Arne Duncan: The newest rhetoric vs. the reality:

Arne Duncan: The newest rhetoric vs. the reality

Posted by Valerie Strauss on March 5, 2013 at 1:35 pm

Arne Duncan (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

Education Secretary Arne Duncan appeared at a Washington Post-sponsored conference on families today, and he sounded (mostly) highly reasonable:

Early childhood education is the absolute “best long-term investment” that the country can make for kids, families and the economy, he said. (Not, apparently, the billions of dollars he spent in the first term of the Obama administration pushing states to enact school reforms that linked standardized test scores to the evaluation of teachers and made these tests more high stakes than ever).

He said further that, of course, kids can’t focus in class if they are hungry or can’t see the blackboard. “Social and emotional needs have to be met  for students to do well in school,” he said.  In fact, there isn’t “one simple answer” to improving schools. You need “great principals” and “fantastic teachers,” and “all the wrap-around services” and food to feed hungry children and after-school activities and transformative school cultures. (Not, 

A school brings brain research to the center of its curriculum

by Valerie Strauss

Most teachers would tell a panicked student simply to calm down, but that’s not what teacher Glenn Whitman did when a junior came to him in knots about a major oral history project. “Maddy,” he said, “I care about your amygdala.”
Read full article >>

Diane in the Evening 3-5-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Teachers in Grand Rapids Say They Qualify for Food Stamps

by dianerav

Want to know why teachers are demoralized? Read this story from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Michigan has been a national leader in attacking public education, increasing charters, and diminishing teachers’ pay and benefits. Governor Rick Snyder must take pride in crushing his state’s public school teachers.
Oh, did you know that more than 80% of the charters in Michigan are for-profit?

Breaking News! Public School Supporters Sitting In Philly Mayor’s Office

by dianerav

Public school activists are conducting a sit-in in the office of the mayor of Philadelphia to protest school closings.
This is the announcement I just received:
BREAKING NEWS – March 5, 2013 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Hello PCAPS (Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools & Moratorium Endorsers,
The fight for education has just reached new levels! Parents, community activists, retired teachers and allies are sitting in the Mayor’s office as we speak and they are refusing to leave until we win a one year moratorium on 

Viva Eastside Memorial High School!

by dianerav

On other posts, I have told the story of Eastside Memorial High School in Austin, Texas.
The school board and superintendent (Broad-trained) decided to give the school to a charter chain called IDEA. This was not popular with the community. Many families in the neighborhood pulled their children out of the IDEA charter in protest and sent them elsewhere. In the November election, the community elected a school board member opposed to the charter takeover, and the board severed the contract. Now the state is considering shutting down the school, and the parents and students are trying to block the school’s closure. At the Save Our School Rally last weekend in Austin, a large contingent of parents and students from Eastside Memorial High School marched and chanted in unison, raising their “bear paws” to show their support for their school.
Here is a letter from a parent:

Dear Diane, Thank you so much for sharing our story! ~~
There are many misconceptions about our school. Some created by self-serving “

Why the Bloomberg Reforms Failed

by dianerav

Mayor Bloomberg plans to start four charter high schools that will open after his term of office ends.
This constitutes an admission that his own efforts to reform the public schools have failed.
The mayor has had 11 years of total control of the public school system. Every year, he closes more schools. Some of the schools he closes are schools that his own administration opened..
Less than 5% of the city’s 1.1 million students attend charters.
The other 95% have been forgotten, adrift in a system that has been reorganized four times, with all regional and 

The History of the Term “Failing Schools”

by dianerav

Kevin Kosar, who earned his Ph.D. at NYU in a study of federal education policy, researched the use of the term “failing schools.” It was seldom used until 1990. Since then, as you can see when you open the link, it has become a commonplace term.
This is clearly political, since test scores for every group are higher today than they were in 1990, graduation rates are higher, and dropout rates are lower.
“Failing schools” is a term that enables privatizers to take over more public property and to enroll more students when their neighborhood school was closed.

Research on School Closings

by dianerav

Before the passage of No Child Left Behind, public schools were seldom closed for low test scores. School officials and the public understood that low test scores reflected the social and economic conditions in which students live. It made no sense to punish the school because its students were living in poverty. After NCLB and Race to the Top, more and more urban schools are being closed to punish them for their low test scores.
A reader suggested that we read the following research brief:
“Here is a recent Issue Brief from Research for Action that 

Florida Newspaper: What Miracle?

by dianerav

Former Governor Jeb Bush traverses the nation, especially the red states, bringing news of the Florida miracle. After the debacle of the “Texas miracle,” which thrust NCLB on the nation, Mr. Bush would be well-advised to pick another issue.
The Palm Beach Post wrote a scathing editorial taking down the myth of the Florida miracle (which Bush’s former deputy Hannah Skandera is now selling in New Mexico).
The editorial says:
“Former Gov. Jeb Bush has an undeserved reputation as an education reformer. Florida’s recent education 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 3-5-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Occupy DOE Calls on States to Drop Common Core Testing by dianerav This just in from organizers of protest demonstration in D.C. From April 4-7: Campaign to Withdraw from Assessment Consortia The Common Core was a clever plan hatched by the corporate sponsors of ACHIEVE to ensure that national standards based tests, now being completed by the federally financed PARCC and SBAC consortia, would be cemented in place for years to come. States were pressured to sig... more »

Three Strategies for Encouraging and Developing Student Voice — Whole Child Education

Three Strategies for Encouraging and Developing Student Voice — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

Three Strategies for Encouraging and Developing Student Voice

March 5, 2013 by Dawn Imada Chan

Even though student-centered learning is the foundation of student voice, the complexity and demands of teaching often make focusing on student voice yet another "add-on" for educators. However, as Toshalis and Nakkula (2012) assert, "student voice is the antithesis of depersonalized, standardized, and homogenized educational experiences because it begins and ends with the thoughts, feelings, visions, and actions of the students themselves" (p. 23).

Based on my experience as both a teacher and administrator, I suggest three action steps that educators can take to further incorporate student voice into their classrooms and schools.

1. Start by assessing the culture of your classroom or school.

Student voice is dependent on an environment that values the sharing of various perspectives. It starts by being ready to talk with and listen to students.

Look into what kinds of opportunities students currently have to use their voice. Toshalis and Nakkula's spectrum of student voice (see figure 3 on page 24 of their paper, "Motivation, Engagement, and Student Voice" [PDF]) may be a helpful tool to this process. Brainstorm how you can shift current practices to further include various student voices.

The most successful assessment process involves students. Our teachers collected feedback through 

Student Voice Toolkit – The Elevator Speech

by admin

As one continues to enhance in his or her leadership skills through participation in eye-opening opportunities to reflection on personal experiences, the ability to share “a short but sweet” story of one’s involvement can be challenging but achievable!   To articulate one’s thoughts with clarity, conciseness and transparency are important for him or herself to share and even engender excitement from another person to be impacted.

Thinking about the content is the first step in creating your Elevator Speech.  The following questions (or which I prefer to call, prompts), are guides to stimulate your thinking on how to share the impact of Student Voice:

1. In one sentence, what does Student Voice mean to you?

2. What is unique about this initiative, especially as a “student-driven initiative?”

3. Which modalities do we utilize in creating awareness and opportunity for students to express their voice?

4. What have you learned or experienced through Student Voice, that has impacted the way in how you lead and organize?

There are a few key guidelines for your consideration to help construct your Elevator Speech, to inspire and activate others to learn more..

• Allot time to think about the questions listed above, while noting some of your responses and ideas brought forth from them.

• Structure the speech by identifying the common pillars of Student Voice with your corresponding personal experiences.

• Seamlessly integrate action words, and descriptive adjectives to add depth and emotion to the speech.

• Be succinct and deliberate in the message you wish to share – think from the perspective, “what is most likely going to affect the person to consider learning more about our work and progress?”

• Aim for the speech to be less than 2-minutes, with a typical conversation speech rate (not racing through to align with the proposed time limit).

• Practice, refine and update, as time progresses.  Everyday we learn something new, and thereby adjusting our speech to reflect our experiences can lessen the ‘routine’ affect that can often zap energy and passion from it.

Remember, communication is a way in sharing your voice with the world.  This mini-resource is focused on your oral communication competency, but there are many other ways to express yourself!

Quote of the Week:

“A leader is someone who demonstrates what’s possible.“ – Mark Yarnell

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About the Author:
Clement Coulston is a Youth Leader and an Elementary Teacher Education Student at the University of Delaware. Coulston is a member of theSpecial Olympics Project UNIFY® National Youth Activation Committee, an inclusive group of youth leaders, who work to educate, motivate, and activate our peers on our Pathway Towards Social Justice for All.  Coulston has co-developed the Delaware Kids Inspiring Kids Self-Determination Curriculum, to support students’ of transition-age learn how to self-advocate, be active participants and co-leaders at their I.E.P. meetings, and develop a mindset of “I know I CAN!”   He is a Youth Leader with the National School Climate Center, and is co-creating an inaugural 2013 Policy Institute to be held in NYC.  Clem is a Student Voice social activist, which is a grassroots organization working towards including Students in the Education Reform discussions now!  He challenges youth today to Get Active, Stand Up and Make a Difference!  Join him on Twitter @clementc26 where the learning and sharing possibilities are endless!  

Deborah Meier on Standardized Testing Best of the Ed Blogs | National Education Policy Center

Best of the Ed Blogs | National Education Policy Center:

Best of the Ed Blogs

Best of the Ed Blogs features a frequently updated selection of interesting and insightful blog posts on education policy. The views expressed by the bloggers on our blog roll are thoughtful, original, and entirely their own. We hope you make Best of the Ed Blogs your first stop for concise takes on today's most important education topics.

Deborah Meier on Standardized Testing

Best of the Ed Blogs

Diane Ravitch

March 5, 2013

Data Driving: At the Intersection of Arbitrary and Meaningful

Best of the Ed Blogs

Matthew Di Carlo

March 5, 2013

Fold or Rethink: A Teach for America Civil War?

Best of the Ed Blogs

Julian Vasquez Heilig

March 5, 2013

Teaching Math: The Driftwood and the Vortex (Michele Kerr)

Best of the Ed Blogs

Larry Cuban

March 5, 2013

What If? (Part 2)

Best of the Ed Blogs

Amethyst Hinton Sainz

March 5, 2013

Another Charter School Conflict in Chicago?

Best of the Ed Blogs

Diane Ravitch

March 4, 2013

Where School Reform Fails to Meet Classroom Reality

Best of the Ed Blogs

Susan Ohanian

March 4, 2013

The Incredible, True (and Not at All Excellent) Adventures of a Teacher in Charterland

Best of the Ed Blogs

EduShyster

March 4, 2013

De-testing and De-grading Schools: Authentic Alternatives to Accountability and Standardization

Best of the Ed Blogs

Joe Bower

March 4, 2013

The Education Games Endure

Best of the Ed Blogs

P.L. Thomas

March 4, 2013

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Special ed advocacy groups set ambitious plan for more federal funding SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources:

Special ed advocacy groups set ambitious plan for more federal funding

 As the nation headed toward the fiscal cliff late last week and most educators were scrambling to cover the eventual reductions in federal funds that are sure to accompany sequestration, two major special education groups unveiled an ambitious policy agenda for next year – most of it pressing for more money, not less.

The joint release came from the Council for Exceptional Children, which represents over 30,000 professionals and calls itself the “voice and vision of special education,” and the Children and Youth Action Network, considered the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving the educational success of individuals with disabilities.

The groups identified 10 separate high priority topics as well as two other areas that need work and two more that should be monitored.

Among the top priorities were: 

• Supporting “the unique role of special educators” in successful “outcomes for children and youth with disabilities by strengthening … preparation, induction and mentoring programs;” 
• Championing “stronger collaboration … between special and general education” through the reauthorization … of the Elementary Education and Secondary Education Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education 

PSAT for 3-5-13 + North Side P.O.W.E.R. forum Sunday against charter school expansion Parents United for Responsible Education

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » North Side P.O.W.E.R. forum Sunday against charter school expansion:

PSAT for 3-5-13: Send me your ISAT stories

by admin

This is ISAT week and a lot of students, parents and teachers are thinking about opting out of the state tests.
PURE believes that standardized testing should be limited and that parents should have the right to opt their children out of any standardized tests.
We support SB2156, a bill to limit standardized testing in Illinois.
Part 1 of today’s PSAT – please contact your state senators and ask them to co-sponsor SB2156 and to amend it to include a parents’ right to opt out.
Parents in Illinois outside of Chicago have opted out of the ISAT. Some Chicago parents have also opted their students out of the ISAT in some grades – but since CPS uses 3rd, 6th and 8th grade ISAT scores to make student promotion decisions and 7th grade ISAT scores as a gateway to selective enrollment high schools, the opt out choice here can be hazardous.
So, PSAT Part 2 is to send me your ISAT stories so that we can continue to work to eliminate the high-

North Side P.O.W.E.R. forum Sunday against charter school expansion

by admin

500 Northside Residents Gather to Demand No More Charter Schools in 49th Ward, Affordable Higher Education and Closure of Illinois Corporate Tax Loopholes
With the State of Illinois unable to pay its bills, Chicago Public Schools claiming a $1 billion deficit, and college students facing rising costs, ballooning debt and grim job prospects, five hundred (500) North Side and North Shore residents will gather to demand public policy changes.

Northside P.O.W.E.R. Public Meeting: Common Sense, Common Good

Sunday, March 10

6:30-8 p.m.

Willye White Field House

1610 W. Howard St., Chicago

Even though no Rogers Park schools are on the CPS school closure list, neighborhood schools are threatened by the expansion of charter schools. With fierce competition for funding often based on test scores, charter schools are incentivized to attract and admit only the best students.  An investigation by Reuters revealed that many charter schools require lengthy application forms, student and parent essays, mandatory family interviews, entrance exams, and even illegally demand Social Security cards and birth certificates.  Charter schools often require parents to cover additional educational costs, an obstacle for poor parents.  Northside P.O.W.E.R. has invited Ald. Joe Moore to attend to answer questions about charter school expansion in the 49th Ward.
The struggles for those already overburdened continue at institutes of higher learning. Loyola University will increase the cost of its freshman and sophomore meal plans. All undergraduate resident students are required to have a meal plan, yet the cheapest freshman year plan will increased 12%, and the sophomore plan by more than 150% in the 2013-2014 academic year.  More than 100 Loyola students will attend.
State Senator Heather Steans and State Representatives Robin Gabel and Kelly Cassidy will attend. Northside P.O.W.E.R. will ask them to make a public commitment to support corporate tax transparency and to close corporate tax loopholes.
Two-thirds of corporations in Illinois pay no state income tax, and a meager 8% of state revenue comes from corporate income taxes.  Eighty-one (81%) of state revenue comes from personal income and sales taxes. Statistics from the Public Policy Polling, a non-partisan polling firm found that nearly 80% of Illinois voters say legislation to require publicly-traded corporations to disclose how much they pay in Illinois corporate tax income is a good idea. By closing three corporate tax loopholes, Illinois could raise $1.5 billion over 3 years to help solve its budget crisis.
Northside P.O.W.E.R. (People Organized to Work, Educate and Restore) is an institution-based people’s power organization whose members are located in the North Side of the City of Chicago and North Shore Communities.  Northside P.O.W.E.R. is the community organizing arm of A Just Harvest.
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Regulation Nation: New federal rules for school food will cost millions, group says | Fox News

Regulation Nation: New federal rules for school food will cost millions, group says | Fox News:

Regulation Nation: New federal rules for school food will cost millions, group says

By Shannon Bream

Published March 05, 2013

FoxNews.com

• 

Newly proposed federal regulations aimed at the snack foods and drinks served in the nation's schools could come with a hefty price tag.

The American Action Forum estimates the regulations, which include caps on serving sizes and calorie counts, will cost schools $127 million and require more than 926,000 hours of paperwork. 

Sam Batkins, director of regulatory policy at the institute, says the proposals amount to yet another unfunded federal mandate for state and local governments, "at a time when many of their budgets are still struggling."

The Food and Nutrition Service regulations would be administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which says schools in at least 39 states already have some kind of snack food standards in place. Thousands of schools "have already taken voluntary steps towards meeting the proposed standards," the department said, adding that

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/05/regulation-nation-federal-plan-for-healthier-school-food-will-cost-millions/#ixzz2Mga92kri

When America is One Giant Ticker Tape — University of Phoenix, Massive On-line Education, the Failure of Democracy | Dissident Voice

When America is One Giant Ticker Tape — University of Phoenix, Massive On-line Education, the Failure of Democracy | Dissident Voice:

When America is One Giant Ticker Tape — University of Phoenix, Massive On-line Education, the Failure of Democracy

by Paul Haeder

Okay, okay, today es muy interesante, lleno de literatura y periodismo. Full of literature and journalism. Yes, yes, Mister Welfare Man, I am doing job searches to validate myself as a human being. You know, three job applications a week to meet the sequester-fragile unemployment insurance. I do more than three a week, that’s for sure.
Right now, I have been working on a couple of magazine pieces. One on the value of dog parks, tied to my other ex-home base town, Spokane. So, these cool little pieces end up in this slick magazine, but to be sure, as a full-throttle writer, and full-throttle teacher, what I write could end up in Harper’s and who and what I teach, well, if it’s a night class at a community college or some group of prisoners in a federal penitentiary or some over-priced Jesuit college or for some elder continuing-community education program, I take it all seriously and treat all folk as if they are bright, interested, interesting and engaged human beings, young and old.
Check out for now, pages 42-47, a little bit on Apple History. Really, read it here*.

I’m finding out the history of off-leash dog parks and the dog’s smile expert, a dog whisperer of sorts from Spokane. 

Spokane animal expert studied dog ‘laughter’  Patricia Simonet, 51, a well-known animal behaviorist 

UPDATE: Does #edweek add any value? + #Sequestration #edreform, the “cartoon” – @ the chalk face

#Sequestration #edreform, the “cartoon” – @ the chalk face:

Does #edweek add any value?

by Timothy D. Slekar

Someone has to say it!
Stop calling experiments that use value added data “research” unless you are willing to state up front that “the findings you are about to see have absolutely NO VALUE in understanding the complicated work of teaching and learning.”
Just today, EdWeek let us know that,

New teachers become much more effective with a few years of classroom experience, but aworking paper by a team of researchers suggests the most—and least—effective elementary teachers show their colors at the very start of their careers.

There is so much about this article to shout about but let’s keep it simple this time.  Using VAMs as indicators that actually tell us if teachers are teaching and students are learning is worthless!  Therefore why waste our time?

#Sequestration #edreform, the “cartoon”

by Chalk Face, PhD

Maybe it speaks for itself.

This blog is pretty smartly written, quid faciunt #highered

by Chalk Face, PhD

Came across this. Largely faculty issues in higher education. Smart stuff.

May the odds be ever in your favor, #commoncore

by Chalk Face, PhD

So, now we are at least clear on one item. The President of a large educators’ union concurs that the Common Core Curriculum, imposed upon public schools in nearly all states, means to prepare young persons to simply “confront the new economy.” This occurs while the affluent amongst us, who will not experience anything like the Common Core, are empowered to shape the economy and our society. One population to work the economy, the other to rule it. Very quaint, indeed.