Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 11/1/15

CORPORATE ED REFORM

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A Note on Arne Duncan's Legacy

A Note on Arne Duncan's Legacy: Like Water Off A Duck’s Back [A Note on Duncan’s Legacy]Six years ago, I remember sitting in an afternoon meeting with my principal and about 25 other administrators and educators, waiting patiently for a central official to come down and give us some awful news of some consequence for us and all of our work. The school official stood there whispering to an assistan

by mike simpson / 0min 

Angelique Ashby seeks outsider role in Sacramento mayoral race | The Sacramento Bee

Angelique Ashby seeks outsider role in Sacramento mayoral race | The Sacramento Bee: Angelique Ashby seeks outsider role in Sacramento mayoral raceAngelique Ashby said she was ready to take on a Goliath.She’ll get her chance, even if it’s not the political heavyweight she had in mind.A two-term Sacramento councilwoman from North Natomas, Ashby jumped into the race for mayor last month just a few h

by mike simpson / 4min 

Hartford parking lots a Goldmine for Luke Bronin - Wait What?

Hartford parking lots a Goldmine for Luke Bronin - Wait What?: Hartford parking lots a Goldmine for Luke BroninOperating pay to park garages and lots in Hartford is extremely profitable and campaign finance reports indicate that parking garage and lot operators in Hartford have been lining up to give Greenwich native Luke Bronin large donations for his campaign to become Hartford’s Next Mayor.LAZ

by mike simpson / 2h 

An alternative to high stakes testing works. New York schools have proven it. | Seattle Education

An alternative to high stakes testing works. New York schools have proven it. | Seattle Education: An alternative to high stakes testing works. New York schools have proven it.71 percent of English language learners in New York Performance Standards Consortium schools graduated on time in 2015, versus 37 percent across New York City, where all but two of the consortium schools are located.This is

by mike simpson / 4h 

GOVERNOR VILLARAIGOSA AND THE LATINO MAJORITY IN CALIFORNIA - Perdaily.com

GOVERNOR VILLARAIGOSA AND THE LATINO MAJORITY IN CALIFORNIA - Perdaily.com: GOVERNOR VILLARAIGOSA AND THE LATINO MAJORITY IN CALIFORNIA(Mensaje se repite en Español)It is no secret that ex-Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is interested in running for governor in California in 2018. As a matter of fact, he is already actively going around the state and the country lining up both the financial

by mike simpson / 5h 

Marie Corfield: Newark, 'civility' & ed 'reform'

Marie Corfield: Newark, 'civility' & ed 'reform': Newark, 'civility' & ed 'reform'StudentsFirst co-founder, Dmitri Mehlhorn, has been engaged in a charter school debate with Jersey Jazzman for the past few weeks. As I read one of Mehlhorn's responses, I clicked on a link that led me down an Internet rabbit hole and into my own response to one of his blog posts about civility in the ed 'ref

by mike simpson / 6h 

Has anyone else said it? | @ THE CHALKFACE

Has anyone else said it? | @ THE CHALKFACE: Has anyone else said it? I want to say this, and I want to be clear: Eva Moskowitz and her ilk are garbage, they’re garbage human beings and their ideas are garbage.I’d like to say something else, but I won’t.You can follow the drama here. But seriously, with the “got to go” lists and other minutiae that came out recently, including the repeated failures

by mike simpson / 7h 

Online Charter School SUCK - The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO)

The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO): Online Charter School StudyPress release: Online Charter School Students Falling Behind Their PeersInside Online Charter Schools by Mathematica Policy ResearchOnline Charter School Study by CREDO at Stanford UniversityThe Policy Framework for Online Charter Schools by CRPE

by mike simpson / 7h 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Dear Directors - Say No to the Assignment Plan Overhaul

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Dear Directors - Say No to the Assignment Plan Overhaul:  Dear Directors - Say No to the Assignment Plan OverhaulSuggested e-mail to the Board on this issue with key points; edit at will.If you want the Board AND senior staff to see your e-mail, write to :schoolboard@seattleschools.orgIf you want ONLY the Board to see your e-mail, write to:spsdirectors@seattleschoo

by mike simpson / 7h 

VAMboozled’s Two-Year Anniversary | VAMboozled!

VAMboozled’s Two-Year Anniversary | VAMboozled!: VAMboozled’s Two-Year AnniversaryIt’s our two year anniversary, so I thought I would share our current stats and our thanks to all who are following (n ≥ 15,000), and also sharing out our independent, open-access, research- and community-based content. We still have a lot of work to be done in terms of America’s test-based teacher evaluation systems

by mike simpson / 8h 

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Classroom Update #2 for 2015

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Classroom Update #2 for 2015: Classroom Update #2 for 2015Since I’m not anywhere close to writing these updates on a weekly basis, I’m not going to label them that way for this year. I’m instead going to concentrate on writing for you my dear readers, when I can, and let the posts fall where they may.Maps for educationI remember way back in the dim mist of

by mike simpson / 8h 

Education Matters: Going to a cyber charter is the equivalent of not going to school.

Education Matters: Going to a cyber charter is the equivalent of not going to school.: Education Matters: Going to a cyber charter is the equivalent of not going to school. From the league of women voters: Three studies are combined in a report about online charter school achievement (or lack thereof).  The result is sobering.  Interesting that these research institutes are funded by pro reform fo

by mike simpson / 8h 

Jersey Jazzman: Moskowitz, Petrilli, and the Hard Truth About America's Schools

Jersey Jazzman: Moskowitz, Petrilli, and the Hard Truth About America's Schools: Moskowitz, Petrilli, and the Hard Truth About America's Schools I'd be lying if I denied I haven't taken some measure of satisfaction in watching the perpetually self-impressed Eva Moskowitz implode this week. Now that we know for certain that her charter schools do, in fact, counsel out "disruptive" student

by mike simpson / 8h 

CURMUDGUCATION: Return of the Data Overlords

CURMUDGUCATION: Return of the Data Overlords: Return of the Data OverlordsWhen the President and Arne Duncan took to all manner of media to pretend to stand up against standardized testing (but only, you know, the bad redundant not-so-good standardized testing), the New Testing Plan included some odd language and offers of assistance, and it all struck a chord of recognition for Peggy Robertson, a

by mike simpson / 8h 

Resisting Good/Bad Teacher/Police Frame and Confronting Systemic Flaws in Education, Law Enforcement | the becoming radical

Resisting Good/Bad Teacher/Police Frame and Confronting Systemic Flaws in Education, Law Enforcement | the becoming radical: Resisting Good/Bad Teacher/Police Frame and Confronting Systemic Flaws in Education, Law EnforcementThe Spring Valley High controversy created by the excessive force used by a police officer on campus represents the intersection of the wider and growing public debates about

by mike simpson / 9h 

Jeff Sadow: Election a plus for school reform | Opinion | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Jeff Sadow: Election a plus for school reform | Opinion | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Election a plus for school reformLouisiana’s recent state election results gave cheer to political consultants and fuel to conspiratorial-minded education reform opponents.Those who make money from political candidacies saw their bottom lines suffer in 2007 and 2011, years that lacked gubernatorial ele

by mike simpson / 10h 

YESTERDAY

Pulitzer Prize Winner Thinks Ravitch Is Jindal | deutsch29

Pulitzer Prize Winner Thinks Ravitch Is Jindal | deutsch29: Pulitzer Prize Winner Thinks Ravitch Is JindalOn October 30, 2015, New Orleans-based online news publication, The Lens, carried an opinion piece by its news editor, Jed Horne, who is described at the end of the article as “a veteran journalist who was awarded a Pulitzer Prize as part of the Times-Picayune team that covered Katrina and the

by mike simpson / 19h 

Race Curriculum Controversy in Seattle | Seattle Education

Race Curriculum Controversy in Seattle | Seattle Education: Race Curriculum Controversy in SeattleThere was an unfortunate controversy created by one set of parents that surfaced in the press over the last two years about a teacher who educates his students to the realities of racism.This is his story:Race Curriculum ControversyJon GreenbergAt first glance, Seattle—home to an openly gay mayor, a S

by mike simpson / 22h hide  //  save

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 10/31/15

CORPORATE ED REFORMHAPPY HALLOWEENBadass Teacher Association Web SiteCharters grapple with admissions policies, question how public they should be - The Washington PostCharters grapple with admissions policies, question how public they should be - The Washington Post: Charters grapple with admissions policies, question how public they should beAt Achievement Prep, the test scores of low-income Afr

by mike simpson / 1d 

A Note on Arne Duncan's Legacy

A Note on Arne Duncan's Legacy:

Like Water Off A Duck’s Back [A Note on Duncan’s Legacy]

Six years ago, I remember sitting in an afternoon meeting with my principal and about 25 other administrators and educators, waiting patiently for a central official to come down and give us some awful news of some consequence for us and all of our work. The school official stood there whispering to an assistant, arms folded while everyone else chatted each other up about Mayor Bloomberg’s latest overnight budget purge. The meeting started as a mundane set of manufactured talking points from the PR department, but quickly escalated to a shouting match between those of us who sat (educators) and the one who stood (the school official). That was also the night that I found out firsthand how nice and well-meaning these central folks are, and, no matter how many insults and ad hominems shouted at the official, he would not be moved.

It’s the first time I learned the difference between temperament and action in education policy. Too many folks obfuscate both when we mean to address one.

Take, for example, the legacy of former Washington DC public schools Michelle Rhee, who remains A Note on Arne Duncan's Legacy:

Angelique Ashby seeks outsider role in Sacramento mayoral race | The Sacramento Bee

Angelique Ashby seeks outsider role in Sacramento mayoral race | The Sacramento Bee:

Angelique Ashby seeks outsider role in Sacramento mayoral race

Angelique Ashby said she was ready to take on a Goliath.

She’ll get her chance, even if it’s not the political heavyweight she had in mind.

A two-term Sacramento councilwoman from North Natomas, Ashby jumped into the race for mayor last month just a few hours after Mayor Kevin Johnson announced he wouldn’t seek a third term in 2016. In an email to supporters a few days later, Ashby said she was prepared to challenge Johnson in a head-to-head race and released an internal poll showing she could have won that contest.

“I knew we needed a new mayor with the energy, the experience and the ideals to keep Sacramento moving in a positive direction,” Ashby wrote. “But no one else stepped up. That’s when I decided to run for mayor.”

With Johnson now out of the way, Ashby instead will face a different opponent with broad political support, a seven-figure campaign war chest and name ID that stretches citywide.

Darrell Steinberg, the former state Senate leader who held elected office in Sacramento for more than 20 years, entered the race last week. He made his public announcement during a festive rally at a housing development under construction near downtown, surrounded by more than 200 supporters and members of the city’s political and business elite.

“Darrell brings people together from all of Sacramento – business, labor, environmentalists, advocates for the poor,” said state Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, one of thoseAngelique Ashby seeks outsider role in Sacramento mayoral race | The Sacramento Bee:

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article42156891.html#storylink=cpy

Hartford parking lots a Goldmine for Luke Bronin - Wait What?

Hartford parking lots a Goldmine for Luke Bronin - Wait What?:

Hartford parking lots a Goldmine for Luke Bronin

Operating pay to park garages and lots in Hartford is extremely profitable and campaign finance reports indicate that parking garage and lot operators in Hartford have been lining up to give Greenwich native Luke Bronin large donations for his campaign to become Hartford’s Next Mayor.

LAZ Parking, owned by Alan Lazowski, operates at least 12 major pay to park garages and another 5 pay to park lots in Hartford.  Lazowksi also owns that LAZ Fly Economy Airport Parking at Bradley Airport.  Lazowski, his wife and other corporate officers and employees have donated at least $7,000 to Bronin’s campaign.  Lazowski has kicked in two $1,000 checks, one before and one after the September 16 Democratic primary, while his wife, the company’s COO and other executives have donated thousands more.

While LAZ Parking dominates the parking garage market in Hartford, ProPark Inc. is the leader in the lot market with 11 pay to park lots and 2 garages.  Owned by John Schmid of Litchifield and other ProPark Inc. management team have dropped at least $5,000 on Bronin.

The story of Hartford’s Connecticut Parking Services owner Carlos Lopez was featured in Hartford parking lots a Goldmine for Luke Bronin - Wait What?:

An alternative to high stakes testing works. New York schools have proven it. | Seattle Education

An alternative to high stakes testing works. New York schools have proven it. | Seattle Education:

An alternative to high stakes testing works. New York schools have proven it.

71 percent of English language learners in New York Performance Standards Consortium schools graduated on time in 2015, versus 37 percent across New York City, where all but two of the consortium schools are located.

This is a model that teachers at Garfield High School in Seattle have been studying, traveling to New York to learn how to implement the New York Performance Standards Consortium program described below. This collaborative relationship is highlighted in the film “Beyond Measure“.

From the Hechinger Report:

NYC schools that skip standardized tests have higher graduation rates

An interview with the woman overseeing the group defying convention

After almost 30 years at an alternative high school, Ann Cook now heads a consortium of New York public high schools that assess students with little reliance on standardized tests.

The role of standardized tests is one of the most contentious subjects in public education. And while many people oppose high-stakes testing, few offer concrete proposals for other ways of measuring student progress. But for more than 20 years, schools in the New York Performance Standards Consortium have quietly demonstrated an alternative.

While most New York students must passstate exams in five subjects to graduate, the consortium’s 38 schools have a state waiver allowing their students to earn a diploma by passing just one exam: comprehensive English. (An additional nine schools have a partial waiver.) Instead, in all subjects including English, the students must demonstrate skill mastery in practical terms. They An alternative to high stakes testing works. New York schools have proven it. | Seattle Education:

GOVERNOR VILLARAIGOSA AND THE LATINO MAJORITY IN CALIFORNIA - Perdaily.com

GOVERNOR VILLARAIGOSA AND THE LATINO MAJORITY IN CALIFORNIA - Perdaily.com:

GOVERNOR VILLARAIGOSA AND THE LATINO MAJORITY IN CALIFORNIA

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

It is no secret that ex-Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is interested in running for governor in California in 2018. As a matter of fact, he is already actively going around the state and the country lining up both the financial and political support necessary to make him what would be only the second Latino to hold the governorship since Romualdo Pacheco did so in 1875.

Clearly, the front runner in this campaign for governor has been thought to be Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, especially when he passed on a run for the Senate. But I think the only reason Newsom has been seen as an inevitability for governor is that it presupposes the traditionally low Latino vote in all previous elections and not a systematically organized majority Latino voter constituency that could be offered to one of their own like Villaraigosa or Alex Padilla.

It is my belief that a seasoned politician like Antonio Villaraigosa could easily be instrumental in creating such a dynamic and engaged Latino electorate around his own GOVERNOR VILLARAIGOSA AND THE LATINO MAJORITY IN CALIFORNIA - Perdaily.com:

Marie Corfield: Newark, 'civility' & ed 'reform'

Marie Corfield: Newark, 'civility' & ed 'reform':

Newark, 'civility' & ed 'reform'

StudentsFirst co-founder, Dmitri Mehlhorn, has been engaged in a charter school debate with Jersey Jazzman for the past few weeks. As I read one of Mehlhorn's responses, I clicked on a link that led me down an Internet rabbit hole and into my own response to one of his blog posts about civility in the ed 'reform' debate. That led to Mehlhorn's response via a set of tweets. 

It's taken me a while to respond, but I don't believe in coincidence. So it was no coincidence that last week I attended a Newark Advisory Board meeting, which became the perfect starting point for my response. 

This is Part 1.

......

When people are subjected to years of abuse, they generally respond in one of two ways:

1. Cower in fear, close up, shut down, go inside
2. Get loud, aggressive, defiant, act out

The students and parents at the October 26th Newark Advisory Board meeting definitely fell into the second category. Having been under state control for the last 20 years—the Marie Corfield: Newark, 'civility' & ed 'reform':

Has anyone else said it? | @ THE CHALKFACE

Has anyone else said it? | @ THE CHALKFACE:

Has anyone else said it?

 I want to say this, and I want to be clear: Eva Moskowitz and her ilk are garbage, they’re garbage human beings and their ideas are garbage.

I’d like to say something else, but I won’t.

You can follow the drama here. 

But seriously, with the “got to go” lists and other minutiae that came out recently, including the repeated failures of education reform policies as evidenced by the metrics that wonks tout for their success, the folks at these foundations and think tanks and charter networks are trashy, garbage human beings.

You’re garbage. Be gone. And that’s really all I have to say about that.Has anyone else said it? | @ THE CHALKFACE:

Teacher resignation narratives are not compelling

These pop up every so often, most recently from a teacher of the year in Alabama.

Teacher resignation narratives follow a pretty typical storyline: a “successful” or “award-winning” teacher documents their resignation because they can no longer teach in the current test-obsessed, education reform climate. It’s better to quit than to struggle from within.

At first, maybe several years ago, I was like, “Hell yeah, take this job and shove it!” But now, I’m like, resign in the middle of a school year? What good is that?

We’re all stressed and tired and at our wits’ end. I don’t know what kind of accolades are expected by these teachers that resign. Perhaps we are supposed to admire their courage; that is, in surprising contrast to their achievements, success, and passion for teaching, they’re so beleaguered by the system that the stress and its effects on their health or personal lives are simply too great to continue. We are expected to applaud Teacher resignation narratives are not compelling

Online Charter Schools SUCK - The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO)

The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO):

Online Charter School Study

Press release: Online Charter School Students Falling Behind Their Peers

Inside Online Charter Schools by Mathematica Policy Research

Online Charter School Study by CREDO at Stanford University

The Policy Framework for Online Charter Schools by CRPE

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Dear Directors - Say No to the Assignment Plan Overhaul

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Dear Directors - Say No to the Assignment Plan Overhaul:

 Dear Directors - Say No to the Assignment Plan Overhaul

Suggested e-mail to the Board on this issue with key points; edit at will.

If you want the Board AND senior staff to see your e-mail, write to :
schoolboard@seattleschools.org

If you want ONLY the Board to see your e-mail, write to:
spsdirectors@seattleschools.org

If you want to sign up to speak at the Board meeting, call at 8 am Monday morning, 252-0040 and follow the prompts or send your email on or after 8am Monday morning to boardagenda@seattleschools.org

E-mail suggestion 

Dear Directors,

I am a parent at X School.  I have read the red-lined version of the Student Assignment Plan and here's why you should NOT vote for this plan:

1) There has been little public notification about it.  

The meetings earlier in the fall were advertised as "Growth Boundaries Community Meetings" and not assignment plan meetings.  The notice talked about boundary changes in West Seattle and nowhere else. 

Three community meetings are scheduled in October to discuss the changes to school boundaries and the student assignment plan for the 2016-17 year.

It does NOT say "changes TO the student assignment plan."  What it said was:

VAMboozled’s Two-Year Anniversary | VAMboozled!

VAMboozled’s Two-Year Anniversary | VAMboozled!:

VAMboozled’s Two-Year Anniversary

It’s our two year anniversary, so I thought I would share our current stats and our thanks to all who are following (n ≥ 15,000), and also sharing out our independent, open-access, research- and community-based content. We still have a lot of work to be done in terms of America’s test-based teacher evaluation systems, but I feel like we are certainly having a positive impact on the nation writ large, again, with thanks to you all!!

On that note, if there are others (e.g., teachers, students, parents, administrators, school board members, policy advisers, policymakers) who you might know but who might not be following, please do also share and recommend.

Here are our stats (that are also available on our About page):

November, 2013: Blog went live
May, 2014: Subscribers ≈ 3,000; Hits per month ≈ 50,000*
November, 2014: Subscribers ≈ 8,000; Hits per month ≈ 100,000*
May, 2015: Subscribers ≈ 13,000; Hits per month ≈ 160,000*
November, 2015: Subscribers ≈ 15,000; Hits per month ≈ 180,000*

*This number is calculated by ((subscribers x average number of posts per month) + external hits per month)), although external hits may also include subscribers as analytics cannot differentiate between subscribers and hits. These two indicators are not mutually exclusive.VAMboozled’s Two-Year Anniversary | VAMboozled!:

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Classroom Update #2 for 2015

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Classroom Update #2 for 2015:

Classroom Update #2 for 2015

Since I’m not anywhere close to writing these updates on a weekly basis, I’m not going to label them that way for this year. I’m instead going to concentrate on writing for you my dear readers, when I can, and let the posts fall where they may.

Maps for education

I remember way back in the dim mist of time as I started edublogging, someone (probably Scott McLeod) asking if we even needed paper maps and globes in the classroom as technology seemed to be making them superfluous (it was early days with GoogleEarth).

While I’m happy not to have the traditional class maps that I grew up with which tend to be bland and rapidly dated, I use maps and my globe on a weekly basis in the classroom.  Since we’re now studying the European “discovery” of America/Age of Exploration/Age of Exploitation (I’ll leave it to you to select your favorite lens), having a physical globe is really important to show the journey, etc.

Next, I have built a pretty good collection of maps to go with my science and social studies curriculum. Unfortunately, that has been mostly 6th grade materials, so I’ve had to invest in some new ones this year. The ones for Pre-Columbian America though were already there. These two from National Geographic are mainstays for me. I especially like the North American Indian Cultures map, since it shows areas, not with neat political lines (which were meaningless until European surveyors arrived and imposed a grid pattern on the country).

This story from NPR’s CodeSwitch blog made the rounds on Facebook as school started. I would like to add that particular map to my collection, as Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Classroom Update #2 for 2015:

Education Matters: Going to a cyber charter is the equivalent of not going to school.

Education Matters: Going to a cyber charter is the equivalent of not going to school.:

Education Matters: Going to a cyber charter is the equivalent of not going to school.

From the league of women voters: Three studies are combined in a report about online charter school achievement (or lack thereof).  The result is sobering.  Interesting that these research institutes are funded by pro reform foundations.   They are concerned and we need to be vigilant.

The Mathematica Report describes online charter schools, their students and their practices.  Highlights include:

• 60% of online schools report that more than half of their courses are self paced.  One third of the schools offer only self paced courses.
• A large majority of schools grant credit based on mastery, not seat time.
• Schools typically have less teacher contact time in one week than traditional schools have in one day.
• Online schools place significant responsibilities on parents.
• Maintaining student engagement is the biggest challenge.

Policy Framework for Online Schools reviews policies and management improvement strategies.

• Two thirds of online charters contract with for-profit management firms.   These firms often have strong lobbying forces to fight regulation.  Companies often receive a percentage of revenue which can incentivize lower quality standards.
• Only 5 of 27 states fund charters based on course completion.
• Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, and Virginia require online courses in K12.
• Colorado, North Carolina, and Oklahoma have better regulation and accountability.  Online education should be taken out of charter framework.
• 27.7% of the online for profit company K12 Inc. students met 2010=11 annual yearly progress standard compared with 52% average for traditional public schools.
• In 2014, NCAA no longer accepts course credit from 24 K12 Inc. schools.

CREDO  Online Charter School Study acknowledges that online learning is a good option for some, but not most atypical students.  The study reviews the impact on academic progress of online studies, the relationship between  the type of online school and student achievement, and the relationship between state policies and academic achievement results.  The study compared ‘matched’ sets of students in Education Matters: Going to a cyber charter is the equivalent of not going to school.:

Jersey Jazzman: Moskowitz, Petrilli, and the Hard Truth About America's Schools

Jersey Jazzman: Moskowitz, Petrilli, and the Hard Truth About America's Schools:

Moskowitz, Petrilli, and the Hard Truth About America's Schools

I'd be lying if I denied I haven't taken some measure of satisfaction in watching the perpetually self-impressed Eva Moskowitz implode this week. Now that we know for certain that her charter schools do, in fact, counsel out "disruptive" students, we can drop any pretense that she is some sort of a pedagogical genius.

The truth is her descriptions of how she has changed water into cartons of milk never held up to even the mildest of scrutinies. Earlier this year, she gave an interview on local public television where she bragged on how much "fun" learning is at Success Academies:

(1:48) But imagine if schools acted as if children had the freedom to choose whether or not to go to school. In fact, they had the freedom to walk out of the classroom at any moment -- now, they don't at our schools (interviewer chuckles), but imagine if they did. I would venture to argue that at most schools in America, they wouldn't come and if they came they would leave, because boredom, unfortunately, is one of the most common experiences of children. 

And what we do is, we engage children with rich, wonderful literature, with discovery-oriented science five days a week, with chess and debate and coding and art and music and sports, so that kids love being at school.

Uh-huh. Let's go back to this week's NY Times article, the one that caused all the fuss:

Some of the parents whose children were on the “Got to Go” list acknowledged that they did not agree with how the school managed behavior. But several also

- See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2015/11/moskowitz-petrilli-and-hard-truth-about.html#sthash.1fLUTpLO.dpuf

CURMUDGUCATION: Return of the Data Overlords

CURMUDGUCATION: Return of the Data Overlords:

Return of the Data Overlords

When the President and Arne Duncan took to all manner of media to pretend to stand up against standardized testing (but only, you know, the bad redundant not-so-good standardized testing), the New Testing Plan included some odd language and offers of assistance, and it all struck a chord of recognition for Peggy Robertson, an education activist who blogs at Peg with Pen.

For her, the signs point toward Competency Based Education. CPE has been floating around for a while, a kind of fig leaf for the educational dream of the Data Overlords. She has written pretty compelling and researched pieces about the whole business. Emily Talmage thinks the whole anti-test spin is a trojan horse. I don't think they're over-reacting. 

We haven't heard from our data overlords in a while. When Leonie Haimson et al shut down inBloomand its dreams of hoovering up every speck of student data, too many folks heaved a sigh of relief and shrugged their shoulders. "Sure glad we're done with that." Well, we're not, and we never were.

If you doubt me, take a look at "Impacts of the Digital Ocean on Education." It's from Pearson way back in February of 2014, and it is one of many documents out there underlining the unique Pearson vision for students in the world. In fact, the textbooks, the instructional programs, the standardized tests, the huge mountains of profit-- all of those serve a central vision of swimming in the digital ocean. Here's a quote from that paper from Sir Michael Barber, the biggest Pearson Data Overlord of them all:

Once much of teaching and learning becomes digital, data will be available not just from once-a-CURMUDGUCATION: Return of the Data Overlords:



PA: GOP Walks Away from Funding Crisis

As I've outlined elsewhere, Pennsylvania suffers from long-standing school funding issues. In recent years these have been exacerbated by pension funding issues and policies that allow charter schools to suck the blood right out of public systems. Put it all together, and Pennsylvania has the widest gap between rich and poor schools in the country.

But on top of all that, Pennsylvania is suffering from the flare-up of whatever chronic problem it is that has led to five budget impasses in the past ten years. We are on day one-hundred-and-oh-hell-you-have-GOT-to-be-kidding-me of Life without Budget. And in Pennsylvania, when we don't have a budget, people don't get paid. (Well, most people. In some manner that literally nobody is prepared to explain, the state has spent $27 billion of some money on some thing.)

This is not just a school issue. Right now you can't swing a cat in the commonwealth without whacking it into a service organization or government program that's having trouble meeting payroll and taking care of the citizens it was set up to serve. Senior citizens, the disabled, the unemployed-- all are looking at a patchwork of supports that appears to have been gnawed on by some very angry goat.

But every single school district in the state is getting hit. Back in August the teachers in Upper Darby PA: GOP Walks Away from Funding Crisis



ICYMI: This Week's Notable Bloggery

Here are some bloggy highlights from this week.

Damaging the Charter School Brand

John Merrow doesn't blog often, but when he does, it's powerful stuff. Here's a look at the charter school Hall of Shame, complete with historical perspective and some links to egregious actors.

Moscowitz, Petrilli, and the Hard Truth about America's Schools

This is an absolute must-read. Jersey Jazzman has managed to synthesize most of the big news of the week, from Moscowitz's meltdown to the student assault in South Carolina. Read this.

Now, I hear a lot about the quantity of my output, but for the past little bit, Mercedes Schneider has been quietly cranking out at least one post a day (or, perhaps more accurately, one post a night, because it looks like maybe she's staying up till the wee hours to write these). That is far more impressive than my output because Schneider does actual research, whereas I just remove the filter from my brain and start typing. But if you are used to checking Schneider just every now and then, you may have missed some of the gems she's been putting out there. You should save yourself the trouble and just subscribe to her blog, but ICYMI...

Louisiana's High School Letter Grades

Just when you think you've seen every way to game an evaluation system, LA comes up with yet another data dodge.

The Waltons Set Out To Promote a Choice Ecosystem

Schneider dug up a piece of paperwork in which the Waltons lay out their plan for the next five years of educational reforminess, and it's not pretty. You need to see this.

“Fund for Louisiana’s Future” is a DC Super PAC Devoted to David Vitter

One more tale of how reformy carpetbaggers are trying to buy themselves some influence.

Commentary on Mathematica’s “First Study of Its Kind” of PARCC

Mathematica performed a study on PARCC testing. Schneider pulls that apart to find the real conclusions we can reach.

Finally, from Paul Thomas, a piece that reflects his usual thoughful and nuanced view of a difficult issue.

Resisting Good/Bad Teacher/Police Frame and Confronting Systemic Flaws in Education, Law Enforcement

Resisting Good/Bad Teacher/Police Frame and Confronting Systemic Flaws in Education, Law Enforcement | the becoming radical

Resisting Good/Bad Teacher/Police Frame and Confronting Systemic Flaws in Education, Law Enforcement | the becoming radical:

Resisting Good/Bad Teacher/Police Frame and Confronting Systemic Flaws in Education, Law Enforcement

The Spring Valley High controversy created by the excessive force used by a police officer on campus represents the intersection of the wider and growing public debates about so-called bad teachers and bad police.

Let me clarify first that I was a public school teacher for 18 years, and I have family members and good friends who are or were police officers. Speaking about the fields of teaching and law enforcement, I would typically be supportive of the individual people who choose these professions that are primarily about serving the public good. Of course, I have dear friends and family members I also consider to be wonderful people, good people who are also outstanding in their professions as teachers and police officers.

I have also heard these good people say and watched them do things that are detrimental to children and adults, things steeped in racism, homophobia, sexism, and classism.

As a teacher (coach and parents, also), I often made mistakes, ones that were detrimental to students and teens. I also came home from teaching on more than one instance with students’ blood splattered on my clothes after breaking up fights. Once, I stood face-to-face with a student of mine who had come on campus with a shotgun planning to shoot a female with whom he had developed an unhealthy fascination.

I am not under the delusion that teachers and police officers must be perfect, and I am well aware that both professions are sometimes (teaching) and often (law enforcement) extremely Resisting Good/Bad Teacher/Police Frame and Confronting Systemic Flaws in Education, Law Enforcement | the becoming radical:

Jeff Sadow: Election a plus for school reform | Opinion | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Jeff Sadow: Election a plus for school reform | Opinion | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, Louisiana:

Election a plus for school reform

Louisiana’s recent state election results gave cheer to political consultants and fuel to conspiratorial-minded education reform opponents.

Those who make money from political candidacies saw their bottom lines suffer in 2007 and 2011, years that lacked gubernatorial election runoffs. But in the 2015 contest initially believed to be a coronation for Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter that would provide little excitement, Democrat state Rep. John Bel Edwards polled well enough last week to cause both sides to ramp up runoff election spending.

Edwards, racking up 40 percent of the vote to Vitter’s 23 percent, belies the inevitability of a Vitter victory. An analysis of precinct totals reveals how Edwards can create an upset.

In precincts with almost all white registrants, he received a fifth of that vote; he’ll need at least a quarter of that to win. In those where white Democrats comprised well over half of all registrants, he pulled in a third of those votes, while in those where Republicans encompassed a supermajority, he managed only an eighth. This implies little vote growth opportunity among Republicans, but much more fertile possibilities for him among white Democrats, where, numerically, he puts himself in a position to win by boosting his haul to half of them.

Yet, even with this improvement, Edwards still would fall short. Because he drew only seven-eighths of the vote in precincts composed almost entirely of black registrants, either he will need to do much better among those voters — or hope that their turnout, which lagged the participation rate of white people by 10 points, increases sharply. Edwards has another problem. The supermajority GOP precincts had a turnout more than 20 points below historical averages, meaning that Vitter has available plenty of idled partisans he can attempt to activate.

Edwards remains an underdog, but he has a chance to win that seemed impossible prior to the general election results. While this result buoyed him, advertisers and the political campaign industry, the final numbers from contests for the Legislature and Board of Elementary and Secondary Education crushed agendas to derail Common Core and to reverse recent education reforms.

Returning legislators, a majority of whom last term favored Common Core, will fill most of the Legislature’s seats. The mix of re-elected incumbents and newcomers to BESE who support Common Core will number at least six, a majority, with perhaps more after runoff elections. Even with the opposition of the incoming governor, Common Core is here to stay.

Educational reforms that expanded school choice and strengthened school and teacher accountability won’t go away, either. The six BESE winners, by their past actions or current pledges, assured voters these reforms would continue, to Jeff Sadow: Election a plus for school reform | Opinion | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, Louisiana: