Senate Education Committee vote was a foregone conclusion; charges of DOE test data fraud was huge political bombshell | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

Senate Education Committee vote was a foregone conclusion; charges of DOE test data fraud was huge political bombshell | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

Louisiana State Senator Supports Creationism Law Because Of His Experience With Witch Doctor

by crazycrawfish

 Reblogged from CenLamar:

Update: The videos are online. Part One. Part Two.
For the third year in a row, the Louisiana Senate Education Committee deferred a bill to repeal the Louisiana Science Education Act, which allows for the teaching of New Earth Creationism in public school science classrooms. And for the third year in a row, at least one member of the Louisiana Senate managed to steal the show.

Read more… 902 more words

Well, on the plus side, at least now Louisiana can start teaching kids how to be certified witch doctors early on in their public school careers. Since none of ouy kids will understand real biology that might be the best we can 

Senate Education Committee vote was a foregone conclusion; charges of DOE test data fraud was huge political bombshell

by crazycrawfish

 Reblogged from Louisiana Voice:

The vote was a foregone conclusion; the minds were made up long before the Senate Education Committee members cast their votes to kill SB 41 by Sen. Bob Kostelka (R-Monroe).
The vote that killed the bill was anti-climactic at best. The testimony of a band director and self-proclaimed “highly qualified” math teacher, however, provided the bombshell that Superintendent John White and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) would rather you not know.

Read more… 1,078 more words

As my readers may be aware, we covered Herb Basset's and Mercedes Scheneider's analysis of the bogus SPS 

Louisiana Educator: This Bill Will Cut All Public Educator Take Home Pay by 2%

Louisiana Educator: This Bill Will Cut All Public Educator Take Home Pay by 2%:

This Bill Will Cut All Public Educator Take Home Pay by 2%

by Michael Deshotels

Important Notice!

I just got this from the LAE legislative contact system. This bill is being heard in the retirement committee today! Please send an email to the members of the retirement committee if you do not want your take home pay to be cut by 2% just to fund excessive benefits approved for someone else by the legislature. This extra assessment is an unfair "tax" on present employees that they will never benefit from. I suggest you use the LAE contact system from the link at the bottom of the article.

The House Retirement Committee will hear bill today to increase employee contribution rate and reduce benefits.

HB 57, if passed, will increase the employee contribution rate by 2%. However, the additional employee contributions will not be credited to the employee's TRSL account. Instead, the additional 2% will go to the unfunded accrued liability of TRSL accrued after 

Missouri Education Watchdog: Where Did the Common Core Standards Really Come From

Missouri Education Watchdog: Where Did the Common Core Standards Really Come From:

Where Did the Common Core Standards Really Come From

by Anngie

On April 25th Dr. Sandra Stotsky spoke on an expert panel in Chesterfield Missouri giving the audience a look behind the curtain at the Common Core standards development process.


Popout

Developed by teachers? Not so much.
Based on research? Not really.
Will prepare students for college? Not likely.

Part 2 is available on the NoMOCommonCore YouTube channel.

Hospitalized 4th grader, hooked up to machines, asked to take standardized test:

Hospitalized 4th grader, hooked up to machines, asked to take standardized test

Posted by Valerie Strauss on May 2, 2013 at 6:30 am

2

Comments

More

In the you-can’t-make-up-this-stuff category: A fourth grader with severe epilepsy being screened at a hospital for possible brain surgery was lying in bed when a teacher walked in and asked him to take a New York State high-stakes standardized test.

Really.

According to this story on Channel CBS6 in Albany, Joey Furlong was at the Cohen Children’s Medical Center on Long Island last week and was hooked up to several medical machines, when, according to his mother, Tami Furlong:

….a woman walked into his room with a piece of paper that had his name on it and told my husband that she was a teacher from the New York City School District and that she was there to administer the 4th grade New York State test to my son.

The family had already talked to his school and made arrangements for him to make up the test when he was out of the hospital, where he was undergoing tests to see if he could undergo brain surgery to help alleviate what CBS6 said was “life-threatening epilepsy.” So 

Duke University quits elite online learning initiative

by Valerie Strauss

Duke University just pulled out of an online learning initiative with other elite schools because some Duke professors voted against awarding credit for the classes. The vote this week came just a short time after Amherst College in Massachusetts rejected … Continue reading →

Why collaboration is vital to creating effective schools by Valerie Strauss Collaboration in schools is not a big topic in the national education discussion, and that’s unfortunate, because it’s a key to effective schools. Here’s a post on how and why by Greg Anrig, vice president for policy and programs at … Continue reading → Grading writing: The art and science — and why computers can’t do it by Valerie Strauss A new debate about whether computers can really edit essay tests is really about how writing can best be graded. Here to delve into that issue is Doug Hesse, professor and executive director of writing at The University of Denver.  … Continue reading →

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: What the "best and wisest" parents want for their own kids...

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: What the "best and wisest" parents want for their own kids...:

What the "best and wisest" parents want for their own kids...

by Mike Klonsky

Karen and Arne Duncan (U.S. DOE photo)

Back in 2011, I was taken by this open letter from Arne Duncanand his wife Karen, to their two children, Claire and Ryan on the opening of the school year. The letter, cross-posted on the DOE's Homeroom blog and Parenting.com, showed the Duncan's as thoughtful and caring parents, deeply concerned about their own children's education, welfare, hopes and dreams for the future. 

The letter gave us some insight into what the former Chicago schools CEO and the nation's second-term Sec. of Education thought was best when it came to public schooling.

Our hope for you this year is that you will be challenged academically. You have some terrific teachers to support you. We want your love of literature to grow, and we’ll do our part by reading to you every night. We hope you will develop critical thinking skills in math, and we promise to help you when you’re struggling and celebrate when you’re succeeding. We would like to see you engaged in learning science, civics, and history, and we will continue to explore the natural 

UPDATE: Science and Education Seattle Schools Community Forum: Board Meeting Reveals Chaos

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Board Meeting Reveals Chaos:

Science and Education

by Melissa Westbrook

I ran across some items about science and public education and wanted to share them.

An article from the NY Times caught my eye about ADHD and sleep. 

For some people — especially children — sleep deprivation does not necessarily cause lethargy; instead they become hyperactive and unfocused. Researchers and reporters are increasingly seeing connections between dysfunctional sleep and what looks like A.D.H.D., but those links are taking a long time to be understood by parents and doctors.
This article appeared in the journal Science about an interview with Ed Lazowska in UW's department of Computer Science and Engineering about the future of computer science.  (Public disclosure; I know Ed and the department very well.)  Some highlights:

• "The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that two-thirds of all available jobs in all fields of science and 

Board Meeting Reveals Chaos

by Charlie Mas

Three interesting notes from the Board meeting tonight.

1. After a long list of conservationists, architects, and conservationist architects got up to praise the District for proposing a resolution on sustainable building practices, the resolution got put on hold. Directors DeBell and Carr slowed the process and Director Patu called for a work session to discuss it. Director DeBell said that a resolution is not the way to codify the idea and he and Director Carr complained that they were hearing about the resolution for the first time at the Board meeting. Ummm... isn't that how every motion works? Only the members of the committee who vetted it get to see a motion before it comes before the full Board.

2. Director Smith-Blum said that she got input on the language of the resolution from a long list of experts on sustainable buildings. Contrast that with other things brought to the Board without any effort at outreach at all. This illustrates the utter lack of any kind of standard practice for policy development.

3. Speaking of policies that get no expert input and a chaotic policy development practice, the proposed Highly 

UPDATE: Daily Kos: "Fix the Debt" CEOs Enjoy Taxpayer-Subsidized Pay

Daily Kos: "Fix the Debt" CEOs Enjoy Taxpayer-Subsidized Pay:

What if your subway ride was like this?

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

Popout
A Flash mob from the Copenhagen Philharmonic

"Fix the Debt" CEOs Enjoy Taxpayer-Subsidized Pay

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

Two important progressive organizations, the Institute for Policy Studies and the Campaign for America's Future, today jointly released Fix the Debt" CEOs Enjoy Taxpayer-Subsidized Pay.  You will at that link find a description of this new report, and link to download the PDF.
Fix The Debt was cofounded by Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, and is very proud of its CEO Fiscal Leadership Council.  Yet while these CEOs call for call for cuts to Social Security, Medicaid, and more, they continue to benefit from subsidized pay.
The report is the first to put a price tag on the tax breaks specific corporations have enjoyed from a loophole that allows unlimited deductions for executive stock options and other “performance-based” pay.
Among the key findings from the report ‘Fix the Debt’ CEOs Enjoy Taxpayer-Subsidized Pay:
•       The 90 publicly held corporate members of the ‘Fix the Debt’ lobby group raked in at least $953 million — and as much as $1.6 billion — from the “performance pay” loophole between 2009-2011.
•       UnitedHealth Group enjoyed the biggest taxpayer subsidy for its CEO pay largesse during this period. The nation’s largest HMO paid CEO Stephen Hemsley $199 million in total compensation, of which at least $194 million was fully deductible “performance pay.” That works out to a $68 million taxpayer subsidy – just for one 

APS cheating scandal: Did they do it for the money? Or the... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com

APS cheating scandal: Did they do it for the money? Or the... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com:

Get Schooled: APS cheating scandal: Did they do it for the money? Or the accolades?

 Was it the prospect of bonuses that drove APS educators to doctor students' scores in state exams?

The proceeds from cheating don’t amount to much money for most of the educators now under indictment for their roles in the 2009 CRCT cheating scandal, a scandal first exposed by the AJC.

Some bonuses were as little as $750. The average was $2,600, according to the AJC. The annual bonuses for certified staff at schools that approached or met their testing targets ranged from $500 to $2,000, depending on how well the schools performed.

I suspect that educators who cheated were most concerned with keeping their jobs and satisfying a demanding boss. Some likely enjoyed the attention that former Superintendent Beverly Hall lavished on successful schools and educators, sort of like being teacher's pet. Hall, too, is now facing criminal charges.

According to the AJC:

The bonus money forms the backbone of the criminal case against the former teachers and administrators, who are accused of inflating student test scores for profit and to 

Missouri Education Watchdog: Jay Nixon's Idea of Citizenship. Will He Teach Students it's Permissible to Break the Law?

Missouri Education Watchdog: Jay Nixon's Idea of Citizenship. Will He Teach Students it's Permissible to Break the Law?:

Jay Nixon's Idea of Citizenship. Will He Teach Students it's Permissible to Break the Law?

by stlgretchen

Jay Nixon is having a terrible time lately with his "misstatements" about data being sent to the Federal Government.  From thegatewaypundit and BUSTED… Napolitano Thanked MO Lib Governor for Breaking Law – Passing Private Info to DHS:

The accusations were out there that the Missouri Department of Revenue was sharing private citizens’ information to DHS.
Now there’s proof.
Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano sent a letter to Missouri Governor Jay Nixon thanking him for providing information on private citizens to DHS.
As Dana Loesch reported:

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon repeatedly denied knowing anything about 

Race to the Top Initiative Getting Mixed Reviews on the Road - Higher Education

Race to the Top Initiative Getting Mixed Reviews on the Road - Higher Education:

Race to the Top Initiative Getting Mixed Reviews on the Road

AN FRANCISCO — Although the Obama administration’s $4 billion Race to the Top initiative to reform public schools continues to weather criticism, there are no plans to suspend or slow down the signature program, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Tuesday.

Duncan addressed participants of the annual American Educational Research Association conference. At times, his remarks drew boisterous applause from a standing room-only crowd; at other times, boos and groans.

An educator who described himself as a former teacher, principal and superintendent told Duncan he has spoken to colleagues and peers throughout New York, one of the states that secured Race to the Top funding.

“Do you get out of the office much?” he asked Duncan. “Do you know what Race to the Top is? Despite the rhetoric from your office, [the program] is marginalizing and suffocating educators.”

The man said Race to the Top has dissolved “the joy of education,” as several rows of seated audience members rose and clapped loud enough to drown his voice.

Eventually, the man suggested Duncan relieve the stressed-out educators by issuing a moratorium on Race to the Top. He identified himself only as sharing the same first name as Duncan, adding that Race to the Top “is ‘No Child Left Behind’ on steroids,” referring to the 2001 law that supports standards-based education reform.

Under Race to the Top, the District of Columbia and 11 states, including New York, are in the third year of 

NYC Educator: What Can an Opposition Caucus Win?

NYC Educator: What Can an Opposition Caucus Win?:

What Can an Opposition Caucus Win?

by NYC Educator

A comment from Norm Scott on one of my recent posts has been rattling around in my head lately, and it really bears a little more attention:

34,000 elem school teachers get only 11 Ex bd seats, 11,000 middle school tchrs get 5 EB and 19000 HS teachers get 7 EB seats for a total of 23 out of 101 eb seats. 

This means if an opposition caucus were to win all the divisions, high school, middle school, and elementary school, under UFT rules, they'd have less than a quarter of the seats on the UFT Executive Board.  As high school, middle school, and elementary school VPs are all elected "at large," none of these divisions would be led by their actual selections.

With retirees controlling more than half of the votes, it would be almost impossible for working teachers to trump their control. So while I wrote a parody piece last week declaring us the United Federation of Retired Teachers, it appears that's already pretty much the case.

So I'm appending one more thing I'd like to see from a social justice union, 

UPDATE: Grassroots Report: “If They Can Make it Here, They’ll Make it Anywhere” | The Network For Public Education

Grassroots Report: “If They Can Make it Here, They’ll Make it Anywhere” | The Network For Public Education:

How Student Leaders Brought Their Peers Together to Fight Against Unjust Reforms – an NPE Webinar

by admin

On April 30th, NPE hosted Dynamic Student Leaders for a Webinar about organizing.

The Network for Public Education continued its series of webinars focused on giving grassroots activists tools and opportunities to connect with others. We heard from student leaders from around the country, who shared their experiences in organizing on their campuses. Stephanie Rivera, one of the founders of Students United for Public Education, spoke about the value of social networks and blogging. Sarah Smith, a veteran of the Wisconsin war on teachers, talked about starting small and building from where you are. And Chicago high school student Israel Muñoz shared some of the challenges and triumphs of the work to save schools in his city.

The session was recorded and can be viewed here. https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2013-04-30.1737.M.106EB60C13C87949F5C9FF169D1534.vcr&sid=cm090828

When you click on the link, a small application will download, which you may need to click to activate. You also may need to download the latest version of Java.

Grassroots Report: “If They Can Make it Here, They’ll Make it Anywhere”

by admin

by Trisha McCombsdouglascountyparent.com
twitter: @dcsd_parent
Once upon a time there was an idyllic suburban setting with a top-performing school district.  Families from across the Denver Metro area flocked to this picturesque, growing hamlet that boasted of community, family, and great schools.  Then, recently, a dark force known as School Reform has taken a tight hold on this school district.
This area is Douglas County, Colorado, about 20 miles south of Denver.  In 2012 our county was ranked the 6th wealthiest in the United States according to MSN.  Our school district (known as DCSD or DougCo) has over 65,000 students, about 6,000 employees, and covers almost 900 square miles. I have lived here since 1998 and have seen the growth and subsequent prosperity. Along with it I’ve seen the DCSD schools excel in every possible way.  Now I watch them being thrown under the proverbial bus by our current school board and Superintendent, Dr. Liz Fagen.
It all started with a School Board election in 2009 when a slate of politically motivated candidates were voted into office. Their campaigns were largely (and I do mean LARGEly) funded by the deep pockets of individuals that don’t even live in our county AND have ties to ALEC.
In the short span of 3 years, we have seen an erosion in the Douglas County School District while an agenda is being enforced. You may recognize the themes of this agenda:  a voucher program which is currently tied up in 

Duncan says it’s still possible for state to get NCLB waiver | EdSource Today

Duncan says it’s still possible for state to get NCLB waiver | EdSource Today:

Duncan says it’s still possible for state to get NCLB waiver - by John Fensterwald

by John Fensterwald

California remains interested in receiving a waiver from sanctions under the No Child Left Behind law, and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Wednesday it remains possible for the state to get one. But, Duncan said in an interview after an event in Sunnyvale, “It’s getting late in the game” to apply for a state waiver to take effect this fall.

State officials have had continuing discussions with their federal counterparts about requirements for a waiver, and Duncan said that he and Gov. Jerry Brown had met to talk about it when Brown was in Washington two months ago. But Karen Stapf-Walters, an adviser to Brown and the executive director of the state Board of Education, saidWednesday that talks remained “at a conceptual level,” and the state Department of Education has not yet started to write an application. The issue of a waiver is not on the state Board’s bimonthly meeting next week.Duncan wasn’t more forthcoming about a deadline or the odds that the state would get a waiver, but he was clear about leaving the door open for California – one of only a half-dozen states without an application either approved or pending in Washington.

The timing is tricky, and the issue is politically sensitive, because Duncan now has before him an application from nine California districts for a separate district waiver. That application, through their nonprofit, the California Office to Reform Education or CORE, has already undergone a formal federal review, and will be re-submitted, in response to extensive reviewers’ questions, sometime in May, Rick Miller, executive director of CORE, said this week.

CORE submitted its application out of frustration after the state’s application was denied in 

Are Education Innovators Channeling B.F. Skinner? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Are Education Innovators Channeling B.F. Skinner? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Are Education Innovators Channeling B.F. Skinner?

by Anthony Cody

Phil McCrae has written a fascinating history of "innovation" in education that should be required reading for everyone, most especially journalists attending this week's Education Writers Association conference at Stanford, where the theme is "Creativity Counts: Innovation in Education and the Media."
As I was reading this account, I clicked on the video the author embedded. This grainy film from 1954 features B.F. Skinner, describing the virtues of the "teaching machine." Here are his words.

Popout

With this machine, the student sees a bit of text or other printed material. As soon as the student has finished his response he operates the machine and learns immediately whether he was right or wrong. This is a great improvement over the system in which papers are corrected by a teacher, where the student must wait, perhaps til another day, to learn whether or not what he has written is 

Overhaul of Public School Testing - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education)

Overhaul of Public School Testing - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education):

Key Committee Approves Overhaul of Public School Testing

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Applauds Move to College, Career Readiness

SACRAMENTO—Legislation sponsored by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson to create a new statewide assessment system using computer-based exams that would measure and promote student progress toward career and college readiness was approved today by the Assembly Education Committee.

The Committee approved Assembly Bill 484 (Bonilla), which would limit the use of outdated Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) system tests for the 2013-14 school year and begin statewide use of new assessments aligned to California's Common Core State Standards in 2014-15.

"California's students need the real-world skills that open the door to success in a career and in college," Torlakson said. "These new assessments will tell us whether we're getting the job done—and give teachers and parents new insights and new tools to address the needs of students who need more help."

"As reliable as STAR tests are, we've all worried for years about ‘teaching to the test'—making students better at choosing the right answer on a fill-in-the-bubble test rather than improving student learning," Torlakson added. "These new assessments will instead ask students to reason through complex problems, and think in-depth."

Torlakson's proposal would retain assessments required to meet federal mandates or those administered under the Early Assessment Program, as the state moves to put in place tests developed by the Smarter Balanced consortium. California serves as one of the governing states in the consortium.

AB 484 would establish the California Measurement of Academic Performance and Progress for the 21st Century (CALMAPP21), including the use of the Smarter Balanced assessments, to replace the existing STAR program.

The legislation is based on Torlakson's recommendations contained in his Recommendations for Transitioning California to a Future Assessment System (PDF; 3MB) released in January to guide the process of reauthorizing and revamping California's statewide assessment system, which currently sunsets on July 1, 2014.

AB 484 will now move to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

# # # #

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100