Answer Sheet 6-13-14

Answer Sheet:

It’s Friday the 13th. Keep your paraskevidekatriaphobia in check.

If you suffer from friggatriskaidekaphobia, otherwise known as  paraskevidekatriaphobia, today isn’t a great day for you.  It’s Friday the 13th, and the phobia is all about a blinding fear of this day — however irrational it may seem. (But you can take heart; it’s the last Friday on the 13th day of any month in 2014, although 2015, […]

by Valerie Strauss / 4min 

Mother of 7 in jail because her kids skipped school dies in cell

A 55-year-old Pennsylvania mother of seven, sentenced to serve two days in jail because her children were absent too much from school and she couldn’t pay some $2,000 in truancy fines, was found dead in her cell. The Associated Press reported that District Judge Dean R. Patton, who sent her to prison reluctantly, blamed a judicial […]

by Valerie Strauss / 2min hide  //  save

One thing we can learn from Shanghai: How to develop teachers

Shanghai has been No. 1 on the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, two straight times — in 2009 and 2012 — though it is now considering pulling out of the exercise in part, officials say, because they don’t want to place so much emphasis on standardized tests. That sounds refreshing. And here’s another lesson […]

by Valerie Strauss / 2min 

Answer Sheet 6-12-14

Answer Sheet: Real learning doesn’t ‘look like 6-year-olds slumped in chairs … staring at iPads’ — parent tells school boardMassachusetts parent Tassia Thomas gave the following testimony to the Cambridge School Committee — a panel of seven members that sets policy and oversees Cambridge Public Schools – earlier this month. It appeared in Cambridge Day, which said it had lightly edited her comment

by mike simpson / 4h 

6-13-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy #Malloyrespond

Wait What?:

Wait What? #Malloyrespond 

“I don’t need to respond to what Jonathan says,” Malloy told reporters.

Governor Dannel “Dan” Malloy is absolutely correct.  He doesn’t need to respond to what I say. In fact, as is his style, Malloy doesn’t need to respond to what anyone says…at least not until the voters have had their say in November. But that said, when it comes Malloy’s anti-teacher, anti-public education, pro-corporate education reform […] The post “I don’t need to respond to what Jonathan says,

by jonpelto / 16min 

6-12-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy

Wait What?: Wait What? Pelto To Run For GovernorPress Release:  6/12/2014 Pelto To Run For Governor - Will Covert from Exploratory Committee to Candidate Committee for Governor Former state legislator Jonathan Pelto is announcing that he will be a candidate for Governor this year and that he and his Lt. Governor candidate, Ebony Murphy, will be converting their exploratory committee into a candida

by mike simpson / 1h 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 6-13-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

97% of Pittsburgh Teachers Get High Ratings

Billions of dollars have been spent to create new teacher evaluation systems. Here is one result: in Pittsburgh, 97% of teachers were rated either distinguished or advanced. Meanwhile budget cuts are harming children in Pennsylvania. For Immediate Release June 13, 2014 Contact: Marcus Mrowka 202/531-0689 mmrowka@aft.org http://www.aft.org Pittsburgh Teacher Evaluation Results Demonstrate Importan

1 by dianeravitch / 4min 

Stephanie Simon: Are Teacher Unions Doomed?

In an article at politico.com, Stephanie Simon presents a gloomy portrait of the future of teacher unions. At the outset, she acknowledges that the unions have been the target of “a multimillion-dollar public relations campaign portraying them as greedy and selfish.” This campaign is funded by billionaires, millionaires, ALEC, powerful corporations (Koch brothers?), rightwing think tanks, and we

4 by dianeravitch / 24min 

John Merrow on Vergara: The California Laws Are Indefensible

John Merrow says that the laws struck down by the Vergara decision are indefensible.   Teachers get tenure after 18 months, but in most states it takes three or four years.   Seniority, he says, discourages young teachers, who are first fired.   The process of removing an ineffective teacher is far too complex, requiring some 70 steps.   My view: The legislature should promptly remedy these defect

by dianeravitch / 9min 

Professional Staff Congress at CUNY Opposes edTPA

This morning I posted a statement by a group of professors at City University of New York in support of the edPTA, which assesses the performance of those who seek certification to enter teaching.   Let me make clear that I am not supporting or endorsing either side of this debate but am watching carefully, as I tend to be suspicious of all high-stakes testing.   Soon after the post appeared this

by dianeravitch / 1min 

Bridgeport: Where Is the Money for Néw Charters?

Bridgeport officials are worried. The state board of education approved the expansion of two charters and the addition of a new one. Local officials want to know where the money will come from and how the budget for the other 90% of the city’s children will be affected.

by dianeravitch / 0min 

Teacher Educators at CUNY: Why We Support edTPA

In Support of a Performance Assessment of Teaching June, 2014 Beverly Falk, Professor and Director, Graduate Program in Early Childhood Education, The ​City College of New York Jeanne Angus, Assistant Professor and Program Director, Graduate Program in Special Education, Brooklyn College Greg Borman, Lecturer, Secondary Science Education, The City College of New York Nancy Cardwell, Assistant Prof

by dianeravitch / 0min 

The Statistical Error at the Heart of the Vergara Decision

Jordan Weissman, a business correspondent for Slate, read the Vergara decision and noted that the judge’s conclusion hinged on a strange allegation. The judge quoted David Berliner as saying that 1-3% of the teachers in the state were “grossly ineffective.” The judge then calculated that this translated into thousands of teachers, between 2,750 and 8,750, who are “grossly ineffective.” Weissman ca

5 by dianeravitch / 9min 

Virginia Court Declares State Takeovers Unconstitutional

A Circuit Court judge in Virginia declared unconstitutional a law that created a state takeover board for low-performing schools. Wonder if this was ALEC legislation? According to a release from the National School,Boards Association: “A Circuit Court judge has struck down a state school takeover board that would have stripped local school boards of their authority over low-performing schools, r

18 by dianeravitch / 49min hide  //  save

Randi Blasts Duncan for Betraying Teachers in Vergara Case

Randi Weingarten wrote a letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, criticizing his sympathetic response to the Vergara decision, which held that tenure and seniority were unconstitutional in California. She wrote: “This week, we needed your leadership; to demonstrate that teacher and student interests are aligned; that we must press—60 years after Brown v. Board—for educational equity; that

21 by dianeravitch / 1h 

FBI Raids 19 Gulen Charter Schools in Midwest

The FBI and two other agencies conducted raids with search warrants at 19 Concept charter schools in Illinois and two other states. “The FBI and two other federal agencies conducted raids in Illinois and two other states at charter schools run by Des Plaines-based Concept Schools, FBI officials said Tuesday. “Search warrants were executed at 19 Concept schools in connection with an “ongoing white

93 by dianeravitch / 2h  

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 6-12-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Kevin Welner: The Silver Lining in the Vergara DecisionKevin Welner, director of the National Educational Policy Center in Colorado, is both an education policy analyst and a lawyer. He read the Vergara decision and saw a bright side. While he was struck by the weak evidence for the judge’s conclusion, he thinks the case might open

by mike simpson / 1h 

6-13-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

Why Tenure is Essential

I usually find it easier to communicate with conservative reformers like Mike Petrilli or Rick Hess. Unlike their liberal counterparts, they don’t have to contort themselves into crusaders for equity and justice. They don’t have to pretend that attacks on teachers and other workers is some sort of civil rights crusade. These defenders of Scott […]

by John Thompson / 10min 

South Carolina Officially Vamboozled

South Carolina Officially Vamboozled. via South Carolina Officially Vamboozled.

by plthomasedd / 6min hide  //  save

A few thoughts on #Vergara and Inequality

Why don’t the billionaires encourage parents to sue because of large class size creating inequality?   Why don’t the billionaires encourage parents to sue because of a lack of school nurses & counselors creating inequality?   Why don’t the billionaires encourage parents to sue because of a lack of music & art creating inequality?   Why don’t the […]

7 by Chris Cerrone / 1h 

A few thoughts on inequality and #Veraga

Why don’t the billionaires encourage parents to sue because of large class size creating inequality? Why don’t the billionaires encourage parents to sue because of a lack of school nurses & counselors creating inequality? Why don’t the billionaires encourage parents to sue because of a lack of music & art creating inequality? Why don’t the billionaires encourage parents […]

4 by Chris Cerrone / 1h 

6-12-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: POST VERGARA FALL OUT: Nothing says it any better than this from Brian Jones:POST VERGARA FALL OUT: Nothing says it any better than this from Brian Jones:.by David Greene / 4min Fighting Vergara in California and ElsewhereAs a former legal historian and inner city teacher, I’m offended by Judge Rolf Treu’s one sentence legal justification of the key issue in Vergara v California.

by mike simpson / 1h 

State should not be forcing districts to spend down their budget reserves | EdSource Today

State should not be forcing districts to spend down their budget reserves | EdSource Today:

State should not be forcing districts to spend down their budget reserves

June 12th, 2014 | Add a Comment | 
By Vernon Billy and Wes Smith / commentary

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Vernon Billy

The governor and Legislature are preparing to approve budget language that severely limits the amount of funding school districts can maintain in their local reserves for economic uncertainties.

Both the Association of California School Administrators and California School Boards Association, representing superintendents, school boards and county boards of education, vehemently oppose this fiscally irresponsible proposal, as it is inconsistent with the principle of subsidiarity – a key principle of the state’s new Local Control Funding Formula. It also discounts the critical role that prudent budget reserves play in the ability of local educational agencies to maintain education programs during economic downturns.

Education is not solely a “state” program. It is governed, administered and provided by local school districts with locally elected governing boards and community engagement.

Should voters approve the State Rainy Day Fund ballot measure (Assembly Constitutional Amendment 1 or ACA 1) in November, school districts would be forced to spend down excess reserves whenever the state deposits money into its own state-level school reserve. The intrusive requirement would effectively impose an absolute cap of twice the state minimum standard of 3 percent that nearly every school district would be allowed to maintain for economic uncertainties.

• 

  Wes Smith
  The proposal is fiscally irresponsible.

To enact these provisions is fiscally irresponsible and in conflict with the principles articulated by the Legislature in placing ACA 1 on the ballot. For most of the last two decades, California worked to prevent school district bankruptcies by enacting laws requiring multiyear projections, enforcement of strict fiscal standards by county offices of education, early intervention, and even the authority to override the spending decisions of local governing boards. It is therefore ironic that, at the very time an initiative has been placed on the statewide ballot to strengthen the state’s rainy day fund, the Legislature would consider statutory changes State should not be forcing districts to spend down their budget reserves | EdSource Today:

The Common Core Chess Game | Truth in American Education

The Common Core Chess Game | Truth in American Education:

The Common Core Chess Game

Filed in Common Core State Standards by Shane Vander Hart on June 13, 2014 • 0 Comments

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The following guest article was written by Dennis Ian who is a member of Stop Common Core in New York State.

By Denis Ian

Let’s play chess … because that’s exactly what the Gates and the Common Core pushers are doing.

They’re on their heels. Some states … and some individual school districts … have simply dumped Common Core. And there are seismic jitters from coast to coast. Our efforts have juiced up the CC issue in the media and now it’s a part of the election language as we swing into the fall. The anti-Common Core sites have become magnets for disgruntled parents and offended educators from all levels. If you can lift yourself up a bit … and spy the situation from a decent altitude … you’ll see the anti-forces are more muscled than ever. And it’s predictable that the Common Core patriarchs are in full-swing chess mode. They’re too clever by half. Can’t leave bad enough alone. Gotta ring the bells and push the panic-buttons pronto.

First, Arne Duncan’s out to castrate Oklahoma for giving CC the heave-ho. South Carolina is next in line for the knife. Duncan’s got his razor strop out for any state and any school district that dares derail the federal transfer of local and state control to DC big-wigs. Duncan’s activity resembles more a MASH unit … triaging the Common Core wounded in states like Indiana, Oregon, Georgia, and Michigan. In all, seventeen states have pushed back against Common Core — including Alaska, Nebraska, Texas and Virginia, which declined to sign on from the beginning. Duncan’s head looks more and more like a bobble-head … not quite sure where the next anti-Common Core brushfire’s gonna pop up. Let’s keep him busy.

Second, the American Federation of Teachers … in an infrequent moment of clarity … actually told the Gates Foundation to take his money-clip and shove it. Randi Weingarten, hardly my nominee for the "Esteemed Educator" plaque, blew off Gates and his money saying, "I got convinced by the level of distrust I was seeing …" Thanks for the head-knock, but keep anyThe Common Core Chess Game | Truth in American Education:

Kids v. Politics | Parents United for Public Education

Kids v. Politics | Parents United for Public Education:

Kids v. Politics

Posted on June 13, 2014 by HELENGYMLeave a comment

(This piece was cross-posted at the Public School Notebook) 

Yesterday, City Council proved once again that Philadelphia’s school children are second to politicking. Instead of following through on its promise to guarantee the District at least $50 million, a promise it made last August when Supt. William Hite refused to open schools otherwise, City Council’s finance committee moved forward with a bill to halve that amount to $27 million.

It seems inconceivable for Council to behave in this manner, especially at a time when District finances have never been more dire. If City Council doesn’t move on filling the basic budget gap, the District will be forced to pass an obscene budget that will lay off staff and see class sizes go through the roof. The PR damage and the loss of internal capacity at the District is not something that can be made up even if Council were to later piece together funds over the summer.

What’s even more disappointing is that last summer’s $50 million promise – the subject of all this bickering – is a one-time stopgap measure. It doesn’t even begin to address sustainable funding for schools.

It is fundamentally City Council’s job to ensure that there are no additional cuts to the District’s budget for next year. That means delivering an additional $96 million over and above the sales tax extension that has already been approved. The state share should then be focused on restoring services to schools.

We remind City Council that they hold responsibility for the consequences of a doomsday budget that has caused irreparable damage to our schools and put children in harm’s way. City Council members had opportunities to find sustainable revenue. Instead, they squashed a proposed Use & Occupancy tax bill that had garnered huge support from communities. They failed to move on the sales tax legislation until this year and punted to Harrisburg a proposal for a cigarette tax that, a year later, has shown no advancement. Yesterday, they left on the table an additional $28 million that already had a built in repayment mechanism with no hardship on the city.

Meanwhile a recent report by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia showed that one in five District students are in the juvenile justice or DHS systems. These are the most vulnerable of Kids v. Politics | Parents United for Public Education: