Thrive Charter Schools All Hat and No Cattle | tultican

Thrive Charter Schools All Hat and No Cattle | tultican

Thrive Charter Schools All Hat and No Cattle

Excellent public relations and marketing mask a substandard educational program at the inappropriately named Thrive Public [sic] Schools (TPS). The misleading name indicates that this private business is a public school. It is not. Four years of assessments confirm that both San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) and the County Office of Education (COE) were correct in 2014 when the denied TPS’s charter petition:

January 7, 2014 SDUSD staff felt that TPS was not ready to open and reported to the board, “Staff recommends approval of the petition to establish Thrive Public School (Thrive) Charter School, for a five-year term beginning July 1, 2015 and ending June 30, 2020.” TPS leaders wanted a charter starting July 1, 2014. SDUSD board concluded TPS is “demonstrably unlikely to successfully implement the program” and denied the petition.

Founder Nicole Assisi turned to Voice of San Diego which was founded by one of her benefactors, Buzz Woolley. They ran her public complaint in which she declared,

“It was not the finest hour for the SDUSD board of trustees, which ignored district staff diligence and its own existing policies to deny a school that would have served the influx of families in Mission Valley. The neighborhood, by the way, does not currently have a single public elementary school. Families drive miles to get to their ‘neighborhood’ school.”

“Thankfully, the County Board of Education has an opportunity to right this wrong when our appeal comes before them next week.”

March 27, 2014 COE staff reviewed the appeal and concluded TPS presents an “unsound educational program and does not contain reasonably comprehensive descriptions of required elements.” Interestingly, one of the reasons for denial was that the petitioner did not clearly identify the intended location for the new school. None of the four current TPS schools are in Mission Valley.

On July 9, 2014, the State Board of Education (SBE) which has gained a Continue reading: Thrive Charter Schools All Hat and No Cattle | tultican

CURMUDGUCATION: CO: Charter Battles First Amendment

CURMUDGUCATION: CO: Charter Battles First Amendment

CO: Charter Battles First Amendment

It's a reminder, again, that some charter operators feel certain they don't have to play by the same rules as the rest of the country.

Victory Preparatory Academy in Commerce City, Colorado, is getting hauled into court over an alleged violation of First Amendment rights.

VPA (6-12) and Community Leadership Academy (PK-5) are run by CEO Ron Jajdelski, a man who leaves a pretty tiny internet footprint. His LinkedIn account lists only his current job. But the sixty-ish CEO does turn up in a few spots. He appears to have attended SaybrookUniversity's School of Organizational Leadership and Transformation.  He apparently holds a patent for "an ornamental design for a media storage device."

According to the school website, Jajdelski was involved from day one:

The school was conceived in March 2003, when several community members met to discuss education reform in Adams County School District 14. The discussion was facilitated by Ron Jajdelski, Executive Director at Commerce City Community Enterprise, a local grassroots non-profit focusing on empowering citizens to lead local change. These visionaries continued to meet and develop the school’s mission, programming and culture.

His school has had issues before. In 2015, there was a flap that began with a parent believed her sixth grade daughter was being bullied. She called Jajdelski and ended up feeling bullied herself, wiuth Jajdelski suggesting that he daughter should just change schools. A video of the exchange Continue reading: CURMUDGUCATION: CO: Charter Battles First Amendment

Critics Warn 'Heartless' New Rules by Betsy DeVos Will Encourage Schools to 'Be More Complicit in Sexual Violence'

Critics Warn 'Heartless' New Rules by Betsy DeVos Will Encourage Schools to 'Be More Complicit in Sexual Violence'

Critics Warn 'Heartless' New Rules by Betsy DeVos Will Encourage Schools to 'Be More Complicit in Sexual Violence'
"With sexual assaults already under-reported and routinely ignored, these new rules will make campuses dramatically more dangerous."

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Friday officially unveiled her long-anticipated "heartless and immoral" proposal to overhaul how universities respond to sexual harassment and assault allegations, inciting outrage among survivors, their advocates, and educators alike.

"This draft rule is a cruel attempt to silence sexual assault survivors and limit their educational opportunity."
—Vanita Gupta, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

"With one in five women sexually assaulted while in college, we are facing a national rape epidemic on our campuses, yet Betsy DeVos and the Trump administration just put out new rules encouraging schools to be more complicit in sexual violence," declared Shaunna Thomas of the women's rights group UltraViolet.

As anticipated from a draft leaked earlier this year and recent reporting by the Washington Post, DeVos' proposal narrows the definition of sexual harassment, reduces schools' liability, and enables attorneys for the accused to cross-examine survivors.

"These rules further protect abusers in a system that is already rigged in their favor and dramatically reduce requirements that schools protect their students," Thomas warned. "With sexual assaults already under-reported and routinely ignored, these new rules will make campuses dramatically more dangerous."

Betsy DeVos has *finally* released her proposed rules on Title IX, and they’re worse than we could have imagined. These rules would make schools more dangerous and push survivors out of school. It's time to tell her to keep her #HandsOffIX pic.twitter.com/olWrJ9q8Gm

— Know Your IX (@knowyourIX) November 16, 2018

DeVos' proposed changes to how universities enforce Title IX—the federal law that bars sex-based discrimination in schools—come after she was widely condemned for scrapping less formal guidelines established under the Obama administration as well as for touting concerns about false allegations, which research shows are incredibly uncommon, after meeting with "men's rights" groups.

We advocate for fair school disciplinary processes that uphold the rights of both parties in campus sexual assault and harassment cases.

Today Secretary DeVos proposed a rule that would tip the scales against those who raise their voices.

We strongly oppose it.

— ACLU (@ACLU) November 16, 2018

American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten charged that the "announcement of Title IX rollbacks is the latest in a troubling pattern of Secretary DeVos' efforts to dismantle the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights and turn the federal government's back on students who are suffering, vulnerable, or disenfranchised."

"This rule abdicates the responsibility to protect every student's right to safety on campus. It tells academic institutions that they needn't bother helping to protect Continue reading: Critics Warn 'Heartless' New Rules by Betsy DeVos Will Encourage Schools to 'Be More Complicit in Sexual Violence'

Majority of Americans now led by governors with proven record of championing public education - Education Votes

Majority of Americans now led by governors with proven record of championing public education - Education Votes

Majority of Americans now led by governors with proven record of championing public education

By Tim Walker

Education was a top tier issue in the 2018 mid-term elections across the nation. It’s prominence in the Wisconsin governor’s race was such that incumbent Scott Walker campaigned as a champion of public education. For Wisconsin educator and parents, this was an outlandish sight given Walker’ notorious and unmistakable record of slashing the state’s education budget.

Wisconsin voters had a better choice in Tony Evers, the state superintendent of education and former teacher. Evers said he was running for governor “because I am goddamn sick and tired of Scott Walker gutting our public schools, insulting our hard-working educators, and destroying higher education in Wisconsin.” Not only has Evers proposed an increase in school funding of $1.4 billion over two years, but has also called for a phase-out of the state’s school voucher program.

It was close but Evers emerged victorious, defeating Walker’s bid for a third term. “We have a partner who’s willing to listen to us, and we need to be there to provide the kind of advice and support that he will need to lead this state,” said Wisconsin Education Association Council president Ron Martin.

Although the Wisconsin gubernatorial race attracted national attention, Evers was not the only staunchly pro-public education candidate elected governor in 2018. Far from it. Champions of public schools ran up an impressive string of victories – many in states whose schools had been weakened by reckless budget cuts and expansion of unaccountable charter schools and private school voucher programs.

Gavin Newsom in California, Jared Polis in Colorado, Brad Little in Idaho, JB Pritzker in Illinois, Laura Kelly in Kansas, Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan, Tim Walz in Minnesota, Steve Sisolak in Nevada, Michelle Lujan Grisham in New Mexico, Janet Mills in Maine, and Ned Lamont in Continue reading: Majority of Americans now led by governors with proven record of championing public education - Education Votes

Why is There a Racial Achievement Gap? | gadflyonthewallblog

Why is There a Racial Achievement Gap? | gadflyonthewallblog

Why is There a Racial Achievement Gap?

Sometimes the most racist aspects of a society are right there in front of you, but no one seems to notice.

Take the racial achievement gap.

 It’s a term used to describe the fact that black and Latino students don’t do as well academically as white students.

Why does it even exist?

Why do students of color in the United States achieve less than their white peers?

They have worse grades, lower test scores, meager graduation rates and fewer achieve advanced degrees.

As of 2018, they had the lowest mean score of any racial group on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).

And it’s been like that for more than half a century.

In 1964, a Department of Education report found that the average black high school senior scored below 87% of white seniors (in the 13 percentile). Fifty years later, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found that black seniors had narrowed the gap until they were merely behind 81% of white seniors (scoring in the 19th percentile).

So what does that mean?

It’s a question that has haunted our education system for more than a century.

And the various answers that have been offered to explain it often reveal more about our society than they do about black and Latino children.

CLAIM 1: People of color are just genetically inferior

I know. This sounds glaringly racist.

And it is.

Yet this was the favorite answer for the achievement gap at the start of Continue reading: Why is There a Racial Achievement Gap? | gadflyonthewallblog

SCHOOLS AND SUICIDES | The Merrow Report

SCHOOLS AND SUICIDES | The Merrow Report

SCHOOLS AND SUICIDES

Please allow me to lead with two very disturbing stories, the first about a 9-year-old boy in Denver, the second about a 9-year-old girl in Birmingham, Alabama:

DENVER — Leia Pierce shuffled out the front door on Tuesday. Her son, Jamel Myles, 9, had killed himself last week, and she was still struggling with the basics. Eating. Sleeping. “I took a shower, but I put the same clothes back on,” she said, staring at the ground. “I need him back.”

Jamel, a fourth grader at Joe Shoemaker Elementary School in Denver, hanged himself in his bedroom last Thursday, according to the county coroner, and his death has plunged a mother into despair and a community into disbelief.

Ms. Pierce says her son committed suicide after a year in which he and his older sister were bullied frequently at school. Over the summer, he had told his mother he was gay. Now, she is angry at the school, which she believes should have done more to stop the taunts and insults.

Will Jones, a spokesman for Denver Public Schools, said administrators planned to conduct a thorough review of the case. “We are deeply committed to our students’ well-being,” he said in a statement.

Jamel’s death comes amid a startling rise in youth suicides, part of a larger public health crisis that has unfolded over a generation: Even as access to mental health care has expanded, the suicide rate in the United States has risen 25 percent since 1999. Middle schoolers are now just as likely to die from suicide as they are from traffic accidents. 

BIRMINGHAM:  “The parents of a 9-year-old Alabama girl who hanged herself say a combination of bullying and her ADHD  medications was to blame.  Madison “Maddie” Continue reading: SCHOOLS AND SUICIDES | The Merrow Report

NEW! Chi-Town Educator and Community-Based Activism: Confronting a Legacy of Education Privatization in the Nation’s Windy City | Cloaking Inequity

NEW! Chi-Town Educator and Community-Based Activism: Confronting a Legacy of Education Privatization in the Nation’s Windy City | Cloaking Inequity

NEW! CHI-TOWN EDUCATOR AND COMMUNITY-BASED ACTIVISM: CONFRONTING A LEGACY OF EDUCATION PRIVATIZATION IN THE NATION’S WINDY CITY

I am pleased to announce our brand new article in the Threshold in Education Journal entitled Chi-Town Educator and Community-Based Activism: Confronting a Legacy of Education Privatization in the Nation’s Windy City

Our new piece is included in a special issue entitled “The Illinois Problem.” Here’s what the editors have to say about the new issue in their introduction:

The Illinois Problem as taken up in the pages that follow, conveys theoretical, practical, and pragmatic concerns for today’s socio-political context—concerns that direct us to see, understand, and act in ways that address the problem itself. The theoretical position that the Illinois Problem conveys and utilizes for its analysis is that the current conflated political basis for deciding policy discourages a concern for building and maintaining a healthy public within a democracy. Rather, current socio-political understanding “encourages a morality that is economic; a social perspective that is individualist; a politics that is aesthetically patriotic; and, an economic understanding this is merciless” (Heybach & Sheffield, 2014, p. 71). This theoretical lens, we believe (as depressing as it certainly is), allows us to see actual practical policy intent in the face of both neoliberal and neoconservative forces coalescing toward a similar end—an end which leaves little room for widespread human flourishing. In terms of its practical import, this vision allows us to see the actual intent of specific policies and practices explored in this theme issue.

What I really like about this new piece is that Dr. Jameson Brewer and I wrote it collaboratively with Jitu Brown, a Chicago community organizer, and Michelle Gunderson, a classroom teacher and union activist. So often academics go into spaces to talk about community-based efforts, but fail to collaborate with and empower local voices. Without futhere ado, I give you Chi-Town Educator and Community-Based Activism: Confronting a Legacy of Education Privatization in the Nation’s Windy City

Chi-Town Educator and Community-Based Activism: Confronting a Legacy of Education Privatization in the Nation’s Windy City

T. Jameson Brewer, Julian Vasquez Heilig, Michelle Strater Gunderson, & Jitu Brown

Abstract: The predominance of research and data examining public education privatization in Chicago indicate that there are few financial savings, decreased student achievement, increased racial inequality, increased class size, and increased violence. Considering these outcomes, educators and community-based stakeholders have not remained silent in the face of this apparent injustice. In this paper, we examine teacher and community- based activism in Chicago situated amongst the local and broader reform efforts to which they fight against. We focus on strategies Continue reading: NEW! Chi-Town Educator and Community-Based Activism: Confronting a Legacy of Education Privatization in the Nation’s Windy City | Cloaking Inequity

Howard Fuller’s growing movement to expand black-controlled schools

Howard Fuller’s growing movement to expand black-controlled schools

Segregated schools are still the norm. Howard Fuller is fine with that
A longtime advocate for black-controlled schools in Milwaukee found an unlikely home among conservatives pushing school choice

MILWAUKEE, Wis. — At age 77, Howard Fuller strides along Center Street with the loping gait of a former standout basketball player while recalling the vibrant community of black homeowners and entrepreneurs that used to define this once-bustling stretch of Milwaukee’s North Side. “We had businesses and nice homes all around this area,” says Fuller, who grew up here.

A block dominated by houses with peeling paint and patched shingles gives way to the massive dull-brick facade of North Division High School, Fuller’s alma mater. The former Milwaukee schools superintendent and longtime school choice advocate pauses. “It’s hurtful to see what’s not happening here with these kids,” he says.

The school used to be a source of pride for the city’s black community, a stepping stone to middle-class achievement as its graduates went on to become doctors, businesspeople and win election to Congress. In 2016 not a single child at “North,” as locals call it, tested proficient in math according to the state’s education department.

Enrollment has declined from roughly 1,400 students in 1996 to about 350 students today, says the school’s principal, Keith Carrington. In a state that sends one out of every eight black men to prison, the highest rate in the country, this neighborhood bears a disproportionate brunt of the mass incarceration policy, with more African-American men from here locked up than from any other zip code in Milwaukee County.

“Where North is now is part of a conscious effort to sabotage black education,” Fuller says. He acknowledges that there are “well-meaning people in the building … teachers and administrators who have the kids’ best interests at heart.” But he also sees in the school’s decline a long history of white leaders, conservative and liberal, repeatedly asking black families to accept failure for their children.

As racial separation in U.S. schools becomes more pronounced in many places, and as hate crimes against minorities increase in Continue reading: Howard Fuller’s growing movement to expand black-controlled schools

NPE Conference 2018: Is the Corporate Reform Goliath Truly Dead? - Living in Dialogue

NPE Conference 2018: Is the Corporate Reform Goliath Truly Dead? - Living in Dialogue

NPE Conference 2018: Is the Corporate Reform Goliath Truly Dead? -

By John Thompson.

Part One of Two.

The theme of the Network for Public Education’s fifth annual conference was that corporate reformers have lost the “David versus Goliath” battle over public education. We public school supporters have defeated the privatization campaign known as corporate school reform. Goliath must know that his mega-bucks haven’t improved student performance but he keeps dumping backpacks full of cash into chosen schools. Hubris can explain some, but not all, of the continued subsidies that keep corporate school reform from collapsing.

As Diane Ravitch explains, Goliath claimed to be “the savior of poor black and brown children ‘trapped in failing schools.’” And for years, Goliath had used that propaganda meme while winning political battle after political battle. A mighty coalition, which had been built on the infrastructure laid by ALEC, the Koch brothers, and other anti-government interest groups, was able to unite neoliberals, edu-philanthropists, and the Obama administration in an effort to blow up neighborhood public schools.

Even as the political Goliath was defeating enemies, he failed completely in terms of real world education practice. Goliath tried charters, vouchers, testing, union-busting, and “value-added” evaluations to undermine the professional autonomy of teachers, and more. In my experience, however, their expensive mandates took low-performing inner city schools and made them much worse, as they also damaged schools that had previously been successful. Although I continually communicate with all types of people, it’s been years since I have talked with someone in the classroom who denies that corporate school reform, at best, created a mess.

Ravitch explains how “Goliath has run out of promises. He is now revealed as the ugly face of a lot of billionaires who don’t want to pay to educate children.” The only goal he met was to cut spending on education and lower taxes, and the public “eventually realized that Goliath pulled a trick on him.” So, “there is no ‘reform movement.’” The Billionaires Boys Club continues to fight for unchallengable power.

Goliath’s promises have been discredited. But his minions continue on, “like zombies, because the money is good.” Often, their followers don’t see any choice but to stick with Goliath’s army; after all, the traditional education system (and sometimes education journalism) has been bulldozed, meaning that the only Continue reading: NPE Conference 2018: Is the Corporate Reform Goliath Truly Dead? - Living in Dialogue

Nellie Bowles: In America’s Schools, the Rich Get Teachers, the Poor Get Computers | Diane Ravitch's blog

Nellie Bowles: In America’s Schools, the Rich Get Teachers, the Poor Get Computers | Diane Ravitch's blog

Nellie Bowles: In America’s Schools, the Rich Get Teachers, the Poor Get Computers

This is a terrific article by Nellie Bowles in the New York Times about the “digital divide.” Amazing that the newspaper of record printed three articles on the same day by the same author, all warning us about the dangers of screen addiction. Remember when public officials worried that rich kids had more access to technology than poor kids? Now, it turns out that students in affluent schools get small classes and experienced teachers, while kids in underfunded schools get technology. Not what was expected.

The parents in Overland Park, Kan., were fed up. They wanted their children off screens, but they needed strength in numbers. First, because no one wants their kid to be the lone weird one without a phone. And second, because taking the phone away from a middle schooler is actually very, very tough.

“We start the meetings by saying, ‘This is hard, we’re in a new frontier, but who is going to help us?’” said Krista Boan, who is leading a Kansas City-based program called START, which stands for Stand Together And Rethink Technology. “We can’t call our moms about this one.”

For the last six months, at night in school libraries across Overland Park, a suburb of Kansas City, Mo., about 150 parents have been meeting to talk about one thing: how to get their children off screens.

It wasn’t long ago that the worry was that rich students would have access to the internet earlier, gaining tech skills and creating Continue reading: Nellie Bowles: In America’s Schools, the Rich Get Teachers, the Poor Get Computers | Diane Ravitch's blog

IPS Community Coalition victory is proof that ordinary citizens can defeat big money - Network For Public Education

IPS Community Coalition victory is proof that ordinary citizens can defeat big money - Network For Public Education

IPS Community Coalition victory is proof that ordinary citizens can defeat big money

Sending a clear message that the community is fed up with corporate reform, voters in Indianapolis ousted two incumbents on the Indianapolis Public School (IPS) Board, replacing them with opponents of the district’s corporate reform agenda.

First-time candidates Taria Slack and Susan Collins were backed by the IPS Community Coalition (the Indianapolis AROS Chapter) and the local teachers union and ran against incumbents backed by Stand for Children and the Mind Trust, a corporate reform institute. Slack and Collins are vowing to pressure the IPS administration to improve transparency, genuine community collaboration and engagement, and hold the administration accountable.

Indianapolis schools have been under persistent attack by corporate reformers over the past decade, with increasing numbers of charters and public school closings. The district—under the tutelage of the Mind Trust—has also created so-called “Innovation Schools,” which are IPS schools that are handed over to a charter management organization. Innovation Schools have complete autonomy, a school board that is not elected by the public, and receive public funds. Additionally, this structure allows charters under the IPS umbrella to take advantage of district-provided services such as transportation and special education services at no cost.

This victory is proof that ordinary citizens can defeat big money. People power trumps money power. IPS Community Coalition is organized, prepared, and ready to reclaim our schools.

IPS Community Coalition victory is proof that ordinary citizens can defeat big money - Network For Public Education

Bruce Baker’s New Book on School Finance Develops a Scathing Critique of Charter School Expansion | janresseger

Bruce Baker’s New Book on School Finance Develops a Scathing Critique of Charter School Expansion | janresseger

Bruce Baker’s New Book on School Finance Develops a Scathing Critique of Charter School Expansion

Rutgers University school finance professor, Bruce Baker’s new book, Educational Inequality and School Finance: Why Money Matters for America’s Students, covers the basics—how school finance formulas are supposed to work to ensure that funding for schools is adequate, equitable, and stable.

Baker also carefully refutes some persistent myths—Eric Hanushek’s claim that money doesn’t really make a difference when it comes to raising student achievement, for example, and the contention that public schools’ expenditures have skyrocketed over the decades while achievement as measured by test scores has remained flat.

Baker does an excellent job of demonstrating that far more will be needed for our society appropriately to support school districts segregated not only by race, but also by poverty. The final sections of the book are a little technical. They explain the construction of a more equitable system that would drive enough funding to come closer to what is really needed in school districts serving concentrations of children in poverty.

Baker’s book is especially important for updating a discussion of basic school finance theory to account for today’s realities.  He shows, for example, how the Great Recession undermined adequate and equitable funding of public schools despite that states had formulas in place that were supposed to have protected children and their teachers: “The sharp economic downturn following the collapse of the housing market in 2007-08, and persisting through about 2011, provided state and federal elected officials a pulpit from which to argue that our public school systems must learn how to do more with less… Meanwhile, governors on both sides of the aisle, facing tight budgets and the end of federal aid that had been distributed to temporarily plug state budget holes, ramped up their rhetoric for even deeper cuts to education spending… Notably, the attack on public school funding was driven largely by preferences for conservative tax policies at a time when state budgets experienced unprecedented drops in income and sales tax revenue.” (p. 4)

And for the first time in a school finance book, Baker explores the impact of two decades of Continue reading: Bruce Baker’s New Book on School Finance Develops a Scathing Critique of Charter School Expansion | janresseger

Educational Inequality and School Finance: Why Money Matters for America's Students: Bruce D. Baker: 9781682532423: Amazon.com: Books - https://www.amazon.com/Educational-Inequality-School-Finance-Americas/dp/1682532429

Idaho Teachers/Staff Dressed as Border Wall and Mexicans Reinstated, Principal Remains Suspended | deutsch29

Idaho Teachers/Staff Dressed as Border Wall and Mexicans Reinstated, Principal Remains Suspended | deutsch29

Idaho Teachers/Staff Dressed as Border Wall and Mexicans Reinstated, Principal Remains Suspended

The 14 Middleton (Idaho) teachers and staff who were placed on paid leave after dressing as the border wall and Mexicans on Halloween purportedly for an after-school “team building exercise” have been released to return to their jobs.

However, the school’s principal remains under investigation.

Middleton Schools superintendent John Middleton offered the following November 07, 2018, press release.

Middleton School District Release

November 7, 2018

Dear Parents, Staff and Community,

The Middleton School District’s internal investigation with teachers and elementary aides who were on administrative leave on November 5th and 6th is complete. Our focus is now one of healing with an opportunity for all of us to grow together as a community. Today we began the re-entry process with training on cultural sensitivity and correspondence with parents, the staff and community. The entire Middleton School District staff is also receiving similar cultural sensitivity training today.

It is important to note that after the district’s review, it has been validated that there is nothing more than love and commitment in the hearts of these teachers and aides. The educators involved chose the profession to work with and educate ALL students and we are confident in their abilities to provide an effective learning environment for every student in the building. It is also noteworthy that the few threats that were made via telephone or on social media were made from out of town and out of state. Police have dealt with these swiftly and none were found to be credible.

We will welcome our teachers and aides back into their classrooms in the Continue reading: Idaho Teachers/Staff Dressed as Border Wall and Mexicans Reinstated, Principal Remains Suspended | deutsch29

CURMUDGUCATION: Anti-Test, Pro-Computer

CURMUDGUCATION: Anti-Test, Pro-Computer

Anti-Test, Pro-Computer

Chalkbeat today notes the growing trend of reformster discontent with the Big Standardized Test, a thread which apparently emerged at the latest soiree thrown by the Center for Reinventing Public Education, a group that has pushed ed reform for years.

But intentionally or not, Matt Barnum  also captured part of what is driving this shift.

Some members of the Thinky Tank set (with Jay Greene in the forefront) have been noticing that test results don't seem to really mean anything. But there's another reform group that is sour on testing:

The way we’re doing [assessment] now — that is so time-, age-, grade-based — is really constraining for those innovators that are developing models that will support all kids.

That quote comes from Susan Patrick of The International Association for K-12 Online Learning  (iNACOL), an organization whose bread and butter is tech based education, and which has thrown itself whole-heartedly behind Competency Based Education and Personalized [sic] Learning. Their opposition to the BS Test is signaled by Patrick's quote. If they are going to sell a system that lets students learn whatever whenever at whatever speed they wish, they need to remove the issue if a giant standardized test at the end f the ear.


In other words, the old approach to ed reform is cramping the style of reform 2.0. The 2.0 version is pointed firmly at the unbundling of education so that stdents can acquire their competencies and proficiencies and badges wherever and whenever and from whomever. This shift has the double advantage of a sort of ju-jitsu move-- people who are busy running away from the BS Test can be ushered straight into the Competency Based Proficiency Personalized tent. Reform 1.0 has become a marketing tool for Reform 2.0

It's worth noting that even some of the reformsters themselves haven't caught on yet. The repeated complaints about testing at the event drew this bemused quote from Sandy Kress, one of the creators of No Child Left Behind and therefor one of the fathers of the test-centered education Continue reading: CURMUDGUCATION: Anti-Test, Pro-Computer