Peter Greene: New York City's Radical Proposal For A Troubled Program

New York City's Radical Proposal For A Troubled Program

New York City's Radical Proposal For A Troubled Program

New York City schools have been a prime example of what happens when the problems of segregation intersect with the problems of gifted programs. Now it appears they are prepared to throw up their hands and untie the Gordian knot with a flamethrower.

In 2014, the UCLA Civil Rights Report found that New York schools were the most segregated in the nation. Like most things about the New York City system, the situation was complicated. The Bloomberg administration was supportive of school choice, and like many choice advocates, believed that choice could be a solution to equity problems. In NYC, as in the rest of the country, that has not turned out to be true. School choice's effect on segregation remains highly debated, but choice advocates can't point to any clear successes.

Gifted programs have been seen as a route to desegregation in many school districts. The theory is that selecting students for a school or program based on giftedness rather than address should bring together students from across all lines--geographic, racial and economic. In theory, gifted programs should also better meet the needs of high-functioning students who might be bored and unproductive in regular classes.

But gifted programs have problems of their own. In 2013, Andy Smarick of the reform-minded Bellwether Education Partners put together a report about gifted programs in the US. He points out that there is no real federal guidance or support for gifted education, and that states are largely left to their own devices. In many states, that CONTINUE READING: New York City's Radical Proposal For A Troubled Program

WALTON'S PLAN TO DESTROY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: The Charter School Strategy: Working as Planned

The Charter School Strategy: Working as Planned

The Charter School Strategy: Working as Planned

Enrollment is steadily increasing and charters have instigated new approaches to school governance.

The charter school movement today confronts a challenging political environment.This contrasts with nearly three decades of bipartisan charter support from governors and legislators who created charter laws in 43 states and the District of Columbia and bipartisan backing by four Presidents—Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

But this pushback against these independently run public schools isn’t as dire as charter opponents want the public—especially charter supporters—to believe.

In fact, there’s another—more important—story to tell: the charter school strategy is working as planned.

Charter enrollment is steadily increasing. From 2007 to 2017 enrollment more than doubled, from 1.3 million to 3.2 million students.

In 2017, 21 districts had at least 30% of students enrolled in charters — up from 1% in 2006. Another 214 districts had at least 10%, up from below 20 districts in 2006.

The charter strategy is spreading. And working.

This view is consistent with chartering’s “great promise” described by Ted Kolderie, a charter thought leader, in a 1990 report by the center-left Progressive Policy Institute.

Chartering is primarily a governance innovation fostering system change in how school districts manage schools rather than an educational innovation focused on schools.

Kolderie contrasts the district sector, which is governed by school boards setting policy, managing districts and running schools, with the charter sector, which is governed by a decentralized contract model allowing organizations other than school boards to offer public education. These authorizers include state charter boards, non-education government offices and other nonprofits.

This approach broadens public education’s definition from districts creating and running schools to authorizers creating schools and contracting with operators to run independent, self-governing public schools.

Since chartering is a governance—or institutional—innovation, the key question for assessing success is whether the strategy instigates new approaches to K-12 governance.

It does.

Governance innovations include state Recovery School Districts that restart low-performing schools as charter or charter-like schools. New Orleans is its most prominent example, with results showing improved student outcomes.

Public school governance in the District of Columbia is another prominent example. The district and charter sectors exist separately.

The mayor oversees the district and appoints the chancellor, who supervises 116 district schools enrolling nearly 49,000 students—53% of public school students.

The charter authorizer is the D.C. Public Charter School Board. The mayor nominates its seven members, with consent by the D.C. Council. The charter board oversees 123 charter schools enrolling nearly 44,000 students—47% of public school students. DON'T CONTINUE READING BOYCOTT WALMART: The Charter School Strategy: Working as Planned

What Happened to the Students Who Began KIPP-Philly in 2003? | Diane Ravitch's blog

What Happened to the Students Who Began KIPP-Philly in 2003? | Diane Ravitch's blog

What Happened to the Students Who Began KIPP-Philly in 2003?

Marc Mannella opened the first KIPP middle school in Philadelphia in 2003.

He started with 90 students in fifth grade.

KIPP promised that students who stuck with the “no-excuses” regimen would go to college.

Avi Wolfman-Arent of WHYY in Philadelphia tracked down 33 of those students to find out what happened to them.

The former KIPPsters are now about 25.

Of the 90, 25 dropped out in the first year of middle school.

The students entered a world of incentives and punishments, of strict rules administered strictly.

It wasn’t right for everyone.

Of the 90 students who enrolled in KIPP Philly’s first middle school class, about half were boys. By the time 8th grade graduation arrived, enrollment was whittled down to 34 students — and only 11 boys remained….

Almost none of the KIPP alumni we interviewed did four CONTINUE READING: What Happened to the Students Who Began KIPP-Philly in 2003? | Diane Ravitch's blog

On reforming suspensions: a teacher’s plea to California’s lawmakers | EdSource

On reforming suspensions: a teacher’s plea to California’s lawmakers | EdSource

On reforming suspensions: a teacher’s plea to California’s lawmakers

Dear lawmakers:

Jason Sanchez

Before you make any law that affects public education, please talk to teachers — teachers from rural and urban areas as well as poorer and wealthier areas. Students, parents and teachers represent the largest proportion of the population that is directly affected by laws impacting public education. Please spend most of your time talking with them to understand how they will be affected.

Then talk to school and district administrators, lobbyists and other policymakers.

In May, after 10 years of teaching, I resigned and left a career I was passionate about. Even though I love teaching, I had to leave. Lack of support and ever-increasing job duties took their toll and cost me my motivation to continue.

A major tipping point was when I had a particularly challenging group of students, including some who were regularly purposefully defiant. I usually handled my own classroom discipline by working with students and their families, but this time those efforts failed to address the situation. All year long I begged my school district for support. I repeatedly suspended one of the students from the classroom because he CONTINUE READING: On reforming suspensions: a teacher’s plea to California’s lawmakers | EdSource

Teens, Screens And Mental Health: Scientists Debate The Link : NPR

Teens, Screens And Mental Health: Scientists Debate The Link : NPR

The Scientific Debate Over Teens, Screens And Mental Health

More teens and young adults — particularly girls and young women — are reporting being depressed and anxious, compared with comparable numbers from the mid-2000s. Suicides are up too in that time period, most noticeably among girls ages 10 to 14.

These trends are the basis of a scientific controversy.

One hypothesis that has gotten a lot of traction is that with nearly every teen using a smartphone these days, digital media must take some of the blame for worsening mental health.

But some researchers argue that this theory isn't well supported by existing evidence and that it repeats a "moral panic" argument made many times in the past about video games, rap lyrics, television and even radio, back in its early days.

To understand both sides of the debate, I talked in detail to three researchers: one who argues that teens' use of tech is a big problem, one who thinks the danger is exaggerated and an expert in research methodology who suggests the connection may not be so simple.
Very concerned about smartphones
Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, may be the researcher most associated CONTINUE READING: Teens, Screens And Mental Health: Scientists Debate The Link : NPR

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A Rise In Depression Among Teens And Young Adults Could Be Linked To Social Media Use

California Act To Save Lives Becomes California Law - Elk Grove Tribune

California Act To Save Lives Becomes California Law - Elk Grove Tribune

California Act To Save Lives Becomes California Law

In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that an officer’s use of force must be reasonable. The new standard set by the California Act to Save Lives (CASL) goes even further, allowing police to use deadly force only when necessary. Additionally, prosecutors must now consider the behaviors of the officer(s) and suspect(s), leading up to the use of force.

The March 2018 shooting of Stephon Clark by Sacramento Police Department officers, Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet, motivated the effort for more stringent laws. Earlier attempts by California legislators to address police brutality failed.

A separate but related effort to increase police officer training on the new standard also moved forward.

 “It is the intent of the Legislature that peace officers use deadly force only when necessary in defense of human life. In determining whether deadly force is necessary, officers shall evaluate each situation in light of the particular circumstances of each case, and shall use other available resources and techniques if reasonably safe and feasible to an objectively reasonable officer.”

CASL provides for the use of deadly force by California police only in certain circumstances.

“A peace officer is justified in using deadly force upon another person only when the officer reasonably believes, based on the totality of the circumstances, that such force is necessary for either of the following reasons:

(A) To defend against an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to the officer or to another person.

(B) To apprehend a fleeing person for any felony that threatened or resulted in death or serious bodily injury, if the officer reasonably believes that the person will cause death or serious bodily injury to another unless immediately apprehended. Where feasible, a peace officer shall, prior to the use of force, make reasonable efforts to identify themselves as a peace officer and to warn that deadly force may be used, unless the officer has objectively reasonable grounds to believe the person is aware of those facts.”

Interestingly, CASL does not explicitly define “necessary,” which means the courts would likely have to weigh in, requiring another case where police use deadly force. Because of this, and other compromises, groups like Black Lives CONTINUE READING: California Act To Save Lives Becomes California Law - Elk Grove Tribune

Struggling Texas schools working with charters, nonprofits got F ratings | The Texas Tribune

Struggling Texas schools working with charters, nonprofits got F ratings | The Texas Tribune

Texas lets struggling schools partner with nonprofits or charters for improvement. But many got Fs this year.
Four public schools being run by private organizations under a partnership must drastically improve their state ratings over the next couple of years or else face forced closure.

Adrain Johnson was one of five Texas school superintendents last year to take a Hail Mary pass in order to improve two low-performing schools: He let a new nonprofit take over the management of Hearne ISD's elementary and junior high, both of which had failed to meet state academic standards for years.

The partnerships, an idea lawmakers approved in 2017, are supposed to give the outside organizations — charter groups, private nonprofits or universities — flexibility to try out new educational models and hopefully lead to major gains in student test scores. In return, the low-performing schools get more money per student and a two-year pause from any state penalties, which are required after a school has underperformed for five years or more in a row.

But after a year being run by Hearne Education Foundation, and managed by a separate appointed school board of regional educators, Hearne Elementary School received its seventh consecutive failing rating from the state this month, meaning it may have to shut down unless it passes over the next couple of years.

In fact, seven of the 12 schools across the state in similar partnerships with nonprofits or charters received F ratings this year, including four that, like Hearne Elementary, that could face state sanctions if they don't pass in the next couple of years. All 12 schools serve student populations that are between 70% and 100% economically disadvantaged, in school districts with higher rates of teacher turnover than state average.

Hearne Junior High, a rural Central Texas school with 100% economically disadvantaged students, had actually managed to improve significantly before the partnership even started and its performance remained relatively steady this year. That means it's safe for now from any state penalties.

Johnson said he's proud of the district's improvement, given the challenges an CONTINUE READING: Struggling Texas schools working with charters, nonprofits got F ratings | The Texas Tribune

How history textbooks reflect America’s refusal to reckon with slavery - Vox

How history textbooks reflect America’s refusal to reckon with slavery - Vox

How history textbooks reflect America’s refusal to reckon with slavery
Textbooks have been slow to incorporate black humanity in their slavery narratives. And they still have a long way to go.

Four hundred years ago, a group of about 20 Africans were captured in the African interior, probably near modern-day Angola, and forcibly transported on a slave ship headed to the Americas. After tumultuous months at sea, they landed ashore in the first British colony in North America — Jamestown, Virginia — in late August 1619.

Hazen’s Elementary History of the United States: A Story and a Lesson, a popular early 20th-century textbook for young readers, picked up the story of the first black Virginians from there.

“The settlers bought them,” explained the 1903 text, “... and found them so helpful in raising tobacco that more were brought in, and slavery became part of our history.”

Its barebones lesson plan included just two easily digestible factoids for the year 1619: the introduction of the Africans — with an illustration of two half-naked black people standing on a beach before a pontificating pirate and a crowd of onlookers — and the creation of the Virginia House of Burgesses, the first formal legislative body in the American colonies.

Hazen’s Elementary History of the United States: A Story and a Lesson, published in 1903, included very little about 1619 and the role slavery played in the formation of the United States.

 Library of Congress

But the history of Jamestown and slavery isn’t that simple. Even though the 1619 landing wasn’t the first arrival of Africans in the Americas, it fits within the history of colonial America, black America, the global slave trade, and ultimately the foundation of our country. So how textbooks summarized this history — one characterized by a scant documentary record and CONTINUE READING: How history textbooks reflect America’s refusal to reckon with slavery - Vox

Teaching First-Year Students Includes More than Disciplinary Content, Skills | radical eyes for equity

Teaching First-Year Students Includes More than Disciplinary Content, Skills | radical eyes for equity

Teaching First-Year Students Includes More than Disciplinary Content, Skills

I have two vivid memories of my father—one when I was an older child, the other when I was a teen.

Walking down Main Street of my hometown, my father and I stopped to talk to an adult, and when I didn’t respond with the obligatory “yes, sir,” my father slapped me hard across the face.

Years later, my father was playing in a pick-up basketball game on our home court with my teenaged friends and me. During the game, I crossed the respect line with him and he turned to once again hit me hard across the face—in front of all my friends.

I was raised that children were to be seen and not heard, and all child interaction with adults had to include “sir” and “ma’am.”

Eventually as I grew into roles of authority—teacher, coach, and parent—I took on a much different lesson than my father had intended; I am extremely informal in my clothing and speech, and I avoid formal situations like the plague (because they literally make me feel ill, triggering my anxiety).

Especially as a teacher and coach, I have always worked very hard to treat children and young people with full human dignity and respect; that is something I always wanted as a young person, and those adults who showed me that respect remain important in my life.

In short, while I think all people regardless of age should treat each other with something like respect (for our collective humanity, but not roles such as authority), I also believe that anyone in a position of authority should CONTINUE READING: Teaching First-Year Students Includes More than Disciplinary Content, Skills | radical eyes for equity

NYC Educator: It's the First Day of Break

NYC Educator: It's the First Day of Break

It's the First Day of Break

I'm crazy, right? You're sitting around, bummed out of your mind because one week from today you have to go to work. How is that fair? After all, you've finally located your true self and you're a beachcomber. The only thing you're missing is one of those metal detector thingies, and you've just seen one on sale at Costco. How could you pass up this opportunity?

And honestly, isn't it wasteful that the beach chair you've been lounging around on all summer should be unceremoniously tossed in your garage? Isn't that bad for the environment? I mean sure, it's gonna get cold, and there will be snow on the ground, but you're a reasonable person. What's wrong with opening it up in the living room, making a nice cup of tea, and just sitting there every day with a good book?

After all, to be a good teacher you ought to be a reader, and where are you gonna find time to read if you have to go to frigging work every morning? It's your job to be a role model, and gosh darn it that's what you need to do!

Actually, everything is point of view. I'm chapter leader of a very large school, and I notice that whenever a marking period ends, I get complaints. Why did it end on a Friday? Why can't I have the weekend to finish my grades? Why did it end on a CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: It's the First Day of Break

My Personal Top 10 Blog Posts | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

My Personal Top 10 Blog Posts | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

My Personal Top 10 Blog Posts

I started this blog about 11 years ago, and in that time I have written over 500 posts.  Some of these posts are particularly meaningful to me so I thought I would collect my personal ‘top 10’.  I know that I don’t often go through the archives of blogs I like so this is a way for people who read this blog to either re-live the ‘greatest hits’ or for newer readers to get caught up on it:

#10 I Taught At The XQ Houston Super School

When Steve Jobs’ widow got involved in education reform and aired a prime time infomercial on all three major networks to promote her plan to reinvent high school, it was a major coincidence that the main school she featured was the high school that I taught at in Houston.  with some investigative reporting and some contacts I still have from my Houston days, I revealed a scandal which may have contributed to the rock star principal there being fired.

#9 Same Kids, Same Building, Same Lies

At the Teach For America 20th anniversary alumni summit, I heard Obama’s secretary of education, Arne Duncan, tell a story about an amawing school turnaround that sounded, to me, to be too good to be true.  This led to my first ever school ‘debunking’,  This got me CONTINUE READING: My Personal Top 10 Blog Posts | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

Teacher Spending on School Supplies: A State-by-State Breakdown

Teacher Spending on School Supplies: A State-by-State Breakdown

Teacher Spending on School Supplies: A State-by-State Breakdown

Spending their own money on school supplies is for teachers as integral a back-to-school ritual as classroom seating arrangements, new lesson plans, meeting parents, etc.  At a time when they are standing up for more education funding and a fair salary, public school educators continue to dip into their own pockets – to the tune of at least $459 every year, according to a new analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

This figure, writes EPI economist Emma García in a blog post, “does not include the dollars teachers spend but are reimbursed for by their school districts …The $459-per-teacher average is for all teachers, including the small (4.9 percent) share who do not spend any of their own money on school supplies.”

Nine out of 10 educators will not be reimbursed for their back-to-school purchases, whether it’s pencils, notebooks, whiteboards, posters, even software.

García looked at data from the 2011-12 and 2015-16 Schools and Staffing Survey survey, The earlier survey was a little more useful because it included state-by-state data. The numbers in the map – adjusted for inflation – are not indicative of a post-Great Recession spike, notes García, because spending by teachers increased in subsequent years. The 2015-16 survey shows that teachers spent on average $479 on school supplies.

California educators forked over about $664 annually. Spending by North Dakota CONTINUE READING: Teacher Spending on School Supplies: A State-by-State Breakdown