Big Education Ape

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Shawgi Tell: Charter School Fictions and Grandstanding | Dissident Voice

Charter School Fictions and Grandstanding | Dissident Voice

Charter School Fictions and Grandstanding

It is no secret that charter school advocates become disingenuous and belligerent when endless problems in the scandal-ridden charter school sector are exposed, criticized, and opposed with greater depth, sophistication, and regularity.

For nearly 30 years charter school promoters have been reluctant to admit, let alone come to terms with, profound problems with privately-operated nonprofit and for-profit charter schools. See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, seems to be the modus operandi among most charter school advocates. Anticonsciousness and incoherence pervade the unaccountable charter school sector.

Charter school promoters have never wanted the public to know the true nature and essence of charter schools. They do not want any charter school problems known or acknowledged in any way. There is too much neoliberal pillaging at stake for charter school advocates to abandon the veneer of high ideals. Denying wrong-doing and prettifying charter schools is a full-time job for increasingly defensive charter school advocates.

But the gap between charter school hype and charter school realities remains as wide as ever, and charter school problems keep multiplying, not decreasing.

A main tactic used often by charter school advocates to divert attention from CONTINUE READING: Charter School Fictions and Grandstanding | Dissident Voice

Schott Convenes Funders to Help Grow the Grassroots Education Justice Movement | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Schott Convenes Funders to Help Grow the Grassroots Education Justice Movement | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Schott Convenes Funders to Help Grow the Grassroots Education Justice Movement

This week the Schott Foundation held a funder's briefing and reception at the Ford Foundation in New York City. More than 30 funders attended a panel discussion and group conversations with our partners about the importance of grassroots organizing for education justice. Kicked off with framing remarks by Schott President & CEO Dr. John H. Jackson and Vice President Edgar Villanueva, panelists included Step Up Louisiana's co-founder Maria Harmon, Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools Director Keron Blair, and Schott Board member & Youth on Board Director of Special Projects Carlos Rojas Álvarez, moderated by Schott's Director of Programs & Advocacy Marianna Islam. Sanjiv Rao, Director of Civic Engagement and Government at the Ford Foundation, closed the session by emphasizing Ford’s partnership with Schott to build increased support for grassroots groups.

CONTINUE READING: Schott Convenes Funders to Help Grow the Grassroots Education Justice Movement | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Grantee Partners Meet to Fundraise for the Front Lines

This week we were proud to host dozens of grantee partners from across the country to strengthen our collective fundraising skills and strategies. "Fundraising for the Front Lines" was a two-day training led by Marjorie Fine and Sheena Brown, hosted at the Ford Foundation offices in New York City. Fine brought her hard-won experience over a career of fundraising for grassroots organizing, especially during her tenure leading the North Star Fund. Brown's development work at the Center for Popular Democracy and Color of Change has helped transform those organizations and built the expertise she shared with us.

Against a backdrop of urgent tasks for the movement and a shifting funder landscape, smart fundraising skills and practices are more important than ever. Fine and Brown provided us with everything from high-level strategic considerations to the nuts and bolts of making calls and doing direct donor outreach. But just as important was their insistence that grassroots CONTINUE READING:Grantee Partners Meet to Fundraise for the Front Lines

11 Problems Facing Students as They Return to School

11 Problems Facing Students as They Return to School

11 Problems Facing Students as They Return to School

If you support our students, the next generation, and a democratic public education system that we all own, it’s tough to watch the changes corporate reformers have caused in schools. They’re not the ideas that most parents and teachers support, so we wonder why they’re implemented.

Most of the problems that exist in public schools started years ago when politicians and business leaders signed on to school privatization. Parents and teachers need to take back their public schools and work towards better solutions for student learning.

Many students have no school librarian or library. Across the country, especially in poor schools, children won’t have access to a school librarian. Some schools don’t even have a library. We know that students who have access to great libraries and librarians do better in school. It’s difficult to be a good reader without a variety of available books and reading material. Reading cannot be a priority in school without school libraries and librarians.
Students are pushed to be more advanced than their age. Teachers recently questioned an advanced textbook for second graders. The book’s chapter centered around world trade. How many second graders do you know who are excited about world trade? Many students will fail the tests, teachers will appear to fail, and those who want to end public education will condemn students and teachers as failing.
Teachers aren’t given the support they need to teach. Much has been written CONTINUE READING: 11 Problems Facing Students as They Return to School

DeVos Falsely Suggests That Student Loans Were Federalized to Pay for Obamacare - The Chronicle of Higher Education

DeVos Falsely Suggests That Student Loans Were Federalized to Pay for Obamacare - The Chronicle of Higher Education

DeVos Falsely Suggests That Student Loans Were Federalized to Pay for Obamacare

n an interview with Politico, Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, falsely suggested that the federal government had taken control of the student-loan market to help pay for the administration of the Affordable Care Act.

The statement reinforces the impression that Ms. DeVos is not schooled in the basics of higher-ed policy. Janet Napolitano, president of the University of California system, previously told The Chronicle that she had to explain to the secretary what a specific federal grant for low-income students — commonly known as a “SEOG grant” — was. “Her learning curve where higher ed is concerned is quite vertical,” she said.

Ms. DeVos’s answer to Politico came in response to a question from a reporter on why “I pay a 2.4-percent interest rate on my Ford Explorer, but my Navient student loan I pay six and a quarter.”

The secretary responded by saying it was “a good question.” The reporter then asked whether she planned to do something about it. The secretary responded:

“The federalizing of student loans was ostensibly to help pay for Obamacare. So you're helping to pay for Obamacare, I guess, with your student loans.”

“The federal government took over student loans completely right after the economic downturn. And so … the market for student loans has been basically controlled by the federal government. … And, the federalizing of student loans was ostensibly to help pay for Obamacare. So you’re helping to pay for Obamacare, I guess, with your student loans.”

The Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for clarification of the remark. Higher-ed policy experts say her answer is a fundamental misreading of how CONTINUE READING: DeVos Falsely Suggests That Student Loans Were Federalized to Pay for Obamacare - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Senator Iris Martinez, the IEA and the end of the Illinois Charter Commission. – Fred Klonsky

Senator Iris Martinez, the IEA and the end of the Illinois Charter Commission. – Fred Klonsky

SENATOR IRIS MARTINEZ, THE IEA AND THE END OF THE ILLINOIS CHARTER COMMISSION.

Big Education Ape: SHOCKER: Walton Funds Illinois State Charter Commission, Which Blocks Closure of Failing Charter Schools Funded by Walton | Diane Ravitch's blog - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/06/shocker-walton-funds-illinois-state.html

In April of 2018 we tried to meet with our State Senator Iris Martinez over her continued support for the Illinois Charter Commission. Cassie Creswell of Raise Your Hand Action explained why we were there.

The Illinois State Charter Commission was established in 2011.

Another Illinois unelected body, the Commission was given the power to establish charters in public school districts even if the local school board had already rejected them. The local district would then have to fund the charter at taxpayer expense.

It was a total creation of the charter industry.

I’ve been part of the movement against the Commission and writing about it from day one.

On Friday, Governor Pritzker signed a bill that eliminated the Commission.

We finally won that fight for more democratic schools.

Bruce Rauner had vetoed a previous bill that limited the power of the Commission and the Democrats did not have the votes to override his veto.

Over the past nine years the Commission has found allies in some strange places.

For example, when the Commission was first established, the Illinois Education CONTINUE READING: Senator Iris Martinez, the IEA and the end of the Illinois Charter Commission. – Fred Klonsky

Are “Gifted and Talented” Classes Responding to Political Needs of Parents and Politicians? Should We Be “Segregating” Gifted Students? | Ed In The Apple

Are “Gifted and Talented” Classes Responding to Political Needs of Parents and Politicians? Should We Be “Segregating” Gifted Students? | Ed In The Apple

Are “Gifted and Talented” Classes Responding to Political Needs of Parents and Politicians? Should We Be “Segregating” Gifted Students?

Are gifted classes a surrogate for creating segregated classes?
Are gifted classes an affirmation of perceived parenting skills?
Are gifted classes a strategy for preventing white flight or embedding gentrification?

The debate around whether the Specialization High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) is discriminatory is part of decades long, a many decades long discussion of gifted classes, sometimes enlarged to gifted and talented classes.

Since the 1920’s New York City had IGC classes, classes for “Intellectually Gifted Children” beginning in grade four and in Junior High Schools, SP classes, “Special Progress, “ in grades seven through nine. The eligibility: scores on New York City Reading and Math tests; yes, the city gave tests way back into the past.

The debate was homogeneous versus heterogeneous classes.

“Progressive” schools supported heterogeneous classes; most schools divided kids by scores on the city tests into classes by perceived ability.

Parents and teachers who favor homogeneous grouping argue teachers can better target instruction if the range of abilities in a class are narrower, actually research supports heterogeneous classes. One could argue that homogeneous grouping advocates show an implicit bias, they want their kid in classes with other “similar” kids by race and class.

Another continuing argument is the very definition of giftedness. The National Association for Gifted Children describes a number of frameworks: Gagne, Renzulli and Gardner have definitions of giftedness; I have always looked to CONTINUE READING: Are “Gifted and Talented” Classes Responding to Political Needs of Parents and Politicians? Should We Be “Segregating” Gifted Students? | Ed In The Apple

Former KIPP CEO Michael Feinberg Is Now President of a Nonprofit That Doesn’t Exist | deutsch29

Former KIPP CEO Michael Feinberg Is Now President of a Nonprofit That Doesn’t Exist | deutsch29

Former KIPP CEO Michael Feinberg Is Now President of a Nonprofit That Doesn’t Exist

As noted in the August 22, 2019, Houston Chronicle, KIPP charter school chain co-founder Michael Feinberg is suing KIPP for defamation related to his 2017 firing related to allegations of sexual misconduct.

According to the article, Feinberg’s goal is to clear his name.

Also according to the article, Feinberg has been supposedly working for a nonprofit that he co-founded, Texas School Venture Fund (TXSVF):

These days, Feinberg is president of the Texas School Venture Fund, a nonprofit that aims to start new schools in places where the demand for high-quality schools doesn’t meet the supply.

Except that the IRS has no record of such a nonprofit. No “Texas School Venture Fund.” No “TXSVF.”

The Texas Secretary of State (TX SOS) has a record of an Texas business called Texas School Venture Fund (TX state ID # 32062804300; TX file # 0802642699), which was registered on 02/06/17 and is located at 3900 ESSEX LN STE 1200 HOUSTON, TX 77027-5486, the same address listed on the TXSVF website— the site that identifies Feinberg as TXSVF co-founder and also calls TXSVF “a 501(c)3 Non-Profit organization that exists to increase the supply and diversity of great schools.”

The registered agent for TXSVF is Duncan McCrann, who is also listed with the TX SOS as the “board CEO.” The only other name listed is Michael Barnhart, who is associated with two nonprofits using the Essex Lane address, the Center for Opportunity Urbanism (EIN 47-2241225) and Subsidiary Institute/ Competitive Governance Institute (EIN 20-5792227).

The individual who supposedly co-founded “nonprofit” TXSVF with Feinberg is CONTINUE READING: Former KIPP CEO Michael Feinberg Is Now President of a Nonprofit That Doesn’t Exist | deutsch29

Jersey Jazzman: Clapping Harder For the Merit Pay Fairy

Jersey Jazzman: Clapping Harder For the Merit Pay Fairy

Clapping Harder For the Merit Pay Fairy

UPDATE BELOW

Earlier this week, I wrote about the death of the Merit Pay Fairy in Newark, New Jersey.

Hey, Jazzman, you bum -- I ain't dead yet!

Back in 2012, Newark began an experiment in teacher merit pay, fueled by funds from Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. Teachers were promised up to $20 million over three years in extra incentive pay -- but in the first year, only $1.4 million was disbursed, and most of that appears to have comes from other teachers, who had their pay docked because they were deemed "ineffective."

Merit pay, in other words, was little more than a broken promise to the teachers of Newark right from the start. A survey of Newark teachers in the first year found a large majority did not see the compensation system as "reasonable, fair, and appropriate." (p. 24) It's not a surprise, therefore, that this past month both the teachers union in Newark, the NTU, and the district's administration decided that the program was not worth continuing.

But some reformy folks believe in merit pay the same way some children believe in fairies: they don't want to acknowledge the evidence that shows, even in the most generous reading, that the benefits of merit pay are very small and likely are not indicative of true CONTINUE READING: Jersey Jazzman: Clapping Harder For the Merit Pay Fairy

CURMUDGUCATION: Artificial Intelligence and Magical Thinking (HAL Knows How You Feel)

CURMUDGUCATION: Artificial Intelligence and Magical Thinking (HAL Knows How You Feel)

Artificial Intelligence and Magical Thinking (HAL Knows How You Feel)

From the moment you read the title, you know this article from Inside Higher Ed by Ray Schroeder is going to be a corker-- Affective Artificial Intelligence: Better Understanding and Responding to Students.

Schroeder opens with "As a longtime professor of communication, I am fascinated with the cognitive characteristics of artificial intelligence as they relate to human communication," and that's a touch misleading. While he was an associate professor of communication back in the early 80s and a professor in a television production unit at the University of Illinois up until the late 90s, I think it might be a little disingenuous of him of him to skip over his work since then. He ran the University's center for online learning until 2013, when he became the associate vice chancellor for on learning. 2013 was also the year he became a founding director of the National Council of Online Education, a group that is "dedicated to advancing quality online learning at the institutional level." They are "powered by UPCEA, the association for professional, continuing, and online education."

"Dave, are you sad, or just gassy?"

In short, Schroeder is writing not as a professor with some academic curiosity about AI, but as a guy whose professional life for the past two decades has been centered on promoting and advocating for computer-driven instruction. That would have been appropriate to mention here, but IHE didn't even give Schroeder a bio blurb at the end of his piece.

So here's the set-up:

One of the challenges in person-to-person communication is recognizing and responding to subtle CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Artificial Intelligence and Magical Thinking (HAL Knows How You Feel)

Flawed Algorithms Are Grading Millions of Students’ Essays - VICE

Flawed Algorithms Are Grading Millions of Students’ Essays - VICE

Flawed Algorithms Are Grading Millions of Students’ Essays
Fooled by gibberish and highly susceptible to human bias, automated essay-scoring systems are being increasingly adopted, a Motherboard investigation has found

Every year, millions of students sit down for standardized tests that carry weighty consequences. National tests like the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) serve as gatekeepers to higher education, while state assessments can determine everything from whether a student will graduate to federal funding for schools and teacher pay.

Traditional paper-and-pencil tests have given way to computerized versions. And increasingly, the grading process—even for written essays—has also been turned over to algorithms.

Natural language processing (NLP) artificial intelligence systems—often called automated essay scoring engines—are now either the primary or secondary grader on standardized tests in at least 21 states, according to a survey conducted by Motherboard. Three states didn’t respond to the questions.

Of those 21 states, three said every essay is also graded by a human. But in the remaining 18 states, only a small percentage of students’ essays—it varies between 5 to 20 percent—will be randomly selected for a human grader to double check the machine’s work.

But research from psychometricians—professionals who study testing—and AI experts, as well as documents obtained by Motherboard, show that these tools are susceptible to a flaw that has repeatedly sprung up in the AI world: bias against certain demographic groups. And as a Motherboard experiment demonstrated, some of the systems can be fooled by nonsense essays with CONTINUE READING: Flawed Algorithms Are Grading Millions of Students’ Essays - VICE

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