Thursday, January 17, 2013

by Fred Klonsky

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The inbox. From the Teacher Retirement System.

by Fred Klonsky

TRS members received this yesterday:

Dear Frederick Klonsky:
The new 98th Illinois General Assembly convened on January 8, 2013, but will not return to Springfield and begin work on legislative proposals until the end of the month.
All legislation introduced and debated during the 97th General Assembly, but not enacted, is no longer active.
Teachers’ Retirement System will continue to track important legislation affecting the state’s pension code, and respond when necessary to questions from TRS members. In recent days, many questions for TRS have revolved around the status of TRS cost-of-living adjustments.
There have been no changes to the state law governing the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for

Happy Birthday Muhammad Ali.

by Fred Klonsky

Popout.
I like to play a self-serving game with people called Who’s the most famous person you ever met?
Self-serving, because I know I will win.
It always starts the same.
First I have to define what met means.
It doesn’t mean be in the same room. Or see

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-17-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch

John White Is #1, And So Is Louisiana

by dianerav

Crazy Crawfish has a regular blog where he skewers the mighty, the powerful, the phonies, and the masters of data manipulation.
Like EduShyster, CC knows data, and he has humor. And he seems to know more about state school data–and the games people play–than most people.
Read this brilliantly witty report of John White’s statistical legerdemain.
So what if Education Week gave Louisiana an F for academic performance? Michelle Rhee

Diane in the Evening 1-16-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: Over 300 Schools Teaching Creationism with Public Funding by dianerav Zack Kopplin was honored earlier by this blog for his efforts to expose the teaching of creationism in voucher schools in Louisiana. He is a student at Rice University. He is not letting up on his efforts to expose the abuse of science by schools receiving vouchers. Here is a press release sent by him: Over 300 Schools Teaching Creationism on the Taxpayer Dime *Over 300 Schools Teaching Creationism on the Taxpayer Dime* *For Immediate Release* *Contact:* *Zack Kopplin* Zsk1@rice.edu www... more »

It Breaks My Heart - Bridging Differences - Education Week

It Breaks My Heart - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

It Breaks My Heart

by Deborah Meier

Dear Pedro,
I'm so glad that you mentioned the New York Performance Standards Consortium. It has been a pioneer for a different approach to standards and accountability for more than 25 years! One of the many "failed" successes in New York City's and state's history.
Founded under the "regime" of Superintendent Tom Sobol in the late 1980s, alas subsequent superintendents never followed up on the commitment to study the results of their work. But when the schools waivers were threatened by New York Commissioner of Education Richard Mills, he agreed to appoint a commission to study the results. That commission concluded that the alternate graduation system "worked"! So they left them alone. But the results never made headlines and had no impact on New York City or New York state practice. (And the first of these schools, a secondary school formed in 1984 as a follow up to the Central Park East elementary school network in East Harlem, was abandoned a half-dozen years after I moved to Boston. It didn't "die"; it was killed.)
During the same period an even larger "experimental study" of approximately 100 New York K-12 public schools

Ms. Katie's Ramblings: Teaching in the Time of Obedience

Ms. Katie's Ramblings: Teaching in the Time of Obedience:

Teaching in the Time of Obedience

by KatieO

Last night on facebook, I lamented about becoming a teacher during the craziness that is corporate education reform. I wrote: "I am in a foul mood. I feel this way anytime I look around and think about my career prospects. Why couldn't they have destroyed the teaching profession AFTER I spent my years in the classroom? I wish I had never become a teacher. #Selfish #PityParty"

My friends were kind and supportive, offering many words of encouragement. But here is what I said in response:

Thanks guys. It just pisses me off. I did things the right way, got my Masters before entering the classroom, had years of experience teaching already, spent years working with students with special need at the psych hospital. But then the year I graduate (2009) the sh!t really starts to hit the fan. I morally and physically cannot do what the job has become, especially for Sped in the inner city. I can't do it. I can't give those damn tests. I can't divert more time to paperwork than

Shanker Blog » A Few Points About The Instability Of Value-Added Estimates

Shanker Blog » A Few Points About The Instability Of Value-Added Estimates:

A Few Points About The Instability Of Value-Added Estimates

by Matthew Di Carlo

One of the most frequent criticisms of value-added and other growth models is that they are “unstable” (or, more accurately, modestly stable). For instance, a teacher who is rated highly in one year might very well score toward the middle of the distribution – or even lower – in the next year (see here, here and here, or this accessible review).
Some of this year-to-year variation is “real.” A teacher might get better over the course of a year, or might have a personal problem that impedes their job performance. In addition, there could be changes in educational circumstances that are not captured by the models – e.g., a change in school leadership, new instructional policies, etc. However, a great deal of the the recorded variation is actually due to sampling error, or idiosyncrasies in student testing performance. In other words, there is a lot of “purely statistical” imprecision in any given year, and so the scores don’t always “match up” so well between years. As a result, value-added critics, including many teachers, argue that it’s not only unfair to use such error-prone measures for any

Modern School: Teachers Lack of Rights at Work AND Home

Modern School: Teachers Lack of Rights at Work AND Home:

Teachers Lack of Rights at Work AND Home

by Michael Dunn

In a stunning defeat for free speech and privacy rights a two-person appellate panel has upheld the firing of Jennifer O’Brien (see North Jersey.com). O’Brien, you may recall, was the Paterson elementary school teacher who was suspended for posting to her Facebook page that she felt like a warden for future criminals (see Teachers, Check Your Freedoms at the Door). The panel ruled that her behavior was not protected by the First Amendment and that her right to make those comments was “outweighed by the district’s interest in the efficient operation of its schools.”

Of course O’Brien’s behavior was stupid (or at least incredibly naïve) in this charged, litigious and anti-teacher climate. Teachers really cannot assume they have the same right to privacy as other professionals. A teacher is still expected to be a paragon of virtue, on and off campus (see Teachers, Madonna and Whore). In the past, it was not uncommon for teachers to be fired

The Educated Reporter: Common Core State Standards: New Assessments Mean New Challenges

The Educated Reporter: Common Core State Standards: New Assessments Mean New Challenges:

Common Core State Standards: New Assessments Mean New Challenges

by Emily Richmond

My EWA colleague Mikhail Zinshteyn has a fine write-up over at EdMedia Commons on a new report digging deeper into plans by consortia of states to use the same assessments to measure the effectiveness and impact of the Common Core State Standards. Education Week's Catherine Gewertz also has a solid overview, which you can read here.

The report, published Wednesday, comes from the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) at University of California, Los Angeles. Among the highlights: the bar is definitely going to be raised for student learning, and the new assessments will focus more on measuring higher-order thinking than the prior state tests.

I've written recently about why Common Core will be one of the big education stories of 2013, and I've also looked at the confusion over what the new requirements for what students will read in class. EWA also hosted a seminar in Los Angeles to discuss what the Common Core will mean for English-language learners, teachers

Pre-k paying off for Georgia according to study | Get Schooled

Pre-k paying off for Georgia according to study | Get Schooled:

Pre-k paying off for Georgia according to study

by Maureen Downey

Pre-k pays off, according to the early results of a new study. (AJC photo)

There is near universal agreement in the research community that early childhood education benefits disadvantaged children despite the contention of skeptics that Georgia pre-k is just free daycare.
To address that skepticism, Georgia commissioned a study to look at the impact of its pre-k program.
According to the AJC:

A first-of-its kind study of Georgia pre-kindergarten program is nearly complete, and early reports indicate it shows largely good news about the program that has enrolled about 1.2 million youngsters in 20 years.
The study, which cost $1.5 million in lottery dollars, not tax dollars, was launched at the request of

Charter School Growth In Michigan Brings Cautionary Tale On Quality

Charter School Growth In Michigan Brings Cautionary Tale On Quality:

Teachers With Poor Ratings Clustered In NYC, Charter School Quality: Ed Today

by Joy Resmovits

Cluster Suck? The New York Daily News takes another look at the StudentsFirstNY teacher distribution report and finds something stunning: 20 percent of teachers are "bad" teachers in each of 14 Brooklyn schools. To give you some perspective: only 3 percent of all city school teachers got these negative ratings. And two of those schools received "A" ratings from the Department of Education. (I should note here that these ratings are volatile, etc., but you already knew that.)

Mo Growth Mo Problems? In a story we posted this morning, we take a close look at charter school quality. While it's tough to make any definitive statements about relative charter school quality nationally, a case study of Michigan provides an illustrative example. "Are they living up to their promise?" asked Harrison Blackmond,

Charter School Growth In Michigan Brings Cautionary Tale On Quality

by Joy Resmovits

Charter schools are the fastest-growing sector of public education, taking root in most U.S. states, thanks to a big push by the education reform lobby and the federal government's Race to the Top competition. And since the movement's inception in the early 1990s, its founders have learned a few things.

Across charter schools, there are similarities in what works to boost student achievement. A 2011 studyidentified five successes of charter schools: "frequent teacher feedback, the use of data to guide instruction, high-dosage tutoring, increased instructional time and high expectations."

But just because charter schools have the flexibility to become successful in these ways doesn't mean all of

Sacramento News & Review - Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's report card doesn't add up - Bites - Opinions - January 17, 2013

Sacramento News & Review - Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's report card doesn't add up - Bites - Opinions - January 17, 2013:

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's report card doesn't add up

California gets an F for bucking corporate education reform

This article was published on 01.17.13.

Related stories:
Mayor Kevin Johnson and wife Michelle Rhee bring Students First education road show back to Sacramento
The mayor asks, “Is education the civil-rights issue of our time?” SN&R, 02.02.12.

Like a lot of local folks, Bites tuned in to The Education of Michelle Rhee earlier this month, the Frontline documentary on Sacramento’s own self-styled education-reform badass, bride of the mayor, bee-murderer, etc.
The doc covered familiar ground, mostly Rhee’s tenure as der chancellor of D.C. schools. There’s footage of Rhee firing a school principal on camera and showing that if you scare just the bejesus out of educators, their test scores will go up, at least temporarily. Though they may cheat to do it. (Here is probably a good place for the usual disclosure that Bites is married to a public-school teacher and generally prefers not to see teachers terrorized.)
And the Frontline producers do leave their viewers with the impression that at least some administrators got away with some cheating during the dramatic (and short-lived) spike in test scores at some schools during Rhee’s tenure in D.C. And while chancellor Rhee presumably didn’t know about the cheating, Frontline suggests she sort of half-assed the investigation.
But the cheating scandal has already faded. Rhee’s StudentsFirst education organization, headquartered downtown on K Street, is still plugging away, trying to get state governments to

It’s final: State Board shifts policy on eighth grade Algebra | EdSource Today

It’s final: State Board shifts policy on eighth grade Algebra | EdSource Today:

It’s final: State Board shifts policy on eighth grade Algebra

January 17th, 2013 | Add a Comment |
By John Fensterwald

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The State Board of Education ended a decade-long controversial policy of pushing eighth graders to take Algebra I when members voted unanimously Wednesday to strip California’s Algebra I standards from the state’s eighth grade math standards.

Ilene Straus said the goal should be to encourage students to take Algebra I when they are ready.

Those standards will now mirror the national Common Core standards, which do not include Algebra I for eighth graders. The State Board will create curriculum options to accelerate math-taking in middle school and high school and to leave it up to local districts to determine who’s eligible for them. About two-thirds of eighth graders enrolled in Algebra I last year. That number is likely to decline; supporters of Common Core argue that many will be better off taking it a year later.

Board members stressed that the new approach is not a reversal but a more nuanced policy encouraging Algebra I in eighth grade for students with the skills to handle it and a vote of confidence in Common Core’s more gradual approach to algebra mastery.

Ilene Straus said the goal should be to encourage students to take Algebra I when they are ready.

“The intent is not to water down standards but to deepen rigor,” said Ilene Straus, the vice president of the Board, who is a former school principal. “The concern of some in the field is that they don’t want

U.S. Education Deserves the Same Statistical Sophistication as Baseball and Elections | toteachornototeach

U.S. Education Deserves the Same Statistical Sophistication as Baseball and Elections | toteachornototeach:

U.S. Education Deserves the Same Statistical Sophistication as Baseball and Elections

by aristotlethewise

U.S. Education Deserves the Same Statistical
Sophistication as Baseball and Elections

by Martin Carnoy
(Co-authored with Richard Rothstein)
For better or worse, we’re a nation that’s coming to respect statistics. Billy Bean convinced us that better statistics could beat bigger payrolls in sports. Nate Silver helped humble Karl Rove’s money machine with better statistics. So maybe it’s time to take a more careful look at the international test statistics judging how good our nation’s schools are.
Just last month, when the new Third International Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMSS) scores were

UPDATE: Superintendent: Reforms could ‘wreak havoc’ on great schools

Superintendent: Reforms could ‘wreak havoc’ on great schools:

Virginia lawmakers wimp out on U-Va.

by Valerie Strauss

Here's how tough Virginia's tough legislative leaders were on Helen Dragas, who, in her role as rector of the governing board of the University of Virginia, threw the school into unneeded turmoil last summer with an ultimately unsuccessful effort to remove the president for reasons that have still not been explained to the public.
Read full article >>

New questions on the Common Core Standards

by Valerie Strauss

Here is the third post in a debate between Yong Zhao and Marc Tucker about the Common Core State Standards.
The debate began with this post from Yong Zhao, presidential chair and associate dean for global education at the University of Oregon's College of Education, where he also serves as the director of the Center for Advanced Technology in Education. In the piece, titled "Five key questions about the Common Core Standards," he writes: "The efforts to develop common curricula nationally and internationally are simply working to perfect an outdated paradigm. The outcomes are precisely the opposite of the talents we need for the new era."
Read full article >>

Superintendent: Reforms could ‘wreak havoc’ on great schools

Posted by Valerie Strauss on January 17, 2013 at 4:00 am

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Madison Junior High School

Here is a letter sent to the New Jersey State Board of Education from Michael A. Rossi Jr., superintendent of Madison Public Schools, about the state’s school reform agenda and problems that officials have created for educators and administrators who are charged with implementing policy. Rossi says that officials are trying to force too much change too soon, an issue that was recently addressed by another superintendent in another state, Joshua Starr of Montgomery County, Md. You can read about that here.

(Some of the acronyms he uses are spelled out below)

Dear Members of the New Jersey State Board of Education,

The purpose of this note is to provide (in as diplomatic a fashion as possible) a reasonable, reliable and valid analysis of the proposed implementation schedule for all

Why U.S. Education Department has 27 12-gauge shotguns

by Valerie Strauss

Back in 2010, the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Education purchased 27 new Remington Brand Model 870 police 12-gauge shotguns. Why?
The short answer is to replace their old guns. The longer answer is that the Office of Inspector General is the law enforcement arm of the department and sometimes, officials say, it conducts high-risk investigations and makes arrests of people with criminal backgrounds. Catherine Grant, spokesperson for the Office of Inspector General, replied to a question about what the guns have been used for with an email that said:
Read full article >>

Schools Matter: The tests will survive, even if school doesn't

Schools Matter: The tests will survive, even if school doesn't:

The tests will survive, even if school doesn't

by skrashen

The US Department of Education reassures the public about funding: The new tests
will survive, even if school doesn't.
Press Conference held by the US Department of Education.
Published in Language Magazine, January 2013: http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=5627

Dolores Umbridge, Assistant Secretary of Education, US Department of Education, reassured educators and parents today that the huge budget cuts mandated by the new budget agreement will not harm our children. "The essentials, the new tests, will remain intact," she announced. "The Department of Education is firm on its plans to require end-of-year tests, formative tests, and, we are hoping, fall pre-tests in all subjects. We are also firm in our resolve to require pre-kindergarten screening, and, as planned, all tests will be administered on-line."

Why Hasn’t FLDOE Established New ACT and SAT Cut Scores? | Scathing Purple Musings

Why Hasn’t FLDOE Established New ACT and SAT Cut Scores? | Scathing Purple Musings:

Why Hasn’t FLDOE Established New ACT and SAT Cut Scores?

by Bob Sikes

This is a troubling story from Jeff Solocheck of the Tampa Bay Times:

WESLEY CHAPEL — Alan Sourk thought his son had finally passed his exit-level high school reading test.
The Wiregrass Ranch High School junior scored a 20 on the ACT reading test in December. That was two points above the mark listed on state documents as an acceptable replacement score for the FCAT graduation requirement.
He excitedly returned to school in January, asking his guidance counselor to finally let him out of the remedial reading course that had kept him out of elective classes. And that’s when he learned,

Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » More Questions about the Common Core: Response to Marc Tucker

Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » More Questions about the Common Core: Response to Marc Tucker:

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Thursday, January 17, 2013

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's report card doesn't add up