Giving teachers more power helps in turnaround of Boston schools | HechingerEd Blog

Giving teachers more power helps in turnaround of Boston schools | HechingerEd Blog:

Giving teachers more power helps in turnaround of Boston schools

by Jackie Mader

Six low-performing Boston schools participating in a pilot program that gives teachers more training, support, and leadership roles are showing higher growth on state tests than other low-performing city schools according to a report released Monday by the non-profit Teach Plus.
The T3 Initiative program, a collaboration between Boston Public Schools and Teach Plus, began training and placing groups of experienced teachers with track records of raising student test scores in a set of three failing schools in 2010, after a dozen city schools were deemed underperforming by the state in 2010 for chronically low test scores. The pilot expanded to three more schools the following year.
The report, an evaluation by Teach Plus of its own program, shows that at the first three schools to use the program, the percentage of students earning advanced or proficient scores on their state tests increased by nearly 13 percentage points in English language arts on average over the course of two years, and 16.5 percentage points in math on average.  The second group of schools saw similar growth at the middle and high school level over the course of one year.
In addition to training and hiring new teachers, the six schools in the T3 Initiative, provided health and wellness 

Pension Call Tuesday. Send your legislator a holiday card with a pension message. « Fred Klonsky

Pension Call Tuesday. Send your legislator a holiday card with a pension message. « Fred Klonsky:

Pension Call Tuesday. Send your legislator a holiday card with a pension message.

by Fred Klonsky

So you’ve called your IEA Regional office and made a reservation on the bus to Springfield, January 3rd.
Or, you just can’t make it to Springfield (you better have a real good excuse), but you want to do something.
Here’s the plan.
Send the sponsors of of the Nekritz bill a holiday card.
Rep. Elaine Nekritz - Daniel Biss - David Harris - Chris Nybo, Kelly Burke, Kelly M. Cassidy, William Cunningham, Robyn Gabel, Ann Williams, Linda Chapa LaVia, William Davis, Sara Feigenholtz, Jehan A. Gordon, Greg Harris, Elizabeth Hernandez, Charles W. Krezwick, Karen May, Deborah Mell, Cynthia Soto,Michael J. Zalewski and Cory Foster
Something Christmassy, Hanukkahish. A touch of Kwanzaa. It could even be a card celebrating Jerry Seinfeld’sFestivus (the holiday for the rest of us).
Make sure your card has a message appropriate to the season. No not the holiday season!
The pension cutting season!!
Mail the two cards to these folks around the 23rd of December so they all arrive about the same time.
Share your message here, if you like.
Let’s make it a contest.
The best message will win.
I’m the judge. My decision will be final.
The winner will receive a copy of Diane Ravitch’s The Life and Death of the Great American School System.

CDE Responds to Auditor's Report - Year 2012 (CA Dept of Education)

CDE Responds to Auditor's Report - Year 2012 (CA Dept of Education):

California Department of Education Responds to California State Auditor Report

SACRAMENTO—The California Department of Education responded today to the report issued by the California State Auditor.

"The Department has taken a number of steps that address issues raised in today's report by the State Auditor," said Communications Director Paul Hefner. "Prior to the report's release, the Department installed upgraded software that restricts employees from posting content to social media Web sites without authorization. The first supervisor named in the report has received additional training. In addition, while the Department was evaluating information provided by the Auditor, the employee involved voluntarily left employment with the Department."

# # # #

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

New Interim Administrator Appointed for Inglewood Unified School District

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today appointed La Tanya Kirk-Carter to serve as interim Administrator of the Inglewood Unified School District after accepting the resignation of Administrator Kent Taylor.

"This change is in the best interests of taxpayers, students, and employees of the Inglewood Unified School District," Torlakson said. "I'm confident that our work to address the district's troubled finances will proceed without interruption."

Taylor stepped down after the California Department of Education (CDE) learned of financial commitments he had made without the required CDE approval and prior to the completion of a financial review and plan to restore the district to fiscal health.

Kirk-Carter previously served as Assistant Superintendent of Business Services at the district. She will serve in an interim capacity until a new permanent administrator is named.

The state took over the district in September under legislation passed at the request of the district that provided up to $55 million in emergency state loans to help the district meet its financial obligations. The legislation required the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to assume all the legal rights, duties, and powers of the governing board of the district.

Inglewood Unified School District is the ninth school district in California to request an emergency loan, thus triggering the state takeover, since 1990. Since then, local governance has been returned to four of these districts.

Related Content

• State Emergency Loans - Information on emergency loans made to school districts.
• State Takeover of Inglewood Unified - State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Comments on State Takeover of Financially Troubled Inglewood Unified School District.
• Inglewood Administrator Appointed - State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Appoints Inglewood High Alumnus as State Administrator for Inglewood Unified School District.

# # # #

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

Sandra Stotsky: Why Did Colorado Trade in a Silk Purse for a Sow’s Ear? | Truth in American Education

Sandra Stotsky: Why Did Colorado Trade in a Silk Purse for a Sow’s Ear? | Truth in American Education:

Sandra Stotsky: Why Did Colorado Trade in a Silk Purse for a Sow’s Ear?

by Shane Vander Hart

The Heartland Institute has a news article on their site that highlighted meetings related to the Common Core State Standards that took place in Colorado on December 6th – one with the Colorado State Board of Education and the other with a panel discussion convened by the Pioneer Institute.  The money quote belongs to Sandra Stotsky, professor of education reform at the University of Arkansas.  See the excerpt below:

Federal grants pushed 45 states to adopt both the Common Core math and English language arts standards, which lay out what children should know in every grade.

One Common Core adoptee, Utah, formally withdrew from helping develop a set of tests related to the standards in August. Leaders in Indiana and South Carolina have also

Classic Literature–A Bipartisan Issue

by Shane Vander Hart

Even the Huffington Post is noting the concern about the Common Core ELA Standards being light on classic literature for high school seniors.  They write:

But the new guidelines are increasingly worrying English-lovers and English teachers, who feel they must replace literary greats like The Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye with Common Core-suggested “exemplars,” like the Environmental Protection Agency’s Recommended Levels of Insulation and the California Invasive Plant Council’s Invasive Plant Inventory.

Jamie Highfill, an eighth-grade English teacher at Woodland Junior High School in Fayetteville, Ark., and 2011 Arkansas Teacher of the Year, told the Washington Post she’s already had to drop short stories and a favorite literary unit to make time for essays by Malcolm Gladwell from his social behavior book The Tipping Point.

“I’m struggling with this, and my students are struggling,” Highfill told the Post. “With informational 

Schools Matter: Open letter to David Welch, Eli Broad, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and their Students Matter Astroturf

Schools Matter: Open letter to David Welch, Eli Broad, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and their Students Matter Astroturf:

Open letter to David Welch, Eli Broad, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and their Students Matter Astroturf

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene

"And not merely pride of intellect, but dulness of intellect. And most of all, the deceitfulness; yes, the deceitfulness of intellect" — Leo Tolstoy
David Welch, Eli Broad, Theodore J. Boutrous, Theane Evangelis Kapur, Theodore B. Olson, Enrique A. Monagas, and Joshua S. Lipshutz:
Your Students Matter website explicitly states "When it comes to education quality, numerous studies show that teachers have the greatest impact on student achievement."
Can you please produce even one peer reviewed study from a legitimate source that backs up that assertion?
As a person closely associated with top academicians in the field of education research and policy, I am not aware of any study that makes such a brazen and strident claim.
Indeed, even Eric A. Hanushek, an economist who shares your unfortunate politics and world view, has found that teachers account for no more than 13% of student achievement. A far cry from the declaration on your website, which, in the absence of any factual basis, is mendacious at best.
Since you're billionaires, businessmen, and attorneys it's safe to assume your knowledge on issues of pedagogy and education policy is negligible. With that in mind, I'll do you a favor and clarify your grossly erroneous statement, albeit even the correction is lacking nuance and context. What some initial studies have shown is that teachers are the largest of in-school factors impacting student achievement. I refer you to the aforementioned Hanushek findings to put that into some context.
I understand that neither your law firm, nor the astroturf public relations 501(c)(3) you created to disseminate misinformation, are interested in facts. That said, I felt a moral obligation to let you know that many community members are not fooled by your propaganda.
I taught bilingual catechism, primarily at St. Teresa of Avila Church, for a dozen or so years. One of the things we had to teach young children about was the definition of a lie. This idea was simple enough for 7-9 year olds to comprehend: "when you say something that you know is untrue, it's a lie." Sadly that concept is seemingly too complex for high powered litigators like yourselves to grasp.
Advocating public education and social justice
Robert D. Skeels
Candidate for District 2, Los Angeles Unified School District

An independent look at the Common Core State Standards Initiative CCSSI Mathematics

CCSSI Mathematics:

CCSSI Mathematics

An independent look at the Common Core State Standards Initiative

2012-12-10

Mathematical tools – Part 3

On the morning of June 20, 1944, two weeks after D-Day, New York high school students sitting for the Plane Geometry Regents exam were asked to do the following construction:The task posed almost 70 years ago was not difficult, but it also wasn’t rote.  It required the test-taker to make connections and to solve a problem: to apply basic construction techniques to notions of similarity and its theorems.  Additionally, it required visualization skills: before actually drawing the lines and arcs necessary to complete the construction, students needed to envision the final picture.

Read more »

Activists aim to overrule Sac City school board on Bell’s replacement | Sacramento Current

Activists aim to overrule Sac City school board on Bell’s replacement | Sacramento Current:

Activists aim to overrule Sac City school board on Bell’s replacement

Posted on December 6, 2012 by cosmog

When Ellyn Bell made public her intention to leave the Sacramento City Unified School District board of trustees–so she could live closer to her new job in San Francisco–her colleagues on the school board decided it was too late and too expensive to call an election to fill her seat.

So they plan to pick their own replacement to represent Area 1 (Land Park, Curtis Park, the Grid), and to serve the remainder of Bell’s term, which ends December 2014.  The board is scheduled to pick from eight applicants, and to make that appointment this December 20.

That decision may be overruled by voters, however.  Community activists and district labor unions are now calling for a special election to replace Bell.  And they’re threatening a petition drive that would force an election, even if the board makes it’s own pick.

Annette Deglow is one of the folks leading the effort–she was also one of the community activists who helped to write and pass Measures J and K, which brought area elections to the district and replaced the old at-large system in 2006.

Deglow says the school board’s decision to appoint a new board member, rather than 

Diane in the Evening 12-11-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Jindal: Vouchers Will Provide Excellence for All

by dianerav

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal used his platform at the Brookings Institution to argue that vouchers were the best way to provide excellence for all children.
Joy Resmovits of the Huffington Post wrote an excellent description of his presentation, noting that a court in Louisiana had just called the funding of vouchers unconstitutional. Jindal assured her that decision would be overturned on appeal.
She also pointed out that some of the state’s voucher schools refused to accept students with disabilities and 

Sandra Stotsky: The Leading Critic of Common Core

from Diane Ravitch's blog by dianerav

I just posted an article written by David Coleman and Susan Pimentel, explaining that the Common Core standards are not antagonistic to literature and fiction, and that they promote a higher quality of both fiction and nonfiction.
Within minutes, I received a post from Sandra Stotsky, expressing her vehement opposition to the Common Core standards. Stotsky was in charge of the development of the highly praised Massachusetts standards. The English standards in that state were especially strong on literature. Stotsky is still upset that Massachusetts 

David Coleman Clarifies Role of Fiction in Common Core Standards

by dianerav

In response to a loud outcry about the place of fiction in the English classes, David Coleman and Susan Pimentel have written a description of the requirements for reading in the standards. Susan Pimentel was co-writer with David Coleman of the English language arts standards in the Common Core State Standards.
Coleman and Pimentel insist that fiction and literature will continue to be central in English classrooms. They expect that English teachers will not only teach Shakespeare and poetry, as they have in the past, but literary nonfiction as well.
As readers may know, articles have appeared in the international press about the removal of well-known works of 

Karen Lewis: Where Corporate Reform Is Going

by dianerav

A Comment from Karen Lewis about the simultaneous deluge of “reforms,” none of which is grounded in research or experience:
“Any decent researcher knows that when you change more than one variable in an experiment, you have to do some pretty heavy lifting in order to determine which one had more effect than another. So in Chicago we have a new evaluation, Common Core, a longer day and year, a new contract, school closings and the usual suspects 

Teacher: Please Hear Me, Mayor Bloomberg

by dianerav

In his weekly radio interview, Mayor Bloomberg said that wants to hold teachers’ feet to the fire. He wants them evaluated by the scores of their students and he wants their ratings published. He is furious that the union has been unwilling to agree to a pact. He says he will cut the budget if they don’t comply.
This teacher read the post and replied:
“I can not believe his language. Evaluation is something every professional adult is subject to, provided that the evaluation is done in good faith, by a fair measure, by trustworthy evaluators. The minute you say you want to 

Randi Weingarten: VAM Is Junk Science

by dianerav

The United Teachers of Los Angeles reached an evaluation agreement that minimizes the use of test scores.
Perhaps they were burned by the inappropriate public release of teacher ratings devised by the Los Angeles Times.
I don’t understand how their evaluation system will work, but this is the key takeaway: AFT President Randi Weingarten called value-added modeling (VAM) by this term: “junk science.”
You read it here and here and here
This is the method whereby a teacher may be voted “teacher of the year” and rated “ineffective,” all at the same time.
You go, Randi!.

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 12-11-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Why Is Big Brother Watching You? by dianerav When I worked in the federal Department of Education twenty years ago, I recall getting blizzards of postcards and letters from individuals and groups that were worried that the government was collecting too much information about them or their children. I pointed out repeatedly that the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which was in my tiny domain, did not collect information about individual students or their families. There was no vast federal ... more »

PSAT for 12-11-12: Make merry! Watch and share new CTU cartoon satire of corporate reformers Parents United for Responsible Education

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » PSAT for 12-11-12: Make merry! Watch and share new CTU cartoon satire of corporate reformers:

PSAT for 12-11-12: Make merry! Watch and share new CTU cartoon satire of corporate reformers

by admin

The Chicago Teachers’ Union has done it again! They have gifted us yet another sharp tool for our public school support kit. This time it’s a spot-on satirical cartoonskewering on Chicago’s corporate reformers. Dangling at the end of the lampoon are some of PURE’s favorite goofballs: Penny Pritzker, Bruce Rauner, Robin Steans, Stand for Children, and, of course, Mr Secret Sauce himself, Mayor Emanuel.

Rauner isn’t taking it well (fat cats hate to be made fun of). Fuming to the Sun-Times, Rauner said, “To be lectured by a leader of a failed union who protects a failed school system would be laughable if it were not so sad. These union leaders are a joke, just not a funny one.”
Wah.
CPS called the video “mean-spirited.” OK, more mean-spirited than closing schools and sending students to worse alternatives? Not tracking these students as promised? Flunking students based on one test score when 

NYC Educator: Recovering ATR and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Difficult School

NYC Educator: Recovering ATR and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Difficult School:

Recovering ATR and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Difficult School

by NYC Educator

by Recovering ATR 

For the first few months of a year I traveled to several different schools as an ATR. Then I got hired for the year in a school. It's large, it's far from where I live, and the students I have are repeaters. Last Friday report cards were given out and the predictable whining about grades ensued. The AP's office had a line of students complaining about their grades. This understandably did not go over well with the teachers. "Never shows up, when he does he chews gum in the back, and is mortally offended by a 65," said one teacher. I had one 

Ed Notes Online: Chicago Teachers Stand Up to Fat Cat Ed Deformers

Ed Notes Online: Chicago Teachers Stand Up to Fat Cat Ed Deformers:

Chicago Teachers Stand Up to Fat Cat Ed Deformers

by ed notes online

I know, I know. You wish the UFT, with 10 times the resources of the CTU would do this, but when you yourself are a fat cat..........But this is why the CTU is so much more dangerous to the powers that be than the pussy cat (I'm being nice) UFT/AFT bar exam promoters.

When we were in Chicago in July 2011-- Julie, Gloria, Angel, Lisa and a slew of others --- at meetings with CORE and others from around the nation -- CORE led us all on a march through downtown Chicago visiting all the banks that were stealing money out of the public schools, something incomprehensible here in NYC, given that our leaders are probably having lunch at many of these banks.

Chicago Teachers Union Launches Public Awareness Campaign

Against Corporate Assault on Public Education

‘Stand Up to the Fat Cats’ film continues the fight for city-wide education equality

 

CHICAGO—The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) kicked off a public education campaign against the rise school privatization schemes and the corporate assault on public education with the release of an animated, satirical short film, Stand Up to the Fat Cats. The video seeks to rally the public against corporate infiltration in public education and encourage them to join the fight to provide resources and support for neighborhood schools.

 

The five-minute film can be viewed at www.ctunet.com or on www.MoveChicagoSchoolsForward.com.  (To view click here: Stand Up To The Fat Cats)

 

Stand Up to Fat Cats places a spotlight on the history of corporate school reform in Chicago and proposed 20^thcentury advancements that ultimately led to the deterioration of many of the city’s neighborhood schools.  The film also introduces us to parodies of popular faces in Chicago’s education debate, including venture capitalist Bruce Rauner, Mayor Rahm Emanuel,  Board of Education member Penny Pritzker, venture philanthropist Bill Gates, the Broad Foundation, the Koch Brothers and,  out-of-town school reformers such as Stand For Children and Democrats for Education Reform. 

 

From the formation of the CTU in the mid-20^th century to its present-day battles with lawmakers and charter school operators, wealthy, private-interest fat cats have had their paws in public education for years.  After a dominant new feline landed in City Hall in 2011, bringing in a litter of corporate cronies, the CTU went on a year-long offensive in a cat-and-mouse battle against anti-teacher propaganda.

 

Through, Stand Up to the Fat Cats, viewers can revisit how Chicago’s educators stood up to these frisky and felonious kitties once again during the 2012 strike, rallying throughout the city against the closing of public schools, the endangerment of their livelihoods and the jeopardizing of the future of thousands of the children.  As the bed time story depicted in the video goes: Rowdy Rauner and the Litter Box Crew are out to destroy the teachers union and starve neighborhood schools in a sneaky campaign to fatten the pockets of private charter operators and their billionaire friends.

 

As the Chicago Public Schools system is expected to announce by March 31, 2013, the closing of nearly 150 neighborhood schools, the mission of the Stand Up to the Fat Cats campaign is clear: Don’t let fat cats bully students or educators anymore!  

Sample Tweets:

Chicago Teachers Stand Up to Corporate Fat Cats! #EDUJustice http://ow.ly/g0A1D
Chicago Teachers Say No to Rahm Emanuel's Fat Cat Friends! #EDUJustice http://ow.ly/g0A1D
A Bedtime story from Chicago Teachers Union @ctulocal1 #EDUJustice http://ow.ly/g0A1D 

Ankur Singh – YO GEORGE LUCAS, IF YOU’RE OUT THERE, I HAVE A PROPOSAL FOR YOU! | Student Voice

Ankur Singh – YO GEORGE LUCAS, IF YOU’RE OUT THERE, I HAVE A PROPOSAL FOR YOU! | Student Voice:

Ankur Singh – YO GEORGE LUCAS, IF YOU’RE OUT THERE, I HAVE A PROPOSAL FOR YOU!

by admin

Listen by Ankur Singh - Kickstarter
Yo, George Lucas,
‘Sup. I love you. You are an incredibly inspirational man to all filmmakers out there. Whenever I’m feeling down and depressed about how crappy my films are going I always watch the behind the scenes features on Star Wars to pump me up. “If George Lucas can overcome all those obstacles I can too!” 
I have a proposition for you. You’re a filmmaker. I’m a filmmaker (kind of). You just sold your company to Disney for four billion dollars and are donating much of that money to your education foundation. That’s cool. Except now it’s kind of like Gates vs. Lucas, who can flood more money into our educational system? In the mean time us little people are shut in a closet. Well, anyways the point I’m trying to make is that….I’m interested in education too. We’re basically the same person. Except you’re much more creative, successful, and richer than me, and you’ve got me beat in the facial hair department, but so does a 12 year old so it’s really not much to boast about.
You know where I’m going with this. I’m making a documentary. It’s about education. Doesn’t that interest you?