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Monday, July 21, 2014

Report: Higher education behind on Common Core | The Hechinger Report

Report: Higher education behind on Common Core | The Hechinger Report:



Report: Higher education behind on Common Core

It says universities and colleges aren’t ready for new standards

By
America’s primary and secondary schools may be busy preparing for the onset of the Common Core standards, meant to better prepare students for college, but one key partner isn’t even close to ready: colleges and universities themselves.
States with and without plans to assess student learning and the Common Core
States with and without plans to assess student learning and the Common Core
That’s the conclusion of a new report from the New America Foundation, which finds that “there is little evidence to suggest colleges are meaningfully aligning college instruction and teacher preparation programs with the Common Core standards.”
Even though the Common Core was meant largely to improve the college readiness of high school graduates, the report says, “Many of those within higher education were not involved in developing or endorsing the Common Core standards and assessments, and have not considered how they might change their own practices to align with this K–12 initiative. Indeed, many are not even aware of the Common Core.”
The findings follow earlier alarms that the people who run higher education have, for the most part, gotten involved only late in the Common Core process.
Forty-three states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core, a set of standards meant to help improve the preparation of students from primary and secondary schools to go on to—and succeed in—college.
But “there are few coherent approaches being used to join these two systems into a rational shared commitment to the Common Core,” the report found.
“Many [in higher education] are not even aware of the Common Core.” – New America Foundation report
One reason, it said, is that it’s hard to come up with a single definition of what makes a student ready for college. Another is the huge variety of colleges and universities. Yet another is that “there is little or no pressure on colleges and universities to change their own academic practices to align with or incorporate these new standards … even among educators who are genuinely Report: Higher education behind on Common Core | The Hechinger Report:

Initiatives you won’t see on November ballot | EdSource

Initiatives you won’t see on November ballot | EdSource:



Initiatives you won’t see on November ballot



Earlier this year, the secretary of state’s office gave sponsors of six proposed education-related ballot measures the go-ahead to collect the 505,000 signatures each needed to appear on the November  ballot. None qualified.
Those that fell by the wayside are two proposals that would have rewritten teacher dismissal and evaluations statutes, two that would have imposed hiring restrictions and new disclosure requirements for charter school operators and two that would have given school districts added financial protections from the Legislature.
The one ballot measure that voters will see is Proposition 44, Gov. Jerry Brown’s revisions to the rainy day fund, which sets up a separate reserve for money from Proposition 98, the primary source of state funding for K-12 districts and community colleges. Still awaiting Brown’s OK is a school construction bond measure, which would total between $2 billion and $9 billion to fund building renovations and construction for K-12 schools, community colleges, the University of California and California State University. Brown is determined to reduce the state’s load of debt and wants to minimize the amounts of new bonds. He is negotiating with legislative leaders over his first priority, a water bond to build new dams and pay for water conservation efforts. Its size may determine whether the governor consents to put a school construction bond before voters.
The one ballot measure that voters will see is Proposition 44, Gov. Jerry Brown’s revisions to the rainy day fund, which sets up a separate reserve for money from Proposition 98, the primary source of state funding for K-12 districts and community colleges .
The proposed initiatives didn’t qualify for the ballot because sponsors withdrew their measures or didn’t submit the required signatures. The measures included plans to:
  • Rewrite the law on teacher evaluations to require annual evaluations using student progress on test scores for at least one-third of a teacher’s rating, and to use these evaluations, not a teacher’s length of service or seniority, as the basis for determining layoffs. Consultant Matt David, affiliated with the national advocacy group StudentsFirst, created by former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, didn’t  launch a signature drive for the proposed initiative.

A July 21, 2014, Update on Common Core, PARCC, and Smarter Balanced | deutsch29

A July 21, 2014, Update on Common Core, PARCC, and Smarter Balanced | deutsch29:



A July 21, 2014, Update on Common Core, PARCC, and Smarter Balanced

July 21, 2014
cookie crumbles

On Sunday, July 20, 2014, I took the day off from writing. No book editing; no blogging.
I think I have done so only for one other day since May.
Instead, I read a book for the sheer enjoyment of reading. I chose my all-time favorite, a work of fiction by C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce.
In the preface, Lewis makes the following statement:
A wrong sum can be put right: but only by going back till you find the error and working it afresh from that point, never by simply going on.
And so it is with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). CCSS was a train wreck waiting to occur from inception (see here, as well). Thus, to borrow Lewis’ math analogy, the CCSS error occurred in the planning stages. To try to “correct” CCSS at any subsequent point is an utter waste.
When 46 governors and state superintendents decided in 2009 to sign their states up for CCSS, not only did they have no idea what the final product would be; they had no clue concerning the public uproar that would ensue nationally over this supposed “state led” CCSS and its associated assessments.
Let us examine the July 21, 2014, condition of said “uproar.”
Common Core Reflux
CCSS is educational digestive upset. For example, consider the battle over control of the senate in New York state: A powerful driving force is public displeasure over CCSS– not CCSS implementation, either– CCSS existence.
And what of the rest of the 45 states plus DC supposedly committed to CCSS?
Indiana: In April 2014, Indiana became the first state to formally pass legislation to drop CCSS and replace it with state standards that some say continue to closely resemble CCSS.
Add to that US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s threat to withdraw Indiana’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waiver if he does not approve of Indiana’s state standards.
South Carolina: On May 30, 2014, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley signed legislation to replace CCSS with committee-created state standards. However, CCSS is to remain in place for the 2014-15 school year. We will have to wait to see how this A July 21, 2014, Update on Common Core, PARCC, and Smarter Balanced | deutsch29:

The Delusions Within Campbell Brown's Mind southbronxschool

http://www.southbronxschool.com:



The Delusions Within Campbell Brown's Mind

Everyone's favorite ed deformer, Campbell Brown is back in the Daily News todaysharing her thoughts on the op-ed pages. This time she is attempting a new tact, claiming she is not attacking teachers at all but rather tenure. Yeah, sure. Let's have a looksee.

Campbell blabbers; The tenacious New York parents who are challenging the state in court have one goal in mind: ensuring that all of our public school children have good teachers. 

No, not true. This is about two things.Control and publicity. Campbell has seen one too many Hilary Swank movies,and NYC Parents Union and their leader Mona Davids flies in which ever direction the wind blows. Throw enough money at Mona and she will drop the suit like a hot potato.

As for Mona's Minion, Sam Pirozzolo, if he was so interested in the plight of children why then, as a commenter in this blog post wrote of Sam; 
Wasn't it in 2007 that Sam joined the CEC? What did he do in those seven years to help get incompetent teachers out of schools. (People who work in schools know that thousands without the required skills leave each year.)

I understand that Sam was at the forefront of the DOE mob trying to lynch Francisco Portelos, but the issue there was never competence. We should look at Sam's record on the CEC to determine if tenure or teacher competence was ever an issue, or if this lawsuit is just another stunt to keep his political hopes alive.
 As for Campbell saying that public school children should have good teachers, one wonders what became of her and hers that used to claim that all children deserve great teachers? See, Campbell andher ilk can't make up their minds.

They know that research confirms the single greatest in-school factor in a child’s academic success is a good teacher. 

Now we're into the greatest factor "in-house" is just a good teacher? Seems to us here at SBSB that http://www.southbronxschool.com:

Nite Cap 7-21-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT


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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YESTERDAY

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Morning Wink 7-20-14 AM Posts #edchat #edreform
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