Monday, November 22, 2010

There's more to grading teachers than test scores | NJ.com

There's more to grading teachers than test scores

Published: Monday, November 22, 2010, 6:35 AM

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Matt Rainey/The Star-LedgerGov. Chris Christie talks with Marie Corfield, an art teacher from Robert Hunter Elementary School in Raritan Twp.

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By Barbara Keshishian

On education reform, New Jersey residents get it. Too bad our governor does not.
A recent Rutgers-Eagleton poll asked New Jersey voters if teacher pay should depend on student test scores. They rejected it overwhelmingly, with 63 percent opposed and 32 percent supporting it. Yet the governor has proposed that at least 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation be based on test scores.

Most people instinctively understand that test scores are too unreliable a measure to make high-stakes decisions about students or their teachers, and that they tell us too little about what really happens in the classroom. In Albert Einstein’s words, “Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.”

Unfortunately for New Jersey’s students, many of Gov. Chris Christie’s so-called

Teach Your Children...Better - WSJ.com

Teach Your Children...Better

Education Secretary Arne Duncan on how to fix a broken system

By REBECCA BLUMENSTEIN

Education, just about everyone seems to agree, is broken in the U.S. The country has tumbled down the international rankings in several measures of educational excellence. Education Secretary Arne Duncan talked with The Wall Street Journal's Rebecca Blumenstein about what's being done to fix the system and what still needs to be done.

Here are edited excerpts of that discussion.

Plenty of Obstacles

REBECCA BLUMENSTEIN: There are going to be a lot of budget cuts, there are going to be moves to curb property taxes, and the unions are going to be an obstacle to change. Is President Obama, and are you, willing to fully confront the unions, which obviously are a key constituency of the Democratic party?

ARNE DUNCAN: Well, let me tell you what has happened. Thanks to Race to the Top, you have 37 states that historically dumbed down standards—essentially not because of unions but due to political pressure, due to politicians wanting their students to look good—we've seen all these states now adopting common college- and career-ready standards. This is an absolute game changer.

We have this next generation of assessments coming. We saw more than three dozen states remove barriers to charter schools and innovation. We had a couple states that had laws on their books that prohibited the linking of student achievement to teacher evaluations; all those

Cathie Black's worst sin is being chosen by high-handed Mayor Bloomberg

BY CELESTE KATZ
DAILY NEWS COLUMNIST

Monday, November 22nd 2010, 4:00 AM

Harnik/AP

Cathie Black (above in 2009) is getting support from Ms. magazine founder Gloria Steinem.

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Gloria Steinem's no fanatical supporter of Mayor Bloomberg.

But she is a fan of Cathie Black, Bloomberg's pick for schools chancellor.

As we wait to see if Black will be granted the state waiver she needs for the job, Steinem is raising an alarm about how Black is being treated in her quest to become the first woman to lead our Education Department.

"She's a lot braver than I am," said Steinem - a pretty fascinating comment for a woman who's been trashed for her views for decades. "I would not be able to function inside a hostile environment as Cathie can."

The Ms. magazine founder has signed on - along with women ranging from CNBC's Suze Orman to actress Whoopi Goldberg - to a letter supporting Black as a woman who smashes glass ceilings wherever she goes.

Black's detractors use the stupendously legitimate argument that although she has managed big media organizations, she's got zero experience in education and barely any in public service. She sent her kids to private school, and she didn't attend public school,

Cyber Charter Schools: The End of Public Education or a New Beginning? | The Atlanta Post

Cyber Charter Schools: The End of Public Education or a New Beginning?

NOVEMBER 22, 2010 07:11 AM

By Weintana Abraha

The one commonality educators have regarding online schools, particularly cyber charter schools, is a passionate opinion about their contribution to American education. The politics and turf war between traditional (also known as brick-and-mortar) and online schools have made it difficult to collect public, non-partisan data on virtual charter schools and online education in general.

Currently, 39 states and the District of Columbia have charter schools; of the nearly 5000 charter schools across the country, 217 are virtual or cyber charter schools. Additionally, there are hundreds of private and university-run online high schools along with a growing number of brick-and-mortar schools adding online components to their teaching.

Critics’ have two primary complaints: that it is difficult, if not impossible, for virtual schools to provide quality education. An Arizona State University study of virtual schools critiqued Knowledge Universe, a conglomerate of online schools. “The curriculum is not interesting and it promotes a one-size-fits-all approach. The instruction is mechanical and the system does not encourage creativity.”

Charter schools with ties to religious groups raise fears about state funds' use | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Charter schools with ties to religious groups raise fears about state funds' use

07:08 AM CST on Monday, November 22, 2010

Fourth in an occasional series By JESSICA MEYERS / The Dallas Morning News
jmeyers@dallasnews.com

Students at Duncanville's Advantage Academy follow biblical principles, talk openly about faith and receive guidance from a gregarious former pastor who still preaches when he speaks.

But his congregation is a swath of low-income students. And his sermon is an educator's mantra about the opportunities of charter schools.

Advantage's state-funded campuses showcase the latest breed of charter schools, born from faith-based principles and taxpayer funds. More than 20 percent of Texas' charter schools have some kind of religious ties. That's the case for six of the seven approved this year,

Democrats likely to control key education posts | California Watch

Democrats likely to control key education posts

by Louis Freedberg

Louis Freedberg

For the first time in years, all three dominant players in the California education system – governor, state Board of Education and state superintendent of public instruction – are likely to be from the same political party, offering the opportunity to end some of the conflicts that have hampered education administration and reform in recent years.

Gov.-elect Jerry Brown could be in the unusual position of being able to appoint seven out of nine members of the state Board of Education (excluding the 10th student member) soon after he takes office. The board is a powerful

Anniversary approaches for a revolutionary, imperfect disabilities law | Thoughts on Public Education

Anniversary approaches for a revolutionary, imperfect disabilities law
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Posted on 11/22/10 • Categorized as Disabilities education

By Rachel Norton

On November 29, teachers, parents, and students will quietly mark a huge milestone: the 35^th anniversary of the passage of Public Law 94-142. Called the Education for All Handicapped Children Act when it was passed in 1975, it is now known as the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA).

It’s hard to overestimate the impact that IDEA has had on schools and students. In 1970, U.S. schools educated only one in five children with disabilities, and many states had laws excluding students who were deaf or blind, emotionally disturbed, or cognitively impaired from public schools. Today, any state that accepts federal funding for students with disabilities (all 50 do) is required by law to provide a free, appropriate public education to all students, regardless of ability.

To me, this promise is personal: My cousin, a 46-year-old woman with Down Syndrome,

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

by Mike Klonsky

Dilemmas of school closings

Last winter, when Mr. Huberman made an initial announcement about closing Paderewski, Ms. Roberts was heartsick. All the years of hard work seemed to be for naught. “This is where the heavy lifting is done,” she said. (NYT)

Cathie Black waiver panel tied to Bloomberg

“It appears that the deck has been stacked in favor of granting the waiver in a manner that will

CEOs, Ex-military, and Lawyers Heading School Districts, Part 2 | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

CEOs, Ex-military, and Lawyers Heading School Districts, Part 2

by larrycuban

This photo is of Lt. General Julius W. Becton,...

Image via Wikipedia

Many questions accompany the current reform effort for mayors and urban districts to hire non-educators. Here are a few.

1. Where do non-educator superintendents serve?

Lawyers Harold Levy and Joel Klein served as Chancellors in New York City. Publishing executive Cathie Black just replaced Klein. Paul Vallas, former budget chief for Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, headed those schools. Colorado governor Roy Romer went to Los Angeles. Generals John Stanford in Seattle and Julius Becton in

NYC Public School Parents: Mona Davids of the NY Charter Parents Association on Cathie Black

Mona Davids of the NY Charter Parents Association on Cathie Black

by Leonie Haimson

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Schools Matter: Simplistic manipulation of data: Paul Thomas responds to Thomas Friedman

Simplistic manipulation of data: Paul Thomas responds to Thomas Friedman

by skrashen

Submitted to the NY Times

Paul Thomas, Furman University

Nov 21, 2010

Thomas L. Friedman's commentary on Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's November 4 speech (The New York Times, November 20, 2010) reveals an ironic lesson that many people have failed to learn from Mark Twain's apt quip from the turn of the twentieth century:

"Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: "'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.'"1

More on our "bad" math scores

by skrashen

Published in San Jose Mercury News (November 16).

Is it true that "U.S. lags other wealthy nations in higher math" (Page B1, Nov. 11)?

Studies show that middle-class American children attending well-funded schools score near the top of the world in math. American average scores are unspectacular because a high percentage of American school children live in poverty (20 percent; Sweden has 3 percent).

Also, some countries inflate their scores by excluding many children of poverty from taking the test. This does

This Writer’s Obligation — The Jose Vilson

This Writer’s Obligation

by Jose

Today, I read another ridiculous anti-educator post, this one by Thomas Friedman, another journalist who has something to say about education. There’s a boatload of people just like him now at the center of the discussion for education, people who didn’t have much of an opinion since the last time they told their teacher that a dog ate their homework. If they can do it, why can’t teachers do that too?

I posit: Educators have an obligation to discuss more than education.

To a few, this might be obvious, but the general populace doesn’t seem to think so. For one, many teachers consider themselves too busy to engage in a heavy dose of public advocacy. Yet, even the ones that do get the generic tag “whiner.” It sucks because it immediately stigmatizes anyone who has an ounce of intellect or perspective on a critical issue. In other cultures, teachers are respected and in some cases, are the cultural equivalent of royalty and government officials. Here, teachers can only voice their opinion if they’ve a) left the profession b) became a PhD or c) did something absurdly outrageous / courageous.

Monday, November 22, 2010