Thinking About Schools: Reform "WarGames"-style

Thinking About Schools: Reform "WarGames"-style:

Reform "WarGames"-style

tick, tick, tick....

The opening scene of "WarGames."  Two men in the missile silo.  The alert comes in.  One man refuses to comply launching a missile, the other pull out his gun and orders, “Turn your key.”

 

A subsequent scene shows the furniture being removed from the silo and the men replaced by robotics.  All missiles would all be controlled centrally based on running infinite global conflict scenarios of data into the WOPR.

 

Enter Matthew Broderick, a high school kid searching for games, only to find out he has accidentally started the clock ticking for the WOPR to fire missiles on Russia. 

 

While the silo metaphor may be sadly accurate for too many classrooms, too many teachers are being replaced by robots.  And, instead of leaders and practitioners making vital system-wide decisions, the President and Governors have turned the schools over to their State’s version leadership and decision-making to the WOPR.   

 

The movie script in the Department of Education’s war room might read something like this.  “Here’s the plan…

 

·         Dismantle local schools to create highly centralized, county-wide and state-

Schooling in the Ownership Society: A look at Philly layoffs from Lisbon

Schooling in the Ownership Society: A look at Philly layoffs from Lisbon:

A look at Philly layoffs from Lisbon

by Mike Klonsky

At Lisbon University: "General Strike"

It's a strange feeling sitting here in Lisbon, reading about austerity in Philly.

Philadelphia Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. announced Friday that the School District had begun mailing layoff notices to 3,783 employees, informing them they will lose their jobs July 1 because of the district’s financial crisis. The list includes 676 teachers, 283 counselors, 127 assistant principals, and 1,202 noontime aides. -- Inquirer

Change the names of the cities and the school administrators and the same story can be read in papers here, in Madrid, or in Athens. Why would anyone think this has anything to do with education reform?

Mass school closings along with thousands teacher and staff firings are part a global crisis which the one-

NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education

NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education:

NPE News Briefs

In L.A. a shift at the top of school takeover group | Schooling in the Ownership Society

Outgoing Mayor Villaraigosa pulled a fast one on newly-elected mayor Eric Garcetti. He brought in a new manager, trained by the Broad Foundation, to run the corporate reform/school privatization group,  Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, less than a month before Garcetti was to be sworn in as mayor. Joan Sullivan, currently Villaraigosa’s deputy mayor for education ...read moreThe post In L.A. a

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Two Tenure Law Sponsors Now Seek Delay in Tougher Teacher Evaluations | New Jersey Spotlight

by John Mooney – Concerns about the upcoming launch of a new teacher evaluation system in New Jersey have caught the attention of some high-ranking legislators, with two Assembly leaders offering up a resolution to delay some key pieces of the new requirements. Related Links Resolution Calling for One-Year Delay in Full Implementation of Tougher ...read moreThe post Two Tenure Law Sponsors Now See

31min 

Camden Schools Takeover: Day One, and Counting | New Jersey Spotlight

by John Mooney – The president of the State Board of Education yesterday characterized the formal approval of the takeover of Camden’s public schools as “historic.” Related Links Camden Schools Takeover Resolution To the teachers in Camden High School, however, the event was less than momentous. “That happened today?” said one, as she climbed into ...read moreThe post Camden Schools Takeover: Day

31min 

The New York Times Claims ‘Better Teachers for New York City’ | Susan Ohanian Speaks Out

by Susan Ohanian – The New York Times editorial board is enthusiastic about the new teacher evaluation system imposed on New York City teachers by the New York State education commissioner because, in their words, this represents an important and necessary step toward carrying out the rigorous new Common Core education reforms. Translation: Another Bill ...read moreThe post The New York Times Clai

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My experience at a #TFAListen event | Teach For Us

by Gary Rubinstein – TFA has two new co-CEO’s, Elisa Villanueva-Beard and Matt Kramer.  Since they have started a few months ago, they have been going on a ‘listening’ tour around the country.  Based on Tweets I had read about the tour and also from a montage video I had seen, the tone of the ...read moreThe post My experience at a #TFAListen event | Teach For Us appeared first on NPE News Briefs.

31min 

Teacher Inquiry Gives Students a Voice Too | Living in Dialogue – Education Week

by Anthony Cody – Teachers in Oakland, California, continue to shed light on what happens when you give them autonomy and support for deep, open-ended professional growth. I have written before about the work of the Mills Teacher Scholars, a program that has been in existence for a decade. With guidance from Mills College education ...read moreThe post Teacher Inquiry Gives Students a Voice Too |

57min 

A Proposal for Real School Choice in New York State | With A Brooklyn Accent

by Mark Naison – Instead of “Common Core” How about “Uncommon Children Deserve More’- A Proposal for Real School Choice Driving back from Eastern Long Island this afternoon , I  had a vision of an educational revolution in New York State  that would replace the insane barrage of tests, teacher evaluations and cooker cutter curricular ...read moreThe post A Proposal for Real School Choice in New Yo

57min 

A Revenue First Agenda: Open Commentary to Triggermen Ben Austin and Bruce William Smith | @ The Chalk Face knows Schools Matter

by Robert D. Skeels – These myths falsely portrayed desegregation’s failures as the product of autonomous individual choice. Meanwhile, these myths obscured inequalities in desegregation. A new, but parallel, kind of mythmaking about choice is underway in today’s charter school efforts. — Ansley T. Erickson Parent Revolution’s executive director, wealthy white Beverly Hills lawyer Ben ...read more

57min 

CPS enrollment figures unreliable, so we should probably rethink this whole school funding scheme, no? | @ The Chalk Face knows Schools Matter

by Chalk Face, PHD – The Chicago Tribune is reporting today that the enrollment proportion offered by CPS to tout progress of the massive closure plan is, well, bunk. Bottom line: Chicago Public Schools touted a smooth start to the school closing process this week by announcing that 78 percent of students at schools being ...read moreThe post CPS enrollment figures unreliable, so we should probabl

57min 

The One Type of Data That is Off Limits (For Now) | @ The Chalk Face knows Schools Matter

by Kris Nielsen – Health history and information is protected at a Federal level by HIPAA (Health Insurance and Portability and Accountability Act) laws.  This provides a challenge for education data collectors that are trying to gather health records and information on students under Arne Duncan’s P-20 program.  And, unfortunately, Arne isn’t allowed to mess ...read moreThe post The One Type of D

57min 

New KIPP:Care Will Include Child Doping Benefit | @ The Chalk Face knows Schools Matter

by Jim Horn – Since corporate school cult leader, Mike Feinberg, left his KIPP superintendent’s duties in Houston for the full-time pursuit of national brand saturation, KIPP teachers report chaos at a number of the KIPP stores schools around Houston, with mass retentions, administrative meltdowns, faltering test scores, and mass teacher resignations. What will it ...read moreThe post New KIPP:Car

57min 

Superintendent challenges Virginia Gov. McDonnell’s A-F school grading system | The Answer Sheet | The Washington Post

by Valerie Strauss – Virginia lawmakers approved school reforms earlier this year that included a new A-F system of grading individual schools. Gov. Bob McDonnell championed the change, saying it was an easy way for parents to understand how well their children’s schools were actually doing. Critics think otherwise. In the following important post, Mark ...read moreThe post Superintendent challeng

57min 

“There wasn’t a lot of choice, but there was some” | the becoming radical

by PLThomas EDD – In the June 2013 newsletter for the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), Board of Directors Chair Fayneese Miller makes this case about Common Core States Standards (CCSS): What should be our message? What do we stand for? For starters, we need to stand resolved in supporting the implementation of the ...read moreThe post “There wasn’t a lot of choice,

57min 

Common Core supporters back moratorium on new tests’ high stakes | The Answer Sheet | The Washington Post

by Valerie Strauss – A coalition of education organizations and unions that support the Common Core State Standards issued an open letter on Thursday backing a moratorium of at least one year on the high stakes associated with new standardized tests being given to students that are aligned with the Core. The letter was issued ...read moreThe post Common Core supporters back moratorium on new tests

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Teacher: Reflections on Deborah Gist’s New Contract | Diane Ravitch’s blog

by Horace Manic; posted by Diane Ravitch – This post was sent to me by a teacher in Rhode Island who uses the nom de plume Horace Manic. Mr. Manic writes: The recent renewal of the contract of Deborah Gist, the Commissioner of Education in Rhode Island, brings to light some interesting political dynamics. Considering ...read moreThe post Teacher: Reflections on Deborah Gist’s New Contract | Diane

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‘Stop this Madness’: rap video on school reform:

‘Stop this Madness’: rap video on school reform

By Valerie Strauss, Published: June 8, 2013 at 1:12 pmE-mail the writer

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Jeremy Dudley                  (www.originalrap.com)

Teachers in Albany, New York, are rallying today against what the organizers call “the madness” of corporate-influenced school reform that is based on high-stakes standardized tests and that many say has demonized teachers. It is the latest in a series of rallies and protests of one kind or another in a growing backlash nationwide against education and student/educator evaluation based on on how well students do on standardized tests.

Jeremy Dudley — a.k.a. “Origin” — is a teacher and instructional technologist for the City School District of Albany and a member of the Albany Public School Teachers Association who wrote and performed the following rap song about reform. He raps about unfunded mandates, the Common Core State Standards and more. Listen to it, and/or read the transcript after the video. You can follow him www.facebook.com/dudleyteaches or www.originalrap.com. You can also find him on Twitter at @dudleyteaches #stopthismadness.

Transcript:

Attention ladies and gentlemen, there’s currently a battle going on in public schools across this nation between those in the business of education, those that legislate education, and those of us who agree that those political agendas and business schemes have no place in classrooms. Let the teachers teach, and stop this madness.

 Chorus

Philadelphia school district laying off 3,783 employees

by Valerie Strauss

On the heels of a “doomsday” school budget for 2013-14 that has no funding for things as basic as paper and new books, the Philadelphia school system is now laying off 3,783 employees, including 676 teachers and 283 counselors, effective … Continue reading →

The Fixation With Standardized Test Scores | JD2718

The Fixation With Standardized Test Scores | JD2718:

The Fixation With Standardized Test Scores

by jd2718

Lynne Winderbaum takes down the new NYC Teacher Evaluation System and standardized test scores
I wish Governor Cuomo [link] and Mayor Bloomberg [link] were not on record as wanting to fire teachers. I wish that Race to the Top did not force unproven reforms on states in order to compete for a piece of the pie or be left empty-handed. Although some may disagree, there is a disquieting feeling among teachers that the goal of all of these changes to evaluation is to be able to fire them. Observations long ago ceased to be an exercise in training and improving classroom skills and became “gotcha” evidence to support getting rid of certain teachers (and not for their pedagogy in many cases but for their age, their union activities, their whistle blowing, their refusal to do things contrary to the contract, etc). This year, in the Bronx district that includes DeWitt Clinton High School, the superintendent has denied tenure to 100% of his probationary teachers!  There is tremendous political pressure to hold teachers accountable and responsible for the poor outcomes that embarrass the mayor and the DOE. Plus the corporate environment that is in place at Tweed and in corporate run charters and affiliated small schools would be unrestrained if teachers become at-will employees.
That’s why forcing an “ineffective” rating on teachers based on unreliable and wildly varying test scores [link] is 

Rebutting (again) the Persistent Flow of Disinformation on VAM, SGP and Teacher Evaluation | School Finance 101

Rebutting (again) the Persistent Flow of Disinformation on VAM, SGP and Teacher Evaluation | School Finance 101:

Rebutting (again) the Persistent Flow of Disinformation on VAM, SGP and Teacher Evaluation

by schoolfinance101

This post is in response to testimony overheard from recent presentations to the New Jersey State Board of Education. For background and more thorough explanations of issues pertaining to the use of Value-added Models and Student Growth Percentiles please see the following two sources:

• Baker, B.D., Oluwole, J., Green, P.C. III (2013) The legal consequences of mandating high stakes decisions based on low quality information: Teacher evaluation in the race-to-the-top era. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 21(5). This article is part of EPAA/AAPE’s Special Issue on Value-Added: What America’s Policymakers Need to Know and Understand, Guest Edited by Dr. Audrey Amrein-Beardsley and Assistant Editors Dr. Clarin Collins, Dr. Sarah Polasky, and Ed Sloat. Retrieved [date], from http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/1298
• Baker, B.D., Oluwole, J. (2013) Deconstructing Disinformation on Student Growth Percentiles & Teacher 

SCUSD DAC Regular Meeting Tuesday, June 11, 2013

SCUSD DAC Regular Meeting Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Hello fellow DAC members.  The June Regular meeting is our last meeting for the Academic year 2012-2013.  The DAC has had a very intense meeting schedule.  We have dealt with major issues from the preposed High School Graduation Requirements, to the CORE (Title 1) Waiver, and most certainly the District’s School Closure proposal (aka rightsizing).

During our November 2012 April 2013 meetings we enjoyed a presentations regarding our single most important reason for being a parent advisory council…The ConApp.  On this agenda (see attached), the DAC will deliberate taking a position on wether or not we have been a meaningful participant in the development of this year’s ConApp.  Your input is very important.  The ConApp affects many more students in our District that even the most contentious issue of this academic year, the school closures.  So we hope that the DAC will conclude its last meeting this academic year with your enthusiastic participation.

On a lesser note, many of you have expressed concern about the DAC email address not working properly.  Specifically, your reply email is being rejected by the District server.  I will refer this issue to the responsible staff so that this issue is resolved.  Thanks for your patience.

I look forward to seeing you

Mali D. Currington

My Year Volunteering As A Teacher Helped Educate A New Generation Of Underprivileged Kids vs. Can We Please, Just Once, Have A Real Teacher | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

My Year Volunteering As A Teacher Helped Educate A New Generation Of Underprivileged Kids vs. Can We Please, Just Once, Have A Real Teacher | The Onion - America's Finest News Source:

Point

POINT/COUNTERPOINT • Education • Opinion • Jul 17, 2012

My Year Volunteering As A Teacher Helped Educate A New Generation Of Underprivileged Kids

By Megan Richmond, Volunteer Teacher

When I graduated college last year, I was certain I wanted to make a real difference in the world. After 17 years of education, I felt an obligation to share my knowledge and skills with those who needed it most.

After this past year, I believe I did just that. Working as a volunteer teacher helped me reach out to a new generation of underprivileged children in dire need of real guidance and care. Most of these kids had been abandoned by the system and, in some cases, even by their families, making me the only person who could really lead them through the turmoil.

Was it always easy? Of course not. But with my spirit and determination, we were all able to move forward. 

Those first few months were the most difficult of my life. Still, I pushed through each day knowing that these kids really needed the knowledge and life experience I had to offer them. In the end, it changed all of our lives.

In some ways, it's almost like I was more than just a teacher to those children. I was a real mentor who was able to connect with them and fully understand their backgrounds and help them become the leaders of tomorrow.

Ultimately, I suppose I can never know exactly how much of an impact I had on my students, but I do know that for me it was a fundamentally eye-opening experience and one I will never forget.

Counterpoint

Can We Please, Just Once, Have A Real Teacher?

By Brandon Mendez, James Miller Elementary School Student

You've got to be kidding me. How does this keep happening? I realize that as a 

Victory for Seattle Teachers against High Stakes Education Testing | Dissident Voice

Victory for Seattle Teachers against High Stakes Education Testing | Dissident Voice:

Victory for Seattle Teachers against High Stakes Education Testing

by Dylan Murphy

On Monday, May 13, Seattle Schools Superintendent Jose Banda announced that “High schools may opt out of MAP [Measures of Academic Progress Test] in 2013-14.”
This announcement was greeted with spontaneous celebrations by teachers and students at Garfield High School where the boycott of MAP tests began in January.
Garfield High School’s librarian, Janet Woodward summed up the meaning of the MAP test boycott for Garfield saying, “I feel vindicated by the decision to remove MAP testing from the high schools. Our movement has succeeded in exposing all of the fallacies of using this canned assessment. It is a waste of money and time, turns professionals into proctor clerks and produces results which are not statistically relevant.”
It was the first time a group of teachers have boycotted a standardized test in America. The boycott began on January 9, 2013 when the 19 strong group of teachers at Garfield High voted unanimously to refuse to administer the MAP test. The MAP test purports to evaluates student progress in reading and math in all grades (K-12). 

Teacher Inquiry Gives Students a Voice Too - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Teacher Inquiry Gives Students a Voice Too - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Teacher Inquiry Gives Students a Voice Too

by Anthony Cody

Teachers in Oakland, California, continue to shed light on what happens when you give them autonomy and support for deep, open-ended professional growth. I have written before about the work of the Mills Teacher Scholars, a program that has been in existence for a decade. With guidance from Mills College education professor Anna Richert, the program has expanded, and a few weeks ago I joined hundreds of people as we viewed research project displays, and heard from those engaged in teacher inquiry.
Often times it seems we are seeking "best practices" that will work with all students. In the case of teacher inquiry, the work begins in a state of uncertainty. Our starting point assumes that what worked before might not work this time, because in the complex relationship between teacher, student and subject matter, no two lessons are alike. This curiosity allows us all to be ourselves, and to start fresh with an open mind. It also means we are actively probing how our students are receiving and processing our instruction. This gives students a very active role. We are working with them to find the best ways for them to gain new skills and understanding.
One of the Mills Teacher Scholars is Channon Jackson, who teaches fourth grade at New Highland Academy elementary school in Oakland. This public school is in the most violent and economically deprived part of town. The students are a mix of mostly Latino English learners and African Americans. Here, in her own words, is the story of her recent classroom inquiry.


Channon Jackson:
This year my focus was science vocabulary. I chose this because as a