Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Wanted - Schools Chief Who Has Never Crossed de Blasio on Education - NYTimes.com

Wanted - Schools Chief Who Has Never Crossed de Blasio on Education - NYTimes.com:

Wanted: Schools Chief Who Has Never Crossed de Blasio on Education

Katherine Frey/The Washington Post, via Getty Images; Kris Connor/Getty Images; Jennifer S. Altman for The New York Times

From left, Joshua Starr, Kaya Henderson and Carmen Fariña have all been mentioned as candidates for schools chancellor.

By DAVID W. CHEN and AL BAKER

Published: December 17, 2013

FACEBOOK
TWITTER
GOOGLE+
SAVE
EMAIL
SHARE
PRINT
SINGLE PAGE
REPRINTS

With a populist pitch forged by his own experiences as a public school parent, Bill de Blasio surged to victory in New York’s mayoral race thanks, in part, to his vow to shift away from Michael R. Bloomberg’s education policies.

Connect With NYTMetro

But two weeks before he takes office, Mayor-elect de Blasio has yet to pick a schools chancellor to carry out his own agenda. Indeed, while there is no shortage of people who would love to run the nation’s largest school system, given Mr. de Blasio’s own requirements, the pool of qualified candidates is actually quite small.

No matter where he turns, it is almost impossible to find someone who has run a large school system in the last decade without having to close failing schools, expand charters or comply with state and federal guidelines on using tests to grade schools and teachers — all hallmarks of the education reform movement championed by Mayor Bloomberg, and all policies that Mr. de Blasio has said have serious flaws.

Carmen Fariña, a former deputy chancellor and the candidate who most closely matches Mr. de Blasio’s own thinking on education, was telling friends as recently as November that she was not interested in coming out of retirement and giving up her time spent helping raise her grandchildren.

But the short list of candidates now seems to include her. Recently, Mr. de Blasio called Ms. Fariña, 70, to see if she would reconsider her earlier reluctance, and she said she

The Educated Reporter: Urban School Reform: Beyond Stars and Scandals

The Educated Reporter: Urban School Reform: Beyond Stars and Scandals:

Urban School Reform: Beyond Stars and Scandals

Rhee-lated $tory: Michelle Rhee answers Ravitch in New Book

al$o $ee Rhee-lated $tory: Excerpts from "Rhee The Art of the Deal" a new $tory about Corporate Education Reform and the Woman that make$ it Happen!

This week, we're revisiting some of the top sessions from EWA's 66th National Seminar held at Stanford University. We asked journalists who attended to contribute posts, and today's guest blogger is Kyla Calvert of San Diego Public Radio. Stream any session from National Seminar in your browser, or subscribe via RSS or iTunes. For more on school leadership, visit EWA's Story Starters online resource.

Reporters are often missing the story of what reform efforts mean for students, contends author Richard Lee Colvin. In his book “Tilting at Windmills: School Reform, San Diego, and America’s Race to Renew Public Education”, Colvin looks at the seven-year tenure of Alan Bersin as San Diego Unified’s superintendent and the sweeping reforms he implemented while on the job. In his EWA National Seminar presentation, he panned the media’s coverage as stopping at the “he said, she said” controversy and never asking the question of whether the reforms benefit the city’s students.

Colvin argued that in covering the controversy over how San Diego’s schools should be run, reporters missed out on the actual reforms that Bersin put in place. These reforms, including increased after-school tutoring time and long blocks of reading instruction, did get attention from researchers, including UC San Diego’s Julian Betts and Stanford’s Linda Darling-Hammond. Both have come down on the side of saying the changes benefited students, especially in the district’s elementary schools.

David Kirp’s “Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System

Accountability? Testing Disclaimers for ALL! | Reclaim Reform

Accountability? Testing Disclaimers for ALL! | Reclaim Reform:

Accountability? Testing Disclaimers for ALL!

Posted on December 17, 2013by Ken Previti

Student, teacher and school accountability is absurd if the testing corporations are not held accountable.

This is the actual CCSS disclaimer:

“THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS ARE PROVIDED AS-IS AND WITH ALL FAULTS, AND NGA CENTER/CCSSO MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTIBILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NONINFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, OR THE PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF ERRORS, WHETHER OR NOT DISCOVERABLE.”

Our children, our schools, and our children’s teachers are rated by high stakes testing companies with these disclosures. View the

Public Comment on First English Framework - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education)

Public Comment on First English Framework - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education):

School Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Invites Public Comment
on First English Framework Based on Common Core

SACRAMENTO—California is taking another step forward in implementing the Common Core for English language arts by gathering public comment on a new framework, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today.

The English Language Arts/English Language Development Framework for California Public Schools: Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve (ELA/ELD Framework) will provide guidance for implementing the new Common Core State Standards and California's new English Language Development Standards. Addressing both English language arts and English language development, the ELA/ELD Framework will help ensure that California's students graduate with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in college and careers. The ELA/ELD Framework will help teachers, publishers, and other educators design instructional materials, curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional learning.

"Across California, teachers and administrators are hard at work making this transition to modern new standards," Torlakson said. "With this framework, we're working to help guide that process, and I look forward to the public's feedback."

Standards define the knowledge and skills students should acquire at each grade level. The State Board of Education adopted the Common Core State Standards for English language arts in 2010, and the new English Language Development Standards in 2012. This new ELA/ELD Framework is aligned to those standards. The Board last approved a framework in this area in 2006.

The ELA/ELD Framework breaks new ground by providing a blueprint for relating English language development for English learners to the English language arts standards for a cohesive program. The draft framework focuses on the teaching and learning of English literacy and language in the English classroom and includes strategies for extending that focus into all subject areas. It also provides direction to educators to implement the standards in the context of California's diversity and helps them teach the critical thinking skills students will need for 21st century jobs. The ELA/ELD Framework has two primary audiences: educators and developers/publishers of curriculum programs and materials.

The public has until February 13, 2014, to review the ELA/ELD Framework, available in hard copy throughout the state and also online. The draft framework is on the California Department of Education's Public Review and Comment on the ELA/ELD Framework Web page, where the public may leave comments via the digital survey or by email. Interested parties may also visit one of the 23 Learning Resource Display Centers statewide to review hard copies of the draft framework.

The public's comments will then be presented to the Instructional Quality Commission in the spring for review and possible inclusion into the final ELA/ELD Framework. Then there will be a second public review in late spring or early summer. The Board is scheduled to take action on the final ELA/ELD Framework next summer.

For more information on the development of the draft framework, visit the California Department of Education's Curriculum Frameworks Web page.

# # # #

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, December 17, 2013