Here's the audio from last week's Hechinger Report event at Columbia's Teachers College, which as you may recall included some testy/insightful? comments from the Annenberg Institute's Warren Simmons about young white women writing books about poor black and brown communities.
Liz Willen, director of the Hechinger Institute, moderated the panel (titled Reconciling Race, Community and School Reform). The other panelists were Sarah Carr, Sarah Garland, and Amy Stuart Wells. There was some lovely wine and cheese afterwards.
"Two African-American Boys Enter a Prestigious Private School and Their Families Confront the Opportunities and Frustrations Presented by the Changing Face of Success in America" (POV) Airing this Fall.
Philadelphia Advocates Eye System with 1 Citywide School Application TheInquirer: While the number of district-run and parochial schools shrinks and the city's charter-school population booms, a group of education advocates is looking at a plan to implement a single, citywide enrollment process. The result could alter Philadelphia's educational landscape. The plan, still in the early stages, would involve students' filling out one application that would place them on lists at district, charter and parochial schools in the city, said Miles Wilson, director of the Great Schools Compact for the Philadelphia Schools Partnership.
Minority Groups Remain Outnumbered at Teaching Programs, Study Reports NYT: According to a study being released Wednesday by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, which represents colleges and universities with teacher certification programs, 82 percent of candidates who received bachelor’s degrees in education in 2009-10 and 2010-11 were white. By contrast, census figures show that close to half of all children under 5 in 2008 were members of a racial or ethnic minority.
Pennsylvania Keystone Exams loophole undermines impact of standardized tests TheMorningCall: On the surface, the "Keystone Exams" action by the State Board of Education appears to establish firm standards for high school graduation in Pennsylvania. Not quite. There is a loophole. Unfortunately, the new standards allow students who do not pass the Keystones to get diplomas based on "validated local assessment," which means a local school district can dish out diplomas to students just to get rid of them, as is done now.
Math Teachers Strive to Bring Core to At-Risk Students EdWeek: The Common Core State Standards for mathematics, now being introduced in schools across the country, set new grade-by-grade expectations for deepening students' understanding of math concepts, with an emphasis on algebraic thinking. But while many accomplished math teachers are enthusiastic about the standards' emphasis on mathematical reasoning and strategic expertise over rote computation, some say the transition to the new framework poses daunting challenges for students who are already behind in math.
'Green Schools' Go on National Display EdWeek: The impact and design features of the growing number of environmentally sustainable school buildings are on display at the National Building Museum as part of an exhibit on green school space. The exhibit, which opened earlier this month, also houses the first display of "Sprout Space," a new sustainable modular classroom designed by the Chicago-based architecture firm Perkins+Will. Featuring solar panels, a low-flow toilet fed by rainwater, and large glass doors and skylights, Sprout Space is designed to improve health and educational outcomes, the firm says, while also reducing the cost of construction and eliminating energy costs.
NTCQ asks and answers "Who's in charge of teacher prep?" with this map followup on states' roles in this area. Governors appoint state chiefs and/or state board members who oversee teacher prep in 39 states.
The Republican National Campaign isn't the only outfit trying to figure out what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening in the future.
Somewhat reluctantly, reformers are trying to understand the outcome of the March 5 primary day election for the LAUSD School Board, which included a win for incumbent Monica Garcia but a frustrating loss for challenge Kate Anderson.
According to many observers, absentee ballots played a big part in giving UTLA-endorsed candidate Steve Zimmer a massive lead even before primary day votes were cast -- and before the Coalition-funded campaign got into gear (How Steve Zimmer *Really* Won).
But there were other issues. Challenger Kate Anderson and her allies declined to attack Zimmer for his videotaped 2009 remarks in support of UTLA (The Zimmer Attack Ad That Never Was) or to make him explain his position on the removal of teachers accused of sexual abuse, which is a hot-button issue in LA.
Most recently, a rival campaign consultant sent a letter to former Mayor Richard Riordan slamming the Coalition-funded campaign for over-relying on mailed flyers and running a static cable TV ad campaign (Coalition Campaign was “Half-Hearted and Incompetent”).
More to come. All via LA School Report. Image via RNC.
The Providence Student Union is organizing an anti-high-stakes-testing protest in which adults take a test similar to the one required of students in Rhode Island to graduate high school. This isn't the first time this sort of publicity stunt has been performed, but since it's in the news it's worth remembering that the underlying logic of the protest is totally confused.
The rationale behind the protest isn't always clearly articulated, but the main assumption seems to be that if "accomplished" adults struggle with a test, it's unreasonable or unfair to expect much younger students to complete it successfully.
The problem with that line of thinking is that many adults are well out of school and have long since taken academic and career paths that happen not to involve the specific knowledge covered by the test.
More teachers are grouping kids by ability USAToday: New findings based on more than 20 years of research suggest that despite decades of controversy, elementary school teachers now feel fine placing students in "ability groups." The research, out Monday from the centrist Brookings Institution's Brown Center on American Education, finds that between 1998 and 2009, the percentage of fourth-grade teachers who said they created ability-based reading groups skyrocketed from 28% to 71%. In math, between 1996 and 2011, the practice rose from 40% to 61%.
DC Public Charter School Board tries to reduce 'zero tolerance' policies TheExaminer: The DC Public Charter School Board is encouraging charter schools to eliminate their "zero tolerance" discipline policies in an effort to reduce the number of students being suspended and expelled, Executive Director Scott Pearson said Thursday. "On the whole, charter schools expel and suspend too many students," Pearson told The Washington Examiner following a D.C. Council hearing.
Unions wield much power in elections — but can still lose HechingerReport: In all the races, the UFT and NYSUT engaged with local groups, including local teachers unions, to organize grassroots efforts to support their Democratic candidates, Mulgrew said. They also sent out mailers and developed television spots. The unions put out ads calling Cohen a slumlord, which he denied and countered with ads of testimonies from tenants, and attacked Republican Sean Hanna’s record in the State Assembly, calling him “Wrong for Rochester.”
Minnesota analysis shows Q-Comp bonus goes to most teachers in program SCTimes: Minnesota’s pioneering teacher pay-for-performance system has grown into one that awards a bonus to nearly every teacher who participates. Of the more than 10,000 Twin Cities educators who participate in the “Quality Compensation,” or Q-Comp, system, 99 percent received some type of performance pay last year, a Pioneer Press analysis found. Teachers received an average bonus of $1,864 in the 17 metro districts that use Q-Comp. About a third of Minnesota’s 339 school districts are part of the voluntary system that has a budget of $76 million in state and local aid this fiscal year.
11% of NYC Schools Never Flunk Their Teachers WSJ: Principals at more than one in 10 New York City public schools didn't flunk a single teacher for at least eight years, according to an analysis of city data by The Wall Street Journal. Teachers at 142 of 1,269 schools that have been open for at least the past eight years were all marked "satisfactory" on the city's pass/fail system for reviewing job performance.
Should you care that something called Google Reader is shutting down later this summer? No, probably not.
But it's still a good occasion to learn a tiny bit about the underlying magic behind Google Reader -- called RSS -- and consider whether you're getting as much of the Internet as easily as you could be.
A surprising number of folks -- including those who write online regularly -- don't know about RSS and are working harder than they need to (and failing to provide readers with as much quality content as they could).
Didn't go to Denver last weekend for #LEEnow? Me, neither. But you can get a taste of some of the things that were discussed in this panel on "Politics, policy, and advocacy" from the Cal Charters seminar from San Diego last week, featuring LEE VP for Educational Equity Brian Johnson as well as classroom teachers like Daniela Kim and Joshua Thomas. Recorded at the 20th Annual California Charter Schools Conference, March 13, 2013 in San Diego.
When Diane Ravitch announced the formation of her Network for Public Education last week, I was fleetingly optimistic that the group could serve as a useful alternative to existing well-meaning-but-frequently-misguided reform organizations.
Some days later this appears unlikely to be the case.
The existing crop of school reform advocacy groups have policy positions that are often dubious on the merits, but they manage to effectively set the agenda in part by having positive platform at all.
The NPE doesn't seem to stand for anything.
It is fairly clear what the NPE opposes because they list many of those policies specifically under their "mission": high-stakes testing, school closings, and private contracting.
What the NPE supports is much less clear. Their mission statement says only that they prefer "evidence-based reforms," a claim so vague as to be meaningless. (Would StudentsFirst say anything less?)
It looks very much like the NPE is an organization dedicated entirely to opposing other organizations. Fighting ill-conceived reform proposals may be worthwhile, but unless you are also offering an alternative set of reforms you are merely postponing their inevitable implementation.
If the folks at the NPE want to win policy battles they need to figure out how they'd like to see education improved so that reform organizations don't continue to fill up that idea vacuum with proposals of their own. That would also give supporters something to get excited about fighting for.
As the moment, unfortunately, the NPE seems only to be validating the (unfair?) stereotype that reform critics don't have any ideas for improving public education. And that state of affairs isn't good for anybody. - PB (@MrPABruno) (image source)
There were some good things I came across over the weekend, checking magazines and sites I don't get to during the week (and things I missed along the way:
20K Smart, Poor Kids Are Applying to the Wrong Colleges- Slate Magazine ow.ly/j3jdF
Why do we suspend children from school? - Slate Magazine ow.ly/j3jbX
Federal Budget Cuts Cause Research Setbacks And Brain Drain In The U.S., Colleges Say AP: The concerns have emerged because of automatic federal budget cuts that could reduce government funding for research done at educational institutions, spending that totaled about $33.3 billion in 2010, Department of Education statistics show. And the possible cuts add to another anxiety at those schools and others across the country: brain drain.
California State schools chief wants to hold off on some standardized tests LATimes: A plan to suspend California's standardized testing for certain grades while new computerized exams are developed could save $15 million, the state's top education official said. The new standards are aimed at fostering more critical thinking, sophisticated writing and other higher-level skills."Rather than continuing to spend scarce dollars and precious class time on outdated testing, we can invest these resources in developing the next generation of assessments that will help students focus on critical thinking and problem-solving — the skills they will need in college and their careers," Torlakson said in a statement.
Mississippi Governor Tells Public Schools to Develop Policies Allowing Prayers NYT: Gov. Phil Bryant of Mississippi has long wanted children to pray at public schools. This week, with his grandmother’s worn Bible on his desk, he signed a bill that gets him closer to that goal.The new law requires public schools to develop policies that will allow students to pray over school intercoms, at assemblies and at sporting events. While not allowing school-sanctioned prayer, the law permits students to offer public prayers with a disclaimer by the school administration.
Texas-Based Gift Aims to Add More Math Teachers WSJ: A Texas-based program that encourages math and science majors to become math and science teachers is getting a $22.5 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, one of the largest such donations of its kind. The grant will go to UTeach, which enables math and science majors to augment their degree in these fields with an education component. Students who opt to do this can earn enough credits to get their teaching certificate by the time they graduate with a four-year degree.
Specifically, respondents were asked whether expanded pre-K programs would have "a much lower social return" than the best existing programs currently generate.
I'd have guessed that economists would answer that question with a resounding and disheartening "yes", but the actual results were somewhat mixed with only 1/3 of economists answering in the affirmative. (This increased to a bit over half when survey results were weighted by confidence.)
The biggest takeaway seems to be that mainstream economists as a group know and/or care relatively little about education. (In this regard they are perhaps not that different from the general public.)
Consider, for example, that 29% of respondents reported being "uncertain." Another 18% didn't answer the question at all. Also notable: though the IGM survey sometimes asks a second, related question, in this case it didn't bother even though an obvious follow-up was available.
After all, what we want to know is not necessarily whether universal pre-K access would result in diminishing returns, but whether such an investment would generate positive returns.
On that question economists apparently remain unsure or indifferent. - PB (@MrPABruno) (image source)
This American Life's brilliant radio documentary about Harper High School describes a "Turnaround" school as it comes off a year in which 29 current and recent students were shot. Eight died, and there were dozens of other incidents where bullets were thrown.
Reporter Alex Kotlowitz, author of the masterpiece, There Are No Children Here, reporting with Linda Lutton, Ben Calhoun, and Ira Glass, spent five months at Harper.
Nearly every time Kotlowitz visited the school's social work office, a student named Thomas would be there. Asked why he hangs out there so much, Thomas replied in a "muffled and sluggish" voice, as if he's "speaking from deep inside a cave:"
"Nay, I ain't gonna give you no answer for that. Every time I come here, you come. And I'm for real."
Thomas sounds like the type of black male who frightens so many people who don't understand his world. "His braided hair hangs over his eyes. He often has a hood on. He won't look you in the eye." And perhaps society should worry about Thomas' expressed fears that he will "try to hurt somebody." Angered by a bully, Thomas punched the aggressor so hard that one of the boy's teeth got stuck in Thomas hand
But what most strangers don't know is that, last June, Thomas was standing on a porch, talking with another Harper student, Shakaki Asphy, when she was shot and killed. In 2006, at a birthday party for 10-year-old girl, "Nugget," Thomas saw her brains laying on the floor after she was shot. And according to his social worker, there have been "many, many in between."
The suffering I witnessed over, say, a decade in my high school has been compressed into just a few years at Harper. "Harper High School" explains a world that is even indecipherable to many educators. Ira Glass stresses that Harper is not alone and gives voice to seven other school administrators who described the more typical levels of violence that our kids have endured.
Perhaps society has imposed a school reform experiment devoted to remediating academic weaknesses because we dare not confront the emotions of Harper High School.
At the risk of fanning the flames of hype and/or fear already surrounding him, I wanted to point out Colorado state lawmaker Mike Johnston is a pretty good example of someone closely associated with school reform (ie SB 191) who doesn't just focus on school reform.
He's been strong on immigration reform for quite a while -- I'm talking about much more than making a speech or issueing a position statement, though that's a start -- and now he's apparently pushing hard on gun control legislation, too. (image via The Denver Post).
It's on these so-called "side" issues -- the DREAM Act, gun control, postsecondary access, and more resources for schools -- that reformers stand a much better chance of finding partners from within education and among parents that they need, at least some of the time.
Via NBCLatino: When I got to the part about the iPads being issued to all the officers, I began to think that Edinburg Consolidated (in Texas) seems like it might be overdoing it.
Orleans Parish School Board hopes to lure state takeover schools back to local control Times-Picayune: The Orleans Parish School Board is addressing a key roadblock this legislative session after two years in which no state takeover schools chose to return to local control. The board's legal and legislative committee on Thursday gave their approval to a bill that would let returning charter schools continue to receive federal funds directly, as they do in the Recovery School District, without the board taking a cut. State Rep. Wesley Bishop, D-New Orleans, will sponsor the bill. The full board is expected to approve the measure on Tuesday.
Boston Schools Drop Last Remnant of Forced Busing NYT: “Tonight’s historic vote marks a new day for every child in the city of Boston,” the mayor said in a statement. But numerous parents and activists complained during a hearing before the committee’s deliberations that the new system would leave some children — mostly black and Hispanic — in the lowest-performing schools.“No way we can stand around the playground and say, ‘Yeah, we’re all getting a fair shake,’ “ one father testified.
Testing Consortium Reorganizes for Long-Term Survival CurriculumMatters: The two big groups of states that are designing tests for the common standards have a lot more on their minds than the thorny work of test design. They're trying to figure out how they can survive once their federal funding runs out in the fall of 2014, before the tests are even administered.
Partisan Divisions Emerge on Workforce Investment Act PoliticsK12: Tomorrow, the U.S. House of Representatives is going to consider a long-stalled reauthorization of a major bill. Nope, sorry, edu-advocates, it's not the renewal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—instead it's the Workforce Investment Act or WIA, which has been pending even longer than ESEA, if you can believe it.
Experts Make a Case for Later School Start Times EdWeek: Mystery still surrounds what sleep is actually for, but multiple research studies suggest that it is critical to brain development, memory function, and cognitive skills, especially among children and teenagers, according to experts and advocates at a symposium here last week. Organized by a pair of Maryland-based advocacy groups—theLloyd Society and Start School Later—the event explored adolescents' need for sleep, and the effects of—and the necessity for—appropriate start times for schools across the country.
Several of yesterday's news stories about the new Pope for the Catholic church made mention of the fact that the new Pope is a Jesuit. (The Jesuits are special order of Catholics known for their steely gaze and firm handshake, as well as their relatively rigorous brand of parochial education.)
But few if any noted that the Jesuits play a small but fascinating role in recent school reform history, via the Cristo Rey Network of schools, which is a 25-school model of education featuring a mix of Jesuit academics and work-study experiences that nominally help drive down tuition costs.
Yes, that's right. The new Pope comes with his own school reform model. I only know this because I wrote about the Chicago school for City Limits roughly a decade ago, and because Marvin Hoffman wrote about it again in 2008 for the Chicago Tribune.
Other reasons to want to know about this model? The Cristo Rey network has been supported for many years by the Gates Foundation. And it's spreading. See list of development sites here. Image via Vatican.
Life at Westeros Valley High is pretty brutal. Tweeted this a few days ago but forgot to post it. You don't really have to know the show to enjoy the video. Via ONTD
Survey Suggests Hurdles for Math, Science Teaching EdWeek: A rich new set of survey data on math and science teachershighlights some big challenges the nation faces if it hopes to significantly increase student achievement in those disciplines. It also drives home, experts say, the huge need to support teachers as districts begin implementing the common-core math standards, and as an effort to develop common standards for science nears completion.
Cantor, Rubio, Other Key Republicans in Congress Focus on Choice PoliticsK12: And now Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., the second-top-banana in the House, is getting in on the act. Cantor doesn't have a long record on K-12, but it's clear he wants folks to see this as a big issue for him going forward. School choice played a prominent role in Cantor's big speech to the American Enterprise Institute last month, in which he laid out his vision for the new Congress. Since then, Cantor has traveled to New Orleans and met with students who are participating in a voucher program put in place by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (a potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate). Check out local coverage here.
Digital Learning Priorities Influence School Building Design EdWeek: As school districts plan and design new buildings, a philosophical shift in how learning environments look is happening, fueled largely by technological advancements and a belief that classrooms should be more interactive and mirror the workplaces of today and the future. That new look puts a high priority on small-group work, use of mobile devices, and project-based digital learning.
Fund That Subsidizes Internet for Schools Should Expand, a Senator Says NYT: The $2.3 billion federal E-Rate program, which subsidizes basic Internet connections for schools and libraries, should be overhauled and expanded to provide those community institutions with new, lightning-fast connections to the Web, the chairman of a Senate committee that oversees the F.C.C. said Tuesday. Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, a West Virginia Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said that the fund should be used to create one-gigabit connections to every school in America — a speed that is 60 to 100 times faster than most schools or homes now receive — and wireless connections in every school building.
New Jersey Town Divided Over Schools and Firearms WSJ: More than two months after this suburban township put armed guards in each of its schools following the rampage in Newtown, Conn., residents are divided over the pilot project's consequences for children and its effectiveness as a deterrent. Police officers—their pistols displayed in holsters—have patrolled Marlboro's nine public schools since Jan. 2, unnerving some parents and comforting others while providing a model for communities that want to follow the National Rifle Association's advice on preventing school violence.
What if we just skipped right past the whole thing where grown-up educators re-invent education and give it over to the kids? Right? But only small groups of white kids, in Massachussets. via Jezebel.
The Common Core has become–depending on one’s perspective–either an unstoppable bandwagon or a runaway freight train. -- PBS education corresspondent John Merrow
My concerns about edtech aren't so much that someone might make money -- that's already happening in education and everywhere else, and has been for years. It's a big endeavor, this public education thing, and many of us -- including teachers -- are making all or part of a living off it. So some folks are getting rich? Secondary concern.
Even the personal politics of some of those positioned to take advantage of ed tech -- who include not only the so-called "bad guys" like Gates and Murdoch but also (don't forget!) supposed relatively "good guys" like Amazon and Apple and the College Board -- doesn't bother me a ton. Everyone's got a view, and generally thinks he or she is right. You're no different; you just don't agree with them.
What really bothers me -- gives me the willies, actually -- is that the current reform movement (leaders, funders, organizations) may already be turning its relatively small but essential energies away from the success and tough lessons of the last 5-10 years (which include the limits of charter school expansion, value-added, and ending LIFO) towards the new, sexy edtech stuff like MOOCs, tablets, blended learning, big data, and augmented learning -- thereby passing by (again) the really deep and transformative problems facing education (teacher preparation and support, for example, or early literacy) that need everyone's undivided attention.
New ideas and approaches are great, but often don't end up being as transformative as they sound in the early stages and can distract folks from deeper, tougher, more critical endeavors. If you're going to do edtech, for example, why not do universal access? Image CCFlickr
Check out this new Scholastic Administrator profile of philanthropist Eli Broad (Impatient Philanthropist) in which you will learn that Broad says he doesn't want to privatize public education and read some of the ways that Broad's approach differs from the Gates Foundation on several key issues (the parent trigger, Michelle Rhee, and TFA, among other things).
Hate philanthropist reformers on sight? It won't make any difference to you. Curious about how they differ and what makes them tick? You might be interested.
Other articles worth clicking from Administrator (which sponsors this blog) include The Homeschool Twist: Districts experiment with partial homeschooling for gifted students. Kentucky: The First Domino? Early Common Core results show a steep drop. Is your state next? Interview With Terry Grier: A plainspoken leader takes Houston ISD in innovative directions—and holds all parties accountable, Sell Your Schools: Figuring out your schools’ return on investment can be a big selling point when it comes to board and public buy-in.
In Michigan District, A New Look For Vocational Education NPR: Classes like wood shop or auto shop used to be called vocational classes. They were known as an academic dumping ground for students who weren't succeeding in a regular classroom. But a lot has changed. In the rural mid-Michigan school district of Stockbridge, classes now offer a pathway to college, and a way to gain skills to pay tuition.
No Division Required in This School Problem NYT: The young man, Peng Shi, a 24-year-old doctoral student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, began asking questions and talking to parents. Then he made a suggestion: why not drop the idea of zones altogether?
Paul Ryan: Pell Grants Frozen At Current Levels Under New Budget HuffPost: Under Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis) "Path to Prosperity" budget framework for 2014, college students would have one less weapon against the creep of climbing college tuitions: Pell Grants would freeze at their current level, with a maximum possible grant of $5,645 per student for the next 10 years.
The National Awards for Education Reporting are out for this past year (2012), and include 62 winning entries from an unknown number of submissions. Many of them are unfamiliar to me -- things I missed or outlets too small or outside my range for me to notice (Who Killed John Dewey High, City Limits; Death of a District, Texas Tribune) or about states I don't care about (Education Coverage in Connecticut, Connecticut Mirror) or topics (like higher education). No offense, just not my thing.
The big news is that Stephanie Simon, formerly of the WSJ and now of Reuters, wins for National Education Coverage, along with a special citation for Betsy Hammond, Oregon Education Reporting. Hammond also gets a nod for IR in Diplomas Denied. Another double winner is Peg Tyre, who wins and shows for feature writing with her stories The Writing Revolution and Making the Grade: When Do Kids Deserve A's?. Last but not least, Mike Petrilli and all the folks at Fordham win best blog for the Gadfly, thoroughly trouncing their EdSector rivals at The Quick and the Ed. Image via EWA.
The outcome of last Tuesday’s Los Angeles School Board election might have seemed anticlimactic, writes Education Tweak in Bloomberg Acquires Partial Stake in LAUSD, but the education journal of farce explains that the partial takeover is a part of a longterm strategy:
"Bloomberg’s spokesperson, Ollie Garkey, insists that further acquisitions in this and other districts will take place over the next several years.” Bloomberg still intends to “'liquidate unproductive assets in the LAUSD and we expect new investors to join our team.'”
The spokesperson says that Bloomberg has produced better results in the high-risk election market than Karl Rove, but he has a more transformative goal. “As is, the system is unworkable and unacceptable. The entire investment community must now work together to design a more reliable election process.” Garkey asks, “How fair is it when the high bidder is denied the purchase?-JT(@drjohnthompson) Image via.
Some of the people who've seen Blackboard Wars -- the Oprah Winfrey Network reality series about the effort to fix a New Orleans high school -- are objecting to the depiction of the kids, teachers, and school.
One blog post against the show calls it “Cops” meets “Dangerous Minds,” describing the show as promoting a tired trope about urban teen violence and exploiting poor kids "for ratings and national school reform cred."
To be sure, the decision to invite cameras into John Mac was a controversial one -- not only in the school community -- where 90 percent of kids but only half the teachers signed release forms -- but also within Future Is Now Schools, the nonprofit charged with making things better there. I've written extensively about FIN founder Steve Barr and am no stranger to his strengths and weaknesses as a school reform leader.
But I have to ask, how is Blackboard Wars really all that different underneath it all from This American Life's recent depiction of life at Garfield Harper High School in Chicago, which generated widespread admiration and (so far as I know) very little backlash locally or otherwise?
"At the 2012 CraigMichaels K12 Summit, highly recognized school Superintendent Paul Vallas shared his insights in effectively turning around some of the most disadvantaged school districts in the US and abroad."
Details Trickling Out on Latest NCLB Waiver Bids EdWeek: With the addition of three longtime holdouts to the list of states seeking flexibility under the No Child Left Behind Act, nearly every state has sought to design its own accountability system to replace the outdated federal law. But the waiver applications submitted last month by Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wyoming are by no means a sure thing. Neither Pennsylvania nor Wyoming had released its submitted application to the public as of late last week, despite a federal requirement that states collaborate with stakeholders on their new proposed accountability systems.
Lawmakers Eye Early Childhood Expansion PoliticsK12: Under Casey's legislation, programs would have to meet certain quality standards—for instance, classes would be limited to 20 children or less, with a student-teacher ratio of 10-to-one or less. And prekindergarten teachers would have to earn bachelor degrees within six years. Much more about the legislation here.
Teachers union still draws support, money from retired members HechingerReport: Because the UFT is one of the only unions in the country to allow retirees to vote in leadership elections, they are powerful. Even when they live far from New York City, the UFT’s 60,000 retiree members staunchly defend the union they helped shape in the 1960s and 1970s, and they volunteer in droves when the union mobilizes its members to support candidates or lobby on education or healthcare.
22 New York City Schools Slated To Close Post: The city’s Panel for Educational Policy voted to approve the closure of 22 struggling schools early this morning at a meeting at Brooklyn Tech HS. While hundreds of parents and teachers came to protest the move, the meeting wasn’t nearly as volatile as in past years, when thousands packed the auditorium and raucously taunted education officials. Chancellor Dennis Walcott told reporters, “We are constantly working with schools to improve their outcomes. There are, unfortunately, some schools that just do not get better."
Arizona: Most of Law on Ethnic Studies Is Upheld NYT: A federal judge has upheld all but one aspect of an Arizona law prohibiting school districts from offering courses taught from a specific racial or ethnic perspective, which targeted the Mexican-American studies program at some Tucson public schools. The ruling Friday, by Judge A. Wallace Tashima of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, came in a lawsuit brought by teachers and students at the Tucson Unified School District against Arizona’s school superintendent, John Huppenthal, and other state officials.
This movie I saw over the weekend (by the guy who directed "Eternal Sunshine...") focuses almost entirely on a bunch of Bronx high school kids who ride home on a New York City bus on the last day of school for the year, and are impressively wise, amazingly clueless, casually mean, and extremely sweet.
Refreshingly the teens are treated as individuals, rather than superficial representatives of their race or economic status (or merely as victims of the environment they've been born into). Remember: "Red band trailer" means so volume down or headphones up if you're at work (swear words!). Here's the NYT review.
The moneyed coalitions can't make the union go away. Try as it might, the union can't exclude civic elites. -- Claremont University professor Charles Taylor Kerchner in the LA Times.
Obama Proposal Raises Issue of Pre-K Teacher Prep EdWeek: Amid the attention stemming from President Barack Obama's focus on early-childhood education in his State of the Union address, some advocates are wondering what the proposal will mean in the way of expectations for teachers.In particular, they are zeroing in on the president's call for "qualified" teachers—a term that carries baggage in a field where debates loom large about how to simultaneously improve the quality of instruction, increase the number of children served, and raise the prestige and pay of pre-K's approximately 1.8 million teachers.
Democrats in Massachusetts Push to Remove Limitations on Charters WSJ: Massachusetts lawmakers are considering eliminating a cap on the number of charter schools that can operate in the lowest-performing school districts, including here in the capital city. While other states also have weighed lifting caps, charter advocates point to left-leaning Massachusetts as a somewhat unlikely model for the movement. "This demonstrates that charter schools are a viable reform," said Nina Rees, president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a nonprofit aimed at advancing the movement. "If it can happen in Massachusetts, it can happen anywhere."
Alabama's Contentious Education Bill In Limbo As Courts Review Cases NPR: A week after a sweeping and controversial education bill was adopted by the Alabama Legislature, the measure is on hold, with a circuit judge and the state's supreme court reviewing separate lawsuits filed over it. Democrats say Republicans broke the rules when they inserted school choice language into a bill that was originally meant to give school districts flexibility in meeting standards.
Rational Decisions and Heartbreak on School Closings NYT: “In my heart, I didn’t want to accept it,” said Glen Casey, 18, a senior, at the end of the school day Friday. “It broke my heart, it hit me hard.” Wrenching though the decision was, William R. Hite Jr., the superintendent, said it was simply a matter of math in a district where more than a quarter of the schools’ 195,000 seats are now empty.
South Dakota Law to Allow Teachers to Be Armed WSJ: South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed a bill Friday allowing the state's school districts to arm teachers and other personnel with guns. Supporters say the so-called sentinels could help prevent tragedies such as the Connecticut school shooting in December. The law will go into effect July 1. Several representatives of school boards, school administrators and teachers opposed the bill during committee testimony last month.
Yesterday afternoon, the California Teaching Commission -- headed by Stanford University education professor Linda Darling-Hammond -- decided to tighten down on alt cert requirements for roughly 2,200 teachers working with ELL kids -- rather than immediately disqualifying the teachers (officially known as "interns".)
One of those who testified against allowing alternative certification candidates to teach ELLs was a TFA alumna Rigel Massaro (pictured, courtesy EdSource Today).
This is just the latest in a decade-long skirmish between alternative certification critics such as LDH and TFA over the eligibility of its members to work with disadvantaged children. In California and nationally, TFA members are deemed to be "highly qualified" according to a controversial Bush-era regulation that's been repeatedly challenged in court and in Congress.
The TFA loophole was last extended by Congress in 2012, with the requirement for a report on the distribution of alternative certification teachers within a year. Read all about it here: How TFA Almost Got Left Out Of NCLB.
Before and during a Wednesday evening education event held at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, a tired-looking Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa expressed frustration about the previous day’s election results — and pledged to keep working on school reform issues even after his term expires.
“Obviously I was disappointed with the results in the fourth district,” Villaraigosa told LA School Report. ”I had hoped Kate Anderson would prevail.”
However, he said he was emboldened by District 2 incumbent Monica Garcia‘s victory and was already rolling up his sleeves to help elect District 6 challenger Antonio Sanchez in the runoff. He cast the election in startlingly personal terms.
“I won one, I’m leading in another, and I lost one,” he said, referring to Tuesday’s outcomes. “And I’m not giving up.”
Horowitz identifies himself with a complicated formula that boils down to a fair summary of the beliefs of many members of the faith-based movement known as school "reform." His post reads like something a teacher might expect in a blog entitled, “Peer Reviewed by My Neurons." After apologizing in advance for mischaracterizing anybody’s position, Horowitz misstates that of Diane Ravitch.
But, even so, his post is constructive. Let me take you through his taxonomy, and then share with you my own.
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That seems to be the main message behind the creation of a new education advocacy group that is hoping to push its agenda to parents, the public -- and elected officials.
The Network for Public Education (NfPE?) -- not to be confused with the recently shuttered Public Education Network -- is being created to do what StudentsFirst, DFER, Stand, and 50CAN have been trying to do (organizing as a 501c4 rather than a traditional nonprofit, endorsing candidates, and maybe even creating a PAC).
Only it's an anti-reform kind of group, and for now at least it will rely on social media rather than big funders. And it's going to be run by Diane Ravitch (plus Anthony Cody, Leonie Haimsen, and the other usual suspects).
According to EdWeek (Diane Ravitch Launches New Education Advocacy Counterforce), Ravitch will be the main spokesperson for the group, and hopes that it serves as some sort of umbrella organization for the other groups -- Save Our Schools (the annual march and yellow icons in peoples' Twitter avatars), Parents Across America, and Broader Bolder.
I wonder how the other anti-reform groups feel about this new entrant, and about relying ever more heavily on Ravitch. Mixed feelings, I would imagine. I wonder how they'll coordinate and cooperate -- an issue the reform advocacy groups have struggled with. I wonder what it does to reform critics' purity of message to be doing some of the things that they've long criticized.
But the sturdy band of reform critics are already very good at social media, and have broken into mainstream media coverage of education as well (a mind meld with some beat reporters if there ever was one). If a sympathetic funder -- Ford, for example, or one of the unions -- they'd have some resources to expand (if also some credibility and hypocrisy issues to deal with).
Philadelphia Commission votes to close 23 schools, spare four Philadelphia Inquirer: In a tense, dramatic conclusion to a months-long battle, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission voted Thursday night to close 23 schools across the city - and spare four it had considered shutting
Diane Ravitch Launches New Education Advocacy Counterforce PoliticsK12: Education historian Diane Ravitch, a fierce critic of current education reform trends, is launching a new advocacy organization that will support political candidates who oppose high-stakes testing, mass school closures, and what her group calls the "privatizing" of public schools.
Chicago Public Schools panel: Up to 80 schools could close ChicagoTribune: Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration could safely close or overhaul as many as 80 schools this year, according to the final report of a commission that just two months ago voiced misgivings about the district's ability to close a large number of schools without major upheaval.
Districts Tying Principal Reviews to Test Scores EdWeek: A growing number of school districts—including large ones like those in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Hawaii—have become recent converts to new principal-evaluation systems that tie school leaders' appraisals to student test scores.
This is a guest commentary from Matt Barnum, at TFA 2010 alumnus who's now at the University of Chicago Law School:
Those of us engaged in the education policy debate have heard, many times over, all the arguments for and against Teach For America.
That’s why I was not surprised when much of the response to a recent TFA critique I wrote for the Washington Post “Answer Sheet” blog fell along traditional lines.
A few reform critics posted it gleefully on Twitter; the reform community, on the other hand, by and large ignored it – another day, another critique of TFA. Yawn.
This is understandable insofar as some of my points were old arguments restated and previously rejected by reformers. But I would challenge reformers to seriously consider the cost-effectiveness arguments against TFA.
Why?
Because when thinking about the cost-effectiveness of TFA, I rarely hear discussions about the, uh, costs.
The Administr@tor RSS Widget
Share Administr@tor content with your online community and get the latest education stories and product reviews automatically. LEARN MORE
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.
