Seattle Schools Community Forum: SPS Updates

Seattle Schools Community Forum: SPS Updates:

SPS Updates

Both President Carr's community meeting and the Board Retreat (scheduled for tomorrow, Sept. 12th) have been cancelled.  What a surprise.  Don't know when Carr will be available again; the Retreat is rescheduled for Sept. 26th.

There is another district press conference with updates on the strike at 3 pm.  I may not be able to make it but again, will track -via Twitter- any new information.

Listened to both the KUOW Week in Review and their noon show as both talked about the strike (and charter schools, remember them?). 

First, I actually like the people at Washington Policy Center as people but man, there is NOTHING they won't say to promote ed reform.  Paul Guppy was on the Week in Review and he had some whoppers:

- He said the strike was the "nuclear option." 

- He says that Aviation High and the Tri-Cities Delta High may be improperly funded with state funds because they aren't overseen by an elected board (as charters are not).  I may be wrong but I thought both those had oversight by Superintendent Dorn; I'll ask his office.

- He echoed something a charter parent had tweeted to me which was that parents don't care how the money gets into the schools.  Well, I can only say that taxpayers do and frankly, I think that is the lens that the Supreme Court should be looking thru.

- He said there are charters in 41 other states and "no controversy" with them.  He said that as the 300th charter school failed in Florida and Ohio and Arizona are overrun with poorly-run charters. Unfortunately it was radio so I could not see if he made that statement with a straight face.

- Eric Barnett made the point that charters are limited and not every can access Seattle Schools Community Forum: SPS Updates:

After 25 Years, Teach for America Results are Consistently Underwhelming | Nonprofit Quarterly

After 25 Years, Teach for America Results are Consistently Underwhelming | Nonprofit Quarterly:

After 25 Years, Teach for America Results are Consistently Underwhelming

America has a love-hate relationship with Teach for America. What began as the dream of one idealistic undergraduate in the late 80s is now, some 26 years later, an internationally recognized behemoth in the education reform movement, with more than $200 million (yes, you read that correctly) in investments as of last year.

A recent book, edited by T. Jameson Brewer and Kathleen deMarrais, titled Teach for America Counter-Narratives is the latest to put the organization under scrutiny. In anarticle this week in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Washington Post columnist Esther J. Cepeda writes about the “explosive and jaw-dropping” stories written by 20 of TFA’s alumni, which she says “eviscerate the myth of TFA’s unmitigated success.” Her takeaway is that the book should be a cautionary tale to those studying the education reform movement. The stories reveal the smoke and mirrors (“money and great marketing,” in her words) that TFA uses to recruit the best and brightest while convincing their donors and other partners that they are moving the needle on outcomes.

According to its most recent tax return, TFA has total assets of close to half a billion dollars and revenues of more than $330 million, of which about 90 percent comes from government grants and contributions from corporations, foundations and individuals. An organization of this size and stature has an obligation to its constituents to demonstrate its success, and TFA has accumulated years of research findings about its programming, expansion and scale-up efforts. Marty Levine and Ruth McCambridge asked on this site several weeks ago whether Teach for America’s results justify its pillar status.

In 2013, Mathematica Policy Research concluded a federally-funded controlled study of TFA. Comparing TFA secondary math teachers across eight states with a control group of math teachers in the same schools, the study found that, on average, students in TFA classrooms gained the equivalent of an additional 2.6 months of school, as evidenced by end-of-year math assessments. However, two years later, a subsequent Mathematica evaluation was unable to replicate those results.

While the later study concluded that TFA teachers in early primary grades produced roughly 1.3 months of extra reading gains, that good news was overshadowed by the more troubling evidence that an overwhelming majority of TFA staff (87 percent) reported that they did not plan to spend the rest of their career as a classroom teacher or, for that matter, in any education-related career.

TFA takes great pride in how well it prepares its corps members for the classroom (in a smidgen of the time it takes a teacher to train through traditional avenues). Studies published on its website find that TFA corps members are “as effective” as other teachers in the same schools and that they promote achievement in measures “equal or sometimes greater.” Two state-wide studies in North Carolina and Tennessee demonstrating TFA’s relatively higher effectiveness in teaching STEM content corroborate these findings, although the Tennessee Higher Education Commission report doesn’t go much further than stating that TFA teachers “tend to be” more effective than other beginning teachers.

As NPR correspondents Eric Westervelt and Anya Kamenetz point out, this can be read as either evidence of TFA’s superior pedagogy or an “indictment” of traditional teacher preparation programs. But it should also be noted that some question the reliability of After 25 Years, Teach for America Results are Consistently Underwhelming | Nonprofit Quarterly:

CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Sub Privatizing Bombs

CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Sub Privatizing Bombs:

PA: Sub Privatizing Bombs

Philadelphia schools joined the ranks of school districts that figured they could save a buck by sub-contracting their substitute teaching work to a private company. Then, Philadelphia schools joined the ranks of school districts that found out they'd made a mistake.

Philly gave the contractor a $34 million contract, and then-- well, back before school started, they had barely 10% of the bodies they needed. I didn't run the story at the time because it was before the start of school, and sub rosters always grow once people decide they really aren't getting a job this fall. But now the school year is started, and Philly still has a measly 300 subs on the roster. The company says it has maybe 500 in the pipeline. The school district says once the year gets going, the demand is in the neighborhood of 1,000 per day.

The district hired the company after only being able to get a "fill rate" of about 66%. The company is not even close to that-- and if they don't hit 90% by January, it will start costing them money. They are mystified. Reporter Kristen A Graham quotes one of the honchos

"We've hired a good number of district originals, and many of them are just not accepting jobs," Murphy said. "Frankly, we're a little unsure why."

Source4Teachers is the outfit, and they already handle about 200 districts. Operating out of Cherry Hill, NJ, their chirpy website includes some darkly ironic rotating headlines.

We need tomorrow's teachers today. 

We need them today because we didn't find out about the absence till today. The company has complained that they don't get enough lead time on what needs to be filled, though they've certainly got plenty of lead time on the 99 unfilled teaching jobs, or the maternity leaves, or the long-term illnesses. If all other Philly teachers could plan their illnesses ahead of time, that would be very helpful.

They also need tomorrow's teachers because if they get more people who aren't actually teachers today, it will help fill the ranks with people who don't mind that this outsourcing has pushed sub CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Sub Privatizing Bombs:

Civility. | Fred Klonsky

Civility. | Fred Klonsky:

Civility.

Hunger strikers Cesar Chavez (left) with Jesse Jackson and Jitu Brown (right).

Hunger strikers Cesar Chavez (left) with Jesse Jackson and Jitu Brown (right).

While a lot in this world makes me angry I try not to yell and scream. I try and remain civil.

This was not always true. Back when I was teaching and representing teachers I would get pretty mad and I was known to lose it once in a while.

Sometimes this was more of a tactic than real. Sometimes it was real.

Dear Mrs. Douglass would get so worried about me. I would walk past her room after a meeting with administration and the color in my face was slowly moving from red to pink. “Be careful,” she would say. “We don’t want you getting another heart attack.”

She knew I already had one.

Age and retirement have calmed me down. I am better for it.

Last year’s buzz word was “grit.” It didn’t matter if there were adequate resources for poor kids and kids of color. All you needed was grit to succeed.

What nonsense.

This year we are all about “civility.”

I’m for civil conversations even among those with who we disagree. Of course, why would you worry about having a civil conversation with Civility. | Fred Klonsky:

A busy second day of the Seattle teachers’ strike | Seattle Education

A busy second day of the Seattle teachers’ strike | Seattle Education:

A busy second day of the Seattle teachers’ strike

Teachers, parents and students were out on the picket line on day 2 of the Seattle Teachers Association (SEA) teachers’ strike

One parent told me that yesterday morning when she was with the teachers at her daughter’s elementary school, three parents came by in the course of three hours to make sure the teachers had enough water and food.

Because images can say more than any words I can write, to follow are photo’s sent to Seattle Education yesterday and this morning of Day 2 of the Seattle teachers’ strike.

Roosevelt High School students made 200+ brown bag sandwiches for their picketing educators. With food to spare, they ended up visiting 10 schools.

Coe Elementary

Coe Elementary

Coe Elementary

Coe Elementary

Franklin High School

Students with their teachers at Sanislo Elementary School.

Yesterday evening was a rally in support of the teachers in the City Council Chambers at Seattle City Hall. The room was overflowing.

Teachers, parents and students spoke. Teachers talked about why they were on strike and parents and students spoke in support of the teachers.

Also yesterday, Wayne Au, PhD, one of the Plaintiff’s in the Supreme Court case challenging the constitutionality of charter schools in Washington State, had an article published in the Washington post titled A Perfect Storm in Washington State.

It was a busy day in the world of education.A busy second day of the Seattle teachers’ strike | Seattle Education:

The misuse of research to support deregulation and privatization of teacher education - The Washington Post

The misuse of research to support deregulation and privatization of teacher education - The Washington Post:

The misuse of research to support deregulation and privatization of teacher education

For years now we’ve been hearing from school reformers that traditional teacher preparation programs at colleges and universities are awful and that what we need is deregulation and market competition. In the following post, two academics evaluate the argument that these programs have failed as well as the value of the programs that school reformers embrace to replace them. This was written by Kenneth Zeichner and Hilary G. Conklin. Zeichner is a professor of teacher education at the University of Washington, Seattle, and professor emeritus in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A member of the National Academy of Education, he has done extensive research and teaching and teacher education. Conklin is a program leader and associate professor of secondary social studies at DePaul University whose research interests include teacher learning and the pedagogy of teacher education.

This post is an introduction to a paper on the subject by Zeichner and Conklin that is being published by Teachers College Record, titled “Beyond Knowledge Ventriloquism and Echo Chambers: Raising the Quality of the Debate on Teacher Education.”

By Kenneth Zeichner and Hilary G. Conklin

Though there is ample room for debate on how much and what kind of education is best for preparing effective teachers, inferring that one type of preparation does or does not yield better outcomes for students is not warranted by the evidence (National Research Council 2010).

The body of research leads one to expect students in the classrooms of corps members—recruited, trained, and supported by Teach For America—to learn as much or more than they would if assigned a more experienced teacher in the same school (Teach For America, 2014).

Critics of college and university-based teacher preparation have made many damaging claims about the programs that prepare most U.S. teachers–branding these programs as an “industry of mediocrity”–while touting the new privately-financed and- run entrepreneurial programs that are designed to replace them. These critics have constructed a narrative of failure about college and university Ed schools and a narrative of success about the entrepreneurial programs, in many cases using research evidence to support their claims.

Yet in a recent independently peer-reviewed study that will be published in The misuse of research to support deregulation and privatization of teacher education - The Washington Post:

The New History Wars Part 3: The College Board is the Real Problem - Living in Dialogue

The New History Wars Part 3: The College Board is the Real Problem - Living in Dialogue:

The New History Wars Part 3: The College Board is the Real Problem 

By Paul Horton.

The Advanced Placement United States History course recently revised by the College Board has recently undergone a second major revision in response to critics from the right who argue that the first revision did not emphasize specific content and that it focused on social history and neglected political and military history.

The second revision responds to these criticisms, but many critics on the right and some who want to see more specific content required continue their criticisms.

Teachers of AP History are growing restless; they have to get on to the teaching of history this year, caught in the middle of a political firefight and another chapter in the culture wars.

The culture wars have no place in history classes except to be taught as a political issue.

Good history is inclusive. Good teachers can combine social history with traditional political and military narratives. Good history teachers understand that religion is a very complex and foundational aspect of United States History. This does not mean that teachers should be teaching “providential history” as some ministers would, it means understanding that the idea of “providential history” has shaped the thinking of some Americans and groups of Americans in very important ways.

The left tends to be identified by the right as promoting social history, identity politics based on victimization narratives, and as hostile to the role of religion in American history. Many veterans don’t believe that the left respects the very real heroism displayed by Americans during wars. There is some truth in this critique because the AP tends to deemphasize military history in favor of free response questions that focus on the more hotly debated issues of race, class, and gender history. On the other hand, the left sees its efforts as attempting to integrate the history of important reform movements, minorities, and political perspectives that were absent from most textbooks and courses until the late seventies as a legacy of Cold War conservatism and McCarthyite anticommunism. So we have a kind of tug of war that intensifies every few years: the debate over the NEH standards in the early and mid nineties is reigniting with the controversy surrounding the Jefferson County, Colorado suspension of the new AP curriculum and the attempts by conservatives to modify the new AP US.

What is written in a textbook or in a set of standards, however, is not history. History is not set in stone. It is The New History Wars Part 3: The College Board is the Real Problem - Living in Dialogue:

Shock Waves Reverberate From Wash. State Charter Ruling - Education Week

Shock Waves Reverberate From Wash. State Charter Ruling - Education Week:

Shock Waves Reverberate From Wash. State Charter Ruling

The Washington State Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this month holding the state’s charter school law unconstitutional has sent shock waves through Washington’s educational establishment, handed charter critics a high-profile victory, and left the schools’ supporters scrambling to keep the state’s small, relatively young charter school sector alive.

In its 6-3 ruling in League of Women Voters v. Washington, the court found that the law approved by voters through a 2012 ballot measure, Initiative 1240, improperly designated charters as “common schools,” and that the schools were not therefore entitled under the state constitution to certain state funds they presently draw on.

Despite the prominent setback for charters, it might be difficult for skeptics of the autonomous, publicly funded schools to create any momentum outside Washington from the decision. For example, in the majority opinion, the justices relied heavily on state precedent regarding the definition of common schools set down in a 1909 state high court ruling. In addition, translating a victory in one state into other states’ legal and political systems won’t necessarily be easy.

All the same, the court’s Sept. 4 ruling delivered a clear rebuke to the state’s charter law that might provide charter critics elsewhere some ammunition.

And it represents the first time that a state supreme court has invalidated an entire charter school law, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. In a narrower 2011 case, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled in Gwinnett County School Districtv. Cox that the state Charter School Commission improperly approved charters over the objections of local school boards. However, Georgia voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2012 subsequently permitting state-backed charters.

Charter supporters argue that there are potential avenues for Washington legislators to provide public funds to the state’s nine charter schools aside from the general fund budget, even as they vow to keep the schools open through other means such as private donations.

There are ways that the supreme court overlooked to constitutionally fund charter schools in Washington state, said Thomas Franta, the executive director of the Washington State Charter School Association. “These are public schools, and we believe they are absolutely entitled to public funding,” he said.

Meanwhile, critics such as the 85,000-member Washington Education Association, which was a party to the court case, said the victory protected taxpayers who pay for charters but lack the power to oversee them appropriately.

“Public schools should truly be public,” said Rich Wood, a WEA spokesman.

Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat who opposed the 2012 ballot initiative to permit charters, so far has resisted calls to convene a special session to work out what’s next for the state’s charters, which serve 1,200 students.

Legal Arguments

The charter ruling is part of a tumultuous political environment for education in the Evergreen State. It’s also the second time in recent years that the court has made big headlines with a ruling about schools. Last month, the court levied a daily $100,000 fine on the state for failing to adequately increase K-12 spending in response to its 2012 ruling in McCleary v. Washington.

The majority opinion in the charter case, written by Chief Justice Barbara Madsen, stated that charters are intended to provide parents with “more options,” then added: “But the new schools came with a trade-off: the loss of local control and local accountability.”

Absent their designation as common schools, charters would lose their funding source from the state’s general budget and therefore no longer be “viable,” Madsen concluded.

“[B]ecause charter schools under 1-1240 are run by an appointed board or nonprofit organization and thus are not subject to local voter control, they cannot qualify as ‘common schools,’” Madsen wrote.

In a partially dissenting opinion, Justice Mary Fairhurst wrote that while she agreed that charter schools were not strictly common schools as set down in state legal precedent, they were still legally eligible to some sort of funding by the state, like other public schools. In addition, charters’ funding source was a separate legal question from the schools’ standing under the state constitution, she argued.

“Nowhere does the act identify a source of funding, it merely states that charter schools must ‘receive funding based on student enrollment just like existing public schools,’” Fairhurst wrote.

The justices returned the case to King County Superior Court to write an order enforcing their ruling by Sept. 26. As of this week, charter backers planned to ask the state supreme court to reconsider its ruling.

Winners and Losers

Those who warned three years ago that the 2012 charter law would distort public education in the state have been vindicated by the ruling, the WEA’s Wood said. Non-traditional public schools that aren’t charters receive public funding, yet are subject to appropriate oversight, he noted.

“The law requires them to be accountable to the voters and the taxpayers who fund them, not just to the small handful of parents who send their children to them,” Wood said.

Last week, the Washington State Charter School Commission decided to explore whether there is a legal remedy to allow charters to remain open for the rest of the school year.

Franta, of the state charter school association, criticized the justices for saying that since charters lacked traditional governance such as elected school boards they were free from meaningful oversight.

“There is more accountability in this public charter school sector than exists anywhere else in the state of Washington,” said Franta, adding that “there is no greater evidence of local control” than where parents choose to send their children to school.

Franta pledged that whether the legislature finds a new way to provide charters with public funds, or if his group has to raise the $14 million needed to operate the charters this school year from private donors, the schools will remain open.

In addition, he suggested that legislators could find avenues in the budget outside the general fund, such as a separate trust fund, to create a state revenue stream for charters that falls outside the court’s ruling.

Wider Ramifications

The ruling’s unique status across the K-12 legal landscape has also raised questions about its implications beyond the state and for the charter sector in general.

The WEA’s Wood cautioned that other states simply don’t have the kind of constitutional Shock Waves Reverberate From Wash. State Charter Ruling - Education Week:

Ed Notes Online: Why Seattle Teacher Strike Matters - MORE and Port Jefferson Station Express Support

Ed Notes Online: Why Seattle Teacher Strike Matters - MORE and Port Jefferson Station Express Support:

Why Seattle Teacher Strike Matters - MORE and Port Jefferson Station Express Support



There's no little irony that social justice oriented teacher unions are leading the way in militancy and a willingness to strike while UFT/Unity type unions are passive. That's why I love it when so-called action oriented UFTers opposed to the leadership try to put down MORE as too "social justicey". They just don't get it.

They should take a good look at Seattle - and Chicago where SJ caucuses - MORE brothers and sisters - CORE and SEE are leading the way against ed deform - 

MORE people are informing their chapters about these events so UFTers who want to fight back understand what it will take - teachers at the school level must go out and work with parents and community to build the kind of support necessary for us to fight back effectively. Or MORE's support for the #FightForDyett – Support the Hunger Strike against School Closings - in Chicago where parents are fighting to keep a school from being closed and savaged by ed deformers. (Chicago teachers lost 10,000 jobs over the past 15 years of deform). 

MORE's Lauren Cohen, Chapter leader at PS 321K, one of the leading opt-out schools in the city, helped organize this support photo:

MORE/ST/UCORE/UFT Chapter Leader Lauren Cohen and her PS 321K chapter

When I began teaching the UFT had a "no contract, no work" mantra - meaning that the day after a contract expired we would be on strike. That only happened in 1967 - and not long after that mantra disappeared, thus leaving us go years without a contract.

Not since 1975 has the UFT been on strike. We know all about the Taylor Law 2 for 1 penalties, the removal of dues checkoff and severe financial - if not crippling - penalties against the union. All these rules came as a result of the 1967 and 1968 UFT strikes. The 1975 strike was an anomaly - no contract on the table - but massive cuts - the leadership did not want to go on strike but was forced to by an outraged membership who saw their schools crippled by massive budget cuts that resulted in the loss of 15,000 jobs. Shanker even went to jail - which we, part of the opposition (Coalition of School Workers - CSW) - Ed Notes Online: Why Seattle Teacher Strike Matters - MORE and Port Jefferson Station Express Support:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Study: Area Union Membership Can Predict Children’s Advancement

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Study: Area Union Membership Can Predict Children’s Advancement:

Study: Area Union Membership Can Predict Children’s Advancement

N.Y. Times

Low-income children rise higher in the income rankings when they grow up in areas with high-union membership.

As unions in this country continue to come under assault, a new study coming out of Harvard, Wellesley (of all places) and the Center for American Progress, finds that unions are key in enabling children from low-income families to escape poverty.

The study shows that unions are needed to push the political system to deliver policies — like a higher minimum wage and greater spending on schools and other government programs — that broadly benefit workers and their families. Three cities that appear to reflect the union effect — San Francisco, Seattle and New York — are all jurisdictions where the minimum wage is rising substantially. This is especially true when you compare them with cities in so-called "right to work" states like North Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi.

Most interesting finding for me... Higher rates of unionization may give rise to certain norms that instill a greater sense of agency in workers.

For example, people who belong to unions are generally aware that Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Study: Area Union Membership Can Predict Children’s Advancement:

Why borrowing from the ‘best’ school systems sounds good — but isn’t - The Washington Post

Why borrowing from the ‘best’ school systems sounds good — but isn’t - The Washington Post:

Why borrowing from the ‘best’ school systems sounds good — but isn’t

For years now policymakers have looked at school systems in countries where students excel on international standardized tests, and have attempted to “borrow” what they believe are the practices that result in test-score success. Borrowing best practices seems like a no-brainer, but, in this post, the authors argue that in education, it isn’t always a good idea. This was written by Alma Harris, Yong Zhao and Michelle Jones.

Alma Harris is professor of educational leadership at the Institute of Educational Leadership, University of Malaya, and the Institute of Education, University College London. Yong Zhao is the presidential chair and director of the Institute for Global and Online Education in the College of Education, University of Oregon, where he is also a professor in the Department of Educational Measurement, Policy, and Leadership. Michelle Jones is deputy director at the Institute of Educational Leadership, University of Malaya.

By Alma Harris, Yong Zhao and Michelle Jones

Education policymakers around the globe remain preoccupied with the top-performing systems as the touchstone of their thinking and action, and the appetite for following the “best” education systems shows little signs of waning. Multi-national companies have categorized and summarized the strategies of the most “successful” education systems, and promoted them as a pathway to improvement for less successful systems. To be sure, the process seems logical; if you want to be a better performer, why not borrow or copy the approaches of those who do so much better? The approach is neat, convincing — and potentially misleading.

Let’s imagine that you are a runner and you want to be as good as Hussein Bolt. Would copying his training schedule, his diet and his racing diary really make you an outstanding sprinter? The answer is unequivocally no. The reason for this lies in the complex amalgam of innate ability, physiology, physique, background and personal motivation. In other words, the things that cannot be copied are the things that often matter most.

In education, too, the impact of policy borrowing is far less immediate or Why borrowing from the ‘best’ school systems sounds good — but isn’t - The Washington Post:

Proceed with caution when comparing California tests scores with other states | EdSource

Proceed with caution when comparing California tests scores with other states | EdSource:

Proceed with caution when comparing California tests scores with other states

CREDIT: BERKELEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

Students in California took the Smarter Balanced field test in 2014.

Comparing California scores on tests aligned with the Common Core standards to those in other states isn’t a straightforward process.

California students’ results are among the lowest when compared to the other eight states that have released Smarter Balanced assessment scores so far. But drawing conclusions may be difficult because California’s student population is much larger and its schools enroll more English learners and low-income students. See charts of scores in eight Smarter Balanced states.

“It’s not just a straight across comparison,” Keric Ashley, California’s deputy superintendent of public instruction, warned during a Wednesday conference call with reporters. “We need to factor in being such a large state as we are – a large percentage of English learners, a large percentage of students in poverty. There are a lot of factors that go into place before making that comparison.”

EDSOURCE

The chart shows a comparison of 3rd grade English language arts results on the Smarter Balanced test. Click on the graphic to see more results.

One of the main arguments in favor of the Common Core standards, and the standardized assessments aligned with them, was that for the first time it would be possible to compare annual student performance across dozens of states.

States had the opportunity to administer tests developed either by the PARCC consortium or theSmarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, which California chose. Some states ultimately chose other tests.

A total of 17 states administered the Smarter Balanced assessments, and eight have released preliminary or final Smarter Balanced scores: Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Missouri, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia. The remaining states will release their scores later.

The Smarter Balanced scoring system is the same in every state, ranging from level 1, the lowest, to level 4, the highest – with the same cut scores set for each level – but each state has its own terminology to describe the different levels.

Generally, a level 3 or 4 means a student has met or exceeded the standards. In most states, level 3 is labeled “proficient,” while Connecticut calls it “meeting the achievement level.” In Oregon, it’s simply listed as a 3 or higher on the state’s press release regarding preliminary scores. In California, policy makers have avoided using the word “proficient” in labeling its scores, instead calling level 3 “standard met” and level 4 “standard exceeded.” See descriptions of the score levels.

GOING DEEPER

EdSource’s database of Smarter Balanced results for student groups 

Most California students below standards on Common Core-aligned tests

Smarter Balanced achievement levels

Not all states have released composite scores for students from all grades who took the tests – grades 3-8, and grade 11 – making it harder to easily compare performance.

But looking at the results that are available from those eight states, most reported a higher percentage of students who scored at a level 3 or 4 in most grades and subjects compared to California.

Compared to the eight states, the percentage of California students who scored at proficient or above was the lowest or tied for lowest in 3rd- through 5th-grade math and 3rd- through 6th-grade English. California ranked fourth from the bottom for 11th-grade math and English. (Missouri 11th-graders didn’t take the Smarter Balanced test.)

But the lower scores in California may be due to the diversity of its student population. Andy Latham, director of WestEd’s Center on Standards and Assessment Implementation, said states with large numbers of English learners and low-income students, like California, will tend to have lower overall scores.

“It could be an explanation why proficiency levels are not as high as we’d hope, but that shouldn’t be an excuse,” Latham said.

The combined number of students in the eight states was about 3.9 million in 2012-13, according to the most recent data available from the National Center for Education Statistics. California’s student population was 6.3 million that year, Proceed with caution when comparing California tests scores with other states | EdSource:

Mark Weber: Gov. Christie Missing in Inaction for 2015-2016 School Year - NJ Spotlight

Opinion: Gov. Christie Missing in Inaction for 2015-2016 School Year - NJ Spotlight:

OPINION: GOV. CHRISTIE MISSING IN INACTION FOR 2015-2016 SCHOOL YEAR

Governor’s pursuit of GOP nomination leaves little time for his home state, and has pushed his political agenda more and more to the right

Mark Weber

It’s time to start another school year in New Jersey! Let’s take roll and see who’s here:

Students? Rested and ready. Teachers? Present, after a summer of planning and preparation.

Parents? Here. Administrators? Here. School boards? Here.

Gov. Chris Christie?

[…]

Is Chris Christie here? Has anyone seen Gov. Christie?

[…]

Bueller?

Uh-oh. Looks like Gov. Christie won’t be around for the 2015-16 school year. And that’s a big problem -- because we have many big problems with New Jersey’s education system, and we need our governor here, ready to work on them.

But like a 17-year-old with a bad case of senioritis, Christie is living in his imaginary future, rather than concentrating on this state’s here and now. All of his policy decisions, including those related to education, are affected by his increasingly unlikely bid for the White House.

Why else would Christie, previously a stalwart defender of the Common Core State Standards, suddenly claim they weren’t working after only one year of formal implementation? Clearly, he is pandering to the national conservative base, which sees Common Core as an unwarranted federal intrusion.

Reasonable people can debate the merits of Common Core; personally, I have my doubts about its developmental appropriateness and overemphasis on language skills in its mathematics sequence. But Christie is in no way involved in a serious critique of the standards. Hamstrung by the ideologies of the primary voters he is courting, he has no choice but to bend to their will.

This need to indulge the far right is also why the governor continues to flout the law and underfund schools. According to the Education Law Center, New Jersey’s state aid to schools is, once again, far less than it should be under the School Funding Reform Act: this year, $1 billion dollars less. Over the past seven years, the accumulated underfunding comes to over $6 billion dollars.

Those who make the claim that New Jersey has “thrown money” at its schools -- like Christie -- should acknowledge that the state has not supplied schools with the money its own law says they need to provide an adequate education.

But solving this problem would require raising taxes. And any Republican presidential candidate who agrees to a tax hike has about as much chance of winning the party’s nomination as Hillary Clinton. Christie knows this, which is why he signed conservative icon Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledge just last month.

So now New Jersey’s school budgets are being held hostage by right-wing politics -- as is any chance of resolving the state’s ongoing pension problems. Christie’s own Opinion: Gov. Christie Missing in Inaction for 2015-2016 School Year - NJ Spotlight:

Striking teachers say pay gap makes Seattle tough to afford

Striking teachers say pay gap makes Seattle tough to afford:

Striking teachers say pay gap makes Seattle tough to afford

Striking Seattle School District teachers and other educators wave to motorists as they walk a picket line, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015, in front of Franklin High School in Seattle. The strike was called when Seattle Public 

SEATTLE (AP) — Teachers in Seattle say they have walked off the job largely because they can't afford to live in the same city as the children they teach.

The educators, who have not received a cost-of-living pay raise in six years, have joined other workers pushing for higher wages that compete with the city's growing, highly paid tech workers.

Olga Addae, a science teacher at Franklin High School, walked the picket line Thursday with other union members who said they will stay out of the classroom until Washington state's largest school district offers a fair compensation package and agrees to stop cutting student services.

"We're doing this for the students and for a better school system," said Addae, a teacher of 21 years.

Teacher Janine Magidman has lived and worked in Seattle for years, but worries her newer colleagues will be priced out.

"The cost of living is just ridiculous," said Madigman, who teaches at Roosevelt High School.

Teachers want to live close to their schools and be a part of those communities, but rents continue to rise while educators' salaries have stagnated, Addae said.

Seattle Public Schools offered a pay increase of nearly 9 percent over three years. The teachers union countered with a 10.5 percent increase over two years.

Teacher salaries range from about $44,000 to more than $86,000 for more experienced educators with advanced degrees, according to the district. In comparison, tech workers can easily draw six figures.

"There's a giant tech surge here in Seattle, with Google and Twitter opening offices," said Tom Leung, co-founder and CEO of Seattle-based Anthology, which connects professionals with employers. "Apple. Cisco. Ebay. It's a who's who of tech."

The companies have run out of workers and space in the San Francisco Bay Area, so they're looking to the Northwest as a key region to add staff, he said.

"It has created an intense amount of competition for highly skilled tech workers," Leung said. "A typical tech engineer can make $150,000 without trying very hard. That does create an impact on the rest of the city."

Rents have ballooned by more than 37 percent since mid-2010, according to Apartment Insights Washington. The median rental price for homes in Seattle in July was $2,354 a month, Zillow reports, compared with a national average of $1,376.

The city is having a housing crisis because more than 40 percent of the new jobs in the region are with Amazon or Boeing, and their starting salaries are twice as much as a teacher who has been on the job for years, Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata said.

"They're bringing in tons of people, but affordable housing is disappearing," he said. "That means the people who are educating our Striking teachers say pay gap makes Seattle tough to afford: