Wait, what?! Here’s just a few issues that COULD be solved with Superintendent Nyland’s $13,000 Raise. | Seattle Education

Wait, what?! Here’s just a few issues that COULD be solved with Superintendent Nyland’s $13,000 Raise. | Seattle Education:

Wait, what?! Here’s just a few issues that COULD be solved with Superintendent Nyland’s $13,000 Raise.

“My raise is not going to solve any of the issues we have on the table. I’ve done better than anyone else and I will take the smallest raise in the district as far as I know,” said Nyland.

It’s hard to believe, but Superintendent Nyland has been the head of Seattle Public Schools for a little over a year. One things for sure, it’s certainly been memorable.

Here’s some of the highlights:

Superintendent Nyland, without the consent of the school board, signed a contract with The Gates Foundation.

Another highlight was Nyland’s threat to pull the license of any teacher at Nathan Hale who refused to administer the SBAC. That nasty bit didn’t make it into Nyland’s State of the District Address. He also forgot to mention the 76.1% of SPS 11th graders who opted out of the English Language Arts test (ELA) and 80.5% juniors who refused the math portion of the SBAC. Nyland was enthusiastic about Seattle’s overall SBAC scores, even though the state board had voted over the summer to lower the cut score from 3.0 to a 2.5.

There’s also the district’s botched contract negotiations with SEA, leading to the first teacher strike in 30 years. This was followed one month later by the district Wait, what?! Here’s just a few issues that COULD be solved with Superintendent Nyland’s $13,000 Raise. | Seattle Education:

CURMUDGUCATION: TN: A Broadie Amateur Takes Over ASD

CURMUDGUCATION: TN: A Broadie Amateur Takes Over ASD:

TN: A Broadie Amateur Takes Over ASD

Imagine a hospital where the very toughest cases, the most inoperable cancers, the most stubborn infections, the most complicated reconstructive surgeries, and the most challenging diagnoses-- those are all handed over to someone who works in the personnel office and who has no medical training at all.

Now imagine that you're the state of Tennessee. You've come up with a system for identifying your most challenging and troubled schools, the schools that require the ablest educational leadership, the deepest understanding of how to make student learning happen under the most challenging of circumstances. The last person you put in charge set audacious goals for himself-- and he failed. Then he quit. On his way out the door, he said, "Hey, this turns out to be a lot harder than we thought."

And so the state of Tennessee called upon-- Malika Anderson.

Anderson has Tennessee roots, and a family background in civil rights work, from grandfather Kelly Smith (a Tennessee civil rights heavyweight with a bridge named after him in Nashville) and an aunt who was one of the first black students to integrate Nashville public schools. So when she writes, "Creating great neighborhood schools here is personal for me," we should take her seriously.

But does Malika Anderson have the qualifications to lead Tennessee's Achievement School District?

Her LinkedIn account seems to have been abandoned six years ago. But after graduating from CURMUDGUCATION: TN: A Broadie Amateur Takes Over ASD:



ICYMI: This Week's Sunday Reading

Here's some reading for your Sunday afternoon.

Jazzman-Melhorn Dialogue 



If you have not been following this discussion, here's your chance to catch up before the final round wraps up. Dmitri Melhorn made the offer to take some, um, spirited conversations off of twitter and into a greater-than-140 medium. One result has been this rigorous and data-packed discussion with Jersey Jazzman about charters. It's ballsy (in a good way) of Melhorn to guest-write for a blog that is not his home turf, and the whole exchange is a great example of how folks in the ed debates can argue humanely but without giving up an inch. Read them all:

Part I: Melhorn opens up

Part II: JJ looks at the alleged positive effects of charters. With data! And in English!

Part III: Do charters have positive effect, and who should carry the burden of proof?

Part IV: The burden of proof, and how to read the data.

Part V is up and features some pointed questions. Read up and be ready for the finale.


The Frightening Implications of School Choice

Julie Vassilatos gets to one of the most troubling parts of the charter school movement. 

The Brave New World of Teacher Evaluation

An icky new piece of tech just came out of Utah. Right now it's being sold as a training tech for teachers, but how long before it's part of evaluation.  

Charter Schools Shrink Bostonm's Vision for Public Education

Over at the Progressive, Jennifer (Edushyster) Berkshire looks at how the rise of charters leads to a failure of the Pledge of Allegiance test for schools. 

Paul Thomas on Writing

One of my favorite bloggers is Paul Thomas, and my favorite subject of his is writing (okay, second favorite, right behind comics). Reading Thomas always makes me feel as if I've gotten just a little smarter just by looking at his words, and his ideas about writing instruction really resonate with me. Here are some of my favorites:

Who Can, Who Should Teach Writing?

Oh, yeah. Hard to talk about this in some buildings, but the answer to both questions is, "Not just anybody."

Technology Fails Plagiarism, Citation Tests

The pitfalls of technological tools in writing

O, Genre, What Art Thou?

Oh, come on. You know you want to read it just for the title alone.

Writing, Unteachable or Mistaught?

I'll leave you with this one, which I think needs to be taken out and passed around every few months or so.  





ICYMI: This Week's Sunday Reading

In Deep South, students are still paddled | SunHerald

In Deep South, students are still paddled | SunHerald:

In Deep South, students are still paddled

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY RALPH LAUER/FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM Although a majority of states have banned the spanking or paddling of students over the past few decades, public schools in some Southern states still depend on the practice - creating one more stress point for students already more likely to confront ill-qualified teachers, crumbling infrastructure and chaotic classrooms. RALPH LAUER KRT

Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/education/article40485549.html#storylink=cpy

In Greenwood, Miss., this year's student/parent handbook shows a globe being hoisted by several young students. "Maximizing student potential," the Greenwood Public School District declares on its cover. On Page 3, the handbook tells students to be honest, respect authority and "avoid violence," because "there are other ways to resolve conflicts."

Then, on page 19, it lays out the circumstances under which school administrators can hit students.

"Corporal punishment for use in this district," it says, "is defined as punishing or correcting a student by striking the student on the buttocks with a paddle."

Such punishment, it says, must be carried out by the principal or assistant principal and "shall not exceed five swats with a paddle." The punishment does not constitute "assault, simple assault, aggravated assault, battery, negligence or child abuse."

Greenwood's policy is not uncommon -- at least not in the Deep South. Although a majority of states have banned the spanking or paddling of students over the past few decades, public schools in some Southern states still depend on the practice -- creating one more stress point for students already more likely to confront ill-qualified teachers, crumbling infrastructure and chaotic classrooms.

"Some people would cry," said Laquerius Leflore, 18, who graduated last year from Ruleville Central High School in Ruleville, Miss., and says he was paddled at school five times as a teen. "It would be like somebody really got tortured sometimes. They tried to make it hurt. That was the whole point of it."

Administrators at the Sunflower County and Greenwood school districts did not respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment.

There are 19 states that permit corporal punishment: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming. But according to U.S. Department of Education data, nearly 60 percent of the students paddled nationwide come from just four neighboring states - Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Texas.

The first three of those states also have among the largest African American populations. Blacks constitute about 16 percent of public school students in the United States and 35In Deep South, students are still paddled | SunHerald:

Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/education/article40485549.html#storylink=cpy

CURMUDGUCATION: Social Impact Bonds for Dummies

CURMUDGUCATION: Social Impact Bonds for Dummies:

Social Impact Bonds for Dummies

We've been hearing about Social Impact Bonds, or "Pay for Success" programs for a few years now, but only recently have they entered the world of public education. Chicago, for example, launched one $17 million program last year for Pre-K, and last month Utah's United Way was happy to announce that Goldman-Sachs' Pay for Success program in Utah had yielded dividends.

The spread of Social Impact Bonds to the education sector raises all sorts of questions like "How are the fiduciary interests of a private investment firm balanced against social demands of education" or "What overseeing groups can best evaluate programs with a balanced view toward all involved interests."

Or, "What the hell is a social impact bond?"

On the ground, it looks kind of ridiculous, like a program that pays a Wall Street firm a bonus every time a kid is taken off of special ed rolls.

But how does that even work? How does the Wall Street firm get paid? With what money? How do you make money on an investment in something that creates no profit?

An Oversimplified Example 

Here's the basic structure of a Social Impact Bond. Note: I am not an economist, banker, or CURMUDGUCATION: Social Impact Bonds for Dummies:

NEA's Lily Eskelsen García on What Teachers Do

Lord knows I can be as critical of some of Lily Eskelsen Garcia's choices as NEA president as anyone around, but the woman can speak. Here's a quick three minutes on what teachers need and what teachers do. It's worth a view.

http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2015/11/neas-lily-eskelsen-garcia-on-what.html

Suspensions discouraged. Yeah, so? | @ THE CHALKFACE

Suspensions discouraged. Yeah, so? | @ THE CHALKFACE:

Suspensions discouraged. Yeah, so?

There are nationwide efforts to reduce suspensions. They are applied inequitably and I definitely agree they are ineffective. Although, I will say that in some cases, everyone, teacher and student alike, need a “cooling off” period. Suspension may not be the ultimate answer, however.

Our district shifted to a nebulous program of “restorative justice.” In practice, this means nothing other than “don’t suspend.” Restorative justice sounds promising. When practiced effectively, I am certain it could help our students. But in the haste to keep suspension numbers down, and prevent the district from looking like it can’t “handle” its students, alternatives are encouraged without adequate implementation. We then get what has been described by the LA Times:

The district moved to ban suspensions amid national concern that they imperil academic achievement and disproportionately affect minorities, particularly African Americans.

But many teachers say their classrooms are reeling from unruly students who are escaping consequences for their actions.

This is my experience exactly. I don’t have a problem with restorative justice or any progressive discipline Suspensions discouraged. Yeah, so? | @ THE CHALKFACE:

Ann Marie Corgill Says Goodbye to Her Students | deutsch29

Ann Marie Corgill Says Goodbye to Her Students | deutsch29:

Ann Marie Corgill Says Goodbye to Her Students

Ann Marie Corgill

On October 29, 2015, 2014-15 Alabama Teacher of the Year Ann Marie Corgill resigned from teaching after being informed by the Alabama State Department of Education that she would need to complete further certification requirements to teach grades that she had been teaching for decades– including the grade level she was teaching when she was chosen as Alabama’s 2014-15 Teacher of the Year.

On that occasion, Alabama state superintendent Thomas Bice considered Corgill to be qualified:

“Ann Marie Corgill is a shining example of professionalism and dedication to Alabama’s most valued asset – its children,” Bice said in a release. “She is a role model for current and future teachers to emulate, and we are honored to have her represent our state as the 2014-15 Alabama Teacher of the Year.”

In an excerpt from her October 29, 2015, resignation letter to Birmingham City Schools, Corgill notes, “After 21 years of teaching in grades 1-6, I have no answers as to why this is a problem now, so instead of paying more fees, taking more tests and proving once again that I am qualified to teach, I am resigning.”

In the days that followed her resignation, Corgill still had other goodbyes to say, including the following to her fifth grade students:

November 2, 2015

Dear Corgill Kids,

I wanted to tell you goodbye in person today, but school leaders thought it was best for you to have a regular day at school and move on without any Ann Marie Corgill Says Goodbye to Her Students | deutsch29:

Class Clown Or Gifted Student? It's A Matter Of Perspective : NPR Ed : NPR

Class Clown Or Gifted Student? It's A Matter Of Perspective : NPR Ed : NPR:

Class Clown Or Gifted Student? It's A Matter Of Perspective

Who doesn't love a class clown? That perfectly timed joke about the ancient Greek poet looking nothing like Homer Simpson is fun for everyone. Unless you're the teacher ... trying to teach a lesson about the Odyssey.

As a teacher, the class clown is often your nemesis. I know this from experience: I taught ninth grade last school year.

They derail lessons, steal the spotlight and, to make matters worse, sometimes they're actually funny. It's not easy enforcing class rules when you're laughing.

What if we looked at class clowns differently? What if, instead of seeing them as a nuisance, we saw them as gifted? A little misguided, sure, but still gifted.

That change in perspective can make a huge difference for some students and their teachers.

Lawrence Davis, a senior at Dover High School in Delaware, is the perfect example.

He's the quintessential class clown, overconfident and mischievous. But also genuinely personable. He had me laughing from the moment I met him.

According to him, every teacher loves him. "They enjoy me," he says. "I'm not gonna say I'm the life of the class, but I bring the class to life."

It hasn't always been that way.

"He was incorrigible as a freshman," remembers Leann Ferguson, who taught Lawrence in her world history class. Back then "enjoy" isn't the word she would have used. "He acted out inappropriately all the time," she says. "He had impulse control Class Clown Or Gifted Student? It's A Matter Of Perspective : NPR Ed : NPR:

Randi Weingarten: Our school discipline mistake - NY Daily News

Randi Weingarten: Our school discipline mistake - NY Daily News:

Our school discipline mistake: We should never have imposed zero-tolerance policies on kids

We all want safe and welcoming school environments where students can learn and teachers can teach. But two recent disturbing examples of extreme reactions to student conduct have brought the negative effects of such responses into sharp relief.

Viewers have been horrified by the shocking video of a white sheriff’s deputy in South Carolina assaulting an African-American student who refused to hand over her cellphone. The video shows the girl seated at her desk, until the officer flips her desk to the floor and drags her across the classroom. On its face, it’s an outrageous use of force and aggression.

The other shock was closer to home for New Yorkers: Newspaper and television exposés have revealed that the Success Academy charter-school chain has suspended or expelled elementary students, including many kindergarteners, often for minor infractions — and at a rate seven times higher than elementary students in New York City’s public school system as a whole.

As a former New York City public school teacher and someone in constant contact with students, their families and educators, I know there are cases when suspension or expulsion is necessary. And I am just as certain that less serious (and more common) incidents should be dealt with using appropriate, proportionate strategies.

That is why many of us have called for re-evaluating the zero-tolerance policies for student misbehavior adopted throughout the nation over the last two decades. These policies were promoted by people, including me, who hoped they would create safe learning environments for students by freeing them from disruptions by misbehaving peers. It was analogous to the broken-windows theory of policing.

We were wrong. Data from two decades of these get-tough policies show they have failed to improve school safety. They have emphasized punishment, rather than developing the positive behaviors students need in school and in life. They have resulted in an incalculable loss of learning time. And zero-tolerance policies disproportionately impact students of color, particularly African-American and Latino boys.

That is why the U.S. Education and Justice departments issued new guidance regarding zero-tolerance policies. After examining student discipline in America’s schools in light of this data, they found that discriminatory use of suspensions and expulsions violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This guidance must inform school practices, as it has in New York City, where efforts to reduce suspensions from public schools lowered suspensions last school year by 17% compared to the previous year.

Publicly funded charter schools have a legal (and, I would add, moral) obligation to educate the students they have, not just the students they want to have. It’s hard work to ensure that all schools are safe and welcoming places for all children. It means changing policies, practices and cultures; providing Randi Weingarten: Our school discipline mistake - NY Daily News:

Schools Matter: Spellings Leader in NC Taliban War on Public Ed

Schools Matter: Spellings Leader in NC Taliban War on Public Ed:

Spellings Leader in NC Taliban War on Public Ed

Valerie Strauss has posted a report by James Hogan on the effects of tje Tea Party Taliban that seized control of North Carolina politics and its public education system in 2012. 

Besides draconian cuts to everything from teacher positions to drivers' ed, the Bircher wing of corporate education reform has legalized vouchers and has uncapped the growth of both non-profit and for-profit charters.  Here a a clip from Hogan's report:

N.C. teachers are prohibited by law from unionizing, but they did have a common advocacy group in the North Carolina Association of Educators. In 2011, the legislature passed a law targeting how the group collects dues from member teachers.

Then-Governor Beverly Purdue vetoed it. In 2012, the law made its way back to Purdue, who vetoed it again–but the House overrode it during a sneaky, late-night vote. (The law was later found to be discriminatory, retaliatory, and a violation of free speech and thrown out by state courts.)

But with teacher’s main advocacy group effectively muzzled, the legislature was free to run rampant, and teachers quickly came under fire.

Teacher salaries fell to near the bottom among all states in the nation and worst in the South after five years with zero pay increases. And when Republicans finally acted to increase teacher pay, they claimed to make the biggest pay hike in state history–but in reality only bumped up paychecks by an average of $270 per year. When you factored inflation into the mix, teachers were losing money.

Meanwhile, Texas and Virginia started actively recruiting North Carolina teachers to go work in their states. It didn’t take much to convince Tarheel teachers to flee–especially after some teachers discovered they earned substantially less money than when they started thanks to inflation.

In case pitiful paychecks weren’t enough to deter teachers from returning to work, the legislature next took aim at Schools Matter: Spellings Leader in NC Taliban War on Public Ed:

Hillary Clinton: Most charter schools ‘don’t take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don’t keep them’ - The Washington Post

Hillary Clinton: Most charter schools ‘don’t take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don’t keep them’ - The Washington Post:

Hillary Clinton: Most charter schools ‘don’t take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don’t keep them’

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who is running for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, was  campaigning in South Carolina this weekend and sat down with journalist Roland Martin for an interview in which she talked about a number of topics, including one that has not featured in any of the Republican and Democratic debates: charter schools.

Martin, host of “News One Now,” a one-hour weekday morning news show on the TV One network,  spoke with Clinton on Saturday just before a town hall meeting hosted by the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus on the campus of Claflin University in Orangeburg. Martin brought up the subject of charters by saying that a poll in South Carolina among black parents found that most of them were interested in enrolling their children in charter schools because they were not satisfied with traditional public schools. He then asked Clinton whether she supported the expansion of charter schools and vouchers.

Here was her response:

CLINTON: I have for many years now, about 30 years, supported the idea of charter schools, but not as a substitute for the public schools, but as a supplement for the public schools. And what I have worked on through my work with the Children’s Defense Fund and my work on education in Arkansas and through my time as first lady and senator  is to continue to say charter schools can have a purpose, but you know there are good charter schools and there are bad charter schools, just like there are good public schools and bad public schools.

MARTIN: So let’s get rid of all the bad….

CLINTON: But the original idea, Roland, behind charter schools was to learn what worked and then apply them in the public schools. And here’s a couple of problems. Most charter schools — I don’t want to say every one — but most charter schools, they don’t take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don’t keep them. And so the public schools are often in a no-win situation, because they do, thankfully, take everybody, and then they don’t get the resources or the help and support that they need to be able to take care of every child’s education.

So I want parents to be able to exercise choice within the public school system — not outside of it — but within it because I am still a firm believer that the public school system is one of the real pillars of our democracy and it is a path for opportunity.

But I am also fully aware that there are a  lot of substandard public schools. But part of the reason for that is that policymakers and local politicians will not fund schools in poor areas that take 

Hillary Clinton: Most charter schools ‘don’t take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don’t keep them’ - The Washington Post:

What teachers just don’t get about homework - The Boston Globe

What teachers just don’t get about homework - The Boston Globe:

What we don’t get about homework

When students at Dover-Sherborn High School break for Thanksgiving later this month, there’s at least one thing they won’t have to worry about: homework.

In a change from holidays past, the suburban Boston school district has declared Thanksgiving vacation a “homework-free weekend.” It’s the first of several planned for this academic year, and it’s an unusual change of pace for a competitive school that was recently ranked by Newsweek as the 16th best high school in the country. The move is meant to allow students to relax and spend more time with their families. It’s also part of a broader district effort to reduce stress and anxiety in an overburdened student population.

“We noticed over the past few years an increase in students feeling so stressed out and feeling overwhelmed and not able to cope,” says Ellen Chagnon, director of guidance at Dover-Sherborn. “We had to figure out something better than Band-Aiding the problem. “

The solution the school came up with is a program called Challenge Success that works with school communities to rethink attitudes about achievement and reduce student workload. Denise Pope, the founder of Challenge Success, in August released a book, “Overloaded and Underprepared,” that provides practical recommendations for schools based on years of academic research on workload and achievement. Pope’s book is a kind of manual for how to reconfigure secondary education at a time when many schools are looking for ways to dial back the intensity of high school life.

“We’re challenging that narrow notion of success,” Pope says. “Your value as a parent is not measured about where your student gets into college.”

 View Story

HKS PolicyCast: Beyond reading and math scores

Aspiration, inspiration, and agency are also important for student development, says Ronald Ferguson, the faculty chair of Harvard’s Achievement Gap Initiative.

•  How to create the perfect homework space
•  Ted Dintersmith: Overturning the old model of education
•  Ideas: Is the Common Core killing kindergarten?

The effort to improve student well-being at Dover-Sherborn began in June 2014, when the school surveyed students about their daily lives — when they were going to bed, the courses they were taking, how much time they were spending on extracurricular activities and homework. The results depicted a student population that was harried, anxious, and didn’t know how to slow down.

“Our sleep numbers were the most alarming,” says Pam Webb, the parent of a current 11th grade student. She notes that on average, students reported getting 6.4 hours of sleep per night.

After reviewing the survey results, Dover-Sherborn leaders went looking for a solution and came across Challenge Success. The organization is based out of Stanford University, and its approach was inspired by research Pope had done as a graduate student in a top California high school. There she observed students compiling sterling resumes at the expense of their day-to-day well-being.

“The school was working by all outside metrics, but I thought, gosh, be careful what you wish for,” says Pope, who is now a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. “The students were hurting themselves, they were not resilient. I wouldn’t call that working in terms of what you want every school to aspire to.”

Since 2007, Challenge Success has worked with 120 schools, including Needham High School, to rethink attitudes about achievement and reduce student workload. A main target is homework.

Research on the optimal amount of homework is complicated, but there are points of consensus. One is the “10-minute rule,” which recommends multiplying students’ grade level by 10 to get the number What teachers just don’t get about homework - The Boston Globe:

Going soft on school discipline is another slap at poor kids who could excel | New York Post

Going soft on school discipline is another slap at poor kids who could excel | New York Post:

Going soft on school discipline is another slap at poor kids who could excel

Low-income strivers — impoverished families who follow the rules and work hard to climb the ladder to the middle class — may be the most underserved population in America today.

For 20 years, national policies have focused largely on the lowest-performing students, often to the detriment of their higher-achieving, low-income peers. Recently, many cities — including Chicago, Philadelphia and Syracuse — have made a goal of reducing school suspensions and other tough-love approaches to school discipline, with little concern for the impact on the kids who come to school ready to follow the rules.

These efforts have received vocal support from the federal Department of Education. Policymakers and educators say they are doing this in the name of equity. But when everyone in a school is harmed by some students’ unruly behavior, it’s a strange notion of fairness indeed.

Imagine that we wanted to prioritize low-income students who demonstrated aptitude to achieve and a willingness to work hard. First, we would put in place “screening” tests to look for gifted students in elementary schools.

We would ask schools, including those with a high percentage of poor students, to identify at least 10 percent of their students for special programs, and allow these kids the opportunity to spend part of their day learning with other high-achieving peers, and to go faster or deeper into the curriculum.

A study by David Card and Laura Giuliano demonstrated this sort of approach is particularly effective for high-achieving, low-income students.

By middle school, we would embrace tracking so that poor, bright students had access to the same challenging courses that affluent high-achievers regularly enjoy, and that are essential if young people are going to get on a trajectory for success.

Finally, we would ensure schools were safe and orderly places, balancing the educational needs of disruptive students with the equally valuable needs of their rule-abiding peers.

Yet in most cities we do very few of these things. This is in large part because many progressives are convinced that any sort of tracking is classist and racist, and amounts Going soft on school discipline is another slap at poor kids who could excel | New York Post:

Ambrose: How do we save education? | The Columbian

Ambrose: How do we save education? | The Columbian:

Ambrose: How do we save education?

We must reward innovation while easing federal rules

Go back a bit and there was President Barack Obama promising us educational utopia. Then move forward some and what you have is a hugely expensive, bureaucratically dumbfounding mix of autocratic, divisive policies.

Next up? Just this, fellow Americans: 2015 is the first time in a quarter of a century that student test results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress have sunk overall across the nation.

Experts are right now reluctant to point fingers at some single cause of declining or stagnant math and reading scores, but we have some good ideas of what won’t get us back in the right direction. That’s more of the same.

For instance, don’t look to Common Core, a program planned by a number of states to come up with top-notch school standards that would be nationally adopted. It wasn’t long before the Obama administration intruded, dishing out grants to get states to sign on at the same time critics were piling on.

Despite what has been mistakenly said, the critics weren’t just uninformed masses or skeptical conservatives but highly respected experts of varied political leanings. One was Diane Ravitch, who said it was a dubious plan unproven in the field. Others argued that top systems overseas were going different directions, that the math portion was at the least inadequate and that student testing ambitions went overboard.

Now, five years later, we learn from a Wall Street Journal report, some of the original 45 states that signed on are dropping out while others are hardly on the same page regarding teaching techniques and subject matter. The logistical costs are proving overwhelming, and some are guessing that Common Core will continue to shrink as what’s left goes in varied directions. Sticking to it in toto could do more harm than good, some fear.

Something else offering the opposite of help is the Obama administration policy telling schools to quit suspending or expelling minority students in greater percentages than white students. The administration believes it’s discrimination and not disparate behaviors that account for the punishment differences. That’s not at all clear, however, and a consequence of the policy in some districts has been a virtual surcease of disciplining, with chaos taking its place.

All of us should want fairness and stand against hurting students with overly severe punishments. But a lack of discipline Ambrose: How do we save education? | The Columbian:

What’s next for Michelle Rhee, once the national face of education activism? | The Sacramento Bee

What’s next for Michelle Rhee, once the national face of education activism? | The Sacramento Bee:

What’s next for Michelle Rhee, once the national face of education activism?

Michelle Rhee, the combative former D.C. public schools chancellor who founded the national advocacy group StudentsFirst, has retreated recently from public view.

Rhee, who is married to Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, was nowhere to be found at the downtown premiere of “Down in the Valley,” the shelved TV movie documenting Johnson’s successful campaign to keep the Kings from moving to Seattle. Rhee hasn’t been seen courtside with Johnson at Kings games.

And she wasn’t by his side when Johnson, stung by the re-emergence of allegations that he molested a teenager, confirmed last month that he wouldn’t seek a third term at City Hall when his expires next year.

Her recent absence is a change for Rhee, 45, who despite living in Sacramento part time often has accompanied her husband to Kings games and other public events. She stepped back from her own political activism last year and focused more of her attention on working with Johnson.

“Kevin and I view our goals in life and public service as a team,” Rhee said at the time. “He was right there with me when we created this organization and has worked alongside me throughout these past four years. I am excited to continue working side by side on these new opportunities we have.”

Rhee once appeared holding a broom on the cover of Time magazine next to the headline “How to Fix America’s Schools” and set out to make her mark in California four years ago when she unveiled plans for an advocacy organization to counterbalance the influence of teachers unions over public education.

She then gave up her position as chief executive of StudentsFirst, saying she created it to “shake up the education establishment, which is exactly what we did.”

CERTAINLY, IF SHE WAS GOING TO JUMP BACK INTO EDUCATION, THERE’S A LOT OF NEED FOR STRONG TALENT.

Marshall Tuck, who ran unsuccessfully for California schools chief last year

Instead, she assumed a leading role in the mayor’s 2014 citywide bid to make his office more powerful, appearing in debates and chatting with reporters. Voters rebuffed the measure, Johnson’s signature political effort. As he prepares now to exit the mayor’s office, it’s unclear where Rhee will channel her efforts.

“She’s a strong leader. This is somebody who cares about kids and is very talented,” said Marshall Tuck, a former charter schools executive who unsuccessfully competed for state schools chief last year. “Certainly, if she was going to jump back into education, there’s a lot of need for strong talent.”

Rhee’s decision to devote less time to StudentsFirst came amid speculation about Johnson’s future political prospects. A business-friendly Democrat with little taste for partisanship, he was touted as a potential candidate for statewide office, including governor. As head of the national mayoral association, he rubbed elbows with local dignitaries on up to President Barack Obama. Last year, the former NBA All-Star seized on racist comments made by former Clippers owner Donald Sterling, pushing for his removal.

The ESPN documentary, in which Johnson was portrayed as a hometown hero, would have helped tell his story, one crafted in recent years in part by Rhee. The network postponed the national release last month after a molestation allegation re-emerged from Johnson’s playing days in the NBA. Deadspin released a video taken in 1996 of Johnson’s teenager accuser as she was questioned by a police officer. ESPN said it needed time to decide “how we can deal with these matters in a fair and responsible way.”

Johnson has for years denied the allegation, suggesting that the most recent attention was fueled by his enemies in the teachers unions, who similarly have seen Rhee’s education crusade as a threat to their agenda. Rhee did not respond to recent requests for comment. Johnson also was unavailable, but his office provided a statement on her current work.

“Michelle is doing what she always has – fighting for better schools and supporting the mayor’s efforts – but out of the public spotlight,” said Johnson spokesman Ben Sosenko. “And she’ll continue to do that until the mayor’s last day in office.”

WHY DID YOU STAND BY YOUR MAN? IT RAISES A CREDIBILITY ISSUE.

Gloria Romero, education advocate and former state senator.

Gloria Romero, a former Democratic state senator who shares many of Rhee’s views onWhat’s next for Michelle Rhee, once the national face of education activism? | The Sacramento Bee:

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