Archives for the month of: May, 2018
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Jan Resseger: Betsy DeVos Served Up More Word Salad in New York City

By dianeravitch
May 26, 2018 //
9

Jan Resseger can’t quite believe that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos visited New York City and failed to tour even one public school.

She went to two private religious schools run by Orthodox Jewish sectarians. She spoke to an event hosted by a Catholic organization.

She talked about her views, which are antithetical to public education.

Weird, isn’t it, that she is the Secretary of Education and is hostile to the schools that enroll 90% of America’s students?

The Betsy DeVos we saw on Leslie Stahl’s interview at 60 Minutes is the real Betsy DeVos.

She doesn’t have a single idea about how to help schools do a better job. Her only idea is choice.

She will, if Congress lets her, slash the budgets of the schools that enroll 90% of the students so as to send more children to religious schools.

She has no sense whatever of public responsibility or the common good. These are foreign concepts to her.

Worst of all, she lacks any education vision whatever for the nation’s children and its schools.

Categories Betsy DeVos, New York City, Privatization

Jeff Bryant Assesses the Likelihood that Jackson, Mississippi, Can Overcome Its Racist Past

By dianeravitch
May 26, 2018 //
13

Jeff Bryant of the Educational Opportunity Network visited Jackson, Mississippi, to learn about the state takeover plan for the district. As you would expect, Jackson has a sordid and racist past, one where whites ignored the needs and potential of black students.

After the Brown decision declared racially segregated schools unconstitutional, Mississippi fought the decision. When compelled to comply, it introduced school choice, so that white kids would have tax money to pay for private segregated schools.

Today, Jackson has a progressive black mayor. The schools are 95% black. The state now threatens to take over the Jackson schools on mostly trumped-up violations. Test scores are low,but test scores in the whole state are low.

Governor Phil Bryant, a product of segregated white schools, says he wants to create a private-public partnership in Jackson.

Civic leaders are not sure he can be trusted. They know that the schools are desperately underfunded and that the legislature and the state’s Republican leaders don’t want to pay the cost of adequate funding.

The big actors behind the s eyes are the Walton family, which wants charters and vouchers, along with Betsy DeVos’s American Federation for Children. The black mayors of Jackson and Birmingham know that the purpose of charter schools is to drain money out of public schools that are already underfunded.

The bottom line is that the white Republicans of Mississippi don’t want to pay the cost of educating black children. They never have. The leadership of the state will blabber on about school choice but it’s still the same song and dance. Nothing Jeff reports persuades me that Jackson’s black leadership should trust Governor Bryant, the legislature or their appointees to devote new resources to black children in Jackson. It’s a hoax. Don’t fall for it.

Categories Charter Schools, Hoax, Lies, Mississippi, Racism

Indiana: Hero Science Teacher Tackles Shooter, Takes Three Bullets

By dianeravitch
May 25, 2018 //
38

Jason Seaman, a seventh grade science teacher, tackled a gunman who entered his classroom in Noblesville, Indiana, and was shot three times as he protected his students.

“A brave science teacher did not hesitate when a student walked into his classroom at Noblesville West Middle School with a pair of handguns and then opened fire.

“Jason Seaman, identified by his mother and students as the hero teacher, was shot three times Friday morning as he lunged at the gunman in a bid to protect his class.

“The shooter fired off several rounds before “Mr. Seaman started running at him, he’s a teacher, a science teacher — he tackled him to the ground,” a student, who did not wish to be identified, told Fox 59.

“He’s a hero. If he didn’t do anything he probably would have continued shooting and a lot more of us would have been injured and possibly killed, so it was just something that most people would not have done but he was really brave to do it.”

Brave indeed!

Jason Seaman joins the honor roll.

Categories Courage, Guns in Schools, Honor Roll, Indiana, Teachers

D.C.: Charter Consultants Rake in Millions via Cozy Connections

By dianeravitch
May 25, 2018 //
13

Imagine a firm created to teach charter schools how to get better results. Imagine that the head of the firm is buddies with the head of the D.C Charter School Board. Imagine that this firm is raking in millions for its amazing advice and plans. Imagine that some people say the firm is amazing, while others say it is gifted at backscratching and connections.

Then read this article.

What do you think?

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, District of Columbia, Education Industry, Privatization

It’s Time to Reinvent Teacher Evaluation

By dianeravitch
May 25, 2018 //
38

Rachel E. Gabriel and Sarah L. Woulfin of the University of Connecticut ask a simple but very important question: Isn’t it time to redesign teacher evaluation? Most states are stuck with laws they wrote to apply for Race to the Top funding. Nearly a decade has passed. We now know that test-based evaluation has failed. Why are so many states and districts holding on to a failed strategy for evaluating teachers? Is it inertia? Apathy?

The model in use is obsolete. It failed. It is time to move on.

“Under RTT, teacher-evaluation policies were designed using economic theories of motivation and compensation and statistical growth tools such as value-added measurement. Evaluation policies based on principles of economics and corporate management have failed to take into account the complex and personalized work of educating students.
While evaluation aims to address teacher performance and quality, what we don’t see is acknowledgement of teacher voice and choice in how policies affect their work. We need to create learning-focused evaluation policies for teachers that enable both students’ and teachers’ growth and align with the needs of schools, students, and communities.

“It’s clear to most educators that the current crop of teacher-evaluation systems is flawed, overwrought, and sometimes just plain broken. Detailed case studies demonstrate that some states now spend millions of dollars on contracts with data-management companies and statistical consulting firms. Many states and districts make similar investments despite the fact that researchers and policymakers question the wisdom of value-added measurement within high-stakes teacher evaluations.

“There is now an entire industry devoted to the evaluation of teaching and the management of student data. There are online professional-development video databases and classroom-walkthrough apps for school leaders—which have not demonstrated a positive effect on instruction. But all of them have inflated the edu-business marketplace…

“A learning-focused teacher-evaluation policy would create the organizational and social conditions teachers need to thrive. During goal-setting with administrators, teachers would work together to write challenging, yet attainable, goals for themselves and their students. They would also have professional-development opportunities to learn about different types of student-progress measurement tools to refine what works best. And in feedback meetings with school leaders, teachers would have space to reflect upon areas of their success and weakness. In turn, principals would devote time and energy to framing evaluation as an opportunity to learn about—rather than judge—teaching.

“To begin the transition toward this kind of evaluation, state and district administrators must shift the balance of resources away from measuring and sorting teachers into categories. School leaders must focus on subject-specific questions about teaching and learning, rather than applying a generic set of indicators. And instead of boiling teachers’ work down to a rating, leaders must share observations that help teachers extend what they do well and identify where they can grow.

“Only when we involve teachers in the process of evaluation policymaking will we come up with a system that supports and develops the teaching expertise students deserve.”

Categories Education Industry, Education Reform, Failure, Race to the Top, Teacher Evaluations, VAM

Jake Jacobs: Test-Based Teacher Evaluation is Absurd

By dianeravitch
May 25, 2018 //
12

Jake Jacobs, an art teacher in New York, commends Cynthia Nixon for calling for the repeal of New York State’s teacher evaluation law, which was imposed to comply with Race to the Top. After Nixon spoke out, the State Assembly cobbled together a pretend repeal of the law, which does not actually change anything since districts will still be required to use a test, but only a test approved by the state commissioner. Critics of the bill fear it will double the amount of testing by adding local tests to state tests.

At lest, Nixon had the courage to call for a flat out repeal of a useless and ineffective method of evaluating teachers.

Consider how Jake Jacobs is evaluated.

“Where I teach, we have two days of federally mandated math tests, two days of English Language Arts tests, and two days of Science tests for 8th graders. Then, because of the Annual Professional Performance Review policy, we have state requirements for two more math tests, two more English Language Arts tests, two more Science tests, two Social Studies tests, plus two language tests for English learners (even though they also take the English Language Arts tests). Some schools are required to do mandated “field testing” in June as well.

“From the start, Cuomo’s performance review policy was gamed from every direction.

“As an art teacher, I was stunned at the absurdity of the Annual Professional Performance Review “group measures,” which since 2013 made me choose math or English Language Arts scores for my evaluation. In 2015, I reported on the “ineffective” rating attributed to me because of low math scores, even though I don’t teach math, and I was teaching in an alternative school that only enrolled high need students, and I never even met some of the children whose test scores were used. Last year the city even debuted standardized Art tests for eighth grade—but hardly any schools participated.

“In 2015, Sheri Lederman, a fourth-grade teacher and accomplished professional at the top of her game, challenged her rating in a New York State Supreme Court, which later determined that the process for her evaluation was “arbitrary and capricious.”

“If the point of Annual Professional Performance Review was to create a horrible, wasteful evaluation policy and then make teachers bargain for relief, it worked well.

“Cuomo boasted in 2014 that his teacher evaluation system would be his single most enduring legacy.”

This is the height of absurdity!

Categories Cuomo, Andrew, New York, Race to the Top, Teacher Evaluations

Stephen Dyer: Who is to Blame for Ohio’s $1 Billion ECOT Boondoggle?

By dianeravitch
May 25, 2018 //
6

Stephen Dyer, former legislator in Ohio, now a fellow at Innovation Ohio, notes that Ohio’s Republicans are scurrying to denounce ECOT, which is now a criminal investigation. Some are even returning campaigning contributions. How did ECOT manage to survive for nearly 20 years while providing a low-quality education and receiving $1 billion from the state?

Bill Phillis of the Ohio Equity and Adequacy Coalition said in a post today that the owner of for-profit ECOT was very generous in distributing campaign contributions to influential officials. He wrote: The ECOT Man really covered all the bases when doling out campaign funds-county prosecutor, legislators, party caucuses, governors, attorney generals, secretaries of state, state treasurers, supreme court justices and probably other office holders. The money doled out came from tax dollars that should have been used to educate students.

Some Republicans are trying to blame Democrats too, since there was a Democratic governor in 2009. But Dyer points out that Governor Ted Strickland tried to slash the appropriations for e-schools by 70%, and Republicans threatened to block the entire state budget unless the cut was restored.

It’s very simple. Gov. Strickland’s budget that year called for a 70 percent cut for Ohio eSchools. That’s right. If Gov. Strickland’s budget had passed unamended, ECOT funding would have been cut by 70 percent, effectively ending the school 10 years before it actually shut down, which would have saved Ohio taxpayers about $700 million that went to the school since then. Not to mention the lives of thousands of students ECOT failed to graduate.

By the way, of the 3,794 students who actually did graduate ECOT the first year of the 2009 budget, only 109 have college degrees today. Just by way of reference.

However, Ohio Republicans still controlled the Senate during the 2009 budget. I was in those budget negotiations and I can tell you that we were told in no uncertain terms that if the 70 percent cuts stayed in the budget, there would be no budget for the 2009 session — severely crippling Ohio’s potential economic recovery from the Great Recession.

When Dyer ran for re-election, he was targeted for defeat by a group that included ECOT.

The Republicans own this scandalous waste of taxpayer dollars. They should be held accountable.

Good riddance to bad rubbish!

Categories Accountability, Fraud, Ohio, Virtual Charter Schools

Eunice Han: Teachers’ Unions Improve Teacher Quality

By dianeravitch
May 25, 2018 //
5

The Supreme Court will soon issue an opinion in the Janus case, which will have a big impact on unions if Janus wins as most observers expect, by reducing their membership, revenues, and political power.

Janus belongs to a union. He wants the benefits the union negotiates but he doesn’t want to pay dues. He says the union has political views he does not support. But the political activities of the union are not supported by Janus’ dues. No matter. Corporations and rightwing zealots have tried to squelch the labor movement for decades. They have nearly succeeded in the private sector, and now they are targeting the public sector. If they get what they want, working people will have no political power, and big corporations will exercise their influence solely for self-enrichment, with no countervailing power for their employees.

Why do unions matter in education? They give teachers a voice when decisions are made by governors and legislatures. Absent unions, Teacher voice will be squelched, and no one will advocate for adequate funding of schools and better working conditions.

In 2016, I noticed that Eunice Han had published a peer-reviewed study about how unionized districts improve student achievement. I posted an interview of Professor Han by Jennifer Bershire. The study appeared in 2016, and it remains relevant today in the midst of teacher protests around the nation.

Eunice Han, a professor of economics, determined that the presence of unions enhances teacher quality and student achievement, contrary to the myth that unions protect “bad teachers.”

”This study offers a simple two-period job matching model linking teachers unions to both voluntary and involuntary teacher turnover. The model predicts that teachers unions, by negotiating higher wages for teachers, lower the quit probability of high- ability teachers but raise the dismissal rate of underperforming teachers, as higher wages provide districts greater incentive to select better teachers. As a result, unions help the educational system reach an efficient equilibrium where high-quality teachers are matched with high wages. The unique district-teacher matched panel data for 2003-2012 enables me to use within-state and within-district variations, as well as instrumental variables, to identify union effects on teacher turnover. The data confirms that, compared to districts with weak unionism, districts with strong unionism dismiss more low-quality teachers and retain more high-quality teachers. The empirical analysis shows that this dynamic of teacher turnover in highly unionized districts raises average teacher quality and improves student achievement.”

In brief, unionized districts have higher wages, less teacher turnover, and a strong incentive to select better teachers.

Categories Education Reform

Leonie Haimson: Parent Activists Win a Temporary Restraining Order to Prevent NYC ED from Closing PS 25

By dianeravitch
May 25, 2018 //
14

Parents have been outraged by the New York City Department of Education’s policy of closing schools as a “reform” strategy. They were especially outraged by the decision to close PS 25 in Brooklyn. The DOE says it is “under enrolled,” which it is, but it is one of the most successful elementary schools in the city. Since it is doing such a good job, why not recruit more students instead of closing it? One answer: closing it would allow Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy charter school to take over the entire building.

Leonie Haimson led an effort to save PS 25. She got a lawyer to sue the DOE pro bono, and yesterday her group won a temporary restraining order which will likely save PS 25 for at least another year. If the DOE comes to its senses, it may save the school, period.

The judge ” seemed impressed with our research showing how all the other 33 schools DOE offered these students to apply to 1- all had far lower positive impact ratings 2- many of them were miles away, 19 of the schools in Staten Island alone 3- 25 were overcrowded, and 4- none had class sizes as small as PS 25. And the DOE has not offered to provide busing for the students.

“In short, she was impressed that in most every other proposal to close schools, the DOE had promised higher performing schools that students could apply to, but they didn’t in this case, because according to DOE’s own estimation, there are only three other public elementary schools as good as PS 25 in the entire city and they are full.

“In fact, the City itself admitted in their response papers to the lawsuit that according to the school performance dashboard, PS 25 is the “second best public elementary school in Brooklyn and the fourth best in the City, and that PS 25 outperforms charter school other than Success Academy Bronx 2 in its positive impact on student achievement and attendance.”

Why in the world should the city close one of its highest performing schools? The Bloomberg administration closed scores of schools, routinely, without a second thought.

Good work, Leonie!

PS: The annual dinner of Leonie Haimson’s organization, Class Size Matters, will hold its annual fundraising dinner on June 19. All are invited to attend. The price is modest, as these dinners go. Invitation to follow.

Categories Class Size Matters Org, Closing schools, New York City, Resistance

Kentucky: Meet the Educators Who Won Primaries

By dianeravitch
May 24, 2018 //
7

Educators in Kentucky were energized by the hostility of Governor Matt Bevin and the legislature. Several won primaries Tuesday.

High school math teacher Travis Brenda beat rising Republican star Jonathan Shell, who was majority leader of the House.

http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article211732649.html

“Shell was mentioned as a likely candidate for House speaker in January 2019 and a possible candidate in years to come for state agriculture commissioner and governor.

“His campaign war chest for re-election dwarfed that of Brenda — $131,243 to $16,126.

“But Brenda, who is making his first bid for public office, railed against the pension bill and all who supported it, most notably Shell and Republican Gov. Matt Bevin. Brenda pledged to never vote again for Bevin, who criticized teachers, and picked up the endorsement of the Kentucky Education Association’s political action committee.”

Governor Bevin has repeatedly attacked teachers. They won’t forget.

“What Bevin fails to understand is that most Kentuckians hold public educators in high regard. In many counties, school systems are among the largest employers and sources of community pride. The people who work there are among the most-educated and most-respected people in the community.

“When he keeps calling public school educators “selfish,” “ignorant” and “unsophisticated” for challenging him, a lot of Kentuckians don’t take it well. And they vote accordingly.”

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/tom-eblen/article211734469.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article211732649.html#storylink=cpy

Categories Education Reform, Kentucky
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