5-20-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Map of Testing Across the Country

Testing Landscape via Education Week

by Melissa Westbrook / 0min 

Tuesday Open Thread

  From SPS:The Source will be unavailable on Friday, May 23rd from 5:00pm - Tuesday, May 27th 6:00am for maintenance. This planned outage is required to upgrade PowerSchool to a newer version and improve performance and reliability. We apologize for any inconvenience. What field are incoming UW freshmen picking when they pick Engineering?  Number one (hugely) is Computer Science.  What's on your m

by Melissa Westbrook / 35min 

Spectrum is Dead

A reader sent in this letter - from View Ridge's principal, Terri Skjei - and frankly, it's all I need to believe that Spectrum is dead. But the letter also makes me wonder about this slow death. What is the point? A few thoughts on the contents:1) quite calm and thoughtful, almost the epitome of "we want your input" except that there really is no need to give any. The fix is in.2) The p

by Melissa Westbrook / 18min  

5-19-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Stats on People Who Pushing Making Money Off Public SchoolsFrom Diane Ravitch:  The trade journal Alpha recently reported that the hedge fund industry’s top 25 earners collected $21.15 billion, a whopping 50 percent over their total the year before.A hedge fund manager in 2013 needed to take in $300 million just to make the top 25. Ten years ago, in 2004, an aspiri

by mike simpson / 8min 

La. Superintendent John White Requires Districts to Embargo LEAP Summary Public Reports | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

La. Superintendent John White Requires Districts to Embargo LEAP Summary Public Reports | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

La. Superintendent John White Requires Districts to Embargo LEAP Summary Public Reports

crazycrawfish:There is more to these stories than I first suspected. I have confirmed some information through my sources and have a few new interesting tidbits to reveal. Originally posted on deutsch29: When it comes to the 2014 Louisiana Education Assessment Program (LEAP) scores he was supposed to release on Friday, May 16, 2014, Louisiana State Superintendent John White has apparently found h

by crazycrawfish / 34min hide  //  save

LDOE under Pastorek and White manipulated data for grant eligibility for RSD charter schools, former employee claims

crazycrawfish:People need to familiarize themselves with this article and another one by Mercedes Schneider before I release my findings. Originally posted on Louisiana Voice: The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) for at least three years manipulated qualification requirements for several New Orleans charter schools so that they would qualify for millions of dollars in federal grants, accor

by crazycrawfish / 36min 

 

5-20-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):

School board blocks appointee critical of iPads

Stuart Magruder, Los Angeles Architect What is normally a routine, no-questions-asked formality for the LA Unified School Board hit a snag today. Board Member Tamar Galatzan opposed the reappointment of Stuart Magruder, an outspoken critic of the use of bond money for iPad’s, from the School Construction Bond Oversight Committee (BOC). The board effectively blocked Magruder’s reappointment by remo

2 by Vanessa Romo / 24min 

Race for California school chief a referendum on change

Tom Torlakson Associated Press writer Lisa Leff takes a look at the race for California Superintendent of Public Instruction San Francisco (AP) — Tom Torlakson, the veteran lawmaker seeking a second term as California’s elected superintendent of schools, and Marshall Tuck, a former charter school executive hoping to unseat him, are both Democrats. The two agree the state spends too little on educ

45min 

Commentary: It’s not the outsiders to blame, it’s the system

This commentary is written in response to Ellie Herman’s commentary last week, asking why policy makers don’t listen more to teachers. By Larry Sand Why aren’t we listening? Well, in fact we are. There are organizations whose members include current and former teachers. Teach Plus, Educators 4 Excellence and StudentsFirst take positions on education policy issues, exchange ideas with the likes of

by Guest Contributor / 2min hide  //  save

LIVESTREAM coverage of today’s LAUSD school board meeting

LA School Report will cover the LAUSD School Board meeting live today starting at 9:00 a.m. until it retires for a closed door session. Click here for LIVESTREAM coverage. Starting at 2 p.m. in the afternoon, the school board’s Committee of the Whole Meeting will convene.     For board agenda, click here. For board materials, click here.

2min 

Morning Read: Reading scores climb, but gap remains

As reading scores climb overall, gap persists Despite higher reading scores in classrooms across the nation, the achievement gap between white, black and Hispanic youth has seen very little improvement according to a report released last week by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization that monitors how children and teens use media. S&I Cabinet Report GOP-backed plan would let LAUSD to op

2min 

5-19-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): Another week, another LA Unified school board meetingIt’s hard to believe after last week’s marathon 10-hour session, but LA Unified school board members will be meet again tomorrow with a full agenda. Most of the issues before the board are much less contentious than those addressed a week ago. They incl

by mike simpson / 20h 

Blacks and whites still largely attend separate schools in Sacramento - Data Center - The Sacramento Bee

Blacks and whites still largely attend separate schools in Sacramento - Data Center - The Sacramento Bee:

Blacks and whites still largely attend separate schools in Sacramento

By Phillip Reese
preese@sacbee.com

Published: Monday, May. 19, 2014 - 2:28 pm

Last Modified: Tuesday, May. 20, 2014 - 7:59 am

This past weekend marked the 60th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that ended mandatory racial segregation in America's schools.

But even in Sacramento, one of the nation's most diverse areas, blacks and whites often don't see much of one another in public school hallways.

School-age white children in the Sacramento region outnumber black children by a ratio of six to one. But:

• White students outnumber black students by a ratio of at least 50 to 1 in 20 percent of the region's schools.
• White students outnumber black students by a ratio of at least 20 to 1 in 40 percent of the region's schools.
• Black students outnumber white students in 20 percent of the region's schools.

The trend comes down to where black and white families in the region live. Black families are much more likely to be clustered in certain parts of the urban core; white families are much more likely than black families to live in certain suburbs and rural areas.

This map shows the region's schools where blacks and whites are least likely to see one another. At least 50 white students attend schools in red for every black student. At least five black students attend schools in purple for ever white student.

Black/White segregation in Sacramento schools |
Red: White students outnumber blacks at least 50 to 1 |
Purple: Black students outnumber whites at least 5 to 1 | Source: California Department of Education
Notes: Analysis excludes schools with fewer than 100 students.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/05/19/6416462/blacks-and-whites-still-largely.html#mi_rss=Education#storylink=cpy

Why Hedge Funds Love Charter Schools | Alan Singer

Why Hedge Funds Love Charter Schools | Alan Singer:

Why Hedge Funds Love Charter Schools

In April I posted, The Dishonorable Andrew Cuomo Meets the Hedge Fund / Charter School Zombies. In an online comment, Huffington Super User William Occam challenged me to provide "evidence that any of the individuals you have publicly shamed in this essay stand to financially gain from their support." I responded at the time but feel he merits a more detailed answer and I would like to take another shot at the hedge fund / charter school zombies. I also recommend a YouTube satire, the Education News/Comedy Show, by my colleague Mark Naison of Fordham University.

_______________

Obscure laws can have a very big impact on social policy, including obscure changes in the United States federal tax code. The 2001 Consolidated Appropriations Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton, included provisions from the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000. The law provided tax incentives for seven years to businesses that locate and hire residents in economically depressed urban and rural areas. The tax credits were reauthorized for 2008-2009, 2010-2011, and 2012-2013.

As a result of this change to the tax code, banks and equity funds that invest in charter schools in underserved areas can take advantage of a very generous tax credit. They are permitted to combine this tax credit with other tax breaks while they also collect interest on any money they lend out. According to one analyst, the credit allows them to double the money they invested in seven years. Another interesting side note is that foreign investors who put a minimum of $500,000 in charter school companies are eligible to purchase immigration visas for themselves and family members under a federal program called EB-5.

The tax credit may also explain why Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg partnered with the former mayor of Newark, New Jersey to promote charter schools, donated a half a million dollars worth of stock to organizations that distribute charter school funding, and opened his own foundation, Startup: Education, to build new charter schools.

The real estate industry, which already receives huge tax breaks as it gentrifies communities, also stands to benefit by promoting charter schools and helping them buy up property, or rent, in inner city communities. One real estate company,Why Hedge Funds Love Charter Schools | Alan Singer:

5-20-14 The Whole Child Blog — End-of-Year Reflection: + ED Pulse Poll Results: What's the Best Part About Being a Teacher?

ED Pulse Poll Results: What's the Best Part About Being a Teacher? — Whole Child Education:

End-of-Year Reflection: Think About the Whole Child

As the school year winds down, teachers are spending as much time reflecting on the past year as they are thinking about a summer filled with sit-down lunches, obligation-free evenings and weekends, and restful nights without dreaming about school. Throughout the year teachers reflect continuously on particular interactions with students, a given lesson, or even a whole school day because they r

by Kevin Parr / 7min 

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

ED Pulse Poll Results: What’s the Best Part About Being a Teacher?

May 20, 2014 by Kit Harris, ASCD Research

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week earlier this month and ASCD's ongoing efforts to celebrate, support, and recognize teachers, a recent ASCD SmartBrief ED Pulse poll asked educators about the best part of being a teacher.

The National Teachers Hall of Fame asked this question of several of its 2014 inductees and they responded with the quotes in the question below, among other comments. Nearly half of the 483 educators who took this poll agreed that the best part of being teacher is breaking through: "The best part is the sparkle in the eye when he/she grasps what I am trying to express" (42 percent). Following this, the educators felt the highlight of teaching is making connections: "When I see them make connections between different things we are teaching them" (24 percent).

The next two quotes that appealed to the teachers related to results: "The best gift for me is when I see success in the classroom" (18 percent) and appreciation: "Words of appreciation from students will always bless a teacher" (15 percent).

This survey question was included in ASCD SmartBrief, a free daily e-mail news service that provides summaries and links to major education stories and issues, which has more than 215,000 subscribers. Using ED Pulse, the weekly online poll, data was collected from 483 readers, starting on May 8, 2014. Online surveys do not provide a random sample, as participants are self-selected, meaning that a margin of sampling error cannot be calculated or quoted. In addition, the population and sample are limited to those with access to computers and an online network. However, online surveys have been shown to produce results that have proven to be reliable predictors of outcomes, including election results. If you have a question on education that you would like to see addressed in a future ED Pulse poll, feel free to submit it in the comment section below, along with any other comments.

Kit Harris is the marketing research lead at ASCD. The quantitative and qualitative research work done is in support of strategic initiatives in marketing, membership, product/program/service development, and ED Pulse Poll Results: What's the Best Part About Being a Teacher? — Whole Child Education:

5-19-14 The Whole Child Blog — A Matter of Choice — Whole Child Education

A Matter of Choice — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGA Matter of ChoiceMay 19, 2014 by Whole Child SymposiumPost written by Walter McKenzieWhat if I told you the answer to all that ails public education is choice? Not dollars. Not standardization. Not test scores. Choice. Surprisingly effective in its simplicity.The current education equation is not simple by any stretch of the imaginat

by mike simpson / 23h 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 5-20-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

Opinion: CA SHOULD DELAY COMMON CORE TESTS FOR AT LEAST 2 YEARS

By Doug McRae / commentary in EdSource | http://bit.ly/1mSyNed May 19th, 2014 | ::  Since June 2011 when California joined the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, the target date for implementation of computer-adaptive Common Core tests has been spring 2015. With that date now fast approaching, are California schools ready?

by smf / 13min 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 5-17-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:4LAKIDS - SOME OF THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT  Hollywood High Recognized On The National Register Of Historical Places.by smf for 4LAKidsNews 16 May 2014  :: This afternoon a bronze plaque was unveiled on the front steps of the Hollywood High School Library recognizing Hollywood High’s historical significance. Hollywood High is and was and will forever be

by mike simpson / 1h 

Finally, The Corporate Press Is Exposing Duncan and Gates:

Finally, The Corporate Press Is Exposing Duncan and Gates

by EDWARDBERGER on MAY 20, 2014

A cultural lag. For many years education leaders have been pointing out the flaws in this top-down, mean-spirited, child and teacher damaging, ideological, and harmful nonsense laid on our schools. The USDOE has given access to the top levels of our education leadership and policy making to people who have never been vetted or elected, have no experience, no certification, nothing but massive amounts of money they use to force their half-baked ideas on America.

The use of mandates by a government agency that is forbidden from mandating is especially damaging.

The power given to profiteers and to those who want access to the tax dollars we pay for our schools has damaged hundreds of thousands of students, teachers, communities, and families. Opening the doors to the likes of Eli Broad and his totally irresponsible take-over of administrator training and thus public schools is an example of the deforming of a system that once required certification and vetting before letting anyone loose on children.

Arne Duncan, a failed administrator and completely out-of-touch Secretary of Education, has give over to self-appointed “reformers”like Bill and Melinda Gates and a murder of other crows who think they can kill our public schools and create a new market-based, segregated system geared to wealthy white people, while using data that Finally, The Corporate Press Is Exposing Duncan and Gates:

Connecticut Teachers Push Back on Common Core, Endorse Call for Congressional Hearings - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Connecticut Teachers Push Back on Common Core, Endorse Call for Congressional Hearings - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Connecticut Teachers Push Back on Common Core, Endorse Call for Congressional Hearings

By Anthony Cody on May 19, 2014 7:10 AM

Ten days ago, Michelle Gunderson offered us an explanation of the process by which members of the Chicago Teachers Union approved a resolution expressing their rejection of the Common Core State Standards. Since then I have heard from teachers active in unions around the country engaged in related efforts to organize and push back against high stakes testing. This week I will be sharing their first-hand reports. These stories reflect the experiences and viewpoints of the teachers who wrote them. Change is in the air in our teacher unions.

Guest post by Jack Bestor.

After 40 years as a member of the Connecticut Education Association, I attended the 166 CEA Representative Assembly as a delegate representing teachers in my district. Having never attended such a gathering before, I had hoped to make a difference as I wanted the CEA to take a firm stand against the misguided and ill-conceived common-core standards and the efforts to  implement throughout the State.  I was offended by the acquiescence of educators to what I consider a corporate education-reform takeover that has been systematically and insidiously destroying all that I had worked for over the course of my career.  I teamed up with a co-sponsor, a high school science teacher, and together we wrote, presented, defended, and passed five new business items at our convention on May 3, 2014. The motions in question are as follows:

Motion 1

Be it resolved, that the CEA will support and encourage legislative efforts to protect the privacy of student and family data. The state needs to inform parents of any and all data collection and disclose to parents who will receive student and family data.

RATIONALE:

Requiring the storage and sharing of student and family data without parental consent violates the original intent of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

Using a P-20 tracking system and a federally funded State Longitudinal Database (SLDS) creates an unnecessary surveillance capability between states and federal agencies.

Motion 2

Be it resolved by this 166 CEA Representative Assembly that the Connecticut Education Association continues to ensure that researched, vetted, and true high quality standards for Connecticut Teachers Push Back on Common Core, Endorse Call for Congressional Hearings - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Thoughts From a Sit-In - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Thoughts From a Sit-In - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

Thoughts From a Sit-In

By Guest Blogger on May 20, 2014 10:29 AM

Author and advocate Mike Klonsky again writes to Deborah Meier today. The two are currently co-blogging on Bridging Differences.

"Sixty years later, 'separate and unequal' is still alive ... privatizing our school systems results in increased segregation, not improved opportunities."  - Democratic Party strategist Donna Brazile.

Deb,

I think that, for both of us, the current struggle goes way beyond testing and common-core issues. I'm reminded of this as we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision.

Related to this, one of the points we touched on in earlier exchanges was the connection between school and community.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I probably put more emphasis on the strategic importance of school/community partnerships, while you see them primarily as forcing necessary but risky compromises upon schools and teachers. I also think you have a much gloomier perspective than I do on current possibilities. Maybe these two differences are related.

As you point out, my perspective may be tilted toward things large and urban. I was considering that on Friday as I was sitting-in with parents and supporters  at Gresham Elementary School on Chicago's South Side. The occupation was in protest of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's  attempt to close the school, fire the entire faculty teachers and staff, and turn the school over to a private management company.

This practice has become a central piece of school district policy in a city where the mayor controls the schools and his top-down approach to school reform led to the closing of 50 schools this year, nearly all in poor and African-American neighborhoods. That policy, combined with the wild expansion of privately-run charters, has parents and community residents up in arms, with protests like this Thoughts From a Sit-In - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

Inside a Florida School District's Same-Sex Classes: Perfume for Girls, Electronics for Boys | Mother Jones

Inside a Florida School District's Same-Sex Classes: Perfume for Girls, Electronics for Boys | Mother Jones:

Inside a Florida School District's Same-Sex Classes: Perfume for Girls, Electronics for Boys

Thanks to a new state law, the ACLU is worried that other schools will emulate the program in Hillsborough County.

—By Dana Liebelson

| Tue May 20, 2014 6:00 AM EDT

20

William Vanderson/Wikimedia

A few generations ago, American families could send their daughters to private, all-girl finishing schools, where they learned how to sit properly and nab husbands. Today, Florida families have the option of sending their daughters to all-girl public schools, where girls get perfume for doing tasks correctly, and educators are taught that girls "struggle with abstract thinking," "use relationships as weapons," and prefer to read about "emotional agonies" over spaceship how-to books, according to a Title IX complaint filed last week by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU alleges that the Hillsborough County public school district—which includes Tampa, has more than 202,000 students and a $2.8 billion budget, and operates both single-sex classrooms in coed public schools and single-sex magnet schools—is implementing teaching methods that discriminate on the basis of sex. Galen Sherwin, staff attorney at the ACLU Women's Rights Project, says these methods may soon spread to other parts of Florida.

The ACLU filed its complaint one day after Republican Gov. Rick Scott signed into law a little-noticed bill that requires school districts that establish same-gender programs to mandate that educators participate in special training. Sherwin says that without federal or state intervention to ensure training programs do not promote sex stereotypes, it's likely that other schools will follow Hillsborough's model. (A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Education says that she can't comment on the complaint, but noted that, according to the law's language, the school districts are in charge of training.)

So what does the Hillsborough program look like? According to the complaint, "trainings relied heavily on stereotypical emotional differences between boys and girls," such as the idea that "girls do not like to take risks and believe success is from hard work," while boys "show love through aggression." The complaint lists techniques employed in classrooms across theInside a Florida School District's Same-Sex Classes: Perfume for Girls, Electronics for Boys | Mother Jones: