Michigan audit faults EAA for poor budget controls

Michigan audit faults EAA for poor budget controls:

Michigan audit faults EAA for poor budget controls

The state-created Education Achievement Authority suffered from a “consistent lack of controls” in information technology that resulted in poorly maintained budgets, vendors being paid without contracts and a lack of oversight in purchasing, a state audit concluded.

The 34-page audit, filed by the state on Jan. 10, 2014, is among the documents that EAA officials say led to an FBI investigation into the troubled school system created by Gov. Rick Snyder in 2011 to turn around failing schools in Detroit. The Detroit News obtained the audit through a Freedom of Information Act request.

“We have concluded that the EAA doesn’t appear to employ a comprehensive departmental budgeting, forecasting and spending tracking methodology,” the audit reads. “For example, until recently EAA finance was unclear as to how and when grant funds needed to be planned and used across EAA departments.”

“... Our observation found that multiple individuals within each school (are) performing their own purchasing function, and that the schools are not coordinating with each other for maximum potential savings through volume purchasing. We observed no process for standard checking, security checks or strategic sourcing prior to purchase ... Additionally, we have seen no information that provides for penalties/deterrents for deviating from the purchasing handbook.”

No civil or criminal charges have been filed as part of the federal investigation, but The News learned in October that the FBI and Justice Department subpoenaed personnel files and bank records or email account information for more than a dozen current and former EAA officials as part of a wide-ranging corruption investigation.

The subpoenas are part of an investigation into whether officials at the EAA and Detroit Public Schools received bribes or kickbacks from contractors.

In a statement Wednesday, EAA spokesman Robert Guttersohn said the audit covered a period when John Covington was chancellor of the state-run recovery district. Covington resigned in June 2014, five months after the audit was filed.

“The financial irregularities and loose controls noted in the state IT audit occurred under the leadership of a previous chancellor and his management team,” Guttersohn said. “The report led to the internal review of all contracts, which eventually uncovered the misuse of public funds intended for Detroit students.

“All suggested changes made in the IT audit have been addressed and resolved.”

Winfrey (Photo: File)

Guttersohn added: “Veronica Conforme became interim chancellor of the EAA in June 2014 and was named chancellor in November 2014, after the financial irregularities came to light. Once on the job, she immediately instituted a series of tough financial reforms and procedures to fix the problems created by the previous administration and improve the procurement and contracting process in the district.”

The EAA spent $23 million on its IT budget in fiscal 2014, including a $16.6 million one-time upgrade. Its Michigan audit faults EAA for poor budget controls:

16 DPS schools could change to charters under state plan - Story | WJBK http://bit.ly/1N1mHfm

Senate To Take Up ESSA Next Week » Missouri Education Watchdog

Senate To Take Up ESSA Next Week » Missouri Education Watchdog:

Senate To Take Up ESSA Next Week

The House did not listen to the grassroots who tried to educate them on the bill they were about to pass. Their education staffers kept focusing on the positive language in the bill and ignoring the aspects that teachers and parents told them would be problematic, often saying, “It doesn’t say that,” which was a strong indication that these staffers have no real experience in public education to understand the terms and how they play out at the implementation point. Given that there was little agreement between the grassroots and the staffers it can be assumed that the 1061 pages of legalistic obfuscation will provide lawyers in all fifty states plenty of opportunity to rake in the fees arguing over what the terms actually mean for many years to come. Those the staffers/Congressmen did listen to include the teachers union representatives, who many teachers feel sold them out with this bill. ESSA does appear sever the link between student test scores and teacher evaluations, at least at the federal level, but there are many other requirements in the bill that the rank and file are not happy about. The other ear was held by big Wall Street investors who see the large potential for profit in the ESSA. The question now will be, do those money movers have similar influence in the Senate?

There is a clear focus on privatization and computer aided teaching in ESSA. Both are already being pushed into schools, so in some ways they are not new, but they will now officially be endorsed by the federal government. More importantly they will be endorsed by our elected officials, not unelected political appointees which makes them much harder to oppose. Whether such education reforms are effective or not is not the concern of this Congress or this bill, though there is evidence that casts doubt on the effectiveness of either mechanism. But why worry about that? Being effective can be such a subjective and lucrative thing.

Take the Social Impact Bonds, defined on page 797 of ESSA as “Pay for Success.” These SIBs are a way for big banks and private investors to pull public money out of the education system using low risk high yield financial instruments designed to incentivize certain social goals. The result is government sanctioned removal of money allocated to serve the poorest of the poor and the most vulnerable, and frequently expensive, to educate from the school system. Peter Greene did a decent job of explaining the SIBs.

“In the classic… social impact bond, a government agency sets a specific, measurable social outcome they want to see achieved within a well-defined population over a period of time. …The government then contracts with an external organization—sometimes called an intermediary—that is in charge of achieving that outcome. … The intermediary hires and manages service providers who perform the interventions intended to achieve the desired outcome. Because the government does not pay until and unless the outcome is achieved, the intermediary raises money from outside investors. These investors will be repaid and receive a return on their investment for taking on the performance risk of the interventions if and only if the outcome is achieved.”

On the surface it may sound good because it gives districts money to provide services and only pays out if the gamble is successful. The services are generally meant to reduce anticipated future costs to the district thus saving them money. The problem is those savings go to the investor, not the district to use in other necessary programs. The end result is that such investment is steered toward programs that have easily Senate To Take Up ESSA Next Week » Missouri Education Watchdog:

LA School Workers Fight Capitalist School Privatization Scheme | PopularResistance.Org

LA School Workers Fight Capitalist School Privatization Scheme | PopularResistance.Org:

LA School Workers Fight Capitalist School Privatization Scheme

Above Photo: UTLA rallies in February, 2015 during contract talks.

Residents of Los Angeles were in for a surprise in August when they picked up the local newspaper and learned that multi-billionaire Eli Broad has a plan to turn half the public schools in Los Angeles into charter schools. The plan was drawn up in secret by Broad, an insurance and real estate mogul, through his Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation with the cooperation of organizations such as The Walton Foundation (of Walmart fame) and The Keck Foundation which has deep ties to Exxon Mobile. According to The Los Angeles Times, representatives of charter school corporations such as Green Dot Public Schools and ICEF Public Schools regularly met with these corporate “philanthropists” during the series of private meetings.

The Broad plan has a stated goal of raising $500 million to create 260 new charter schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Some $46 million will go to Teach for America, and other pro-privatization teaching programs. Hundreds of millions will go to public relations for charter schools, securing more real estate for charter schools to expand, hiring a highly paid bureaucracy to oversee the charter schools, and to solicit money from big money donors such as David Geffen and The Bill and Melinda Gates and Bloomberg organizations. None of the money raised from Broad’s proposed will actually go into cash starved public schools that desperately need the resources. Currently over 100,000 LA students attend charters; decreasing enrollment in LAUSD schools has crippled LA Unified by draining the district financially. LA has more charter schools than any other city in the country. (LA Times, August 17, 2015)

Charter schools have the power to act as private enterprises while taking public money. They are non-union and treat workers as at-will employees who may be fired at any time for any reason. At charter schools, teachers and parents cannot advocate on behalf of students since decisions are made by a few bosses like at corporations. On the other hand, at public schools with union representation, teachers and parents can volunteer on various committees and participate in the decision making process at their school. Charter schools are far less likely to educate special education and English Language Learner students since these students are more expensive to educate; they are more likely to expel challenging and disruptive students. Charter schools operate like a private business while taking public money. Essentially Broad’s plan is to privatize public education in Los Angeles and export his vision throughout the United States.

The proposed charter school expansion in Los Angeles should be understood in the context of a successful contract campaign organized by the LA teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, earlier this year. UTLA was able to negotiate a 10 percent raise while maintaining the relatively generous health benefits union members have, including not only teachers, but counselors, librarians, some out of classroom personal such as school psychologists, and substitute teachers. The union also made some progress in addressing some workplace condition issues such as class size at a time when teacher unions throughout the U.S. have been forced into accepting concessionary contracts. UTLA was able to organize 15,000 students, parents, and union members at a rally in downtown Los Angeles in February in support of contract demands. One thousand union members took part in a demonstration against the Broad Plan in September, a surprisingly high turnout for an action that was organized on short notice.

Eli Broad and his allies in the capitalist class in LA have noticed the increased effectiveness of UTLA and formulated the Broad Plan as a response. It is not only an attempt to weaken UTLA, one of the largest and most powerful unions in the city,but is an attack on organized labor throughout Los Angeles. All eight employee unions that represents employees in LA Unified have expressed strenuous opposition to the Broad Plan. Lower wage employees in public school districts such as cafeteria workers and office personal also lack union representation at charter schools and the job protections that come with it. At charters, volunteers do jobs that employees do at public schools. And because charter schools consider themselves private enterprises when it suits their interests, (even though they take public money) they do not have to abide by the $15 minimum wage for government employees recently passed by the LA City Council. (LA Times, October 13, 2015)

As of the writing of this article, it has been widely rumored that Eli Broad has plans to buy The Los Angeles Times, the newspaper with far and away the biggest circulation in the city. The LA Times is so dominant that Los Angeles has often been called a “one newspaper town.” The Washington Post has recently reported that a new feature of The LA Times, “Education matters,” which would cover education issues from a national perspective, is actually funded by the same forces pushing for more charter schools including the K&F Baxter Family Foundation, the Wasserman Foundation, and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. The foundations are giving the newspaper $800,000 for the new project. (Washington Post, October 29, 2015) For the LA Times which purports to be a serious LA School Workers Fight Capitalist School Privatization Scheme | PopularResistance.Org:

Duncan's Legacy Undercut as ESEA Rewrite Advances - Education Week

Duncan's Legacy Undercut as ESEA Rewrite Advances - Education Week:

Duncan's Legacy Undercut as ESEA Rewrite Advances

At several points during the past year, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who is stepping down Dec. 31 after nearly seven years in office, has said his biggest regret in the job is the amount of time he spent lobbying Congress early in his tenure to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

“This law’s been broken for seven to eight years,” Duncan said last month, at a forum hosted by The Wall Street Journal as a bill to overhaul the law was finally approaching the finish line. “Folks are trying to work now in a bipartisan way.”

That bipartisan process, though, has produced legislation—the Every Student Succeeds Act—that marks a big departure from what Duncan has championed, in particular from major elements of the Obama administration’s approach to K-12 accountability.

Case in point: The bill—which the House of Representatives passed on Tuesday by a 359-64 vote—would restrict or outright prohibit attempts by the secretary to dictate or influence states’ decisions about their content standards, assessments, and teacher-evaluation requirements.

Those are three areas where Duncan has been especially active, most controversially by waiving provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, the current version of the ESEA, in return for states’ adoption of certain policy measures. Such conditional waivers originating from the education secretary would be barred by the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Two other high-profile initiatives that began on Duncan’s watch—the Race to the Top education redesign effort and a supercharged School Improvement Grant program—also failed to make the final version of the ESEA reauthorization bill.

But the legislation doesn’t represent a total washout for Duncan and his supporters: His legacy appears to fare better on less-contested policies not directly linked to accountability, such as early education.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan prepares to testify before a House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing in March, 2011.

—Tom Williams/Roll Call/AP-File

Much of the discussion about Duncan’s long-term impact, as one of the longest-serving and most influential U.S. education secretaries, may ultimately focus on the extent to which states maintain the course they agreed to in exchange for the federal money and legal flexibility Duncan has put on the table since 2009.

“I think the well has been so poisoned by his name and by a lot of these programs that they had to go away. They just had to,” said Maria Ferguson, the executive director of the Center on Education Policy, which studies federal education programs. “The big message with this bill is that states have more power.”

Who’s Accountable for What

The durability of Duncan’s influence on approaches to accountability is put to the test in various parts of the Every Student Succeeds Act, and the outlook is somewhat dim.

For example, the legislation would require states to intervene in some fashion in schools ranked in the bottom 5 percent on academic performance. That’s a vestige of the No Child Left Behind Act waivers Duncan granted. And the School Improvement Grants the federal Department of Education distributed were designed to bolster turnaround efforts in that bottom 5 percent.

But unlike with the waivers, the Every Student Succeeds Act wouldn’t allow the secretary to dictate exactly how states intervene in those schools.

There’s a similar dynamic in the reauthorization bill’s approach to accountability in general, both for schools and for teachers. And the improvement grants would be gone—instead, the share of states’ Title I aid they could use for school turnarounds would rise from 4 percent to 7 percent.

As for student assessments, annual tests in reading and math in grades 3-8 and once in high schools would remain, a holdover from both No Child Left Behind and the Obama administration’s list of priorities.

Under the bill, states would also have to intervene in some fashion in schools with relatively low graduation rates and large achievement gaps. And states would still have to submit accountability plans to the federal department for approval, starting for the 2017-18 school year.

But the next secretary’s authority over those plans wouldn’t have nearly the breadth and depth that Duncan exercised over waivers. States could set their own academic goals for schools. Specific elements of accountability under the waivers, such as permission for states to use “super-subgroups” that combine various student demographics for school and district ratings, will also fade away.

Different Vision

Arguably the two most prominent fights over Duncan’s policies are dealt with decisively in the Every Student Succeeds Act—and not in his favor.

The federal Education Department would have no ability to influence states’ adoption of standards, such as requiring a sign-off from their institutions of higher education, as Duncan has done. That provision comes after years of political backlash to the Common Core State Standards, an opposition that Duncan, however unintentionally, helped stoke. The bill would require, however, states to adopt "challenging" academic standards that align with entrance requirements for credit-bearing coursework in states' higher education systems.

That’s one of several ways in which the Every Student Succeeds Act differs markedly from the vision for ESEA reauthorization the Obama administration released in 2010 in “A Blueprint for Reform.”

And unlike the NCLB waivers, which have triggered protracted fights between states and Duncan’s Education Department, the reauthorization plan would not allow Washington to require anything (including the much-debated use of test scores) in states’ teacher-evaluation plans.

“You see an attempt not just to [reject] some of the specific policies that the Obama administration pursued through executive actions, but to rein in the ability of future secretaries to engage in similar actions going forward,” said Martin West, an associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education who also advised Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Senate education committee, on reauthorizing Duncan's Legacy Undercut as ESEA Rewrite Advances - Education Week:

New Research: Economically Integrated Schools Have Higher Test Scores and Smaller Gaps | janresseger

New Research: Economically Integrated Schools Have Higher Test Scores and Smaller Gaps | janresseger:

New Research: Economically Integrated Schools Have Higher Test Scores and Smaller Gaps

New research from Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy points to the positive impact for children when school districts use family income to integrate schools economically—as a proxy for racial integration that has been no longer permitted by the U.S. Supreme Court (except in cases where districts are under the old court orders for de jure segregation).  The researchers explore academic results in the Wake County School District after an economic integration program was launched in 2000.  Wake County Schools serve metropolitan Raleigh, North Carolina.

Duke Today explains that school districts in North Carolina “stopped using race-based assignment plans in the late 1990s after a series of court cases struck down the practice in various settings around the country.”  In his 1997 decision in the Louisville-Seattle case calledParents Involved, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts declared, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” School districts could no longer balance school enrollments by assigning students based on their race. Although the decision made it very difficult for school districts to reduce racial segregation, a handful of school districts including Wake County have experimented with integration by family income as a proxy for race.

According to Duke Today‘s report on the new study which is published in an academic journal,Urban Education (and paywalled), “In 2000, Wake implemented a new assignment policy based on income and achievement, in which no school would consist of more than 40 percent students receiving free or reduced lunch, nor more than 25 percent of students performing below grade level.”  Duke Today adds, “In 2010, the Wake County school board voted to stop New Research: Economically Integrated Schools Have Higher Test Scores and Smaller Gaps | janresseger:

Will Connecticut Follow Massachusetts On Common Core? by Joseph Ricciotti - Wait What?

Will Connecticut Follow Massachusetts On Common Core? by Joseph Ricciotti  - Wait What?:

Will Connecticut Follow Massachusetts On Common Core? by Joseph Ricciotti 

Retired Connecticut educator and fellow public education advocate Joseph Ricciotti recently had a strong piece in CT Newsjunke about Massachusetts’ decision to shift away from the Common Core testing frenzy and whether Connecticut would follow their lead.

In, “Will Connecticut Follow Massachusetts On Common Core,” Joe Ricciotti writes;

The state of Massachusetts, one of the leading states on education reform in the nation, in a monumental decision has abandoned Common Core

Massachusetts Education Commissioner Michael Chester, in a stunning reversal, has walked away from the very test he helped to create.

Now it remains to be seen if other states in the nation, including Connecticut, will follow Massachusetts, a state that is considered to be “the gold standard in successful education reform.”

Morgan Polikoff, an assistant professor at the University of Southern California and a leader in the assessment of national tests, believes other states will follow what has happened in Massachusetts.

Playing a key role in abandoning Common Core in Massachusetts is Barbara Madeloni, the newly elected president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, who campaigned against all high-stakes testing. Madeloni is a firm believer that Common Core and high-stakes tests are destructive to Massachusetts students and teachers, as well as to joyful and meaningful public education. One of the major reasons Massachusetts, as well as other states abandoned Common Core was the fact that the tests “were too hard and too long” for students. Likewise, many of the states including Connecticut had poor results with many students failing to reach “proficiency” especially in urban school districts.

In Connecticut, no one has been more critical of Common Core testing than Connecticut Education Association President Sheila Cohen. Following the release of the disastrous results on SBAC testing for Connecticut public school students this past August, Cohen commented in a press release on how these tests “are not only unfair and invalid, but are also a failed experiment” while also claiming that SBAC “is a bridge to nowhere.” Cohen, in essence, is also advocating that Connecticut follow in the footsteps of Massachusetts.

“In our nation, the federal government and states have spent hundreds of 

Will Connecticut Follow Massachusetts On Common Core? by Joseph Ricciotti  - Wait What?:

Some Kids Have To Fail: A History of Labels (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Some Kids Have To Fail: A History of Labels (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Some Kids Have To Fail: A History of Labels (Part 1)

As long as there have been tax-supported public schools in the U.S., some children and youth have failed.  “Experts,” educators, and policymakers have given names for those students who left school in the late 19th century, early 20th century, and now. And those names for failing students and their early departures from schools have changed over time mirroring reform movements and policy shifts in perceptions of who was (and is) responsible for the failure.

A history of labels for these “misfits” can be summed up quickly: blame the kids for lacking intelligence, blame the kids and their families for not adjusting to schools, and blame the schools for failing students. I describe in a later post where U.S. educators are now in describing those students who fail to fit into the age-graded school.

Students who failed in the late-19th and early 20th centuries

Terms used over a century ago to describe those urban elementary school students who failed academically in their age-graded school focus entirely on an individual’s genetics, character and attitudes. Here were some of the common phrases educators and policymakers used: born-late, sleepy-minded, wandering, stubborn, immature, slow, dull   (PDF DeschenesCubanTyack-1).

Children who left urban elementary schools were mostly children of immigrants and young ( 10 to 12 years old); they went to work immediately in a rapidly industrializing economy. When reformers of the day saw that children were in the streets cadging coins, selling newspapers, and working in factories,they lobbied state legislatures for child labor laws to prevent the young from entering the workforce. Helen Todd, for example, inspected factories in Chicago looking for underage children. She found boys and girls making paper boxes,stripping tobacco leaves, running errands, and shellacking canes in what even then were unsafe and unhealthy workplaces.

Todd asked the young boys and girls would they rather work or go to school if their father had a good job and they did not have to work to bring money into the family. Eighty percent of the child-workers said they would rather work than go Some Kids Have To Fail: A History of Labels (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

OUR OPINION: When it comes to charter schools, let facts lead the way - News - The Enterprise, Brockton, MA - Brockton, MA

OUR OPINION: When it comes to charter schools, let facts lead the way - News - The Enterprise, Brockton, MA - Brockton, MA:

OUR OPINION: When it comes to charter schools, let facts lead the way

On Beacon Hill and across Massachusetts, charter schools have become a hot topic of conversation and debate.

It’s due in part to a new governor who is forceful in his support for lifting the cap on the number of charter schools in the state, a ballot petition that proposes lifting the cap, and a lawsuit filed against the state on behalf of several Boston students who want the cap lifted.

Proponents of charter schools argue that children in underperforming school districts deserve access to quality education – something they say charter schools provide. We wholeheartedly agree that every Massachusetts student deserves a quality education.

However, in a brief filed in response to the students’ civil suit, state Attorney General Maura Healey said it is “highly speculative” to assume the existence of a link between charter schools and high-quality education.

True enough.

Baker and his administration have said the state owes it to the 37,000 students on charter-school waiting lists to increase the number of charter schools in Massachusetts from the current 82.

About that 37,000 figure:

In December 2014, state Auditor Suzanne Bump released a report that said the waiting-list figures compiled by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which oversees charter schools, were “not accurate.” The figures were then recalculated.

Bump’s report also said “the reliability and accuracy of charter school information in DESE’s data systems are questionable” and that the state does not have a consistent method for evaluating whether a charter school is eligible for renewal of its charter.

The report was a pretty damning account of the state’s ability to accurately measure charter schools’ efficacy and administration.

The funding mechanism for charter schools has also been criticized. When a student chooses to attend a charter school, the money that his or her hometown school district budgeted for the student is diverted to the charter school. Consider that Quincy’s excellent public schools spent $14,642 per pupil in the 2012-13 school year, according to the DESE’s most recent figures. If 20 Quincy students attended charter schools that year, $292,840 would have been diverted from the city’s school budget, though bulk costs like utilities, maintenance and pensions would have remained. A minority of students would have benefited at the expense of the majority.

In response to concerns about funding fairness, the state in 2010 approved a measure to reimburse schools districts 100 percent in the first year and 25 percent for five subsequent years for each diverted student. However, the state hasn’t fully funded that line item in the last few budget cycles.

Then there are the legitimate concerns about charter schools “creaming” – admitting better-prepared students and inadequately serving mentally, physically and socio-economically challenged students and those for whom English is a second language.OUR OPINION: When it comes to charter schools, let facts lead the way - News - The Enterprise, Brockton, MA - Brockton, MA:

Dean Skelos Tapes Expose Billionaire Connection to School Reform Movement and Campbell Brown

Dean Skelos Tapes Expose Billionaire Connection to School Reform Movement and Campbell Brown:

The School 'Reform' Movement Is Backed by Shadowy Billionaires? No Way!

In which the trial of crooked New York state senator Dean Skelos proves particularly instructive.

Occasionally, we drop in on the school "reform" gravy train to see who's gone back for seconds, and thirds, and 45th's, for that matter. One of the prominent line-jumpers in this regard is Campbell Brown, a former CNN anchor and the spouse of Dan Senor, former Bush Adminstration war crimes apologist. You may have noticed that, recently, there were some verdicts handed down in a massive corruption trial involving the New York state legislature. One of the elements of the case involved a state senator named Dean Skelos getting his spalpeen, Adam, some no-show jobs  "on the state," as we say here in the Commonwealth, god save it. As part of the investigation, some interesting names turned up on wiretaps.

DEAN SKELOS: "I'm going into the city, meeting with some billionaires ... on school tax credit stuff - "

ADAM SKELOS: "Who are you meeting with?

DEAN SKELOS: " Campbell Brown."

ADAM SKELOS: "Ohhh... "

DEAN SKELOS: "Okay."

ADAM SKELOS: "Any financial ... people?"

DEAN SKELOS: "Yeah, you know the ... uhh ...the reporter, former reporter ...a whole bunch of them (i.e. billionaire charter promoters) and I'm having lunch with a bunch of them. Then I'm going to - "

ADAM SKELOS: "Dad, you've gotta ...you've gotta take these names down for me."

She's just in it for the kids, though. It's a moral thing with Ms. Brown.​

(H/T Curmudgucation and the invaluable Diane Ravitch)​

Dean Skelos Tapes Expose Billionaire Connection to School Reform Movement and Campbell Brown:

These California districts are measuring schools in a new way - LA Times

These California districts are measuring schools in a new way - LA Times:

These California districts are measuring schools in a new way

arting in February, a group of California districts will begin evaluating their schools on more than just test scores.

On Friday, a group including some of the largest school systems in the state called CORE will unveil its new formula for measuring public schools at the California School Boards Assn. Conference in San Diego.

And for the first time, new metrics will count: In addition to academic performance, school scores will account for how safe children feel in school, suspension rates, skills not measured by traditional academic tests such as self-control and social awareness, and how quickly students who don't speak English are learning the language, among other factors. The idea is to evaluate schools in a more nuanced way that captures a broader picture of what happens in schools. The group is also releasing preliminary results on its first attempts at using those measures.

“We have known for a long time that academic performance is one of many factors that make a great school, but CORE districts are now serving as a model for how we can actually measure these factors and look more holistically at school outcomes,” Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Ramon C. Cortines said in a statement. “Educators have created an index that captures more information that matters.” 

CORE will release its first round of school reports in early February. Previously, schools in California have been measured and evaluated in accordance with their test scores, a statewide metric known as the Academic Performance Index. But in February, a group of six school districts that are part of CORE will start grading its schools according to the new formula, called the School Quality Index, with each receiving a score out of 100.

The Times' new initiative to inform parents, educators and students across California >>

“The idea is to shift accountability away from accountability designed to name, shame and blame schools,” said Noah Bookman, CORE’s chief accountability officer who previously served as L.A. Unified’s director of performance management. He described the new system as a “flashlight,” designed to equip schools with the information they need to improve. The index also holds schools to a tougher standard when it comes to making sure traditionally overlooked groups of students are accounted for.

CORE is unveiling its framework as the state of California figures out how to measure schools. California suspended API as schools transitioned to new tests aligned with the Common Core learning standards. 

These revisions occur against a background of a potential major change in federal law: These California districts are measuring schools in a new way - LA Times:

Why did Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg NOT simply donate billions to charity | Tech | Life & Style | Daily Express

Why did Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg NOT simply donate billions to charity | Tech | Life & Style | Daily Express:

Why didn't Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg just donate his billions to charity?

FACEBOOK CEO Mark Zuckerberg has refuted claims his new charitable endeavour is an elaborate scheme to avoid paying tax in the United States.

 Mark Zuckerberg this week announced that he and his wife Priscilla Chan would donate 99 per cent of their Facebook shares – currently valued at a staggering $45 billion, some £30billion – to "advancing human potential" and "promoting equality."

The hugely successful couple, who recently welcomed their first child Max, will donate the majority of their wealth over the course of their lives.

On the surface, the generous gesture appeared to be the latest in a string of philanthropic endeavours kickstarted by successful technology entrepreneurs.

But critics have blasted 31-year-old Mr Zuckerberg for establishing his philanthropic project as a limited liability company rather than a charitable foundation.

Setting up the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative as a limited liability company – or LLC – allows the Zuckerberg couple a greater freedom to use their money as they please.

GETTY

Microsoft founder Bill Gates with wife Melinda Gates, who started the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundat

Charitable foundations – like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, another philanthropic project by a prominent technology entrepreneur – cannot invest in any for-profit businesses and are unable to engage in political lobbying under US law.

However – as an LLC – the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will be able to turn a profit, invest in profitable firms and make donations to politicians.

Some critics also questioned whether there would be tax benefits to Mr Zuckerberg and Ms Chan donating their Facebook shares to an LLC instead of a charitable foundation. 

Facebook co-founder Zuckerberg has been forced to defend his decision to establish the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative as an LLC.

In a post on his Facebook page, he wrote that "just like everyone else, we will pay capital gains taxes when our shares are sold by the LLC."

"By using an LLC instead of a traditional foundation, we receive no tax benefit from transferring our shares to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, but we gain flexibility to execute our mission more effectively," he added.

"If we transferred our shares to a traditional foundation then we would have received an immediate tax benefit, but by using an LLC we do not."

Mr Zuckerberg also addressed criticism that – unlike the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – his own Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is able to invest in profitable firms and political donations.

He posted: "This enables us to pursue our mission by funding nonprofit organisations, making private investments and participating in policy debates — in each case with the goal of generating a positive impact in areas of great need. 

"Any net profits from investments will also be used to advance this mission."

Writing on his Harvard University blog, Dr Philip Greenspun argues that the LLC could be an Estate Tax avoidance scheme for Mark Zuckerbeg and Priscilla Chan's first child, Max.

"Let’s suppose that Baby Max owns shares in this LL," he writes.

"If she acquires them today, before any Facebook stock or proceeds from selling Facebook stock are transferred in, she hasn’t received anything Why did Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg NOT simply donate billions to charity | Tech | Life & Style | Daily Express:

Guest post: We need a shake-up at Seattle Public Schools | Seattle Education

Guest post: We need a shake-up at Seattle Public Schools | Seattle Education:

Guest post: We need a shake-up at Seattle Public Schools

The recent storm of controversy created by the announcement of the Seattle Public Schools central office of plans to cut 25-28 teachers across the school district in late October, and well into the semester, required student classroom reshuffling and disruption and necessitated additional grade-split classes. It was another example of irresponsible management by the Seattle Public School district.  If Seattle expects to attract and retain a high caliber workforce and citizenry, our public school central management needs drastic improvement and Seattle parents are uniting to demand it.

What emerged in that controversy was a saga of the school district’s dodgy planning and data gathering, opaque process, blaming and excuses which resulted in more bad decisions that impact tens of thousands of students around the city.

WHERE’S THE DATA? While Seattle Public Schools (SPS) hatched and finalized its plans to cut teaching staff, they were unable to provide supporting enrollment data because “they are still working out those numbers” and relied on enrollment numbers that were not the most current.

BLAMING. Superintendent Nyland and his top staff blamed the severity of the cuts on the September teacher strike but could not point to any data to support their claims. They claimed similar cuts were happening around the state in October but when King 5 News reached out to other districts, only Kent reported making cuts in early September. 

VERY LOW BAR. Washington State has the dubious distinction of being 47th in the nation in class size, with only three states ranking worse. Planned cuts maintained these large classroom sizes thereby subverting Seattle voter’s mandate to reduce class sizes Guest post: We need a shake-up at Seattle Public Schools | Seattle Education:

After a $45 billion announcement, a question looms: What is personalized learning? - The Hechinger Report

After a $45 billion announcement, a question looms: What is personalized learning? - The Hechinger Report:

After a $45 billion announcement, a question looms: What is personalized learning?

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and co-founder of Facebook, plans to give away much of his wealth, and cites personalized learning as a particular interest

 remains to be seen exactly how and where Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, will spend the estimated $45 billion they’ve declared they will donate to charitable ventures, including education. But their announcement this week made one thing clear: in education, the two are focused on the potential of “personalized learning.”

For those who don’t follow education trends closely, the couple’s charity announcement Tuesday, in the form of anopen letter to their newborn daughter, served to introduce the idea of “personalized learning.” Many people equate it with any classroom that is technology-rich, but that isn’t always the case. Personalized learning can be achieved without high-tech tools, and the underlying concept reaches back long before computers were commonplace. Generally speaking, personalized learning gives students lessons that match their individual preferences and needs. Children get choice and flexibility in how they will spend their school day. They can move faster or slower than peers; they are, at times, autodidacts. The idea is that this will be more engaging, and also prepare students to be independent and take responsibility for their own progress,

Here’s a look at some of the projects in education that Zuckerberg has already announced. They provide clues to what types of projects might get money and technical support in coming years.

Facebook founder and others invest $100 million in a private school model they hope can take root in the public system

A technology team from Facebook works to serve classroom teachers

Mark Zuckerberg donates $20 million to improve school Internet access

Do custom-fit lessons help students succeed?

What happened with the $100 million that Newark schools got from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg? Not much

This story was written by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation After a $45 billion announcement, a question looms: What is personalized learning? - The Hechinger Report:

The College Board under David Coleman: Bad for SAT Business | deutsch29

The College Board under David Coleman: Bad for SAT Business | deutsch29:

The College Board under David Coleman: Bad for SAT Business

In 2009, the College Board was one of three nonprofits that were listed by name on the memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). (The other two were Achieve, Inc., and ACT.)

Though not specified by name in the CCSS MOU, David Coleman was also there with his standards-writing company that later became a nonprofit, Student Achievement Partners (SAP).

In May 2012, Coleman was selected president of the College Board (effective October 2012)– where he intended to deliver curriculum through College Board tests– but that’s okay because there is a “crisis in education,” and he is here to save the day:

Mr. Coleman’s new position will involve a continued focus on college readiness. “We have a crisis in education, and over the next few years, the main thing on the College Board’s agenda is to deliver its social mission,” he said in an interview on Tuesday. “The College Board is not just about measuring and testing, but designing high-quality curriculum.”

In February 2013, Coleman announced an SAT redesign, “so that it better meets the needs of students, schools, and colleges at all levels.” However, it seems that Coleman is royally botching meeting the needs of students, schools, and colleges before his touted redesign is even launched.

Coleman needs to forget his world-domination aims of revamping the SAT as a means of controlling curriculum. Apparently he is failing at providing an SAT free of typos, preventing widespread cheating due to recycling test forms, and delivering early scores on time.

Consider June 2015: The SAT had a typo in the testing time for one of its sections of the June 06, 2015, admission– 25 minutes instead of the correct 20 minutes. College Board’s response involved refunding testing fees and offering for students to retake in The College Board under David Coleman: Bad for SAT Business | deutsch29:

Through The Wire [This Is Still Not A Test] | The Jose Vilson

Through The Wire [This Is Still Not A Test] | The Jose Vilson:

Through The Wire [This Is Still Not A Test]

No one asked me to write This Is Not A Test, but I still felt it necessary.

About two years ago, I was in the middle of one of the weirdest weeks of my life, capped off with my father passing away and me finding out 30 minutes before class started. My shoulders buckled, my face felt pulled an inch closer to the earth, and my feet felt light. I knew there was nothing I could do about it since his body was over a thousand miles away in Florida.

When I informed Liliana Segura, my editor, that my father passed, she asked if I needed time. I said, “Nah, gimme more.”

For about a year or two prior to my father passing, I struggled with this idea of a published book. How many people back then got their Internet-based thoughts turned into an IRL cover-bound thingie? In education, the chances were slimmer. I found myself staring at the Education section of Barnes & Noble, doing my research on what publishers call the market. I didn’t know that publishers paid for book placement, and whether the covers faced the customers or the spine did. All I knew was that there were no books that truly spoke to me from a K-12 educator as a K-12 educator.

With all due respect to folks to folks I call colleagues or even friends, all I saw were education professors, politicians, billionaires, journalists, and plenty of former educators who had friends in mainstream media spaces. What was a current classroom teacher to do? I tried the education publisher route, only to be rebuffed for being instructional enough. I tried the agent route, only to be rejected dozens of times, many of them citing that they didn’t know how to sell my story. I tried Through The Wire [This Is Still Not A Test] | The Jose Vilson: