Archives for the month of: May, 2017
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Cathy O’Neill: Don’t Grade Teachers with Bad Algorithms

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2017 //
43

Cathy O’Neill is a mathematician who wrote a wonderful book called “weapons of Math Destruction,” in which she showed how math and big data can be misused to reach very bad decisions.

She recently wrote an article for Bkloomberg News in which she explained why VAM is a terrible way to evaluate teachers.

She writes:

“For more than a decade, a glitchy and unaccountable algorithm has been making life difficult for America’s teachers. The good news is that its reign of terror might finally be drawing to a close.

“I first became acquainted with the Value-Added Model in 2011, when a friend of mine, a high school principal in Brooklyn, told me that a complex mathematical system was being used to assess her teachers — and to help decide such important matters as tenure. I offered to explain the formula to her if she could get it. She said she had tried, but had been told “it’s math, you wouldn’t understand it.”

“This was the first sign that something very weird was going on, and that somebody was avoiding scrutiny by invoking the authority and trustworthiness of mathematics. Not cool. The results have actually been terrible, and may be partly to blame for a national teacher shortage.

“The VAM — actually a family of algorithms — purports to determine how much “value” an individual teacher adds to a classroom. It goes by standardized test scores, and holds teachers accountable for what’s called student growth, which comes down to the difference between how well students performed on a test and how well a predictive model “expected” them to do…

“Fundamental problems immediately arose. Inconsistency was the most notable, statistically speaking: The same person teaching the same course in the same way to similar students could get wildly different scores from year to year. Teachers sometimes received scores for classes they hadn’t taught, or lost their jobs due to mistakes in code. Some cheated to raise their students’ test scores, creating false baselines that could lead to the firing of subsequent teachers (assuming they didn’t cheat, too).

“Perhaps most galling was the sheer lack of accountability. The code was proprietary, which meant administrators didn’t really understand the scores and appealing the model’s conclusions was next to impossible. Although economists studied such things as the effects of high-scoring teachers on students’ longer-term income, nobody paid adequate attention to the system’s effect on the quality and motivation of teachers overall.”

Happily, she says, VAM is on the way out. The new federal law does not require it, and courts have been ruling against. She cites Sheri Lederman’s court victory in New York and the recent court victory in Houston, where the judge said the algorithm was so opaque that it should not be used at all.

VAM has ruined the careers, the reputations, and the lives of many educators. One teacher, Rigoberto Ruelas, committed suicide soon after his VAM rating was published online by the Los Angeles Times. This is an example of a deadly use of math to damage real people, not just a game played by economists. Whoever participated willingly in this sham exercise should do penance.

Categories Teacher Evaluations, VAM

Laura Chapman: The Bradley Foundation’s “Enemies List”

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2017 //
27

Laura Chapman, our much loved reader and brilliant researcher, dug into the recently released files on the Bradley Foundation. An earlier post described the reach and riches of this very conservative foundation, which has underwritten the proliferation of vouchers.

She writes:

In August 2014, the board of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation asked for a list of “organizations that attack groups and people helping the Foundation further its mission” so it could determine ways “to mitigate the damage they do.”

In response, a veteran staffer compiled a list of 17 liberal organizations. In October 2014, internal documents say the board “received the presentation of the list favorably” and agreed to pursue “potential grant making options in the area.”

I constructed a spreadsheet of the Bradley list of liberal organizations. Some were for-profit public relations firms, many were 501 (c)(3) non-profits with a companion 501 (c)(4) that allows for limited forms of “political action.” Here is an edited list of some of the organizations, causes, and activities that really bothered the Bradley Foundation.

For-profit public relations firms.
Berlin Rosen. Known for devising a media strategy for a national “fast-food workers strike.” Clients: Service Employee International Union’s Committee on Political Education, League of Conservation Voters, New York University Law School’s Brennan Center for Justice, Russell Sage Foundation, United Nations Foundation.

Fenton Communications. Clients include liberal groups in education, environment, health, human rights, philanthropy, women’s issues, global issues, and the labor movement. Fenton was the architect of the “Alar scare” about a cancer-causing chemical used by apple growers. Specific clients; AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union, Natural Resources Defense Council.

FitzGibbon Media. Clients have opposed solitary confinement for Chelsea Manning, pushed for gun control after Sandy Hook, and supported the film “Dirty Wars” about Obama’s program of targeted-assassinations and drone strikes. Clients: Ford Foundation, Amnesty International, Climate Parents, Color of Change, Common Cause, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Netroots Nation, Social Security Works, Wisconsin Progress.

Change.org. A hybrid, certified as a “B Corporation” by the non-profit “B Lab” A “social-enterprise” that sells email addresses for petitions on issues.The estimated cost of a sponsored petition is $1.75 per email address. Estimated 40 million users in 2012.

Non-profits (c)(3) and( c)(4) action groups
Alliance for Justice. Group of 100 entities with Alliance for Justice Action Campaign. Monitors judicial selection, guides advocacy groups, produces documentaries, lobbies for liberal agenda.

American Bridge 21st Century Super PAC with American Bridge 21st Century Foundation. Employs 44 people in 41 states. Conducts opposition research on conservative political candidates. Credited with 2006 “Macaca” scoop, a video of candidate George Allen’s gaffe in a Virginia Senate race.

Center for American Progress and Think Progressblog with the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Especially critical of the Koch Brothers and their supporters. The Bradley Blog said it was attacked in a August 2011 CAP report “Fear, Inc.:The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America.”

Center for Media and Democracy, founded by John Podesta. Maintains ALECExposed.org.,PRWatch online, and SourceWatchplatform. Launches investigations and “strategic public-education campaigns.”

Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW). Files government complaints and lawsuits against corrupt politicians and interest groups. Maintains BermanExposed.com

Color of Change Project of Citizens Engagement Laboratory (CEL) and CEL Education Fund. Aim: “Strengthen Black America’s political voice.” CEL led the campaign against the Bradley Foundation and American Legislative Exchange Council in the wake of the killing of Trayvon Martin.

Common Cause with Common Cause Education Fund. An anti-corruption and campaign-finance “watchdog.” Opposes the agendas of the Koch brothers and American Legislative Exchange Council.

Democracy Alliance. A private financial clearinghouse for liberal policy groups and a matchmaker for allies that are not structured as a (c)(3). The Alliance has over 150 invited “partners” who pay an initial $25,000 fee and $30,000 in annual dues. They must give at least $200,000 per year to endorsed groups.

Media Matters for America and Media Matters Action Network. Documents conservative media bias via “fact-checking,” especially Rush Limbaugh, Fox News hosts and guests.

Mother Jones, published by Foundation for National Progress. MJ covers conservative “dark money” and elections. Caught Mitt Romney’s comment about “47%” of Americans who are living from government programs and pay no income tax.

One Wisconsin Now with One Wisconsin Institute. Created and maintains BradleyWatch.org

Open Society Institute. According to the Bradley Foundation the OSI “supports leftist groups many of which aggressively attack conservatives.”

Progress Now. In 2012 had an email list exceeding 2.4 million for use on state and local issues.

“Enemies” of the Bradley Foundation include fourteen organizations that support collective bargaining. Seven of these sent money to the Service Employees International Union and its Committee on Political Education. Others supported the AFL-CIO, National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, Communication Workers of America, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

George Soros comes up as the one person whose liberal causes are supported by ten of the organizations on the Bradley Foundation enemies list. In 2017, Soros was among the wealthiest Americans with an estimated net worth of $25.2 billion. My Google search on Soros‘ name today returned many alt-news briefs claiming he was dead or was wanted “dead or alive.” As of May 14, 2017 he is alive. The Google links to these alt-facts may have been launched with some support from the Bradley Foundation. For background on Soros see the wikipedia.org website.

The Tides Foundation put money into six organizations on the Bradley enemies list. The net worth of the Tides Foundation in 2015 was $219.6 billion. The foundation seeks “ a world of shared prosperity and social justice, founded on equality and human rights, a sustainable environment, healthy individuals and communities, and quality education.” The Tides Foundation has initiated projects financed through social impact bonds, also known as pay for success contracts. These can yield profits for investors. In this respect the Tides Foundation operates from a less extreme version of the “markets are best” philosophy which the Bradley Foundation aggressively supports.

I have not checked on the current status of the “liberal” organizations targeted by the Bradley Foundation in 2014.

https://projects.jsonline.com/news/2017/5/5/bradley-foundation-enemy-list.html

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Education Industry, Privatization

Inside the Bradley Foundation: Documents Reveal Plan to Spread Right-Wing Ideology, State by State

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2017 //
15

Hackers broke into the computers of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and released a treasure trove documenting the aggressive efforts to spread right-wing ideology.

I posted about these documents earlier, citing an article called “Weaponized Philanthropy” by Mary Bottari.

There is so much material that there will be many articles and books about the political uses of an allegedly charitable foundation.

Here is another article about the Bradley Foundation by Alex Kotch, which appeared in Raw Story and AlterNet.

He writes:

New investigations by Daniel Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Mary Bottari of the Center for Media and Democracy analyze hacked internal documents, which reveal that much like the Koch network, the Bradley Foundation has launched a national strategy to help conservatives control the branches of state governments and alter state policy to lower taxes, shrink government and attack labor unions.

The Bradley Foundation, which has historically supported taxpayer-funded “school choice” initiatives and work requirements for welfare recipients, is named after Lynde and Harry Bradley, two brothers who founded the profitable factory automation manufacturer Allen Bradley Co. After Lynde’s death in 1942, the Allen-Bradley Foundation was established. When Allen Bradley was sold to Rockwell International in 1985 for $1.7 billion, the foundation’s assets ballooned and it became the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation as it added a focus on promoting the brothers’ conservative ideology on a national scale.

Thirty gigabytes of Bradley Foundation internal documents hacked by a group named Anonymous Poland reveal that after a $200 million influx of cash in late 2012 from the trust of Caroline Bradley, Lynde’s wife, the Bradley Foundation geared up to fund networks of conservative think tanks, legal centers, candidate recruitment organizations, media outlets and advocacy groups in 13 states, based on the foundation’s successful efforts in Wisconsin. The foundation had already laid the groundwork for a welfare-to-work program and a private school voucher system and defended GOP Gov. Scott Walker in a campaign finance probe, helping him survive a recall election prompted by his dismantling of public-sector unions.

Now the foundation is focusing on five states it views as having a strong conservative infrastructure, thus making them ripe for rightward change. The foundation is working to expand conservative power in Colorado, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin by funding established networks of right-wing organizations that promote conservatism and help far-right candidates win elections. It’s a long-term strategy that “can take decades,” according to the longtime CEO of the foundation, Rick Graber, who recently stepped down from his post.

Be prepared, if you live in Colorado, Noth Carolina, Oregon, Washington, or Wisconsin. The Bradley Foundation is coming for your public schools.

Categories Billionaires, School Choice, Unions, Vouchers, Wisconsin

Good News: Supporters of Public Schools Elected to School Board in Ossining, New York

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2017 //
5

I know this may seem like small potatoes after the devastating loss in Los Angeles. But it is good news. Two strong supporters of public schools were elected to the school board in Ossining, New York. One is Lisa Rudley, a co-founder of New York State Allies for Public Education, and a leader of the successful Opt Out movement. Her running mate was Diana Lemon, a local civic leader. Both are parents of children in the district schools.

Lisa describes who they are in this letter to the editor, written before the election.

Step by step, district by district, we will take our country back from those who would destroy our public institutions and treat our children as data points.

Categories New York, Opt Out, Parents, Supporting public schools

A Teacher in Florida Reacts to the LAUSD Election

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2017 //
38

The good guys lost. The guys with the backing of the billionaires won. The public schools of Los Angeles will shrink in numbers as the charter industry takes charge of the district.

Although the charter candidates wrapped themselves in the banner of Obama and Duncan, their victory is indeed a victory for the Trump-DeVos agenda.

A teacher in Florida reacted:


I am sitting here at 6 am in So. Florida crying. I feel like I am living in a nightmare and can’t wake up. So many good teachers jumping ship and the new ones coming in are doing so with no intention of making this nearly impossible job a career. With the chaos of moving ESE behaviors into the gen ed popuation as it is “least restricitve” to “restorative justice” (time out for desk throwers and send ’em back to class), overworked and overwhelmed guidance counselors, shared psychologists with 3-4 schools and an IDIOT state legislature that loves “births”, hates “lives” and depises the poor. Does anyone else see this as the beginning of the end of a free society or am I catastrophizing? What is wrong with this country? Why can’t the public see what is happening? If they see, why don’t they care? The defeat in teacher’s eyes is palpable. It can’ t continue.

As devastating as the defeat in Los Angeles is, we cannot give up hope for the future. As the saying goes, it is always darkest just before the dawn. This darkness is deep right now, and the dawn is nowhere in sight.

But the only certainty of defeat is giving up. The loss in Los Angeles was due to money and lies, but also apathy.

The message is clear: if we don’t rally the people, the parents, the citizens who owe their education to public schools, we will lose. If we give up trying, we will lose. Those of us who believe in democratic control of public schools that take responsibility for all children, that are financially and academically accountantable, that hire only certified staff, must fight on.

We must not lose hope. Without hope, we are lost. Hard as it is to sustain hope, we must persist. To abandon the struggle is to abandon our belief in a basic democratic institution. We can’t and we won’t. The struggle is not over, nor is it lost. Consider the loss in L.A. to be a loud wake-up call to fight the free-market ideologues and entrepreneurs. Consider it a challenge to redouble our efforts to save public education and resist privatization.

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, Lies, Los Angeles, Privatization, Propaganda, Resistance

Charter Supporters Win Control of Los Angeles School Board

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2017 //
55

The two pro-charter candidates swept to victory last night in Los Angeles.

Nick Melvoin, the candidate of the charter industry, beat Steve Zimmer, 57-43%.

Charter teacher Kelly Fitzpatrick-Nonez beat Imelda Padilla, 51-48%.

It was the most expensive school board race in U.S. history. At least $14 million was spent, most of it by the charter forces to defeat Zimmer. Inthe two districts, only 75,000 people voted.

This marks the first time that the board of LAUSD has a pro-charter majority.

It was an exceptionally dirty campaign.

Melvoin falsely accused Zimmer of responsibility for the iPad debacle, which was in fact the pet project of former LAUSD superintendent John Deasy, a supporter of Melvoin. Deasy currently works for billionaire Eli Broad, who has proposed to put half the students in Los Angeles in privately-run charter schools.

When the new board members are installed, Eli Broad is likely to get his wish.

Zimmer’s campaign, whose lead supporters were teachers unions, is accused of associating Melvoin with Trump and DeVos. This claim is true, as Trump and DeVos agree with the goal of rapidly expanding charters as a form of privatization, and prominent donors to Melvoin’s campaign, as the article in the Los Angeles Times article acknowledges, are anti-union and Republicans.

But Melvoin took cover and won as an Obama Democrat, which in the case of education, is indistinguishable from a DeVos Republican.

Charter operators want a larger share of LAUSD construction funds and more of its buildings. They will now encounter no opposition from the board.

“Whatever their allegiance, the winners of the board seats will confront an ocean of challenges, including the seemingly inevitable growth of charters and the strain that places on the district’s budget and its ability to serve students at its own schools.”

LAUSD will now become a dual school system, with no constraints on charter growth.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Los Angeles, Privatization

Los Angeles: Early Returns Favor Privatizers

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2017 //
9

The results are just starting to be reported in the Los Angeles school board election. First to report are the absentee ballots, which put the corporate reformer Nick Melvoin into a 60-40 lead over Steve Zimmer. The turnout was very low. Imelda Padilla trails 52-48.

You can watch the official returns here. They are updated every 40 minutes.

http://cityclerk.lacity.org/election/results.html

Eli Broad must be opening Dom Perignon. He is on the verge of buying control of the public schools.

If he breaks it, he owns it.

Categories Billionaires, Broad Foundation, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Los Angeles, Privatization

Sara Stevenson Writes to the Texas Legislature: Please Say No to Vouchers

By dianeravitch
May 16, 2017 //
0

Sara Stevenson is a librarian at the O. Henry Middle School in Austin, Texas. She sent the following letter to members of the Legislature:

Dear senators and congressmen/women,

Please don’t add private school vouchers (ESAs) onto HB 21. House Bill 21 gives school districts much needed fiscal relief. Here in Austin ISD, we had to give away $406 million of our tax dollars this year. Next year it will be over $500 million. Austin ISD, being property rich, gives away more money due to recapture than any other district in the state. Meanwhile, 60% of our students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

If the legislature wants to pass private school vouchers, they need to do so in its own bill and not sneak it onto this bill. It needs the support of the Texas people, which it does not have. Polls show that Texans do NOT support spending public money on private school tuition. Furthermore, the Texas House recently voted almost unanimously against it. Please respect the will of the people and their representatives.

Private schools vary in quality as do public schools, but at least public schools are accountable to the state. Private schools are under no accountability measures, not even to follow IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) protections, a federal law since 1973. How does it serve special needs students to have their rights stripped?

Please take the voucher poison pill out of the legislation. Pass it on its own or wait until next session when you have a chance to garner more support.

Please help our Texas public schools. We need your support.

Best,

Sara Stevenson
Austin, Texas

Categories Accountability, Funding, Texas, Vouchers

DeVos Meets with Home School Lobby

By dianeravitch
May 16, 2017 //
5

From Politico Education:

EDUCATION SECRETARY BETSY DEVOS MEETS WITH HOMESCHOOL ADVOCATES: DeVos spent roughly 45 minutes late Monday afternoon listening to the needs of homeschooling families during a meeting with officials from the Home School Legal Defense Association. William Estrada, director of federal relations with the group, tells Morning Education they sought to convey to DeVos that homeschooling shouldn’t be included in any efforts to use public funds for vouchers because homeschoolers don’t want the government regulation that could come with it. They also conveyed to DeVos that homeschoolers should continue to have their diplomas treated “fairly” so they have access to federal aid once they enter higher education – something that’s previously been spelled out in department guidance. Estrada said the meeting was a “true meeting of the minds” and DeVos was “very supportive.”

– The group’s meeting with DeVos included Mike Smith, a founder of the group, and Tricia Powell, a local parent who homeschools her children, Estrada said. DeVos has previously expressed support for homeschooling, and the group backed her during her Senate confirmation process. “It was very clear that she’s an advocate for all students, all children, whether they are in public schools, private schools or home schools, and we appreciated having the opportunity to chat with her,” Estrada said.”

Politico also reports that Minnesota legislators have passed a tax credit bill that will enable wealthy individuals and corporations to give their taxes to a private corporation that turns them into vouchers. Governor Mark Dayton has said he will veto any voucher bills but this one is embedded in the state budget.

Let’s hope that Governor Dayton vetoes this program and forced the legislature to strip out the vouchers.

http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-education/2017/05/how-safe-are-schools-and-college-campuses-220338

Categories Education Reform

Rachel Levy: Why I Support Ralph Northam for Governor of Virginia

By dianeravitch
May 16, 2017 //
38

Rachel Levy is a blogger, a parent of children in Virginia public schools, and a public education activist, though not in that order.

In this post, she explains why she is supporting Lt. Governor Ralph Northam in the Democratic run-off for Governor on June 13.

Northam’s opponent Tom Periello is presenting himself as a progressive, and he has been endorsed by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. But Levy points out that Periello was DFERs “Reformer of the Month” in 2010. Has he changed? He hast said so.

Levy writes:

“Almost every state-level office holder, Virginia’s senators, and most if not all of Virginia’s Democratic members of the U.S. House have endorsed Ralph Northam. The Perriello campaign tries to dismiss this as “back room establishment.” First of all, that’s dismissive of individual voters like me who support Northam and implies that we can’t think for ourselves. Second, um, those members of the “back room establishment” are the people who have actually done the nitty gritty (and super important) local- and state-level work that Perriello hasn’t and who are closest to constituents. You know who’s even more establishment and even more distant from Virginia voters? The Obama officials who all endorsed Perriello. It doesn’t get much more centrist establishment than John Podesta.”

Levy says she will vote for whichever Democrat wins the run-off.

Categories Education Reform
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