9/18/2015 – Seattle Teachers’ Strike A Win For Social Justice

9/18/2015 – Seattle Teachers’ Strike A Win For Social Justice:

Seattle Teachers’ Strike A Win For Social Justice

Seattle Teachers’ Strike A Win For Social Justice

By Jeff Bryant

“Striking teachers in Seattle appear to have been victorious in getting most of their demands met … Their demands for increased pay was just one item in a much more extensive list of demands that demonstrate how badly fans of education reform misrepresent and misunderstand what teachers unions often fight for.”
Read more …

NEWS AND VIEWS

School Districts See Teacher Shortages After Years Of Cuts

Associated Press

“After years of recession-related layoffs and hiring freezes, school systems in pockets across the United States are in urgent need of more qualified teachers. Shortages have surfaced in big cities such as Tampa, Florida, and Las Vegas … as well as in states such as Georgia, Indiana, and North Dakota … California … will need 21,000 new teachers annually over the next 5 years … School administrators and academic researchers point to a variety of reasons for the shortages … Nationwide, the number of students training to be teachers has declined from 719,081 in 2010 to 499,800 in 2014 … Even districts that were able to meet their needs this year are bracing for a projected shortage.”
Read more …

The Number Of Black Teachers Has Dropped In Nine U.S. Cities

The Washington Post

“The number of black public school teachers in 9 cities … dropped between 2002 and 2012 … In Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. … The issue of teacher diversity is important because research has suggested that students who are racially paired with teachers – black teachers working with black students and Hispanic teachers working with Hispanic students – do better academically … Researchers examined the decade between 2002 and 2012 because it was a period of rapid expansion of public charter schools and closures of traditional district schools. There also were other state and federal policy changes, such as the use of teacher evaluation systems, that caused some churn and upheaval in teaching ranks.”
Read more …

After 25 Years, Teach For America Results Are Consistently Underwhelming

Nonprofit Quarterly

In an op ed Patricia Schaefer writes, “TFA has total assets of close to half a billion dollars and revenues of more than $330 million, of which about 90% comes from government grants and contributions … While TFA teachers in early primary grades produced roughly 1.3 months of extra reading gains … an overwhelming majority of TFA staff (87%) reported that they did not plan to spend the rest of their career as a classroom teacher or, for that matter, in any education-related career … Even in those limited cases in which TFA shows a positive impact, it is consistently small, and other reform efforts, such universal pre-K, teacher mentoring programs, and smaller class sizes, may have more promise over the long run. The sticking point that returns again and again is that of teacher attrition … There is remarkably little testimony available from veteran teachers, guidance counselors, parents, and other school stakeholders about TFA’s ultimate impact on whole school environments.”
Read more …

When “School Choice” Leads Families To Trade One Bad School For Another

The Hechinger Report

“In Chicago, researchers … found that many families did pull their children out of failing schools. But they usually ended up in ones that were just as bad, or only slightly better … Given the choice of commuting a long way to a high-performing school on the other side of town and transferring to a school in the neighborhood, low-income parents tend to choose the latter … The choices closer to home are often little, if at all, better than poor students’ current schools … This NYU study largely conforms with earlier research, finding that public school choice doesn’t suddenly improve schools for low-income students.”
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Putting More Technology In Schools May Not Make Kids Smarter: OECD Report

The Huffington Post

” While school districts around the globe have invested immensely in technological resources over the past few years – 72 percent of students in OECD countries now use computers at school – this development isn’t necessarily having a positive impact on student learning … Students who use computers moderately at school tend to do somewhat better than students who use computers rarely and significantly better than students who use computers frequently … Increased exposure to technology in school does not mean that disadvantaged students are catching up to their affluent peers in terms of digital skills. To close these gaps, low-income students will have to be provided with better schools overall … Schools should invest more in training teachers on digital tools, while maintaining a healthy skepticism about computer programs they use in the classroom.”
Read more …

9/18/2015 – Seattle Teachers’ Strike A Win For Social Justice:

What Will Zuckerberg Learn from Newark? - Living in Dialogue

What Will Zuckerberg Learn from Newark? - Living in Dialogue:

What Will Zuckerberg Learn from Newark? 

By John Thompson.

Dale Russakoff’s 2014 New Yorker profile “Schooled” is a wonderful account of Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million investment in Newark school reform, and how and why it failed. Perhaps the best new revelation in “Schooled” starts with the lesson Russakoff learned from a wealthy donor. “Investors bet on people, not on business plans, because they know successful people will find a way to be successful.” And, sure enough, when Facebook’s founder announced his plan to transform Newark schools, “One Newark,” he explained that he was persuaded by then-mayor Cory Booker, “This is the guy I want to invest in. This is a person who can create change.”

Booker created a confidential draft plan to “make Newark the charter school capital of the nation.” Because it would be driven by philanthropic donors, no openness would be required.  “Real change requires casualties,” Booker argued, and stealth was required to defeat “the pre-existing order,” which will “fight loudly and viciously.”

This raises the question of what would have happened if Booker had done all of “the right things,” and been transparent, instead of caricaturing teachers and unions. What if Booker had provided Zuckerberg with a fair and balanced analysis of school improvement issues?

What if Booker had objectively reported the results of Newark’s high-performing charters, such as North Star Academy, a member of the Uncommon Schools network? North Star was driven by data and non-What Will Zuckerberg Learn from Newark? - Living in Dialogue:

Children are more than test scores: Dear Secretary Duncan a message from the Walking Man

Children are more than test scores: Dear Secretary Duncan a message from the Walking Man:

Dear Secretary Duncan a message from the Walking Man

Hello Secretary Duncan , my name is Dr. Jesse Patrick Turner, and I am a teacher who occupies the humanity of the spaces I teach. I am inspired by the young voices of those occupying my teaching space. I find magic in the faces I teach. I find hope living in the eyes I teach. I find humanity is a two way street, the more I give the more I recieve. Ralph Waldo Emerson said “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”

Does changing the world begin with reaching one child at a time?

Of course it does!

Does the humanity occupying the space I teach change the world for the children I teach?

Of course it does!

My destiny is not in the hands of the powerful, the wealthy, and the connected. My destiny is in the humanity I bring to teaching?

Secretary Duncan, it is not more rigor, it's more humanity that lifts children up.

It's not testing opening the door to hope.

It's the humanity that occupies the teaching and learning space inside Children are more than test scores: Dear Secretary Duncan a message from the Walking Man:

Schools Matter: School Board Member Lays Out Cost of Charter Expansion

Schools Matter: School Board Member Lays Out Cost of Charter Expansion:

School Board Member Lays Out Cost of Charter Expansion

Recently the school board of Metro Nashville rejected three new charter applications.  Will Pinkston was one of those thoughtful and responsible school board members who voted with his constituents' interests in mind, rather than with the segregating ideologies of corporate education reform schoolers.

Here is Pinkston's recent op-ed in the Tennessean, which lays out his rationale for supporting public school children over corporate interests:

Recently, outgoing Mayor Karl Dean penned an op-ed in the Tennessean applauding the successes of a student and a charter school, KIPP Nashville.

I share his enthusiasm in congratulating the family and the school.

Now, let's discuss the 76,000 students and 5,500 teachers in Metro Nashville Public School Students (MNPS) who aren't in charter schools, but also deserve our support. MNPS is ranked 54th out of 67 urban school systems in America in per-pupil funding.

Due in part to inadequate state funding, we trail school systems in Atlanta, Charlotte and Louisville, among others.

Meanwhile, multiple studies — including an independent audit commissioned by the mayor and Metro Council — found that the unchecked proliferation of publicly funded, privately run charter schools is having a negative fiscal impact on existing schools at a time when the school system is turning around academically.

The MNPS charter pipeline — the number of charter seats not yet created but scheduled to come into existence under previously approved applications — now stands at 8,157 seats. That doesn't include the 8,112 seats that already exist in Nashville's 27 charter schools.

Put differently: The city's charter sector will double over the next few years, even if the Nashville School Board takes no further action.

And as state and local funding is redirected from MNPS to charters, our under-resourced existing schools will be Schools Matter: School Board Member Lays Out Cost of Charter Expansion:

CTU sues CPS. AUSL schools show a pattern of racial discrimination. African American teachers were targeted. | Fred Klonsky

CTU sues CPS. AUSL schools show a pattern of racial discrimination. African American teachers were targeted. | Fred Klonsky:

CTU sues CPS. AUSL schools show a pattern of racial discrimination. African American teachers were targeted.

Wednesday, on behalf of the CTU and our members, another class action lawsuit was filed challenging the five turnarounds in 2013 and the ones from 2011 forward, including what is covered in a pending class action law suit.

“There are overlaps and we are going to move to join the two suits and to certify this class as well. We are seeking relief from 2011 forward and are looking back to the turnarounds from inception to prove they are discriminatory on the basis of race,” CTU attorney Robin Potter told me.

“Both cases are assigned to Judge Ellis.”

“We used new data and incorporated the allegations and data from our pending suit challenging the 2012 turnarounds, which show the ongoing pattern and practice of systemic race discrimination.  Check out the allegations regarding Chalmers. Criminals they are.  Also, we link up privatization – AUSL wanted these schools and so it went. They would not have done this in white neighborhoods.” said Potter

The percentage of African American teachers that were displaced is 59-81% or CTU sues CPS. AUSL schools show a pattern of racial discrimination. African American teachers were targeted. | Fred Klonsky:



Prospect Heights teachers out for a third day. Board paid for air conditioning with teacher salaries.

I will be driving out to the northwest suburbs today to support my IEA sisters and brothers who are on strike in Prospect Heights.

Unlike Wednesday night when the board slammed the doors on teachers and refused to bargain, there was bargaining last night.

No agreement was reached.

Standard union contracts have salary schedules with pay steps.

But not Prospect Heights. And the Prospect Heights Education Association is asking for one. Unlike many jobs in the private sector, teachers who want to remain teachers in the classroom rather than becoming administrators receive no “promotion.” They can only improve their earnings moving up a salary schedule by earning additional degrees, educational credit and years on the job.

The Tribune is reporting that money in the Prospect Heights District 23 education fund, money that is specifically earmarked for teacher salaries, was spent on air conditioning.

Teachers were dismayed when the school board voted earlier this year to transfer $800,000 from the district’s education fund to help Prospect Heights teachers out for a third day. Board paid for air conditioning with teacher salaries.

Another Former Supporter of Test-Based Accountability Confesses His Error | janresseger

Another Former Supporter of Test-Based Accountability Confesses His Error | janresseger:

Another Former Supporter of Test-Based Accountability Confesses His Error

After more than a decade of federal test-and-punish education policy, true believers in the schemes spun by corporate education reformers are reevaluating how it has all worked out since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act.  One at a time they are changing their minds.  Most notable for recanting her original support is the education historian Diane Ravitch, who has written two books and conducts a daily blog to demonstrate all the ways she was mistaken.

Now Harold Kwalwasser, the former general counsel for the Los Angeles Unified School District, the man who was responsible for handling the dismissal of weak teachers, confesses his error: “One major problem was that we lacked objective measures of teacher effectiveness.  So when the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act brought the nation annual standardized testing for math and reading, I applauded… But 14 years on, I think that’s a mistake.  I believe our exam system is deeply flawed, especially when it comes to to teacher evaluation.”

Kwalwasser makes his case simply and logically: “First, the results are too variable.  Teachers may one year be rated ‘highly effective’ while the next year they are merely ‘effective’ or worse, even though there are no observable changes in their teaching skills or strategies… Second, there is reason to doubt the relationship between test scores and an individual teacher’s competence… Third, we have the vagaries of student class assignment… None of the above even takes into consideration the segregation by race or class of school populations because of the continued (indeed increasing) segregation of housing patterns…. Fourth, the tests are too narrow in scope.  They largely focus on math and reading…. Finally, there is the little matter of the ‘cut score.'”  Because cut scores are usually set artificially high to motivate teachers and students alike to try harder, there is noting objective or scientific about a cut Another Former Supporter of Test-Based Accountability Confesses His Error | janresseger:

From finger guns to #IstandwithAhmed clock, zero-tolerance gone too far? | | Dallas Morning News

From finger guns to #IstandwithAhmed clock, zero-tolerance gone too far? | | Dallas Morning News:

From finger guns to #IstandwithAhmed clock, zero-tolerance gone too far?

The arrest and suspension of a teen boy taking his invention to school may have been more than anti-Muslim sentiments. Some juvenile justice experts say the zero-tolerance stance that often drives school discipline also played a critical role.

But Ahmed Mohamed’s arrest this week is far from being the first in which the public has criticized school officials for going to the extreme.

Here are some examples of other school districts’ reactions to behavior they deemed suspicious.

A finger gun—A 10-year-old Ohio boy was suspended for three days last year after he pointed his finger like a gun to another student. The elementary student said he was just playing around but district officials told media outlets that the principal had repeatedly warned students about pretend-gun games.

Theater prop—In 2008, a National Honor Society student from a Houston suburb received a seven-week suspension from her Fort Bend high school when officials found her stepbrother’s theater prop sword in the backseat of her car.

Killing dinosaurs —A South Carolina teen was arrested and suspended last school year after turning in a creative writing assignment in which he killed a dinosaur using a gun.

Another finger gun—In 2010, a Houston 13-year-old was suspended and accused of making a terroristic threat against when she pointed her finger in the direction of her teacher making “pow pow” sounds. The girl said she and friends were pretending to be police officers.

Mini bat —In 2004, Fort Worth officials suspended a high school student when a mini wooden baseball bat was visible through a car window. The teen, who was a baseball player, said the piece apparently broke off of a trophy.

Granny’s bread knife —In 2002, a Bedford student was expelled from school after officials found a bread knife in the back of a truck. The knife was left there after the teen and his dad helped take some of his grandmother’s possessions to a charitable organization.

From finger guns to #IstandwithAhmed clock, zero-tolerance gone too far? | | Dallas Morning News:

Parents’ Hunger Strike Reveals Flaws in Chicago’s Education Reforms - Yahoo News

Parents’ Hunger Strike Reveals Flaws in Chicago’s Education Reforms - Yahoo News:

Parents’ Hunger Strike Reveals Flaws in Chicago’s Education Reforms

It’s a drastic, painful, potentially fatal tactic associated with third-world political movements calling attention to brutal regimes, or history lessons about legendary protest leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Cesar Chavez.

Related Stories

1. Chicago to reopen high school that is focus of hunger strike Reuters
2. School protests hijack Chicago mayor's budget forum Reuters
3. Chicago officials to reopen high school after fiery protests Associated Press
4. School Protesters Force Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel To Shut Down Budget Meeting Huffington Post
5. Palestinian back on hunger strike as Israel renews detention AFP

Yet activists on Chicago’s hardscrabble South Side are entering their second month of a hunger strike, launched to draw attention to the plight of astoried but downtrodden neighborhood schoolscheduled to close next year.

The activists say they launched the strike because city leaders, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel, have repeatedly turned a deaf ear to their complaints about the fate of Walter H. Dyett High School in the historic majority-black Bronzeville neighborhood. Emanuel’s administration, they say, has also ignored their demand for a say in what happens to their community’s school—including their suggestions to junk plans to turn Dyett into a music and arts school and instead create an academy for kids who want careers in the future-facing high-tech, green-energy field.

RELATED: All the Cool Kids Are Doing Science: Why will.i.am Is Making It Hip to Be a 'Nerd'

“The community said they wanted Dyett Global Leadership and Green Technology High School,” Jitu Brown, one of the hunger strikers, told Chicago’s WTTW-TV on Wednesday, the 31st day of the protest. “It’s really frustrating that taxpayers have to go to this length when you realize that you’ve been rendered voiceless.”

While the “Fight for Dyett” movement has adopted desperate measures for what it sees as a desperate time, the standoff between the protesters and the powers that be is a microcosm of similar conflicts playing out nationwide.

Across the U.S. a combination of shrinking education budgets, gentrification of poor neighborhoods, and the meteoric rise of charter schools has put underperforming majority-minority schools like Dyett on the chopping block—and spurred charges of educational racism.

Several studies have shown that when urban school districts from Washington, D.C., to Oakland, California, have had to balance the books by closing low-enrollment, poorly-performing schools,black communities are hit the hardest. But city and school officials say the enrollment numbers don’t lie; In Chicago, Dyett High’s class of 2015 had just 15 students.

But analysts say families displaced by gentrification, as well as the appeal of charter schools, is artificially driving down enrollment, undermining schools like Dyett, named for an esteemed African American music teacher whose pupils included jazz legends Nat King Cole and Dinah Washington.

“People have gotten to a level of desperation,” said Richard Gray, director of community organizing and engagement at Brown University’s Annenberg Institute for School Reform. The decision to close Dyett without their input, said Gray, felt to Bronzeville community leaders “like an attack on their schools and their teachers” and proof that Rahm Emanuel “disdains their community.”

RELATED: 9-Year-Old Blasts Rahm Emanuel at Education Rally

Gentrification is “definitely” a factor in the standoff in Chicago, according to Gray. For several Parents’ Hunger Strike Reveals Flaws in Chicago’s Education Reforms - Yahoo News:

The State of Teacher Diversity in American Education | Shanker Institute

The State of Teacher Diversity in American Education | Shanker Institute:

The State of Teacher Diversity in American Education

Teacher Diversity in the U.S. is an area of concern. The teacher work force has gotten less ethnically and racially diverse and more female, a development which has had an adverse effect on students, particularly on males of color. It is an impediment to the broader goals of equity and social harmony. ASI is working to better understand teacher labor market trends and identify promising interventions aimed at increased teacher diversity in K-12 education.

This report shows that nationally, progress toward greater diversity is being made, but it is quite modest compared to the need for more minority teachers. In the nine cities studied—Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.—the picture is much more bleak, and there are only a few pockets of progress, surrounded by serious setbacks.

Watch the Press Conference

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K-12 Education

The State of Teacher Diversity in American Education | Shanker Institute:

Critics Of Charter Schools Say Ohio Supreme Court Ruling Raises Political Questions | WVXU

Critics Of Charter Schools Say Ohio Supreme Court Ruling Raises Political Questions | WVXU:

Critics Of Charter Schools Say Ohio Supreme Court Ruling Raises Political Questions

The Ohio Supreme Court decision that nearly a hundred million dollars in equipment bought by charter school operators with tax money belongs to those operators and not to the schools has raised more anger against the industry.

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4:13

The case stems from a lawsuit filed by 10 Northeast Ohio charter schools against the for-profit management company they had contracted with, Akron-based White Hat Management. Seven of the 10 schools had serious academic problems during White Hat’s time in charge.

But five Ohio Supreme Court justices said that didn’t matter. They agreed that the contracts between the charter schools and White Hat were enforceable, so the charters were obliged to buy back school equipment that White Hat bought with state money.  And the court didn’t rule at all on the use of public money, on transparency or on academic performance involving charter schools or operators.

Republican strategist Mark Weaver teaches law at Ohio State and the University of Akron, and also represents some charter schools, though not the ones in this case. He says the justices were correct in dealing just with the contractual issues and kicking the other questions back to state lawmakers.

“The Legislature has created the community or charter school system which allows operators to make a profit,” Weaver said. “And for those who get upset about that, remember Uber – they make a profit, but they wind up helping consumers along the way. Apple makes a profit but all of us have benefited from that. And lawmakers have said, ‘Let’s experiment with charter schools and see if we can give parents more choices.’”

While many were hoping the decision would more clearly define laws on charter schools and operators, others say this is what they expected.

Sandy Theis is the executive director of ProgressOhio, which has long been critical of Ohio’s charter-school industry.

“I wasn’t surprised at all by the ruling, and I think it just confirms what we’ve known all along" Theis said. "And that is that the worst performing charter schools own all three branches of state government.”

Theis says Gov. John Kasich has taken no leadership to clean up charter schools, and state lawmakers have been sitting on a charter-school reform bill.

“And now we have the judicial branch that basically says one of the worst Critics Of Charter Schools Say Ohio Supreme Court Ruling Raises Political Questions | WVXU:

Another voucher school closes, stirring a simmering pot of issues | Milwaukee | Wisconsin Gazette

Another voucher school closes, stirring a simmering pot of issues | Milwaukee | Wisconsin Gazette - Smart, independent and revealing. News, opinion and entertainment coverage:

Another voucher school closes, stirring a simmering pot of issues

Just nine days into the school year, a Milwaukee voucher school abruptly shut down, drawing renewed criticism from opponents of efforts to privatize Wisconsin’s K–12 public school system.

Daughters of the Father Christian Academy says it closed voluntarily, but the Department of Public Instruction had cited it for multiple problems and reportedly tried to remove it from the state’s Parental Choice Program over the summer. The school maintains a website that still features an enrollment tab. The academy’s enrollment is listed as 240 students. Now those students’ parents are scrambling for a place to enroll their kids.

The DPI did not return phone messages seeking information about the closure.

By most measures, the school appeared doomed from the start. It managed to achieve accreditation, beginning in the 2007–2008 school year, despite a number of red flags that Fox 6 news uncovered during an investigation in May. Those included the revelation that school founder Bishop Doris Pinkney had filed for bankruptcy three times since 1995 and did not have a teaching credential. The school’s application was riddled with spelling and grammatical errors.

Fox 6 launched the probe after parents of students at the academy complained that the school abruptly ceased providing bus service to students in middle of the last academic year due to financial mismanagement. Pinkney acknowledged to a bankruptcy court that she was earning $132,000 annually.

In 2011, a childcare center that Pinkney ran was shuttered for “substantial and repeat violations of licensing rules,” according to the Wisconsin Department of Families and Children.

A study published in January by the Wisconsin State Journal concluded that voucher school closings are a common in the state. Eleven schools participating in the voucher program were removed within a year of opening due to poor educational standards — at a $4.1 million cost to taxpayers.

The WSJ article appeared just after Milwaukee’s Travis Technology High School was terminated for failing to meet state requirements during the winter break of the 2014–15 school year.

The shutdown of Daughters of the Father Christian Academy brought the number of terminated voucher schools in the state to 57 since 2003, according to a just-released report by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Those schools have cost Wisconsin taxpayers a total of $176 million.

News of the school’s closing came one week after Republican legislators appeared poised to fast-track an expansion of Gov. Scott Walker’s private school voucher program. In the 2015–17 biennial budget, Republicans lifted a cap on the number of voucher schools permitted to operate in the state by one percent annually. But on Sept. 4, Republicans introduced a new proposal — Senate Bill 250 — that would exempt certain school districts from abiding by that limitation, allowing voucher schools to expand more rapidly.

Special interests

“Rather than selling out Wisconsin students to protect the special interests behind Gov. Walker’s presidential campaignAnother voucher school closes, stirring a simmering pot of issues | Milwaukee | Wisconsin Gazette - Smart, independent and revealing. News, opinion and entertainment coverage:

Sacramento News & Review - The latest on Mayor Kevin Johnson's lawsuit against SN&R - Editor's Note - Opinions - September 17, 2015

Sacramento News & Review - The latest on Mayor Kevin Johnson's lawsuit against SN&R - Editor's Note - Opinions - September 17, 2015:

The latest on Mayor Kevin Johnson's lawsuit against SN&R

It was strange when Kevin Johnson sued us earlier this summer. But in recent weeks, this K.J. lawsuit saga has become even more head-scratching.

This latest weirdness began when city of Sacramento attorneys started ignoring our lawyer's emails and communications asking to allow Deadspin.com, part of Gawker Media, to intervene as a party of interest in the lawsuit. Deadspin thinks the mayor's secret emails should be public, too. Eventually, the city said no. Why should city attorneys not want Deadspin to join in this case? They didn't give us a reason.

Unacceptable—the city is supposed to be our co-defendant. And, under their obligation to the California Public Records Act, the city should be advocating for the requesters of public documents. Not for people trying to hide things.

Instead, the city attorneys are working to block our efforts. That's not how stewards of good government should operate. And, troubling, the city is inviting litigation from Deadspin with this behavior.

Meanwhile, the mayor's pro bono attorneys at Ballard Spahr are hustling to shut down our challenge by issuing generic denials and empty deadlines. But that's not going to fly in court: These K.J. emails should be public record, not City Hall secrets, and SN&R will be be filing a motion imminently that challenges the mayor's secrecy.

Anyway, Team K.J. knows this litigation is expensive. I'd like to thank the readers who have already supported SN&R's legal-defense fund (at www.gofundme.com/SNRlegalhelp). You're truly making a difference in this battle for accountability and transparency at City Hall.

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Sacramento News & Review - The latest on Mayor Kevin Johnson's lawsuit against SN&R - Editor's Note - Opinions - September 17, 2015:

Louisiana Educator: Playing Political Games with PARCC Test Data

Louisiana Educator: Playing Political Games with PARCC Test Data:

Playing Political Games with PARCC Test Data

In this latest pro-John White article, Will Sentell of The Advocate never seems to question why it should take until November for the student scores on the Common Core PARCC test to be reported to the schools and the general public. The LDOE has the data but apparently is just sitting on it. Why?

Members of the Superintendent's Advisory Council on Thursday, asked why the results of the testing are being withheld when educators could be using them to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the first full year of Common Core instruction? In addition, there is a Curriculum Standards Review committee that is now struggling with how to modify the standards. Their deliberations could really use that test data. The data will not change between now and November, so why is it being withheld?

The full data on the results of the PARCC tests for Louisiana students has now been supplied to our LDOE by the PARCC consortium. The LDOE has in its computers exactly how many students answered each question on each test correctly. The LDOE could right now produce a detailed report on each PARCC test telling educators and the public exactly how many students got various percentages of the questions correct.

But White is claiming that knowledge of how many questions the students got right is not really helpful. Apparently the testing experts have to doctor the results in order for ordinary people to understand them. You know, like they did with the Geometry end-of-course test, where it was somehow determined that a score of 32% correct answers was passing. You see that's the trouble with standards. The people controlling the data can totally control the results and the standards by their setting of the raw passing Louisiana Educator: Playing Political Games with PARCC Test Data:

CURMUDGUCATION: Testing: The Circular Argument

CURMUDGUCATION: Testing: The Circular Argument:

Testing: The Circular Argument

This morning, the indispensable Mercedes Schneider takes us on a trip to Massachusetts, where profiteers have captured many of the positions of power in the education world.

Much has been said about commissioner Mitchell Chester, who heads up the fast-evaporating PARCC test consortium, but who will also recommend to the state what Big Standardized Test they will use. This is pretty much like having the owner of a Ford dealership decide what kind of cars should be used for your municipal fleet.

But I was also struck by Schneider's look at Harvard University's EdLab, which appears to be nothing more than a college based reformy thinky tank set to cook up policy recommendations for the privatizers and profiteers while using the Harvard banner as a cover. You can read the whole thing at her blog.

But I was particularly struck by this quote from Roland Fryer, the economics guy who was speed-installed as a professor to head up EdLab. He's talking (back in 2012) about his belief that there should be a two-tier testing system:

I haven’t figured out why no one has tried a two-tiered system for standardized testing. So, I live in Concord, Massachusetts which is a wonderful suburb of Boston — my wife and I just moved there — and I actually don’t want a lot of standardized testing in Concord because it will crowd out my kids CURMUDGUCATION: Testing: The Circular Argument:

Who came up with these peculiar rules about preschools and child-care centers? - The Washington Post

Who came up with these peculiar rules about preschools and child-care centers? - The Washington Post:

Who came up with these peculiar rules about preschools and child-care centers?

Here are some eyebrow-raising licensing rules, regulations and other tidbits about day-care centers and preschools in various states. These were collected by Noodle, an education website that offers help to parents and students to make better decisions about learning through interactive search tools and expert-authored articles. Noodle found them while creating  free preschool guides for parents, which detail different preschool options in each state.

Noodle notes on its website:

There are two key reasons why early education varies so dramatically from one state — and even one facility — to another. First, there are no national standards governing child care for preschool-aged children. Licensing laws vary from strict to lax — and oversight varies even more, with some states conducting regular inspections and others overlooking gross violations. Second, the U.S. does not provide universal access to public preschool programs, despite numerous studies demonstrating the long-term individual and societal benefits of early learning. In fact, the majority of 4-year-olds are not enrolled in a public pre-K — to say nothing of the vast majority of younger children with no public preschool options at all. As of 2013, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Wyoming did not provide any state funds at all to preschool.

If you are wondering what the difference between day-care centers and preschools are, here are a few: day-care centers usually have longer hours than the latter, take in children from infants to preschoolers, and may or may not have an educational philosophy (though many do).  Preschools won’t take infants and increasingly are focused on giving students academic work. In many cases, though, a good preschool may not be much different than a good day-care center.

Here is the list:

1. Michigan says you can trade and/or sell guns at child-care centers, but only when no children are present.
(Source: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/dhs/BCAL-PUB-0724_212611_7.pdf[michigan.gov])

2. Utah mandates playgrounds must be free of animal excrement, but makes an exception for “isolated bird droppings.”
(Source:http://health.utah.gov/licensing/rules/Interpretation/Hourly/Section%206%20-%20Outdoor%20Environment.pdf[health.utah.gov])

3. Nebraska’s list of animals that can’t be brought to show-and-tell includes hybrid cats, gorillas, alligators, poisonous snakes and ducks (newborn baby chicks are okay so long as they are in incubation containers).
(Source:http://dhhs.ne.gov/publichealth/Licensure/Documents/QandAonNewPreschoolRegs.pdf[dhhs.ne.gov])

4. Nebraska also wants you to know that children must not be allowed to use Who came up with these peculiar rules about preschools and child-care centers? - The Washington Post:

Teaching History at Mission High School (Kristina Rizga) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Teaching History at Mission High School (Kristina Rizga) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Teaching History at Mission High School (Kristina Rizga)

This is the third excerpt taken from Kristina Rizga’s new bookMission High. With her permission I have excerpted descriptions ofmath  and English lessons. In this post, Rizga describes a history lesson that Robert Roth, a long time community activist and veteran social studies teacher, taught.

“Your essay on the Mendez v. Westminster case was so powerful,” Roth says as he rests his arm on Maria’s shoulder in the hallway one chilly winter morning in 2011. “You really nailed it this time.” He concentrates on Maria’s face. Roth is dressed in a black, long-sleeved shirt, black jeans, and black shoes. His closely cropped hair has lost most of its pepper.

“Huh? Me? Thanks, Mr. Roth.” Maria stops for a brief moment to soak in the praise before she walks through the classroom door. Clenching a thick bundle of tissues in her hand, she looks out an open window for a moment, smiling.

The J-Church train outside shrieks along the rails near the school. Maria closes the window before settling into her desk. Propping the classroom door open with his right hand, Roth scans every face in the morning rush of students flowing through the hall.

“Have you been avoiding me, Pablo?” Roth shouts. “I saw you near the cafeteria yesterday and you didn’t even say hello.” Pablo smiles reluctantly. “Am I going to see you after school today to look over your outline?”

“Yes, I will be there,” Pablo heaves a long, dramatic sigh, with arms akimbo.

“How are you doing, Darrell?” Roth turns his head toward a tall student walking into his classroom. “Are you coming to see me after school today for a test review?” Darrell nods in agreement as he joins the rest of the students.

Ten minutes after the bell rings, Jesmyn slowly cracks open Roth’s classroom door, peeking through with one eye before she tip-toes inside. The class is quiet. Students are writing. Everyone is working on the “Do Now,” a fifteen-minute Teaching History at Mission High School (Kristina Rizga) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Parents, teachers, and students in the Milwaukee Public School District are holding “walk-ins” | The Progressive

The hidden education tradeoff: tax cuts now or real economic growth in the future | The Progressive:

The hidden education tradeoff: tax cuts now or real economic growth in the future

Parents in Milwaukee—as across the nation—know that their children’s futures depend on the quality of public education, and many of them are deeply upset about continuing cuts to public education funding. Parents, teachers, and students in the Milwaukee Public School District are holding  “walk-ins” at over 100 schools on Friday, Sept. 18 to “celebrate and protect public education.” These events are a challenge to the plans of Gov. Scott Walker to privatize Milwaukee Public Schools and starve them of funding. 

Some 41% of Milwaukee students attend largely unaccountable private voucher and charter schools, many of which have draining away resources needed by the public-schools systems to provide a quality education for all.  The public system is thus nearing insolvency.

In Chicago, the school system is being decimated by top-down cuts and school shutdowns that have parents, students, and teachers up in arms over their lack of voice in the school system’s future. At Dyett High School in Chicago, school supporters have staged a dramatic hunger strike, currently over 31 days long, to stop its closing and implement community plans for reinventing the school. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel seems bent on promoting privatized voucher schools at the expense of the public system he is dismantling.

Along with the drive for privatization, embraced by both right-wingers and neo-liberals, schools across the nation have been victimized by budgetary chainsaws. In the name of cutting taxes, states are sacrificing their public school systems.

No less than 47 states are now spending less than they did in 2007. “Savings have gone to finance tax cuts,” observes financial journalist Tom Saler.   A distressing NY Times series by Louise Story details how local governments have handed out over $80 billion a year in corporate tax cuts, plus a wide menu of subsidies. This money is mostly going to the largest corporations and without demanding accountability on actual job creation and wage levels.

And there are long term, serious costs to all this cutting.

While cutting taxes is the Republican brand, the trickle-down strategy has utterly failed to produce high-paying jobs because the lower taxes have come at the cost of better education. And there’s data to show that lower taxes, lower education spending, and lower educational outcomes are correlated with low wages. Noah Berger and Peter Fisher of the Economic Policy Institute carried out a recent study looking at the relationship between education and economic growth between 1979 and 2012.

They found that educational spending, when harnessed with good public educational systems to produce a well-educated workforce, benefits citizens by lifting up skill levels and overall economic development.

Berger and Fisher’s conclusion poses in stark terms the trade-off between tax cuts championed by Walker and dozens of other governors, backed by the most vocal corporate leaders in their states, and genuine long-term economic development.

There are no states with a relatively well-educated workforce and relatively low wages, and virtually no states with low levels of education and relatively high wages.

So the real choice for the states is between immediate tax cuts, low educational attainment, low wages and sluggish growth over the long term, or using public revenues to improve

- See more at: http://www.progressive.org/news/2015/09/188317/hidden-education-tradeoff-tax-cuts-now-or-real-economic-growth-future#sthash.ZUMcd3gq.dpuf