State board no longer willing to let Washington drive accountability | EdSource

State board no longer willing to let Washington drive accountability | EdSource:
State board no longer willing to let Washington drive accountability

Meeting for the first time since President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act, members of the State Board of Education expressed optimism Wednesday that they can create a single system that meshes federal, state and local approaches to school improvement.

But, in identifying areas of uncertainty and some potential conflicts between the federal demands and the state’s vision, several board members made clear that the state should be driving the design of the system – not Washington. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, the federal law’s predecessor, Congress made the state’s acceptance of $1.5 billion in federal Title I funding for low-income children contingent on adhering to federal rules defining failing schools and dictating how to fix them.

Now the state has become the primary funder of money for low-income children and English learners through the Local Control Funding Formula, with $71 billion in proposed funding next year, said board member Sue Burr, likening Title I dollars to “budget dust” in comparison.

SOURCE: CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION WEBCAST.

State Board member Sue Burr said that requirements of the Local Control Funding Formula should drive the state’s plan for school accountability, not the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.

The new federal law “gives us a wonderful opportunity” to align the federal and state school accountability systems, Burr said, “but we have flipped the way we fund the system for vulnerable children. I want to flip the equation: How can we make sure the federal government conforms to what we want to do as well?”

The Every Student Succeeds Act does significantly curb the power that former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan assumed under No Child Left Behind, creating conflicts with California. Instead, the new law adopts California’s approach to determine which low-performing schools need intervention through the use of several measurements, of which standardized test scores will be only one. Others will be high school graduation rates, growth on test scores, how soon English learners become proficient in English and a state’s choice of at least one non-academic indicator. It could be a measurement of college and career readiness, or, if student and civil rights advocates can persuade the state board, measurements of school climate and student engagement, such as chronic absenteeism. (See explanation of new law prepared by attorney Julia Martin, a consultant for the California Department of Education.)

The new law does offer states flexibility, and next week, in a U.S. Department of Education hearing in Los Angeles, state officials will ask federal officials to respect that commitment in forthcoming regulations. They will deliver the message contained in a two-page letter to the department that state board President Michael Kirst and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson issued on Wednesday, in which they urge federal officials “to grant State board no longer willing to let Washington drive accountability | EdSource:

Ed Notes Online: Detroit Sickout Mystery: Who is Leading and Who is Trying to Stop It?

Ed Notes Online: Detroit Sickout Mystery: Who is Leading and Who is Trying to Stop It?:

Detroit Sickout Mystery: Who is Leading and Who is Trying to Stop It?



Why am I reporting so much on the Detroit wildcat sickout? Because of comments I've seen by dissident teachers here in NYC who are hoping for a UFT loss on Friedrichs and feel that with a weaker union teachers will arise from their slumber and revolt - and Detroit may be a model for a weak union. So I'm trying to decipher exactly what is happening - are there leaders who organized this? To what extent is this spontaneous combustion?

...the DFT [Detroit Federation of Teachers]—discredited for its willingness to sign onto any concessions contract, layoff and school closure handed down by a succession of emergency managers—has been unable to stop or control the sickouts and has gone into crisis mode. For the DFT and its national parent organization, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), it is now ‘all hands on deck’ to try to quell the protests while at the same time trying to prevent further loss of union membership come next June, when members will be able to opt-out under the state’s right-to-work law.

Meanwhile, the corporate media, from the local Detroit press to the New York Times and UK-based Guardian, have falsely claimed ousted DFT president Steve Conn is the leader of the protests. But teachers have gone through an experience with Conn’s brand of pseudo-left racial politics and unprincipled maneuvers with the Democratic Party, and the organizers of the sickouts have specifically dissociated themselves from him.... the 4th International, World Socialist Website

There is too much information coming in on what forces are behind the revolt in Detroit which may be a true rank and file movement independent of the official union, the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) and Steve Conn and his group BAMN.

We've reported on Steve Conn's story of being elected as president and then removed and tossed from the union. Knowing the Ed Notes Online: Detroit Sickout Mystery: Who is Leading and Who is Trying to Stop It?:

My Reaction to the President's State of the Union Address | The Jose Vilson

My Reaction to the President's State of the Union Address | The Jose Vilson:

My Reaction to the President’s State of the Union Address

Anytime the president of the United States shouts out teachers, that’s definitely a plus. Well, sorta.

As a math teacher, I appreciate the emphasis on STEM in that it has the potential to open doors to students who normally don’t get those opportunities, or that’s the presumption. I graduated with a degree in computer science, and through the four years at Syracuse U, I saw my brethren of color either drop out completely or transfer to another major within the first couple of years. This wasn’t for lack of intelligence, either. The learning curve for some of my colleagues, even the ones who graduated, was steeper than people who already had coding languages in their middle and high school curricula. It taught me that much of the talk around tech needs to start in the K-12 sector across the board, integrated with the maths and sciences in a way that allows students to deconstruct problems on their own.

But, after last night’s State of the Union Address, I had a few questions that pressed upon my chest the minute President Barack Obama was done with the STEM segment in his speech.

First, does every school have the same opportunities to chase their dreams, and, as a corollary, is “college and career-readiness” the prime objectives for schools? If so, how do we assure that the My Reaction to the President's State of the Union Address | The Jose Vilson:

CURMUDGUCATION: ESSA, Fordham and Accountability: An Open Letter to Mike Petrilli

CURMUDGUCATION: ESSA, Fordham and Accountability: An Open Letter to Mike Petrilli:

ESSA, Fordham and Accountability: An Open Letter to Mike Petrilli

TO: Mike Petrilli, Fordham Institute
FROM: Peter Greene, English teacher

RE: Design competition

You recently announced a design competition for developing a state-level design for accountability under the new ESSA. I totally meant to indicate my interest in throwing my hat into the ring, but it's the end of the grading period here and the start of rehearsals for school musical (Beauty and the Beast-- it's going to be good) and I missed the Jan 11 deadline for indicating interest. But since I intend, at a minimum, to roundly criticize your winner, I feel it's only fair to put up so that I don't have to shut up.

The competition is to design a school accountability system for elementary schools in some average-sized, demographically diverse state. The focus is to rate the schools, and not to answer the question of what to do with the ratings.

1. Design objectives. What are the priorities of the system, which I understand to mean what is the system supposed to care about or value, as much as a system can do such a thing.

You listed some options, but of all of them "a holistic view of school quality" comes closest. However, my design would prioritize a holistic view of student, health, well-being, growth and educational achievement. All other priorities are important only insofar as they effect the health and well-being of the child; and the health, well-being and growth are the entire purpose of the school. Period, full stop. 

Strong local control. Well-paid, well-supported autonomous teaching staff. Well-maintained physical plant. Broad, well-rounded, developmentally appropriate educational program. Solid funding. These CURMUDGUCATION: ESSA, Fordham and Accountability: An Open Letter to Mike Petrilli:

IS FRIEDRICHS VS. CALIFORNIA TEACHERS ASSOCIATION A DEATH KNELL FOR ALL UNIONS - Perdaily.com

IS FRIEDRICHS VS. CALIFORNIA TEACHERS ASSOCIATION A DEATH KNELL FOR ALL UNIONS - Perdaily.com:

IS FRIEDRICHS VS. CALIFORNIA TEACHERS ASSOCIATION A DEATH KNELL FOR ALL UNIONS

The ramifications of the Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association (CTA) that is now pending before the United States Supreme Court go far beyond the public sector unions and employees litigating this case with specious allegations of their 1st Amendment free speech rights being violated by what Justice Kennedy called "coerced speech."

In reality, it also has very little to do with the fair-share agency fees required of all public employees like teachers who are exclusively represented by a union like CTA, but choose not to be members of that union, because they do not share the political views and support given by that union to predominantly Democratic candidates and issues. Already public employee unions must segregate the funds collected to defray the costs of collective bargaining on behalf of all workers- who they have had the exclusive right to represent- and any supplemental political actions the union chooses to engage in and fund only from members dues.

In a country where only 6.6% of workers in the private sector and 35.7% of public sector workers remain unionized, the clear purpose of the Friedrichs case seems to be in dealing a final mortal blow to what remains of unions in this country. If Rebecca Friedrichs and her co-plaintiffs being represented by Michael Carvin and other elite conservative attorneys given carte blanche by the billionaire boys club are successful, not only will they not have to pay for union representation, but it is highly likely that a high percentage of the remaining 325,000 union membership in CTA will quit the union in much the same manner as we have already seen after Governor Scott Walker's siege against unions in Wisconsin.

Since Governor Walker's attack on unions, "American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has lost 18,000 of its previous 32,000 members and has seen its annual revenue fall from $10 million to $5.5 million." In addition, "The state's largest teachers union, the Wisconsin Education Association Council, has lost more than a third of its members." It seems highly unlikely that unions that have spent $1.7 billion in the 2012 elections will be able to do so in IS FRIEDRICHS VS. CALIFORNIA TEACHERS ASSOCIATION A DEATH KNELL FOR ALL UNIONS - Perdaily.com:

How Would California Reshape Accountability in the New ESSA Era? - Politics K-12 - Education Week

How Would California Reshape Accountability in the New ESSA Era? - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

How Would California Reshape Accountability in the New ESSA Era? 

The No Child Left Behind Act may be a thing of the past, but its replacement, the Every Student Succeeds Act, won't be fully in place until the 2017-18 school year.

So where does that leave states without waivers from NCLB when it comes to some of the most hated vestiges of the old law—"adequate yearly progress" and the requirement that districts set aside money for choice and tutoring if their schools fail to meet targets?

California may soon find out. The Golden State is asking the U.S. Department of Education for a reprieve from both AYP (the yardstick at the heart of NCLB) and the requirement that 20 percent of federal Title I money must be set-aside for school choice and tutoring.

California has asked for the flexibility on Title I funding before and been rebuffed. But the state may have more luck now that ESSA, which doesn't call for the set-aside, is the law of the land.

What's more, other folks seem to be hoping for similar leeway. Jeff Simmering, a lobbyist for the Council of the Great City Schools, pleaded with the department to make it clear that states and districts no longer have to hold back funds for old interventions on Monday, during a public meeting on ESSA regulation.

On the state's other ask: California has already gotten big wiggle room on AYP. But it's unclear if that will continue going forward. ESSA makes provisions for states with waivers (more than 40 states in all). It says those states must continue to focus on their lowest performing schools during the 2016-17 school year, until their new accountability plans are in place. But it's less certain what happens for states that never had waivers, like California. We should find out soon.

Meanwhile, the Golden State, which has arguably been a thorn in the Obama administration's side when it comes to K-12, has some advice for the acting secretary John King and his crew as they try to regulate the new law.

Maybe unsurprisingly, California's state board president, Mike Kirst, and its state chief, Tom Torlakson are going for maximum flexibility here.

Their suggestions dovetail with California's own still-under-construction accountability system, which seeks to look holistically at school performance and put districts in the drivers' seat.

Specifically California officials want states to be able to:

• Go for "continuous improvement of schools" rather than reaching for a specific long-term goal; 
  
• Use multiple measures when examining school performance, not just a single score on an index or state rating system; 
• Avoid giving a numerical weight to every factor they look at for accountability (like tests, or school climate). States should just make sure they consider each factor in some way to differentiate school performance;
  
• Consider a wide range of factors, not just test scores, when figuring out which schools are low-performing; 
• Rate low-performing districts, not just schools. (Massachusetts and about ten other states already do this.)

More here.

Kirst, Torlaksen, and the rest of the California gang will get a chance to voice these recommendations next week, when the education department holds a public meeting on ESSA regulation out in Los Angeles.How Would California Reshape Accountability in the New ESSA Era? - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 1/13/15

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1 by mike simpson / 20h hide  //  save

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 1/12/15

CORPORATE ED REFORMMartin Luther King, Teachers' Unions and Social Justice | Yohuru WilliamsMartin Luther King, Teachers' Unions and Social Justice | Yohuru Williams: Martin Luther King, Teachers' Unions and Social JusticeAs the nation prepares to mark what would have been the 87th birthday of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, we should remember Dr. King as a staunch supporter of both public ed

2 by mike simpson / 23h