Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Corporate media turns the 1st Amendment on its head in Missouri

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Corporate media turns the 1st Amendment on its head in Missouri:

Corporate media turns the 1st Amendment on its head in Missouri

The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prohibits the making of any law... infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.

Isn't it amazing the way giant corporate media, from TV news networks to NYT, WSJ, have been able to turn the University of Missouri black student protests upside-down in just a day?

Now the story is no longer about campus racism, threats of violence against black students, or an unresponsive school administration. No, now it's all about the new American paparazzi supposedly being denied its "1st Amendment rights" to photograph unwilling students and eavesdrop on their private conversations.

By whom? Not by the government "making any law...infringing on the freedom of the press." But supposedly by some black student protesters and a journalism professor.

How the script has been flipped.

The irony here is that this same corporate media totally blacked-out (no pun intended) any and all news coverage of the racist assaults on the students until U Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Corporate media turns the 1st Amendment on its head in Missouri:

Investigate Chartergate D.C. has the nation’s fourth-highest concentration of charter school students - The Washington Post

D.C. has the nation’s fourth-highest concentration of charter school students - The Washington Post:

D.C. has the nation’s fourth-highest concentration of charter school students

The District now has the nation’s fourth-highest concentration of charter school students, behind New Orleans, Detroit and Flint, Mich., according to anew report from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

Three years ago, only New Orleans — where Hurricane Katrina had destroyed the traditional public school system, and where more than nine in 10 children now attend charters — had a greater percentage of students in charter schools than D.C.

But as enrollment in the District’s traditional school system has grown in the past several years, the city’s charter school market share in the city has stayed relatively flat. The District’s charter school share was 44 percent in both 2013-2014 and 2014-2015, and raw enrollment data for the current school year suggests that it isn’t changing.

That flatlining comes after a period of rapid growth: Nine years ago, just 25 percent of D.C. schoolchildren were in charters, which are funded with taxpayer dollars but are run by independent nonprofits.

Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, called the city “one of the best examples of a thriving charter public school environment” in the nation.

Elsewhere, particularly in cities where traditional public school systems are struggling, charter school market share is growing more quickly.

In Flint, Mich., for example, the percent of children in charter schools jumped from 44 to 47 between 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. In Kansas City, Mo., it increased from 37 percent to 41 percent; in Philadelphia, from 30 percent to 33 percent.

It’s part of a longer-term nationwide trend, in which fast-growing charter schools are taking on a significant portion of the students in individual D.C. has the nation’s fourth-highest concentration of charter school students - The Washington Post:

A Challenge To The TeachStrong Campaign - Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association:

A Challenge To The TeachStrong Campaign

By:  Marla Kilfoyle, Executive Director, The Badass Teachers Association 

Yesterday astroturf groups launched a new campaign to fix teaching.  It was called #TeachStrong.  It sadly included my two national unions.  I say “my” because they are my unions.

…and by the way, I did not give them the permission to align with groups that have a long history of destroying our profession and public education.

I’ll just leave that here…

The TeachStrong campaign seeks to “modernize and elevate the teaching profession.”   To many career teachers, we have a problem with this statement, a HUGE problem.   It insinuates that the teaching profession needs “fixing” and that once again teachers are the problem. 

Reality check is this – many of the organizations that have joined the TeachStrong coalition are:

Education policy organizations that have done nothing but damage to the American education system

Education policy organizations that choose to make the teacher the scapegoat but refuse to address how poverty influences a child in school. 

Education policy organizations who choose to use the millions they get not to address the things that kids need in public education like a neighborhood public school, nurses, psychologists, librarians, small class size, and much more.

Education policy organizations that choose to ignore the gentrification of neighborhoods throughout America and the institutional Badass Teachers Association:

A year later, secrecy surrounds FBI probe of LAUSD's iPad program - LA School Report

A year later, secrecy surrounds FBI probe of LAUSD's iPad program - LA School Report:

A year later, secrecy surrounds FBI probe of LAUSD's iPad program

On Dec. 1 it will be a year since FBI agents showed up at LA Unified’s headquarters with afederal grand jury subpoena and carted off 20 boxes of documents related to the district’s controversial iPad program.

Since that day little if any new information has been publicly revealed about the investigation’s status, and that is primarily due to the secrecy laws that surround federal grand juries. Unless the jury issues an indictment or an investigative report, the evidence and testimony is by law to remain forever sealed, and leaks of federal grand jury evidence are extremely rare.

With almost a year passed since the subpoena, it is possible the grand jury found no evidence of wrong doing and has dissolved, but James A. Cohen, an associate law professor at Fordham University, said it’s unusual — though not impossible — for a grand jury investigation to take more than a year.

“It’s coming up on a year in December. It’s a long period, no question. It’s not that unusual, but it is still on the unusual side,” he said.

Cohen helps run Fordham’s Federal Litigation Clinic, which represents defendants charged with federal crimes; he has also written about and researched the grand jury system. Cohen pointed out that an LA Unified school board agenda item from August, as was reported by LA School Report, indicates that the district’s lawyers might have foreseen trouble coming from the investigation or a related lawsuit.

The brief item, which simply said the board was going to discuss the case in a closed session, was listed on the agenda due to a state law that reads “on the advice of its legal counsel, based on existing facts and circumstances, there is a significant exposure to litigation against the local agency.”

Cohen said this is an important indicator.

“I think what it means, what it has to mean, is somebody, a civil lawyer representing (LA Unified), has gone through the documents that were sent to the FBI and concluded that there is liability out there,” Cohen said.

The grand jury subpoena in particular sought information related to the bidding process for the massive $1.3 billion Common Core Technology Project. The A year later, secrecy surrounds FBI probe of LAUSD's iPad program - LA School Report:

RELATED?

CURMUDGUCATION: Selling Competency Based Education

CURMUDGUCATION: Selling Competency Based Education:

Selling Competency Based Education

Lurking just over the horizon is the next Big Reformster Thing, a movement designed to take everything wrong with test-based accountability and make it even worse-- Competency Based Education, a Big Dumb Idea Whose Time Has Come (Again). And as this thundering lumox gets closer, we can start to see how it will be sold.


Here's a chatty write-up about CBE from John Baker, a guy who heads up a company that plans to make a bundle off of CBE.

John Baker likes the idea of flexibility, what techno-edu-crats have been selling as personalization. Except that it isn't, really. With CBE, we're talking about computerized learning, and that means that students can only go where the software is prepared to take them. A truly personalized journey would be somebody handing you the keys to a four-wheel-drive land rover and saying, "There's the world. Go explore whatever you want to explore." But this is about saying, "Okay, everybody is going to ride the tracks from Point A to Point Z. If you get to Point D and you need to go back to Point C again, you can do that. If you want to skip ahead and get on at the Point F station, you can do that, too. But everybody is going to ride the same tracks over the same route to the same destination."

Baker is excited about using analytics and giving students choices (play a game! do some drill!), and he anticipates objections:

This flexibility makes some people nervous. There will be those who argue that if education needs CURMUDGUCATION: Selling Competency Based Education:

AERA Statement on (VAM) for the Evaluation of Educators and Educator Preparation Programs

AERA Statement on Use of Value-Added Models (VAM) for the Evaluation of Educators and Educator Preparation Programs:

AERA Statement on Use of Value-Added Models (VAM) for the Evaluation of Educators and Educator Preparation Programs

Approved by AERA Council, June 2015

The purpose of this statement is to inform those using or considering the use of value-added models (VAM) about their scientific and technical limitations in the evaluation of educators and programs that prepare teachers. The statement briefly reviews the background and current context of using VAM for evaluations, enumerates specific psychometric problems with VAM, and addresses the validity of inferences from VAM, given the challenges of isolating the contributions of teachers and school leaders from the many other factors that shape student learning. The statement also addresses the limitations of using VAM to evaluate educator preparation programs, given the wide variation of experiences and settings in which graduates from those programs work and the lack of comparable and complete information on programs. In addition, the statement goes beyond a consideration of challenges and limitations by specifying eight technical requirements that must be met for the use of VAM to be accurate, reliable, and valid. The statement concludes by stressing the importance of any educator evaluation system meeting the highest standards of practice in statistics and measurement. It calls for substantial investment in research on VAM and alternative methods and models, and cautions against VAM being used to have a high-stakes, dispositive weight in evaluations.

Introduction

The purpose of this statement is to inform those using or considering the use of VAM about the scientific and technical limitations of its inclusion in the implementation of evaluation systems.

The use of VAM to evaluate educators and educator preparation programs continues to be the subject of discussion and debate. There is a shared interest in policy and practice communities in implementing educator evaluation systems that can lead to improvements in instructional practices and that are fair and free of bias. Nevertheless, there is considerable disagreement among education policy …

[Full Text of this Article]

Official Documents:AERA Statement on Use of Value-Added Models (VAM) for the Evaluation of Educators and Educator Preparation ProgramsEducational Researcher 0013189X15618385, first published on November 10, 2015 as doi:10.3102/0013189X15618385

• Extract
 
• Full Text
 
• Full Text (PDF)

Research Group Latest to Caution Use of 'Value Added' for Teachers - Teacher Beat - Education Week http://bit.ly/1OEOA0c

Those Lying Jason Engen Eyes | Crazy Crawfish

Those Lying Jason Engen Eyes | Crazy Crawfish:

Those Lying Jason Engen Eyes

I was just notified that Jason Engen had the audacity to file an ethics complaintagainst Kathy Edmonston for producing literature he is not against Common Core.

As proof of his opposition all we have is is word and an ad he produced claiming he was against it.  On the other side of the equation is a preponderance of the evidence that shows he is lying about this, and numerous other issues that I will cover in upcoming posts.  As Megan Trainor singes, “His lips are moving and he lies lies lies.”

While just about every single claim Jason makes in his own literature is a lie, I will focus on the one he has filed a complaint about Edmonston for because among other things, I have his own words to indict him.

You see, I was a candidate against Engen in the primary, where he was supported almost solely by Lane, LABI and their various PACs they formed to get around ethics restrictions for donation limits from single sources.  LABI formed 4 political action committees called WestPac, EastPac, NorthPac and SouthPac.

Lane Grigsby, owner of Cajun Industries and chief contributor and director of LABI, (The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry) also has control of several more, one of which is named Grigsby’s Empower PAC.  Lane Grigsby has been one of Common Core’s staunchest defenders in this state.  I met with him earlier this year and he mocked me and parents for being against Common Core.  I explained some of the specific issues about Common Core to him, face-to-face, and he waved me off and said “it doesn’t matter, it’s about using standards to test teachers and hold them “accountable” and Common Core is the only solution that will do that.”

Earlier this year Engen’s biggest supporter sent pink stuffed unicorns to every single legislature at the state capital while they were in session, from yet another one of his PACs (ABC pac), with a note that said “Unicorns are not real.  And neither are most of the problems you’ve heard about Common Core.”

When I organized some parents to send some stuffed crawfish to legislators with a message that the problems with Common Core were real, like crawfish, he countered with an elaborate hardback glossy book with a giant unicorn centerfold Those Lying Jason Engen Eyes | Crazy Crawfish:

When School Feels Like Jail | The Marshall Project

When School Feels Like Jail | The Marshall Project:

When School Feels Like Jail

Isolation rooms and paddling: What some schools in the South are doing to keep students in line.

A student inside the Yazoo City Alternative Learning Center, an alternative school in the Mississippi Delta.RORY DOYLE FOR MEDIUM/BRIGHT

Rockmon Montrell “Rock” Allen, an 18-year-old from Jackson, Mississippi, has never gone to jail. But school, he says, was close enough. At Ridgeland High School, a large public school in an increasingly black suburb of Jackson, he was punished repeatedly for what seemed like minor reasons.In the ninth grade, when he wore the wrong-color uniform or didn’t tuck in his shirt, Rock got “whooped,” as he puts it. That meant bending over, putting his hands on a desk, and getting hit three to five times on the backside with a flat wooden paddle. Mississippi is one of only four states—the others are Alabama, Georgia, and Texas—where school districts frequently use corporal punishment on students (although 19 states allow the practice by law). Teachers and administrators openly use paddles—and, in rarer cases, belts, rulers, and key chains—to whip kids into order.



In the 10th and 11th grades, according to Rock’s official disciplinary record, he was sent to in-school detention whenever he spoke out of turn, questioned a teacher, was tardy, or refused to take off his hat. In-school detention, which in some schools is referred to as in-school suspension, takes place during school hours. Instead of being in class, Rock would sit in an empty room, doing nothing, for up to three days at a time. “I wouldn’t say I was a smart aleck,” he says, “but I was known for speaking up.” He recalls asking “why” a lot, like why the pilot of the Enola Gay wasn’t considered “the worst murderer of all time,” and praising Karl Marx during history class. By Rock’s own description, he is curious by nature; he’s always thinking, always speaking up. “Teachers either loved me or hated me,” he says.Then, in 2014, a few weeks into the 12th grade, Rock did the same thing a 16-year-old black girl in Columbia, South Carolina, did this October: He pulled When School Feels Like Jail | The Marshall Project:

Guest Blog: Friedrichs Is Missing Its Warning Label - Lily's Blackboard

Guest Blog: Friedrichs Is Missing Its Warning Label - Lily's Blackboard:

Guest Blog: Friedrichs Is Missing Its Warning Label

My name is Tina Adams, and I am a school lunch lady in Mansfield, Ohio. Every school day for the past 30 years, I have cooked healthy meals and nutritious treats to feed hundreds of hungry kids. For many of my students, my food is the only food they eat all day. I keep my students’ bellies full so teachers can feed their minds.

I know if my kids are hungry, they aren’t learning. I also know who is eating his vegetables, and which kids needs to watch their sugar because of diabetes or other dietary restrictions. From the time the bell rings in the morning to when school lets out in the afternoon, I’m the mom. I care for these kids like my own—and all I want is for them to be happy, healthy and ready to learn.

After more than three decades, my salary is little more than $20,000 a year. At times, I have had to work two, even three jobs, just to make ends meet. In fact, I earn so little money that my family falls under the federal poverty level and, ironically, we qualify for food stamps.

Earlier this year, our school district declared a fiscal emergency and, as a result, the administration closed down a neighborhood school, forcing more than 220 students to bus to other schools and laying off 107 teachers and support professionals, including me. Even while I wait to be recalled back to my students, I am continuing to pay my union membership dues because I know—and I see—how important it is for all educators to have a collective voice to speak up for our students.

In fact, the state legislature here in Ohio has tried—and failed—to strip public workers like me of our collective bargaining rights. When that didn’t work, the legislature tried to kill our unions by introducing laws with names like Guest Blog: Friedrichs Is Missing Its Warning Label - Lily's Blackboard:

ESEA Issue to Watch: How Much Power Should the Education Secretary Have? - Politics K-12 - Education Week

ESEA Issue to Watch: How Much Power Should the Education Secretary Have? - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

ESEA Issue to Watch: How Much Power Should the Education Secretary Have?

Should the U.S. Secretary of Education be a powerful cabinet official able to prod states on everything from standards to dramatic school turnarounds? Or should they basically hand over the car keys to states?

That question—okay, fine, maybe not put exactly that way—is almost certain to have sparked at least some discussion behind the scenes as lawmakers (Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Reps. John Kline, R-Minn., and Bobby Scott, D-Va.) and their probably-very-tired-by-now aides try to reach agreement on key issues in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

(They are said to be making tons of progress and getting close to a preliminary agreement that would help set the stage for an official conference process. There are even rumors that a compromise bill could be on the floor of both chambers by the end of the month, or early December. But nothing is set in stone just yet.)

Lawmakers in both parties—but especially Republicans—are really unhappy with the way Duncan and Company used Race to the Top, and especially, waivers from many of the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act,  to leverage big change at the state level when it comes to teacher evaluations, school turnarounds, standards, and more.

Both the House bill (which squeaked by with GOP support only) and the Senate bill (which passed with big, bipartisan backing) would take aim at the secretary's role and the scope of the Education Department.

What do the bills do when it comes to the secretary's power?

Under both pieces of legislation, the secretary of education wouldn't be able to offer states money (i.e. a chunk of Race to the Top cash) or flexibility (i.e. a waiver) in exchange their adoption of particular standards (including the Common Core state standards) tests, state goals, school turnaround remedies, and accountability systems. In fact, the ed sec would pretty much have to let states call the shots on those areas.

And under the Senate bill, the department would be under some strict new deadlines. It would still get to approve states' plans for using federal Title I money for low-income students, but it would only have 90 days to review them. (That's compared to 120 days under current law.)

States whose plans aren't approved by the education department would get the opportunity to revise them. And they could ask for a public hearing examining the thinking behind their rejection, which sounds it could produce some very wonky soap operas. The point though, would be to eliminate the behind-the-scenes-back-and-forth on the finer points of accountability plans that have been a major part of the waivers.

The House bill has some extra restrictions, too. It would require the department to bring in efficiency experts and figure out if it's really doing things in a cost effective way. Plus, the agency would have to make some major staff cuts, commensurate with the number of programs slashed ESEA Issue to Watch: How Much Power Should the Education Secretary Have? - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

The Nation's Top K-12 Education Foundations 2015

dewey & associates | STUDIES:

EDUCATION FOUNDATIONS 2015

Stepping Up: The Nation's Top K-12 Education Foundations 2015 advocates for the importance of K-12 education foundations while recognizes those that do it best.

Stepping Up is the nation's only annual study and ranking of K-12 education foundations. The study includes education foundations in the top 200 largest school districts in the nation (by student population), as well as other top-performing foundations in small school districts. 

Download the 2015 study - "Stepping Up: The Nation's Top K-12 Education Foundations

Download the 2015 news release. 

Click Here to sign-up for monthly newsletter “Stepping Up: K-12 Education Foundation Practices and Insights” 

    

The nation’s top-performing education foundations display d&a’s study badges.

In leading LAUSD, big goals are no substitute for planning and hard work - LA Times

In leading LAUSD, big goals are no substitute for planning and hard work - LA Times:

In leading LAUSD, big goals are no substitute for planning and hard work

 In school superintendent searches across the nation, parents, teachers and the public tend to rank educational “vision” as the No. 1 attribute required for a new leader. But in online surveys and focus groups in Los Angeles Unified, vision came in at a weak ninth, according to the executive search firm helping the district hire its next leader.

Interestingly, the survey results may be as much about the past under John Deasy as they are about the future. Deasy, who resigned under pressure last year, had vision galore. He wanted the largely low-income and minority students in his district to have access to up-to-date technology, nutritious breakfasts, more effective discipline and classes that would qualify them for four-year colleges. Deasy's eloquence on the subject was admirable, and his sense of urgency was legendary; he wanted it now.

What became apparent over time, though, was that setting high-profile goals was only one part of the job; where Deasy stumbled was in getting down to the unglamorous work of making those dreams come true through meticulous planning, accounting for contingencies and addressing valid concerns raised by others.

As a result, Deasy left a legacy of big, bold plans but too few accomplishments. The iPads-for-all policy could reasonably be called a fiasco. The district was lambasted in independent investigations for buying problematic educational software and having little idea of how the new technology would even be used in classrooms. The college-prep graduation requirements had to be rolled back because they were imposed with little planning for how students would pass the necessary classes. Instead of fixing the district's dysfunctional student scheduling system known as MISIS, he supported a lawsuit blaming the state for it.

Too often, Deasy's urgency meant that sweeping new policies were dumped in teachers' laps without the support, explanation and assistance needed to make them work. Teachers' concerns were too often dismissed as an unwillingness to change.

Consider school disciplinary measures. As The Times recently reported, Deasy spearheaded a change in disciplinary policy that dramatically reduced suspensions. That's good — except that he didn't first introduce the replacement system, one that seeks to address the causes of misbehavior, before eliminating the suspensions. The result, teachers say, has been increased disruption in the classroom, making it harder for other students to learn.

It would be a shame for vision to fall toward the bottom of the list of the district's priorities. Deasy was right about what L.A. Unified students need. Big goals should still be at the top — as long as they are paired with a commitment to the hard, incremental work of achieving them.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook

In leading LAUSD, big goals are no substitute for planning and hard work - LA Times:

If This Post Feels Entirely Recycled, That’s Because It Is (Much Like #TeachStrong) | EduShyster

If This Post Feels Entirely Recycled, That’s Because It Is (Much Like #TeachStrong) | EduShyster:

If This Post Feels Entirely Recycled, That’s Because It Is (Much Like #TeachStrong)

Welcome (back) to Lake Wobegon Academy, where every teacher is highly effective, and every student is (still) in the top quintile…

Oh #TeachStrong… Like one’s loved ones there is something irritatingly familiar about you. In fact, as I poked about your super cool new website, I couldn’t help but feel as though we’d met somewhere before. Because we have met before. I’ll never forget that day back in June of 2013. You charmed me with that line about *a virtuous cycle of excellence and higher pay for all teachers.* Well, maybe not all teachers (wink, wink!). You called yourself the *Opportunity Culture,* and I was totes smitten, especially when I watched the super cool video that I am helpfully including below. And now, like *funeral baked meats,* here you are again, part of the #TeachStrong family. What say you *Opportunity Culture,* shall we get re-acquainted again? For old-time’s sake?

Can you believe I wrote this next part two and a half years ago?
Reader: we have a fiercely urgent problem on our hands. An epidemic of non-excellence in our public schools is holding the children of this once exceptional nation If This Post Feels Entirely Recycled, That’s Because It Is (Much Like #TeachStrong) | EduShyster:

Testing opponents furious about Oregon's opt-out notice for parents | OregonLive.com

Testing opponents furious about Oregon's opt-out notice for parents | OregonLive.com:

Testing opponents furious about Oregon's opt-out notice for parents

Testing opponents are furious that Oregon's official opt-out forms, required under a new law giving parents broad rights to exempt their children from lengthy standardized English and math tests, portray testing as highly advantageous to students and schools.

The Oregon Department of Education this week issued the official opt-out notice and form that that schools must send to parents ahead of next spring's standardized tests. The forms briefly describe the tests and explain a host of ways in which they help students, teachers, parents and school budget decision-makers gain important information about students' skill levels.

The portion of the form that has testing opponents most livid are the two sentences above the line where a parent must put their signature to get their child out of testing:

"I understand that by signing this form I may lose valuable information about how well my child is progressing in English language arts and math. In addition, opting out may impact my school and district's efforts to equitably distribute resources and support student learning."

Steve Buel, a Portland school board member who is a leader in the anti-testing group Oregon Save Our Schools, called the forms "maliciously misleading."

The forms were drawn up after wide consultation with teachers, parents, testing experts, school administrators and others, said Crystal Greene, the education department's communications director.

Given emotionally charged views about testing, "it is unlikely that we would ever be able to create a form that would please everyone," Greene said. But those who gave input largely agreed the final version was an improvement from early draft, she said.

Nationally, parents and teachers have generated a huge backlash against what they see as an epidemic of overtesting in U.S. schools, driven in part by the testing mandates of the 2001 federal No Child Left Behind law.

A recent study found that the typical student in a U.S. big city school district must take about eight standardized tests per year, for an average of 112 tests from kindergarten through high school graduation.

But that is not the case in Oregon, where standardized testing is largely limited to Smarter Balanced tests in English and math at the end of grades three through eight plus junior year of high school.

Still, the Oregon Education Association made it a top priority during the 2015 Testing opponents furious about Oregon's opt-out notice for parents | OregonLive.com:

CURMUDGUCATION: TeachStrong's Nine Steps (To Teacher Awesomeness)

CURMUDGUCATION: TeachStrong's Nine Steps (To Teacher Awesomeness):

TeachStrong's Nine Steps (To Teacher Awesomeness)

We've already discussed who and what the new #TeachStrong campaign might be. But I still think it's only fair to look at their nine points, their nine steps to building a better teacher, and consider their validity.

Yes, it starts with the premise that teaching needs to be modernized and elevated. Teachers have certainly been beaten down over the 1.5 decades. But modernized? A bad sign that once again, some policymaker is operating under the assumption that schools haven't changed since before they were in one. There's not any real evidence for that, but let's ignore it for the moment so we can move on to our nine steps on the pathway to awesome!

1. Recruitment

Identify and recruit more diverse teacher candidates with great potential to succeed, with a deliberate emphasis on diversifying the teacher workforce.

Diversity in the teacher workforce is a critical need, although the research tends to suggest that the problem is less about recruitment and more about retention (of course the general tanking of college teacher programs means we have recruitment issues across the board). But teacher diversity is a critical problem. The racial makeup of the teacher pool is wildly out of whack with that of the student pool. So, yes-- this is a critical need, though the devil is absolutely in the details, and in the recognition of the retention issue.

2. Teacher Prep

Reimagine teacher preparation to make it more rooted in classroom practice and a professional knowledge base, with universal high standards for all candidates.

Again, what details? Universal standards is probably a dumb idea-- exactly which universal standards would fit both a high school biology teacher and a first grade teacher? Just how vague and meaningless would standards have to be in order to cover both?

Also, "more rooted in classroom practice" than what? Here the group of TeachStrong partners starts CURMUDGUCATION: TeachStrong's Nine Steps (To Teacher Awesomeness):

Project to recognize ‘high schools of opportunity’ for all students goes national - The Washington Post

Project to recognize ‘high schools of opportunity’ for all students goes national - The Washington Post:

Project to recognize ‘high schools of opportunity’ for all students goes national

Last year, a project called Schools of Opportunity was launched as a pilot effort to honor high schools that work hard to offer all students a chance to succeed. Spearheaded by two veteran educators, it was different from other efforts to rate and rank schools through the use of student standardized test scores and data points. Instead, the Schools of Opportunity project sought to identify and recognize public high schools that seek to close opportunity gaps through practices “that build on students’ strengths” — not by inundating them with tests and obsessing on the scores. Seventeen schools were selected, and this blog spotlighted each winner.

Now, the pilot project that was concentrated in Colorado and New York is going national for the 2015-16 school year. Applications are welcome from public high schools in every state; you can find out how to submit one at the website, here, and in the post below.

The people behind the project are Carol Burris and Kevin Welner. Burris is  a former New York high school principal who is now executive director of the non-profit Network for Public Education Fund. A frequent contributor to The Answer Sheet, she was named the 2010 Educator of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York State, and in 2013, the same organization named her the New York State High School Principal of the Year. Welner is a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder’s School of Education who specializes in educational policy and law. He is director of theNational Education Policy Center at UC Boulder, which produces high-quality peer-reviewed research to inform education policy.

In this post, Burris and Welner talk about taking their project nationwide for the current school year. When the winners are selected in 2016, The Answer Sheet will write about each one.

By Kevin Welner and Carol Burris

It was a relatively simple task to define a “great school” a couple years ago, at least if we listened to politicians and policymakers. It was all about test scores. A school with high scores was better than that school down the road where the scores were less impressive. These scores were also the prized lever for school accountability and improvement, as operationalized through policies like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.

But test-based policies are unsuccessful in driving greater learning, as more and more people have been pointing out. So emerging ideas are now Project to recognize ‘high schools of opportunity’ for all students goes national - The Washington Post: