Illinois state board votes to move special ed funding to charter schools | Fred Klonsky

Illinois state board votes to move special ed funding to charter schools. | Fred Klonsky:

Illinois state board votes to move special ed funding to charter schools.

Rev. James Meeks. Governor Rauner’s pick as ISBE Chairman and charter school advocate.



-Bev Johns



The Illinois State Board of Education Wednesday unanimously moved to change the way the state sends special education money to school districts, aiming to increase base funding to poor districts with the resources that are currently available.

ISBE is proposing to take an entire $300 million special education line item, Funding for Children Requiring Special Education Services, and distribute it thru the General State Aid formulas.

This means all schools will lose special ed funding while some schools gain significant General State Aid funding.

According to the AP, this would increase the amount of general state aid per student, with districts left on their own to determine how much should be apportioned to each student for special education services.

Remember under General State Aid, some schools receive flat grants of less than $300 per student, while others receive over $4,000 per student.

But ISBE also proposes to provide Charters Schools with $300,000 for a NEW line item: State Charter School Funding for Children with Disabilities.

The proposed ISBE budget gives this justification:

Of course this new funding is only for the lost funding for charter schools, and NO provision is made for any regular public school that loses money.

Also  ISBE is recommending less than full funding for Special Education Private Tuition, that any increase be limited to the minimum amount needed to meet the Federal Maintenance of Effort (MOE) requirements of the Federal Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA).

ISBE also wants general statutory language to direct ISBE to calculate each district’s prorate share of the amount needed from the total net General state Illinois state board votes to move special ed funding to charter schools. | Fred Klonsky:

Illinois state board votes to move special ed funding to charter schools.

Rev. James Meeks. Governor Rauner’s pick as ISBE Chairman and charter school advocate. -Bev Johns The Illinois State Board of Education Wednesday unanimously moved to change the way the state sends special education money to school districts, aiming to increase base funding to poor districts with the resources that are currently available. ISBE is proposing to take an entire $300 million special

28 by Fred Klonsky / 3h 

Dick Durbin throws his arms around Rahm.

I suggested yesterday that Mayor Rahm was so toxic that he threatened the national Democrats. I asked what would Hillary do if and when the Democratic primary was still an open race when it got to Illinois? Would she avoid any photo-ops with the toxic Mayor? Senator Dick Durbin seems to think standing with the Mayor is no problem. “The people protesting in his front yard are the same people that

34 by Fred Klonsky / 3h 

YESTERDAY

The perfection caucus.

Back in the last Illinois election I caught hell from leaders and former leaders of the Illinois Education Association for refusing to vote for any politician who had voted for the unconstitutional theft of my pension. I refused to give them a dime. I voted in the IEA endorsement hearings against our PAC money going to their campaigns. I included then-governor Pat Quinn, who claimed he was put on

8 by Fred Klonsky / 1d 

Welcome to Chicago, Hillary.

Maybe Hillary Clinton and the corporate Democrats can survive Bernie Sanders until mid March and the Illinois primary. When she gets to Illinois she will have to make a decision. She will have to ask herself, “Do I want to have a photo-op with the most hated mayor in America?” Will she even come to Chicago? It was only a couple of years ago that the Mayor was floating his name as a possible presi

17 by Fred Klonsky / 1d 

Oakland's 'common enrollment' proposal fans the flames of great charter school debate - ContraCostaTimes.com

Oakland's 'common enrollment' proposal fans the flames of great charter school debate - ContraCostaTimes.com:
Oakland's 'common enrollment' proposal fans the flames of great charter school debate

OAKLAND -- To some, it's a streamlined system that allows families to more easily navigate a daunting array of school applications to find the best fit for their child. To others, it's another Silicon Valley-backed reform tool that would undermine a struggling public school system by promoting charter schools.

A novel proposal by school district leaders to overhaul the school enrollment process would make Oakland the testing ground in the state for a universal enrollment system that allows parents to fill out a single application for their top choices for schools, both district-run and charter.

Charter schools have been school options for Oakland families for decades, despite the fact that some residents in the city's highly segregated neighborhoods with high poverty levels may not realize it, said Superintendent Antwan Wilson. And it's been difficult for the city's most disadvantaged families to learn what all their options are, he said.

"Having a system that is as easy as possible and that doesn't require them to go through multiple steps to enroll is important," he said. "And that's not a pro-charter strategy; that is a pro-child strategy."

The system has already been adopted, some say with mixed results, in Denver, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., and Newark, New Jersey.

But like in Oakland, proposals for Boston and Philadelphia are meeting resistance because charters compete with public school districts for the same limited education dollars. Opponents fear that an exodus of students to charter schools would decimate the public schools. They say that charter enrollment policies allow them to "cherry pick" students and deny entry to those who will not further their academic goals.

That could be a concern. Some districts that have adopted common enrollment did not require charter schools to align their recruitment and retention policies with their respective public schools, and others allowed charters to opt out of the new program.

In response to critics, Wilson is pushing for the signing of a district-charter school compact, called an "Oakland Public Schools Equity Pledge," which would help ensure an equitable playing field for all Oakland public schools.

"It's all grounded in the principles of equity and ensuring that our students get what they need to be successful," said Wilson, who came from the Denver school district but did not spearhead the switch to common enrollment there.

Oakland's current enrollment system, which district officials say is inefficient and outdated, allows families to fill out a common application to enroll at any of its public schools, ranking their top choices. But the charter schools have separate applications.

The district spends about $1.8 million annually on its enrollment system, and the new common enrollment system would cost an additional $1.4 million to start up. Philanthropic organizations would likely foot that startup bill, but only if charter schools were included, because that's the best way to ensure an equitable system for students, said Gloria Lee, executive director of Educate 78, a pro-charter school group that is linked with Silicon Valley-backed NewSchools Venture Fund and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Walton Family Foundation.

The group made a $300,000 investment to fund the initial outreach and development of the Oakland's 'common enrollment' proposal fans the flames of great charter school debate - ContraCostaTimes.com:

What Does it Take to Create a Successful Community School? | Schott Foundation for Public Education

What Does it Take to Create a Successful Community School? | Schott Foundation for Public Education:

What Does it Take to Create a Successful Community School?

Community Schools have been getting a lot of attention as more and more districts try and implement them in an effort to mitigate affects of poverty on students' opportunities to learn. In Philadelphia, the Mayor-elect Jim Kenney has called for an increase of 25 community schools. A new brief by Research for Action takes an in-depth look at how these types of schools really work in practice, and what methods of implementation have been most effective so far. This research helps to combat some skeptics, who argue that these types of full-service schools are expensive and difficult to implement, in part because they must be so individualized to each community. By pointing out exactly what has been working in community schools, the research brief provides districts and schools with specific ways community schools can work to help improve student success.

Community schools provide various supports for their students beyond simple educational requirements. They respond to the needs of the community to create a full-service environment that offers supports like health care, literacy services, employment services for adults, child care, counseling, and food assistance programs. These services connect the school to the community and ensure that students have all the support they need to succeed academically. Another crucial part of community schools is that they rely on community input, not merely the input of legislators or school reformers.

The report discusses multiple case studies, each which implement and fund community schools in slightly different ways. For instance, in some Pennsylvania schools, corporate partners are used to help provide funding, but in other schools, foundations provide the necessary support. Throughout the report they also include "lessons learned" sections, which summarize the most important take-aways from the case studies and advocate for specific effective implementation strategies. Although these sections are geared specifically towards Pennsylvania, they would probably be helpful in implementing community schools in any state or district.

Some of these take-aways are:

• Consult community stakeholders early
• Integrate school staff into a building-level team
• Set expectations that change will take time
• Establish a process for the district and their partners to agree on a vision
• Define and support the strategy through policies, laws, and regulations
• Develop diverse funding streams

This report would be helpful for any districts or advocates looking to implement community schools. You can read the entirety of it here.

Interested in learning more? Schott last year released an infographic detailing some of the ways community schools work as an alternative to school closures. Check it out here:

Public schools are the heart of every community, a place where the next generation of doctors, engineers, writers and artists learn and grow. They are where parents, teachers and community members come together to support their children and invest in their futures.

When schools struggle, it is often because they lack the resources to meet the needs of their students. Yet rather than invest in these schools, policymakers have increasingly turned to mass closures as a solution, leaving primarily students of color and students from low-income families without the educational opportunities they deserve. There are better ways to support our schools and our children.

Want to take action? Here's what to do:

• Read up on the alternatives. Check out the Coalition for Community Schools.
• Find out if there's a local organizing group in your community fighting school closures. Contact the Journey for Justicecoalition and Alliance for Educational Justice.

 Download here (637.54 KB)

What Does it Take to Create a Successful Community School? | Schott Foundation for Public Education:

4LAKids - CALIFORNIA STATE PTA REPONDS TO THE GOVERNOR'S 2016-2017 BUDGET PROPOSAL

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: CALIFORNIA STATE PTA REPONDS TO THE GOVERNOR'S 2016-2017 BUDGET PROPOSAL: Insights on Behalf of the State’s Largest Child-Advocacy Association:

CALIFORNIA STATE PTA REPONDS TO THE GOVERNOR'S 2016-2017 BUDGET PROPOSAL: Insights on Behalf of the State’s Largest Child-Advocacy Association

 Yesterday, Gov. Jerry Brown released his 2016 – 2017 budget proposal that includes increases for per-pupil funding and corrects many historical fiscal inequities that hurt public education during years of deficit spending.  


"Increasing funding by $368 per pupil and meeting 95 percent of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) commitment demonstrates a sound investment in the children of our state," said California State PTA President Justine Fischer. "The governor’s proposal is an excellent start for discussions with the Legislature, particularly regarding early childhood learning, school facilities and a long-term vision for state and local accountability."
Included in the governor’s proposal is $1.25 billion in one-time funds. California State PTA believes these funds can be effectively used to ensure that LCFF and the tenet of "subsidiarity" will be successful by investing in family, parent and student engagement.

California State PTA has been speaking with the Governor’s Office during the past months about the importance of specific one-time funding for family engagement – the number-one predictor of student success. The governor’s proposed budget does not currently include dedicated funding to support meaningful parent and family engagement in schools.

California State PTA looks forward to continuing our conversation with the governor, the Legislature and other stakeholders on the importance of parent and family engagement in the months ahead.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 

• Governor's 2016-2017 Budget Proposal Summary
• California State PTA Media Statement
• California State PTA Advocacy Goals

Insights on Behalf of the State’s Largest Child-Advocacy Association

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Jerry Brown released his 2016 – 2017 budget proposal Jan. 7, 2016. California State PTA President Justine Fischer offered insights on behalf of the state’s largest child-advocacy organization:

“The governor’s proposed budget increases per-pupil funding and corrects many historical fiscal inequities that hurt public education during years of deficit spending. Increasing funding by $368 per pupil and meeting 95 percent of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) commitment demonstrates a sound investment in the children of our state. The governor’s proposal is an excellent start for discussions with the Legislature, particularly regarding early childhood learning, school facilities and a long-term vision for state and local accountability.

“Included in the governor’s proposal is $1.25 billion in one-time funds. We believe these funds can be effectively used to ensure that LCFF and the tenet of ‘subsidiarity’ will be successful by investing in family, parent and student engagement.

“California State PTA has been speaking with the Governor’s Office during the past months about the importance of specific one-time funding for family engagement – the number-one predictor of student success. The governor’s proposed budget does not currently include dedicated funding to support meaningful parent and family engagement in schools.

“A vital premise of the new Local Control Funding Formula is that decisions about student success are best made by those closest to the classroom. But simply adding a requirement for more parent and family engagement is not enough. There are no shortcuts to raising student achievement or to successful parent engagement. It takes an investment of time and resources, especially to reach parents from all school sites, backgrounds and in all languages.

“This window of opportunity is short, and this is the year to support and strengthen what is now in state law – engaging parents and families. We want LCFF to succeed.

“We look forward to continuing our conversation with the governor, the Legislature and other stakeholders on the importance of parent and family engagement in the months ahead.”

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: CALIFORNIA STATE PTA REPONDS TO THE GOVERNOR'S 2016-2017 BUDGET PROPOSAL: Insights on Behalf of the State’s Largest Child-Advocacy Association:

I made $1,000 an hour as an SAT tutor. My students did better without me. - Vox

I made $1,000 an hour as an SAT tutor. My students did better without me. - Vox:

I made $1,000 an hour as an SAT tutor. My students did better without me.

Melissa is a 17-year-old high school junior. She's bright, hard-working, and ambitious. Her parents, both extremely successful entrepreneurs, have enlisted me to help Melissa raise her SAT scores. Their only goal is to get her into her dream school: the University of Southern California. The problem, they say, is that Melissa is "a bad tester" — she might have a 4.0 GPA and a slew of extracurricular achievements, but when it comes to standardized tests, she's helpless.

The real problem: The whole idea of a "bad tester" is bullshit, but almost every parent I've encountered believes it.

I've spent a decade tutoring the SAT. In that time, I've developed a reputation forefficacy. My students routinely improve their scores by more than 400 points, and wealthy parents desperate for a solution to their test prep woes have no problem paying me what most would consider outrageous rates: up to $1,000 an hour. I work from home, I make my own hours, and I have a job that a friend of mine describes as "cushy beyond belief."

Commanding these rates for a profession as simple as tutoring should have been a dream come true. Yet as I accumulated experience working with hundreds of students around the country, the situation soured. I realized that as a nation, we've created a monster: a generation of disempowered, directionless, and overburdened students who work harder every year, yet continue to see their SAT scores decline. And I was becoming a key part of the problem.

The myth of the "bad tester"

Nearly every student who came my way was, apparently, a "bad tester."I made $1,000 an hour as an SAT tutor. My students did better without me. - Vox:

The Common Core Voter's Guide to Choosing a Presidential Candidate: Republican Edition - The K-12 Contrarian - Education Week

The Common Core Voter's Guide to Choosing a Presidential Candidate: Republican Edition - The K-12 Contrarian - Education Week:

The Common Core Voter's Guide to Choosing a Presidential Candidate: Republican Edition

In my last post I tried, ever so gently, to take two prominent presidential candidates—Marco Rubio and Hillary Clinton—to task for the way they're talking about education on the campaign trail. I stand by my comments. Rubio, in assailing Common Core as a federal takeover of education, is being disingenuous at best and willfully ignorant at worst. Clinton, for her part, demonstrated one of the worst habits of politicians—oversimplification of a complex issue—when she suggested that the solution to the problem of underperforming schools is to shut them down. Neither impressed me enough to have confidence that the country's education system would be better off if one of them became president.

Then again, maybe it doesn't matter. The new Every Child Succeeds Act is supposed to herald a new day in education policy, one in which the power of the federal government to lead the states on issues related to education is greatly reduced. We'll have to wait and see if or how that comes to pass, but even if the federal role is significantly reduced the next president's administration will still have the ability to influence the shape and direction of education policy. And that begs the question: what are the candidates saying about educational issues? A look at their views on Common Core, in particular, is pretty revealing.

Let's start on the Republican side. We know what Rubio thinks about Common Core, and we know that much of the rest of the field agrees with him. Rand Paul, the libertarian, predictably hates the standards. In an email he cleverly titled "Rotten to the Core," Paul informed his supporters that the Common Core contains "anti-American propaganda, revisionist history that ignores the faith of our Founders and data-tracking of students from kindergarten on." I've looked myself for evidence in the standards of "anti-American propaganda" and how they "ignore the faith of our Founders" but haven't had any luck yet. And data tracking? That's scary stuff, but there isn't any evidence to support the claim Paul seems to be making. Unless sending home a report card counts as data tracking.

Ben Carson doesn't like Common Core either. Promising to share "Common Sense on Common Core" in a Washington Times editorial, Carson wrote: "While I think it is very important to have standards, putting such a task in the hands of the federal government is naive." I guess the people who wrote the Common Core standards would agree; that's probably why they didn't ask the federal government to write them.

Trump hates Common Core. No surprise there; Trump hates everything, it seems, except himself. In an interview last year, Trump said "I think that education should be local, absolutely," and added: "I think that for people in Washington to be setting curriculum and to be setting all sorts of standards for people living in Iowa and other places is ridiculous." Wait; maybe that means he's in favor of Common Core, since Common Core doesn't do that.

Ted Cruz not only thinks Common Core is a federal takeover of education; apparently he thinks it's a federal law. He wants to "repeal every word of Common Core." I don't even know where to start with that.

Common Core has proven to be more popular among the Republican candidates who have actually run something. Jeb Bush and John Kasich, one a former governor and the other a current one, have both held fast to their support for Common Core in spite of the powerful political headwinds. Bush's candidacy looks like it might be on life support and his support for Common Core is often fingered as one of the culprits. (His last name doesn't help, either.) With his campaign flailing, Bush seems to be rethinking everything, in fact: in Iowa last August he said the phrase common core is "so darn poisonous" and added: "I don't even know what it means." Okay then.

Kasich's not dead yet but it's hard to see how Common Core does anything for his candidacy. To his credit, Kasich has said that he isn't going to change his position on Common Core "because there's four people in the front row yelling at me." It doesn't seem to be winning him any votes, anyway. And you should know, if you're a teacher, that Kasich wants to abolish teachers' lounges—those well known bastions of rebellion and critical thought where teachers commiserate about their jobs and hatch plans to enrich themselves by making life worse for the nation's vulnerable children. This may just be the reform we've all been waiting for.

Another governor, Chris Christie, has practically made hating on teachers his calling card, so we shouldn't surprised that he's flip-flopped his way to hating on something that teachers, by and large, seem to like more the more they know about it. (If you don't like that link, here's another one; and another one; and another one; and yet another one.) No, not every teacher likes Common Core, and support for the standards has declined as endless criticism has taken hold, but that support remains suprisingly strong among teachers who have worked with the standards. Imagine that.

At any rate, as Andrew Rotherham has pointed out, Christie, like a lot of his fellow candidates, is probably not as interested in Common Core as a policy choice as he is in using it as a proxy for other issues. In what may be the most succinctly correct sentence written on the political firestorm that Common Core has become, Rotherham wrote last year that "Common Core is a Rorschach test for various grievances about education—testing, accountability, control—or more general political views about the federal government or other national issues." In other words: when you hear politicians talking about Common Core, they're probably not talking about Common Core. Remember that.

I'll tackle the Democratic candidates in the next post. In the meantime, consider this: any candidate The Common Core Voter's Guide to Choosing a Presidential Candidate: Republican Edition - The K-12 Contrarian - Education Week:

Why Some Teachers May Question ‘New’ Education Trends | MindShift | KQED News

Why Some Teachers May Question ‘New’ Education Trends | MindShift | KQED News:

Why Some Teachers May Question ‘New’ Education Trends

Often frustration with the public education system is directed at teachers, even when they are following the standards and guidelines set out by the government. Everyone from politicians, to non-profits to parents tell teachers how to do their jobs better. So it’s no surprise that when the federal state education officials or school superintendents announce a new initiative that not all teachers are ready to jump on the new trend. Education has a long history of reform, each succeeded by another, and teachers have learned to pick and choose carefully where to put their energies.

“There is such a gap between policy talk and what happens on the ground,” said Larry Cuban, professor emeritus of education at Stanford University and a former high school social studies teacher and district superintendent. Cuban, a respected voice in the education community, says it can take a long time for new policies to actually get implemented in classrooms, and as schools are gearing up, new policies often come in to replace the ones being implemented. It’s a frustrating cycle for teachers and often leads them to follow their own best judgement about what works in the classroom and ignore the winds of change that can shift so quickly.

“They have history on their side,” Cuban said. He’s not surprised that teachers are reticent to immediately accept new trends in learning, especially if that trend is coming around for the second or third time. Take project-based learning, for example. It has become the catch phrasedu jour, especially with the arrival of Common Core State Standards, but the concept isn’t new and many schools have been quietly practicing project-based learning since the time of John Dewey and Maria Montessori.

“It’s never disappeared,” Cuban said. Schools that were committed to a project-based learning approach continued to use it and made sure that their students also did well on state-mandated assessments. The practice has a history well over a century long — it didn’t arise just because new Common Core State Standards are now requiring similar skills, he says.

Even with other “new” teaching practices and ideas, “among teachers there are early adopters, so some teachers buy into it very quickly, and then when administrators pull back or funding dries up they’re stuck,” 

Walton Family Foundation Aims To Bolster Charter Schools With $1 Billion In Grants - Forbes

Walton Family Foundation Aims To Bolster Charter Schools With $1 Billion In Grants - Forbes:

Walton Family Foundation Aims To Bolster Charter Schools With $1 Billion In Grants

The Walton Family Foundation announced today that it will spend $1 billion over the next five years to expand “educational opportunity” across the country through partnerships with charter school operators, researchers and education reformers.

Since 1997, the foundation says it has invested more than $385 million in 2,110 new public charter schools, about a quarter of all charters in the U.S. The foundation says last year it supported 100 new charter school start-ups with more than $20 million in grants.

The foundation’s lofty goals include helping “low-income and minority children live the American dream.”

The foundation is the family philanthropy created by Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and his wife, Helen. Their heirs control a fortune estimated byFORBES at $165 billion, the largest family fortune in the world.

In its strategic plan, the foundation acknowledges that not all charter schools live up to their promise, but not all traditional schools have delivered positive results for all their children either.

“On balance, however, it is clear that most charter schools have a positive impact on student learning, and that most urban charter schools, serving students who otherwise would not have access to great schools, are helping students beat the odds and showing the way for other schools to do the same.”

The foundation acknowledges that its position on “choice” has evolved over the years: “Choice is necessary, but schools of choice cannot stimulate systematic transformation and large-scale improvements on their own.”

The foundation will step in with help creating enrollment platforms, more equitable access to transportation and ways for parents to find the information they need to make those education choices.

The goal is not to create charter schools where none exist, like Montana, but to build on infrastructure that’s already in place. Thirteen cities will get support, including Atlanta, Boston and Camden, N.J. Another 13 states, from Arizona to Wisconsin, will get aid for their state-level policy work.

Among the charter school operators and reform organizations getting help are the Kipp Foundation and the American Federation for Children.

The strategies include:

Advocating for favorable policies for expanding opportunities;

Supporting leading national reform organizations;

Investing in communications to build awareness and support for high-quality choice, and

Supporting organizations that are helping schools of choice to find the facilities they need to serve students

“While we understand the need for patience,” the foundation concludes, “we also recognize the need for urgency. We cannot and will not stand by while the extraordinary talents of children are squandered and the quintessential American dream of opportunity goes unfulfilled.”

Email me at SullivanMaur@gmail.com or tweet me at @Sullivan_MauWalton Family Foundation Aims To Bolster Charter Schools With $1 Billion In Grants - Forbes:

N.C. Sup Atkinson: “We have used the facts” about charter schools | The Progressive Pulse

Atkinson: “We have used the facts” about charter schools | The Progressive Pulse:

Atkinson: “We have used the facts” about charter schools

Expect very little to change in the state’s controversial demographic assessment of North Carolina’s burgeoning charter school population if N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson has her way.

Atkinson told Policy Watch Friday that, despite Lt. Gov. Dan Forest’s objections this week to a report on the increasingly white charter population, her office has a responsibility to avoid massaging the data.

“I don’t see how (the report) could be different,” said Atkinson. “We have used the facts.”

During this week’s monthly State Board of Education meeting, Forest pulled a draft of an annual report on charter schools due for the N.C. General Assembly that included population statistics he deemed overly “negative.”

Included in the report, authored by DPI’s Office of Charter Schools, state staff noted that, while the charter student population is relatively similar to traditional public schools, they differ in a few major ways.

Most importantly, while traditional schools are becoming increasingly more diverse, charters are bucking the trend in North Carolina. More than 57 percent of the students in the state’s 158 charters are white, the report states, compared to more than 49 percent in traditional schools.

Additionally, only about 8 percent of charter students are Hispanic, about half the percentage reported in traditional schools.

Also, over the last 15 years, North Carolina charters’ share of minority students has declined. In traditional schools, it’s the opposite, the report said.

This week, Adam Levinson, interim director of the state’s Office of Charter Schools, attempted to assure state board members that the report is purely data-driven, but Forest, a charter advocate, worried aloud that the media and charter critics would use the numbers to fuel opposition.

Atkinson, however, tells Policy Watch that the report used data pulled from the system’s accountability statistics, numbers used to report students’ academic growth rate and proficiency.

So what should we expect from a Forest-approved version of the charter report? Atkinson says she’s not sure.

She says Forest has yet to relay any information to her office about what he would like to see changed. However, she pointed out, state board member Becky Taylor, chairwoman of the board’s Education Innovation and Charter Schools Committee, has asked each board member to send her their revisions for review next week, something certainly worth following.

Atkinson said she may suggest adding copies of the school systems’ accountability forms to the report in

- See more at: http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2016/01/08/atkinson-we-have-used-the-facts-about-charter-schools/#sthash.uvBHttVk.dpuf

CURMUDGUCATION: Metrics and Behaviorism

CURMUDGUCATION: Metrics and Behaviorism:

Metrics and Behaviorism

 Mark Garrison is a helluva guy. He lists scholar, activist, evaluator and artist as his businesses, and lists two books and three albums among his achievements. He has clearly put a whole lot of thought into the current state of education policy, with a particular sharp eye for the problems of Trying To Measure Stuff. Garrison says many things I agree with, but he says it all smarter.


In "Metric Morality," Garrison addresses the issue of just what can be measured, and why the current educational measurements are doomed to fail. I love this stuff, because it cuts to why the whole concept of educational metrics is, as he puts it, "fraudulent."

"They confound properties of individuals, individual schools and individual school systems with the relations those individuals, individual schools and individual school systems have with their social contexts." In other words, they talk about qualities like "wetness" as being properties of the individual and not as they are related to whether one is standing inside, under an umbrella, or outside naked in a monsoon.

They "follow the long discredited practice of defining the object of measurement 'operationally'; that is, things and phenomena are defined by how they are 'measured'." Garrison's example is perfect-- the definition of "intelligence" is the ability to do well on an intelligence test. Yay, tautology.

They use the "flawed definition" of measurement which is the process of assigning numbers CURMUDGUCATION: Metrics and Behaviorism:

The College Board Botches Its Re-Promised, January 7th, 2016, PSAT Score Delivery | deutsch29

The College Board Botches Its Re-Promised, January 7th, 2016, PSAT Score Delivery | deutsch29:

The College Board Botches Its Re-Promised, January 7th, 2016, PSAT Score Delivery

On December 15, 2015, I wrote a post about The College Board’s delayed reporting of October 2015 PSAT scores. I reposted the piece on Huffington Post on December 21, 2015.  Below is an excerpt:

According to Nancy Griesemer of the Examiner, school counselors were told that the PSAT scores would be available by mid-December. This is in keeping with the College Board’s information for educators, which tells educators to expect online PSAT results “around two months after the test”:

In the past, students’ PSAT/NMSQT paper score reports were received by schools approximately two months after the test. As we roll out the redesigned PSAT/NMSQT during the 2015-16 school year, the paper score reports will not be received until approximately three months after the test. We will, however, release results online around two months after the test. Results will be released to educators online one day prior to scores being released to students online.

It is now mid-December– two months after the mid-October PSAT. No scores.

Instead, the College Board has declared Plan B– which is Plan A, Delayed: An online access that school counselors will be able to view on January 6th, 2016, and students, on January 7th, 2016.

Well. It appears that January 7th, 2016, came and went without The College Board’s delivering on its once-postponed promise for those October 2015 PSAT scores for at least some October 2015 PSAT test takers.

At 11:48 a.m. CST on January 08, 2016, I received the following email from a Pennsylvania parent:

Greetings Ms. Schneider. I read your 12/21/15 article about delays by the College Board in reporting October 2015 PSAT scores and thought you would be interested in a new delay that nobody appears to be reporting as the crisis deepens at College Board.

As you noted in your article, the scores were supposed to have been made available online yesterday, January 7. Indeed, the College Board’s website states that the scores were made available as of yesterday by logging into student accounts. But at least for students at several top ranked public high schools in [Pennsylvania], this is not at all true. Students and school counselors are unable to view October 2015 PSAT scores, and no explanation or fix has been offered by College Board. Please see the email below from my 

The College Board Botches Its Re-Promised, January 7th, 2016, PSAT Score Delivery | deutsch29:

Get on the Bus? I’ll Pass – Why I Am NOT Attending Florida Teacher Union Rally in Tally Next Week. | Welcome to the Testing Games

Get on the Bus? I’ll Pass – Why I Am NOT Attending Florida Teacher Union Rally in Tally Next Week. | Welcome to the Testing Games:

Get on the Bus? I’ll Pass – Why I Am NOT Attending Florida Teacher Union Rally in Tally Next Week.

Enough is enough, they claim. Florida’s state teacher union, FEA, is hosting a rally against high stakes testing next week in Tallahassee, Florida. I guess holding up signs against testing in front of the Capitol is their idea of action. Get on the bus, their signs declare.

I’ll pass.

Yea. Yea. I know I will take a heap of crap for this post, but meh. It is what it is.

Why am I not jumping on the bus? Um. Been there, done that. Need more.

Honestly, FEA could have hosted this rally 3 years ago and I would have made sure to fill their buses with my teacher and parent friends. I would have made the signs and MC’d the Get on the Bus? I’ll Pass – Why I Am NOT Attending Florida Teacher Union Rally in Tally Next Week. | Welcome to the Testing Games: