Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Standardized Tests Of Tomorrow Behind Schedule, According To Insider Survey

Standardized Tests Of Tomorrow Behind Schedule, According To Insider Survey:


Standardized Tests Of Tomorrow Behind Schedule, According To Insider Survey

When asked about the problems associated with standardized testing -- cheating, overtesting, blunt measures of student achievement -- U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan often points to a duo of "next-generation assessments" funded by federal money.

But a new survey, which consulting group Whiteboard Advisors plans to publish this week, suggests that "education insiders" aren't so sure that the one of the new tests will resolve all of the issues with standardized testing. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed reported that they believe the Smarter, Balanced Assessment Coalition, one of the two state-based consortia developing the tests, is on the wrong track.

"Smarter Balanced seems to have started with a misdiagnosis of the testing program to begin with, and then 

Hidden Anti-Teacher Agenda: Former DC Schools Chancellor Rhee Still Scamming and Posing as Education “Reformer” | Dissident Voice

Hidden Anti-Teacher Agenda: Former Failed DC Schools Chancellor Rhee Still Scamming and Posing as Education “Reformer” | Dissident Voice:


Hidden Anti-Teacher Agenda: Former Failed DC Schools Chancellor Rhee Still Scamming and Posing as Education “Reformer”

Michelle Rhee, the former chancellor of Washington, DC’s public schools, has made a career for herself by inflating her resume, dodging responsibility, and trashing teachers. Now, two years after leaving her DC post under a cloud after the mayor who appointed her, Adrian Fenty, was defeated in a re-election bid in which her own contentious tenure was the main issue, she is at it again.
Rhee, a shameless self-promoter who already stands accused of lying about her alleged success as a teacher of elementary students, and who continues to be the subject of a US Department of Education investigation into a test cheating scandal at D.C. schools during her tenure as chancellor, is now trying to lure progressives to support her campaign against unionized teachers by pretending to have the support of the popular petition-circulating organization Change.org.
In an email blast sent out to progressives on Tuesday, Rhee’s organization StudentsFirst.org, says:
Thank you for joining StudentsFirst by signing a petition on Change.org. I’d like to tell you a bit more about what we’re fighting for.

Every morning in America, as we send eager fourth graders off to school, ready to learn with their backpacks and lunch boxes, we are entrusting them to an 

Invitation to a Dialogue - An Excess of Testing - NYTimes.com

Invitation to a Dialogue - An Excess of Testing - NYTimes.com:


Invitation to a Dialogue: An Excess of Testing

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To the Editor:
Nick Iluzada
Opinion Twitter Logo.

Connect With Us on Twitter

For Op-Ed, follow@nytopinion and to hear from the editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, follow@andyrNYT.
The common core standards movement seems to be common sense: Our schools should have similar standards, what students should know at each grade. The movement, however, is based on the false assumption that our schools are broken, that ineffective teaching is the problem and that rigorous standards and tests are necessary to improve things.
The mediocre performance of American students on international tests seems to show that our schools are doing poorly. But students from middle-class homes who attend well-funded schools rank among the best in the world on these tests, which means that teaching is not the problem. The problem is poverty. Our overall scores are unspectacular because so many American children live in poverty (23 percent, ranking us 34th out of 35 “economically advanced countries”).
Poverty means inadequate nutrition and health care, and little access to books, all associated with lower school achievement. Addressing those needs will increase achievement and better the lives of millions of children.
How can we pay for this? Reduce testing. The common core, adopted by 45 states, demands an astonishing increase in testing, far more than needed and far more than the already excessive amount required by No Child Left Behind.
No Child Left Behind requires tests in math and reading at the end of the school year in grades 3 to 8 and once in high school. The common core will test more subjects and more grade levels, and adds tests given during the year. There may also be pretests in the fall.
The cost will be enormous. New York City plans to spend over half a billion dollars on technology in schools, primarily so that students can take the electronically delivered national tests.
Research shows that increasing testing does not increase achievement. A better investment is protecting children from the effects of poverty, in feeding the animal, not just weighing it.
STEPHEN KRASHEN
Los Angeles, July 16, 2012
The writer is professor emeritus at the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education.
Editors’ Note: We invite readers to respond to this letter for the Sunday Dialogue. We plan to publish responses and Mr. Krashen’s rejoinder in the Sunday Review. E-mail:letters@nytimes.com

Kimble's Corner: My Time at Bain

Kimble's Corner: My Time at Bain:


My Time at Bain

I was not one of the original investors of Bain Financial when it was founded in 1984. In fact, that year I was still an undergrad at Notre Dame. However, I did well enough for myself and the company that when Mitt Romney left the company in 2002, he retroactively made me CEO beginning in 1999.

What people forget is just what a different time those heady days were. America was attacked. At that time, we were worried that al-Qaeda could attack anywhere at anytime. In fact, one of our greatest fears was that they would target a large mall in the middle of the heartland. That was exactly the type of place where many of our investments like Sealy and Burlington Coat Factory were located.

It soon occurred to me that the best chance we had to protect our businesses from terrorists were to move them out of this country to safety. We took the same approach in moving our money overseas as well because we 

Introducing EdSource Today!

EdSource Today:


EdSource logo
Dear Friends of EdSource:

I want to tell you about some exciting changes at EdSource:

Introducing EdSource Today!
John Fensterwald Photo
John Fensterwald 
I am pleased to let you know that John Fensterwald, founder of the highly regarded online education site, "Thoughts on Public Education (TOP-Ed)," has joined EdSource. John's arrival will strengthen EdSource's efforts to promote sound education policies, enhance public engagement, and highlight successful practices and strategies that will result in improved learning outcomes.

Also joining EdSource is veteran education reporter Kathryn Baron, who covered education for many years for public radio and other outlets before becoming senior correspondent at TOP-Ed. 

Fensterwald and Baron's reporting and analysis over the past three years have become a "must read" for policymakers and many others in Sacramento and beyond. They have also brought in diverse commentaries from education leaders to reflect the vigorous debates around almost every reform proposal.  
Kathryn Baron photo
Kathryn Baron

We are excited to bring their fine reporting and analysis to EdSource's new online platform, EdSource Today, with its own sleeker, more user-friendly website. (We strongly encourage you to sign up here to receive daily updates directly to your email address - you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)

Creating one dynamic team under the EdSource umbrella responds to the online revolution that is transforming how policymakers, and the public, access information on key issues -- at a more rapid pace, in shorter forms, and in digital formats. The key, however, is to ensure that the information they receive is credible and informed. That is the role that EdSource Today will play.

In addition to EdSource Today, EdSource will continue to do the in-depth reporting and analysis for which it has become known and respected. We also look forward to expanding our collaborations with other organizations and experts to provide a solutions-oriented multimedia "education platform" for the state and nationally.

We have moved!
Another major development at EdSource is that after 35 years in the South Bay, EdSource has moved to downtown Oakland. The move is part of EdSource's strategic vision to locate the organization even more closely within the vibrant network of education organizations seeking to promote improved education outcomes. It will also be easier for us to participate more fully in policy debates and discussions in Sacramento.

Our new address is:
436 14th St., Suite 723
Oakland, CA 94612  
Phone: 510-433-0421 

Please be sure to sign up for daily feeds from EdSource Today. (If you are an online subscriber to EdSource Extra, you do not need to do anything further, as you will be automatically signed up for our new, expanded service.)

We deeply value your support as EdSource makes these significant transitions.

We hope you like the new look of the EdSource website and welcome your comments, as well as ideas for issues, programs and strategies we should look at more closely.

Best regards,

Louis Freedberg,
Executive Director, EdSource


EdSource Report: Adult Schools At Risk 
Listen to Kathryn Baron's piece about the growing threats to adult schools on theCalifornia Report radio program, which is aired on 28 public radio stations around the state. Also see the EdSource report, At Risk: Adult Schools in California.  

Will Business Own Education in Wisconsin? « Diane Ravitch's blog

Will Business Own Education in Wisconsin? « Diane Ravitch's blog:


Will Business Own Education in Wisconsin?

Rebecca Kemble, a stringer for the Progressive, covered a legislative committee hearing in Madison, Wisconsin, where business groups lined up to complain that the schools were not meeting their needs. They complained that they could not find workers with the right set of skills. Despite high unemployment in the area, manufacturers say that they can’t find suitably trained workers. They had no data to back up what they said, just opinions.
The extraordinary thing that Kemble did was to look at the kind of engineering jobs that were going unfilled. As Kemble writes:
Some manufacturers also claim that they can’t fill high-skilled engineering positions, but they don’t mention the salaries, benefits, and terms of employment associated with those jobs. A search of mechanical engineering positions currently open in the Milwaukee metropolitan area requiring a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and five years of experience yielded the most results in the $30,000 – $50,000/year salary category. Some of those 

Is This Accurate? Fact-checkers Needed. « Diane Ravitch's blog

Is This Accurate? Fact-checkers Needed. « Diane Ravitch's blog:


Is This Accurate? Fact-checkers Needed.

I try to be careful in terms of what I write and what I repost from readers. If readers express their personal experiences and strong views, I have no problem with that, and I never repost anything that uses epithets or goes beyond the bounds of civility or fair disagreement. If I err, it is not knowingly.
I just received a comment about Tennessee’s evaluation system and its provenance. This was in response to my post today about “legal fraud.” I would appreciate readers’ responses, not opinions, but citations and facts:
TN bought TEAM/TAP, a teacher evaluation system from a Milken owned company called NIET. http://www.tapsystem.org/about/about.taf?page=nietbio_lmilken
The 1-5 scoring rubric met the requirement in Race to the Top to evaluate teachers with “objective” measures.The Milkens have been marketing TEAM/TAP since the mid 1990’s. If it is so effective, shouldn’t 

School Tech Connect: Our Crazy Times

School Tech Connect: Our Crazy Times:


Our Crazy Times

People love their schools--- it is true in every community, everywhere. They love them and they don't want them closed. Here are some charter school parents in Long Beach getting booted from a school board meeting for conducting a mic-check.  Evidently it's a case of low enrollment but it's very hard to tell what the truth is from afar, as you can see. I've been to a number of these meetings where the school is being closed for one reason or another, and the community is up in arms. It's always a traditional school, though. Usually the charter parents are on the other side of the argument.

The national policy on public education is to set people against each other by closing schools, firing teachers, and making people feel generally sick with anxiety about one school "underperforming" another school. It's absurd, and what it is leading to is chaos and instability, self-segregation, and an unsustainable choice-for-the-sake-of-choice craziness. Mind you, I don't think these kids should lose their school--- but this cold-heartedopen-then-close-'em environment is what the charter movement is based on and it is exactly what our national policy promotes.

It's pretty much how the elite have gotten the rest of us mad at each other while they offshore the wealth of the 

PSAT for 7-17-12: Five signs the tide is turning – so, let’s turn up the heat! Parents United for Responsible Education

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » PSAT for 7-17-12: Five signs the tide is turning – so, let’s turn up the heat!:


PSAT for 7-17-12: Five signs the tide is turning – so, let’s turn up the heat!

Are the winds shifting? The tides turning? Could the tables already have turned? 
Here are some reasons I think this may be happening.
1) An op ed in yesterday’s Guardian of London newspaper suggests that the Chicago Teachers’ Union is sending shock waves far beyond our home town for its string of upsets against the offensive moves of the city’s Democratic establishment:
This is getting national attention in the US, and a strike could be an embarrassment to President Obama. Moreover, it could re-ignite the American labour movement at a time of global unrest.
2) A few days ago, blogger Jim Warren compared a vacationing CPS CEO JC Brizard to Nero, “kayaking while Rome burns”:
I stumbled into Brizard’s absence during a chance conversation with (a) Chicago educator Thursday. The person mentioned that Brizard was out of town. He mentioned that Brizard had asked colleagues not to bother him with calls. He indicated that Brizard had posted on his Facebook page a photo of his wife with a kayak in Vermont. He rolled his eyes…..(Brizard)’s given 

Teacher Evaluation Framework FAQ - California Teachers Association

Teacher Evaluation Framework FAQ - California Teachers Association:


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS


 Download DRAFT version of the CTA Teacher Evaluation Framework

What is the CTA Teacher Evaluation Framework and why was it developed?
Any educator will tell you that the current drive-by evaluation system is not working. The CTA Teacher Evaluation Framework is designed to help educators and CTA to take the lead in our profession, in teacher evaluation discussions nationally, and in California by providing a framework for educators and districts to use when developing and bargaining their own local evaluation programs. It centers on the underlying principle that the goal of any evaluation system is to strengthen the knowledge, skills and practices of teachers to improve student learning. The Framework expands on the Teacher Evaluation Principles adopted by State Council in June 2011 and provides guidance to local educators and their unions, as well as local school districts and the state Legislature in how to approach teacher evaluation.
Where did the Framework come from and who wrote it?
The Framework comes from the work of the CTA Teacher Evaluation Workgroup, which includes a broad cross section of local educators throughout California, State Council members, chapter presidents, higher education faculty and CTA staff. The Workgroup was created by the CTA Board of Directors upon recommendation of the CTA ESEA Workgroup in February 2010.
The Workgroups charge: CTA will research and develop effective educator and administrator evaluation models and teacher licensing models for consideration that improve student learning and advance the teaching profession.
The Workgroup focused on developing an educator evaluation model first. The Framework was written by members of the Workgroup through a series of small and large group meetings and with the support of CTA staff. The next charge of the Workgroup is to provide guidance on teacher licensing and principal evaluation.
Who is on the Teacher Evaluation Workgroup and how were members appointed?
The Workgroup was appointed by the CTA Board of Directors. It includes a cross section of local educators throughout California, State Council members, chapter presidents, higher education faculty and CTA staff. It also includes the Chairs and staff consultants from seven State Council committees to ensure input from all policy committees that have direct work with teacher evaluation and assessment. (See list at right.)
What types of documents and materials did the Workgroup review to inform the Framework?
The Workgroup read and reviewed multiple national and state education research reports, reviewed teacher evaluation models from several different states; reviewed evaluation frameworks and guides from NEA, AFT and other leading educational organizations; and heard from leading experts in the teaching and assessment fields including Stanford Professor of Education Linda Darling-Hammond and nationally recognized assessment expert and retired UCLA Graduate School of Education Professor James Popham.
Did the Workgroup solicit input from CTA members?
Yes, through several different venues at multiple times. The first discussions started at State Council in June of 2010 when all State Council committees were asked to discuss three questions regarding quality evaluation systems. Each State Council member was also given the opportunity to respond to an individual written survey to provide further input. The Workgroup then moved outreach beyond State Council and created an all-member, online survey that launched in February 2012. The survey was sent to members through CTA email, from Chapter Presidents and Service Center Council Chairs and was promoted in the California Educator. More than 3,100 educators responded. The greatest concentration of responses, 2,600, occurred February-April 2011. The Workgroup received and reviewed all of that input before beginning to draft the framework. In addition, a draft of the Framework was reviewed by all seven State Council committees represented on the Workgroup at the March 2012 meeting. The 

why can we do? Save a great school! « Deborah Meier on Education

why can we do? Save a great school! « Deborah Meier on Education:


why can we do? Save a great school!

One and all!! Hear from my friend Stephanie Lee whose school(s) I can vouch for! I’ve been there manya times. This is terrible news. What can we do??
hello friends:
sorry to interrupt your summer with sad news. we lost a big vote last night – the process has begun to revoke our charter, but the fight will continue in the coming month, major hearing august 20 and final vote august 21.
here is what i sent to the local paper this morning, plus pics and links to two great videos of our action last night below. i am also attaching my notes for my speech and a press release sent out by a witness to last night’s events [founder of an LA charter school called semillas that has also spent a lot of time in the spotlight].
stephanie
p.s. if you have some time on your hands and want the email addresses, phone numbers, or twitter accounts of any LB board members or key staff, let me know :)
Hello Kelly,
I didn’t see you last night at the LBUSD Board meeting when they voted to issue a Notice of 

ED Mailbag: Arne on Standardized Testing and 360° Accountability | ED.gov Blog

ED Mailbag: Arne on Standardized Testing and 360° Accountability | ED.gov Blog:


ED Mailbag: Arne on Standardized Testing and 360° Accountability

Secretary Arne Duncan recently responded to two questions he received via social media.
He first addressed a question from Nate concerning the overreliance on standardized testing. Duncan explained that No Child Left Behind places too much weight on one test, leading to a narrow curriculum. With waivers from NCLB, more than half of the states are creatively moving away from single test scores to other critical factors in closing the achievement gap, like graduation rates and career readiness.
Another inquirer, Monica, asked about how parents and students – not just teachers – can be held accountable for student success. Duncan agreed wholeheartedly and said schools need “360 degree accountability.”
“I tell students all the time it is their job to get a great education,” said Duncan. “Nobody can do that for them.” Tennessee and other states are developing new, innovative systems for measuring parental influence on student progress, models that Duncan said he will be watching closely. “We have to stop pointing fingers,” Secretary Duncan said. “Accountability has to be shared responsibility.”
Watch the video:
Click here to become a fan of Arne on Facebook and here to follow him on Twitter.
Alexandra Strott is a student at Middlebury College and an intern in ED’s Office of Communications and Outreach

RSD seeks to rein in expulsions from N.O. schools - SFGate

RSD seeks to rein in expulsions from N.O. schools - SFGate:


RSD seeks to rein in expulsions from N.O. schools

Updated 06:55 a.m., Tuesday, July 17, 2012


NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In a move to stop charter schools from expelling students too frequently, the state agency running most of New Orleans' public schools has issued new guidelines on what constitutes the kind of behavior that will get a student thrown out.
The Times-Picayune reports (http://bit.ly/MEa20L ) that the Recovery School District introduced a list of offenses that may result in expulsion from its campuses. The newspaper said the district's move is a nod to the skepticism that independent charter schools in New Orleans and around the country face about how welcoming they are of all students, particularly those whose behavior makes them difficult to educate.
The way schools enforce discipline has emerged as a flashpoint in the debate over public 

Which way is it Bill Gates? Initiative 1240 or the CRPE report on charter schools? | Seattle Education

Which way is it Bill Gates? Initiative 1240 or the CRPE report on charter schools? | Seattle Education:


Which way is it Bill Gates? Initiative 1240 or the CRPE report on charter schools?

 
“He who pays the piper calls the tune.”
The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) has been one of Bill Gates’ tools to get what he wants.
In 2003 he donated $119,602 to support the University of Washington’s Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) research on legal barriers to the creation and success of small schools .
And what did he get for his “investment”? A failed project that he walked away from. See School of the Future: 

Measuring products the Consumer Union way? « Deborah Meier on Education

Measuring products the Consumer Union way? « Deborah Meier on Education:


Measuring products the Consumer Union way?

FairTest’s Bob Shaeffer was interviewed recently by Florida Sentinel editorial writer Darryl Owens about tests. Here’s one of the questions he was asked:

QUESTION by Owens: Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon noted in a recent guest column that we measure progress in everything from business to sports. Shouldn’t there be a rigorous process to measure student learning?
Interesting and important question. But even Bob–who is one of the best in the field–doesn’t pick up on one of many essential differences between business measurement and education” measurement.
Do we, in business, “measure” the product? No, not even on some invented test that rates it’s qualities, No, we