SKrashen: CAN ACCESS BALANCE THE EFFECT OF POVERTY?

SKrashen: August 2015:

Webinar Presentation 4

CAN ACCESS BALANCE THE EFFECT OF POVERTY?

Predictors of NAEP grade 4, 2007, 51 states

predictors	beta	t	P
Poverty	-0.72	7.42	0
Access	0.53	1.62	0.055

r2 = .63

Access = bks/student in school libraries, circulation in public libraries

Predictors of PIRLS:

Predictors of the reading test: PIRLS 2006

predictor		P
poverty	-0.41	0.005
independent reading in school	0.16	0.14
library: 500 books	0.35	0.005
Instruction	-0.19	0.085

r2 = .63 

Krashen, S., Lee, S.Y. and McQuillan, J. 2012. Is the library important? Multivariate studies at the national and international level. Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 8(1): 26-36.

Replication:  PIRLS 2011

Predictor	beta	p
SES	0.52	0.01
library: 5000 bks	0.20	0.08
class libr	0.08	0.28
parent read	0.065	0.31
early lit	-0.26	0.04
Instruction	-0.016	0.5

r2 = .62

Note: Parental reading and classroom library correlated with PIRLS reading scores, but the effect disappeared in the multiple regression.

Note: Poverty and access are the main predictors of reading achievement in all studies.

 SKrashen: August 2015:

Public Schools to Teachers: Run Your Class on Fear or Get Fired - The Daily Beast

Public Schools to Teachers: Run Your Class on Fear or Get Fired - The Daily Beast:

Public Schools to Teachers: Run Your Class on Fear or Get Fired

As part of a burgeoning new public school program called “No Nonsense Nurturing” teachers are required to wear earpieces. They’re reminded to be less enthusiastic and “expect 100 percent compliance.” And in at least one high profile case, the teachers who objected were let go.

To her face we called her Mrs. Thompson, but behind her back it was “Sarge.”

Sarge was our 8th grade Language Arts teacher. Rumor was that she’d been in the military, maybe an officer in the Women’s Air Corps, maybe part of the Normandy invasion, charging the beach with a knife in her teeth. Her necklace of Nazi ears was stored away in her top desk drawer.

No one knew the full truth. The legend grew with each successive school year.

Sarge was squat with a short, salt and pepper bristly haircut, and an authoritative, gravelly voice. Think R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket.

Oh, and the stare. Try to pass a note to a friend, she would see you and give you the stare, and then you would shred the paper yourself, rather than waiting for Sarge to come and do it for you.

On the other hand, Mrs. Thompson was also deeply kind and enthusiastic and loving, and one of the most important teachers in my life. I am more than 30 years removed from her classroom and I can conjure her like it was yesterday.

When I first heard of a system called “No Nonsense Nurturing,” via a middle-school teacher Amy Berard’s first-hand account (first published at the EduShyster blog), I thought of Mrs. Thompson, whose entire being seemed to be anti-nonsense.

Berard recounts her experience working with the Center for Transformative Teacher Training, which uses the No Nonsense Nurturing system to “train” teachers in their particular method of “classroom management.”

Somewhere along the line, the school reform movement decided that fear would be their governing value.

During the “real time teacher coaching,” the instructor wears an earpiece and is coached in the NNN method by observers in the back of the classroom. As educator Peter Greene argues, No Nonsense Nurturing is the latest iteration of “scripted” lessons which aim to “human-proof” the classroom. The NNN instructor is told to use short phrases focused on the immediate task at hand, including narration of what the instructor observes each student doing.

As Berard says:

As my students entered the room, I was supposed to say: “In seats, zero talking, page 6 questions, 1-4.” I don’t even talk to my dog like that. Constant narration of what the students are doing is also key to the NNN teaching style. “Noel is finishing question 3. Marjorie is sitting silently. Alfredo is on page 6.”

But Berard’s application of the method displeased her observers. She expressed Public Schools to Teachers: Run Your Class on Fear or Get Fired - The Daily Beast:

Teachers pose some pointed questions for next GOP debate - The Washington Post

Teachers pose some pointed questions for next GOP debate - The Washington Post:

Teachers pose some pointed questions for next GOP debate

Republican presidential candidates from left, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Scott Walker, Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and John Kasich take the stage for the first Republican presidential debate at the Quicken Loans Arena Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

(Update: another debate scheduled)

Teachers around the country were watching the Aug. 6 debate in Cleveland in which 10 candidates for the Republican presidential nomination sparred and posed questions on Twitter that they would like to see them answer. There will be an education debate among the candidates on Aug. 19 in New Hampshire, which you can read about here, and a  debate scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 16, at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. Here are some of the questions that teachers tweeted to the hashtag #BATSask, a reference to the BATS, the Badass Teachers Association, a group founded in 2013 by educators sick and tired of being blamed for whatever woes exist in the public education system.

Here are some of the tweets. If you have questions to add the list, put them in the comments and I’ll do an update before the next debate.

Teachers pose some pointed questions for next GOP debate - The Washington Post:

Badass Teacher (BAT) Association

WELCOME TO THE BAT CAVE

Badass Teacher Association Web Site

Major charter school expansion in the works for L.A. Unified students - LA Times

Major charter school expansion in the works for L.A. Unified students - LA Times:

Major charter school expansion in the works for L.A. Unified students

A Prominent local education foundation is discussing a major expansion of charter schools in Los Angeles aimed at boosting academic achievement for students at the lowest performing campuses.

Details of the project are not yet fully clear. But charter school leaders said they have met with officials from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation in recent months about the effort. The Keck Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation and other organizations that support the independently run, publicly financed charters also are involved, according to people who attended the meetings. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter.

The Broad Foundation said the charter plan is in an early, exploratory phase, but declined to provide specific information.

"People have been demanding better public schools forever and not getting them," said Swati Pandey, a spokeswoman for the foundation. "We hope this will be a bigger, better and more ambitious effort to make that happen."

The people who attended the meetings said organizers displayed maps showing Los Angeles neighborhoods where they said thousands of students are going to under-performing public schools.

An ambitious expansion of charter schools would be costly and would likely face a political fight. And it's not known what kind of funding commitments the organizers have locked down.

One person who attended a meeting said the goal was to enroll in charter schools half of all Los Angeles students over the next eight years. Another said there was discussion of an option that involved enrolling 50% of students currently at schools with low test scores. A source said the cost was estimated to be $450 million; another said hundreds of millions of dollars are needed.

Officials from Keck and Walton could not be reached for comment.

Currently, more than 100,000 L.A. students attend charters, about 16% of district enrollment, according to the Los Angeles Unified School District. L.A. Unified has more charters, 207, and more charter students than any other school district in the country.

"The conversation I had focused on decreasing the number of students attending failing public schools," said Parker Hudnut, chief executive officer of ICEF Public Schools, a charter group that enrolls 3,900 students in 10 South Los Angeles schools.

"We looked at maps of L.A. and how many students are attending these schools and talked about what can we do about it," he said. "They tried to identify areas of L.A. where tens of thousands of students are going to schools that they deemed unsatisfactory."

"It's exciting," said Cristina de Jesus, president and chief executive of Green Dot Public Schools California, which operates 20 charters in the L.A. area. "It's re-energizing the conversation around education and education choices in Los Angeles."

Charters are exempt from many rules that govern traditional schools; most are non-union.

United Teachers Los Angeles has long been at odds with Eli Broad. Union President Alex Caputo-Pearl accused the philanthropist of repeatedly trying to weaken the "input of teachers over how education is run in their schools."

"We're concerned about anything Eli Broad is involved with," he said.

School board President Steve Zimmer said that while some charters serve students well, a rapid expansion could undermine the district's own school improvement efforts. L.A. Unified enrolls students who are more difficult and expensive to educate than those at charters, he said. Those students would be left with fewer resources if there were an exodus to charters, Zimmer said.

"The most critical concern would be the collateral damage to the children left behind," he said.

Funding for the proposed effort could go toward obtaining classroom space and for covering the early administrative costs of new charters. It also could be used for training teachers and administrators. Discussions are underway with Teach for America to provide instructors, according to those familiar with the planning.

TFA recruits recent college graduates for two-year stints, frequently in charter schools.

Charters became a central issue in this year's school board elections; supporters, through a political action Major charter school expansion in the works for L.A. Unified students - LA Times:

Did Jeb Bush pass the first school voucher program in the nation? - Business Insider

Did Jeb Bush pass the first school voucher program in the nation? - Business Insider:

We fact-checked Jeb Bush's claim that he launched America's first-ever statewide voucher program

At last night's Republican presidential debate, K-12 education made its way onto the agenda with a question posed to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) about his support for the Common Core.

Bush deflected an answer about his support for the controversial nationwide standards, instead pivoting to a discussion about his work with school vouchers.

"As governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country," Bush said.

Presidential debates are often arenas of bombastic proclamations. They offer a stage for presidential hopefuls to paint their most attractive accomplishments and sometimes lend themselves to "resume inflation."

Bush, however, was not over-selling his accomplishment. In 1999, under his gubernatorial oversight, Florida became the first state in the nation with a statewide voucher program.

Under that program, which Bush made the centerpiece of his agenda, students in Florida's worst public schools could get vouchers of up to $3,389 to attend private and parochial schools. 

Seven years later, in 2006, Ohio passed a statewide voucher program. Since then, a number of others have passed voucher programs. 

School vouchers aim to provide parents control to send their kids to the school of their choosing.

''Why should we trap kids in schools that aren't working?" Bush said to The New York Times in 1999. He said the wealthy have the ability to choose where their children go to school, so impoverished people should have the same ability.

Bush's school choice accomplishment was a politically safe achievement to bring up at a Republican debate.

School vouchers are lauded by conservatives as examples of the free market at work in education. Families can choose to leave failing schools, a phenomenon that is referred to as families "voting with their feet."

But school vouchers remain a deeply divisive issue, breaking largely among party lines.

Opponents decry vouchers as detrimental to public schools. Critics also say vouchers hurt students, as not all children will choose to leave their schools for a slot in a private school classroom. Vouchers then move essential dollars out of needy public schools and into the private school sector.

Teachers unions are also major opponents of the so-called school choice movement.

“[Vouchers have] done a tremendous amount of harm in destabilizing already austerity-filled and under-resourced schools all throughout America,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told The Times in 2014.

SEE ALSO: The education issue that continues to dog Jeb Bush's campaign was on full display at the Republican debate

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/did-jeb-bush-pass-the-first-school-voucher-program-in-the-nation-2015-8#ixzz3iF4dKcFT

Carol Burris, former LI principal, takes post with education advocacy group | Newsday

Carol Burris, former LI principal, takes post with education advocacy group | Newsday:

Former LI principal Carol Burris takes post with education advocacy group

networkforpubliceducation.org/

Carol Burris, former principal of South Side High School in Rockville Centre, has been named executive director of The Network for Public Education's NPE Fund, through which she will advocate for public schools on the national level.

The nonprofit, grassroots group was co-founded by education historian Diane Ravitch two years ago. Ravitch, of Brooklyn, is a former assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education who later became a vocal opponent of many of its policies and has written 10 books and edited another 14 on school organization, teaching and other topics.

The Network for Public Education opposes high-stakes testing and the linkage of teacher evaluations to student test scores while advocating for equitable school funding, manageable class sizes and early childhood education.

Based in Manhattan, it serves as an umbrella group for its 15,000 members, which include both individuals and advocacy groups across the country, and is pushing for a resurgence in arts, science and foreign language curricula.

Burris, 62 and a principal for 15 years when she left South Side in June, said she is thrilled.

"It's a way to continue the fight," the East Rockaway resident said. "That is what I wanted to do."

Before coming to the Rockville Centre schools, Burris was a Spanish teacher in Lawrence, starting in 1990. She earned a doctorate from Teachers College at Columbia University in 2003 and has been a frequent guest blogger on education issues for The Washington Post for the past three years.

In her new role, she will conduct research, issue policy papers and communicate with the public.

"I am really delighted," she said. "There is a lot going on right now in New York State and beyond. One of the things I'm really learning is about the broad effort to undermine public Carol Burris, former LI principal, takes post with education advocacy group | Newsday:



STORYAnalysis: Most LI districts' evaluations skewedSTORYEducators speak out against Common CoreSTORYExam requirements delayed until 2022

Georgia’s Problem with Students with Behavioral Disabilities is Everyone’s Problem

Georgia’s Problem with Students with Behavioral Disabilities is Everyone’s Problem:

Georgia’s Problem with Students with Behavioral Disabilities is Everyone’s Problem

 How does one teach a student who shows up at school angry, defiant and/or sullen and depressed, who might hear voices—who acts so atypical that there is worry they might lash out at other students or hurt themselves? When they throw a chair, strike another child, or teacher, or hit their head repeatedly against the wall, what should be done?

It’s appalling to see a child handcuffed by a police officer, like recently observed in Kentucky. Likewise, concerns are raised when children are placed in timeout seclusion rooms. But it is scratching the surface not to look into the programs that allow escalation to such severe treatment in the first place.

Children who have behavioral or emotional disabilities need assistance. The questions should be, who will give them the best help, and how?

The Justice Department is getting tough on the Georgia Department of Education for problems with the way they serve students with behavioral disabilities. They claim the Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support (GNETS) segregates students instead of placing them in the regular class.

Advocates, many whom do not work in schools with the children, want all students with disabilities in an inclusion setting. This was the primary purpose of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) 1998, a remolding of the earlier Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. IDEA was further sculpted to fit No Child Left Behind in 2004. It minimizes the need for special self-contained and resource classes for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities.

GNETS started in the 70s and was the brainchild of highly respected University of Georgia special education professor Dr. Mary M. Wood who is now Professor Emerita. But what happened to the grant program? Was it never funded adequately? What Georgia’s Problem with Students with Behavioral Disabilities is Everyone’s Problem:

CTU's Lewis Threatens Strike After Contract Talks Rebooted by CPS - River North - DNAinfo.com Chicago

CTU's Lewis Threatens Strike After Contract Talks Rebooted by CPS - River North - DNAinfo.com Chicago:

CTU's Lewis Threatens Strike After Contract Talks Rebooted by CPS

RIVER NORTH — The president of the Chicago Teachers Union threatened a strike Friday after Chicago Public Schools abruptly rebooted talks on a contract extension.

CTU President Karen Lewis said teachers could take a strike vote at any time, although state statutes would most likely delay a walkout until the winter.

Primary among the issues was the demand from Chicago Public Schools that teachers pay their entire 9 percent pension contribution, after previously paying 2 percent with the district making up the difference — a negotiated contract concession dating back to the '80s.

Lewis said paying the full contribution would amount to a 7 percent cut in take-home pay.

"To take a 7 percent pay cut would be strike-worthy," Lewis said in a news conference at CTU headquarters in the Merchandise Mart.

"Seven percent is huge," she added. "It's not acceptable to our members."

CTU estimated the cost of the so-called pension pickup at $140 million annually, or about $4,000 to a second-year teacher making $55,000.

Lewis said she was shocked that talks on a one-year contract extension broke off Thursday, when CPS suddenly changed course and took a one-year deal off the table to seek a new multiyear contract.

"Withdrawing this one-year contract is simply wrong," Lewis said, calling it "disingenuous, disturbing and destructive."

"That room was frozen when we walked in there," Lewis said of Thursday's negotiation session. "They were a little upset themselves," she added, because all had thought they were close to a deal.

"We were on the verge of reaching an agreement," said CTU attorney Robert Bloch. "Unfortunately, we must now go back to the drawing board and start over again."

According to Bloch, CPS negotiators rebooted talks "for reasons only they know."

"CPS remains dedicated to reaching a multi-year agreement with our teachers that respects their hard work and protects the academic gains that they've helped our students achieve," said CPS spokeswoman Emily Bittner on Friday. "We will continue CTU's Lewis Threatens Strike After Contract Talks Rebooted by CPS - River North - DNAinfo.com Chicago:

Black Parents Should Opt Their Children Out of High Stakes Testing | Black Agenda Report

Black Parents Should Opt Their Children Out of High Stakes Testing | Black Agenda Report:

Black Parents Should Opt Their Children Out of High Stakes Testing

• high stakes testing

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

As usual, the Black Misleadership Class is on the wrong side of democracy, urging Blacks to submit to a high stakes testing regime that is designed to fail Black students, their teachers, their schools, and public education itself. “Everybody losesexcept the hedge funds and other billionaire investors in the charter school marketplace” – which is why President Obama has become “the biggest public school privatizer of all time.”

Black Parents Should Opt Their Children Out of High Stakes Testing

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

“This is a battle for democracy in public education.”

The movement by parents to opt their children out of high stakes testing is growing by leaps and bounds, but remains largely white and suburban, despite the fact that Black folks are the primary targets of the destructive testing regime. Almost two decades ago, the corporate world began pouring millions of dollars into a massive campaign to split the two pillars of the Democratic Party: teachers unions and Black voters. It began as a mainly Republican strategy to divert public funding to private school vouchers – an idea that was never very popular among Black parents. But, corporate Democrats discovered that public education could be privatized even more effectively – and much more profitably – through chartering the schools. Charter schools are a capitalist’s dream, in which the public provides all the money, private companies get rich contracting services, teachers are deprofessionalized and deunionized, and Black parents lose all democratic rights concerning their children’s education.

In one of the great ironies of recent U.S. history, the Democratic Party took the lead in what had begun as a Republican project to vilify teachers and privatize schools in Black neighborhoods. High stakes testing became a weapon guaranteed to fail the students, fail the teachers, fail the neighborhood schools, and fail entire school districts in largely Black cities. Everybody losesexcept the hedge funds and other billionaire investors in the charter school marketplace. These are the people whose interests President Obama has served for the past six and a half years. Obama became the biggest public school privatizer of all time, wielding executive power to force the states to establish more charter schools or lose federal education funds.

“A scam to destroy any semblance of democracy in inner city schools.”

Studies show that charter schools are not better than public schools, but they are great sources of wealth for big investors, while the public – mostly, the Black inner city public – takes all the risk. But, because Obama is Black, and Democrats are the party pushing hardest for charters, the established civil rights organizations are urging Black people to opt in to the high stakes testing madness. Twelve of these misleadership groups signed a letter in support of high stakes testing, including the national offices of the NAACP and the Urban League.

At root, this is a battle for democracy in public education. The white parents that make up the bulk of the anti-testing movement are accustomed to democracy in their school districts, through active and empowered local school boards. They know their rights, and they exercise them. However, the whole charter school scam is based on destroying any semblance of democracy in inner city schools, many of which are already under the control of the states or strong-mayor forms of government. The testing regime is crafted to make local control of schools an impossibility – forever – and to reduce the teaching Black Parents Should Opt Their Children Out of High Stakes Testing | Black Agenda Report:

Sacramento Integrity Project | Open Governenment Ordinance

Sacramento Integrity Project | Open Governenment Ordinance:

 Open Government Ordinance – Make City Hall More Transparent and Accessible

Openness in government strengthens democracy, promotes the delivery of efficient and effective services to the public, and contributes to better policy. There are three core elements of Open Government: transparency, participation, and collaboration. Open Government initiatives, embraced by many cities, promote public engagement in policy development by requiring that government documents and proceedings be accessible to all residents. Transparent and accountable government with institutions that empower communities is more responsive to public needs and priorities.

Key Principles for an Open Government Ordinance:

• City Council, city commissions, boards, and other policy-setting or advisory bodies (including sub or ad hoc committees), conduct deliberations in public and provide record of proceedings.
• Public is afforded meaningful opportunities to comment prior to city policy decisions and participate in city-sponsored outreach on issues that affect particular constituents, groups, or neighborhoods.
• All records, written and electronic, concerning city business are public, unless narrow traditional exceptions apply, with digital records retained indefinitely.
• Significant public records, including all matters before City Council and other policy-setting bodies, reports, budget documents, and large contracts, are accessible using the city’s user-friendly web portal where such information can be searched, sorted, and downloaded.
• City officials do not conduct city business using personal communication systems, including private email accounts and cellphones, that are not subject to open records laws.Sacramento Integrity Project | Open Governenment Ordinance:

Big Education Ape: Sacramento Democratic Party calls for ethics reform in wake of scandals | The Sacramento Bee http://bit.ly/1UoVaYf

Big Education Ape: Marcos Breton - KJ Is It Time For Bromance Relationship Counselling | The Sacramento Bee http://bit.ly/1IObKNt

Big Education Ape: Sexual harassment claims become the norm at Sacramento City Hall http://bit.ly/1ItsGrd

With A Brooklyn Accent: The Key to Great Teaching is Finding the Genius in Every Child

With A Brooklyn Accent: The Key to Great Teaching is Finding the Genius in Every Child:

The Key to Great Teaching is Finding the Genius in Every Child

After 50 years of teaching , my greatest accomplishment has been persuading my students that their voice matters, giving them the opportunity to have their voice heard, and helping them sharpen their means of expression, be it in written or spoken form, so that voice reaches people more effectively. None of those objectives can be achieved through standardized testing. Starting with my first courses for high school students in the Columbia Upward Bound Program in 1968, I have sought to inspire and empower students through a pedagogy that involves reading and research, lots of writing, discussions and debates, and opportunities to express ideas through poetry, music, theater, film or other forms of artistic expression.

These methods work. My students, many of whom came from families of modest means, have become teachers, social workers, attorneys, architects and planners, musicians, film makers, police officers, leaders of businesses and founders of 

With A Brooklyn Accent: The Key to Great Teaching is Finding the Genius in Every Child: