Wednesday, March 3, 2010

GothamSchools - Breaking News and Analysis of the NYC Public Schools

GothamSchools - Breaking News and Analysis of the NYC Public Schools: "Testing, charters get boos at

Testing, charters get boos at Teach for America eduation panel

When singer John Legend agreed to talk on a Teach for America panel about his views on education, he probably thought he’d get a warm reception. After all, he supports charter schools, a longer school day, and vigorous standardized testing, all policies championed by the education reform movement Teach for Americahelped fuel.

But things didn’t go his way last night.

One of six panelists at the event, “Men of Color and Education: A Discussion on the Pursuit of Excellence,” Legend met with more criticism and more boos than he’d bargained for. At first, the audience of mostly black and Latino teachers — most of them TFA members — praised Legend’s support for putting good teachers in front of high-need students, but the cheers soon turned to boos when he advocated for testing. (more…)

Funny or Die: SNL Presidential reunion - chicagotribune.com

Funny or Die's Presidential Reunion from Will Ferrell

Schools Matter: Wake County in Crisis Due to Segregationist School Board Majority

Wake County in Crisis Due to Segregationist School Board Majority

from Schools Matter by Jim Horn

The story, Wake County goes to hell, by Bob Geary at IndyWeek.com:

Del Burns' abrupt resignation as Wake County's superintendent of schools made things clear, if they weren't already: The county is in crisis. The Wake school system, lauded as among the best in the nation and an engine for the county's growth, is in mortal danger from the newly elected school board majority and its right-wing backers.
And just in case Wake's more centrist and progressive leaders on the board were thinking that Burns could hold the fort without them (and if that's not what they were thinking, why were they so quiet when all hell was breaking loose?), they were wrong. He couldn't. The new majority wasn't listening to anything he said. But they weren't firing him either.
No, the five in the majority, led by Board Chairman Ron Margiotta, were content to use Burns as a prop—a Potemkin frontman—in a power play disguised as a deliberative review, with his input, of school assignment policies.
That's what Burns meant when he resigned in protest Feb. 15 and said, in one of a series of interviews he gave two days later, "I will not allow myself to be a pawn in political gamesmanship." The new majority's policies, Burns warned, if allowed to take effect, would bal

A day to read aloud The Educated Guess

The Educated Guess

A day to read aloud

Posted in Uncategorized

Tomorrow, they march. Today, they read.
In honor of the 13th annual Read Across America event, thousands of retired teachers and California Teachers Association leaders joined classroom teachers in reading aloud from their favorite books to elementary students across the state. Many were reading from Dr. Seuss books, since today’s celebration of the art of reading aloud coincides with author Theordore Geisel’s birthday.
In Los Angeles, CTA Vice President Dean Vogel and noted L.A. chef Paul McCullough read this year’s featured book for state events, “Armadilly Chili.” At my wife’s school in San Jose Unified, a half-dozen retired teachers shared books with kids. It was a great event.
Reading Dr. Seuss was a good prologue

RTTT finalists out Thursday - but not PA? | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

RTTT finalists out Thursday - but not PA?

by Dale Mezzacappa on Mar 03 2010

Well, Thursday is the day that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will announce the ten finalists for the coveted Race to the Top pot of gold at 2:30 p.m. States will be notified several hours earlier. Five of these states soon will be chosen as the first round of awardees.

Handicapping by reporters and bloggers for Education Week who are covering the process closely have concluded that Pennsylvania, one of the 40 states that applied, did not make the cut. But there will be a second round of competition for what's left of the $3.5 billion pot later this year.

Their money is on Florida, Louisiana, Illinois, Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Colorado, Indiana, and Minnesota.

Pennsylvania Department of Education spokesman Michael Race was not ready to throw in the towel.

"It’s all speculation," he said. "Until we hear an announcement from the Obama administration, nobody knows who will be a finalist or get the money." Philadelphia could benefit to the tune of more than $100 million if Pennsylvania wins.

Watch this space.

Berkeley Schools, Colleges Gear Up for March 4 Day of Action. Category: News Updates from The Berkeley Daily Planet - Thursday February 25, 2010

Berkeley Schools, Colleges Gear Up for March 4 Day of Action

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Wednesday March 03, 2010

Schools, classrooms, corridors and cafeterias in Berkeley are buzzing with excitement over the March 4 Day of Action in California. An idea born out of the Oct. 24 education conference at the UC Berkeley campus, Thursday’s rally has evolved into a statewide movement to protest budget cuts, fee hikes and furloughs in public education.

“We see the rally as an important first step that for the first time brings all of education together in one protest,” said Joan Berezin, who teaches Global Studies at Berkeley City College. “In the past we have fought group by group—K-12, community colleges, CSUs and UCs. That has often resulted in the politicians playing us off against each other. We want to make sure that we are all seen and heard--that the politicians all over California get the message that these cuts are not okay.”

Berkeley City College students plan to march throughout their building at noon Thursday and then take a bus or the BART over to the Civic Center in San Francisco, where a rally is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.

Berezin, who will speak at the rally, said many of the students who were organizing around the budget cuts had never done anything like that before.

“We hope that we are training a new generation of organizers and activists,” she said.

Over the last few months, BCC students and teachers have gone out to churches, unions, schools, farmers’ markets, BART stations and hospitals to educate the community about how the cuts were affecting public education.

Marc Lispi, who teaches English at Berkeley City College, said the rally in San Francisco was being held at 5 p.m. to give everybody a chance to participate.

“We could have pushed for the rally earlier in the day, but then that would have forced teachers and workers to either take the day off, call in sick or go on strike, none of which most people are willing to do,” he said. “And it would basically mean that most of K-12 would not attend. So it is in the evening, after school and after work to have the greatest turnout.”

Dozens of classes have been cut throughout the Peralta College district, part-time teachers, counselors and custodians laid off and bus routes slashed, making it difficult for students to get to college.

“This was by far the most crowded first weeks of classes ever, with some classes having 20 to 30 additional students because other sections had been cut,” Lispi said. “Many students just didn't get the classes they needed.”

The situation is just as bleak at UC Berkeley, which is planning its own rally at noon at Sproul Plaza. From there students will march to Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, where UC President Mark Yudof has his office.

“We expect pretty much anyone interested in keeping up with the issue of public education in California to be

Friedman: Only Huge Corporate Tax Cuts Can Save Us � The Quick and the Ed

Friedman: Only Huge Corporate Tax Cuts Can Save Us

One of life’s more vexing minor challenges is picking which sentences in a given Thomas Friedman column to mock. I’ll start here:

Businesses prefer to invest with the Jetsons more than the Flintstones, which brings me to the subject of this column.

Stuff like this elevates preemptive self-parody to high art. The facile Jetsons / Flintstones analogy comes quickly on the heels of more vintage Friedman-speak (”We are the United States of Deferred Maintenance. China is the People’s Republic of Deferred Gratification”) before being immediately (and thankfully) abandoned. Note to columnists: if you have to announce the subject of your column as the subject of your column, you haven’t written a very good column.

The rest of the column consists of simply reprinting the thoughts of Intel C.E.O. Paul Otellini on “competitiveness.” Friedman describes acting as Otellini’s scribe as “my public service for the week,” because apparently the C.E.O. of a company that turned a $5 billion profit last year lacks in resources and opportunities to make his views on corporate tax policy known.

State writing tests and the jet-setter’s edge The Education Report

The Education Report

State writing tests and the jet-setter’s edge

By Katy Murphy
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 at 11:24 am in Steven Weinberg, students, test scores
No Comments

Steven Weinberg, a retired Oakland public schoolteacher, says California’s writing tests — which are likely being taken right this moment — do a poor job of measuring the abilities of disadvantaged students.

This week, fourth and seventh grade students throughout California will be taking the state writing examinations. We can hope that the writing assignments the students are given will allow each student a fair opportunity to show his or her writing skills, but past assignments show that this has not always been the case. Some writing tasks have given large advantages to students from prosperous backgrounds and have made it very difficult for students from disadvantaged families to earn good scores.

The clearest example is the 2007 assignment. The prompt, which has been released by the state department of education, along with examples of student answers, read: “If you were given the opportunity to travel anywhere in the

States Have Led Paradigm Shift in Education Reform; College and Career Readiness Now the 'Norm' Education Research Report

Education Research Report

Report Shows States Have Led Paradigm Shift in Education Reform; College and Career Readiness Now the 'Norm'
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Achieve's fifth annual "Closing the Expectations Gap" report shows that in the five years since the National Governors Association (NGA) and Achieve co-sponsored the National Education Summit on high schools, the goal of aligning high school graduation requirements with the demands of college and the workplace has gone from a radical concept to the new norm throughout the country. Such change, measured across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, can largely, if not exclusively, be attributed to state leadership.

"What started off as isolated efforts among a few states five years ago has produced a national consensus: all students should receive a quality education that prepares them to succeed in college, career and life," said Mike Cohen, Achieve's president. "We applaud state leaders for spearheading what will benefit the future of our children and our nation."

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the "Closing the Expectations Gap" report, which Achieve has conducted annually since 2005 when it launched the American Diploma Project (ADP) Network at the National Education Summit to challenge states to work together on a college- and career-readiness agenda. The 50-state survey measures the same five areas of reform each year, as listed below, and reveals the following changes over the last five years:

Standards: At the time of the National Education Summit, only three states had end of high school standards aligned with the demands of college and career. Today, 31 states have developed and adopted high school academic standards in English and mathematics that are aligned with college- and career-ready expectations.

• Graduation Requirements: In 2005, only three states had established college- and career-ready graduation requirements. Today, 20 states and the District of Columbia require all students to complete such a curriculum to earn a high school diploma.
• P-20 Data Systems: In 2005, only three states had operational P-20 longitudinal data systems that link states' student-level K–12 data with similar data from their postsecondary systems. Today, 16 states are matching such data annually.

The Educated Reporter: Who will listen to the teachers?

Who will listen to the teachers?

Scholastic and the Gates Foundation just released an opinion survey of more than 40,000 public school teachers, called “Primary Sources: America’s Teachers on America’s Schools.” Some interesting findings:

—Only 38 percent of high school teachers believe that three-quarters of the students in their classes could be successful at even a two-year college.

—Almost half of teachers say they are willing to have parent-teacher conferences in their students’ homes. But how many actually have? I bet that number is closer to 1 percent, if that high.

—Only 27 percent of teachers said that state standardized tests are essential or very important to measuring students’ academic achievement, while 92 percent said so about ongoing assessment during class. They gave more credit even to data from software programs than to state test results.

—As for accurate measures of their own performance, they rate nearly everything higher than the results of standardized tests—though “student growth” ranks highly, and it is

Read this: NYT magazine on teacher quality.

Don’t miss Elizabeth Green’s forthcoming New York Times Magazine cover story, “Building a Better Teacher.” Infused into the piece is Elizabeth’s great sense for, and specifics about, what the teacher quality research does and does not say. The reason she does a more thorough and critical job of this than most recent magazine pieces on the topic is not just because Elizabeth is talented but because she is an education reporter. She is careful that every example, every word, accurately reflects the depth of knowledge that experience has given her and that she has gained from picking the brains time and again of all the big thinkers on this topic.

I don’t mean to sound dramatic about it, and you could accuse me of sucking up, given that Elizabeth sits on the EWA board. But really: It is terrific to see a piece that is sure to be influential written by someone who has truly done the tough legwork, over years, to make sure she really knows what she is talking about.

Who knows if Doug Lemov and Deborah Ball hold the answers? Regardless, this level of

Schools Matter: March 4 Is Tomorrow

If your activity is not listed here, put it in comment and submit it at the bottom of this post.

March 4 Strike and Day of Action To Defend Public Education
By AK Press | March 3, 2010

It’s almost here, so a quick overview…
—-
March 4 Strike and Day of Action To Defend Public Education
On October 24, 2009 more than 800 students, workers, and teachers converged at UC Berkeley at the Mobilizing Conference to Save Public Education. This massive meeting brought together representatives from over 100 different schools, unions, and organizations from all across California and from all sectors of public education – Pre K-12, Adult Education, CC, CSU and UC – to “decide on a statewide action plan capable of winning this struggle, which will define the future of public education in this state, particularly for the working class and communities of color.”
After hours of open collective discussion, the conference democratically voted, as its principal decision, to call for a statewide Strike and Day of Action on March 4, 2010. The conference decided that all schools, unions and organizations are free to choose their specific demands and tactics – such as strikes, walkouts, march to Sacramento, rallies, occupations, sit-ins, teach-ins, etc. – for March 4, as well as the duration of such actions.
We refuse to let those in power continue to pit us against each other. If we unite, we have the power to shut down business-as-usual and to force those in power to grant our demands. Building a powerful movement to defend public education will, in turn, advance the struggle in defense of all public-sector workers and services.
We call on all students, workers, teachers, parents, and their organizations across the state to endorse this call and massively mobilize and organize for the Strike and Day of Action on March 4.
Let’s make this an historic turning point in the struggle against the cuts, layoffs, fee hikes, and educational segregation in California.
To endorse this call and to receive more information, please contact march4strikeanddayofaction@gmail.com and consult
www.defendcapubliceducation.wordpress.com
_____________________________________
Endorsers:
Oct. 24th Mobilizing Conference to Defend Public Education
Statewide Coalition of University Employees
Statewide UPTE
Solidarity Alliance at UCB
General Assembly at UCB
CFT: CA Federation of Teachers

The Perimeter Primate: Grannan: Time for Obama to meet with the Central Falls 93, and gain some compassion – and a clue

Grannan: Time for Obama to meet with the Central Falls 93, and gain some compassion – and a clue

by The Perimeter Primate

Guest post by Caroline Grannan:
The word “backlash” is actually being used about a so-called school reform maneuver so shortsighted and coldblooded that almost no one is speaking up in support of it – almost no one but President Obama.

Last month, all 93 members of the faculty, administration and support staff of Central Falls High school in Central Falls, R.I., were told that they’re fired as of the end of this school year.
Then, on Monday, President Obama spoke up, according to the New York Times. “Mr. Obama said he supported the school board’s decision to dismiss the faculty and staff members. ‘Our kids get only one chance at an education and we need to get it right,’ he said.”
(Obama’s lightweight, resume-faking Secretary of Education praised the move too, but he’s not really worth devoting blogosphere bandwidth to.)
Despite the current climate in which blaming, bashing and demonizing teachers has become a comfortable and popular theme in all kinds of commentary, Obama’s remark actually seems to have provoked dismay and outrage. In the most current news article showing online as I write this, the Providence Journal uses the term “wildfire.”

“The wildfire of national debate over the mass firings at Central Falls High School spread further Tuesday, when the executive council of the AFL-CIO unanimously condemned the removal of all 93 teachers, support staff and administrators at the city’s only high school.
The executive council said its members were “appalled” that President Obama and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan had endorsed the terminations in recent comments, and said the firings will not help the 800 students at the high school, which is one of the poorest and lowest-performing schools in Rhode Island.”

Well, I have a proposal. Those 93 teachers, support staff and administrators should get together, pull the necessary strings (which are in their reach right now while the story is hot), and request a meeting with the president – all 93 of them. If Obama could have a beer with Henry Louis Gates and that cop whose name I’ve now forgotten, surely he’s willing to spend a little time hearing the viewpoint of 93 people whom he has essentially attacked sight unseen. While it would be hospitable for him to invite them to the White House, it would be a lot classier for him to have a soothing spot of tea catered in at Central Falls High School. (And he desperately needs to show a little class right now; his supply is perilously low.) I’m sure the cafeteria has enough room to seat the Central Falls 93, Obama and his entourage.
Two years ago, it would have been impossible for me to imagine saying this, but I also propose that President Obama emulate something San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has been doing. I’m not normally Newsom’s

Schools Matter: Diane Ravitch and What's Underneath the Policy Makeover

Diane Ravitch and What's Underneath the Policy Makeover

Diane Ravitch is looking great and sounding great, on some education issues, at least. I have not read her book yet, which I have ordered, but if the excerpt offered by NPR below is any indication, there is clear evidence that a beautiful progressive facade has been effected, even while there are plenty of old wrinkles still visible through an, otherwise, marvelous philosophical facelift. Take the next to the last paragraph from the excerpt below, for instance:

At the conference, I was on a panel charged with summing up the lessons of the day. I proposed that the states and the federal government were trying to assume tasks for which they were ill suited. I suggested that they should flip their roles, so that the federal government was gathering and disseminating reliable information on progress, and the states were designing and implementing improvements. Under NCLB, the federal government was dictating ineffectual remedies, which had no track record of success. Neither Congress nor the U.S. Department of Education knows how to fix low-performing schools. Meanwhile, the law required the states to set their own standards and grade their own progress; this led to vastly inflated claims of progress and confusion about standards, with fifty standards for fifty states. Every state was able to define proficiency as it saw fit, which allowed states to claim gains even when there were none. The proper role of the federal government is to supply valid information and leave the remedies and sanctions to those who are closest to the unique problems of individual schools.

Now this chunk of text comes after an entirely suitable screed on the evils of school privatization, corporate bottom feeders, and the "measure and punish" ethos of NCLB. The epiphany that Diane recounts from 2006, nonetheless, continues to provide her with the rationale that undergirds her proselytizing for the Common Core, i. e., national curriculum standards. Funders of the Common Core adamantly support the privatization and corporatization that Dr. Ravitch would seem to oppose in her new book (please follow the links to their sources, which provide invaluable information for where ed philosophy meets ed funding):

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (just a sample page)
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
The Louis Calder Foundation View the 2009 Grants ListThe Thomas B. Fordham Foundation
The Achelis and Bodman Foundations (download pdf and scroll to education grants)
The William E. Simon Foundation

In the paragraph above, we see Diane pivot from claiming that the Federal government should just be "gathering and disseminating reliable information" to clearly suggesting that such federally-supplied "reliable information" should include a single set of curriculum standards that are not subject to the "confusion" that might result from the development of standards at the state or local levels.

What Dr. Ravitch does not seem to recognize is that if the

Mariner and Microsoft Continue Interactive Web Series for K-12 Educators | EON: Enhanced Online News

Mariner and Microsoft Continue Interactive Web Series for K-12 Educators

Four-part Series Provides Insight into Data-Driven Initiatives

March 02, 2010 08:03 AM Eastern Time

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Mariner and Microsoft invite school district and Department of Education leaders to participate in a series of Web sessions that began January 19th and continue with the second session on March 23^rd. The series, entitled “Managing for Performance: From the School to the State House,” highlights education analytics that improve student achievement and are the backbone of data-driven initiatives in K-12 organizations across the country. The third and fourth sessions will take place April 20^th and May 18^th. An archive of past sessions is available for on-demand reference.

During the series, the speakers, including innovative K-12 leaders from several school districts and a state DOE, share the experiences and knowledge that they have gained in their data-driven and performance management initiatives with Mariner Education Division’s guidance. Scheduled on noted Tuesdays from 11:00-11:30a.m. (EST), the sessions provide participants with an opportunity to interact with school district and Department of Education leaders to learn about strategies to improve student achievement, transparency and accountability. Registration for one or more of the Web Series sessions is available at: www.mariner-usa.com/webseries.htm.

“The effective use of data is essential to the success of managing for performance,” said David “Fitz” Fitzgerald, Mariner’s Education Practice Manager and one of the Web Series’ featured speakers. “We’ve learned from our experiences with districts and DOEs, that teachers and principals need easy access to data views and education analytics to drive improvements in instruction and student outcomes.”

“It has never been more important for schools to acquire rich data transparency and education analytics solutions to help drive student achievement, test scores and curriculum needs that will help educators map to state standards and students’ career aspirations,” said Anthony Salcito, vice president of worldwide education at Microsoft Corp. “Having that repository and toolset is going to be the key priority for schools as they strive for innovation and transformation in the classroom.”

Mariner Education and Microsoft showcased K-12 organizational leaders in a web that focused on the District Data Dashboard implemented by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in the spring of 2009. It generated tremendous interest from school district administrators and educational leaders in the United States and around the world. Archives of these sessions are also available for reference.

District and Department of Education leaders of all levels are encouraged to participate in this series to gain insight into the most effective applications of performance management for classrooms, schools, districts and DOEs.

Upcoming Web session details:

March 23

From Strategy to Students: Realizing the Visions

Jonathan Raymond, Superintendent, Sacramento Unified City School District

Mr. Raymond, advocate and practitioner of data-driven decision making, will draw from input he has received from students, parents, community leaders, teachers and other district employees to discuss his vision and approach for crafting a strategic plan, closing the achievement gap, and accelerating the performance of all students, while managing a budget shortfall.

SCUSD Observer: CLASS! You're not paying attention!

CLASS! You're not paying attention!

by Sac City Schools Observer

Yesterday's post began to generate some great discussion about the role of SCTA in district budget cuts.

The launching pad was Marcos Breton's Sunday column villifying the union. The comments container on the Sac Bee generated a lot of interest as did opinion on Facebook.

By the end of the day the argument went down the Sac Charter road, as it always seems to do.

But let's back up a minute and leave out the union, politics, parents and the opinion writer.

Let us read what a couple of teachers have to say:

I think the point of the editorial was to show how unwilling our union is to compromise. I know for a fact that many teachers at my school have brought several suggestions and issues to the union only to have them ignored or looked down upon.

Local Protests Against Education Cuts Draw State Teacher Union's Biggest Guns - Orange County News - Navel Gazing

The California Teachers Association (CTA) is bringing its biggest guns to Orange County and nearby Long Beach this afternoon as part of the statewide "Start the Day for Students" action that is aimed at stopping "the governor and Legislature from cutting billions more from a public school system already reeling from $17 billion in cuts over the past two years and to tell lawmakers it's time to close corporate tax loopholes."

The 320,000-member state union--and affiliate of the 3.2 million-member strong National Education Association--claims that California handed out massive tax breaks to corporations and oil companies last year while cutting education spending to the bone. As a result, class sizes mushroomed, "critical" student programs were eliminated and tens of thousands of teachers received pink slips.

"Start the Day for Students" actions are taking place in Sacramento, Merced, Redding, Stockton, Georgetown, Cupertino, Monterey, Riverside, La Mesa, San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Francisco and elsewhere in the Bay Area.

However, the Huntington Beach rally and march is the only demonstration scheduled to include CTA Executive Director Carolyn Doggett, who will join CTA Board of Directors member Michael Stone and local teachers and supporters from the Ocean View, Huntington Beach City and Huntington Beach Union High School districts.

They will meet in front of Ocean View High School at the corner of Gothard Street and Warner Avenue at 4 p.m. before marching to the corner of Warner and Beach Boulevard.

According to the CTA, supporters of the action include the West Orange County United Teachers Association union as well as unnamed school superintendents, school board members, administrators, PTA members and members of local classified staffs.

A few miles away, at the Wilson High School gymnasium in Long Beach, the Teachers Association of Long Beach holds its own protest rally at 4:15 p.m. Thursday that is also tied to "Start the Day for Students." Long Beach Unified School District is among the hardest hit by California budget cuts, as 650 district teachers have received pink slips.

Race to the Top: When States Ask for Too Much Money - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Race to the Top: When States Ask for Too Much Money

By Michele McNeil on March 3, 2010 12:35 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

With a Race to the Top announcement of the finalists slated for tomorrow, it seems important to start looking ahead to what happens to the states that actually win.

One thing many have been curious about is what happens if a state builds an ambitious plan, and assembles a working budget, but wins far less money than it asked for. Florida, for example, asked for $1.1 billion, but the department's top-line (though nonbinding) estimate for a state of Florida's size is $700 million. Colorado asked for $377 million, and may get only $175 million. Illinois asked for $510 million, and may get only $400 million. Do you see a pattern here?

So, if a state wins less money than it banked on when it built its plan, can it scale back its plan?

Not really. At least not very easily.

I had a chance to ask Joanne Weiss, the Education Department's Race to the Top director, this question. She essentially said that once a grant is awarded, a state's plan cannot be changed. After all, the peer reviewers scored the application based on a state's entire plan, and if the plan had been less ambitious, it might not have won.

In Weiss' words: "We can't change the scope under which they won the grant or they might not have won."

She did say, however, that the department will have detailed budget conversations with each winning state—and that's where such discussions about