PAMEST 2014 Nominees - Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education)

PAMEST 2014 Nominees - Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education):

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Announces 2014 State Finalists for Prestigious National Teaching Award

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today nominated six outstanding elementary school teachers as California finalists for the 2014 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).

The math nominees are Andrew Kotko, a first grade teacher at Mather Heights Elementary in the Folsom-Cordova Unified School District, Sacramento County; and Sara Norris, a first grade teacher at the Mills College Children's School, School of Education at Mills College, Alameda County.

The science nominees are Kirsten Johnson, a fifth grade teacher at Ninety Third Street Elementary School in the Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles County; Julie McGough, a first/second grade combination class teacher at Valley Oak Elementary in the Clovis Unified School District, Fresno County; Stefanie Pechan, a fifth grade teacher at Robert Down Elementary in the Pacific Grove Unified School District, Monterey County; and Erica Rood, a third grade teacher at CHIME Charter School in the Los Angeles Unified School District (charter authorizer), Los Angeles County.

"The subjects these outstanding educators teach so well are part of STEM education, an area that is critically important to the success of our students and our state," Torlakson said. "From these early grades, and with such engaged and inspired instructors, we will be able to encourage more students to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—the building blocks of learning."

The California Department of Education (CDE) partnered with the California Science Teachers Association and the California Mathematics Council to recruit and select nominees for the PAEMST program—the highest recognition in the nation for a mathematics or science teacher. Each applicant must demonstrate a mastery of math or science, appropriate use of instructional methods and strategies, effective use of assessment strategies, lifelong learning, and leadership in education outside the classroom. Each candidate also was required to submit a 45-minute video lesson in support of their application. State finalists were selected by a review panel of their peers who reviewed each candidate's content knowledge, pedagogical effectiveness, achievement results, and professional involvement.

Mathematics Finalists

Andrew Kotko is a first grade teacher at Mather Heights Elementary  in Mather. He has been teaching for 12 years, including four years in his current position. He achieved National Board Certification in 2007. In March 2014, he spoke to members of the U.S. Congress on behalf of the National Board "advocating for increased concentration of certified teachers and mirroring the medical residency model in teacher prep." He also serves as vice-chair of the California Teacher Advisory Council. He was a California PAEMST finalist in 2012. The topic he chose to teach in his lesson as part of his application was that of the fundamental mathematics concept "base-ten place value." Mr. Kotko has a Bachelor of Science in physics from California State University, Sacramento.

Sara Norris is a first grade teacher at the Mills College Children's School  in Oakland. She has been teaching for 11 years, including six in her current position. She has been highly involved in the Lesson Study Collaboration at Mills College and was a co-presenter of Listening for Learning: Reflections on Two Years of Lesson Study Collaboration in Mathematics at the Conference of the International Association of Laboratory and University Affiliated Schools in Pittsburg, PA in 2011. She was a previous California PAEMST finalist in 2012. She has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education from Mills College.

Science Finalists

Kirsten Johnson is a fifth grade teacher at Ninety Third Street Elementary School  in Los Angeles, where she has taught for 21 years and is the Science Lead Teacher. This past school year, she rotated into classrooms once a week and taught science to other fourth or fifth grades. Johnson encourages her students to enter a variety of competitions, such as the Council of Educational Facility Planners International's School of the Future Design Competition. For the past four years, Johnson's students have been finalists in the competition. Ms. Johnson has a Bachelor of Arts from Howard University.

Julie McGough is a first/second grade combination class teacher at Valley Oak Elementary School  in Fresno. She has been teaching for 16 years, including five years in her current position. She incorporates technology in a variety of ways in her classroom. With the help of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, her students raised salmon in the classroom. During the process, students were able to use scientific tools and shared their learning experiences through blogs with families, the school community, and pen pals in Quito, Ecuador. Mrs. McGough collaborates with teachers and parents to write curriculum for the Outdoor Learning Center on campus, is a mentor teacher to pre-service teachers, is an adjunct faculty member at Fresno State, teaching Science and Technology Methods, and serves as committee member of the National Science Teacher Association Committee on Preschool Elementary Science Teaching. Mrs. McGough has a Bachelor of Science in Education from Auburn University and a Master of Education from Hardin-Simmons University.

Stefanie Pechan is a fifth grade teacher at Robert Down Elementary School  in Pacific Grove, where she is a member of the Instructional Leadership Team. She has been teaching for 13 years, including five in her current position. She uses pencasts/screencasts to provide both a visual and auditory cue for the various learning styles that exist within her classroom. Mrs. Pechan is part of the Education Staff at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which provides opportunities for her to work with teachers at the state and national level. She has been invited by the Monterey County Office of Education to help develop a series of workshops on teaching science. Mrs. Pechan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies with an emphasis in Computer Science and Technology from the California State University, Monterey Bay.

Erica Rood is a third grade teacher at CHIME Charter School  in Woodland Hills, where she has taught for six years. She has been a mentor teacher to several student teachers. She strongly believes that other content areas can be taught through science. Ms. Rood is leading the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards on campus. Her teaching has been videoed and photographed for several published books on Co-Teaching. She is currently enrolled in a master's program, STEM Education in Curriculum and Instruction at California State University, Northridge and the NASA Endeavor Leadership program. Ms. Rood holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Southern California.

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The National Science Foundation administers PAEMST on behalf of The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. PAEMST was enacted by Congress in 1983 and authorizes the President each year to bestow up to 108 awards. PAEMST awards primary and secondary teachers in alternate years. Awards are given to mathematics and science teachers from each of the 50 states and four U.S. jurisdictions including Washington, D.C.; Puerto Rico; Department of Defense Schools; and the U.S. territories.

Since the program's inception, 86 California teachers have been named PAEMST recipients. Please visit the PAEMST  Web site for additional information.

# # # #

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

Federal Charter Grants Awarded

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Announces Millions in Grants to Improve California Charter School System.

3min 

Standards Maps for Math Materials

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Announces New Guidance for High School Common Core Math Materials.

3min 

We Must Agree That We Need SPED Services—Even For High Functioning Students!:

We Must Agree That We Need SPED Services—Even For High Functioning Students!

JULY 22, 2014 BY NANCY BAILEY LEAVE A COMMENT

This past week has seen a flurry of special education talk surrounding the new goals of the Obama administration’s quest to toughen standards and make students—and they don’t specify which students, so we can assume they mean all students, even those with the severest of disabilities—score high on the regular tests.

I’m pretty sure, behind the “toughen the standards” talk, they are thinking of Common Core State Standards. It will be do or die. I mean, have you heard of any kind of safety net if students aren’t able to master the CCSS?

The assumption is that everyone will succeed. The reality is that some won’t. Will those students then be turned away? Will it be like the charter schools that reject the students with disabilities and the ELL students that need something more than what they have to offer?

There are, however, parents who insist that the standards for students with disabilitieshave not been tough enough.

It is hard to believe they buy into the Arne talk. Years of neglect in public schools, of good special education programming, has a lot of parents damning special education altogether. Instead of fighting for better services, and what should be, they are settling for common and they seem to believe tougher standards are for the good of every We Must Agree That We Need SPED Services—Even For High Functioning Students!:

OTL Allies Named to NYC Community Schools Advisory Board | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity

OTL Allies Named to NYC Community Schools Advisory Board | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity:

OTL Allies Named to NYC Community Schools Advisory Board

Posted on: Tuesday July 22nd, 2014

Zakiyah Ansari (left) of the Alliance for Quality
Education and Ocynthia Williams of United Parents of
Highbridgewere named to the Community Schools 
Advisory Baord.

Last month, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a $52 million investment to turn 40 public schools into community centers that provide wraparound supports to students and their families. This week the mayor announced a Community Schools Advisory Board to help oversee the project. Two longtime parent organizers (and OTL allies!) have been named to the board: Zakiyah Ansari of the Alliance for Quality Education and Ocynthia Williams of Coalition for Educational Justice. Congrats Zakiyah and Ocynthia!

Capitol New York attended the first advisory board meeting where de Blasio explained more about the community schools project: 

"De Blasio said his administration wanted to 'get under the hood and fix things essentially' in education, until eventually 'you can walk into any school and feel that it's a good choice for your child.'

'Community schools are one of the thrusts that will have potentially the biggest impact,' de Blasio said, explaining that community schools would boost parent involvement, attend to the needs of children with physical and mental health issues, and help tackle New York's inequality crisis.

Community schools are generally found in low-income neighborhoods and include wraparound services for students and their families, including health, dental and nutritional services, as well as English classes for parents."

Advocates and organizers in NYC have long been fighting for more investment in this community school model. In May, advocates and organizers in New York City rallied for community schools OTL Allies Named to NYC Community Schools Advisory Board | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity:

Why would anyone have remained a teacher when… ? | Reclaim Reform

Why would anyone have remained a teacher when… ? | Reclaim Reform:

Why would anyone have remained a teacher when… ?

Posted on July 22, 2014

by Ken Previti

Dear Everyone,

Not long after I began teaching Language Arts at the high school level in a Chicago suburb, I underwent very serious surgery that was unexpected. When I returned to the classroom, I was still healing and would be for many months to come. I asked several teachers in my department for any materials they were willing to share with me.

Although I knew I would do my best for my students each and every day, I was under no delusions that I was at my best. Teaching is not easy.

Those teachers and others gave me more than I ever expected. They also gave me personal notes on what they thought I should try along with suggestions on how to do it. I learned from them as they supported me. We talked whenever we could – bursts of advice and suggestions. It was an amazing experience for me. This went on for the entire school year.

I cannot tell you how thankful I was and am to those teachers and the others who simply got me through a major personal crisis.

Needless to say, I learned that life and learning are cooperative and not competitive.

Because I realized that I was ever beholden to them for what they did for me, I strove to be my best to them and for them. For years my mind was filled with the message, “Don’t screw it up.” I was not about to let what I learned from them be wasted. Friendships and trusts developed.

None of this should be surprising to most people.

But, there is something more, much more, about what actually happened.

As teachers, they all wanted the children in my classes to learn. Yes, they behaved in the Why would anyone have remained a teacher when… ? | Reclaim Reform:

John Thompson: Oklahoma's Chief for Change Barresi in Trouble With Voters - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

John Thompson: Oklahoma's Chief for Change Barresi in Trouble With Voters - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

John Thompson: Oklahoma's Chief for Change Barresi in Trouble With Voters

By Anthony Cody on July 22, 2014 10:15 AM

Guest post by John Thompson.

 

When I attended last year's Oklahoma Department of Education Vision 2020 annual conference, I put on a brave face, suggesting we were enduring the darkness before the dawn. We had just started enforcing the graduation law requiring high school students to pass four End of Instruction (EOI)  tests, and the 2013 dropout rate in Oklahoma City had immediately doubled. This upcoming year (2014) we would start requiring 3rd graders to pass a reading test, meaning that thousands of young children would be retained. The new A-F Report Card would soon declare 2/3rds of urban schools as "D" or "F" schools.

 

The political domination of State Superintendent "Chief for Change" Janet Barresi and the Republicans who controlled the legislative and executive branches was unassailable.

 

I honestly believed that Oklahoma's decision to withdraw from the Common Core PARCC testing consortium was a big deal, but there was no denying that it was the Tea Party, not educators who drove that victory.  A year ago, there was no way of knowing that coalitions of teachers, superintendents, liberal faith organizations, bloggers, and unions would join the battle. 

PARCC's replacement, "Common Core-type" tests could be just as destructive. For instance, because the college readiness version of the Biology EOI was not yet ready, and because blood-in-their-eyes reformers demanded more rigor, the advice of experts was ignored. An artificially high passing score was set, arbitrarily increasing the failure rate, sending the message that the Barresi administration was chomping at the bit and willing to take its pounds of flesh out of students when implementing its test and punish regime.

 

This month, after the national NEA and AFT conventions, I also saw the glass as half full. In fact, I saw it as 2/3rds or 3/4ths full. Both produced significant and incremental victories, challenging Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Common Core, and testing. I knew that President Obama wouldn't fire Duncan. I knew that the testing moratorium supported by the Gates Foundation would be used by them to reorganize and continue to fight for corporate reform. But, the same applies to us - the teachers known as "the Resistance." We should proclaim our recent victories as we gird for a battle to the end against high stakes testing, competition-driven reform, and the elites who profit from market-driven reform.

 

I certainly claim no omniscience, especially in terms of national political strategy. I know that we teachers who oppose corporate reform must remain united. However, my experience this week helps explain why I believe we must take more time to celebrate our victories. If we can win in John Thompson: Oklahoma's Chief for Change Barresi in Trouble With Voters - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

‘Say this, not that’: A slick PR guide selling charter schools preferred lies - The Washington Post

‘Say this, not that’: A slick PR guide to selling charter schools by key charter group - The Washington Post:

‘Say this, not that’: A slick PR guide to selling charter schools by key charter group

By Valerie Strauss July 22 at 2:10 PM  

It appears as if the charter school sector believes that it needs to better hone its public messaging. At its recent annual convention, the National Alliance for Public Charter School handed out an 18-page “Charter School Messaging Notebook” that actually has sections that include, “Say This, Not That,” and “Who Are ‘Our People?’ ” (See below for the entire notebook).

The notebook was published by public education advocate Jennifer Berkshire on her Edushyster blog, and a spokesperson for the charter school alliance said the guide was handed out at last month’s convention. It was written by the Glover Park Group, a communications firm founded by former Clinton-Gore aides Joe Lockhart and Carter Eskew, to help charter supporters “fine-tune the messaging” they use when they talk or write about charter schools.

The Table of Contents includes sections on “Defining Charter Schools,” “Nine Positive Messages About Charter Schools, and “Who Are Our People?’” In the “Say This, Not That” section, it is suggested that people:

Apparently the words on the right side of the list, the stuff not to say, sends out too corporate a message about the reality of many charter schools today.

As you might expect, the guide doesn’t mention that most charter schools don’t do any better than traditional public schools when it comes to standardized test scores, which is the metric school reformers seem to care most about. Nor does it mention any of the scandals surrounding charter schools now rocking the sector,  such as a Detroit Free-Press investigation that found that the state spends $1 billion annually on charter schools in Michigan with little accountability.

It does encourage charter supporters to emphasize that charter schools are open to all students — even though some charters actually counsel out ‘Say this, not that’: A slick PR guide to selling charter schools by key charter group - The Washington Post:

This is Why Parents Are Not Invited to the Ed Reform Table. They Just Don’t Have the ‘Right’ Credentials. | Missouri Education Watchdog

This is Why Parents Are Not Invited to the Ed Reform Table. They Just Don’t Have the ‘Right’ Credentials. | Missouri Education Watchdog:

This is Why Parents Are Not Invited to the Ed Reform Table. They Just Don’t Have the ‘Right’ Credentials.

inShare

The closed fraternity of education reformers

Andrew Ferguson writes in The Weekly Standard about the history and players in the education reform movement and how the movers and shakers are in a special fraternity.  Members can kvetch and make plans to spend government money for those privately controlled blueprints and those outside the fraternity are blackballed from any decision making and marginalized as they are not part of the group.  Don’t waste your time pining away for a bid from the reformers.  From The Common Core Commotion:

At least since the heady days of “A Nation at Risk,” the world of education reform has been a cozy fraternity. Foundation directors sit on one another’s boards, think tankers beehive with other think tankers in the lounges of convention hotels, academics peer-review the work of academics who will soon peer-review their reviewers’ work. One foundation will give a grant to another foundation to study the work of the first foundation. In the last decade the fraternity has increasingly become a creature of the fabulously wealthy Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates has spent more than a billion dollars studying primary and secondary education. Few institutions dedicated to education reform have escaped Gates funding. Recipients range from trade groups like the American Federation of Teachers (more than $10 million since 2010) and Council of Chief State School Officers (nearly $5 million last year alone) to think tanks of the left (Center for American Progress) and the right (Thomas B. Fordham Institute).

The Gates Foundation has tunneled into the federal bureaucracy, too, at levels low and high. Several Gates officials and recipients worked in the Education Department under the second Bush, back when NCLB was the thing. Now, under President Obama, they are This is Why Parents Are Not Invited to the Ed Reform Table. They Just Don’t Have the ‘Right’ Credentials. | Missouri Education Watchdog:

2014 LATINO STUDENT REALITY AT LAUSD- ABSENT IN ESPARZA & OLMOS' 2006 FILM "WALKOUT" - Perdaily.com

2014 LATINO STUDENT REALITY AT LAUSD- ABSENT IN ESPARZA & OLMOS' 2006 FILM "WALKOUT" - Perdaily.com:



2014 LATINO STUDENT REALITY AT LAUSD- ABSENT IN ESPARZA & OLMOS' 2006 FILM "WALKOUT"

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

It seems that the motto of today's news is: If it doesn't make the reader feel good or shows our leadership and their allies in a bad light, it doesn't exist and will not be reported. Or worse yet, it will be distorted until it puts those in power in a positive light. In just the last week, I have experienced three examples of this increasingly trendy news phenomenon whose frequency seems to be increasing more and more in what we used to call a free press. 

The first was when I reported on the carefully orchestrated American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Convention in Los Angeles, which was carefully choreographed to buy into Common Core and the privatization of public education without ever showing AFT rank and file that its leadership was co-opted in this process by the very corporations and foundations that are leading the charge exclusively to line their own pockets, while eliminating a fairly compensated professional teacher corp.

The second was Israel's attack on the civilian population of Gaza, where all coverage that showed the unrestricted nature of these heinous acts by the orwellian newspeak described Israeli Defense Force (IDF) against clearly civilian targets was completely absent from mainstream media coverage in this country, if it in anyway contradicted the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) blind support for Israel. Dare to question this one-sided view and you are labeled antisemitic. Even when NBC reporter Ayman Mohyeldinwas able to report first hand the unprovoked murder of four innocent Palestinian children playing soccer on a Gaza beach, the initial response by NBC was to remove Reporter Mohyeldin, although he has since been sent back, because of the uproar it created with NBC's audience.

The third episode took place the other night, when I went to La Plaza de Cultura y Artes at Olvera Street in Downtown L.A. for what I thought would be a little R & R from the aforementioned week of depressing media obfuscation. The film they were showing was Edward James Olmos' 2006 production of "Walkout," about the 1968 student walkouts from five E.L.A. high schools, which, according to the film succeeded in addressing the inferior and second-class education that Latino students of the time were getting in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

So let's take a look at some of the issues raised by the film to show that not only are things no better in E.L.A. high schools and elsewhere throughout LAUSD, they are significantly worse in a district that is now more segregated today than it was in 1968, when the walkouts took place.

1. In reality, the students presented in the film act middle class White, even though they are supposed to be working class Latino. In one scene in the movie the students are depicted quietly reading in class at a level few Latino students have ever been given the ability to achieve at LAUSD. This is a motif that exists in virtually every film 2014 LATINO STUDENT REALITY AT LAUSD- ABSENT IN ESPARZA & OLMOS' 2006 FILM "WALKOUT" - Perdaily.com:

7-21-14 The Whole Child Blog — Free Webinar: Digital Learning Strategies with Mike Fisher

The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education:

Free Webinar: Digital Learning Strategies with Mike Fisher

Join Mike Fisher, author of the ASCD Arias Digital Learning Strategies: How do I assign and assess 21st century work?, for an exciting, free webinar to explore six questions for deciding whether or not to digitize your instructional strategies, processes, or products. Thursday, July 31, 2014, 3:00 p.m. eastern time Register now! How do you assign and assess digital work? More than a decade into t

by Klea Scharberg / 18min 

7-21-14 The Whole Child Blog — What Advice Do You Have for New Principals?

The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education: What Advice Do You Have for New Principals?As the key players in developing the climate, culture, and processes in their schools, principals are critical to implementing meaningful and lasting change in the ongoing school-improvement process. Those who have a clear vision; inspire and engage others in embracing change for improvement; drive, facilitate

by mike simpson / 22h 

Follow Your Heart | WagTheDog

Follow Your Heart | WagTheDog:

Follow Your Heart

 

Excerpts from Jim Carrey’s 20014 Commencement Speech at M.U.

“Fear is going to be a player in life, but you get to decide how much. You can spend your whole life imagining ghosts, worrying about the pathway to the future, but all it will ever be is what’s happening here, and the decisions that we make in this moment, which are based in either love or fear. 

So many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect, so we never dare to ask the Universe for it.

I can tell you from experience, the effect you have on others is the most valuable currency there is. My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him, and so he made a conservative choice. 

Instead he got a safe job as an accountant, and when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job, and our family had to do whatever we could to survive.

I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which, was that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.

That peace that we are after lies somewhere beyond personality. Your need for Follow Your Heart | WagTheDog: