Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/15/15

SPECIAL NITE CAP 

CORPORATE ED REFORM

The 5 Teachers You Meet in Heaven: What It Really Takes to Save Our Schools | Yohuru Williams

The 5 Teachers You Meet in Heaven: What It Really Takes to Save Our Schools | Yohuru Williams: The 5 Teachers You Meet in Heaven: What It Really Takes to Save Our SchoolsA few weeks ago, I had the privilege of delivering commencement addresses to the graduates of the Read Middle School and the Metropolitan Business Academy Magnet High School in Bridgeport and New Haven, Connecticut respectively. T

by mike simpson / 1h 

Education Health ALERT!: United Nations warns GERMs spreading worldwide #NN15 | Cloaking Inequity

Education Health ALERT!: United Nations warns GERMs spreading worldwide #NN15 | Cloaking Inequity: Education Health ALERT!: United Nations warns GERMs spreading worldwide #NN15The world is experiencing the spread of privatizing GERMs (Global Education Reform Movements).School “reformers” are pressing a variety of “school choice” and “market-based” policies that move the control of schools from dem

by mike simpson / 3h 

NEW CTA PRESIDENT | ERIC HEINS - California Teachers Association

- California Teachers AssociationCTA PRESIDENT | ERIC HEINSCTA President Eric Heins took office on June 26, 2015 along with CTA Vice-President Theresa Montano & Secretary/Treasurer David Goldberg.

by mike simpson / 3h 

CURMUDGUCATION: How AFT Blew It

CURMUDGUCATION: How AFT Blew It: How AFT Blew ItI wouldn't devote one more post to deconstructing Randi Weingarten's early-bird Christmas gift to Hillary Clinton except that I'm an NEA member, and I'm living in fear that NEA president Lily Ekelsen Garcia's administration will lead us down the same path.Arguing about Clinton (or Weingarten for that matter) is a tricky dance. Clinton tends to have a

by mike simpson / 3h 

NY's new education commissioner on Common Core, teacher evals & more | syracuse.com

NY's new education commissioner on Common Core, teacher evals & more | syracuse.com: NY's new education commissioner on Common Core, teacher evals & moreSYRACUSE, N.Y. – The state's new education leader, MaryEllen Elia, wants to be known as a teachers' commissioner."I am a teacher," Elia said today. "I think of myself as a teacher."That means more support for teachers t

by mike simpson / 3h 

Now They Want to Make Money On Your Babies - Pre-K and Charter Schools

Pre-K and Charter Schools: Where State Policies Create Barriers to Collaboration? | The Thomas B. Fordham Institute: Now They Want to Make Money On  Your Babies - Pre-K and Charter SchoolsPre-K and Charter Schools: Where State Policies Create Barriers to CollaborationJuly 14, 2015Foreword by Michael J. Petrilli and Amber M. NorthernReport by Sara Mead and Ashley LiBetti MitchelDownload the full re

by mike simpson / 3h 

Common Core Opt-Out Debate: Parents Fight For Standardized Testing Rights

Common Core Opt-Out Debate: Parents Fight For Standardized Testing Rights: Common Core Opt-Out Debate: Parents Fight For Standardized Testing RightsOn a recent Thursday morning designated for testing at his Colorado middle school, Jack Spiegel commenced to following what had become his daily routine: He woke up, got dressed by 6:45 a.m., sat down the kitchen table and ate a bowl of Honey Bunches o

by mike simpson / 3h 

Law allows for opt outs of standardized tests | Polk County Itemizer-Observer

Law allows for opt outs of standardized tests | Polk County Itemizer-Observer: Law Allows For Opt Outs Of Standardized TestsIf school districts don’t meet 95 percent participation rates, they could stand to lose federal moneySALEM — The landscape of statewide assessments — currently Smarter Balanced Assessments — is in question after Gov. Kate Brown signed a law allowing parents to more easily opt

by mike simpson / 3h 

Hillary's Family Ties to School Privatizers, and Diane Ravitch's Review of Hoosier School Heist | Black Agenda Report

Hillary's Family Ties to School Privatizers, and Diane Ravitch's Review of Hoosier School Heist | Black Agenda Report: Hillary's Family Ties to School Privatizers, and Diane Ravitch's Review of Hoosier School HeistBy Doug Martin at Hoosier School Heist Blog, and Diane RavitchLast week the American Federation of Teachers endorsed Hillary Clinton's presidential candidacy, without consulting more tha

by mike simpson / 4h 

New Education Reform PAC Launches With Help from Bowser - Loose Lips

New Education Reform PAC Launches With Help from Bowser - Loose Lips: New Education Reform PAC Launches With Help from Bowser Candidates in the 2016 D.C. Council and State Board of Education races will have another PAC to court. Democrats for Education Reform-D.C., a new PAC with a connected independent expenditure, is looking to fund candidates in next year's races.The PAC, the local branch of De

by mike simpson / 4h 

PAA Week July 19-25: Final Schedule and Session Links | Parents Across America

PAA Week July 19-25: Final Schedule and Session Links | Parents Across America: PAA Week July 19-25: Final Schedule and Session Links Time to get ready for PAA Week! Let’s go!All public sessions will be recorded and posted after the session ends.Day 1 – Sunday, July 19, 8PM ET: Kick-off (internal PAA session)This session is for PAA chapter and affiliate leaders only; invitations are going out thro

by mike simpson / 5h 

Outsourcing: Privatizing the Heart of Special Education

Outsourcing: Privatizing the Heart of Special Education: Outsourcing: Privatizing the Heart of Special EducationIt is difficult to find proof that handing over the heart of special education to non-profit and for-profit companies improves services for students with special needs. It’s unclear whether it saves money either. But school privatization involving special education appears to be on the r

by mike simpson / 5h 

K.J.’s email scheme - Sacramento News & Review -

Sacramento News & Review - K.J.’s email scheme - Bites - Opinions - July 16, 2015: K.J.’s email schemeHow the mayor's ‘bulletproof' system to avoid public scrutiny might backfire“Gmail was our bulletproof method of communication, beyond the reach of the city and the public.”That’s how R.E. Graswich, a former senior adviser to Mayor Kevin Johnson, described the parallel email system set up insi

by mike simpson / 5h 

Senate Votes to Require States to Set Limit on Time Spent Testing | deutsch29

Senate Votes to Require States to Set Limit on Time Spent Testing | deutsch29: Senate Votes to Require States to Set Limit on Time Spent TestingOn July 14, 2015, the Senate passed by voice vote a bill sponsored by Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) requiring states to establish a limit on the maximum total time students are to spend taking standardized tests– for ESEA or otherwise; to represent that li

by mike simpson / 6h 

In Blow to Erdogan, Turkish Court Halts Closing of Schools Tied to His Rival - The New York Times

In Blow to Erdogan, Turkish Court Halts Closing of Schools Tied to His Rival - The New York Times: In Blow to Erdogan, Turkish Court Halts Closing of Schools Tied to His RivalISTANBUL — In a blow to the government, Turkey’s highest court has overturned a law that would have closed thousands of preparatory schools linked to an influential Muslim cleric and rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Th

by mike simpson / 6h 

CURMUDGUCATION: Sad Days in PARCCland

CURMUDGUCATION: Sad Days in PARCCland: Sad Days in PARCClandPARCC, built on the dream of a national scale standardized testing system, has been dumped by yet another state. Governor John Kasich of Ohio two weeks ago signed a budget that severs Ohio's connection to the PARCC consortium. The dream is dying.The PARCC had only been used in Ohio for one year-- but that year was disastrous. State Senato

by mike simpson / 8h 

Charter School Sector Out of Control | janresseger

Charter School Sector Out of Control | janresseger: Charter School Sector Out of ControlLast week when Ohio’s progressive Senator Sherrod Brown introduced (to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization bill being considered right now by the U.S. Senate) an amendment for federal regulation of charter schools, the Plain Dealer reported that he noted the irony that the very people who

by mike simpson / 8h 

Backdrop slap on Common Core’s test of ‘feelings’ :: SI&A Cabinet Report

Backdrop slap on Common Core’s test of ‘feelings’ :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet: Backdrop slap on Common Core’s test of ‘feelings’(La.) In another move to limit the federal government’s reach into its classrooms, lawmakers have approved legislation that prohibits education officials from adopting any academic content standards or tests tha

by mike simpson / 8h 

Black Children in U.S. Are Much More Likely to Live in Poverty, Study Finds - The New York Times

Black Children in U.S. Are Much More Likely to Live in Poverty, Study Finds - The New York Times: Black Children in U.S. Are Much More Likely to Live in Poverty, Study FindsWASHINGTON — Black children were almost four times as likely as white children to be living in poverty in 2013, a new report has found, the latest evidence that the economic recovery is leaving behind some of the United States’

by mike simpson / 8h 

AFT TEACH Conference is underway! - YouTube

AFTHQ - YouTube: AFT TEACH Conference - YouTubeTEACH is underway!The AFT TEACH (Together Educating America’s Children) conference, July 13-15 in Washington, D.C., celebrates the work we do and provide inspiration for the work that lies ahead. This conference brings together educators, union leaders, administrators, activists, and civic and community leaders for high-quality workshops. TEACH also o

by mike simpson / 8h 

State broke the law by ignoring online school F's, state school board says | cleveland.com

State broke the law by ignoring online school F's, state school board says | cleveland.com: State broke the law by ignoring online school F's, state school board saysCOLUMBUS, Ohio –  State school board members accused the Ohio Department of Education Tuesday of breaking state law by throwing F grades for online schools out of a key charter school evaluation this year.Members of the state school b

by mike simpson / 9h 

The Real Reason U.S. Schools Have Summer Vacations

Why Does Summer Vacation Exist?: The Real Reason U.S. Schools Have Summer Vacations U.S. kids still get about 900 hours of classroom time each year — comparable to (or even higher than) most other countries. In fact, Finland has far fewer hours of school each year (around 600), and it consistently crushes the U.S. in international education rankings.Summer vacation is one of those things you have

by mike simpson / 9h 

Game, set & match: Public/charter schools compared - The Daily Tribune : Opinion

Other Views: Game, set & match: Public/charter schools compared - The Daily Tribune : Opinion: Game, set & match: Public/charter schools comparedEvery year the Texas Education Agency releases the “snapshot” of the prior school year’s academic and financial performance for ISD’s and charter schools.  These are the facts from the 2012-13 school year (the most recently released report – relea

by mike simpson / 9h 

Education Secretary Arne Duncan: How’s He Doing? | Nonprofit Quarterly

Education Secretary Arne Duncan: How’s He Doing? | Nonprofit Quarterly: Education Secretary Arne Duncan: How’s He Doing?The numerous issues that have been at the center of a growing controversy about public education place the policies of President Obama in the spotlight. The debate has become integral to the U.S. Congress’s efforts to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (née No

by mike simpson / 10h 

The Big Idea Behind Race to the Top | Diane Ravitch's blog

The Big Idea Behind Race to the Top | Diane Ravitch's blog: The Big Idea Behind Race to the TopHave you every wondered what “Race to the Top” was supposed to accomplish? Did it mean that we would be first in the world if we opened more privately managed charter schools, closed down more public schools (especially in Black and Brown communities), evaluated all teachers by test scores, and adopted t

by mike simpson / 10h hide  //  save

YESTERDAY

Sacramento NAACP accuses SN&R of 'crazed and violent,' racist illustration of Mayor Kevin Johnson

Sacramento NAACP accuses SN&R of 'crazed and violent,' racist illustration of Mayor Kevin Johnson - Page Burner - July 14, 2015 - Blogs - Sacramento News & Review: Sacramento NAACP accuses SN&R of 'crazed and violent,' racist illustration of Mayor Kevin JohnsonLOCAL STORIES  |  GREEN  |  OPINIONS          CALENDAR  |  ARTS&CULTURE  |  MUSIC  |  DINING  |  FILM  |  GUIDES  |  N&

by mike simpson / 23h 

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/14/15

SPECIAL NITE CAP CORPORATE ED REFORMIt’s a VAM Shame… | VAMboozled!It’s a VAM Shame… | VAMboozled!: It’s a VAM Shame…It’s a VAM shame to see how VAMs have been used, erroneously yet as assuredly perfect-to-near-perfect indicators of educational quality, to influence educational policy. A friend and colleague of mine just sent me a PowerPoint that William L. Sanders – the developer of the Tennessee

by mike simpson / 23h 

The 5 Teachers You Meet in Heaven: What It Really Takes to Save Our Schools | Yohuru Williams

The 5 Teachers You Meet in Heaven: What It Really Takes to Save Our Schools | Yohuru Williams:

The 5 Teachers You Meet in Heaven: What It Really Takes to Save Our Schools

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of delivering commencement addresses to the graduates of the Read Middle School and the Metropolitan Business Academy Magnet High School in Bridgeport and New Haven, Connecticut respectively. The student speakers at both schools thanked their principals and teachers for helping prepare them for the next chapters in their lives -- chapters, of course, yet to be written. Their remarks, nonetheless, were far from perfunctory as evidenced by the heartwarming displays of affection students from both schools showed for their teachers. It is a safe bet that all they imagine regarding the significance of the connections they made will prove not only true but also richly rewarding in the future. They only have to look around to see why.

There are abundant examples of the many ways in which teachers change lives. During his acceptance speech for the Tony Awards top honor, Best Musical of 2015, producer Joey Parnes, for example, made it a point to thank "two of my many teachers" as well as "two of my newest teachers" emphasizing the importance of lifelong learning. During the same ceremony, actor Neil Patrick Harris likewise acknowledged his former "teachers in small town New Mexico." He explained, "When sports were the only option, you showed creativity has a place in the world." These are wonderful and much needed nods to the importance of and need for continued support of music and arts education. They also illustrate the deep, if not always-obvious ways, teachers can inspire greatness through a challenging assignment, a stimulating discussion, a few well-timed words of encouragement, the unbridled enthusiasm of a librarian, some constructive feedback on a piece of music or art, a successful entry at the science fair or the special attention of a club leader or coach. It is an aspect of the art of teaching that long-term educators cherish.

Given the continued attacks on the teaching profession from so-called corporate education reformers, these displays of gratitude and emotion are especially welcome The 5 Teachers You Meet in Heaven: What It Really Takes to Save Our Schools | Yohuru Williams:

Education Health ALERT!: United Nations warns GERMs spreading worldwide #NN15 | Cloaking Inequity

Education Health ALERT!: United Nations warns GERMs spreading worldwide #NN15 | Cloaking Inequity:

Education Health ALERT!: United Nations warns GERMs spreading worldwide #NN15

The world is experiencing the spread of privatizing GERMs (Global Education Reform Movements).

School “reformers” are pressing a variety of “school choice” and “market-based” policies that move the control of schools from democratic control to private control. Market-based approaches such as vouchers, charters, and parent trigger take the control of schools out of the hands of democratically elected governmental officials and local communities.

Not only are the spreading “choice” and “market-based” policies across the United States, but the world is also facing privatization efforts. The United Nations recently convened a meeting to address the GERMs. I will begin with a quick discussion of primary domestic privatization efforts and then segue to the global pushback.

The two most prominent forms of private control pressed in educational policy in the United States are charters and vouchers. Choice proponents focus on the limitations of traditional public schools but rarely discuss the predominance of the peer-reviewed research literature that demonstrates limited or no effect of choice (i.e. vouchers and charters) on student success. Are there examples of student success in charters? Of course, as is there also in public schools. However, the most prominent CREDO study of charter schools across the nation showed that nationwide only 15% of charters perform better than traditional neighborhood public schools.

While it is true that you can find an occasional peer-reviewed study that shows small effects for vouchers, the predominance of the research literature in the United States and elsewhere in the world shows no statistical significance or limited effects. What is also notable about the rare voucher study that shows a positive effect is that they are typically churned out by researchers primarily funded by foundations that are ideologically privatization advocates (aka Kool-Aid drinkers). What charters and vouchers clearly do is hand the control of the capital in schools to religious organizations, politically appointed boards and/or corporations.

Parent Trigger is a policy where parents are allowed to vote to turn over a public school to private control. Parent Trigger is parent empowerment without the empowerment. Parental involvement without the involvement. Why? Education Health ALERT!: United Nations warns GERMs spreading worldwide #NN15 | Cloaking Inequity:

NEW CTA PRESIDENT | ERIC HEINS - California Teachers Association

- California Teachers Association

CTA PRESIDENT | ERIC HEINS

CTA President Eric Heins took office on June 26, 2015 along with CTA Vice-President Theresa Montano & Secretary/Treasurer David Goldberg.

CURMUDGUCATION: How AFT Blew It

CURMUDGUCATION: How AFT Blew It:

How AFT Blew It

I wouldn't devote one more post to deconstructing Randi Weingarten's early-bird Christmas gift to Hillary Clinton except that I'm an NEA member, and I'm living in fear that NEA president Lily Ekelsen Garcia's administration will lead us down the same path.

Arguing about Clinton (or Weingarten for that matter) is a tricky dance. Clinton tends to have a destabilizing effect on the brains of people who don't like her, who proceed to froth at the mouth at start ranting about conspiracies tortured enough make a truther blush. My opposition to Clinton (andsupport for Bernie Sanders) is not based on any belief that she is a terrible human being, a crazy-awful person, or some evil mastermind bitch on wheels. My reluctance to support her is not even based on my perception that she is extraordinarily inauthentic (though I think that magnifies her other issues). I just don't think she is remotely a supporter of public education or the teachers who work there. I think she would be perfectly comfortable continuing the exact same policies that we've suffered under for the past fifteen years and in fact would prefer to continue with them.

The counter-argument is that she's electable while Sanders is a modern George McGovern, beloved by liberals and doomed in the general election. Maybe Clinton is electable (though if that's the case I'd ask why? Could it be that she's electable because, other than her lack of a penis, she is indistinguishable from a Republican candidate). And there's a case to be made that endorsing early and ahead of the pack earns you a better voice in policy discussions.

But if she is electable, nobody's pretending it won't be a tough sell. And that's how AFT blew it.

Let me take a moment to tell you how I have always handled advising students who are in charge of putting on Prom. First, it takes months-- mooonnnnnnths. Because we make sure every student on class council has had a chance to propose an idea and explain that idea. Then students break into groups and they research and pitch the ideas. And then they discuss the ideas until every single person has been heard just as much as they want to be. And then they decide.

The process is long and involved and inefficient and often results in exactly the same theme-and-CURMUDGUCATION: How AFT Blew It:

NY's new education commissioner on Common Core, teacher evals & more | syracuse.com

NY's new education commissioner on Common Core, teacher evals & more | syracuse.com:

NY's new education commissioner on Common Core, teacher evals & more

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The state's new education leader, MaryEllen Elia, wants to be known as a teachers' commissioner.

"I am a teacher," Elia said today. "I think of myself as a teacher."

That means more support for teachers to implement Common Core standards. It means better testing with quicker results. And, to Elia, it means using teacher evaluations as an important and meaningful way to measure teachers' abilities.

"My role right now is to go out and listen to some of the concerns people have," Elia said during an hourlong interview with Syracuse Media Group's editorial board. Those listening sessions have included teachers, superintendents, parents' groups and media. This morning, she met with Syracuse's schools superintendent, Dr. Sharon Contreras; this afternoon, she was to meet with superintendents from Syracuse-area schools.

Here's are a few of the issues she touched on today:

The Common Core"I'm very committed to the implementation of the Common Core," she said.

Many teachers, she said, also are embracing the new teaching methods and seeing good results among students.

But teachers need more support to do shift to that pedagogy, she added.

"They need more time," she said. "We've got to step back and give teachers in the state the opportunities to get more accustomed and feel more comfortable...I think we have some work to do there," she said.

Teacher evaluationsEvaluation is a way to figure out if those new teaching methods are working, Elia said. At her last job, as superintendent in Hillsboro County, Fla., Elia added peer reviews and mentors to the evaluation system.

"I'm totally in favor of evaluations for teachers and making that valuable for them," she said.

The biggest components of evaluations, she said, are immediate feedback and striving for continuous improvement.

Elia also said evaluations should not be used as a yardstick to get rid of a certain amount of teachers. "That's not my agenda," she said.

Student testsElia said obtaining testing results more quickly will help teachers and parents better assess what's happening in the classrooms. Part of that will include moving some of New York's standardized tests to a computer-based form.

"We've got to start moving toward that," she said.

Right now, all New York public school students take standardized tests with pencils and paper. Going to computers will take time. It will be at least two years before pilot programs begin.

The community must step upSuccessful districts need involvement from the community, Elia said. And that's in NY's new education commissioner on Common Core, teacher evals & more | syracuse.com:

Now They Want to Make Money On Your Babies - Pre-K and Charter Schools

Pre-K and Charter Schools: Where State Policies Create Barriers to Collaboration? | The Thomas B. Fordham Institute:

Now They Want to Make Money On  Your Babies - Pre-K and Charter Schools

Pre-K and Charter Schools: Where State Policies Create Barriers to Collaboration

July 14, 2015

Foreword by Michael J. Petrilli and Amber M. Northern
Report by Sara Mead and Ashley LiBetti Mitchel

Download the full report, foreword and executive summary, and the base report.

In Pre-K and Charter Schools: Where State Policies Create Barriers to Collaboration, authors Sara Mead and Ashley LiBetti Mitchel examine thirty-six jurisdictions that have both charter schools and state-funded pre-K programs to determine where charters can provide state-funded pre-K. Among the findings:

• Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia have both state-funded pre-K and charter laws. Of those, thirty-two have at least one charter school serving preschoolers.
• Charter schools in all but four states face at least one significant barrier to offering state pre-K. Nine have statutory or policy barriers that preclude charter schools from offering state-funded pre-K; twenty-three other states technically permit charters to offer state-funded pre-K but have created practical barriers that significantly limit their ability to do so in practice.

The most common practical barriers include low funding levels, small pre-K programs, barriers to kindergarten enrollment, and local district monopolies on pre-K funds.

Recommendations for state policymakers:

• Ensure that the state's definition of a "charter school" includes pre-K in the activities or grade levels that charters are permitted to offer.
• Establish clear policies that allow charter schools operating publicly funded pre-K to enroll the children served by those programs directly into their kindergarten classes.
• Make certain that charter schools have equal access to state pre-K funds.

Recommendations for federal policymakers:

• Include pre-K in the federal definition of "charter school."
• Ensure that federal preschool programs, including Head Start, provide charters equitable access to funding.

State ProfilesPre-K and Charter Schools: Where State Policies Create Barriers to Collaboration? | The Thomas B. Fordham Institute:

Common Core Opt-Out Debate: Parents Fight For Standardized Testing Rights

Common Core Opt-Out Debate: Parents Fight For Standardized Testing Rights:

Common Core Opt-Out Debate: Parents Fight For Standardized Testing Rights

On a recent Thursday morning designated for testing at his Colorado middle school, Jack Spiegel commenced to following what had become his daily routine: He woke up, got dressed by 6:45 a.m., sat down the kitchen table and ate a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats. But then the sixth grader broke from his normal course of events -- and school administrators' expectations -- by staying home. Jack and his other school-aged siblings would not be among the students taking their annual exams, his mother decided.

"I wrote a letter just saying they're not going to participate," Ilana Spiegel said later that day. "The laws are immoral and [unjust] and are hurting kids. People aren't listening to parents and educators and students...this was the only thing to do."

Jack's mom is not alone when it comes to that train of thought. Though there's no official count, hundreds of thousands of students across the country reportedly opted out of spring standardized tests based on controversial Common Core standards, which were instituted not long ago throughout most of the country. Because there's no legal precedent for this, some students were disciplined. Federal aid was threatened. But now, as scores were calculated in the summertime lull, lawmakers from Colorado to Maine were pushing state legislation that would secure parents' rights to keep their kids from taking the tests. They argue the so-called opt-out bills not only get families involved in the discussion around the contentious educational initiative but also give them a chance to start taking it down.

Common Core, a national set of English language and math guidelines that dictate what students should be able to do at certain grade levels, was adopted by more than 40 states in 2010. Since then the implementation has been rocky, with critics arguing that the standards didn't cater to a diverse student audience and teachers weren't prepared for the new curriculum. Common Core-aligned standardized exams, most of them developed by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and the Common Core Opt-Out Debate: Parents Fight For Standardized Testing Rights: