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Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Why It’s Getting Harder to Count Poor Children in the Nation’s Schools | Education News | US News

Why It’s Getting Harder to Count Poor Children in the Nation’s Schools | Education News | US News

Miscounting Poor Students
Billions of dollars in federal aid and virtually every metric for assessing achievement gaps rely on an accurate system for counting students from low-income families.

THE NUMBER OF POOR students enrolled in a particular school or living in a certain school district is one of the most important education data points that exists, and the stakes are high for getting the count right.
The figures are used to direct billions of dollars in federal and state aid, and they're a pillar of K-12 accountability systems that ensure disadvantaged students are keeping up with their wealthier peers.
But the method that's traditionally used to track them – how many students qualify for free and reduced-priced lunch – is no longer a reliable proxy for poverty as eligibility for the school lunch program has expanded in recent years. And getting an accurate count is becoming more difficult in part due to increasing numbers of students in the country illegally and students from immigrant families, both of whom are wary of enrolling in government benefit programs amid the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration.
"This is a prime example of a really wonky, not-sexy problem that is extremely important," Ary Amerikaner, vice president for P-12 policy, practice, and research at The Education Trust, says. "These data underlie a huge number of critical decisions in the education world."
As just one example, Title I, the largest federal K-12 program, directs $14.5 billion annually to school districts with lots of poor students to ensure they have access to the same types of learning opportunities as wealthier children. For decades, school districts have relied on the number of students enrolled in the school lunch program in order to identify which specific schools are serving the most poor students. Moreover, schools use that count when assessing achievement gaps, namely whether poor students are keeping up academically with wealthier students and, if not, whether they are at least making gains – metrics used in accountability systems in every school district in the country.
Traditionally, the number of poor students was determined by the number of students who enrolled in the National School Lunch Program, which provides free or reduced-price lunches to students whose families make less than 130 percent or 185 percent of the federal poverty level, respectively. But in 2010, in the wake of the Great Recession, Congress adopted two important policy changes aimed at expanding eligibility, which in turn muddied the count.
First, it expanded what's known as "direct certification," which assumes students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch if they already receive other types of government support, like participation in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps. Second, and most importantly, Congress expanded what's known as the "community eligibility provision," which allows schools to provide free lunch to all students, including to those CONTINUE READING: Why It’s Getting Harder to Count Poor Children in the Nation’s Schools | Education News | US News


CA K-12 schools press Gavin Newsom for more funds | The Sacramento Bee #UTLA #REDFORED #UTLAStrong #StrikeReady #March4Ed #WeAreLA

CA K-12 schools press Gavin Newsom for more funds | The Sacramento Bee

The economy is booming. Why are so many California schools broke?
Big Education Ape: UPDATE: Audit blasts Sac City Unified for budget mismanagement, warns of possible state takeover | The Sacramento Bee - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2018/12/audit-blasts-sac-city-unified-for.html

Facing a $36 million deficit and a possible state takeover, the top budget officer at the Sacramento City Unified School District has a sober message for his counterparts around California.
Sacramento is “just one of the first dominoes,” said John Quinto, the district’s chief business officer.
By any measure, Sacramento City’s distress is worse than the vast majority of California school districts.
But Quinto’s warning hints at looming problems for many more: The costs of pensions, health care and special education outpace new revenue they’re receiving from the state and they put some schools on a trajectory for red ink.
“Those things combined are finding most school districts in a budget-cutting mode, and it’s a shocker in what has been a growing economy,” said Kevin Gordon, a lobbyist whose firm, Capitol Advisors Group, represents large school districts.
Those stresses are driving education advocates to put forward proposals that would ask Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom to set aside more money for K-12 schools. A rush of new funding wouldn’t necessarily spare Sacramento City, but it could put off a reckoning for many other districts.
So far, the options on the table include:
▪ Assembly Bill 39 by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, which would swell education spending by $35 billion. For context, California budgeted $78.4 billion in state and local funds for K-12 school in this financial year.
▪ A pledge by Assembly Democratic leadership to help schools pay their rising pension bills, which could take the form of a direct payment to the state’s two largest pension funds or an unrestricted funding boost for school districts. Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, included that goal last month when he previewed the party’s objectives for upcoming budget negotiations.
▪ A general appeal from K-12 advocates asking Newsom to put more money into education than law requires. To them, more is better, but they’d consider anything over the minimum to be a win.

Gavin Newsom’s priorities

It’s not clear yet whether Newsom will CONTINUE READING: CA K-12 schools press Gavin Newsom for more funds | The Sacramento Bee
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8.1 Spending: Does California Skimp on Education? | ED100 - https://ed100.org/lessons/californiaskimps
Sacramento City School District Rejects Teachers Association Budget Proposal « CBS Sacramento - https://cbsloc.al/2QPNtSk on /cbssacramento

Sacramento District Running Out of Money Denies Budget Proposal « CBS Sacramento - https://cbsloc.al/2Bloc8B on /cbssacramento
 




DeVos moves to boost college online learning while reducing regulatory oversight - The Washington Post

DeVos moves to boost college online learning while reducing regulatory oversight - The Washington Post

DeVos moves to boost college online learning while reducing regulatory oversight



The U.S. Education Department issued proposals Monday that could extend federal student aid dollars to a wider variety of higher-education providers, a move that some say could spur innovation and others worry could attract predatory actors.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has bemoaned what counts as a college course worthy of federal loans and grants. She has also challenged the accreditation system that stands between schools and billions of dollars in financial aid, questioning whether the Education Department’s accreditation rules work to the detriment of innovation and students.
The proposals would grant accrediting agencies more leeway to approve programs that don’t fit traditional models and loosen standards on instruction and the interaction between students and faculty. In doing so, the Education Department could bolster online and competency-based education, a burgeoning field that lets students learn at their own pace and move along as they master material.
The proposals are part of a process in which education stakeholders attempt to reach consensus on regulatory changes. But given the issues up for debate and the ways they could fundamentally change higher education, negotiators may have difficulty agreeing on much.
Under the proposals, the Education Department would give accreditors, and to a lesser extent colleges, more authority over how distance education, correspondence courses and credit hours are defined. The plan takes aim at Obama-era rules, including what counts as a credit hour.

To ensure that college credits were meaningful, the previous administration defined a credit as one hour of  CONTINUE READING: DeVos moves to boost college online learning while reducing regulatory oversight - The Washington Post



John Thompson: Oklahoma and the Same Tired Privatization Agenda, Part 3 | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Thompson: Oklahoma and the Same Tired Privatization Agenda, Part 3 | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Thompson: Oklahoma and the Same Tired Privatization Agenda, Part 3

This is the third in a series about education politics in Oklahoma by John Thompson, historian and retired teacher.
The Oklahoman no longer dominates Oklahoma politics as it did for generations, but it is still the biggest bear in our woods. Now that legislators and governor-elect are more inexperienced than ever, the corporate school reform-loving newspaper is aggressively pushing its privatization agenda. Since our state government is almost completely lacking in knowledge of how and why the state implemented the entire accountability-driven, charter-driven experiment at the beginning of the decade, who knows who will win the hearts and minds of newly-elected officials?
One of the most worrisome of the Oklahoman’s recent editorials praised Reason magazine’s prescription for school improvement. Reason’s diagnosis was virtually indistinguishable from that of Jeb Bush’s ExcelinEd, which said that underfunded high-poverty urban schools don’t need more money as much as they need to learn from high-performing schools in the rich exurbs.
The Oklahoman then editorialized:
In 2011 and 2012, Oklahoma implemented reforms that have proven effective in Florida, including a third-grade reading law that required retention of students who were two years below grade level, and an A-F school grading system. Lawmakers have since watered down some of those reforms. Instead of backing off, Reason’s education rankings indicate Oklahoma lawmakers should double down.


The Oklahoman is still angry that moderate Republican State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister led a bipartisan effort that allowed schools to use more discretion when deciding whether to retain 3rd graders who don’t pass their reading test. For years, it has led the chorus for adopting an under-funded replica of the full Florida agenda. Fortunately, the CONTINUE READING: John Thompson: Oklahoma and the Same Tired Privatization Agenda, Part 3 | Diane Ravitch's blog

Did the IPET Initiative Reform Schooling? (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Did the IPET Initiative Reform Schooling? (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Did the IPET Initiative Reform Schooling? (Part 3)


Did the Gates-funded initiative to alter how teachers get evaluated in three school districts and four charter networks between 2009-2016, fail?
A local newspaper and the RAND corporation’s independent evaluation reached similar conclusions when it came to achieving the goals of improving low-income minority students’ test scores. Both concluded that the project did not meet that goal. New policies of identifying effective teachers and having those teachers work with low-income minority students also failed to yield the promised outcomes of the donor initiative. The dominant criterion used to judge “success” and “failure in U.S. public schools for the past generation has been effectiveness, that is, were the goals of the project achieved? Yes or no. Up or down. A binary answer. Using this criterion, the initiative failed.
Yet–frequent readers of this blog know that a “yet” or “but” soon arrives–there is evidence of a mixed verdict on the “success” and “failure” of IPET. Consider the following points:
*With Gates prior funding of research on measures of teaching effectiveness, support of the Obama administration, and school districts and charter networks eager to take the money and put these ideas into practice, the process part of IPET policymaking was clearly a political “success.” IPET mobilized federal, state, and local officials to consider the project and then adopt it with accompanying funding. A donor’s huge grant to school districts and charter CONTINUE READING: Did the IPET Initiative Reform Schooling? (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board January 7, 2018--We Support LA Teachers and Discuss Election #UTLA #REDFORED #UTLAStrong #StrikeReady #March4Ed #WeAreLA

NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board January 7, 2018--We Support LA Teachers and Discuss Election

UFT Executive Board January 7, 2018--We Support LA Teachers and Discuss Election


Secretary Howard Schoor welcomes us..

Speakers—

Betty Godfried—retired Adult ed. CL—After 7 years, Rose Marie Mills has been removed (applause) and is being reassigned. Third time an unsuitable admin has been dismissed in recent years. Only teachers or paras are discontinued. Admin is moved around. Rank and file made these things happen. Current fight was in service and retired members who were victimized. 

Ended illegal test procedures, articles published, met with reps, spoke here. Documented activities, will prepare packet. Thanks Schoor for giving it to Mills, thanks Mulgrew for meeting, would’ve liked more support. Carmen Alvarez also supportive. Still long way to go, issues need to be resolved. New superintendent may need guidance. Union may need to negotiate. Thanks teachers for all the work they did, thanks for applause, thanks for those who do listen, says coming here has made a difference.

This ten minute mike one of last bastions of true union democracy. Giving voice to voiceless is doing something good. 

David Price—CL Bard HS Queens—Teachers at school want to know what UFT will do in solidarity with UTLA. Happy to see resolution in favor. Concerned that DA is after the 10th. Proposed resolved.

Schoor—Only members may propose resolutions.

Price—Urges members to add resolved that UFT invite UTLA leaders to speak before elected bodies, and that we publicize UTLA campaigns. Has members who want to donate to strike fund, would rather contribute to that than COPE. We are in solid position to show strength. 

Schoor—At last meeting I called on non-member of Exec. Board. We need to know who people are who come in so we are now requiring sign-ins. We welcome all members and retired members. We need to know why people are here if they are not members. 

Minutes—approved

President’s report—Michael Mulgrew—Wishes us happy new year. Had Bronx plan rollout. Wants to thank staff. Was great event, with over 400 people. Idea of us saying we have CONTINUE READING:
 NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board January 7, 2018--We Support LA Teachers and Discuss Election




Tony Evers, Inaugurated as Wisconsin Governor, Faces a Divided State But Has Backing from Strong Public Education Network | janresseger

Tony Evers, Inaugurated as Wisconsin Governor, Faces a Divided State But Has Backing from Strong Public Education Network | janresseger

Tony Evers, Inaugurated as Wisconsin Governor, Faces a Divided State But Has Backing from Strong Public Education Network


In his fine book on the political ramifications of the 2010 Red-wave state elections, The One Percent Solution, Gordon Lafer describes state politics marked by big money and the impact of the Tea Party: “In January 2011, legislatures across the country took office under a unique set of circumstances.  In many states, new majorities rode to power on the energy of the Tea Party ‘wave’ election and the corporate-backed RedMap campaign.  Critically, this new territory included a string of states, running across the upper Midwest from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin, that had traditionally constituted labor strongholds…. In addition, this was the first class of legislators elected under post-Citizens United campaign finance rules, and the sudden influence of unlimited money in politics was felt across the country… Wisconsin’s was the most notorious legislation adopted during this period… Wisconsin’s ‘Budget Repair Bill’ (Act 10) largely eliminated collective bargaining rights for the state’s 175,000 public employees…  (Act 10) marked a singular triumph for the ALEC network.  Not only did the bill embrace principles laid out in ALEC model legislation, but its passage was made possible by an extensive corporate investment in local politics. (Governor Scott) Walker himself is an alumnus of ALEC, and from 2008 to 2012 he received over $400,000 in campaign contributions from ALEC-member companies. In addition, forty-nine members of the 2011 Wisconsin legislature were ALEC members….” (The One Percent Solution, pp. 44-49)
Yesterday, January 7, 2019, Tony Evers, a Democrat, was inaugurated to replace Walker as Wisconsin’s  governor, but both houses of the Wisconsin Legislature remain Republican—and ALEC-dominated.
Some are encouraged by the new governor’s cabinet picks.  On Sunday, reporters for the CONTINUE READING: Tony Evers, Inaugurated as Wisconsin Governor, Faces a Divided State But Has Backing from Strong Public Education Network | janresseger