8-15-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

New Marist Poll Out Tonight Shows Momentum For Bill De Blasio

The de Blasio momentum is for real:The topsy-turvy race for New York's Democratic mayoral nomination has shifted again, with Public Advocate Bill de Blasio surging to a statistical tie with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and former comptroller Bill Thompson in striking distance, a new poll shows.Disgraced former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, meanwhile, has been unable to stanch the fallout f

by reality-based edu... / 10min mark as read  //  save

Free Hot Dogs From The Weiner Mobile

Story here.Alas, the Weiner Mobile is not giving out any vegetarian dogs...

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

Common Core Proponents Terrified Tea Party Right And Anti-Test Left Will Join Together To Kill The Common Core

The NY Times has an article about the "rocky debut" of the Common Core.The article takes a look at the opposition to the national standards that is coming from both the right and left that threatens to derail the standards movement.In the piece we get the following statement from a prominent education reformer:“The danger here is that you have two kinds of problems going on,” said Kati Haycock, pr

by reality-based edu... / 17min 

Is De Blasio's Momentum For Real?

Bill de Blasio vaulted from fourth place in the last Quinnipac poll to first place in the Q poll released this week.He had been generating some good press prior to the poll release and getting some good notice for his first campaign ad, which featured his 15 year old son, Dante.But there are some who are questioning the leap in support de Blasio made in the Quinnipiac poll and wondering if he real

by reality-based edu... / 22min 

NYSED Commissioner John King Looks To Take Total Control

It's John King's way or the highway - there's no other way to read this story:BUFFALO, NY - New York's Education Commissioner wants the state legislature to pass a bill, giving the Board of Regents the authority to take over school boards in districts failing academically and/or financially. Under the proposal, there would be benchmarks for state intervention, involving a three-step approach, with

by reality-based edu... / 26min 

 Why Is Obama So Desperate To Improve Internet Access In Schools?

President Obama has decided to tack on a $5 a year fee to every cell phone account for the next five years in order to raise funds to increase high speed internet access in schools around the country.The fees are expected to generate $6 billion dollars in three years and sunset in 2017.The move has generated a lot of criticism, but according to the NY Post, the Obama people just don't get why it h

by reality-based edu... / 8min 

Andrew Cuomo And His PAC Took $576,000 In Campaign Contributions From Real Estate Investors In Return For Tax Breaks

On top of the news from last week that Andrew Cuomo took $400,000 in campaign donations from a real estate develop and his affiliates in return for giving $35 million in tax breaks comes this new report from the Daily News: ALBANY — The deep-pocketed real estate investors who own a landmark former stock exchange building in lower Manhattan lavished Gov. Cuomo with $76,000 in campaign donations jus

2 by reality-based edu... / 1h 

8-14-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Teen's Bad Grades Used As One Reason To Not Place Him On Heart Transplant ListThis doesn't seem like a real story, but it is:Doctors at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta estimate that without a heart transplant, 15-year-old Anthony Stokes will die within three to six months from heart failure. Yet despite his prognosis, they refuse to put Anthony on the transplant list, telli

by mike simpson / 10h 

Jeb Bush’s Crucial Miscalculation | Truth in American Education

Jeb Bush’s Crucial Miscalculation | Truth in American Education:

Jeb Bush’s Crucial Miscalculation

Filed in Common Core State Standards by Shane Vander Hart on August 15, 2013 • 0 Comments

Rick Hess of American Enterprise Institute penned an op/ed today in National Review.  He asked if the Common Core could be Jeb Bush’s Romneycare.  In short – yes, and it will probably tank his ability to win the Republican nomination should he run for President.

Hess writes about Bush’s crucial miscalculation:

So what’s gone wrong? Bush made a crucial miscalculation: He failed to do anything that would signal to conservatives that he took seriously their concerns about federal overreach or potential Obama partisanship when it came to Common Core. This summer, when the House Republicans included a provision in their new version of No Child Left Behind that would have prohibited the federal government from meddling in state standards, Bush was nowhere to be seen. In contrast, Bush has often come across as Common Core’s emissary to the Right. He has pitched Common Core to the Right, but he has not publicly defended conservative concerns to his Democratic allies or incipient nationalizers. It would have been good politics and policy if he had publicly challenged the Obama team for politicizing and federalizing Common Core.

Without such pushback, the Obama administration, full of enthusiasm, unconcerned about an expanding federal role, and eager to score political points, has been only too happy to wade into this nominally state-driven exercise through Race to the Top, No Child Left Behind 

Civil Rights Legend Dolores Huerta Calls on All Educators To ‘Step Up and Organize’ | NEA Today

Civil Rights Legend Dolores Huerta Calls on All Educators To ‘Step Up and Organize’ | NEA Today:

Civil Rights Legend Dolores Huerta Calls on All Educators To ‘Step Up and Organize’

By Mary Ellen Flannery When Dolores Huerta was a young teacher in Stockton, California, she said she couldn’t bear to see her students come to school with empty stomachs and bare feet. She saw their parents’ poverty as the real issue, and her concern led to a lifelong journey for economic justice in this country. In 1962, alongside César Chávez, Huerta launched the National Farm Workers, later kno

by twalker / 42min 

Why Aren’t More Girls Attracted To Physics?

Visit Silicon Valley and you will hear many people talk about the need to increase the number of female hackers. The conventional wisdom about why there are so few female coders usually points a finger at disparities in the talent pool, which is linked to disparities in tech education. In fact, starting as early as adolescence, girls and boys often choose different academic paths. When the time co

by twalker / 42min 

Florida Virtual School, Other E-Schools Hit the Skids

Across the country, virtual schools are facing challenges over funding and drop in enrollments. The Florida Virtual School, the largest state-run virtual school district in the country, is feeling the impact of two major blows at once: a 32 percent decline in student enrollments since last year, and a change in the way the Florida legislature funds virtual schools. Source: Education Week Related p

by twalker / 42min 

UPDATE: Three rules for robograding+ Why states are backing out on common standards and tests | Hechinger Report

Why states are backing out on common standards and tests | Hechinger Report:

Three rules for robograding, and other ed-tech innovations

By Anya Kamenetz

Automated grading of students’ essays and short answers has been around for almost 20 years, but it’s engendering quite a bit of controversy as the technology progresses. A large study released in April, connected to a competition sponsored by the Hewlett Foundation, showed the grades assigned by a computer program to 22,000 7th, 8th and 10th grade essays matched very closely with the grades assigned by trained teachers to those same essays. The results have been watched eagerly, as the phase-in of Common Core state standards brings with it new assessments that require students towrite more, at more length. But states aren’t necessarily getting more money to pay for grading the tests.

Money is not the only issue. Any teacher will tell you that grading papers is not generally the most beloved part of the job, and the time that it takes means that students often must wait days, weeks, or months to get feedback on their written work, which is not ideal for learning.

graphic by Vic Paruchuri

Automated essay scoring (AES) engines do not read essays. They use “machine learning” algorithms, trained on numerous examples, to match general characteristics of essays (such as spelling, sentence length, subject-verb agreement, or the use of particular words and phrases in response to a prompt) to similar essays assigned a given grade by humans. Their results are available instantly.

Recently, Vic Paruchuri, one of the creators of a winning AES system who currently works on automated essay grading for the MOOC platform edX, wrote about the lessons learned from 

Why states are backing out on common standards and tests

By Charles Chieppo and Jamie Gass

The bloom is surely off the rose of Common Core, the new English and math standards pushed by Washington, D.C. education trade organizations and the Obama administration. In the last few months, a number of states have paused or de-funded implementation of the standards; others have pulled out of the consortia developing tests tied to them.

Charles Chieppo, left, and Jamie Gass.

In recent years, the Obama administration has made a number of federal goodies, such as Race to the Top grants and No Child Left Behind waivers, contingent on states’ adoption of Common Core standards and assessments. But now that Race to the Top money has been spent, states are belatedly taking a clear-eyed look at Common Core. High-performing states in particular won’t like what they see.

In a recent Boston Globe op-ed marking the 20th anniversary of the Massachusetts education reform law that triggered dramatic improvements in the performance of Bay State students, Tom Birmingham, one of the law’s principal authors, wrote: “the political vectors will all tend to push the new standards to a race to the middle … In implementing the Common Core, there will be natural pressure to set the national standards at levels that are realistically achievable by students in all states. This marks a retreat from Massachusetts’ current high standards.”

Birmingham, a Rhodes Scholar and former president of the Massachusetts Senate, may well be among the least calculating or self-serving people ever to have attained high elective office, but it 

8-15-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:

Senator Kwame Raoul and the disarray in the Illinois Democratic Party.

  Pension bomber Representative Elaine Nekritz and Pension Committee Chair Senator Kwame Raoul. Illinois Democrats have a problem. In the eyes of many voters they appear to be Republicans. Democrats control both chambers of the state legislature, the governor’s mansion and Chicago City Hall. Yet state and local government looks like it is run out of an ALEC play book. The governor’s race has star

2 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Losing seniority rights means running schools on the cheap. The CPS budget means winners and losers.  Graphic: Catalyst. The always ridiculous CPS spokesperson Becky Carroll admitted there are winners and losers in the CPS budget. The losers are students and families in district run schools. No surpri

by mike simpson / 9h 

Study Shows Triple Segregation Persists in Texas Schools | Cloaking Inequity

Study Shows Triple Segregation Persists in Texas Schools | Cloaking Inequity:

Study Shows Triple Segregation Persists in Texas Schools

Last month I first shared Expansive School Segregation in Texas: Predicts Accountability Rating with Cloaking Inequity readers. Yesterday UT-Austin communications drafted a press release for the study (see below) so there was a flurry of media activity. Univision also profiled the study on their 5 p.m. new program.

Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig      Dr. Jennifer Jellison Holme

A first-of-its-kind study from researchers in the College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin shows that, in addition to being isolated by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status, English language learners in Texas schools also are separated by language, suffering what has been termed “triple segregation.”

Education professors Julian Vasquez Heilig and Jennifer Jellison Holme analyzed school-level Texas Education Agency (TEA) data to determine the level of school segregation experienced by the rapidly growing English Language Learner (ELL) population in Texas, which is now the second largest in the nation. They were also interested in the relationship between levels of segregation and the performance of schools on the state accountability system.

Despite a 20-year-old accountability system that was designed to promote equality, the researchers found the majority of Texas ELL students remain in high poverty, high minority schools that are rated as low performing on the state accountability system.

“Our research revealed that schools where students are segregated by race/ethnicity, SES and 

8-15-13 Wait, What? - Working to educate, persuade and mobilize through "perceptive and acerbic" observations about Connecticut Government and Politics

Wait, What? - Working to educate, persuade and mobilize through "perceptive and acerbic" observations about Connecticut Government and Politics:

Where there is smoke, there is fire….State Investigating CMT Cheating

Categories: Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) Hartford Malloy Mayor Pedro Segarra Standardized TestingTags: CMTHartfordMalloyMayor Pedro SegarrStandardized TestingStefan PryorA major cheating scandal to improve standardized test results took down the superintendent of schools in Atlanta. Allegations of cheating in the Washington D.C. School System have hounded Michelle Rhee, the Patron Saint of the

18 by jonpelto / 2h 

“Superintendents get pre-school pep talk from Malloy and Pryor”

Categories: Common Core Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) Education Reform Malloy Standardized Testing Stefan PryorTags: CMTEducation ReformMalloyStandardized TestingStefan PryorAs the CT Mirror reported, “Like a football coach in a pre-game pep talk, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy urged the state’s superintendents Wednesday to have courage as they face the challenge of moving their schools to a new national

15 by jonpelto / 10min 

Wait, What? - Working to educate, persuade and mobilize through "perceptive and acerbic" observations about Connecticut Government and Politics

Wait, What? - Working to educate, persuade and mobilize through "perceptive and acerbic" observations about Connecticut Government and Politics: Education Commissioner Pryor hires accounting firm to “validate” accuracy of standardized test scores?Categories: Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) Malloy Standardized Testing Stefan Pryor Teacher EvaluationsTags: CMTMalloyStandardized TestingStefan PryorTea

2 by mike simpson / 8h 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-15-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Today: More than 6 Millions Page Views on This Blog!

Today the blog reached a new milestone: 6 million page views in not quite 16 months. I started the blog on April 24, 2012. Since then, I have published more than 5,000 posts and received more than 100,000 comments. A word to readers about the rules of the blog: Rule 1: Please do not use curse words. When you enter my blog, you enter my virtual living room. Curse somewhere else, not here. I try to

1 by dianerav / 16min 

A Startling Message for Reformers

How many times have we heard “reformers” like Duncan, Rhee, Klein, Gates, etc. say that the way to “fix poverty” is to fix schools. By that, they mean that “no excuses” schools and Teach for America will solve the poverty problem. That’s a lot less costly than using government programs to change the tax code or create good jobs or do anything that directly reduces poverty. Better to open charter s

by dianerav / 2min 

When the Major Media Are in a Few Hands, Then….

This article reflects on the future of news outlets in the U.S. There have always been a few fabulously wealthy men and families who owned large media outlets. But there were also thousands of small-town, small-city newspapers and even local radio and TV stations. The small papers and media have been snapped up by the big fish, and many have folded outright. The spread of the Internet has been dis

by dianerav / 0min mark as read  //  save

California Teacher on Common Core Test

From a teacher in California: “Our class had the “privilege” of taking the ELA SmarterBalance test for common core 4th grade. It was horrible. There were split screens, essays to type (our students have no keyboarding experience) and things to click and drag. So in addition to getting students ready for the CC standards, we will need time for computer and keyboard lessons AND we will need the upda

1 by dianerav / 4min 

Privatizers Push Kentucky for Charter Law

Kentucky is one of only eight states that have not passed a charter law. That means that the state has been unwilling to turn public money over to private entrepreneurs, who will operate schools with little or no oversight. The privatizers can’t tolerate the possibility any state refuses their wares or their opportunity to operate in the dark with public dollars. So now the full-court press is on.

2 by dianerav / 1h 

Meet the Broad Superintendents

Several readers asked for more information about the Broad Superintendents Academy. In a sense, information is scarce, since it has no printed curriculum, nor any published description of its course of study. However, there is plentiful information about its graduates, who are found in many of the nation’s urban districts and state education departments. It is important to recognize that this “aca

1 by dianerav / 9min mark as read  //  save

Rhee Begins National Tour

Michelle Rhee announced that she is launching a national tour of “town halls” to discuss how to make every school a great school. She will invite union leaders and teachers to attend as she stops in such cities as Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Birmingham. She will be joined by Steve Perry, ex-CNN commentator, and George Parker, ex-president of the DC teachers union and now a member of Rhee’s sta

1 by dianerav / 19min 

Teacher in New York: It’s Time to Fire John King

Yesterday I called for John King’s resignation. This teacher says John King should be fired. Here are her reasons: “A New York Teachers Letter on the Failed Leadership of John King I am dismayed by the leadership provided by John King, Education Commissioner of the State of New York. He is deliberately creating a testing and curriculum that penalizes children – especially children with emotiona

5 by dianerav / 34min mark as read  //  save

Black Agenda Report: “A Scab Is a Scab is a Scab”

Black Agenda Report is a fierce critic of the privatization and dismantling of public education. Some of their rage must be due to the fact that the privatizers claim they are doing it to “save” minority children. In this post BAR rages against Trach for America as a union-busting organization. Bruce Dixon of BAR writes: “Back in the days of organizing meat packing, steel and auto workers, empl

3 by dianerav / 44min 

Chile: Students Fight Privatization, Inequality, Segregation

Chile is the poster nation for free market education reform. Dictator Pinochet installed Milton Friedman’s free market ideas into education. Chile has vouchers, and it also has vast income inequality. Vouchers have destroyed free public education. Now Chile has an angry student movement demanding free public education and an end to privatization. To learn about the damage wrought by the free mar

7 by dianerav / 1h 

Diane in the Evening 8-14-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: NY Regents: Release the Test Questions!The best use of tests is for diagnostic purposes, to help teachers learn what students got wrong and where they need more instruction. Students learn too from their errors. But if the results take months to score, they arrive too late to matter. And if the questions and answers are never relea

by mike simpson / 3h