Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Classroom Update #5: Have you read a good book lately?

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Classroom Update #5: Have you read a good book lately?:

Classroom Update #5: Have you read a good book lately?

Howdy, long time, no write. I apologize, but life has been happening and that leads to less writing. Can you tell I’ve been teaching cause and effect lately? I’m doing Colonial American history with the class, and that will be the topic of this post.

We had read a novel, Blood on the River, earlier in the year, and so they we’re well primed for a realistic discussion of the relations between colonials and natives. I never have any difficulty teaching slavery to upper elementary students. They totally get that owning other people is wrong. The hardest part is explaining why folks would think that’s a good idea. We’ve talked about how the Indians did not do well with diseases brought over as contact between the Americas and other continents increased. We’ve also talked about how that didn’t clear out the land, so colonists were grabbing it through various means.

One of the things that been helpful as I’m using student level materials on the subject, is to be listening to and reading text on the subject myself. As elementary educators, most of the reading we think of as “work related” is pretty directly tied to instruction (Dewey, Dweck, and love or hate him, Lemov, etc.) and lots of secondary English teachers will talk about literature they’re reading, but I only occasionally hear about social studies reading my peers are doing.

These days, I’m thinking more deliberately about my reading choices in the subject matter I teach. My favorite book that I’ve read to go along with the colonial experience is Sarah Vowell, Wordy Shipmates. I opted for an Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Classroom Update #5: Have you read a good book lately?:

Keep your eye on the prize…



Recently, the Oscars have been getting a lot of attention for, well I’ll let this NY Post cover explain it…

I quit watching the Oscars around age 12, because I’m not much of a movie goer. My list of never seens include (but are not limited to) Titanic, Avatar, E.T., Gremlins, and Back to the Future. Seriously, I’m not much of a movie person. Apparently, I’m not alone is abjuring the Oscars, but these include folks who do watch movies, they just aren’t watching what the Academy is spending time and attention on. They have a problem. Sort of like tech companies that figure out that when you don’t have women and minorities on your development team, you end up with products that only appeal to your white male 20 year old designers, and while it’s good to have employees as customers, you need a wider customer base than that.

They also realize they have a problem (wow, that just pops up before I finish typing in “Academy ” on Google). Too many of the Academy voting members are old, white, and male so that they not only don’t reflect the business they are judging, but they really don’t reflect their audience. But, some folks outside, don’t think they have a substantive problem, merely a political correctness problem.

I bring you one of those people today, Stacey Dash. I bring her up not because she is worthy, but because I saw someone in my Facebook feed who thought what she was saying made sense. So I wanted to break down why she is wrong in much of what she contends, and talk about why this is important. Here is the quote from Ms. Dash:

“Either we want to have segregation or integration. If we don’t want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the Image Awards where you’re only awarded if you’re Black. If it were the other way around, we would be up in arms…Just like there shouldn’t be a Black History Month. We’re Americans. Period.” 

She does not even engage with the lack of representation in the Academy 

Keep your eye on the prize…

Teacher observations may be less helpful afterall – @ THE CHALKFACE

Teacher observations may be less helpful afterall – @ THE CHALKFACE:

Teacher observations may be less helpful afterall

During the height of debate on value-added modeling and using test scores to evaluate teacher performance, I was a champion for the tried and true teacher observation. Objective measures of teacher performance are elusive because of all the variables outside of our control. This is the same reason why physicians, for instance, would refuse evaluation based on patient variables, like BMI or cholesterol, because they can’t control what a patient does outside of their offices.

Thus, rather than look at an excel spreadsheet of my students’ performance to evaluate my effectiveness, which seems cold and impersonal, come in to observe my practice. See me interact with students. Before you pass judgment, observe the conditions in which we work, the context in which we are teaching and learning. So much of what is missing with quantitative information, like test scores, is a meaningful qualitative context to situate those numbers.

But there are tremendous limitations to doing teacher observation correctly. Relationships are key, and repetition. Pre and post conferences are essential to understanding subjective interpretations of practice. And we all should know that hanging a score on one isolated chunk of time, without context, is just as bad as hinging a score on test data.

This, however, seems to be how most teacher observation is implemented, and we are finding that it is just as unhelpful for teachers as test score data. For the moment, there really is no argument about the use of Teacher observations may be less helpful afterall – @ THE CHALKFACE

Parent: No, my kindergartner won’t be doing that homework assignment - The Washington Post

Parent: No, my kindergartner won’t be doing that homework assignment - The Washington Post:

Parent: No, my kindergartner won’t be doing that homework assignment

Kindergarten, as anyone paying attention knows, is not what it used to be. I’ve published a number of posts about just how academic it has become, with kids asked to sit in their seats and do academic work often with little or no recess or physical education, and with works loads that used to be in later grades. That includes daily homework, which researchers say has no value in elementary school (other than to read). In this post, a parent explains why she doesn’t want her kindergartner doing it. She is Cara Paiuk, a freelance writer whose articles have appeared in The Washington Post, the New York Times, and other publications. She is also an entrepreneur, photographer, and the mother of “a gaggle of ragamuffin redheads.” You can follow her on Twitter @carapaiuk. This appeared on Role Reboot, and I am publishing it with Paiuk’s permission.

By Cara Paiuk

I embrace the role I have to play in my children’s education through reading, playing, and modeling good behavior. But I also embrace my role in setting boundaries for our children, our family, and myself.

I received an email recently from my son’s kindergarten teacher regarding a new bi-monthly project that was presented as “an additional opportunity for your child to have ‘homework’ and the responsibilities that come along with it.” It sounds like a great project, yet I want to cry.

I am already overwhelmed enough as it is, and so is he.

Some nights I think his brain is at maximum capacity (I know mine is), and he dozes off by 6 p.m. Other nights, he arrives home overtired and irritable, and I inevitably have to send him to his room for a timeout. It breaks my heart when I walk in 10 minutes later and see him passed out with all his clothes on, knowing that he went to bed upset (and without brushing his teeth!).

And yet other nights he is a ball of lightning wildly unleashing the emotions Parent: No, my kindergartner won’t be doing that homework assignment - The Washington Post:

How the Color of Money - McLeary Crime Scene Coloring Contest Came to Be - Living in Dialogue

How the Color of Money - McLeary Crime Scene Coloring Contest Came to Be - Living in Dialogue:

How the Color of Money - McLeary Crime Scene Coloring Contest Came to Be

 By Carolyn Leith.

Back in September, parents were blindsided when Seattle Public Schools (SPS) proposed staff cuts at “25 or something” schools across the district. Emergency meetings were held, letters were sent to the school board, but none of these efforts seemed to make a difference. The district had made up its mind.

This is when Shawna Murphy and I decided to create our own advocacy group called Teacher Retention Advocate Parents or TRAP.

We staged a spoofy bake sale – dubbed the Half-Baked Bake Sale – at district headquarters. Our goal was to protest the staff cuts, but also draw attention to the absurdity of trying to fund basic education with car washes and bake sales.

After the success of the bake sale, TRAP asked The Thirteen Thousand Dollar Question, when SPS Superintendent Larry Nyland quipped that his $13,000 dollar a year raise couldn’t solve any problems “on the table” for Seattle’s public schools.

Now, TRAP is holding a coloring contest to bring attention to the State’s continuing refusal to perform its most basic duty as outlined in the Washington State Constitution – to fully fund public education.

Instead, Governor Inslee and  the Legislature are content to make a plan to make plan. I guess everyone in the Evergreen State is supposed to forget that the Washington State Supreme Court is fining the State$100,000 a day for contempt.

Of course, parents aren’t buying any of this nonsense and have aptly renamed this scheme “The-Kick-The-Can-Plan”.

Why a coloring contest?

Because our elected state officials are refusing to How the Color of Money - McLeary Crime Scene Coloring Contest Came to Be - Living in Dialogue:

Vouchers and the Destruction of America’s Public Schools

Vouchers and the Destruction of America’s Public Schools:

Vouchers and the Destruction of America’s Public Schools

It’s hard to believe that vouchers are being promoted across the country and are once again being considered in the State of Tennessee. Voters there have made it known time-and-again that they don’t like vouchers.

Here the Tennessee Momma Bears give information to speak out against vouchers. They tell us that $130 million will be taken from public schools if the voucher bill passes. They remind us that some public schools in this state are suing because they don’t have money for essentials like toilet paper!

If you are from Tennessee, please consider emailing or calling your Congressman to ask them not to vote for vouchers. Do it before Tuesday, January 26.

It is deceptive to promote vouchers—like in Tennessee where Governor Haslam has proclaimed January 24-30 as Tennessee School Choice Week—implying opportunity for parents.

Many of these same politicians put in place policies to under fund real public schools and foist draconian reforms onto the children in those schools. This drives parents to Vouchers and the Destruction of America’s Public Schools:

An Epic Battle for Public Education: A Frontline View | LucidWitness.com

An Epic Battle for Public Education: A Frontline View | LucidWitness.com:

AN EPIC BATTLE FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION: A FRONTLINE VIEW

Governor Tom Wolf is battling for fair funding for Public Education. It’s an epic battle in Pennsylvania and part of the war on Public Education across America.  It involves us all.

In spite of the facts that legislators have failed to propose an acceptable budget, and that the budget is 7 months overdue, Governor Wolf is standing strong against politicians’ attempts to further slash public education.

It’s not just about the money.  It’s also about how the budget is allocated to districts.  It’s also about politicians trying to link requirements for their increasing micromanagement of individual schools.

Politicians have failed in Philadelphia Schools.  So…close schools?    

State-­level politicians have a clear, 15-year track record since they took over the School District of Philadelphia.  Their record is one of stunningly consistent academic starvation with simultaneous fiscal disaster.

Fifteen long years ago, the State established the ‘School Reform Commission’ (SRC) to eliminate local control in Philadelphia.  The State appoints the majority of SRC members.  The SRC has also hired multiple “outsider” CEOs with multiple organizational structures.  CEOs have come.  CEOs have gone.   Teaching staff is at all-time lows.   Vacant positions remain unfilled.   Substitute teachers decline to work here.   Class sizes increase.  Course offerings only decrease.  Teachers have been working without a contract since 2013.   Building conditions are atrocious, even dangerous.  Charter school approvals mushroomed to one third of total schools, draining public funds disproportionatly, without public consent.  School District bonds are now junk. Equal access for children is ignored.  Politicians’ persistent, precise underfunding of Public Education, in Philadelphia in particular, is a prime cause of our condition.  A contrived disaster.

Now, part of the Senate’s latest “solution” is to amend the State An Epic Battle for Public Education: A Frontline View | LucidWitness.com:

Don’t Call It Activism | South Side Weekly

Don’t Call It Activism | South Side Weekly:

Don’t Call It Activism

Troy LaRaviere on racial realities and the responsibilities of a school

Troy LaRaviere, principal of Lakeview’s Blaine Elementary School, has made a name for himself as the CPS employee who speaks out. Heavily critical of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, standardized testing, charter schools, and much more, LaRaviere was formally reprimanded by the Board of Education in August. He has overseen significant academic growth at Blaine, however, winning the mayor’s principal merit pay award for three consecutive years. LaRaviere, the son of a mother from the North Side and a father from the South Side, grew up with his four siblings and single mother all over the South Side. He has taught in a wide variety of schools both in Champaign and Chicago, and currently resides in Beverly. The Weekly spoke to LaRaviere recently about his childhood, his job, and his activism.

✶ ✶ ✶ ✶

I’m from Chicago. I went to Chicago Public Schools—four of them. Altgeld, Sherman, Carter, and Mollison were the elementary schools and then there was Dunbar High School. My mother is white and my father is black. She was born and raised on the North Side. Five of us kids. After she became pregnant with my oldest brother, Michael, she was told she had to leave the North Side and couldn’t bring the kid in the house. So she left with pretty much no high school education and had to make a life for herself. She moved to South Side, was homeless for a while, had me and my other brothers and sisters. She was the only white person for miles but it was a pretty much basic life of an impoverished single family household in the slums on the South Side. I moved all over. We were in Englewood, Back of the Yards, Washington Park, Bronzeville. I ended up going to the vocational high school, a trade school; that’s what Dunbar was for, kids who decided college was not their path.

My mother would send us to our grandparents’ house in a working class area of Auburn Gresham, now West Englewood, every weekend and all summer long, and that’s where I met a girl who would later become my girlfriend, who went to Whitney Young. She was completely my opposite: I was one of five in a single-parent household, she was an only child with two parents. She was going to college from the day she was born. We both graduated in ’87 and she went off to [the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] and I went off to the US Navy. And I got out and she kept trying to convince me to go to college.

My time in the Navy was pretty powerful in terms of me making the decision to speak up [against the Emanuel administration]. I was out there risking my life thousands of Don’t Call It Activism | South Side Weekly:

CURMUDGUCATION: Transactions and Transformations

CURMUDGUCATION: Transactions and Transformations:

Transactions and Transformations

My wife is taking a professional development course this weekend, and one of her classmates (a football coach) brought up one the truly genius models of distinguishing between types of coaching. If you're active in the world of coaching, you may know these terms, but for the rest of us, let's talk about transactional and transformational coaching.

The transactional coach is trying to make a deal. The athlete has a skill, a power, a strength that the coach needs to win games, so the coach works hard to get that game-winning something out of the athlete. The work between athlete and coach is about developing a particular skill out of the athlete with the goal of wining. If the athlete loses the ability to produce, then the coach no longer needs the athlete, discards the athlete, replaces the athlete, moves on. If the athlete has no ability to produce, that athlete can ride the bench or just get off the team. If the athlete can't help get a W, the athlete is of no use to the transactional coach. For the transactional coach, the athlete is like a vending machine-- you put in money (time, attention) and out comes a treat (victory).

The transformational coach has a broader view. The transformational coach is there to transform the entire athlete, or as one site puts it "by giving individual consideration to all aspects of an athlete’s performance - skills and techniques, motivation and behavior, work ethic and sportsmanship - the transformational coach has the ability to positively affect, and to positively CURMUDGUCATION: Transactions and Transformations:

ICYMI: This Week's Reading Stuff

No blizzard here, but if you are socked in, here are some things to read while you're waiting for the world to dig itself out. And for the rest of us, just some Sunday reading for our cup of cocoa.

If You're a Teacher, Say Please and Thank You

Ray Salazar with an absolutelyl bang-on response to the scourge of no-nonsense compliance demanding being advocated by some reformsters these days. 

No, My Kindergartner Will Not Be Doing Y0our Homework Assignment

Okay, it's possible that you haven't missed this because it's been heavily liked and read on the book of face, but just in case, you need to catch Cara Paiuk's parental take on the ridiculousness that is academic homework for kindergartners.

Will Ethical Walls Protect Education Journalism from Billionaire Influence

If you are Eli Broad and you propose to buy half of the L.A. school district for fun and profit, it makes sense to buy a big L.A. newspaper so you can get the kind of favorable coverage you need to sell your rather audacious and horrifying idea. Anthony Cody collects and sums up the best explanations of why it's a terrible idea.

ESSA Answers 

Amid the many, many posts on Diane Ravitch's blog is a unrolling-in-segments series offering answers to questions about ESSA from Lamar Alexander's chief of staff. Here's what DC thinks they did.

Eva Goes To Court

John Merrow's Eva Moskowitx interview was part of the Very Bad Month that showed many cracks in the Success Academy facade, so it seems only fair that he should report on the legal trouble she now faces for her failure to properly educate students with special needs.

The Truth about Flint

This Salon piece from Paul Rosenberg isn't just about Flint-- it looks more thoroughly at the systematic process of stripping democracy from poor, black Americans. His one mistake is ascribing the process strictly to the GOP, but otherwise this is a thorough and thoughtful look at the trend threatening US democracy.

EXCLUSIVE: How Does ESSA Affect Teacher Education? | Diane Ravitch's blog

EXCLUSIVE: How Does ESSA Affect Teacher Education? | Diane Ravitch's blog:

EXCLUSIVE: How Does ESSA Affect Teacher Education? 

EXCLUSIVE: Lamar Alexander’s Staff Explains ESSA: PART 1 | Diane Ravitch's blog http://bit.ly/1QlmO8K

EXCLUSIVE: Senator Alexander’s Staff: ESSA and Teacher Evaluation, Part 2 | Diane Ravitch's blog http://bit.ly/1RzT9Kj

EXCLUSIVE: What Does ESSA Say About Bottom 5% of Schools: Part 3 | Diane Ravitch's blog http://bit.ly/1SzGMOp

Big Education Ape: EXCLUSIVE: How Does ESSA Affect Opt Outs? Part 4 | Diane Ravitch's bloghttp://bit.ly/23jA1V1

Big Education Ape: EXCLUSIVE: ESSA and Special Education: Part 5 | Diane Ravitch's blog http://bit.ly/1RFlWwU

This is the sixth in a series of exchanges about the new Every Student Succeeds Act. I asked the questions, and David P. Cleary, chief of staff to Senator Lamar Alexander, responded with answers.

How will teacher education be affected by ESSA? Does the law enable non-traditional institutions to award degrees to teachers, i.e., “graduate” schools that have no faculty with advanced degrees, like Match and Relay? Does it encourage alternative routes like Teach for America? What happened to the idea that all students should have “highly qualified teachers”?

Highly Qualified Teachers.

The new law removes the requirement that all teachers of core academic subjects be “highly qualified” as defined under No Child Left Behind. Instead, states will be responsible for ensuring that teachers meet applicable state teacher licensure and certification requirements. The requirements to be a teacher in a state will be up to that state, with no additional federal requirements.

Teacher Education

The new federal law doesn’t make changes to state laws on teacher EXCLUSIVE: How Does ESSA Affect Teacher Education? | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Sylvia Simms, the SRC member who changed the fate of a school

Sylvia Simms, the SRC member who changed the fate of a school:

Sylvia Simms, the SRC member who changed the fate of a school

 Sylvia Simms rarely speaks publicly at School Reform Commission meetings.

But nearly five hours into a contentious session on Thursday night, the former Philadelphia School District bus aide dropped a bombshell, offering a walk-on resolution that altered the fate of a struggling Germantown public school.

"I have pent-up emotions about the way the district has allowed many of our schools in low-income neighborhoods to fail our students and their families," Simms said. "Families are literally crying for alternatives, and they have shown us by their choices that they are not pleased by the way we are educating their children."

The last-minute resolution overruled the wishes of Superintendent William R. Hite Jr., beginning a process likely to culminate in Wister Elementary being taken over by Mastery Charter Schools.

Hite had first called for Wister, Huey, and Cooke Elementary Schools to be taken over by charter companies, but the superintendent reversed course this month after Wister demonstrated some growth in school-performance data.

All night Thursday at the SRC meeting, emotions ran high, with a large group of parents in blue "I support the Wister turnaround" clothing advocating ardently for Mastery, and others waving signs urging the SRC to turn no schools over to charters. Parents on each side accused the other of being manipulated by powerful outsiders.

Simms' move was so unexpected - and rare - that it wasn't immediately clear to those in the audience what had happened.

Simms and Commissioners Bill Green and Feather Houstoun endorsed the resolution to essentially invite Mastery to file a formal charter application for Wister. Farah Jimenez, citing a potential conflict, abstained, and Chair Marjorie Neff voted no, citing a "zero-sum game" where any new charter takes resources away from children in traditional public schools.

The vote had ripples Friday.

William Jackson, a Wister parent very much in favor of Mastery, was jubilant and, he said, "pleasantly surprised" by the SRC's about-face.

The traditional public school system failed Jackson's children, he said, and Mastery, where two of his children attend middle school, has set things right. He and more than 500 parents signed petitions asking that Mastery be given Wister.

"I really believe the district needs an overhaul," said Jackson. "It's outdated. It's antiquated."

He waved off suggestions that Mastery, the region's largest charter organization, had

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20160123_The_SRC_member_who_changed_the_fate_of_a_struggling_school.html#ccxUpJyhzZ5A1FO9.99

Ed Notes Online: How a Friedrichs Loss Can Become a Win, Making Taylor Law Unconstitutional

Ed Notes Online: How a Friedrichs Loss Can Become a Win, Making Taylor Law Unconstitutional:

How a Friedrichs Loss Can Become a Win, Making Taylor Law Unconstitutional

...labor... needs more people engaging in a debate about what, in theory, could come the day after an adverseFriedrichs decision. That shouldn’t be limited to toying with the legal implications of the Court’s logic, but also what kind of mobilizations, boycotts and—dare we dream?—strikes could be launched in the days and weeks after....In These Times

My own thoughts have been skirting around the edges of the benefits of a Friedrichs negative decision and might actually lead to a new level of organizing. I've been thinking about Detroit where they are trying to pin the sickout on a totally weak and ineffective union. This article by Shaun Richman, a former AFT organizing director, doesn't go there -- as I wouldn't expect him to. Here he takes the free speech argument behind Friedrichs and runs down the field with it over the possible implications.

the parties behind Friedrichs—egged on by Justice Alito—are lodging a wildly expansive argument that everyinteraction that a union has with its government employer is inherently political. Bargaining demands, grievances, labor-management committees, job actions: all of it, goes the Friedrichs argument, is political, thereby making the collection of agency fees compelled political speech.
Let’s think about some of the implications of this argument. For starters, the Taylor law that tells CUNY faculty and staff that they will be fined and their leaders imprisoned if they strike seems clearly to be a coercive restriction on their chosen method of political speech. If the Professional Staff Congress is hit with any penalties for either planning or going through with a job action, one hopes they can time their appeals to reach higher level courts after the Friedrichs decision comes down in June.

 An article worth reading:

How ‘Friedrichs’ Could Actually Unleash Unions from Decades of Free Speech Restrictions

BY Shaun Richman 

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The CUNY Professional Staff Congress, during a civil disobedience action in November 2014. (PSC)   

As the spring semester starts up at the City University of New York, union activists continue the painstaking work of preparing for a strike authorization vote. Faculty and staff at CUNY have been working without a contract for over five years. While Governor Cuomo disinvests in the primary college system for working class New Yorkers, management proposes salary increases that amount to decreases after inflation.
The parallels between the struggle to save CUNY and the struggle over the future of Chicago Public Schools are obvious, with one major exception: it is totally illegal for teachers to strike in New York. The last major union to violate the draconian Ed Notes Online: How a Friedrichs Loss Can Become a Win, Making Taylor Law Unconstitutional:

Why Aren't Kids Being Taught Cursive in School Anymore? | PJ Media

Why Aren't Kids Being Taught Cursive in School Anymore? | PJ Media:

Why Aren't Kids Being Taught Cursive in School Anymore?

To me, there is a certain beauty in a handwritten document. There is a certain romanticism in a letter, and power in the ability to read historical documents such as the Constitution, or simply being able to sign your name. I happen to believe that good penmanship helps to teach kids discipline and to take pride in something. It also helps develop the fine motor skills children will need for other tasks in life.

In my conversations with parents regarding whether they think it's important to teach cursive in our schools, many are shocked to learn that their children will most likely not be taught this lost art. The majority of them have agreed that this is unacceptable.

I took a poll on Facebook and asked parents what they thought and the results were overwhelming in support of teaching children cursive. There is a difference between what is known as a "signature" and printing your name. One parent commented,

I just got my daughter, at age 14, a debit card to teach her all about banking. She is so embarrassed when she has to sign her name because it looks like a 4 yr old signed. She says she feels so stupid! I bought her a third grade cursive book and a white board with the lines ( dotted lines too) so she can learn. We think it shows ignorance. She feels the same way.

If so many parents feel that good penmanship and learning cursive are important to a person's development, why are our schools doing away with it? Hillsdale College did an online course entitled, "A Proper Understanding of K-12 Education: Theory and Practice" which featured associate professor of education Daniel Why Aren't Kids Being Taught Cursive in School Anymore? | PJ Media:

Local charter schools worth taxpayer money?

Local charter schools worth taxpayer money?:

Local charter schools worth taxpayer money?

Attentive kindergarten students sit at a classroom table with Jeff Castleberry on a mid-week morning as he rolls dice and dabs spots for a Do-A-Dot Art math assignment.

One of the highlights each school day for the Pensacola Beach Elementary School principal is teaching math to Jennifer Neal’s kindergarteners. The class splits up into stations and every child is stimulated. One group sits at the table for math with Castleberry, another group paints on a canvas propped on an easel, and the remaining students either walk around the classroom with paper in hand to write sight words or play educational games on the touch screen active board.

The scene is similar in other classrooms, and outside in the hallway students fist pump their principal as they walk by him.

“It’s like a little Mayberry out here,” Castleberry says.

Cross the Bob Sykes Toll Bridge and drive about 20 miles northwest, though, and there is the former home of Flagship Academy, Newpoint Academy and Newpoint High. The charter school management company Newpoint Education Partners shut down the three charters in June after allegations of grade tampering at the high school and middle school and the arrest of a former Newpoint High teacher on four misdemeanor counts of violating Florida’s Test Administration and Security Law.

Pensacola Beach Elementary and Newpoint represent the best and worst of charter schools in the past 15 years in the Escambia County School District. Grassroots charter schools such as Pensacola Beach Elementary and Beulah Academy of Science thrive. Commercial charter schools administered by outside companies such as Newpoint tend to flop and their ineptitude costs taxpayers.

A charter school is public and taxpayer funded but operates independently of the school district. Anywhere from 2 to 5 percent of its funding is collected by the school district for administrative costs, but the charter school pockets the rest.

“I think the ones that were formed with local boards and a local interest, if that’s how they originated, they’ve done pretty well,” Escambia Superintendent Malcolm Thomas says. “… But almost every one that had a business that was running the school ended in failure, and the reason they ended in failure is because the business wanted to siphon money for profit, and there is no profit.”

Newpoint falls in line with dozens of other closed charter schools over the past 15 years in the state. The Associated Press reports closings in 30 districts that received about $70 million combined from state taxpayers through capital outlay funds. The Florida Department of Education managed to recover only $133,000 from schools that closed in the last three years.

DOE records indicate charter schools have received in excess of $760 million from state taxpayers since 2000. The amount in Escambia totals just north of $7 million and Santa Rosa ranks as one of the lowest among 48 districts at about $1 million. Schools use the capital outlay funds for buses, construction costs, rent payments, and in some instances property insurance.

Capital outlay funding for charter schools is a controversial issue. Opponents complain they take money away from deserving public schools. Those on the charter school side of the aisle say they barely receive enough funding to survive.

Only charter schools received capital outlay funds from 2009-14, and they shared anywhere from $50 to $75 million. The Florida Legislature stepped in last year and voted to split the funds of nearly $100 million between charter and public schools. The Escambia County School District only received about $80,000 after the state divided the funds.Local charter schools worth taxpayer money?:

 

Alan J. Borsuk - Arne Duncan on Milwaukee's chronic woes: 'A national disgrace'

Alan J. Borsuk - Arne Duncan on Milwaukee's chronic woes: 'A national disgrace':

Arne Duncan on Milwaukee's chronic woes: 'A national disgrace'

I don't know how anyone can look at the results from last year on how Milwaukee kids are doing in reading and math and not think we need fresh, bold steps aimed at getting better.

As I noted sarcastically last week, the testing itself and then the statewide release of results were chaotic, frustrating and, when it finally came to a release date on Jan. 13, disappointing, simply from the standpoint of public information. The state Department of Public Instruction did not post to its website information on any specific school districts or schools, as it had done every year for a long time.

At my request, Milwaukee Public Schools provided some of the results for the system and for its 150-plus schools. And, in broad strokes, what did the results say?

Nothing you don't know, based on so many years in a row. The percentage of students who can read and do math at levels considered proficient or better is low. The percentage who score at levels considered "below basic," the lowest category, is shockingly high. The racial gaps are large, almost certainly once again among the biggest in the country.

I had a chance a few days ago to get thoughts from Arne Duncan, who just finished seven years as the U.S. secretary of education. What did he think of the Milwaukee results and the low scores year after year?

"A national disgrace," he said.

Achievement gaps and low proficiency in urban school districts are profound issues from coast to coast — a national disgrace overall.

But Duncan was talking specifically about Milwaukee. We would be wise to take this personally.

While there is no city that has licked urban education problems, there are places with similar populations that are doing better than Milwaukee. There are places that are making more progress. And there are places pursuing more united and bolder steps, some of which haven't worked and some of which are showing results.

Consider Washington, D.C. The educational picture was bleak in the mid-2000s. Michelle Rhee was named chancellor in 2007 and became notorious for her no-prisoners approach to big changes. She left in 2010, but her successor, Kaya Henderson, has pursued similar policies, including strong steps to improve the overall quality of teaching (such as paying top teachers top money and ushering out ones who aren't good at the work).

Henderson is far more adept than Rhee at dealing with people. Washington is on its third consecutive mayor who has actively supported improvements. And the business and civic communities have been strong in their support. The result? Things are getting better.

Milwaukee's ugly rut

Meantime, in Milwaukee, we are stuck in an ugly rut and the things we have done — including the rise of private school vouchers and independent charter schools — haven't changed the big picture. New results for most of the charter and all of the voucher schools have not been made available. But I am almost 100% confident they will not contain any exciting news if and when they become public.

I won't dwell here on specific data, except for a few examples. In MPS, 27% of third- through eighth-graders Alan J. Borsuk - Arne Duncan on Milwaukee's chronic woes: 'A national disgrace':

It’s only fair that every teacher contribute to the cost of negotiating benefits and protections | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com

It’s only fair that every teacher contribute to the cost of negotiating benefits and protections | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com:

Teachers should pay fair share for representation

Oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association case took place on Jan. 11, with hundreds of educators, firefighters, social workers and nurses gathering on the steps of the highest court in the nation to show support for the legal team presenting oral arguments in the case.

Both the plaintiffs and respondents had some direct questions to answer and the attorneys representing my colleagues and me made an effective case as to why the 1977 Abood v. Detroit Board of Education decision should not be overturned.

The plaintiffs’ claims that this decision violates workers’ First Amendment rights is completely false. Let's be clear: No one can be forced to join a union. But unions are legally required to serve everyone in a unionized workplace.

Under a precedent established by the Supreme Court in Abood nearly 40 years ago, almost half of the states have chosen to support stable and effective collective bargaining by allowing nonmembers to be charged for the costs of their union representation in collective bargaining and workplace contract administration.

When it rendered its 1977 opinion, the court determined that unions were burdened with who they called “free riders” or those receiving benefits without having to pay for them. The court decided that fees requiring non-members to pay their “fair share” of the costs of that work was an appropriate compromise. And, specifically based on the language in Abood, they need pay only the cost of services related to the union’s representational work.

Think about it this way: Each individual teacher can choose whether to join the union, but the union is required by law to negotiate on behalf of all the teachers at the school and all of the teachers enjoy the benefits, job security and other protections that the union negotiates.

Teachers who don't want to belong to a union only have to contribute to the costs of the representation they receive. It’s only fair that every teacher contribute to the cost of negotiating those benefits and protections. Those are the only fees we’re talking about in this case. No teacher is required to join a union and no teacher is required to pay any fees that go to politics or political candidates.

Abood now has nearly 40 years of law built upon it, not to mention the tens of thousands of contracts binding millions of employees to the institutions they serve. A decision to overturn Abood would create utter chaos for all public employees and the employers with collective bargaining agreements.

The damage from potentially eliminating fair-share fees isn’t limited to students and schools. Any decision in Friedrichs will apply not just to teachers, but to all government employees, including firefighters, nurses and social workers. Essentially, taking away fair-share fees would have broad consequences affecting all public service workers, their communities and the middle class at large.

Corporate CEOs and wealthy special interests are trying to make it even harder for working people like me It’s only fair that every teacher contribute to the cost of negotiating benefits and protections | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com:

Why Didn’t PARCC Issue a Press Release About Skandera as Chair? | deutsch29

Why Didn’t PARCC Issue a Press Release About Skandera as Chair? | deutsch29:

Why Didn’t PARCC Issue a Press Release About Skandera as Chair?

David Connerty-Marin is the communications director for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC).  That’s his title on the PARCC web page. It is also his title according to his Linkedin bio and his Twitter page.

 

 David Connerty-Marin

However, it seems that Connerty-Marin chose not to communicate a major change in the running of PARCC: the change in PARCC chair.

Up until November 2015, the PARCC chair was Massachusetts Commissioner of Education Mitchell Chester.

Chester is no longer PARCC chair.

New Mexico Secretary of Education Hanna Skandera is now PARCC chair.

And for some reason, PARCC communications director Connerty-Marin chose not to communicate this change. It is not mentioned on the PARCC Press Release page.

Also, the @PARCCPlace page mysteriously omits the change in the PARCC chair as well as the issue of Massachusetts board of ed choosing to create a MCAS-PARCC hybrid. Unlike the PARCC press release page, @PARCCPlace has had activity up to January 21, 2016. And like the PARCC press release page, @PARCCPlace includes an announcement of Louisiana’s, uh, “choosing” PARCC for “nearly half its test questions” (note: the 2015 La. legislature actually put a cap on the percentage of PARCC questions: 49 percent):

LA chooses #PARCC again for nearly half its test questions. https://t.co/5Ek2QBOIOL pic.twitter.com/rIdfzdGMRj

— PARCC (@PARCCPlace) November 16, 2015

As one continues scrolling though November and December 2015 tweets @PARCCPlace, no mention of Massachusetts and its MCAS-PARCC hybrid, in the news on November 17, 2015, or the change from Chester to Skandera as PARCC chair– a decision in a November 12, 2015, PARCC press release.

A mystery.

On January 19, 2016, I was surprised to see that Skandera had replaced Chester as PARCC chair. I noticed that PARCC communications director Connerty-Marin had issued no press release– neither about Chester’s resigning as PARCC chair nor Why Didn’t PARCC Issue a Press Release About Skandera as Chair? | deutsch29: