Fundraising advantages didn’t buy victory in SBE primaries | Chalkbeat

Fundraising advantages didn’t buy victory in SBE primaries | Chalkbeat:

Fundraising advantages didn’t buy victory in SBE primaries

 Both candidates who won the contested State Board of Education primaries on June 24, Valentina Flores and Marcia Neal, raised less money than the people they defeated.

In the 1st District, Democratic winner Flores raised $20,292 in cash and non-monetary contributions. Loser Taggart Hansen amassed $38,288 in cash, loans and non-monetary services, including $7,408 in personal loans that he forgave and turned into contributions.

Flores spent $17,543, while the Hansen campaign laid out $36,404.

When the votes were counted in Arapahoe and Denver counties, Flores had 22,412 votes to Hansen’s 15,621.

Put another way, Flores spent 78 cents for every vote she received, while Hansen spent $2.33. (Two independent expenditure committees connected to Stand for Children and Democrats for Education Reform spent a total of $107,078 supporting Hansen, or $6.85 a vote.)

There was a similar pattern in the Republican primary for the board’s seat representing District 3, which covers 29 counties in the western and south-central parts of the state.

Winning incumbent Marcia Neal raised $5,681 from all sources and spent $4,068. Loser Barbara Ann Smith raised $7,338 (including ($2,100 in loans) and spent $7,427. Smith also had the advantage of being listed on the top line of the ballot (as was Flores in the 1st).

But Neal was victorious with 26,138 votes, compared to 24,355 for Smith.

The four candidates this week filed updated contribution and spending reports on financial activity through June 25. The independent expenditure committees don’t have to file updated reports until Aug. 1.

Here are some other state board election tidbits, now that complete but unofficial results have been posted by the Department of State.

Democratic candidate Henry Roman, running unopposed in the 3rd District, received 29,768 votes. (All certified candidates appear on the primary ballot, even if they don’t have opponents.)

There’s no Republican candidate in the 1st District, although an unaffiliated candidate could Fundraising advantages didn’t buy victory in SBE primaries | Chalkbeat:

Marie Corfield: Christie can't take the heat in Paterson

Marie Corfield: Christie can't take the heat in Paterson:

Christie can't take the heat in Paterson

Apparently Gov. Christie heeded the old saying, "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen" and high-tailed it out of the Silk City after uttering about 25 works in his swearing in of Mayor Jose Torres. But I don't think it was the typical Jersey-style summer-in-the-city, +90° hazy, hot and humid weather that forced him out. No, I think it was the approximately 50 Paterson education professionals who showed up armed with their best teacher voices to protest. Clad in red shirts to symbolize Trenton's bleeding of the school district, they were there to deliver a message to Gov. Christie: state control is hurting their students, their schools and profession, and forcing many education professionals out of their jobs because they can no longer support their families and pay their bills.
Armed with signs that highlighted among other things, the 23% raise he recently gave his staff (because apparently they've taken on more of a workload—and the rest of us haven't), the educators repeatedly chanted, "Christie's got to go!" One woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told me she is thinking about leaving the profession because she just can't afford to stay in it. "I haven't had a raise in 4 years; my paycheck is getting smaller; I'm struggling to keep a roof over my head; and the amount of work I now do is overwhelming. There's got to be a Marie Corfield: Christie can't take the heat in Paterson:

In Colorado Parents Are Denied Access to Their Student’s Data | Truth in American Education

In Colorado Parents Are Denied Access to Their Student’s Data | Truth in American Education:

In Colorado Parents Are Denied Access to Their Student’s Data

Filed in Privacy/SLDS by Shane Vander Hart on July 1, 2014 • 0 Comments

Similar to what John Eppolito experienced in Nevada, parents in Colorado are having a difficult time accessing their own student’s data, but 3rd party entities don’t seem to have trouble getting access.

From Watchdog Wire:

Colorado school districts are collecting broad, detailed educational and psychological data on their students for use by private companies and the federal government, yet parental access to the same information remains limited and difficult to come by.

Local districts are giving parents the run-around and stalling, while the state Department of Education claims that it simply doesn’t have the ability to connect parents with their children’s data.

Recently, Watchdog Wire spoke to parents in Colorado who have been trying for months, to see their children’s data and the vendors who have access to this data.

Ft. Collins parent Cheri Kiesecker has written to the Colorado Dept of Education (CDE), which has said it cannot share data with parents. Dan Damagala, CDE’s CIO of Information Management Services, replied that, “The Colorado Department of Education does not have a mechanism for verifying parent/guardian relationships to students– and the release of student information to an unauthorized entity would be a violation of Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).”

In other words, CDE is citing the very law intended to assure parents access to justify 

In Colorado Parents Are Denied Access to Their Student’s Data | Truth in American Education:

NEA Representative Assembly to Vote to End ‘Toxic Testing’ | NEA Today

NEA Representative Assembly to Vote to End ‘Toxic Testing’ | NEA Today:

NEA Representative Assembly to Vote to End ‘Toxic Testing’

July 1, 2014 by twalker  
Filed under Featured News, Top Stories

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By Cindy Long and Sara Robertson

The National Education Association will launch a national campaign to put the focus of assessments and accountability back on student learning and end the “test blame and punish” system that has dominated public eduction in the last decade.  If the 9,000 NEA delegates at the organization’s Representative Assembly vote to pass the measure at its annual meeting later this week, the campaign will among other things seek to end the abuse and overuse of high stakes standardized tests and reduce the amount of student and instructional time consumed by them.

The anti-toxic testing measure would also call for governmental oversight of the powerful testing industry with the creation of a “testing ombudsman” by the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Consumer Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission. The position will serve as a watchdog over the influential testing industry and monitor testing companies’ impact on education legislation. NEA would continue to push the president and Congress to completely overhaul ESEA and end mandates that require yearly testing, and to lift mandates requiring states to administer outdated tests that aren’t aligned to school curricula.

“It’s past time for politicans to turn their eyes and ears away from those who profit from over-testing our students and listen instead to those who know what works in the classroom,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel.

The new measure comes at a time when parents around the country are also fed up with the testing obsession. Opting-out protests have taken place in Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Maryland,Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Alabama and other states. Grassroots parent movements say they will protest until overtesting is curbed.

David Valdes Greenwood is a Massachusetts parent of a third-grader. He says his daughter Lily has been stressed about tests since kindergarten.

“The kids pay a very high price. It chips away at their sense of selves as learners from a young age; telling NEA Representative Assembly to Vote to End ‘Toxic Testing’ | NEA Today:

NYC Public School Parents: District 6 parents want and need smaller classes! Contract for Excellence testimony by Tory Frye

NYC Public School Parents: District 6 parents want and need smaller classes! Contract for Excellence testimony by Tory Frye:

District 6 parents want and need smaller classes! Contract for Excellence testimony by Tory Frye

To submit your own comments on the city's Contract for Excellence/class size proposal, emailContractsForExcellence@schools.nyc.gov  by July 19.  If you'd like to share your comments on the blog on class size, please email us at info@classsizematters.org 

Testimony at Contracts for Excellence Hearing

June 18, 2014

by Tory Frye, District 5 and 6 parent and elected parent member, Community Education Council Six [CEC6]

My name is Tory Frye and I am the parent of public school students in Districts 5 and 6 and am an elected parent member of CEC6.  I am here this evening representing thousands of District Six parents; I’ll tell you why I think this is true in a moment.  

We know that the primary purpose of the C4E is to reduce class size and yet the DOE has chosennot to do this.  Our CEC6 President has spoken eloquently on why reducing class size is so crucial in our district, which has a significant proportion of current or former English Language Learners, as well as special needs students (and often students who are classified as both).  Educators, students and parents will testify to the difficulty of teaching and learning for these students in large class sizes.

Here are the facts about class size in D6:

-       In 2013-14 the average class size for K-3 was 24; according to the Campaign for Fiscal Equity settlement, which gave rise to the C4E contracts, we should be at 20.

-       We have the largest average class size inNYC Public School Parents: District 6 parents want and need smaller classes! Contract for Excellence testimony by Tory Frye:

7-1-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University)

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University):

Welcome to the Oligarchy: The U.S. Needs a New Mythology

An oligarchy exists when power rests with a very few. The U.S. was founded as a rejection of the sort of oligarchy in which royalty (the accident of birth) determined power—although that movement was driven mostly by a potential privileged class that sought ways in which they could become the elite with power. In 2014, the U.S. is but another sort of oligarchy, the logical and inevitable developme

5 by plthomasedd / 27min 

6-28-14 the becoming radical EMPATHYEDUCATES! | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

THE BECOMING RADICALEMPATHYEDUCATES!the becoming radical  A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by Loss: A Dog’s LifeI was listening to sports talk radio, an interview with Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who characterized an athlete’s career as “a dog’s life,” meaning that career is short. And this spoke to me in the wake of having just lost our first family dog, Hershey, a chocolate lab we h

by mike simpson / 53min 

Green Dot, based in L.A., plans to open schools in other states - Los Angeles Times

Green Dot, based in L.A., plans to open schools in other states - Los Angeles Times:

Green Dot, based in L.A., plans to open schools in other states

Green Dot Public Schools, a locally based group of charter campuses, announced this week it has set up a national organization to manage expansion into Tennessee and Washington.

Charters are free public schools operated independently of local districts and exempt from many rules that govern traditional campuses. Green Dot has been one of the best known local charter organizations and one of the larger ones in the country, with 21 schools, 11,000 students and a $130-million budget.

The new Memphis charters will accept all students from the local attendance areas, essentially replacing the former neighborhood schools.

This approach is different from most charters, which enroll any interested students regardless of where they live and hold a lottery when they are oversubscribed.

Green Dot pioneered the neighborhood model at Locke High in Los Angeles, then used a similar format at Clay Middle and Jordan High. All are within the L.A. Unified School District.

In Memphis, Green Dot will take over as many as five middle schools and five high schools.

The first Tennessee campus will open in the fall, as part of the state’s Achievement School District, which is overseeing a turnaround effort at the lowest performing 5% of schools. Another California-based charter group, Aspire, is moving into Memphis, as well, along with the national KIPP organization. Both Aspire and KIPP already have charters in L.A.

In Washington state, Green Dot will have to find campus space and recruit students in competition with existing schools. Until this year, the state had not allowed charters. Green Dot plans to open its first Washington campus, in Tacoma, in the fall of 2015.

Green Dot’s start-up costs in Tennessee are subsidized by local foundations. In Washington, a major funding source is the Gates Foundation, which is based in Seattle.

The charter group is known for encouraging its teachers to form a union, a rare practice in such schools. But the rules in Tennessee won’t allow traditional collective bargaining, said chief executive Marco Petruzzi.

“We’re going to do our best to create very similar conditions in terms of making sure Green Dot, based in L.A., plans to open schools in other states - Los Angeles Times:

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Howard Blume, Mitchell Landsberg and Sandra Poindexter

7-1-14 The Whole Child Blog — Turning Around the Teen Brain by Building Effort

The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education:

Turning Around the Teen Brain by Building Effort

Neuroplasticity means humans have the ability to change their brains through repeated, adaptive practice. Buy-in, however, can be a huge hurdle in getting students to invest effort in the actions that will grow their brains. "If the brain's not buying in, then it's not changing," author Eric Jensen noted in his 2014 ASCD Annual Conference session, "Turnaround Tools for the Teenage B

by Laura Varlas / 27min 

6-30-14 The Whole Child Blog — Got Questions on Differentiated Instruction? Join the #ASCDL2L Chat! — Whole Child Education

Got Questions on Differentiated Instruction? Join the #ASCDL2L Chat! — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGGot Questions on Differentiated Instruction? Join the #ASCDL2L Chat!June 30, 2014 by Leader to LeaderOn Tuesday night, July 1, from 8–9 p.m. eastern time, join ASCD leaders and educators on Twitter for an#ASCDL2L chat discussing Differentiated Instruction in the 21st century. Carol Ann

by mike simpson / 17h 

7-1-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):

“Smarty Pins” Is A New Geography Game From Google

Smarty Pins is a new online geography game from Google. It’s similar to some of the better ones on The Best Online Geography Games — you’re asked a question, provided a hint, and then have to put a “pin” on your guess for the answer. One of the nice things I found — at least, in the questions that I answered — is that you’re only shown the region of the world where the answer can be found. Thanks

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

Strike talk emerges on Caputo-Pearl’s first day as union chief

Alex Caputo-Pearl new president of the United Teachers Los Angeles Alex Caputo-Pearl today assumed the office of President of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), a union battling with LA Unified for a larger salary increase than the two percent the district has offered. UTLA remains one of the last of the district’s labor partners to reach agreement on a contract. The teachers had initially asked

10 1h 

JUST IN: Richard Vladovic re-elected LAUSD board president

*UPDATED The LA Unified School Board today re-elected Richard Vladovic to serve as president for the 2014-15 school year. Rather than postpone the vote until after the August runoff to fill the vacant District 1 seat, the six member board voted and by a 5-1 margin supported Vladovic’s continued leadership. Tamar Galatzan was the lone dissenting vote. Barbara Jones, her chief of staff, said the di

by Vanessa Romo / 26min 

LIVESTREAM coverage of today’s LAUSD School board meetings

Today the LA Unified Board of Education will hold three meetings, the first, being their Annual meeting to elect a new president. It is expected, however, that the current president, Richard Vladovic, will win a second term with no contest, as no challengers have stepped forward. The agenda for that meeting is here. Following the election meeting, the board will commence their regular meeting at n

3 46min 

Johnson’s internal poll shows gains on McKenna in runoff

Alex Johnson, District 1 candidate An internal poll conducted by Alex Johnson’s campaign suggests that he is gaining on George McKenna as they compete for the vacant LA Unified school board seat. The Johnson campaign says that polling conducted in April and June shows that Johnson’s name recognition has grown to 52 percent, from 14 percent percent. It also said Johnson’s favorable rating climbed t

by Michael Janofsky / 21min 

Morning Read: Vergara may be headed for lengthy appeals

Final ruling in Vergara could be years in coming Vergara v. California, in which a Superior Court judge struck down California’s teacher tenure, layoff and dismissal laws, may be headed for a lengthy appeals process. A clue to how long may lie in another far-from-resolved education lawsuit. This month marks three years since Alameda County Superior Court Judge Steven Brick issued a tentative rulin

20min 

6-29-14 LA  School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): Common Core math stumps parents and students alikeVia New York Times | By Motoko Rich Rebekah and Kevin Nelams moved to their modest brick home in this suburb of Baton Rouge seven years ago because it has one of the top-performing public school districts in the state. But starting this fall, Ms. Nelams pl

by mike simpson / 18h

7-1-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet:

U.S. teachers have harder job than counterparts in industrialized world — survey

New results from an international survey shows that U.S. public school teachers work harder under more difficult conditions than teachers elsewhere in the industrialized world, and they don’t have the same kind of supports, such as enough useful feedback and professional development. In this post, Linda Darling-Hammond explains the results and their importance to the […]

8 by Valerie Strauss / 1min 

How to increase socioeconomic diversity in college

Leaders in higher education have known for many years that low-income students are underrepresented at top institutions. How to change that? Catharine B. Hill, the president of Vassar College in New York, writes in this post about the only way that colleges and universities can expand socioeconomic diversity. By Catharine B. Hill As college admission […]

by Valerie Strauss / 18min 

6-30-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet: The segregation of kindergartners — by the numbersHere, from the non-profit Economic Policy Institute, is a snapshot of how segregated public schools are, starting in kindergarten. It was written by Elaine Weiss and Emma García. Weiss  has served as the national coordinator for the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education since 2011. García,  who joined the Economic Policy Institute in

by mike simpson / 14min 

7-1-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy

Wait What?:

Wait What? 

The battle against the corporate education reform industry takes center stage

Charter School Scandal Continues to Rock Malloy Administration… However, rather than conduct a truly independent investigation into the fall of the Jumoke/FUSE charter school management company, Governor Malloy’s Commissioner of Education and his political appointees on the State Board of Education decided to hire a lawyer to conduct an “investigation.” Stefan Pryor, Malloy’s Education Commissione

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6-30-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy

Wait What?: Wait What? All WeekNews Flash:  Malloy/Pryor hand another top job to an Achievement First Inc. stafferThe Malloy administration has given the one-hundred thousand dollar a year plus job of “Bureau Chief for District and School Transformation” to William (Billy) Johnson, a former employee of Achievement First Inc. Of course, Achievement First, Inc. being the large charter school managem

by mike simpson / 12min