LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-11-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Photo of the Day from Philadelphia Parents

Here it is. A carefree governor paddling away while the children of Philadelphia lose arts, sports, computers, guidance counselors, librarians, books, etc.

by dianerav / 26min 

Our Kids Are OK, the Tests Are Not

Stephen Dyer in Ohio can’t believe that 2/3 of the children in New York failed the state tests. He says if he or his wife wrote an exam that 69% of students failed, the shame would be on them or the tests, not the students. The Néw York scores lack face validity. Dyer says: “Does anyone really, I mean really, believe that more than 2 out of every 3 children in New York State are failing? Or that o

3 by dianerav / 5min 

A Gift for You This Sunday

This is a favorite of mine. I think you will enjoy it, and the singer is gorgeous. Would someone please tell the mayors and governors and legislators to stop laying off teachers of music and the other arts?

1 by dianerav / 3min 

Wikipedia Page on Vouchers Revised to Favor Vouchers

A sharp-eyed reader noticed that the Wikipedia description of vouchers has been revised to put vouchers in a favorable light. The entry somehow slides past the fact that voters have turned down vouchers whenever they were put on the ballot. Every voucher program in the U.S. was enacted by a state legislature–or in the case of D.C.–by Congress. Not one of them was adopted or approved by voters. Th

by dianerav / 4min 

Breaking News: Common Core Tests Widen Achievement Gaps

According to an exclusive report in the New York Daily News, the Common Core testing widened the achievement gaps between high-needs students and their advantaged peers. The Daily News had access to a study by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform. “According to the Annenberg report, schools with the highest concentration of special-education students saw a 64% decrease in reading scores and 7

2 by dianerav / 5min 

Losing the Heart of the Community

What happens when privately managed charter schools replace public schools? when experienced teachers are replaced by TFA temporary teachers? A reader comments: “From what I can tell, Arizona’s TFA teachers are thought of as rock stars in education. Knights in shining armor to save the school day. It’s the new baby and everyone loves it. Charters are popping up all over the place. The buildings ar

1 by dianerav / 27min 

Who Was Your Favorite Teacher?

This is a terrific website. Readers answer the question, “who was your favorite teacher and why?” It is fun to read the responses. People write about teachers who were strict and demanding; they write about teachers who were passionate about their subject; they write about teachers who were inspiring; they write about teachers who were fun and pulled pranks; they write about their physics teacher,

2 by dianerav / 31min 

New Group Forms in New York State to Fight Common Core

A parent in New York contacted me to tell me of a new group that she and other parents created to fight the Common Core in New York. She writes: My name is Yvonne Gasperino.  My husband and I have started a grassroots effort named Stop Common Core in New York State on April 3, 2013. Here is the link to the website: www.stopccssinnys.com or www.stopcommoncoreinnewyork.com, we also have a FB group p

1 by dianerav / 38min 

As Philadelphia Schools Die, Governor Corbett Goes Kayaking

This just in from a retired Pennsylvania school superintendent: “Beyond Belief! “On the August 9 front page of The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Superintendent of Schools makes a desperate last minute plea for adequate funding to give his city’s school children some semblance of equal educational opportunity. “And the state and city leadership response is similar to the legend of Nero f

7 by dianerav / 2h 

Jersey Jazzman Explains NY’s Triple Lindy Testing Mess

Remember when teachers wrote the tests for their students to determine way they knew and what they needed to study again? Remember when testing was feedback intended to inform instruction? It’s all over! Jersey Jazzman explains the crazy way that Néw York state decided to grade the tests. Only a mad psychometricians would come up with a process so convoluted. It’s a triple Lindy. Maybe a quadrup

4 by dianerav / 2h mark as read  //  save

Why Wall Street Loves Charters

This is not satire. It is real. In a guest post for EduShyster, a hedge fund manager explains why Wall Street loves charters. To them, the way to manage schools is to treat them like a stock portfolio. Keep the winners, dump the losers. Report the success of the winners, forget about the losers. It is a great formula. The CREDO study has been cited as evidence that charters are getting better but

13 by dianerav / 2h 

Diane in the Evening 8-10-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: REIGN OF ERROR COMING SOON (CLICK here)Demolition Derby in Michigan for School DistrictsUnder a recently passed state law in Michigan, two school districts will be dissolved. Inkster and Buena Vista school districts no longer exist. Their students and teachers have scattered. The students are looking for schools, the teachers are l

by mike simpson / 51min 

Philly state lawmakers to Corbett: Give extra money to schools now | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Philly state lawmakers to Corbett: Give extra money to schools now | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

Philly state lawmakers to Corbett: Give extra money to schools now

by thenotebook on Aug 10 2013 Posted in Latest news

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by Holly Otterbein

Money is so tight in the Philadelphia School District that Superintendent William Hite said he may not be able to open schools on time if he is not assured soon that more city funding is on the way.

Mayor Michael Nutter and City Council President Darrell Clarke both want to provide extra cash, but they're quarreling over how to do that.

In light of the schools' massive budget shortfall, Philadelphia-area state lawmakers are trying to push Gov. Tom Corbett to immediately give the District millions of dollars that have been set aside. But the Corbett administration argues that the District's unions must make major changes before the cash is released.

Corbett's funding package for Philly's schools, announced in June, includes a one-time infusion of $45 million that originated from an apparent settlement with the federal government. Before Corbett hands over that money, state law requires his education secretary to certify that the District has begun to implement financial, educational and operational "reforms."

State Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia) said that the School District has already executed big changes, like closing schools and slashing its budget. He believes that the Corbett administration legally can, and should, release the $45 million payment ASAP.

"Hopefully they'll get to the point where they will not stand in the school doors of these kids who deserve to have the adults act like adults," he said. "[The School Reform Commission has] closed 31 schools to try to make a much more efficient 

When Charter Schools Are in Churches, Conflict Is in the Air - NYTimes.com

When Charter Schools Are in Churches, Conflict Is in the Air - NYTimes.com:

When Charter Schools Are in Churches, Conflict Is in the Air

By MORGAN SMITH

Published: August 10, 2013S

Three years, 5,000 door hangers and several garage sales after its opening, Beta Academy has a long waiting list but an empty bank account.

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Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune

Latisha Andrews hopes to convert her private elementary school, which is housed at an Assembly of God church in Houston, into a charter school.

Expanded coverage of Texas is produced by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit news organization. To join the conversation about this article, go totexastribune.org.

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But if the school’s founder, Latisha Andrews, has her way, Beta, a private elementary school that operates out of the Houston Christian Temple Assembly of God Church, will soon transform into a new operation: a publicly financed charter school.

If the state approves Ms. Andrews’s application this fall, Beta Academy will join the many charter schools that have partnerships with religious institutions that have cropped up in cities across Texas since the charter school system was established in 1995. In the past three years, 16 of the 23 charter contracts the state has awarded have gone to entities with religious ties.

While charter school advocates say the practice often reflects no more than smart budgeting, some educators and others question whether the schools receive the proper oversight to ensure that religious groups are not benefiting from taxpayer dollars intended for public school students — or that faith-based instruction is not entering those 

NYC Educator: Education, Cajun Style

NYC Educator: Education, Cajun Style:

Education, Cajun Style

US Education Secretary Arne Duncan famously stated that Katrina was the best thing to happen to education in New Orleans. But hey, you can't just flood the whole country. First of all, even if you have a very important job like Arne does, you still don't get power over time, space, and nature.

Unfair though that is, you have to deal with it. There has to be another way. After all, New Orleans proved a perfect opportunity to close down virtually the entire public school system and replace it with charters. This is a bonanza for your BFFs who heretofore had not been making a dime from education.  Sure they aren't really doing very well. But that's not really the point, is it?

Arne knows a lot about education. After all, he's never been a teacher, so he's unencumbered by the special interests and prejudices that come with that job. However, he did run the Chicago school system. While it's true his program failed utterly, that's not the point either. If we can't simply produce hurricanes to improve education, how can we help the entire country make our BFFs more wealthy like we did in Chicago and New Orleans?

Clearly, this Common Core stuff is a bonanza. If we can introduce tests for which students are unprepared, if we make people who don't even speak English take them, if we fail to allow for poverty, handicaps, or learning difficulties, we can cause an enormous drop in test scores. Once we reach a 70% failure rate, it will be a true crisis and we can start closing schools even in affluent districts. Eva Moskowitz and Geoffrey Canada can come riding to the rescue, and if they fail, what's the dif? The unions will be gone and the money we wasted on teachers will now 

Nutter, Clarke disagree on solution for schools - Philly.com

Nutter, Clarke disagree on solution for schools - Philly.com:

Nutter, Clarke disagree on solution for schools

By Troy Graham, Inquirer Staff Writer

POSTED: August 10, 2013

At the heart of the impasse that Philadelphia School Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. says is threatening his ability to start class on time this fall are two men - Mayor Nutter and City Council President Darrell L. Clarke - who have known each other for decades and rarely seem to agree.

Their latest difference of opinion centers on part of a state bailout for the schools that calls for the city to borrow $50 million against future sales tax collections.

Clarke says the state gave Philadelphia a "bad deal" without consulting key city politicians, and he wants to change the terms of the bailout.

Nutter says that he doesn't like the deal either, but that the School District of Philadelphia is in such dire straits that Council needs to back the plan now. Hite has to book the $50 million by Friday to start classes Sept. 9 "on time and safe," the mayor said.

Nutter said Friday that negotiations on education funding have been going on all summer "out of the public eye."

But on Thursday, when Hite made the extraordinary announcement that he might postpone the opening of 212 district schools, the rift with Clarke was laid bare.

Two hours after Hite spoke, Nutter called the superintendent's comments "one of the most chilling statements that I've ever heard a school leader . . . make."

Clarke, on the other hand, said he was "comfortable with what Dr. Hite did."

As for the mayor?

"Mayor's entitled to his position," Clarke said. "Our position is our position."

Nutter and Clarke met again Friday afternoon, along with State Sens. Anthony Hardy Williams and Vincent Hughes, and State Rep. Cherelle L. Parker. They emerged without a deal, but with less biting rhetoric.

Tony Bennett Emails Jeb – Count the Errors #HugeFail | Continuing Change

Tony Bennett Emails Jeb – Count the Errors #HugeFail | Continuing Change:

Tony Bennett Emails Jeb – Count the Errors #HugeFail

 This is an email written by our former Florida Commissioner of Education, Tony Bennett. The email is addressed to Jeb Bush. Both men call for higher standards in public schools and for more accountability.

Read one paragraph from the email below.  Answer the questions that follow.

Question: How many grammatical errors can you find in one paragraph of the email ?

A. Too many
B. Can you believe this guy ran education?
C. I can see why Jeb likes him
D. All of the above

‪#‎AccountabilityGoesBothWays‬

email: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/files/bennett_email-1.pdf

Education - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress

Education - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress:

Bill Introduced: H.R.2930 Transition-to-Success Mentoring Act

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to award grants to eligible entities to establish, expand, or support school-based mentoring programs to assist at-risk middle school students with the transition from middle school to high school.

49min 

Bill Introduced: H.R.2943 Schoolchildren's Health Protection Act

To amend the General Education Provisions Act to prohibit Federal education funding for elementary or secondary schools that provide access to emergency postcoital contraception.

49min 

Bill Introduced: H.R.2878 Keep Teachers Teaching Act of 2013

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide grants for innovative teacher retention programs.

49min 

Bill Introduced: S.1370 Promoting Innovations to 21st Century Careers Act

A bill to establish partnerships to create or enhance educational and skills development pathways to 21st century careers, and for other purposes.

49min 

Bill Introduced: H.R.2592 STEM Innovation Networks Act of 2013

To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants for the establishment of State Networks on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education.

49min 

Jersey Jazzman: Scoring NY Tests With the Triple Lindy!

Jersey Jazzman: Scoring NY Tests With the Triple Lindy!:

Scoring NY Tests With the Triple Lindy!One of my guilty pleasures is screwball comedies, and one of my favorites stars the great Rodney Dangerfield: Back To School. In the climatic scene of the movie, Rodney wins the big diving meet ("Hey gang, forget about the football game; let's get pumped for the big diving meet!") by flawlessly executing a dive that defies all known laws of physics: the Triple Lindy!

What makes the Triple Lindy so difficult is that Rodney starts out on the high platform, then has to bounce from board to board over and over again before he finally slices through the water. It's one massive leap after another...

Just like the scoring on the New York State exams.

By now, you've undoubtedly heard about the huge dive test scores took this year in New York, thanks to new exams and new scoring methods that supporters claim are much more "realistic." This year, 31 percent of students were deemed "proficient" in reading and math; last year, 55 percent passed reading, and 65 percent passed math. I've argued that this was a deliberate ploy to make New York's schools look as bad as possible; reformies hope to usher in an era of privatization and deunionization on the "evidence" of these scores.

But how did NYSED come up with their definition of "proficient"? How did they determine the cut scores - the scores students would have to earn to be deemed to have achieved one of the four levels of "proficiency"?

Leonie Haimson pointed me to a fascinating document from NYSED that shows the method to this madness.Just like Rodney in the diving meet, NYSED bounced around from one external benchmark to another, taking massive leaps each time to justify where it placed its cut scores. By  executing its own Triple Lindy, NYSED moved from its goal of defining "proficiency" as "college and career ready" to cut scores on the tests for levels as low as 3rd grade.

How about we play Greg Louganis for a bit and break down exactly how NYSED pulls off their Triple Lindy:

Starting Platform: "College and Career Ready." As I blogged before, this is a phony and useless phrase meant to conflate the education necessary to obtain a four-year bachelor's degree with the education needed for a job that that should pay well but often doesn't. Reformy NYSED Commissioner John King, reformy SecEd Arne Duncan, reformy Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, and many other reformy stalwarts say this is the goal for all children, which means, right off the platform, we have to make a massive leap:

Springboard #1: First Year Grade Point Average at a Four-Year College. As the NYSED document clearly shows, the benchmark used for "proficiency" on the state test is earning a B- or better in a freshman English course, or earning at least a C+ in a math course, at a four-year college or university.

For this benchmarking, NYSED relied on the College Board, the folks in charge of the SAT. Demonstrating 

A Democratic Alternative Legacy within Command & Control Public Education | Lefty Parent

A Democratic Alternative Legacy within Command & Control Public Education | Lefty Parent:

A Democratic Alternative Legacy within Command & Control Public Education

August 10th, 2013 at 15:47

Public education in the U.S. has featured state control of human development since Horace Mann and other educational “reformers” within the New England Protestant elite brought this novel approach of Prussian state-run universal compulsory schooling to America in the 1830s. Canadian educational policy followed a similar “melting pot” social engineering of immigrants path while accepting a greater role for Protestant and Catholic education in the mix with secular public schools. Today in both countries the bulk of public schools chart their course in sync with (or under the yoke of) continuing state efforts at high-stakes OSFA (one size fits all) standardization, though more so in the U.S. than in Canada.

I find this top-down “command and control” approach to public education at best boring and at worst very depressing, based on how I believe it diminishes the human imagination in particular and the human spirit in general. So as an advocate for what I call “many educational paths”, I celebrate and take heart from those rare educational alternatives that manage to find a way to exist within the leviathan of standardized public education. Sure there are a fair amount of private schools (for the more economically privileged among us) that 

Want to be successful? Be a sponge. | Connected Principals

Want to be successful? Be a sponge. | Connected Principals:

Want to be successful? Be a sponge.

August 10, 2013

By George Couros

cc licensed ( BY NC SA ) flickr photo shared by George Couros
I have worked with some brilliant leaders and educators and I have noticed the same things about all of them.
They listen.
No matter their position, they are successful because they see every opportunity as an opportunity to learn.  Even when they are in a higher position than myself, they see an interaction with myself and others as an opportunity for them to always stay on top of their game.  The other things that I notice is that although they know they do not have all of the answer, they sure have a lot of questions.  
Leaders continue to ask questions.
When I think of thought leaders in my school district, I think of people like Jesse McLean and Travis McNaughton, and the amazing ability they have as well as their insights regarding education.  They are leaders that make a huge difference in their communities and the one word that I think of when I think of either one of them is “sponge”.  They soak in everything they can, but eventually they release they learn and share it with others.  They also do not learn only from people that are “above” them in the organizational hierarchy, but they learn from every person they interact with.  They focus not only on the knowledge of that person, but they soak in the characteristics of that person and learn about them as people, which is imperative in the change process.

“Every change requires effort, and the decision to make that effort is a social process…human interaction is the key force in overcoming resistance and