Hot for teacher? Keep it to yourself. | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com

Hot for teacher? Keep it to yourself. | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com:

 Get Schooled: Hot for teacher? Keep it to yourself.

A judge ruled against a Michigan college student who penned a class journal entry titled "Hot for Teacher" about how sexually attracted he was to his creative writing instructor. After the Detroit area college suspended student Joseph Corlett,  he sued. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Patrick Duggan dismissed Corlett’s lawsuit ...

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Get Schooled: A letter from victims: 'Dear Bully, Do you have a soul?'

High school students in the creative writing class of the Summer Youth Leadership Academy of

8h 

Get Schooled: Will Georgia's opt-out on Common Core test influence Cobb vote tomorrow?

I wonder if the state decision to bow out of the Common Core State Standards test consortium will emerge a factor in the Cobb school board vote on new math textbooks tomorrow morning? A concern of the board has been whether it makes sense for Cobb to invest in new ...

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Get Schooled: Former APS administrator out as superintendent in South Carolina district

In 2011, Randolph Bynum, the Atlanta associate superintendent for high schools and former principal of Cobb's Pebblebrook High School, left APS to become the new superintendent of schools in Sumter County. While Bynum was at APS during the cheating scandal, he oversaw high schools, which were not a target of ...

16h 

Get Schooled: Now that Georgia has dumped the test, should we drop the Common Core Standards, too?

Yesterday’s Department of Education announcement that Georgia was pulling out of a 22-state consortium developing tests aligned with the Common Core State Standards has sparked commentary nationwide. The test would replace the CRCT, which is not considered rigorous and does not tell parents how their kids stack up against ...

22h 

Name Games with ESEA Reauthorization | Lily's Blackboard

Name Games with ESEA Reauthorization | Lily's Blackboard:

Name Games with ESEA Reauthorization

Jul 23rd, 2013 

by Lily.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed another bad bill with a good name.  We all remember the last time.  No Child Left Behind.  Good name.

But angelic names always hide their devils in the details, and what we’ve come to know as No Child Left Untested has devastated students, demoralized teachers, and marginalized support professionals. Reward programs seeking to boost test points by any means necessary have corrupted the meaning of teaching and the meaning of learning. And educators looked to reauthorization to bring some sanity back into our public schools.

H.R. 5 is called the Student Success Act.  Good name.  But the devilish details show that it’s a bad bill.  Just dig around the websites of the advocates of poor 

Dream Defenders Announce Their Own Special Session » Dream Defenders

Dream Defenders Announce Their Own Special Session » Dream Defenders:

DREAM DEFENDERS ANNOUNCE THEIR OWN SPECIAL SESSION

• July 23, 2013
• By DreamDefenders
• in Uncategorized
• 3 Comments

DREAM DEFENDERS RESPOND TO FLORIDA GOVERNOR’S REFUSAL TO HOLD A “SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE SESSION” BY CONVENING OUR OWN

Today we marked the one-week anniversary of #TakeoverTuesday of the Florida statehouse by announcing plans to convene our own special legislative session to examine the circumstances that led to the killing of Trayvon Martin over a year ago: the school-to-prison pipeline, stand your ground vigilantism, and racial profiling. During the session, we will introduce “Trayvon’s Law,” a bill that proposes to fix these pressing problems.

We held a press conference at the Florida State Capitol on Tuesday, July 23rd to lay out their 

Promise Programs Offer Hope to Students - Student Loan Ranger (usnews.com)

Promise Programs Offer Hope to Students - Student Loan Ranger (usnews.com):

Promise Programs Offer Hope to Students

By EQUAL JUSTICE WORKS

July 24, 2013 RSS Feed Print

A group of anonymous donors launched Kalamazoo Promise in 2005 to provide full tuition for public school students in the community.

The cost of postsecondary education in America has risen so high it is unaffordable for many to pursue the education necessary for success in this competitive job market. Individuals who have taken out tens of thousands of dollars in student loans to achieve their dreams can be left to carry the burden of student debt.

Imagine instead that we lived in a society where the wealthy voluntarily invested a portion of their money in education for those who are unable afford it. What would our society look like?

 While it seems too good to be true, this scenario exists as what are called "promise programs" in local communities around the country. In "The Promise of 'Promise' Programs," a paper by Rodney J. Andrews, 

The Quick and the Ed » Perspective on PARCC’s Price

The Quick and the Ed » Perspective on PARCC’s Price:

PerspectiveonPARCC’sPrice

0

24 Jul 2013

by Chad Aldeman

Categories: Accountability and Standards, College and Career Readiness, Data Testing Assessment,Education Finance, K-12 Education

Tuesday was a bad news day for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), one of two federally funded consortia creating new assessments aligned to the Common Core. Not only did Georgia publicly drop out of the consortium to go it alone, PARCC released cost estimates for its assessments that would require half of its member states to increase the amount they spend on testing. PARCC estimates the tests will cost states $29.50 per student. Anyone can figure out what $30 means to their own personal budget, but what does it mean for state budgets?

It turns out the answer to that question depends heavily on which state we’re talking about. I created the table below using Matthew Chingos’ November 2012 paper for the Brookings Institution, the most up-to-date figures that I’m aware of. It tabulates how much each PARCC member would save or lose under PARCC’s cost estimates. I used PARCC’s latest member list for this exercise, and I left in Georgia and Florida for illustrative purposes even though both states are either officially out of the PARCC (Georgia) or may be soon (Florida). For 10 states, PARCC appears to be a net savings (the states with the negative sign in front of their number), while 11 states would likely see testing costs rise.

Not surprisingly, states with the highest-cost assessments tend to save the most with 

UPDATE: A Sociological Eye on Education | Why the NCTQ ratings won’t have much influence, now or later

A Sociological Eye on Education | Why the NCTQ ratings won’t have much influence, now or later:

Is education a good field for leaders, or just for managers?

Who is a leader, and who is a manager? A leader creates change. She leads by example, through charisma, persuasion, and reason, and is concerned with effectiveness and ultimate goals. A manager is someone who implements change. He coordinates, directs, and is concerned with efficiency, with means rather than ends, and with control rather than trust. In short, everyone wants to be a leader. And th

by Anya Kamenetz / 8min 

Why the NCTQ ratings won’t have much influence, now or later

How time flies. It’s been scarcely a month since the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) released its inaugural ratings of teacher-preparation programs across the country. Already, NCTQ is gearing up for next year’s model, envisioning an annual roll-out via its partnership with U.S. News & World Report.

The first edition was riddled with problems large and small. The small ones involved misunderstandings of institutions and their programs. My own institution—Teachers College, Columbia University—had its undergraduate programs rated for student selectivity, which was quite a trick, as Teachers College is a graduate school with no undergraduate programs. NCTQ no longer lists the undergraduate education program at Barnard College as a Teachers College program, but the organization still completely misunderstands the distinctions among Columbia University, Barnard College and Teachers College. (Pro tip: If two institutions of higher education have different presidents, boards of trustees and endowments, they’re not the same institution.)

The bigger problems are rooted in the design of NCTQ’s ratings, which relied heavily on course syllabi as a source of data about program quality, rather than more direct evidence of how those programs operate, or what their graduates know and can do. Why anyone would find this a 

Can an algorithm ID high school drop outs in first grade?

Early warning systems to detect high-school drop outs are all the rage in education data circles. See this post on a new early warning system in Wisconsin. Like the Wisconsin example, most data systems focus on identifying middle school students. But what if researchers could use grades, attendance and behavior data to identify at-risk students as soon as possible — as early as first grade? That w

by Jill Barshay / 46min 

7-24-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:

Road Trip Week 2

The in box. CTPF responds to Rahm’s lies about pensions and layoffs.

From the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund. The Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund (CTPF) described as “misleading” claims by Chicago Public Schools (CPS) that the increasing pension obligations will cause the layoff of more than 2,000 workers. CTPF countered that CPS understood the increase would occur in 2010 when it struck a deal with the Illinois Legislature to provide three years of pension underfund

by Fred Klonsky / 14min 

Todd Mertz’s Illinois pension update.

By Todd Mertz For the most part, nothing new or significant came out of the three planned Pension Conference Committee meetings. At this time, there are no meetings scheduled. But you can be sure there is work going on behind closed doors. Actuaries are in the process of calculating the cost savings of a plan proposed by state university presidents. It is believed by some that both Cullerton’s S

by Fred Klonsky / 24min 

7-23-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Road Trip Week 2Mark Stefanik: YEE-HAW. WELCOME TO CRAZY RAHM’S CHI-TOWN USED CITY SALES.By Mark Stefanik. You want a safe city? You just leave it to Crazy Rahm. I transferred cops, put ‘em in new districts…you know, shake things up a bit. There’s nothing like putting a cop in a new environment where

by mike simpson / 7h 

7-24-13 SCHOOLS MATTER @ THE CHALK FACE

SCHOOLS MATTER @ THE CHALK FACE:

Meet the new “controversial” Dean.

I have almost finished my 4th week as the Dean of the School of Education at Edgewood College in Madison, WI. Today I did my first television appearance.  I was interviewed by Wisconsin Eye. I went into the interview feeling pretty good.  I knew I was going to be interviewed for 30 minutes by Steve […]

by Timothy D. Slekar / 15min 

Why My Students Do Not Need Teach for America

Wow, there has been such a flurry of stories and discussions in regards to Teach for America and its destructive role in education today.  I suppose my letter to new recruits played an important part in calling into question this organization, striking a chord of truth.  TFA has gone into full-time PR mode with a […]

by Katie Osgood / 35min 

Just as we expected? Modules = test prep skills.

I have been looking through the new Common Core aligned modules on the New York State Education Department’s EngageNY website as the folks in Albany have been constantly promoting the new curriculum.  I have produced two reactions recently to my suspicions that these high priced modules are nothing more than a scripted curriculum. Today as […]

by Chris Cerrone / 32min 

Why TEAC (CAEP) Accreditation Means Less than Zero

In May TEAC provided the for- profit American College of Education (ACE) the official stamp of approval to prey on the poor and the unsuspecting who want to be teachers.  ACE has a sordid history of exploitation and grandiose scheming, some of which is documented here.  ACE is a subsidiary of Higher Ed Holdings, LLC, which […]

by Jim Horn / 1min 

A new Hart sponsored AFT survey, this time with parents #teach13

The AFT released a new HART survey of parental attitudes towards prevailing education policies. Here’s your sample: This national survey consisted of interviews with 1,003 public school parents (parents with children who attend a regular public school and/or a charter public school), with a margin of error on survey results at ±3.1 percentage points. The […]

by Chalk Face, PhD / 20min 

No PARCCing

Have your heard about the PARCC Asseesments?  The Partnership for Assessment for Readiness for College and Careers is a collection of 22 states that will be producing a series of Common Core aligned exams.  The PARCC Assessments are scheduled to begin in the 2014-15 school year. Promotion for the PARCC consortium has begun just as […]

by Chris Cerrone / 36min 

7-23-13 Schools Matter @ The Chalk Face

SCHOOLS MATTER @ THE CHALK FACE: Dear North Carolina ColleaguesYou know what I miss about North Carolina?  Go on, guess.  It’s what every former transplant says. I miss the ability to order sweet tea in any restaurant I go to and I miss BBQ pulled pork that actually has a smoky taste.  Syracuse just hasn’t found the charm in those two things yet. I […]by Kris Nielsen / 5h   7-22-13 Schools Matter

by mike simpson / 11h 

Pro School Choice Scholar Urges Georgia to Drop Common Core, Too | Scathing Purple Musings

Pro School Choice Scholar Urges Georgia to Drop Common Core, Too | Scathing Purple Musings:

Pro School Choice Scholar Urges Georgia to Drop Common Core, Too

Posted on July 24, 2013by Bob Sikes

 

 

 

 

 

 

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One of the nation’s most widely read education writers is Maureen Downey of theAtlanta Journal Constitution. In her continued reporting on Georgia’s decision to drop PARCC tests, Downey included a letter from Robert Holland, Senior Fellow for Education Policy at the Heartland Institute in Chicago, “urging Georgia to go a step further and jettison the standards.”

The national Common Core standards and tests are wrong on multiple levels. They constitute a top/down, one-size-fits-all regimen, to be imposed without regard to individual differences among children and without a sign-off by parents and local school boards. And yet in the end the fact that this scheme is hugely expensive may be what brings it down.

Georgia is just the latest state to withdraw from the federally financed consortia that are developing the national assessments that would be the final linchpin in making Common Core a de facto national curriculum. The feds have sunk $360 million into developing the potentially intrusive online tests, but when the costs of implementation would bust state education 

After 70 years as a nonprofit, GED test switching to for-profit venture | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

After 70 years as a nonprofit, GED test switching to for-profit venture | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

After 70 years as a nonprofit, GED test switching to for-profit venture

Jed Kim | July 24th, 2013, 6:00am

Diane Orson/WNPR

Donald Desmond teaches Abdesa Bustina to use a computer at the New Haven Adult and Continuing Education Center. The new GED will be offered only on computer.

For more than 70 years, a nonprofit, the  American Council on Education has administered the GED tests to high school dropouts who want to go on to college or just get a job that requires a high school diploma.

But in January, the General Educational Development test is going for-profit, part of a trend of privatization in education.

The group has partnered with Pearson - considered the largest for-profit education business in the world - to form the new GED Testing Service, a for-profit company to run the test.

The Council’s leadership said the partnership came because they wanted to revamp the test because they felt the GED wasn’t adequately preparing test takers for the job market. 

“For this program to remain relevant, to really have an impact on economic development, and a bottom line, to really give adult learners a chance at earning a sustainable living wage, we had to not just measure high school equivalency," said 

UPDATE Jersey Jazzman: NY Daily News: "Lie To Your Wife? Shame! Lie To Cops & Teachers? Meh..."

Jersey Jazzman: NY Daily News: "Lie To Your Wife? Shame! Lie To Cops & Teachers? Meh...":

REPOST: Chris Christie: Liar, Fool, or Both?

I originally posted this a year ago; given that we are coming up on Chris Christie's reelection, I think it bears revisiting. Here's what it comes down to - there are three choices when it comes to describing Chris Christie: He is a lying liar. He is a fool beyond belief. He is some combination of the two. I vote for #3. Also note he told us he was "likely" to write another letter on pensio

by Duke / 52min 

NY Daily News: "Lie To Your Wife? Shame! Lie To Cops & Teachers? Meh..."

NY Daily News, July 24, 2013:

Anthony Weiner led all New Yorkers to believe that he stopped recklessly, immaturely and compulsively sexting after his resignation from Congress in abject humiliation. Lie.

Weiner reinforced the message that he had achieved maturity and self-control by citing wisdom gained with the birth of his son in December 2011, six months after he stepped down. Lie.

As he laid the groundwork for for a reentry into politics, Weiner sat beside his wife Huma Abedin as she told People magazine last July: “Anthony has spent every day since (resigning) trying to be the best dad and husband he can be.” Lie.

Weiner’s dishonest, impulse-driven psyche is once more stripped as naked as