8-15-14 Hemlock on the Rocks

Hemlock on the Rocks:

WalMart Sends Mixed Messages About Wage Slavery

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by Rene Diedrich / 6min hide  //  save

LETTER TO MAYOR TONY FROM THE BROAD FATHER LAYS OUT ARTILLERY for LAUSD TAKE OVER

by Rene Diedrich / 12min

Incredibly Irresponsible Rhetoric in Response to LAUSD system glitches from CalWatchDog

http://calwatchdog.com/2014/08/14/lausd-system-does-not-compute/ LAUSD system does not compute | CalWatchDog August 14, 2014 - By John Seiler You'd think a state that's still by far the center of the global computer industry could produce government

by Rene Diedrich / 13min 

Gulen-Linked Schools in Calif. to be Investigated by State | Asbarez Armenian News

http://asbarez.com/125967/gulen-linked-schools-in-calif-to-be-investigated-by-state/comment-page-1/#comment-8016974 Gulen-Linked Schools in Calif. to be Investigated by StateMagnolia Science Academy 6 in Palms is one of the schools cited for financial mismanagement SACRAMENTO, LOS ANGELES—The Joint

by Rene Diedrich / 16min 

Gulen-Linked Schools in Calif. to be Investigated by State | Asbarez Armenian News

http://asbarez.com/125967/gulen-linked-schools-in-calif-to-be-investigated-by-state/ Gulen-Linked Schools in Calif. to be Investigated by StateMagnolia Science Academy 6 in Palms is one of the schools cited for financial mismanagement SACRAMENTO, LOS ANGELES—The Joint Legislative Audit Committee on

by Rene Diedrich / 1min hide  //  save

5 States With the Worst Public Schools

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/politics/5-states-with-the-worst-public-schools.html/?a=viewall&ref=OB 5 States With the Worst Public Schools Source: Thinkstock Terms like immigration and health care have really

by Rene Diedrich / 4min 

Close to Home: Disruptive innovation in education | The Press Democrat

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/opinion/2533094-181/close-to-home-disruptive-innovation Close to Home: Disruptive innovation in education | The Press Democrat

by Rene Diedrich / 6min 

Due Process Blues for Brown and Greene who Laments Teaching without Tenure /Ravitch

http://dianeravitch.net/2014/08/15/peter-greene-what-it-means-to-teach-without-tenure/comment-page-1/#comment-2223407Referring to tenure as due process is a very simple yet effective rhetorical concession we should make as comments here confirm. For the public tenure is offensive and for good reason. As we all know, there are bad teachers, administrators and officials. The system is infested with

by Rene Diedrich / 18min

The War on Education

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/28/1316793/-The-War-on-Education The War on EducationI've been involved in education for over forty years. For most of that I didn't do it for a living but managed to keep at it never the less. It was actually John Holt's How Children Fail that got me involved back in

by Rene Diedrich / 5min hide  //  save

National Education Association's Lily Eskelsen Garcia on teaching, testing, and fighting back

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/27/1316368/-National-Education-Association-s-Lily-Eskelsen-Garcia-on-teaching-testing-and-fighting-back National Education Association's Lily Eskelsen Garcia on teaching, testing, and fighting back Both major teachers unions, the National Education Association

by Rene Diedrich / 6min 

Teachers union calls for 'improvement' plan for Arne Duncan, but AFT is in Need of Improvements of its own

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/14/1313898/-Teachers-union-calls-for-improvement-plan-for-Arne-Duncan Teachers union calls for 'improvement' plan for Arne Duncan The American Federation of Teachers followed the National Education Association in passing a resolution sharply critical of

by Rene Diedrich / 35min 

Detroit schools emergency manager raises class size to emergency levels

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/18/1314775/-Detroit-schools-emergency-manager-raises-class-size-to-emergency-levels Detroit schools emergency manager raises class size to emergency levels As Detroit struggles with bankruptcy, its public schools are struggling, too. They even have their very

by Rene Diedrich / 37min 

Let's Be Honest: We Don't Know How to Make Great Teachers - Education Week Teacher

http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2014/08/11/fp_fryshman_teacher_quality.html?cmp=ENL-TU-NEWS1

by Rene Diedrich / 21min 

LAUSD says it's not subject to state's 'parent trigger' law this year - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-parent-trigger-20140815-story.html?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fnews%2Feducation+%28L.A.+Times+-+Education%29 LAUSD says it's not subject to state's 'parent trigger' law this year

by Rene Diedrich / 21min 

Wal-Mart, Don't Discount the Power of Teachers | MomsRising's Blog

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by Rene Diedrich / 2h 

8-13-14 Hemlock on the Rocks

Hemlock on the Rocks: Eli Broad on Education, DTLA, and Gun Controlby Rene Diedrich / 1h STANDARDIZED : Lies, Money, & Civil Rights: How Testing Is Ruining Public EducationFor decades, standardized testing has been a part of public education. Within the last ten years, however, education reform has promoted even more testing. Test scores, mistakenly viewed as effective assessments of student a

by mike simpson / 9h 

8-15-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

No Wonder Andrew Cuomo And Billy Joel Are Friends

From the NY Post:The Piano Man is really The Electronic Keyboard Man.A tipster who peaked under the lid of Billy Joel’s Steinway grand piano tells me there are no strings inside. The 88 ivories are connected to an electronic synthesizer.“The fans don’t know it. They love him and pack the place, but the grand ‘piano’ he has onstage is just a shell with no guts,” said my source.A Joel spokeswoman sa

by reality-based edu... / 25min 

Why Did NYSUT Endorse The Pro-Charter, Pro-Voucher Jeff Klein?

 From State of Politics:Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeff Klein on Friday touted his endorsement from the New York State United Teachers union. “I’m honored to have the endorsement of NYSUT, whose membership works hard each and every day on everything from shaping young minds in our public schools to educating adults in our colleges and universities. I’m committed to being a voice for

by reality-based edu... / 58min 

De Blasio, Farina Full of Shit On Test Scores

The lede of this Eliza Shapiro piece at Capital NY:Mayor Bill de Blasio and schools chancellor Carmen Fariña on Thursday praised the slight improvement in citywide test scores while reiterating their shared ambivalence toward testing in general. At a press conference at the Brooklyn Brownstone School to announce the scores, de Blasio said, "This is a good day for the whole New York City schoo

by reality-based edu... / 49min 

8-14-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: NYSED To Release Common Core Test Scores TodayFrom WIVB:BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - The tests are over, and soon we will know the outcome of round two of Common Core testing. New York will release the results Thursday. Students took the math and English tests in April. This is the second year of the controversial testing standards. New York students scored lower last year than th

by mike simpson / 8h 

Retired Youngstown Professor Launches Website to Expose Horrors of Ohio School “Reform” | janresseger

Retired Youngstown Professor Launches Website to Expose Horrors of Ohio School “Reform” | janresseger:

Retired Youngstown Professor Launches Website to Expose Horrors of Ohio School “Reform”

Posted on August 15, 2014 by janresseger

This blog will take a three-week, late summer break after today.  Look for a new post on Monday, September 8.  Enjoy the rest of your summer!

—-

Randy Hoover is a recently retired professor of education at Youngstown State University, right here in rust-belt Ohio, where he has learned from experience about the challenges facing teachers in an economically distressed urban area. Diane Ravitch recently posted Hoover’s introduction to a new website he is launching to expose the misconceptions, fallacies, and lies of today’s school “reform” movement.

Hoover’s description of the experiences of his former students—now teachers—perfectly depicts what teachers here in Cleveland tell me:  “With every new semester, my students expressed greater concern and more confusion about what was happening to them.  They wanted to know why their professional worlds were being so drastically altered for the worse, why they were being singled out as a profession for demonization and ridicule by the media, the public, and both major political parties.  Indeed, some of my students were even beginning to believe the rhetoric of reform.  Sadly, the only explanations they had were the fragmented, shallow propaganda slogans the reformists were peddling in the media…. There was simply no reflective critique, no voices challenging No Child Left Behind and the cascading, anti-teacher, anti-public school mandates gushing from the Ohio legislature and the Ohio Department of Education that were inundating them.”

Hoover captures both the irony and tragedy of how standardized testing and the rating of school districts is playing out in metropolitan areas across the United States these days: “For my students working in high-poverty schools, the isolation and alienation was palpable, with very good, dedicated teachers feeling demoralized and abandoned amid the very public, state-mandated accountability reports showing them to be professionally incompetent.  Equally disturbing were those in the wealthier schools who were starting to become a bit smug because these same accountability reports portrayed them to be professionally excellent.  Neither group understood that teachers in low-performing schools were no more the cause Retired Youngstown Professor Launches Website to Expose Horrors of Ohio School “Reform” | janresseger: 

http://teacher-advocate.com/

As Long As You’re Filling Out School Forms – How About One For Opting Out? | Missouri Education Watchdog

As Long As You’re Filling Out School Forms – How About One For Opting Out? | Missouri Education Watchdog:

As Long As You’re Filling Out School Forms – How About One For Opting Out?

inShare

HB1490 is a first step towards reclaiming local control of education. Unfortunately it did not do away with standardized testing so districts will be giving the SBAC tests next spring (2015). They will be referred to as pilot tests. These are tests that have no validity or reliability data to prove that they measure what they claim to measure. The developers are just now trying to figure out cut scores for proficiency by asking teachers to give their opinion on where it should be set. Sounds real scientific. If Missouri is developing its own standards and now, by law, must have a new test aligned to those standards, the SBAC tests will not be with us long which is even more reason why taking these pilot tests a waste of your child’s time. Maybe it’s time to fill out an Opt Out form and submit it to your child’s school along with all the other forms they want you to fill out.

The ACLU was looking into mounting a legal challenge to forced standardized testing in 2012. They were looking for parents whose children received a penalty/threats for opting out of testing. I couldn’t find an update on where they are, but if you want to participate in the complaint they asked you to send the following:

• your story
• permission to join in on the ACLU complaint
• your return address
• a signature on a hard copy

Submit to: Nina Bishop, 3065 Windward Way, Colorado Springs, CO 80917
Questions: 719-233-1508

Last year was the first year that parents tried in earnest to opt out of testing so it seems reasonable that there weren’t that many threats before 2013. However, thirty thousand parents did opt their kids out of the New York tests this spring and none of those kids were expelled or suspended.

That’s not to say the picture is all rosy. There are plenty of schools that are attempting to  As Long As You’re Filling Out School Forms – How About One For Opting Out? | Missouri Education Watchdog:

8/15/2014 – Character Change In The ‘Education Reform’ Soap Opera

8/15/2014 – Character Change In The ‘Education Reform’ Soap Opera:

8/15/2014 – Character Change In The ‘Education Reform’ Soap Opera

August 15, 2014 Subscribe

THIS WEEK: Teachers Not Prepared For Common Core … Test Resistance Grows … Ed-Tech Teaching Machines … Charter School Corruption … College Debt’s Long-Term Damages

TOP STORY

Character Change In The ‘Education Reform’ Soap Opera

By Jeff Bryant

“With the resignation of Michelle Rhee from the organization she founded, StudentsFirst, what we witnessed is an alteration of a script already written by very wealthy people who’ve created an elaborate fiction for how the nation should educate its children.”
Read more …

NEWS AND VIEWS

Despite Training, Half of Teachers Feel Inadequately Prepared for Common Core

Education Week

“Teachers are getting steadily more training in the common core, but they’re not feeling much more prepared to teach it, according to survey results … While far more teachers are attending common-core training, they are giving those sessions low marks for quality … As states edge closer to giving common-core-aligned assessments this spring, it’s notable that the survey found that few teachers were getting training about the tests. Only 23 percent reported that the assessments had been a topic of professional development … Nearly six in 10 said their main curricular materials were not aligned to the new standards.”
Read more …

National Resistance To High-Stakes Testing Grows Even Before School Year Begins

Substance News

“Resistance to the regime of high-stakes testing … never stopped organizing after last year’s testing cycle ended … With another group of secret tests being foisted on American public school children this school year … the Resistance continues to have several issues to confront. Following the debacle of the debate against Common Core … even more teachers are becoming aware of the issues … The Opt Out movement and the Resistance to high-stakes testing can presently be seen to be nationwide.”
Read more …

Google Classroom And The Teaching Machine

Hack Education

Ed-tech blogger Audrey Waters writes on her personal blog, “Much of the history of education technology from the early 20th century onward is concerned with … long-running efforts to automate assignments and assessment … These are frequently framed as ‘labor-saving’ advancements for teachers, who as psychologist Sidney Pressey wrote in 1926, are ‘woefully burdened by such routine of drill and information-fixing’ … The irony seems to be lost on Pressey, no doubt, that the drudgery of repeated grading and testing was a result of the very practices that he and his fellow psychologists had promoted. The irony is still lost on many folks today … Pressey first demonstrated his teaching machine … to the American Psychological Association in 1924 … We can see in Pressey’s machine one of the early attempts to automate the practice of standardized testing … Looking too at the Google Classroom launch with a grading scale based on 100 points (a grading scale that is not ‘natural,’ that has a history) – that technology does not simply work in the service of supporting educational practices. Technology shapes, limits, steers those practices.”
Read more …

How Will Charter Schools Deal With Their Corruption Scandals?

The Washington Post

“Charter schools were originally conceived as centers of experimentation and innovation where educators could try new approaches quickly on a small scale with a minimum of paperwork … That same openness that allows new ideas to flourish may also have left the sector vulnerable to a dangerous level of corruption … Now recent investigations from the Detroit Free Press, South Florida’s Sun-Sentinel, and the Florida League of Women Voters have painted a troubling picture of two out-of-control charter school systems … The charter school systems of Florida and Michigan were set up under the explicit assumptions that choice and market forces could allow a massive government funded set of private companies to run with only minimal oversight and regulation … It is time to start questioning the effectiveness of these policies and their cost to both taxpayers and, more importantly, to students.”
Read more …

Student Debt May Damage Grads’ Lives More Than We Realize, Gallup Finds

The Huffington Post

“College undergrads who take on a lot of student loan debt are less likely to thrive in several key areas after graduation … Major student debt tends to burden the graduates’ lives well beyond their wallets … Graduates who had taken on debt of more than $50,000 were more likely than their less-burdened counterparts to be struggling or suffering in four areas: purpose, financial, community, and physical … Even after controlling for socioeconomic status (using the common proxy of the mother’s highest level of education), the most indebted graduates still had lower ratings in well-being … Graduates’ well-being may suffer in part, Gallup suggested, because student debt often leads people to defer major life events, like getting married and buying a home.’”
Read more …

Full House at West Philly Town Meeting on Local Control of Schools | WeArePCAPS

Full House at West Philly Town Meeting on Local Control of Schools | WeArePCAPS:

Full House at West Philly Town Meeting on Local Control of Schools

Posted on August 15, 2014by wearepcaps

Panel discusses why returning control of our schools to the people of Philadelphia is needed

Over a hundred people gathered last night at Monumental Baptist Church to press for ending the 13 year old failed experiment with the School Reform Commission and return our schools to local control. For PCAPS this demand is part of a broader campaign to elect a Governor and legislators who are committed to quality education for all children.

A panel of parent Kia Hinton from ACTION United, Maureen O’Driscoll, Kindergarten teacher at JB Kelly and two student members of BPSOS, Kenneth and Cassandra from Central and Girls High talked about what state control of schools has mean’t for them. All three speakers hit on the impact of the failure of the state to fund our schools. The other theme was the SRC denys all of us a democratic voice in determining what happens in our schools. Rev. Dr. Matsen, the pastor of Monumental Baptist also spoke, focusing on the historic and continuing inequality between inner city schools and the affluent suburbs. State Representative James Roebuck opened the meeting with a strong pledge of support for the local control campaign.

Besides hearing from the speakers, town hall participants, phoned, tweeted, wrote postcards and emails to City Council and the Mayor calling for allowing the ballot question on returning our schools to local control to go forward. Working Families Organization Director Kati Sipp told the audience that in spite of 40,000 signatures on petitions to Full House at West Philly Town Meeting on Local Control of Schools | WeArePCAPS:

PCAPS Statement on School Redesign Initiative

For years many of us have called for teacher led, community based approaches to improving schools as opposed to school “turnaround” policies that arbitrarily replace school staff and turn schools over to charters or outside managers. In that spirit we welcome the School Redesign Initiative as a District effort to respond positively to these concerns. The SRI does open a window for educators, pare

by wearepcaps / 1h 

A call for national online teacher credential :: SI&A Cabinet Report

A call for national online teacher credential :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

AUGUST 15, 2014

A call for national online teacher credential

by Tom Chorneau

(Colo.) The principal of one of the nation’s largest and oldest online learning academies recently visited a Pennsylvania district that needed advanced placement instruction for about 100 students. The online program seemed a perfect fit, having full accreditation and NCAA-approved courses with highly qualified teachers ready to go.

The only problem was that instructors from the Florida Virtual School couldn’t meet specifics of the Pennsylvania certification requirements.

The patchwork of teacher licensing requirements nationwide has never been much of a problem given that so few educators need to be certified in multiple states simultaneously. But now, argues a new report from the Evergreen Education Group, the varied landscape of state-centered teacher licensing requirements is slowing the advance of online learning.

“Streamlining the teaching licensing process to allow teachers to more easily work across multiple states would increase high-quality online educational opportunities for students, and extend the reach of high-quality teachers,” argue researchers John Watson, Amy Murin and Larry Page.

“States should create an online teaching specialization that would allow a teacher licensed in any state to teach online students in any state without having to go through a separate licensure process in each state,” the Evergreen team suggested.

Currently no state has a separate licensing option for online teaching and very few have a defined professional development pathway to support digital instruction, according to the EvergreenA call for national online teacher credential :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet: 

And now for something completely different | InterACT

And now for something completely different | InterACT:

And now for something completely different

AUGUST 15, 2014

by David B. Cohen

Back to school time (photo by the author)

I went to the annual opening-of-school event for my district again this year – my 13th time. It’s a small enough district that we can bring together all 1,600 staff members to celebrate the start of a new year, hear from some of our district’s leaders, and acknowledge our new staff and those returning for their 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th, or 35th year. There are some people who skip it every year and consider it a waste of time, and if we measure the quality of time strictly in terms ofgetting stuff done then I suppose that’s true.

Not for me though – I look forward to this event each year as an opportunity to connect with colleagues across the district, and to take in some of the best of our district’s organizational culture. There’s food, music, humor, and genuine appreciation for the work of every staff member. Veteran teachers will tell you that the people who really keep our schools running, by the way, are the custodial and clerical staff. They know everyone and everything and they’re the ones we turn to for getting stuff done. I also heard today that our district staff, overall, includes roughly 50% teachers, 44% classified staff, and 6% administration.

I must really like this event, because this year, I’m on a leave of absence from teaching – and I went anyways. (More about that to follow. Something completely different. Please read on!)

I like clapping for my colleagues as their names are announced in honor of their years of service. I marvel at the longevity and commitment, and appreciate the depth of their experience. I chat with people sitting near me and as familiar names go by, we share what we know about these friends, neighbors, peers, the teachers of our own children in some cases. I enjoy even more And now for something completely different | InterACT:

Shanker Blog » The Semantics of Test Scores

Shanker Blog » The Semantics of Test Scores:

The Semantics Of Test Scores

Posted by Jennifer Borgioli on August 15, 2014

Our guest author today is Jennifer Borgioli, a Senior Consultant with Learner-Centered Initiatives, Ltd., where she supports schools with designing performance based assessments, data analysis, and curriculum design.

The chart below was taken from the 2014 report on student performance on the Grades 3-8 tests administered by the New York State Department of Education.

Based on this chart, which of the following statements is the most accurate?

A. “64 percent of 8th grade students failed the ELA test”

B. “36 percent of 8th graders are at grade level in reading and writing”

C. “36 percent of students meet or exceed the proficiency standard (Level 3 or 4) on the Grade 8 CCLS-aligned math test”

Seems like a trick question, doesn’t it? It’s almost as if all three choices are basically saying the same thing. Both Aand B are common refrains in different education circles, and C sounds a bit like bureaucratic word-smithing.  So, like any good test taker, let’s make sure we understand the difference between the choices before picking our answer.

Statement A is perhaps the most common format for these types of descriptions. It is often used as a talking point of sorts, one that usually consists of two elements – a shockingly large number and some variation of fail,failure or the inverse, “passing.” Before we pick A as the most “accurate” choice, however, we have to tap some of our background knowledge and consider what it means to pass or fail a test.

Generally speaking, when we talk about a test where the resulting score is described as passing or failing, it’s in relation to the consequences for the test taker. Fail your driver’s test? You can’t drive. Pass your boards? Welcome to the profession, Doctor. Both of these examples are clear pass/fail tests. In contrast, after taking the Armed Shanker Blog » The Semantics of Test Scores:

NYC Educator: The Day 127 Tests Up and Walked Away

NYC Educator: The Day 127 Tests Up and Walked Away:

The Day 127 Tests Up and Walked Away

Last June, my eyes popped wide and I snapped this picture outside my Regents' grading site.  Students' regents exams were sitting exposed to all in an open vehicle.  It struck me as odd and unsafe at the time.  I didn't think and I still don't think that anyone would steal exams.  It would have to be one desperate criminal.  First, there's no money to be made in it; two, the boxes are very heavy and, three, it surely, in some ways, constitutes a crime against humanity.  I suppose some unschooled crook might have supposed the box to be filled by unmarked bills, but I think it is far more likely that the boxes were lost through carelessness, rather than crime.  My vague sense of foreboding about the situation, unfortunately, turned out to be correct.

The New York Post recently published a piece entitled, "127 students must retake Regents after city loses their exams."  One could not help but feel for the kids at Thomas Edison Career and Technical Education HS, Community Leadership, Hillside Arts and Letters Academy and Jamaica Gateway, all in Jamaica, Queens.  I suppose some people view these students as statistics, but each has his or her own story of hardship.  And, I feel like anyone of them could be my student or my child someday.

Tests have been lost before, but only recently has the situation worsened.   In 2012, seventeen exams from FDR HS in Brooklyn were lost.  Last NYC Educator: The Day 127 Tests Up and Walked Away: