Education Department Furloughs Averted Despite Sequester

Education Department Furloughs Averted Despite Sequester:

Education Department Furloughs Averted Despite Sequester

by Joy Resmovits

As some federal workers face furloughs because of sequestration budget cuts, the U.S. Education Department's approximately 4,700 employees can breathe easy, according to an internal memo sent Friday.

"ED will not need to furlough any employees this fiscal year," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wrote to his staff.

The Education Department joins the Government Accountability Office and the departments of agriculture, commerce, justice, and state in avoiding employee furloughs,
according to Government Executive. Thousands of employees at the departments of defense, labor and homeland security will have to take unpaid leave, as will workers at the IRS and Environmental Protection Agency.

Sequestration's mandatory cuts will affect the Education Department in other ways. Employees will avoid 

Release of “Gold Standard Research” Once Again Exposes Milwaukee Voucher Program | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!

Release of “Gold Standard Research” Once Again Exposes Milwaukee Voucher Program | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!:

Release of “Gold Standard Research” Once Again Exposes Milwaukee Voucher Program

by millerlf

Recent Research and the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program

These articles represent peer-reviewed findings based on the same data and conducted by many of the same researchers who conducted the original evaluation covered in the SCDP reports. (School Choice Demonstration Project; the legislatively mandated study of the effectiveness of the school choice program.)Peer-reviewed journals represent the gold standard of scientific findings, and so these findings are of particular interest. These differ from the reports published in the original SCDP reports, which were not subjected to the same scrutiny that academic peer-reviewed articles received. Thus, they represent an updated and more rigorous analysis of the reports produced by the SCDP in recent years.
Following is an abstract from the report:

Few school choice evaluations consider students who leave such programs, and fewer still consider the effects of leaving these programs as policy-relevant outcomes. Using a representative sample of students from the citywide voucher program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we analyze more than 1,000 students who 

Oppose the “Lena Taylor Tax” On Milwaukee Property Owners

by millerlf

Scott Walker’s budget calls for increased funding for private school vouchers.
Lena Taylor supports Walker’s budget proposal which increases state aid to kindergarten-through-eighth-grade voucher schools to $7,050 per pupil from $6,442 in the 2014-’15 school year, an increase of $608 per pupil, or 9.4%. For voucher high schools, the per-pupil aid would rise to $7,856, an increase of $1,414, or 21.9%.
This school year saw $54 million taken from the Milwaukee Public School’s budget and given to the voucher program. The difference was made up by the MPS school board, through its taxing authority, raising property tax 

UPDATE: Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ed News Roundup Something to Smile (Ruefully) About

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ed News Roundup:

Something to Smile (Ruefully) About

by Melissa Westbrook

Over at Diane Ravitch's blog, she has more evidence of corporate ed reform crack-up.  I'll just let her tell you:

At a panel discussion in New York City, Bridgeport Superintendent Paul Vallas made a startling admission. He said that the efforts to develop a teacher evaluation metric was a huge mess and that no one understands it.

He said:

“The Bridgeport, Conn. superintendent — who has served stints in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans and earned a reputation as a turnaround consultant for struggling districts with big budget gaps — said reforms he backed were at risk of collapsing “under the weight of how complicated we’re making it.”

“We’re working on the evaluation system right now,” Vallas said of Bridgeport. “And I’ll tell you, it is a 

Ed News Roundup

by Melissa Westbrook

Like you'll really want to stay indoors and read this weekend but if you do, read on about:

• a $43K K-5 school in NYC
• how the income inequality gap hurts kids on both ends
• public disclosure in NYC
• lunchroom hidden camera - what's in that food, anyway?

 - in NYC, there's a new "for-profit" school and boy, it's a doozy.  It's a K-5 and grab your seat - it's $43k per year.  This article from the NY Times is actually funny reading.

How do you build humility at a school that costs $43,000 a year? Where students are tended to by a 10-person success team and are expected to find a passion — any passion — around which expertise, confidence and college admission may come?  


Avenues, which was founded by the media and education entrepreneur H. Christopher Whittle; Alan Greenberg, a former publisher of Esquire magazine; and the former Yale president Benno C. Schmidt Jr., was designed to be “a new school of thought,” unencumbered by legacy. It hired seasoned teachers and brought in consultants on everything from responsive classroom training to stairwell design. Mandarin or Spanish immersion begins in 

Diane in the Evening 5-10-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Hart Research Responds to Schneider Critique: correction

by dianerav

In copying the response of Hart Research, I inadvertently copied only part of Guy Moyneaux’s comments.
Here is his full response:
TO:​American Federation of Teachers
FROM:​Guy Molyneux, Hart Research Associates
DATE:​May 10, 2013
RE:​Methodology for Common Core Survey
Following are some facts about the methodology for AFT’s recent survey of AFT K-12 teachers on Common Core 

Hart Research Associates Explains the Methodology of AFT Common Core Polling

by dianerav

A few days go, Professor Ira Shor posted a comment and asked if Mercedes Schneider would analyze the poll showing that 75% of AFT teachers support the Common Core standards. Mercedes Schneider saw his request in the comments section and posted her analysis. Schneider is a high school teacher in Louisiana with a doctorate in statistics and research methods.
Hart Research Associates, which conducted the poll, did not agree with Schneider. The Hart firm is a highly

More Evidence the Corporate Reformers Are Cracking Up

by dianerav

At a panel discussion in New York City, Bridgeport Superintendent Paul Vallas made a startling admission. He said that the efforts to develop a teacher evaluation metric was a huge mess and that no one understands it.
He said:
“The Bridgeport, Conn. superintendent — who has served stints in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans and earned a reputation as a turnaround consultant for struggling districts with big budget gaps — said reforms he 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 5-10-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Governor Cuomo, Please Read This by dianerav Governor Andrew Cuomo likes to say that the problems in New York are not about money, because the state spends enough already. Governor, please read this analysis by Bruce Baker. Despite years of promises, New York State has one of the most inequitable school finance systems in the Bill Gates Says He Knows How to Solve the Teacher Evaluation Problem by dianerav Bill Gates gave a TED talk. I confess I didn’t watch. H... more »

In Republican war on Common Core, a voice of sanity. But will... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com

In Republican war on Common Core, a voice of sanity. But will... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com:

Get Schooled: In Republican war on Common Core, a voice of sanity. But will anyone listen?

Georgia Republicans are expected to ratchet up their resistance to the Common Core State Standards at their conference this weekend in Athens, reflective of a growing national GOP effort to link the standards to President Obama. This is not a policy fight; it is political mudwrestling.

One influential Republican state senator is taking a stand against his colleagues. State Sen. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody, is attempting to be the voice of reason in a debate that is full of misinformation and hyperbole.

An odd theme in the attack on Common Core is that parents are worried about the sanctity of student data. I have been writing about education for 17 years in Georgia and have received thousands of emails from parents across the state. They are worried about class size, special ed and gifted services, teacher qualifications and uneven discipline policies. They fear that 

Former IEA President Ken Swanson endorses SB2404. Do you need another reason to oppose it. | Fred Klonsky

Former IEA President Ken Swanson endorses SB2404. Do you need another reason to oppose it. | Fred Klonsky:

Former IEA President Ken Swanson endorses SB2404. Do you need another reason to oppose it.

by Fred Klonsky

The man behind Senate Bill 7, retired IEA President Ken Swanson, emerged from retirement to offer his support for the Cullerton/We Are One pension cutting bill.
On the IEA website:

My heartiest congratulations to the We Are One coalition and all in IEA who worked with 

City could cancel Pearson G&T contract after new error revealed | GothamSchools

City could cancel Pearson G&T contract after new error revealed | GothamSchools:

City could cancel Pearson G&T contract after new error revealed

by Philissa Cramer

THE UNITED STATES OF PEARSON?

Department of Education officials say a fourth error by Pearson in grading city students’ gifted screening exams could be the final straw in their contract with the testing supergiant.
Last month, the department announced that Pearson had made three serious errors when grading the screening tests, leading to nearly 5,000 children getting scores that were lower than they deserved. The department issued new score reports and extended the deadline for applying to gifted programs by three weeks.
Today, on the new application deadline, the department revealed that Pearson had made yet another error. Like the first ones, the mistake was detected only after a parent asked for an explanation of how her child’s score had been calculated, officials said. About 300 additional students’ scores were artificially depressed because of the latest error, according to the department.
Chancellor Dennis Walcott said in a statement that he had lost confidence in Pearson after the company had convinced him that its second attempt to get the scoring right had been thorough and accurate.
“This failure to complete the basic quality assurance checks Pearson confirmed that they had completed is 

Lower-income districts would benefit from 55 percent parcel tax passage threshold, study suggests | EdSource Today

Lower-income districts would benefit from 55 percent parcel tax passage threshold, study suggests | EdSource Today:

Lower-income districts would benefit from 55 percent parcel tax passage threshold, study suggests - by John Fensterwald

by John Fensterwald

Only about one in eight school districts in California have passed a parcel tax, and they predominantly have been wealthier and smaller districts. But if the threshold for passing a parcel tax were dropped from a two-thirds majority to 55 percent, an EdSource analysis suggests more districts with larger enrollments of low-income students would pass them.

Most of the parcel taxes passed in the last 30 years were for less than $99 per parcel. Source: Raising Revenues Locally; Ed-Data Parcel Tax Election Database. (Click to enlarge)

“Raising Taxes Locally,” an extensive look at three decades of parcel taxes, found that, had the 55 percent threshold been in effect from the start, 87 percent of parcel tax proposals overall would have passed, compared with just over half approved under the two-thirds requirement. Those districts in between 55 percent and two-thirds had a significantly higher percentage of English learners and low-income children than the districts that successfully enacted a parcel tax under current law.

A Senate committee on Wednesday will hear SCA 3, a proposed constitutional amendment by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, that would lower the threshold for passage to 55 percent. Democrats have been eyeing the opportunity for a lower threshold for a decade, but only now, with a two-thirds majority in the Legislature, do they stand a good chance of putting it before voters. Getting voter 

Are We Really Waiting for Superman? « The Core Knowledge Blog

Are We Really Waiting for Superman? « The Core Knowledge Blog:

Are We Really Waiting for Superman?

by Lisa Hansel

Having spent the last week thinking a lot about teacher preparation, I’d like to share a few more thoughts on teaching, teacher preparation, and student achievement. In the last two posts, we’ve seen that far too many teacher preparation programs eschew preparationand that, instead, there’s an emphasis on social-justice activism, which often results in academic programs that try to build character while ignoring the social-justice lessons embedded in many great works of literature.

So the typical new teacher is minimally prepared, yet feels responsible for ameliorating the ills of society. On top of that, few administrators, leaders, or reformers offer any meaningful support.

We really are waiting for Superman (and using the dedicated, non-superhero teachers as scapegoats).

Most who care about education seem to agree that, while many of our schools are doing great things, many are not. Yet we skirt around the one lever for improvement that has shown the greatest potential: curriculum.

In a policy paper last year, two Brookings scholars, Matthew M. Chingos and Grover J. “Russ” Whitehurst, argued that we ought to be paying far more attention to curriculum:

Students learn principally through interactions with people (teachers and peers) and instructional materials (textbooks, workbooks, instructional software, web-based content, homework, projects, quizzes, and tests). But education policymakers focus primarily on factors removed from those interactions, such as academic standards, teacher evaluation systems, 

What Does the Mediterranean Diet Tell Us About School Reform? — Whole Child Education

What Does the Mediterranean Diet Tell Us About School Reform? — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

What Does the Mediterranean Diet Tell Us About School Reform?

May 10, 2013 by Kristen Pekarek

In an article on the Washington Post's Answer Sheet blog, author Martin Blank shares his belief that diet research shows us how education reform needs to be more broadly focused. "A Mediterranean diet, like educating our children," he says, "is like a black box in which a number of ingredients—together—are needed to achieve the desired outcomes."

Blank further outlines how this diet research and different way of thinking would require education reformers to look not only at ways inside-the-school factors—such as improved standards and assessments—but also those outside the school—such as health and extracurricular activities—affect the overall success of our children.

Read the full article.

Martin Blank is president of the Institute for Educational Leadership and director at whole child partnerCoalition for Community Schools.

The Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization that brings together 

NYC Public School Parents: Expert on school finance and equity Bruce Baker concludes: class sizes in NYC schools are freakin’ huge!

NYC Public School Parents: Expert on school finance and equity Bruce Baker concludes: class sizes in NYC schools are freakin’ huge!:

Expert on school finance and equity Bruce Baker concludes: class sizes in NYC schools are freakin’ huge!

by Leonie Haimson

Yesterday, Bruce Baker of Rutgers presented one of his brilliant statistical exposes on his School Finance 101 blog, revealing the inequities in funding and class size between NYC and the rest of the state.  Here are some of his findings, though I suggest you read the whole blog.

This chart shows how the higher poverty level students at a school in NYS, the larger the class sizes, and the disparity has worsened over time.  You can see that now, 90% of high poverty elementary school classes in New York state are above the recommended level of 20 students per class.  64% are above 23 students per class in high poverty schools:

Here are New York state middle school class sizes, based  on the poverty level of the school, showing a similar 

UPDATE: Testing Time to Double with Common Core + @HuffingtonPost Rhee is now a “so-called” corporate reformer. – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

@HuffingtonPost Rhee is now a “so-called” corporate reformer. – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:

Testing Time to Double with Common Core Corporate Standards

by Jim Horn

Only two testing sites in Oklahoma this year did not experience technical issues during state testing.  Wonder what will happen in two years if the Common Core moves forward.  A clip from a report from KOSU: Click here to download audio Wednesday, the Oklahoma State Department of Education said more than 9-thousand students couldn’t take tests […]

Popout

Original audio source (sessoin2_mixdown-3.mp3)

@HuffingtonPost Rhee is now a “so-called” corporate reformer.

by Timothy D. Slekar

Here is the perfect example of HuffPost cheerleading for “so-called” corporate reform.  In an article concerning Michelle Rhee and the possibility of Student’s First shoddy record, Joy Resmovits said,

Which is to say that much criticism of Rhee, the most visible member of the so-called education reform movement, has been based on ideology. In Washington, Rhee fired teachers and administrators, upsetting the city. Union heads attack her motives, saying that she’s out to bust them, or that she’s part of a “corporate reform” movement to funnel public school money into private entities.

Sorry Ms. Resmovits but the corporate education reform movement is far from the “so-called” status.

There is no debate here.  Why in the world would you pose the paragraph above as possibly suspect unless you and HuffPost are afraid to tell the truth about the 

Holy Missing Documents, Batman! DOE has no record of inBloom agreement cancellation for student data ‘parking’ | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

Holy Missing Documents, Batman! DOE has no record of inBloom agreement cancellation for student data ‘parking’ | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

Holy Missing Documents, Batman! DOE has no record of inBloom agreement cancellation for student data 'parking'

by crazycrawfish

 Reblogged from Louisiana Voice:

The late comedian Brother Dave Gardner once said, “I believe if a man’s down, kick him. If he survives it, he has a chance to rise above it.”
As a loyal follower of Brother Dave since my youth of so many years ago, it is not mine to question. I was, after all, brought up in the Baptist Church (but switched to Methodist when I married) where I was taught that faith surpasses all understanding—or something like that.

Read more… 775 more words

It would be illegal to provide SSN and other data White indicated without a using an MOU agreement. That would constitute identity theft. He is either committing purgery or identity theft based on my understanding of his public 

Beliefs in the “Goodness” of Technology: Those Talkative Kids in Ads | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Beliefs in the “Goodness” of Technology: Those Talkative Kids in Ads | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Beliefs in the “Goodness” of Technology: Those Talkative Kids in Ads

by larrycuban

Have you seen those 30-second ads by AT & T with six year-olds sitting around a table answering questions from an adult about whether more is better than less and whether faster is better than slower?

The kids, cute as buttons, answer that faster is better than slower and, of course, more is better than less. If you have not seen the ads, see here and here. They highlight AT&T’s  speed and services in a humorous way.
And the ads have been hits, according to market researchers. Ad agency BBDO released the series–called “It’s Not Complicated”–last November and they have soared in ratings as measured by how many times tweets mentioned the ads.
I have watched these ads many times and I finally put my finger on what bothered me about them. What got to me was not that the values of speed and quantity were being reinforced with kids–hey, the first-graders’ responses are cute and you gotta smile when you see a gap-toothed little kid jump up and down in excitement. 

Bill Gates’s $5 billion plan to videotape America’s teachers:

Bill Gates’s $5 billion plan to videotape America’s teachers

Posted by Valerie Strauss on May 10, 2013 at 1:02 pm

Bill Gates delivering his TED Talk on videotaping teachers.                                       (By  Ryan Lash)

If, say, Dennis van Roekel or Randi Weingarten, the presidents of the nation’s two national  teachers unions, proposed spending as much as $5 billion to videotape every teacher in the United States so their performance could be judged by strangers as part of their evaluation, you can bet that they would be called nutty spendthrifts. By everyone.

Why, then, do people applaud Bill Gates, the vastly wealthy Microsoft founder, for making the same proposal? (I know, I know — it’s because he’s the vastly wealthy founder of Microsoft and America’s loves its billionaires.)

Actually, this is not just a proposal by Gates. This is one of his pet projects, and, through his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he has for several years been funding videotaping experiments of thousands of teachers as part of his overall push to revamp teacher evaluation. The videotapes are sent to evaluators who have never been in the school but have a list of teaching skills to check off as they watch.

Gates keeps promoting this project, having just given a new TED Talk (see video and transcript below) about his plan to videotape every teacher in America. In his talk, he said that building such a system could cost up to  $5 billion, and while he recognizes that that is “a big number,”  still, “it’s less than two percent of what we spend every year on teacher salaries.”

You’d think that someone spending that kind of money would know for sure that the approach is the very best and without a doubt provides desired results. But Gates doesn’t know that because by the accounts of people who know — educators, his approach isn’t the right one. Videotaped feedback can help a teacher, critics say, only if it is done by people 

Diane Ravitch Joins Group to Monitor Public Schools - NYTimes.com

Diane Ravitch Joins Group to Monitor Public Schools - NYTimes.com:

Advocacy Group to Monitor Reform Efforts in Public Schools

By MOTOKO RICH

Diane Ravitch, the historian and former assistant education secretary who has become an outspoken critic of those who favor high-stakes testing, tenure reforms and other controversial measures aimed at the public schools, has joined with other education advocates to form a group that will grade and endorse political candidates.
The group will be called the Network for Public Education and is co-founded by Anthony Cody, a former teacher and now a blogger on education issues. It will try to bring together parents, teachers and other local interest groups from across the country through social networking.

Ms. Ravitch said the network was calling for broad-minded public school curriculums that included arts, sciences, foreign languages and physical education; better financing for schools; more respect for teachers; and the “appropriate use of testing to help students and teachers, not to punish or reward students, teachers, principals, or to close schools,” she wrote in an e-mail.

With wealthy individuals like Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg as well as groups like Students First (the organization created by Michelle A. Rhee, the former schools

Open Rhee-ality Check full screen:  https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3G-7t61xncFWWdDTXVDZVVhVmM/edit

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm is bombing

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm is bombing:

Rahm is bombing

by Mike Klonsky

In the minds of many Chicagoans, tough-talking Little EmperorRahm is proving himself to be little more than a windbag and a corporate toady. He's like my old dog Bogart who barked loudly but shat near the house.

His "get-tough" approach with Parking Meters LLC was rejected by the City Council when it was discovered that it would actually add millions more to the hated LLC's bottom line instead of curbing their greedy grab of  of citizens' dollars . The same with his phonynegotiations with the Cub-owning Ricketts' who are the Bain Capital of baseball sports team buyers.

Worst to the voters  is his moving forward with his  massive school-closing debacle, despite overwhelming opposition from the community. In other words, when the the Civic Committee tells Rahm to jum, the self-proclaimed "new sheriff in town" jumps, public opinion be damned.

Throw in the daily reports of neighborhood gun violence, increasing as the 

Parents are mobilizing, the way they know how | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Parents are mobilizing, the way they know how | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

Parents are mobilizing, the way they know how

by thenotebook

by Kristen Poole
Hundreds of students marched to City Hall yesterday demanding that the city help with the School District's dire budget shortfall. It was an admirable, even inspiring moment of collective civic action. The students, who came from many different schools, organized a march in the ways expected from young people today: over social media, through text messaging, and by word of mouth.
The demonstration was both highly visible and audible. It could be tracked with news helicopters in the air and documented by iPhones on the ground.
Lately, there has been a surge of activity more difficult to see and hear. I'm referring to the activity of hundreds of parents fighting for the schools. Those of us with work to do, dinner to cook, and kids to carpool haven’t been staging large Occupy Wall Street-type protests. But don’t mistake our lack of chanting on Broad Street for silence.
read more