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What and Who Is EdVoice?

By dianeravitch
August 17, 2012 //
12

A group called  EdVoice filed a lawsuit to compel the teachers of Los Angeles to comply with 40-year-old legislation (the Stull Act), requiring that student performance be part of teacher evaluation. The Los Angeles teachers’ union has opposed the suit, and they are currently in litigation.

The issues are supposed to be resolved in December. There are many ways to demonstrate pupil performance, not just standardized test scores.

There are so many of these “reform” groups that it is hard to keep track of them.

What and who is EdVoice?

Here is an answer from Sharon Higgins, an Oakland parent activist who is a relentless researcher, and who maintains two websites, one called “charterschoolscandals,” the other called “The Broad Report.” Higgins is an example of the power of one voice, devoted to facts:

Here are a few more specifics about EdVoice, the education lobbying group.

EdVoice was founded in 2001 by Reed Hastings (CEO of Netflix, Microsoft board member, Green Dot founding funder) and John Doerr (venture capitalist, investment banker), along with and former CA state Assembly members Ted Lempert and Steve Poizner. Eli Broad and Don Fisher (deceased CEO of The Gap and major KIPP supporter) once served on EdVoice’s board.

EdVoice has received a ton of money from all of the above as well as from Carrie Walton Penner and Fisher’s widow, Doris. Penner lives in the Bay Area and is a Walton Family Foundation trustee. She also sits on KIPP’s board, as does Reed Hastings, and the Fishers’ son, John.

Back in 1998, Hastings also co-founded Californians for Public School Excellence with Don Shalvey. This is the organization that pushed for the Charter Schools Act of 1998, the law that lifted the cap on the number of charter schools in the state.

Don Shalvey was involved with starting the first charter school in California, just after the passage of the California Charter School Act of 1992 (CA was the second state to pass a law). He is also founder and former CEO of Aspire Public Schools. Reed Hastings has been a major source of Aspire’s financial backing, including its launch. In 2009, Shalvey stepped down from his post at Aspire and went to work for the Gates Foundation, but for a while he stayed on Aspire’s board. The Gates Foundation has given generously to Aspire.

In 2011, Hastings and Doerr pumped $11M into DreamBox Learning, an online education company started by a former Microsoft executive and the CEO of a software company. It was acquired by Hastings with help from the Charter School Growth Fund.

BTW, EdVoice co-founder Lempert is currently president of an Oakland-based org called Children Now; he occasionally teaches at Cal. Poizner, a conservative Republican and wealthy Silicon Valley high tech entrepreneur, was defeated by Meg Whitman in the June 2010 gubernatorial primary, and is now the State Insurance Commissioner. For several years he worked for Boston Consulting Group as a management consultant.

More conniving fun and games.

Categories Boston Consulting Group, California, Education Reform, Los Angeles, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

What Does “Progress” Mean?

By dianeravitch
August 16, 2012 //
2

In California, there is a battle going on between a “reformist” group called Edvoice and the United Teachers of Los Angeles. California has a forty-year-old law called the Stull Act, which says that a teacher’s evaluation will include evidence of student progress. But how is “progress” defined?

Some “reformers” will use any and all opportunities to make standardized test scores the measure of teacher quality, because that guarantees that 1/2 of all teachers will be below the mean and thus many will be “ineffective” by design. Knowingly or not, they seem eager to create evidence of failure.

This principal says that “progress” means far more than bubble-test scores:

To willingly comply with policy that one knows is heinous, is nothing short of injurious to both individual teachers, teachers’ unions, and students. I have been a teacher and principal in California for my entire educational career (30+ years) and can tell you with certainty that VAM based on California’s Stull Act (AB 293) is a complete perversion of that bill’s purpose, and most importantly, practice.
I am not a lawyer, but I do know that past practice and precedent count for a lot in legal circles and California’s Stull Act has never been interpreted to mean that teachers must be evaluated on a student’s standardized test scores. The bill simply states that teachers will be evaluated on “student progress”, but since when is a student’s progress limited to a standardized test score? To go along with VAM based on standardized test scores is to make an assumption that the sum and substance of a student’s school performance and experience is limited to the bubbles he or she is filling in on any given day: an absurdity. Since 1971 when the Stull Act went into effect, “student progress” was something that was interpreted by the teacher being evaluated and the school principal. Yes, the evaluation could include test scores, but just as valid were criterion referenced tests, publishers tests, student portfolios, teacher observations, principal observations and, as of late, even the observations of other teachers or bargaining unit members. The important thing was the agreement between the teacher and principal about what was appropriate considering the teacher’s stated goals.
To indicate that UTLA should “go along” with despicable policy is a symptom of exactly why teachers across the nation have found themselves in a predicament like they’ve never before experienced. Standing up against policy that is just plain wrong has nothing to do with hiding anything. Indeed, going along with such policy as VAM shows a willingness to comply with atrocious policy, even though you know that it is injurious to both students and teachers, an act that doesn’t garner the respect of anyone. It’s time to draw the “line in the sand” and do what we know as professionals is the right thing: resist VAM and encourage our unions to fight it at every opportunity.
Categories California, Los Angeles, Testing

Beware! Sneaky Reformer Trick in L.A.

By dianeravitch
July 30, 2012 //
46

On August 14, there will be a benefit concert in Los Angeles to “honor” teachers.

The concert is a promotion for a new “Superman”-style film that vilifies public schools and promotes privatization.

The film celebrates the “parent trigger” law, which gives parents the power to seize control of their school, fire the staff, and turn it over to a charter chain. The parent trigger was promoted by charter advocates and billionaire foundations Broad, Gates, and Walton.

Strange way to “honor” teachers–by firing them and giving the school to a non-union private entity to manage, which may hire only young teachers willing to work a 50-60 hour week at low wages. More “honors” like this and there won’t be a teaching profession in America, just teaching temps.

The concert is sponsored by Walmart (the Walton family) and Walden Media. The Walton Family Foundation gave out $159 million last year for charters and vouchers.

Walden Media was one of the producers of “Waiting for ‘Superman.'” Billionaire Philip Anschutz, who owns Walden Media, funds rightwing groups, is anti-environment and bankrolled anti-gay referenda.

It’s sad to see Viola Davis involved in this sneaky push for privatization. I remember when she won the Academy Award in 2010 and announced that she was proud to be a graduate of Central Falls High School, right at the time that all the corporate reformers were gloating about the threat to shut it down.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Los Angeles, Parent trigger, Privatization

Los Angeles Court Battle: What Is Pupil Performance?

By dianeravitch
July 27, 2012 //
5

As we have discussed in the past few days, the judge will expect teachers in Los Angeles to agree to incorporate measures of student performance into teacher evaluations. This is in response to a lawsuit initiated by EdVoice on behalf of anonymous parents, citing the Stull Act, passed many years ago before today’s era of high-stakes testing. Look through the comments in earlier posts to learn more about EdVoice.

Here is the judge’s writ, as promised: http://www.scribd.com/doc/101233092/Doe-v-Deasy-Writ-All-Counsel-Edits

The definition of pupil performance, how to measure it, and how it relates to teachers’ evaluations, will be subject to collective bargaining.

A reader comments:

Realistically, there were many acceptable ways under the Stull Act that California teachers could show pupil performance. Yes, standardized test scores could be used if that is what the teacher chose to use to demonstrate student performance but there were many others: teacher observation, principal observation, student work samples and portfolios, criterion referenced tests, and text book publishers tests were all very acceptable ways to demonstrate pupil performance. No teacher or principal in California ever thought that standardized tests were the only way to demonstrate student performance – when did that change? I don’t believe it has.

 
Categories Accountability, Los Angeles, Teacher Evaluations

UTLA Lawyer: The Scoop

By dianeravitch
July 27, 2012 //
8

I have a copy of the judge’s writ and will try to post it (it is in a pdf file and I don’t know how to copy that).

Background: UTLA has resisted the imposition of value-added-assessments to evaluate teachers, knowing that research shows these measures to be highly unstable and inaccurate. UTLA was burned two years ago when the Los Angeles Times created its own rating system and used test scores to publish its ratings of thousands of teachers.

Subsequently a California group called EdVoice, funded by billionaire foundations (Broad and Walton), discovered a 40-year-old law called the Stull Act, which says that pupil performance should factor into the evaluations of teachers and administrators. EdVoice filed suit on behalf of anonymous parents to demand that the LAUSD school board start using test scores to evaluate teachers.

An interesting thing about the billionaire foundations: They want charters (and in Walton’s case, vouchers). They want teachers to be evaluated by test scores. But typically, when the law is written (as in Louisiana), teachers in charter schools are exempt from evaluation by test scores. What does that mean?

One critic wrote me to say that this is “Deasy v. Deasy,” since LA superintendent Deasey is known to support such measures. I am willing to give John Deasey the benefit of the doubt, as he has a chance to show that he stands against junk science (VAM).

And the law says both teachers and administrators so presumably the leadership of the district will be evaluated by test scores as the decision moves forward.

Meanwhile, here is the UTLA lawyer’s summary of the decision:

PLEASE DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ IN THE TIMES OR DAILY NEWS. THE ONLY ITEM BEFORE THE JUDGE YESTERDAY WAS THE TIME FRAME WITHIN WHICH THE DISTRICT MUST COMPLY WITH THE DECISION REGARDING THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE STULL ACT. THE PLAINTIFFS WERE TRYING TO IMPOSE AN EARLY SEPTEMBER DEADLINE, WHICH WAS REJECTED BY UTLA, AND THE COURT. THE ONLY OUTCOME FROM YESTERDAY IS THAT THE DISTRICT HAS UNTIL DECEMBER 4 TO RETURN TO COURT TO SHOW COMPLIANCE, WHICH ALLOWS TIME FOR MEANINGFUL, GOOD FAITH BARGAINING. (IF THERE IS NOT MEANINGFUL, GOOD FAITH BARGAINING BY THE DISTRICT, UTLA CAN SEEK APPROPRIATE RELIEF FROM PERB.)

 

Jesus E. Quiñonez

Holguin, Garfield, Martinez & Quiñonez, APLC

 
Categories Accountability, Broad Foundation, Los Angeles, Teacher Evaluations, Walton Foundation

Teachers at Green Dot Charter Schools OK Merit Pay

By dianeravitch
July 11, 2012 //
6

In a close vote, teachers at the Green Dot charter school chain endorsed a merit pay plan tied to test scores.

Although test score-based evaluation is highly unstable, the teachers decided to go along in hopes of qualifying for a bonus.

A teacher rated effective one year may be rated ineffective the next year, because there are so many factors beyond the teacher’s control that affect student scores.

The National Council on Teacher Quality thought this was a good move. So did Green Dot CEO, Marco Petruzzi, who previously worked as a management consultant at McKinsey and Bain Capital.

Some teachers were not happy with the decision. Some were suspended or fired for fighting it. Students joined with teachers to protest, and the administration said the whole thing was blown out of proportion.

Scholars have warned that this method of evaluating teachers encourages teaching to the test, narrowing the curriculum, and other negative behaviors. Teachers who teach special education or English language learners will see the smallest gains. If these groups are underrepresented at Green Dot, as they are in many charter schools, that won’t be a problem.

Categories California, Charter Schools, Los Angeles, National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), Teacher Evaluations

LAUSD Balks at Giving Public School Space to Charters

By dianeravitch
July 10, 2012 //
2

We have reached such a low point that it is a news story if a school district resists turning its space over to charter operators.

In the past, one might have expected district leaders to fight for the students in their care, not to support privatized entities that want public space at no charge.

Surprise of surprises, the pushback now comes from Los Angeles Superintendent John Deasey and the board of LAUSD. They are opposing:

” a judge’s order to comply with a state law that requires districts to share space equally among public school students, including those in charters, saying that it would bring “catastrophic” results, lopsided class sizes, and may force busing of students.”

“But calling the order impossible, district officials have promised to fight the ruling, saying that it would require L.A. Unified to displace students from their neighborhood schools, forcing them to be bused elsewhere, and would dramatically skew class-size ratios in favor of charter students.

“Under the order, the ratio of elementary school students to class size would be 24 to 1 on the district side of the school but 15 to 1 on the charter school side, said LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy. Facilities such as computer labs, parent centers and specially designated classrooms would have to be removed to create space for charter students, Deasy said.

“I want to be very, very clear, this is not possible to carry out,” Deasy told the L.A. Unified school board at its meeting last Thursday.”

The law is the law. The judge is unlikely to back down, no matter what the harm to the hundreds of thousands of LAUSD students.

Still, one is surprised to see the charter-friendly LAUSD supporting its own students.

Categories California, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Los Angeles

Lawyers Garnish Teacher’s Wages to Pay Off Student Debt

By dianeravitch
July 2, 2012 //
11

John Hechinger of Bloomberg News is the best education journalist at work these days.

His latest story is chilling: It tells of a determined effort by the federal government and lawyers to collect a student loan debt owed by  a teacher in Los Angeles.

The teacher had a debt left from the 1970s. The aggressive lawyers emptied her bank account and grabbed a quarter of her earnings. A court intervened.

What’s the moral of the story?

Some might see it as evidence that people should pay their debts. There’s no free lunch. etc.

I’d say it shows that our nation is hypocritical about the importance of  higher education, that we say we want to have the highest college going rate in the world but we shrug our shoulders at the rising cost of higher education.

My view is that the federal government and state governments should reduce the cost to the student of getting a college degree. The nations where college-going is increasing have done that. Meanwhile we pursue student loan debt with a SWAT team vengeance.

This is no way to out-educate the rest of the world.

Diane

Categories Education Reform, Los Angeles

The Perils of Teaching in California

By dianeravitch
June 20, 2012 //
6

A reader writes from California about the churn and instability caused by the toxic combination of annual budget cuts and an open door for unregulated charters. I met a teacher in Los Angeles recently who told me he had been “pink slipped” six years in a row, called back each time, then pink-slipped again. What does that do for morale? I think that is called the collateral damage of reform. The glimmer of hope at the end of the letter refers to the fact that Governor Brown is trying to restore a portion of the funding that was cut, and State Superintendent Tom Torlakson–who taught science–is a champion for public education.

And one other notable development in California: the teachers in San  Diego reached a tentative agreement with the district to defer any wage increases in an effort to save the jobs of 1,500 of their colleagues. It would be impressive if some of the technology billionaires in California offered to pay higher taxes to save the jobs of teachers and other public sector employees.

 I am a public school teacher in California and I have watched with horror the past several years as our budgets have been slashed. I have seen good, decent, hard-working teachers laid off every single year and then brought back because, after all, you can’t lay off 50% of a school’s faculty and have 30+ empty classrooms! I am not joking when I say 50%, either. In the current round of layoffs, my school (which has @ 65 teachers – counting counselors, and other certificated staff) saw a layoff list of 25 people. My school district, which serves a huge population of native Spanish-speaking students has lost 60 million from its budget in the past 3 years alone.

When Governor Terminator was in office, it was a sheer disaster! I was pleased and continue to remain pleased at Governor Brown. This tax proposal is almost a last ditch effort. If it fails, it will literally be armageddon in some/most of our schools.

Speaking of charter schools, my former principal left to go open a new charter school (she was the first administrator – not the person actually funding it). The charter school was open for @ 5 months before closing because, in a typical lack of oversight, the charter founder had embezzled millions from the school. Every single teacher who left tenured positions (including my former principal) lost their jobs when the school district took over the failed charter school. 10 years ago, this wouldn’t have been a total disaster as there were plenty of teaching jobs. Today, there are thousands of out of work teachers – including those from this charter school.

California is truly a paradox, but I believe it may be on the right path.

Categories Budget Cuts, California, Education Reform, Los Angeles
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