Mayors Support "Parent Tricker" Law - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Mayors Support "Parent Tricker" Law - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

Mayors Support "Parent Tricker" Law

by Diane Ravitch

Dear Deborah,
On June 18, the U.S. Conference of Mayors unanimously endorsed "parent trigger" laws that would let parents "seize control of low-performing public schools and fire the teachers, oust the administrators, or turn the schools over to private management." I call it the "parent tricker" law for reasons I explain below.
Let's be clear what the so-called parent trigger means. If 51 percent of the parents in a public school sign a petition, they can take control of the school, fire the staff, and hand the school over to a private corporation run by themselves or someone else.
Parent trigger laws are an invitation, as economist Bruce Baker put it, to mob rule.
I wonder how the mayors would react to a similar proposal to allow citizens to seize control of the public housing projects they live in or their local firehouse or police station, if they are dissatisfied with them. Perhaps they 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH - Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Can You Negotiate with Corporate Reformers?

by dianerav

I love Twitter for many reasons. I have met many friends on Twitter, some of whom I will never encounter in person. I learn from Twitter. People from across the country and even from other countries send me news stories, opinion pieces, blogs, ideas.

I received one this morning that I thought was, well, awesome.

On many occasions, I have had discussions with friends and allies and friendly adversaries about whether there is a middle ground between corporate reformers–the people who want to rearrange education so that it is based on incentives and sanctions, who believe that test scores are the best ways to measure the quality of students and teachers and schools, who see virtue in closing down neighborhood public schools, and who applaud the transfer of public schools to private management–and those who disagree with them, myself included.

Can’t we negotiate our differences? Can’t we all just get along, as the late Rodney King once memorably asked. We all know important it is to collaborate.

Why not collaborate with the people whose ideas you disagree with? Why not find a middle ground with those 

Some Turnaround Ideas

by dianerav

Arne Duncan has promoted the idea that the way to turnaround schools is to fire the principal and at least half the staff or to close the school altogether and replace it with a new school, or some variation thereof. It is basically a “wipe-the-slate-clean-and-start-over” approach.

Why not think about how that might be applied in other areas of our life.

If a family is dysfunctional, perhaps you could fire the parents and hire some new ones.

if children misbehave, ship them off to someone else and bring in some new ones.

Is This What They Teach at Broad Superintendents Academy?

by dianerav

A reader sent this comment:

n Huntsville, AL, the Broadie superintendent, Col. Casey Wardynski, has contracted out services for behavior problem and homebound students to a private corporation, The Pinnacle Schools. The contract includes five places in the “teepees” at Pinnacle’s Elk River Wilderness Treatment Program, one of those remote, secured boarding school/mental hospital/detention centers for students hand-selected by Wardynski. Stays there are of indefinite length: “Those who do not comport themselves according to the regulations and rules of Pinnacle Schools will find themselves living in a teepee. And they won’t be coming back until they can behave. And if they can’t behave, they won’t be coming back to our schools.”I can’t begin to imagine how this is legal, but there you are: http://abouthcs.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/theres-no-mention-of-teepees-in-the-2011-2012-hcs-handbook/

According to the link, the students get no legal representation. Apparently the superintendent wants to scare

Take a Stand for Better Education

by dianerav

More than 10,000 individuals and more than 350 organizations have signed the National Resolution to Oppose High-Stakes Testing.
More than half the school districts in Texas have signed the original anti-high-stakes testing resolution, which inspired the national resolution.
Many districts in Florida have endorsed it, including Broward County.
Let’s reclaim as schools as places for learning, not just places to test, measure, assess, rate, rank, and evaluate one another.
Please sign the resolution and send it on to others.
Diane

Mayor Bloomberg Is Angry

by dianerav

Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City and Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York state had a disagreement.
The mayor wanted the power to publish the names and evaluations of all teachers in the city, as happened earlier this year when the New York City Department of Education released the single-number ratings of 18,000 teachers, based solely on test scores. The mayor says the public has a right to know the job ratings of every teacher. The teachers’ union (among others) objected because the ratings are highly flawed and inaccurate; and it humiliates teachers to have their ratings made public. Others objected to the public release because the job evaluations of police, firefighters and corrections officers are shielded by state law; why single out teachers and open their ratings to the public? Even Bill Gates wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times opposing public release last winter, a day before the ratings went public, on the ground that they are useful only as part of a

Which States Are Most Unfair to Poor Kids?

by dianerav

Which states lead the nation is fiscal unfairness to poor children and their public schools?
Bruce Baker, the invaluable social scientist from Rutgers, the one who has actually taught in schools, has figured it out by analyzing Census data.
Bruce has a terrific blog, where he asks important questions and has the data to support his answers. I wish that every corporate reformer would read him. You should too.
These are the states that are most unfair to poor children and their public schools:

Thank a Teacher Today

by dianerav

I have written several blogs about how teachers today are under appreciated. I think teachers have one of the hardest and most thankless jobs in our society. Teachers do work of great social value and yet they are paid far less than people in the private sector who sell useless objects or who have desk jobs at think tanks thinking about how to reform the schools.
This comment by a teacher is a good reminder of why everyone who wants to live in a decent society should immediately find a teacher and say “thank you for what you do. Thank you for what you do every day. I can’t do what you do and I am in awe of your work for our children.”

Politicians never discuss all that teachers do that goes above “Do This Or We Will Punish You” by dianerav A reader writes in response to the blog about the fraud that teachers are compelled to be complicit in, by passing students who have not done the work, by meeting quotes or face punishment: Our entire school structure is a compliance-based model, where time is constant and learning is the variable. It is based on handing out penalties to students when they are out of compliance and don’t perform at the same level as their chronological peers. More than anything in the history of American education, NCLB has served to further advance a concept of “do this or we will punish you,” by not only labeling students as failures for not adhering to the compliance model and keeping up with their classmates, but doing the same to teachers and  CTU Strike Humor: What About Those Greedy Teachers? by dianerav Last Stand for Children First is a very funny Twitter site. The person who created it does a great job of impersonating trust-fund babies who know everything about how to fix public schools without ever setting foot into one. Follow the outrageous, sophomoric, enjoyable humor of Last Stand for Children First on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/LS4C1 A Letter to Change.Org by dianerav Dear Change.Org, You told the world that you stopped collecting the signatures of unknowing people for StudentsFirst. You didn’t tell the truth. You informed me that I was a member of StudentsFirst because I signed a petition on your website a year ago. I never knowingly  signed on as a member of StudentsFirst. I was duped. Apparently StudentFirst has cynically used your website to dupe a million other people as they duped me. When will you stop facilitating this deception? The letter below says you are still running three different StudentsFirst petitions. StudentsFirst claims 1.3 million members. According to the letter sent to my blog, 1.275,700 of those members were gathered at Change.Org, using the same deception that fooled me. Michelle Rhee uses these numbers to raise millions of dollars from rightwing donors and to intimidate politicians to accept her agenda. She then spends these millions to bash teachers and promote privatization. If my math is right, StudentsFirst has 24,300 members nationwide, not 1.3 million members. No one can tell me how to resign as a member. Enough is enough. I will report you to the Federal Trade Commission and to consumer fraud agencies if you don’t sever your ties with these deceptive tactics. Please contact me as soon as possible to let me know how to get my name off the rolls of StudentsFirst. It was put there by Change.Org. Diane Ravitch Dear Diane, your concern SHOULD be with Change.org’s policy as much as with Rhee’s deceptive tactics. The business model of Change.org enables the abuse, and so long as that’s true the progressive image of Change is nothing but a pitch to draw in more honest grassroots campaigns that can become automated recruitment vehicles for their (paying) opposition. Despite a statement to the press implying a response to concerns, Change. org continues to run 3 StudentsFirst petitions. Those active campaigns and all 34 StudentsFirst petitions on record on Change.org, whose 1,275,700 signatures (on last count) were obtained by misleading viral-marketing features provided by Change.org only to paying clients, ought to be disabled immediately and their contact lists withheld from StudentsFirst. And we ought to be asking, furthermore, how many other causes are being subverted in this way on Change.org. If we think of the sheer configuration of honest campaigns from around the country and the world that become the infrastructure for Change.org profits, routing for-pay campaigns like Rhee’s to identified supporters of “related” causes, the scheme passing as the Change.org policy begins to emerge in its disturbing fullness. As things stand now, Change.org is a bait advertiser’s (and a bait lobbyist’s) dream.

Wait, What? - Working to educate, persuade and mobilize through "perceptive and acerbic" observations about Connecticut Government and Politics

Wait, What? - Working to educate, persuade and mobilize through "perceptive and acerbic" observations about Connecticut Government and Politics:

Bridgeport’s Illegal Board of Education – Acts as Expected

by jonpelto

First they extended Bridgeport’s part-time, interim School Superintendent Paul Vallas’ contract through the 2012-13 school year.  No limit on consulting and the same salary and benefits that have him making more than the school chancellor in New York City

The illegal Board of Education Chairman, Robert Trefry, who will leave the board when the new democratically elected board takes office in a couple of months, claimed the board acted to ensure the “district’s stability.”

Note the new buzzword – we’d love to respect your democratic rights but they don’t 

Audits removed from illegal school fees bill | California Watch

Audits removed from illegal school fees bill | California Watch:

Audits removed from illegal school fees bill

U.S. Census Bureau

Corey G. Johnson

Proposed legislation aimed at ending illegal fees in public schools will no longer require superintendents to audit their schools to ensure compliance.
Brooks Allen, director of education advocacy for the ACLU's Southern California office, said Assembly members tweaked the bill – AB 1575 – to overcome concerns raised by Gov. Jerry Brown.
Brown vetoed a similar effort to stamp out illegal school fees in 2010, saying requiring audits of all schools "goes too far."
Allen said Assembly members were concerned that the audits would be a financial burden to schools. The ACLU and the bill's sponsor, Ricardo Lara, D-South Gate, support the changes, Allen said.

 

Since 2010, the civil rights group has spearheaded the effort to eliminate illegal fees after finding widespread

Scrutiny of Oakland church school grows

Will Evans

Michael Short/California Watch Robert Lacy Jr. is a teacher at St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church private school in West Oakland. 

Scrutiny of a West Oakland church school accused of abuse by parents and students is growing, with BART officials now questioning the school's right to solicit for donations in stations and state officials investigating whether federal funds should have gone to school leaders.
The latest actions follow an ongoing investigation by California Watch and CBS 5 into St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church and private school, where students as young as 9 say they were required to ask for money for hours after school and federal funding appears to be based on inflated enrollment numbers. The Oakland school board also has launched an investigation after a rancorous school board meeting earlier this month, where parents alleged mistreatment of students at the school.
"We should not be in the position of allowing children to be exploited in any kind of way," said BART Director 

Meeting Wednesday at City Hall on Expansion Policy for City of Milwaukee Charters « Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!

Meeting Wednesday at City Hall on Expansion Policy for City of Milwaukee Charters « Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!:

Meeting Wednesday at City Hall on Expansion Policy for City of Milwaukee Charters

by millerlf

The City of Milwaukee Charter School Review Committee appears to be voting Wednesday, June 27^th, at 5 PM in City Hall Room 301-B, on new criteria for allowing new schools to come aboard under city charters granted to other schools that would act as “umbrella organizations.”
Milwaukee citizens  should be aware of  the process for expanding charters and what are called “charter management organizations” (being called “umbrella organizations) for this new school system under the management of the Milwaukee Common Council.
Notice the performance rating scale that follows:
City of Milwaukee:
Educational Performance Rating Scale for Charter Schools
High Performing/Exemplary 100%–85%
Promising/Good 84%–70%
Problematic/Struggling 69%–55%
Poor/Failing 54% or less
A new school can be chartered under the umbrella of a school that’s only attained a 70%.  That’s at the very bottom of the “good” range and only one point above the “problematic/struggling” range.
Attached are 2 documents related to the meeting:
City Charters1
City Charters2

National Resolution on High-Stakes Testing

by millerlf

This resolution is modeled on the resolution passed by more than 360 Texas school boards as of April 23, 2012. It was written by Advancement Project; Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund; FairTest; Forum for Education and Democracy; MecklenburgACTS; Deborah Meier; NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.; National Education Association; New York Performance Standards Consortium; Tracy Novick; Parents Across America; Parents United for Responsible Education – Chicago; Diane Ravitch; Race to Nowhere; Time Out From Testing; and United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries.
We encourage organizations and individuals to publicly endorse it (see below). Organizations should modify it as needed for their local circumstances while also endorsing this national version.

WHEREAS, our nation’s future well-being relies on a high-quality public education system that prepares all students for college, careers, citizenship and lifelong learning, and strengthens the nation’s social and economic well-being; and
WHEREAS, our nation’s school systems have been spending growing amounts of time, money and energy on high-stakes standardized testing, in which student performance on standardized tests is used to make major decisions affecting individual students, educators and schools; and
WHEREAS, the over-reliance on high-stakes standardized testing in state and federal accountability systems is undermining educational quality and equity in U.S. public schools by hampering educators’ efforts to focus on the broad range of learning experiences that promote the innovation, creativity, problem solving, collaboration, communication, critical thinking and deep subject-matter knowledge that will allow students to thrive in a democracy and an increasingly global society and economy; and
WHEREAS, it is widely recognized that standardized testing is an inadequate and often unreliable measure of both student learning and educator effectiveness; and
WHEREAS, the over-emphasis on standardized testing has caused considerable collateral damage in too many schools, including narrowing the curriculum, teaching to the test, reducing love of learning, pushing students out of school, driving excellent teachers out of the profession, and undermining school climate; and
WHEREAS, high-stakes standardized testing has negative effects for students from all backgrounds, and especially for low-income students, English language learners, children of color, and those with disabilities; and
WHEREAS, the culture and structure of the systems in which students learn must change in order to foster engaging school experiences that promote joy in learning, depth of thought and breadth of knowledge for students; therefore be it
RESOLVED, that [your organization name] calls on the governor, state legislature and state education boards and administrators to reexamine public school accountability systems in this state, and to develop a system based on multiple forms of assessment which does not require extensive standardized testing, more accurately reflects the broad range of student learning, and is used to support students and improve schools; and
RESOLVED, that [your organization name] calls on the U.S. Congress and Administration to overhaul the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, currently known as the “No Child Left Behind Act,” reduce the testing mandates, promote multiple forms of evidence of student learning and school quality in accountability, and not mandate any fixed role for the use of student test scores in evaluating educators.

Endorse the resolution as an organization

See list of organizational signers

Endorse the resolution as an individual

See list of individual signers

printer-friendly version (with bibliography)

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Pro and Con on I-1240 at The Stranger Slog

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Pro and Con on I-1240 at The Stranger Slog:

Pro and Con on I-1240 at The Stranger Slog

by Melissa Westbrook

Our friends over at The Stranger Slog were kind enough to ask me to write a No on 1240 piece and had another parent write a Yes on 1240 piece.  The focus of each piece and the comments (and numbers of) are interesting.

One thing I find interesting is The Stranger is becoming a bigger player as a voice of editorial power in this town.  I know some of you may disagree - I am not saying they are the Times - but in Seattle, I think many voters who do not want to listen to the Times have turned away to The Stranger.

The Stranger, for all its smarty-pants, foul-mouth talk, does do its homework.  And, they do call themselves out when they get it wrong.  You don't find that kind of humility that often.

As I ponder the ballot, I come to the following conclusions.

NYC Educator: Packing Up and Hitting the Road

NYC Educator: Packing Up and Hitting the Road:

Packing Up and Hitting the Road

by Miss Eyre

At my old school, we used to get this memo telling us when we could and could not start packing up our classrooms and what could and could not be packed up.  By the time I left, the memo was three pages long.  So if any of you are non-teachers, that gives you a sense of the (possibly needless) complexity of the task of packing up classrooms while, theoretically, learning and teaching are still going on.

Now that I teach high school and my principal is a sane and reasonable person, one who does not routinely issue three-page memos, I don't have to deal with that anymore.  Classroom packup starts before Regents even start because classrooms are supposed to be stripped of 

Manatee Adopts High-Stakes Tests Resolution; Meanwhile Bushies Become the New Status Quoers | Scathing Purple Musings

Manatee Adopts High-Stakes Tests Resolution; Meanwhile Bushies Become the New Status Quoers | Scathing Purple Musings:

Manatee Adopts High-Stakes Tests Resolution; Meanwhile Bushies Become the New Status Quoers

by Bob Sikes

From Chritine Hawes in the Bradenton Herald:

MANATEE — With an extra nod toward “accountability,” the Manatee County School Board Monday approved its own version of a resolution approved by 12 other Florida school boards that objects to the importance placed on standardized tests like the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.
Manatee’s resolution was written collectively by board members and asks state and federal lawmakers to find another way to hold students and schools accountable. The resolution specifically reaches out to Gov. Rick Scott, the Florida Legislature, the state Department of Education, Congress and the presidential administration.
It calls on state officials “to reexamine public school accountability systems in the State of Florida, 

Not one, but two 160-day minimum years | Thoughts on Public Education

Not one, but two 160-day minimum years | Thoughts on Public Education:

Not one, but two 160-day minimum years

Share

Trailer bill permits cutting 3 more weeks

Posted on 6/26/12 • Categorized as 2012 election, Jerry Brown, State Budget, Student spending, Taxes, Uncategorized

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

Call it a last-minute clarification or a June surprise, another piece of bad news: A trailer billthat the Legislature will vote on Wednesday permits districts to slash the school year by an additional three weeks for the next two years, if voters reject Gov. Brown’s tax increase in November. That’s twice what  Gov. Jerry Brown seemed to suggest in the May budget revise when he proposed the elimination of 15 days divided over a two-year period. Instead, the Legislature is prepared to authorize a 160-day year, likely the lowest in the nation and far behind other advanced nations; nearly all states have a 180-day year, which California 

Mission accomplished? OUSD’s structural deficit, closure savings and other budget questions - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools

Mission accomplished? OUSD’s structural deficit, closure savings and other budget questions - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools:

Mission accomplished? OUSD’s structural deficit, closure savings and other budget questions

By Katy Murphy
Monday, June 25th, 2012 at 5:06 pm in Uncategorized.

This spring, Oakland Superintendent Tony Smith heralded the elimination of a $40 million structural deficit that he had inherited when he came to OUSD in 2009. Soon thereafter, his financial services team discovered a multimillion-dollar shortfall, which was followed by major reductions in the proposed special education budget for 2012-13 and other adjustments.

Then, last Friday, the administration made the deficit-eradication claim once again. A public statement about the Lakeview Elementary School sit-in, which is now in its second week, said that the closure of Lakeview and other elementary schools had allowed the district to “eliminate a $40 million structural deficit…”

If you look at Slide #23 in the budget presentation (second-to-last link), and your eyes automatically run to the highlighted green line, that sure looks to be th

School Tech Connect: On Our Most Disappointing Governor

School Tech Connect: On Our Most Disappointing Governor:

On Our Most Disappointing Governor

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)

From Roger Sanders:

Perhaps Governor Quinn should be looking to these school districts to learn how to effectively manage a budget instead of vilifying their superior management capabilities.  One Term Quinn just has no idea of how to lead or how to solve complex problems, and clearly has no idea of the important role of cash reserves.  He’s more interested in pushing his problems off onto others rather than finding real solutions to problems created by 60 years of mismanagement by the General Assembly and Governor.

Seriously, read the whole thing.  The idea of pushing the pension system off to the districts is so dumb that it hurts. It 

Bloomberg Is The System | The Jose Vilson

Bloomberg Is The System | The Jose Vilson:

Bloomberg Is The System

by Jose

Today, Greg Kristof of the Huffington Post reported that Michael Bloomberg has announced that he wants to have schools call up parents and deliver teacher evaluations directly to parents. This comes on the heels of the passing of a bill that clearly delineates guidelines for parent-school interaction when it comes to teacher evaluations. Michael Bloomberg, in his usual pomp, went on the radio to reaffirm his disappointment in the bill and the compromises made to pass it. A quote:

“Let me tell you what we’re going to do,” Bloomberg said on the WOR radio show. “We are going to have our schools call every single parent. We’re talking about fourth to eighth grade… We will tell you, you are entitled to this information and if you want it say yes right now and we will send it to you.”

Let’s be perfectly clear here. First, Bloomberg’s intentions have been transparent in that he prefers to turn public 

Fordham Institute Comments on the first draft of the Next Generation Science Standards | Truth in American Education

Fordham Institute Comments on the first draft of the Next Generation Science Standards | Truth in American Education:

Fordham Institute Comments on the first draft of the Next Generation Science Standards

by chascherrie

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute provides Commentary & Feedback on Draft I of the Next Generation Science Standards.  The commentary is dated June 25, 2012 and is authored by Paul R. Gross with Lawrence S. Lerner, John Lynch, Martha Schwartz, Richard Schwartz, and W. Stephen Wilson.  The forward is written by Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Kathleen Porter-Magee.
The commentary and feedback indicates the drafters have considerable work ahead of them if they are going to produce a set of quality standards.  One more public draft will be produced prior to the final standards being released in 2013.
The review points out the drafters are trying to create fewer standards to reach greater depth.  In doing so, it 

Geaux Teacher!: COMMUNITY ACTION JULY 4: RECALL BOBBY JINDAL

Geaux Teacher!: COMMUNITY ACTION JULY 4: RECALL BOBBY JINDAL:

COMMUNITY ACTION JULY 4: RECALL BOBBY JINDAL

by noreply@blogger.com (Lee Barrios, M.Ed., NBCT)

COMMUNITY ACTION: RECALL BOBBY JINDAL will be on the Capital steps Wednesday, July 4th from 2 - 5 PM.

You are invited to join us with family and friends to help save our state from Jindal and his corporate raiders. Come sign to help return LA to the people.



Learn more about the governor's destruction of public education and transfer of public institutions to corporate friends by linking to our website www.recallbobbyjindal.com.



No "Teague-ing allowed! Learn about your rights as a state employee by linking to articles at

http://occupybr.com/tag/recall-bobby-jindal/.

Read them all but especially read

"Don't let lil' Bobby scare you:State classified employees' rights".

JEFFERSON PARISH SCHOOLS NEEDS YOUR HELP!

by noreply@blogger.com (Lee Barrios, M.Ed., NBCT)

Jefferson Parish Schools Need YOUR Help!

Rally on July 2!


On July 2, will the School Board once again make decisions that ignore the voices of parents, teachers, and the community? Or will they listen this time? Make sure your voice is heard!

Join us for a Rally at the School Board Meeting:

Monday, July 2

4:30 pm

Bonnabel High School
2801 Bruin Dr. Kenner


The School Board will be voting on policies that eliminate the ability for teachers to have a voice. This is a problem because the working conditions of our teachers are the learning conditions of our students. We need to stand together and let the board know these conditions must be good for working and learning, and that the best way to make sure of that is to include educators in the process!

Plan to attend and WEAR BLUE! Let's all stand together to support good decisions for our students, our teachers, and our schools.

Share your own concerns by speaking at the meeting. If you are interested, call Emily at 454-5047 or email jeffersonteachers@gmail.com

Stay up to date by liking us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/standwithjeffersonteachers