Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 5/6/15

Special Nite Cap 

CORPORATE ED REFORM

National teachers union blasts Christie over pension funding in radio, online ads - News - NorthJersey.com

National teachers union blasts Christie over pension funding in radio, online ads - News - NorthJersey.com: National teachers union blasts Christie over pension funding in radio, online adsOne of the largest teachers’ unions in the nation is blasting Governor Christie in a radio and online ad campaign launched Wednesday over his failure to make full payments into the state pension system.The campa

by mike simpson / 13min 

State orders charter schools to improve - Connecticut Post

State orders charter schools to improve - Connecticut Post: State orders charter schools to improve Following the adoption of tougher charter school standards, two area charter schools that were up for renewal -- one in Bridgeport and the other in Stamford -- have been ordered by the state to improve.New Beginnings Family Academy, a Bridgeport based charter school that also serves a handful of stu

by mike simpson / 21min 

Aurora school board met illegally with Gates Foundation, charters | Chalkbeat

Aurora school board met illegally with Gates Foundation, charters | Chalkbeat: Aurora school board met illegally with Gates Foundation, chartersThe district will review policies for social events, nontraditional board meetings A majority of the Aurora Public Schools’ Board of Education met illegally April 29 with representatives from several national charter school networks and the Bill and Melind

by mike simpson / 1h 

Education Reformers Lost in the Woods Should Pause, Listen and Learn - Living in Dialogue

Education Reformers Lost in the Woods Should Pause, Listen and Learn - Living in Dialogue: Education Reformers Lost in the Woods Should Pause, Listen and Learn  By John Thompson.When lost in the woods, the first rule is “hug a tree.”  In other words, slow down, confront your fears, regain your calm and think prudently about getting back on track.When trapped in the urban crises of today, we should

1 by mike simpson / 3h 

The Testing Opt-Out Movement Explodes, and the Empire Strikes Back | Lisa Guisbond

The Testing Opt-Out Movement Explodes, and the Empire Strikes Back | Lisa Guisbond: The Testing Opt-Out Movement Explodes, and the Empire Strikes BackEducation policymakers and elected officials can no longer ignore or trivialize the test resistance movement. It's become too massive. In a historic example of civil disobedience this spring, around 200,000 New York parents opted out of high-stakes s

1 by mike simpson / 4h 

New online tool will help public easily see lobbyist connections to bills - SFGate

New online tool will help public easily see lobbyist connections to bills - SFGate: New online tool will help public easily see lobbyist connections to bills SACRAMENTO — Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a new online search tool Wednesday that he said will open up the way the California Legislature does business and radically transform state politics “from a world of promises to a world of participa

1 by mike simpson / 5h 

Who’s the William Wallace of testing: @JessedHagopian or Liz King? | Cloaking Inequity

Who’s the William Wallace of testing: @JessedHagopian or Liz King? | Cloaking Inequity: Who’s the William Wallace of testing: @JessedHagopian or Liz King?Liz KingYesterday, Liz King, a Teach For America alum and policy analyst for The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, led 12 civil rights organizations into a national battle against student and parents. She loves testing. Liz King be

1 by mike simpson / 6h 

One Newark: Choosing “Great” Schools, or Merely Segregated Ones? #CharterSchoolsWeek

One Newark: Choosing “Great” Schools, or Merely Segregated Ones? « New Jersey Education Policy Forum: One Newark: Choosing “Great” Schools, or Merely Segregated Ones? Full Length Brief: Weber_One NewarkSegregation-1Mark Weber, PhD candidate, Rutgers University, Graduate School of EducationExecutive SummaryThis brief provides a preliminary analysis of the potentially segregative effects of One Newa

1 by mike simpson / 6h 

Network for Public Education's Second Annual Conference Makes History - Living in Dialogue

Network for Public Education's Second Annual Conference Makes History - Living in Dialogue: Network for Public Education's Second Annual Conference Makes History By Anthony Cody.The last weekend of April I joined about 600 other history-makers in the great city of Chicago for the second annual conference of the Network for Public Education. It has been said that American attitudes towards educatio

1 by mike simpson / 7h 

Celebrating National Charter Schools Week: Re-Segregating America’s Schools Part 3 #CharterSchoolsWeek

Celebrating National Charter Schools Week: Re-Segregating America’s Schools Part 3Celebrating National Charter Schools Week: Fraud Corruption Lack of Accountability Part 2 #CharterSchoolsWeekCelebrating National Charter Schools Week: THE ISSUES: Part 1 #CharterSchoolsWeekChoice Without Equity:
Charter School Segregation and the Need for Civil Rights StandardsStudy: Charter schools have worsened sc

2 by mike simpson / 8h 

Russ on Reading: Accountability for Charter Schools in Philadelphia

Russ on Reading: Accountability for Charter Schools in Philadelphia: Accountability for Charter Schools in PhiladelphiaHey, Philadelphia Mayoral candidates. let's adopt the Annenberg accountability standards for charter school oversight.It looks like charter school proliferation will continue in Philadelphia for the foreseeable future. While newly elected Governor Tom Wolfe has fired School Reform

1 by mike simpson / 9h 

Education Post Goes Postal on John Oliver - Living in Dialogue

Education Post Goes Postal on John Oliver - Living in Dialogue: Education Post Goes Postal on John OliverBy Anthony Cody.Poor John Oliver. After he did a segment on the insanity of our nation’s testing machine, the field of education’s only multi-million dollar blog, The Education Post, has taken after him with a vengeance. Oliver joins others with the nerve to question the nation’s obsession with

1 by mike simpson / 9h 

Is Rupert Murdoch's (NWSA) Bid to Fix Education With a Tablet Failing? - Pg.2 - TheStreet

Is Rupert Murdoch's (NWSA) Bid to Fix Education With a Tablet Failing? - Pg.2 - TheStreet: Is Rupert Murdoch's Bid to Fix Education With a Tablet Failing?Amplify decided to build its own hardware five years ago because the "operating systems didn't give us the kind of flexibility with the learning resources we were creating," Hamilton said. It also allowed school districts one-stop shopp

by mike simpson / 9h 

Early learner expert ( actor Matt Damon’s mom ) tied to Hollywood takes on Common Core :: SI&A Cabinet Report

Early learner expert tied to Hollywood takes on Common Core :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet: Early learner expert tied to Hollywood takes on Common Core(Mass.) Already under fire for its ties to the Obama administration and for unsettling teacher unions – the Common Core has a new adversary, actor Matt Damon’s mom.Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an au

3 by mike simpson / 9h 

The Soccer Mom Revolt Against Common Core - WSJ

The Soccer Mom Revolt Against Common Core - WSJ: The Soccer Mom Revolt Against Common CoreThe opt-out movement against taking the tests is growing, and so is the Obama administration’s ire. The term “soccer mom”—political shorthand for the upscale suburban women President Clinton courted so successfully in the 1990s—may have fallen out of use with the Beltway set in more recent years, but this swi

1 by mike simpson / 9h 

Jersey Jazzman: Education "Reform": The Wrong Conversation

Jersey Jazzman: Education "Reform": The Wrong Conversation: Education "Reform": The Wrong Conversation Jennifer "Edushyster" Berkshire has been having a series of conversations with some of the titans of reforminess. As Peter Greene notes, Jennifer is just about the most charming (and consequently disarming) person you'd ever care to meet; it's not a surprise, then, t

2 by mike simpson / 9h 

Which Pa. school districts get the highest share of aid from the state? | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Which Pa. school districts get the highest share of aid from the state? | Philadelphia Public School Notebook: Which Pa. school districts get the highest share of aid from the state?Which school districts in Pennsylvania receive the most state funding as a share of their total revenue?If you guessed Philadelphia, you'd be dead wrong.As the interactive map below shows, the Philadelphia School Distr

1 by mike simpson / 9h 

Teacher: I don’t care about my students’ grades. This is far more important. - The Washington Post

Teacher: I don’t care about my students’ grades. This is far more important. - The Washington Post:Teacher: I don’t care about my students’ grades. This is far more important.This is the second in a series of essays I will publish in the coming weeks that emanate from a project in which more than 20 biology teachers around the country wrote around the prompt: “What is the value of letting students

1 by mike simpson / 10h 

10 U.S Presidents who also worked as teachers - Yahoo News

10 U.S Presidents who also worked as teachers - Yahoo News: 10 U.S Presidents who also worked as teachers On National Teacher Day, Constitution Daily looks at 10 Presidents who were teachers in some capacity before they occupied the White House – including one who later married his own teacher.The most common occupation among the Presidents is lawyer, with 25 future Presidents practicing the law i

1 by mike simpson / 10h 

Teach for America’s plan to turn around falling applications - Fortune

Teach for America’s plan to turn around falling applications - Fortune: Teach for America's plan to turn around falling applications Elisa Villanueva Beard, co-CEO of Teach for America, tells Fortune about how the organization plans to bounce back after a year when applications dropped by about 10%.Taking over when a charismatic founder steps down is never easy, but Elisa Villanueva Beard has had

1 by mike simpson / 10h 

Teacher Evaluation Debate in Sacramento - CETPA

Advocacy - CETPA: Teacher Evaluation Debate in SacramentoTeacher evaluation and training is an area of interest among legislators this year, in part spurred by the Vergara v. State of California lawsuit. As we’ve mentioned, some Democrats have proposed bills this session that could make part of the appeal moot by changing the current law with respect to teacher evaluations. Two measures would requ

1 by mike simpson / 10h 

How Can Teachers Confront the Challenges of Baltimore, Ferguson and Urban America? | John Thompson

How Can Teachers Confront the Challenges of Baltimore, Ferguson and Urban America? | John Thompson: How Can Teachers Confront the Challenges of Baltimore, Ferguson and Urban America? Now that Baltimore has captured our attention, we must all ask what should be doneWhen Work Disappears. Our urban crisis did not begin with deindustrialization; racism, Jim Crow and de facto segregation were the funda

by mike simpson / 11h 

YESTERDAY

Opting Out Interfering with the “Civil Right” of Testing? | deutsch29

Opting Out Interfering with the “Civil Right” of Testing? | deutsch29: Opting Out Interfering with the “Civil Right” of Testing?As I write this post, I have in front of me my permanent education record from kindergarten through eighth grade. It is by way of an unusual set of circumstances that I have this file. The short of it is that the records clerk at the first high school I taught at gave it

1 by mike simpson / 21h 

What the PUC Is Going on Here? - Ref Rodriguez:

Ref Rodriguez: What the PUC Is Going on Here? Following the money in local politics is an important way of seeing which people, companies, and organized interests are investing in particular candidates. Closely examining contribution reports often provides insights into who may want to pull the strings of officials who make policy and spending decisions or influence those seeking to win an elected

1 by mike simpson / 21h 

EduColor seeks to elevate the voices of public school advocates of color on educational equity and justice EduColor

About — EduColor: MissionEduColor seeks to elevate the voices of public school advocates of color on educational equity and justice. We are an inclusive cooperative of informed, inspired and motivated educators, parents, students, writers and activists who promote and embrace the centrality of substantive intersectional diversity. Click Here to Go to the EduColor WebsiteSteering CommitteeJose Vils

1 by mike simpson / 22h 

Resistance to High Stakes Tests Serves the Cause of Equity in Education: A Reply to “We Oppose Anti-Testing Efforts – The Network For Public Education

Resistance to High Stakes Tests Serves the Cause of Equity in Education: A Reply to “We Oppose Anti-Testing Efforts – The Network For Public Education: Resistance to High Stakes Tests Serves the Cause of Equity in Education: A Reply to “We Oppose Anti-Testing EffortsAuthored by Jesse Hagopian and the NPE Board of DirectorsToday several important civil rights organizations released a statement that

1 by mike simpson / 22h 

Fighting for the Future: Charter Schools and the Battle Over West County Education - Radio Free Richmond

Fighting for the Future: Charter Schools and the Battle Over West County Education - Radio Free Richmond: Fighting for the Future: Charter Schools and the Battle Over West County Education On a Friday afternoon in mid-April, a group of parents and kids organized by the California Charter School Association (CCSA) rallied at the Richmond Civic Center. They were a visual force: waving signs, making

1 by mike simpson / 23h hide  //  save

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 5/5/15

Special Nite Cap CORPORATE ED REFORMAmerican Teachers Need a Raise - US NewsAmerican Teachers Need a Raise - US News: American Teachers Need a Raise Flowers with a note that says “thank you for helping me bloom.” A bag of popcorn for a “very POPular teacher.” A set of highlighters that say “You’ve been the highlight of my year.” Teachers love getting these presents. I know from experience that tea

9 by mike simpson / 23h 

National teachers union blasts Christie over pension funding in radio, online ads - News - NorthJersey.com

National teachers union blasts Christie over pension funding in radio, online ads - News - NorthJersey.com:

National teachers union blasts Christie over pension funding in radio, online ads

One of the largest teachers’ unions in the nation is blasting Governor Christie in a radio and online ad campaign launched Wednesday over his failure to make full payments into the state pension system.

The campaign comes as New Jersey unions representing teachers, police officers, firefighters and state workers are trying to compel the governor to make large pension payments that he agreed to in 2010. On Wednesday, the state Supreme Court heard an appeal by the Christie administration of a lower-court ruling that ordered the state to put nearly $1.6 billion more into the pension funds for the fiscal year that ends June 30.

In announcing its campaign, the American Federation of Teachers alleged that Christie “has broken the public trust.”

“Three years ago, he struck a deal with the Legislature that was premised on shared sacrifice,” Randi Weingarten, president of the union, said in a statement. “And teachers, firefighters and nurses made that sacrifice.

They paid their share. But Christie is refusing to pay his, and now these workers’ dignity and security in retirement hangs in the balance.”

Christie has said that New Jersey cannot afford to pay billions into the pension system annually and that he has put more into the pensions than other governors.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the governor’s office said that, by 2016, the state will have to make annual payments for pension and health benefits totaling more than $8 billion, out of an average budget of more than $30 billion.

“If we followed the old political way here in Trenton you would have to increase the sales tax by 10 percent or income taxes by 29 percent, eye-popping numbers,” spokesman Brian T. Murray wrote in an email.

In its ad, the powerful American Federation of Teachers hit hard at Christie for skipping payments and accused him of poor fiscal management.

“What kind of man breaks his promises? Goes back on his word? What kind of man bullies people and can't be counted on to do what he said he would?” the union said in its radio ad.

The New Jersey Education Association, which represents teachers and is suing Christie over the pension payments, plans to launch a similar campaign May 21, said Steve Wollmer, director of communications. The ads will appear on television, radio and online, he said.

The script is still being written, he said, but will also call for the Legislature to defend the pensions. He said the Legislature should be willing to override a likely veto by the governor if lawmakers include increased pension payments in their upcoming budget for the new fiscal year.

“It’s time for the legislature to step in and do the right thing,” Wollmer said.National teachers union blasts Christie over pension funding in radio, online ads - News - NorthJersey.com:

State orders charter schools to improve - Connecticut Post

State orders charter schools to improve - Connecticut Post:

State orders charter schools to improve

 Following the adoption of tougher charter school standards, two area charter schools that were up for renewal -- one in Bridgeport and the other in Stamford -- have been ordered by the state to improve.

New Beginnings Family Academy, a Bridgeport based charter school that also serves a handful of students from Stratford, Trumbull and Fairfield, was told to reduce its suspensions and chronic absentee rates and given a three-year renewal of its contract instead of five.

The Stamford Academy Charter School came close to being put on probation, but was ultimately given a three year renewal with a number of strict conditions it must satisfy.

"Charter schools have more flexibility to spur innovation, but with this flexibility comes greater accountability and stronger oversight by the state," said Education CommissionerDesignee Dianna Wentzell. "We set high expectations for our students, and we expect our schools to deliver positive outcomes for our students."

The Bridgeport and Stamford charters were among six up for renewal Wednesday and among three that got shorter contract renewals.

The shorter leashes come after the state board enacted new standards for charters in the wake of last year's collapse of Family Urban Schools of Excellence, or FUSE, a Hartford-based charter school management company whose chief was found to have lied about his credentials and hired felons and family members to work at its schools. The new oversight policies call for charter schools to, among other things, create clearer expectations of student performance and improve school climate and operations.

The state legislature is also in the process of weighing how much of its budget to give charter schools in the next fiscal year. The Legislature is looking for a smaller increase to charter school funding than Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed.

Publicly-funded schools that run outside of local school board control, charter schools have increasingly become controversial as some traditional public school officials view them as competition for limited state dollars.

"They were a lot more thorough with the process this time and I don't have a problem with that," said Ronelle P. Swagerty, director of New Beginnings of the state review process. "I have no problem with accountability. I don't think any of the charter schools in Connecticut do."

By the numbers

As for out of school suspensions, 18 percent of New Beginnings elementary students and 32 percent of middle school students received at least one in or out of school suspension in 2013-14, compared to 16.1 percent of Bridgeport students and 7.5 statewide.

"We were hammered by our 13-14 suspension numbers," Swagerty acknowledged. "They had to be addressed and they have been."

The school's chronic absenteeism rate was 9.8 percent in 2012-13, lower than the district average of 21 percent for 2013-14, but still could be better, according to the state.

"As a charter school, NBFA has the opportunity to innovate and cultivate best practices to address chronic absenteeism," the report to the board states.

A student is chronically absent if they have missed at least 10 percent of school days for any reason.

Swagerty was hoping for a five year renewal instead of three based on the changes made at the school, but said in the end, the shorter charter simply means going through the next review again sooner.

New Beginnings opened in 2002 and serves 473 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. It has a wait list and would expand if additional state funding was awarded. According to the state review, New Beginnings demonstrates strong student performance. A school performance index, a compilation of all student reading, math and writing test scores, was 68.5 in 2012-13 while the Bridgeport school district's was 53.7.

The school has already submitted a plan to improve school climate, strengthen behavior policies and establish targets to reduce suspensions.

This year the school is using a program called Responsive Classroom to better manage student behavior and meet the social and emotional needs of students.

As a result, behavior issues are down as are suspension rates.

Stamford Academy, considered an alternative high school for 142 "at-risk" youth, opened in 2004. It serves over-aged, under-credited students in grade nine through 12. It's has a school performance index in 2013 was 34.2, half of the Stamford school district's 68.8.

"Stamford Academy must strengthen academic programming and governance in order to advance student academic achievement," the state board was told.

Rather than put it on probation, however, both Chairman Allan Taylor and Vice Chair Theresa Hopkins-Staten pushed to have the conditions made part of the three year renewal without a one year probation and the board agreed.

Craig Baker, who serves as Stamford Academy's superintendent, called the outcome very positive.

"It may have sounded like a short-leash situation to some, but we heard them primarily focus on the realization the state must do more to support these struggling students, asking what they can learn from us as well as continuing to hold us accountable," Baker said.

Aurora school board met illegally with Gates Foundation, charters #CharterSchoolsWeek

Aurora school board met illegally with Gates Foundation, charters | Chalkbeat:

Aurora school board met illegally with Gates Foundation, charters

The district will review policies for social events, nontraditional board meetings

 A majority of the Aurora Public Schools’ Board of Education met illegally April 29 with representatives from several national charter school networks and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a spokeswoman for the district confirmed Wednesday.

And now the suburban Denver school district is reviewing how it coordinates nontraditional board meetings.

“After reviewing our policies, we recognized there was an oversight and we should have posted a notice about the meeting,” said APS spokeswoman Georgia Duran. “I want to emphasize that we do take our responsibility to be open and transparent seriously.”

The Wednesday evening meeting was originally planned as a social event for APS staff and leaders from the charter networks. The representatives from the networks and the Gates Foundation were in town to discuss how charter schools could be used to improve academic performance in the academically struggling school district.

Superintendent Rico Munn later decided to invite the board to the social event “as a courtesy,” Duran said. The district did not track which board members agreed to participate in the dinner.

At the dinner, board members mingled with leaders from Green Dot Public Schools, New Visions Schools, Mastery Public Schools, and the school management organization AUSL.

But later in the evening, the conversation became more formal and focused on Aurora Central High School, where the district is trying to improve student outcomes on standardized tests and graduation rates before the state steps in.

“They asked us, as board members, to share some of the context at Central, in terms of what does the community look like, what are some of the questions we’re wrestling with that would be helpful to answer, what prompted us to seek them out,” JulieMarie Shepherd, the school board president, said said.

Shepherd said she believed the meeting was within the limits of the law because neither an official course of action was discussed nor a vote was taken. It was a social event, an exception to the open records law, Shepherd said.

While the open meetings law does allow some flexibility around social events — like a chance meeting at a school fundraiser — that clearly isn’t the case here, said Jeff Roberts, executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.

“The large group discussion at which board members were asked to discuss Aurora Central should have been posted somehow,” Roberts said. “That was a meeting, involving more than two members of the board, at which public business was discussed. The public should have known about that meeting and should have been given an opportunity to hear the discussion.”

Board member Cathy Wildman said she didn’t know the meeting hadn’t been posted.

“I made the assumption that it had been taken care of through [district lawyers],” Wildman said. “That’s the minutiae I don’t have to deal with. It should be dealt with by administration. Nine times out of 10 we are very careful.”

The district’s admission about the illegal meeting comes less than 24 hours after some board members raised concern at their May 5 meeting about a lack of community input ona broad strategy to improve student learning at a cluster of schools in the Original Aurora neighborhood, near Aurora Central High.Aurora school board met illegally with Gates Foundation, charters | Chalkbeat:

Education Reformers Lost in the Woods Should Pause, Listen and Learn - Living in Dialogue

Education Reformers Lost in the Woods Should Pause, Listen and Learn - Living in Dialogue:

Education Reformers Lost in the Woods Should Pause, Listen and Learn 

 By John Thompson.

When lost in the woods, the first rule is “hug a tree.”  In other words, slow down, confront your fears, regain your calm and think prudently about getting back on track.

When trapped in the urban crises of today, we should first hug each other, converse with each other, and then hug the tree of knowledge. In the case of the Baltimore tragedy and the challenge of improving urban schools, we should tap the wisdom the Johns Hopkins Everyone Graduates Center which, I believe, is one of the two greatest education policy research centers in the world.

Johns Hopkins’ Robert Balfanz testified before the U.S. Senate this winter that outcomes in high-challenge schools best improve when the judgments of educators and support staff are respected. Balfanz also said that those efforts require a push from external accountability pressures.   Balfanz called for the proper “interplay between accountability, innovation and support.” He cited the 10% increase in the nation’s graduation rate as an example of a success.

I wonder whether Balfanz was being politely understated and whether he would privately agree that NCLB-type targets for increasing student performance represent the other side of the coin; they inevitably result in policies that educators dismiss as doomed and divert energy and resources away from the evidence-based policies that the Everyone Graduates Center promotes.

Balfanz then described the types of challenges faced by Baltimore and other inner city systems. In schools where 1/4th to ½ of students are chronically absent, where there are more suspended students than there are graduates, and where the typical student has a “D” average, teachers alone can’t solve the problems of poverty from within the four walls of their classrooms. Those schools need aligned and coordinated student support services. For example, they may need 10 to 15 AmeriCorps mentors, each working with fifteen at-risk students.

Balfanz described Diplomas Now, and its collaborative public/private team efforts. Federal School Improvement Grants (SIG) have financially assisted those efforts in 40 secondary schools. But, most SIG schools adopted the opposite approach, based on the mass dismissal of teachers and principals and being forced to produce “dramatic” test score gains in just three years.  I wonder if Balfanz is quietly frustrated that such a small number of SIG schools felt free to adopt those humane, science-based methods.

Similarly, Mass Insight’s The Turnaround Challenge also called for comprehensive investments in capacity-building in high-challenge schools and warned against the mass dismissal of teachers. Recent research by Mass Insight and the Ounce of Prevention Fund explains how the normative SIG approach undermines capacity-building because “current metrics effectively eliminate the viability of early learning as a potential long-term improvement strategy.”

Balfanz was equally diplomatic when praising states for one of the Everyone Graduates Center’s best programs – Early Warning Systems that identify absenteeism before it metastasizes into chronic truancy.   He cited the other great education center, the Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR), which shows that it is possible to predict the 30 to 50% of 6th graders who will drop out unless adults intervene.

As Balfanz explained, these warning systems must be a part of a “powerful continuous improvement ecosystem.” Improvement must be catalyzed by innovation, accountability, and support, in order to create learning Education Reformers Lost in the Woods Should Pause, Listen and Learn - Living in Dialogue:

The Testing Opt-Out Movement Explodes, and the Empire Strikes Back | Lisa Guisbond

The Testing Opt-Out Movement Explodes, and the Empire Strikes Back | Lisa Guisbond:

The Testing Opt-Out Movement Explodes, and the Empire Strikes Back

Education policymakers and elected officials can no longer ignore or trivialize the test resistance movement. It's become too massive. In a historic example of civil disobedience this spring, around 200,000 New York parents opted out of high-stakes standardized testing for their children. That's more than triple last year's numbers. New Jersey refusal numbers exploded from 1,000 last year to 50,000 this year. Opting out is occurring in nearly every state. These parents are sick and tired of the fear and anxiety that the testing tsunami has provoked in their children, not to mention the narrowed curriculum, teaching to the test, and pressure on teachers to cheat.

In response, there are encouraging signs of progress in Congress. The U.S. Senate education committee, for instance, has endorsed a revamped version of the despised "No Child Left Behind" law. It ends most federal sanctions based on test scores. The bill also recognizes parents' right to refuse standardized tests by upholding state laws that allow opting out. It still does not do enough to reverse test misuse and overuse, keeping annual math and reading tests in grades three through eight and once in high school. (This could change, if enough senators hear from constituents supporting Senator Jon Tester's amendment to roll back the amount of testing to once in each of three grade spans succeeds.) There is legislation advancing in about 10 states to allow opting out, on top of the seven that now do so.

Unable to dismiss the opt-out movement, some officials seek to bully test resisters into compliance. Federal, state and local officials have repeatedly threatened that if schools don't have 95% test participation, they risk losing vital federal Title 1 education money.

FairTest knows of no school, district or state that has been sanctioned for not reaching the 95% threshold. NCLB does say that 95% of students must take federally mandated state exams or their schools and districts will fail to make "adequately yearly progress" (AYP). Failure to make AYP unleashes a chain of escalating sanctions, but the list of sanctions does not include the loss of federal funds.

These facts have not prevented many media outlets from reporting funding loss as a real risk. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan boosted the fearmongering by saying, "[T]he federal government is obligated to intervene if states fail to address the rising number of students who are boycotting mandated annual exams." Another U.S. Department of Education (DOE) staffer mentioned the possibility that funds could be withheld if too few students take tests.

However, Assistant Secretary Deborah Deslisle acknowledged the DOE does not want to take money away from schools. Moreover, in the highly unlikely event the DOE does intervene, the first step would be a "corrective action" plan to address the low participation rates. This is typically a multi-year process during which time schools The Testing Opt-Out Movement Explodes, and the Empire Strikes Back | Lisa Guisbond:

New online tool will help public easily see lobbyist connections to bills - SFGate

New online tool will help public easily see lobbyist connections to bills - SFGate:

New online tool will help public easily see lobbyist connections to bills

 SACRAMENTO — Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a new online search tool Wednesday that he said will open up the way the California Legislature does business and radically transform state politics “from a world of promises to a world of participation.”

Newsom, a Democrat, joined former Republican state Sen. Sam Blakeslee and open-government advocates in announcing the launch of Digital Democracy, an online search engine that is now live which allows the public to hone in on specific bills or keywords, such as looking for all references in Legislative hearings to the controversial vaccine bill currently being weighed by lawmakers.

The site also puts several online tools in one place, including campaign contributions, conflict of interest filings and voting records of lawmakers. The site will also open up the world of lobbying in a way not seen before by identifying their comments at legislative hearings, tracking them back to their employers and showing who their clients are.

While much of the information is already available online through a myriad of different websites, Digital Democracy also digitizes transcripts of what was said during hearings, allows a user to tie those comments back to the video clip and to easily share it through social networking.

“Not surprisingly, some people are concerned,” said Newsom, who added that Capitol insiders expressed concern about the site. “There is this stale air of normalcy and this is about the fresh air of progress. Sunlight is a disinfectant of sorts. There is a large persuasion industry in Sacramento. That’s not necessarily a headline. Folks are used to operating with traditional principals and this is about a wake up call. It’s about making government as efficient as Google.”

Digital Democracy was developed by students at the Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy at California Polytechnic State University and is supported through one-year grants — $1.2 million grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation in Texas and the Rita Allen Foundation in New Jersey.

DigitalDemocracy.org currently includes legislative hearings from January until April and will eventually include all hearings broadcast by Cal Channel through the end of the Legislative session.

“What’s really cool about this is we are creating a categorically new tool that doesn’t exist today,” said Blakelee, who is founding director for the Cal Poly institute that developed the site. “It’s easy to complain about government not being transparent. What’s exciting about this tool is we are doing something about it.”

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com

New online tool will help public easily see lobbyist connections to bills - SFGate:

Who’s the William Wallace of testing: @JessedHagopian or Liz King? | Cloaking Inequity

Who’s the William Wallace of testing: @JessedHagopian or Liz King? | Cloaking Inequity:

Who’s the William Wallace of testing: @JessedHagopian or Liz King?

Liz King

Yesterday, Liz King, a Teach For America alum and policy analyst for The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, led 12 civil rights organizations into a national battle against student and parents. She loves testing. Liz King believes taking a test is a “civil right” you are required to have. In contrast, hundreds of thousands of students across the nation have expressed the opposite by opting out of high-stakes testing as a protected form of constitutional political free speech. Who is right?

First, let’s start with Liz King’s leadership of national civil rights organizations on this issue.

How do I know that Liz King led these efforts. I have pasted a leaked email from DC below that I had before she released the press advisory entitled “We Oppose Anti-Testing Efforts”

Liz King loves No Child Left Behind. She said so on the Equity Alliance Blog entitled 100% Proficient: The Most Important Accomplishment of NCLB. Let’s start there first. Why this title? For those of you scoring at home, NCLB promised that every student in the United States would be proficient by 2014 if we just tested and accountabilitied (just invented this word) them enough. At the time it was believed that Texas had used a decade of high-stakes testing to create an educational miracle and close the achievement gap on the TAAS test. In Houston, home of former US Secretary of Education Rod Paige, schools were publicly reporting 0% dropout rates  and graduation rates approaching 100%. We of course know that the Texas and Houston testing miracles were a façade uncovered by research and common sense. No one really believes anymore that Texas had an education miracle in the 1990s— which incidentally was the primary justification for George W. Bush and Rod Paige to import NCLB from Texas to every district across the United States.

Anyways, I find it curious that King would title her essay in this way because, well, NCLB failed at 100% proficiency spectacularly. I am a big fan of Luther, Obama’s anger translator. So, I am going to translate the seven paragraphs in her blog post. First, here is the post:

Liz King is Legislative Director for Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-Pa).  She has worked in this 

Who’s the William Wallace of testing: @JessedHagopian or Liz King? | Cloaking Inequity: