Monday, July 8, 2013

The End of Your Career Book Club: Ten Books That Shaped My Teaching Life - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

The End of Your Career Book Club: Ten Books That Shaped My Teaching Life - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

The End of Your Career Book Club: Ten Books That Shaped My Teaching Life

By Nancy Flanagan on July 8, 2013 3:34 PM

My friend Claudia Swisher retired after 39 years in the classroom, back in June. Claudia is my reading buddy--and a fabulous educator. We often swap reading suggestions--and we're in a noncompetitive annual race to see who reads the most titles. I recently finished The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe (a good read--try it!) and wondered if Claudia, who has probably read more books on education than anyone I know, would like to join me in an "End of Your Career" book club. That's not the right terminology, of course; neither of us feels like our last day in the classroom was the end of our work in education.

The idea was to choose ten books that had an impact on us--books that turned our thinking in a new way, changed our teaching or our beliefs. We would pick only ten, describing the essential reasons they were influential or inspiring. Then, we'd exchange lists and--like any book club--discuss.

Readers are encouraged to join in with their core favorites--or to critique selections. Mine

Student Voice in Canada Student Voice

Student Voice:

Student Voice in Canada

Like Student Voice in the United States, Canada is also fostering a student driven self-advocacy campaign. Directly connected with Student Voice, this campaign is called the Student Voice Initiative and is supported by no other than our Student Voice Live! Student Keynote, Jaxson Kahn.

Student Voice Initiative is a national, student-led initiative in Canada, advocating for a student voice framework in every district school board in every province and territory in Canada. Like the system in America, Canada’s education is divided up by province – comparable to state — and then by district. These districts, like those in America, are the perfect space for activating the student voice.

The keystone of this framework is the ‘student trustee’ position, a student sitting on the school board who is able to input on the decisions of board trustees. At the upcoming Canadian School Boards’ Association Congress on July 5th, consisting of trustees from over 250 public school boards across the country, Canadian student advocates will be making a 90 minute presentation on the importance of student voice in education,

- See more at: http://www.stuvoice.org/2013/07/08/student-voice-in-canada/?utm_source=feedly#sthash.bSy6D8Jk.dpuf

Twitterati: Progressive EDU leaders or outliers? | My Island View

Twitterati: Progressive EDU leaders or outliers? | My Island View:

Twitterati: Progressive EDU leaders or outliers?

July 8, 2013 by tomwhitby

The title of this post probably carries more weight with educators who use Twitter as a key component of a professional learning network than those who don’t. At this point in time there are more educators not using Twitter professionally, than those who do. The “why” of that is what perplexes me to no end.

I recently watched an interview with Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers. His book sits unread on my shelf, but, inspired by what I saw in the interview, I am hoping to get to it soon. This caused me to consider where we are going with this idea of the connected educator. A number of education thought leaders have been promoting the idea of connected educators and professional learning networks for years, and although more educators have taken up the cause, we have not yet bowled over the profession with connectedness.

The keystone of connectedness is shared learning through collaboration. Collectively we learn and achieve more than we do in isolation. This has been true forever, but the factor that has moved collaboration to the forefront is

Diane in the Evening 7-8-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Hugh Bailey on Vallas: Don’t Believe in Miracles

Hugh Bailey is tired of the oft-told tale of the miracle district and the “savior” who comes in on a white horse, turns around a low-performing district, then rides off into the sunset. He is writing in this case about Paul Vallas, but he is looking at the repeated stories of miracle districts (think Houston) and miracle-makers (think Rod Paige, Paul Vallas, and the list could go on.) If only the

by dianerav / 2h mark as read // save

Rhee Returns–in Texas

Following John Merrow’s withering critique of Michelle Rhee’s tenure in D.C.,–in which he debunked all of her claimed gains– as well as his continuing effort to obtain documents about the cheating scandal, Rhee kept a low profile. But Jersey Jazzman has tracked her down. She will appear at a statewide charter school conference in Fort Worth, Texas, next December.

by dianerav / 4h

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 7-8-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Farewell to Mayor Villaraigosa: Pragmatist or Lacky of the Rich?As Antonio Villaraigosa exits the mayoralty of Los Angeles, there will be both tributes and brickbats. Among other things, he will be remembered for his failed attempt to take control of the public schools and for his hostility to teachers, to their union, and to publi

by mike simpson / 2h

Dana Goldstein: Why ‘Bad’ Teachers Attract So Much Attention | TIME.com

Dana Goldstein: Why ‘Bad’ Teachers Attract So Much Attention | TIME.com:

We Love to Hate the ‘Bad’ Teacher

The new novel Tampa fuels our national anxiety about public education

By Dana Goldstein @DanaGoldsteinJuly 08, 201310 Comments

CHRIS O'MEARA / AP

Former schoolteacher Debra Lafave, right, arrives with her mother Joyce Beasley for a probation-violation hearing at the Hillsborough County Courthouse in Tampa on Jan. 10, 2008

With her new novel, Tampa, Alissa Nutting has given us American literature’s first psychological exploration of the female pedophile, an account of a Florida middle-school teacher, Celeste Price, who lures two eighth-grade boys into sexual relationships. Price is no Mary Kay Letourneau, who, after serving time in prison, actually married the student she abused when he was only 13 years old. Price is a cold-hearted nymphomaniac who, after feeding her sexual needs, wishes for the deaths of her victims. She is based on Debra Lafave, the real-life Tampa pedophile teacher — and former high school classmate of Nutting’s — who avoided jail time after her lawyer argued she was too beautiful to get locked up.

With its blunt descriptions of adult-teenager sex, Tampa has attracted significant media attention, with Nutting being billed as “the summer’s most controversial author.” Though the writing in Tampa is pedestrian in comparison with Nabokov’s Lolita, the great classic on which it is based, it certainly represents a gutsy attempt by a young, female author to embody a wholly unsympathetic female narrator and to probe the question of whether society lets women essentially get away with crimes for which men ar

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ed News Roundup

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ed News Roundup:

Ed News Roundup

Remember that thinking, after the mass killings at an elementary school earlier this year, that we should arm teachers and staff at our schools? Well, Kansas passed a law allowing teachers and others to be armed. Guess what the problemis? Via TPM:

An insurance company based in Iowa has refused to renew coverage for Kansas schools that permit teachers and staff to carry concealed firearms on campus, the Des Moines Register reported on Sunday.

EMC Insurance Cos. made the decision after Kansas enacted a new law to allow the concealed guns on campus. The company told the newspaper the decision was based on financial policy, not politics. The company reportedly covers 85 to 90 percent of Kansas school districts.

"We’ve been writing school business for almost 40 years, and one of the underwriting guidelines we follow for schools is that any on-site armed security should be provided by uniformed, qualified law enforcement officers,” Mick

NYC Educator: Time for Charters to Work Their Magic

NYC Educator: Time for Charters to Work Their Magic:

Time for Charters to Work Their Magic

It's not altogether surprising to me that fewer than 50% of students in transfer schools don't make it. After all, we're pulling from a pool of 100% that didn't make it before. To me, that's a predictor.

But to reformy types, I suppose that's yet another failure. After all, schools with high percentages of special-needs students are always labeled failures, always closed, and the reformy Tweedies are always patting themselves on the backs and saying what a great job they did closing those schools. Then the kids from those closing schools get dumped into other schools, which develop stats similar to the closed schools, and then more schools close.

What does this mean? Well, this means we need more charter schools, which tend not to have ESL and alternate assessment students, and sometimes miraculously improve the grad rates. The fact that they shed inconvenient students along the way is of no consequence.

In any case, I have a solution to this vexing problem. Since public schools are all so awful, and since charters are so wonderful, let charters exclusively serve these tough kids. Let Eva Moskowitz and Geoffrey Canada sprinkle their fairy dust on these children, and let them make everything better. For goodness sake, Canada is on American Express commercials. He must have the secret sauce.

So from now on, let's dispense with all this lottery nonsense. Why on earth should our system favor parents proactive

Jersey Jazzman: Bad Teachers! Eek!

Jersey Jazzman: Bad Teachers! Eek!:

Bad Teachers! Eek!

Dana Goldstein writes an interesting piece about our nation's obsession with "bad" teachers:

But Nutting’s narrative is an extreme example of another genre, as well: the story of the despicable, or at least morally compromised, teacher. Claire Messud’s divisive novel, The Woman Upstairs, features a single, childless woman who obsessively attempts to appropriate the happy family life of one of her students. Bad Teacher, a low-IQ Hollywood comedy starring Cameron Diaz, has now been turned into a CBS television series. In the high-minded indie film Half Nelson, Ryan Gosling played a schoolteacher who is a secret drug addict. The contradiction inherent in a bad teacher makes for an entertaining character, which is why the meme has a long, rich history from Nicholas Nickleby to the Harry Potter series. But the bad teacher has also become

All Things Education: Gifted and Prepped

All Things Education: Gifted and Prepped:

Gifted and Prepped

Gary Rubinstein, one of my most favorite education bloggers, has written a fantastically interesting post about his own experience with the kindergarten lottery/enrollment process in New York City. Anyone who's interested in the whether-where-high-profile-education-people-send-their-children-to-school-matters conversation should read this, as well as advocates of lottery or "choice" systems, gifted educators, and people who study school accountability and ratings. Gary has given his readers a real and honest window into all of this.

The New York City Public School lottery system, which I have read a lot about, just seems crazy. Calling it a choice system is a joke, unless you mean that the schools choose the students, not the reverse. And even for families, it's so complicated. I can't imagine most people can navigate it. And even many savvy parents don't navigate it on their own--they pay someone to help them navigate it. I remember reading an argument that this system is more fair than the previous system, and that may be so, but I don't know if that's saying much.

I also want to address the twenty children with a mediocre or bad teacher vs. forty children with a great teacher debate. I think that's a false dichotomy. First of all, as I've said here, I don't really believe in inherently great teachers (teachers are made not born) and I think that circumstances such as class size or total student load can help to make or break great teaching. Yes, some teachers are just bad at their jobs, no matter what, but good teaching is highly dependent on

My “Conversation” with Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee « inspirEDucation

My “Conversation” with Michelle Rhee « inspirEDucation:

My “Conversation” with Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee

So a while back, I talked to Michelle Rhee (CEO of StudentsFirst) on a Tioki Forum after seeing on Facebook (I follow StudentsFirst just to see what kind of shenanigans they’re up to next) that she would be available from 4:00-4:30 PM to talk to the common folk and discuss any questions we may have. For a forum, there wasn’t much discussion going on. It was mostly question and answer, where some questions were not fully addressed or even answered and rebuttals were not responded to. But half an hour isn’t a long time, so I cut her some slack.

I submitted my question early, because I really did want a response. When I posted it, I received a message saying that my question would be submitted for review before being posted. Well then. It looked like Michelle would be spared from answering questions from her most ardent critics, and the discussion would be less authentic dialogue and more filtered propaganda.

But luckily, my question was posted! Probably because I tried to appear not so threatening.

I couldn’t limit myself to one question, so I chose two things that are two of the biggest flaws and faults of the education reform movement:

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan appears surprised that Connecticut remains committed to the rule of law. - Wait, What?

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan appears surprised that Connecticut remains committed to the rule of law. - Wait, What?:

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan appears surprised that Connecticut remains committed to the rule of law.

In a Huffington Post entitled, Arne Duncan Bemoans Philadelphia School Layoffs, Student Loan Rate Hike and written by Joy Resmovits, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has apparently joined Connecticut’s Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor, and ousted Bridgeport superintendent of schools, Paul Vallas, in calling Connecticut’s administrator and teacher certification law a bureaucratic technicality rather than a law.

The article explains that, “Duncan said he found ‘fascinating’ a Connecticut judge’s ruling that ousted Paul Vallas, the superintendent of schools in Bridgeport, Conn. Vallas, a former Philadelphia superintendent, was ordered to step down from his job because he

The Import of the CREDO Charter School Study :: Frederick M. Hess

The Import of the CREDO Charter School Study :: Frederick M. Hess:

The Import of the CREDO Charter School Study

by Frederick M. Hess • Jul 8, 2013 at 11:08 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

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Charter Schools - Dividing Communities since 1991

The new national charter school study by Stanford's Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) has attracted enormous, well-deserved attention. It provides by far the most comprehensive look to date at charter school outcomes. Representing a heroic effort to wrestle with the enormous complexities of studying charter school performance across more than two dozen states, the CREDO team has drawn notice for its remarkable effort and even-handed presentation of the data. That presentation, of course, notes that charter school performance has improved dramatically since CREDO's previous 2009 study.

In 2009, CREDO reported that charter students performed somewhat worse in reading and substantially worse in math than their district school counterparts. Now, in 2013, CREDO finds that charter students perform somewhat better in reading and about the same in math as their district counterparts. CREDO finds this remarkable shift to be due both to improvement in existing charter schools and to the fact that the poorest-performing charters are being systematically shuttered. This points to the critical role of charter school authorizers and the tremendous work that Greg Richmond, head of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), has done in carrying the banner for more rigorous charter accountability (full disclosure: I sit on the NACSA board of directors).

But I'll let others wade into the details of the CREDO analysis. The point I want to emphasize is a broader

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Monday, July 8, 2013

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Calif. lawmakers pass K-12 transgender-rights bill

Education Headlines

Monday, July 8, 2013

Schools laud new education funding formula

The state budget the governor just signed pumps some much-needed money to schools that have taken a financial beating since the recession, but local districts are guarded about the impact on their beleaguered finances.

Significant changes at top of Stockton USD

When Dan Wright's demotion from assistant superintendent to K-8 principal became official one month ago, the longtime Stockton Unified official provided a succinct explanation. "The superintendent is building his Cabinet," Wright said, referring to Steve Lowder. "He wants his own people."

Debate over state windfall at Lodi Unified could get heated

Lodi Unified classrooms will open in the fall with a few minor tweaks to class sizes and the addition of teachers in some schools that have combination classes. To put it simply, things will look similar at school this coming year. The boardroom, however, could get heated.

Stockton USD plans major shift

With details still being fine-tuned about only five weeks before the start of the new school year, Stockton Unified is embarking on a multiyear effort to standardize and improve its special-education programs throughout the district.

Redlands schools chief denies officials failed to report alleged sexual abuse

Schools Superintendent Lori Rhodes on Saturday denied that school officials failed to report allegations of a sexual relationship between Citrus Valley High School teacher Laura Whitehurst and a male student to police.

Schwinn resigns from Sacramento County Office of Education board

Penny Schwinn, a charter school advocate who won a hotly contested race for the Sacramento County Office of Education board, has stepped down after just one year. She said she left the post because she took a new job as a Sacramento City Unified administrator, and state law prohibits school employees – except for those at charters – from sitting on the county board. Her resignation was effective Wednesday.

New traditional middle school would be on the Natomas High School campus

The Natomas Unified School District announced last month that it plans to create a traditional middle school on the Natomas High School campus, which would allow students who live in the neighborhood to attend class near their homes.

'More with less' trip for 61 questioned

Oceanside Unified School District is spending more than $100,000 in funds earmarked for the education of low-income students to send more than 60 administrators and teachers to a four-day conference in Washington D.C.

San Ysidro document burning probed

San Diego police and the FBI are investigating what appears to be the suspicious burning of public records in a maintenance yard operated by the San Ysidro School District that may involve former Superintendent Manuel Paul.

Calif. lawmakers pass K-12 transgender-rights bill

California lawmakers approved a bill Wednesday that would require public K-12 schools to let transgender students choose which restrooms they use and which school teams they join based on their gender identity instead of their chromosomes.

Contract extension for Modesto schools chief eyed

Modesto City Schools board members will hear about grant-writing success at tonight's meeting and consider extending the contract of Superintendent Pam Able

New Byron superintendent is Debbie Burnette

Debbie Burnette has hit the ground running. Within days of being hired as Byron Union's new superintendent, Burnette, 61, was on the job Monday and is already interviewing candidates for an empty elementary principal position.

City College of SF to lose accreditation in 2014

Beset by mismanagement and unable to convince overseers that it had repaired extensive problems, City College of San Francisco will lose its accreditation a year from now and its elected Board of Trustees will be stripped of decision-making powers, the college learned Wednesday.

Federal judge sets hearing on Sacramento City school closures

A federal judge in Sacramento today granted a July 11 hearing on a lawsuit that parents and students filed to block closure of seven elementary schools in the Sacramento City Unified School District.

New Oakland schools Superintendent Gary Yee faces high hurdles

Gary Yee, 67, stepped down from his position as a school board member and was appointed by the board in April to take over the $250,000-a-year position from Tony Smith, who is moving to Chicago.

Some schools must scramble to feed low-income kids during summer

Various meal programs have remained unfunded even as others are restored. It has meant forming partnerships with other entities to get L.A.-area children fed.

School gardens in Bell Gardens feed a community

The Environmental Garden Club operates an urban farm at every public school in the city. For many of the city's poor Latino residents, the farms are the only source of organic produce.

Lawmakers to end excessive bond practice

California lawmakers are on the verge of passing sweeping legislation to rein in school districts that raise money for construction projects by using an expensive and once-obscure financing tool.

Supt. John Deasy faces rocky relationship with new LAUSD president

Supt. John Deasy threatened to resign over the election of board President Richard Vladovic. Now the two must find a way to work together.

Fensterwald: Effort to shorten process of firing teachers faltering again

For the second straight year, legislation to quicken and simplify dismissal procedures for teachers is in danger of running aground.

Don Brann's biggest challenge yet: saving Inglewood schools

The former administrator has revitalized struggling school districts before, but he has never faced the massive financial burdens of Inglewood Unified.

GED test changes have students scrambling

Across the state and nation, adults are racing to earn their GED high school equivalency certificates by December -- or start all over again with tougher, computerized tests next year.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Encinitas stretches the First Amendment

Toward the end of his legal blessing of Encinitas school yoga, Judge John Meyer said one aspect of the case troubled him. The money.

Antioch Unified in line for additional state funding

Antioch Unified expects to receive significant funding through the state's new local control funding formula plan, which is aimed at helping those districts with sizable low-income and Spanish-speaking student populations. It's uncertain how much it will receive.

Mongeau: Transitional kindergarten enrollment varies widely across districts

Local control and parental prerogative, two hallmarks of the state’s new transitional kindergarten program, led to large variations in enrollment rates across the largest school districts in the state during the first year the program was available, according to an EdSource survey.

Stopping Common Core is Only the Beginning | Truth in American Education

Stopping Common Core is Only the Beginning | Truth in American Education:

Stopping Common Core is Only the Beginning

Filed in Common Core State Standards by Joy Pullman on July 8, 2013 • 0 Comments

As parents have encountered Common Core in their children’s classrooms, then sought information about what it means, we’ve seen a nationwide brushfire of alarm. Parents must know Common Core did not randomly appear. I’m not talking about how it was created and advocated by the Gates Foundation, National Governors Association, and Council of Chief State School Officers, but the entire education edifice they represent that ensures ending Common Core will not prevent Common Core 2.0, just like stopping national education standards in Congress did not preclude Common Core.

Common Core is an outgrowth of the big business-big government consensus that dominates education and, because the mainstream education system reaches virtually every future voting citizen, is increasingly dominating every area of our lives. Name one sector of life or the economy where people are truly free in this country, or truly have the ability to influence decisions others make in our names. I dare you. In my state, a supposedly conservative one, we can’t even drink milk from a neighbor’s cow, which I did my entire childhood with only rosy cheeks to show for it. We can’t choose health insurance providers, can’t defend our property from robbers, can’t opt

Lots of Second Chances — Whole Child Education

Lots of Second Chances — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

Lots of Second Chances

July 8, 2013 by Walter McKenzie

My best friend often says "People deserve lots of second chances."

"But why?" I ask trying to grasp the concept. "At some point don't you risk people taking advantage?"

"Walter, people do the best they can. It makes no sense making it harder on them." I dedicate this blog post to my best friend and this wisdom I have come to adopt as my own.

In an age of cynicism and competition, I find the notion of second chances refreshing, intriguing even. But is it practical? Individually and collectively, how can we afford lots of second chances? Then again, are life and learning value equations? Is there some economic benefit to separating the men from the boys, so to speak? Or in reality, do we all rise to our own potential over time, given the chances and support we need to succeed?

As I look back over a lifetime of opportunities and challenges, how many times did I nail anything on a first try? Not many. How many second chances have I used? How many mentors supported me as I tried and failed and tried again? How many practice sessions? How many retests? How many mulligans? How many "I'm sorrys"? How many times redeemed by forgiveness? More times than I can count. And that's just in my lifetime. How about yours?

Learners grow in expertise and understanding the closer and closer they get to learning targets. They approximate their aim, try to hit the target, make adjustments, and try again. The more they continuously refine their efforts, they not only get closer to the target, they learn about the area around the target, and about their aim. Both accurate and inaccurate, every attempt is new information learners integrate into their learning

Diplomas Now: A Model of Collaboration and Innovation | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

Diplomas Now: A Model of Collaboration and Innovation | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights:

Diplomas Now: A Model of Collaboration and Innovation

By Anne O'Brien on July 8, 2013

We know a great deal about the high school dropout problem. From the research of Robert Balfanz and others, we know where dropouts are likely to come from – the majority attends a small subset of high schools where the graduation rate is 60% or lower. We know who is likely to drop out – the warning signs start as early as first grade, and by middle school they can be defined as the ABCs (attendance problems, behavior problems, and course failure). And we know that there are effective interventions that help retain likely dropouts.
Where we have struggled is in putting together what we know and addressing the issue at scale. But that might be changing. At a May briefing at the US Department of Education on the progress of three Investing in Innovation (i3) grantees, I learned of a promising effort to do so: Diplomas Now. The innovation? Arranging what we know are effective education improvement strategies into a coherent whole.
Based on Balfanz’s research (and he is the program founder), Diplomas Now brings together three national networks – Talent Development, City Year and Communities in Schools – to deliver a comprehensive secondary school turnaround model in high schools where relatively

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