Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 12/8/15

CORPORATE ED REFORM

 

New documents provide details of LAUSD probe that led to firing of famed educator Rafe Esquith - LA Times

New documents provide details of LAUSD probe that led to firing of famed educator Rafe Esquith - LA Times: New documents provide details of LAUSD probe that led to firing of famed educator Rafe EsquithRafe Esquith, the most celebrated teacher in L.A., was removed from his classroom this spring. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)e Los Angeles Unified School District’s internal investigation into cel

by mike simpson / 1h 

The Absurdity of Next-Gen Assessments | Save Maine Schools

The Absurdity of Next-Gen Assessments | Save Maine Schools: The Absurdity of Next-Gen AssessmentsLi ke most teachers who have taught during the golden NCLB-era of American education, I have spent countless hours of my career analyzing graphs, tables and tiered diagrams of student data in order to make the “data-based” instructional decisions that are required of us.Most of the time, our Pearson an

by mike simpson / 1h 

New York Times Editorial Board on Annual Testing: “PREECCCIIOOOUUUUSSS!” | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.

New York Times Editorial Board on Annual Testing: “PREECCCIIOOOUUUUSSS!” | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.: New York Times Editorial Board on Annual Testing: “PREECCCIIOOOUUUUSSS!”The Editorial Board of The New York Times is a reliable source of pro-education reform articles, and yesterday they published their take on the potential new testing environment that will be ushered in if the “Every Student Succeeds

by mike simpson / 1h 

Ag Groups Call on USDA to Enforce “Buy American” Provision in Federal School Lunch Program | KTIC Radio

Ag Groups Call on USDA to Enforce “Buy American” Provision in Federal School Lunch Program | KTIC Radio: AG GROUPS CALL ON USDA TO ENFORCE “BUY AMERICAN” PROVISION IN FEDERAL SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAMFifty agricultural trade associations, farmer co-ops and agribusinesses yesterday urged Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to strengthen enforcement of the “Buy American” provision for participants in th

by mike simpson / 2h 

Why Chicago Teacher Sarah Chambers Is Voting To Strike | I AM AN EDUCATOR

Why Chicago Teacher Sarah Chambers Is Voting To Strike | I AM AN EDUCATOR:Why Chicago Teacher Sarah Chambers Is Voting To StrikeIn 2012, the Chicago Teachers Union waged a successful strike that revived the lessons of social justice unionism and taught educators around the country that it was possible to beat back the corporate education reform agenda. This strike was the opening salvo for much of

by mike simpson / 3h 

No Child Left Behind: An Obituary : NPR Ed : NPR

No Child Left Behind: An Obituary : NPR Ed : NPR: No Child Left Behind: An ObituaryThe U.S. Senate is expected to vote as soon as tomorrow on replacing the nation's big education law, known since 2001 as No Child Left Behind.And President Obama is expected to sign the new version, ending an era marked by bitter fights between the federal government, states and schools.So as it dies, we thought an

by mike simpson / 3h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Claypool won't negotiate with CTU. With Rahm on the ropes, he has no juice.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Claypool won't negotiate with CTU. With Rahm on the ropes, he has no juice.: Claypool won't negotiate with CTU. With Rahm on the ropes, he has no juice.CPS broke on purpose. Claypool has no juice.As Chicago teachers take their strike vote this week, CEO Forrest Claypool and Rahm's hand-picked school board, are refusing to negotiate a contract with the CTU. In a way,

by mike simpson / 6h 

The Public Release of Value-Added Scores Does Not (Yet) Impact Real Estate | VAMboozled!

The Public Release of Value-Added Scores Does Not (Yet) Impact Real Estate | VAMboozled!: The Public Release of Value-Added Scores Does Not (Yet) Impact Real EstateAs per ScienceDaily, a resource “for the latest research news,” research just conducted by economists at Michigan State and Cornell evidences that “New school-evaluation method fails to affect housing prices.” See also a press release a

by mike simpson / 6h 

Schools Matter: ASD Crosses Halfway Mark to Certain Failure

Schools Matter: ASD Crosses Halfway Mark to Certain Failure: ASD Crosses Halfway Mark to Certain Failure"The effects in the ASD schools were mainly statistically insignificant . . ."Vanderbilt Peabody has just released a research paper that examines the awful performance of ASD schools in Memphis, Nashville, and Chattanooga. Tennessee's Achievement School District was modeled after the R

by mike simpson / 6h 

CURMUDGUCATION: Duncan Remains Relentlessly Wrong

CURMUDGUCATION: Duncan Remains Relentlessly Wrong: Duncan Remains Relentlessly WrongThis afternoon, Arne Duncan is at the Learning Forward conference to fall on his sword deliver some comments that include his spirited endorsement of the Every Student Succeeds Act. A portion of his remarks have been released, and they reveal Duncan in fine form as he cheerily supports the bill devoted to repudiati

by mike simpson / 7h 

Save Our Schools March – It’s Time to March Again ~ Summer 2016

Save Our Schools March – It’s Time to March Again ~ Summer 2016: 2016 Summer March & RallySolidarity, Resilience, and ResistanceMany thousands of us gathered on July of 2011 for the Save Our Schools March and Call to Action. We assembled to state our grievances about the state of public education and to share our visions for the future. In that moment, we were the canaries in the coalmine – si

by mike simpson / 7h 

Democratic Budget Deal – An irresponsible farce - Wait What?

Democratic Budget Deal – An irresponsible farce - Wait What?: Democratic Budget Deal – An irresponsible farceThe Connecticut General Assembly will return to the state capital today to vote on a “Democratic Budget Deal” that they claim will eliminate this year’s budget deficit by authorizing Governor Dannel Malloy to cut an additional $93 million in unspecified programs and raiding money from a var

by mike simpson / 7h 

Gov. Christie and Legislature Fail to Fund School Formula, Create Crisis for Newark’s Schools | janresseger

Gov. Christie and Legislature Fail to Fund School Formula, Create Crisis for Newark’s Schools | janresseger: Gov. Christie and Legislature Fail to Fund School Formula, Create Crisis for Newark’s SchoolsThe Prize—Dale Russakoff’s book about the plan put in place by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and then Newark Mayor Cory Booker to charterize Newark’s schools and recruit Facebook’s Mark Zuckerb

by mike simpson / 7h 

Here Come the Public-School Consultants - The Atlantic

Here Come the Public-School Consultants - The Atlantic: Here Come the Public-School ConsultantsMany urban systems are so confusing—and so unequal—that some parents are hiring private experts to help them figure out where to send their kids.“This school would be more of a safety,” Joyce Szuflita explained to the parents. She gestured at the colored paper handouts fanned out between them, and then p

by mike simpson / 7h 

One way to boost achievement among poor kids? Make sure they have classmates who aren’t poor. - The Washington Post

One way to boost achievement among poor kids? Make sure they have classmates who aren’t poor. - The Washington Post: One way to boost achievement among poor kids? Make sure they have classmates who aren’t poor.Protesters get up and shout ‘hey, hey, ho, ho, resegregation has to go’ after the Wake County, N.C. school board voted in 2010 to end the county’s diversity-based assignment policy. (Photo b

by mike simpson / 7h 

What Happened to Education Strategies that Promoted "Community-Centered Pedagogy?" - LA Progressive

What Happened to Education Strategies that Promoted "Community-Centered Pedagogy?" - LA Progressive: What Happened to Education Strategies that Promoted “Community-Centered Pedagogy?”In the late 1980s and early 1990s, responding to a wave of violence sweeping through urban America, educators of color began proposing that public schools transform their pedagogy to enhance the self esteem

by mike simpson / 7h 

Minneapolis selects Massachusetts candidate as school superintendent | Minnesota Public Radio News

Minneapolis selects Massachusetts candidate as school superintendent | Minnesota Public Radio Minneapolis selects Massachusetts candidate as school superintendentSergio Paez, 48, will become the next superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools after winning the support of six of the nine board members. He previously served as the superintendent of Holyoke Public Schools in Massachusetts. Michael

by mike simpson / 8h 

TeachingWorks (or Doesn’t) at the University of Michigan: The Corporatization of Teacher Education

TeachingWorks (or Doesn’t) at the University of Michigan: The Corporatization of Teacher Education: TeachingWorks (or Doesn’t) at the University of Michigan: The Corporatization of Teacher EducationIt is with concern that I write about the Gates influence on the University of Michigan’s College of Education and the new program called TeachingWorks. The Gates Foundation is giving $6.8 million to th

by mike simpson / 8h 

John Thompson: Why Raj Chetty Is Wrong | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Thompson: Why Raj Chetty Is Wrong | Diane Ravitch's blog: John Thompson: Why Raj Chetty Is WrongJohn Thompson, historian and teacher in Oklahoma, has reviewed the work of economists Raj Chetty. You may recall that Chetty, a Harvard professor, was co-author of a study that purported to show that teachers could be evaluated by the test scores of their students. An effective teacher, one who rai

by mike simpson / 8h 

L.A. school board holds its first interview for job of superintendent - LA Times

L.A. school board holds its first interview for job of superintendent - LA Times: L.A. school board to hold second round of interviews for superintendentL.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines, left, confers with school board president Steve Zimmer at district headquarters. The board on Sunday interviewed one or more candidates to replace Cortines, who wants to retire at the end of the year. (Bob Cha

by mike simpson / 8h 

Raising Status of Profession Critical in Recruiting Teachers of Color - NEA Today

Raising Status of Profession Critical in Recruiting Teachers of Color - NEA Today: Raising Status of Profession Critical in Recruiting Teachers of ColorTiffany McClary attended Palm Beach County, Florida public schools from grade school to high school. She excelled, but McClary who is black, says she never really felt like she belonged.Today, McClary,  a senior elementary education major at Florid

by mike simpson / 8h 

Obama Unlearns His Classroom Lesson - Bloomberg View

Obama Unlearns His Classroom Lesson - Bloomberg View: Obama Unlearns His Classroom Lesson By Editorial BoardAs he approaches his last year in office, President Barack Obama seems weirdly passive about protecting one of his signature domestic achievements: education reform. It's a mistake that will undermine future efforts to help American students compete and succeed.Obama once could claim to have

by mike simpson / 8h 

After No Child Left Behind, will shift to states help or hurt students? - Yahoo News

After No Child Left Behind, will shift to states help or hurt students? - Yahoo News: After No Child Left Behind, will shift to states help or hurt students?The Senate is expected to vote Tuesday on the Every Student Succeeds Act, which passed the House by a wide margin Dec. 2 and, among other things, shifts power from the federal government to the states.Across Minnesota, the number of native Ame

by mike simpson / 8h 

Alexander Hails No Child Left Behind Rewrite As Historic Devolution Of D.C. Power | Nashville Public Radio

Alexander Hails No Child Left Behind Rewrite As Historic Devolution Of D.C. Power | Nashville Public Radio: Alexander Hails No Child Left Behind Rewrite As Historic Devolution Of D.C. PowerIn recent years, No Child Left Behind has become so unpopular that conservative Republicans and left-leaning teachers unions have teamed up to replace the law passed in 2002.WOODLEYWONDERWORKS VIA FLICKRListenLi

by mike simpson / 9h 

California Revamps School Rankings | NBC Bay Area

California Revamps School Rankings | NBC Bay Area: California Revamps School RankingsSchool officials in San Francisco are explaining the many changes happening in education."We're implementing new curriculum to go with the new standards, to go with the new tests," says John Burke, a supervisor at San Francisco Unified School District.Also new - a different way to evaluate schools. State

by mike simpson / 9h 

Wendy Lecker: Common Core math requires students to justify every answer. Does that make sense? - The Washington Post

Common Core math requires students to justify every answer. Does that make sense? - The Washington Post: Common Core math requires students to justify every answer. Does that make sense?Canyon View math teacher, Kylie Findley works with her students during her morning class Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2104, in Cedar City, Utah. Findley, as well as other teachers, are utilizing the common core curriculum in

by mike simpson / 9h 

YESTERDAY

What’s behind the Obama administration’s recent ‘180 on standardized tests?  | CLASSROOM STRUGGLE

What’s behind the Obama administration’s recent ‘180 on standardized tests?  | CLASSROOM STRUGGLE: What’s behind the Obama administration’s recent ‘180 on standardized tests?  Recently President Obama, in a surprising shift, committed to ending the growing trend of excessive standardized tests being forced on the nation’s public school students. He penned an open-letter to parents and teachers (pu

by mike simpson / 17h 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Dorn Turns ALE Rules/Regs on their Head for Charter Schools

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Dorn Turns ALE Rules/Regs on their Head for Charter Schools: Dorn Turns ALE Rules/Regs on their Head for Charter SchoolsThere are many contradictions between what OSPI tells regular districts about Alternative Learning Experiences (ALEs) versus what is being said that will be done for charter schools and ALE programs.(I have repeatedly tried to get clarity on these

by mike simpson / 18h 

Is ESSA the ESEA Reauthorization Bill Arne Duncan Was Hoping For? - Politics K-12

Is ESSA the ESEA Reauthorization Bill Arne Duncan Was Hoping For? - Politics K-12 - Education Week: Is ESSA the ESEA Reauthorization Bill Arne Duncan Was Hoping For? So you've probably heard by now the bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act seeks to rein in future secretaries of education. And it would allow states to chart their own course when it comes to teacher evaluati

by mike simpson / 19h 

Dodgers claim pitcher Danny Reynolds off waivers from Angels - True Blue LA

Dodgers claim pitcher Danny Reynolds off waivers from Angels - True Blue LA: Dodgers claim pitcher Danny Reynolds off waivers from AngelsS ANGELES -- The Dodgers have been busy at the winter meetings, with three reported transactions in various stages of reported completion. But the first official move from Nashville announced on Monday was claiming right-handed pitcher Danny Reynolds off waivers

by mike simpson / 20h 

Putting the Arts Back in Language Arts – One Journal at a Time - Living in Dialogue

Putting the Arts Back in Language Arts – One Journal at a Time - Living in Dialogue: Putting the Arts Back in Language Arts – One Journal at a TimeThis is the fifth in a series of blog posts focused on the value of art in our lives, and the role art can play in resisting the test and punish model of education.  See the intro and links to other posts in the series here.By Steven Singer.Sometimes in

by mike simpson / 20h 

BustED Pencils Trending News: Closed & Sad; Deny; Hmmmm | BustED Pencils

BustED Pencils Trending News: Closed & Sad; Deny; Hmmmm | BustED Pencils: Closed & Sad; Deny; Hmmmm Boring to students and teachers.  Type of bullying.  Follow the rules, do what you are told, ignore the interactive part.  Keep BUSTING PENCILS Barry!!The Sad Art of Closed Readinghttp://www.barrylane.com/2015/12/closed-reading/RTI raises MANY concerns!“Response to Intervention”—An Excuse to

by mike simpson / 20h 

Resigned Alabama Teacher of the Year Now in the Running for Alabama Person of the Year! | deutsch29

Resigned Alabama Teacher of the Year Now in the Running for Alabama Person of the Year! | deutsch29: Resigned Alabama Teacher of the Year Now in the Running for Alabama Person of the Year! Ann Marie CorgillOn the evening of December 07, 2015, I had an email from Ann Marie Corgill, the 2014-15 Alabama Teacher of the Year whose October 2015 resignation made national news. (To read about Corgill’s or

by mike simpson / 20h 

Teachers and police officers may school Rahm. | Reclaim Reform

Teachers and police officers may school Rahm. | Reclaim Reform: Teachers and police officers may school Rahm.Rahm is too connected to jail.Or… is he?The Chief of Police was fired by Rahm for covering up a police murder. Covered up and paid millions in taxpayer money to the family of the murdered 17 year old black youth. Covered up for 13 months while Rahm gets himself re-elected. Then the head of

by mike simpson / 21h 

Putting the Arts Back in Language Arts – One Journal at a Time | gadflyonthewallblog

Putting the Arts Back in Language Arts – One Journal at a Time | gadflyonthewallblog: Putting the Arts Back in Language Arts – One Journal at a TimeThis is the fifth in a series of blog posts focused on the value of art in our lives, and the role art can play in resisting the test and punish model of education.  See the intro and links to other posts in the series here.Sometimes in public school y

by mike simpson / 21h 

K-3 students in Sacramento City schools to see smaller class sizes in fall 2016 | The Sacramento Bee

K-3 students in Sacramento City schools to see smaller class sizes in fall 2016 | The Sacramento Bee: K-3 students in Sacramento City schools to see smaller class sizes in fall 2016Katherine Hoffmore, 48, occupies her students in line at Greer Elementary as they get ready to go home for the day. Expected to cost about $7.5 million a year for salaries and benefits, the decision to lower class sizes

by mike simpson / 23h 

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 12/7/15

CORPORATE ED REFORM yong zhao » Are American Students Over-tested: Schleicher vs. SchleicherEducation in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » Are American Students Over-tested: Schleicher vs. Schleicher: Are American Students Over-tested: Schleicher vs. SchleicherJust as the U.S. is about to move away from over testing its students, PISA’s Andreas Schleicher says American students are not rea

by mike simpson / 23h 

New documents provide details of LAUSD probe that led to firing of famed educator Rafe Esquith - LA Times

New documents provide details of LAUSD probe that led to firing of famed educator Rafe Esquith - LA Times:

New documents provide details of LAUSD probe that led to firing of famed educator Rafe Esquith

Rafe Esquith, the most celebrated teacher in L.A., was removed from his classroom this spring. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

e Los Angeles Unified School District’s internal investigation into celebrated fifth-grade teacher Rafe Esquith found that he allegedly fondled children in the 1970s and that in recent years he inappropriately emailed former students describing them as hotties, “sexy” and referring to himself as their personal ATM, according to new documents.

The district fired Esquith in October, after removing him from his Hobart Boulevard Elementary School classroom in April, pending the investigation. District officials initially offered few details about the months-long probe, which began with a complaint from another educator after Esquith made a joke to his students about nudity. The investigation quickly grew to include other allegations of misconduct.

Records released this week by L.A. Unified to the Los Angeles Times under the California Public Records Act allege “immoral” and “egregious” misconduct by the educator who taught at the school for more than 30 years. The documents also charge that Esquith had acted dishonestly, was unfit for service and persistently violated or refused to obey district rules.

Esquith, who has denied wrongdoing, did not appeal his termination, district officials said.

Rafe Esquith's attorney Mark Geragos, shown in October, said Monday before the documents were released, “This is LAUSD’s latest effort to smear.” 

 (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

His lawyers have sued L.A. Unified, accusing them of retaliating against Esquith for filing a lawsuit and class action litigation that alleges age discrimination and violations of due process and whistleblower protections.

Esquith gained national acclaim for his teaching techniques, productions of Shakespeare and best-selling books that became models for engaging students, particularly minority and low-income children. His removal from the classroom outraged supporters across the country.

Attorney Mark Geragos, who represents Esquith, did not respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment. But in a letter Monday to L.A. Unified before it released the documents, Geragos wrote that he wanted to make sure that “all records are produced rather than just those cherry-picked by LAUSD to generate a fraudulent narrative.”

“This is LAUSD’s latest effort to smear,” Geragos wrote.

The district’s investigative team, which includes former L.A. Police Department detectives, launched an investigation after an educator complained in March that Esquith made an New documents provide details of LAUSD probe that led to firing of famed educator Rafe Esquith - LA Times:

The Absurdity of Next-Gen Assessments | Save Maine Schools

The Absurdity of Next-Gen Assessments | Save Maine Schools:

The Absurdity of Next-Gen Assessments

Li ke most teachers who have taught during the golden NCLB-era of American education, I have spent countless hours of my career analyzing graphs, tables and tiered diagrams of student data in order to make the “data-based” instructional decisions that are required of us.

Most of the time, our Pearson and/or McGraw-Hill analytics allow me to glean the following information about my students:  most are average, a few are below (typically the ones who are already getting extra help), and a few are above.

Thank you very much for confirming that bell-curves exist and can I please go back to teaching now.

Now, of course, with the all-but-inevitable ESEA reauthorization waiting in the wings and the “innovation” (read: corporate welfare) it promises, testing and tech companies are promising to deliver products that will give us real-timestudent data.

Thanks to the new, embedded, competency-based assessments developed by our favorite testing companies and brought to our states through The Absurdity of Next-Gen Assessments | Save Maine Schools:

New York Times Editorial Board on Annual Testing: “PREECCCIIOOOUUUUSSS!” | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.

New York Times Editorial Board on Annual Testing: “PREECCCIIOOOUUUUSSS!” | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.:

New York Times Editorial Board on Annual Testing: “PREECCCIIOOOUUUUSSS!”

The Editorial Board of The New York Times is a reliable source of pro-education reform articles, and yesterday they published their take on the potential new testing environment that will be ushered in if the “Every Student Succeeds Act” (ESSA) is passed and signed into law.  The Board was relieved that earlier drafts which “seemed poised to weaken…its protections for impoverished children” were changed in the final legislation and urged its passage by the Senate.  What “protections” for our most vulnerable children were at stake?

Annual standardized testing of all children.

The Board acknowledged flaws with how No Child Left Behind labeled and sanctioned schools, noting that testing well beyond federally required exams proliferated as states and school districts administered diagnostic and practice exams lest they fail to prepare students for the examination with potentially dire consequences.  They also correctly noted that the backlash against testing is justified – even if they only tangentially admit the central role of federal policy across two administrations in getting us to this point.  However, they also celebrated the preservation of annual standardized testing of all students in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school, and they approved of maintaining the requirement that schools must test 95% of all students and called it a discouragement to the opt-out movement.

The Editorial Board treads familiar, almost entirely mythological, ground with their defense of annual testing of all students:  Once upon a time, the federal government “kept doling out education money to the states no matter how New York Times Editorial Board on Annual Testing: “PREECCCIIOOOUUUUSSS!” | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.:

Ag Groups Call on USDA to Enforce “Buy American” Provision in Federal School Lunch Program | KTIC Radio

Ag Groups Call on USDA to Enforce “Buy American” Provision in Federal School Lunch Program | KTIC Radio:

AG GROUPS CALL ON USDA TO ENFORCE “BUY AMERICAN” PROVISION IN FEDERAL SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM

Fifty agricultural trade associations, farmer co-ops and agribusinesses yesterday urged Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to strengthen enforcement of the “Buy American” provision for participants in the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program. The call came after a recent investigative report in the Sacramento Bee found that the Sacramento City Unified School District had spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on imported Chinese canned fruit.

“Our organizations are deeply concerned that the Buy America Act requirements of the National School Lunch Act are not being adequately monitored and enforced,” the groups wrote to the Secretary. “Our concerns were amplified with the Sacramento City Unified School District’s recent acknowledgement that they have been purchasing canned peaches, pears and applesauce from China. Since there is currently no transparency regarding school purchases of imported products, we must assume there are other districts throughout the country purchasing imported food products.”

Secretary Vilsack and the Department should focus on ways in which the Buy American provision can be better enforced. Suggestions included more closely monitoring procurement specifications and contractor performance.

A copy of the letter that includes a list of signing organizations can be found athttp://ncfc.org/letter/enforcement-of-buy-american-provision/; the Sacramento Beearticle can be found on their web site at http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article45010839.html.

© 2015 Nebraska Rural Radio Association. All rights reserved. Republishing, rebroadcasting, rewriting, redistributing prohibited. Copyright Information

 Ag Groups Call on USDA to Enforce “Buy American” Provision in Federal School Lunch Program | KTIC Radio:

Our organizations are deeply concerned that the Buy America Act requirements of the National School Lunch Act are not being adequately monitored and enforced.

- Ag Group Letter to Ag Sec. Vilsack

Why Chicago Teacher Sarah Chambers Is Voting To Strike | I AM AN EDUCATOR

Why Chicago Teacher Sarah Chambers Is Voting To Strike | I AM AN EDUCATOR:

Why Chicago Teacher Sarah Chambers Is Voting To Strike

In 2012, the Chicago Teachers Union waged a successful strike that revived the lessons of social justice unionism and taught educators around the country that it was possible to beat back the corporate education reform agenda. This strike was the opening salvo for much of the recent uprising around the country against the privatization of education, for the resources our schools need, and against the abuses of high-stakes testing.

When I heard that the Chicago Teacher’s Union (CTU) members started a social media campaign to explain why they were voting once again to authorize a strike, I knew I had to find Sarah Chambers’ video.

Sarah is special education teacher for Chicago Public Schools, and serves as the elementary functional VP for CTU executive board. She is an author who published an essay about the testing boycott she helped to lead in the anthology I edited, More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing.  She has been a tireless advocate for social justice education and a relentless defender of her students from the embattled Chicago Mayor, Rahm “The School Yard Bully” Emanuel.

I asked Sarah to explain to me the context of the strike vote and she told me,

Chicago Public Schools are trying to cut teachers pay by 12%, raise class sizes, cut 5,000 teachers, raise health care costs, removal of steps and lanes and cut teacher pensions.  CTU is refusing to accept these proposals.  CTU is demanding small class sizes, freeze on 

Why Chicago Teacher Sarah Chambers Is Voting To Strike | I AM AN EDUCATOR: 

No Child Left Behind: An Obituary : NPR Ed : NPR

No Child Left Behind: An Obituary : NPR Ed : NPR:

No Child Left Behind: An Obituary

The U.S. Senate is expected to vote as soon as tomorrow on replacing the nation's big education law, known since 2001 as No Child Left Behind.

And President Obama is expected to sign the new version, ending an era marked by bitter fights between the federal government, states and schools.

So as it dies, we thought an obituary was in order.

Yup, an obituary. Because the law's critics and defenders all agree on one thing: that No Child Left Behind took on a life of its own.

Actually, they agree on one other thing, too: "If No Child Left Behind was a person, he or she should have died a long time ago." That's how the outgoing U.S. Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, puts it. "It's about time to finish it off and to bury it. And to do something much better."

NCLB was expected to expire of old age back in 2007, but Congress couldn't find a replacement. So the law hung on.

While most folks are now happy to see it go, NCLB wasn't always this reviled.

Here's a No Child Left Behind eulogy from Kathryn Matayoshi, the state schools superintendent in Hawaii: "Worked very, very hard. Was often misunderstood. Wanted to do the right thing, but in the end, really didn't get where he wanted to go."

Let's break that down. First, what NCLB got right.

Arne Duncan points out that, before the law required states to test students annually and report the results, "Our nation didn't talk about, you know, how black children were doing versus white children. How Latino children were doing. It didn't talk about achievement gaps. It hid behind averages."

NCLB came in and told schools: No more hiding. You now have to break down your student test scores — to give an honest picture of whether you're serving all kids. And, sure enough, many weren't.

Sonja Santelises is the former chief academic officer for the Baltimore schools and now works for The Education Trust, an advocacy group. She says NCLB reminds her of someone many of us will spend time with at the dinner table this holiday season: "You know, the aunt that says all of the hidden stuff that no one else wants to say at the table. And got in our face about it."

That may be uncomfortable, she says, but it was good. So, where did NCLB go bad?

"But that same aunt is just overly simplistic," Santelises explains, "and makes these broad generalizations."

Some of NCLB's mandates were unrealistic: that all kids should be proficient by the year 2014 and that all schools can be fixed using the same small box of tools. 

Rick Hess studies education at the American Enterprise Institute and says that, when No Child Left Behind: An Obituary : NPR Ed : NPR:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Claypool won't negotiate with CTU. With Rahm on the ropes, he has no juice.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Claypool won't negotiate with CTU. With Rahm on the ropes, he has no juice.:

Claypool won't negotiate with CTU. With Rahm on the ropes, he has no juice.

CPS broke on purpose. Claypool has no juice.

As Chicago teachers take their strike vote this week, CEO Forrest Claypool and Rahm's hand-picked school board, are refusing to negotiate a contract with the CTU. In a way, it's hard to blame 'em. Broke-on-purpose CPS has little with which to negotiate and Claypool has no political juice.

The board's bargaining position has been badly weakened by a mayor who has autocratic control over the schools, but who's own credibility rating is currently lower than snail shit. Not to mention, Claypool's predecessor is facing trial and prison time for fraud and a new federal Civil Rights investigation underway over violations by Rahm's police department.

Today, the union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, saying they’re ready to enlist the negotiating help of a fact-finding panel that’s part of a lengthy process laid out by state law. The union had Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Claypool won't negotiate with CTU. With Rahm on the ropes, he has no juice.:

The Public Release of Value-Added Scores Does Not (Yet) Impact Real Estate | VAMboozled!

The Public Release of Value-Added Scores Does Not (Yet) Impact Real Estate | VAMboozled!:

The Public Release of Value-Added Scores Does Not (Yet) Impact Real Estate

As per ScienceDaily, a resource “for the latest research news,” research just conducted by economists at Michigan State and Cornell evidences that “New school-evaluation method fails to affect housing prices.” See also a press release about this study on Michigan State’s website here, and see what I believe is a pre-publication version of the full study here.

As asserted in both pieces, the study recently published in the Journal of Urban Economics, is the first to examine how the public release of such data is considered in housing prices. Researchers, more specifically, examined whether and to what extent the (very controversial) public release of teachers’ VAM data by the Los Angeles Times impacted housing prices in Los Angeles. To read a prior post on this release, click here.

While for some time now we have known from similar research studies, conducted throughout the pre-VAM era, that students’ test scores are correlated with (or cause) rises in housing prices, these researchers evidenced that, thus far, the same does not (yet) seem to be true in the case of VAMs. That is, the public consumption of publicly available value-added data, at least in Los Angeles, does not (yet) seem to be correlated with or causing really anything in the housing market.

“The implication: Either people don’t value the popular new measures or they don’t fully understand them.” Perhaps another implication is that it is just (unfortunately) a matter of time. I write this in consideration of the fact that while researchers included data from more than 63,000 home sales as per the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office, they did so in only the eight-month period following the public release of the VAM data. True effects might be lagged; hence, readers might interpret these results as preliminary, for nowThe Public Release of Value-Added Scores Does Not (Yet) Impact Real Estate | VAMboozled!:

Schools Matter: ASD Crosses Halfway Mark to Certain Failure

Schools Matter: ASD Crosses Halfway Mark to Certain Failure:

ASD Crosses Halfway Mark to Certain Failure

"The effects in the ASD schools were mainly statistically insignificant . . ."

Vanderbilt Peabody has just released a research paper that examines the awful performance of ASD schools in Memphis, Nashville, and Chattanooga. Tennessee's Achievement School District was modeled after the Recovery School District of New Orleans, which was part of the disaster capitalist response to Katrina.

The ASD's stated goal from 2010 was "to move the academic performance of schools taken over from the bottom five percent of schools to the top quartile of schools in Tennessee within five years." 

The ASD started taking over "priority" schools in 2011, and given the results of the Vandy analysis, it is reasonable to ask if ASD could ever come close to meeting its ridiculous goal.    

Below are some of the data from the Report.  Note from the last chart below, the worst of the worst ASD schools are those run by the charter management organizations (CMOs).

The largest effects of these hostile takeovers are not measured in these meager test results, however.  The real significance is born in the accumulated weight of the disrupted lives of parents, children, and teachers, all of whom have suffered and continue to suffer for the benefit of corporate know-nothing paternalists, whose primary aim to build a business model based on the cultural sterilization of poor children. 

 

Schools Matter: ASD Crosses Halfway Mark to Certain Failure:

CURMUDGUCATION: Duncan Remains Relentlessly Wrong

CURMUDGUCATION: Duncan Remains Relentlessly Wrong:

Duncan Remains Relentlessly Wrong

This afternoon, Arne Duncan is at the Learning Forward conference to fall on his sword deliver some comments that include his spirited endorsement of the Every Student Succeeds Act. A portion of his remarks have been released, and they reveal Duncan in fine form as he cheerily supports the bill devoted to repudiating his work, sort of.

The excerpt picks up where Duncan answers the question, "What does this new law mean for your classrooms, schools, and districts?"

He starts by saying there's a lot to be figured out, and that's about the last thing he gets right.

The new law will mean that "you can continue challenging your kids to live up to new, higher standards that you have been working so hard to implement." Which is true. Under ESSA, states are still free to embrace the Common Core, either in original form or under one of its many aliases.

"You will still measure students’ progress every year, typically with new and much better tests that offer actionable information about students’ learning."Oh, Arne. We've been hearing the promise of new tests that aren't the same old standardized bubble test crap for over a decade. They haven't come. They aren't coming. They are never going to come. No large scale standardized test will ever measure critical thinking any more than you can measure hurt with a bathroom scale. He repeats the idea that the feds are really pushing for fewer redundant tests. He is full of it.

"The action from Congress will increase investments in preschool, so that it’s more likely that the CURMUDGUCATION: Duncan Remains Relentlessly Wrong:

Save Our Schools March – It’s Time to March Again ~ Summer 2016

Save Our Schools March – It’s Time to March Again ~ Summer 2016:

2016 Summer March & Rally
Solidarity, Resilience, and Resistance

Many thousands of us gathered on July of 2011 for the Save Our Schools March and Call to Action. We assembled to state our grievances about the state of public education and to share our visions for the future. In that moment, we were the canaries in the coalmine – sickened by an unresponsive political process and its dehumanizing policies. We became the impetus for change, and we took to the streets in solidarity to make it clear:

We who believe in freedom cannot rest,
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes. ~ Ella Baker

In 2011 we nurtured, supported, and committed to each other and to our children. We have not rested since. We have organized demonstrations, sit-ins, and strikes. We have resisted, written, called, tweeted, blogged, posted and re-posted, sang, spoken, and opted out of high-stakes testing all in our collective struggle for humane public schools and policies.

Coalitions are building and the movement is growing. We are parents and teachers, students and seniors, scholars and community organizers, urban and rural, immigrants and native-born, gay and straight, black, brown, and white realizing that more than ever, we have a common narrative based on democracy, the human right to education and economic and social justice that goes beyond our organizational silos, as important as those silos may be…

It is time to celebrate five years of common struggle and the growth that we have wrought. It is time to march again!!!

Save Our Schools is working with numerous organizations to build a broad coalition of like-minded people – from all walks of life and with diverse causes – to speak and march in solidarity this July in Washington D.C. (date to be determined). We envision actions and festivities for children and adults, which foster awareness and to celebrate democracy by living it. It is an election year, and there can be no better time to show our government and our fellow citizens, “This is what democracy looks like!”

Details are developing each day on this massive event, so join us, support us, and sign up for email updates!

In solidarity,

The Save Our Schools 2016 Summer Coalition

Save Our Schools March – It’s Time to March Again ~ Summer 2016:

Democratic Budget Deal – An irresponsible farce - Wait What?

Democratic Budget Deal – An irresponsible farce - Wait What?:

Democratic Budget Deal – An irresponsible farce

The Connecticut General Assembly will return to the state capital today to vote on a “Democratic Budget Deal” that they claim will eliminate this year’s budget deficit by authorizing Governor Dannel Malloy to cut an additional $93 million in unspecified programs and raiding money from a variety of dedicated special funds.

A CT Mirror article written by Keith Phaneuf and entitled, CT deficit plan taps many special funds and one-time sources, pretty much sums of the Democrat’s budget balancing strategy.

One of the most disturbing provisions of the new “Democratic Budget Deal” is that for the third time in three years the Democrats are going to steal the money that has been set-aside to install seatbelts in school buses and use the funds to help balance the state budget.

On December 20, 2012, the Wait, What? headline read; Remember when school bus seatbelts were a big priority?

Following the tragic school bus accident on Route 84 in Hartford in January 2010, a crash that killed a Rocky Hill student who was attending one of the CREC magnet schools, the legislature kicked into action.

On May 1st of that year the General Assembly passed what was to become Public Act 10-83.

The law created the Connecticut School Bus Seat Belt account, “a separate 

Democratic Budget Deal – An irresponsible farce - Wait What?: