UPDATE: Stamford Advocate joins effort to warn about conflict of interest on State Board of Education - Wait, What?

Stamford Advocate joins effort to warn about conflict of interest on State Board of Education - Wait, What?:

And in Hartford, Jumoke Academy pulls down another $1.1 million, while Achievement First collects $1.2 million

by jonpelto

Meanwhile, as Jumoke’s Chief Operating Officer waits for the Connecticut Legislature to vote to put her on the State Board of Education, the Hartford Board of Education voted last night to direct another $1,054,143 to the Jumoke Academy and $1,173,327 to Achievement First. On a 5 to 1 vote, the Hartford Board of Education authorized [...]

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And in Windham…the New Magnet School still hasn’t filed an approved Operations Plan but is using an inappropriate application

by jonpelto

You can keep Governor Malloy’s “Special Master”, Steven Adamowski, and Windham’s school administrators on the list of entities and individuals who seem unable or unwilling to follow the state’s laws and rules. With the lottery to select students for Windham‘s new Charles H. Barrows STEM Academy Magnet School about to take place, Adamowski and the [...]

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Stamford Advocate joins effort to warn about conflict of interest on State Board of Education

by jonpelto

As the Connecticut Legislature prepares to take up the nomination of Andrea Comer to the State Board of Education, the Stamford Advocate has joined the chorus warning that it would be a conflict of interest for her to serve on the Board.

About the controversy surrounding Comer, who serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the Jumoke Academy and FUSE charter school management company, the Stamford Advocate wrote, “Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has appointed Comer to the board — raising eyebrows and questions about a conflict of interest. The board has direct oversight of the charter school industry, decides whether to reauthorize charters and votes on funding and 

Do schools for ‘the gifted’ promote segregation?:

Do schools for ‘the gifted’ promote segregation?

Posted by Valerie Strauss on March 20, 2013 at 5:00 am

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Are schools for “gifted” students promoting segregation? Here’s an argument that they are, from Wendy Lecker, a columnist for Hearst Connecticut Media Group and senior attorney for the Campaign for Fiscal Equity project at the Education Law Center.

By Wendy Lecker

From Brown vs. Board of Education to Connecticut’s landmark case, Sheff v. O’Neill, to the language of the Connecticut constitution, the law has been clear. Children have a constitutionally guaranteed right to a public education that is not impaired by isolation based on race, ethnicity, national origin or disability. Therefore, it is unconstitutional to develop and fund education programs that intentionally or unintentionally limit access to educational opportunities based on racial or ethnic backgrounds, or disabilities.

Yet recently, it was announced that schools exclusively for “gifted” children will be opening in Windham, New London and Bridgeport. Whether intended or not, the proposal takes 

UPDATE: a life-saver for SB1? + Students against high stakes testing + Ben Joravsky and the “parent penis theory.” | Fred Klonsky

Ben Joravsky and the “parent penis theory.” | Fred Klonsky:

Will an Illinois judge’s ruling on retiree health care be a life-saver for SB1?

by Fred Klonsky

A Sangamon County judge has ruled in a case not directly involving the state’s teachers that the state can demand higher payments from retirees for health care.
While retired teachers already pay almost all of the premium for their health care through TRIP, the Teacher Retirement Insurance Program, the ruling suggests that health care is not a benefit that is protected by the Illinois constitution’s pension protection clause.
The ruling will be appealed, of course.
There is a concern that the ruling by the judge gives new life to Senate President Cullerton’s SB1.
SB1 is a mash-up of the Cross/Nekritz/Biss pension bomb (which almost everybody believes will not survive a legal challenge) and Cullerton’s own forced choice option. It would force retirees to choose between their COLA 

The in box. Students against high stakes testing.

by Fred Klonsky

PopoutMalcom X London at 2011′s Louder than a Bomb.

STUDENTS AGAINST HIGH STAKES STANDARDIZED TESTING
SATURDAY, MARCH 30TH, 3 P.M.
AT YOUNG CHICAGO AUTHORS, 1180 N. MILWAUKEE
For info:  malcolmxlondon@gmail.com   or info@morethanascorechicago.org
Students for Organizing, Not Students being Organized by Standardized Tests
• Join other students to understand the role high stakes testing is playing in undermining great 

Ben Joravsky and the “parent penis theory.”

by Fred Klonsky

Nobody explains things morel clearly than Ben Joravsky in the Chicago Reader:

Central-office officials have not clarified who brought Persepolis to Byrd-Bennett’s attention. But it’s widely assumed that it all began with a complaint from a parent about the book’s interrogation scene, which features a drawing of 

Is Education The Same As Schooling? | The Jose Vilson

Is Education The Same As Schooling? | The Jose Vilson:

Is Education The Same As Schooling?

by Jose Vilson

Bill Gates

In the first piece of my two-part series on Bill Gates’ interview on teacher evaluation, I found myself perplexed by this college dropout, one of many, keeping with the same old adage that kids take tests all the time and that’s just a part of getting an education, so just deal with it. Of course, it led to many questions:

1. How many tests actually determine whether they get to the next level of their education?
2. Will these tests accurately determine whether they succeed in life?
3. Is getting an education the same as getting schooling?

One place to look is at college sports, for instance. I wonder why society has yet to embrace college athletes getting their degrees in the sport they got a full scholarship for. If this athlete dedicates their entire life at that moment to a given topic (namely: the sport) with collection of teachers (coaches, trainers, and other personnel) and studies this topic for the better part of a school year (the season and off-season workouts), then why couldn’t that student get a degree in the sport, as a graduate of that sport?
Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse University basketball star, got his degree in one year and became successful at his 

The Last Minute Bait and Switch on Parent Trigger | Scathing Purple Musings

The Last Minute Bait and Switch on Parent Trigger | Scathing Purple Musings:

The Last Minute Bait and Switch on Parent Trigger

by Bob Sikes

Carlos Trujillo is losing the argument in the House on Parent Trigger. And that supposed groundswell of support from parents hasn’t materialized either. In yesterday’s hearing, 23  people spoke  in opposition with four in support. One  was a an actual parent. The other three were paid lobbyist from  predictable places: Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Florida’s Future, Michelle Rhee’s Student’s First and the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
But yesterday’s hearing flushed Trujillo out of hiding. Obviously taking education commissioner Tony Bennett’s lead, He wants “to tweak the mandate to take the final decision on a turnaround option out of the purview of the local school board and give it to the state Board of Education.”  The day before Trujillo’s first hearing, he – and senate sponsor Kelli Stargel – received a letter from Bennett in which he shared his thoughts on Trigger. Here’s part:

…….The legislation as written includes language that may let local school board members off the hook when it comes to respecting a parent’s role in the process.
Rather than allowing an appeal process that shifts responsibility to the State Board of Education

Alternative bill to speed up teacher dismissals introduced | EdSource Today

Alternative bill to speed up teacher dismissals introduced | EdSource Today:

Alternative bill to speed up teacher dismissals introduced - by John Fensterwald

by John Fensterwald

A year ago, Assemblymember Joan Buchanan cast a deciding vote killing a bill that would have pared back the process for firing teachers and administrators alleged to have done egregious acts against children. She said the legislation dealt with a narrow subset of dismissal cases and failed to deal with cumbersome procedures affecting all dismissals.

Buchanan’s bill would set a seven-month limit on resolving dismissal appeals and put restrictions on rules of evidence.

On Tuesday, Buchanan, who now chairs the Education Committee, introduced her own bill, which takes a different tack while, she says, achieving the same goal: quickening the time it takes to dismiss teachers, with particular provisions applying to those charged with sexual acts and drug offenses involving children.

AB 375 was one of two bills that Buchanan, D-Alamo, announced Tuesday. The other would mandate what 

UPDATE: Immigrant Populations: Seattle versus the Eastside + Second Civil Rights Investigation by Feds Seattle Schools Community Forum: Making Sense of Funding Foreign Language Immersion

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Making Sense of Funding Foreign Language Immersion:

Immigrant Populations: Seattle versus the Eastside

by Melissa Westbrook

Great article in Crosscut about what is happening over on the Eastside with immigrant populations. 

What draws immigrants to the Eastside and keeps them there, even when, like Tushara, they go to work in Seattle? Lee could be speaking for all of them when he answers, emphatically, with a single word: “School! I needed to raise kids, and Bellevue’s the place to do it.”

It wasn’t just the Bellevue schools’ celebrated instructional quality (its average test scores place it among the top 10 districts statewide in math and science and the top 30 in reading and writing) or their ample tax base, which includes the wealthy lakeshore municipalities of Medina, Clyde Hill and the Points.

It was the counter-intuitively congenial social environment of what was then an upscale, predominately white, monocultural community. In Bellevue and Newport, Pham found, he didn’t have to worry about his three kids 

Second Civil Rights Investigation by Feds

by Melissa Westbrook

The Times updates the civil rights investigation by the DOE in SPS by noting there is now a second investigation into ELL students and school closures.

From 2009 through the end of last year, the civil-rights office has launched about 100 civil-rights investigations involving at least one school district in nearly every state. 

Those investigations, known as compliance reviews, are just part of the office’s caseload, most of which stems from complaints filed by parents or community members. 

The department’s proactive efforts have won praise from those who say there was a drought of education civil-

Making Sense of Funding Foreign Language Immersion

by Melissa Westbrook

To start, I think that foreign language teaching is great and should be started in every elementary school. I would advocate for foreign language several times a week in every elementary versus what we have now which are four foreign language immersion elementary schools that are ONLY open to neighborhood children.

I did a previous post on this subject that covers some of the history. JSIS started as a Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland "hey kids, let's open a foreign language school to honor a beloved superintendent." But, where was the discussion about funding, where those kids go AFTER elementary and how to expand the program? Nowhere.
 
Guess what? John Stanford International School was a wild success and left other parents clamoring for more.

It took the district nearly eight years to bring a couple more schools on-line and then McDonald in the last couple of years. (They did also finally get around to figuring out a pathway to middle and high school although those paths are not immersion.)

Next, I have absolutely nothing against the parents in the JSIS or McDonald schools. They didn't create their schools or how people get assigned there. (JSIS/McDonald are more closely matched than Concord and Beacon Hill.) 

Parent and Educator Empowerment Act moves from House to Senate. Teacher empowerment erodes along the way. | Get Schooled

Parent and Educator Empowerment Act moves from House to Senate. Teacher empowerment erodes along the way. | Get Schooled:

Parent and Educator Empowerment Act moves from House to Senate. Teacher empowerment erodes along the way.

by Maureen Downey

A Senate subcommittee takes up the parent trigger bill this morning at 8.
As the Parent and Educator Empowerment bill moved from the House to the Senate, one piece apparently was lost in the journey: Teacher power.
According to the legislative update posted by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators:

The official name of HB 123, formerly called the “Parent and Educator Empowerment Act” has been changed in a Senate substitute version to the “Parent Empowerment Act.”
HB 123 allows parents to vote to convert their school to charter status. An important portion of the bill which allows teachers to petition their school board to adopt a school turnaround model has been amended in the new substitute version to exclude teachers.
Since the bill has yet to be heard in subcommittee, the reasoning behind the changes is unclear. PAGE has deep concerns about the alterations. Our longstanding position regarding school turnaround and charter schools is that parents, …

Old school boards never die. They blog away. At least in DeKalb.

by Maureen Downey

Old school boards never die. They just blog away.
Neither Nancy Jester, ousted by the governor, nor Don McChesney, ousted by voters, apparently believes that former DeKalb school board members should fade from view.
The two ex DeKalb board members remain vocal about the school district they once led. And both are using blogs to serve up their commentary.
In fact, Jester plans to live blog first meeting of the newly appointed board Wednesday. On her Nancy’s News 

The Educated Reporter: Feds Weigh College Financial Aid for Competency Based Learning

The Educated Reporter: Feds Weigh College Financial Aid for Competency Based Learning:

Feds Weigh College Financial Aid for Competency Based Learning

by Emily Richmond

An interesting letter went out Tuesday from the U.S. Department of Education, asking interested colleges to submit applications for approval for federal financial aid for students in programs that take into account alternative measures -- and not just credit hours -- in awarding degrees.

"This is a key step forward in expanding access to affordable higher education," said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in announcing the plan. "We know many students and adult learners across the country need the flexibility to fit their education into their lives or work through a class on their own pace, and these competency-based programs offer those features – and they are often accessible to students anytime, anywhere. By being able to access title IV aid for these programs, many students may now be able to afford higher education."

The "Dear Colleague" letter to colleges and universities is arguably a tacit endorsement of competency-based 

TFA sponsors reform propaganda videos | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

TFA sponsors reform propaganda videos | Gary Rubinstein's Blog:

TFA sponsors reform propaganda videos

by Gary Rubinstein

I recently learned through one of my Twitter followers about a series of videos from an organization called RESETin Minnesota.  Minnesota is a place that has a large TFA and TFA charter school presence.  Even one of the new co-CEOs has several relatives involved in Minnesota charters.  TFA, as well as several charter organizations, are ‘partners’ with RESET.
RESET seems to be an organization that promotes the supposed benefits of the corporate reform model.  They have produced six videos which, from my understanding, are being shown in movie theaters before the previews.
Responding to the tweet that informed me about these videos was none other than the TFA twin cities executive director:

I examined the RESET website and the videos and concluded that they, and the response by Crystal Brakke, 

Schools Matter: Parent Trigger - False Promises, Divided Communities and Disrupted Young Lives

Schools Matter: Parent Trigger - False Promises, Divided Communities and Disrupted Young Lives:

Parent Trigger - False Promises, Divided Communities and Disrupted Young Lives

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene

Thank you for this thoughtful and informative video exposing The Heartland Institute, Parent Revolution, and ALEC's corporate charter trigger law. We're hopeful that videos like this will counter the lies the trigger proponents promulgate, and that communities will resist when these outsiders come to steal our schools. —rdsathene

PopoutThe video tells the story of Adelanto, California where a well-funded, outside group "Parent Revolution" came to town and instead of working to improve the schools tricked parents with false promises, bitterly divided the community, and disrupted the education of young children.
"The video makes clear that that parent trigger laws, pending in 14 states, are not a magic wand that improves education -- there is no magic wand," said Roger Hickey of the Education Opportunity Network. "Schools need 

NYC Educator: Neutered Action

NYC Educator: Neutered Action:

Neutered Action

by NYC Educator

One of my favorite fables is The Pearl by John Steinbeck. In it, Steinbeck writes of how the common people are cheated. They go to sell their pearls, from one buyer to the next, but each buyer is just an arm of the one true buyer--they actually commiserate to keep prices down, rather than competing for the pearls they buy.

That's how I feel every time New Action drops another ridiculous paper in my mailbox. We oppose this and that, but it's all good because we support that and this. The implication is that any actual opponent would be a contrary nitwit who reflexively opposed everything for no reason whatsoever.

The other implication, of course, is that New Action is an opposition. In fact, New Action was once an opposition, and I've voted for them more than once. Knowing little, but sympathizing with the underdog, I voted for Mike Shulman for VP, and he actually won. This put UFT leadership in panic mode. First they challenged the election, and if I'm not mistaken he won bigger the second time. Finally they changed the voting rules so that all officers were elected at large--the elementary and middle school teachers, more reliably Unity, now help us choose a leader so that genuine opposition voices will not prevail again without Unity pre-approval. This is akin to having Alaska and Texas help NY to pick a US Senator.

New Action decided to give up and sell out. They get a bunch of their people cross-endorsed, and in return they 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago research group on school closings

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago research group on school closings:

Chicago research group on school closings

by Mike Klonsky

The Chicago research group, CReATE, has been turning out the best, most readable stuff on corporate-style school reform. CReATE's latest research brief, prepared by Stephanie Farmer, Isaura Pulido, Pamela J. Konkol, Kate Phillippo, David Stovall and Mike Klonsky, on School Closures, is worth a read.

It concludes:

At present, the data reviewed in this research brief does not support Chicago Public Schools’ claim that closures are a viable solution to the current issues in the district. Instead, their greatest potential is to inflict deeper harm on African American and Latino/a communities. In addition to the current issues of privatization (via charter school expansion) and displacement, massive school closings are poised to continue the legacy of mass displacement, marginalization and isolation of low-income communities of color in Chicago. 

Jersey Jazzman: The Real Reason For Vouchers

Jersey Jazzman: The Real Reason For Vouchers:

The Real Reason For Vouchers

by Duke

So what if I support vouchers to get votes in Lakewood? Wanna make something of it?

NJ Governor Chris Christie, 3/19/13: 

Gov. Chris Christie today picked up the endorsement of Orthodox Jewish education, community and business leaders, after bringing his small government message to a retirement community down the road.

At Yeshiva Toras Aron, a religious school for boys, Christie said his proposal for private school vouchers would ensure it is “the education of the parents’ choice, regardless of their economic situation, that governs how their children are educated.”

Invoking his epic battles with the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, Christie said “special interests” have stood in the way of the Opportunity Scholarship Act.

Christie accepted the endorsement of three sectors comprising the Orthodox 

Jersey Jazzman: NJ Teacher Evaluation: Math Fail #3

Jersey Jazzman: NJ Teacher Evaluation: Math Fail #3:

NJ Teacher Evaluation: Math Fail #3

by Duke

Let's go back to this slide from the NJDOE's presentation on their proposed new teacher evaluation system, AchieveNJ:

The yellow annotation is mine from a previous post on Student Growth Percentiles. Apparently, even though SGPs are on a scale from 1 to 99, the NJDOE thought it would be fine to give an example of a teacher's median SGP as "2.0," which makes no sense at all; read the post for all the details.

Alas, this is not the only problem here...

Let's talk a bit about the "Teacher Practice Evaluation Instrument." The hypothetical teacher here got a score of 

Breaking: Board Votes to Oust Monica Garcia From Presidency - LA School Report

Breaking: Board Votes to Oust Monica Garcia From Presidency - LA School Report:

Breaking: Board Votes to Oust Monica Garcia From Presidency

by Samantha Oltman

The LAUSD Board voted today, 4 to 3, to limit the School Board president’s term to two years per individual. This will end Monica Garcia’s role as the Board’s president, a seat she has held for six consecutive years.
Board member Steve Zimmer was the deciding vote, joining his colleagues Marguerite LaMotte, Bennett Kayser, and Richard Vladovic to approve the limitation. Garcia, Tamar Galatzan, and Nury Martinez voted against the term limit.
Check back later for a full update on today’s School Board meeting.

School Tech Connect: CPS Chief Has No Answers

School Tech Connect: CPS Chief Has No Answers:

CPS Chief Has No Answers

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)

Raise Your Hand has a press conference today at CPS headquarters, and Wendy Katten managed to catch CPS Chief Administrator Tim Cawley in an impromptu question/non-answer session. It's really quite remarkable--- first he admits that he's really not the man to talk to, and then it becomes clear that nobody really knows who the man to talk to is.

Wendy is relentless. Bear with the sound; I'm working with cell phone footage. Go full screen and crank it.

Popout Wendy Katten Questions Tim Cawley, Gets No Answers from Tim Furman on Vimeo.

I love how he suggests the network chiefs are the people to talk to. "They're all very talented people," he assures Wendy.

Let's just say I disagree. If they were talented people, they wouldn't have lost their shit so dramatically over an award-winning book like Persepolis  because "word got to" them about it. I've been around enough highly political 

L.A. school board targets Garcia with term-limits vote - latimes.com

L.A. school board targets Garcia with term-limits vote - latimes.com:

L.A. school board targets Garcia with term-limits vote

A narrow majority of Los Angeles Board of Education members voted Tuesday to set a limit of two consecutive years for the school board presidency. Unless the new rule is rescinded later, the decision would end the six-year run of current President Monica Garcia in July.

The board president has no greater authority than others on the seven-member panel, but runs the meetings and frequently represents the nation’s second-largest school system. Both supporters and critics have said Garcia wields an outsized influence on district policy and the use of district resources.

The school board elects its president every July to serve a one-year term.

A similar run at Garcia narrowly failed last year, but political factors outside the board room have evolved. Last year, the swing vote against term limits and to reelect Garcia came from Steve Zimmer.
Since then, however, close allies of Garcia targeted Zimmer for defeat in his recent reelection bid. Zimmer won regardless, when the teachers union and other employee groups rallied behind him. The teachers union, for its part, has been critical of Garcia. It mounted a low-budget but sharply critical campaign against her; she won