7-1-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter:

A bad way to rate teachers

Sent to the Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2014Contrary to Eric Hanushek's statement ("How Teachers Unions Use 'Common Core' to Undermine Reform," June 30), there is no movement by anybody to "eliminate school accountability and teacher evaluations." There is a movement to eliminate the use of standardized test score gains to evaluate teachers, and there is good reason to do so.

by skrashen / 8min 

6-29-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter: Kevin Carey Plays His Fear Card about American Colleges: It's a DeuceWith ALEC far on in writing model legislation to put steerage of higher education under the ham hands of the Tea Party and the Oligarchs (sounds like the worst band ever, right?), and with the federal government too in debt to the oligarchs to do anything about it, the only remaining stumbling block is the need to

by mike simpson / 6h

7-1-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Short Bibliography on Charter School Corruption

With A Brooklyn Accent:

Short Bibliography on Charter School Corruption

Leonie Haimson: Six Charter School Myths http://dianeravitch.net/2014/05/15/leonie-haimson-six-charter-school-myths/ Will Anyone Stop Charter School Corruption from Truthout http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/24659-will-anyone-stop-charter-school-corruption Who Is Profiting From Charters? From Alernet http://www.alternet.org/education/who-profiting-charters-big-bucks-behind-charter-school-secre

by Mark Naison / 4h 

6-28-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Love Letters to the BATS

With A Brooklyn Accent:The Challenges Facing the NEA and the AFT at Their National Conventions As teachers unions prepare to meet this summer, they face three great challenges, which are also opportunities:The rapidly growing grass roots movement against the Common Core Standards, which has already led several states to withdraw from CCSS, and has probably doomed its creators vision of CCSS as a n

by mike simpson / 10h 

7-1-14 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION:

Duncan on Harris v. Quinn

"Collective bargaining is a fundamental right that helped build America’s middle class. I’ve seen firsthand as Education Secretary that collaborating with unions and their state and local affiliates helps improve outcomes for students. The President and I remain committed to defending collective bargaining rights."That's not an excerpt. That's the whole thing. Here's the complete Duncan

5 by Peter Greene / 17min 

Charter Party of the Year: The Tweet Report

I believe that charter schools were once a viable option, a way to diversify and expand the possibilities available within a public school system. That possibility has all-but-vanished, crushed under the transformation of charter schools from an educational offering into an investment opportunity (thank you, obscure tax law). Nothing quite underlines that transformation like the annual National Ch

3 by Peter Greene / 29min 

Brown Presents NY Lawsuit Talking Points

In the June 24 NY Daily News, Campbell Brown presented the basic talking points for the newly-manufactured NY road show version of the Vergara trial. Here we go.A Stirring AnecdoteHer story centers on the Williams familyOne of their children... felt so strongly about the lack of instruction she was getting at her Rochester school that she wrote an essay about her experience. Instead of getting hel

15 by Peter Greene / 2h 

6-30-14 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION: The Mystery of ExcellenceDiane Ravitch's recent columns about Ms. McLaughlin, one of the undeservingly employed terrible teachers of the Vergara trial, underlines one of the central problems of the whole teacher evaluation portion of the reformster dream.Ms. McLaughlin won awards for teaching excellence not once, but twice in her career. And yet one of the plaintiffs found her to b

by mike simpson / 8h 

7-1-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Why Did The NY Times Edit Andrew Cuomo Statements Out Of The Libous Criminal Indictment Story?

Here's the way the NY Times story on the indictment of State Senator Tom Libous, the second ranking Republican in the State Senate and a close friend and ally of Governor Cuomo, read this afternoon at 1:50 PM:The indictment of Senator Libous effectively could deprive the governor of his most powerful and sympathetic ally within the Senate Republican majority. But it comes just weeks after Mr. Cuom

by reality-based edu... / 0min 

Bill Gates Whines "Unmotivated Studnets" Are The Problem With The Education System

Via Diane Ravitch's blog, here's an AP story on Bill Gates stroking himself at an event at Los Alamos:Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates says eradicating malaria, tuberculosis and polio is easier than fixing the United States' education system. But what he says he really wishes he could do is write a check to eliminate biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.Gates made the comment

by reality-based edu... / 40min 

Indicted Republican State Senator Is Close Cuomo Ally

This is in the Capital NY story on the indictment of the second ranking Republican in the State Senate, Tom Libous, on making false statements to the FBI:U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara subpoenaed records from JCOPE earlier this year, as he took over the mantle of a defunct anti-corruption commission that Governor Andrew Cuomo convened in 2012. Bharara criticized Cuomo, a Democrat, for shutting down h

by reality-based edu... / 20min 

IBO Report - Teaching Experience Of Principals Plummets

The IBO report on NYCDOE schools was just released - you can see it here in PDF.I'm starting to pore through it now, but here's one stat that got my attention (though given the Bloomberg policies of hiring lots of people with little-to-no education experience whatsoever to work as "team leaders", it's not a surprised):In 2000-2001, principals in DOE schools averaged 14.0 years as a teach

by reality-based edu... / 8min

RIP: Frank Cashen

From the Daily News:Frank Cashen, a one-time Baltimore sportswriter-turned-baseball man who presided over championship Oriole teams in the ’60s and ’70s and then, as general manager of the Mets, was the architect of their 1986 world championship team with a series of inspired trades for Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, Ron Darling and Bobby Ojeda, among others, died Monday at Memorial Hospital in Eas

by reality-based edu... / 34min 

6-30-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Why Is Governor Cuomo Still Paying Full Salary To The Executive Director Of The Defunct Moreland Commission?Quid Pro Cuomo at it again: Three months after Gov. Cuomo said he was pulling the plug on his anti-corruption commission, the panel’s lightening rod executive director is still drawing a hefty paycheck. State payroll records show that Moreland Commission Executive Dire

by mike simpson / 8h 

Have the people of Newark become invisible? | Bob Braun's Ledger

Have the people of Newark become invisible? | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Have the people of Newark become invisible?

Chris Christie and Cami Anderson

The renewal of Cami Anderson’s contract as state-imposed schools superintendent in Newark reveals some unpleasant truths many in the city and state may not want to face. The progressive wing of the state Democratic Party is all but dead. Support for public education among elected officials is waning. The political power of  both the city’s clergy and its public employee unions is non-existent. The election of Ras Baraka as mayor did nothing to stop or even slow down the “One Newark” plan. The privatization of the city’s schools will continue unabated.

And, to Chris Christie,  the governor of the state, the aspirations of the people of Newark are like mud stuck on the bottom of his shoe–he can just scrape it off on the nearest curb and keep on walking.

Cam Anderson’s victory–her considering it a loss, as far as I’m concerned, is just urban legend embraced by those who were embarrassed by that victory–also means this: The regard and respect public officials are expected to demonstrate for the people they serve simply do not apply to the people of the state’s largest city and probably not to the residents of most cities. And that’s probably because so many urban residents are people of color and poor.

Let’s face it: This country can elect an African-American president but, Have the people of Newark become invisible? | Bob Braun's Ledger:

SBE to clarify LCFF sanctions :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet

SBE to clarify LCFF sanctions :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:



JULY 01, 2014

SBE to clarify LCFF sanctions

by Kimberly Beltran

(Calif.) Even as districts met the June deadline for meeting new accountability measures under the Local Control Funding Formula, changes to the system are already in the wind.

Next week, the California State Board of Education will take up amendments that will clarify a county superintendent’s oversight role in the process.

The state board will also consider added reporting regulations requiring districts to demonstrate how they have increased or improved services to disadvantaged pupils in proportion to the extra funding provided for that purpose.

The much heralded, yet much debated, Local Control Funding Formula is up for discussion both July 9 and 10 when the SBE meets to dispense its monthly workload.

After reviewing a history of their work on LCFF on Wednesday, board members on Thursday will vote on final spending regulations as well as the associated Local Control Accountability Plan template.

New language in the regulations, which call for county school superintendents to review and approve district LCAPs, state that if the administrator does not approve a plan ‘because the district has failed to meet its requirement to increase or improve services’ for targeted students, the county office is then responsible for providing technical assistance to the district to help it meet the goal.

The proposed final regulations also lay out the formula by which districts can calculate the number of English learner, poor and foster students that qualify it for either additional ‘supplemental’ or ‘concentration grants’ under the LCFF.

The rules give wide discretion to local districts meeting the concentration or supplemental funding SBE to clarify LCFF sanctions :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

Pennsylvania Budget Fails to Provide for Desperate Education Needs of Philadelphia’s Children | janresseger

Pennsylvania Budget Fails to Provide for Desperate Education Needs of Philadelphia’s Children | janresseger:

Pennsylvania Budget Fails to Provide for Desperate Education Needs of Philadelphia’s Children

Posted on July 1, 2014 by janresseger

Writing for the NY Times, Josh Barro points out: “Kansas has a problem.  In April and May, the state planned to collect $651 million from personal income tax.  But instead it received only $369 million.” Kansas is one of the states where spending for public education has fallen recently due to tax cutting by its governor and legislators.  According to Barro, part of the problem is the way Kansas restructured income taxes for small businesses.  It seems the tax cuts are turning out to be bigger than their designers expected.  Some now worry that the result will be catastrophic: “Yes, if you cut taxes, you get less revenue,” writes Barro, who adds: “As revenue comes in over the next few months, Kansas will learn just how big of a tax cut it’s given out in the name of small business, and what it will have to do to the rest of the state budget to make the tax cut affordable.”

Despite widespread evidence to the contrary in places like Ohio, where I live, many believe tax cuts are essential for driving a state’s economic growth.  About Kansas, Paul Krugman wrote yesterday:  “But Kansas isn’t booming — in fact, its economy is lagging both neighboring states and America as a whole. Meanwhile, the state’s budget has plunged deep into deficit, provoking a Moody’s downgrade of its debt.”

Another measure of a state’s strength is the quality of its investment in the education of children and adolescents.  In fact tax cuts, added to the lingering effects of the 2008 recession, are one of the reasons why the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities can report that 35 states are now spending less on public education than back in 2007 before the recession. If a state needs to cut expenditures (after tax cuts reduce revenue), the quickest place to go is the biggest line in most state budgets: public education.  Schooling is a big investment because of the sheer size of the endeavor; across the 50 statesPennsylvania Budget Fails to Provide for Desperate Education Needs of Philadelphia’s Children | janresseger: 

The REAL international story of American education | Dangerously Irrelevant

The REAL international story of American education | Dangerously Irrelevant:

The REAL international story of American education

Linda Darling-Hammond said:

Federal policy under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the Department of Education’s ‘flexibility’ waivers has sought to address [the problem of international competitiveness] by beefing up testing policies — requiring more tests and upping the consequences for poor results: including denying diplomas to students, firing teachers, and closing schools. Unfortunately, this strategy hasn’t worked. In fact, U.S. performance on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) declined in every subject area between 2000 and 2012 — the years in which these policies have been in effect.

Now we have international evidence about something that has a greater effect on learning than testing: Teaching. The results of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), released last week by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), offer a stunning picture of the challenges experienced by American teachers, while providing provocative insights into what we might do to foster better teaching — and learning — in the United States.

In short, the survey shows that American teachers today work harder under much more challenging conditions than teachers elsewhere in the industrialized world. They also receive less useful feedback, less helpful professional development, and have less time to collaborate to improve their work. Not surprisingly, two-thirds feel their profession is not valued by society — an indicator that OECD finds is ultimately 

The REAL international story of American education | Dangerously Irrelevant:

Competency Education: The Next Great Disruptor in Education | Connected Principals

Competency Education: The Next Great Disruptor in Education | Connected Principals:

Competency Education: The Next Great Disruptor in Education

by Brian Stack • July 1, 2014 • 0 Comments

At a summit hosted by the Bainbridge Consulting firm in San Diego last week, research fellow Thomas Arnett of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation talked about the power of disruptors in shaping our future world. Borrowing an example from the auto industry, Arnett talked about the rise to power of the Korean-born Kia Corporation. Introduced to the American market in the 1970’s, Kia cars quickly developed an undesirable reputation as being cheap and poorly fabricated. Fast forward some twenty five years later and Kia has stayed focused on building high quality cars at affordable prices. Over the years their products have gotten better, and as we move into 2015 it is expected that Kia car sales will be one of the highest of any auto manufacturers in the American market. Similar to the Lexus Corporation that recently overtook Mercedes in the luxury-car class industry, the Kia Corporation has been a disruptor in its industry because it has found a way to produce a better product more efficiently and at a lower cost to the consumer.

Bainbridge organized last week’s Disruptors in Education Summit in an effort to engage some of the industry’s most visionary entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, policy experts, and practitioners in meaningful dialog around key disruptive trends impacting K-12 and higher education in 2014 and in the future. The summit focused on the future of post-secondary education, blended learning, gaming in learning and assessment, MOOCs and badges, and the rise of competency-based learning. It was the last topic on competency education, however, that drew some of the biggest interest and excitement among those in attendance.

Competency education is born out of the idea that secondary and higher education schools cannot be confined by the limitations of “seat time” and the Carnegie Unit (credit hours) when organizing how students will progress through their learning. In a competency education model learning is organized by competencies – a student’s ability to transfer Competency Education: The Next Great Disruptor in Education | Connected Principals:

Is test-prep teaching? It takes up 18 percent of school time | Education Lab Blog | Seattle Times

Is test-prep teaching? It takes up 18 percent of school time | Education Lab Blog | Seattle Times:

Is test-prep teaching? It takes up 18 percent of school time

Posted by Claudia Rowe

Donna Grethen / Op Art

As lawmakers in Olympia prepare to grapple with court-ordered increases in school funding, it might help to have a better idea of the various tasks a teacher is expected to complete in a day.

So went the thinking behind a year-long study of 693 Washington educators, which is scheduled for release on Tuesday. It is believed to be the most comprehensive effort undertaken by any state — to assess how much of a teacher’s time is devoted to instruction, and how much to paperwork, meetings and the like.

Drum roll, please: In Washington, about 73 percent of the school day — or four and three-quarter hours when students are present — is spent teaching. (That includes preparing for state tests.) The remaining 27 percent is devoted to parent conferences, professional development, lesson preparation and field trips, according to the study.

Educators and legislators may debate whether test-prep is, in fact, instruction. But either way, it accounts for nearly 18 percent of a teacher’s time, the data show.

This pattern held true for teachers across the spectrum, from elementary through high school.

John McCoy, D-Tulalip, who commissioned the $25,000 report, said it confirmed his impression that teachers are not being given enough time to focus on instruction. Between test-prep (which he does not count as teaching) and various other duties, nearly half of every day is spent on tasks other than educating students, he observed.

“That’s higher than I thought, but it doesn’t surprise me,” McCoy said. “There are legislators on both sides of the aisle who want to add even more non-teaching duties, and that was my frustration. I just wanted to say stop! We’re not giving them the time to teach.”

The study, which was done by Central Washington University, surveyed teachers from 159 school districts, using a combination of methods to ensure the accuracy of results. But it does not show Is test-prep teaching? It takes up 18 percent of school time | Education Lab Blog | Seattle Times:

Shanker Blog » Teachers And Education Reform, On A Need To Know Basis

Shanker Blog » Teachers And Education Reform, On A Need To Know Basis:

Teachers And Education Reform, On A Need To Know Basis

Posted by Matthew Di Carlo on July 1, 2014

A couple of weeks ago, the website Vox.com published an article entitled, “11 facts about U.S. teachers and schools that put the education reform debate in context.” The article, in the wake of the Vergara decision, is supposed to provide readers with the “basic facts” about the current education reform environment, with a particular emphasis on teachers. Most of the 11 facts are based on descriptive statistics.

Vox advertises itself as a source of accessible, essential, summary information — what you “need to know” — for people interested in a topic but not necessarily well-versed in it. Right off the bat, let me say that this is an extraordinarily difficult task, and in constructing lists such as this one, there’s no way to please everyone (I’ve read a couple of Vox’s education articles and they were okay).

That said, someone sent me this particular list, and it’s pretty good overall, especially since it does not reflect overt advocacy for given policy positions, as so many of these types of lists do. But I was compelled to comment on it. I want to say that I did this to make some lofty point about the strengths and weaknesses of data and statistics packaged for consumption by the general public. It would, however, be more accurate to say that I started doing it and just couldn’t stop. In any case, here’s a little supplemental discussion of each of the 11 items:

1. Teachers earn a bit more than the average American. This fact presents a simple comparison, using BLS data, of median elementary and secondary school (public and private) teacher earnings with those of the median U.S. household. There are a few issues here (most are mentioned in the article). First, I have no idea why, but this is comparing an occupation-level figure (for teachers) with a household-level figure. Second, it is comparing teachers’ earnings with those of all workers (households), rather than workers with similar education and experience. Third, the comparison omits non-salary compensation (i.e., benefits), which are an important part of this picture. These caveats, the first two in particular, make for a less-than-meaningful Shanker Blog » Teachers And Education Reform, On A Need To Know Basis:

NYC Educator: Troglodytes

NYC Educator: Troglodytes:

Troglodytes

The United States Supreme Court made two important decisions yesterday. First, they decided that employers need not fund health care decisions that conflict with their religious views.

So if you want your health care to entail birth control but your employer doesn't believe in it, too bad for you. Some religions have other reservations about medicine. Let's say your employer doesn't believe in antibiotics or blood transfusions. Maybe he doesn't believe in surgery or routine medical checks. That would really be tough, wouldn't it?

I wouldn't be surprised if the CEO of Exxon Mobil was forming a new religion right now. Think of how economical it would be for a business required to insure the health of people whose boss didn't actually believe in health.

But this court believes deeply in individual freedom. That's why it took up the case of some health care workers, who were apparently so offended by a raise of over 50% they went to federal court. They don't believe in union. How awful. I wonder why they didn't return their raise in protest. But as long as people believe in more work for less pay, they have the right to insist NYC Educator: Troglodytes:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: SCOTUS decision deserves a stronger response than Schuette got

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: SCOTUS decision deserves a stronger response than Schuette got:

SCOTUS decision deserves a stronger response than Schuette got

Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them. -- Frederick Douglass

The right wing has obviously figured out that that they can do just fine by neutering congress and relying on the Supreme Court and liberal compliance or passivity to roll back each and every hard-won civil rights victory of the past 50 years. 

SCOTUS majority's latest assault has public-employee unions hanging on by their finger nails and gives right-wing, Christian-owned corporations like Hobby Lobby the power to deny women access to contraception under Obamacare. Hopefully yesterday's disastrous rulings will be met with a louder, better organized and more militant response than the hand-wringing lamentation and even quiet support on the part of Democrats and union leaders in response to the last round decisions on voting rights and affirmative action.  In particular, April's racist Schuette Decision, which demolished affirmative action in Michigan and was seen as this generation's Plessy v. Ferguson, was met with deathly silence coming from Obama and the Democratic leadership. 

It's my belief that their lack of response to Schuette set the stage for the cutting off of the water Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: SCOTUS decision deserves a stronger response than Schuette got:

6-30-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

Media Has No Idea What Special Education Is (Guest Post)

Guest Post by Jessica S. Martinez, in response to a recent editorial in the Albuquerque Journal. Once again, the Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board has placed its ignorance on display for all to see. Here is yet another example of those who know nothing about education sticking their noses where they do not belong. Allow me to […]

43 by Kris Nielsen / 1h 

6-29-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: At the Chalk Face: Education Talk Radio (Sundays at 6PM EST)At the Chalk Face is the only progressive and pro-public education radio program available. Join Drs. Shaun Johnson and Tim Slekar LIVE Sundays at 6PM EST and Wednesdays at 7PM for commentary and interviews on the latest topics on education, including breaking stories from classrooms and schools nationwide. If you're a t

by mike simpson / 5h 

Friction in alliance between Democrats, unions over teacher tenure | MSNBC

Friction in alliance between Democrats, unions over teacher tenure | MSNBC:

Friction in alliance between Democrats, unions over teacher tenure

National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel and Nation Institute fellow Wayne Barrett look at the robust debate in the left over whether teacher tenure is in the best interests of students.

Common Core-Aligned Tests and the New Pearson GED: Failure By Design? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Common Core-Aligned Tests and the New Pearson GED: Failure By Design? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Common Core-Aligned Tests and the New Pearson GED: Failure By Design?

By Anthony Cody on June 30, 2014 7:06 PM

Returning from protesting the Gates Foundation's funding of corporate education reform, I have been wrestling with some questions about the goals for their project.

The Gates Foundation's Vicki Phillips was interviewed the day of the protest, and had this to sayabout it:

At the Gates Foundation, the great thing about us, and about Bill and Melinda is that they believe that all lives have equal value, and in the US, the way to address many of these issues is through a much, much better education system. And that's a goal that we all share. What makes what's happening today really valuable is to make all the perspectives heard, and to have a rich, honest, candid, substantive conversation. Because we can be after the same ends, but differ perhaps on how you might get there.

I engaged in a rich, substantive dialogue with the Gates Foundation two years ago, but sadly, they seem to have taken very little away from the process.

In fact, I have been growing more and more skeptical regarding this benign notion that we are all after the same thing. I have noticed a disturbing pattern. In New York, the Common Core tests were intentionally engineered to yield a pass rate of only 30%. This was documented by Carol Burris last year, who explained:

...the New York State Education Department, with the help of Pearson, creates a test and then after it is taken and scored, decide what constitutes passing.   By showing those chosen to participate in the cut-score setting process other measures that they claim indicate college 

Common Core-Aligned Tests and the New Pearson GED: Failure By Design? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: