NPE Action 2016 Endorsements | Diane Ravitch's blog

NPE Action 2016 Endorsements | Diane Ravitch's blog:

NPE Action 2016 Endorsements

The Network for Public Education Action Fund is a c(4) political action group, approved by the Internal Revenue Service to make political endorsements. Unlike most other PACs, however, we have no funding to offer those we endorse. All we can give is our public support to help voters know which candidates and which resolutions are in the best interest of public education.

Our endorsements are made after candidates request an endorsement and fill out a questionnaire. They are vetted by our members in the locality or state. A committee of the board reviews the documentation and recommends whether to endorse.

Before you head to the polls on November 8th, we wanted to tell you about the pro-public education candidates we have endorsed in national, state, and local elections.

NPE Action has also taken positions on three ballot initiatives. If you live in these ballot initiative states, make sure to participate in these important votes.

Ballot Initiatives

From Yes on 51:

Prop 51 is a state bond to address the multi-billion backlog of school construction projects.

It provides funding to repair schools, upgrade classrooms and train veterans. It is a fiscally responsible way to fix schools, with tough taxpayer accountability.

From Keep Georgia Schools Local:

On November 8, 2016, Georgia voters will be faced with a deceptive ballot question: “Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow the state to intervene in chronically failing public schools in order to improve student performance?”

The right answer is NO.

Join parents, teachers, and communities across the state working to Keep Georgia Schools Local.

From Save Our Public Schools MA:

Ballot Question 2 proposes to lift the charter school cap in Massachusetts.

Under the proposed ballot question, 12 new charter schools enrolling up to 1 percent of the school-age population could be approved every year, forever, with no limit. These charters could open anywhere in the state, and there are no restrictions on how many charter schools could be opened in a single community or how much money any one district could lose to these new charter schools. Vote no.

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Presidential Endorsement

The Network for Public Education Action (NPE Action) endorses Hillary Rodham Clinton for President of the United States. NPE Action is not aligned with Ms. Clinton on all educational issues, however, all members of the NPE Action Board strongly agree that the election of Donald Trump would have disastrous consequences for public education.

Read the full endorsement here.

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Statewide Endorsements

The Network for Public Education Action is proud to announce its support for Barbara A. Madsen for the Supreme Court of the State of Washington.

According to NPE Action Board President, Diane Ravitch, “Madsen is a judge of great integrity who cares deeply about justice and equity. As an organization devoted to strengthening and improving our nation’s public schools, we are grateful for Judge Madsen’s defense of the right of every child in Washington to an ample public education.”

Learn more about Judge Madsen here.

We support Glenda Ritz for State Superintendent of Public Instruction of Indiana. A former library media specialist in an Indianapolis School, Glenda understands the importance of educating the whole child. She knows that the purpose of reading is not just to pass a test.

She is opposed to the reform agenda in a state controlled by those who would privatize Indiana schools.

We believe that Glenda deserves our support in her bid for re-election.

Learn more about Glenda here.

The Network for Public Education Action also gives its endorsement to Chris Reykdal, in the race for Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Here is what Chris told us about why he is running – “Washington State is under court order to fund PUBLIC schools even while education “reformers” are pushing more aggressively for new charter schools. I am running to support, defend, and improve our public schools! I am incredibly passionate about this work and always have been.”

Learn more about Chris here.

The Network for Public Education Action gives our unqualified support to Steven Bullock, for Governor of the State of Montana.

Governor Bullocks’ strong, support for public education and democratically governed schools is well known throughout his state. In 2016, The Network for Public Education’s State Report Card ranked Montana 4th in the nation. Under Governor Bullock’s leadership, the state received a rating of “A” for its resistance to privatization and for its resistance to high-stakes testing.

Learn more about Governor Bullock here.

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State Endorsements

The Network for Public Education Action gives its unqualified endorsement to Zephyr Teachout to represent New York’s 19th Congressional District.

Zephyr’s strong, progressive support for public education is well known throughout New York State. During her Democratic primary bid for New York Governor, her support for democratically-governed public education was a prominent part of her platform.

Learn more about Zephyr here.

NPE Action is proud to endorse Renitta Shannon for the Georgia House of Representatives, District 84.

Ms. Shannon tells us, “I am running because Georgia is facing a school takeover plan similar to what Michigan has been through, and the Democrat incumbent has been voting and advocating for school vouchers, and school privatization. I believe we need to fully fund public education.”

Learn more about Renitta here.

Mandy Wright is a public school teacher who believes in investing in community schools. She supports the Fair Funding initiative of the governor, which will provide stability to school funding in the state. She also believes in investments in teacher training programs, loan forgiveness, and reinstating of collective bargaining.

Learn more about Mandy here.

NPE Action proudly endorses Larry Proffitt in his bid for a seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives, representing District 66, Robertson County. Larry, a public school teacher, told us why he wants to serve – “Politicians have had their turn. It’s time to put an educator into the legislature to help improve jobs, education and health-care.”

Learn more about Larry here.

NPE Action is proud to endorse Ardashes “Ardy” Kassakhian for the California State Assembly, 43rd District.

We believe that Ardy, who is a pro-public school candidate, deserves the vote of NPE supporters. According to NPE Action President, Diane Ravitch, “We need a champion in the California legislature. It would be wonderful if Ardy can show that the powerful charter lobby can be beaten in November.”

Learn more about Ardy here.

Local School Board and City Council Endorsements

Kwame, who is a teacher of mathematics and science, told NPEAction that, “We should be using testing to guide curriculum and instruction and help create student improvement plans. We don’t need more tests–students are more than test scores. We need to stop the practice of using test scores to determine school, student or teachers value.”Learn more about Kwame here.

NPE Action proudly endorses Robert Garcia for the School Board of the Etiwanda School District in San Bernardino County, California.

Robert was a teacher for 12 years, and he is in his second year as an administrator. Robert taught in a charter school for a short while, and helped unionize its teachers.

Robert supports smaller class sizes, opposes vouchers, and wants to make schools more equitable for all students.

Learn more about Robert here.

NPE Action is proud to endorse Drew Franklin for an At-Large Member seat of the Council of the District of Columbia (DC Council At-Large). Franklin, a writer and Occupy Wall Street activist, explains his support for education – “I am committed to community control of public schools in DC, which is home to some of the country’s most extreme racial inequities in education…corporate reform has only made the situation worse.

Learn more about Drew here.

 

NPE Action 2016 Endorsements | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Charter organization fills gap with new school ranking system | EdSource

Charter organization fills gap with new school ranking system | EdSource:

Charter organization fills gap with new school ranking system

The California Charter Schools Association released on Tuesday what the State Board of Education vowed it would not recreate: a statewide ranking of district and charter schools based on standardized test scores.

The association’s data tools re-establish what’s been missing since the state board did away with the Academic Performance Index, the state system that assigned each school a number between 200 and 1,000 based on standardized test results in multiple subjects.

   The charter association represents many of the state’s 1,230 charter schools. Its database lists more than 10,000 district and charter schools according to their scores on the first two years of the Smarter Balanced tests in English and math in grades 3 to 8 and grade 11. The schools are ranked from 1 to 10, with 10 the highest. A separate index compares schools to those with comparable populations of students; the API also provided this. ( The association’s school index page includes links to the State Ranks and Similar Schools Ranks Spreadsheet, the Statewide School Accountability Spreadsheet with additional measures, and background information.) 

“The Association believes it is important information for parents facing a decision on where to send their children to school and for districts deciding whether to Charter organization fills gap with new school ranking system | EdSource:

CURMUDGUCATION: Are High Standards Leading To Better Outcomes?

CURMUDGUCATION: Are High Standards Leading To Better Outcomes?:

Are High Standards Leading To Better Outcomes?

The Collaborative for Student Success was created to help push the Common Core State Standards, and it remains devoted to that goal and proudly announcing "The Results Are In: High Standards Are Leading to Better Outcomes," a headline we can take just about as seriously as a headline from the Ford PR department announcing that the new Ford Taurus Is Awesome!

CSS is an astro-turf advocacy group, a group built with money from the usual suspects to push the Core on the rest of us. The list of funders includes the Broad Foundation, ExxonMobile, the Helmsley Charitable Trust, and, of course, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Its website lists it as a project of the New Venture Fund, a group funded by Gates to support the Core "through comprehensive and targeted communications and advocacy." You can check out more connectionscourtesy of the indispensable Mercedes Schneider, but you get the general gist-- these guys exists only to try to convince us all that the Core are wonderful.

This, of course, does not mean that they cannot possibly say True Things, so while we have to view these Results that are In with a suspicious eye, we can still evaluate their actual merits, if any.

The Results are pretty much meaningless, or possibly alarming. Here's the main claim:

Among third grade students – students whose entire academic careers have been guided by high standards – math scores increased by more than three percentage points.  

Let me rephrase that just a bit.

Among third graders-- students whose entire academic careers have been spent taking and prepping for the Big Standardized Test and who have never known a school that was not organized around CURMUDGUCATION: Are High Standards Leading To Better Outcomes?:

Eleven Texas school boards ordered to the classroom | The Texas Tribune

Eleven Texas school boards ordered to the classroom | The Texas Tribune:

Eleven Texas school boards ordered to the classroom

Houston ISD trustees admonish TEA for delaying campus turnaround plan implementation.  Graphic by Todd Wiseman / The Texas Tribune

The superintendents and elected school boards of 11 Texas districts — including Dallas, Houston and Fort Worth — have been ordered by the state education agency to attend two-day training programs to learn how to fix their failing schools.

Deputy Commissioner of Education A.J. Crabill sent letters to the 11 school boards Oct. 10 saying they need additional governance training because their districts submitted unsatisfactory plans for turning around floundering campuses. All 11 superintendents and boards have agreed to the training, with several members expressing frustration about what they saw as an unfair and vague request.

The letters were sent about two months after TEA released 2016 accountability ratings showing that 467 campuses statewide — including 42 in the targeted districts — were labeled “improvement required,” a decrease from 603 campuses last year. The notices were sent to Brazosport, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, Hearne, Houston, Lubbock, Midland, Nacogdoches, Tyler and Waco.

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath has promised to crack down on low-performing schools and to halve the number of failing schools over the next five years.

State law requires districts to submit detailed plans in the spring to fix problems at schools labeled “improvement required” for two or more consecutive years. The districts are supposed to include parents and the community in drafting the proposed fixes.

Morath has the final say on approving the plans — by mid-to -late June, according to a TEA timeline — so districts can start implementing them the following school year.

But for the 11 school districts, that implementation will have to wait until board trustees and superintendents attend a two-day, 24-hour governance training session.

In the letters, Crabill said he wasn't sure the plans the districts submitted would address problems — including low test scores, low graduation rates, high dropout rates, and poor college readiness — within two years. The training sessions will help trustees identify and fix weaknesses in their plans, the letter said.

“While I don’t have a problem with training, I do have a problem with a demand that I implement what it is we are going to be trained on, when I don’t even know what it is.”— Joyce Foreman, Dallas school trustee

If Morath decides not to approve a plan, he can replace the board of trustees, replace the principal of a school or shut the school down completely, Crabill wrote.

Houston Independent School District’s board of trustees told Crabill it will likely vote to attend Eleven Texas school boards ordered to the classroom | The Texas Tribune:

Racial stereotyping can affect kids at every stage of life | Huffington Post

Why Some Kids Are Put In Special Education And Others In Gifted Programs | Huffington Post:

Why Some Kids Are Put In Special Education And Others In Gifted Programs

Racial stereotyping can affect kids at every stage of life.

When Rachel Fish was a special education teacher in New Mexico some years ago, her students didn’t look the rest of the school.

Fish, who taught in an elementary school filled mostly with Navajo, Latino and white students, said the kids in her classes were “more likely to be the students of color.” Even though the school staff was fiercely dedicated to the students, Fish says, she wondered if the demographics of the special ed classes were a result of more than just unequal performance. 

“As a staff we were working hard to provide the best educational experience for all of our students, but I wondered if we were unintentionally treating children differently for different reasons,” said Fish, now an assistant professor of special education at New York University. “I worried: Did I push some students harder? Did I accept lower performance among some students for inappropriate reasons?” 

Now, years later, Fish has conducted a study that adds credence to her fears. Her work, published last month in the journal Social Science Research, focuses on students who get referred for special education and students who are singled out for gifted testing.

Fish had a group of 70 third-grade teachers read fictional stories about boys who varied by academic ability, behavioral disposition and race. The characters were given names meant to signal their racial identities. In the end, the teachers were asked whether they would recommend the students for testing for special education programs or a gifted program.

The results were a mixed bag. When presented with stories of students who were struggling academically, teachers were more likely to recommend white boys for special education testing than boys of color. On the other hand, when asked to read stories about children with behavioral issues, teachers were more likely to refer black and Latino boys to special ed testing than they were white students. In cases of high-achieving students, teachers were more likely to refer white boys for testing into gifted and talented programs than they were boys of color.

Fish’s findings suggest certain patterns of implicit bias. She suspects that teachers are less likely to refer academically struggling students of color to special education because they might simply see those students’ low performance as normal.

“White boys with academic challenges are seen as requiring more help, with their academic needs seen as medicalized problems to fix, rather than the status quo,” Fish writes in the study. “Indeed, research indicates that children’s behaviors are perceived differently by their teachers depending on race/ethnicity, as teachers rate non-white students more poorly on behavioral outcomes, and perceive misbehavior Why Some Kids Are Put In Special Education And Others In Gifted Programs | Huffington Post:

New Charter School Controversy Calls Into Question Democratic Accountability and What It Means to Be a Public School - Education Law Prof Blog

Education Law Prof Blog:

New Charter School Controversy Calls Into Question Democratic Accountability and What It Means to Be a Public School

One of Dallas’ oldest and biggest charter schools, A.W. Brown-Fellowship Leadership Academy, is in turmoil.  It started out with an enrollment of 200 students more than a decade ago and now has 2,400, with growth each year.  Some parents are rethinking the school and its governance.  New claims of abuse and/or mistreatment of students have been levied against the school.  Parents claim the school is being non-responsive to concerns.  The problem appears that even if the parents are correct there is nothing they can do about because of the differences between a charter school and a traditional public school.

Parents also complain of nepotism — namely, that board president Lorenzo Brown and his son serve together. But that’s legal for charter schools in Texas. After all, A.W. Brown school was started by a husband and wife. At one point, both Armond and Paula Brown served on the board and worked as employees, records show. Other family members also worked for the school.

. . . .

If the school were part of a traditional district, parents could elect their board members. But as a public charter school, A.W. Brown’s board appoints its members.

So some parents say they’re voting with their feet. LaTrondra King said her son is on the waiting list at another charter school. “I just want the best for him,” she said.

In Charter Schools, Vouchers, and the Public Good, I raised similar issues in the context of asking what makes a school "public."  Does a statute that calls a charter school a public school make it so or are there substantive qualities and characteristics that make a school public?  I won't recount that entire discussion here, but I argue that constitutional and democratic accountability, among other things, are a central aspect of what makes a school public. 

Public schools’ mission also extends to fostering [particular] values once students are enrolled, including democracy, equality, and tolerance. Public schools pursue these ends not only because they are public values but also because the Constitution mandates as much. This is no small distinction. As state actors, public schools are bound to treat students (and teachers) fairly, which entails, among other things, equality, Education Law Prof Blog:

 

Infographic: Eyes on reshaping charter school oversight, advocates become top spenders in state races | 89.3 KPCC

Infographic: Eyes on reshaping charter school oversight, advocates become top spenders in state races | 89.3 KPCC:

Eyes on reshaping charter school oversight, advocates become top spenders in state races

Californians are used to seeing outside groups — from oil and business interests to environmental and labor groups — spend millions of dollars in hopes of swaying state legislative races.

But in 2016, another sector came on the scene and surpassed them all: charter school advocates.

With a week before election day, no organization in the state has spent more outside money in the 2016 election cycle than either EdVoice or the Parent Teacher Alliance, two pro-charter committees.

Combined, they've made around $17 million in "independent expenditures" on state legislative races this year, a KPCC analysis shows.

Backed by donors like L.A. philanthropist Eli Broad, Netflix founder Reed Hastings, and Gap founder Doris Fisher, these pro-charter groups' outside spending has even surpassed traditional heavyweights in California politics: groups backed by the energy industry, real estate developers or organized labor.

Independent expenditures aren't contributions to candidates; rather, they're outside spending meant to boost one candidate — or oppose another — but made separately from the candidates' campaigns.

A RESPONSE TO 'BACKLASH'

The increased spending in state-level politics comes as charter school advocates say they're facing stiffer political headwinds a tougher time winning political battles at the local level — particularly in the state's largest school districts, like Los Angeles Unified.

Changing the statewide statutory and regulatory environment for charter schools could help them in these local fights, said Carlos Marquez, head of government relations at the California Charter Schools Association. (Technically speaking, CCSA's companion organization, CCSA Advocates, actually spends on campaigns.)

“The way in which we have to at least attempt to do that is through the legislature," said Marquez. "Why now? The local efforts we’re seeing, the backlash against charter schools is at a fever pitch – [it] is probably worse today than it’s ever been.”

For instance, in Los Angeles, charter advocates have grown increasingly frustrated with the L.A. Unified School Board's performance as a charter "authorizer" — the entity that determines which charter schools can open, which can remain open and which must close.

Last month, L.A. Unified's board voted against renewing five charter schools' operating authority, meaning the schools will need to appeal to a county or state board in order to remain open. In recent years, the board has routinely approved almost all of these renewal requests.

L.A. Unified officials and district defenders point out these schools faced troubling questions about governance, transparency and financial oversight — and that the Infographic: Eyes on reshaping charter school oversight, advocates become top spenders in state races | 89.3 KPCC:

 

Jonathan Kozol and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh Warn About Danger of Expanding Charter Schools | janresseger

Jonathan Kozol and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh Warn About Danger of Expanding Charter Schools | janresseger:

Jonathan Kozol and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh Warn About Danger of Expanding Charter Schools

Massachusetts Question 2 is the ballot issue that would lift that state’s cap on the authorization of new charter schools. The debate about Question 2 has attracted wide attention beyond Massachusetts this autumn because expanding charter schools in Massachusetts would create many of the same problems charter schools are posing in other states.

In a stunning commentary for the Boston Globe, education writer Jonathan Kozol, also a Massachusetts voter, seized next week’s vote on Question 2 as an opportunity to reflect on the public role of the state’s public schools: “Slice it any way you want. Argue, as we must, that every family ought to have the right to make whatever choice they like in the interests of their child, no matter what damage it may do to other people’s children. As an individual decision, it’s absolutely human; but setting up this kind of competition, in which parents with the greatest social capital are encouraged to abandon their most vulnerable neighbors, is rotten social policy.  What this represents is a state supported shriveling of civic virtue, a narrowing of moral obligation to the smallest possible parameters.  It isn’t good for Massachusetts, and it’s not good for democracy.”

Kozol continues: “This commonwealth has been an exemplar of democratic public education ever since the incubation of the common school idea at the midpoint of the 19th century.  For all its imperfections and constant need of diligent repair, it remains a vision worth preserving. The privatizing forces from outside of this state have wisely recognized the powerful symbolic victory they’d gain by turning Massachusetts against its own historic legacy.”

Who are these privatizing forces?  Kozol points to the New York hedge fund billionaires who have invested in Families for Excellent Schools, a dark money organization that has Jonathan Kozol and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh Warn About Danger of Expanding Charter Schools | janresseger:

Is influence peddling behind the likely approval of Relay School of Education’s Connecticut proposal? - Wait What?

Is influence peddling behind the likely approval of Relay School of Education’s Connecticut proposal? - Wait What?:

Is influence peddling behind the likely approval of Relay School of Education’s Connecticut proposal?

Although the corporate education reform entity, Relay School of Education, has recently been prohibited from working in California and Pennsylvania, Governor Dannel Malloy’s political appointees on the State Board of Education are poised today to grant the controversial teacher training scheme, “full program approval” to operate in Connecticut.

The stunning move comes after months of illegal lobbying by the Relay School of Education, including direct contact between Relay corporate officers and some of the highest ranking officials in the Malloy administration.

Relay School of Education is closely associated with the charter school industry and has particularly close ties to Achievement First, Inc., the large charter school chain with schools in Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island.  Achievement First’s CEO is a key player on the Relay School of Education’s Board of Directors.

Charter school advocate Jonathan Sackler, who help fund Achievement First and sits on its Board of Directors is one of Malloy’s largest campaign contributors.  A number of Malloy’s other top campaign contributors have deep connections to Achievement First and the charter school industry that has been working, so hard, to persuade the State Department of Education to overlook Relay School of Education’s poor track record and faulty Connecticut proposal.

In addition to engaging in illegal lobbying, the Relay School of Education has been violating state law and regulations by engaging in activities prior to receiving state approval.

However, despite these serious legal problems and a proposal deemed insufficient by a number of experts, State Department of Education officials are pushing for a quick Is influence peddling behind the likely approval of Relay School of Education’s Connecticut proposal? - Wait What?:

CURMUDGUCATION: WA: Buying the Court

CURMUDGUCATION: WA: Buying the Court:

WA: Buying the Court

When reformsters aren't busy trying to buy seats on school boards or flood a state with outside money to influence charter school legislation, sometimes they turn their money and attention to the courts.

Washington State has been a disappointment to many of its tech billionaires. Bill Gates and his friends had to spend several million dollars on several different tries to get a charter school law passed, and then the state court turned right around and declared that law unconstitutional(something about spending public monies on a private education-flavored business). There was some agitated freaking out and an attempt to do an end run around the ruling. 

But there is of course a simpler solution. Pack the court with judges who are more agreeable. And so  three judges in the Washington Supreme Court face challenges this year (the first such challenge since the 90s).

Center, leftmost, and bald guy with cute tie-- those are the targets

This is not a coincidence. Court critic GOP State Rep Matt Manweller reached out to recruit all three of the candidates running in races, and he had the McCleary decisionin mind (that would be the case in which the court ended up fining the legislature for every day it failed to fully fund Washington State schools). Manweller suggested that the court CURMUDGUCATION: WA: Buying the Court:

Charter schools just another way of perpetuating segregation | Morgan | NJ.com

Charter schools just another way of perpetuating segregation | Morgan | NJ.com:

Charter schools just another way of perpetuating segregation

Thurgood Marshall, center, on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, where he successfully represented the NAACP in the historic Brown v. Board of Education case.(Star-Ledger file photo)

That the National NAACP would sooner or later challenge the concept of charter schools was inevitable. After all, that is the Civil Rights organization that fought for the Brown v the Board of Education decision to desegregate the nation's schools. The lead attorney in that case, Thurgood Marshall, was nearly lynched while traveling through the Jim Crow south while building a case against school segregation.

Recently, the NAACP cited increasing segregation, disproportionate financial management and expansion to low income communities as the reasons it's seeking a moratorium on the expansion of charter schools. The Brown decision, which struck down segregated schools, ruled the concept of "separate-but-equal" makes schools inherently separate and unequal. The court ordered the desegregation of the nation's schools with all "deliberate speed."

Marshall went on to become a Supreme Court Justice, but never actually witnessed the national embrace of the 1954 Brown decision during his tenure on the Supreme Court bench or, for that matter, in his lifetime. In fact, nearly 70 years after Brown, many of the nation's schools remain segregated and some are probably more segregated than they were when Brown vs. Board became the law of the land.

Successfully integrated school districts are still, at best, a scarcity. There are places where it's been successful, but not many. Indeed, the idea of the integration of schools rarely enters the conversation when matters of public school education are discussed. It's as if both white and black people are in agreement that such a thing is impossible. The talk now is all about "school choice," and charter schools that skirt the issue of race.

Charters evolved as a proponent of "choice." If you are a parent, in say Jersey City, and your neighborhood public school in a predominant minority community isn't up to snuff but you can't afford to pay the tuition for a private or parochial school, you might try enrolling your son or daughter in a charter school. That's if you're lucky enough to snag a seat in charter through the mandated lottery determining who gains admittance.

In heavily segregated school districts like Jersey City, the issue of desegregation has all but disappeared from conversations involving education.

In Jersey City, where neighborhoods are often defined by the ethnicity of their population, the problem schools are essentially in the African-American community, south of the city's educational Mason-Dixon line -- Montgomery Street. It stands to reason the charter schools that evolved there would be virtually all black, running counter to the court decision declaring separate and unequal inherently unequal.

Studies have proven that students attending desegregated school districts – black, white, or multi-ethnic – perform just as well or better than their peers who lack that experience. It stands to reason that all the boasting and bragging about equality and American exceptionalism rings hollow in a nation that seems hell bent on continuing a form of educational apartheid.  

As for charter schools, what other industrialized western democracy is educating its children by the luck of the draw?  Charter schools just another way of perpetuating segregation | Morgan | NJ.com:

Joy Resmovits: State Board of Education meeting to Vote on Local Control and Accountability Plan - LA Times

Follow this meeting to understand how state policy shapes your local public schools - LA Times:

Follow this meeting to understand how state policy shapes your local public schools

When you think about your child’s school and the forces that shape it, you might consider the teachers, the principal, the district.

But there’s a powerful group of decision-makers who create the rules that guide educators and administrators, and their choices help mold the public school experience in California.

The 10-member California State Board of Education is meeting Wednesday and Thursday. The group is at the forefront of major changes heading to your public schools as school ratings are updated to reflect more than just test scores. 

Over the course of this month’s meeting, we’ll be keeping a close eye on a few decisions.

The board will vote on an updated Local Control and Accountability Plan template. This is the document that school districts use to communicate their overall goals and progress to the families they serve.

The template is part of the Local Control Funding Formula, the 2013 school funding law that allots a certain amount of money for each child, plus extra if that child has special needs. The districts describe their plans and plug information into the templates to show that they are spending those dollars appropriately.

The updated template has been designed to be easier to read, but some advocates say it’s not transparent enough. If approved, the new template will go into effect immediately — districts must submit their plans in June.

As you might have seen, the state also is moving toward grading schools using a color-coded system instead of numbers. Green will be good. Red will be bad. The board is set to vote on how well a school must perform to earn the various color ratings. 

The plan the board will vote on would code a school green for academic performance if 51% or more students are proficient in math, and 60% or more are passing muster in English/language arts — and they maintain at least that level from one year to the next.

Board members will also consider how much money to withhold from Educational Testing Service, the contractor that built the state’s new standardized tests. The California Department of Education has recommended keeping back $271,952.56 — out of $86,419,128 — because of issues with technology and score reporting. 

There also will be a vote on how to comply with the Every Student Succeeds Act, the new federal education law that replaced No Child Left Behind. One proposal is to determine whether an audit of state standardized tests is necessary. But the stickiest and most contentious part of compliance — school accountability — will be decided after the presidential election. 

On Thursday, the board is expected to approve a new science framework, aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards. The standards, which have been adopted by numerous states, require teachers to have students engage in hands-on science, instead of just regurgitating information on tests. The framework guides districts on how to teach to the standards and will kick off the process of acquiring appropriate textbooks. 

The science framework gives districts different options for how they can arrange the science curriculum. They could keep the traditional structure, with biology, physical and earth sciences as separate subjects, or move toward an “integrated model” in which students simultaneously learn concepts across these disciplines.

The new science framework also includes engineering, introduced in transitional kindergarten. 

What does engineering mean for a young student? One example would have them experiment with different mixtures and cooking times to create the fluffiest pancakes.

You can read the board’s agenda here and follow along with a live video stream Wednesday and Thursday.

 Follow this meeting to understand how state policy shapes your local public schools - LA Times:

Here’s how the education debate could shift if Democrats retake Colorado’s Senate - Denverite

Here’s how the education debate could shift if Democrats retake Colorado’s Senate - Denverite:

Here’s how the education debate could shift if Democrats retake Colorado’s Senate

Partisan control of Colorado’s Senate is in play this November, and with it the direction of major education policy debates on charter school funding, testing and how teachers are licensed.

For the last two years, Republicans have held a one-vote advantage in the Senate, while Democrats have enjoyed a three-seat majority in the House of Representatives.

But if Democrats have a successful night on Nov. 8, they could reclaim control of that chamber and claim one-party rule for the final two years of Gov. John Hickenlooper’s administration. (Political observers are all but certain the House will remain under Democratic control.)

The potential shift in power comes as Colorado’s schools are calling for more money and less regulation. But there is also a contingent of school leaders and advocacy organizations who are asking lawmakers to keep the status quo, at least for one more year as many of Colorado’s most ambitious reform efforts take hold.

The last time Democrats held both chambers and the governor’s mansion — in 2013 and 2014 — little was accomplished on education issues. Most energy was spent on an ill-fated attempt to rework the way the state funds its schools, and getting more money to schools.

So will anything be different this time? We asked a variety of lawmakers, lobbyists and education activists. Here’s what they said is likely to happen if Democrats take over:

Democrats will almost certainly free up more money for schools in the short-term, as advocates push for a resolution to Colorado’s school funding quagmire.

Despite aggressive lobbying earlier this year by the governor’s office, Republicans refused to approve a technical change to a pool of money the state collects that was in part responsible for triggering a mandatory refund to taxpayers.

Currently, the state collects a fee from hospitals that goes toward Medicaid costs. Those dollars also count toward the state’s constitutionally mandated revenue ceiling outlined in the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. Once the state reaches its ceiling, like it did last year, the state must issue refunds to taxpayers.

Democrats want to reclassify the fee so that doesn’t continue to happen as other revenue comes close to the state’s limit but doesn’t reach the ceiling.

“The opportunity is that we can pass some Band-Aid fixes to our restrictions to help with education funding,” said Rep. Brittany Pettersen, a Lakewood Democrat and chairwoman of the House Education Committee.

If Democrats are successful, an estimated $90 million could flow to schools. However, lawmakers could be forced to cut back funding if economic forecasts don’t improve by next spring.

And that fix might still not be enough to appease school districts and advocates preparing to ask lawmakers to rethink how the state funds its schools.

“Obviously the hospital provider fee can relieve some short-term pressure, but they have to look at a long-term solution,” said Lisa Weil, executive director of Great Education Colorado, a nonprofit organization that focuses on school funding. “We hope that elected officials come looking to solve problems.”

Charter school supporters are worried a Democratic-controlled state Senate means funding equalization is DOA. They’re probably right.

Last session, lawmakers failed to reach a compromise that would have required local school districts to share local tax dollars equally with their charter schools.

While advocates are vowing to bring the measure back, some conservatives who supported the measure are skeptical the legislation will have a fighting chance in 2017.

“That is not a reality without at least a Republican majority in the Senate,” said Tyler Sandberg, senior policy adviser for Ready Colorado, a conservative nonprofit that advocates for school reform policies.

The Colorado League of Charter Schools isn’t as pessimistic.

“Regardless of which way the election goes, we really see this as a bipartisan issue,” said Here’s how the education debate could shift if Democrats retake Colorado’s Senate - Denverite: