Seattle Schools Community Forum: Hot Week for Seattle Schools

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Hot Week for Seattle Schools:

Hot Week for Seattle Schools

by Melissa Westbrook

Monday, October 15th
Superintendent Banda will be busy as he bounces from the Seattle Special Education PTA meeting and theSeattle Council PTA meeting.  Both are from 7-9 p.m.

The Seattle Council meeting is in the auditorium but it is unclear where the Special Ed PTA is meeting.  I'll find out and post it.

The Seattle Council PTA meeting includes Q&A on I -1240.  It also includes a presentation of the BEX IV levy.

Tuesday, October 16th
Operation Committee Meeting from 4-6 p.m.  Agenda.  To note, Pegi McEvoy will give an update on the BEX IV levy to the group.  Other items include the Student Assignment plan for 2013-2014.

Wednesday, October 17th
School Board meeting.  Agenda.

A rather important one as this will introduce the BEX IV levy list AND the Board will vote on a resolution of a NO against I-1240.  I suspect quite a run for the speakers list especially from those supporting charters and the downtown folks.

To get on the speakers list, e-mail at boardagenda@seattleschools.org or call 525-0040 at 8 am on Monday, the 15th.  

On the agenda, hiring yet another TFA teacher (pretty late to be hiring so it's a puzzlement).  

Here's the submitted BEX IV list at $694.9M.  I will plaintively note that roof work really belongs in BTA as should labs.  I do not understand how BTA and BEX work seems to be all mixed together and now includes academics and other items.  BTA should be for major work and renovations and BTA for major maintenance and technology and BOTH should be for capital work only. 

The Operations levy is at $551.9M.   I note that it is stated that this levy is about 27% of our district's budget. 

The total for both?  $1.2B.  Still breathtaking.

Also on the agenda, redefining high school credit:

This action would revise Board Policy 2420 that outlines high school grading and the awarding
of high school credits.  It adds a requirement that at least a “D” or a “passing” grade (pursuant to
the Counseling Manual’s rules about non-letter grades) is earned before credit may be awarded.
In addition, a provision is added to allow schools to request an exemption from the 150 hours of
planned instructional activities per credit requirement through the process outlined in the
Superintendent’s procedure. 

And this - South Transit North Link Construction Easement - Tieback at Roosevelt High School

This agreement is a six-year temporary underground construction easement for Sound Transit
North Link Light Rail project.  This will encumber 7,721 square feet on the south west end of the
Roosevelt High School Athletic Field at approximately 60 ‘to 90’ beneath the ground surface.  An
appraisal was completed and the value of the easement is $25,000.  Per Board Policy 6220, any
real estate contracts with a term longer that five years requires Board approval.  

Okay, but how much more will that easement affect the noise/vibration level at Roosevelt?  I live in the neighborhood and we already dread the years of tunneling and those kids at Roosevelt?  Good luck because it will be day and night.  Hmm.

Thursday, October 18th
Roadmap to College: College Application Completion Event from 3-7 p.m. at Nathan Hale High School

Resources will be provided to support students with their college applications, specifically their college essay. This includes access to computers, printers, and trained writing tutors.

Each student will be given a toolkit with step-by-step guides for applying to local colleges, fee waiver information and writing tips.

For more information and to register, visit www.roadmaptocollege.org.

Friday, October 19th
BEX Oversight Committee Meeting from 8:30 a.m-10:30 am - I wonder what has been said at these meetings about the BEX IV list? 

Saturday, October 20th
 Community Meeting with Director DeBell from 9-11am, Cafe Appassionato, 4001 21st Ave W. 

Roadmap to College: College Application Completion Event from 11 am- 1:30 p.m. at Chief Sealth High School

Family Symposium from 10 am to 3 p.m. at Chief Sealth High School.

The goal of the symposium is to support families as fundamental partners in their student’s academic success. SPS will offer workshops and other resources for families and community partners to help support student academic achievement at home and in the community.

The symposium, which runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., includes a resource fair with community booths and activities for children ages 4 and up. Families will learn how to support their children in the areas of early learning, math, reading and writing, college and career readiness, special education, essay writing for college entrance, graduation requirements and four-year planning, and financial planning. A light continental breakfast and lunch will also be provided. 

In addition, SPS enrollment specialists will be available to help parents complete early enrollment paperwork for the 2013-14 school year, and interpreters will be provided.

Florida and Affirmative Action: State To Apply Different Standards

Florida and Affirmative Action: State To Apply Different Standards:

Florida to Use Different Academic Standards for Students by Race

Another city, another affirmative action type argument

by Gene Demby Posted: October 14, 2012

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From The Huffington Post

Florida is putting in place academic standards based on the race of students in the state’s schools.

Approved this week by the Florida Board of Education, the new race-based standards affect all 2.6 million students that attend the state’s 3,629 public schools. The mandate stipulates that by 2018, 90 percent of Asian students, 88 percent of white students, 81 percent of Hispanic students and 74 percent of black students are to be reading at or above grade level. The state also wants 86 percent of white students, 92 percent of Asians, 80 percent of Hispanics and 74 percent of blacks to be at or above their math grade level, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Prop 39 Co-location Ruling by Court of Appeals: CHARTER SCHOOL NOT ENTITLED TO CHOOOSE ITS LOCATION + smf’s 2¢

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Prop 39 Co-location Ruling by Court of Appeals: CHARTER SCHOOL NOT ENTITLED TO CHOOOSE ITS LOCATION + smf’s 2¢:

Prop 39 Co-location Ruling by Court of Appeals: CHARTER SCHOOL NOT ENTITLED TO CHOOOSE ITS LOCATION + smf’s 2¢

Court Says LAUSD Offer of Facilities at Belmont H.S. Was Adequate

BY A METNEWS STAFF WRITER, METROPOLITAN NEWS-ENTERPRISE | HTTP://BIT.LY/RQDM8C

Friday, October 12, 2012  ::  The Los Angeles Unified School District did not violate the charter schools initiative by offering to locate a charter school in adjoining classrooms at Belmont High School, contrary to the wishes of the charter school’s directors, this district’s Court of Appeal ruled.
While officials of Los Angeles International Charter High School preferred to be located at Franklin High School, Justice Richard Aldrich wrote for Div. Three, nothing in Proposition 39 requires the school district to accommodate that desire.
The initiative—adopted in 1992 and officially titled the Charter Schools Act—generally requires that school districts make facilities available to charter schools so that all public school students, whether in traditional or charter schools, attend school in substantially equivalent physical surroundings. LAICHS, founded in 2005, is located in the Hermon area between Highland Park and Eagle Rock, not far from Franklin H.S.
The school presently has a lease through 2020, but has expressed concern about meeting its rent, Aldrich explained. It requested facilities assistance from LAUSD under Proposition 39 for school year 2010-11, but said it did not wish to move from the area where it is now situated.
Petition for Mandate
After LAUSD concluded it could not assist the school, LAICHS filed a petition for writ of mandate and request for money damages. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge granted relief in the form of an order requiring the district to “make an offer of facilities to [LAICHS] for the 2010-2011 school year sufficient to accommodate all of [LAICHS’] 157 in-district students in conditions reasonably equivalent to those in which the students would be accommodated if they were attending other public schools in the district.”
The district then offered to locate the students in eight adjoining classrooms at Belmont. The LAICHS then returned to court, arguing that the district did not comply with the writ because the evidence did not support the decision to locate the school at Belmont.
Following a hearing, Judge Ann I. Jones ruled that the district’s offer to locate the school at Belmont complied with the charter schools legislation and with the writ, which she ordered discharged.
‘Uncontroverted’ Evidence
In concluding the judge did not err, Aldrich agreed that there was “uncontroverted” evidence the school could not be accommodated at Franklin, as it wished, and that Belmont was the best option in the northeast area because of the availability of adjacent classrooms, access to shared facilities, and the amount of money the district was putting into upgrades at the campus.
By contrast, the justice noted, placing the school at Franklin would have required spreading the students out and/or shifting Franklin students and teachers and altering schedules in mid-year.
The “essence” of the charter school’s argument, Aldrich elaborated, was that LAUSD “abused its discretion by not offering facilities at Franklin High School, the school most of LAICHS’ in-district students would attend were they not in a charter school.” But the act, he noted, only requires that facilities be shared “fairly” and located reasonably near to the school’s desired location.
In concluding that the Belmont offer met that standard, Aldrich wrote:
“Belmont is located in Local District 4, just as Franklin High School is.  Belmont lies only three miles outside the geographic area identified by LAICHS in its facilities application.  Belmont is closer to the geographic area LAICHS desired than Wilson High School, another comparison school, and Marshall High School, one of the schools LAICHS named as an alternative.  Meanwhile, all of the high schools in the comparison group, or in Local Districts 4 and 5 near LAICHS’ requested area, were operating at or above capacity. Only Belmont met all of the Proposition 39 factors.”
In addition, he said, given the extent of the potential disruption of school life at Franklin, the district would actually be giving the charter school favorable, rather than equal, treatment if it acceded to its wishes.
Attorneys on appeal were Gregory V. Moser, Kendra J. Hall and John C. Lemmo of Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch for the plaintiff and David R. Holmquist, Mark Fall, and Nathan A. Reierson of LAUSD and Gregory G. Luke, Beverly Grossman Palmer and Byron F. Kahr of Strumwasser & Woocher for the district.

 smf full disclosure:  I went out of my way as a community member, Neighborhood Council Education chairperson,  supporter of public education and Bond Oversight Committee member to locate and arrange for Los Angeles International Charter High School’s (LAICHS) current location in  a then vacant Christian school campus in Hermon. I supported their cause; I helped sponsor their fundraising,

• I find LAICHS’ directors efforts to relocate – to find a cheaper location at the expense of the taxpayers and school district - an egregious breech of faith with our community.
• I spoke at the Board of Education to oppose LAICHS’s charter being revoked when their directors had a financial hiccup - because I believed the school was a community asset.

No good deeds go unpunished.

I find LAICHS continuing attempt to secure a Prop 39 co-location – free rent - and instance upon co-locating on their own terms – a personal affront.

And hopefully the ruling of the court sets precedent on charter operator’s abuse of co-location provisions in Prop 39.

NYC Public School Parents: WABC News on our press conference today

NYC Public School Parents: WABC News on our press conference today:

WABC News on our press conference today

Newsclips so far today of our press conference today about the violation of student privacy undertaken by the NYS Education Department, which is going to provide confidential student data to a Limited Corporation, run by the Gates Foundation and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation..

See video from ABC news below; also AP/Wall St. Journal and CBS radio, where you can comment on how you feel about this proposal.

Diane in the Evening 10-14-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

JOIN THE CAMPAIGN FOR OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

by dianerav

Whether you are a teacher, a parent, a student, a principal, a school board member, or a concerned citizen, please join the Campaign for Our Public Schools.
Speak out against high-stakes testing and privatization.
Write a letter to President Obama and other elected officials.

Here are instructions.

El Paso Cheating Scandal: who Is Next?

by dianerav

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/education/el-paso-rattled-by-scandal-of-disappeared-students.html?hpw
THIS is what Bush/Spellings/Obama/Duncan/Bloomberg/Klein hath wrought. Hardly a surprise, and it’s most likely going on all over the country, including NYC. Just a question of scale and who gets caught. In El Paso’s 

Will Ann Coulter Sue?

by dianerav

The latest satire from Students Last.

Parent Groups Seek to Block Release of Student Data

by dianerav

Parent groups in New York are trying to block the release of student data to an entity that includes Wireless Generation, a technology company owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, in collaboration with the Gates Foundation.
“On Sunday, October 14, at a press conference held at the midtown law offices of Siegel Teitelbaum & Evans LLP, attorney Norman Siegel and New York parents released a letter sent Friday to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the New York State Board of Regents, demanding that the agreement between the NY State 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 10-14-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: Join the Campaign for Our Public Schools by dianerav Whether you are a teacher, a parent, a student, a principal, a school board member, or a concerned citizen, please join the Campaign for Our Public Schools. Speak out against high-stakes testing and privatization. Write a letter to President Obama and other elected officials. Here are instructions. Lessons from a Top-Rated Charter in Minnesota by dianerav People often ask me, “Why don’t the public schools learn from the charter schools?” Good question. The top-rated charter school in Minneapolis has lessons... more »

Why Does the U.S. Department of Education Support Privatization? « Diane Ravitch's blog

Why Does the U.S. Department of Education Support Privatization? « Diane Ravitch's blog:

Why Does the U.S. Department of Education Support Privatization?

by dianerav

A reader points out that the U.S. Department of Education has the following program information on its website:
“The U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program (CSP) has invested more than $255 million in charter schools this year. The purpose of the program is to increase financial support for the startup and expansion of these public schools, build a better national understanding of the public charter school model, and increase the number of high-quality public charter schools across the nation. More information about the Charter Schools Program is available from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement here.”
Why is the DOE spending $255 million on privately managed charters that are free to exclude low-performing 

Is Michelle Rhee the Ann Coulter of Education? « Diane Ravitch's blog

Is Michelle Rhee the Ann Coulter of Education? « Diane Ravitch's blog:

Is Michelle Rhee the Ann Coulter of Education?

by dianerav

Jeff Bryant asks whether Michelle Rhee is the Ann Coulter of education.
Rhee expends great energy insisting that Democrats support the hard-right agenda of ALEC. She tries to sell the idea of a bipartisan consensus to eliminate collective bargaining rights, teacher tenure, test-based evaluation, and privatization via charters and vouchers.
Democrats would be wise to stick to their historic agenda of equality of educational opportunity and public education.
Rhee has no popular base for her agenda. Although she claims two million members, most of those “members” seem to be people (like me) who innocently signed an online petition supporting teachers. When she held a rally in Hartford, Connecticut, last fall, no one showed but media and a handful of onlookers.
What she does have is a load of money, contributed by Rupert Murdoch, the Waltons, and assorted rightwing 

Taking the Election to School; You Are InvitedSave Our Schools

Taking the Election to School; You Are InvitedSave Our Schools:

Taking the Election to School; You Are Invited

by Server

Taking the Election to School:

Exclusive Webcast on edweek.org
Register Now!
Taking the Election to School: Making Education a Focus of the 2012 Election
Education Advisers to Obama and Romney to Debate at Teachers College, Columbia University
To Register…
http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/election2012/debate_on_education.html
The Debaters:
Jon Schnur, co-founder of America Achieves. Previously, Mr. Schnur co-founded and served as CEO of New Leaders for New Schools. He has also served as senior adviser to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and co-chairman of the Obama for America Education Policy Committee. @BarackObama
Phil Handy, higher education co-chair of Romney’s Education Policy Advisory Group. Mr. Handy is CEO of Strategic Industries; former chairman of the Florida State Board of Education; twice appointed by President George W. Bush as vice chairman of the National Board for Education Sciences; and a member of the board of directors of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. @MittRomney
Moderator:
Susan H. Fuhrman, President, Teachers College @TeachersCollege

Ed Notes Online: Would you hand your child's private information over to Murdoch Owned and Klein Run Wireless Generation?

Ed Notes Online: Would you hand your child's private information over to Murdoch Owned and Klein Run Wireless Generation?:

Would you hand your child's private information over to Murdoch Owned and Klein Run Wireless Generation?

by ed notes online

Jack Cavanagh's first press conference

Julie Cavanagh, a special education teacher in Brooklyn, explained: “As a public school teacher I am concerned not only for the privacy of my students, and the way this data will be provided to for-profit enterprises, but I am also worried that this national database may be used to blacklist members of the teaching profession.

Several high-ranking former executives and employees of the News Corporation in the UK were being 

NYC Public School Parents: Attorney and Parents Send Letter to NYS Attorney General & Education Officials Questioning Legality of Providing Confidential Student Data to Limited Corporation

NYC Public School Parents: Attorney and Parents Send Letter to NYS Attorney General & Education Officials Questioning Legality of Providing Confidential Student Data to Limited Corporation:

Attorney and Parents Send Letter to NYS Attorney General & Education Officials Questioning Legality of Providing Confidential Student Data to Limited Corporation

by Leonie Haimson

We had a press conference at noon at Norman Siegel’s law offices today; lots of TV cameras were there and WNYC radio so watch/listen for the story tonight and tomorrow. 

The letter Norman sent Friday to the Attorney General and the Regents is posted here: http://bit.ly/W6H2qV 

For Immediate Release:  October 14, 2012

For more information contact:

Norman Siegel: (347) 907-0867; NSiegel@stellp.com

Leonie Haimson: (917) 435-9329; leonie@classsizematters.org

Attorney and Parents Send Letter to NYS Attorney General & Education Officials Questioning Legality of Providing Confidential Student Data to Limited Corporation and Demanding Parental Right to Consent

On Sunday, October 14, at a press conference held at the midtown law offices of Siegel Teitelbaum & Evans LLP, attorney Norman Siegel and New York parents released a letter sent Friday to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the New York State Board of Regents, demanding that the agreement between the NY State Education Department and the “Shared Learning Collaborative” be released, setting out the conditions and restrictions on the use of confidential student and teacher data to be provided to this limited corporation.  The letter asked that parents be informed exactly what information concerning their children will be shared with this corporation, why the transfer of this data does not violate federal privacy protections, and demanding that the parents have the right to withhold their children’s information from being shared.

Background: In Aug. 25, 2011, NY State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli informed the NY State Education Department that he was rejecting its proposed no-bid contract with Wireless Generation to build a state data system, composed of confidential student and teacher information because of privacy concerns. Wireless Generation is a subsidiary of News Corporation.  Several high-ranking former executives and employees of the News Corporation in the UK were being investigated for violations of privacy and bribing public officials.  As the State Comptroller wrote, "in light of the significant ongoing investigations and continuing revelations with respect to News Corporation, we are returning the contract with Wireless Generation unapproved."  Since then, the scandal has continued to grow, with the number of indicted News Corporation officials expanding in number.

Yet four months later, in December, the NY Board of Regents approved NYSED’s plan to provide this confidential student and teacher data to a limited corporation, called the Shared Learning Collaborative LLC (SLC). The Gates Foundation awarded $76.5 million to form this LLC, with $44 million going to Wireless Generation, to design and operate the system.  According to the SLC’s website, New York is one of five states – along with Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, and North Carolina – participating in Phase I of this project, starting in late 2012. The pilot districts are Jefferson County School District (CO); Unit 5 (Normal, IL); District 87 (Bloomington, IL); Everett (MA);  Guilford County Schools (NC), and NYC. Four more states – Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana – have committed to join Phase II in 2013.  Though New York City is one of the pilot districts, the city’s parents have been told nothing about this project, and the state has not shared its agreement with the SLC about the use and protection of this data, despite several requests to do so.

Apart from the lack of parental disclosure and privacy concerns, the SLC website makes it clear that this student data will be used to help companies develop and market educational products.  However FERPA, or the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, appears not to allow the sharing of confidential student information for commercial purposes.

Leonie Haimson, the Executive Director of Class Size Matters, said: “Just this week in Washington the Federal Trade Commission announced sweeping new protections for children’s privacy data. The reason is simple: abuses are rampant, and once a child’s identity is in the marketplace it cannot be called back or protected. We stand with the FTC, every major privacy advocacy group, and all concerned parents in opposing any action to relax child privacy protections, including this plan by the NY State Education Department and the NYC Department of Education, to share confidential information about our public school students without their parents’ knowledge or consent.” 

Janice Bloom, a member of ParentVoicesNY and a parent of a kindergarten student and a 3^rd grader in a Brooklyn public school, said, “I am outraged that the state and the city would have agreed to share our children’s confidential data with a private corporation, without telling us anything about it. I am even more upset that this data is apparently being made available to companies for the purpose of marketing commercial products to the public school system. Parents need to be fully informed of the purpose and ramifications of this project, and provided with the right to opt out.  I do not believe that public schools should be in the business of exploiting children for profit.” 

Karen Sprowal, the mother of a 4^th grader, added: “As a parent of a special needs child, I need to be especially vigilant as to where my child’s information ends up, who gains access to it and for what reason.  I think that the State and the City owe a detailed explanation to me and other NYC parents what the purpose of this project is, as well as an apology for having decided to go forward without telling us a word about it in advance.”   

As Nancy Cauthen, a member of the organization Change the Stakes and the mother of a 6th and a 10^th grader in NYC public schools said: “The erosion of privacy that this project represents is part and parcel of the pillaging of public education for private gain.  The fact that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is involved makes me even more fearful that my child’s privacy will be violated and abused.” 

Julie Cavanagh, a special education teacher in Brooklyn, explained: “As a public school teacher I am concerned not only for the privacy of my students, and the way this data will be provided to for-profit enterprises, but I am also worried that this national database may be used to blacklist members of the teaching profession.  Though the National Academy of Sciences and other expert groups have concluded that teacher evaluation systems based on student test scores are not to be trusted, the Gates Foundation seems intent on foisting these systems on the nation.  When the DOE’s unreliable teacher data reports were released, Murdoch’s NY Post not only published them in the paper, but tracked down and harassed teachers who had received low ratings. ” 

Tracy Pyper, the Advocacy Chair of the Westchester/East Putnam Region PTA, said:   "I was extremely troubled to learn that NY State has decided to hand over student personal information to Rupert Murdoch's Wireless Generation, without asking or even telling their parents about this.  And while I realize that at this point, only NYC data is being provided, it is just a matter of time before all of our children in NY State may have their confidential information shared.  Once parents are made aware of how the state is making critical decisions about our children’s private information, without parental consent, they will be very concerned.  I strongly urge the State Education Department to halt all further action until they can explain exactly what personal information will be provided to Wireless Generation, what safeguards they are taking to protect the information, and most importantly, give parents the right to opt out.” 

Norman Siegel, attorney, concluded:  “The risks are real and immediate. The State Education Department has a fundamental responsibility to protect the privacy rights of public school children and their families. Before a single child's information is turned over to the Shared Learning Collaborative (a joint venture of the Gates Foundation and Wireless Generation LLC), our education officials must guarantee that no harm will come to New York school children by meeting the following requirements: 

·         Publish the agreement with SLC in printed and electronic form, include a thorough  explanation of its purpose and provisions, and make it available to parents and local school authorities statewide; 

·         Hold hearings throughout the state to explain the agreement, answer questions from the public, obtain informed comment, and gauge public reaction; 

·         Notify all parents of the impending disclosure, and provide them with a right to consent; 

·         Define what rights families or individuals will have to obtain relief if harmed by improper use or release of their private information, including how claims can be made; 

·         Agree to allow no disclosure of public school records until the State Education Department and the NYC Department of Education meets all of its ethical, security, and statutory obligations to the parents and public school children of the city and state; 

·         Ensure that the privacy interest of public school children and their families are put above the interests of the Shared Learning Collaborative, News Corporation and its agents and subsidiaries.”

Dear Teacher, Johnny Is Skipping the Test Save Our Schools

Dear Teacher, Johnny Is Skipping the Test Save Our Schools:

Dear Teacher, Johnny Is Skipping the Test

by Server

Dear Teacher, Johnny Is Skipping the Test

By SONI SANGHA
Originally Published October 12, 2012. The New York Times
LATER this month, children at 169 New York City elementary and middle schools will, for the second time in a calendar year, take a 40-minute “field test” in math and English language arts to determine which questions will go on future state standardized exams.
Lori Chajet’s daughter will not be among them, though the tests are scheduled to be given at her school, Public School 321, in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Nor will many students at Public School 261 in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, or children at schools across District 6 in northern Manhattan.
Ms. Chajet’s objection is not to testing itself, but to the way tests are being used to evaluate schools and teachers.
“I want my school to use tests to help instruction, to help find out if kids don’t know fractions,” she said. “I don’t want my child to feel like her score will decide if her teacher has a job or not.”
Ms. Chajet is one of a small but growing number of parent activists in New York City opposed to the system’s 

Citywide testing resistance strategy session Nov 2 Parents United for Responsible Education

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » Citywide testing resistance strategy session Nov 2:

Citywide testing resistance strategy session Nov 2

by admin

When FairTest’s Monty Neill comes to town on Friday, Nov 2, for a public forum on testing issues at 7 pm at St Xavier University, he has also agreed to help lead an afternoon citywide strategy session on anti-testing resistance – how we can work across groups, unite behind some common messages, share resources and otherwise build a strong testing resistance in Chicago.
The session will be from 2 to 4 pm on Friday Nov 2nd at the CTU office, 4th floor in the Merchandise Mart.
We realize that this timing will make it difficult or impossible for teachers to attend, but Monty will be meeting separately with the CTU as well. We are hoping that leaders and organizers for parents, education advocacy and community groups and others who would like to become more active around and learn more about testing issues will attend.
We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to meet and brainstorm with leader of the the nation’s anti-testing movement. (The qr code above will take you to the National Resolution on High-Stakes Testing, which Monty spearheaded, with input from PURE, Parents Across America, and others and which you and your group should endorse if you haven’t already!).
Please let me know if you intend to attend or if you have questions: pure@pureparents.org.
Thanks!

Traumatic lives of students affect teacher’s evaluation:

Traumatic lives of students affect teacher’s evaluation

Posted by Valerie Strauss on October 14, 2012 at 12:30 pm

Here is the story of Rebecca Cusick, a fourth-grade teacher in Fall River, Massachusetts, and her “value-added” evaluation score. This assessment method uses students’ standardized test scores to determine a teacher’s effectiveness. Assessment experts say the method is unreliable, but reformers still insist on using it. In state after state, teacher evaluations derived through this method are sometimes labeling very effective teachers as ineffective, and vice versa.

By Rebecca Cusick

I am crushed. I got my MCAS [Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System] growth score for last year in an email. My heart sank when I saw the score, my entire year summed up in a number. In the eyes of the state, I am not even “average.” In fact, they probably believe I did my students more harm than good.