School Tech Connect: Illinois Has A Huge Problem...

School Tech Connect: Illinois Has A Huge Problem...: " Civic Committee "

Illinois Has A Huge Problem...

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)

...which is that the truth is drowned out almost all the time.

I think I should just redirect my feed over to Glen's place, where there has been such lucid writing of late regarding Illinois' fiscal situation.

Bob Lyons' piece is a must-read. He says a lot more than what I've clipped below, but it's is important to keep these things in mind because you never hear the Civic Committee people admit to these facts, except when they blurt them out accidentally in a green room and get called on it.

Of course, if the State had paid TRS what was due each year, the System could be nearly 80% funded today and the State would need to pay only enough to fund the pensions of current teachers. While 

We're Ready for the Battle - Bridging Differences - Education Week

We're Ready for the Battle - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

We're Ready for the Battle

by Deborah Meier

Deborah Meier—visionary teacher and founder of successful small schools in New York City and Boston—and Pedro Noguera—author and director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education—debate issues relevant to schools, teachers, and students.

Dear Pedro,
I quote from a wise old villain: "You can only win at the negotiating table what you have won on the battlefield." Or something like that.
We need first and foremost to pick our battleground—with sufficient troops—even if we don't and may never have sufficient money. Our immediate goal cannot be getting to the current political/policymaking table. There's no point in joining "their" table, even if invited, unless and until the troops are out there causing trouble.
The fact that you, and Warren Simmons, and James Comer, who led the panel at the Coalition of Essential Schools last week, are not at the table is absurd, but not a tragedy. Nor is it an accident or a personal critique of your credentials, ideas, and past leadership. It's precisely because you are who you are that you are not at the table. Instead, you must help us build our own table.
We have barely begun the organizing we need to engage ALEC and their allies on the political battlefield. Nor have we thought through who must be involved in designing the kind of table that meets our needs (and how 

Fiscal Cliff: Are We Really Going to Do Surgery With An Ax? Really? | Lily's Blackboard

Fiscal Cliff: Are We Really Going to Do Surgery With An Ax? Really? | Lily's Blackboard:

Are We Really Going to Do Surgery With An Ax? Really?

by Lily

We’re all in trouble when I start a sentence with, “… and reasonable people in Congress will find a way get this done…” and the room explodes with laughter.

Because we’re in this mess for lack of a sufficient number of reasonable people. When this soap opera began, there was a standoff between Democrats and Republicans in Congress over how to balance the budget, and with the clock ticking, if they didn’t get agreement it would mean (again) the shutdown of the Federal government.

Since neither side actually wanted to see that happen with an election coming up, they agreed to put it all off until now. They said things would be different because they agreed to come back … with axes.

The deal with the devil was that if they couldn’t agree how how to balance the budget, all the Bush tax cuts – some of which helped the middle class and some of which helped the rich – would expire (as the law requires unless they are extended) AND practically everything in the national budget would be chopped by 10%.

They would just start swinging 

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 11-15-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Children in Mississippi Are Helping Children in Long Island

by dianerav

This makes my day.
Michael Vanveckhoven, a reader of this blog sent me a photo of children in Meridian, Mississippi, collecting warm hats and gloves for children in Rockville Center on Long Island in New York.
Michael read here a note from high school principal Carol Burris about students whose homes were severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy.
The south shore of Long Island took the full force of the hurricane and 

How Did David Beat Goliath in Indiana?

by dianerav

Conservatives can’t believe their hero Tony Bennett lost.
Bennett had the support of the national conservative establishment.
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute had crowned him the American Education Idol.
He had nearly $1.5 million to spend.
Republicans loved his attacks on unions.
The Obama administration loved his support for the Common Core standards.
He is president of Jeb’s group of rightwing superintendents called Chiefs for Change.
He is on the board of directors of the Council of Chief State School Officers (its preside

Should Computers Grade Essays?

by dianerav

Todd Farley is the scourge of standardized testing. His book, “Making the Grades,” is a shocking exposé of the industry. Todd spent nearly 15 years scoring tests, and he knows the tricks of the trade.
In this article, he skewers the latest testing craze: machine-scoring of essays.
Having demonstrated the fallibility of humans who score essays, Farley is no more impressed by computer scoring. As he puts it:
“…the study’s major finding states only that “the results demonstrated that overall, automated essay scoring was capable of producing scores similar to human scores for extended-response writing items.” A paragraph o

Teachers: Please Advise This N.C. Mother about Common Core

by dianerav

I received this comment from a mother in North Carolina. Her daughter is in first grade, where the school is implementing the Common Core math curriculum. Her daughter is confused, and so is the mother.
I am reaching out to the teachers who read this blog. Can you help her? What advice do you have? What has been your experience?
I have found your page looking for more info. on the common core curriculum. My 1st grader goes to school in 

When Basketball Adopted the NCLB Rules

by dianerav

A reader sent this wonderful analogy, which was published today in Undernews:

No high school basketball player left behind

All teams must make the state playoffs and all must win the championship.If a team does not win the championship, it will be on probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable. If after two years they have not won the championship their basketballs and equipment will be taken away until they do win the championship.
All players will be expected to have the same basketball skills at the same time, even if they do not have the 

Are Colleges Spending Too Much on Administrators?

by dianerav

John Hechinger has written an important critique of administrative salaries in higher education.
His article focuses on Purdue, an outstanding university known for its engineering programs.
The university has a long list of administrators who do supervision or marketing and are paid far more than full professors.
Makes you wonder if the university–and Purdue is typical, not unusual–has its priorities right.
One good thing about Purdue that comes out in the article is that, unlike so many other universities, it does not rely on adjunct faculty.
Mitch Daniels, about to leave the governorship, will assume the presidency of Purdue. As governor, he became 

How to Avoid Hurting Kids and Schools in Fiscal Crisis

by dianerav

Leonie Haimson has some excellent ideas about where to make budget cuts and how to raise revenues to protect children in the looming fiscal crisis.
Haimson is executive director of Class Size Matters in New York City and has long been the city’s leading parent activist. Her ability to analyze research and budgets is astounding. Her courage in fighting for students

How Corporate Reformers Are Invading Vermont

by dianerav

An email arrived:
Dear Dr. Ravitch,
Even in Vermont, we are being influenced by Gates money. Here are two sites which may be of interest. We (www.bfasta.net) are a comprehensive high school with an excellent track record (graduates at Harvard, MIT, NYU, as well as grads being successful in the trades, state schools, etc.), but according to NCLB we’re failing. 

Diane in the Evening 11-14-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

High Schools Teaching The War On Terror | toteachornototeach

High Schools Teaching The War On Terror | toteachornototeach:

High Schools Teaching The War On Terror

by aristotlethewise

High Schools Teaching The War On Terror: 
The Atlantic Looks At A History Textbook 

What kids learn in school tends to change with the times, and some curricular regulations that are either antiquated or simply embedded in beliefs have raised eyebrows across the country as of late.
Yet regulation aside, in a layer of education that reaches students firsthand, is the textbook: the student’s omniscient manual in any given subject. Because these books dictate student knowledge and can shape perspective, their contents are sometimes the source of controversy. In Louisiana, for example, one commonly used textbook teaches students “the accumulated wisdom of the past from a biblical worldview.”
And while September 11 is a recent memory that many still live with, the attacks are a distant reference to schoolchildren today. As the event and its subsequent war have become “recent history,” The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf took to examine how high schoolers are learning about 9/11 and the years following.
His general findings: the threat of terrorism can be eliminated, the Patriot Act was not controversial and Iraq had 

Jeb Bush’s reform summit: Democratic-GOP ‘mind meld?’:

Jeb Bush’s reform summit: Democratic-GOP ‘mind meld?’

Posted by Valerie Strauss on November 15, 2012 at 7:00 am

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A Vulcan mind meld

If you watched Star Trek, you will remember the Vulcan ‘mind meld,’ which was just what it sounds like: a technique that allows two people to share thoughts, experiences, and everything else one finds in a mind. While this doesn’t qualify for a complete mind meld (some differences still remain), the Democratic and Republican school reform minds have melded so much that John Podesta, founder and chairman of the Center for American Progress, who was president Clinton’s chief of staff and and co-chair of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential transition team, is giving a keynote address at Jeb Bush’s fifth annual reform summit.

The Excellence in Action Summit, the work of former Florida governor Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education, is scheduled for Nov. 27-28 in Washington D.C. (If you wanted to go, it’s too bad; registration is closed but keynote speeches and general sessions will be live streamed.)

First up on the agenda is a discussion about (what else?) vouchers and tax credit scholarships, because that is what matters to Bush and his like-minded reformers. The official name of Strategy Session 1 is “Reaching More Students With Vouchers and Tax-

Analysis shows differences in teacher effectiveness in LAUSD | EdSource Today

Analysis shows differences in teacher effectiveness in LAUSD | EdSource Today:

Analysis shows differences in teacher effectiveness in LAUSD

November 15th, 2012 | Add a Comment | 
By John Fensterwald

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In Los Angeles Unified, novice teachers tend to be assigned students who are academically farther behind those assigned to experienced teachers. Before they depart, usually after only two years, Teach for America teachers have a bigger impact on students than that of other new teachers. And National Board Certified teachers significantly outperform other teachers in LAUSD.

These are among the findings of an extensive seven-year study of about a third of teachers in LAUSD by the Strategic Data Project, which is affiliated with the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University. Researchers have conducted similar analyses of teacher recruitment, development and retention patterns in three dozen school districts and charter organizations nationwide, under work funded by the Gates Foundation. LAUSD’s report, which was released Wednesday, could become a key resource as the district and United Teachers Los Angeles negotiate changes to teacher evaluations and other parts of the teachers’ contract.

The finding with perhaps the biggest implication quantified significant disparities in effectiveness among the district’s elementary and middle school teachers, as measured by students’ 

Look under a different lamp post for keys to fix our schools - by John Fensterwald

by John Fensterwald

There’s the old joke about  a man crawling on his hands and knees late at night under a lamp post, looking for keys he lost two blocks away, because, as he tells a police officer, “the light is better here.” I was reminded of this story recently listening to a panel about what was wrong with the U.S. education system. Of course there are many problems, including the poor way we recruit,...

Los Angeles tops nation in charter school enrollment - by John Fensterwald

by John Fensterwald

More students from Los Angeles Unified attend charter schools than from any other district in America – by far. The 98,576 students who enrolled in charters last year, up a significant 24 percent from 2010-11, were more than double the 48,057 students from New York City, the nation’s largest district and number two in charter attendance. Nearly one out of seven LAUSD students now attend...

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Teaching Democracy

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Teaching Democracy:

Teaching Democracy

by Mike Klonsky

There was a good turnout of students and faculty Monday night at Lake Forest College, to hear Deborah Meierspeak on the topic of "Democracy is more complicated than rocket science: So why don't we teach about it?" Wow! That's a brainfull.

Here's my headline of the week. It says a lot.

The growth of charter schools

NYT reports that between 2010-11 and 2011-12, the number of students in charter schools increased close to 13 percent, to just over two million.

New Orleans, where the city’s schools were essentially destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, leads the nation in the proportion of students in charter schools, at 70 percent. But in six other districts, including Detroit, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis, more than 30 percent of public school students 

Numbers that leave me shocked-and-awed

by Mike Klonsky

I am hardly one to try and quantify everything, particularly teaching/learning. But there are some numbers that I find fascinating if only for purposes of shock and awe. Here are a few:

50.8 -- The percent of votes cast by Washington state voters in support of Initiative 1240. The new law will permit up to 40 privately-run charter schools over the next five years in the state. Votes are still being counted a week after the election which marked the fourth time since 1996 that Washington voters have been asked to approve charters. Previous bills have been rejected by voters despite millions of dollars behind the charter campaigns. This time, a handful of billionaires, led by Bill Gates put in more cash than ever before, and had a 10:1 financial edge over opponents. Given all that money, opponents have said they are happy the vote was close. -- Maureen Downey, ajc

738 -- The number of minutes over a three-week period  (12 hours and 18 minutes), preparing for and administering standardized tests by a Chicago teacher. -- Adam Heenan

53,000,000 -- The number of dollars former Dixon, IL comptroller Rita Crundwell, is charged with siphoning off 

Missouri Education Watchdog: The End of Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium?

Missouri Education Watchdog: The End of Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium?:

The End of Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium?

by stlgretchen

Color me shocked.  A consortia pushing unproven, untested, unfunded, unconstitutional standards doomed to fail?

The elite speak.  From The Huffington Post and "50 to 75 education insiders" interviewed by Education Whiteboard:

About 44 percent of respondents believe there is a high likelihood of states exiting the consortia (SBAC) and designing their own custom Common Core-aligned tests with the help of third-party vendors, asUtah did in early August. A majority are of the opinion that SBAC’s membership may drop by as much as half by 2014, though they are less pessimistic about PARCC. 

UPDATE: Ty Fahner. The Paul Ryan of Illinois pension reform. No time for details. « Fred Klonsky

Ty Fahner. The Paul Ryan of Illinois pension reform. No time for details. « Fred Klonsky:

Ty Fahner. The Paul Ryan of Illinois pension reform. No time for details.

by Fred Klonsky

The Civic Committee’s Ty Fahner.
Remember the election of of 2012.
It was all the talk before the General Petraeus thing.
Remember we had this VP candidate who was famous for his bogus budget plan that was  so lacking in details that it became a running joke on late night TV. The proposal was big on cuts to the poor and Social Security. But when Congressman Ryan was asked for supporting data or details, he would smile and say he didn’t have the time to go into the details.
Now we have the head of the corporate Civic Committee playing Paul Ryan on the issue of state employee pensions.
Crain’s reports that yesterday Ty Fahner went to the media and declared the state’s public pensions unfixable

Mindy Donoho deserves a a living wage. But we are all Mindy Donoho. Ty Fahner is our Rita Grundwell.

by Fred Klonsky

Dixon Comptroller stole $53 million while nobody watched. Ty Fahner is the state’s Rita Grundwell.
Good for the Illinois Education Association and their campaign for a living wage in Illinois.
They are campaigning for the thousands of their members who work as paraprofessionals and other non-certified jobs in the state’s schools but barely earn enough to feed their families.
But the campaign will also benefit the ten of thousands of other workers in the state who are part of the class of the class of the working poor.

STERLING – Mindy Donoho has two jobs.

She has to: Her primary job as a classroom aide at Dixon High School simply does not pay enough.

“It’s a struggle,” Donoho said. “… We’re not choosing whether to go on vacation 

Schools Matter: Distractions Are Us, Progress Tells Us So!

Schools Matter: Distractions Are Us, Progress Tells Us So!:

Distractions Are Us, Progress Tells Us So!

by Storm

A friend posted this article from the Nov. 1, NYT to his Facebook page the other day: "Technology Is Changing How Students Learn, Teachers Say."

I'll note that "a version" of this was published as "For Better and for Worse, Technology Use Alters Learning Styles, Teachers Say" in the print edition.  You decide if the web gurus who apply an "SEO" praxis to headlines worked some sticky magic.

Of course, both headlines are full of ambiguities and assumptions.  Just look at the assumption that must be made to presume the reader knows what is being "meant" by the word "technology."

I think though that my favorite headline trick is the "tack on" to both: "teachers say."

But, it's not a tack-on really, it's the whole story.  This piece purports to describe a "teacher's-eye-view" of how 

The case against accelerated reader

by skrashen

Sent to the Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, November 14

The case against accelerated reader (AR) is even stronger than the Jan Lacina’s article states (“Accelerated Reader: Teaching kids the 'game' of school testing, Nov. 13).

There is no clear evidence that AR works, even in the short term. AR has four components: It provides access to books, provides time to read, quizzes children on what they read, and awards prizes for performance on the quizzes. As Dean Lacina notes, it is well-established that providing books and time to read are effective, but AR research does not show that the quizzes and prizes add anything. Studies claiming AR is effective compare AR to doing nothing; gains were probably due to the reading, not the tests and prizes.

Also, AR could also have the effect of discouraging reading in the long run: Reading is intrinsically pleasant. Substantial research shows that rewarding an intrinsically pleasant activity sends the message that the activity is not pleasant, and that nobody would do it without a bribe. AR might be convincing children that reading is not pleasant. No studies have been done on the long-term effect of AR.

Stephen Krashen

Sources:
Kohn, A. 1999. Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other