Monday, October 25, 2010

Schools Matter: Please Add Your Name to the EPI Statement on the Use of Value-Added Models

Please Add Your Name to the EPI Statement on the Use of Value-Added Models

by Jim Horn

We invite you to add your name to the below statement, initiated by ten prominent education scholars, that urges policymakers to not pursue heavy reliance on test scores for evaluating, rewarding and removing teachers. Links to relevant research on this issue are listed below. Please sign up and tell your friends and colleagues to do so as well. Thank you for your interest.
Lawrence Mishel | President, Economic Policy Institute

The heavy use of VAM in a teacher evaluation system will misidentify large numbers of both effective and ineffective teachers. Leading authorities (such as the Board on Testing and Assessment of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Education, and researchers from RAND and the Educational Testing Service and a recent Economic Policy Institute paper by a group of prominent scholars, Problems With the Use of Student Test Scores to Evaluate Teachers) concur that VAM is too inaccurate to be used as

A student’s view of good teaching � Failing Schools

A student’s view of good teaching

OCTOBER 25, 2010

by Sabrina

This past summer, I was fortunate to be able to capture a really interesting conversation between Andy, a high school student in the Denver metro area, and one of his former teachers. This clip comes from that dialogue. Here, they talk about what he took away from her class. The video is a bit dark (I’m no good at orchestrating light, etc. in other people’s homes– it feels so rude!), but his insight shines through nevertheless. The clip is edited

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell… They’re Passing � EdVox

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell… They’re Passing

by edvoxny

By Lisa North, 2^nd grade CTT teacher at P.S. 3

The State Education Department’s lowering of the test scores over the summer has left many teachers and schools in a quandary. Most school administrators and teachers have known for a long time that the tests were getting easier. You would often hear in school,” It’s an election year, we know the scores will go up!”

What could we tell parents? Your child received a level 3, but they are NOT on grade level. There was little motivation for a 3rd grade student who could barely do 2nd grade math, was not paying attention during class lessons, never completed homework or class work…but received a level 3 on the math test and so was passed to the 4th grade. Because the test is the determining factor in promotion, that left teachers with little grounds to argue to parents and students that they needed to do better. Yes, we often told students and parents that their child was not on grade level, but when they passed the test, they still went on to the next grade.

NEA VP talks about who is out to supress the Latino vote. � Fred Klonsky's blog

NEA VP talks about who is out to supress the Latino vote.

by Fred Klonsky

NEA VP Lily Eskelsen, in the center, at a GOTV rally.

Lily Eskelsen is vice president of the National Education Association and an elementary teacher from Utah. She is one of the highest-ranking labor leaders in the country and one of its most influential Hispanic educators.

On her blog, Lily’s Blackboard, she talks about her mother.

Soy la hija de una inmigrante. I am the proud daughter of an immigrant. My mother is from Panama and became a citizen when I was three.

Apparently there is a campaign in some states with heavy Latino voter registration to supress the Latino turnout. Lily and her mom will have none of that.

I am a teacher. I want the Dream Act now! We want more people in Congress who are supporting the Dream Act – not fewer. I want an end to the testing mania that

AFL-CIO NOW BLOG | Trumka’s Message to LGBT Teens: It Gets Better

Trumka’s Message to LGBT Teens: It Gets Better

by James Parks, Oct 25, 2010


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The union movement has long been in the forefront of the fight against discrimination in the workplace and throughout society. Spurred by the reports of bullying and suicides of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) students in schools, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka joinedPresident Obama, Secretary of StateHillary Rodham Clinton and other leaders who are filming videos for the It Gets Better campaign.

Begun by columnist Dan Savage, the It Gets Better campaign supports and encourages LGBT teens to “hang in there” because they are not alone. It lets them know others are working to ensure that things will get better for them.

In his video (above), Trumka, who comes from an East European immigrant family, relates how hard it was growing up in the coal mine country of southwest Pennsylvania. When he was kid, he says, there were ugly names for everyone. His older relatives spoke with thick accents and were routinely given the hardest and most dangerous work in the mines. Their

La Raza studies teachers file lawsuit | KVOA.com | Tucson, Arizona

La Raza studies teachers file lawsuit

Posted: Oct 18, 2010 10:16 PM
Updated: Oct 19, 2010 5:07 AM

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TUCSON - HB 2281, a measure to end Tucson Unified School's ethnic studies program is set to go into law at the end of this year. But supporters of the courses say they're not backing down and are challenging the law's legality.

Monday night, the group Save Ethnic Studies held a news conference about the lawsuit they've filed against HB 2281.

TUSD educators say the basis of the lawsuit is discrimination and free speech.

The 11 plaintiffs in the lawsuit are all ethnic studies teachers.

Sean Arce says, "I am defending the teaching of Mexican American Chicano history, culture and the contributions. So that my own children Mya and Ameliano know the importance of where they came from and where they are going."

Supporters say the courses promote heritage, but Dr. Tom Horne, Superintendent of Public Instruction says la raza studies intimidate and divide students based on race.

In a statement to News 4, Dr. Horne who is named in the suit says quote, "I have letters from teachers and former teachers detailing the radical agenda that takes place in these