NYC Public School Parents: David Rosenberg's testimony on what should be included in the state's accountability system : David Rosenberg's testimony on what should be included in the state's accountability system I was at the Manhattan ESSA hearing yesterday, to testify on what is wrong with the NYSED’s proposed accountability system and how it could be improved. There were 27 people who spoke, w
Large-Scale Test Scores to Officially Count for 40% V. 50% of Nevada Teachers’ Annual Evaluations | VAMboozled! : Large-Scale Test Scores to Officially Count for 40% V. 50% of Nevada Teachers’ Annual Evaluations Written into my last post here were “The ‘Top Ten’ Research-Based Reasons Why Large-Scale, Standardized Tests Should Not Be Used to Evaluate Teachers…” really anywhere, but specific to th
The problems with 2017 national rankings of America’s high schools - The Washington Post : The problems with 2017 national rankings of America’s high schools t’s that time of year where we get annual high school rankings from well-known sources. U.S. News & World Report does a prominent high school ranking, as does Jay Mathews, my esteemed colleague at The Washington Post. I have published critiq
Jersey Jazzman: Random Thoughts On Using VAM for Teacher Evaluation : Random Thoughts On Using VAM for Teacher Evaluation You may have read the piece in the New York Times today by Kevin Carey on the passing of William Sanders, the father of idea of using value-added modeling (VAM) to evaluate teachers. Let me first offer my condolences to his family. I'm going to skip a point-by-point critique o
Hialeah charter schools offer parents incentives for supporting education bill | Miami Herald : Charter schools to parents: Write to Gov. Scott, get volunteer hours TALLAHASSEE Some school choice advocates in South Florida are going so far as to offer incentives to parents in order to amplify the perception of public support for a controversial K-12 public schools bill that many are urging Gov. R
The Teacher as Leader-Warrior : The Teacher as Leader-Warrior Pleas e join Internet radio host Dr. James Avington Miller Jr. for the third show in our Teacher Appreciation Month series. This week Dr. Miller will be discussing teachers as professional leaders and as warriors for humanity . Can teachers take the vital role of leaders of their profession and as warriors for all children? Dare the te
CURMUDGUCATION: NYT: Value Not Added : NYT: Value Not Added Our old friend Kevin Carey popped up in the New York Times this week , using the death of William Sanders as a case to soft-pedal VAM. The article has some interesting points to make about VAM, and it also unintentionally reveals some of the reasons that Value-Added Measuring of teacher performance is a fool's game. Carey is the educatio
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all : News Update Diane Ravitch's blog A site to discuss better education for all Laura Chapman on Eric Hanushek by dianeravitch / 22min When Laura Chapman read Some DAMPoet’s poem, “Economists are Like Weathermen, ” she responded with an informative comment. I know Eric (Rick) well. We served together for years on the Hoover Instituti
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 5/20/17 Featured Post Florida Charter Scandal: Legislators Vote Millions for Charter Schools Where They Earn a Profit | Diane Ravitch's blog Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION by mike simpson / 6h CURMUDGUCATION : Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION My 16 Rules 22 by Peter Greene / 5h Today I turn sixty, so it's time form one of those posts. These are the rules. Mind
Why caps and gowns at graduation? Let’s go back 900 years. - The Washington Post : Why caps and gowns at graduation? Let’s go back 900 years. Actor Matt Damon, in cap and gown, gestures during his address at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s 2016 commencement in Cambridge, Mass. (Charles Krupa/Associated Press) It’s pretty clear why preschoolers and kindergartners wear caps and gowns at
When decency and kindness is a radical concept. My bed is made. | Fred Klonsky : When decency and kindness is a radical concept. My bed is made. Even though this is a dreary, rainy Chicago day I’m in a good mood. Yesterday morning we did a great Hitting Left with our friend Jerry Harris. And then last night we had dinner and good conversation with old friends. In a few weeks this blog will hit th
Why It's So Hard To Know Whether School Choice Is Working : NPR Ed : NPR : Why It's So Hard To Know Whether School Choice Is Working Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been a passionate proponent of expanding school choice, including private school vouchers and charter schools, and she has the clear backing of President Trump. But does the research justify her enthusiasm? Experts say one single,
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL : Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… I'm Larry Ferlazzo and here you will catch me talking about websites that will help you teach ELL, ESL and EFL! May’s (2017) Best Tweets – Part Two by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h Every month I make a few short lists highlighting my choices of the best resources I through (and learned from) Twitte
CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: I'm More Grown Up Edition (5/21) : ICYMI: I'm More Grown Up Edition (5/21) Yesterday was my birthday, but I wouldn't forget to give you your Sunday reading list. Remember-- if you like it, pass it on. A Tour of Stock Photo Academy The British blog Othmar's Trombone takes us on a tour of Stock Photo Academy, and it's just so special. This is your fun and games reading assign
NYC Educator: Screw Thy Neighbor : Screw Thy Neighbor It's probably true that no matter how bad things look, there's always someone worse-off than you are. In no less than the alleged bastion of liberalism The New York Times , there's a piece by reformy Kevin Carey , extolling the virtues of value added. And while Carey pays lip service to the American Statistical Association, nowhere does he men
The Sunday times. | Fred Klonsky : The Sunday times. Robert E. Lee, New Orleans. Stanley Green died on Friday in Paris. He was 68. “He was one of those journalists who went toward the bullet,” Ms. Tucker said, “because that’s where the story was.” Stanley Greene was born in Brooklyn on Feb. 14, 1949, and grew up in New Rochelle, N.Y. His father, also Stanley , was an actor, producer, filmmaker an
Russ on Reading: Finding Time for Productive Vocabulary Play : Finding Time for Productive Vocabulary Play Today I am pleased to present this guest post from Lesley Roessing, Director of the Coastal Savannah Writing Project and Senior Lecturer in the College of Education, Armstrong State University. Lesley is the author of No More "Us" and "Them": Classroom Lessons and Activities to Promote Peer
Personalized Learning: What Does the Research Say? (Benjamin Herold) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice : Personalized Learning: What Does the Research Say? (Benjamin Herold) Benjamin Herold is a staff writer for Education Week . He covers education technology and writes for the Digital Education blog. This post appeared October 18, 2016 The K-12 sector is investing heavily in
Charter School Teachers Plan to Strike on May 25th | deutsch29 : Charter School Teachers Plan to Strike on May 25th On May 04, 2017, teachers, their assistants, and paraprofessionals at the Edgewater, Il-based Passages Charter School voted 43-0 to strike. On May 19, 2017, they set the prospective strike date as May 25, 2017, as noted in the Chicago Sun-Times : Teachers say they are paid “rock-bot
CURMUDGUCATION : Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION My 16 Rules 22 by Peter Greene / 5h Today I turn sixty, so it's time form one of those posts. These are the rules. Mind you, they are not a sign of any particular wisdom or
David Rosenberg's testimony on what should be included in the state's accountability system
I was at the Manhattan ESSA hearing yesterday, to testify on what is wrong with the NYSED’s proposed accountability system and how it could be improved. There were 27 people who spoke, which Commissioner Elia said was the most at any of the state's ESSA hearings so far. Amazingly, about half of them were administrators, teachers, parents, students and alumnae from a tiny NYC transfer HS called Harvey Milk School that was founded for LGTBQ kids who are marginalized and bullied in their regular high schools – although now the school is open to all.
Several others who were there to testify were teachers at portfolio assessment schools. All of them were concerned that the current NYSED proposal might further stigmatize their schools by relying too heavily on test scores and four-year graduation rates. Most students don't even enter transfer schools until they have been enrolled in other high schools for one or two years. A teacher from Harvey Milk movingly pointed out how at most NYC high schools, the class sizes are too big – and that students need to know that “they are seen, that their voices are heard, and they matter.” He concluded that his schools does not merely educate, "it saves lives."
I asked a graduate from Harvey Milk sitting next to me, now attending college, what his class sizes were at the school; he said 8 to 10 students per class. And yet sadly, in about half of NYC high schools class sizes are three times that size, at 30 student or more; and there is nothing in the proposed NYSED accountability plan that will help ensure that at any time in the future, these students will truly be “seen” and understand that they matter -- because the system as it exists now does not allow for that to occur.
Below is the terrific testimony of David Rosenberg, a District 2 parent, who testified as well. For more on how the NYSED proposal for school accountability may undermine both equity and the quality of our schools, see the CSM/NYSAPE summary here.
Dates of future hearings are here: including Brooklyn on June 6 and Queens on June 10.
Written into my last post here were “The ‘Top Ten’ Research-Based Reasons Why Large-Scale, Standardized Tests Should Not Be Used to Evaluate Teachers…” really anywhere, but specific to this post in the state of Nevada. Accordingly, this post pertained to what were then the ongoing legislative negotiations in Nevada, and a testimony that I submitted and titled as such.
Well, it looks like those in Nevada who, as detailed more fully in another post here, were “trying to eliminate — or at least reduce — the role [students’] standardized tests play[ed] in evaluations of teachers, saying educators [were] being unfairly judged on factors outside of their control,” lost their legislative fight.
As per their proposed AB320, the state would have eliminated large-scale standardized test results as a mandated teacher evaluation measure, but the state would have allowed local assessments to account for 20% of a teacher’s total evaluation.
The problems with 2017 national rankings of America’s high schools
t’s that time of year where we get annual high school rankings from well-known sources. U.S. News & World Report does a prominent high school ranking, as does Jay Mathews, my esteemed colleague at The Washington Post.
I have published critiques of past rankings, questioning the methodology used by both to declare the “best” schools. How is the “best” determined? Standardized test scores? They don’t reveal much more than the socioeconomic makeup of a school. Graduation rates? They are often suspect, in part because some schools report the number of seniors, fudging what might be a large dropout rate in earlier grades.
U.S. News recently issued its 2017 high school rankings. The top 10 looked like this:
BASIS Scottsdale, Ariz.
BASIS Tucson North, Ariz.
BASIS Oro Valley, Ariz.
School for the Talented and Gifted, Dallas
BASIS Peoria, Ariz.
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Va.
BASIS Chandler, Ariz.
Carnegie Vanguard High School, Houston
School of Science and Engineering, Dallas
Pacific Collegiate Charter, Santa Cruz, Calif.
Mathews, whose longtime “America’s Most Challenging High Schools” has been influential in what courses high schools offer, released his latest edition, and his top 10 looked like this:
BASIS Phoenix.
Mickey Leland College Prep, Houston.
IDEA Frontier College Preparatory, Brownsville, Tex.
There are some crossovers in the list, but perhaps the most striking thing is how many charter schools — publicly funded but privately operated — are among the top.
Critics have jumped on the lists, noting the problems with comparing charters with traditional public schools. The highest-performing charter schools often have extremely high attrition rates and fewer students with disabilities and English-language learners than do traditional school districts. Charter school management organizations often spend a The problems with 2017 national rankings of America’s high schools - The Washington Post:
Random Thoughts On Using VAM for Teacher Evaluation
You may have read the piece in the New York Times today by Kevin Carey on the passing of William Sanders, the father of idea of using value-added modeling (VAM) to evaluate teachers. Let me first offer my condolences to his family.
I'm going to skip a point-by-point critique of Carey's piece and, instead, offer a few random thoughts about the many problems with using VAMs in the classroom:
1) VAM models are highly complex and well beyond the understanding of almost all stakeholders, including teachers. Here's a typical VAM model:
Anyone who states with absolute certainty that VAM is a valid and reliable method of teacher evaluation, yet cannot tell you exactly what is happening in this model, is full of it.
There was a bit of a debate last year about whether it matters that student growth percentiles (SGPs) -- which are not the same as VAMs, but are close cousins -- are mathematically and conceptually complex. SGP proponents make the argument that understanding teacher evaluation models are like understanding pi: while the calculation may be complex, the underlying concept is simple. It is, therefore, fine to use SGPs/VAMs to evaluate teachers, even if they don't understand how they got their scores.
This argument strikes me as far too facile. Pi is a constant: it represents something (the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter) that is concrete and easy to understand. It isn’t expressed as a conditional distribution; it just is. It isn’t subject to variation depending Jersey Jazzman: Random Thoughts On Using VAM for Teacher Evaluation:
Charter schools to parents: Write to Gov. Scott, get volunteer hours
TALLAHASSEE
Some school choice advocates in South Florida are going so far as to offer incentives to parents in order to amplify the perception of public support for a controversial K-12 public schools bill that many are urging Gov. Rick Scott to veto.
At least two privately managed charter schools in Hialeah — Mater Academy Lakes High School and City of Hialeah Educational Academy — publicly advertised this week that they would give parents five hours’ credit toward their “encouraged” volunteer hours at the school, so long as they wrote a letter or otherwise urged Gov. Rick Scott to sign HB 7069.
“It is IMPERATIVE that the Governor, and the rest of the State of Florida, see what a POSITIVE DEMAND there is for this education bill,” read an alert on the homepage of Mater Academy Lakes’ website Thursday evening. “This is the strongest legislation supporting the charter school movement since charters were first established in Florida 20 years ago.”
“We need all of our Bear Family to show their support for HB 7069 and encourage your friends, family and children to get involved as well,” the message continued.
The City of Hialeah Educational Academy issued calls to actions to their parents through email and text alerts, such as this one, asking them to praise HB 7069 on social media.
A similar alert was blasted across the City of Hialeah Educational Academy’s website, too, offering the same volunteer-hour credit to parents if they attended a pro-HB 7069 event at the school this past Wednesday or Thursday.
The school also sent email and text alerts to its parents asking them to “use all realms of social media to advocate for House Bill 7069!”
Big Education Ape: Parent Horror Story from BASIS: Charter school chain “bullying” Black parents? | Cloaking Inequity - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2015/04/parent-horror-story-from-basis-charter.html
