Tuesday, January 7, 2014

A Pivotal Year For Education, What Now?

A Pivotal Year For Education, What Now?:

A Pivotal Year For Education, What Now?

All the reviews of last year’s top education news stories are out and the consensus view is 2013 was a “pivotal year” for the nation’s education policy, to quote Texas superintendent John Kuhn. The pivot from what to what has various interpretations, but 2013 was a year when “an education uprising” made many left-leaning people’s [...]

The Education Story The Numbers Don’t Tell

As 2013 closed out, the education world was roiled by yet another controversy over the calculation and interpretation of statistical data used to govern teachers and school services. This controversy, coming to us from the nation’s capital, involved, according to the report in The Washington Post, “Faulty calculations of the ‘value’ that D.C. teachers added [...]

New Regulations Needed To Rein In For-Profit Colleges

The good news coming from the U.S. Department of Education recently is the effort to put tougher restrictions on for-profit scam colleges that rip off students, families, and the taxpayers. The bad news is that not all Democrats are behind this effort and pushing for the tighter restrictions. Think Progress last week passed along a [...]

Day Of Action Reveals Widespread Anger With Current Education Policies

“We have to fight for our children’s education.” Those words, from Philadelphia parent Kia Hinton, crystalized a national sentiment expressed during a Day of Action to Reclaim the Promise of Public Education held on December 9 in over 100 sites across the country. The multiple events – held from Maine to San Francisco, New Orleans [...]

Journalist & Parent: Common Core Math Leaves Me Stumped | Truth in American Education

Journalist & Parent: Common Core Math Leaves Me Stumped | Truth in American Education:

Journalist & Parent: Common Core Math Leaves Me Stumped

Filed in Common Core State Standards by Shane Vander Hart on January 7, 2014 • 0 Comments

Instead of stacking when multiplying students are taught to use methods such as the lattice method see above.

Yesterday I read an op/ed by Jonathan Ellis, a political reporter for the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, expressing concern about the Common Core State Standards because of the way his daughter was being taught math. Here are a couple of excerpts:

There will be a great battle in the Legislature this session that I’ll be paying careful attention to. It involves the fact that I no longer can perform fourth-grade math.
Earlier this year, my daughter needed help with her math homework. I read the problem. Reread the problem. And reread the problem.
The words were in English, sure enough. But they might as well have been in Swahili.
Welcome to the Common Core State Standards…

Later on he writes…

…Common Core emphasizes critical-thinking skills and problem solving over memorization and other traditional aspects of education. I memorized the multiplication table in grade school, and I’m uneasy that my daughter is not doing the same.
From what I could gather of her homework assignment, she was supposed to solve the

The Proven Way to Fight Income Inequality: Education - Josh Kraushaar - The Atlantic

The Proven Way to Fight Income Inequality: Education - Josh Kraushaar - The Atlantic:

The Proven Way to Fight Income Inequality: Education

Progressives talk a lot about how to encourage economic mobility, but they are leaving big gaps in their education platforms.

For progressives, the buzzy phrase of the moment is income inequality. President Obama plans to make it the focus of his upcoming State of the Union address after sermonizing about the issue in December. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio made it the centerpiece of his campaign and the theme of his inauguration ceremony. Freshman Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren gained national celebrity because of her outspoken criticism of moneyed interests.

But as these politicians are invoking the issue for political gain, they're avoiding one prescription that has proven to be a time-tested path to economic mobility—increasing access to quality education. When progressives discuss education, it frequently leads to the demand part of the equation. De Blasio proposed offering universal pre-K and after-school to city residents, while Obama has made it easier for students to obtain grants and loans to tackle the skyrocketing cost of a college education.

Left unmentioned are the efforts on the supply side—expanding school choice, improving teacher quality, and strengthening curriculum. In most poor, city neighborhoods, students are locked into failing schools, with few options for parents to turn to. Unions are invested in protecting an educational monopoly, fearing that increased competition could drag down salaries and threaten

Teach For America: A Return to the Evidence (The Sequel) | Cloaking Inequity

Teach For America: A Return to the Evidence (The Sequel) | Cloaking Inequity:

Teach For America: A Return to the Evidence (The Sequel)

The sequel to the 2010 Teach For America: A Review of the Evidence was released by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) today. The new policy report is entitled Teach For America: A Return to the Evidence. I have included the citation, official NEPC press release, and the Executive Summary in this post.

Citation: Vasquez Heilig, J. & Jez, S.J. (2014). Teach For America: A Return to the Evidence. Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center. Retrieved from http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/teach-for-america-return.

Press Release: A Return to the Evidence

Scholars conclude the program has some strengths, but smart policy should focus on reforms
that create stability and with stronger track records for improving student achievement
BOULDER, CO (January 7, 2014) — Teach For America (TFA) is almost a quarter-century old. Since its launch, the program has experienced phenomenal growth, both in the numbers of participants and in the financial support it has received, and it has enjoyed extensive favorable publicity.
Teach For America: A Return to the Evidence, a report authored by professors Julian Vasquez Heilig of the University of Texas and Su Jin Jez of California State University, Sacramento for the National Education Policy Center, challenges the simplistic but widespread belief that TFA is a clear-cut success story. In fact, Heilig and Jez find that the best evidence shows TFA participants as a group are not meaningfully or consistently improving educational outcomes for the children they have taught.
Teach For America recruits college graduates, typically from elite universities, to serve in short-term

1-7-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet:

A sobering way to start 2014

In the current issue of The American Prospect, Richard Rothstein reviews Patrick Sharkey’s “Stuck in Place,” a 2013 book that helps explain the persistent failure of educational policy to spur the upward mobility of low-income African American youth. Here’s a piece on the findings in the book by Rothstein, research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit organization […]

by Valerie Strauss / 0min

All Week @ The Answer Sheet 1-4-14

The Answer Sheet:All Week @ The Answer SheetStudent privacy concerns grow over ‘data in a cloud’Privacy concerns have been growing over a $100 million student database – largely funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and operated by a nonprofit organization, inBloom Inc. — that contains detailed information about millions of students. Most of the states that had signed up to participa

by mike simpson / 39min

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Tuesday, January 7, 2014

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

EdWatch 2014: Top 12 education issues in the new year

Education Headlines

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

FCMAT provides links to California K-12 news stories as a service to the industry. However, some stories may not be accessible because of newspapers' subscription policies.

District withholds details on whistleblower lawsuit settlement terms

The Kern High School District has finally reached a settlement in a lawsuit filed by two former employees who alleged they were wrongfully terminated more than two years ago for calling attention to the way maintenance contracts were awarded.

Smooth day at Stockton USD

If you're part of Stockton Unified's vast after-school program - 4,000 children at 39 elementary schools - staying late has its advantages.

Arcohe Union School District seeks principal

Arcohe Union School District is looking for a new principal to head its sole school, the first time in several years there has been a division between that position and the superintendent's.

Transgender student rights law goes into effect

As classes resumed in many Southern California districts on Monday, a new law is in effect that gives new legal rights to transgender public school students.

Anaheim High School violated AP exam rules

Officials at the 3,200-student Anaheim High School risked losing their ability to administer critical Advanced Placement exams after testing policies were violated, according to a recently-released letter.

School district finances improving

Fewer O.C. school districts are facing financial uncertainty this year than any year since 2008-09, after the state’s new school funding formula gave districts a bump in cash – the first step in a planned multi-year effort to restore school budgets to pre-recession levels.

Transgender law referendum chugs slowly ahead

The statewide referendum campaign to block a new law extending protections to transgender students has not picked up much of a cushion in San Diego County as the random count of signatures approaches Wednesday’s deadline.

$4K fine for former Carlsbad trustee

A former Carlsbad Unified School District board member who voted to award a $100,000 contract to a law firm she then went to work for will pay $4,000 to settle a state conflict-of-interest investigation.

Lawyer: West Covina student told ‘Jesus not allowed in school’

A religious freedom organization is threatening legal action against the West Covina Unified School District after a first-grade student was allegedly prohibited from distributing a story about Jesus to his fellow students before Christmas.

Freedburg: Now for the hard part - implementing school reform

The past year witnessed the passage of legislation presaging historic changes in California’s struggling public school system that could place the state in a leadership position nationally on education reform. The focus will now be on be on implementation, which will be far more challenging.

EdWatch 2014: Top 12 education issues in the new year

The new year is ushering in some big changes in public education, from a revamp of school funding to uncharted territory in student testing and new educational standards. Here’s a glance at issues to watch this year that will define California education in 2014.