Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 10/7/15

CORPORATE ED REFORM

CURMUDGUCATION: Gates Says Some Stuff

CURMUDGUCATION: Gates Says Some Stuff: Gates Says Some StuffLike many teachers, I could not tune in to Bill and Melinda Gates' trip down Ed Reform Memory Lane because I was busy doing my actual job. This seems metaphorically perfect-- Gates talks about schools while meanwhile, teachers are in schools doing actual work. However, I've scanned someaccounts of the speech from this afternoon, and I thi

by mike simpson / 14min 

The Education Reform Oligarchy: How They Used Us - The Crucial VoiceThe Crucial Voice

The Education Reform Oligarchy: How They Used Us - The Crucial VoiceThe Crucial Voice: The Education Reform Oligarchy: How They Used UsThe education reform oligarchy set an agenda, carefully selected their mode of operations, and agreed upon the bait. They developed a vision, knew what they needed to do, how to do it, and they had the monetary and political support to move a nation to do their bid

by mike simpson / 30min 

The Ugly Charter School Scandal Arne Duncan Is Leaving Behind

The Ugly Charter School Scandal Arne Duncan Is Leaving Behind: The Ugly Charter School Scandal Arne Duncan Is Leaving BehindUS Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s surprise announcement to leave his position in December is making headlines and driving lots of commentary, but an important story lost in the media clutter happened three days before he gave notice.On that day, Duncan rattled the educa

by mike simpson / 1h 

Improving U.S. schools tougher than global health, Gates says - The Washington Post

Improving U.S. schools tougher than global health, Gates says - The Washington Post: Improving U.S. schools tougher than global health, Gates saysBill Gates, whose foundation has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into K-12 education and influenced state and federal policy to embrace charter schools, teacher evaluation and the Common Core academic standards, said Thursday that trying to improv

by mike simpson / 2h 

L.A. charter school expansion could mean huge drop in unionized teaching jobs - LA Times

L.A. charter school expansion could mean huge drop in unionized teaching jobs - LA Times: L.A. charter school expansion could mean huge drop in unionized teaching jobs If a proposal for a massive expansion of charter schools in Los Angeles moves forward, the casualties would likely include the jobs of thousands of teachers who currently work in the city’s traditional public schools.As new charters

by mike simpson / 4h 

Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association : SCOTUSblog

Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association : SCOTUSblog: Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association Friedrichs v. California Teachers AssociationDocket No.Op. BelowArgumentOpinionVoteAuthorTerm14-9159th Cir.TBDTBDTBDTBDOT 2015Issue: (1) Whether Abood v. Detroit Board of Education should be overruled and public-sector “agency shop” arrangements invalidated under the First Amendment; and (2) w

by mike simpson / 4h 

CURMUDGUCATION: Common Schools vs. Diversity

CURMUDGUCATION: Common Schools vs. Diversity: Common Schools vs. DiversityOver at redefinED, a reliable source of reformy pro-school choice arguments, Patrick Gibbons (also a reliable source of pro-school choice arguments) has posted a pretty thoughtful response to the can of worms opened by the Washington state smackdown of charter schools.In "Common schools and the feat of diversity,"

by mike simpson / 6h 

NYC Public School Parents: Video Interview: Leonie Haimson on why she started Class Size Matters

NYC Public School Parents: Video Interview: Leonie Haimson on why she started Class Size Matters: Video Interview: Leonie Haimson on why she started Class Size MattersCheck out the short video below, filmed by Bob Greenburg, about how I got involved in the issue of class size, and why class size matters!NYC Public School Parents: Video Interview: Leonie Haimson on why she started Class Size Matter

by mike simpson / 6h 

Student Privacy Not Just About Identity Theft » Missouri Education Watchdog

Student Privacy Not Just About Identity Theft » Missouri Education Watchdog: Student Privacy Not Just About Identity TheftAt the National Student Privacy Symposium two weeks ago in DC, (written about on MEW  here), Bill Fitzgerald of Common Sense Media, who writes the blog FunnyMonkey, was a panelist for the discussion of Potential Risks of Student Data Collection and Use. Up until that point in t

by mike simpson / 6h 

When Neighborhoods Gentrify, Why Aren't Their Public Schools Improving? - The Atlantic

When Neighborhoods Gentrify, Why Aren't Their Public Schools Improving? - The Atlantic: When Neighborhoods Gentrify, Why Aren't Their Public Schools Improving?“Gentrification, it turns out, usually stops at the schoolhouse door,” the reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones has argued.The ups and downs of gentrification have been chronicled thoroughly, but one of its consequences hasn’t been widely addressed:

by mike simpson / 6h 

The national Academe Blog asks – Is Dannel Malloy - A Democratic Scott Walker? - Wait What?

The national Academe Blog asks – Is Dannel Malloy - A Democratic Scott Walker? - Wait What?: The national Academe Blog asks – Is Dannel Malloy – A Democratic Scott Walker?A special thanks to Hank Reichman, the first vice-president and chair of the AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, and the nationally respected Academe Blog, the blog of Academe Magazine, for reposting my Wait, What?

by mike simpson / 6h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Black aldermen mutiny. Rahm rushes to McCarthy's defense.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Black aldermen mutiny. Rahm rushes to McCarthy's defense.: Black aldermen mutiny. Rahm rushes to McCarthy's defense.Supt. McCarthy goes all Che Guevara on us."I know what needs to happen. It's clear to me as anything on earth. It's a systematic failure and the system has to change." -- ABC 7 Yesterday's City Council budget hearings were like none I've seen

by mike simpson / 6h 

Fine Press Reporting Leads to Long Overdue Regulation of Ohio Charter Schools | janresseger

Fine Press Reporting Leads to Long Overdue Regulation of Ohio Charter Schools | janresseger: Fine Press Reporting Leads to Long Overdue Regulation of Ohio Charter SchoolsYesterday afternoon, a House-Senate conference committee of Ohio’s legislature met to work out a compromise to regulate Ohio’s notorious charter school sector.  In Ohio, Republicans dominate both houses of the legislature, occupy

by mike simpson / 7h 

New Mexico’s Teacher Evaluation Lawsuit: Day Four | VAMboozled!

New Mexico’s Teacher Evaluation Lawsuit: Day Four | VAMboozled!: New Mexico’s Teacher Evaluation Lawsuit: Day FourUnfortunately I could not attend “Day Four” of the New Mexico’s Teacher Evaluation Lawsuit yesterday (Tuesday, October 6th) in Santa Fe, but for those of you following, tomorrow (Thursday, October 8th) closing remarks are scheduled. Originally, only two days of testimony were scheduled

by mike simpson / 7h 

CURMUDGUCATION: Recess Consultants. Seriously.

CURMUDGUCATION: Recess Consultants. Seriously.: GA: SmilesThis post is not a rant, and I've set aside the snark for the moment. We don't have cable, so I miss some things until I stumble across them on line. This one in particular struck me somewhere around the left ventricle. I know these are often heavily massaged and we don't get the whole story, but this seems pretty straightforward to me.It s

by mike simpson / 7h 

Teachers' Unions Look to Clinton to Save Them? - US News

Teachers' Unions Look to Clinton to Save Them - US News: Teachers' Unions Look to Clinton to Save Them To say the relationship between the Obama administration and the national teachers unions is strained would be an understatement.Democrats and unions have historically enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with Democrats backing pro-union policies, such as protecting bargaining rights, and unions usin

by mike simpson / 8h 

There Are Way More Homeless Students Than There Used To Be | FiveThirtyEight

There Are Way More Homeless Students Than There Used To Be | FiveThirtyEight: There Are Way More Homeless Students Than There Used To BeBut that’s partly because states are better at finding them.The number of homeless students in the country’s classrooms has more than doubled since before the recession, according to recently released federal data. That’s an alarming trend, but a new report offers

by mike simpson / 8h 

Teacher: Testing is supposed to provide ‘rich’ student data — but here’s why it’s actually worthless - The Washington Post

Teacher: Testing is supposed to provide ‘rich’ student data — but here’s why it’s actually worthless - The Washington Post: Teacher: Testing is supposed to provide ‘rich’ student data — but here’s why it’s actually worthlessOne of the big ideas driving school reform today is that data is king, and the more the better for teachers who can use it to improve and tailor instruction to their students.

by mike simpson / 8h 

Charter school reform bill tackles controversies over White Hat property, sponsor evaluations, new school rating measure | cleveland.com

Charter school reform bill tackles controversies over White Hat property, sponsor evaluations, new school rating measure | cleveland.com: Charter school reform bill tackles controversies over White Hat property, sponsor evaluations, new school rating measureCOLUMBUS, Ohio -- There's no clear magic bullet in Ohio's new charter school reform bill that will go up for final approval from the state Hou

by mike simpson / 8h 

Chicago Teachers Union president running for re-election - Chicago Tribune

Chicago Teachers Union president running for re-election - Chicago Tribune: Chicago Teachers Union president running for re-electionKaren Lewis, whose bid to challenge Mayor Rahm Emanuel was derailed by a cancer diagnosis a year ago, will run for re-election as president of the Chicago Teachers Union in May, a CTU spokeswoman confirmed.Lewis, 62, has been the union's president since winning a runo

by mike simpson / 8h 

Thousands gather at Brooklyn charter schools rally - US News

Thousands gather at Brooklyn charter schools rally - US News: Thousands of charter school supporters gather at Brooklyn rally featuring Jennifer HudsonNEW YORK (AP) — Grammy- and Oscar-winning star Jennifer Hudson is the headliner at a rally of charter school supporters in Brooklyn.Thousands of people in red T-shirts filled Cadman Plaza on Wednesday as the event got under way with a performance by

by mike simpson / 8h 

Will federal funding spawn more suburban charter schools? - DailyHerald.com

Will federal funding spawn more suburban charter schools? - DailyHerald.com: Will federal funding spawn more suburban charter schools?Could a proposal to create a charter school in Elgin, defeated last year, be revived with the injection of federal funding?Illinois is among eight states selected to receive a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The five-year, $42 million grant will provide

by mike simpson / 9h 

Tell the New Education Secretary: Charter Schools Flunk Out in New Orleans | Black Agenda Report

Tell the New Education Secretary: Charter Schools Flunk Out in New Orleans | Black Agenda Report: Tell the New Education Secretary: Charter Schools Flunk Out in New OrleansA Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen FordArne Duncan said Katrina was the best thing to happen to New Orleans schools, and his successor, John B. King, doubtless feels the same. But “it’s all propaganda and p

by mike simpson / 9h 

Test Scores Under Common Core Show That ‘Proficient’ Varies by State - The New York Times

Test Scores Under Common Core Show That ‘Proficient’ Varies by State - The New York Times: Test Scores Under Common Core Show That ‘Proficient’ Varies by StateCOLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio seems to have taken a page from Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above average.Last month, state officials releasing an early batch of test scores declared that two-thirds of students at most grade levels were p

by mike simpson / 9h 

Congress in Chaos: Don't Leave Our Students Behind! | Heather Hiles | LinkedIn

Congress in Chaos: Don't Leave Our Students Behind! | Heather Hiles | LinkedIn: Congress in Chaos: Don't Leave Our Students Behind!“If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn't be here. I guarantee you that.” - Michelle ObamaThe No Child Left Behind Act, the sixth and most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), was des

by mike simpson / 9h 

Dan Walters: Does early education truly help? | The Sacramento Bee

Dan Walters: Does early education truly help? | The Sacramento Bee: Dan Walters: Does early education truly help?The New America Foundation urges California in a new report to spend more on training and paying pre-kindergarten teachers.“Our bottom line is that California is not doing enough to educate early childhood educators so that kids don’t fall way behind in school,” the report’s author, Sar

by mike simpson / 9h 

YESTERDAY

Jersey City schools could gain full local control today | Bob Braun's Ledger

Jersey City schools could gain full local control today | Bob Braun's Ledger: Jersey City schools could gain full local control todayNJ Education Commissioner David HespeThe state Board of Education could return full control over the Jersey City public schools to its local school board today  (Wednesday, Oct. 7)–exactly 26 years and three days after New Jersey officials, citing mismanagement and s

by mike simpson / 19h 

Peter Cunningham’s $12-Million-Dollar EdPost Cannot Purchase Readers | deutsch29

Peter Cunningham’s $12-Million-Dollar EdPost Cannot Purchase Readers | deutsch29: Peter Cunningham’s $12-Million-Dollar EdPost Cannot Purchase ReadersOn September 03, 2014, I wrote a post about Education Post, a nonprofit set up to pretty much just operate a pro-corporate-reform-promoting blog. Upon start-up, EdPost scraped together $12 million.Now that’s one expensive blog.It turns out that billi

by mike simpson / 21h 

Insights on teacher evaluation in DC | @ THE CHALKFACE

Insights on teacher evaluation in DC | @ THE CHALKFACE: Insights on teacher evaluation in DCI know at some point I’ve mentioned DC’s teacher evaluation system, IMPACT. As always, there is a lot being written and researched on the subject, including this recent call from the Network for Public Education to assist with a research project.Cool beans.I’m not going to add any redundant critique about I

by mike simpson / 22h 

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 10/6/15

CORPORATE ED REFORMDarling-Hammond: California reforms ‘will begin to level the playing field’ | EdSourceDarling-Hammond: California reforms ‘will begin to level the playing field’ | EdSource: Darling-Hammond: California reforms ‘will begin to level the playing field’The results on the Smarter Balanced assessments, the centerpiece of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, o

by mike simpson / 1d 

CURMUDGUCATION: Gates Says Some Stuff

CURMUDGUCATION: Gates Says Some Stuff:

Gates Says Some Stuff

Like many teachers, I could not tune in to Bill and Melinda Gates' trip down Ed Reform Memory Lane because I was busy doing my actual job. This seems metaphorically perfect-- Gates talks about schools while meanwhile, teachers are in schools doing actual work. However, I've scanned someaccounts of the speech from this afternoon, and I think I've piece together the general drift of his gist. So let me channel my faux Gates voice to summarize what you, I and all of use missed today.

So, hey there.

It's been fifteen years since we started trying to beat public education into submission with giant stacks of money, and it turns out that it's a hell of a lot harder than curing major diseases. Turns out teachers are not nearly as compliant as bacteria. Who knew?

Actually, there's a whole long list of things that came as a surprise to us. Teachers and politicians and parents all had ideas about what ought or ought not to be happening in schools, and damned if they would just not shut up about it. At first stuff was going great and we were getting everyone to do just what we wanted them to, but then it was like they finally noticed that a bunch of clueless amateurs were trying to run the whole system, and the freaked out.

I have to tell you. Right now as I'm sitting here, it still doesn't occur to me that all the pushback might be related to the fact that I have no educational expertise at all, and yet I want to rewrite the whole US school system to my own specs. Why should that be a problem? I still don't understand why I shouldn't be able to just redo the whole mess without having to deal with unions or professional employees or elected officials. Of course nobody elected me to do this! I don't mind, CURMUDGUCATION: Gates Says Some Stuff:

The Education Reform Oligarchy: How They Used Us - The Crucial VoiceThe Crucial Voice

The Education Reform Oligarchy: How They Used Us - The Crucial VoiceThe Crucial Voice:

The Education Reform Oligarchy: How They Used Us

The education reform oligarchy set an agenda, carefully selected their mode of operations, and agreed upon the bait. They developed a vision, knew what they needed to do, how to do it, and they had the monetary and political support to move a nation to do their bidding. They used us to advance their plan.

NOTE: Published in 1983.

With wisely selected words, they tapped into our frustration with bureaucracies and BIG government while marketing their wares, following their map, and sticking to their strategies — repeatedly and relentlessly.

They used mass messaging, mass media, and massively powerful organizations to launch and continue to float THEIR mass movement.To succeed with their plan, the oligarchy needed to undermine what was a strong public institution.

There was never any dispute that schools need to constantly be improving themselves and that unequal access to quality education exists because of socioeconomic factors.

And the oligarchy always claimed their plan wasThe Education Reform Oligarchy: How They Used Us - The Crucial VoiceThe Crucial Voice:

The Ugly Charter School Scandal Arne Duncan Is Leaving Behind

The Ugly Charter School Scandal Arne Duncan Is Leaving Behind:

The Ugly Charter School Scandal Arne Duncan Is Leaving Behind

US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s surprise announcement to leave his position in December is making headlines and driving lots of commentary, but an important story lost in the media clutter happened three days before he gave notice.

On that day, Duncan rattled the education policy world with news of a controversial grant of $249 million ($157 the first year) to the charter school industry. This announcement was controversial because, as The Washington Post reports, an audit by his department’s own inspector general found “that the agency has done a poor job of overseeing federal dollars sent to charter schools.”

Post reporter Lynsey Layton notes, “The agency’s inspector general issued a scathing report in 2012 that found deficiencies in how the department handled federal grants to charter schools between 2008 and 2011″ – in other words, during Duncan’s watch.

Even more perplexing is that the largest grant of $71 million ($32.5 the first year) is going to Ohio, the state that has the worst reputation for allowing low-performing charter schools to divert tax money away from educational purposes and do little to raise the achievement of students.

A number of Ohio officials were shocked by the news.

As a different article from The Post reports, Democratic Party Representative Tim Ryan “was alarmed” by the Education Department’s decision. Ryan called his state’s charter school sector “broken and dysfunctional.”

Ted Strickland, an ex-Governor and now Democratic candidate for a US Senate seat in Ohio, wrote Duncan a letter telling him to reconsider the Ohio grant. “Too many of Ohio’s charter schools are an embarrassment,” he states. Strickland quotes from a recent study showing charters in his state perform significantly worse than public schools. He points to a The Ugly Charter School Scandal Arne Duncan Is Leaving Behind:

Improving U.S. schools tougher than global health, Gates says - The Washington Post

Improving U.S. schools tougher than global health, Gates says - The Washington Post:

Improving U.S. schools tougher than global health, Gates says

Bill Gates, whose foundation has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into K-12 education and influenced state and federal policy to embrace charter schools, teacher evaluation and the Common Core academic standards, said Thursday that trying to improve education is harder than work on global health.

“When we come up with a new malaria vaccine, nobody votes to undo our malaria vaccine,” Gates said in a speech at his foundation’s Seattle headquarters. “So it’s pretty

steady progress. Every year is better than the last.”

But when you’re dealing with 100,000 public schools, politics makes changes to K-12 education much less predictable, he said.

“Because of its complexity, the relationship to management, how labor is one, you can introduce a system ... and people say, ‘No, we’d rather have no system at all, completely leave us alone,’ ” he said. “That’s a real possibility, if you don’t nurture these systems and get it so there’s critical mass. That’s a level of uncertainty that we don’t have in most areas we work in.”

Gates and his wife, Melinda, who co-chair the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, reflected on the past 15 years and spoke about their plans for the future. They pledged to continue pumping resources into the Common Core State Standards in K-12 math and reading as well as efforts to improve teacher quality and personalize instruction.

Both Bill and Melinda spoke, and then answered questions from moderator Gwen Ifill of the PBS NewsHour.

The Gates Foundation has spent more than $200 million in a campaign to create the Common Core State Standards and get them adopted by 42 states as well as the District of Columbia. The Common Core State Standards spell out the skills and knowledge every student should possess by the end of each grade. They were designed to inject some consistency into the country’s public schools, where education has traditionally varied wildly across state borders.

[How Bill Gates pulled off the swift adoption of the Common Core ]

Bill Gates said he never anticipated the political pushback to the Common Improving U.S. schools tougher than global health, Gates says - The Washington Post:

L.A. charter school expansion could mean huge drop in unionized teaching jobs - LA Times

L.A. charter school expansion could mean huge drop in unionized teaching jobs - LA Times:

L.A. charter school expansion could mean huge drop in unionized teaching jobs

 If a proposal for a massive expansion of charter schools in Los Angeles moves forward, the casualties would likely include the jobs of thousands of teachers who currently work in the city’s traditional public schools.

As new charters open, regular schools would face declining enrollment — and would need fewer teachers.

Under the $490-million plan being spearheaded by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, 260 new charters would be opened in the city in eight years. The goal is to more than double the number of students attending these schools, which are independently run and mostly non-union.

The “Great Public Schools Now” proposal makes no mention of recruiting instructors from the ranks of L.A. Unified — even though the foundation acknowledged this week that the charter growth would require about 5,000 instructors. The plan talks about hiring from an expanded Teach For America program and other groups that work with young, inexperienced instructors.

If the plan is carried out, “Los Angeles will have the strongest set of teacher and leader development programs of any city in the state of California,” according to the proposal.

The Broad Foundation said this week that teachers are key to the success of the proposal.

“We are in the process of listening to educators and community members to determine how best to support the dramatic growth of high-quality public schools in Los Angeles,” said spokeswoman Swati Pandey. “We know that without great teachers, there can be no great public schools. We’re eager to engage and support teachers as part of this work.”L.A. charter school expansion could mean huge drop in unionized teaching jobs - LA Times: