5-1-13 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

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

Anne Henderson Responds To “Broken Compass” Parent Involvement Book

NEA Today had an excellent article on the now infamous “Broken Compass” book questioning the value of parent involvement. It quotes Anne Henderson, probably THE parent engagement/involvement expert in the United States. Here’s a portion of what she had to say: Anne T. Henderson, a senior consultant at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform and a leading expert on the relationship between famili

3 by Larry Ferlazzo / 8h 

4-30-13 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement": Georgia School District Is Model On How Schools Should NOT Deal With Parents Who Want To “Opt-Out” Of TestsThanks to Bill Ferriter, I’ve learned about a Georgia school district who had a police officer tell parents who were opting out of state tests that they would and their children would be trespassing if they were on sch

by mike simpson / 8h 

My Reaction to the PARCC & SBAC Responses :: Frederick M. Hess

My Reaction to the PARCC & SBAC Responses :: Frederick M. Hess:

My Reaction to the PARCC & SBAC Responses

by Frederick M. Hess  •  May 1, 2014 at 9:58 am

The past couple days I've run pieces by PARCC's Jeff Nellhaus and SBAC's Joe Wilhoft that helped illuminate how their consortia are going to address some key challenges when it comes to making sure that the new Common Core tests can carry the load they're being asked to bear. I want to thank Jeff and Joe for their thoughtful, constructive, and illuminating contributions. I found the exchange somewhat heartening, after years during which my questions had been genially (and sometimes not so genially) brushed aside. And, to be clear, this exchange is less about PARCC, SBAC, or the Common Core in particular than about the practical challenges of introducing new, quasi-national, computer-assisted tests that are to be used for high-stakes decisions.

As has been the case all along, my primary concern is to have an open, transparent discussion so that I (and, I guess more importantly, parents, educators, voters, and those making the decisions) are clear how much weight these assessments should bear. This matters because these assessments are being used not merely for informational or instructional purposes, but to label schools, judge programs, evaluate teachers, and determine job security and pay.

Having read the responses by Jeff and Joe, I have a few additional queries. And let's be clear: the questions that follow aren't solely (or even mostly) for PARCC or SBAC, but also for the community of state officials, advocates, and educators committed to Common Core implementation. Indeed, these responses make clear that many of the challenges ahead are less questions of test design and psychometrics than of policy and practice. And I've long been puzzled that Common Core's champions have pooh-poohed these questions rather than charging out front to sound the alarm, demand aggressive action, and make sure this stuff actually works. (On the other hand, I would've thought Affordable Care Act enthusiasts would've done that for Healthcare.gov, and they didn't. So, who knows?)

1] Jeff notes, "Schools are responsible for creating testing conditions that are consistent with PARCC's protocol for standardized conditions." I get that. But what if they don't? What if some districts are lax on this count, or disorganized, or choose to try to inflate their results (a la Atlanta) by manipulating testing My Reaction to the PARCC & SBAC Responses :: Frederick M. Hess:

5-1-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL:

Ta-Nehisi Coates On “Elegant Racism”

I would encourage everyone to read This Town Needs a Better Class of Racist by Ta-Nehisi Coates. You might also be interested in The Best Posts, Articles & Lesson Plans On The Jordan Davis Tragedy & Verdict: Our “Classrooms Are Full Of Him” and The Best Resources For Lessons On Trayvon Martin .

by Larry Ferlazzo / 23min 

TED-Ed Video: “Not all scientific studies are created equal”

I’m adding this video to The Best Resources For Understanding How To Interpret Education Research:

by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h 

  

4-30-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: San Francisco Symphony Unveils Must-See Redesigned WebsiteThe San Francisco Symphony has just unveiled a newly redesigned website that’s pretty extraordinary. There’s so much there, and it’s so accessible — music, instruments, and you can even compose your own, play it, and share your creation with the world. The text is pr

by mike simpson / 8h 

5-1-14 Wait What?

Wait What?:

The Art of Removing the Rotten Core

Coming on the heels of the rapacious profiteering and privatizing scheme of NCLB, and designed in the dark by a tiny team of technocrats led by the prissy Platonist, David Coleman, the Common Core was doomed from the start. Designed, without doubt, to be the testing delivery system to guarantee another generation of harder tests and more school meltdowns and subsequent takeovers, the arrogant educ

by Jim Horn / 2min 

Malloy is a fraud on campaign finance reform issues

NEWS ALERT:  Buried under the news about the massive problems facing Connecticut’s State budget and other developments and issues that have surfaced over the past couple of weeks is one of the most significant news stories of Governor Malloy’s term. The truth is that after having run as a “pro-campaign finance reform” candidate, Dannel “Dan” […] The post Malloy is a fraud on campaign finance refor

5 by jonpelto / 1h hide  //  save

Group of New York Teachers refuse to give unfair standardized tests

At great risk to their careers, 26 Teachers and Staff of International High School at Prospect Heights in New York City are refusing to give the NYC ELA Performance Assessment Test.  The comes after 3 teachers from the Earth School on the lower east side in Manhattan sent a letter of conscience to the NYC […] The post Group of New York Teachers refuse to give unfair standardized tests appeared fir

9 by jonpelto / 2h 

4-30-14 Wait What?

Wait What?: Let Teachers TeachTeresa M. Pelham is the co-blogger for the Hartford Courant’s Mommy Minute blog and a well-known children’s book writer. In recent Courant column entitled, Let’s Ditch Those Tests And Let Teachers Teach, Pelham eloquently put into words what many of us are thinking. More Testing, Less Learning is not what prepares our children for the […] The post Let Teachers Teach a

by mike simpson / 8h 

5-1-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

The common core: A bad solution aimed at the wrong problem

Sent to Newsweek Alexander Nazaryan ("Sorry, Louis C.K., but You’re Wrong About Common Core," May 1) says our schools need the increased "rigor" of the common core because they are so bad: "China, South Korea and Germany are leaving us in the chalk dust, most Americans can barely find America on the map ...".Not so.  When researchers control for the effect of povert

by skrashen / 16min 

Almost Half of Worcester Central School Students Refuse State Tests

4/30/2014Nearly half the students at Worcester Central School refused to take mandated tests in third through eighth grades. Thanks to a concerted social media effort, 45 percent of the students--maybe the highest percentage in the state--opted out of the English Language Arts and math tests. Repercussions for the school lie in the future and are unclear, according to Superintendent Bill Diamond.

2 by Jim Horn / 51min

Notes from the Road: Some Observations about What is Wrong with the Good Fight

by Doug MartinDuring my talk recently to the Southeast Education Task Force in Indianapolis, a member of the Indiana Department of Education said there wasn’t a manufactured crisis in education, that our kids were indeed, many of them, failing.  She quoted some Ph.D  who appeared with Condi Rice recently, the former Bush official who has a Exxon tankernamed after her and helped the profiteers hand

26 by Doug Martin / 4h 

4-30-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: Teachers at International HS at Prospect Heights Refuse to Give NYC ELA TestFrom Monty Neill: **Media Advisory**  26 Teachers and Staff of International High School at Prospect  Heights refuse to give NYC ELA Performance Assessment Test  WHEN: Thursday, May 1, 2014, 7:45-8:20am,  WHERE: International High School at Prospect Heights, 883 Classon  Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11225  WHAT: Teach

by mike simpson / 8h 

5-1-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education:

Step Up for Students Misleading Use of Pro-Voucher Study

Step Up for Students is getting faster at rapid response. Late last week, Dr. Rosa Castro Feinberg’s expose regarding voucher schools poor record of implementation and service for English language learners. Step Up for Students’ (SUFS) board member Julio Fuentes responded to Castro’s piece, Castro Feinberg countered and a few hours ago, Fuentes, um, re-countered. Fuentes predictably surrounded his

by Bob Sikes / 50min 

Will Sachs, Montford Amendments Be Too Much for Senate Voucher Advocates?

Late yesterday and this morning, Sen. Maria Sachs (D-Delray Beach) and Sen. Bill Montford (D-Tallahassee) have inserted amendments into SB 1512 which will make senate voucher advocates put up, or shut up on accountability for voucher schools. From Sachs filed moments ago: Upon release of information from the Learning Service Institute in accordance with paragraph (9)(j), reporting to a scholarship

by Bob Sikes / 17min hide  //  save

Another Day, Another Misrepresentation of Opposition to Vouchers

The institutional straw man defense of taxpayer-funded school vouchers continues. In an opinion piece Don’t Blame Vouchers for Poor Science Instruction another American Enterprise Institute scholar takes the plunge. Writes Michael Q. McShane in the Tallahassee Democrat: Re: “Science has a spot in voucher debates” (My View, April 16). I share Brandon Haught’s desire for sound science education in F

by Bob Sikes / 4h 

4-30-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education: Today’s Voucher Expansion Vote Will Forever Define Senate RepublicansA 2013 report from Charity Navigator gives Step Up for Students high marks as administrator of Florida’s voucher system, the misleading named the Florida Tax Credit Program. The report in PR Web quotes

by mike simpson / 8h 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 5-1-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

Bullets Fly, But The Test Must Go On

By Maggie Terry / commentary in EdSource Today | http://bit.ly/1miIFMc This commentary was written the day last month that 10th graders in Los Angeles were due to take the math portion of the California High School Exit Exam. April 9th, 2014  ::  Five pops that sounded like fireworks. Short and crisp. Totally misplaced at 8:05 a.m. Who lights fireworks on a Wednesday morning? But it

by smf / 4min 

BAD TEACHERS OR CORRUPT SYSTEM? LAUSD cracks down on alleged misconduct

student journalism by Holly San Nicolas, managing editor of the Hollywood High School Crimson Chronicle | http://bit.ly/1higAkJ ▲Screen capture  of pp.7 of the online version of the February 2014 Crimson Chronicle

by smf / 36min 

The authentic local voice for Local Control Funding speaks out …but were they/will they/should they be heard?: LA UNIFIED STUDENTS ASK VLADOVIC TO USE “INDEX” FOR NEEDS

by Michael Janofsky, LA School Report | http://bit.ly/1iNL56x Fremont High students, on their way to see LAUSD Board President Richard Vladovic Posted on April 30, 2014 2:50 pm ::  After weeks of trying, a group of students from Fremont High School finally got a meeting yesterday in the office of LA Unified Board President Richard Vladovic to promote their Special Need Index for use in the

by smf / 26min 

Mayday! Mayday!! - Miramonte civil lawsuits in disarray: LAUSD BRINGS IN NEW LAWYERS, ADMITS SHREDDING DOCUMENTS

…OK, this may be semantic overreach; I’m not sure that LAUSD’s defense was ever “in array!”  Awry maybe? LAUSD Assigns New Law Firm to Miramonte Child Abuse Cases LAUSD had initially hired the Sedgwick Law Firm, with chief attorney Thomas Delaney at the onset of the Miramonte scandal. By John Cadiz Klemack, KNBC News | NBC Southern California |  http://

by smf / 13min 

DISTRICT 1 CANDIDATES FORUM | Thursday, May 1 | 7:00PM | Hamilton High School

2014 Community Town Hall Meeting: LAUSD School Board Candidate Forum A public Q&A about the future of our schools For the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), this is a time of unprecedented changes and challenges. Public debate continues over testing and core curricula, teacher tenure and the role of unions, the introduction of computer tablets and other technologies, breakfast in

1 by smf / 8h 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 4-30-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: 3 stories: ALEX CAPUTO-PEARL ELECTED UTLA PRESIDENTAlex Caputo-Pearl won elected president of the United Teachers Los Angeles, defeating incumbent Warren Fletcher in a runoff vote. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times / March 4, 2014) Alex Caputo-Pearl wins runoff election to head L.A. teachers union Howard Blume , LA Times | http://lat.ms/1u4Q3jS  Apr

by mike simpson / 6h 

5-1-13 Curmudgucation Week

CURMUDGUCATION:

Sorry, Newsweek, But You're wrong About Louis C. K.

My first thought when I read Alexander Nazaryan's response to Louis C. K.'s Common Core tirade was, "Wow! What an ass!"This is not an insult. Readers of this blog know that the what-an-ass writing style is one of my favorites, and I have been an ass frequently. I don't have the luxury of being an ass for a national newsmaga-- well, newsthingy. But it's a skill I respect.Unfortunately, th

by Peter Greene / 7min 

Teacher Merit Badges

Earlier this week, Metro Nashville Public Schools unveiled a new virtual merit badge system to reward teachers who take on extras. The idea was facing resistance about fifteen seconds after it was introduced. Kelly Henderson, the districts executive director of instruction, compared the system to Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. Jill Speering of the school board responded, "I'm sorry-- that doesn'

by Peter Greene / 1min 

Throwing Away

It seems like some kind of joke to call a movement "un-American," but I think the Reformy Status Quo has earned that adjective.Here's the thing about us as a country, as a culture. We fight. We struggle. We have sometimes extremely violent, deadly battles among the many smaller tribes that make up this country. But as a nation we are built to accommodate all these differences, and so eve

1 by Peter Greene / 1h

4-30-13 Curmudgucation Week

CURMUDGUCATION: Is There No Common Ground? Well.....I sympathize with Peter DeWitt, the former K-5 principal who has morphed into a pundit/trainer. In his blog at EdWeek he can often be found trying to chart a course between the Scylla of the CCSS-based Reformsters and the Charybdis of rabid opposition to any changey things in school while sailing under the Pigpen's Black Cloud of corporate deceit

by mike simpson / 9h 

5-1-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

The 2008 Common Core Sales Job: Part One

In 2008, the National Governors Association (NGA), the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), and Achieve, Inc., released a report, Benchmarking for Success: Ensuring U.S. Students Receive a World-class Education. The Gates and GE foundations funded the report. The content of this report begs for careful examination. Thus, I plan to examine it closely in […]

2 by deutsch29 / 20min 

Revisiting James Baldwin’s “Black English”

Revisiting James Baldwin’s “Black English”. via Revisiting James Baldwin’s “Black English”.

1 by plthomasedd / 39min 

Discussing Research Methodology with the Gates Foundation

Rick Hess, in “A Small Request for My Friends at Gates,” was kind enough to urge the Gates Foundation to consider three of my research proposals. Rick Cantrell, the Senior Program Officer for Research and Data, responded to Rick’s post. Dr. Cantrell and I talked for nearly 1-1/2 hours. I would again like to thank […]

2 by John Thompson / 1h 

4-30-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: More on Two AmericasMore on Two Americas. via More on Two Americas.1 by plthomasedd / 23min  All Week 4-29-14 @ THE CHALK FACE@ THE CHALK FACE: Joanne Barkan’s Three Types of Criticism of Edu-PhilanthropyDiane Ravitch recently praised Joanne Barkan’s “How to Criticize ‘Big Philanthropy’ Effectively.” Barkan’s excellent analysis was first presented at the March 2014 Network for Pu

by mike simpson / 7h