Friday, August 16, 2013

The Wrong Answer | Deborah Meier on Education

The Wrong Answer | Deborah Meier on Education:

The Wrong Answer

Posted on August 16, 2013 by debmeier

Dear readers

I’m overwhelmed with the self-imposed task of sorting out my “life”—all the papers and books that have accumulated over the years because “how can I throw this out?” or “I was just thinking of writing about this,” or “how come I never read this?” etc. Therefore I’ve not been blogging of late. (I’ve set Thanksgiving as my deadline for house-cleaning, and already have 11 boxes full of books which I part with nervously.)

But I can’t resist this amazing piece that Michael Goldenberg sent me (even if it delays the final job by a few…days?): Nicholson Baker’s The Wrong Answer: The case against Algebra II (in Harpers Magazine, September 2013) about the Twenty-five years ago a few of us at Central Park East Secondary School in East Harlem brought some top mathematics educators together to press this same case, and seek a sensible solution for what needs to be taught–and learned. We thought we were lonely nuts, and our efforts didn’t get us far. But—I’m regaining enthusiasm for the cause. Thanks Michael for your indefatigable efforts, and thanks Andrew Hacker and others for keeping the flame burning!! Here’s the last paragraph of Baker’s superbly written and definitive essay.

“Math-intensive education hasn’t done much for Russia, as it turns out. But historical counter examples don’t seem to interest the latest generation of crisis-mongers.

NYC Educator: Give With One Hand, Stab With the Other

NYC Educator: Give With One Hand, Stab With the Other:

Give With One Hand, Stab With the Other

I'm fascinated by operations that love teachers. For one example, Target is giving 5 million bucks to schools. For another, the Daily News is honoring teachers as Hometown Heroes.

I suppose, when we look at Target's generosity, we are to forget the lengths to which they will go to thwart union right here in New York. Below you will see the anti-union video they show their new employees. The apparent Target employees participating are actually actors--and card-carrying union members. Thanks a lot, guys.

Anyone who follows history knows that the current deterioration of America's middle class is concurrent with decreased union membership. And any thinking person knows exactly why Target closes stores rather than face union. It's certainly not to benefit working people. And those kids Target claims to be supporting with this giveaway, based on your purchases, will be working people one day. If you shop at Target, you're supporting people who want to illegally deprive Americans of union benefits. Try Costco instead. They are at least partially unionized, and they treat their employees better.

As for the Daily News, the Hometown Heroes campaign is fine. It's good to honor teachers. But it's also good to be fair to them. One part of fairness entails telling the truth. In the recent spate of stories vilifying teachers based on

Part Four: Summer 2013 | Bill Ayers

Part Four: Summer 2013 | Bill Ayers:

Part Four: Summer 2013

Until the killing of Black men, Black mothers’ sons, is as important as the killing of white men, white mothers’ sons, we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.

** Ella Baker

David Brooks, the moderate “human face” of the plutocrats and the dangerous fang faction, used his New York Times column to trumpet the need for “a national greatness agenda” and managed to evoke a grotesquely mangled and romanticized image of the Black Freedom Movement of 50 years ago in an attempt to rally people to a left/right social movement of all the politically disaffected built around the goal of broad revitalization: “Like the civil rights movement, this movement will ask Americans to live up to their best selves.” And our “best selves” is easily summed up: “Love of country.” Yes simple patriotism will, in Brooks’ cosmology, allow Americans to see that sacrificing Social Security benefits “at a time when soldiers and Marines are sacrificing their lives for their country in Afghanistan,” or giving up pensions as an investment in “America’s future greatness,” represent the sensible unifying path forward.
Most Americans (and the whole world besides) think that the US adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan have been and continue to be catastrophic. The vast majority of the people of Iraq and Afghanistan (not the “insurgents” or the Taliban or the “jihadists”) have overwhelmingly opposed the US military presence in their respective lands practically from the start. Any ethical person would tell the government to end its senseless wars for a start, bring those Marines and soldiers home now, and spend those squandered billions on education, health, and the common good.
But Brooks sees the hand writing on the wall: US power is in deep crisis, and the American empire is coming to an end; his solution is to mobilize a nationalistic movement and shred any expectation of a common commitment to human welfare: line-up, re-load, and march. Or as he puts it, his social movement will have one simple and

Summer of Discontent | The Forum for Education and Democracy

Summer of Discontent | The Forum for Education and Democracy:

Summer of Discontent

August 16, 2013 - The Forum

Hunter S. Thompson, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

by George Wood, Forum Executive Director and Superintendent of Federal Hocking Local Schools

In Steinbeck's The Winter of our Discontent, the well-meaning Ethan Hawley compromises his ethical compass to fix his family's economic distress. Recent revelations regarding similar ethical lapses in the education community make me wonder if we have not seen a summer of discontent.

The signs are everywhere.

In Florida, new state superintendent Tony Bennet resigned soon after it was revealed that he 'fixed' the education accountability system in Indiana--when he was state superintendent there--to make a charter school look good. That charter school, sponsored by a major campaign contributor, was held up as a model of how privatizing public schools would save the system.

In Ohio, legislators have put in place a new two-year budget that rewards failing charter schools with more funding even as it makes punishing cuts to successful charters and traditional public schools. The big winner in this budget owns the most powerful for-prof

Diane in the Evening 8-16-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Most Voucher Applicants in Wisconsin Attend Private Schools

At the behest of Governor Scott Walker, the Wisconsin legislature expanded the voucher program statewide, even though it did not raise test scores in Milwaukee over the past 22 years. As critics of the program feared, 75% of those who applied for vouchers are are not currently enrolled in public schools. Two-thirds are enrolled in private schools now. Instead of helping needy students “escape fr

7 by dianerav / 8min

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-16-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: My Advice to the Next Mayor of New York CityIn November, New Yorkers will elect a new mayor. It matters a lot for the future of public education in the city. The mayor has complete control of the city school system. The mayor appoints 8 of 13 members of the city school board, who serve at his pleasure. If one of his appointees dare

by mike simpson / 2h

ASCD Arias Author Panel: Answers You Need from Voices You Trust — Whole Child Education

ASCD Arias Author Panel: Answers You Need from Voices You Trust — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

ASCD Arias Author Panel: Answers You Need from Voices You Trust

August 16, 2013 by Klea Scharberg

What keeps you up at night? Perhaps you're struggling with preparing your students for the real world, or confused about how to assess individual learning when students work together. Maybe you need strategies to integrate tablets with effective instruction or to maximize time for learning in your classroom. Join leading ASCD authors in a free webinar about their new ASCD Arias™ publications, which provide the answers you need from voices you trust.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013, 3:00 p.m. eastern time
Register now!

In this webinar, the authors of the first four publications in the new ASCD Arias imprint discuss their projects, what inspired them to write, and practical ideas for teachers and school leaders on the challenges they face. The discussion features

Mark Barnes, author of The 5-Minute Teacher: How Do I Maximize Time for Learning in My Classroom?
Susan Brookhart, author of Grading and Group Work: How Do I Assess Individual Learning When Students Work Together?
Alex Gonzalez, author of Teaching with Tablets: How Do I Integrate Tablets with Effective Instruction? with Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher
Thomas Hoerr, author of Fostering Grit: How Do I Prepare My Students for the Real World?

Each standalone ASCD Arias resource will answer a crucial and timely "How do I...?" question, in a convenient 48-page format that can read in one sitting, with ideas that you can immediately put into practice.

We encourage participants to bring questions for the presenters on these topics—grading, grit and resilience, teaching with tablets, and student-centered instruction—and to share their own "How do I...?" questions they'd like to see answered in future ASCD Arias publications.

Study finds kindergarten behavior can predict later drug abuse - but early intevention can help | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

Study finds kindergarten behavior can predict later drug abuse - but early intevention can help | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

Study finds kindergarten behavior can predict later drug abuse - but early intevention can help

Deepa Fernandes | August 16th, 2013, 11:16am

flickr/cc/hapal

A new study by Canadian social scientists finds boys who display anti-social behavior in kindergarten will likely abuse drugs later in life - unless they receive intensive intervention in their "tween" years.

The study began in 1984, in Montreal. Some kindergarten teachers selected boys in their class who came from low-income households and showed anti-social behavior for a longitudinal study by University of Montreal.

Of the 172 disruptive five-year-olds chosen, 46 were channeled into an intensive intervention program over two years, starting when they were 7.

The boys were given social-skills training to learn how to control emotions and build healthy friendships. They were also taught to use problem solving and communication instead of anti-social behaviors. Their families were involved in parts of the program, with parents learning skills to help their sons through difficulties.

Researchers studied two control groups: 42 boys got no intervention at all, and the remaining 84 received only a home visit. All the boys were followed until they were 17, with specific attention paid to their use of drugs or alcohol.

Results published recently in the British Journal of Psychiatry indicate that the boys

Does the U.S. Education Department Have a Dirty Data Problem? - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Does the U.S. Education Department Have a Dirty Data Problem? - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

Does the U.S. Education Department Have a Dirty Data Problem?

By Michele McNeil on August 16, 2013 1:24 PM

Dirty Data

Over at Charters and Choice, my colleague Katie Ash wrote about a newGovernment Accountability Office report finding big problems with charter schools reporting accurate enrollment numbers for English-language learners.

Her headline was: "GAO: Many Charter Schools Are Not Reporting Data on ELLs".

The headline could have just as easily been: "GAO: U.S. Department of Education Fails to Provide Data Oversight".

You could argue over which is more alarming: that charter schools aren't appropriately reporting enrollment numbers of ELLs, or that the U.S. Department of Education does not examine the quality of data on a "regular basis," as the GAO found?

The problem with the ELL data was that too many charter schools left the field blank when they were supposed to report the number of ELLs. Thirty-seven percent of charters, in fact, in school year 2010-11, had blanks in the field capturing ELL enrollment counts. Leaving a data field blank is very different than reporting a zero for enrollment.

In fact, in five states, the GAO found that between 80 percent and 100 percent of charter schools left ELL enrollment counts blank. That includes very-populous states such as New York and Ohio that are likely to have ELLs in charters.

The federal Education Department, for its part, did not perform any comprehensive data-

Wisconsin Democrat who infiltrated ALEC: ‘They don’t want people involved in the political process’ | The Raw Story

Wisconsin Democrat who infiltrated ALEC: ‘They don’t want people involved in the political process’ | The Raw Story:

Wisconsin Democrat who infiltrated ALEC: ‘They don’t want people involved in the political process’

Representative Chris Taylor

Via Moyers & Company. Theresa Riley

Representative Chris Taylor is a Democrat elected to the Wisconsin legislature in 2011. Last week, she attended the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) annual conference in Chicago. Writing about her experience at The Progressive magazine’s website, she describes her experience inside the “ALEC universe” and writes: “ALEC members have been quietly working out of the public eye to develop their agenda so that when given the opportunity, they are ready to start creating an ALEC nation. That time has come. And they are ready.”

We caught up with her by phone back in Wisconsin to talk about what she found out about the conservative policy-making machine.

Riley: Why did you want to attend the conference? What did you hope to achieve there?

Taylor: I’m very new in the legislature. I came in the middle of last term. So I missed a lot of theAct 10 [debate]. I was working on various issues when all of that was going on. But I wanted to learn more. I wanted to have a better understanding of the group, so that I could, when I needed to, fight some of these very regressive policies better.

I think it’s so incredibly important for people to understand where these [model] bills are coming from and try to understand the rationale. I was quite blown away by the extent of where [Wisconsin] policy is coming from, because so much of it is coming from this group.

Riley: ALEC conferences are known for being very security conscious. Were you incognito? Did you wear a badge with your party affiliation?

Taylor: No. I did wear a badge with my name and that I was a Wisconsin legislator. Every person

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: There's nothing wrong with Common Core Standards, except...

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: There's nothing wrong with Common Core Standards, except...:

There's nothing wrong with Common Core Standards, except...

ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has joined other top education officials to warn the public not to be alarmedby dramatically lower test scores following new testing standards.

There's nothing wrong with schools having high academic standards There's plenty wrong with having those standards handed down from on high and then bringing in multi-million-dollar ramrods on no-bid contracts to "retrain" teachers and principals into passive compliance. There is even more wrong with Common Core and it "rigorous" testing regimen being used to sort and track kids, opening up doors to college and employment to the few and shutting them to the many.

Case in point: The New York Times reports that New York State, an early adopter of the new standards, released results from reading and math exams showing that less than a third of students passed.

Making matters even worse, CC testing is almost entirely in the hands of textbook/testing mega-publisher Pearson. The Washington Post reports that Pearson just apologized for

Why Does a “Turnaround” District Need to Purchase Buildings? | deutsch29

Why Does a “Turnaround” District Need to Purchase Buildings? | deutsch29:

Why Does a “Turnaround” District Need to Purchase Buildings?

August 16, 2013

When the Recovery School District (RSD) was formed, it was supposed to “turn around” schools and return the schools to the original distircts:

Intended as a mechanism for restructuring and reform, the RSD was never meant to be a permanent part of the public school governance landscape in New Orleans. Instead, the RSD was meant to take control of and turn around chronically failing schools for an initial period of five years. After that time, and assuming adequate school improvement, schools would be released from the jurisdiction of the RSD and returned to their local school board.

http://www.coweninstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/History-of-the-RSD-Report-2011.pdf

Thus, this transaction has “shady” written all over it:

Until recently, few people knew the Recovery School District could even buy property. Stan Smith, interim superintendent of the Orleans Parish school system, was surprised to hear it Wednesday, as was School Board President Ira Thomas.

Recovery School District Superintendent Patrick Dobard himself found out only a few days ago. But from there his team moved quickly to persuade the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to set up the necessary shell corporation to handle the purchase. The state board agreed on Wednesday.

http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2013/08/rsd_goes_it_alone_to_buy_bells.html#incart_river

A $1.8 billion “deviation from the master plan” thrown together in mere days.

Charter schools need more accountability, Expert panel agrees

Charter schools need more accountability, Expert panel agrees:

Charter schools need more accountability, expert panel agrees

State education funding better, needs improvement

By: Bob Driehaus, WCPO Digital

CINCINNATI - Ohio’s rapidly expanding voucher and charter schools funding lacks critical accountability testing and consequences for poorly performing schools, a bipartisan panel of educators and state legislators involved in education agreed Thursday.

The five-member panel was convened by the University of Cincinnati’s Economics Center to discuss the recently passed biennial state education budget. A standing-room-only crowd of mostly superintendents, principals and other educators listened intently.

The budget, which was proposed by Gov. John Kasich and modified by the Republican-dominated legislature, increases funding to traditional public schools by 4 percent to more than $15 billion compared to the previous year. The state’s 370-plus charter schools will also see a 4 percent increase in funding.

Charter school funding has ballooned from a $10 million pilot program in Toledo a decade ago to $900 million, according to Dr. Carlee Escue, an assistant professor in UC’s college of education. She said charters have been plagued by high teacher turnover, exorbitant salaries among for-profit charter owners and poor academic performances.

“I have a hard time accepting those types of funding level when I’m trying to educate my children in public schools,” Escue said.

Ohio Senator Peggy Lehner, a Republican who serves on the education finance subcommittee who

Diane Ravitch gets it right - Lloyd Snow: Top 10 reasons Oklahoma public schools are in a fix | Tulsa World

Lloyd Snow: Top 10 reasons Oklahoma public schools are in a fix | Tulsa World:

Lloyd Snow: Top 10 reasons Oklahoma public schools are in a fix

By LLOYD SNOW

I think Diane Ravitch gets it right in her latest book "Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools."

She says the only crisis in public education is the one ginned up by government bureaucrats, major foundations and an odd coalition of elitists and commercial hustlers who have made inflated claims about the virtues of vouchers, charter schools, virtual schools, standardized testing, merit pay, etc.

They insist that poverty has no correlation to low academic achievement and that overhauling our entire system along business lines is the way to go.

I feel like business/industry/philanthropist /politicians are trying to FIX us. Not like a car, like a cat!

Friends, our public schools are like the Statue of Liberty. We take the tired, hungry, poor, huddled masses and we give them hope and opportunity.

I wish folks who think they have to fix us would explain how so many of their "reforms" will help teachers teach and children learn. I deal with real teachers and kids. They are not numbers.

Here are my top 10 reasons to be concerned about what getting fixed feels like in public education:

No. 10: High stakes testing is out of control. It stifles entrepreneurship, creativity, curiosity and the American spirit.

No. 9: Most of us have not had enough time to learn, tweak, embrace common core much less understand the high stakes implications for students and teachers.

No. 8: Too many talented teachers are retiring too early for the wrong reasons: feeling undervalued

The big problem with new evaluations of teacher prep programs

The big problem with new evaluations of teacher prep programs:

The big problem with new evaluations of teacher prep programs

By Valerie Strauss, Published: August 16 at 12:23 pmE-mail the writer

Comments

It takes some degree of chutzpah to evaluate teacher preparation programs with data said to be “in-depth” and “comprehensively collected” and then bury in small type the fact that some of the data isn’t actually all that trustworthy.

That’s what the New York City Department of Education did with the newly released reports that are said to grade teacher prep programs at colleges and universities in the city. The department put out a news release this week with the headline: “New York City Becomes the First Major School System in the Country to Comprehensively Collect and Analyze Data on New Teacher Hires from Post-secondary Schools of Education.” You can find individual reports on a department webpage under the title “Human Capital Data.”

The U.S. Education Department under Secretary Arne Duncan has been pushing “accountability” on teacher prep programs, using the standardized test scores of the students of the programs’ graduates as a key measure, despite warnings from testing experts that this is an unreliable way of evaluating teachers. New York is the first to do

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Profiting off the 'deliberate starvation' of Philly schools

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Profiting off the 'deliberate starvation' of Philly schools:

Profiting off the 'deliberate starvation' of Philly schools

The district has never recovered from Paul Vallas' financial mismanagement.

Yes, schools will open on time in Philly. But only by going further into debt to the banks. According to the NYT, ("A City Borrows So That Its Schools Open On Time") the situation is not as dire yet as Detroit’s. But the problem is so severe that the city agreed at the last minute on Thursday to borrow $50 million just to be able to open schools on time. Even with that money, schools will open Sept. 9 with a minimum of staffing and sharply curtailed extracurricular activities and other programs.

“The concept is just jaw-dropping,” said Helen Gym, who has three children in the city’s public schools. “Nobody is talking about what it takes to get a child educated. It’s just about what the lowest number

'They’re cutting everything but the kids': On budget reductions and school conditions | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

'They’re cutting everything but the kids': On budget reductions and school conditions | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

'They’re cutting everything but the kids': On budget reductions and school conditions

by thenotebook on Aug 16 2013 Posted in Commentary

COMMENTS (4)PRINT

by Erin Rooney

It didn't take a hurricane to wipe out Philly Public Schools
Just Corporate Education Reform

Residents of Philadelphia are counting down the days until the city’s public schools open. We are faced with insufficient funds and abundant worry about the School District’s ability to open safe and functioning schools. In the face of a massive budget crisis, the District has slashed numerous positions, programs, and resources. These reductions raise serious concerns.

Of course, this budget crisis and its consequences have been in progress for a few years. Schools have been working with reductions in staffing, programming, and funding since the start of the 2011-2012 school year, the same year I began data collection in two neighborhood schools as part of a dissertation study on teachers’ working conditions. Though I did not intend to research the impacts of budget reductions at the local school level, this reality inevitably surfaced in conversations with teachers about their work.

Below I share a few of the many lessons, gleaned from speaking with teachers, that are important to consider as we enter the school year with our city’s schools drastically underfunded.

School facilities: “It’s very unclean and dilapidated, and I feel like it should not be a school.”

It’s no secret that some of Philadelphia’s public school buildings are dated and in disrepair. Even the nicest school buildings suffer when there are reduced maintenance services. Teachers bemoaned the deteriorating conditions of their school buildings as maintenance crews were cut and the cleanliness of the school buildings declined over the course of the school year.

The overall impact a school building has on teachers and students cannot be overstated. In my study, the reduced maintenance services shaped teachers’ daily experiences. One teacher said, “When I walk in the back doors its smells, it’s dirty, it’s disgusting.” Certainly, other issues will take precedence as the city works to open schools on time; however, we have to think through school facilities as

8-16-13 Jersey Jazzman

Jersey Jazzman:

B'Bye Bowen

Another one of Jeb! Bush's Chiefs For Change moves on to greener pastures: Maine Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen announced Friday that he will resign effective Sept. 12 to take a job with the national Council of Chief State School Officers, according to a statement from Gov. Paul LePage. Bowen, who was appointed by LePage in March 2011, has been at the center of the governor’s ambitious an

2 by Duke / 0min

Dear NJ Teacher Voting For @GovChristie: ARE YOU INSANE?!?!

Dear Fellow NJ Public School Teacher Getting Ready To Vote For Chris Christie This Fall: Are you out of your freakin' mind?!?! Christie presented his major accomplishment as breaking the back of public-sector unions with government employees while simultaneously wooing private-sector unions. “We have the endorsement of 24 building-trade unions,” he said. “We have an opportunity as a political

18 by Duke / 26min

A Crib Sheet for the Rhee/Perry Tour

Looks like someone is desperately trying to become relevant again: Michelle Rhee wants to have a candid conversation with her fiercest critics.And she’s asking local teachers union leaders and activists — long her most vocal opponents — to be a part of each event. According to the invitations sent Wednesday, Rhee’s goal is to bring teachers and their union representatives into the wider conver

19 by Duke / 27min

8-15-13 Jersey Jazzman: Criteria, Norms, NASCAR, and Driving Tests in NY

Jersey Jazzman: Criteria, Norms, NASCAR, and Driving Tests in NY: Criteria, Norms, NASCAR, and Driving Tests in NYHere's a bit of completely made up news: the New York State Education Department is taking over driving exams for the state's Motor Vehicles Department. As we all know, the unacceptable rate of accidents on New York's roads is due to a lack of "rigor" in driving instruction. John King,

by mike simpson / 22h

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