Details on La. Gov. Jindal’s Common Core and PARCC Exit | deutsch29

Details on La. Gov. Jindal’s Common Core and PARCC Exit | deutsch29:

Details on La. Gov. Jindal’s Common Core and PARCC Exit

June 18, 2014

In a press release on June 18, 2014, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal made a number of statements regarding Louisiana’s participation in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the associated Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)– one of two assessment consortia (groups of states) connected to the CCSS.

Some have questioned whether Jindal is serious or just showcasing for the cameras.

He is serious.

Jindal Suspends PARCC

First, allow me to offer the text of the executive order that Jindal issued to the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) regarding the suspension of PARCC for the 2014-15 school year:

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. BJ 2014 – 6

BOARD OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION –

SUSPENSION OF STATEWIDE ASSESSMENT STANDARDS AND PRACTICES

RULE REVISIONS

 WHEREAS, pursuant to the provisions of Article IV, Section 5 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, as amended, and La. R.S. 49:970, the Governor may issue an executive order which suspends any rule or regulation adopted by a state department, agency, board or commission within thirty days of adoption; and

 WHEREAS, on February 20, 2014, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education published a notice of intent in the Louisiana Register of proposed revisions to Bulletin 118—Statewide Assessment Standards and Practices (LAC 28:CXI.113); and

 WHEREAS, on May 20, 2014,  the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education published a final notice in the Louisiana Register to adopt revisions to Bulletin 118—Statewide Assessment Standards and Practices (LAC 28:CXI.113); and

 WHEREAS, the revisions to Bulletin 118—Statewide Assessment Standards and Practices (LAC 28:CXI.113), broadly construed, inappropriately 

Details on La. Gov. Jindal’s Common Core and PARCC Exit | deutsch29:

Seniority, Tenure and the Vergara Decision » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

Seniority, Tenure and the Vergara Decision » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names:

An Appeal for Action

Seniority, Tenure and the Vergara Decision

by JACK GERSON and ANDY LIBSON

On June 10, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu issued a ruling that threatens to strike down California education code statutes protecting teacher due process rights, including seniority and “tenure”. The lawsuit on which Treu ruled, Vergara vs. California, was brought by nine California students, but it was supported by an array of corporate education “deform” forces, among them President Obama’s education secretary (Arne Duncan), the Los Angeles school district superintendent (John Deasey), a corporate-funded education “reform” group (Schools Matter) that has pushed anti-union initiatives in several other states, and a right-wing Silicon Valley billionaire foe of teacher unions (David Welch).

The Vergara lawsuitasserts that laws protecting more senior teachers in times of layoff cause the schools to keep “grossly ineffective teachers in classrooms while pushing highly effective, but less senior teachers out.”Judge Treu agreed, stating in his written decision: “The number of grossly ineffective teachers has a direct, real, appreciable, and negative impact on a significant number of California students. The evidence is compelling, indeed it shocks the conscience…ineffective teachers disproportionately impact low income and minority students and that getting rid of bad teachers is nearly impossible,”

The state’s largest teacher unions, the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) and the California Teachers Association (CTA), issued a joint statement describing the ruling as “misguided”. CFT President Josh Pechthalt said that far from protecting students of color in vulnerable urban districts, the ruling “is fundamentally anti-public education, scapegoating teachers for problems originating in underfunding, poverty, and economic inequality.”

This description of the ruling is only half right. There is no doubt that both the lawsuit and the decision are anti-public education, anti-union and fit entirely within the narrative of all that is wrong in public Seniority, Tenure and the Vergara Decision » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names:

Parents want to convert closed Sacramento campus into charter school - Education - The Sacramento Bee

Parents want to convert closed Sacramento campus into charter school - Education - The Sacramento Bee:

Parents want to convert closed Sacramento campus into charter school

By Loretta Kalb

lkalb@sacbee.com

Published: Wednesday, Jun. 18, 2014 - 5:10 pm

A group of parents tonight will urge Sacramento City Unified trustees to approve a charter schoolat Joseph Bonnheim Elementary, one of seven campuses closed last year due to falling enrollment.

The petition – initiated by parents late last year – seeks to educate more than 320 K-6 students starting in the fall. The charter school would hire district teachers, administrators and classified staff subject to collective bargaining. That approach helped parents win support last month of the Sacramento City Teachers Association, which historically has been critical of charter schools.

Many backers of New Joseph Bonnheim Community Charter School opposed the elementaryschool closures, which predominantly affected lower-income neighborhoods with disadvantaged students. Before Bonnheim’s closure, 94 percent of students at the south Sacramento campus qualified for free or reduced price meals.

The school’s theme would be based on agriculture, drawing from the industry in the region. It touts support from agricultural organizations and educational institutions. The charter school also would pursue a “body-brain approach to teaching” that incorporates physical activity into academic exercises.

The educational plan, according to the petition, mirrors the Yav Pem Suab Academy on South Land Park Drive, which includes a Hmong language component. The academy was founded by Dennis Mah and approved as an independent charter in the district in 2010. Mah has offered to lend $300,000 in startup costs and to work pro bono at Bonnheim, he said.

New Joseph Bonnheim proponents initially submitted an application in December, but district staff recommended that the board reject the school. They said petitioners failed to adequately describe challenges facing the school’s target population, show an understanding of student needs or define approaches that would meet those needs. The board at the time voted to table the petition so that it could be retooled for reconsideration.

The latest petition has found similar district resistance. In a report Friday, staff reviewers found the proposed educational program lacked of clarity in governance and hiring matters. And they repeated warnings that the petitioners are unlikely to succeed in launching the charter school and did not meet state Education Code requirements in explaining programs.Parents want to convert closed Sacramento campus into charter school - Education - The Sacramento Bee:

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/06/18/6494392/parents-want-to-convert-closed.html#storylink=cpy

Who Is Protecting the Status Quo? | educarenow

Who Is Protecting the Status Quo? | educarenow:

Who Is Protecting the Status Quo?

Posted on April 23, 2013 | 1 Comment

When an educator questions the dominance of testing as a tool for school reform, you will often see that educator criticized for ‘protecting the status quo.’ As an example of this accusation, here is a link to a recent opinion piece in the Detroit News. The article supports the new Michigan Educational Achievement Authority, which is designed to be a turnaround program for the lowest 5% (as measured by test results) of the schools in that state. The headline reads, “Let’s Stop Protecting the Status Quo.” (Read the whole article for a flavor of the way test scores become the sole determinant of what constitutes a ‘failing’ school.)

The problem with this accusation is that actually, any attempt to improve schools through means that relies on its measurement of success via test data simply works to replicate social inequality. Thus, this accusation of ‘protecting the status quo’ is actually a Orwellian attempt to protect the status quo.

In Good Education in an Age of Measurement, Gert Biesta criticizes what he calls a “common sense view of what education is for,” a view that exists in the void of any broader frame of the “aims and ends of education.”

He writes,
“The prime example of such a ‘common sense’ view about the purpose of education is the idea that what matters most in education is academic Who Is Protecting the Status Quo? | educarenow:

Nite Cap 6-18-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

James Baldwin said it best: 

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."

A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAP

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Morning Wink 6-18-14 AM Posts #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

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Education Research Report: California's Education Systems Face Critical Choices at All Levels

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empathyeducates – Tenure Is Not the Problem

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YESTERDAY

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Nite Cap 6-17-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

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