Mitchell Robinson: Some unpopular thoughts on teacher evaluation | Eclectablog

Some unpopular thoughts on teacher evaluation | Eclectablog:

Some unpopular thoughts on teacher evaluation

I’ve been working on teacher evaluation for most of my career as a teacher, administrator, and teacher educator; first being evaluated, then doing the evaluation as an assistant principal and subject area coordinator, then helping design a state-wide beginning teacher evaluation initiative. After nearly 40 years in education, all I can say is that the current system is the worst I’ve ever seen.

If the goal of these systems was to get rid of the so-called “bad teachers” that supposedly exist in great numbers in our schools, it has been spectacularly ineffective. Every form of teacher evaluation winds up identifying only between 1-3% of teachers as “ineffective”–yet we continue to spend precious money and time in the vain attempt to purge the system of these “bad teachers”.

Here’s the truth–it’s a colossal waste of time to keep pouring good money after bad in this attempt. Why?

Not because there are zero weak teachers–there are some, though as most will acknowledge, a surprisingly small number.

Because bad teachers self-select, and weed themselves out of the classroom well before any evaluation system “catches” them. Why?

Because the job is too hard to do it without finding any level of satisfaction or fulfillment–and the Some unpopular thoughts on teacher evaluation | Eclectablog:

Bigfoot and Public Education | Reclaim Reform

Bigfoot and Public Education | Reclaim Reform:

Bigfoot and Public Education

Approximately 35% of Americans believe that President Trump is doing an acceptable job. The same percentage, though not necessarily the same people, believes in Bigfoot.

Betsey DeVos is Secretary of Education. Rick Perry is Secretary of Energy. Jeff Sessions is Attorney General. Ben Carson is Secretary of Housing & Urban Development. Rex Tillerson is Secretary of State. Steven Mnuchin is Secretary of the Treasury. Sonny Purdue is Secretary of Agriculture. Ryan Zinke is Secretary of the Interior. Scott Pruitt heads the Environmental Protection Agency. The American leadership list goes on. All of these people have the same responsibility which is to dismantle their respective agencies as they exist for their given purposes. Yes, President Trump appointed them, but they were all corporate-chosen and approved by both houses of Congress – nearly all were granted approval with votes from both political parties.

Yet, approximately 35% of Americans believe that President Trump is doing an acceptable job.

Why?

Mass propaganda presented by mass media sponsored by immense corporate wealth has defeated actual public education.

Ask Bigfoot.

(At this point we must do all we can to resist the corruption called government. Do it locally and at-large. Do whatever you are are capable of doing as you see fit. We have each other – no more, no less. #RESISTANCE #resist.)

 Bigfoot and Public Education | Reclaim Reform:

Was the most expensive school board race in history all about the money? — PS connect

Was the most expensive school board race in history all about the money? — PS connect:

Was the most expensive school board race in history all about the money?

When New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg spent half a million dollars to kick Steve Zimmer off the LA School Board, he picked up the phone. In a departure from his self-described “conflict averse” nature, Zimmer wanted to pitch his version of collaborative school reform to the “education mayor”.

The staffer screening the call told Zimmer that Bloomberg didn’t know who he was.

Sure he did. He just donated half a million dollars to beat me, Zimmer explained.

But the aide insisted.

Bloomberg, along with other billionaires, were disrupting public education. Anybody who wasn’t with them was facelessly labeled as the status quo.

That was four years ago. With the help of the teachers union and a small army of grassroots activists, the massive infusions of cash were understood as attacks on their community. Zimmer prevailed.

Last month, in a redo of the most expensive school board race in history, Zimmer lost to a candidate backed by the billionaire boys club, Nick Melvoin.

What changed in four years? That's an important question to anyone hoping to beat the deep pocketed privatizers in future elections.

Los Angeles is the biggest school district in the country that still elects its school board. That makes it harder to control by so-called education reformers, who seek to dismantle the public school system in order to create a marketplace of school choices, shifting billions of dollars in public moneys into private hands. Investment in elections here can pay huge dividends.

But the lessons to learn from Zimmer's defeat and the sweeping takeover of the LAUSD school board by charter school backers can apply anywhere.

“If all politics are local, then maybe public schools are micro-climates, being such an integral part of a family’s daily existence.”

Public Schools Are Micro-Climates

Los Angeles has been described, not so much as a city, but a collection of communities, each with its own unique identity. Its schools are sprawled across 700 square miles: urban pockets of extreme poverty, areas of extreme wealth, and a lot in between.

Of the seven school board seats, none encompasses as diverse a range of Was the most expensive school board race in history all about the money? — PS connect:

Parents and Educators Reject NY State Education Department’s Flawed ESSA Proposal & Process NYC Public School Parents

NYC Public School Parents: Parents and Educators Reject NY State Education Department’s Flawed ESSA Proposal & Process in Advance of Brooklyn Hearing:
Parents and Educators Reject NY State Education Department’s Flawed ESSA Proposal & Process in Advance of Brooklyn Hearing

Parents and Educators Reject NY State Education Department’s Flawed ESSA Proposal & Process in Advance of Brooklyn Hearing

WHEN: Tuesday, June 6, 5:30 PM

WHERE: In front of the Prospect Heights Educational Campus, 883 Classon Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225. (2/3 trains to Eastern Parkway station, near Brooklyn Museum)

WHAT: The federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is the successor legislation to the Bush-era No Child Left Behind (NCLB) bill. Because ESSA gives states more latitude in defining their school accountability systems than did NCLB, New York’s families and educators were looking forward to the state creating an accountability system that incentivized schools to provide children with a high quality, well-rounded education. Instead, the New York State Education Department, under Commissioner MaryEllen Elia, is proposing that the Board of Regents adopt a system that doubles down on testing, counts opt out students as having failed the exams for the purpose of school accountability, and guarantees the continuation of narrowed test-prep curriculum that has spurred the nation’s largest test refusal movement.

WHY: To let the public and Board of Regents know that parents and educators reject NYSED’s proposal and the flawed process which led to it, including a “think tank” composed of working groups where NYSED controlled the discussion and pre-ordained the damaging outcome.   

WHO: Speakers to include public school parents Lisa Rudley, Executive Director and founding member of New York State Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE); Jeanette Deutermann, founder of Long Island Opt Out and NYSAPE; Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters; Kemala Karmen, NYC Opt Out.  Both Haimson and Karmen were members of the NYSED ESSA Think Tank working groups.

VISUALS: Parents and educators, signs, banners, giant keys

CONTACT: Kemala Karmen |  917-807-9969 | kemala@nycpublic.org

MEDIA ALERT

NYC Public School Parents: Parents and Educators Reject NY State Education Department’s Flawed ESSA Proposal & Process in Advance of Brooklyn Hearing:

NYSAPE is a grassroots coalition with over 50 parent and educator groups across the state.

Class Size Matters is a non-profit organization that advocates for smaller classes in NYC’s public schools and the nation as a whole.

Parents outraged by LGBTQ page in high school yearbook / Queerty

Parents outraged by LGBTQ page in high school yearbook / Queerty:

Parents outraged by LGBTQ page in high school yearbook

Ealier this month, several parents were furious and disgusted to discover a yearbook page dedicated to Atasocita High School’s LGBTQ students.

In order to be more inclusive, yearbook editors profiled four queer youngsters, who shared their experiences coming out over a rainbow-hued background.

Now, irate parents have been writing into Atascocita.com to threaten and insult the yearbook’s Editor-in-Chief, recent graduate Kyle Armour.

“People were saying he was dumb, not smart, that I should not be proud of who he is,” said Kyle’s mom, Kimblerly Hicks Armour.

Related: Youth group uses disturbing transphobic message to advertise on Facebook

“I’m very proud of who he is. He did take a stand and make something diverse for the community and to our school,” she told the Houston Chronicle. 

One user named SteelerNation argued the section was insulting, and that LGBTQ students were “jamming their crap down our throats!”

“We can’t pray in school,” lynnsgirl said, “but now we have a section strictly dedicated to the gay community explaining how, when and why they came ‘out.’ I’m honestly disgusted and embarrassed.”

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Natalie Mendoza is one of the students featured on the yearbook page, and she’s upset by parents’ comments. Users were critical of both her coming out story and her chosen quote: “I can turn your girl.”

“My friends know my sexual orientation and love and respect me regardless,” she said. “There was Parents outraged by LGBTQ page in high school yearbook / Queerty:

How a ‘shadow’ universe of charities joined with political warriors to fuel Trump’s rise - The Washington Post

How a ‘shadow’ universe of charities joined with political warriors to fuel Trump’s rise - The Washington Post:

How a ‘shadow’ universe of charities joined with political warriors to fuel Trump’s rise 

In August, Horowitz took advantage of his ties to the campaign to offer a proposal for spending billions on school vouchers for poor, largely minority children — who Horowitz said had been underserved by Democrats. Miller made sure it became part of Trump’s platform — along with a proposed ban on Muslims, a border wall and other ideas long supported by the Freedom Center and its ideological allies.

The crowd rose to its feet and roared its approval as Sen. Jeff Sessions bounded onto the stage at the Breakers, an exclusive resort in Palm Beach, Fla. Stephen Miller, an aide to the Alabama Republican, handed him a glass trophy honoring his bravery as a lawmaker.

“Heyyyy!” Sessions yelled out to the crowd.

The ceremony that day, in November 2014, turned out to be a harbinger: It brought together an array of hard-right activists and a little-known charity whose ideas would soon move from the fringes of the conservative movement into the heart of the nation’s government.

The man behind the event was David Horowitz, a former ’60s radical who became an intellectual godfather to the far right through his writings and his work at a charity, the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Since its formation in 1988, the Freedom Center has helped cultivate a generation of political warriors seeking to upend the Washington establishment. These warriors include some of the most powerful and influential figures in the Trump administration: Attorney General Sessions, senior policy adviser Miller and White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon.

Long before Trump promised to build a wall, ban Muslims and abandon the Paris climate accord, Horowitz used his tax-exempt group to rail against illegal immigrants, the spread of Islam and global warming. Center officials described Hillary Clinton as evil, President Barack Obama as a secret communist and the Democratic Party as a front for enemies of 

How a ‘shadow’ universe of charities joined with political warriors to fuel Trump’s rise - The Washington Post:

DeVos shows us what vouchers are | Voices | nuvo.net

DeVos shows us what vouchers are | Voices | nuvo.net:

DeVos shows us what vouchers are

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos rendered a valuable public service.

She lifted the curtain on school vouchers and made clear exactly what this system of using taxpayer funds to pay for private and religious schools is.

It’s a way for some parents, particularly bigots, to get taxpayers to subsidize their attempts to evade or break the law.

The revelation came during DeVos’s testimony before Congress about President Donald Trump’s proposed new federal budget and that budget’s effect on education.

DeVos found herself questioned by U.S. Rep. Katharine Clark, D-Massachusetts. Clark inquired about Lighthouse Christian Academy, a voucher school here in Indiana — Bloomington, in fact — that boasts that it will deny admission to students who might be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The school also will deny admission to students who come from homes in which homosexuality or bisexuality is practiced.

(An aside: Don’t schools and people like this — who go out of their way to demean vulnerable children — really make you proud to be a Hoosier?)

Clark asked if DeVos would prevent federal funds from going to schools that violate federal law by discriminating against people based on sexual orientation. DeVos tried to duck the question, but, after considerable hemming, hawing and throat-clearing, finally said this was really a parent’s decision, not hers.

Clark corrected her.

This really isn’t about parents’ choices, the congresswoman said. It was about whether federal tax money would be used to subsidize policies that violate federal — and, in some cases, basic constitutional — law.

DeVos stood by her answer.

Clark then asked her if there was any form of discrimination against which DeVos would take a stand. Would the education secretary, for instance, funnel federal tax dollars to a voucher school that discriminated against African-American students?

DeVos again tried to evade the question.

Clark pressed.

DeVos finally uttered a series of non-sequiturs about parents caring about their children andDeVos shows us what vouchers are | Voices | nuvo.net: 

Education Reform Law and the American Education Wars

Education Reform Law and the American Education Wars:

Education Reform Law and the American Education Wars

Pleas e join Internet radio host Dr. James Avington Miller Jr. and special guest Dr. Victoria M. Young for an in-depth discussion of education reform law and the American Education Wars.

Dr. Young's focus has become education reform law because that is what the “transformers,” “deformers,” pseudo-reformers,” “privatizers” —whatever we want to call them— it is what they have done that has given them victories in the American Education Wars. 

These people have taken the underlying tension about public education — the always-existing need to improve it — and used that platform of public frustration to present their transformational ideas but always, always, with the goal of getting their political agenda into law. That is how they have taken this country so far off the course envisioned by President Kennedy and put into law by President Johnson.

The only way we get this country back on track is to focus on the very same law the “privatizers” control.

Please listen this Sunday and learn how we can start a true Education Revolution that serves the children, not the “transformers,” “deformers,” pseudo-reformers,” and “privatizers”.

Knowledge is power !

RESISTANCE MATTERS
RESISTANCE IS NOT FUTILE
RESISTANCE IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF EXPRESSION OF DEMOCRACY
RESISTANCE IS SURVIVAL

Please click on the website below to listen live:

http://bbsradio.com/thewarreport

2:00 PM PDT
4:00 PM CDT
5:00 PM EDT
or
A direct listen-in line only
Station 1 - 716-748-0150
To call-in and interact live
Station 1 888-627-6008 toll free

 Education Reform Law and the American Education Wars:

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: + Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION

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CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI 

Graduation Day Edition

ICYMI: Graduation Day Edition (6/4)

Here is my neck of the woods, we're just a few hours away from high school graduation. It's definitely that time of year. Here's your assorted pieces of reading from the week. Remember to pass on the ones that speak to you. 

These Activists Want Greater Home School Monitoring

In the background, as other education debates rage, is the old set of issues surrounding homeschooling. Here's a look at activists who help the women who were homeschooled to know nothing and be quiet, because, you know, women.

Blaming and Shaming Teachers for Low-Level Tech Practices

From the vaults, Bill Ferriter with a great piece about moving beyond tech and testing and back to actual real educating.

Facts About Newark Charter Schools

Once again, Mark Weber (Jersey Jazzman) breaks down the data to get past the PR baloney and look at the truth of charter schooling.

Is the US Education System Producing a Society of Smart Fools?

In the Scientific American, a psychologist looks at what's wrong with "reformed" education in the US.

Studies That Honor Preschool Rigor Are Not To Be Trusted

About that NYT coverage of that study showing academic rigor is really swell for four year olds...

Building Better Pre-Schools

Russ Walsh on the same subject-- how should we really be prepping the littles?

A Citizen's Encounter with a Charter School

Gene Glass reports on one more specific example of how charter really work to enrich their owners and trample on parents and students.

CURMUDGUCATION:

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION

NPE and Charter Schools

12by Peter Greene / 2h

The Network for Public Education has issued a clear, concise and pointed statement about charter schools in the US, and it's worth your eyeball time.* The statement is useful if you have been trying to explain to friends or civilians why, exactly modern charter schools are such a contentious concern. It nails some of the fundamental problems of the charter industry: We believe that taxpayers bear

Treating Teachers The Same Way

6by Peter Greene / 2h

Marc Tucker and Chester Finn have been having a bit of a conversation about a new report about teacher empowerment. We may get to that another day, but among Finn's complaints was this old standard, explaining why the reports recommendations can't work: the teacher unions have demanded and not deviated far from an industrial model in which everyone is treated alike. This is an oft-repeated complai

ICYMI: Graduation Day Edition (6/4)

2by Peter Greene / 3h

Here is my neck of the woods, we're just a few hours away from high school graduation. It's definitely that time of year. Here's your assorted pieces of reading from the week. Remember to pass on the ones that speak to you. These Activists Want Greater Home School Monitoring In the background, as other education debates rage, is the old set of issues surrounding homeschooling. Here's a look at act

YESTERDAY

Paperwork

42by Peter Greene / 1d

Rick Hess had a good piece this week that called back to one of my favorite films-- Hess noticed that much of the ESSA planning rolling in looks suspiciously like TPS report work. But you rarely see the paper-shufflers get as much ink or as many pats on the back as you do in schooling. One of the more striking examples of this is the recent fascination with state plans for the Every Student Succe

JUN 02

US Department of Climate Education

24by Peter Greene / 1d

Trump has taken the odd step of withdrawing from a voluntary agreement; the Paris Accord is non-binding and nations can set their own goals, and Trump's statement had almost nothing to say about the actual climate change concern of the accord, so other than declaring the international equivalent of, "You can't tell me what to do! You're not my real mom!" I'm not sure exactly what Trump was hoping

JUN 01

DeVos, Democracy and Vouchers

66by Peter Greene / 2d

First came the LA Times op-ed co-authored by Randi Weingarten (AFT) and Jonah Edelman (Stand for Children). This in itself is another troubling move by Weingarten (add it to the list) because astroturfist Edelman is no angel when it comes to support of public schools. The op-ed tweaked a lot of antennae because buried in the condemnation of vouchers was a ringing endorsement of charters. Almost in

MAY 31

Angry (tl;dr)

26by Peter Greene / 3d

It's important to remember that America has seen angry, agitated times before. The Civil War, when politicians became so angry they left the country and raised armies to kill each other-- that was a fairly angry time. We've had Presidential campaigns that were hugely vicious and libelous, Hell, as we've all been musically reminded, once upon a time the Vice President of the United States killed a

MAY 30

5 Reasons I Oppose Vouchers

300+by Peter Greene / 4d

Honestly, I had thought that vouchers were pretty much dead and gone and living only in the hearts and minds of determined free market cult members. But since it looks like DeVouchers are on the fast track to Policytown, I want to just list, without a lot of fanfare or my usual gumflappery, the reasons I believe that vouchers are Really Bad Policy. So here's a quick list of five reasons to oppose

The End of May

17by Peter Greene / 4d

My Memorial Day weekend generally contains two major features. One feature is the actual honoring of Memorial Day. Here's how I finished up my morning yesterday. This is the park in my small town. On the left is a the Civil War Monument, one of the first couple put up in Pennsylvania. The large building in the back is our County Courthouse. And on the right, our band stand, where I have played sum

MAY 28

Politics vs. Ed Reform

21by Peter Greene / 6d

Derrell Bradford is the head of NYCAN (and some other CANs too), one of the reformy arms of 50CAN , a reliably reformy group . He turns up in many of the usual reformy places, including Campbell Brown's the74 site, where he recently wrapped up a three-part series about the state of the reform movement, adapted from his speech at the Yale School of Management’s Education Leadership Conference in Ap

ICYMI: Memorial Day Weekend Edition (5/28)

3by Peter Greene / 7d

The best read of the week was actually an eight-part series at Slate about cyber schooling, and that's so important that I gave it its own post. So if you haven't caught that yet, you can find the posts laid out here. And for reasons to cast a 

CURMUDGUCATION: