Morning UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-21-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Who Is Promoting Vouchers in Pennsylvania?

by dianerav

An astonishing $6 million plus has been pumped into the voucher campaign in Pennsylvania in the last year alone.
As this article notes, Tea Party activists were getting cold feet about vouchers because they objected that vouchers might be too generous to poor children.
Not to worry: Governor Tom Corbett and his allies in the Legislature changed the formula to make sure that some 

TFA Alum Criticizes Obsession with College Readiness

by dianerav

A friend sent this provocative article, written by a TFA alum.
He questions whether TFA’s focus on college readiness (which apparently begins in kindergarten) makes sense.
I find myself both agreeing and disagreeing with him.
I believe that teachers must treat all students with equal respect and have high expectations for all.
But I have also been taken aback when I visited charter schools and saw college banners in kindergarten and 

What Will Happen to Chester Upland?

by dianerav

Sometimes something happens that is so astonishing, so breathtaking, and simultaneously so disturbing that I don’t know how to characterize it.
The public school district of Chester-Upland, Pennsylvania, is in financial trouble. It was under state control for many years. It was at one time managed by the Edison company. After years of inept state management, it was returned to local control in 2010. It has a for-profit charter school run by a politically connected millionaire that has attracted half the students in the district. The New York Times wrote about how the charter school was 

What the Gates Foundation Said to Anthony Cody

by dianerav

Anthony Cody, who has been blogging regularly for Education Week, persuaded the Gates Foundation to engage in an exchange with him.
Anthony has written a brilliant series of analyses and critiques, explaining patiently why the Gates Foundation misses the point by blaming teachers for the ills

Most Charters Avoid Students with Special Needs

by dianerav

We have seen this story again and again. A lawsuit against the charters in New Orleans and the District of Columbia filed on behalf of children with disabilities. A charter school in Minneapolis that literally pushed out 40 children with special needs, part of a pattern in which the nation’s largest charter chain–the Gulen-affiliated schools–keep their test scores high by excluding students with disabilities. Study after study showing that 

“A Daily Act of Love”

by dianerav

I came across a moving story about a music educator in Wisconsin whose death stirred his town and wrote about him last night. His influence was widely acknowledged.
I asked, in light of the community’s reaction, how such an inspiring teacher should be evaluated. It was obvious that test scores was not the right answer, in part because what he taught–music and band–do not lend themselves to measurement by test scores. But the qualities that the community honored in him–his ability to 

The Flawed Assumptions of the Parent Trigger

by dianerav

A reader in California writes about the “parent trigger” law. It was enacted when Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor and the state board of education had a majority that were charter school advocates. Its lead sponsor in the legislature ran for state superintendent, lost and is now employed by the Wall Street hedge fund managers’ group Democrats for Education Reform. The organization behind the parent trigger, Parent Revolution, is funded by Gates, Walton, and Broad Foundations. The law was enacted in California in January 2010. Since then, Parent Revolution has attempted in two districts to use the law to convert a low-performing school into a charter

What Happened in Adelanto?

by dianerav

Yesterday I wrote a brief summary of the situation in the Adelanto school district in California, the only district where the so-called “parent trigger” has made any headway. The reader is correct: no vote was ever taken. It was a bad choice of words on my part.
This reader comments.

Your post is inaccurate. They didn’t vote. No one ever voted.A handful of parents worked with Parent Revolution, an organization with no ties to Adelanto.There were no public hearings or news stories before the petitions were How Would You Evaluate This Teacher? by dianerav One man, one band teacher, united a town. He taught instrumental music and band for 31 years at McFarland High School in Wisconsin. He was admired, respected, loved. How would you evaluate this teacher?

Thank you, academia! « Deborah Meier on Education

Thank you, academia! « Deborah Meier on Education:

Thank you, academia!

by debmeier

After I finished writing  that last blogette I received a blog from Steve Zemelman. (teacherspeakup.com). Good stuff.  And, of course, Mike Rose who writes irregularly but always stirs me to think more deeply, but not rigorously. (see below for the definition of rigor. What do YOU think it means?) I could go and on.
rigor: (America Heritage – old fashioned heavy book style) 1. strictness or severity of action or judgement. 2. A

The scary grown-up world

by debmeier

U used to think when I was young, even when I was a firm teenage Marxist, that I could–in the end–depend on smart adults whom might disagree with me but who kept the long term interests of the USA, the human race, the planet and themselves in mind. They wouldn’t do anything too stupid. Then I became a grown-up and discovered that I couldn’t or shouldn’t assume anything of the sort. Some smart grown-ups–well-educated and enormously talented at making money et al–can’t think even a few years down the road. They figure their wealth will always protect them and their grandkids, and otherwise, “who knows, it may all work out.”
Reading the Larry Cuban on School Reform blog is worth reading if only to remind myself that there are wise and 

Pregnant Girls Pushed Out of School - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

Pregnant Girls Pushed Out of School - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

Pregnant Girls Pushed Out of School

by Nancy Flanagan

The story last week from Delhi Charter School in Louisiana--girls being forced to undergo pregnancy tests, then booted if they were indeed pregnant--was another in a series of school-based civil rights outrages that have become increasingly familiar, in the wave of education privatization sweeping across the country. Thanks to Fatima Goss Graves of the National Women's Law Center for sharing these facts about teen moms and the law:
(August 10, 2012) Disturbing news surfaced this week about a policy at Delhi Charter School in Richland Parish, Louisiana that required female students "suspected of being pregnant" to take pregnancy tests. According to a school official, over the past six years, the school kicked at least a "handful" of students out of school when the tests came back positive.

AB 5 falls short of meeting NCLB waiver requirements | EdSource Today

AB 5 falls short of meeting NCLB waiver requirements | EdSource Today:

AB 5 falls short of meeting NCLB waiver requirements

August 21st, 2012 | Add a Comment | 
By John Fensterwald

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Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes said that the passage of AB 5, the teacher evaluation bill that he authored, could “potentially serve as a key piece” of the state’s application for a waiver from the No Child Left Behind law – and free up hundreds of millions of federal dollars to fund districts’ evaluations and other education needs.

What would Arne Duncan say? Ask him next month in Sacramento.

Erin Gabel, director of legislative affairs of state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, said that AB 5 would make a waiver application “more attractive” to the feds.

Sue Burr, executive director of the State Board of Education and adviser to Gov. Jerry Brown on education, said that key federal education officials have given encouraging signs that AB 5 would satisfy the teacher and principal evaluation requirement for a wavier.

To which Arun Ramanathan, executive director of Education Trust-West and an opponent of the bill, wrote in an email, “When pigs fly.”

There’s opinion and speculation, and there are rules and regulations.A read of the federal Department of Educ

Obama To Hit Romney On Education With Two Tuesday Speeches, DNC Video

Obama To Hit Romney On Education With Two Tuesday Speeches, DNC Video:

Obama To Hit Romney On Education With Two Tuesday Speeches, DNC Video

by Joy Resmovits

David Driscoll, who recently served as Massachusetts' education commissioner, remembers touring the state's high schools to promote a new scholarship that promised free college tuition at in state universities for top-performing students. Often by his side was a political heavyweight who was bound to increase interest in the program: Mitt Romney, then the state's governor, and now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

"It was done under his regime, and he was very personally involved," Driscoll said, recalling the early days of theJohn and Abigail Adams Scholarship program, which helped students scoring in the top quarter of their districts pay for college. "He would join me in going around to certain high schools. He certainly put the bully pulpit behind it."

It's a program the former governor still promotes on the campaign trail, saying in May that he "put in place a 

Broad Foundation’splan to expand influence in school reform - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Broad Foundation’splan to expand influence in school reform - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:

Broad Foundation’splan to expand influence in school reform

By Valerie Strauss

This was written by Ken Libby and Stan Karp. Libby is a doctoral student at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Karp is director of the Secondary Reform Project for New Jersey’s Education Law Centerand an editor of Rethinking Schools magazine.

By Ken Libby and Stan Karp

The Broad Foundation wants to step on the gas.

The California-based foundation, built on the housing and insurance empire of billionaire Eli Broad, has made “transforming K-12 urban public education” a major priority. Its training and placement of top administrators in urban districts across the country and support for 

The Broad Foundation memo

by Valerie Strauss

Here’s the memo from The Broad Center that proposes a series of strategic shifts in the foundation’s education programs. The post above this one tells the story of this memo.

Daily Kos: Bob Kerrey is supporting gay marriage

Daily Kos: Bob Kerrey is supporting gay marriage:

Bob Kerrey is supporting gay marriage

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

as you can read in Frank Bruni's New York Times column, titled Principle Over Politics
Bob Kerrey might not be our cup of tea.  Certainly on financial issues his approach is one with which most here might take issue.
When Bruni found out that Kerrey was speaking about gay marriage he sought an interview, which Kerrey's staff tried to prevent but the candidate overruled them.  Here are two key paragraphs from the column, with words from Bob Kerrey:

“What I usually say is, ‘Let me talk to you about the issue of homosexuality,’ ” Kerrey said over a drink here Saturday night. And then he indeed talks to voters about it, telling them that people are 

School Tech Connect: More Passing of the Buck

School Tech Connect: More Passing of the Buck:

More Passing of the Buck

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)

Another thing I never have time to say is this:

The cost-shift of the pension system is another exercise in magical thinking. Illinois already has a cost-shifted school district--- the Chicago Public Schools, even though the state still makes a contribution..

So what happens when the cost is shifted? The individual district uses the pension fund as a credit card, and doesn't pay in, just like the spineless legislature.  Did you ever read this?

In May 1995, CPS sought and received a change in Illinois law which allowed it to keep pension tax revenue. Since 1996, this costly measure has redirected more than $2.3 billion in tax funds designated for pensions into the CPS operating budget. During the period 1996-2005, CPS received $1.2 billion in pension tax revenue, but contributed $0 to the Fund.

There are hundreds of school district in this state, and each one will be lobbying for legal cover so that they can 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: There's a man going round taking names

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: There's a man going round taking names:

There's a man going round taking names

by Mike Klonsky

There's a man going 'round taking names
There's a man going 'round taking names
He's been taking my father's name
an' he left my heart in vain
there's a man going 'round taking names
-- Leadbelly

By asking CPS principals to spy on their own teachers and report "lawful" union activity back to the central office, Rahm and Brizard have taken their anti-teacher, anti-union crusade to a whole to level. By doing it openly, in the form of a "confidential" memo, which they must have known would be leaked by union-friendly principals, the pair have sabotaged any possibility of trust between school leaders and their staffs as the school year 

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE LAUSD BOARD REGARDING REED vs. LAUSD - Perdaily.com

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE LAUSD BOARD REGARDING REED vs. LAUSD - Perdaily.com:

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE LAUSD BOARD REGARDING REED vs. LAUSD

by Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)
Before giving Superintendent John Deasy authorization to ask the California Supreme Court to reverse the recent appellate decision overturning the Reed vs LAUSD decision, I think the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board of Directors should consider the following regrettable facts:

1. The reason that 45 inner city schools were populated with predominantly new 

UTLA "LITIGATES" TO LAUSD'S STANDARDS- A FORMULA FOR DISASTER

by Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)

Criminals have more rights than dismissed teachers. If you think this is hyperbole, take a moment and go through what teachers are subjected to that no self-respecting criminal would have to endure.

First of all, while the burden of proof is different in civil and criminal actions- in criminal, it's beyond a reasonable doubt and in civil, it's by a preponderance of the evidence- in both of these actions this burden is on either the governmental entity or 

Deflating the Rhetoric in the Evaluation Debate « InterACT

Deflating the Rhetoric in the Evaluation Debate « InterACT:

Deflating the Rhetoric in the Evaluation Debate

by David B. Cohen

This blog post started out as a series of comments I offered in response to a blog post by Educators 4 Excellence Executive Director Ama Nyamekye; she argues that the amended version of Assembly Bill 5,currently headed to the state Senate, will weaken teacher evaluation in California by requiring districts to bargain with unions if there is to be any use of standardized test scores in teacher evaluations.  Her prediction is that unions will prevent that from happening, thus endangering the prospects for better evaluation.  I hope her prediction about union resistance to bad ideas is correct, and I couldn’t disagree more about the appropriateness of that fight.
Ama, like you I’ve spent considerable time working with teachers on the question of how to improve evaluations.  I respect your experience and the fact that your work has led you to different observations and conclusions.  However, I have problems with your generalizations about teachers’ attitudes, and your framing of the issues

Nas, Lil’ Wayne, and Adolf Hitler: A Rap and Education Memo | The Jose Vilson

Nas, Lil’ Wayne, and Adolf Hitler: A Rap and Education Memo | The Jose Vilson:

Nas, Lil’ Wayne, and Adolf Hitler: A Rap and Education Memo

by Jose

The latest news that may signal a sea change for hip-hop is that Nas, one of the most prolific and legendary artists in rap, may have asked for help with a few concepts in his album N*gger, or, as a few people have described it, had ghostwriters. The term “ghostwriting” has been reserved for guys like Dr. Dre and Diddy (Puff Daddy), those who would prefer to just let an unknown rapper write rhymes for them while they make executive decisions out there, or Foxy Brown and Lil’ Kim, who mostly served as counterparts for male rappers (Jay-Z, Biggie respectively). The term “ghostwriting” has served as a taboo these days because the hip-hop community still holds ideas of authentic composition of lyrics as virtues true MCs must uphold, and to many, Nas broke that.
I’ve heard about the ghostwriting bit for a while with Cormega and AZ helping in his earlier days with Illmatic and

Parent Trigger District Heading Back to Court « Diane Ravitch's blog

Parent Trigger District Heading Back to Court « Diane Ravitch's blog:

Parent Trigger District Heading Back to Court

by dianerav

Rightwing website attacks Diane for post-
they Lost 

The only school in the nation ever to vote to invoke the state “parent trigger” law is in Adelanto, California.
Parent Revolution, the organization funded by Gates, Walton and Broad to promote the trigger has been funding the fight in Adelanto.
It helped dissident parents form a union, organize a petition drive, collect signatures, and push for a charter school.
When the school board resisted the idea of turning the school into a charter, some of those who signed the

How Would You Evaluate This Teacher?

by dianerav

One man, one band teacher, united a town.
He taught instrumental music and band for 31 years at McFarland High School in Wisconsin.
He was admired, respected, loved.

School Tech Connect: We Lied and We Lied

School Tech Connect: We Lied and We Lied:

We Lied and We Lied

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)

As you know, I basically stalk Rep. Daniel Biss. Mainly because he's tall and nearby, but also because he's going to be a senator soon, and then God only knows what. His cash-balance plan is awful, and in my mind, he represents a kind of Democratic party that I could do without, at least in terms of education policy. In five years, he and Heather Steans will be opening charter schools inside every 7-11.  Other than that, he's okay.

And he's at least an honest man, even a brave one, and certainly willing to state his positions--  and I wish I had attended this event, where he apparently said this:

“The State of Illinois has not been a trustworthy actor for a very long time. That stinks,” he said. “We lied and we lied and we lied. What did we lie about?  We lied about how much stuff costs.”

Well, isn't that just exactly right. It's just impossible to move forward in the pension discussion until this fact is 

Another Conveniently Timed Study With Jeb Bush’s Fingerprints On It | Scathing Purple Musings

Another Conveniently Timed Study With Jeb Bush’s Fingerprints On It | Scathing Purple Musings:

Another Conveniently Timed Study With Jeb Bush’s Fingerprints On It

by Bob Sikes

Fund Education Now founder Kathleen Oropeza was having none of the most recent study that gushed over another Jeb Bush initiative. Noting the Harvard study which supports Florida’s 3rd grade retention based on FCAT came from a researcher  works for a center chaired by Bush, Oropez had this for  StateImpact reporter John O’Connor:

This is an echo chamber, a self-licking ice cream cone,” said Kathleen Oropeza, a co-founder ofOrlando-based Fund Education Now. “It is based on supposition and flies in the face of known longitudinal studies that stretch back 100 years.
“Real children are suffering right now because of this policy,” she said. “More children in other 

USDA RELEASES CHECKLISTS FOR SCHOOL LUNCH AND BFAST TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE

USDA Releases Memo and Validation Review Checklists for School Lunch and Breakfast to Ensure Compliance with the Meal Pattern

USDA RELEASES MEMO AND VALIDATION REVIEW CHECKLISTS FOR SCHOOL LUNCH AND BREAKFAST TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE WITH THE MEAL PATTERN

 Permanent link

On August 8, 2012, the USDA released prototypes of validation review checklists for compliance with the meal pattern.  These are prototype lunch and breakfast Validation  Review Checklists which support the School Year (SY) 2012-13.  As indicated in the interim rule, during a validation review, State agencies must observe a meal service for each type of certified menu (i.e., each distinct menu by age grade grouping) and review the production records for observed meals to ensure the meal service meets the updated meal pattern requirements and is consistent with the menu/documentation on which certification was based.  State agencies are instructed to provide technical assistance and if corrective action is immediate, then the School Food Authority may continue to earn the 6 cents.   To read further about the checklists state agencies will be utilizing see the links below. 

USDA Memo Discussing Prototypes of Breakfast and Lunch Validation Review ChecklistsLunch Validation Review ChecklistsBreakfast Validation Review Checklists

These materials as well as further information and resources regarding the meal pattern are available on www.schoolnutrition.org/mealpattern 

News

USDA Releases Memo and Validation Review Checklists for School Lunch and Breakfast to Ensure Compliance with the Meal Pattern (SNA News Releases)  8/16/2012  On August 8, 2012, USDA released prototypes of validation review checklists.

NSLW 2012 “School Lunch – What’s Cooking?” Resources (SNA News)  8/15/2012 National School Lunch Week (October 15-19 2012) is right around the corner. It’s time to start cooking up celebration ideas! SNA has the tools to help you get started.

SNA’s 2012 Back to School Trends Report: School Cafeterias Find Creative Ways to Meet Healthy New School Meal Standards (SNA Press Releases)  8/13/2012 School Nutrition Association’s 2012 Back to School Trends Report shows that school foodservice professionals are finding creative ways to prepare and serve school meals that meet healthy new nutrition standards.

Executive Summaries from ANC Available: Meeting the NSLP New Meal Pattern and Earning and Keeping Your 6 Cents (SNA News Releases)  8/10/2012 SNA is sharing Executive Summaries of popular sessions at ANC in order to share information covered at the sessions with all members.