LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-7-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

What Happens When TFA Takes Over Vegas and Nevada

by dianerav

EduShyster tells a fascinating story about Nevada’s love affair with TFA.
It is humorous but not funny.
Nevada has large numbers of non-English speaking students but does not want to pay what t csts to help them learn.
Nevada has the lowest graduation rate in the nation, worse even than Michele Rhee’s D.C. Schools.
Las Vegas has some of the most overcrowded classrooms in the nation–as many as 50 in some classes.
Two TFA alumnae have been elected to the Nevada state board of education.

Milwaukee: Charter Schools No Better than Public Schools

by dianerav

The Forward Institute sent me their latest study of charter school performance compared to public schools in Milwaukee. Here is the takeaway: There is no significant difference between the performance of public schools and charter schools. However, public schools in Milwaukee are more successful with the poorest students than are charter schools. None of this matters to Governor Scott Walker and the Republican-dominated legislature, which is intent of privatizing more schools, regardless of evidence.

Here is a link and a synopsis:

A Compleat Guide to the Corporate Reform Movement

by dianerav

Leonie Haimson, who leads Class Size Matters in New York City and was a co-founder of Parents Across America, has worked with other parents and with educators to compile a comprehensive list of corporate reform organizations and to identify the lingo of the reformers. She asks your help in reviewing the list and letting her know about errors and omissions.
Review the list of organizations and definitions. You can let her know your thoughts at the email she provides or in your comments here.
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Many parents, teachers and concerned citizens are confused by the superabundance of well-funded advocacy 

Diane in the Evening 2-6-13Diane Ravitch's blog

MORNING UPDATE LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-6-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Charter Schools and the New Segregation by dianerav A reader offers his observations: Charter Schools, a failure that cannot be measured. January 12, 2013 by Joe Hernandez As I drive happily and optimistically through our South Florida roads, I can’t fail to notice the familiar signs we are all accustomed to viewing, the burger chains, gas stations and the strip malls. As an educator and more specifically, a school psychologist, something catches my eye in a decrepit, run down strip mall, a charter school. ... more »

Truths About Education That Parents Need to Know | toteachornototeach

Truths About Education That Parents Need to Know | toteachornototeach:

Truths About Education That Parents Need to Know

by aristotlethewise

Truths About Education That Parents Need to Know 

by Dr. Rhonda Joy Edwards Vansant
A six-year-old girl is excited about going to her neighborhood school. She was home schooled in kindergarten and now has her new backpack and lunchbox ready for first grade. She can’t wait to make new friends, share her love of art, and write stories. After the first day, her only news for her parents is that the teacher gave her handfuls of candy for being good and that she can get candy every day if she obeys. Her excitement slowly disappears and is replaced with anxiety and stomach aches. When she speaks of school, she relates how certain students always have their names on the “red light” because they are bad, how no one at her lunch table could talk that day because one person was too loud. She says she is writing a story, but the teacher tells everyone how they must write and what they must write about. Her parents rarely see a feeling of gladness about 

Why Is Obama’s Agriculture Department blocking school integration?:

Why Is Obama’s Agriculture Department blocking school integration?

Posted by Valerie Strauss on February 7, 2013 at 5:00 am

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The previous post looked school desegregation history, and this one looks at current events. It was written by Richard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, a nonprofit public policy research organization, writes about education, equal opportunity and civil rights. This appeared on thefoundation’s blog.

By Richard Kahlenberg

This week, Iowa City, Iowa joined a growing number of school districts in trying to promote student academic achievement by giving all pupils a chance to attend good, economically diverse schools. The policy is a big step forward, as it is backed by a half-century of research suggesting that students do much better when they attend schools with a mix of middle-class and low-income students as opposed to schools with high concentrations of poverty.

But the good news was tempered by a potential legal cloud imposed by the Obama 

Why some black families led the charge against school desegregation

by Valerie Strauss

In 2007, a court case filed in Louisville, Ky., was argued before the Supreme Court. The decision changed how American schools handle race and undermined the most important civil rights cases of the last century. In “Divided We Fail: The … Continue reading →

N.C. governor attacks higher ed, proposes funding colleges by graduates’ jobs

by Valerie Strauss

There’s a new voice in the continued and rather tired trashing of higher education and the liberal arts by conservatives: North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory. Just a few weeks after he took office, more than 12,000 people have already signed … Continue reading →

Sacramento News & Review - Sacramento city district's worst practices on school closures - Bites - Opinions - February 7, 2013

Sacramento News & Review - Sacramento city district's worst practices on school closures - Bites - Opinions - February 7, 2013:

Sacramento city district's worst practices on school closures
Sacramento News & Review

By Cosmo Garvin 
cosmog@newsreview.com

This article was published on 02.07.13.

Related stories: Downsizing the district Sacramento neighborhood schools to be shuttered, and the superintendent's “priority schools” will be spared. SN&R, 01.24.13. Superintendent man and the meddling mayor Michell Rhee and Mayor Kevin Johnson screw with other people's school systems, and Superintendent Jonathan Raymond sets The New York Times straight on Race to the Top. SN&R, 11.08.12. High-school shuffle Is it time for a new high school in East Sac? And what about Sac High? SN&R, 06.02.11.

The more you peel back the layers of the Sacramento City Unified School District’s brutal “rightsizing” plan, the weirder it gets.
The administration wants to shutter 11 elementary schools—one out of every five run by the district. It’s a drastic solution, suited for a drastic problem. Unfortunately, it’s not clear what problem the school board and SuperintendentJonathan Raymond are trying to solve.
Is it the district’s short-term budget deficit? We won’t know the size of the shortfall until the state budget becomes clearer, but we do know school closures—estimated to save only $2.5 million a year—likely won’t close the gap. Where will the rest of the money come from? What alternative cost-saving measures have been considered, and then rejected, before escalating to the nuclear option of closing schools?
Or is the district trying to solve a long-term problem of declining enrollment and structural deficit? That’s not a new problem. Why ram the solution down the public’s throat at the last minute? (District officials are allowing just five weeks between announcing the closures and the final vote by the district board of trustees, scheduled on Thursday, February 21.)
Maybe some school closures make sense. The California Department of Education suggests a number of “best practices” to help the public decide. It starts with formation of something called a District Advisory Committee “before decisions are made about school closure.”
The CDE says: “Gathering the facts must be as credible, transparent and non-political as possible. So, at the very least, the DAC … 

A look at the MAP test and Value Added Measures (VAM) « Seattle Education

A look at the MAP test and Value Added Measures (VAM) « Seattle Education:

A look at the MAP test and Value Added Measures (VAM)

by seattleducation2011

Students and teachers at Ballard High School in Seattle

Beginning this fall, teachers who have been on this system for two school years prior to 2012-2013, and who teach tested subjects and grades, will receive a student growth rating based upon two assessments and a two year rolling average of student assessment data.”

- José Banda, Superintendent Seattle Public Schools

There has been a push underway to judge a teacher’s performance, or that of a principal, a school, a district or a superintendent based on student test scores.

Someone had the idea to determine how well a teacher or a school was faring based on how a student was doing on a standardized test over a certain period of time. That length of time has been decided upon from what I’ve seen in a rather haphazard manner from 

Are Teachers Interested in the Opportunity To Call the Shots? (Kim Farris-Berg) Part 2 | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Are Teachers Interested in the Opportunity To Call the Shots? (Kim Farris-Berg) Part 2 | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Are Teachers Interested in the Opportunity To Call the Shots? (Kim Farris-Berg) Part 2

by larrycuban

Farris-Berg is lead author of Trusting Teachers with School Success: What Happens When Teachers Call the Shots. She is a Senior Associate with Education Evolving, a policy design shop based in St. Paul, Minnesota, and an independent education policy strategist. Her Twitter handle is @farrisberg.
If we made it loud and clear, in both policy and practice, that teachers can have autonomy to collectively make the decisions influencing whole school success, would any teachers take advantage?
Collective teacher autonomy isn’t for everyone. It is a working arrangement that some teachers long for, but others never imagine for themselves. Teachers who are now calling the shots in more than 50 district and chartered schools around the country describe themselves as pioneers both in the professionalization of 

“Reckless” Bill Creates Charter School Land Grab | Scathing Purple Musings

“Reckless” Bill Creates Charter School Land Grab | Scathing Purple Musings:

“Reckless” Bill Creates Charter School Land Grab

by Bob Sikes

From Palm Beach Post reporter John Kennedy:

An effort backed by Gov. Rick Scott to expand charter school education in Florida cleared a state House committee Wednesday on a strict, party-line vote.
The legislation offers a host of incentives to the lucrative charter school industry – a move defended by Republicans on the House Choice & Innovation Subcommittee, which called charters an important alternative for parents and students unhappy with traditional public schools.
Democrats and school district officials urged lawmakers to recast the legislation – with Flagler County School Board member Colleen Conklin saying the sweeteners went way too far.

UPDATE: Joy Resmovits: Duncan Defends No Child Left Behind Waivers + No Child Left Behind Review, Fountainhead In Idaho: Ed Today + No Child Left Behind Hearing Features Waiver Attack By Obama Ally

No Child Left Behind Hearing Features Waiver Attack By Obama Ally:

Arne Duncan Defends No Child Left Behind Waivers In Senate Committee Hearing

by Joy Resmovits

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan faced an angsty Senate education committee Thursday as he was forced to defend his administration's workaround of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The Health, Education, Labor & Pensions committee chaired by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) held an oversight hearing on the administration's waiver plan, which give states the choice of opting out of No Child Left Behind's strictures in exchange for adopting components of the Obama education agenda. So far, the Education Department has approved the waiver plans for more than 30 states and Washington, D.C.

The No Child Left Behind Act, signed in 2002 by George W. Bush, expired in 2007. However, since the law hasn't been revised, schools are still subject to its regulations -- which require ideals like 100 percent proficiency 

No Child Left Behind Review, Fountainhead In Idaho: Ed Today

by Joy Resmovits

Happy Waiver Day! Today, the Senate's Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee will hold an oversight hearing on the No Child Left Behind waivers, featuring none other than U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, the big cheese himself. Catch our preview here.

Mandatory Reading? In Idaho, a lawmaker has proposed a bill that requires all students to read Tea Party favorite Atlas Shrugged before they can graduate.

Kind Cops? In the wake of the horrific Newtown, Conn. school shooting, cops in Castle Rock, Colorado are changing up their routines, according to the Associated Press. The police there are doing their paperwork in school parking lots, rather than in their offices. "The kids get to see us in a new light. We're not showing up after something bad has happened," said Sgt. Chris O'Neal of the Douglas County Sheriff's Department south of Denver.

Teachers Favorites? According to Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley's proposed budget, no public workers should get raises -- except for educators, reports the Associated Press. His budget would also expand the state's pre-

No Child Left Behind Hearing Features Waiver Attack By Obama Ally

by Joy Resmovits

The Obama administration has been under fire for watering down the No Child Left Behind Act by granting waivers that exempt states from its stringent test-based annual goals. Now, the critique is coming from close quarters.

Kati Haycock, president of the Education Trust -- an influential lobbying and advocacy group that has long backed President Barack Obama -- is coming out against the direction of the waivers, saying some allow states to shortchange underprivileged students, according to the text of remarks she was to make at a congressional hearing on Thursday.

Academic "progress may be reported -- somewhere -- but it doesn’t count as a core part of the accountability system," Haycock will tell a Senate hearing. "This means that, in a state like New Mexico, a school can get an 

NYC Educator: In Which the DOE Shows Its Appreciation

NYC Educator: In Which the DOE Shows Its Appreciation:

In Which the DOE Shows Its Appreciation

by NYC Educator

I spent several days over at Bayside High School reading English Regents exams. I was entrusted with this task because I knew none of the kids whose papers I graded, and therefore was not prejudiced. I was "disinterested," which is apparently a desirable quality in a teacher nowadays. Because I did not care one way or another about the kids whose papers I read, my keen eye was somehow more accurate.

Thank you for your time and effort in serving as a scorer for Regents Distributed Scoring. Your commitment contributed to the scoring of approximately 220,000 exams across this city.

If you have any feedback about the process, please let your principal know.


Thank you.

Office of Assessment

New York City Department of Education

I'm particularly interested in that last sentence. They appreciate my commitment, but they're letting me know 

UPDATE: Tim Furman: Friday is Call Madigan Day. + Glen Brown: Call “Prince” Madigan on Friday. “Should this matter to you? The answer is an emphatic ‘Yes.’” « Fred Klonsky

Glen Brown: Call “Prince” Madigan on Friday. “Should this matter to you? The answer is an emphatic ‘Yes.’” « Fred Klonsky:

The in box. Logan Square says no to school closings.

by Fred Klonsky

From Will Guzzardi:

Dear friends,As you may have seen in the news, Chicago Public Schools is considering a lot of changes next year. Next week, communities across Logan Square are banding together to demand that our great schools stay open and growing. I hope you’ll stand with us!For the past few months, I’ve been helping parents and teachers at Brentano Math and Science Academy organize around this issue. Brentano is a great neighborhood elementary school with a vibrant curriculum, an active new principal, strong test scores, and room to grow for our growing

A message from retired Illinois teacher Ken Previti.

by Fred Klonsky

South Austin says no to school closings. VIDEO.

by Fred Klonsky

Popout

Tim Furman: Friday is Call Madigan Day.

by Fred Klonsky

Chicago blogger and schools activist Tim Furman adds his voice to the chorus of those asking you to call Democratic Party Chairman and Speaker of the House Mike Madigan. Tell him that he must talk to unions to find real pension solutions.
Madigan displayed his not-so-rare arrogance last week, telling the We Are One Coalition of public employee unions to basically drop dead in response to their request for a meeting with political leaders to discuss pension solutions.
Tim Furman’s blog:

Today is call/fax Mike Madigan day. I believe we’re also calling our representatives and senators. 

Tony at the Red Line Tap.

by Fred Klonsky

“I’m buying, Klonsky,” said Tony as I draped my coat over the stool next to his.
“Uh. Fine.” I said.
“Marty. Get Klonsky an Old Style. And put it on my tab.”
I winced. “An Old Style?”
Marty gave Tony one of her looks and then saying nothing, reached into

Glen Brown: Call “Prince” Madigan on Friday. “Should this matter to you? The answer is an emphatic ‘Yes.’”

by Fred Klonsky

Glen Brown’s blog:

“…We now come to the case where a citizen becomes prince not through crime or intolerable violence, but by favor…, which may be called a civic principality. To attain this position depends not entirely on worth or entirely on fortune, but rather on cunning assisted by fortune. One attains it by help of popular favor or by the favor of the aristocracy… (Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, 63)…
“[There will also be those who] endeavor to exalt and create a prince in order to be protected by his authority… A wise prince will [thus] seek means by which his subjects will always, and in every 

Pilsen and Little Village say no to school closings.

by Fred Klonsky

Sarah Jane Rhee/loveandstrugglephotos.com.

Schools Matter: No evidence supporting the Common Core

Schools Matter: No evidence supporting the Common Core:

No evidence supporting the Common Core

by skrashen

Sent to the Los Angeles Times, Feb 6, 2013

The Times is correct to insist on “evidence-based, replicated, time-tested educational change.” (“Education miracles that aren't,” Feb. 6).

Let’s add the Common Core Standards to the list of unsupported claims. There is no evidence that “rigorous” standards and massive testing improve student learning.

Stephen Krashen

Some sources: 

Heard the One About Old Teachers Resisting Tests? - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

Heard the One About Old Teachers Resisting Tests? - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

Heard the One About Old Teachers Resisting Tests?

by Nancy Flanagan

When I was a novice teacher, I knew I was on a path to becoming the World's Greatest Band Director. I gave my students challenging music (which they didn't play very well). I joked around in class (unlike their other, boring teachers). I wasn't stuck in a rut (see previous sentence). I was up on all the educational trends of the day: diversity and equality, the open classroom, unschooling. I was against tracking and for paying attention to the whole child.
If you had asked me to identify the best and worst teachers in my building, I would have done so. Although I had some humility around what I didn't know about being a successful music teacher, I also considered myself more up-to-date and engaging than many other teachers in my building. Even though I'd never visited their classrooms, saw them in action, or had a conversation with them about their guiding beliefs.
Had Teach Plus been around, in 1974, I would have sent in an application.
Given that today is a