Friday, October 12, 2012

Sac City Unified Scores High | KTXL FOX40

Sac City Unified Scores High | KTXL FOX40:

Sac City Unified Scores High

15 hours ago
by Sabrina Rodriguez
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The seven priority schools of the Sacramento City Unified School District

The academic performance of the Sacramento City Unified School District is up across the board.

The news comes from the release of the state’s academic performance index or API, which is obtained from standardized tests students take in the spring. The API ranges anywhere from a low of 200 to a max of 1,000.

Sacramento City Unified has moved up eight points to 768; however the real reason for the excitement comes from the district’s seven priority schools.

Superintendent Jonathan Raymond explained some of the characteristics of a priority school, “All of these schools ranked in the lowest 20% for achievement in state, and in all but one 100% children qualify for free and reduced lunch.”

Raymond targeted these schools in the spring of 2010. This year, Fern Bacon Middle

Why the ‘market theory’ of education reform doesn’t work

Why the ‘market theory’ of education reform doesn’t work:

Why the ‘market theory’ of education reform doesn’t work

Posted by Valerie Strauss on October 12, 2012 at 8:00 am

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Modern education reform is being driven by people who believe that competition, privatization and other elements of a market economy will improve public schools. In this post, Mark Tucker, president of the non-profit National Center on Education and the Economy and an internationally known expert on reform, explains why this approach is actually harming rather than helping schools. Tucker is also editor of “Surpassing Shanghai: An Agenda for American Education Built on the World’s Leading Systems” (Harvard Education Press, November 2011).

By Marc Tucker

Years ago, Milton Friedman and others opined that the best possible education reform would be one based on good old market theory. Public education, the analysis went, was a government monopoly, and, teachers and school administrators, freed from the discipline of the market, as in all government monopolies, had no incentive to control costs or deliver

New data on public education released

by Valerie Strauss

Here’s an infographic with some new data about public education enrollment and spending, student achievement and other related issues just released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Read full article >>

‘Something is wrong when….”

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

This past summer, New York high school Principals Carol Burris and Harry Leonadartos attempted to testify about school reform before New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Education Commission in New York City. They were not given the opportunity to speak, and they wrote about it in this post. Yesterday the commission — which is chaired by former Citibank chairman Dick Parsons — visited Long Island and Burris was allowed to speak. She received a standing ovation when she was done. Below is her testimony. Read full article >>

New data on public education released

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

Here’s an infographic with some new data about public education enrollment and spending, student achievement and other related issues just released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Read full article >>

How to waste $500,000+ in education funds

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

The following press release from the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) landed in my e-mail box with this headline: “Charter School Consortium Selected to Measure Student Growth, Inform Teacher Instruction.” Read full article >>

‘Meducation:’ Colbert on giving poor kids ADHD drugs so they can focus in school

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

From The Colbert Report files: Here is Stephen Colbert’s hilarious take on a New York Times story about doctors who are giving ADHD drugs to poor children who don’t have ADHD simply to help them focus better in school. Michael Anderson, a pediatrician who treats children from poor families in Cherokee County, north of Atlanta, is quoted in the article as saying, ““I don’t have a whole lot of choice. We’ve decided as a society that it’s too expensive to modify the kid’s environment. So we have to modify the kid.” Read full article >>

What Joel Klein’s misleading autobiography means for school reform

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

Joel Klein has repeatedly talked about how he grew up in a poor neighborhood and was headed for failure until a high school teacher helped him realize his potential. This story, he says, shows how important teachers really are. But in the important following post, Richard Rothstein, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, explains why Klein’s story is misleading — and why that matters in the school reform debate. Read full article >>

How long one teacher took to become great

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

In today’s education world, young college graduates accepted by Teach For America get five weeks of summer training and are considered by some to be “highly qualified teachers.” Here’s a different sort of story, from veteran educator Marion Brady, who explains how long it took him to become a good teacher. By Marion Brady A few weeks ago I flew into Buffalo, New York, rented a car, and drove down to northeastern Ohio for a high school class reunion — the 55th — for students I’d taught when they were 9th graders in 1952. They told me stories about myself, some of which I wish t... more »

The ‘right’ college major can mean big bucks, according to Census data

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

College students who earn a bachelor’s degree in engineering earn about $1.6 million more than education majors over the course of their career, according to new data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. Read full article >>

Holding Broad Academy and Bush Institute ‘accountable’

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

Jeb Bush is holding his fifth annual national summit on school reform next month in Washington D.C. According to the agenda, one of the strategy sessions is called “Transforming Colleges of Education,” and the writeup says in part: “Nine out of every ten teachers graduate from traditional teacher prep programs at colleges of education. Should these colleges be held accountable for the caliber of students they admit into their programs and the teachers they send into the classroom?” Read full article >>

Who is Abigail Noel Fisher?

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments on Wednesday in a case involving a young woman who sued the University of Texas. The woman alleged that she was denied admission to the system’s flagship in 2008 because she is white and the school’s affirmative action policies resulted in the acceptance of African American and Hispanic students with lesser credentials. She was offered admission to a different UT campus with the possibility of transferring later, but she opted to go out of state to attend college. Read full article >>

Can schools really reform society?

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

It’s not uncommon to hear people say that schools are the best way to transform society. But is this really true? In the following post the issue is considered by Larry Cuban, a former high school social studies teacher (14 years, including seven at Cardozo and Roosevelt high schools in the District), district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, VA) and professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, where he has taught for more than 20 years. His latest book is “As Good As It Gets: What School Reform Brought to Austin.” This appeared on his bl og. Read full article ... more »

Nobel Prize winner in medicine flunked biology

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

Read full article >>

Nobel Prizes: Which schools have won the most?

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

*(Correction: Rockefeller University has won 17 awards, including six when the institution had a different name. An earlier version said Rockefeller had won 11 Nobels.)* It’s that time of year again when the Nobel Prizes are bestowed on the world’s brilliant, accomplished and lucky in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, economics, literature and peace. Read full article >>

Eleven year old: ‘Ridiculous’ to use my test to grade my teacher

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

In the out-of-the-mouths-of-babes category, here’s a post about the flaws of modern teacher evaluation that are evidence to an 11-year-old but, apparently, not to school reformers. It was written by Sean C. Feeney, principal of The Wheatley School and president of the Nassau County High School Principals Association. Read full article >>

School libraries without books

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

Imagine a newly modernized school with a built-in library/media center — but no books to put on the shelves. Actually, you don’t have to imagine. Read about what’s going on with libraries in D.C. public schools (DCPS) in this open letter to Mayor Vincent Gray from D.C. resident and school library advocate Peter MacPherson. He’s been fighting a move by DCPS to cut funding for dozens of school librarian positions. Read full article >>

Things educators could say but don’t

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

With reform policies based more on hope than data, you might think educators would speak up more than do. Why don’t they? Here’s some thoughts about why most stay quiet, from Robert Bligh, former general counsel of the Nebraska Association of School Boards. Bligh’s research interest involves the efficacy of the school reform efforts promoted by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act since its original adoption in 1965. He served as assistant professor at Doane College and was editor and publisher of the Nebraska School Law Reporter. Read full article >>

Next on school reformers’ agenda

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

According to Michael Petrilli, executive vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, school reformers aren’t resting on their laurels and have some new goals in mind. Read full article >>

Pennsylvania eases NCLB rules to help charter schools

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

How is this for fair? Charter schools in Pennsylvania are now being assessed by easier rules than are traditional public schools when it comes to determining whether No Child Left Behind mandates have been met. Read full article >>

Still obtuse about standardized testing

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

For all that President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan talk about wanting to move beyond “bubble tests,” the high-stakes role of standardized testing in public education as a result of their policies can hardly be overstated. Here’s a new look at testing by Walt Gardner, who writes the Reality Check blog for Education Week. Gardner taught for 28 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District and was a lecturer in the UCLA Graduate School of Education. He uses his background to put educational issues in context for readers. Read full article >>

Blaming stressed-out parents for school failure

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

I said I wouldn’t publish anything more about “Won’t Back Down,” the pro-parent trigger movie, but …. Here’s a post, written by Vicki Abeles and Wendy Grolnick, about the film but also about other movies and books that subtly — and not so subtly — blame some parents, especially mothers, when schools fail and kids fall behind. Read full article >>

UPDATE: Seattle Schools Community Forum: Family Symposium 2012

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Family Symposium 2012:

Unfair Labor Practices... Again.

by Charlie Mas

It seems that Seattle Public Schools is found to have committed unfair labor practices just about every year. When it happens the Board has to read a notice from the Public Employee Relations Commission (PERC) into the record at a board meeting and promise to be good. Then they go ahead and do all of the things they promised to never do again.

Well, it happened again. This time at Lawton. The original story is difficult to determine because the school district's narrative keeps changing, but the management action is a clear case of misconduct. They came down harder on an employee after the employee requested union representation. The allegation against the employee went from a complaint from a student, to a complaint from a teacher, to an allegation of inappropriate touching to an allegation of shaking. The district was going to act swiftly then wanted time for an "investigation", then said they had done an investigation, then said they had not done an investigation. The district, at no time, followed

Lowell and Lincoln APP still one school

by Charlie Mas

From David Garrick, President of the Lowell PTA, in a message to Superintendent Banda, board directors, and others:

I am the president of Lowell Elementary School's PTA and a parent of a student who has attended Lowell for the past four years. I am contacting you to inquire about a situation that has come to my attention, which affects the quality of education Lowell is able to design for its students. As I hope you are aware, parents at Lowell and Lincoln APP spent much of last year trying to convince the school district that separating the two schools was in the best interest of both parties. Thanks to their enormous efforts, last spring Susan Enfield announced that both schools would be separated in the interest of offering students the best possible educational experience. It has come to my attention that this has not happened. Due to this oversight, Lowell now must contend with a

Family Symposium 2012

by Charlie Mas

Family Symposium scheduled for Oct. 20 at Chief Sealth International High School

Families, students, staff and community members of Seattle Public Schools are invited to participate in the annual Family Symposium scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 20 at Chief Sealth International 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.

Report: Affirmative Action Ban in California Is Detrimental to Campus Diversity - Hispanically Speaking News

Report: Affirmative Action Ban in California Is Detrimental to Campus Diversity - Hispanically Speaking News:

Report: Affirmative Action Ban in California Is Detrimental to Campus Diversity

October 11, 2012 | by HS News Staff

Report: Affirmative Action Ban in California Is Detrimental to Campus Diversity

Photo: Affirmative Action

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The Civil Rights Project published important new data on the way in which California’s ban on affirmative action harms the University of California in comparison to the University of Texas, which still has affirmative action, in terms of both the climate on campus for nonwhite students and the lack of success in recruiting top-ranked applicants of color.

The Salience of Racial Isolation: African Americans’ and Latinos’ Perception of Climate and Enrollment Choices with and without Proposition 209, by William C. Kidder, has two parts. The first is based on 2008-11 data from a large survey of 9,750 African American and Latino undergraduates on UC and other campuses. A second part of the study focuses on the enrollment choices of freshmen admitted to the University of California. The study compares eight UC campuses, the University of Texas at Austin, and two other leading universities.

At institutions with an affirmative action ban the report shows that fewer African Americans

LAUSD CARPENTER COMMUNITY CHARTER'S WITCHHUNT? - Perdaily.com

LAUSD CARPENTER COMMUNITY CHARTER'S WITCHHUNT? - Perdaily.com:

LAUSD CARPENTER COMMUNITY CHARTER'S WITCHHUNT?

by Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)
We were thrilled when our daughter got Mrs. Kevin Finkelstein, a 20+ year veteran at Carpenter Community Charter. Our kid was thriving...for four weeks, at which point, a boy in her class told his father that Mrs.Finkelstein punched him in the stomach. The majority of us have written the principal and his boss, Jack Bagwell, in support of Mrs. Finkelstein. I don't begrudge the child's parents the right to watch out for their kid. We all watch our for our kids. However, a little more careful investigation might have borne out something closer to the truth.

Our principal told me she would probably be back in a few days, and this was just one

NYC Public School Parents: Demand that the DOE be required to continue reporting on class size and trailers!

NYC Public School Parents: Demand that the DOE be required to continue reporting on class size and trailers!:

Demand that the DOE be required to continue reporting on class size and trailers!

by Leonie Haimson

NOT

The Report and Advisory Board Review Commission, a body with four mayoral appointees and three City Council members, including Speaker Quinn, and Council Members Brewer and Comrie, will hold a public meeting on October 30, 2012, to vote on whether to eliminate 21 reporting requirements and advisory boards, including the DOE’s legally mandated reporting on class size and Temporary Classroom Units (or TCUs.) (For more on this Commission, see their website at www.nyc.gov/ReportsandBoards )

These laws were passed by the City Council in 2005, mandating reporting on class size and TCUs, as parents, elected officials, and other members of the public were seriously concerned that excessive class size and substandard facilities substantially disadvantaged our public school children. Yet there was little data available to delineate the scope of the problem. The legislation required twice yearly reporting on class size and annual reporting on TCUs.

The Mayor himself recognized the seriousness of the problem, as shown by the fact that in 2006 he promised to

Jersey Jazzman: Christie Hates Teachers, Not Just Unions

Jersey Jazzman: Christie Hates Teachers, Not Just Unions:

Christie Hates Teachers, Not Just Unions

by Duke

This is a zombie lie about Chris Christie that will not die:

New Jersey Education Association secretary treasurer Marie Blistan says public schools are the gateway for kids to reach their fullest potential, but Christie, “Has put targets on teachers’ backs. He has made teachers the enemy of the general public. He is also working very hard to separate private and public unions……….He is putting us in a position where we all need to fight for our own memberships and while we’re all fighting each other, in 14 months he’s going to come in a get re-elected. It’s his scheme to get re-elected and we cannot let that happen. We cannot let that man separate us.”
Blistan also took aim at Christie’s “New Jersey Comeback.”
She says, “It is in fact nothing more than a fabrication of an over-active imagination and it is a

Another Broadie Fails: Brizard in Chicago

by Duke

On the night of the VP debate, right at the end, this story breaks:

The CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Jean Claude Brizard, is out, according to the mayor’s office.

Spokesperson Sarah Hamilton says that Brizard will be replaced by Chief Education Officer Barbara Byrd-Bennett.
She called the decision to leave, “mutual.”
Brizard had been in the position for approximately 17 months.

This is huge.

The Chicago teachers strike was a gigantic blow to reformy types everywhere. The CTU and their dynamo of a leader, Karen Lewis, went to war for Chicago's students - not for the teachers, but their students. Understand

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