10-17-13 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE:

Ignoring the New Majority: Education Reform behind Blinders

Ignoring the New Majority: Education Reform behind Blinders. via Ignoring the New Majority: Education Reform behind Blinders.

by plthomasedd / 43min 

First In-School Reform? Teacher Autonomy

The reform agenda has focused almost entirely on in-school only so-called reforms. That paradigm is essentially flawed since the greatest barriers to in-school learning by students and effective teaching by teachers are out-of-school poverty and inequity. However, once we address social reform, in-school reform must begin with teacher autonomy; consider this about Finland: Teachers in […]

by plthomasedd / 57min 

Neil Gaiman Should Be U.S. Secretary of Education: “Things can be different”

Neil Gaiman Should Be U.S. Secretary of Education: \”Things can be different\”. via Neil Gaiman Should Be U.S. Secretary of Education: “Things can be different”.

by plthomasedd / 1h 

10-16-13 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: More Common Core in the Real WorldI have already explored how the real-world consequences of Common Core are guaranteed to do far more harm than good; we have decades of how standards and testing fail even their most nuanced advocates’ claims. Sarah Carr (excellent journalist and author of Hope Against Hope) offers an often disturbing window into the good intensions of […]5 by pl

by mike simpson / 6h 

10-17-13 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Who Won in Government Shutdown? Skateboarders and TFA

Politics makes strange bedfellows but there you are.I am doing some tutoring at Ballard and I told two kids who are skateboarders about this and they said, "Sweet."  From the Wall Street Journal:Where most people see ornate, neo-Classical federal buildings and sweeping stone plazas in this city, skaters see something else: opportunity, in the form of sturdy railings, low stone benches, r

by Melissa Westbrook / 9min 

Odds and Ends

Parents beware - Facebook has changed its policy regarding minors and their pages.  From the New York Times:Facebook has loosened its privacy rules for teenagers as a debate swirls over online threats to children from bullies and sexual predators.  The move, announced on Wednesday, allows teenagers to post status updates, videos and images that can be seen by anyone, not just their friends or peop

by Melissa Westbrook / 5min 

Where to go for Mann Building news

For continuing information on the situation at the Mann building, and the broader issue of the crisis of education for African-American students, interested readers can visit the More4Mann web site. There is a Twitter feed as well at @More4Mann.Other news sources include Africatown Education and Innovation Center, and Creativity Not Control.I don't know if we will report much on the ACIC or the Ma

by Charlie Mas / 2min 

10-16-13 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Parallel Discussion: HC Task Force #1, Student IdentificationThe current advanced learning task force has been charged with reviewing the systems and processes for qualifying students for Highly Capable services and Advanced Learning programs in Seattle Public Schools. The committee is supposed to work toward a shared approach for determining which students qualify

by mike simpson / 8h 

10-17-13 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

First In-School Reform? Teacher Autonomy

The reform agenda has focused almost entirely on in-school only so-called reforms.That paradigm is essentially flawed since the greatest barriers to in-school learning by students and effective teaching by teachers are out-of-school poverty and inequity.However, once we address social reform, in-school reform must begin with teacher autonomy; consider this about Finland:Teachers in Finland – trust

1 by P. L. Thomas / 49min 

Diane Ravitch and Reformers' Feelings

When Diane Ravitch, in Reign of Error, discusses charter schools, she makes it clear that not all charters impose a “no-excuses” mentality. When discussing the reformers’ public relations machine and its “well-honed message,” she analyses their language and writes, “when they speak of “no-excuses,” they mean boot camp culture.”In a rational world, Ravitch’s careful distinctions, as in the above se

by John Thompson / 4min 

10-16-13 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: Diane Ravitch Documents the Danger of "E-land"In Reign of Error, Diane Ravitch writes, “Some - a small but important number – believe they are acting rationally by treating the public education sector as an investment opportunity.” Who can argue with that conclusion?Ravitch is tough on Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and his chief of staff, Joanne Weiss. Ravitch did no

by mike simpson / 8h 

More Thoughts on Interpreting Educational/Economic Research: DC Impact Study | School Finance 101

More Thoughts on Interpreting Educational/Economic Research: DC Impact Study | School Finance 101:

More Thoughts on Interpreting Educational/Economic Research: DC Impact Study

Posted on October 17, 2013

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Today brings us yet another opportunity to apply common sense interpretation to an otherwise seemingly complex research study – this time on the “effectiveness” of the DC Impact teacher evaluation system on improving teaching quality in the district. The study, by some of my favorite researchers (no sarcasm here, these are good, thoughtful individuals who do high quality work) is nicely described in the New York Times Economix Blog section:

To study the program’s effect, the researchers compared teachers whose evaluation scores were very close to the threshold for being considered a high performer or a low performer. This general method is common in social science. It assumes that little actual difference exists between a teacher at, say, the 16th percentile and the 15.9th percentile, even if they fall on either side of the threshold. Holding all else equal, the researchers can then assume that differences between teachers on either side of the threshold stem from the threshold itself.

The results suggest that the program had perhaps its largest effect on the rate at which low-performing teachers left the school system. About 20 percent of teachers just above the threshold for low performance left the school system at the end of a year; the probability that a teacher just below the threshold would quit 

In the suburbs, conflicting emotions over new school mandates | Hechinger Report

In the suburbs, conflicting emotions over new school mandates | Hechinger Report:

In the suburbs, conflicting emotions over new school mandates

By Sara Neufeld

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa. — Upper Dublin High School had the 10th highest SAT scores of any public school in Pennsylvania last year. It occupies a gleaming, just-completed $119 million building where a sushi chef supplements the cafeteria offerings on Wednesdays. Its graduation rate exceeds 99 percent, and more than 95 percent of graduates go on to two- and four-year colleges.

• Are Pennsylvania students being set up for failure? New education standards, graduation exams highlight school resource needs
• Pennsylvania’s stops and starts over new classroom standards

Yet even here, teachers are worried about being able to get all their students to pass state exams in algebra, literature and biology, which will likely be required for a diploma beginning with the current freshman class. So where does that leave the rest of Pennsylvania?

“It would be a shame if we set kids up for failure,” said Dan Ortiz, a social studies teacher at Upper Dublin High, a 1,500-student school in Philadelphia’s northern suburbs that was graced with the new building after a 2007 voter referendum.

With student diplomas potentially at stake, the pressures that high-poverty urban schools have experienced for years around standardized test scores may now be heading to the suburbs. For years, suburban educators have had far more instructional freedom than their counterparts at urban high-poverty schools because the stakes attached to testing didn’t pose much threat to them.

But the new “Keystone exams” are significantly harder than the Pennsylvania System of School 

Pennsylvania’s stops and starts over new classroom standards

WEST CHESTER, Pa. — In the beginning, Pennsylvania was going to be like most other states, following a new set of national education standards and administering new national standardized tests. Are Pennsylvania students being set up for failure? New education standards, graduation exams highlight school resource needs In the suburbs, conflicting emotions over new school mandates But a lot has

by Sara Neufeld / 8min

Neil Gaiman Should Be U.S. Secretary of Education: “Things can be different” | the becoming radical

Neil Gaiman Should Be U.S. Secretary of Education: “Things can be different” | the becoming radical:

NEIL GAIMAN SHOULD BE U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: “THINGS CAN BE DIFFERENT”

Some people view the world differently than others.

Some people view education and schools differently than others.

Some people view children, books, and libraries differently than others.

And then there is Neil Gaiman.

I have been a staunch defender of public education, writing often against the negative consequences of Common Core (especially as related to literacy instruction) and doggedly resisting non-educators as leaders of the education reform movement.

Despite my resistance to what I consider misguided reform as well as my skepticism about innovation and market forces, I have conceded a compromise on Common Core, along with a clarification about that compromise. The response to that compromise has been underwhelming.

However, I am now willing to offer another compromise; this time about the qualifications for who should be our 

TO LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 10-17-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

John King: The Object of Righteous Anger

A parent in Poughkeepsie writes about the infamous meeting where John King lectured for 1 hour and 40 minutes and was then hooted by parents and teachers:   On October 10, 2013, SED Commissioner John King spoke at the Spackenkill School District in Poughkeepsie, NY.  This was the first of several forums on the Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS) that NYS adopted on July 19, 2010.  It has been wi

4 by dianerav / 48min

Newsflash: 800 EdReformers Meet in Boston Today

This news item appeared in Politico.com: ED REFORMERS MEET IN BOSTON – More than 800 state legislators, school chiefs and policy wonks of every description will convene today in Boston for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s annual National Summit on Education Reform. The two-day conference will feature several big-name speakers, including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a mystery guest

1 by dianerav / 3min 

Naison: Do Not Watch This Video!

Mark NAISON, professor of African-American studies at Fordham University, co-founded the BATs. BATs are everywhere. They think high-stakes testing is child abuse. They think that evaluating teachers in relation to student test scores is nonsense. Mark Naison here posts a hilarious parody of New York’s educator evaluation system, untested, being built in mid-air, that old airplane cliche. If you

3 by dianerav / 34min 

Letter from a Disillusioned Charter Teacher

This came to my personal email. The writer requested anonymity: “Hello, Ms. Ravitch, “My name is —- ——-, and I am a big fan of your scholarship, specifically that around charter school efficacy. “I spent my first 2 years in education as an ELA teacher at a KIPP school in New Orleans while also taking classes as part of a post-bac teacher certification program at one of the best universities in the

4 by dianerav / 22min 

Who Owns Public Education in Los Angeles?

Recently I posted David Sirota’s article about the super-wealthy who are taking children as “hostages” in their big to take over public education itself. Sirota looked at events in Denver, Los Angeles, and New York City. That article prompted this response from Los Angeles:     David Sirota’s article couldn’t be more apt for what has happened in LA. We were blitzkrieged by this outside financing t

1 by dianerav / 26min 

This is the Parent Who Broke Up John King’s Meeting

Dear Diane, I’m the parent in the video who raised the point about Montessori school…http://youtu.be/P_Eiz406VAs  (Spackenkill High School. PTA Sponsored Meeting about the Common Core). I hope to set the record straight on my comments. Sincerely, Mikey Jackson As I Was Saying… Last Thursday evening, I travelled up to Spackenkill High School in Poughkeepsie to attend the PTA-sponsored Common Core t

9 by dianerav / 14min 

A Teacher in Hawaii Reviews “Reign of Error”

Diane Aoki felt that something was wrong, terribly wrong, as No Child Left Behind changed the schools. It felt even worse when Race to the Top came in. Everyone told her, “don’t worry, this too will pass,” but it only got worse every year. When she read “Reign of Error,” it all made sense to her. She understood that “reform” was not about reform at all. Things are bad, she knew, but “Reign of Erro

by dianerav / 10min mark as read  //  save

A Mother Writes to the New York Board of Regents

This comment was posted and signed by a mother of a ten-year-old child who doesn’t want to go to school. Ever.   This is the message I recently sent to the Board of Regents and my state representatives: I have been very vocal about my concerns regarding the implementation of the Common Core Standards, testing, and curriculum in NYS. I have written letters and emails to my NYS representatives and m

18 by dianerav / 1h 

Sirota and Taibbi: Is the Pension Crisis Real?

Two of the nation’s toughest investigative journalists–David Sirota and Matt Taibbi–join forces to examine the widespread effort to pin the nation’s economic word on public workers’ pensions. If the critics have their way, who wins? One guess.

3 by dianerav / 1h 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 10-16-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Politico: Vouchers Are $1 Billion Waste of Taxpayer DollarsStephanie Simon, one of the nation’s best investigative education journalists, reports that vouchers are a costly failure. In every case where they were adopted, voucher advocates claimed they would “save poor kids from failing public schools,” but nowhere has the promise b

by mike simpson / 10h 

10-17-13 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

Video: PEP Oct 15 2013 - I Am Bergtraum

Some of the strongest voices at the PEP came from the Murry Bergtraum HS community in lower Manhattan as they fought the blatant handing over of this prime real estate to Eva Moskowitz who will now have bases in big high school buildings in every part of Manhattan (Brandeis, Graphic Arts, Washington Irving). One irony: Murry Bergtraum's daughter was appointed to the PEP by Bloomberg. I didn't stay

1 by ed notes online / 14min 

New Content at SusanOhanian.Org! Oct. 16, 2013

As usual Susan tosses a lot of good stuff on the table. Click the links to see Susan's often priceless commentary on each article.==========It is worthwhile to read Bill Gates' infamous 2009 speech again. .  because it infects every other story about ed deform.But don't miss Neil Gaiman's speech, which SHOULD inspire every attempt at education reform.Susan\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  Syracuse s

by ed notes online / 14min mark as read  //  save

Government Open, Rockaway Theatre Co. is Back This Weekend With Final Perf of Boeing Boeing!

The cast of Boeing Boeing!How does a small local theater based in Rockaway manage to put on such quality productions? Fort Tilden will be open and the postponed Boeing Boeing is on for this weekend. Three of the major roles are played by NYC teachers and the show is co-directed by another teacher. And key people running the theater are retired teachers. I've seen it twice and will go back this wee

1 by ed notes online / 14min

Staten Island Democratic Club Calls for John King Resignation

Loretta Prisco introduced this resolution last night at her Staten Island Democratic club, a progressive club on SI. It was passed unanimously. I'm not big on the calls for King to resign. He is helping the movement against ed deform with every word he utters. I would focus on Merryl Tisch and put pressure on the Democrats in the State Assembly, in particular Shelly Silver. But any anti ed deform

1 by ed notes online / 11min 

10-16-13 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: In Flight InBloomPEP Notes - Tish James Rocks the HouseYou have 77 days and the count-down has begun.... When you treat special needs children differently and when you discipline them and expel them that's separate and unequal... I urge you in anticipation of litigation to save all your emails (especially related to communication with Eva Moskowitz)... That is why I was elected (a

by mike simpson / 10h