Monthly Archives: October 2016

NAACP Calls for a Moratorium on Charter School Expansion

10/23/2016 The NAACP has called for a moratorium on charter school expansion until states pass measures to ensure comparable transparency and accountability with public schools, prevention of harmful diversion of funds from public schools, and protections against high expulsions and re-segregation. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/10/15/naacp-ratifies-controversial-resolution-for-a-moratorium-on-charter-schools/?postshare=2531476588926893&tid=ss_fb

Here are their requirements to lift the moratorium:

1. Charter schools are subject to the same transparency and accountability standards as public schools;
2. Public funds are not diverted to charter schools at the expense of the public school system;
3. Charter schools cease expelling students that public schools have a duty to educate;
4. Cease to perpetuate de facto segregation of the highest-performing children from those whose aspirations may be high but whose talents are not yet as obvious
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California’s New Accountability System: A Model for the Nation?–an Important Talk by Linda Darling-Hammond

10/20/2016 Linda Darling-Hammond gave an important speech to the EdSource symposium in early October 2016 describing California’s shift from test-score driven accountability for determining sanctions to broader accountability directed at continuously improving performance with support–from test and punish to build and support. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ooMIW0kqC0. A panel explicating the system at the same symposium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_dXsxG1o9w and raising issues on these policies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhK392ZWZXw

New Book on the Deficiencies of Value Added Testing For High-Stakes Teacher Evaluation

10/15/2016 A new book by Mark Paige, VAMS “On Trial” reviewed on the Vamboozled website. http://vamboozled.com/a-new-book-about-vams-on-trial/ Audrey Amerein-Beardsley writes, I recently heard about a new book that was written by Mark Paige — J.D. and Ph.D., assistant professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, and a former school law attorney — and published by Rowman & Littlefield.

Here is a quote from the author: […] the evidence upon which districts or states rely to make significant decisions is untrustworthy (or arbitrary) and, therefore, so is any decision as based, even if in part, on VAMs. Thus, VAMs may actually strengthen a teacher’s case. This, of course, is quite apart from the fact that VAM use results in firing good teachers based on poor information, thereby contributing to the teacher shortages and lower morale (among many other parades of horribles) being reported across the nation, and now more than likely ever.
The second important take-away is this, especially given followers of this blog include many educators and administrators facing a barrage of criticisms that only “de-professionalize” them: Courts have, over time, consistently deferred to the professional judgment of administrators (and their assessment of effective teaching). The members of that august institution – the judiciary – actually believe that educators know best about teaching, and that years of accumulated experience and knowledge have actual and also court-relevant value. That may come as a startling revelation to those who consistently diminish the education profession, or those who at least feel like they and their efforts are consistently being diminished.
To be sure, the system of educator evaluation is not perfect. Our schools continue to struggle to offer equal and equitable educational opportunities to all students, especially those in the nation’s highest needs schools. But what this book ultimately concludes is that the continued use of VAMs will not, hu-hum, add any value to these efforts.
To reach author Mark Paige via email, please contact him at mpaige@umassd.edu. To reach him via Twitter: @mpaigelaw

Mixed Reviews for Vouchers

10/15/2016 Summary of several voucher studies, some positive, most negative. http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/education/school-vouchers-choice-student-achievement?utm_source=JR-email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=JR-email&utm_source=Journalist%27s+Resource&utm_campaign=e33589d61a-2015_Sept_1_A_B_split3_24_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_12d86b1d6a-e33589d61a-80053569

New Report and Interview Demonstrating the Detrimental Effects of the Pressure to Market Charter Schools

10/15/2016 A new study by Jessen and DiMartino http://ncspe.tc.columbia.edu/center-news/the-impact-of-online-marketing-on-schools/ finds that the pressure for marketing schools is unregulated and causes harm.

Here is the beginning quotes from the Edushyster blog commenting on the report and interviewing one of its authors.http://edushyster.com/to-market-to-market/

EduShyster: I thought I’d set the stage for our conversation by describing a great, by which I mean appalling, example of education marketing in action. Donald Trump visits a Cleveland charter school that advertises itself as *top-rated* despite getting an *F* rating from the state. And the school is operated by a deep-pocketed for-profit chain that is *on a journey towards excellence.* Thoughts?

Catherine DiMartino: It makes me think about health care advertising. With health care you have the FDA putting certain limitations and providing some kind of oversight. Education is a public good and this is children’s learning and their future, but there’s no kind of regulation.

New Comprehensive Book On the Failure of Market-Based Reforms Supports the Findings of This Website

10/15/2016 William Mathis and Tina Trujillo have edited a massive compilation of the research demonstrating the severe problems with market-based reforms, Learning from the Federal Market-Based Reforms; Lessons for ESSA (2016) The book has twenty-eight chapters in five sections.

  • The Foundations of Market-Based Reforms;
  • Test-Based Sanctions: What the Evidence Says
  • False Promises
  • Effective and Equitable Reforms
  • Lessons for the Every Student Succeeds Act

The research and examples in the book are further support for many of the claims and research provided in this website.

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