Schools Need Parental Involvement to Succeed NEA Today

NEA Today:

Overhaul of Professional Development Critical to Student Success, Report Says

By Tim Walker Is the world of education seeing a resurgence of respect for the much-maligned term, “professional development”? Can it shake off its reputation for dreaded, episodic, daylong workshops that fail to connect to anything relevant in a teacher’s classroom? Maybe, according to a new report by the Center for American Progress (CAP), but it depends on whether enough policymakers have gotte

by twalker / 12min 

Schools Need Parental Involvement to Succeed

No matter how much confidence he has in his teachers, San Luis Middle School Principal Rafael Sanchez knows they alone can’t shoulder the burden of educating schoolchildren. Sanchez is among educators across the state and nation who say high student achievement is directly related to parental involvement in their children’s educations. And the sooner they get involved, the better. Source: Yuma Sun

by twalker / 12min mark as read  //  save

Getting Smart With Smartphones

Most school districts limit or prohibit their students from using cellphones on campus. But two schools in Tangipahoa Parish plan to use their students’ smartphones for classroom instruction this coming school year. It’s an experiment in smart technology that other school districts also are considering. The trick is to make sure the students are distracted by the devices. Source: The Advocate   Re

by twalker / 12min 

Women’s Equality Day – August 26

Introduced by Rep. Bella Abzug (former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, lawyer, writer, news commentator, and feminist) and established in 1971, this day commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, the Woman Suffrage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which in 1920 gave women in the United States full voting rights. Visit the National Women’s History Museum for more information. R

by twalker / 12min 

Why the Common Core Became a Political Football :: Frederick M. Hess

Why the Common Core Became a Political Football :: Frederick M. Hess:

Why the Common Core Became a Political Football

by Frederick M. Hess  •  Aug 5, 2013 at 10:20 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

The wheels on the Common Core bus have developed a visible rattle of late. Georgia, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Utah have withdrawn from assessment consortia. With Tony Bennett no longer state chief in Florida, there's an excellent chance that Florida will bail. The unexpectedly high cost of assessments has sparked complaints. Florida senator and Tea Party icon Marco Rubio has come out against the standards. Jeb Bush is getting slammed by some Tea Party columnists for backing the standards. (The first rule of coalition politics: It's not good when supporting your bipartisan cause puts crucial backers at war with their base.) And New Jersey governor Chris Christie has made the Core a new front in his attack on "knee-jerk" Republicans, heaping fuel on the fire.

This turn of events has spurred some healthy responses on the part of the Common Core'ites. Last week, Student Achievement Partners honcho Jason Zimba strapped on his helmet and penned a sharp op-ed in response to an equally sharp critique of the Common Core math standards. CCSSO and New York state chief John King are conducting a call today to inform various influentials and press about New York's new Core-aligned assessment results (due out Wednesday). This kind of proactive engagement demonstrates respect for the democratic process and the concerns of millions of parents and voters. Good for Zimba, King, and CCSSO, and I hope we see much more like this.

But, the thing of it is that the story needn't have gone this way.

Of course, the Tea Party was going to fight anything that smacked of federal intervention in local schools, and of course the Republicans were going to try to punch Obama in the nose. But that didn't mean the Tea Party or the R's would choose to stand and fight on the Common Core. After all, supporters keep insisting that the 

8-5-13 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.:

Bob Lyons. Pension underfunding. Whose fault?

Bob Lyons was elected to represent retirees on the TRS board of trustees. For TRS’s actuaries to make a determination of what the state will need to contribute in future years, the System Board must decide on an assumed rate of return on our investments in the future.  The problem of course is can you assume that the expected rate of return going forward will be in anyway similar to the past?  Th

1 by Fred Klonsky / 11min 

I told Obama to go for single payer. But did he listen? No.

  Anne and me in 2009. As I probably point out too often, as a local union leader before retiring I participated in contract bargaining at least a dozen times. With the support of our members, our elected bargaining team almost always took the view that we should settle the salary issue first. While benefits were important, they were something that could be taken away in later negotiations. It wa

by Fred Klonsky / 4min 

  

8-4-13 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.: Sunday summer reads.  Photo: Arthur Goldstein North Carolina cuts teacher certification requirements for charter schools. Does it help to throw money at schools? Yes. If you can’t get it there any other way. Revealing the corporate and business interests in the DePaul basketball arena deal. St. Vincen

by mike simpson / 7h 

Troubled Young People Deserve Compassion, Not Punishment | California Progress Report

Troubled Young People Deserve Compassion, Not Punishment | California Progress Report:

Troubled Young People Deserve Compassion, Not Punishment

Posted on 05 August 2013

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By Lizzie Buchen

Center on Juvenile & Criminal Justice

At the turn of the 20th Century, Lucy Flower, my grandmother’s great grandmother, established the world’s first juvenile court inside the Cook County courthouse in central Chicago.

Flower, who had been orphaned, was horrified by the misery and bleak futures of the city’s poorest children, and believed their criminal behaviors should be handled differently than that of adults. She and the other early “child-savers” viewed children and young teenagers as victims, neglected by their parents and by society, who still had the potential to get their lives on track. After finding success in Chicago, separate courts for young people, which focused on rehabilitation rather than punishment, were soon established nationwide.

But more than 100 years later, punishment has prevailed. Across the criminal justice system, punishment, in the form of severe prison sentences, has become more important than rehabilitating offenders, protecting the public, helping crime victims, and supporting children with traumatic and abusive upbringings.

More than 2,500 Californians are serving life sentences in prison for crimes they committed when they were younger than 18. At San Quentin, it is all too common to come across 

Bloom’s Taxonomy | Deborah Meier on Education

Bloom’s Taxonomy | Deborah Meier on Education:

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Posted on August 5, 2013 by nicholasmeier

My son, professor Nick Meier, has posted another blog wroth reading. below is an excerpt of it. for the rest you can go to his blog:  (http://www.nicholasmeier.com)

Bloom’s TaxonomyNicholas Meier

On the theme of popular ideas that I feel a need to critique….

Bloom’s taxonomy has been around for a long time as an aid to teachers, presented as a hierarchy of sophistication of thinking. I was first introduced to it when I started teaching in the 1980s. The college where I currently teach asks all of their instructors to keep it in mind when developing and teaching their courses.

I have two central problems with Bloom’s taxonomy, both of which I will discuss. Then I will mention how it can be used positively.

First of all, when I have used Bloom’s list, or the new revised list, to analyze a lesson and to think about which categories are being tapped into, I find it hard to pigeonhole activities or questions. My teacher education students and I often find that we can put the same questions into multiple categories depending on how we interpret them. In other words, real ideas and lessons do not seem to fit neatly into these categories, 

NYC Educator: On Charters, Daily News Gives Us Half the Story (If That)

NYC Educator: On Charters, Daily News Gives Us Half the Story (If That):

On Charters, Daily News Gives Us Half the Story (If That)

In yet another incredible feat of utter arrogance, Bloomberg's Tweedies have invested 4.5 million in having charter schools teach public schools how to teach. They've taken a charter school, which has "Excellence" in its very name, and paired it up with a public school. Since the charter has 4 times as many kids passing the reading tests, it's obviously superior.

Not mentioned in this article is the percentage of special ed. students, their level of learning issues, the percentage of ESL students, nor their level of English. Nor does the article mention the level of students below the poverty level. The article also neglects to mention the attrition level of this amazing charter school, because how many kids it dumps back into the neighborhood public school is of no consequence whatsoever.

Interestingly, the article interviews the charter leader, and prominently features New York's "Charter Center CEO" while neglecting to get one word from the public school principal, even though the school is described as "popular." Naturally, no criticism of this program is even implied, let alone spelled out.

Another detail here is that the public school does have something to offer the charter--it will show the charter how to get parents on board and supportive. So, essentially, this public school is being offered the opportunity to cut its own throat, and the charter CEO appears thrilled at the prospect.

Aside from the one-dimensional presentation, the underlying assumption here is that charters are simply better than public 

Louisiana Educator: Important (and somewhat scary) Teacher Evaluation Issues

Louisiana Educator: Important (and somewhat scary) Teacher Evaluation Issues:

Important (and somewhat scary) Teacher Evaluation Issues

Introduction: This post will attempt to clarify various issues that my readers have brought to my attention in the past few weeks. I hope this helps inform teachers about some of the pitfalls of the evaluation system as they prepare for another challenging school year.

This is a group of FAQs you will probably never see answered by the DOE!

Q: Does the DOE require that each principal find a certain percentage of teachers at each school “ineffective”?

A: No! The idea of quotas of “ineffective” teachers comes from a highly questionable rule utilized by our DOE for determining VAM scores. According to John White, the number of “ineffective” teachers on the VAM evaluation is determined by ranking all VAM scores statewide and designating the bottom 10% as ineffective. This ineffective rating is not done by school or student type. So theoretically a particular school may have no “ineffective” teachers or a large number of “ineffective” teachers as determined by the statewide VAM ranking. In addition, it is quite possible for 

UPDATE: FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Monday, August 5, 2013

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Parent-trigger Spin(aka BS) from the AstroTurf Parent Revolution =

Parent-trigger efforts in L.A. give parents control of the classroom

Education Headlines

Monday, August 5, 2013

#dislike: Lodi Unified students protest social media policy aimed at bullying

The policy cracks down on threats towards other people and other bullying techniques. It allows schools to bench athletes or remove students from clubs if officials learn they have posted inappropriate, profane or sexual language on a social media site - or boasted or endorsed illegal or violent activity.

New school

One Stockton Unified teacher says she's anticipating having more fun than she has in 15 years. Another speaks of looking forward to greater freedom to flex her creative muscles. One even went so far last week as to call coming changes to California public education "almost like an aphrodisiac if you're a teacher."

Common Core issues: Money, tech, testing

Some observers say it may take three or more years before Common Core is running at optimum speed and efficiency.

Students face punishment for inappropriate Facebook, Twitter use

The Lodi Unified School District is requiring high school students who participate in after-school programs such as sports or clubs to sign a social media contract. The document says the school district can monitor students posts on social media and kick them off school teams and clubs if officials find the posts inappropriate, according to Fox 40.

Sacramento school trustees close $2.3 million budget gap

Trustees of Sacramento city schools have voted to close a $2.3 million deficit tied to a decline in Medi-Cal reimbursements and an increase in special education students, district spokeswoman Janet Weeks said today.

Common Core standards to change way teachers teach

Inland students and those across most of the nation will be expected to read more complex materials, write more nonfiction and understand lessons more deeply as teachers start using new classroom expectations.

Fremont school officials warn of worse overcrowding if development goes ahead

Builders of the Patterson Ranch subdivision are expected to break ground next year, but school district officials fret that its 500 new homes will add more students than nearby schools can handle, worsening the Ardenwood neighborhood schools' already major overcrowding problem.

Teachers get sad lesson in quest for pencils

Rachel Tevlin woke up Saturday with the high hopes of a little kid on Christmas morning. It was - at least at one big-box office supply store - Teacher Appreciation Day.

Parent-trigger efforts in L.A. give parents control of the classroom

As the 2013-14 school year begins this month, Southern California will be ground zero for a new experiment in how schools are run. Parents at three failing public schools -- two in Los Angeles and one in the High Desert, between L.A. and Las Vegas -- will reopen after parents forced their local school districts to enact sweeping changes at the schools, successfully using California's 2010 "parent-trigger" law.

Bay Area teachers get hands-on math and science experience

This fall, when students ask Chuck Perez and Kavous Mazaheri why learning math is relevant to their success in life, the teachers will know exactly what to say. That's because both teachers are spending eight weeks this summer working side-by-side with engineers, technicians and lab researchers who eat and sleep math and science, with the express goal of giving instructors hands-on experience that they can take back to their classrooms.

L.A. teachers union urged to improve training for bad teachers

The Los Angeles teachers union must combat public perceptions that it protects bad teachers and should help them improve with better training, a city school board member told union activists in a wide-ranging speech Sunday.

Friday, August 2, 2013

Teacher returning to classroom despite repeat DUIs

A teacher at a Kern County alternative school is scheduled to return to her job when classes resume later this month despite having been caught driving under the influence of alcohol three times since 2011.

Sausalito Marin City School District taps SoCal administrator as chief

Steve Van Zant, 50, who headed the Mountain Empire Unified School District for the last five years, begins his new job Friday.

Alisal board tables music contract

Following a stream of comments from people in support of Youth Orchestra Salinas, the Alisal Union School District board of trustees Wednesday night held off on approval of a new contract for $95,000 in music instruction.

8-5-13 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

Bill de Blasio Makes His Move - Will UFT Members Move With Him?

Mr. de Blasio argues that Ms. Quinn and Mr. Thompson have been either unwilling or unable to sufficiently challenge the legacy of the mayor and the city’s corporations over the past decade. .....Mr. de Blasio’s message, despite the excitement it has drawn from liberal luminaries like Alec Baldwin and Howard Dean, has alarmed many business leaders and Bloomberg aides. Describing what he calls a “ta

by ed notes online / 15min mark as read  //  save

MORE Update 63: How Do We Fight For a New Contract? Summer Series Thursday 4PM

Movement of Rank & File Educators Weekly Update #63 - August 4, 2013 Friend on Facebook Follow on Twitter Forward to a Friend COMMITTEES:Media Committeemedia@morecaucusnyc.orgMonday, Aug. 5, 9:30 AMStarbucks370 7th Ave @ 31stHigh Stake Testing Committeetesting@morecaucusnyc.orgSteering Committeesteering@morecaucusnyc.orgMeeting minutes hereContract Committeeco

by ed notes online / 15min 

NY1 Coverage - Today: Last Chance to See Amazing Rockaway Cafe at Fort Tilden - 3PM

Finally some press outside The Wave. NY1 was out to cover last night and here is a link to the NY1 report at one of the wonderful performers, Jacquie Caruana's facebook page.https://www.facebook.com/jacquiedollycaruana?fref=tsThe clips I put up the other day (The Little Theater That Could: Rockaway Cafe: The Comeback) also features Jacquie singing the custom lyrics to I Will Survive.My former coll

by ed notes online / 15min   

8-2-13 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: Video: State Senator Tony Avella Calls for Removal of Jennifer Jones Rogers as PS 19Q PrincipalDespite the oncoming rain, a spirited crowd of parents, teachers and supporters turned out to join Tony Avella in calling for the removal of PS 29Q Principal Jennifer Jones Rogers, a Leadership Academy principal who fits the mold of feral grads from that institution.Here is the video of

by mike simpson / 11h 

All Things Education: On Governor McDonnell's Education Reform Summit

All Things Education: On Governor McDonnell's Education Reform Summit:

On Governor McDonnell's Education Reform Summit

Dear Governor McDonnell,

I got the news only a few days ago that you were holding a K-12 Education Reform Summit on Monday August 5th. I am disappointed by the "agenda" of the agenda and by the who's missing from the panels.

At the summit, are you mentioning that Virginia's public education system is ranked in the top ten? Are you discussing the fact that the teachers in our state are among the lowest paid in the country relative to our affluence? How about discussing reforms such as lowering class sizes, de-emphasizing high-stakes standardized testing and test-narrowed curricula in favor of more rich and varied curricula? What about classroom practice--is that being discussed? How about discussion of developing and retaining the great teachers we already have? What of the massive cuts to public education in this state? I don't see any of those items on the agenda. But I do see charters, privatization, virtual education, and non-professional teachers--a reform agenda of ALEC's and one that most parents have said they reject.

And who is serving on the panels? 

Well, first, let me applaud you on including two Virginia Superintendents and several Virginia college presidents. Also, kudos to you for including a former Virginia public school principal and someone who is both a former teacher and current state legislator (way to kill two birds with one stone!). I'm glad that some Virginia education scholars and leaders from Virginia's Department of Education will be there, too. Hopefully, these folks can bring knowledge and expertise to the discussion.You have also included many people and private interests from out of state, like the Governor of Tennessee, several charter school advocates, representatives from for-fee organizations that place non-professional and un-credentialed people in the classroom to work as teachers and administrators, as well as some consultants from the private education industry sector. 

But you know who is not included on the panels? Most other Virginia K-12 education stakeholders. You have not included any current K-12 teachers or principals. I don't see any school counselors, school nurses, school social workers or school safety officers on the panels. There are no school board members or other local decision makers. Not one representative from a Virginia-based charter school will be there. Most glaringly, there is not one person there representing Virginia's families. Not one. There are no parents or parent representatives there, and there are no students. 

I suppose those excluded stakeholders could go on their own and watch from the audience. But most working people can't afford to drive across the state on a weekday and then pay for lodging and the Summit fee. Why is this Summit not open and free to the public? Why is it not on a weekend? Public education is for the public and paid for by the taxpayers. Where are our representatives and the representatives of our co-stakeholders at your Education Reform Summit, Mr. Governor? 

Sincerely,

Rachel Levy

Ashland, Virgnia

Shanker Blog » Under The Hood Of School Rating Systems

Shanker Blog » Under The Hood Of School Rating Systems:

Under The Hood Of School Rating Systems

Posted by Matthew Di Carlo on August 5, 2013

Recent events in Indiana and Florida have resulted in a great deal of attention to the new school rating systems that over 25 states are using to evaluate the performance of schools, often attaching high-stakes consequences and rewards to the results. We have published reviews of several states’ systems here over the past couple of years (see our posts on the systems in Florida, Indiana, Colorado, New York City and Ohio, for example).

Virtually all of these systems rely heavily, if not entirely, on standardized test results, most commonly by combining two general types of test-based measures: absolute performance (or status) measures, or how highly students score on tests (e.g., proficiency rates); and growth measures, or how quickly students make progress (e.g., value-added scores). As discussed in previous posts, absolute performance measures are best seen as gauges of studentperformance, since they can’t account for the fact that students enter the schooling system at vastly different levels, whereas growth-oriented indicators can be viewed as more appropriate in attempts to gauge school performance per se, as they seek (albeit imperfectly) to control for students’ starting points (and other characteristics that are known to influence achievement levels) in order to isolate the impact of schools on testing performance.*

One interesting aspect of this distinction, which we have not discussed thoroughly here, is the idea/possibility that these two measures are “in conflict.” Let me explain what I mean by that.

Proficiency rates, though a crude and potentially distorted way to measure performance in any given year, tell you how highly students in a given school score on a test (or, more accurately, the proportion of students who score above a selected cut score). What most growth models do, in contrast, is estimate schools’ impact on testing 

The decline of science education in Mississippi: A view from the classroom | Hechinger Report

The decline of science education in Mississippi: A view from the classroom | Hechinger Report:

The decline of science education in Mississippi: A view from the classroom

By Jackie Mader

GULFPORT, Miss. — Two 10th-graders stand over a large whiteboard in their chemistry class at Gulfport High School, trying to recall the previous day’s experiment so they can present it to the class.

“What substances did we use?” the first student asks.

His classmate picks up a paper with notes and examines it for a moment. “It was sodium hydroxide and…”

Nick Medina, Bennett Webb, and Dylan Robicheaux, students at Gulfport High School, write down observations from the previous day’s science lab. (Photo by Jackie Mader)

The first interrupts excitedly before his classmate can finish and quickly writes on the whiteboard. “It was sodium bicarbonate decomposed to create disodium oxide in water. And carbon dioxide.”

At Gulfport High, such hands-on learning through experiments is common. Laboratories are well stocked with equipment and supplies. The school boasts a large classroom dedicated to building and testing robots, and its robotic team has won several awards. There’s even a separate wing where students can practice in-demand skills like repairing cars and welding.

Gulfport High, though, is an anomaly in Mississippi, a state that lags behind in both the types of science classes offered and the way students are taught. Students post some of the lowest test scores in the country on national tests. Only 19 percent of Mississippi’s eighth-graders scored proficient or 

 

Left behind in science: Why Mississippi’s children lose out on STEM jobs

COLUMBUS, Miss. — At the end of his sophomore year, Damonta Morgan left Clarksdale High School as one of its top students. He transferred to The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, hoping for more challenging courses to prepare himself for college and a career as a biology professor. He soon learned how ill-prepared he was. “I wasn’t behind for Clarksdale High School,” Morgan said on a

by Jackie Mader / 1min