Nite Cap 8-17-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT

James Baldwin said it best: 

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."

A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAP

Blue Jersey:: Newark Parents to Chris Christie: We demand a town hall in Newark

Blue Jersey:: Newark Parents to Chris Christie: We demand a town hall in Newark: Newark Parents to Chris Christie: We demand a town hall in Newarkby: Rosi EfthimSun Aug 17, 2014 at 06:10:34 PM EDTAs we've seen, the people of Newark actively engaged in their city's futuredon't shrink away like they're supposed to when rough-talked by the Governor of New Jersey. Some of them went to a beachside town

by mike simpson / 5min 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 8-17-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Teachers Have Big Hopes For La Schools’ New Arts Leaderby Mary Plummer| 89.3 KPCC | http://bit.ly/1oHwSfo Rory Pullens, the new head of arts education for the Los Angeles Unified School District, speaks to teachers during an introduction meeting at George Washington Carver Middle School. Benjamin Brayfield/KPCC Audio from this story : 3:55 Listen August

by mike simpson / 8min 

A Leap of Faith: The Incoherence of Using Value-Added Estimates as a Proxy for Effective Teaching |

A Leap of Faith: The Incoherence of Using Value-Added Estimates as a Proxy for Effective Teaching |: A Leap of Faith: The Incoherence of Using Value-Added Estimates as a Proxy for Effective Teaching Jimmy Scherrer – Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University and former teacher and mathematics instructional coach in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) – is a rising star in t

by mike simpson / 1h 

8-17-14 Living in Dialogue

Home | Living in Dialogue: Activist instrumental in bringing the $15.00 minimum wage to Seattle speaks at Educating Gates rallyTeacher and council member Kshama Sawant, who was instrumental in bringing the $15.00 minimum wage to Seattle, speaks at the Educating Gates rally, on organizing for change. Read about Kshama here. The post Activist instrumental in bringing the $15.00 minimum wage to Seatt

by mike simpson / 2h 

8-17-14 Wag The Dog

WagTheDog | Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart. ~ Rumi: Equipped for the FutureThe problem with the Common Core’s mission to improve “College and Career Readiness” is not that these expectations are too high, but these standards are too narrow and specialized, so they do not prepare students for the real life and diverse challe

by mike simpson / 3h 

8-17-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Racial Bullying in Small Town Ohio~Guest Post By Kelly Shoemaker Cooper

With A Brooklyn Accent: Racial Bullying in Small Town Ohio~Guest Post By Kelly Shoemaker CooperI feel that I must share my son's story from small town USA. Last school year my son was in 4th grade. He was being bullied and called racial slurs (nigger and porch monkey) by a 6th grader and a group of other boys. My husband reached out to the principal of his school to discuss what was happening to o

by mike simpson / 4h 

8-17-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Carlos Slim, “The World’s Richest Man,” Spends Some Of His $ For New Online Spanish-Language Ed Resources© 2014 itupictures, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire, has just unveiled Acceso Latino, an online tool designed to be a “one-stop” site for Spanish-language “employment, education, health ca

by mike simpson / 4h 

8-17-14 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement": “I Want Parents To Know This…”It’s that time of year when you start seeing posts and articles about what teachers want parents to know. I Want Parents to Know This… is a particularly good one by Matt Gomez (thanks to Sheila Stewart for the tip. You might also be interested in these other ones in the “genre”: My Advice To Pa

by mike simpson / 4h 

Louisiana Educator: LEAP Scores Manipulated

Louisiana Educator: LEAP Scores Manipulated: LEAP Scores ManipulatedPublic Records Request Reveals Significant Lowering of the 2014 LEAP Passing RequirementOn June 10 of this year, following release of the 2014 LEAP test scores, I filed a public records request to Superintendent John White as custodian of public records for the LDOE in an effort to find out how student passing scores were determin

by mike simpson / 6h 

Some Sad truths about RSD’s Grad Rate and Dropout numbers | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

Some Sad truths about RSD’s Grad Rate and Dropout numbers | Crazy Crawfish's Blog: Some Sad truths about RSD’s Grad Rate and Dropout numbersPosted on August 17, 20140I have been warning LDOE for years that something fishy is going on with the grad rate across the state. John White, Chas Roemer and Reformers would just have you believe that “raising the bar” and having “higher expectations” for stu

by mike simpson / 6h 

NYC teachers, police unions in all-out war | New York Post

NYC teachers, police unions in all-out war | New York Post: NYC teachers, police unions in all-out warBy Michael GartlandAugust 17, 2014 | 4:33amModal TriggerMichael Mulgrew, the head of the teachers union, made the call to march against the police, which PBA head Pat Lynch (right) called a 'disgrace.'Photo: David McGlynn, Spencer BurnettIn an open letter to The Post, the spitting-mad boss of the

by mike simpson / 7h 

Study finds range of skills students taught in school linked to race and class size

Study finds range of skills students taught in school linked to race and class size: Study finds range of skills students taught in school linked to race and class sizePressure to meet national education standards may be the reason states with significant populations of African-American students and those with larger class sizes often require children to learn fewer skills, finds a University of K

by mike simpson / 7h 

Ferguson: Gentrification and its discontents | Al Jazeera America

Ferguson: Gentrification and its discontents | Al Jazeera America: U.S.SCOTT OLSON / GETTY IMAGESFerguson: Gentrification and its discontentsGentrification is pushing poor people of color out of major cities and into deeper inequalityAugust 15, 2014 1:11PM ETThe outpouring of anger on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, over the fatal police shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown is partl

by mike simpson / 7h 

Morning Wink 8-17-14 AM Posts #edchat #edreform

BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTS8-17-14 CurmudgucationCURMUDGUCATION: The Non-fiction vs. Fiction IssueSince Common Core first shambled onto the education stage, teachers (particularly language teachers) have sounded the alarm about the infamous 70/30 split between fiction and non-fiction. "We'll have to drop studying Shakespeare to make room for reading instructions for IKEA shelvi

by mike simpson / 7h 

8-17-14 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION: The Non-fiction vs. Fiction IssueSince Common Core first shambled onto the education stage, teachers (particularly language teachers) have sounded the alarm about the infamous 70/30 split between fiction and non-fiction. "We'll have to drop studying Shakespeare to make room for reading instructions for IKEA shelving assembly," goes the complaint.As a high school English t

by mike simpson / 7h 

8-17-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School: How Much Longer Can Michael Mulgrew Stay In Power?The UFT has signed on as a co-sponsor for the Rev. Al "Rent-A-Collar" Sharpton's anti-police brutality march and it's not sitting well with the police unions who are now openly savaging UFT President Michael Mulgrew in the media:In an open letter to The Post, the spitting-mad boss of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Assoc

by mike simpson / 8h 

8-17-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet: Overheard at the Lincoln Memorial on a Saturday nightEven if you aren’t trying to eavesdrop, it is impossible not to overhear other people talking at the Lincoln Memorial when it is late on a Saturday night and the site is packed with people — mostly tourists — who are visiting the magnificent marble monument for the first time and are visibly astounded by its […]by Valerie Strauss /

by mike simpson / 8h 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-17-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Ohio: As Charters Flourish, Accountability DisappearsA reader sent me to this article at The Daily Kos, which asked the simple question: when are students more important than free markets? The author’s argument is that the governor and the legislature are so head over heels in love with free markets that they have exempted charter

by mike simpson / 8h 

8-17-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online: Danny Drumm, NYC City Council and Former Teacher, Takes a Stand Against Charter Expansion"We are being oversaturated with charter schools," said Tesa Wilson, president Community Education Council in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. "It's tax dollars being poured into a black hole with no accountibility."City Council Daniel Dromm (D-Queens), who heads the city Education

by mike simpson / 8h 

8-17-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter: Teaching is Not a Business!!!Teaching Is Not a BusinessBy DAVID L. KIRPAUG. 16, 2014PhotoCreditEleanor DavisContinue reading the main storyShare This PageTODAY’S education reformers believe that schools are broken and that business can supply the remedy. Some place their faith in the idea of competition. Others embrace disruptive innovation, mainly through online learning. Both cam

by mike simpson / 9h 

8-17-14 Hemlock on the Rocks

Hemlock on the Rocks: Why Are Things As They Are? RICH GIBSON'S little red schoolhouse offers Ohanian, Rhee,Atlanta Cheats and Morehttp://www.richgibson.com/blog/Susan Ohanian on Combat-Ready Kiddies The Mission: Readiness Military Leaders for Kids website features the National Council on Teacher Quality ranking of top teacher education institutions–with the admonition No service member can enter

by mike simpson / 9h 

Teaching Is Not a Business - NYTimes.com

Teaching Is Not a Business - NYTimes.com: Teaching Is Not a BusinessTODAY’S education reformers believe that schools are broken and that business can supply the remedy. Some place their faith in the idea of competition. Others embrace disruptive innovation, mainly through online learning. Both camps share the belief that the solution resides in the impersonal, whether it’s the invisible hand of th

by mike simpson / 9h 

John Deasy’s MiSiS cRiSiS shocks LAUSD’s conscious

John Deasy’s MiSiS cRiSiS shocks LAUSD’s conscious: John Deasy’s MiSiS cRiSiS shocks LAUSD’s consciousAUGUST 17, 2014 BY ROBERT D. SKEELS * RDSATHENE LEAVE A COMMENT“I was interested in the fact that the scandal over Deasy’s PhD hit the headlines at the same time he was hired by Gates. His financial connections with Robert Felner date back to his Santa Monica days” —Susan OhanianThe LAUSD MiSiS cR

by mike simpson / 9h 

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Corporate reform strategies not working say U.C. prof

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Corporate reform strategies not working say U.C. prof: Corporate reform strategies not working say U.C. profNY TimesU.C. Berkeley Prof. David Kirp, writes in the New York Times, Teaching is Not a Business, that corporate reform is not working.TODAY’S education reformers believe that schools are broken and that business can supply the remedy. Some place their fai

by mike simpson / 9h 

NYC Educator: The Brutality of UFT Leadership

NYC Educator: The Brutality of UFT Leadership: The Brutality of UFT LeadershipMike Mulgrew's UFT is promoting Al Sharpton's August 23rd march for "justice for victims of police brutality."  I don't know of too many, off hand, who support police brutality.  I'm guessing very few police officers support police brutality.  I hope the march will be one of solidarity, rather than violence--wh

by mike simpson / 9h 

YESTERDAY

The Washington Supreme Court to Hear Charter School Case | Seattle Education

The Washington Supreme Court to Hear Charter School Case | Seattle Education: The Washington Supreme Court to Hear Charter School Case On Friday August 15th, the Washington Supreme Court accepted review of the appeal in the charter school case.  The Court will hear oral arguments on Tuesday, October 28, 2014.  Additional details to follow as I receive them.What we know so far:The Plaintiffs:League

by mike simpson / 19h 

8-16-14 teacherken at Daily Kos - Trust me - there is a must read piece in the New Yorker

teacherken at Daily Kos:Trust me - there is a must read piece in the New YorkerIt is by Tobias Wolff, and is titled Heart of Whiteness Wolff, who turned 69 in July, was born in Birmingham AL.  His older brother Geoffrey was a friend of James Baldwin. Like me, the two Wolffs were in Washington DC on August 28, 1963 for the March for Jobs and Freedom. It is a superbly written - and searingly honest

by mike simpson / 19h 

THE COMBINE: Coming to YOUR state… or is it already there? | Reclaim Reform

THE COMBINE: Coming to YOUR state… or is it already there? | Reclaim Reform: THE COMBINE: Coming to YOUR state… or is it already there?Posted on August 16, 2014by Ken PrevitiWho is responsible for the dismantling of public education, the closing of schools, the extremely expensive and useless high stakes tests and programs, and the dissolution of a truly competent workforce of career educators?THE

by mike simpson / 20h hide  //  save

Nite Cap 8-16-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT

James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAPFormer D.C. charter board CFO promoted private companies that allegedly paid him - The Washington PostFormer D.C. charter board CFO promoted private companies that allegedly paid him - The Washington Post: Former D.C. charter board CFO promoted p

by mike simpson / 23h 

2nd Banana 8-16-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

2nd Banana 8-9-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post 

2nd Banana 8-2-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post2nd Banana 7-26-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

2nd Banana 7-19-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post 

2nd Banana 7-12-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post 

2nd Banana 7-5-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

Nite Cap 8-16-14

Nite Cap 8-15-14

Nite Cap 8-14-14

Nite Cap 8-13-14

Nite Cap 8-12-14

Nite Cap 8-11-14

Nite Cap 8-10-14

Nite Cap 8-9-14

Blue Jersey:: Newark Parents to Chris Christie: We demand a town hall in Newark

Blue Jersey:: Newark Parents to Chris Christie: We demand a town hall in Newark:

Newark Parents to Chris Christie: We demand a town hall in Newark by: Rosi Efthim Sun Aug 17, 2014 at 06:10:34 PM EDT

As we've seen, the people of Newark actively engaged in their city's futuredon't shrink away like they're supposed to when rough-talked by the Governor of New Jersey. Some of them went to a beachside town hall not long ago at the other end of the state and a teenage girl asked Gov. Christie when he'd come to Newark to have a frank talk with the people there. He mocked her; a 17-year-old girl.So, now Newark Parents Union  just made this video, which they hope you will tweet and share, shows a group of them being corralled away from the Governor  - an "acceptable distance". And they are making that call again, with this video, demanding a visit in Newark with the Governor: Blue Jersey:: Newark Parents to Chris Christie: We demand a town hall in Newark:

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 8-17-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

Teachers Have Big Hopes For La Schools’ New Arts Leader

by Mary Plummer| 89.3 KPCC | http://bit.ly/1oHwSfo Rory Pullens, the new head of arts education for the Los Angeles Unified School District, speaks to teachers during an introduction meeting at George Washington Carver Middle School. Benjamin Brayfield/KPCC Audio from this story : 3:55 Listen August 15 2014   ::  The standing ovation lasted 35 seconds. Rory Pullens stood in the

by smf / 1min 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 8-16-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:4LAKIDS - SOME OF THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT  Judge Tells California To Teach All English LearnersBy BRIAN MELLEY, Associated Press |  San Jose Mercury News http://bit.ly/Vl1OW6 Posted:   08/13/2014 08:51:01 AM   LOS ANGELES -- California was ordered to educate all children who don't speak English after reports revealed a quarter of its school districts f

by mike simpson / 1h 

A Leap of Faith: The Incoherence of Using Value-Added Estimates as a Proxy for Effective Teaching |:

A Leap of Faith: The Incoherence of Using Value-Added Estimates as a Proxy for Effective Teaching

 Jimmy Scherrer – Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University and former teacher and mathematics instructional coach in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) – is a rising star in the education academy, in large part due to his educational research on VAMs as well as mathematics, educational policy, and the like. I’ve cited one of the pieces he wrote in 2011 (for a educational practitioner audience) many times as the way he carefully deconstructed some of the assumptions surrounding VAMs and VAM uses within this piece speaks volumes to much of the absurdity surrounding them. See the full PDF of this article here. See also the full reference for this piece: “Measuring Teaching Using Value-Added Modeling: The Imperfect Panacea,” here, in my list of the “Top 25 Research Articles” about VAMs.

Well, Schererrer just published a new article titled, “The Limited Utility of Value-Added Modeling in Education Research and Policy,” and I invited him to write a blog post about this piece for you all here. Scherrer graciously agreed, and wrote the following:

As someone who works with students in poverty [see also a recent article Scherrer wrote in the highly esteemed, peer-reviewed Educational Researcher here], I am deeply troubled by the use of status measures—the raw scores of standardized assessments—for accountability purposes. The relationship between SES and standardized assessment scores is well known. Thus, using status measures for accountability purposes incentivizes teachers to work in the most advantaged schools.

So, I am pleased with the increasing number of accountability systems that are moving away from status measures. In their place, systems seem to be favoring value-added A Leap of Faith: The Incoherence of Using Value-Added Estimates as a Proxy for Effective Teaching |:

8-17-14 Living in Dialogue

Home | Living in Dialogue:

Activist instrumental in bringing the $15.00 minimum wage to Seattle speaks at Educating Gates rally

Teacher and council member Kshama Sawant, who was instrumental in bringing the $15.00 minimum wage to Seattle, speaks at the Educating Gates rally, on organizing for change. Read about Kshama here. The post Activist instrumental in bringing the $15.00 minimum wage to Seattle speaks at Educating Gates rally appeared first on Living in Dialogue.

1 by Anthony Cody / 16min 

8-16-14 Living in Dialogue

Home | Living in Dialogue:Ranking and Sorting: The Sordid History of Standards and TestsBy Anthony Cody When critics such as myself point out the very bad effects the Common Core tests are having, as they label more than two thirds of our children unready for college and career, we are accused of “conflating tests with standards.” UFT president Michael Mulgrew was making this argument on the AFT c

by mike simpson / 30min 

8-17-14 Wag The Dog

WagTheDog | Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart. ~ Rumi:

Equipped for the Future

The problem with the Common Core’s mission to improve “College and Career Readiness” is not that these expectations are too high, but these standards are too narrow and specialized, so they do not prepare students for the real life and diverse challenges of life, school, and employment.   In April, 2014 the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported… “In October 2013, 65.9 percent of 2013 high school gr

by getwhatugive / 26min 

8-16-14 Wag The Dog Week

WagTheDog | Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart. ~ Rumi: Wag The Dog WeekHe Who Controls The Language…‘I don’t know what you mean by “glory,”‘ Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. ‘Of course you don’t—till I tell you. I meant “there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!”‘ ‘But “glory” doesn’t mean “a nice knock-down

by mike simpson / 38min 

8-17-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Racial Bullying in Small Town Ohio~Guest Post By Kelly Shoemaker Cooper

With A Brooklyn Accent:

Racial Bullying in Small Town Ohio~Guest Post By Kelly Shoemaker Cooper

I feel that I must share my son's story from small town USA. Last school year my son was in 4th grade. He was being bullied and called racial slurs (nigger and porch monkey) by a 6th grader and a group of other boys. My husband reached out to the principal of his school to discuss what was happening to our son. He told my husband that bullying and racial intimidation does not occur in his school.

by Mark Naison / 11min 

8-16-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Love Letters to the BATS

With A Brooklyn Accent:Imagination- A Poem for Michael BrownI can only imaginewhat its like to bewatchedfearedseen as a threatwhen i walkwhen i drivewhen i go to schoolNever knowingwhen i will bestoppedsearchedthrown on the groundor when words thatI sayand gestures that Imakecan lead to mydeathby Mark Naison / 2d Us VS Them- A Guest Post on the Larger Implications of Ferguson by Dr Lori MartinThe

by mike simpson / 40min 

8-17-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL:

Sunday Tweets About #Ferguson #MichaelBrown

[View the story "Sunday Tweets About #Ferguson #MichaelBrown" on Storify]

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

Carlos Slim, “The World’s Richest Man,” Spends Some Of His $ For New Online Spanish-Language Ed Resources

© 2014 itupictures, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire, has just unveiled Acceso Latino, an online tool designed to be a “one-stop” site for Spanish-language “employment, education, health care, and civil rights” resources. Much of the site is just composed of links to materials others have created. However, there is some original material that could be useful to educa

by Larry Ferlazzo / 33min 

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Week… 8-16-14 …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EF

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL LARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE WEEKVideo: “1 World Trade Center Time Lapse”I’m adding this video to The Best Sites To Help Teach About 9/11: 1 World Trade Center Time Lapse – Return of the Lower Manhattan Skyline from Benjamin Rosamond Photography on Vimeo.by Larry Ferlazzo / 5h Friday Night Tweets About #Ferguson #Michael

by mike simpson / 1h 

8-17-14 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement":

“I Want Parents To Know This…”

It’s that time of year when you start seeing posts and articles about what teachers want parents to know. I Want Parents to Know This… is a particularly good one by Matt Gomez (thanks to Sheila Stewart for the tip. You might also be interested in these other ones in the “genre”: My Advice To Parents In “USA Weekend” is something I wrote last summer. 5 Things Teachers Wish Parents Knew: Your Childr

3 by Larry Ferlazzo / 25min 

8-16-14 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement": “Oklahoma PTA Unanimously Calls for End to High-Stakes Testing”Oklahoma PTA Unanimously Calls for End to High-Stakes Testing is from Diane Ravitch’s blog. Here’s an excerpt: Over 340 delegates at the Oklahoma PTA’s annual convention voted unanimously to adopt resolutions that call for a ban on policies that force the state’

by mike simpson / 10min 

Louisiana Educator: LEAP Scores Manipulated

Louisiana Educator: LEAP Scores Manipulated:

LEAP Scores Manipulated

Public Records Request Reveals Significant Lowering of the 2014 LEAP Passing Requirement

On June 10 of this year, following release of the 2014 LEAP test scores, I filed a public records request to Superintendent John White as custodian of public records for the LDOE in an effort to find out how student passing scores were determined for the new Common Core aligned tests given this Spring. This press release from the LDOE had claimed that even though the new Common Core partially aligned tests were more difficult, the percentage of students passing the test (students who scored at the basic or above level) had remained steady.

After more than 2 months of stalling by the LDOE, I received an email from Barry Landry of the LDOE on August 14 providing me with the minimum percentage scores needed for students to pass the ELA and math portions of the 2014 LEAP test for 4th and 8th grades compared to previous years. The LDOE has still not provided me with the cut percentages for the mastery ratings I requested. Coincidentally, my lawsuit on this violation of the public records law was also filed Thursday, August 14. It is my hope that the court will order John White to also produce the minimum percentage results for the mastery level rating. The press release referred to above announced that more students were achieving a level of mastery in ELA and math than the year before. I am anxious to examine the basis for that alleged improvement. Meanwhile, the suspicions expressed in my post of July 27, have been confirmed.

It turns out that the number of correct answers required for a passing score (or a level of basic) was significantly reduced for three out of four categories of the LEAP high stakes testing. Once one knows how the passing scores are routinely manipulated it's no surprise that the percentage of students scoring basic or above remained steady. The test Louisiana Educator: LEAP Scores Manipulated:

Some Sad truths about RSD’s Grad Rate and Dropout numbers | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

Some Sad truths about RSD’s Grad Rate and Dropout numbers | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

Some Sad truths about RSD’s Grad Rate and Dropout numbers

Posted on August 17, 2014

0

I have been warning LDOE for years that something fishy is going on with the grad rate across the state. John White, Chas Roemer and Reformers would just have you believe that “raising the bar” and having “higher expectations” for students is the only thing that Louisiana lacks. They ignore decades of history and Louisiana’s extreme poverty as contributing factors. It’s no coincidence that those who tell poor people poverty is not a factor that impacts academic success come from the most affluent segments of our society. Both Chas Roemer and John White attended some of the most prestigious and expensive private schools in the country and have parents with long entries in Wikipedia. Just average folks, like you and me, ya know? These folks tell us all we need to do is raise our standards, our benchmarks, and “Believe”.

When you operate this way in good faith (let’s pretend that’s what they are doing) you might really think you are making a difference, that only belief and high expectations is all that are needed to overcome poverty, abuse, neglect, dilapidated buildings, disparate funding, corruption, waste, fraud and disabilities. You might ignore facts that deflate the bubble of belief you’ve surrounded yourself in. You might surround yourself with only facts and people that confirm your beliefs. This is a great psychological device taught to people fighting periodic or clinical depression, but it’s a terrible idea to operate this way when you are in a position of supervising policy, especially policy you’ve defined and are called upon to defend. This is the only explanation I have for why LDOE released some figures that show just how abysmally they have been running RSD and our education system into the ground. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for this lapse that led to somereal data being released that verifies what I have been saying for years, but it’s really the only Some Sad truths about RSD’s Grad Rate and Dropout numbers | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

NYC teachers, police unions in all-out war | New York Post

NYC teachers, police unions in all-out war | New York Post:

NYC teachers, police unions in all-out war

By Michael Gartland

August 17, 2014 | 4:33am

Modal Trigger

Michael Mulgrew, the head of the teachers union, made the call to march against the police, which PBA head Pat Lynch (right) called a 'disgrace.'Photo: David McGlynn, Spencer Burnett

In an open letter to The Post, the spitting-mad boss of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association ripped his teachers-union counterpart Saturday for the “disgraceful” decision to co-sponsor the Rev. Al Sharpton’s anti-police rally next week.

PBA President Pat Lynch fired both barrels at United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew, saying, “It is absolutely ridiculous that [Mulgrew] . . . would waste his members’ dues to get involved with a march that has nothing to do with teachers or his union.

“Mulgrew knows that the UFT is under siege from all sides, and this is purely an attempt to distract attention from that mounting criticism,” Lynch wrote, referring to the union’s chronic battles over teacher tenure and charter schools as well as the “substandard” contract Mulgrew recently negotiated for his membership.

“How would he like it if police officers lined up with the activists who oppose his efforts to shield bad teachers and undermine effective charter schools?” Lynch fumed.

In a series of personal jabs, Lynch suggested Mulgrew was more concerned with “continuing to curry favor with politicians and Al Sharpton” than in helping his 200,000 union members or the city’s 1.1 million schoolchildren.

Labor insiders were shocked by the escalating battle between the two political heavyweights who head two of the city’s most powerful unions.

“It’s just not right,” said Bill Pelletier, former VP for the Transit Workers Union. “For NYC teachers, police unions in all-out war | New York Post:

Study finds range of skills students taught in school linked to race and class size:

Study finds range of skills students taught in school linked to race and class size

Pressure to meet national education standards may be the reason states with significant populations of African-American students and those with larger class sizes often require children to learn fewer skills, finds a University of Kansas researcher.

"The skills students are expected to learn in schools are not necessarily universal," said Argun Saatcioglu, a KU associate professor of education and courtesy professor of sociology.

In effort to increase their test scores and, therefore, avoid the negative consequences of failing to meet the federal standards set by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act (e.g., school closures, student transfers, or lost funding), some states are reducing the skills students are expected to learn.

"Narrowing the skills students are expected to learn, results in higher proficiency gains on state assessments because students have to be proficient in fewer skills," said Saatcioglu, who will present his findings at the 109th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association. "In other words, requiring students to learn less actually helps to improve state assessment results."

In order to measure the range of skills students learn, Saatcioglu examined the correlation between fourth graders' performance on state assessments and their performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exam between 2003 and 2009. The NAEP provides a stable reference point, which allows for comparisons between different states' assessments. A decline in the correlation between student performance on a state's assessment and the NAEP indicates that the tests are not measuring the same skill set.

"If a state's assessment is more comparable to the NAEP, that means the state expects its students to have mastered more skills," Saatcioglu said. "If a state's assessment becomes less comparable, in that the exam measures fewer skills and hence is less demanding than NAEP, then the state's proficiency scores are likely to rise."

Saatcioglu said his findings indicate that states with higher African-American populations and those with larger class sizes tended to teach more skills in the early years of his study, but then reduced the number of skills by 2009. He argues that this may be, in part, a response to a drop in state assessment scores.

According to Saatcioglu, the study is not aiming criticism at states or districts that he found were teaching fewer skills, but instead on the effect that school accountability laws have seemingly had on perpetuating inequality within already disadvantaged communities.

"While school accountability laws were enacted to address the inequalities in our nation's public school system, our findings suggest these laws may be hurting the children they were intended to benefit," Saatcioglu said.

 Explore further: Study: The effects of school board makeup on student performance

More information: The paper, "Are State Assessments Comparable to the NAEP? Exploring Sociological and Political Factors Related to State/NAEP Comparability," will be presented on Sunday, Aug. 17, at 8:30 a.m. PDT in San Francisco at the American Sociological Association's 109th Annual Meeting.

Provided by American Sociological Association  Study finds range of skills students taught in school linked to race and class size:

Ferguson: Gentrification and its discontents | Al Jazeera America

Ferguson: Gentrification and its discontents | Al Jazeera America:

U.S.

SCOTT OLSON / GETTY IMAGES

Ferguson: Gentrification and its discontents

Gentrification is pushing poor people of color out of major cities and into deeper inequality

August 15, 2014 1:11PM ET

The outpouring of anger on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, over the fatal police shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown is partly a reaction to a long history of marginalization experienced by African-Americans, a process exacerbated by gentrification, argue experts. It should be no surprise, they say, that the latest racial flashpoint is not in the inner-city but in the modern suburb.

Ferguson is an outer suburb of St. Louis, the 16th fastest gentrifying city in the U.S., according to Census data. Not unrelatedly, a 2011 study by Brown University showed that the St. Louis metropolitan area was the 19th most segregated city in the U.S.

The social and economic inequality in the St. Louis area, which is divided along racial lines, is a microcosm of a problem playing out across the U.S.: Wealthier, typically white residents move into a previously economically disadvantaged neighborhood in the city, pricing out black families and displacing them to suburban outskirts, according to a recent Brookings report.

In 2008, the population of poor people in suburbs across the nation grew twice as fast as in city centers, the report said. By 2008, U.S. suburbs were home to the largest share of the nation’s poor. 

In the St. Louis area, this type of population shift transformed the predominately white town of Ferguson into a largely black one.

In 1990, white residents of Ferguson comprised 73.8 percent of the total population, while those identified as black made up 25.1 percent, according to the U.S Census. By 2010, 29.3 percent of residents identified as white and 67.4 percent as black.

During that same 20-year period, the city's unemployment rate soared from less than 5 percent to over 13 percent.

By 2012, roughly 25 percent of residents lived below the federal poverty line ($23,492 for a family of four in 2012) and 44 percent fell below twice that level.

Meanwhile, in St. Louis proper, the white share of the population jumped from 28.1 percent in 2000, to 49.2 percent in Ferguson: Gentrification and its discontents | Al Jazeera America: