Big Education Ape

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Can We Duplicate These Teachers' Methods?

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Can We Duplicate These Teachers' Methods?:

Can We Duplicate These Teachers' Methods?

Via ABC News:

This Florida Special Ed teacher, Chris Ulmer, starts the school day with uplifting words to his students.

Title IX work left undone

As soon as the Title IX news moved off the headlines, the Title IX work in Seattle Public Schools moved off the agenda.

The annual report required by Board Policy 3208 has never been submitted. Never. The Board has never asked for it and the superintendent has never offered it.

There is no Title IX coordinator. There was an interim person, then another interim person. There's no one doing the work right now.

There was a report by the interim Title IX coordinator. No action is planned in response to that report.

Despite promises to revise the sexual harassment policy and procedure, that work remains incomplete.

Title IX training has come to a stop.

The Board has lost all interest in completing the Title IX work that they made such a show of starting. They do not respond to emails about the stalled work on Title IX.

Advanced Learning and CSIPs

I have said, over and over again, that having an ALO in a school is usually no different from not having an ALO in a school.

Schools typically don't define their ALO in any meaningful way. They cannot and do not describe the ALO for families or tell families what the ALO provides that is any different from the norm for good teaching practices.

There are typically no practices specific to school ALOs. Schools cannot identify anything they do differently for students in ALOs than they do for students who are not in ALOs. Often the school cannot even say which students are participating in the ALO.

There is no assessment of school ALOs. The District has never made any assessment of their quality or efficacy (or even their existence) and the schools make no assessment of their quality or efficacy.

The bulk of ALOs are a fiction. They exist exclusively in marketing materials.

I recognize that this is a pretty harsh characterization of ALOs and, let's face it, Spectrum since Spectrum is, in most schools, no different from an ALO. You might wonder what evidence I can show to support this complete discredit of ALOs. Here is the best proof of that claim: school CSIPs.

Normally I would say that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but in this case it is. If something doesn't show up in the school CSIP, it doesn't show up at the school.

Dorn Asks AG Ferguson for an Opinion on Local Levies

State Superintendent Randy Dorn's letter to Attorney General Bob Ferguson. The letter is much more in the weeds than the press release below. Dorn ends the letter saying (partial):

In the meantime, many school districts have already begun the process of planning future levies.

Without clarity on this question, school districts cannot adequately plan how they intend to deliver - or pay for - basic education services.

Given the longstanding - and ongoing - legal uncertainly regarding school districts' authority to use local levy funding to pay district personnel for basic education services, I believe it is essential that your response to this request be expedited.

Press Release

Nearly 40 years ago, the state Supreme Court ruled that the state’s education funding system relied too much on local levies. That reliance, the Court said, was unconstitutional.

CT Leaders propose cutting funding for public schools while protecting charter school increases - Wait What?

CT Leaders propose cutting funding for public schools while protecting charter school increases - Wait What?:

CT Leaders propose cutting funding for public schools while protecting charter school increases

In the face of yet another budget deficit, Governor Dannel Malloy and leaders in the Connecticut General Assembly have been laying out competing plans to cut the state budget. All plans include cuts in state aid for public schools while protecting Malloy’s initiative to expand funding for charter schools in Connecticut. Some of the proposed cuts to public education would simply shift the burden onto local property taxpayers, while others would reduce the level of services some public school students receive.

In this guest post, public school advocate and retired Connecticut educator explore the reason by Governor Malloy and elected officials cut funding for Connecticut’s public school children while still increasing support for Charter Schools.

BEYOND OUTRAGE!!! By John Bestor

Wondering why charter school allocations have remained sacrosanct despite the serious budget issues facing our legislators and the citizens of our State?

In addition to the lucrative New Market Tax Credit that is available to investors who – in their philanthropic largess – receive “tax credits” that will enable them to double their philanthropic investment in seven years, there are other reasons why monies for charter school expansion remain an untouchable budget item.

CONSIDER THIS:

In 2010, Steve Adamowski, then the Superintendent of the Hartford Public Schools and ever-since Governor Malloy’s “go-to” education disruptor, signed an agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation “to expand access to a high quality education to advance college readiness” with the “goal to support communities in significantly boosting the number of students enrolled in high performing schools”. The grant terms called for

Joint professional development for teachers in charter and district schools
Implementing CCSS with aligned instructional tools and supports for teachers
Creating personalized learning experiences for students
Universal enrollment system for all public schools, and
Common metrics to help families evaluate all schools on consistent criteria.

A signing bonus of $100,000 was paid to the signatory enabling Hartford to join 12 other CT Leaders propose cutting funding for public schools while protecting charter school increases - Wait What?:

Congressional Compromise to Reauthorize Federal Education Law Rebukes Arne Duncan | janresseger

Congressional Compromise to Reauthorize Federal Education Law Rebukes Arne Duncan | janresseger:

Congressional Compromise to Reauthorize Federal Education Law Rebukes Arne Duncan

Arne Duncan will leave at the end of December, turning over the leadership of the U.S. Department of Education to John King, an acting superintendent whose name will not even be submitted to Congress for confirmation as secretary. King will likely be a caretaker through the end of the Obama administration. The Obama Department of Education has accomplished its work. So why is Congress taking the trouble to try to pass a reauthorization of the federal education law with a laser focus on diminishing the role of the department and its secretary? There are many things the compromise Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) proposal will not do; refocusing on the law’s original 1965 purpose of driving equity in school opportunity, for example, isn’t being considered.

But reducing the power of the Secretary of Education is front and center. Lyndsey Layton of the Washington Post explains: “The deal would significantly reduce the U.S. Department of Education’s authority, prohibiting the secretary from influencing state academic standards and assessments, requiring teacher evaluations or using grant programs to influence state education policy.” Think about that. The law will prohibit the Secretary of Education from using departmental rules to press states to buy into college and career-ready standards (a requirement of Race to the Top and receiving a No Child Left Behind waiver), which means, in practical terms, prohibiting the Department from creating incentives to adopt the Common Core; from requiring states to demand that teachers be evaluated by their students’ test scores (a condition for applying for Race to the Top and receiving a No Child Left Behind Waiver); and from using grant programs to influence state policy (requiring states to meet particular federally prescribed conditions before the states can even apply for Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants). In other words, Congress plans to ensure that the power over local school policy that Arne Duncan seized from the states will be nullified. It is, of course, true that some conservative, states-rights-believing members of Congress have always wanted to get rid of the U.S. Department of Education because it has been involved with dismantling segregation, and other members of Congress, government employees all, advocate for cutting government itself for budgetary reasons. But what is happening in Congress this week is much more specifically targeted toward Arne Duncan’s Department of Education.

Two reports released by the Department of Education last week help explain what has Congressional Compromise to Reauthorize Federal Education Law Rebukes Arne Duncan | janresseger:

Live Webcast: Senate Expected to Meet with House on ESEA This Afternoon | deutsch29

Live Webcast: Senate Expected to Meet with House on ESEA This Afternoon | deutsch29:

Live Webcast: Senate Expected to Meet with House on ESEA This Afternoon

The following ESEA reauthorization update comes from Politico’s Morning Education post dated 11-18-15. The first ESEA House-Senate conference committee meeting is scheduled for today (2:30 ET) and is to be webcast (watch it live here).

NCLB conference begins
By Caitlin Emma 11/18/15 10:00 AM EST

With help from Marcella Bombardieri, Allie Grasgreen Ciaramella, Kimberly Hefling, Marianne LeVine, Maggie Severns and Aubree Eliza Weaver
NCLB CONFERENCE BEGINS: The Senate plans to vote on heading to conference on No Child Left Behind this morning. After that, the chamber will name its conferees — who very well may be the entire HELP Committee — and they’ll gather with House lawmakers this afternoon, beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET at the Capitol. This first meeting will be open to the public and webcast.
— The House conferees named Tuesday: Republican Reps. John Kline, Virginia Foxx, Phil Roe, Glenn Thompson, Brett Guthrie, Todd Rokita, Luke Messer, Glenn Grothman, Steve Russell and Carlos Curbelo. Democratic Reps. Bobby Scott, Susan Davis, Marcia Fudge, Jared Polis, Frederica Wilson, Katherine Clark and Suzanne Bonamici.
— What’s in and what’s out: The so-called “framework” for a bill is still preliminary and subject to change. But some things that made it into the framework, according to sources familiar with negotiations, are: A mandate that states identify and intervene in the bottom 5 percent of schools, some form of college- and career-ready standards and programs resembling Investing in Innovation and Promise Neighborhoods. Some things that didn’t: Title I portability and wildcard outside bills that would update privacy law or renew D.C. school vouchers.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Schneider is a southern Louisiana native, career teacher, trained researcher, and author of the ed reform whistle blower, A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who In the Implosion of American Public Education.

She also has a second book, Common Core Dilemma: Who Owns Our Schools?, published on June 12, 2015.

Don’t care to buy from Amazon? Purchase my books from Powell’s City of Books instead.

Nonprofit is formed to advance charter-school plan in Los Angeles area - LA Times

Nonprofit is formed to advance charter-school plan in Los Angeles area - LA Times:

Nonprofit is formed to advance charter-school plan in Los Angeles area

Backers of a plan to greatly expand successful charters and other high-quality public schools in the Los Angeles area have formed a nonprofit organization to move the effort forward, The Times has learned.

The new organization, called Great Public Schools Now, is based in Los Angeles and will take the next steps in a plan that initially was spearheaded by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. A draft of that proposal, dated in June, called for raising $490 million to enroll half the students in the L.A. Unified School District over the next eight years.

The nonprofit will be run by two executives from ExED, a local company that specializes in helping charter schools manage their business operations. Former banker William E.B. Siart will chair the governing board; Anita Landecker will serve as interim executive director. No other individuals or foundations are being included in a Wednesday release about the organization, an apparent effort to distance it from the Broad Foundation, which became a target of critics of the proposal. Eli Broad or a designee, however, is expected to occupy one seat on an 11-member board of trustees.

The goal, as described by Siart and Landecker in an interview Tuesday, would be to develop first-rate schools of all kinds — not exclusively charters. No funding target has been set, they said.

"It's the quality of the school that's the most important thing," Siart said.

Besides charters, the organization said it would work to expand or duplicate successful models of schools that are run by L.A. Unified. Charters are independently managed and exempt from some rules that govern traditional campuses. Most are nonunion.

"This effort will be aimed at replicating and accelerating the development of public schools … that have proven to be successful for kids in traditionally underperforming schools," Siart said.

The L.A. Unified Board of Education had no role in creating the original Broad Foundation plan and is scheduled to vote next week on a resolution officially opposing it. Some L.A. Unified officials, and other critics, have expressed concerns that a massive charter expansion could threaten the solvency of L.A. Unified, while leaving it with fewer resources for students who are more challenging and expensive to educate.

Separately, a small group of civic leaders signed a letter, released Tuesday, that chided the Broad effort — without opposing it — for being developed in private. They also echoed concerns about the possible financial effects on the nation's second-largest school system.

"In the short term, civil dialogue among all parties — and full parental and community engagement — would seem to be the better course of action for Los Angeles," according to the letter. It was signed by Fred Ali, head of the Weingart Foundation; Antonia Hernández, the leader of California Community Foundation; and Robert K. Ross, the top official at California Endowment.

Great Public Schools Now, meanwhile, is not backing down from the language of urgency and indignation in the original draft of the report, which was obtained and released by The Times. The plan called for 260 new charters.

"More than 160,000 students in Los Angeles and surrounding cities attend schools that are failing to provide them with a quality education," Siart said.

Landecker added: "It's unconscionable that families in many low-income communities lack the same opportunities to send their children to a high-quality school."

Charters appear to remain the primary focus, based on written materials being released. They highlight support for charters, based on a recent poll, as well as data indicating that charter schools are outperforming traditional campuses. The release also quotes the head of the California Charter Schools Assn.

"Charter schools have done incredible work in educating students from high-poverty backgrounds throughout Los Angeles," said Myrna Castrejón, acting chief executive of the charter association. "Because of this record, Great Public Schools Now will unequivocally support the replication of successful charters as a major component of their efforts."

Also included is the voice of a parent who has one child in a charter high school and another in a district-managed elementary campus.

"We don't have as many options as we would like on where to send our children to school," said Lisette Duarte, who has a child enrolled at a charter operated by Partnerships to Uplift Communities, or PUC. "Our ZIP Codes still limit us. That's why I am grateful charter schools exist and want to see them grow."

PUC is the charter group cofounded by school board member Ref Rodriguez, who has said he supports providing options for parents but has not specifically endorsed the effort.

The nonprofit was incorporated Aug. 20, Landecker said, with the stated mission of promoting "the quality of publicly funded education in Los Angeles and surrounding communities."

An official announcement was withheld until after the polling was completed and until after additional meetings with community groups and others could take place. Now, "it Nonprofit is formed to advance charter-school plan in Los Angeles area - LA Times:

LAUSD board wants superintendent candidates with teaching experience | 89.3 KPCC

LAUSD board wants superintendent candidates with teaching experience | 89.3 KPCC:

LAUSD board wants superintendent candidates with teaching experience

The Los Angeles Unified school board on Tuesday took another step in its march towardhiring the next district superintendent by detailing the kinds of candidates it wants to interview.

"These characteristics are meant, as I read them, our aspirations and where we reach to and our goals and where we’d like our district to move for all children," board member Steve Zimmer said as the board began a 70 minute debate about the list of characteristics the superintendent search firm gave the board earlier this month.

The nineteen traits approved by the board include what you’d expect in a superintendent candidate: a deep understanding of teaching and learning, an ability to be a strong partner with the school board, and the skills to plan long-term for the school district’s needs.

But the board members also agreed they want specific kinds of backgrounds and approaches. They said candidates should have experience as teachers and principals in an urban school — and they should see public education as a tool for social justice, one that can address the struggles of students of color.

The list reflects some of the same traits sought by members of the public in meetings held this month.

Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates, the firm hired by the district to help in the superintendent search, will now take the board’s list and call qualified candidates to ask if they’re interested in heading the country’s second largest school district.

The board plans to interview candidates next month and make a selection by Jan. 1.LAUSD board wants superintendent candidates with teaching experience | 89.3 KPCC:

Gates Foundation Puts New Focus on Transforming Teacher Prep - Education Week

Gates Foundation Puts New Focus on Transforming Teacher Prep - Education Week:

Gates Foundation Puts New Focus on Transforming Teacher Prep

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will invest some $34 million in cooperative initiatives designed to improve teacher-preparation programs’ overall effectiveness.

The Seattle-based philanthropy announced the three-year grants Nov. 18. Gates awarded the funds to five consortia through a competitive process—a change from its former strategy of one-off grants to individual teaching programs.

The winners will use the funding to create “transformation centers” based on four driving principles: developing strong partnerships with school districts; giving teacher-candidates opportunities to refine a specific set of teaching skills; using data for improvement and accountability; and ensuring that faculty and mentors are effective at guiding novices into the profession.

The grantees include:

TeacherSquared, a center that currently consists mainly of nontraditional preparation programs, including the campuses of the Relay Graduate School of Education; Urban Teachers, which operates programs in the District of Columbia and Baltimore; Boston-based Match Teacher Residency; and the teaching programs offered by the Yes Prep and Aspire charter-management organizations;

Texas Tech University, which will head the University-School Partnerships for the Renewal of Educator Preparation National Center, or U.S. PREP, a consortium of six universities located in Southern states;

The Massachusetts Department of Education, which will lead the Elevate Preparation, Impact Children (EPIC) center, an effort that will involve all 71 providers in that state; and

The National Center for Teacher Residencies, which will expand its network of providers using a residency model of preparation that couples a full year of student teaching with slimmed-down coursework.

The fifth grant, to TeachingWorks at the University of Michigan, differs from the others. The group will serve as a clearinghouse for the other grantees to share best practices, provide technical support to each center, and supply teacher performance assessments.

Each grantee save EPIC won about $7 million; EPIC received about $4 million. The philanthropy received about 40 applications representing some 500 programs in all.

The Gates Foundation has also contracted with the a nonprofit called Teacher Prep Inspection U.S., to visit each program annually and provide feedback on progress. The group is headed by longtime teacher-preparation analyst Edward Crowe. (The nonprofit that publishes Education Week receives support from the Gates Foundation for the coverage of college- and career-ready standards.)

Changing Practices

Gates officials said that their renewed focus on teacher preparation builds on the foundation's philanthropy in two other areas: teacher evaluation and academic standards.

“The timing is great because of having great consistent, high standards in the country and more meaningful, actionable teacher-feedback systems and some clear definitions about what excellence in teaching looks like,” said Vicki Phillips, the Gates Foundation’s director of college-ready programs. “Districts and prep programs can work in ways that are just much more powerful, stronger, and more targeted than three years ago, when we might have been doing more shooting in the dark.”

Some of the centers plan to expand and deepen work already under way. That’s the goal for the National Center for Teacher Residencies, which will expand from 17 to 37 providers, five of which will be demonstration sites that best embody the four principles around which the new grants are oriented.

Others, such as U.S. PREP, will work to scale up practices that have been successful elsewhere. Each of the participating universities in that center will begin by piloting a yearlong model for student teaching and a common tool for assessing teacher-candidate skills—initiatives first introduced at Arizona State University.

Of the grants, potentially the most wide-reaching is Massachusetts’. That state was selected partly because of the work it’s done to strengthen and make more transparent its quality-control process for teacher-preparation programs. (An Education Weekinvestigation earlier this year found deficiencies in most states’ review systems.)

Now, under the Gates grant, Massachusetts will aim to make its first-year teachers as Gates Foundation Puts New Focus on Transforming Teacher Prep - Education Week:

Yes, the teacher shortage is bad, but California voters don’t want fast tracked teachers either - The Hechinger Report

Yes, the teacher shortage is bad, but California voters don’t want fast tracked teachers either - The Hechinger Report:
Yes, the teacher shortage is bad, but California voters don’t want fast tracked teachers either
California teachers need more student teaching experience prior to teaching, poll says

Schools are desperate for teachers in California, but attempts to fast track teachers into classrooms haven’t won over voters there, results of a new poll suggest.

More than half of voters polled said they oppose policies that allow new teachers to begin teaching before they have completed training, even if those teachers would fill shortage positions, according to a poll released this week by EdSource and the California-based Learning Policy Institute.

The number of alternative teacher training programs nationwide has increased since 2000. Many allow teachers to enter the classroom after completing a brief training or while still working toward a credential. Traditional programs also offer paths to teaching that allow new teachers to become the “teacher of record” before their own schooling or credentialing is complete.

Voters responded to several questions about how California should improve the teaching profession.

In California, such programs have been particularly popular as the state deals with a worrying teacher shortage. Fewer teachers are enrolling in teacher preparation programs and entering classrooms, especially in critical subjects like math and special education. The number of teacher credentials issued in California declined by 26 percent between the 2009-10 school year and 2013-14, and between 2009 and 2013, enrollment in teacher preparation programs dropped by 55 percent. More than 85 percent of voters in the poll said that the shortage of teachers in the state is a serious problem.

Harold Levine, dean of the University of California, Davis School of Education said in a call with reporters about the poll that he gets calls from desperate school districts “begging us to help them find people who may not be credentialed” to work in empty classrooms. “In some cases, in many hard-to-staff schools and particularly in northern parts of the state and in rural areas, it’s quite daunting for them [to find teachers],” he said.

The poll surveyed 1,002 registered English and Spanish-speaking California voters. They overwhelmingly said that teacher quality is essential for new teachers. Nearly 95 percent of those polled said a high level of training is critical for new teachers, and 88 percent of residents who were polled said teachers should have a full year of practice teaching under an expert mentor teacher prior to teaching Yes, the teacher shortage is bad, but California voters don’t want fast tracked teachers either - The Hechinger Report:

Poll: California voters say state must take action to address teacher shortage | EdSource

Poll: California voters say state must take action to address teacher shortage | EdSource:

Poll: California voters say state must take action to address teacher shortage

California registered voters regard the emerging shortage of K-12 teachers as a very serious problem and think that the state should be taking decisive action to rectify the situation, according to a poll commissioned by EdSource and the Learning Policy Institute.

The survey was conducted by the Field Poll, in part with support from the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, following recent reports indicating that the number of new teaching credentials issued in California has declined steadily for more than a decade, along with even more precipitous reductions in teacher preparation program enrollments.

The poll found that statewide, 64 percent of voters describe the shrinking supply of teachers as “very serious,” and a similar proportion (65 percent) thinks it’s “extremely important” for the state to do more to encourage young people and others to enroll in teacher preparation programs.

“At a time when California is implementing new standards, it’s important that all students have access to teachers who are well-prepared in those subject areas,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, president and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute. She is also chair of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. “A teacher shortage will set back the state’s education agenda.”

Darling-Hammond noted that the shortage is not being experienced uniformly across the state. Shortages are especially acute in math and science and special education, as well as in certain districts and regions of the state.

The survey of 1,002 registered voters statewide – including both English and Spanish speakers – found there is broad-based voter support (85 percent) for having the state forgive a portion of teachers’ college loans or offering more scholarships to prospective teachers as a way to bring greater numbers into the teaching profession.

By contrast, more than half (52 percent) oppose policies that would allow schools to hire individuals who have not yet completed their training or who have not earned a teaching credential as a means for dealing with teacher shortages.Poll: California voters say state must take action to address teacher shortage | EdSource:

Teachers, parents say changes to standardized test so far won't deter the boycott movement | WRVO Public Media

Teachers, parents say changes to standardized test so far won't deter the boycott movement | WRVO Public Media:

Teachers, parents say changes to standardized test so far won't deter the boycott movement

Listen

Listening...

4:08

The state’s education commissioner said parents who are thinking of opting their children out of standardized tests again this school year should stick with the exams because they will be different than last year’s tests. But, the state’s teacher’s union and a parents group says the changes don’t go far enough.

Education Commissioner Mary Ellen Elia is hoping to contain a movement that led 20 percent of students to boycott the third-eighth grade standardized tests last spring.

The commissioner, who began her job in July after the April tests were administered, said they will be different in the spring of 2016.

Elia said teachers will have more input to review the test items and how they match up with the new Common Core standards. And, Elia said due to complaints she’s heard from teachers, students and parents across the state, there will be other changes as well -- including shorter tests.

“So, we’re shortening the tests at every grade level,” said Elia, mentioning a new policy that she previously announced.

She said children who don’t finish the tests in the allotted time might be allowed a few more minutes.

“Are we really measuring whether or not they have comprehension or whether they can read quickly?” Elia asked.

The New York State Education Department is ditching the current testing company Pearson in favor of a company, Questar, that allows teachers to have more say in the tests. But, the new company will not be in charge of the exams until the spring of 2017. A modified version of the controversial Pearson tests will be administered to students. While the commissioner is not telling parents what to do, she said she hopes the effort by education officials to make the changes will influence their actions.

“Parents should consider that if they make a decision,” Elia said. “We hope that will influence them and that the teacher involvement, particularly, will be positive.”

Elia also recommends delaying the effects of the tests on students’ permanent records for six more months through the 2018-19 school year. She said she thinks Teachers, parents say changes to standardized test so far won't deter the boycott movement | WRVO Public Media:

To Mark Zuckerberg from a former classmate: Why I’m ‘alarmed’ by your new school reform effort - The Washington Post

To Mark Zuckerberg from a former classmate: Why I’m ‘alarmed’ by your new school reform effort - The Washington Post:

To Mark Zuckerberg from a former classmate: Why I’m ‘alarmed’ by your new school reform effort

Emily Talmage is an elementary school teacher in Lewiston, Maine, who happened to be a classmate of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg when they both attended Phillips Exeter Academy as teenagers. In the education world, Zuckerberg is known for his $100 million gift to Newark Schools, money that was largely wasted, as told in a recent book by Dale Russakoff, a former Washington Post reporter, titled “The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools?” Here’s an open letter to Zuckerberg from Talmage about one of his latest education reform efforts. Talmage has seven years of teaching experience in New York City and Maine, as well as a masters degree in urban education from Mercy College and a masters degree in developmental psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University.

[Why Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million gift to Newark schools was announced on Oprah’s show]

Here’s the letter, which originally appeared on EmilyTalmage.com:

Dear Mark,
You probably don’t remember me, but we were students together at Phillips Exeter Academy 15 years ago. I was a lower (sophomore) when you were a senior, so our paths didn’t overlap much, but I do believe we had one class together — Latin with Mr. Morante.
I’m writing for two reasons: first, a quick thank you for Facebook. I’ve always enjoyed it as a social tool, but recently I have discovered how powerful it can be as networking tool to gather people around a common cause. Lately, I’ve connected with parents, teachers, administrators, bloggers, and other activists around the country who are all working passionately toward one goal: getting our local schools back from the powerful corporate and political interests that now strangle them. We share notes and research, triumphs and setbacks, inspiration and outrage, and lately it seems — incrementally at least — that we may be getting somewhere.
A bit about me: after Exeter and college (Amherst ’07), I followed the two-year teaching-temp route through the New York City
To Mark Zuckerberg from a former classmate: Why I’m ‘alarmed’ by your new school reform effort - The Washington Post:

Making the Case for a Good-Enough Diploma - Pacific Standard

Making the Case for a Good-Enough Diploma - Pacific Standard:

Making the Case for a Good-Enough Diploma

Common Core and big business have combined to make the lot of the upwardly mobile high school dropout even more dire.

Jennifer Neustedt is a caregiver—her job includes changing bedding, helping patients with eating, and monitoring their medicines—in an elder-housing facility in Bellingham, Washington. The 32-year-old, married with four children, works 40 hours a week for about $11 an hour.

Jose Rosado is a full-time metal fabricator in Cleveland, Ohio, putting together drop boxes that FedEx uses for package pick-ups. Twenty-seven, married and with a three-year-old son, he makes about $15 an hour. His wife doesn’t work—she’s been ill for a few years—and health-care costs have added to the family expenses.

Both are high school dropouts. Neustedt left school when she became pregnant at age 15, while Rosado dropped out in ninth grade because “I was into all sorts of things, and school wasn’t one of them.” Both need a high school diploma, or its equivalent, to move into the educational programs that will help them climb up the economic ladder.

If Neustedt were to put in two years of community college in a nursing program, she could triple her pay and move up in the booming health-care industry. Rosado wants to go to a vocational-tech training school to get certified in welding, which would open up his job options and perhaps triple his pay. It might even jumpstart his dream of owning an auto mechanic business.

Neustedt and Rosado both take tutoring classes to prepare for the GED, a high-school equivalency test. GED stands for General Educational Development (or, in less charitable quarters, the Good-Enough Diploma), and the test measures basic math, reading, writing, and history. Both Neustedt and Rosado put in 15 to 20 hours a week studying for the test, and they have been at it for more than a year.

These two are, by all estimations, reasonably intelligent adults, in stable family relationships, who work full-time and are working hard to get ahead—the kind of people the bootstrap puller-upper political crowd extols as examples of American hard work and determination. And yet neither Neustedt nor Rosado has passed the four-part GED. In fact, neither has passed even one of the parts.

They’re not alone. Fewer people passed the GED in 2014 than had in any other year since 1968, when the United States had 100 million fewer citizens. Why can’t they earn a good-enough diploma?

COMMON CORE’S SHADOW

A retooled GED rolled out in January 2014, and the new test is harder than the old one. A lot harder. That’s intentional: The people behind the test insist that a harder test is good for worker productivity and gives the GED more value—arguments that echo those made for the Common Core State Standards Initiative and its mission to improve American classroom education through consistent curricula and ample standardized testing.

Common Core, in fact, is a big reason the current GED is so much harder. States—and keep in mind that states decide when and how to adopt Common Core, not the federal government—required the new test to adhere to Common Core standards. Rather than assessing skills learned by rote, including basic math, reading, and writing skills, Common Core means to emphasize analytical learning—“how” and “why” and not just “what.” And the new GED reflects that intention.

The content change in the new test—more math, algebra-level and above (the old test was one-fourth advanced math; the new test is one-half ), essays graded on analysis and not grammar, tough chemistry equations—is the biggest factor in the historic drop-off, according to those who tutor prospective test-takers.

And while those who oversaw this test change insist that the numbers will go up as tutors and test-takers get to know the new GED, right now the new test is failing a large number of people who need a second chance to get ahead. This remains a significant population to draw from: According to the Department of Education, while dropout rates among all demographic groups have been falling for years, some seven percent of current 16- to 24-year-olds are high school dropouts.

The GED has always measured basic academic proficiency, but it also served as a proxy for the test-taker’s determination to study and ultimately move up economically. The new test has lessened the importance of that resolve, and seems to be discouraging people from even trying.

The focus of the new test also questions a tacit, if real, goal for many taking the GED: It’s a tool for moving up a few rungs on the vocational ladder, not a launching pad for those who want to jump onto the university escalator.

University of Chicago researchers found that, in the past few decades, the GED has consistently accounted for about 12 percent of the high school diplomas awarded in the U.S. But fewer than five percent of those passing the GED go on to earn a bachelor’s degree, compared to 27 percent of regular high school graduates. About 40 percent of GED test-passers, according to a 2011 study conducted for the GED Testing Service, do attend some post-secondary education classes—college, vocational school, or certification programs—but only about half spend more than Making the Case for a Good-Enough Diploma - Pacific Standard:

Latest News and Comment from Education