Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/27/15

SPECIAL NITE CAP 

CORPORATE ED REFORM

Test & Punish & Civil Rights | The Progressive

Test & Punish & Civil Rights | The Progressive: Test & Punish & Civil RightsThe Murphy Amendment (Premise: the worst parts of NCLB are actually the best parts; let's give them steroids) was one more manifestation of the Civil Rights Argument for Test and Punish. Amendment proposer Chris Murphy (D-Conn) invoked that justification for his test and punish bill, saying that ESEA "

by mike simpson / 2min 

"For the Kids" - Comprehensive Review of California School Bonds, Executive Summary

"For the Kids" - Comprehensive Review of California School Bonds, Executive Summary (Section 1 of 9) - California Policy Center: "For the Kids" - Comprehensive Review of California School Bonds, Executive SummaryCalifornia School BondsSee the complete California Policy Center report For the Kids: California Voters Must Become Wary of Borrowing Billions More from Wealthy Investo

by mike simpson / 1h 

How One Educator is Taking Ethnic Studies Mainstream - NEA Today

How One Educator is Taking Ethnic Studies Mainstream - NEA Today: How One Educator is Taking Ethnic Studies Mainstream Thousands of high school students from Los Angeles, Calif. will benefit from a more diverse curriculum this year, thanks in large part to the efforts of Jose Lara, a social studies teacher at Santee Education Complex High School.His labors led to make ethnic studies a graduation r

by mike simpson / 2h 

DEMAND AUDITS: California Charter School Fraud

Risking Public Money: California Charter School Fraud | Center for Popular Democracy: DEMAND AUDITS: California Charter School Fraud In 1992, California became the second state in the nation to pass legislation authorizing the creation of charter schools. Since the law’s passage, which originally authorized 100 charter schools, the number of charter schools in California has grown rapidly. Today,

by mike simpson / 3h 

Why Don’t Schools Give Teachers Enough Time to Use the Restroom? - The Atlantic

Why Don’t Schools Give Teachers Enough Time to Use the Restroom? - The Atlantic: Using the Restroom: A Privilege—If You’re a TeacherEducators seldom have enough time to do their business. What’s that doing to the state of learning?It’s common knowledge that teachers today are stressed, that they feel underappreciated and disrespected, and disillusioned. It’s no wonder they’re ditching the classroo

by mike simpson / 4h 

Peg with Pen: I'm Not Grateful for Compromise

Peg with Pen: I'm Not Grateful for Compromise: I'm Not Grateful for CompromiseBut I am grateful for every activist out there who is pushing hard - in their own way - to save our public schools. Truly I am grateful for that and I want to make that clear before I jump into this blog.This is my first blog of the summer.  I couldn't blog due to fatigue and I wouldn't let myself blog because I knew tha

by mike simpson / 4h 

Education lobbyists’ backers stay in the shadows - The Buffalo News

Education lobbyists’ backers stay in the shadows - City & Region - The Buffalo News: Education lobbyists’ backers stay in the shadowsALBANY – Three groups pushing education reforms that spent heavily lobbying state government this year funded at least a portion of their efforts though donations whose original sources are essentially untraceable.Those question marks remain despite a 2011 ethics

by mike simpson / 5h 

Kevin Johnson's Cronies Trump Up Racism Scandal Against His Enemies

Kevin Johnson's Cronies Trump Up Racism Scandal Against His Enemies: Kevin Johnson's Cronies Trump Up Racism Scandal Against His EnemiesThere’s a price for taking on Mayor Kevin Johnson in Sacramento, Calif., and the SacramentoNews & Review is now paying it. The small weekly paper has consistently taken the lead in exposing Johnson’s abuses of the public trust—and now, for its troubles, finds

by mike simpson / 5h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The Trust was a bust. Now where's Bill and Randi?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The Trust was a bust. Now where's Bill and Randi?: The Trust was a bust. Now where's Bill and Randi?Back in 2012, Rahm's proposed Infrastructure Trust got him him great press, especially with flack David Axelrod pumping it like it was the second coming of the Marshall Plan. The New York Times hailed it as the  $7 billion plan  that would "transform the city’s in

by mike simpson / 6h 

Will John Kasich Stand Up to the Republican Donors Taking Billions from Ohio’s Charter Program? – InsideSources

Will John Kasich Stand Up to the Republican Donors Taking Billions from Ohio’s Charter Program? – InsideSources: Will John Kasich Stand Up to the Republican Donors Taking Billions from Ohio’s Charter Program?As John Kasich begins campaigning for President, he’ll be proclaiming a number of impressive policy successes on the trail. In Congress, he was the chief architect of the 1997 balanced budget

by mike simpson / 6h 

Is Donald Trump right about what Gov. Scott Walker did to Wisconsin schools? - The Washington Post

Is Donald Trump right about what Gov. Scott Walker did to Wisconsin schools? - The Washington Post: Is Donald Trump right about what Gov. Scott Walker did to Wisconsin schools?Is Donald Trump right about what Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s education policies have done to the state’s public schools?Trump, who is running for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, is going from one opponent in t

by mike simpson / 7h 

What I Did Over My Summer Vacation | deutsch29

What I Did Over My Summer Vacation | deutsch29: What I Did Over My Summer VacationI began my ten-week summer vacation in ;ate May 2015 with a trip to Houston on the Wednesday following Memorial Day. The purpose of the trip was to help my sister Anna move some of her belongings from her temporary housing in Houston back home to southern Louisiana. She is an engineer with Chevron, and she was finish

by mike simpson / 7h 

Geaux Teacher!: Big $$ Expected to Flow to 2015 Louisiana BESE Campaign

Geaux Teacher!: Big $$ Expected to Flow to 2015 Louisiana BESE Campaign: Big $$ Expected to Flow to 2015 Louisiana BESE CampaignReflecting on the 2011 BESE campaign in which I ran for the first time against my current opponent Atty. James Garvey, I found this report and thought it worth sharing with Louisiana voters.Taxpayers should ask themselves which of the candidates this year will be most lik

by mike simpson / 7h 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Director Peaslee Gives Her School Board Picks

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Director Peaslee Gives Her School Board Picks: Director Peaslee Gives Her School Board PicksI would like to say this is a parody of sorts but no, it's Director Peaslee's recommendations for School Board.Now the first thing you'll note is that she gives recommendations for all the races (even though not all are on the primary ballot anyway) except for her own distri

by mike simpson / 7h 

States in Motion: Visualizing how education funding has changed over time | EdSource

States in Motion: Visualizing how education funding has changed over time | EdSource: States in Motion: Visualizing how education funding has changed over timeAfter a complete redesign and the addition of new data, we’re excited to relaunch “States in Motion.”The project explores numerous datasets through interactive charts for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. The idea behind the proje

by mike simpson / 7h 

CURMUDGUCATION: Teacher "Shortage" Reflections

CURMUDGUCATION: Teacher "Shortage" Reflections: Teacher "Shortage" ReflectionsAssembling my recent post on teacher shortages gave me a lot to reflect on, but since the piece was already a gazillion words long, I saved that reflection for another post. Here is that post.In no particular order, here are some of the things that jumped out as I did my national tour.Spin Is a ThingI

by mike simpson / 7h 

MapED | Educational Attainment Comparison of School Districts and the Nation

MapED | home: Educational Attainment Comparison of School Districts and the NationMapED | home:NEW MapEDMapED is a project developed by the NCES CENSUS Mapping Program. Our goal is to provide a rich GIS experience using CENSUS and NCES datasets and publications. Story Maps present interesting data concepts in an interactive and easily digestable format for everyone.Get Started...NEW EDGEThe Educat

by mike simpson / 8h 

Five Things on Arne Duncan's Summer To-Do List - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Five Things on Arne Duncan's Summer To-Do List - Politics K-12 - Education Week: Five Things on Arne Duncan's Summer To-Do ListWe're more than halfway through the summer, and most kids, and even many teachers are in full-on vacation mode. But the U.S. Department of Education—and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan—still have a lot on their plates.Here's what the department is burning the midni

by mike simpson / 8h 

Carnegie Mellon project revives failed inBloom dream to store and analyze student data - The Hechinger Report

Carnegie Mellon project revives failed inBloom dream to store and analyze student data - The Hechinger Report: Carnegie Mellon project revives failed inBloom dream to store and analyze student dataPrivacy controversy to be dodged by not storing student names, addresses or social security numbersLearnSphere, a new $5 million federally-funded project at Carnegie Mellon University, aims to become “th

by mike simpson / 8h 

Jersey Jazzman: State Standards, Mapping the NAEP, & Student Performance: Who's the "Liar"? Part I

Jersey Jazzman: State Standards, Mapping the NAEP, & Student Performance: Who's the "Liar"? Part I: State Standards, Mapping the NAEP, & Student Performance: Who's the "Liar"? Part I Education Secretary Arne Duncan is sick and tired of all those states that "lie" to their students:“The idea that the Common Core standards are nationally-imposed is a conspiracy

by mike simpson / 8h 

The Toughest Job In Education? Maybe Not : NPR Ed : NPR

The Toughest Job In Education? Maybe Not : NPR Ed : NPR: The Toughest Job In Education? Maybe NotRosie The Assistant Principal?LA Johnson/NPRIt's been a theory of mine that the Assistant Principal has the toughest job in education.I got that idea a long time ago, when I was a student teacher at a middle school.It seemed, the assistant principal's job goes something like this:She's On duty well bef

by mike simpson / 8h 

Is The Senate Attempting To Change The Constitution with ECAA? » Missouri Education Watchdog

Is The Senate Attempting To Change The Constitution with ECAA? » Missouri Education Watchdog: Is The Senate Attempting To Change The Constitution with ECAA?As a plaintiff in a lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of the testing consortia, I pay close attention to law, rule and policy that has to do with student testing. In the latest draft of the Senate’s Every Child Achieves Act (ECAA) t

by mike simpson / 8h 

Expect Education To Be Big Issue In 2016 Presidential Campaign, Survey Shows - Forbes

Expect Education To Be Big Issue In 2016 Presidential Campaign, Survey Shows - Forbes: Expect Education To Be Big Issue In 2016 Presidential Campaign, Survey ShowsWhat’s the most important issue facing the country? As usual, it’s the economy and jobs, according to the latest annual survey from the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. But education is the second issue on the minds of America

by mike simpson / 9h 

The scariest lesson of No Child Left Behind - Vox

The scariest lesson of No Child Left Behind - Vox: The scariest lesson of No Child Left BehindNo Child Left Behind did two major things: It forced states to identify schools that were failing according to scores on standardized tests. Then it told states what to do to fix those schools.Congress is now overhauling the law. The biggest likely change in any compromise is that the federal government w

by mike simpson / 9h 

Malloy signs charter school "transparency" bill - News - West Hartford News

Malloy signs charter school transparency bill - News - West Hartford News: Malloy signs charter school transparency billHARTFORD >> Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed a bill Tuesday that requires charter schools and their management organizations to provide more information to the state about their finances.The so-called “charter transparency” bill will require the state education commissioner to monito

by mike simpson / 9h 

Campbell Brown has a new education-focused site: Is it news or advocacy? - The Washington Post

Campbell Brown has a new education-focused site: Is it news or advocacy? - The Washington Post: Campbell Brown has a new education-focused site: Is it news or advocacy?Is it news, or is it advocacy? In the case of the Seventy Four, a new news site focused on education, the answer appears to be yes.The site, co-founded and edited by former CNN and NBC anchor Campbell Brown, bills itself as “a nonpr

by mike simpson / 9h 

The Washington Teacher: DC Corporate Profiteers Expose the Dark Side of Charter School Industry

The Washington Teacher: DC Corporate Profiteers Expose the Dark Side of Charter School Industry: DC Corporate Profiteers Expose the Dark Side of Charter School IndustryWritten by Candi Peterson, WTU General Vice PresidentRecently, an education colleague asked me how do we make charter schools better? I really had no answer to his question in light of some of our recent local charter school scandal

by mike simpson / 10h 

YESTERDAY

United Opt Out Offers an Intimate Portrait of Activism - Living in Dialogue

United Opt Out Offers an Intimate Portrait of Activism - Living in Dialogue: United Opt Out Offers an Intimate Portrait of ActivismThe administrators of United Opt Out have published An Activist Handbook for the Education Revolution: United Opt Out’s Test of Courage. It should of high interest to advocates for real change in our schools.One of the benefits of the 2011 Save Our Schools march in Was

by mike simpson / 22h hide  //  save

Newark trying to force teachers to talk parents out of special education programs | Bob Braun's Ledger

Newark trying to force teachers to talk parents out of special education programs | Bob Braun's Ledger: Newark trying to force teachers to talk parents out of special education programsTurnamian: So wrong about so many thingsNewark school administrators now working for newly appointed state superintendent Christopher Cerf are trying to force the city’s special education teachers and specialists to

by mike simpson / 22h 

Brevard County School Board: $4 Million “improperly” paid for “undelivered” delivered software? Investigation needed… | Reclaim Reform

Brevard County School Board: $4 Million “improperly” paid for “undelivered” delivered software? Investigation needed… | Reclaim Reform: Brevard County School Board: $4 Million “improperly” paid for “undelivered” delivered software? Investigation needed…Watch Brevard County School Board members Andy Ziegler and Karen Henderson engage in double-talk about paying $4 million of “improper” payment for

by mike simpson / 23h 

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/26/15

SPECIAL NITE CAP CORPORATE ED REFORMSeattle Schools Community Forum: Who to Vote For?Seattle Schools Community Forum: Who to Vote For?:Who to Vote For?In discussions with friends and neighbors, I find two kinds of voters.  The "I got my ballot, filled it out and mailed it already" and the "I'm waiting until the last minute" voter.  I'm somewhere in-between.I'm going to give you

by mike simpson / 1d 

Test & Punish & Civil Rights | The Progressive

Test & Punish & Civil Rights | The Progressive:

Test & Punish & Civil Rights

The Murphy Amendment (Premise: the worst parts of NCLB are actually the best parts; let's give them steroids) was one more manifestation of the Civil Rights Argument for Test and Punish. Amendment proposer Chris Murphy (D-Conn) invoked that justification for his test and punish bill, saying that ESEA "has to be a civil rights law."

Kati Haycock is president and founder of the Education Trust, a Gates-funded test-pushing advocacy group that supported NCLB and helped craft the Common Core. She took to her website to call Lily Eskelsen Garcia a liar for claiming that test and punish policies are not a civil rights win. Haycock is just one of the many civil rights advocates who speak out in favor of test and punish. But there is now a large coalition of civil rights advocates who speak out against test and punish, as well.

I've written about this again and again and again and again. But as the reformsters have found a strong tactical advantage in using the civil rights argument to promote test and punish, let me see if I can distill the important points of the argument here:

There Is a Real Concern

The systemic ignoring, underserving, and general neglect of non-white, non-wealthy populations is a real problem. "Do nothing" and "Go back to doing what we used to do" are not viable solutions.

Testing doesn't tell us anything we don't already know

Actually, test scores don't tell us much of anything, because the Big Standardized Tests are narrowly focused, poorly designed, and extremely limited in their scope. Furthermore, we can predict test score results pretty well just using demographic information. So to claim that we would be fumbling in the dark without these tests, with no idea of how to find schools that were in trouble, is simply ridiculous.

Nobody is sending help

Advocates argue that test scores provide political leverage that forces "The System" to respond. - See more at: http://www.progressive.org/news/2015/07/188240/test-punish-civil-rights#sthash.0fK49M6V.dpuf





The Battle Over Education and Civil Rights

“This is a historic moment to end 13 years of legislative malpractice” NEA president Lily Eskelsen Garcia says of the federal K12 education law that Congress is currently hashing out.

Congress has failed to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act ever since George Bush rewrote the law and renamed it No Child Left Behind in 2002.

The original Act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, was part of a civil-rights-era drive to rectify glaring inequality.

It dealt with disproportionate funding within and among the states. It created grants to help low-income students, built libraries and provided text books to schools in poor areas.

All of that changed with No Child Left Behind.

In the George W. Bush era, U.S. education policy switched from trying to do something about the corrosive effects of poverty to a focus on accountability and standards. Federal funding came with strings attached. Schools serving poor kids were ordered to improve test scores or face sanctions.

The Obama Administration’s Race to the Top initiative continued the basic thrust of No Child Left Behind, offering states flexibility on specific requirements of Federal law if they tied teacher performance evaluations to test scores and pushed other rigorous test-score-improvement plans.

But the backlash against what critics call the “test and punish” approach has snowballed into a major movement over the last two years. 

The biggest, hottest debate about the federal education act reauthorization is about whether “test and punish” is a civil-rights cause.

On the one hand, civil rights activists and some of the biggest civil rights groups are suspicious of local school authorities in historically separate and unequal communities and see standardized testing as a legitimate federal effort to make sure poor kids and kids of color are learning to read and do math.

On the other hand, teachers and civil rights activists including Jesse Hagopian, who has united the local NAACP, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the opt-out movement to reject over-testing in Seattle, sees poor, minority kids getting shafted by a stripped down, test-focused education regime.

Progressive legislators who don’t want to side with the Obama-bashing, Common-Core-conspiracist Tea Party Republicans have been caught behind the curve on the popular movement against test-and-punish.

Teacher Steven Singer proclaimed in a recent blog post, “The Democrats May Have Just Aligned Themselves with Test and Punish—We Are Doomed.”

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, along with almost every other Democrat in the U.S. Senate, supported an amendment to the federal education law that would have kept stringent testing, firing staff who don’t raise scores, and helping students dump schools that fail to measure up.

When Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, introduced the amendment, he said it was because the federal education act “has to be a civil rights law.” 

Local civil rights activists in many cities, from New York to New Orleans, Chicago to Seattle,

- See more at: http://www.progressive.org/news/2015/07/188241/battle-over-education-and-civil-rights#sthash.YejVC2bo.dpuf