3-7-14 empathyeducates - Charter School Leader Pushes Kids to Become Her Personal Lobbyists

empathyeducates:

SAT Reboot 2016: “Nonsense It All Is”

Photograph by Angel Franco/The New York Times By Paul L. Thomas, Ed.D. | Originally Published at The Becoming Radical. March 6 , 2014 In the often cited scene near the end of Notting Hill when Anna Scott stands in William Thacker’s shabby book store and asks him […]

by empathy / 14min 

Charter School Leader Pushes Kids to Become Her Personal Lobbyists

[Image adapted from Anosmia on flickr] By David Sirota | Originally Published at Pandodaily. March 6, 2014 Charter schools have long been loved by the private sector, and the rich. And for good reason. They are technically public schools, and so they receive lots of public money, […]

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The Empire Strikes Back! De Blasio and Operator of Charter School Do Battle

Eva S. Moskowitz, left, founder of Success Academy Charter Schools, led a rally Tuesday in Albany, while Mayor Bill de Blasio, who differs with her, led a separate demonstration. | Credit Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times It is not a battle of the Titans, but […]

by empathy / 7h 

Duke Study: Discipline Problems Increase When Students Repeat a Grade

Students at Shamrock Gardens Elementary in Charlotte in 2012. Photo: Nancy Pierce By Jane Stancill jstancill@newsobserver.com | Originally Published at News Observer. February 28, 2014 DURHAM — A new study by researchers at Duke University documented a ripple effect of behavioral problems in middle schools where higher […]

by empathy / 7h  

empathyeducates Common Core Costs Too High, Failure Guaranteed

empathyeducates: Common Core Costs Too High, Failure GuaranteedBy Paul L. Thomas, Ed.D. | Originally Published at The Becoming Radical. March 4, 2014 Teaching literacy has been my career and life for over thirty years now. Having grown up in the South with my own peculiar grasp of so-called standard English, I feel fortunate to […]by empathy / 7h  empathyeducates Many L.A. Unified School Libraries

by mike simpson / 10h 

3-7-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

EngageNY Modules Make No Sense - An Emblem For Common Core As A Whole

Kindergarten math homework. Makes no sense whatsoever. #CommonCore should be ashamed. pic.twitter.com/emnxjUwRrU— Chris Zoller (@ChrisZFitness) February 27, 2014This is the "rigor" of the Common Core in crystallized form.It's needlessly complex and makes no sense.It does, however, make children cry and parents scratch their heads and wonder what the hell is going on in schools these days

by reality-based edu... / 7min 

De Blasio Caves To Eva

That didn't take long, did it? City education boss Carmen Fariña retreated in the charter schools fight on Friday, saying the city is now searching for space for Harlem students whose high-performing charter school was evicted from a city building by Mayor de Blasio last week. It is a complete turnaround from Wednesday, when Fariña said the city would not find seats for the 194 distraught children

by reality-based edu... / 0min 

Eva Moskowitz Wants To Take School Building From Autistic Children

In all the "De Blasio is Harming poor black children by shutting down charter schools that don't exist yet" stories, we fail to find out that Success Academy edu-entrepreneur Eva Moskowitz wants to subsume space from a school for autistic and emotionally disturbed children to expand her charter empire.Juan Gonzalez writes: No one is happier about her policy change than the parents and st

by reality-based edu... / 59min 

Ginia Bellafante In NY Times: De Blasio Is Not Waging War On Charters, Moskowitz Plays Victim Card

Bellafante makes three great points in her Times column - the first, that Eva Moskowitz is harming minority children herself:Last week on the 64th day of his mayoralty, Bill de Blasio, criticized for his too hardy approach to snow days, for the slow pace of his appointments, for displays of petulance, achieved a predicted but still significant victory. The City Planning Commission unanimously appr

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De Blasio Defends Teachers In Mayoral Forum In Chicago

From Sally Goldenberg at Capital NY:CHICAGO—Mayor Bill de Blasio offered a staunch defense of his position on charter schools during a seminar at the University of Chicago with his counterparts from Atlanta, Los Angeles and Chicago Thursday night, even as he complained that the issue had overtaken more pressing ones.He also said his signature proposal to establish pre-kindergarten seats for every

by reality-based edu... / 2h 

3-6-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Capital NY: Cuomo May Broker Deal Using Teacher Evaluation "Flexibility" For Extra Charter School FundsFrom Eliza Shapiro at Capital NY:Governor Andrew Cuomo offered few specifics when he pledged to "save charter schools" at a massive rally on Tuesday, beyond promising "financial capacity, physical space and the government's support."But as Mayo

by mike simpson / 9h 

Common Core at #CPAC2014 | Truth in American Education

Common Core at #CPAC2014 | Truth in American Education:

Common Core at #CPAC2014

Filed in Common Core State Standards by Shane Vander Hart on March 7, 2014 • 0 Comments

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Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaking at CPAC

Common Core, as an issue, has been largely absent from CPAC – at least in the Potomac Ballroom.  Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) discussed it during a bloggers briefing when I asked him about the silence at the conference yesterday.  Today, Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) came closest when he said the Constitution doesn’t give the right to “federalize the classroom.”  He called for the Federal government to roll back to what the Constitution actually allows.

There was a panel discussion yesterday on Common Core sponsored by the Hertiage Foundation.  Below is my recap from my liveblog yesterday at Caffeinated Thoughts (go to the bottom and read up).

4:25p: Session is wrapping up. My iPad keyboard needs charging and the blog able aspects of the conference is about over. Signing this off for the day. One last comment from Stergios: If the Common Core assessments die, the Common Core dies.

4:21p: Mike Huckabee was pointed out by a member of the audience. Stergios defended to a point saying that Governors Huckabee and Jindal are coming at this from a perspective of having poor state standards. Solution should have come from the state.

4:18p: Stergios: Voucher programs in Indiana, Ohio and Indiana have come with strings 

Vergara v. California: A smokescreen to hide the attack on education - World Socialist Web Site

Vergara v. California: A smokescreen to hide the attack on education - World Socialist Web Site:

Vergara v. California: A smokescreen to hide the attack on education

By Antonio Marquez and Marc Wells 
7 March 2014

Since arguments began on January 27, the Beatriz Vergara et al. v. the State of California lawsuit has heard a plethora of testimony and allegations aimed at the dismantlement and privatization of public education. Duplicitously wielding racial discrimination charges, this billionaire-backed lawsuit seeks to demolish teachers’ basic rights to democratic process and tenure.

The plaintiffs are a front for the pro-business organization Students Matter, which in turn receives its funds from several multibillionaires who want education to become a new center of profit (See “Billionaire-backed lawsuit tries to abolish California teacher tenure”).

Under the claim that five state statutes and practices have a “disproportionate adverse effect on minority and economically disadvantaged students,” the lawsuit seeks to destroy a number of fundamental, long-established rights for teachers. Their underlying motive is to be able to easily fire more senior, costlier teachers.

It seeks to eliminate the entire appeals process for teachers, as well as their tenure, so that teachers can be virtually fired at will.

In order to fire higher-paid experienced teachers, it targets the so-called “Last In, First Out” (LIFO) policy that says when cuts must be enforced, those who 

Shanker Blog » In Education Policy, Good Things Come In Small Packages

Shanker Blog » In Education Policy, Good Things Come In Small Packages:

In Education Policy, Good Things Come In Small Packages

Posted by Matthew Di Carlo on March 7, 2014

A recent report from the U.S. Department of Education presented a summary of three recent studies of the differences in the effectiveness of teaching provided advantaged and disadvantaged students (with the former defined in terms of value-added scores, and the latter in terms of subsidized lunch eligibility). The brief characterizes the results of these reports in an accessible manner – that the difference in estimated teaching effectiveness between advantaged and disadvantaged students varied quite widely between districts, but overall is about four percent of the achievement gap in reading and 2-3 percent in math.

Some observers were not impressed. They wondered why so-called reformers are alienating teachers and hurting students in order to address a mere 2-4 percent improvement in the achievement gap.

Just to be clear, the 2-4 percent figures describe the gap (and remember that it varies). Whether it can be narrowed or closed – e.g., by improving working conditions or offering incentives or some other means – is a separate issue. Nevertheless, let’s put aside all the substantive aspects surrounding these studies, and the issue of the distribution of teacher quality, and discuss this 2-4 percent thing, as it illustrates what I believe is the among the most important tensions underlying education policy today: Our collective failure to have a reasonable debate about expectations and the power of education policy.

On one hand, when reading the tepid reaction to the 2-4 percent comments, the policy researcher in me immediately wants to say: 2-4 percent is a lot.

Let’s say we found a cost-effective, widely-supported (including by teachers) way to equalize teacher effectiveness between poor and more affluent schools. And then let’s say that doing so improved the achievement gap by a few percentage points over a given period of time. That would be a major accomplishment, especially at the state or 

A Small Request for My Friends at Gates :: Frederick M. Hess

A Small Request for My Friends at Gates :: Frederick M. Hess:

A Small Request for My Friends at Gates

by Frederick M. Hess  •  Mar 7, 2014 at 8:32 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

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At an Al Shanker Institute forum a few weeks back, at the AFT's DC headquarters, I aggressively defended the good intentions and fair-mindedness of foundation staff working on education (you can see the eventhere). I offered my own criticisms, but I mostly told an audience very skeptical of Gates/Walton/Broad/et al. that the people I know at these foundations are smart, well-intentioned, and entirely willing to hear and benefit from criticism, so long as it's offered up constructively and in a spirit of mutual respect. The problem, I said, was how rarely skeptics reached out in that spirit.

Indeed, I said that if critics did so and hit a wall, I'd be willing to see if I could help. Well, John Thompson, blogger and award-winning teacher, wrote to say he has a few suggestions for the Measures of Effective Teaching team at the Gates Foundation but doesn't know how to connect with them. I've known Thompson for a while now and, throughout our various disagreements, I've found him smart and thoughtful. He asked if I'd share his ideas. Because I thought the whole exercise a healthy one, I thought I'd do it this way.

Thompson, in his words, "respectfully proposes" that Gates consider the following, when it comes to determining whether good teaching looks the same in high- and low-poverty schools. He writes:

1. "[Gates] should follow their standard procedure and observation rubric in high-challenge classrooms. That will be the control. They'd then follow the same procedures with other evaluators, but only after briefing those evaluators on the students' disciplinary and criminal justice records, IEP and ELL status, and the school's policies on enforcing its code of conduct. The question is how much that would change observation outcomes.

2. Run the value-added of schools, controlled by the hour of the day. Then, compare the value-added of the same teachers, with the same students, and compare them by hour. Do they achieve the same value-added first hour and after lunch, as during the middle of the morning? 

 I'm Looking for a Little Help Out There

Hey, folks, so I've got an interesting opportunity to announce as we leave this snow behind and head into the spring season. I just had an unexpected opening emerge, creating a rare and potentially very cool opportunity for a new research assistant to...

1h 

"Slavery’s story is America’s story."

"Slavery’s story is America’s story.":

"Slavery’s story is America’s story."

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That is the final line of Eugene Robinson's powerful Washington Post column, THe American Story of Slavery.

I will offer blockquotes without hotlinks because you should read the entire column.

Robinson begins by noting

Hollywood has finally taken an unflinching look at slavery. It’s past time for the rest of the country to do the same.

   He goes on to write

We tell ourselves that we know all about slavery, that it’s ancient history. But we’ve never fully investigated its horrors, which means we’ve never come to terms with them, which means we’ve never been able to get beyond them. Where slavery is concerned, we are imprisoned by William Faulkner’s famous epigram: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

It is not just that slavery feeds into America's continuing problems with racism.

It is that one can argue that slavery itself is not dead in the United States.  After all, the 13th Amendment banning slavery does contain the exception "except for punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted" which too many Americans forget, about which I will offer a few more thoughts.

But it is also important that our understanding of our history is incomplete, if you will, whitewashed.

There are three paragraphs that are for me key to understanding how incomplete that 

A Great Divide: The Election Fight for California's Schools | California Progress Report

A Great Divide: The Election Fight for California's Schools | California Progress Report:

A Great Divide: The Election Fight for California's Schools

Posted on 07 March 2014

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By Gary Cohn

An election campaign now being fought almost completely out of public view could radically alter the way California’s school children are taught. If Marshall Tuck unseats incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, the state’s public education system could become a laboratory for a movement that prizes privatization and places a high value on student test scores over traditional instruction. The contrasts between the two top contenders in the nonpartisan race could not be more dramatic – nor could the stakes for the country’s largest education system.

The 40-year-old Tuck is a Harvard Business School graduate who has worked as an investment banker for Salomon Brothers and as an executive at Model N, a revenue-management software company. He is a former president of Green Dot Public Schools, a charter school operation in Los Angeles, and later served as the first head of the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools — former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s controversial education nonprofit that tried to improve 17 low-performing public schools, with mixed results.

Tuck’s candidacy is supported by the same mix of wealthy education privatizers, Silicon Valley and entertainment money, hedge fund and real estate interests that backed 

Mounting Evidence Supports Public Schools, Says Privatization and Charters No Better | janresseger

Mounting Evidence Supports Public Schools, Says Privatization and Charters No Better | janresseger:

Mounting Evidence Supports Public Schools, Says Privatization and Charters No Better

Posted on March 7, 2014 by janresseger

I have always imagined that once the evidence comes in about the performance of charter schools and virtual, on-line academies—once we learn that school achievement in charters isn’t all that different from what we see in traditional public schools—once we realize how our tax dollars are being turned into private profits and sometimes stolen—we’ll experience a mass rude awakening and begin appreciating the value of the public school system that provides services for all children at the public expense.

These days the evidence is piling up, but we don’t seem to be able to put it together into any kind of organized scheme that lets us see the whole picture.  Books like Diane Ravitch’s Reign of Error and the new book coming from David Berliner and Gene Glass, 50 Myths and Lies that Threaten America’s Public Schools, are designed to do that, but reading these detailed critiques involves a significant commitment of time.

I do urge you to carve out the time to read both of these books, but in the meantime, check out this short piece published on AlterNet in mid-February: Paul Buchheit’s The 4 Most 

New teachers scarce after state funding cuts - Education - The Sacramento Bee

New teachers scarce after state funding cuts - Education - The Sacramento Bee:

New teachers scarce after state funding cuts

By Diana Lambert and Phillip Reese
dlambert@sacbee.com

Published: Friday, Mar. 7, 2014 - 12:00 am

Young teachers have become far more scarce in California classrooms after school districts slashed their budgets to survive the recession.

From 2008 to 2013, California saw a 40 percent drop in teachers with less than six years’ experience, according to a Sacramento Bee review of state data.

As the state cut funding, districts laid off teachers with the least seniority and stopped hiring new applicants. Those employment practices, in turn, discouraged college students from pursuing the profession in California, as enrollment in teaching programs fell by 41 percent between 2008 and 2012.

Students are learning from more experienced teachers, but the hiring changes have disrupted the natural flow of classroom talent that districts typically rely upon. First-time teachers bring “freshness and energy” and ensure schools have a steady pipeline ready to replace veteran instructors who retire, said Jon Snyder, executive director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education.

The traditional balance may take years to restore as schools slowly rebuild their teaching ranks and college students begin to see education as a viable profession again.

With the state budget on the mend, districts hired about 13,000 K-12 teachers statewide and about 200 in the Sacramento region this school year. Next year, the number of new teachers is expected

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/03/07/6216464/new-teachers-scarce-after-state.html#mi_rss=Education#storylink=cpy