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Monday, May 22, 2017

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 5/22/17


Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 5/22/17
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Trip Down Memory Lane with Florida’s McKay Vouchers




CURMUDGUCATION: Education's Existential Crisis
by mike simpson / 9min
CURMUDGUCATION: Education's Existential Crisis : Education's Existential Crisis No, it's not the possibility that Betsy DeVos's DeVoucher program may gut public education with the goal of replacing it with privatized school by and for the People Who Matter. Nor is it the policy goal held by some that the whole concept of "school" can be replaced with an array of modules geared to different compet
At West Virginia Public School, AFT President Rips Trump Budget Cuts | MilTech
by mike simpson / 9min
At West Virginia Public School, AFT President Rips Trump Budget Cuts | MilTech : At West Virginia Public School, AFT President Rips Trump Budget Cuts WAR, W.Va.— Following a tour of a McDowell County, W.Va., community school that provides essential services to help lift its disadvantaged students, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten blasted President Trump’s proposed budget
Are Tech & Learning Compatible? | My Island View
by mike simpson / 34min
Are Tech & Learning Compatible? | My Island View : Are Tech & Learning Compatible? I recently read yet another article that questioned the effect of using technology in education. I believe it stated that there are 3.6 million educators using edtech as the basis for the post. The post itself was well done, but throughout my reading I was troubled by what defined an edtech-using educator. How is i
Episode 34: Speaking "Freely" about Social Justice and Faster Pussycat! | BustED Pencils
by mike simpson / 3h
Episode 34: Speaking "Freely" about Social Justice and Faster Pussycat! | BustED Pencils : Speaking "Freely" about Social Justice and Faster Pussycat! Feature Interview: Dr. Kevin Kumashiro joins Tim to talk about his new adventure as a social justice warrior “consultant.” Trending News with Attitude: Free Speech on College Campuses: “That’s Not Right!” What Would Matt Damon’s Mom Say about polit
Mitchell Robinson: The “Brave New World” of Teacher Evaluation | Eclectablog
by mike simpson / 3h
The “Brave New World” of Teacher Evaluation | Eclectablog : The “Brave New World” of Teacher Evaluation from: https://today.ucf.edu/deal-moves-teaching-simulator-developed-at-ucf-into-private-sector/ Just when you think the masters of the universe who run the corporate reform movement can’t be even more clueless, you catch wind of the newest effort to turn education into a profit-generating endea
Teachable Moment – Have You Heard
by mike simpson / 5h
Teachable Moment – Have You Heard : Teachable Moment A Massachusetts charter school suspends its controversial discipline policy. But parent complaints about the state’s largest charter are nothing new and are usually ignored… BREAKING: that Massachusetts charter school that was disciplining Black students for the way they braid their hair, and using equity-ish ling as justification has officiall
California Turnip the Beet Award Recipients - Summer Meal Programs (CA Dept of Education)
by mike simpson / 6h
California Turnip the Beet Award Recipients - Summer Meal Programs (CA Dept of Education) : California Turnip the Beet Award Recipients An annual listing of the California Turnip the Beet Award winners. Program Details The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) recently awarded the first-ever Turnip the Beet awards to Summer Meal Program sponsors across the nation
The New York Times on “The Little Known Statistician” Who Passed | VAMboozled!
by mike simpson / 7h
The New York Times on “The Little Known Statistician” Who Passed | VAMboozled! : The New York Times on “The Little Known Statistician” Who Passed As many of you may recall, I wrote a post last March about the passing of William L. Sanders at age 74. Sanders developed the Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS) — the value-added model (VAM) on which I have conducted most of my research (se
Joint Meeting of the California Practitioners Advisory Group and the State Board of Education Notice and Agenda, June 2017 - California Practitioners Advisory Group (CA Dept of Education)
by mike simpson / 7h
CPAG Meeting Notice and Agenda, June 2017 - California Practitioners Advisory Group (CA Dept of Education) : Joint Meeting of the California Practitioners Advisory Group and the State Board of Education AGENDA June 1, 2017 California Practitioners Advisory Group Members Jo Ann Isken, Chair Ed Manansala, Vice Chair Melissa Agudelo Jorge Aguilar Mariana Astorga-Almanza Ulises Garcia Carolina Hernan
What ‘school choice’ means in the era of Trump and DeVos - The Washington Post
by mike simpson / 7h
What ‘school choice’ means in the era of Trump and DeVos - The Washington Post : What ‘school choice’ means in the era of Trump and DeVos If President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have made one thing clear when it comes to education policy, it is this: Their priority is expanding “school choice.” What is that, exactly? This is a primer about the school choice movement, which supporte
Mandatory Retention Laws Are Failing Students
by mike simpson / 8h
Mandatory Retention Laws Are Failing Students : Mandatory Retention Laws Are Failing Students Any teacher could tell you that a good education inspires students’ natural curiosity, imagination, and desire to learn, and no bubble test can truly capture any one of these traits. Yet—and despite what many educators already know—more and more states are adopting laws that require students to repeat th
Gov. Brown’s proposal delays $1 billion for schools until 2019 | EdSource
by mike simpson / 8h
Gov. Brown’s proposal delays $1 billion for schools until 2019 | EdSource : Gov. Brown's proposal delays $1 billion for schools until 2019 Regarding the $1 billion in one-time funding for K-12 schools that Gov. Jerry Brown proposed last week in his 2017-18 budget: The word is don’t count on it – at least not next year. In what a school consultant is calling a “bait and switch,” the Department of
U.S. Education Secretary to Roll Out Plan to Destroy Public Schools to Her Cult | Fox 59
by mike simpson / 8h
U.S. Education Secretary to roll out school choice plan in Indy | Fox 59 : U.S. Education Secretary to Roll Out Plan to Destroy Public Schools to Her Cult In Indy INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Before she was picked by President Trump to head up the U.S. Department of Education, Betsy DeVos was the chairwoman of the American Federal for Children, a pro-school choice lobbying group. When she visits Indianap
Head of Democrats For Education Reform blasts DeVos, calls push for vouchers a ‘sideshow’ | Chalkbeat
by mike simpson / 9h
Head of Democrats For Education Reform blasts DeVos, calls push for vouchers a ‘sideshow’ | Chalkbeat : Head of Democrats For Education Reform blasts DeVos, calls push for vouchers a ‘sideshow’ It’s a tough time to be a Democrat for education reform. After eight years with one of the original DFER members, President Obama, in the White House, the well-financed organization is under siege from bot
Teacher licensing overhaul sent back for negotiations after veto. But for teachers in limbo, changes can’t come soon enough | MinnPost
by mike simpson / 9h
Teacher licensing overhaul sent back for negotiations after veto. But for teachers in limbo, changes can’t come soon enough | MinnPost : Teacher licensing overhaul sent back for negotiations after veto. But for teachers in limbo, changes can’t come soon enough Thursday morning, Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed a long-awaited bill to reform the state’s broken teacher licensing system. The bill made its way
Connecticut elected officials propose record budget cuts to public colleges and universities - Wait What?
by mike simpson / 10h
Connecticut elected officials propose record budget cuts to public colleges and universities - Wait What? : Connecticut elected officials propose record budget cuts to public colleges and universities While remaining dedicated to coddling the rich by refusing to require them to pay their fair share in taxes, Governor Malloy and members of the Connecticut General Assembly have offered up state bud
SB1 is a bad school funding bill and that’s not crazy talk. | Fred Klonsky
by mike simpson / 10h
SB1 is a bad school funding bill and that’s not crazy talk. | Fred Klonsky : SB1 is a bad school funding bill and that’s not crazy talk. If I write about pension theft in Illinois someone inevitably will tell me that all I ever talk about is pensions and I’m selfish and I don’t care about the needs of others. Of course, the current attack on pensions is not directed at folks like me who are alrea
Controversial Debate: “Choice is essential to improving education in the US” – Cloaking Inequity
by mike simpson / 10h
Controversial Debate: “Choice is essential to improving education in the US” – Cloaking Inequity : Controversial Debate: “Choice is essential to improving education in the US” Did we win the school choice debate that I almost missed? A Better Chicago, a foundation that seeks to “empower high performing nonprofits that are dramatically improving educational opportunities for low income Chicagoans”
Nick Melvoin Takes Up A Seat On The Board Of An Entity He Considers “Abstract” – redqueeninla
by mike simpson / 10h
Nick Melvoin Takes Up A Seat On The Board Of An Entity He Considers “Abstract” – redqueeninla : Nick Melvoin Takes Up A Seat On The Board Of An Entity He Considers “Abstract” It never was very clear why someone who attended private primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools, and then attended law school on a scholarship intended for the disadvantaged – it never made a lot of sense why he woul
Vivid Dreams and Hard Work | The Jose Vilson
by mike simpson / 10h
Vivid Dreams and Hard Work | The Jose Vilson : Vivid Dreams and Hard Work “My dreams is vivid, work hard to live it …” – Christopher “Biggie” Wallace on Shaq’s “You Can’t Stop The Reign” My kids call Biggie old school. That floors me every time I hear it. I’ve heard that said for the last 12 years. Every so often, I catch myself rhyming a Biggie lyric aloud to them, which always astonishes them.
Trip Down Memory Lane with Florida’s McKay Vouchers
by mike simpson / 11h
Trip Down Memory Lane with Florida’s McKay Vouchers : Trip Down Memory Lane with Florida’s McKay Vouchers One more awful bill in Florida is being used to push public schools towards privatization and poor schooling for students. Said to be 55 bills in one, HB 7069 use words like “starvation” to reference funding for public schools. Charters are called “Schools of Hope” even though Florida’s chart

YESTERDAY

School Choice Leads to Segregation – Have You Heard
by mike simpson / 23h
School Choice Leads to Segregation – Have You Heard : "School Choice Leads to Segregation" School Choice Leads to Segregation Don’t believe me? Pay a visit to Betsy DeVos’ hometown… To see for yourself how school choice leads to segregation, I recommend a visit to Betsy DeVos’ hometown of Holland, MI. Here, two decades of the policies that the Trump/DeVos education budget now wants to take nation
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 5/21/17
by mike simpson / 1d
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 5/21/17 Featured Post Hialeah charter schools offer parents incentives for supporting education bill | Miami Herald David Rosenberg's testimony on what should be included in the state's

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CURMUDGUCATION: Education's Existential Crisis

CURMUDGUCATION: Education's Existential Crisis:

Education's Existential Crisis

Image result for Existential Crisis

No, it's not the possibility that Betsy DeVos's DeVoucher program may gut public education with the goal of replacing it with privatized school by and for the People Who Matter. Nor is it the policy goal held by some that the whole concept of "school" can be replaced with an array of modules geared to different competencies that can be accessed and completed on line at the time and place of the student's choosing. It's not even the steady clamping shut of the pipeline that provides actual trained professional teachers, without whom a school is difficult to put together.




No, the biggest existential threat strikes at the very foundation of education, the foundation of knowledge itself.

Plenty of bytes have been burned discussing a post-fact society, a culture where truth no longer matters. And that nibbles at the edges of what we're talking about.

This Vox piece by David Roberts (Vox's climate and science reporter) is long and thorough, but here's the key idea. He sets it up by recapping a classic Rush Limbaugh rant from 2009, in which Limbaugh claims that we live in two universe, and one is a universe of lies (he was talking about climate science, but at this point, it CURMUDGUCATION: Education's Existential Crisis:


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At West Virginia Public School, AFT President Rips Trump Budget Cuts | MilTech

At West Virginia Public School, AFT President Rips Trump Budget Cuts | MilTech:

At West Virginia Public School, AFT President Rips Trump Budget Cuts

Image result for American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten

WAR, W.Va.—Following a tour of a McDowell County, W.Va., community school that provides essential services to help lift its disadvantaged students, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten blasted President Trump’s proposed budget cuts, which would directly impede the ability of the school to provide many of its programs.
One of the most recent accomplishments of Reconnecting McDowell—a 125-member public-private partnership created by the AFT and Gayle Manchin, now secretary of the West Virginia Education and the Arts Department—is the conversion of Southside K-8 School into a community school with wraparound health and social services and academic support.
“Southside K-8 is a public school in rural, poor McDowell County, whose students depend on federal funding for the additional resources and supports they need to thrive. Today we saw programs that would be axed under the cruel, catastrophic budget cuts the Trump administration wants,” Weingarten said.
Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have proposed a $10.6 billion cut in federal education funding and a more than $1 billion increase for vouchers and other school choice options.
“If Trump and DeVos bothered to venture out to rural McDowell, they would see that public schools are the only choice and that slashing vital investments that directly help students like those at Southside K-8 is like a dagger to the heart,” Weingarten said.
Weingarten noted that McDowell County went for Trump in the November election because voters believed his promises to help the struggling residents economically.
“If education is the economic development engine, which I believe, then cutting public education to smithereens puts the brakes on any possible progress,” she said.
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Are Tech & Learning Compatible? | My Island View

Are Tech & Learning Compatible? | My Island View:

Are Tech & Learning Compatible?

Image result for wired teachers
I recently read yet another article that questioned the effect of using technology in education. I believe it stated that there are 3.6 million educators using edtech as the basis for the post. The post itself was well done, but throughout my reading I was troubled by what defined an edtech-using educator. How is it determined that an educator is truly an edtech user?
I have been in meetings where educators had to fill out questionnaires asking about their technology experience. They claimed to be technology-using educators based solely on their use of Power Point for lectures. Technically using Power Point for a lecture does require technology, but that is like claiming to be a social media guru after using Facebook to only follow some family members who post their family vacation pictures at every opportunity.
If we were to do a survey of ten educators who claim to be edtech-users and six of them base their claim on power point lectures alone, and two use tech to send digital worksheets to their students, and the final two educators have students using tech apps for collaboration, curation, communication and creation of content, we could confidently claim that Edtech is not having a great effect on learning. It would be effective for probably less than 20% of the students. The next obvious Are Tech & Learning Compatible? | My Island View:
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Episode 34: Speaking "Freely" about Social Justice and Faster Pussycat! | BustED Pencils

Episode 34: Speaking "Freely" about Social Justice and Faster Pussycat! | BustED Pencils:

Speaking "Freely" about Social Justice and Faster Pussycat! 


Feature Interview: Dr. Kevin Kumashiro joins Tim to talk about his new adventure as a social justice warrior “consultant.”
Trending News with Attitude: Free Speech on College Campuses: “That’s Not Right!”
What Would Matt Damon’s Mom Say about politicians meddling with college courses?
Activist of the Week: Justin Oakley talks Education Talk and Faster Pussycat?: Alison McDowell.
And of course a Moment of Zinn…
Let’s Bust Some Pencils!
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 Episode 34: Speaking "Freely" about Social Justice and Faster Pussycat! | BustED Pencils:
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Mitchell Robinson: The “Brave New World” of Teacher Evaluation | Eclectablog

The “Brave New World” of Teacher Evaluation | Eclectablog:

The “Brave New World” of Teacher Evaluation

from: https://today.ucf.edu/deal-moves-teaching-simulator-developed-at-ucf-into-private-sector/

Just when you think the masters of the universe who run the corporate reform movement can’t be even more clueless, you catch wind of the newest effort to turn education into a profit-generating endeavor–this time, a hare-brained scheme to evaluate student teachers, by…and I swear I’m not making this up…observing them as they pretend to teach…wait for it…a fake “classroom” of avatars, in a virtual reality environment.
Avatars.

Avatars!

AVATARS!!!!!

Don’t believe it? Neither did I until I took a look at the new “National Observational Teaching Exam,” or NOTE, brought to you by the Educational Testing Service (ETS)–the same company that brings us the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), the SAT, the PRAXIS tests, the AP Exams, and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
NOTE works like this: a teacher candidate (student teacher) “teaches” a sample lesson for 6-7 minutes using a “virtual class” populated by 5-6 “avatar students,” and receives feedback from an artificial intelligence program. The NOTE system is a combination of video production and “advanced technology” developed by the US Military, according to Mark Atkinson, the CEO of the tech firm Mursion, Inc., which is responsible for the creation of the avatars and virtual reality environment used in NOTE.
ETS describes NOTE as a program that promises to “measure a teaching candidate’s readiness to teach in ways that are representative of real-life teaching experiences.” The operative word here is “representative,” as the teacher candidates are not assessed by observing their work in an actual The “Brave New World” of Teacher Evaluation | Eclectablog:


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Teachable Moment – Have You Heard

Teachable Moment – Have You Heard:

Teachable Moment

Related image

A Massachusetts charter school suspends its controversial discipline policy. But parent complaints about the state’s largest charter are nothing new and are usually ignored…



BREAKING: that Massachusetts charter school that was disciplining Black students for the way they braid their hair, and using equity-ish ling as justification has officially backed down. Trustees voted last night to suspend the controversial and nonsensical policy. Their decision wasn’t exactly a surprise; seemingly every single legal advocate, including Attorney General Maura Healey, had weighed in. But Mystic Valley’s change of heart also raises a question, or make that hundreds of questions. Over the years, the state has amassed hundreds of complaints from parents about the way that the trustees run this school, and those complaints seem to have gone exactly nowhere. To your personalized learning device, reader. It’s teachable moment time.


When news broke about Mystic Valley’s harsh punishment of students over hairstyles, including certifiably adorbs twins Mya and Deanna Cook, there was a quick and perfectly justifiable media pile-on. But missing from most of these stories was any context about this school. Mystic Valley Charter School isn’t some run-amok fluke. It’s the largest charter school in Massachusetts, with the longest waiting list. And this is far Teachable Moment – Have You Heard:
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California Turnip the Beet Award Recipients - Summer Meal Programs (CA Dept of Education)

California Turnip the Beet Award Recipients - Summer Meal Programs (CA Dept of Education):

California Turnip the Beet Award Recipients
An annual listing of the California Turnip the Beet Award winners.


Program Details

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) recently awarded the first-ever Turnip the Beet awards to Summer Meal Program sponsors across the nation who participate in the National School Lunch Program Seamless Summer Option (SSO) or the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP).
The awards recognize outstanding Summer Meal Program sponsors who work hard to offer high-quality meals that are appetizing, appealing, and nutritious.
The California Department of Education Nutrition Services Division congratulates all the 2016 California Turnip the Beet award recipients for their efforts to provide high-quality meals during the summer months.

Gold Turnip the Beet Awardee

Lakeside Union School District Seamless Summer Option
The Lakeside Union School District Summerside Café serves high-quality, kid-friendly menu items and involves parents to help increase participation in summer meals. The school district collaborates with local partners to offer family barbecues, salad bars, and kid-friendly breakfast offerings. Summertime meal services include nutrition education components delivered to children and their families, along with a daily healthy cooking lesson.

Silver Turnip the Beet Awardees

Manteca Unified Nutrition Education Seamless Summer Option
Manteca Unified Nutrition Education uses community partners, grant resources and existing staff to provide enrichment, health and physical activities at the summer meal locations. Due to the success and increase in meal participation of the daily barbecues, the district will offer additional barbecue sites and enrichment activities for the 2017 SSO.
West Contra Costa Unified School District Seamless Summer Option
West Contra Costa Unified School District partners with the Contra Costa Food Bank to distribute fresh produce to needy families at more than 10 summer meal sites. They serve 323,577 nutritious summer meals and snacks at 71 sites in low-income neighborhoods. Meal services at their park locations are supported by a mobile kitchen, and children are able to receive hot menu entrees such as green chili tamales, teriyaki chicken and brown rice, chicken and bean sopas, and whole grain rotini bolognese. Meals also include the choice of fresh sides and salads. Quality oriented menus include a greater variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, prepared and offered in numerous ways,and make up over 75 percent of the offerings.
Natomas Unified School District Nutrition Services Seamless Summer Option
As the second most diverse school district in the nation, Natomas Unified School District Nutrition Services offers nutritious choices that appeal to the community. Throughout the summer they host kick-off events to introduce students to their neighborhood farmers. The farmers hand out produce to families alongside the barbeques and festivities. Partnering with the USDA, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the Dairy Council of California, the Center for Ecoliteracy, and local farmers the district is able to provide the community with an opportunity to celebrate summer meals and all that Sacramento’s food growers have to offer.
Questions:   Nutrition Services Division | sfsp@cde.ca.gov | 916-322-8323
Last Reviewed: Monday, May 22, 2017


 California Turnip the Beet Award Recipients - Summer Meal Programs (CA Dept of Education):
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The New York Times on “The Little Known Statistician” Who Passed | VAMboozled!

The New York Times on “The Little Known Statistician” Who Passed | VAMboozled!:

The New York Times on “The Little Known Statistician” Who Passed

William-L.-Sanders

As many of you may recall, I wrote a post last March about the passing of William L. Sanders at age 74. Sanders developed the Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS) — the value-added model (VAM) on which I have conducted most of my research (see, for example, here and here) and the VAM at the core of most of the teacher evaluation lawsuits in which I have been (or still am) engaged (see here, here, and here).
Over the weekend, though, The New York Times released a similar piece about Sanders’s passing, titled “The Little-Known Statistician Who Taught Us to Measure Teachers.” Because I had multiple colleagues and blog followers email me (or email me about) this article, I thought I would share it out with all of you, with some additional comments, of course, but also given the comments I already made in my prior post here.
First, I will start by saying that the title of this article is misleading in that what this “little-known” statistician contributed to the field of education was hardly “little” in terms of its size and impact. Rather, Sanders and his associates at SAS Institute Inc. greatly influenced our nation in terms of the last decade of our nation’s educational policies, as largely bent on high-stakes teacher accountability for educational reform. This occurred in large part due to Sanders’s (and others’) lobbying efforts when the federal government ultimately choose to incentivize and de facto require that all states hold their teachers accountable for their value-added, or lack thereof, while attaching high-stakes consequences (e.g., teacher termination) to teachers’ value-added estimates. This, of course, was to ensure educational reform. This occurred at the federal level, as we all likely know, primarily via Race to the Top and the No Child Left Behind Waivers essentially forced upon states when states had to adopt VAMs (or growth models) to The New York Times on “The Little Known Statistician” Who Passed | VAMboozled!:
 
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