Monday, May 6, 2013

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 5-6-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch





Teachers College to Honor Doyenne of High-Stakes Testing

Teachers College, Columbia University, will honor Merryl Tisch at its 2013 Convocation.
As Chancellor of the New York Board of Regents, Tisch has launched the state’s most demanding regime of high-stakes testing in history. Teachers College specifically congratulates Tisch’s leadership not only in tying test scores to teacher evaluations but in tying test scores to the school of education that prepared the teachers.
The press release notes these accomplishments:
“TC alumna Merryl Tisch, Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents. Tisch will speak at the first master’s degree ceremony on May 21st, which starts at 9:30 a.m. As Chancellor, Tisch, a former first-grade teacher, has championed public education as “the greatest civic and civil liberties issue of our time.” She 


York, PA, Will Not Privatize

A proposal to turn the public schools of York, Pennsylvania, into an all charter district was overwhelmingly rejected.
Do you think someone told them that the Néw Orleans Recovery School District is the lowest rated district in Louisiana?


Scofflaws in Louisiana

Louisiana is expanding the number of students attending voucher schools to 8,000, despite a court ruling that it is unconstitutional to take money from the dedicated public school fund for non-public schools.
Bobby Jindal thinks either that the law doesn’t mean him or that he knows more than the courts and can ignore their rulings. (L ‘etat c’est moi.)
Which schools get vouchers?
New Living Word got the most. It won an additional 117 vouchers, bringing its total to 214.
A Reuters article described the top voucher school as follows:
“The school willing to accept the most voucher students — 314 — is New Living Word in Ruston, which has

How the “Rich Boyz” of School Reform Struck Out in Boston

EduShyster here tells the heartwarming story of how DFER tried to elect one of their own in Boston (white, privileged, no experience or knowledge of public schools necessary) and lost.
If you recall, the California Democratic Party called out DFER as a front for Republican and corporate interests.
Here are the key paragraphs of the resolution:
“Whereas, the political action committee, entitled Democrats for Education Reform is funded by corporations, 

Will Michael Fullan Stop NCLB and RTTT?

Officials in California have been meeting with Michael Fullan of Ontario to learn about the impressive improvements there.
Fullan wants to turn the state of California away from the carrots-and-sticks of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.
The story linked her says:
“I want California to become an alternative model to No Child Left Behind; that would be a great thing to aspire to,” Fullan said last month during an interview in Sacramento. Instead of improvement through the “negative 

Diane in the Evening 5-5-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Why Business Models Fail in Education by dianerav A comment on the post about “Zombie Education Policies”: Having spent years in business, I cringe at blindly applying business models to education. 360 evaluation is a business fad that will join MBOs and matrix management. I tried student evaluations. Students are usually upset over not getting a certain grade on the most recent test, angry over a detention, or at the other extreme, like the teacher and don’t want to say anything negative. I eavesdropped on two ... more »

Louisiana Educator: The Course Choice Cancer

Louisiana Educator: The Course Choice Cancer:


The Course Choice Cancer

The campaign is already starting up. There will be millions devoted to marketing alone. Despite the court decision finding Course Choice unconstitutional, Jindal and White have given the green light to for-profit companies to go right ahead with marketing.

These are millions that will be taken from Louisiana taxpayers and possibly from the scarce MFP dollars that were once dedicated by the voters and going to our legitimate public schools systems. Jindal and White's strategy is obviously to sign up as many students as possible, so that they will have a pressure group built up when it comes time to get legislative approval for continuing the program no matter what the Supreme Court decides. One of my readers found some ads that are now being run all over Lousiana to hire salesmen to hawk these courses to parents in high poverty neighborhoods:

Free ipad; cost to parents zero; costs to Louisiana, only $1,200 per course..
Here are some of the ads being run accross the state on Craigs list for a program that as of today has 

Did John White lean on LPB to get reporter terminated? Follow the money to Course Choice and Iberville Parish | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

Did John White lean on LPB to get reporter terminated? Follow the money to Course Choice and Iberville Parish | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:


Did John White lean on LPB to get reporter terminated? Follow the money to Course Choice and Iberville Parish

 Reblogged from Louisiana Voice:
Blind, unquestioning loyalty has long been a prerequisite for serving in the administration of Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Any administrator, of course, expects his appointees to be loyal, and rightfully so. There’s no argument at any level with that basic principle of employment, whether one works for a bicycle shop or the President.
Generally, though, an intelligent CEO will seek candid input from subordinates—even if that input differs from his management philosophy.
Read more… 1,391 more words
I have an update on the Shadow Schools story I was sitting on. I will finish it this week. They never even aired her story with me, they killed it twice because they are lying cowards afraid of the truth. All the top brass and BESE members know about Shadow Schools but the Jindal appointees and bought members think they are a wonderful idea, even though Iberville's scores are still in the toilet as a district and they refuse to release the 

UPDATE: The problem with Pearson-designed tests + They made him take the test

They made him take the test:



The problem with Pearson-designed tests that threatens thousands of scores



They made him take the test


cfnews13.com/c
cfnews13.com
Nobody stopped it.
Nobody in Florida with the power to do so stopped the state from forcing a 9-year-old boy named Michael, who was born with a brain stem but not a complete brain, from taking an alternative version of the standardized Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.
He is blind and he can’t talk, nor can he understand basic information, but, yes, Michael had to “take” the test.
wrote about Michael recently when it became news that he was going to have to take the test. For those who didn’t see that post, here’s some background: Michael, shortly after birth, came into the care of a woman named Judy Harris who owns and operates an Orlando care facility for children called the Russell House. The facility is under school board jurisdiction and, therefore, is subject to the same rules and regulations as other schools, including the requirement that every child must take some version of the FCAT.
News 13 story reported that the state provided a teacher to work with Michael twice a week for an hour, but his ability to comprehend is beyond extremely limited. News 13


Eighteen myths about education

Here’s an infographic about some myths about education, from InformED, a blog by Open Colleges, an online education provider based in Sydney, Australia. An Infographic by Open Colleges  

UPDATE: Just as basketball doesn’t define who I am, neither does being gay.Daily Kos: "The Chutzpah Caucus"

Daily Kos: Krugman writes about "The Chutzpah Caucus":



"Just as basketball doesn’t define who I am, neither does being gay."

That is just one line from Griner Is Part of Mission to Help All Live in Truth, a New York Times op ed by the two-time Naismith Trophy winner that i urge people to read.
She begins by praising Jason Collins for his recent statement, expresses a hope that it will indicate our approaching a new era when
people accept and celebrate one another’s differences. I think that’s what makes life beautiful: everyone is different and we can all learn from one another.
 and immediately notes that it takes a lot of courage to come out.She explains that she first came out to her mom in an unplanned utterance in 9th grade.  Her mother simply hugged her and said she loved her, which enable Griner to write
I knew then that it didn’t matter what my sexuality was; my mom and family would always love me for who I am. For me, the simplicity behind coming out was both powerful and beautiful. No drama, just acceptance and love.
But acceptance by her family was not the only experience with which she had to live.


Krugman writes about "The Chutzpah Caucus"

in this op-ed for Monday's New York Times.
There is much solid economic history, taking about the arguments of those who still advocate for the now thoroughly discredit approach of austerity.  Krugman takes their claims and presents the history that proves them wrong. I will present the arguments in Italics and follow with summaries of Krugman's rebuttals.  For example.
Stimulus programs never go away  - in fact, they are rare and short-lived. FDR cut back on his in 1937, plunging the country back into recession, Obama's peaked in 2010 and has faded, which is a major reason the recovery is struggling.
programs to help those hurt go on forever - not really.  When employment recovers unemployment goes down, and are now down to half of their recent peak.  Food support also fluctuates.
The Keynesian idea to run deficits in bad times is supposed to be accompanied by paying down debt in good times, and that won't happen - well, Krugman says what you need to look at is the ratio of debt to GDP, not just raw numbers.  And now he gets blunt:
And if you look at United States history since World War II, you find that of the 10 presidents who preceded Barack Obama, seven left office with a debt ratio lower than when they came in. Who 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:


WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Roberts was told to "blow up" and "dismantle" Detroit schools
Roy Roberts, Emergency Manager of Detroit Public Schools 
According to a Detroit Free Press article, he also revealed that when he first entered his job in 2011, he was told to "blow up the district and dismantle it."  --Huffpost Detroit
Dana Goldstein
 If smaller, themed schools are better for kids -- and there is significant evidence they are -- the question then becomes, how can districts transition to such a system without leaving behind those students who most need help? Crenshaw was already pursuing a themed school-within-a-school reform plan, and it is discouraging, I think, that the Social Justice and Law Academy, whose work was politically and intellectually challenging, will be discontinued, with its leaders dispersed. -- An Activist Teacher, a Struggling School, and the School Closure Movement: A Story from L.A.
Diane Ravitch
Bill Gates is wrong. American education is not “broken.” Federal education policy is

Student's-Eye View of NJ's Statewide Tests - NJ Spotlight

Student's-Eye View of NJ's Statewide Tests - NJ Spotlight:


Student's-Eye View of NJ's Statewide Tests

When your kids sit down to one of NJ's state tests, what do they need to know?

For all the talk these days about the value of New Jersey’s state tests for judging schools and teachers, here’s your chance to judge for yourself.
For the next five days, as students across the state take the NJ ASK elementary school tests, NJ Spotlight will run sample questions from the exams to give you a view into what the state expects your kids to know and do each step of the way.
We start with a handful of math questions for grades 3-5, both multiple choice and extended-response questions, which require several related answers. As New Jersey begins moving to the Common Core State Standards, the math questions will likely see the most change in this first year.
After you've gotten a feel for the questions, NJ Spotlight invites you to share your thoughts in the comments section about what New Jersey tests and how. We plan on republishing excerpts of your comments at the end of this five-day series.
One more thing: You can check your work against the answers at the end of this story. But no peeking.
NJ ASK 13


NJ ASK 14


NJ ASK 15

Money Spurs Use of New Technologies in Medical Practice: Schools Also? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Money Spurs Use of New Technologies in Medical Practice: Schools Also? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:


Money Spurs Use of New Technologies in Medical Practice: Schools Also?

Physicians have steadily adopted new technologies from the early 19th century stethoscope to the X-ray decades later to late-20th century computer-tomography scans. Such rapid adoption of new technologies has been (and is) common in medicine. What is uncommon is that medical technology spurred by new ways of funding in the past half-century has come to dominate clinical practice among specialty doctors (but less so among primary care physicians whose revenue is largely generated by office visits). How come? [i]
Public and private insurers pay doctors not only for visits to offices, clinics, and hospitals but also for the diagnostic tests they order such as blood work, sonograms, X-rays, scans, and the treatments they deem best in light of an emerging diagnosis. They also prescribe medications and screen healthy patients for possible diseases including more tests since this system of payments–called fee-for-service–encourage such practices. Fee-for-service payments from private and public insurers depend upon counting patient visits, diagnostic tests, and treatments.
images
Surveys of physicians, in part, support this view of doctors ordering additional tests beyond what may be 

Sunday, May 5, 2013

The Educated Reporter: Guest Post: When Are Middle Schoolers Ready for Algebra?

The Educated Reporter: Guest Post: When Are Middle Schoolers Ready for Algebra?:


Guest Post: When Are Middle Schoolers Ready for Algebra?

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) held its annual meeting in San Francisco last week, and I asked The Hechinger Report's Jill Barshay-- and author of the new Education By the Numbers blog -- to share a guest post.

In a study of middle-school math education in a California school district, standardized test scores and grades were a much better predictor of whether a student would pass eighth-grade algebra than whether his seventh-grade math teacher thought he was ready for it. That’s according to an unpublished paper, The Missing Link in Algebra Policy Analysis: A Case Study of Placement in Eighth-Grade Algebra by Andrew Thomas (Walden University), Michael H. Butler (Public Works, Inc.), Robert Kaplinsky (Downey Unified School District) presented at the AERA annual meeting.

The issue of when a student takes his first algebra course is of great interest to academic scholars and policy makers. Some theorize that taking algebra early in eighth grade will lead to more students taking advanced math 

Common core drives revision of English learner assessments too

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources:


Common core drives revision of English learner assessments too

By Tom Chorneau
Monday, May 06, 2013


The Legislature begins debate in earnest this month on plans for a major revision of the state’s academic student assessment program – the STAR system. But just down the street from the Capitol, officials at the California Department of Education are developing similar plans to upgrade testing of English learners.
Just as adoption of the common core standards in 2010 prompted lawmakers to undertake the revision of the Standardized Testing and Reporting program, new standards for English learners aligned to the common core were approved last fall. That also makes obsolete the state’s current assessment program  – the California English Language Development Test –for identifying students whose home language is not English and need help improving their language skills – a group in that typically numbers close to 1.5 million students.
State officials hope to have a new test online by the 2015-16 school year but a number of challenges must be met in order to get there – including additional funding, legislation to authorize the update and federal approval.
“This is a big project,” said Eric Zilbert, who helps oversee development of new tests at the CDE. “[The CELDT 

Ed Notes Online: Weapons of Mass Destruction: Bloomberg Robs Public Schools to Pay Charters

Ed Notes Online: Weapons of Mass Destruction: Bloomberg Robs Public Schools to Pay Charters:


Weapons of Mass Destruction: Bloomberg Robs Public Schools to Pay Charters

While Bloomberg cuts DYCD funds to vital after-school programs, under the radar he is diverting those SAME funds to charter schools. To me this is OUTRAGEOUS and I haven't been able to find any press about it. For the 2012-2013 school year alone, DYCD gave $2.4 million to charter schools. In the 2010-2011 school year, DYCD gave $2.8 million to charter schools... Lorna Feeney
The press will ignore the real weapons of mass destruction story. This came in from Brooklyn parent activist 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: In Which Michael Tolley Reveals The Plan to Dismantle Advanced Learning

Seattle Schools Community Forum: In Which Michael Tolley Reveals The Plan to Dismantle Advanced Learning:


In Which Michael Tolley Reveals The Plan to Dismantle Advanced Learning

At the regular Board Legislative Meeting on Wednesday, May 1 there was a discussion of the proposed policy 2190, Highly Capable Services. You can watch the video here. Jump to 87:55 of part two for the start of the conversation.

First you will hear Shauna Heath speak carefully so that she does not equate Highly Capable Services with APP. At first, I attributed this to Ms Heath's distinctive prose style - obfuscation - and her instinctive reluctance to answer a question. Seen through that lens, her confusing response is only amusing.

However, what if Ms Heath's talk was intentional? What if she was intentionally making a distinction between highly capable services and APP? What if this is the first step to the introduction of another delivery model for Highly Capable Services?

Am I paranoid? Sure, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong.



We get three big clues. The first comes when Ms Heath explains that, following conversations among the district 

Legislature moves to protect career tech SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources:


Legislature moves to protect career tech

By Kimberly Beltran
Monday, May 06, 2013


When Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled his new education spending plan as part of his January budget, Christine Hoffman, who oversees one of the largest career preparation programs in California, knew she – and arguably, the rest of the state – had a problem.
The governor’s budget would consolidate myriad education funds into one giant pool of money to be redistributed to districts, removing restrictions on cash previously allocated for specific programs   and wiping out completely the $8 million set aside for the 45-year old Southern California Regional Occupation Center.
Since then, supporters of the center and career technical training programs in general have inundated the Capitol with protest, both in person before legislative budget panels and in personal contact with lawmakers. And with just a few weeks to go before the governor unveils his revised May budget plan, their message seems to have resonated, at least among lawmakers.
“I think we all went through a bit of a transformation after our recent visit to Cabrillo High School seeing the linked learning there,” said Sen. Bill Monning, D-Carmel, during a hearing last week on several education bills, including 

Douglas County School District: Phys Ed Teachers are WORTH less. – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

Douglas County School District: Phys Ed Teachers are WORTH less. – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:


Douglas County School District: Phys Ed Teachers are WORTH less.

We debuted something new At the Chalk Face today – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

We debuted something new At the Chalk Face today – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:

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We debuted something new At the Chalk Face today

ednext_20101_28_openimageWell, I have to say, it’s pretty amazing. In addition to have agreat chat with teachers Ralph Ratto and Brian White, we debuted the new “Michelle Rhee” button.
We’ve used a term in the past, that these education “reforms” are “faith-based.” That is, they’re not based on any evidence, per se, just some pure ideological drive to prove what cannot ever be proven, solutions desperately in search of problems.
If you’re feeling the reform “mojo,” overwhelmed by the holiest of holies, just click the Rhee button. Salvation lies within. I offer it to you, dear reader, free of charge. Click Rhee of Arc and enjoy.

Kimble's Corner: Congressman Kimble's Press Conference on His Marriage

Kimble's Corner: Congressman Kimble's Press Conference on His Marriage:


Congressman Kimble's Press Conference on His Marriage


I won't start in any particular spot.  This particular press conference is the hardest thing I have had to do in at least 3 or 4 years.   I guess to begin with, I have always had a love affair...actually that's a bad choice of words.  I have always loved Yosemite National Park.  It's one of nature's last frontiers and I have long looked forward to someday visiting the park.

So all those things I said about Yosemite were true, but they're not the whole story, and that's obviously why everybody's gathered here right now. So let me lay out that larger story that has attracted so many of you all here. I'm a bottom line kind of guy. I'll lay it out. It's gonna hurt, and we'll let the chips fall where they may. Yep,