LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 3-11-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Cuomo Panel Urges End to inBloom Data Project

Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed a panel to study the state’s botched implementation of the Common Core standards and tests. In its report, the panel recommended that the state halt its relationship with inBloom, the data collection project created by the Gates Foundation and Carnegie Cotporation at a cost of $100 million. It would have collected confidential and personally identifiable data about

2 by dianeravitch / 7min 

Better Living Through Mathematics: How Moskowitz Plays Moneyball with Students

This blogger–Better Living Through Mathematics–has a problem with the games played by charters, specifically by Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy. Not one willing to suspend his disbelief, he wrote that he has a problem with charters in general and was mightily disappointed by Governor Cuomo standing up for the 6% of children in New York City who attend them (and the 3% in New York State): What’s my

1 by dianeravitch / 6min hide  //  save

Robert Shepherd: Here is FUD in Education

In an earlier post today, I described the use of FUD (fear, uncertainty,and doubt) to destroy public confidence in public education and thus pave the way for privatization. The vendors of FUD say our education system, which made this country great, is failing; that it is obsolete; that we are losing the global race. It is a massive hoax, a fraud, a lie. They want to frighten the public and open th

by dianeravitch / 7min 

Wendy Lecker: Arne Duncan and David Coleman Are Wrong About Standards

Civil rights lawyer Wendy Lecker writes that Arne Duncan has sold the American public a bill of goods, a false narrative. He and David Colemn think that national standards will fix all the problems of American education. She says they are wrong. Their bad ideas are the problem. They are wrong. She writes: “Before the Common Core, according to Duncan, high school success was a “lie” — it certainly

8 by dianeravitch / 48min 

Who is the #1 Enemy of Public Education?

Bill Phillis, the leader of the Ohio Coalition for Education & Adequacy is a tireless crusader for equitable funding of public schools. He is a retired after serving as assistant state superintendent of schools. He writes: Public education enemy #1 The Gates, Walton Family and Broad Foundations have federated with the U. S. Department of Education to eliminate the public common school system.

4 by dianeravitch / 7min 

Under State Control, Children of Detroit Lose More Ground

The Detroit Data and Democracy Project reports that the children of Detroit have seen deteriorating results since the state takeover of their public schools in 2009.   Dr. Thomas C. Pedroni of Wayne State University reported that the manipulation of statistics has been a defining characteristic of state control of the schools:   He writes:   One year ago this month I watched in disbelief as the Em

by dianeravitch / 7min hide  //  save

Anthony Cody on “March Madness”: Time to Stop Teaching, Time for Test Prep

Anthony Cody makes clear how teaching has been redefined and degraded by No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. March is the month when teaching ends and test prep begins. Federal education policy is a disaster. The Bush-Obama agenda has de skilled teachers and made testing the most important aspect of US education. Cody quotes teachers at length. One says: “I wish you could hear my collea

11 by dianeravitch / 37min 

NC Charter Warned Due to Low Enrollments

A charter run by politically connected Baker Mitchell was warned that it may have to close due to low enrollment. Mitchell is a close associate of state budget director Art Pope, a multimillionaire who founded the libertarian John Locke Foundation and whose campaign contributions pushed the legislature far to the right. Mitchell is on the board of the John Locke Foundation Mitchell runs three cha

1 by dianeravitch / 39min hide  //  save

Understanding the Propaganda Campaign Against Public Education

A few years ago, when I was blogging at Education Week with Deborah Meier, a reader introduced the term FUD. I had never heard of it. It is a marketing technique used in business and politics to harm your competition. The term and its history can be found on Wikipedia. FUD stands for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. The reader said that those who were trying to create a market-based system to replace

45 by dianeravitch / 1h 

Schneider to Florida Parents: The Jeb Bush “Miracle” Is a Sham

Good news for Florida parents: Mercedes Schneider has written a brief fact sheet to show that Jeb’s “miracle” didn’t happen. One example: Alabama has a higher graduation rate than Florida. “Florida’s graduation rate has been among the lowest for years. In 2001-02, Florida’s graduation rate was among the bottom five states. In 2010-11, it was among the bottom seven (three states did not have rates

9 by dianeravitch / 2h 

What EduShyster Learned in Austin about David and Goliath

EduShyster went to the first national conference of the Network for Public Education, and it reminded her of the Biblical story of David and Goliath. Our Goliath is the giant billionaire who only talks to people who agree with him. When he first encounters puny David, his first thought is, “Who is paying him? Must be the teachers’ union.” Goliath loves money so much that he cannot imagine anyone

2 by dianeravitch / 3h  

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 3-10-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Slate: Parent Creates Mild Hysteria in Colorado by Opting Her Daughter Out of State TestsLisa T. McElroy, a law professor, decided that her children would not take the state tests during the year the family spent in Colorado. She checked and found it was legal. That is when the trouble began, and McElroy found out how much this ide

by mike simpson / 8h 

| VAMboozled! A blog by Audrey Amrein-Beardsley

| VAMboozled! A blog by Audrey Amrein-Beardsley:

Florida’s Released Albeit “Flawed” VAM Data

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Audrey Amrein-Beardsley

The Florida Times-Union’s Lead Op-Ed Letter on Monday was about why the value-added data recently released by the Florida Department of Education has, at best, made it “clearer than ever that the data is meaningless,” made even more unfortunate by the nearly four years and millions of dollars (including human resource dollars) spent on perfecting the state’s VAM and its advanced-as-accurate estimates.

In the letter, Andy Ford who is the current president of the Florida Education Association (yes, the union), writes, in sum and among other key points:

• “The lists released by the DOE are a confusing mess.”
• “Throughout the state, teachers who have been honored as among the best in their districts received low VAM marks.”
• “Band teachers, physical education teachers and guidance counselors received VAM ratings despite not teaching subjects that are tested.”
• “Teachers who worked at their schools for a few weeks received VAM scores as did teachers who retired three years ago.”
• “A given teacher may appear to have differential effectiveness from class to class, from year to year and from test to test. Ratings are most unstable at the upper and 

How Ohio’s “Reading” Cut Score Got Set to Determine Who Will Repeat Third Grade | janresseger

How Ohio’s “Reading” Cut Score Got Set to Determine Who Will Repeat Third Grade | janresseger:

How Ohio’s “Reading” Cut Score Got Set to Determine Who Will Repeat Third Grade

Posted on March 11, 2014 by janresseger

Thanks to Ohio’s Plunderbund blog, we now know how the decision was made to determine how Ohio’s Third Grade Guarantee will work.  This is Governor John Kasich’s plan to require all children reading below grade level at the end of third grade to repeat third grade—to flunk.  This year, the 2013-2014 school year, is the crucial first year of this program.  It is estimated that 10,000 children will repeat third grade in Ohio next fall.

Most of us assume there is something scientific about how the passing score is set for a standardized test, but we see something very different in the audio recordings posted byPlunderbund of the September 11, 2012 regular business meeting of the Ohio State Board of Education at which the Board voted unanimously to set the reading test cut score at 292.  Michael Sawyers, then acting State Superintendent, made a PowerPoint presentation in which he recommends a cut score of 392 (when, he estimates, 10,000 students would be retained in third grade) over a score of 390 (by which he estimates only 8,900 students would be retained).

In the audio clip from the second part of his presentation, you can hear Sawyers explain how children living in Ohio’s urban districts will be far more affected by the Third Grade Guarantee than children in other school districts.  Ohio, he says, has 785 Local Education Agencies 

3-11-14 Wait What?

Wait What?:

NEWS FLASH: Pryor threatens public school superintendents

A number of public school superintendents were recently instructed to join an emergency conference call with Governor Malloy’s Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor. According to numerous sources, Stefan Pryor used the call to threaten public school superintendents by telling them that if they testified at the Education Committee’s Common Core public hearing their school districts […]The post NE

11 by jonpelto / 24min 

More crazy sh*t Capital Prep Steve Perry has said

Steve Perry is the principal of a public school in Hartford, Connecticut.  For that job, the taxpayers of Hartford and Connecticut pay Perry close to $200,000 in salary, benefits and retirement credits. But Steve Perry also has a lucrative speaking business that means he is absent from his job about 20 percent of the school […]The post More crazy sh*t Capital Prep Steve Perry has said appeared fir

by jonpelto / 9min 

Bribing the guinea pigs (aka our students)

Governor Malloy, his Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor, and the corporate education reform industry are fond of claiming that the Common Core and massive Common Core testing scheme is about making sure students are “College and Career Ready.” As a result of their warped belief in more and more standardized testing, most Connecticut towns will […]The post Bribing the guinea pigs (aka our stud

5 by jonpelto / 2h 

3-10-14 Wait What?

Wait What?: Malloy full steam ahead on Common Core, Common Core Testing and “education reforms”Just over a month ago, Governor Malloy took the the microphone to announce his election year effort to persuade teachers, parents and public school advocates to overlook his three years of failed education policies and throw their support behind his re-election aspirations. In essence, Malloy said, “I he

by mike simpson / 8h 

3-11-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet:

How billionaire-funded ‘ed reform’ groups push charters, vouchers

How powerful are organizations such as  Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst and other like-minded groups that support charter schools, voucher programs and the weakening of teachers unions.? The Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative news organization that works to reveal abuses of power, corruption and betrayal of public trust by public and private institutions, takes […]  

by Valerie Strauss / 6min 

Teachers union cites Common Core in decision to cut Gates funding

The American Federation of Teachers, which has won millions of dollars in grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will no longer accept foundation money for its Innovation Fund. Union members have expressed concern about the poor implementation in many states of the Common Core State Standards, one of the initiatives in which the […]    

1 by Valerie Strauss / 35min 

This took Teach For America 24 years to figure out?

This took Teach For America 24 years to figure out? The nonprofit organization — which was founded in 1990 and is famous for recruiting young people, giving them five weeks of summer training and then placing them in high-needs schools in low-income communities — has decided that just maybe some of its recruits need more […]    

by Valerie Strauss / 9min hide  //  save

13 ways high-stakes standardized tests hurt students

It’s time for March Madness — not the famous college basketball tournament but the start of high-stakes standardized testing season in many school districts around the country. I’ve published many posts on how standardized test scores are inappropriately used to evaluate students, educators and schools, but there are plenty of other costs to students as […]    

63 by Valerie Strauss / 6h  

3-10-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet: Why the Obama administration should drop its college rating planThe Obama administration is developing a system to rate colleges and universities by 2015 that will be based on a yet-to-be-determined set of criteria that could include data points such as average tuition and how much graduates earn. Part of the system involves getting congressional approval (which isn’t likely) to

by mike simpson / 8h 

3-11-14 Open Congress : Major Bill Actions - Education - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress

Education - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress:

Bill Introduced: H.R. 4108: Breath of Fresh Air Act

To establish a grant program for nebulizers in elementary and secondary schools.

3h hide  //  save

Bill Introduced: S. 2038: Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills Act

A bill to provide for the extension of certain unemployment benefits, and for other purposes.

3h 

Bill Introduced: S.Res. 372: A resolution supporting the goals and ideals of the Secondary School Student Athletes' Bill of Rights.

A resolution supporting the goals and ideals of the Secondary School Student Athletes' Bill of Rights.

5h hide  //  save

3-11-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL:

“How Can We Better Support English Language Learners?”

How Can We Better Support English Language Learners? is the latest “question-of-the-week” at my Education Week Teacher column. Feel free to leave your responses there or here…

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

Our Latest Response From A Sister Class — This Time From South Africa!

I’ve been sharing about an ongoing project my ELL Geography class has been doing — studying different countries, developing questions about them, and then recording videos of themselves asking those questions that we’d send to an English class in that country. It’s been a great experience for everyone involved, and I’ve previously shared some of those videos: Terrific New Videos: Using English “S

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1min 

The “All-Time” Best Places To Find The Most Popular (& Useful) Resources For Educators

I’ve been posting annual lists of The Most Popular (& Useful) Resources For Educators for a number of years. There are a number of ways to gauge “popularity.” I just view these lists as opportunities to check-out some new sites, and find it interesting to see which ones might be particularly “popular.” I thought it would be useful for readers, my students, and me to review them all and identi

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

3-10-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Using Art For Language-Learning Is Focus Of My Latest NY Times Post For ELLsMy latest New York Times post for English Language Learners is on art — students complete an interactive about an artist who uses chewing gum for his creations, and I share teaching ideas using online art apps. You might also be interested in The Be

by mike simpson / 8h