Thursday, August 8, 2013

Gates pours millions in new grants to change teaching profession

Gates pours millions in new grants to change teaching profession:

Gates pours millions in new grants to change teaching profession

By Valerie Strauss, Published: August 8 at 4:00 amE-mail the writer
(Andrew Harrer/BLOOMBERG)
(Andrew Harrer/BLOOMBERG)
The Gates Foundation is spending millions of dollars in new grants that will further its already vast and controversial influence on public education. After spending hundreds of millions of dollars to to develop teacher assessment systems, it is putting many millions more into that issue, as well as into the creation of new online “adaptive” courses, the implementation of the Common Core standards, and more.
The foundation has plowed billions into K-12 reform in the last decade or so (first creating small schools and then teacher evaluation systems that used student test scores) but also in recent years has expanded into higher education. Recent articles in the Chronicle of Higher Education detailed the nearly half a billion dollars the foundation has spent to help remake the higher education into one that Gates prefers, which is focused on getting more students degrees faster through technology and what is called “competency-based learning,” and which is wrapped around an accountability system based on testing.
Foundation grants in July include those for teacher evaluation, development and the creation of new “standards” for the profession. Several school districts won multimillion-dollar grants, including one for $10 million to “support the Denver Public Schools in finding, growing and keeping talented educators in the district to ensure their students have an effective teacher in every classroom every year.” The National Education 
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8-8-13 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:



Former NY St Ed Comm David Milton Steiner Opines in NY Post as StudentsFirstNY Quotes Randi
I pledge allegiance to ed deformAfter Cathie Black does Milton have any credibility left? This Milton is has less vision than the real one. What a NYSED Commish crew over last 18 years. From Dickie Boy Richard Mills through John King. These people are a joke. Leonie posted this tidbit: On disastrous scores StudentsFirstNY cites Randi in defense of the Common Core (!!)  & misquotes Diane in one
2 by ed notes online / 1h 

Nysed Approves Trojan Horse Project For Public Schools
Struggling to fill seats, drum up false demand and justify hollow, multi-million dollar marketing campaigns, charter schools have come up with an ingenious TROJAN HORSE strategy in which they will poach students from popular public schools -- and get paid to do it!" .... Lorna F, parent This story in the DN the other day inspired the comment above.NYSED charter schools getting $4.5 million state g
3 by ed notes online / 1h 


Understanding Test Results as Shock Doctrine While UFT Spins a Different Tale
The new Common Core exams and test scores are politically motivated, and are based neither on reason or evidence.  They were pre-ordained to fit the ideological goals of Commissioner King and the other educrats who are intent on imposing damaging policies on our schools.... Leonie Haimson, NYCPSP blog , five reasons not to trust the new scoresThat the head of the NYC teachers union should accept t
1 by ed notes online / 1h 

Parents and Educators Reject Official Explanations for Dismal State Test Scores
Call for full transparency in state testing program and an end to the use of standardized tests for promotion, teacher evaluation and closing schools... Change the StakesHere is a follow-up to my earlier post:T-Day: For Deformers, Mission Accomplished. By now the scores have come out and they are a disaster. Some great comments floating out there but they will wait for another followup post later.
10 by ed notes online / 3h 
T-Day: For Deformers, Mission Accomplished
Shouldn't these tests that get students career and college ready be prevalent for students of high school, not little 9 year old boys and girls in 3rd grade? Parents of NYC, you are all being played!... South Bronx SchoolToday is lousy test score reveal day (LTSR) for  the tests given this past school year. Let me get this straight. You spend an entire year prepping for a test given in May and don
1 by ed notes online / 3h 

YESTERDAY

Joel Klein: The Good News in Lower Test Scores. HUH? Plus NY State Ed Cwies Bitter Tears
Shock doctrine at work. 26 percent of students in third through eighth grade passed the state exams in English, and 30 percent passed in math.  Only 5% of students in Rochester passed. Statewide, only 31 percent of students passed the exams in reading and math..... Leonie HaimsonIs this the same Joel Klein who ran our schools for 10 years and was constantly taking bows for increased test scores an
1 by ed notes online / 8h   
8-6-13 Ed Notes Online
Ed Notes Online: A Little Andy Borowitz Humor for a Warm Summer Day - EnjoyMr. Bezos said he had been oblivious to his online shopping error until earlier today, when he saw an unusual charge for two hundred and fifty million dollars on his American Express statement. Amazon Founder Says He Clicked on Washington Post by MistakeRead more at newyorker.com1 by ed notes online / 6min UFT History, Earl
by mike simpson / 2h 
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Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Fourth Anniversary of My Blog | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Fourth Anniversary of My Blog | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Fourth Anniversary of My Blog

Dear Readers,
This post marks my fourth anniversary as a blogger. I want to thank those readers who regularly read my twice-weekly posts, those who have dipped into them occasionally, those who have subscribed to the post, and finally those—nearly 5,000–who have taken the time to write comments.  The blog has had almost 600,000 views from around the world (32 percent outside of the U.S) since August 2009. Not exactly viral but, for me, most gratifying.
For the 482 posts I have written in the past three years, I have followed three rules:
1. Write less than 800 words.
2. Write clearly on school reform and classroom practice.
3. Take a position and back it up with evidence.
Anyone who blogs or writes often knows that sticking to these rules is no easy task. Occasionally, I have slipped and alert readers have reminded me of these rules.  Yet after four years, writing two posts a week–with help from guests (teachers, administrators, non-educators, family, and academics)–has been very satisfying. I remain highly motivated to write about what happens to policy as it gets translated into practice and those unrelenting efforts of reformers with varied ideas inside and outside the schools who have sought improved schooling.
Five posts have caught the most clicks since beginning the blog:
“Cartoons on “Testing,” (8,000)
For the first time, a cartoon feature has entered the top five posts. Two years ago, I began a once-monthly series of cartoons on selected topics of teaching, administering, policymaking, and school reform.   For those who have not seen these cartoons, click on: “Digital Kids in School,” “Testing,” “Blaming Is So American,”  “Accountability in Action,” “Charter Schools,” and “Age-graded Schools,” Students and Teachers, Parent-Teacher Conferences, Digital Teachers, Addiction to Electronic Devices,  Testing, Testing, and Testing,Business and Schools, Common Core Standards, Problems and Dilemmas,Digital Natives (2),  Online Courses,  , Students and Teachers Again, “Doctors and Teachers,” Parent/teacher conferences,  “Preschools,”and “Life at Lincoln Middle School.”
As I begin my fifth year, I am not sure where I fit into Roz Chast’s breakdown of bloggers, but poking fun at those who blog is, well, part of being a blogger. Thank you again, dear readers, for making the past four years a satisfying experience.
Larry Cuban
new-yorker-blog-cartoon4
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K-12 News Network | Local Control Funding Formula — A View From SoCal

K-12 News Network | Local Control Funding Formula — A View From SoCal:



Local Control Funding Formula — A View From SoCal

Local Control Funding Formula — A View From SoCal

admin August 7, 2013 Budgets, Los Angeles, Orange County, Sacramento, San Francisco, State Education Law 0
By Deb McCurdy, special to K12NN and reposted with permission.
Students throughout California are finally getting some relief.  A few weeks ago, the state legislature reached a compromise on the 2013-2014 budget, which also includes a plan for future K-12 public education funding, and Governor Brown has signed it. The compromise budget provides for about $55.3 billion in local and state revenue for K-12 education and two-year community colleges next year under Proposition 98.  The original per pupil allocation, outlined in Governor Brown’s May Revise, under the new Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), has now been increased by $500 per student thanks to the advocacy efforts of many concerned education groups, including the California State PTA.  The LCFF is a game changer for our students, so it is vital that its premise and implementation are well thought out.
Simply put, the LCFF allots a baseline of funds for all school districts and then adds dollars to that base, depending on the percentage of English Language Learners and economically disadvantaged students in any given school district.  For South Pasadena Unified this was not entirely good news, since our percentage of students in those categories falls short of the required quota to send those extra dollars our way.  So while 
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Indiana - Grade Manipulation Found - NYTimes.com #Cheats4Change

Indiana - Grade Manipulation Found - NYTimes.com:

Indiana: Grade Manipulation Found

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: August 7, 2013

Say it ain't so!
or NOT!
Cheats For Change http://bit.ly/13ti3BK

 The state schools superintendent, Glenda Ritz, on Wednesday acknowledged manipulation in the way Indiana’s schools are graded, the latest fallout from a report by The Associated Press that found her predecessor worked behind the scenes to improve the score of acharter school founded by an influential Republican donor. Ms. Ritz told state school board members that this year’s school ratings would be held up as a result of an independent review into the A to F grading system, and left open the possibility some of last year’s grades could be changed. The system was established by Tony Bennett, who last week resigned from his new job as Florida’s schools chief amid 
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Centennial board members joins new national advocacy group - phillyburbs.com: 00redesign

Centennial board members joins new national advocacy group - phillyburbs.com: 00redesign:

Centennial board members joins new national advocacy group

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Posted: Wednesday, August 7, 2013 1:09 pm | Updated: 7:59 pm, Wed Aug 7, 2013.
By Naomi Hall Staff writer
Centennial School Board member Mark B. Miller was recently appointed to a new national public education advocacy group, the Network for Public Education.
The network is a national advocacy group that supports grass-roots efforts to defend public education from attempts to privatize, and market public education for corporate gain.
“We want to strengthen grass-roots groups' ability to mobilize and support candidates that are willing to defend public education,” said Anthony Cody, a founding member of the group’s board of directors.
The group was founded by Diane Ravitch, an author, professor and education researcher from New York, and Cody, a middle school teacher and blog author from Mendocino County, Calif.
Both Ravitch and Cody knew Miller from his public education advocacy work in Pennsylvania.
“He’s been a real staunch advocate for public 





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Senator, state education board member consider debate on CSCOPE | Education Blog

Senator, state education board member consider debate on CSCOPE | Education Blog:

Senator, state education board member consider debate on CSCOPE

The chairman of the Senate Education Committee has accepted an offer from  the vice chairman of the State Board of Education to debate a controversial series of lesson plans in Texas that have pitted hundreds of school districts against social conservative and tea party groups. Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, agreed Wednesday to debate State Board of Education member Thomas Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant. The senator suggested it be held in Tyler on August 24. Patrick has been a critic of the CSCOPE lesson plans, while Ratliff has defended the lessons and the right of any school district in the state to use them in class.
“The CSCOPE curriculum was an ill-conceived program, shrouded in secrecy,” Patrick said. “When I shined the light on it during the legislative session, it could not withstand close scrutiny. All the parties agreed the program would be dismantled. But a lawyer, a few supporters and Mr. Ratliff have tried to renege on the deal and resurrect this program.” His reference was to the decision of CSCOPE’s governing board to quit releasing the 1,600 lesson plans on Aug. 31. But hundreds of school districts already have the curriculum or will be downloading it before the new school year, angering critics like Patrick. In addition, the general counsel for the Texas Education Agency said the lesson plans are now 
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