Seattle Schools Community Forum: The Superintendent Selection Process

Seattle Schools Community Forum: The Superintendent Selection Process:

The Superintendent Selection Process

by Charlie Mas

In the end, the Board chooses the superintendent. This is pretty much the Board's most important duty and they are responsible for it. They have to make the choice. Not only that, but they have to determine their process for making the choice. When it comes to everyone else working in the District, the readers and writers on this blog generally support autonomy and oppose micromanagement. We want teachers to be free to do their jobs as they see fit. We oppose their micromanagement by principals and certainly by central office bureaucrats. Similarly, we oppose the micromanagement of the superintendent by the Board. The Board sets policies, priorities and goals, but then it is up to the superintendent to determine how to achieve those goals within the context of the policies. If we support autonomy for workers, to determine for themselves how to accomplish their duties, then we should support that autonomy for the Board as well.

The Board has the duty of selecting the superintendent. No one else has that responsibility. They should decide what information they need to make that choice and how to get that information. They have. They set a process that works for them. Yes, they were guided by their hired consultants, but they did not slavishly follow the consultants' recommendations. They decided that they wanted to see the final candidates in four exercises while they are here in Seattle: school visits, a series of brief press conferences, an interview with a selected 25-person 

2 Many Smart ALECs: Federal teacher evaluation mandate’s impact felt across country | GothamSchools

Federal teacher evaluation mandate’s impact felt across country | GothamSchools:

Federal teacher evaluation mandate’s impact felt across country

by Sarah Garland, Hechinger Report

New York City’s controversial school turnaround proposals represent a tiny piece of a sweeping effort, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, to overhaul the country’s lowest-performing schools. In the last of three articles about the reform effort produced by Education Week, The Hechinger Report, and the Education Writers Association, Sarah Garland looks at the  national impact of a federal requirement — tougher teacher evaluations — that has tripped up School Improvement Grants in New York. GothamSchools was one of four news organizations to contribute to the reporting.
Elliott Elementary in Lincoln, Neb., struck off on its own last year when it became the only school in the city to win money through the federal School Improvement Grant 

Missouri Education Watchdog: When Tuscaloosa First Grade Teacher Miss Jones Undergoes Her Sex Transformation....

Missouri Education Watchdog: When Tuscaloosa First Grade Teacher Miss Jones Undergoes Her Sex Transformation....:

When Tuscaloosa First Grade Teacher Miss Jones Undergoes Her Sex Transformation....

by stlgretchen

...the students might be able to watch the process. From thetuscaloosanews.com:

The Tuscaloosa City Board of Education is considering changing its policies against discrimination and harassment to include students and employees who change genders or wear clothing of the opposite sex.

In a four-hour meeting held Thursday evening at Westlawn Middle School, the board heard from school board attorney Dave Ryan. He explained why the board should add “gender nonconformity” to the list of classes — race, color, religion, gender, age, disability, etc. — that are protected in the school systems anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies.

Ryan cited a case in Atlanta in which a male employee of the Georgia Assembly's Office of Legislative 

Making Myself Useful (and other items) | Mr. Teachbad

Making Myself Useful (and other items) | Mr. Teachbad:

Making Myself Useful (and other items)

by teachbad

(I’m a bit rushed…driving to Indi­ana in…36 min­utes. More on that in a minute.)

Churn ‘n’ Burn and Spin Me to the Door

There are two short things I read this week that I believe are con­nected. The first was an arti­cle in Edu­ca­tion Week from early in April called When Teach­ers Are Treated Like Wid­gets, Edu­ca­tion Suf­fers. It was writ­ten by aca­d­e­mics who are tired of all their stud­ies get­ting messed up because they can’t get sta­ble con­trol and exper­i­men­tal groups of teach­ers to mea­sure any­thing for even a cou­ple of years. In one multi-year study to test improve­ments in sci­ence cur­ricu­lum, 42% of par­tic­i­pat­ing teach­ers had moved within or out­side the school in the first year.

The authors note that churn in urban schools (teach­ers mov­ing to dif­fer­ent posi­tions within schools, to another school, or out of teach­ing) is just back­ground noise for most con­cerned par­ties. In other words, the par­ties are not con­cerned. The authors rec­og­nize that churn is not only bad for hem and their stud­ies but that it is not good for kids either. “…teach­ers are shifted around so often that they can’t develop mas­tery of a grade and sub­ject, or develop sta­

RIGHT AGAIN :) ! Potter Williams Report: Diane Ravitch Outsmarted by One of Her Own

Potter Williams Report: Diane Ravitch Outsmarted by One of Her Own:

DIANE RAVITCH OUTSMARTED BY ONE OF HER OWN

                    

Education Week published a letter from Diane Ravitch to another progressive Deweyian educator Deborah Meier entitled “I Don't Understand Michelle Rhee.”

Ravitch can't figure out why Rhee lies, why she blames teachers for everything and how she can reel in die-hard Republicans with ease.

I guess education historian Diane Ravitch is not in on the endgame! 

Or is she? Maybe she's playing devil’s advocate for Duncan’s DOE to keep Republican suspicion of Rhee at bay. If the socialism-minded Ravitch questions Rhee’s motives, then the national mouthpiece for education reform would look more endearing to conservative governors and Te

Ed Dept seeks to bring test-based assessment to teacher prep programs - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Ed Dept seeks to bring test-based assessment to teacher prep programs - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:

Ed Dept seeks to bring test-based assessment to teacher prep programs

by Valerie Strauss

The Obama administration wants to expand the use of standardized test scores as an accountability tool from K-12 into higher education.
The Education Department just tried — and failed — to persuade a group of negotiators to agree to regulations that would rate colleges of education in large part on how K-12 students being taught by their graduates perform on standardized tests. As part of this scheme, financial aid to students in these programs would not be based entirely on need but, rather, would also be linked to test scores.
Read full article >>

The Innovative Educator: The bad pineapple questions are not the problem with standardized tests

The Innovative Educator: The bad pineapple questions are not the problem with standardized tests:

The bad pineapple questions are not the problem with standardized tests

by noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen)

I am disappointed that the mainstream story about testing happens to be a poor a test section about pineapples. While I agree the test question was ridiculous, I think focusing on that diverts us from the real problem which is that even if the test had greatest questions on earth, standardized testing at its core is a problem for numerous reasons.

Here are a dozen that come to mind.
1) Teachers are assessment experts. We don't need to spend 32 million on outsourcing assessments in NY alone. Billions nationwide.
2) If we believe we should differentiate instruction, then we can not standardize assessment. We must measure students where they are at.
3) Standardized tests are one of the least effective

School Tech Connect: The Single Sound Test

School Tech Connect: The Single Sound Test:

The Single Sound Test

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)

CPS's now departed turnaround guy, Donald Fraynd, said he was leaving with a heavy heart to begin a start-up company. He called it something else, I can't remember.

This appears to be it.

I'll give him one thing ; he's a true believer.

Decades of research show one thing – nothing affects achievement as much as the quality of teaching students receive. In fact, teacher attributes may account for more than 90% of the variation in student achievement.

Yes, that's the one thing that decades of research show.

Anyway, it appears to be a personnel company that's using an ubertest to identify the perfect teacher. The hump 

StudentsFirst will be in Seattle | Seattle Education

StudentsFirst will be in Seattle | Seattle Education:

StudentsFirst will be in Seattle

by seattleducation2011

…and that is not a good thing.

Ms. Rhee (pronounced "re")

StudentsFirst is an organization created by Michelle Rhee after her tumultuous tenure as Chancellor of DC public schools. She was supported by Eli Broad who threatened to pull his financial support for the DC public school system and Rhee specifically if she was not selected to continue as Chancellor of DC schools after Mayor Fenty’s failed re-election bid. After Fenty, who supported her policies of firing first and asking questions later, was booted out of office, and when it looked like the new mayor would not be keeping her on, Rhee 

May Day Wildcat March Called for 1pm | OccupyWallSt.org #ows

May Day Wildcat March Called for 1pm | OccupyWallSt.org:

May Day Wildcat March Called for 1pm

by OccupyWallSt

via STRIKE EVERYWHERE!:
A call has gone out for a massive Wildcat march in NYC on May 1st, starting at 1PM. The original call is available here. Seconding strikeisaverb, See you in the streets! Forward and Repost widely.https://www.facebook.com/events/297929263615205/ and print and distribute flyers (wildcatmarchflyer-single,wildcatmarchflyer-quarter)

CALL FOR A WILDCAT MARCH FOR GENERAL STRIKE PARTICIPANTS
MAY 1ST, 2012 1PM
We were told by bosses, by activists, by union leaders we couldn’t strike. Perhaps, they suggested, if we wanted to protest we could carry a sign and walk within police barricades, safely cordoned off in a free speech zone. On May 1st, we aren’t working and we aren’t protesting. We are striking.
We call on all fellow wildcat strikers to join us for a massive unpermitted march at 1pm at Sara D. Roosevelt Park (corner of 2nd and Houston). Along with striking rebels all over the world, we will show the bosses and cops of the world that we are many and we are only getting stronger.
Bring drums, banners, music, and an affinity group. Stay tight and stay in the streets. See you on May Day.
#m1GS

Occupy the Farm: Gill Tract Farm

by *

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 22, 2012
Occupy the Farm Activists Reclaim Prime Urban Agricultural Land in SF Bay Area
Contact: GillTractFarm@riseup.net
(Albany, Calif.), April 22, 2012 – Occupy the Farm, a coalition of local residents, farmers, students, researchers, and activists are planting over 15,000 seedlings at the Gill Tract, the last remaining 10 acres of Class I agricultural soil in the urbanized East Bay area. The Gill Tract is public land administered by the University of California, which plans to sell it to private developers.
For decades the UC has thwarted attempts by community members to transform the site for urban sustainable agriculture and hands-on education. With deliberate disregard for public interest, the University administrators plan to pave over this prime agricultural soil for commercial retail space, a Whole Foods, and a parking lot.
“For ten years people in Albany have tried to turn the Gill Tract into an Urban Farm and a more open space for the community. The people in the Bay Area deserve to use this treasure of land for an urban farm to help secure 

NYC Educator: Don't Know Much About History

NYC Educator: Don't Know Much About History:

Don't Know Much About History

by NYC Educator

Is NY State right to abolish the Global History Regents exam? Lots of us have had our fill of standardized testing, and would like to see far less of it. Of course that's not the case, as the state plans all sorts of nonsense, largely to assess teachers. Kids will be spending hours of potential learning time indulging in nonsensical junk science, to appease those who wish to fire teachers by any means necessary.

The problem with this proposal is not that there will be one fewer test. The problem is the rationale behind eliminating it--that too few students pass it. As the test with the worst record, it needs to be eliminated, disappeared. There is a counter proposal to make two tests rather than one, but that will cost more money. It's kind of amazing where they choose to make cuts--like the January 

Zoning The Poor Out of Good Schools | California Progress Report

Zoning The Poor Out of Good Schools | California Progress Report:

Zoning The Poor Out of Good Schools

by megan

By Peter Schrag
Most of us have long known that in places like Oakland and Berkeley, and probably in a lot of other cities as well, the easiest way to predict a school’s test scores is by the altitude of the building.
The higher up the school, the more likely it will be in an affluent neighborhood. The schools in the flats, where the poor people live would almost inevitably have lower scores.
The same, of course, is true for the gaps between a lot of inner cities and the suburbs that were created for the people who wanted to escape from them. Realtors have known it for years and traded on it. I’ve been in suburbs – near Austin, Texas, for example -- where Realtor billboards advertised the official state ratings of the neighborhood school. School test scores have long been at least a rough guide to the real estate market.
read more

When Did Immigrants Become the Enemy?

by megan

By Andrew Lam
New America Media
Recently, in front a packed crowd at Duke University, former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice regretted the failure of passing the comprehensive immigration reform act and the shift in Americans’ attitude toward immigrants.
Accepting and welcoming immigrants “has been at the core of our strength,” she said. “I don’t know when immigrants became the enemy.”
These days it is refreshing, if rare, to hear someone of Rice’s stature to speak on behalf of immigrants. Over the last few years the public discourse has been shrill and, if anything, media coverage seems to stoke anxiety to an unprecedented level.
Instead of a larger narrative on immigration—from culture to economics, from identity to history— what we have now is a public mindset of us versus them, and an overall anti immigrant climate that is both troubling and morally reprehensible.
America’s Difficult Love Story
read more

REASONS NOT TO SIGN GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN'S TAX INITIATIVE PETITION - Perdaily.com

REASONS NOT TO SIGN GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN'S TAX INITIATIVE PETITION - Perdaily.com:

REASONS NOT TO SIGN GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN'S TAX INITIATIVE PETITION

by Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)

In the bleak reality of coordinated political and corporate siege against public education, one is tempted to grasp at straws in trying to stop this continued onslaught against teachers and the ever worsening degradation of the essential democracy formative institution of
public education.

While one would hope that Governor Jerry Brown might throw us a lifeline in our struggle to salvage what was once the great public education system that his father Edmund G. "Pat" Brown left us, a close analysis of Jerry Brown's proposed tax initiative finds it hopeless lacking. Check out the following reasons we think so:

    The negative consequences of the initiative for public education funding are not obvious or easily discernible.  Highly convoluted language will be locked into the California Constitution and not one word of it can 

Easing the burden of deferrals | Thoughts on Public Education

Easing the burden of deferrals | Thoughts on Public Education:

Easing the burden of deferrals

Share

Districts would get small reimbursements

Posted on 4/23/12 • Categorized as Finance, Student spending

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

A bill working its way through the state Senate would require the state to share the financial burden it causes the next time it delays money due K-12 districts. Only a portion of the short-term interest charges that many districts face when forced to take out short-term loans would be reimbursed. But SB 1491 at least would recognize that billions of dollars in late payments can create an expensive cash crisis for districts, many of them in low-income areas.

Within the past decade the state has used late payments, called deferrals, to help balance the budget. At this point, $10.4 billion – about 30 percent of state money owed to K-12 and 

Gaming the robo-reader. Don’t worry about the truth. « Fred Klonsky

Gaming the robo-reader. Don’t worry about the truth. « Fred Klonsky:

Gaming the robo-reader. Don’t worry about the truth.

by Fred Klonsky

The NY Times’ Michael Winerip has an article about robo-readers, computer scanners that read and score test essay answers.
My old friend Les Perelman of MIT is quoted.

Mr. Perelman enjoys studying algorithms from E.T.S. research papers when he is not teaching undergraduates. This has taught him to think like e-Rater.

While his research is limited, because E.T.S. is the only organization that has permitted him to test its product, he says the automated reader can be easily gamed, is vulnerable to test prep, sets a very limited and rigid standard for what good writing is, and will pressure teachers to dumb down writing instruction.

Jersey Jazzman: Due Process for Me, Not For Thee!

Jersey Jazzman: Due Process for Me, Not For Thee!:

Due Process for Me, Not For Thee!

by Duke

My eyes were watering so badly this morning, I couldn't even read the Star-Ledger's editorials. First time I've ever been grateful for having allergies! (Oh, come on, it's a joke! I kid because I love...)

So I missed the latest brouhaha about celebrity superintendent Janine Caffrey:

The school board in Perth Amboy is preparing to make a costly mistake by firing Superintendent Janine Caffrey, an energetic leader who seems to be ruffling feathers by doing her job with integrity.

[...] 

Caffrey says the friction began when the board president, Samuel Lebreault, and 

Key to FCAT Success for Charter Schools USA : Teach the Test | Scathing Purple Musings

Key to FCAT Success for Charter Schools USA : Teach the Test | Scathing Purple Musings:

Key to FCAT Success for Charter Schools USA : Teach the Test

by Bob Sikes

The much ballyhooed release early this month by the Florida DOE touting charter school superiority got a follow-up in the Naples Daily News. Reporter Heather Carney asked the principal of  Bonita Springs Charter about their status as an A school.

Bonita Springs Charter Principal Deborah Tracy said the school takes extra steps to ensure every student is successful.
Three times a year, the school assesses all students in an FCAT-like environment — a teacher proctors the test and the desks are moved apart to prevent cheating. Those performing below grade level are mentored after school and receive additional schooling on Saturdays.
The school tracks each student’s progress and targets lessons to help those students improve.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

'

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

by Mike Klonsky

He was born to cut Medicaid.

 IL Gov. Pat Quinn

After proposing the take-away of medical coverage from 215,000 of the state's most vulnerable citizens, the governor said: “I know I was put on earth to get this done.” -- Sun-Times

Daniel Pinkwater

"Who knew my book would be used for world’s dumbest test question?" -- Daily News

Deborah Meier

"In the world of testing, it does not really matter whether an answer is right or wrong; the 'right'