A who's who in the race for Philly City Council: "Helen Gym"— NewsWorks

A who's who in the race for Philly City Council — NewsWorks:

Go to Helen Gym for City Council Website

Helen Gym is a long-time public education advocate who organizes grassroots campaigns on issues of school funding and policy. She knows the ins and outs of city schools and district governance as well as probably anybody in Philadelphia, and has gained the support of many top district employees past and present.

She co-founded of Parents United for Public Education, as well as The Philadelphia Public School Notebook. She had a short stint as a teacher in a Philly school and also started a high-performing charter school that's centered on Asian heritage.

She was also a leading voice against the creation of a new Phillies ballpark in Chinatown, arguing it would disrupt the community.

In 2007, the Inquirer selected Gym as its "Citizen of the Year." Last year, the White House tapped her for the Cesar E. Chavez Champion of Change award.

"For twenty years I've been advocating on the outside about what it means for marginalized communities to raise up their voices, to become visible in a city that's long overlooked them," said Gym. "I think I'm the right person to bring forward a community agenda that doesn't just change the face of who's in City Hall, but changes the way we look at politics in this city."

She has the backing, and the big cash that comes with it, from the teachers union. She's also raised more money in small donations under $50 dollars than any candidate this year – including in the mayor's race.

Gym's forceful point of view has no doubt earned her a slate of staunch critics. She's had several high-profile clashes recently with School Reform Commissioner Bill Green, a former at-large councilman.

Of all the city council candidates, she's the only one who's developed a comprehensive plan to raise immediately the new revenue that the school district says it needs. Her three children attend Philadelphia public schools.

Endorsements include: Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, Commonwealth Association of School Administrators (Philly principals) 5th Square, Action United, Liberty City LGBT Democratic Club, National Organization for Women, Network for Public Education, Teamsters, District Council 47.

Read the rest of this story at NewsWorks

A who's who in the race for Philly City Council — NewsWorks:

4LAKids - LAUSD Race: GALATZAN GRASPING AT STRAWS, SCHMERERSON DESERVES YOUR VOTE

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: LAUSD Race: GALATZAN GRASPING AT STRAWS, SCHMERERSON DESERVES YOUR VOTE:

LAUSD Race: GALATZAN GRASPING AT STRAWS, SCHMERERSON DESERVES YOUR VOTE

scott4lausd.com

15 May 2015  ::  PERSPECTIVE: The race for the District 3 LAUSD Board seat might be the marquee event on May 19th.

As a resident in the district, which covers a large part of the San Fernando Valley, I have watched the campaign unfold.

Scott Schmerelson (photo) has managed his resources well – four canvassers have covered my neighborhood in the past four weeks, and there has been at least one mailer per week.  By contrast, no canvassers from Tamar Galatzan and an irregular flow of mailers. Very few calls from either.

Schmerelson’s outreach seems to be better organized. I am not surprised since he has the teachers in his corner.  It appears Galatzan is depending on typical partisan supporters to spread her empty message.

It’s the message that really counts.

Schmerelson’s campaign literature has focused on his career as a well-rounded educator who is committed to not repeating Galatzan’s costly mistakes – using school construction funds on the ill-conceived iPad rollout, negligence in oversight of those responsible for the design and implementation of MISIS and tacit support for an administrative culture that is bankrupting the school system.

What’s Tamar’s message?

Schmerelson is a closet Republican! Nothing more.

Probably because she has nothing more.

In a race for a seat for which education credentials and management skills are the tools for making the most of limited resources, party affiliation means nothing. I happen to be a Blue Dog Democrat who could care less about partisanship in this race.  I want a well-managed school system that delivers the best possible outcome for the students. I also want a board member who devotes full-time attention to the business of the LAUSD, not a part-timer like Galatzan.

I might add that the Democratic Party has emphatically stated it has not made an endorsement! So much for Galatzan cloaking herself as a party standard-bearer. I scarcely believe that the Americans for Democratic Action would endorse Schmerelson if his party affiliation were an issue.

It comes down to if you want a continuance of failed oversight by a politically ambitious, hand-picked lackey from Villaraigosa’s days, or a true educator committed to fiscal responsibility, one who knows what the classroom is all about.

I urge you to vote for Scott Schmerelson on May 19th.

• (Paul Hatfield is a CPA and serves as  President of the Valley Village Homeowners Association.  He blogs at Village to Village and contributes to CityWatch. The views presented are those of Mr. Hatfield and his alone. They should not be construed to represent the opinions of the VVHA or the residents of Valley Village, individually or as a group. He can be reached at: phinnoho@aol.com. )4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: LAUSD Race: GALATZAN GRASPING AT STRAWS, SCHMERERSON DESERVES YOUR VOTE:

Oakland teachers reach tentative agreement for 'incredible' contract - San Jose Mercury News

Oakland teachers reach tentative agreement for 'incredible' contract - San Jose Mercury News:

Oakland teachers reach tentative agreement for 'incredible' contract

OAKLAND -- The city's 2,400 public school teachers reached a tentative three-year contract agreement with the school district Wednesday night that gives them the largest raise in more than 10 years and establishes a "new paradigm" for calculating salaries going forward, officials said Thursday.

The complicated formula gives teachers a base increase of 8 percent in salary plus a cut of additional state money coming to the district after July 1.

The base pay raise is broken down into a 2 percent raise retroactive to July 1, 2014, a 1 percent raise retroactive to Feb. 1 of this year, a 2.5 percent raise starting on the last day of school this year and a 2.5 percent raise starting Jan. 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017.

"On top of that, there is a great likelihood of additional one-time money for this school year and then ongoing salary increases and one-time moneys for the '15-'16 school year," said Trish Gorham, Oakland Education Association president.

The unknown additions on top of the 8 percent base raise will be determined when the state budget is finalized and the school district figures out how much extra money it will receive July 1, she said.

"What I think is pretty incredible about this contract is the district has agreed that we get new money for every unrestricted dollar that comes in from the state," Gorham said.

During negotiations Oakland teachers have complained they are the lowest paid in Alameda County. The current average salary without benefits in the Oakland school district is $55,000 a year. The closest to that is the Albany school district at $67,193 a year and the top is Pleasanton where the average salary is $85,595 a year.

Oakland's teachers union will vote on the tentative agreement May 27.

An added feature of the salary negotiations, Gorham said, is the establishment of a "new paradigm" in calculating teachers' salaries. Currently, teachers receive about 36 percent of the school district budget. Now teachers will get 39 percent, she said.

In previous negotiating rounds, the school district was offering teachers a 10 percent raise over three years.

"Now with the governor's budget coming in with millions more, it's entirely possible our raise will be significantly in excess over that," Gorham said.

Oakland schools Superintendent Antwan Wilson said in a statement he hopes the new contract will establish the school district as the "premier education employer in the Bay Area."

"Oakland public school teachers and all the other OEA unit members are poised to receive the largest increase in pay in over a decade," Wilson said. "This is in addition to significant improvements in working conditions through lower class sizes and many other tangible supports. As a former principal and teacher whose life was also shaped by great educators, I know how critical a good teacher can be."

In addition to the pay raise, the tentative agreement includes a 24-to-1 class size average in transitional kindergarten through third grade. Starting in 2016 there will be class size limits of 24 in transitional kindergarten and kindergarten; a class size limit of 27 in first through third grades and a limit of 30 in fourth and fifth grades.

The contract establishes a ratio of 600 students to 1 counselor for grades six through 12.

Contact reporter Doug Oakley at 925-234-1699. Follow him on Twitter atwww.twitter.com/douglasoakley Oakland teachers reach tentative agreement for 'incredible' contract - San Jose Mercury News:

READ FOR SUCCESS: Combating the Summer Learning Slide in America

READ FOR SUCCESS: Combating the Summer Learning Slide in America:

Stunning Research Findings

• • On average, 57% of students improved their reading proficiency.
• • Nearly half of third graders increased reading proficiency.
• • Students performing below the 10th percentile showed the greatest gains.
• • Even students with strong reading skills, at or above the 90th percentile, increased reading proficiency.
• • Schools with the greatest improvements had a full culture change and strong parental involvement.

Our Research Findings

The Reading Is Fundamental Read for Success research study set out to test and confirm the efficacy of a new model to reduce summer learning loss in children from economically disadvantaged communities. Our hypothesis was that summer learning loss in reading could be cut in half, from 80% of students experiencing loss to 40%. Instead, we found:

• On average, 57% of students improved their reading proficiency, instead of 80% of children showing loss.

• Nearly half of students in third grade—a critical grade for literacy skill building—increased reading proficiency. Third grade is commonly known as the time when students move from learning to read into reading to learn. This means that young readers who haven’t mastered reading by the end of 3rd grade are increasingly likely to be lost in more difficult content and vocabulary in the years that follow, as classwork on reading and writing about friends and pets changes to complicated subjects in biology, chemistry, U.S. history, algebra. Not having the skills to rise to the challenge is a factor for many among the 8,000 high schoolers who drop out each day.

• Students performing below the 10th percentile showed the greatest gains.

• Even students with strong reading skills, at or above the 90th percentile, increased reading proficiency.

• Schools with the greatest improvements had a full culture change and strong parental involvement. When schools were transformed into literacy-rich environments, students achieved greater results.

Read more on our research results in our report.

America's Literacy Crisis

Many people are unaware of America’s literacy crisis. A learning gap emerges before children even enter kindergarten, and it grows with each year. Students who don’t learn to read well become adults who can’t read well. In fact, nearly half the adult population reads at or below the basic level needed to complete everyday activities.

Over the summer, all students are at risk of losing some of the reading skills they acquire during the school year. This is commonly known as the “summer slide.” For most children who fall behind in school, who typically do not have access to books and learning opportunities over the summer, it is unlikely they will ever catch up.

Because of this lack of access to resources over the summer, 80% of children from low-income communities will lose up to three months of learning before school begins again in fall. That accumulated loss can put students three years behind their peers by the fifth grade. Poor academic performance contributes to the 8,000 high school students who drop out every day.

Learn more about the Summer Slide and how to keep kids learning over the summer.

About the Read for Success Model

In 2012, RIF began a two-year study of a new model designed to reduce summer learning loss. This research, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Innovative Approaches to Literacy grant, incorporated STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics) themes in informational texts and literacy resources to support academic content.

The model incorporated these six key elements to improve children’s reading proficiency:

Recent studies suggest that three are essential to promote reading:

• • Access to a lot of good, high-quality books
• • Child’s choice in selecting books
• • Book ownership

RIF’s Read for Success model is a roadmap for school systems and local organizations to promote systemic change within their own communities and improve reading proficiency among all their students. Read for Success can open new doors for teachers and students, particularly in the areas where children may not have books or learning materials at home to promote learning outside of school and over summer.

This study was funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Innovative Approaches to Literacy Grant.

For more information, contact us at readforsuccess@rif.org.

Protecting student privacy in the Digital Age | TheHill

Protecting student privacy in the Digital Age | TheHill:

Protecting student privacy in the Digital Age

By Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) - 05/15/15 06:00 AM EDT

Schools may be winding down to the end of the school year, but as they do so, they are also ratcheting up the use of technology to bolster student engagement.  Whether on a computer or in the cloud, digital tools are being used to help improve students’ reading, writing and arithmetic skills.  But as student information moves from folders in a cabinet to the folders in the cloud, we need to ensure that the enormous power of technology is harnessed to the benefit of students and not for any unknown means. 

Increasingly, American schools are outsourcing to private companies the work of retaining and processing educational records. A study from Fordham Law School’s Center on Law and Information Policy found that the student data shared with private companies may vary from information such as grades, test scores, and attendance records, to other data such as disability, family relationships, and social security numbers – and the list goes on.  Unfortunately, many parents don’t even know that schools are sending their child’s data to a private company for analysis, and parents who do know rarely have access to their child’s records to correct faulty information. 

This outsourcing means that schools may be sharing student information with private companies, including data on students as young as five year old, without privacy protections or sharing restrictions. The Fordham study found that 95 percent of school districts send student records to companies that manage important, necessary school services. However, only seven percent of the same school districts sign contracts that directly prevent the companies from selling students’ data. Just like a key and lock served as the security for information locked in a school’s office file cabinet, student data stored in the cloud or on private servers should be similarly protected.    

Both Democrats and Republicans agree that America’s children deserve the best. Back in 1974, Congress passed the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). While this important law took significant steps to protect students’ education records, the law needs an update for our 21st century digital world. That is why we will reintroduce our bipartisan Protect Student Privacy Act to put needed safeguards in place to protect information held by private companies.  

We need to update FERPA to put parents in control of their children’s most personal information. We need to ensure private companies continue best practices and do not utilize students’ information to advertise products. We need to empower schools to restrict the amount of time a private company can hold on to student records, provide parents with the right to access personal information about their children that is held by private companies, and back-up companies who institute comprehensive data security programs.  In short, our proposal is guided by the principle that parents should control their children’s most private information, regardless of whether that data sits in the school’s file cabinet or a private company’s computer.   

States around the country are waking up to the dangers posed by this increased use of student data by outside vendors. We welcome debate from all sides and expect the chorus of views from across the aisle and across the nation to come together to protect our nation’s most precious resource: our children.  

We create safe zones around school playgrounds to protect children from outside dangers in the offline world. It is just as important that we safeguard students’ personal information in the online world so that kids can grow up and learn in a secure environment where strangers cannot track, target or make judgments about them that could hurt their prospects for a bright, productive future.

Markey is Massachusetts’ junior senator, serving since 2013. He sits on the Commerce, Science and Transportation; the Environment and Public Works;  the Foreign Relations; and the Small Business and Entrepreneurship committees. Hatch is Utah’s senior senator, serving since 1977. He is chairman of the Finance Committee and also sits on the Judiciary and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees.Protecting student privacy in the Digital Age | TheHill:

Stop spending money on charter schools - Hartford Courant

Stop spending money on charter schools - Hartford Courant:

Stop Spending Money On Charter Schools

Every time you refuse to support charter school funding, God kills 1,000 kittens.

This point has been driven home repeatedly in Connecticut at rallies — one of which is taking place on your front lawn right this minute — and in advertising and by lobbying.

Once you've washed the kitten blood off your hands, I would urge you to join this movement. The first thing you must do is start a semi-mysterious advocacy group. By statute, the name of your group must contain the words "excellence," "achievement" and "families." Excellent Families for Achieving Excellence would be a good choice, but I believe it's already taken.

Then you will need one or more jillionaire capitalist underwriters, such as Tony Stark, C. Montgomery Burns or Lex Luthor, although several of those are already taken too.

All set? Great. Time to work on your message. What are you going to say?

YOU: "Ummm, it's time to stop flushing money down a non-functioning public school system. Why should they get all the money while we charter schools get the short end of the stick?"

Well done. It bears no resemblance to reality, but that may not be important. In fact, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's budget proposes new funding for charter schools while keeping public school funding essentially flat. So the charters, which currently educate only 1.5 percent of the school population, would get the prize while everybody else eats the Cracker Jacks.

Democrats in the legislature have pushed back against this plan, and the charter school advocacy community has responded by going nuts with advertisements, surface mail, rallies and email blitzes to legislators of such a staggering volume as to call into question whether they teach McMahon's Law in the charter schools. McMahon's Law, named after spending pioneer Linda McMahon, posits a definable tipping point at which money spent on your behalf will abruptly begin causing people to hate you.

How much money? Here I can rely on the excellent reporting of the Courant's Kathleen Megan and Matt Kauffman and the Connecticut Mirror's Jacqueline Rabe Thomas. All three are currently being held by Charter Moms for Family Excellence in Education Kidnapping Achievement, but I am confident of their future release, possibly in time for the Festival of the Beheading of Jonathan Pelto, the most sacred day on the charter school calendar.

Simple number: the charter advocacy groups have spent roughly $1 million during the current legislation session. It has been the kind of push legislators usually experience when private industry wants to store spent nuclear fuel rods in Gillette Castle or something. Weird number: they spent $14,000 at Subway recently to feed the people they bused to the state Capitol. What did we say about ordering those steak and bacon melts, people? You can scream just as loud on something from the $5 menu.

Disclaimer time! Many charter schools are full of hard-working people who get good results for their somewhat niche student bodies. Second disclaimer: anti-charter school paranoiacs can be as weird and obnoxious as their opponents.

But still, $1 million in influence peddling money does not come from people in mom jeans listening to Los Lonely Boys on their earbuds. It comes from Lord Business. What do the wealthy charter backers want? It seems like an odd stew of altruism and the never-ending goal of making education align more perfectly with the human resources department. Plus, it's always fun to break one more union.

Here's what I don't get: why should the state spend any money — $32 million over two years as proposed by Malloy — to start new charter schools and expand old ones? Shouldn't we be concentrating on our truly public schools, the ones that currently educate 98.5 percent of our students? You like charter schools? Fine. You start them.

Everybody knows Connecticut is facing an "education crisis" and that many of our schools are "broken" and "failing." But the primary source for this kind of rhetoric is ConnCAN, one of the major charter advocacy groups.

There are probably a lot of nuances about the topic that have eluded me. Fortunately, some of the people for Achievement For Every Child Through Family Excellence are ringing my doorbell right now.Stop spending money on charter schools - Hartford Courant:

Colin McEnroe appears from 1 to 2 p.m. weekdays on WNPR-FM (90.5) and blogs at courantblogs.com/colin-mcenroe. He can be reached at Colin@wnpr.org.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson denies new sexual harassment allegations - LA Times

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson denies new sexual harassment allegations - LA Times:

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson denies new sexual harassment allegations

New sexual harassment allegations have been leveled against Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who fired back Thursday, saying the claim had “absolutely no merit.”
According to the claim filed last month by Estrellita Ilee Muller, who used to work in the city manager’s office, Johnson called her into his private library in City Hall in December 2013 and gave her “an unwelcome and close hug.” He “felt along her torso” and tried to kiss her, then proposed they begin a sexual relationship even though she had pushed him away and told him she was married, it says.
When Muller declined, the claim says, Johnson told her not to decide right away, adding that he would pass by her desk in the coming weeks for her answer -- a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.
Muller complained to several city representatives and said she feared retaliation and further harassment, but the city representatives did nothing to protect her, the claim says.
According to the claim, the harassment continued. In July 2014, it says, Johnson accused Muller of avoiding him. The next month, it says, he approached Muller’s desk and asked to see her hands, then played with her thumbs.
Johnson denied all the allegations.
“The incidents described in the complaint simply never happened. Ever,” he told reporters Thursday.
The claim said Muller transferred to the city’s Human Resources Department and turned down a city job “with higher pay and flexibility” to avoid the mayor.
Muller is seeking $200,000, citing “severe and extended physical, mental and emotional distress; medical expenses; lost wages and additional out-of-pocket loss.”Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson denies new sexual harassment allegations - LA Times:

Vietnam Wallops U.S. on Test Scores But Vietnamese Educators Scoff at Tests | Diane Ravitch

Vietnam Wallops U.S. on Test Scores But Vietnamese Educators Scoff at Tests | Diane Ravitch:

Vietnam Wallops U.S. on Test Scores But Vietnamese Educators Scoff at Tests

In a newly released summary of PISA test scores, students in Vietnam had higher test scores than their 15-year-old peers in the U.S. and most European Union nations.

For some in the U.S. media, this will set off alarm bells, produce hand-wringing, and provoke fears of "a Sputnik moment," arrived again.

A Vietnamese newspaper reported:

"Vietnam ranked 12th out of 76 economies in a new global education survey, overtaking the US and many EU countries, international media reported Wednesday.

"The rankings by the economic think tank OECD were based on 15-year-olds' performance in maths and science tests. The US placed 28th while most of the EU, including Denmark, Sweden and the UK were outside the top 15.

"Asian economies dominated the top positions. Singapore took the top place, followed by Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, BBC reported."

Andreas Schleicher of the OECD said the survey showed that Asian nations excel because they have excellent teachers with high expectations. "There's a lot of rigor, a lot of focus and coherence," he told BBC." And he said that the test scores predicted future economic growth.

However, Vietnam's deputy education commissioner took issue with Schleicher's assessment of the PISA results:

"Nguyen Vinh Hien, Deputy Minister of Education and Training, told Tuoi Tre (youth) newspaper on Friday that the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, does not assess students' overall competence...

"Even though PISA's 2012 results, announced early this week, ranked Vietnam over many wealthy western countries, including the US, in math and science, "we have to be honest and admit that if fully assessed, Vietnamese students' capacity is still poor," Hien said....

"Dr. Giap Van Duong also wrote in the newspaper that compared to "the four pillars of education" prescribed by UNESCO--learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together, and learning to be--PISA targets only a small part of the first pillar.

Duong holds doctorates in physics and used to work with universities in England and Austria.

"He said PISA tests were limited because they use 15-year-olds as their subjects. At that age, students are still immature and their knowledge is far from meeting the demand of practical fields like business, administration, culture, and arts, he said.

"If the test targeted older people such as 20-year-old university students or 30-year-olds who are working, Vietnam's results would "definitely" be much lower, according to Duong.

"In fact, many Vietnamese students fail to land a job after graduation. When they study overseas, many have difficulties in meeting the requirements of advanced education systems like team-work, problem solving and creativity, he said."

"Duong went on to quote the Asian Productivity Organization's 2012 report as saying that Vietnamese people's productivity is about 20 times lower than that of American people."

Duong added:

"Vietnamese education's focus is on learning to pass exams. The whole system operates to serve only one purpose: exams."

"Students here take exams to enroll in the first grade, the sixth-grade, the tenth-grade, and then universities, and every exam is "tense" and "competitive," the scholar said.

"The tradition of learning to pass exams" is typical of Confucian education systems and is also found in other Asian countries like China, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, he said.

All these countries ranked high in PISA tests, although their development is on par with or lower than that of the US and western countries.

This indicated that the tradition probably affected the tests' results, Duong said.

"He noted that among countries with Confucian traditions, Vietnam ranked the lowest, so there was no reason to be happy about the country's ranking."

No doubt in the U.S., groups promoting the Common Core, charters and vouchers will take this summary as new evidence that American public education is failing to produce global competitors and that we need more rigor, more testing, and more standardization. Secretary Duncan may make a statement saying these results are a "wake-up call" for Americans. As University of Oregon scholar Yong Zhao said at the Network for Public Education conference in Chicago last month, Duncan gets more wake-up calls than anyone he knows but never wakes up.

The international tests are vastly overrated. It is not clear that the test-taking skills of 15-year-olds predict anything at all about the future of the economy. When the first international test of math was offered in 1964, 12 nations took it. The U.S. came in next to last in eighth grade and dead last in twelfth grade. Yet over the next fifty years, the U.S. economy outperformed the other 11 nations. The test scores predicted nothing at all.

As the Vietnamese deputy commissioner said, PISA measures only one dimension: test-taking skills. Whatever value the standardized tests have is overshadowed by the collateral damage they do to the quality of education and to the standardizing of young minds.

What matters most today is the liberation of minds to be creative, imaginative, compassionate, and collegial. The world is in a mess and we don't need more fiercely competitive, me-first people. We need thoughtful and knowledgeable people who know how to resolve conflicts.

Above all, we need the one quality that the international tests can't measure: Wisdom.

Vietnam Wallops U.S. on Test Scores But Vietnamese Educators Scoff at Tests | Diane Ravitch:

Diane Ravitch is a historian of education who blogs at Dianeravitch.net

Follow Diane Ravitch on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DianeRavitch

Spending in race for three LAUSD board seats reaches nearly $4.6 million - LA Times

Spending in race for three LAUSD board seats reaches nearly $4.6 million - LA Times:

Spending in race for three LAUSD board seats reaches nearly $4.6 million

Total spending in the battle for three spots on the Los Angeles Board of Education has increased sharply since the March primary, reaching nearly $4.6 million, as interest groups vie to influence the nation's second-largest school system.

The top spender is a group supporting charter schools, which has poured in more than $2 million. Next are committees controlled by the teachers union and its allies, which have spent more than $1 million. These groups are backing opposing candidates in two races, but have settled on the same candidate in a third.

These organizations aren't the only special interests involved. A relatively new political action committee, allied with the charter group, has joined the big money ranks. And a union representing non-teaching employees also could have an effect.

The results of Tuesday's election could shift the ideological balance of the seven-member board, affecting the choice of who would take the helm as the next superintendent of schools. Current schools chief Ramon C. Cortines, 82, agreed to serve another year as a search gets underway for a successor; he returned from retirement last October after John Deasy resigned under pressure.

The board also faces key budget decisions and must develop a new teacher evaluation system with the union.

The election also could affect district policy related to charters, which are independently managed and free from some restrictions that govern traditional public schools. Charters are not obligated to hire union employees.

L.A. has more students enrolled in charter schools than any district in the nation.

The future of charters are at the heart of the most heavily contested race. One-term incumbent Bennett Kayser typically resists creating new charters or renewing existing ones. His opponent is Ref Rodriguez, co-founder of one of the largest local charter-school organizations.

Kayser represents District 5, which encompasses neighborhoods north and east of downtown and the cities of southeast L.A. County.

California Charter Schools Assn. Advocates has put $1.8 million into unseating Kayser. More than half a million dollars has gone into negative advertising against him.

"We're expecting a low turnout, possibly as low as 8%," said Gary Borden, executive director of the charter group. "But the folks who went to the polls for Ref in the primary care deeply about his campaign and we're optimistic that they'll make sure to vote for him again in the runoff."

A New York-based group, Students for Education Reform, has spent about $47,000 to assist local college students in campaigning on behalf of Rodriguez.

United Teachers Los Angeles, meanwhile, has spent more than $800,000 on efforts to keep Kayser in office.

Kayser finished second to Rodriguez in the March primary.

"We feel confident that our message about [providing] the schools L.A. students deserve ... resonates well with all voters," said UTLA political director Oraiu Amoni.

In all, independent expenditures, as this outside spending is called, outpace donations made directly to the candidates by a 7-1 ratio.

Outside spending for Rodriguez in the general election has far surpassed the amount in the March primary. Kayser has lacked a similar boost. Spending on his behalf was lower through Thursday.

Part of the reason is that the teachers union has split its resources by becoming involved in a second race. It's now also backing retired principal Scott Schmerelson. He emerged from a crowded primary as the challenger to two-term incumbent Tamar Galatzan in District 3, which covers much of the West San Fernando Valley. Galatzan finished first in the primary.

The union has spent more than $440,000, waging a positive campaign for Schmerelson and a negative campaign against Galatzan.

The charter group has spent $200,000, about half of it to wage a negative campaign against Schmerelson.

The outside expenditures in this race exceed donations directly to the candidates by nearly 9 to 1.

The other big spender in this contest (about $435,000 through Thursday) is Great Public Schools Los Angeles, a political action committee vying to fill the void left in school elections by a PAC that was allied with Antonio Villaraigosa, who was mayor at the time. The new PAC has appealed to many of the same donors.

Although the new PAC has endorsed the same candidates as the charters, its issues are broader "than just charter schools vs. UTLA," said Dan Chang, the PAC's director.

The PAC's top three donors this year are banker and Wal-mart heir Jim Walton, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and local philanthropist Eli Broad. All were consistently supportive of policies pursued by Deasy and by like-minded district leaders across the country.

The same three donors gave substantial amounts to California Charter Schools Assn. Advocates.

Adding together the contributions to both of these PACs, the top recent donors are Netflix founder Reed Hastings, $1.5 million (to the charter group only); Bloomberg, $550,000; Walton, $375,000; and Broad, $205,000.

The charter group has used some of its funding for races outside L.A.

The charter group and the teachers union landed on the same side in District 7, which stretches from South Los Angeles to the Harbor area. Both are willing to stick with two-term incumbent Richard Vladovic, who also serves as board president.

The money player here is Service Employees International Union, which represents the largest number of full and part-time non-teaching workers in L.A. Unified. It's spent more than $112,000 in support of Vladovic and nearly $27,000 against his opponent, Lydia Gutierrez, an elementary school teacher in Long Beach Unified.

Vladovic's own campaign has raised about $170,000 compared to $34,500 contributed to Gutierrez. Outside money for Vladovic totals about $300,000. No groups have reported spending on behalf of Gutierrez.Spending in race for three LAUSD board seats reaches nearly $4.6 million - LA Times:

howard.blume@latimes.com

Twitter: @howardblume

Yong Zhao’s NPE Speech, Transcribed– Part V (All Done) | deutsch29

Yong Zhao’s NPE Speech, Transcribed– Part V (All Done) | deutsch29:

Yong Zhao’s NPE Speech, Transcribed– Part V (All Done)

 On Saturday, April 25, 2015, University of Oregon education professor Yong Zhao gave a keynote address at the second annual conference of the Network for Public Education (NPE). Zhao’s entire 55-minute speech can be found here.

I thought this speech worthy of preservation as a Word document; so, I decided to transcribe it.

I am pleased to say that I am finished. The full transcription of Zhao’s speech is available here for any and all who wish to read it:

Yong_Zhao NPE Transcript

However, the remainder of this post consists of the last of my five installments of Zhao’s speech, for those who have been patiently waiting for this, Part V, after having read Parts I, II, III, and IV.

At the conclusion of Part IV, I ended with Zhao’s discussion of Asian officials’ wondering how it is that their students score so well on tests yet lack confidence, and how these officials recognize the need for confidence to foster creativity.

I will begin this final installment recapping Zhao’s words on this idea.

Asian officials now know that there is more to education than high test scores.

Zhao hopes that now-test-score-driven America will catch on.

Let’s begin:

And now, Asian systems do not take this [valuing of high test scores above all else] very seriously at all. They look at the factors, they interpret in a different way. They said, “How come our children score so well but have no confidence?” If you haven’t enough of confidence, you cannot be creative. You cannot be entrepreneurial. That’s what they want. All Asia said, “If you are not interested in science, it’s like, less likely for you to become a true scientist. So, that’s what Asian countries’ worry about. That’s why they have this reform; they want to change it.

And this change has become extremely important when the “foggy Christmas” has come. [44:05] Because when the foggy Christmas has arrived, even Rudolph has become useful.

Now, what’s the foggy Christmas like? Well, it’s two things that’s really changing us, affecting [us]. Big fact one, this is what Americans… by the way, most politicians recognize. The first one is called, “the arrival of the second machine age.” That is, uh, this is in contrast [with] the first machine age by steam engine. The second machine age is digital technology that is redefining the value of talents. Machines now can do a lot of human jobs. We have this. We have this. Automation has replaced a lot of jobs. It’s going to replace even more jobs. You know, we used to have a lot of, ah, tax accountants. We have Turbo Tax. You, you notice that? All this, it’s massive. America is, is at the risk of having a surplus of lawyers, which is almost [an] impossible phenomenon for America [laughter], but, you know, we, we are, we’re still suing each other as much as possible, but we, you know, just don’t need many legal workers. Digital databases allow you to search. You don’t have to go through the same kind of books. It’s changing. We have Google Car coming, which [means] we don’t need the taxi drivers for in the future. You know the Google Car thing? It’s happening a lot. So, are we educating our children to have, to compete with machines? Lot of reasons now our kids are back in our basement: We educate them for jobs that can [be] replaced by machines. If they are not replaced by machines, they’re outsourced. Globalization.

Because [of] globalization, this is another interesting question: We talk about “global competitiveness,” out-educate, out-compete other countries, this is Obama’s words, but what does [it] mean? If China spends ten thousand dollars [to] produce the high test scores, if America spends ten times more [to] produce the same test scores, they have the same talents, of course they were to go buy the ten-thousand-dollar test score. America, even if we could score as well as Asian countries, but they cost less, it wouldn’t work. We’ve got to seek something different. Do something different.

Last thing. So what is the “different”? The first thing that’s different is diversity of talents. Rudolph has become valuable because society has changed. We have arrived at [a] different society now. What’s the society? Number one, things called, we called the “age of abundance.” Age of, means we have increased productivity, we have more disposable income, we have more 

Yong Zhao’s NPE Speech, Transcribed– Part V (All Done) | deutsch29:

Constance Kamii’s Critical Look at the K-3 Common Core State Standards for Math | Defending the Early Years

Constance Kamii’s Critical Look at the K-3 Common Core State Standards for Math | Defending the Early Years:

Constance Kamii’s Critical Look at the K-3 Common Core State Standards for Math

Today we release a new report, Selected Standards from the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, Grades K-3: My Reasons for Not Supporting Them by Dr. Constance Kamii. In this report, Kamii shows that the Common Core math standards for grades K-3 are not grounded in the large body of research on how young children learn mathematics.  Dr. Kamii is a member of the DEY’s National Advisory Board and a leading scholar and researcher studying children’s understanding of mathematics.

Read a two-page summary of the report here.

Dr. Kamii’s research and pedagogy have been the cornerstone of early childhood math education for decades. She starts with the theory that math is made up of mental, logico-mathematical relationships. While these relationships can’t be taught directly, teachers help children construct them when they encourage children to think as they engage in activities and interact with hands-on materials.  Dr. Kamii’s goal for math education is for children to become independent thinkers.

Dr. Kamii has worked for many years with early childhood teachers, experimenting with new ways of stimulating children’s independent thinking. She has described many kinds of specific activities. She has also conducted systematic research to assess how well children understand mathematical concepts as a result of doing these activities.  In the process, she has developed a solid sense of the kinds of mathematical concepts that children can be expected to construct at each grade.

In this report, Dr. Kamii explains that most of the CCSS are written as if the authors are not aware of logico-mathematical knowledge; they seem to think that the facts and skills in the mathematics standards can be taught directly.  Dr. Kamii goes on to explain why the CCSS are set at grade levels that are too early.  She selects specific standards for each grade from kindergarten to grade 3 and shows, based on her research, why young children cannot grasp the mathematical concepts these standards require.  Dr. Kamii’s explanations are thorough and grounded in child development research and understandings. They will give any interested reader a deep appreciation for the term “developmentally inappropriate.”

According to Dr. Kamii, in an effort to meet the standards, teachers will try to accelerate learning by directly teaching specific and too advanced concepts and skills. This, she explains, will result in empty “verbalisms” – children learning by rote what they don’t truly understand. Children will learn to accept answers on the basis of what teachers and books say and will lose confidence in their own ability to think for themselves.

The powerful ideas found in Dr. Kamii’s paper are echoed in the recent essay released by Defending the Early Years in April, 2015 called Lively Minds: Distinctions between academic versus intellectual goals for young children by Dr. Lilian G. Katz (Katz, 2015). Dr. Katz is Professor Emerita of Early Childhood Education at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign). Dr. Katz is Past President of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and the first President of the Illinois Association for the Education of Young Children. She is an influential leader in the field of early childhood education.

In Dr. Katz’s paper, she explains the importance of intellectual goals for young children and contrasts them with academic goals. Intellectual goals and their related activities are those that address the life of the mind in its fullest sense – reasoning, predicting, analyzing, questioning – and include a range of aesthetic and moral sensibilities. Academic goals, on the other hand, involve mastery of small discrete elements of disembodied information designed to prepare children for the next levels of literacy and numeracy learning. Items designed to meet academic goals rely heavily on memorization and the application of formulae versus understanding. As Dr. Katz explains, intellectual dispositions may be weakened or even damaged by excessive and premature focus on academic goals.

In Dr. Kamii’s critique of the Common Core Math Standards, she shows how many of the standards further academic goals but not intellectual goals. Many of the standards she describes require children to master discrete bits of information and rely heavily on rote learning. For Dr. Kamii, genuine math learning engages children’s intellectual dispositions. In her opinion, the CCSS redirect education away from thinking and genuine meaning-making and focus it on more limited academic goals.

For both scholars, Dr. Katz and Dr. Kamii, an appropriate curriculum for young children is one that supports children’s in-born intellectual dispositions, their natural inclinations. In Selected Standards from the CCSS for Mathematics, Grades K-3: My reasons for not supporting them, Constance Kamii makes plain that most of the CCSS involve logico-mathematical knowledge and are therefore not directly teachable.  Dr. Kamii also maps out clearly in each of the examples why specific standards for the early grades are set at grade levels too early and are therefore developmentally inappropriate. She asks why the authors of the CCSS did not consider the large body of data available from research. And she concludes that any teacher of children in grades K-3 would easily understand that the standards are too hard for most children.

At Defending the Early Years, we are persuaded by the evidence from early Constance Kamii’s Critical Look at the K-3 Common Core State Standards for Math | Defending the Early Years: