Teachers won't be judged on end-of-year tests under revamp | The Herald

Teachers won't be judged on end-of-year tests under revamp | The Herald:

Teachers won't be judged on end-of-year tests under revamp

COLUMBIA, S.C. 

Teachers won't be judged by their students' scores on end-of-year tests under a proposed revamp of South Carolina's educator evaluation system.

State Superintendent Molly Spearman announced her proposal this week following Congress' overhaul of the No Child Left Behind education law, signed last week. The new federal approach to accountability no longer ties teacher evaluations to results on statewide testing, allowing South Carolina to change course.

Spearman wants to work with educators to develop a new evaluation system that instead incorporates tests taken throughout the school year. Districts would have leeway in which tests they use.

The idea is to design an evaluation process that's helpful to teachers instead of one written to meet federal requirements, said Kris Joannes, director of the agency's office of educator effectiveness.

"The intent is to give ongoing feedback to teachers instead of a system that invokes fear in high-stakes tests," she said Tuesday. "Looking at student growth is right, but we're going to do it thoughtfully" and develop useful training.

Teacher advocates said the proposal provides relief after years of angst over evaluations that over-emphasize results on end-of-year standardized tests.

"Evaluations should not be based on how a child does on one test on a particular day," said Kathy Maness, director of the Palmetto State Teachers Association. She said the proposal benefits students too by easing pressure on them "to do well on one particular test. It's better to look at the whole student than a snapshot."

The evaluation system's statewide implementation this school year coincides with new education standards as well as new statewide tests, adding to anxiety over the evaluations'Teachers won't be judged on end-of-year tests under revamp | The Herald:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Even under new law, Common Core still impacts curriculum

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Even under new law, Common Core still impacts curriculum:

Even under new law, Common Core still impacts curriculum

Abandon the notion of subject-matter as something fixed and ready-made in itself, outside the child's experience. -- John Dewey

Remember back a couple of years ago when Common Core critics were being raked over the coals by Arne Duncan, Peter Cunningham and others for calling CCSS a curriculum?

Here's Duncan in 2013:

The Common Core has become a rallying cry for fringe groups that claim it is a scheme for the federal government to usurp state and local control of what students learn. An op-ed in the New York Times called the Common Core “a radical curriculum.” It is neither radical nor a curriculum. … When the critics can’t persuade you that the Common Core is a curriculum, they make even more outlandish claims.

"It's not a curriculum," they scolded. "It's merely standards." Such a dichotomy! Supposedly, Common Core wouldn't tell schools what, when, or how to teach. Rather, it would only create performance goals and, of course, the battery of tests to go with them.

Well, Duncan was right about Common Core not being "radical." But Common Core sure as hell is curricular. If not, why, for example is there something called Common Core algebra as opposed to just algebra? Or Common Core U.S. History?

A year later, it was Duncan's former deputy, Peter Cunningham, now writing forMike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Even under new law, Common Core still impacts curriculum:

Education Department Asks 12 States to Address Low Test-Participation Rates - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Education Department Asks 12 States to Address Low Test-Participation Rates - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

Education Department Asks 12 States to Address Low Test-Participation Rates

If you've been wondering how many states had significant issues with test participation last spring, there's an answer from the U.S. Department of Education.

Twelve states have received letters from the Education Department in recent months asking them to address lower-than-required participation rates on state exams for groups of students or districts, or statewide.

The states to receive these letters are: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin. (Click the individual link to see each state's letter from the department.) Some of the copies of the letters are undated, but several were sent in either early November or early December.

The Education Deparment's letters ask states to specify how they will address their local or state participation rates for the 2015-16 school year. The department includes possible examples of how states could act, such as lowering a school or district's rating on state accountability systems, and counting non-participating students as not proficient for accountability purposes. 

On Tuesday, the department also released guidance for states in which it said that under the Every Student Succeeds Act, states need plans to address situations in which participation rates that dip below the required 95 percent. 

The testing opt-out movement became a prominent story in education this year, particularly in some of the states listed above, like New York. Reasons for skepticism and opposition to the test included backlash to the Common Core State Standards, concerns about the amount of testing, and teacher evaluations that factored in test scores.

So what were some of the various statewide and other test-participation issues encountered by each state?

• California reported that it did not assess at least 95 percent of its students, or individual student subgroups, on both the English/language arts and math exams.Education Department Asks 12 States to Address Low Test-Participation Rates - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

Random thoughts. Averages. | Fred Klonsky

Random thoughts. Averages. | Fred Klonsky:
Random thoughts. Averages.

This clip of Hillary is making the social media rounds this morning.

I will tell you whose Facebook news feed it’s on.

Every teacher I know.

They are NEA and AFT members who may well be wondering why our leadership rushed their endorsement of her.

They are math teachers who wonder what Hillary was doing when she attended math class at nearby Maine South High School in suburban Park Ridge.

They are shaking their heads by her misuse of averages.

On the one hand, this is just a case of Trump Mouth.

“Closing schools that aren’t performing better than average,” is a practical impossibility since as soon as you close the ones below the average  you have created a new group that are below the average.

On the other hand, it is red meat to the corporate reform crowd in the Democratic Party.

The truth of the matter is that labeling public schools, teachers and students Random thoughts. Averages. | Fred Klonsky:

Merry Christmas, Ramone. You Represent Hope in a Seriously Messed-Up Education Nation

Merry Christmas, Ramone. You Represent Hope in a Seriously Messed-Up Education Nation. - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

Merry Christmas, Ramone. You Represent Hope in a Seriously Messed-Up Education Nation

It's a touching and gut-wrenching story, well-told. Ramone Williams, 26, of Flint, Michigan (yes--that Flint, Michigan) is living out of his aging mini-van, because he can't afford both tuition and a place to live. He sleeps in Eastern Michigan University's computer lab, when it's cold. He agonizes over whether to spend $4.00 on a Wendy's lunch. And he's carrying a solid GPA, on track to graduate, after years of community college, Pell grants, and dropping out to care for the grandmother who raised him.

In fact, it's the kind of story that causes people to open their hearts and wallets to a deserving stranger. A GoFundMe account for Ramone Williams has overshot its $10,000 goal (enough to find him a home and meals for his final semesters, and give him a head start on repaying the $10K he owes in student loans). More than $25,000 dollars has been donated. Merry Christmas, Ramone. Go see your grandma, tell her the good news. Virtue is--sometimes, anyway--its own reward.

The most heart-cracking passage in this tale:

Williams is far from alone. With colleges not required to identify and track homeless students on their campuses, the federal financial aid form (FAFSA) provides the only indication of the scope of the problem. About 56,000 students nationally checked a box on the FAFSA indicating they are homeless.

"We think there are a lot more," said Barbara Duffield, director of policy and programs for the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, a national advocacy organization for homeless students. "Many are embarrassed to admit it or don't think they're homeless because they haven't stayed in a homeless shelter. A lot are staying in cars or sleeping in libraries." They're the most invisible of vulnerable groups on campus, said Cyekeia Lee, director of higher education initiatives for the same organization.

Williams tries to keep it that way, avoiding drawing attention to what he calls "my situation." He thinks fewer than 10 people at the university, staff and students combined, know he is homeless.

"I don't want to be a distraction," Williams said. "I feel like if I were to tell someone higher up, it might be detrimental to the school, for them to have knowledge that someone is homeless going to their school. Maybe it's against the rules or something. Maybe I'd get in trouble."

How can we live in a nation where someone like Ramone Williams doesn't want to be a "distraction" to his fellow scholars? Where Michigan is hailed as a leader in providing services for homeless students, and those who are pursuing a college education after being raised in foster care? Where campuses find it necessary to provide guidance in filling out the required FAFSA form to students who have no address, let alone accurate tax records?

It's gratifying to read about all the families who offered Ramone a safe, warm place to stay over the holidays--and to think that, temporarily, he has enough money to finish a college degree and launch his adult life. But what about the other 56,000 students patching together their holiday "vacation" around donated food and temporary shelters--are they also trying to avoid being a distraction to the American academic conscience? Aren't we supposed to be Education Nation?

Ramone's narrative is layered with ironies and deep questions about what it means to be well-educated, about the value of a university degree. His university, EMU, recently voted to continue, at least for a time, supporting Michigan's utterly failed Education Achievement Authority (EAA) school "district"-- the government initiative that, rhetorically only, offers "opportunity" to students whose neighborhood public schools reflect the kids in poverty who attend them.  And his home city, under the "leadership" of an emergency manager send by his governor, knowingly poisoned its citizens.

Ramone Williams' college degree will be no guarantee of a good job, as it might have been two generations ago. And institutions like his--a regional public university, once the mainstay for educating a growing middle class--were recently belittled as the perfect fit for minorities and other academic lesser lights by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

And yet--here he is, doggedly determined to do his grandmother proud, to take his place as productive, educated citizen. The light glowing at the center of this story is not charity, "grit" or "achievement"--it is love, persistence and faith. You go, Ramone.

Wishing all readers of Teacher in a Strange Land a peaceful, meaningful holiday.Merry Christmas, Ramone. You Represent Hope in a Seriously Messed-Up Education Nation. - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

An Early Christmas Gift for the Common Core Naysayers » Missouri Education Watchdog

An Early Christmas Gift for the Common Core Naysayers » Missouri Education Watchdog:

An Early Christmas Gift for the Common Core Naysayers 

The Jacksonville Florida Superintendent says otherwise.

Parents who have been concerned about Common Core standards dictating curriculum, take heart.  You’ve been called delusional by those teachers, administrators, legislators, and choice architects who need Common Core because they have to compare states to each other and the only way to accomplish such a task is to use common standards and assessments.  Parents have been assured and scolded that the standards are just that: standards.  Leave the educational decisions to the professionals and if you are so cheeky as to be concerned that the standards do/will drive curriculum and assessments, you run the risk of being publicly shamed and ridiculed.

Or apparently, outright lied to by private NGO talking points:   http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/myths-vs-facts/

The cat’s out of the bag.  The parents were correct in their concern about the standards dictating curriculum.  The Jacksonville, Florida superintendent, Nikolai Vitti, confirmed that worry in a recent article from the Jacksonville Times Union.  http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-12-21/story/parents-question-age-appropriateness-world-religions-lessons?page=3

He was defending why 1st graders were learning about comparative religion and the need for them to ‘understand the world’.  Learning to read has moved from primers and ‘Dick and Jane’ to learning how religions have shaped the world. First graders must now understand these concepts at age 6 to be successful in vocabulary development and reading comprehension.  Phonics, fables and fiction have been replaced by learning world history through religious/cultural references:

Superintendent Vitti confirms the standards are driving the curriculum and *shocker alert* they are heavily scripted.  Of course they are, An Early Christmas Gift for the Common Core Naysayers » Missouri Education Watchdog:

Malloy gives Charter School Industry another seat on the CT State Board of Education - Wait What?

Malloy gives Charter School Industry another seat on the CT State Board of Education - Wait What?:

Malloy gives Charter School Industry another seat on the CT State Board of Education

A News Update from Jonathan Pelto and Wendy Lecker

While Connecticut’s public schools continue to suffer from inadequate state funding and Governor Dannel Malloy and his administration strive to undermine, dismiss and destroy the CCJEF school funding lawsuit that would finally ensure that Connecticut meets its State Constitutional obligation to provide all students with a quality education, Malloy’s corporate education reform initiative has fueled an unprecedented growth of charter schools in Connecticut.  The Charter School Industry now collects in excess of $100 million a year from Connecticut taxpayer.

Privately owned and operated, but funded with taxpayer dollars, Connecticut’s Charter Schools have consistently failed to educate their fair share of students that require special education services and English Language Learners who aren’t fluent in the English Language.

Achievement First, Inc., the large charter school chain with schools in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island, earned national notoriety when news broke about theshocking number of kindergarten and first graders suspended at their schools.  The charter school company’s failure to provide special education students with appropriate services has generated investigations in both Connecticut and New York.

The truth is that while the Connecticut State Board of Education is legally obligated to regulate charter schools but have had a very shoddy track record when it comes to fulfilling those duties.

After taking office, Malloy’s Commissioner of Education (a co-founder of Achievement First, Inc.) and the Governor’s political appointees to the State Board handed Malloy gives Charter School Industry another seat on the CT State Board of Education - Wait What?:

With A Brooklyn Accent: Will Hillary Clinton Throw Teachers in High Poverty Schools Under the Bus?

With A Brooklyn Accent: Will Hillary Clinton Throw Teachers in High Poverty Schools Under the Bus?:

Will Hillary Clinton Throw Teachers in High Poverty Schools Under the Bus?

When I was doing community history projects in Bronx schools -they were all pushed out when the testing mania struck and the Bloomberg Administration started assigning schools letter grades - I met some incredible teachers in schools whose test scores marked them as troubled or "failing." Most of them were women; many of them Black and Latino; quite a few were products of neighborhoods similar to theones they were teaching in. When presented with an opportunity to add excitement and energy to their classes with innovative history research; they took what I put before them and reinvented it in creative projects that reached students and their families in ways I could never have imagined. 

So, when I hear that Hilary Clinton plans to close public schools throughout the nation whose performance is "below average," I think of those Bronx teachers. Basically, she is willing to throw them, and teachers like them under the bus because they chose to teach in high poverty schools. Nothing could be more unfair or more counterproductive. Some of the best teachers in the country work in schools where students don't test well. They nurture; they inspire; they protect and guide students whose lives are filled with hardship. Punishing them for their choice is the height of cynicism.With A Brooklyn Accent: Will Hillary Clinton Throw Teachers in High Poverty Schools Under the Bus?:

A free speech and student rap case is at the Supreme Court - Yahoo News

A free speech and student rap case is at the Supreme Court - Yahoo News:

A free speech and student rap case is at the Supreme Court

Can a public school high school student be suspended for critically rapping about teachers outside of school? A case heading toward a Supreme Court private conference early nextyear could draw a new First Amendment boundary

The case of Bell v. Itawamba County School Board has been in the court system since 2011, when aspiring student rapper Taylor Bell appealed his punishment for rap lyrics that school officials believed were threatening to the teachers.

Several high-profile rappers have jumped into the case involving the former Mississippi high school student. On Sunday, the New York Times’ Supreme Court correspondent Adam Liptak profiled the case and gave readers an advance look at a brief filed by rappers such as Killer Mike and T.I. with the Supreme Court.

Killer Mike, said Liptak, argues the First Amendment permits expression, no matter how uncomfortable some people are with language used in rap music. “I see a kid who saw wrong happening and was outraged about it,” the rapper said. “He wrote a poem about it over a beat.”

But in a broader legal sense, observers have been watching the case and its appeals process for some time, because a core issue is about where is boundary the limits student free speech – inside the school or outside of school in the world of Facebook and YouTube.

In his brief to the Supreme Court, Bell and his attorneys outline how Bell, then a high school senior in 2011 at Itawamba Agricultural High School, received a suspension and was sent to another school. Bell claimed he was told by several female students that they were being sexually harassed by two male teachers who were also sports coaches. The aspiring rapper composed and performed two songs confronting the teachers about the accusations, using rap language that was perceived as vulgar, profane and rhetorically threatening. The songs were posted on Facebook and YouTube, and composed and performed outside of school.

School officials were alerted to Bell’s activities, and they determined there were four instances of “threatening, harassing, and intimidating language against the two coaches” in his performances. The school board upheld the punishment and the legal appeals process started.

The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, with three judges hearing arguments, ruled 2-1 against the school district and for Bell in December 2014 on his First Amendment claim, citing the famous 1969 Tinker v. Des Moines decision.

“Contrary to the district court’s conclusion, the Supreme Court in Tinker did not hold that theA free speech and student rap case is at the Supreme Court - Yahoo News: 

These Presidential Candidates Flip-flopped in the War Over Common Core - Fortune

These Presidential Candidates Flip-flopped in the War Over Common Core - Fortune:

These Three Presidential Candidates Flip-flopped in the War Over Common Core

Republican candidates have shifted positions—or waffled—on this key educational issue.

Illustration by Arian Behzadi; Original Photos, Christie: Nicholas Kamm—AFP/Getty Images; Cruz: Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images; Bush: Charles Ommanney—The Washington Post/Getty Images; Trump: Scott Olson—Getty Images; Fiorina: Daniel Acker—Bloomberg via Getty Images; Huckabee: Joe Raedle—Getty Images; Carson: Mark Wilson—Getty Images

Numerous politicians—particularly Republicans—have executed breathtaking reversals in their positions on Common Core as the political head over the education standards intensified. To see how the conflict has played out, read Business Gets Schooled.

---

Chris Christie

Yes! “We’re doing Common Core in New Jersey, and we’re going to continue … I think that part of the Republican opposition … is a knee-jerk reaction … that if the President likes something, then the Republicans in Congress don’t.” —August 2013, at an education conference, Las Vegas

No! “We must reject federal control of our education and return it to parents and teachers. We need to take it out of the cubicles of Washington, D.C., where it was placed by the Obama administration, and return it to the neighborhoods of New Jersey.” —May 28, 2015, speech at Burlington County College, N.J.

---

Jeb Bush

Yes! “Because people have a different view of what Common Core is, am I supposed to back away from something that I know works?” —May 2015, Nashville

Er, I think so: “The term ‘Common Core’ is so darn poisonous, I don’t even know what it means. I’m for higher standards—state created, locally implemented—where the federal government has no role in the … content or curriculum.” —Aug. 14, 2015, Iowa

---

Carly Fiorina

Yes! “Internationally benchmarked standards and assessments help ensure our students graduate high school prepared with the skills necessary to succeed in the our 21st-century economy.” —November 2009, “Carly on Education,” position statement for senatorial campaign

No! “I think Common Core is a really bad idea. It is a giant bureaucratic program, and we have demonstrated over 40 years that the Department of Education can get bigger and bigger and bigger, and the quality of education continues to deteriorate.” —May 6, 2015, CNBC interview

---

Mike Huckabee

Yes! “Rebrand it, refocus it, but don’t retreat.” —November These Presidential Candidates Flip-flopped in the War Over Common Core - Fortune:

Best and worst education news of 2015 — a teacher’s list - The Washington Post

Best and worst education news of 2015 — a teacher’s list - The Washington Post:

Best and worst education news of 2015 — a teacher’s list

Larry Ferlazzo is a veteran teacher of English and social studies at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California.  Every year he writes a list of the best/worst education news of the year — and here’s what he has come up with for 2015. Ferlazzo has written eight books on education, writes a teacher advice blog for Education Week Teacher and has his own popular resource-sharing blog. See if his list resembles your own. What did he miss?

By Larry Ferlazzo

It’s time again for an annual recap of education news. As usual, I don’t presume to say it’s all-encompassing, so I hope you’ll take time to share your own choices. I’ll list the ones I think are the best first, followed by the worst. It’s too hard to rank them within those categories, so I’m not listing them in any order.

The Best Education News Of 2015

* Seattle teachers went out on strike and won an exceptional list of changes, including guaranteed recess for elementary school students and an in-depth examination of equity issues such as the disproportionate number of suspensions handed out to students of color.

* Momentum continues to build for increasing use of restorative practices in school over punish-and-suspend. Similar momentum continued for increasing the use of Social-Emotional Learning  (two new excellent reports on SEL were issued over the past year), but there’s a negative to that found in the “bad” section of this post, too.

* The Washington State Supreme Court decided that taxpayer-funded charter schools are unconstitutional. The case might provide a blueprint to opponentsin other areas. I, and many others, are supportive of charters the way they were originally intended to operate — as laboratories for, and not “creamers” from, public schools. Perhaps this case and others might force charter advocates to reflect on that original purpose.

* States have begun concluding that high school exit exams are destructive to the education and to the lives of students, and have eliminated them. In my own state of California, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill into law that could allow 40,000 students who had denied diplomas to receive them retroactively.

* U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the architect of many policies thatnegatively impacted students, families and teachers, resigned. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, though everybody should be given a chance to Best and worst education news of 2015 — a teacher’s list - The Washington Post:

Closing the achievement gaps: Will California’s reforms make a difference? | EdSource

Closing the achievement gaps: Will California’s reforms make a difference? | EdSource:

Closing the achievement gaps: Will California’s reforms make a difference?

Student scores on the Smarter Balanced assessments, the centerpiece of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, or CAASPP, were released in September 2015. They underscored the continuing achievement gaps that decades of education reforms have failed to close. EdSource conducted a series of interviews with leading educators and scholars about the persistence of these achievement gaps and the prospects for the current set of reforms in California to help close them.

Just click on each of the boxes below to read the Q&A – and let us know your reactions as well.

We have also collected the Q&As in one place in this easily downloadable – and printable – document.   Closing the achievement gaps: Will California’s reforms make a difference? | EdSource:

Louis Freedberg

Executive Director, EdSource

Christopher Edley, Jr.

Professor and Former Dean, UC Berkeley School of Law

Sean Reardon

Professor of Poverty and Inequality, Stanford Graduate School of Education

Michael Fullan

Professor Emeritus, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto

Linda Darling-Hammond

Professor, Stanford University and President and CEO, Learning Policy Institute

Marshall 'Mike' Smith

Former Undersecretary of Education, Clinton administration

Closing the achievement gaps: Will California’s reforms make a difference? | EdSource:

Hillary Clinton: Vowing to Close Schools Not “Above Average” | deutsch29

Hillary Clinton: Vowing to Close Schools Not “Above Average” | deutsch29:

Hillary Clinton: Vowing to Close Schools Not “Above Average” 

A numeric average is a relative statistic. If I have a set of numeric values and I calculate an average using the set, by definition, some individual values will fall below average, and likely, some will be right on the average. If I remove these below-average and average values, the original average does not remain fixed– and if I average the remaining originally-above-average values, some will newly be below average, and likely, some exactly average.

The truth about the relative nature of averages is apparently lost on Democratic presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton. On December 22, 2015, Clinton spoke at a high school in Keota, Iowa, where she said, “I wouldn’t keep any school open that wasn’t Hillary Clinton: Vowing to Close Schools Not “Above Average” | deutsch29:

New Fafsa Rules to Eliminate Frustrating Financial Aid Problem - The New York Times

New Fafsa Rules to Eliminate Frustrating Financial Aid Problem - The New York Times:

New Fafsa Rules to Eliminate Frustrating Financial Aid Problem

After holiday celebrations are over, students who plan on attending college next fall should begin preparing for a looming financial chore: completing the document that is crucial for financial aid.

Known as Fafsa, which is short for Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the form is used to calculate how much students and their families are expected to contribute to the cost of attending college, and what sort of financial aid they will receive. “The Fafsa,” said Lauren Asher, president of The Institute for College Access & Success, “is the gateway to government aid and federal loans.”

The form for the 2016-17 school year becomes available online on Jan. 1, and filling it out as soon as possible helps families maximize the odds of qualifying for grants, scholarships and federal loans. Students seeking financial aid must file the form each year.

Applying early is important because some states have early grant deadlines, and some distribute aid on a first-come, first-served basis, Ms. Asher said. So waiting may mean students will miss out.

Although filing the form in early January is ideal, not all families are ready to do so. The form requires filers to use information from their federal income tax return from the calendar year that just ended — so, January filers would use information from 2015. But most people will not receive their W-2 forms and other information necessary to file a 2015 tax return until later in January, at the earliest.

This is the last year filers will face this situation. Starting in 2016, changesNew Fafsa Rules to Eliminate Frustrating Financial Aid Problem - The New York Times: 

CURMUDGUCATION: Clinton's Math Problem

CURMUDGUCATION: Clinton's Math Problem:
Clinton's Math Problem

In Iowa, Clinton displayed a lack of-- well, something. Math comprehension? Education reform understanding? Thinking things through? 

She wouldn't keep any school open that wasn't doing above average. So... close half the schools? Of course, once you close half the schools, then the average will have to be recalculated, and then you'll have to close half of those schools. And so on until there is only one school left. Or maybe we close parts of that school. I am suddenly remembering the many hats of Bartholomew Cubbins and imagining a Seussian school at which a sky-reaching stack of students are seated at a single desk.

But maybe what she means is closer half the schools and replace them with charters, which means we'll close a new half of the schools every year. Will we allow students to move around? Will low-scoring students become educational hot potatoes, thrown off by schools who don't want to fall in the bottom half.

It will be frustrating of course-- half of the schools (a few more, actually) will always be average or lower, so every year we will close half the schools and every year we will have to farm out the students and putCURMUDGUCATION: Clinton's Math Problem:

Jersey Jazzman: Democracy, Markets, & Charter Schools: Part I

Jersey Jazzman: Democracy, Markets, & Charter Schools: Part I:

Democracy, Markets, & Charter Schools: Part I

I promise I'll get back to Teachers Village in a bit and wrap up that series. But recent events have got me thinking more about the intersection of democratically elected school boards, local control, race, class, and charter schools.

Because the argument I often hear from the "reform" industry is that people like me have no business expressing our skepticism about charter schools (nor should we ever dare to call out the incoherence of those who make poor cases for chartering) because charters represent a "choice" that urban families of color -- who are often at economic disadvantage -- make, and no one has the right to take away that "choice" if the only alternative is a "failing" school.

As I've said many times: I'll never blame a parent for enrolling their child in a school that they believe best meets their child's needs. But the idea that the "choice" an urban parent makes when enrolling their child in an urban charter is somehow equivalent to the "choice" a suburban parent makes for their child's schooling is just wrong:

Charter "choice" is not suburban "choice." Shuffling children around within the borders of their district into schools that have unequal access to resources and unequal commitments to educating all students is not the "choice" offered in the suburbs. Offering families either underfunded, crumbling, filthy public schools or charters that are not state actors and do not afford students and

- See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2015/12/democracy-markets-charter-schools-part-i.html#sthash.lBdZKqP1.dpuf

Clinton: 'I Will Close All Schools that Fail to Meet The Lake Wobegon Standard

Clinton: 'I Wouldn't Keep Any School Open That Wasn't Doing A Better Than Average Job' | The Weekly Standard:

Clinton: 'I Wouldn't Keep Any School Open That Wasn't Doing A Better Than Average Job'

Hillary Clinton may be planning to close a lot of schools. At a town hall event today in Keota, Iowa, Clinton said she would keep open "better than average" schools:

"This school district and these schools throughout Iowa are doing a better than average job," Clinton told the crowd. "Now, I wouldn't keep any school open that wasn't doing a better than average job. If a school's not doing a good job, then you know it may not be good for the kids.

"But when you have a district that's doing a good job it seems kind of counterproductive to impose financial burdens on it."
Clinton: 'I Wouldn't Keep Any School Open That Wasn't Doing A Better Than Average Job' | The Weekly Standard: