California appeals federal decision on state science testing | EdSource

California appeals federal decision on state science testing | EdSource:

California appeals federal decision on state science testing

lifornia education officials have appealed the U.S. Department of Education’s decision to reject the state’s request to begin phasing in tests this spring based on new science standards, rather than administer current tests based on standards in place since 1998.

In a letter sent Tuesday to federal education leaders, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and State Board of Education President Michael Kirst wrote that they are seeking an administrative hearing in Washington, D.C., to make their case before Ann Whalen, a senior adviser to U.S. Secretary of Education John King Jr.

Existing federal education law requires that the U.S. Department of Education hold a hearing by Dec. 29, but Torlakson and Kirst requested that the hearing be postponed until after the Jan. 2 holiday to allow state education staff time to prepare for the hearing.

“Given the upcoming holiday season, we believe that conducting a hearing prior to this date (Dec. 29) will be burdensome for both parties,” Torlakson and Kirst wrote.

“We hope to honor our respective staffs’ family obligations, and recognize the difficulty and expense of booking last-minute travel during the holiday season,” they wrote. “This suggestion does not represent a waiver of our right to a hearing; instead, it indicates our willingness to waive the statutory time limit within which that hearing should be conducted.”

The U.S. Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for California appeals federal decision on state science testing | EdSource:

Big Education Ape: Federal Denial of Science Testing Waiver Request - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education) - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/12/federal-denial-of-science-testing.html

12/22/2016 – Girding For The Education Fight Ahead

12/22/2016 – Girding For The Education Fight Ahead:

Girding For The Education Fight Ahead

December 22, 2016, 2016 Subscribe

THIS WEEK: DeVos’ Donor Advantage … More Private Choice Coming … Obama’s Edu-Legacy … Online Charters Love Trump … Computer Conundrum

TOP STORY

Girding For The Education Fight Ahead

By Jeff Bryant

“If you want to get an idea of what kind of education policies to expect from a Donald Trump administration, Wall St. has a clue for you … Online charter schools are ‘gearing up for a boom during the Trump administration, judging by where investors are placing their bets’… A burning question is, ‘Where are the Democrats?'”
Read more …

NEWS AND VIEWS

DeVos Heads Into Confirmation With A Megadonor’s Advantage

Politico

“Billionaire Betsy DeVos has been unabashed about using her wealth to advance her own agenda. ‘We expect a return on our investment,’ she once wrote … After giving millions of dollars to politicians over the past two decades, she now heads into her Senate confirmation hearing for education secretary with a clear advantage: DeVos and her husband, Dick, have donated to the campaigns of 17 senators who will consider her nomination – four of whom sit on the Senate education committee that oversees the process … Over the past two and half decades, the couple donated more than $7.7 million to Republican candidates and parties across the country.”
Read more …

Beyond Vouchers: How Trump Could Boost Private School Choice

Education Week

“What other avenues are there for Trump, DeVos, and Congress to expand private school choice?… Tax-credit scholarships allow individuals and corporations to claim a tax credit of some kind, in exchange for a donation to an organization that provides scholarships to children… Congress could find some way to … create a new education savings account applicable to K-12 … [Or] an annual $250 million federal grant program to promote private school choice.”
Read more …

The Education Of Barack Obama

The Nation

Dana Goldstein writes, “When it came to K–12 policy, [Obma’s] first six years were defined by an aggressive reform agenda that left the traditional camp, especially the teachers unions, playing defense. Only since 2014 has there been a détente … Grassroots activism from the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as from tens of thousands of parents who opted their children out of standardized testing, helped shift the terms of the debate. We now talk almost as much about school discipline, unequal school funding, and school segregation as we do about low test scores and teacher tenure. It’s a profound change in rhetoric … The expansion of the charter-school sector seems likely to be the most lasting of Obama’s education reforms.”
Read more …

Online Charter Schools Prepare For A Trump-Era Boom

BuzzFeed

“Online charter schools are widely regarded as among the country’s worst-performing, plagued by abysmal test scores and sky-high student turnover rates. They’re also gearing up for a boom during the Trump administration … K12 Inc., the online charter school industry’s largest and most controversial player, has risen in value by more than 50% since November 8 … Betsy DeVos … is married to an early investor in K12 … Vice President Mike Pence has worked closely with groups tied to the company. ”
Read more …

Giving Children Computers Basically Does The Opposite Of What You Expect

The Washington Post

“The benefits of having a computer at home are subtle and somewhat counterintuitive … Researchers … in California looking for students in grades six through 10 who didn’t have access to a computer at home … divided [stuents] into two groups. One group received free desktop machines …The other group got nothing … In the end, none of this had a measurable [academic] effect … The children who saw the most benefit were the ones who didn’t have a social-network account at the beginning of the experiment. They became more likely to chat with friends and to meet with friends face-to-face.”
Read more …

12/22/2016 – Girding For The Education Fight Ahead:

LEONIE HAIMSON: Meet Trump’s Public Ed Wrecking Ball | The Indypendent

Meet Trump’s Public Ed Wrecking Ball | The Indypendent:

Meet Trump’s Public Ed Wrecking Ball

Billionaire Betsy DeVos is radical privatizer with no prior experience as public school parent or educator.

Donald Trump’s nomination of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education could be a devastating blow for American public schools.

“DeVos’s agenda is to break the public education system, not educate kids, and replace it with a for-profit model,” John Austin, president of the Michigan State Board of Education, told the Detroit Free Press after her appointment was announced Nov. 23. 23. “It’s like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse, and hand-feeding it schoolchildren.”

DeVos is the daughter of a wealthy auto-parts manufacturer who funded Christian-right causes, and her brother Erik Prince founded the mercenary company Blackwater. She married Dick DeVos, the billionaire heir to the Amway fortune. The two, based in Grand Rapids, Mich., have used their personal wealth to encourage the expansion of charter schools, to prevent any government oversight of their use of public funds or regulation of the quality of education they provide and to aggressively promote the use of vouchers to let taxpayer funds pay for private and parochial schools.

She would be the first Secretary of Education who never attended a public school or sent her own children to one. She has never worked as a teacher, served on a school board, or held any position in government. 

DeVos is an even more radical privatizer than either Arne Duncan or John King, President Barack Obama’s education secretaries. Both Duncan and King favored expanding the charter sector, offering these publicly funded, privately run schools more than $1.5 billion in federal grants between 2010 and 2015. The Department of Education’s Race to the Top program offered states the chance of winning millions more if they let the number of charter schools expand. Many states, including New York, then raised their charter caps.

The DeVos family is among the leading donors to the Republican Party. According to an analysis by ­OpenSecrets.org, they have given at least $20.2 million to GOP candidates, party committees, PACs, and super PACs. They also finance far-right groups that promote climate-change denial, oppose marriage equality, and want to cripple labor unions, such as Michigan’s Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Another group they support, the Acton Institute, argues for the abolition of child-labor laws.

“I have decided to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying Meet Trump’s Public Ed Wrecking Ball | The Indypendent:

Argentina's tough truths for improving schools - BBC News

Argentina's tough truths for improving schools - BBC News:

Argentina's tough truths for improving schools

"We don't want to accept that we're doing badly at anything," says Argentina's education minister, Esteban Bullrich.

Whether it is admitting to levels of poverty, the inflation rate or weaknesses in the education system, Mr Bullrich says Argentina has been ill-served by a political culture which has not wanted to face up to uncomfortable truths.

Improving the quality of schools is the task facing the minister and he says the first point is to admit to the extent of the difficulties.

This is an education system where most schools are only open for four hours a day and he says that despite previous claims to the contrary - only about half of young people actually successfully complete their secondary education.

Left behind

The results of the latest international Pisa results, published by the OECD this month, seem emblematic of the challenge.

Image copyrightISTOCK

Image captionIn the 1970s, Argentina was much better off than South Korea - now the positions are reversed

Argentina was not included in the results after confusion over the sample of schools taking the tests - so it remains uncertain where the country stands in such international rankings.

The problems with the test pre-dated Mr Bullrich's time as education minister, but he is now picking up the pieces.

Another awkward question is why Latin American countries have been left standing by the rising Asian star performers, such as Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam, who are building their economies on investment in education.

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More stories from the BBC's Global education series looking at education from an international perspective, and how to get in touch.

You can join the debate at the BBC's Family & Education News Facebook page.

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Mr Bullrich says that in the 1970s, Argentina had a GDP per capita that was five times greater than South Korea - now it is three times smaller.

Argentina has failed to keep up and economies such as South Korea and Singapore are reaping the rewards.

Even though South Korea started from a long way behind, the world is watching Samsung televisions rather than any technology built in Argentina.

Long-term planning

The challenge for Mr Bullrich is how to begin to catch up - and he dismisses the self-serving argument that Pisa tests are really for European and Asian systems and not applicable elsewhere.

He says education has to be taken seriously - on an international as well as a national stage.

So when Argentina hosts the G20 summit in 2018, he says an education section will be introduced for the first time.

Mr Bullrich has an ambitious set of reforms - but speaking in London, he says it will mean long-term investment rather than relying on "magic answers" from "messianic leaders".

Image captionMr Bullrich wants to import some of the best ideas being used in top education systems

It will take until 2030 to turn around his country's school system, says Mr Bullrich, which will mean any political benefits will come long after his time in office.

He wants to extend the school day to six hours - and for teachers to have an eight-hour day, including time for lesson preparation.

That will mean extra cost - but he says the challenge in Argentina is not about funding, but how efficiently the money is targeted.

At present, he says Argentina spends about the same proportion of GDP on schools as Finland and adds: "But we're not spending it wisely."

Importing ideas

Mr Bullrich wants to take ideas from the most successful education systems.

He wants to learn from the "exemplary" teacher training approach in Finland and is copying some of the recruitment incentives used in Singapore to get the best graduates into teaching.

Image copyrightISTOCK

Image captionArgentina has been overtaken by international education competitors such as Vietnam

Ideas for improving vocational training and skills are being borrowed from Australia, he says.

There are plans for building 400 to 500 new schools, equipped with up-to-date Argentina's tough truths for improving schools - BBC News:

Russ on Reading: A Holiday Gift of Poetry 2016

Russ on Reading: A Holiday Gift of Poetry 2016:

A Holiday Gift of Poetry 2016

Today, I continue a four-year tradition here at Russ on Reading, spreading the joy and wonder of the holiday season through poetry. Happy Holidays and a joyous and fulfilling New Year to all of my loyal readers. One way to ensure joy in the coming year is to bring more poetry into your lives and into your classroom. Here are three to get you started.


I wrote this poem for my second grade students more than 20 years ago. It was inspired by a refrain I heard them saying during the week before Christmas.

I Just Can’t Wait for Christmas

By Russ Walsh

I just can’t wait.

I just can’t wait.

I just can’t wait

For Christmas!

I just can’t wait for Christmas; 

Oh please, please, get here fast

With candy, toys, and presents

It’s going to be a blast.

I just can’t wait.

I just can’t wait.

I just can’t wait

For Christmas!

I just can’t wait for Christmas;

Mom says to settle down,

But how can I be patient

When Santa’s due in town?

I just can’t wait.

I just can’t wait.

I just can’t wait

For Christmas!

I just can’t wait for Christmas;

Did Santa get my letter?

I hope I get that brand-new bike

And not another sweater!

I just can’t wait.

I just can’t wait.

I just can’t wait

For Christmas!

I just can’t wait for Christmas;

And now it’s Christmas Eve.

Dad just hauled me off to bed

A tuggin’ at my sleeve.

I just can’t wait.

I just can’t wait.

I just can’t wait

For Christmas!

And now I’m lying in my bed

Staring out at a full moon

Trying hard to get to sleep.

Oh! Christmas please come soon.

‘Cause…

I just can’t wait.

I just can’t wait.

I just can’t wait

For Christmas!

Here is one from a favorite poet of my middle school students.

Mistletoe

by Walter De La MareRuss on Reading: A Holiday Gift of Poetry 2016:

The Inevitable Rise of Trumplandia: Market Ideology Ate Our Democracy

The Inevitable Rise of Trumplandia: Market Ideology Ate Our Democracy:

The Inevitable Rise of Trumplandia: Market Ideology Ate Our Democracy

Writing in 2000 specifically about education reform, Michael Engel [1] acknowledges: "Market ideology has triumphed over democratic values not because of its superiority as a theory of society but in part because in a capitalist system it has an inherent advantage."

Nearly four decades before Engel's claim, Raymond E. Callahan [2] confronted what he labeled the cult of efficiency in education:

The tragedy itself was fourfold: that educational questions were subordinated to business considerations; that administrators were produced who were not, in any true sense, educators; that a scientific label was put on some very unscientific and dubious methods and practices; and that an anti-intellectual climate, already prevalent, was strengthened. 

What is disturbingly clear here is that despite the enduring claims that universal public education  --  often attributed to the idealistic foresight of  framer of the Constitution Thomas Jefferson  --  serves our democracy, public schooling has in fact worked almost entirely in the service of market ideology: sorting children for the workforce and instilling compliance in those young people become good and compliant workers [3].

And here we have a subset of the entire country.

While many are wringing their hands about the post-truth US, our newly minted Trumplandia is not anything new, but the logical outcome of who we have always The Inevitable Rise of Trumplandia: Market Ideology Ate Our Democracy:

TBFURMAN: The Joe Moore Email To Rahm

TBFURMAN: The Joe Moore Email To Rahm:

The Joe Moore Email To Rahm

Enjoying this email dump immensely.

Joe Moore is a dishonest man; I've said it publicly, to his face, in front of people. And it's true. I will definitely give him credit, though, for being a true believer in the magic of charters. 

By the way, it isn't clear to me that the current principal of Sullivan is or was aware that the alderman was going to run with the "ESL Magnet" program as an argument to open a Noble Street charter in the ward. I've stopped caring, a little bit. I realize that you have to work with the alderman when you're running a school in a ward, but I've seen too much of the sausage-making. That episode where the three neighborhood schools and the alderman wanted to gobble up Field School to bring in the out-of-ward shinyTBFURMAN: The Joe Moore Email To Rahm:

Education: Training for Passivity, Not Democracy | BustED Pencils

Education: Training for Passivity, Not Democracy | BustED Pencils:

Education: Training for Passivity, Not Democracy

Oppressive Atmosphere in Schools

School is quite regimented and authoritarian. Students are told when they can use the bathroom or blow their noses. They are often asked what they want to be or how much money they want to make, but they are seldom asked what kind of world they want to live in and how they plan on contributing to it. Students have not been given the chance to imagine a world that is different from this one. They do not even question whether it should be different. They are taught to accept the world, its injustices and power structure as it is. It is something they are encouraged to fit into instead of challenge. Emphasis is placed on being college and career ready, which is fine, but to the exclusion of changing the world. They are taught to revere authority, but never taught to when it is appropriate to question those in authority. Teachers, counselors, administrators, even cops and security guards force a worldview and conduct that is restrictive and oppressive, which does not foster a culture of democracy.

Of course structure is important for children, however, there should be a gradual release of containment as they get older. The high school student is as regimented as the elementary school student except in the most trivial of ways. In fact, as they get older, the more they are feared instead of trusted. They don’t even know they are stifled. It’s all they know and they act out in class and towards authority figures. At best, they know how to shut up and follow directions. This has consequences beyond the class.

They actually believe that they have no constitutional rights because they are minors. Education: Training for Passivity, Not Democracy | BustED Pencils:

Audio: School districts scrambling to stop student enrollment drops | 89.3 KPCC

Audio: School districts scrambling to stop student enrollment drops | 89.3 KPCC:

Audio: School districts scrambling to stop student enrollment drops 

A new report from the Governor’s Department of Finance predicts significant increases and drops in student enrollment in Southern California counties in the coming years.

In the next five years, student enrollment will go down in Los Angeles County by 61,000 students and by 21,000 students in Orange County. The report says it’s because of lower birth rates and families moving out of those areas.

“This is a big deal for districts,” said University of Southern California School of Education Professor Julie Marsh.

Losing students means losing the per-student state funds that disappear with the students, she said, and that financial pressure is compounded by rising employee pensions and rising costs for some programs such as special education.

School districts are taking several approaches to the enrollment drop. Many are cutting costs and some staff. Some school officials are asking themselves how they can keep students from leaving.

“How do you attract back students from other districts, from privates, from charters? That could lead to a whole bunch of things,” like offering programs that are attractive to some parents, such as dual language immersion programs and arts instruction, Marsh said.

El Segundo Unified doesn’t have a large enrollment decline, but it is adopting an approach that others with declining enrollment are taking: be nimble.

“As we see trends in our enrollment or patterns, what we try to do is respond Audio: School districts scrambling to stop student enrollment drops | 89.3 KPCC:

Public Schools Are Safe Havens For Students - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education)

Public Schools Are Safe Havens For Students - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education):

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Urges "Safe Haven" Designation for California's 10,500 Public Schools

SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today released a letter encouraging all California public schools to be declared “safe havens” for students and their parents and to remind families about existing laws that protect students’ records from questions about immigration status.

“Unfortunately, since the presidential election, reports of bullying, harassment, and intimidation of K-12 students based on immigration status, religious, or ethnic identification are on the rise,” Torlakson said in the letter distributed to county and school district superintendents, charter school administrators, and principals.

“As State Superintendent of Public Instruction, safety is my top priority. And my strongest commitment to you, your students, and their families is that schools remain safe places to learn. California serves more than 6.2 million kindergarten through twelfth grade students with the most diverse population in the nation.”

The letter encourages all parents and guardians to fully participate in their school communities. Engaged parents play a key role in helping students succeed on their way to 21st century careers and college, Torlakson said.

The California Department of Education (CDE) will continue to provide local educational agencies (LEAs) with guidelines about existing laws that protect student records, including the 1984 Plyler v. Doe U.S. Supreme Court decision that requires schools to enroll all eligible children regardless of immigration status.

Schools must verify a student’s age and residency, but they have extensive flexibility in what documents are used and do not need to use pertaining to immigration status. No records can be released to law enforcement without a parent’s written permission, a court order, or subpoena. Schools should not collect or maintain any documents pertaining to immigration status, Torlakson said.

Some California schools districts, including the Los Angeles Unified School District and Sacramento City Unified School District, have declared themselves safe havens and let their communities know they will maintain a welcoming environment for all students and parents.

The full letter is available on the California Department of Education (CDE) Public Schools Remain Safe Havens Web page.

# # # #

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

Public Schools Are Safe Havens For Students - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education):

Please Join Us – Connecticut United for Strong Public Schools | Poetic Justice

Please Join Us – Connecticut United for Strong Public Schools | Poetic Justice:

Please Join Us – Connecticut United for Strong Public Schools

Connecticut United for Strong Public Schools is a new state-wide group of students, parents, educators and public education advocates working across Connecticut to ensure a quality public education for all children

Find us on Facebook at – Connecticut United for Strong Public Schools

Join us at the Connecticut United for Strong Public Schools Organizing Meeting

January 15, 2018
1pm – 3pm
Atwater Memorial Library
North Branford, CT.

Sign up at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/connecticut-united-for-strong-public-schools-organizing-meeting-tickets-30356269419

Please Join Us – Connecticut United for Strong Public Schools | Poetic Justice:

The Ongoing Resistance to Trump, Neoliberals & Anyone Else Trying to Destroy Our Schools | gadflyonthewallblog

The Ongoing Resistance to Trump, Neoliberals & Anyone Else Trying to Destroy Our Schools | gadflyonthewallblog:

The Ongoing Resistance to Trump, Neoliberals & Anyone Else Trying to Destroy Our Schools

“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no help at all.” —Dale Carnegie

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

-Nelson Mandela

Buck up, Education Activists.

I see that hopeless look on your faces. I see it because it’s the same look reflected back at me in the mirror every morning.

Donald Trump will be our next President, and he’s filling his cabinet with people who are determined to destroy the very offices where he’s putting them in charge.

His Education Secretary doesn’t believe in public schools. His Labor Secretary doesn’t believe in worker’s rights. His Housing chief doesn’t believe in public housing. His head of Environmental Protection doesn’t believe in protecting the environment. Heck! You pick a department and he’s found someone to lead it who doesn’t believe in doing that job!

And to top it all off, he’s got a The Ongoing Resistance to Trump, Neoliberals & Anyone Else Trying to Destroy Our Schools | gadflyonthewallblog: