Act by Friday: Will your voice be heard on Leadership Policy? | Cloaking Inequity

Act by Friday: Will your voice be heard on Leadership Policy? | Cloaking Inequity:

Act by Friday: Will your voice be heard on Leadership Policy?

Will the Council of Chief State School Officers ignore educational equity, inequality, race, class, gender, ability, language, special status, marginalization, and social justice? I recently received several letters from leaders in the field that are suggesting that this may be the case.

The following letter came via email from Professor John Roberts at Penn State:

Dear Colleagues and Fellow Educational, Parent, and Community Leaders:

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is in the final stages of updating the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) standards, and the public comment period closes on the 29th of May. These highly influential policy standards shape the practice, professional development, and evaluation of school leaders across the country.

We want you to know that in the current draft, none of the seven core standards themselves make explicit reference to educational equity, inequality, race, class, gender, ability, language, special status, marginalization, or social justice. You may access the seven draft standards in a press release by the CCSSO here.

This omission is dismaying since a previous draft of these standards included specific language around educational equity and racial inequities. The findings of research and the voices of practitioners are very important for influencing the development of the language in the standards. We believe it is critical that the educational research community, school leaders, and local communities speak again on this issue.

At this time, we are inviting you to support an open letter addressed to the CCSSO, which is available at the following link:

Your signature in support of the letter will include your institution or organization name, which is for identification purposes only and is not intended to imply an endorsement or support from your institution. Your name, should you choose to sign in support, will appear in an attachment to the letter that we will present to the CCSSO Trustees and leadership team.  If you do not wish to sign in support of the letter, please forward this email to your colleagues and contact the CCSSO directly if you share the perspective that equity and equitable schools are a critical part of developing standards for future school leaders.

Thank you for considering this request.

Sincerely,

Ann M. Ishimaru, Assistant Professor, University of Washington

John E. Roberts, Assistant Professor, Pennsylvania State University

Bradley W. Davis, Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Arlington

Mollie K. Galloway, Chair, Department of Educational Leadership, Lewis & Clark

Mark A. Gooden, Associate Professor, University of Texas at Austin

Michael E. Dantley, Dean, College of Education, Health and Society, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

Bradley Davis, faculty at the University of Texas at Arlington also relayed the following,

In September of 2014, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released a draft revision of the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) standards. Last updated in 2008, these highly-influential policy standards shape the practice, professional development, and evaluation of school leaders in 45 states and in our nation’s capital. The most apparent change in the September 2014 draft was an expansion in the total number of standards from six to eleven. Chief amongst these additions was standard 10, which dealt with equity and cultural responsiveness, imploring school leaders to ensure “the development of an 

Act by Friday: Will your voice be heard on Leadership Policy? | Cloaking Inequity:

The Ongoing Struggle of Teacher Retention - The Atlantic

The Ongoing Struggle of Teacher Retention - The Atlantic:

The Ongoing Struggle of Teacher Retention

Getting experienced educators to work in the highest-need schools requires more than bonus pay.

Standing in front of my eighth-grade class, my heart palpitated to near-panic-attack speed as I watched second hand of the clock. Please bell—ring early, I prayed. It was my second day of teaching, and some of my middle-school male students were putting me to the test.

In a span of three minutes, the group in room 204 had morphed from contained to out of control. Two boys were shooting dice in the back of the room, and as I instructed them to put their crumpled dollar bills away, several others took off their shoes and began tossing them around like footballs. Before I could react, one boy broke into my supply closet. He snatched handfuls of No. 2 pencils and highlighters and sprinted out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

This was 2004. I was 22 years old and had been placed as a beginning teacher in one of Kentucky’s most troubled, underperforming, and dysfunctional middle schools. I had no prior teaching experience, nor had I studied education as an undergraduate. I’d only begun my alternative certification work at the University of Louisville a few months prior, having been recruited by Teach Kentucky. I’d enter the classroom only having completed two graduate courses—I was expected to learn on the fly. I wasn’t ready for the stress, the culture shock, or the pressure to increase student reading scores.

It takes many educators a decade or even longer to become truly effective in their craft.

I resigned from the position before Christmas. I hadn’t even gotten my certification.

The district in which that middle school is located, Louisville’s Jefferson County Public Schools, is one of the nation’s largest, serving over 100,000 students in roughly 150 schools. Eighteen of them are labeled “priority schools,” meaning they demonstrate exceptionally low student achievement. Unsurprisingly, most of these campuses serve student populations with at least three-fourths of kids on free or reduced-priced meal plans, an indicator of poverty.

For example, Knight Middle School has one of the lowest performance rankings in the district and the highest percentage of teachers with four years of experience or fewer: 80 percent and 84 percent, respectively. Knight ranks in the fifth percentile, according to state metrics. Similar statistics exist at Doss High School, where over 84 percent of students are on free or reduced-price lunch and 71 percent of the teachers have four years of experience or fewer.

The combination of poor performance and limited teacher experience makes it especially difficult for Knight and Doss, and similar schools across the country, to fulfill strict guidelines under the federal No Child Left Behind law. If Knight and Doss fail to improve reading and math proficiency, among other academic indicators, they are subject to various sanctions. Those include removing the principal, which is what the Kentucky Department of Education recommendedfor Doss earlier this month. Replacing teachers is also an option.

Although some educators hit their stride early on in their careers, experience matters in the classroom for both students and teachers. Recent studies suggest that it takes many educators a decade or even longer to become truly effective in their craft—to efficiently deal with distractions and disruptions, create and The Ongoing Struggle of Teacher Retention - The Atlantic:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Feds turn over another rock and the plot thickens

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Feds turn over another rock and the plot thickens:

Feds turn over another rock and the plot thickens

 

Today's Sun-Times story by Lauren Fitzpatrick takes us even deeper into the seamy underbelly of Chicago's pay-for-play contracting process under the current system of mayor control of public education.



The most interesting part of the story for me was the way CPS practically stuffed it's $20.5 million, no-bid contract into Synesi/SUPES founder Gary Soloman's pocket. This after the State Board had ruled found the group(s) unqualified to help the city's schools improve.

Though CPS touted Synesi’s past work in other urban districts, the Illinois State Board of Education found that Synesi failed at a fundamental level to show how it would actually help the schools improve if they were awarded the money, according to records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

“No indication of a daily work experience that garnered results,” is how another state scorer summed up a segment of the review, awarding just 362 points out of a possible 580. In another graded section of its application, Synesi got just 5 points out of a possible 40, the records show.

 In April 2013, grant applications were submitted for Carver Military Academy, Corliss, Farragut and what then was called Marine Math 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Feds turn over another rock and the plot thickens:

Why ‘WD-40′ Is Not Known As ‘WD-1′ | Taking Note

Why ‘WD-40′ Is Not Known As ‘WD-1′ | Taking Note:

Why ‘WD-40′ Is Not Known As ‘WD-1′ 

If you’re at all like me, somewhere in your home you have at least one can of WD-40®, because the stuff works wonders. If you teach science, I believe that you ought to have a large WD-40 poster on your classroom wall. Not to advertise the product but to teach a basic lesson about learning: failure is an essential part of succeeding.

You may know the story of WD-40.[1] More than 60 years ago the three employees of the San Diego-based Rocket Chemical Company were trying to develop a product that would prevent rust, something they could market to the aerospace industry. They tried, and, being methodical, they kept careful records. They labeled their first effort Water Displacement #1, or WD-1.

I’ll bet you have figured out how many times they failed before they were finally successful.

Students need to know that adults try and fail and fail and fail–and keep on trying. More than that, they need toexperience failure. While I am a big fan of both project-based learning and blended learning, I believe the most critical piece of the pedagogical puzzle is what we ought to call ‘Problem-based learning.’

Projects where the teachers already know the outcome won’t work, especially with older students. Blending technology and teaching so students can add fractions faster? That’s not the best approach either.

Give students problems to tackle–and make the problems real! Lord knows we have plenty of problems worth tackling that can be given to students. They cannot be intractable (how can we achieve peace in the Middle East?) or trivial and uninteresting (what color should classrooms be painted?)

A pedagogy based on discovery flies in the face of what seems to be happening in most classrooms and schools[2], where the emphasis seems to be on ‘critical analysis’ to get the predetermined answers.

Some years back I interviewed a math teacher in Richmond, Virginia, who told me how he used to take his students down to the James River and challenge them to determine how far it was to the opposite shore. He didn’t give them a formula; just the challenge. Then they put their heads together and, he said, eventually worked it out. Lots of failure…and lots of genuine discovery. Sadly, he said, the new state-mandated curriculum doesn’t Why ‘WD-40′ Is Not Known As ‘WD-1′ | Taking Note:

Washington teacher walkouts continue

Washington teacher walkouts continue | Opinion - Liberal:

Washington teacher walkouts continue

Seattle teachers participated in a one-day walkout strike on May 19. Teaches on the eastern side of Washington state are participating today, May 21. While it is illegal for public school teachers to strike, hundreds of brave teachers, along with other school employees, will be walking off the job to demand that their schools be funded, and that budget cuts against them end now. Fight Back!interviewed Chuck Saari, a public school teacher in the city of Kennewick who is striking today.

Fight Back!: Why are you participating in the strike/walk-out?

Chuck Saari: Washington ranks 47th in class size. A voter-approved initiative would reduce class sizes, but the state legislature has said they will not do it. This is violating the will of the people.

The state supreme court has ruled in the McCleary decision that the state is not fully funding education, which is their paramount duty according to the state constitution.

A voter approved COLA [cost of living adjustment] has been denied to teachers for the last six years. This was approved by 65% of voters.

Newly added federal and state testing requires students to miss weeks of instruction. Republicans in the state legislature want to tie teachers’ evaluations to the test scores.

The cost of health care increases yearly yet the state has not increased their allocation in years. Teachers do not have ‘Cadillac’ health care plans and the Republicans would like to replace the current health care system with a new one that requires startup costs and more state employees to manage.

Around 50 school district have walked out so far in the state.

Fight Back!: How was it decided that you all would strike?

Saari: We had a meeting of the local teachers union. 81% of teachers voted in favor of the one-day walkout.Washington teacher walkouts continue | Opinion - Liberal:

Big Education Ape: Washington Teachers Strike Across the State | Al Jazeera America http://bit.ly/1HlROfX

Big Education Ape: Washington Leads Largest U.S. States in Teacher Engagement Gallup: Fla. has most unhappy teachers http://bit.ly/1AtXKqi

Big Education Ape: Seattle Educators On Strike!: Photos & stories of the struggle | I AM AN EDUCATOR http://bit.ly/1dk2Gnj

Chicago teachers protest expansion of charter schools | WGN-TV

Chicago teachers protest expansion of charter schools | WGN-TV:

Chicago teachers protest expansion of charter schools

They are protesting plans for more expansion of charter schools in the city.

The Board of Education will consider applications for charter renewals and or changes to existing contracts.

The Chicago Teachers’ Union for years has fought hard against the existence of charter schools here in Chicago, which came about during Mayor Richard Daley’s time in office in the 1990’s and 2000’s.

They have expanded even more under Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The focal point being now there is a proposal to allow additional charter schools to move into vacant neighborhood schools that were closed in 2013.

CTU argues that charter schools receive public funding but not enough public scrutiny or oversight.Chicago teachers protest expansion of charter schools | WGN-TV:

Did a School District Retaliate Against a Teacher Who Spoke Out Against a Standardized Test? | Video | TheBlaze.com

Did a School District Retaliate Against a Teacher Who Spoke Out Against a Standardized Test? | Video | TheBlaze.com:

Did a School District Retaliate Against a Teacher Who Spoke Out Against a Standardized Test?

Christina Graham fears her contract to work at an elementary school in the district was not renewed because she spoke out against the administration last year. (Image source: WATE-TV)

Some teachers in Knoxville, Tennessee, are saying their contracts were not renewed for the fall without reason, leading them to speculate it might be in retaliation for what one teacher said against the standardized testing of kindergartners.

Last year, Knox County School teacher Christina Graham spoke at a district meeting against putting kindergartners through the SAT10 test. She also wrote her thoughts on the Students, Parents and Educators Across Knox County blog in October.

Explaining that the SAT10 wasn’t used to direct instruction or provide information that the district hadn’t already assessed about students, Graham wrote, “I do not think there is one reason why we must use more time testing a child.”

“Imagine being a 5 year old and sitting in a chair, filling in bubbles for 60 to 90 minutes,” Graham continued. “We all know that children have a very limited attention span, yet we give them a test that lasts over an hour. Another issue is the SAT10 test is not aligned to our curriculum or standards. There are things on that test that the kindergartners are not taught. Yet students and teachers are still judged based on that test score.

“Kindergartners are wary of new situations,” Graham wrote on the blog. “Sitting them down for so long and putting a high stakes test in front of them is not doing them (or anyone) any good. In kindergarten they are just learning to think, work together, and ask for help. They struggle to make you happy and they are so self conscious and worried about what they know or don’t know. High stakes testing such as the SAT10 stresses them out. It is making them anxious and worried about school. How are we supposed to teach them to love learning if we are putting them in this kind of situation?”

Graham said it was “unreal … that we have our youngest learners already stressing over a standardized test” and asked “what’s the rush?”

Now, Graham told WATE-TV she was “blindsided” at the news that the school district decided to drop her as an employee, not renewing her contract.

The news station doesn’t report how many teachers also were “non-renewed” but said a number of them received the same news. It also pointed out that the SAT10 test is not longer given in the school district.

Lauren Hopson, the incoming president of the Knox County Education Association, told WATE that with reasons not being given for non-renewals and acceptable performance otherwise, it can only lead to speculation that people who have spoken out against the administration might be discriminated against.

“Teachers do have a fear of losing their job if they’re speaking out, if they are challenging policies,” Hopson told the news station.

The news station pointed to a comment about the incident where some said teachers were told their non-renewal was because they didn’t Did a School District Retaliate Against a Teacher Who Spoke Out Against a Standardized Test? | Video | TheBlaze.com:

Elia inherits controversy as new education chief - City & Region - The Buffalo News

Elia inherits controversy as new education chief - City & Region - The Buffalo News:

Elia inherits controversy as new education chief

Cuomo reform efforts, Common Core loom among issues

ALBANY – New State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia brings decades of experience working in schools and a national perspective on reform efforts.

The state job brings continued controversy over Common Core, a bold governor with a controversial education agenda and shifting dynamics on the Board of Regents. It also brings legions of schools failing to meet state standards in cities like Buffalo that face some of the highest poverty in the nation.

New York also has one of the country’s most influential teachers unions, with a new president who has a take-no-prisoners approach, and an active movement against high-stakes testing whose leaders already are raising alarms about the new commissioner and the way she was chosen.

Elia, who has Lewiston roots and married into a well-known family in Niagara Falls, will take the helm in July at a time the state’s school system is in the midst of a number of highly controversial reform efforts, including implementation of the Common Core learning standards and revamping of a teacher evaluation system.

The former superintendent from the Tampa Bay area will play a critical role shaping those policies and influencing state laws that ultimately will set the direction of the state’s school systems.

“If people wanted an antithesis to John King, they’re not going to get it,” said Buffalo School Board President James Sampson, referring to the former state commissioner who stirred controversy with his reform efforts.

“A Western New York native, she brings with her a deep knowledge of urban education, its challenges and its successes,” added Sampson, who called her selection “good news.”

Already, Elia faces tumultuous times, as foreshadowed by her appointment, which came after a hastily called Board of Regents meeting Tuesday where she was introduced for the first time to half of its members. While the public vote was unanimous, it came after a lengthy closed-door session.

Elia, however, is no stranger to divided boards or the politics that surround education. Earlier this year she became the subject of national attention when the Hillsborough County school board in Tampa voted 4-3 to terminate her contract.

Her work in Florida already is drawing criticism from those opposed to what is characterized as the school reform movement. She served as a transition advisor to Florida Gov. Rick Scott alongside former Washington, D.C., education Chancellor Michelle Rhee. She also designed and implemented a merit pay system for teachers.

At the same time, she acknowledged flaws with Florida’s implementation of the Common Core, including inadequate training for teachers, and worked to close several for-profit charter schools.

These issues are just part of an evolution she believes is essential to make sure the nation’s education system continues to best serve students.

“We’ve been changing standards in schools since 1647,” Elia told The Buffalo News, referencing the year Massachusetts passed a law that led to the creation of the country’s public education system. “I think it’s a very important process that education goes through. It looks at what is being delivered in our classrooms by our teachers, and what needs to be delivered so Elia inherits controversy as new education chief - City & Region - The Buffalo News:

MaryEllen Elia Approved as Néw York Commissioner of Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

MaryEllen Elia Approved as Néw York Commissioner of Education | Diane Ravitch's blog:

MaryEllen Elia Approved as Néw York Commissioner of Education

 MaryEllen Elia, who was fired as Superintendent of Hillsborough County a few months ago, was unanimously endorsed by the Néw Yprk State Board of Regents yesterday.

Valerie Strauss wrote about her selection here.

She has the support of the Republican establishment in Florida (she was a member of far-right Governor Eick Scott’s transition team), as well as the support of teachers’ unions in Florida and Néw York.

Parent activists are wary of Elia because of her past support for high-stakes testing. To win their confidence, she must clarify her views about testing, about the Opt Out movement, about detaching test scores from teacher evaluations, about merit pay, and about Common Core.

In this interview, she reiterates her support for high-stakes testing, the Common Core, and using test scores to evaluate teachers. When asked her reaction, she emphasizes the need for better communications with parents. I don’t think that “better communications” will pacify parents who are fed up with the overuse of testing. At some point, hopefully soon, Commissioner Elia must recognize that parents know what they are doing, and they disagree with the Regents’ policy of plunging into the Common Core, high-stakes testing, and test-based accountability.

Commissioner Elia must understand that the problem is not a failure to communicate, but a genuine difference of opinion about how to educate children. The leaders of the Opt Out movement are not misinformed; they are very well informed indeed.

Will she punish children who refuse the tests next year? Will she collaborate with parent leaders? Will she listen to parents and hear them? Will she use her influence to persuade the Regents and the Governor to reduce the importance of standardized tests?

If she doubles down on Governor Cuomo’s testing agenda, she willenergize the Opt Out movement. Parent leaders are disappointed by the lack of transparency in the selection process as well as the implicit message that the Regents did not listen to them. They will continue to speak out in the only way they can be heard, by refusing to submit their children to the tests.MaryEllen Elia Approved as Néw York Commissioner of Education | Diane Ravitch's blog:

BustED Pencils Trending News: Who's paying?; Common NOT Cure; Foundations Matter? | BustED Pencils

BustED Pencils Trending News: Who's paying?; Common NOT Cure; Foundations Matter? | BustED Pencils:

BustED Pencils Trending News: Who’s paying?; Common NOT Cure; Foundations Matter?

A private meeting being paid for by whom?

So a Lobbyist and an ALEC Legislator Walk into a Bar…Caught on Tape by NBC

http://www.prwatch.org/news/2015/05/12838/alec-lobbyist-funding-caught-on-tape

God forbid an educator speaks!

Common Core Does Not Cure Student Mobility

https://gadflyonthewallblog.wordpress.com/2015/05/25/common-core-does-not-cure-student-mobility/

How about keeping the experiences in the classroom that are the foundation for learning?  Nancy Carlsson-Paige needs to be heard on the national stage regarding what is happening in the public schools to our youngest children.  She is absolutely right!

Does Common Core Ask Too Much of Kindergarten Readers?

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/04/27/does-common-core-ask-too-much-of-kindergarten-readers/

Want BustED Pencils to go right to your in-box?

Enter your email on the right under “SUBSCRIBE” on our Home or Rending News page atbustedpencils.com

Why Not Commit to Win-Win School Improvement? | John Thompson

Why Not Commit to Win-Win School Improvement? | John Thompson:

Why Not Commit to Win-Win School Improvement?

NPR Marketplace's Amy Scott, in "The Changing Role of Advanced Placement,"explains that the number of students in North Country High School, a working class school in the Baltimore suburbs, has more than tripled in the last five years. Scott reports that students who ordinarily would not be full members of a college-going culture now learn:

...concepts like 'polysyndeton' and 'metonomy.' In an assignment designed to help prepare them for the upcoming exam, students are asked to identify the rhetorical strategy in a passage from literature or popular music.

One result of expanding A.P. is that two thirds of the school's A.P. students don't pass the test and earn college credit. But, who cares if the pass rate drops? That is a political issue of interest only for adults. (Of course, I'm assuming that the world might not come to an end if some students don't completely master the word, "polysyndeton.")

Expanded A.P. helps students, who might otherwise be denied an opportunity to improve their writing and critical thinking skills, to learn challenging skills for mastery. Isn't that also supposed to be the purpose of Common Core -- providing college readiness learning opportunities?

Scott's story got me rethinking about the opportunities to invest in win-win education programs that have been squandered. What if school reform was limited (as much as possible) to policies that help as many students as possible? Rather than focus on incentives and disincentives, where some must lose so others could win, what if federal education policies concentrated on helping working class and poor children who have been left behind?

The expansion of A.P. to underserved populations could have even allowed market-driven reformers the chance to experiment in a kinder, gentler, junior version of incentives. It would make no sense to pay students for their "outputs" i.e. passing the test, but we could pay them a generous wage for attending A.P. tutoring sessions.

In contrast to the untried nature of Common Core, A.P. has a long history of success. It offers a test worth teaching to which is equally valuable as an assessment forteaching with. Students are rewarded for passing the tests but, above all, they are not punished for failing. Moreover, students could choose to take the number and the Why Not Commit to Win-Win School Improvement? | John Thompson:

A low level clerk gets booted for double payment to Cami Anderson’s friend | Bob Braun's Ledger

A low level clerk gets booted for double payment to Cami Anderson’s friend | Bob Braun's Ledger:

A low level clerk gets booted for double payment to Cami Anderson’s friend

Cami Anderson, the hermit superintendent of the Newark schools, exonerated herself of any wrongdoing in the illegal giveaway of thousands of dollars to an  old friend and former assistant who managed to draw checks from school districts in two different states. Anderson, Gov. Chris Christie’s agent in the district, did it apparently by blaming the scam on some low-level payroll bureaucrat who is no longer employed by the district.

“So he took the hit for everything?”  asked Phil Sellinger, a member of the Newark school board whose members tried unsuccessfully Tuesday night to find out exactly how Anderson arranged to have Tiffany Hardrick, a $175,000-a-year assistant superintendent, obtain more than $12,000 in compensation from Newark while she was working as schools superintendent in Forrest City, Arkansas, after she quit.

The “he” to which Sellinger referred was the director of payroll who left Newark after the double payment to Hardrick was revealed in an audit conducted by the state Department of Education.

Anderson has not appeared at a school board meeting since January of 2014, blaming that year’s mayoralty campaign–now more than a year old–for not wanting to come to board meetings because they had become too political. Instead, she had another $175,000-a-year assistant, Vanessa Rodriguez, explain–sort of–how A low level clerk gets booted for double payment to Cami Anderson’s friend | Bob Braun's Ledger:

PARCC Technical Advisor Says PARCC Is an “Evolving Enterprise” | deutsch29

PARCC Technical Advisor Says PARCC Is an “Evolving Enterprise” | deutsch29:

PARCC Technical Advisor Says PARCC Is an “Evolving Enterprise”

On May 5, 2015, the Colorado Board of Education (CBE) held a special meeting about the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test. The meeting included the following panel as noted on the CBE website:

Dr. Lorrie Shepard, Dean, College of Education, University of Colorado Boulder

Dr. Kevin Welner, Director, National Education Policy Center (NEPC), Professor, University of Colorado Boulder

Dr. Derek Briggs, Professor and Program Chair, Research & Evaluation Methodology, University of Colorado Boulder

Dr. Sandra Bankes, Vice Chair, El Paso County Republican Party

Discussion by one of the PARCC panelists noted above, Derek Briggs of the University of Colorado (Boulder) and member of the PARCC Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) is the focus of this post.

Here is a brief description of the PARCC TAC:

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) advises PARCC as it develops a next-generation assessment system to ensure the assessments will provide reliable results to inform valid instructional and accountability decisions. The TAC is responsible for providing guidance on assessment design and development, and the research agenda of the consortium. The TAC meets three times a year.

Some unidentified individual/organization produced this 21-page, partial transcript of the meeting; the excerpt appears focused on Briggs’ commentary about PARCC but includes other speakers present at the meeting. (The audio archive can be found here.) The transcript comes with the following PARCC-sympathetic disclaimer:

This document has been transcribed in part, and is intended to be word-for-word accurate. Like PARCC, it should be considered an evolving enterprise, 

PARCC Technical Advisor Says PARCC Is an “Evolving Enterprise” | deutsch29:

Peg with Pen: My Comment on PBS NewsHour's Opt Out Coverage

Peg with Pen: My Comment on PBS NewsHour's Opt Out Coverage:

My Comment on PBS NewsHour's Opt Out Coverage

William Brangham,

Thank you for covering Opt Out tonight. I'd like to clarify a few things that I truly wish would be made known to the public. First, Opt Out has been around for quite some time. My own personal involvement began over four years ago when I founded United Opt Out National along with five other individuals. United Opt Out National recognized back then that it was necessary to refuse these tests in order to stop the privatization of public schools. No data = no profit.

Now, the stakes have become much higher as there are so many tests tied to various levels of legislation (early childhood legislation, 3rd grade retention legislation, high school graduation, etc.). Opt out has become essential if we are to halt the test and punish system that is permeating every level of public education. Opt Out is essential if we wish to save the cornerstone of our democracy, our public schools. Currently, I watch children in kindergarten get labeled as failures at the age of five; it's hard to believe that our society has become conditioned to accept such punitive measures. We watch third grade students get held back due to one test. We watch charters kick out students who do not test well. Now, the testing is so extreme that we never stop testing. This year I counted three weeks at my elementary school in which my work with children was not interrupted by tests. Only three weeks. From January to May we did nothing but test.

The year was essentially over in Jan. due to the many tests and the exhausting interruptions that made it impossible to create any continuity whatsoever in my district. See here:http://www.pegwithpen.com/2015...  My school has a free/reduced lunch rate of approximately 78% and over 40 languages represented among our students. The children at my school are tested more than children in affluent areas due to language and due to lacking food, healthcare, and literacy rich environments at home. We struggle weekly to provide 180 food bags to our children who do not have enough food to eat over the weekend. When our Peg with Pen: My Comment on PBS NewsHour's Opt Out Coverage:

Big Education Ape: PBS News Hour Video: “What galvanized standardized testing’s opt-out movement” | Larry Ferlazzo’... http://bit.ly/1F9HPJj

Perspective: Gauging impact of Gates' $100 million Hillsborough schools grant (w/video) | Tampa Bay Times

Perspective: Gauging impact of Gates' $100 million Hillsborough schools grant (w/video) | Tampa Bay Times:

Perspective: Gauging impact of Gates' $100 million Hillsborough schools grant (w/video)

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation may not view our country's stressed public schools as full of Neanderthal teachers trying to bash knowledge into bored, thick-skulled students. Yet the foundation's leaders do consider most U.S. schools terribly outdated, technologically deficient and bureaucratic morale-suckers in need of overhaul.

That's why the foundation decided to try to help.

Just a quarter of U.S. public high school graduates possess the skills needed to succeed academically in college. That statistic should terrify this country, given the aggressive rise of economic competition and rapidly improving education elsewhere in the world. Left unchecked, we are slipping in the global race to sustain a quality workforce.

That's a big reason why the Gates Foundation's $100 million grant to the Hillsborough County public school system is so compelling. The grant is wrapping up Year Four of a seven-year partnership between the Seattle-based foundation and Hillsborough schools. It's clearly a team effort. To get the Gates grant, Hillsborough has committed to match the foundation's $100 million. The goal: to improve student achievement by rethinking how best to support and motivate teachers to elevate their game during the adoption of the Common Core curriculum and beyond.

To gauge the partnership's progress, the Tampa Bay Times recently sat down at Blake High School in Tampa with Vicki Phillips and MaryEllen Elia. Phillips is the visiting Gates Foundation education leader, a former secretary of education and chief state school officer for the state of Pennsylvania, And here's the real street cred. She's a former school superintendent and middle and high school teacher.

Elia is not only completing her ninth year as Hillsborough's school superintendent. She also has emerged as a prominent figure in the broader Tampa Bay educational and economic development communities.

Nine years running the same school system is commendable. Especially in Florida where public schools rarely receive adequate attention or funding. Florida spends roughly half per pupil compared to New York or Connecticut. And Florida teachers remain among the poorest paid in the nation.

Contrast Elia's longevity in Hillsborough with Pinellas County, which has had four superintendents in the same nine years — Clayton Wilcox, Julie Janssen, John Stewart and now Mike Grego.

Let's be clear. The Gates Foundation picked Hillsborough County from among a national pool of applicants to receive such generous funding and a partnership role because the school system already was doing innovative things. Hillsborough also demonstrated a willingness to look at itself in a Gates-supplied mirror and change how it operated — if better ways to teach could be found.

According to Elia and Phillips, Hillsborough's education mission is to support innovation that can improve K-12 public schools and ensure students graduate high school ready to succeed in college. Accomplish that, says Elia, and the regional workforce becomes a strong economic selling point to businesses looking for quality employees.

"Great quality education is what draws businesses and people to a community," Phillips agrees. "The things MaryEllen is talking about is not just pushing more science and math but about asking students: 'Can you critically think and problem-solve?' "

When Hillsborough County and Tampa economic development officials are pitching this area to businesses looking to expand, education is no longer an afterthought.

Increasingly, business leaders want to know how dynamic the area school system is, not only for hiring sharp workers with 21st century skills but to gauge whether their own children should attend.

"We are at the table and part of those discussions," Elia said. "Hillsborough is one of the districts identified five years ago to get a very large grant from the Gates Foundation. Does that open eyes? Yes, I would say so."

So now that we're past the halfway point in this Gates-Hillsborough project, what's working so far to help Perspective: Gauging impact of Gates' $100 million Hillsborough schools grant (w/video) | Tampa Bay Times:

Hillsborough school leaders search for clues to lagging graduation rate

TAMPA — Trying to improve Hillsborough County's lagging graduation rate, acting superintendent Jeff Eakins started with a question: What is keeping kids off the stage?

PBS News Hour Video: “What galvanized standardized testing’s opt-out movement” | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

PBS News Hour Video: “What galvanized standardized testing’s opt-out movement” | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…:

PBS News Hour Video: “What galvanized standardized testing’s opt-out movement”

 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…:

 What galvanized standardized testing’s opt-out movement is the title of a segment on tonight’s PBS News Hour.

You can read the transcript here. I’ve embedded the video below. I’m adding it to The Best Posts On Parents “Opting-Out” Of Standardized Tests For Their Children.PBS News Hour Video: “What galvanized standardized testing’s opt-out movement” | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…:

Speaking on the Criminalization of Black Youth | The Jose Vilson

Speaking on the Criminalization of Black Youth | The Jose Vilson:

Speaking on the Criminalization of Black Youth

A few weeks ago, The New America Foundation had me and a few other luminaries (shout out to Nikole Hannah-Jones!) speak on the criminalization of Black youth in our schools. As the only classroom teacher, I felt passionately about throwing down the hammer whenever I got the mic, as you’ll see below. It’s worth the sitting in case you weren’t there. Just as awesome was that friends Sabrina Stevens  and Aurelia Flores brought their babies and families to the packed house.  So blessed.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!Speaking on the Criminalization of Black Youth | The Jose Vilson: