John Thompson: Virtual learning oversight: 'Riding a donkey into the space age'

Virtual learning oversight: 'Riding a donkey into the space age'

Virtual learning oversight: ‘Riding a donkey into the space age’

Earlier this month, I met with three administrators at the Oklahoma State Department of Education  who have been wrestling with accountability issues for virtual and blended schools, especially for-profit charters like Epic Charter Schools.

As spokesperson Steffie Corcoran told me, devising oversight systems for these schools is complex because “there is a physical world and a virtual world.”

The OSDE has earned a reputation for professionalism, but changes in education models are outpacing legislation and policy. In terms of monitoring a rapidly emerging landscape of online instruction, Deputy Superintendent Monty Guthrie said, “We’re riding a donkey into the space age.”  

Oklahoma’s approach to public school oversight has long stressed local control by the districts’ governing boards. There has often been a tension between the desire for school choice and flexibility and the need for regulations to protect students and taxpayers. Any attempt to hold schools like Epic more accountable in the future would have to acknowledge that history.

The dubious nature of attendance metrics

As bizarre as it sounds, the U.S. has rushed down the path toward online instruction without conducting adequate research or thoroughly contemplating the downsides of virtual schooling. Believe it or not, Oklahoma is more engaged than most states in discussions over virtual school accountability.

One of the most complicated questions involves how to define and implement attendance CONTINUE READING: Virtual learning oversight: 'Riding a donkey into the space age'

A Reckoning for the Inexcusable?: “No Excuses” and the Collapse of Misguided Educational Reform | radical eyes for equity

A Reckoning for the Inexcusable?: “No Excuses” and the Collapse of Misguided Educational Reform | radical eyes for equity

A Reckoning for the Inexcusable?: “No Excuses” and the Collapse of Misguided Educational Reform

Valeria Strauss has offered questions at The Answer Sheet: Some ‘no-excuses’ charter schools say they are changing. Are they? Can they?—including an answer by Mira Debs, Joanne Golann, and Chris Torres.

As a long-time critic of “no excuses” (and the target of harsh backlash for that criticism), I want here to note briefly that this apparent reckoning for “no excuses” practices in the education of mostly black, brown, and poor students is yet another piece of the developing puzzle that will create a clear picture of the predicted failures of educational reform begun under Ronald Reagan and then expanded under George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Pet elements of that educational reform movement have come and gone (value-added methods for evaluating teachers [VAM], Common Core), but the foundational approaches (accountability grounded in standards and high-stakes testing) seem deeply entrenched and confirmation of the cliche about insanity (doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results).

Just glancing at my public work, I have over 70 posts criticizing “no excuses” as a deficit perspective, as racist and classist, and as a distraction from addressing the larger causes for low achievement by vulnerable populations of students.

A good portion of that scholarship and advocacy led to an edited volume CONTINUE READING: A Reckoning for the Inexcusable?: “No Excuses” and the Collapse of Misguided Educational Reform | radical eyes for equity

Broad’s Academy and Residencies Fuel the Destroy Public Education Agenda | tultican

Broad’s Academy and Residencies Fuel the Destroy Public Education Agenda | tultican

Broad’s Academy and Residencies Fuel the Destroy Public Education Agenda

By T. Ultican 8/29/2019

In 2002, the billionaire, Eli Broad, established his own education leadership training program. Although he is the only person ever to create two Fortune 500 companies, Broad, who attended public school, has no other experience or training in education. However he is so rich, he can just institute his opinions such as his belief that education knowledge is not needed to run large urban school systems; consultants can be hired for that knowledge.

Peter Greene, the author of the popular blog Curmudgucation, framed this absurdity in his own snarky fashion:

“But Broad does not believe that schools have an education problem; he believes they have a management problem. School leadership does not need an infusion of educational leadership– they need business guys, leadership guys. And so Broad launched the Superintendent’s Academy by ignoring completely the usual requirements for Superintendent certification or program accreditation. The Board Superintendent Academy exists by its own force of will. It’s kind of awesome– there is no external governing or certifying board of any sort declaring that the Broad Superintendent’s Academy is a legitimate thing, and yet, it exists and thrives.

“I myself plan to soon open the Curmudgucation Academy of Brain Surgery, or maybe a School Of  Fine Art Production. I have everything I need to make these highly successful, with the possible exception of enough power and money to get people to listen to me whether I know what the hell I’m talking about or not.”

In Pasi Sahlberg’s and William Doyle’s new book Let the Children Play, there are many anecdotes that demonstrate the fallacy of Broad’s education opinions. They describe the growing crisis developing especially in the lower grades and CONTINUE READING: Broad’s Academy and Residencies Fuel the Destroy Public Education Agenda | tultican

What Cory Booker isn’t telling us about the Newark water crisis Or How Did Newark Get Flint Water?

What Cory Booker isn’t telling us about the Newark water crisis. |

What Cory Booker isn’t telling us about the Newark water crisis.

BY GUY STERLING

Guy Sterling, a longtime resident of Newark and a member of the Newark Water Group, spent almost 30 years as reporter with The Star-Ledger when the paper was located in the Newark.

Booker with political ally, former GOP Gov. Chris Christie

Newark’s biggest scandal since the one that led to the downfall of the notorious mob-linked mayor Hugh Addonizio 50 years ago occurred during the administration of now U.S. Senator and presidential hopeful Cory Booker.

To date, eight persons have pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the looting of more than $1 million of taxpayer money from the entity that was created to manage the city’s watershed property in North Jersey and deliver clean drinking water to Newark’s homes, schools and businesses.

One other person charged in the case remains awaiting trial.

Two of the eight, including the former executive director, got lengthy prison sentences, while the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark has not said if its investigation of the entity, known as the Newark Watershed Conservation and CONTINUE READING: What Cory Booker isn’t telling us about the Newark water crisis. |

Jeff Bryant: Flint’s Crisis Reveals National Failure On School ‘Leadership’ | OurFuture.org by People's Action

Flint’s Crisis Reveals National Failure On School ‘Leadership’ | OurFuture.org by People's Action

Flint’s Crisis Reveals National Failure On School ‘Leadership’

Flint, Michigan, became a national poster child for incompetence and corruption when a small group of autocratic officials put in charge by the state’s governor made the infamous decision to supply lead-tainted water to the public.

But long before Flint’s water crisis, the practice of outsourcing critical decisions to a small circle of individuals with little vested interest in the community was also the way to determine who would run Flint’s schools.

In 2005, Walter Milton Jr. became superintendent of Flint City Schools in large part because the city hired a superintendent search firm that recommended him. But even before he officially took office, news broke that his application for the position included degrees he had not earned. After taking office, his first actions to close and consolidate schools drew opposition from parents and teachers who complained of overcrowded conditions and textbook shortages.

More outrage ensued when he hired a director of curriculum for the school district who had been convicted of child molestation. It’s not clear how Milton left his position, but his tenure lasted just 17 months and likely cost the district a hefty buy-out package.

While multiple people are usually involved in hiring decisions of this type, at least one school board member blamed the search firm that recommended him.

That firm—Schaumburg, Illinois-based Hazard, Young, Attea, and Associates (HYA)—overlooked things that should have turned up in a thorough background check, particularly his fake degree and problems with his previous tenure as superintendent of schools in Fallsburg, New York. In that position, he hired the very same person convicted of child molestation he would also hire in Flint.

The man was a longtime business partner of Milton’s and raised much attention in Fallsburg. A state audit shortly after Milton left Fallsburg found that during his tenure he “was overpaid” for “vacation time, and personal items, like moving expenses, CONTINUE READING: Flint’s Crisis Reveals National Failure On School ‘Leadership’ | OurFuture.org by People's Action

The Forever Activists: NEA's Retired members fight on - Education Votes

The Forever Activists: NEA's Retired members fight on - Education Votes

The Forever Activists: NEA’s Retired members fight on

By Emily Bricker, Mallory Johnson, Amanda Menas, and Danielle Sklarew / lead photo courtesy of Mads Johansen

The National Education Association is a powerhouse of advocacy on issues that matter for public schools. What many don’t realize is the major role that retired educators play in amping up that advocacy.

More than 200,000 educators remain union members in retirement, to stay informed about issues affecting education and take action to stop policies that can hurt public schools. 

NEA-Retired President Sarah Borgman.

“Why wouldn’t I want to continue to be active in the only organization that truly fights for public education, my profession, and our students?” asks retired Indiana teacher Sarah Borgman.

Borgman, the current elected president of NEA-Retired, says that staying active in advocacy efforts since ending her formal career in the classroom was “simply the right thing to do.”

Leading the fastest growing membership category of the NEA, Borgman advocates with other members on issues such as education funding, teacher and bus driver shortages, school safety, teacher pay, and the overuse of standardized tests.

“The whole gambit of theories, trial and errors, political ploys using public education…you name it, we’ve seen it!” says Borgman.

State education associations work with their Retired chapters to organize around state CONTINUE READING: The Forever Activists: NEA's Retired members fight on - Education Votes

School Shooting Threat & Racist Image Draw Attention To Local High Schools - Elk Grove Tribune

School Shooting Threat & Racist Image Draw Attention To Local High Schools - Elk Grove Tribune

School Shooting Threat & Racist Image Draw Attention To Local High Schools

School Shooting Threat Neutralized

Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department says they’ve detained at least one student in relation to a school shooting threat. The student in custody is from Elk Grove and attends Elk Grove Charter School. Two Arden Arcade High Schools, Jesuit High School and Rio Americano High School, were apparently the targets of the threat, prompting law enforcement to lock both schools down. The online threat,  as well as the arrest of the minor suspect, occurred on Tuesday afternoon.

Officials say the threat was posted on social media. Additionally, officials placed both El Camino Fundamental High School and Del Dayo Elementary School under a shelter-in-place order. Earlier this month 3 mass shootings rocked the nation, raising alarms about gun and school safety.

Elk Grove Unified School District released the following statement on the incident: CONTINUE READING: School Shooting Threat & Racist Image Draw Attention To Local High Schools - Elk Grove Tribune

More Trouble For Rio Americano

Important to note, this is the second time in the space of a week Rio American High School has been in the news. Last week students at the Arden Arcade high school received a racist image of the school website on their cell phones. Supposedly, the image was apparently altered to include racist statements, according to officials. The image included the words, “District-Wide High School No Black People Policy.”

The Arden Arcade Area is not quite as diverse as some other areas of Sacramento. Consequently, the ramifications of such racist imagery is that African Americans students and families of Rio Americano High School, as well as non-Caucasian students and families are feeling a bit less welcome. CONTINUE READING: School Shooting Threat & Racist Image Draw Attention To Local High Schools - Elk Grove Tribune

At Your Wits’ End With A Screen-Obsessed Kid? Read This (Anya Kamenetz and Chloee Weiner) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

At Your Wits’ End With A Screen-Obsessed Kid? Read This (Anya Kamenetz and Chloee Weiner) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

At Your Wits’ End With A Screen-Obsessed Kid? Read This (Anya Kamenetz and Chloee Weiner)

This article is based on a podcast episode that appeared in National Public Radio’s Life Kit. It was published June 30, 2019. Anya Kamenetz and Chloee Weiner are NPR journalists.

Geoff and Ellie live in a suburban Chicago neighborhood that looks familiar from movies like Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off — both filmed in the area.

They have three kids — Nathan, 5, Benji, 11, and Abby, 14 — and they’re worried that all three are too into their screens.

An all-too-common experience

Ninety-eight percent of families with children now have smartphones. Young children Nathan’s age consume over two hours of media per day on average, tweens take in about six hours, and teens use their devices for nine hours a day, according to the nonprofit Common Sense Media.

Technology overuse ranked as the No. 1 fear of parents of teenagers in a national survey last year.

As we sit in the family room, Ellie tell us how it feels to have a houseful of tiny electronic devices that travel with her kids into their bedrooms, to the table, in the car — everywhere.

“We’re the first generation of parents that has to do this monitoring,” Ellie says.

Case in point: Nathan, her 5-year-old, is tugging at her sleeve:

“Mommy, Mommy. MOMMY, CAN I PLAY ON YOUR IPAD? CAN I NOW?! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!”

The problem with time-based rules

How did Geoff and Ellie get here? They are not hands-off parents, nor are they CONTINUE READING: At Your Wits’ End With A Screen-Obsessed Kid? Read This (Anya Kamenetz and Chloee Weiner) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Parent-teacher partnerships are crucial for students

Parent-teacher partnerships are crucial for students

OPINION: Parents, here’s why your most important partner may be your child’s teacher (and vice versa)
Seven ways that family collaboration can benefit students

As teachers return to the start of school following summer break, I hope they will take some time to reflect on ways to effectively communicate and partner with the families of the students they teach.

Particularly for educators in early and elementary education, they have a chance to set the course for how families imagine school and family connections. As a parent of young children, I know for sure that I am doing the very best I can to support them for school success. But, even as a university professor of education, I still experience a deep level of anxiety and vulnerability about how best to partner with teachers to support my children.

As I’ve communicated with other families across the United States, I have learned that they too yearn for opportunities to build stronger partnerships with teachers.

Similar to a doctor with a bedside manner that fosters respect and trust when working with patients and their families, teachers can design initial and subsequent interactions with families that demonstrate trust, collaboration and advocacy, giving them a better chance of effectively meeting the needs of students.

Related: To help first-generation students succeed, colleges enlist their parents

I believe teachers can learn something really powerful about how to communicate with families and build sustainable partnerships with them. As teachers prepare to build and cultivate positive, relevant CONTINUE READING: Parent-teacher partnerships are crucial for students

BACK TO SCHOOL: A parent’s guide to K-12 school success

A parent’s guide to K-12 school success

click on picture

What Schools Can Do To Support Parents

• Recognize that all parents, regardless of income, education or cultural background, are involved in their children's learning and want their children to do well.
• Design programs that will support families to guide their children's learning,from preschool through high school.
• Develop the capacity of school staff and families to work together.
• Link activities and programs for families to improving student learning.
• Focus on developing trusting and respectful relationships among staff and families.
• Build families' social and political connections.
• Embrace a philosophy of partnership and be willing to share power.
• Make sure that parents, school staff, and community members understand that the responsibility for children's educational development is a collaborative enterprise.
• Build strong connections between schools and community organizations.
• Include families in all strategies to reduce the achievement gap between white, middle-class students and low-income students and students of color.

Pete Buttigieg on DeVos, Charter Schools, and the Federal Role in Education - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Pete Buttigieg on DeVos, Charter Schools, and the Federal Role in Education - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Pete Buttigieg on DeVos, Charter Schools, and the Federal Role in Education 

It's unusual for criticisms of a cabinet official to play a role in a presidential primary. And it's even more unusual for a candidate to fundraise using ads attacking the U.S. Secretary of Education. But that's just what South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg has done as he's sought to distinguish himself from a crowded Democratic presidential primary field.

In a series of social media ads, Buttigieg says U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has "turned her back on lower-income and middle class Americans" by slow-walking of Obama-era regulations designed to protect students from predatory lenders and for-profit colleges. [DeVos has sought to target the program to a narrower slice of defrauded students, saying some debt relief could amount to "free money."]

In a phone interview from Los Angeles on Wednesday, Buttigieg spoke with Education Week about DeVos, the federal role in education, teacher pay, and his views on charter schools, which have been an unusually prominent topic in the primary.

To be sure, Buttigieg is not the only candidate who has criticized DeVos, a popular target for Democratic candidates courting teachers' unions for an endorsement. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has a whole section on her Senate webpage called "DeVos watch," and has CONTINUE READING: Pete Buttigieg on DeVos, Charter Schools, and the Federal Role in Education - Politics K-12 - Education Week

A battle over California charter schools ends — for now — with a deal in Sacramento - Los Angeles Times

A battle over California charter schools ends — for now — with a deal in Sacramento - Los Angeles Times

A battle over California charter schools ends — for now — with a deal in Sacramento 

SACRAMENTO — 

Warring factions of California’s K-12 education system have reached
an agreement on legislation that would place new restrictions on charter schools and pause a long-standing battle at the state Capitol between politically powerful teachers unions and deep-pocketed charter advocates.

The deal, announced Wednesday,
gives public school districts more authority to reject petitions for new charter campuses, phases in stricter credentialing requirements for charter school teachers and places a two-year moratorium on new virtual charter schools. The accord marks a rare compromise between groups that
have poured millions into local and statewide campaigns to gain leverage in a fight over public education dollars.

Aides to Gov. Gavin Newsom held separate meetings with each side and acted as an intermediary in intense negotiations over Assembly Bill 1505 that they said began in late spring. The governor, who was publicly optimistic about striking an agreement ahead of a looming legislative deadline, said talks continued throughout the weekend and late into the night this week.

“A lot of hard work has gone into this,
and all that matters to me is the result,” Newsom told reporters Tuesday. “If we can pull something off, it’s a significant thing and it’s not easy. A lot of people have strong opinions on both sides.”

The agreement could allow the Newsom administration to move past a complex political issue that has splintered the Capitol and threatened to dominate the education policy debate during his tenure.

Newsom’s office said the bill, the biggest revision of state charter school
law in more than 25 years, settles critical points of contention between charters and traditional public schools and lays a foundation for the groups to work together on efforts that are in the best interest of children. Some education advocates are hopeful that charter backers and teachers unions will team up on 2020 ballot measures to increase school funding, instead of fighting over reform.

Charter schools in California are publicly funded and independently operated. Originally authorized in 1992 legislation to promote educational innovation, charter schools have evolved from an experiment to a system that enrolls more than 600,000 students across the state. California ties education funding to enrollment,
and charters have often been pitted against traditional neighborhood schools in a competition for students.

Teachers unions and reform advocates have accused charter schools of draining the financial resources of local districts that might already be strapped and have
argued that the state gives districts little say when it comes to approving new schools. Critics have also called for more accountability for charter operations and performance.

State law currently requires a school district to approve any new charters that meet basic requirements. Charter school proponents can appeal denials to a county board of education and then the State Board of Education, an entity whose members are appointed by the governor and tended to side with new charters under former Gov. Jerry Brown.

The new agreement provides some notable wins to teachers unions, which
negotiated the deal with a labor coalition that included the California Teachers Assn., California Federation of Teachers, California Labor Federation and California School Employees Assn.

“After months of honest and difficult conversations, we have made significant progress on behalf of our students,” the labor coalition said in a statement. “We believe the measure California lawmakers will vote on will lead to a more equitable learning environment for students in California’s neighborhood public schools.”

Under the bill, local school boards would be allowed to reject new charter petitions based on the school’s potential fiscal effects
on the district and whether the charter seeks to offer programs that the district already provides, according to the governor’s office.

The deal would require all new charter school teachers to hold the same credentials as traditional public schools next year and phase in requirements for existing teachers over five years, the governor’s office said.

The proposal would also eliminate the state board’s role as a chartering authority, allowing it only to weigh appeals to determine whether
a school district abused its discretion in denying the petition.

Under existing law, the agency that grants a petition allowing a charter to operate is often responsible for providing oversight of that school regardless of where its campus is located — the Board of Education in Sacramento has, in some instances, overseen charter schools as far away as Los Angeles and San Diego.

Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach), a former high school teacher who introduced Assembly Bill 1505 this year, criticized the system in a July hearing. CONTINUE READING: A battle over California charter schools ends — for now — with a deal in Sacramento - Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles: Controversial Charter Leader Takes Over Low-Performing “Learn4Life” Centers | Diane Ravitch's blog

Los Angeles: Controversial Charter Leader Takes Over Low-Performing “Learn4Life” Centers | Diane Ravitch's blog

Los Angeles: Controversial Charter Leader Takes Over Low-Performing “Learn4Life” Centers

Caprice Young is a star of the charter industry in California. She was a member and president of the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District. She was founder of the California Charter Schools Association, the well-heeled lobbyists for the private charter sector, which fights off accountability and transparency with the help of billionaires like Reed Hastings and Eli Broad. She is a graduate of the unaccredited Broad Academy. She led an embattled chain of Gulen charter schools in Los Angeles called Magnolia.

And now she will serve as superintendent of California’s floundering “Learn4Life” Centers.

The press release from Learn4Life says the chain enrolls 20,000 students in California, Ohio, and Michigan, but the Broad Center says it enrolls 40,000, in those states.

The Learn4Life charter schools are basically operated in malls and storefronts. Students drop in once a week to pick up their assignments. The schools collect huge sums from the state for low-quality “education,” if you can call it “education.”

Investigative reporter Will Huntsberry of the Voice of San CONTINUE READING: Los Angeles: Controversial Charter Leader Takes Over Low-Performing “Learn4Life” Centers | Diane Ravitch's blog

CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Poorer Districts Worst Hit By Cyber Schools

CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Poorer Districts Worst Hit By Cyber Schools

PA: Poorer Districts Worst Hit By Cyber Schools

A study released in February shows that poorer school districts are bearing the brunt of funding Pennsylvania's cyber schools. The study was published in the American Journal of Education, and you can tell it's serious because its title is painfully dull: Cyber Charter Schools and Growing Resource Inequality among Public Districts: Geospatial Patterns and Consequences of a Statewide Choice Policy in Pennsylvania, 2002–2014.

Bryan Mann (University of Alabama) is a professor of education policy and foundations, and co-author David Baker (Penn State) is a professor of sociology, education and demographics. As the title suggests, they looked at the changes in cyber enrollment and the patterns and financial costs of that enrollment from 2002 to 2014. And because it's behind an academic paywall, we'll have to depend on second-hand reporting of the results, as well as their own writing about it..

The abstract of the study, translated from heavy academese, boils down to this:

When cyberschools started, everyone said, "Cool! Computers! I bet that'll make kids damned smart!" But then it turned out that cyber schools don't actually school well at all, and as word got out in the media, upscale communities ditched it, while enrollment in poorer areas kept up. So now districts with low tax bases are losing "significant revenue" to the cybers, despite the "dubious academic benefits."

From the anecdotal perspective of someone who taught in a less-wealthy rural-ish district, that sounds about right.

There are several other takeaways from the CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Poorer Districts Worst Hit By Cyber Schools

John Thompson Reviews an Important New Book About Privatization of Public Services | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Thompson Reviews an Important New Book About Privatization of Public Services | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Thompson Reviews an Important New Book About Privatization of Public Services

John Thompson, historian and retired teacher, reviews an important new book.

Lawrence Baines’ Privatization of America’s Public Institutions: The Story of the American Sellout combines analyses of assaults on four public sectors, the military, corrections departments, public schools, and higher education, to reveal the immense scale of privatization and its dangers. Dr. Baines, the Associate Dean of Education at the University of Oklahoma, shows that “Privatization is no longer an occasional strategy to help improve efficiency of a particular public service.” It “has become an automatic response to any perceived governmental inefficiency.” Baines carefully documents the ways that “Privatization is changing the nature of America’s public institutions and consequently, the character of the country.”

The first chapter, “Privatizing the Military: Profiting from the Carnage of War,” foreshadows a frightening pattern that explains why I, for one, was slow to see the full nature of the threat. It starts in 2007 with the killing of 17 persons in Baghdad by mercenaries employed by Erik Prince’s Blackwater. The people I know were horrified by that and other behavior of contract fighters when Dick Chaney, formerly of Halliburton, was Vice President. I had no idea, however, that by 2015, private contractors in the CONTINUE READING: John Thompson Reviews an Important New Book About Privatization of Public Services | Diane Ravitch's blog