Diane Ravitch Responds to NY Times Magazine Profile of Eva Moskowitz | janresseger

Diane Ravitch Responds to NY Times Magazine Profile of Eva Moskowitz | janresseger:

Diane Ravitch Responds to NY Times Magazine Profile of Eva Moskowitz

Posted on September 8, 2014 by janresseger

Yesterday the Sunday New York Times Magazine published a laudatory profile of Eva Moskowitz and her Success Academy chain of charter schools in New York City.  Moskowitz is a former member of the NYC city council.  She is politically connected and has used those connections, particularly during the tenure of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, to expand rapidly the number of her Success Academy schools.  The schools have posted high test scores.

Diane Ravitch was interviewed by Daniel Bergner, the reporter who wrote yesterday’s profile of Moskowitz.  Yesterday on her blog Ravitch published a significant response to Bergner’s piece.  Ravitch’s response is also posted at Huffington Post.  She believes that Bergner did not accurately represent her concerns about attrition of both students and teachers at Moskowitz’s schools.  Neither did he report her concerns about the small number of English language learners and students with severe disabilities attending Success Academy schools.

Ravitch writes:  “I have no personal grudge against Eva Moskowitz.  On the few occasions when we have appeared together, we have had very cordial conversation.  What I deeply oppose—and this is what I stressed to Bergner and he deliberately ignored—is that Success Academy is not a model for public education.  No one expects that Bronx Science is a model because it does not have open doors; it admits only those who meet its standards, and they are high.  Eva Moskowitz pretends that her schools get superior results with exactly the same population because of her superior methods, when in reality the success of her schools is built on a deliberate policy of winnowing out low-performing and non conformist students…  Public schools can’t remove students with low scores.  They can’t refuse to enroll students with severe disabilities and students who can’t read English.  They can’t close their enrollment after a certain grade.  Unless they have a stated policy of selective admissions, they must accept everyone who seeks to enroll, even if they arrive in February or March.”

Ravitch explains that one of Moskowitz’s schools has added grades so that it now serves students in grades 3-8.  In that school, however, 116 third graders were tested, while only 32 eighth graders were tested.  When students drop out, they are not replaced.  She provides similar examples from Success Academy schools that have now expanded to sixth grade. She points out that the number of students dropping out increases at third grade, the year when No Child Left Behind requires Diane Ravitch Responds to NY Times Magazine Profile of Eva Moskowitz | janresseger:

Shanker Blog » The Great Teacher Evaluation Evaluation: New York Edition

Shanker Blog » The Great Teacher Evaluation Evaluation: New York Edition:

The Great Teacher Evaluation Evaluation: New York Edition

Posted by Matthew Di Carlo on September 8, 2014

A couple of weeks ago, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) released data from the first year of the state’s new teacher and principal evaluation system (called the “Annual Professional Performance Review,” or APPR). In what has become a familiar pattern, this prompted a wave of criticism from advocates, much of it focused on the proportion of teachers in the state to receive the lowest ratings.

To be clear, evaluation systems that produce non-credible results should be examined and improved, and that includes those that put implausible proportions of teachers in the highest and lowest categories. Much of the commentary surrounding this and other issues has been thoughtful and measured. As usual, though, there have been some oversimplified reactions, as exemplified by this piece on the APPR results from Students First NY (SFNY).

SFNY notes what it considers to be the low proportion of teachers rated “ineffective,” and points out that there was more differentiation across rating categories for the state growth measure (worth 20 percent of teachers’ final scores), compared with the local “student learning” measure (20 percent) and the classroom observation components (60 percent). Based on this, they conclude that New York’s “state test is the only reliable measure of teacher performance” (they are actually talking about validity, not reliability, but we’ll let that go). Again, this argument is not representative of the commentary surrounding the APPR results, but let’s use it as a springboard for making a few points (most of which are not particularly original).

First, and most basically, if estimates derived from the state tests are the “only reliable measure of teacher performance,” we’re in big trouble, since it means that most teachers simply cannot be evaluated (as they don’t teach in tested grades/subjects). In that case, it would seem that the only responsible recommendation would be to scrap the entire endeavor. I doubt that’s what SFNY is trying to argue here, and so it follows that they might want to be more careful with their rhetoric.

If, on the other hand, they had advocated for increasing the weight, or importance, assigned to the state growth model results, this at least is a defensible suggestion (approached crudely though it sometimes is). But weighting, even putting aside all the substantive issues (e.g., value judgments, reliability), is a lot more complicated in practice than in theory. In reality, the “true weight” of any given measure depends on how much it varies compared with the other measures. (It should also be pointed out that theShanker Blog » The Great Teacher Evaluation Evaluation: New York Edition:

In the NBA as well, "Racism in the United States is as virulent as ever" by teacherken

In the NBA as well, "Racism in the United States is as virulent as ever":

In the NBA as well, "Racism in the United States is as virulent as ever"

byteacherkenFollow

 
 
• 16 Comments / 16 New

The occasion of my posting this is a column by William Rhoden in today's New York Times about yet another racist owner in the NBA, this time the man with the controlling interest in the Atlanta Hawks, Bruce Levenson.  The column is titled Searching for a League’s True Scale of Bigotryand has the subtitle "Bruce Levenson's Email Reveals Depth of N.B.A.'s Racism Issues.   You can read the column for the contents of the email, which Levenson self-reported to the NBA.  An investigation was underway, when Levenson announced he was selling his interest in the team, which apparently ends the investigation.  Rhoden posits things like this might have been why the NBA did not want the Sterling case to go to trial:

In light of this second embarrassing disclosure, N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver should conduct an investigation to find out how many other Donald Sterlings and Bruce Levensons are among the league’s owners and top executives. Who are the racists, the sexists, the homophobes? Throughout the Sterling ordeal, I maintained that the best thing that could have happened to the N.B.A. — to all of us — was for the case to go to trial. To push Sterling — who was forced to sell the Los Angeles Clippers several months after an audio recording in which he was heard making racist comments was released in April, — to acknowledge what he knew about the deeds and misdeeds of other owners and top executives in the league.

But of course it is more than the NBA.

Please keep reading.

Allow me to push fair use by offering several more snips from Rhoden's column:

Indeed, the vast majority of those who self-identify as white in the United States rarely find themselves continually in situations where they are outnumbered by blacks.

Whether it is where they live, where they work, where they worship or where they play, “whiteness” is the norm.

How do whites respond in a situation in which they are not the majority? Do they stay 

In the NBA as well, "Racism in the United States is as virulent as ever":

The Courage of Their Convictions by teacherken

The Courage of Their Convictions: The Courage of Their ConvictionsbyteacherkenFollow    6 Comments / 6 Newis the title of this book by Peter Irons.One of those featured in the book was a woman who as a girl - along with her brother - refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  They were both Jehovah's Witnesses.  They were both expelled, and the Supreme Court, in 1940, upheld their expulsion in M

1 by mike simpson / 19h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mary Mitchell

The way Mayor Rahm Emanuel reacted publicly to misconduct allegations against Chicago Police Cmdr. Glenn Evans shows he doesn’t have a clue about what it will take to rebuild trust between cops and the black community. -- Sun-Times

Rep. Luis Gutierrez

"Well, first of all it's clear that playing it safe is what is going on at the White House and among Democratic circles. And playing it safe means walking away from our values and our principles." -- Lynn Sweet, Sun-Times

Bill Gates

“We didn’t know when the last time was that somebody introduced a new course into high school. How does one go about it?" -- So Bill Gates Has This Idea for a History Class ... NYT

Diane von Furstenberg

Clearly, there is work to be done. “I am sure we will seduce the new mayor, too.”  -Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:- 

NYC Educator: A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven

NYC Educator: A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven:

A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven

I was pretty surprised to read a story in the NY Post with a picture of a few dozen white teachers wearing NYPD shirts. Apparently they'd triumphed over the insidious UFT, which had somehow advised them against wearing said apparel. There was talk of appropriate apparel, and vague threatened consequences for wearing things deemed inappropriate. I guess UFT was trying to be tactful.

I respect NYPD. My daughter aspires to be NYPD. I don't wear an NYPD t-shirt because I haven't got one, but I might if I did.

Still, I wouldn't have gotten together with 20 of my colleagues and worn one to make a statement the first day of school. Why not?

I'm gonna suppose that most of my readers are teachers. So imagine this. A teacher gets caught selling cigarettes on the street one day. One single policeman decides to stop this. The teacher decides to resist arrest and said policeman kills this teacher.

On the first day of school, after your colleague is killed on the street, you walk in to your place of work. You're greeted by the principal, and by all the APs, and they're all wearing NYPD shirts. They want to show support for NYPD on this particular day. How do you feel?

Imagine this, instead. You are not an adult. You are a student, a minority student. (In fact, that's an odd term, because minority students form the NYC Educator: A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven:

Lily's Blackboard - Just Because I’m NEA President, Doesn’t Mean…

Lily's Blackboard - Updates from NEA President Lily Eskelsen García:

Lily's Blackboard - Updates from NEA President Lily Eskelsen García:

NPR: New Teacher’s Union Leader Promises More Activism

“Equity is every kid getting what every kid needs,” she said. “We think every public school should look as good as your best public school. That’s the standard we want every state to meet.” At a Spanish restaurant in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood, one of the most powerful women in education, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, pumps up union members by telling them where her career started – the cafeteria. Read

by Lily / 1h hide  //  save

Great Things Are Happening in Public Schools (all you have to do is visit)

NEA’s Back to School Tour (#NEAB2S) visited Florida and saw some amazing things happening in local public schools. Dedicated teachers, great support staff, innovative programs and engaged students. We even saw an endangered species! Here are some of the photos we (our photographer Kevin Locke) took along the way.

by Lily's Blackboard / 1h 

Just Because I’m NEA President, Doesn’t Mean…

I can’t still do lunch duty. What a privilege to serve the students at Highlands Elementary in Kissimeme, Florida. Just because I'm @NEAToday president, doesn't mean I can't do lunch lady duty. @FloridaEA #neab2s @Osceolaschools pic.twitter.com/R7vO5CWAjI — Lily Eskelsen García (@Lily_NEA) September 5, 2014

by Lily / 2h 

Choosing Democracy: November elections: high stakes for teachers and students

Choosing Democracy: November elections: high stakes for teachers and students:

November elections: high stakes for teachers and students

• November elections: High stakes for students, parents, education voters

California;

A vital election between Tom Torlakson, Superintendent of Public Instruction-  a teacher himself who has opposed the Vergara decision.  And, Marshall Tuck, a Wall Street banker who has been hired as CEO of a charter school company.  He took no position on Proposition 30 which has now restored funding to California schools. 

In the nation. 

by Amanda Litvinov and Colleen Flaherty/image courtesy of Stu Spivack

A relatively small group of elected officials at the local, state and federal levels determines what educators are expected to accomplish in the classroom each year and the resources they’ll have to pull it off. This November, most of those offices are up for election, including the seats of 36 governors, 6,048 state legislators, 31 state attorneys general, and 468 members of the U.S. Congress.

TAKE ACTION ›

Education voters got low marks in the 2010 midterm elections. Our presence at the polls was dismal, which opened the door to scores of candidates who put the desires of wealthy corporations and CEOs before the needs of the 80 million students who attend America’s public schools and universities. The results proved devastating.

It’s not just who we elect for president — local elections like school board seats and state elections have the most direct effect on education funding, says Beary Clark, a high school custodial worker from Erie, Penn.

“Governor [Tom] Corbett cut a whole lot from our budget since he came into office in 2011, which left us short on resources as basic as the books we need, and it directly affects kids,” Clark says. “Our district alone closed two elementary schools to make up for an $8.8 million deficit and a lot of people lost their jobs — all because voters weren’t paying attention to who was getting into office.”

Similar scenarios played out across the country after the 2010 elections.

Since then, billions of dollars have been cut from state education budgets; federal education funding is lower than it was three years ago, despite the fact that public schools now serve a million more students; and educators’ ability to advocate for their students through bargaining has been severely diminished in some states and is under constant threat in others.

Education voters are getting ready for one of the high stakes tests of their voting-eligible lives. If you’re not convinced that elections matter—or you need to convince those around you that they do—borrow our notes to review how the roles of elected officials determine what happens in your district, school, and classroom.

POSITION DESCRIPTION: Governor

Can change education policies and programs and create new ones via executive orders, executive budgets, and legislative proposals. May veto bills, or sign them into law, and appoint state officers (in some states that includes the attorney general and superintendent of instruction). Influences public understanding of critical education issues such as vouchers, school privatization and education spending, and can play defense for schools if legislators pass potentially damaging legislation. A governor who doesn’t value public education can push an agenda that strips away resources, punishing struggling schools.

CASE STUDY: WISCONSIN

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker

“My students are absolutely not better off since Governor [Scott] Walker took office. Class sizes are increasing, teachers, counselors, social workers, librarians and the arts have been eliminated due to catastrophic budget cuts,” says Rachel Choosing Democracy: November elections: high stakes for teachers and students:

Laura Chapman on Education Weekly’s “Philanthropic” Funding | deutsch29

Laura Chapman on Education Weekly’s “Philanthropic” Funding | deutsch29:

Laura Chapman on Education Weekly’s“Philanthropic” Funding

September 7, 2014

The post below is from the comments section of my September 6, 2014, post, Gates, Other “Philanthropy,” and the Purchase of a Success Narrative. It was written by Laura Chapman, veteran arts educator whose well-researched observations on the entangled funding of privatizing reform are often featured on education historian Diane Ravitch’s blog.

Below, Chapman briefly examines the numerous philanthropies whose agendas arguably shape the reporting priorities of Education Week.

I added the links, images, and formatting in order to convert into a full-fledged post what Chapman apologizes for as lengthy commentary.

The degree to which EdWeek shapes its reporting is uncertain. However, one issue is clear: The education news that makes it to public purview is certainly strained through a complex sieve of philanthropic preferences.

I give you Laura Chapman.

_______________________________________________________________

Apologies perhaps for a long post.

Gates is not the only player in shaping what the media cover. Education Week, founded in the early 1980s, has a regular circulation of about 50,000.

EdWeek says,

We seek and accept grant funding from the philanthropic community. …

Foundation funding has been instrumental in launching the annual Quality Counts and Diplomas Count reports. Grants also provide the additional resources that enable our newsroom, research center, and Web-production team to produce consistently high-quality, engaging news and information spanning the full range of issues that impact public education. …

Portions of our Editorial Projects in Education are underwritten by 16 individual funders. …

Editorial decision-making and the creation and publication of content—including content produced with support from philanthropic funding—remain in the sole control of Education Week, under the direction of its Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor.

Doubtful.

Foundations shape the topics given special attention, especially when it comes to “innovation” and “reform.”

I have not figured out why some of topics being sponsored in EdWeek have the same Laura Chapman on Education Weekly’s “Philanthropic” Funding | deutsch29:

Mayoral Control: The short of it | Seattle Education

Mayoral Control: The short of it | Seattle Education:

Mayoral Control: The short of it

I always knew that the “idea” of mayoral control would be raised for Seattle at some point.

When I heard that the City of Seattle’s Office of Education was to be renamed the Department of Education, I told friends that the next thing we’re going to hear is that the mayor wants to be head of the new Department of Education.

Well, the idea was floated last week in the Seattle Times Opinion section. No surprise there.

Short version of why this is not a good idea:

• The mayor is easily swayed on education policy by big donors rather than educators.
• The mayor is not an educator, knows nothing about how a school functions let alone an entire school district.
• Because the mayor has no idea how to run a school district, the responsibility is placed in the hands of staff and political appointees who know no more about managing a school, let alone an entire school district, than the mayor.
• It’s a way for folks like Gates and Broad to push through their agendas. An extraordinary example of that is Eli Broad pushing through his agenda in Los Angeles via mayoral control. Big money, big influence.
• Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland and New York have had mayoral control for anywhere between five and ten years and the schools are no better off now than they were when the concept was popularized via faux roots groups by Bill Gates and Eli Broad.
• The schools are no longer democratically led. The only recourse a parents has is to speak to the mayor (good luck with that), not a school board director.
• The mayor usually appoints the school board (so much for the democratic process).
• In Seattle where Councilmember Tim Burgess is Chairperson of the Education Committee, this is very concerning. Burgess never came out against charter schools and with him at the helm under a mayor who wants to be the head of the Department of Education, you can watch the floodgates open in Seattle to charter schools.

In the excellent article Got Dough?: Public School Reform in the Age of Venture Philantropy, Joane Barkin describes the popularity of mayoral control among the “Big Three”, Bill Gates, Eli Broad and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan:

On the question of who controls public schools, the Big Three much prefer mayoral control to independent school boards: a mayor with full powers 

Mayoral Control: The short of it | Seattle Education:

Sacramento Has It's Royalty 

Sacramento’s 1% line up behind strong-mayor proposal - Our Region - The Sacramento Bee

Sacramento’s power players line up behind strong-mayor proposal - Our Region - The Sacramento Bee: Sacramento’s power players line up behind strong-mayor proposalBy Ryan Lillisrlillis@sacbee.comPublished: Friday, Sep. 5, 2014 - 8:29 pmLast Modified: Saturday, Sep. 6, 2014 - 12:28 amKevin Johnson strode into a midtown loft building Wednesday evening, an entourage of handlers by his side.Inside the

11 by mike simpson / 6h 

Twisting the Truth | The Crucial Voice of the People

Twisting the Truth | The Crucial Voice of the People:



Twisting the Truth





 “The nation’s governors developed Common Core.” That is the Bloomberg View on the development of The Core. Readership? Probably pretty widespread!

And the history of Common Core is being told in this U.S. News & World Report and elsewhere as having been started by former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. Her (?) 2008 report is purported to be what has led the way ever since. After that bite of information, this article depends on Rick Hess (resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute) and Dane Linn (VP of the Business Roundtable, Education and Workforce Committee) to tell the story.

Web of Deception

The article then leads its readers to believe that Achieve (a Bill Gates created organization) stepped in to help. Fact: “they” were in it all along!

And low and behold, “It was decided that ‘the key to advancing any of these recommendations [made by the governors] was to start with the standards,’ Linn says.”

The rest of the story, as told in this article, paints a picture of the arduous work of creating these new “benchmarked” standards by the main stakeholder groups —union and non-union members holding hands— to produce our wondrous “new” standards. The backlash to Common Core is painted Twisting the Truth | The Crucial Voice of the People:

Teachers and social media: trekking on treacherous terrain - Inside Bay Area

Teachers and social media: trekking on treacherous terrain - Inside Bay Area:

Teachers and social media: trekking on treacherous terrain

By Doug Oakley, Theresa Harrington and Sharon Noguchi Oakland Tribune

POSTED:   09/07/2014 03:07:32 PM PDT0 COMMENTS| UPDATED:   ABOUT 3 HOURS AGO

When news broke last month that Newark teacher Krista Hodges used Twitter to express her desire to stab some of her students and pour hot coffee on them, the questions arose quickly: Aren't there rules about that? Why wasn't she fired?

The answer is that teachers who use social media are living in the Wild West: Rules are few and far between, and discipline for stepping over the line is a hit-or-miss proposition.

In Hodges' case, she acknowledged receiving a written reprimand from her school district. After this newspaper's disclosure of her tweets, local police initiated an investigation into the matter. In other cases, teachers have been fired for much less.

"We're not given any guidelines, really," said Carissa Weintraub, a science teacher at Ygnacio Valley High in Concord and a Twitter user. "At this point, it's sort of a free-for-all and we're learning as we go along. I've heard horror stories across the country about people losing their jobs after posting stuff on Twitter or on Facebook."

Weintraub added that teachers need to be trained how to use social media "the same way students need to be taught how to use it."

Newark Unified School District Interim Superintendent Tim Erwin said the district, like many others, has no policy on teacher use of social media nor does it have written guidelines for dealing with teachers who go too far.

Eric Goldman, a law professor and co-director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law, said the drafting of policies is not easy.

"Some school districts are making rules," Goldman said. "But it requires careful thought. The policy has to navigate between legitimate use of social media and the free speech rights of employees. School districts basically have to tell their teachers not to do anything stupid online. That's the gist of it."

Or as Ligia Giese, a Berkeley mother of two students in public schools, put it, it's about respect.

"I think if you're talking about your job, whether it's in public, on the Internet or in any other forum, I would like the teacher to have respect for the students," Giese said. "I couldn't pinpoint the wording of the rule, but I would expect a teacher, like any professional, would speak with a Teachers and social media: trekking on treacherous terrain - Inside Bay Area:

“The Worst Popular Idea Out There” |:

“The Worst Popular Idea Out There”

On the blog titled the “Big Education Ape,” David B. Cohen recently wrote a nice summary re: the current thinking about VAMs, with a heck-of-a way of capturing them, that also serves as the title of this post: “The Worst Popular Idea Out There.” That statement alone inspired me to post, below, the contents of his piece. Hopefully, his post will resonate and sound familiar, but to those who are new to VAMs and/or this blog, this is nice, short summary of, again, the current thinking about VAMs.

David writes “about [this] evaluation method [as it] stands out as the worst popular idea out there – using value-added measurement (VAM) of student test scores as part of a teacher evaluation. The research evidence showing problems with VAM in teacher evaluation is solid, consistent, and comes from multiple fields and disciplines…The evidence comes from companies, universities, and governmental studies…the anecdotal evidence is rather damning as well: how many VAM train-wrecks do we need to see?…[Teachers all agree] that an effective teacher needs to be able to “The Worst Popular Idea Out There” |: