All Things Education: My Yeas, Nays, and Maybes: 2014 Virginia Education Legislation

All Things Education: My Yeas, Nays, and Maybes: 2014 Virginia Education Legislation:

My Yeas, Nays, and Maybes: 2014 Virginia Education Legislation

The Virginia legislature is, once again, in session. Here is my take on various education-related bills.

1. SOL (Standards of Learning) Testing Reform Bill: Unfortunately, I can't locate the legislation for this bill, but I couldn't be happier that this legislation is in the works and that it has such wide and bi-partisan support. It's not the end of what should be done to fix Virginia's accountability structure but it's a start. Among other changes, the bill would reduce the number of SOL tests from 34 to 26 and call for more authentic and higher quality assessments. Two caveats:

a. The Virginia Board of Education and some folks at Virginia's Department of Education are claiming that Virginia's newer SOL tests, for example the math ones, are already of higher quality:

Virginia’s Board of Education has revised its tests so they are more reflective of what students need to know to attend college or begin an entry-level job, said Charles Pyle, a spokesman for the Virginia Education Department. 

Many of the state’s new online tests include “technology-enhanced items” that require students to think critically and solve problems. The more rigorous tests caused scores to drop around the state. 

Greason applauded the work the state has been doing and said the legislature would build on those reforms and codify them.

From what I can tell, the new tests are the same old stuff with some added bells and whistles. The reading test is still a 

The Paul Vallas Legacy: “Bridgeport systematically violated special education laws” by Jonathan Pelto | Reclaim Reform

The Paul Vallas Legacy: “Bridgeport systematically violated special education laws” by Jonathan Pelto | Reclaim Reform:

The Paul Vallas Legacy: “Bridgeport systematically violated special education laws” by Jonathan Pelto

Posted on January 26, 2014by Ken Previti

“Late last week, the Connecticut State Department of Education released a report blasting the Paul Vallas’ leadership and the Bridgeport School System because, among other violations, it ‘systematically failed to identify a number of students determined to be eligible for special education…’”

“The damage done to significant number of Bridgeport’s special education students and the violation of federal and state laws that are in place to ensure special education students get the services they need and deserve, is a direct result of Paul Vallas’ policy of arrogance and deceit.”
READ JONATHAN PELTO’S FULL ARTICLE (complete with five source links) HERE.

The incredible cruelty Vallas has shown to our most vulnerable children, those with special needs, is horrendous. If a professional football player was this cruel to dogs, he would be jailed. Our children should not be abused by those we entrust them to.

What next happens to Paul Vallas who has already ruined the lives and futures of children 

1-26-14 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement":

PTA’s National Standards for Family-School Partnerships

The PTA has developed National Standards for Family-School Partnerships, which you can find here (along with additional resources). There was also a recent #ptChat on Twitter about the Standards, which I think is particularly useful. You can find the transcript to it here.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h hide  //  save

“Parent Partnerships”

Parent Partnerships is a blog post from Childhood and Education that shares a number of interesting links about parent involvement research. It’s worth a look…

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

1-24-14 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement": “Educating, Engaging and Mobilizing Parents: A Conversation with Parents for Public Schools Executive Director Anne Foster”Educating, Engaging and Mobilizing Parents: A Conversation with Parents for Public Schools Executive Director Anne Foster is a good interview from Learning First. Here’s how it begins: Public School Ins

by mike simpson / 22h 

1-26-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Why Do Students of Different Races Achieve as They Do?

In one heck of an op-ed by Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld in the NY Times Sunday Review, they lay out their case for the three conflicting (somewhat) reasons why students in different groups perform the way they do.  The two authors have a book coming out called "The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America."It's long but worth it (esp

by Melissa Westbrook / 19min 

Seattle Schools This Week

A fairly quiet week in the district.Tuesday, January 28thCommunity Meeting with Director McLaren from 8:45-10:15 am at Highland Park Elementary.Thursday, January 30thA day to note as the Washington State Charter Commission is to announce who passed muster to become part of the inaugural class of charter schools.  Spokane has already claimed one space so there are seven left.  The Commission does n

by Melissa Westbrook / 30min 

1-25-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum:Seattle Schools Community ForumPlease Take this PTA SurveyFrom the Seattle Council PTSA:Dear Seattle Council PTSA Members, As you probably know, our state constitution requires ample funding for education.  The Washington Supreme court has directed the legislature to show real and measurable progress by 2018--the McCleary Decision--, and yet, our schools are still u

by mike simpson / 58min 

Teach for America, Inc. at the University of Washington | Seattle Education

Teach for America, Inc. at the University of Washington | Seattle Education:

Teach for America, Inc. at the University of Washington

Someone posted on Facebook this morning the photo above that is a sign advertising for Teach for America, Inc. (TFA) recruits on the University of Washington campus in Seattle.

After reading the thread, I decided to post an article that Sue Peters, our newly elected school board member and co-founder of this blog, wrote on the subject of Teach for America, Inc. This article was first posted on the Parents Across America website and then on the Huffington Post.

Seattle’s Education Reform Hypocrisy

The doublespeak of ed reformers who repeatedly declare that the key to a successful education is to put an “excellent” teacher in every classroom, and then turn around and promote young, Teach for America recruits — with only five weeks’ training, no in-class experience, and only a two-year commitment to the profession — as the answer, has come into sharp focus at the University of Washington in Seattle these past two weeks.

On May 11, the University of Washington’s College of Education announced it would 

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog 1-26-14

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog:

Agreement on U.S. Farm Bill

The Washington Post reports that an agreement on the U.S. Farm Bill could be reached and completed, possibly by Monday. The U.S. Farm Bill has been long overdue, with an extension that ended September 30, 2013. The five-year farm bill covers issues ranging from domestic crop subsidies to Food Stamps. One of the most recent disputes of the bill is John Boehner's opposition of dairy price supports i

by Lorenzo Bustos / 8min 

California Drought Triple Threat

From a recent post by Los Angeles Times Editorial Board, they state that Southern Californians are facing not one drought, but three interconnected droughts. The first drought is regional, caused by the lack of rain in the mountains. When the rain goes missing, as it has for three winters now, the ground dries out, the trees and chaparral get dangerously crisp and wildfire becomes an increasing da

by Ray LeBeau / 55min 

UN Rappoteur Anaya Visits Politcal Prisoner Leanord Peltier

Leonard Peltier, an Anishinabe-Lakota Native American and leading member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) is now serving his 37th wrongfully convicted year in pison. After being convicted of the murders of two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents, Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, during a confrontation involving AIM members on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota on 26 Jun

by Ray LeBeau / 29min 

Not Soo Cheerful Cheerleaders

      Well the playoffs are done for the San Francisco Forty Niners. The team was great and had an even better year. But jus across the bay bridge, things aren't looking soo good for their sister team, The Oakland Raiders.      Their season was rough and it continues even though their season was over a while ago. On Wednesday, the Oakland Raiders were sued by its cheerleading squad.     The team i

by Loni Pooi / 10min 

The Sound of Music

In this generation, everyone has very easy access to their favorite songs but maybe the quality of the sound is not very satisfying. Today the vinyl long-playing records is being re-introduced since the 1930's and apparently it has the best sound quality. Its big and old-fashioned and not portable; it is worth a fortune. Also, if you decide to buy the amplifier and speakers for this music player,

by Vincent Chan / 1h 

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog 1-25-14

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog:Medical Marijuana and FootballNFL Commissioner Roger Goodwell said, according to Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal, that he would consider letting his NFL players to use marijuana for concussion issues. Goodwell believe that since medical doctors say that medical marijuana helps then it would be alright if his players uses marijuana accordingly. But does Goodw

by mike simpson / 48min 

1-26-14 Wait What? All Week

Wait What?:

The Paul Vallas Legacy: “Bridgeport systematically violated special education laws”

Paul Vallas hasn’t even left Bridgeport…In fact; the taxpayers of Connecticut and Bridgeport are picking up his salary and benefits for another month… But his legacy is already becoming clear. Late last week, the Connecticut State Department of Education released a report blasting the Paul Vallas’ leadership and the Bridgeport School System because, among other […]The post The Paul Vallas Legacy:

5 by jonpelto / 49min

 

1-25-14 Wait What? All Week

Wait What?:  Wait What? All WeekDon’t let them fool you: You can and should consider opting your child out of standardized testing frenzyThis week’s commentary piece from fellow education advocate and commentator Wendy Lecker is a message that should be distributed to every parent in Connecticut. As Wendy Lecker explains in her column entitled, “Opting out, parents answer to a higher authority,” t

by mike simpson / 56min 

1-26-14 @ The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet:

NY teachers union pulls its support from Common Core, urges removal of state ed chief

The Board of Directors of the New York State United Teachers, a union with more than 600,000 members, has approved a resolution that withdraws its earlier support for the Common Core State Standards ”as implemented and interpreted” by the New York Education Department. It also declares ”no confidence” in the policies of State Education Commissioner John King and calls […]    

4 by Valerie Strauss / 32min 

Poverty and the education opportunity gap: Will Obama step up in SOTU?

President Obama is expected to talk about the issue of wealth inequality in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday. The question is whether he will advocate policies that actually address it or continue to push education policies that ignore the real problems facing poor children. The following  was written by Kevin Welner, director […]    

by Valerie Strauss / 48min 

All Week @ The Answer Sheet 1-25-14

The Answer Sheet:All Week @ The Answer SheetStarr to Duncan: ‘I resent implication that we lifelong public educators are liars’U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post on Friday that talked about school reforms and praised both Tennessee and D.C. Public Schools for increased test scores. He wrote: We don’t know all the reasons why students did better in Tennessee

by mike simpson / 52min 

1-26-14 Jersey Jazzman Jammin'

Jersey Jazzman:

What Our "One Newark" Report Means

Late Thursday, Bruce Baker and I released our analysis of "One Newark," the plan to restructure schools in the state-run district. I'll admit the report is a bit heavy on technical language, but that's as it should be: we wanted to be clear about how we approached the task of evaluating One Newark, and why we reached the conclusions that we did.But I think it will be helpful here to put

by Duke / 9min 

1-25-14 Jersey Jazzman Jammin' All Week

Jersey Jazzman:Jersey Jazzman Jammin' All WeekJazzman Extracurricular ActivitiesLet's get this out of the way:This brief about One Newark -- the controversial plan to restructure the Newark Public Schools -- is coauthored by me. I am one of the authors of the brief. And I'm not Bruce Baker.So there you have it. Frankly, I don't think it's a big deal... but it seems like some others do.I have not b

by mike simpson / 1h 

1-26-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

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

New York teachers create a CCSS pretzel knot for the NEA and IEA

The decision by the 140,000 member New York State United Teachers to oppose both the Common Core Standards and its assessment component has created a problem for both AFT and NEA leadership. NYSUT is an affiliate of both. The leadership of both national teachers unions, and  most state affiliates including here in Illinois, has been uncritical support for the Common Core. I attended last summer’s

by Fred Klonsky / 5min 

Are you now or have you ever been a Unitarian?

  Yes. In my younger days I was a member of Liberal Religious Youth (LRY), part of the Unitarian-Universalists. We can explore the Unitarian religious beliefs some other day. For now it is enough to know that they attracted me to be a member because of their strong stand on behalf of social justice and peace. And so this letter from Unitarian ministers in North Carolina on behalf of the Moral Mon

6 by Fred Klonsky / 32min

Studs.

  A friend wrote me today and asked about Studs. What is it about a cold, hard Chicago day that makes you think about Studs. And smile?

5 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

Sunday reads.

Corporate school reformers are wringing their hands over the Common Core and testing push-back. NY teachers have no confidence in Commissioner John King. The school nobody wanted except the community. “Clearly, all we need is a candidate because I have not heard anyone defend Rahm or his henchmen.” Why do the NEA’s Dennis Van Roekel and the AFT’s Randi Weingarten say yes to the Common Core, but t

by Fred Klonsky / 18min 

1-25-14 Fred All Week Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Fred All Week Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacherUnsafe weather conditions on Tuesday delay Soup Kitchen and half a cola.by Fred Klonsky / 9h Tony at the Red Line Tap.“Dragon Stout?” Sean looks up from his worn copy of Etienne de La Boétie’s Discours de la servitude volontaire.

by mike simpson / 1h