6-18-13 @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:

Robert Skeels Attends a pRev Meet and Greet

by Chalk Face, PhD

Reblogged from Diane Ravitch's blog: Robert Skeels attended a "meet and greet" sponsored by pRev (the organization formerly known as Parent Revolution). Read what he learned as he socialized with those who are prepared to close down 50 public schools in Los Angeles. Why? Well, firing people makes better schools. Or does it? We know […]

Barista Kids Aren’t Drinking the Kool-Aid

by freetoteach

Parents of the Barista Kids in Montclair, New Jersey are Opting Out.  Reported by teenage journalists who still know what education should look like. Here’s the petition. Pass it around. The petition states: We are parents and community members of Montclair, New Jersey. We write because we believe in Montclair’s identity as a community of intellect, […]

I’ve visited @NCTQ, we should all be underwhelmed #teacherprep

by Chalk Face, PhD

Paul Thomas and Jim Horn have already warned us about NCTQ and its thoroughly biased “advocacy.” There are some updated links in there, here’s a few more on the new report specifically: From NPR; NCTQ’s chief hypocrisy; And MSNBC. and the Wall Street Journal. Kind of a mixed bag here. I’m not sure if there’s […]

Microsoft No. 1–in Turning Over Data to NSA

by Jim Horn

You might say that Gates got the ball rolling.  From the PRISM slide show recently exposed (click to enlarge): 

 

6-17-13 @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 7 hours ago

@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER: [image: gears] KIPP in Arkansas Gives “Whatever It Takes” New Meaning by Jim Horn Recent conversations with KIPP high school teachers reveals many cracks in KIPP’s Five Pillars. Apparently, KIPP’s Helena, AK high school has interpreted “whatever it takes” to include violating state laws for student transcripts and what can count as course credits. From The Inside Scoop Online: The Arkansas Department of Education has determined that the Helena-West […] PAR NoT PARCC in New Jersey by freetoteach Looking to replace the test driven, evaluatio... more »

U.S. News Releases NCTQ Teacher Prep Ratings - US News and World Report

U.S. News Releases NCTQ Teacher Prep Ratings - US News and World Report:

U.S. News Releases NCTQ Teacher Prep Ratings

The ratings are part of a larger, independent review of undergraduate and graduate education programs.

By KELSEY SHEEHY

June 18, 2013 RSS Feed Print

New ratings released by U.S. News and NCTQ evaluate programs that train teachers to teach.

Teaching was once dubbed "the profession that eats its young" and many educators liken their first few years in the classroom to a hazing ritual. The result is an industry that hemorrhages new teachers nearly as fast as it can license them.

One factor feeding the high turnover rate is lack of preparation, according to Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, a national union representing 1.5 million educators.

"Newly minted teachers are tossed the keys to their classrooms … and left to see if they (and their students) sink or swim," she wrote in a December 2012 report for the AFT. The report called for higher standards and accountability in teacher training programs.

The 2013 NCTQ Teacher Prep Ratings, released today by U.S. News, are a step in that direction.

[Read U.S. News Editor Brian Kelly's opinion on the NCTQ ratings.]

Part of a broader effort by the National Council on Teacher Quality, the ratings are a subset of the NCTQ Teacher Prep Review, published toda

FAQs on the 2013 Teacher Prep Ratings

Learn more about the National Council on Teacher Quality ratings of undergrad and grad programs.

Show Me the MOU! | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

Show Me the MOU! | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

Show Me the MOU!

by crazycrawfish

Today, June 18^th 2013, John White and BESE are meeting to try and persuade the public of the need for participating with external Cloud Based vendors like Ed-Fi and inBloom. At the last BESE meeting (several months ago) White promised to released a copy of the MOU/agreement between LDOE and inBloom. To date John White has not released this document, even in response to several Freedom of Information Act requests filed by Tom Aswell at Louisiana Voice and BESE member Lottie Beebe. Demand to see that MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) before they leave today or move on to another topic. If they report no such document exists I recommend appealing to the DA to file charges against White for a million cases of Identity Theft.
Below is a cheatsheet of relevant questions to ask any DOE stooge who tries to deliver a presentation on how wonderful inBloom and data Clouds are:

(FYI – Chas and White may try to spin bus routes as an example of a non-educational use of data, but don’t let them.)

• Why is DOE sharing actual name dob and SSN instead of just the de-identified GUID built internally for 

There Are Good Schools Out There - Bridging Differences - Education Week

There Are Good Schools Out There - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

There Are Good Schools Out There

by Deborah Meier

Today, Todd Sutler of the Odyssey Initiative joins Deborah Meier for a two-week blogging engagement.
Dear Debbie,

It is an honor to be invited to correspond with you here. I have enjoyed reading your blog for years, and I am lucky to now have you as a friend and adviser to The Odyssey Initiative, an organization I founded with Michelle Healy and Brooke Peters last year. When we set off to research some of America's best schools, it never crossed our minds that we would get a chance to sit down and talk to you. When we met, I was pleased to find that your outspokenness in person was just as engaging and inspiring as it is in your writing. I am disappointed, however, that your readers did not benefit from more of that frankness during your conversation with Mike Petrilli. More on that disappointment in a moment.
Matt Candler, of 4.0 Schools, recently introduced me to Clayton Christensen's book, The Innovator's Dilemma. Christensen's theory, I believe, happens to describe the education reform movement of the last 20 years. The "dilemma," he argues, is the choice companies face when deciding whether to allocate time and resources to address their customers' current needs or to anticipate their future needs. Some companies are reticent to inves

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 6-18-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Linda Darling-Hammond on the NCTQ Report

by dianerav

Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University is one of the nation’s leading experts on teacher preparation. This is her commentary on the report released by the National Council on Teacher Quality, which attempts to rate the quality of the nation’s colleges of education by reviewing their catalogues and course syllabi.
What Can We Learn about Teacher Education Quality
from the NCTQ Report on Teacher Prep?
Linda Darling-Hammond
This week, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) issued a report titled: NCTQ Teacher Prep Review. Billed as a consumer’s guide, the report rates programs on a list of criteria ranging from selection and content preparation to coursework and student teaching aimed at the development of teaching skills. While the report appropriately focuses on these aspects of teacher education, it does not, unfortunately, accurately reflect the work of teacher education programs in California or nationally.
NCTQ’s methodology is a paper review of published course requirements and course syllabi against a check list 

That NCTQ Report on Teacher Education: F

by dianerav

The just-released NCTQ report on teacher education gives an F to the nation’s colleges of education. It was published in association with U.S. News & World Report.
But the report itself deserves an F.
To begin with, there are professional associations that rate the nation’s education schools, based on site visits and clear criteria.
NCTQ is not a professional association. It did not make site visits. It made its harsh judgments by reviewing course syllabi and catalogs. The criteria that it rated as most important was the institution’s fidelity to the 

Hillsborough County: A Culture of Fear

by dianerav

Many years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that students have First Amendment rights.
In 1969, in a decision called Tinker V. Des Moines Community School District, the High Court voted 7-2 that the school could not prevent students from wearing black armbands to protest the war in Vietnam.
Hillsborough County, Florida, never heard of that decision. At the high school graduation ceremonies, theprincipal of a high school cut off the salutatorian mid-speech and withheld his diploma. This was not a response to anything he said, but apparently retaliation against him for posting a YouTube video criticizing the condition of the boys’ bathrooms. Even the local media noticed.
Teachers responded by saying that they too had experienced the same top-down, heavy-handed approach. “All across the country, teachers are afraid to speak up. No where is that more true than in Hillsborough county, the

How Pennsylvania Betrayed Its Schools

by dianerav

This commentary was written by a retired superintendent of schools.
Pennsylvania’s Tragic Betrayal of its Public Schools
By Joseph Batory, Former Superintendent of Schools, Upper Darby School District, Drexel Hill, PA
With regard to the inadequate funding of Philadelphia Public Schools, the city’s politicians have been and continue to lacking in political courage and moral fiber. Far too many of them are much too self-serving and most of them do not even understand what the fiscal insanity that continues to cripple the schools and the children of their city.
Likewise, the recent array of superintendents has each been far too meek and without the commitment to confront the system’s financial deficiencies.
But the worst villain of all has been the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In the early 1990’s, Pennsylvania government consciously destroyed its Equalized Subsidy for Basic Education (ESBE) formula. That method of 

Michael Weston: Teacher Evaluation Will Not Change the BIG Problem

by dianerav

Michal Weston, a teacher in Hillsborough County, Florida (at least for now), is running for the local school board. Regular readers know that he was recently fired by his principal for speaking out too much. Since Hillsborough County was one of the few that received a big Gates grant, it is heretical to question the idea that teacher evaluation is the very biggest problem in the world and that the right model will make all students proficient and college bound. Weston displays his heretical views here:
He writes:
Don’t get me wrong – teaching can and should be practiced and improved. My point is that teachers are not the 

What Is the Role of Profit in School Reform?

by dianerav

Ken Previti, a retired teacher, has been watching the evolution of school “reform,” and he wonders when the public will catch on to the schemes and fear-mongering. What is it all about? Sell-sell-sell.
Just doing what business does. Monetizing the children.

NY Commissioner King Will Speak at Gulen Charter Graduation

by dianerav

New York State Commissioner of Education will speak at the graduation ceremonies of a charter school in Syracuse affiliated with the Gulen network. King himself came out of the charter sector, so his favoritism towards charters is not surprising.
The Gulen network is the largest charter chain in the nation. It is allied with a reclusive Turkish imam who lives in 

Major Rally in Harrisburg, Pa., on June 25

by dianerav

A new groups called GPS (Great Public Schools) Pittsburgh plans a major rally at the state Capitol in Harrisburg to demand adequate funding for public education across the Keystone State. The state funds low-performing cyber charters and expands the number of privately managed schools that perform no better than public schools. Meanwhile the lights are going out in public schools across the state, especially in urban districts. Will Pennsylvanians unite to save public education. Come to Harrisburg on June 25 for the beginning of the movement to stop privatization in the Keystone State.

Diane in the Evening 6-17-13 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: Jan Resseger on Absurdity of Ohio VAM by dianerav This just in from an advocate for children who live in poverty: This week the Cleveland Plain Dealer has a new series, “Grading the Teachers.” It is basically an endorsement of the new Ohio Value Added Measures (VAM) program by which teachers will be rated. Scores are being made available on-line. Ohio’s VAM formula, according to the news account, does not consider the socioeconomic information about the children. Here are the articles thus far in the series: ·... more »

Teacher Preparation Program Rankings Make U.S. News Debut

Teacher Preparation Program Rankings Make U.S. News Debut:

Teacher Preparation Program Rankings Make U.S. News Debut

by Joy Resmovits

Kate Walsh wants to bust up the teacher preparation market.

That's why on Tuesday her group, the National Center for Teaching Quality, is releasing its first ranking of teacher preparation programs on the U.S. News & World Report website. The nearly across-the-board extremely low scores pull back the curtain on "an industry of mediocrity," according to a report released in conjunction with the rankings.

"The field of teacher preparation has rejected any notion that its role is to train the next generation of teachers," the authors write. "Any training regimen in classroom management or reading instruction runs the risk, the field worries, of new teachers pulling from a fixed bag of tricks rather than considering each class as something new and unique."

NCTQ's uses a four-star rating system based on training programs' curricula, syllabi and admissions standards. Less than 10 percent of the programs rated earn three stars or more. Only four programs, Liscomb, Vanderbilt, 

UPDATE Daily Kos: Help Advocate for Children in Virginia!

Daily Kos: Help Advocate for Children in Virginia!:

Success!! At least temporarily!

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

There are only two things my beloved Leaves on the Current has regularly enjoyed drinking while on chemotherapy.
Unsweetened iced black tea lemonade with extra lemonade from Starbucks -  which they now offer in a size larger than Venti.
Canada Dry Bitter Lemon -  which first our local Harris Teeter stopped carrying, which then we found at a Wegman's about 40 miles away, but which they sadly informed us their distributor could no longer provide.
But today we got a reprieve.  Leaves went on Amazon, found some, and ordered it.
Just now 23 bottles were delivered.  That should last for more than a month.  It is a reprieve.
Today, the first day off on the two weeks on and one week off chemo, is always one of the rougher days of the 3-week cycle, as is tomorrow.
Right now Leaves is beaming, even as we wait for news from the neurosurgeon.
She is happy.
That makes me happy.

Help Advocate for Children in Virginia!

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

Today marks the kickoff of a statewide campaign by Strong Kids, Strong Virginia, which is an effort by Every Child Matters Virginia, the state effort of the Every Child Matters Education Fund.
This is a 501(c)(3) effort, which is non-partisan.  We are communicating to elected officials of both parties.
Perhaps these statistics from the website will help you understand why:

There are 1,847,182 children under 18 in Virginia• Children Living in Poverty (2009) - 253,000
• Mother-only Households (2008) - 406,002
• Children Not Covered by Health Insurance at Any Time (2008) - 167,000
• Share of Medicaid-enrolled children not getting dental care (2007) - 59%
• Additional Children Covered by Expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program - 79,500
• Total number of child abuse and neglect reports (2009) - 59,995
• Child Abuse Victims (2009) - 5,951
• Child Abuse Deaths (2001-2009) - 259
• 3-4 Year Olds Not Enrolled in a nursery school, pre-school, or pre-kindergarten education program (2009) - 122,000
• % of 4th Graders Scoring below Basic Reading Levels (2009) - 26%
• Home Foreclosures (2008-2009) - 101,138
• Kids Count Overall Rank (2009) – 16

Keep those statistics in mind as I offer a few thoughts below the squiggle.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Riding Lessons

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Riding Lessons:

Riding Lessons

by Mike Klonsky

Eh? What's that, sonny...?

Funny thing happened in first day of summer session. My students went around the table and introduced themselves and said the usual about what they do; where they teach; goals and passions. One student says, "I give writing lessons out in Oswego."  My interest is perked. I ask, at what school do you teach writing? Student responds: "No not writing -- RIDING LESSONS."  She's taking a few needed ed courses to become a certified riding instructor.

Lots of friends and colleagues gathered at the Ayers/Dohrn home yesterday to give a nice send off to Kevin Kumashiro who is leaving Chicago to become Dean of the Ed School at San Francisco State. Our loss is definitely S.F.'s gain.

Kevin is currently professor of Asian American Studies and Education at  UIC. where he was formerly Chair of Educational Policy Studies, Interim Co-Director of the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, and Coordinator of Asian American Studies. On the national level, he is the president (2012-2014) of the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME). Here in Chicago, he is a foundin

The Common Core’s fundamental trouble:

The Common Core’s fundamental trouble

By Valerie Strauss, Published: June 18, 2013 at 6:30 amE-mail the writer

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There’s a lot being said and written about the Common Core State Standards these days, not all of it accurate. Here’s a smart piece about the initiative by the editors ofRethinking Schools, a nonprofit organization that publishes a magazine of the same name that balances classroom practice and educational theory, while also addressing key policy issues. Writers include teachers, parents and researchers,  You can see who is on the editorial board here.

By the editors of Rethinking Schools

It isn’t easy to find common ground on the Common Core. Already hailed as the “next big thing” in education reform, the Common Core State Standards are being rushed into classrooms in nearly every district in the country. Although these “world-class” standards raise substantive questions about curriculum choices and instructional practices, such educational concerns are likely to prove less significant than the role the Common Core is playing in the larger landscape of our polarized education reform politics.

We know there have been many positive claims made for the Common Core:

• That it represents a tighter set of smarter standards focused on developing critical learning skills instead of mastering fragmented bits of knowledge.
• That it requires more progressive, student-centered teaching with strong elements of collaborative an

The problem(s) with D.C. school reform bills

by Valerie Strauss

David Catania, the chairman of the D.C. Council’s Education Committee, has introduced seven school reform bills that, according to this Post story,  could reshape the city’s public education system. Among other things, it calls for increasing funding for poor students, … Continue reading →

NYC Educator: No Excuses

NYC Educator: No Excuses:

No Excuses

by NYC Educator

Naturally, I was shocked and stunned to discover the high school graduation rate had fallen under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. After all, we are the reformiest place on earth, and UFT teachers now have a new evaluation system despite not having had a raise in almost five years or a contract in almost four. Mayor Bloomberg boasted about having the toughest evaluation system, bar none, and not having had to give a goshdarn penny to acquire it.

It's a given that anyone would admire a man that reformy. And yet, the reformier things get, the better they are. Why, then, would the grad rates go down? Well of course we can blame the individual teachers, and we can certainly expect them to whine about learning disabilities, poverty, kids not knowing English, and other such trivial nonsense.

But Michael Bloomberg is Perfect In Every Way. In fact, we had to change a law twice affirmed by voters to make sure he could but that indispensable third term. Therefore I do not expect this from him. Certainly he is not adding value here, and thus, I'd have to rate him ineffective. Now I'm not some wacky extremist, so I'm not waving my arms and screaming he ought to commit ritual suicide with a Samurai sword. Yet still, you'd think a man who raves about putting people's feet to the fire would, at the very least, hold himself up to his own standards.

On Teaching (Elliot Eisner) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

On Teaching (Elliot Eisner) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

On Teaching (Elliot Eisner)

by larrycuban

Too few policymakers have ever taught in public schools. Even fewer can articulate what it is about teaching young children, youth, and adults that binds teachers and students together and makes the experience of learning memorable, satisfying, and long-lasting. A non-policymaker I know well has expressed that bond between teacher and student in a fluent and thoughtful way. If only policy elites would create and sustain the conditions that further the connection between teachers and students.
Elliot Eisner  is Professor Emeritus of Education and Art at Stanford University. This is an abridged version of his 2006 Commencement talk to School of Education graduates and their families. I posted this initially February 15, 2010. 
Among the many satisfactions in teaching there are six I would like to describe. The first pertains to the opportunity to introduce students to ideas that they can chew on for the rest of their lives. Great teaching traffics in enduring puzzlements and persistent dilemmas. Certainties are closed streets, not locations that interest the mind. Great ideas have legs. They take you somewhere.
Ideas can also provide a natural high. With them you can raise questions that can’t be answered. But why do 

Camouflaging the Vietnam War: How Textbooks Continue to Keep the Pentagon Papers Secret | Politics on GOOD

Camouflaging the Vietnam War: How Textbooks Continue to Keep the Pentagon Papers Secret | Politics on GOOD:

Camouflaging the Vietnam War: How Textbooks Continue to Keep the Pentagon Papers Secret

In the Academy Award-winning documentary Hearts and Minds, Daniel Ellsberg, who secretly copied and then released the Pentagon Papers, offers a catalog of presidential lying about the U.S. role in Vietnam. Truman lied. Eisenhower lied. Kennedy lied. Johnson "lied and lied and lied." Nixon lied.
Ellsberg concludes: "The American public was lied to month by month by each of these five administrations. As I say, it’s a tribute to the American public that their leaders perceived that they had to be lied to; it's no tribute to us that it was so easy to fool the public."
The Pentagon Papers that Ellsberg exposed were not military secrets. They were historical secrets—a history of U.S. intervention in Vietnam and deceit that Ellsberg believed, if widely known, would undermine the U.S. pretexts in defense of the war's prosecution. Like this one that President Kennedy offered in 1961: "For the last decade we have been helping the South Vietnamese to maintain their independence." No. This was a lie. The U.S. government’s Pentagon Papers history of the war revealed how the United States had sided with the French in retaking its colony after World War II, ultimately paying for some 80 percent of the French reconquest. By t

Arne Duncan Calls Slow School Internet 'Morally Unacceptable' - US News and World Report

Arne Duncan Calls Slow School Internet 'Morally Unacceptable' - US News and World Report:

Arne Duncan Calls Slow School Internet 'Morally Unacceptable'

The Secretary of Education wants school systems to have networks with broadband speeds up to 120 mbps

By GREG OTTO

Education Secretary Arne Duncan (L) and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (R) read the Dr. Seuss book 'Green Eggs and Ham' to students enrolled in a Head Start program.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan asked cable companies to help boost technology in America's classrooms Wednesday, telling corporate officials slow internet speeds in schools are hurting kids in the classroom.

[GUIDE: What You Need to Know About Technology in the Classroom]

"Most schools have about as much Internet bandwidth as your house," Duncan said during a conference in Washington, D.C. "We are denying are teachers and students the tools they need to be successful. That is educationally unsound and morally unacceptable."

Speaking at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association's 2013 Cable Show, Duncan called on the industry to help accelerate a number of technological upgrades for classrooms, including moving textbooks from print to digital, creating more preschool programs and upgrading school networks to support broadband speeds up to 120 mbps.

Duncan's appeal comes less than a week after President Barack Obama announced his ConnectED initiative, a plan to wire 99 percent of America's students to high speed broadband and wireless networks within five years.

Duncan said that current connectivity rates pale in comparison to other countries around the world. He