Missouri Education Watchdog: A Clinical Psychologist's Concerns With Student Data Gathering

Missouri Education Watchdog: A Clinical Psychologist's Concerns With Student Data Gathering:

A Clinical Psychologist's Concerns With Student Data Gathering

by Anngie

Last week during the House Education Committee hearing on SB210 Representative Margo McNeil asked witness Gretchen Logue what she was so worried about with the data gathering. Specifically she asked, "What is your worst case scenario with the data gathering?" Perhaps this article, written by a clinical psychologist, can offer a perspective on the dangers of gathering individual student data that Rep. McNeil could not herself imagine.

From CommonCoreFacts.blogspot.com March 19, 2013 Dr. Gary Thompson

By way of background, I’m an African American Doctor of Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.) currently serving as Director of Clinical Training & Community Advocacy at a private child psychology clinic in South Jordan, Utah.  I completed undergraduate education at both the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.  In addition to my personal experiences involving my four children in public schools, I have completed multiple thousands of hours in training/therapy/assessment/legal advocacy work with children in both the private and public school 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 5-21-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Scandal Deepens in Louisiana: Will Anyone Investigate?

by dianerav

Tom Aswell, investigator journalist and blogger, is covering and uncovering evidence of fraud in the Louisiana Course Choice program.
Hundreds of students were somehow registered for online courses without the knowledge of the students or their parents. How did this happen? This would mean a massive transfer of funds from Louisiana taxpayers to online

Michigan’s Bad Ideas, In Step with Race to the Top

by dianerav

The most noxious element of President Obama’s Race to the Top is the requirement that teachers should be evaluated to a significant degree by the test scores of their students.
By now, there is a large body of research that shows that this is a very bad idea, that the rankings based on test scores say more about who was in the class than the quality of the teacher.
But the idea of evaluation by test scores has been taken up with delight by the farthest right-wing state legislatures, the latest being Michigan.
Michigan has one of those legislative bodies that devotes considerable time to figuring out what they can take 

Big $$$ Behind NC Privatization Bills

by dianerav

Same old story in North Carolina as elsewhere: big money from reactionary millionaires funding the theft of public education. American Federation for Children is based in Michigan. It supports vouchers.
Wake the town and tell the people.
Large, out-of-state donors fuel North Carolina’s school “choice” movement
More than $90,000 funneled to state legislative campaigns in 2012
By Lindsay Wagner
In March of 2012, North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis and ten other state lawmakers flew to Florida on the dime of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina (PEFNC), an organization known for endorsing 

Why Does Experience Matter in Every Field But Teaching?

by dianerav

Responding to other comments, this teacher sent the following:
“Experience isn’t all its cracked up to be”?????? Tell that to a surgery patient.”
“Or just try saying that about the chef in a restaurant.
“After spending much of my career teaching a lot of people who thought they already knew how to teach because they spent years in classrooms as students, I cringed when I heard people like Oprah and Martha 

Superintendent McGill Disagrees with Principal Burris

by dianerav

Two members of the honor roll–both thoughtful, dedicated educators–disagree about Néw York’s plan to evaluate educators, in this case principals.
Carol Burris, the principal of South Side High School in Rockville Center, was selected by her colleagues as principal of the year in Néw York. Mike McGill is superintendent of schools in Scarsdale, one of the state’s most affluent and excellent districts.

Missouri Punishes Charter for Taking on High Risk Kids

by dianerav

One of the first charters to open in Missouri was the Gordon Parks charter school In Kansas City.
Its idealistic founders believed that the purpose of the charter was to take the kids who were far behind their peers and try to help them.
The state of Missouri just canceled the charter. 
Gordon Parks Elementary School will die because its test scores were too low.
This charter tried to do what charters are supposed to do: to take the kids with the greatest needs.

Better Links to Uri Treisman’s Talk at NCTM

by dianerav

From a reader:
Diane’s link is to the mobile version, which didn’t work for me. Here’s a YouTube link:
Popout
and a link to the slides:
http://www.nctm.org/conferences/content.aspx?id=36436#equity

Tennessee Charters: The Truth Comes Out, with Excuses

by dianerav

Policymakers and the media in Tennessee thought that charters would outperform public schools. They would “save minority kids from failing public schools.” Unfortunately, the charter schools are manufacturing “success” by pushing out low-performing children right before testing time.
True believers refuse to accept the plain facts but it is hard to hide the disappearing students.
But the media is catching on.
A reader helpfully forwarded the transcript:
“NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) –
Leaders with Metro Nashville Public Schools have serious concerns about what is happening at some of the city’s most popular charter schools.

More Foundation Money to Fund Privatization

by dianerav

Researchers Sarah Reckhow of Michigan State University and doctoral student Jeffrey Snyder reported at an AERA session that foundation giving is increasingly concentrated on a small number of recipients.
Foundation funding is moving away from giving to public schools–attended by 90% of American students–and is going instead to “challengers” to the system, especially charter schools–attended by about 5% of American students.
The story in Education Week says:
“At the start of the decade, less than a quarter of K-12 giving from top foundations—about $90 million in all—was 

Uri Treisman’s Powerful Speech on Equity to NCTM

by dianerav

Uri Treisman of he Dana Center at the University of Texas spoke about mathematics and equity at the annual NCTM meeting in Denver.
But he spoke about much more. He spoke about student performance on international tests; about the effect of poverty on achievement; about opportunity to learn; about the Common Core; about charter schools; about VAM.
Many who saw his speech said it was the best they had ever heard.
Please watch it. You will be glad you did.

Diane in the Evening 5-20-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Providence Students Challenge Commissioner Gist to Debate Issues by dianerav That amazing, pro-active, brilliant Providence Student Union has challenged Rhode Island Commissioner of Education Deborah Gist to a debate about high-stakes testing with them. Will Commissioner Gist agree to debate them? The students thinks it is wrong to use NECAP–the state assessment–as a requirement for graduation. The corporation that created the test agrees with the students that the test was not designed as an exit exam. Gist is... more »

Louisiana Educator: The Unlimited Threat of Vouchers and Course Choice

Louisiana Educator: The Unlimited Threat of Vouchers and Course Choice:

The Unlimited Threat of Vouchers and Course Choice

by Michael Deshotels

From yesterday's disastrous Oklahoma tornadoes:

“We had to pull a car out of the hallway that was on top of a teacher. She had three little children under her. Good job teach!”

This is a direct quote from one of the rescue workers about a teacher and her students caught in a school hit by one of the devastating Oklahoma tornadoes yesterday. It brings tears of pride to my eyes every time I read it.  Just another example of the spontaneous heroism displayed by of our public school teachers. They always think of their students first.

Now to Louisiana's own (much less horrific yet very important self created disaster):

MFP Resolution is a Trap for Louisiana Taxpayers

The MFP resolution now before the Louisiana Senate contains an escape clause to account for the recent Louisiana Supreme Court decision outlawing the funding of vouchers through the MFP. But that escape clause is a trap for the taxpayers of Louisiana. By approving the MFP as it is presently worded the legislature will be 

It’s time to fix school discipline practices and policies | EdSource Today

It’s time to fix school discipline practices and policies | EdSource Today:

It’s time to fix school discipline practices and policies - by Sarah Omojola / commentary

by Sarah Omojola / commentary

Fix School Discipline

All students can learn. That’s a simple but profound starting place for talking about changing school discipline policies. As a former teacher in New Orleans public schools, I am well aware of the difficulty of teaching students who have varying backgrounds, abilities and learning styles in an ever-changing school system, inundated with countless internal and external pressures.

However, research has shown that students are frequently suspended on grounds such as “willful defiance” for behavior that is often related to having a disability, being culturally different from teachers or administrators, or because they are still learning how to respect themselves and others.

Unlike suspension for safety reasons, suspending students for “willful defiance” is an unsound educational policy that ultimately results in students losing valuable educational time. A recent report by the Civil Rights Project at UCLA shows that high school suspension rates have risen dramatically in the past 30 years without actually improving school climates. Notably, the American Psychological Association found that schools with higher rates of suspensions have lower academic quality and school climate ratings.

This year Assemblymember Roger Dickinson has introduced AB 420, which would eliminate “willful defiance” as grounds for suspension in grades K-5, where students are in early stages of development and, therefore, should be kept in school to receive the education and services that 

UPDATE: VAM This: Is This a New Definition of an Effective Teacher Ed Notes Online: Noon Today: TEACHERS COLLEGE STUDENTS AND FACULTY TO PROTEST

Ed Notes Online: Noon Today: TEACHERS COLLEGE STUDENTS AND FACULTY TO PROTEST AWARD TO MERRYL TISCH, NYS BOARD OF REGENTS CHANCELLOR:

VAM This: Is This a New Definition of an Effective Teacher - Throwing your body over kids during a tornado or in front of a bullet?

by ed notes online

One can never say what you would do in situations like these and I cannot say for sure what I would do. I had a few minor incidents over my years of teaching where I hope I did the right thing. I think most teachers generally act in the interests of the safety of the kids in extreme conditions. It is an almost automatic act to put the kids in your charge ahead of yourself. But here is a scary thought: you take your kids on a trip and either due to your not being careful enough or due to one of your kids going off kilter (and maybe if a kid who was capable of going off should not have been on the trip) a kid falls on the tracks and a train is coming. What do you do? I'm really picturing this scene and right now I'm still standing on the edge of the platform reaching down and urging the child to grab my hands. But I haven't jumped on the tracks yet. The clock is ticking. How effective will I be deemed under the new definition of VAM?


Special to Ed Notes from Jim Callaghan 
 
Great to hear from Jim today, chief defender of teacher rights at the NY Teacher before Mulgrew fired him in the summer of 2010. Jim watching the actions of the teachers in Oklahoma expresses some outrage though he is a 

Noon Today: TEACHERS COLLEGE STUDENTS AND FACULTY TO PROTEST AWARD TO MERRYL TISCH, NYS BOARD OF REGENTS CHANCELLOR

by ed notes online

We've been reporting on this for a week as various parents, faculty and student groups have petitions going. But today is the live protest by students, faculty and alumni of TC. The protest is as much against the actions of TC President Susan Fuhrman who is on the board of the Pearson test giant as it is against Tisch. TC students go there because many are progressive educators opposed to the high stakes testing regime while TC itself has blood on its hands in many ways. The alumni I know are outraged.

A group based at TC, Edu4, has a web site Edu4.

Check out this powerhouse School Book piece by Change the Stakes member Fred Smith on the exploding student, parent, alumni protest of the selection of Regent Merryl Tisch to be honored at tomorrow’s graduation.





MEDIA ALERT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                  MAY 20, 2013

Press Contacts:
Daiyu Suzuki: (646) 546-2513, daiyu.suzuki@gmail.com
Sulafa Khalid-Musa: (917) 600-7607, smk2194@tc.columbia.edu

 TEACHERS COLLEGE STUDENTS AND FACULTY TO PROTEST

AWARD TO MERRYL TISCH,
NYS BOARD OF REGENTS CHANCELLOR

WHEN:             TUESDAY, MAY 21
TIME:               12:00 NOON
WHAT:              TEACHERS COLLEGE CONVOCATION
WHERE:           IN FRONT of CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE
                        112th ST. AND AMSTERDAM AVENUE, NYC



WHY:  

At tomorrow’s graduation ceremony Merryl Tisch, Chancellor of New York State Board of Regents, is to be a speaker and receive an award from Teachers College. Tisch is a driving force behind the state’s policies of high-stakes testing in the public schools and the promotion of charter schools. Critics of these policies include TC graduates and other students as well as members of TC faculty, staff, and alumni.

Many TC students and faculty members state that Chancellor Tisch’s policies hurt children and damage all public schools, and most drastically damage schools that serve middle-class and poor families. In contrast,there are no high-stakes tests in elite private schools, where Chancellor Tisch’s children studied and where she taught. TC community members also object to TC President Susan Fuhrman’s unilateral decision to honor Chancellor Tisch with an award at their graduation.

Students, including graduates coming out of the convocation, and a number of faculty members are prepared to be interviewed by the press. They will share their photos of the protest as well.

Change the Stakes High States Testing Updates - Field Tests, Merryl Tisch Outrage, and More!

by ed notes online

Message from the most dynamic group in the battle against Ed Deform in NYC.

Thanks so much for continuing to share and support the petition to Give New York State Parents the Right to Opt Their Children Out of High Stakes Testing.  A few important updates:

1.      Say No to Field Testing – Check out the Change the Stakes fact sheet, listing of NYC field test schools and sample opt out letters.  Statewide resources also available on the NYStopTesting site.  

2.      Problems Opting Out in April? – If you opted your NYC child out of State testing in April and feel you experienced some form of punishment please email changethestakes@gmail.com.  We are collecting stories for a legal support group that may be interested in taking action.  (NYC only for this item, please).  

3.      Controversy Brews at Teachers College – Please check out this powerhouse School Book piece by Change the Stakes member Fred Smith on the exploding student, parent, alumni protest of the selection of 

Computer use irrelevant to education outcomes, says US study | toteachornototeach

Computer use irrelevant to education outcomes, says US study | toteachornototeach:

Computer use irrelevant to education outcomes, says US study

by aristotlethewise

Computer use irrelevant to 
education outcomes, says US study

By Richard Chirgwin
The accepted wisdom that computers are an indispensable tool of modern education is under challenge in a study conducted for Germany’s Centre for Economic Studies IFO (CESifo).
The study, published by the University of California Santa Cruz’s Robert Fairlie and Johnathan Robertson, detected no difference between computer-owning children and those on the wrong side of the digital divide, on “educational outcomes, including grades, standardized test scores, credits earned, attendance and disciplinary actions”.
America spends $5 billion each year on computers in schools programs – nice work if you’re a vendor since obsolescence is guaranteed – but the paper notes that nine million US children between the ages of 10 and 17 lack either a computer or access to the Internet.
With previous literature divided on whether or not computers were beneficial, the UCSC researchers chose a 

Latino students missing school for vacation deserves more scrutiny | NewsTacoNewsTaco

Latino students missing school for vacation deserves more scrutiny | NewsTacoNewsTaco:

Latino students missing school for vacation deserves more scrutiny

by Victor Landa

By Esther J. Cepeda, NBCLatino
CHICAGO — It’s that time. If you’re a teacher in a school with a large concentration of Hispanic students, you’re doing end-of-year reviews and preparing for final exams — and you have kids trickling up to you to let you know they won’t be around for them.
This also happens at the beginning of the school year and during the holidays as parents take their children out of classes for long family trips. But I can tell you from first-hand experience that there’s nothing worse than getting through the post-spring break blahs and pushing hard to end the year strong, only to have students drop like flies before you reach the finish line.
Understand that I’m not talking about children of farmworkers whose families follow the harvest. I turn your attention to students of families who are financially stable enough to travel for pleasure — or at least can afford it when the need arises — and can do so legally.
When I last surveyed administrators in the Chicago Public Schools system in 2007, they said that although the Hispanic attendance as students returned from Christmas vacation was still bad, it was improving. An 

Has anybody told Obama about the problems his education policies have caused?:

Has anybody told Obama about the problems his education policies have caused?

By Valerie Strauss, Published: May 21, 2013 at 6:00 amE-mail the writer

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White House officials say they didn’t tell President Obama about an impending IRS scandal, and nobody told him the Justice Department secretly subpoenaedreporters’ phone records, and exactly what he knew when about the Benghazi controversy is unclear. This, then, seems like a good time to ask: How much has the president been told about the unfortunate effects his education reform policies are having on public schools?

He’s never given any real indication that he knows the severity of problems teachers and schools are facing.

He’s never, for example, acknowledged that his policies have fueled a high-stakes standardized testing obsession in public education, and then led to a growing national revolt involving students, parents, teachers, principals, superintendents, professors and researchers.

Issues that seem to have barely registered with him — at least as judged from his public posture — include how living in poverty affects student achievement, the increasing 

‘I once thought Maryland was below me’

by Valerie Strauss

The University of Maryland’s English Department held its commencement ceremonies on Monday and student Jamie Lee gave the following unusually honest speech in which she concedes that she once thought going to College Park was beneath her and that studying … Continue reading →

Jersey Jazzman: Nobody Like Public School Destroyers

Jersey Jazzman: Nobody Like Public School Destroyers:

Nobody Like Public School Destroyers

by Duke

Maybe he thought they were going to lay palms at his feet?

No one booed. 

But the graduates of Millersville University didn't exactly cheer Gov. Tom Corbett either Saturday. 

In introducing Corbett as the class of 2013's commencement speaker, Michael Warfel, chairman of the Council of Trustees, explained the difficult fiscal conditions the governor has faced, highlighting the state's looming pension crisis. He noted that Corbett has signed two budgets on time. 

Warfel didn't mention education funding. 

That has been a major cause of contention on campus since Corbett 

NYC Educator: Chancellor Walcott Addresses Bullying

NYC Educator: Chancellor Walcott Addresses Bullying:

Chancellor Walcott Addresses Bullying

by NYC Educator

Hi. I'm New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, and I think it's about time we addressed bullying. Personally I've had it with bullying. That's why I'm making 80 thousand teachers give lessons on it. After all, I've made them come back for full school days on June 24th and 25th, after they've given grades and their students have finished all their tests. What better time to tell 34 kids you oppose bullying than right after you've forced them to come back to a hot classroom for no reason?

I'd also like to say a few words about the Democratic mayoral candidates, who have been criticizing the mayor's initiatives, which they have no right to do. It's important we continue closing schools, and those candidates have made unconscionable statements