Seattle Schools Community Forum: Edu Speak - Friday Memo to the Board of October 2

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Edu Speak - Friday Memo to the Board of October 2:

Edu Speak - Friday Memo to the Board of October 2

We hear a lot about Edu-Speak, the obscure jargon of education administration professionals that appears designed to create the illusion of science and action where there is neither. As a classic example, I present the Teaching and Learning Update from the October 2, 2015 Friday Memo to the Board. It's about the implementation of MTSS and I challenge you all to find meaning in it. To me, it seems to say that the folks in the JSCEE have wistfully unreasonable expectations for the magic of MTSS but they have no effective means of implementing it. Instead, they can only fantasize about the miracles it would bring if only... if only. It's like someone daydreaming about winning the lottery when they didn't even buy a ticket.


Targeted Universalism, Formative Practice and MTSS:

A primary focus of our work in the Department of Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction is formative practice and its potential to close opportunity gaps for all of our struggling students, regardless of class, race or other factors.

Our goal is to strengthen teacher collaboration around student data to transform teaching practice for the benefit of every student. As we state in our Theory of Action: If schools have high functioning teams of teachers collaborating to analyze common formative assessments, then teachers will make instructional shifts that result in opportunity gaps closing.

Three key concepts:

1. Formative practice benefits EVERY student. This work exemplifies the concept of “targeted universalism” – the practice of following targeted strategies to reach universal goals. Formative practice targets struggling students but ultimately benefits all students, universally. Our strategies target struggling students, but when we can Seattle Schools Community Forum: Edu Speak - Friday Memo to the Board of October 2:

Say it in any language you want - Latinos need a voice in the U.S. education debate - The Hechinger Report

Say it in any language you want - Latinos need a voice in the U.S. education debate - The Hechinger Report:

Say it in any language you want – Latinos need a voice in the U.S. education debate

Dígalo en cualquier idioma que quieras - latinos necesitan una voz en el debate sobre la educación de EE.UU.

In this photo taken May 22, 2010, Brownie Sibrian, soon to graduate from Whittier College, gives a valedictory speech at a Latino pre-graduation celebration, sponsored by the Latino Student Assn. and MEChA, about a week before graduation on the campus in Whittier, Calif. Photo: AP Photo/Reed Saxon

 An education is democratic when those who receive it can deliberate in its planning, governance and delivery.

If you’re not deliberating with the education process, then you’re just being indoctrinated.

The absence of Latino voices from the education process means that many people are not determining what it means to be an American for themselves. Instead, others are running that process for them.

Hispanics represent approximately 17 percent of the U.S. population, according to Census data. In public schools, Hispanics and Latinos account for more than a quarter of all public school students. Yet they are not represented the dialogue. “Latinos are missing from the education conversation, especially on education reform,” says Mary Moran, founder of Our Voice Nuestra Voz (OVNV), an education advocacy and parent organizing start-up in New Orleans that seeks to widen the sphere of influence in education.

Moran is correct. Power resides in voice. And Latinos’ voices aren’t resounding in schools and communities.

Most school boards limit participation in meetings from non-English speakers because of the limited language skills of the board members and the lack of materials presented in other languages.

Language shouldn’t be a barrier for engagement and deliberation. However, there is literally an English only agenda.

Related: In Illinois, school access worst for Latinos

In addition, schools’ faculty strongly influences what is taught and how to teach it. However, Latinos only represent approximately 7 percent of the profession. Latino students (and by extension their families) have numerical representation but lack seats at the table.

Discussions on race and education echo the static English only, black-white discourse that tries its best to include Latinos, American Indians and people of Asian descent as afterthoughts. The crude catchall term “people of color” too often translates to black folk and everybody else.

We’ve been kicking out Latino voices on the sly for years. So much of the conversation has swirled around immigration, which doesn’t account for most of the growing Latino population in public schools. The adage, “We didn’t cross the border; the border crossed us” comes to mind.

Along with erroneous conversations around immigration comes the “they are a drain of local budgets” gibberish, which delegitimizes Latino voice. Also, English as second language discussions often Say it in any language you want - Latinos need a voice in the U.S. education debate - The Hechinger Report:

Parent group sues for $583; Beaverton School District plans to fight it | OregonLive.com

Parent group sues for $583; Beaverton School District plans to fight it | OregonLive.com:

Parent group sues for $583; Beaverton School District plans to fight it

After giving an angry speech at the Beaverton School Board meeting about a lack of accountability, parent Linda Nezbeda walked out, and a process server stood up and served Superintendent Jeff Rose with a lawsuit.

Beaverton Community for Education filed a small claims case against Rose and the Beaverton School District on Sept. 21 for $583. It's a small amount for a district with a $423 million operating budget, but they're planning to fight it.

For Nezbeda, president of the parent group Beaverton Community for Education, the lawsuit involving school building use fees isn't about the money.

"Communication, accountability and transparency," Nezbeda said. "We want to see that out of the policy and rule makers in the school district."

Read more

Previous story about Beaverton School District building use fees

Nezbeda has previously come before the board asking for clarification about fees for using district facilities. Beaverton Community for Education runs several free after school programs for kids and has been simultaneously charged and not charged for the programs, depending on the school.

But it was a girls' empowerment summit in June that tipped the scale. Nezbeda claims the district failed to tell her about potential custodian costs to clean up after the Saturday summit and didn't respond when she emailed facility staff with questions.

The parents behind Beaverton Community for Education had spent three months preparing for a girls empowerment summit when they learned the day before the event that they owed the district $583 for 11 hours of custodian labor.

Linda Nezbeda, president of the Beaverton Community for Education parent group is leading the charge in a $583 small claims lawsuit against the school district.Wendy Owen/Staff 

Rather than cancel the free event at Mountain View Middle School, which drew 700 girls, or ask them to pay a fee, the parents scrambled to find the $583 facility use fee.

The summit targeted girls from low-income families and was meant to inspire them to stay active and healthy, Nezbeda said.

"I called everyone I could think of," she said. "We just raised it."

The summit was a success, she said, and included Mayor Denny Doyle, Superintendent Jeff Rose and Beaverton record-setting swimmer Michelle Macy.

But the fee perplexed Nezbeda, who said she had previously held legislative forums at Parent group sues for $583; Beaverton School District plans to fight it | OregonLive.com:

State labor panel to file injunction in charter school unionization push - LA Times

State labor panel to file injunction in charter school unionization push - LA Times:

State labor panel to file injunction in charter school unionization push

 California's labor oversight board said it intends to file for an injunction to prohibit one of the state's largest charter organizations from interfering with efforts to unionize teachers.

Leaders of United Teachers Los Angeles had asked the Public Employment Relations Board to seek the injunction, accusing Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, a charter organization, of intimidating employees, denying organizers access to school buildings and blocking emails. In its request, the union said there would be irreparable harm if the courts did not intervene.

The board enforces collective bargaining laws for most of the state's public employees.

Leaders of the charter organization have denied wrongdoing.

The push to unionize educators at Alliance has drawn national attention. Charters are publicly funded, privately managed and traditionally nonunion.

Organizing teachers at Alliance's 27 campuses could alter the path of school reform in Los Angeles. If successful, the move could help the teachers union as it seeks to stem years of membership decline. Alliance charter schools would no longer be able to hire and fire staff without union rules — a factor they say helps retain quality educators.State labor panel to file injunction in charter school unionization push - LA Times:

Keeping Black Men In Front Of The Class : NPR Ed : NPR

Keeping Black Men In Front Of The Class : NPR Ed : NPR:

Keeping Black Men In Front Of The Class

Of all the teachers in the U.S., only 2 percent are black and male. That news is bad enough. But it gets worse: Many of these men are leaving the profession.

Just last month, a new study found that the number of black teachers in the public schools of nine cities dropped between 2002 and 2012. In Washington, D.C., black teachers' share of the workforce dropped from 77 percent to 49 percent.

Now, a researcher at Stanford, Travis Bristol, is trying to figure out why black men are leaving the profession. Bristol himself taught high school English in New York City public schools; there he grew interested in designing policies that would support his male students, particularly boys of color. As a Ph.D. candidate at Teachers College, Columbia University, he noticed a disconnect: While lots of attention was being paid to hiring more black male teachers, relatively little was being done to hold onto them.

So Bristol, now a fellow at Stanford's Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, set out to understand: What can be done in classrooms and break rooms to improve retention? For answers, he designed a survey for black male public school teachers in Boston.

I spoke with Bristol about teacher turnover and what he learned from the survey.

Why is the shortage of black male teachers something we should worry about?

Diversity drives innovation. There are more students of color in U.S. public schools than white students. Teachers of color represent 18 percent of the country's teaching force, and black male teachers less than 2 percent. Teachers of color are well-positioned to support their colleagues in navigating unfamiliar cultural terrain and designing culturally relevant pedagogy. Having a teacher of color, or black male teacher, can serve to disrupt societal preconceptions. And, as Gloria Ladson-Billingsrecently suggested, white students also benefit from having teachers of color.

Let's talk about your survey of black male teachers in Boston. What did you find?

I had about a 34 percent response rate. So it was a small sample, but I was able to note an interesting pattern: The number of other black men in the building seemed to influence their experiences. If you were the only black man in your school, you were more likely to say that people in your building were afraid of you because you were black — versus a school with three or more black male teachers.

I decided to compare schools that had just one black male teacher and their Keeping Black Men In Front Of The Class : NPR Ed : NPR:

4LAKids - OVERCROWDING, CLASSROOM SIZE OUTRAGE IN LAUSD SCHOOLS MAY FORCE PARENTS TO FILE COMPLAINT AGAINST DISTRICT + smf’s 2¢

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: OVERCROWDING, CLASSROOM SIZE OUTRAGE IN LAUSD SCHOOLS MAY FORCE PARENTS TO FILE COMPLAINT AGAINST DISTRICT + smf’s 2¢:

OVERCROWDING, CLASSROOM SIZE OUTRAGE IN LAUSD SCHOOLS MAY FORCE PARENTS TO FILE COMPLAINT AGAINST DISTRICT + smf’s 2¢

Parents, teachers and students at Hamilton High said Monday that they may be forced to file a complaint against LAUSD after class size hinders learning. Angie Crouch reports for the NBC4 News at 5.

Published Monday, Oct. 19, 2015  ::  Parents, teachers and students fed up with class sizes in the Los Angeles Unified School District said Monday that despite improvements, there are just too many students in each class.

Class sizes at Hamilton High School in Palms have been so large that parents said they may file a grievance against the district if there’s no change.

"If we don’t get the quality education we are being set up to fail," said Karen Calderon, Hamilton High student.

There are about 3,000 students attending Hamilton High School.

Teachers said in the latest contract, LAUSD agreed to lower class size, and did to some extent.

Last year, 110 classes had more than 40 students.

In 2015, there are 66 overcrowded classrooms, but parents said more must be done.

"It is an outrageous disregard for LAUSD teachers that more teachers haven’t been hired to get the class size to 35 to one [teacher] for high school, 30 to one for middle school and 25 to one for elementary," Katherine Williamson, parent, said.

Student Lilah Lebowski said she’s seen behavioral problems as a result of overcrowded classrooms, mostly because the teacher can’t focus his or her attention on so many students.

"Teachers can’t have a personal relationship with you," Lebowski said. "They barely know your name. They have so many students. It’s frustrating to ask questions and not get them fully answered because they need to continue on."

Another issue has been when air conditioning breaks down, and too many students per classroom becomes a health hazard, according to an English teacher at Hamilton High.

"The humidity rises to 90 degrees and I've been diagnosed with heat exhaustion on three separate occasions as a result," Nick Johnson, English teacher, said.

___________________

: so file a complaint!

Here’s the info from  Los Angeles Unified School District http://bit.ly/1jRDk32

Uniform Complaint Procedures (UCP) Complaints

For more information contact:  Educational Equity Compliance Office

Phone:                     (213) 241-7682

Fax:                         (213) 241-3312

Mailing Address:       Los Angeles Unified School District

                               Educational Equity Compliance Office - 20th Floor

                               333 South Beaudry Avenue

                               Los Angeles, CA 90017

 UCP Overview

The Los Angeles Unified School District has the primary responsibility to ensure compliance with applicable state and federal laws and regulations, and shall investigate complaints alleging failure to comply with those laws and regulations alleging discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and/or bullying and unauthorized charging of pupil fees for educational activities. The District shall seek to resolve those complaints in accordance with the procedures set out in Sections 4600-4687 of the Title 5 Regulations and the policies and procedures of the District.

The Uniform Complaint Procedure (UCP) may be used to report noncompliance of applicable state and federal laws and regulations; file complaints alleging discrimination, harassment, intimidation, bullying; or, unauthorized charging of pupil fees for educational activities; and/or to appeal District decisions regarding such complaints. UCP brochures are available at all school sites in the primary languages of that school community. Complainants are encouraged, where possible, to try to resolve their complaints directly at the school or work site or with their Educational Service Center (ESC).

A written notice regarding UCP must be disseminated annually to staff, students, parents/guardians, appropriate private school officials or representatives, District advisory committees, school advisory committees, and other interested school parties. Distribution may be in any form (brochure, newsletter, memorandum, staff/parent/student handbook, etc.) that will reach the school community.

A copy of this UCP policy bulletin shall be available free of charge.

How to Submit a Complaint

Any individual, public agency, or organization may file a written complaint alleging a matter which, if true, would constitute a violation by the District of federal or state laws or regulations governing the programs and activities as well as allegations of unlawful discrimination identified above. UCP complaints are to be submitted in writing to:

Julie Hall-Panameño, Director

Los Angeles Unified School District

Educational Equity Compliance Office - 20th Floor

333 South Beaudry Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90017

For more information, please contact Stephen Jimenez, UCP Coordinator at (213) 241-7682.

Any person with a disability or who is unable to prepare a written complaint can receive assistance from the site-administrator/designee or by calling the Educational Equity Compliance Office at (213) 241-7682.

The District assures confidentiality to the maximum extent possible. The District prohibits retaliation against anyone who files a complaint or anyone who participates in the complaint investigation process. Complainants are advised that civil law remedies may also be available to them.

The sixty (60) day timeline for the investigation and District response shall begin when the written complaint is received by the Educational Equity Compliance Office.4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: OVERCROWDING, CLASSROOM SIZE OUTRAGE IN LAUSD SCHOOLS MAY FORCE PARENTS TO FILE COMPLAINT AGAINST DISTRICT + smf’s 2¢:

The Movement Against Sexist and Discriminatory School Dress Codes - The Atlantic

The Movement Against Sexist and Discriminatory School Dress Codes - The Atlantic:

The Sexism of School Dress Codes

These policies can perpetuate discrimination against female students, and LGBT students as well.

Maggie Sunseri was a middle-school student in Versailles, Kentucky, when she first noticed a major difference in the way her school’s dress code treated males and females. Girls were disciplined disproportionately, she says, a trend she’s seen continue over the years. At first Sunseri simply found this disparity unfair, but upon realizing administrators’ troubling rationale behind the dress code—that certain articles of girls’ attire should be prohibited because they “distract” boys—she decided to take action.

“I’ve never seen a boy called out for his attire even though they also break the rules,” says Sunseri, who last summer produced Shame: A Documentary on School Dress Code, a film featuring interviews with dozens of her classmates and her school principal, that explores the negative impact biased rules can have on girls’ confidence and sense of self. The documentary now has tens of thousands of YouTube views, while a post about the dress-code policy at her high school—Woodford County High—has been circulated more than 45,000 times on the Internet.

Although dress codes have long been a subject of contention, the growth of platforms like Facebook and Instagram, along with a resurgence of student activism, has prompted a major uptick in protests against attire rules, including popular campaigns similar to the one championed by Sunseri. Conflict over these policies has also spawned hundreds of Change.org petitions and numerous school walkouts. Many of these protests have criticized the dress codes as sexistin that they unfairly target girls by body-shaming and blaming them for promoting sexual harassment. Documented cases show female students being chastised by school officials, sent home, or barred from attending events like prom.

Meanwhile, gender non-conforming and transgender students have also clashed The Movement Against Sexist and Discriminatory School Dress Codes - The Atlantic:

4LAKids - FIRST PUBLIC MEETING TO PICK A NEW L.A. SCHOOLS CHIEF IS SMALL BUT GETS LIVELY + schedule for future meetings

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: FIRST PUBLIC MEETING TO PICK A NEW L.A. SCHOOLS CHIEF IS SMALL BUT GETS LIVELY + schedule for future meetings:

FIRST PUBLIC MEETING TO PICK A NEW L.A. SCHOOLS CHIEF IS SMALL BUT GETS LIVELY

 

BY HOWARD BLUME | L.A. TIMES | HTTP://LAT.MS/1JYKQAC

Oct 20, 2015  7:36 AM  ::  The nation’s second-largest school district invited the public Monday to talk about what they want in a leader, but only about two dozen people showed up.

The meeting took place in the auditorium at Roybal Learning Center just west of downtown, the first of many gatherings scheduled by the Los Angeles Unified School District. Officials tried to make community members feel welcome, offering coffee cake, bottled water and other goodies, enough for a much larger crowd.

L.A. Unified hopes to select a superintendent by the end of the year, which is when current Supt. Ramon C. Cortines has said he would like to step down. The Board of Education has decided to recruit, evaluate and interview applicants confidentially, but it also insists that community input matters to them. School board President Steve Zimmer attended the forum, but he did not take part.

Consultant Hank Gmitro, a retired superintendent, led the meeting, cajoling people to talk, engaging them in conversation. No one seemed to want to speak first, so Gmitro tried to break the ice by asking what people liked about the LAUSD.

After a slightly awkward silence that seemed a lot longer than it was, parent Rachel Greene commented that very experienced teachers need additional support.

Anyone else? Gmitro asked.

Again, silence.

So, restated Gmitro, there needs to be programs to help teachers provide services to students with unique needs. Are students getting these services, he wanted to know.

“If they have someone there to fight for it,” Greene responded.

Gmitro returned to asking what people like about L.A. Unified schools.

Greene politely filled the gap again.

“It’s right down the street,” she offered.

“Close by,” echoed Gmitro.

His two colleagues from Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates got it down; they’ll be submitting a report on community input to the school board. On its website, the district lists 25 public forums, but the total number of meetings is even larger, as times also are set aside for principals, for teachers, for civic leaders and other specific groups.

Eventually, other people joined in and the conversation got more lively

Wayne V. Lewis, a teacher at Bernstein High School, said the next superintendent would need to appreciate the differences between traditional schools and charter schools and would need a thorough understanding of operations, based on having served in various roles in a school system. And the school board, which will choose the schools chief, and others should “avoid playing political games with the process.”

Lewis later objected to participants referring to the next superintendent as “he.” Lewis also made it clear that he would like to see Michelle King, the district’s second-in-command, get the job.

“We always look outside for solutions,” he said. “But everything she’s ever touched she’s done well.” The next leader “should be part of the system and proud of the system.”

The ability to rein in and oversee charter schools was important to several teachers and parents, who believe charters are draining resources from L.A. Unified and pushing out students who are harder to educate.

Charters are independently operated and exempt from some rules that govern traditional schools.

An even more consistent refrain was the call for an experienced educator to run L.A. Unified. One person hoped the leader also would be “God-fearing,” due to all the challenges ahead.

Lucia Ortiz, 16, a senior at Lincoln High, wanted students to have a greater voice in decisions.

The session was conducted in English and Spanish, with the aid of wireless headsets and translators.

“I see that the schools have many problems,” said Elsa Villareal, a parent at the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex, speaking in Spanish.

“So you’d like to see those problems addressed by the new superintendent?” Gmitro responded in English.

“Yes,” said Villareal.

The concerns of parent Guillermina Ceuva, also speaking in Spanish, included the amount of money that went to raises for teachers rather than to benefit students. She also deplored the cheapening of course credits: “They were practically giving away diplomas.”

“Students need to have a high-quality education and currently the superintendent has failed at that,” she said.

Gmitro also learned that the next superintendent needs the human touch, should monitor schools more closely, must select better principals, focus on training and supporting teachers, and provide technology without spending wastefully.

“He should be impartial,” said Samson Blancas Jr., a parent and site council member at Monroe High. “He must not be influenced by personal feelings and biases .… He must be open-minded and willing to work with others.”

"Impartial, fair, open-minded,” summarized Gmitro.

His team got that down, too.

“We’ll stay as long as you want to,” Gmitro assured all who wanted to speak. But he also reminded them: “We do have treats in the back.”

After about an hour and 15 minutes, Gmitro reminded them again of the refreshments, and at this point, participants were ready for coffee cake.

_______

FUTURE MEETINGS:

TUESDAY, OCT. 20

9 a.m.

Local District-East Office (PLCC Room)

2151 N. Soto St.

Los Angeles 90032

7 p.m.

Local District-East Office (Saldivar Room)

2151 N. Soto St.

Los Angeles 90032

7 p.m.

Local District-Northeast Community Forum

Cesar Chavez Learning Academy

1001 Arroyo Ave.

San Fernando 91340

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 21

 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: FIRST PUBLIC MEETING TO PICK A NEW L.A. SCHOOLS CHIEF IS SMALL BUT GETS LIVELY + schedule for future meetings:

9 Promises Common Core Has Already Broken

9 Promises Common Core Has Already Broken:

9 Promises Common Core Has Already Broken

The establishment wants you to think Common Core is a shiny legacy for departing Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Nothing close.

 Education may be the area of government policy most rife with fantasy. Reality beats it back periodically, and we’re entering another such stretch currently, as Common Core supporters’ fantastical promises disintegrate five years after the bigs pushed this impossibly utopian project on our country.

Maybe that’s why Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently announced his resignation, a curious seven years into his tenure with Obama. There’s no political advantage to “needing to spend more time with his family” at this very moment—unless his Common Core chickens are coming home to roost. And they are.

So, while Politico recently proclaimed “Common Core has won,” the truth is that its victory is a gossamer bubble in slow-motion burst. With it bursts most of Duncan’s work over his DC tenure. Leave while the going is good, right?

Five years ago, while announcing $330 million in direct-from-(probably future)-taxpayers startup funds for the second half of the Common Core project—its tests, which operated on exclusive federal funds for four years—Duncan made a pile of promises about these tests, which are Common Core’s built-in enforcement mechanism. Unfortunately for Duncan, and even more unfortunately for the millions of American kids and teachers he shoehorned into this evidence-less Rube Goldberg flight of fancy, his promises are proving false. Here are just 9 promises Common Core has already broken. Don’t worry. More will come.

1. End ‘Lying to Children and Parents’

The big news on the Common Core front lately is that, despite oodles of pledges to the contrary, states using the barely operative national Common Core tests Arne funded have done exactly what he said they would not. Namely, Ohio and Arkansas have decided to use lower benchmarks for student proficiency than their compatriots using these tests. So in the first year of Common Core results states are already bending to the political pressure we were promised Common Core would block. (Facing an uproar, Arkansas backed down—for now.)

What they really want to do is substitute central planners’ judgment for teachers’ and parents’ judgment, then hide that they’re doing this under the veneer of ‘science’ and ‘data.’

It’s not just those two. Illinois, Massachusetts, California, Florida, and North Carolina (at least) have done the same,The New York Times reported. Louisiana struggled to maintain the line this year, which “does not bode well for the future,” an in-state editorial board opined. “This was exactly the problem that a lot of policy makers and educators were trying to solve,” the director of a Bill Gates-funded Common Core PR shop told the NYT. When states did this before Common Core, Duncan blasted it as “lying to children and parents.” So what is it now?

Let me explain how this sleight of hand works. It’s a common education bureaucrat trick. First, test children. Then, think about how many you cannot politically afford to label “failing.” And set the passing bar on the test for that number. Think I’m joking? Indiana is doing this very thing on its own new Common Core tests right now. That states did this pre-Common Core is extremely well-documented, and it was a major justification Duncan and many others used to push Common Core. Well, it’s back. And we could have known that would happen beforehand.

There’s basically no other way to set a passing bar on a test, because what a, say, fifth grader should know is relatively subjective. It’s a total judgment call. It’s not an exact science, no matter how much test-mongers try to insist or imply otherwise. What they really want to do is substitute central planners’ judgment for teachers’ and parents’ judgment, then hide that they’re doing this under the veneer of “science” and “data.” Even the Common Core test controllers themselves used the same process when setting their “proficiency” levels.

Doing the same thing over and over again and promising different results? I think that’s how you define “bureaucrat.”

2. Test Scores Comparable Across States

That failure creates another closely related one. Duncan promised us that national Common Core tests means, “For the first time, it will be possible for parents and schools leaders to assess and compare in detail how students in their state are doing compared to students in other states.”

This was actually a lie at the time Duncan said it.

Even though Common Core has subsequently failed to live up to this promise (see item No. 1 above), this was actually a lie at the time Duncan said it. I say “lie,” as in “deliberate falsehood,” because at the same moment he was saying this he was in charge of a set of national tests that “detailed how students in one state compare to those in all the others,” called the National Assessment of Educational Progress. NAEP has been providing nationwide data on student performance in core subjects since 1969, with state-by-state results available since 2001.

Since Common Core has moved into place, we’ve also seen that researchers can do statistical jujitsu to compare different state tests to each other using the same scale—to adapt a familiar analogy, they can compare apples to apples after having convertedoranges to apples. Here is just one recent study doing that very thing. Florida has done that every year for some time, in order to release comparable test results from schools in its statewide voucher programs without compelling them to use the same test.

3. ‘Actionable’ Test Scores Released Quickly

One of the major complaints teachers have about federally mandated annual tests in reading and math is that the results are “an autopsy, not a diagnosis.” Meaning kids take the tests in April, a good two or three months before exiting school, but the results typically didn’t arrive until late summer or fall, when those same kids were off into the next grade. So teachers couldn’t use the results to, as the lingo goes, “inform instruction,” meaning to actually help children improve.

Does ‘immediate’ mean ‘six months later’?

Duncan and the rest of the Common Core cabal promised us Common Core tests would be different. In announcing the federal grant to these tests, Duncan touted tests “that are instructionally useful and document student growth—rather than just relying on after-the-fact, year-end tests used for accountability purposes.” He also promised these tests would provide students “immediate feedback.”

Now, I know bureaucracy is slow, but reality has stretched that “immediate” beyond recognition. Does “immediate” mean “six months later”? If it doesn’t, Duncan’s promises have proved false once again. Most of the Common Core exams were administered in April of this year, with some in March and May. It’s October, and states are finally just releasing the results. The long wait frustrated the Illinois state superintendent: “Ideally individual student results would be available at the start of the school year so that teachers, parents, and students could use them to inform instruction. This year, we expect individual student results later in the fall. In subsequent years we expect to have them much sooner.”

He’s not the only one. Mississippi educators are upset they’ll have to wait until December or January to see this spring’s Common Core test scores. ““We were under the initial impression that we would get the data back in a timely manner,” a local superintendent told an in-state paper. Yes, you were under that impression because the U.S. education secretary and his lackeys have been saying this for five years. Too bad they can’t be trusted.

4. ‘Transparent’ Results

Common Core was also supposed to let teachers and parents know exactly where children in each grade were in their dull trudge up the education-industrial treadmill towards the workforce hamster wheel. “For the first time, millions of schoolchildren, parents, and teachers will know if students are on-track for colleges and careers—and if they are ready to enter college without the need for remedial 9 Promises Common Core Has Already Broken:

Why Iowa's graduation rate is so much higher than California's - LA Times

Why Iowa's graduation rate is so much higher than California's - LA Times:

Why Iowa's graduation rate is so much higher than California's

California’s high school graduation rate has improved in the last five years, moving from 74.7% in 2010 to 81% in 2013-14. According to data released Monday, California is one of 36 states that improved their graduation rates between 2012-13 and 2013-14.

But California high schools still have a long way to go before they match Iowa, which led the country with a 90.5% graduation rate in 2013-14.

There are a few differences that explain the gap.

One reason is simple: money.

The top 10-15 states on the list, he said, spend the most on education — so it would make sense that more of their students graduate. “They tend to be states with low levels of poverty and lower levels of English learners,” said John Rogers, education professor and director of UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access.

But that doesn’t explain everything, because California also lags behind Texas, a state with a high number of English learners which achieved an 88.3% graduation rate. And the difference in spending per pupil between Iowa and California was just over $1,100 in fiscal year 2013, according to census data.

Some states have been able to better integrate immigrant students — particularly those who move to the U.S. later in their lives — into K-12 classrooms and help them reach college, Rogers said. California schools face several barriers to helping those students as effectively as other states.

For example, California has consistently had one of the highest ratios of students to teachers, particularly at the high school level. And with crowded classrooms, students get less individualized instruction. “With smaller classrooms, there’s more opportunities to interact and use their language,” he said. “You would want to have Why Iowa's graduation rate is so much higher than California's - LA Times:

Why Iowa's graduation rate is so much higher than California's - LA Times:

Trial of failed charter-schools chief begins | The Columbus Dispatch

Trial of failed charter-schools chief begins | The Columbus Dispatch:

Trial of failed charter-schools chief begins

The head of two failed Columbus charter schools who is accused of stealing $7,500 in state education aid intends to call Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Richard Ross to testify at his trial, which got under way yesterday.

An attorney for Andre Tucker, who founded the two Talented Tenth Leadership Academies that opened in fall 2013 and closed weeks later, told Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Mark Serrott on Monday morning that she intends to call Ross and other officials to the stand, but didn’t elaborate.

But a spokeswoman for the state Education Department said that Ross had not been subpoenaed to testify in the criminal case, but rather in a civil case involving Tucker that has been postponed.

Tucker is charged with two counts of theft and one unrelated count of burglary.

Because of an unusual governance setup, it’s not clear who actually was running the two Talented Tenth Leadership Academies that closed in October 2013. Tucker was the founder and is listed in state incorporation papers as creating the charters, but he also was a $71,000-a-year employee of the school’s sponsor, the North Central Ohio Educational Service Center, The Dispatch reported last year.

After he was hired, Tucker was assigned by the center to work at Talented Tenth under the terms of a contract he signed with his sponsor — the supposed watchdog over the charter school. Tucker previously was an accountant for Honda and had presided over another failed Columbus charter school and had tried to start one in Pennsylvania but was refused under that state’s tougher oversight laws.

Serrott indicated that he might dismiss the burglary charge against Tucker because of problems prosecutors are having producing the witnesses in the case.

A woman told police she found Tucker inside her Near East Side apartment in January rummaging through her belongings. Her TV had been moved, and she found stacked on her laptop computer a silver necklace, a computer-game controller, a cellphone and a purse, Simone Helms told The Dispatch in February.

When she asked him what he was doing, Tucker started to talk with Trial of failed charter-schools chief begins | The Columbus Dispatch:

Barbara Madeloni’s Battle Against Charter Schools | Radio Boston

Barbara Madeloni’s Battle Against Charter Schools | Radio Boston:

Barbara Madeloni’s Battle Against Charter Schools

Last week, Gov. Baker introduced his bill to expand charter schools in the state. While the charter school debate is nothing new in Massachusetts, longtime charter school advocates like John Connolly, co-founder of the education startup 1647, say it’s different this year. In fact, he attributes it to one person.

“Barbara Madeloni. She’s really made it clear she’s going to draw a line in the sand and the MTA is going to put their full effort into this,” he told Radio Boston. Barbara Madeloni has been president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association for just one year, after she won in an upset election last May.

We’ve held conversations with charter school advocates over the past two weeks, so we now turn to the other side of the debate.

Guest

Barbara Madeloni, president of the Massachusetts Teachers’ Association. She tweets @BMadeloni.

More

Radio Boston: Governor’s Bill Proposes More Charter Schools, Outside Cap

• “Standing at Brooke Mattapan Charter School, Gov. Baker announced his ‘Act To Improve And Expand Educational Opportunity’ Thursday.”

Radio Boston: Week In Review: DraftKings, Charter Schools, Wynn Casino Fight And Hands-Free Driving

• “John Carroll and Tom Keane go behind the headlines in our week in review.”

The Boston Globe: Baker Seeks Expanded Charter Schools

• “The bill would also allow charter schools — publicly funded schools that often operate independently of local districts — to give preference in their lotteries to applicants who come from low-income families, live in specific areas, have special needs, or are learning English. Critics have contended that charter schools do not do enough to serve special education students and non-native-English speakers.”

The Boston Globe: Governor, Mayor Differ On Charter School Plans

• “In testimony before the committee Tuesday, Walsh laid out a plan that would expand charter schools at a slower pace than in Baker’s proposal. The Walsh proposal would allow the creation of charter school seats in the lowest-performing districts at a rate of half of 1 percent of the local school district budget each year for a decade.”

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Other stories from this show:

• Biotech World Abuzz Over Questions About Theranos Technology
• Are Museums Keeping Artwork Alive?

Barbara Madeloni’s Battle Against Charter Schools | Radio Boston: