Schools Matter: Will the Real Hillary Clinton Please Stand Up?

Schools Matter: Will the Real Hillary Clinton Please Stand Up?:

Will the Real Hillary Clinton Please Stand Up?

Hillary Clinton with Eli Broad at the pre-ball dinner hosted by Eli Broad

at the Inauguration Ball of Barack Obama on January 20, 2009.

Hillary Clinton has caused a major scramble by her supporters after she spoke at a small high school outside Des Moines, Iowa. In her remarks she told the students at Keota High School on Tuesday, December 22,

This school district and these schools throughout Iowa are doing a better than average job. Now I wouldn't keep any school open that wasn't doing a better than average job. If a school is not doing a good job then, you know, that may not be good for the kids, but when you have a district that is doing a good job it seems kind of counterproductive to impose financial burdens on it.

This has been seized on by her political opponents to claim that she said she is in favor of closing half of the schools in the United States that are doing an “average job”.

The U.S. News and World Report came to her defense Wednesday, December 23, saying her remarks “were taken out of context”.

Speaking about this, Diane Ravitch agreed. Sounding like a campaign manager for Hillary Clinton, Ravitch echoed U.S. News and World Report saying,

She mis-spoke. Hillary understands that the federal government doesn’t close schools. Period. A mistake. A slip of the tongue. An unthinking bow to corporatist ideology. She was wrong and she knows it. She has to walk back this careless statement. We don’t need any more school closings. Such closings have had a disproportionately harmful affect on communities of color.  Talk about school support, school helping, not closings. That’s yesterday.

So where does Clinton stand on the Broad method of closing “low-performing” public schools in low-income communitiesand turning them over to charters?

In a December 17^th article in the Wall Street Journal, “Clinton Views on Charter Schools, Teacher Evaluations Upset Some Schools Matter: Will the Real Hillary Clinton Please Stand Up?:

Clinton team walks back her math. Cunningham still talks “winners and losers.” | Fred Klonsky

Clinton team walks back her math. Cunningham still talks “winners and losers.” | Fred Klonsky:

Clinton team walks back her math. Cunningham still talks “winners and losers.”

The Hillary Team was pretty busy today walking back her fuzzy math.

A video of her speaking in Iowa went viral.  The video has her supporting the school closing agenda of the corporate school reformers.

“I wouldn’t keep any school open that wasn’t doing a better-than-average job,” she told Clinton team walks back her math. Cunningham still talks “winners and losers.” | Fred Klonsky:

Hillary Clinton: Still on the Hook | deutsch29

Hillary Clinton: Still on the Hook | deutsch29:

Hillary Clinton: Still on the Hook

On December 22, 2015, Hillary Clinton spoke at a high school in Iowa, and she made a comment that speedily boomeranged on her:

I wouldn’t keep any school open that wasn’t doing a better-than-average job.

I wrote a wry response regarding the mathematical nonsense related to her misspoken goal of all schools’ being “above average.”

However, even as US News rushed to Clinton’s rescue to say that Clinton’s comment had been taken out of context, the greater problem is that Clinton tossed off such a comment at all.

  

Hillary Clinton

School closure is destructive, and Clinton demonstrated her corporate-Democratic lack of awareness of the impact of the continued, privatizing-reform attack on the traditional, community-centered, American public school.

In November 2015, Clinton appeared to be critical of charter schools– and her husband Bill assisted with the backpedaling as billionaire charter-pushing funders like Eli Broad tightened his grip in his wallet. As the December 17, 2015, Wall Street Journal reports:

WASHINGTON—Democrats backing the effort to overhaul American education have become increasingly concerned that presidential front-runnerHillary Clinton isn’t committed to their cause, and some donors are holding back support for her campaign.

Their worries stem from skeptical comments she has made about charter schools and teacher evaluations, as well as her close relationship with teachers’ unions, who are critical of both.

“There are a lot of deep-pocketed donors who are concerned, and they’re going to hang onto their checkbooks until there is more clarity,” said Whitney Tilson, managing partner of Kase Capital, who has given more than $150,000 

Hillary Clinton: Still on the Hook | deutsch29:

No, Hillary Clinton didn’t say she wants to close most U.S. schools. Here’s what she actually said. - The Washington Post

No, Hillary Clinton didn’t say she wants to close most U.S. schools. Here’s what she actually said. - The Washington Post:

No, Hillary Clinton didn’t say she wants to close most U.S. schools. Here’s what she actually said.

 Hillary Clinton got into hot water for saying at a rally Tuesday in Keota, Iowa:

Now, I wouldn’t keep any school open that wasn’t doing a better-than-average job.  If a school’s not doing a good job, then, y’know, that may not be good for the kids.

How did she define “better than average?” She didn’t. There are different ways one could define that, with varying results. (You could even construct a bell curve in which there is only one “above average” entity.) But some news  organizations (including a blog on washingtonpost.com) ran with the remarks to say that she might want to close as many as half — or even most — of the schools in the country.

Please. Like Clinton or not, she hasn’t been a big advocate for large-scale school closures, and her words, in context with the remarks before and after, don’t suggest that she is planning on advocating the closure of public schools. (See transcript below.)

Certainly her language wasn’t artful, and she might wish she hadn’t said what she said. But according to her campaign, she doesn’t favor closing all of the schools that don’t do a “better-than-average job” and has never been an advocate for school closings.

Here is what she said, taking from a more than one-hour video, with the relevant comments, starting at about 17:00:

 I’m also going to do everything I can to defend education, and to make it clear that the best way to improve elementary and secondary education is to actually listen to the teachers and educators who are in the classrooms with our students and not scapegoat them and treat them like they don’t have any contribution to make.

And I wanna say a word about small rural schools like this one. Because I know that was the original reason that you all got so excited and why you were stalking presidential candidates. [laughter] And I don’t blame you. And I actually looked up some numbers.

Y’know Iowa has one of the best education systems in the country and has had for a long time. And I believe [applause] — Since I grew up in Illinois, we used to take a test they called the Iowa Basic Test, we used to take that test all the time. I wasn’t happy about it. But we did it because your education system was viewed as one of the best in the country. And your students have I think the second-highest ACT scores in the country. And I looked at the average of what Iowa students have, which is higher than the national average. This school’s students are higher than the Iowa average. [applause]

And so for the life of me, I don’t understand why your state government — and I know Governor Brandstad vetoed the money that would’ve come to help this school, and it was a bipartisan agreement. Y’know those are hard to come by these days. You had a bipartisan agreement in your legislature for more one-time student funding to help deal with some of the financial challenges that districts like this one have.

And Governor Brandstad vetoed it. Yet at the same time you have these laws which require if you have a deficit you may not be able to be a school district. It doesn’t make sense to me. When you- When you- Something is not broke, don’t break it. Right?

And this school district and these schools throughout Iowa are doing a better-than-average job. Now, I wouldn’t keep any school open that wasn’t doing a better-than-average job.  If a school’s not doing a good job, then, y’know, that may not be good for the kids. But when you have a district that is doing a good job, it seems kinda counterproductive to impose financial burdens on it.

So the federal government doesn’t have a whole lot to do with this, this is mostly state and local decision-making. Very little, less than 10 percent I think maybe 7 percent or so of the money that’s used to run schools in Iowa comes from the federal government. So therefore this is primarily a state issue.

But as president what I’m looking for are schools that exceed expectations. And I don’t care whether they’re urban, suburban, or rural. And where there are small districts like this one, I know you’ve got online opportunities, and maybe there should be 

No, Hillary Clinton didn’t say she wants to close most U.S. schools. Here’s what she actually said. - The Washington Post:

 

I Doubt Hillary Clinton Plans to Close Half of All Public Schools – But She Does Want to Close Some | gadflyonthewallblog

I Doubt Hillary Clinton Plans to Close Half of All Public Schools – But She Does Want to Close Some | gadflyonthewallblog:

I Doubt Hillary Clinton Plans to Close Half of All Public Schools – But She Does Want to Close Some

“This school district, and these schools throughout Iowa, are doing a better than average job. Now, I wouldn’t keep any school open that wasn’t doing a better than average job. If a school’s not doing a good job, then, you know, that may not be good for the kids.”
-Hillary Clinton

The above comments have caused a tremendous stir in the media lately.

Hillary Clinton wants to close half of all public schools!? She wants to shutter all public houses of learning that are average or below average!?

The Federalist even did some quick math and decided this means Clinton would shutter 50,000 schools. They even put that number in the headline of their article!

But hold your horses, media backlash.

I’m not really a Hillary supporter, but this has gotten a little out of hand.

Maybe I’m being too generous here, but I’m going to assume that Clinton may be a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them.

She made a gaffe. She said something that doesn’t make much sense mathematically. Close all schools below average? Average means 50%. That’s half of all schools.

It was a blunder, a mistake, a foot-in-the-mouth moment.

I can believe a lot about Clinton, but not that her education policy includes shuttering half of our nation’s schools.

However, don’t take my word for it. Seriously! Ask her. She should clarify what she I Doubt Hillary Clinton Plans to Close Half of All Public Schools – But She Does Want to Close Some | gadflyonthewallblog:

No, Hillary Clinton Does Not Want to Close Half of the Country's Schools - US News

No, Hillary Clinton Does Not Want to Close Half of the Country's Schools - US News:

No, Hillary Clinton Does Not Want to Close Half of the Schools in the U.S.

The Democratic candidate's remarks about shuttering below average schools were taken out of context.

 You may have heard that Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton wants to close half of the country's public schools.

Speaking to students at Keota High School Tuesday in Keota, Iowa, the former Secretary of State said she "wouldn't keep any school open that wasn't doing a better than average job."

And since the majority of public schools in the country aren't doing a better than average job, media outlets pounced on her remarks, pushing out headlines like, " Hillary Clinton Favors Closing Half the Nation's Schools."

RELATED

Hillary Clinton Says Exactly What Teachers Unions Want to Hear

There's just one problem. Clinton's sound bite was taken entirely out of context.

Let's step back and consider why she was visiting the rural town – population 1,000 – two hours east of Des Moines. It was in part to recognize the efforts of three high school students who showed up to a series of her campaign rallies over several months and begged her to visit Keota to bring awareness to the plight of rural communities.

In Iowa, those communities face a very specific threat – that of school closure.

Under state law, it's illegal for public schools to operate in deficits, meaning a few years of shortfalls can force a district to close. According to the Des Moines Register, Iowa notified to 65 districts last year that they're in danger of deficit spending, including 12 that reported negative balances in the 2013 fiscal year. In the last decide, nearly 30 have been shuttered.

Those concerns were ratcheted up this summer when Gov. Terry Branstad vetoed an item in the state budget that would have provided one-time funding of $56 million to help school districts shore up any deficits.

Without those dollars, the future of schools in towns like Keota remains uncertain.

"You had a bipartisan agreement in your legislature for more one-time student funding to help deal with some of the financial challenges that districts like this one has, and Gov. Branstad vetoed it," said Clinton. "But at the same time you have these laws that [say] if you have a deficit, you may not be able to be a school districts. That doesn't make sense to me."

RELATED

Teachers' Unions Look to Clinton to Save Them

She continued: "This school district and these schools throughout Iowa are doing a better than average job. Now I wouldn't keep any school open that wasn't doing a better than average job. If a school is not doing a good job then, you know, that may not be good for the kids, but when you have a district that is doing a good job it seems kind of counterproductive to impose financial burdens on it."

[You can watch Clinton's full remarks here.]

Clinton went on to specify that the issue at hand was not under the federal government's purview.

"The federal government doesn't have a whole lot to do with it," she said. "This is mostly local decision-No, Hillary Clinton Does Not Want to Close Half of the Country's Schools - US News:

Draft History–Social Science Framework - Year 2015 (CA Dept of Education)

Draft History–Social Science Framework - Year 2015 (CA Dept of Education):

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Invites Public Comment on Draft History–Social Science Framework

SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today that California is taking a step forward in updating its history—social science curriculum by inviting the public to comment on a new draft framework.

"This framework will help our teachers integrate our new standards in English language arts and English language development with our existing history–social science standards to better prepare them to be informed citizens and to get them ready for college and 21st century careers,” Torlakson said, “This is an important step in our efforts toward emphasizing critical thinking, problem solving, and communications skills."

The History–Social Science Framework for California Public Schools, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve (Framework) will provide guidance for teachers, administrators, and parents on how a curriculum based on content standards is implemented in the classroom in the context of California’s diversity. This draft addresses events since the last framework was adopted in 2001, reflects changes in statute since then, and provides guidance on how to integrate the new California English Language Arts and Literacy Standards and the California English Language Development Standards in the history—social science classroom. The Framework will provide direction for the development of instructional materials, curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional learning.

The current draft Framework includes major updates to the narrative course descriptions for kindergarten through grade twelve, as well as new chapters on assessment, access and equity, and supporting high-quality history—social science instruction.

The draft framework has been posted on the California Department of Education History–Social Science Curriculum Frameworks Web page. Members of the public may send comments on the draft Framework directly by email tohssframework@cde.ca.gov. The current comment period will remain open until February 29, 2016. All public comments received during the field review survey will be presented to the Instructional Quality Commission and the State Board of Education for review and possible inclusion into the final Framework. The Board is scheduled to take final action on theFramework by May 2016.

For more information on the development of the draft framework, visit the California Department of Education History—Social Science Curriculum Frameworks Web page.

# # # #

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

Last Reviewed: Friday, December 18, 2015
Draft History–Social Science Framework - Year 2015 (CA Dept of Education):

Seems to Me… | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing

Seems to Me… | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:

Guest Essayist, Bernie Keller

Retired Bronx high school Master English teacher

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say that I am not a big supporter of charter schools or the current reform efforts. While those who espouse and advocate the current “solutions” may be well meaning, I am reminded of a saying I used to hear growing up that asserted, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

For me, if we are talking about people’s lives, (and we are), we can’t just “mean well”. Whatever we propose has got to work, it can’t be some experiment-in-progress or theory. In theory, the reforms and the charter schools will change the landscape of education. That sounds great, but here’s the problem I have with the theory. I taught forty years. I, along with my colleagues during those years, and traditional schools and practices produced or helped to produce doctors, lawyers, civil servants, policemen, firemen, CEO’s, teachers, counselors, social workers, principals, parents and a whole bunch of contributing members of society. In fact, former chancellor of New York City schools millionaire Joel Klein and John King, formerly the commissioner of education for the state of New York and currently the replacement for the former head of the United States Department of Education, Arne Duncan are not only graduates or products of the traditional public school setting, but both men assert that public schools saved and changed their lives. Not charter schools, not reforms- traditional public schools!

Seeing as how these men, (and millions of others), are successful, contributing members of society, produced by these traditional schools, it strikes me that the reforms we need are those qualities that existed when these men, and those like them, attended school and school empowered them to enjoy success. Just think, there were no SmartBoards, the teachers were Seems to Me… | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:

CURMUDGUCATION: Context Does Not Absolve Clinton

CURMUDGUCATION: Context Does Not Absolve Clinton:

Context Does Not Absolve Clinton

Well, that was quick.

After the interwebs blew up with Clinton's ill-considered comment about closing below-average schools, Lauren Camera leapt up at US News to say, "Oh, no. Y'all just misunderstood. It was taken out of context."

I had read the original context when I first responded to her comment. It doesn't help.

The context is that she was discussing how Iowa's governor was crushing rural schools by starving them of necessary resources. She was discussing Iowa's wacky laws about not allowing school district deficits. And then she said this:

This school district and these schools throughout Iowa are doing a better than average job. Now I wouldn't keep any school open that wasn't doing a better than average job. If a school is not doing a good job then, you know, that may not be good for the kids, but when you have a district that is doing a good job it seems kind of counterproductive to impose financial burdens on it.

It is true that she did not suggest, as some slightly hyperventilating reports might have implied, that if elected President, she would make it policy to close all below average schools (i.e. slightly more than half the schools in the country). I will give her that much.

However, that doesn't change what was boneheaded about her comment.

Yes, it was an off-the-cuff comment. But if that's the comment that comes off her cuff, I have serious doubts about how well she understands the situation.

Clinton did NOT say, "If there are schools that are performing poorly, then the state should look CURMUDGUCATION: Context Does Not Absolve Clinton:




AZ: Creationist Charterista Now Head of Senate Ed Committee

Arizona Senate President Andy Biggs has named Senator Sylvia Allen to lead the education committee. This is not good news for public education.

Allen has had a colorful career. She is a Senator because a man fell off a horse. Twice.


Before she arrived in the capitol, she held down a number of jobs, including county supervisor. It was in that job that she was slapped for interfering with an investigation into her son-in-law's misbehavior as a detention officer with female inmates. After becoming a senator, she filed a bill to make it harder to investigate detention officers.

But her legislative career has featured other highlights. In a hearing about some uranium legislation, Allen made the observation that the earth has only been here for 6,000 years (and has done great with environmental regulation, so why start now).  That was 2009. In 2013 she hit facebook with a post saying, "Never mind about global warming. What about those chem trails behind planes dropping mind control drugs on all of us."

More recently, Allen offered support for a concealed carry law because the country needs a moral rebirth. Wouldn't it be great, she mused, if we could make church attendance mandatory?  It's an interesting thought from a Mormon who has perhaps forgotten that once upon a time, the US sent soldiers to settle religious differences with Joseph Smith using the barrels of the many guns.

The new head of the education committee never went to college, but she did help found a charter 

AZ: Creationist Charterista Now Head of Senate Ed Committee

USDED: No Student Assessment Opt-Outs Allowed | Truth in American Education

USDED: No Student Assessment Opt-Outs Allowed | Truth in American Education:

USDED: No Student Assessment Opt-Outs Allowed

The U.S. Department of Education has spoken on student opt-outs for the 2016 statewide assessments.

Ann Whalen, the acting assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, wrote a letterto state school chiefs reminding them of “key assessment requirements” for the statewide assessments to be taken in Spring 2016.  This school year the states are still under the requirements of No Child Left Behind.  Whalen notes however, “similar requirements are included in the recently signed reauthorization of the ESEA, known as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).”

She gets very clear on a student’s ability to opt-out.

Section 1111(b)(3)1 of the ESEA requires each State educational agency (SEA) that receives funds under Title I, Part A of the ESEA to implement in each local educational agency (LEA) in the State a set of high-quality academic assessments that includes, at a minimum, assessments in mathematics and reading/language arts administered in each of grades 3 through 8 and not less than once during grades 10 through 12; and in science not less than once during grades 3 through 5, grades 6 through 9, and grades 10 through 12. Furthermore, ESEA sections 1111(b)(3)(C)(i) and (ix)(I) require State assessments to “be the same academic assessments used to measure the achievement of all children” and “provide for the participation in such assessments of all students” (emphasis added). These requirements do not allow students to be excluded from statewide assessments. Rather, they set out the legal rule that all students in the tested grades must be assessed. (Emphasis added)

So perhaps Congress should have kept opt-out language in ESSA after all.  A lot will be left up to interpretation by the U.S. Department of Education.

John King, who will replace Arne Duncan as U.S. Secretary of Education, told Politico that he will set up “guardrails” for the new flexibility states receive under ESSA.

Politico noted in today’s Morning Education that state school chiefs are starting to note a lack of USDED: No Student Assessment Opt-Outs Allowed | Truth in American Education:

NYC Public School Parents: How Class Size Matters helped the city save $727 million

NYC Public School Parents: How Class Size Matters helped the city save $727 million, and our plea to the Mayor how to use these funds to give an early Xmas present to NYC kids:

How Class Size Matters helped the city save $727 million, and our plea to the Mayor how to use these funds to give an early Xmas present to NYC kids

Last February, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I was perusing the list of DOE contracts due to be voted on that week by the Panel for Educational Policy. Among the long list of contracts, I noticed a proposed contract for equipment and internet wiring worth $1.1 billion over five years, extendable to nine years at two billion dollars. I had never seen a DOE contract that large before. 

Though no other details were provided to the public in advance, (something Helen Rosenthal, head of the City Council Contract committee, and I had already publicly complained about) I looked up the name of the company that was to be awarded this huge contract.  After googling "Custom Computer Specialists",I found a link to City Council testimony that I had given in October 2011, about the many wasteful and corrupt DOE technology contracts.

I was astonished to discover that this very same company had been involved in a kickback scheme, robbing DOE of millions of dollars just a few years before, according to a report from the Special Investigator’s office.  This widely reported scandal subsequently sent Ross Lanham, a DOE consultant, to jail.

 I immediately blogged about my discovery, and promptly alerted Public Advocate Tish James and Council Member Helen Rosenthal, as well as members of the media.

On Monday, the very next day, DoE officials started getting lots of calls from reporters.  Later that day, the PEP Contract committee was due to meet at 5 pm at Tweed, the DOE headquarters.  I was sitting with a bunch of reporters in a room in Tweed, waiting for the meeting to begin when the reporters began getting emails from the DoE officials, announcing that that in the last 24 hours, the contract had somehow been "re-negotiated" and reduced by nearly half a billion dollars - with no change in the terms. 

It was still going to be a ridiculously high $635 million over five years, extendable for four more years at over $1 billion.  The fact that nearly $500 million could be cut out of the contract over night was even more evidence of how inflated the contract had been.  When the Contracts NYC Public School Parents: How Class Size Matters helped the city save $727 million, and our plea to the Mayor how to use these funds to give an early Xmas present to NYC kids:

Hillary Clinton may want to close every public school in America, according to math - The Washington Post

Hillary Clinton may want to close every public school in America, according to math - The Washington Post:
Hillary Clinton may want to close every public school in America, according to math

This post has been updated.

During an event in Iowa on Tuesday, Hillary Clinton offered a suggestion to improve the nation's schools. "I wouldn't keep any school open that wasn’t doing a better-than-average job," she said. "If a school's not doing a good job, then that may not be good for the kids."

Now this sounds great, except for one downside: It would, taken to its logical conclusion, mean shutting down every school in the country.

So let's say that there are 16 schools in the United States, which is probably a low estimate. We'll use this little school icon (made by Vectors Market) to represent each of those schools. Here:

Alright. Now let's assume that each school is evaluated on a scale from 1 to 100 each year. This isn't exactly how it works, but go with it for the sake of the example. Here are random scores for those 16 schools.

The average of those scores is 58.4. Per Clinton, any school that is not above that average has to get closed. So: Bye, schools!

Now, let's just assume that the schools get the same scores the next year. The new average is 73.9. And: Bye, more schools!

The key point here — the reason that it doesn't matter if we change the schools' scores or not, is this: About half of the schools in the United States will always be at or below average. That's how an average works! (If we used median scores,we’d get a cleaner half-and-half split.)

Continuing on. The new average is 88: Bye school!

The average is now 93. Bye school! Your 91 was sensational a few years ago; now it's in the bottom 50th percentile!

Clinton also stipulated thatHillary Clinton may want to close every public school in America, according to math - The Washington Post:

BustED Pencils Trending News: Over...; Hungry; Delusion | BustED Pencils

BustED Pencils Trending News: Over...; Hungry; Delusion | BustED Pencils:

BustED Pencils Trending News: Over…; Hungry; Delusion

Writing as a parent.

‘Beyond Measure: Rescuing an Overscheduled, Overtested, Underestimated Generation’

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/20/books/review/beyond-measure-rescuing-an-overscheduled-overtested-underestimated-generation.html?_r=0

 Fired for having a heart!  What??!!  We say “Higher the Hero” – Dalene Bowden is Busting Pencils!!!

This Idaho Middle School Lunch Lady Was Fired for Giving a Free Lunch to a Hungry Student

http://news.yahoo.com/idaho-middle-school-lunch-lady-233401253.html

Update: Cafeteria worker fired over free lunch

http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/state/idaho/article51028040.html

Ironic that ESSA backwards has the word “ASS” E in it??? Hmmmm  Our own BustED Pencils Tim Slekar chimes in on the topic.

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BustED Pencils Trending News: Over...; Hungry; Delusion | BustED Pencils: