Bill would open the door to undergraduate teaching credentials | EdSource Today

Bill would open the door to undergraduate teaching credentials | EdSource Today:

Bill would open the door to undergraduate teaching credentials - by John Fensterwald

by John Fensterwald

For the first time in decades, aspiring teachers in California would be able to major in education as undergraduates and get both a preliminary teaching credential and a baccalaureate degree in four years if a bill in the Legislature becomes law.

Teachers in California must major in a subject other than education. Then, to get a teaching credential, they must  pass a test of their knowledge of the subject or subjects they plan to teach, and spend a year taking courses on instruction techniques and interning in a classroom.

Senate Bill 5, sponsored by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, could result in a dramatic shift in teacher preparation. Distinct among the states, students wishing to become teachers in California are required to major in subjects other than education in college. Then, to get their teaching credential as post-graduates in nine to 12 months, they must pass a content test measuring their knowledge of the subject they plan to teach, and take courses in teaching techniques and intern as a student teacher in the classroom. Critics of the 

Missouri Education Watchdog: States Rejecting the Common Core State (sic) Standards

Missouri Education Watchdog: States Rejecting the Common Core State (sic) Standards:

States Rejecting the Common Core State (sic) Standards

by stlgretchen

States are represented here that have had serious discussion on a legislative floor or have legislation to withdraw from the CCSS, delay the implementation, or not fund the implementation.

You can download the map here:

https://www.box.com/s/tddm9y7t699u9sb1zzuf

Yes, Virginia.  Alabama is not an island. 

UPDATE: Rating Ed Schools by Graduate’s Value-Added + What does the New York City Charter School Study from CREDO really tell us? | School Finance 101

What does the New York City Charter School Study from CREDO really tell us? | School Finance 101:

Revisiting the Foolish Endeavor of Rating Ed Schools by Graduate’s Value-Added

by schoolfinance101

Knowing that I’ve been writing a fair amount about various methods for attributing student achievement to their teachers, several colleagues forwarded to me the recently released standards of the Council For the Accreditation of Educator Preparation, or CAEP. Specifically, several colleagues pointed me toward Standard 4.1 Impact on Student Learning:

4.1.The provider documents, using value-added measures where available, other state-supported P-12 impact measures, and any other measures constructed by the provider, that program completers contribute to an expected level of P-12 student growth.
http://caepnet.org/commission/standards/standard4/

Now, it’s one thing when relatively under-informed pundits, think tankers, politicians and their policy advisers pitch a misguided use of statistical information for immediate policy adoption. It’s yet another when professional 

What does the New York City Charter School Study from CREDO really tell us?

by schoolfinance101

With the usual fanfare, we were all blessed last week with yet another study seeking to inform us all that charteryness in-and-of-itself is preferential over traditional public schooling – especially in NYC! In yet another template-based pissing match (charter vs. district) design study, the Stanford Center for Research on Educational Outcomes provided us with aggregate comparisons of the estimated academic growth of a two groups of students – one that attended NYC charter schools and one that attended NYC district schools. The students were “matched” on the basis of a relatively crude set of available data.
As I’ve explained previously in discussing the CREDO New Jersey report, the CREDO authors essentially make do with the available data. It’s what they’ve got. They are trying to do the most reasonable quick-and-dirty comparison, and the data available aren’t always as precise as we might wish them to be. But, this is also not to say that supposed Gold Standard “lottery-based” studies are all that. The point is that doing policy research in 

Schools Matter: The Best Things about the Anti-Testing Backlash in Texas and Elsewhere

Schools Matter: The Best Things about the Anti-Testing Backlash in Texas and Elsewhere:

The Best Things about the Anti-Testing Backlash in Texas and Elsewhere

by John Thompson

What is the greatest recent victory in the backlash against standardized testing that has terrified “reformers” as it has reached a "crescendo?"

A)     The Garfield High School teachers’ boycott of the administration of standardized tests.
B)      The 120 Massachusetts professors’ protest against standardized testing.
C)      The Chicago, Georgia, and New York protests that inspired the Massachusetts stand.
D)     The 818 Texas school districts that have joined the protest against bubble-in excesses and the thousands who joined the Save Texas Schools rally in Austin?

I am too biased to answer such a question.  For decades, top Oklahoma teachers and students fled to the better schools in Texas. However, many became trapped in the Texas testing mania and returned with horror storie

UPDATE: cozy Madigan – UNO relationship + If they insist on closing our schools, we’ll shut down the city. | Fred Klonsky

If they insist on closing our schools, we’ll shut down the city. | Fred Klonsky:

That little * isn’t enough to hide the cozy Madigan – UNO relationship.

by Fred Klonsky

Madigan in his UNO attire.
The Chicago Sun-Times has a blistering report this morning, documenting the cozy relationship between Illinois Democratic Party Chairman and House Speaker Mike Madigan and the United Neighborhood Organization.
UNO, one of the largest charter school operators in the city, is now involved in a funding scandal involving $98 million dollars in state grants.
It has led to several UNO resignations and no-bid contracts going to family and friends of UNO’s leaders.
Juan Rangel, head of UNO, is thisclose to Mayor Emanuel. He was co-chair of his election committee
The Sun-Times story exposes the financial relationship between Rangel, UNO and Speaker Madigan.

With support from Springfield and City Hall, UNO has grown in less than a decade from what was primarily a Latino activist organization into one of the largest charter-school operators in the city. In 2005, it had one school. Now, it has 13 locations with about 6,500 students.

UNO’s close ties to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose campaign he co-chaired, and former Mayor Richard M. Daley are well known. But Madigan quietly has provided the group with perhaps its most valuable assistance.

Madigan introduced the amendment that yielded the $98 million grant to UNO in 

If they insist on closing our schools, we’ll shut down the city.

by Fred Klonsky

 

A Sociological Eye on Education | Nineteen months of stonewalling by NYC Department of Education

A Sociological Eye on Education | Nineteen months of stonewalling by NYC Department of Education:

Nineteen months of stonewalling by NYC Department of Education

by Aaron Pallas

It’s nearly springtime, when a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). At least in odd-numbered years. I’m not so young, but lately I’ve been thinking about NAEP, which is widely regarded as the best barometer of changes over time in the academic performance of U.S. students. No assessment can do all that we ask of it, but NAEP is a well-designed project supported by $130 million per year in federal funds. Though not a substitute for careful evaluations of particular programs and policies, NAEP does crop up frequently in education policy circles. In New York state and New York City, for example, the discrepancy between trends in performance on the fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math NAEP tests (which were largely flat between 2007 and 2009) and the performance of the same population of 

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-25-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

The New Teacher Is Surviving. Guess Why?

by dianerav

Readers may recall that I posted a desperate plea from a struggling new teacher. He posted a comment months ago, but I kept pushing it back to make way for pressing news. So I posted it a day ago and just heard from the new teacher. Here is the report:
I might be posting this for the second time…but I can’t figure out how this works. Oh well. Hello! This is the new teacher, a few months later. I had no idea that my post was reposted! Reading the responses has made me feel 

Divest Now from Testing Companies!

by dianerav

This just in from a reader:
Diane,
I wrote to you about this before, but this time I have the relevant contact info:
http://equalpayforequalwork.blogspot.com/2013/02/tell-teachers-retirement-fund-to-divest.html
As the teachers rebellion against standardized testing grows, it’s time to flex our real muscle: tell the teachers’ retirement system to take our money OUT of standardized testing companies.
The retirement fund just recently set a precedent by divesting from gun companies, but corporate backed 

Pity Our Pitiful, Worried Billionaires

by dianerav

Remember reading about how the billionaires have tossed nearly $3 million in campaign funds to elect their slate in the Los Angeles school board race?
Monica Garcia, their favorite incumbent, will be able to fend off the terrifying challenge from Robert Skeels, who has intimidated her with a bankroll of $17,000. By now, he may have raised $18,000. That’s the kind of funding that frightens the 1%.
Kate Anderson, their other favorite, is not well versed in education issues according to the LA Times, but it is 

The Untold Story of NYC’s Charter Success Story

by dianerav

Last week, the New York City media and the Department of Education exulted in a new CREDO study showing that charter schools outperform public schools in New York City.
But, as usual, no one bothered to look behind the curtain.
Bruce Baker shows in this post that NYC charter schools enroll significantly fewer students who are English language learners and others who might pull down their scores. This creates “peer effects” that benefit those who are admitted, while overloading the public schools with the neediest students.
But charter schools are different from public schools in other significant ways, and Baker has the data:

How to Evaluate Dentists

by dianerav

This spoof was reprinted in the blog of the Horace Mann League:

Improving Dentistry (An Metaphor on Teacher Evaluations)

My dentist is great! He sends me reminders so I don’t forget checkups. He uses the latest techniques based on research. He never hurts me, and I have all my teeth, so when I ran into him the other day, I was eager to see if he’d heard about the new state program for measuring the effectiveness of dentists. I knew he’d think it was great.

“Did you hear about the new state program to measure the effectiveness of dentists with their young patients?” I said.

“No,” he said. He didn’t seem too thrilled. “How will they do that?”

Satire: Teacher Reprimanded for Assigning a Book

by dianerav

What is happening in education today is so hard to believe, so completely outrageous, that it is hard to write satire.
Twenty years ago, suppose you read a story about school officials closing down public schools and handing them over to private entrepreneurs. You would think that was really funny, right?
Suppose you read a story about for-profit schools getting public money. Ridiculous, right?
Suppose you read something predicting that Wall Street hedge fund managers had a plan to reform public 

Great Account of “Save Texas Schools” Rally

by dianerav

Read it here! And here.
Read how Superintendent John Kuhn said, “There are 5 million kids in Texas waiting for this legislature to keep our forefather’s promises, and to those who want to take away that promise, I’m with the moms and the trustees and local business people who will say what brave Texans have said before, come and take it. Just try to kill that promise of our Constitution.”
Read how State Senator Kirk Watson said, “The verdict is in, and it says the Texas school system is 

Photos from Save Texas Schools Rally

by garyrubinstein

Diane and Bill Betzen of LULAC, who took these photos

Diane receives a T-shirt from students of Houston Independent School District, where she went to school, K-12

Dr. Frederick Haynes exhorts the crowd, “Education, not incarceration!”

Who Is a “Reformer”?

by dianerav

Gary Rubinstein wrestles with the issue of language and rhetoric of reform.
Long ago, a reformer was someone who wanted to improve the public schools.
Now, a “reformer” advocates closing them and replacing them with privately managed schools.
Once upon a time, a reformer was someone who wanted to raise standards for new teachers.
Now, a “reformer” wants to hire teachers wh

Diane in the Evening 2-24-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 5 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: *Diane Ravitch - Walkin' the Talk* What If the Diagnosis Is Based on Junk Science? by dianerav The letter-grading system that is spreading across many states originated in Florida during Jeb Bush’s tenure as governor. His goal was to show how poorly public schools were doing and to blame schools if students had low test scores, thus diverting attention from the social and economic causes of poor performance in school. Red states love letter grades, as does Mayor Bloomberg in New York City, who has advanced priv... more »

Washington Preps For First Charter School Commission; Texas School Funding Protest: Ed Today + High School Graduation Rate In U.S. On Pace To Reach 90 Percent By 2020: Powell Report

High School Graduation Rate In U.S. On Pace To Reach 90 Percent By 2020: Powell Report:

Washington Preps For First Charter School Commission; Texas School Funding Protest: Ed Today

by Joy Resmovits

Chartering Hits Washington Last November, Washington state voted to allow the creation of its first ever charter schools. Now, reports the Associated Press, activists, teachers and parents are applying to be on the state's first charter commission, the body that decides which charter schools are approved and denied. "I've seen the power that specialized programs can have," said fifth grade teacher Ryan Grant. "I see a lot of potential around the state for innovative schools."

New York T-Val Legal Fight Late last week, a New York judge said the state can't withhold school aid to New York City schools over the district's failure to come to an agreement on teacher evaluations, reports the New York Times. The ruling knocks the teeth out of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposal to do just that to spur the city and the teachers' union into action. On Friday, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told a group of 

High School Graduation Rate In U.S. On Pace To Reach 90 Percent By 2020: Powell Report

by Joy Resmovits

Despite the constantly gloomy rhetoric about the state of America's schools, U.S. students are steadily improving by at least one metric -- for the first time, the nation is making enough progress in graduating from high school to reach the goal of 90 percent graduation by 2020, according to a new report to be released Monday.

"This is our fourth annual update," said John Bridgeland, an author of the report, titled "Building a Grad Nation." "Previously we've been able to focus on school districts making double-digit gains but we always have to pivot and say the pace of progress is too slow. Now, we have hopeful news."

The report will be released by America's Promise Alliance, an advocacy group founded by Colin and Alma Powell. "We're cautiously optimistic," Bridgeland said. "The pace of progress really rocketed forward right at a time when high school reform efforts were strongly under way."

Graduation rate trends matter because dropouts without a high school or college diploma face an increasingly 

Sherick Hughes: Why I Am Coming to Occupy DOE in DC | United Opt Out National

Sherick Hughes: Why I Am Coming to Occupy DOE in DC | United Opt Out National:

Sherick Hughes: Why I Am Coming to Occupy DOE in DC

by admin

I am coming to Occupy the DOE 2.0, to fight humbly alongside a group of brilliant fighters (some that know me and some that don’t), because equitable and excellent traditional public schools are not only a democratic right, but a democratic responsibility. The Department of Education has a narrative of civil rights as well, but the aftermath of their current policies in action, seem to be neither civil nor right, particularly for the most vulnerable, traditional public school communities in urban and rural American. Their high stakes proficiency testing game equates to a bell curve efficiency, zero-sum passing game that ultimately hinders learning for understanding, critical analysis, and authenticity and rewards learning the fastest and with only the best of memorization skills, a problem with negative long-term consequences to which retired teacher, Kenneth Bernstein so eloquently details in a recent article in the Post. I am coming to Occupy the DOE 2.0, because I have been a free-lunch qualifying student of color with six older siblings in a trailer with two parents that were denied equitable and adequate post-Brown schools when their Black schools were closed and many Black school personnel lost not only their jobs, but their purpose. I have taught students from similar circumstances, and I am now the father of a daughter who doesn’t qualify for that subsidy. My life has come to a 

Firing Bad Teachers Has Surprisingly Meager Effects | toteachornototeach

Firing Bad Teachers Has Surprisingly Meager Effects | toteachornototeach:

Firing Bad Teachers Has Surprisingly Meager Effects

by aristotlethewise

Firing Bad Teachers Has Surprisingly Meager Effects

By Kevin Drum

Dylan Matthews of the Washington Post has an interview with Thomas Kane today about ways in which we can measure teacher performance in the classroom. This comes at the very end:
Dylan Matthews: Now, the three components you measure predict future performance on achievement tests. But a lot of people dismiss that, even though there’s growing evidence that achievement test scores are correlated with all kinds of important real-life outcomes. Why do these scores matter?
Thomas Kane: So I’m really heartened — even asking that question means you’re aware of that Chetty/Friedman/Rockoff study….What they found was that the teachers who appeared to have high value-added while the students were in their classrooms, their value-added was predictive of students’ income later. I’m 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

by Mike Klonsky

Alex Kotlowitz

In the wake of Hadiya Pendleton’s shooting, we’ve talked about stiffer gun control laws, about better policing, about providing mentoring and after-school programs, all of which are essential. But missing from this conversation is any acknowledgment that the violence eats away at one’s soul — whether you’re a direct victim, a witness or, like Anita Stewart, simply a friend of the deceased. Most suffer silently. By themselves. Somewhere along the way, we need to focus on those left behind in our cities whose very character and sense of future have been altered by what they’ve experienced on the streets. -- NYT: "The Price of Public Violence"

Pedro Noguera

 “You could almost predict that whatever groups have the highest poverty rates will have the lowest 

The Incomplete Outrage Over NorthStar Charter School Payouts | Scathing Purple Musings

The Incomplete Outrage Over NorthStar Charter School Payouts | Scathing Purple Musings:

The Incomplete Outrage Over NorthStar Charter School Payouts

by Bob Sikes

The $800,000 that a couple made off with after the NorthStar charter school closure even embarrassed  some rich charter school operators. So when a top charter school lobbyists is critical of another charter school’s grab of taxpayer cash, there’s obviously a there..there.

“The isolated incident tarnishes the entire movement,” said Chris Moya, a lobbyist for Charter Schools USA, a charter management company that runs schools across the state. “The good actors can’t afford to buy away the amount of press that falls upon us and the entire movement when something like NorthStar happens.”

Moya was ironically testifying on behalf of a House bill which would force public schools to turn over on demand 

We Got The Injunction Stopping Cuomo! « New York City Parents Union

We Got The Injunction Stopping Cuomo! « New York City Parents Union:

We Got The Injunction Stopping Cuomo!

by admin

Statement On Our Preliminary Injunction Stopping Governor Cuomo

From Taking Back $250 Million

We Got The Injunction!  Parent Power!

We are happy to announce State Supreme Court Judge Manuel J. Mendez just granted us a preliminary injunction stopping Governor Cuomo from taking back $250 Million in education funding as punishment for the city and teachers union’s failure to reach a teacher evaluation system by January 17, 2013.

Parents Union members Jacqueline Colson, Chris Owens, Mona Davids and Community Education Council 31 President Sam Pirozzolo joined council member Robert Jackson as plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenging the unconstitutionality of the penalty punishing our innocent children for adult failures.

Parents were represented by renowned attorney Michael Rebell.  HUGE Thank you to Michael Rebell for fighting for our children’s right to a high quality education.

“For now it seems that the public school children of New York City have been spared another round of 

Commercialism is Kidnapping Our Brains Without Our Consent | Cooperative Catalyst

Commercialism is Kidnapping Our Brains Without Our Consent | Cooperative Catalyst:

Commercialism is Kidnapping Our Brains Without Our Consent

by zoeweil

Image courtesy Koninklijke NKBV/Flickr.

Every February the Banff Festival of Mountain Films World Tour comes to Ellsworth, Maine, near where I live; it’s a highlight of the winter for us. We love watching the best films of the several hundred submissions in Mountain Sports and Mountain Culture, and without fail, unless I am traveling for work, I attend all the nights of the tour. As I did this year.
As usual, there were amazing films, showcasing incredible athletes and powerful stories. But this year there was a new, unexpected, and dismaying shift toward commercialism. The festival is sponsored by many companies. Common among them are National Geographic, along with companies that produce outdoor gear and clothing, trail bars and other foods, etc. The sponsors receive a good deal of publicity. They’re featured in the program and on the visually stunning and powerful opening festival film that introduces the tour. If you attend the festival, you 

The Educated Reporter: Who Decides What's Off the Record?

The Educated Reporter: Who Decides What's Off the Record?:

Who Decides What's Off the Record?

by Emily Richmond

To do their jobs, education reporters on the federal beat depend on access to congressional staffers. But what happens when those staffers want anonymity while discussing policy at a public forum? I asked two reporters – Libby Nelson of Inside Higher Ed and Eric Kelderman of The Chronicle of Higher Education – to explain why they’re pushing back against what they contend is an unreasonable demand.

When you read Nelson's and Kelderman's pieces at EdMedia Commons, you'll learn they were both attending public forums with hundreds of other people  – some of whom were tweeting the content. While those other people might not have been journalists, it's impossible to deny that the information was being widely spread. And the non-journalists in the audience had no professional ethical dilemma to keep them from even considering abiding by the unusual request.

To change the demanded level of openness once a public meeting is underway seems an awful lot like inviting 

One Teacher's Perspective: Staff Swap: A Revealing School Experiment

One Teacher's Perspective: Staff Swap: A Revealing School Experiment:

Staff Swap: A Revealing School Experiment

by Imagine Wisconsin

Mixed in with voucher and school choice nonsense, Wisconsin Gov. Walker pitched yet another useless and wasteful education reform this past week that panders to his free market-minded friends.  

His unproven plan to improve Wisconsin schools involves financially rewarding schools that score well on the state’s flawed school report cards. I suppose Gov. Walker believes the free market fairy will miraculously motivate the staff at underperforming schools to replicate the wisdom of the high-achieving schools in exchange for the almighty green carrot.'