Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Teachers union asks board to suspend Hanson, other top officials | Fresno Bee

Teachers union asks board to suspend Hanson, other top officials | Fresno Bee:

Teachers union asks board to suspend Hanson, other top officials






The Fresno Teachers Association is calling for the Fresno Unified school board to suspend Superintendent Michael Hanson and other top officials, citing their possible role in the alleged shredding of documents amid a federal investigation.
FTA President Tish Rice asked the board to place Hanson, Chief Financial Officer Ruthie Quinto and Chief Operations Officer Karin Temple on administrative leave until the findings of the investigation, which focus on officials’ involvement in no-bid contracts, are made public. She issued the call at a news conference outside the school district building on Wednesday.
“We are concerned about reports that we’re getting just today that documents are being shredded in key district offices. We’re not sure if this document shredding is being done as a normal course of business or could be related to the federal investigation,” Rice said, amid cheers of teachers who attended the news conference.
A federal grand jury subpoena, served to the district last month, is demanding the district turn over a wide range of documents, including officials’ personal emails and phone records – questioning their relationship with developers.
But Hanson said the allegations were false, and pointed to ongoing salary negotiations with FTA as Rice’s motivation, calling her claims “opportunistic.”
WHEN OTHER EMPLOYEES OF THIS DISTRICT ARE INVESTIGATED, THE PROTOCOL, WE ALL KNOW, IS TO PUT THEM ON LEAVE. WHY SHOULD THESE THREE BE TREATED ANY DIFFERENTLY?
Tish Rice, Fresno Teachers Association president
“We gave very clear direction to all the people that would need to preserve documents and we are incredibly confident that they’re doing that. I think what you had tonight was an irresponsible allegation thrown out, like has happened so often around here ...  It is not coincidental that we are in a negotiations process that (FTA) expects a lot more out of and we have given our last, best and final offer,” he said. “I think it’s unfortunate, I think it’s disingenuous, and in the end, I think it needs to be clarified, but what is being alleged is not occurring.”
Rice would not name the source of her information, but she stood before the board at its regular meeting later Wednesday and made the same allegations.
“When other employees of this district are investigated, the protocol, we all know, is to put them on leave. Why should these three be treated any differently?” Rice told the board. “The public is tired of the half-truths.”
Rice said regardless of the document-shredding allegations, the three officials should still be ousted, pointing to the board’s recent hires of attorneys and public relations employees andcontroversy about Hanson and others using a phone app that automatically erases any trace of text messages.
I THINK IT’S UNFORTUNATE, I THINK IT’S DISINGENUOUS, ... BUT WHAT IS BEING ALLEGED IS NOT OCCURRING.
Superintendent Michael Hanson
Hanson and Quinto admitted to using the Cyber Dust app – which touts its ability to leave no digital footprint – to conduct school business last year. But they denied allegations it was related to the ongoing federal investigation.
In response to the calls for him to resign, Hanson said “absolutely not.”
“I am employed by the board but I work for the kids of this city and I have very strong board support to continue doing the work that they’ve charged me to do, which is to take care ofTeachers union asks board to suspend Hanson, other top officials | Fresno Bee:







Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/education/article39231321.html#storylink=cpy

L.A. school board votes to fire teacher Rafe Esquith, accused of misconduct - LA Times

L.A. school board votes to fire teacher Rafe Esquith, accused of misconduct - LA Times:

L.A. school board votes to fire teacher Rafe Esquith, accused of misconduct



Rafe Esquith
Hobart Avenue Elementary School educator Rafe Esquith, a nationally recognized teacher, has denied wrongdoing. (Beatrice de Gea / Los Angeles Times)
The Los Angeles Board of Education voted this week to fire nationally recognized teacher Rafe Esquith, following a misconduct investigation that included allegations he made an improper joke to students and inappropriately touched minors, according to sources with knowledge of the decision.
The longtime educator at Hobart Avenue Elementary School, who has received national acclaim for his teaching and his bestselling books, has denied wrongdoing.
Acting on the recommendation of senior administrators, the school board voted unanimously behind closed doors Tuesday to begin termination proceedings against Esquith, according to sources who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the matter.
Esquith, 61, was removed from the classroom in April after another educator complained about a joke he made to students relating to nudity. The complaint prompted an investigation, which quickly grew to include other allegations of misconduct.
In a letter to Esquith's attorneys in August, district officials said they were investigating claims that he inappropriately touched minors before and during his more than 30-year teaching career. The district also said the inquiry "revealed multiple inappropriate photographs and videos of a sexual nature." Other allegations involved his handling of a L.A. school board votes to fire teacher Rafe Esquith, accused of misconduct - LA Times:

Ex-Glastonbury School Principal Victim Of Attack In Israel - Hartford Courant

Ex-Glastonbury School Principal Victim Of Attack In Israel - Hartford Courant:

Ex-Glastonbury School Principal Victim Of Attack In Israel



Richard Lakin


GLASTONBURY — Many in the community who fondly remembered Richard Lakin as the "warm" and "patient" principal at Hopewell School said they were shocked to discover that he was one of the victims of a brutal a terrorist attack in Jerusalem Tuesday.
Lakin was in critical condition at a Jerusalem hospital after he was one of the passengers who was shot and stabbed by two assailants on a Jerusalem bus Tuesday before the attackers were shot by police, according to Lakin's family members and news reports about the incident.
"This morning he was stabbed and shot by murderous Islamic terrorists during an attack on a bus in Jerusalem. We are with him in the intensive care unit of Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital where he is fighting for his life. Please pray for him," someone who identified himself as Lakin's son Micah posted on Facebook shortly after the attack Tuesday.
Anne Alvord, who worked with Lakin as a teacher and language arts consultant at Hopewell School, recalled him Wednesday as "naturally respectful and gentle and effective."



"He was a very peaceful man in the way he worked with his teachers and students," Alvord said. "That was his magic, really."
Alvord said it came as a shock to many when Lakin announced in the early 1980s that he would be leaving his longtime job as principal at Hopewell School to move his wife and two young children to Israel. Lakin served as principal at Hopewell from 1969 to 1984, according to information he posted online.



"It was a deep longing on his part," Alvord recalled of the Lakins' move to Israel. "I think he just needed to refresh himself." Alvord said that as a principal Lakin was "good at problem-solving."
"He was a democratic guy who brought the best out of you," she recalled.
Joan Kimble, a former Glastonbury resident who worked with Lakin and his wife, Karen, in a human rights council group that brought inner city Hartford children to summer camps in Glastonbury in the 1960s, said he was also surprised when the Lakins announced their move in the early 1980s.
"I don't think anybody expected it. They were just so well grounded in the community," Kimble recalled. "They told me that it was just something that they had to do."
Kimble recalled Lakin Wednesday as a "very gentle, kind person."
Helen Stern, a longtime member of the Glastonbury Board of Education, remembered Lakin as a "very child-oriented" administrator.
Ruthanne Hadley said that Lakin hired her as a first-grade teacher the year before he moved his family to Israel and remembered him as a "wonderful principal" and a pragmatic person. She said Lakin reminded her of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
"He just wanted everything to be equal and fair," Hadley said. "He was very kind and generous to everyone."
Joshua Lakin, Richard Lakin's nephew, said Wednesday evening that he had spoken to Lakin's sons at the hospital around 6 p.m., who told him that Lakin was still listed in critical condition but that doctors had been able to stabilize him. Joshua Lakin said that Richard Lakin been stabbed in the neck and lower abdomen and shot in the hip and that he was undergoing surgery to repair damage to his organs.
Joshua Lakin said that his uncle continued to teach when he moved to Israel and was active in a number of groups that sought peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
"He just loves people, cares about people and wants everybody to get along," Joshua Lakin said. "He shouldn't have been a victim."Ex-Glastonbury School Principal Victim Of Attack In Israel - Hartford Courant:

Richard Lakin's Thanks2Teachers.com - A Wellspring of Teacher Appreciation and Teacher Inspiration > Home > Home http://bit.ly/1Lly9iQ
Teaching as an Act of Love: Thoughts and Recollections of a Former Teacher ... - Richard Lakin - Google Books http://bit.ly/1LlyimB
The World of Ideas

A Principal's Principles
These "14 Principal's Principles" were shared on Twitter on August 6, 2010 and are many of those basic to my educational philosophy. Those dated 9/1968 (1-5) I shared with my staff at "Independence Elementary School" on my first day as a new principal 42 years ago.
I was principal of "Independence Elementary School" for 16 years and much of what I've written in my book, Teaching as an Act of Love: Thoughts and Recollections of a Former Teacher, Principal and Kid, stems from my years there. 
                    The 14 Principles
1)  "The most important aspect of a school is the quality of the human relationships within that school." RL (9/1968)
2) "We must accept and value the child for what s/he is and has become as well as for what s/he can and will become." RL (9/1968)
3)  "Trust, caring, concern and respect are all qualities which we should foster within our school." RL (9/1968)
4)  "Schools should be vital places in which children live, learn and grow." RL (9/1968)
5)  "We should emphasize learning rather than teaching, and living, which is experiencing." RL (9/1968)
6)  "Respect & caring for each child, teacher and parent are paramount—the foundation of everything else that transpires in a school."
7)  "Teaching, like parenting, is first and foremost an act of love."
8)  "Teaching must be based in the heart, not in piles of data!"
9)  "A supportive, cooperative school culture where children thrive can be lovingly created given time and trust."
10)  "The 21st century school is a Caring Learning Community."
11)  "Parents are public education's greatest untapped supporters. Welcome & engage them as partners in their children's schools."
12)  "Positive and supportive attitudes of teachers and staff towards kids & learning make schools great!"
13)  "Be a generous listener."
14)  "Focus on ENCOURAGEMENT and EMPOWERMENT and you can help shape a loving future."
Richard Lakin
August 7, 2010
Jerusalem, Israel

Richard Lakin's Thanks2Teachers.com - A Wellspring of Teacher Appreciation and Teacher Inspiration > Home > Home http://bit.ly/1Lly9iQ

Teaching as an Act of Love: Thoughts and Recollections of a Former Teacher ... - Richard Lakin - Google Books http://bit.ly/1LlyimB

Mathematica: Testing the PARCC Test | deutsch29

Mathematica: Testing the PARCC Test | deutsch29:

Mathematica: Testing the PARCC Test



salesman


Massachusetts commissioned Mathematica to conduct a study in which it compared Massachusetts’ MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) to PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers).
The study was limited to comparing MCAS grade 10 math and ELA tests to “corresponding” PARCC tests (which means this study did not consider the most popular PARCC tests, those for students in grades 3 through 8).
The high-school-level MCAS and PARCC tests were given to 866 first-year Massachusetts college students, and the ability of the MCAS and PARCC tests to determine the proportion of these students determined to be “college ready”– those with a GPA of B or higher.
(That would have ruled out former President George W. Bush, who was a C student. Guess the White House resident who brought America punitive, test-score-obsessed No Child Left Behind wasn’t “college ready.”)
Now, the advertised outcome is that MCAS and PARCC “have similar ability to predict college grades.”
“Similar ability” is suspiciously safe terminology, as it betrays nothing of actual Mathematica: Testing the PARCC Test | deutsch29:

What The Gates Foundation’s Learned About Funding Education Journalism | The Grade | The Washington Monthly

What The Gates Foundation’s Learned About Funding Education Journalism | The Grade | The Washington Monthly:

What The Gates Foundation’s Learned About Funding Education Journalism

By Alexander Russo






The Gates Foundation spends about $7 million a year in grants to education journalism organizations, and has done so for the past five years or so, according to an interview with deputy director for global media partnerships Manami Kano last week.
These “media partnerships” include well-known examples like NPR’s expanded education team as well as EWA, Hechinger, Chalkbeat, and EdWeek and are designed to be a supplement to the foundation’s programmatic and policy work. See them here.
During the phone call, held on the eve of the foundation’s conference celebrating its 15th anniversary working in education, Kano talked about both well-known media efforts and less well-known ones (with Univision, for example), and both perceived successes (NPR Education) and efforts that might best be described as valiant efforts (Marketplace’s Learning Curve).
Gates isn’t the only foundation involved in this kind of funding. Other examples include Carnegie, Ford, Spencer, and MacArthur. Outlets that have worked with foundations include the LA Times and the PBS NewsHour.
The main motivation for getting involved, according to Kano, is to help keep the public informed about what’s going on in schools during a time when journalism is downsizing especially at the local level. “The gap in information continues to be a major issue,” said Kano. “We’re trying to make sure the ecosystem is strong.”

This includes working with large national news outlets and smaller nonprofits and local organizations. The type and format of the grantmaking has evolved over time, says Kano, in terms of figuring out which kinds of organizations benefit most and what kinds of support make the most difference. “It hasn’t been a straight path for us.”

With a national outlet like NPR, the goal was to do more than just add staff to the effort. “We’re not just going to subsidize your reporters to do news of the day that would already be covered,” said Kano. Instead, the goal of the funding was to help NPR “make education interesting and compelling with in-depth coverage of what’s happening it the classroom to both existing listeners and those that you might not have gotten yet through digital and social.”

The foundation also wanted NPR to “go deep on a few key areas, develop a voice, and test some new things” like integrating broadcast, digital, and interactive. According to Kano, the effort has been really successful. “The numbers have been increasing since they launched, and a lot of their traffic coming through Facebook.”

Just this week, NPR’s education team launched a new effort focused on innovation.

Another successful partnership from the foundation’s point of view is Univision, with whom the foundation has been working for a while now both supporting the website and the broadcast division. Some efforts include quarterly broadcast specials and longer in-depth features. The foundation’s 2014 grant to Univision wasjust over $2 million
A smaller, time-limited pilot project called Learning Curve launched in partnership with Marketplace and American Public Media didn’t turn out quite as successfully as had been hoped. The effort — linking the economy, technology, and learning — made a lot of sense on paper, especially given the success of other efforts at telling connecting stories in entertaining ways such as Planet Money. But the effort was much more broadcast-driven.
The team at Marketplace “produced a lot of good digital content but it never quite built an audience,” noted Kano. The station wasn’t as aggressive with social media as NPR has been - which may have been a factor. The grant was also much smaller.
The foundation and Marketplace parted ways earlier this year, both sides agreeing that the experiment hadn’t worked as we had hoped. They are, however, continuing conversations about other projects they could do on higher ed, which might be a better fit.
Other grants that ran their course include NBC News’ Education Nation, which included both an annual conference in New York City that was considered successful and a year-round platform for education coverage that did not thrive as What The Gates Foundation’s Learned About Funding Education Journalism | The Grade | The Washington Monthly:

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 10/14/15



CORPORATE ED REFORM





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YESTERDAY

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The Passion of St. Arne | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.: The Passion of St. ArneSecretary of Education Arne Duncan will step down at the end of this year, and President Obama has announced that he will be replaced by former New York Commissioner of Education Dr. John King, Jr. as the acting Secretary of Education through the remainder of the administration.  Praising his often embattled Secretary of Educatio
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 10/13/15
CORPORATE ED REFORMSacramento Bee says: Judge mayor on his record, A Short Walk Down Memory Lane in PixJudge mayor on his record, good and bad | The Sacramento Bee: Judge mayor on his record, good and badBY THE EDITORIAL BOARDWhen you’re a celebrity mayor, you can’t be too shocked when the occasional sordid accusation gets thrown your way.So it is with Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who is being