CURMUDGUCATION: Why Is Kiddie PISA a Thing

CURMUDGUCATION: Why Is Kiddie PISA a Thing:

Why Is Kiddie PISA a Thing

Every so often the OECD throws a big fat standardized test (the PISA) at fifteen-year-olds from a bunch of nations that have different cultures and speak different languages and then use the results to stack rank those nations, leading to a paroxysm of pearl clutching and teeth gnashing over the results. And it's always good for some trauma because as long as the test has existed, the United States has ranked, to be generous, in the mediocre middle.

What could possibly make the whole PISA business even better?

How about giving a computer-based PISA to five year olds!

That'll be quite enough of that, you little slacker.

Over in the UK they're about to attempt a 300-student pilot of this extraordinarily hare-brained idea. And the US is supposedly also in on this, though Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Belgium (among others) have said they will not be participating. Other reports are that the OECD is looking for three to six countries to play along.

The pilot will involve around 300 children, and uses games and stories on tablet computers to map pupils’ early capabilities – which will then be linked to educational performance at 15 through the international PISA tests given to teenagers across the globe every four years.

Is there some good reason to do this? Officials have tried to make a case for it. 

Researchers say the study will give countries an in-depth insight into children’s learning at a critical age enabling them to share best practice. 

The Early Learning and Child Well-being Study will be run on 3,000 students internationally in CURMUDGUCATION: Why Is Kiddie PISA a Thing:

Trump wants to spend millions more on school vouchers. But what’s happened to the millions already spent? - The Washington Post

Trump wants to spend millions more on school vouchers. But what’s happened to the millions already spent? - The Washington Post:

Trump wants to spend millions more on school vouchers. But what’s happened to the millions already spent?

Congress dedicates $15 million a year to a program that helps low-income D.C. students pay tuition at private schools, but it’s impossible for taxpayers to find out where their money goes: The administrator of the D.C. voucher program refuses to say how many students attend each school or how many public dollars they receive.

It’s also not clear how students are performing in each school. When Congress created the program in 2004, it did not require individual private schools to disclose anything about student performance. And private schools can continue receiving voucher dollars no matter how poorly their students fare.

President Trump has said the D.C. voucher program is “what winning for young children and kids from all over the country looks like,” and he has freed up millions of dollars in federal funds to expand it, allowing nearly triple the number of students to participate by next school year.

He and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have also pledged to expand private-school choice programs across the country, many of which now make it difficult to track how tax dollars are Trump wants to spend millions more on school vouchers. But what’s happened to the millions already spent? - The Washington Post:

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Conversation on HCC, Part Two

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Conversation on HCC, Part Two:

Conversation on HCC, Part Two

For this part of the discussion, I want to reiterate a few things I said in Part One.

There are some parents don't believe that there could be that many children who are highly capable.  To that I can only say that the feds, the state and the district all believe it is true and have allocated resources and services to that end.  I note that the new McCleary budget includes extra dollars for programs like Sped, ELL and yes, highly capable. 

There are some parents believe it's all based on a single test score in order to get into the program.  That is not true and you can examine the application process and how the district's own committee decides on admission.

There are some teachers/administrators don't like HCC because some of their best learners leave the school after they are admitted into the program.  One reason could be the loss of test scores.  Another reason is the loss of students who help teachers drive the classroom by being generally engaged. 

I can understand their unhappiness but it is not the right of a teacher or principal to decide what program parents want their children to be in for the best academic outcomes.

If your belief system on highly capable students falls into either of those two groups, you probably won't be interested in what follows. 

This discussion is about changes to make the Highly Capable Cohort program more equitable and stronger.  In Part Three, we can discuss the other two parts of Advanced Learning, Spectrum and ALOs.

I will base most of this discussion not around what is currently provided in HCC but around how to find and serve as many students who could benefit from the program.  That's where the equity deficiency is and that's what needs the most attention.

That brings me to the Work Session in late spring called "Equity in Highly Seattle Schools Community Forum: Conversation on HCC, Part Two:

Last Community Meeting with a Director Today

by Melissa Westbrook / 3h

I forgot to post this on the Friday Open Thread but Director Leslie Harris is having a community meeting today. It's from 3-5 pm at the Southwest Branch of Seattle Public Library, 9010 35th Ave SW. Don't let her sit there alone; it is the 

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION Rural Schools and Phauxlanthropy

CURMUDGUCATION:

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION

Rural Schools and Phauxlanthropy

9by Peter Greene / 1h

Over at Philanthropy Roundtable, Andy Smarick has contributed a piece entitled "Don't Forget Rural Schools." which immediately attracted my attention because forgetting rural schools is something that pretty much everybody does, except for those of us who live and work in those areas. While I disagree with some of what Smarick has to say, he also raises some important points that folks on all side

YESTERDAY

Librarians Take Reading Level Stand

300+by Peter Greene / 1d

One of the weird little sideshows of modern ed reform has been an unhealthy preoccupation with reading levels. What lots of folks heard Common Core say was that we had to lock students in to their lexile reading score level (whether the Core said exactly that or not is another debate, That in turn has triggered a resurgence in programs like Renaissance Learning's dreadful Accelerated Reader incent

JUL 13

NY: Warm Bodies for Charters

29by Peter Greene / 1d

Travel with me to a board meeting at Giant Imaginary Hospital. Board Member #1: We are still unable to fill several openings in the surgical department. What shall we do? Board Member #2: We'll just have to offer a more competitive package, with better pay and better perks. I mean, that's how the free market works, right? Board Member #3: I have a better idea. Let's just promote Sven. Board Member

A Very Special Busted Pencils

12by Peter Greene / 1d

I find it extraordinary difficult to find time to take in podcasts. I'm a text guy; I want to consume information through words that I see (I say very Awful Things when a news site tries to make me watch a video). But there are two education podcasts that I try to listen to regularly. Have You Heard I've plugged before, but I am also a fan of BustED Pencils, a podcast that has been around for a fe

JUL 12

Collective Freedom

38by Peter Greene / 3d

The tension between individual freedom and collective action, between what the individual wants and what the community wants, between the needs of the many and the needs of the few-- that tension has been with us since Day One. Puritans came here to declare,"This will be a place where people are free to worship as they please-- as long as it's a form of worship we agree with." Southern colonists a

JUL 10

Meet the New Boss

16by Peter Greene / 4d

If there was one thing that was going to be a hallmark of the Betsy DeVos Depatrment of Education, it was going to be their studious hands-off approach. Previous departments may have used all manner of extra-legislative legerdemain to impose their will on the states (Common Core arm-twisting, Race to the Top bribery, waiver-based extortion). ESSA was born out of bipartisan grumpiness over USED's l

What About Flat Earthers?

38by Peter Greene / 5d

This week the Denver Post ran an.... intriguing? unexpected? gob-smacking? piece about the Flat Earther community in the US , which is, for some reason, centered in Colorado. And these folks are committed. You might think that this is some sort of hipster irony thing, like the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster . But take a stroll through just one flat earther youtube channel-- Globebusters- -

JUL 09

ICYMI: Stuff To Read Edition (7/9)

28by Peter Greene / 6d

Yeah, I'm short a clever title this week, but I'm not short worthwhile pieces for you to read. Here we go. On Global Teacher Prize Winner Maggie MacDonnell and What Humility Looks Like Jose Luis Vilson talks to prize-winner MacDonnell, and we're all a little better for it. This will make you feel a little better about the work. Utica Charter School Allegedly Required Salary Tithe How about yet ano

JUL 08

What They Deserve

37by Peter Greene / 7d

Before we get started, let me be clear-- this is not ALL conservatives, and in many cases not ONLY conservatives. But there is a thread that runs through current aspects of conservatism that ties many issues, from education to health 

CURMUDGUCATION:

California Can't Duck Hindu Students' Claim of Educational Bias

California Can't Duck Hindu Students' Claim of Educational Bias:

California Can’t Duck Hindu Students’ Claim of Educational Bias

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – A federal judge on Thursday refused to dismiss a lawsuit claiming California treats Hinduism unfavorably compared to other religions in its public education standards and framework.

In refusing to dismiss one of four claims against the state, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer cited a student’s letter detailing how sixth graders were divided into castes and told the unfair system was derived from Hinduism.

“[W]e know that social hierarchies have existed in all societies, so why is Hinduism singled out with such [a] negative portrayal?” the student asked in her letter, submitted as a public comment when the state was drafting new standards last year.

California Parents for the Equalization of Educational Materials, a group that promotes the accurate portrayal of Hinduism in schools, and three Hindu parents suing on behalf of their children filed their lawsuit in February.

They claim the state Board of Education adopted recommendations from an anti-Hindu group of history teachers called the South Asia Faculty Group when it drafted new education standards and frameworks in July 2016.

Breyer refused to dismiss a claim that the educational standards violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, but he dismissed three other claims alleging violations of due process, free exercise of religion, and equal protection under the law.

“I’m pleased that the Establishment Clause claim has survived because it’s actually kind of the heart of what we’re fighting over,” plaintiffs’ attorney Glenn Katon said in an interview. “The California Can't Duck Hindu Students' Claim of Educational Bias:

McCleary: Changes for teachers, students in new schools budget plan | The News Tribune

McCleary: Changes for teachers, students in new schools budget plan | The News Tribune:

What teachers and students get out of the state’s school overhaul

Much of the discussion about Washington’s new K-12 school reform has focused on how it might affect taxpayers.

But the state’s plan to pour about $7.3 billion of new state money into public schools over the next four years will also bring big changes for teachers and students.

Among the changes planned: More money for special education, career and technical education and highly capable programs, and tutoring in high-poverty schools.

And, for teachers, a new minimum salary of $40,000 (up from $35,700), plus a mandatory 10 percent salary increase after five years on the job.

“This represents a huge change in how teachers are paid — probably the biggest change in 30 years,” said Rich Wood, a spokesman for the statewide teachers union, about the plan Gov. Jay Inslee signed into law earlier this month.

“There’s still more work to do, but certainly it is progress, no doubt about it.”

Overall, the state is significantly increasing what it pays to hire teachers and other school employees as part of its effort to comply with a court order to fix how it pays for schools.

In the McCleary case, the state Supreme Court said Washington needs to stop relying on local school district property tax levies to pay teachers, school administrators and classified staff.

For years, school districts have used their local levies to make up the difference between what the state pays and what it actually costs to hire teachers and other employees.

To help move the full cost of salaries to the state budget, the Legislature recently approved a new system that will allocate an average of at least $64,000 per teacher. Previously, the state allocated an average of about $54,000 per teacher.

The state also will give school districts a new average allocation of at least $95,000 per administrator and nearly $46,000 for classified staff — up from an average of $61,752 for administrators and $33,300 for classified staff under the old system.

Those minimum allocations will be increased for school districts in areas with high property values. Districts with home values that exceed the statewide average will get an extra 6 percent, 12 percent or 18 percent, depending on the cost of local real estate.

“The regional factor is really important, recognizing the fact that the cost of living is higher McCleary: Changes for teachers, students in new schools budget plan | The News Tribune:

Pennsylvania Charter Schools - The Morning Call

Pennsylvania Charter Schools - The Morning Call:
Pennsylvania Charter Schools 

My column Thursday pointed out some shortcomings of state House Bill 97, a purported charter school reform bill that has passed the House and the Senate in slightly different forms and now awaits House action to reconcile the differences.

As I wrote in the column, the bill has been heavily criticized by various statewide groups concerned with public education, because it doesn’t address some of the most serious problems with the state’s 20-year-old charter school law.

Among other things, reform groups want to change the funding formula so it reflects the actual cost of educating those students and want to make charter schools subject to the same financial, academic and ethic accountability standards that all public schools must follow.

One of the sources I looked at as I was writing the column was a report issued by state. Rep. James Roebuck, D-Philadelphia, Democratic chairman of the House Education Committee. It does a good job of laying out some of the problems with the current law and documenting the academic performances of charter and cyber charter schools.

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Here’s an excerpt from the press release that accompanied release of the report.

“One highlight is an update on the performance of charter and cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania, including:

• For 2015-16, based on a scale of 100, the average School Performance Profile, or SPP, score for traditional public schools was 70.3; for charter schools, 58.4; and for cyber charter schools, 50.9.
• As was the case in 2012-13 and 2013-14, charter schools, particularly cyber charter schools, still performed academically worse than other traditional public schools. For the 2015-16 school year, 54 percent of traditional public schools had SPP scores at or above 70, while only 24 percent of brick-and-mortar charter schools had SPP scores at or above 70 in 2015-16.
• Since the enactment of the charter school law in 1997, 38 charter and cyber charter schools have closed – with two more in process in Philadelphia -- or about 18 percent of all the charter and cyber charter schools opened in Pennsylvania.

If you’re interested in reading the entire report, you can find it here.

Pennsylvania Charter Schools - The Morning Call: