“Income achievement gap” almost double black-white achievement gap | EdSource Extra!

“Income achievement gap” almost double black-white achievement gap | EdSource Extra!:

“Income achievement gap” almost double black-white achievement gap

November 17th, 2011 | 5 Comments

By Louis Freedberg ~ EdSource Extra

Photo by Jennifer Kiernan

In a dramatic illustration of the impact of income inequality on how children do in school, the achievement gap between children from high and low income families is far higher than the achievement gap between black and white students, a pathbreaking research report from Stanford University has shown.

The report by Sean Reardon, a Stanford professor of education and sociology, shows that the income achievement gap—the difference in the average standardized scores between children from families at the 10th percentile of income distribution and children at the 90th percentile—is now “nearly twice as large as the black-white achievement gap.”

A half century ago, the situation was just the reverse. The black-white gap was one and a hal

All Things Education: In Defense of Flipping the Classroom & the Lecture

All Things Education: In Defense of Flipping the Classroom & the Lecture:

In Defense of Flipping the Classroom & the Lecture

by Rachel Levy

There's been a lot lately about "flipping the classroom," a teaching method where students are to view a lecture at home --ostensibly on-line--of their teacher presenting key concepts while saving doing harder and trickier homework-type assignments for in class. This idea appeals to me and I've been somewhat surprised that so many other education peeps out there whom I follow don't seem as enamored. Not only are they disparaging of the idea, but they seem to think "lecture" is synonymous with torture.

Before I begin I want to offer two caveats. First, the access problem is no small one and if not satisfactorily solved, could easily be a deal breaker. Second, I am envisioning this for older students, not necessarily for younger ones. As I've written about before, considerations of grade, age, and subject are very important in any conversation about teaching and learning.

Now, I wouldn't flip the classroom all of the time (getting stuck in one practice or approach is never a good idea) or get rid of outside-of-class readings and I wouldn't say it's going to "transform education" (puh-lease), nor would

Marian Wright Edelman: Cuts in Education: A Failing Choice

Marian Wright Edelman: Cuts in Education: A Failing Choice:

Marian Wright Edelman: Cuts in Education: A Failing Choice

by Marian Wright Edelman

Aristotle got it right when he said, “All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.” Once upon a time America professed to believe in a strong public education system—at least for some children. And we still talk about public education as the great equalizer and pathway out of poverty but continue to fall far short in assuring millions of poor children, especially those of color, upward mobility.

As if children and families were not suffering enough during this economic downturn, many states are choosing to balance budgets on the backs of children and to shift more costs away from government onto children and families who have fewer means to

Poor Students With Poorly Educated Parents More Disadvantaged In U.S. Than Other Countries:

Poor Students With Poorly Educated Parents More Disadvantaged In U.S. Than Other Countries

First Posted: 11/18/11 12:33 PM ET Updated: 11/18/11 01:24 PM ET

Intuitively, a child's academic performance is likely higher if he or she has highly educated parents, and lower if the child has less educated parents. A new report confirms that's true, but reveals that American children of poorly educated parents do a lot worse than their counterparts in other countries.

Income mobility just within the U.S. has significantly declined since the mid-90s, according to a report this month by the Boston Federal Reserve. In recent years, families were more likely to stay within their income class than before -- the rich are staying rich, and the poor and middle-class are struggling to move up the economic ladder.

But the Pew Economic Mobility Project takes it a step further by asking the question, "Does

Don’t believe the education “reformers” - Salon.com

Don’t believe the education “reformers” - Salon.com:

Don’t believe the education “reformers”

Public schools are better than we think and efforts to quantify teacher performance are typically destructive

BY GENE LYONS

(Credit: iStockphoto/RonTech2000)

TOPICS:EDUCATION

Three mildly heretical thoughts about American education: First, given the impossible assignment we’ve given them—an egalitarian mission in a nation rapidly growing more stratified by income and class—American public schools are probably doing a better job than they ought to be. One big reason is greater professionalism among teachers. A lot has changed since I wrote a Texas Monthly article documenting the awful state of teacher education back in 1979, mostly for the better.

Despite melodramatic pronouncements to the contrary by sundry politicians, tycoons, tycoon/politicians and media-enhanced “reformers” like former Washington, DC schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, the

The Whole Child Blog « Whole Child Education

The Whole Child Blog « Whole Child Education:

We Aren't the Only Ones Concerned About Movement

November 18th, 2011 by Sean Slade

Interestingly, yesterday ASCD SmartBrief came out with the results of an Ed Pulse survey on which school health issue is of primary concern for schools and districts. The results showed physical activity and movement during the school day as a key concern among ASCD SmartBrief readers, second to bullying and other safety concerns. Just over 20 percent of respondents listed physical activity as their primary school health issue.

ASCD SmartBrief brings you the K–12 education news that really matters. Our editors handpick

Assigning Blame for Poor School Performance: A Look Backwards | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Assigning Blame for Poor School Performance: A Look Backwards | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Assigning Blame for Poor School Performance: A Look Backwards

by larrycuban

In an article that Sarah Deschenes, David Tyack and I wrote a decade ago we examined the historical mismatch between schools and the students who attended them. In one section, we laid out how reformers over the past century have framed the problem of children and youth failing in schools. I ask readers to determine which, if any, of these four explanations for failure are currently being used.

The full article and endnotes can be seen at: http://www.tcrecord.org/PrintContent.asp?ContentID=10773#_edn41

A. Students who do poorly in school have character defects or are responsible for their own performance….[L]ocating responsibility in the individual—a response with deep roots in American ways of thinking—has been the dominant way of framing the problem. In the educational system of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this manifested itself in a focus first on character deficiencies, which reformers believed children could overcome, and later on students’ low IQs, which students were thought to have no control over. Labels like ne’e-

An Open Letter to Sacramento’s Central City Residents Sacramento Comprehensive High

An Open Letter to Sacramento’s Central City Residents

Thursday, November 17th

Dear Fellow Parents and Neighbors:

Meetings such as the one held last night at West Campus are an essential part of American Democracy.  We should be proud that so many made time to attend that important meeting, and advocate so eagerly for a part in the process.

SCUSD is looking for opportunities to, “replicate high-performing, high-demand programs; maximize resources and reduce inefficiencies; build on current school turnaround efforts; eliminate student waitlists; and expand schools that have successful programs.” Our organization has been involved in this discussion for many years.  In our considered opinion, there are FIVE possible opportunities for the SCUSD Board to consider, as it relates to facilities utilization at area high schools.  They are as follows:

1)      Maintain the status quo; change no facilities. Work to improve all existing options.

2)      Relocate the West Campus programs and students to the Sacramento High School campus and the Sacramento Charter High School (St. Hope) programs and students to the West Campus campus. A complimentary comprehensive program would be housed on the Sacramento High School campus along with the West Campus community to create a high performing neighborhood high school with West Campus as an integral, yet thematically independent, part of the overall school community.

3)      Co-Locate West Campus and St. HOPE on the Sacramento High School Campus.

4)      Combine Sutter Middle School & Kit Carson Middle School on the Kit Carson campus, and open a new high school at the Sutter campus.  (No change at West Campus or St. HOPE.)

5)      Combine Sutter Middle School & Kit Carson Middle School on the Sutter campus, and open a new high school at the Kit Carson campus.  (No change at West Campus or St. HOPE.)

The Sacramento Comprehensive High School Coalition has formed its own opinion as to which of the five options above best meets the needs of our community: we are advocating for a SWAP of West Campus with St. HOPE.   Our opinion is based on a careful study of the alternatives, and harbors no secret agenda.  We are volunteers to this cause, and we could use your help. 

West Campus would continue to be a small learning community but would have the ability to avail itself to the facilities and opportunities of a comprehensive high school.

Sacramento Charter High School, a successful program in its own right, could be relocated to the West Campus facility rather than continue to underutilize the comprehensive high school campus at Sacramento High School.  While enrollment at Sacramento Charter High School is at approximately 870 students, the Sacramento High School campus it currently inhabits is intended to house more than 2,200 students.  Under this scenario, Sacramento Charter High School would have access to athletic facilities and other amenities on the 17 acre West Campus site, while being located at a campus more appropriately-sized for its enrollment and small school design.

A comprehensive high school with an attendance boundary alongside West Campus would:

·         Give the Central City/old Sacramento High School attendance area a comprehensive pedestrian friendly neighborhood high school.

·         Provide an opportunity to create high performing college prep and other programs, such as a performing arts academy or professional internship programs, which would complement and build on the success of West Campus. This will provide more educational options for students in the Sacramento High School area and help reclaim students who have left the District because of a lack of options.

·         Better serve English Language Learners and Special Ed students.

·         Provide a safe learning environment on a campus big enough to have separate wings of the school for both programs.

·         Offer West Campus students and students at the comprehensive component an opportunity to take advantage of high school amenities, such as a newly refurbished swimming pool, library, theater, gyms, playing fields and state of the art science labs.

·         Make possible the development of more elective courses for West Campus students by providing the necessary "critical mass" for music, art, etc.  This economy of scale would also help preserve programs at West Campus that would be threatened by further expected budget cuts.

·         Relieve the overcrowding at McClatchy High School and Kennedy High School, allowing those schools to grow successful programs that currently have waiting lists.

We sincerely believe the SWAP offers the best long-term solution for our kids, and our community. We encourage those who wish to learn more about this issue, and our Coalition, to visit us on Facebook, or via email schsc@live.com.

Yours sincerely,

Sacramento Comprehensive High School Executive Committee

James Broderick               Bob Hammes                     Phil Pluckebaum               Susie Shields                      Diann Tratos

Blue Jersey:: Vampire Charter Schools, Wealth, and Democracy

Blue Jersey:: Vampire Charter Schools, Wealth, and Democracy:

Vampire Charter Schools, Wealth, and Democracy

by the_promised_land

Check out this post from Daily Kos. It's about the very wealthy in California being dissatisfied that their own neighborhood didn't have its own school district and was mixed in with the great unwashed of the surrounding area, forming a charter school without the approval of the district, and then taking taxpayer money to run their own elite little school district. Like one quarter of US charter schools (!) this charter school doesn't participate in programs providing free or reduced price school lunches for kids. While those programs have been, um, found to have certain problems in Elizabeth as of late, to not participate at all is like saying "no poor kids allowed."

Could a vampire gated school happen here?

I'm no expert on education policy. But I know a few things. I pay a lot of property taxes, which isn't great. But the one saving grace is that we have good schools - though we've been hurt by Chris Christie's aid cuts. I feel better

Frank Lautenberg Hits Up Social Media for Marriage Equality

by Rosi Efthim

Facebook, Twitter: Today Sen. Frank Lautenberg went big on social media to repeal DOMA. I'm sure he'd love it if you shared this to your facebook and helped spread the word on Twitter.

Snapshot looks like old home week. Front row left, wearing white slacks, are our friends Marsha & Louise, whose story of family-minded commitment and love is compelling, are also plaintiffs in Lambda Legal and Garden

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: Crosscut Article about Seattle School Board (the new one)

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: Crosscut Article about Seattle School Board (the new one):

Crosscut Article about Seattle School Board (the new one)

by Melissa Westbrook

I had an article published in today's Crosscut about the elections and what is on the to-do list for our new Board.

In it I mention the issue of deciding about whether there will be a superintendent search or not. I have learned today that Dr. Enfield will not apply if the Board does decide to conduct a search.

I don't quite know what to make of that because it is not a ding against Dr. Enfield to have a search. If she feels that way, then may she isn't the person for the job. The Board's overriding duty is to make sure we have the best person in place for OUR district.

She was appointed interim superintendent in the midst of a crisis as the best person at the time but there were surely no guarantees made so I don't know why she would feel if they create a search it hurts her.

Education | Historian blasts education reforms | Seattle Times Newspaper

Education | Historian blasts education reforms | Seattle Times Newspaper:

Historian blasts education reforms

Education historian Diane Ravitch blasted the education-reform movement as a "well-funded, well-coordinated campaign to privatize as many schools as possible" during a sold-out speech in Seattle on Thursday night.

By Brian M. Rosenthal

Seattle Times education reporter

Diane Ravitch

Read all 7 comments >Post a comment >

Education historian Diane Ravitch blasted the education-reform movement as a "well-funded, well-coordinated campaign to privatize as many schools as possible" during a sold-out speech in Seattle on Thursday night.

During an hourlong appearance, Ravitch criticized teacher-evaluation systems as "crazy," called the No Child Left Behind Act "the death star of American education" and argued charter schools "divide

Psych! « Cooperative Catalyst

Psych! « Cooperative Catalyst:

Psych!

by Adam Burk

I just received an update from the Harvard Kennedy School in their “Innovators Insights” newsletter that Miami-Dade school district in Florida just made mid-term and final tests optional in grades 6-12. At first read, I thought to myself “Wow, that’s really great and surprising!” Then I read the article.

All that’s happened is a bait and switch. There’s no substantive change in my opinion, although they have certainly reduced the burden they impose on students. Essentially, the state has moved to common end of course tests so that all Florida students can be measured together per subject area. Mid-terms and finals are a redundancy in this system from a bureaucratic point of view, so the district did away with them.

So in my opinion, this is a red herring or false protagonist. It reinforces state controlled and standardized