Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 2/8/16

CORPORATE ED REFORM

Oregon Save Our Schools: Opting Out: My Story in Taking the Plunge!

Oregon Save Our Schools: Opting Out: My Story in Taking the Plunge!: Opting Out: My Story in Taking the Plunge!As someone who has fought the battle against corporate education reform for the past four years, one would think I would have been the first parent in line to opt my children out of high-stakes testing.  Surprisingly, it took me a while to realize how important it was to have my children

by mike simpson / 5:32 PM UTC-8 

Baltimore County Public Schools Used in 270 Million Dollar Tech Experiment – Save Maine Schools

Baltimore County Public Schools Used in 270 Million Dollar Tech Experiment – Save Maine Schools: Baltimore County Public Schools Used in 270 Million Dollar Tech ExperimentAs teachers in Detroit ask why their district spent 6 million dollars on a consulting contract when classrooms are overflowing and schools are in disrepair, citizens in Baltimore County are raising similar concerns over a 270 mil

by mike simpson / 15min 

Why the SAT and ACT May Replace PARCC and Smarter Balanced | EdSurge News

Why the SAT and ACT May Replace PARCC and Smarter Balanced | EdSurge News: Why the SAT and ACT May Replace PARCC and Smarter BalancedAlice BartonThis March, the SAT will be getting its most significant makeover in 10 years. Testmakers hope the new focus on data analysis, reading comprehension and algebra—and thankfully, less emphasis on obscure vocabulary—can better predict students’ readiness for

by mike simpson / 6h 

“COMMON” Goal: Corporate Ownership of Public Education and Our Children’s Futures | educationalchemy

“COMMON” Goal: Corporate Ownership of Public Education and Our Children’s Futures | educationalchemy:“COMMON” Goal: Corporate Ownership of Public Education and Our Children’s FuturesCommon Goal. Part I.Lamar Alexander and Patti Murray didn’t (really) write the new Every Child Succeeds Act (ESSA). The Business Roundtable (BRT) did. Let me break this down for you:By now, those of us who are fighting

by mike simpson / 6h 

State Supe: Poverty Drives Chronic Absenteeism, 'Proactive' Solutions Needed | Jackson Free Press | Jackson, MS

State Supe: Poverty Drives Chronic Absenteeism, 'Proactive' Solutions Needed | Jackson Free Press | Jackson, MS: State Supe: Poverty Drives Chronic Absenteeism, 'Proactive' Solutions NeededPoverty is a primary driver of chronic school absenteeism, the state superintendent of education said yesterday, while calling for "proactive" ways to reverse the problem, which leads to lower test sco

by mike simpson / 7h 

The NFL would never let this air during the Super Bowl, but it's important to watch.

The NFL would never let this air during the Super Bowl, but it's important to watch.:The NFL would never let this air during the Super Bowl, but it's important to watch.The NFL's rules for the Super Bowl ads state that no activism ads are allowed. The NFL is also notorious for protecting its brand. While this commercial wasn't submitted to the Super Bowl for consideration, you can see clearly why

by mike simpson / 7h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES: WEEKEND QUOTABLES"Special place in hell…" -- AlbrightMadeleine Albright assails young women Democrat Sanders supporters“There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other!” Mrs. Clinton laughed, slowly clapped her hands and took a large sip of her beverage. -- N.Y. TimesGloria Steinem says they're boy crazy“When you’re yo

by mike simpson / 8h 

'Comfort women' and a lesson in how history is shaped in California textbooks - LA Times

'Comfort women' and a lesson in how history is shaped in California textbooks - LA Times: 'Comfort women' and a lesson in how history is shaped in California textbooksFlowers lie at the Glendale memorial to "comfort women." (Roger Wilson / Glendale News Press)ter nearly a decade of delays, California educators released a draft guideline that will shape how history is taught to students a

by mike simpson / 9h 

Education Support Professionals Organize For Workplace Justice - NEA Today

Education Support Professionals Organize For Workplace Justice - NEA Today: Education Support Professionals Organize For Workplace JusticeIn September 2014, a group of custodians with the Southside Education Association (SEA) in San Antonio, Texas, upended the order of their school district. After issuing a grievance and letter of no confidence to officials with the Southside Independent School Di

by mike simpson / 9h 

Looking Anew at How Teachers Teach | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Looking Anew at How Teachers Teach | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Looking Anew at How Teachers TeachToday, reformers from both ends of the political spectrum push Common Core Standards into classrooms. They champion charters and more parental choice of schools. They want teachers to be evaluated  on the basis of student test scores. Policymakers, philanthropists, and vendor

by mike simpson / 9h 

Hoping, and Waiting, for a Bronx School’s Fresh Start to Pay Off - The New York Times

Hoping, and Waiting, for a Bronx School’s Fresh Start to Pay Off - The New York Times: Hoping, and Waiting, for a Bronx School’s Fresh Start to Pay OffDebra Jones, principal of the Urban Scholars Community School, in a kindergarten classroom last month. “My whole thing is, give it time,” Ms. Jones said of her school’s progress. CreditÁngel Franco/The New York TimesNew York City has already closed

by mike simpson / 9h 

Differences In Suspension May Cause 20 Percent Of Achievement Gap

Differences In Suspension May Cause 20 Percent Of Achievement Gap: Differences In Suspension May Cause 20 Percent Of Achievement GapThe achievement gap between black students and their peers is well documented, but conclusive explanations of the reasons for the gap are harder to come by.Now a study of more than 15,000 students in Kentucky says that as much as 20 percent of the difference may be du

by mike simpson / 9h 

School Teachers and Union Unfairly Blamed for Financial Mess in Chicago Public Schools | janresseger

School Teachers and Union Unfairly Blamed for Financial Mess in Chicago Public Schools | janresseger: School Teachers and Union Unfairly Blamed for Financial Mess in Chicago Public SchoolsHere are just some of the details of the financial morass in the Chicago Public Schools.Back in 2003, David Vitale, a banker and then-CEO Arne Duncan’s recently appointed Chief Financial Officer, convinced the ma

by mike simpson / 9h 

Investigation of USDOE CIO Danny Harris: Video and Transcribed Excerpts | deutsch29

Investigation of USDOE CIO Danny Harris: Video and Transcribed Excerpts | deutsch29: Investigation of USDOE CIO Danny Harris: Video and Transcribed ExcerptsBelow are excerpts from the February 02, 2016, Congressional Oversight and Reform Committee’s hearing of the allegations of impropriety related to US Department of Education (USDOE) Chief Information Officer (CIO) Danny Harris.  Danny HarrisI b

by mike simpson / 9h 

Room to improve school services for LGBT students :: SI&A Cabinet Report

Room to improve school services for LGBT students :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet: Room to improve school services for LGBT students(Calif.) Even with all of the progress made in recent years to improve educational services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, their well-being is still at risk in many schools with only a hand

by mike simpson / 9h 

Chinese New Year 2016: The Year of the Monkey - everything you need to know - Telegraph

Chinese New Year 2016: The Year of the Monkey - everything you need to know - Telegraph: Happy Chinese New Year 2016! Everything you need to know about the Year of the MonkeyThe Chinese New Year party in London will be the biggest outside of Asia. Here's your guide to the celebrations This year, Chinese New Year - The Year of the Monkey - begins on February 8th and lasts until Jan 27th, 2017.Happy

by mike simpson / 9h 

Gene V Glass: Education in Two Worlds: Would Horace MannTweet?

Gene V Glass: Education in Two Worlds: Would Horace MannTweet?: Would Horace MannTweet?On February 4, 2016, I was honored to have the opportunity to address the Ohio Deans Compact in Dublin, Ohio. The title of my talk was suggested by Aimee Howley and Deb Teller, the organizers of the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Compact: Advancing Democratic EducationI can not be certain that the talk went in exactl

by mike simpson / 10h 

Low pay forces South Dakota teachers to hold 2nd, 3rd jobs - Yahoo News

Low pay forces South Dakota teachers to hold 2nd, 3rd jobs - Yahoo News:Low pay forces South Dakota teachers to hold 2nd, 3rd jobs SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Jessica Ries settles in behind the counter of Tip Top Tux and phones a couple to remind them of an upcoming fitting before their wedding. In the back room, beyond the dapper mannequins and vest swatches of pink, yellow and blue, a tote filled w

by mike simpson / 10h 

The Dangers of Obedience: Heroes Have Discipline Problems | Foundation for Economic Education

Heroes Have Discipline Problems | Foundation for Economic Education: The Dangers of Obedience: Heroes Have Discipline ProblemsA girl in your class can't breathe. She clearly needs help. The teacher tells you to stay seated. What do you do?I would have stayed seated. At least, that's what I would have done when I was 15, the age of Texas middle schooler Anthony Ruelas.You hear the girl wheezing and

by mike simpson / 10h 

The U.S. Labor Movement’s “Pearl Harbor Moment”. The Supreme Court’s Hearing of Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association

The U.S. Labor Movement’s “Pearl Harbor Moment”. The Supreme Court’s Hearing of Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association | Global Research - Centre for Research on Globalization: The U.S. Labor Movement’s “Pearl Harbor Moment”. The Supreme Court’s Hearing of Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association War can sneak up on you. And now unions are scrambling desperately for shelter, realizin

by mike simpson / 10h hide  //  save

Charter, tax credit groups again outspend teachers' unions on lobbying | POLITICO

Charter, tax credit groups again outspend teachers' unions on lobbying | POLITICO: Charter, tax credit groups again outspend teachers' unions on lobbyingWhile teachers' unions remain near the top of the list of the state’s highest-spending interest groups, a position they’ve occupied for decades, they no longer dominate education lobbying in New York.The unions have been joined by several groups s

by mike simpson / 10h 

YESTERDAY

Legislative Analyst endorses parental choice program | EdSource

Legislative Analyst endorses parental choice program | EdSource:Legislative Analyst endorses parental choice programIn most places in California, students must attend a school in the district where they live, or a charter school anywhere if they find one they like. But 47 districts have opened their doors to students outside their borders, under a little–used program set to expire next year.The Le

by mike simpson / 19h 

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 2/7/16

CORPORATE ED REFORMSorting Coloradoans like shoes: “by size, shape, and color.” Pilot starts in Denver Public Schools – Missouri Education WatchdogSorting Coloradoans like shoes: “by size, shape, and color.” Pilot starts in Denver Public Schools – Missouri Education Watchdog: Sorting Coloradoans like shoes: “by size, shape, and color.” Pilot starts in Denver Public Schools(The sorting people like

by mike simpson / 1d 

Oregon Save Our Schools: Opting Out: My Story in Taking the Plunge!

Oregon Save Our Schools: Opting Out: My Story in Taking the Plunge!:

Opting Out: My Story in Taking the Plunge!

As someone who has fought the battle against corporate education reform for the past four years, one would think I would have been the first parent in line to opt my children out of high-stakes testing.  Surprisingly, it took me a while to realize how important it was to have my children opt out of OAKS and SBAC testing.

Opting out of state testing wasn't something I decided lightly.  A lot of issues, thoughts, and questions ran through my mind as a parent:  Would my child feel isolated and alone?  Would my child miss out on education opportunities such as Advanced Math if they didn't test?  Would my child's lack of a test score make life hard for his/her teacher?  Would opting out hurt my child's school?  Would I have to justify my family's decision to the school or district? Would my child or myself be seen as an irritant or inconvenience?  Was I just making too big a deal out of this testing stuff?

As high-stakes testing and Common Core continued to erode my children's well-rounded and quality education, I became more upset that nothing was changing.  The state continued to disinvest and ignore funding opportunities that made a positive difference in the lives of students such as PE, music, art, library, sports, home economics, wood shop, foreign languages, project-based learning, and smaller class sizes.  Instead the focus was on spending money on longitudinal databases to house student data such as test scores, expensive new testing, and mandating Common Core.

And I wondered:  how did I,  and thousands of Oregonians before Oregon Save Our Schools: Opting Out: My Story in Taking the Plunge!:

Baltimore County Public Schools Used in 270 Million Dollar Tech Experiment – Save Maine Schools

Baltimore County Public Schools Used in 270 Million Dollar Tech Experiment – Save Maine Schools:

Baltimore County Public Schools Used in 270 Million Dollar Tech Experiment

As teachers in Detroit ask why their district spent 6 million dollars on a consulting contract when classrooms are overflowing and schools are in disrepair, citizens in Baltimore County are raising similar concerns over a 270 million technology initiative calledStudents and Teachers Accessing Tomorrow (STAT).

The program, which aims to bring 1:1 digital learning to all students in the district, was initiated under Superintendent S. Dallas Dance.

Dance, who was recruited to Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) in 2012, has come under scrutiny before. Last spring, an administrative training company called SUPES Academy made headlines when it came to light that ex-Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett had awarded a 20 million dollar no-bid contract to the program where she once worked.

Dance, it turns out, did something similar. Just after awarding SUPES an 875 thousand dollar contract, he took a job with the company as a consultant. Byrd-Bennett – to whom Dance gave high praise in this article – has now stepped down from her role as CEO as SUPES and CPS undergo federal investigation. Dance has since given up the consulting job, and the BCPS contract with SUPES was left to expire.

Meanwhile, as the corporate-driven personalized, digital learning craze sweeps the country, Dance has jumped in headfirst and is Baltimore County Public Schools Used in 270 Million Dollar Tech Experiment – Save Maine Schools

Why the SAT and ACT May Replace PARCC and Smarter Balanced | EdSurge News

Why the SAT and ACT May Replace PARCC and Smarter Balanced | EdSurge News:

Why the SAT and ACT May Replace PARCC and Smarter Balanced

Alice Barton

This March, the SAT will be getting its most significant makeover in 10 years. Testmakers hope the new focus on data analysis, reading comprehension and algebra—and thankfully, less emphasis on obscure vocabulary—can better predict students’ readiness for college.

State officials also hope that the test can do double duty and assess students’ competencies on Common Core and state academic standards, as well.

Already, the U.S. Department of Education has approved four states—Connecticut, Colorado Maine, and New Hampshire—to use the SAT as a high school assessment for federal accountability purposes. Delaware is on track to become the fifth. And that's just for accountability—in the 2015-2016 school year, the SAT will be administered to every public high school in Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia, as well as in more than 100 districts across 17 more states.

Another popular college exam—the ACT—is also throwing its hat into the ring as well. ACT reports that at the moment, 15 states will be administering the ACT to all 11th graders as a required statewide exam, and four others will be funding the ACT for all students on an optional basis.

For the creators of these tests, the window of opportunity swung open after Smarter Balanced and PARCC began falling out of favor with schools and districts. Just five years ago, these two testing consortia promised a new generation of assessments. Each received approximately $180 million in Race to the Top and American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds to develop and administer exams that could test students on college and career readiness as dictated by the Common Core State Standards. At their heydays, 23 states signed up for Smarter Balanced, and PARCC was adopted by 23 states and the District of Columbia.

But these tests failed to live up to expectations. Teachers and students were puzzled at the absence of seemingly important test items. SR Education Associates’s Steven Rasmussen found SBAC to be “a quagmire of poor technological design, poor interaction design, and poor mathematics that hopelessly clouds the insights the tests might give us into students’ thinking.”

And over time, the two exams began losing contracts. As of today, only six states will administer the PARCC test in 2016. SmarterBalanced currently claims 18 members on its “member states” map, but that figure should be lower given Montana and Why the SAT and ACT May Replace PARCC and Smarter Balanced | EdSurge News:

“COMMON” Goal: Corporate Ownership of Public Education and Our Children’s Futures | educationalchemy

“COMMON” Goal: Corporate Ownership of Public Education and Our Children’s Futures | educationalchemy:
“COMMON” Goal: Corporate Ownership of Public Education and Our Children’s Futures

Common Goal. Part I.

Lamar Alexander and Patti Murray didn’t (really) write the new Every Child Succeeds Act (ESSA). The Business Roundtable (BRT) did. Let me break this down for you:

By now, those of us who are fighting for public schools are pretty aware of how the Common Core state standards (CCSS) were crafted behind the scenes by corporate interests (via ALEC and The Business Roundtable. If you need a primer on that first, see HERE and HERE.

For a full list of education reform organizations associated with ALEC click here.

The final culmination of all their efforts is the control of both the content (what is taught) and method (how it’s delivered). CONTENT is covered in PART I of this blog. METHOD is covered in Part II.

It started (circa 1984 when UNESCO first coined the term Common Core) in a document called “A Methodological Guide to the Application of the Notion of Common Core in the Training of Various Categories of Educational Personnel.” It will end (post 2016) with the “disruptive, innovative, personalized, career and college ready” ELIMINATION of public education. The passing of ESSA has delivered everything the Business Roundtable wanted on a silver platter: Control of educational content, methods of privatization (charters and outsourcing services) and alternative assessments for teacher and teacher education “accountability.” They say this in their own words. One Business Roundtable (BRT) spokesperson says: “We are particularly pleased that the final legislation includes challenging academic standards; annual testing; increased transparency of school performance through state, district and school report cards; required state action to improve low performing schools; and enhanced support for public school choice and charter schools.”http://businessroundtable.org/resources/brt-letter-urging-passage-every-student-succeeds-act

Content

Content is the “WHAT” we teach in a curriculum. Call it Common Core, call it  state-created “career and college ready standards.” Call it “lilly lala poohpa” for all I care. We can pretend that the adoption of the ESSA bills means that states DON’T HAVE to adopt CCSS and that we now have more “freedom” to choose standards. I can also pretend that unicorns exist… but that does not make it so. Member of the Business Roundtable have been supportive of the idea of national or Common Core standards for decades.

They’ve even devised COMMON EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS. This document was crafted by something called the“COMMON” Goal: Corporate Ownership of Public Education and Our Children’s Futures | educationalchemy:

State Supe: Poverty Drives Chronic Absenteeism, 'Proactive' Solutions Needed | Jackson Free Press | Jackson, MS

State Supe: Poverty Drives Chronic Absenteeism, 'Proactive' Solutions Needed | Jackson Free Press | Jackson, MS:

State Supe: Poverty Drives Chronic Absenteeism, 'Proactive' Solutions Needed

Poverty is a primary driver of chronic school absenteeism, the state superintendent of education said yesterday, while calling for "proactive" ways to reverse the problem, which leads to lower test scores and other learning challenges.

#Dr. Carey Wright told educators, school administrators and parents gathered at the state capitol Wednesday that chronic absenteeism is a community issue and that communities should rally around the families and children who struggle the most. Wright says in acknowledging the challenges of poverty, communities can be most effective in boosting up its members who are most vulnerable.

#Wright said that part of the responsibility for checking chronic absenteeism rests on the shoulders of principals and teachers, whom she encourages to look at each academic day as "the only day they've got" to make as much of an impression that they can on their students. She told those in attendance at the Capitol yesterday to think about graduate, post-graduate, and secondary success.

DOCUMENT

Mississippi Kids Count 2015 Fact Book

Download .PDF

#The Mississippi Department of Education, in conjunction with the Mississippi KIDS COUNT program and the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, met to discuss a 2015 report that suggests a causal relationship between school attendance and success in third-grade language-arts assessments.

#Chronic absenteeism is defined as students missing at least 10 percent of a school year for whatever reason. In a 180-day school year, that means 18 days of lessons and curriculum missed. Students who miss two to four days in September are five times more likely to be chronically absent and more likely to be perform poorly on standardized tests in the long term.

#The absenteeism problem affects more than just test scores, however. As students grow older and progress through the educational system, chronic absenteeism trends reappear and affect their chances at high school graduation. Mississippi students who took the 2013 National Assessment for Education Progress standardized reading test who missed three or more days of school the month before the test scored 12 points lower than their classmates who missed no school, a Mississippi KIDS COUNT press release, reported.

#Wright also spoke about specific guidelines in order to combat chronic absenteeism from inside the classroom. She stressed implementing school-attendance awareness strategies like educators telling students how important it is to be at school. Wright also suggested interventions for at-risk students, with actions as simple as educators and administrators calling home to students on the days that they are absent and telling them that they were missed at school that day.

#North Pike School District Superintendent Dennis Penton says his district uses these policies to keep kids in school. Educators work to create a positive learning environment, he said, adding that teachers, State Supe: Poverty Drives Chronic Absenteeism, 'Proactive' Solutions Needed | Jackson Free Press | Jackson, MS:

The NFL would never let this air during the Super Bowl, but it's important to watch.

The NFL would never let this air during the Super Bowl, but it's important to watch.:

The NFL would never let this air during the Super Bowl, but it's important to watch.

The NFL's rules for the Super Bowl ads state that no activism ads are allowed. The NFL is also notorious for protecting its brand. While this commercial wasn't submitted to the Super Bowl for consideration, you can see clearly why they never would allow it to air, which is why Change the Mascot timed the release for the Super Bowl.

Which brings me to the R-word. According to the dictionary, it's a "usually offensive" term for Native Americans. Most of the major civil rights organizations have come together to condemn it. They did a study and found out that it's actually detrimental to the mental health of Native American citizens. Ask yourself: If you met a Native American, would you call them a redskin to their face? Would it be OK to call a team the Colorado White Skins? Or the Texas Black Skins? Then why the hell are we letting this happen? Especially because there are plenty of alternate names that don't use racial stereotypes.

If you think that we shouldn't tell Native American kids that calling them racial slurs is an OK thing, you could Like Change the Mascot on Facebook. And then tweet and share this?The NFL would never let this air during the Super Bowl, but it's important to watch.:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

"Special place in hell…" -- Albright

Madeleine Albright assails young women Democrat Sanders supporters

“There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other!” Mrs. Clinton laughed, slowly clapped her hands and took a large sip of her beverage. -- N.Y. Times

Gloria Steinem says they're boy crazy

“When you’re young, you’re thinking, ‘Where are the boys? The boys are with Bernie.’ ” -- New Republic

Daily Herald Editorial Board

In the case of Laquan McDonald, it took Alvarez 400 days. That's more than a year. It was long after the city of Chicago had settled the civil case. And more than 50 percent longer than the national average she cites. Where is the swift justice in that? We endorse Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

'Comfort women' and a lesson in how history is shaped in California textbooks - LA Times

'Comfort women' and a lesson in how history is shaped in California textbooks - LA Times:

'Comfort women' and a lesson in how history is shaped in California textbooks

Flowers lie at the Glendale memorial to "comfort women." (Roger Wilson / Glendale News Press)

ter nearly a decade of delays, California educators released a draft guideline that will shape how history is taught to students across the state.

The nearly 1,000-page "History/Social Science framework" received little public attention and went largely unreported in mainstream media when it was announced in December.

But in multicultural California, that hardly means it went unnoticed.

In Japanese and Korean communities on both sides of the Pacific, the guidelines have been breathlessly covered in news reports and generated rival petitions signed by thousands on each side.

The brouhaha concerns two sentences describing what will be taught in 10th-grade world history classes about the women known as "comfort women," who were coerced into sexual slavery in wartime brothels for Japanese soldiers during World War II. The passage has been met with celebration among Korean American groups that have campaigned to bring attention to the issue in the U.S., and concern from some Japanese groups that consider it an unfairly negative portrayal of their home country.

The Japanese and Korean groups are only the latest to bring their historic contentions to California classrooms, where the subject of world history is increasingly entangled with questions of personal identity and family history rather than a set of supposed facts that designated experts hand down from ivory towers.

Until recently world history focused mainly on European history in U.S. high schools. As the scope expands to other parts of the world, California classrooms are becoming battlegrounds in which recent immigrant groups wrestle over whether and how their ancestors' stories are told to the state's next generation.

In the years that the committee of educators has been working on the guidelines, Hindu and Sikh groups, Polish Americans and Persian historic societies have each come before the authors of the framework with requests on how their history is depicted.

The community groups who spoke at public meetings about their history far outnumbered teachers or educational professionals, said Nancy McTygue, who co-chaired the committee crafting the framework until last year.

"People were angry, people were pleading. People were excited, happy. Every emotion you can think of," said McTygue, herself a former teacher who has taught high school history. "History is an interpretive discipline, and everybody's got their own interpretation."

James Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Assn., said history should get revised as scholars and educators learn more about the world, and that the increased number of voices getting involved would ultimately be a blessing for California students.

"The conversation is going to be a hell of a lot more interesting and more contentious, but that's a good thing," he said. "The conversation is going to reflect a wider perspective on 'Comfort women' and a lesson in how history is shaped in California textbooks - LA Times: