Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 8/10/15

SPECIAL NITE CAP 

CORPORATE ED REFORM

Schools Matter: Why Have Some Civil Rights Groups Flipped on Standardized Testing?

Schools Matter: Why Have Some Civil Rights Groups Flipped on Standardized Testing?: Why Have Some Civil Rights Groups Flipped on Standardized Testing?By Ken Derstine @ Defend Public Education!In 1947, as a student at Morehouse College, an eighteen-year old Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote an article for the student newspaper The Maroon Tiger. In the article, The Purpose of Education, he explained his

by mike simpson / 3h 

New Orleans Warns Other Cities about Charter Takeover | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity

New Orleans Warns Other Cities about Charter Takeover | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity: New Orleans Warns Other Cities about Charter TakeoverTen years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has a very different educational landscape, and it's one that many students, parents, or educators are unhappy about. A recent conference sent out a strong wa

by mike simpson / 3h 

Education Reform: Too Big to Succeed | Vicki Cobb

Education Reform: Too Big to Succeed | Vicki Cobb: Education Reform: Too Big to SucceedI'm a devoted follower of Diane Ravitch's blog. She is a tireless aggregator and a commentator on the various aspects of the misguided attempt, through law, to "reform" American education. She posts 7-10 times a day every day, good news and bad, what is happening on the ground as a result of national p

by mike simpson / 6h 

Individual-Level VAM Scores Over Time: “Less Reliable than Flipping a Coin” | VAMboozled!

Individual-Level VAM Scores Over Time: “Less Reliable than Flipping a Coin” | VAMboozled!: Individual-Level VAM Scores Over Time: “Less Reliable than Flipping a Coin”In case you missed it (I did), an article authored by Stuart Yeh (Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota) titled “A Reanalysis of the Effects of Teacher Replacement Using Value-Added Modeling” was (recently) published in t

by mike simpson / 6h 

Plan for charter takeover of worst public schools crafted in secret | The Charlotte Observer

Plan for charter takeover of worst public schools crafted in secret | The Charlotte Observer: Plan for charter takeover of worst public schools crafted in secretN.C. Rep. Rob Bryan, a Mecklenburg Republican with a leadership role in education, has been working for weeks on a bill he hopes will eventually transform public schools.It would start small, with a pilot Achievement District plan that wou

by mike simpson / 7h 

CURMUDGUCATION: Fighting Democracy

CURMUDGUCATION: Fighting Democracy: Fighting DemocracyThere are two questions coming out of the discussions about New Orleans and its privatized school system.1) Did student achievement actually improve?2) If that improvement did happen, was it worth the price?The answer to the first question is "Probably not" (though the careful secrecy and hoarding of data makes a definitive answer dif

by mike simpson / 7h 

With A Brooklyn Accent: Underlying Conditions Which Give Traction to "Black Lives Matter"

With A Brooklyn Accent: Underlying Conditions Which Give Traction to "Black Lives Matter": Underlying Conditions Which Give Traction to "Black Lives Matter"Black Lives Matter, as a movement, emerged from police killings of unarmed Black men and women. But powerful underlying trends that have been around for some time give the movement traction. Among these trends are:A drug war

by mike simpson / 7h 

K-12 Connectivity Heatmap Shows State Schools in Need of More Bandwidth | EdTech Magazine

K-12 Connectivity Heatmap Shows State Schools in Need of More Bandwidth | EdTech Magazine: K-12 Connectivity Heatmap Shows State Schools in Need of More BandwidthAccording to the report by CDW•G, 63 percent of schools don't have enough bandwidth to meet the current needs for digital learning.A new K–12 connectivity heatmap shows which states are ahead of the broadband curve and which are lagging b

by mike simpson / 7h 

L.A. Unified's 'teacher jail' policy ends up punishing students - LA Times

L.A. Unified's 'teacher jail' policy ends up punishing students - LA Times: L.A. Unified's 'teacher jail' policy ends up punishing students In 2012, the entire 110-member staff of Miramonte Elementary School was pulled off campus after accusations of molestation were leveled at two teachers. Mark Berndt pleaded no contest to charges involving feeding semen-laced cookies to blindfolded students; ch

by mike simpson / 7h 

‘Kids Count’ Data: States Such as Texas and Arizona Have the Highest Youth-Population Growth Yet the Worst Outcomes for Kids - The Atlantic

‘Kids Count’ Data: States Such as Texas and Arizona Have the Highest Youth-Population Growth Yet the Worst Outcomes for Kids - The Atlantic: More Kids, More ProblemsMany of the states with the fastest-growing youth populations are also the ones that produce the weakest outcomes for kids.It seems that America’s biggest nurseries are failing at their job.Those “nurseries”—the states with the largest

by mike simpson / 8h 

THE LATEST FROM KIDS COUNT Data Center from the Annie E. Casey Foundation

KIDS COUNT Data Center from the Annie E. Casey Foundation: KIDS COUNT Data Center from the Annie E. Casey Foundation:

by mike simpson / 8h 

Addicting Info – The Wizard Behind The Curtain: Citizens United Lawyer Behind Detroit’s Emergency Manager Laws

Addicting Info – The Wizard Behind The Curtain: Citizens United Lawyer Behind Detroit’s Emergency Manager Laws: The Wizard Behind The Curtain: Citizens United Lawyer Behind Detroit’s Emergency Manager LawsAccording to Richard McLellan’s Board of Trustees web page for Michigan State University’s College of Law, The Detroit Free Press once wrote:“He’s seldom seen in the state Capitol, and less likel

by mike simpson / 8h 

What Can We Learn from a Debate Over Pizza Parties in School? - Living in Dialogue

What Can We Learn from a Debate Over Pizza Parties in School? - Living in Dialogue: What Can We Learn from a Debate Over Pizza Parties in School?By John Thompson.Before the test-driven, competition-driven school reform movement, educators had plenty of issues to argue over. We didn’t face nearly as many controversies that we had to fight over. Educators might occasionally express our opinions in a

by mike simpson / 8h 

Pension rollback carries risk to teachers, schools :: SI&A Cabinet Report

Pension rollback carries risk to teachers, schools :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet: Pension rollback carries risk to teachers, schools(Calif.) In addition to making a host of sweeping changes, a proposal aimed at curbing the cost of public pensions could create significant labor troubles for schools because teachers would no longer be free t

by mike simpson / 9h 

State Shifts Regional Achievement Center into Camden School District - NJ Spotlight

State Shifts Regional Achievement Center into Camden School District - NJ Spotlight: STATE SHIFTS REGIONAL ACHIEVEMENT CENTER INTO CAMDEN SCHOOL DISTRICTNJ says the RACs, criticized by NJEA and other concerned parties, serve highest-need schoolsThe Christie administration has reconfigured its staffing to assist Camden public schools, as part of its general rethinking of how it will support New Jer

by mike simpson / 9h 

New York experience shows Common Core tests can come at a cost for underprivileged students - The Hechinger Report

New York experience shows Common Core tests can come at a cost for underprivileged students - The Hechinger Report: New York experience shows Common Core tests can come at a cost for underprivileged studentsLow-income students, disabled students and English language learners show sharper declines than general population in Common Core high school algebra examThere’s been a considerable debate in N

by mike simpson / 9h 

The Collateral Consequences of the Crimes of Children - The Atlantic

The Collateral Consequences of the Crimes of Children - The Atlantic: The Crimes of ChildrenThe juvenile justice system was designed to “hide youthful errors from the full gaze of the public.” But the extra penalties attached to these sentences have ruined many lives.Round Rock High School, just north of Austin in the Texas Hill Country, sprawls over 88 acres. It feels like a small liberal-arts co

by mike simpson / 9h 

Healthy Eaters, Strong Minds: What School Gardens Teach Kids : The Salt : NPR

Healthy Eaters, Strong Minds: What School Gardens Teach Kids : The Salt : NPR: Healthy Eaters, Strong Minds: What School Gardens Teach KidsTall brick walls conceal a colorful garden at Eastern Senior High School in Washington, D.C., where students like Romario Bramwell, 17, harvest flowers and produce. The program is run by City Blossoms, a nonprofit that brings gardens to urban areas.Lydia Thomps

by mike simpson / 9h 

Politics In The Classroom: How Much Is Too Much? (Diana Hess and Paula McAvoy) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Politics In The Classroom: How Much Is Too Much? (Diana Hess and Paula McAvoy) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Politics In The Classroom: How Much Is Too Much? (Diana Hess and Paula McAvoy)In an earlier post, I pointed out the obvious fact that tax-supported public schools were political institutions. Not in the partisan sense of Republican and Democrat but in serving the co

by mike simpson / 9h 

Jersey Jazzman: Marilyn Zuniga and the Plight of Teachers of Color

Jersey Jazzman: Marilyn Zuniga and the Plight of Teachers of Color: Marilyn Zuniga and the Plight of Teachers of ColorAs we approach the beginning of the new school year, I think it's important to go back and recount the story of Marilyn Zuniga.You'll recall that Zuniga was a third grade teacher in Orange, NJ, a district that is almost entirely comprised of black and Hispanic students, 81 percent

by mike simpson / 9h 

Perdido Street School: MaryEllen Elia Offers Counterattack To Hillsborough School Board Allegations Of Financial Mismanagement

Perdido Street School: MaryEllen Elia Offers Counterattack To Hillsborough School Board Allegations Of Financial Mismanagement: MaryEllen Elia Offers Counterattack To Hillsborough School Board Allegations Of Financial MismanagementThe Tampa Bay Times reported last week that former Hillsborough School Superintendent MaryEllen Elia, now the new NYSED Commissioner in New York State, was accused by bo

by mike simpson / 9h 

‘I refuse.’ — Teacher rejects Florida’s wacky new program to give bonuses to educators with high SAT/ACT scores - The Washington Post

‘I refuse.’ — Teacher rejects Florida’s wacky new program to give bonuses to educators with high SAT/ACT scores - The Washington Post: ‘I refuse.’ — Teacher rejects Florida’s wacky new program to give bonuses to educators with high SAT/ACT scoresHere’s an update on a kooky new plan that I wrote about in Florida to spend $44 million to award big bonuses to teachers who got high SAT or ACT scores be

by mike simpson / 10h 

A critical look at the annual high school rankings by U.S. News - The Washington Post

A critical look at the annual high school rankings by U.S. News - The Washington Post: A critical look at the annual high school rankings by U.S. NewsU.S. News & World Report is famous for its college rankings — but it does others too, including an annual ranking of high schools. Are the schools declared the best really the best? Kevin Welner, the director of the  National Education Policy Cen

by mike simpson / 10h 

5 facts about America’s students | Pew Research Center

5 facts about America’s students | Pew Research Center: 5 facts about America’s students In a few weeks, America’s roughly 53.5 million K-12 students will head to the classroom. Trading in swimming pools and summer jobs for math problems and history homework, these students will hit the books at one of more than 129,200 schools across the country, including about 5,700 charter schools and 30,900 p

by mike simpson / 10h 

Even As States Continue to Leave, PARCC Sets Last Year's Cut Scores | Mercedes Schneider

Even As States Continue to Leave, PARCC Sets Last Year's Cut Scores | Mercedes Schneider: Even As States Continue to Leave, PARCC Sets Last Year's Cut ScoresOn August 07, 2015, NPR released an article concerning setting the cut scores for the PARCC tests that 5 million students took in the spring.Originally entitled, "Who Is 'Good Enough' in a Common Core World?", the NPR article title w

by mike simpson / 10h 

25 Leadership Quotes Even The "Dumbest" Leaders Can Learn From | Aleksandr Noudelman | LinkedIn

25 Leadership Quotes Even The "Dumbest" Leaders Can Learn From | Aleksandr Noudelman | LinkedIn: 25 Leadership Quotes Even The "Dumbest" Leaders Can Learn FromNot everyone is meant for a leadership position. Unfortunately, with this uncertain economy we may be put in one, whether we like it or not.  And when that happens, we have to act and learn fast. And if and when we don't,

by mike simpson / 10h 

That’s Rich. Across Country A Scramble Is On To Find Teachers: (NYT 8/10/15) | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing

That’s Rich. Across Country A Scramble Is On To Find Teachers: (NYT 8/10/15) | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing: That’s Rich. Across Country A Scramble Is On To Find Teachers: (NYT 8/10/15)This is no surprise. For years we have been predicting the demise of a great profession because of so–called “reform”. Ms. Rich writes a great deal in this article about this shortage but neglects to point out

by mike simpson / 10h 

YESTERDAY

Alright (My Identity in Passing) | The Jose Vilson

Alright (My Identity in Passing) | The Jose Vilson: Alright (My Identity in Passing)The last time I went to the Dominican Day Parade, my youthful naivete gave way for a conservatism I didn’t quite understand in myself. The schools of ostensibly hypermasculine Dominican men highlighting their hair and tightening their shirts threw me off. The crowds of voluptuous Dominican women wearing sexier vari

by mike simpson / 21h 

Teachers Say They Have Too Much Money for Supplies in This Sarcastic Hefty Campaign | Adweek

Teachers Say They Have Too Much Money for Supplies in This Sarcastic Hefty Campaign | Adweek: "Teachers Say They Have Too Much Money for Supplies in This Sarcastic Hefty Campaign"h bag company Hefty and Havas Worldwide Chicago tackle a big issue—one that's more powerful than smelly garbage or nondurable bags—for the brand's new #SaidNoSchoolEver campaign.The new work, which includes two

by mike simpson / 22h 

New Orleans Recovery District Called a Dismal Failure by the City’s Leading African American Newspaper

New Orleans Recovery District Called a Dismal Failure by the City’s Leading African American Newspaper | Educate All Students: Larry Miller's Blog: New Orleans Recovery District Called a Dismal Failure by the City’s Leading African American Newspaper On August 4th and 5th I attended an education conference in the great city of New Orleans, titled the New Orleans Education Conference. In contrast t

by mike simpson / 22h 

Jersey Jazzman: When You Punch Teachers Unions, You're Punching Teachers

Jersey Jazzman: When You Punch Teachers Unions, You're Punching Teachers: When You Punch Teachers Unions, You're Punching TeachersFortunately, I was outside of the country when Chris Christie sank to his latest new low:The New Jersey governor was on CNN on Sunday, where host Jake Tapper asked, “At the national level, who deserves a punch in the face?” (Why would Christie get that question? Because

by mike simpson / 23h 

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 8/9/15

SPECIAL NITE CAP CORPORATE ED REFORMBack to drawing board for contract negotiations | Catalyst ChicagoBack to drawing board for contract negotiations | Catalyst Chicago: Back to drawing board for contract negotiationsCPS has pulled back from its offer of a one-year contract extension that would have retained the so-called “pension pick-up” and barred the opening of any new charter schools during t

by mike simpson / 1d 

Schools Matter: Why Have Some Civil Rights Groups Flipped on Standardized Testing?

Schools Matter: Why Have Some Civil Rights Groups Flipped on Standardized Testing?:

Why Have Some Civil Rights Groups Flipped on Standardized Testing?

By Ken Derstine @ Defend Public Education!

In 1947, as a student at Morehouse College, an eighteen-year old Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote an article for the student newspaper The Maroon Tiger. In the article, The Purpose of Education, he explained his vision of what education should be. He said education should not be about equipping students “with the proper instruments of exploitation so that they can forever trample over the masses”. He continued, education must also be about more than training for a career, stating,

“Education must also train one for quick, resolute and effective thinking. To think incisively and to think for one's self is very difficult. We are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of half truths, prejudices, and propaganda. At this point, I often wonder whether or not education is fulfilling its purpose. A great majority of the so-called educated people do not think logically and scientifically. Even the press, the classroom, the platform, and the pulpit in many instances do not give us objective and unbiased truths. To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.” 

On October 28, 2014, eleven civil rights groups sent a letter to President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan urging them to drop the test based K-12 ‘accountability’ system. In it they state,

“While the need for accountability is almost universally agreed upon, there have been concerns raised about overly punitive accountability systems that do not take into account the resources, geography, student population, and needs of specific schools. In particular, the No Child Left Behind law has not accomplished its intended goals of substantially expanding educational equity or significantly improving educational outcomes. Racial achievement and opportunity gaps remain large, and many struggling school systems have made little progress under rules that emphasize testing without investing. We must shift towards accountability strategies that promote equity and strengthen, rather than weaken, schools in our communities, so that they can better serve students and accelerate student success.”

The letter goes on to list eight recommendations – none of which call for high stakes testing.

The organizations signing the letter were:

Advancement Project

Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)

Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

National Opportunity to Learn (OTL) Campaign

National Urban League (NUL)

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF)

National Council on Educating Black Children (NCEBC)

National Indian Education Association (NIEA)

Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)

On May 5, 2015, twelve civil rights organizations, including some of those listed above issued a press release opposingSchools Matter: Why Have Some Civil Rights Groups Flipped on Standardized Testing?:

New Orleans Warns Other Cities about Charter Takeover | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity

New Orleans Warns Other Cities about Charter Takeover | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity:

New Orleans Warns Other Cities about Charter Takeover

Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has a very different educational landscape, and it's one that many students, parents, or educators are unhappy about. A recent conference sent out a strong warning to other cities that "relinquishment" reform policies, in which the state takes over local school districts and replaces "failing" public schools with chartered ones, hurts children and communities—and, unfortunately, these takeovers are spreading rapidly across the country. 

The conference brought together parents, students, local education activists, educators, and organizers from other districts where takeover reforms have already been implemented or proposed. Presenters shared both their experiences and new research about with the closing of neighborhood schools and subsequent takeovers, teacher's unions, inequity and segregation in charters, harsh discipline practices, and charter school accountability. They showed the locally produced documentary, "A Perfect Storm: The Takeover of New Orleans Public Schools." The film aptly demonstrates how this charter takeover managed to occur, and why parents and students are so opposed to it. 

 The conference in New Orleans was also supplemented by a lively twitter discussion, under#NOLAedwarning—check out some of the tweets shared below! You can also go here and herefor articles on the conference.

Op-ed Gives Guidance for Progressive School Reform in NYC

Posted on: Wednesday August 5th, 2015

Pedro Noguera, via NYU Steinhardt

Pedro Noguera, a professor at New York University, outlines a clear direction for Mayor de Blasio and progressive school reform efforts in his latest op-ed. Noguera emphasizes that although de Blasio has made progress in some educational areas, he needs to create a clearer narrative of change in order to inspire communities to support and build on that progress. The op-ed lists six crucial areas de Blasio and his administration needs to focus on promoting, including addressing school segregation, working with the teacher's union, collaborating with parents, and stopping the school to prison pipeline.

Noguera argues that articulating a clear platform would help bringMayor de Blasio's supporters together and help him continue the positive changes his administration has already begun to make, such as working with grassroots groups to bring funding for restorative justice, and promoting community schools. 

As the op-ed says of its recommendations:

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it could serve as the foundation for a coherent vision and strategy. The nation is in the midst of a battle over the future of public education. The stakes are high because powerful forces are deter­mined to dismantle this system.

Despite their flaws, public schools continue to be more accessible and stable than other institutions, and they offer hope and opportunity to millions of children across the country. Bill de Blasio has the opportunity to play a leading role in revitalizing and sustaining our schools. Let’s hope that he will seize it.

You can read the entire piece here. 

Op-ed Gives Guidance for Progressive School Reform in NYC

Education Reform: Too Big to Succeed | Vicki Cobb

Education Reform: Too Big to Succeed | Vicki Cobb:

Education Reform: Too Big to Succeed

I'm a devoted follower of Diane Ravitch's blog. She is a tireless aggregator and a commentator on the various aspects of the misguided attempt, through law, to "reform" American education. She posts 7-10 times a day every day, good news and bad, what is happening on the ground as a result of national politicians and state legislators dictating policy and funding for public educational institutions from pre-k through higher ed. It seems to me that the reformers, who are successful businessmen first, want to apply their principles for success in the free market to education. Here are their guiding principles as I understand them and why I believe they are failing:

Disruption Is Good
It is no surprise that Bill Gates, who made his fortune through "disruptive" technological change, supports disruption on established institutions. His outsize influence comes from all the funding he has poured into backing programs that have proven to be destructive. This includes slash and burn closings of public schools that have been deemed failures to be replace by charter upstarts. So how's that working for us? In the all-charter Recovery School District of New Orleans the new schools have now been shown to be largely ineffective. The chickens are also coming home to roost in Chicago. Just read these posts enumerating one failed program after another.

Bear in mind that disruption for children is damaging. Children thrive in secure environments and closing schools willy, nilly and opening new replacements creates a lot collateral damage for students.

Business people believe that disruption opens up opportunities for entrepreneurs and everyone gains from innovation and new enterprises--fodder for the business equivalent of natural selection. I am an example of this. Seven years ago, when I learned that the Common Core Standards require that students read an increased amount of nonfiction, I saw an opening for the genre I've been working in for many years. Children's nonfiction literature has long been considered a stepchild by the children's book industry. So I six years ago I started an organization of award-winning children's nonfiction authors to promote our genre in the classroom, thinking that people would pay more attention to a group of us rather than to any one singular successful author. Our mission is to introduce the educational community to a largely overlooked and underutilized resource of excellent material. Indeed, we are starting to gain traction. However, since I am not a business person, I have failed to figure out how to make money from this enterprise so we have recently reorganized to become a nonprofit. Meanwhile, I watched with (a tinge of envious) dismay as some established education companies took advantage of the disruption to make out like bandits.

Accountability Is Essential

If you read the CCSS, they describe the behavior of an educated person who can read, write, speak, listen and compute. It is important to note that there is no curriculum, i.e. no content, attached to the standards. The focus is on skills, not learning anythinEducation Reform: Too Big to Succeed | Vicki Cobb:

Individual-Level VAM Scores Over Time: “Less Reliable than Flipping a Coin” | VAMboozled!

Individual-Level VAM Scores Over Time: “Less Reliable than Flipping a Coin” | VAMboozled!:

Individual-Level VAM Scores Over Time: “Less Reliable than Flipping a Coin”

In case you missed it (I did), an article authored by Stuart Yeh (Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota) titled “A Reanalysis of the Effects of Teacher Replacement Using Value-Added Modeling” was (recently) published in the esteemed, peer-reviewed journal:Teachers College Record. While the publication suggests a 2013 publication date, my understanding is that the actual article was more recently released.

Regardless, it’s contents are important to share, particularly in terms of VAM-based levels of reliability, whereas reliability is positioned as follows: “The question of stability [reliability/consistency] is not a question about whether average teacher performance rises, declines, or remains flat over time. The issue that concerns critics of VAM is whether individual teacher performance fluctuates over time in a way that invalidates inferences that an individual teacher is “low-” or “high-” performing. This distinction is crucial because VAM is increasingly being applied such that individual teachers who are identified as low-performing are to be terminated. From the perspective of individual teachers, it is inappropriate and invalid to fire a teacher whose performance is low this year but high the next year, and it is inappropriate to retain a teacher whose performance is high this year but low next year. Even if average teacher performance remains stable over time, individual teacher performance may fluctuate wildly from year to year” (p. 7).

Yeh’s conclusions, then (and as based on the evidence presented in this piece) is that “VAM is less reliable than flipping a coin for the purpose of categorizing high- and low-performing teachers” (p. 19). More specifically, VAMs have an estimated, overall error rate of 59% (see Endnote 2, page 26 for further explanation).

That being said, not only is the assumption that teacher quality is a fixed characteristicIndividual-Level VAM Scores Over Time: “Less Reliable than Flipping a Coin” | VAMboozled!: