Commentary: Segregation and DPS | EdNewsColorado

Commentary: Segregation and DPS | EdNewsColorado:

Commentary: Segregation and DPS

by Alexander Ooms

Alexander Ooms is senior fellow at the Donnell-Kay Foundation. This entry is cross-posted from the Donnell-Kay blog.
One of the early criticisms leveled against charter schools was that they were “skimming kids” – that the lottery enrollment policy used by charters resulted in the admission of primarily the brightest, most motivated students.  This argument has faded (at least in Denver) since charters here serve the same demographics as traditional schools, as well as the undisputed fact that many charters with lottery enrollment have done poorly (it would be a circular argument indeed that the lottery process results in skimming but only by successful charters).
However, the pendulum has now swung to the other side. A new accusation making the rounds is that charter schools – many of whom are focused on low-income neighborhoods – are in fact increasing the economic segregation of our public school system.
It’s an odd argument on its face. The forced segregation of students – whether by class or race – is clearly not the same as a parent’s affirmative choice to send their child to a charter school.  But still, the claim has now 

Chicago Democrats and Wall Street at War with CTU « Diane Ravitch's blog

Chicago Democrats and Wall Street at War with CTU « Diane Ravitch's blog:

Chicago Democrats and Wall Street at War with CTU

by dianerav

More evidence, this time in the Chicago Tribune, that Wall Street hedge fund managers and Obama Democrats are pouring money into the fight against the public school teachers of Chicago.
I know that Republicans get a hearty laugh when they see Democratic mayors like Rahm Emanuel and Cory Booker and Antonio Villaraigosa at war with the teachers’ unions in their cities. I am on several conservative mailing lists and I can practically hear they snickering and cheering every time a Democcratic mayor praises

How to Rip Off Children with Disabilities and Taxpayers Too

by dianerav

The New York Times reveals today some of the findings of an ongoing audit of New York State’s privatized program to provide special education services for prekindergarten children Thomas P, DiNapoli, the Comptroller of the state of New York, has found evidence of massive fraud. New York’s preschool special education program is a $2 billion system that relies mostly on private contractors, many of them for-profit operators. New York spends more to provide these services than any other state in the nation.

Here are key excerpts:
“The owners of a Bronx company that employs teachers for disabled toddlers used thousands of dollars in government funds to fix up a weekend getaway in the Poconos, state auditors found. A Brooklyn company in the 

The Most Idiotic Reform of the Day

by dianerav

Thanks to the reader who sent me this article about the advent of standardized testing in the public schools of New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Many of the worst tendencies of corporate reform are exemplified right here in this article.
First, the assumption that standardized tests will tell us what we need to know about individual children (are they meeting the norm that someone at Pearson or McGraw Hill selected?).
Second, the assumption that teachers’ professional judgment is inadequate and must be replaced by an off-the-

How Charter Schools Get a Bad Reputation

by dianerav

The best investigative reporter in New York City–and possibly in the nation–is Juan Gonzalez of the New York Daily News.
Gonzalez writes about politics and occasionally writes about the politics of education. He has written some of the biggest scoops about the inner workings of the New York City Department of Education. He won the George Polk Award in journalism for reporting about the Citytime fraud, a giant high-tech scam in which a contractor ripped off the city for years and eventually agreed to repay almost $500 million.
This morning he revealed that Eva Moskowitz is seeking a big increase in her management fees from the state because she claims to be running a deficit. Today, he writes, the State University of New York is likely to

The Fraud Continues (2)

by dianerav

A reader commented on an earlier blog about the way the system demands a high success rate and will not tolerate honest marking. If a student fails, it will be considered the teacher’s fault, so it is best to inflate the scores. If a teacher is honest–especially in a “turnaround” school–the teacher will be fired. As Secretary Arne Duncan used to say, “We are lying to the kids.” Now we are lying to the kids and to ourselves.
The fraud continues. Teachers will inflate the scores. Administrators will pressure them to do so, because the administrators will lose their job if the scores and pass marks don’t go up every year.
Someone tweeted me the other day to ask who should be blamed when there is cheating: the teachers or the system. The answer is obvious when teachers and administrators work in a system that gives them this choice: Produce higher scores or be fired. Few people want to be fired. Most people put a high priority on feeding their

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 6-23-12 #SOSCHAT

Diane Ravitch's blog

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG 

Diane Ravitch's blog

More Shame for the College Board

by dianerav

Readers may recall that I posted a blog criticizing the College Board for its shameful campaign attacking American education. The ad says that the education system is “crumbling” and calls on the presidential candidates to talk more about education.
The College Board asserts that American education is bad and getting worse.
I received two great responses. One came from the brilliant scholar Yong Zhao, now at the University of Oregon. He makes reference to a valuable comment by Brian, which follows Yong Zhao:

I was going to provide some data to debunk the College Board’s claim that “our schools

Wait, What? - Working to educate, persuade and mobilize through "perceptive and acerbic" observations about Connecticut Government and Politics

Wait, What? - Working to educate, persuade and mobilize through "perceptive and acerbic" observations about Connecticut Government and Politics:

Bridgeport’s illegal Board of Education prepares to plunge to a new level of deceit.

by jonpelto

Tonight, June 25, 2012, Bridgeport’s illegal Board of Education will be holding a “special meeting” at 7:30 p.m. at the Bridgeport Aquaculture School on 60 Stephens Road in Bridgeport.

Actually they will be trying to sneak in an earlier meeting to get everything lined up, but the “real” meeting will be occurring at 7:30 p.m.

The agenda includes three incredible items; each one of them raises series questions about just how easy it is for some people to sell out the people of Bridgeport.

The first agenda item under “New Business” is the appointment and approval of a “Financial Oversight Committee” to monitor Bridgeport’s school budget.  It sounds like a good idea on paper until you hear about the people who are getting themselves appointed to this board and the conflicts of interest that some of these people will be bringing to their task. (More on this piece will become apparent soon.)

The second agenda item is the vote to accept the $3.4 million loan from Malloy’s 

Tea Party Rising in Indiana Against Common Core | Truth in American Education

Tea Party Rising in Indiana Against Common Core | Truth in American Education:

Tea Party Rising in Indiana Against Common Core

by Shane Vander Hart

Indianapolis Tea Party, 2009

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett are pushing in favor of the Common Core State Standards even though embracing them undermines the conservative principles they say they hold.  That isn’t even to mention that several critics (including one common core supporter) have noted that Indiana is swapping out superior standards for mediocre ones all in the name of “being able to speak the same language” in our “society of comparisons.”

Andrea Neal of The Indianapolis Star wrote:

Leading policy experts on standards and curriculum have questioned why Indiana would abandon 

First, keep the lights on | Thoughts on Public Education

First, keep the lights on | Thoughts on Public Education:

First, keep the lights on

Share

Districts used deregulated dollars to stay solvent

Posted on 6/25/12 • Categorized as Equity issues, State Budget, Student spending

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

Given more control over how they could spend state money, school districts not surprisingly chose survival over experimentation. And if legislators want otherwise – to encourage districts to innovate or target money on low-achieving students – then they should be more explicit about their intentions.

That was the main finding and chief recommendation of a study of districts’ flexible spending last year by the RAND Corporation and researchers with the University of California. The results are consistent with annual surveys by the Legislative Analyst’s Office 

Bad News: We’re No Longer the Nation’s Biggest Nuts | California Progress Report

Bad News: We’re No Longer the Nation’s Biggest Nuts | California Progress Report:

Bad News: We’re No Longer the Nation’s Biggest Nuts

Posted on 25 June 2012

Printer-friendly versionSend by email

By Peter Schrag

It’s just a half-century since California was widely regarded as the nation’s cradle of kookiness. It was because of the sunshine, famously said Jesse Unruh, the “Big Daddy” speaker of the Assembly in the 1960s, that we grow so many fruits and nuts.

The evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, one of America’s first radio preachers, built her mega-church here; it was from Southern California that she reportedly vanished into the Pacific in 1926 and, claiming to have been kidnapped, mysteriously reappeared (in Mexico) a month later. The media, of course, ate it up.

California was the birthplace of the “Ham and Eggs” initiative, narrowly defeated at the polls in 1938, which promised a $30 check “every Thursday” to every unemployed Californian of 

The FDOE Joins Patricia Levesque in Blaming Districts for Tests | Scathing Purple Musings

The FDOE Joins Patricia Levesque in Blaming Districts for Tests | Scathing Purple Musings:

The FDOE Joins Patricia Levesque in Blaming Districts for Tests

by Bob Sikes

When the FCAT Writes debacle went viral in May, the organized PR campaign to rescue it was documented by the Florida media here and here. And in this blog here. Originating in Governor Rick Scott’s office, the effort would include former governor Jeb Bush’s education foundations in addition to a PR firm who had done work for the Gates foundation.
In a strategy charitably characterized as throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks, the latest angle has revealed itself: Blame school districts for the number of tests kids take.
This from an opinion pieced penned by Bush’ main policy wonk, Patricia Levesque:

Look at the tests that are being required locally. A brief review of school district websites indicates 

A Statement From The Occupy Student Debt Campaign | OccupyWallSt.org

A Statement From The Occupy Student Debt Campaign | OccupyWallSt.org:

A Statement From The Occupy Student Debt Campaign

by OccupyWallSt

Everybody is now talking about the student debt crisis, but nothing is being done about it. Thanks in large part to the great public amplifier of the Occupy movement, this year’s presidential contenders have been forced to embrace student loan reform as a talking point in their respective campaigns. But the debt relief being pushed by the Obama administration is a token gesture, aimed at getting some traction on the youth vote–especially the more disillusioned or alienated student constituencies. Recent bills introduced in Congress–Student Loan Forgiveness Act (H.R. 4170) and the Private Student Bankruptcy Fairness Act (H.R. 2028)–have zero chance of passing in anything like their current form. Practically speaking, no reform program of any substance is on the 

State Pensions Update - Pew

State Pensions Update - Pew:

The Widening Gap Update

States are $1.38 Trillion Short in Funding Retirement Systems

• States' Fiscal Health
• Contact Nicole Dueffert 202.552.2274
• June 18, 2012

PDF Downloads

• Full Report
• State Fact Sheets

Quick Summary

The gap between the promises states have made for public employees’ retirement benefits and the money they have set aside to pay these bills was at least $1.38 trillion in fiscal year 2010, according to Pew's latest comprehensive analysis on pension and retiree health care funding.

View individual state fact sheets in the drop-down menu below.

Table of Contents

States continue to lose ground in their efforts to cover the long-term costs of their employees’ pensions and retiree health care. In fiscal year 2010, states were $1.38 trillion short of having saved enough to pay their retirement bills, a nine percent increase from the year before.

Over the last three years, the majority of states put reforms in place to better manage their retirement bills, but there is more work to be done to get back on solid fiscal footing.

See how the states measured up in retiree benefits funding

Key Findings

Pensions

Pension plans represent more than half of the retiree benefit funding shortfall. Experts say that a healthy pension system should be at least 80 percent funded.

• In 2010, only Wisconsin had fully funded its pension plan and 34 states were below the 80 percent threshold.
  
• Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, and Rhode Island were the worst among the states, with pensions funded under 55 percent in 2010.
  
• North Carolina, South Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin were the best among the states, with pensions funded at 95 percent or better in 2010.
  
• Keeping up with the annual required contribution is perhaps the most effective way that states can responsibly manage their long-term liabilities for public sector retirement benefits. Pew's research shows that states that consistently make their full payments have better funded retirement systems and smaller gaps.

Retiree Health Care

States only have 5 percent of the funds needed to pay for their retirees’ health care and other non-pension benefits—such as life insurance.

•  17 states did not set aside any money to fund their retiree health care liabilities.
    
•  Only seven states had funded at least 25 percent of health care liabilities— Alaska, Arizona, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
    
•  Alaska and Arizona are the best among states, with nearly 50 percent of their health care liabilities funded. 

Riders, mount you steeds. Today let us talk about COLA. « Fred Klonsky

Riders, mount you steeds. Today let us talk about COLA. « Fred Klonsky:

Riders, mount you steeds. Today let us talk about COLA.

by Fred Klonsky

Graphic: Chicago Reader
I was planning on doing a Monday post on the threats to Illinois teachers’ COLA, the cost of living increases that are a part of our TRS pension benefit.
How lucky then that my friend Glen Brown published Roger Sander’s piece on COLAs on his blog this morning too. Now you now have some important reading to do over your coffee.
Don’t expect to find this over on the IEA website.  They have been amazingly silent on this.
As of this moment there are two big threats to our pension cost of living increases.
Constitutional Amendment 49 that will appear on the November ballot and SB 1673.
Last year the Chicago Reader’s Ben Joravsky called me the Paul Revere of SB 7.
I’m back on my horse. And we have added some more Paul Reveres too. Like Roger and Glen.
We have mounted our steeds. “The attacks on our pension are coming!”
What is SB 1673?
If passed, the bill would require teachers to choose between their present guaranteed 3% cost of living 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: So Why Don't They?

Seattle Schools Community Forum: So Why Don't They?:

So Why Don't They?

by Charlie Mas

The people who say that we need charter schools have no trouble pointing out the obvious fact that the bulk of our public schools don't work for the students, particularly minority students, students from low-income homes, students with IEPs, and English Language Learners.

The people who say that we don't need charters respond with two powerful arguments:

1) We don't need charters to develop and implement strategies that are effective with these populations. We can point to a number of public schools that show strong results.

2) There is no reason to believe that a charter school will do any better than the public schools with these challenging populations. The simple fact that the school is a charter does not mean that it will do anything different or better than what a public school does.

I have made both of these arguments myself. Usually I make them to charter school supporters who aren't really 

From Teaching to Learning « Cooperative Catalyst

From Teaching to Learning « Cooperative Catalyst:

From Teaching to Learning

by whatedsaid

Cross posted at What Ed Said
We’re working on shifting the focus from teaching to learning at my school. We try to ensure decisions are based on our learning principles, be they about teaching, classrooms, programs or personnel.
Shifting the focus from teaching to learning…
We used to spend a whole day planning how we would teach a unit of inquiry.
Now we  discuss the big ideas, establish the conceptual lens, clarify the enduring understandings… and then wait and see how the learning unfolds.
We used to think we had to plan a whole range of activities and work our way through them.
Now we create a bank of possible provocations on which to draw to stimulate student thinking as their skills and understandings develop.
We used to think the whole class had to do the same thing at the same time in the same place.
Now we think groups of learners might spread out through the learning spaces doing different things, learning in

Occupy Education: Student Protests Of 2012 (Guest Post by Stephanie Rivera)

by dloitz

“When students awaken, the national conversation will change.”- Diane Ravitch, “When Students Awaken“

After a week of googling, and searching around Facebook, I think I’ve finally got most them. I have found that over 150 student protests have been held in the United States thus far in 2012. For some reason, I thought this would take me only a couple hours. I thought student protests for education were only taking place in New York and Pennsylvania (since that’s where I usually hear most of them are occurring), but man, was I wrong. I was pleasantly surprised to find these protests are happening in almost every state. All except for Alabama, Arkansas Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. If you know otherwise, please let me know, and I’ll add them on.
But why do this? As many of those who have been following me for a while, I am huge advocate for the voices of 

Cartoons on Addiction to Electronic Devices | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Cartoons on Addiction to Electronic Devices | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Cartoons on Addiction to Electronic Devices

by larrycuban

In the media and in the blogosphere, the issue of children and adults being hooked on email, Facebook, Twitter, games, solitaire–you name the “drug”–is commonly aired. Whether the word “addiction” is a metaphor or a real medical condition comes up repeatedly. Some argue that there is a difference between “addiction” and“dependency.” Many parents and teachers, however, do not see it as a metaphor; they take the word seriously. Experts give tips to parents to identify if their children are addicted and what they should do.
Cartoonists do take addiction seriously and poke at it in their snarky ways.
Since September 2011, I have published  cartoons once monthly on different aspects of schools, reform, 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Weekend Quotables

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Weekend Quotables:

Weekend Quotables

by Mike Klonsky

"Privatopia"

David Segal

With public employee unions under attack in states like Wisconsin, and with cities across the country looking to trim budgets, behold a town built almost entirely on a series of public-private partnerships — a system that leaders around here refer to, simply, as “the model.” -- "A Georgia Town Takes the People’s Business Private."

Natalie Hopkinson

Today, as the quality of life improves, there is a subtext to change, that in order to make progress, black people must be pushed out of the way. They had it for 50 years! -- "Farewell to Chocolate 

NYC Educator: A Vision

NYC Educator: A Vision:

'

A Vision

by NYC Educator

One of my daughter's friends, now 17, got a summer job working at IHOP. She was really excited. We went there a few weeks ago and were pretty happy to see a nice kid like her had gotten a job. Daughter was jealous, but at 16, they wouldn't hire her.

A few days ago, my wife saw this girl walking home in her IHOP uniform, and stopped to pick her up. Apparently, the folks at work felt they didn't need her that day. So, after she'd walked a half-hour to work there, they just sent her home, saving whatever pittance they'd have paid her for the day. They must have been too busy to give her a call so she wouldn't waste her time like that. Of course, if they were really busy, why the heck did they send her home?

I don't think I'll be going back there anytime soon, however good the pancakes may be. And I'm pretty sure that 

Geaux Teacher!: JONATHAN KOZOL WEBINAR FROM SAVE OUR SCHOOLS

Geaux Teacher!: JONATHAN KOZOL WEBINAR FROM SAVE OUR SCHOOLS:

JONATHAN KOZOL WEBINAR FROM SAVE OUR SCHOOLS

by noreply@blogger.com (Lee Barrios, M.Ed., NBCT)

 

Webinar. “Fire In The Ashes: Keeping Hope Alive” with Jonathan Kozol

Start: June 29, 2012 8:00 pm EST
End:June 29, 2012 9:30 pm EST

Cost:Donations Please
Category:Money Cascade,

Webinars Organizer:Save Our Schools

A Computer Near You, Select a Country:

Visit this page to register for the Webinar: http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org/ 



Save Our Schools Webinar

Fire In The Ashes Keeping Hope Alive in Kids and Teachers as We Battle Back Against the Corporate Agenda with Jonathan Kozol

June 29, 2012

8 PM Eastern Daylight Time [EDT}

Please Join Us!

My Hat's Off to ED :: Frederick M. Hess

My Hat's Off to ED :: Frederick M. Hess:

My Hat's Off to ED

by Frederick M. Hess  •  Jun 25, 2012 at 8:25 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

Print

Send

RSS

Share

Big props to the Obama Department of Education for doing something that you don't see too much in Washington or in edu-circles. Last Thursday, the Department invited my colleague Andrew Kelly and I tocome over and have a public, unscripted conversation about our book Carrots, Sticks, and the Bully Pulpit(Harvard Ed Press, 2012). This was a sterling example of how leaders can signal that they're interested in hearing constructive criticism and willing to take the time to hear the thinking of those who aren't necessarily on the same page.

How so? One, I've been a sympathetic but emphatic critic of a number of Obama administration initiatives in K-12 and higher ed. Two, while the book's varied contributors offer what is (I think) an even-handed treatment of what we've learned about Uncle Sam's efforts to improve schooling, it certainly challenges some of the