Russ on Reading: Defeating the Science of Reading Narrative, Part 4: Addressing School Boards, Legislatures and the Public

Russ on Reading: Defeating the Science of Reading Narrative, Part 4: Addressing School Boards, Legislatures and the Public

Defeating the Science of Reading Narrative, Part 4: Addressing School Boards, Legislatures and the Public

This series of posts has taken aim at the false Science of Reading (SOR) narrative that posits that the Simple View of Reading (SVR; Gough and Turner, 1986) is the scientifically proven best way to teach reading and all schools and all teachers should be adopting it. The first post in the series showed that SOR was far from settled science. The next three posts addressed ways to defeat this narrative by first focusing on the individual child, then talking to parents about the child, and then working with colleagues to improve everyone's breadth of understanding of the issues. In this post, I would like to address the need for teacher advocacy on the political level. Several respondents to the previous posts have noted that school boards and legislators are forcing the SOR instructional design on teachers through policy and legislation. Neither the school board members nor legislators are the professionals here. Neither is the journalist, Emily CONTINUE READING: Russ on Reading: Defeating the Science of Reading Narrative, Part 4: Addressing School Boards, Legislatures and the Public

Additional Spring Testing Flexibility for Schools - Year 2021 (CA Dept of Education)

Additional Spring Testing Flexibility for Schools - Year 2021 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Board of Education Approves Additional Testing Flexibility for Schools This Spring

SACRAMENTO—The State Board of Education today voted to give California school districts the opportunity to use either state tests or other standards-aligned assessments to gauge student learning this spring.

The vote builds on last month’s Board action to apply for the maximum flexibility offered by the U.S. Department of Education in testing, accountability and reporting requirements and to seek further options that account for the impact of COVID-19 on educators, families, and schools.

The Board is seeking to allow districts to use the best assessment tool available for the local context this spring, as many of them are still providing distance learning and working to reopen schools. Options include the state’s Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments and California Alternate Assessments for English language arts and mathematics, the Smarter Balanced interim assessments, or other diagnostic, benchmark, or interim assessments that:

• Are aligned with California Common Core State Standards for English language arts and math.
• Are available to assess students in grades 3-8 and 11.
• Are uniformly administered across a grade span, school, or district.
• Provide results that can be reported to parents/guardians, educators about individual students, and to the public by school and by district and are disaggregated by student group.

“While school reopening momentum is growing and we expect many more students to return to class this spring, we realize that many more may still be learning remotely either some days or every day,” said State Board President Linda Darling-Hammond. “The Board’s action today, coupled with our previous request for flexibility, will give local educators and state policymakers important data on student progress while recognizing the realities of a very challenging year.”

Diagnostic and interim/benchmark assessments help teachers identify student learning gaps and progress and adjust instruction throughout the year.  As a condition of funding this year, districts were required to use such assessments and identify them in their learning continuity plans filed last fall. A California Department of Education survey of schools and districts showed that the majority of districts use a diagnostic or interim test that would qualify with the parameters delineated by the Board.

Giving districts the opportunity to use local diagnostic or interim tests to meet state and federal expectations for assessment and reporting purposes will help lessen concerns about students participating in extensive testing before they have a chance to re-adjust to in-person learning.

This additional flexibility would expand on California’s previous federal flexibility request which would:

• Decouple state assessments from federal accountability requirements, as applicable. Instead, any data collected would be used to inform local educators and parents and align resources to student supports.
• Waive federal penalties for student testing participation rates of less than 95 percent on the state’s Smarter Balanced English language arts and math assessments.
• Extend the window by which schools must complete test administration to July 30 for the English Language Assessments for California (ELPAC), which measures English learners’ progress toward language proficiency, and for the Smarter Balanced assessments, as applicable.
• Waive administration of the state’s science tests altogether for 2021.

Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, all states that receive federal funds for low-income students and English learners must assess annual learning progress in math, language arts, science, and English learner language proficiency, as applicable.

Last year, the federal government granted blanket waivers permitting states to opt-out of annual testing altogether. However, a federal state assessment compliance template(PDF) released March 8 closed the door on that option for this year.

At its November 2020 meeting, the State Board approved shortened blueprints of the Smarter Balanced assessments in English language arts and math in order to administer shorter tests in these subjects.

In addition, federal guidance allows remote administration of all tests. California has permitted remote testing since last August.

With many students only beginning to return to in-person instruction, Board members emphasized—as the Federal guidance states—that students should not be brought back to in-person instruction solely for the purpose of standardized testing.

“While there are benefits to providing a snapshot look at how our students have been affected academically by the pandemic, we all know that the social-emotional health of our students and their reattachment to a caring school environment must come first,” said President Darling-Hammond. “Helping our students cope with a painful year and feel supported in their learning remains our top priority.”

# # # #

Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

Additional Spring Testing Flexibility for Schools - Year 2021 (CA Dept of Education)

So This Actually Happened – Tennessee Education Report

So This Actually Happened – Tennessee Education Report

SO THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED

Here are some responses to a Facebook Post by Metro Nashville Education Association (MNEA) President Amanda Kail from MNPS School Board member Fran Bush.

Enough of your bull! We are going to open in person soon. Either you want to teach or quit your day job with MNPS, I am sick of your tactics and your agenda!! Our kids deserves better than this and they will not be held as pawns to your demands. Girl bye!!!

Franchata Goodrich-Bush

Oh, and I failed to mentioned, parents are signing up to be subs to mitigate the loss of teachers in the union who wants to leave. We are prepared to fill the gaps!! We are ready to lead!!!!

And a response from Board member Rachel Elrod: CONTINUE READING: So This Actually Happened – Tennessee Education Report

Lori Jablonski: The OP Ed the SacBee Refused to Print

 The OP Ed the SacBee Refused to Print

From Lori Jablonski

The Sacramento Bee consistently begs for support for local journalism and claims to be a forum for important issues that concern our region. Yet its editors have refused to print a timely and insightful opinion piece from CK McClatchy's Lori Jablonski.

At the same time, the Bee continues to print anti-teacher, anti-union attacks from its ethically-challenged "opinion" writer Marcos Breton that are riddled with factual errors.

Here is Lori's piece that was submitted to the Bee, but their editor board, which now includes Marcos Breton, refused to print.

SCUSD isn’t going broke–it’s broken. We know how to fix it.

By Lori Jablonski

Recently, the Bee reported that community leaders called on Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) officials and the teachers’ union “to work together in creating a distance-learning plan and preventing the cash-strapped district from going insolvent.” It hasn’t happened and this is why.

Quite simply, SCUSD isn’t “going broke” but it is broken.

Since August 2018, Superintendent Jorge Aguilar and Board President Jessie Ryan have repeatedly and falsely claimed that SCUSD is on the brink of a state takeover. In May 2020, district leaders claimed it would end the year with a $5.9 million deficit.

But six weeks later, after the 2019-20 finances were tallied, SCUSD reported a $23 million surplus and a reserve fund of $93 million—nine times higher than the minimum required by the state. It was the biggest reserve fund in SCUSD history.

District leaders are projecting for 20-21 that SCUSCD will face a deficit of $26.4 million. Meanwhile, they are parking $101.3 million of their $640-million budget in “books and supplies.” SCUSD spent a fraction, $11 million, on the same budget line in 19-20. This “creative accounting,” which has been going on for years, deceives the community and deprives students of much needed services.

SCUSD has failed to properly report its finances for the past eight years and committed numerous jaw-dropping accounting errors. In the spring of 2019, for example, district administrators failed to count the enrollment at five schools, which amounted to an $8-million-per-year mistake. Based on this accounting error, the school board laid off 400 staff, including 175 teachers. 

Michael Fine, a top finance official in state education, has said that he has “no confidence” in the district’s financial data. At the same time the school board presented a troubled financial picture to the public, it rewarded the superintendent with pay increases resulting in a salary nearly double the governor’s pay.

This past spring, the pandemic-related distance-learning rollout was a disaster. Many students had trouble connecting and faced a prolonged shortage of Chromebooks. When teachers offered to provide assistance to students and families, the school board responded by having the superintendent send a “cease and desist” letter threatening to sue any educator who provided technical advice to students and parents.

Faced with a return to distance learning this fall, more than 200 educators--on their own time, with input from 1,000 other teachers—developed a comprehensive distance-learning plan.

In contrast, SCUSD assigned two administrators with no distance-learning instructional experience to come up with their own directives. SCUSD demanded more standardized testing and more screen time than any of the surrounding districts, which would have been especially counter-productive, even harmful, for the youngest learners. The administration appeared to be more concerned about how its program looked on paper than how it worked in practice, a trend criticized by Carl Pinkston of the Black Parallel School Board as quoted by the Bee: “The district has not been honest and truthful with the public and itself about its historical failure to provide quality education for all kids.”

Fortunately, state law prohibits a district from imposing its will without teacher input. While some matters could be agreed upon, such as the Google learning platform and total instructional time, teachers strongly opposed the SCUSD’s one-size-fits-all approach. Using their professional judgment, they have continued to teach to the needs of each class and student.

Distance learning won’t last forever. The Sacramento City Teachers Association and district officials have begun discussing when and how to return safely to school. But if SCUSD continues to ignore the input of thousands of educators about what our students need, both academically and in terms of health and safety, negotiations about a return to the classroom will be as difficult as earlier negotiations.

Who can trust district leaders who repeatedly deceive the public, manipulate district finances, and disregard the input of educators? We can fix this -- the place to start is with the upcoming election for school board members.

Lori Jablonski teaches government at CK McClatchy High School. She has taught in SCUSD for 20 years.

Sacramento City Teachers Association |916.452.4591 | scta@saccityta.com| www.sacteachers.org

SCUSD CHANGE the BOARD 2020 | Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/CHANGESCUSD2020

SACRAMENTO TEACHER LORI JOBLANSKI SAYS: CHANGE THE SCUSD BOARD 2020

 SACRAMENTO TEACHER LORI JOBLANSKI SAYS:  

CHANGE THE SCUSD BOARD 2020

CHANGE THE SCUSD BOARD 2020 FACEBOOK PAGE

Happy Friday. With just over a week until the election, I am asking Sacramento City voters to please use your people power to make fundamental change on the Sacramento City Unified School District Board, which I truly believe is the most dysfunctional and broken governing body in this city. We have four wonderful candidates who are prepared to make positive change for our entire Sac City Schools community. But first we must be honest that if we insist on returning incumbent board members to their positions the dysfunction will only metastasize.

Nothing will improve with the same people in charge who, among other things:

* falsely and repeatedly claim the district is about to run out of money while simultaneously amassing historically large budget surpluses,

* renege on labor contracts,

* sue their own teachers and later issue cease and desist orders against them,

* negligently lay-off hundreds of teachers, resulting in a severe staffing crisis,

* leave thousands of kids languishing for months in classes without credentialed teachers and lesson plans,

* neglect our most vulnerable students by failing to provide necessary Special Education and English Language Learning supports, services and teachers,

* fail to implement district-wide restorative justice programs as promised,

* refuse to negotiate distance learning plans in good faith with their teachers and support staff.

We must insist on better. That's the whole reason why we have elections, to hold folks accountable and make change when needed. And change is definitely needed. That starts by electing:

Lavinia Grace Phillips for School Board

Area 7: Oak Park, Hollywood Park, City Farms, Mangan Park #neighborsforgracie

Nailah4SCUSD

, Nailah Pope-Harden Area 4: Stockton, Fruitridge, Power Inn, Elder Creek, Franklin, Florin

Jose Navarro for School Board

J Area 3: Rosemont

Chinua Rhodes For School Board 2020

Area 5: South Sac, Meadowview

Thank you.

Lori Jablonski

SACRAMENTO CITY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT (SCUSD) TEACHER

Lavinia Grace Phillips for School Board

Area 7: Oak Park, Hollywood Park, City Farms, Mangan Park #neighborsforgracie

CHANGE THE SCUSD BOARD 2020 FACEBOOK PAGE

Nailah4SCUSD

, Nailah Pope-Harden Area 4: Stockton, Fruitridge, Power Inn, Elder Creek, Franklin, Florin

CHANGE THE SCUSD BOARD 2020 FACEBOOK PAGE

Jose Navarro for School Board

J Area 3: Rosemont

CHANGE THE SCUSD BOARD 2020 FACEBOOK PAGE

Chinua Rhodes For School Board 2020

Area 5: South Sac, Meadowview

CHANGE THE SCUSD BOARD 2020 FACEBOOK PAGE

 

CHANGE THE SCUSD BOARD 2020 FACEBOOK PAGE

CHANGE THE SCUSD BOARD 2020 FACEBOOK PAGE

CHANGE THE SCUSD BOARD 2020 FACEBOOK PAGE

THIS WEEK'S WILDNESS Dad Gone Wild Nobody reads it, everybody quotes it.

 Dad Gone Wild – Nobody reads it, everybody quotes it.

THIS WEEK'S WILDNESS 

Dad Gone Wild 

Nobody reads it, everybody quotes it.

A TALE OF TWO RE-OPENINGS

by TC Weber / 20h

“What was difficult was the travel, which, on arrival, is forgotten.” ― Louise Gluck As fall Break for MNPS comes to a close, I can’t help but be struck by the irony of the Tennessee Titans struggling to return to the football field due to COVID as MNPS will be simultaneously returning kids to class. If you haven’t been paying attention, it’s going on nearly two weeks since any football has been

OCT 07

WILL BETSY DEVOS AND THE USDOE ALLOW THE SCHWINIGANS TO CONTINUE UNABATED?

by TC Weber / 2d

“Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.” ― George Eliot, Adam Bede The hits from 2020 keep right on coming. Last week it was the legendary St. Lous Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson. This week, it’s guitar hero Eddie Van Halen. Any of you who grew up in the ’70s and ’80s can attest to the power of Van Halen and what it felt like the first time you heard those ferocious guitar licks

OCT 05

A NEVER ENDING STREAM OF CONFUSION

by TC Weber / 4d

“The good news for the Washington Federals is they do not have a quarterback controversy. The bad news is they do not have a quarterback.” ― Jeff Pearlman, Football for a Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL On Friday, after I first flipped through the recently released CREDO study focusing on learning loss, I fully intended to spend the weekend reading through it and painstakingly

OCT 02

HARD PLUS INCONVENIENT DOES NOT EQUAL INEFFECTIVE

by TC Weber / 7d

“That was it. That was all of it. A grace so ordinary there was no reason at all to remember it. Yet I have never across the forty years since it was spoken forgotten a single word.” ― William Kent Krueger, Ordinary Grace Am I the 

 Dad Gone Wild – Nobody reads it, everybody quotes it.