MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-31-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Arizona Plan to Increase Inequality

by dianerav

Governor Jan Brewer has an idea.
It is a bad idea.
Someone please explain it to her.
She wants all schools to start with the same base funding (perhaps lower than what they have now). Then to givebonuses to schools that get an A or B!
As this blogger, David Safier, explains, the schools that get high marks are likely to be the school serving the students from affluent families.
Governor Brewer’s plan will increase inequity in funding and drag down poor kids whose schools need more staff 

Michigan: How to Solve Problems that No One Has

by dianerav

Eclectablog reports on a new Republican strategy: How to solve non-existent problems.
Read here.

“If you think the billionaires aren’t rich enough, women have too much control of their bodies and workers get paid too much, this GOP is for 

Walton Funds School Closing Hearing in Chicago

by dianerav

This is amazing. According to the Chicago education research journal Catalyst, the Chicago Public Schoolsreceived nearly half a million dollars from one of the nation’s most rightwing foundations to sponsor “community engagement” on school closings.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to close as many as 200 schools. He also wants to open more charters, which would be non-union and would mean another dramatic decline in the number of African-American teachers. Who better to facilitate the decimation of public education than the Walton Foundation, known for its love of voucher, charters, and privatization?

Sample Resolution for Equitable Funding

by dianerav

This is the resolution adopted by the Perrin-Whitt school district in Texas, where John Kuhn is superintendent. John is a fighter for children and a member of our honor roll as a champion of public education. He earns his spurs very day as he continues to inspire us.
WHEREAS, the State of Texas has established a system that funds public schools at levels that differ greatly from school district to school district, and
WHEREAS, the State holds all schools—whether high-funded or low-funded—to the exact same academic 

Take Two Kids

by dianerav

News from the Equity Center of Texas about the state’s unjust accountability system:
The EC Xpress
January 22, 2013 • An Equity Center Publication • Volume 4, Number 3
Take Two Kids…
Take two children. Dress one in street clothes and work boots. Dress the other child in competition track gear with the finest track shoes; give him starting blocks, more coaching; put him on a fast all- weather lane to run his race. Give the first child a lane that is uneven and difficult to navigate; then move him 10 yards behind the 

Join Me at Huge Rally in Austin on February 23

by dianerav

I will speak at the Save Texas Schools rally on February 23 in Austin.
Help stop budget cuts and vouchers.
Join me in Austin.
Fight for the future of public education in Texas!
SAVE TEXAS SCHOOLS RALLY
February 23, 2013
Dear Save Texas Schools Supporter,
As you know, our public schools are under attack now more than ever. With continuing brutal budget cuts to 

When Is Federal Intervention OK?

by dianerav

This reader says that federal intervention is appropriate on behalf of social justice: civil rights and gender equity. But it’s wrong when employed to close public schools and privatize them (charters and vouchers) or to impose curriculum (that orohibition is in federal law).
WEIRD CIRCLE
That is sort of unfair, to complain that only 2% of the Federal budget goes to Education. After all, education is a 

Mercedes Schneider on NCTQ and TFA: Part 2

by dianerav

Mercedes Schneider, who teaches in Louisiana and holds a doctorate in statistics and research methods,continues her analysis of NCTQ, its letter grade reports, and its ties to the reform movement.

Is the Tide Turning?

by dianerav

The Journey for Justice brought civil rights activists from across the nation to Washington, D.C., where they presented their demands to Secretary Duncan.
This is an important development because until now the leaders of the corporate reform movement have called themselves leaders of the “civil rights issue of our times.” This phrase has been bandied about by Joel Klein, 

We Will Help the Garfield Teachers

by dianerav

I was interviewed today by a Seattle radio reporter who said that the teachers who refused to give the MAP test may be fined 10 days pay.
I told him they were acting in the finest tradition of American resistance to unjust authority. I mentioned Thoreau 

Bill Gates and the Cult of Measurement

by dianerav

Anthony Cody has written a guest column for readers of the blog. As you may know, Anthony regularly blogs at “Living in Dialogue,” hosted by Education Week. He is one of the most thoughtful commentators on the education scene. He taught science in middle school in Oakland, California, for many years and is a National Board-Certified Teacher.
Bill Gates’ annual letter was just released and can be read

Diane in the Evening 1-30-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: How Credible Are Those Voucher Evaluations? by dianerav What am I missing here? Dr. Patrick Wolf has made his reputation evaluating voucher plans in Washington, D.C., and Milwaukee, but now we see that he is speaking at a conservative think tank about the “success” of vouchers during a celebration of school choice. He wrote an opinion piece for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune warning that the state was falling behind in providing Breaking News: Students in Providence Oppose High-Stakes Testing by dianerav Yesterday it was students in Portland, Oregon, today... more »

Mother Crusader: Charter Expansions; The New Suburban Charter Battlefront In New Jersey

Mother Crusader: Charter Expansions; The New Suburban Charter Battlefront In New Jersey:

Charter Expansions; The New Suburban Charter Battlefront In New Jersey

by darciecima

Florence Township is a small, close knit community with thriving public schools serving approximately 1,700 students.  In 2008, Commissioner Lucille Davies awarded the Riverbank Charter School of Excellence a four year charter to serve 144 Florence Township students in grades K-3 with absolutely NO input from the district.  Most parents in the district had no idea the charter application had been submitted, much less approved, and they certainly had no way of knowing how much it's approval would impact their children.

When Riverbank opened in 2009, they were supposed to have 108 students in grades K-2.  A quick look at theirannual report from the 2009-2010 school year shows that Riverbank only managed to enroll 53 students by September.  That's less than 50% of their maximum enrollment.  At years end only 73 students were enrolled, less than 68% of capacity.  

The charter regulations are pretty darn clear that a charter must meet 90% enrollement in order to open. This 

Missouri Education Watchdog: How Much Will Common Core Cost Missouri School Districts?

Missouri Education Watchdog: How Much Will Common Core Cost Missouri School Districts?:

How Much Will Common Core Cost Missouri School Districts?

by stlgretchen

The question on how much CCSS will cost school districts might just be the $64,000 question. In all reality, the bill will probably be in the $350 Million range (at the least) as districts have to comply with infrastructure, assessment, training and curricula mandates.

This is not new information on cost nor is it set in stone.  In fact, the bill to school districts will become much higher if the science and social studies standards (now being crafted) are adopted.  Don't forget theArt Common Core standards that may be imposed on districts as well!  The idea of creativity in the art room would go against the idea of common educational delivery and product.

Reality is setting in for some folks, however, and it is coming as quite a shock.  California (in the same consortia as Missouri) is more upfront on state/district costs than Missouri DESE has been.  Since we are 

About Those Curious Foundation for Excellence in Education “Scholarships” for FLDOE Employees | Scathing Purple Musings

About Those Curious Foundation for Excellence in Education “Scholarships” for FLDOE Employees | Scathing Purple Musings:

About Those Curious Foundation for Excellence in Education “Scholarships” for FLDOE Employees

by Bob Sikes

Whether or not the practice runs afoul of any  Florida statute is unknown, the FEE’s recruitment and reimbursement for FLDOE staffers to attend and present at an event that promoted their agenda is questionable. At least four FLDOE staff attended FEE’s 2011 Summit in San Francisco. This from In the Public Interest report that was released yesterday.

The Foundation gave “scholarships” to pay for Florida Department of Education staffers to attend the Foundation’s annual summit. The only requirement of these “scholarships”— presumably funded by the Foundation’s corporate donors–seems to be that a person work in the state education department. When the Department of Education emailed the Foundation asking, “Also, why do you think I was told that I could register Mike Kooi as a scholarship recipient?” the 

Schooling in the Ownership Society: The language of the Ownership Society

Schooling in the Ownership Society: The language of the Ownership Society:

The language of the Ownership Society

by Mike Klonsky

In the Ownership Society, everything is turned upside-down. The new jargon of corporate-style ed reform turns Republican neocons and T-baggers into r-r-r-revolutionaries and democratic educators into "agents of the status quo."

Case in point -- Michelle Rhee, the teacher-bashing, union-hating former D.C. schools boss, is hawking her new book on her StudentsFirst website. The title? "RADICAL". Give me a f#@kn break.

That's right. This adviser to Tea Party govs in Florida and Michigan, now fancies herself as the new Saul Alinsky.

I haven''t read Rhee's book yet. But got this from from Valeria Strauss' review:

… There’s hardly any introspection on Rhee’s part as to why she was so widely unpopular with the 

UPDATE: Seattle Schools Community Forum: Times Talks About the Seattle Schools' Levies + Dearborn Park teachers support MAP boycott

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Dearborn Park teachers support MAP boycott:

Times Talks About the Seattle Schools' Levies

by Melissa Westbrook

In a surprisingly candid piece, the Times lays out the case for the levies.  The district, following its usual script, has not been as forthcoming but the Times points out the obvious:

How much is the district asking? The flier does not give the amounts, but the levies total $1.25 billion — the district’s biggest request to date. 

Much of that money, as the flier does say, would simply renew measures that otherwise would expire. What the flier doesn’t say is that the district also is asking voters to open their wallets a little wider.  

This year, the owner of a $400,000 house paid about $1,000 in local school levy and bond taxes. If both levies pass, that bill would go up by $160. 

That basic information that, while true, is probably not exactly what the district wants to say right out loud (nor Schools First).

The district says:

The district also points out that Seattleites would pay half of what homeowners in many nearby school districts do — just under $3 per $1,000 of assessed value, compared with $5 to $6 in Issaquah, Highline, Kent, Shoreline and Federal Way. 

District officials also defend the plan, saying larger elementary schools will cost less to operate, and that they need to have enough room for the additional 7,000 students that are expected to enroll over the next 10 years. If the levy passes, they say, they’ll be able to reduce the number of portable classrooms and shrink a big 

Dearborn Park teachers support MAP boycott

by Charlie Mas

Here is a letter from 17 teachers and staff members at Dearborn Park Elementary to Superintendent Banda in support of the teachers boycotting the MAP:

January 30, 2013

Jose Banda

Office of the Superintendent

MS: 32-150

P.O. Box 34165

Seattle, WA 98124-1165

Dear Superintendent Banda:

We, the undersigned teachers and staff at Dearborn Park Elementary School, are writing to voice our concerns about the Seattle School District’s use of the MAP assessment. The teachers at Garfield High School did us all an important service when they announced that they were boycotting the test this winter. The MAP assessment takes valuable resources of teaching time, computer lab access, and district money away from where it is most needed. The MAP test provides little to teachers in the way of guidance on the needs of students, and it does not reflect or assess what students are actually learning on a day-to-day basis in class. In addition, the MAP 

UPDATE: Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee uses StudentsFirst to sell memoir

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee  uses StudentsFirst to sell memoir:

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee  uses StudentsFirst to sell memoir

Posted by Valerie Strauss on January 31, 2013 at 6:00 am

Is this putting students first? Michelle Rhee’s new memoir is set to go on sale Tuesday and she is already trying to hawk it, using the website of her school reform organization, StudentsFirst, to attract buyers. The site has a free excerpt, which I found out about when I received the letter below from Rhee.

For my review of the book, click here, and for a review by Bill Turque, my colleague who covered her tenure as D.C. schools chancellor, click here.

Here’s the letter I (and no doubt many others) received from Rhee selling her book:

Dear Valerie –

When I first started out in education, I had no idea just how challenging — and how rewarding — my path would be.

The road from a second-grade classroom at an inner-city Baltimore school to founding 

Charter schools that start bad stay bad, study finds

by Valerie Strauss

Charter schools that start out doing poorly aren’t likely to improve, and charters that are successful from the beginning most often stay that way, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford University. The report, done by Stanford’s Center … Continue reading →

A Common Core Standards defense

by Valerie Strauss

Earlier this week I published a tough critique on the Common Core State Standards in regards to early childhood education by educators Nancy Carlsson-Paige and Ed Miller, who said the standards are “a threat” to young students. Here is a … Continue reading →

A Different Story About Public Education

A Different Story About Public Education:

A Different Story About Public Education

by Sam

I know we’re already one month into 2013, but think back to last year for a second:

What were the most talked about education stories of 2012?

I’m guessing your list looks something like this – Common Core. The Chicago Teacher Strike. Newtown. And what worries me is that no matter what other stories you recalled – from Michelle Rhee to the Dropout Crisis to Race to the Top – they’re all likely to fit into one of the following categories: content, conflict, or catastrophe.

Continue reading . . .

UPDATE: We built it. + Madigan to We Are One’s offer of a pension summit: “Drop dead.” « Fred Klonsky

Madigan to We Are One’s offer of a pension summit: “Drop dead.” « Fred Klonsky:

We built it.

by Fred Klonsky

“j” writes and asks, “I still want to see a list of projects that my pension money funded….”we built it list”….maybe I can get a share of revenue from these venues…Soldier Field Bear’s ticket revenue….or a cut of Michigan Avenue store sales after I funded the flowers in the median garden beds.”
Of course, “j” is being rhetorical.
Our pensions were used to pay for it it all.
Remember Representative Elaine Nekritz’s answer to a question at the community forum in Aurora? A teacher  asked her about the General Assembly taking money out of the state public employee pension system’s to pay for the state’s expenses that couldn’t be paid for based on the current flat income tax combined with corporate 

Madigan to We Are One’s offer of a pension summit: “Drop dead.”

by Fred Klonsky

Michael T. Carrigan, President
AFL-CIO / We Are One Illinois
534 S. 2nd Street, Ste. 200
Springfield, IL 62701
Dear Mr. Carrigan:
I’d like to respond to your January 22, 2013 letter regarding the need to develop legislative solutions to address the underfunding of the state’s pension systems. Your interest in taking a more active role on this issue is welcome.
However, your suggestion of a meeting in Burr Ridge is not timely. A summit on this topic could have been

Bizarro World. Mike Madigan.

by Fred Klonsky

Click on image to enlarge.

In the Bizarro World of “Htrae” (“Earth” spelled backwards), society is ruled by the Bizarro 

The Educated Reporter: New Study Finds Early Predictors of Charter School Success

The Educated Reporter: New Study Finds Early Predictors of Charter School Success:

New Study Finds Early Predictors of Charter School Success

by Emily Richmond

A charter school’s performance in its first three years of operation is a solid predictor of the program’s long-term chances of success, a new study by Stanford University researchers concludes.

On Wednesday Stanford's  Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) published Charter School Growth and Replication, which focuses on what can be learned from the track records of  more than 1,300 independently managed public schools and nearly 170 Charter Management Organizations (CMOs).

From the study’s lead author and CREDO director Margaret Raymond:

This report’s findings challenge the conventional wisdom that a young underperforming school will improve if given time. Our research shows that if you start wobbly, chances are you’ll stay wobbly. Similarly, if a school is successful in producing strong academic progress from the start, our 

Video: The Trolley Car Dilemma | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

Video: The Trolley Car Dilemma | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…:

Video: The Trolley Car Dilemma

by Larry Ferlazzo

The Trolley Car Dilemma is a famous ethical question, and used in many IB Theory of Knowledge classes. Here’s a useful video on it (in class, I’d periodically stop it to have students say what they would do):

Popout

Infographic: “The Top 10 Happiest Cities”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 6 hours ago

I’m adding this infographic to The Best Lists Of “Best Places To Live”: Find A Happy Place: The Top 10 Happiest Cities infographic by spacechimpmedia.

Video: A Bird Ballet

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 7 hours ago

“Black History Month” Resources

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 7 hours ago

February is Black History Month in the United States. You might find The Best Websites To Teach & Learn About African-American History useful. I haven’t gotten a chance to confirm this year that all the links there are still live, … Continue reading →

Read Aloud Day Resources

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 7 hours ago

March 6th is World Read Aloud Day this year, and I’ve just updated The Best Resources For World Read Aloud Day. Additional suggestions are always welcome.

One New Activity I’m Doing To Help ELLs Learn Academic Vocabulary – & Practice Speaking It

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 10 hours ago

One of my students’ favorite activities, and one that I believe is very effective, is several times a week getting together in assigned small groups to practice conversational English. They all have a “cheat sheet” of about seventy different questions … Continue reading →

“What Is Peer Assistance & Review (PAR) & How Does It Work?”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 12 hours ago

What Is Peer Assistance & Review (PAR) & How Does It Work? is the new “question of the week” at my Education Week Teacher blog. Comments are welcome there or here.

CALIFORNIA STATE WHISTLEBLOWER'S LAWSUITE EXPOSES WEB OF CORRUPTION AND DECEIT AT THE COMMISSION ON TEACHER CREDENTIALING (CTC) PART 1 By Steve Zeltzer - Perdaily.com

CALIFORNIA STATE WHISTLEBLOWER'S LAWSUITE EXPOSES WEB OF CORRUPTION AND DECEIT AT THE COMMISSION ON TEACHER CREDENTIALING (CTC) PART 1 By Steve Zeltzer - Perdaily.com:

CALIFORNIA STATE WHISTLEBLOWER'S LAWSUITE EXPOSES WEB OF CORRUPTION AND DECEIT AT THE COMMISSION ON TEACHER CREDENTIALING (CTC) PART 1 By Steve Zeltzer

by Leonard Isenberg

Mensaje se repite en Español)

Kathleen Carroll, a former government lawyer turned whistleblower at the California Commission On Teacher Credentialing CTC has filed a potentially explosive suit against CTC officials and the state government that charges that the Commission attorneys and management of the commission were engaged in numerous illegal acts possibly resulting in thousands of improperly sanctioned teachers in the state of California. Some of the charges in Carroll's charged the commission with tampering with the selection and composition of the Committee of credential members, CTC attorneys improperly tampering with case outcomes, acting outside their legal