Fight for Standarded Testing:

We Shall Overcome…Our Lack of Standardized Tests!?

Civil Rights groups have long championed the needs of people of color, women and minorities.

Segregated schools, voting rights, police brutality – all of these have been the subject of long and brutal fights for equality.

Perhaps the strangest turn in 2015 has been the fight for standardized testing.

Organizations that you’d expect to see fighting against racism have been clamoring for access to multiple choice bubble exams.

That’s right. Organizations that you’d expect to see fighting against racism have been clamoring for access to multiple choice bubble exams.

In fact, the Democrats have used this as an excuse for their failed attempts to keep the much maligned Test and Punish policies of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama in the rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

The law – currently called No Child Left Behind (NCLB) – is a testing corporation’s dream filled with policies that have been failing our childrenfor 13 years. Unsurprisingly, teachers, parents and students are demanding relief.

But do Civil Rights groups who fought against unfair testing as a prerequisite to vote now really demand unfair testing as a prerequisite for a high school diploma?

The answer is yes and no.

SOME Civil Rights groups have demanded more testing, and others have demanded LESS.

The Journey for Justice Alliance (JJA), a group made up of 38 organizations of Black and Brown parents and students in 23 states, wrote Congress an open letter in July asking for an end to high stakes testing. And the JJA wasn’t alone. The alliance was joined by 175 other national and local grassroots community, youth and civil rights organizations who signed on to the letter to “…call on Fight for Standarded Testing:

How Clinton, Sanders, O’Malley answer union’s questions about education - The Washington Post

How Clinton, Sanders, O’Malley answer union’s questions about education - The Washington Post:

How Clinton, Sanders, O’Malley answer union’s questions about education

 Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont

Today, almost 50 million students attend our nation’s public schools. Along with their parents, communities, teachers, paraprofessionals and other school employees, these students have been forced to live under test-and-punish policies that include sanctions and school closings, high-stakes assessments, and federalized teacher evaluations that are counterproductive and have taken the joy out of teaching and learning.

Q. What is your view of the current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (also known as the No Child Left Behind Act)? What changes, if any, would you make to the law, and why? Please include positions on:
• The federal government’s role in ensuring equity and access to resources for all children;
• The role of standards, assessments and accountability in public education;
• Ensuring that all students have access to a broad curriculum that includes art and music,
as well as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM);
• Professional development for school staff; and
• Community schools.

BS: I voted against No Child Left Behind in 2001, and continue to oppose the bill’s reliance on high-stakes standardized testing to direct draconian interventions. In my view, No Child Left Behind ignores several important factors in a student’s academic performance, specifically the impact of poverty, access to adequate health care, mental health, nutrition, and a wide variety of supports that children in poverty should have access to. By placing so much emphasis on standardized testing, No Child Left Behind ignores many of the skills and qualities that are vitally important in our 21st century economy, like problem solving, critical thinking, and teamwork, in favor of test preparation that provides no benefit to students after they leave school.In my home state of Vermont, almost every school is identified as “failing” under the requirements of No Child Left Behind, despite the fact that we have one of the highest graduation rates in the country, and students from Vermont continually score among the highest in the country on annual NAEP assessments.

As a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, I have worked to reform No Child Left Behind. My top priorities during the most recent iteration of the bill have been:
• Reducing the high-stakes nature of standardized tests by basing accountability on multiple measures of a school’s effectiveness.
• Including a pilot program that allows states to implement innovative systems of assessment that do not rely on standardized tests. Instead, new innovative assessments will empower educators by providing actionable information during the school year that can inform instructional practice.
• Maintaining federal support for afterschool programs provided through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program.
• The inclusion of wrap-around support services like health, mental health, nutrition and family supports.

I believe guaranteeing resource equity is a core tenet of the federal government’s role in education policy, and if elected, I will work reduce the resource disparities that currently exist between schools in wealthy and low-income areas.

In addition, I strongly support increased emphasis on a well-rounded curriculum. No Child Left Behind’s narrow focus on math and literacy has deprived children, especially low-income children, from critical opportunities in the arts, music, physical education, civics and STEM fields.

I also believe that not enough emphasis has been placed on effective professional development for educators and school leaders. Districts and schools must provide more time and support for educators to pursue highly effective professional development. We should be encouraging innovation in professional development, and ensuring that teachers will be able to incorporate professional development into their classroom practice. Finally, we must provide the resources necessary to provide effective professional development for all teachers, and have consistently supported efforts to increase Title II funding.

Q: Do you support any of the current reauthorization proposals under consideration in the 114thCongress?

BS: I believe the Alexander-Murray compromise on No Child Left Behind reauthorization represents a step in the right direction, and voted for the bill in Committee. While this legislation could go much further to provide adequate resources to our lowest-income students, I believe it is an important step forward. I strongly oppose the Student Success Act because it would gut the core provisions of federal law that direct education funding toward the low-income students who need it most.

Q: What role do you think the federal government can play in providing access to early childhood education? What specific policy proposals would your administration pursue?

BS: Every child in the United States should have access to high quality early childhood education programs, and that the federal government has a critical role to play. If elected, I would pursue a federal program to guarantee access for every child, and ensure early-childhood educators receive compensation that is commensurate with elementary school teachers.

Q: What are your views on private school vouchers, tuition tax credits, and charter school accountability and transparency?

BS: I am strongly opposed to any voucher system that would re-direct public education dollars to private schools, including through the use of tax credits. In addition, I believe charter schools should be held to the same standards of transparency as public schools, and that these standards should also apply to the non-profit and for-profit entities that organize charter schools.

Q: Escalating tuition and fees are leading to a growing number of students leaving college with overwhelming debt from student loans. This burden of rising costs and rising debt makes access to higher education increasingly difficult for many students and their families. What is the role of the federal government in ensuring that higher education is affordable and accessible?

BS: Skyrocketing college tuition has left college out of reach for hundreds of thousands of students, and left millions more deeply in debt. In an increasingly global economy, I believe it is unfair and bad economic policy to force our young people to compete with workers from other countries who can pursue a higher education at little or no cost. This is why I introduced the College How Clinton, Sanders, O’Malley answer union’s questions about education - The Washington Post:

Support for Sanders Grows in Unions | Labor Notes

Support for Sanders Grows in Unions | Labor Notes:

Support for Sanders Grows in Unions

Bernie Sanders’ campaign for president is drawing impressive crowds to rallies across the country—from 7,500 in Burlington, Vermont, to 300 in Birmingham, Alabama.

And it’s no wonder that many union members are part of this groundswell of support, or that he’s already won endorsements from a number of locals and support resolutions from the Vermont and South Carolina AFL-CIOs.

“It would be hard to find many other elected leaders in state or national office who have supported the issues of working families, working people, the working poor, and workplace justice any more than Senator Sanders,” said nurse Mari Cordes, a member of Vermont’s Teachers (AFT) local.

Sanders’ platform includes a $15-an-hour minimum wage, guaranteed vacations and sick leave, lifting the payroll tax cap on Social Security, and single-payer health care. He’s a vocal opponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latest corporate-friendly trade deal. He rails against income inequality and how the “billionaire class” dominates politics.

“It’s clear that Bernie, like Elizabeth Warren, has been out there speaking about the issues that are boiling up in union halls across the country,” said Larry Hanley, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.

While he and the ATU have backed Hillary Clinton for years, Hanley said, “Hillary thus far has not offered us the path that Bernie has.”

So endorsements pose a strategic dilemma. “We don’t want to bruise Hillary so much in the process that she can’t win. We don’t want to lead our members down a dark alley,” he said.

“But at what point do we get our share? At what point do workers get what we had 30 years ago? We don’t just get that by saluting the status quo.”

An invitation-only event in D.C. on July 13, hosted by leaders of the Postal Workers (APWU) and former Communications Workers (CWA) President Larry Cohen, drew presidents or their designees from 22 international unions to hear the candidate speak.

A similar number showed up for a Clinton event the next night at the home of her campaign manager, John Podesta.

“Bernie Sanders has been a champion of postal workers and consumers, and raising the question of $15 for all as a minimum wage,” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein. “On that basis our union will give him serious consideration.”

ENDORSEMENTS PUSH

Organizers of Labor for Bernie—a grassroots effort to build labor support for the Sanders campaign—say one goal is to discourage the AFL-CIO from making an early Clinton endorsement.

They argue labor has little to gain from an early endorsement. And they want more time for pro-Sanders activism to raise union members’ expectations on the issues being highlighted in his campaign.

They want 5,000 signatures on their Labor for Bernie statement before the AFL-CIO executive council meets July 29-30. As of July 15 they had 3,500.

Sanders, Clinton, Maryland ex-Gov. Martin O’Malley, and Arkansas ex-Gov. Mike Huckabee are all expected to attend the meeting, where the council could endorse a candidate or decide to hold off. Hanley said the ATU opposes an early endorsement.

Presidential endorsements are the national AFL-CIO’s prerogative, as President Richard Trumka reminded state and local bodies in a recent memo after the Vermont and South Carolina federations passed resolutions backing Sanders.

AFL-CIO bylaws stipulate that these bodies may not “introduce, consider, debate, or pass resolutions or statements that indicate a preference for one candidate over another.” The rule also applies to personal statements by local and state officers.

But Labor for Bernie organizers hope that state and local fed bodies and officers are willing to flout the rules.

So far Sanders has the backing of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 2222 in Massachusetts, IBEW Local 159 in Madison, Wisconsin, the Vermont National Education Association (NEA), and Lithographers Local One-L (a Teamsters’ affiliate), among others.

“We were really happy he decided to run, because it gave us an alternative,” said Myles Calvey, Local 2222’s business manager. “Elected Democratic officials have it in their minds that labor has no place to go.”

Calvey contrasts Sanders with Democrat John Kerry. Just a few weeks after CWA and IBEW settled a hard-fought contract with Verizon in 2012, he said, Kerry was sharing seats in the press box at a Patriots game with CEO Lowell McAdam.

The Electrical Workers (UE) executive board has also issued a statement supporting Sanders, urging “members and locals to take a serious look at Bernie Sanders’s campaign and to consider their active participation in it.”

AFT BACKS CLINTON

Clinton picked up a big endorsement July 11, when the executive council of the 1.6 million-member Teachers (AFT) became

- See more at: http://labornotes.org/2015/07/support-sanders-grows-unions#sthash.yFaJtn3L.dpuf

CURMUDGUCATION: The L Word

CURMUDGUCATION: The L Word:

The L Word

We talk about teaching as an act of pedagogy or inquiry or coaching or guidance. We talk about data and programs and techniques and the words of experts to the point that we can, at times, sound like mechanics talking about how to work on cars. And there are plenty of people who want to talk about teaching as if it's a science, a series of data-driven stimuli designed to elicit a certain response and build certain competencies, as if our students are lab rats.

But we should also talk about teaching as an act of love.

Yes, it's difficult, mostly because "love" is a word that tries to encompass many words, many ideas, many emotions, many impulses.

But the intentional action of meeting our students where they are, seeing them as they are, hearing them as they speak, helping them drive toward what they would become-- that's love. To engage with students as human beings while trying to focus on who they are, what they want, what they need, to shut up and listen, to open eyes and really see, to build a classroom around what they need and not what we want, to teach them and not just cover material by throwing it at them-- if that's not a form of love, what is it?

Yes, it's awkward to say so, both because of the sense that our words could be misconstrued and because, really, it feels a little like bragging. That's why I admire walking man Jesse Turner and his unapologetic act of love. And it's one reason I admire Jose Vilson and what he says in this short video. I've now watched it multiple times and you should, too:

ICYMI: Top Eduposts of the Week (7/19)

Once again, it's your Sunday reading digest, a not-all-inclusive listing of recommendations from the week.

Mercedes Schneider 

As the ESEA rewrites and votes and amendments have been flying thick and fast, Schneider has been following and explaining the action swiftly and thoroughly. So this isn't a link to a particular post-- just work your way back through the week to get a clearer sense of what Congress is up to with education legislation. 

We Definitely Don't Need a National Education Plan

Rick Hess dismantles the argument for a national education policy. He may be a reformster, but he's no dummy.

The Common Core and Democratic Education

Johann Neem takes a long, thoughtful look at Common Core in general and David Coleman's writing about reading in particular. It's a good clear look at why, exactly, Common Core is a bad, hollow idea.

Six Education Policies a 2016 Presidential Candidate Must Embrace


Lots of folks are writing pieces of this nature, but Cynthia Liu has produced one of the best. Clear, concise and thought-provoking.


K & Preschool Teachers: Last Stand in War on Childhood?

Peter Gray continues his series in Psychology Today looking at those who teach the youngest students and the battle to keep pre-school and kindergarten from turning into developmentally inappropriate menaces to childhood.


Technology Fails Plagiarism, Citation Tests

Paul Thomas takes a look at the use of technology to catch college writers at plagiarism. Except when it doesn't. Or when it catches a false positive.

A Reanalysis of the Effects of Teacher Replacement Using Value-Added Modeling


Want yet another reference to bring up when debunking VAM to someone. Here's a research study that shows, once again, that VAM is neither valid nor reliable.

Bill and Melinda Gates’s Pillow Talk - The New York Times

Bill and Melinda Gates’s Pillow Talk - The New York Times:

Bill and Melinda Gates’s Pillow Talk

WHAT do Bill and Melinda Gates argue about?

Not whose turn it is to wash the dishes or take out the garbage, it seems, but headier stuff. The prospects for eradicating polio. The utility of empowering women. The best ways to save lives.

Oh, and maybe how much to acknowledge to a prying columnist that they sometimes do argue.

It has been 15 years since Bill and Melinda Gates created what is now the largest foundation in the world. This milestone seemed the right moment to ask them what they have learned from giving away $34 billion, what mistakes they have made, and what they disagree about.

But first, just a reminder of how historic this foundation has been. It has played a central role in a campaign to transform health and nutrition for the world’s poor.

In all of history, humans have eradicated only one disease affecting them, smallpox. Bill and Melinda Gates foresee eradicating four more in the next 15 years: polio and Guinea worm disease and, for the other two, perhaps elephantiasis and blinding trachoma. They say, quite plausibly, that we’ll be poised to eradicate malaria soon afterward and to make enormous progress against AIDS, too.

By my conservative back-of-envelope calculations, the world has saved more than 33 million children’s lives since the foundation was established (although obviously the foundation doesn’t get all the credit). And Bill and Melinda Gates foresee the world saving 61 million children’s lives over the next 15 years with the right investments, as child death rates drop more quickly than they ever have in the history of the world.

That’s the amazing news. In contrast, they acknowledge, the foundation’s investments in education here in the United States haven’t paid off as well.

“There’s no dramatic change,” Bill acknowledged. “It’s not like under-5 mortality, where you see this dramatic improvement.”

But both Bill and Melinda insist that they aren’t dispirited by the lack of transformational progress in education. “We’re still very committed,” Bill says.

One giant leap: Bill and Melinda say the foundation is now going to further expand beyond K-12 to also invest nationwide in early childhood programs. I’m thrilled, for I’m a believer that helping children aged 0 to 5 (when the brain is developing rapidly) is crucial for the most at-risk children.

So what mistakes did they make in their philanthropy? They say they started out too tech-focused. Now some of the measures they promote are distinctly low-tech — like breast-feeding, which could save the lives of more than 800,000 children worldwide each year.

Likewise, they say, they didn’t appreciate how hard it was to translate scientific breakthroughs into actual progress in remote villages. The challenges of delivering real impact, in environments where nothing works as anticipated, were far greater than expected.

That challenge is what led them to focus on gender and empowering women, which they initially had neglected but came to see as crucial to getting things done. The foundation has invested in areas like contraceptives, women’s self-help groups and battling sex trafficking.

There’s sometimes a debate about who saved the most lives worldwide. Edward Jenner, of the smallpox vaccine? Fritz Haber, who laid the basis for modern fertilizers (and also explosives)? Norman Borlaug of the green revolution? James Grant, who directed child survival campaigns? Bill and Melinda Gates could be contenders if their health and nutrition investments pay off in coming decades.

But when I asked about their legacy, Bill didn’t much want to talk about it.

“Legacy?” he asked. “We don’t optimizeBill and Melinda Gates’s Pillow Talk - The New York Times:

Common Core in place regardless of rhetoric - Opinion - The Times-Tribune

Common Core in place regardless of rhetoric - Opinion - The Times-Tribune:

Common Core in place regardless of rhetoric

As we prepare to start a new academic year, the specter of a new presidential campaign season looms. Its issues are numerous, but one that just about all candidates have addressed is the future of Common Core.

Common Core identifies what students should learn about reading and mathematics from kindergarten through high school in order to prepare them for college and careers. It does not provide enough detail to allow teachers to use it in planning instruction, but it does provide a foundation districts can use to create standards-aligned curriculum — planned course documents for each course and grade. If they are provided with training and new books and materials that match their curricula, teachers can create their units and lessons.

Common Core is not necessarily an improvement, because there were no national standards upon which to improve. However, some researchers, such as Stanford University’s James Milgram, suggest that the new standards are an enormous improvement over the patchwork most states had in place. Some states like California, Florida, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Minnesota had rigorous standards before the onset of Common Core, but most had weak standards or none at all.

Despite what some presidential candidates claim, Common Core was not developed by the federal government and certainly was not the creation of President Barack Obama. In 2007 and 2008 — well before his election — the National Governors’ Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers proposed the development of standards. The federal government played no role in their development.

Support came from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It sprinkled about $150 million around the country to dozens of groups, such as the American Federation of Teachers ($4.4 million) and the National Education Association ($1 million), and organizations such as the Khan Academy ($4 million) to gain support for Common Core.

The federal government did not mandate its adoption. Via the American Recovery and Restoration Act, it made $4.35 billion available to the states. To qualify for a share, states had to agree to develop rigorous college- and career-ready standards, but not necessarily Common Core. Because it was available, most states, like Pennsylvania, opted for Common Core.

In 2013, 44 states and the District of Columbia did likewise. Twenty did so with modifications, thus displaying that the federal government allowed flexibility. Minnesota, for example, adopted only the English standards.

Alaska, Nebraska, Texas and Virginia rejected it. Indiana, Oklahoma and South Carolina adopted it, but later withdrew. Missouri and North Carolina are in the process of withdrawing. In New Jersey, presidential candidate and Gov. Chris Christie wants to abandon Common Core, but keep its test. That should be fun.

Pennsylvania adopted Common Core, and thus qualified for a $51 million federal grant. In 2014, after a mixed message that slowed curriculum development, the state replaced Common Core with the Pennsylvania Academic Standards, mostly by changing the name on the cover of the document.

Despite all the noise, all of the states that rejected “Obamacore,” which they claimed was federal overreach, have adopted Common Core-like standards. In 2012, Alaska adopted standards that are almost identical to Common Core. Nebraska Common Core in place regardless of rhetoric - Opinion - The Times-Tribune:

Diverse Challenges: Charter Schools Look at How They Reflect Community's Population | TheLedger.com

Diverse Challenges: Charter Schools Look at How They Reflect Community's Population | TheLedger.com:

Diverse Challenges: Charter Schools Look at How They Reflect Community's Population

This graphic shows the ethnic diversity in Polk County's population as a whole. the circular pies are the population diversity breakdown of selected cities. The most recent population figures are from the AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY, 2013.

LAKELAND | Of the 58 ninth-grade students at Polk Pre-Collegiate Academy in Auburndale the past school year, none identified themselves as black.

In the 10th-grade class, four of the 51 students did.

A total of 12 students were Hispanic, three were Asian and two were mixed race.

With 81 percent white students, the Academy has the second-highest percentage of non-minority students among Polk's charter schools.

A fraction of a mile down the road from Polk Pre-Collegiate is No. 1: Berkley Charter School, an elementary school that had 84 percent white students.

Last school year, there were 584 white students, 30 black students, 64 Hispanic students, 10 Asian students and eight mixed-race students.

Overall, the Polk County School District's student population is 43 percent white, 21 percent black and 31 percent Hispanic.

Polk County as a whole is 64 percent white, 14 percent black and 18 percent Hispanic.

Although many charter schools reflect the population, the district is looking into 13 charters with more than 60 percent white student populations.

District officials say they want to make sure charter leaders aren't becoming complacent about ethnic diversity in the era after court-ordered desegregation — a national concern that has been discussed for years as some schools in districts that have been released from their court orders have appeared to re-segregate.

"This is a national and statewide trend that we're starting to see in choice schools," said Melissa Brady, director of charter schools for the district.

Brady said charter schools are expected to monitor themselves, but the district thought they weren't doing that and decided to step in.

'SAME OPPORTUNITIES'

"It's an important factor, I think, making sure every kid has an equal opportunity to get into the school they feel best serves them," she said. "We are not trying to slam charter schools. … I don't want this to paint a negative picture on the schools because that's not what we're trying to do. We're just trying to make sure every kid has the same opportunities."

Charter leaders have heard the message, and some are developing new strategies to address the disparity — although some say they aren't sure how to increase diversity without running afoul of the law.

Polk Pre-Collegiate's principal, Cathy Carver, is working to assemble a marketing team and to add information in Spanish to its website.

"We are mindful of serving a population that is reflective of our community," she said. "It's good to me that we are finding ways to reach out."

Carver said part of the challenge is that the school, which opened in 2011, is very small and hasn't had a lot of time to get the word out to potential students. She met with Brady to discuss ways the school could work to increase racial diversity.

Based on early data, Carver said the school will have a more diverse student body in 2015-16.

She takes that as a sign their marketing strategies are working, and she said she thinks strengthening the marketing team will be an important resource moving forward.

"I will do whatever I need to do," she said.

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Time for a stronger No Child Left Behind - LA Times

Time for a stronger No Child Left Behind - LA Times:

Time for a stronger No Child Left Behind

Here are two things that should seem obvious about the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the George W. Bush-era law that for the last 14 years has, for both better and worse, been pushing schools to improve education for disadvantaged students:

One is that the nation's schools have waited far too long for a new version. The law itself has all but collapsed, and it has been replaced by a complicated and problematic system in which states are given waivers from some of its requirements. The U.S. Department of Education's sometimes clumsy policymaking has led to widespread upheaval and a congressional revolt against federal control over schools. Today, Congress is closer to a reauthorization than it's been at any point since 2002. Within the last two weeks, the House and Senate have passed separate bills, and it's now time to reconcile the two versions and put a strong new law in place. No more delays.

Second, the new law has to look a lot different than the original. It should be more realistic — schools were given 14 years under No Child Left Behind to bring every student in the country to full academic proficiency — and less arbitrary in its measurement of school progress. It should be less prescriptive and punitive in its remedies for low-performing schools, and less authority should be centralized in the often out-of-touch U.S. Department of Education. At the same time, it should require some level of actual accountability from schools. The federal government has the right — the obligation, really — to ensure that Title I funding for low-income students is spent effectively.

Both the House and Senate attempts at revising the law would make it less onerous and centralized. They would do away with Annual Yearly Progress, a complicated and extremely rigid process for using annual test scores to determine which schools are falling short and then mandating a range of interventions, many of them punitive. The annual tests would continue, and the results would be publicly reported, but states would devise their own systems for determining which schools were not meeting standards and what to do about it. Neither bill requires states to use standardized test scores to measure teachers' effectiveness, a significant slap to the Obama administration, which has pressured states to do just that. And in open rebellion over the controversial Common Core curriculum standards, which were heavily pushed by the U.S. Education Department, both bills would forbid the federal government from pressing specific academic standards on states.

The House bill, passed by Republican lawmakers in a highly partisan vote, continues in this states' rights vein. It doesn't set even a flexible standard for what students should learn, and it doesn't call on states to take steps to improve persistently low-performing schools. But what's the point of all the testing if there's no mandate that students learn necessary knowledge and skills?

In contrast, the Senate bill, a rare example of bipartisan cooperation, comes much closer to the mark. Although states would set their own standards, those standards would have to prepare students for jobs or, for the college-bound, give them the ability to do university-level work without remedial courses. States would measure academic improvement as they see fit and determine when low-performing schools aren't getting better fast enough. This would be a great improvement over No Child Left Behind.

The Senate bill should prevail. It shifts most school governance back to the states, setting reasonable expectations but with greater flexibility to allow more innovation. It's missing one thing, however: Though states are encouraged to intervene to help their lowest-performing schools, they're not required to do so. They should be.

Intervention could mean extra funding, better teacher training or the help of an outside consultant rather than overreliance on staff firings, takeovers and other harsh measures, as mandated under No Child Left Behind. Reducing the punitive consequences of No Child Left Behind would have the side benefit of reducing "teaching to the test," once teachers and administrators no longer felt that their jobs were threatened by student results on a single annual exam. But if states can just ignore schools that are doing a bad job, the nation will fail at the job of producing an educated population.Time for a stronger No Child Left Behind - LA Times:

Education commissioner to Buffalo: Fix your schools, or I will - City & Region - The Buffalo News

Education commissioner to Buffalo: Fix your schools, or I will - City & Region - The Buffalo News:

Education commissioner to Buffalo: Fix your schools, or I will

State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia isn’t buying excuses for a lack of solutions inaction

If there was any question how serious the state is about taking control of Buffalo’s schools, new Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia made clear her intentions to Buffalo School Board members late last week. ¶ “Rest assured,” she told them in a meeting in Buffalo,“that if the schools do not show demonstrable improvement, someone will come in under my authority and fix those schools.” ¶ The state Education Department already is taking steps to do just that. ¶ A year from now, five Buffalo schools are headed for a takeover by someone outside the district. ¶ Twenty more city schools are on the same path for the following year. ¶ At that point, the state has within its power to place any city school it deems failing in the hands of someone outside the district. And as it stands now, just 15 of the district’s 56 schools are in good standing with the state. ¶ That means, unless significant improvement is made in student performance, someone other than the Buffalo superintendent or School Board will be in charge of nearly half of Buffalo’s public schools in just a couple of years. ¶ When Elia demanded that the School Board fix the city schools or she would act, she was referring

to a new state law that allows for the appointment of receivers who would have unprecedented powers to make sweeping changes at failing schools.

A receiver, appointed by the district from a list of candidates selected by the state commissioner, would have the authority to circumvent the voting power of the School Board and force changes to union contracts.

The receiver could lengthen the school day, require staff members to reapply for their jobs and implement academic programs.

The new commissioner has been on the job just two weeks, and already it is clear she intends to be an unquestionable force in a district that has consistently failed to improve student competency scores and graduation rates.

Elia’s authority and intent became clear during the meeting with the board, when in a no-nonsense tone, she several times reinforced her message that, if the district cannot figure out how to fix its schools, she will.

Attempts to explain

Some members on both sides of the usually bickering board attempted to explain the district’s past failures and plans for the future. She rejected each attempt.

The scenario that played out between the commissioner and the board members smacked of students sent to the principal’s office to explain their misbehavior. Elia’s tone became increasingly more direct as the meeting progressed.

Wearing a serious face with hands folded in front of her, Elia wasn’t buying excuses – from anyone on either side of the divided board.

At one point, board majority member Larry Quinn suggested the high schools on the receivership list were beyond repair and the district should focus its effort on elementary schools.

“Let’s be honest, you’re only looking at Buffalo,” Elia said, referring to possible solutions. “There are high schools in this nation that have been turned around. It’s going to be a huge Education commissioner to Buffalo: Fix your schools, or I will - City & Region - The Buffalo News:

The Power of Collective Voice | Randi Weingarten

The Power of Collective Voice | Randi Weingarten:

The Power of Collective Voice

Teaching is our heart. Our students are our soul. And the union is our spine.

I heard that sentiment over and over again this past week during the American Federation of Teachers' biennial TEACH conference, one of the largest professional development conferences for educators in the nation. That's right, a conference on teaching and learning, sponsored by the union.

The conference included sessions on a wide range of topics, as well as a daylong summit with an organization called EdSurge, where educators had the opportunity to give feedback on classroom technology products, and a town hall meeting with theAFT's three officers, where members could ask or share anything.

Two-thousand educators descended on Washington, D.C., to learn from experts and one another, and once there, the theme was resounding: The voices of educators matter. Especially in an era of toxic debates and top-down dictates, the voices of educators matter.

Where educators are raising and combining their voices, the seeds of positive change have emerged. Collective voice, exercised through the union, is power--the power to drive real change for our kids, families and communities. The stories we heard this week speak for themselves.

Betty Nieves, a teacher at the School of Integrated Learning in Brooklyn, N.Y., discussed what it's like to be part of a New York City program known as PROSE (Progressive Redesign Opportunity Schools for Excellence). This year, there were 62 PROSE schools in New York City. Next year, there will be 126, which means there will be about as many PROSE schools as there are charter schools. These schools, which were negotiated in the union's first contract with Mayor Bill de Blasio'sadministration, enable school staffs to change contract terms at the school level if they believe different terms will work better for their students.

"At the PROSE schools, teachers stay in the classroom and do the jobs that we love and also have leadership roles that allow our voices to be heard," Nieves said. "The collaborative piece--it's not just a buzzword. It does work. I honestly believe the more voices in that room, the better our chances of answering that question, of finding that solution, of better meeting the needs of our students."

Afra Khan and Lily Holland, two Boston teachers, are part of the AFT's Teacher Leaders Program. The AFT launched this program three years ago to empower teachers to help shape education policies governing our schools.

When Boston Public Schools reworked how it counted the number of students in poverty, whole neighborhoods were dropped from the free and reduced-price lunch program--a program that is a literal lifeline for so many children. So, today, Khan and The Power of Collective Voice | Randi Weingarten:

What I Learned at My First NEA RA Assembly!-July 2015 DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!:

DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: What I Learned at My First NEA RA Assembly!-July 2015:

What I Learned at My First NEA RA Assembly!-July 2015

NEA stands for the National Education Association.

RA stands for Representative Assembly.

I attended my 1st NEA Representative Assembly as a delegate. What an amazing experience!

My observations:

• One of the delegates spoke about using the words of the oppressor. How many times do we, as educators, use the words, "the union", as if it is not "our union?" WE are the union. WE are what makes up the union. When we address the union as " the union", we are giving others the message that we are not part of it, that it is a separate entity. What does Chris Christie say every time he opens his mouth about educators? "The union..."

• If you don't like what your union is doing, you have the opportunity to make your voice heard. I sat in a convention hall with about 10,000 educators who were doing just that, raising their voices. We supported an item, or we didn't. Delegates, including one of my own state, wrote items that they felt were important to us all. Some were supported, and some weren't. Instead of standing in a hallway, or sitting in the Teacher's Lounge, denouncing the union, (I know, I've done it), ask how you can become a delegate.Move up from delegate and sit on your executive committee, or even the National committee.

• People of color and women need to be involved in our union. Shout-out to Eric Brown and Shelly Moore who were elected to the Executive Committee! There were more people of color present this year than any other year! If we want our DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: What I Learned at My First NEA RA Assembly!-July 2015: