Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

‘Personalization’ of learning: Genuine or slick marketing?

‘Personalization’ of learning: Genuine or slick marketing?:


‘Personalization’ of learning: Genuine or slick marketing?

personalYou can’t have a conversation about education reform these days without, at some point, hearing the words “personalization” and “engagement.” What do they really mean? Here to explain is George Wood, superintendent and secondary school principal at the Federal Hocking Local School District in Stewart, Ohio.  He is also the executive director of the Forum for Education and Democracyand chair of the board for the Coalition of Essential Schools. This appeared on the forum’s blog.
By George Wood
“Personalization” and “engagement” seem to be the new catchwords in education reform these days.  Too bad the concepts are not credited to the person who first talked about them.  It was the late Ted Sizer –  in the Common Principles that he developed for the Coalition of Essential Schools  — who pushed for personalized learning environments that engaged young learners. These days, he is seldom mentioned when these terms are rolled out.
There may be a good reason for that. As polite as Ted always was, I think he might object rather passionately to the way “personalization” is being tossed around today.
I was reminded of this while attending a workshop this past week on using technological 

Eighth grader designs standardized test that slams standardized tests

A 13-year-old eighth grader in upstate New York woke up on Sunday and decided that it would be funny if she designed a standardized test that made fun of standardized tests. (See below) After all, Sophia Stevens was getting ready … Continue reading →
    


solidaridad: United Adult Students (UAS) to rally against Governor Brown's plan

solidaridad: United Adult Students (UAS) to rally against Governor Brown's plan:


United Adult Students (UAS) to rally against Governor Brown's plan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
United Adult Students (UAS) to rally against Governor Brown's plan
United Adult Students (UAS) to rally against Governor Brown's planLos Angeles, California - April 16, 2013 - United Adult Students (UAS) have announced that they will hold a student rally and present petitions containing thousands of signatures opposed to Governor Brown's plan to move adult education to the Community College system.
The details for the event are as follows:
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
7:00AM
Evans Community Adult School
717 N Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

UAS released the following statement.
"We are against Governor Brown’s plan to transfer the Adult Education program of LAUSD to the Community College system. We want our Adult Schools to remain open and accessible in our communities, and with dedicated funding streams.
Estamos en contra del plan del Gobernador Brown de trasladar la Educación de Adultos del Distrito Escolar (LAUSD) a los Colegios Comunitarios. Queremos que nuestras Escuelas para Adultos se mantegan abiertas y acesibles en nuestras comunidades, y con fondos dedicados."
The petitions and ten reasons provided by UAS for signing it can be found on their website athttp://www.unitedadultstudents.org/petition_against_governor_brown_s_plan
Founded by students in response to Mónica García and John Deasy's threatened elimination of LAUSD Adult Education in 2012, United Adult Students (UAS) successfully defended much of the program. Through organizing, activism, and lobbying, UAS has proven the collective power of adult students. UAS is the voice of adult education.
Contact:
United Adult Students (UAS)
http://www.unitedadultstudents.org
(213) 986-2492

UPDATE: Common core: An attempt to solve a problem that doesn't exist Schools Matter: Is there really a crisis in science and math education?

Schools Matter: Is there really a crisis in science and math education?:


Common core: An attempt to solve a problem that doesn't exist

No decline in reading
Sent to the Cincinnati Enquirer
The first line of “Common Core a ‘monumental shift’”(April 16, 2013) is not supported by any real data. There is no evidence that “reading has been declining in the nation’s schools for more than two decades.” Students are reading as much as ever. According to my analysis, teenagers today are reading as much as teenagers did in 1999 and in 1946. In addition, reading scores on our national test, the NAEP, have been increasing modestly since 1992.
The Common Core appears to be an attempt to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.
Stephen Krashen
Source: Krashen, S. 2011. Why We Should Stop Scolding Teenagers and Their Schools: Frequency of Leisure Reading Language Magazine 11 (4): 18-21.
Original article: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130416/NEWS0102/304160017?nclick_check=1


Will the common core claim credit for bogus test score improvement?


Sent to the New York Daily News.

We have been told that the new tests based on the common core will result in low scores (“Just what the kids need,” April 15). What has not been mentioned is that new tests typically result in low scores, and then scores rise for the next few years as teachers and students get used to the test format and content, and teachers learn how to teach to the test. This has been confirmed in studies by Prof. Robert Linn of the University of Colorado.

The common core will claim the credit for this bogus “improvement.” The improvement will stop after a few years, but by then the apparent success of the common core will be considered “proven.”

Stephen Krashen

Source: Linn, R., Graue, E., & Sanders, N. 1990. Comparing state and district test results to national norms: The validity of claims that "everyone is above average." Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice 10: 5-14.


Is there really a crisis in science and math education?


Sent to the Austin-American Statesman, April 16, 2013

Lonny Stern’s claim that “Investment in science, math is good business” (April 15) is based on his assertion that there are 2.5 STEM jobs available for every unemployed person.

Mr. Stern may want to consult research done by Rutgers Professor Hal Salzman, who concludes that there are two to three qualified graduates for each science/tech opening: There appears to be surplus, not a shortage, of STEM-trained workers.

Studies have also shown that there is a “PhD glut”: According to the Atlantic (Feb, 2013), the US is producing more Ph.D.s in science than the market can absorb.

Stephen Krashen

Original article: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/opinion/stern-investing-in-science-math-and-engineering-

Rhee Needs Parent Trigger More than Parent Trigger Needs Her | Scathing Purple Musings

Rhee Needs Parent Trigger More than Parent Trigger Needs Her | Scathing Purple Musings:


Rhee Needs Parent Trigger More than Parent Trigger Needs Her

Ann Kane and M. Catharine Evans have been chronicling Michelle Rhee’ s story since she was DC schools chancellor in the influential conservative website American Thinker. While I’ve not always agreed with their conclusions, they’ve been spot of with their criticism. They weighed in yesterday on John Merrow’s PBS story which serves as the metaphorical smoking gun for Rhee’s involvement in the DC cheating scandal that happened on her watch.
Rhee continues to claim innocence regardless of the evidence piling up against her.  If she was aware of high erasure rates in her school system and didn’t call for a thorough investigation (only 60 people were interviewed), like Governor Perdue of Georgia had (Perdue hired special investigators, who interviewed 2,000 people to get to the bottom of the Atlanta cheating scandal), then she is guilty of egregious negligence.
We do know that Rhee was very aware of the meaning of high-stakes testing and the implications 

L.A. Unified board ratifies 'parent-trigger' partnership - latimes.com

L.A. Unified board ratifies 'parent-trigger' partnership - latimes.com:


L.A. Unified board ratifies 'parent-trigger' partnership

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Special Late Nite Cap UPDATE 4-16-13 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2



Nite Cap UPDATE



UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE



CORPORATE ED REFORM





Leaders Urge Colleges to Expand Sports Programs for Students With Disabilities

Illinois AthletesAt the University of Illinois, work has been done since 1949 to provide programs specifically for disabled students on adaptive methods to include disabled students.
The world watched as Oscar Pistorius eased his prosthetic racing legs into the starting blocks on the track at the Olympics last summer, taking the first steps to making history as the first amputee to race with “able-bodied” competitors.
Many watched out of curiosity, having never seen it done. Some with disabilities watched because, with every step, he was bringing their dreams closer to reality.
National education leaders, in reiterating a message already cemented by the Rehabilitation Act, told colleges in 

Jesse Owens’ family voices objection to proposed school closure

To Jesse Owens, all children were champions, the famed Olympian’s daughter said Tuesday evening, trying to save the West Pullman school named for her father from the Chicago Public Schools’ closing list.
Jesse Owens Community Academy is one of 54 schools proposed for closing, and …


Teachers in Florida sue state claiming job evaluation system is unfair

Teachers in Florida filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday, claiming the state’s new teacher evaluation system is unfair because it partly rates their job performance on test scores of students they don’t know and subjects they don’t teach.
    


Bill Introduced: S.689 Achievement Through Prevention Act

A bill to reauthorize and improve programs related to mental health and substance use disorders


Poor ALEC! Someone Disagrees with Their Radical Agenda

ALEC has operated in the background since 1973, funded by major corporations who want to advance a corporate-friendly agenda into state legislatures. Some 2,000 state legislators belong to ALEC and attend its posh conferences, where they hobnob with corporate lobbyists.
ALEC suffered a PR setback when Trayvon Martin was killed last year in Florida by a man who invoked ALEC’s “stand your ground” law. The bad publicity caused some 40 corporations to abandon ALEC.
It has written draft legislation for vouchers, charters, cyber charters, ending teacher tenure, ending collective 


LAUSD board votes to improve abuse investigations

With 278 Los Angeles Unified educators sitting in "teacher jail," the school board voted Tuesday to streamline and improve the investigations of those accused of serious physical abuse or sexual misconduct.


HBCU Presidents Cite Personalized Recruiting, Intrusive Counseling Among Best Practices


Michael Sorrell
President Michael Sorrell increased
 the retention rate at Paul Quinn College
 to 83 percent from about 60 or 65 percent “because
we engaged and we intruded.”
WASHINGTON — When Michael Sorrell assumed the presidency at Paul Quinn College, one of the first things he did was examine what successful small colleges were doing to achieve their results.
The exploration led him to visit similarly sized institutions throughout the country, from Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., where they “give you one year to prove you can cut it,” to Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash., a school that has a 90 percent retention rate and a high rate of alumni giving.
“You don’t get to Walla Walla by accident,” Sorrell said. “But it was worth the trip.”
After the campus visit, Paul Quinn began to adopt some of the most successful strategies that he discovered, from personalized recruiting like other institutions use to recruit athletes, to “intrusive counseling,” in order to turn



Life Among the Moneychangers – Mr. D at the Education Innovation Summit 2013

“And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, ‘My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves.’” ~ Matthew 21:12-13
True, pure education is never about the money.  Yet money can certainly help spread the gospel to the meekest of the flock…
(Pardon the biblical puns…being among venture capitalists made me a touch 


Meet the Common Corps

We have been for a very long time now to bring meaningful reform to education with sadly mixed results.  We've tried to set requirements for our schools' teachers to teach to standardized tests so that they all teach the same thing and we've created common core standards to even further bring the type of standardization to education that we've been craving since efficiency efforts first set their sights on education back at the beginning of the twentieth century.

However, it's never worked.  Why?  Simply put, you can give two McDonalds similar recipes and condiments, but if one is serving all beef patties and the other is serving burgers full of filler, they're just not going to turn out the same.   The same is true of students who have radically different student bodies.

The Common Corps is our initiative to finally standardized the student bodies across all schools.  Over the next 


Boston University: Grad student killed, another injured in bombings

Boston University officials said Tuesday that one of the three people killed in Monday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon was a graduate student at the school, and another grad student was injured and remains in stable condition at a hospital. … Continue reading →


SHOW ME THE MONEY

I recently came across an article about a Census Bureau report that showed Illinois saw a 19 percent increase in tax revenue in the previous fiscal year, one of the highest jumps in the nation.  In terms of state gains, only North Dakota and Alaska had greater percentage increases.
Illinois led the nation in personal income tax revenue growth, with an increase of nearly 40 percent in fiscal 2012.
State government tax collections in 2012 increased $34.3 billion, to a record $794.6 billion. The previous high was $779.7 billion in 2008.
How in the world can Illinois be on the verge of bankruptcy and unable to pay its obligations ?  What are these legislators doing with all this money ?  $794.6 BILLION IN ONE YEAR?  Good grief, show me where all that money goes!  Show me the money!
Would it be too much to ask to put some of that money towards repaying what the state stole from the 


Moral Fables: Keeping the Hope Alive through Trauma

As many know, I have started a series, Moral Fables, on various topics at Spare Change News. This latest piece is about maintaining hope through trauma. This particular subject, that of hope, relates directly to those of you who are struggling or unable to pay off your student loan debt. (Admittedly, this is a moral fable about loving in a way that almost led to the entire annihilation of a woman's sense of self). Thus, it's really crucial - don't let go of your hope. Nothing, absolutely nothing should lead you to give up your own personal hope. I know that it's hard. There are millions and millions and millions of us who are trapped by debt, but the problem - as we all know - can no longer be ignored. Rest assured, the foot soldiers continue to wage a battle on behalf of the indentured educated class. Hang in there, comrades.  

The following series of essays have been written while teaching ESL classes to adult students from all corners 


Freestyle Week: How Politeness Kills Even The Pretense of Justice | The Jose Vilson

Freestyle Week: How Politeness Kills Even The Pretense of Justice | The Jose Vilson:


Freestyle Week: How Politeness Kills Even The Pretense of Justice


Former NE Patriot Joe Andruzzi Helps Another Runner At The Boston Marathon
Former NE Patriot Joe Andruzzi Helps Another Runner At The Boston Marathon
This week, I’m writing blog posts based on people’s submissions to my Facebook page right here. My first one is based on online friend Michael Doyle’s suggested title, “How politeness kills even the pretense of justice.” Let’s go …
The Boston Marathon shouldn’t have ended that way. A moment of celebration turned into a maelstrom of yells, lost appendages, and death. The American public, at once reminded that they too are not immune to the casualties of extreme anger and hate, rallied around the people injured in a way it didn’t know how to more than a decade ago during the World Trade Center implosions. Yet, when the dust had only begun settling, many of my friends acknowledged that, during this time of perpetual war, this doesn’t change the habits of those in “danger zones” like New York City, Washington DC, or Boston. If anything, it’s made us more globalists, tuning into the deadly conflicts happening in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, The Congo, and Thailand.
Yet, in the interest of being polite, I’m not sure if the general American public wanted to hear about war-torn countries, pre- or post-Boston Marathon 2013.
This won’t be my “chickens coming home to roost” moment; rather, I wonder if we can take more proactive steps 

John Thompson: Did Duncan Load the Bullets into Michelle Rhee's Smoking Gun? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

John Thompson: Did Duncan Load the Bullets into Michelle Rhee's Smoking Gun? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:


John Thompson: Did Duncan Load the Bullets into Michelle Rhee's Smoking Gun?

Guest post by John Thompson.
The current headline is that John Merrow found "the smoking gun," or the confidential memo warning Michelle Rhee of the extent of cheating that may have occurred in Washington D.C. schools in response to her draconian "reforms." Merrow's "Michelle Rhee's Reign of Error" summarizes the evidence of an inexcusable failure to investigate the cheating and it recalls the lesson of Watergate - the cover-up is often worse than the original crime. Merrow concludes with the question, "What did Michelle know, and when did she know it?"
Merrow's report leads to the question of "What did Arne Duncan know and when did he know it?" After all, Duncan and Rhee have earned the title of "the king and queen of data-driven education reform."
The District of Columbia's policies were not only due to the kindness of billionaires and their $65 million contribution to Rhee's test-driven evaluation system. Rhee's toxicity also was enabled by Duncan's $75 million Race to the Top (RTTT) grant, and its requirements that bubble-in testing be used to punish schools and individuals. In fact, the announcement that D.C. had won a RTTT grant was coordinated with a last-minute effort by Duncan to save Rhee's job as chancellor.
We should remember the closing days of Mayor Adrian Fenty's unsuccessful reelection campaign. The primary had become a referendum on Rhee's "reforms." As Duncan's department awarded RTTT funding, he praised the Fenty-Rhee education record as "absolutely extraordinary." The Washington Post's Bill Turque reported, "if any doubt remained about where the Obama Administration's sympathies are in the District primary, they were eliminated at a morning photo op that preceded the official RTTT announcement." Duncan's announcement of the grant on the eve of the election had "the unmistakable feel of a Fenty campaign stop," as Duncan joined the embattled mayor and his controversial chancellor in a walk with children wearing Fenty campaign stickers.