Duncan Joins Mayors Bloomberg, Villaraigosa and Emanuel for “Education Now: Cities at the Forefront of Privatization ”

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Joins Mayors Bloomberg, Villaraigosa and Emanuel for “Education Now: Cities at the Forefront of Reform” | U.S. Department of Education:

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Joins Mayors Bloomberg, Villaraigosa and Emanuel for “Education Now: Cities at the Forefront of Reform”

City Superintendents will also participate, highlight local efforts to improve education in nation's three largest schools districts: New York, Los Angeles and Chicago

Contact:

Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov

Event Date 1: March 02, 2012 10:00 am - 11:00 am

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will join New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel together with their Superintendents, Dennis Walcott, John Deasy and Jean-Claude Brizard, to host a forum titled, “Education Now: Cities at the Forefront of Reform.” The forum will be held Friday, March 2, from 10 to 11 a.m. at American University.

NBC's Andrea Mitchell, host of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” will moderate the forum and engage the group in a dialogue about education successes and challenges. Duncan and local leaders will discuss a variety of issues including accountability, school management, strengthening the teaching profession, and the importance of school leadership, while also highlighting efforts underway to expand access to a high-quality education and improve student outcomes in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Collectively, these three school districts serve nearly 2.5 million students, 77% of whom are poor and 88% of whom are minority.

Press interested in attending should RSVP by 5 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 1 to press@ed.gov.

Event 1

Who :	U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard
What :	“Education Now: Cities at the Forefront of Reform,” a forum on local-level education reform
When :	10 to 11 a.m. ET on Friday, March 2
Where :	American University Katzen Arts Center (Abramson Family Recital Hall) 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C.

Shanker Blog » Ready, Aim, Hire: Predicting The Future Performance Of Teacher Candidates

Shanker Blog » Ready, Aim, Hire: Predicting The Future Performance Of Teacher Candidates:

Ready, Aim, Hire: Predicting The Future Performance Of Teacher Candidates

by Matthew Di Carlo

In a previous post, I discussed the idea of “attracting the best candidates” to teaching by reviewing the research on the association between pre-service characteristics and future performance (usually defined in terms of teachers’ estimated effect on test scores once they get into the classroom). In general, this body of work indicates that, while far from futile, it’s extremely difficult to predict who will be an “effective” teacher based on their paper traits, including those that are typically used to define “top candidates,” such as the selectivity of the undergraduate institutions they attend, certification test scores and GPA (see here, here, here and here, for examples).

There is some very limited evidence that other, “non-traditional” measures might help. For example, a working paper, released last year, found a statistically discernible, fairly strong association between first-year math value-added and an index constructed from surveys administered to Teach for America candidates. There was,

Teachers Face Good Cops or Bad Cops in Push for Evaluations - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Teachers Face Good Cops or Bad Cops in Push for Evaluations - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Teachers Face Good Cops or Bad Cops in Push for Evaluations

by Anthony Cody

Last week I wrote about the fairy dust of multiple measures that the Department of Education has been sprinkling on worthless Value Added Models, under the mistaken belief that this somehow renders them golden. Dept of Ed press secretary Justin Hamilton quoted Arne Duncan, who said, "here in the US teacher evaluation is all too often tied only to test scores which makes no sense." I replied "WHO uses test scores only? Can you name one district that evaluates this way?" The answer came last week, as newspapers in New York published the value added ratings of 18,000 teachers, and made teacher evaluation a public sport.

This news was accompanied by something rather strange - Bill Gates and Michelle Rhee both criticized the action, suggesting that these scores alone do not give a full picture of teacher performance. What we have here seems to be a classic case of good cop/bad cop, where Rupert Murdoch's New York Post plays the abusive bad cop, publishing the names of teachers, and singling out the city's "worst" teachers for public humiliation. And

The in box: Unite Here on Penny Pritzker. « Fred Klonsky

The in box: Unite Here on Penny Pritzker. « Fred Klonsky:

The in box: Unite Here on Penny Pritzker.

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Press Advisory for March 1, 2012
Contact:
Elliott Mallen, UNITE HERE
(312) 656-5807, emallen@unitehere.org

Parents, homeowners call on Pritzker family to pay their fair share of taxes
Tax appeals by Chicago’s wealthiest family hurt public schools and city services

What: Press conference announcing the release of UNITE HERE’s report on the Pritzker family’s efforts to lower their property taxes, and a call from Chicago parents for the Pritzker family to pay their fair share.

Who: UNITE HERE Local 1 President Henry Tamarin, hotel workers

When: 10:00 – 10:30 AM, Thursday, March 1st

Where: Outside the Office of the Cook County Treasurer, 118 North Clark Street, Chicago

Why: As property tax bills come due for thousands of Chicago homeowners, hotel workers and community leaders are calling on Chicago Board of Education member Penny Pritzker to drop pending tax appeals on her home and to encourage her family members to pay their fair share. The outcry comes as hospitality workers union UNITE HERE releases a report detailing efforts by members of the Pritzker family to lower their property tax bills at the expense of Chicago’s schools, parks, and libraries.

Penny Pritzker, who has benefited from numerous successful tax appeals on her house, is one of seven members of the Chicago Board of Education, which receives most of the property taxes paid by Chicago homeowners. Two appeals on the value of Ms. Pritzker’s house are pending before the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board. If the appeal is successful, refunds could come at the expense of the Chicago Board of Education and other public agencies.

UNITE HERE’s report, entitled “Tax Relief for Billionaires: Property Taxes and the Pritzker Family,” shows that tax appeals on residences of members of the Pritzker family and Hyatt Hotels CEO Mark Hoplamazian have resulted in a loss of over $300,000 in tax revenues. Advance copies of the report, which will be released on March 1, may be made available to interested reporters.

Unite Here Local 1, Chicago’s hospitality workers union, represents over 15,000 hotel and food service workers in Chicago and casino workers in Northwest Indiana.

The March First National Day of Action — What to Expect on #M1 « Student Activism

The March First National Day of Action — What to Expect on #M1 « Student Activism:

The March First National Day of Action — What to Expect on #M1

by Angus Johnston

For the last three years, the first week of March has seen a national day of co-ordinated student action in support of accessible, democratic higher education.

The 2010 day of action came as the nation’s most active year of student protest in decades was in full swing. Building on the California protests and occupations of Fall 2009, March 4 saw more than 120 actions in thirty-three states, and drew a level of media attention that was, for its time, astonishing. A year and a half before Occupy Wall Street was launched, eleven months before the Wisconsin statehouse occupation began, #March4 was for many the first sign that something big and new was bubbling up from the campuses.

March 2, 2011 was a bit smaller than March 4, 2010, at least in part because of administrators’ success in quieting student protest in California the previous fall. But it did produce three campus occupations — again, this is well before Occupy Wall Street — including a feminist protest in Pennsylvania, a statehouse solidarity occupation in Wisconsin, and the audacious (and chilling) occupation of the ledge of a building on the Berkeley campus. A week later, high school students staged their first nationally co-ordinated day of protest in recent

Democurmudgeon: Wasting a generation with Charter, Private and Virtual Schools.

Democurmudgeon: Wasting a generation with Charter, Private and Virtual Schools.:

Wasting a generation with Charter, Private and Virtual Schools.

by Democurmudgeon

Another damning report on virtual schools. More money pits with profit margins and deep pockets to take more of our taxpayer money.

EdWeek: In our Feb. 22 issue, I wroteabout the increased scrutiny on K12 Inc., a for-profit virtual charterschools operator that's been the subject of damning media reports and studiesin recent months … But, as the AssociatedPress reports, a Senate education committee specifically removed virtualschools from the bill, and heard some fairly harsh criticism in the process. StateSuperintendent Tom Burnham: "The data is going to tell you over and overthat expecting young people to work independently, your rate of success is notgoing to be very good. " Nancy Loome, executive director of the Parents'Campaign: "We cannot afford to let someone in with such a history. They are the worst of the worst." Thebill, sans virtual schools, passedthe Senate.

Florida is considering a bill that would send tax dollarstypically reserved for public school

GOOD Magazine: Teachers Teach and Do The World Good | The Jose Vilson

GOOD Magazine: Teachers Teach and Do The World Good | The Jose Vilson:

GOOD Magazine: Teachers Teach and Do The World Good

by Jose

Excerpt:

In light of the lack of diversity in thought and culture within our teaching corps, there’s an astounding disconnect. I don’t believe that only teachers of color should teach diverse students, but only 17 percent of public school teachers and 19 percent of principals are of color, and out of the 7.2 million-plus K-12 teachers, only about 534,000 elementary educators are of color. That number drops to 199,000 by high school, a 63 percent dip in representation.

As a result, when students find a teacher of color, they gravitate towards us—much to the delight

No Public Education, No Democracy! | Dissident Voice

No Public Education, No Democracy! | Dissident Voice:

No Public Education, No Democracy!

by Simone Harris

I teach English at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, California. I love my school, my amazing colleagues, and the kids who enter my classroom each year. But I hate what is happening to public education.

From the national to the local level, our public schools are under attack, and that means our students are under attack. This attack takes more than one form. The cuts to vital education services are horrifying enough, but they’re only half the picture. The other half is the violation of our public trust by private interests.

It’s not a pretty sight, but we must look squarely at the vultures of privatization that prey on the damage to our schools, from New York to New Orleans to Wisconsin to California. Diane Ravitch, former Assistant Secretary of Education in the first Bush administration, refers to the three big education funders, Bill Gates, Eli Broad and the Walton Family, as the Billionaire Boys Club in her excellent book The Death and Life of the Great American School System. Ravitch has come a long way since her days of working under Bush, Sr. I’ve even heard people

Misanthropy in Healthcare

by Ravi Katari

Both left-wing activists and right-wing conservatives have a tendency to defer to near-mythical idealogical principles that the formed the core of the United States. But the “founding fathers” and “American ideals” that these continual references point to are such broad and scattered concepts that their employment serves only the most shallow rhetorical purpose. The idea that at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention, the general population was in such noble accord with the spoon-fed magnanimity of the original planners is ignorant at best and idiotic at worst.

Take, for example, the entitlement of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as inalienable to all human beings or rather, all American citizens or rather, to all white Americans or rather, to all white American males, or rather to all white American male landowners. The left sloganizes the phrase to emphasize the goal of collective prosperity and classlessness and the right sloganizes the phrase to emphasize (often ostensibly) the manner in

Huey Long: An Original Voice of the 99%

by Kathleen Wallace Peine

Every individual is a blend of struggling motivations, except perhaps for the garden variety sociopaths that seem to occupy many places of power these days. Most of us, however, endeavor to exhibit the noble of our character as we try to calm the howls of ego that so often derail the best of intentions.

Perhaps no historical figure exemplifies this strange dichotomy better than Louisiana’s Huey Long. Progressive internet sites have revisited the man and his words in recent weeks. His evaluation of wealth disparity echoes from the halls in which he delivered his thunderous speeches during the roaring 20s and the Great Depression. You can even view some of his more rousing talks with a simple search — the films exist. Long served as

#ASKARNE Schools Matter: Will Arne Duncan Please Answer Valerie Strauss

Schools Matter: Will Arne Duncan Please Answer Valerie Strauss:

Will Arne Duncan Please Answer Valerie Strauss

by Judy Rabin

Valerie Strauss asks the billion dollar question and the emperor is buck naked.

Why don’t top private schools adopt corporate-driven reforms?

By Valerie Strauss

This was written by Bruce D. Baker, a professor in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. This first appeared on his School Finance 101 blog.

By Bruce D. Baker

Lately it seems that public policy and the reformy rhetoric that drives it are hardly influenced by the vast body of empirical work and insights from leading academic scholars which suggests that such practices as using value-added metrics to rate teacher quality, or dramatically increasing test-based accountability and pushing for common core standards and tests to go with them are unlikely to lead to

The True Story of Pascale Mauclair | Edwize

The True Story of Pascale Mauclair | Edwize:

The True Story of Pascale Mauclair

Feb. 28, 2012
4:14 pm
by Leo Casey
18 Comments

Filed under:Education

Within hours of the publication of the Teacher Data Reports (TDRs) last Friday, the UFT began to hear stories of teachers and their families being hounded by news reporters from the New York Post.

On Friday evening, New York Post reporters appeared at the door of the father of Pascale Mauclair, a sixth grade teacher at P.S. 11, the Kathryn Phelan School, which is located in the Woodside section of Queens. They told Mauclair’s father that his daughter was one of the worst teachers in New York City, based solely on the TDR reports, and that they were looking to interview her. They then made their way to Mauclair’s home, where she told them that she did not want to comment on the matter. The Post reporters rang Mauclair’s bell and knocked on her window all Saturday morning. She finally called the police, who told the reporters that since they were inside her private housing development, they were on private property and had to leave. The reporters rang the bell again, leading to a second visit from the police and a final warning to leave. Later, Mauclair’s

Tomorrow March 1 « occupy california

Tomorrow March 1 « occupy california:

Tomorrow March 1

By *

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Blue Jersey:: "This Is the Big One, Elizabeth!"

Blue Jersey:: "This Is the Big One, Elizabeth!":

"This Is the Big One, Elizabeth!"

by Jersey Jazzman

On Monday, I wrote about ACTING Education Commissioner Cerf's reformy new idea: abandoning "free lunch" qualification as a measure of student poverty. Cerf is terribly worried that we might be over-counting the number of poor kids in our schools, which means spending more on education - heaven forbid!

But I missed a great point of irony in Cerf's argument; fortunately, our intrepid Editorial Director pointed out to me the absurdity of Cerf's example of fraud in school lunch programs:

A recent analysis by the state auditor estimated that up to 37 percent of participants in the federally administered free and reduced-lunch program are fraudulently enrolled. Cerf cites that finding, along with reports by The Star-Ledger last year that Elizabeth's school board presidentand two spouses of district employees allegedly falsified their income so their children could receive meals, as proof of the need for a change.

"There is a perverse incentive to sign up these kids and it's a big conflict of interest," state Sen.

I was kicked off the Washington State PTA listserv | Seattle Education

I was kicked off the Washington State PTA listserv | Seattle Education:

I was kicked off the Washington State PTA listserv

by seattleducation2011

Was I using inappropriate language? No.

Was I being rude and derisive in my remarks? No

Was I stating the truth? Yes

Let’s begin this post with one fact, that the WSPTA received in March of 2011 $191,424 “ to assist with technology communications infrastructure to push for key policies in Washington” from the Gates Foundation.

And what are Bill Gates’ “key policies”? Charter schools and teacher evaluations based on test scores.

And what has the WSPTA been doing? Well, first there was the charter school plank that was quietly slipped in by the League of Education Voters (LEV) “Key Activists” and Stand for Children (SFC) members Alison Meriwether and Chad Magendanz last fall. You can read The Washington PTA Stacks the Deck Towards Charter Schools for additional information on the WSPTA charter school maneuver.

Chad Magendanz, by the way, is now running for state legislator in the upcoming election and backed by LEV/SFC. First the PTA, then SFC backed his successful bid as school board director in Issaquah and now he is running for state legislator. Some say that he is being brought in by Nick Hanauer/LEV et al, to support the passage of the charter school bill that will undoubtedly return next year in Olympia. We will be following thatcampaign.

Getting back to the charter school plank that was voted into the WSPTA platform, we have yet to find out whether there was a quorum for this vote that occurred during the WSPTA legislative assembly and what schools and districts were represented. We can’t even get the minutes from the WSPTA although several PTA members have requested the information. One PTA member is concerned that no minutes were taken during that legislative assembly session and that is why there are no minutes forthcoming.

Now back to being kicked off of the WSPTA listserv, it actually began when I first got onto the listserv a couple of months ago. It was a very clubby group with Kelly Munn, State Field Director for the League of Education Voters, and several other LEV activists basically providing their take on all issues related to education. Truth be told, that’s why I joined. I had heard that several SFC and LEV activists had basically taken over the listserv, a

How goes today's planned sickout in DISD? | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com

How goes today's planned sickout in DISD? | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com:

How goes today's planned sickout in DISD?

by Tawnell Hobbs/Reporter

Today is the day for the planned sickout announced last month by an anonymous Dallas ISD teacher. The teacher, known as "Mr. Jones," has implored his colleagues on his blog to call in sick today (Leap Day) to protest a decision by DISD trustees to extend the teacher workday by 45 minutes with no increase in pay. Over the weekend, Mr. Jones voiced frustration to WFAA (Channel 8) and on his blog, Teachers for Change, at what he perceives as a lack of support by teachers. He claims they "are giving in to the fear" and not planning to participate. Under state law, teachers are not allowed to participate in strikes or organized work stoppages. The Alliance-AFT teachers association has not supported the sickout. DISD has released no official position

Seeking Practical Uses of the NYC VAM Data??? « School Finance 101

Seeking Practical Uses of the NYC VAM Data??? « School Finance 101:

Seeking Practical Uses of the NYC VAM Data???

by schoolfinance101

A short while back, in a follow up post regarding the Chetty/Friedman/Rockoff study I wrote about how and when I might use VAM results, if I happened to be in a decision making role in a school or district:

I would want to be able to generate a report of the VA estimates for teachers in the district. Ideally, I’d like to be able to generate a report based on alternative model specifications (option to leave in and take out potential biases) and on alternative assessments (or mixes of them). I’d like the sensitivity analysis option in order to evaluate the robustness of the ratings, and to see how changes to model specification affect certain teachers (to gain insights, for example, regarding things like peer effect vs. teacher effect).

If I felt, when pouring through the data, that they were telling me something about some of my teachers (good or bad), I might then use these data to suggest to principals how to distribute their observation efforts