Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 12/14/15

CORPORATE ED REFORM

New York Regents Vote to Exclude State Tests in Teacher Evaluations - The New York Times

New York Regents Vote to Exclude State Tests in Teacher Evaluations - The New York Times: New York Regents Vote to Exclude State Tests in Teacher EvaluationsNew York took another step toward removing state test scores as a component in teacher evaluations on Monday, when members of the Board of Regents voted in favor of a four-year moratorium on their use.The vote completed a sharp reversal of the

by mike simpson / 7min 

The end of public school desegregation? - The Washington Post

The end of public school desegregation? - The Washington Post: The end of public school desegregation? U.S. public schools are more segregated today than they have been for decades, and many believe the country’s policymakers have abandoned efforts to re-integrate schools. Here is a TedX Talk that looks at the issue, by Leslie Hinkson, an assistant professor of sociology at Georgetown University. 

by mike simpson / 2h 

CURMUDGUCATION: Arts and Community

CURMUDGUCATION: Arts and Community: "Arts and Community"Arts and CommunityMy output will likely be down a bit this week because I have rehearsals every night and a performance Friday evening. I'm singing in a community chorus about 100 people who get together every other year to perform a big chunk of Handel's Messiah along with some other seasonal stuff.We are all volunteers who have re

by mike simpson / 4h 

Feds to Newark: Identify and help children hurt by Christie administration “reforms.” Now. | Bob Braun's Ledger

Feds to Newark: Identify and help children hurt by Christie administration “reforms.” Now. | Bob Braun's Ledger: Feds to Newark: Identify and help children hurt by Christie administration “reforms.” Now.PULSE, a grass roots organization, scores a victory for children and parents.A small but vocal grass roots organization in Newark has won a major, if limited, victory for city school parents and ch

by mike simpson / 4h 

Education Reform in Louisiana: A PAC of Lies and Liars. | Crazy Crawfish

Education Reform in Louisiana: A PAC of Lies and Liars. | Crazy Crawfish: Education Reform in Louisiana: A PAC of Lies and Liars.It’s been a few weeks since the final BESE elections wrapped up in Louisiana.(BESE is Louisiana’s elected state school board. The board as 8 elected positions and 3 appointed by the Governor and is responsible for setting policy for all public schools, private schools, c

by mike simpson / 5h 

Why Every Student Will NOT Succeed With the New Education Law | The Progressive

Why Every Student Will NOT Succeed With the New Education Law | The Progressive: Why Every Student Will NOT Succeed With the New Education Law Last week, after a seven-year delay, Congress overwhelmingly voted, and the president signed, to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, dubbed No Child Left Behind in 2002, and now called the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).  This new law

by mike simpson / 5h 

The Danger in Sen. Ted Cruz's "School Choice" Proposal - Girard At Large

The Danger in Sen. Ted Cruz's "School Choice" Proposal - Girard At Large: The Danger in Sen. Ted Cruz’s “School Choice” ProposalA few short years ago, New Hampshire paved the way for school choice.  With the passage of legislation allowing education tax credits for businesses, scholarship organizations like Network for Educational Opportunity came into existence.  Since then, many low-in

by mike simpson / 5h 

Denying reality, Malloy blames legislature for cuts to Tourism and Arts in recent “Democratic budget bill” - Wait What?

Denying reality, Malloy blames legislature for cuts to Tourism and Arts in recent “Democratic budget bill” - Wait What?: Denying reality, Malloy blames legislature for cuts to Tourism and Arts in recent “Democratic budget bill”In a stunning attempt at revisionist history, Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy took toWNPR radio to blame the Connecticut General Assembly for the recent cuts to the state’

by mike simpson / 6h 

Ghastly Impact of Closing Schools on Students and Communities | Cloaking Inequity

Ghastly Impact of Closing Schools on Students and Communities | Cloaking Inequity: Ghastly Impact of Closing Schools on Students and CommunitiesA recent Capitol Hill forum on the impact of school closure held the Rayburn Congressional building demonstrated the ghastly impact of closing schools on students and communities.The Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, and the Journey for

by mike simpson / 6h 

Marie Corfield: In remembrance of Newtown: Schools are becoming prisons

Marie Corfield: In remembrance of Newtown: Schools are becoming prisons: In remembrance of Newtown: Schools are becoming prisonsDecember 14th marks the three year anniversary of the terrorist attack atSandy Hook Elementary School, and nothing has been done to prevent itfrom happening again.If you follow me regularly, you know that every week I update (when necessary) and postthis piece as a protes

by mike simpson / 6h 

Opt-Out Campaign Must Continue | Alan Singer

Opt-Out Campaign Must Continue | Alan Singer: Opt-Out Campaign Must ContinueThe parent and teacher campaign to have children opt-out of high-stakes Common Core aligned testing is remarkably successful. In New York, 20% of students refused to take the high-stakes tests last April. The campaign is so successful that politicians on national and state levels from both major parties want to diffuse the

by mike simpson / 6h 

John Merrow Is Back (at Least Part-Time) and His Wisdom Is Just as Timely | John Thompson

John Merrow Is Back (at Least Part-Time) and His Wisdom Is Just as Timely | John Thompson: John Merrow Is Back (at Least Part-Time) and His Wisdom Is Just as TimelyJohn Merrow retired from PBS after 41 years of stellar reporting. But, he's posted a couple of timely pieces demonstrating that Merrow, even as a part-time blogger, offers a full plate of wisdom. I'll start with his second reality-based

by mike simpson / 7h 

Special Issue of “Educational Researcher” (Paper #4 of 9): Make Room VAMs for Observations | VAMboozled!

Special Issue of “Educational Researcher” (Paper #4 of 9): Make Room VAMs for Observations | VAMboozled!: Special Issue of “Educational Researcher” (Paper #4 of 9): Make Room VAMs for ObservationsRecall that the peer-reviewed journal Educational Researcher (ER) – recently published a “Special Issue” including nine articles examining value-added measures (VAMs). I have reviewed the next of nine art

by mike simpson / 7h 

CURMUDGUCATION: KY: Considering Charters

CURMUDGUCATION: KY: Considering Charters:KY: Considering ChartersKentucky has never jumped on the charter bandwagon. Some folks have been trying for years, but the legislature has always had trouble getting a bill passed, and so the charter sector has been dying on the vine. But the new governor would like to change that.Matt Bevin, the new governor whose previous job was investment management, ha

by mike simpson / 7h 

Marie Corfield: The Star Ledger's double standard on organized labor

Marie Corfield: The Star Ledger's double standard on organized labor: The Star Ledger's double standard on organized laborYesterday's Star Ledger editorial page is a case study in the double standards it applies to organized labor. On the one hand, they make an impassioned and completely justified plea in support of the unsustainable wages earned by SEIU 32BJ's 7,000 custodians and janitors who ar

by mike simpson / 8h 

Hurting the neediest children: Why charter schools are immoral | Bob Braun's Ledger

Hurting the neediest children: Why charter schools are immoral | Bob Braun's Ledger: Hurting the neediest children: Why charter schools are immoralToday, charter schools–funded by taxpayer dollars–will send their amateur and professional lobbyists to Trenton  to block a bill that would place a moratorium on new charter schools until their impact on traditional public schools can be studied. The bi

by mike simpson / 8h 

The Washington Teacher: Broken Promises- It's December - Still No Contract for You!

The Washington Teacher: Broken Promises- It's December - Still No Contract for You!: Broken Promises- It's December - Still No Contract for You!No More Broken Promises!By Candi Peterson, General Vice PresidentStatements or expressions of opinions herein 'do not' represent the views or official positions of DCPS, AFT, Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) or its members. Views are my own. For the record

by mike simpson / 8h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES: WEEKEND QUOTABLESJohn Dewey, founder of the Lab School where Mayor Emanuel sends his children, on DuSable librarian. 17-year-old DuSable senior Sabaria Dean“The librarian is like a mentor to me, a resource. She's dedicated her entire life to DuSable and the children in it. She deserves to be here...“Libraries are essential to all CPS schools, not j

by mike simpson / 8h 

Will New Federal Education Policy Make a Difference? - LA Progressive

Will New Federal Education Policy Make a Difference? - LA Progressive: Will New Federal Education Policy Make a Difference?President Barack Obama greets Kenmore Middle School eighth-grader Sofia Rios and the other stage participants prior to a bill signing ceremony for S. 1177, Every Student Succeeds Act, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building South Court Auditorium, Dec. 10, 2015. Standing w

by mike simpson / 9h 

NYC Educator: You Can Fool Some of the People Some of the Time, but You Can't Fool Opt-Out NY

NYC Educator: You Can Fool Some of the People Some of the Time, but You Can't Fool Opt-Out NY: You Can Fool Some of the People Some of the Time, but You Can't Fool Opt-Out NYEven as UFT leadership breaks out the champagne over NY State's largely meaninglessCommon Core recommendations, Governor Cuomo ought to keep worrying. Because the fact is UFT leadership has played virtually no part in opt-out.

by mike simpson / 9h 

Pondering Chartering: What do we know about administrative and instructional spending? | School Finance 101

Pondering Chartering: What do we know about administrative and instructional spending? | School Finance 101: Pondering Chartering: What do we know about administrative and instructional spending?In a recent report, Gary Miron and I discuss some of the differences in resource allocation practices between Charter operators and district schools.  Among other things, we discuss the apparently high adm

by mike simpson / 9h 

Bad Apples | EduShyster

Bad Apples | EduShyster: Bad ApplesRutgers Professor Bruce Baker shines a light on some extremely shady charter industry practices—and causes my hair to literally catch on fire…EduShyster: Your new study, about the policies that charter school operators use for financial benefit, is harshly critical of a few bad apples. But why focus on them as opposed to, say, the high-performing many?Bruce Baker

by mike simpson / 9h 

Gary Rubinstein, TFA Critic, Will Attend the 25th Anniversary of TFA | Diane Ravitch's blog

Gary Rubinstein, TFA Critic, Will Attend the 25th Anniversary of TFA | Diane Ravitch's blog: Gary Rubinstein, TFA Critic, Will Attend the 25th Anniversary of TFAGary Rubinstein, the most thoughtful of Teach for America’s critical alums, plans to attend the 25th anniversary of Teach for America. Gary’s blog has punctured the illusions of TFA and other corporate reformers again and again. Will he be

by mike simpson / 9h 

No gymnasiums, no cafeterias and no administrators. That’s school policy at AltSchools | TechCrunch

School Districts Are Standing In The Way Of Public School Edtech | TechCrunch: School Districts Are Standing In The Way Of Public School EdtechNo gymnasiums, no cafeterias and no administrators. That’s school policy at AltSchools, a chain of private, for-profit schools backed by the likes of Andreessen Horowitz and Mark Zuckerberg.At the location I visited, the school schedule was written on a whi

by mike simpson / 9h 

How far will N.Y. Gov. Cuomo really go in overhauling Common Core? - The Washington Post

How far will N.Y. Gov. Cuomo really go in overhauling Common Core? - The Washington Post: How far will N.Y. Gov. Cuomo really go in overhauling Common Core?Last week, a task force created by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to review Common Core curriculum and aligned standardized testing issued a report with a series of recommendations on how to change the standards and assessment. The report, whic

by mike simpson / 9h 

Florida gave about $70 million to charter schools that later closed; state recouped little | Miami Herald

Florida gave about $70 million to charter schools that later closed; state recouped little | Miami Herald: Florida gave about $70 million to charter schools that later closed; state recouped littleTALLAHASSEE Less than a mile from the state Capitol, a former steakhouse shows little evidence that it was once part of a movement to change Florida’s schools.It was on this location nearly two decades a

by mike simpson / 10h 

Ohio charter schools that misspent money still owe state $6 million | The Columbus Dispatch

Ohio charter schools that misspent money still owe state $6 million | The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio charter schools that misspent money still owe state $6 millionDozens of Ohio charter schools collectively have failed to repay more than $6 million in misspent tax dollars, a first-time compilation of state audits reveals.The improper spending involved about 40 of the tax-funded, privately operated sc

by mike simpson / 10h 

The fate of Zuckerberg’s “gift” to Newark schools - World Socialist Web Site

The fate of Zuckerberg’s “gift” to Newark schools - World Socialist Web Site: The fate of Zuckerberg’s “gift” to Newark schoolsFive years ago, Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg decided to promote “school reform” by making an unprecedented $100 million gift to the single school system of Newark, New Jersey. A real media event, the announcement was made on a wildly popular national television pro

by mike simpson / 10h 

YESTERDAY

TFA Tries to Squash Its Critics via Less Than One Degree of Separation | deutsch29

TFA Tries to Squash Its Critics via Less Than One Degree of Separation | deutsch29: TFA Tries to Squash Its Critics via Less Than One Degree of Separation Wonder why this goose is here?One of the challenges in writing about corporate education reform concerns the complex web of involvement among corporate reformers, which is often evident in their sitting on each others’ nonprofit boards.Makes it

by mike simpson / 18h 

STAND - Meet The Candidates

STAND - Home: STAND For UTD 2016VOTE STAND CAUCUS 2016 PLATFORMGo to the Website:  STAND - Home:

by mike simpson / 20h 

California approves tougher teacher training standards to help mainstreaming | EdSource

California approves tougher teacher training standards to help mainstreaming | EdSource: California approves tougher teacher training standards to help mainstreamingTeachers meet in Burlingame to talk about proposed changes in teacher credentials.Under federal pressure to increase the amount of time special education students spend in general education classrooms, the California Commission on Teac

by mike simpson / 20h 

Alabama Teacher of the Year Resigns– The Backstory, Part IV | deutsch29

Alabama Teacher of the Year Resigns– The Backstory, Part IV | deutsch29: Alabama Teacher of the Year Resigns– The Backstory, Part IVAnn Marie CorgillOn November 20, 2015, I drove from southern Louisiana to central Alabama in order to interview 2014-15 Alabama Teacher of the Year, Ann Marie Corgill, whose resignation three weeks prior, on October 30, 2015, made national news.I had the privilege of

by mike simpson / 22h 

The Dea(r)th of Opinions [TFA and Writing As A Whole] | The Jose Vilson

The Dea(r)th of Opinions [TFA and Writing As A Whole] | The Jose Vilson: The Dea(r)th of Opinions [TFA and Writing As A Whole]Back in 2009, ChalkbeatNY fka Gotham Schools had its first fundraiser featuring then-NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and NYU researcher and former education reform cheerleader Diane Ravitch. He was there to give one of many speeches about the disruptive education reform h

by mike simpson / 22h 

An Urban Teacher's Education: The Critical Link Between Education and Health: Why You Must Watch Paper Tigers

An Urban Teacher's Education: The Critical Link Between Education and Health: Why You Must Watch Paper Tigers: The Critical Link Between Education and Health: Why You Must Watch Paper TigersIt was an April morning early in my teaching career when, in the middle of a history lecture, I paused because of an unusual noise coming from the hallway."Finish copying down the rest of that slide, every

by mike simpson / 22h 

Teachers For Social Justice: TSJ Teach-In Elected Representative School Board Campaign

Teachers For Social Justice: TSJ Teach-In Elected Representative School Board Campaign: TSJ Teach-In Elected Representative School Board Campaign TSJ Teach-InElected Representative School Board CampaignSat, January 9, 20165:00 - 7:00 PMUIC College of Education1040 W. Harrison StreetRoom 3427All are welcome!Did you know that Chicago is the only school district in Illinois (of 891) without an electe

by mike simpson / 22h 

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 12/13/15

CORPORATE ED REFORM CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI (December 13)CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI (December 13): ICYMI (December 13)Time for that Sunday reading list!What's Your Purpose Rob Miller has one of those posts that is great for refocusing and gearing up for the week to come-- plus a cool diagramShaming the DevilMan. My hat is off-- way off-- to this blogger who decided to call out Steve Perry, the crowd-plea

by mike simpson / 23h 

New York Regents Vote to Exclude State Tests in Teacher Evaluations - The New York Times

New York Regents Vote to Exclude State Tests in Teacher Evaluations - The New York Times:

New York Regents Vote to Exclude State Tests in Teacher Evaluations

New York took another step toward removing state test scores as a component in teacher evaluations on Monday, when members of the Board of Regents voted in favor of a four-year moratorium on their use.

The vote completed a sharp reversal of the state’s policy earlier this year, when the Legislature voted to increase the weight of test scores in evaluations.

The Regents were following a recommendation made last week by a task force created by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. It called for revising the state’s standards on what students should know and eliminating state tests when evaluating teachers, at least through the 2018-19 school year.

The task force’s report, which came with Mr. Cuomo’s implicit approval, represented an about face by the governor, a Democrat, who in January had called for test scores to account for half of some teachers’ evaluations.

Continue reading the main story

RELATED COVERAGE

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  Cuomo, in Shift, Is Said to Back Reducing Test Scores’ Role in Teacher ReviewsNOV. 25, 2015

The governor’s push to increase the weight of test scores upset the teachers’ unions and many parents, and was considered a factor when 20 percent of students sat out state math and reading tests — which had been aligned with the Common Core national benchmarks — this year.

Regents are elected by the Legislature and do not report to the governor.

The vote on Monday was, technically, cast by a committee of the board, although the panel is made up of the entire board. The board will vote again on Tuesday, making the moratorium official. Only one member, the departing chancellor, Merryl H. Tisch, voted against the moratorium.

The board also discussed the results of teacher evaluations from last year. As in previous years, a vast majority of teachers around the state — 96 percent — were rated “effective” or “highly effective.” Roughly 3 percent were rated as “developing,” and less than 1 percent were rated “ineffective.”

In New York City, which has a somewhat tougher evaluation system, a little over 1 percent were rated ineffective; more than 6 percent were rated developing.

In January, arguing to increase the weight of test scores, Mr. Cuomo cited the small number of teachers who are rated ineffective, noting that at the same time only about a third of students were reading or doing math at grade level, as measured by state tests. Removing the test scores from evaluations will almost certainly result in even fewer teachers’ being rated ineffective.

The Regents on Monday also heard a report from Dennis M. Walcott, the former New York City schools chancellor, whom the state appointed in August to lead monitors overseeing the East Ramapo school district in Rockland County, which has been accused of diverting money from its New York Regents Vote to Exclude State Tests in Teacher Evaluations - The New York Times:

The end of public school desegregation? - The Washington Post

The end of public school desegregation? - The Washington Post:

The end of public school desegregation? 

U.S. public schools are more segregated today than they have been for decades, and many believe the country’s policymakers have abandoned efforts to re-integrate schools. Here is a TedX Talk that looks at the issue, by Leslie Hinkson, an assistant professor of sociology at Georgetown University.  Hinkson focuses on two questions:

Have we really seen the end of meaningful efforts to desegregate most of our public schools? 2) And in those schools where desegregation has taken place, how do they understand what integration means?

Here’s the video of the speech, and the transcript follows.

The transcript:

Academia is not populated by many people like me, people who grew up in post-Jim Crow America relegated to highly segregated, high poverty neighborhoods. We’re like the unicorns of the academy, quite rare, except we do exist.

For people like us, regardless of whether we choose to make this our official area of research, the question of, “Why me?” persists. People like us who attended racially segregated schools where more than 75 percent of the students qualified for free lunch. Who were given a chance to excel beyond the bounds of such schools simply because a teacher pulled aside our mother or father and said, “Your child doesn’t belong here.” Every year, in a school like the one I described, a handful of students or fewer are plucked out and placed in institutions far removed from their communities so that they can thrive academically, leaving behind the vast majority of their classmates. I started asking that question, “Why me?” around 7th grade. It wouldn’t be until college that I started to ask the question, “Why not them?”

Today, the average black student scores below 75 percent of whites on most standardized assessments. Black students score lower than their White counterparts on standardized exams in reading, science, mathematics, and a host of other assessments said to measure scholastic aptitude. I decided to pursue a Ph.D. in sociology with the intention of answering one little question – What explains this black-white test score gap – my grown-up version of, “Why not them?”

This gap has remained steady since the late 1980s and showed no signs of diminishing, with the exception of a slight reduction in the early 2000s. Where we have seen steady declines in the gap are in the years between 1971 and 1988. During this time, shite student test scores remained steady on the National Assessment 

The end of public school desegregation? - The Washington Post:

CURMUDGUCATION: Arts and Community

CURMUDGUCATION: Arts and Community: "Arts and Community"

Arts and Community

My output will likely be down a bit this week because I have rehearsals every night and a performance Friday evening. I'm singing in a community chorus about 100 people who get together every other year to perform a big chunk of Handel's Messiah along with some other seasonal stuff.

We are all volunteers who have real jobs doing other things. I sing in a section with my doctor, a couple of students, my father-in-law, a psychologist-counselor, a few retired folks, including some who used to work building coal mining machinery. We'll be accompanied in performance by a small pick-up orchestra.

We'll perform in the town's one theater, a performance space that was purchased and reconditioned by the local community theater group about twenty years ago. If this goes like most years, the concert will be close to selling out.

For most of the people involved, this is a typical use of spare time. Many of the singers also sing in their church choir. For me, this is how I spend much of my off-duty time. I play in a 159-year-old town band-- concerts on the bandstand in the city park and everything-- that is also filled entirely by non-professional amateurs.  And I work with community theater, also loaded with people who have a real job, but who somehow seek out artistic activities in their lives.

Arts and music are under attack in many school systems. This is not new. They have always been under attack. It's just a little worse now that the forces of reformsterism have been busy stripping public schools of resources; when the budget gets tight, the arts always look like an easy target for destruction. 

The arts matter. We spend a lot of time trying to defend how they matter to individual CURMUDGUCATION: Arts and Community:

Feds to Newark: Identify and help children hurt by Christie administration “reforms.” Now. | Bob Braun's Ledger

Feds to Newark: Identify and help children hurt by Christie administration “reforms.” Now. | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Feds to Newark: Identify and help children hurt by Christie administration “reforms.” Now.

PULSE, a grass roots organization, scores a victory for children and parents.

A small but vocal grass roots organization in Newark has won a major, if limited, victory for city school parents and children hurt by the so-called “reforms” imposed by the state under Gov. Chris Christie—including school closings, the “One Newark” enrollment plan, and other practices imposed by the state administration of the city’s schools. The federal government is demanding action to find and help those students.

The state had closed, re-sited, privatized or otherwise changed the operation of 18 public schools in a way that disrupted the schooling of thousands of children in the last three years. The organization, PULSE—for Parents Unified for Local School Education—has persuaded the US Education Department’s civil rights office to force the state-operated school district to 1) identify every student affected by the changes, 2) determine whether child was hurt in any way, and 3) remediate that injury within six months. All of it under federal supervision.

In a prepared statement, Sharon Smith, PULSE’s president and co-founder, called the settlement of her organization’s federal civil rights cases “ an important victory and first step on the road to justice for students and families in Newark Public Schools. It is the clear result of the hard work of parents, students and community members who refused to give up.”

Members and supporters of PULSE announcing the federal civil rights complaint filed against the state administration of Newark schools, May, 2014.

The settlement, technically between Newark’s state-operated school system and the US Department of Education, does have its limits. It does not reverse the school closures or end the so-called “One Newark” enrollment plan. That had been a demand from PULSE and other organizations and political leaders, including Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and the city’s elected school board.

But it does commit the state operated system to determine whether children had been hurt by the plans and to provide what remediation might be necessary—all of its Feds to Newark: Identify and help children hurt by Christie administration “reforms.” Now. | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Education Reform in Louisiana: A PAC of Lies and Liars. | Crazy Crawfish

Education Reform in Louisiana: A PAC of Lies and Liars. | Crazy Crawfish:

Education Reform in Louisiana: A PAC of Lies and Liars.

It’s been a few weeks since the final BESE elections wrapped up in Louisiana.

(BESE is Louisiana’s elected state school board. The board as 8 elected positions and 3 appointed by the Governor and is responsible for setting policy for all public schools, private schools, charter schools and homeschool programs in the state as well as defining the MFP, a funding formula for public schools. A BESE position does not come with a salary but does provide a small stipend and a laptop or iPad to communicate with the state e-mail system using the state assigned e-mail address.

BESE meets every other month for 2 days for regularly scheduled meetings and as needed for emergency agenda items. It’s not a glamorous job, no salary, no staff, a lot of filing/qualifying requirements and red tape, and a lot of public scrutiny – but that hasn’t prevented it from becoming the most contentious and expensive position in the state, second only to the Governor’s position in Louisiana.)

The 2015 elections were something of a watershed moment for Louisiana. It was the first year BESE board candidates opposing destructive Education Reform were able to unify across parties, geography (and any other line you can think of) and work to fight against the lies and money of the Ed Reform machine.  Education Reform is sold on the backs of lies about “success”, lies about goals of opponents, and through the perpetuation of firmly discredited myths.

This year, however, the lies and dishonesty were of absurd, even epic proportions; even for politicians; even for politicians from Louisiana!

The Ed Reform movement didn’t just lie, they built a campaign machine that ran on the exact diametric opposite of reality.

I will show several examples of how this looks and what it means in the next few posts on this subject. Fortunately I was able to document some of these lies to call people out over the years that follow, and for you, the public, to hold them to their pledges (or admit they were lying POS.)

Here is a commercial Lane Grigsby’s Empower PAC ran against one of the FlipBESE candidates I supported in the 2015 elections.  This was run against a veteran of the Ascension Parish school system who works with children with disabilities, and their families, named Kathy Edmonston.

When I talked to Kathy about this commercial she was quite upset. The extras they use in this video make her out to be an idiot as did the hundreds of thousands of dollars in mailers sent out by local education reform mobster, Empower PAC founder and LABI chairman, Lane Grigsby.  This was just one piece of a out of state Education Reform in Louisiana: A PAC of Lies and Liars. | Crazy Crawfish:

Why Every Student Will NOT Succeed With the New Education Law | The Progressive

Why Every Student Will NOT Succeed With the New Education Law | The Progressive:

Why Every Student Will NOT Succeed With the New Education Law

Last week, after a seven-year delay, Congress overwhelmingly voted, and the president signed, to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, dubbed No Child Left Behind in 2002, and now called the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).  This new law fixes some problems but creates others, especially for children who struggle the most.

The new law ends the NCLB requirement that states look almost exclusively at test scores to determine whether and how to reward or sanction schools, and also ends the Race To The Top requirement that states use tests that are linked to the Common Core State Standards in order to evaluate and reward or punish not only students and schools, but also teachers.  This is good news, because the research clearly shows how an obsession with raising test scores leads to “teaching to the test,” narrowing and dumbing-down what we teach, especially for struggling students who are in most need of a richer and more rigorous curriculum.  Assessment experts have long argued that using test scores for such decision making lacks validity and reliability, and we should stop doing so.

But we are not, and the bad news is that this new law still presumes that testing is the magic bullet.  Students will continue to be tested annually in grades 3-8 and at least once in high school, and those test scores must figure prominently in how states evaluate school performance.  Advocates of the new law celebrate the shifting of authority from the feds to the states to determine what the tests will consist of, how those scores will factor into the evaluations, and what rewards or sanctions will follow.  But without a sound framework to guide this work, there is no evidence that the states will come up with strategies better than before.  

We should remember that this law initially passed in 1965, in the height of the Civil Rights Movement, as a way to leverage federal funding in order to push states to better serve those students and communities who were being failed by our schools.  This is one reason why many of the national civil rights groups have expressed deep concerns about ESSA and the weakening of the federal government in its ability to advocate for the students who struggle the most.

There are additional provisions that will shrink the capacity of public schools to educate all children.  

First, vast amounts of funding will divert from neighborhood public schools to private, religious, and charter schools.  States will be required to set aside funding to support students in private and religious schools, while the federal government will spend hundreds of millions annually to support charter school expansion.  Thomas Jefferson put

- See more at: http://www.progressive.org/news/2015/12/188460/why-every-student-will-not-succeed-new-education-law#sthash.SigkdiDI.dpuf

The Danger in Sen. Ted Cruz's "School Choice" Proposal - Girard At Large

The Danger in Sen. Ted Cruz's "School Choice" Proposal - Girard At Large:

The Danger in Sen. Ted Cruz’s “School Choice” Proposal

A few short years ago, New Hampshire paved the way for school choice.  With the passage of legislation allowing education tax credits for businesses, scholarship organizations like Network for Educational Opportunity came into existence.  Since then, many low-income children have had the opportunity to attend the school of their choice.
This is a good thing and something Cornerstone supported from the beginning.  However when we looked at the proposed legislation, there were concerns over the strings that could be harmful to the receiving school.

Those questions were answered in a way that satisfied those of us who were concerned that any state money could come with harmful strings attached.

Vouchers for instance, carry the risk of the state attaching strings to the voucher money that could negatively impact private and parochial schools.  That is the last thing we want to do in the name of “choice.”  If there are strings attached to vouchers, which is what happened in Indiana, we then run the risk of harming private and parochial schools.

Indiana has a school voucher program in place, however all students in private and parochial schools must now succumb to the Common Core tests in order to keep their voucher students.

Indiana parents are angry now because they are seeing their private and parochial schools align their curriculum to the Common Core.  The private and parochial schools that have accepted students with vouchers don’t want to lose them.

Not only are Indiana public school children at a disadvantage because they are subjected to Common Core curriculum, now the children in the private and parochial schools are at the same disadvantage.

Under this scheme, there really is no choice when everything is “Common.”

New Hampshire did things differently and better.  Children who want a scholarship to attend the school of their choice have to apply to a private The Danger in Sen. Ted Cruz's "School Choice" Proposal - Girard At Large:

Denying reality, Malloy blames legislature for cuts to Tourism and Arts in recent “Democratic budget bill” - Wait What?

Denying reality, Malloy blames legislature for cuts to Tourism and Arts in recent “Democratic budget bill” - Wait What?:

Denying reality, Malloy blames legislature for cuts to Tourism and Arts in recent “Democratic budget bill”

In a stunning attempt at revisionist history, Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy took toWNPR radio to blame the Connecticut General Assembly for the recent cuts to the state’s tourism and arts programs when, in fact, it was the legislature that had reduced – by a significant amount – the cuts that Malloy has repeatedly has wanted to those programs.

However, the truth didn’t stop the Democratic Governor from throwing the legislature, and especially his Democratic colleagues, under the bus.

Here are the facts:

At the beginning of this year, Governor Dannel Malloy proposed a state budget that reduced Connecticut’s “Still Revolutionary” Tourism Marketing Program from $12 million to $10 million dollars.

At the same time, Malloy proposed about $5.9 million in cuts to Connecticut’s various museums, cultural and arts programs.

During the budget process, the Connecticut legislature rejected the vast majority of cuts to the cultural and arts programs but did reduce funding for the State Tourism Marketing Program by an additional $500,000, bringing this year’s State Tourism Marketing Program to a total of $9.5 million.

This fall, faced with a growing state budget deficit, despite having claimed he had signed a balanced budget 90 days earlier, Governor Malloy called for bi-partisan budget negotiations Denying reality, Malloy blames legislature for cuts to Tourism and Arts in recent “Democratic budget bill” - Wait What?:

Ghastly Impact of Closing Schools on Students and Communities | Cloaking Inequity

Ghastly Impact of Closing Schools on Students and Communities | Cloaking Inequity:

Ghastly Impact of Closing Schools on Students and Communities

A recent Capitol Hill forum on the impact of school closure held the Rayburn Congressional building demonstrated the ghastly impact of closing schools on students and communities.

The Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, and the Journey for Justice Alliance, sponsored a breakfast forum on the impact of community school closures in low-income neighborhoods.

The purpose of the forum was to engage Congressional staff and key stakeholders in a discussion on the effects of these school closures on students, parents, and the community at-large. The event featured the perspectives of national advocates, community members, and students.

• Jon David Snyder, Executive Director, SCOPE
• Judith Browne-Dianis, Co-Director, Advancement Project
• Jitu Brown (moderator), National Director, Journey for Justice Alliance
• Anna Jones, Parent Leader & #FightForDyett Hunger Striker, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization
• Tanaisa Brown, Newark Student Union
• Julian Vasquez Heilig, Professor, California State University, Sacramento
• Linda Darling-Hammond (moderator), Faculty Director, SCOPE
• Julia Daniel, Doctoral Student Researcher, University of Colorado, Boulder
• Judith Browne-Dianis, Co-Director, Advancement Project
• Keron Blair, Director, The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools

We explored how Congress and federal agencies can promote alternatives to school closings that will improve student learning and support students, educators, and families in communities across the country.

My remarks focused on reviewing school closure evidence. You can watch the presentation on YouTube here:Ghastly Impact of Closing Schools on Students and Communities | Cloaking Inequity:

Marie Corfield: In remembrance of Newtown: Schools are becoming prisons

Marie Corfield: In remembrance of Newtown: Schools are becoming prisons:

In remembrance of Newtown: Schools are becoming prisons

December 14th marks the three year anniversary of the terrorist attack at
Sandy Hook Elementary School, and nothing has been done to prevent it
from happening again.

If you follow me regularly, you know that every week I update (when necessary) and postthis piece as a protest/plea to President Obama and officials anywhere and everywhere to stop gun violence. But as we've seen far too many times—most recently in San Bernadino—this country is run by the NRA, and until that changes, the massacres and bloodshed will only continue.

Next to public education, gun violence is an issue about which I care deeply and passionately. It started with Sandy Hook. I was eating my lunch at my desk and catching up on the news, when I heard about it. I shared my experience in an open letter to America's elected officials: 

I stood in the hallway of my K-4 school and said to a coworker, "Did you hear? There was another shooting—at an elementary school. They shot kindergarteners." I remember looking at the little ones who were passing us on their way to class and thinking, it could have been them; it could have been us.

Nothing has changed since then. The terrorist attacks continue; the empty rhetoric from the NRA and the politicians they've bought continues; and so do the prayer vigils. 

While elected officials everywhere refuse to act, our schools are becoming prisons. They have to, because we never know when and where the next terrorist attack will occur. Instead of spending money on educating our students, school districts are now forced to spend far too much upgrading school entrances, fitting them with more security cameras and equipment, including bullet-proof glass. 

No longer do we only have fire drills, we now have lock down drills, where kids practice hiding from terrorist invasions. A far cry from the 1950's 'duck and cover' drills against nameless, faceless Communists who were thousands of miles away. We now have to hide from people who could be our neighbors: that strange guy, that angry teenager.

Classroom doors in many districts must now remain closed and locked at all times. And Marie Corfield: In remembrance of Newtown: Schools are becoming prisons:

Opt-Out Campaign Must Continue | Alan Singer

Opt-Out Campaign Must Continue | Alan Singer:

Opt-Out Campaign Must Continue

The parent and teacher campaign to have children opt-out of high-stakes Common Core aligned testing is remarkably successful. In New York, 20% of students refused to take the high-stakes tests last April. The campaign is so successful that politicians on national and state levels from both major parties want to diffuse the movement before it can reshape education in the United States, overthrow the testing regime, and break the hold of test companies over school curriculum.

The much-applauded federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) signed by President Obama last week strips away federal authority to impose Common Core or any other curriculum on states or to punish states where students perform poorly on high-stakes testing. However, ESSA does not eliminate federally mandated standardized testing. In fact, ESSA largely keeps the high-stakes testing regime in place requiring that 95% of students in each state take whatever new exams are created or else a state can lose Title 1 funding. Title 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provides federal financial assistance to local education districts and schools with a large number of children from low-income families. The big shift is that states can make their own tests.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, claimed the law, which severed teacher evaluations from student test scores, represents "a new day in public education." But a number of Civil Rights groups fear the new law, by severely limiting the federal role allows low-rent Southern and Southwestern Red Opt-Out Campaign Must Continue | Alan Singer:

John Merrow Is Back (at Least Part-Time) and His Wisdom Is Just as Timely | John Thompson

John Merrow Is Back (at Least Part-Time) and His Wisdom Is Just as Timely | John Thompson:

John Merrow Is Back (at Least Part-Time) and His Wisdom Is Just as Timely

John Merrow retired from PBS after 41 years of stellar reporting. But, he's posted a couple of timely pieces demonstrating that Merrow, even as a part-time blogger, offers a full plate of wisdom. I'll start with his second reality-based piece.

As Merrow notes, Washington D.C. Chancellor Kaya Henderson "has taken pains to separate herself and her approach from her best friend, but they were joined at the hip during Rhee's tenure." Although Henderson claimed to have never read the confidential memo exposing the "Erasergate" cheating scandal, it's inconceivable that Henderson didn't help in the "orchestrated" coverup of the scandal.

Reformers promote Kaya Henderson as a "'kinder, gentler version' of Michelle Rhee, but she's still an acolyte and enthusiast for policies that damage learning opportunities for children." Even the American Institute's Rick Hess, who is usually good at punching holes in the pretentions of his fellow reformers, contributes to the spin in a report to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Hess makes it sound like Henderson's policies have done more good than harm to poor children of color. However, a close reading of his own data provides evidence to the contrary and supports Merrow's analysis.

Hess cites overall gains in NAEP growth under Rhee and Henderson, but those same NAEP studies actually support the common sense conclusion that the numbers reflect gentrification. Hess's charts show that from 2005 to 2013, the percentage of D.C. students who are low-income dropped from 66% to 61.6%. (In my world, a 61.6% low-income urban school seems danged-near rich.) Per student spending increased by 40% during that time. (The new spending, alone, comes close to the total per student spending in my 90% low-income system.)

According to Hess's chart, the percentage of the D.C. students who are black dropped by 1/8th from 2005 to 2013, and the percentage of students with disabilities dropped by 1/7th. And, the 2015 NAEP excluded as many as 44% of D.C.'s English Language John Merrow Is Back (at Least Part-Time) and His Wisdom Is Just as Timely | John Thompson:

Special Issue of “Educational Researcher” (Paper #4 of 9): Make Room VAMs for Observations | VAMboozled!

Special Issue of “Educational Researcher” (Paper #4 of 9): Make Room VAMs for Observations | VAMboozled!:

Special Issue of “Educational Researcher” (Paper #4 of 9): Make Room VAMs for Observations

Recall that the peer-reviewed journal Educational Researcher (ER) – recently published a “Special Issue” including nine articles examining value-added measures (VAMs). I have reviewed the next of nine articles (#4 of 9) here, titled “Make Room Value-Added: Principals’ Human Capital Decisions and the Emergence of Teacher Observation Data.”This one is authored by Ellen Goldring, Jason A. Grissom, Christine Neumerski, Marisa Cannata, Mollie Rubin, Timothy Drake, and Patrick Schuermann, all of whom are associated with Vanderbilt University.

This article is primarily about (1) the extent to which the data generated by “high-quality observation systems” can inform principals’ human capital decisions (e.g., teacher hiring, contract renewal, assignment to classrooms, professional development), and (2) the extent to which principals are relying less on test scores derived via value-added models (VAMs), when making the same decisions, and why. Here are some of their key (and most important, in my opinion) findings:

• Principals across all school systems revealed major hesitations and challenges regarding the use of VAM output for human capital decisions. Barriers preventing VAM use included the timing of data availability (e.g., the fall), which is well after human capital decisions are made (p. 99).
• VAM output are too far removed from the practice of teaching (p. 99), and this lack of instructional sensitivity impedes, if not entirely prevents their actual versus hypothetical use for school/teacher improvement.
• “Principals noted they did not really understand how value-added scores were Special Issue of “Educational Researcher” (Paper #4 of 9): Make Room VAMs for Observations | VAMboozled!:

CURMUDGUCATION: KY: Considering Charters

CURMUDGUCATION: KY: Considering Charters:
KY: Considering Charters

Kentucky has never jumped on the charter bandwagon. Some folks have been trying for years, but the legislature has always had trouble getting a bill passed, and so the charter sector has been dying on the vine. But the new governor would like to change that.

Matt Bevin, the new governor whose previous job was investment management, has repeatedly stated his intention to expand school choice through charter school expansion in Kentucky. Bevin seems to believe in the power of competition. Here he is in an interview laying out his thoughts:

There is a lot of concern about academic competition; competition is good, and for those who are quick to say that this is somehow going to come at the expense of public education – we need strong public education. That is where the vast majority of our students are getting their education and will continue to get their education, and we have to be able to support the teachers and administrators that are a part of it. So we don’t want to turn the whole thing upside down. But we have schools that have been failing for generations now. So let’s start with public charter schools. The students going there are public students, the funding comes in a similar manner, everyone will be better for this.

For Kentuckians who haven't had a lot of exposure to the issues that come with charters, this must CURMUDGUCATION: KY: Considering Charters: