Secretary Duncan flip on parental involvement a real flop | WagTheDog

Secretary Duncan flip on parental involvement a real flop | WagTheDog:

Secretary Duncan flip on parental involvement a real flop

According to the Educational Testing Service web site, ETS is

the world’s largest private educational testing and measurement organization, ETS develops, administers or scores more than 50 million tests annually in more than 180 countries at more than 9,000 locations internationally.

Back in 2003, ETS released a report that identified factors in and out of school related to student achievement. According to the report, parental involvement and the home environment is just as important as what goes on in the school.

It is generally well recognized, in research as well as in the public generally, that parenting plays a critical role in child development and well-being, as well as in performance in school. It seems logical that, if parents are important, having two is better than having just one—at least on the average…

Research has pointed out that much of the large difference in achievement between children from two-parent and one-parent families is due to the effects of the lower incomes of one-parent families…

The report concludes by making a case  for education policies and practices that focus equally on supporting and strengthening both the school and home environment…

Gaps in school achievement, as measured, for example, in the eighth grade, have deep roots—deep in out of school experiences and deep in the structures of schools. Inequality is like an unwanted guest who comes early and stays late..

Nothing about the impediments to learning that accumulate in a child’s environment should be a basis for lowering expectations for what can be done for them by teachers and schools, or for not making teachers and schools accountable for doing those things.

And denying the role of these outside happenings – or the impact of a student’s home circumstances – will not help to endow teachers and schools with the capacity to reduce achievement gaps.

Also, insistence that it can all be done in the school may be taken to provide excuses for public policy, ignoring what is necessary to prevent learning gaps from opening. Schools are where we institutionalize learning; they are also places where we tend to institutionalize blame.

Fast forward to 2011 and just as states around the country are reviewing and adopting Secretary Duncan flip on parental involvement a real flop | WagTheDog:

Al Franken: What Congress must do for LGBT kids - CNN.com

Al Franken: What Congress must do for LGBT kids - CNN.com:

What Congress must do for LGBT kids

Story highlights

• Al Franken, Randi Weingarten: Many LGBT students live in fear of harassment, abuse. Current civil laws don't protect LGBT youth
• They say Congress must include Student Non-Discrimination Act in overhaul of No Child Left Behind Act

Al Franken represents Minnesota in the U.S Senate and is a member of the Senate Education Committee. Randi Weingarten is president of the 1.6 million member American Federation of Teachers.

(CNN)When Kyrstin Schuette, a Minnesotan, and her girlfriend started dating during freshman year in high school, none of the other students — with the exception of a few close friends — knew about their relationship.

But that all changed on a school trip when another student found out and spread the word. Immediately, the harassment began.

Al Franken

Randi Weingarten

Kyrstin's property was vandalized, and students called her names and pushed her around in the hallway. Several times, Kyrstin was threatened and told she should kill herself and that the world would be a better place without her.

Kyrstin started skipping school. She was bullied on social media. She reported the torment to her teachers and the principal. Their response? Sadly, but not unexpectedly: Keep your head down and don't be so open about your sexual orientation.

After two years enduring the bullying, shortly after her 18th birthday, Kyrstin attempted suicide. While recovering, she met other LGBT youth who also faced relentless harassment simply for who they are. Eventually, she finished her education online, became an advocate in the LGBT community, and even helped out with Franken's Senate campaign.

Kyrstin made it, but not every LGBT kid does. In May, after facing years of bullying at schools in Wyoming and California, 16-year-old Adam Kizer took his own life. His family has spoken openly about the bisexual teen's struggle with depression and post-traumatic stress. Like many LGBT students, Adam felt there was nowhere for him to go.

It's our responsibility as adults to protect all children. And we know that a significant number of young people across the country are being bullied for their sexual orientation or gender identity. In fact, according to the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, more than 30% of LGBT kids report missing a day of school in the previous month becauseAl Franken: What Congress must do for LGBT kids - CNN.com:

Michigan governor outlines plan to dissolve Detroit public school system - World Socialist Web Site

Michigan governor outlines plan to dissolve Detroit public school system - World Socialist Web Site:

Michigan governor outlines plan to dissolve Detroit public school system

Michigan’s Republican governor Rick Snyder has called for breaking up the Detroit Public School system. The plan is modeled on the Obama administration’s forced bankruptcy and restructuring of General Motors, which created a “bad GM” and a “good GM” to free the auto giant from unprofitable assets and liabilities.

Under Snyder’s plan, an “old district” would be established whose sole purpose would be to liquidate the long-term debt obligations of the Detroit Public Schools. These debts would be paid from property taxes in Detroit and the diversion of $70 million a year from Michigan’s already depleted School Aid Fund. It is estimated the latter will result in a statewide reduction in the foundation grant of $50 per-pupil. The current elected school board would move to the old company, which would remain under emergency management, according to media accounts.

A “new district,” called the “City of Detroit Education District,” would also be created. An unelected board whose members would likely be appointed by the governor and Detroit’s Democratic mayor, Mike Duggan, would oversee the operations of this district. The governor is also contemplating the establishment of another oversight board, the Detroit Education Commission, whose members would also be appointed by Duggan and Snyder.

According to the Detroit News, “That commission would oversee all schools in the city, including charters, and be responsible for monitoring school quality, common enrollment and the opening and closing of schools.” In other words, commissioners would be charged with cost-containment and the acceleration of corporate-backed “school reform,” including the closing of more public schools and the expansion of for-profit charter schools.

This commission is modeled on Snyder’s Detroit Financial Review Commission, another unelected body armed with dictatorial powers to cancel contracts and labor agreements and carry out the dictates of the bankruptcy restructuring of Detroit for the next decade. Duggan and fellow Democrat City Council President Brenda Jones sit on that board.

Up to this point, Snyder has run into problems, because Detroit Public Schools owe about $80 million per year to the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System (MPSERS). The banks and bondholders who own the debt consider any shift in structuring as a default, and the repercussions on the credit rating of the state would be significant.

Snyder told the Detroit News the pensions were not going to be included in his plan because he wanted to deal with them statewide. This statement Michigan governor outlines plan to dissolve Detroit public school system - World Socialist Web Site:

Sacramento city documents detail Kevin Johnson’s involvement in black mayors’ group | The Sacramento Bee

Sacramento city documents detail Kevin Johnson’s involvement in black mayors’ group | The Sacramento Bee:

Sacramento city documents detail Kevin Johnson’s involvement in black mayors’ group

The city of Sacramento released more than 6,100 emails and more than a dozen documents Tuesday detailing Mayor Kevin Johnson’s past involvement in the embattled National Conference of Black Mayors.

The involvement by Johnson and his staff was evident in the documents obtained by The Sacramento Bee through the Public Records Act.

Several individuals who identified themselves as members of the mayor’s staff had sent and received electronic communications about the group. Also included was an electronic PowerPoint presentation that detailed Johnson’s strategy to stage an “Annual Meeting ‘Coup’” to oust the group’s executive director, Vanessa Williams, through vote or legal action.

The front page of that presentation said it came from the “Office of Mayor Kevin Johnson” and included the city of Sacramento seal, a document first obtained by the website Deadspin.

Omitted from the batch of documents are 475 emails that the City Attorney’s Office pulled from the public record out of “an abundance of caution,” and in response to a private lawsuit filed by Johnson against the city of Sacramento and the Sacramento News & Review seeking to block their release.

Attorneys agreed last week to review and parse through the emails to determine which will be released to the News & Review and The Sacramento Bee, which filed separate Public Records Act requests for information this year about Johnson’s communications.

The emails in question were stored on a city server, and the City Attorney’s Office has deemed them part of the public record, but Johnson says they should be protected by attorney-client privilege.

The released documents suggest involvement by Johnson and his staff on NCBM matters. But David Pittinsky, a private attorney working with Johnson on NCBM litigation and the mayor’s request to block city release of some emails, said Tuesday on Capital Public Radio’s “Insight” program that NCBM issues had “nothing to do with the city of Sacramento” in arguing for correspondence to be withheld from public view.

Johnson served as president of the NCBM from May 2013 to May 2014. His tenure was marked by litigation and conflict. Records from Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta reviewed by The Sacramento Bee, along with city emails previously obtained through the Public Records Act, show that Johnson went to great lengths to take control of NCBM in one of the most vivid examples of his national ambitions. Several members of his mayoral staff worked on NCBM.

Johnson testified in court in December 2013 that he tasked six people on his City Hall staff or employees of organizations he is affiliated with to work on business for NCBM, a historic group born of the civil rights movement that had lost much of its credibility and clout thanks to years of mismanagement, as detailed by court documents and a federal criminal investigation of the group’s former president.

Williams, who remains in a legal battle with Johnson over his presidency and her role in the organization, has been accused of spending group money on personal matters.

A previous Public Records Act request revealed that mayoral staff formed an email group on July 10, 2013, dedicated to working on NCBM affairs. The mayor testified in Fulton County Superior Court that those individuals “were employed by me or the city or an entity.”

Johnson has since formed a new national black mayors group called the African American Mayors Association.

The Bee will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.

NCBM Board Action Steps

Marissa Lang: (916) 321-1038; @Marissa_Jae

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/city-beat/article26663299.html#storylink=cpy

Sacramento city documents detail Kevin Johnson’s involvement in black mayors’ group | The Sacramento Bee:

Obama Admin Says It Won’t Support Senate ESEA Draft; Higher Ed Wants Those “Higher Standards” | deutsch29

Obama Admin Says It Won’t Support Senate ESEA Draft; Higher Ed Wants Those “Higher Standards” | deutsch29:

Obama Admin Says It Won’t Support Senate ESEA Draft; Higher Ed Wants Those “Higher Standards”

There is a lot of info in this post. I could not capture it all in the title. All quotes are from Politico’s Morning Education for July 07, 2015, which has much more to it than I highlight in this post.

Diving in:

In Politico on July 06, 2015, US Secretary of Ed Arne Duncan continued with the narrative of being pleased with the Senate ESEA draft, which seriously limits the power of the US secretary of ed. Looks like the White House tune is a-changing:

— The White House weighs in: The Obama administration said Monday it’s not supporting the Senate bill — but White House officials stopped short of saying they’d issue a veto threat, as they did over the House bill. More:http://politico.pro/1NMLgME.

Then comes the whole “civil rights issue”: For some groups, the federal strong arm and annual testing are a must to ensure “civil rights”; for others, those overbearing tests are a civil punishment, not a “right”:

CIVIL RIGHTS BATTLE COMES TO CAPITOL HILL: A debate is raging in the states over what civil rights means in modern schools — and it’s on a collision course with Capitol Hill, where both the House and the Senate will move on their rewrites of No Child Left Behind today. The problem: Factions can’t agree on what a good civil rights bill looks like. Many Democrats and education reformers embrace the strong federal education system at NCLB’s core, saying it helps protect minority children. But others argue that approach has led to a “test-and-punish” atmosphere in schools, effectively holding minority students back while drowning them in hours of testing each year. Meanwhile, Republicans including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) argue that school choice is crucial for helping minority students.

Ted Cruz needs to study up on school choice as a means of incredible fiscal scandal, if nothing else. Financial scams only serve the scammers. (See this link for a telling report on charter school scandals.)

Continuing with testing and “civil rights”:

— The rift over testing and accountability is shredding ties between groups that are typically allies. “Politically, it’s cannibalism,” said Charles Barone, director of policy for Democrats for Education Reform, which supports annual testing. The Senate bill, which has support from many Democrats who consider themselves strong proponents on civil rights, has lost the support of the county’s largest civil rights coalition, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. The group wants changes to the bill in the form of amendments, which are being hashed out behind closed doors by Democrats 

Obama Admin Says It Won’t Support Senate ESEA Draft; Higher Ed Wants Those “Higher Standards” | deutsch29:

Thompson: Remembering The Full Horror of "Death at an Early Age"

This Week In Education: Thompson: Remembering The Full Horror of "Death at an Early Age":

Thompson: Remembering The Full Horror of "Death at an Early Age"

Thanks to Alexander and NPR's Claudio Sanchez for reminding us of the 50th anniversary of the firing of Jonathan Kozol for "curriculum deviation."

Everyone should (re)read this book. 

Rather than immediately using it to discuss the ways that education and racism has and has not changed in the last half century, we should first focus on the horror of Death at an Early Age.

Kozol was a substitute teacher in a class of 8th grade girls who were designated as "problem students" because they either had "very low intelligence" or were "emotionally disturbed."  In a 133-word sentence, Kozol recalls his reading of Langston Hughes's "The Landlord."

No transistor radios reappeared or were turned on during that next hour and, although some children interrupted me a lot to quiz me about Langston Hughes, where he was born, whether he was rich, whether he was married, and about poetry, and about writers, and writing in general, and a number of other things that struck their fancy, and although it was not a calm or orderly or, above all, disciplined class by traditional definition and there were probably very few minutes in which you would be able to hear a pin drop or hear my reading uninterrupted by the voices of one or another of the girls, at least I did have their attention and they seemed, if anything, to care only too much about the content of that Negro poet's book.

In subsequent years, most of the students forgot the poet's name, but they remembered the names of his poems and "They remember he was Negro."

Kozol was fired, his students' parents protested, and the career of a masterful education writer began. The details of the dismissal, however, are also noteworthy.

Kozol was also charged with violating Boston's curriculum policy by using a book from the Cambridge Library, not from the school system's inventory. The bigger sin was failing to use a poem that "accentuates the positive." In particular, he risked the "dangers of reading to Negro children poems written in bad grammar." The official charge explained, "We are trying to break the speech patterns of these children, trying to get them to speak properly. This poem does not present correct grammatical expression and would just entrench the speech patterns we want to break."   

A key subtheme of Death at an Early Age is Kozol's attempt to understand "the Reading Teacher," who was a liberal supporter of civil rights but who was oblivious to her own racism. She was an otherwise excellent teacher, exuding enthusiasm and an ability to "sell" her lessons to students. But, the Reading Teacher steadfastly resisted Kozol's indictments of the system's racism. This part of the book's This Week In Education: Thompson: Remembering The Full Horror of "Death at an Early Age":

GUEST: A gifted city teacher says Cerf must never come to Newark | Bob Braun's Ledger

GUEST: A gifted city teacher says Cerf must never come to Newark | Bob Braun's Ledger:

GUEST: A gifted city teacher says Cerf must never come to Newark

By JONATHAN ALSTON

Chris Cerf Must Not Become the Next Superintendent of Newark’s Public Schools: He has Already Exploited Us Enough

(Editor’s Note: Mr. Alston calls this the “polite” version of his incomparable analysis of what is going on in the Newark schools. He has reserved what he calls an “emotionally honest” version for his own blog, The Newark Teacher,  at http://newarkteacher.blogspot.com/2015/07/chris-cerf-must-not-be-next.html.

I respect that–but want my readers to know I wanted to publish the “emotionally honest” version and would never censor this brilliant voice from the Newark community.)

 Fanon realized that colonialism was a crime scene with evidence everywhere, admission nowhere, and the “authorities” were guilty parties.
- Lewis Gordon, @lewgord

Dear NJ State Board of Education:

Part I
The State Board of Education should unflinchingly reject Governor Chris Christie’s nominee for the next Superintendent of Newark’s public schools. Former NJ Commissioner of Education Chris Cerf has a history of underfunding, dismantling, and making money off of the very institution he now wants to now lead.

Like a parody of a shifty, racist politician from the 1950s, Chris Christie went from blatantly saying that he would not let Newark govern itself, to promoting an ugly, dishonest process that will ensure that -on education – Newark will never govern itself. If the State Board of Education is even mildly sincere about the importance of local control, then it must today work directly with the locally elected school board to select Newark’s next school leader.

In response to growing media coverage of wide spread protests and anger, Governor Chris Christie removed Cami Anderson as Superintendent of Newark’s public schools and started a commission to pretend that he was interested in local control. His commission is rigged to make Newark into a New Orleans style charter district. If the governor cared about starting a process to lead to local control, he would have suggested educators on his commission instead of making the committee’s deciding majority business people and charter school proponents.

If the governor cared at all about our children, he would have nominated an educator to be the next superintendent of Newark’s public schools. Instead of an educator, Chris Christie nominated a questionable business man, better known for GUEST: A gifted city teacher says Cerf must never come to Newark | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Marriage ruling may boost school climate for LGBT families and students | EdSource

Marriage ruling may boost school climate for LGBT families and students | EdSource:

Marriage ruling may boost school climate for LGBT families and students

When the U.S. Supreme Court issued a major civil rights decision on marriage in Loving v. Virginia in 1967, striking down a state law banning interracial marriage, Alameda Unified teacher Gene Kahane was a 3rd-grader in Richmond, California, and didn’t hear about it. News of social change travels faster and farther now – and almost immediately into the classroom.

Across California and the nation, educators say the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage stands to improve, over time, the way gay and lesbian people are talked about at schools, both in the hallways and in the curriculum.

“That decision was heard everywhere,” said Kahane, an Alameda Unified School District high school English teacher and district-identified ally for gay youth.

“I think we’ve crossed a threshold toward acceptance and welcome,” said Todd Savage, president of the National Association of School Psychologists.

Savage and other educators said the ruling will give new momentum to efforts to make schools safer and more inclusive for gay, lesbian and transgender students, as well as the more than 200,000 schoolchildren nationwide – including at least 30,000 in California – who have same-sex parents.

Sara Train, coordinator of the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center’s Project Spin, which works with the Los Angeles Unified School District to end bullying, said the ruling is “a path to equality” for gay and lesbian people and “a validation” that will affect school culture.

“I think we’ve crossed a threshold toward acceptance and welcome,” said Todd Savage, president of the National Association of School Psychologists.

She referenced the words of Justice Anthony Kennedy in the June 26 Obergefell v. Hodges decision in favor of the right to marry for gay and lesbian couples. “They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law,” he wrote. “The Constitution grants them that right.”

And she praised the words of President Barack Obama, who called the ruling “a victory for the children whose families will now be recognized as equal to any other.” Obama referred to the struggles of gay, lesbian and transgender individuals who were able to “endure bullying and Marriage ruling may boost school climate for LGBT families and students | EdSource:

CURMUDGUCATION: Jeb's Ed Backers Revealed

CURMUDGUCATION: Jeb's Ed Backers Revealed:

Jeb's Ed Backers Revealed

Long-time observers of the reformster scene are familiar with the Foundation for Excellence in Education (FEE) the advocacy group that was, among other things, supposed to help Jeb Bush leverage his reformy career into a Presidential run.

At various times they have promoted specious arguments for testing, tried to use aging demographics to sell choice, jumped onthe honesty gap train to nowhere, held a regular reformster-palooza gatheration, and tried to harness fake-ish social media presences to tout the whole reformy package. They are a one stop shop for reformster baloney, sliced to whatever thickness you prefer.

One thing they have not previously done is actually admit where their funding comes from. Until now.

In an act that appears related to Jeb Bush's Candidature Data Dumpage, FEE has finally coughed up their donors list. And it is a revelation, a shock, a stunning surprise of-- well, actually, no. It's pretty much exactly who you'd guess would be backing the mess.

FEE's list now occupies a corner of their website. John Connor of NPR broke the list down to make it a little more searchable.

It is not an exact list in that donors are organized by ranges. So we know that Bloomberg donated somewhere between $1.2 million and $2.4 million, which is quite a margin of error. But it's still a chunk of change, either way.

Joining Bloomberg Philanthropies in the Over a Cool Million Club are these folks, a completely unsurprising list:

Walton Family Foundation (between $3.5 mill and over $6 mill)
B&M Gates (between $3 mill and over $5 mill)
Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation (between $1.6 mill and $3.25 mill)
News Corporation (between $1.5 mill and $3 mill)
GE Foundation (between $2.5 mill and over $3 mill)
Helmsley Trust (at least $2 mill)

The Might Have Hit a Million Club includes

The Broad Foundation
Jacqueline Hume Foundation
Robertson Foundation
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Kovner Foundation
The Arnold Foundation

Beyond those, we find Florida businesses and a fair sampling of folks who have a stake in the FEE mission, like McGraw Hill and Renaissance Learning.

FEE's website breaks things down by year, which helps create a picture of FEE's growth. The first reported year is 2007 (that's the same year that Bush's run as Florida's governor ended), and while Bloomberg was still one of the top donors, that was with a CURMUDGUCATION: Jeb's Ed Backers Revealed:

Obama administration: Education bills lack accountability - Yahoo News

Obama administration: Education bills lack accountability - Yahoo News:

Obama administration: Education bills lack accountability

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration said Monday it cannot support either the Senate or the House versions of bills being considered this week to update the Bush-era No Child Left Behind education law.

Cecilia Munoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, says neither bill has sufficient accountability to ensure that all children get the resources they need to succeed. She, however, stopped short of saying President Barack Obama would veto the bipartisan Senate bill sponsored by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

In a phone call with Munoz, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and reporters, Duncan called the House bill "a major step backwards for our nation and its children" and appealed for Republicans to strike a more bipartisan chord. The White House has previously threatened a veto on that legislation.

Emphasizing the need for congressional action on No Child Left Behind, Munoz and Duncan highlighted what they said were large achievement gaps between students at struggling schools and those at better performing elementary and middle schools. They released a White House report that said between students in the nation's lowest-performing 5-percent of schools and their peers in all other schools, there was a 31 percentage point gap in reaching grade-level proficiency in reading, and a 36-percentage point gap in math.

In the Senate bill, Munoz said: "There is a lot in this bipartisan bill that gives us a lot of hope." But, she said, she wants to see specific language in the Senate and House bills that would not only require that the lowest-performing 5-percent of schools in each state be identified, but that states and schools be compelled to have a plan to do something about it.

The Alexander-Murray bill would retain reading and math tests outlined in No Child Left Behind — but in a significant move, it shifts to the states decisions about how to use those tests to measure school performance. The House bill, sponsored by Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., also transfers more power to the states on accountability but has a school choice provision that would allow public money to follow low-income children to different public schools — something Democrats don't support.

The Senate is scheduled to begin debate on the Alexander-Murray bill on Tuesday. The full House is expected to take up the Kline measure on Wednesday.Obama administration: Education bills lack accountability - Yahoo News:

Principal: Stop blaming Common Core for problems in public education - The Washington Post

Principal: Stop blaming Common Core for problems in public education - The Washington Post:

Principal: Stop blaming Common Core for problems in public education

This is the tenth in a continuing series of letters between two award-winning school principals, one who likes the Common Core State Standards and the other who doesn’t. The debate over the Common Core State Standards has become so polarized that it is hard to get people who disagree to have reasonable conversations about it. The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news Web site focused on inequality and innovation in education, is hosting a conversation between Carol Burris of New York and Jayne Ellspermann of Florida (in a format that Education Week once used with Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier as the authors).  The Report’s editors as well as both principals have given me permission to republish each letter.

Burris  served as principal of South Side High School in the Rockville Centre School District in New York for 15 years before recently retiring. In 2010, she was recognized by the School Administrators Association of New York State as their Outstanding Educator of the Year, and in 2013, she was recognized as the New York State High School Principal of the Year. Ellspermann is principal of West Port High School in Ocala, Florida.  She has served as a principal in elementary, middle, and high schools for the past 24 years and is the 2015 Principal of the Year for the National Association of Secondary School Principals. 

The first letter was written by Burris, a Core opponent, to Ellspermann, a Core supporter. Burris explained why she once liked the Core but changed her mind. Ellspermann’s reply letter explained why she thinks the  Core is helping schools in her district. In the third letter, Burris explains why she thinks Core testing hurts disadvantaged students. The fourth, by Ellspermann, says that critics should not blame the Common Core standards for bad implementation and she writes why she likes the English Language Arts emphasis on reading text rather than allowing students to rely on personal experience.

In the fifth letter, Burris asks Ellspermann why she thinks she needs the Core.In the sixth letter, Ellspermann responds by discussing why she opposes the opt-out movement and how the Core is working in her school.  In the seventh letter, Burris explains why she doesn’t think the Core will do for students what supporters say it will. The eighth letter, from Ellspermann, talks about why she believes all students should have the same standards. The ninth letter, from Burris, explained that she was taking early retirement because she no longer felt she could work well in a test-based system.

Here is the tenth letter in the series, from Ellspermann back to Burris:

Dear Carol,

Your recent letter identified the drawbacks of tying teacher evaluations to student performance on the Common Core-aligned tests. In order to receive Race to the Top funds, states agreed to tie student test results to teacher evaluations. An outcry from teachers and school administrators followed. You wrote in your last letter that the New York State legislature recently passed a bill that increased the impact of student test scores on teacher evaluations to 50 percent. The Florida legislature just passed a bill reducing the weight of Principal: Stop blaming Common Core for problems in public education - The Washington Post:

Principal: How I know something is wrong with Common Core standards and tests

This is the eleventh in a continuing series of letters between two award-winning school principals, one who likes the Common Core State Standards and the other who doesn’t. The debate over the Common Core State Standards has become so polarized that it is hard to get people who disagree to have reasonable conversations about it. The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news Web site focused on inequality and innovation in education, is hosting a conversation between Carol Burris of New York and Jayne Ellspermann of Florida (in a format that Education Week once used with Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier as the authors).  The Report’s editors as well as both principals have given me permission to republish each letter.

Burris  served as principal of South Side High School in the Rockville Centre School District in New York for 15 years before recently retiring. In 2010, she was recognized by the School Administrators Association of New York State as their Outstanding Educator of the Year, and in 2013, she was recognized as the New York State High School Principal of the Year. Ellspermann is principal of West Port High School in Ocala, Florida.  She has served as a principal in elementary, middle, and high schools for the past 24 years and is the 2015 Principal of the Year for the National Association of Secondary School Principals. 

The first letter was written by Burris, a Core opponent, to Ellspermann, a Core supporter. Burris explained why she once liked the Core but changed her mind. Ellspermann’s reply letter explained why she thinks the  Core is helping schools in her district. In the third letter, Burris explains why she thinks Core testing hurts disadvantaged students. The fourth, by Ellspermann, says that critics should not blame the Common Core standards for bad implementation and she writes why she likes the English Language Arts emphasis on reading text rather than allowing students to rely on personal experience.

In the fifth letter, Burris asks Ellspermann why she thinks she needs the Core.In the sixth letter, Ellspermann responds by discussing why she opposes the opt-out movement and how the Core is working in her school.  In the seventh letter, Burris explains why she doesn’t think the Core will do for students what supporters say it will. The eighth letter, from Ellspermann, talks about why she believes all students should have the same standards. The ninth letter, from Burris, explained that she was taking early retirement because she no longer felt she could work well in a test-based system. The tenth letter, from Ellspermann, which you can read in the post below, talks about how much she and Burris have in common, and says the standards themselves are not the root of problems in education.

Here is the eleventh letter in the series, from Burris to Ellspermann, which first appeared on The Hechinger Report on July 2:

Dear Jayne,

I am writing this letter the day after my last graduation ceremony. The past week has been difficult—full of tearful goodbyes. Although I am certain that my decision to retire was the right one, leaving a school that I love so much has been very painful. But, as I said to the Class of 2015 in my address, quoting Winnie the Pooh—“how lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

Your last letter acknowledged our mutual concern about the evaluation of teachers by student test data. Even if it were a perfect measure, and it is far from perfect, the unintended consequences of using test scores in this manner would never be worth the price. Back in 1976, social scientist Donald Campbell predicted what would happen if standardized tests became high-stakes. He wrote, “When test scores become the goal of the teaching process, they both lose their value as indicators of educational status and distort the educational process in undesirable ways.” Certainly, that is a worry you and I share.

You asked what accountability system produces a bell curve in which teachers are measured against each other. It’s called the “VAM” — for value-added Principal: How I know something is wrong with Common Core standards and tests

Q&A: Post education reporter Lyndsey Layton pulls back the curtain on this week’s No Child Left Behind fight in Congress - The Washington Post

Q&A: Post education reporter Lyndsey Layton pulls back the curtain on this week’s No Child Left Behind fight in Congress - The Washington Post:

Q&A: Post education reporter Lyndsey Layton pulls back the curtain on this week’s No Child Left Behind fight in Congress

Both the House and Senate will consider major education bills this week. Lyndsey Layton covers national education issues for The Washington Post and understands the underlying issues as well as anyone. In the latest PostWorthy Q&A, conducted by email Monday night, she pulls back the curtain on key sticking points in negotiations, reflects on Arne Duncan’s legacy as Secretary of Education and previews last-minute efforts by conservatives to limit the further limit the federal role.

“Common Core” has become toxic in Republican politics. What might the GOP Congress do to curtail the Department of Education’s ability to advance or incentivize the initiative?

Actually, both the bipartisan bill in the Senate, written by Lamar Alexander (R) and Patty Murray (D), and the GOP House bill crafted by John Kline (R-Minn.) explicitly prohibit the Education secretary from having any influence over state academic standards. So it’s likely that whatever legislation makes it out of conference will include some language that prohibits the federal government from getting involved in academic standards.

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What are the biggest differences between the House and Senate bills?

Both bills would transfer power over education decisions from the federal government to the states and local school districts, but the House version would go farther – to the point that Democrats, civil rights groups, teachers unions and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce fear it would hand too much authority to states. They argue that the federal government should maintain some kind of oversight over local schools, otherwise some states will ignore the needs of the kids who are the hardest (and most costly) to educate: poor kids, kids with disabilities and English language learners.

In general, how much power is the federal Education Department poised to lose under the legislation now being considered?

Arne Duncan became arguably the most influential education secretary since the job was created in 1979 by exploiting two levers. He got $4.3 billion from Congress – Recovery Act money designed to keep the economy afloat after the 2008 recession – and created Race to the Top, a national contest that required cash-starved states to adopt his education policies just in order to compete for a chance at a grant. Then, he saw that states were struggling mightily under No Child Left Behind and, while Congress dithered on a rewrite, Duncan handed out conditional waivers that excused states from the law – as long as they adopted his favored policies. By doing that, Duncan was able to get 43 states and D.C. to adopt the Common Core State Standards, to require that states evaluate their teachers based in part on student test scores, and to dictate how states should try to improve their worst performing schools, among other things.

It’s a remarkable record, but now the pendulum is swinging back.

Under the legislation that is now under debate, much of that power evaporates. The federal Department of Education would not be able to attach conditions to waivers, nor would it be able to influence state decisions about academic standards, teacher evaluation systems or what to do about their Q&A: Post education reporter Lyndsey Layton pulls back the curtain on this week’s No Child Left Behind fight in Congress - The Washington Post: