After years of reform, California education schools fall short on new ranking system | Hechinger Report

After years of reform, California education schools fall short on new ranking system | Hechinger Report:

After years of reform, California education schools fall short on new ranking system

By Jackie Mader

This story also appeared at:

California has been trying to reform how it educates teachers for more than a decade, and some of its ideas have become a model for the rest of the country. But the vast majority of teacher preparation programs in California are still failing to adequately prepare teachers, according to a controversial new report released Tuesday that rated more than 1,200 schools of education across the nation.

The ratings, compiled by U.S. News and World Report and the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), a pro-accountability advocacy group, are part of an effort to spur improvements in teacher quality. The hope is that if education schools are pushed to do a better job of preparing teachers in the first place, the country can solve many of its academic problems.

Students in an elementary teacher preparation program at California State University-Northridge participate in a lesson prepared by a classmate. Northridge’s undergraduate education classes were rated highly in several categories, but the program overall received a low score. (Photo by Jackie Mader)

“We have scratched an inch deep into the surface of these programs. Just going that deep we find 

7-18-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:

Road Trip

ALEC is coming to Chicago. Let’s give them a Chicago welcome.

Bill Moyers and the United States of ALEC. A rally is being planned on Thursday, August 8th at noon at the Palmer House where the American Legislative Exchange Council is holding their meeting August 7th through the  9th. ALEC is an organization that advocates for legislation that negatively impacts working families including right to work legislation, stripping public employees of colle

by Fred Klonsky / 26min 

  Mark Stefanik: It’s a baking hot day in Chicago. My kind of CPS.

By Mark Stefanik. It’s a baking hot day in Chicago. I know better than to ask Mom to take us to Rainbow Beach. That’s a 90 minute ride across the South Side with 2 transfers on the CTA. Lucky for me there’s Kelly High School’s indoor pool. My friends and I grab towels from our apartments, cut through the alleys, wait impatiently for the light at Archer and California, and dash up the school steps

by Fred Klonsky / 6min 

7-17-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:    Hearings Tuesday on lawsuits against CPS school closings.Hearings begin today on two lawsuits seeking to block the Chicago school board’s decision to close 49 elementary schools and a high school program, with officials from the district and parents expected to testify over four days.   Hearings to

by mike simpson / 10h 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 7-18-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Louisiana Educator Speaks Out Against Privatization

Mike Deshotels is a retired educator in Louisiana who blogs at http://louisianaeducator.blogspot.com/. He sent the following letter to the media: “To the Editor As an experienced, retired educator I feel I must speak out about the serious damage being done to public education in Louisiana by Governor Jindal and State Education Superintendent John White. Many educators are shocked and disappointed

by dianerav / 20min

What Happens If NFL Listens to Arne

This is a very funny spoof of federal education policy. Imagine Arne Duncan and Roger Goodell, the president of the NFL, calling a joint press conference to announce a new program called Race to the End Zone. Imagine an agreement that all teams will use the same plays. Now the NFL will have no failing teams! “We in the NFL love the Common Core Curriculum that Mr. Duncan is pushing on schools here

by dianerav / 0min mark as read  //  save

Why The Silence in Newark?

Newark is another “ground zero” for corporate style reform. Test scores are low, poverty rates are high, but remember there are No Excuses! Cami Anderson was hired by the state to lead the turnaround. Mark Zuckerberg put up $100 million. A turnaround firm was hired to do the turnaround. Cory Booker says that Newark will be a national model. But when a reporter asked for basic information about th

by dianerav / 1min 

Textbook Censorship in Indiana

Ten years ago, I wrote a book about the censorship of textbooks and tests by groups from every extreme of the political spectrum. Every group had its own political agenda, and the mechanism that made them successful was the state textbook adoption process. When the state board has the power to make publishers rewrite language that someone opposed. Texas and Caligornia were the worst offenders, bec

by dianerav / 6min

Bad News: Top Lawyer for Dems in Senate Comes from Gates Foundation

Millions of parents and teachers watch and hope that Congress will scrap the failed policies of the Bush administration called NCLB. It is this worrisome that the chief counsel for the Democrats on the Senate HELP committee was a senior policy person at the Gates Foundation. Gates is infamous for its religious devotion to measurement. “What cannot be measured cannot be controlled” is the line we

by dianerav / 8min 

Not Too Late to Profit from Public Education $$$

There is still time to register for the big conference that will show you how to make big profits from the tax dollars supposed to be spent on children and teachers. Hey, those teachers are making out like bandits, with some of them hauling in $40,000 a year, even as much as $75,000 a year, and all they do is teach 35-40 kids at a time. Why shouldn’t you learn the secrets to extracting millions

by dianerav / 0min 

A Shocking Display of Candor in Bridgeport

Ann Evans de Bernard is retiring as principal of a Bridgeport, Connecticut, K-8 school. She decided it was time to tell the truth about urban education. She explained that rises and falls on average test scores mean nothing because of the high mobility rate of her students. They move in and move out with stunning frequency. What do the scores mean? Nothing. The kids persevere despite many obstac

by dianerav / 18min 

Following the Money Trail in Chicago

This investigative article by Steve Horn traces the money trail that ties together the major players in the corporate reform movement in Chicago. From President Obama to Arne Duncan to Rahm Emanuel, the thread that ties them all together is the Joyce Foundation. As the privatization movement advances, its path has been well prepared by the city’s power brokers, who have decided not to support publ

by dianerav / 0min 

President Obama and the New Elitism

Paul Horton, a history teacher at the University of Chicago Lab School, wrote the following open letter to President Obama: July 12, 2013 Dear Mr. President, I am very concerned about how you decided to go the way that you did with your Education policies. I was recently told by a close friend of the yours that “Arne’s Team looked at all of the options” and decided to go with its current policies

by dianerav / 16min 

How “Reform” Killed My School: The Tragic Story of Delmont Elementary School

The following account of Delmont Elementary School was written by Jill Saia, who was its principal. I have deleted the “Dream School” folder on my computer. I am hoping that enough time has passed since our school was closed that I can write about it clearly and rationally, even though what was done to us was neither clear nor rational. For the last ten years that folder on my computer has contain

by dianerav / 1h 

Diane in the Evening 7-17-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: What You Need to Know About CPS Budget CutsAs we learned in earlier posts (and see here), Chicago Public Schools cuts the central office budget every year. It is ruthless with the central office budget. No one works at headquarters except possibly Barbara Byrd-Bennett. This reader has studied the budget and offers an overview: “Sin

by mike simpson / 3h 

Carmen Lopez explains why taxpayers shouldn't be paying for Vallas' legal defense - Wait, What?

Carmen Lopez explains why taxpayers shouldn't be paying for Vallas' legal defense - Wait, What?:


Carmen Lopez explains why taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for Vallas’ legal defense

The following is a commentary piece that appeared in yesterday’s Connecticut Post.

It explains, in no uncertain terms, why it is legally and moral wrong for the taxpayers of Bridgeport and Connecticut to be paying Paul Vallas’ legal bills.  But leave it Mayor Bill Finch and the City of Bridgeport to turn their backs on the law and the taxpayers.

Paul Vallas brags that he balanced the Bridgeport school budget but he regularly overlooks the fact that in addition to picking up 80% of the cost of Bridgeport’s school budget, last year’s budget was balanced with an additional $3.4 million forgivable loan from the State of Connecticut….but the money had to be spent on educational costs…

So what is Bridgeport doing?  Spending tens of thousands to defend Paul Vallas’ and that was before the City hired one of Connecticut’s most prominent law firms to defend Vallas.

Here are the facts;

Mmm,mmm good? + Keep an eye out - Sacramento News & Review

Sacramento News & Review - Mmm,mmm good? - Feature Story - Local Stories - July 18, 2013:

Keep an eye out

Bites on public and political websites, repurposing closed schools and anti-signature-gathering thuggery

By Cosmo Garvin 
cosmog@newsreview.com

This article was published on 07.18.13.

Regular readers know that Bites is no fan of the constant, low-grade misuse and abuse of public resources that goes on at Sacramento City Hall. It’s corrosive. Like when people don’t use their turn signals.
This week, it’s city council websites.
Councilwoman Angelique Ashby’s official city council website is a spare and dull blue-gray page with a few links in small type. It doesn’t have to look good, because it’s designed to funnel visitors to her campaign page,www.angeliqueashby.com.
The latter site was created in 2010 as part of Ashby’s campaign for city council. It’s easy to tell. The main page is full of links to official District 1 press releases and photos. But with one click, you’re deep into the electioneering stuff, reading the candidate’s “campaign 

“Charter school organizations?” Bites asked, not too subtly. No, he said, but wouldn’t reveal more, other than to say it “wouldn’t upset anybody in the education community.”

Maybe so. But the thing is, it’s not really Schenirer’s, or any politician’s, job to decide what happens with those schools.

The school board was supposed to form a citizen committee to make recommendations on what schools, if any, ought to be closed. It refused to do that. But it was forced by state law to appoint a citizen “repurposing committee” to decide what to do with the schools once the decision to close them had been made. That way, in theory at least, the reuse of these important public properties can be decided in public, by members of the public, with public input.

But now we’ve got Schenirer and probably other politicians running around trying to cut deals. Before the citizen committee has even held its first meeting. Which is exactly the sort of thing that got us into the school-closure mess to begin with.

Mmm,mmm good?

On the rise and fall (and rise and fall, again) of an original Sacramento suburb

By Cosmo Garvin 
cosmog@newsreview.com

This article was published on 07.18.13.

Scott’s Burger Shack is a long walk from both light-rail stations near Franklin Boulevard, but business is up. Owner Scott Hackett says he just wishes there were fewer empty lots in the neighborhood. PHOTO BY ANDREW NIXON

This feature's author lives about a mile from Franklin Boulevard, and has eaten many mushroom burgers at Scott's Burger Shack. Photos for this feature story were taken by Andrew Nixon, a photographer for Capital Public Radio. Related stories: Sacramento landmark lost to fire Sacramento’s Franklin Boulevard tank house was one of the last of its kind. SN&R, 02.16.12. Blown away The Sacramento Bee’s Marcos Breton takes potshots at homelessness, Campbell Soup Company takes the money and runs. SN&R, 10.04.12. The dirty dozen Twelve great songs for bumpin’ and grindin.’ CN&R, 02.14.08. Boulevard dreams The remaking of Franklin Boulevard. SN&R, 01.22.09.

South Sacramento's 47th Avenue light-rail station is going to waste.
Passengers get off the train and are greeted by a high fence and an idled Campbell Soup Company plant. Across the parking lot and street are industrial buildings and truck fleets. Kitty-corner from those, another warehouse and a big, empty lot. Not the kind of land use you want if you’re going to take take full advantage of a high-end piece of transit infrastructure like light rail.
Leaving the station, travelers have a long walk before they get to anywhere in particular. Some nearby stretches of Franklin Boulevard don’t even have sidewalks. The one bus line that used to feed the 47th Avenue station was eliminated, due to budget cuts, in 2010. The bus stop is stenciled over with the words “No bus.”
“You’re kind of stuck,” says Tong Thao, a government-studies student who attends Sacramento State University. Thao grew up not far from here, in the south Sacramento neighborhood of Parkway. North of the station and the 

Missouri Education Watchdog: You Might Need a New Superintendent...If....(Thanks to Jeff Foxworthy)

Missouri Education Watchdog: You Might Need a New Superintendent...If....(Thanks to Jeff Foxworthy):

You Might Need a New Superintendent...If....(Thanks to Jeff Foxworthy)

Jeff Foxworthy, the largest selling comedy recording artist comedian (yes, look it up) is perhaps most famous for his "You might be a redneck" routine.

If

• You ever cut your grass and found a car...
• You own a home that is mobile and 5 cars that aren't...
• You think "loading the dishwasher" means getting your wife drunk...

you might be a redneck. 

I couldn't help but see some parallels when thinking about school district superintendents. Some questions school board members need to be asking themselves.

If

• Your Superintendent ever asked your board  to sign a document without reading it because it was "just some routine paperwork"
• Your superintendent has ever introduced a new program or policy with "DESE has told us we have to..."  or "I just do what DESE tells me"
• Your district appears on a list of districts supporting a policy that your board has never voted on
• Your superintendent has had administrative staff prepare a report with information the board never asked 

UPDATE: Key questions begging for answers about school reform + D.C. schools forcing ‘us to swallow a magic pill

Key questions begging for answers about school reform:

Florida GOP lawmakers urge break with Common Core testing group

Are Republicans about to fight with other Republicans in Florida over the Common Core? In a rather extraordinary letter (see text below), Florida’s top Republican lawmakers just asked the state’s education commissioner to pull out of a group designing high-stakes … Continue reading →    

by Valerie Strauss / 21min 

Key questions begging for answers about school reform

By Valerie Strauss, Published: July 18 at 4:00 amE-mail the writer

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freepik.com

Here is a thoughtful piece about school reform and the march toward privatization of public education. It was written by Arthur H. Camins, director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.  His writing can be accessed at http://www.arthurcamins.com/.

By Arthur Camins

The New York Times editorial board has been a staunch supporter of the trifecta of current reform policy: high-stakes testing, performance pay and closing public schools, while opening new charter schools.  Now in this editorial it is hedging one of its bets, the overtesting of students.  However, it is hard to put the genie back in the bottle.  Neither Congress, nor the U.S. Department of Education appear ready to change course.

Opponents of currently dominant education policies have a problem that proponents do not.  Proponents, supported by unlimited funds from several well-connected billionaires, have been able to influence local, state and national decision-makers with little open

Teacher: D.C. schools forcing ‘us to swallow a magic pill’

My colleague Emma Brown wrote a recent story about a plan by D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson to create ninth-grade academies, which are essentially small schools within schools that are intended to give extra support to first-time high school freshmen. … Continue reading →    

by Valerie Strauss / 15min 

A new K-12 funding system demands new thinking in building local budgets | EdSource Today

A new K-12 funding system demands new thinking in building local budgets | EdSource Today:

A new K-12 funding system demands new thinking in building local budgets

July 18th, 2013 | Add a Comment | 
By John Fensterwald

As the most sweeping change in K-12 school funding in decades, the new school finance system that took effect this month will require school officials to clear their minds of old formulas and assumptions and to think anew in constructing their budgets.

That’s the advice of School Services of California, a Sacramento-based consulting firm that is giving budget seminars around the state this week for school officials.

For most of the hundreds of school officials at the Sacramento Convention Center on Tuesday, the session was their first exposure to the Local Control Funding Formula, which the Legislature passed last month with significant changes from Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal in May. With the passage of LCFF in doubt mid-June, most districts passed 2013-14 budgets conservatively, using last year’s revenues and assumptions. This year they’ll start to feel the impact of LCFF’s new formula. Next year, they’ll create their first budgets knowing ahead of time the rules and their allocations, which will vary from district to district.

The intent of LCFF is to simplify an unwieldy and illogical funding system based on decades of 

7-18-13 teacherken at Daily Kos

teacherken at Daily Kos:

You simply must read Eugene Robinson

Justice failed Trayvon Martin the night he was killed. We should be appalled and outraged, but perhaps not surprised, that it failed him again Saturday night, with a verdict setting his killer free. Our society considers young black men to be dangerous, interchangeable, expendable, guilty until proven innocent. This is the conversation about race that we desperately need to have — but probably, as

by rss@dailykos.com ... / 12min 

McAuliffe up in new Quinnipiac Poll of Virginia

about which you can read here (press release with data included, and also a link to PDF of entire poll). A couple of key takeaways Horserace  McAuliffe 43   Cuccinelli 39 McAuliffe has a 30 - 19 favorability rating, with 50 percent of voters saying they don't know enough about him to form an opinion. Virginia voters give Cuccinelli a split 31 - 30 percent favorability rating, with 36 percent offer

by rss@dailykos.com ... / 30min

More evidence future for Republicans is bleak

can be seen in The ARIS 2013 National College Student Survey done by Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar, who are public policy research professors and the authors of the renowned ARIS survey series since 1990. I received a press release on this several days ago, from which I quote several things: The surveyed students, ages 18 to 29, attend 38 colleges and universities from across the U.S., includi

by rss@dailykos.com ... / 15min 

7-17-13 Daily Kos: You might want to read Harold Meyerson today

Daily Kos: You might want to read Harold Meyerson today: You might want to read Harold Meyerson todayHis Washington Post column is titled D.C. Council stands for fair wages and against Wal-Mart and it provides lots of ammunition on the matter of Living Wages and Walmart. Meyerson 2nd paragraph set the frame: On average, Wal-Mart pays its workers $12.67 an hour — which means that a huge number of i

by mike simpson / 8h