Tuesday, April 16, 2013

NEA - NEA, FEA file a federal lawsuit over Florida’s teacher evaluation procedure

NEA - NEA, FEA file a federal lawsuit over Florida’s teacher evaluation procedure:

NEA, FEA file a federal lawsuit over Florida’s teacher evaluation procedure

WASHINGTON - April 16, 2013 - The National Education Association (NEA) and the Florida Education Association (FEA) filed a federal lawsuit today challenging the evaluation of teachers based on the standardized test scores of students they do not teach or based on subjects they do not teach.

The lawsuit is brought by seven accomplished teachers and the local education associations in Alachua, Escambia and Hernando counties. They are bringing suit against the Florida commissioner of education, the State Board of Education and the school boards of those three counties which have implemented the evaluation system to comply with SB 736, passed during the 2011 session of the Florida Legislature.

“This lawsuit highlights the absurdity of the evaluation system that has come about as a result of SB 736,” said FEA President Andy Ford. “Teachers in Florida are being evaluated using a formula designed to measure learning gains in the FCAT math and reading tests. But most teachers, including the seven in this lawsuit, don’t teach those subjects in the grades the test is administered. One of the teachers bringing this suit is getting evaluated on the test scores of students who aren’t even in her school.”

“Seven accomplished educators in Florida are pushing back against one arbitrary, irrational and unfair evaluation system,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. “But they are supported by hundreds of thousands of educators across the country who are fed up with flawed evaluation systems being pushed by politicians and corporate education reformers in school districts across the country. As unthinkable as it might seem for a teacher to be evaluated on the performance of students they do not teach or subjects they do not teach -- we know that it’s happening and not just in Florida. NEA is proud to stand with our Florida colleagues to say ‘NO’ to evaluation systems that don’t help improve student learning or the practice of teaching.”

The lawsuit was filed today in the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Florida, Gainesville Division. The lawsuit contends that teachers’ evaluations based on the test scores of students they do not teach or based on subjects they do no teach violate the equal protection and due process clauses of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
These evaluations have high stakes consequences. Teachers who are rated unsatisfactory (the lowest of the four performance ratings under the law) two consecutive years or two out of three years in a row are subject to termination or non-renewal. Transfers, promotions and layoffs are based on the assigned performance rating. And, as of July 1, 2014, salaries will be based on the assigned performance rating as well.

A copy of the federal lawsuit will be posted at bit.ly/1101Hw1

FEA CONTACT: Mark Pudlow 850.201.3223 or 850.508.9756 (Call to arrange interviews with plaintiffs)
NEA CONTACT: Sara Robertson srobertson@nea.org or 202.230.8978

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The Florida Education Association is the state’s largest association of professional employees, with more than 140,000 members. FEA represents pre K-12 teachers, higher education faculty, educational support professionals, students at our colleges and universities preparing to become teachers and retired education employees.

· NEA, FEA lawsuit overview

· Educators’ voices are crucial to the development of well-designed, fair assessments. That’s why NEA encourages members to visit Assessment Advisor, an online site that lets them rate the assessments that they’ve used in their own classrooms

· NEA signed onto a national resolution last year calling out the problems with the imbalanced focus on high-stakes standardized tests. Members can echo the resolution at http://timeoutfromtesting.org/nationalresolution/

Some states forge ahead on common core, CA not alone in struggle to implement SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources:

Some states forge ahead on common core, CA not alone in struggle to implement

As California labors to bring the new common core English language arts and mathematics curriculum standards in its classrooms, other states are dealing with similar issues – some further along in the process and some rethinking the whole idea.

Take New York, for instance. Students in the Empire State will today begin taking new assessments aligned to the common core despite the fact that many schools have yet to begin teaching content based on the new standards.

In Missouri, Arizona and Tennessee, conservative lawmakers and some educators are fighting implementation of common core standards even as schools move forward with plans in the works since 2010.

“We can’t wait,” Merryl H. Tisch, chancellor of the state’s Board of Regents, told the New York Times. “We have to just jump into the deep end.”

All but five states – Alaska, Texas, Nebraska, Minnesota and North Carolina – have adopted the common core state standards, a uniform set of academic guidelines that define what it means to be a literate person in the 21^st Century.The standards, developed at the prodding of the Obama administration by a coalition of governors and state school chiefs, provide for the first time national curriculum goals aimed at better preparing students for the global economic marketplace.

California’s State Board of Education adopted the English and math standards in 2010 but the work behind implementation has been slowed by a lack of financial resources for instructional materials and professional teacher

Surprise, Surprise… State Board of Education approves “special school leadership program” for Vallas - Wait, What?

Surprise, Surprise… State Board of Education approves “special school leadership program” for Vallas - Wait, What?:

Surprise, Surprise… State Board of Education approves “special school leadership program” for Vallas

by jonpelto

Paul Vallas doesn’t have the credentials necessary to be a superintendent of schools in the State of Connecticut.

Governor Malloy’s “education reform” law included language that would allow Malloy’s Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor, to waive Vallas’ certification requirements IF Vallas successfully completed his one year probationary period and completed a school leadership program at a Connecticut institution of higher education.

Last month, the Bridgeport Board of Education voted 5 to 3 to give Vallas a three year contract as Superintendent of Schools in Bridgeport, despite the fact that he had not completed his probationary period or even begun an education leadership program. Soon after he announced that he had enrolled at UConn and would be done by the end of the

Insights About The Principalship — Whole Child Education

Insights About The Principalship — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

Insights About The Principalship

April 12, 2013 by ASCD Whole Child Bloggers

The Principalship - ASCD Educational Leadership

In times of increasing expectations, decreasing resources, and rigorous accountability, school principals are faced with complex challenges and a huge array of initiatives to implement. These realities have discouraged many principals from staying on the job. How can schools stop the revolving door of the principalship and energize principals to lead?

The April 2013 issue of ASCD's Educational Leadership addresses approaches that promote career-long growth, such as coaching and mentoring, collaborative learning, and principal peer groups.

In her "Perspectives" column, Editor-in-Chief Marge Scherer asked fellow EL columnist (and 2013 Whole Child Virtual Conference presenter) Tom Hoerr what makes principals stay in a challenging job. Hoerr responded,

The most rewarding thing, for me, is feeling that you've made a positive difference in others' lives. I have had lots of difficult times and made many mistakes, yet I live for the times when someone tells me how their life is better because I worked with them.
With kids, it's often easier. The growth is obvious and they come back, years later, to talk about how their time at my school changed their life. But some teachers, too, will share how they see the world a bit differently or how they

UPDATE: NYSUT Clamps Down on Free Speech #stopcommoncore Reminder of the #edreform Mad Lib you can share and use. – @ the chalk face

Reminder of the #edreform Mad Lib you can share and use. – @ the chalk face:

NYSUT Clamps Down on Free Speech

by Lauren Cohen

Dear Readers, I would like to share with you an email I sent last week to my class parents:

April is the cruelest month…
I doubt the NY State Education Department had T.S. Eliot in mind when they made the state testing schedule, but it does seem appropriate. Even with trying to keep test prep – oops, I mean “Defense Against the Dark Arts” – at a minimum, there’s so much I feel obligated to do! [Other 5th grade teacher] and I were talking about the uncertainty surrounding the content on the math test, and she put it really well, “If we see a question on the test about the one thing that we chose not to

Charter schools are not about charter schools

by Activism in paradise - Voices from down under

By Kelvin Smythe

Reposted from Networkonnet.

The education situation is dire, western economies are struggling, with one of its manifestations being the rich and powerful acting to undermine public schools. Charter schools not being about charter schools is emblematic of that dire situation.
Let us look at how this is playing out in New Zealand. Throughout our history our overriding economic plan has been to hang on to the coat tails of first England, then America, now China. We were only truly comparatively wealthy in the Korean War period when the price of wool sky rocketed. The present government is now taking the coat-tail policy to extreme: selling farm land, allowing foreign manufacturing of farm produce, emphasising tourism (with its low pay characteristics), mining exploitation, asset sales, and signing sycophantic free trade policies. Apparently we can raise capital for property speculation but not for industry.
No matter the slightly more benign period at the moment, our prospects are that we are going to face severe

New Contest: Worst (Best) Test Prep Videos

by Timothy D. Slekar

Inspiration. You never know when it will hit you. However, I would like to thank Mr. Chris Cerrone. After his last post I decided to see how many “test prep” video’s I could find.
Someone has to say it! “Holy Crap!”
If we actually spent some time teaching instead of making ridiculous videos imagine the possibilities.
Not now though. It’s Game Time
Vote for your “favorite” Pennsylvania (PSSA) test prep video below. In the comment section please feel free to

So, I spent more time than necessary in the #stopcommoncore thread

by Chalk Face, PhD

Wow. Pretty wild. Basically, a very active stream of mainly conservative leaning folks stormed twitter at noon today to show their distaste of the CCSS, egged on mainly by it looks like uber-conservative blogger Michelle Malkin.
Let me be clear: I do not support the common core at all. But there are some key differences in my arguments against it, as a left of center progressive and advocate for public education. I learned a few things from participating in what seemed to be an overall pretty respectful debate. Thank God.

The Right seems ahead in their opposition, chiefly because the CCSS is affiliated with Obama in their minds.
There is a confusion with some language, like common and its similarity to communism. Then, we start getting into government over-reach, socialism, Obamacare, and indoctrination. I don’t see these as at all relevant.
The Right did not at any point acknowledge the fact that progressive activists have been at this for a while

#nea was for VAMs but now against? I’m so confused!

by Timothy D. Slekar

As readers of @thechalkface already know, both the NEA‘s Dennis Van Roekel and AFT’s Randi Weingarten support the use of VAMs in teacher evaluations. Of course they will never admit to it and instead typically refer to VAM usage as using student generated “data.”
However, out of EdWeek today we learn that the NEA is actually suing on behalf of teachers that were subjected to the use of some distorted VAM vodoo in Florida.

NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, speaking during a conference call, intimated that the action wouldn’t be the union’s last word on the subject. Teachers across the nation are “fed up with flawed evaluation systems being pushed by politicians and corporate education reformers in school districts across the country,” he said.

Huh? Since when did Van Roekel care about “fed up” teachers?
Someone has to say it! “

Mr. Van Roekel if you really are sincere, unequivocally denounce your past statements

Testing madness or fun?

by Chris Cerrone

Test prep out of control?
Brainwashing?
Kool Aid drinking?
OR
Fun?
Taking away test stress?

Reminder of the #edreform Mad Lib you can share and use.

by Chalk Face, PhD

Best of the Ed Blogs | National Education Policy Center

Best of the Ed Blogs | National Education Policy Center:

Chris Miraglia

April 15, 2013

UPDATE: Enrollment Projections Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools and Data Confidentiality

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools and Data Confidentiality:

City Items of Interest

by Melissa Westbrook

From the Mayor's Office:

The Seattle Human Services Department’s (HSD) Child Care Assistance Program helps working families in Seattle pay for high-quality child care for children ages one month to 13 years old. Last year this program had 375 children on the waitlist, so I'm pleased to announce we've expanded the program. The Human Service Department has allocated $2,682,310 in 2013 for child care assistance payments, which will serve approximately 835 children of low- or moderate-income parents who are working or enrolled in job training.

These subsidies will help parents find and keep a good job. And while they are at work, their children deserve a high-quality, nurturing environment to learn and prepare for success in Kindergarten and beyond. There are currently about 300 available slots so please help spread the word to families who may have been turned

Guess Which One is NOT Like the Others?

by Melissa Westbrook

Ed News

by Melissa Westbrook

I actually have a backlog of education news stories but these two from today rose to the top. One story is about teacher evaluations and the other is about a high-profit "education summit" going on this week in Arizona.

From Ed Week:
The NEA has filed a lawsuit on behalf of several teachers in Florida against that state's education department, saying that the teacher evaluation formula being used violates their constitutional rights. They seek an injunction against the state law for teacher evalutions and three districts' policies.

“The state approved formula for measuring student growth on [the state standardized tests] is being stretched far beyond the limited purposes for which it was designed,” the suit argues.

The law requires all teachers to be judged in part on the progress of their students. This growth formula was developed for teachers in those subjects in which the state administers standardized tests: grades 4-8 in math

Seattle Schools' Enrollment Projections

by Melissa Westbrook

Here are the district's enrollment projections for next year.

Highlights:

High School
Most of the high schools are steady-state with a few exceptions. Cleveland will be up by the most - 44 students. And, the closest high school to it, Franklin, may be going down by 35.
Garfield is projected to go down by 40 students and Ingraham up by...39 students. Looks like the APP program at Ingraham is getting firmly established.
Rainier Beach continues to climb, up by 41 to 448.
Roosevelt continues to climb and will go over the 1700 mark (1728).

Middle School
Hamilton is taking it hard with an increase at 127. That will pop them over the 1100 mark.
Eckstein is projected to lose 46 but it is still the largest middle school at 1252. Denny, McClure and

Seattle Schools and Data Confidentiality

by Melissa Westbrook

I found something interesting on the SPS website this morning. It's an SPS communication called "Data Confidentiality: How Seattle Public Schools Protects Student Information." Interesting that it was released while the district is on Spring Break.

I think this deserves more investigation (and indeed is on my reading/writing list as I have piled up some articles). This is becoming almost as big an issue as opting out of assessments. I'm putting this up now to get it on your radar but there will be a part two to this thread.

It's a fairly carefully worded piece but it does seem to dodge/leave out a few things.

First, they say:

As a District, we strictly adhere to the Superintendent Procedure on Student Records and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) requirements to protect the confidentiality of student information.

Then they say:

The Superintendent’s Procedure builds upon the FERPA law with detail regarding how educational records can

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Tuesday, April 16, 2013

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Education Headlines

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

RIVERSIDE: Schools to get more counselors

Riverside Unified School District will need to hire counselors to fill 3.2 full-time positions for 2013-14 under a tentative agreement with the Riverside City Teachers Association, Deputy Superintendent Mike Fine said Monday, April 15.

L.A. school board to consider faster investigation of teachers

Sexual misconduct allegations at Miramonte Elementary School sparked a surge of investigations of Los Angeles teachers, pushing the ranks of those in "teacher jail" to more than 300 — and prompting officials this week to consider the rights of accused employees.

Budget cuts may harm California program aimed at getting kids into college

With Gov. Jerry Brown's veto last year of $8.1 million in funding, some fear that AVID for middle and high schools in California could veer off track.

Family fee for half-day state preschool likely to be rescinded

A much-disputed daily fee for families with children in state-funded preschool programs will likely be removed from next year’s state budget.

Teachers dislike breakfast in the classroom program, survey finds

An L.A. Unified program to serve breakfast in the classroom to make sure students don’t start school hungry has increased pests, created messes and cut down on instructional time, according to a teacher survey released Monday.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Winfield to take helm at Twain Harte, too

Trustees at Soulsbyville School District and Twain Harte-Long Barn Union School District voted Thursday to share Superintendent Jeff Winfield, currently superintendent at Soulsbyville.

Natomas schools flagged by CalSTRS for pay bumps before retirement

Natomas Unified School District made the state's Top 100 list, but it's not good news. The district is among 100 identified by the California State Teachers' Retirement System as having given numerous big pay bumps to employees close to retirement, resulting in larger pensions.

Stanislaus school bonds grabbing attention

Building schools never was cheap. But on top of the land, materials, prevailing wage, interminable regulations and lengthy state approvals come the borrowing costs.

K-12 National Standards for Financial Literacy, New Framework for Teaching Personal Finance in Schools CEE: Leading Organization for Economics and Financial Education

CEE: Leading Organization for Economics and Financial Education:

Council for Economic Education Introduces K-12 National Standards for Financial Literacy, New Framework for Teaching Personal Finance in Schools

National Standards for Financial Literacy Raise the Bar for Financial Literacy Education

NEW YORK, April 16, 2012 – This week, the Council for Economic Education (CEE) introduces the National Standards for Financial Literacy, a framework for the body of knowledge and skills that should be contained in a K-12 personal finance curriculum. Developed by a team of experienced and talented economists, education specialists at Federal Reserve banks, and financial education researchers, the National Standards for Financial Literacy raise the bar for financial literacy education.

The standards contain the six areas of knowledge and understanding that are fundamental to personal finance: Earning Income; Buying Goods and Services; Using Credit; Saving; Financial Investing; and Protecting and Insuring. Each standard emphasizes decision-making skills by explicitly relating planning and goal setting, financial decision-making, and assessing outcomes to each standard. Through the standards, students learn how their personal situations and preferences affect their financial decision making, while beginning to understand the trade-offs inherent in every choice they make. In the end, more informed choices lead to better choices as well as greater satisfaction with the choices that are made.

Written in accessible, easily understandable terminology, the standards are not tethered to any specific curriculum, do not assume any prior financial knowledge, and are designed to be applicable to all socio-economic groups. These standards provide the basis of student assessment, for curriculum development, and for the development and correlation of personal finance to existing and new lessons and other teaching materials.

“The National Standards for Financial Literacy are vital to preparing our children to successfully navigate through a dizzyingly complex financial world,” said Mark Zandi, economist and co-founder of Moody’s Economy.com.

“These Standards are meant to teach more than just the facts; they are designed to teach students how to make thoughtful, deliberate choices as consumers, savers, investors and informed citizens” said Nan J. Morrison, President and CEO of the Council for Economic Education. “It’s critically important that these skills take root at the K-12 level—and the earlier the education begins, the better.’”

To further buttress the standards, CEE will design nationally-normed financial literacy assessment tests to provide teachers, researchers and policy makers with data that clearly identifies student understanding of these key concepts. CEE is currently working in collaboration with Jump$tart to gain support for the standards from the broad financial literacy community.

For a free download of the standards, click here.

About the Council for Economic Education

The Council for Economic Education (CEE) is the leading organization in the United States that focuses on the economic and financial education of students from kindergarten through high school. For the past 60 years, our mission has been to instill in young people the fourth “R”—a real-world understanding of economics and personal finance. It is only by acquiring economic and financial literacy that children can learn that there are better options for a life well lived, will be able to see opportunity on their horizon line and, ultimately, can grow into successful and productive adults capable of making informed and responsible decisions.

For more information visit our website, www.councilforeconed.org

And our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/councilforeconed

Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Insights About The Principalship

By Kelvin Smythe

Best of the Ed Blogs

Education Headlines