US Dept of Ed Wanted Much More Testing from PARCC and SBAC | deutsch29

US Dept of Ed Wanted Much More Testing from PARCC and SBAC | deutsch29:



US Dept of Ed Wanted Much More Testing from PARCC and SBAC

 On February 20, 2015, I wrote a post on the two Common Core State Standards (CCSS) federally-funded assessment consortia, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), and the setting of PARCC and SBAC cut scores using the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

The following post was originally a comment written by veteran Cincinnati arts teacher, Laura Chapman.

I value Chapman’s commentary because she has years of professional experience from which to draw, and she is a relentless, insightful researcher.

Here, Chapman offers noteworthy detail regarding US Department of Education (USDE) intentions regarding PARCC and SBAC, and how those now-years-old, USDE consortium testing ambitions will not be realized.

In short, USDE could not have all of the testing that it really wanted. Imagine that.

Chapman writes:

I worked on the first and second NAEP tests in the visual arts, vintage 1970s. The subject has no deep tradition of testing and serious issues in thinking through the role of talent and education in achievement. The most useful part of two rounds of NAEP tests in the visual arts was the background information, including the dismal record of access to instruction in and beyond school.

That said, I have also looked at the background on the CCSS and federal funding for PARCC and SBAC tests. USDE had a test-funding plan for the CCSS in April 2010, before the CCSS were published in June. By September 2010, grants were awarded to the PARCC and SBAC groups to begin test development at roughly $300 million total.

Then out of the blue, the two consortiums applied for supplementary funds for curriculum work needed to do the test development. That was a huge snafu in US Dept of Ed Wanted Much More Testing from PARCC and SBAC | deutsch29:

Blue Jersey:: Open Letter to @CoryBooker: You can be part of the #OccupyNPS solution

Blue Jersey:: Open Letter to @CoryBooker: You can be part of the #OccupyNPS solution:

Open Letter to @CoryBooker: You can be part of the #OccupyNPS solution

UPDATE: Newark Public Schools is reporting a meeting between students and Anderson took place this morning. The civil disobedience being led by the leadership of Newark Student Union is in its 66th hour. High school students have vowed not to leave Superintendent Cami Anderson's office at Newark Public Schools until she agrees to speak with them. She has not been at work at NPS for the 3 days of their sit-in. So where's Cami Anderson? Senator Cory Booker, you presided with Gov. Christie over her choice to lead Newark Schools. You no longer run Newark, but you live there and own property there. More importantly, the kids you see on the street or walking to school every day - who grew up knowing you as Mayor - are still kids I hope you feel some responsibility toward. Some of the bravest and strongest of them are now in Day #3 seeking a meeting with her. Imagine if you, not as a senator necessarily but as an involved community member, would intercede and escort her into Newark Public Schools HQ on Cedar Street. That might be the beginning of an important conversation. And the sons and daughters of your City who are now waiting at 2 Cedar Street, deserve that. Our Newark: This civil disobedience protest, in a minority majority city in the middle of Black History Month - with issues that many other city school systems are also facing - is generating tremendous support not only on the streets in Newark, but on social media. And that's a place where you have tremendous influence. One of @NewarkStudents hashtags is #OurNewark. Senator, it's your Newark, too. Can you help?

Rosi Efthim :: Open Letter to @CoryBooker: You can be part of the #OccupyNPS solution

What can the rest of us do? Help Newark Student  leaders get the word out however you can. On Twitter? Follow @NewarkStudents. Hashtags: #OccupyNPS#WheresCami #OurNewark. And on Facebook.Sixty-six hours ago, the leadership of Newark Student Union - high school students in their teens - began a sit-in protest in the executive offices of Newark Public Blue Jersey:: Open Letter to @CoryBooker: You can be part of the #OccupyNPS solution:

Rahm’s Chicago where a $15 birth certificate copy costs $46.45 as schools are closed, teachers fired, etc. | Reclaim Reform

Rahm’s Chicago where a $15 birth certificate copy costs $46.45 as schools are closed, teachers fired, etc. | Reclaim Reform:

Rahm’s Chicago where a $15 birth certificate copy costs $46.45 as schools are closed, teachers fired, etc.

Posted on February 21, 2015by Ken Previti

“RAHM IS GOOD FOR CHICAGO because…” Because he is paying millions of dollars for ads to get re-elected.

Rahm’s Chicago bleeds every single one of the 2,700,000 present citizens and the innumerable people who have lived there in the past. He rips us off every day in every way. How?

One easy example occurred a few weeks ago when I ordered a copy of my birth certificate. The tax fee is $15.00. That is how much goes into the tax base. That seems fair considering the services that Chicago should supply to its citizens.

But how much did I actually pay for a copy of my birth certificate – a single piece of paper mailed to me? $46.45

$31.45 goes to whichever of Rahm’s buddies gets the third party contract to copy and mail one sheet of paper. The money does not go into Chicago’s tax base to support schools and city services. The money goes into a “connected” buddy’s pocket.

Why would any of the 2,700,000 Chicagoans vote to re-elect Rahm?

Hey, Chicago! Wake up and throw the bum out!

By the way, my wife also needed a birth certificate and our marriage license in order to get Rahm’s Chicago where a $15 birth certificate copy costs $46.45 as schools are closed, teachers fired, etc. | Reclaim Reform:

Big Education Ape: Chicago Teachers Take on Mayor Emanuel and the Democratic Machine | Alternet http://bit.ly/1zwiO9e

Big Education Ape: Chicago Inc. Rahm Emanuel Dances for Corporate Money - Vote for Chuy!!! http://bit.ly/1AaLZT1

Baraka and Rice to meet with feds, demand action on schools | Bob Braun's Ledger

Baraka and Rice to meet with feds, demand action on schools | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Baraka and Rice to meet with feds, demand action on schools

Sen. Rice

The most prominent critics of the state administration of the Newark public schools are traveling to Washington, DC, to make their case  to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. They will include Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, state Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex) and other legislators,  union leaders, community activists, and advocates and experts associated with the Education Law Center (ELC) and the Alliance for Newark Public Schools.

The meeting, scheduled for March 4,  will come too late to have any impact on the expected one-year extension of the contract of Cami Anderson, the state-appointed schools superintendent. Indeed, Baraka, in a press conference Thursday, said  he had been informed Anderson already had been offered the extension. In any event, her tenure in Newark is a state matter and she still apparently pleases Gov. Chris Christie, if few others.

Baraka goes to the top to try to save the city’s children

“We have made our case to the Christie administration and clearly they are not going to do anything,” said Rice who, with U.S. Rep.Donald Payne, Jr  (D-10th) set up the meeting with Duncan, the former Chicago schools superintendent who has been President Barack Obama’s education chief since the beginning of his administration.

Rice also said he has not had the full support of fellow Democratic legislators who have resisted his efforts to grant subpoena and other investigative powers to the committee he co-chairs, the Joint Committee on Public Schools.

Anderson repeatedly refused to show up before Rice’s committee until he introduced legislation granting the panel investigatory powers. In early January, at a four-hour hearing, the Newark schools chief avoided answering some of the most pointed questions aimed at her, especially about a land deal in which she sold public school property to charter school interests headed by former associates of both herself and of former state Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf.

In response to her evasiveness, Rice accused Anderson of “taking the Fifth,” a reference to claims of the right against self-incrimination often invoked by those suspected of criminal activity.

A second day of hearings before Rice’s committee has been scheduled for March 10.

Rice, Baraka, and many other civic, political, and union leaders have been critical of Anderson’s hallmark reorganization, the so-called “One Newark” plan that has Baraka and Rice to meet with feds, demand action on schools | Bob Braun's Ledger:

How Wall Street's Greedy Tentacles Sank Into Schools, Trapping Them in Massive Debts | Alternet

How Wall Street's Greedy Tentacles Sank Into Schools, Trapping Them in Massive Debts | Alternet:



How Wall Street's Greedy Tentacles Sank Into Schools, Trapping Them in Massive Debts

Capital appreciation bonds have wreaked financial havoc on school districts.

 The fliers touted new ballfields, science labs and modern classrooms. They didn’t mention the crushing debt or the investment bank that stood to make millions. 

                       — Melody Peterson, Orange County Register, February 15, 2013  

Remember when Goldman Sachs – dubbed by Matt Taibbi the Vampire Squid– sold derivatives to Greece so the government could conceal its debt, then bet against that debt, driving it up? It seems that the ubiquitous investment bank has also put the squeeze on California and its school districts. Not that Goldman was alone in this; but the unscrupulous practices of the bank once called the undisputed king of the municipal bond business epitomize the culture of greed that has ensnared students and future generations in unrepayable debt.

In 2008, after collecting millions of dollars in fees to help California sell its bonds, Goldman urged its bigger clients to place investment bets against those bonds, in order to profit from a financial crisis that was sparked in the first place by irresponsible Wall Street speculation. Alarmed California officials warned that these short sales would jeopardize the state’s bond rating and drive up interest rates. But that result also served Goldman, which had sold credit default swaps on the bonds, since the price of the swaps rose along with the risk of default.

In 2009, the lenders’ lobbying group than proposed and promoted AB1388, a California bill eliminating the debt ceiling requirement on long-term debt for school districts. After it passed, bankers traveled all over the state pushing something called “capital appreciation bonds” (CABs) as a tool to vault over legal debt limits. (Think Greece again.) Also called payday loans for school districts, CABs have now been issued by more than 400 California districts, some with repayment obligations of up to 20 times the principal advanced (or 2000%).

The controversial bonds came under increased scrutiny in August 2012, following a report that San Diego County’s Poway Unified would have to pay $982 million for a $105 million CAB it issued. Goldman Sachs made $1.6 million on a single capital appreciation deal with the San Diego Unified School District.

Green Light to Exploit

In a September 2013 op-ed in SFGate.com called “School Bonds Are a Wall Street Scam,” attorney Nanci Nishimura wrote:

. . . AB1388, signed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009, [gave] banks the green light to lure California school boards into 

How Wall Street's Greedy Tentacles Sank Into Schools, Trapping Them in Massive Debts | Alternet:

Chicago Teachers Take on Mayor Emanuel and the Democratic Machine | Alternet

Chicago Teachers Take on Mayor Emanuel and the Democratic Machine | Alternet:

Chicago Teachers Take on Mayor Emanuel and the Democratic Machine

United Working Families is looking for ways to engage directly with its rank-and-file.

The Chicago Teachers Union and its allies are making a bid to channel the spirit and unity of the teachers’ 2012 strike into unseating “Mayor 1%” and his city council allies.

It’s been a grueling four years under Rahm Emanuel. CTU beat back some of the worst concessions the mayor’s school board pushed, but the union was hit hard by a record 47 school closings in a single year. Broader attacks hit public sector workers and their pensions.

The new, independent political organization United Working Families—formed by CTU and SEIU Healthcare Illinois along with community groups such as Action Now—isn’t just out to oust the mayor. It’s trying to create a progressive, pro-labor political infrastructure to challenge the mayor’s pro-business agenda.

“We certainly want to break from the politics of austerity,” said CTU organizer Brandon Johnson. “We want a break from the disinvestment.

“Whenever you have incumbents that vote 100 percent of the time with the mayor of Chicago and his corporate interest agenda, there is clearly a need to have a more independent voice,” Johnson said.

But not surprisingly, it’s hard to get many Chicago unions to endorse Emanuel’s rival. Many private sector unions have praised the mayor’s development projects, hoping they’ll mean building trades and hotel jobs. Even in the public sector, where Emanuel has pushed deep budget cuts, unions may fear retaliation if they support his opponent and lose. Many think it’s futile to oppose such a powerful candidate.

So without a united front among Chicago union leaders, the United Working Families coalition is seeking out ways to engage directly with the 250,000 rank-and-file union members they represent.

Vision Not Just Votes

That means setting up community meetings in key wards and reaching out to union members and other voters at the most grassroots level. “These are not just simply about getting out the vote, it’s about really laying out a vision: how do you deal with issues of safety, violence, disinvestment in schools,” Johnson said.

Defeating the mayor would be no small feat. Emanuel is a Democratic Party and Obama administration insider. He’s raised $10 million. And historically it’s been nearly impossible to beat Chicago’s Democratic machine, which operates in lockstep with the mayor.

Hopes were high last fall as CTU President Karen Lewis explored a challenge to the mayor; Lewis polled well, and excited both rank-and-file teachers and the progressive voter base. A Lewis/Emanuel contest would have clearly posed the question: Which way forward for Chicago?

When Lewis bowed out of the race for health reasons, a challenge to Emanuel Chicago Teachers Take on Mayor Emanuel and the Democratic Machine | Alternet:

Big Education Ape: Chicago Inc. Rahm Emanuel Dances for Corporate Money - Vote for Chuy!!! http://bit.ly/1AaLZT1

Common Core and PARCC: An Education Datapalooza? | WagTheDog

Common Core and PARCC: An Education Datapalooza? | WagTheDog:

Common Core and PARCC: An Education Datapalooza?

According to the Common Core web site…

The standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live.

According to the PARCC web site…

the assessments are aligned with the new, more rigorous Common Core State Standards (CCSS), they ensure that every child is on a path to college and career readiness by measuring what students should know at each grade level.

However, PARCC has also issued a disclaimer regarding the assessments admitting that the new and improved tests WILL NOT provide a comprehensive and reliable measure of college readiness as they…

can only provide an estimate of the likelihood that students who earn them have the academic preparation necessary to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing courses.

PARCC’s disclaimer acknowledging that their Common Core aligned assessment is not a reliable measure of college readiness raises serious doubts regarding the validity of the Common Core and PARCC: An Education Datapalooza? | WagTheDog:

Excessive Standardized Testing in First Grade is No Fairy Tale - Living in Dialogue

Excessive Standardized Testing in First Grade is No Fairy Tale - Living in Dialogue:



Excessive Standardized Testing in First Grade is No Fairy Tale

In 2013, I shared a post written by a New York City elementary teacher, entitled “Data Shows Not Enough Teaching.” She is back today with an update, and although there has been a change in administration in New York City, testing at her school is excessive as ever.

By Katie Lapham.

While the public in New York is becoming increasingly outraged over Pearson’s Common Core assessments in English-language arts (ELA) and math, which, for 2015, will be administered for six days in April, little is known about the Common Core-aligned interim assessments that are given to many New York City (NYC) students in grades K – 5.  As far as I know, few parents (if any) are notified of these assessments and teachers receive test details just one day prior to the start of testing.

The week of February 9, 2015, over the course of four days, my NYC elementary school administered standardized mid-year benchmark assessments in grades K-5. They were untimed and make-ups had to be given to absent students. In grades 3-5, Schoolnet’s Common Core-aligned periodic assessment was used for ELA and the Common Core-aligned GO Math! middle-of-year assessment was given for math.  Grades K-2 used Pearson’s Common Core-aligned ReadyGEN end of unit 2 assessment for ELA and the middle-of-year GO Math! assessment for math.

I administered the first grade benchmarks to my class of 25 students. Pearson’s ReadyGEN ELA assessment was comprised of five multiple choice comprehension questions and five multiple choice vocabulary questions. It also contained a writing question for which students stated an opinion and included a reason (a detail from the text) to support their opinion. While students were given a copy of the realistic fiction reading passage, I was instructed to read it aloud to them three times. From the groans and sighs emitted from my students as I commenced the second reading, I deduced that they didn’t find the passage to be particularly riveting.

A number of questions and answer choices, which I also read aloud to them, were poorly constructed and confusing. A vocabulary question tricked students by offering large and huge as possible answer choices for What does enormous mean? For one of the comprehension questions – and for the writing piece – students were required to go back to the text to get the answer. I would have lost points on the test if I hadn’t re-read the part of the text that contained the information. Students had to know where to go in the text and they had to be able to both decode and comprehend the paragraph in order to answer the questions correctly.

As this test was administered in a whole class setting, I found it exasperating trying to make sure the students were paying attention and answering the right question. I observed that some of my strongest readers randomly picked answers – the wrong ones – and theorized that they weren’t paying close attention Excessive Standardized Testing in First Grade is No Fairy Tale - Living in Dialogue:

The Amazing Students of the Newark Student Union - These Kids Rock! #OccupyNPS #OurNewark

The Amazing Students of the Newark Student Union - These Kids Rock!

Newark Students' Protest Gets Them Meeting with Superintendent | NJTV News | Public Media New Jersey

Newark Students' Protest Gets Them Meeting with Superintendent | NJTV News | Public Media New Jersey: Newark Students’ Protest Gets Them Meeting with Superintendent By Brenda FlanaganCorrespondentYessenia Vera checked in with her daughter via Skype this morning after 15-year-old Gabrielle finished breakfast in the Newark School superintendent’s office, along with seven other teens from the Newark Students Union, who locked themselves in there Tuesday night. The students live-streamed all their occupation activities, like arguing about food with administrators.The administrators delivered it, a

/ by mike simpson / 12h

Newark student protestors to end four-day sit-in against superintendent | #OccupyNPS #OurNewark

Newark student protestors to end four-day sit-in against superintendent | NJ.com: Newark student protestors to end four-day sit-in against superintendentNewark Students Union Update:URGENT UPDATE!!! NEWARKERS PLEASE COME TO 2 CEDAR STREET AT 5:30 TODAY TO CELEBRATE!After nearly four days occupying the offices of Cami Anderson, Newark students are claiming victory. Students and community organizers

Big Education Ape / by mike simpson / 20h 

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN THE MEETING WITH CAMI ANDERSON? #OccupyNPS #OurNewark

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN THE MEETING WITH CAMI ANDERSON? Here's the statement from the Newark Students Union:"After 65 hours of occupation, we, the Newark Students Union, met with the state-appointed Superintendent of the Newark Public Schools, Cami Anderson, in regards to her lack of communication with the students, parents, and the broader community of Newark, NJ. Due to her continued inabil

Big Education Ape / by mike simpson / 22h

Newark Students Wage War with Anderson #OccupyNPS #OurNewark

Newark Students Wage War with Anderson: Newark Students Wage War with AndersonThe rising tide against March's debut of the statewide PARCC test may have helped fuel the Newark Students Union Feb. 18 sit-in here at the Newark Public Schools' Central Office.Up to 12 NSU students, parents and NJ Communities United college students-activists have been sitting in State District Superintendent Cami Ande

Big Education Ape / by mike simpson / 23h

#OccupyNPS #OurNewark Newark superintendent meets with protesting students on fourth day of sit-in, district says | NJ.com

Newark superintendent meets with protesting students on fourth day of sit-in, district says | NJ.com: Newark superintendent meets with protesting students on fourth day of sit-in, district saysNEWARK — Newark Public Schools Superintendent Cami Anderson has met with the small group of students who are in their fourth day of a sit-in at her office to demand her resignation, district officials said t

Big Education Ape / by mike simpson / 1d hide  //  save

Newark mayor backs students occupying superintendent's office | #OccupyNPS #OurNewark

Newark mayor backs students occupying superintendent's office | Fox News: Newark mayor backs students occupying superintendent's office Students holed up since Tuesday in the office of the Newark, N.J., school superintendent in an effort to force her to meet with them or resign gained a powerful ally Thursday -- the city's mayor."They're obviously frustrated about not being able to have a voi

Big Education Ape / by mike simpson / 1d 

These Newark Students Have Been Camping Out At Their School District Headquarters For Days #‎OccupyNPS‬ ‪#‎OurNewark‬

These Newark Students Have Been Camping Out At Their School District Headquarters For Days: These Newark Students Have Been Camping Out At Their School District Headquarters For DaysCami Anderson, superintendent of Newark Public Schools, speaks during an interview in New York in 2014. A group of students occupied Anderson's office in February 2015 to protest her policies. (Photographer: Chris Good

Big Education Ape / by mike simpson / 1d 

NJ students refuse to end sit-in protest at superintendent's office | Al Jazeera America #‎OccupyNPS‬ ‪#‎OurNewark‬

Newark Student Union Stages Sit-in | Al Jazeera America: EDUCATIONJULIO CORTEX / AP PHOTONJ students refuse to end sit-in protest at superintendent's officeThe young activists want Newark's schools chief to meet with them or resign over a program they say is racially biasedFebruary 19, 2015 6:30PM ETby Wilson Dizard   @willdizardAs their sit-in at the office of their schools superintendent went in

Big Education Ape / by mike simpson / 1d hide  //  save

When Kids Teach Adults – Lessons from the Newark Student Union Sit-in | #‎OccupyNPS‬ ‪#‎OurNewark‬

When Kids Teach Adults – Lessons from the Newark Student Union Sit-in | gadflyonthewallblog: When Kids Teach Adults – Lessons from the Newark Student Union Sit-inFebruary 20, 2015 stevenmsingerIf ISIS extremists flew in from the Middle East and took over our public schools, we wouldn’t stand for it.But if those extremists are from our own state or federal government, we just yawn and change the ch

Big Education Ape / by mike simpson / 1d 

CURMUDGUCATION: Newark Students Occupy District Offices #OccupyNPS http://bit.ly/1JwGiVT

Newark students seize Cami Anderson’s office | Bob Braun's Ledger #OccupyNPS #OurNewark http://bit.ly/1vI2aSC

BREAKING! Newark Student Union Call to Action! | Poetic Justice http://bit.ly/1G4VtQJ

CALLING ALL NEWARKERS!!! EMERGENCY RALLY TONIGHT AT 5PM AT 2 CEDAR STREET!!! #OccupyNPS #OurNewark http://bit.ly/1AlUEkt

Newark Students Union - We are HUNGRY and the District is holding the food http://bit.ly/1A6xmjy

Students take over Newark Public Schools HQ calling for superintendent’s resignation http://bit.ly/1AldJDn

LIVE: Newark student activists 'occupy' district offices | NJ.com http://bit.ly/1vE0yZY

For too long, the policies that have been put into effect or are in being proposed have or plan to do nothing to fully address the needs and issues that students in Newark go through on a daily basis. For too long we as students are just being told to let the system solve its problems but at the same time, the same problems they try to solve are the same ones we're being forced to endure for the sake of a better education. If we as students are supposed to reach our highest potential, then we as students should have the right to have a form of representation so we can truly achieve our fullest potential and be the next leaders of the world, and that is why we are staring the Newark Students Union. The revolution starts now!!!
Follow us on Twitter @NewarkStudents
Follow us on Instagram: @newarkstudents orhttp://instagram.com/newarkstudents

President- Kristin Towkaniuk (ktowkca@gmail.com)
Vice President- Jose Leonardo (jose.leoguitarist@gmail.com)
Secretary- Tanaisa Brown (sphs526267@gmail.com)
Treasurer- Hector Maldonado (scientisthector@gmail.com)

CLick Here to Follow the Newark Student Union on FaceBook 

CLick Here to Help the Newark Student Union 

The Network For Public Education | Tell Congress: Vote NO on H.R. 5 – The Student Success Act:

Tell Congress: Vote NO on H.R. 5 – The Student Success Act

February 21, 2015 Action Alerts, Charter Schools, NCLB, NPE Tool Kit, Reauthorization of NCLB, Testing / Opting Out, Uncategorized, Vouchers, Washington D.C.

Tell Congress: Vote NO on H.R. 5 - The Student Success Act

It has been reported that the US House of Representatives will vote on H.R. 5, the "Student Success Act," on Friday, February 27th. The bill, which is the House's version of the long overdue reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, was rushed through the House Education and the Workforce Committee with no public hearings. The bill is deeply flawed, and raises many concerns for public education allies.

There are four crucial issues:

• Requires that states test all children in grades 3-8 and once in high school, even though no high performing nation tests all children every year 
• Makes Title I funds portable, which will decrease funding to the schools in greatest need, and opens the door for vouchers
• Limits Title II funding to 10% for class size reduction
• Increases funding for charter schools and encourages the growth and expansion of Charter Management Organizations (CMOs), which will advance the privatization movement

The time is now to send a clear message that we demand better for our children and our schools. Please join NPE and write your Representative today to let him/her know you oppose the passage of this bill.

Click Here to:  Join NPE and write your Representative today to let him/her know you oppose the passage of this bill.

Tell Congress: Vote NO on H.R. 5 – The Student Success Act