Obama, defying political base, declares National Charter Schools Week | Strange Bedfellows — Politics News - seattlepi.com

Obama, defying political base, declares National Charter Schools Week | Strange Bedfellows — Politics News - seattlepi.com:

Obama, defying political base, declares National Charter Schools Week

President Obama has proclaimed this as “National Charter Schools Week” in the United States, warmly embracing a cause that is anathema to teachers unions as it is in much of the president’s liberal base in this Washington.

The president, in praising charter schools, seemed to note the atrophy of the public school system, particularly in some urban areas.

“These learning laboratories give educators the chance to try new models and methods that can encourage excellence in the classroom and prepare more of our children for college and careers,” Obama wrote.  “In return for this flexibility, we should expect high standards and accountability, and make tough decisions to close charter schools that are under, defying  performing and not improving.

“But where charter schools demonstrate success and exceed expectations, we should share what they learn with other public schools and replicate those that produce dramatic results.  Many charter schools choose to locate in communities with few high-quality educational options, making them an important partner in widening the circle of opportunity for students who need it most.”

Washington voters decided narrowly in November to authorize up to 40 publicly funded charter schools open to all students and run through approved non-religious, non-profit organization, and with government oversight. The measure was heavily backed by the state’s technology billionaires: State voters had rejected charter schools on three previous occasions.

Charter schools are generally defined as a public school governed by a charter school board and operated by a 

Charter schools: The report card

Max Lockie

8:12 PM on 05/06/2013

• Twitter8
• Facebook5

0

(Illinois floor during session at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., Wednesday, March 24, 2010. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman))

On Friday the White House issued a presidential proclamation naming May 5 -11 “National Charter School Week.” Charter Schools are publicly funded schools that are governed by an independent organization through a contract–or charter–with the state. This charter allows these schools to ignore some state or local rules in exchange for meeting standards written into the charter. About 5% of all schools in the U.S. are charter schools, with enrollment quadrupling from 1990-2000 to 2009-10 to 1.6 million students.

In Friday’s Proclamation, President Obama referred to charter schools as “learning laboratories” that offer educators “flexibility” to test new “new models and methods” in the classroom.  “In return for this flexibility,” President Obama continues, “we should expect high standards and accountability.”

Accountability was the subject of a report from the Department of Education Office of the 

Department Of Education 'Comes Out' On College Aid For Students Of Gay Parents - Forbes

Department Of Education 'Comes Out' On College Aid For Students Of Gay Parents - Forbes:

Department Of Education 'Comes Out' On College Aid For Students Of Gay Parents

Comment Now 

Follow Comments

The US Department of Education “came out” last week with changes to its Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) that are clearly aimed at the LGBT community. The changes serve more to

Students of Gay Parents Can Now List Both Parent's Incomes on the FAFSA College Aid Application;   (Mother 1 and Mother 2 or Father 1 and Father 2)

recognize this community than to produce results in the form of college aid eligibility for students. Instead, students with parents who are not married will now have to report both parent’s incomes, decreasing their aid eligibility substantially.

The announcement stated that the 2014-2015 Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, will provide a new option for dependent applicants to describe their parents’ marital status as “unmarried and both parents living together.” Additionally, where appropriate, the new FAFSA form will also use terms like “Parent 1 (father/mother/stepparent)” and “Parent 2 (father/mother/stepparent)” instead of gender-specific terms like 

MORNING UPDATE LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 5-7-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | #thankateacher A site to discuss better education for all

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

 #thankateacher

Researcher Says Louisiana DOE Hid Data

by dianerav

Louisiana deserves out attention because it is an extreme example of the corporate reform agenda at work.
As Reuters put it, the “reform” agenda targets the very existence of public education. The radical goal of Governor Bobby Jindal is privatization. Wiping out the teaching profession is a strategy to turn teachers into a compliant workforce, unable to challenge the privatization plan.
Testifying before the state senate education committee, a researcher pointed out

Breaking News: Louisiana Court Rules Funding Vouchers Unconstitutional

by dianerav

The Louisiana State Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to fund vouchers using money dedicated to public schools. The court split 6-1. The decision removes funding not only for vouchers but for “course choice,” which was supposed to fund courses offered by entrepreneurs–many of them online– outside the public schools.

CORRECTION: Louisiana Court 6-1 Against Vouchers

by dianerav

Sorry, I erroneously posted that the Louisiana State Supreme Court ruled the funding of vouchers unconstitutional by 2-1.
The vote was 6-1.

Why Did Educators Boo Duncan? Jennings Apologizes

by dianerav

I did not go to the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in San Francisco, so was not aware of what is described in this post. Jennifer Jennings says that Arne Duncan was booed when he spoke, and she apologized to Secretary Duncan for the behavior of her fellow researchers.
Why was Secretary Duncan booed, and should AERA (or anyone else) apologize for the booing?
Booing is the behavior of the powerless. Educators are angry–and Jennings knows this–because of the top-down, authoritarian way in which Duncan has imposed policies that are bad for children, ruinous for teachers, 

Will Public Education Survive in Arizona?

by dianerav

Edward F. Berger is a strong voice for sanity in the desert of Arizona education politics.
He attended a community meeting with a gubernatorial candidate.
The condition of public education after 20 years of failed policies is frightening.
“The politician, who has been involved in the demise of public education for well over a decade, is not naïve, he is not misinformed, he is, in fact, part of the insanity that has taken over the state and is openly destroying public education so that now private religious and charter schools have access to our public tax dollars. He stands before this hopeful group and omits what he knows, that these are dollars diverted from district schools, the very 

Petrilli: Closing the Vocabulary Gap Will Close the Opportunity Gap

by dianerav

Mike Petrilli of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute just posted his first blog exchange with Deborah Meier. Mike argues that the key to closing the opportunity gap between rich and poor children is to close the vocabulary gap. He cites the work of E.D. Hirsch to support his contention.
In his article, he refers to me as one of the people who say that nothing can be done until we fix poverty. To be sure I don’t misquote him, as he misquotes me, here is the relevant paragraph:
“Still, the message that comes through in Professors Reardon’s and Carter’s work—and from others on the left, including Diane Ravitch and Richard Rothstein—is that there’s not much schools can do about these gaps. They are visible before kids even enter kindergarten; they don’t grow much, if at all, while children are in the K-12 

Ripping Off Taxpayers in Pennsylvania

by dianerav

A new report from the state auditor general shows how charters and cyber charters are overpaid, while the public system–which most children attend–get the short end of the stick.
“PA cybercharters avg cost of $10,145 was $3,500 more than national average of $6,500.
“PA charters spent avg $13,411 per student, about $3K more than

Why VAM Doesn’t Work: A Short Tutorial

by dianerav

In this video of 23 minutes, you will get a synopsis of why value-added modeling doesn’t work.
The video is a preview of a collection of research papers that will be available online in a few months, and published in 2014 by Teachers College Press in 2014.
The more we learn about the real consequences of VAM, the more we understand that it has perverse consequences.
We know already that it puts too much emphasis on test scores, and we saw what that

Is VAM Junk Science? Matt Di Carlo and I Disagree

by dianerav

I usually agree with Matt Di Carlo. He is one smart guy.
But not always.
That’s okay. Friends can disagree and still be friends (I proved that by blogging with Deborah Meier for five years).
I think that value-added methods of using test scores to

Diane in the Evening 5-6-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 32 minutes ago

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Will My School Die? by dianerav The teacher who wrote this post reequired anonymity, for obvious reasons: I am writing to tell you about a situation at my school — Shea High in Pawtucket, RI. At the start of last year, both Shea and Tolman High (the only two non-charter public high schools in Pawtucket) were told that they had failed to make AYP as per NCLB and would have to undergo transformation. Note that since RI has accepted RttT, last year was the last possible year that this could have happened. Despit... more »

Glen Brown asks, “What about that pension agreement between the We Are One Illinois Coalition and Senate President Cullerton?” | Fred Klonsky

Glen Brown asks, “What about that pension agreement between the We Are One Illinois Coalition and Senate President Cullerton?” | Fred Klonsky:

Glen Brown asks, “What about that pension agreement between the We Are One Illinois Coalition and Senate President Cullerton?”

by Fred Klonsky

Glen Brown.

Contracts supported by consideration are often one-sided, advantageous arrangements. In Illinois, any agreement with the General Assembly regarding a “guaranteed” funding to the pension systems, for example, may not be a “valid” consideration for public employees, especially since it would be in exchange for reductions of originally-vested benefits guaranteed by the Illinois and U.S. Constitutions. It is an expedient bargain for many members of the Illinois General Assembly, nonetheless, particularly since there haven’t been consequences for their past thievery and depravity.It wasn’t too long ago when John Stevens, Legal Consultant for the “We Are One” Labor Coalition stated: “To take away the Cost-of-Living Adjustment [COLA] for [current and future] retirees is not a free and fair choice. It is a coercive choice under duress.” Indeed, the concept of duress (or coercion) is a vitiating (legally defective) factor and; therefore, Illinois legislators are breaching a contract by forcing public employees to make a choice to 

Louisiana Educator: Great News From the Legislature

Louisiana Educator: Great News From the Legislature:

Great News From the Legislature

by Michael Deshotels

A couple of weeks ago I got a comment to my blog from a teacher who in effect said that she appreciated the support the education profession was getting from this blog, but she said it was a bit depressing to always see so much bad news about education in Louisiana. I responded that when there was good news I would be happy to report it. Well here it is. Good news for a change!

Yesterday afternoon, the House of Representatives voted 102 to 0 to approve HB 160 by Rep. Reynolds.  (See the Advocate story here) This bill will put off the punitive measures required in the Act 54 evaluation system for at least a year. The vote on this bill demonstrates a major turnaround in attitude of the legislature from last year when it seemed that teachers were just not being heard even when they showed up by the thousands at the capitol. I believe that teachers have finally done a good job of "educating" their legislators that evaluation reform must be based on solid and tested programs before it is allowed to affect the lives of dedicated professionals.There is so much wrong with the new evaluation system which I have discussed extensively in this blog!

The Neglected Purpose of Education | toteachornototeach

The Neglected Purpose of Education | toteachornototeach:

The Neglected Purpose of Education

by aristotlethewise

The Neglected Purpose of Education 

by Jack Jennings
“To prepare all citizens to become responsible members of a democratic society”
“To develop socialization and citizenship skills in children”
“Preparing students for responsible, productive citizenship and imbuing them with values common to one democratic society”
These similar phrases were developed by diverse groups of citizens in three communities — Berwyn, Illinois; Chicago; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, respectively — to describe what they saw as a basic mission of public education.
These conclusions emerged from 72 citizens’ forums held in all regions of the country in 1996 through 1998 by the National PTA, Phi Delta Kappa, and the Center on Education Policy. Their purpose was to encourage local 

Summer enrichment programs prove their value | EdSource Today

Summer enrichment programs prove their value | EdSource Today:

Summer enrichment programs prove their value - by John Fensterwald

by John Fensterwald

The organizers of a statewide campaign to encourage school districts to offer quality summer enrichment programs have documented gains in learning and growth in social skills that they anticipated would benefit low-income, minority students in their programs.

Through its Summer Matters initiative in a dozen communities, the Partnership for Children and Youth has promoted full-day programs that are more like summer camp than traditional summer schools. Most of the programs are partnerships between city departments of recreation and school districts.

Students at Sacramento’s summer program at Sam Brannan Middle School meet at a community garden, one of of their summer learning projects. Credit: Partnership for Children and Youth.

“Programs do not have to look like traditional summer school to get good results that are engaging and inspiring for students. There is not necessarily a better return on a boring program,” said Katie Brackenridge, senior director for Out of School Time Initiatives for the Partnership.

The evaluation of three summer programs – in Fresno, Los Angeles and Sacramento ­– found particular improvements in literacy skills, as measured by the San Diego Quick, a common vocabulary test. Participants 

California Teachers Association turns 150 - by Kathryn Baron

by Kathryn Baron

The California Teachers Association is celebrating the 28th annual national Teacher Appreciation Week with a bigger milestone – the 150th anniversary of its founding. It was May 1863 when then state superintendent of schools John Swett, a passionate advocate for free public education, held a state teachers’ convention and established the California Educational Society with fewer than 100 members,...

Actually, Failing Our Children Is What’s Unflippingbelieveable « MomsRising Blog

Actually, Failing Our Children Is What’s Unflippingbelieveable « MomsRising Blog:

Actually, Failing Our Children Is What’s Unflippingbelieveable

by Bruce Lesley

A few weeks ago, Melissa Harris-Perry appeared in a “Lean Forward” promotional ad for MSNBC and said:

We have never invested as much in public education as we should have because we’ve always had kind of a private notion of children: Your kid is yours and totally your responsibility. We haven’t had a very collective notion of these are our children. So part of it is we have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents, or kids belong to their families, and recognize that kids belong to whole communities. Once it’s everybody’s responsibility, and not just the household’s, then we start making better investments.

As an advocate for children, I appreciate her last point that, in this country, we do a poor job of making the needed investments in education, early childhood, child health, and child nutrition to ensure better outcomes for our nation’s children. For example, less than 8 percent of the federal budget is now invested in children and thesequestration cuts another $4.2 billion out of children’s programs.
As if to underscore the point, Congress moved into high gear to pass by overwhelming margins emergency 

Leave no unwealthy child behind:

Leave no unwealthy child behind

Posted by Valerie Strauss on May 7, 2013 at 4:00 am

5

Comments

More

How does growing economic inequality affect student achievement? Here to discuss it is Mike Rose, a highly respected professor at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and author of several books. His latest book is “Back to School: Why Everyone Deserves a Second Chance at Education.

By Mike Rose

Stanford sociologist Sean Reardon wrote an important opinion piece for The New York Times last week, “No Rich Child Left Behind,” and I would like to add a few thoughts to it. Growing economic inequality between the wealthy and just about everyone else has been in the news for some time now. What Reardon does is offer data that demonstrates how that economic inequality is being reflected in educational achievement.

Examining math and reading test scores over the past 50 years, Reardon found that “the rich-poor gap in test scores is about 40 percent larger now than it was 30 years ago.” Other researchers are finding that “the proportion of students from upper-income families who earn a bachelor’s degree has increased by 18 percentage points over a 20-year period, while the completion rate of poor students has grown by only 4 points.” And it’s not just low-income kids who are being left behind; one of Reardon’s striking findings is that “the rich now outperform the middle class by as much as the middle class outperform the poor.” It’s not that poor or middle-class kids (of any racial or ethnic background) are doing worse; 

What schools need and what they don’t need

by Valerie Strauss

Veteran educator and education blogger Anthony Cody wrote a piece on his Education Week blog, Living in Dialogue, about a new proposal by Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, to postpone for a year the high … Continue reading →

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: On the removal of Principal Zoila Garcia from Whittier Dual Language School

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: On the removal of Principal Zoila Garcia from Whittier Dual Language School:

On the removal of Principal Zoila Garcia from Whittier Dual Language School

by Mike Klonsky

Parents, teachers, and community members meet to protest the removal Principal Garcia. (Photo: Un-Official Whittier Dual Language School)

To the extended Whittier Dual Language School Family

Whittier Dual Language School, under the direction of Zoila Garcia, was visited before she was abruptly removed by PLV Network Chief Steve Zrike, with no input from the LSC or Whittier School Community, by the one of the national authorities on Dual Language, The Dual Language Education of New Mexico, who participated in an all day instructional round observation in nine classrooms. The DLeNM is an organization that knows more about dual language education than anyone in CPS.

In the report, they wrote the following of our principal, Ms. Zoila Garcia:

"School principal, Zoila Garcia, possesses an exemplary understanding of dual language instruction and 

UPDATE: State releases new school grades + National Teacher Day: Instead of coffee mug or flowers,... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com

National Teacher Day: Instead of coffee mug or flowers,... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com:

Get Schooled: State releases new school grades. How did your school fare?

The state Department of Education just released grades for all k-12 public schools in Georgia based on a brand new measures called the Georgia College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI). There are scores for districts and schools.
Find your district school here. Once you do, please post about ...

Get Schooled: National Teacher Day: Instead of coffee mug or flowers, teachers want trust

By Maureen Downey

I have been inundated with statements and releases on National Teacher Day, which is today. I thought this poll was the most interesting of the stuff sent to me.

This is from the National Education Association:

As part of this year’s celebration, the National Education Association conducted an online poll, asking teachers, “What do you want for National Teacher Day?”

Nearly 1,000 educators participated in the poll. Poll responses indicate that teachers still appreciate thank you cards, flowers and drawings from their students, but teachers also expressed growing concern and frustration with high stakes testing and the lack of classroom autonomy.

According to those participating in the online poll, the best “thank you” would be to:

 •“Trust my education and experience. Give me control over my students’ instruction and assessment” (29.1%)

•“Stop the standardized testing mania (28.06%)

•“Pay me the salary I deserve” (19.98%)

•“Smaller classes so I can give more