Invest in MPS, not voucher and charter:

Invest in MPS, not voucher and charter

By Diane Ravitch

Jan. 10, 2013

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In his Jan. 6 column, Alan J. Borsuk says that a new vision for education in Milwaukee is needed to get beyond the stale and failed answers of the past. He is right.

Milwaukee has had voucher schools since 1990, longer than any school district in the nation. Students in the voucher schools perform no better than those in the public schools.

Milwaukee has had charter schools for about 20 years. Students in the charter schools do no better than those in the public schools.

As the other sectors have grown, Milwaukee Public Schools has experienced sharply declining enrollment. At the same time, the number of students with disabilities is far greater in the public schools than in either the voucher or charter schools. The latter are unable or unwilling to take the children who are most challenging and most expensive to educate. Thus, MPS is "competing" with two sectors that skim off the ablest students and reject the ones they don't want. Most people would say this is not a level playing field.

Gov. Scott Walker's answer to the Milwaukee problem is to call for more vouchers and charters and for 

Op-ed: Create a state Department of Education that reports to the governor | Opinion | The Seattle Times

Op-ed: Create a state Department of Education that reports to the governor | Opinion | The Seattle Times:

Op-ed: Create a state Department of Education that reports to the governor

We must fund education and create a seamless, accountable system, writes guest columnist Chris Gregoire.

By Chris Gregoire

WASHINGTON’S education agencies are too often focused on the adults, not the children. Among my biggest goals as governor has been to change that, to return the focus to students in a seamless education system from early learning through college, and to provide accountability for that outcome.

It is our moral responsibility to get it right, and now it’s also our legal one with the state Supreme Court’s McCleary ruling on the constitutional mandate for K-12 basic education funding. In the budget I proposed for 2013-2015, I asked the Legislature to make a sizable down payment on that obligation. That starts with $1 billion for the next two years and grows to $3.4 billion a biennium in six years.

We must do more than provide the funding. We must fix the system, starting with the creation of a statewide Department of Education that spans early education, K-12 and higher education.

Should the Legislature act on my budget proposal, the impact of my proposed investment would be immediately felt across the state. More than half of all kindergarten-through-second-grade students 

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee, the education celebrity who rocketed from obscurity to Oprah - The Washington Post

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee, the education celebrity who rocketed from obscurity to Oprah - The Washington Post:

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee, the education celebrity who rocketed from obscurity to Oprah

By Lyndsey Layton, Published: January 12

In camera-ready red, Michelle Rhee started the week on the set of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” The next night, she was the subject of an hour-long documentary on “Frontline.” In several weeks, she’ll tour the country to promote her new memoir, “Radical.”

In the two years since her short and stormy tenure as chancellor of the District’s public schools, Rhee has transformed herself into an education celebrity, the likes of which the country hasn’t seen before.

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Watch The Education of Michelle Rhee Preview on PBS.

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Michelle Rhee: Separating the Truth From the Hype

When Michelle Rhee became chancellor of the Washington D.C. school district in 2007, she introduced a take-no-prisoners approach that stirred up controversy right from the start.

Rhee used test scores to measure teacher and administrator performance, and she won the right to fire staff who did not meet her expectations. "People were scared to death that if their test scores did not go up, they were going to be fired," says Francisco Millet, who served as an assistant superintendent at the time.

The strategy seemed to work. Test scores soared. But were the gains real -- or the result of acheating scandal? How has Rhee responded to the allegations of test tampering during her tenure?

Aside from test scores -- what impact did Rhee's reforms really have on D.C. schools? Is there anational model to draw from her policies, or were they more showmanship than substance? And what's happened to D.C. schools in the years since she left office?

Frontline has invited some of the country's leading journalists and experts to answer these 

“There is no one else in this space who can command attention like she can,” said Andrew J. Rotherham, a former Clinton administration official who now runs Bellwether Education, a nonprofit group that works to improve education for low-income students. “She has star power. People in the business call it a Q score. . . .For an issue like education, definitely a second-tier issue, that’s no small thing.”

Rhee has created a political organization, StudentsFirst, that gives her a national platform. In just six years, she has rocketed from obscurity to the kind of fame that turns heads at the airport.

“Michelle has accomplished becoming a celebrity,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers and Rhee’s frequent nemesis. “She spends a lot of time trying to show that she’s very important.”

And the division she inspired in the District — where she was condemned by some, lionized by others — has followed her to the national stage.

Rhee embodies one extreme in the debate 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-13-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

How Can Parents Fight School Closings?

by dianerav

Jersey Jazzman explains what is now obvious: School closings have a disparate impact on children and communities of color. Community schools are closed, destabilizing the neighborhood. Charter schools open, which choose and reject those they want or don’t want. Most charters don’t want the kids with the greatest needs.
A new parent group has formed in Newark, which has been a playground for the rich and famous, who move

Kasich Pulls a Fast One

by dianerav

A reader sent this notice of a major change in teacher evaluation in Ohio, slipped into legislation at the last minute, with little discussion. The governor is determined to follow the Rhee script and bombard teachers with test-based accountability, despite evidence to the contrary. I have a suggestion for Governor Kasich: How about if you take the students’ end of course exams and publish your test scores?
The bottom line:
If you’re not familiar with legislative language, here’s the summary 
HB 555 radically changes the method of calculating evaluations for about 1/3 of Ohio’s teachers. If a teacher’s schedule is comprised only of courses or subjects for which the value-added progress dimension is applicable – then only their value-add score can now be used as part of the 50% of an evaluation based on student growth. 

Equity Investors See Big Profit$$ in Ecucation

by dianerav

This is the end game of the current reform movement: financializing public spending on education.
Education is now seen as an emerging market, ripe for the picking.
Time to get in on the ground floor.
You don’t need to know anything about education.
What an opportunity!

Listen to this Radio Show Tonight

by dianerav

Tim Slekar is a battler for public education.
He has made videos, written articles, testified before every committee that will listen, and runs a weekly radio program.
He is dedicated to stopping the corporate reform assault on public education.
Listen to this program tonight (and browse his archives, because he has interviewed so many of the teachers, 

A Math Teacher on Common Core Standards

by dianerav

Stephanie Sawyer gives her view of the flaws of the Common Core math standards:
I don’t think the common core math standards are good for most kids, not just the Title I students. While they are certainly more focused than the previous NCTM-inspired state standards, which were a horrifying hodge-podge of material, they still basically put the intellectual cart before the horse. They pay lip service to actually practicing standard algorithms. Seriously, students don’t have to be fluent in addition and subtraction with the standard algorithms until 4th grade?
I teach high school math. I took a break to work in the private sector from 2002 to 2009. Since my return, I have 

Who Is SFER?

by dianerav

An organization called Students for Education Reform is popping up on various campuses to advocate for corporate reforms.
This article by George Joseph in The Nation explores who they are and who funds them.
It is hard to understand why students would demand more standardized testing and why they would support a movement that attacks teachers and wants teachers to be held accountable for what students do. Shouldn’t students be held accountable for what students do?
All around the nation, brave students are saying “no” to the corporate reform movement that wants to turn them

D.C. Teacher: The Return of a Dual School System in D.C.

by dianerav

Washington, D.C. has an articulate new education blogger. She knows more than the policy wonks at Brookings, AEI, Education Sector, Thomas B.Fordham Institute, the Center for American Progress, and the other guru shops. She teaches in the D.C. schools.
Florence realizes that the city now has a dual school system, one for the winners, another for the losers.

Sage Advice From Adam Urbanski, Rochester Teachers Union

by dianerav

Adam Urbanski, head of the Rochester (NY) Teachers Union, offers this advice:
“In his letter from the Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King wrote, ‘There are just laws and unjust laws. And we are obligated to disobey the unjust laws.’ A nationwide movement of creative insubordination may be the only way to put a stop to the injustice now imposed on America’s public schools, teachers and especially students.”

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coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: *You Are the Leaders* Seattle Writer Challenges Bill Gates to Be Consistent by dianerav A reader sent the following observation: Here’s a devastating article that points up Bill Gates’ hypocrisy when it comes to the variation between what he demands for his own children, and what he subjects children from lower income communities: THE SEATTLE TIMES’ Danny Weastneat takes Gates to task for promoting policy all over the country that jacks class size sky high, with Gates using the common-sense-defying logic that kids will fare better in larger classes. You Are... more »

Daily Kos: "Breaking Away" from Inequity?

Daily Kos: "Breaking Away" from Inequity?:

"Breaking Away" from Inequity?

by rss@dailykos.com (plthomasEdD)

I have been a serious cyclist now for almost as long as I have been an educator, about thirty years. One of my favorite films, which I showed each year I taught high school English, is Breaking Away, a 1979 fim based on the real-life mania for cycling by the main character, Dave Stoller (Dave Blase) and the Little 500 bicycle race held at Indiana University.
Along with the focus on the love of cycling, the engaging and rich characters, and the heart-warming humor, the film is also a dramatization of America's pursuit of a meritocracy, the plight of the working class, and the promise of education.

Garfield High has the GUTS « @ the chalk face

Garfield High has the GUTS « @ the chalk face:

Garfield High has the GUTS

by Chalk Face

@thechalkface and @slekar, At the Chalk Face, 5PM EDT today, talking test data and #optout

by Chalk Face

@thechalkface and @slekar, At the Chalk Face, 5PM EDT today, talking test data and #optout Join us at 5PM EDT ...
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The cold-hearted scam of academic publishing RIP Aaron Schwartz #highered

by Chalk Face

I don’t know much about Aaron Schwartz or hacking or any of that. At the Chalk Face is a mild ...
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$50 million. 3 years. No clue. | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

$50 million. 3 years. No clue. | Gary Rubinstein's Blog:

$50 million. 3 years. No clue.

by Gary Rubinstein

In my last post, I showed how in the final report from the Gates Foundation MET project they produced a very misleading graph.  Though the implication of this graph — namely, that value-added measures are consistent from one year to the next — was not the only point of this study, I called it THE $50 million lie because it is the thing that will be used by ‘reformers’ for years to come as ‘proof’ that test scores should be a significant factor in teacher evaluations.
Here is the cover of the report.  Note the hip white male teacher and the black student with both a hoodie (and wearing it with the hood on in class!) and glasses (note to the sensitive reader:  I’m not saying that no black kids who wear hoodies also wear glasses not that no black kids with glasses also wear hoodies.  Also I’m aware that anyone can need glasses which has nothing to do with intellectual ability or academic motivation.  I just found this picture to contain a lot of ‘subtext’).  Also how the effective ‘teaching’ is actually using ‘blended’ learning as the kid learns at his own pace with the aid of a very old computer with the old-school giant monitor.

There are an infinite number of ways to make charts and graphs of different results obtained.  The choice of which ones to include and which ones to omit can reveal what the authors THINK the data proves.  The authors 

Daily Kos: The Great Stuff In Public Schools That Tests Can't Measure

Daily Kos: The Great Stuff In Public Schools That Tests Can't Measure:

The Great Stuff In Public Schools That Tests Can't Measure

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

For me one of the goals of my teaching is character education - to help my students learn how to behave with respect towards themselves and each other.
I want to prepare them to be participating citizens in our liberal democracy - and those two words are technical political science terms that describe our system, regardless of how they may offend conservative Republicans.
Thanks to my friend Diane Ravitch and her blog, many of us know the tale posted by education blogger and teacher Jersey Jazzman.
Read this post, whose title I have borrowed.
Or if you prefer, read this news story upon which Jersey Jazzman relies and to which he links.
Allow me to quote his final two lines:

I'll say it until the day I die: I am proud to be an American public school teacher. I am proud 

Some things should not be negotiable

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

I wrote what follows seven months ago.  I am reposting it now because I think the concerns I expressed then are particularly relevant as we go forward with fiscal cliff, debt ceiling, and other issues on which we are not sure what the administration might do.  There do have to be limits to our support beyond the idea that the other guys are worse.
I have been active in politics since i was an adolescent, a period now of more than 5 decades.
I have often been willing to support politicians with whom I had some strong disagreements on the issues, perhaps because I believed they were as good as we were likely to get.
As I get older, the world seems to go by far more quickly.  And while I do not have biological children, I think of the future in terms of the several thousands who passed through my care before i retired from teaching at the end 

Pass / Fail : California State University launches online degree program | 89.3 KPCC

Pass / Fail : California State University launches online degree program | 89.3 KPCC:

California State University launches online degree program

by Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

Cal State Fullerton will be among those offering online degrees Credit: Anibal Ortiz
On Monday the 23-campus Cal State University system becomes the largest public university to roll out online degree programs.
It’s offering six degrees at both the bachelor and masters level in business administration, applied studies, public administration, and management information technology-- a bit of a slow start.
The university's targetting students who already have some Cal State or community college classes under their belt, said John Welty, chair of Cal State’s online advisory board.
“We know there are large numbers of students wanting to complete degrees," he said, "particularly in areas like 

The Innovative Educator: Finally! Union supports standardized tests boycott

The Innovative Educator: Finally! Union supports standardized tests boycott:

Finally! Union supports standardized tests boycott

by noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen)

Seems like someone finally has the balls to stand up for kids and teachers. The Seattle Times reports the teachers union  shares concerns the faculty at Garfield High has raised about district-required standardized tests.
As a result, the Garfield teachers announced that no teachers at the school would be giving the tests this winter, even though the district requires them to do so.  Nearly all the faculty signed a letter to the district saying they’re not against testing, but they think their standardized exams (MAP) is a flawed test that fails to help them or their students and waste valuable class time.

A definite step in the right direction, though I'd suggest taking it further and leaving out the part about not being against testing. Despite the elites, foundations, and entrepreneurs who impose things like tests on "other people's children," the informed educators, parents, and students working in those schools know there 

Florida Charter Schools “being approved at a pace that outruns accountability” | Scathing Purple Musings

Florida Charter Schools “being approved at a pace that outruns accountability” | Scathing Purple Musings:

Florida Charter Schools “being approved at a pace that outruns accountability”

by Bob Sikes

So believes former charter school principal and current Palm Beach School Board Chairman Chuck Shaw. From yesterday’s column  by the Palm Beach Post’s Jac Versteeg

Parents and students might be more willing to make (the) switch because of the charter school fad. “Magnet”used to be the faddish school label. Then “A-rated.” Now, it’s “charter.” In fact, charter schools run the gamut in quality, assuming the state’s iffy grading system is a valid way to judge. Charters make up a disproportionate number of F-rated schools, with the excuse that they enroll students who have struggled in traditional schools. But many also earn As. In some cases, as with magnet schools, that’s the result of cherry-picking good students with motivated parents.

Gov. Scott and the Florida Legislature have been big charter school boosters, seeking laws to '

UPDATE: Schools Matter: Segregated Schools, Upper West Side Style

Schools Matter: Segregated Schools, Upper West Side Style:

Segregated Schools, Upper West Side Style

by Jim Horn

U. S. schools have been using standardized tests now for a hundred years to sort and segregate by race and class.  How long can it continue?  

Big story from the New York Times.  Chart below from NYTimes:

Published: January 12, 2013

A Major Gap in Gifted Programs

The city started using tests as the main determinant of entry to gifted programs in 2008. Since 2009, the number of schools offering such classes has fallen, especially in minority areas of the city like central Brooklyn, southeast Queens and the Bronx. Related Article »

Gun Violence Solution: Improve Mental Health Services for NRA Officials

by Jim Horn

As I watched the Sunday morning blatherers on the networks this morning, it became clear that the preferred solution by those who want to avoid the problem of gun violence is to give lip service to mental health improvement while continuing to allow the impeded flow of guns, ammo, and hate.

If 6,000 white male children and young adults were being murdered every year in the U. S, as is the case among African-American males, do you think we would see any hesitation in taking serious actions to restrict the availability of guns?  

Meanwhile, the NRA chiefs and the corporate gun lobby keep pushing for more guns.  Who needs their heads examined here?