Arne Duncan’s letter to senators on Obamacare:

Arne Duncan’s letter to senators on Obamacare

By Valerie Strauss, Published: September 13 at 12:06 pmE-mail the writer

Education Secretary Arne Duncan sent a letter this week to Republican senators who asked him what his department was doing to help the Obama administration promote its health-care initiative when enrollment begins Oct. 1.

The answer to the senators, who oppose Obamacare, seems to be not much. Here’s the letter:

Undermining Student Improvement | Connected Principals

Undermining Student Improvement | Connected Principals:

Undermining Student Improvement

September 13, 2013

By Johnny Bevacqua

Originally posted on Figuring It Out by J. Bevacqua  

I am beginning to wonder if, in my earnest desire to to do what what’s best for kids and their learning, I have inadvertently enabled complacency and undermined improvement.
Let me explain.
Recently I have immersed myself in John Hattie’s book Visible Learning Visible Learning - a book, I believe, every educator, at all levels, must read.
The book is a culmination of years of research and analysis of what has the greatest positive impact on student achievement.
So let’s cut to the chase. Hattie identifies a number influences on student performance and ranks them in order of positive impact.
In summary, the most positive  influences on student achievement put the individual teacher at the centre of the improvement. Whether it’s providing quality feedback, understanding how different students think (meta cognition), how open a teacher is to the evidence of their impact on student 

School jargon for parents: I can’t understand what my child’s teacher is saying. - Slate Magazine

School jargon for parents: I can’t understand what my child’s teacher is saying. - Slate Magazine:

Parents Left Behind

How public school reforms are turning American parents into dummies.

By Dahlia Lithwick|Posted Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013, at 11:21 AM

What are they trying to tell me?!?

Photo by LuminaStock/Thinkstock

We’ve been hearing for decades about all the ways our public school system is failing our children. They’re falling further and further behind on international academic assessments, and it’s not clear that efforts to remedy the situation are succeeding. Indeed, we pretty much know things have gotten worse. But all the focus on failing schools and failing students ignores the other consequence of American public education reform: The failing parents. Because if last night’s open house night at my son’s middle school was any indication of the inexorable decline of the American parent, we are truly doomed.

Now, to be clear, I am a big fan of public education. Maybe not quite as much as some of my colleagues, but I remain fundamentally sold on the public schools enterprise. But somewhere along the line I started failing. First in small, unnoticeable ways, and then in more irremediable ones. Until it became completely clear to me that I can no longer comprehend what happens in my children’s schools.

It is now a distinct possibility that the unintended casualty of No Child Left Behind is the parents who have been left behind in their stead.

I used to believe that public school open houses required little more than the obligatory clean shirt with buttons and a swipe of lip gloss. Possibly a list of semi-aspirational questions. A pen. As a parent you’d strive to show your child’s teachers that they were inheriting your charming young scion and listen attentively to their plans for the year. But at this year’s back to school night for my fifth-grader, I think it’s fair to say that I failed on every single testable metric. Starting with not knowing it was back to school night in the first place. That sin was quickly followed by tardiness, lost-ness, and also failure to ask probing questions. But all of these minor failings were soon swallowed up by a complete and total inability to show mastery of either curriculum or academic goals. The evening 

What the New York Times Left Out | Diane Ravitch

What the New York Times Left Out | Diane Ravitch:

What the New York Times Left Out

Posted: 09/12/2013 11:04 am

Yesterday, the New York Times published an article about my forthcoming book that turned out to be a profile of me. The reporter, Motoko Rich, did a good job of describing me, my dog Mitzi, and the basic facts of my unusual philosophical and political journey over the past few decades.

The headline was wrong, however, and I know that reporters don't write headlines. Whoever wrote it is out of touch. The headline said: "Loud Voice Fighting Tide of New Trend in Education." I would have preferred an adjective other than "loud," like "strong" or "persistent." My megaphone is actually rather small, consisting of nothing more than my pen (actually, my computer). I don't know how "loud" my computer is. I also found objectionable the suggestion that I was fighting a "new trend." In fact, I am fighting the status quo. When a policy is shared by the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Congress, most governors and state legislatures, ALEC, Jeb Bush, the U.S. Chamber of 

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee on AEA protest outside town hall meeting: teachers should be inside taking part in discussion (VIDEO) | al.com

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee on AEA protest outside town hall meeting: teachers should be inside taking part in discussion (VIDEO) | al.com:

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee on AEA protest outside town hall meeting: teachers should be inside taking part in discussion (VIDEO)

Author and principal Steve Perry, education reformer Michelle Rhee and former head of the Washington, D.C. teacher's union George Parker discuss education reform at a town hall meeting at WorkPlay in Birmingham on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- A teacher town hall meeting tonight hosted by controversial education reformer Michelle Rhee had more teachers outside the building protesting than actually participating in the discussion. 

Rhee, the former chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools and founder of the StudentsFirst education reform organization, said the sea of red in front of WorkPlay - members of the Alabama Education Association teachers' organization who were all clad in red AEA T-shirts - represents a big part of the problem. Teachers unions and organizations, she said, don't want to be part of the discussion or the solution.

"Conversations around education reform have become incredibly polarized and divisive," she told the audience at WorkPlay tonight, where the town hall meeting was held. "Teachers have to be a part of the education reform discussion. Right now, it's a monolithic discussion because of teacher's unions."

Rhee made a name for herself while chancellor of Washington, D.C. schools when she closed nearly two dozen schools, changed the teacher pay scale and fired hundreds of teachers, principals and administrators.

Rhee was joined tonight by former Washington, D.C. teacher's union President George Parker, and author and principal/founder of Capital Preparatory Magnet School Steve Perry, who answered audience questions. Rhee's husband, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, was the moderator.

One member of the audience questioned how Parker, a former union leader, could abandon his roots and join Michelle Rhee on her tour and on her payroll.

He told the story of a third-grader who, after hearing him speak one day about putting

Michelle Rhee's plan for education reform takes the wrong path (opinion from ...

The Huntsville Times - al.com

- ‎Sep 11, 2013‎

Alabama is undergoing a hostile takeover by outsiders led byMichelle Rhee. She is headlining a town hall meeting in Birmingham Thursday to spread the gospel of privatization.

National union leader thwarted in school visit

National union leader thwarted in school visit:

 National union leader thwarted in school visit Randi Weingarten , 

national union president, with teacher John Larsen outside Lincoln High.

RON TARVER / Staff Photographer


 Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer POSTED: Friday, September 13, 2013, 1:08 AM Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, got what she wanted Thursday at Abraham Lincoln High School in Northeast Philadelphia - even though she was stopped just past the metal detector. Told that a tour of the building would be disruptive, Weingarten instead convened outside Lincoln after the 2:55 p.m. dismissal bell with members of her union's local and students to discuss budget cuts in city schools. "Obviously they said no today because they don't want us to see the conditions," Weingarten said, TV cameras rolling. "I'm just astounded. . . . I have never been denied access to a public school where our members are working." A School District spokesman said the principal told Weingarten she was welcome inside after the dismissal bell. Weingarten was visiting the city on the fourth day of the school year to try to rally public opinion against the Corbett administration's demand that the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) agree to concessions, such as wage and benefit cuts and work-rule
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20130913_Union_leader_thwarted_in_school_visit.html#J3djDKmggmUj02Q8.99

Not Falling Behind, But Pulling Apart: Race to the Top Reflects Broader U.S. Education Problems | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

Not Falling Behind, But Pulling Apart: Race to the Top Reflects Broader U.S. Education Problems | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights:

Not Falling Behind, But Pulling Apart: Race to the Top Reflects Broader U.S. Education Problems

By AASA, The School Superintendents Association on September 13, 2013

By Elaine Weiss, National Coordinator, Broader, Bolder Approach to Education, and Noelle Ellerson, Associate Executive Director, Policy & Advocacy, AASA, The School Superintendents Association
Since the 1983 release of A Nation at Risk, policymakers have asserted that US students are falling behind their international peers, with dire consequences if we do not improve. The result has been three decades of increasingly high-stakes "standards-and-accountability" reforms, which rely on rigorous academic standards and test-based evaluation systems to hold schools and teachers accountable for student progress. As a comprehensive 2011 National Academy of Sciences reportfound, there is no evidence that this strategy has produced any meaningful improvement. Moreover, a series of recent reports suggests that we have been misinterpreting A Nation at Risk. Our education system is not so much falling behind as it is pulling apart, and the past decade of heightened accountability measures has likely further widened the gaps.
The Equity and Excellence Commission's February report, For Each and Every Child, points to poverty and inequities as core hurdles to U.S. educational improvement. It focuses on the long-neglected issues of school funding equity and state school finance systems, and its core recommendations include more equitable school finance, access to preschool, and comprehensive student supports. Soon after that report's publication, the Council on Foreign Relations released the newest report in its Renewing America Scorecard series. Its findings echo those of the Equity and Excellence Commission: "The real scourge of the U.S. education system -- and its greatest competitive weakness -- is the deep and growing achievement gap between socioeconomic groups that begins early and lasts through a student's academic career" (Strauss 2013). The report uses data at each point in the education trajectory -- from 

John Merrow Responds, and So Do I | deutsch29

John Merrow Responds, and So Do I | deutsch29:

John Merrow Responds, and So Do I

September 13, 2013

Yesterday, I wrote a post about John Merrow’s decisions to both discontinue his reporting on Michelle Rhee, a damaging reformer whom his media attention helped create, and his creating a documentary in which he declares New Orleans schools a success. I showed that since 2004, Merrow has accepted approximately one million dollars from well-established education reform promoter Bill Gates. Below is Merrow’s response to me this morning and my counter-response.

Merrow responded to my reblogging this entry to @thechalkface.

Chalkface,
I accept your invitation to respond. I don’t believe I have ever read the Gates guidelines. I know for certain that we approached Gates (and a raft of other foundations) for support for our year-long study of American higher education, which became “Declining by Degrees,” a 2-hour film and a book. That was our first grant.
In “The Influence of Teachers” I explain in great detail how the Rhee/NOLA coverage came about. Briefly, I called both Vallas, whom I knew slightly from Chicago, and Rhee, whom I had never met, and suggested that we cover them in depth for the NewsHour. We had $$ to cover ONE but both accepted. I didn’t have the funds but committed to both stories anyway, gambling that some foundations would support the coverage. The Wallace Foundation was immediately supportive. By chance I shared a cab to the airport with a Gates Foundation program officer; I took that opportunity to tell her about my dilemma, and she took charge.
The third grant (which was, I believe, two separate grants) was essentially a continuation of support for our NewsHour work. By the time Part Two of that grant rolled around, Gates had narrowed its focus and wanted coverage of quite specific 

Bills Advance CCSS and NGSS - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education)

Bills Advance CCSS and NGSS - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education):

Legislature Passes Package of Bills Advancing Move to Common Core and Next Generation Standards

SACRAMENTO—Bills backed by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson to take major steps forward in updating how schools prepare students for success in college and careers are now on their way to the Governor's desk, Torlakson announced today.

In addition to Assembly Bill 484, which would overhaul the state's testing system and passed the Legislature Wednesday, lawmakers also approved Senate Bill 201 , AB 899 , and SB 300 . The first two bills authorize the State Board of Education to move forward on aligning the state's English language development standards with the Common Core English language arts and math standards.

SB 300 empowers the State Board of Education to move forward with developing a curriculum framework aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards. The Board adopted the standards at its September meeting—the first major update to science standards in 15 years, a decision that reflects major advances in not only science, but in the understanding of how students best learn.

"With more than 1.4 million English learners in our schools—about a quarter of our total student population—California has good reason to lead the way in considering their needs within the broader framework of English, math, and science learning," Torlakson said. "This is about reaching and teaching every child, and making sure they have the tools to succeed when they leave our classrooms, no matter where they come from or where they live."

All three bills will now go to Governor Brown for his signature.

"Taken together, these bills represent huge leaps forward for individual students and for education as a whole in California," Torlakson said. "Common Core and the Next Generation Science Standards—and the materials and tests that go with them—build on a great foundation, but recognize that students today need very different skills and knowledge than they did 15 years ago. I'm proud of California's leadership—and of our leaders in the Legislature and beyond."

Related Content

• Next Generation Science Standards - Latest information on the Conceptual Framework and on the development of the Next Generation Science Standards.
• Common Core State Standards Resources - Information and resources about the new academic content standards for English language arts and mathematics adopted by the State Board of Education on August 2, 2010.

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Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

California Education Leaders Continue to Support Assessment Overhaul Legislation

SACRAMENTO— California's education leaders are lending their support to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson's sponsored legislation that will accelerate the entrance of the state's testing program into the computer age:

Shelly Spiegel-Coleman, Executive Director of Californians Together: "Approval of AB 484 sends a clear message to every California school about our commitment to the urgent challenge ahead. It's time to put our assessments in sync with the work our schools are doing to shift to the Common Core and English Language Development Standards—and help all students meet the challenges of a changing world. AB 484 ensures our English learners are being educated with the continuation and ultimate realignment of the Primary Language Assessment."

# # # #

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100