School Tech Connect: David Stovall, Notes From The Ground

School Tech Connect: David Stovall, Notes From The Ground:

David Stovall, Notes From The Ground

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim)

Professor David Stovall, University of Illinois Chicago, spoke at yesterday's CReATe event.  He works with one of Chicago's small high schools, Social Justice.

"At the same time that we were placed on probation, we also lost ten positions in the school, and only three were returned as a part of a collective effort to demonstrate to CPS that those positions were integral to our space. Now, what’s missing in this new particular legislation is the idea of student support. Value-added scores, or growth scores, do not demonstrate the improvements of a student over time. Additionally, it does not demonstrate supports necessary for additional academic achievement." -- David Stovall, UIC

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Any time anyone with any sense points out the flaws in growth models or in VAM, a district media person is readying a response that says, "but those things are accounted for in the model!" The staff cuts Professor 

Geaux Teacher!: HYPOCRISY AT WORK - A Re-Post

Geaux Teacher!: HYPOCRISY AT WORK - A Re-Post:

HYPOCRISY AT WORK - A Re-Post

by noreply@blogger.com (Lee Barrios, M.Ed., NBCT)

Just another example of how the public is being kept in the dark and deceived.

This article was first posted on the new website www.educatorsforall.org. Subscribe to this website created by education researchers.

Hypocrisy at Work 


The capitalist education reformers railed long and loudly about publicly elected school boards micromanaging their systems. But, the Jindal clan saw nothing wrong with their version of micromanagement.

The dirty dozen members of the House Education Committee took it upon itself to report favorably a bill that will require that local school superintendents’ contracts be rewritten, and require locally elected school boards to terminate superintendents should they fail to meet contract requirements.

However, the administration majority on the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education gave not a second thought, in December 2010, to renewing the contracts of a dozen Louisiana Recovery School District 

Costs to discipline DISD students over $11 million, study finds | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com

Costs to discipline DISD students over $11 million, study finds | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com:

Costs to discipline DISD students over $11 million, study finds

by Tawnell Hobbs/Reporter

Dallas ISD spent at least $11.3 million to remove students from their home campuses about 25,000 times last school year for disciplinary reasons, a study released today found. The study was conducted by Texas Appleseed, a public interest and law center in Austin that has spoken out against disparities in student discipline in public schools. Recent reports have shown that black students and those in special education are more likely to be kicked out of their classroom for disciplinary reasons at the discretion of school administrators. The "cost of discipline" report released today looks at costs associated with out-of-school suspension, disciplinary alternative education programs and county-operated juvenile justice alternative education programs. Dallas ISD officials hadn't seen the report before today. "We appreciate their interest in this topic, and we'll take a look at their findings," DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander said. Other findings in the study (found here) include:*Annual cost per seat in DISD's disciplinary alternative education program for elementary students was more than $57,000. *The overwhelming majority of student disciplinary referrals were for "low-level misbehaviors" for 

The US Student Association Enters the Occupy Era « Student Activism

The US Student Association Enters the Occupy Era « Student Activism:

The US Student Association Enters the Occupy Era

by Angus Johnston

The United States Student Association’s Legislative Conference is not a place where you expect people to get arrested. Each year several hundred students from across the country, many of them elected representatives of their campus student governments, gather in a DC hotel for a weekend of speeches and workshops on federal legislative issues. On Monday they head to the capital to make their case to members of Congress in one-on-one sit-downs.
This year was a little different.
The student government leaders were there as always. There were the lobby role-plays and the legislative fact sheets and the mediocre hotel food with the worse than mediocre vegetarian options. But at this, the first USSA national gathering of the Occupy Wall Street era, there was something else as well.
Workshops on campus organizing took up more of the conference schedule than they have in the recent past, and even panels on electoral work carried titles like “Occupy the Ballot.” A workshop on “radicalism in the 

Model SARBs for 2012 - Year 2012 (CA Dept of Education)

Model SARBs for 2012 - Year 2012 (CA Dept of Education):

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Announces
2012 Model Attendance Improvement Programs

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today that 11 districts have been designated as models of attendance improvement and dropout prevention by the State School Attendance Review Board.

Torlakson praised the local SARBS for their work in reducing student absence, which costs school districts millions of dollars each year in lost income, and greatly increases the chance of students dropping out of school.

"There's a very basic fact that is often overlooked: Even the best teacher can't help students who don't make it to school," Torlakson said. "These review boards are proving that there are highly effective strategies for improving attendance and reducing the dropout rate."

Local review boards are created to provide a safety net for students with attendance problems. Students who are chronically absent are referred to local programs, which are tasked with identifying the problem and finding solutions.

Reducing absenteeism has become a major focus in the Torlakson administration, as new research points to chronic absence as a key indicator of a student’s academic future.

Recent studies have shown that chronic absenteeism that starts in kindergarten can cause students to have major reading problems by the third grade. Studies of the dropout rate also trace many of students’ academic struggles to early attendance problems.

Torlakson convened a Chronic Absence Policy Forum to address the problem last May, followed by a presentation to the State Board of Education in July. Torlakson and the California Department of Education staff are working to promote positive interventions to reduce chronic absenteeism.

Districts awarded by the Model SARB program are those that are taking positive approaches to help students and families improve attendance, rather than just seek to punish offenders.

"While we need to address problems with truancy, we cannot overlook students and families that may need support due to health or emotional problems, or who may simply not realize the importance of regular school attendance, even in kindergarten," Torlakson said.

The State SARB, authorized by the California Education Code, was established to provide policy coordination and personnel training to help local SARBS meet the needs of students with chronic attendance or behavior problems.

Members of the State SARB evaluated applications from local review boards from across the state for excellence in specific content areas, including SARB chairperson leadership, interventions prior to SARB referral, community collaboration, inventory of resources for high-risk youth, goals and objectives, program design and content, measuring and reporting outcomes, and interpersonal communication. The most important content area was the prevention efforts to improve attendance prior to SARB referral.

Districts recognized for their model attendance improvement and dropout reduction program retain their title through the 2012–13 school year to serve as mentors for other review boards seeking to achieve model status. This year’s model SARB awards will be presented April 19 at the Crowne Plaza Anaheim Resort in Garden Grove.

A list of the 11 districts and SARB chairpersons, who can act as mentors for other review boards in the state, is attached below.

For more information on the SARB process for attendance improvement and dropout reduction, visit the California Department of Education Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ai/sb/index.asp.

Attachment

2012 Model SARB Programs

1. Alhambra Unified School District, Patricia Mahony, SARB Chairperson, 626-943-3460; Superintendent: Donna Perez.
2. Bakersfield Unified School District, Michael Skiba, SARB Chairperson, 661-631-4633; Superintendent/Designee: Randall G. Ranes.
3. Bellflower and Paramount school districts, Terry Gendreau, SARB Chairperson, 626-943-3460; Superintendent/Designee: Lisa Azevedo.
4. Chino Valley Unified School District, Colleen Alton, SARB Chairperson, Chino, 909-628-1201, ext. 7750; Superintendent/Designee: Wayne M. Joseph.
5. El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Redondo Beach school districts, Kenneth Flood, SARB Chairperson, 310-937-1236; Superintendent/Designee: Dr. Steven Keller.
6. Montebello Unified School District, Dr. Angel Gallardo, SARB Chairperson, 323-887-7900, ext. 7924; Superintendent/Designee: Michael Cobarrubias.
7. Rialto Unified School District, Angela Brantley, SARB Chairperson, 909-820-7700, ext. 2352; Superintendent/Designee, Dr, James Wallace.
8. San Bernardino Unified School District, Susann Hazen, SARB Chairperson, 909-880-6614; Superintendent/Designee: Ray Culberson.
9. San Diego Unified School District, Crystal Cavanagh, SARB Chairperson, 619-725-7290; Superintendent/Designee: Bill Kowba.
10. San Leandro Unified School District, Sheila Lawrence, SARB Chairperson, 510-667-6239; Superintendent/Designee: Debbie Wong.
11. Twin Rivers Unified School District, Jane Claar and Tracey Wiltshire, SARB Chairpersons, 916-566-1615; Superintendent/Designee: Frank Porter.

# # # #

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

Spinning the Numbers on Turnarounds: School Improvement Grant Controversy Brews - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Spinning the Numbers on Turnarounds: School Improvement Grant Controversy Brews - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Spinning the Numbers on Turnarounds: School Improvement Grant Controversy Brews

By Anthony Cody on March 27, 2012 12:08 PM

It has been said that "numbers tell the tale." But at the Education Writers Association forum on School Improvement Grants in Chicago yesterday, I saw the same numbers being used to tell some very different stories -- raising serious questions about efforts to improve schools by closing them or giving them "turnaround" treatments.

Chicago has long been the epicenter for school "turnarounds." Going way back to 1997, this city has had strong mayoral control of its schools, and has experimented with school closures, reconstitutions, and the latest version, turnarounds. Former Chicago education CEO Arne Duncan brought this approach to the federal level through Race to the Top and an ambitious $4.5 billion School Improvement Grant program, targeting the lowest 5% of schools across the country.

Early in the day, we heard from Jason Snyder, the man in charge of turnarounds at the 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: The Times Talks To Lowell Parents

Seattle Schools Community Forum: The Times Talks To Lowell Parents:

The Times Talks To Lowell Parents

by Melissa Westbrook

The Times talked to parents at Lowell.  They also talked to Susan Enfield via SPS Communications. 

I can appreciate how tired the Lowell community must be.  First one split, then another, then a felon goes on a field trip, then Principal King says he's leaving, then he's staying and now this investigation that calls out both of Lowell's principals.  It's a lot.

And there are questions:

What led a special investigator to conclude that Principal Gregory King and Assistant Principal Rina Geoghagan mishandled the report? If they did mishandle it, why were they not fired? And why were the investigation's findings released after the close of the district's open-enrollment period?

What led the investigator was the evidence which was fairly clear-cut in terms of both principals being told about a behavior issue by one IA by a couple of staff members.  The principals never did an investigation and 

The Pattern on the Rug - Bridging Differences - Education Week

The Pattern on the Rug - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

The Pattern on the Rug

by Diane Ravitch

Dear Deborah,
There comes a time when you look at the rug on the floor, the one you've seen many times, and you see a pattern that you had never noticed before. You may have seen this squiggle or that flower, but you did not see the pattern into which the squiggles and flowers and trails of ivy combined.
In American education, we can now discern the pattern on the rug.
Consider the budget cuts to schools in the past four years. From the budget cuts come layoffs, rising class sizes, less time for the arts and physical education, less time for history, civics, foreign languages, and other non-tested subjects. Add on the mandates of No Child Left Behind, which demands 100 percent proficiency in math and reading and stigmatizes more than half the public schools in the nation as "failing" for not reaching an unattainable goal.
Along comes the Obama administration with the Race to the Top, and the pattern on the rug gets clearer. It tells 

Sabrina Stevens Shupe: A People-(Em)Powered Evaluation System #soschat

Sabrina Stevens Shupe: A People-(Em)Powered Evaluation System:

Sabrina Stevens Shupe

Teacher-turned-activist; Writer

GET UPDATES FROM SABRINA STEVENS SHUPE

 

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People-(Em)Powered Evaluation System

Posted: 03/27/2012 10:33 am

Standardized testing -- especially the high-stakes variety -- has earned a serious and growing backlash, and for good reason. The weight of the research evidence shows that it has not improved education, and that it undermines the kind of academic behaviors that support critical and divergent thinking. High-stakes testing has distorted the teaching and learning process, resulting in time taken away from actual instruction, cheating scandals, and more. Testing is also expensive, representing yet another way in which scarce education funds have been diverted away from student learning toward powerful private interests. And while they'reinelegant at best in performing their intended function -- measuring student knowledge -- they're now being inappropriately used to close schools, evaluate (and shame) individual teachers, and more.

Clearly, this system is fraught with issues. Yet policymakers and some members of the public stil

Performance anxiety. « Fred Klonsky

Performance anxiety. « Fred Klonsky:

Performance anxiety.

by Fred Klonsky

Good for the nearly 100 Chicago university professors and researchers who signed a letter to Mayor Emanuel criticizing the plan to use student scores on standardized tests to evaluate CPS teacher performance.
This is a version of the plan that is required of all school districts throughout Illinois as a result of PERA, the Performance Evaluation Reform Act. PERA, written by a committee appointed by Governor Quinn and headed by IEA Executive Director Audrey Soglin, was adopted by the Illinois General Assembly so that Illinois could qualify for Race to the Top funds. The state failed to receive the grant. But, the law remains.
The letter to Rahm was released at a press conference yesterday in Chicago. The letter makes three points:

Rockford teachers strike set for Thursday. « Fred Klonsky

Rockford teachers strike set for Thursday. « Fred Klonsky:

Rockford teachers strike set for Thursday.

by Fred Klonsky

Members of the Rockford Education Association wait for the start of a closed-door meeting about contract negotiations Monday, March 26, 2012, at the Coronado Performing Arts Center in Rockford.
No negotiating sessions are planned between now and Thursday.
Members of the Rockford Education Association have had the legal authority to strike since last week. Their old contract expired last July. The REA members have been working all this year under the terms of the old contract.
The Rockford Register Star:

A strike is set for Thursday that would cancel classes and close schools to students unless the Rockford School District and Rockford Education Association reach a tentative labor agreement before then.

During an all-member meeting at the Coronado Performing Arts Center today, 1,482 REA members voted to strike with 74 voting against.

Guilford High School teacher Sean Laughlin compared ongoing contract talks to 

Mike Klonsky...: At CReATE Press Conference, March 26, 2012

Mike Klonsky...: At CReATE Press Conference, March 26, 2012:

At CReATE Press Conference, March 26, 2012

by Mike Klonsky

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Mike Klonsky, DePaul University, CReATE from Tim Furman on Vimeo.

A Few Additional CT Charter Figures « School Finance 101

A Few Additional CT Charter Figures « School Finance 101:

A Few Additional CT Charter Figures

by schoolfinance101

I was admittedly in a bit of a rush the other day to pull together some figures on CT charter schools based largely on data I had previously compiled, some of which only included Achievement First charter schools.  Here, I include all charter schools in Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport, and address only the % Free Lunch numbers using the most recent available data from the NCES Common Core of Data, which are from 2009-10.  A few quick points are in order.
First, this is not “old” data per se. It is one year lagged from the  most recent official state data (2010-11). Current year (2011-12) data would not be appropriate for use until the close of the year. Thus 2010-11 would be the most recent complete data, if available. Also, these types of data tend to be relatively stable over time. They don’t shift much over a 2 year period, but I’ll keep updating as complete end of year data become available. The 

Educating South Carolina: PLThomasEdD: Zais lacks experience, expertise

Educating South Carolina: PLThomasEdD: Zais lacks experience, expertise:

PLThomasEdD: Zais lacks experience, expertise

Blogger PLThomasEdD, who posts at DailyKos, published another great commentary there yesterday, this one taking Superintendent Mick Zais to task for his claims in an opinion-editorial in The State.

I hope readers will share PLThomasEdD's commentary far and wide among educators, because he's precisely the sort of education leader that's missing from government: Experienced, expert and circumspect.

South Carolina's Superintendent of Education Mick Zais makes several claims in The State (March 25, 2012) that build on one central argument: "The most important information about teachers isn’t the degrees they have or their years of seniority. Their effectiveness in the classroom matters much, much more."

The Washington State PTA Convention: Be There | Seattle Education

The Washington State PTA Convention: Be There | Seattle Education:

The Washington State PTA Convention: Be There

by seattleducation2011

The WSPTA Convention will be held on May 4-6 and everyone who can needs to attend. There will be several issues on the table that will be voted on including the charter school resolution that has drawn fire from all quarters. This resolution, if passed at the convention, would become a cornerstone of the WSPTA platform for the next 2 years.
You might not even be aware of it reading the announcements that Ramona Hattendorf has sent out but buried in the user’s guide beginning on page 12 is the charter school resolution under “Equitable Educational Opportunities”.
What I find interesting about this resolution are the “untruths”, as I will call them, that are stated in this resolution.
Let’s start with this doozy:

certain schools, including high-performing charter schools, have produced positive effects in 

TN bill would limit number of foreign workers at charter schools | wbir.com

TN bill would limit number of foreign workers at charter schools | wbir.com:

TN bill would limit number of foreign workers at charter schools

By Chas Sisk, The Tennessean

A conservative group that has warned of the growing influence of Islam is promoting a bill that would limit how many legal immigrants charter schools can hire, drawing opposition from charter school and immigrant groups.

The Tennessee Eagle Forum, an organization that has criticized U.S. immigration policy and last year pushed for passage of the so-called "Shariah bill," is pressing Tennessee lawmakers to pass legislation that would cap the number of foreign workers charter schools can hire.

The bill has drawn bipartisan support but has raised the concerns of charter school advocacy and immigrant rights organizations, which say it would place unfair and unnecessary limits on who can be hired or volunteer with charter schools.

The Putting Tennessee First Act, which is scheduled to be heard in two committees this week, makes no reference to religion. But it