Decline in Students’ Physical Fitness Test Results - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education)

Decline in Students’ Physical Fitness Test Results - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education):

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Reports Slight Decline in Students’ Physical Fitness Test Results; Asks Schools, Parents to Maintain Focus on Healthy Kids

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson reported today that the percentage of students who met the Healthy Fitness Zone (HFZ) performance standards declined slightly compared to the previous two years, according to the results of the 2015-16 Physical Fitness Test (PFT).

“Good nutrition, proper rest, and exercise are key ingredients for success in the classroom and in life,” Torlakson said. “This year’s Physical Fitness Test results, which are down very slightly, remind all of us as educators, parents and community leaders that we need to convey this message to our children. One of the best ways to do that is by eating healthy foods and exercising so we can serve as role models for healthy living, not only for the sake of our children, but also for the future health of our communities and our state.”

Overall, slightly more students participated in the PFT during the 2015–16 school year than the previous year, with more than 1.3 million students in grades five (459,715), seven (448,442), and nine (440,139) taking the FITNESSGRAM®, a series of six separate tests that measure aerobic capacity, body composition, abdominal strength, trunk extensor strength, upper body strength, and flexibility (Table 1).

Approximately 25.9 percent of students in grade five, 32.1 percent of students in grade seven, and 36.7 percent of students in grade nine scored at the highest levels, called the HFZ. This represents levels of fitness that offer protection against diseases resulting from sedentary living (Table 2).

Those levels are down slightly in all grades compared with the previous two school years. The multi-year comparison is available on Table 3. Slight gains were recorded in the Body Composition fitness area in grades five and seven.  Body Composition is one of the six areas assessed annually and considered among the most important gauges of health
(Table 4).

Torlakson, a former high school cross country and track coach and an avid runner, has made youth health and fitness a priority of his public service career. As a state legislator for 14 years, Torlakson authored several bills to increase student physical fitness education and standards, increase accountability in fitness testing, and promote collaboration between schools and local recreation and park districts.

“If we don’t change eating and exercise habits, we will continue to see a portion of our students afflicted with diabetes and heart disease,” Torlakson said. “Healthy, active, and well-nourished children are more likely to attend school and are more prepared and motivated to learn. There is a direct correlation between good nutrition, exercise, student wellness, and the ability of our students to learn well.”

This is the 17th year for the reporting of physical fitness test results in California public schools. The program was first authorized in 1976 and reestablished in 1995 by Assembly Bill 265. The following year, the State Board of Education designated FITNESSGRAM® as the required physical fitness test to be administered to students in grades five, seven, and nine.

The 2015–16 physical fitness results for schools, school districts, counties, and the state are available on the California Department of Education (CDE) Physical Fitness Test Results Web page. More information is also available on the CDE Physical Fitness Testing Web page.

Attachments for Physical Fitness Test (PFT) Results

# # # #

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

Decline in Students’ Physical Fitness Test Results - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education):

School’s (Not) Out for Summer

School’s (Not) Out for Summer:

School’s (Not) Out for Summer

During last week’s LAUSD meeting, the Board suddenly reversed course and abandoned a carefully compromised plan that would have slowly returned the beginning of the school year closer to its traditional Labor Day start. Without a warning to the parents who had been pushing for this change, they rejected the calendar that they told Superintendent Michelle King to craft last September and told her to start over again with the schedule that is already in place. After the vote, Board member García took to Twitter to thank “all the effective voices that made this possible for our youth!”, ignoring the fact that she had effectively silenced all other voices through her parliamentary maneuvers. Those who had celebrated their advocacy for change just a few months ago only found out about the reversal in the next morning’s news reports. Once again parents’ voices had not been heard during the deliberative process of the LAUSD Board.

García has been particularly active in working against voices that contradict her own agenda. When the issue of summer vacation came before the Board in September, she insulted the students of the LAUSD with her comment that “most of our kids, all of our kids, can’t read.” For reasons that she did not explain, she felt that those wanting to start the school year after Labor Day were somehow to blame for this perceived lack of accomplishment. In her arrogance, she did not see this as just a difference of opinions; only her view was correct and her opponents could not possibly care about the children. Never mind the fact that a majority of parents wanted a return to the traditional calendar. Does García believe that these parents are working against the best interests of their children?

This would not be the first time that García and the forces that she aligns with have sought to demonize parents who have sought changes to the way that the District is operated. Before John Deasy was forced to end his tenure as LAUSD Superintendent, he had “two reliable allies [on the Board]: Mónica García and Tamar Galatzan.” García supported the same Superintendent who celebrated a winning School’s (Not) Out for Summer:

For additional information, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com

NYC Public School Parents: 3 simple steps to stop the privatization and destruction of our public schools

NYC Public School Parents: 3 simple steps to stop the privatization and destruction of our public schools:

3 simple steps to stop the privatization and destruction of our public schools

Here are three simple steps you can take to stop the privatization and destruction of our public schools:

1. Call your Senators now to oppose the nomination of Betsy DeVos. Tell them that Ms. DeVos is least qualified and most dangerous individual ever to be appointed US Secretary of Education. 

Ms. DeVos never attended a public school, never sent her children to one, and never has served in any educational or governmental capacity.  Her only qualification seems to be her wealth, which she has used to promote a radical agenda of privatization -- and to oppose any government oversight to guard against corruption, self-dealing and poor quality schools.

Senator Gillibrand: (212) 688-6262 and/or (202) 224-4451

Senator Schumer: (212) 486-4430 and/or (202) 224-6542
 
2. Send them a letter; a handy pre-addressed letter you can use or edit is here or below.  Letters sent via snail mail have far more impact than emails.  You can also schedule a visit to their district offices where they will be between now and the New Year; or drop the letter off yourself.  Senator Gillibrand’s DC and district office addresses are at the bottom of her website here; and Senator Schumer’s DC and district offices here.

Network for Public Education has a toolkit with these and other suggestions.

3. Give to Class Size Matters.   We will continue our fight for the right of all students, but particularly those here in New York, to receive their right to an equitable, well-funded public education – and the smaller classes they need and deserve.  You can make a tax-deductible donation online here by credit card, or if you prefer by sending a check to the address below.

Thanks as ever for your support,

Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
NY NY 10011

________
[Date]

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

478 Russell
Washington, DC 20510

Senator Charles Schumer

322 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senators Gillibrand and Schumer: 

I strongly urge you to vote against the nomination of Betsy DeVos to be Secretary of Education.  Never has someone so uniquely unqualified been selected to this post.  Ms. DeVos never attended a public school, never sent her children to one, and never has served in any educational or governmental capacity.  Her only qualification seems to be her wealth, which she has used to promote a radical agenda of school privatization and vouchers.

More than 90% of all American children attend public schools; public schools are the bedrock of our democracy and one of the few unifying forces in our nation. Diverting taxpayer funds to private and religious schools will not only severely weaken our public schools, but will sow more discord, division, and degrade the quality of education that children receive.

Moreover, in 2008, Ms. DeVos’ PAC violated Ohio’s campaign finance laws, and was fined $5.3 million, which remains unpaid.  Her PAC ignored an advisory ruling that this would be illegal and yet went ahead anyway.  Such disregard for ethics and the law should not be rewarded with a cabinet position. 

Because of Ms. DeVos efforts, nearly $1 billion of public education dollars have been drained each year from Michigan public schools into mostly for-profit charter schools of poor quality.  According to the New York Times, “divisive politics and educational ideology … have combined to produce a public education fiasco that is perhaps unparalleled in the United States.” The attempt of Michigan’s Republican Governor Rick Snyder to insert some accountability, quality control, and oversight to prevent corruption and wasted taxpayer dollars was defeated because of her advocacy. 

The Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll reveals that only 31% of Americans favor allowing students to attend private schools at public expense. Since 1972, all attempts to create state voucher programs through referendum have failed, generally by two-to-one margins. Recent research has concluded that public school students who receive vouchers to attend private schools score much lower on both reading and math tests than those who remain in the public schools. 

Contrary to Ms. DeVos rhetoric, my first choice and the first choice of the most American parents is a good neighborhood public school, and we want our nation’s public schools to be supported and strengthened rather than dismantled.  As Mark Twain said, “We believe that out of the public school grows the greatness of a nation.”  

The appointment of Ms. DeVos could set back the progress of our nation’s public schools so severely that they might never recover.   I would appreciate if you would let me know how you intend to vote on her nomination.

Yours sincerely,  

Name

Address

Phone

NYC Public School Parents: 3 simple steps to stop the privatization and destruction of our public schools:

When women retire, yet another gap - Lily's Blackboard

When women retire, yet another gap - Lily's Blackboard:

When women retire, yet another gap

Back in April of this year, I discussed Equal Pay Day and the sad reality that in the 21st century, women still aren’t paid at the same rate that men are for the same jobs. Here’s news that heightens our awareness of this pressing concern.

The National Institute on Retirement Security reports that women have substantially less income than men in retirement. In fact, women are 80 percent more likely than men to be impoverished at age 65 or older. And those between the ages of 75 and 79 are three times more likely than men to be living in poverty.

While this does not mean that 80 percent of women definitely will be poor in retirement, the very likelihood should horrify all Americans, and particularly us, since 76 percent of NEA members are women.

Let’s consider the roots of this problem. Actually, it’s pretty simple.

Most estimates are that women working full time earn just 79 percent of what men earn – a pay gap of 21 percent. (For a lighthearted look at one young woman’s attempt to deal with this issue, check this out.) 

What’s more, women are living longer. A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that women live, on average, almost five years longer than men.  Less pay over the course of a woman’s working life plus a longer life span means women face a higher likelihood than men of spending retirement in poverty, or on the edge of it.When women retire, yet another gap - Lily's Blackboard:

On Kafka, Misreading Postmodernism, and Giving Up | the becoming radical

On Kafka, Misreading Postmodernism, and Giving Up | the becoming radical:

On Kafka, Misreading Postmodernism, and Giving Up

In 2008, through a Republican connection with then-governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, a graduate of the university, President George W. Bush gave the primary commencement address at Furman University, sparking a faculty protest and a student push-back to that protest.

Once Bush being the speaker was announced, the days and weeks leading up to commencement were characterized by several media reports on the controversy, including some Op-Eds in the local paper by professors—one of which was by two neoliberal professors from one of the most conservative departments on campus chastising the protesting professors and characterizing them as postmodern.

Looking back through the rise of Trumplandia and the current focus on fake news and post-truth politics, this misreading of postmodernism is worth revisiting.

First, the protesting professors immediately balked at being labeled postmodern because most (if not all) were taking an ethical stand, counter to the postmodern questioning of objective or universal moral imperatives.

The neoliberal professors represented, even as elites, a cartoonish and dismissive lens for the public about nuanced and complex bodies of knowledge, ways of navigating the world.

By the twenty-first century, postmodernism was recognized as a moment in the twentieth century when modernism was unmasked, but that term and body of thought had mostly helped shape movements that many academics and scholars embraced (see this as one example of how complex postmodernism is as a term).

Postmodernism spurred many “post” ideologies, in fact—postcolonialism, poststructuralism, and others that, in fact, re-imagined how to reclaim the ethics and moral imperatives that postmodernism seemed to reject.

The key here is “seemed” since just as the neoliberal professors misrepresented the protesting professors as On Kafka, Misreading Postmodernism, and Giving Up | the becoming radical:

Schools Matter: The gift no one wanted–how digital learning came to MA & Fair Test finally woke up.

Schools Matter: The gift no one wanted–how digital learning came to MA & Fair Test finally woke up.:

The gift no one wanted–how digital learning came to MA & Fair Test finally woke up.

from Wrench in the Gears
December 15, 2016

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced yesterday, the creation of a new statewide personalized-learning initiative called MAPLE (Massachusetts Personalized Learning EdTech) Consortium. It is important to note that educational technology is specifically called out in the name. This public-private partnership is being funded by the Barr Foundation and the Nellie Mae Foundation, one of the primary advocates for Competency Based Education in New England. There are currently twelve pilot districts, but the plan is to add an additional thirty districts over time.

Updates on the program were given to Massachusetts’ Digital Learning Advisory Council in January 2016: http://www.doe.mass.edu/boe/sac/dlac/2016-0106minutes.pdf

Digital Learning Advisory Council members for 2015-16 included representatives of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, MIT, The Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, The Virtual High School, The Center for Applied Special Technology, The American Federation of Teachers, and the Massachusetts Teachers Association. Full member list here.

According to the Council’s September 2016 minutes, the contract for the program had been awarded to Learn Launch as of that time. Ann Koufman-Frederick, the Chief Academic Officer of Learn Launch, appears to be the project contact. She has ties to districts across the state.

Within 24 hours of MAPLE’s announcement, Fair Test came out with a cautionary post on the potential for personalized learning to lead to constant online testing. And in a bit of irony, actually cited one of Wrench In The Gears’ blog posts as a Schools Matter: The gift no one wanted–how digital learning came to MA & Fair Test finally woke up.:

Wendy Lecker: When it comes to charter schools, facts matter - Wait What?

When it comes to charter schools, facts matter (By Wendy Lecker) - Wait What?:

When it comes to charter schools, facts matter (By Wendy Lecker)

Below is Wendy Lecker’s interview with Robert Cotto, Jr. about recent claims made by charter school advocates. It was first published in the Stamford Advocate.  Robert Cotto Jr. is a veteran Hartford Board of Education member, director of Urban Initiatives at Trinity College and a doctoral student at UConn’s NEAG School of Education. He has researched Connecticut charter schools for Connecticut Voices for Children and Trinity.

Lecker: Do Connecticut charter schools outperform district schools?

Cotto: Connecticut charter schools were supposed to raise achievement, innovate, and reduce racial isolation. In terms of achievement, charter schools do not serve similar proportions of students living in poverty, bilingual children, and children with disabilities when compared to the local districts where they are located. Charter schools serve a more advantaged group of Black and Latino students in our cities. Therefore, simple comparisons of test results are like comparing “apples to oranges” and do not really tell us much about academic improvement. The state has never evaluated charter innovation. While some charters may innovate, the majority of charters operate like traditional schools. Most Connecticut charter schools are highly segregated by race (mostly Black students).

Lecker: A writer claimed that if Connecticut charters fail to perform, they are shut down, but that you cannot do that to a district school. True?

Cotto: The state almost never closes charter schools because of poor When it comes to charter schools, facts matter (By Wendy Lecker) - Wait What?:

School choice gutted Detroit’s public schools. The rest of the country is next. – VICE News

School choice gutted Detroit’s public schools. The rest of the country is next. – VICE News:

School choice gutted Detroit’s public schools. The rest of the country is next.

It was a chilly afternoon in April 2013 when Roy Roberts, a former GM executive now charged with righting the struggling Detroit Public Schools, appeared in the auditorium of Oakman Elementary/Orthopedic, a school on the city’s northwest side. Roberts had arrived with an entourage of district officials and he didn’t waste any time with small talk. “We’ll be closing Northwestern,” he announced.

About a dozen parents were there, among them Aliya Moore, the president of the parents’ organization. Moore’s older daughter, Chrishawana, was in fifth grade and her final year at the school, where she’d been since kindergarten. Her youngest, Tylyia, just a toddler at the time, had become a fixture on the campus, often seen coloring in the back of one of the kindergarten classrooms. Moore wasn’t sure what to make of the robocall she’d received the night before summoning her to the meeting, but she knew she had to be there.

Now she and the other parents looked at Roberts, perplexed. Northwestern was a high school a 10-minute drive south on Grand Blvd., close to where Berry Gordy molded a bunch of DPS kids into Motown idols in the ’60s and ’70s. What did this possibly have to do with Oakman?

“Oakman! Oakman! I mean Oakman Elementary, we’ll be closing you,” Roberts corrected himself. He had a list of six schools to close that year, adding to the nearly 100 schools that had been shuttered since 2009, when the state took over the district in an attempt to fix its growing debt. Perhaps he could be forgiven for the mixup. Still, it stung. Amid the district’s constant chaos, Oakman, with its tight-knit community and accommodations for special-needs students, had never seemed in danger.

Rushing through a slideshow, Roberts said that the school had to close for two reasons: low enrollment and a need for $900,000 in repairs. He told the parents that their kids could attend Noble Elementary (1.2 miles away) or Henderson Elementary (2.4 miles away) the following year. Even though more School choice gutted Detroit’s public schools. The rest of the country is next. – VICE News:

Report on L.A. school shutdown shows confusion over who was in charge, technology shortcomings - LA Times

Report on L.A. school shutdown shows confusion over who was in charge, technology shortcomings - LA Times:

Report on L.A. school shutdown shows confusion over who was in charge, technology shortcomings

An  internal report on last year's unprecedented one-day shutdown of Los Angeles schools due to a terrorist threat reveals a confused chain of command among school district and city officials that hampered their ability to quickly and decisively evaluate the risk.

In the end, district officials made a cautious decision regarding the threat, which turned out to be a hoax, as was suspected very early on.

New York City schools received the same emailed threat and remained open.

Once the decision to close L.A.’s schools was made, the process of shutting down the nation’s second-largest school system, which affected the daily routines of more than a million people, unfolded with remarkable smoothness and calm: School buses turned around or never left the garage. Employees went home or stayed home. Students and parents made contingency plans. The media and officials got out the word. Officers walked through nearly 1,000 campuses.

But part of this success was due to the fact that no real emergency existed. The report acknowledges serious logistical problems outside of public view that could have mattered in an actual crisis.

The report, released in response to a Los Angeles Times public records request, affirms that law enforcement and district officials acted quickly to confront the threat, bringing impressive resources to bear. But outside law enforcement agencies also stepped aside over the question of whether schools should be closed, leaving the decision to school officials who lacked any training to evaluate the danger.

The district also was in the middle of a leadership transition, which hampered the decision-making. L.A. schools Supt. Ramon Cortines was on the verge of retirement and had turned over day-to-day control to his second-in-command, Michelle King (who, about a month later, would be named his successor). This unsettled situation crucially affected how events played out.

Cortines was not even notified of the threat until 4:55 a.m., nearly seven hours after it was Report on L.A. school shutdown shows confusion over who was in charge, technology shortcomings - LA Times:

Big Education Ape: Tom Torlakson: LAUSD School Closures - Year 2015 (CA Dept of Education) - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2015/12/tom-torlakson-lausd-school-closures.html

Big Education Ape: Closing LAUSD schools after threat was the only option - LA Times - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2015/12/closing-lausd-schools-after-threat-was.html

Ed Notes Online: Beware Tainted Research from Brookings Institute - report on school integration has limited utility

Ed Notes Online: Beware Tainted Research from Brookings Institute - report on school integration has limited utility:

Beware Tainted Research from Brookings Institute - report on school integration has limited utility

"because most forms of school choice further segregation, the report's recommendation will likely only further segregation and inequality for students."... Great Lakes Review

Yes, Brookings Inst has a dog in the race -- to continuously try to prove school choice is the answer. The Great Lakes Reports say "wait just a minute."

Recent report on school integration has limited utility for policymakers, review finds

EAST LANSING, Mich. (Dec. 19, 2016) - An October report from the Center on Children and Families at Brookings attempted to compare various research findings on school segregation with a focus on expanding urban charter schools. The report argued that school quality is the primary determinant of student achievement, and that instead of addressing school segregation, policy should focus on improving the schools that students of color and low-income students attend. However, an academic review of the report finds the report has limited use for policymakers.
Erica Frankenberg, Penn State University College of Education, reviewed the report, Segregation, Race, and Charter Schools: What Do We Know?, for the Think Twice think tank review project. Think Twice, a project of the National Education Policy Center, is funded in part by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice. Dr. Frankenberg's research has examined how the design of school choice policy affects racial and economic student stratification. This has included examining the segregation trends in charter schools as well as analyzing state and federal policy to understand why such patterns of segregation exist in charter schools.
Overall, Frankenberg says, "This report is more a distraction than a contribution." Despite its claimed attempt to investigate research findings on school segregation, the report suggests that policy attend to school quality via Ed Notes Online: Beware Tainted Research from Brookings Institute - report on school integration has limited utility:

This Mostly White City Wants To Leave Its Mostly Black School District : NPR Ed : NPR

This Mostly White City Wants To Leave Its Mostly Black School District : NPR Ed : NPR:

This Mostly White City Wants To Leave Its Mostly Black School District

DeVonte Kirkland is in his second to last year of school at Center Point High in Jefferson County, just outside of Birmingham, Ala. When he graduates next year he wants to head to Alabama State University.

DeVonte also wants a car, so he's taking some serious time to learn how to work on them. Every day, he rides a school bus 25 minutes, each direction, for an auto tech class at Gardendale High, another school on the south side of the district.

Unlike the Jefferson County schools on whole, the student body inside Gardendale's schools is mostly white. At Gardendale, DeVonte says, he's making friends, many of whom don't look like him. "Sometimes we see each other out of school, and we talk in school too. I'm learning something new from them every day," he says.

Next year, though, Gardendale's programs might not be an option for DeVonte and hundreds of other students from around Jefferson County.

Several years ago, voters in the city of Gardendale raised property taxes on themselves to try to start their own school district. The mayor of the city, Stan Hogeland, says the proposal to leave the county school system doesn't have anything to do with race, but calls it a move to do what's best for the kids in the city. "If we had our school system, with a local superintendent, and a local board that lives in town that you see when you go shopping or at church," there would be more accountability, he says.

The final decision, though, is up to a federal judge who could decide, any day now, whether Gardendale is violating civil rights if it pulls out of the Jefferson County school district.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that separate is not equal, some 60 years ago, federal courts have kept an eye on specific school districts across the country that showed a tendency toward segregation. One of those districts is Jefferson County.

The oversight dates back to 1971 when several African-American residents sued the district for segregating black and white children, and won. Since then, the federal courts have had the final say on any movement in or out of the district.

"Nobody has ever said anything to me about the real reason why they want to form This Mostly White City Wants To Leave Its Mostly Black School District : NPR Ed : NPR:

Brown exploring if new bond measure can be divvied up differently | EdSource

Brown exploring if new bond measure can be divvied up differently | EdSource:

Brown exploring if new bond measure can be divvied up differently

Gov. Jerry Brown hasn’t given up his quest to reform how the state allocates money for school construction, even though state voters last month approved a $9 billion school facilities bond that left the current funding system in place.

Brown opposed Proposition 51. He said the bond measure, which will add about $500 million to the $2.4 billion the state’s already paying annually in interest and principal payments on past school bonds, was too large, and the process for divvying the money is too convoluted and stacked against small school districts and low-income communities.

Now that what he called a “blunderbuss effort” has passed, Brown wants to revise the funding distribution system to make Prop. 51 more efficient and fairer to districts that wouldn’t get a share of the money under the current first-come, first-served basis. That prospect is worrying the coalition of school districts and the construction industry behind Prop. 51; they believe Brown might use his influence to sit on the money or not release bonding for Prop. 51 at all.

The spokesman for the state Department of Finance, which represents Brown on budget and fiscal matters, denies this will happen but confirmed that the Brown administration is exploring ways to carry out reforms.

The administration “will honor the commitment of voters and won’t sit on Prop. 51 by not issuing bonds,” said H.D. Palmer. “But the outcome of Prop. 51 did not change longstanding concerns for school financing in the state. The administration will engage with stakeholders to move forward on issues Gov. Brown has identified.”

But others predict that Brown will find that, for now, he’ll be able to change the system only at the margins. Prop. 51’s sponsor, California’s Coalition for Adequate School Housing, or CASH, crafted the initiative’s language explicitly to tie the distribution formula to existing law (the sections of the Leroy F. Greene School Brown exploring if new bond measure can be divvied up differently | EdSource:

The real problem with Head Start — and why it needs a fresh start - The Washington Post

The real problem with Head Start — and why it needs a fresh start - The Washington Post:

The real problem with Head Start — and why it needs a fresh start

A new study on Head Start finds the federal program falls far short of its goal of providing high-quality services to all young children who need them and that there are “fundamental and difficult to understand disparities across states” in access, funding and quality even though it is a federal program with uniform national standards and goals.

[Head Start is underfunded and unequal — new study]

The study on Head Start —  created to provide education, nutrition and health services to low-income children and their families —  was done by the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, says in part:

We find fundamental and difficult to understand disparities across states in access. For example, the percent of low-income 3- and 4-year-old children served in each state varies from 7 percent in Nevada to 49 percent in Mississippi. The percent of low-income infant and toddlers served varies from just over 1 percent in Nevada to almost 8 percent in the District of Columbia. Focusing on only children living in poverty, in Nevada, a number equal to 16 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds in poverty were enrolled, compared to 100 percent in North Dakota. Under age 3 the number enrolled as a percent of children in poverty ranged from 2.7 percent in Nevada to 13 percent in the District of Columbia.

Here’s a post on the study and about the future of Head Start, by Steven Barnett, a Board of Governors Professor and director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers. His research includes studies of the economics of early care and education including costs and benefits, the long-term effects of preschool programs on children’s learning and development, and the distribution of educational opportunities. Dr. Barnett earned his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Michigan. He has authored or co-authored over 180 publications. He is co-author, along with Allison Friedman-Krauss Ph.D., of the State(s) of Head Start report.

By W. Steven Barnett

The first five years of life can set children on a path toward success — or failure  – in school and beyond.  Understanding the unique importance of these early years, the federal government in 1965 launched Head Start to boost the learning and development of young children disadvantaged by poverty.  But in order to achieve this ambitious goal, Head Start must be able to deliver high-quality services to all the children who need it.

Yet, our new study finds Head Start falls far short of this goal. Despite important progress over the past 8 years, nationwide Head Start enrolls less than half the intended children and families — and even this spotty access is highly unequal.

Our report, “State(s) of Head Start,” finds the program has never been funded adequately, The real problem with Head Start — and why it needs a fresh start - The Washington Post:

The new standardized testing craze to hit public schools - The Washington Post

The new standardized testing craze to hit public schools - The Washington Post:

The new standardized testing craze to hit public schools

Last year, the Obama administration conceded that U.S. public school students were taking too many standardized tests, this after after a revolt among students, parents and teachers, and after a two-year study found that there was no evidence that adding testing time improves student achievement. But if you thought that the administration’s admission meant that the problem was on its way to being resolved, guess again.

[Obama’s real education legacy: Common Core, testing, charter schools]

Today the rise of online or computer-based testing threatens  to reverse whatever progress has been made in reducing the number of tests in the last year. The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, known as FairTest, a non-profit organization that works to end the abuse and misuse of standardized tests, has put out a new fact sheet about this program, which says in part:

Education policymakers and technology providers have joined forces to accelerate a longtime push for “test data-driven” education interventions. Both sectors look to computer-based curricula and data collected with online tests to control classrooms and define educational outcomes.

Though couched in humanistic language about “personalization,” such a transformation is leading to even more frequent standardized testing. This narrows and dumbs down instruction to what low-level tests can measure, depresses student engagement, and produces inaccurate indicators of learning.

Here’s a piece on this trend, by Lisa Guisbond, a testing reform analyst at FairTest.

By Lisa Guisbond

Long Island parent Jeanette Deutermann is only half-joking when she says she should give a Christmas gift to her son’s school computer this year instead of the teacher. She sees the way computer-based curriculum-plus-testing packages have taken control of her son’s classroom, and she doesn’t like it.

Deutermann has been a leader in New York State’s unprecedented opt-out movement. Now she is calling out the latest damaging twist in education reformers’ efforts to fatten the pig by weighing it even more often.

Deutermann’s fifth-grade son and his classmates are among those on the edge of this craze, now that their school has adopted a product called i-Ready. She’s alarmed that her son gets The new standardized testing craze to hit public schools - The Washington Post:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Pres. Obama

"You've got a situation where they're not only entire states but also big chunks of states where, if we're not showing up, if we're not in there making an argument, then we're going to lose," Obama told NPR. "And we can lose badly, and that's what happened in this election." -- CNN

John Podesta, Clinton campaign chairman

"...you know I'm not saying that it's everybody else's fault. We bear responsibility for the outcome as well...So it will take a while. But I think we owe it to our supporters to say what we think we did right, what we think we did wrong. I think Wisconsin, we could have done better. There's no question about it... And-- but there's no question that we didn't make every right decision." 

Reporter Yamiche Alcindor responds

"What struck me most was the fact that he sounded really flustered when you asked [Podesta] about Wisconsin, and you asked him about their decision making within the campaign... He had all those other answers, but when it came to his own campaign and how it was run, he wasn't as strong." -- Meet the Press

 Thomas E. Mann, resident scholar at the Institute of Governmental Studies

“The old notion that somehow there are all these impostors out there, people not Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

Beyond Vouchers: How Trump Could Boost Private School Choice - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Beyond Vouchers: How Trump Could Boost Private School Choice - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

Beyond Vouchers: How Trump Could Boost Private School Choice

Since President-elect Donald Trump nominated Betsy DeVos to be his education secretary, there's been a lot of discussion about how a Trump administration could expand school choice. Could Trump and DeVos, for example, push to "voucherize" at least some federal education money? Trump has expressed support for the idea on the campaign trail through his $20 billion choice proposal, and DeVos has a long history of backing vouchers in Michigan and elsewhere.

But getting vouchers through Congress might be a very tough sell. Similar proposals, including the idea of making Title I money for disadvantaged kids "portable" at states' discretion, have been tried before without success. And there are also big questions about a federal voucher program's reach and logistical challenges. So what other avenues are there for Trump, DeVos, and Congress to expand private school choice? Let's explore a few of them.

Tax-Credit Scholarships

Generally speaking, tax-credit scholarships allow individuals and corporations to claim a tax credit Beyond Vouchers: How Trump Could Boost Private School Choice - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

Appellate Court Denies School District's Claim That It Would Suffer Irreparable Harm by Granting Equal Restroom Access to Transgender Student

Education Law Prof Blog:

Appellate Court Denies School District's Claim That It Would Suffer Irreparable Harm by Granting Equal Restroom Access to Transgender Student

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of a transgender student's access to facilities consistent with her gender identity, bring the number of favorable circuit courts to two.  In Dodds v. U.S. Department of Education, the court refused to read too much into the Supreme Court's recent stay in Grimm v. Gloucester:

The crux of this case is whether transgender students are entitled to access restrooms for their identified gender rather than their biological gender at birth. To demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits, the movant must show, “at a minimum, serious questions going to the merits.” Mich. Coal., 945 F.2d at 153 (internal citation omitted). “It is not enough that the chance of success on the merits be better than negligible.” Nken, 556 U.S. at 435 (citation omitted). “[M]ore than a possibility of relief is required.” Id. While the Supreme Court has stayed a similar case from another Circuit, see G.G. ex rel. Grimm v. Gloucester Cty. Sch. Bd., 136 S. Ct. 2442 (Mem), that fact does not satisfy the test required of us here, and does nothing more than show a possibility of relief, which is not enough to grant a stay.

To be clear, however, this court did not rule on the merits of the issue of whether Title IX requires admission to the restroom. As an appeal of a preliminary junction, the court focused, appropriately so, on the irreparable harm the Education Law Prof Blog: