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Thursday, August 1, 2013

Countdown, Day 39: Hite says staffing levels 'nowhere near sufficient' | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Countdown, Day 39: Hite says staffing levels 'nowhere near sufficient' | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

Countdown, Day 39: Hite says staffing levels 'nowhere near sufficient'

by Dale Mezzacappa on Aug 01 2013 Posted in Countdown to calamity?
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Superintendent William Hite said that his voice might stay calm, but he is definitely not calm about whether he will be able to open schools on time. He was expecting at least to have access by now to $50 million in new funds from the city -- and he still doesn't have it as Mayor Nutter and Council are still at odds over the best way to make it available.
"I will not be irresponsible in putting students into environments that are not able to serve their needs," Hite said in an interview Wednesday. "At the moment, a principal and a secretary in a 3,000-student high school is not sufficient to serve the needs of students there."  Northeast High School has 3,000 students.
So far, he has access to only a small portion of the additional funds from what one frustrated officials described as the "contortionist deal" worked out in Harrisburg to close the District's financial hole. The $50 million was supposed to be a loan against a future sales tax extension that the City Council has yet to approve, partly because members don't agree that all of the revenue should be directed to the District.
And a promised one-shot, $45 million state payment is dependent on certification from the state Secetary of Education that the District is putting certain reforms in place. Presumably, this will require changes like the severe dilution if 

by Holly Otterbein for NewsWorks Some education advocates charge that Mayor Michael Nutter is not doing enough to ensure that schools open in September with adequate staffing. But Nutter says that is his one, laser-like target right now. “My primary focus, fairly singular focus at the moment,” he said, “is making sure that we can open schools six weeks from now with the appropriate level of person
by thenotebook / 24min 
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NYC Educator: Schools as Big Business

NYC Educator: Schools as Big Business:

Schools as Big Business

If you don't think our corporate pals are gunning for your job, take a look at this lineup from the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation. By their name, you might assume they are some branch of government. While they aren't, considering the likes of Arne Duncan and Corey Booker, they may as well be. After all, it's important that someone represent the interests of Walmart, to wit, low-wage replaceable employees.

For their annual summit, they've got legal expert Campbell Brown, who's very vocal on the point that teachers should be fired on the basis of unsubstantiated or refuted allegations. To join her, they've got Amanda Ripley, the cheerleader for corporate reform who thinks students ought to determine whether or not teachers keep their jobs. I've actually worked at a place where student ratings determined my status, and quickly learned that not insisting on things like homework or passing tests went a long way in getting me that great rating. The cherry on the top of the cake is faux-liberal Fox News correspondent who gets nervous when he's on planes with Muslims.

With such a stellar group of speakers, you'd better believe that big business will continue giving millions to scab groups like TFA. It's also good business to run front page headlines about demagogues like Michelle Rhee, while claiming revelations 
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Educators Say Enough is Enough, Let’s Organize! | NEA Today

Educators Say Enough is Enough, Let’s Organize! | NEA Today:

Educators Say Enough is Enough, Let’s Organize!

August 1, 2013 by twalker  
Filed under Featured News, Top Stories
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By Amy Jordan
What can you do when you feel like high-stakes testing is ruining education for your students?
What can you do when you feel like your voice as an educator isn’t being heard by those responsible for making all the decisions about public education?
The answer is ORGANIZE!
That’s what 40 educators from seven states learned over four days in New Orleans during Education Summer, a three week organizing internship program designed to teach organizing skills through classroom-based instruction and in-the-field practicums to educators eager to get others more active in their Association.
“What is happening here is wonderful,” said Emily Moore, a high school English and theater teacher in West Virginia. “Educators can really learn how to be activists and become active leaders.”
Education Summer was conceived by the National Education Association (NEA) Center for Organizing. The internship program was then developed and administered by NEA in partnership with the Leadership Center for the Common Good. Locals from NEA’s Multi-State Organizing Project – Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and West Virginia – joined counterparts from New Jersey, Florida, and Arizona to learn why it’s so important for NEA and affiliates to boost organizing efforts.
Video: NEA’s Education Summer


“There’s been a very slow and deliberate takeover by private interests to discredit public education and discredit teachers and support professionals and divide our communities,” explained Jo Ellen Chernow, Director of Organizing for the Leadership Center for the Common Good. “If we’re going to have any sort of impact and if we’re ever going to be able to take it back we need to take some very strong measures.”
To practice what they were learning in “class,” the education organizers spent their afternoons doing home visits in St. Bernard Parish to help the St. Bernard Association of Educators raise awareness about their union.
Located right outside New Orleans, St. Bernard Parish was devastated in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina. Every home was affected, families had to move away and the district went from having 17 schools to just one right after the storm, leaving educators without jobs.
Rebuilding in St. Bernard starts with the schools. “We’re building families again through our school system,” said Jessica Janneck, a high school social studies teacher in St. Bernard Parish, parent of kids in the school district and an involved St. Bernard Parish community member. “We are known for having a solid system and foundation, and I think a lot of that comes from the work the association has done in the past to maintain that level of integrity with the profession in our parish.”
Now there are 11 public schools open in St. Bernard Parish. With those new schools are new educators, two-thirds of whom have fewer than 5 years of experience. Also, new phone numbers, email and home addresses that the St. Bernard Association of Educators (SBAE) doesn’t have yet.
To help, the Education Summer interns visited nearly 500 houses to engage education professionals, listen to the issues they are facing and talk about how the Association can help. They signed up new members, recruited current SBAE members to do things like make phone calls or attend more Association meetings, and collected contact information of community members who pledged to support their public schools.
For Chelsy Taylor and Lynda Rost, the biggest excitement of the week was signing up a new member for SBAE, a bus driver who didn’t know that the union had reformed after Hurricane Katrina. “She said she was itching to join again and that she wants all of her bus driver friends to join. She was going to get everybody in with us,” said Rost, a high school math teacher in St. Bernard Parish.
The work wasn’t easy and took a lot of people out of their comfort zones. It can be intimidating for one new to organizing, to knock on a stranger’s door to talk to them about the Association. So why did these 40 educators volunteer to do it?
“We need to be at the ground level doing everything we can and not just for other teachers and not just for students, but for everyone who is a member of the community that we work in,” explained Eden Lewkowitz, a middle school science teacher in Arizona. “If just teachers are talking, we’re really not going to get it done. It has to be teachers and everyone else.”
And after a few doors, the work got easier.
“When I got here, I never thought I could go door-to-door and talk about my union,” said Charlotte Wade, an educator in Mississippi. “But look at me now—I realize I can do anything!”
The work didn’t end in New Orleans for the newly-minted education organizers. After creating action plans to grow and strengthen their own local associations, Education Summer participants are now home moving their “Raise Your Hand” education justice campaigns, and pulling out all the stops to promote and protect public education.
“The passion our members have here is just breathtaking,” said Barbara Sanders, a middle school chorus teacher in Mississippi. “I hope to take all that back and help our new members and our old members to be fired up about the things we do.”
Related posts:
  1. Educators Help Spread Warmth For Students in Need
  2. With Neck-and-Neck Races, Educators Poised to Make a Difference
  3. Education Organizing – The Path to Real Reform?
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Florida School Chief Resigns Following His Role in Indiana Charter School Controversy | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!

Florida School Chief Resigns Following His Role in Indiana Charter School Controversy | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!:

Florida School Chief Resigns Following His Role in Indiana Charter School Controversy

Filed under: Charter Schools,Mitch Daniels Indiana — millerlf @ 11:05 am 


Florida education commissioner Tony Bennett resigns
By Steve Bousquet, Kathleen McGrory and Jeffrey S. Solochek, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau Thursday, August 1, 2013
TALLAHASSEE — Tony Bennett resigned Thursday as Florida education commissioner following two days of raging controversy over school grading in his home state of Indiana.
“I don’t think anything should distract us,” Bennett said in a late morning news conference. He praised Gov. Rick Scott for his leadership and support and said he ends his tenure “with my head held very high.”
Bennett, who came to Florida from the HoosierState in January, has faced mounting calls for his resignation in the wake of revelations, first reported by the Associated Press, that he interceded on behalf of an Indiana charter school run by a prominent Republican Party donor.
Bennett was hired to overhaul Florida’s system of school accountability and assessment in compliance with the national Common Core standards.
“I’m saddened by Commissioner Bennett’s departure,” state Board of Education member Sally Bradshaw wrote in an email to the Times/Herald. “This is a loss for Florida’s students.”
The Florida Department of Education has had a revolving door of leaders during Scott’s 31 months in office. Including Bennett, there have been three different education commissions and two interim education commissioners.
Bennett, a nationally recognized education reformer, came on board after losing re-election in Indiana.
His tenure encountered some early bumps in June, when superintendents leaned on him to institute a “safety net” to prevent school grades from dropping dramatically. Bennett had some misgivings, but ultimately conceded.
The exercise sparked a statewide dialogue about the validity of school grades, which dipped despite the padding. One member of the state Board of Education 
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FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Thursday, August 1, 2013

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Fensterwald: California committed to move forward with Common Core tests as planned






Education Headlines

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Fresno, Clovis schools make progress on construction projects

The steel beams forming the outer perimeter of the new Rutherford B. Gaston Middle School in southwest Fresno will soon be covered by cement plaster and metal tiles. Construction crews are sweating through summer to complete the new school -- named after Fresno Unified School District's first African-American principal -- by next August, just in time for the 2014-15 school year.

New charter school opens at New Millennium site in Fresno

Charter Academy, run by Lancaster-based Learn4Life charter school network, will open at New Millennium’s former campus in southwest Fresno on Aug. 19.

Galt offers a different kind of kindergarten

For the first time, the Galt Joint Union Elementary School District will have two independent transitional kindergarten classes this fall.

School safety in spotlight at Garden Grove conference

School administrators and safety officers from across the state will exchange strategies for campus safety and discuss the link between school environments and academic success at the Safe Schools Conference this week in Garden Grove.

Trustees accept $1.4 million to expand Encinitas yoga program

In a quiet Wednesday morning meeting that featured none of the fireworks of earlier hearings on the same subject, trustees in the Encinitas Union School District accepted a $1.4 million grant to expand a yoga program that had garnered national attention and sparked a lawsuit about religious freedom.

Monterey Peninsula USD trustees get lesson in expulsions

Trustees on Wednesday received a refresher course on expulsion hearings, learning what they can do to make sure students receive due process and have their rights protected.

New York City principal to head downtown L.A. arts high school

Kim Bruno, the longtime head of the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, has accepted the job of principal at the Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts.

Trustees accept $1.4 million to expand Encinitas yoga program

In a quiet Wednesday morning meeting that featured none of the fireworks of earlier hearings on the same subject, trustees in the Encinitas Union School District accepted a $1.4 million grant to expand a yoga program that had garnered national attention and sparked a lawsuit about religious freedom.

Moraga School District to consider parcel tax

Moraga School District officials are once again turning to residents to help fund the district's three elementary schools and middle school following the defeat of a parcel tax last year.

Fensterwald: California committed to move forward with Common Core tests as planned

California is not one of the doubters. The Legislature appears poised to pass legislation this month reaffirming the start of student testing aligned to the Common Core standards in spring 2015. The inclusion of $1.25 billion in the state budget for districts to prepare for the new standards has added momentum for moving ahead.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Meetings scheduled to discuss Local Control Funding Formula

The California State Board of Education and the California Department of Education have announced the dates and locations of stakeholder meetings for those interested in joining discussions of how the Local Control Funding Formula will be implemented.

Baron: Special trustee Bob Agrella talks about saving City College of San Francisco

Bob Agrella, the special trustee entrusted with saving City College of San Francisco, wants to make one thing clear: City College is fully accredited and open for business, and his intention is to keep it that way.

Tran: Local Control Funding Formula: Is there a new rulebook?

The old rulebook that governed how schools spent their money, which was both stifling and (let’s be honest) comforting at times, has been replaced by the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), which now offers an opportunity for communities to take the reins to implement locally tailored approaches, while being held accountable for student outcomes
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Are Street Protests Next in the Fight Over Education Reform? | The Nation

Are Street Protests Next in the Fight Over Education Reform? | The Nation:

Are Street Protests Next in the Fight Over Education Reform?

Showdowns in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City and beyond have turned out parents and teachers in droves—and revealed how out of touch education reformers really are.
Amy B. Dean 
July 31, 2013   |    This article appeared in the August 19-26, 2013 edition of The Nation.
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Shay Hillsman calls out to fellow demonstrators before being arrested during a Chicago Teachers Union protest. (REUTERS/John Gress)

“As it stands now, if nothing changes, the schools are going to have to open without any adults in the large spaces where kids gather,” predicted Philadelphia public schools parent Michael Mullins in late June. Mullins has two kids in the public schools and is secretary-treasurer of the city’s hotel and stadium workers union, UNITE/HERE. In late May, the Philadelphia School District approved a “doomsday budget” cutting almost $300 million from the schools and resulting in the layoffs of 3,783 people—19 percent of the school system’s workforce. The budget also threatened to get rid of arts, music and athletic programs, as well as librarians, secretaries, counselors and playground aides, unless the state or city council could come up with emergency funding.

About the Author

Amy B. Dean
Amy B. Dean is co-author of A New New Deal: How Regional Activism Will Reshape the American Labor Movement. She worked...

Also by the Author

Student Activism as the Tip of the Spear: Raising the Minimum Wage in San Jose(Social Justice, Living Wage Campaign,Activism)
A group of thirty San Jose State students recently put their studies into practice and launched a campaign that has gained the support of young labor activists, community groups and faith-based organizations—and now the city of San Jose could see a pay raise because of it.
Amy B. Dean
Doing Green Jobs Right(Labor, Environmental Activism,Environment)
Activists in Boston shape energy policy through new community-labor alliances.
Amy B. Dean
21 comments
In response, Mullins joined a group of parents and laid-off school workers in a fast starting June 17 in front of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett’s Philadelphia office. “We wanted to represent the sense of crisis we feel inside and make it public,” said Mullins. “I think there is a hunger for more direct action,” he added, in order for “the seriousness of this as we live it to reach the decision-makers.”
More people stepped forward during the fifteen-day fast to reinforce this conviction: Philly’s Fast for Safe Schools featured a rotating cast of twelve parent activists and school employees who fasted from three to eight days each. The activists chose to end the fast on July 1, after securing a partial win: Corbett put forward a new funding package that added $140 million back to the school district. The package combines loans with state and city funds, which the activists


Read more: Are Street Protests Next in the Fight Over Education Reform? | The Nation http://www.thenation.com/article/175532/are-street-protests-next-fight-over-education-reform#ixzz2ajayoLH6
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Matthew Tully: Tony Bennett's wife now works at for-profit corporation he picked to run IPS schools | Indianapolis Star | indystar.com

Matthew Tully: Tony Bennett's wife now works at for-profit corporation he picked to run IPS schools | Indianapolis Star | indystar.com:

Matthew Tully: Tony Bennett's wife now works at for-profit corporation he picked to run IPS schools


Tina Bennett holds a Bible as her husband Tony Bennett is sworn his first term as Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2009.
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Tina Bennett holds a Bible as her husband Tony Bennett is sworn his first term as Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2009. / Matt Kryger / The Indianapolis Star 2009 file phot
Written by
Matthew Tully

  • FILED UNDER
In June of 2011, Tony Bennett, then Indiana’s superintendent of public instruction, picked a for-profit education company in Florida to run a group of Indianapolis public schools.
The company, Charter Schools USA, set up operations in Indianapolis soon after the announcement and officially began running Manual High School, T.C. Howe High School and Emma Donnan middle school in the late summer of 2012. Millions of Indiana tax dollars have since flowed to the company, which has received many good reviews for its work in Indianapolis.
But a recent hiring decision by Charter Schools USA is sure to raise eyebrows and questions about conflicts of interest, particularly now that Bennett is embroiled in a massive controversy centering on special treatment given to certain Indiana schools during his tenure
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Secretary Duncan Names Five Leaders to National Assessment Governing Board, Overseeing the Nation’s Report Card | U.S. Department of Education

Secretary Duncan Names Five Leaders to National Assessment Governing Board, Overseeing the Nation’s Report Card | U.S. Department of Education:

Secretary Duncan Names Five Leaders to National Assessment Governing Board, Overseeing the Nation’s Report Card

AUGUST 1, 2013

Contact:  
 Stephaan Harris, (202) 357-7504, Stephaan.Harris@ed.gov 

Secretary Duncan didn't know that Tony was available!Special Big Education Ape Salute to Tony Bennett Greatest Hits- rags to riches
Five education leaders from around the country—including a state legislator, elementary school principal, testing and measurement expert, and two parent/general public members—have been appointed to the National Assessment Governing Board to serve four-year terms, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced today. Four leaders were reappointed and one, a former New Jersey education commissioner and current education advisor, is a newcomer. Terms for all members officially begin October 1, 2013, and are slated to end on September 30, 2017.
The appointees will help set policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as The Nation's Report Card. NAEP makes objective information on student performance available to policymakers and the public at the national, state and local levels for nearly a dozen subjects. NAEP has served an important role in evaluating the condition and progress of American education since 1969.
"These experienced and dedicated individuals play an important role in the field of education and I am grateful for their service," Secretary Duncan said. "Their commitment to excellence will help guide our effort to give every child a college and career-ready education. I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead."
In overseeing The Nation's Report Card, the 26-member Governing Board—a group of governors, state legislators, local and state school officials, educators and researchers, business representatives and members of the general public—determines subjects and content to be tested, sets the achievement levels for reporting, and releases the results to the public.
The new Board member, Lucille E. Davy, is a former attorney, professor and parent leader who now works as an education policy consultant in New Jersey. The four reappointed members include Doris Hicks, a New Orleans elementary and middle school principal; Tonya Miles, a Maryland general public/parent representative; W. James Popham, an author and UCLA professor emeritus; and Texas Sen. Leticia Van de Putte. The Board members and the categories they represent are elaborated below:
  • Lucille E. Davy (Pennington, N.J.; general public representative): As President and CEO of Transformative Education Solutions, LLC, Davy serves as Senior Advisor for the James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy. Davy started her career as a lawyer and adjunct professor of mathematics, a subject for which she received a bachelor’s degree and K-12 teacher certification for New Jersey. She later served as a volunteer and leader for a variety of parent groups and organizations in Westfield Public Schools in New Jersey. Her experience led to service as special counsel for education policy for the New Jersey Governor’s office and as an education policy advisor for several entities, including the Committee for Working Families. From 2005-2010, Davy served as New Jersey’s Commissioner of Education, overseeing more than 2,400 schools in 600 districts that served 1.4 million children. Since 2010, Davy has, via her consulting firm and as a Hunt Institute advisor, focused on high school students’ college and career readiness after graduation and effective implementation of the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics.
  • Doris Hicks (New Orleans; elementary school principal): Hicks is Principal and CEO of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School for Science and Technology, the first public school to open in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward after Hurricane Katrina. Hicks has contributed to the New Orleans public school system in numerous roles over the years, serving as an elementary school principal, area superintendent, teacher, and reading consultant. She has also served as president of the Principal's Association of New Orleans Public Schools, the Louisiana Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the New Orleans Council of the International Reading Association. Dr. Hicks has received numerous awards and honors, including "Elementary School Principal of the Year" for the city of New Orleans, and recognition from groups such as the New Orleans chapter of the Y.W.C.A., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Yale University.
  • Tonya Miles (Mitchellville, Md.; general public representative) A parent of three children who graduated from Maryland public schools, Miles is Chief Departmental Administrator for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. She works in the office of the general counsel of the commission, which oversees land use planning and a regional system of parks in Montgomery and Prince George's counties. Miles is a former member of the Maryland State Board of Education and a long-time PTA member and officer. She also worked for the Association of American Medical Colleges as an administrator for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). Miles also served as a former central office administrator for both the Prince George's County and the Baltimore City public school districts.
  • W. James Popham (Los Angeles; testing and measuring expert): Emeritus Professor Since 1991, Popham has served as Professor Emeritus of the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Before this appointment, he served more than 30 years as a teacher and a professor. A prolific author of hundreds of books, reports, and journal articles related to instruction and assessment, including his newest book Classroom Assessment: What Teachers Need to Know, he has been a professor at UCLA since 1962. He has won numerous accolades, including recognition by UCLA Today as one of the top 20 professors of the 20th century, and the Award for Career Contributions to Educational Measurement presented in 2002 by the National Council on Measurement in Education.
  • Leticia Van De Putte (San Antonio; Democratic state legislator): Van de Putte, a pharmacist for 30 years, is Texas State Senator for District 26, which represents a large portion of San Antonio. On January 8, 2013, she was unanimously elected by her colleagues to serve as President Pro Tempore of the Texas Senate's 83rd regular session, after which she was named to Texas Monthly's "10 Best Legislators List". A former-five term state representative, she has represented Texas Senate District 26 since 1999. She became chair of the Texas Senate Democratic Caucus in 2003 and was nominated as co-chair of the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Sen. Van de Putte has held many leadership roles related to education issues. During her tenure as president of the National Hispanic Council of State Legislatures, she presided over a strategic partnership with the National Black Caucus of State Legislatures to address the student racial achievement gap. And during her term as president of the National Conference of State Legislatures, education became a large focus of the organization's policy agenda.
The members take office as the Governing Board is involved in several initiatives, including ongoing research on how NAEP can be used as an indicator of 12th-grade academic preparedness for college and job training; the first-ever NAEP Technology and Engineering Literacy assessment to be given in 2014; other innovative computer-based assessments; and national outreach to parent leaders, with a focus on conveying the urgency of closing achievement gaps and improving student performance. The Board has also created task forces, whose members represent the business community and school leaders at the state level.
"It is a pleasure to see the return of four dedicated members whose committed leadership kept us moving forward, along with a new member whose vast education and policy experience will be a significant contribution," said Governing Board Chair David P. Driscoll. "I am excited for the energy these members will bring to maintain NAEP as the gold standard of assessment."
More information about the Governing Board can be found at http://www.nagb.org. More information about The Nation's Report Card can be found at http://nationsreportcard.gov.
###
The National Assessment Governing Board is an independent, bipartisan board whose members include governors, state legislators, local and state school officials, educators, business representatives, and members of the general public. Congress created the 26-member Governing Board in 1988 to oversee and set policy for NAEP.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the only nationally representative, continuing evaluation of the condition of education in the United States. It has served as a national yardstick of student achievement since 1969. Through The Nation's Report Card, NAEP informs the public about what America's students know and can do in various subject areas, and compares achievement between states, large urban districts, and various student demographic groups.
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Tune in to Forum discussion of Common Core | InterACT

Tune in to Forum discussion of Common Core | InterACT:

Tune in to Forum discussion of Common Core

AUGUST 1, 2013
tags: , , , 
by 
studio
A previous Forum experience – in the studio at KQED with Spencer Michels. We were discussing teacher evaluation (8/18/10).
I’ll be a guest on KQED Forum Thursday morning, August 1, in the 9-10 a.m. hour, discussing the Common Core Standards and their implementation. KQED is an NPR affiliate (88.5 FM in San Francisco, or listen live online), and Forum may be their most popular locally produced program. They do a good job of promoting thoughtful dialogue on all sorts of issues, so I hope people will tune in, or listen to the archived recording later if you miss it. You can use their web page to find the call-in number, the link to listen online, and to leave questions and comments. They also check their Facebook page during the show and sometimes use comments and questions posted there.
Here is the full line-up (pasted from KQED webpage):
  • Arun Ramanathan, executive director of the Education Trust-West, an Oakland-based educational policy and advocacy organization focused on low-income and minority students
  • David B. Cohen, Associate Director of Accomplished California Teachers; English teacher at Palo Alto High School
  • Eric Hanushek, Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution
  • Jill Tucker, education writer for the San Francisco Chronicle
  • Tom Torlakson, state superintendent for public instruction; and former member of the CA State Assembly for the 11th District
I won’t claim to be an expert on the Common Core Standards content: I cannot quote chapter and verse, and the coming school year will be my first actually doing anything differently because of the CCSS adoption. However, in my work with Accomplished California Teachers, affiliation with national education organizations (NBPTS, Teacher Leaders Network) and years of presenting and participating in state and national conferences, seminars, and workshops, I have gathered and understood many perspectives on the standards and their implementation. It’s essential for policy makers and the public to understand what this process looks like and feels like in a wide variety of settings, and how this implementation will alter – for better, worse, both? – the teaching and learning in classrooms.
I know from past experience it will be impossible to say everything I’d like to say in this radio program, so I’m providing links to my blog posts on the topic. Keep in mind that these posts span a couple of years, and as time has passed, my position has evolved slightly. I’m listing them in reverse chronological order.
And here are some guest posts relating to Common Core:
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