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Friday, August 22, 2014

“Reframing” California Common Core for a Better Public Sale | deutsch29

“Reframing” California Common Core for a Better Public Sale | deutsch29:



“Reframing” California Common Core for a Better Public Sale

August 22, 2014


The Frameworks Institute is a nonprofit dedicated to promoting the images of other nonprofits with the goal of hooking the public regarding the target nonprofit’s agenda:
Changing the conversation on social issues
FrameWorks designs, conducts and publishes communications research to prepare nonprofit organizations to expand their constituency base, to build public will, and to further public understanding of specific social issues.
In addition to working closely with social policy experts familiar with the specific issue, its work is informed by a team of communications scholars and practitioners who are convened to discuss the research problem, and to work together in outlining potential strategies for advancing remedial policies. FrameWorks also critiques, designs, conducts and evaluates communications campaigns on social issues. Its work is based on an approach called “Strategic Frame Analysis™,” which has been developed in partnership with UCLA’s Center for Communications and Community. [Emphasis added.]
Frameworks is California-based. In March 2013, a number of “influential philanthropists” enlisted Frameworks to develop– here it comes– “a new Core Story of Education”:
Recognizing the challenge that nonprofit and public-sector leaders face in engaging the American public in meaningful education reforms, an influential group of philanthropic leaders came together to partner with the FrameWorks Institute in developing an effective new ways of talking about this critical issue: a new Core Story of Education.
With funding from Nellie Mae, Ford, Hewlett, Mott, Kellogg, NoVo and Raikes Foundations; significant previous related funding from Lumina and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and recently-added funding from 
“Reframing” California Common Core for a Better Public Sale | deutsch29:

Poverty Is Still a Huge Issue for Students – Michelle Rhee Is Still Wrong | Life at the Intersections

Poverty Is Still a Huge Issue for Students – Michelle Rhee Is Still Wrong | Life at the Intersections:







POVERTY IS STILL A HUGE ISSUE FOR STUDENTS – MICHELLE RHEE IS STILL WRONG







Michelle Rhee
Michelle Rhee – Credit: Education Week


Never really getting true reform, Michelle Rhee has stepped down from her role as the leading spokesperson for “education reform” in the corporation schools front organization Students First.
She held fast to an ideology – yes, ideology and not data – that denies the power of poverty in interrupting  poor students’ education. Instead, she focused on schools and teachers that serve those areas of high poverty. She placed blame liberally on teachers, insisting that with better teaching, poor students could succeed in spite of their poverty.
Every one of us who has taught in schools where high percentages of students were living in poverty know exceptional children who do achieve in spite of their poverty. We also know that they do so because of the support from many people around them beyond their immediate family. And it is by their inexplicable deeper instinct to know what help to seek and how to receive it.
Those students are the few anecdotal ones that Rhee uses as her proof. She ignores the chronic effects of poverty, not only on the majority of poor students, but the effects that it has on school systems. Communities with high poverty generally collect lower taxes that fund of the schools.
Also, schools with high poverty rates tend to wear down the best teachers and burn them out from the relentless pressures of poverty-related issues in their students. Those schools need the most experienced teachers. Yet, they have to rely on 1st year teachers who are earnest, but not yet ready to deal with what they encounter each day.
And this has been true of supposedly magical Teach for Americateachers who came into those schools with great fanfare only to burn  out along with others traditionally trained.
Instead, the Waltons and other rich donors to “Students First” actually put students last behind their true design, which is to create a new market of corporation schools in a competitive education market place. Acknowledging that poverty has an impact on education would blunt their argument that public-owned schools need to be replaced with corporation-owned schools.
Published just today in Salon, Matt Bruenig leveled an especiallyblistering assessment of ideological attacks by Rhee and her allies masked as data-based. He concluded,
Despite their rhetoric, (poor) students are never actually placed first, but always second behind the distributive political preferences of the rich. Rhee and those who follow in her wake will drill on trying to squeeze out some marginal gains here and there through school reform, all while ignoring and minimizing powerful, tested solutions so as to make sure people don’t aim at child poverty itself. When you absolutely dominate the national discourse on how best to help poor children, as Rhee and her cohorts have for so long, such a posture is extremely shameful and damaging.
Rhee and her accomplices have carefully ignored any real data about the impact of poverty.
But it’s out there.
790 Students Tracked over 25 Years
The most impressive study, completed by Johns Hopkins University researchers over a quarter of a century, tracked 790 children many of whom were from poverty. The study followed each of them up into their twenties, carefully logging how successful they were as adults.

Common Core: Growing Pains or Growing Awareness? | WagTheDog

Common Core: Growing Pains or Growing Awareness? | WagTheDog:



Common Core: Growing Pains or Growing Awareness?



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Media reports have focused on a recent survey indicating a sharp decline in support for the Common Core among teachers. These reports have also included a variety of explanations and theories as to why this decline has occurred.
Unfortunately many of the quotes and much of the speculation comes from Common Core cheer leaders who have limited teaching experience and do not have regular contact with students or teachers so they lack the wisdom that is derived from classroom experience and evidence to support their claims.
From my perspective, teachers no longer have confidence in the ability of the unqualified and inexperienced architects of the Common Core to develop national learning standards that are RESPONSIVE, to the academic, social, and emotional needs of diverse learners.
Simply put, teachers have lost their patience and grown tired of the litany of disingenuous, contradictory, self-serving and evidence-less claims
Here is a partial list of problems and teacher concerns regarding the Common Core State Standards…
 #1 Teaching To The Test
No better example of conflicting and contradictory statements than the issue of teaching to the test. Back in 2012, President Obama said,
“But what is still a challenge, and I think teachers have a legitimate gripe here, is making sure that the assessments are done properly, that it’s not just based on standardized Common Core: Growing Pains or Growing Awareness? | WagTheDog:

Marshall Tuck run schools SAT scores remained flat, some even declined

Marshall Tuck run schools SAT scores remained flat, some even declined:



Marshall Tuck run schools SAT scores remained flat, some even declined

“The lowest-performing, based on test scores, is the large Green Dot chain.” — Los Angeles Times
Marshall Tuck’s campaign literature claims “Marshall has run two of California’s most innovative school systems, improving… student achievement levels in tough neighborhoods” However, achievement data from the schools he ran at both Green Dot Charter Corporation and Partnership for Los Angeles Schools gives lie to Tuck’s latest outrageous claim.
Marshall Tuck run schools SAT scores remained flat, and some even declined
Marshall Tuck run schools SAT scores remained flat, and some even declined
The following excerpt from Marshall Tuck’s Legacy of Bigotry and Failure further illuminates the major issues with SAT and remediation rates at Tuck run schools:
Animo Inglewood Charter High School’s SAT scores under Tuck bear out the dismal showing on the CSU proficiency exams. Cohorts that would have started as Freshmen under Tuck (i.e. years 2002 though 2007) and taking their SAT in the Junior years would span from 2004 to 2010. Here are the Average SAT Composite (Verbal/Math/Writing) scores from 2005 to 2011: 1,153, 1,215, 1,267, 1,172, 1,199, and 1,290. Not once during that span did the percentage of students scoring at least 1,500 ever exceed 19.6 percent. 1,500 is considered the minimum threshold for college readiness. As a frame of reference, the SAT Composite Average for Freshmen accepted to UCLA was 2,052. Again, none of this is to blame or 
Marshall Tuck run schools SAT scores remained flat, some even declined:

SBE Agenda for September 2014 - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education)

SBE Agenda for September 2014 - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education):



SBE Agenda for September 2014

Agenda for the California State Board of Education (SBE) meeting on September 3-4, 2014.

State Board Members
  • Michael W. Kirst, President
  • Ilene W. Straus, Vice President
  • Sue Burr
  • Carl Cohn
  • Bruce Holaday
  • Aida Molina
  • Patricia A. Rucker
  • Niki Sandoval
  • Trish Williams
  • Kenton Shimozaki, Student Member
  • Vacancy
Secretary & Executive Officer
  • Hon. Tom Torlakson
Executive Director
  • Karen Stapf Walters
Schedule of MeetingLocation
Wednesday, September 3, 20148:30 a.m. Pacific Time ±
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Public Session, adjourn to Closed Session—IF NECESSARY.
California Department of Education1430 N Street, Room 1101
Sacramento, California 95814
916-319-0827
Please see the detailed agenda for more information about the items to be considered and acted upon. The public is welcome.
Schedule of MeetingLocation
Thursday, September 4, 20148:30 a.m. Pacific Time ±
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Public Session. The Closed Session will take place at approximately 11:30 a.m. (The Public may not attend.)
California Department of Education1430 N Street, Room 1101
Sacramento, California 95814
916-319-0827
The Closed Session (1) may commence earlier than 11:30 a.m.; (2) may begin at or before 11:30 a.m., be recessed, and then be reconvened later in the day; or (3) may commence later than 11:30 a.m.

CLOSED SESSION AGENDA

Conference with Legal Counsel – Existing Litigation: Under Government Code sections 11126(e)(1) and (e)(2)(A), the State Board of Education hereby provides public notice that some or all of the pending litigation follows will be considered and acted upon in closed session:
  • Alejo, et al. v. Jack O’Connell, State Board of Education, et al., San Francisco County Superior Court, Case No. CPF-09-509568, CA Ct. of Appeal, 1st Dist., Case No. A130721
  • California School Boards Association, et al. v. California State Board of Education and Aspire Public Schools, Inc.,Alameda County Superior Court, Case No. 07353566, CA Ct. of Appeal, 1st Dist., Case No. A122485, CA Supreme Court, Case No. S186129
  • California School Boards Association and its Education Legal Alliance, et al. v. The California State Board of Education, et al., Sacramento County Superior Court, Case No. 34-2008-00021188-CU-MC-GDS, CA Ct. of Appeal, 3rd Dist., Case No. No. C060957
  • Cruz et al. v. State of California, State Board of Education, State Department of Education, Tom Torlakson et al.,Alameda County Superior Court, Case No. RG14727139
  • D.J. et al. v. State of California, California Department of Education, Tom Torlakson, the State Board of Education, Los Angeles Superior Court, Case No. BS142775. 
  • Emma C.et al. v. Delaine Eastin, et al., USDC (No.Dist.CA), Case No. C-96-4179
  • EMS-BP, LLC, Options for Youth Burbank, Inc., et al. v. California Department of Education, et al., Sacramento County Superior Court, Case No. 03CS01078 and 03CS01079 and related appeal
  • Graham et al. v the State Board of Education, the California Department of Education, Jack O’Connell, Fred Balcom, Tom Torlakson, Los Angeles County Superior Court, Case No. BC482694, 2nd Dist., Case No. B245288
  • K.C. et al. v. Jack O’Connell, et al., U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, Case No. C054077 MMC
  • Nevada City School District and the Board of Trustees of the Nevada City School District v. California Department of Education, State Superintendent of Instruction Tom Torlakson, State Board of Education, Nevada County Superior Court, Case No. CU14-080329
  • Opportunity for Learning – PB, LLC; Opportunities Learning – C, LLC, and Opportunities for Learning WSH, LLC, Notice of Appeal Before the Audit Appeals Panel
  • Options for Youth, Burbank, Inc., San Gabriel, Inc. Upland, Inc. and Victor Valley, Notice of Appeal Before the Education Audit Appeals Panel, OAH Case No. 2006100966 ; Los Angeles County Superior Court, Case No. BS 148496
  • Perris Union High School District v. California State Board of Education, California Department of Education, et al., Riverside County Superior Court, Case No. RIC520862, CA Ct. of Appeal, 4th District, Case No. E055856
  • Reed v. State of California, Los Angeles Unified School District, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O’Connell, California Department of Education, and State Board of Education, et al.
    Los Angeles County Superior Court, Case No. BC432420, CA Ct. of Appeal, 2nd Dist., Case No. B230817, 
    CA Supreme Ct., Case No. 5191256
  • Shabazz, et al. v. Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., California Attorney General Kamala Harris, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, President California State Board of Education Dr. Michael Kirst, Does 1-50, Alameda County Superior Court, Case No. RG12636192
  • Stoner Park Community Advocates v. City of Los Angeles, Department of Planning of the City of Los Angeles, Department of Transportation City of Los Angeles, New West Charter Middle School, and State Board of Education, Los Angeles County Superior Court, Case No. BS138051
  • Today’s Fresh Start, Inc. v. Los Angeles County Office of Education, et al., Los Angeles County Superior Court, Case No. BS112656, CA Ct. of Appeal, 2nd Dist., Case Nos. B212966 and B214470
  • Vergara et al. v. State of California, Governor Edmund G. Brown, Tom Torlakson, the California Department of Education, the State Board of Education, Los Angeles County Superior Court, Case No. BC484642
Conference with Legal Counsel – Anticipated Litigation:  Under Government Code sections 11126(e), the State Board of Education hereby provides public notice that it may meet in Closed Session to decide whether there is a significant exposure to litigation, and to consider and act in connection with matters for which there is a significant exposure to litigation.  UnderGovernment Code sections 11126(e)(1) and (e)(2), the State Board of Education hereby provides public notice that it may meet in Closed Session to decide to initiate litigation and to consider and act in connection with litigation it has decided to initiate.
Under Government Code Section 11126(c)(14), the State Board of Education hereby provides public notice that it may meet in Closed Session to review and discuss the actual content of pupil achievement tests (including, but not limited to, the High School Exit Exam) that have been submitted for State Board approval and/or approved by the State Board.
ALL TIMES ARE APPROXIMATE AND ARE PROVIDED FOR CONVENIENCE ONLY
ALL ITEMS MAY BE HEARD IN A DIFFERENT ORDER THAN HOW THEY ARE LISTED ON THE AGENDA ON ANY DAY OF THE NOTICED MEETING
THE ORDER OF BUSINESS MAY BE CHANGED WITHOUT NOTICE
Time is set aside for individuals desiring to speak on any topic not otherwise on the agenda.  Please see the detailed agenda for the Public Session. In all cases, the presiding officer reserves the right to impose time limits on presentations as may be necessary to ensure that the agenda is completed.
REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION FOR ANY INDIVIDUAL WITH A DISABILITY
Pursuant to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, any individual with a disability or any other individual who requires reasonable accommodation to attend or participate in a meeting or function of the California State Board of Education (SBE), may request assistance by contacting the SBE Office at 1430 N Street, Room 5111, Sacramento, CA 95814; by telephone at 916‑319-0827; or by facsimile at 916‑319-0175.

FULL BOARD AGENDA
Public Session Day 1

Wednesday, September 3, 2014 – 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time ±California Department of Education
1430 N Street, Room 1101
Sacramento, California 95814
  • Call to Order
  • Salute to the Flag
  • Communications
  • Announcements
  • Report of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction
  • Special Presentations 
    Public notice is hereby given that special presentations for informational purposes may take place during this session.
  • Agenda Items
  • Adjournment
Agenda Items
Item 1 (DOC)
Subject: Presentation Regarding Implementation of Common Core State Standards systems by the Californians Dedicated to Education Foundation.
Type of Action: Action, Information

Item 2 (DOC)
Subject: Update on California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress Activities, including Smarter Balanced Field Test Focus Groups, Science Assessment Stakeholder Meetings, and Alternate Assessment Activities including the National Center and State Collaborative Assessment Activities.
Type of Action: Action, Information

Item 3 (DOC)
Subject: Memorandum of Understanding for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium Managed Services Contract to implement the Smarter Balanced Assessment System as Part of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress in the 2014–17 school years.
Type of Action: Action, Information

Public Hearing
A Public Hearing on the following agenda item will commence no earlier than 1:00 p.m. on September 3, 2014. The Public Hearing will be held as close to 1:30 p.m. as the business of the State Board permits.
Item 4 (DOC)
Subject: Renewal Petition for the Establishment of a Charter School Under the Oversight of the State Board of Education: Consideration of the Opportunities Unlimited Charter High School which was denied by Los Angeles County Office of Education.
Type of Action: Action, Information, Hearing
End of Public Hearing

Item 5 (DOC)
Subject: Class Size Penalties, Approval of State Board of Education Policy Regarding Waivers to Education Code sections 41376 and 41378.
Type of Action: Action, Information

Waivers / Action and Consent ItemsSBE Agenda for September 2014 - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education):

Nite Cap 8-22-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT



James Baldwin said it best: 

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."


A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAP




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CURMUDGUCATION: Another Solution: ESEAThere is, of course, another way out of this.The tightly wound spring that keeps Race to the Top and waivers (RttR Lite) ticking away is the ESEA. Instead of dealing with the federal mandate-ish sort-of-regulations that have made Common Core and high stakes testing and data collection the kind-of-law of the land, we could address the underlying mess.The ESEA w
8-22-14 Perdido Street School
Perdido Street School: Eva Moskowitz Puts Out Trial Balloon On Mayoral RunNorm Scott at Ed Notes Online has written numerous times that Eva Moskowitz is setting up her charter empire in various neighborhoods around the city to use as a base of operations for a mayoral run.We got some evidence last night that Norm may be right:Mayor Moskowitz?In an interview last night, Eva Moskowitz, the founder o
NYC Educator: The Lathe of Heaven...or Hell?
NYC Educator: The Lathe of Heaven...or Hell?: The Lathe of Heaven...or Hell?In Ursula Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven, the main character, George Orr, has the power to change reality through his dreams.  A psychiatrist attempts to harness the power of his dreams to create a better world, but every attempt backfires in completely unexpected ways.The premise of the story reminds me of the predicaments
solidaridad: SKrashen: Opposition to the common core
solidaridad: SKrashen: Opposition to the common core: SKrashen: Opposition to the common coreSKrashen: Opposition to the common core: Sent to the Washington Post, August 20, 2014The Post has reported that according to a recent PDK/Gallup poll, the "Common Core educational standards are losing support nationwide" (August 19). The poll asked those opposed to the Common Core why they were o
Police Brutality is an Education Justice Issue | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity
Police Brutality is an Education Justice Issue | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity: Police Brutality is an Education Justice IssuePosted on: Thursday August 21st, 2014This post originally appeared on the Alliance to Reclaime Our Schools (AROS) blog. The OTL Campaign is a member of AROS. The recent murder of Michael Brown, another unarmed Black you
In These Times: The Con Artistry of Charter Schools | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!
In These Times: The Con Artistry of Charter Schools | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!: In These Times: The Con Artistry of Charter SchoolsFiled under: Charter Schools — millerlf @ 9:05 am The Con Artistry of Charter SchoolsWednesday, 20 August 2014 09:15 By Ruth Conniff, In These TimesThere’s been a flood of local news stories in recent months about FBI raids on charter schools all over

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Why LA sends failing students on to the next grade | EdSource
Why LA sends failing students on to the next grade | EdSource: Why LA sends failing students on to the next gradeAugust 21, 2014 | By Molly Callister/Hechinger Report | No Comments When Alberto Cortes was held back in fourth grade because of low math skills, he thought his world had come to an end.“The first day of going back to fourth grade, I see all my friends with new teachers there in fifth g
Opt Out Orlando group holding webinar Sunday - Orlando Sentinel
Opt Out Orlando group holding webinar Sunday - Orlando Sentinel: Opt Out Orlando webinar will give Florida parents tools to skip testingLauren RothSentinel School Zone8:00 a.m. EDT, August 21, 2014EmailShare46Pinterest0Opt Out Orlando is co-hosting a webinar Opt Out Orlando, a group that opposes standardized testing, is holding a webinar this weekend to provide step-by-step instructions for parent
Nite Cap 8-21-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT
James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAPNo Teacher Is An Island |No Teacher Is An Island |:No Teacher Is An Island This week in The Shanker Blog, authors lan Daly (Professor, University of California San Diego) and Kara Finnigan (Associate Professor, the University of Rochester) publis