NC disabilities group files civil rights complaint against NC education board | News & Observer

NC disabilities group files civil rights complaint against NC education board | News & Observer:

NC disabilities group files civil rights complaint against NC education board

RALEIGH 

A North Carolina learning disabilities association has filed a civil rights complaint with the federal government accusing the state Board of Education of discriminating against minority students with disabilities in low-performing schools.

The complaint, filed on June 1 by JoAnna Barnes, president of the Learning Disabilities Association of North Carolina, says a February change to statewide policy by the board will leave many students without the special education they need. She has asked the federal government to withhold education money from North Carolina until the board changes its policy.

“The result of this new North Carolina standard will be that different academic achievement standards are applied depending on which cultural group a student belongs,” Barnes said in her letter to Catherine Lhamon, the assistant secretary in the federal Department of Education Office of Civil Rights. “There will be one academic achievement standard for an Hispanic student, another for a white student, and yet another for an African-American student. In the end, no child in a low performing school will ever be determined to have a specific learning disability.”

At issue is a policy change that shifts how students are evaluated and selected for special education services.

The new state policy allows for children to be compared with culturally and linguistically similar peers, as well as with others in their classrooms.

Barnes and the Learning Disability Association worry that such comparisons will “have a disproportionate impact on nonwhite students with disabilities because in North Carolina nonwhite students disproportionately are enrolled in the state’s 50 lowest performing schools.” Eighty-five percent of students enrolled in the 50 lowest performing schools in North Carolina are nonwhite, compared with 45 percent of the total student enrollment.

For example, Barnes wrote, at Y.E. Smith Elementary School in Durham about half the students are black, and only 5.7 percent pass both the state reading and math tests. Under the education board’s new policy, a black student at Smith being reviewed for special education services would be compared with the 94.3 percent who did not pass the reading and math tests.

Efforts to reach counsel for the state Board of Education were unsuccessful on Saturday.

Redefining disabilities

The board’s changes to the special education services policy come amid an effort to redefine learning disabilities as schools grapple with funding cuts, understaffing and increasedNC disabilities group files civil rights complaint against NC education board | News & Observer:

New Study Says Common Core Is Not Keeping Up With The Demands Of College Instructors

New Study Says Common Core Is Not Keeping Up With The Demands Of College Instructors:

New Study Says Common Core Is Not Keeping Up With The Demands Of College Instructors

The Common Core educational initiative may need to have its focus readjusted when it comes to college preparedness.

A study released Thursday by ACT, a testing organization and original supporter of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, showed an increasing disconnect between the curriculum standards and students' abilities to take on college work from the start of their first year, according to professors.

“Although 40 percent of high school teachers report that the Common Core State Standards reflect postsecondary expectations about college readiness, and 40 percent of college instructors concur, far too few college instructors — a substantially lower percentage than in past surveys — report that their incoming students are well prepared for college-level work,” the study said.

And while familiarity with Common Core has remained fairly constant, the support from college professors who think it prepares students well for higher education has deteriorated over the last four years.

“In 2009 and 2012, the two previous surveys in which we asked this question, 26 percent of college instructors reported, on a four-point scale, that their students’ level of preparation was in the top half of the scale,” the study said. “This year, the percentage was only 16 percent.”

For the first time, the study included feedback from employees and supervisors. ACT asked teachers at all levels, as well as employees and supervisors, to rank 10 skill sets by the importance of avoiding deficiencies to ensure success at that level. Both employees and supervisors valued technology and speaking and listening much more highly than educators across the board, and critical thinking much less. In accordance with that, the study also pointed out the need to improve the use of technology in the classroom.

“Evidence is growing that some students may underperform on computer-based tests not because they lack the knowledge or skill being tested, but because they lack familiarity with the technology itself,” the study said. “While computer-based testing is certainly not always available for classroom assessments, states and districts should allot resources that will enable teachers to expose their students to computers and technology as much as possible.”New Study Says Common Core Is Not Keeping Up With The Demands Of College Instructors:

TFA Spies on you. | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing

TFA Spies on you. | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:

TFA Spies on you.

From the TFA website:

YOUR INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT TFA DOES WITH YOUR INFORMATION:

https://www.teachforamerica.org/privacy-policy

“In order to access certain features and benefits on our Website, you may need to submit “Personally Identifiable Information” (i.e., information that can be traced back to you). Personally Identifiable Information can include information such as your name, home address, telephone number, and email address. You are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the Personally Identifiable Information you submit to Teach For America. Inaccurate information may affect your ability to use the Website, the information you receive when using the Website, and our ability to contact you.

When users come to our Website, we may track, collect, and aggregate Non-Personal Information indicating, among other things, which pages of our Website were visited, the order in which they were visited, and which hyperlinks were “clicked.” Collecting such information may involve logging the IP address, operating system, and browser software used by each user of the TFA Spies on you. | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:

CURMUDGUCATION: PA: New Face for Old Pearson Scam

CURMUDGUCATION: PA: New Face for Old Pearson Scam:

PA: New Face for Old Pearson Scam

Online Public Schools Are a Disaster, Admits Billionaire, Charter School-Promoter Walton Family Foundation - http://go.shr.lc/28sCTkU

If you are in Pennsylvania, you may have been seeing advertising for Commonwealth Charter Academy. CCA avoids calling itself a cyber-anything, but it is in fact one more cyber charter littering the Pennsylvania landscape. As with many schools pushing the tech solution to education issues, it leans heavily on "personalized learning" and markets itself as a family approach. That seems to be aimed at the idea of cyber-school as a source of family togetherness and not the time-honored practice of having parents complete their children's cyber-homework.

CCA may not be a familiar name because it is a new name. It previously marketed itself as Commonwealth Connections Academy. And while its press release about the name change says that the charter is "a fully independent public cyber charter school governed by a Pennsylvania-based board of directors," that's not quite right. Connections Academy is the cyber school chain owned by Pearson.

The superintendent CEO of CCA is Dr. Maurice Flurie. Flurie has a nice solid PA background, holding degrees from Duquesne, Lock Haven, Shippensburg and-- well, okay-- his original Bachelor's Degree was from the Tennessee Technological University, and it was in Health/Physical Education. He was an Asst to the Superintendent in Lower Dauphin before moving over to Connections. And he is still (since 2000) an adjunct professor at Wilkes University, a PA university that does big business in on-line classes. The "Dr." comes from his Ed. D in Educational Leadership.

Flurie has been among the cyber-school voices whining about Governor Tom Wolf's proposals to end CURMUDGUCATION: PA: New Face for Old Pearson Scam:

Pat Kelly & Thought Leadering

Thanks to reader Robert D. Skeels. This is just too fun not to pass along.

1 by Peter Greene / 5h hi

Thought Leader Duncan Has Another New Job

Arne Duncan continues to build that resume. He was already signed on with Emerson Collective, the philanthropic mish-mash of Steve Jobs widow; in that position, he is poised to work on the youth unemployment problems of Chicago.Now comes word that Duncan has joined the board of directors for Pluralsign.If you aren't a tech professional, you may not recognize Pluralsign's name, but they've been in

37 by Peter Greene / 20h 

Common Core Standards (Still) Don't Cut It

Every few years the ACT folks unleash a big ole survey to find out what's actually going on Out There in the world of school stuff. This year's survey drew at least 2,000 respondents each from elementary and secondary schools, as well as college and workplace respondents. The whole package is eighty-eight pages, and I've read it, and while you don't have to, you might still want to. There are seve

46 by Peter Greene / 1d hide  //  save

Chester Finn's Charter Market Worries

Chester Finn, honcho emeritus of the right-tilted Fordham Institute, was back on the Fordham blog this week to continue his charter school series with a look at what he thinks are three "market malfunctions in the charter sector." Man, I just love the word "sector"- it sounds so clean and neat, not like marketplace or business. Honey, I'm going to get a tub of popcorn in the sn

13 by Peter Greene / 1d 

The SAT-- Worse Than You Think

Folks have been questioning the accuracy, validity and usefulness of the SAT for decades, and the chorus of criticism only increased when College Board, the test manufacturing company responsible for the SAT, brought in Common Core architect David Coleman to take over. Coleman's fast and ugly rewrite of the venerable test was intended to bring it in line with the K-12 standards of Common Core. Col

100+ by Peter Greene / 1d 

BustED Pencils Trending News: WWMDMS 2/12/16; WALK; Sweeping; Poetic; Riddled | BustED Pencils

BustED Pencils Trending News: WWMDMS 2/12/16; WALK; Sweeping; Poetic; Riddled | BustED Pencils: "
"

BustED Pencils Radio – What Would Matt Damon’s Mom Say? (WWMDMS)

WWMDMS – 2/12/16

Considering that Nancy is a teacher educator I wonder what she thinks about “alternative” teacher credentialing?  Listen up! Related Posts:Anthony CodyWWMDMS – 4/8/16WWMDMS – 3-26-16WWMDMS – 4/22/16Rebel Teacher

LET NOAH WALK!!!  Sign this petition in support of Noah, it’s not to late and it might just work!! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/let-noah-walk-with-his-senior-class

BustED Pencils supports you Noah!!  We are busting pencils for you!

High schooler with immune disorder told he can’t walk in graduation

http://www.channel3000.com/news/High-schooler-with-immune-disorder-told-he-can-t-walk-in-graduation/39988728

Sweeping the country.

Off the Deep End: The Swim Test vs. The Standardized Test

http://www.progressive.org/pss/deep-end-swim-test-vs-standardized-test

What if a poem was judged by the number of characters??

Assessing Our Children to Death

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-nelson/assessing-our-children-to_b_9708510.html

Riddled with technical glitches!!!!!!

Technical glitches plague computer-based standardized tests nationwide

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/technical-glitches-plague-computer-based-standardized-tests-nationwide/2016/04/13/21178c7e-019c-11e6-9203-7b8670959b88_story.html?wpisrc=nl_draw

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Common Core is Destroying our Children Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association:

Common Core is Destroying our Children

By:  Robyn Brydalski

Let me begin with: I am not a psychologist, brain researcher or doctor. I am not a behaviorist, counselor or psychiatrist but I am willing to go out on a limb with my seventeen years of teaching experience to make a carte blanche statement:

Common Core Curriculum is destroying our children.

Rigor, fidelity, efficacy, pacing and stamina are the devil’s dealings. We have lost sight of our children and how they learn best. It is June in my classroom. There are less than two weeks to go and my students are falling apart. My building is falling apart. The children are out of control. With the black cloud of state testing moving east (until the results are sent to us sometime in September), many teachers are trying to have fun with their students but Reader’s Theater, visiting the playground, free play, celebrating writing, participating in self determined book clubs and exploring Science and Social Studies have left our students in a tizzy. The children should be laughing, engaged and having just plain fun, the exact opposite is happening. They are using words to lash out at one another, physical aggression to release anger, refusing to comply with adult directives and disengaging from the teacher, classroom and school.

Why?

We have created these negative behaviors. At the start of the school year, we ignored the child. We ran straight out of the starting gates so that we would not fall behind on the pacing Badass Teachers Association:

The Summer Reading Rigor Rebellion

The Summer Reading Rigor Rebellion:

The Summer Reading Rigor Rebellion

If middle school students require summer reading assignments to coax them to read, shouldn’t we be looking at what went wrong with reading instruction in elementary school? By the time a student reaches middle school, shouldn’t they like to read?

Yesterday I noticed some of these summer reading assignments posted online. Reading rigor is found everywhere.

But why don’t students jump off the school bus at the end of 6th 7th or 8th grade and race to their local library or bookstore? Why don’t they automatically start reading stories on their tablets, or on the computer?

It is not that older students who dislike reading can’t get help and encouragement to be better, happier readers. It just doesn’t seem like piling on reading assignments over the summer is going to do the trick.

And it could be turning off the students who enjoy reading! Once reading is turned into a chore, it is hard to make it sound enjoyable.

Summer Reading in the Past vs. Present

Studying the assigned summer work, I was also thankful I am not a student. My The Summer Reading Rigor Rebellion:

The Crucial Need to Expand the Non-White Teacher Pipeline

The Crucial Need to Expand the Non-White Teacher Pipeline:

The Crucial Need to Expand the Non-White Teacher Pipeline

MONKEYBUSINESSIMAGES VIA GETTY IMAGES

“If not for the teachers that I had at PS 276 in Canarsie and Mark Twain Junior High School in Coney Island, New York, I would not be alive today. Maybe I’d be in jail today. But those teachers, they chose to invest in me and to see hope and possibility. Folks could have said, ‘Here’s a young African-American, Latino male student going to New York City Schools with a family in crisis. What chance does he have?’ They could’ve given up on me, but they didn’t. They chose to make school this place that was amazing and inspiring and engaging every day. This is what you can bring to students . . . That sense of possibility, that sense of hope, that opportunity to be a child, that opportunity to love and enjoy learning. That is the power that we have as educators, and I hope you will seize that moment. That you will see potential in each of your children.”

-Secretary of Education John B. King, Jr., speaking at the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools® National Training

The Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) has just completed a week of national training for nearly 2,000 college students and recent graduates preparing to teach in CDF Freedom Schools summer literacy programs across the country. Most come from the communities they serve and are role models for the children they serve. It is hard to dream of college and what you can be in the future if you don’t see it and we are so proud of the young, energetic, hardworking and committed servant leaders who spend very long hours preparing to serve more than 11,000 low–income children when they return home to 95 cities and communities in 27 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. I hope many or most of them will become public school teachers who love, respect, and set high expectations for every child in their care. Since 1995 more than 17,000 college–aged students, public school teachers and juvenile detention personnel have come to CDF–Alex Haley Farm for training to teach in summer Freedom Schools. Many have gone on to become teachers, principals, administrators, college professors and more.

They are filling a great need. Secretary of Education John B. King, Jr. was among the extraordinary leaders who spoke to and inspired them this year. As our first Puerto Rican-African American Secretary of Education he spoke movingly of losing his mother at 8 and his father at 12 and how caring teachers saved his life and put him on the path to success. He graduated from Harvard University, Columbia University’s Teachers College, and Yale Law School. He stressed the crucial importance of building a strong multiracial and multicultural teacher pipeline to inspire and guide all of our children — especially those who are poor and non–White. Students of color constitute a majority in our schools but teachers of color constitute only 18 percent of their faculties. Unless we are able to encourage many more talented students and teachers of color to enter and stay in the profession, this “mismatch” will only get worse. In a Washington Post Op–Ed Secretary King noted, “We have strong evidence that students of color benefit from having teachers who are positive role models, as well as from the changes in classroom dynamics that result. Teachers of color often have higher expectations for students of color, are more likely to use culturally relevant teaching practices, are more likely to confront racism in their lessons and, yes, also serve as advocates.”

On May 6 Secretary King and the U.S. Department of Education held a National Summit on Teacher Diversity where education leaders, researchers, policymakers, teachers, and students spoke about the value of a diverse teaching force. Researchers noted that Black and Hispanic children in schools with high The Crucial Need to Expand the Non-White Teacher Pipeline:

Political theorist Danielle Allen worries that Americans aren’t being properly educated for citizenship - WSJ

In Pursuit of Political Equality - WSJ:

In Pursuit of Political Equality

Political theorist Danielle Allen worries that Americans aren’t being properly educated for citizenship

Danielle Allen PHOTO: JASON GROW FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

After writing an article critical of Donald Trump a few months ago, the political theoristDanielle Allen received dozens of racist tweets and emails from his supporters, one with a picture of a noose. But it hasn’t stopped her from being heartened by one aspect of this election cycle: the increased voter turnout that helped Mr. Trump become the presumptive Republican nominee for president. She has long argued for more civic participation and engagement in the political system—and not just for people who share her own political views.

Dr. Allen responded to some of her critics directly and to others in open letters published online. She advised them to read the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Federalist Papers, and to think about issues like the character of public officials and the principles of constitutionalism. If Americans were better equipped to reflect on their laws and the promises of politicians, she believes, they would elect more thoughtful and less divisive leaders.

Dr. Allen, 44, a government professor at Harvard University and director of its Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, is a big proponent of political equality—the idea that every American should play an active role in the workings of our democracy.

It is the subject of her 2014 book, “Our Declaration,” a conversational analysis of the Declaration of Independence. The book was inspired by a night class she taught to low-income adult students in Chicago from 1999 to 2009, while she was at the University of Chicago and, later, at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. Her night students made her realize, she says, that “the Declaration of Independence is the story of human agency”—that is, of how diverse individuals join together in a shared public life.

Unlike her students at the university, her night students tended to apply the Declaration—and their other readings, from Sophocles’ “Antigone” to Shakespeare’s sonnets—to their own lives. They talked about issues like policing, unemployment and education and compared them to the frustrations the colonists once had under England’s rule. Dr. Allen felt that the Declaration was inspiring them to take charge and try to change their own In Pursuit of Political Equality - WSJ:

Michigan legislature approves Detroit school bailout: What's next? - CSMonitor.com

Michigan legislature approves Detroit school bailout: What's next? (+video) - CSMonitor.com:

Michigan legislature approves Detroit school bailout: What's next? (+video)

Michigan lawmakers passed a bill that will keep Detroit's public schools from going bankrupt, but critics say it doesn't do as much as it could have for the public schools. 

Big Education Ape: Mindless Underfunding Of Schools Continues, Doing Irreparable Harm To Kids - http://go.shr.lc/1tmLxSc

After hours of emotional debate, Michigan’s Legislature approved a $617-million rescue plan for the Detroit Public Schools late last night. Yet, many say, there still is much to be done for the state's public schools.

The school rescue bill passed with the narrowest possible margin in both the House of Representatives and the state Senate, with votes of 55-54 and 19-18 respectively. The bill will now go to Michigan governor Rick Snyder for approval.

Although some say that the legislature could have done more to deal with Detroit’s structural problems, others say the bill accomplishes the most important task: eliminating Detroit’s debt.

“We’re disappointed in many aspects,” Terrence Martin, the executive vice president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers told The Christian Science Monitor, “but we remain steadfast, and we are treading forward. The good thing is that we have a school district, and that we have a school board.”

Detroit’s public school system has struggled for years, plagued by declining enrollment and poor facilities.

In January this year, Detroit’s teachers (forbidden from striking) engaged in "sickouts"to protest inadequate facilities and educational materials. More than 50 of Detroit’s schools, which serve approximately 46,000 students, were closed because of the protests.

Months later, in early May, educators again took part in sickouts to protest the city’s admission that, despite a short-term bailout, itdid not have the funds required to pay teacher salaries though the summer months.

If Governor Snyder approves the legislation, which he is expected to do, the Detroit Public Schools will receive $617 million to settle existing debt. Although many are calling this a bailout, Mr. Martin told the Monitor that as the existing debt was run up by the state of Michigan while it had control Michigan legislature approves Detroit school bailout: What's next? (+video) - CSMonitor.com:

 

Legislature should move on teacher tenure reform - San Francisco Chronicle

Legislature should move on teacher tenure reform - San Francisco Chronicle:

Legislature should move on teacher tenure reform

Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla seeks common ground on education reform.

Vergara vs. State of California, the legal challenge to California’s highly contested teacher tenure and seniority laws, continues to wind its way through the courts. The California Supreme Court needs to make the final call about the detrimental impact of these laws on California’s most disadvantaged students. But California’s students can’t wait, which is why we’re encouraged that state Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, is taking action now.

Bonilla’s bill, AB934, is a careful and comprehensive reform of the teacher tenure system. A former teacher herself, Bonilla said in a Chronicle editorial meeting that she’s “not interested in blowing up public education.”

Indeed, the centerpiece of AB934 is an innovative teacher support and coaching program that’s already been proved successful.

Called peer assistance review, it would require districts to provide struggling teachers with high-quality coaching and development programs, and AB934 would make it mandatory for every school district.

“It provides what the teacher has been begging for, which is: support me,” Bonilla said.

AB934 would give teachers who have received unsatisfactory evaluations at least a year of support from the peer assistance review program. Only after offering teachers support and training would districts be allowed to dismiss those who remain ineffective in the classroom.

“I really do feel there’s a transformational possibility here,” Bonilla said. “Fixing this mechanism will bring relief to the whole system.”

As far as the dismissal process itself, AB934 doesn’t deny teachers due process — but it does bring some much-needed clarity and transparency to a system that’s long frustrated the public.

The new dismissal process requires binding arbitration, much like the process that’s currently used for other school district employees.

It requires an arbitrator’s decision within 60 days, to avoid an exhausting and never-ending dismissal process.

It also requires school districts to balance evaluations with seniority when it comes to teacher Legislature should move on teacher tenure reform - San Francisco Chronicle: