While data nerds and policy dorks (myself included), have been harping on this for a looong time, yesterday’s event made it clear that this conversation has finally entered the center of federal and state education policy-
One aspect of the education reform debate that persistently gives me pause is the claim that the top students are being short-changed in U.S. public education—specifically due to disproportionate time and money being spent on struggling students. I have attempted to address this argument bothseriously and satirically, but each approach has brought primarily defense of those neglected top students.
In their work on think tanks, Think Tank Research Quality: Lessons for Policy Makers, the Media, and the Public, theNational Education Policy Center [NEPC] has raised a strong caution concerning the poor quality of think-tank research:
“Unfortunately, according to Think Tank Review Project co-director Kevin
The Notebook recently began sharing content with Education Week, where this piece originally appeared.
As we continue to search for reliable measures to evaluate a school district’s progress and debate the true meaning of test score gains, this sobering story broke in Chicago. A complex analysis of test and other data over 20 years showed that, despite perceptions that school reform in Chicago has led to significant student progress, there was little gain in elementary reading and the
Since Ty “Big Fat Liar” Fahner and his front group, Illinois is Broke, came out with their ad with an actress portraying a handwringing teacher, the response has been underwhelming.
The ad shows a teacher in a classroom setting only Hollywood would recognize. She’s a school marm at a desk, with lots of books behind her. Our Miss Brooks perhaps?
NBC’s Ward Room mocked it.
That’s right, teachers. Look at the kids in your class. Don’t look at attorney
Dear County and District Superintendents, Charter School Administrators, and High School Principals:
GENOCIDE EDUCATION SURVEY
The California Department of Education (CDE), with the assistance of The Genocide Education Project, has prepared a brief online survey regarding the teaching of the Armenian Genocide.
Please ask the history-social science teachers in your district/school to take the survey. Your help completing this survey will allow us to have a better understanding about how this subject is taught in California schools.
You can find the statewide genocide education survey on the SurveyMonkey CDE Statewide Survey Web page athttps://www.surveymonkey.com/s/cadoe_survey (Outside Source).
As you may know, California has been one of the national leaders in genocide and human rights education. The Model Curriculum for Human Rights and Genocide was first introduced in 1988 and called for the teaching of the Armenian Genocide and other major human rights subjects. In 1998, the Armenian Genocide was included in the state history-social science standards for 10th grade history (Standard 10.5.5.).
I look forward to receiving the survey results. If your district’s teachers are interested in accessing Armenian Genocide teaching materials, please consider examining the Model Curriculum for Human Rights and Genocide located on the CDE Instructional Materials – History-Social Science Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/hs/im/ and accessing the Armenian Genocide Resource Library on The Genocide Education Project Web page at http://teachgenocide.com/ (Outside Source).
If you have any questions regarding the survey, please contact Craig Cheslog, Principal Advisor to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Superintendent’s Initiatives Office, by phone at 916-319-0554 or by e-mail at ccheslog@cde.ca.gov.
Sincerely,
Tom Torlakson
TT:ccc
The letter below is being sent to as many parents as we can contact regarding the PTA proposal to back charter schools during the next legislative session.
So far the people of this state have voted down charter schools three times and for good reason…they don’t work and it is simply a means to privatize one of our last public institutions.
If you know of a parent, teacher or concerned citizen that might need to be informed of both sides of the argument, please forward this to them.
This letter is a shorter version of two posts that I wrote in response to the PTA proposal.
It reads as follows:
Dear PTA Members,
Below is an excerpt from a blog post that I did regarding the PTA charter school proposal that has been sent to
Brennan Center for Justice: at New York University School of Law
By Wendy R. Weiser and Lawrence Norden
– 10/03/11
Ahead of the 2012 elections, a wave of legislation tightening restrictions on voting has suddenly swept across the country. More than five million Americans could be affected by the new rules already put in place this year —
Torlakson unveils new information that for first time
uses CALPADS and two other data systems to produce results
SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson reported today that nearly three out of four California high school graduates in 2008-09 enrolled in a college or university somewhere in the nation, according to data gathered by the California Department of Education.
"In a knowledge-based economy, college and career training are becoming the price of admission to the job market, so it's good to see so many California graduates taking the next step on the path to success," Torlakson said.
The department's new postsecondary transition data provides new insights on where high school graduates are enrolling, information that was not available before the creation of a statewide student tracking system.
For the first time, the department matched student data from its California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) with two other data systems to create college-going rates for California high school graduates who enroll in colleges and universities inside and outside the state.
First, CALPADS data from 2008-09 was matched with postsecondary enrollment data from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC). NSC is a national nonprofit organization that verifies student degrees and enrollment data. The result produced a college-going rate of 74.4 percent of California graduates in 2008-09 enrolled in a postsecondary institution in the United States.
In addition, CALPADS data from 2006-07 was matched with enrollment data from the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC). CPEC maintains a data system used to audit and evaluate student progress in California postsecondary education. The result produced the number and percentage of public school students who enrolled in higher educational institutions in California and earned credits within a specified time period. That process revealed a college-going rate of 51.3 percent of California graduates in 2006-07 enrolled in a California Community College, a California State University, or on a University of California campus. Also, of the 356,654 graduates, 28.3 percent earned at least one year of credit within two years of their enrollment.
These two new reports display state-, county-, district-, and school-level reports by subgroup. Both reports contain footnotes that describe the information included in the reports as well as disclaimers on the accuracy of the matched data. For example, the numbers and percentages of students represented in these reports are most likely underestimated because the NSC database includes 93 percent of postsecondary institutions. That means results are not available for the remaining 7 percent of postsecondary institutions. Also, some schools may have underestimated postsecondary enrollment counts if a significant number of graduates opted out of having their postsecondary enrollment information released.
To download the Postsecondary Transition reports, go to the California Department of Education's DataQuest at DataQuest. For more information on NSC, please visit National Student Clearinghouse: Degree verification & enrollment verification(Outside Source). For CPEC, please visit California Postsecondary Education Commission - Home Page (Outside Source).
# # # #
Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100
Breaking Michigan news:
Right to Teach legislation to be introduced today in the Senate will only apply to schools that have the Michigan Education Association (MEA) as the bargaining unit, according to the bill language obtained by MIRS.
Schools where employees are represented by the American Teachers Federation – Michigan (AFTM) would not be included.
The bill is SB 0729 sponsored by Senate Majority Floor Leader Arlan MEEKHOF (R-West Olive).
Senate Majority Floor Leader Randy RICHARDVILLE (R-Monroe) floated the Right to Teach concept last month on Off the Record, but legislation had not been introduced until today.
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2011-2012/billintroduced/Senate/pdf/2011-SIB-0729.pdf
Student Demand Alternatives to Suspensions and Over-Policing
On October 4, 2011 members of the Urban Youth Collaborative and the Dignity in Schools Campaign-New York gathered at City Hall Park to demand an end to the harsh and discriminatory discipline practices and lock-down conditions in many of the city’s public schools. Over 100 students, parents, teachers and community members shared their demands for the Department of Education to reduce high suspension rates and implement
Popout
Wall Street marches are nothing new for Michael Mulgrew. In May, Mulgrew and his predecessor at the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, marched with thousands from City Hall to Wall Street in protest of a budget deficit that threatened to lay off more than 4,000 teachers.
Last night, Mulgrew and members from the UFT were back in the familiar setting. This time, they were in a
Stephanie Harris Walker, Putting Our Teachers Back to Work.
Cross-posted from the White House Blog.
“My name is Stephanie Harris Walker. I am a 43-year-old, married mother of two beautiful children, and I have been a teacher for 13 years. Since moving to Ohio several years ago, I have taught high school English and History specializing in the 11th and 12th grades — most recently at Jefferson County Joint Vocational School on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. Every day, I gave my best to prepare each of my students with the skills they need to enter the private sector, the military, or move on to higher education despite the challenging conditions at JCVS, such as its leaky roof and outdated technology in the classroom. To balance its budget last year, Jefferson County School District laid off a number of teachers and education support staff, including me. Since losing my teaching job, every morning I wait by the phone hoping for a possible sub assignment to make ends meet. I only hope I have an opportunity to return to my students and continue to support my family.”
President Obama’s American Jobs Act would invest $30 billion to make sure that teachers like Stephanie and 400,000 educators would stay on the job, while supporting the hiring of tens of thousands more. Under the American Jobs Act, Ohio would immediately receive over $1 billion to put Stephanie and 14,200 Ohio educators back to work in the classroom.
The American Jobs Act will also modernize at least 35,000 public schools – investments that will create local jobs while improving classrooms, and upgrading our schools to meet 21st century needs. Ohio will receive $985,500,000 in funding to support as many as 12,800 jobs – fixing our crumbling schools, making classroom sizes smaller and more energy efficient. As Stephanie Walker shared, Jefferson County Joint Vocational School desperately needs that support to fix its leaking roof and crumbling infrastructure. Through the American Jobs Act, we can put hard-working teachers like Stephanie back on the job at a modernized school that every family and child deserves.
Read the Transcript | Download Video: mp4 (290MB) | mp3 (28MB)
Speaking this past Tuesday in Texas, President Obama compared the situation here with South Korea, where their President said they can’t hire teachers fast enough:
They call them “nation builders” — that’s what they call teachers in Korea, “nation builders,” because they know that educating their children is the best way to make sure their economy is growing, make sure that good jobs are locating there, making sure they’ve got the scientists and the engineers and the technicians who can build things and ship them all around the world. That’s what he understands. And the whole country supports him. Here in America, we’re laying off teachers in droves. It makes no sense. It has to stop. It has to stop.
Please share your story about how the American Jobs Act will positively impact you or your community. Stephanie Harris Walker is a member of the National Education Association — a supporter of the American Jobs Act.
Brad Jenkins is an Associate Director at the Office of Public Engagement.
