UPDATE: Students opting out of PSAE + Threat to special education class size rules Parents United for Responsible Education

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » Threat to special education class size rules:

Students opting out of PSAE

by admin

Some students from Gage Park High School are planning to boycott part of the Prairie State Achievement Examination (PSAE).
About 80 Gage Park students walked out of a NAEP exam earlier this year. NAEP is a national exam used to compare districts and states across the U.S. The students objected to having their time taken up with tests that had no bearing on their studies, at a time when some students didn’t even feel safe inside the school.
A WBEZ report quotes the students saying they are sick of test prep and opposed to the use of PSAE test scores to evaluate teachers, principals and schools.
The danger of the PSAE boycott is that the exam is a state graduation requirement — students don’t have to 

Threat to special education class size rules

by admin

With everything else going on these days, I’ve neglected the very important story about ISBE’s proposal to lift class size caps on special education classes and on the percentage of special education students that can be served in regular education classes.
ISBE claims that removing this critical protection for special needs students is necessary to help districts balance their budgets and to make local determinations about the best way to serve  the children.
Comments on this proposal are being accepted at rules@isbe.net until the end of the day today. I apologize for the last minute notice. Please reference proposed Amendments to 23 Ill Adm Code 226; 37 Ill Reg 2637.
Here’s what I just sent to ISBE:
Parents United for Responsible Education opposes the proposed rules changes to eliminate class size caps for special education programs and the percentages of special education students allowed in a regular classroom.
The fact that districts like Chicago have consistently failed to meet these standards and are now crying poor is 

RW group @freedomworks posts tantalizing petition to #stopcommoncore – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

RW group @freedomworks posts tantalizing petition to #stopcommoncore – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:

RW group @freedomworks posts tantalizing petition to #stopcommoncore

by Chalk Face, PhD

Here’s a link to the petition.

I’m a grown man with my own perspectives, so let me state that I make no secret of my progressive, social justice-oriented views regarding education. I am supportive of a free and equitable system of public education.

But I do oppose the Common Core State Standards. The Freedom Works petition against the CCSS makes the predictable argument:

Every person in America has a vital interest in stopping Common Core, a top-down, one-size-fits-all government takeover of our education system. [emphasis added].

Cursing the government’s role in this is like cursing the puppet without acknowledging the puppeteer. Far right-wing conservatives in their opposition to the Common Core, must consider the larger, market-based, and for-profit motives behind it. 

I know that might work against the conservative or libertarian faith in free-market capitalism. My opposition to the Fed’s role, or capitulation, to corporate interests 

Pearson Profits Only Matched by Its Incompetence

by ontogenyx

From Stan Karp in Newark: New York’s recent administration of new tests made by Pearson, Inc. continue to expose the many problems of turning educational assessment over to for-profit corporations.  Last week’s examples included errors in scoring, using corporate logos and Pearson promotional material in test content, and inappropriate length and levels of difficulty that had [...]

UPDATE: Parents Please Do Ask Questions About the Common Core | Truth in American Education

Parents Please Do Ask Questions About the Common Core | Truth in American Education:

L.A. Times: It Would Be Better to Delay the Common Core

by Shane Vander Hart

The Los Angeles Times had an interesting op/ed today.  A noteworthy excerpt:

At the rate the state is going, teachers will end up being trained before the English curriculum is even in place, and instruction would start before the new textbooks are in anyone’s hands. Yet if the school reform movement has its way, teachers will be evaluated in part based on how well their students do on the very different standardized tests that go with the new curriculum. Reflecting the concern that teachers throughout the state have been expressing, one California teacher recently tweeted that within a couple of years, “we start testing on standards we’re not teaching with curriculum we don’t have on computers that don’t exist.”

Teachers justifiably fret that they’re being set up for failure. Schools worry about finding the money to make all this happen…

…Experts are divided over the value of the new curriculum standards, which might or might not lead students to the deeper reading, reasoning and writing skills that were intended. But on this much they agree: The curriculum will fail if it isn’t carefully implemented with meaningful tests that 

Parents Please Do Ask Questions About the Common Core

by Shane Vander Hart

U.S. News & World Report had an article on the Common Core, Kelsey Sheehy writing at their High School Notes blog said parents should ask three basic questions:

1.  Why are they backtracking (speaking of state officials)?

Actually state officials are not backtracking because they were not brought into the decision-making process to begin with so that isn’t an accurate picture of the situation.  In many cases they want to do their due diligence like Sheehy is asking parents to do.

She said the reasons that some oppose the standards are:

In most cases, opponents of the standards argue three points: That the state’s own standards are already rigorous, that the effectiveness of the Common Core standards is not proven and that national standards diminish the autonomy of state and local education officials.

Actually I’d also add the process was flawed, there are problems with the content and the federal involvement is illegal.
2.  What will it cost?
Excellent question – we still are not completely sure.  She made the following point that I have in discussions 

Elaine Weiss: Can We Move Past Market-oriented "Reforms" to Policies That Actually Work?

Elaine Weiss: Can We Move Past Market-oriented "Reforms" to Policies That Actually Work?:

Can We Move Past Market-oriented "Reforms" to Policies That Actually Work?

For over a decade now, a group of self-proclaimed reformers has argued that, notwithstanding a lack of research-based evidence to support their claims, we should put our trust -- and our public money -- in their policy agenda. School district leaders like Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein, Arne Duncan, and the mayors who backed them, would have us believe that virtually all it takes to close stubborn race- and income-based achievement gaps is evaluating teachers and schools on the basis of student test scores, closing schools that are deemed "under-performing," and replacing "failing schools" with charter schools. With the backing of the Obama Administration and organized, well-funded advocacy groups like Rhee's StudentsFirst, as well as Stand for Children, Democrats for Education Reform, 50CAN, and others, these "reforms" are starting to look more like the new status quo.

A new comprehensive assessment by the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education of these reform efforts over the past ten years should do more than call into question their logic and efficacy. It should put to rest, once and for all, the notion that opportunity gaps with their roots in family and community poverty can be addressed through quick-fix reforms that treat low-income and 

John White and InBloom: It Ain’t Over, Folks | deutsch29

John White and InBloom: It Ain’t Over, Folks | deutsch29:

John White and InBloom: It Ain’t Over, Folks

by deutsch29

On Friday, April 19, I wrote a post regarding John White’s supposedly pulling out of student data storage with the Gates-and-Murdoch-associated nonprofit, InBloom. Since that time, I added an update to my original post, which I will reproduce here for those who might have missed it:

UPDATE 04-20-13:

Fellow Louisiana blogger crazycrawfish (former LDOE manager of data) has included this information in this post:

“John White unwittingly sent us a file for yet another (third?) data aggregator he shared student data with and did not run by BESE. You see, these xml files look like they came from and/or go to Ed-Fi if you read the header for this file. Ed-Fi is yet another data aggregation company owned by a different set of billionaires, Michael and Susan Dell. …

“To summarize this set of emails (pdf available in post): it appears the Louisiana Department of Education was 

Diane in the Evening 4-22-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Will Florida Pass Parent Tricker Bill?

by dianerav

Last year, Florida State Senators failed to pass a parent trigger bill because not a single parent group in the state supported the bill. Parents came from across the state to testify against the legislation. They accurately saw the bill as a transparent effort to trick parents into handing their public school over to a charter corporation.
The bill comes up for a vote in the next few days. Jeb Bush and his surrogates are working hard to get the bill 

What Michelle Rhee Told the LA Times About Teacher Evaluation

by dianerav

Michelle Rhee was recently invited to meet with the Los Angeles Times editorial board.
The interview occurred after John Merrow published his bombshellpost about the mysterious memo, the one showing that Rhee was informed about the likelihood of widespread cheating and did nothing about it. Rhee forgot about the cheating memo or didn’t think it important.
In the same post on his blog, Merrow said that the public schools were worse off after the Rhee-Henderson years 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-22-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] New York: Tests Will Remain Secret by dianerav Parents in New York want to see the contents of the Pearson tests that are aligned with the Common Core but officials are adamantly opposed to releasing the tests. Parents want to review the tests to see if the questions and answers are reasonable. That is not going to happen. Teachers have been warned that they may be disciplined if they reveal any questions. Unless students Shocker: The PTA and McDonald’s? by ... more »

NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education

NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education:


Greetings! 

This is a Special Edition of our newsletter, to announce an exciting new feature: The NPE Newsblog. 

If you are "in the know" you might have seen an email titled The Pennsylvania Education Crisis Highlights, edited by Ken Derstine. Ken assembles the hottest stories from around the country, and offers a bit of his own analysis on the trends he is observing. It is a great way to capture a sense of everything happening, and he has brought this to our NPE web site. Please visit, and bookmark or subscribe to this page to stay informed about what is happening in the fight to save our schools. 

 Please share this newsletter with friends, so we can build our network of those working to support our schools. If you would like to make a donation, or become a member, you can do so here. And don't forget to "like us" on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter!

NPE News Editor's Note Corporate Reform is Teetering Dear Friends, Today's articles show a perfect storm developing against corporate education reform. What the response will be from the corporate reformers remains to be seen, but today's articles show there is a rising awareness of and opposition to corporate reform. From opposition to Common Core developing on all sides of the political spectrum, to rising opposition by parents to high-stakes testing, to rising opposition to the Gates inBloom data-sharing project, to the incredible backtracking in an LA Times interview by Michelle Rhee to what she has been saying about high-stakes testing and teacher evaluations for the last ten years, to the rejection by the Tennessee legislature of charter expansion; today's links show that the house of cards that is corporate education reform is teetering.  Now is the time to make your voice heard. Seize the time! Visit the NPE News Briefs Blog here! Ken Derstine Editor, NPE News Slogan Chosen: "Public Education is Not For Sale!" Thanks to the hundreds of you who offered slogans or voted to help us choose the best one. The winner of the runoff, with more than 50% of the vote, was Public Education is Not for Sale! Please go here to our new store.Proceeds will support the cause.  NPE Webinar #2: Student Organizing 101 Student Organizing Webinar: Tuesday, April 30, 8:30 pm Eastern Featuring student activists Stephanie Riviera, Sarah Smith and Israel Munoz. These dynamic students will discuss the ways they have taken action to affect change around their own educational futures, and provide suggestions and advice for other students who want to do the same. Stephanie is enrolled at Rutgers, and is a founder of Students United for Public Education. Sarah Smith participated in protests at the state capital of Wisconsin against Scott Walker, and now attends the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Israel Muñoz is a high school student in Chicago, active in Chicago Students Organized to Save Our Schools. He has been involved in the fight to stop the closing of more than fifty schools there.     Register here . You will be emailed a link to the webinar a day or two before the event.

Please forward this newsletter far and wide!    In solidarity,   The Network For Public Education

Start Following Your Dreams, Stop Worrying About What You're 'Supposed To Do' — Whole Child Education

Start Following Your Dreams, Stop Worrying About What You're 'Supposed To Do' — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

Start Following Your Dreams, Stop Worrying About What You’re ‘Supposed To Do’

April 22, 2013 by Bill Drayton

In elementary school I could not imagine why I was being tortured by Latin or math, and my perception of soccer was chiefly that of being a crashee.

But I loved starting things, especially newspapers. Once I had saved enough to buy a mimeograph machine (the prior technology being typing hard with as many carbon copy sheets as possible), I was unstoppable.

The logic of producing what would become a 32- and then 50-page newspaper with writers and circulation beyond my school was also irresistible. I had to go out and get advertisements, and I had to organize peers in many places. All this was obvious to me, but it meant not always being where I was supposed to be.

Many years later when my mother died I found correspondence with the principal of my school. My mother was more than a little worried. (Why is my fifth grader neither in school nor at home?) However, the principal patiently and ultimately successfully argued that everyone should trust me. In fact, he advised: "Don't even show him that you're anxious."

Bless him!

Once a young person has had a dream, built a team, and changed his or her world, he or she has the power to express love and respect in action—the heart of what brings health, longevity and happiness.

He or she will be a changemaker for life—a real contributor in a world where value increasingly comes from 

Marvin Matthew – If You Want Solutions, Invest in Youth Student Voice

Student Voice:

Marvin Matthew – If You Want Solutions, Invest in Youth

by Editor Admin

“Do students have a responsibility to use what they’ve learned in school to address societal plights?”
A professor recently posed this question. I struggled to answer. My logic is that if you aren’t teaching us to
address, analyze, and solve problems — you can’t expect us to do any of the above.
If colleges and universities, or society, are asking students to use what we’ve learned in the classroom to
help solve the problems which we all face, then why are they drill, kill, bubble filling us?
Our systems shouldn’t be slanted towards memorizing and testing. Instead they should be centered on
critical thinking, analyzing, and problem solving. Testing has become such an important component to
education from K-12 and through undergraduate (depending on your school/program) that the space
for problem solving, logic, and critical redesign have been squeezed, or worse, pushed out. Whether you
believe in charter schools or public education as the solution — neither should be structured on learning
as a binary system. If you want problem solvers, thinking mustn’t be void of the classroom.
If someone goes to plumbing school, but is taught how to be an electrician would you ask that person to

April 22 Chat – Green Schools

by Editor Admin

To celebrate Earth Day, our #StuVoice Twitter chat tonight will discuss “Green Schools,” a cool new take on education. If you’re curious, here are some stories about specific schools.Take a look at the Center for Green Schools “State of Our Schools” report below to learn about the health impacts of our schools and the benefits teaching and learning in a green school can have. And remember, infographics speak louder than words. Tweet at you soon!

Featured image courtesy of Travis Morgan.

Corporate Education Reform Goes to College Despite Flunking Out in the K-12 System

Corporate Education Reform Goes to College Despite Flunking Out in the K-12 System:

Corporate Education Reform Goes to College Despite Flunking Out in the K-12 System

by Jim Miller

By Jim Miller Things haven’t been going too well for the corporate education reform forces lately. In Chicago there is great controversy surrounding and parent resistance to school closings as a result of the efforts of over zealous reformers. This shameful turn of events puts yet another black mark on former Obama Administration chief of staff and current Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel’s heavy-handed reign of error over his city’s schools. Across the country in Seattle, teachers, students, and parents came together to resist the overuse of standardized tests by asking questions that resonated nationwide about the disservice we are doing to our children. And, in Atlanta, a massive cheating scandal raised eyebrows about the hegemony of high stakes testing as well.

Add to this the rapidly unraveling reputation of the snarling diva of market-based education reform, Michelle Rhee, who appears to have covered up a cheating scandal of her own in her 

Are Top State Education Officials trying to circumvent Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Law by using personal email accounts? - Wait, What?

Are Top State Education Officials trying to circumvent Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Law by using personal email accounts? - Wait, What?:

Are Top State Education Officials trying to circumvent Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Law by using personal email accounts?

by jonpelto

Yet another source has confirmed that certain high-ranking officials in the State Department of Education are using their personal computers, personal email accounts or texting on their personal phones to conduct state business.

Unfortunately from time to time, government officials have tried to side-step Connecticut’s Freedom of Information laws by using their personal computers or personal email accounts to conduct the public’s businesses.  Others have used their personal phones to text information that deals with public issues.

In all those situations, when the necessary evidence has been provided, the Freedom of Information Commission has been absolutely clear.  Public records are public, even if officials use their private computers or phones.

The problem is that most Freedom of Information requests only seek copies of emails that have been sent via state accounts.  Without evidence, it becomes difficult, if not 

No need to break the law — just have it changed for you (by Wendy Lecker)

by jonpelto

Fellow pro-public education advocate and columnist hits the mark, yet again, with her column in this past weekend’s CT Post, Stamford Advocate and other Hearst Media Group outlets.  Her piece is entitled, No need to break the law — just have it changed for you. In the piece, Wendy writes, “The education “reform” movement has been [...]

(Read more...)

UPDATE: Seattle Schools Community Forum: WA State Teacher Named National Teacher of the Year

Seattle Schools Community Forum: WA State Teacher Named National Teacher of the Year:

Debarments

by Charlie Mas

When a vendor for the District has overbilled the District they can be subject to debarment - the District will refuse to do business with them in future.

As a result of the scandal around the Small Works roster program and the state auditor's office investigation into the potential loss of public funds, a number of cases for debarment arose.

Here is a district memo summarizing the status of those debarred.

You will note that the debarment of the Urban League has expired.

Adoption Cycle

by Charlie Mas

For those who believed that Seattle Public Schools was supposed to be on a seven-year cycle for the adoption of instructional materials, and that we are overdue for a review of the math materials, you are right.

Here is a memo to the Board from Shauna Heath on the status of the adoption cycle.

She intends to use the coming school year, 2013-2014, as a "curriculum mapping year" for K-12 math, then 

WA State Teacher Named National Teacher of the Year

by Melissa Westbrook

I knew it.

Today Jeff Charbonneau was named as the national teacher of the year by the Council of Chief State School Officers.  According to their website:

A science teacher from Zillah High School who helped transform his small school into a place where nearly every student graduates with some college credit was named as national teacher of the year.

Zillah Principal Mike Torres said last week that Charbonneau, 35, has added a lot to the school located in Washington's Yakima Valley and has inspired other teachers to push themselves.

Torres also gives Charbonneau credit for helping push more kids in Zillah to continue learning after high school. Ninety percent of last year's graduating class went on to continue their learning, either at college, in an apprenticeship program or the military.

Those numbers have a lot to do with a program Charbonneau started to help students get college credit for the 

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Monday, April 22, 2013

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

In L.A. school board race, sky-high spending continues

Endorsements - Monica Ratliff for Board of Education 2013: 

Education Headlines

Monday, April 22, 2013

Monterey Peninsula USD's choice for superintendent named in sexual harassment lawsuit

Monterey Peninsula Unified School District trustees are confident they picked the right man for the superintendent's job, even though he has been named in a sexual harassment lawsuit.

Palm Springs Unified School District harder on black students

The Palm Springs Unified School District suspends black students almost twice as often as their white or Latino peers, an inequality that has persisted at least a decade.

Racial balance still issue for Menifee, Perris districts

Menifee Union School District's push for unification still faces a number of roadblocks, including securing racial balances, according to a report that Assistant Superintendent Robert Wolfe will present to the governing board Tuesday.

Assistant superintendent leaving Lake Elsinore Unified

Alain Guevara, Lake Elsinore Unified School District's assistant superintendent of instructional support services, is leaving the district to be the superintendent of the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District.

Some furlough days restored in Alvord

Students in Alvord schools will have a full 180-day school year in 2013-14, and teachers will work 185 days, Superintendent Nick Ferguson said Friday, April 19.

In L.A. school board race, sky-high spending continues

The contest between Antonio Sanchez, a former mayoral aide, and Monica Ratliff, a teacher, will be decided in May's runoff. Money pours in for their campaigns.

Program training teachers in West Contra Costa to be school leaders

The sponsor of Emerging Leaders, a New York-based nonprofit, is convinced that strong leaders can help improve struggling schools in low-income neighborhoods.

New standardized tests feature plugs for commercial products

Talk about corporate-based school reform. New high-stakes standardized tests aligned with the Common Core State Standards are featuring plugs for commercial products. And the companies didn’t have to pay a penny.

GED high school equivalency test to get major overhaul, become more difficult

Hundreds of thousands of high school dropouts hoping to earn an equivalency diploma will have to pass a more challenging GED test that is being designed to improve the prospects of low-skilled workers in a high-tech economy.

Adelanto High School opening delayed again

Since a majority of Adelanto's 30,000 residents voted in 2008 to start paying for the state-of-the-art campus, they've eagerly awaited promised openings in August 2012, then January 2013, then August 2013. Now, construction is finally complete, but residents say they're separated from their dream by a chain-link fence and an unsympathetic school board.

Baron: State toughens regs for interns teaching English learners

The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing will now require non-credentialed Teach For America teachers and other intern teachers to receive more training in how to teach English learners and to get weekly on-the-job mentoring and supervision.

Kerchner: D.C. cheating issue calls test-driven incentives into question

The smoke surrounding allegations of test score cheating in the Washington, D.C., public schools burst into flame last week.

Test scores under investigation at Burbank school

A McKinley Elementary teacher has been placed on administrative leave after a third-grade student reported that the teacher helped a class answer questions on state standardized tests this week.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Alisal school chief's spending under scrutiny

The personal use of official credit cards by the superintendent of the Alisal Union School District is being investigated on two fronts, officials said Thursday.

San Jose's Metropolitan Education District names new superintendent

The Metropolitan Education District board has named Alyssa Lynch of Campbell as its next superintendent. Lynch replaces Paul Hay, who has been superintendent since 2007 and retires May 31

School Board: Gov. Brown's budget 'will hurt Irvine students'

Members of the Irvine School Board fear that an education funding method laid out in California Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed 2013-14 state budget would underfund Irvine schools in favor of shifting support to districts with a high percentage of English learners and disadvantaged students.