Latest News and Comment from Education

Sunday, September 28, 2014

9-28-14 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement":







“Community Engagement: The Secret Ingredient”

Community Engagement: The Secret Ingredient is a good commentary from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform that provides a good critique of much that is done in the name of “community-based” place-based-initiatives in education. Simply put, they tend to be foundation and professional-driven instead of led by community residents — including parents. It’s a critique that I’ve often made of com


9-27-14 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"
Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement":“Florida PTA Urges State to Make Changes to School Accountability System”Florida PTA Urges State to Make Changes to School Accountability System is the headline of an Ed Week post. Here’s an excerpt: The Florida PTA issued a press release this week asking lawmakers and state Department of Education officials for the followin




Geaux Teacher!: Common Core Standards and Disruption

Geaux Teacher!: Common Core Standards and Disruption:



Common Core Standards and Disruption

Re-posted from The New Orleans Advocate. By Quinn Hillyer:

http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/opinion/quinhillyer/10365759-123/quin-hillyer-legislative-auditor-misses
The latest in useless Common Core disputes involves whether Louisiana’s legislative auditor indicated that the Core “drives” curriculum (Gov. Bobby Jindal’s version) or merely “guides” it (auditor Daryl Purpera’s own explanation).
That’s a sideshow. What is more important, and more frustrating, is how the auditor’s report whitewashes Common Core’s true nature by describing the Core’s changes in a bizarrely flattering light.
Here’s how the auditor frames the Core’s shift in mathematical emphasis: “Under the Common Core mathematics standards, teachers cover fewer topics in greater depth with their students than in the past. For instance, in kindergarten through second grade, students focus on mathematical concepts, skills, and problem solving related to addition and subtraction.”

Greater depth? Well, that’s one way to describe it. The better way is “incomprehensibly greater confusion.” Or, more simply: “gobbledygook.” Here is actual text [italics from the original], directly quoted from the Core’s own official document, of the Core’s “Standards of Mathematical Practice”:
“Mathematically proficient students make sense of quantities and their relationships in problem situations. They bring two complementary abilities to bear on problems involving quantitative relationships: the ability to decontextualize—to abstract a given situation and represent it symbolically and manipulate the representing symbols as if they have a life of their own, without necessarily attending to their referents — and the ability to contextualize, to pause as needed during the manipulation process in order to probe into the referents for the symbols involved.”
Huh?
It’s unlikely that even a single good math teacher in Louisiana thinks her job is to teach students “to abstract a given situation and … manipulate the representing symbols … without necessarily attending to theirGeaux Teacher!: Common Core Standards and Disruption: 

9-28-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:





Seattle Schools This Week

Tuesday, September 30thMeet Superintendent Nyland from 6 pm - 7:00 pm at New Holly Community Center,7054 32nd Ave SWednesday, October 1stMeet Superintendent Nyland from 8:30 am-9:30 am at John Muir Elementary,3301 S. Horton St.School Board meeting, starting at 4:15 pm (note: there is to be an Executive Session on Potential Litigation from 8-8:30 pmAgenda On the Consent Agenda are various Board pol


9-27-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week
Seattle Schools Community Forum:Seattle Schools Community ForumHoping to See More of ThisI attended the Executive Committee meeting of the Whole this week.   It was actually a pleasure to be at the meeting and I hope to see more of what I heard and saw.It's kind of sad, really, that it was just me, the Board and staff.  (Long-time watchdog Chris Jackins came in briefly but left.)  Because I wish m




Eureka Math. . . (I can think of another expletive to describe it.) | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

Eureka Math. . . (I can think of another expletive to describe it.) | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:



Eureka Math. . . (I can think of another expletive to describe it.)

Posted on September 28, 2014


This is an update to a story I’ve been meaning to get back to for a while on Louisiana’s textbook selection and adoption process. According to my sources Louisiana required most vendors to pay 500 dollars per book to evaluate each grade level of each subject. I have no details of where those dollars went. I was told this was the first year the department ever charged to review books. I was also told the only two first tier (best according to LDOE) vendors that were selected (Eureka for Math and Core Knowledge for ELA) did not have to pay this fee, but I have not been able to confirm this. I received some information from sources that were able to acquire the lists of all external reviewers of textbooks. I have been able to contact some of these folks to confirm this, and have confirmed their participation through some of their own online postings. I will not be turning over all of the research files as yet, but I will be publishing the names of the Math reviewers. There were only 7 reviewers for the Math curriculum selected for the entire state (15 reviewers were used for the ELA evaluation.) I have tried interviewing and questioning these folks either on or off the record, but none have agreed to comment on the selection process – even after replying to me initially. I would like to know how they were compensated, whether their instructions involved assessing the quality of the materials (which is particularly lacking with the first tier Eureka materials) among other things.

Louisiana Textbook Reviewers by Review Area

Review AreaFnameLname
Math K-5BrittanyBush (K-5)
Math K-5KatieDunn (K-5)
Math K-5LaciManiscalco (K-5)
Math K-5KristinaMorris (K-5)
Math 6-8, 9-12AquanettaArchangel
Math 6-8, 9-12TamaraWhittington
Math 6-8, 9-12JessicaHunter

It appears John White, Superintendent of Education, has links to the only two tier one options selected, including one which is run by his former employers, Joel Klein, now the head of Amplify – a Rupert Murdoch (NewsCorp) subsidiary and sole provider of Core Knowledge published products. If this situation sounds familiar, you aren’t wrong. Jindal’s former head of the Department of Health and Hospitals, Bruce Greenstein, was just indicted on numerous counts of perjury related to tampering with the theoretically unbiased selection process or a 200+ million dollar Medicaid contract with Bruce Greenstein’s former employer, CNSI. I wonder if there is not some unsavory influences at work here as well. I really find it hard to believe Eureka is far and away the best Math product on the market and I’ve had firsthand experience with them and a tier 2 product that while not awesome, is much better than Eureka in my opinion (and my daughter throws fewer tantrums with this new one so I think she’s having an easier time of it too.)
I was provided this preliminary research by my source although you can find much more in LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, school websites, Stand For Children materials, LDOE’s website (lauding the choices with quotes without mentioning they were part of the selection committee), Facebook, etc.
 General Information
bbush@ebrshools.org 225-343-93645th grade teacher Capitol Elemhttp://edenpark.ebrschools.org/explore.cfm/facultystaff/brittanybush
 charter school teacher New Beginnings Charter New Orleanshttps://www.linkedin.com/pub/katie-dunn/24/1a8/31b
lacimaniscalco@yahoo.com Broadmoor Elem 3rd grReceived $$ stipend and from publisher “LearnZillion” Curr:http://learnzillion.com/dreamteam went to SF, CAhttp://gettingsmart.com/2012/03/learnzillion-one-of-the-scrappy-startups-making-dc-a-hotspot/
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/kristina-morris/4b/965/3b0been teaching for 2 years and 3 months
Naturallynette11@gmail.com “GOOGLE” Nette ArchangelI.A. Lewis School in Ruston LA, graduate of LA Tech teaching maybe 5 years http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfDPHSzh1y4
tamara.whittington@tangischools.orgHammond Jr HS Magnet
no infoSterlington HS, Ouchita Schools
James Ward Elem in Jennings LA

I think my inquiries were pretty non-threatening although I am a stranger. . .
I was given a list of all the folks who reviewed the various textbooks last year and 
Eureka Math. . . (I can think of another expletive to describe it.) | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

Nite Cap 9-28-14 #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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9-27-14 All NEW Living in Dialogue - What Happens When Education Serves the Economy?
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Open Letter From A Mom to Petrilli of Thomas B. Fordham | Missouri Education Watchdog
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Peg with Pen: I Refuse to Administer the PARCC
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MHP: To dissent is to be an American patriot | MSNBC
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Morning Wink 9-28-14 AM Posts #edchat #edreform
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9-28-14 Answer Sheet
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Life at the Intersections | …of spirit, people, and politics
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9-28-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher
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9-28-14 Ed Notes Online
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LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 9-28-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
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9-28-14 Hemlock on the Rocks
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Lessons from SF: UESF Teachers Push for Strike Vote in Contract Negotiations | Classroom Struggle
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Oregon Save Our Schools: OEA Needs to Follow its Members' Vote Against High-Stakes Testing
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Nite Cap 9-27-14 #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 CAP2nd Banana 9-27-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post 2nd Banana 9-20-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post2nd Banana 9-13-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post2nd Banana 9-6-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post2nd Banana 8-30-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post2