LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-12-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Are Our High School Students Dumb? Are Our High Schools Disastrous?

I received a letter from John Ogozolak, a teacher in upstate New York, where the economy has long been in serious trouble, with a paucity of jobs and economic opportunity. I decided to share it, because like him, I too have wondered what message we give our high school students. The politicians and the media constantly tell them how dumb they are, how lazy and shiftless, yet they are our future. W

28 by dianeravitch / 3h 

TAMSA: The Hero Moms of Texas

The heroes of the movement to reduce standardized testing in Texas is a group called TAMSA. The unwieldy title is Texans Advocating for Meaningful Student Assessment. They are better known as Moms Ahainst Drunk Testing. They realized that Pearson had a lock on the Texas legislature as that body passed more and more testing requirements. The legislature cut $5 Billion from the schools’ budget yet

by dianeravitch / 9min 

Teach Plus Corrects Errors in Last Week’s Report About Testing Time

Last week, the Gates-funded group Teach Plus put out a report saying that state testing didn’t take up all that much time, despite the loud complaints of parents and teachers. The howls of outrage on the Education Week site caused the researchers at Teach Plus to take another look, and they discovered they were wrong. Reporter Catherine Gewertz follows the story here. She begins: Remember that stu

by dianeravitch / 0min 

A Balanced, Sane Explanation of the Issues in the Vergara Case

Ben Spielberg here explains the issues in the Vergara case, the litigation attempting to eliminate due process and seniority for teachers in Los Angles, and likely, for California. This is a big case for those trying to destroy unions and any rights for teachers. Ben’s analysis is the best I have seen to date. He includes recommendations for improving the laws.

by dianeravitch / 4min 

What School Grades Measure Best: Family Income

A reader forwarded this excellent article that appeared in the Denver Post. The author Robert Zubrin scanned the state’s tables ranking schools based in large part on test scores. And this was his amazing discovery: “So, does this testing data, acquired at great expense in both money and class time, tell us which schools are doing their job and which are performing poorly? Not at all. Rather, wh

17 by dianeravitch / 23min 

Carol Burris: How the NY Regents Fooled the Public on Common Core

Carol Burris explains here how the New York Board of Regents hoaxed the public into thinking they had agreed to major changes when they actually changed nothing. She writes: “The press was led to believe the Regents pulled back the passing scores on the Common Core English Language Arts and math exams for the Class of 2017 from 75 and 80 to a score of 65 on both exams. The State Education Depart

3 by dianeravitch / 11min 

What Do a Law Professor and a Kindergarten Teacher Have in Common?

Ty Alpert is a law professor at The University of California in Berkeley, one of the nation’s most prestigious law schools. He is running for school board in Berkeley. As he thought about the challenges of teaching today, he realized that his child’s kindergarten teacher was teaching some of the same skills he was teaching: “Brook Pessin-Whedbee teaches five-year-olds at Rosa Parks. I teach law st

4 by dianeravitch / 44min 

League of Women Voters in Florida Studying Charter Schools

When I lectured at the University of Florida, I met Sue Legg of the League of Women Voters. She informed me that the League has undertaken a county-by-county study of charter schools across the state. Florida has nearly 600 charters, including for-profit charter chains and non-profit charter chains. (Vice-President Biden’s brother Frank runs one of the for-profit chains.) These schools draw money

11 by dianeravitch / 1h 

Whitehurst of Brookings Supports Vouchers for Pre-K, Doubts Need for It

Grover (Russ) Whitehurst,who served as director of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences during the administration of George W. Bush, testified before a Congressional committee in opposition to federal support for universal pre-kindergarten, except as a voucher for families to use for the setting of their choice. Whitehurst is now at the Brookings Institution, once con

4 by dianeravitch / 2h 

EduShyster: A Soap Opera in Boston: As the School Turns

It is hard to be sure who first had the idea that the way to improve schools was to fire the staff and start all over again. When No Child Left Behind was written, it set an impossible goal of 100% proficiency, then set out a series of escalating sanctions for schools that were unable to do the impossible. The ultimate sanction–based on no research, experience, or wisdom–was to close the school.

3 by dianeravitch / 3h 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-11-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Teacher: Why “Stupid Bubble Tests” Are MeaninglessIn this post, which arrived a few days ago as a comment, Ron Lapekas, a retired teacher, explains why standardized tests have no value or validity for many students: “I am a retired teacher. I always thought the SBT’s (Stupid Bubble Tests) had little value for my East Los Angeles 99

by mike simpson / 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 2-12-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

Ab 1432: Spi Torlakson Announces Support For Bill To Require Formal Training For All School Employees On Id And Reporting Of Child Abuse

Release: #14-15 |  http://bit.ly/1bpA9KQ February 12, 2014 Contact: Tina Jung E-mail: communications@cde.ca.gov Phone: 916-319-0818 State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Announces Support for AB 1432 SACRAMENTO—California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today his

by smf / 7min 

TUESDAY’S BOARD MEETING: Six votes in search of a censensus

I watched Tuesday’s festivities from the comfort of my couch and my fuzzy slippers, consuming mass quantities of NyQuil and drinking glass after glass of water. (Drown a Cold/Bore a fever.)  The phone kept ringing with successively bad-to-worse news. The goings on at Beaudry made nothing any better. The Kleenex supply dwindled. The frightening thing is that the LA (dis)Unified

by smf / 0min

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 2-11-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Zimmer’S Plan For Lausd District 1 Vacancy Facing Big Voteby LA School Report | http://bit.ly/1glP5Ze Posted on February 10, 2014 The LA Unified school board has an unusually long agenda for its monthly meeting on Tuesday, 39 items plus a handful of reports and updates. Each has consequences but few of them carry the import and emotional impact of Steve

by mike simpson / 

Me on BAM Radio on Teacher Turnover | Paul Bruno

Me on BAM Radio on Teacher Turnover | Paul Bruno:

Me on BAM Radio on Teacher Turnover

By PAUL BRUNO | Published: FEBRUARY 12, 2014

I made a brief appearance on Larry Ferlazzo’s BAM! Radio show to talk more about an upcoming piece about why teachers leave high-poverty urban schools.

Time was short, so I thought I’d collect here, in one place, many of the interesting data points I came across while thinking about the subject.

The best starting place for questions of teacher turnover is probably this report from the National Center for Education Statistics. They surveyed teachers during the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years to look at teacher attrition and mobility during that time period.  They classified teachers as “stayers” if they stayed in the same school, “movers” if they moved to a teaching position in a different school, and “leavers” if they left the profession. Here’s what they found:

Context	Stayers	Movers	Leavers
All public school teachers	84.5%	7.6%	8.0%
Charter school teachers	76.2%	11.4%	12.5%
City schools	84.5%	8.0%	7.5%
≥75% FRPL	84.6%	10.3%	5.1%

Interestingly, neither “city” schools nor lower-income schools have noticeably higher rates of turnover than schools generally. Those classifications don’t perfectly capture what’s going on in “high-poverty urban schools” – “cities” seem to be identified mostly in terms of population and FRPL eligibility is a very imperfect proxy for poverty – but they also don’t indicate that schools in poo

2-12-14 Wait What?

Wait What?:

Steve Perry gets hit with City of Hartford ethics complaint

In an article entitled, “Complaint Filed Against Capital Prep Principal,” Kerri Provost, of the blog Real Hartford reports that; “Councilperson Larry Deutsch filed a complaint with the City of Hartford Ethics Commission tonight regarding Steve Perry’s alleged policy violations. Perry is the principal of Capital Preparatory Magnet School (Capital Prep).” As Provost explains; “Deutsch presented […]T

by jonpelto / 0min 

When real teachers speak… Elected officials should listen

Barth Keck is an English teacher and assistant football coach in Connecticut.  He also writes commentary pieces for CT News Junkie.  His pieces should be mandatory reading for every federal, state and local elected official in Connecticut. In his latest column entitled, Already Feeling Squeezed As I Attempt to ‘Align’ With Common Core, Barth Keck […]The post When real teachers speak… Elected offic

9 by jonpelto / 1h 

2-11-14 Wait What?

Wait What?: Steve Perry, the reader known as “Reality Ed” and disaster know as Capital PrepAs Wait, Wait? has investigated the allegations associated with Capital Prep Steve Perry and the potential violations of federal and state laws and Hartford regulations and policies at Capital Prep, readers have become accustomed to the constant comments and attacks from Steve Perry or one or more of his sup

by mike simpson / 

2-12-14 @ The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet:

School board defies N.C. state law abolishing teacher tenure

A school board in North Carolina just voted unanimously to reject a new state law that abolishes teacher tenure in four years and requires school districts to offer some teachers temporary contracts in exchange for their tenure through 2018. It also plans to sue the state over the constitutionality of the law. The Guilford County […]    

by Valerie Strauss / 34min 

Principal: Time to hold NY education leaders accountable for Core mess

New York Principal Carol Burris has chronicled the flawed implementation of school reform and the Common Core State Standards across the state for some time (here, and here and here and here, for example), and, in the following post, she tells us more. Burris, who leads South Side High School, was named New York’s 2013 High School Principal of the Year […]    

22 by Valerie Strauss / 3h hide  //  save

The new push for school vouchers at state, federal levels

Liberals, Jeff Bryant notes in this post, “tend to laugh off” voucher programs “as aberrations from fly-over country.” They shouldn’t. Bryant is director of the Education Opportunity Network, a partnership effort of the Institute for America’s Future and the Opportunity to Learn Campaign. Jeff owns a marketing and communications consultancy in Chapel Hill, N.C., and has […]    

13 by Valerie Strauss / 6h 

2-11-14 @ The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet: Snow days don’t hurt student achievement, study saysThe messy winter weather in many parts of the country have forced schools to close over and over, forcing school districts around the country to alter their schedule for the year to find time to make up for lost instructional time. But is that really necessary? How much do kids lose when school is closed […]    24 by Valerie Str

by mike simpson / 

2-12-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Here's the Tradeoff for Tech versus Buildings

I'm off to go listen in on the Work Session this afternoon about Capital Program Planning. I was talking with an aide to a City Councilperson yesterday about this very issue.  Apparently the staff and families at the NW Center for Kids have been very active in reaching out in all directions to try to stay in the SPS building they currently occupy.  He was mystified at how there could be two groups

by Melissa Westbrook / 4min 

SPS Meetings Tomorrow

Both the Operations and Audit&Finance Committees have meetings tomorrow, Thursday the 13th.  In addition, there is also a Work Session.  Audit&Finance and Operations both start at 4:30 p.m. and the Work Session on Technology starts at 6:30 pm.I call this out because Operations and A&F did not have their agendas out until yesterday.  Again, I have to smile and wonder.  These are very le

by Melissa Westbrook / 1h

Washington State and Regional Ed News

Looks like most of the operations/technology levies for Puget Sound regional schools are passing - Bellevue, Lake Washington, Issaquah, Northshore, Mercer Island, Shoreline, Federal Way and Kent. Bond measures for buildings - which have to have 60% to win - are a mixed bag. Bellevue's, at $450M, was passing easily while Lake Washington's is just short at 57% for their $775M measure (larger than SP

by Melissa Westbrook / 4min

Teach for America Contract Due to Expire but Hires can Continue

Seattle Public Schools' Agreement with Teach for America was approved by the Board on November 17, 2010. The agreement terminates on August 31, 2014 unless renewed by mutual consent of both parties. I don't believe that a majority of the current Board would vote to extend it. The Agreement has been more divisive than effective.Teach for America in Seattle has been mostly about angry debate. While

by Charlie Mas / 2h 

2-11-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Tuesday Open ThreadOne of the most cherished memories of my childhood is gone.  Shirley Temple Black died today at the age of 85.  She gave laughter and hope to many after the Depression.  It's hard to pick a favorite moment from her films but her dazzling dance ability was apparent when she danced with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in the The Littlest Rebel.

by mike simpson / 

2-12-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

New York State's Meaningless Concessions Throw Out the Only Tests Worth Keeping

In New York, the teacher evaluation formula is based on 20 percent state mandated tests, 60 percent observation, and 20 percent local assessments.  While canceling nary a state test or any of the planned implementation of the Corporate Core, the New York Board of Regents and their new panel of CorpEd advocates have have come up with a plan to shove local systems into dumping their own local assess

2 by Jim Horn / 2h 

Embezzlement and Criminal Investigation at KIPP New Orleans

Story below from Times Picayune:Danielle Dreilinger, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Danielle Dreilinger, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune Email the author | Follow on Twitter on February 10, 2014 at 5:00 PMAn employee of New Orleans' second-largest charter schoolnetwork embezzled $69,840 in the 2012-13 academic year, according to an auditreleased Monday. The money has been recovered, the employee w

by Jim Horn / 9min 

Standards as Political Footballs

In a piece published in a 2001 issue of English Journal, "Standards, Standards Everywhere, and Not a Spot to Think," I opened with a story about my daughter, then in middle school:[M]y eleven-year-old daughter, Jessica, made an observation: “All they care about is the PACT test; they don’t care if we learn anything.” She was speaking of the most recent statewide testing (in South Carolin

8 by P. L. Thomas / 3h 

2-10-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: For Schools or Anything Else to Matter, We Must Do What Life Requires Now2 by Jim Horn / 11min hide  //  saveTaking Down Dixie's Last Political Stand in North CarolinaNorth Carolina is so everything that the current covey of Koch Brothers stooges in charge of the state are not: temperate, reasonable, accommodating, caring, committed to fairness. And just as Wake County reclaimed it

by mike simpson / 8h 

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog 2-12-14

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog:

The Love Affair Between Dictators and the Olympics

 Like Hitler’s 1936 games, Putin’s campaign to hold the Olympics in Sochi is all about adding to his personal glory, not any desire to better Russia.Garry Kasporov, former World Chess Champion and Russian (Soviet) Chess Grandmaster is also a political activist and writer.   In this piece he dares to suggest that there are parallels between Putin's Sochi Games and the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Hitler's

by L. Jablonski / 9h 

Revolving Door at Sacramento City Hall?

Nick Miller, co-editor of the Sacramento News and Review writes here of the City Hall-Sacramento Kings revolving door.   Conflict of interest?   Miller thinks so.

by L. Jablonski / 10h 

FEB 10

Pussy Riot on Colbert

Nadya Tolokonnikova and Masha Alyokhina, the former members of the Russian group Pussy Riot, who spent two years in prison stopped by the Colbert Report to discuss their imprisonment, Vladimir Putin and human rights.  They're remarkable.   Part One and Part Two

by L. Jablonski / 1d 

FEB 02

D.C's "Revolving Door" Still Spinning

The New Times has a good piece on the "revolving door," which refers to the practice of members of Congress, congressional staffers or regulators leaving public service to go to work for special interests:A top aide to a Republican congressman from Arizona helped promote a legislative plan to overhaul the nation’s home mortgage finance system. Weeks after leaving his government job, he r

by L. Jablonski / 9d 

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog 2-11-14

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog: Pussy Riot on ColbertNadya Tolokonnikova and Masha Alyokhina, the former members of the Russian group Pussy Riot, who spent two years in prison stopped by the Colbert Report to discuss their imprisonment, Vladimir Putin and human rights.  They're remarkable.   Part One and Part Twoby L. Jablonski / 8h Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog 2-8-14Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog:D.C's &qu

by mike simpson / 

Paul Horton: Charter School Design: The New Streamlining - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Paul Horton: Charter School Design: The New Streamlining - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Paul Horton: Charter School Design: The New Streamlining

By Anthony Cody on February 12, 2014 9:30 AM

Guest post by Paul Horton.

Do a simple online search of "charter school design" and see what pops up. While some of the images you might see might be urban warehouse and public school gut "rehabs," most of the images are straight out of the "Jetsons," down to the furniture.

Now contrast the images of Carl Schurz High School (search Google images to see) in Chicago with the charter school images. Schurz High School, like many public high schools built in the early twentieth century, was built to last by craftsmen. It represents a massive investment in public education. It is based on Frank Lloyd Wright's idea of "organic" architecture that expresses John Dewey's idea of education as an organic endeavor: the idea of the school as a community center that is a beehive for the construction of Democracy. In this context, Democracy is about relationships and the school is comprehensive: it is the place where kids and adults come together to acquire skills and knowledge: a hybrid of the public school and Hull House, where John Dewey spent a lot of time thinking about how to reconstruct public education as community education.

Charters are designed to do something much more limited in scope. Both charter design and early twentieth century public school design represent an aspirational utopianism. But they differ in that they represent different images of American Progressive philosophy.

To my mind, Schurz High very clearly represents a scale up of Dewey's organic model of