Is Hillary Clinton’s Pick Of Tim Kaine Another Sign Democrats Are Leaving The ‘Education Reform Camp?’

7/27/2016 – Is Hillary Clinton’s Pick Of Tim Kaine Another Sign Democrats Are Leaving The ‘Education Reform Camp?’:
Is Hillary Clinton’s Pick Of Tim Kaine Another Sign Democrats Are Leaving The ‘Education Reform Camp?’

THIS WEEK: Income Segregation Worsens … How Unions Improve Teaching … Online Charters In Trouble … Colleges Need $30 Billion For Maintenance … Games Charters Play

TOP STORY

Is Hillary Clinton’s Pick Of Tim Kaine Another Sign Democrats Are Leaving The ‘Education Reform Camp?’

By Jeff Bryant

“Hillary Clinton’s picking Virginia Senator Tim Kaine for her vice presidential running mate is not apt to ease the ‘anxiety’ or ‘soul searching’ education reformers feel … In reviewing Kaine’s education policy chops, what’s in his record may not be as important as what isn’t: the current education establishment’s policy checklist … The years progressives have put into organizing, voicing opposition to current education policies, and calling for new directions in education are likely having an effect on a new Democratic Party.”
Read more …

NEWS AND VIEWS

Income Segregation In Schools Found To Rise By 40% Since 1990

Education Week

“Income segregation … in the 100 largest districts …. is about 40% higher than in 1990 … This new level of segregation is not caused primarily by the historical separation between poor families and all others … The middle class has been slipping further behind the upper middle and affluent classes … The growing trends in income-based segregation in schools were also likely due to school-choice policies.”
Read more …

What If Everything You Thought You Knew About Teachers Unions Turned Out to be Wrong?

Edushyster

Freelance writer Jennifer Berkshire interviews an author of a recent study who found, “Highly unionized districts actually fire more bad teachers … By demanding higher salaries for teachers, unions give school districts a strong incentive to dismiss ineffective teachers before they get tenure. Highly unionized districts dismiss more bad teachers because it costs more to keep them … Unionized districts also retain more high-quality teachers relative to district with weak unionism.”
Read more …

Oklahoma Joins Ranks Of States and Agencies Cracking Down On Virtual Charter Schools

Edsurge

“Oklahoma is one of many states investigating and castigating virtual charters … California recently arrived at a disputed settlement with for-profit online charter operator K12 Inc. … Ohio’s largest online charter school operator, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT), has failed to stall an audit of its financials and attendance records in court … Of every 100 students enrolled at ECOT, 80 do not graduate.'”
Read more …

Long-Neglected Maintenance Threatens To Further Escalate The Cost Of College

The Hechinger Report

After years of budget cuts and continuing austerity, universities and colleges collectively face a shortfall of a record $30 billion for … deferred maintenance or ‘deferred renewal’ to deteriorating buildings and other infrastructure … The problem is compounded by the fact that they nonetheless continue to build more – spending a record $11.5 billion last year – in the hope of attracting students … Some universities are already adding ‘capital renewal fees’ to students’ bills to help them pay for renovations and improvements.”
Read more …

Why Charter Schools Get Public Education Advocates So Angry

The Washington Post

Former high school principal and current executive director of the Network for Public Education Carol Burris writes, “Charters, regardless of their original intent, have become a threat to democratically governed, neighborhood public schools, and questions about their practices, opacity and lack of accountability are increasing as their numbers grow … Democratic school governance is viewed as an obstacle by many charter school devotees … Charter schools control enrollment … Even after initial enrollment, charters lose students through attrition … Some charters are better, and others are worse … What all share, however, is the ability to use the freedom given to them for innovation to shut out democracy, attract the students they want and hide important information from the public, even as they collect taxpayer funds.
Read more …

EON is taking a break next week. Watch for a resumption of the newsletter on August 11.

7/27/2016 – Is Hillary Clinton’s Pick Of Tim Kaine Another Sign Democrats Are Leaving The ‘Education Reform Camp?’:

Schedule & Speakers | Tuesday, July 26th | 2016 Democratic National Convention

Schedule & Speakers | Tuesday, July 26th | 2016 Democratic National Convention:

Schedule & Speakers | Tuesday, July 26th | 2016 Democratic National Convention

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET - PENNYSLVANIA CONVENTION CENTER, TERRRACE I-IV

  Women’s Caucus

  The Pennsylvania Convention Center is home to many important official party events, including caucus and council meetings. These caucus and council meetings are open to the general public.

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET - PENNSYLVANIA CONVENTION CENTER, 118ABC

  LGBT Caucus

  The Pennsylvania Convention Center is home to many important official party events, including caucus and council meetings. These caucus and council meetings are open to the general public.

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET - PENNSYLVANIA CONVENTION CENTER, 121BC

  Senior Council

  The Pennsylvania Convention Center is home to many important official party events, including caucus and council meetings. These caucus and council meetings are open to the general public.

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM ET - PENNSYLVANIA CONVENTION CENTER, 122AB

  Rural Council

  The Pennsylvania Convention Center is home to many important official party events, including caucus and council meetings. These caucus and council meetings are open to the general public.  

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM ET - PENNSYLVANIA CONVENTION CENTER, TERRACE II

  Youth Council

  The Pennsylvania Convention Center is home to many important official party events, including caucus and council meetings. These caucus and council meetings are open to the general public.

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | 4:00 PM ET - WELLS FARGO CENTER

  Gavel In

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

  Thaddeus Desmond

  Similar to Hillary’s work at the Children’s Defense Fund, Thaddeus is a child advocate social worker in Philadelphia.

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

  Dynah Haubert

  Dynah, of Philadelphia, PA, is a lawyer who works for a disability rights organization and teaches those with disabilities to advocate for themselves.

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

  Kate Burdick

  Kate, originally from Philadelphia, PA,  is a staff attorney at the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia.

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

  Anton Moore

  Anton, from Philadelphia, PA, founded and runs a nonprofit community group that strives to bring awareness and educate youth on gun violence.

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

  Dustin Parsons

  Dustin, from Little Rock, Arkansas,  is currently a fifth grade teacher at an elementary school in his home state.

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

  Jelani Freeman

  Jelani grew up in foster care in Washington, DC and is a former intern in Hillary Clinton’s Senate office. Since receiving his law degree, he has worked to bring opportunity to kids at risk.

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

  Students from Eagle Academy

  As a senator, Hillary Clinton supported the creation of the Eagle Academy to educate at-risk youth in New York City. Eagle Academy was featured in the ad Came Through during the New York primary.

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

  Mothers of the Movement

   SPEAKER: Mothers of the Movement

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

  Joe Sweeney

  Joe, of New York, NY,  was a detective with the NYPD on September 11, 2001. When the towers were hit, he rushed down to the World Trade Center and began digging through the rubble for survivors.

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

  Lauren Manning

  Lauren was a former executive and partner at Cantor Fitzgerald. She is one of the most catastrophically wounded survivors of 9/11. Lauren battled single digit odds of survival, spending more than six months in the hospital and fought recovering through the next decade from an 82.5% total body burn. Lauren asked then Senator Hillary Clinton to support the injured and she has remained unflagging in her commitment and dedication.

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

  Ryan Moore

  Ryan, originally from South Sioux City, NE, has spondyloepiphyseal Dysplasia dwarfism and has known Hillary Clinton since 1994 when his family came to Washington, DC for an event to advocate for health care reform. Brian Moore, Ryan’s father, lost his job when his employer was unwilling to cover treatment for Ryan’s health condition. Ryan has stayed in contact with Hillary ever since.

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

  President Bill Clinton

   SPEAKER: President Bill Clinton

• 
  
  

• TUESDAY JULY 26 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

  Gavel Out

• Schedule & Speakers | Tuesday, July 26th | 2016 Democratic National Convention:

Jersey Jazzman: There Is No Sustained Social Justice In Schools Without Adequate and Equitable Funding

Jersey Jazzman: There Is No Sustained Social Justice In Schools Without Adequate and Equitable Funding:

There Is No Sustained Social Justice In Schools Without Adequate and Equitable Funding



Twitter wars are stupid, and I'm stupid for engaging in them:

  

alexandr‏@alexanderrusso

Diane Ravitch cares about school segregation now? That's new. http://pllqt.it/t0H4FD 

 

Diane Ravitch‏@DianeRavitch

@alexanderrusso If you read "Reign of Error," you will find a chapter on the importance of desegregation. How can you judge without reading?

It's true: Diane did write an entire chapter in Reign of Error about the effects of segregation on schooling. I know because I pointed that chapter out in my review of the book, and included an excerpt:

But the wounds caused by centuries of slavery, segregation, and discrimination cannot be healed by testing, standards, accountability, merit pay, and choice. Even if test scores go up in a public or charter school, the structural inequity of society and systematic inequities in our schools remain undisturbed. For every “miracle” school celebrated by the media, there are scores of “Dumpster schools,” where the low-performing students are unceremoniously hidden away. This is not school reform, nor is it social reform. It is social neglect. It is a purposeful abandonment of public responsibility to address deep-seated problems that only public policy can overcome.

So, from my perspective, Russo is just dead wrong about Ravitch's views. He disagrees:

alexandr‏@alexanderrusso

alexandr Retweeted Jersey Jazzman

Over-testing & under-funding are fine but they're not cops out of schools, classroom bias training, etc.

There's really no point in continuing to debate whether Diane Ravitch has adequately addressed segregation -- and other issues related to education, race, and class -- or not. Russo has his opinion and I have mine (not that Diane needs me defending her). I do, however, find it odd that a guy who has publicly admitted he doesn't follow Ravitch's workthinks he has a grasp on her world view:

As you already know, I don't think that's very constructive for CPS over all for Ravitch or anyone else to keep bashing at failed or imperfect reform Jersey Jazzman: There Is No Sustained Social Justice In Schools Without Adequate and Equitable Funding:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Somebody help me here. What's up with the 'Let-Trump-Win' strategy?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Somebody help me here. What's up with the 'Let-Trump-Win' strategy?:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Somebody help me here. What's up with the 'Let-Trump-Win' strategy?

As readers of this blog know, I am a Sanders supporter and have been among the loudest critics of Hillary Clinton and the regular Democratic Party for many years, especially around education reform issues.

I supported Fanny Lou Hamer's Mississippi Freedom Democrats when they tried to get seated at the '64 and '68 conventions. I was one of the thousands in the streets at the 1968 Convention when we faced a "police riot" and turned Chicago and Mayor Daley's Democratic machine upside down protesting the war and racism. The Democrats were definitely the war party back then and the party of racial segregation in the South. Hubert Humphrey was their candidate -- not ours.

Some say our protests handed the election to Nixon. I doubt it. But I'll own part of it.

So why am I having such a hard time understanding some of my die-hard lefty/progressive friends in Philly? (Long sentence coming. Hold your breath). 

1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago

Why would you go into the Democratic Party behind Bernie Sanders' highly successful and dynamic campaign in the first place, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of young activists around key issues (Fight For 15), win significant battles (not all) with DNC regulars in the Platform Committee (including on the education plank), super-delegates, force the removal of the DNC chair, cheer ecstatically the speeches of the party stalwarts (Michelle Obama, Elizabeth Warren, Corey Booker), and then announce to the press that, despite Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Somebody help me here. What's up with the 'Let-Trump-Win' strategy?:

Racial Tensions Flare as Schools Resegregate | US News

Racial Tensions Flare as Schools Resegregate | US News:

The New Segregation

School systems are more segregated than ever in this time of racial tension.

The racial tension and violence that roiled the country this month left politicians, policymakers and protesters of every stripe shocked and exasperated.

Two separate incidents caught on video of white police officers shooting and killing black men, one in Baton Rouge and the other in Minneapolis, resulted in the killing of five Dallas police officers during a Black Lives Matter protest and most recently the killing of three Baton Rouge law enforcement officers – all in a two week span.

“Faced with this violence, we wonder if the divides of race in America can ever be bridged,” President Barack Obama said during the funeral for the Dallas officers. “We wonder if an African-American community that feels unfairly targeted by police, and police departments that feel unfairly maligned for doing their jobs, can ever understand each other's experience.”

As the month’s tragedies rearranged life into a heightened racialized context, the president’s sentiments have been echoed many times over.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the GOP’s lone black senator, took to the chamber floor to deliver a moving speech about the number of times he’s been stopped by police for driving a new car in the wrong neighborhood.

“I do not know many African-American men who do not have a very similar story to tell no matter their profession,” he said. “No matter their income, no matter their disposition in life."

"We are in the midst of a lynching crisis," charged NAACP President and CEO Cornell Brooks during the organization’s annual conference.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the 1.5 million member American Federation of Teachers, underscored that “the United States has not come to grips with pervasive racism – not even close.”

And perhaps that pervasive racism starts early, in schools.

After all, in some parts of the country schools are more segregated – and white students and students of color more isolated – than they’ve ever been.

A recent report from the Government Accountability Office shows that from school year 2000-2001 to 2013-2014, the percentage of K-12 public schools that were high poverty and comprised of mostly black or Hispanic students grew significantly, from 9 percent to 16 percent. And the number of students attending those schools more than doubled, from 4.1 million to 8.4 million.Racial Tensions Flare as Schools Resegregate | US News:

State ratchets up legal case vs. ECOT online school, seeks court order to see records | cleveland.com

State ratchets up legal case vs. ECOT online school, seeks court order to see records | cleveland.com:

State ratchets up legal case vs. ECOT online school, seeks court order to see records

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The state is seeking a court order forcing Ohio's largest online school, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT), to turn over records showing when students logged on to do schoolwork last school year and for how long.

ECOT earlier this month refused to provide log-in and log-out records to the Ohio Department of Education as the state audits the school's attendance. After finding evidence that many ECOT students spent just an hour logged in to lessons each day, the state is trying to determine if the $108 million it paid ECOT in 2015-16 was inflated.

Despite losing an attempt in Franklin County Court to block the audit, ECOT continues to refuse to provide the records. It has instead dug in its heels and told the state it won't provide them without a court order.

"They will need to file other paperwork with the court and make a request to the court that we submit the other data," ECOT spokesman Neil Clark told Ohio Public Radio.

The state is seeking such an order.

In a filing Saturday, the state asked Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jennifer French to have ECOT provide the records for 1,500 students randomly picked by ODE so that the state can see how well ECOT tracked their schoolwork.

See below for the full filing.

ECOT said it has a 2002 contract with the state that does not require it to provide log-in data.

"ODE is continuing to play politics with this issue and mislead the public instead of sticking to the facts," Clark said.

Barring any changes, the next hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 8.

The state requires students at e-schools to spend 920 hours each school year on "learning opportunities" that can include online classes, but also time spent offline doing research or on field trips.

State fights to see if $267M paid to e-schools is justified

The Ohio Department of Education and ECOT, the state's biggest e-school, had a fight in court this week over attendance records. Here's what's at stake.

The state says schools have to show students participated in those "learning opportunities," while ECOT says it only has to offer them.

In the past, the state has allowed ECOT to have a faculty member certify that students were offered "learning opportunities," but never required the school to show that students participated in them, beyond simply logging in regularly.

But House Bill 2, the state's new charter reform law that passed last fall and took State ratchets up legal case vs. ECOT online school, seeks court order to see records | cleveland.com:

 

Big Education Ape: Many ECOT students spend just one hour online for classes each day, state lawyers say | cleveland.com - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/many-ecot-students-spend-just-one-hour.html

Success in High School Doesn't Mean Good Grades in College - The Atlantic

Success in High School Doesn't Mean Good Grades in College - The Atlantic:

When the Value of High School Is Exaggerated

It turns out that students who take AP classes don’t actually get better college grades.

Jae C. Hong / AP

As more students pursue college, high schools are becoming increasingly bullish about enrolling students in advanced classes. These courses, the standard refrain goes, will prepare young people for the rigor of higher education and set them up for success as they embark on their college careers.

Not so fast, say a pair of researchers in a new Brookings Institution blog post. “We found confirmatory evidence that advanced high-school courses apparently do little to prepare students for success in college coursework,” write Gregory Ferenstein, a former TechCrunch reporter (who has also written for The Atlantic), and Brad Hershbein, a nonresident Brookings fellow and economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

The pair looked at thousands of high-school and college transcripts using the National Educational Longitudinal Study, a nationally representative survey of about 25,000 students that began in 1988. They found that, when they controlled for things like race, gender, socioeconomic background, and standardized-test scores, the courses that students took in high school had very little impact on college grades. In other words, if Tom took an economics class in high school, even an advanced one, and Joe did not, and then both young men enrolled in an economics course in college, they were likely to earn the same grade. Still, states are continuing to push more kids into advanced courses. “For some reason, the belief persists,” Hershbein said.

That belief may persist in part because earning a good grade in a college course isn’t necessarily a student’s reason for taking an AP class in the first place. A young person might take an AP class in high school so she can skip a similar course in college or bypass a subject entirely. But getting at what drives students to sign up for certain courses, advanced or otherwise, was beyond the scope of this research.

While the authors were able to look at the first college class students took in a subject, it wasn’t clear whether the students had received college credit for doing well on an earlier AP exam. So if a student took a chemistry class in high school and then took Chemistry 101 as a college freshman and earned the same grade as Success in High School Doesn't Mean Good Grades in College - The Atlantic:

First Few Weeks as a New Teacher: Things I Wish I Had Known

First Few Weeks as a New Teacher: Things I Wish I Had Known:

First Few Weeks as a New Teacher: Things I Wish I Had Known

In her book How to Survive and Thrive in the First Three Weeks of School, Elaine K. Mc Ewan elaborates on a teaching formula known as 3 + 3 = 33—something I wish I had learned about before I passed the 22-year mark as a teacher.

This simple equation is used by standout teachers to maximize time management and learning at any grade level. Simply put: Three weeks of teaching the three R’s (routines, rubrics, and rules) leads to 33 weeks of higher student achievement.

The start of the year provides an opportunity for students to participate in “on- the-job” training. We should not assume students come to our classrooms knowing what they need to know to succeed. Instead, like new employees, students must be made aware of essential survival skills that will ensure they can climb our classes’ ladder of academic achievement.
New teachers can avoid stress, self-doubt, and confusion simply by implementing a few essentials right from the start.

Assign Seats Before School Starts

This is a strategy I learned the hard way. Back when I was a new teacher, thinking I was being progressive I invited students to “sit wherever you want” on the rst day of school. To my horror, more than one student found themselves in the embarrassing situation of getting shunned or shooed away from a seat supposedly saved for a friend. My carelessness had resulted in some students feeling like unwelcome outsiders. At any grade level, it’s easy to assign seats before the year starts. Just First Few Weeks as a New Teacher: Things I Wish I Had Known: