Monday, May 31, 2010

A Letter about the Seattle Superintendent

I request that this message to the Board be included in the record relating to the Board's evaluation of Superintendent Maria Goodloe Johnson and to any subsequent decisions made by the Board as to her retention, renewal (if any) of her contract, pay rises and bonuses awarded (if any), AS PER RCW 28A 645.020

DIRECTORS...

I would draw your attention to the Superintendent's exit interview with the Post & Courier in Charleston, 2007


You can read the full interview here
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2007/jun/14/pointed_words_good_feelings/
, but I have extracted some relevant paragraphs...


"Q: What's your favorite memory from the past four years?

A: I have a lot of favorite memories. My favorite memories are always being with kids and when kids want to show me something or talk to me or they're real excited about something they learned. One of my favorite memories was this year when we got the MAP (Measures of Academic Progress test) results, and two years ago when we got good results on student improvement. That's what we work hard for, so those are always good memories.

Q: What's your biggest accomplishment?

A: I think instituting the Charleston Plan for Excellence, the standardized curriculum, the standardized benchmark assessment system, teacher coaches in classrooms, revamping special education ...

Q: What's your biggest?

A: Well maybe it's establishing the strategic plan because all of those accomplishments come with the establishment of the strategic plan that's working.

Q: What's your biggest failure?

A: I don't think I have any failures. I think I have lessons. And one of the biggest lessons is that in the reconstitution of Brentwood and Rivers, if we had planned that for a year, I think we would've had less issues of transition and change because people didn't want to change, so that just made it negative. And every time an issue came up about space or the gym or something someone didn't like, it was just a continual ongoing target. I think if there had been more time taken to plan and execute, maybe, I hope, it would've been less of a negative transition. Maybe not. I don't know. I think you still have things you don't expect. If we would've had a little bit more time, hopefully it would've been smoother. ... And the other piece is, we just needed to do something. It was just so bad that what we did, even with the negativity, was better than what we had. But I just think having more time to plan would've been better.

Q: If you could do one thing differently in the four years you've been superintendent, what would you do?

A: I think that planning and execution piece.

Q: What's something unresolved that you're leaving here that you'd like to see finished?

A: How the Rivers building will be used.

Q: What do you think overall of the media treatment of you during the past four years?

A: I think they've been good. And at times when they stepped out of line, I just let them know and dealt with it and it was done. So that was good.
(it is interesting to note that KUOW education reporter Phyliss Fletcher told me that Maria Goodloe Johnson had contacted her employers and asked to have her fired. And a Microsoft employee (SPS parent) critical of the Superintendent also was threatened with termination after contact from the Superintendent with his managers)


{Open and Transparent MGJ style .. with full accountability.
What about prohibiting Bullying?}


Q: What do you hope your legacy will be here?

A: That I cared about all kids. That I created a very strong foundation that after I leave, that foundation will stick. And the system will continue to move forward.

Q: Maya, your daughter, would be ready for kindergarten in about three years. If you could've sent her to any Charleston County school, which one would you send her to?

A: I don't know. I have a whole list. I really believe in Montessori, but I also believe in Ashley River Creative Arts because that's the education I had — music, art, academics — and so Ashley River is a great school for that. Buist is also a great school. And Oakland is the school she would go to based on where we live. Those are the schools that were on my list to choose from, and I really didn't know. I would've been happy with any of those."

I don't believe the SPS community thinks the Superintendent has improved her planning and execution skills in the last three years.

And she certainly has not made stronger academic (Spectrum, ALO, APP), Montessori, art and music programs available to more Seattle children, although it is interesting to note her own child is very well served at South Shore, with its additional private funding every year.

And those wonderful Charleston test results turned out to be bogus:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/education/31charleston.html


http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2008/sep/10/school_under_scrutiny53611/


http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2008/jun/12/accomplished_principal_leave_charleston_44279/


http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/jul/15/test_score_investigation_ended89264/


Directors, do you still want to renew the Superintendent's contract, give her a pay-rise and a bonus? Most of your constituents do not. We, in fact, want you to fire her, with cause, for incompetence.

Sahila ChangeBringer
member, Seattle Shadow School Board

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Ballard Staff vote 35 to 1 : NO Confidence
in the Seattle Superintendent

Now we see the first of perhaps more Wildcat actions in opposition to the party line from WEA and SEA etc.

It is a member uprising and a community uprising.
HERE
The public is planning on retaking Seattle's public schools.

http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/2010/05/ballard-teachers-vote-no-confidence-in.html

March and Rally on 6-2-2010 to STOP the Superintendent's Oppression

http://mariagoodloejohnson.pbworks.com/02-June-2010+Rally+Event+Details

Make a sign and help save the Seattle's Schools from this Oppressive Dictator ...
Help restore law and legal process to Seattle's schools.

Seattle Lawsuits a plenty: an update

Legal update for Seattle Lawsuits a plenty
can be found here:
http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/2010/05/open-thread-friday-plus-friday-funny.html


Look for my picture around comment 15 and following.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

New Civil Rights Law Changes Law in Public Schools OSPI needs your feedback.

http://www.k12.wa.us/equity/

New Civil Rights Law Changes Law in Public Schools
OSPI needs your feedback.

Background
In 2010, the Washington State Legislature and Governor Gregoire passed the bill HB 3026, which bans discrimination in public schools based on race, creed, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation including gender expression or identity, veteran or military status, the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability.

We need your feedback in any form (mail, fax) or by e-mail or online by completing the survey.

Feedback closing date: June 11, 2010 by 5:00 p.m. – Law becomes active on June 10, 2010
=======
Note links to law are here

=======
18 NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The superintendent of public instruction
19 shall develop rules and guidelines to eliminate discrimination
20 prohibited in section 2 of this act as it applies to public school
21 employment, counseling and guidance services to students, recreational
22 and athletic activities for students, access to course offerings, and
23 in textbooks and instructional materials used by students.

24 NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. The office of the superintendent of public
25 instruction shall monitor local school districts' compliance with this
26 chapter, and shall establish a compliance timetable, rules, and
27 guidelines for enforcement of this chapter.

28 NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. Any person aggrieved by a violation of this
29 chapter, or aggrieved by the violation of any rule or guideline adopted
30 under this chapter, has a right of action in superior court for civil
31 damages and such equitable relief as the court determines.

NWEA's MAP testing and the Seattle Schools

The Seattle Schools Superintendent sits on the board of NWEA the outfit that produces the MAP test, which the Seattle Schools give three times per year for a "formative" assessment. note NWEA gets paid plenty for providing this test 3 times per year.


NWEA via MAP spews out about a 1,000 objectives per student for the teacher to use "formatively". What a laugh. ... consider the following for grade two....

A Seattle grade two teacher notes the following:

A).. Teachers have been told that MAP is a formative assessment and that it is to be used to guide instruction. I have in my hand the MAP data for one single student in my second grade class. It contains 24 pages of goals. The first column has 318 objectives to reinforce with this student. The second column contains 340 more skills and concepts to develop with this child. And the third column has 320 more skills and concepts I am to introduce to her. With 28 students in a classroom, clearly, this use of MAP simply does not pass the straight face test.

B).. As you know, teachers are required to teach second grade standards to second graders. These MAP results often set goals far beyond second grade. I will close by reading from this list and you can judge for yourself whether these are appropriate goals for a second grade student, who, according to classroom assessments, is already being sufficiently challenged by second grade standards.

a. “Adds fractions with like denominators with reducing or converting to a mixed fraction”

b. “Adds decimals through the hundred-thousandths place”

c. “Multiplies integers with unlike signs”

d. “Subtracts numbers with 5 digits or more with regrouping”

e. “Divides integers with unlike signs”

f. “Divides a 2 digit number or a 3 digit number by a 1 digit number with a remainder"

g. “Writes mixed numbers as improper fractions and improper fractions as mixed numbers”

h. “Applies algebraic methods to solve theoretical problems”

etc.

{GRADE TWO right .. and with the Everyday Math program as the primary source for instructional material}

Little wonder we see results like these from the Seattle Public Schools for Math...

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Found on the net: The Solution

You know, I am one of those public employees who has worked hard and worked long hours. It is unfair to focus on us when the real culprits are the billionaire hedge fund managers and the corporations who do not pay their fair share and the corrupt politicians in Washington who don’t make them pay. But as my husband says: It’s the janitor who is breaking the system. Fire the janitor, screw the state worker and everything will be OK.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Pathetic Hoodwinking of the Gullible : Edutopia

George Lucas and others in the Business world (not INTEL's Craig Barrett though) including Microsoft with their MMP and Boeing too have been hoodwinked by the Ed Research community.

It is pathetic watching these folks get sucked in by these charlatans. One can only assume that the smart people in these businesses have not actually tracked down and read any of the “research” behind the rhetoric.

Most of the community giving/support activities these companies engage in are actually run by their public relations or charitable giving departments. The people running these departments don’t have technical backgrounds so they are easy marks for the “authorities” in Education research. A degree in public relations or communications is more common which is the case for Jane Broom and the Microsoft Math Partnership.

In this sense, the business community is just another victim when they implicitly extend trust to the crummy work of the Ed Research community. Many have called this drinking the Kool-Aide but it seems more like spreading TB or mad-cow disease.
=================================

What Everyone's Watching: Top 5
Educational Videos

How to Teach Math as a Social Activity

A cooperative- learning environment in an upper-elementary classroom.

An Introduction to Project Learning

In this hands-on approach to teaching, students create schoolwork that demonstrates core subject knowledge.

Tech-Fueled Differentiated Instruction
Engages Elementary School Students

Technology personalizes the learning experience at Forest Lake Elementary School.

Pixar's Randy Nelson:
Learning in the Collaborative Age

Why schools must prepare students (and themselves) for new models in the workplace.

Big Thinkers: Howard Gardner on
Multiple Intelligences

An interview with the Harvard University professor about multiple intelligences and new forms of assessment.
===================

Contrast the above with THIS.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Charters and Special needs students
A report from Cecilia

Hi families,

I found this interesting review performed on charter schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). [or as a direct .pdf here] The judicial review looked at whether charters in the LAUSD complied with special education law and a Modified Consent Decree, in place since 1993.

You shouldn't be surprised to hear that:
1) children with disabilities are underrepresented in the charter schools;

2) the schools were developed and implemented without any reference to recruitment of children with disabilities;

3) the charters lagged in nearly every measure with regards to complaint response, assessments, annual IEP requirements, due process, transportation, etc etc;


4) charter school employees could not readily be held accountable since they are not LAUSD employees;

5) charters did not utilize the District IEP software for tracking services;

6)...need I say more.

There are certain groups some degrees removed from public education (Seattle Times Blethen family, Eli Broad Foundation, Alliance for Education corporate types) that are trying to foist charter schools, curriculum alignment, and high-stakes testing on us under the guise of reforming "urban public schools in crisis." Their attempts to apply the best education reforms MBAs have to offer sound to me like they want to establish widget factories instead of schools. Trouble is their experiments will use our taxpayer money to discriminate against our disabled children. My daughter is the proverbial square peg to their round hole.

Cecilia

=============
There may or may not be a crisis. I believe there is a crisis. I also believe that the changes proposed by the "Billionaire Boys" via Obama/Duncan's Race to the Bank agenda is NOT a solution or even close. A look at Seattle receiving $2 million for Cleveland NTN STEM High School, West Seattle Elementary, and Hawthorne Elementary shows ridiculous planning that OSPI finds grant worthy. Note the BERC group evaluates schools as grant worthy if they are lined up with RttT thinking .... not important as to whether what is proposed is likely to bring about improvement.

In the initial stages of RttT it was proposed that models proven to work should only be sanctioned..... this was judged too restrictive and that more flexibility might be needed so that States and School Districts could better meet the needs of their students. (Fat chance of that happening with OSPI and the SPS)

Try the Big Cover Up in Chicago for the kind of Flexibility happening in Seattle with Cleveland NTN STEM.

Dan

Education Secretary
Steps Into a Minefield in Brooklyn
...5-18-2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/nyregion/19duncan.html?ref=education

From the NY Times, I surmise: It is quite apparent that the Obama/Duncan bribery extortion plotting is founded on the telling of lies about charter school success. Otherwise if charters are about the same or worse that regular schools how can Arne be pushing the need for more charters to increase RttT chances of winning the BIG BUCKS? {lies trump data}

Hours before the event at the charter school, the teachers’ union’s press secretary sent reporters a fact sheet titled “A Tale of Two Schools.”

Like many charter schools in the city, Kings Collegiate, widely praised for its high test scores, shares a building with a traditional public school, Intermediate School 588, which does not score as well. The union was trying to point out that students who arrived at I.S. 588 were not as well prepared as their peers at Collegiate.

It also asserted that nearly one-third of the approximately 80 Kings students who entered in fifth grade had left the school by the next year.

Ms. Harris told reporters that approximately 18 students who began fifth grade were held back to repeat the grade and that less than a handful of them left the school. Education Department officials later said that the rate of students who left the school was closer to 20 percent. But documents the school filed with the state show that 11 percent of the students left the school between their first and second years.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

More on Federal Take Over of Education

http://www.educationnews.org/educationnewstoday/90895.html

Pearson, the largest educational publishing company in the world, has released its Common Core State Standards for Literacy and for Mathematics package. This basically amounts to a national curriculum. Will Pearson get the lucrative national test contract?

“Do You Believe Us Now?” by Donna Garner
=========
(includes this)
There is nothing in the text of the ARRA [Stimulus package], or in the portions of the two other statutes to which it points (the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the America Competes Act), that authorizes, requires, or even suggests that states competing for funds would need to adopt common state standards, create more charter schools, evaluate teachers and principals based on gains in student achievement, emphasize the preparation of students for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or restructure the lowest 5 percent of their schools.

Yet the grant program the administration designed to implement the provisions of the ARRA, the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top initiative, included each of these policy priorities, and states had no chance of winning unless their applications were built around them…

Based on the ARRA itself, I don’t think Congress intended to give Secretary Duncan the carte blanche he took…

Cheerleading from the Seattle Times
MGJ's coronation REJECTED
by the readers

HERE from the Seattle Times is an article accompanied by 39 of 39 readers' comments informing the Times that they are full of phoney huey propaganda.
Comments: Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson well executes school board's goals

A small survey critical of Seattle Schools Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson should be weighed against the views of tens of thousands of parents choosing to send their children to the city schools. (Are they kidding???) (MGJ and well executes goals in the same sentence)

Friday, May 21, 2010

IB thoughts from a friend

IB education is very academically rigorous. My problem with the IB programs has nothing to do with the academics of the programs. My problem with the IB philosophy is that it openly embraces values clarification or values education as an integral & integrated part of each of its curricula. If the parents of the student are aware of this, then that’s great. But many of the parents I’ve spoken with are not aware or even in denial of this fact. It’s easy to verify this, as the IBO is proud of this part of their mission.

Many people say its programs are anti-American, anti-Western, and anti-Christian… if that matters to you, then you be the judge. What the IBO says is that they want to mold world citizens with a worldview that balances fundamentalism with relativism. They also promote the various Declarations of the UN as being conceptually superior (universal) to the foundational documents of any nation-states (including the US ), and the concept of Human Rights (as defined by the UN) as being superior to our (US) guaranteed unalienable/ constitutional rights. I strongly disagree with both of these contentions. One thing that I think everyone would agree with is that their agenda of values education will have much more effect on younger students as opposed to older students. I might allow my discerning high-schooler to be involved in such programs, but most definitely not my vulnerable grade-schooler.

The Big Cover up ....

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/26/a_look_at_arne_duncans_vip

Watch this from minute 29:30 to 34:00
So why are we NOT hearing about this?

Look at Seattle and Cleveland High School
and OSPI's involvement in this same kind of debacle.

Thanks a lot WEA, SEA, and sponsors of ESSB 6696 in the WA legislature for the RttT and current School Improvement Grant fiascoes.

41:15 High School started by revolutionary nuns.
============================
Read the BERC report on Cleveland HERE.

Note: The purpose of this report is to assist Seattle School District (SSD) in identifying federal intervention model appropriate for Cleveland High School (CHS) and to inform the district School Improvement Grant application. Information about district level practices and policies will be reviewed to identify potential barriers in district policy and practices that may impede the district’s ability to implement an intervention.

There is ZERO evidence that the proposed intervention will produce significant improvement in mathematics.

Also BERC noted the disruptive environment in some Cleveland classes. Why is the District so focused on NOT allowing teachers to use State Law RCW 28A.600.020?


What is clear is that a large amount of resources will be funneled into Cleveland to the detriment of other schools..... NOTE this is exactly what Duncan did in Chicago to the detriment of many neighborhood schools.

The "Billionaire Boys Club" apparently owns OSPI and the Seattle Superintendent and four Seattle School Directors.

When we look back in 15 years we will likely see great similarities between:
Savings and Loan Scandals (Keating five)
Junk Bonds (Michael Milken)
Enron (Ken Lay, Jeff Skillings)
Mortgage Meltdowns ala Goldman Sachs, AIG etc.
Global Warming and Carbon trading (if Obama pushes this farce through) Al Gore
Race to the Top .. Gates, Broad, New Venture Partners, KnowledgeWorks Foundation.

Note Global Cooling Research here ... buy a coat

RACE TO THE TOP AND K-12 MATHEMATICS EDUCATION:
A Letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

http://www-users.math.umd.edu/~jnd/RTTTPublicLetter.html

Introduction

If a first grade teacher read at the fifth grade level, we'd be outraged. But what if she had only third or fourth grade mathematics skills and lacked the conceptual understanding needed for teaching mathematics? Unfortunately, this is the reality for all too many licensed K – 8 teachers in this country. According to a recent report by the National Council on Teacher Quality, the current training that prospective K-8 teachers receive in the vast majority of this country's education schools assures that this appalling situation will continue unchanged.

check the signers and the full letter ....

Note: This letter was posted, in August, 2009, to the RACE TO THE TOP comments section of the federal government website;

Monday, May 17, 2010

Sunday, May 16, 2010

19th Century School Textbooks online

http://digital.library.pitt.edu/n/nietz/

Full-Text Collection

The Full-Text Collection contains 140 schoolbooks from the Nietz Old Textbook Collection.

The online collection also contains two works by Dr. John Nietz, founder of the Nietz Old Textbook Collection, which survey historic American schoolbooks in the context of the history of education.

Happy Browsing.

Standardized Testing: A Race to Nowhere

Race To Nowhere is an excellent description of the standardized testing movement.

http://dailycensored.com/2010/05/15/standardized-testing-a-race-to-nowhere/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Dailycensored+%28Daily+Censored%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

D-Ed Reckoning : Try these 5-14-2010 and earlier

http://d-edreckoning.blogspot.com/2010/05/bridge-too-far.html

It's also a good example of why we never make any progress in education. Policy thinkers become so wedded to their pet assumptions and will bend over backwards to discount contrary evidence. Classic Confirmation Bias.
==============


==============
http://d-edreckoning.blogspot.com/2010/05/same-as-it-ever-was-continued.html


The Obama administration has posted "a series of documents outlining the research that supports the proposals in its blueprint for revising the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)."

Here is the document for Career- and College-ready students analyzed in my last post.

Embarrassingly, the document doesn't appear to cite any actual research. More embarrassingly, what the document sets out as research clearly isn't research.

I wonder if these documents were submitted to the What Works Clearinghouse for review?
{Duh???}

RttT and Stand and Deliver Revisited
An Open Letter to Seattle School Directors

The SEA union votes on RttT up or down Monday at 4:00 (5-17-2010)

Here is an open letter to Seattle School Board members
. The Seattle School Board members already voted to "Go for the money" and apparently like the consequences..... not surprisingly as RttT is all about "Eli Broad" and the Billionaire Boys interests (certainly not the kids' interests)..

Hopefully the SEA union members' Reps. are awake on Monday.
=======================
The meeting will be at Washington Middle School at 4:00 PM. If you can make it, please come and show your support for our teachers. Many of them feel alienated due to the pressure that has been put on the union through organizations such as the Alliance backed by Gates and Broad.

===================
The questions Seattle answered from OSPI to get a $2 million grant.....
ARE HERE
Any doubts about why things rarely improve in Seattle education no matter how much money OSPI and SPS throw at it will be answered here.

Note: We do need greater spending but the really big problem is pathetic direction and RttT does nothing about that except make things even worse. More dollars in the hands of the current leadership is beyond pointless. Note the Gov. slashed I-728 funds costing districts around $400 per student overall and now expects districts to spend tie working to win about $30 if successful.

This game is all about control and has little to with anything else.

Watch the Billionaire Boys visit the cashbox ala Enron.


There are monster parallels between Enron and the recent Wall Street mortgage meltdown and RttT comes next.

RttT violates Federal Code 3403
==================
Answer to OSPI question #2 and part of win $2 million for Seattle.

2. OSPI: The SIG funding provides an extraordinary opportunity for bold and disruptive change in schools identified as persistently failing. Beyond replacing the principal, describe how your proposal is bold and disruptive?

Seattle : Bold and disruptive are key terms that need to be addressed. Really high level of accountability.
Expectations and score cards around growth. Getting teachers to sign on to the plan. We have to change the direction.

Cleveland - new tech. network. More from community has been disruptive. We shouldn't be doing this. A whole school reform is disruptive.

Replacing the principal is disruptive. Everyone committing rather than giving people a choice. Work that we are doing is pretty board (sic.).

Our representatives voted to look at changes that may not be at the core values of core members.
4 tiered evaluation system is bold. Evaluation system in place at the beginning of school year.

We talk a lot around student centered education - but right now it is just talk. When we actually put in place it will be bold and disruptive. Going into these schools and require that the staff to work differently for the needs of the children.

Accountability, recognition of performance. We are really trying to have a clear understandable model for schools and communities to understand. Public transparency - increase around school performance, what is the district doing around it? Being able to do at a greater level then what we had planned.

When the schools open in the fall, teachers will have an expectation that things are different, students will see that things are different.

We have created a Transformation Principal Job Description - must have a proven track record in order to be considered.

=============
Staggering logic that: Disruption = Improvement in Educational Learning Environment... These folks have not used what is known to work for decades and they do not intend to start now.
=============
Ca Ching!!! $2 million dollars and what is the improvement plan? ... I failed to see that any proven solutions are going to be used in Seattle........ why?

WELL because ... the legislation does not require evidence of success to win a grant.
This way outfits like KnowledgeWorks Foundation can rake in the bucks by having New Technology Network provide Seattle with a defective model to copy and get paid, as only OSPI and the Seattle School directors need to sanction it ... Clearly evidence of success is NOT important.. ( past evidence of failure seems to be a plus for the NTN model as it won).

41 schools applied and 18 won grants ... Seattle had 3 schools apply and three winners ... 100% success ... wow how sad is that.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Pickets say International Baccalaureate misguided

Pickets say International Baccalaureate misguided
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/may/15/school-program-protested/
Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

Hayden Meadows Elementary International Baccalaureate

Foes of an internationally focused curriculum offered in some North Idaho schools have been taking to the streets to publicize their fears that the program spreads anti-American ideology.

Kootenai County sheriff's deputies had to be called to keep protesters of the International Baccalaureate program at Hayden Meadows Elementary School from snarling traffic.


.......

Angie Phillips, next year's Parent Teacher Association president at Hayden Meadows, says she'd like people to take a step back from the controversy, which has resulted in her getting phone calls questioning whether Hayden Meadows has children say the Pledge of Allegiance - or even displays the American flag.

"I'm a Republican, I'm a Christian," Phillips told the Coeur d'Alene Press. "I'm as all-American as you're going to get." {?????} {non-Christians and non-Republicans are ????}

another fine quality piece in .... The Spokesman-Review via The Coeur d'Alene Press and AP.

Sit this Race Out ..
... a Letter to Spokesman-Review

Sit this race out -- The Spokesman-Review letter

The Spokesman-Review editorial on May 9 heaped praise on the Race to the Top (RTTT) initiative sponsored by U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. The writer urged all Washington school boards to jump on the RTTT bandwagon. Pullman schools would get a whopping $24 per student, while Washtucna will reap a $22 per student windfall. (These amounts could be raised by local PTA bake sales.)

It is obvious that the S-R editorial team never read the RTTT legislation. There are 19 absolute criteria that must be met.

Citizens, those 19 will require a slew of new administrators just to keep books, collect data and harass the instructional staff in the K-12 sector.

In January, Dr. Yong Zhoa of Michigan State University warned the annual convention of the Washington School Directors Association of the evils of RTTT.

The RTTT is a sneaky way to fund private charter schools with taxpayers paying the bill and a mechanism to privatize the world's best-decentralized public schools. Admittedly, the pubic schools need help, and as James B. Conant wrote, "improvements must come school by school and be made with due regard for the nature of the community," not by federal bureaucrats.

Donald C. Orlich
Pullman

Of course this letter was printed after Spokane School Directors had already voted for the RttT.

If you liked the "Savings and Loan" scandal, Enron, the recent financial meltdown, then you will love RttT. It follows a "Rich" tradition of the "Smartest Boys in the Room" looting the public.
==============
Keep in mind that Rep. Adam Smith, Prez. Obama, and his Attorney General Holder all had lots to say about the AZ immigration law but never read the 16 page law.

Anyone read RttT?

Confessions of a Math Major
(great reading)

http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/89429.html
Confessions of a Math Major by Barry Garelick

A super article...Ever had a Dad and been in a Math class? Then read it.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Ed Nonsense in the Seattle Times

#1 = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2011859896_guest14smith.html

#2 = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/edcetera/2011859936_charter_schools_and_the_argume.html

For the record I am not a leftist. In article #2 .. I wrote the letter in question.

Washington state is committed to education reform

http://www.waracetothetop.org/materials.htm

Here are your materials to gain a full Top Down understanding of the Ed Sham under way.

Daily Censored on Charters

http://dailycensored.com/2010/05/14/lady-liberty-charter-school-the-newark-charter-school-fund-and-big-zoo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Dailycensored+%28Daily+Censored%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail

Seattle School Directors ... a letter
this is a Racket .. for sure

Dear School Directors, 5-14-2010

Some of you need much better reasons for your decisions and better decisions are needed.

Tacoma approves new math books:

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/05/14/1185940/tacoma-oks-math-books.html


Seattle is looking more and more like a Math island. A highly discriminatory Math island waiting for more legal action in Superior Court, at the State Supreme Court,
and perhaps an eventual "Civil Rights" legal action in Federal Court.

Selection of New Technology Network fits the bill here:

http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/opinions_on_education/91117.html


Look who has a hand in the cashbox.... and with OSPI help.

A rash of arbitrary and capricious decision making abounds in Seattle.

Review the NTN contract approval reasons given on 2-3-10..

#1 Maier its PBL, good enough for my vote.

#2 Carr called everyone but failed to use any objective measures of success known as relevant data. (Because there were no objective measures of success for NTN schools)

#3 Sundquist : I believe students are graduating at a high rate from NT Sacramento (despite being supplied with data showing the exact opposite).

#4 Martin-Morris on 2-3-10 emphasized two items Thornton Creek math PBL and NT Hillsdale success ... but by 4-7-10 both were known by Director Martin-Morris to be incorrect and yet he offered no additional explanation for his positive vote on 4-7-10.

None of these four directors offered any additional clarification for voting yes on 4-7-10. They preferred to stand on their rationale of 2-3-10. They chose to ignore the E Anderson memo and mountains of data.

{Excluding evidence remains a big favorite}

So what are the real reasons for these decisions???

Let us ask Eli Broad and other members of the well healed elite, who are poised to put hands in the cashbox, for those real reasons for decisions made by "Eli Broad Foundation Board Director Maria Goodloe-Johnson" and by the four directors that spent close to $500,000 to get elected in 2007.

Maybe we should follow the Money. Duh!!!

======================

Seattle remains math clueless as Tacoma approves new math books.
Maria Goodloe-Johnson is appealing a Superior Court Order of Remand so kids remain with an insanely poor k-12 math program. This deal got OSPI to pick 3 out of 3 Seattle schools for SIG grants while the state average was less than 50% selected. (something smells at OSPI when NTN gets approval and schools with completely misaligned math programs get funding) It is a Racket.

======================

Yes there is a reason that all these nonsense decisions are taking place. It is all about $$$ and to hell with the kids' educations as they are in the way of the profiteers.

The Smartest Guys in the Room are a genuine plague.

Was that ADD or Whatever ???

http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/2010/05/was-that-add--or-aad.html

Love this piece.

RttT : October 2009 Smoking Gun
.. BLAM OSPI .. BLAM MGJ ..
.....BLAM Four SPS Directors

http://www.sbe.wa.gov/documents/091031%20WA%20RTT%20board%20presentation.pdf

Featuring:

Emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) {Competitive grant}
▪ Develop a plan to (i) offer a rigorous course of study in STEM, (ii) work with industry experts, universities, etc, to prepare teachers for integrating STEM content, and (iii) prepare more students to pursue advanced study and careers in STEM


KnowledgeWorks Foundation, the parent of the New Technology Network, already had their hand in the cashbox ... Good Job Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson with that top down unilateral decision that removed the community from any input into Cleveland High School's future direction.

Not to mention the great work by OSPI {toss TEAM DORN out ASAP}.

Nice Job of voting by Seattle's gang of four Directors. Why didn't these four Directors mention this was the real $$$$$ reason for their voting to approve the $800,000 NTN contract instead of those Flimsy Weak Justifications?

Is anyone else tiring of the constant parade of FWJ?

ENRON : Ask Why .... etc.
Parallels to RttT
In EdNews

Enron .... the possibilities are endless.

ENRON : Ask Why .... etc. Parallels to RttT

http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/opinions_on_education/91117.html

Mr. Leinwand and Microsoft Math/Science Partnership

See THIS for a review of Ed Week Blog excerpts and critical comments by David Orbits.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Race to the Top support is tepid
Local school districts cool to strings,
but fear backlash

http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/may/13/race-to-the-top-support-is-tepid/

Evergreen district Superintendent John Deeder said Gregoire has watched legislators gut supplemental classroom spending authorized by voter-passed Initiative 728, without much of a fuss.

With one stroke of the pen, we eliminate $480 (state funds per student, per year),” Deeder lamented at Tuesday’s school board meeting. “And now we’re supposed to jump through all these hoops, for $24.49 (per student)?”

Hey math in Westport Conn.

http://us.mg2.mail.yahoo.com/dc/launch?.gx=1&.rand=8iumedt1tlbpk

Maria L. Goodloe-Johnson, Ph.D.
writes to SEA members

May 13, 2010

Dear Seattle Educators:

I am writing to you today to urge your support for Washington State’s Race to the Top application. As you know, we are facing debilitating budget cuts, and while we have worked hard to keep those cuts out of the classroom, teachers have still been impacted through losses of support services. Unfortunately the cuts are projected to continue—we are already projecting a $23 million dollar funding shortfall for the 2011-2012 school year.

Race to the Top is a federal competitive grant that Washington State is applying for. The application identifies four goal areas:

1. Enter kindergarten prepared for success
2. Be competitive in math and science nationally and internationally
3. Attain high academic standards regardless of race, ethnicity, income or gender
4. Graduate college and career ready

If our application is successful, Washington State could receive $250 million for education. The Governor has worked in partnership with OSPI, WEA, AWSP, WASA and the State Board of Education to develop this application. These organizations have all signed in support of the Washington plan. I had the opportunity to meet with the Governor two weeks ago, and she personally requested our support to strengthen the chance of getting this funding for our state’s students.

Seattle Public Schools stands to receive approximately $10 million over the next four years if the state receives this grant. In addition, signing on to the state’s application will ensure that we have the opportunity to compete for additional funds to further our work in areas such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and reducing the achievement gap.

{ Don't worry about the fact that we continue to:
#1 .. select from among the poorest plans available
#2 .. have widened the math achievement Gap continually for Black children
(are appealing a Superior Court Order of Remand, because we like excluding evidence)
#3 .. took money aimed at educationally disadvantaged learners at over 30 schools and decided to flush it at Cleveland STEM
#4a .. presented a plan showing 250 9th graders at Cleveland and now forecast an enrollment of 158 students
#4b .. are in favor of increasing privatization regardless of how bad the data is when providers are examined ... see New Technology Network schools
#4c .. spend financial resources on an increasing number of lawsuits -- several of which are now at the Washington Supreme Court level
#5 .. talk incessantly about community engagement while issuing top down edicts that ignore evidence and common sense.
#6 .. entice SEA union leadership into doing what the Central Administration and Eli Broad wants rather than what is good for SEA members
(example SEA did not file an appeal of Performance Management)}

The work that is outlined in the application is consistent with the work we are already doing to improve education in Seattle Public Schools. In fact, receiving these funds will enhance our ability to fund our present work and will help lessen the impact of next year’s projected budget cuts. The District and the SEA have agreed that any subjects of bargaining which may arise as a result of our application will be bargained as required in the appropriate forum. { Did members vote for this?}

Your Representative Assembly will be meeting on Monday to decide whether to authorize the SEA to sign onto the state’s application. Participation by the SEA is integral to the success of the state’s application—as our partners in improving all schools, your participation will be viewed as very positive for the future of education in Washington State.{ Your participation in the RttT application will lead everyone to wonder why mindless sheep pay union dues?}

Both the School Board and I have committed to signing onto the state’s application, and I hope we can count on your support as well. The Principal’s Association of Seattle Schools is currently reviewing the application.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me via email at superintendent@seattleschools.org.

Sincerely,

Maria L. Goodloe-Johnson, Ph.D.
Superintendent
================

STEM
http://mathunderground.blogspot.com/2010/05/stem-education-business-executives.html


Teaching the Needy
http://mathunderground.blogspot.com/2010/05/teaching-needy-kids-in-our-backward.html


Race to the Bank ala Enron
http://mathunderground.blogspot.com/2010/05/enron-ask-why-etc-parallels-to-rttt.html


Ravitch
http://mathunderground.blogspot.com/2010/05/taking-back-school-reform-conversation.html

=============================

Question: Who runs these education associations?
It looks like MG-J runs the SEA. About this letter....

This is an unfair labor practice...called employer domination of the union...MG-J is involving herself in the internal affairs of the union....like pressuring this vote (read her first Sentence)... If the SEA had a clue, PERC would be contacted over this ULP. .... Duh!!!

Also can RttT funds be used for normal stuff?

Then again since WEA Pres. Mary Lindquist was big on ESSB 6696, who are these members to stand in the way of this RttT approval?

MG-J says "Dummy up Dummies".
SEA leadership responds with "Yes will do".
SEA members and Reps........ ??? wait 'til Monday
=============================================

Supt. e-mail to Teachers an Unfair Labor Practice Violation?

The statutes administered by Public Employment Relations Commission (the National Labor Relations Board for public employees) prohibit employer involvement in the internal affairs of unions (known as Employer Domination of Union).

It seems a ULP violation could be found for Employer domination of a union in violation of RCW 41.59.140(1)(b) [and if so, derivative "interference" in violation of RCW 41.59.140(1)(a)], by Supt. Goodloe-Johnson’s email of May 13 to all union members, in which she urged SEA (union) members to support a union policy decision at the upcoming union meeting. Specifically she wrote:

“Your Representative Assembly will be meeting on Monday to decide whether to authorize the SEA to sign onto the state's application. Participation by the SEA is integral to the success of the state's application-as our partners in improving all schools, your participation will be viewed as very positive for the future of education in Washington State. Both the School Board and I have committed to signing onto the state's application, and I hope we can count on your support as well.”

“The elements of proof for Employer Domination are the same under all of the statutes administered by PERC. The complainant must establish that the employer intended to dominate the internal affairs of a union (potentially including selection of officers, policy decisions, or ratification of collective bargaining agreements).” PERC manual, 2006.

Why Won’t SEA leaders Stand Up to the Superintendent?

Will the members?

Taking Back School Reform:
A Conversation Between Diane Ravitch and Mike Rose

Taking Back School Reform: A Conversation Between Diane Ravitch and Mike Rose
INTERVIEW
Premium article access courtesy of TeacherMagazine.org.


Last month, education scholars Diane Ravitch and Mike Rose held a conversation at the University of California-Los Angeles about issues raised in Ravitch’s much-discussed new book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System. Afterward, they continued their conversation by e-mail, focusing on key topics that emerged in their discussion at UCLA.
Rose recently sent us an edited transcript of their e-mail exchange for publication. In an e-mail, Rose suggested that he and Ravitch were eager to present their dialogue to teachers. The transcript follows.

http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2010/05/12/roseravitchschoolreform.html?tkn=TVLFEQl4mJGbj0e66iUJf21cYOmgtHjLpmeG&cmp=clp-edweek


From: Diane Ravitch
To: Mike Rose
Subject: RE: A Beer Summit With the President
First, I would ask him to fully fund special education. That would relieve the fiscal burden that so many states and districts are now bearing and that is causing so many hundreds of thousands of teachers to be laid off. Then, I would try to explain briefly that his policies are too closely tied to the punitive approach of NCLB and urge him to take a positive approach, so as to help teachers and schools get better. Since he is a wonderful orator, I would suggest that he change the rhetoric about education; instead of speaking about punishing, firing, failing, and closing, speak instead about improving, supporting, developing, encouraging, and inspiring.
Last, I would urge him to create an advisory group—not connected to the Department of Education—whose charge would be to develop a long-term plan for the improvement of American education. What he is now doing is too closely tied to the “measure and punish” philosophy of NCLB, as well as the privatization agenda of the entrepreneurs. What he is doing will harm public education, not improve it. Perhaps with a long-term plan, he could lift our sights, and his own as well, to a more generous, positive understanding of what is needed by our schools, our students, and our educators.

Teaching Needy Kids in Our Backward System

Teaching Needy Kids in Our Backward System (Hardcover)

Reading Zig Engelman's latest book, "Teaching Needy Kids," you realize that education in the United States really has very little to do with teaching kids and everything to do with how teachers feel, the revenues of text book publishers, bureaucrats and other special interests. Despite the constant talk of education reform, reformers hardly ever get around to changing the most important thing: how instruction is delivered to students.

"Teaching Needy Kids" is essentially the story of one of the biggest cover-ups in the history of the United States: how the establishment prevented the wide-scale adoption of the most effective literacy program ever developed and instead deliberately promoted (and still promotes) alternatives that are less effective and in some cases even harmful to kids.


I would call this a "must read" for anyone interested in education reform and effective teaching. Be forewarned: Engelman's righteous indignation is contagious.

review By Matthew Hancock (Chicago, IL USA)

===============

meanwhile OSPI and RttT look for "Bold and Disruptive"...

Watch the CashBox empty ... like Enron and the recent collapse of the housing market.

Teacher sues school over grades : NO "F"

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2010/05/teacher_sues_school_over_grades.html

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Is our Education System Bankrupt?
“Too big to fail?”

Is our Education System Bankrupt?
Is it like General Motors and “Too big to fail?”
by C.R. Hoff

STEM ...education business executives target product development and marketing and the CashBox

http://www.educationnews.org/pr_releases/90889.html

On February 3, 2010, in school board testimony Paul Dunham a certified high school math teacher with a masters degree in Mechanical Engineering told the Seattle School Board that the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, the parent of the New Technology Network, had little technical expertise but plenty of business executives targeting product development and marketing.

New Technology Network has an incredibly poor record of achievement
but they fit current "correct product niche" so "Seattle Bought It" with OSPI's approval.
================
A little bit on how "Seattle Bought It" HERE.

Diane Ravitch sure got this one right ... all kinds of hands in the CashBox.

U.S. Teachers Not Well Prepared to Teach Mathematics

http://www.educationnews.org/ed_reports/edu_assoc_articles/91006.html

U.S. Teachers Not Well Prepared to Teach Mathematics, Study Finds....

A New International Study of Future Teachers in 16 Countries Reveals Mathematics Teacher Preparation Jeopardizes Student Learning of Math.

Washington, DC – April 15, 2010 – In a seminal study of international teacher preparation released today, researchers found a striking parallel between future U.S. teachers’ knowledge of mathematics content and the performance of the students they teach.
====================
Anyone at Evergreen State College care to respond?
How about all those legislators that voted for ESSB 6696?
Race to the Top believers.... ?????

ENRON : Ask Why .... etc.
Parallels to RttT

I just watched the Alex Gibney documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

a.k.a. Black Magic,
Enron: Ask Why,
Enron: Rise and Fall

There are monster parallels with the recent Wall Street mortgage meltdown.

ENRON = lack of regulation, cooperation from major banks, and other financial service folks; accompanied by lack of any empirical analysis.

Large numbers of folks, as in magazine writers, financial analysts etc., were not asking the questions that needed to be asked. Ask questions and get fired was the rule. Enron had even Merrill Lynch ensnared in their web of deception. Yes, Merrill Lynch had one of their analysts fired as Enron was offended. Merill Lynch was rewarded with another $50 million in Enron business for that move.

What must not be missed is "The Smartest Guys in the Room" are sometimes incredibly interested in gaming the system. It seems that some "Investment Insiders" like making political campaign donations and some politicians like receiving donations from these folks and then doing or not doing whatever is needed (without referencing the needs of the electorate).

You must see Zig Engelmann's 38 minute interview (2008) in which Zig puts the facts on the table and asks: Why does much of the Sham Nonsense of the last 40 years in Education continue and often expand?


Go here: http://www.zigsite.com/
and select the first video:
• Conversation with Siegfried (Zig) Engelmann (2008)
Zig’s long time friend and colleague, Geoff Colvin, asks Zig questions about episodes in Zig’s 45-year career in education. Zig’s responses are frank, sometimes poignant, sometimes funny, and often entertaining. The conversation was filmed before an audience during the 2008 annual Direct Instruction Conference, Eugene Oregon.
Time: 38 minutes. Filmed and produced by Jon Palfreman.

Zig, in his 70s, hates losing and still thinks that empirical truth should trump "Nonsense".
Zig gives a quick history of Project Follow Through and the last 5 minutes of the conversation really aims at education school baloney and the school administrations that buy it.

Now "The Smartest Guys in the Room" visit Education USA through RttT and the New Venture Fund etc. As you listen to Zig notice the giant disconnect between what works and RttT.

Education has problems but RttT is not an effective solution. More money needs to be effectively and efficiently spent on education. We already have "waste a plenty" and RttT will add enormously to that waste. --- Courtesy of the smart Billionaires that donated to Obama etc.

(note I have no political preference as both major parties are equally good at ignoring public interest to get elected)

from -- “Spending is not stimulus,”
-------------------- by Daniel Mitchell, Cato Institute
Many factors influence economic performance. Monetary policy, trade policy, taxation, labor markets, property rights, and competitive markets all have some impact on an economy’s performance. But one of the key variables is government spending. Once government expands beyond the level of providing core public goods such as the rule of law, there tends to be an inverse relationship between the size of government and economic growth. This is why reducing the size and scope of government is one of the best ways to improve economic performance. Unfortunately, policy moved in the wrong direction during the Bush years, and proposals for so-called stimulus indicate a continuation of those failed policies during the Obama years.

Title XIV of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 HERE

My Beef with Race to the Top HERE

So who is asking the probing questions about RttT?
Diane Ravitch, Ohanian, Orlich, me etc. ... but few are listening as most are just looking for the money.
==========
Charter Schools fail test ... but Race to the Top pushes them.
==========
"Whatever Secretary Duncan chooses to do with the good advice offered by Millot, I have a prediction to make: As hundreds and possibly thousands more charter schools open, we will see many financial and political scandals. We will see corrupt politicians and investors putting their hands into the cashbox. We will see corrupt deals where public school space is handed over to entrepreneurs who have made contributions to the politicians making the decisions. We will see many more charter operators pulling in $400,000-500,000 a year for their role, not as principals, but as "rainmakers" who build warm relationships with politicians and investors."
-- Diane Ravitch

=============================
Why not use what works?

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

War on Kids = Powerful film

Please join Nova High School for the PERY Conference, including a showing of the powerful film, War on Kids, followed by a community conversation on the rights and roles of youth in our culture.

The film helps us examine high stakes testing, zero-tolerance policies, medication, nutrition and additional influences that shape societal expectations of and opportunities for youth.

Public Education and the Rights of Youth
Sunday, May 16, 10a-3pm
Nova High School
300 - 20th Avenue East
Seattle, WA 98112
Free. donations welcome!

Learn more and reserve your FREE tickets online at:
http://www.pery.novafolios.com/home

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Does RttT violate Federal Code section 3403?

Secretary Arne Duncan is violating U.S. Code - Title 20 section 3403: Education (January 2004).

His Race to the Top as written is not in compliance with U.S. Code. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) had no provisions that allowed him to create a program in which state and school districts are bribed to comply with his direction.

{Read the legislation; the ARRA hardly gives Duncan the power and control he has seized through Race to the Top … The ARRA does not allow his RttT bastardization of the original legislation.}



Examples:
#1 .. In Maryland Secretary Arne Duncan visited a school where he announced the availability of $44 billion from the Recovery Act. The funding will drive education reforms and help save hundreds of thousands of teaching jobs at risk of state and local budget cuts. The announcement includes guidance and the application for $32.6 billion under the State Stabilization Fund, as well as fact sheets and guidance for other programs funded under the Recovery Act:

#2 .. In Washington State E2SSB 6696
(passed and signed into law 2010):

Background: Federal Funds. One component of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is the Race To The Top (RTTT) Fund, estimated to provide $4 billion for one-time, four-year competitive grants to encourage states to improve student outcomes by implementing strategies in four education reform areas and to reward states that have already made significant progress in these areas:
1. implementing high academic standards and rigorous assessments;
2. improving teacher effectiveness and achieving equity in teacher distribution;
3. improving collection and use of data; and
4. supporting struggling schools.

The federal guidance provided for the federal competitive RTTT grants provides that implementation of the four federally defined school intervention models
(turnaround,
restart,
school closure, and
transformation)
can strengthen a RTTT application and facilitate the reforms required to be addressed by the RTTT grant.


Accountability: In 2010 phase I of the accountability system is voluntary; will use federal funds to target the lowest 5 percent of persistently lowest achieving schools in the state eligible for federal Title I funds; and will use federal intervention models. A required action process will begin in 2011 for those eligible schools that did not volunteer and have not improved student achievement. Phase II will use state funds for a required action process in schools that are not Title I eligible and begin in 2013.

Federal Code 3403 includes:
It is the intention of the Congress in the establishment of the Department to protect the rights of State and local governments and public and private educational institutions... The establishment of the Department of Education shall not increase the authority of the Federal Government over education…

No provision of a program administered by the Secretary or by any other officer of the Department shall be construed to authorize the Secretary or any such officer to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or ......
====================
Download the 12 year story (nine pages) that created this mess.

The legal appeal over the New Technology Network at Cleveland H.S. in Seattle is an attempt to thwart Billionaires' federally assisted extortion of the public. Filed on Friday. NOTICE OF APPEAL (filed 5-7-2010).
====================
VIDEO HERE
====================
The ARRA provides $4.35 billion for the Race to the Top Fund, a competitive grant program designed to encourage and reward States that are creating the conditions for education innovation and reform; achieving significant improvement in student outcomes, including making substantial gains in student achievement, closing achievement gaps, improving high school graduation rates, and ensuring student preparation for success in college and careers; and implementing ambitious plans in four core education reform areas.

RttT contained:
 Turning around our lowest-achieving schools.
Race to the Top will reward States that have demonstrated success in raising student achievement and have the best plans to accelerate their reforms in the future. These States will offer models for others to follow and will spread the best reform ideas across their States, and across the country.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

NTN appeal of 4-7-2010

Here it is the next step in legal action against the SPS.

The New Technology Network contract
was originally approved 4-2 on 2-3-2010
It was appealed on 3-5-2010
The original was so flawed the district went for a redo do-over
with an introduction on 3-17-2010
and final approval on 4-7-2010

This is an initial filing of the appeal of that 4-7-2010 school board approval.
It is available in both 12 point and 16 point for your inspection.

If you really care, print the 12 point. It runs about 40 pages.

Next Up is Supreme Court on the 27th of May.
"Writ of Mandamus" and several pending appeals from Superior Court consolidated into one for the WA Supreme Court to review.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Compare/contrast math WASL - MSP

Differences or similarities between the math WASL and the Measurement of Student Progress and/or High Prof Exams?

For the most part, the HSPE was just the same WASL questions put in a multiple choice format this year. The test was much shorter and many students finished well before the time allotted. Next year It will be a new exam.

Repeat: The MSP is just the WASL in the MSP format and that next year (Spring 2011) it will incorporate the new standards.

math PhD. Info

This is not particularly pertinent to anything, it is just background information that is for context (context for what is a different question).

Last year the USA produced 1,430 Ph.D.s in mathematics. 669 of them were US citizens. 761 were not US citizens. (47% US citizens) The majority will never do research after their thesis.
68% were male.

19 were African American (i.e. US Citizens). 8 males, 11 females.
{ 19/669 = 3% v. 13% of USA population}
19 were Hispanic or Latino US Citizens
{ 19/669 = 3% v. 15% of USA population}
4 American Indians, all female.
{ 4/669 = 0.6% v. 0.8% full blooded and 0.6% partial}

USA (2006) 66% non-Hispanic White population.

Federal Partner = Watch out
(NY Times article)

NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/education/04educate.html


It’s hard to get people in school administrations to talk with you now. Imagine how hard it will be with the Feds as “your partner”?
Still without the Fed role we would not have the standardized test data showing the problems reach down into elementary school.

The sad part about it is that if “Public Education Inc.” hadn’t done such a crummy job with big city schools, the achievement gap and flakey strategies like Whole Language and Discovery Math then we probably would not be complaining and the door would not have been opened for the Feds to play such an activist role. As things stand now, with continuing high dropout rates, poor math/science scores, increasing human capital competition from India and China, there is just more and more demand for the Feds to be “our friends / partners”.

{Look for lots of spending and continued poor performance with FED involvement.}

So watch out for that bear hug, or should it be called the “Fed hug”?

-- David O.
=============
Note: Comment #1 below is from Spokane's Laurie Rogers
"Betrayed Blog author" and activist.

Monday, May 3, 2010

u.s. not racing to the top.

http://itsactiontime.blogspot.com/2010/02/who-is-racing-to-top-apparently-not-us.html

Did Congress Authorize Race to the Top?

http://kitchentablemath.blogspot.com/2010/05/did-congress-authorize-race-to-top.html

ED RESEARCH = "F" <== Newsweek

http://www.newsweek.com/id/237118

Billionaires’ Club of Philanthropists
Guides the SPS, No Thought Required

Some background at Wiki on NewSchools Venture Fund

New York Times ...Read THIS: Despite Push, Success at Charter Schools Is Mixed

But all doubts were dispelled when the image of Arne Duncan, the new education secretary, filled a large video screen from Washington. He pledged to combine “your ideas with our dollars” from the federal government. “What you have created,” he said, “is a real movement.
--------

In WA State, Seattle and elsewhere we are watching extortion practiced by Arne Duncan et al.

It must be noted that the Seattle School Board refuses to use data in making decisions. Guidance from the Billionaires' Club is robotically followed by at least four school directors and has been followed for years by the board.

The Seattle School Board votes on RttT on Wednesday 5-5-2010, but really they have been voting for the Billionaires' Club agenda for years. Impossible for them to stop now.
---------


Charters have also become a pet cause of what one education historian calls a billionaires’ club of philanthropists, including Mr. Gates, Eli Broad of Los Angeles and the Walton family of Wal-Mart.

But for all their support and cultural cachet, the majority of the 5,000 or so charter schools nationwide appear to be no better, and in many cases worse, than local public schools when measured by achievement on standardized tests, according to experts citing years of research. Last year one of the most comprehensive studies, by researchers from Stanford University, found that fewer than one-fifth of charter schools nationally offered a better education than comparable local schools, almost half offered an equivalent education and more than a third, 37 percent, were “significantly worse.”
........
Note: Hattie reports the effect size for charters is 0.20 ... another pointless pursuit when taking all schools into account. Perhaps we could devote some energy to fixing poor curricular choices and ineffective instructional practices. This is largely about removing local control not only from districts but from states as well. The Federal Oligarchy is a guise for the Billionaires' Club. NO THANKS... Where is the record of accomplishment from Gates or any of these Billionaires in regard to education? Gates Foundation has shown quite the opposite.

Look at Seattle and decision making ... Seattle is all about following Eli Broad and the decision making appears to be irrational unless viewed through that "Broad" lens.

........

In 2007, President George W. Bush visited a Harlem charter, but President Obama has done him one better, pledging to use the Harlem Children’s Zone, a network of charter schools and social services, as a model for high-poverty urban areas. The administration’s Race to the Top competition, which waves the carrot of $4.3 billion in education aid to states that comply with administration goals, has prompted three so far — Illinois, Louisiana and Tennessee — to lift limits on the number of charter schools. Advocates say there has never been more political momentum from Washington in favor of charter schools.

The club of millionaires and billionaires who support them includes Mr. Gates; Mr. Broad, whose fortune is from home building and financial services; Michael Dell of Dell Computer; Doris Fisher, who, with her late husband, Donald, founded the Gap; and the Walton family.

Rather than starting their own schools, these philanthropists largely went looking for successful charters and provided money for expansion. Thus they can boast of mainly backing academic winners.


-----------
Seattle is copying the New Technology Network Schools, which are proven under-performers but that is the direction the Gates Foundation aimed the SPS.

A reason for the current number of unresolved lawsuits against SPS Board decisions is that the Board does not follow appropriate decision making protocols in their rush to do what the Billionaires' Club desires.

I hope anyone who wondered why the Directors elected in 2007 had almost $500,000 to spend on their campaigns has figured out what is happening.

-------------
In regard to Race to the Top:
The "dollars" in question are minimal.

It would be shortsighted, in fact downright irresponsible, to sell out our schools and kids by imposing long-term unproven or damaging changes on them for a one-time shot at a small amount of cash.

But then again the SPS has quite a history of making unproven or damaging changes.


Look at a decade of math and the recent NTN contract ... early examples of what life will be like with "Broad" + RttT ==> goal accomplished Public Schools destruction assured.... SEA union members too busy teaching to notice their SEA leadership has sold them and the school system down the river. Too bad for a myriad of kids as well. Profit motive from k-12 expenditures too big to resist for the Financial Barrons of Today. {I'll buy a Tea Bag on this one}

Watch as 25% or more of schools will be restructured in a few years ... (unless a big awakening occurs) NTN plans to have 500 schools up from current 41. Note this will cost a lot of money and give worse results as that is the NTN track record.... Sundquist, Carr, Maier, and Martin-Morris are responsible for the four votes in a 4-3 NTN approval decision.

SEA Executive Director GLENN BAFIA can claim "Mission Accomplished". I would never have guessed SEA members pay his salary ... talk about a negative return on investment.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

FOIA = $$$$ to make Bold and Disruptive Schools

Dear Senator Oemig,

Remembering our conversations about "Race to the Bank", it appears that 6696 is in need of a lot more than fine-tuning. Change is NOT necessarily improvement. If Bold Disruption is believed to be a solution, it is clear that Seattle and OSPI have no idea why schools fail to serve educationally disadvantaged learners. Apparently no one has taken the time to thoughtfully consider either Project Follow Through results or Hattie's Visible Learning, if OSPI's idea of change is believed to be a solution.

Bold and Disruptive is the Plan for schools (well funded also).
This is official confirmation of advancement beyond absolute insanity.

Please see the attachment for Seattle's answers to OSPI's questions.
47 schools were failing in WA. 41 applied for funding. Only 18 were selected.
For Seattle 3 applied and 3 were funded to the tune of $2 million.

The OSPI questions are as bothersome as the Seattle answers.

I just got the attachment with an FOIA reqest to OSPI. It appears there was no fact checking of Seattle's answers.

Since neither OSPI nor Seattle has any idea how to direct schools toward improvement; the path to School Improvement is now believed to be: use more money to disrupt school.
It seems that both Seattle and OSPI need a "Civil Rights" Federal Court lawsuit for their ongoing failure to serve educationally disadvantaged students. Awarding even a dime to Cleveland HS given Seattle's Math actions {appeal of the Spector decision & the destructive unmonitored three year math experiment on Cleveland H.S. students} and selection of the New Tech Network as the provider of their turn around model is beyond the comprehension of anyone familiar with well researched valid education literature. The academic performance of the NTN schools is abysmal. See demonstration schools New Tech Sacramento, NT Welby in Colorado, LA school of Global Studies for starters. A completely flawed approach is being funded.

Now we are clearly relying on another business person or persons telling schools what to do.

Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns
by Clayton M. Christensen

The bold and disruptive approach will change our schools. Rest assured that if our schools weren't already near the point of being unfixable for educationally disadvantaged learners, the bold and disruptive approach will take things beyond the brink. With the continuation of NCLB/Blueprint coupled with RttT, this country may well never recover.... will education ever recover... ??? ..... 6696 Huh??

When educationally disadvantaged learners come out of grade 3 poorly prepared it is close to game over. Note at Cleveland in 2009 for WASL math only 1 of four black students could score above far below basic and this was the result of three years of expensive interventions from an NSF funded collaboration of SPS and UW. None of these Cleveland students tested were credit deficient. Seattle wastes money by the truckload. Why is OSPI giving them more money to waste on Cleveland High School?

Sincerely,

Danaher M. Dempsey, Jr.
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Here is the list of approved providers but as usual it does not matter if NTN is an approved provider or not. Seattle wants NTN and even though NTN has an established record of under performance OSPI approves money for Cleveland. Cleveland is on this list because principally of three years of very poor math performance thanks to UW.