School Board Report – January 2, 2013 « PWC Education Reform Blog

School Board Report – January 2, 2013 « PWC Education Reform Blog:

School Board Report – January 2, 2013

by pwceducationreform

School Board Report for January 2, 2013

The meeting began at 7:18 PM.  All members were present.

Organizational Meeting

The big event of the night was the appointment of the Woodbridge representative to the school board.  Steve Keen was nominated as approved in a 6 – 1 vote as the Woodbridge representative.  Ms. Jessie (Occoquan) voted against Mr Keen.  Congratulations to Mr Keen!

Dr Otaigbe was nominated and unanimously approved as Vice Chairman of the School Board.

Other nominations and appointments were made, feel free to check out the agenda for the complete list.

Consent Agenda

One item was removed from the Consent Agenda and added to the regular agenda – the Funding Agreement for the Governor’s School at Innovation Park. The remaining items, listed below, were unanimously approved with no questions asked.

• African-American History Month
• Career and Technical Education Month

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee : Debate Still Rages Over Her Tenure in D.C. Schools - District Dossier - Education Week

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee : Debate Still Rages Over Her Tenure in D.C. Schools - District Dossier - Education Week:

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee: Debate Still Rages Over Her Tenure in D.C. Schools

By Lesli A. Maxwell on January 2, 2013 4:33 PM

Michelle Rhee's record as chancellor of the District of Columbia public schools remains contentious, and her leadership style polarizing, more than two years after she resigned and left the nation's capital.

That record—which gets rehashed often amid larger debates about what strategies hold the most promise for turning around a low-achieving public school system—is about to get a fresh examination next week. John Merrow, the veteran education reporter who closely chronicled Rhee's three-plus turbulent years running the District's long-troubled public schools in a series of broadcasts on PBS NewsHour, will be back on the air Jan. 8 with an hour-long Frontline piece on Rhee. It will "examine her legacy in Washington, D.C., including her battles with the teachers' union and her handling of a cheating scandal in the District."

Rhee has hardly disappeared from the education sphere. The StudentsFirst organization she founded soon after leaving the chancellor's job quickly established itself as one of the most influential shapers of education policies that Rhee touts, such as reducing collective 

Morning UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-3-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Tough Choices: TFA or Goldman Sachs or McKinsey?

by dianerav

Today the New York Times ran an admiring article about Teach for America.
I almost missed it because it was in the business section.
The young people interviewed intend to move on to six-figure jobs on Wall Street after they put in their two years in the classroom. Some say they are making quite a financial sacrifice by deferring their entry into their “real” career.
The comments are almost as interesting as the article.

In Search of One Brave Superintendent in Connecticut

by dianerav

Wendy Lecker is a civil rights lawyer who lives in Ciponnecticut. She worked on the lawsuit for more funding for high-needs schools in New York, called the Campaign for Fiscal Equity and has just agreed to become the lawyer for the Campaign.
In this terrific article, she asks whether there is any superintendent in Connecticut brave enough to stand up with such leaders as Joshua Starr of Montgomery County, Maryland, Heath Morrison of Charlotte-Mecklenberg, North Carolia, and John Kuhn of Texas, all of whom have forthrightly criticized the misuse of standardized testing.
Is there one? Two? Please speak up.

The War on Local School Boards, Bridgeport Edition

by dianerav

Josh Eidelson explains in Salon.com what happened in Bridgeport, Connecticut, when the corporate reformers promoted a referendum to abolish the elected school boards and give the public schools to the mayor. Despite the active support of Michelle Rhee and a heavy infusion of money, the voters of Bridgeport decided they preferred to keep their right to choose those who control their schools.

Gary Rubinstein Talks to the Reform Leaders

by dianerav

Gary Rubinstein was one of the first members of Teach for America. He is now one of the leading critics of TFA and corporate reform.
His blog is consistently thoughtful and informative.
A few months ago, Gary decided to write to the top figures in the corporate reform movement.
His letters and the replies he received make for fascinating reading.

When Reading History, Read Great Books

by dianerav

Will Fitzhugh created The Concord Review to publish exemplary historical research by high school students.
He has long waged a struggle to persuade teachers and schools to assign histories by leading scholars, not just cut-and-paste, pedestrian textbooks. Since many state standards emphasize coverage, not depth, this has been a hard sell. Real histories are exciting to read, but they take time. Few teachers, unless they teach advanced students, have the time for 400-page books.
The immediate problem, for both teachers and students, is time but the deeper problem is our vision of teaching

Noble Charters Make Money on Student Fines

by dianerav

The Noble charter chain in Chicago has picked up millions of dollars from the Chicago public school system for running its dozen charter schools.
Next year it is budgeted to receive $69.9 million.
It is also getting a nice chunk of change

Heilig: Why Vouchers Don’t Work

by dianerav

Julian Vasquez Heilig of the University of Texas is beginning an investigation of the effectiveness of vouchers.
He writes here about Texas but his conclusions would apply to any other state as well.
He examines whether vouchers are cost-efficient and how they affect the public schools.
Until the past few years, vouchers were a dead issue.
Since the Republican sweep of statehouses in 2010, they are back.
This is well worth reading.

Maureen Reedy: Time for Action

by dianerav

Maureen Reedy, veteran Ohio teacher, writes:
Mary, Linda, Lisa, Ann, George, Cheryl, Neil, Marcie, Ron, Robin, Stef, Joe, Ms. Cartwheel Librarian … and other Public Education Patriots,
Great! Great! Great!
I am so inspired by our growing group interest in Public Schools Across America/Hands Across America ~
Together, we are going to figure out a way to pull this off!
I am collecting emails for those interested, please email if you want to be in the loop:

Is Privatization of Public Schools a Good Idea?

by dianerav

I disagree with this post by a faithful reader. But I think it deserves discussion.
There are many reasons to object to privatization.
One is that there is no evidence that privately managed firms that operate public services provide more efficient or less costly service. Another is that privately managed firms, when operating for profit, extract public dollars for investors that taxpayers intended for children, for educational programs that directly benefit children, for reduced class sizes, —and not to enrich shareholders. Privately managed nonprofits often pay salaries that would be 

Diane in the Evening 1-2-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 5 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: Jonathan Pelto Reports: Has CNN Dropped Dr. Steve Perry? by dianerav According to Connecticut blogger Jonathan Pelto, CNN has severed its relationship with Dr. Steve Perry. Dr. Perry became best known for his putdown of teaches and unions, as well as his claims about his own miraculous achievements as director of a magnet school in Hartford. Pelto does a good job deconstructing those claims. Jersey Jazzman deconstructed his claims last year in multiple posts. See here. And here. And here. Could it be that CNN executives read Jersey Jazzman? When Students Lo... more »

Louisiana Educator: Researchers Discredit LA School Rating System

Louisiana Educator: Researchers Discredit LA School Rating System:

Researchers Discredit LA School Rating System

by Michael Deshotels

The linked study here by Herb Bassett, is the most recent study that discredits the school performance and grading system used by Our Louisiana Department of Education. That study cites specific (BESE Bulletin 111) rule changes - made as late as June 2012 - and shows their effects on the SPS scores. Mr Bassett's study is related to the analysis by Dr Mercedes Schneider reported on this blog on November 27th that showed a major disparity in 2012 between SPS scores for high schools and combination schools compared to the SPS scores for elementary and middle schools. These studies taken together show that school performance and therefore letter grades for our public schools are constantly being manipulated by our DOE in ways that make them invalid for rating the performance of our public schools. Yet the general public has been led to believe that such school performance scores and letter grades really tell us something about the quality of instruction taking place in each of our public schools.

These studies explain how most of the apparent gains in school performance in 2012 by high schools across the state were really caused by a change in the calculation of SPS.  Mr Bassett's study demonstrates that 

EdWatch 2013: The next budget bill | EdSource Today

EdWatch 2013: The next budget bill | EdSource Today:

EdWatch 2013: The next budget bill - by Kathryn Baron

by Kathryn Baron

California may finally get the “Year of Education” that former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised for 2008, which, ironically, is now remembered as the year school funding began its descent to the lower depths.

2013 is full of promise for education, notably due to increased tax revenues from voter approval of Proposition 30 last November. The year will also tax the facility of legislators, Gov. Jerry Brown, educators and education advocates to agree on how to make the most effective use of the new money, as well as how to choose the best direction to take in other policy areas. 

Starting today, and continuing for the next week, EdSource Today will present summaries of some of the key education issues that will draw attention this year: The budget, Brown’s latest plan for weighted student funding, improving graduation rates at community colleges, critical decisions on the future of state assessments, another attempt to rewrite requirements for teacher evaluation, strengthening standards for early childhood education teachers, further legislative actions on school discipline, and state and local preparations for Common Core standards

We’re calling the series EdWatch, and hope these articles will provide a clear framework for what to watch for in the coming debates.

Paying down vs. building up

Gov. Jerry Brown is known for keeping his budget proposals close to the vest and, for the past few 

School Tech Connect: Elaine Nekritz To Pensioners: DROP DEAD

School Tech Connect: Elaine Nekritz To Pensioners: DROP DEAD:

Elaine Nekritz To Pensioners: DROP DEAD

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)

Just having a little fun with the titles this evening. She was less open than that.

Ugh. Getting on a very, very early train, but let me just record a few impressions from tonight's Northern Illinois Jobs With Justice forum out in Aurora.

First of all, with God as my witness, I will never drive that far again. I understand that there are people who drive out the Eisenhower and down the Ronald Reagan every day, but I submit to you that it surely can't be worth it.

Second of all.... holy cow--- Aurora--  what happened? There's basically a casino and a depopulated downtown shrouded in darkness. Nonetheless I managed to find a deserted, faux-Irish bar down the street from the casino where I could recover from the highway over a something or other. If there is a pub to be found, even in a post-apocalyptic, pitch black landscape, I will be sure to find it.

The evening went like this:

Longtime teacher Maria Owens reviewed the history of the pension systems. Then longtime teacher and National 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Last night in Aurora

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Last night in Aurora:

Last night in Aurora

by Mike Klonsky

Daily Herald pic

Tim Furman somehow found a faux-Irish bar in depressed, butmurder-free Aurora last night. He also found his way to East Aurora High School where Jobs For Justice folks had organized a Town Hall Pension Forum. Here's Tim's account, complete with video of Brother Fred plunging his oratorical dagger into the heart (how did he find it?) of Rep. Elaine Nekritz, her unconstitutional and immoral pension-robbing bill, and the soulless state Democrats who somehow get union support by parading around as "progressives."

Here's Fred's account, amazingly cobbled together in the wee hours of the morning before hopping on the bus with other union members headed for Springfield.

The Innovative Educator: This is how Democracy ends — Apology from a former teacher

The Innovative Educator: This is how Democracy ends — Apology from a former teacher:

This is how Democracy ends — Apology from a former teacher

by noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen)

Recently Kris Nielsen, the Teacher Dropout I featured on my blog last month, wrote this to me on Facebook:

A while back, I asked you if you saw any redeeming qualities about CCSS. Your answer got me thinking. Since then, you could say I've seen the light. To follow is the post he wrote that appears on his blog Middle Grades Mastery. 

Almost a year ago, I offered my time to the middle school at which I was employed to give a two-night presentation that promised to ease parents’ concerns about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the Connected Mathematics Program (CMP).  I was given kudos by my boss, my coworkers, and many of those parents.  We talked about the future, the upcoming tests by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), and we even did some hands-on math demonstrations.  It was a good time for me, and I hope those parents can say the same.  My message was simple: trust us–we got this!

Some of them were still skeptical, and they should be praised for that skepticism.

First, I want to offer you my apologies.  It wasn’t long after my presentation that I had a crushing realization that the entire thing (minus the hands-on stuff) was completely misguided.  I felt like a flip-flopper, but I’ve always valued the truth more than feeling good.  So, I’m here to clear the air.  The truth hurts and it should start scaring the hell out of you, because your children are your most precious gift and you will do anything to protect them.

The whole reason I was part of the team that put those presentations together was to ease your worry about the changes that were coming.  I’m here to retract everything I said.  You should be worried.  Very worried!

I was wrong.  The Common Core State Standards is a sham, the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is an instrument of devastation, and it’s all run by the process you see in the following Venn diagram (don’t you love Venn diagrams?):

Before I start sounding too nutty, let me get down to the reality.  You’ll see that I’m not exaggerating.

America has long been known–despite our problems–as the country of freedom, innovation, and wealth.  There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is our democratic and free public education system.  Prior to NCLB in 2002 and Race to the Top eight years later, standardization was limited to SAT and ACT tests, NAEP and PISA tests, and graduation exams for Advanced Placement courses.  We valued music, art, drama, languages and the humanities just as much as valued science, math, and English (for the most part).  We 

How will you help datapoint students who are standing up and speaking out

by noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen)

Noa Rosinplotz at Spelling Bee via Flickr

More and more students are waking up, standing up, and speaking out against standardized testing.  Most recently 6th grade student Noa Rosinplotz posted the following story on her Facebook Pageaptly named Datapoints. 

The Little Datapoint and the Big Bad Test

Once upon a time, there was a little datapoint named Rosin Plotz, Noa. Her friends called her by her ID number, 9------, or 9 for short. She liked her job-most of the time. But 6 times a year, or 19 days in total, came the Big Bad test. The Little Datapoint 

In 2013, another proposal to change California’s education funding formula - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools

In 2013, another proposal to change California’s education funding formula - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools:

In 2013, another proposal to change California’s education funding formula

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013 at 7:24 pm in No Comments

Next week, when he lays out his 2013-14 budget proposal Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to introduce a new version of an old idea: a simplified funding model for California school districts.
The so-called “weighted student formula” Brown proposed last year and then dropped would have given districts a base amount of money for each student — $5,421, on average (it varies by grade) — and an additional 20 percent for English learners and low-income students. It also would have permanently lifted restrictions on seven more of the state’s special-purpose grants, including economic impact aid and K-3 class size reduction, leaving districts to spend it however they wish. (In 2009, California did the same thing with about 40 such pots of money, including adult education, which has since been dramatically cut back in many districts, including Oakland Unified.)
The Legislative Analyst’s Office suggested some changes, but said it was a “positive first step.”
In a story my colleague Theresa Harrington wrote today, School Services of California CEO Ron Bennett said the 

Why schools used to be better:

Why schools used to be better

Posted by Valerie Strauss on January 3, 2013 at 4:00 am

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It’s one of the ironies of education reform that despite wave after wave, schools are seen by many as in worse shape as before all the changes. Here’s a look at why from Marion Brady, who was a classroom teacher for years, has written history and world culture textbooks (Prentice-Hall),  professional books, numerous  nationally distributed columns (many are available here), and courses of study. His 2011 book “What’s Worth Learning”asks and answer this question: What knowledge is absolutely essential for every learner? His course of study for secondary-level students, called Connections: Investigating Reality, isfree for downloading here. Brady’s website is www.marionbrady.com.

By Marion Brady

You enter a checkout lane at Walmart, Target, or other big-box store and put your purchases on the counter. They’re scanned by a device that reads bar codes and translates 

solidaridad: Echo Park Patch: Robert D. Skeels' responses to the Arts for LA Spring LAUSD Candidate Survey

solidaridad: Echo Park Patch: Robert D. Skeels' responses to the Arts for LA Spring LAUSD Candidate Survey:

Echo Park Patch: Robert D. Skeels' responses to the Arts for LA Spring LAUSD Candidate Survey

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene

First published on Echo Park Patch on January 2, 2013.

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"Thinking is not the intellectual reproduction of what already exists anyway." — Theodor Adorno
One of the more intriguing aspects of being a candidate for a high profile office like Member of Board of Education, Los Angeles Unified School District, is the number of questionnaires various organizations ask you to complete. Some of these are for endorsement considerations, others are just to publicize your stances on various issues. Today Arts for LA sent me a five question survey. When answering the questions, I realized it would be worth publishing the Q&A since, in my eyes, it addresses many of the fundamentally flawed issues with national standards and punitive testing regimes they engender.
Arts for LA: What meaningful experiences with the arts (visual arts, dance, drama, and/or music) did you have growing up?
Robert D. Skeels: Even though I grew up in relative poverty (food-stamps, welfare, etc), our New York schools required playing an instrument, participation in drama, and taking classes in visual arts. I was exposed to French horn, trombone, and guitar, and still play the latter to this day. One of the most memorable field trips I recall from childhood is when our class went Radio City Music Hall to see Madama Butterfly. We even had electives like music theory which relate to mathematics. Classes in fine art gave me enough skills that when I later became a graphic artist, my illustration abilities kept me in constant demand. All of those experiences were interconnected with literature, an appreciation for arts, and an understanding that there is much more to being human than test scores and

Schools Matter: Continuing skirmishes with CCSS cheerleaders on Diane Ravitch's blog

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene

First published on Schools Matter on December 26, 2012.

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"There is no evidence that standards and tests improve school achievement. The money budgeted for standards and tests to enforce the standards should be used to protect children from the effects of poverty." — Professor Stephen Krashen
The following is my edited commentary in response to comments by a CCSS supporter on the Professor Ravitch post: A Teacher of Latin Writes In Defense of Fiction.
Kaye Thompson Peters, I've grown weary of the trite "apple and oranges" device that you employ everywhere in your stalwart defense of Corporate Core. You even used it in a gushing apology for Common Core State Standards (CCSS) on Hoover's fringe-right EdNext. While you might not be uncomfortable that Pearson Education, Inc. has been promoting your writings on CCSS, it does cause some of us consternation. When discussing CCSS in relation to NCLB and RTTT, we're not conflating apples and oranges, we're 

Nekritz is just awful. Awful. « Fred Klonsky

Nekritz is just awful. Awful. « Fred Klonsky:

Nekritz is just awful. Awful.

by Fred Klonsky

Sun-Times photo.
It is early, very early Thursday morning.
I’m leaving for Niles in a little while to catch the bus to the Springfield pension rally. It’s a 6:30AM bus.
And I got home last night at about 10:30PM from the Jobs for Justice meeting at East Aurora High School organized by Jobs with Justice folks and their leader John Laesch.
I was on the panel that was there to present the lesson of the evening to Representative Elaine Nekrtiz. Nekritz

Nekritz: Dick Ingram’s “Why Wouldn’t We Do That?” reprise at the end of your speech.

by Fred Klonsky

From Glen Brown:

Dear Elaine Nekritz:
 It is easy to construct victims with a dubious call for “sacrifice.” Of course, by “sacrifice,” you and Dick Ingram, Civic Committee members and their ilk, and many other Illinois legislators mean only public employees. Surely, you can see that to victimize teachers again and again is reprehensible.
 We are told that to fix the Teachers’ Retirement System teachers need to compromise through “consideration” and make additional sacrifices. We know you are aware that the “sacrifice” you call for entails changing the public employees’ constitutionally-guaranteed pension by way of a bill that 

NYC Educator: The Inconvenient Truth About Bad Teachers

NYC Educator: The Inconvenient Truth About Bad Teachers:

The Inconvenient Truth About Bad Teachers

by NYC Educator

by Recovering ATR 

Mayor Bloomberg is very, very intent on firing bad teachers. He seems equally intent on firing good teachers, but let's just give him the benefit of the doubt and say that some of the teachers that he wants to fire are indeed very bad teachers. We all know he puts children first.

And I have no doubt that there are some really bad teachers in New York City. I have no doubt of this because I was once the victim of one of the worst teachers to ever step inside a classroom. It was second grade, and everyone in an overwhelmingly white, Catholic, Republican town knew I was the "girl whose parents didn't speak English." Never mind that my parents spoke English. People just assumed.

This second grade teacher was a mix of bitter, mean, bigoted, and just flat out ignorant. She taught us that