Thursday, July 21, 2011

This Week In Education: Teachers: "Dispositional" Screening Stirs Controversy In Chicago

Teachers: "Dispositional" Screening Stirs Controversy In Chicago

by Alexander Russo

Chicago public schools may be the biggest school system in the nation to roll out an online screening program for new hires that focuses on candidates' "dispositions" rather than academic or instructional knowledge -- and essentially blackballs those who fail the online exam for 18 months. Teachers have been raising concerns on my other site for weeks and now (here, here) and now the local papers have written about the situation. It's been a rocky

AM News: New Ed School Report Rankles

by Alexander Russo

Training of Teachers Is Flawed, Study Says NYT: The National Council on Teacher Quality is drawing criticism over its plans to publish its rankings of schools of education.

LAUSD leader suspends new homework policy LAT: Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy suspends a new homework policy, saying that it did not receive enough public input and that it will be reworked.

N.J. schools probed for possible test cheating USAT: New Jersey state education officials will investigate 12 public schools for possible cheating after a state analysis of scores from 2008 to 2010 ...

Helping Weakest Students Could Cost This School VOSD: Giving students more time to absorb lessons is a big push for the Obamaadministration, but lengthening the school day would have to be negotiated with the teachers union.

Bronx Charter School Disciplined Over Admissions Methods NYT: Academic Leadership Charter School is the first New York City charter disciplined for violating admissions rules, which require purely random selection.

Schools Matter: Cheating? How about the Cheated

Cheating? How about the Cheated

by P. L. Thomas

The drum beat for more challenging national standards, increased teacher quality, and greater accountability for U.S. public schools has one element running through every aspect of education reform—testing. For months and months, reform turned the debate to teacher accountability that includes some element of standardized and high-stakes tests. But more recently, the national discourse about schools has been consumed by cheating on those sacred tests, data often used to claim "turn around," "miracle," and "no excuses"—claims that nearly always are revealed to be misleading at best and false at worst.

Cheating on tests is the topic of the day, now, including powerful arguments against the value of standardized tests and disturbing unwavering support for continuing our faith in and use of standardized tests.

When we were mired in arguments about and policies addressing teacher accountability linked to testing, we

WHOA.

WHOA.

by TeacherSabrina

Our progress is happening so quickly the thermometer is getting glitchy & confused!

We just got started on today’s Money Cascade, with an initial goal of $5,000 for the day.

And as of right now, 8:36 Eastern Time (and still eye-rubbing hour for those of us in West of the Mississippi!), we have already raised $4,355. Talk about #LovePublicEd!

If you haven’t yet, please find the donate button to the right to add your contribution to this unprecedented start of our last major fundraising day. We’ll be in touch about setting a new goal soon– we’re all about high expectations around here!

Can you feel the momentum heading into next Saturday?? We can!

-The Organizing Committee

News: Reviewing (Trashing?) Student Teaching - Inside Higher Ed

Reviewing (Trashing?) Student Teaching

July 21, 2011

A sure-to-be-controversial new study from the National Council on Teacher Quality – the same group that developed the heavily criticized methodology U.S. News & World Report will use for its new teacher education program rankings -- determined that fully three-fourths of student teaching programs, including ones at top education programs like Vanderbilt and New York Universities, are inadequate.

The ratings depend to a great degree on the role the program plays in selecting the cooperating teacher, something many programs prefer to do in partnership with the school rather than for it -- but the NCTQ believes colleges must manage directly for every teacher. Four of the five “critical” standards relate directly either to the qualities of the cooperating teacher or to the role the college plays in selecting him or her, and while all 134

In College, Without a Home

Aid officers consider how they can help the growing population of homeless students.

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Paths to the Bachelor's Degree

New federal data show that students who delay entry to college, enroll in community colleges, and major in certain fields take longer to finish than do their peers.

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The Balance in History

New analysis suggests decline in percentage of historians who focus on Europe, a rise for those focused in Asia -- and diplomatic and military specialties holding their own.

National study rates two Oregon teacher prep programs, calls one weak, one poor | OregonLive.com

National study rates two Oregon teacher prep programs, calls one weak, one poor

by Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian

The National Council on Teacher Quality says teacher preparation programs should ensure that student teachers spend at least 10 weeks in a local school and are placed with teachers who get great results with students and know how to mentor fellow adults. Neither Eastern Oregon University nor Linfield College stack up well, it finds.

Report urges overhaul of science education - San Jose Mercury News

Report urges overhaul of science education

By Lisa Krieger

lkrieger@mercurynews.com

Posted: 07/20/2011 06:44:09 PM PDT

Updated: 07/20/2011 10:19:16 PM PDT

A new national report urges an overhaul of science education, teaching students to focus on core concepts in four disciplinary areas, including engineering and technology, rather than memorizing facts in many topics.

The report by the esteemed National Research Council, led by Menlo Park physicist Helen Quinn of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, will serve as a foundation for what is taught to students in elementary school through high school, replacing decade-old standards.

"Currently, science education in the U.S. lacks a common vision of what students should know and be able to do by the end of high school; curricula too often emphasize breadth over depth, and students are rarely given the

Student-Teacher Programs Called Flawed - NYTimes.com

Training of Teachers Is Flawed, Study Says

By TAMAR LEWIN

Published: July 21, 2011

REPRINTS

The National Council on Teacher Quality, an advocacy group, is to issue a study on Thursday reporting that most student-teaching programs are seriously flawed. The group has already angered the nation’s schools for teachers with its plans to give them letter grades that would appear in U.S. News and World Report.

The council’s report, “Student Teaching in the United States,” rated 134 student-teaching programs nationwide — about 10 percent of those preparing elementary school teachers — and found that three-quarters of them did not meet five basic standards for a high-quality student-teaching

Bronx charter school accused of skimming placed on probation | GothamSchools

Bronx charter school accused of skimming placed on probation

by Philissa Cramer

The Bronx charter school accused of rigging its admissions procedures to admit successful students has been put on probation.

The news, reported today in the New York Times, comes after Anna Phillips broke the story on GothamSchools in May that teachers and parents at Academic Leadership Charter School said the school tests students for admission. State law mandates that charter schools admit students through a lottery.

The testing allegations weren’t borne out in the city’s investigation, possibly because city officials did not speak

Rise & Shine: A late-night fender-bender for Cathie Black

by Philissa Cramer

Ex-Chancellor Cathie Black was involved in a car accident in the Hamptons on Saturday. (Post)
Academic Leadership Charter School in the Bronx was disciplined for its admissions procedures. (Times)
The Panel for Educational Policy delayed votes on two contracts, one with consultants. (Daily News)
A lawsuit aims to force the city to remove toxic PCBs from schools faster. (Daily News, WSJ, NY1,WNYC)
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio wants changes to the city’s co-location process. (GothamSchools, NY1)
The state ruled that the city can go ahead with its plan to put a charter school in PS 9. (GothamSchools)
A new study says most student-teaching programs are bad for participants and children. (Times)
Memphis, Tenn., is delaying the start of school because the city can’t pay for its contracts. (AP)
Los Angeles’s schools chief suspended a rule that would have limited homework’s weight. (L.A. Times)

My Best Posts On Building Parent Engagement In Schools — 2011 (So Far) | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Being Bilingual Would Have Helped Lucy In This Great Scene… Kathryn was kind enough to suggest that this scene from “I Love Lucy” would be useful to encourage students to become bilingual. It sure would have come in handy for Lucy! I’m adding it to The Best Funny Videos Showing The Importance Of Being ...

My Best Posts On Building Parent Engagement In Schools — 2011 (So Far) I usually just do a year-end list on parent engagement posts and many other topics, but it gets a little crazy having to review all of my zillion posts at once. So, to make it easier for me — and perhaps, to make it a little more useful to readers — ...

Report praises one program, dings two | EdNewsColorado

Report praises one program, dings two

by Todd Engdahl

A new report on student teaching programs rates one Colorado education school highly but gives low marks to two others, evaluations those schools don’t agree with.

Do your homework

Report summary
Full report
Appendix (includes research procedures, standards and institution responses)
Colorado teacher prep stats

The report, “Student Teaching in the United States,” was released today by the New York-based National Council on Teacher Quality.

It rates student teaching system of Colorado Christian University in Lakewood as “model” but those of the

Thursday Churn: GOP grouchy about flyer

by EdNews staff

What’s churning:

Two influential Republican legislators Wednesday sent a letter to education Commissioner Robert Hammond complaining about the fact that a back-to-school packet sent out by Prairie View High School in Brighton. The packet included a Great Education Colorado Action flyer about the proposed constitutional amendment that would raise state income and sales taxes for five years to provide extra funding for schools and colleges.

Sen. Nancy Spence of Centennial and Rep. Tom Massey of Poncha Springs wrote, “We suggest that each summer, as back-to-school packets are prepared and back-to-school events planned, CDE remind all school

State’s rising homeless student population struggles academically | California Watch

State’s rising homeless student population struggles academically

by Joshua Emerson Smith

Joshua Emerson Smith

Joshua Emerson Smith/California WatchMakayla Vigil (left), shown with her family, is living in a homeless shelter for women and children.

This fall, Makayla Vigil will be a sophomore at Pleasant Valley High School in Chico. For most of her school career, she made the honor roll. But last semester, after her family lost their apartment, she earned C’s and D’s.

“My grades did suffer a lot from just not caring,” said Vigil, 16. “Before, when I had good grades, I was thinking, 'I

Corrections Department lacks financial controls, state audit finds

by Matt Drange

Matt Drange

Community college students struggle with online courses

by Erica Perez

Erica Perez

‘Reform Me’ — a poem by a superintendent - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

‘Reform Me’ — a poem by a superintendent

by Valerie Strauss

John Kuhn is not your ordinary school district superintendent. Kuhn is the head of the Perrin-Whitt Consolidated Independent School District in Texas, and he is a very public critic of modern school reform.

Earlier this year, I published a letter he sent to Texas legislators about plans by Texas Gov. Rick Perry to cut billions of dollars from public schools. The letter was modeled on the famous letter that William Barret Travis sent from the Alamo right before it fell in 1836.

Here is one of Kuhn’s latest literary efforts, a poem about school reform.

Read full article >>

12:41 AM (4 hours ago)

Advice to Education Dept. on newest Race to the Top

by Valerie Strauss

This was written by Monty Neill, interim executive director at The National Center for Fair & Open Testing, known as FairTest, a non-profit organization that works to end the misuses of standardized testing and to ensure that evaluation of students, teachers and schools is fair and valid.

Read full article >>

State weighs early ed Race to Top | Thoughts on Public Education

State weighs early ed Race to Top - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

California is not among the 36 states and District of Columbia that Education Week reports have expressed an intention to apply for the federal government’s $500 million Race to the Top early education grant competition later this year. But that doesn’t mean the state won’t decide to apply, State Board of Education President Michael Kirst [...]

The hard bigotry of low expectations and low priorities - by Gary Ravani

by Gary Ravani

Perhaps the single best-known piece of social science research ever done in this country is the study produced by James Coleman in 1966 under the authority of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, commonly called “the Coleman Report.” Coleman’s work is the second largest social science research project in history, covering 600,000 children in 4,000 schools [...]

NYC Public School Parents: Arts Advisory Committee Calls for More Testing of Arts

Arts Advisory Committee Calls for More Testing of Arts

by Patrick J. Sullivan

Last night's Panel for Educational Policy meeting featured a report from the PEP Arts Advisory Committee. The membership of this committee is chosen by the PEP, which means by the Bloomberg administration as the mayoral appointees voted in a bloc for their preferred candidates.

The report was much about how to do more with less given the current funding environment. There was some token acknowledgment of the need to do more with those schools who fare the worst in providing arts education;

An Urban Teacher's Education: Save Our Schools March

Save Our Schools March

by James Boutin

In just a little over a week, teachers and grassroots educational activists will converge on Washington, DC to make their voice heard in response to the overwhelming barrage of attacks they've been dealt by the corporate reform movement.

The Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action has been coordinated by a committed group of educators committed to real democracy and quality public education - ideals that cannot exist independent of one another. As John Dewey said, "Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife."

I am utterly in awe of the people who have worked to put this event together. They include parents, students,

Keeping Up With Korea: All Textbooks To Be Digital by 2014 | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Keeping Up With Korea: All Textbooks To Be Digital by 2014

by larrycuban

If you are already ahead of the pack, do you look over your shoulder to see how close your competitors are or do you look straight ahead and push harder to stay in the lead? For Korea, you push harder. On the 2009 PISA test, Korea was first in the Digital Reading Assessment scoring 568 (OECD nations came in at 499, China at 515, with the U.S. at 500).

A governmental strategy for decades to keep Korea economically competitive with Japan, China, the U.S., and western European nations has been to improve schools through greater classroom use of technologies (smart phones, tablets, whiteboards, television, etc.), online courses, and access to higher education. Consistent with