Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION: How (Not) To Grade Schools + GA: Ed Consultant Slams Takeover Amendment

CURMUDGUCATION:

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION: How (Not) To Grade Schools + GA: Ed Consultant Slams Takeover Amendment

How (Not) To Grade Schools

7by Peter Greene / 1h

Bellwether Education Partners is a right-tilted thinky tank from the same basic neighborhood as the Fordham Institute. Chad Aldeman is one of their big guns, and this month he's out with Grading Schools: How States Should Define “School Quality” Under the Every Student Succeeds Act. It's a pretty thing with thirty-two pages of thoughts about how to implement school accountability under ESSA, and I

YESTERDAY

GA: Ed Consultant Slams Takeover Amendment

13by Peter Greene / 1d

In Georgia, reformsters are pushing hard for Amendment 1, a constitutional amendment that would institute a state-level takeover district, modeled after the pioneering Achievement School District in Tennessee. Dr. David K. Lerch is a Georgia resident and ran his own educational consulting firm for over three decades. He has worked all over the country, writing grants and overseeing programs (e.g.

CA: Is the Fox Guarding the Henhouse?

9by Peter Greene / 1d

The Los Angeles Unified School District put away their charter rubber stamp, and it has touched off a wave of hand wringing and baloney shoveling. Earlier this month, the LAUSD board pulled the plug on five charters. Three of them were Magnolia schools, part of the Gulen charter web of schools allegedly tied to the reclusive cleric who is also an exiled political leader from Turkey allegedly tied

OCT 27

Reflect now. Now!! NOW!!!

76by Peter Greene / 2d

One of the fully screwed-up features of modern standardized assessments is the time frame. A standardized test is the only place where students are told, "Starting from scratch, read this, reflect on it, answer questions about it, and do it all in the next fifteen minutes." We accept the accelerated time line as a normal feature of assessment, but why? Never ever in a college course was a student

The Death of Testing Fantasies

90by Peter Greene / 2d

It is one of the least surprising research findings ever, confirmed now by at least two studies-- students would do better on the Big Standardized Test if they actually cared about the results. One of the great fantasies of the testocrats is their belief that the Big Standardized Tests provide useful data. That fantasy is predicated on another fantasy-- that students actually try to do their best

OCT 26

More Bogus Research from Rocketship

18by Peter Greene / 3d

When you need some "research" to pump up your ad copy, what better than to just hire it yourself. In fact, why not hire the guys who have been pumping it out reliably for you for years. Rocketship Academy is patting itself on the back over a new "research" report that it commissioned from good, old SRI International , a group that just happens to be heavily invested in technology-based education.

OCT 25

Rot and The Yearbook Biz

17by Peter Greene / 3d

Being a yearbook photographer was one of the great joys of my high school career, so I naturally gravitated toward yearbook advising as a teacher. I've been at it for about sixteen years, and I've watched the business change. Some of the changes are not what folks might have predicted. Technology has been about to destroy yearbooks for years, but there has always been a problem with that-- when I

OCT 24

Familiar Miracles and Ed Tech

17by Peter Greene / 5d

I started typing this a few thousand feet in the air somewhere over Illinois. I worked all day the day before to get things ready to go, got up well before dawn, drove myself to Pittsburgh, where I boarded the first of two planes that will transport my to Seattle for the next several days. Now, after spending many days on the other side of the country, I am finishing up this post thousands of feet

NY: Commissioner Struggles with Teacher Shortage

56by Peter Greene / 5d

Maryellen Elia was brought in to the Empire State to help clean up the mess that former education honcho John King left behind. Her results have been mixed. She invested a lot of energy in defending the Big Standardized Test, even issuing a handy propaganda kit to help push down those opt out numbers. It didn't work. Last Friday, Elia talked to the NYS Association of Teacher Educators and the NY A

OCT 23

ICYMI: Reading in the Seattle Dew (10/23)

7by Peter Greene / 6d

I'm far from home, but there's still plenty to read on the interwebs. Our Stupid Questions Teacher Tom with a striking twist on the old "no such thing as a dumb question" shtick. How Joy Became the New Grit Jennifer Berkshire gives us a 

CURMUDGUCATION:

Teacher Leadership vs. Teacher Professionalism - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

Teacher Leadership vs. Teacher Professionalism - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

Teacher Leadership vs. Teacher Professionalism

 I am currently facilitating an online course in teacher leadership--called Teacher as Change Agent--for the Center for Teacher Leadership (CTL) at Virginia Commonwealth University. Last Tuesday, Mary Tedrow, a bona fide teacher leader from Virginia, was the guest at our webinar. Tedrow has a distinguished and varied resume' and said lots of smart, lively and provocative things in her remarks, including this, in response to a class member's question about opportunities to lead in her school:

Remember-teacher leadership is a threat to an established system.

That comment resonated in my thinking for several days. Who is truly afraid of genuine leadership emerging from practitioners?

Given the surfeit of classes, graduate degrees, non-profits and blue-ribbon reports on the shiny possibilities of teacher leadership, it's a difficult concept to reconcile. My social media stream gives me daily pre-packaged opportunities to read about teachers who are leading: changing lives by staffing a brand new charter, embracing new learning management systems, talking to policy makers about ESSA, reviewing textbooks to ascertain their alignment to the Common Core, and serving on committees to develop yet another model of teacher evaluation.

And that's just in the last 10 days.

Teacher leaders are everywhere. Often, they're doing precisely what the established system wants Teacher Leadership vs. Teacher Professionalism - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

Education Technology, Surveillance, and America’s Authoritarian Democracy | Dissident Voice

Education Technology, Surveillance, and America’s Authoritarian Democracy | Dissident Voice:

Education Technology, Surveillance, and America’s Authoritarian Democracy

The NSA has nothing on the monitoring tools that education technologists have developed to ‘personalize’ and ‘adapt’ learning for students in public school districts across the United States.

– Jesse Irwin, Model View Culture

Financialization involves a highly disciplined neoliberal landscape where state power structures and private technologies facilitate and protect the activities and interests of finance capitalism over all else. Within this insulated environment, financialization occurs via securitization, which simply described, is a process where financial institutions bundle together (illiquid) financial assets – primarily loans – and transform them into (liquid) tradable securities that can be expeditiously bought and sold in secondary financial markets. Within this globalized environment, digital securities trading – including “fictitious” trading, hedging and speculating in derivative markets – generates “phantom wealth”; whereby the exchange of capital, money and currency is detached from material or labor value. In the twenty-first century, debt is the new global currency and is a primary source of (intangible) wealth accumulation.

Rebooting the System for a New Age

Writing in Forbes magazine in 2013, technology entrepreneur Naveen Jain made an assessment of the historical origins of mass public education by pointing out that, “Our education system was developed for an industrial era.” Jain went on to explain that the U.S. education system,

…today uses the mass production style manufacturing process of standardization. This process requires raw material that is grouped together based on a specific criteria. Those raw materials are then moved from one station to another station where an expert makes a small modification given the small amount of time given to complete their task. At the end of the assembly line, these assembled goods are standardized tested to see if they meet certain criteria before they are moved to the next advanced assembly line.

Jain makes this point not as a critique of education serving the interests of industrial capitalism through the application of the scientific management model of production (Taylorism) to schooling. On the contrary, he does so to Education Technology, Surveillance, and America’s Authoritarian Democracy | Dissident Voice:

Herman’s Battle for Justice For Detroit's Children

Herman’s Battle for Justice For Detroit's Children 

When Governor Rick Snyder signed the union busting Right to Work law, Civil Right’s soldier Herman Davis saw the beginning of what he knew would be a fight of hard working people against billionaires. “This has been the most corrupt administration in American history. And Snyder is ambidextrous too. He can smile, pick your pocket and poison you at the same time,” says Davis. With charter school billionaire, Dick DeVos, telling Snyder what to do, Herman Davis feared for the worst for Detroit children. The Detroit Public Schools had already been under state control for seven years when Snyder came to office. The State had nearly bankrupted the district twice. Governor Engler had taken control, then gone on a wild spending spree, entering into unsustainable contracts with the $1.5 billion dollar authority the district had. The problem was, he didn’t stop. During the two years that Detroiters regained control, they realized they’d been forced under water. One school that was completely rebuilt with bond money was Mumford High School, located in Davis’ well kept neighborhood. Governor Snyder took Mumford from DPS and put it into his controversial EAA school district. The school’s performance plummeted, and so did Herman Davis’ property value. “We live in a great neighborhood here, but people are skeptical about moving here, because we have an EAA school.” Dividing the district caused the DPS to lose students, and fewer students meant the district struggled to pay the debts Engler created. “The Republicans try to blame us, just like they tried to blame the people of Flint for the water switch, even thought the people of Flint had no say, but under Emergency Management, we had no say either.” Despite the Emergency Manager, some of the Board members, including Herman Davis remained vocal. Tawanna Simpson and LaMar Lemmons warned Snyder’s EM that sexual predator Charles Pugh should not mentor male students. “The EM shrugged his shoulders,” Lemmons said, adding that the EM dismissed him “as a homophobic troglodyte,” according to newspapers. Yet, the Board was correct, a Federal Court forced the district to pay one of Pugh’s victims $350,000. Bill Seikely, the victim’s lawyer said Pugh was Detroit’s worst kept secret. The problem is, says Davis, “If Snyder made the decision to let a predator into the schools, why should Detroiters be responsible?” His fellow Board Member, Elena Herrada, agreed, “Snyder should pay.” When Snyder closed down Oakman Orthopedic School for children with special needs, Davis filed a Title VI complaint with the Department of Justice. He believes that Snyder is treating black and brown, and special needs children differently. The case is still pending. Snyder retaliated by threatening Davis with being thrown off the Board. “Snyder thinks he can close public schools so his corporate friends can make a buck. So, under Emergency Management, we had the guy who poisoned Flint, telling us we could not even use the copy machine, while he was out wasting our money left and right, and allowing a pedophile unprecedented access with not so much as a finger print check,” said Davis.

In January, the world found out why Davis filed the Civil Rights complaint with the Department of Justice. “The teachers used Twitter to show the deplorable conditions his Emergency Managers created inside the Detroit Public Schools. Darnell Earley was sitting in luxury suites while children had rats jumping over their feet.” Earley resigned in disgrace. Then Congress took him to task. “I wish Congress would audit of all the money those Emergency Managers spent,” says Davis. Governor Snyder is now forcing the Board Members to run for office again. “I never thought a Governor could be as crooked as Snyder is. His heart is made of lead. Children across our State have suffered, if he had an ounce of decency, he would’ve resigned after Flint,” laments Davis. But I am going to keep fighting him because I am a taxpayer, and our children deserve better.” He is clear about what the district lacks. “We need an audit of the money stolen from our schools. We need to give our children safe places to attend school in their own neighborhood. And we need the truth. I am here to tell the truth. And I am going to keep on telling it,” pledged Davis.

Angie Sullivan: The Nevada Achievement School District is Only for Public Schools, Not for Failing Charter Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Angie Sullivan: The Nevada Achievement School District is Only for Public Schools, Not for Failing Charter Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Angie Sullivan: The Nevada Achievement School District is Only for Public Schools, Not for Failing Charter Schools

Nevada imported a woman named Jana Wilcox Lavin to run its “Achievement School District.” She is not an educator. She has a degree in marketing. The Nevada ASD is modeled on Tennessee’s failed ASD, which took over the state’s lowest performing schools and promised to vault them to the state’s top 25% in only five years and failed to do so (most are still in the bottom 5%). Lavin is employed by the United Way at the same time that she plans for the Nevada ASD. She ran charters in the Tennessee ASD and holds it up as a model. Is this what is called an “urban myth” or is it just a hoax? How many teachers and principals will be fired, how many charters will scoop up millions of dollars, and how many will succeed or fail? Place your bets, folks, it is Nevada.

Angie Sullivan, who teaches in a low-income school in Clark County (Las Vegas) writes:

The unfairness of the Achievement School District law became crystal clear during a discussion with Jana Wilcox Lavin.

The law requires a list which includes the under-performing schools in the bottom 5%.

It is apparent that Nevada’s under-performing schools are mainly charters and rural schools. 70% of the under-performing Nevada schools are charters and rural schools.

However the law ONLY allows a public school to be selected for charter take-over.

Severely underperforming charters are not allowed to be taken over by the Achievement School District.

This law is a direct attack on public schools while obviously ignoring the cancerous and tragic Nevada charters.

Also, rural schools which fill the under-performing list will most likely never be selected because there simply is zero appetite by charter schools to take over a rural school. This made me laugh inside to learn -having grown up in the rural communities of Lovelock, Winnemucca, and McDermitt. I would love to see an outsider go into those places and take over the school. I picture the community chasing the outsider out of town with a shotgun.

We also had a frank discussion about the alternative schools – 3 are on the list. These schools fill a specific need in our communities. Desert Oasis for instance is actually a school which serves a unique community Angie Sullivan: The Nevada Achievement School District is Only for Public Schools, Not for Failing Charter Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog:

LAUSD Loses More Than Half a Billion Dollars to Charter School Growth

TheCostOfCharterSchools.org:

LAUSD Loses More Than Half a Billion Dollars to Charter School Growth
New independent report reveals a fiscal crisis that could have deep negative implications for both district schools and existing charter schools.

A report by MGT of America, an independent research firm, reveals that LAUSD has lost an astonishing $591 million to unmitigated charter school growth this year alone. If costs associated with charter school expansion are not mitigated with common sense solutions, the district will face financial insolvency, according to an analysis of the report.

As the number of independent charter schools continues to grow, it becomes increasingly important for LAUSD to quantify, forecast, and manage the costs associated with independent charter expansion. LAUSD oversees more charter schools than any other district in the country. Charters are privately managed despite relying heavily on district and taxpayer funding.

Taken together, the findings in the report paint a picture of a system that prioritizes the growth opportunities for charter school operators over the educational opportunities for all students.TheCostOfCharterSchools.org:

Ed Reform 2.0: If You Can Train a Pigeon to Detonate Bombs… – Save Maine Schools

Ed Reform 2.0: If You Can Train a Pigeon to Detonate Bombs… – Save Maine Schools:

Ed Reform 2.0: If You Can Train a Pigeon to Detonate Bombs…

 

Back in 1977, Superintendent James Guines of Washington D.C. explained his district’s competency-based education pilot program like this:

“The basic idea is to break down complicated learning into a sequence of clear simple skills that virtually everyone can master, although at different rates of speed. If you can train a pigeon to fly up there and press a button and set off a bomb, why can’t you teach human beings to behave in an effective and rational way?”

“We know we can modify human behavior. We’re not scared of that,” he added. “This is the biggest thing that’s happening in education today.”

HA! Those crazy 70’s!  Boy did they have some crazy ideas back then.

But wait…

Now check out this recent video from Angela Duckworth and Katherine Milkman:Ed Reform 2.0: If You Can Train a Pigeon to Detonate Bombs… – Save Maine Schools:

John Thompson: 'Ridiculous' A-F school grades paint partial picture - NonDoc

'Ridiculous' A-F school grades paint partial picture - NonDoc:

‘Ridiculous’ A-F school grades paint partial picture

Back in the early 1990s, there were some potentially useful purposes for hard copies of data-driven report cards about school performance. For example, they could line the bottom of the birdcage or be used to light a fire.

Now that most people read A-to-F school grade cards online, it’s hard to think of any benefits they provide, because even though they are being issued a half -ear after the 2015 school year, it is still too early to light a wood stove with the paper reports.

Seriously, though, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) federal law was so full of loopholes that its metrics were designed for one and only one purpose: to shame schools that were supposedly failing.

The punitive part of the plan was to provoke a series of headlines about failing schools and bad teachers that would allow corporate reformers to impose their test-sort-reward-and-punish approach to school transformation and privatization.'Ridiculous' A-F school grades paint partial picture - NonDoc:

Community objects to San Diego schools' new approach for immigrant students - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Community objects to San Diego schools' new approach for immigrant students - The San Diego Union-Tribune:

Community objects to San Diego schools' new approach for immigrant students

San Diego Unified School District has changed its program for immigrant middle school and high school students who don’t speak English in a way that the district says empowers the students but critics say sets them up to fail.

For almost a decade, such students — many of them refugees — spent their first year in a classroom with others like them in what the district called New Arrival Centers.

The students stayed with the same teacher most of the day, learning English and core subjects and joining other students for less academic classes such as physical education or art.

Starting this school year, the students are learning math, science and other core subjects in classrooms with native English-speaking students. A language “coach” accompanies the students to these classes to support them as well as their teachers.

The new program’s purpose is to recognize the value of the knowledge that the students arrive with, even if they cannot yet convey that knowledge in English, according to Sandra Cephas, the director of the district’s office of language acquisition.

The district was worried about isolation from the rest of the school, Cephas said.

“We don’t believe that just because they have a gap in language that they aren’t able to accomplish great things, because they can,” Cephas said. “That belief in them has to be coupled with the right support at the right time."

Cephas said the new program will accelerate the students’ language acquisition and provide equal access to the curriculum..

“The goal is for the entire school to embrace these students,” Cephas said. 

She said the changes have not affected the school’s budget.

Teachers, parents and students have all expressed concern over the changes, especially for newly arrived students who had pauses in their education because they come from war-torn countries or refugee camps. Some have never been to school before and are not literate in their native languages. 

Kris Larsen, who taught for the New Arrival Center at San Diego High School before retiring at the end of this past school year, said the teachers were not convinced that the changes were based on sound research.

“I get that they want to raise graduation rates,” Larsen said. “It’s absolutely absurd to think pulling these supports will raise graduation rates.”

Class size

The New Arrival Centers enabled the district to “significantly lower class size” for new arrivals and other English learners, according to Debra Dougherty, who worked in the office of language acquisition when the New Arrival Centers were created and also retired this past school year. She said it was one of the reasons the school was able to receive federal funding earmarked for immigrants and English learners. 

This year, many of the classes that these students attend — now called “International Centers” — are at or near capacity. The effects of any crowding are somewhat eased because of language “coaches” added under the new Community objects to San Diego schools' new approach for immigrant students - The San Diego Union-Tribune: