Friday, January 25, 2013

by Nancy Flanagan

What would happen if teachers refused to do things that harmed their students?
Actually, it's a common occurrence. Ms. Smith decides making her students write their spelling words ten times each is unproductive make-work, and finds a better routine. Mr. Jones stops his embarrassing (but time-saving) habit of exchange-papers-and-correct. Mrs. Johnson realizes that reflexively assigning kids to all-day detention is counterproductive and substitutes real, difficult one-to-one conversations instead.
This dust-up at Garfield High in Seattle is no more than an inflated and super-heated version of teachers deciding to jettison a practice (computer-adaptive MAP testing) that's been tried and found unproductive for their students--albeit a battle with national policy implications.
In an ideal ed-world, of course, whether to submit students to regular computer-adaptive testing would be a negotiable question. When I was part of my local union's leadership, we called these "high road issues"--items like class size, maintaining popular after-school programs, setting a calendar that acknowledges family plans, providing teachers time to update and improve curriculum. Things parents supported wholeheartedly--unlike the

Diane in the Evening 1-25-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Teachers, Please Read This and React

by dianerav

An article in Education Week reports on studies by economists claiming hat when teachers take early retirement, student test scores go up. Behind this is the assumption that new teachers are more successful than experienced teachers.
This sounds counter-intuitive to me, but I would like to know what teachers think.
A quote: “Boosting early retirement in cash-strapped districts doesn’t hurt students’ math and reading scores,

Will Contempt for Unions Mar Bloomberg’s Legacy?

by dianerav

Well, that’s the question raised by Michael Powell, a political reporter for the New York Times.
There are bigger problems than this that will mar the mayor’s legacy.
He has closed dozens of schools, opened hundreds of schools, destabilized communities, handed out hundreds of millions in no-bid contracts, had a huge technology scandal (Citytime, which cost the city $600 million or so), and public support for mayoral control is about 18%.

Support Thomas Mertz for Madison, WI, School Board

by dianerav

Thomas Mertz trained as a historian of education. We have that in common. Though I have never met Thomas, I endorse his principles and I am happy to see that he is running for election to the school board in Madison, Wisconsin. The need has never been greater to elect allies and strong supporters of public education. Please help him in any way you can.

Prepared, Progressive, Passionate
I am excited to announce my candidacy for the Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education, Seat #5.
Our public schools are the backbone of our community, the wellspring of our democracy, and the

Who Will Speak Up for the Nation’s School Boards?

by dianerav

In the last few years, there has been an all-out attack on local control. Most of the attack comes from the privatization movement, which thinks that school boards debate too much, listen too much, move too slowly. The privatizers prefer mayoral control in cities to get fast action. And they push laws and constitutional amendments allowing the governor to create a commission to override local school boards that reject charters. This is the ALEC agenda.
Happily, leading members of the National School Boards Association will have a chance to ask Arne Duncan why he pushes mayoral control, which has done so little for Cleveland and Chicago–and is now approved in NYC

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-25-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Jersey Jazzman to NY Taxpayers: Thank You! by dianerav Jersey Jazzman wrote to thank the taxpayers of New York, whose dollars subsidize his blog via advertising by Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy network (formerly known as Harlem Success Academy). JJ notes that this charter chain spends millions of dollars each year on recruitment, advertising, public relations, and marketing. This is a necessary business expense to drum up thousands of applications for a small number When Students Awaken, Everything Wi... more »

Schools Matter: Teachers and CCSS: To Implement or To Resist?

Schools Matter: Teachers and CCSS: To Implement or To Resist?:

Teachers and CCSS: To Implement or To Resist?

by P. L. Thomas

At the Teaching Now blog (Education Week), a recent debate among Larry Ferlazzo, Stephen Krashen, David Cohen, and Paul Thomas has prompted the post:

"Should Teachers Resist the Common Core?"

In a series of blog posts as well as comments on those posts, Ferlazzo and Cohen have offered skepticism about CCSS, but maintain implementation of CCSS and the high-stakes tests to follow are inevitable, and thus the realistic and practical response from teachers must be how to implement CCSS well.

Krashen and Thomas will not concede implementation of CCSS is inevitable, and have called for resistance.

Since this is a powerful debate at the core of the education reform movement and since this debate is among credible practitioners and scholars, I am listing the relevant blog posts in one spot for Schools Matter readers; please be sure to read the comments in these posts as well.

Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo)

Better than tests Parents United for Responsible Education

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » Better than tests:

Better than tests

by admin

If not standardized tests, then what?
That question was soundly answered last night at the forum, “Assessments that Make Sense” in Bronzeville (photos coming)
A room crowded with parents, teachers, students and community members from all over the city heard Monty Neill present two successful alternatives to standardized testing accountability:

the Performance Assessment student project-based model used in New York in place of state Regents’ exams, and
the Learning Record, a teacher- based observation and reporting system that has been used in dozens of Bureau of Indian Affairs schools and in California and New York City.

High school students assessed in the Performance Assessment model, who demographically include far more low-income, English-language learner and special education students than the state overall, have shown better high school graduation rates and college enrollment and graduation rates than stdents across the state.

SI&A Cabinet Report – Auditors looking at LEAs, CDE and anti-bullying enforcement

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources:

Print this article

Auditors looking at LEAs, CDE and anti-bullying enforcement
By Tom Chorneau
Friday, January 25, 2013

Spurred perhaps by disturbing disclosures out of the school shooting incident in Taft earlier this month, the Bureau of State Audits has launched a review of how local educational agencies deal with on-campus bullying as well as state oversight.

The audit, which state schools chief Tom Torlakson announced to district administrators in a letter last week, comes in the wake of the Jan. 10 shooting at Taft Union High School where a student burst into a classroom with a shotgun and critically wounded another student.

The 16-year-old assailant has told authorities that he targeted classmates as retribution for being bullied for more than a year.

State auditors have been specifically tasked with looking at how the California Department of Education supports and monitors LEAs’ compliance with state laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying.

There is an expectation that the review will also produce a set of best-practices for broader dissemination.

District administrators will be asked in the coming weeks to participate in a survey to help the auditors with information gathering. Torlakson has urged all LEAs to participate.

In addition to the shooting at Taft there have been a number of tragic incidents nationally in the recent past where

The Weekly Update: Seattle teachers stand firm, testing push back around the country, a parent offers ideas for those opt-out days and Yong Zhao on testing and standardization | Seattle Education

The Weekly Update: Seattle teachers stand firm, testing push back around the country, a parent offers ideas for those opt-out days and Yong Zhao on testing and standardization | Seattle Education:

The Weekly Update: Seattle teachers stand firm, testing push back around the country, a parent offers ideas for those opt-out days and Yong Zhao on testing and standardization

by seattleducation2011

The Weekly Update for the news and views you might have missed.

It’s been quite a week in our fair city. Many of us here in Seattle have watched the destruction of the teaching profession, schools and communities around the country based on the use of standardized test scores to further an agenda of corporate reform and privatization using the scorched earth approach to education and we do not want to see that happen in Seattle or anywhere else for that matter. Our teachers have placed themselves on the front line of defense

Teachers Don't Suck !: New Jersey Pension "Deform"!

Teachers Don't Suck !: New Jersey Pension "Deform"!:

New Jersey Pension "Deform"!

Republican Christine Todd Whitman, running on a tax-cutting platform, defeated Florio in the 1993 governor's race. To help pay for her promised tax cuts, Whitman, like her predecessor, turned to the pension fund. In 1994, at her urging, the legislature adopted another pension"reform" act that allowed her to reduce state and local contributions to the plan by nearly $1.5 billionin 1994 and 1995, according to the task force report. Florio's and Whitman's accounting changes were "the one-two punch from which the retirement system has never recovered," says Douglas Forrester, who was the assistant state treasurer under Kean.

For all the miscues, New Jersey's pension woes can't be blamed on particularly poor investment results. An examination of state reports shows

Philadelphia Council calls for moratorium on school closings | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Philadelphia Council calls for moratorium on school closings | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

Philadelphia Council calls for moratorium on school closings

by thenotebook on Jan 25 2013 Posted in Latest news

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by Tom MacDonald

As Philadelphia City Council got back to work for the first time in 2013, one of its first actions was approval of a nonbinding resolution calling for a one-year moratorium on public school closings in the city.

The financially struggling Philadelphia School District plans to close 37 schools in the fall. City Council approved the nonbinding resolution by a 14-to-2 vote, saying the District should wait a year before closing any schools.

Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, who wrote the bill, says council needs to have a say in the closings.

"We want the opportunity to have inclusion in the discussion about which schools close and to make sure that all the issues that involve the transportation issues, the turf issues that could get some kids killed," Blackwell said. "We want a chance to have those kind of discussions before they close schools."

Read the rest of this story at NewsWorks

UPDATE: NEA President Dennis Van Roekel on Garfield + The Seattle Garfield movement spreads + Mark Stefanik. Savage indignation. « Fred Klonsky

Mark Stefanik. Savage indignation. « Fred Klonsky:

The inbox. NEA President Dennis Van Roekel on Garfield.

by Fred Klonsky

Fred,
We have been witness this week to a defining moment within the education profession as educators at Seattle’s Garfield High School take a heroic stand against using the MAP test as a basis for measuring academic performance and teacher effectiveness. I, along with 3 million educators across the country, proudly support their efforts in saying ‘no’ to giving their students a flawed test that takes away from learning and is not aligned with the curriculum.
For more on the boycott, visit:
NEA TODAY Seattle teachers’ stand against flawed testing NEA.ORG PRESS Support for Seattle educators who refuse to give flawed testSEATTLE TIMES Why Garfield teachers boycotted the MAP test
Leading educators support teacher test boycott
www.washingtonea.org
www.seattlewea.org
Best,
Dennis

Mark Stefanik. Savage indignation.

by Fred Klonsky

Mark writes:

Lacerate my heart with a savage indignation - Jonathan Swift

Looking at the stats below, most from a conservative source, I wonder how Nekritz, Biss, and the rest of Democrats can continue on their revenue avoiding, benefits slashing ways.

From the Tax Foundation:

-In an annual tax business climate survey, Illinois ranked 28th, right in the middle of the pack. At first blush, New York ranked the worst at 50th, California 48th. And yet, the wealthier states are doing just fine with higher taxes. Illinois, like these states, is a great place to do business, and, a great place to make huge profits.

-A combination of state and local sales taxes (8.2%) in Illinois ranks it in the top 10 of lowest state sales taxes.

A big hurt with real faces.

by Fred Klonsky

Popout.
Pension buster Illinois Representative Elaine Nekritz wants to get into a numbers fight over the price tag of cost of living adjustments for retired teachers.
She got me thinking about some members of my old school board. Some who were active parents and supportive of our efforts in the classroom. As soon as they got elected they became soulless bean counters who saw nothing but spreadsheets and bottom lines instead of children and teachers. They described themselves as

The Seattle Garfield movement spreads.

by Fred Klonsky

Popout

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

A chipper Brown targets education funding

Education Headlines

Friday, January 25, 2013

Justice Dept. helps soothe issues on Stockton USD campuses

The campus climates at Edison and at Chavez High were a central topic at the schools this week. At the request of Stockton Unified, a representative from the United States Department of Justice's Community Relations Service led daylong gatherings at each school aimed at addressing a full range of student concerns.

Board vote will result in closure of Bayside School in Sausalito

Despite protests, the Sausalito Marin City School Board voted 4-1 to move ahead with financing for modular classrooms Thursday night, a move that will result in the closure of the Bayside Elementary school campus in Sausalito.

Fensterwald: Brown lashes out at regulators and testers, makes case for his reforms

With a caustic critique of excessive testing and overregulation and a fervent call for respecting the “dignity and freedom of teachers and students,” Gov. Jerry Brown laid out the case for returning primary control of education to local hands and distributing state money equitably in his State of the State address.

Districts deny that their language aid lags

A report released Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union of California and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center lists 251 state school districts that failed to offer English learner classes to all students needing them in the 2010-11 school year, the most recent year that data is available.

Santa Clara County school board approves Rocketship school in San Jose's Tamien neighborhood

At a meeting packed with hundreds of parents and children, Rocketship Education won the go-ahead to develop an industrial site near the Tamien light-rail station into its eighth charter school in San Jose.

Denair school office staff's pay cut

Denair trustees extended a management pay cut to district office support staff and accepted an administrator's resignation Thursday night.

Alameda: School district unveils contract offer to teachers

Officials with the Alameda Unified School District say they are offering teachers an overall raise of 2 percent in their current contract talks, plus other financial rewards for those who participate in a pilot program aimed at boosting student achievement.

West Contra Costa school board ratifies labor agreements with three unions

West Contra Costa schools ratified labor agreements with three of its four unions this week, leaving only a new contract with its 1,400-member teachers union still to be negotiated.

Document: Teacher termination in California

The slideshow explaining how teachers can be terminated in California that was presented at a meeting of the Brentwood Union School District board meeting on Jan. 23, 2013 as officials explained why they couldn't just fire a teacher for kicking a young student.

Berkeley school safety estimate: $500,000

School officials here are estimating a half-million dollars for new school safety measures, including classroom door locks, pending a report from two consultants who will analyze needs for all 20 schools.

Did missed teacher evaluation prevent Brentwood from firing child abuser teacher?

School administrators and their attorney say they were unable to fire a teacher convicted of child abuse, but parents are crying foul.

LAUSD principal failed to report alleged molestation by teacher

A now-retired principal twice failed to report accusations of sexual misconduct by a teacher who this week was charged with molesting 12 students at a Wilmington elementary school, officials said.

A chipper Brown targets education funding

Saying California was “back” and “on the move,” a chipper Gov. Jerry Brown urged lawmakers in his annual State of the State speech to streamline funding for schools, focus on implementing federal health care reform and keep a tight rein on spending so the budget stays balanced.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Students choose extra, not exodus, as Stockton USD lowers credit requirement

This year, it seemed more conceivable than ever that there could have been an early exodus from Stockton Unified of high school students who had more than enough credits to graduate ahead of time.

Rowland High begins major renovations

The modernization project is funded by a $118 million construction bond passed in 2006.

ACLU takes on state over English learners

The American Civil Liberties Union of California on Wednesday charged that about a quarter of California school districts — including most in the Salinas area — are violating state and federal laws by failing to provide English language instruction to all students who need it and demanded state education officials take action.

D.C. Council members fear schools near tipping point as students flee system - The Washington Post

D.C. Council members fear schools near tipping point as students flee system - The Washington Post:

D.C. Council members fear schools near tipping point as students flee system

By Emma Brown, Published: January 23

The District’s traditional public school system is in danger of shrinking significantly unless officials make changes that persuade parents to stop fleeing to public charter schools, D.C. Council members said Wednesday.

“I believe we are within a year or two of hitting an irreversible tipping point,” said David Catania (I-At Large), who chairs the council’s Education Committee, during a hearing on Chancellor Kaya Henderson’s plan to close 15 under-enrolled city schools.

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Fifteen schools in the District will close within the next two school years.

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“If we don’t become very serious about marketing and competing” with charter schools, Catania said, “traditional public schools, as we know them, will become a thing of the past.”

Charter schools have grown quickly in the District during the past 15 years and now enroll more than 40 percent of the city’s public school students, leaving the traditional school system with half-empty buildings in many neighborhoods — and something of an existential crisis.

“On the one hand, we all support high-performing charters, and we support choice for our families,” Henderson said. “But at the same time, we want [the school system] to be robust and to provide everything under the sun.”

Henderson says that closing some small schools will allow her to redirect resources from administration and maintenance to teaching and learning, creating the kind of academic offerings — such as art and music programs, modern libraries and elementary-school foreign language classes — that will attract families.

But on Wednesday, the chancellor offered