Thursday, January 13, 2011

Rendell assails proposed school-voucher plan - Philly.com

Rendell assails proposed school-voucher plan

January 12, 2011|By Dan Hardy, Inquirer Staff Writer

Gov. Rendell urged his successor Tuesday to not cut education spending in the state's next budget, and came out against a proposed voucher program that would help low-income students from low-performing schools attend either private schools or public schools in other districts.

After touting Pennsylvania's top-10 national ranking in a report released Tuesday by Education Week, Rendell said at a news conference that there were "going to have to be [state budget] cuts next year, and those cuts are going to be painful."

Rendell - who made a point of increasing the state's funding of basic education in each of his eight years as governor - conceded that the state's multibillion-dollar budget gap makes that impossible

Shanker Blog » Premises, Presentation And Predetermination In The Gates MET Study

Premises, Presentation And Predetermination In The Gates MET Study

by Matthew Di Carlo

The National Education Policy Center today released a scathing review of last month’s preliminary report from the Gates Foundation-funded Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project. The critique was written by Jesse Rothstein, a highly-respected Berkeley economist and author of an elegant and oft-cited paper demonstrating how non-random classroom assignment biases value-added estimates (also see the follow-up analysis).

Very quickly on the project: Over two school years (this year and last), MET researchers, working in six large districts—Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Dallas, Denver, Hillsborough County (FL), Memphis, New York City, and Pittsburgh—have been gathering an unprecedented collection of data on teachers and students, grades 4-8. Using a variety of assessments, videotapes of classroom instruction, and surveys (student surveys are featured in the preliminary report), the project is attempting to address some of the heretofore under-addressed issues in the measurement of teacher quality (especially non-random classroom assignment and how different classroom

The Answer Sheet - Are more high-stakes tests inevitable? A teacher says 'no'

Are more high-stakes tests inevitable? A teacher says 'no'

This was written by educator Anthony Cody, who taught science for 18 years in inner-city Oakland and now works with a team of science teacher-coaches that supports novice teachers. He is a National Board-certified teacher and an active member of the Teacher Leaders Network. This post appeared on his Education Week Teacher blog, Living in Dialogue. By Anthony Cody There are a great many fallacies swirling around our schools, and perhaps the biggest among them is that more testing, and ever higher stakes attached to tests, is inevitable, and thus resistance by teachers, students and parents is futile. Nothing could be further from the truth. The proponents of educational reform have committed the greatest error of the powerful. They have promised far more than they can deliver, and their enterprise is already failing by the markers they laid down.

Ruth Bloom’s swipe on way out | Thoughts on Public Education

Ruth Bloom’s swipe on way out
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State Board criticizes battles among fiefdoms

Posted on 1/13/11 • Categorized as State Board of Education

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

Saying she is “a bit disheartened” after seven years on the State Board of Education, Board Vice President Ruth Bloom exited this week with stinging criticism of the Department of Education and the Legislature and strong advice to her successors.

“The reality is, is that there is no cooperation among the various fiefdoms in Sacramento,” she said in prepared remarks at the start of the State Board meeting Wednesday. “…the Legislature doesn’t want anything to do with the Board of Education except to encourage us to pass a pet project, or to make the regulations (written by the mostly arrogant staff of the

Daily Kos: That is what Gabby wants.

That is what Gabby wants.

by teacherken

I will explain my title only at the end. Please bear with me.

I do not normally read Dana Milbank. Shortly after his column today went up online, my wife read it, and told me I would want to read Arizona shooting inspires the best of politics. She was right. And I think you will want to read it as well.

It begins simply enough:

On Saturday, one member of Congress took a bullet to the head - and 434 of her colleagues stared into the abyss.
On Wednesday, chastened lawmakers returned to the Capitol vowing to change their hostile ways.

Regardless of the causes of the shooting, there was recognition by the Members of the House of the same spiri

Notes from the Field « City School Stories

Notes from the Field

by fmurphy

Chicago, Philadelphia: All the Same in The Bull’s-Eye of Reform

Submitted by Frank Murphy, January 13, 2011

Yesterday, in an article published in the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago mayoral candidate Miguel del Valle was attributed as saying, “Let’s stop attacking teachers”. Mr. del Valle is one of several candidates, including Rahm Emanuel, the former chief of staff of President Obama, who are seeking to be the next mayor of Chicago.

Miguel del Valle’s comment was made within the context of a broader statement in support of Chicago teachers he made in reference to the proposed “Performance Counts” legislation that is currently being considered in the Illinois state legislature. I discussed this proposed bill in this post at cityschoolstories.com.

It is refreshing to hear a candidate for an elective office taking a stand in support of teachers instead of pursuing the increasingly popular political tactic of bashing and scapegoating them. Even more interesting is his willingness to state his opposition to the idea that teacher unions should be denied the power to strike. Political

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Gates' 'value-added' study is full of holes

Gates' 'value-added' study is full of holes

by Mike Klonsky

"Slightly better than a coin toss"

A study released last month by the Gates Foundation supposedly offered up “some of the strongest evidence to date of the validity of ‘value-added’ analysis.” VAA makes the claim that teachers' effectiveness can be reliably estimated by gauging their students' progress on standardized tests. But Jesse Rothstein,an economist at UC Berkeley, argues that the analyses in the report do not support its conclusions.

Rothstein reviewed the Gates study for the Think Twice think tank review project. His review is published by the National Education Policy Center, housed at the University of Colorado . Rothstein, who in 2009-10 served as

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Modern School: Left Wing Sellout in Chicago?

Left Wing Sellout in Chicago?

by noreply@blogger.com (Michael Dunn)

When the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) took over the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) last year, many teachers were hopeful that things would change, especially the horrible policies of Arne Duncan and the collaborationist policies of the old school CTU. CORE includes many leftists, including members of the International Socialist Organization and they campaigned on a platform of fighting against the attacks on teachers, layoffs and testing.

However, CORE and the new CTU have failed to deliver. As is typical of so many teachers unions, CTU accepted

Modern School: Texas Anti-Immigration Hysteria

Texas Anti-Immigration Hysteria

by noreply@blogger.com (Michael Dunn)

Just when you thought Arizona had usurped Texas’ standing as the most xenophobic state in the nation, Texas has come back with a host of proposed new anti-immigrant legislation, including one that requires public schools to collect and maintain a “blacklist of undocumented students.” Because schools cannot oust children based on their residency status, the law is mostly toothless. However, it will likely ratchet up the climate of bigotry and intimidation in Texas and frighten some parents into pulling their kids from school.

For details on the plethora of racist, paranoid and proto-fascist laws being considered by the Texas legislature,

School Tech Connect: This Is How It's Done

This Is How It's Done

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

Ok this is like, weird. It’s a Democrat sounding like a Democrat. It’s Senator Dan Kotowski (D-Park Ridge), and he can barely use his voice but that doesn’t stop him from standing up. He talks about how the minority party was totally on-message during the debate-- they were all about job-killing this, job-killing that, and how everyone’s going to decamp to Indiana and Missouri if we temporarily raise taxes. One senator even read a letter from a constituent who announced he was moving his business to Missouri if the tax increase passed. We’ll review that section of the video in six months and then

From LAUSD to New York City Public School and everything in between: A NATIONAL SCANDAL OF EPIC PROPORTIONS by Susan Lee Schwartz Part 2 - Perdaily.com

From LAUSD to New York City Public School and everything in between: A NATIONAL SCANDAL OF EPIC PROPORTIONS by Susan Lee Schwartz Part 2

by Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) Ordinary people who believe in the law of the land are incredulous and say, "How can our public school systems across the country be so corrupt?

SIMPLE -with the help of the media and the complicity of the union. You see, while the media focuses and points the finger at those "bad teachers," at the 'dead-wood" the union mishandles tens of thousands of cases.

THE WAY IT WORKS:

• The crucial point where the contract would prevent charges based on abusive, false allegations from being IS AT THE SITE!
• But, the union's rep on-site is a teacher who depends on the principal for everything: the student load, the duties, the materials, the program. Collusion with administration has become epidemic here and grievance procedures are abandoned or subverted.

IT IS SO SIMPLE!

To bypass the grievance procedure MANDATED in a contract, the principal tells a parent to complain directly to

IFT > YOU MADE THE DIFFERENCE

IFT >

YOU MADE THE DIFFERENCE

Recent days in Springfield have been some of the most challenging we have ever encountered. In the face of the vicious attacks on teaching, unions and our most basic right to collectively bargain, you stayed informed, spoke out and made your voices heard. Make no mistake about it - YOU MADE THE DIFFERENCE. I have never been more proud to be an educator and a member of our union, the IFT.  

Since December, IFT members have visited the union's Web site andFacebook page in record numbers. You have sent nearly 50,000 e-mails and made countless phone calls to your legislators telling them to protect our collective bargaining rights. You have asked lawmakers to support a desperately needed tax increase to avert thousands of layoffs, help the state pay school districts and vendors billions of dollars in overdue payments and provide critical revenue for public education and state services.

Your successful efforts on behalf of our state’s students and citizens will have a tremendous positive impact for years to come. Early this morning, the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation to increase the individual income tax from 3 to 5 percent to help our state climb out of its $15 billion deficit and get back on sound fiscal footing. The House and Senate also passed a bill that would allow the state to borrow fund

NJEA plans to fight Christie on eliminating teacher tenure - pressofAtlanticCity.com: Today's Top Headlines

NJEA plans to fight Christie on eliminating teacher tenure

Posted: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 7:45 pm

By DIANE D'AMICO, Education Writer |

The New Jersey Education Association, while admitting changes are needed, stands ready to fight for teacher tenure, the core job protection it says has helped make New Jersey's schools among the best in the nation.

But on Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called for its elimination, saying tenure has become a handicap to providing children with a quality education.

"Teaching can no longer be the only profession where you have no rewards for excellence and no consequences for failure to perform," Christie said in his State of the State speech. "The time to eliminate tenure is now."

A report released Tuesday contains material that supports both claims.

The annual "Quality Counts" report by Education Week ranks New Jersey's education system seventh in the nation, with a grade of B-minus. The national average was a C. New Jersey got high marks for providing public preschool, decent funding and having a high percentage of students graduate high school and go on to college.

But the state got its lowest grades in the "teaching profession" category, earning a C for its accountability for teacher quality and evaluation, and an F for incentives such as merit pay for high performance, or bonuses for

Parents urge BOE to reach accord with union - NorthJersey.com

Parents urge BOE to reach accord with union

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

BY JEFF FRANKEL

BLOOMFIELD LIFE

of Bloomfield Life

BLOOMFIELD - Many parents are urging the board of education (BOE) and teachers' union to come to an agreement on a new contract.

JEFF FRANKEL/BLOOMFIELD LIFE

Parents ramped up the pressure on the board of education (BOE) to reach a new deal with the Bloomfield Education Association during Tuesday's BOE meeting at Forest Glen School.

Several parents accused the BOE Jan. 11 of acting in bad faith in its negotiations with the union, though BOE President Joseph Lopez said any such rumor is untrue. Debbie Ellis was among parents who told the board to get on with it during the BOE's Jan. 11 meeting, held at Bridges Academy at Forest Glen.

"I don't believe the board is negotiating in good faith with the teachers," said Ellis.

Township teachers have been working without a contract since June, and negations are now at an impasse. In December, a mediator sat down with both sides in an attempt to reach a settlement. Before that meeting, roughly 500 teachers held a candlelight vigil in the school

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Thursday, January 13, 2011