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

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Guest Blogger

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 for an alternate version of the video with an accessible player.

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

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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?

by seattleducation2011

 
“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?

by debmeier

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 

Geaux Teacher!: TEACHERS ARE WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING

Geaux Teacher!: TEACHERS ARE WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING:

TEACHERS ARE WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING

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

So another piece of junk being used to promote the deprofessionalism of teaching. I read quickly through this article. Now they are comparing teachers to "wolves in sheep's clothing."


http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/07/sheepskin_effect.html


and then quickly researched what I KNOW to be the REALITY of teacher pay in Louisiana (I have a masters degree)

http://www.louisianaschools.net/lde/uploads/17776.pdf 


and I found this:


For a first year teacher in St. Tammany (one of the highest paying districts in the state) , the difference in pay 

How Do We Want to Engage Parents? | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

How Do We Want to Engage Parents? | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

How Do We Want to Engage Parents?

by Timothy Boyle on Jul 17 2012 Posted in Boyle's law

• COMMENTS (0)PRINT
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Tags:

• contracting out
 
• community organizing
 
• community partnerships
 
• Home and School Association
 
• parent involvement
 
• privatization
• parent organizing
 
• school improvement
 
• site selection

In June, the U.S. Conference of Mayors – during the meeting at which Mayor Nutter became its president --  enthusiastically endorsed parent-trigger laws, which allow parents to instigate a school turnaround. If 51 percent of parents sign a petition at a low-performing school, they can force drastic reorganization according to one of the four federally prescribed methods – from replacing the principal to replacing half the faculty to charter conversion to outright closure.

Some in the education world, such as KevinChavous, champion parent trigger laws as the ultimate representation of parent engagement. I don’t see it that way. This overthrow mentality has nothing to do with collaboration between those who work in schools and the families that send their children to them. Parent trigger laws are not an avenue for engagement but rather for control.

In my experience I’ve seen two models of engagement, contributor and partnership. The contributor model is engaging parents to volunteer to assist with something the school is already doing or has decided it wants to do. The 

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Common Core Standards: Lessons, Ideas, and Discussions #ccchat

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Common Core Standards: Lessons, Ideas, and Discussions #ccchat:

Common Core Standards: Lessons, Ideas, and Discussions #ccchat

by coolcatteacher@gmail.com (Victoria A Davis, Cool Cat Teacher)

Scholastic has an excellent article on the shifts by Common Core. Read their article for information. This photo is from that article on Scholastic.

I've been collecting common core resources as I research and write for my upcoming book,Collaborative Writing in the Cloud, from eye on education. The hashtag for this topic on Twitter is #ccchat .

• 500+ High School (Grades 9-12) U.S. History #sschat #ccchat resources via @sharemylesson
  High school US history topics separated by topic and grade level. There are some interesting simulations 

Stephen Krashen on the Common Core Standards « Diane Ravitch's blog

Stephen Krashen on the Common Core Standards « Diane Ravitch's blog:

Stephen Krashen on the Common Core Standards

by dianerav

This letter by Stephen Krashen, professor emeritus of education and linguistics at the University of Southern California, will be posted today on the New York Times website. I just received it:

The common core 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 

Hechinger Report | Push for career-technical education meets parent resistance

Hechinger Report | Push for career-technical education meets parent resistance:

Push for career-technical education meets parent resistance

by Sarah Butrymowicz

A student at Oklahoma’s Ardmore High School, works on an assignment for his Biotechnical program, which is designed to lead to careers in fields like chemistry and microbiology. (Photo by Tom Fields/Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education)

SAN DIEGO — Career and technical education has come a long way since the days when students could be steered from academics into hairstyling, auto repairs or carpentry. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to sell the concept of having all students take courses in CTE, as it is known.
Take what happened this March in La Jolla, Calif. Parents rose in protest after the San Diego Unified School District  proposed new high school graduation requirements mandating two years of career and technical education courses—or two to four courses. The district would have been the first in the nation to have such a mandate, experts believe. Parents circulated an online protest petition and school officials spent hours in a 

LAUSD, Future Is Now Schools announce partnership for 2013-14 - LA Daily News

LAUSD, Future Is Now Schools announce partnership for 2013-14 - LA Daily News:

LAUSD, Future Is Now Schools announce partnership for 2013-14

by Barbara Jones, Staff Writer

Los Angeles Unified and Future Is Now, a reform organization led by charter pioneer Steve Barr, today announced a partnership to create "hybrid learning" middle and high schools in Silver Lake, Fairfax and Venice in time for the 2013-14 school year.

Dubbed the Campaign for Great Los Angeles Public Schools, the effort will create will allow for more autonomy at the designated campuses, with teacher-led programs and multiple measures for performance evaluations, officials said.

The partnership builds on the recently agreed upon Stabilization and Empowerment Initiative reached by the district and United Teachers Los Angeles, officials said.

"I'm excited about the potential of this partnership to reinvigorate innovation in our school system," Superintendent John Deasy said in a statement. "Central to that equation is having our teachers lead the process, which is what this partnership puts front and center. We have the opportunity to make LAUSD a 

Build a United Fighting Teachers Union with Parent and Community Support

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Build a United Fighting Teachers Union with Parent and Community Support with Karen Lewis and Jitu Brown Dr Michael Klonsky Narrates

Webinar Registration Save Our Schools Webinar and Fundraiser Build a United Fighting Teachers Union with Parent and Community Support with Karen Lewis and Jitu Brown Dr Michael Klonsky Narrates Wednesday, July 17, 2012   9 PM [EDT] Please Join Us!

Rebuilding the Village: What Our Schools, and Our Society, Need Now | | AlterNet

Rebuilding the Village: What Our Schools, and Our Society, Need Now | | AlterNet:

Photo Credit: Tom Wang via Shutterstock.com

Rebuilding the Village: What Our Schools, and Our Society, Need Now

By Sabrina Stevens, AlterNet
Posted on July 17, 2012
http://www.alternet.org/story/156309/rebuilding_the_village%3A_what_our_schools%2C_and_our_society%2C_need_now

"It takes a village to raise a child.”  -- African proverb

As a teacher turned education advocate, I often wonder what America would be like if we actually took our responsibility to the future seriously; if we embraced the idea of being a “village” that collectively supports its children, and each other.

In that America, I see communities full of healthy children supported by secure families, because the adults in their lives are paid fair salaries and benefits for their contributions to the community, and work in humane circumstances that allow enough time off-the-clock to care for their kids and replenish themselves. Because they and their families breathe clean air, drink clean water, eat actual food, and live in safe surroundings, these kids usually develop as they’re supposed to, and don’t experience undue stress or pain. And when these children arrive at school (fully staffed, of course), they’re alert and ready to learn -- which means their teachers can focus exclusively on teaching and learning, using their knowledge and expertise to develop each student’s full potential.

Unfortunately, for most American communities, such a world is pure imagination. Instead, our reality is one of a physical

The Chicago teachers movement. The whole world is watching. « Fred Klonsky

The Chicago teachers movement. The whole world is watching. « Fred Klonsky:

The Chicago teachers movement. The whole world is watching.

by Fred Klonsky

I could have added that the whole world is watching Chicago teachers and their union.

On behalf of the Illinois delegation to the NEA RA, I presented NBI 13. I explained the reason that the entire NEA should pass a resolution specifically in support the AFT Chicago local’s current struggle with the Mayor and his hand-picked school board.
“It is a special case,” I said. “We didn’t choose it. Stand for Children, Michelle Rhee and other corporate reformers have chosen it.”

Chicago teachers don’t even have the option of appealing to the Democrats, who are their antagonists in this case. But if they are to succeed, they will need allies. The unions have strategic power, but they are too small to fight in 

Schools Matter: Debate over common core begins today in the NY Times: the first round

Schools Matter: Debate over common core begins today in the NY Times: the first round:

Debate over common core begins today in the NY Times: the first round

by skrashen

This will be posted today (July 17) online on the NY Times website

To the Editor:
The common core 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 

Shanker Blog » How Often Do Proficiency Rates And Average Scores Move In Different Directions?

Shanker Blog » How Often Do Proficiency Rates And Average Scores Move In Different Directions?:

How Often Do Proficiency Rates And Average Scores Move In Different Directions?

by Matthew Di Carlo

New York State is set to release its annual testing data tomorrow. Throughout the state, and especially in New York City, we will hear a lot about changes in school and district proficiency rates. The rates themselves have advantages – they are easy to understand, comparable across grades and reflect a standards-based goal. But they also suffer severe weaknesses, such as their sensitivity to where the bar is set and the fact that proficiency rates and the actual scores upon which they’re based can paint very different pictures of student performance, both in a given year as well as over time. I’ve discussed this latter issue before in the NYC context (andelsewhere), but I’d like to revisit it quickly.
Proficiency rates can only tell you how many students scored above a certain line; they are completely uninformative as to how far above or below that line the scores might be. Consider a hypothetical example: A 

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Tuesday, July 17, 2012

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Lake Tahoe

Education Headlines

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Rancho Mar Monte residents want neighborhood moved into Carmel school district

A group of residents at Rancho Mar Monte near Carmel want to carve out their neighborhood from the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District to join the Carmel Unified School District.

SD Unified to sell old schools, surplus property

The most controversial cost-cutting measure to come from the San Diego school board this year might just be plans to sell off some of its most valuable assets: Southern California real estate.

Grossmont charity ties questioned

Relationships between school officials and contractors are under scrutiny, as District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis is prosecuting several in the South Bay for accepting entertainment and gifts and then handing out multimillion dollar contracts. The officials have pleaded not guilty to bribery.

Charter school operator Steve Barr to partner with L.A. Unified

Steve Barr, the founder of a well-known group of unionized charter schools, announced Tuesday a new project to develop innovative academies within the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Union, school board president question use of low-cost interns

The West Contra Costa school board president and the head of the district's teacher's union are questioning the continued use of low-cost teaching interns from the Teach For America program when credentialed teachers can't get jobs, but others say the district cannot afford to let it go.

Sacramento teachers sue over layoff policy

Educators and advocacy groups across the state are eyeing a class-action lawsuit filed by dozens of laid-off Sacramento teachers who say their school district unlawfully deviated from strictly following seniority-based layoffs.

Sac City Unified students don't get summer lunch program this year

Sacramento County has about 40 fewer sites serving free meals to needy children this summer than it had last year. The local program was greatly reduced after the county's largest sponsor – the city of Sacramento – pulled out of the program, shuttering its 64 summer meal sites.

Feds say state needs greater assurances on charter performance

Prompted by federal regulators, California may be forced to make a fundamental change in how charter schools are evaluated for renewal by putting student achievement for all subgroups as the most important factor.

Fensterwald: Two years plus and counting - teachers prep for Common Core

Replacing the California state standards in math and English language arts with Common Core will require not merely learning new standards but also adopting a new mindset and approach to teaching essential concepts in depth.

CalPERS earnings fall way short

California's big public pension funds are continuing to swim in choppy investment waters, leaving the state and local governments gasping for air. CalPERS reported a 1 percent annual profit on its investments Monday, following CalSTRS in delivering disappointing results for the latest fiscal year.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Database: Agency disciplined 74 local educators over last five years

Seventy-four Kern County educators were stripped of their teaching credentials by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing in the last five years for crimes or misconduct on and off campus.

Bond firm gives Lodi Unified slight downgrade

Fitch Ratings has assigned the Lodi Unified School District with a AA- bond rating, which is a slight downgrade for the district but also notes "strong management practices" and a reliable financial outlook.

Stockton USD's plans for all-male programs dropped

Stockton Unified has scrapped plans to establish all-male programs at several schools in the new academic year, in part because of insufficient interest among students but also due to legal concerns about single-gender learning raised recently by the American Civil Liberties Union.