California should delay Common Core tests for at least 2 years | EdSource Today

California should delay Common Core tests for at least 2 years | EdSource Today:

California should delay Common Core tests for at least 2 years

May 19th, 2014 | Add a Comment | 
By Doug McRae / commentary

Doug McRae

Since June 2011 when California joined the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, the target date for implementation of computer-adaptive Common Core tests has been spring 2015. With that date now fast approaching, are California schools ready?

My answer is “no.” In my view, the earliest date for valid, reliable, comparable, fair scores from a computerized Common Core statewide testing program will be spring 2017, or possibly even spring 2018.

The fundamentals

There are two fundamental requirements that I believe must be met before California implements Common Core computerized statewide assessments:

• Common core instruction must be be implemented for all students the entire school year before tests are implemented in the spring.
• Technology, including human support, needs to be available for all schools during a relatively short window (say 4-5 weeks) when statewide tests will be administered.

Will Common Core instruction be implemented by 2014-15? The answer in most districts is clear: No. Instructional materials for math were approved by the State Board of Education January 2014, and it’s likely that many local districts will need upwards of two years to conduct local adoptions and teacher professional development for the specific materials they adopt. Instructional materials for English Language Arts/English Language Development standards are not scheduled for approval by the State Board until November 2015, with local district adoptions and professional development to follow.

The earliest school year for full Common Core instruction in math will be 2015-16 with statewide assessments in spring 2016. The earliest year for full instruction in Common Core standards for English language arts will be 2016-17 with statewide assessments in spring 2017. Dave Gordon, Sacramento County Superintendent, perhaps said it best in a Sacramento Bee article in midCalifornia should delay Common Core tests for at least 2 years | EdSource Today:

Opposition to Common Core Growing Among NEA Members | Truth in American Education

Opposition to Common Core Growing Among NEA Members | Truth in American Education:

Opposition to Common Core Growing Among NEA Members

Filed in Common Core State Standards by Shane Vander Hart on May 19, 2014 • 0 Comments

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NEA President Dennis Van Roekel

Mike Antonucci notes an increase in opposition to the Common Core among members of the National Education Association seen in a recent survey they commissioned.  He writes at Intercepts:

The National Education Association intensified its backing last fall with the results of a poll and focus group of 1,200 members conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. The union proudly noted that “more than 75 percent of NEA members either support the standards wholeheartedly or with some reservations.”

The breakdown of the findings was 26% in wholehearted support, 50% in support with reservations, 13% without an opinion, and only 11% opposed.

Even while NEA was touting these figures it was conducting a wider web survey, encompassing almost 17,000 members in 33 states. The results of that survey showed a worrisome trend for the union and for Common Core supporters in general.

Support for the standards fell only slightly, down to 71%. Opposition, however, solidified to almost triple the previous number. A full 29% of NEA members do not support CCSS.

NEA’s response to this will be a more expansive version of what we have already seen. Since February, the party line has been to support the standards while denouncing their 

Opposition to Common Core Growing Among NEA Members | Truth in American Education:

Education Roundup for 5-16-14 - Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education)

Education Roundup for 5-16-14 - Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education):

Education Roundup for Week Ending May 16, 2014

SACRAMENTO—The California Department of Education (CDE) today issued this week's roundup of education-related announcements of public interest.

CDE Staffer Receives National Award

The CDE congratulates one of its own this week, as specialist Lesley Taylor was selected as the 2014 recipient of the U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools Director's Award.

The honor is bestowed annually to a state education agency official who does the most to advance green schools in their state. The Director's Award recognizes exemplary efforts to administer the federal Green Ribbon Schools recognition award, which encourages schools and districts to make comprehensive environmental and sustainability education available to all students in healthy and efficient facilities.

Taylor was noted for her efforts in developing a new online application, a feedback scorecard, a California Green Ribbon Schools program, and planning for the 2013 Best Practices Tour. Taylor also took extraordinary steps to recruit schools, host Webinars, revamp CDE's Green Ribbon Web pages, conduct social media outreach, and coordinate with partners. In 2014, three California schools and one district were named National Green Ribbon Schools, and two schools and two districts were named California Green Ribbon Schools in its inaugural program.

The federal Green Ribbon Schools program said her actions serve as a model for other states to emulate. Taylor will be honored in July during a national recognition event for her efforts to promote environmental stewardship, health, and sustainability, and for inspiring schools to aim high.

California Students Win Poster Contest

The CDE has selected nine pieces of art submitted by students statewide as winners of the "My Healthy School Meal" poster contest. California students in each grade were encouraged to draw pictures of how their breakfast or lunch has become healthier under new federal guidelines. This resulted in colorful pictures of nutritious food along with messages on the importance of eating healthy.

The contest was designed to increase awareness of healthy changes in the updated federal New Meal Pattern (NMP) . The NMP—required by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010—increases fruits, vegetables, and whole grain foods while decreasing sodium and calories in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs.

Of the 850 submissions, the nine winning posters were selected based on their creativity, craftsmanship, visual appeal, and representation of the NMP. The artwork by the nine students is available on the CDE NMP Resources and Trainings Web page. Only the students' first names are displayed to protect their privacy and security.

School food authorities can get free copies of the winning posters to use in school cafeterias and campuses to promote the NMP by completing the Poster Contest Order Form (PDF).

# # # #

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

Tom Torlakson for State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Why Did Corporate Reformers Overlook Newark's Children and Families? | John Thompson

Why Did Corporate Reformers Overlook Newark's Children and Families? | John Thompson:

Why Did Corporate Reformers Overlook Newark's Children and Families?

Posted: 05/19/2014 2:20 pm EDT Updated: 1 hour ago

As the climax approached in Dale Russakoff's compelling New Yorker article,"Schooled," a Newark mother asked the key question of Superintendent Cami Anderson, "Did you think this through with our children in mind?" The mother then questioned Anderson's motives. After all, corporate school reformers energetically set out to demolish the city's schools but they had not adequately planned a way to replace them.

Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one. As incomprehensible as it seems, Newark proved to be one more example of technocrats who have strong feelings about what a school system should look like, but who have little idea about why inner city schools work the way they do. Reformers have long proclaimed their intent to bulldoze the education "status quo" so "disruptive innovation" would magically release "transformative change." But they are clueless about what it would take to build a barn, must less an urban school system.

Russakoff's excellent account of the implementation of the "One Newark" reform is a case study of what happens when sincere outsiders, with little or no knowledge of teaching and learning, try to implement their ideals. Sure enough, the mother had a right to be suspicious. If elites were redesigning schools for their own children, they would have done more than spout off the conventional spin that was drafted by their high-dollar publicity agents and consultants. But, when experimenting on other people's children, Newark's market-driven reformers played it by ear and ramrodded their agendas before other stakeholders could realize what was being imposed.

Cami Anderson exemplifies the essence of accountability-driven school reformers. She taught just long enough to add support for the maxim of "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." Anderson, as well as former mayor Cory Booker, Governor Chris Christie, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, sincerely believe that they lead a righteous crusade. Zuckerberg did not claim knowledge of the inner city, but Booker, Christie, and Anderson clearly were less concerned about battling the educational effects of poverty than defeating teachers and other special interests who supposedly won't do "the right thing."

Russakoff vividly recalls the story of how Booker and Christie recruited Zuckerberg and other "venture philanthropists," who sought to recreate Newark schools in their preferred image. They leaped before they looked and, believe it or not, they didn't even hire a superintendent until they were a year into the rushed process. So, by the time they hired Anderson, her job was playing "sixteen-dimensional chess." She had to Why Did Corporate Reformers Overlook Newark's Children and Families? | John Thompson:

Big money pours into California schools chief race as challenger gains steam | State News | FresnoBee.com

Big money pours into California schools chief race as challenger gains steam | State News | FresnoBee.com:

Big money pours into California schools chief race as challenger gains steam

BY ALEXEI KOSEFF

akoseff@sacbee.comMay 19, 2014 Updated 6 hours ago

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/05/19/3932475/big-money-pours-into-california.html?sp=/99/406/552/#storylink=cpy

 Among California’s eight statewide constitutional offices, the superintendent of public instruction is a peculiar case.

Officially the state’s only nonpartisan elected position, the head of public schools has nonetheless been a safely Democratic seat for decades, thanks at least in part to the backing of California’s powerful teachers unions.

That bodes well for incumbent Tom Torlakson, a former Democratic legislator from Contra Costa County elected as state superintendent in 2010, who could ride a wave of strong labor support to reelection as early as the June 3 primary.

But surging support from advocates of educational change, the private sector and newspaper editorial boards for one of Torlakson’s two challengers – former charter schools executive Marshall Tuck – has given a jolt to the race in the midst of a relatively quiet 2014 election season.

“This is going to be a low-turnout primary,” said Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College, “and low-turnout primaries can take unusual turns.”

The emergence of Tuck has made the state superintendent race into a potential proxy for a larger national debate over education policy that has pitted school unions against wealthy education advocates pushing for changes opposed by teachers. Weeks before the primary, it already has drawn millions in union spending and interest from high-profile players including former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, one of Tuck’s mentors.

It will be an uphill battle for Tuck, a political novice making his first run for public office. He is campaigning to turn around California’s perennially low-ranking schools through new practices, such as greater curriculum flexibility for local districts, a longer review period before teachers obtain tenure, and increased parent participation in Sacramento policy-making.

“It became very clear to me … that there were way too many barriers in Sacramento that made it difficult for principals and teachers to do their jobs,” Tuck said. “Without changing the politics of education in Sacramento, we’ll never educate all kids.”

Torlakson disputes that characterization. He points to a new school funding formula that provides additional money to districts with a large population of low-income and English-learner students and the adoption of the Common Core curriculum standards as recent successes for California.

Torlakson said that, in a second term, he would focus on continuing to make those programs work, as well as developing California’s early-learning, career technical education and after-schoolBig money pours into California schools chief race as challenger gains steam | State News | FresnoBee.com:

 Superintendent Tom Torlakson Web Site

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/05/19/3932475/big-money-pours-into-california.html?sp=/99/406/552/#storylink=cpy

Many teachers face a retirement savings penalty when leaving the profession - The Washington Post

Many teachers face a retirement savings penalty when leaving the profession - The Washington Post:

Many teachers face a retirement savings penalty when leaving the profession

By Andrew J. Rotherham and Chad Aldeman, Published: May 16

Andrew J. Rotherham is a co-founder and partner at Bellwether Education, a nonprofit working with education organizations. Chad Aldeman is an associate partner at Bellwether and editor of teacherpensions.org.

Americans are struggling to save for retirement at a time of still-high unemployment rates, rising college costs and stagnant wages. For many workers, individual circumstances lead to inadequate savings. But for public school teachers, poorly structured retirement policieshinder their future security.

At more than 3 million, teachers are the largest class of U.S. workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Unfortunately, policymakers are undermining the future retirement security of this large and important group of workers. In our recent paper, “Friends Without Benefits: How States Systematically Shortchange Teachers’ Retirement and Threaten Their Retirement Security,” we used pension-plan assumptions for all 50 states and the District of Columbia to estimate that, in the median state, more than half of all teachers won’t qualify for even a minimal pension. Fewer than one in five teachers will work a full career and reach the pension plan’s “normal retirement age.” Most will leave their public service with little retirement savings.

This story doesn’t fit with the popular perception of teacher pensions as more generous than private-sector retirement benefits. That’s because the real story of teacher pensions today involves a small number of relatively big winners and a much larger group of losers.

For instance, in Maryland if you teach for a full career you can expect to earn a pension worth about $3,297 a month, nearly $40,000 a year, plus adjustments for cost of living. But only a quarter of Maryland’s teachers will stay a full career and earn that benefit. According to Maryland’s estimates, 57 percent will leave without a pension Many teachers face a retirement savings penalty when leaving the profession - The Washington Post:

Mending School | Taking Note

Mending School | Taking Note:

Mending School

by JOHN MERROW on 19. MAY, 2014 in 2014 BLOGS

When do complaints about ‘too much’ standardized bubble testing become strong enough to bring about change?  Now that some students are spending more than 10% of their school ‘instructional’ time on test-prep and testing, have we reached the tipping point?  Now that some students are reported to be taking 20 different bubble tests during a school year, are we there?  With some students taking bubble tests in art, music and physical education, have we gone over the cliff?

Our kids are already the most tested in the world, and now the Common Core tests are on the doorstep. Is anyone in power demanding that schools swap out tests–eliminate one for every one they add?  Or eliminate two when adding one?  Or sampling a la NAEP?  Those voices are out there, but they are hard-to-hear and hardly heard.

Robert Frost is one of my favorite poets, and his “Mending Wall” inspired this effort, which I call “Mending School.”

Something there is that doesn’t love more bubble tests
And students bubbling and learning how to bubble
When they might be making robots or reading Frost.
They take test upon test in arid classrooms,
Mixing memory and guesswork, stirring
Dull anger and gnawing fear of failure.
The work of test-makers is another thing:
Teachers come after them and make repair
Where they have ground down creativity.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill,
And on a day we meet to walk and talkMending School | Taking Note:

5-19-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):

To campaign or not? Tactics vary in LAUSD school board race

Click to view slideshow. Not all of the seven candidates vying for the vacant seat on the Los Angeles Unified school board are turning up the heat as the special election on June 3 heads to the finish line. To reach voters in South LA’s District 1, which as been without a board member since Marguerite LaMotte died in December, four of the candidates report they are campaigning by sending out direc

2 5min 

Johnson wins an eclectic array of support for school board seat

Alex Johnson District 1 School Board Candidate Among the seven candidates running for LA Unified’s District 1 board seat, Alex Johnson, a senior deputy for LA County Supervisor Mark-Ridley Thomas, is one of the most heavily endorsed candidates in the race. His long list of supporters may appear impressive, perhaps due to his boss’ powerful connections. But a closer look reveals that some of his en

by Yana Gracile / 7min 

Analysis: LA Unified still waiting for an opener from UTLA

Conspicuous by their absence from last week’s school board meeting were representatives from UTLA, the teachers union, discussing a new contract. While many of the labor partners who work with LA Unified have begin contract talks or submitted their opening proposals, UTLA has maintained radio silence. At least, that’s how it appears to the public. The only outward suggestions that union officials

2 by Michael Janofsky / 1h 

All-girls school in LAUSD struggling to escape legal limbo

New Village Girls Academy The problem for girls is boys. Several years ago Elizabeth Hicks, a counseling coordinator for LA Unified, had an idea, to open the first all-girls traditional public school in California in more than a decade. It would be a rigorous STEM academy, requiring girls to take science, math and computer classes from sixth grade through high school, and based in one of the distr

2 by Vanessa Romo / 1h 

Another week, another LA Unified school board meeting

It’s hard to believe after last week’s marathon 10-hour session, but LA Unified school board members will be meet again tomorrow with a full agenda. Most of the issues before the board are much less contentious than those addressed a week ago. They include: Board member Bennett Kayser’s effort to form a task force charged with replacing the district’s potentially asthma-triggering cleaning suppli

2 by Vanessa Romo / 12min hide  //  save

Morning Read: Dept of Justice looks at services for ESL learners

Justice Dept. investigating California’s services for English learner students The U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is looking into whether California is adequately overseeing the education of 1.4 million students in the state who are still learning English, according to court records. The investigation began after civil rights lawyers filed a lawsuit in April 2013 alleging Californ

2 42min 

5-17-14 This Week in LA - School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):LAUSD school board candidate drops out, replaced by her twinBarbara Torres is sworn into office by Local 99 Treasurer Maggie Johnson Barbara Torres, the president of SEIU 99, one of the most powerful unions in the Los Angeles school district, said today she is stepping aside in the 2015 race for school boa

by mike simpson / 42min 

5-19-14 Wait What?

Wait What?:

Wait What? 

Dannel Malloy and Arne Duncan will hold press event in Hartford Today – May 19, 2014

Governor Dannel “Dan” Malloy, who introduced the most anti-teacher, anti-public education “reform legislation” of any Democratic governor in the nation will join Arne Duncan, the anti-teacher, anti-public education United States Secretary of Education, for a joint appearance in Harford today. The press event will feature Governor Malloy and United States Secretary of Education Duncan, along […] Th

12 by jonpelto / 1h 

5-18-14 Wait What?

Wait What?:   Wait What? Wendy Lecker and Diane Ravitch on the 60th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of EducationDiane Ravitch, the nation’s leading voice for public education explains, As segregation grows worse than it has been for decades, the problems are worsened by current “reforms.” School privatization intensifies segregation, high-stakes testing creates cause for closing struggling schools i

by mike simpson / 1h