principal in a staff meeting I would need some one to give me a break about every 45 minutes due to health issues (and doctors note), this was not done and in one e-mail I literally had to explain I had urine and blood running down my leg.   My principal wanted my students to hold their heads up and review their answers for any remaining time during the test. I sent multiple e-mails asking if the students could put their heads down and rest and was responded to each time with, “No, have them re-check their answers”.  What surprises me is that it took the KIPP organization so long to get on the ball with this school and then to feel comfortable with the test results after the fact.

p. 49 of 63   Right to Privacy   Giving out a students home phone and address to anyone other than teaching staff is inappropriate and against the law.    This was often done at school so that parents could call other parents to remind them of a school board meeting, etc.  Often times parents at charter schools do not realize that the rules which apply to regular public schools also apply to charter schools and so this manipulation is done as a slight of hand. 

page 49  of 63Item 1 and page 50 of 63 Item 6 Sadly, the issue of inappropriately touching a female student should have been dealt with in a manner requiring suspension, not merely an apology letter. Again, anything to sanitize the numbers.

page 50 of 63  Item 7   At my school, the annual school survey of parents  was done when we had a big Saturday school gathering/bar-b-que or some other major event to get as many parents as possible to respond.  The surveys were directly related to the bonuses both teachers and the principal recieved so these were golden. We were asked to give away practically anything to get parents there to fill out the surveys……..It was definitely a pay to play scheme since bonuses were tied to the survey numbers.

page 53 of 63  Transferring Students Off Campus Without Parental Permission     This section of the document is confusing and appears to at least, in part, have a cut and paste from the previous section……

page 55 of 63   Copying Writte School Materials (copyright laws)   This is so common it is actually unbelievable.  I was asked by my principal to specifically copy a teachers edition of a science program for a teacher who was going to possibly adapt the curriculum for another school in our system.  I asked if  this other teacher could ask for a professional copy (most textbook companies, etc. will send one teacher copy for review) and was told, “No, it would take too much time and to just do the copying”.    Any consumable materials are supposed to be purchased each year. If you do not use all the consumable material, the logical instinct is to copy what you need from one book for the next year. This is a standard practice, including copying from text books when there are not enough at a particular school.  This is not surprising, nor sadly all that irregular for teachers who rely strictly on textbooks and consumable materials for teaching.

page 58 of 63  Failure to Report Alleged Sexual Abuse

This is again extremely common as it would hurt the school numbers.  I had a situation where some male students were calling a female Double D. At first I thought it might be the name of a singer/professional actor and then realized what the reference was to.  When brought to the attention of the principal I was told I was expecting too much from teenagers and give them a warning.   Further into the year we had a spirit week event.  One of the events was a dance contest called ‘Strut Your Stuff’.  One of the female students (Grade did a simulated pole dance. I kept hoping the principal would shut it down – he let it go.  I wrote an e-mail to him after the fact expressing how humiliating and embarrassing it was to me and how inappropriate to be showing middle school students. He told me he was ‘uncomfortable’ shutting it down and just wanted to let it end itself.  Those were obvious public examples of sexual harassment. There were multiple episodes of less obvious sexual innuendo, touching, etc. that were not dealt with as anything more than teenage behavior between teenagers.     The paperwork and documentation is time consuming, however, all people in education are mandated reporters.  It is sad that schools let these episodes persist and escalate before taking action.

page 62 of 63  Failure to Comply With District Investigation      Item 1 -  clearly the numbers would have been telling if the real information got out.  Hopefully our new U.S. President in 2009 will finally get schools to be transparent……. 

I respect and admire the KIPP organization for making the document posted at the top of this blog public.  Perhaps they had no other choice – I am not sure.  Sadly, for each school ‘caught’ there are many which are not monitored or reviewed until a large group of parents take action.  Charter schools are most often able to drift under the radar by the mere fact of the title charter school.   Most people, even those who work for charter school organizations, understand they are in fact, public schools.  I look forward to the day when real numbers are reported on websites from charter school organizations so parents can make educated choices.  Currently, most, probably all  (I have reviewed a ton both in CA and other states) charter schools post the statistics they want marketed and what will best represent their school(s). 

Tansparency – Clearly a beautiful thing when it happens.  I believe some wise person once said, “The truth will set you free”.

Is Ashton an expert at Twitter cause everyone is pushing to help him to get a million before CNN?
No. I’m following him cause I think he’s funny and talented.  I think the whole damn thing is funny.

Are you an expert because your computer has  letters  e-x-p-e-r-t  on it?
No, it means you have keyboard and spell check.

Experts don’t usually even have to tell you they are an expert.  You know it when you talk to them. You know it when you read their posts.  You know it when you see it.

The video of the CEO of Zappo’s is a perfect example. Is he an expert speaker?
No  

Is he an expert at customer service?
Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
He doesn’t just say he is, he shows his customers what excellence is every single call. By building a relationship with them that will last.  It will last through the grand opening of a new Shoe store down the street. It will last through a recession.  Why?  Because he focuses on Trust.  

What do you as a business owner do to ensure your client/customer trusts you?  

Blatant self promotion coming: If you don’t know feel free to contact me to discuss it. That is what I do.

Only someone who trusts you will buy from you twice. You might get someone through the door, or online shopping cart once.  But can you get them back? If you don’t meet your client/customer’s expectation they won’t be back.

In the coaching profession which is unregulated there are lots of people who say they are first coaches and secondly experts in a certain field of coaching. If your thinking about hiring a coach. Ask questions like what Coach Specific Training have you had?  How long have you been doing it?  Are you credentialed by the International Coach Federation?  Experts in the field of coaching are taking the steps to move to the forefront of my profession because they believe it’s the right thing to do.  

How to find the right coach for you: Check this out yes I wrote it but it’s about the process, I’m not the right coach for every one. This will help you if you have a desire or interest in how to choose a coach.

Enjoy and if you did feel free to share it with someone.

I am sure by now you have heard of Twitter, or are now sick of hearing of about Twitter.

But just in case you haven’t heard about Twitter here is what it’s about: as per Wikipedia.

From MC Hammer, Overstock.com to Martha Stewart. Everybody’s on it.

The micro-blogging site gives you 140 characters to say anything you want.

What could you use it for? With more and more Physicians/Hospitals/clinics and so on, on Face Book, MySpace, ECT. It’s easy to see that the Internet and Healthcare will be wound together for a long time.

Some are trying to reach out to Patients, or Communities, even other Providers. Some are using it for fund raising. The Internet has allowed for the World to be smaller, and share ideas.

How can Credentialers use it? Do you use it to contact your peers? To find out about events? Or is it just for fun?

I am still trying to figure that out. Do you have any idea’s let us know? rreagan@askcid.com or twitter.com/askcid

Other Health care related folks on Twitter

American Red Cross

Banner Health

LocumsInsider

A belated Happy New Year to everybody. It has been quite a while since I posted an entry on this blog and I apologize to my modest readership. A combination of work load, family commitments and a medical leave all intervened to keep me away from attending to this project. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it….

I saw a number of communications recently about whether medical staffs routinely do a check for criminal records as part of their credentialing process. Comments from around the country showed a variety of practices, some yes, some no, some relying on state licensing boards, etc. to address this issue.

There is also the question of when and under what circumstances is a criminal matter relevant to credentialing? What if it is just an arrest but not a plea or conviction? What types of crimes are relevant? Crimes that relate to substance abuse [DUI’s and the like] which might suggest an impairment would seem to warrant review by a credentialing entity to see if there is a problem that needs attention. How about shoplifting? Reckless driving unrelated to substance abuse? What about a charge of spousal assault or abuse? What if a business partner swears out a criminal charge that accuses the physician of fraud in the financial transactions of their business? How about if a state or federal agency charges the physician with fraudulent billing and the physician settles the matter with the payment of money to the agency?

It seems to me if the charge suggests substance abuse, it needs to be investigated. If the charge somehow relates to the practice of medicine [physical abuse of a patient, for example], that is obviously relevant. But does any criminal charge, unrelated to care of patients and medical judgment, suggest a character flaw or lack of morality such that it is always relevant to credentialing? I don’t think so, but I’m pretty sure lots of people might disagree.

Anybody who wants to weigh in with an opinion on the issue is welcome to reply and I’ll either post any replies I get or attempt to summarize them in future communications.

Organizations intending to source out a project or a task need to understand the value of credentialing a service provider.  Credentialing is analogous to background and reference check, but goes a bit further than just fact-checking.  Credentialing, in fact, serves as an instrument to use to screen and identify the right service provider for the project.  Small to Mid-Sized Businesses (SMBs) seeking to outsource an IT project rarely follow the process used by Tier-1 players.  Tier-1 players either have a preferred list of vendors or use sourcing consultants to identify the best fit service provider.  While this process usually adds value, it is expensive and time-consuming.  SMBs rarely have the luxury of either time or the money to spend in searching the right service provider.  Fortunately, a new breed of outsource consultants are emerging.  These consultants have built a pre-screened network of service providers.  Most of these networks are informal and lack the rigor of Tier-1 outsource consultants.

A hybrid model is to use the principles of credentialing.  Credentialing helps reduce the risk in sourcing out IT projects.  Credentialing a IT service provider involves verifying the IT infrastructure, project governance and corporate governance.  While Tier-1 players have usually a sound IT infrastructure and a certified IT project governance that is standards based, it cannot be taken as a give for smaller service providers.  The paradox is that it is these smaller niche service providers who are best suited to meet SMB’s IT outsourcing needs. 

Formally credentaling these niche service providers facilitates rapid selection and contracting.  Formal credentialing involves a site visit, validating the IT infrastructure with reference to standards such as ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library), interviews with project managers to understand the project governance, and interviews executives to gain a perspective on corporate governance.  These interviews are backed by a structured audit process that gathers data to help score these objective criteria.  For example, the ratio of project managers to employees coupled with adherence to well-documented processes gives an indication of the commitment to project governance.  While tools that implement these metrics are useful,  the qualitative opinion of the auditor is equally important.  This implies the need for knowledgeable auditors who have experience and training in doing the audits. Vendor assessment tools help speed up the process and reduce the cost. 

A good rule of thumb is to spend less than 3% of the project costs for selecting the right service provider.  The value of credentialing far outweigh these costs.    SMBs can also take advantage of vendors who offer pre-credentialed service provider networks at no cost.    They usually collect a fee from the service providers.

Many of us who run clean IT businesses are no doubt reeling from the Enron-type disaster created by the fourth largest IT firm in India.  It is ironic that the name of this firm is Satyam. It is equally hard to imagine that only one individual is responsible for this mighty collapse. Raju has been brave to shield them, but it is certain that others, perhaps, even a few well placed politicians are involved. What we need is a systemic change in governance, but that is a distant dream in a society bereft with corruption.

Small to Mid-Sized businesses  who were contemplating outsourcing a function or a project, or even those seeking resource augmentation, will rightfully ask searching questions before selecting the vendor.  Credentialing is an approach that will alleviate this risk.  Simply selecting a vendor based on price will not work.  Proper credentialing verifies the IT infrastructure, staff capabilities, relevant experience, customer references, financial strength, and of course the underlying corporate governance.  Not that credentialing guarantees success – success is only achieved with diligence, technical superiority and excellence in project management.  However, credentialing is a necessary first step to eliminate companies that have gaps in Governance.

By  Judith V. Boettche

This is my first experience with doing a formal blog posting, although it has been on my list for a while. Jim Morrison suggested that this format, the new blog area for Innovate, might be a good way to more quickly share a recent interview on open education resources with Terry Anderson, director, Canadian Institute for Distance Education Research, and one of the keynoters at the 14th Annual Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning in Orlando, Florida, on 4 November 2008. Terry’s keynote title was “Social Software and Open Education Resources: Can the crowd learn to build great educational content?“

One of my goals in going to the conference was to interview Terry about his perspectives on open education resources, and I was not disappointed! Terry was very gracious in meeting me over lunch the day of his keynote in the Caribe Royal restaurant. We had a broad-ranging conversation that included his personal experiences with making the book, The Theory and Practice of Online Learning, now in its second edition, freely available on the web. But more on that later.

So here goes. I hope you enjoy it!

JB: Terry, the abstract for your keynote emphasizes the promise of open education resources (OERs) to radically reduce the cost of educational content production and availability. Yet you seem to indicate that educators are not making much use of these resources. Why not?

TA: I don’t think that the availability of OERs has had much impact as yet. Lots of people download content, but how many people use it for serious academic work?

JB: Why do you think that is? What do you think has to happen before the adoption of OERs becomes more widespread and thus more of a force in keeping educational content costs down?

TA: I think there are two issues in the adoption and use of OERs: credentialing and the social support of learning experiences.

People work hard when they are motivated, and most people are motivated by credentialing or earning some kind of a certificate. What is needed for broadening the impact of open educational resources is to provide a pathway for credentialing. For example, with the open courseware from MIT, they provide the courseware resources, but no credentialing. It is up to other institutions to provide the pathway to credentialing. For example, at Athabasca University, a significant number of our Athabasca courses have what we call a “challenge alternative.” This means students can elect to writing an equivalent final exam or completing the final requirements of a course — without actually taking the course.

The second issue is that of social support. Many students find it difficult to learn on their own independent of a social environment. They like to struggle and engage with other learners as they learn. So one of our future tasks is likely to focus on developing educational experiences that include interaction with other students. For example, a learning experience that says, “Go to this site and do this with others who have started at about the same time.”

JB: What about the financial model for OER? How is this going to work? How do we ensure that people with expertise, talent get some compensation for their time and resources?

TA: What we have here, I think, is the same issue that exists with television, music and other creative industries. I think that micropayments are one approach that will work. We see this in the model from Apple with iTunes. Rather than buying a whole album, people select and pay 99 cents for one track of a CD. We need to experiment with additional different models that include reaching out with micropayment models to the long tail of the net —where there are millions of people on line today. We need to begin doing more looking out beyond the 200 or so million people in the U.S.

JB: What about faculty members? Is the micropayments model going to be important for them?

TA: For many faculty it is not an issue. Even today, writing educational materials generally does not mean a lot of money coming back to faculty. And it does not matter as faculty are paid by the state or by the institution! Faculty may dream about writing a textbook that becomes a nationwide top seller, but it doesn’t happen very often.

I think we should move away from a production model where textbooks are written by one or two superstars to a production model with a much larger group of folks. Or move to a co-production model such as we do for research journals.

[Note: Terry’s thoughts on content production models made me think about the Wikipedia model. Maybe we should consider a Chemistry or Physics Resources Wikipedia? -JB]

JB: Terry, what bout the current costs of textbooks and educational materials. Are the costs for educational materials really a big deal?

TA: It really depends a great deal on where you are. When I am working on my campus I have access through our institution’s library database agreements to almost any resource I am interested in using. And this is the same for most of my colleagues in the academic community. So, we start to forget that materials may not be similarly “available” to others. If you go to Africa where the tuition is $45, and the libraries do not have access to content and the textbook is $90 to $100, it’s a very big deal!

JB: Let’s return to the question in the subtitle of your keynote presentation. Terry, do you think the “crowd” can learn to build great educational content?”

TA: Oh, I think “yes!” A colleague and I have been working on a book that is in a long gestation period. The book focuses on the “three aggregations of the many.”

The third “aggregation” is the collective, which is the “crowd.” A lot of people are using the net for many purposes. As they are doing this, they are all leaving traces of their activity, explicitly by voting or buying or doing something; or implicitly by which sites they are visiting and how long they stay on a site. Data mining and data capture techniques include tools that match what some people are doing with what other people are doing with some automatic filtering going on. We are at the early stages of that. Collectives are being used as learning resources without enrolling the class. This means if you use the net fairly frequently, it will reward you.

[Continued in Part II]

My husband and I were watching one of our favorite TV shows, Ghost Hunters.

And I started thinking, how is Credentialing like ghost hunting?

We both look for things that may or may not be there.

Ronda