[Ohiogift] Public Education NewsBlast — May 12, 2015

[Art Snyder]

  May 12, 2015 - In This Issue:
The actually low stakes of high-stakes tests
Is testing a necessary evil?
Combating charter churn
Can charters and SPED mix?
LA + iPads: the fatal mistake
What's missing from AP
Truly teaching the moment
Hot to trot for Next Generation Science Standards
BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
BRIEFLY NOTED
GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
 The actually low stakes of high-stakes tests
The Hechinger Report has surveyed how states administering Common Core-aligned tests this spring are planning to use results. Few will use scores for student-related decisions, it turns out, and only slightly more will include scores in teacher evaluations, report Lilian Mongeau, Emmanuel Felton, and Sarah Butrymowicz. Some have made scores part of graduation requirements: Ohio students must pass aligned tests as either juniors or seniors; Florida sophomores must pass aligned English and Algebra I tests; and Washington state juniors can use aligned test scores to show proficiency, but in certain subjects can also use scores from the state's old exam or from end-of-course tests. Thirty-five states have no exit exam at all, and seven will use other exit exams -- for instance, New York's Regents -- but not as the sole determinant for graduation. Only Florida, Mississippi, and Wisconsin will use aligned tests for grade promotion. Of these, only Mississippi will use the single score in isolation. For teacher evaluations, 34 states are including student scores in some way, either this year or in the future. Only 13 states are actually using student scores this year, most as a baseline for student growth between this year and next. Of the 21 states that will use student scores in teacher evaluations in the future, many have stipulated that scores will count for only part of an entire evaluation. More
 Is testing a necessary evil?
No Child Left Behind failed, writes Kevin Welner on the Room for Debate blog of The New York Times. Thirteen years on, an entire generation of students has been schooled under test-based accountability policies, and we have clear evidence that this approach did little to enhance educational opportunities in less-advantaged communities. In fact, evidence shows that test scores were pursued at the expense of deeper, broader learning. Logic dictates that if schools shift time and energy toward reading and math, students will learn substantially more in these subjects, but even this hasn't happened. However, the failure of test-based accountability systems should not deter us from addressing the fact that low-income children of color are being denied opportunities to learn and succeed. If equity is to prevail, our conception of accountability must expand to include those charged with providing students and teachers the resources and support they need. In a countervailing opinion, Patricia Levesque writes that it is urgent we identify children falling behind academically. We do this by determining what children need to know, not what we think they can learn based on their circumstances. We then measure their progress and hold adults in the system accountable for doing their job. Accountability is hard, Levesque says, but necessary if we are to expand opportunity to all children. More
 Combating charter churn
As the charter movement comes of age, principals are realizing that good teachers aren't easily replaced, writes Alexandria Neason for Slate. Some charter schools and networks now offer perks to retain their staff, including retirement plans, on-site childcare, and nutrition advice. They're hoping these efforts will rebrand charter teaching as a viable, long-term career option, but face an uphill battle, given perceptions that charter jobs are high-velocity, for young people on the way to something else. At YES Prep network in Houston, the average classroom teacher currently stays 2.5 years. To combat this, the network has initiated across-the-board pay raises, and more seasoned teachers will have a personal budget for professional development, as well as more input on how their evaluations work. The network has also reduced school hours and mandatory after-school activities. The country's biggest chain of charters, the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), has made changes to support both principal and teacher sustainability, particularly for those with children of their own. Nearly a third of KIPP teachers now have on-site daycare, if desired -- a rarity at any type of school -- and some KIPP schools have shortened days and eliminated mandatory Saturday sessions. KIPP is also piloting a Common Core-aligned math and reading curriculum this year, in part so teachers needn't devise their own. More
 Can charters and SPED mix?
Denver Public Schools is intensifying efforts to ensure that charters serve their fair share of special education students by transferring centers for students with severe needs from district to charter schools, reports Jaclyn Zubrzycki for Chalkbeat Denver. It's one of the first systemic efforts in the country to address longstanding concerns around charter SPED services. Yet as special education programs in charters grow, officials are grappling with funding, placing, planning, overseeing, and sustaining programs. DPS currently has 132 centers in district and charter schools combined, serving 1,300 students. Currently, nine charters enroll 58 students in K-12 center programs. Next year, 15 charters will have programs, and in five years, 40 charter centers will enroll 300 students -- a number intended to mirror charters' share of overall student enrollment. Robin Lake of the Center for Reinventing Public Education says efforts like these (New Orleans is undertaking similar ones) can help with placement inequities, but "the bigger opportunity is if a charter school with all its flexibilities can find a new, innovative way to serve kids that are often really challenging to figure out how to serve well." At the same time, schools and the district must balance efforts to innovate with legal requirements to meet students' special needs. More
 LA + iPads: the fatal mistake
Parties in the LA iPad debacle are pointing fingers, but the important question is what the fiasco means for technology in the classroom nationally, writes Issie Lapowsky for Wired. If one of the country's largest districts, one of the world's largest tech companies, and one of the most established brands in education couldn't make ed tech work, can anyone? Some see Los Angeles as a classic case of participation in the ed-tech frenzy without fully thinking through why technology is important in the first place. The crux of the issue was revealed through the FBI's investigation into LA's iPad program, with emails between then-Superintendent John Deasy and executives from Pearson in which Deasy expressed excitement about working with Pearson and Apple. "A lot of schools get into trouble when the conversation starts with the vendor," says Michael Horn of the Clay Christensen Institute. "Where I've seen these programs work is when the school starts off with its vision, and only once they've sketched out what the solution should look like do they go out to the hardware and software communities to mix and match to meet those needs." Milpitas Unified School District in California exemplifies a successful process: It gave principals and teachers autonomy to determine how technology would work best for their schools, rather than mandating change from the top. More
 What's missing from AP
Earlier this year, parents at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Eastvale, California received school letters congratulating them that their child had been chosen to take AP courses next year, reports Adrienne Hill for the Associated Press. The letters are part of a broader effort by the district to include more low-income and minority students in higher-level courses. Roughly 3,800 students attend Roosevelt High, half Hispanic. AP classes there are disproportionately white and Asian. To make their program more inclusive, the district tasked Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS) with identifying kids who might be overlooked. "There are two-thirds of a million missing students per year who are low-income, African American, Latino, who could be successful in AP classes, IB classes -- the toughest classes in their school, if given that chance," says Reid Saaris of EOS. But parents aren't always aware of AP opportunities, and teachers don't see some kids as "AP material" -- nor do the kids themselves. To push its agenda, Roosevelt also held presentations about AP and "AP Rush Days," where students could talk to current AP participants about the workload and any other questions. Counselor David Sánchez reports that next year at Roosevelt will see 700 new spots in AP classes, with a 15 percent increase in Hispanic and black registration. More
 Truly teaching the moment
Dennis Henderson at Manchester Academic Charter School in Pittsburgh is all about helping black kids navigate life's unwritten rules, reports Erika Beras for NPR. He's African American, as are 99 percent of his middle-schoolers, most of whom also qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Henderson comes to the classroom from social work, and says race and racism have always informed his teaching. Early on, he told students: If you study and follow my advice, the world will be open to you, though it won't always be fair -- as he was reminded on June 26, 2013. Henderson was at a public meeting about community-police relations. Tensions were high. Afterward, he stood in the street by his car when a police cruiser sped by. Henderson yelled, "Wow." The car stopped, a white officer asked if he had a problem, and Henderson requested the officer's badge number, hitting record on his cellphone. When Henderson wouldn't put his phone down, the officer arrested him. Instead of trying to hide the incident, Henderson spoke openly about the experience to colleagues, students, and parents. When he missed school due to legal proceedings, he explained to his students what was happening, incorporating the experience into his teaching. And he continued to work on police-community relations, organizing outdoor activity days with the Pittsburgh Police Department. More
 Hot to trot for Next Generation Science Standards
While statewide adoptions of the Next Generation Science Standards slowly take root, some districts are bringing the standards to classrooms on their own, reports Liana Heitin for Education Week. To date, just 13 states and the District of Columbia have formally adopted the standards, which emphasize scientific inquiry and engineering design, and ask students to link broad concepts across the science fields. In other states like West Virginia and Wyoming, controversial language in the standards regarding evolution and climate change have waylaid adoption. But in states such as Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania, which have not yet adopted the standards -- and may never do so in totality -- some districts are moving ahead anyway, with science teachers leading the charge. At a national conference, more than 100 teams of science teachers and administrators from individual districts in 34 states attended sessions focusing on the new standards. A potential problem with implementing them in a non-adopting state is that end-of-year science assessments would be linked to that state's existing standards; as of now, however, no standardized test is aligned to the science standards anyway, so even adopting states are muddling through assessment issues. More
 BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
 
ETS back in
The California Board of Education has awarded the Educational Testing Service a three-year, $240 million contract to administer the state's standardized tests, despite a competitor's call for reopening a bidding process it called flawed and "arbitrary." More
 
The rich get thinner
Since state laws made it harder for California elementary school kids to get their hands on sugary drinks and junk food snacks on campus, researchers found student risk of becoming overweight or obese fell slightly -- but mostly in higher-income neighborhoods. More
 
Unwired
A key legislative panel has left unresolved the question of how to get Internet service to a handful of California schools located in areas so remote that there are no providers and they cannot be connected without incurring staggering costs. More
 
He's gotta have arts
Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait has joined with the Anaheim City School District to announce an ambitious goal: music instruction for every student in the district. More
 
The fine print
The Los Angeles Unified School District is not contractually obligated to hire a single new teacher to ease crowded classrooms under the terms of its tentative agreement with United Teachers Los Angeles. More
 
The next new thing
With its vision of transforming the elementary- and middle-school experience through personalized learning and smart operating systems, AltSchool, a start-up in San Francisco, has attracted top-tier technology investors. More
 
Off track
As many as three-quarters of Los Angeles 10th-graders are at risk of being denied diplomas by graduation because they are not on track to meet rigorous new college-prep class requirements. More
 
Better call Saul
A California teacher got wireless Internet removed from her classroom to accommodate her electromagnetic hypersensitivity, and now she wants it turned off in every classroom in the state. More

 BRIEFLY NOTED 
 
Little improvement
A new analysis by the federal Institute of Education Sciences finds most states receiving part of the $3.5 billion in School Improvement Grants (SIG) lacked the staff, technology, or expertise to improve their worst-performing schools. More
 
Hard to argue with
Most Americans agree that public school teachers should get paid more money and treated with more respect, according to a new poll. More
 
Ditch the mandatory reading list
Allowing young children to choose books they'd like to read over summer break may hone their reading skills and prevent "summer slide" in reading scores, new research suggests. More
 
The retention crisis that isn't
A federal longitudinal study has found that only 17 percent of teachers left the profession over its duration, far fewer than popularly thought. More
 
Preservation
A new Montana state bill subsidizes Native American language immersion programs in public schools. More
 
Asleep at the switch
In at least three Colorado districts, teachers proctoring new online state standardized tests this spring have faced discipline or other consequences after students they were supposed to be watching snapped pictures of test items and posted them to social media. More
 
Overhaul
In Indiana, measures of poverty that trigger extra funds for low-income schools are changing dramatically with the state's new $31.5 billion budget. More
 
It never ends
Nevada education officials will hit pause on the state's school accountability ratings following weeks of computer glitches that have marred an online student testing system. More
 
Cutbacks
The Colorado Legislature has approved a bill that restricts the state education department to administering English/language arts and math tests in grades 3-8 and to 10th graders, and requires statewide science testing once in elementary school, once in middle school, and once in high school. More
 
Bad faith
The Chicago Teachers Union has filed an unfair labor practice complaint accusing the city's school board of bad-faith bargaining and refusing to engage in mediation toward a new contract. More
 
Debacle
Thinkgate LLC has folded after receiving millions of dollars in federal Race to the Top funds to provide online assessments and other services to school districts in Massachusetts and Ohio. More

 
 GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

 
 
Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation: Grants for Youth with Disabilities
Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation Grants Program is dedicated to helping young Americans with disabilities maximize their potential and fully participate in society. The foundation supports organizations and projects within its mission that have broad scope and impact and demonstrate potential for replication at other sites. A major program emphasis is inclusion: enabling young people with disabilities to have full access to educational, vocational and recreational opportunities and to participate alongside their non-disabled peers. Maximum award: $75,000. Eligibility: 501(c)3 organizations. Deadline: June 1, 2015. More
 
American Academy of Pediatrics: CATCH Resident Funds Grants
2016 CATCH Resident Funds grants will be awarded on a competitive basis for pediatric residents to plan community-based child health initiatives. CATCH Resident Funds projects must include planning activities, but also may include some implementation activities. Maximum award: $2,000. Eligibility: pediatric residents working with their communities. Deadline: July 31, 2015. More
 
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Improving Students' 
Understanding of Geometry grant is to develop activities that will enable students to better appreciate and understand some aspect of geometry that is consistent with the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics of NCTM. The project should include applications of geometry to, for example, art, literature, music, architecture, nature, or some other relevant area and may integrate the use of technology into the teaching of geometry. Proposals must address the following: geometry content, the appropriateness of the application, the link between the Geometry Standard and the project's activities, and the anticipated impact on students' learning. Maximum award: $4,000. Eligibility: teachers preK-8 who are NCTM members as of October 14, 2015 or teach at a school with a preK-8 NCTM school membership as of October 14, 2015. Deadline: November 06, 2015. More
 

Quote of the Week: 
 
"We see ourselves in these young men. I grew up without a dad. I grew up lost sometimes and adrift, not having a sense of a clear path. The only difference between me and a lot of other young men in this neighborhood and all across the country is that I grew up in an environment that was a little more forgiving." -- President Barack Obama, announcing a new nonprofit group being spun off his My Brother's Keeper initiative. More

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