Quality Counts 2013 Press Release Education Week: January 10, 2013

Education Week: January 10, 2013:

JANUARY 10, 2013

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VOL. 32, ISSUE 16

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOR THE MEDIA

Quality Counts 2013 Press Release (PDF)

FEATURED STORIES

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Schools Aim to Craft Environment for Learning

A schools social and disciplinary atmosphere can have a profound impact on student achievement.

REPORT OVERVIEW

Discipline Policies Shift With Views on What Works

After millions of 'get tough' suspensions and expulsions, educators nationwide look for ways to assure safety and keep students in school.

• TIMELINE The Painful Journey Toward Schoolhouse Security and Safety

Student Out for Months Over Cellphone Allegation

A disciplinary spiral results in months of lost schooling for a student accused of using a cellphone in class.

'Restorative Justice' Offers Alternative Discipline Approach

Students with behavior issues are are both held accountable and put on a path that gets them to right a wrong.

Suspension, Expulsion Data Cast Harsh Light on Some Schools

Data collected by the Education Department shows wide variations in how schools use out-of-school suspension and expulsion.

• DATA ANALYSIS The Big Picture: Expulsion and Suspension Data

• INTERACTIVE Search Expulsion and Suspension Data

Social-Emotional Needs Entwined with Students' Learning, Security

A supportive environment can promote student achievement, and stress can be a hindrance, research and experience shows.

INFOGRAPHIC

School Climate, Discipline, and Safety: Gauging Educator Attitudes

To learn more about educators' views on school climate, discipline, and safety, the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center conducted an online survey of teachers and school administrators.

Student Peer Leadership Can Help Boost
School Climate

A New York City high school plucked students from back in the academic pack as peer leaders, and reaps benefits.

• VIDEO Where Students Lead by Example

Counselors, School Support Staff Toil Amid Scant Resources

From social workers to health clinicians, those who work with teachers to meet students' social and emotional needs feel the budget squeeze.

School-Based Policing Under Fiscal Pressure

Funding for school resource officers has taken a hit in recent years.

Parents and Community Can Play Key Roles in School Success

Educators enlist outside partners in formal and grassroots efforts that boost morale, achievement and students' sense of security.

Schools' Design Can Play Role in Safety, Student Engagement

A school's physical space can help foster a sense of connection that promotes learning and reduces discipline problems.

• VIDEO Building a Positive School Climate

President Obama: Second-Term Education Agenda

President Obama: Second-Term Education Agenda:

How Will Obama Tackle Education Reform?

As we count down to a second term, a look at his approach to the achievement gap.

 

President Obama speaks at a Washington, D.C., high school as Education Secretary Arne Duncan listens. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

(The Root) -- Between now and the inauguration on Jan. 21, The Root will be taking a daily look at the president's record on a number of policy issues, including his first-term accomplishments and what many Americans hope to see him accomplish in a second term. Today: the educational achievement gap. See previous postings in this series here.

Background: Racial and economic disparities in education -- known as the "achievement gap" -- have been stubborn parts of the American landscape of social inequality since long before President Obama was elected to his first term, and they persist today. As reform advocate Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a blunt speech in September, "As a nation, we are still far from truly achieving equal educational opportunity. In America, in 2012, children of color not only confront an achievement gap; they confront an opportunity ga

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-10-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Paul Thomas: What is the Difference between Service and Self-Serving?

by dianerav

Paul Thomas taught high school in rural South Carolina for nearly twenty years. Now he teaches at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.
He writes here about what it means to have a life of service, in contrast to a life devoted to self-service in a celebrity culture, a life adorned with press conferences, self-promotion and photo ops.

The Ordeal of the D.C. Whistleblower

by dianerav

If you have followed the story of the D.C. Cheating scandal, you know that suspicious test scores were flagged at a large number of schools in the district during Michelle Rhee’s tenure. Rhee met with every single principal and got a commitment to raise test scores or be fired. This pressure was effective in perverse ways.
Jay Mathews here explains what happened in stark and alarming detail.
The epicenter of the cheating scandal was Noyes campus, where the gains were meteoric. The principal, Wayne Ryan, was given star treatment and elevated to the central office. The school received a Blue Ribbon award for its 

Expert: Why Cheating in DC Was Never Investigated

by dianerav

Mary Levy is a veteran civil rights lawyer and budget analyst in Washington, D.C., who has reviewed developments in the D.C. Public schools for more than 30 years. She wrote the following description of the D.C. cheating scandal, which was revealed by USA Today in March 2011 but never subject to a full and independent investigation:
Re: the U.S. Department of Education Inspector General’s “investigation” of cheating in the DC Public Schools on D.C. standardized tests
It is always interesting to watch power and ideology corrupting people’s judgment, in this case the belief that 

To N.C. Board of Education: Please Vote NO Today

by dianerav

Today, the North Carolina Board of Education will vote on whether to permit for-profit online corporations to enroll children as young as five.
I hope they reject this terrible proposal, for the following reasons:
1. Online home-schooling is developmentally inappropriate for young children.
2. Study after study has shown that students who get their schooling from online corporations have lower test 

John Merrow: D.C. Whistleblower Under Attack

by dianerav

If you saw John Merrow’s program “The Education of Michelle Rhee,” you will remember that there was one educator willing to go on camera and say, “Yes, I saw cheating. I locked the tests up and the scores dropped.” That principal is now under attack by Kaya Henderson, Rhee’s successor.

The Key to Understanding Corporate Reform

by dianerav

If you want to understand what is happening in state after state, district after district, read Lee Fang’s article here. I have read it again and again, and every time I read it, I see something I didn’t see before and understand the national picture better than I did before. I have published this before. I may publish it every few months to make sure that everyone sees it. Or has a reminder to read it again.

Is Corporate Reform Like Vietnam?

by dianerav

I hesitated to post this because it refers to me.
But I decided to post it because the author, Mark Naison, makes a powerful point about the present moment.
What is happening in education today is ignorant, willful, and dangerous.
Thoughtless politicians and self-seeking entrepreneurs are hurting children, damaging public education, and demeaning the teaching profession with their misguided policies. They welcome for-profit schooling, they are 

Diane in the Evening 1-9-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: Will Massachusetts Open a Charter to Skim $$ from a Great Public School? by dianerav Brockton High School has been hailed as one of the best high schools in the nation, celebrated for its excellent programs and high test scores. What makes its success especially impressive is that the school has 4,100 students and a large immigrant population. Now enters the SABIS for-profit charter chain, seeking to compete with Brockton High School. In this report, Bruce Baker on Rheeformy Logic & Goofball Rating Schemes by dianerav Bruce Baker has prepared what may b... more »

EdWatch 2013: School safety issues emerge | EdSource Today

EdWatch 2013: School safety issues emerge | EdSource Today:

EdWatch 2013: School safety issues emerge

January 10th, 2013 | Add a Comment | 
By Susan Frey

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California legislators have responded to the Connecticut shooting of school children by proposing three new gun or ammunition control laws, but so far only one bill that specifically deals with school safety.

Ted Lieu, a Democrat from Torrance, is reintroducing Senate Bill 49, hoping it will get treated better this year. It would put some teeth into existing law that requires all schools to have safety plans. Under the proposed legislation, the superintendent of public instruction would hold back funding for schools without a plan until the schools complied. The bill died in Appropriations last year. This time around, Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) has agreed to coauthor it.

Although the vast majority of schools in California have safety plans in place, Lieu believes that some schools do not.

“We’re in the process right now of trying to determine how many schools in California don’t have 

Daily Kos: This time things are different.

Daily Kos: This time things are different.:

This time things are different.

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

That is the first line of Reframing the Gun Debate, a New York Times column by Charles M. Blow that I highly recommend.
He follows with this paragraph:

This time, nearly a month after the horrible mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., the public attention hasn’t ricocheted to the next story. On the contrary, sorrow has hardened into resolve.

Blow reviews the apparent approach of the White House, including the Vice President's frank statement that the President may take executive action on some things.He will also go through the arguments offered by General McChrystal about why military style weapons should not be in civilian hands.
But for me the heart of his op ed begins with this attempt to reframe the discussion:

First, let’s fix some of the terminology: stop calling groups like the National Rifle Association a “gun rights” group. These are anti-regulation, pro-proliferation groups. They prey on public fears — of the “bad guys with guns,” of a Second Amendment rollback, of an ever imminent apocalypse — while helping gun makers line their pockets.

At this point, perhaps the American people are finally willing to hear the truth about the NRA and the gun industry.Please keep reading.

What English classes should look like in Common Core era:

What English classes should look like in Common Core era

Posted by Valerie Strauss on January 10, 2013 at 4:00 am

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The recent controversy over how much fiction and non-fiction high school students are supposed to read under the Common Core State Standards begged the question of where the 70 percent non-fiction 30 percent fiction for seniors actually came from and how English classes should look. Here Carol Jago, a past president of the National Council of Teachers of English, explains. She has taught high school for 32 years and is associate director of the California Reading and Literature Project at UCLA. She is the author of “With Rigor for All: Meeting Common Core Standards for Reading Literature and Classics in the Classroom.”

By Carol Jago

The claim that the Common Core State Standards have abolished the teaching of literature makes for a great headline.  Who wouldn’t get hot and bothered over the idea that high 

A call to Obama to focus on early childhood education

by Valerie Strauss

President Obama will be delivering his State of the Union address outlining his priorities for the next year in a few weeks. Here's an open letter to Obama urging him to make early childhood education -- an initiative that has proven results -- a real priority in his second term. It was written by Elaine Weiss, the national coordinator for theBroader Bolder Approach to Education, and Cassie Schwerner, senior vice president of programs at the Schott Foundation for Public Education.
Read full article >>

2013 RHSU Edu-Scholar Top 10 Lists :: Frederick M. Hess

2013 RHSU Edu-Scholar Top 10 Lists :: Frederick M. Hess:

2013 RHSU Edu-Scholar Top 10 Lists

by Frederick M. Hess  •  Jan 10, 2013 at 5:53 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

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Yesterday, we unveiled the 2013 RHSU Edu-Scholar rankings. For a lot of readers, the natural question is not how did scholars fare overall, but how are folks faring by field or discipline. After all, the nature of the work is different for the field of psychology versus the field of economics. Today, we will break out the top 10 lists for five disciplinary categories, as well as the top 10 assistant professors.

Now, there's a touch of ambiguity in determining the fields of study. Generally, my uber-competentent research assistant Allie Kimmel worked off of CV's, relying primarily on a scholar's degree discipline and self-identified field. Only when these were sufficiently ambiguous did we seek to make determinations. In the cases where we were compelled to rely on judgment, we looked to scholarly appointments and bodies of work.

I also want to give a shout-out to assistant professors who scored especially well. Given that the Edu-Scholar rankings, by design, favor scholars who've bodies of work and sustained influence, these junior faculty deserve particular note for making the (rarely rewarded) effort to engage in the public square. Harvard's Marty West topped the junior faculty league table, assisted by his prominent role with the Romney campaign. Other assistant profs rounding out the top five included Marcus Winters, Arnie Shober, Jal Mehta, and Mary Helen Immordino-Yang.

Curriculum, Instruction, and Administration

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Economics

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Confusing Teachers With Teaching: Looking for the Magic Bullet | toteachornototeach

Confusing Teachers With Teaching: Looking for the Magic Bullet | toteachornototeach:

Confusing Teachers With Teaching: Looking for the Magic Bullet

by aristotlethewise

Confusing Teachers With Teaching: Looking for the Magic Bullet

by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek
Why does the United States do so poorly compared to our international competitors on achievement tests? And why is it that the public — even veteran educators — keep looking for magic bullets that can fix this problem overnight? We’ve tried the magic bullet route for at least 100 years and the U.S. still has poorly performing schools. What are we doing wrong?
Maybe the magic bullet is an illusion. Maybe it’s time to step back and examine alternatives that could gradually but steadily improve students’ learning in ways that would last. Maybe transforming our educational system 

TEACHED: Provocation and Distortion « InterACT

TEACHED: Provocation and Distortion « InterACT:

TEACHED: Provocation and Distortion

by David B. Cohen

A few months ago I wrote about a trio of short films I’d seen, directed by Kelly Amis as part of a project calledTEACHED; two of those films in particular led me to include the description “glossy propaganda” in my blog post title.  To her credit, Amis responded to my critique (and linked to it) in her own blog post, with the clever titleThanks for calling me glossy.   However, she isn’t pleased with the “animosity” in my post – and I’ll admit that my tone conveyed animosity, though aimed at the product rather than the producer.  Given that filmmaking (and writing) are such personal endeavors, I suppose it’s hard to avoid criticizing someone’s work without it having a personal sting, but I hope that my prior post, and this one, are focused on content and issues and not interpreted as personal attacks.  Ms. Amis seems like a nice enough person, with a sense of humor that I appreciate.
For those who don’t want or need all the details, the basic thrust of my problem with the films, and with Amis’s follow-up post, is that the challenges we face in public education are being oversimplified, and seemingly for the 

Schools Matter: Make sure the common core doesn’t get credit for test score inflation

Schools Matter: Make sure the common core doesn’t get credit for test score inflation:

Make sure the common core doesn’t get credit for test score inflation

by skrashen

Make sure the common core doesn’t get credit for test score inflation
S Krashen

Please don’t get too excited when initial common core tests appear to produce low scores. New tests typically result in low scores, and then scores rise for the next few years as teachers and students get used to the test format and content, and teachers learn how to teach to the test (Linn, Gaue and Sanders, 1990). I predict that the Common core will get credit for this bogus “improvement.” The improvement will stop after a few years, but by then the apparent success of the common core will be considered “proven.”

This is exactly what happened after California dismantled bilingual education. In 1998, the same year Proposition 227 passed, a new test, the SAT9, was introduced. Scores went up for everybody the first year, and 227 got the 

Prickly Bush Foundation CEO Responds to Mississippi Parent Advocate | Scathing Purple Musings

Prickly Bush Foundation CEO Responds to Mississippi Parent Advocate | Scathing Purple Musings:

Prickly Bush Foundation CEO Responds to Mississippi Parent Advocate

by Bob Sikes

Nancy Loome, the executive director of The Parents’ Campaign, sure got underneath Patricia Levesque’s skin. The CEO of Bush’s foundation wrote this in response to Loome’s December 31 editorial in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger:

As executive director of The Parents’ Campaign, Nancy Loome has a responsibility to provide accurate information to the public.
She failed to do that in her editorial, http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013301020017″>”Public education for sale? Big money pushing charter school 

NYC Educator: Bloomberg's Successors

NYC Educator: Bloomberg's Successors:

Bloomberg's Successors

by NYC Educator

Recently. the New York Times ran a story about whom Mayor Bloomberg may have been grooming as a successor. The story mentioned such names as Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, and all of us reading it knew they were as far as could be from real consideration. For one thing, neither of them really share the goals of this particular mayor. For another, it's doubtful the mayor's ego could fit in another room with either of these individuals; just witness the rocky relationship he's had with Governor Andrew Cuomo. Clearly the original list, from a Bloomberg letter we've managed to acquire, was edited at least somewhat by Howard Wolfson.

Dear Howie,

Here's my dream list of mayoral candidates in case I decide not to buyrun for a third term. Please clean it up and release it to the press.