Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 12/18/15

CORPORATE ED REFORM

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Common Core Updates

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Common Core Updates:Common Core Updates(Editor's note: I seem to recall that some were saying that "Common Core was here to stay." Read on.)This reads like it's from The Onion but nope, it's from the NY Times regarding a taskforce that Governor Cuomo of New York created around Common Core:A task force Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo created is calling for changes in

by mike simpson / 29min 

English Language Arts Guidance - English Language Arts (CA Dept of Education)

English Language Arts Guidance - English Language Arts (CA Dept of Education): English Language Arts GuidanceResources for implementing and improving English Language Arts instruction, including content standards, frameworks, curriculum guides, and digital materials.Resources covering the following topics are listed in the tabbed sections below. The sponsors and supporters of high-quality resource

by mike simpson / 31min 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Dorn's Statement on Inslee's Supplemental Budget

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Dorn's Statement on Inslee's Supplemental Budget: Dorn's Statement on Inslee's Supplemental BudgetTwo words - not impressed.This is not to say that the Superintendent dissed the Governor.  No, he liked:Inslee does fund some increases to Jobs for Washington’s Graduates,CorePlus, Career and Technical Education, Healthiest Next Generation initiative, language access f

by mike simpson / 2h 

Only in America: Four years into life, poor kids are already an entire year behind - The Washington Post

Only in America: Four years into life, poor kids are already an entire year behind - The Washington Post:Only in America: Four years into life, poor kids are already an entire year behindWealthy parents aren't just able to send their kids to top pre-schools—they can also purchase the latest learning technology and ensure their children experience as many museums, concerts and other cultural experi

by mike simpson / 4h 

Shelby County Schools calls for halt to ASD takeovers

Shelby County Schools calls for halt to ASD takeovers: Shelby County Schools calls for halt to ASD takeoversShelby County Schools Superintendent Dorsey Hopson (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal)Shelby County Schools is formally pushing back against the state-run Achievement School District, which announced last week it will take over four more schools in Memphis.The school board on Tuesday night un

by mike simpson / 4h 

Another Take on New Mexico’s Ruling on the State’s Teacher Evaluation/VAM System | VAMboozled!

Another Take on New Mexico’s Ruling on the State’s Teacher Evaluation/VAM System | VAMboozled!: Another Take on New Mexico’s Ruling on the State’s Teacher Evaluation/VAM SystemJohn Thompson, a historian and teacher, wrote a post just published in Diane Ravitch’s blog (here) in which he took a closer look at the New Mexico court decision of which I was a part and which I covered a few weeks ago (he

by mike simpson / 4h 

Teaching Rebellion: Schools Must Cultivate A Struggle for Justice | The Progressive

Teaching Rebellion: Schools Must Cultivate A Struggle for Justice | The Progressive: Teaching Rebellion: Schools Must Cultivate A Struggle for Justice “Our ultimate objective in learning about anything is to try to create and develop a more just society”-Yuri KochiyamaThese words from human rights activist Yuri Kochiyama are never far from my mind each morning as I think about my students. I plan

by mike simpson / 4h 

Pondering Chartering: On Market Forces & Innovation? | School Finance 101

Pondering Chartering: On Market Forces & Innovation? | School Finance 101:Pondering Chartering: On Market Forces & Innovation?One of the original premises of chartering as a competitive market tool was that introducing independently governed competitors and relaxing regulations on those competitors would induce innovation, which could then be shared for the good of the whole. This premise

by mike simpson / 4h 

Can Community Schools Dampen the School Takeover Fever? - NEA Today

Can Community Schools Dampen the School Takeover Fever? - NEA Today: Can Community Schools Dampen the School Takeover Fever?The Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University and the Southern Education Foundation (SEF) released a new report on Dec. 17 that makes a strong case for collaborative, grassroots efforts to help turn around struggling schools.“Investing in What Works: Community

by mike simpson / 4h 

CURMUDGUCATION: The Federal Family Fixing Plan

CURMUDGUCATION: The Federal Family Fixing Plan: The Federal Family Fixing PlanIt's the kind of document that only a federal bureaucracy could create, and you still have a little over two weeks to comment on it.  Meet the DRAFT POLICY STATEMENT ON FAMILY ENGAGEMENT FROM THE EARLY YEARS TO THE EARLY GRADES. It's a policy so bureaucraticky that it took two departments-- Education plus Health and Huma

by mike simpson / 4h 

How ALEC Stole the Public from Public Education: A Cautionary but Inspring Tale | Save Maine Schools

How ALEC Stole the Public from Public Education: A Cautionary but Inspring Tale | Save Maine Schools: How ALEC Stole the Public from Public Education: A Cautionary but Inspring TaleAndy Goldstein, a parent and teacher in Florida, wrote this story below and recited it before the School Board of Palm Beach County. The story is a cautionary tale about ALEC’s involvement in our public schools.For thos

by mike simpson / 8h 

Kindergarten Has Become the New First Grade - The Atlantic

Kindergarten Has Become the New First Grade - The Atlantic: The New Preschool Is Crushing KidsToday’s young children are working more, but they’re learning less.tep into an American preschool classroom today and you are likely to be bombarded with what we educators call a print-rich environment, every surface festooned with alphabet charts, bar graphs, word walls, instructional posters, classroom

by mike simpson / 8h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: DuSable librarian position restored. Thanks to 'anonymous donor' or student protests?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: DuSable librarian position restored. Thanks to 'anonymous donor' or student protests?: DuSable librarian position restored. Thanks to 'anonymous donor' or student protests?“Thanks to a generous anonymous gift, the librarian’s job can be restored at the DuSable campus,” CPS said in a statement.  -- Sun-Times“That was just amazing … the kids … I’ve been here a long tim

by mike simpson / 8h 

When a school assigned homework on Islam, it drew so many threats the district shut down - Vox

When a school assigned homework on Islam, it drew so many threats the district shut down - Vox: When a school assigned homework on Islam, it drew so many threats the district shut downA high school world geography teacher in Augusta County, Virginia, gave her students what seemed like a standard assignment: a worksheet on Islam as part of a curriculum on world religions.The backlash was so fierce

by mike simpson / 9h 

Clinton Views on Charter Schools, Teacher Evaluations Upset Some Democrats - WSJ

Clinton Views on Charter Schools, Teacher Evaluations Upset Some Democrats - WSJ: Clinton Views on Charter Schools, Teacher Evaluations Upset Some DemocratsSome donors are balking, worried that her recent comments toe the line of teacher unionsWASHINGTON—Democrats backing the effort to overhaul American education have become increasingly concerned that presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton isn

by mike simpson / 9h 

This Is Why Chicago Teachers Are Fed Up With The Mayor | ThinkProgress

This Is Why Chicago Teachers Are Fed Up With The Mayor | ThinkProgress: This Is Why Chicago Teachers Are Fed Up With The MayorAn overwhelming majority of the Chicago Teachers Union, 88 percent, voted on Monday to allow union leaders to call for a strike.It will be several months before the union decides whether to actually begin a strike. First, they’re going on a “fact-finding mission” in one las

by mike simpson / 9h 

BustED Pencils Trending News: Nope; Busting; Standing Parents | BustED Pencils

BustED Pencils Trending News: Nope; Busting; Standing Parents | BustED Pencils: BustED Pencils Trending News: Nope; Busting; Standing ParentsNo meaningful link!  First part of this article rocks.  The second part doesn’t really relate to the standardized tests.  It more relates to the “teacher made” tests.  Take a look and decide for yourself.Four Tips to Make it Easier on Everyonehttp://southhill

by mike simpson / 9h 

Common Core: A Serious Problem for Governors in 2016 | Truth in American Education

Common Core: A Serious Problem for Governors in 2016 | Truth in American Education: Common Core: A Serious Problem for Governors in 2016Common Core has been a thorn in Jeb Bush’s presidential campapignPhoto credit: Gage Skidmore (CC-By-SA 2.0)It has taken a while for the mainstream media to focus on the effect Common Core has had on Republican presidential campaigns. But Fred Barnes of The Weekly

by mike simpson / 9h 

YESTERDAY

The Zuckerberg Donation and a Legacy of Control | Dissident Voice

The Zuckerberg Donation and a Legacy of Control | Dissident Voice: The Zuckerberg Donation and a Legacy of ControlWhen I was very young, my parents used to tell me why having “lots of toys” wasn’t a good idea. “The more you have, the more you want,” they would say. I didn’t have many toys — we were poor — so the idea of possessions feeding greed didn’t make much sense to me then.But I’ve learned t

by mike simpson / 18h 

Flea Flicker: Rocketship appeals to state board to build school in Concord - ContraCostaTimes

Rocketship appeals to state board to build school in Concord - ContraCostaTimes.com:Rocketship appeals to state board to build school in ConcordThe Charter School Approval Flea FlickerCONCORD -- After being rejected by district and county education boards in its bid to establish a new elementary school in the Monument Corridor, nationwide charter school operator Rocketship Education is appealing t

by mike simpson / 20h 

For-profit charter schools are failing and fading. Here’s why.

For-profit charter schools are failing and fading. Here’s why.: These Charter Schools Tried to Turn Public Education Into Big Business. They Failed.It takes time, and nearly infinite patience, to build academically strong networks of schools from scratch. Investors aren’t used to waiting, though.More and more these days, Americans think about schools using the language of business. Superintendents

by mike simpson / 23h hide  //  save

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 12/17/15

CORPORATE ED REFORMSeattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools International Schools NewsletterSeattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools International Schools Newsletter: Seattle Schools International Schools NewsletterI didn't know this newsletter, Global Talk, existed and I am glad to provide the link.  They provide information on travel opportunities for both students and teachers.H

by mike simpson / 23h 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Common Core Updates

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Common Core Updates:
Common Core Updates

(Editor's note: I seem to recall that some were saying that "Common Core was here to stay." Read on.)

This reads like it's from The Onion but nope, it's from the NY Times regarding a taskforce that Governor Cuomo of New York created around Common Core:

A task force Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo created is calling for changes in what New York State students learn and how they are assessed, in a set of recommendations released on Thursday.

The task force, which Mr. Cuomo convened in response to the concerns of parents and teachers, is also calling for the state not to use its test scores to evaluate teachers through the 2018-19 school year, to allow time to develop the new standards and tests.

Why does this appear to be happening?

It comes in the wake of a rebellion by parents against testing;one-fifth of students did not sit for the state exams this year, a fourfold increase from the previous year.

Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, appeared to be heeding this anger when he created the task force in September and charged it with making recommendations “to overhaul the Common Core system — to do a total reboot.”

It is unclear how different the new standards will be from the Common Core. The task force’s report calls for enlisting educators and parents to help create them, and it recommends modifying the standards for kindergarten, first grade and second grade so that they are more age-appropriate. 

 Another hugely interesting article comes from Catholic Education Daily where there was concern over how Catholic school students (who don't generally use Seattle Schools Community Forum: Common Core Updates:

English Language Arts Guidance - English Language Arts (CA Dept of Education)

English Language Arts Guidance - English Language Arts (CA Dept of Education):

English Language Arts Guidance

Resources for implementing and improving English Language Arts instruction, including content standards, frameworks, curriculum guides, and digital materials.

Resources covering the following topics are listed in the tabbed sections below. The sponsors and supporters of high-quality resources from outside the California Department of Education are provided at the end of the citations.

• California State Standards
  California Department of Education (CDE) Web pages that focus on ELA and Literacy (ELA/Literacy) content standards and related standards.
• CDE Resources and Policies
  CDE Web pages feature resources on the 2014 English Language Arts/English Language Development Framework (ELA/ELD Framework), curriculum guides, instructional materials for implementing standards for all students, and policy information.
• Instructional Guidance and Resources
  Web-based resources created by notable, national contributors for teachers and families striving to improve students’ ELA/Literacy learning are presented.
• Digital Literacy 
  Curated Web sites with instructional materials and guidance from teachers and other experts on incorporating and improving literacy with digital resources are highlighted.
• Social Networking 
  Approaches and resources for professional learning, lesson sharing, instructional strategies, assessment approaches, and communications with families are featured.

• State Standards
 
• CDE Resources and Policies
 
• Instructional Resources
 
• Digital Literacy
 
• Social Networking

State Standards

California Department of Education (CDE) Web pages that focus on ELA and Literacy (ELA/Literacy) content standards and related standards.

California Common Core State Standards: English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (PDF), Adopted August 2010
The California Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (CA Standards for ELA/Literacy) are the culmination of an extended, broad-based effort to create the next generation of standards from kindergarten through grade 12 to help ensure all students are literate at college and career ready levels no later than the end of high school. They are based on the national Common Core State Standards (CCSS) 

California English Language Development Standards
The California English Language Development Standards (CA ELD Standards) help guide curriculum, instruction, and assessment to ensure English learners develop the English language skills needed to engage successfully with the CA Standards for ELA/Literacy.

Quality Professional Learning Standards
The Quality Professional Learning Standards identify characteristics of professional learning that are most likely to support educators in building individual and collective capacity to meet professional, school, and student performance expectations.

Model School Library Standards for California Public Schools
The School Library Standards support students’ learning to access, evaluate, use, and inte­grate information and ideas found in print, media, and digital resources, enabling students to function in a knowledge-based economy and technologically-oriented society.

Spanish Translation of the California Common Core State Standards: English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects 
Translated document describing what students need to know and be able to do in CCSS for ELA/Literacy, as well as providing support for a shared educational goal, literacy in Spanish. 

Questions:   Phyllis Hallam | PHallam@cde.ca.gov | 916-323-4630

Last Reviewed: Friday, December 18, 2015

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Dorn's Statement on Inslee's Supplemental Budget

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Dorn's Statement on Inslee's Supplemental Budget:

Dorn's Statement on Inslee's Supplemental Budget

Two words - not impressed.

This is not to say that the Superintendent dissed the Governor.  No, he liked:

Inslee does fund some increases to Jobs for Washington’s Graduates,CorePlus, Career and Technical Education, Healthiest Next Generation initiative, language access for families and discipline equity. And he did raise beginning teacher salaries and increase funding for  mentoring to help decrease our state’s teacher shortage.

But (bold mine),

Although salaries are an element of basic education and should be paid for by the state, the state now pays only a portion of what school employees actually earn. In his budget, Inslee actually digs school districts into a deeper hole because a salary increase applies to a teacher’s total salary, not just the amount covered by the state. That places an additional burden on districts to come up with the difference.

And, of course it all circles back to...

But while all of those things are good, Inslee continues to avoid the real issue of McCleary. 

I’m tired of sounding like a broken record. I’m tired of the so-Seattle Schools Community Forum: Dorn's Statement on Inslee's Supplemental Budget:

Only in America: Four years into life, poor kids are already an entire year behind - The Washington Post

Only in America: Four years into life, poor kids are already an entire year behind - The Washington Post:
Only in America: Four years into life, poor kids are already an entire year behind

Wealthy parents aren't just able to send their kids to top pre-schools—they can also purchase the latest learning technology and ensure their children experience as many museums, concerts and other cultural experiences as possible. Low-income parents, on the other hand, don't have that opportunity. Instead, they're often left to face the reality of sending their kids to schools without having had the chance to provide an edifying experience at home.

That might sound foreboding if not hyperbolic, but it's a serious and widespread problem in the United States, where poor kids enter school already a year behind the kids of wealthier parents. That deficit is among the largest in the developed world, and it can be extraordinarily difficult to narrow later in life.

This is one of the key takeaways from a new book about how United States is failing its children. The book, called Too Many Children Left Behind, is written by Columbia University professor Jane Waldfogel, a long-time researcher of poverty and inequality. And it will force almost anyone to reflect on the impact of unchecked inequality on children.

Waldfogel says the massive achievement gap in the United States is a blemish for a country that aspires to be the greatest in the world. In her book, she shows that achievement gap is pronounced to a startling degree in the first years of life.

I spoke with Waldfogel to learn more about how the early years of a child's life can impact the rest of it, what role school plays in perpetuating inequality, and why the United States isn't doing a great job of creating an equal playing field for its children. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Let's start with a provocative question you ask early on in your book: Is the American Dream a reality for everyone, or only for some? Do you have an answer now?

The American Dream is based on the belief in equal opportunity, the idea that everyone starts from the same starting point regardless of where they’re born or their family background. If there are systematic differences in children’s capabilities, starting even early on in childhood, then that’s going to impede achieving the American Dream. So it just seemed important to us to look at that.

There’s so much work showing greater inequality in the United States among adults, among adolescents, even among school age children, but it’s not clear where that inequality comes from. If you had asked us at the start of the project, we would have said that children probably arrive at school somewhat unequally prepared because of the difference in their experiences in early childhood, but that the achievement gaps were also largely due to schooling. We would have guessed that about half the inequality that you see in young adults or adults more generally would be there at school entry, but that at least half of it would develop as children move through school—because of all the things we know about schools and unequal experiences at schools.

The big surprise for us was to find that more than half of the inequality was already there at school entry. The schools are not as much to blame as we had expected. And that’s not true elsewhere. The United States really stands out, Only in America: Four years into life, poor kids are already an entire year behind - The Washington Post:

Shelby County Schools calls for halt to ASD takeovers

Shelby County Schools calls for halt to ASD takeovers:

Shelby County Schools calls for halt to ASD takeovers

Shelby County Schools Superintendent Dorsey Hopson (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal)

Shelby County Schools is formally pushing back against the state-run Achievement School District, which announced last week it will take over four more schools in Memphis.

The school board on Tuesday night unanimously passed a resolution approving a "short-term strategic plan" that includes a moratorium on ASD officials taking over any more schools "until they show consistent progress in improving student academic achievement."

Board members brought the resolution to the meeting as a last-minute addition, but Superintendent Dorsey Hopson said he supports the idea.

"When I increasingly hear from communities that the process isn't fair or that the kids aren't being served, or they don't want to be a part of the ASD, it brings me great pause," Hopson said.

Backed by a Vanderbilt University study released last week, Hopson said the evidence is "overwhelming" that the SCS Innovation Zone, which keeps schools in the local district with extra funding, is a more effective turnaround model than the ASD.

The ASD has authority, per state law, to take over schools in the bottom 5 percent in the state and either run them directly or outsource their operation to Shelby County Schools calls for halt to ASD takeovers:

Another Take on New Mexico’s Ruling on the State’s Teacher Evaluation/VAM System | VAMboozled!

Another Take on New Mexico’s Ruling on the State’s Teacher Evaluation/VAM System | VAMboozled!:

Another Take on New Mexico’s Ruling on the State’s Teacher Evaluation/VAM System

John Thompson, a historian and teacher, wrote a post just published in Diane Ravitch’s blog (here) in which he took a closer look at the New Mexico court decision of which I was a part and which I covered a few weeks ago (here). This is the case in which state District Judge David K. Thomson, who presided over the five-day teacher-evaluation lawsuit in New Mexico, granted a preliminary injunction preventing consequences from being attached to the state’s teacher evaluation data.

Historian/Teacher John Thompson adds another, and also independent take on this ruling, again here, also having read through Judge Thomson’s entire ruling. Here’s what he wrote:

New Mexico District Judge David K. Thomson granted a preliminary injunction preventing consequences from being attached to the state’s teacher evaluation data. As Audrey Amrein-Beardsley explains, “can proceed with ‘developing’ and ‘improving’ its teacher evaluation system, but the state is not to make any consequential decisions about New Mexico’s teachers using the data the state collects until the state (and/or others external to the state) can evidence to the court during another trial (set for now, for April) that the system is reliable, valid, fair, uniform, and the like.”

This is wonderful news. As the American Federation of Teachers observes, “Superintendents, principals, parents, students and the teachers have spoken out against nother Take on New Mexico’s Ruling on the State’s Teacher Evaluation/VAM System | VAMboozled!:

Teaching Rebellion: Schools Must Cultivate A Struggle for Justice | The Progressive

Teaching Rebellion: Schools Must Cultivate A Struggle for Justice | The Progressive:

Teaching Rebellion: Schools Must Cultivate A Struggle for Justice

“Our ultimate objective in learning about anything is to try to create and develop a more just society”-Yuri Kochiyama

These words from human rights activist Yuri Kochiyama are never far from my mind each morning as I think about my students. I plan our lessons as just one tiny sliver of a great, historic justice movement.

So much of the debate in education is about how poverty and other outside forces impact kids in school, but in many classrooms students are learning to use their education to fight poverty and systemic oppression. With a nod to Dr. King, if we are to win, we must focus all of our energy on tilting the moral arc of the universe toward justice and to counter those who are actively pushing in the opposite direction.  

For many across the country right now, this idea is contained in the image of Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old executed in a short minute by 16 shots from a Chicago police officer’s gun. Laquan didn’t need more academic rigor, he needed a city that valued his life.

But if the Laquan McDonald shooting is a wake up call to the nation, it reflects something we in Chicago have known all along. We live in city ruled by people who do not value the lives of black youth. Chicago Police rank third nationally in shooting and killing residents, and disproportionately shoot African Americans. Chicago police harass residents, especially youth of color, with a stop-and-frisk rate nearly sixty times that of New York police.

In Chicago, groups like Black Youth Project 100, STOP/FLY, VOYCE, and Project NIA have been fighting this battle for years. These young folks are very clear about the systemic nature of this deadly oppression. The Chicago Teachers Union and its social justice unionist caucus CORE (of which I am a member) have joined the students to take vocal stands against racist oppression both in the streets and within our schools.

We all agree that mayor Rahm Emanuel and the powerful people who worked to get him elected don’t care, or know how to care, about kids afflicted by poverty in our communities. We see this in the Laquan McDonald video and those of the killings of Ronald Johnson and Philip Coleman and others. The mayor and his cronies drop crocodile tears, apologies, and promises to change, even as they fight the release of news about the murder of another

- See more at: http://www.progressive.org/news/2015/12/188468/teaching-rebellion-schools-must-cultivate-struggle-justice#sthash.vLjpO4ef.dpuf