The Day Newspaper’s 2nd Congressional District Debate Tonight – October 25, 2016 - Wait What?

The Day Newspaper’s 2nd Congressional District Debate Tonight – October 25, 2016 - Wait What?:

The Day Newspaper’s 2nd Congressional District Debate Tonight – October 25, 2016

The Day newspaper of New London will be hosting a debate among the candidates running for the 2^nd Congressional District seat in this year’s election.

The debate, which will be held in the Palmer Auditorium at Connecticut College, will run from 7:30 to 9 p.m. tonight.

It will be Livestreamed at http://www.theday.com/ and the Connecticut College website at http://www.conncoll.edu/

For more see: http://emsprd.conncoll.edu/MasterCalendar/EventDetails.aspx?eventid=16061&eventdetailid=83181&showmenu=0

 

Pelto For Congress | Connecticut 2nd District – Green Party - http://wp.me/P7H2vZ-2

A Question of Better Education for All | Schott Foundation for Public Education

A Question of Better Education for All | Schott Foundation for Public Education:

A Question of Better Education for All

Dear Education Advocates,

Question 2, which will appear on Massachusetts voters’ ballots on Nov. 8, claims that it will increase educational choice and improve educational standards across the state. In fact, it would do the opposite.

For the past decade, Massachusetts has led the nation in academic achievement. Our students have even been top ranked internationally in a time when the country’s educational outcomes have slid year by year. Massachusetts accomplished this by taking bold steps that impact all students, most importantly changing the state’s school funding system to invest more in schools in high need, low-income areas so that all students have a better opportunity to achieve. There is still critical work to be done to close persistent opportunity gaps in the system, but we won’t get there if we go in completely the wrong direction. This would be to allow state officials to give up on investing in improving a system that serves all students in need.

Saying “yes” to Question 2 would move the Commonwealth off the path towards great public schools for all students. Question 2 proposes to use taxpayer resources to increase, by 12 per year, the number of charter schools that can only be attended by a few in the state.

When charter schools, which now serve only 4% of the state’s public school students, were added to the Massachusetts model, they were never intended to be a comprehensive “education plan” for a state or locality, but rather an experiment that might provide sparks of innovation whose best practices would be integrated into the main system. It is in that system that the great majority—a full 96%—of Massachusetts students are educated. While it’s true that, like any educational system, we have a mixed record on innovation as well as achievement—there are exemplary as well as troubled charter schools—the bigger issues we need to examine go to the heart of our commitment to high quality public education for all children in the Commonwealth.

Public schools and an equal commitment to all children are pillars of our democratic system. Accountability has been rooted A Question of Better Education for All | Schott Foundation for Public Education:

CALL 6: Thousands of Indiana teachers leaving the classroom - Longform Story

CALL 6: Thousands of Indiana teachers leaving the classroom - Longform Story:

CALL 6: Thousands of Indiana teachers leaving the classroom 

When teachers leave the classroom, it directly impacts student learning and can be costly for districts that spend money on recruiting and training.

In the state of Indiana, 12,426 educators, or 18 percent of Indiana's teachers and administrators, left their schools over a single school year period, according to the most recent data from the Indiana Department of Education.

Those numbers are among the worst in the nation, according to a recent study by the Learning Policy Institute.

When teachers remain in their schools, they get to know their students, families and their communities, which school leaders say is a huge factor in student achievement.

So what's causing the departure? Call 6 Investigates took a deep dive into the numbers, and found that there is no documentation state-wide on why teachers are leaving.

Why They Left

Taji Gibson was a teacher for 19 years with an enthusiasm so contagious, it won her an outstanding educator award.

“I loved the kids,” said Gibson. “I loved teaching. I wish I didn’t have to leave.”

Gibson said she left the classroom for numerous reasons including a lack of leadership opportunities and compensation.

“At the time I left, after 19 years of experience, I made maybe $54,000,” said Gibson.

“I loved the kids. I loved teaching. I wish I didn’t have to leave.”

Gibson said she had trouble juggling everything that comes along with being a teacher.

“On your days off, you’re grading, you’re making lessons, you’re trying to make things better for your students,” said Gibson.

Gibson worked at Warren Central High School and Bloomington High School North until her departure in May 2016.

She now works for the Center on Education and Lifelong Learning at Indiana University Bloomington.

“I’m still making a difference hopefully in education,” said Gibson. “I plan toCALL 6: Thousands of Indiana teachers leaving the classroom - Longform Story:

Hoosier School Heist TV is Doug Martin's channel featuring videos of his book tour across Indiana speaking on the corporate takeover of public education. Order Hoosier School Heist at http://hoosierschoolheist.com/.

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Sentencing set for April for ex-Chicago Public Schools CEO Byrd-Bennett - Chicago Tribune

Sentencing set for April for ex-Chicago Public Schools CEO Byrd-Bennett - Chicago Tribune:

Sentencing set for April for ex-Chicago Public Schools CEO Byrd-Bennett

More than a year after Barbara Byrd-Bennett pleaded guilty to a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme, a sentencing date has been set for the former chief executive of Chicago Public Schools.

Byrd-Bennett, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's hand-picked schools leader, faces up to about 71/2 years in prison at her sentencing April 13 before U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang.

Last week's guilty plea by the final co-defendant, Gary Solomon, a co-owner of the SUPES Academy and Synesi Associates education consulting companies, cleared the way for Byrd-Bennett's sentencing to be set. He is to be sentenced March 24.

Thomas Vranas, also a co-owner of the companies, earlier pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced April 12.

In pleading guilty in October 2015, Byrd-Bennett admitted steering multimillion-dollar no-bid contracts to SUPES in exchange for the promise of up to $2.3 million in kickbacks.

The SUPES and Synesi companies also pleaded guilty last week to one count of wire fraud. Each company could face fines as high as $6.4 million, in addition to a total of $254,000 in restitution that Solomon and his co-defendants will collectively pay to the school district.

CPS said it would continue to pursue a lawsuit that seeks more than $65 million in damages and other penalties from Byrd-Bennett and her co-defendants.

jjperez@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @PerezJr

Copyright © 2016, Chicago Tribune

Key figure in CPS bribery scandal pleads guilty

 

CDE releases portions of ESSA Plan :: SI&A Cabinet Report

CDE releases portions of ESSA Plan :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

CDE releases portions of ESSA Plan

(Calif.) California schools with only a quarter of their students coming from low-income households would be allowed to spend federal Title I money on schoolwide programs, under a waiver process pending before the state board of education.

The Every Student Succeeds Act, adopted by Congress last year, gives authority to states to decide how to evaluate Title I schoolwide programs as long as the system takes “into account how a schoolwide program will best serve the needs of the students in the school in improving academic achievement and other factors.”

The plan waiver process designed by the California Department of Education would allow schools to apply for the flexibility if one or more conditions exist on campus:

• At least 25 percent or more students come from low income families.
• Graduation rate is below state average.
• School Site Council recommends that a SWP is the best way to serve the student population.
• At least 30 percent or more of the student population are English learners.
• School resides in high crime or gang-impacted community.
• School has been identified for comprehensive or targeted support.
• School has been identified in the lowest 5 percent of low performing schools

The proposed waiver criteria would provide a lot of spending flexibility to a large percentage of California schools – freedom that they didn’t enjoy under the No Child Left Behind Act. The restriction on such spending, before the ESSA, however, was that at least 40 percent or more of the students attending that school must come from low-income households.

The new waiver policy is included in a draft of California’s ESSA State Plan, portions of which were released in advance of next week’s state board meeting.

The ESSA Plan, which under federal law is now scheduled to be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education in July, sets up what might be another year of transition for K-12 schools before they are fully aligned with the new law.

Among the elements of the ESSA plan made public are details of how schools can apply for a waiver to allow flexibility in spending Title I money for all students; explanation of how California will conduct statewide assessments of English learners; and new standards for entrance and exit procedures for English learners.

Congress included in ESSA a mandate that states need to have new school accountability systems up CDE releases portions of ESSA Plan :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

Fordham still shilling for Charter Schools at the Crossroads: Predicaments, Paradoxes, and Possibilities

Charter Schools at the Crossroads: Predicaments, Paradoxes, and Possibilities:

Charter Schools at the Crossroads

Predicaments, Paradoxes, Possibilities

Over the past quarter-century, charter schools have gone from an upstart education experiment to a prominent, promising, and disruptive innovation in K–12 education. Indeed, few observers present at the creation of the first charter schools could have predicted how rapidly this movement would spread or how thoroughly it would come to dominate the education-reform agenda. In Charter Schools at the Crossroads, authors Chester E. Finn, Jr., Bruno V. Manno, and Brandon L. Wright take stock of what chartering has (and hasn’t) accomplished thus far, how to address its present challenges, and what an ambitious and boldly different course for the next twenty-five years would look like. 

From the role of philanthropy to the rise of no-excuses charter schools, they frankly examine the positive and negative consequences of policies and programs, and push sector leaders to do more, do better, and do it differently. They counter the often-oversimplified narrative of the movement’s origins, showing how multiple agendas and intentions led to a cacophony of results. And they address chartering’s many current dilemmas, including the roles of authorizers and operators, challenges in facilities and funding, and the balance between freedom and regulation. Informative and provocative, this book shows the tremendous work accomplished by the charter sector thus far—and how much still remains to be done.

Charter Schools at the Crossroads: Predicaments, Paradoxes, Possibilities is published by Harvard Education Press and is available for purchase on its website or Amazon.

Timeline of Charter School History

Scroll left and right through significant events.

 Charter Schools at the Crossroads: Predicaments, Paradoxes, and Possibilities:

Black children deserve the stability that their neighborhood schools can offer, despite studies that may indicate otherwise - The Hechinger Report

Black children deserve the stability that their neighborhood schools can offer, despite studies that may indicate otherwise - The Hechinger Report:

Black children deserve the stability that their neighborhood schools can offer, despite studies that may indicate otherwise

School closure is a tactic we don’t have to take.

Under the new national education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, states have been freed to employ strategies they deem fit just as long as they act on the bottom five percent.

When we’re talking about improving urban districts, though, we always seem to land on the “solution” of closing them.

Black communities are constantly losing the anchor institutions we actually need strengthened.

Within those very districts, there are schools that offer somewhat of a model. The elements that make those schools successful can be replicated in others if we valued the teachers and leaders enough to build their capacity. We build people’s capacity when we believe they can improve.

The Education Research Alliance of Tulane University released “Extreme Measures: When and How School Closures and Charter Takeovers Benefit Students” earlier this month.

The study examined the effects of school closures in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana from 2008 to 2014 to show that school closures can have positive effects on student outcomes.

“What gets measured gets done.” If research never leaves the confines of the “gap-closing” framework, “growth” will always burden black families – not the institutions that caused inequities in the first place. Being compared to whites, which gap-closing work and research constantly reinforces, insidiously assumes that white institutions and people are not problems to be solved.

Join the conversation later on Andre Perry’s radio show, “Free College,” hosted Tuesdays on WBOK1230 in New Orleans at 3pm Central/4pm Eastern 504.260.9265.

Many other urban districts including Newark, Oakland and Philadelphia have used school closure as an approach to improve overall performance while reducing the number of ineffective institutions.

The theory is if you close failing schools and move students into better ones you’ll get better educational options and eventually outcomes.

There are many ways to close schools and various reasons why. The most extreme kind of closure is to completely shutter a building. In August, Michigan school officials warned they might shutter schools Black children deserve the stability that their neighborhood schools can offer, despite studies that may indicate otherwise - The Hechinger Report:

Schools Matter: Understanding KIPP Model Charter Schools, Part 12: The Final KIPP Interview

Schools Matter: Understanding KIPP Model Charter Schools, Part 12: The Final KIPP Interview:

Understanding KIPP Model Charter Schools, Part 12: The Final KIPP Interview

Work Hard, Be Hard: Journeys through "No Excuses" Teaching

Work Hard, Be Hard: Journeys Through "No Excuses" Teaching, By Jim Horn, 9781475825794 | Rowman & Littlefield - https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781475825794/Work-Hard-Be-Hard-Journeys-Through-%22No-Excuses%22-Teaching

Part 12 of Work Hard, Be Hard . . . focuses on the last teacher interview that I did for this book.  

I am still interviewing, however, so if you are a former "no excuses" charter teacher or student or administrator who wants to share your story for future publication, please contact me: james.horn@cambridgecollege.edu.

Chapter 12

The Final KIPP Interview

         My first interviews with former KIPP teachers began in 2011, and the last ones for this project were conducted in 2014.  The very last one was with a young woman who contacted me to tell her KIPP story, which had ended just a few days before our interview.  Like other former KIPP teachers, she stepped out of the darkness to speak, even though she feared reprisals and “harassment” from KIPP employees if her identity could be assigned to her words. 

As with so many other former KIPP teachers who left damaged by their experience, she is a former Teach for America corps member who taught two years in a poor public school before coming to KIPP. She had suffered through her first TFA year finding out all that her college double major did not teach her about children and teaching, but by the second year she felt like she had hit her stride.  She had, nonetheless, decided to leave teaching when her two-year TFA commitment was up, when she was contacted by KIPP. 

KIPP had acquired her name as a prospective teacher from her first year teacher mentor, who previously had spent her first year as a teacher at a KIPP school.   Her mentor, she explained, was looking to cash in on large finder fees for new teachers hired from his leads if the new hires stayed at KIPP for at least 30 days.

         She was invited for an interview in an urban area large enough to have its own KIPP network, and she received a guided tour of the “most beautiful classrooms” and “perfectly-arranged classrooms.”  She was taken to lunch and to dinner, and 24 hours later she was offered a teaching job.  Since this KIPP school seemed to “have it together more” than the public school she was leaving, she took a risk and decided to give teaching one more try. 

Like other KIPP teachers, she started to work in early July.  On the first day of her second week at Schools Matter: Understanding KIPP Model Charter Schools, Part 12: The Final KIPP Interview:

Bias in Teacher Observations, As Well | VAMboozled!

Bias in Teacher Observations, As Well | VAMboozled!:

Bias in Teacher Observations, As Well

Following a post last month titled “New Empirical Evidence: Students’ ‘Persistent Economic Disadvantage’ More Likely to Bias Value-Added Estimates,” Matt Barnum — senior staff writer for The 74, an (allegedly) non-partisan, honest, and fact-based news site backed by Editor-in-Chief Campbell Brown and covering America’s education system “in crisis” (see, also, a prior post about The 74 here) — followed up with a tweet via Twitter. He wrote: “Yes, though [bias caused by economic disadvantage] likely applies with equal or even more force to other measures of teacher quality, like observations.” I replied via Twitter that I disagreed with this statement in that I was unaware of research in support of his assertion, and Barnum sent me two articles to review thereafter.

I attempted to review both of these articles herein, although I quickly figured out that I had actually read and reviewed the first (2014) piece on this blog (see original post here, see also a 2014 Brookings Institution article summarizing this piece here). In short, in this study researchers found that the observational components of states’ contemporary teacher systems certainly “add” more “value” than their value-added counterparts, especially for (in)formative purposes. However, researchers  found that observational bias also exists, as akin to value-added bias, whereas teachers who are non-randomly assigned students who enter their classrooms with higher levels of prior achievement tend to get higher observational scores than teachers non-randomly assigned students entering their classrooms with lower levels of prior achievement. Researchers concluded that because districts “do not have processes in place to address the possible biases in observational scores,” statistical adjustments might be made to offset said bias, as might external observers/raters be brought in to yield more “objective” observational assessments of teachers.

For the second study, and this post here, I gave this one a more thorough read (you can find the full study, pre-publication here). Using data from the Measures of Effective 
Teaching (MET) Project, in which random assignment was used (or more accurately attempted), researchers also explored the extent to which students enrolled in teachers’ classrooms influence classroom observational scores.

They found, primarily, that:

1. “[T]he context in which teachers work—most notably, the incoming academic Bias in Teacher Observations, As Well | VAMboozled!:

Stop House Bill 530 In Pennsylvania | Diane Ravitch's blog

Stop House Bill 530 In Pennsylvania | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Stop House Bill 530 In Pennsylvania

House Bill 530:  Stop this last minute attempt to push bad charter expansion bill in the final week of session

The General Assembly is preparing to push charter expansion legislation under House Bill 530 all the way through in this final week of voting for the 2015-16 legislative session and send this bad bill to Gov. Wolf.  Conversations in the House and Senate are happening now to fast-track this bill to the governor’s desk by the end of the week.

Between Monday and Wednesday, House Bill 530 is expected to be moved out of the House Rules Committee and sent to the House floor for quick passage. The bill will then move directly to the Senate Floor for a concurrence vote.  Final action could occur within 48 hours, so your action against this bill now is critical.

We need to STOP House Bill 530! Please send the prepared letter that is available by clicking on the Take Action button. This is a NEW letter that has been prepared to be sent to members of BOTH the House and Senate, so if you sent one to House members last week, please send this latest version.  This letter will also be sent to Gov. Wolf. In addition, please call, text or tweet your members of the Houseand Senateand tell them not to push this bill through in these final session days. Use the talking points below. House Bill 530 creates numerous changes to the Charter School Law, but does not provide real, meaningful reforms or relief from increasing charter funding costs. Tell your House and Senate members to vote NO on this bad legislation. House Bill 530 is not taxpayer friendly because: It does nothing to address the fact that charters continue to be overpaid for special education costs. In 2014-15, school districts overpaid charter schools more than $101.7 million more than the expenditures actually reported by charters. It does nothing to address that fact that charter tuition payments continue to wreak havoc on local school district budgets. Since 2007-08, tuition payments from school districts to charter schools have increased 139.3%. Instead, House Bill 530 creates a statewide advisory commission to explore funding issues that doesn’t even include school directors, even though they are charter school authorizers and responsible for the budget and taxing decisions in their districts. This is not a balanced step toward reform. It includes provisions to allow charter schools to have significantly higher fund balances than school districts and it removes the ability of school districts to negotiate with charter schools for discounts on tuition rates. House Bill 530 is not real reform because: It does nothing to address fraud, waste and abuse by charter management companies It falsely purports to set tighter rules for financial transparency and accountability when in fact such provisions that are already required. It enables the expansion of charter schools with less accountability and dilutes existing authorizer oversight. More charter school proponents are added to the state Charter School Appeal Board. House Bill 530 makes charter schools less accountable because: School districts’ ability to revoke charters for poor performance is reduced by forcing them to use a new performance matrix to measure the academic performance of charter schools and to assess renewal terms. Oh, and guess who creates this matrix? A commission comprised of members that is weighted in favor of charter school representatives. It expands charter renewal terms and further removes authorizer oversight. It allows charter schools to ignore student enrollment caps Charter schools are not required to use the state-developed evaluation system for teacher and principals required for school districts. What House Bill 530 does: Eliminates the ability to compare charter schools and their sending school districts and undermines the original intent of the Charter School Law to create schools that provide something above and beyond what is provided by traditional public schools. Instead, it makes new rules that only benefit charter schools at the expense of students, school districts, and local taxpayers. Allows unchecked expansion of charter schools Click here for more detailed information on PSBA’s concerns with House Bill 530 Click here to see a video that takes a deeper dive into the impact of House Bill 530 Click the link below to log in and send your message: https://www.votervoice.net/ BroadcastLinks/kmO4R0E_ pLy5wlktrTQwsw

Stop House Bill 530 In Pennsylvania | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Map: Getting beyond the buzzwords: Schools improvise as they add art to their STEM schools | 89.3 KPCC

Map: Getting beyond the buzzwords: Schools improvise as they add art to their STEM schools | 89.3 KPCC:

Getting beyond the buzzwords: Schools improvise as they add art to their STEM schools

At the start of the school year, eighth graders at Fulton & Alsbury Academy of Art and Engineering cut amorphous shapes out of brightly colored pieces of construction paper. It was one of the first art projects of the year – a cutout in the style of French artist Henri Matisse.

"So basically we’re starting ... with the elements of art," said teacher Sally Furness. "And then we do a project based on that, and then we’ll start on the principles of design." 

Furness, who teaches language arts and social studies, is taking on visual art instruction for the first time this year. This school, which opened this year, is one of many that are navigating the transition from a program focused on science, technology, engineering and math – known popularly as STEM – to one that also incorporates art. 

“Not all people like just STEM. Some people are more into arts like I am,” said eighth grader Mystike Valdez. “You could combine arts with technology or arts with science.”

That’s pretty much the philosophy of STEAM education – to round out STEM’s focus on science and tech by fusing in arts and design to better prepare kids for innovative careers.

But while the STEM philosophy has passed into the mainstream over the past decade, STEAM is still a new enough idea that educators are finding themselves experimenting and making up exactly what it means for their schools and classes as they go along.

"I don’t like the word STEAM itself because I feel like it’s too much of a buzzword," said principal Andy Glatfelter. "And it begs the question, what exactly are you doing with art?"  

STEM resources for teachers and schools are now plentiful. But there are fewer guidelines on how to add art into the mix.

"There’s not one way to tackle it," said Kim Richards, who runs the San Diego-based education partnership STEAM Insight. "That can be exciting for some teachers but it’s also frustrating for those who don’t have the time and are really struggling day to day to integrate it in their own classrooms."

Just four years ago, "people would look at me when I said STEAM with the brows Map: Getting beyond the buzzwords: Schools improvise as they add art to their STEM schools | 89.3 KPCC:

What Could Be in Store for Education if Democrats Get More Power in Congress? - Politics K-12 - Education Week

What Could Be in Store for Education if Democrats Get More Power in Congress? - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

What Could Be in Store for Education if Democrats Get More Power in Congress?

After the presidential election, perhaps the most pressing political question in Washington is this: Can Republicans maintain their majorities in both the House and Senate? So if Democrats gain control in one or both chambers, who's likely to take control of the key K-12 committees? And what does that mean for public school policy?

First, keep in mind that it's not easy to answer these questions, and the latter in particular, without first considering whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump becomes president. And of course, the GOP might keep control of both chambers of Congress, which would obviously hamper, if not cripple or kill, big education initiatives a President Clinton might want to see done. 

Remember also that each time a new session of Congress starts, lawmakers shuffle between committees, subcommittees, and different leadership posts, regardless of whether there's a new party in charge of the chambers or not. 

We've broken down this analysis into two separate pieces, one on the Senate and one on the House. We've also split up each analysis into sections on potential leadership changes, and on possible issues lawmakers could tackle.

Senate

Leadership: We've written before about the situation involving education committee members Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., currently the top Democrat, and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Murray might take over a leadership position in the Senate if Democrats win the chamber. Even if she does, she might want to retain her spot on the education committee anyway. But there will likely be a decent amount of political pressure to make Sanders the top Democrat on the K-12 panel. (Sanders is technically an independent, but he caucuses with the Democrats and ran for the party's presidential nomination, so we're referring to him accordingly.)

There's also the possibility that Sanders would instead take over the Senate budget committee, where he is currently the ranking member, but very recently in fact Sanders indicated he'd prefer to take over the education committee. 

Congress watchers say it's hard to imagine any Democrat other than Murray or Sanders holding the party's top spot on the education committee. If Sanders takes over, he'd also have a nationally prominent ally on education issues, and on higher education in particular, in Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Noelle Ellerson, an associate executive director with AASA, the School Superintendents Association, said Sanders has worked well with her group on rural education and ed-tech issues,but hasn't focused much on K-12 overall. However, she praised his staff, and said AASA would welcome his leadership of the Senate education panel "if he runs a committee the way he runs his office."

Murray and Alexander have a history of working across the aisle to get things done—check out the Every Student Succeeds Act if you need proof. But she's never been chairwoman of the education committee, although she has previously led the Senate budget committee. ,

(Notice the potential Washington merry-go-round here: It's possible that in the span of about two What Could Be in Store for Education if Democrats Get More Power in Congress? - Politics K-12 - Education Week: