Community Forum on the CORE Waiver's Urges Public Action | The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education

Community Forum on the CORE Waiver's Urges Public Action | The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education:

Community Forum on the CORE Waiver's Urges Public Action

published by Kate_Lenox on Thu, 03/20/2014 - 1:36pm

                 The takeaway from last night's Community Forum on the California Office to Reform Education NCLB Waiver was that this waiver, and the commission that oversees it, strike at the heart of local control and local democracy. Process is important--it's not just something that career bureaucrats like to follow. It's the democratic process that was ignored and undermined by this waiver. Until last night there was no public hearing on the waiver, no school board discussion and certainly no board vote on whether the district should participate.

                The waiver ranks and targets school s that are low performing--and no surprise, that's where the students living in poverty attend school. Schools that don't bring up test scores within two years face sanctions that include closure or conversion to charter schools. While the state of California will have a moratorium on testing as it prepares for the new state standards, the CORE waiver districts will have even more testing across all subjects. Teachers will be evaluated by test scores and can be dismissed if they fail to bring scores up. The waiver pairs low performing schools with high performing schools across the state, and requires teachers to travel monthly between them to learn from their high performing colleagues. This travel and the expense of hiring substitute teachers uses the district Title 1 funds that have been freed up by the waiver, which brings in no new money. It will also require new administrators and contracts with expensive consultants who will "help" bring up test scores. In fact, the cost of complying  with the waiver will be paid for from the district's general fund. Sac City Unified is one of the few districts in the area that still has a qualified financial rating and is still laying off teachers. It can't afford this waiver.

                As one speaker said the waiver is a cynical attempt by its authors to use children as profit centers, especially since the per pupil spending is going to increase by thousands of dollars under the new state funding formula.  The waiver was developed in part by Baine Capital which is a private equity fund interested in investing in education sector opportunities.  The prospect of lots of new privately operated charter  schools in the district no 

Public denied access to LA school officials' iPad software demonstration | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

Public denied access to LA school officials' iPad software demonstration | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

Public denied access to LA school officials' iPad software demonstration

Annie Gilbertson | March 20th, 2014, 3:11pm

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Members of the L.A. Unified school board and a committee investigating the iPad project were given the first demonstration of the tablet's educational software Wednesday evening - but the public wasn't invited and a KPCC reporter was not allowed in the room.

The afternoon meeting with Apple and global education materials publisher Pearson was conducted in the school board's meeting room. Doors were locked and guarded by a security guard and a staffer checking names off a list. Those not invited - including a reporter - were told they were "trespassing" and asked to leave.

"This is the equivalent of us being in a conference room upstairs talking to a vendor," said Greg McNair, an attorney for the school system, outside the boardroom doors.

Controversy has surrounded the software since the start of the program in the fall. L.A. Unified purchased Pearson's program, the Common Core System of Courses, for the iPad based on only a few lessons and promises that the entire K-12 curriculum would be completed by the start of next school year, more than a year after the contract was awarded.

Board member Monica Ratliff, chair of the Common Core Technology Project Ad Hoc 

Fixing Our Schools:

Fixing Our Schools

By Mark Naison

“Cooking School” — Bigstock Photo

After a wonderful long weekend , I thought it might be appropriate to momentarily drop my Junkyard Dog/Badass Teacher persona and offer some positive ideas about how to improve our educational system.

I think we need to drop the test-based, one-size-fits-all model of education and allow for far more experimentation in school design. To this end, I would suggest that the following approaches to school organization and design be encouraged, in some cases beginning at middle school, in others beginning in high school:

• An expansion of “portfolio schools” which are assessed based on holistic evaluation of student academic work, rather than performance on standardized tests. New York City’s “Urban Academy” is a great example, a multiracial school known for high levels of student/teacher engagement.

• The revival of vocational and technical high schools teaching skills connected to the rebuilding of the infrastructure, sustainable design, repair and maintenance of information systems, along with traditional skills that such schools once offered such as plumbing, electronics, auto repair. Not only will such schools create an entry into existing job markets for their students, they will ease the transition to a 

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » PURE support from RESIST!

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » PURE support from RESIST!:

PURE support from RESIST!

PURE is delighted to announce that we recently received a grant from RESIST, a grass roots foundation that supports social change.

According to their website, RESIST currently funds over 100 amazing grassroots organizations around the country a year. These groups use grants from RESIST to develop leadership, work on innovative grassroots campaigns, hire organizers, distribute literature and videos related to those campaigns and demand justice on a variety of issues. Most of our grantees reach across issues to connect communities and struggles. Their work spans anti-militarism, prisoners’ rights, community organizing, GLBTQ justice, environmental justice, antiracism, disability rights, youth organizing, Native Peoples’ rights and more. Since our founding in 1967, RESIST has awarded $5.5 million to nearly 5,200 dedicated progressive groups across the US. We rely 100% on the generosity of private individuals. RESIST began in 1967 with a “call to resist illegitimate authority” in support of draft resistance and in opposition to the Vietnam War. That history sustains us as our movement evolves and as our concerns broaden and deepen. We remember what it is like to move forward and beat the odds.

You might want to consider making a donation to RESIST to help groups like PURE continue to do our important work. Or, you might consider applying for RESIST funds for your own group! You can also call them at 617-623-5110 or contact them at 259 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144.

- See more at: http://pureparents.org/?p=21196#sthash.Kv1qMgwZ.dpuf

Beyond Neoliberal Miseducation | Blog, Perspectives | BillMoyers.com

Beyond Neoliberal Miseducation | Blog, Perspectives | BillMoyers.com:

Beyond Neoliberal Miseducation

March 20, 2014

by Henry Giroux

• 1

Gan Golan of Los Angeles holds a ball and chain representing his college loan debt at an Occupy DC demonstration in Washington, DC. October 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

This post originally appeared at Truthout. It draws from a number of ideas in Henry A. Giroux’s newest book, Neoliberalism’s War on Higher Education.

As universities turn toward corporate management models, they increasingly use and exploit cheap faculty labor while expanding the ranks of their managerial class. Modeled after a savage neoliberal value system in which wealth and power are redistributed upward, a market-oriented class of managers largely has taken over the governing structures of most institutions of higher education in the United States. As Debra Leigh Scott points out, “administrators now outnumber faculty on every campus across the country.” [1] There is more at stake here than metrics. Benjamin Ginsberg views this shift in governance as the rise of what he calls ominously the “the all administrative university,” noting that it does not bode well for any notion of higher education as a democratic public sphere. [2]

Beyond Neoliberal Miseducation
March 20, 2014
by Henry Giroux
1
Gan Golan
Gan Golan of Los Angeles holds a ball and chain representing his college loan debt at an Occupy DC demonstration in Washington, DC. October 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
This post originally appeared at Truthout. It draws from a number of ideas in Henry A. Giroux’s newest book, Neoliberalism’s War on Higher Education.

As universities turn toward corporate management models, they increasingly use and exploit cheap faculty labor while expanding the ranks of their managerial class. Modeled after a savage neoliberal value system in which wealth and power are redistributed upward, a market-oriented class of managers largely has taken over the governing structures of most institutions of higher education in the United States. As Debra Leigh Scott points out, “administrators now outnumber faculty on every campus across the country.” [1] There is more at stake here than metrics. Benjamin Ginsberg views this shift in governance as the rise of what he calls ominously the “the all administrative university,” noting that it does not bode well for any notion of higher education as a democratic public sphere. [2]

Henry Giroux on the School-to-Prison Pipeline

A number of colleges and universities are drawing more and more upon adjunct and nontenured faculty — whose ranks now constitute 1 million out of 1.5 million faculty — many of whom occupy the status of indentured servants who are overworked, lack benefits, receive little or no administrative support and are paid salaries that increasingly qualify them for food stamps. [3] Many students increasingly fare no better in sharing the

Henry Giroux on the School-to-Prison Pipeline

A number of colleges and universities are drawing more and more upon adjunct and nontenured faculty — whose ranks now constitute 1 million out of 1.5 million faculty — many of whom occupy the status of indentured servants who are overworked, lack benefits, receive little or no administrative support and are paid salaries that increasingly qualify them for food stamps. [3] Many students increasingly fare no better in sharing the 

3-20-14 The Whole Child Blog — March Is Middle Level Education Month

The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

March Is Middle Level Education Month

March 20, 2014 by Kristen Pekarek

Whole child partner National Association of Secondary School Principals has joined with other organizations, including the Association for Middle Level Education, the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform, and the National Association of Elementary Principals, to declare March the official month to celebrate middle level education. This celebration looks to focus attention on students ages 10–15 and the importance of their academic success and well-being during this stage of their lives.

In acknowledgement of this month's designation, we've compiled a list of whole child examples that highlight schools that are positively affecting middle grades students. Each example highlights a program, focus, or achievement and includes links to more information. Take a look and get inspired for this year's Middle Level Education Month.

Whole Child Examples

• School's Active, Caring Environment Guarantees Student Success
  The mission of Reading Middle School, an active and caring community, is to guarantee the development of all students as successful, lifelong learners who become contributing citizens after graduation. A 2013 School to Watch, whole child partner The National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform gave this school this recognition for providing a challenging, comprehensive curriculum; best practice instruction; 

 

3-19-14 The Whole Child Blog — Town Hall Discussion: Bringing the Questions Together — Whole Child Education

Town Hall Discussion: Bringing the Questions Together — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGTown Hall Discussion: Bringing the Questions TogetherMarch 19, 2014 by Whole Child SymposiumDownload the Town Hall Discussion Now [Right-Click to Save]The decisions we make today—for our systems, our schools, and our classrooms—will affect what all of our tomorrows will look like tomorrow. This month

by mike simpson / 13h 

ASU Regents’ Professor Emeritus David Berliner at Vergara v. California |:

ASU Regents’ Professor Emeritus David Berliner at Vergara v. California

 As you (hopefully) recall from a prior post, nine “students” from the Los Angeles School District are currently suing the state of California “arguing that their right to a good education is [being] violated by job protections that make it too difficult to fire bad [teachers].” This case is called Vergara v. California, and it is meant to challenge “the laws that handcuff schools from giving every student an equal opportunity to learn from effective teachers.” Behind these nine students stand a Silicon Valley technology magnate (David Welch), who is financing the case and an all-star cast of lawyers, and Students Matter, the organization founded by said Welch.

This past Tuesday (March 18, 2014 – “Vergara Trial Day 28“), David C. Berliner, Regents’ Professor Emeritus here at Arizona State University (ASU), who also just happens to be my forever mentor and academic luminary, took the stand. He spoke, primarily, about the out-of-school factors that impact student performance in schools and how this impactsand biases all estimates based on test scores (often regardless of the controls uses – see a most recent post about this evidence of bias here).

As per a recent post by Diane Ravitch (thanks to an insider at the trial) Berliner said:

“The public and politicians and parents overrate the in-school effects on their children and underrate the power of out-of-school effects on their children.” He noted that in-school 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Guzzardi -- “The whole city is watching what we did here. This election didn’t happen in a vacuum.”

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Guzzardi -- “The whole city is watching what we did here. This election didn’t happen in a vacuum.”:

Guzzardi -- “The whole city is watching what we did here. This election didn’t happen in a vacuum.”

In These Times photo

A POWERFUL MOVEMENT IN CHICAGO... Dan Mihalopoulos gets it (sorta) in this morning's Sun-Times ("Victories few for Preckwinkle on Election Night") about Toni backing machine candidates on Tuesday. A while back I was chanting "Run, Toni, Run." I didn't mean run into the arms of Rahm/Madigan.

Mihalopoulos writes:

Still, you can’t help but contrast the gloom felt Tuesday night by many of Preckwinkle’s friends with the soaring rhetoric about Chicago’s “progressive movement” at the Guzzardi victory party in Logan Square. “The whole city is watching what we did here,” Guzzardi told supporters. “This election didn’t happen in a vacuum.”

According to the triumphant political neophyte, he’s part of “a powerful movement in Chicago.” Guzzardi has lived in Chicago just five years but referenced an event that occurred here long before he was born: The 1983 election of Mayor Harold Washington. Guzzardi claimed his win was another 

Louisiana Educator: Update on Student Privacy Legislation

Louisiana Educator: Update on Student Privacy Legislation:

Update on Student Privacy Legislation

Most of the discussion in the House Education Committee Wednesday centered on Representative Schroeder's HB 946 on student data privacy. The committee heard emotional testimony from parents from all parts of the state who were appalled that State Superintendent John White had agreed to hand over much critical private student data with the ID of such students to private data collectors and to the Louisiana Workforce Commission.  These parents were angry that such private information could have been mishandled by the DOE and that parents were never consulted over the data use.  It was also pointed out that the Federal FERPA regulations have been changed by the OBama administration to allow extensive student data sharing without parent permission.

Things got muddied up when John White warned the committee members that Louisiana may lose significant federal funding if certain data was not collected and provided to federal authorities. Schroeder explained that he had not been shown any federal or 

Tip of the Cap, Wag of the Finger | EduShyster

Tip of the Cap, Wag of the Finger | EduShyster:

Tip of the Cap, Wag of the Finger

Posted on March 20, 2014

It’s the height of charter cap-lifting season here in Massachusetts, which means that talk of excellence and achievement abounds—along with plenty of wagging fingers (read threats) aimed at those who would dare to stand in the way of excellence and achievement. And things officially took a turn for the crazy this week when the fervent anti-cap-sters at the Pioneer Institute charged the state’s Secretary of Education with *anti-charter bigotry,* a disorder that will soon have its own entry in the DSM. 

Cap re-cap
First, a brief cap re-cap for those who are only now tuning in. In recent years, the Massachusetts legislature has been all but swamped by a wave of love for charter school

Pay Pearson, Go Further? - Integrity in Education

Pay Pearson, Go Further? - Integrity in Education:

Pay Pearson, Go Further?

Yesterday, Jeb Bush’s Foundation for ‘Excellence’ in Education (FEE) launched a pro-testing, pro-Common Core media campaign entitled “Learn More, Go Further.” Targeting viewers of stations like HGTV, Animal Planet and the Family Channel, the ads feature teachers proclaiming good news about education in Florida, which they say are the result of “accountability, testing, and good teaching.”

The ad says to “learn more” at their website, but the site offers no evidence to back any of their claims.

Conspicuously absent from those ads? Evidence, for starters. Though the ad claims that Florida is “a top ten state” according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) based on the NAEP exam, the NCES itself does not rank states on the NAEP. This organization would have to have compiled those rankings on their own, yet they don’t say which of the many statistics the NCES gathers they’ve compared in order to make this claim. Their website offers no links or citations to back up this or any other claims about Florida’s education turnaround, nor a direct source to where this information allegedly comes from. But a quick glance at Florida’s most recent NAEP data reveals that their students’ score either statistically no different or worsethan the national average on seven out of ten points of comparison*.

Also missing from these pro-testing ads and their website is the fact that FEE is funded by several of the nation’s major testing corporations: Pearson, McGraw-Hill, and nonprofit-in-name-only Educational Testing Service. Bush, FEE and their sister organization Chiefs for Change have all come under fire in the past, both from researchers calling out their misleading claims about the test-driven “Florida Formula,” and from public 

SES IS A MESS! Fraud still dogs SES programs despite waivers :: SI&A Cabinet Report

Fraud still dogs SES programs despite waivers :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:



MARCH 20, 2014

Fraud still dogs SES programs despite waivers

by Tom Chorneau

(District of Columbia) Although most of the nation is operating under waivers that relieve states and school districts from mandates to provide tutoring services, federal auditors remain concerned about fraud and abuse within these legacy programs.

A report from the U.S. Department of Education’s Inspector General’s Office noted a general upswing in the number of criminal cases involving Title I funds set aside to provide Supplemental Educational Services over the past five years – cases that resulted in the prosecution of 13 and a claw back of more than $19 million in restitution, civil judgments and fines.

In response, the Education Department issued new guidance this week to state school chiefs recommending improvements in screening SES providers, and better fraud detection and whistleblower protections.

The warning flag comes even though 43 states as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico 

Can NC charter school pay stay secret? | CharlotteObserver.com

Can NC charter school pay stay secret? | CharlotteObserver.com:

Can NC charter school pay stay secret?

By Ann Doss Helms
ahelms@charlotteobserver.com

Posted: Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2014

Slideshow

« Prev  of 2 Next »

• 
  David T. Foster III - dtfoster@charlotteobserver.com

  StudentFirst Academy, a charter school that opened in west Charlotte, has faced questions over pay. The former top administrators were paid more than the initial budget included.

• 
  
  
  

North Carolina charter schools don’t have to disclose employee salaries like other public schools do, even though they receive hundreds of millions of dollars in public money, state education officials said this week.

But a lawyer for the General Assembly says charter schools are required to reveal what employees earn. In fact, they have less legal privacy than school districts, said special counsel Gerry Cohen.

“On its face all their personnel records would be public unless they show an applicable statute that says the record is not public,” said Cohen, who spent three decades in charge of drafting legislation. Lawyers for the N.C. Press Association and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools agree.

The debate comes as public investment in charter schools and the number of children

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/03/19/4778491/can-charter-school-pay-stay-secret.html#.UysqzvldU3-#storylink=cpy

3-20-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Students First? If You Pay Enough

Michelle Rhee's group, Students First, has been trying to get more "likes" at Facebook.  Or rather, buying more "likes."  From Big Education Ape blog: The most popular country for her Students First group is in Bangladesh?  Well, yes because...Search on Facebook for "We Sell Likes in Bangladesh." You'll see that anyone can buy 1000 likes for about $15 bucks. (Click HE

by Melissa Westbrook / 47min

Seattle Schools Staff Cuts - Not So Restored

Update:  here is what Superintendent Banda said in a press release on Tuesday:As a result, each school was given a funding amount based on student population, including weighted discretionary dollars, to make budget decisions that best fit the needs of their school. The goal was to provide as much flexibility to schools to meet the needs of their school population. Subsequently, we have heard from

by Melissa Westbrook / 1h 

Common Core Math _ One Parent's Thoughts

Common Core math problem of the day (and look how cleverly they worked in showing your work...in words).

5 by Melissa Westbrook / 1h 

Scenes from Last Night's Board Meeting

Last night's Board meeting saw the honoring of four (!) SPS basketball championship teams.  (My apologies to Garfield's boys basketball team - I managed to flub my photos of them.)Ballard High School Beavers -Special Olympics Unified Basketball TeamCleveland High School Lady Eagles- 3A State ChampsRainier Beach Vikings - 3A State ChampionsThe Superintendent in a demonstration of how much a middle

by Melissa Westbrook / 6min 

3-19-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Wilson-Pacific MeetingThought I'd open a thread for anyone who attended that meeting to weigh in.As I posted elsewhere, I am baffled by the use of Wilson-Pacific fields for Lincoln High. Why not Woodland Park?  Or, near me, they are going to lid the reservoir near Roosevelt High.  Why not dedicate one of those fields to Lincoln? I said I think the district is doing

by mike simpson / 21h 

I’m Interviewed In Podcast “Parent Involvement Versus Parent Engagement: Is There Really a Difference?” | Engaging Parents In School…

I’m Interviewed In Podcast “Parent Involvement Versus Parent Engagement: Is There Really a Difference?” | Engaging Parents In School…:

I’m Interviewed In Podcast “Parent Involvement Versus Parent Engagement: Is There Really a Difference?”

I was a guest during #PTchat on Twitter last week discussing the difference between parent engagement and parent involvement (you can see the tweets here). As a follow-up to that conversation, I was a guest on PTchat Radio, and you can listen to it here. I’m adding it to My Best Posts, Articles & Interviews On Parent Engagement.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 5min 

REALLY Interesting Story About New York City Public School Begun By Parents

At a new school started by parents, uncertainty about how to include them is the headline of an article over at Chalkbeat that is one of the more interesting pieces on parent engagement I’ve read in awhile. Here’s an introductory excerpt: Over the course of nearly a decade, the parents recruited local clergy and elected officials to join a coalition, met with Department of Education officials, and

by Larry Ferlazzo / 5min

3-20-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Learning About The Spring SeasonToday’s the first day of Spring, and I’ve just updated The Best Sites For Learning About The Spring Season. Additional suggestions are welcome.by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h YESTERDAYI’m Interviewed In Podcast “Parent Involvement Versus Parent Engagement: Is There Really a Difference?”I was a guest d

by mike simpson / 22min