Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 8/26/15 #SaveDyett

SPECIAL NITE CAP 

CORPORATE ED REFORM

You'd Be On C-SPAN Getting Mic'd Up Too [Video] | The Jose Vilson

You'd Be On C-SPAN Getting Mic'd Up Too [Video] | The Jose Vilson: You’d Be On C-SPAN Getting Mic’d Up Too [Video] JOSE VILSON AUGUST 26, 2015 VIDEO LEAVE A COMMENTGiven how little I advertised this, I’m glad so many of you got to watch this interview of me via C-SPAN’s Wasington Journal with Pedro Echevarria (shout-outs to their team):A few things to note:I was hoping a student would call in, and

by mike simpson / 26min 

With A Brooklyn Accent: "Opt Out- Stop the Abuse" Message from an Educator in Upstate New York

With A Brooklyn Accent: "Opt Out- Stop the Abuse" Message from an Educator in Upstate New York: "Opt Out- Stop the Abuse" Message from an Educator in Upstate New YorkThe New York State Education Department released the student test data to the school districts on Friday, August 21, 2015.  I have spent two entire days entering student test data into the computer.  That is, I ent

by mike simpson / 29min 

Al Jazeera includes silenced ed reform perspectives @AJStream  | Cloaking Inequity

Al Jazeera includes silenced ed reform perspectives @AJStream  | Cloaking Inequity: Al Jazeera includes silenced ed reform perspectives @AJStream I was previously impressed that Al Jazeera took on Teach For America. Now they are taking on education “reformers” again in NOLA— by including silenced perspectives community perspectives on education reform on their show AJ Stream— especially from folks

by mike simpson / 2h 

D.C. schools attracted record amounts of philanthropy in recent years - The Washington Post

D.C. schools attracted record amounts of philanthropy in recent years - The Washington Post: D.C. schools attracted record amounts of philanthropy in recent yearsWashington, D.C., became a magnet for philanthropy after 2007, when former mayor Adrian Fenty took control over the schools and appointed Michelle Rhee as chancellor.In 2010, the District brought in more than $31 million from national fou

by mike simpson / 2h 

CURMUDGUCATION: TN: We've Found the Unicorn Farm

CURMUDGUCATION: TN: We've Found the Unicorn Farm: TN: We've Found the Unicorn FarmTennessee officials are cheerfully announcing the advent of awesome new assessments that will be "not a test you can game." The tests will be delivered at the end of the year by winged unicorns pooping rainbows while playing a Brahms lullabye on the spoons.“We’re moving into a better test that will provide

by mike simpson / 3h 

This Week In Education: Thompson: Ta-Nehisi Coates & School Reform

This Week In Education: Thompson: Ta-Nehisi Coates & School Reform: Thompson: Ta-Nehisi Coates & School ReformToni Morrison rightly compares Ta-Nehisi Coates to James Baldwin. I hope teachers and education policy makers will read CoatesBetween the World and Me, and consider its obvious implications for school improvement. I do not want to drag his beautiful book, a touching letter to his s

by mike simpson / 4h 

Knock Knock, Teacher's Here: The Power Of Home Visits : NPR Ed : NPR

Knock Knock, Teacher's Here: The Power Of Home Visits : NPR Ed : NPR: Knock Knock, Teacher's Here: The Power Of Home VisitsNinety percent of students at Hobgood Elementary in Murfreesboro, Tenn., come from low-income households. Most of the school's teachers don't. And that's a challenge, says principal Tammy Garrett."If you only know middle-class families, you may not understand at times why

by mike simpson / 4h 

New Website Shares #KatrinaTruth | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity

New Website Shares #KatrinaTruth | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity: New Website Shares #KatrinaTruthPosted on: Monday August 24th, 2015Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and displaced hundreds of thousands of its residents. Now, a new site by the Advancement Project and the group Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcera

by mike simpson / 4h 

In Chicago, hunger strikers fight for a high school - The Washington Post #FightForDyett

In Chicago, hunger strikers fight for a high school - The Washington Post: In Chicago, hunger strikers fight for a high school Demonstrators hold placards during a Chicago Teachers Union protest in Chicago in March 2013 over a controversial proposal to close 54 schools in the country's third-largest public school district. (John Gress/Reuters)A dozen parents and activists in Chicago entered their

by mike simpson / 4h 

The Union Advantage for Women - Women in the StatesWomen in the States

The Union Advantage for Women - Women in the StatesWomen in the States: The Union Advantage for WomenThis briefing paper presents an analysis of women’s union membership and the union wage and benefit advantage for women by state and by race/ethnicity. It is based on an analysis of the Current Population Survey. Wage and benefit data are for all workers covered by a union contract, irrespective of

by mike simpson / 6h 

National Opinion Poll on Testing and Test-Based Teacher Accountability | VAMboozled!

National Opinion Poll on Testing and Test-Based Teacher Accountability | VAMboozled!: National Opinion Poll on Testing and Test-Based Teacher AccountabilityIn an article titled “Testing Doesn’t Measure up for Americans,” just released by Phi Delta Kappa (PDK) International in partnership with the flagship professional polling organizationGallup, you can read the results of the annual public poll t

by mike simpson / 6h 

edTPA. The Gates and NCTQ plan, a long time in the works. | Fred Klonsky

edTPA. The Gates and NCTQ plan, a long time in the works. | Fred Klonsky: edTPA. The Gates and NCTQ plan, a long time in the works.Graphic: Rethinking SchoolsedTPA is not new.I have been posting about it now because the implementation of edTPA in Illinois, mandated by the Democratic Party controlled state legislature as the path to teacher certification, is moving at full steam.If you go back to t

by mike simpson / 6h 

Mapping the Displacement of Katrina Survivors - The Atlantic

Mapping the Displacement of Katrina Survivors - The Atlantic: Hurricane Katrina's Uncharted DiasporaThe storm displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes, and there is still no comprehensive picture of where they ended up.Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the city of New Orleans on the morning of August 29, 2005, swept in by winds traveling at 127 mph. But the true damage came after the leve

by mike simpson / 6h 

CURMUDGUCATION: Content-Free Curriculum

CURMUDGUCATION: Content-Free Curriculum: Content-Free CurriculumComing back to school (first student day yesterday, thanks) reminds me once again of the huge hole in the heart of current Core curriculum. The lack of content. The sad fact that there is no there there.Yes, someone is going to pop up to say that the Core (both in its original incarnation and all the old wine in new skins versions tha

by mike simpson / 7h 

Chicago Tribune: Teacher compensation is a perk. | Fred Klonsky

Chicago Tribune: Teacher compensation is a perk. | Fred Klonsky: Chicago Tribune: Teacher compensation is a perk.It has been just a few days since the Chicago Tribune embarrassed itself by publishing the ghoulish op-ed by Kristen McQueary which called for a devastating natural disaster like Katrina to hit Chicago.Only “water gushing through manhole covers” could bring school reform to our city wro

by mike simpson / 7h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Big day for Dyett hunger strikers

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Big day for Dyett hunger strikers: Big day for Dyett hunger strikersImportant day for the Dyett hunger strikers.AFT Pres. Randi Weingarten is coming to Chicago today to speak in support of the strikers. Maybe that will push some other unions to do the same and get some decent media coverage.Our thoughts are with hunger striking Grandmother Irene Robinson who was hosp

by mike simpson / 7h 

This could change everything about school — for kids, teachers and everybody else - The Washington Post

This could change everything about school — for kids, teachers and everybody else - The Washington Post: This could change everything about school — for kids, teachers and everybody elseFor years, veteran educator Marion Brady has argued on this blog that no matter the level of a learner’s ability, much higher levels of academic performance are possible.  The means to that end, he says, is learner

by mike simpson / 7h 

Amid Widespread Racial Biases in School Suspensions, Teachers Say No to Federal Ban on ‘Disparate Impact’ Discipline - The Atlantic

Amid Widespread Racial Biases in School Suspensions, Teachers Say No to Federal Ban on ‘Disparate Impact’ Discipline - The Atlantic: When Schools Are Forced to Practice Race-Based DisciplineStudents of color are expelled and suspended at disproportionate rates. Educators say policies banning “disparate-impact” discipline are not the answer.The Obama administration might be disappointed to find out

by mike simpson / 7h 

Left Behind: The unintended consequences of school choice | The Post and Courier

Left behind | The Post and Courier: Left Behind: The unintended consequences of school choiceKids with toughest hurdles stuck in gutted schoolsThe first bell rings in 10 minutes, but no cars line the road outside to drop off students. While other schools clog major thoroughfares with traffic, a lone car pulls up to North Charleston High every few minutes for a drowsy teen to roll out. Two park in

by mike simpson / 7h 

Ed Notes Online: The Racist History of the Charter School Movement

Ed Notes Online: The Racist History of the Charter School Movement: The Racist History of the Charter School Movementstates and localities [in the south in the 60s] enacted “freedom of choice” plans that typically allowed white students to transfer out of desegregated schools, but forced black students to clear numerous administrative hurdles and, not infrequently, withstand harassment from teache

by mike simpson / 7h 

New Policy Brief Released: "Significant Changes in the New Orleans Teacher Workforce" · News · Education Research Alliance for New Orleans

New Policy Brief Released: "Significant Changes in the New Orleans Teacher Workforce" · News · Education Research Alliance for New Orleans: Significant Changes in the New Orleans Teacher WorkforceNew Orleans' Teaching Force Today: Whiter, Less Experienced, Higher Turnover - Teacher Beat - Education Week http://bit.ly/1JvZYDbEducation Research Alliance for New Orleans releases policy brie

by mike simpson / 8h 

Teacher ranks shrink, skew white and less experienced in report

Teacher ranks shrink, skew white and less experienced in report: Teacher ranks shrink, skew white and less experienced in reportOver a five-year period that included the near-elimination of collective bargaining in Wisconsin's public schools, the teacher workforce in metro Milwaukee is smaller, less experienced and still largely white, according to a new report.The metro region also lost 700 teach

by mike simpson / 8h 

Newark Schools See Red Ink - WSJ

Newark Schools See Red Ink - WSJ: Newark Schools See Red InkNew chief puts gap at as much as $20 million, vows to make cuts that won’t harm educationThe Newark school district faces a budget hole of $15 million to $20 million going into the new academic year, its officials said Tuesday.Chris Cerf, who took over as superintendent of the state-operated district last month, said the financial picture

by mike simpson / 8h 

Parents Starve Themselves To Protest Chicago School Closure | The Daily Caller

Parents Starve Themselves To Protest Chicago School Closure | The Daily Caller: Parents Starve Themselves To Protest Rahm Emanuel’s School PoliciesParents in Chicago have endured a hunger strike lasting over a week to protest the local board of education’s decision to shut down a neighborhood high school.Dyett High School, on Chicago’s South Side, graduated its final class of 13 students last June

by mike simpson / 8h 

ACT president: ‘Relax. Tests don’t define us, nor do they determine our future.’ - The Washington Post

ACT president: ‘Relax. Tests don’t define us, nor do they determine our future.’ - The Washington Post: ACT president: ‘Relax. Tests don’t define us, nor do they determine our future.’ACT President Jon Erickson, who has spent three decades in the testing field, is retiring on Sept. 1 after four years in his position. Erickson, 61, answered questions from The Washington Post as the nonprofit organi

by mike simpson / 8h 

Want to Reduce the Teacher Shortage? Treat Teachers Like Professionals - NEA Today

Want to Reduce the Teacher Shortage? Treat Teachers Like Professionals - NEA Today: Want to Reduce the Teacher Shortage? Treat Teachers Like ProfessionalsSuddenly everyone is talking about the teacher shortage, thanks largely to a recent article in The New York Times that examined the measures districts are taking – including dropping certification requirements – to fill vacancies. Too many pink s

by mike simpson / 8h 

California home school interest surges as parents look to sidestep vaccine law

California home school interest surges as parents look to sidestep vaccine law: California home school interest surges as parents look to sidestep vaccine lawth the passage of a new law this summer mandating vaccines for school kids in California, home school advocates and organizations say they are seeing surging interest in off-campus education options that would exempt them from the requirement

by mike simpson / 8h 

When Parents Get Paid for Homework - Bloomberg View

When Parents Get Paid for Homework - Bloomberg View: When Parents Get Paid for HomeworkPoor kids don't do nearly as well in school as the children of the affluent. There's a vicious cycle when you talk about this, where education reformers blame the teachers, teachers blame the parents and the economic conditions of the children, and everyone sort of gives each other the side eye while glumly agre

by mike simpson / 9h 

Public School Isn't Free, and Not Everyone Can Afford It | Joanne Goldblum

Public School Isn't Free, and Not Everyone Can Afford It | Joanne Goldblum: Public School Isn't Free, and Not Everyone Can Afford ItIf you have three children attending public school, you can expect to pay $3,000 for school supplies and extra-curricular activity fees in the coming year. That information comes courtesy of the Ohio-based Huntington Bank, which does an annual "Backpack Index&quo

by mike simpson / 9h 

Latinos struggle to close gap with whites in California ACT scores - LA Times

Latinos struggle to close gap with whites in California ACT scores - LA Times: Latinos struggle to close gap with whites in California ACT scoresA performance gap on the ACT college entrance exam persisted this year between California's Latino and white high school students, according to new test results.Educators and experts find this trend particularly concerning. They had hoped for better resul

by mike simpson / 9h 

School ‘reform’ more like regression

School ‘reform’ more like regression: School ‘reform’ more like regressionFor observers of California’s public schools who look past the normal narratives and distractions, something bordering on despair is in order.Consider the legislation now advancing in Sacramento to gut the Stull Act, the 1971 law mandating that student performance be a factor in teacher evaluations. Sen. Carol Liu, D-La Cana

by mike simpson / 9h 

Marie Corfield: @arneduncan sucker punches special needs students

Marie Corfield: @arneduncan sucker punches special needs students: @arneduncan sucker punches special needs studentsAs if the Common Core and standardized testing weren't enough. As if the funding cuts to public education weren't enough.As if increased class sizes and decreased services weren't enough.As if the black listing of education professionals wasn't enough.As if the closing of neighborhoo

by mike simpson / 9h 

What I learned taking the Smarter Balanced (SBAC) test | Seattle Education

What I learned taking the Smarter Balanced (SBAC) test | Seattle Education: What I learned taking the Smarter Balanced (SBAC) testIt was created for imaginary children who exist only in the minds of the people who made the tests. These imaginary third through fifth graders are perfectly willing and able to sit still and focus for forty-five minutes, type, problem-solve random computer glitches, an

by mike simpson / 10h 

CURMUDGUCATION: Tribune Discovers Dyett Hunger Strike #FightForDyett #SaveDyett

CURMUDGUCATION: Tribune Discovers Dyett Hunger Strike: Tribune Discovers Dyett Hunger StrikeIt only took eight days for Chicago's leading "news" outlet to discover that Dyett High twelve community members were staging a hunger strike. But yesterday afternoon, the Chicago Tribunefinally covered the story.Mind you, they didn't cover it all that well. They reported the 13-student enrollment

by mike simpson / 10h 

YESTERDAY

The Newark board defies Cerf. Cerf (politely) defies the Newark board. Christie is still the “decider.” | Bob Braun's Ledger

The Newark board defies Cerf. Cerf (politely) defies the Newark board. Christie is still the “decider.” | Bob Braun's Ledger: The Newark board defies Cerf. Cerf (politely) defies the Newark board. Christie is still the “decider.”An unapologetic Cerf takes control of Newark schoolsThe Newark school board Tuesday night ordered an end to the “One Newark” enrollment plan that has resulted in the dispe

by mike simpson / 17h 

Florida Students Must “Qualify” to Take the Fourth-grade NAEP | deutsch29

Florida Students Must “Qualify” to Take the Fourth-grade NAEP | deutsch29: Florida Students Must “Qualify” to Take the Fourth-grade NAEPJeb Bush wants to be president. So, it is important that he sell his Florida education reforms as a success.However, when test-score-based education reforms are put on display, one should seek out “the rest of the story.” Such is true when Florida’s fourth-grade N

by mike simpson / 21h hide  //  save

What's Up With That Big Grant to the Atlantic Monthly From the Walton Family Foundation? - Inside Philanthropy: Fundraising Intelligence - Inside Philanthropy

What's Up With That Big Grant to the Atlantic Monthly From the Walton Family Foundation? - Inside Philanthropy: Fundraising Intelligence - Inside Philanthropy: What's Up With That Big Grant to the Atlantic Monthly From the Walton Family Foundation?We've been saying for a while that the tight new embrace of journalism and philanthropy is tricky, and for some obvious reasons. Foundations have agenda

by mike simpson / 21h 

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 8/25/15 #SaveDyett

SPECIAL NITE CAP CORPORATE ED REFORM‘The Teacher Shortage’ Is No Accident—It’s the Result of Corporate Education Reform Policies - Working In These Times‘The Teacher Shortage’ Is No Accident—It’s the Result of Corporate Education Reform Policies - Working In These Times: ‘The Teacher Shortage’ Is No Accident—It’s the Result of Corporate Education Reform PoliciesLike much else in the national educa

by mike simpson / 1d 

You'd Be On C-SPAN Getting Mic'd Up Too [Video] | The Jose Vilson

You'd Be On C-SPAN Getting Mic'd Up Too [Video] | The Jose Vilson:

You’d Be On C-SPAN Getting Mic’d Up Too [Video]

 JOSE VILSON AUGUST 26, 2015 VIDEO LEAVE A COMMENT

Given how little I advertised this, I’m glad so many of you got to watch this interview of me via C-SPAN’s Wasington Journal with Pedro Echevarria (shout-outs to their team):

A few things to note:

1. I was hoping a student would call in, and that’s exactly what happened. The student who called in wrote to me later. I hope to share her e-mail later on this week.
2. A few of my friends have commented that I handled the phone questions with calm and cojones. After some of the nonsense I dealt within 24 hours of interview, the phone interviewers were a piece of cake.
3. My three-year-old got to see me on TV, and told me as much when I got back home. My heart is warm.

If you escaped what I escaped, you’d be on C-SPAN getting mic’d up too. Teach so hard.

Let me know what you think below.

About Jose Vilson

José Luis Vilson is a math educator, blogger, speaker, and activist. For more of my writing, buy my book This Is Not A Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class, and Education, on sale now.

With A Brooklyn Accent: "Opt Out- Stop the Abuse" Message from an Educator in Upstate New York

With A Brooklyn Accent: "Opt Out- Stop the Abuse" Message from an Educator in Upstate New York:

"Opt Out- Stop the Abuse" Message from an Educator in Upstate New York

The New York State Education Department released the student test data to the school districts on Friday, August 21, 2015.  I have spent two entire days entering student test data into the computer.  That is, I entered a 1, 2, 3,or 4 for specific students.  In many cases, only one student took the test.  What this means is that one student will determine a teacher’s growth score.  One student will be the deciding factor if a teacher is rated: developing, effective, highly effective, or ineffective.  One student.  Is this statistically sound?    Most would call this inhumane or even insane.  Is this ethical?

A teacher who may be a single working mom supporting her family stands to lose her income if deemed ineffective two years in a row.  We are fortunate to have some local assessments in place that may save her job----maybe.  It’s hard to plan for a family’s future when your job and entire livelihood lies in the balance.  This is an unnecessary amount of pressure.  Most would call this inhumane or even insane. Is this ethical?

So, what most people do not know is that these state tests DO NOT truly measure a student’s reading skills or math skills.  These tests Do Not measure a teacher’s effectiveness.  The tests have been purposely designed to reduce the public school teaching staff exponentially.  Most would call this inhumane or even insane.  Is this ethical?

I pride myself in knowing the students in my school.  I know their families.  I know their day-to-day performance in the classroom.  In many cases, I have known these children since Kindergarten.  I know their joys and their sorrows.  I know the teachers in my building.  I know their joys, their struggles, and their hardships.   I cannot help but think about all of this as I proceed with the mind-numbing task of entering a 1, 2, 3, or 4 into the computer system.  A numbers game with human beings, that I am being manipulated to participate in, coerced if you will.   This I know is wrong with ever fiber of my being, my heart and my soul.  I saw 2’s for students who should have gotten a 4.  They would have gotten a 4 if the test was written on their grade level, and if there were no trick questions with extremely close choices for answers.  I saw 2’s for students who read above their grade level.  That tells me that they are not test takers and/or the answers were so close that they may have picked the wrong one, or they may simply have run out of time due to the length of the reading passages.  I cannot analyze this, because, I do not have the test questions  nor do I have the answer sheets.  I cannot have a conference with parents and show them where their child needs assistance.  Most would call this inhumane or even insane.  Is this ethical?

How can I trust the validity of any of this?  How can I trust what the new Commissioner of Education dictates?   She is new to her position.  She has not yet earned the trust of New Yorkers.  I understand she has concerns about ethics. 

I think about the student who vomited on her test.  We followed protocol, and put her test in a zip lock bag.  She was escorted to the Nurse’s office, and needless to say, she did not finish her test.  I don’t have a test score to enter for her. These tests put several stakeholders under undue pressure.  Is this ethical?

I wake at 2:00 am and see the computer screen right before my eyes.  I can see all of the data, but what I really see before my eyes is unethical practices of the New York State Education Department. 

I consider the Commissioner’s comments that I am an extension, or an arm , if you With A Brooklyn Accent: "Opt Out- Stop the Abuse" Message from an Educator in Upstate New York:

Al Jazeera includes silenced ed reform perspectives @AJStream | Cloaking Inequity

Al Jazeera includes silenced ed reform perspectives @AJStream  | Cloaking Inequity:
Al Jazeera includes silenced ed reform perspectives @AJStream 

I was previously impressed that Al Jazeera took on Teach For America. Now they are taking on education “reformers” again in NOLA— by including silenced perspectives community perspectives on education reform on their show AJ Stream— especially from folks of color.

@AJStream is a really interesting mix of studio, Twitter, video clips, and online distance guests. It’s a great format, very engaging. I think MSNBC, CNN etc. should give it a go. Al Jazeera reached out yesterday and asked me to film a 30 second clip for the innovative program.

I was honored to make the cameo appearance with Dr. Raynard Sanders, Karen Harper Royal et al. to discuss“Deconstructing New Orleans’ reconstruction”

My comment focused on #NOLAEdWarning and the facade that is the Recovery School District “success.” See my short YouTube clip cued up below.

Also watch the entire program below. I think the varied format and critical content is more interesting than 97% of what’s on NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, MSNBC (I won’t even mention FoxNews) these days.

The mainstream media is clearly not covering the counter narrative discussed. The recent New York Times piece Opinion: The Myth of the New Orleans School Makeover caused a bunch of ruckus because the education reformers and TFA get VERY FRIENDLY treatment in the media.

Not such friendly treatment on Al Jazeera. Bravo!!

See also “Slave” market education reform in NOLA?, a Storify of information about education reform in NOLA from Al Jazeera includes silenced ed reform perspectives @AJStream  | Cloaking Inequity:

D.C. schools attracted record amounts of philanthropy in recent years - The Washington Post

D.C. schools attracted record amounts of philanthropy in recent years - The Washington Post:

D.C. schools attracted record amounts of philanthropy in recent years

Washington, D.C., became a magnet for philanthropy after 2007, when former mayor Adrian Fenty took control over the schools and appointed Michelle Rhee as chancellor.

In 2010, the District brought in more than $31 million from national foundations, according to an analysis by two professors at Michigan State University of grants by the 15 largest philanthropies funding kindergarten through 12th grade education that year.  The total represented an extra $705 per student — far more than any other school district in the country.

More than two-thirds of the funds raised went to the D.C. Public Education Fund, which was created in 2007 to support reform efforts in the public school system. At least $ 7 million went to specific charter schools or to organizations, including the New Schools Venture Fund, that support charter schools.

Source: “Political Determinants of K-12 Education Philanthropic Funds for Urban Schools”
Jeffrey W. Snyder and Sarah Reckhow, Michigan State University

The report, which has not yet been published, found that grantmaking from the largest funders increased from $486.6 million to $843.7 million between 2000 and 2010. The researchers found a growing preference among funders to invest in cities with reform-oriented policies and environments.  Cities that had a Teach for America site or laws that encourage the growth of charter schools, for example, were more likely to receive foundation funding.

Sarah Reckhow, a professor of political science at Michigan State who coauthored the report, said more philanthropists are thinking nationally about policy priorities when they make funding decisions, and many are interested in growing charter schools and challenging traditional methods for evaluating and rewarding teachers.

In 2010, D.C. public schools rolled out a new teacher contract, including teacher evaluations that could lead to termination or significant bonuses. The increased costs associated were funded at first by a three-year, $64.5 million grant from a group of national philanthropists, including the Walton Family Foundation and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.

That expense was eventually absorbed by the local budget, and District education officials said philanthropic investments in the schools have fallen since 2010. The D.C. Education Fund raised $5.7 million  in fiscal 2014, down from more than $17 million in fiscal 2012 and $24 million in 2010.

Fundraising has picked up again, with about $11 million raised so far this D.C. schools attracted record amounts of philanthropy in recent years - The Washington Post:

CURMUDGUCATION: TN: We've Found the Unicorn Farm

CURMUDGUCATION: TN: We've Found the Unicorn Farm:

TN: We've Found the Unicorn Farm

Tennessee officials are cheerfully announcing the advent of awesome new assessments that will be "not a test you can game." The tests will be delivered at the end of the year by winged unicorns pooping rainbows while playing a Brahms lullabye on the spoons.

“We’re moving into a better test that will provide us better information about how well our students are prepared for post-secondary,” Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen told reporters recently during sneak peek at some of the questions.

Fans of the new standardized tests continue to be impressed at how these tests solve the problems of education in the 1970's. Assistant state commissioner of data and research Nokia Townes says that the tests will require "more than rote memorization," which puts them on a par with the tests I started giving my students thirty-five years ago. But that statement also indicates that officials still don't understand what "gaming the test" means.

Standardized tests are, by their nature, games. Where you have multiple choice questions, you have one correct answer and several other answers designed to trick and trap students who might make a particular mistake, so by their nature, they are not simply trying to capture a particular correct behavior, but are also testing for several incorrect ones.

But Tennessee officials are distracted themselves, focusing on unimportant test features. The CURMUDGUCATION: TN: We've Found the Unicorn Farm:

This Week In Education: Thompson: Ta-Nehisi Coates & School Reform

This Week In Education: Thompson: Ta-Nehisi Coates & School Reform:

Thompson: Ta-Nehisi Coates & School Reform

Toni Morrison rightly compares Ta-Nehisi Coates to James Baldwin. I hope teachers and education policy makers will read CoatesBetween the World and Me, and consider its obvious implications for school improvement. I do not want to drag his beautiful book, a touching letter to his son, into our vicious school reform wars. Instead, I will review some of the key parts of Coates’s wisdom that can inform our practice and education policy, and mostly leave our education civil war to another day.

I would think that teachers would be thrilled to have a politically conscious student like Coates. Surely most of us would welcome the creative insubordination of a high school student who would quote Nas and challenge us with the idea “schools where I learned they should be burned, it is poison.”  After all, teachers and education policy-makers should all wrestle with Coates’s indictment of schools for “drugging us with false morality.”

At times, however, class discussions involving Coates could easily become uncomfortable. He “was made for the library, not the classroom. The classroom was a jail of other people’s interests.” Moreover, “if the streets shackled my right leg, the schools shackled my left. Fail to comprehend the streets and you gave up on your body now. But fail to comprehend the schools and you gave up your body later.” If that doesn’t hit too close to home, Coates adds that he resented school more than the streets.

Schools are supposed to be a “means of escape from death and penal warehousing.” But, too often, educators don’t understand what it takes for poor children of color to avail themselves of that escape hatch. For instance, he recalls that “each day, fully one-third of my brain was concerned with who I was walking to school with, our precise number, the manner of our walk, the number of times I smiled, who or what I smiled at, who offered a pound and who did not.”

Coates knew he was being robbed of that third of his consciousness, and that education should enrich his entire mind.  But, he felt that school “had no time for the childhoods of black boys and girls.” Coates found himself “unfit for the schools, and in good measure wanting to be unfit for them.”

One scene in Between the World and Me that has gained attention is its account of Coates’s insubordination with his 9^th grade teacher and his father’s response. Reaching for his belt, his father said, “I can beat him, or the police.” (This scene becomes especially valuable when read in context with Jorja Leap’s Project Fatherhood.)   Coates says of the punishment, “Maybe that saved me. Maybe it didn’t.”  He then explains how this dynamic pervades so much of the ghetto. “All I know is, the This Week In Education: Thompson: Ta-Nehisi Coates & School Reform:

Knock Knock, Teacher's Here: The Power Of Home Visits : NPR Ed : NPR

Knock Knock, Teacher's Here: The Power Of Home Visits : NPR Ed : NPR:

Knock Knock, Teacher's Here: The Power Of Home Visits

Ninety percent of students at Hobgood Elementary in Murfreesboro, Tenn., come from low-income households. Most of the school's teachers don't. And that's a challenge, says principal Tammy Garrett.

"If you only know middle-class families, you may not understand at times why they don't have their homework or why they're tired," Garrett says.

When she became principal four years ago, Garrett decided to get her teachers out of their classrooms — and comfort zones — for an afternoon. Once a year, just before school starts, they board a pair of yellow buses and head for the neighborhoods and apartment complexes where Hobgood students live.

En route, the bus driver describes over the intercom how he picks up 50 children at one complex each morning. The teachers pump themselves up with a chant. After all, they're doing something most people don't enjoy: knocking on doors unannounced.

When the caravan arrives at a cluster of apartments, the teachers fan out and start knocking on doors of known Hobgood families. Some encounters don't get beyond awkward pleasantries and handing over fliers about first-of-the-year festivities. Others yield brief but substantive conversations with parents who might be strangers around school.

Jennifer Mathis has one child still at Hobgood and says she appreciates that the school came to her — since she has a hard time getting to school.

"I don't have a car. I can't drive because my back got broken in two places," she tells a trio of teachers standing in her doorway. "I'm a mom. I can't be there with all of them all the time."

Giving Home Visits A Try

There was a time when a teacher showing up on a student's doorstep meant something bad. But increasingly, home visits have become a tool to spark parental involvement. The National Education Association has encouraged more schools to try it out, and there's this national effort.

One district in Massachusetts just added money to pay teachers for the extra work Knock Knock, Teacher's Here: The Power Of Home Visits : NPR Ed : NPR:

New Website Shares #KatrinaTruth | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity

New Website Shares #KatrinaTruth | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity:

New Website Shares #KatrinaTruth

Posted on: Monday August 24th, 2015

Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and displaced hundreds of thousands of its residents. Now, a new site by the Advancement Project and the group Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children (FFLIC), called KatrinaTruth, has shown that although the city may be rebuilt, its recovery has not been an equitable one. In fact, they demonstrate how post-Katrina policies worked to push out Black families and communities from their homes, their schools, and their government.

The site provides nine different "Reality Checks" addressing major areas in which post-Katrina policies have failed New Orleans: education, housing, economic inequality, Black leadership, criminal justice, environmental justice, queer and trans people of color, and health and wellness. These reality checks disrupt the falsely-positive narratives of policies like school "reform" system, which the site argues is really a school to prison pipeline. While test scores may have improved in New Orleans, they have come at the cost of children being pushed out of schools, harsh disciplinary practices, no accountability, and failures to accommodate students with disabilities or English language learners. As the site says, this isn't "progress," it's inequality and injustice.

Changes in education also played a role in the dismantling of Black leadership in New Orleans. After hurricane Katrina, the 7,000 teachers fired (most of whom were black) were replaced by mostly white education reformers, such as those leading charter schools. This kept Black educators out of their schools but it also deprived the large Black community of their leadership and advocacy. Their removal also contributed to economic inequality, as Black teachers were a key part of New Orleans' middle class.

Each of the Reality Checks includes "key recovery data" for a highlighted look at some of the most important numbers, and links to other resources. The site has also generated considerable discussion on twitter, under #KatrinaTruth. Check it out today!New Website Shares #KatrinaTruth | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity: