6-20-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet:

Getting kids involved in summer learning — city by city, town by town, student by student

Sarah Pitcock is the CEO of the National Summer Association, which is dedicated to creating quality summer learning opportunities for young people, particularly low-income students who suffer more learning loss over the summer than other students. In this post Pitcock explains the problem of summer learning loss, and some solutions.   By  Sarah Pitcock For […]

by Valerie Strauss / 6min 

Special-needs student may be barred from graduating because of two points on standardized test

Unless the Rhode Island House of Representatives goes along with a Senate-approved moratorium on the use of a standardized test as a requirement for high school graduation, Molly Coffey won’t be able to get a diploma. On that critical test, the 18-year-old, who has a form of Down syndrome,  missed the graduation cutoff by two […]

3 by Valerie Strauss / 4h hide  //  save

Superintendent: The greatest ‘crime’ committed against the teaching profession

  Thomas Scarice, the superintendent of Madison Public Schools in Connecticut, has been a vocal critic of high-stakes test-based school reform. Earlier this year he sent a letter to state legislators explaining why these “reforms will not result in improved conditions since they are not grounded in research.” In the following piece, he looks at what […]

8 by Valerie Strauss / 5h 

6-19-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet: Aren’t California tenure policies in fact unreasonable? Plus 4 more Vergara questions asked and answeredLos Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu handed down a ruling in Vergara vs California this month tossing out California statutes providing job protections to teachers, siding with plaintiffs who argued that California children who live in low-income families receive an inadeq

by mike simpson / 8h 

6-20-14 With A Brooklyn Accent - Public School Failure- “The Big Lie” on Which Current Education Policy Rests

With A Brooklyn Accent:

Public School Failure- “The Big Lie” on Which Current Education Policy Rests

As someone who has worked in the Bronx for the last 45 years, it drives me crazy to hear business leaders and politicians denounce public schools as the one failed institution in an otherwise thriving society. Hello! During the 1970′s, when factories in the Bronx closed, business districts shuttered, banks refused to make loans and landlords abandoned and burned buildings that once held nearly hal

9 by Mark Naison / 4h hide  //  save

YESTERDAY

Protest Targeting of Holyoke ( Mass) Teacher Union Leader Gus Morales

For Immediate ReleaseJune 19, 2014HOLYOKE TEACHERS, PARENTS, AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS PROTEST TARGETING OF UNION PRESIDENT-ELECT AND PRO-STUDENT ACTIVISTHolyoke, MA – Holyoke teachers, parents, and community members are protesting the School Department’s decision to not renew the teaching contract of Gus Morales, president-elect of the teacher’s union and a leading activist speaking out for students

by Mark Naison / 6h 

With A Brooklyn Accent: If the Problem Is Child Poverty- Union Busting and Common Core Aligned Tests are the Wrong Response

With A Brooklyn Accent: If the Problem Is Child Poverty- Union Busting and Common Core Aligned Tests are the Wrong Response: If the Problem Is Child Poverty- Union Busting and Common Core Aligned Tests are the Wrong ResponseAs someone who has spent the last 45 years working with Bronx schools and community organizations, it utterly astonishes me that Hedge fund managers, Silicon Valley entrepreneu

by mike simpson / 8h 

6-20-14 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION:

Don't Worry About the Rich

There will always be great schools in this country. On that point, you need not worry. There will always be great schools, just as there will always be excellent health care and great libraries. These things will always exist.Well, at least, they will always exist for the rich.The rich will always have access to the finest version of these things, these items that we all believe are an important p

by Peter Greene / 0min 

How Charters Fake Success

Jersey Jazzman is one of the premiere edubloggers out there, and I rarely mention him here because I generally don't have anything to add except, "Yeah. What he said. Read that." But his post from yesterday about a subtle way in which charters can cook the books is extra worth taking another look-- and I think I can add some value for the stats-impaired readers.I'll start by echoing his

11 by Peter Greene / 2h 

6-19-14 Curmudgucation Week

CURMUDGUCATION: Another CCSS Writer AwakensPsychology Today ran a great interview in January, talking to Dr. Louisa Moats, a psychologist, teacher, and researcher who was a contributing writer for the Common Core Standards, that is now making the rounds. The interview is worth reading in its entirety, but let me entice you with some highlights. And let me start by noting that David Coleman recruit

by mike simpson / 8h 

6-20-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School:

If Teachers Were Like Goldman Sachs Traders...

Thanks Uncle Mikey and Auntie Carmen - a $1,000 bucks (which is actually more like $600 after taxes and union dues): Dear Colleagues,As you come to the end of this school year we both wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for all your hard work and dedication. We both know from experience how difficult the work you do is, and we take great pride in the thousands of people in New York C

by reality-based edu... / 26min 

Open Thread: Regents Exams

I'm proctoring Regents exams during the day and grading the ELA exam at night and this weekend.It's a hectic week.How's your Regents week going?What have you noticed about the tests, the grading materials or the scoring charts?Any differences from January?

by reality-based edu... / 0min 

State Assessors Upset Governor Cuomo Refuses To Let Assessor Into His Home

From Lohud:The Cuomo administration's manual for municipal assessors instructs them to ask each property owner to allow an interior inspection during the reassessment process.Assessors say such an inspection provides the best opportunity to discern both the condition, quality and extent of a building's improvements, which add to a home's taxable value.The refusal to allow the New Castle town asses

by reality-based edu... / 48min hide  //  save

New York State's Teacher Evaluation System - And Its Governor - Continue To Lose Credibility

As I'm sure you heard, Cuomo tinkered ever so slightly with his vaunted APPR teacher evaluation system:ALBANY—Governor Andrew Cuomo said he remains committed to his signature state-mandated teacher evaluation system but argued that amendments are necessary in order to ensure the fairness of the ratings.“The teacher evaluation system is in effect,” Cuomo stressed during a Capitol news conference on

2 by reality-based edu... / 5h 

6-19-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School: Sandra Stotsky: Don't Let Yourself Be Bullied By State Education OfficialsJessica Bakeman at Capital NY:ALBANY—A former Massachusetts state education official who has emerged as a national critic of the Common Core standards told parent-lobbyists at the Capitol on Tuesday that they should fight for their rights and empower their older children as activists. Sandra Stotsky, w

by mike simpson / 8h 

Summer Learning Day - National Summer Learning Association

Summer Learning Day - National Summer Learning Association:

 Summer Learning Day is Friday, June 20, 2014!

Summer Learning Day is a national advocacy day recognized to spread awareness about the importance of summer learning for our nation’s youth in helping close the achievement gap and support healthy development in communities all across the country.

Summer learning programs:

• Maintain and advance participants' academic and developmental growth
• Support working families
• Keep children safe and healthy
• Send young people back to school ready to learn

Summer Learning Day is supported by elected officials and policymakers, public agencies, nonprofit organizations, schools, universities, museums, libraries, and summer camps across the country. Whether you’re a community, summer program, school, or parent, there are many ways to celebrate Summer Learning Day!

Visit our Ways to Celebrate webpage to learn how you can help spread awareness. 

Don't forget to visit the map to add your event, or find a Summer Learning Day event near you! 

 

Summer Learning Day - National Summer Learning Association:

Five Thoughts on Randi Weingarten's AEI Remarks :: Frederick M. Hess

Five Thoughts on Randi Weingarten's AEI Remarks :: Frederick M. Hess:

Five Thoughts on Randi Weingarten's AEI Remarks

by Frederick M. Hess  •  Jun 20, 2014 at 8:35 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

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On Wednesday, AFT president Randi Weingarten joined me over at AEI to share some thoughts about teacher evaluation, tenure, the Common Core, testing, and more. Here, I offer five thoughts sparked by Randi's remarks and our conversation. If you want more, you can watch the event or check out an event summary here.

One, when discussing Vergara v. California, Randi said good and smart things about tenure. She said tenure shouldn't be a shield for incompetence or an excuse for managers not to manage. She flatly said that, if teachers can't teach after they've been helped, unions need to say that they can't be in the profession. The problem, of course, is that plenty of us are skeptical of the nice words--because we feel like unions have generally not stepped up on this score and because union leaders like Mike Mulgrew in New York and Karen Lewis in Chicago are declaring "war" on reformers and giving no indication they've gotten Randi's memo. This helps explain why unions feel like they don't get any credit for their good efforts, while reformers distrust the AFT's commitment.

Two, in arguing that the distrust is misplaced, Randi pointed to developments in places like New Haven and Baltimore, where AFT locals have partnered with districts to police the profession and to reward excellence. Union advocates are frustrated that they don't get credit for such developments, while critics say, "Sure, a handful of districts are inching forward, but those are outliers." This is, as Randi noted, very much a glass half-full or a glass half-empty kind of exercise. Neither side is necessarily "wrong" or malicious, but we all bring experiences, expectations, and world views to this debate--and those on both sides of the divide feel like they've got plenty of cause for suspicion and bad faith.

Three, those feelings tend to deepen, ripen, and congeal because most individuals in each camp spend their time conferring with the like-minded. While education isn't partisan per se, it features something that looks like a partisan-style divide. This is a particular problem for schooling because, as John Chubb and Terry Moeso powerfully argued a quarter century ago, and as most people in both camps believe, the defining Five Thoughts on Randi Weingarten's AEI Remarks :: Frederick M. Hess:

In Ohio, Political Contributions Yield Budget Gift for White Hat’s David Brennan | janresseger

In Ohio, Political Contributions Yield Budget Gift for White Hat’s David Brennan | janresseger:

In Ohio, Political Contributions Yield Budget Gift for White Hat’s David Brennan

Posted on June 20, 2014 by janresseger

Here’s what happened in Ohio’s mid-biennium budget review bill, signed into law on Monday by Governor John Kasich.  The governor and the legislature rewarded David Brennan, who runs the White Hat Life Skills Academy “dropout recovery” schools.  According to Brent Larkin in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, David Brennan “has poured more than $4 million into the coffers of Republican candidates in Ohio during the past decade.”

Recently this blog covered the scandal of Ohio’s so-called “dropout-recovery” charter schools, a scandal that has been exposed by Doug Livingston of the Akron Beacon Journal.  These schools offer students who have dropped out or are in danger of dropping out the opportunity to sit in a cubicle with a computer for four hours each day to recover enough credits to graduate from high school.  The state pays the dropout-recovery schools for all the students who are supposedly enrolled, but the dropout rate at these schools is higher than at any other secondary schools in the state, and the state keeps on paying for several weeks after the students stop attending.  Livingston has demonstrated that these schools are, in fact, driving up Ohio’s high school dropout rate.

Livingston writes, “Absenteeism tops the reasons why students drop out; charter schools continue to collect tax dollars for more than a month while they are gone.” “Administrators call it churning’ or ‘school hopping’—when student drop out, disappear for months and then return.”  “The state requires that students who are absent or truant for more than 23 days be taken off school rolls, but during that 23 days, the state reimburses the school. Livingston explains: “There were more than 11,000 removals for truancy last year, meaning taxpayers In Ohio, Political Contributions Yield Budget Gift for White Hat’s David Brennan | janresseger:

Geaux Teacher!: Revisiting LDOE "Crimes and Misdemeanors"

Geaux Teacher!: Revisiting LDOE "Crimes and Misdemeanors":

Revisiting LDOE "Crimes and Misdemeanors"

In the aftermath of Governor Jindal's proclamation that John White/LDOE/BESE must halt their intention to contract for PARCC assessments, and in light of his additional announcement that LDOE contracts and procedures will be audited, I returned to past concerns that I have expressed regarding  what I consider to be a most important problem - the calculation of school performance scores. 

School Performance Scores are calculated by a metric controlled solely by John White.  White has been accused of manipulating those calculations for several years.  SPS scores have monetary consequences for schools and involve both federal and state taxpayer dollars.  It is inconceivable to me that warnings and pleas by me and several other Louisiana teachers, backed up with evidence, have been ignored by all parties noted.  

Here is one example of circumstances I encountered back in January of 2013.  You decide if this doesn't represent a clear violation of trust. John White has threatened legal action (paid for with taxpayer money and education dollars) if Gov. Jindal follows through on his proclamation to halt PARCC.  I hope he does push his luck so that the truth can be revealed during those proceedings.  I really can't imagine that White would be that foolish.  

*******
Jan. 12, 2013 Letter I sent to all district superintendents 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Tuesday, Jan. 8,  I attended the Superintendents' Advisory Council meeting in Baton Rouge.  Superintendent John White presented and discussed two documents as per the agenda. http://www.boarddocs.com/la/bese/Board.nsf/files/93QSAP713F3C/$file/SAC_Agenda_0113.pdf

Prior to that meeting, I sent you several documents representing analyses of the Louisiana VAM as used for COMPASS, SPS score inflation, and scoring bias authored by Dr. Mercedes Schneider and Herbert Bassett.  I and others present at the SAC meeting had expected to offer valuable testimony regarding Supt. White's proposals for "adjustments" to COMPASS and SPS calculation. 

Unfortunately, Chairman Faulk refused to accept public testimony as required by the state public meetings laws. http://www.boarddocs.com/la/bese/Board.nsf/files/93QSAP713F3C/$file/SAC_Agenda_0113.pdf   As a result, SAC "received" the documents and they will be considered this Tuesday at the BESE meeting.  

After the SAC meeting I requested, in person at Supt. White's office,  copies of the two documents (PowerPts) as  presented by Supt. White at the meeting.  None was proferred.  I followed up by immediately filing a FOIA with LDE.  In spite of repeated requests, I have been denied access to these public documents.

* * * * * *

Ms. Barrios,

Please be advised that the requested documents are not final and are shared with SAC in anticipation of the final versions Geaux Teacher!: Revisiting LDOE "Crimes and Misdemeanors":

Jindal Takes Action to Stop Common Core

Re posted from Mike Deshotel's blog:Louisiana EducatorJindal Takes Action to Stop Common CorePosted: 19 Jun 2014 11:57 AM PDTGovernor Jindal took several executive actions Wednesday, June 18 to pull Louisiana out of the Common Core State Standards. This included a challenge to the legality of the state contract for PARCC testing which he states was done in violation of the competitive bidding law,

by lbarrios / 8h 

NYC Educator: School Rule--Teachers May Not Talk to Parents

NYC Educator: School Rule--Teachers May Not Talk to Parents:

School Rule--Teachers May Not Talk to Parents

By special guest blogger Nouveaux Pauvres


I am now working at an after school/college prep/tutoring company in a Very Expensive Town in Long Island. To give you an idea of what kind of kids these are, one day I said to one boy, “Pack up, your mom is going to be here soon to pick you up.” The boy said replied, “My mom doesn’t pick me up. Our driver picks me up.” Well excuse me, I didn’t know you had a driver.

Anyway, the place is pretty disorganized. And expensive (for the parents). I guess the parents feel that since they’re paying, their kids get to do whatever they want. This was made abundantly clear to me when on my first day a 7 year old boy was repeatedly throwing himself on the floor and saying “I want to break a bone!" I tried to stop him but he said “You can’t tell me what to do.” Soon thereafter the mom arrived, very swank looking lady. I was so relieved. I rushed up to the mother to try to tell her about her son’s disturbing habit of throwing himself on the floor. To my shock the owner of the place grabbed me and led me away. “Teachers are not allowed to talk to parents!”

“Huh?”

“These parents are very wealthy, and I know how to talk to them, because I am like them. But teachers are not diplomatic enough … just trust me.”

I was gobsmacked. I’ve never had anyone imply that I was too low class to talk to a parent.

Sure enough the kid went home with some chafing on his arms that resulted from him repeatedly throwing himself on the floor. The mom called, irate. The owner wanted to know why this happened. I pointed out to her that I tried to tell the mom exactly how it happened: he was repeatedly hurling himself on the floor. “Hmm, but we can’t tell her that,” she said. Okay then. What would we tell her? “I don’t know,” she said, NYC Educator: School Rule--Teachers May Not Talk to Parents:

UPDATE: Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Is the Gov. From the State of Koch too big to jail?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Is the Gov. From the State of Koch too big to jail?:

Law-and-order man Rahm was behind Clinton's mass deportation policies.

Previously restricted memos from Emanuel to Clinton are among thousands of White House documents kept secret until 12 years after Pres. Clinton’s second term ended in 2001. A review of the memos makes it clearer tan ever that it was our mayor, Rahm Emanuel, despite his current facade as an immigration reformer, who was advising Clinton to step up mass deportations of undocumented workers.As mayor,

1 by Mike Klonsky / 13min 

Is the Gov. From the State of Koch too big to jail?

I wonder why there's no mention of the Koch Bros. in S-T's coverage of Gov. Walker's crooked campaign fundraising tactics. Walker is after all, the Gov. from Koch.

Remember when a prankster called Gov. Walker  posing as David Koch and mentioned "special interests" the governor didn't flinch. He didn't have to be told in whose interests he was working. Koch had bankrolled his campaign and contributed over $1 million to the Wisconsin Governor's Assoc. The Koch-funded Wisconsis T-Party were his campaign workers.

Prosecutors are now on his trail but teacher-bashing, union-busting Walker may be too big to jail. He's one of Limbaugh Party's main hopeful's for White House run in 2016. NYT reports:

...the Club for Growth become “a hub,” according to prosecutors, for coordinating political spending by the Walker campaign and an array of outside groups. These ranged from the Republican Governors Association to Americans for Prosperity, the conservative advocacy group co-founded by the billionaire industrialist David H. Koch and financed by the  Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Is the Gov. From the State of Koch too big to jail?:

The Gift That Never Stops Giving–Teaching* | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The Gift That Never Stops Giving–Teaching* | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

The Gift That Never Stops Giving–Teaching*

I wrote this post four years ago. With graduation ceremonies in K-12 and college occurring now and in the next few weeks, and so much in the news about the quality of teaching and how to capture it, I thought I would run the post again.

 

A dear friend and I exchanged emails recently and she mentioned that she had heard from a student she had in 1960. She had taught in the New York area for a number of years before returning to graduate school but recalled with much warmth how fine a group of sixth graders she had that particular year. The then 11 year-old, now a grandma, had stayed in touch with my friend over the years. She had become a teacher and had just retired and was now writing about the adult lives of classmates.

I began thinking of the often unspoken psychic rewards that accrue (in business terms, I would call it: the return on investment) to experienced teachers who have had many groups of students pass through their classroom over the years and how some of those students (such as Steven Strogatz) make a point of visiting, writing, and staying in touch with their former teachers. Fortunately, that has happened to me when a few former students at Glenville High School in Cleveland and from Cardozo High School in Washington, D.C. have stayed in touch. Ditto from some former Stanford graduates. When letters or pop- in visits occur, I get such a rush of memories of the particular student and the class and the mixed emotions that accompany the memories. Teaching is, indeed, the gift that never stops giving.

Those former students who stay in touch over the years, I have found, attribute far too much to my teaching and semester- or year-long relationship with them. Often I am stunned by their recollections of what I said and did. In most cases, I cannot remember the incidents that remain so fresh in their memories. Nor had I tried to predict which of the few thousand high school students I have taught would have reached out to contact me, I would have been wrong 75 percent of the time. My flawed memories and pitiful predictive power, however, cannot diminish the strong satisfaction I feel from seeing and hearing classroom tales from former students.

However policymakers and researchers define success in teaching or produce pay-for-performance plans the hard-to-measure influence of teachers upon students turns up time and again in those graduates who reach out to their The Gift That Never Stops Giving–Teaching* | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Sacramento City school district approves charter school plan - Education - The Sacramento Bee

Sacramento City school district approves charter school plan - Education - The Sacramento Bee:

Sacramento City school district approves charter school plan

By Loretta Kalb
lkalb@sacbee.com

Published: Thursday, Jun. 19, 2014 - 11:21 pm

Close to 100 people backing a charter school at the shuttered Joseph Bonnheim Elementary School were rewarded Thursday night when trustees of the Sacramento City School Board voted 4-3 to approve the plan.

A charter petition – initiated by parents late last year – calls for the school to educate 323 K-6 students starting in the fall. The school in Sacramento’s south area is to have an agriculture theme and pursue a body-brain approach to teaching that incorporates physical activity into academic exercises.

Bonnheim Elementary was one of seven campuses closed last year due to falling enrollment.

About 25 people spoke in support of the proposed New Joseph Bonnheim Community School. And Trustee Gustavo Arroyo lauded the petition and the parent advocates and said, “I would have loved to attend as a child.”

The petitioners faced two critical staff reports by district staff. In a report, staff reviewers found the proposed educational program lacked clarity in governance and hiring matters. And they repeated warnings that the petitioners are unlikely to succeed in launching the charter school and did not meet state Education Code requirements in explaining programs.

But several board members said they found the plan for the school academically sound.

Voting to support the project were trustees Arroyo, Jay Hansen, Diana Rodriguez and Christina Pritchett.

---

Call The Bee’s Loretta Kalb, (916) 321-1073. Follow her on Twitter @LorettaSacBee.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/06/19/6498185/sacramento-city-school-district.html#storylink=cpy

Sacramento City school district approves charter school plan - Education - The Sacramento Bee: