Top Utah Republicans join corporate education reform groups to attack anti-Common Core school board candidates - Wait What?

Top Utah Republicans join corporate education reform groups to attack anti-Common Core school board candidates - Wait What?:

Top Utah Republicans join corporate education reform groups to attack anti-Common Core school board candidates

In May 2016 Utah’s Republican Governor, Gary Herbert, called on the Utah Board of Education to, “move past Common Core standards and get rid of mandatory SAGE testing for high school students.”

Governor Herbert wrote,

“I am asking the State Board of Education to consider implementing uniquely Utah standards, moving beyond the Common Core to a system that is tailored specifically to the needs of our state.”

The Utah Governor’s strong action in opposition to the Common Core standards and its related Common Core testing scheme won him praise from conservatives and educators, but some of the state’s top Republicans are now joining the Utah business community and the state’s corporate education reform allies to try and keep pro-Common Core incumbents on the Utah Board of Education.

Following the loss of some pro-Common Core incumbents during the state’s summer primary, corporate education reform allies are now raising money to defend the remaining pro-Common Core, pro-corporate education reform candidates on the Utah School Board.

Earlier this month, Utah Policy.com, a Utah based political blog reported,

“Get ready for partisan, big money, races for the Utah State School Board…

[…]

[T]the primary race this year caught some GOP leaders off guard, as several well-liked (at least on Capitol Hill) incumbents were beaten June 28.

And now a “last ditch” effort is being made to save a few of the other 

Top Utah Republicans join corporate education reform groups to attack anti-Common Core school board candidates - Wait What?:

Black and White – EduShyster

Black and White – EduShyster:

Black and White

I talk to Yawu Miller of Boston’s Bay State Banner about the red-hot debate over charter school expansion in Massachusetts—and what *thought leaders* are getting wrong…

EduShyster: In a few weeks, Massachusetts voters will give a thumbs up or a thumbs down to raising the *cap* on charter schools. The issue has attracted a frenzy of*reporting* from outside of the state, much of it, shall we say, somewhat muddled. Since Boston is at the very center of the scrum, I thought I’d bring in someone who knows a thing or two about the place. Yawu: what are people missing about this story? Besides the fact that Boston is not a state, that is.

Yawu Miller: What I’ve noticed in the debate in Boston is that people are not against charter schools. They think that there is a place for them. They think that charter schools work well for some people, maybe for their own children. But they don’t want to see the kind of expansion that’s being proposed now. They think there’s a threat to the district school system if that happens. You hear a lot of people saying *I’m not anti-charter. I’m against this ballot question.* I think the funding issue has caused a lot of people who pay attention to the schools to come out strongly against this.

EduShyster: Let’s talk politics. This week Elizabeth Warren came out in opposition to Question 2. The issue is being characterized outside of Massachusetts as *one of the most important tests of social justice and economic mobility of any election in America this fall.* But support among officials in Boston in particular seems, um, thin. Am I right?

Miller: In Boston, most elected officials are quiet about it. There are a few other elected officials in other parts of the state, and Congressman Stephen Lynch.  When the Boston City Council voted on a No on Question 2 resolution, 11 councilors voted to oppose it, two councilors abstained, saying that they didn’t want to take sides. One of the leading voices against Question 2 in Boston has been City Councillor Tito Jackson, who, by the way, is on the board of the Renaissance Charter School. Mayor Walsh, the other leading voice against Question 2, served on the board of the Conservatory Lab Charter School. The rallies that Great Schools Massachusetts has had, and they haven’t had any for a while, were led by Governor Charlie Baker and Lieutenant Governor Karen Polito, both republicans. The rallies seemed like they were all charter parents and it was notable that they were all during the school day and there were children there who presumably got time off from school. I think for at least some Black and White – EduShyster:

Seattle Schools Community Forum: ESSA: NCLB Lite (Plus Lots for Charters)

Seattle Schools Community Forum: ESSA: NCLB Lite (Plus Lots for Charters):

ESSA: NCLB Lite (Plus Lots for Charters)

I've been saving up articles on ESSA (Every Child Succeeds Act, the next No Child Left Behind).   Congress may have given more power back to the states but there appear to be some truly troubling issues around increased data collection, opting out, and what "indicators" they will be collecting on each and every child.
From the wonderful Deutsch29 blog from Mercedes Schneider:

• ESSA requires the 95 percent of testing for the states even as it says, “Don’t pin your state opt-out policies on us for our federal policy. 

• My second concern involve data collection and especially security. Pages 79 and 80 state that no data is to be collected except that which is “explicitly authorized under this Act.” However, as the February 02, 2016, Congressional Oversight Committee Hearing of US Department of Education (USDOE) Chief Information Officer (CIO) Danny Harris demonstrated, not only was the federal government able to hack into the USDOE data system; acting US secretary John King bent over backwards in defending Harris’ questionable conflicts of interest and shoddy upkeep over the course of years with securing said data.  USDOE has failed for years to secure the data it has, which includes to date 139 million unique social security numbers.

• As was true for NCLB, ESSA is very friendly to charters. In Title IV, ESSA seeks to open and expand “high-quality” charter schools (page 194). The problem is the USDOE’s history of failing to properly account for its own spending on charter schools. Indeed, in November 2015, USDOE awarded a recommended $71 million to Ohio for its charter schools despite the fact that Ohio admitted to tampering with the numbers on the USDOE application.

She sums up:  I would like ESSA a whole lot better if USDOE would flip the intensity of its 95-percent testing grip in Title I with its nonchalance both about charter spending related to Title IV and keeping the likes of incompetent CIO Danny Harris in annual bonuses.
  
This from Education Post (a Gates-funded group):

A little-noticed provision in the new Every Student Succeeds Act(ESSA) allows states to set aside funding to help schools create new programs for underserved students and to expand choices for students and parents.

The provision allows states to use up to 3 percent of their federal Title I funding to help districts create innovative new programs for underserved students. States opting into this program for what’s known as Direct Student Services (DSS) can develop a grant process to award the funds.

That 3 percent means as much as $425 million can be available annually for school districts to develop new, innovative ways to provide students in struggling schools a range of additional academic opportunities not available right now.

From EdScoop,  How Schools Can Track Kids' Progress Under ESSA Using Seattle Schools Community Forum: ESSA: NCLB Lite (Plus Lots for Charters):

[Letter from Detroit] | Held Back, by Alexandria Neason | Harper's Magazine

[Letter from Detroit] | Held Back, by Alexandria Neason | Harper's Magazine:

Held Back

Battling for the fate of a school district

Three days had passed before I saw a police officer in Detroit. I’d covered miles of the city, by foot and by car. Twice I was advised not to bother calling the police in an emergency; they wouldn’t come. I only ever found them in one place: armed officers from the city’s police department and from Detroit Public Schools’ own security force were manning a gray metal detector at the door to Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School, on East Lafayette Street. They were in position for a public meeting that night, in May, asking that everyone empty their pockets and bags. A line had formed: on the agenda was the presentation of a new financial plan for the city’s fraught public-school system, put forth by Steven Rhodes, a retired judge who had presided over Detroit’s bankruptcy and now serves as the fifth state-appointed emergency manager the district has seen in seven years.

Burton International Academy. All photographs with drawings from Detroit by Mischelle Moy

When Rhodes came to office, this past March, the Detroit public-school system was contending with an operating debt of more than $500 million, and the Citizens Research Council of Michigan had estimated that the total debt topped $3.5 billion. For years, money intended for students has instead been paying off old loans, and academic achievement has consistently ranked among the worst in American cities. At many school buildings, much-needed repairs to walls and leaky roofs have gone unaddressed; in the worst cases, mice could be seen scampering across unheated classrooms. For thirteen of the past seventeen years, the state has controlled the city’s school district, and with the more recent addition of all-powerful emergency managers, Detroiters have had to pin their frustrations and hopes on a rotating cast of emissaries. At the meeting, Rhodes — who has adopted the title “transition manager” — would present his recommendations to the community.

In King’s atrium, district officials had set up a table piled with thick, stapled copies of the new forty-five-day financial and operating plan. Dozens of people streamed in — parents, pastors, and youth organizers, many of them public-school alumni. They picked up copies and greeted one another in the hallway. Some looked anxious, others moved like boxers gearing up for a rematch. Alongside them were teachers and school counselors who had left classrooms, coaching, and after-school club duties to be at the meeting. Several King students were there, too, chatting about the banalities of high-school life. As everyone entered the auditorium, they passed representatives of King’s Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, who were dressed in uniform.

First, some good news: Deborah Jenkins, King’s principal, gave a careful speech touting the school’s recent accomplishments. Last year, she said, her thin eyebrows raised, King was an exception to the district’s overall poor performance: one hundred percent of the graduating class had committed to college or the military, and the marching band had been invited to perform at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Greeting applause, Jenkins smiled. Then she shifted course. “Any individual not modeling the way for our [Letter from Detroit] | Held Back, by Alexandria Neason | Harper's Magazine:

John Thompson: Let's Hope NOVA's Hopeful View of The School of the Future Is Right | Huffington Post

Let's Hope NOVA's Hopeful View of The School of the Future Is Right | Huffington Post - Linkis.com:

Let’s Hope NOVA’s Hopeful View of The School of the Future Is Right

NOVA’s The School of the Future is an excellent and intriguing contribution to the Public Broadcast System’s back-to-school special reports. The first third of the report hit the right balance between state of the art cognitive science, the long-established body of research on neuroscience which can inform educational practice, and the facts of life in public schools. Pamela Cantor, director ofTurnaround for Children, drew on our understanding of neuroplasticity and the damage done by chronic stress to explain why children need schools where they feel safe. Her organization has done great work towards creating positive learning environments where children are praised and benefit from collaborative practices such as “turn and talk,” that build on their strengths.

NOVA then synthesized the long-admired work of Carol Dweck on the “growth mindset” with the more recent research of Angela Duckworth on the “psychology of effort.” The role of tests, that have no stakes attached, and other science-based learning practices, were explored by Mark McDaniel and Roddy Roediger. (During my last year in the classroom teaching GED to TANF recipients and prison inmates, I incorporated several of their recommendations into my classes, and they seemed to be helpful.) Todd Rose argued for real personalized learning, as opposed to the faux “personalized” learning which strips the human dimension from instruction.

As usual, Sal Kahn emphasized the positive potential of digital learning. Fortunately, NOVA also voiced questions as to whether the technology will be scaled up constructively but, inexplicably, it did not address the single biggest reason why its potential may not be realized. If the brutal, test-driven, charter-driven culture of competition persists, the incentives are to misuse so-called “personalized” learning as a “drill and kill” tool to “juke the stats,” or make accountability metrics look better. 

My complaint with NOVA’s synthesis on the future of learning is that it failed to mention dangerous prospects of charter schools, and other true believers in data, who want to grade students on their “grit,” and/or use lessons learned through Let's Hope NOVA's Hopeful View of The School of the Future Is Right | Huffington Post - Linkis.com:

Why California’s charter school sector is called ‘the Wild West’ - The Washington Post

Why California’s charter school sector is called ‘the Wild West’ - The Washington Post:

Why California’s charter school sector is called ‘the Wild West’

This is the second of four posts on the state of the charter school sector in California.

The charter school sector has grown over the last few decades amid a debate about their virtues and drawbacks — and even whether the publicly funded schools are actually public. Some charters do a great job, but even some advocates (though not all) are finally admitting that too many states allowed charters to open and operate without sufficient oversight.

Ohio and Utah have vied for the distinction of having the most troubled charter sector though Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale recently issued a report this year and declared his state’s charter school law the “worst” in the nation.  It’s a race to the bottom.

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[Why charter schools get public education advocates so angry]

California deserves special attention as, in many ways, the charter Wild West. It has more charter schools and charter school students than any other state in the nation. One billionaire even came up with a secret plan to “charterize” half of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Among the problems:

* A report released recently (by the ACLU SoCal and Public Advocates, a nonprofit law firm and advocacy group) found that more than 20 percent of all California charter schools have enrollment policies that violate state and federal law.

* In some places, charter schools open without mentioning their existence to the traditional school district in which they reside, prompting lawsuits by the districts. The Grossmont Union High School District, for example, sued to shut down two charters operating in Grossmont under agreements signed by another school district. The San Diego Union-Tribune quoted Scott Patterson, Grossman’s deputy superintendent of business services as saying, “It’s been described as the Wild West out there.”

*A Mercury News investigation published in April revealed how the state’s online charter schools run by Virginia-based K12 Inc., the largest for-profit charter operator in the country, have “a dismal record of academic achievement” but have won more than $310 million in state funding over the past Why California’s charter school sector is called ‘the Wild West’ - The Washington Post:

* One charter school principal doubled as a National Basketball Association scout, traveling first class to basketball games around the country — and charged his travel expenses to his charter school.

* One charter school closed in 2014 after state auditors found a number of issues, including indications that administrators funneled millions of dollars in state funds to the schools’ operator and her family and friends. As the Los Angeles Times reported, some of the allegations Why California’s charter school sector is called ‘the Wild West’ - The Washington Post:

 

Schools Matter: Give a Thousand Dollars: Help Immortalize Diane

Schools Matter: Give a Thousand Dollars: Help Immortalize Diane:

Give a Thousand Dollars: Help Immortalize Diane

For a thousand tax-deductible dollars, you can 1) buy a journal page to help NPE continue its semi-commitment to sometimes challenge corporate education reforms that it, otherwise, supports, and 2) create an archival testament to honor Diane Ravitch's desire to remain historically noteworthy.  

The quote below is from a piece published in The New Republic a short time after the 2011 SOS March in DC.  The piece is worth reading, even if its writer, Kevin Carey, has affiliation issues, too.  (Interestingly, it seems that Diane's political conversion might have never happened if Joel Klein had not aroused in Diane a powerful personal animus.  Some things don't change, I guess.)

So help Diane make sure history reserves a friendly place for her among the other great women of Schools Matter: Give a Thousand Dollars: Help Immortalize Diane:

Satanic Temple brings after-school club to Portland elementary school | OregonLive com

Satanic Temple brings after-school club to Portland elementary school | OregonLive.com:

Satanic Temple brings after-school club to Portland elementary school

After School Satan Club logo (The Satanic Temple)

In August, the provisional Portland chapter of the national organization of the Satanic Temple began their efforts to bring their After School Satan Club to Nehalem Elementary School. Around the same time, a Seattle chapter of the temple also attempted to bring the program to a school in Washington.

Now, the Portland chapter succeeded in bringing that program to an elementary school inside city limits.

Finn Rezz, one of two heads of the chapter, said via email that the organization has been approved to begin their program, which focuses "on science and rational thinking," on Oct. 19 at Sacramento Elementary School.

In August, Rezz told us that the After School Satan Club will promote "benevolence and empathy for everybody." That mission, he said, is in direct contrast to something called "the Good News Club."

The Good News Club is an after-school club put on by the Child Evangelism Fellowship, "a Bible-centered organization composed of born-again believers whose purpose is to evangelize boys and girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and to establish (disciple) them in the Word of God and in a local church for Christian living."

The Good News Club is in 18 counties in Oregon but in August, John Luck, Director of Global Partnership for the Child Evangelism Fellowship, told us he could not say how many clubs are in Oregon.

Rezz said that the Sacramento Elementary After School Satan Club "will be held on Wednesdays once a month at the same time as the Good News Club."

-- Lizzy Acker

503-221-8052
lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker

Satanic Temple brings after-school club to Portland elementary school | OregonLive.com:

New Empirical Evidence: Students’ “Persistent Economic Disadvantage” More Likely to Bias Value-Added Estimates | VAMboozled!

New Empirical Evidence: Students’ “Persistent Economic Disadvantage” More Likely to Bias Value-Added Estimates | VAMboozled!:

New Empirical Evidence: Students’ “Persistent Economic Disadvantage” More Likely to Bias Value-Added Estimates

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) recently released a circulated but not-yet internally or externally reviewed study titled “The Gap within the Gap: Using Longitudinal Data to Understand Income Differences in Student Achievement.” Note that we have covered NBER studies such as this in the past in this blog, so in all fairness and like I have noted in the past, this paper should also be critically consumed, as well as my interpretations of the authors’ findings.

Nevertheless, this study is authored by Katherine Michelmore — Assistant Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs at Syracuse University, and Susan Dynarski — Professor of Public Policy, Education, and Economics at the University of Michigan, and this study is entirely relevant to value-added models (VAMs). Hence, below I cover their key highlights and takeaways, as I see them. I should note up front, however, that the authors did not directly examine how the new measure of economic disadvantage that they introduce (see below) actually affects calculations of teacher-level value-added. Rather, they motivate their analyses by saying that calculating teacher value-added is one application of their analyses.

The background to their study is as follows: “Gaps in educational achievement between high- and low-income children are growing” (p. 1), but the data that are used to capture “high- and low-income” in the state of Michigan (i.e., the state in which their study took place) and many if not most other states throughout the US, capture “income” demographics in very rudimentary, blunt, and often binary ways (i.e., “yes” for students who are eligible to receive federally funded free-or-reduced lunches and “no” for the ineligible).

Consequently, in this study the authors “leverage[d] the longitudinal structure of these data sets to develop a new measure of persistent economic disadvantage” (p. 1), all the while defining “persistent economic disadvantage” by the extent to which students were “eligible for subsidized meals in every grade since kindergarten” (p. 8). Students “who [were] never eligible for subsidized meals during those grades [were] defined as never [being economically] disadvantaged” (p. 8), and students who were eligible for subsidized meals for variable years were defined as “transitorily disadvantaged” (p. 8). This all runs counter, however, to the binary codes typically used, again, across the nation.

Appropriately, then, their goal (among other things) was to see how a new measure they constructed to better measure and capture “persistent economic disadvantage” might help when calculating teacher-level value-added. They accordingly argue (among other things) that, perhaps, not accounting for persistent disadvantage might subsequently cause more biased value-added estimates “against teachers of [and perhaps schools educating] persistently disadvantaged children” (p. 3). This, of course, also depends on how persistently disadvantaged students are (non)randomly assigned to teachers.

With statistics like the following as also reported in their report: “Students [in Michigan] [persistently] disadvantaged by 8th grade were six times more likely to be black and four times more likely to be Hispanic, compared to those who were never disadvantaged,” their assertions speak volumes not only to the importance of their findings for educational policy, but also for the teachers and schools still being evaluated using value-added scores and the researchers investigating, criticizing, promoting, or even trying to make these models better (if that is possible). In short, though, teachers who are disproportionately teaching in urban areas with more students akin to their equally disadvantaged peers, might realize relatively more biased value-added estimates as a result.

For value-added purposes, then, it is clear that the assumptions that controlling for student New Empirical Evidence: Students’ “Persistent Economic Disadvantage” More Likely to Bias Value-Added Estimates | VAMboozled!:

 

Q&A: Anne Holton, Wife of Democratic VP Nominee, on Education Issues - Ed Week

Q&A: Anne Holton, Wife of Democratic VP Nominee, on Education Issues - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

Q&A: Anne Holton, Wife of Democratic VP Nominee, on Education Issues

She also talked about her position on charter schools.

"There may be some confusion on my views on charters. And I have had limited experiences with charters here in Virginia for a variety of reasons. But I very much agree with Hillary's perspective that high-quality public charters that are open to everybody regardless of disability status or background absolutely have a role to play, that giving parents options absolutely can help the overall goal that we're making education work for [everyone]."

Charter quality, Holton said, seems to come down to "oversight. And some states don't do it so well, and some states do it better."

 Anne Holton, the wife of the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, has been out on the campaign trail in her own right. As the former secretary of education in the Commonwealth (a position that's different from state education chief, more of an advisor to the governor), she has been an education ambassador of sorts for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign, stopping at child-care centers and chatting up teachers.

Holton says her interest in public education began when she and her siblings helped desegregate schools in Richmond, Va., as part of a push by her father, former Virginia Gov. A. Lindwood Holton, a Republican, to change race relations in the state.

These days, desegregation is a big issue nationally, but it's only been mentioned fleetingly on the campaign trail. I chatted with Holton about her personal experiences with the issue, what a potential Clinton/Kaine administration might do to further educational equity, and what her role might be. Holton, who spent most of her career as a legal aid lawyer and juvenile court judge, thinks she might be able to help folks with different perspectives on education redesign work together. 

Here's a transcript of our conversation. It's been edited for brevity and clarity. Parts of it have been paraphrased:

When your husband introduced himself to the nation as Secretary Clinton's vice-presidential candidate, he talked about the decision your father—former Virginia Gov. A. Lindwood Holton—made not only to integrate Richmond's city schools, but to send his own kids to them, including you. What was that experience like for you? What grade were
you in? What was the reception from other students and teachers? How did that change your educational experience?

"It was an important time for me and all my siblings in our lives. I was 12 years old. We had just moved into the governor's mansion in January of that year [1970] and Dad had declared in his
inaugural address that he wanted to make Virginia a model of race relations. Obviously, as a Southern governor at that time, that was a departure from the role other Southern governors had [chosen.]  We went to formerly all African-American schools, and they stayed mostly all African-American, frankly, in those years because so many of the folks that were assigned there found other
alternatives. ...

"It was a great experience. On the one hand, it was being part of history. We did get a lot of attention. There was a very famous picture of my dad taking my sister to the high school. My mother took my brother and me to the middle school and we didn't get quite as much attention, and we laughed about it at the time. But we all understood as a family that we were having an opportunity to be part of something larger than ourselves. We got letters from around the world from people supportive of it. There were [also] protests outside the mansion. There was plenty of opposition, but we heard more of the positive.  ... As a 12-year-old, to have an opportunity to be part of something larger than yourself that advances the ball for the world, was a very special opportunity. ...

"Going to school, the experience part, was more like being any other 12-year-old. You know, [you've] got the math homework, and how's our basketball team going to do. And you know, making friends. I will say it was my first experience—I was from a very comfortable middle-class background—being with people who came from a much different economic background. It was absolutely my first experience being with a lot of people of color."

But, Holton said she liked, "learning [about] the similarities and differences" between her and her new classmates. "It was a fascinating time, for all of us."

Were you able to make friends? Did you notice inequities between the school you'd attended before and your new school?

"I don't remember the inequities between the schools. I was 12, I may not have noticed. But I do remember [other] inequities. One of my very close friends lived in a housing project, and when she would come over to play with me at the mansion that was a different experience than when I went to play with her at her house. I remember a lot of our friends at school really valued that hot school lunch that we had growing up. We'd always kind of turned our noses up at that, the school lunch food. So I was real aware of the economic differences."

You sent your own children to integrated schools in Richmond, as well. What was their experience like? How did it compare to yours?

"I was delighted to return to Richmond after law school and delighted to send our kids to Richmond City schools, which is [still] an inner city school district, largely. Our kids got a great education.  .... They all went on to great colleges and were well-prepared for their great colleges. They also got life experiences that kids that went to more homogenous school districts did not get."

Desegregation is obviously an issue that's popped up nationally. What do you think that a potential Clinton/Kaine administration could do to help schools become more integrated across the country? And what could they do to help reduce funding disparities between schools serving wealthy kids and those serving poor kids?

"Well, I think the first step is acknowledging the problem. ... I do think there's been some progress in some communities. One of the ironies for me in my area is the Richmond City schools that we helped to integrate are probably not much more integrated now than they were then. ... But some of our surrounding county schools now have robust diverse communities. ...

"The data certainly shows that across the nation, we are, if not all the way back, close to all the way back to where we were before desegregation, which is just very painful. And so the first thing is calling it out. And, yes, I think there is a federal role, starting with the bully pulpit. And we're doing that right now by talking about it. I also think there is a federal role if you put it in the larger context of equity issues, how are we going to address larger equity issues, both in school and out."

Can you talk a little more about what kinds of concrete steps a Clinton/Kaine administration might take on that?

"I'm very excited about that. First of all, the larger economy proposals that Hillary has laid out will have an absolute direct impact on schools. ... If we raise the minimum, wage that's huge, we're tackling poverty at its source. ...

"The anti-poverty strategy is a very strong part of the school equity agenda. More specifically, within the pre-K-12 world, Hillary has very strong proposals to make sure high-quality pre-K is available to everyone regardless of their ZIP code, regardless of their ability to pay. ... Hillary [has] proposals for significant new investments in pre-K, early Head Start, child care. These are things she's cared about forever." 

Do you expect that education would become part of your portfolio or your role if you did become a vice-presidential spouse?

Holton said Clinton has asked her to spotlight education on the campaign trail, and Holton is hoping she'll be able to continue to do that if her husband becomes vice president.

And she's hoping "there may be a role for me to play in helping find some common ground among folks with varying perspectives on how to improve education for [kids] who need it to the most," Holton said. Nearly everyone believes that children from disadvantaged families need to be given the best chance possible for success, she said. "But there are some real differing perspectives on that. And I think there's more room for common ground than people think, helping bring together some of the education reform folks with some of the more traditional school district folks. I would love to help play a role in that."

When you talk about helping to find common ground, are you talking about the two wings of the Democratic Party (the education redesign community and practioners) or between Democrats and Republicans? It sounds like you're thinking about the divisions within the Democratic Party.

"My Virginia experience is that some of the things that we ought to be doing on public education cut across the Democratic and Republican labels. But you are right, within the Democratic Party there are some differences on this. ... If there is a role to play in helping bridge some of those ... I don't want to call it divides, because, really, I think everyone is in for the same reasons, but in helping bridge some of those perspectives, I'd be honored to help do that."

She also talked about her position on charter schools.

"There may be some confusion on my views on charters. And I have had limited experiences with charters here in Virginia for a variety of reasons. But I very much agree with Hillary's perspective that high-quality public charters that are open to everybody regardless of disability status or background absolutely have a role to play, that giving parents options absolutely can help the overall goal that we're making education work for [everyone]."

Charter quality, Holton said, seems to come down to "oversight. And some states don't do it so well, and some states do it better."

Why do think K-12 education hasn't been a big issue in the campaign?

"Hillary has been talking about it a good bit and I don't know why it hasn't gotten much attention. Hillary has these very strong pre-K proposals," Holton ticked off Clinton's plans to offer grants to help schools improve safety and climate, train math and science teachers, fix up school facilities, and give more schools access to broadband and cutting edge technology. More here.

 "We've talked about it a good bit. Maybe some of the context is that [the Every Student Succeeds Act] having passed so recently. ... Bringing everybody together to successfully implement ESSA may be the main thing that's on the mind of most folks in the education world."

Who do you think might make a good education secretary for Clinton?

"She'll have lots of and lots of great candidates. It's probably much too premature to talk about who it might be. ...  I think one thing that Hillary has said is that there will be a teacher at the table for every decision and that teachers are included in the discussions, and I think that's really important."

Democratic vice presidential candidate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., waves with his wife, Anne Holton, during the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July.

--J. Scott Applewhite/AP-File

 

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks with vice presidential candidate, Sen. Tim Kaine's wife Anne Holton during a rally in Columbus, Ohio, in July.

--Andrew Harnik/AP-File

 

Gov. Ronald Reagan of California looks examines a "Virginia is for Lovers" button being worn by Gov. Linwood Holton of Virginia while attending the National Governor's Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1971.

--AP-File

---

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CURMUDGUCATION: TX: Denying Special Education

CURMUDGUCATION: TX: Denying Special Education:

TX: Denying Special Education



You must read this piece of investigative reporting from the Houston Chronicle.

In "Denied:How Texas keeps tens of thousands of children out of special education,"
reporter Brian M. Rosenthal lays out the secret of yet another Texas miracle-- getting special education numbers down by systematically denying support and services to the students who need them.

The bottom line is simple-- and chilling:

Over a decade ago, the [unelected Texas Education Agency] officials arbitrarily decided what percentage of students should get special education services — 8.5 percent — and since then they have forced school districts to comply by strictly auditing those serving too many kids.

It is a system that has worked remarkably well at getting state expenses down, but as the story of one child denied support and services heartbreakingly lays out, it has not been very successful for the children of Texas. The denial of services has reached every sort of special need students can have, from learning disabilities to speech impediments to orthopedic impairments to visual problems. And it is worst in the cities, where need is arguably highest:

In all, among the 100 largest school districts in the U.S., only 10 serve fewer than 8.5 percent of their students. All 10 are in Texas.

The "target" of 8.5% was set in 2004, and it was based on nothing--

Four agency officials set the benchmark, former employees said: special education director Eugene CURMUDGUCATION: TX: Denying Special Education:

A bold new approach to English proficency for kids: Lean on their first language. | 89.3 KPCC

A bold new approach to English proficency for kids: Lean on their first language. | 89.3 KPCC:

A bold new approach to English proficency for kids: Lean on their first language.

California public schools have a woeful record of moving non-English speaking children to grade level proficiency in English. The state has been sued (and it settled), theDepartment of Justice has investigated, and tens of thousand of students have not been able to fully participate in school due to language limitations.

Now a federal grant will allow the Los Angeles Unified School District to try something new to help some of its youngest English language learners (ELLs) achieve better educational outcomes.

L.A. Unified has approximately 160,000 students whose first language is not English. The majority of those students speak Spanish as their first language.

Loyola Marymount University's school of education was awarded a $2.7 million dollar grant to collaborate with four LAUSD elementary schools with high ELL populations. LMU will train 84 transitional kindergarten through third grade teachers in a new method to get children proficient in English by utilizing the child’s first language as a literacy tool.

In an immigrant-rich city like Los Angeles, it is not uncommon for a child to arrive at preschool or kindergarten with very limited literacy in English. But according to LMU professor Magaly Lavadenz, director of the Center for Equity for English Learners (CEEL), students do come with literacy skills –they just happen to be in another language.

“They bring their home language. They know how to communicate, how to interact,” Lavandez said. “They know how to negotiate meaning in their first language.”

These skills are the building blocks of early literacy, she said.

However, these literacy skills are too often ignored in the classroom, Lavandez said. “We want to use [this foundation] as a way to add English to what they already bring.”

When a child enters school with a limited ability to understand English, the teacher’s primary challenge is to get them reading and writing at grade level in English, which is essentially their second language.

Traditionally, that effort has involved strict English-only classrooms with little A bold new approach to English proficency for kids: Lean on their first language. | 89.3 KPCC:

Digital Vocabulary Hijacked from Special Education

Digital Vocabulary Hijacked from Special Education:

Digital Vocabulary Hijacked from Special Education

Isn’t it interesting how those who idolize digital instruction have hijacked vocabulary from special education? Unfortunately, self-directed learning is significant to them because the more you can get students working on their own the less they will need real teachers. Individualized learning doesn’t mean getting more attention. It  really means working alone.

Morna McDermott recently wrote about “deep learning” and the meaning of digital instruction vocabulary. It reminded me of this old post. I updated it somewhat.

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Some of us imagined a public school system that would drop special education labels and look at all children individually and collectively for their strengths and what they need to learn. We thought of it as Individual Educational Plans (IEPs) for everyone.

You will likely hear about “IEPs for All” in the future, if you haven’t already, but it is a far cry from what we dreamed.

IEPs and words like “individualize,” “personalize” and “differentiated learning” are Digital Vocabulary Hijacked from Special Education: