LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 9-3-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

FairTest: Resistance to Over-Testing Grows Nationwide

Here is FairTest’s weekly roundup of resistance to test mania: This week’s biggest assessment reform news was the vote to “opt out” of state-mandated standardized exams by the Lee County, Florida School Board. Though that was the most dramatic action so far this school year, we are seeing more and more local officials across the nation speaking out against testing overkill. As grassroots activists

25 by dianeravitch / 5h 

John Thompson: When Arne Duncan Punished Oklahoma for Dropping Common Core

John Thompson, widely published writer, historian and teacher, wrote this post for the blog. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan obviously knew what he was doing when he timed the USDOE revocation of Oklahoma’s NCLB Waiver on the proverbial “take out the trash day,” just before the long Labor Day weekend. One Duncan soundbite is that Common Core is not a top down corporate and/or federal mandate,

9 by dianeravitch / 7h 

Scholars: “Grit” May Not Be Related to Creativity

An article in Education Week reports on research about “grit” or perseverance at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. Scholars reported that it had more bearing on academic outcomes than on creativity. “Magdalena G. Grohman, the associate director of the Center for Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology at the University of Texas at Dallas, argues that grittiness is n

13 by dianeravitch / 9h 

Gates Funds Programs to Grade Student Essays

Thanks to Leonie Haimson for this item. http://www.grantspace.org/Tools/Knowledge-Base/Individual-Grantseekers/For-Profit-Enterprises/business-funding By and large, foundations do not make grants to for-profit enterprises. If you are seeking funds to start a for-profit business, please consult the resources below for more information. You might also consult the business section of your local publ

30 by dianeravitch / 10h 

Why Computers Should Not Grade Student Essays

In the brave new world of Common Core, all tests will be delivered online and graded by computers. This is supposed to be faster and cheaper than paying teachers or even low-skill hourly workers or read student essays. But counting on machines to grade student work is a truly bad idea. We know that computers can’t recognize wit, humor, or irony. We know that many potentially great writers with un

69 by dianeravitch / 10h 

Peter Greene: Reform and the Cult of Order

Peter Greene has noticed that reformers are in love with order. They love it wWhen students wear identical uniforms and walk in straight lines without a word. He writes: “The Cult of Order believes in blind, unthinking devotion to Order. Everything must be in its proper place. Everything must go according to plan. Everything must be under control. “It is not new to find cult members in education

12 by dianeravitch / 11h 

Plunderbund: Are Religious Charter Schools the New Normal in Ohio?

Plunderbund is one of Ohio’s most valuable bloggers. In this post, Plunderbund points to an alarming trend in that state: the authorization of charter schools that are connected to clerics and churches. To begin with, there are the Gulen schools, associated with a reclusive Turkish imam. With 150 schools, it is the nation’s largest charter chain, with 19 located in Ohio and operating under the na

11 by dianeravitch / 12h hide  //  save

Two More Florida Charters Close Abruptly

Two more charter schools closed their doors without warning, sending students and parents in search of a new school. This continues a pattern documented by reporters Karen Yi and Amy Shipley in a major investigative story in June. “Two charter schools on Tuesday shut down just two weeks into their first school year, the latest in an unprecedented string of overnight closures among South Florida c

51 by dianeravitch / 13h 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 9-2-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Why Does the U.S. Test More Often and Earlier than Any High-Performing Nation?Education policymakers in the U.S. seem to think that more tests will produce higher achievement, but there is no evidence for this assumption. As this article from the Center on International Education Benchmarking shows, the U.S. tests more frequently t

1 by mike simpson / 7h 

Education Post: A Sorry Attempt to Repackage Privatization as “Conversation” | deutsch29

Education Post: A Sorry Attempt to Repackage Privatization as “Conversation” | deutsch29:

Education Post: A Sorry Attempt to Repackage Privatization as “Conversation”

September 3, 2014

There is a test-score-driven, privatizing war on public schools and on the teaching profession.

It is no secret that those chiefly financing the war stand above the chaos they create via their “philanthropy.” In short, they use their billions in order to promote their own ideal of American education privatization.

And it seems that they are able to enlist countless toadies to do their bidding.

In my book, A Chronicle of Echoes, I document the creators and supporters of this war and the twisted exchange of string-laden, “donated” money for abundant profiteering opportunities.

In chapter 23 of my book, I examine the “big three” foundations fueling the traditional public school funeral pyre: Broad, Gates, and Walton.

Allow me to offer a brief summary of their key “contributions.”

The Big Three in Busting Up That “Traditional Public School” Notion

Broad actively works to supplant school administrators who rise from the teaching ranks with those from the outside, who he assumes are “better leaders.” Broad trains its “superintendents” in a mystery curriculum; however, based upon the actions of such “superintendents”, it is not difficult to surmise that their objective is to replace traditionally trained classroom teachers with the “instant grits” version, temporary Teach for America (TFA) recruits– a transient, disposable work force especially useful in area with privately-run charters. Broad has pumped millions into TFA.

Walton also spends millions on TFA, and Walton is really into “school choice” (charters and vouchers. Walton has even purchased its own “education reform department” at the University of Arkansas– a “department” focused upon making certain that “choice” looks good before a public that does not realize that the financial backing of this “department” is biased toward a favorable charter-voucher image.

Walton likes “choice” and TFA so much because the Waltons believe in skimping as much as possible on that “bottom line.” TFA is a disposable work force– no health benefits; no retirement. And “choice” via under-regulated charters and vouchers means abolishing public funding in favor of a completely-profit-driven education enterprise. Who cares if it works– and who cares if “charter choice” is especially embroiled in scandal– just so long as there is the possibility of nurturing billionaire greed by not paying taxes to support public institutions.

When it comes to their own workers, Walmart purposely does not give workers full-time hours and actually show its employees how to apply for government assistance– the cheap way to preserve the Walton billions. And they despise unions. It is much Education Post: A Sorry Attempt to Repackage Privatization as “Conversation” | deutsch29:

Louisiana Educator: New Revelations About LEAP and NAEP

Louisiana Educator: New Revelations About LEAP and NAEP:

New Revelations About LEAP and NAEP

The LA State Dept. of Education yesterday attempted to explain the setting of cut scores on LEAP. There is a section of theSeptember 2 LDOE newsletter addressing the testing issue. Readers may remember that this blog demonstrated that the percentage of correct answers needed for a rating of basic in 2014 dropped drastically in 3 out of 4 categories in ELA and Math compared to 2013.

According to the LDOE, the scale scores for a rating of basic have not changed since they were created. It still takes a scale score of 301 to get a rating of Basic in 4^th grade ELA and it still takes a score of 321 to get a rating of basic in 8^th grade Math in 2014 just like it did in 2013. Even though the tests were made more difficult by going to the more rigorous Common Core aligned questions, the scale cut scores remained the same according to LDOE. But they also admit that the percentage of correct answers equating to those cut scores can change from year to year because of a process used by the testing company called “test equating”. That's an adjustment made mostly to insure that the students are not penalized or rewarded as the new test form either gets harder or easier.

In my blog post of August 17, I suggested that the statement made by the LDOE, that the percentage of Louisiana students scoring basic had remained steady even though the tests had gotten harder was misleading. My point was that the “test equating” process had adjusted the minimum raw percentage scores to insure that the percentage of students scoring basic remained steady. It was a rigged result, and no one really knows whether our students' learning remained steady from 2013 to 2014.

But the LDOE description of the LEAP design process made another statement that in my opinion further destroys their credibility in Louisiana Educator: New Revelations About LEAP and NAEP:

9-3-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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

170,000 Library Of Congress Images Put Online At Unique Interactive Site

Yale has just unveiled a unique interactive site of 170,000 images from The Library of Congress taken during the Great Depression, and it includes over 3,000 photos taken by the legendary Dorthea Lange, including the famous one at the top of this post. The Library of Congress states: Most photographs in this collection are considered to be in the public domain; however, labels on a few images ind

6 by Larry Ferlazzo / 2min

The Onion: “Teacher Asks Students To Split Into 2 Groups To Simulate Ideal Class Size”

You’ll want to read the funny and sad piece in The Onion that’s titled “Teacher Asks Students To Split Into 2 Groups To Simulate Ideal Class Size.” I’m adding it to The Best Education Articles From “The Onion.” You might also be interested in The Best Resources For Learning About How Class Size Does Matter.

7 by Larry Ferlazzo / 27min 

Uh Oh, It Looks Like Facebook’s Zuckerberg Now Has His Own Pet Teacher Evaluation Project

© 2010 Damian Gadal, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Mark Zuckerberg, fresh from his disastrous $100 million investment in Newark schools (The Best Posts & Articles For Learning About Newark’s $100 Million From Facebook) has decided he wants his own piece of the teacher evaluation business. He’s just become a major (I assume, THE major) investor in an education start-up called Panorama that is prom

2 by Larry Ferlazzo / 8min hide  //  save

More Great Teaching Ideas For #Ferguson #MichaelBrown

© 2014 Debra Sweet, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio I’ve previously posted this list twice before, but I felt it was worth sharing again because of some new additions (at the top): [View the story "Teaching Ideas For #Ferguson #MichaelBrown" on Storify]

2 by Larry Ferlazzo / 8min 

Video: Iceland Volcano

I’m adding this video to The Best Sites For Learning About Volcanoes:

7 by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h hide  //  save

All My Ed Week Posts On “Relationships” From The Past 3 Years — In One Place!

My latest Ed Week Teacher column brings together all my posts there from the past three years on the topic of “relationships.” Here’s an excerpt: I’m adding it to The Best Resources On The Importance Of Building Positive Relationships With Students.

3 by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h 

9-2-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: The New York Times Learning Network Begins Another Year!The New York Times Learning Network, one of the best resources out there for teachers (I said that before I began writing for it, and I’ll continue to say it), just published a useful post describing its upcoming activities for the new school year. Last year, I wrote a

by mike simpson / 7h 

The Book That Got Teaching Right (Samuel Freedman) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The Book That Got Teaching Right (Samuel Freedman) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

The Book That Got Teaching Right (Samuel Freedman)

Samuel G. Freedman has authored seven books one of which is Small Victories: The Real World of a Teacher, Her Students, and Their High School. He is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker.  This piece was published September 1, 2014.

In the course of a few decades, I became separated from my copy of “Up the Down Staircase,” Bel Kaufman’s classic novel about a New York City schoolteacher. So after Kaufman died, in July, at the age of a hundred and three, I felt compelled to reread the book. I called up my neighborhood Barnes & Noble to reserve a copy. Considering the stunning popularity “Up the Down Staircase” had enjoyed—it spent sixty-four weeks on the best-seller list after its release, in 1965, inspired a popular film adaptation in 1967, and ultimately sold more than six million copies—I assumed that the coverage of Kaufman’s death had renewed interest in the book, and that copies would be selling out.

Instead, very much to my surprise, the Barnes & Noble clerk informed me that “Up the Down Staircase” was out of print. Unconvinced, I checked several online booksellers, and, sure enough, no current edition was available. So I grabbed a copy from the library, and as I plunged into it I realized just how sadly appropriate it was that the book had fallen into obsolescence What place can there be for a book about the large struggles and little glories of a teacher, at a time when teacher bashing has become a major strain, even the dominant strain, of what passes for “education reform.”

There is no small amount of autobiography in “Up the Down Staircase.” Kaufman was the granddaughter of the renowned Yiddish author Sholem Aleichem, whose Tevye stories inspired “Fiddler on the Roof.” She came to America as a twelve-year-old immigrant from Russia, and, like many Jewish immigrants, she used public school as a ladder of upward mobility and Americanization. And, like so many Jewish women of her era, she then became a teacher herself. She ultimately spent about thirty years in New York’s public schools, and those experiences deeply informed “Up the Down Staircase.”

Kaufman’s story centers upon Sylvia Barrett, a first-year teacher at a massive public high school named after Calvin Coolidge. At its most straightforward level, the book follows Barrett through one semester, as she learns her own craft through trial and error, and gives up a job offer from an élite private school in order to stay at overcrowded, underfunded Coolidge, where she is so The Book That Got Teaching Right (Samuel Freedman) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

9-3-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):

Deasy on his critics: Constant attacks are ‘politically motived’

Deasy on his critics: Constant attacks are ‘politically motived’ Superintendent John Deasy Under withering criticism over the iPad program, a new student-tracking computer system and discordant relations with the teachers union, LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy said today that the attacks feel politically motivated at the expense of his agenda to improve the lives of district students. “I serv

4 by Michael Janofsky / 3h hide  //  save

UTLA holds morning rally to insist Deasy be thrown into ‘jail’

UTLA holds morning rally to insist Deasy be thrown into ‘jail’ Alex Caputo-Pearl speaking at a news conference 9-3-2014 UTLA is calling on Superintendent John Deasy to lock himself in teacher jail while he’s under any investigation over iPads, computer systems or anything else. At a rally earlier today union President Alex Caputo-Pearl told a crowd of teachers, “We are saying that he has to play b

4 by Vanessa Romo / 4h 

After runnerup finish in state race, Gutierrez taking on Vladovic

After runnerup finish in state race, Gutierrez taking on Vladovic Lydia Gutierrez, former candidate for California Superintendent of Instruction The LA Unified school board president, Richard Vladovic, is no longer running uncontested for his seat next year. Lydia Gutierrez, who nearly advanced to the general election in the California Superintendent of Public Instruction race this year, has filed

2 by Michael Janofsky / 6h 

Morning Read: Deasy defends actions with Apple and Pearson

Morning Read: Deasy defends actions with Apple and Pearson Supt. Deasy defends his dealings with Apple, Pearson Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy on Tuesday issued his most extensive and passionate defense yet of his actions involving Apple and Pearson, the companies that received the major contract in a $1.3-billion technology program. LA Times L.A. school board member Ratliff pushes for rele

3 9h 

9-2-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): Morning Read: CA student attendance above national averageMorning Read: CA student attendance above national average Analysis finds California students attend school more than U.S. peers California students attend school more consistently than most of their U.S. peers, and such attendance directly relates

1 by mike simpson / 5h 

State awards Common Core test contract | EdSource

State awards Common Core test contract | EdSource:

State awards Common Core test contract

September 3, 2014 | By John Fensterwald | No Comments



•  SHARE THIS ARTICLE

With the State Board of Education’s approval, California became the ninth state Wednesday to award a contract to the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium for the standardized tests in the Common Core State Standards that students will take next spring.

An additional nine states are expected to sign on, making 18 states committed to give the Smarter Balanced version of the standardized tests in math and English language arts, said Joe Willhoft, Smarter Balanced’s executive director. An additional four states ­– Michigan, North Carolina, Iowa and Wyoming – have been affiliated with the consortium but are embroiled in political and funding disputes over Common Core and have put off signing on until at least next year, he said.

SOURCE: STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION WEBCAST

Joe Willhoft, executive director of Smarter Balanced, discusses the Common Core tests with the State Board of Education on Wednesday.

The state board’s unanimous consent was expected. California has been an influential governing member of Smarter Balanced, one of two groups of states that developed separate versions of Common Core tests over four years with a $350 million federal grant. California has also become Smarter Balanced’s home; the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards And Student Testing (CRESST), based at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, took over the consortium’s administration on July 1.

With federal money running out this year, Smarter Balanced is now self-funded. California will pay $9.55 million annually for three years for a total of $28.65 million. That works out to $9.55 per student up to the first 1 million students, with no additional charge for the remaining 2.6 million California students who will take the online English language arts and math tests for grades 3 through 8 and grade 11.

The Smarter Balanced contract doesn’t include the cost of scoring, administering and reporting results of the assessments – the company ETS will do that for an estimated $17.75 per student, according to State awards Common Core test contract | EdSource: