If you're like me, GreatSchools has always been a bit of mystery. School profiles are great, but not much of a game-changer no matter how well-written or data-rich.
But recently I've learned that the GreatSchools profiles are incredibly popular among parents, that there's a new Facebook app that allows parents to find friends and friends-of-friends who are discussing certain schools and neighborhoods, and that there are blog posts like this one (When the melting pot boils over) that address core school reform issues like diversity and gentrification.
"Many middle-class parents enter public schools with a dogged determination to improve them. They want to do good, while also doing right by their children. Yet when such efforts — however well-meaning — carry the taint of entitlement, it doesn’t take much for the ordinary elementary school to become an ideological battleground waged around bake sales and play structures."
Schools in West Virginia Take On Social Work Amid High Unemployment, Drug Abuse AP: When school started this fall in this sparsely populated rural area at
West Virginia's southern tip, 1 of 7 classrooms was without a teacher
because leaders couldn't recruit enough educators. The American Federation of Teachers-guided effort is called
Reconnecting McDowell, and leaders hope it will stem decades of
suffering, both physical and economic. If successful and sustainable,
this model could help despairing rural schools elsewhere.
L.A. mayoral candidates support making teacher evaluations public LATimes: City Controller Wendy Greuel and City Councilman Eric Garcetti said they
backed the release of individual performance evaluations based on
so-called "value-added" formulas, which are controversial both locally
and nationwide. These measures use the past performance of students on
state standardized tests to help gauge a teacher's success, taking into
account such factors as race and income.
Proper Role of Ed-Tech in Pre-K a Rising Issue EdWeek: The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, a New York-based children's digital-media research organization, studied
the education category of Apple's app store, a slice of the more than
500,000 apps available in all subjects. Of about 200 top-selling apps in
the education category, 58 percent were for toddlers and preschoolers.
Common Standards Set for Federal Education Research EdWeek: The criteria, rolled out last week at the American Educational Research
Association's annual meeting here, will guide all new research at the
IES, the U.S. Department of Education's main research agency, and all
NSF research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
education.
This is a guest post from Michael Maher [@mj_maher], who works at the NC State College of Education:
Last week at the Education Writers Association (EWA)
National Seminar Secretary Arne Duncan stated “Schools of Education show little interest in increasing diversity
among teachers.”
Once again,
Mr. Duncan shows either his disdain for teacher preparation programs, his ignorance of the
field of teacher preparation, or both.
Is this just another example of the secretary making a bold, albeit
factually inaccurate, statement or is there something more? Perhaps if Mr. Duncan spent a little
more time talking with those of us who dedicate our lives to the work of
preparing teachers, he might truly begin to understand where our interests lie.
There is no doubt that we need to increase the diversity of
America’s teaching force. Since
colleges of education continue to prepare the majority of America’s teachers it
is incumbent on us to increase the number of diverse candidates enrolled
in teacher preparation programs. The
secretary needs to remember, however, that we can’t MAKE people become
teachers; they have options. Lack of diversity is not just an education issue.
Wasn't Sir Ken's PBS TED talk wonderful? Did Bill Gates stick around after his presentation and hear Sir Ken Robinson proclaim, "leadership should not be command and control?"
Does the first public education television TED signal that Gates is changing gears? After all, he downplayed the bubble-in accountability aspect of his talk, so maybe he is learning about the dangers of his test-driven approach to instruction. And, Geoffrey Canada directed his anger toward the lack of budgetary support, not unions. Neither did host John Legend seem like an enabler of Michelle Rhee. Maybe he is realizing that the "reformers" who he has supported are responsible for the curriculum narrowing that Sir Ken derided and driving music, hands-on science and media studies from public schools. Finally, wasn't Angela Duckworth fantastic and wasn't that young poet, Malcolm London, inspiring?
I kid myself. I know that sometimes a PBS program is just a PBS program. I know it is humiliating for teachers to continually be watching the tea leaves in the hopes that a billionaire or a media star will stop attacking us. Educators have to continually worry about the next Waiting for Superman or Won't Back Down, using teacher-bashing as a quick fix for urban ills. But, what we really want is to be a part of a constructive, reality-based effort to improve schools.
The first PBS Education TED did not mention the keys to accountability-driven "reform," standardized testing and top down mandates for drill and kill, except to criticize them. If veteran educators and researchers wrote the script, we couldn't have done a better job. Maybe we are seeing a new day or maybe we're just seeing a kinder, gentler spin. We might just be watching the same excellence that is expected on PBS, and it might have prompted "reformers" to be on their best behavior. Or, perhaps we are ready to discuss ways for teaching students to be empowered students, improving instruction, and making schooling into a team effort, as opposed to seeking scapegoats for the failure to meet growth targets.-JT(@drjohnthompson) Image via.
Video from the NewSchools Venture Fund summit last week. Or, you can watch Laurene Powell Jobs interview Arne Duncan (his answers on parent trigger are at the 38:00 mark).
CPS School Closures: Independent Hearing Officers Oppose Closing 14 Schools On List AP: Independent hearing officers tasked with reviewing Chicago Public Schools' list of 54 slated closings are opposing 14 of the proposed shutterings saying those schools don't meet the state standards that warrant a shutdown. In the list that was made public Tuesday morning, hearing officers cited
a wide range of reasons for opposing the 14 closures, including safety
of students and lack of proof students were actually being moved to
better-performing schools.
House Education Panel Discusses NCLB Renewal EdWeek: At a hearing today, U.S. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the chairman of
the House Education and the Workforce Committee, reiterated his
criticism of the administration's plan for renewing the NCLB law, a
system of waivers, which so far have been offered given to more than 30
states. "It's time to change the law," he said. "These waivers are a
short-term fix for a long-term problem and leave states and districts
tied to a failing law." He said that the committee would act on
reauthorization "in the coming months."
In California, Push for College Diversity Starts Earlier NYT: Those states have tried a series of new approaches to choosing students,
giving applicants a leg up for overcoming disadvantages like poverty,
language barriers, low-performing schools and troubled neighborhoods.
That process has drawn heavy scrutiny, but in California, it is only
half of a two-pronged approach. Disadvantaged students in poor
neighborhoods, like Erick Ramirez, a senior at Anaheim High School, are
benefiting from the state university systems’ growing efforts to
cultivate applicants starting in middle school.
Sandy Hook School Plans Divide Town WSJ: Newtown, Conn., officials are considering other options for the
future of Sandy Hook Elementary School after some in the community
objected to the possibility of reopening the site where 26 people,
including 20 children, were shot and killed on Dec. 14. The committee making recommendations on the issue signalled a new
direction Friday after at least one of its members, town First
Selectman, E. Patricia Llodra, met privately with Sandy Hook teachers
before the panel's public session.
Are Teacher Evaluations Public? Assessing the Landscape EdWeek: As the movement to overhaul teacher evaluation marches onward, an
emerging question is splitting the swath of advocates who support the
new tools used to gauge teacher performance: Who should get access to
the resulting information?
As evidenced in recently published opinion pieces, the contours of the debate are rapidly being drawn.
Filling In The Gap On Climate Education In Classrooms NPR: Polls show most U.S. students learn little about climate change at
school, and even many adults have a fuzzy notion of what causes it. For the first time, new
issued in April include climate change. But the standards, written by a
consortium of science and education groups in consultation with 26
states, are only voluntary and could take years to roll out.
David Kirp’s new book, Improbable Scholars, explains how Union City used research-based reforms to turnaround a school system that had been one of New Jersey’s worse. Kirp shows how we can build great schools on the strengths of our democracy. Their successes did not come from outside technocrats, but from a local culture of “abrazos” or caring. Rather than firing our way to the top, Kirp shows that school improvement must come from trusting relationships. The secret sauce of Union City’s success is “respeto,” or respect.
The equally good news is that school improvement is best achieved by the “grunt” work of “continuous improvement.” Rather that gambling on “disruptive innovation” and “transformative” change, real reform requires a modest ethic of “plan, do, and review.”
The worrisome news is that Union City’s turnaround was expensive. It was made possible by an activist New Jersey Supreme Court that ordered the state to produce equity. This allowed the funding of high-quality early education, reduced class sizes, professional development in English as a Second Language and methods of motivating and engaging students, and one-on-one coaching to struggling teachers and students.
The sobering news, however, is that Union City shows that it will take just as much planning, coordination, and trial and error to coordinate and align policies that work as we have squandered in the last decade on aligning instruction and testing.
The road for the Common Core initiative has been especially rough recently, with both conservative and progressive opposition growing louder and political and logistical setbacks becoming more noticeable.
This is understandably worrying to CCSS supporters, including Chester Finn who argues that "conservatives ought to applaud" the Common Core initiative.
I'm not by any measure a conservative - so my perception may be skewed - but it's hard for me to see much in Finn's argument that conservatives per se should find compelling.
Central to his argument is the point that the CCSS are better than most existing state standards, and so most states would be better off adopting them.
What, exactly, is conservative about that line of thinking? Isn't the conservative position that variation between the states is a virtue (either in itself or because it allows for greater flexibility and innovation)?
Similarly, while Finn tries to reassure conservatives that CCSS adoption is "totally voluntary", he also admits in the very same breath that federal pressure "complicated" the decision-making process for states.
ACT to Move Toward Computer-Based Testing NYT: High school students will take the ACT college admissions exam by
computer starting in the spring of 2015 — but at least for a while, the
paper and pencil version will be available, too.
“We are moving to a computer-based version, but for the foreseeable
future, we will also have the paper and pencil test as an option for
schools that don’t have the technological capability,” said Jon
Erickson, the president of ACT’s Education Division.
Rifts Deepen Over Direction of Ed. Policy in U.S. EdWeek: All this change—and more—in education is happening against a backdrop
of rapidly shifting demographics, technology that is changing lives at
blazing speeds, and an economy still recovering from the Great
Recession. At the same time, education is caught in a push for state and
federal budget austerity and faces a Congress so gripped by gridlock
that some educators are wondering if the withering Elementary and
Secondary Education Act will ever get rewritten.
Teacher Pay Hurt by Recession, Report Says NYT: During the recession and its aftermath, public schools took a hit as
both state coffers and local property taxes shriveled. That showed up in
shrinking employment, but also in teacher salaries. According to a report
being released Tuesday, the vast majority of teachers in the nation’s
largest school districts took a pay cut or saw their pay frozen at least
one year between 2008 and 2012.
Mississippi GOP Prepares New Push On Education Reform To Combat Poverty AP: Republicans' statewide solutions include making it easier to create
charter schools and holding back third-graders who can't read. Other
changes approved by lawmakers are state-funded prekindergarten and
higher qualifications and merit pay for teachers. "All those categories that we see that have an effect not only on
quality of life, but on our society and workforce, go back to beginning
with a failure in the educational system," said Republican Gov. Phil
Bryant, who names education as key to improving Mississippi's weak
economy.
Every weekend I search far and wide for interesting, off-beat, longer pieces on or about education issues, and tweet them out. Then, each Monday, I gather and post them here for you:
NYT's @smosle proposes a deal between class size and teacher quality hawks -- any takers? ow.ly/kIjcE
Hispanics Now Largest Ethnic Group In Texas' Public Schools HuffPo: Hispanics have passed whites as the largest ethnic group in Texas schools, making up almost 51 percent of public school enrollment. The influx of Hispanic students, many from poor families, has brought about many changes in classrooms, with more expected as that population continues to grow. Some schools already struggle with how to teach an increasing number of poor children who don’t speak English. Others are preparing for a day when their enrollment primarily is made up of low-income students, most of them Hispanic.
TED Teams Up With PBS on Ideas for Education NYT: In its first television foray, TED has joined forces with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the New York public broadcaster WNET for a one-hour special, “TED Talks Education,” to be broadcast on PBS on Tuesday. If it is successful, the program could become a template for future joint projects, said Juliet Blake, one of the show’s executive producers and the TED official charged with bringing the conferences to television.
Rewards for Schools Key Facet of NCLB Waivers EdWeek: One of the chief complaints about the No Child Left Behind Act has been that districts and schools that fail to meet achievement targets face serious sanctions, while schools that do a good job of closing the gaps between traditionally overlooked groups of students and their peers essentially get little in return. To help alleviate those concerns, the U.S. Department of Education asked states to identify so-called "reward schools" in their applications for waivers easing demands of the NCLB law, the current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which Congress has yet to revise.
With an Old Factory, Philadelphia Is Hoping to Draw New Teachers NYT: A Victorian-era dye factory is taking on a new role to help this city’s troubled public school system attract and retain teachers. Two redbrick buildings in the up-and-coming but still gritty South Kensington section of Philadelphia are being converted into apartments and offices intended to house teachers and nonprofit educational organizations in what the developers hope will become a cohesive community.
The new marshmallow test: Resisting the temptations of the web HechingerReport: Living rooms, dens, kitchens, even bedrooms: Investigators followed students into the spaces where homework gets done. Pens poised over their “study observation forms,” the observers watched intently as the students—in middle school, high school, and college, 263 in all—opened their books and turned on their computers. For a quarter of an hour, the investigators from the lab of Larry Rosen, a psychology professor at California State University-Dominguez Hills, marked down once a minute what the students were doing as they studied.
Two updates from California to end the week, both via LA School Report: The first is an update on the "miscommunication" between DFER national and DFER California over the issue of a district waiver for LAUSD and other California districts (Reform Group Splits over Federal Waiver for LAUSD). No doubt, running a national organization with strong state leaders is no easy feat. This is just one of several examples of the kinds of concerns and considerations that take place.
The second is an update from Sacramento, where six state senators on the senate education committee voted "abstain" on a proposed teacher evaluation bill that was being touted by LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy and Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst and opposed by the teachers unions and the state superintendent of instruction. The six abstentions effectively killed the bill, and were all the more notable since five of the six had voted for or gainst it just a week before. You can watch one of the members try and explain his decision to abstain to voters in the video above. (Senators' Silence Dooms Teacher Evaluation Bill)
I agree and disagree with Alexander’s take on David Brook’s New York Times’ Op Ed, Engaged, or Detached? Brooks argues that today we mostly have engaged writers who are less concerned about persuasion than mobilizing people who already agree with them. Engaged writers can be repetitive as they seek immediate political influence. A detached writer, however, is more like a teacher. He or she prods people to think.
Also, detached writers have more realistic goals. Detached writers generally understand that they are not going to succeed in telling people what to think. It is enough to prod people to think about “underlying concepts, underlying reality and the underlying frame of debate.” A detached writer understands that politics is a “bipolar struggle for turf.”
I agree with Brooks and, presumably, Russo, in drawing that distinction, although I would offer a more nuanced view. If a detached writer is like a teacher, what is a detached teacher like?
I disagree with Russo that Diane Ravitch should be defined as an engaged writer under Brook’s definition. Fundamentally, she is bilingual. Ravitch has long demonstrated fluency in the language of scholarship. Her research is presented in vivid prose. It is as solid as that of any detached writer. It is her ability to cut through the jargon and articulate a mass message that "reformers" can't stand.
Nation’s Top Educator Visits Mission District Classrooms Mission Local: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan paid a visit Wednesday to 826 Valencia, the Mission-based writing nonprofit founded by educators and authors Níneve Calegari and Dave Eggers.
Education formula fight likely to split lawmakers The Hil: But to change the funding formulas, Democrats from rural states will have to overcome opposition from lawmakers representing major cities and affluent suburbs. This puts them on a collision course with members of the leadership, such as Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Democratic Policy Committee Chairman Charles Schumer (N.Y.).
Critics Up Pressure To Keep Targeted Chicago Schools Open NPR: A marathon series of public hearings over school closings in Chicago is over and the city is a step closer to conducting what could be the nation's largest shutdown of schools. Fifty-three elementary and one public high school are on the chopping block. Parents, educators and others say they're not ready to give up the fight.
Debating How to Give Texas Teachers Useful Feedback NYT: When Texas lawmakers rolled out a framework for evaluating public schoolteachers more than 15 years ago, they intended to identify ways to strengthen the state’s teaching corps.
Video: Expert: 'Catastrophic' education will haunt kids NBC Nightly News: After an audit of ELL classes in the Las Vegas school system found 69 out of 70 classes failed to meet expectations, parents and experts demand action be taken. KSNV's Sandra Gonzalez reports.
I have no idea how to take Evaluating Evaluations by Ross Weiner and Kasia Lundy. The report they wrote was issued by the Aspen Institute and the Parthenon Group and they have seemed supportive of the contemporary school "reform" movement.
But, Weiner and Lundy describe its “teacher quality” approach to school improvement in the third person. They repeat its factually incorrect statement that teachers have the most impact on learning. So, it is hard to tell whether Weiner and Lundy believe that, or if they are just summarizing the logic of using improved teacher quality as the driving force of school improvement. My sense is that they are trying to diplomatically push towards more realistic methods of improving instruction.
For the record, teachers are responsible for only a small part of student learning so there are many other ways of improving schools other than gambling the farm on teacher evaluations. But, Weiner and Lundy seem to assume that we have no choice but to ride the teacher quality horse until it wins, or collapses. They thus offer constructive criticism of the abusive way that it has been implemented.
Still, Evaluating Evaluations makes numerous belated but smart suggestions. It says that systems must start listening to teachers and even adjust their plans after contemplating our input. They describe surveys of teachers' attitudes, such as those conducted in New York, Washington D.C. and, especially, Tennessee. They should have been wake-up calls.
The recent discussion about David Brooks' column on "engaged" vs. "detached" writers reminded me that, little more than two years ago, I posted this respectful but critical entry about NYU education historian Diane Ravitch's views about school reform efforts, which were somethat new at the time:
Later on today, education historian Diane Ravitch is going to head out from her Brooklyn Heights home and make her way into the city to be a guest on tonight's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" for the first time since May 2003.
...
The Comedy Central appearance will be a tremendous victory for Ravitch, who has been pushing to get on one of the two shows in the 11 p.m. time slot for almost a year now. It will be a happy moment, too, for all of the educators and parents who have welcomed Ravitch into their arms.
For me, however, Ravitch's appearance will be another moment to reflect on the nagging unease I have with what she's saying -- and in particular the absolute certainty with which she is saying it.
Clearly, Ravitch is the category of the engaged writer, and I'm probably more in the detached camp. Ravitch's response to my column was to call Jossey-Bass, the folks who were then publishing my book about Locke High School, and demand to have her blurb removed from the back cover of the book.
Last year's version was at UPenn's school of education, and this one is apparently going to be even bigger and better-attended.
Some folks are fresh off the airplane or road, but many seem to be combining the event with AERA and/or NSVF and/or GreatSchools. Follow along at #ewa13. NYT columnist Thomas Friedman will be here to speak - he's everywhere in education these days.
Already last night I had the chance to catch up with the College Board's Peter Kauffmann and to meet David Coleman, as well as to meet a journalist named David Bornstein who writes "Fixes" for the New York Times and has an interesting new solutions-oriented journalism project he's working on.
As always, it's great seeing familiar faces -- including Linda Lenz, Stephanie Banchero, Greg Toppo -- and fun to meet people I've only talked to on the phone or emailed (like Russlynn Ali and David Lomax yesterday at NSVF). Please feel free to come up and say hello (with apologies if I can't talk because I have to do some blogging).
*Funny sidebar about the Stanford education school: As a sophomore here, I walked in and asked if I could major in education and they said 'nope.' At the time (mid 1980s) many ed schools like Stanford were Masters'-only -- a situation that has long since changed. I don't know if I would have followed up if the answer had been different, or would have liked the courses very much, or followed a different path after college. As a senior I gave a bit of thought about moving to LA and teaching there under an emergency certificate -- the only option that existed. But I heard bad things from friends who'd taken the emergency route, and so I taught private school instead, and went to grad school, and etc.
Here's the full list of courses that have been developed for Coursera's first foray into K12 education. I assumed these MOOCs would be asynchornous/on demand. Instead, they have start dates and "last" a certain number of weeks. (There's no "House of Cards" option for on demand bingeing.)
Chicago Charter Schools Unionize WSJ: Teachers in one of the country's largest nonprofit charter-school groups voted to unionize, fortifying efforts by organized labor to expand in an area of public education where it has been largely unwelcome.
Will new teacher evaluations help or hurt Chicago’s schools? Hechinger Report: As of early April, Boran and two assistant principals had collectively done 98 observations using the city's new teacher evaluation system. Boran's assessments take her three hours apiece, from reviewing pre-observation lesson plans to a post-evaluation conference and data entry.
Dissatisfied, Parents In Indianapolis Start Their Own School NPR: Some parents in Indianapolis, Ind., are taking school choice to an extreme. Bruised after the mayor closed the public charter school their kids attended, and disgruntled with existing school options, they started their own school. It has made it through the first year with 35 students, despite lacking both funding and a permanent home.
Video: ‘Kids need more than test prep’ NBC Nightly News: Chris Plunkett, a visual arts teacher at Orchard Gardens school in Roxbury, Mass., spoke with NBC’s Katy Tur about the success of the arts program that led to an inspiring turnaround for students.
At an education conference in Burlingame earlier today, Obama education secretary Arne Duncan gave a muddled semi-endorsement of the controversial parent trigger law in California.
Specifically, Duncan described the trigger as "an important tool" for parent involvement -- but not the only or even the most important one.
Duncan's answer will likely disappoint trigger proponents and opponents alike.
If the contemporary school “reform” movement really seeks to improve schools, as opposed to defeating unions or, perhaps, privatizing education, then Randi Weingarten's proposed moratorium on Common Core high-stakes assessments is common sense. (It is described here in Stephanie Banchero's Wall Street Journal piece, Learning Goals Spur Backlash.)
Only diehard opponents of Common Core have an educational reason for opposing Weingarten’s compromise. If Common Core proceeds on schedule, it will be quickly thrown into the dustbin of history. But, if we have a victory over the hurried implementation of tests, it would likely be a pyrrhic one.
My previous opinions on Common Core, like my current ones, are contradictory. I have long believed that unless someone like Weingarten takes charge and convinces the big boys that they need to face facts, its standards are doomed. Unless poverty is addressed, Common Core would crater before any real instructional improvements could occur in urban schools. Common Core assessments would likely be a trainwreck.
Maybe we should step back, watch the dramatic debacle and blame it on market-driven "reformers." But, primitive bubble-in testing is a slow-motion smashup.
This is a guest commentary from longtime journalist Richard Lee Colvin comparing the current debate over the leadership of LAUSD to a similar one that took place more than a decade ago -- in San Diego:
School board elections typically are low-cost, low-turnout, low-visibility exercises in democracy.
But, in this one, philanthropists and other moneyed interests spent big money backing reform candidates whose opponents enjoyed the strong support of the teacher union. It featured lots of partisan campaign ads, some that pushed right up to the edge of truth. The fate of the aggressive superintendent, who had made improving teacher effectiveness the centerpiece of his administration, seemed to hang in the balance.
The election I’m talking about took place in 2000 in San Diego, not Los Angeles earlier this year. But the similarities are such that an analysis of the former yields insights that may be relevant to the latter as well.
In Los Angeles, Superintendent John Deasy had deep-pocketed supporters including New York City’s billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg and philanthropist Eli Broad contributed nearly $4 million to support friendly candidates in the primary. (Another $600,000 has been put into a run-off for one of the seats.) The results were mixed in the primary, with one Deasy supporter winning and the incumbent union loyalist retaining his seat.
The superintendent in San Diego was Alan Bersin, who had been the U.S Attorney in San Diego before being hired in 1998 as one of the country’s first non-traditional superintendents.
Spotted at #NSVFsummit 2013, that's Vivienne Ming @neuraltheory wearing Google Glasses (she took a picture of me using voice commands in much less time than it took me to take one of her).
Pretty soon, I'm guessing, a teacher or student will wear these into class and everyone will freak out. (Meantime, I'm very excited about the TeachLive simulator they have downstairs, sort of a flight simulator for teachers.)
I'll leave most of the livetweeting to others, weighing in with the occasional tidbit.
Funny to think that at my first or second of these, in New Orleans shortly after the Hurricane, I had to beg and plead for WiFi access that's now barely a consideration.
So far I've run into lots of old friends and acquaintances, including several folks doing exciting new things (change is good!). Please come up and say hello, and apologies if I have to blog or tweet something.
You can follow the event via #nsvfsummit, or watch the video here.
Walton foundation gives $8 million to StudentsFirst LATimes: A foundation associated with the Wal-Mart family fortune has expanded its support for the education advocacy group run by former District of Columbia schools chancellor Michelle Rhee. The Walton Family Foundation announced Tuesday an $8-million grant over two years to StudentsFirst, which is headquartered in Sacramento but has operations in 18 states.
New School Standards Spur a Backlash WSJ: Now, the Common Core effort is under attack from an unlikely coalition: conservatives who decry the implementation costs and call the standards an intrusion into local education decisions; union leaders who worry that states have tied, or plan to tie, teacher evaluations to new Common Core exams; and some parents who contend their children are ill-prepared for the Common Core tests.
How Will Indiana's Common Core 'Pause' Affect Its NCLB Waiver? PoliticsK12: To get a waiver under the No Child Left Behind Act, Indiana attested that it had adopted the Common Core State Standards and joined a consortium developing common tests. Now, both are in doubt. The state legislature approved and sent to the governor a bill to "pause" common core implementation, which had started in grades K-1, pending more study and state board of education hearings. From a practical standpoint, this may or may not mean a whole lot (except maybe a whole lot of confusion).
New High School Pathways Emerging EdWeek: Every student at Wheeling High School takes a full academic courseload. But many of the graduates of this 2,000-student school in Wheeling, Ill., also emerge with significant experience in a career field. Those interested in health careers, for example, can work with student-athletes in the school's athletic-training facility, earn a Certified Nursing Assistant credential, and intern at a nursing-care facility.
Heading over to the Bloomberg Philanthropies-sponsored reception to start the NewSchools Venture Fund education summit, I thought there was no time like the present to update you on my progress figuring out the ins and outs of outside spending on local school board elections like that being done by NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
As you may recall, Bloomberg and others have been giving funds to various local school board candidates over the past few years, either directly to the candidates or via an independent expenditure committee. The funding is intended to provide a counterbalance to union contributions, local and otherwise, and is entirely legal but raises lots of issues when it is so new and novel (for a school board race) and also when it comes from outside the city or state where the race is taking place.
My issue is not with the campaign contributions themselves, which are perfectly legal, or even with the need for a counterbalance to union power in low turnout events. The AFT spent $1M to get rid of Adrien Fenty, and the CTA spent $300K to block board members favorable to former San Diego superintendent Alan Bersin.
My question is whether the funding is worth the blowback, and whether reform advocates like Bloomberg (and DFER, and StudentsFirst) will ever figure out a way to tell their story and give their money without spending all their time defending themselves. I also want to know how much of it is out there, on both sides.
It's not just reform critics and professional opponents who are seeking to define Michelle Rhee's school reform advocacy as predominantly right-leaning and Republican -- and so far at least StudentsFirst seems to be going along with it.
There's no argument that some of the organization's biggest funders like the Walton Family Foundation have Republican roots, or that Rhee will work with Republicans to get policy priorities moved ahead.
But increasingly, mainstream media press accounts of StudentsFirst are describing StudentsFirst's political advocacy (campaign endorsements and contributions) as Republican, too.
The first part of that sentence is where I'm confused. (About the second half of the sentence, I'd observe that only Rhee's support for the trigger and vouchers -- and her willingness to work across the aisle -- mark her as anything other than a mainstream Democrat.)
The question about Rhee's endorsements and contributions first started coming up for me last Fall, when readers started noting that SF's endorsees in Florida were Republican (See Eighty Candidates Endorsed By StudentsFirst). It came up again after the general election when I was trying to tally the advocacy groups' performance (See So How'd The Advocacy Groups Do?*).
More recently, StudentsFirst keeps telling me that endorsements are one thing, campaign contributions are another. But so far, at least, they've not provided any documentation about the direct contributions and superPAC contributions in the states they're involved with. All we have are lists of endorsements, which do indeed skew Republican.
The reason I've been asking is that my own limited experience with StudentsFirst and campaign contributions is that they're mostly Democratic. This includes giving to LAUSD school board candidates, and trying to get Brian Johnson and others elected. (See CA StudentsFirst Candidate Squeaks Through*).
Is the press getting this wrong and falling for an attack that isn't accurate, or am I just working off of incomplete information?
There's been some buzz recently about myEdmatch.com, the new job listing site that promises to better match teachers to schools based on their stated philosophies of education. Prospective teachers sign up, fill out a survey about their educational beliefs, and then, hopefully, find a similarly-aligned school.
Since I'm on the job market myself I signed up for myEdmatch as soon as the site came online at the end of February.
There's lots that's familiar about this year's NewSchools Venture Summit taking place tomorrow in Burlingame, California -- but at least one major change: livestreaming!
That's right-- this somewhat expensive, invitation-only event is going to be putting some of its main speakers and panels out onto the Internet where everybody can see them. Now if NewSchools would only dig up and send me the videotape of the heated 2008 exchanges between Randi Weingarten and Michelle Rhee, I'd be content.
Study finds steep drop in funding for preschools despite push for increased early education programs. NBC News' Danielle Leigh reports. (NBC News Funding for preschools fall)
Common Core Backlash Is Serious, Says AFT President, Randi Weingarten WashingtonPost: On Tuesday, the head of the American Federation of Teachers and a strong supporter of the Common Core standards will warn that the new approach is being poorly implemented and requires a “mid-course correction” or the effort will fall apart. “The Common Core is in trouble,” said Randi Weingarten, the union president who is slated to speak Tuesday in New York about the issue. “There is a serious backlash in lots of different ways, on the right and on the left.”
No Child Left Behind District Waivers Derided By Civil Rights, Disabilities Groups HuffPost: In a letter these groups wrote to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan -- and forwarded to The Huffington Post Monday morning -- they argue that the price of giving school districts that kind of flexibility is too high, espeically when it comes to student achievement. "We're asking you to hold the line now," the groups wrote. "Moving away from a system of statewide accountability ... will result in different expectations for students from one district to the next.
Arne Duncan Makes Pitch to Expand Early-Childhood Education PoliticsK12: The details of the administration's early-childhood education expansion are largely in its most recent budget request to Congress. But Duncan reiterated some of them anyway, noting that the program would call for a state match of roughly 10 percent in the first year, eventually increasing to 75 percent.
Schools Evaluate Whether to Privatize Support Services EdWeek: School districts face constant pressure to provide reliable support services in areas like transportation, student meals, and janitorial work — and do it as cheaply as possible. That leaves them with a decision to make: Should they use their own employees to perform those duties, or hire outside contractors who may be able to do the job for less?
Battle Brews Over California's Planned Student-Funding Overhaul WSJ: A battle is heating up in California over Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to boost funding for all schools, but funnel more money to districts where many students are poor and struggle with English and less to wealthier districts.Since Mr. Brown, a Democrat, unveiled the "weighted funding" plan in January, school chiefs in poorer areas have pushed hard for the state legislature to pass it.
One real limitation of the piece is that I'm only familiar with California's existing science content standards. This means that I don't know whether the final draft of the NGSS represents a likely improvement for other states that might not have already have standards as good as California's.
My sense is that the NGSS may, in fact, be an improvement for a significant number of states. For example, while a 2012 review of state standards by the Fordham Foundation resulted in an 'A' rating for California, fully three-quarters of states earned a 'C' or lower. Ten states received an 'F'.
So while the NGSS are not great, they are arguably pretty good - especially on politically contentious issues like evolution and climate change - and that may be enough to justify replacing existing standards for many states.
I'd be curious to hear from science teachers outside of California on this. - PB (@MrPABruno) (image source)
NBC News: "Carla Hale, the longtime teacher at Bishop Watterson High School in Columbus Ohio says she was fired from her job after her lesbian partner’s name was listed in her mother's newspaper obituary."
30 Years On, Educators Still Divided On Scathing Schools Report NPR: But Ron Wolk, who had just started the publication Education Week, says the report had a fatal flaw: It pretty much ignored the plight of poor, minority kids. "It kind of viewed the students of America as middle-class white kids who would really do well if they just tried harder and if we raised standards ... There was no recognition that there was a terrible inequity out there," he says.
Preschool Funding Reached 'State Of Emergency' In 2012: NIEER Report HuffPo: Funding per student for state pre-school programs has reached its lowest point in a decade, according to "The State of Preschool 2012," the annual yearbook released by Rutgers University's National Institute for Early Education Research. "The 2011-2012 school year was the worst in a decade for progress in access to high-quality pre-K for America’s children," the authors wrote.
GOP Dictates New Landscape For Education In Alabama AP: Self-declared education reformers have had considerable success across the country over the past few decades, from charter school expansion and private school tuition vouchers to new limits on teachers' job protections. But perhaps nowhere have the triumphs marked a bigger political upheaval than in Alabama, where the new Republican supermajority is dominating the state teachers' organization that was long the epicenter of power.
Lowering Standards to Earn a Diploma in Texas Could Raise Voters’ Ire TexasTribune: Behind the scenes at the Capitol, different factions from the business community are busy lobbying on this, with one saying the marketplace demands skilled laborers who don’t necessarily want or need four-year college degrees. Another camp, veterans of No Child Left Behind, the state’s sweeping education reforms in 1980s and other fights, is trying to hold the line on standards and accountability.
In Rural Georgia, Students Step Up Offer Integrated Prom NYT: The rural county in central Georgia is one of the last pockets in the country with racially segregated proms. “These are people I see in class every day,” said Ms. Rucker, a senior, who hid in a parked car outside the prom. “What’s wrong with dancing with me, just because I have more pigment?” But this weekend, after decades of separate proms for white students and black students, Wilcox County will have its first integrated prom.
Buffalo schools heed call to curb suspensions WSJ: The upstate New York district's new code of conduct, taking effect for its 34,000 students next school year, shifts away from punitive suspensions in favor of intervention and prevention strategies like conflict resolution, counseling referrals and restorative justice — which involves bringing conflicting parties together to repair damage.
After a FOIA and a year's delay, Chicago Public Radio has unearthed the infamous "clout list" from the Arne Duncan era in Chicago -- highly redacted but revealing the process through which VIPs sought to get their own or their friends' kids into selective schools.
For the second time this year, the resignation of a principal of a troubled Oklahoma City secondary school hit the newspaper. The Daily Oklahoman's Jaclyn Cosgrove, in Oklahoma City Principal Resigns After Large-Scale Tardiness Effort, describes it as a result of three days of "hall sweeps" at a middle school in order to get students to class on time and of the arrests that followed.
According to the police report, 100 to 200 kids (or up to 1/5th of the student body) were late to class every day. Four tardy students were suspended and told to not return to school without a parent, but they came back the next day. They were charged with trespassing, which could result in a fine as large as $1000. One student explained that he was too scared to tell his parents and he didn't believe he would actually be arrested.
I do not know the principal and even if I did, I would be like the OKCPS central office and not comment about an individual in a controversy like this. In my twenty-plus years of experience with the OKCPS, this type of sad story is the inevitable result of the inability of neighborhood schools to enforce their tardy and attendance policies. When schools are not allowed to address one or two dozen chronic "hallwalkers" during the first semester, by April we often see one or two hundred who are either tardy or who do not attempt to attend class.
Jefferson Middle School received a grade of "D" in the controversial new state report card. Last year, it received an "F" for the growth in student performance and and an "F" for growth for the bottom quartile. Jefferson received an "A" for attendance. Those metrics may or may not say something about the school. But, clearly they say that the administrators are under severe stress. And, this is the height of the high-stakes testing that will determine the school's fate.
Also, in my experience, the overuse of criminal penalties becomes worse every spring, when decent and caring principals are overwhelmed with stress. Our inability to enforce school rules makes everyone frustrated. But, that is no excuse for criminalizing the conduct of a boy who said his guardian told him to go to school because he would send his case worker to clear up the situation.-JT(@drjohnthompson) Image via.
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in This Week In Education are strictly those of the author and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Scholastic, Inc.
