CURMUDGUCATION: Did Race To The Top Work?

CURMUDGUCATION: Did Race To The Top Work?:

Did Race To The Top Work?

Not only is this a real question, but the Department of Education, hand in hand with Mathematica Policy Research and American Institutes for Research, just released a 267-page answer of sorts. Race to the Top: Implementation and Relationship to Student Outcomes is a monstrous creature, and while this is usually the part where I say I've read it so you don't have to, I must confess that I've only kind of skimmed it. But what better way to spend a Saturday morning than reviewing this spirited inquiry into whether or not a multi-million-dollar government program was successful in hitting the wrong target (aka getting higher scores on a narrow, poorly-designed standardized reading and math tests).

Before We Begin

So let's check a couple of our pre-reading biases before we walk through this door. I've already shown you one of mine-- my belief that Big Standardized Test scores are not a useful, effective or accurate measure of student achievement or school effectiveness, so this is all much ado about not so much nothing as the wrong thing.

We should also note the players involved. The USED, through its subsidiary group, the Institute of Educational Sciences, is setting out to answer a highly loaded question: "Did we just waste almost a decade and a giant mountain of taxpayer money on a program that we created and backed, or were we right all along?" The department has set out to answer a question, and they have a huge stake in the answer.

So that's why they used independent research groups to help, right? Wellll..... Mathematica has been around for years, and works in many fields researching policy and programs; they have been a go-to group for reformsters with policies to peddle. AIR sounds like a policy research group, but in fact CURMUDGUCATION: Did Race To The Top Work?:

President Obama on Atheism | Real Time with Bill Maher (Web Exclusive)

Schools Matter: KIPP Driver Refuses to Release Students

Schools Matter: KIPP Driver Refuses to Release Students:

KIPP Driver Refuses to Release Students

HOUSTON - There's a fight going on at a school bus stop, but it's not between two students.

A Houston family said their children won't be allowed to ride the bus anymore after an incident Friday when a driver allegedly didn't let their kids off. The children attend KIPP Zenith Academy in Sunnyside, the family said.

Demetrius Baxter said he and other parents were waiting at their children's bus stop and were confused when the kids didn't get off. The father explained,

"No window gets opened, no bus door gets opened. No explanation is given," the father said.

Baxter said the bus pulled away, and he was left dumbfounded. The father admits he chased the bus down in his own car and then pulled his vehicle across the road so the bus couldn't leave the subdivision. The father said he got out of his car, sat on his trunk and simply waited.

According to KIPP administrators, the driver prevented the children from leaving the bus because the father failed to show proper Schools Matter: KIPP Driver Refuses to Release Students:

BREAKING: Pie-guy pretrial ends with claims of K.J. whiplash, judge's Abbott and Costello musings (yeah, it was weird) - Sacramento News & Review

BREAKING: Pie-guy pretrial ends with claims of K.J. whiplash, judge's Abbott and Costello musings (yeah, it was weird) - Page Burner - November 3, 2016 - Blogs - Sacramento News & Review:

BREAKING: Pie-guy pretrial ends with claims of K.J. whiplash, judge's Abbott and Costello musings (yeah, it was weird)

Judge upholds felony assault charge against mayor’s pie-tosser

By Scott Thomas Anderson

A Sacramento Superior Court judge today upheld a felony assault charge against Sean Thompson–a  military veteran and homeless activist who creamed Mayor Kevin Johnson with a pie in September.

Thompson and his attorney Claire White watched from the defense table of a virtually empty courtroom as Sacramento County Deputy District Attorney Anthony Ortiz called a single witness to testify about the infamous pie incident that took place September 21 at Sacramento High School, which ended with Thompson on the ground taking face punches from K.J.

Sacramento police Det. Orlando Moralez, assigned to the mayor’s protection detail, testified that he was called to an afternoon fundraising event where a witness told him she’d watched Thompson sneak up on the mayor holding a plastic bag and then whip out a pie to give him a good splattering. When Ortiz asked the detective how that witness had described Thompson’s demeanor, Moralez responded, “She said the act was full of anger and aggression.”

Moralez also testified that Johnson told him the pie hitting his face had caused a pain that went from his neck down to his spine, similar to a whiplash injury.

During cross examination, White attempted to ask Moralez if he had read any of the statements from other witnesses or members of law enforcement who were nearby when Johnson got the Nickelodean treatment.

White specifically attempted to reference a report by police Det. Calvin Lynn, which she said characterized witnesses’ view that Thompson’s actions were “just a prank."

After Moralez testified that he could not recall reading those witness statements or reports before coming to court, a frustrated White told Judge Paul L Seave that Moralez was impaneled for his ignornace.

“The district attorney’s office chose to bring an officer here today who was not the primary investigator in the case and who happened interview the only two witnesses in the entire case who described what Mr. Thompson did as a violent act,” she said.

Both the prosecution and defense agreed in court that Thompson’s motivation for pieing Johnson was to protest the treatment of Sacramento’s homeless, though they strongly disagreed on whether the act counted as “retaliation” against a public official.

When Seave was ready to hear closing arguments, White stressed that Thompson’s assault charge can be legally lowered for a reason.

“The legislature allowed for this violation to be lowered in some cases,” White argued. “Mr. Thompson in no way attempted to injure the mayor, and whether this rises to the level of a felony is where the rubber meets the BREAKING: Pie-guy pretrial ends with claims of K.J. whiplash, judge's Abbott and Costello musings (yeah, it was weird) - Page Burner - November 3, 2016 - Blogs - Sacramento News & Review:

Link between poverty, test scores continues

Link between poverty, test scores continues:

Link between poverty, test scores continues

The 2016 update of the Daily Herald's Poverty-Achievement Index continues to demonstrate the strong correlation between income and test results.

Our analysis divides all elementary schools in the state into 10 tiers based on the percentage of low-income students a school serves. The zero to 9.9 percent tier includes schools serving the fewest low-income students, while those in the 90 percent to 100 percent range covers schools with the highest percentage of low-income students.

We then calculate the average percent met/exceeds for each tier. As in past years, our analysis shows how deeply stratified Illinois schools are by income, with no income tier performing better than any other tier with fewer low-income students.

For more, visit reportcards.dailyherald.com.

 Link between poverty, test scores continues:

Thompson: Don't forget to vote on OKCPS bond issue - NonDoc

Thompson: Don't forget to vote on OKCPS bond issue - NonDoc:

Thompson: Don’t forget to vote on OKCPS bond issue

Please, please don’t forget to vote this Tuesday (or before) for the Oklahoma City Public School System bond issue. The bond issue will not raise taxes. It will allow the OKCPS to raise $189 million dollars for essential capital investments. It is on a separate yellow ballot.

Most of the OKCPS bond money ($106.3 million) will be used for maintenance at 78 buildings. The money will:

• repair or replace air-conditioning and heating systems at schools;
• repair or replace roofs;
• repair or replace electrical and plumbing utilities;
• fund fine arts and athletics (equipment, uniforms, materials);
• and help develop playgrounds.

The rest of the money will go replace school buses that are an average of 10.5 years old, having driven about 200,000 miles, as well as provide new technology for schools.

Voters must succeed where Legislature has failed

Participating in the MAPS for Kids process 16 years ago, I saw what happened to the OKCPS infrastructure when bond issues failed to pass in a timely manner. MAPS for Kids belatedly prevented the collapse of the school system. It also provided a promising first step toward increasing student achievement, which, unfortunately, was undermined by Thompson: Don't forget to vote on OKCPS bond issue - NonDoc:

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION: Student Suicide + Where the Free Market Fails

CURMUDGUCATION:

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION

Student Suicide

100+by Peter Greene / 15h

I knew it was a growing issue. I didn't know it was this bad. Between 2007 and 2014 the suicide rate for children aged 10-14 doubled. Doubled. That's according to the Center for Disease Control . If you want to put that in perspective, the rate of death by auto accident has been dropping steadily since 1999 (the beginning of the charted data), cut by more than half. In 2014, the suicide rate climb

Where the Free Market Fails

33by Peter Greene / 22h

Donald Trump has proposed that we just get rid of Obamacare and replace it with free market forces. This is as original as any of his policy ideas (i.e. not at all), but it's still a bad idea because health care is like education in that the freemarket cannot possibly succeed in accomplishing what we claim to want as a society. I'll explain in a moment, but first, let me insert my usual disclaimer

NOV 03

Common Core: Victim of Inadequate PR?

21by Peter Greene / 1d

We've often heard that poor old Common Core was a swell thing that fell victim to bad implementation. But over at EdSource yesterday, Pat Reilly identified a different culprit. Messages, backed up with data and brought to life through emotive language, are fundamental to changing minds in the 21st century. Yet too often, education advocacy is stopped in its tracks because critical concepts aren’t

Is Pre-K A Waste of Time?

75by Peter Greene / 1d

There's plenty of research out there wrestling with the eternal question-- does pre-school actually make any difference in the long run? It's an important question, but it's important to pay attention to exactly how it is being asked, because that little bit of nuance has everything to do with what policymakers think Kindergarten is supposed to look like. As reported by Brookings, of all places, t

NOV 02

Are High Standards Leading To Better Outcomes?

31by Peter Greene / 3d

The Collaborative for Student Success was created to help push the Common Core State Standards, and it remains devoted to that goal, 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 g

NOV 01

WA: Buying the Court

37by Peter Greene / 3d

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

OCT 31

Welcome to Charter Cafeteria

39by Peter Greene / 4d

Welcome to the new Charter Choice Cafeteria! Can I help you? Wow! It's so clean and shiny here. And is that.... is that steak?? Why yes. We believe that all students should have the chance to eat steak for lunch. Well, that's great. My usual public cafeteria only has meatloaf every other day, and it's not so good. So I would really love steak for lunch. Can I just-- Just a second. Charter Choice C

OCT 30

PA: State Rep Compares School Boards to Hitler

89by Peter Greene / 6d

Brad Roae is running for re-election for the PA House of Representatives for District 6. First elected in 2006, Roae has had some interesting things to say about education in Pennsylvania. Hitler blamed the Jews for everything that was wrong with the world and school boards blame charter schools. This was on Facebook, in response to a question about the currently-off-the-table HB 530, a bill that

ICYMI: Catching Up with Reading (10/30)

6by Peter Greene / 6d

I've been home for about a week and I am just about back up to speed. There's a lot to read this time around. As always, I encourage you to share wildly whatever you like here. What Are the Main Reasons Teachers Call It Quits NPR takes a look at why some folks are getting out of the teaching biz. No surprises 

CURMUDGUCATION:

Teacher: ‘I love my students, I love my job, and I feel fulfilled. But I’m broke.’ - The Washington Post

Teacher: ‘I love my students, I love my job, and I feel fulfilled. But I’m broke.’ - The Washington Post:

Teacher: ‘I love my students, I love my job, and I feel fulfilled. But I’m broke.’

Teachers have long been underpaid — and just how much was underscored in a recent studywhich found that the difference between what teachers and comparable public workers earn is larger than ever. Among the key findings:

• Average weekly wages (inflation adjusted) of public-sector teachers decreased $30 per week from 1996 to 2015, from $1,122 to $1,092 (in 2015 dollars). In contrast, weekly wages of all college graduates rose from $1,292 to $1,416 over this period.
• For all public-sector teachers, the relative wage gap (regression adjusted for education, experience, and other factors) has grown substantially since the mid-1990s: It was ‑1.8 percent in 1994 and grew to a record ‑17.0 percent in 2015.

[Teachers aren’t paid enough? It’s worse than you think.]

Here is a personal story of one teacher and how she and her family are affected by her profession’s low salary base. She is Rachel Wiley, an elementary school teacher in Washington state and a member of Teachers United, an organization of teachers in Washington state that is funded by the Gates Foundation. This appeared on the organization’s website of Teachers United and I was given permission to republish it.

[How much teachers get paid — state by state]

By Rachel Wiley

I am 29 years old. I have two children, ages 10 and 8. Anyone with a decent grip on basic math can figure out that means I was a teen mom.

When I was 18 years old, I learned that I was pregnant with my first child. I was a new college student, had a part-time job at a local retail store, and was scared to death. How would I support a child? Would I end up on welfare? Was I destined to become another statistic? I was faced with a choice: should I leave school and get a full-time job, or should I continue in school, knowing that a degree would ultimately (I thought) mean higher wages and better quality of life.

I decided that there was no way I was going to allow my circumstances to determine my fate. Despite the grim outlook for teen moms, I determined that I was going to be different. I wanted my kids to look up to me, to see that if you work hard and stay focused, you can achieve your goals.

I stayed in school, eventually graduating with my AA. I transferred to the University of Washington at Tacoma and earned a bachelor’s degree. Then, I decided to become Teacher: ‘I love my students, I love my job, and I feel fulfilled. But I’m broke.’ - The Washington Post:

Teachers at four L.A. campuses want no part of funding from pro-charter school group - LA Times

Teachers at four L.A. campuses want no part of funding from pro-charter school group - LA Times:

Teachers at four L.A. campuses want no part of funding from pro-charter school group

Teachers at four Los Angeles campuses overwhelmingly voted this week to oppose a program that could provide extra resources because the money would come from a pro-charter school organization.

The school district said Friday that it has withdrawn grant applications for two of the schools.

Faculties voted at Drew Middle School and Gompers Middle School in South Los Angeles and Pacoima Middle School and San Fernando High School in the northeast San Fernando Valley. 

The potential funding being rejected would come from from Great Public Schools Now, a nonprofit formed to replicate successful schools across low-income Los Angeles neighborhoods in which the neighborhood campuses have low test scores.

The nonprofit said it is agnostic over the type of school to be created and has pledged to fund the planning of up to five projects submitted by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The offer was embraced by L.A. schools Supt. Michelle King, whose strategic plan includes starting new programs to keep and attract students. Others involved in L.A. Unified, including school board President Steve Zimmer, have been skeptical because Great Public Schools Now evolved from a proposal, spearheaded by philanthropist Eli Broad, that talked only of a massive charter school expansion.

Charters are independently operated and exempt from some rules that govern traditional campuses. They have proved popular with many parents, but critics have accused them of undermining traditional schools by attracting students who are easier and less expensive to educate. L.A. Unified has more charters than any other school system in the country, enrolling about 16% of district students.

This is nothing but an insulting billionaire publicity stunt.— Alex Caputo-Pearl, UTLA president

Great Public Schools Now would not confirm which schools had applications filed on their behalf, saying the process was confidential.

A district spokeswoman confirmed that the district had wanted to apply on behalf of the four schools.  

“This is nothing but an insulting billionaire publicity stunt,” union President Alex Caputo-Pearl said of the Great Public Schools Now funding. “Charter growth has drained millions of dollars from LAUSD schools serving our highest-needs students.”

Caputo-Pearl referred to the grants, which would range from $50,000 to $250,000, as “chump change” compared to the millions given to charters by Broad and the foundation overseen by the Walton family, which started Wal-Mart. Great Public Schools Now’s board includes a representative of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and Marc Sternberg, K-Teachers at four L.A. campuses want no part of funding from pro-charter school group - LA Times:

Relay Is A Very Bad Joke-One That Hurts Kids (By Ann Cronin) - Wait What?

Relay Is A Very Bad Joke-One That Hurts Kids  (By Ann Cronin) - Wait What?:

Relay Is A Very Bad Joke-One That Hurts Kids  (By Ann Cronin)

Writing on her blog, Real Learning CT, educator, education advocate and education blogger Ann Cronin explains;

The Relay Graduate School of Education recently applied to be a graduate school of education in Pennsylvania, California, and Connecticut. That application was denied in Pennsylvania and California. That application was approved in Connecticut.

What is the Relay Graduate School of Education? Daniel Katz, Director of Secondary Education and Secondary Special Education Teacher Preparation at Seton Hall University sums it up like this:

It is a “Graduate School of Education” that has not a single professor or doctoral level instructor or researcher affiliated with it. In essence, it is a partnership of charter school chains Uncommon Schools, KIPP, and Achievement First… Relay’s “curriculum” mostly consists of taking the non-certified faculty of the charter schools, giving them computer-delivered modules on classroom management (and distributing copies of Teach Like a Champion), and placing them under the auspices of the “no excuses” brand of charter school operation and teachers who already have experience with it.

Pennsylvania and California made worthy decisions  in rejecting the Relay Graduate School of Education. So how did it get approved in Connecticut?

On November 2, 2016, the Connecticut State Board of Education held a 

Relay Is A Very Bad Joke-One That Hurts Kids  (By Ann Cronin) - Wait What?:

Real Learning CT | Educators Reclaiming the Conversation - http://wp.me/5fCzT 

Is School Choice Wisconsin Head, Jim Bender, Accusing MPS SupDr. Driver of Only Caring About Money and Not Children

Is School Choice Wisconsin Head, Jim Bender, Accusing MPS Superintendent Dr. Driver of Only Caring About Money and Not Children in Her Proposed Reform Agenda? | Educate All Students: Larry Miller's Blog:

Is School Choice Wisconsin Head, Jim Bender, Accusing MPS Superintendent Dr. Driver of Only Caring About Money and Not Children in Her Proposed Reform Agenda?

Jim Bender states in WUWM interview comments, “They (MPS) want to become the only charter authorizer. They want to do that so they can capture cash flow, and count those students in their head count and generate revenue off those students… I don’t know that it’s any other purpose for improving education. I think it’s got a lot more to do with the bottom line.”



MPS Superintendent Introduces Aggressive Reform Agenda

By Rachel Morello 11/4/16 WUWM

The superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools is putting forward some big ideas for change in her district. This week, Darienne Driver presented the MPS board with a slate of reforms designed to boost achievement.

Some of the most attention-grabbing ideas focus on improving student performance. They include a proposal to create a “network” of support and training for staff at for the lowest-performing schools. Dr. Driver also wants to develop an “Office of Black and Latino Male Achievement” that would work to close the achievement gap between those students and their peers.

And she wants to make organizational changes.

The most notable would be petitioning the state to make MPS the only entity in town that could charter schools. Right now, the district oversees about half of Milwaukee’s charter schools. The other chartering authorities are UWM and the City of Milwaukee.

Dr. Driver would also like to put all MPS schools on the same academic calendar, and mandate uniforms across the district.

The push for change and a kick-start to improvement is welcome. In general, immediate reaction is that people need more information before they can pass judgment.

“I and many other people are really, truly looking forward to hearing more of what the meat behind the titled components of this proposal are,” says Danae Davis, executive director of local organization Milwaukee Succeeds. “I hope that none of us throws darts until we know what it is that we’re talking about.”

A conversation has definitely begun about the scope of some of these ideas.

Dr. Driver has said she wants to see her turnaround plans implemented at all of Milwaukee’s lowest-performing schools – not just those in MPS, but at independent charter and voucher schools, too.

This idea of letting MPS create a template for struggling public, charter and private schools is bound to stir the pot.

“MPS at its core has a conflict,” says Jim Bender, president of School Choice Wisconsin. “They are so desperate to keep market share, that they can’t afford to lose many more students,  Is School Choice Wisconsin Head, Jim Bender, Accusing MPS Superintendent Dr. Driver of Only Caring About Money and Not Children in Her Proposed Reform Agenda? | Educate All Students: Larry Miller's Blog: