Online charter schools flunking - SAT scores are out - Duncan on what reformers get wrong - First pink slime, now chicken processed in China - POLITICO Morning Education - POLITICO.com

Online charter schools flunking - SAT scores are out - Duncan on what reformers get wrong - First pink slime, now chicken processed in China - POLITICO Morning Education - POLITICO.com:

Online charter schools flunking - SAT scores are out - Duncan on what reformers get wrong - First pink slime, now chicken processed in China

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By LIBBY A. NELSON | 09/26/13 9:32 AM EDT

Featuring Caitlin Emma and Nirvi Shah 

ONLINE CHARTER SCHOOLS FLUNKING -- Online charter schools have traditionally defended poor scores on standardized tests by arguing that they’re working with students who are already behind and have a lot of catching up to do. But new measures of student growth show that the students aren’t learning as much as their peers in traditional schools, either — and they’re seemingly immune from the criticism politicians level at failing brick-and-mortar schools.

Pro Education’s Stephanie Simon looked at the data: “The scores are so bad, especially at the largest and most high-profile cyber schools, that even fervent advocates of online learning have begun to worry. ‘Unless we address these quality issues that have emerged quite profoundly,’ the poor performance of cyber schools will ‘put the entire industry of education innovation at risk,’ said Susan Patrick, president of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, an industry trade group. ‘We need to have an honest discussion about this.’ ” The full story for Pros: http://politico.pro/1bde1me

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: SAT SCORES ARE OUT -- The SAT scores of high school students remain stagnant, with just 43 percent of test-takers in the class of 2013 hitting benchmarks for college readiness, the College Board announced early today. The College Board views an SAT score of 1550 or better out of a potential 2400 as the benchmark for college success, because its research shows students who achieve that score in high school are more likely to maintain a first-year college GPA of at least B- and to persevere in their studies until they earn a bachelor’s degree.

Although the percentage of students considered college ready has held steady for the past five years that might be a victory. An increasing proportion of African-American and Hispanic students are taking the tests, as are more low-income students. Those groups traditionally have performed less well on the standardized test than white students. Stephanie Simon, today’s Pro Education all-star, has more: http://politico.pro/16KAqQl

--Prompting low-income students to aim high: Students from low-income families who score 

Self-Sufficient Citizens: Public Education's Job No. 1 - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Self-Sufficient Citizens: Public Education's Job No. 1 - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

Self-Sufficient Citizens: Public Education's Job No. 1

By Mike Petrilli on September 26, 2013 9:55 AM

Dear Deborah,

We've been writing about the democratic control of education (or the lack thereof), but let me shift the conversation back to the education of democratic citizens. I strongly agree with those who argue that our current fascination with "college and career readiness" overlooks a third, probably more important, c-word: citizenship. That's public education's raison d'etre, right? To prepare our young people to take their rightful place as voters, jurors, taxpayers, and leaders--to become "the people" that gives our government its legitimacy?

Many people are doing good work on this challenge; let me recommend that you check out the new group Citizenship First, for starters. (Here's a neat idea they are promoting: By 2026, every high school graduate should be able to pass the U.S. Naturalization Exam.)

But I want to put a related issue on the table that rarely gets discussed. It's the most basic requirement of citizenship, a responsibility that we "experts" often overlook in our quest for more ambitious goals: self-sufficiency.

Let me state it clearly: If we haven't prepared our young people to be financially self-sufficient once they finish their educations, we have failed our most fundamental duty. And the "we" is 

Shanker Blog » A Research-Based Case For Florida's Education Reforms

Shanker Blog » A Research-Based Case For Florida's Education Reforms:

A Research-Based Case For Florida’s Education Reforms

Posted by Matthew Di Carlo on September 26, 2013

Advocates of the so-called “Florida Formula,” a package of market-based reforms enacted throughout the 1990s and 2000s, some of which are now spreading rapidly in other states, traveled to Michigan this week to make their case to the state’s lawmakers, with particular emphasis on Florida’s school grading system. In addition to arguments about accessibility and parental involvement, their empirical (i.e., test-based) evidence consisted largely of the standard, invalid claims that cross-sectional NAEP increases prove the reforms’ effectiveness, along with a bonus appearanceof the argument that since Florida starting grading schools, the grades have improved, even though this is largely (and demonstrably) a result of changes in the formula.

As mentioned in a previous post, I continue to be perplexed at advocates’ insistence on using this “evidence,” even though there is a decent amount of actual rigorous policy research available, much of it positive.

So, I thought it would be fun, though slightly strange, for me to try on my market-based reformer cap, and see what it would look like if this kind of testimony about the Florida reforms was actually research-based (at least the test-based evidence). Here’s a very rough outline of what I came up with:

• One of the big conundrums in social policy is that lawmakers and the public demand evidence that policies work before supporting them, but also that you have to try policies before you know whether they work. Florida was an earlier adopter of some of the education reforms spreading across the nation today. As a result, they have been around long enough to be subject to some strong policy evaluation, which might inform the rest of the nation, including your state.
• The evidence thus far, though tentative, is encouraging. Specifically:

1. There is some indication (also here, here and here) that the A-F grading system, as part of a larger accountability system, led to modest but statistically discernible improvements in the performance of the small number of schools receiving the lowest grades. These improvements do not appear to be entirely the result of undesirable “gaming” behaviors, such as teaching to the test;  (but, as is often the case in test-

9-26-13 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

Education Carnage in the City of Brotherly Love

Now the slow starvation has become a complete denial of life support for Philadelphia’s public schools. - Ken Derstine, Philadelphia Education Crisis Highlights at pa.ed.crisis@gmail.com Here's a glimpse of what it looks like in cities and towns across the country as public schools starved for funds and resources are taken over and privatized by for profit charters. Different faces, different plac

5 by Judy Rabin / 1h 

We Are Required By Law to Report Suspected Child Abuse

Diane Ravitch posted a father's letter about his daughter's first test in kindergarten, a letter I hope everyone will read.  It seems to me to require action that is mandated by law, which will prove to be a very effective strategy for bringing this insanity to an end.  I have been wondering for a long time where are the health professionals, who should be calling this out for what it is: child ab

2 by Jim Horn / 2min

Research proven: School Libraries and Free Voluntary Reading. Unproven and expensive: CCSS and iPads

Research proven: School Libraries & Free Voluntary Reading. Unproven and expensive: #CCSS & iPads. #LAUSD @skrashen pic.twitter.com/Cg2z5Z7uxM— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) September 26, 2013 The former means engaged critical thinking, but the latter leads to more corporate profits and increased market share for PSO, AAPL, MHGE, NWSA, and others. The Power of Reading : Insights from the

by Robert D. Skeels ... / 15min 

9-25-13 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: United Opt Out Helps Get Folks United Against Common CoreFrom Wisconsin Reporter:By Ryan Ekvall | Wisconsin ReporterMADISON — An unlikely alliance of progressives and tea party activists have found common ground in opposing Common Core State Standards in Wisconsin — even as the political elite on both sides support the new standards that are quickly spreading through schools.Standi

by mike simpson / 4h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Mayor one-term?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Mayor one-term?:

Mayor one-term?

The Ward Room's Mark Anderson (Chicago Needs a Mayoral Challenger. Or Five) offers up a rather gloomy picture of democratic possibilities for Chicago.

The next election for mayor in Chicago little more than 18 months away, and it’s time to face a hard fact: When it comes to mayoral politics in Chicago, democracy could be dead. 

I'm a little more hopeful. From my view, Rahm Emanuel's once-powerful political base appears to be coming apart at the seams. Polls I have seen, show Rahm faring poorly in 

Houston reforms, often overshadowed, now in the limelight with Broad Prize | HechingerEd Blog

Houston reforms, often overshadowed, now in the limelight with Broad Prize | HechingerEd Blog:

Houston reforms, often overshadowed, now in the limelight with Broad Prize

Philanthropist Eli Broad, left, and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, right, congratulate Houston Independent School District Superintendent Terry Grier after announcing that Houston is the winner of the 2013 Broad Prize for Urban Education. (Photo by Diane Bondareff/Invision for The Broad Foundation/AP Images)

Houston has long been a darling of education reformers with its extensive and deeply rooted charter school network and experimentation with controversial ideas like merit pay for teachers. Still, the city’s efforts to shake up its education system tend to get less notice than places like New Orleans or Washington, D.C., where reforms have led to heated and sometimes vitriolic debates about the role of teachers unions, charter schools and accountability for teachers.

Houston is getting more attention lately, though, both good andbad, for its long-running reform agenda. One of its main local charter school networks is about to go national, and it just won its second Broad Prize at a ceremony at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday after winning in the prize’s first year in 2002.

The Broad Prize recognizes advances made in student achievement in urban school districts. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan presented the prize, which will pay for $550,000 in college scholarship money for Houston students.

Headed by Superintendent Terry Grier since 2009, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) 

New Orleans Charter Experiment Leaves Behind Poorest and Disabled | janresseger

New Orleans Charter Experiment Leaves Behind Poorest and Disabled | janresseger:

New Orleans Charter Experiment Leaves Behind Poorest and Disabled

The Great Charter Tryout: Are New Orleans’s Schools a Model for the Nation—or a Cautionary Tale? asks reporter Andrea Gabor. You are likely to remember that after Hurricane Katrina deluged the city on Labor Day weekend of 2005, the schools in New Orleans underwent a city-wide charter school experiment with encouragement and funding from Margaret Spellings, who was then U.S. Secretary of Education, and huge grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Naomi Klein described the mass layoff of New Orleans’ public school teachers and the subsequent rush to charterize the district as the defining metaphor for her 2007 best seller The Schock Doctrine:  “In sharp contrast to the glacial pace with which the levees were repaired and the electricity grid was brought back online, the auctioning off of New Orleans’ school system took place with military speed and precision… I call these orchestrated raids on the public sphere in the wake of catastrophic events, combined with the treatment of disasters as exciting market opportunities, ‘disaster capitalism.’”

One could wonder how it would all work out in the years immediately following the hurricane, but now, eight years after the New Orleans charter school experiment began, Gabor helps us take a hard look at the evidence: “Figuring out what has taken place in the New Orleans schools is not just a matter of interest to local residents.  From cities like New York to towns like Muskegon Heights, Michigan, market-style reforms have been widely touted as the answer to America’s educational woes… New Orleans tells us a lot about what these reforms look like in practice.  And the current reality of the city’s schools should be enough to give pause to even the most passionate charter supporters.”

Gabor reports that the mass layoff of local teachers in 2005 has led to importing of many 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 9-26-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Duncan, Daniels, Engler: Is the Reform Movement in Crisis?

David Leonhardt of the Néw York Times interviews Arne Duncan, Mitch Daniels, and John Engler on the state of the “reform” movement. How fitting that Duncan would be paired with two of the very conservative Repounlican ex-governors, and the three sound alike. What is interesting to me is that I hear a subtle shift in tone. They are admitting that scores are up and graduation rates are up, but tha

4 by dianerav / 12min 

Jersey Jazzman: Capitulate or Resist?

Jersey Jazzman reports on the annual meeting between State Commissioner Chris Cerf and the New Jersey superintendents. Unlike previous meetings, there were few questions, few signs of life. Have they given up, JJ wondered. He unites a news story, which says: “Compared with previous convocations at which tensions were high and questions were plentiful, the more than 300 school leaders gathered ye

3 by dianerav / 2h 

She Quit TFA

This is an interesting first-person account by a young person who felt lucky to be accepted into the super-elite Teach for America and reports on her year in the Atlanta Public Schools. Two observations. The five week training program drilled into her that children fell behind because of their bad teachers. She was constantly reminded that she would close the achievement gap because she was better

3 by dianerav / 15min 

Reformers Target Affluent Douglas County, Colorado, for All-Choice Plan

Douglas County, Colorado, has a school board that is enthralled with choice and apparently disdains public education. Former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett spoke in Douglas County on September 25. According to the local media, he was well compensated. Rick Hess has also been busy consulting and promoting the school board’s plan to bust free of the cage of government schools. Unless the publ

15 by dianerav / 36min 

Andrew Delbanco Reviews Rhee and Ravitch

Andrew Delbanco of Columbia University contrasts the recent books by Michelle Rhee and me in the New York Review of Books. Read it and let me know what you think.

by dianerav / 1min 

Peter DeWitt Reviews “Reign of Error”

Reporting because I forgot the link! Peter DeWitt is an outstanding elementary school principal in upstate New York. He has established a reputation as a dedicated and kind person who cares about the social and emotional health of his students, as much as (perhaps even more than) their test scores. He also happens to be a man of great integrity and courage. In this post, he reviews Reign of Error.

by dianerav / 12min mark as read  //  save

Peter DeWitt Reviews “Reign of Error”

Peter DeWitt is an outstanding elementary school principal in upstate New York. He has established a reputation as a dedicated and kind person who cares about the social and emotional health of his students, as much as (perhaps even more than) their test scores. He also happens to be a man of great integrity and courage. In this post, he reviews Reign of Error. He writes: In Reign of Error, Diane

by dianerav / 27min 

Mercedes Schneider: The Shell Game in New Orleans

Mercedes Schneider, that brilliant teacher in Louisiana with a Ph.D. in research methods, takes a skeptical look at the way the state is playing statistical tricks in New Orleans and the Recovery School District. After you read her post, you will never believe anything that you read or hear from Louisiana officials or the media about the “miracle” of the Recovery School District. One thing we shou

by dianerav / 8min 

The Best Article Ever About New Orleans’ Charter Schools

We all have heard or read or seen the stories in the mass media about the “miracle” in New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina, which Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called the best thing that ever happened to education in that city, wiped out public education and the teachers’ union. Now New Orleans is the only city where more than 75 % of students are in charter schools with minimal government regulat

1 by dianerav / 33min mark as read  //  save

How Standardized Tests Harm Students and How to Stop This Harm

Heather Vogell, a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, has spent a year studying the testing industry. The series she is writing about testing for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution should receive a Pulitzer Prize. See here and here. What she has uncovered is that the tests are flawed, that errors are common, and that students are denied a high school diploma because of errors made by the

37 by dianerav / 1h 

Read the Comments in Response to John Merrow’s Blog

As readers know, John Merrow decided yesterday to post a blog in which he gratuitously insulted me by comparing me to a politician on the far right and implied we represented extremes and neither of us was a hero. This came out of the blue. I used to think of John as a friend, but friends don’t insult friends. He also insulted readers of my blog, suggesting that like Senator Ted Cruz’s followers,

11 by dianerav / 5h  

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 9-25-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Gary Rubinstein Deconstructs the Latest TFA StudyWow! Just think, if you have a TFA teacher, you gain 2.6 extra months in a year of instruction in math! Or so concluded a recent study by Mathematica Policy Research. But what does this mean? Gary Rubinstein, himself an alumus of Teach for America, now a math teacher at Stuyvesant Hi

by mike simpson / 10h 

9-26-13 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.:

Bruce Rauner also made some big bucks managing my pension fund. But don’t ask questions.

Isn’t it amazing that a guy like Bruce Rauner, Rahm’s best buddy and the guy who attacks teachers unions as if it is a blood sport, has made lots of bucks off of teacher pensions. Reported Crain’s last April: Mr. Rauner, a millionaire who retired as GTCR chairman last year in anticipation of a run for the state’s top office, led a firm with more than $10 billion under management largely from publi

2 by Fred Klonsky / 1h mark as read  //  save

The in box. Nekritz says COLAs are the target.

  Representative Elaine Nekritz. WIUS 91.9 Nerkitz is the House Democrats’ point person on pensions, and a leader of the so-called “conference committee” charged with finding a compromise. The bipartisan, bicameral panel was formed after a disagreement between the House and Senate this spring over the best way to reduce the state’s pension costs ended in a stalemate. Illinois has yet to find a wa

1 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

Asking a question about my pension.

Reading a story in the Chicago Sun-Times by staff reporter Dan Mihalopoulos about some sleazy connections between Martin Cabrera and alderman Fast Eddy Burke, Valor Realty and some other old Blagojevich pals, I came across this sentence: Between 2003 and 2012, the Teachers’ Retirement System of Illinois, the pension fund for suburban and downstate teachers, paid Cabrera’s firm nearly $2 million in

by Fred Klonsky / 0min

9-25-13 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.: Charter pension cheats face fines. If they are caught.With all that is wrong with the growth of charter schools in Chicago, add this: They cheat on their payments to the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund. The practice is so consistent and widely practiced that the Illinois legislature was forced to pass s

by mike simpson / 8h