Saturday, July 9, 2011

District statement: We never got 2009 report | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

District statement: We never got 2009 report

by Paul Socolar on Jul 09 2011 Posted in Latest news

Tags:

testing

The School District issed the following statement on Saturday in response to the Notebook's storyon the 2009 state-sponsored study flagging dozens of schools for possible cheating on the PSSA test:

STATEMENT

Unfortunately the District did not receive a copy of the 2009 forensic analysis released by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Information from the erasure analysis would have been very useful in supporting the District’s investigations, although we agree with PDE’s spokesperson, Mr. Eller, that in its current format, it is not user-friendly. Given the resources PDE expended in 2009 to conduct the forensic analysis, as well as those used to conduct the 2011 analysis, it would be helpful if PDE had provided additional guidance on how to use the results of these important and useful analyses.

Below is description of the District’s very robust test monitoring protocol.

Approximately 75% of schools, including charters, are visited during PSSA testing. The visits are unannounced and the specific classroom visited at a school is randomly selected. Test monitors are provided a checklist that lays out “what to look for”, including inappropriate assistance to students while the test is being administered. All school Test Coordinators receive mandated training about six weeks before the test window and the training includes information on the type of assistance that is allowed and what is prohibited. Officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), staff from the Data Recognition Corporation

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: THE GREAT DISTRACTION OF TEACHER EVALUATION

THE GREAT DISTRACTION OF TEACHER EVALUATION

THEMES IN THE NEWS FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 5-8, 2011 BY UCLA IDEA | HTTP://BIT.LY/QQNEHA

07-08-2011 - This week, the 3.2 million-member National Education Association voted to accept, in principle, the inclusion of test scores in teacher evaluations. The NEA cautioned that currently available tests are too flawed to use for evaluation purposes and the union pledged to help create better student assessments (New York Times, Education Week, Boston Globe, Atlanta Journal Constitution).

The NEA decision likely reflects an effort to remain relevant in the national discussion about school reform and not fall victim to powerful campaigns that accuse teachers of being opposed to reform. An Illinois chapter president called the vote a chance to “get off of defense and start playing offense.” He added: “It is time for us to talk about what makes for effective teaching and teacher evaluation” (Education Week).

This new position on teacher evaluations is controversial among teachers. Although some do believe that student tests give leverage to inform and motivate teachers while ridding the profession of “bad apples,” there is little evidence that using student tests to evaluate teachers is an effective strategy for building a robust and highly

Schools Matter: Will Duncan Lose Sleep for Detroit Charter School Basement Scores ?

Will Duncan Lose Sleep for Detroit Charter School Basement Scores ?

by Jim Horn

Just a couple of years ago Duncan was losing sleep, he said, about Detroit's public school test scores. His boss's solution was to turn the schools over to apartheid corporate welfare charter schools that have dictatorial control, no public oversight, and no record of being any better than than the public schools.

From the Detroit News:

Test scores for schools often trail DPS students' average
Mike Wilkinson/ The Detroit News
Once touted as a solution to Detroit's public school woes, charter high schools are often doing just about as poorly — and in many cases worse — at educating students and getting them ready for

New York City Parents Organize to Save Education

by Jim Horn

Ht to Monty Neill:

The Grassroots Education Movement is in the early stages of forming city-wide campaign against the high stakes use of standardized testing in our schools. We would love for you to be a part of creating and strengthening this campaign. Please join us at our first...

High Stakes Testing Committee Meeting
Monday, July 18th, 5pm
CUNY Graduate Center
Room 5414
5th Ave and 34th St.
1/2/3/B/D/F/M/N/Q/R to 34th St.

Newly inspired individuals and seasoned activists are all encouraged to

New Detroit charter school report, Atlanta test scandal reveal ineffective education reform | MLive.com

New Detroit charter school report, Atlanta test scandal reveal ineffective education reform

Published: Thursday, July 07, 2011, 12:27 PM Updated: Thursday, July 07, 2011, 12:30 PM

By Jeff T. Wattrick | MLive.com
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It hasn’t been a great week for education “reform.” In addition toallegations of widespread cheating on standardized tests in Atlanta, a new report suggest Detroit’s charter schools are actually underperforming compared to their DPS counterparts.

June 7, MLive: Of 25 charter schools in and around the city, six had higher math or science proficiency scores than Detroit Public Schools' average on the most recent Michigan Merit Exam, The Detroit News reported, and most of the others were doing worse than the district.

More charters chalked up poor results in reading and writing, but they surpassed the Detroit school district in social studies.

The real question is why should is anyone be surprised? You take the same kids from the same

Puckering Up for Education Reform in Chile (VIDEO) - Hispanically Speaking News

Puckering Up for Education Reform in Chile (VIDEO)

Thousands of university students in Chile stage a kissing rally rather than continuing with violent demonstrations in their efforts demanding reform in education standards and costs.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Published in Notitas de Noticias

Stand for Children chief dupes Illinois | DeFENSE

Stand for Children chief dupes Illinois

by defensedenver

This video features Jonah Edleman, head of Stand for Children, presenting to the Aspen Ideas Institute. He lays out how he connect the state legislature to strip away pension fairness for teachers (public workers), and how he tricked the media and public into not paying attention.

What does stripping away solid pension rights have to do with kids? Does the Denver branch of Stand support

Why I will march, pt. 1 — Pull me! | Reflections on Teaching

Why I will march, pt. 1 — Pull me!

by alicemercer

Saturday July 30th, I will be heading out to the California Capitol building in a statement of solidarity with others about current education policy. It sounds like a small thing, since I only live about 2 miles away, but given the odds of it being a triple-digit temperature day (over 100 degrees Fahrenheit), it will not be without sacrifice on my part. Why go? Why participate? There are a number of factors that have pulled me into this march, but the thing that I think is critical is that it is a coalition.
We SOS Marchers are a mixed lot. We have parents, teachers, and students. We have public school educators, charter school educators — yes, there are good charters out there concerned about what is happening because

4LAKids - A LOCKE HIGH MILESTONE

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: A LOCKE HIGH MILESTONE: It's an emotional time for the last of the 'original' pre-charter students and a graduation of sorts for their two guidance counselors as well

A LOCKE HIGH MILESTONE: It's an emotional time for the last of the 'original' pre-charter students and a graduation of sorts for their two guidance counselors as well By Rick Rojas, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/o1UH7p July 06, 2011 | The bright blue afternoon sky matched the gowns that billowed as students made the long walk — four at a time — around the Locke High School football field. They lined up behind the ...

Tdap: MIDDLE + HIGH SCHOOLERS MUST GET WHOOPING COUGH SHOT - 7th to 12th graders can not return to school without proof of Tdap vaccination. By Elizabeth Hsing-Huei Chou, EGP Staff Writer | Eastern Group Publications | http://bit.ly/o4WyxB Middle and high school students will not be allowed to return to school in the fall if they have not been vaccinated for pertussis, otherwise known as ...

ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL ENDS ‘SINGLE-SCHOOL’, SINGLE-PRINCIPAL ERA: Class of 2011 joins the ranks of Rough Rider alumni.By Gloria Angelina Castillo,EGP Staff Writer | Eastern Group Publications | http://bit.ly/n301qK July 7, 2011 @ 11:38 am In East Los Angeles (LA City) - When Sofia Freire walked onto Roosevelt High School’s campus for the first time four-years ago, she ...

20 Years in Trenches, What Keeps Me Going « Cooperative Catalyst

20 Years in Trenches, What Keeps Me Going

by Jamie Steckart

7000 High School students drop out each day, one dropout every 26 second. Averaged nation wide that is 30% of all students, and in some large urban centers this rate is over 50%.[1]

In 1991, I graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison with a degree in Political Science. As most graduates with a degree in Political Science realize a B.S. in PoliSci is really just a BS degree. Having discovered the outdoors and using some money I had saved, I headed off to the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in Washington State to take an Outdoor Educator’s Course. NOLS was a turning point for me; I found my passion. I had worked my way through college working in summer camps as a Waterfront Director, but never considered it a career until then.

The other key event that happened in 1991 was the reading of Peggy McIntosh’s article: White Priviledge: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. I grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin in the 70’s and 80’s; my family, my neighbors, my community was white. The only people of color I knew played for the Green Bay Packers. As a child, I don’t remember racist talk, because minorities didn’t exist in my sheltered world. At my last semester at Madison, my Uncle gave me the McIntosh article to read when we had a discussion on the Bakke Decision and affirmative action.

Merging, these two events helped shape who I became as an educator, much like the casting of small pebbles in

NEA Nixes TFA, Inc. | Seattle Education

NEA Nixes TFA, Inc.

by seattleducation2011

One of our very own teachers in Seattle, Marianne Bratsanos, brought forth an item regarding the hiring of Teach for America, Inc. recruits which was approved by the delegates at the National Education Association (NEA) Convention in Chicago last week.

Here in Seattle 70 teachers received pink slips this spring in response to budget cuts. In the meantime, Tom Stritikus, a former TFA, Inc. recruit and now Dean of the School of Education at the University of Washington, is gearing up to crank out Teach for America recruits to plug into a school district that is not lacking in qualified teachers. The unholy agreement between our former Broad-trained superintendent, Dr. Goodloe-Johnson, with the Seattle school board’s blessings, and Teach for America is to hire 25 recruits this fall at the additional expense of $4,000 per year. This additional fee goes directly to TFA, Inc.

Does this make any kind of economic sense? Does this at all address the best interests and needs of our students?

The teachers who comprise the membership of the NEA don’t think so along with the majority of parents who I have communicated with about this issue.

Will our interim superintendent, Dr. Susan Enfield, continue the charge towards dumbing down our children’s

Saturday coffee. + Old school « Fred Klonsky's blog

Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Saturday coffee.

by Fred Klonsky

There’s was no Saturday coffee last week. I was at the NEA RA.

Last night, Anne and I took Ulysses to Wilson beach on the Lakefront so he could play with the hundreds of other dogs at Chicago’s great contribution to dog owners: our own dog beach. We stopped on the way at Nhu Lan in Lincoln Square and picked up banh mi sandwiches and tofu spring rolls with peanut dipping sauce.

On a perfectly beautiful Chicago summer night we sat on the grass in the park near the beach and had a

Old school.

by Fred Klonsky

Judy Collins.

Here’s the juicy part. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Here’s the juicy part.

by Fred Klonsky

Jenny edited the Edelman down to the 15 minutes where he describes how he took down the unions. She put it on Youtube.

Modern School: California’s Powerful Teachers Unions?

California’s Powerful Teachers Unions?

by Michael Dunn

In an apparent payback to the California Teachers Association (CTA), which has donated millions to state politicians, the legislature quietly and privately shoved through a bill, AB114, that prevents districts from laying off teachers and forces them to maintain staffing and programs at last year’s funding level, the San Francisco Chronicle reported today. The wording of the bill was concocted in a backroom deal between the governor, Democratic legislators and representatives of the CTA.

In the past, state law allowed districts to reduce teaching staff until August 15 to address budget shortfalls. AB114 suspends this right. This is particularly frustrating for districts which are fearful that the state may not be able to come up with the $4 billion in anticipated revenues upon which the new budget depends. Should the state come up short, districts would have to make other cuts, such as the Brown-favored plan of shortening the school year by seven or more days.

Strong Union?

CTA President Dean Vogel, quoted in the Chronicle, said that "the easiest thing to do when you're trying to

What NBA Players and Public School Teachers Have in Common | Dissident Voice

What NBA Players and Public School Teachers Have in Common

by William Hicks

Last week it was announced that the National Basketball Association was following the lead of the National Football League and locking out its players in an attempt by the team owners to force the players to make salary concessions. This is yet another dispute between millionaires and billionaires, and I’ll be right up front and assert that the country would be far better off if everyone stopped caring whether the NBA and NFL play their seasons or not. They contribute nothing of any value other than to serve as a massive distraction for the masses, making them even less likely to notice how the billionaire owners and their friends are stealing their country right out from under them.

That said, there is one aspect of this story that I think everyone is overlooking. The first question that should immediately come to mind is: why are the owners engaging in an action that could potentially cost them countless millions of dollars in lost revenue from ticket sales, merchandising and broadcasting rights? Seems

Choreographed Budget Cave In: The Money Party Stabs Citizens in the Back

by Michael Collins

So this is how it is going to be: “After putting controversial cuts to Social Security and Medicare on the table in negotiations with congressional Republicans over a plan to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, President Obama still doesn’t have a deal in the works.”¹

Who told President Obama to put “controversial cuts on Social Security and Medicare on the table”? Hasn’t the president seen his public opinion polling numbers lately? He is consistently at or below 50% job approval.

Didn’t he pay attention to the special congressional election in the highly conservative, long-time Republican

Come Home America? Not Till Her Corpocracy Leaves

by Gary Brumback

When I recently signed an anti-war letter to be sent to the President and to members of The Congress by Come Home America, a small coalition of concerned citizens that is managed by Kevin Zeese, attorney and political activist, I added the following comment:

I endorse this letter unequivocally. America has been the most warring nation since the end of WWII. It is time to stop this deadly habit that benefits only war profiteers.

Later, I began thinking of the research I had done over the last 10 years on America’s corpocracy and what I had written about “warfare welfare” in my new book, The Devil’s Marriage: Break Up the Corpocracy or Leave Democracy in the Lurch. The purpose of this article is to share with readers some of my views and proposals in

The NEA Fails It’s Members and Our Students | Seattle Education

The NEA Fails It’s Members and Our Students

by seattleducation2011

I met a retired principal who worked within the Seattle Public School District for many years last week on the ferry going to Bremerton. He remarked that the ferry-boat workers made more money than teachers saying that the ferry-boat workers made on average $70,000 per year. You don’t need an education, a certificate of any sort or any other validation of your expertise to take tickets and route cars to a particular lane but that’s what they get.

How can anyone say that the teachers’ unions are the fat cats of our educational system when we all know that is not the case? The corporate venturers and privatizers who want to squeeze a buck out of our public school system with their charter schools think so because when they look at the balance sheet, the teachers are the most costly line item. The cost is relative of course, but for a charter school to make a profit, all expenses have to be pared down and what better way to do it than to have teachers compete over test scores? The only way that a charter school can keep its’ state license is to show high test scores.

This is an introduction to an article by Ann Robertson and Bill Leumer NEA Flunks Crucial Test posted in

Website explains vouchers | The Journal Gazette | Fort Wayne, IN

Published: July 9, 2011 3:00 a.m.

Website explains vouchers

Parents’ 1st step: Apply to an approved private school

Niki Kelly | The Journal Gazette

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Department of Education on Friday unveiled a website to provide information about the newly approved state voucher system.

The site includes an initial list of eligible private schools and answers to frequently asked questions.

Lawmakers in April approved vouchers, which will provide state dollars to Hoosier kids who want to attend private or parochial schools.

The amount of money available for a student depends on the household income and the local district’s state funding. . A family of four, for example, could make up to $62,000 and still be eligible for a partial voucher.

Vouchers for grades 1 through 8 are capped at $4,500. Parents are responsible for paying any tuition above the voucher amount.

With school start dates inching nearer, many parents have been waiting

Memo to Govs Gone Wild: Stop cutting

Teamster Nation: Memo to Govs Gone Wild: Stop cutting

Memo to Govs Gone Wild: Stop cutting

by Teamster Power

Guess what's a big drag on our economy right now? The loss of state and local jobs.

All our Governors Gone Wild have got their economics exactly backasswards. That goes for Scott Walker in Wisconsin, Chris Christie in New Jersey, John Kasich in Ohio, Rick Snyder in Michigan, Rick Scott in Florida, Nikki Haley in South Carolina and Paul LePage in Maine.

Here's a chart that makes the point:

According to Kevin Drum at Mother Jones,

...federal employment really isn't all that important. It's been relatively flat for the past four decades, while the real action in public sector employment has mostly been at the state and local level. So when conservative politicians rail against the explosion of the federal bureaucracy, they're wrong on multiple counts. It's mostly local government jobs that have grown over the past few decades, and

Student Union Locks Out Labor Union at Simon Fraser University « Student Activism

Student Union Locks Out Labor Union at Simon Fraser University

by Angus Johnston

The leadership of the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) has announced a Sunday lockout of SFSS’s union employees, after two years of unsuccessful contract negotiations. Unless an agreement is reached by tomorrow afternoon, CUPE local 3338′s twenty employees will be barred from working their jobs.

Unsurprisingly, the two sides characterize the state of negotiations differently, with CUPE arguing that SFSS is demanding “dramatic wage rollbacks and cuts to staffing levels,” while SFSS president Jeff McCann claims that the student society is asking for an 8% average pay cut, with half of that loss to be restored over the course of the new contract.

Activists claim that this move is ideologically motivated, noting that newly-elected SFSS leaders announced the

Your very own copy of the Jonah Edelman tape. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Your very own copy of the Jonah Edelman tape.

by Fred Klonsky

Thanks to the technical expertise of Tim Furman, you now have your own copy of the Jonah Edeleman tape that Aspen scrubbed from their site.

Original video source (Stand For Children, AIF 2011.mp4)

Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, July 9, 2011

District statement: We never got 2009 report

by Paul Socolar on Jul 09 2011 Posted in Latest news

Tags:

THE GREAT DISTRACTION OF TEACHER EVALUATION

THEMES IN THE NEWS FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 5-8, 2011 BY UCLA IDEA | HTTP://BIT.LY/QQNEHA

From the Detroit News:

Test scores for schools often trail DPS students' average

Mike Wilkinson/ The Detroit News

New Detroit charter school report, Atlanta test scandal reveal ineffective education reform

Published: Thursday, July 07, 2011, 12:27 PM Updated: Thursday, July 07, 2011, 12:30 PM

Website explains vouchers

Parents’ 1st step: Apply to an approved private school