Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 11/3/16
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Bernie Sanders calls for defeat of charter school measure - The Boston Globe
Thursday, November 3, 2016
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Baseball and schooling still both the players' game
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Baseball and schooling still both the players' game:
Baseball and schooling still both the players' game
The amazing Cubs could never have won 103 regular season games or even gotten to the playoffs and World Series without a manager like Joe Maddon, who encouraged his players to do what they do best. He kept his young team loose and confident all year. His starting pitchers knew when they were scheduled to pitch and what was expected of them and his closer, the great Alroldis Chapman, brought over from the Yankees, was mentally ready to come in to demolish three opposing hitters with his 100+mph fastball, in the 9th inning of any close game.
Then, for some some reason, which shall remain a mystery, all that changed during the last three games of the Series. Suddenly, under pressure of his team being down 3-1, Maddon morphed into an uber-manager, over-thinking and taking the game away from his players. It was as if he panicked and lost confidence in the very players who helped get the team to where it was.
I won't rehash all the details here. But I watched Chapman leave the dugout in tears last night after giving up a game-tying home run when his overworked arm just couldn't deliver any more. I heard ace starter Jon Lester say, no mas to any more relief pitching after he was misused and wild-pitched home 2 Cleveland runs in the 5th.
Maddon's pitching changes and over-managing over the last three games were both puzzling and disheartening, even to his own players. I'm not saying anything here that every sports Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Baseball and schooling still both the players' game:
Baseball and schooling still both the players' game
| Cubs Jason Heyward went 0-5 but may have been the MVP |
Then, for some some reason, which shall remain a mystery, all that changed during the last three games of the Series. Suddenly, under pressure of his team being down 3-1, Maddon morphed into an uber-manager, over-thinking and taking the game away from his players. It was as if he panicked and lost confidence in the very players who helped get the team to where it was.
I won't rehash all the details here. But I watched Chapman leave the dugout in tears last night after giving up a game-tying home run when his overworked arm just couldn't deliver any more. I heard ace starter Jon Lester say, no mas to any more relief pitching after he was misused and wild-pitched home 2 Cleveland runs in the 5th.
Maddon's pitching changes and over-managing over the last three games were both puzzling and disheartening, even to his own players. I'm not saying anything here that every sports Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Baseball and schooling still both the players' game:
Families for Excellent Trains – EduShyster #NOon2
Families for Excellent Trains – EduShyster:
Families for Excellent Trains
Families for Excellent Trains
The campaign to lift the charter school cap in Massachusetts goes off the tracks…
Around the 20 minute mark of Arne Duncan’s talk, I began to choke. I’d made it through Duncan’s endorsement of Question Two, the ballot initiative to lift the cap on charter schools in Massachusetts, and the occasion for last week’s *Education Party* thrown by Democrats for Education Reform. It was when 
Duncan started to talk about the need for school reformers to genuinely engage parents and families—*I’m not talking about astro-turf*—that the dryly bitter chuckling sound I’d been making escalated into something more profound. You see, that very morning, the Boston Globe had run an expose on the *family* at the very center of Question 2: a husband/wife team of GOP operatives who have orchestrated seemingly every aspect of the campaign.
Duncan started to talk about the need for school reformers to genuinely engage parents and families—*I’m not talking about astro-turf*—that the dryly bitter chuckling sound I’d been making escalated into something more profound. You see, that very morning, the Boston Globe had run an expose on the *family* at the very center of Question 2: a husband/wife team of GOP operatives who have orchestrated seemingly every aspect of the campaign.There are other families involved, of course. Like Republican philanthropists Seth Klarman and Joanna Jacobson, whose largesse got the multi-pronged effort to lift the charter cap rolling, and who are referred to in the trove of internal emails the Globemade public as Klarman and JJ. And there is Families for Excellent Schools, whose CEO, Jeremiah Kittredge, is CC’d on all of the emails, along with a small army of lobbyists, PR hacks and the heads of a handful of Boston charter schools. An exemplar of the new *parent power,* FES was transplanted here from NYC, thanks to the aforementioned largesse of the aforementioned families, to marshall an army of parents behind the effort to lift the charter cap. The group quickly became known for such innovative marshalling techniques as automatically enrolling parents whose kids attended Boston charter schools in the parent army.
Small ball
Was that what Duncan meant when he talked about authentic parent engagement? I wondered. It was hard to tell. He has a delivery style that might best be described as Families for Excellent Trains – EduShyster:
Was that what Duncan meant when he talked about authentic parent engagement? I wondered. It was hard to tell. He has a delivery style that might best be described as Families for Excellent Trains – EduShyster:
50 Years Later, It's Still Tough Being Young, Gifted and Black - SF Public School MomSF Public School Mom
50 Years Later, It's Still Tough Being Young, Gifted and Black - SF Public School MomSF Public School Mom:
50 Years Later, It’s Still Tough Being Young, Gifted and Black
50 Years Later, It’s Still Tough Being Young, Gifted and Black
The discussion about structural racism in our schools often centers around Black student achievement and school discipline. Whether we call it the “achievement gap” or the “opportunity gap”, we often focus on Black students who are not doing well in our education system.
According to a USA today report citing data from the Department of Education:
From gifted-and-talented programs to teacher experience to advanced science and math courses, the data show, the schools that enroll large numbers of minority students are unequal in nearly every way.
To be young, gifted and Black…
But what about the Black students who are already overcoming the odds? How are they doing?
As the Black students from elite schools across the country testify, it’s STILL hard to be young, gifted and Black in our nation’s schools.
And San Francisco is no different. At SF’s prestigious Lowell High School, one of two, magnet schools in our city, and the oldest high school west of the Mississippi, Black students make up only 2% of the student population, as compared to 9% of SFUSD’s overall student population.
Not only are students underrepresented at the school, they often face daily microagressions. Last year, Black students staged a walkout when a student posted a racially insensitive (read: racist) display in the library mocking Black History Month.
It’s disheartening to think, that after 40 years, Black students in our elite public schools are still expressing a need for cultural visibility and “safe spaces” on campus. As Tsia Blacksher, a Lowell senior states in a report from KALW:
“Being black at Lowell is a struggle. And for them [referring to the Black Alumni speaking about starting a Black student group] to be talking about the same things that we’re going through now50 Years Later, It's Still Tough Being Young, Gifted and Black - SF Public School MomSF Public School Mom:
Transición del CELDT al ELPAC - English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) (CA Dept of Education)
Transición del CELDT al ELPAC - English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) (CA Dept of Education):
Transición del CELDT al ELPAC
Línea de Tiempo Propuesta Para la Transición del Examen California English Language Development Test a los Exámenes English Language Proficiency Assessments for California.
Comparación entre el CELDT y ELPAC
Transición del CELDT al ELPAC
Línea de Tiempo Propuesta Para la Transición del Examen California English Language Development Test a los Exámenes English Language Proficiency Assessments for California.
Tipo de evaluación
|
2015–16
|
2016–17
|
2017–18
|
2018–19
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
ELPAC
Prueba piloto |
diciembre12015
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
Prueba o
investigación exploratoriaAdministraciones (Los resultados no serán reportados.) |
N/A
|
ELPAC2Prueba Sumativa
(primavera 2017) |
ELPAC3Prueba Inicial
(otoño 2017) |
N/A
|
Administración formal (Los resultados serán
reportados.) |
CELDT1
|
CELDT2
|
CELDT3Solamente el examen inicial
ELPAC4Examen sumativo (primavera 2018) |
ELPAC5Examen inicial
(1 de julio, 2018) ELPAC6 Los dos examines serán administrados formalmente |
1 En el año 2015–16, el examen California English Language Development Test (CELDT) será administrado como siempre. Las pruebas pilotos para los exámenes English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) ocurrirán en diciembre del 2015. El propósito de las prueba pilotos es para asegurar que los nuevos tipos de tareas planeados para el ELPAC obtengan información útil sobre el dominio del idioma inglés como se describe en los estándares académicos de 2012 para el desarrollo del idioma inglés.
2 En el año 2016–17, el examen CELDTserá administrado como siempre.En la primavera del 2017,una muestra de distritos escolares participarán en la prueba o investigación exploratoria del ELPAC para prepararse para el examen sumativo. El propósito de la prueba o investigación exploratoria es para recoger información sobre el rendimiento de los elementos de la prueba que informarán las decisiones finales en relación con la longitud de la prueba, la composición de la prueba, y las escalas de puntuación para asegurar que los exámenes ELPAC sean válidos y confiables.
3 En el año 2017–18, el examen inicial del CELDTserá administrado desde el 1o de julio, 2017 hasta el 30 de junio, 2018 solamente por el propósito de medir el nivel de habilidad en inglés. En el otoño del 2017, la prueba o evaluación exploratoria para la prueba inicial de los exámenes ELPAC ocurrirá.
4 En la primavera del 2018, el examen sumativo del ELPAC será administrado formalmente.
5 El 1o de julio, 2018, el examen inicial del ELPAC será administrado formalmente.
6 En el año 2018–19, los examines ELPAC serán administrados formalmente, y ya no se administrará el examen CELDT.
Questions: English Language Proficiency and Spanish Assessments Office | elpac@cde.ca.gov | 916-319-0784
California está en el proceso de transición del examen CELDT a los examenes ELPAC. El examen CELDT continuará siendo administrado hasta que los examenes ELPAC entren en funcionamiento. La siguiente tabla muestra una breve comparación entre el examen CELDT y los examenes ELPAC.
CELDT
|
ELPAC
|
|---|---|
Alineado con los estándares académicos de 1999 para el desarrollo del idioma inglés, como segunda lengua en California, que tienen cinco niveles de dominio
|
Debe ser alineado con los estándares academicos de 2012 para el desarrollo del idioma inglés, como segunda lengua en California, que tienen tres niveles de dominio
(Emergentes, en Expansión, y Estandares enlazantes) |
Un examen con dos propósitos: (1) Medir el nivel de habilidad en inglés; y (2) evaluar cada año el avance de los estudiantes que aprenden en inglés
|
Dos examines con dos propósitos: (1) identificación inicial; y (2) evaluación sumativa. La identificación inicial será breve y calificado a nivel local.
|
Examenes en forma papel y lápiz
|
Examenes en forma papel y lápiz con el potencial para la transición a examines basados en computadora
|
1 de julio–31 de octubre ventana del examen anual
|
Ventana del examen sumativa será un periodo de cuatro meses después del primero de enero (propuesto 1o de febrero–31 de mayo), permitiendo más tiempo antes del examen para instrucción.
|
Cinco grados/niveles escolares:
K–1, 2, 3–5, 6–8, y 9–12
|
Siete grados/niveles escolares:
K, 1, 2, 3–5, 6–8, 9–10, y 11–12 |
Reportado en cinco niveles de rendimiento del examen CELDT del estudiante
|
Reportado en cuatro niveles de rendimiento de los examenes ELPAC del estudiante
|
Dominios de reportaje: Compresión auditiva, expresión oral, lectura, y expresión escrita
|
Dominios de reportaje: Compresión auditiva, expresión oral, lectura, y expresión escrita
|
Questions: English Language Proficiency and Spanish Assessments Office | elpac@cde.ca.gov | 916-319-0784
Lawyer targets Portland schools Parent activist with massive records request | OregonLive.com
Lawyer targets Portland schools activist with massive records request | OregonLive.com:
Lawyer targets Portland schools activist with massive records request
Lawyer targets Portland schools activist with massive records request
Parent Kim Sordyl shown at a Portland Public School meeting about lead in the drinking water on Tuesday, May 31, 2016. Sordyl, known for requesting public records, is herself the target of a massive request. (Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian)
he most notorious requester of Portland Public Schools records isn't behind the district's most cumbersome pending public records request. She's the target.
Jason Wright, an attorney with Folawn Alterman & Richardson, filed a request July 28 for all of parent Kim Sordyl's emails and text messages with school board members. The request also asked for all communication between board members and district staff about Sordyl, including text messages.
The district plans to pay an outside contractor $975 per phone to obtain texts, according to an email sent to board members. Additionally, the request seeks all emails between Sordyl and any district email account, going back to January 2012.
In a phone interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive on Monday, Wright said he made the request as a "concerned citizen" before adding he didn't want to comment on the request.
"It wasn't my firm it was me," Wright said. "I have no client. I don't have a lawsuit."
Wright's request was written on his law firm's letterhead.
The firm has also paid the district with two checks totaling $1,000 so far, according to copies obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Asked to clarify in an email Wednesday, Wright wrote back, "I have no comment at this time."
The district hasn't done a full cost estimate on the request, spokeswoman Courtney Westling said. The final cost could be significantly higher. Attorney review time alone can cost $100 an hour, according to past cost estimates given to The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Sordyl told The Oregonian/OregonLive she she didn't know about the request.
Sordyl, an attorney, has long been a vocal critic of Portland Public Schools' handling of public records, accusing officials of sluggish responses.
Her unsparing comments on social media have made her well-known among district observers. She also frequently submits records requests and files formal complaints, sometimes on behalf of other parents.
Her work has also earned her a reputation within the district. In March, Portland Public Schools' top lawyer sent Sordyl a letter threatening to take action if she continued "to engage in personal attacks and defamatory statements."
Sordyl questioned why a private citizen would be willing to pay so much for her records.
"I have no connection to that firm and I don't even know how to find out who their client is. I'm sure they have a client who is doing this," she said. " What it is going to show is how many things I've put them on notice about that they've ignored or Lawyer targets Portland schools activist with massive records request | OregonLive.com:
Why Teaching to the Test is Educational Malpractice | gadflyonthewallblog
Why Teaching to the Test is Educational Malpractice | gadflyonthewallblog:
Why Teaching to the Test is Educational Malpractice
Why Teaching to the Test is Educational Malpractice
Malpractice is defined as “careless, wrong, or illegal actions by someone (such as a doctor) who is performing a professional duty.”
In some fields it can get you arrested. In most it’s at least frowned upon.
In education, however, it’s encouraged.
In education, however, it’s encouraged.
In fact, as a teacher, you can be singled out, written up or even fired for refusing to engage in malpractice. You are bullied, cajoled and threatened into going along with practices that have been debunked by decades of research and innumerable case studies.
Take the all-too-common practice of teaching to the test.
Not only do students and teachers hate it, but the practice has been shown to actually harm student learning. Yet it is the number one prescription handed down from administrators and policymakers to bring up failing scores on high stakes standardized tests.
Never mind that those same test scores have likewise been proven to be invalid, racially and culturally biased and inextricably linked with parental income. When the only goal is raising student test scores, what’s a little malpractice between friends?
In this article, I will explain the top five reasons why this policy is harmful. But first, Why Teaching to the Test is Educational Malpractice | gadflyonthewallblog:
Randi Weingarten: Which candidate will stand in your corner, not put you there? / LGBTQ Nation
Randi Weingarten: Which candidate will stand in your corner, not put you there? / LGBTQ Nation:
Randi Weingarten: Which candidate will stand in your corner, not put you there?
Randi Weingarten: Which candidate will stand in your corner, not put you there?
I’m voting for Hillary Clinton enthusiastically because I want a president who will be in my corner, not put me in a corner.
As a lesbian and as a woman, I know what it’s like to be put in a corner. I came of age when being a lesbian meant living in fear and in the shadows. And as a woman, I’ve been told that I’m too ambitious, that I should smile more and be less intense and less assertive—hallmarks of the sexism women regularly face.
One thing I’ve learned in the labor movement is that when you have someone in your corner, you’re so much more likely to win.
Donald Trump is a bully’s bully. He’s spent his whole life backing others into corners to enrich and entertain himself—and that’s the only person he’s looking out for.
Half of America’s public school students qualify for free lunch, yet Trump wants to eliminate funding for essential programs that help poor kids escape poverty.
He thinks he has a right to do anything he wants to any woman because he’s famous.
He wants to round up 11 million immigrants and tear apart their families.
He wants to expand stop and frisk and racial profiling of people of color.
He wants to ban Muslim immigrants and police Muslim communities.
He wants to break critical international alliances and go it alone on the world stage, backing our country into a corner all by ourselves.
He talks about making America great again, but he doesn’t pay taxes, manufactures his products overseas, buys cheap imports instead of American-made products, and puts working people out of business to boost his own bottom line.
And for my LGBTQ brothers and sisters, Trump doesn’t just want to put us in a corner, he wants to force us back into the closet. He would push to end marriage equality, and his running mate has one of the most anti-LGBTQ records of any modern-day politician.
Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, has spent a lifetime in our corner.
As we fight for raising wages, rebuilding the middle class and ensuring equal pay for women, Clinton will fight for and with us. As we fight against discrimination and bullying, and for dignity for all—for example, for transgender people in public accommodations—she will fight for and with us. As we fight for infrastructure Randi Weingarten: Which candidate will stand in your corner, not put you there? / LGBTQ Nation:
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Should Billionaire Ed Reformers Buy State Superintendent Race?
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Should Billionaire Ed Reformers Buy State Superintendent Race?:
Should Billionaire Ed Reformers Buy State Superintendent Race?
KUOW has a story on the spending in the state superintendent race and spending for Erin Jones' campaign is ahead of Chris Reykdal.
What Ed Reform Wants from Our Next President
As we are coming to a close of our long national nightmare that is the 2016 Presidential election, here's some thoughts from Peter Greene at the Curmudgucation blog tries to explain what Bellwether Education Partners, a reliably reformy right-tilted thinky tank, believes the next president should do in public education policy.
Should Billionaire Ed Reformers Buy State Superintendent Race?
One of the largest independent expenditures in Washington state elections this year has come in the race for schools chief: the education reform organization Stand for Children's PAC has bought $164,887 worth of mailers for the Erin Jones campaign for Superintendent of Public Instruction. The PAC spent another $12,809 yesterday on last-minute robocalls for Jones's campaign.
As Reykdal notes (and I agree) that out-of-state money is troubling. Reed Hastings, head of Netflix, has massively tried to change the course of public Seattle Schools Community Forum: Should Billionaire Ed Reformers Buy State Superintendent Race?:Stand for Children WA PAC is funded almost entirely by just a few players: Connie Ballmer, wife of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer; Reed Hastings, the California-based founder of Netflix; Washington State Charter Schools Association's WA Charter Action PAC, which is itself funded primarily by Connie and Steve Ballmer; and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's company, Vulcan.
What Ed Reform Wants from Our Next President
- Bellwether says that there are so many underperforming public schools in urban areas that instead of trying to turn them around, just open more charter schools.
- Bring the Blockchain to Education. I myself wrote a thread about this "bitcoin" for teachers idea. That's not proving teacher competency and the data privacy issues are huge.
- Charging high ed institutions a percentage on student loans that aren't getting paid back. But as Greene points out, wouldn't that
Who will be the next U.S. education secretary? - The Washington Post
Who will be the next U.S. education secretary? - The Washington Post:
Who will be the next U.S. education secretary?
Who will be the next U.S. education secretary?
Will retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson become education secretary if Donald Trump is elected president?
Who will Hillary Clinton offer the job to if she wins the 2016 presidential election next week? Denise Juneau, Montana’s superintendent of public instruction who is running for Congress? Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford University professor emeritus and head of the nonprofit Learning Policy Institute?
With the election just days away, many in the education world are wondering who might take over the Education Department in the new administration. Education was a subject pretty much overlooked during the campaign, but the positions the candidates took on some education issues suggest vastly different education secretary picks.
In broad strokes, Trump’s proposals could effectively put the entire traditional public education system at risk. He has called for “reprioritizing existing federal dollars” and giving “an additional federal investment of $20 billion towards school choice” to states that have private school choice, magnet schools and charter laws. Clinton supports the traditional public education system, as well as charter schools, though she has called for better charter oversight. She opposes vouchers, which use public money to pay for private education.
Trump’s website has a form inviting readers to write in names of “the most qualified candidate” for specific posts — but education secretary isn’t one of them. One person he has publicly praised for his education “expertise” is Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who was a primary opponent of Trump’s (and who doesn’t believe in evolution, the animating principle of modern biology).
Last March, Trump thanked Carson for endorsing him and noted that the two had had spent talking about education. “I was most impressed with his views on education. It’s a strength. It’s a tremendous strength,” Trump said, so Carson is “going to be involved with us,” particularly on health and education.
Helping Trump with his choice-focused education policy proposals has been Rob Goad, an adviser to Rep. Luke Messer (R-Ind.). And Education Week reported that Trump picked Williamson M. Evers and Gerard Robinson to be on his transition team working on education Who will be the next U.S. education secretary? - The Washington Post:
U.S. Senators Tell Obama ESSA Regulations Are Overreach, Report Says - Politics K-12 - Education Week
U.S. Senators Tell Obama ESSA Regulations Are Overreach, Report Says - Politics K-12 - Education Week:
U.S. Senators Tell Obama ESSA Regulations Are Overreach, Report Says
A bipartisan group of senators wrote to President Barack Obama back in September criticizing proposed U.S. Department of Education regulations for the Every Student Succeeds Act, the Washington Post reports.
U.S. Senators Tell Obama ESSA Regulations Are Overreach, Report Says
A bipartisan group of senators wrote to President Barack Obama back in September criticizing proposed U.S. Department of Education regulations for the Every Student Succeeds Act, the Washington Post reports.
According to a letter published by the Post, the 10 senators are concerned about the department's proposed regulations for accountability and for supplement-not-supplant, a spending provision in the law, which was passed by overwhelming margins late last year.
The senators say that neither draft regulation complies with the "plain language" of the law. And they ask for Obama's help in reining the department in.
"Most Americans are grateful for the law, that Congress, working with you, enacted," they wrote. "We urge you to make certain that the Department of Education regulations stay within the statutory text."
For its part, the department has said that its proposed regulations are well within ESSA's parameters and would help strengthen so-called "guardrails" in the law to protect historically overlooked groups of students.
The letter, dated Sept. 30, was signed by a cadre of Republican senators, including Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, an ESSA architect, as well as Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Orrin Hatch of Utah, and Johnny Isakson of Georgia.
It was also signed by Democrats, most of whom represent Republican-leaning states, including Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester of Montana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Angus King of Maine, an Independent who organizes with the Democrats.
Noteably, that list doesn't include Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate education committee. Murray, also an ESSA architect, has generally backed the department up on its regulatory approach.
And it's clear that Murray disagrees with the premise of the letter. "These proposed regulations are within the spirit of ESSA and the congressional intent that we agreed to around that balanced approach," she said in a statement. "I am encouraged to see the Department continuing to gather feedback from stakeholders, including teachers, principals, superintendents, and civil rights groups as it works to implement the law."
Department officials were unable to comment on the substance of the proposed regulations because they are still gathering and considering feedback. U.S. Senators Tell Obama ESSA Regulations Are Overreach, Report Says - Politics K-12 - Education Week:
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