Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 10/30/15

CORPORATE ED REFORM

Common Core and Corporate Colonization: The Big Picture | educationalchemy

Common Core and Corporate Colonization: The Big Picture | educationalchemy: Common Core and Corporate Colonization: The Big PictureI said it over three years ago and I’ll say it again. Common Core was, and is, an agenda crafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). It was never about “communism,” or “socialism.” It was the state and federal governments serving as the delivery boys f

by mike simpson / 9min 

Senate Bill 740 prohibiting charter schools from receiving any funding for nonclassroom-based instruction unless the SBE determines its eligibility for funding

Nonclassroom-Based Determination of Funding - Administration & Support (CA Dept of Education): Senate Bill 740 prohibiting charter schools from receiving any funding for nonclassroom-based instruction unless the SBE determines its eligibility for fundingEnacted by Senate Bill 740  (PDF) (Chapter 892, Statutes of 2001, Education Code [EC] Section 47612.5 ) prohibiting charter schools from recei

by mike simpson / 2h 

Smoke screen of outside money, complex disclosure laws obscure spending in school board races | Chalkbeat

Smoke screen of outside money, complex disclosure laws obscure spending in school board races | Chalkbeat: Smoke screen of outside money, complex disclosure laws obscure spending in school board racesObservers predict total 2015 spending never will be knownGood luck if you’re trying to follow the money in Colorado’s increasingly expensive and contentious school board races.Increased involvement by

by mike simpson / 2h 

Why Philadelphia needs a 'Citizens Commission for Education' | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Why Philadelphia needs a 'Citizens Commission for Education' | Philadelphia Public School Notebook: Why Philadelphia needs a 'Citizens Commission for Education'We need a better mechanism for authentic public participation in the governance of the state-controlled School District of Philadelphia.Education Voters has launched a new effort calling for the creation of a “Citizens’ Commission for Educa

by mike simpson / 2h 

CURMUDGUCATION: The Charter Knives Come Out

CURMUDGUCATION: The Charter Knives Come Out: The Charter Knives Come OutThis week you may have caught this report that ran in the Columbus Dispatch and the Washington Post and the Detroit Free Press, to name a few. Turns out there's a study that shows that online charter school students learn far less than their bricks-and-mortar counterparts. Check out this mind-boggling statistic:Nationally, onl

by mike simpson / 3h 

International Test Score Comparisons and Educational Policy: A Review of the Critiques | National Education Policy Center

International Test Score Comparisons and Educational Policy: A Review of the Critiques | National Education Policy Center: International Test Score Comparisons and Educational Policy: A Review of the CritiquesStanford education professor Martin Carnoy examines four main critiques of how international tests results are used in policymaking. Of particular interest are critiques of the policy analyse

by mike simpson / 3h 

Do I hear $170 a vote? Going Once, Going Twice, Sold to the man from Greenwich - Wait What?

Do I hear $170 a vote? Going Once, Going Twice, Sold to the man from Greenwich - Wait What?: Do I hear $170 a vote? Going Once, Going Twice, Sold to the man from GreenwichHartford Courant columnist and fellow blogger Kevin Rennie has reviewed candidate Luke Bronin’s campaign finance reports and has discovered another disturbing fact.Not only is Greenwich native and political newcomer run the most

by mike simpson / 5h 

Obama regrets “taking the joy out of teaching and learning” with too much testing | I AM AN EDUCATOR

Obama regrets “taking the joy out of teaching and learning” with too much testing | I AM AN EDUCATOR: Obama regrets “taking the joy out of teaching and learning” with too much testingIn a stunning turn of events, President Obamaannounced last weekend that “unnecessary testing” is “consuming too much instructional time” and creating “undue stress for educators and students.” Rarely has a president

by mike simpson / 5h 

Blame the Victim – America’s Favorite Pastime | gadflyonthewallblog

Blame the Victim – America’s Favorite Pastime | gadflyonthewallblog: Blame the Victim – America’s Favorite PastimeI watched a little girl at school refuse to get out of her seat and get pounded by the police.I watched a teenager in his car try to zoom away from a cop and get shot deadthrough the driver’s side window.I watched all of these things and more from the safety of my cell phone. I wasn’t

by mike simpson / 5h 

This Yale Psychiatrist Knows How to Shut Down the School to Prison Pipeline: So Why is He Ignored? | Creative by Nature

This Yale Psychiatrist Knows How to Shut Down the School to Prison Pipeline: So Why is He Ignored? | Creative by Nature: This Yale Psychiatrist Knows How to Shut Down the School to Prison Pipeline: So Why is He Ignored?“You know the purpose of the school is not just to raise test scores, or to give children academic learning. The purpose of the school is to give children an experience that will he

by mike simpson / 5h 

60 minutes on Bat of Minerva | Cloaking Inequity

60 minutes on Bat of Minerva | Cloaking Inequity: 60 minutes on Bat of MinervaAristotle once said “For as the eyes of bats are to the blaze of day, so is the reason in our soul to the things which are by nature most evident of all.”Today, I’d like to share 60 minutes on the Bat of MinervaWhile I was in Minneapolis to give a keynote at the University of Minnesota (See “Lead Bravely.” How To Change

by mike simpson / 6h 

What Sort of Assessment DOES Enhance Learning? - Living in Dialogue

What Sort of Assessment DOES Enhance Learning? - Living in Dialogue: What Sort of Assessment DOES Enhance Learning?By Anthony Cody.In recent weeks we have heard President Obama talk about the value of tests – even as he acknowledges that they have become too pervasive. President Obama suggested we should have tests that “enhance instruction,” and “enhance teaching and learning.” Unfortunately, the

by mike simpson / 6h 

LAUSD: When did education become political? The Board of Education - Change The LAUSD

LAUSD: When did education become political? The Board of Education - Change The LAUSD: LAUSD: When did education become political? The Board of EducationThe seven members of the school board are elected. Do they care about education or is it politics they care about? Are they educators, parents with school age children or are they aspiring politicians?Warren Furutani and Jackie Goldberg, former sc

by mike simpson / 6h 

"The Beast Side" and "Chasin' the Gram" | John Thompson - Linkis.com

"The Beast Side" and "Chasin' the Gram" | John Thompson - Linkis.com: "The Beast Side" and "Chasin' the Gram"Being an inner city teacher, my favorite part in D. Watkins's great book, The Beast Side, is the chapter with the ironic title of "Chasin' the Gram." Watkins is a former drug dealer, so it would be easy to assume he is writing about cocaine.

by mike simpson / 6h 

New State Programs Place the Emphasis on Training High-Quality Teachers - The Atlantic

New State Programs Place the Emphasis on Training High-Quality Teachers - The Atlantic: A Renewed Focus on Training TeachersSeveral state programs take a pointed approach to ensuring all students have access to high-quality educators.Many states are ramping up their efforts to ensure student access to quality teachers, regardless of the students’ race, ethnicity, household income, or any of the ot

by mike simpson / 6h 

Foundations fund L.A. Times’ education reporting. A conflict? - The Washington Post

Foundations fund L.A. Times’ education reporting. A conflict? - The Washington Post: Foundations fund L.A. Times’ education reporting. A conflict?The Los Angeles Times announced what seemed like good news for its readers in August: a new reporting initiative that would expand the paper’s coverage of local education.“Our goal is to provide an ongoing, wide-ranging report card on K-12 education in L

by mike simpson / 7h 

Mathematica, CRPE, and CREDO Condemn Online Charter Schools in Three-Agency Report | janresseger

Mathematica, CRPE, and CREDO Condemn Online Charter Schools in Three-Agency Report | janresseger: Mathematica, CRPE, and CREDO Condemn Online Charter Schools in Three-Agency ReportYou can learn exhaustively about cyber charter schools in the National Study of Online Charter Schools, a major, three-part report released earlier this week.  Significantly, although one of the think tanks presenting th

by mike simpson / 7h 

Lead With Love [Spring Valley High Is Your School Too] | The Jose Vilson

Lead With Love [Spring Valley High Is Your School Too] | The Jose Vilson: Lead With Love [Spring Valley High Is Your School Too]Today, I finally saw some of my cockamamie student groupings come to a screeching halt when some of my best students started clashing with each other over how to approach their scientific notation project. My 280 lbs frame usually settles disagreements if I’m in proximity

by mike simpson / 7h 

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Making the case against power philanthropy

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Making the case against power philanthropy: Making the case against power philanthropyJoanne Barkan is once again on the case of the new breed of muscle philanthropists who hide their obscene wealth in tax-sheltered foundations and use it to exercise unaccountable displays of power over public education and all aspects of public life. She makes the case that the

by mike simpson / 7h 

School Board Recall Vote Divides Colorado County | Al Jazeera America

School Board Recall Vote Divides Colorado County | Al Jazeera America: School board recall vote in Colorado could have national implicationsCounty election says a lot about larger political battles over educational choice, vouchers and curriculum controlPatterson International Elementary School teachers, students and parents protest a curriculum review committee proposed by the Jefferson County sc

by mike simpson / 7h 

A letter to give your principal at the beginning of the school year on testing | Seattle Education

A letter to give your principal at the beginning of the school year on testing | Seattle Education: A letter to give your principal at the beginning of the school year on testing…or any time during the school year.From the Parents Across America website:Model Parent Letter on TestingA PAA-Roanoke Valley leader Laura Bowman shared this excellent model letter prepared by her PAA chapter for parents

by mike simpson / 7h 

NYC Public School Parents: FERPA complaint from Fatima Geidi to US Dept of Education re Eva Moskowitz violation of student privacy

NYC Public School Parents: FERPA complaint from Fatima Geidi to US Dept of Education re Eva Moskowitz violation of student privacy: FERPA complaint from Fatima Geidi to US Dept of Education re Eva Moskowitz violation of student privacySince the original PBS program and the subsequent illegal disclosure of educational records by Eva Moskowitz (see our cease and desist letter), more details and inst

by mike simpson / 7h 

Malloy kicks the can so far down the road that it land’s right on our children’s heads - Wait What?

Malloy kicks the can so far down the road that it land’s right on our children’s heads - Wait What?: Malloy kicks the can so far down the road that it land’s right on our children’s headsThe voters of Connecticut need to pay special attention to Governor Dannel Malloy’s irresponsible proposal to change the way that Connecticut funds its pension program for state employees.Governor Malloy’s plan is

by mike simpson / 7h 

Death threats, big money become part of Jeffco school board recall - The Denver Post

Death threats, big money become part of Jeffco school board recall - The Denver Post:Death threats, big money become part of Jeffco school board recall Allegations of bullying, death threats part of increasingly partisan campaign in Jefferson County school board recall electionDeath threats, allegations of bullying and fake social media accounts have all become part of the contentious school board

by mike simpson / 7h 

At the Intersection of Money & Reform Part I: Teacher Compensation | School Finance 101

At the Intersection of Money & Reform Part I: Teacher Compensation | School Finance 101: At the Intersection of Money & Reform Part I: Teacher CompensationPondering Chartering: Balancing PortfoliosOctober 30, 20150The blogging has been quiet for a while. This is partly because I feel like most issues that arise have already been dealt with somewhere on this blog. Also because I’ve been inv

by mike simpson / 7h 

Schools Matter: Asshat!

Schools Matter: Asshat!: Asshat!When she reminded us the other day of Arne Duncan's spin after the 2013 bump in NAEP scores and after the 2015 dip in NAEP scores, Valerie Strauss captured for us what blatant ideology can breed in the ethically septic mouth of a fool:. . . . reformers who have touted NAEP score increases in the past as evidence of  success are now trying to spin the newest results

by mike simpson / 8h 

55 kids in a class? Typical at some Oregon online schools | OregonLive.com

55 kids in a class? Typical at some Oregon online schools | OregonLive.com: 55 kids in a class? Typical at some Oregon online schoolsClasses at Oregon's two huge online public schools, Oregon Connections Academy and Oregon Virtual Academy, routinely include 55 students or more, the state reported Thursday.No brick-and-mortar schools packed that many students into any math, English or science class

by mike simpson / 8h 

What If Every High School Had A 'Justice Program' Instead Of A Cop? : NPR Ed : NPR

What If Every High School Had A 'Justice Program' Instead Of A Cop? : NPR Ed : NPR: What If Every High School Had A 'Justice Program' Instead Of A Cop?This week's viral videos of a Columbia, S.C. deputy's push-the-chair-over-and-drag-the-student arrest of a 16-year-old high school girl in her classroom has refocused attention on the expanding role of police in schools, "zero tolerance" d

by mike simpson / 8h 

Education Reform’s Very Bad Week

10/29/2015 – Education Reform’s Very Bad Week: Education Reform’s Very Bad WeekOctober 29, 2015 SubscribeTHIS WEEK: Now Who’s Making Excuses … Capping Tests Won’t Help … School-To-Prison Pipeline … Online Charters Stink … Deaths From High School FootballTOP STORYEducation Reform’s Very Bad, God-Awful WeekBy Jeff Bryant“Because of all the big money behind current education policies, it’s difficult

by mike simpson / 8h 

Florida teacher's 'deeply personal' resignation letter goes viral

Florida teacher's 'deeply personal' resignation letter goes viral: Florida teacher's 'deeply personal' resignation letter goes viralThere's been more than a little talk about our education system lately; parents and teachers alike are frustrated over the test-focused curriculum they're asked to put kids through. Former Polk County Florida teacher Wendy Bradshaw is finished with the system and isn'

by mike simpson / 8h 

Obama administration weighs in on transgender bathroom debate - Yahoo News

Obama administration weighs in on transgender bathroom debate - Yahoo News: Obama administration weighs in on transgender bathroom debateThe US Department of Education and the Department of Justice issued a joint statement in a friend-of-the-court brief in support of a student suing for the right to use the boys' restroom.Schools that prevent transgender students from using restrooms for the gende

by mike simpson / 8h 

Damning Report Shows How Charter Schools Dump Struggling Students: Gothamist

Damning Report Shows How Charter Schools Dump Struggling Students: Gothamist: Damning Report Shows How Charter Schools Dump Struggling StudentsParents like charter schools because they are intensely student-focused. Hedge fund managerslike charter schools because they provide a model for private education that is publicly funded. Governor Cuomo likes charter schools because hedge fund managers lik

by mike simpson / 8h 

Education reformer fired for suggesting radical change

Education reformer fired for suggesting radical change: Jacques: Reformer fired for suggesting radical changeGreg Harris, the state director of StudentsFirst in Ohio, decided to weigh in on the Detroit school reform debate. And now he’s the former state director.Harris got fired for a guest piece he wrote for The Detroit News last Friday. Apparently, he hadn’t received permission from his counterp

by mike simpson / 8h 

Who's Behind Friedrichs? The right-wing one-percenters who are funding a mega-attack on unions

Who's Behind Friedrichs?:Who's Behind Friedrichs?The right-wing one-percenters who are funding a mega-attack on unionsAs the current term of the U.S. Supreme Court opens this autumn, looming on the docket is Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a case designed to decimate public-sector unions. While it may not come to that—even the most knowledgeable Court-watchers are unsure how the jus

by mike simpson / 9h 

Jindal and the Core: Louisiana snubs the Manchurian Candidate | The Lens

Jindal and the Core: Louisiana snubs the Manchurian Candidate | The Lens: Jindal and the Core: Louisiana snubs the Manchurian CandidateDiane Ravitch, the high-profile New York academic and blogger, is probably the punditocracy’s most relentless opponent of what’s been happening in public education here since Katrina. Charter schools and the choices they provide families, high-stakes testing to ass

by mike simpson / 9h 

YESTERDAY

Saving Students From A Shattered System: Debates and the standardized test.

Saving Students From A Shattered System: Debates and the standardized test.: Debates and the standardized test.On and on ad nauseam candidates are spewing out their one liners trying to get the most points on the debates. Like standardized tests, they are a national disgrace.  They depend on simple answers to complex questions forcing the simple minded in the viewing audience to cheer or boo over

by mike simpson / 18h 

Federal monitor finds phony records used to lie about special ed progress in Newark | Bob Braun's Ledger

Federal monitor finds phony records used to lie about special ed progress in Newark | Bob Braun's Ledger: Federal monitor finds phony records used to lie about special ed progress in NewarkThere are no words…Employees of the state-run administration of the Newark schools may have tampered with documents essential for determining whether the state-operated district is complying with a federal court

by mike simpson / 19h 

R-E-S-P-E-C-T | The Crunk Feminist Collective

R-E-S-P-E-C-T | The Crunk Feminist Collective: R-E-S-P-E-C-T“What do you think I want, respect or compliance?”This was the question I posed my class this week, after I asked them to define the terms. For compliance they yelled out things like “following orders” and “obedience.” They defined “respect” as “valuing the thoughts of others” “being loyal,” and so on.I asked them to define respect versus

by mike simpson / 19h 

Thinking about Darrell Steinberg and Angelique Ashby in a post-K.J. Sacramento

Sacramento News & Review - Thinking about Darrell Steinberg and Angelique Ashby in a post-K.J. Sacramento - Essay - Opinions - October 29, 2015: Thinking about Darrell Steinberg and Angelique Ashby in a post-K.J. SacramentoCosmo Garvin pushes aside the Steinberg buzz to ask some real questions about the candidateReally? It was the video that did it for you? The transcripts, that whole, “Again,

by mike simpson / 20h 

2016-20: The Waltons Set Out to Promote “Choice Ecosystems” | deutsch29

2016-20: The Waltons Set Out to Promote “Choice Ecosystems” | deutsch29: 2016-20: The Waltons Set Out to Promote “Choice Ecosystems”In September 2015, Jim and Alice Walton contributed a combined $400,000 to a Louisiana PAC in order to influence the October 2015 Louisiana state board of education election.The Waltons have an eye on Louisiana, and it has to do with school choice in New Orleans. As o

by mike simpson / 21h 

CURMUDGUCATION: The Only Good Standardized Test

CURMUDGUCATION: The Only Good Standardized Test: The Only Good Standardized TestAs testing has risen once again to the surface of the ed policy soup,  I have found myself in versions of the same conversation, because people who like the idea of standardized testing really like the idea of standardized testing, and because I said the number of necessary standardized rests is zero.Jennifer Borgioli

by mike simpson / 21h 

New Testing Makes No Sense - The Crucial VoiceThe Crucial Voice

New Testing Makes No Sense - The Crucial VoiceThe Crucial Voice: New Testing Makes No SenseTwo “Super Supers” came to Idaho to bring us their wisdom. It is always good to listen to the voices of experience; it helps clarify things. It certainly threw light on some issues for me.Dr. David P. Driscoll (MA) and Dr. Eric Smith (FL) were brought to Idaho by the Albertson Foundation, which has been fina

by mike simpson / 21h 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Follow-Ups and Did You Know?

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Follow-Ups and Did You Know?: Follow-Ups and Did You Know?Did you know that the district has rank ordered programs/support activities in district buildings?  The reasoning is two-fold - for enactment of 1351 for smaller class sizes in K-3 and the growth in Seattle Schools.  Here's the list from a letter that Flip Herndon sent on Oct. 13, 2015 to "Seattle Publi

by mike simpson / 23h hide  //  save

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 10/29/15

CORPORATE ED REFORMPAA responds to President Obama’s letter on testing | Parents Across AmericaPAA responds to President Obama’s letter on testing | Parents Across America: PAA responds to President Obama’s letter on testingOn Monday, President Obama published an open letter to parents and teachers about testing.The letter introduced his administration’s new Testing Action Plan which is supposed t

by mike simpson / 1d 

Common Core and Corporate Colonization: The Big Picture | educationalchemy

Common Core and Corporate Colonization: The Big Picture | educationalchemy:

Common Core and Corporate Colonization: The Big Picture

I said it over three years ago and I’ll say it again. Common Core was, and is, an agenda crafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). It was never about “communism,” or “socialism.” It was the state and federal governments serving as the delivery boys for the privatization of public education at the hands of global corporate interests.

What are the outcomes?

Outsourcing K-12 education, eliminating teachers (union busting), eliminating Colleges of Education, data mining, creating for-profit alternative certification programs, and outsourcing teacher preparation to online corporations.

How: 1) Create a set of “common”standards, 2) break standards down into modules called student learning outcomes (SLO’s), 3) use SLO’s to manufacture Competency-Based Education (CBE) framework, which..4) can be provided by private/corporate entities via online education and technology-driven resources (no classroom or teacher…or school, required).

So let’s begin.

Common Core is the alpha Common Core and Corporate Colonization: The Big Picture | educationalchemy:

Senate Bill 740 prohibiting charter schools from receiving any funding for nonclassroom-based instruction unless the SBE determines its eligibility for funding

Nonclassroom-Based Determination of Funding - Administration & Support (CA Dept of Education):

Senate Bill 740 prohibiting charter schools from receiving any funding for nonclassroom-based instruction unless the SBE determines its eligibility for funding

Enacted by Senate Bill 740  (PDF) (Chapter 892, Statutes of 2001, Education Code [EC] Section 47612.5 ) prohibiting charter schools from receiving any funding for nonclassroom-based instruction unless the State Board of Education (SBE) determines its eligibility for funding.

SBE Approved Funding Determinations by Fiscal Year

2014-15 | 2013-14 | 2012-13 | 2011-12 | 2010-11

2001-02 through 2009-10

Forms and Instructions for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015-16

1. Determination of Funding Requests for Nonclassroom-Based Charter Schools Letter
2. Reasonable Basis Mitigating Circumstances Request for Nonclassroom-Based Charter Schools Letter
3. Instructions for Nonclassroom-based Funding Determination Form
4. Nonclassroom-Based Funding Determination Form (XLS)
5. Mitigating Circumstances Request Summary Sheet (XLS)
6. Funding Determination Fiscal Year 2015-16 Webinar (PDF)

Education Code Statutes

EC Sections 47612.5 , and 47634.2 

California Code of Regulations Title 5

Regulations for nonclassroom-based instruction funding determinations may be found in the California Code of Regulations, Title 5 (5 CCR), Title 5 . You may access individual codes by browsing to the code via their drop down menus system or enter search criteria (i.e., code, title) on their search page.

• 5 CCR 11704 Pupil - Teacher Ratio
• 5 CCR 11963 Definitions of Classroom Based Instruction
• 5 CCR 11963.1 Nonclassroom-Based Instruction in Charter Schools
• 5 CCR 11963.2 Average Daily Attendance for Nonclassroom-Based Instruction in Charter Schools
• 5 CCR 11963.3 Determination of Funding Request Forms and Calculations
• 5 CCR 11963.4 Evaluation of Determination of Funding Requests Regarding Nonclassroom-Based Instruction
• 5 CCR 11963.5 Determination of Funding Requests for Nonclassroom-based Virtual or Online Charter Schools
• 5 CCR 11963.6 Submission & Action on Determination of Funding Requests Regarding Nonclassroom-Based Instruction
• 5 CCR 11963.7 Termination of a Determination of Funding Requests Regarding Nonclassroom-Based Instruction

Nonregulatory Guidance for Nonclassroom-based Instruction

• December 2004 Nonclassroom-Based Independent Study ADA Letter

Questions: Bill Fong | bfong@cde.ca.gov | 916-327-5929 

Last Reviewed: Friday, October 30, 2015

Nonclassroom-Based Determination of Funding - Administration & Support (CA Dept of Education):

SB740 Webinar Script - Administration & Support (C - Administration & Support (CA Dept of Education) http://bit.ly/1PauvwV

Smoke screen of outside money, complex disclosure laws obscure spending in school board races | Chalkbeat

Smoke screen of outside money, complex disclosure laws obscure spending in school board races | Chalkbeat:

Smoke screen of outside money, complex disclosure laws obscure spending in school board races

Observers predict total 2015 spending never will be known

Good luck if you’re trying to follow the money in Colorado’s increasingly expensive and contentious school board races.

Increased involvement by outside groups and inconsistencies in state law have made it harder for voters to track who’s supporting board candidates.

“We’ll probably never know” how much money was spent in 2015 school board races, said Luis Toro, director of Colorado Ethics Watch, a research and advocacy group.

Referring to Jefferson County, Colorado’s hottest board contest, journalist Sandra Fish said, “We’re never going to know how much money is being spent on this recall.”

Board campaign spending started to escalate in 2009, when total contributions to candidates for the Denver Public Schools board went well into six figures. DPS elections have continued to be high dollar since then, and candidates in Douglas County and Jefferson County have jumped on that bandwagon.

Some observers project contributions will top $1 million this year in Jeffco, where a recall campaign against three incumbents is combined with a regular election for two other board seats.

Several factors are involved in the growth of school board campaign spending and in the difficulty of tracking that money:

• Organized groups not directly connected to individual candidates have become bigger players in board races.
• Even as contributions and spending have soared, state campaign finance laws require less frequent public financial reporting by outside groups on board contests than is required for legislative and other state races in general elections.
• That problem of limited disclosure is particularly acute with independent expenditure committees, which spend money on campaign ads independently of candidates but don’t have to provide as much detail in off-year elections.
• A different set of campaign committees, known commonly as C4s, can spend money in campaigns without any public disclosure of their activities, depending on how they word their ads.
• Finally, school board seats are among a handful of Colorado elected offices for which there are no limits on individual contributions to candidates.

The rise of outside committees

School board races traditionally were funded by individual contributions to candidates, with teachers union committees the largest but still modest contributors in some bigger districts.

Increasing polarization over school choice, district budgets, the role of teachers unions and issues like vouchers have drawn increasing outside interest in school board races.

For instance, in the 2013 Douglas County board elections, $228,378 was contributed to candidates but there was at least in $220,943 in independent expenditures by outside groups, according to data compiled by Ethics Watch.

That pattern is continuing this year in both Dougco and Jeffco.

“We are spending in the low six figures in both Jeffco and Dougco on educating residents about the positive reforms of the school boards,” said Michael Fields, Colorado head of Americans for Prosperity.

In Dougco, “low six figures” would exceed what the six candidates have raised themselves. Americans for Prosperity is connected to the billionaire Koch brothers, who are major funders of conservative causes at the national and local levels.

In Denver, a similar dynamic is playing out, albeit on the other end of the ideological spectrum.

Raising Colorado, an independent expenditure committee affiliated with Democrats for Education Reform, is a major purchaser of campaign materials supporting DPS board candidates who support the district’s reform efforts. Different kinds of committees connected to teachers unions are major direct contributors to opposition candidates.

Ethics Watch has been working to track 2015 spending in the Jeffco recall and has produced a graphic following “traceable” and “untraceable” money. See the graphic at the Smoke screen of outside money, complex disclosure laws obscure spending in school board races | Chalkbeat:

NOT FOR SALE

http://www.kristibutkovich4publiceducation.com/

Why Philadelphia needs a 'Citizens Commission for Education' | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Why Philadelphia needs a 'Citizens Commission for Education' | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:
Why Philadelphia needs a 'Citizens Commission for Education'

We need a better mechanism for authentic public participation in the governance of the state-controlled School District of Philadelphia.

Education Voters has launched a new effort calling for the creation of a “Citizens’ Commission for Education” in the City Philadelphia.

Our current structure is inadequate. “We the people” really don’t have a way to ask questions about what is going on with schools. We can go to SRC meetings and make comments or ask questions but that is all – there is no ability to be certain of a response.

A formal committee convened by Council could be a space where hearings can be held, issues can be explored, and questions can be asked with some expectation of an answer. Such an entity could play a role in providing citizens with a means to explore how public education is functioning, how it is being run, whether or not it is meeting community need and to talk about issues even if the SRC or the School District administration is not talking about those same issues.

It could look more closely at school closings, vendor contracts, and property sales. It could hold hearings on school discipline policy, the role of charter schools, the condition of buildings, or the admissions process, helping to ensure those conversations are happening in a transparent and public way. It could educate itself, and all of us, on critical issues such as how poverty and trauma affect learning, guiding decisions based on what we learn. A commission could help explore how to better align city services and create authentic community schools that meet the needs of children and families.

Council has stepped up in the past few years, responding to community desire for more financial support for the schools and greater engagement.  We are seeing leadership there, and that is good. The new intergovernmental cooperation agreement on finances and data is also a leap forward.

However, Council has many obligations, and it is being pulled in multiple directions. In fact, a singular focus on this issue could be to the detriment of other important quality-of-life issues in the city.

A Citizens’ Commission could be a tool that marries a stronger role for city government officials and an expanded role for citizens. It could advise and assist City Council (and the mayor) in exercising review and oversight over the public schools and the financial investment we provide. And it could happen quickly instead of waiting for several years.

We can't let the same people who have had the power in the past decide what to do in the future. It is time to change not just the players, but the game.

Education Voters has already suggested that it is time to look for new governance models for the School District of Philadelphia. Last fall, we suggested a new governance structure Why Philadelphia needs a 'Citizens Commission for Education' | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

CURMUDGUCATION: The Charter Knives Come Out

CURMUDGUCATION: The Charter Knives Come Out:
The Charter Knives Come Out

This week you may have caught this report that ran in the Columbus Dispatch and the Washington Post and the Detroit Free Press, to name a few. Turns out there's a study that shows that online charter school students learn far less than their bricks-and-mortar counterparts. 

Check out this mind-boggling statistic:

Nationally, online charter students received on average 180 fewer days of learning in math and 72 fewer days in reading during a typical 180-day school year. In Ohio, with the largest e-school enrollment, students lost 144 days of math and 79 days of reading.

180 days fewer than 180 would seem to equal, well, zero. So on average, the study suggests that studying math in cyber-school is no more productive than 180 days of watching Dr. Phil. And 180 days is an average-- which means that some cyberschools actually move students backwards during the year, I guess. ("Students, in today's lesson, we'll be forcing you to forget everything you know about the quadratic equation.")

These are stunning results, even worse than some of the mean things that I have had to say about cyber charters (and I've said some mean things about the bloodsucking cyberschool vampires that CURMUDGUCATION: The Charter Knives Come Out:

International Test Score Comparisons and Educational Policy: A Review of the Critiques | National Education Policy Center

International Test Score Comparisons and Educational Policy: A Review of the Critiques | National Education Policy Center:

International Test Score Comparisons and Educational Policy: A Review of the Critiques

Stanford education professor Martin Carnoy examines four main critiques of how international tests results are used in policymaking. Of particular interest are critiques of the policy analyses published by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Using average PISA scores as a comparative measure of student achievement is misleading for a number of reasons, Carnoy maintains:

• Students in different countries have different levels of family academic resources;
• The larger gains reported on the TIMSS, which is adjusted for different levels of family academic resources, raise questions about the validity of the PISA results when used for international comparisons.
• PISA test score error terms are “considerably larger” than the testing agencies acknowledge, making the country rankings unstable.
• The Shanghai educational system is held up as a model for the rest of the world on the basis of non-representative data.

Of further concern is the conflict of interest arising from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (which administers the PISA) and its member governments acting as a testing agency while simultaneously serving as data analyst and interpreter of results for policy purposes.

Carnoy considers the critiques within a discussion of the underlying social meaning and education policy value of international comparisons in general.  He describes why using average national math scores as predictors of future economic growth is problematic, and points out that using scoring data in this manner has limited use for establishing education policy because causal inferences can not be meaningfully drawn.

Finally, Carnoy explores the relevance of nation-level test score comparisons among countries such as the United States with diverse and complex education systems. The differences between states in the U.S. are, for example, so large that employing U.S. state-level test results over time to examine the impact of education policies would be more useful and interesting than using combined U.S. data.

Despite valid critiques of international test result comparisons, Carnoy argues that the comparisons will neither go away nor stop being inappropriately used to shape educational policy. He concludes with five policy recommendations to reduce the misuse of testing data.

Find International Test Score Comparisons and Educational Policy: A Review of the Critiques by Martin Carnoy on the web at: 
http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/international-test-scores.

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Do I hear $170 a vote? Going Once, Going Twice, Sold to the man from Greenwich - Wait What?

Do I hear $170 a vote? Going Once, Going Twice, Sold to the man from Greenwich - Wait What?:

Do I hear $170 a vote? Going Once, Going Twice, Sold to the man from Greenwich

Hartford Courant columnist and fellow blogger Kevin Rennie has reviewed candidate Luke Bronin’s campaign finance reports and has discovered another disturbing fact.

Not only is Greenwich native and political newcomer run the most expensive mayoral campaign in Connecticut history, but Bronin ended up paying a truly shocking amount of money for each vote he received in his successful effort to be crowned the Democratic Party’s nominee for Mayor of Hartford..

In a post entitled, Democrats Will Be Outraged: Bronin Spent $170 a Vote in Primary Win Over Segarra, Kevin Rennie writes;

Democrat Luke Bronin spent more $872,625 to garner 5,110 votes in his September 16th primary victory over incumbent Pedro Segarra in their race for mayor of one of the state’s poorest communities, according to campaign finance reports. That’s $170.76 a vote, a figure that will evoke howls of protest from the traditional voices of campaign spending restraint. Those voices were curiously muted as Bronin rolled over Segarra in their showdown.

Bronin’s last campaign finance report before the primary showed the Greenwich plutocrat spent $673,821.75. That reporting period included expenses from July 1st through September 7th. Bronin’s post-primary report shows an additional $198,804 in payments made up to and including primary day.  It includes more than 100 payments of $125 for primary day field work. The largest expense was a $53,224.77 payment for commercial broadcast time.

Rennie article, strengthened be a great complementary video, can be found on his blog at: http://www.dailyructions.com/democrats-will-be-outraged-bronin-spent-170-a-vote-in-primary-win-over-segarra/

Readers may remember that it was Kevin Rennie who broke the story about Luke Bronin’s wife, Sara Bronin, having used her state employee account in support of Bronin’s campaigDo I hear $170 a vote? Going Once, Going Twice, Sold to the man from Greenwich - Wait What?:

Obama regrets “taking the joy out of teaching and learning” with too much testing | I AM AN EDUCATOR

Obama regrets “taking the joy out of teaching and learning” with too much testing | I AM AN EDUCATOR:

Obama regrets “taking the joy out of teaching and learning” with too much testing

In a stunning turn of events, President Obamaannounced last weekend that “unnecessary testing” is “consuming too much instructional time” and creating “undue stress for educators and students.” Rarely has a president so thoroughly repudiated such a defining aspect of his own public education policy.  In a three-minute video announcing this reversal, Obama cracks jokes about how silly it is to over-test students, and recalls that the teachers who had the most influence on his life were not the ones who prepared him best for his standardized tests. Perhaps Obama hopes we will forget it was his own Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, who radically reorganized America’s education system around the almighty test score.

Obama’s statement comes in the wake of yet another study revealing the overwhelming number of standardized tests children are forced to take: The average student today is subjected to 112 standardized tests between preschool and high school graduation. Because it’s what we have rewarded and required, America’s education system has become completely fixated on how well students perform on tests. Further, the highest concentration of these tests are in schools serving Obama regrets “taking the joy out of teaching and learning” with too much testing | I AM AN EDUCATOR:

Blame the Victim – America’s Favorite Pastime | gadflyonthewallblog

Blame the Victim – America’s Favorite Pastime | gadflyonthewallblog:

Blame the Victim – America’s Favorite Pastime

I watched a little girl at school refuse to get out of her seat and get pounded by the police.

I watched a teenager in his car try to zoom away from a cop and get shot deadthrough the driver’s side window.

I watched all of these things and more from the safety of my cell phone. I wasn’t there in person, but I felt like I was.

And I am not alone.

It seems these two events were on everyone’s lips yesterday.

This is one of the fruits of self surveillance – the selfie, the dashcam, the youtube video. Events that would have been shrouded in the haze of he-said-she said are now public domain. The shadowy corners and back alleys are now just as flooded with spotlights as the most crowded theater on Broadway.

In some ways, that’s a really good thing. So many events that only a decade ago would have been hidden forever are now open to public view.

You’d think that would solve a lot of our society’s problems. No more secrets. No more lies. Just objective facts. THIS is what happened. No denying it. We’ll need Blame the Victim – America’s Favorite Pastime | gadflyonthewallblog:

This Yale Psychiatrist Knows How to Shut Down the School to Prison Pipeline: So Why is He Ignored? | Creative by Nature

This Yale Psychiatrist Knows How to Shut Down the School to Prison Pipeline: So Why is He Ignored? | Creative by Nature:

This Yale Psychiatrist Knows How to Shut Down the School to Prison Pipeline: So Why is He Ignored?

“You know the purpose of the school is not just to raise test scores, or to give children academic learning. The purpose of the school is to give children an experience that will help them grow and develop in ways that they can be successful, in school and as successful adults..” ~Dr. James P. Comer

For children of color living in poverty in the United States, public schools nowadays have become something that sometimes feels like prison, with authoritarian rules, punishments and obsessive concern with obedience. Such an environment does not motivate children to succeed in school, and too often sets them up for future failure.

It’s probably one of the best kept secrets of modern education reform, that innovative whole school interventions designed to help poor and minority children thrive (both socially and academically) were successfully developed decades ago, but have not been widely implemented (or publicized).

One of America’s leading educational pioneers is psychiatrist Dr. James P. Comer. His Child Development Program, started at Yale University in 1968, was one of the first school reform projects to successfully transform the culture and social dynamics of poor inner city public schools, dramatically raising test scores in the process.

For over 40 years, Dr. Comer’s program has shown that in order to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed academically, teachers first have to help students thrive socially and developmentally. High standards are also important, but the process must begin with developing trust and building strong human relationships.

What Dr. Comer has demonstrated, is that the academic success of children (especially This Yale Psychiatrist Knows How to Shut Down the School to Prison Pipeline: So Why is He Ignored? | Creative by Nature: