Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

School Accountability -- A Broader, Bolder Approach | Reports | A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education | BoldApproach.org

School Accountability -- A Broader, Bolder Approach | Reports | A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education | BoldApproach.org





Reports

June 25, 2009

School Accountability — A Broader, Bolder Approach

Report of the Accountability Committee of the Broader Bolder Approach to Education Campaign

The Accountability Committee of the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education campaign has released its report with recommendations for the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA, known temporarily during the Bush Administration as the "No Child Left Behind Act," or NCLB).
This new BBA report recommends that ESEA expand the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a test given to a representative sample of the nation's students, to cover a broad range of subjects — not only math and reading — to counteract the narrowing of the curriculum spurred in recent years by NCLB. And the report further recommends that ESEA permit states flexibility in designing their accountability systems, provided these systems include qualitative evaluation of school quality and do not rely primarily on standardized test scores to judge the success of schools.

Read the full report Adobe PDF

See videos of candidate and President Obama expressing agreement with BBA accountability principles
See June 2009 follow-up memorandum to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, proposing a gradual implementation of the BBA Accountability Statement's recommendation to expand the sampling and coverage of the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
See September 2009 follow-up report on estimating the cost of an accountability system that employed inspectors to make qualitative judgmentsand did not rely exclusively on test scores to judge schools. (Seeaccompanying spreadsheet.)

District-State Tension Race to the Top Issue - Politics K-12 - Education Week


District-State Tension Race to the Top Issue - Politics K-12 - Education Week


District-State Tension Race to the Top Issue

By Alyson Klein on January 5, 2010 1:33 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
As states scramble to get their Race to the Top Fund applications in before the Jan. 19 deadline, it looks like there's tension—or at least questions—emerging concerning those Memorandums of Understanding that districts are supposed to sign off on to show that they're planning to participate in the Race to the Top.
Folks at two organizations that advocate for districts, the National School Boards Association and the American Association of School Administrators, tell me they've been fielding lots of questions on this issue. It sounds like in some places district officials aren't clear on whether the MOUs are supposed to be binding or not, meaning they're not sure if they have to follow through if a state gets selected for a grant.
It's in a state's best interest to get as many districts as possible to sign on to its Race to the Top bid. It helps the state rack up points in the economic-stimulus grant competition.
But some districts, at least in Michigan, are mulling whether they should sign on to the state's bid, especially since some say they're not clear on the state's plan and what they'd be agreeing to. This has also come up in California, where some districts have joined the effort reluctantly, according to local reports. The picture is mixed in Louisiana, where some districts have embraced the plan, but the state school boards association has its doubts.

STANFORD: NEW YORK CITY CHARTER SCHOOLS PROVIDING SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER RESULTS IN READING, MATH



STANFORD: NEW YORK CITY CHARTER SCHOOLS PROVIDING SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER RESULTS IN READING, MATH



CREDO Report Finds that New York City Charter Schools Do Significantly Better with Blacks, Hispanics and Students Who Had Not Previously Done Well

Stanford, CA – A new report issued today by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes
(CREDO) at Stanford University found that charter schools in New York City are demonstrating
significantly better results for their students in reading and in math than their traditional public
school counterparts. These trends were consistent for students overall, as well as for several key
groups, including Blacks and Hispanics in both subjects, for students who had not previously
done well in traditional public schools, for students in poverty in reading, for students enrolled
for at least two years or more in reading, and for all students in math regardless of how long they
were enrolled.

The CREDO at Stanford report was commissioned at the request of the New York City
Department of Education in July 2009, following CREDO’s national report released in June
2009, entitled, “Multiple Choice: Charter School Performance in 16 States.” That report was the
first detailed national assessment of charter school impacts. Its longitudinal, student-level
analysis covered more than 70 percent of the nation’s students attending charter schools.
Entitled, “Charter School Performance in New York City,” this report drew upon the same
methodological approach used for the pooled national study used to measure the effects of
charter schooling on student academic performance.

On a school-by-school comparison, the report found that 51 percent of New York City charter
schools are showing academic growth in math that is statistically larger than students would have
achieved in regular public schools, with 33 percent with no significant difference and 16 percent
with significantly lower learning. In reading, the report found that 29 percent of charter schools
are showing statistically better gains, with 59 percent with no significant difference and only 12
percent significantly lower.

Specifically, the report found that new charter school students in New York are modestly but
significantly behind in reading gains during their first year, but receive an immediate, significant
benefit in math compared to their traditional public school counterparts. But in their second
year, charter school students have substantial gains in both reading and math, and this impact
stays positive and significant through their third year of attendance.

The report also found that Blacks and Hispanics enrolled in charter schools do significantly
better in charter schools in both reading and math. In both cases, their math results are stronger
than reading, but both are comparatively stronger than would have been realized in regular
public schools.

Students that had not previously done well in traditional public schools also showed higher
academic gains, according to the report. In fact, charter schools were found to have strong
performance across the range of starting scores, which indicates that charter schools are overall
successful at improving student achievement regardless of academic background.

With respect to students in poverty, students enrolled in charter schools do significantly better in
reading and about the same in math compared to their counterparts in traditional public schools.
“Our findings show New York City charter schools on average have provided superior academic
results for their students,” said Dr. Margaret Raymond, director of CREDO at Stanford
University. “Further, the spread in performance between the highest- and lowest-performing
schools is consistently smaller than found in other communities.”

The report analyzed six years of achievement data, beginning with the 2003 – 2004 school year
and concluding with the 2008 – 2009 school year. A total of 20,640 charter school students from
49 charter schools were followed for as many years as data was available. The students were
drawn from Grades 3 – 8, with an identical number of virtual comparison students included in
the analysis. For each charter school, the composite virtual students were based on students in
the group of traditional public schools whose students leave to attend the charter– the charter
school’s feeder pool. In New York City, it was possible to create virtual matches for 85 percent
of the charter school students in both reading and math.

For the remaining groups in the analysis, including special education students and English
Language Learners, there was no discernable difference between charter school and traditional
public school performance.

“The study shows that it is possible to create a strong environment in which charter schools are
both encouraged and required to deliver high quality education to all students regardless of
background.” said Dr. Raymond. “The charter sector in New York City serves as an important
benchmark for education policymakers in other states as they move forward with their own
charter school policies and Race to the Top applications.”

To download a copy of the full report and executive summary, visit: http://credo.stanford.edu

About CREDO at Stanford University

CREDO at Stanford University was established to improve empirical evidence about education
reform and student performance at the primary and secondary levels. CREDO at Stanford
University supports education organizations and policymakers in using reliable research and
program evaluation to assess the performance of education initiatives. CREDO's valuable
insight helps educators and policymakers strengthen their focus on the results from innovative
programs, curricula, policies or accountability practices. http://credo.stanford.edu

Power to the (Local) People! | California Progress Report


Power to the (Local) People! | California Progress Report



Imagine for a moment that you’re a kid again.
Maybe you have a lemonade stand or your parents give you a small allowance each week. It’s not much, but it’s enough to cover the general operating expenses incurred by a seven-year-old.
Enter “Cal,” the school bully who lives down the street.
Cal is the most feared eighth grader in your school. He’s twice your size and his egotism is matched only by his avarice. He’s always broke, so his favorite pastime involves punching you in the stomach and taking your money.
If this scenario sounds familiar to you, there’s a decent chance you’re a local government official or service provider in the state of California.
Thomas Jefferson would be appalled by the past 40 years of California’s political history.
A firm believer that government is most responsive when it is closest to the people, Jefferson would undoubtedly recoil at Sacramento’s relentless assault on local governments. Indeed, the only thing more predictable than serial budget crises in Sacramento is the subsequent attempt to close the gap with local revenues.
If you think the state’s multi-billion dollar budget shortfalls are some abstract, far-off problem, think again. Local governments – cities, counties and special districts – have become the piggy banks of last resort for a state government that has come unhinged. Since 1991, California cities have lost more than $10 billion in property tax revenues to the black hole in Sacramento.
Even though nearly 84 percent of California voters approved Proposition 1A in 2004 – which protected local funding for public safety, health, libraries, parks and other locally delivered services – the state continues to tap into local funds to balance its budgets.
What does this mean to you? It means you’ll have to wait an extra 30 minutes for the bus you take to work each day, if your line hasn’t been cut entirely. I

Manipulating the Process To Get the Result You Want Isn't Reform | California Progress Report


Manipulating the Process To Get the Result You Want Isn't Reform | California Progress Report



Fellow Orange County native Ezra Klein picks up on a point we've been making a lot here at Calitics over the last few years:
"Polarization isn't a new story, nor were California's budget problems and constitutional handicap. Yet the state let its political dysfunctions go unaddressed. Most assumed that the legislature's bickering would be cast aside in the face of an emergency. But the intransigence of California's legislators has not softened despite the spiraling unemployment, massive deficits and absence of buoyant growth on the horizon. Quite the opposite, in fact. The minority party spied opportunity in fiscal collapse. If the majority failed to govern the state, then the voters would turn on them, or so the theory went.
That raises a troubling question: What happens when one of the two major parties does not see a political upside in solving problems and has the power to keep those problems from being solved?...
The lesson of California is that a political system too dysfunctional to avert crisis is also too dysfunctional to respond to it. The difficulty is not economic so much as it is political; solving our fiscal problem is a mixture of easy arithmetic and hard choices, but until we solve our political problem, both are out of reach. And we can't assume that an emergency, or the prospect of one, will solve the political problem for us. If you want to see how that movie ends, just look west, as we have so many times before."
Ezra's column shows how the looming dysfunction in the Senate, where the Republicans are preparing to block all solutions to our problems that are not deeply ideologically conservative, is a tactic perfected here in California. I wish he had

UC Davis a good buy, Kiplinger says - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee


UC Davis a good buy, Kiplinger says - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee:

"The University of California, Davis, joined seven other California colleges on the Kiplinger's Personal Finance list of '100 Best Values in Public Colleges 2009-10.'

UC Davis ranked 41st on the Kiplinger's list, which included UC San Diego (11th), UCLA (13th), UC Berkeley (18th), UC Irvine (20th), UC Santa Barbara (29th), California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (50th) and UC Santa Cruz (68th).

Kiplinger's noted that the listed schools 'continue to deliver strong academics at reasonable prices, in many cases by offering the same or more financial aid as in previous years.'"

Michelle Rhee - washingtonpost.com

Michelle Rhee - washingtonpost.com:


"A DIFFERENT CHANCELLOR 

Michelle Rhee was appointed to take over the troubled D.C. school system in June 2007. During her tenure Rhee has garnered both praise and criticism for her radical tactics."


Union members, parents and community activists packed the D.C Council chambers Thursday morning for Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's first detailed account of the teacher layoffs and budget cuts that have placed her under the heaviest political fire of her 28-month tenure.





VIDEO | Rhee talks to members of the D.C. Council about the system's problems with truancy.





Let me set the record straight… � EducationCEO's Blog


Let me set the record straight… EducationCEO's Blog:

"As I was checking the profiles of my new followers yesterday, I noticed that several of the people are affiliated with either KIPP or Teach for America. I figured that they found me due to my incessant use of #hastags. In previous posts I mentioned Michelle Rhee and the other above-referenced companies. I have never minced words about my feelings on Rhee’s leadership style, or lack thereof, because frankly, that’s my prerogative. Once I noticed who was following me, I tweeted the following random message:

A lot of #TFA people have started following me..hope they don’t get their hopes up b/c I ain’t drinkin the Kool-Aid!"

The Educated Guess � The challenge of STEM education


The Educated Guess � The challenge of STEM education:

"Sometimes nothing can kill children’s curiosity in science and technology more effectively than schools.

But that’s what many have done in California, first by starving the curriculum, then by dumbing it down with memorization.


That was the consensus of panelists at a forum last month on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education, sponsored by the Silicon Valley Education Foundation and Citizens Schools.

“We have killed the joy of discovery,” said Mohammad Qayoumi, president of California State University, East Bay, by making what goes on the classroom “boring and disengaging.”"

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence. - Schools Won't Race to the Top


voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence. - Schools Won't Race to the Top:

"While more than half of the school districts, county education offices and charter schools in California have sent letters that could help the state in its bid for more school stimulus dollars, San Diego Unified has decided against signing on so far, with only a few days left before its deadline to join.

That means that unless San Diego Unified changes its mind, it will not get a slice of extra stimulus money if California wins more under the first round of Race to the Top, a stiff competition for federal money for schools. The school district could, however, have a shot at the dollars if California wins in the second round after losing out in the first -- but it would still have to sign on to the favored reforms.

Why is San Diego Unified sitting it out? Spokesman Bernie Rhinerson said there are too many unknowns about what California will require schools to do with the money and what, if anything, the changes would actually cost the school district. Some of the favored changes, such as tying test scores to teacher evaluation, are unpopular with the San Diego Unified board."

Local News | Provost Phyllis Wise's Nike ties draw fire at UW | Seattle Times Newspaper

Local News | Provost Phyllis Wise's Nike ties draw fire at UW | Seattle Times Newspaper:

"A University of Washington faculty group says the UW's integrity, image and academic freedom are threatened by Provost Phyllis Wise's decision to join the corporate board of Nike.

The executive board of the American Association of University Professors, UW chapter (AAUP-UW), issued a strongly worded statement Monday urging Wise to step down from the board position she accepted six weeks ago.

It represents the first official reaction to the Nike controversy by a faculty group — but perhaps not the last. The UW Faculty Senate is to meet later this month, and Nike is on the agenda. Senate chair Bruce Balick said emotions among some faculty are running high, although opinions vary."

Dellums ducks out of coalition seeking ed funds

Dellums ducks out of coalition seeking ed funds


California's Big 10, a coalition of mayors from the state's biggest cities, sent a letter calling on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers to move swiftly to complete a proposal for the state's portion of $4.3 billion in federal education funds


"The Race to the Top competition offers an unprecedented opportunity to provide resources for California's next generation," wrote Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, the letter's author. "As city leaders, we feel an obligation to ensure California's application is as competitive as possible. This letter shows our commitment."



Unfortunately, when it was delivered last week the letter carried the signatures of only the Big Nine mayors because one big-city mayor refused to sign on. I'll give you two guesses, but Oakland residents are only going to need one.


Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums respectfully declined, citing language and policy elements he and his education advisers wanted included in Race to the Top legislation being considered in Sacramento.


Specifically, Dellums wanted a section that pushed for a diverse teaching corps drawn from the community and a federal solution that considered the broad wealth gap in U.S. cities.
Dellums' education advisers, including senior education adviser Kitty Kelly Epstein, believe President Obama's Race to the Top education program does not provide the same flexibility to low-performing public schools that are afforded to charter schools, said Paul Rose, Dellums' press secretary. Dellums also consulted with advisers from the Oakland Unified School District and a group of interested community organizations, Rose added. Both Dellums and Kelly Epstein declined requests for interviews.


Apparently, Dellums has a better plan. Oakland's Quiet Mayor is talking with philanthropic organizations and national corporations to secure education funds for Oakland's public schools, Rose said. Of course, announcing those partnerships would be premature, he added.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/05/BAAB1BDGC4.DTL#ixzz0bkdUhdWN

Shop class to be replaced with job-training programs :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Education


Shop class to be replaced with job-training programs :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Education:

Shop class to be replaced with job-training programs

CPS | Students will compete for vocational spots, focus on job training

"Shop and auto classes that kids meandered into as electives are being replaced with 21st century job-training programs that students will vie for citywide -- with higher-scoring kids getting first dibs -- under a vocational education shake-up announced Monday.

And starting next school year, central office officials, rather than principals, would select kids for new 'College and Career Academy' programs -- ranging from agriculture to transportation --based on applications listing each student's top five picks."

Class Time Substitute = Waste? - The Learning Network Blog - NYTimes.com


Class Time Substitute = Waste? - The Learning Network Blog - NYTimes.com


Class Time + Substitute = Waste?

Student Opinion - The Learning NetworkStudent Opinion - The Learning Network
Questions about issues in the news for students 13 and older.
According to a recent Op-Ed, more than 5% of teachers are absent on any given day, which means that by the time you finish high school, you have had substitutes for nearly a year of your schooling. And few substitutes are trained in either teaching or the curriculum they have to cover. What experiences have you had with substitutes?
In the Op-Ed “The Replacements,” Carolyn Bucior shares the experiences and insights she gained in her two years of substitute teaching:
“Maggie,” a teacher in a Milwaukee public school, was talking about the difficulty of her job, which is something the teachers I know do quite a lot. Then she complained that her sub hadn’t completed the lesson plan she’d been given.

The Answer Sheet - Are American students lazy?


The Answer Sheet- Are American students lazy?:

"In late December a teacher wrote a piece in the Boston Globe complaining about how lazy her American students are. Kara Miller, 31, who teaches rhetoric and history at Babson College in Boston, wrote, in part,

“Teaching in college, especially one with a large international student population, has given me a stark - and unwelcome - illustration of how Americans’ work ethic often pales in comparison with their peers from overseas.

“My “C,’’ “D,’’ and “F’’ students this semester are almost exclusively American, while my students from India, China, and Latin America have - despite language barriers - generally written solid papers, excelled on exams, and become valuable class participants.”"

Data shows racial gaps in Colorado public-school suspensions - The Denver Post


Data shows racial gaps in Colorado public-school suspensions - The Denver Post:

"Black public-school students in Colorado are nearly three times as likely to face serious discipline as their white peers, a disparity that is persistently growing despite efforts to curb it.

In the 2008-09 school year, about 70,000, or 8.5 percent, of the state's 818,000 students were suspended, expelled or disciplined for being disruptive, according to a Denver Post analysis of newly released data. Reasons ranged from drug, weapon and alcohol infractions to disobedient and detrimental behavior, the most common — and subjective — reasons.

But while black students make up just 5.9 percent of the student population, they were the subject of 12.7 percent of the discipline cases, up from 11.7 percent five years ago. White students, who were about 61 percent of the population, were the subject of 46.8 percent of discipline cases.

Latino students make up 28.4 percent of the population and were involved in 37 percent of discipline cases, another persistent gap."

Class Struggle - D.C. teacher evaluation program leader critiques my column


Class Struggle- D.C. teacher evaluation program leader critiques my column:

"Jason Kamras, director of teacher human capital strategy for the D.C. schools, is in charge of the IMPACT program for teacher evaluation in the city. He is trying to help me understand his complex system. Here is an e-mail he recently sent me giving his view on my column in today's Metro section. Since this subject is so complicated, I am going to continue to offer space on this blog to Kamras or any teachers who want to provide details of their evaluation experiences so we can all figure it out. This is one of the most interesting, and controversial, assessment efforts in the country. I long for as much useful information about it as possible."

In his e-mail, Kamras quoted parts of my column and then gave his responses. He is quoting from an earlier version of the column I sent him in advance. (I send everything I write to all relevant sources in advance to check for errors.) So the quotes here may be somewhat different than what you see in the column just below this item on the blog:

UFT charter chicanery - NYPOST.com

UFT charter chicanery - NYPOST.com



Why has the United Federation of Teachers placed itself squarely between New York taxpayers and $700 million in federal school aid?
Because it hates charter schools -- and it doesn't care about taxpayers, anyway.
Here's the deal:
By Jan. 19, New York must be in compliance with a variety of US Department of Education mandates, chief of which is lifting, if not eliminating, the state cap on the number of charter schools -- public schools generally run free of bureaucratic red tape and union work rules.
And failure to comply probably costs New York some $700 million in so-called "Race To The Top" DOE grants meant to encourage educational innovation.
The UFT's power in Albany, and that of its parent, New York State United Teachers, is prodigious. But the unions do understand the importance of appearances.
And the unions certainly don't want to look like the bad guys if New York misses out on the federal cash.
Instead, as charter-school advocate Tom Carroll noted on these pages yesterday, the unions are pushing "poison pill" amendments to legislation meant to lift the cap. That way, they can better the odds of getting the federal money while still undermining the charter schools.
UFT boss Michael Mulgrew & Co. would make it easier to "starve" charters of funds, force them to unionize and set a percentage for the special-education and English-as-a-second-language students they must accept, among other steps.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/uft_charter_chicanery_cIzRDP4mU4WoW4n8Qn6RGO#ixzz0bkGYTrL8