Monday, August 2, 2010

Iffy Senate outlook for state aid package - Boston.com

Iffy Senate outlook for state aid package

By Andrew Taylor

Associated Press Writer / August 2, 2010

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WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama's Senate allies are taking one last run at advancing what's left of his tattered jobs agenda.

The $26 billion spending measure would help states and local school boards with their budget problems, but its fate is unclear in advance of a key test vote on breaking a GOP filibuster.

The idea is that money -- $16 billion to help states with their Medicaid budgets and $10 billion to help school districts avoid teacher layoffs -- will help preserve the jobs of public employees, giving a boost to

Durty Handz

JULY 30, 2010

The phrase “by any means necessary” is most often attributed to the late Malcolm X; however it was the French existentialist philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre who in 1963 coined the phrase in his play Dirty Hands:

“I was not the one to invent lies: they were created in a society divided by class and each of us inherited lies when we were born. It is not by refusing to lie that we will abolish lies: it is by eradicating class by any means necessary.”

Now, 30 years after the passing of Monsieur Sartre we are definitely seeing the effects of dirty hands under the tight grip of Mayor Bloomberg on the NYC public school system, and most unfortunately on children in low income communities of color relegated to attending historically under-performing schools. It would be all too easy to attempt to rest the blame for the abomination that has become public education on the Obama nation, but in actuality for our children these spurious outcomes were never birds in the hand, they remained birds in the Bush.

Last year, both students and families were lulled into the false security of thinking that NYC schools were doing better than ever before: 8th grade passing scores were 57% in ELA and 71% in math. Fast forward to 2010 and the scores reveal that in reality only 38% of 8th graders are

QUICK Hits � The Quick and the Ed

QUICK Hits

by Forrest Hinton

Quick Hits is a short compilation of question-raising news stories, blog posts, and video clips that Education Sector team members are reading and viewing each day.

Jay Greene and Checker Finn are dueling it out over the Common Core education standards. Who’s going to win this one in the long-term? (Jay P. Greene’s Blog)
Why is it that during hard times, some of the best innovation and remarkable improvements are made in a lot of organizations—except for traditional public school systems? (Education Innovating)
Is the college admissions interview making a modest comeback? How do you distinguish between all those 4.0 students anyway? (The Washington Post)
A Viable Pensions Alternative: Cash-Balance Plans? (Teacher Beat)
A food bill we need? Michelle Obama’s take on school lunch reform. (The Washington Post)

Explaining to middle schoolers why fair isn’t always equal | GothamSchools

Explaining to middle schoolers why fair isn’t always equal

by Maura Walz

Older M.S. 223 students working with the Summer Bridge program made this bulletin board to welcome the new sixth-graders. (Photo courtesy M.S. 223)

School districts around the country are increasingly trying to bring special education students into mainstream classrooms. The challenges this presents — and the possible benefits — were on display last week inside a summer school classroom in the Bronx.
Each summer, the South Bronx’s M.S. 223 brings in as many of its rising sixth-graders as it can find for a

Progress on vacancies at Promise Academies | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Progress on vacancies at Promise Academies

by Paul Socolar

Those teacher vacancies at Promise Academies, still open in late July, are not going unfilled.
District officials reported last week that they were “in the final stages of the hiring process” at the District’s six Promise Academies, and that the large numbers of openings posted on the District’s online vacancies list had been filled.
Last Monday, District spokesperson Fernando Gallard reported the following numbers of vacancies:
read more

School Tech Connect: Call Now To Keep Teachers Working

Call Now To Keep Teachers Working

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

It's not too late to weigh in on the education jobs bill that's in the senate. They're going to vote tonight, so call, particularly if you are represented by a Republican senator.

Here's an NEA-sponsored number that helps you connect to your senator. It gives you a little coaching first.

1-866-608-6355

The job you save may be your own. It doesn't actually matter: kids all over the country need more teachers and smaller classes. Call right now.

If you've never called your senator, it couldn't be any easier. Here's a recording of me calling Senator Burris (D-IL). I clipped the parts where the senator's staffer was talking; the whole call lasted about 20 seconds.

I would have been a little less cheerful if my senator were a Republican because most Republicans are going to vote against this bill.

Call Now!

*I am not affiliated with or a member of the NEA.If I were still a teacher, I would be.

District hopes changes boost dismal alternative ed graduation rates | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

District hopes changes boost dismal alternative ed graduation rates

by Dale Mezzacappa

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More than one out of every 10 students in the School District enrolls in an alternative school at some point during their high school years, according to a recent study of this burgeoning network of schools. But researchers found that low percentages of students who cycle through these schools – many of which are designed to recapture dropouts – actually earn their diplomas.

The study, by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., has led a watchdog committee mandated under the state takeover for monitoring academic performance to

Hess-tify! � The Quick and the Ed

Hess-tify!

by Kevin Carey

While I’ve enjoyed Rick Hess’s belated entry into the edu-blogosphere, many of his posts still read more like op-eds than true bloggish give-and-take. That changed today with his brutal takedown of Columbia University professor Aaron Pallas’s attack on the DCPS IMPACT teacher evaluation system. Soon after the high-profile announcement that 165 DCPS teachers were being fired based on IMPACT scores, Pallas argued that the value-added test score component of IMPACT was “idiotic.” The problem, as Hess notes, is that Pallas has no idea how IMPACT’s value-added measures actually work and

State releases performance rating for every Oregon public school | OregonLive.com

State releases performance rating for every Oregon public school

Published: Monday, August 02, 2010, 10:00 AM Updated: Monday, August 02, 2010, 10:02 AM

Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian
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Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian

The state released federally mandated performance ratings for every Oregon public school this morning.

The ratings, required by the No Child Left Behind law, are based largely on how many students pass state reading and math tests. At first blush, this year's ratings suggest high schools made significant improvements during the past school year. That would be a welcome change after years of stagnant results in 10th-grade test scores.

A record number of high schools -- 45 percent -- met every performance target this year.

The surge in high school achievement was led by schools includingSouthridge High of Beaverton, which made dramatic gains in reading among its special education students, Hispanic students and those learning English as a second language, and Forest Grove High, where most students are poor and half are Latino and where students in every demographic group turned in strong reading and math performances this year.

Oregon school performance rates

» See performance ratings for every Oregon public school

Statewide, 78 schools face consequences such as having to offer students free tutoring or priority rights to transfer to another school because they have chronically fallen short of performance standards. That represents more Oregon schools under federal sanctions than ever before. Only schools that receive federal Title I funds to help disadvantaged students are hit with consequences for missing No Child Left Behind targets.

The largest of those are Salem's McKay High School and four Salem middle schools, most of which have fallen short of federal performance standards for five straight years.

In the Portland area, the biggest schools facing consequences for chronically failing to meet performance targets include Ron Russell Middle School in Southeast Portland, which must offer

This Week In Education: Thompson: Mr. President, Don't Sell Yourself Short

Thompson: Mr. President, Don't Sell Yourself Short

by john thompson

Surely President Obama doesn't believe what he told the Urban League last week -- that the Race to the Top is the single most important thing his administration has done to help schools. The RttT gamble could fail or succeed but it would have to be one of the great miracles of social innovation to compete with Michelle Obama's health and nutrition initiatives much less the Recovery Act, which saved districts from bankruptcy and more. Mr.

Senate: Offsets Problem In Murray-Harkin Amendment?

by Alexander Russo

CEF just put out a letter in support of the Murray-Harkin amendment that would give $10B to states to spend on education, but includes the following

National Journal Online -- Education Experts -- Do Competitive Grants Hurt Equal Opportunity?

Do Competitive Grants Hurt Equal Opportunity?

Last week, a coalition of prominent civil rights groups released a new framework for education reform that said the Obama administration is pushing policies that will exacerbate inequality. In particular, the coalition's framework takes issue with the administration's signature reform initiative -- the federal grant competition Race to the Top -- and the general emphasis on competitive-grant funding. In this troubled economic environment, most low-income and minority children will be left behind under "competitive incentive" federal policies, they argue.

Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus asserted that civil rights groups were picking the wrong fight with President Obama and should be cheering his policies, not picking them apart. Obama, who spoke to the National Urban League, one of the member groups, later in the week, defended his education reform policies, calling Race to the Top the single most important thing his administration has done in education.

The coalition says that competitive grants will always benefit the better-off states and localities, which have more resources to innovate and to compete for grants. Are competitive-grant programs likely to exacerbate inequality in the American education system? Should the administration modify its proposals for education reform to adopt any of the ideas offered in the new framework?

-- Eliza Krigman, NationalJournal.com

Diane Ravitch responded to Do Competitive Grants Hurt Equal Opportunity? on August 2, 2010 11:53 AM

Competitions Favor the Strong Competitions are always won by the strong, never the weak. The civil rights coalition statement pointed out that millions of poor and minority children live in states that will lose the Race to the Top, as well as those that fail to win competitive grants under the Blueprint. Competition does not lead to

Tom Vander Ark responded to Do Competitive Grants Hurt Equal Opportunity? on August 2, 2010 10:23 AM

Reduce Barriers, Promote Incentives When a system is broken, dysfunctional, and inequitable, investors with a long term view--governments and foundations--needs to take strategic action to promote improvement. That's exactly what Ed.gov did with RttT and i3. Guidelines specifically focused on efforts that will benefit low income and minority students. Proposals and policy changes indicate that the concept worked even better than expected--most states now have a comprehensive strategy to raise standards, use data to drive improvement, intervene in low performing schools, expand options, and improve teacher effectiveness. The worst possible next step, as proposed by the Opportunity lobby,...

Chester E. Finn, Jr. responded to Do Competitive Grants Hurt Equal Opportunity? on August 2, 2010 09:42 AM

Failed Imagination--and Memory The Obama administration's education-reform agenda was already in trouble with the teacher unions. Now it's in trouble with the old-line civil rights community, too. I'm tempted to say this is clear proof of the agenda's wisdom and promise as well as the administration's pluck. But I won't. Instead, I'll mourn the inability of these groups to grasp what is really in the interests of poor and minority kids--and their failure, almost half a century after ESEA was first enacted (and the Coleman Report released), to see that the old input-centric approach to education reform doesn't work. To understand (and...

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Monday, August 2, 2010