USA Today offers an editorial and rebuttal on NCLB.  The editorial page writers say that Democrats hate NCLB because unions hate NCLB.  Neither the part about Democrats nor the part about unions is true, but if some of our members hate NCLB they are not alone according to this new poll.

Now, that Alfie Kohn, he hates NCLB. Kohn offers the rebuttal, and it is quite an anti-NCLB screed.  Kohn claims that NCLB was created by the Bush Administration and the Heritage Foundation. He ignores the role of Senator Kennedy and Representative Miller, not to mention the Education Trust. And this time around, everyone and their mother has a set of recommendations for the reauthorization of NCLB so everyone will get to take credit (or more likely, blame) for NCLB version 2.0.

(And can I just complain about the graphic, knowing that USA Today is all about the graphics? It is not really truthful to say that CA and NY have the most schools in improvement without also saying that they have the most schools. Would it have been that much harder to calculate a percentage?)

Posted by Beth at 03:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Below are a few of today's education and labor news articles: 

How to fix 'No Child' law:Act’s sanctions, aid should be targeted at most-troubled schools.  In Florida last year, only 29% of schools made "adequate yearly progress" under the federal No Child Left Behind law. Can Florida schools really be that bad?  USA Today editorial

Too destructive to salvage It's time to say in a national newspaper what millions of teachers, students and parents already know: No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is an appalling and unredeemable experiment that has done incalculable damage to our schools — particularly those serving poor, minority and limited-English-proficiency students.  USA Today, Alfie Kohn

Disabled access in schools faulted  An audit of the Los Angeles Unified School District's progress in building and remodeling schools to make them accessible to the disabled found chronic problems in the design of parking, restrooms, ramps and drinking water fountains, as well as a troubling lack of documentation and misstatements of accomplishments.  Los Angeles Times

'No more' dropouts, governor declares Gov. Ted Strickland declared war Wednesday on the high-school dropout rate of black males, saying the state has a moral and economic imperative to fix the problem. Plain Dealer

City Expands Test Program In Schools The announcement of a battery of new standardized tests for students rekindled the debate over whether such testing is emphasized too much.  New York Times

Tainted Soil Around a School Stirs Up Dust and Distrust  After a week of confusion and worry that led the mayor here to step in and close a middle school, state environmental workers on Wednesday carted away two truckloads of soil contaminated with old, banned pesticides unearthed last fall.  New York Times

Schools' faster feedback Just days after students are tested in reading and math, teachers and parents will be able to analyze the kids' strengths and weaknesses under a new assessment system.  New York Daily News

Spitzer Names a Panel to Improve Universities in New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer named a commission on Tuesday to recommend how to overhaul higher education in New York, saying he wanted to improve the reputation of the states public universities.  New York Times

Fenty's Foe On Schools Takeover No Mere Granny It's an irresistible story line Grandma takes on City Hall.  Washington Post

Ohio School Fears Cuts Will Rewrite Its Success Story The 32 students who graduated from the Dayton Early College Academy on Wednesday evening were mostly from low-income families. Few of their parents went to college.  New York Times

Missouri government workers win right to bargain  The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that public employees have a constitutional right to engage in collective bargaining with their government employers, overturning a precedent set 60 years ago. St. Louis Post Dispatch

Robert Morris faculty approves new contract  Robert Morris University faculty members have reached a four-year contract with the university, effective immediately.  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Academic Fallout from Middle East Delegates at the annual meeting of Britain’s main faculty union on Wednesday voted to circulate to members and divisions a resolution calling for an academic boycott of Israel.  Inside Higher Ed

Posted by John at 01:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Center for Education Reform (CER) needs a copy-editor.  CER hasn't listed the position, but the first three sentences of this week's CER Newswire are a cry for help:

DEMAND. A parent always knows whats best for their child. When a parent is well informed, they can make the decisions that will affect a childs future; decisions like where to buy a home or where to send their child to school. And now, thanks to the DC Oportunity Scholarships and other voucher programs, the former has less to do with the latter.

Three sentences, and I count at least six grammatical errors.  Everyone makes a typo now and then, but this level of sloppiness is extraordinary. Oh, well, maybe the folks at CER are good at math!  Or not.

The first person to use our comments section to identify five or more errors gets a copy of School Choice: Why You Need It -- How You Get It by David Harmer.

UPDATE:  We have a winner.  Alexis, if we can track you down, we'll send you the book.

Posted by John at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here's an interesting tidbit from a recent survey by the Pew Research Center: 

Over the past 20 years, support for the idea that school boards should be able to fire gay teachers has waned. In May 1987, 51% of people agreed with the idea. By June 1992, that number had fallen to 40% and it has dropped into the 30s-range ever since. The January 2007 poll that put it at 28% is the first time support has fallen below 30%.

Posted by John at 09:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Political Wire's Quote of the Day: "I’m not sure I dislike anyone in this room enough."

-- Sen. John McCain, quoted by the Wall Street Journal, on refusing to say who he might choose to lead the Department of Education if he was elected president.

Full story on WSJ's blog is here.  Video is here  (The edited video doesn't seem to include the comment above.)

Posted by John at 04:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Below are a few of today's education and labor news articles:

Activists Push to Allow Vote on Takeover Plan  A coalition of D.C. activists launched a campaign yesterday to enlist volunteers to gather about 20,000 petition signatures in an uphill effort to put Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's school takeover legislation to a referendum.  Washington Post

School daze as gov eyes college cuts? Gov. Spitzer has created a newly formed commission to examine how to streamline and improve state-run colleges - leaving open the possibility of consolidating campuses.  New York Daily News

Using His Wealth to Help Improve Urban Schools He counts the Prince George's County school superintendent and D.C. school board president among his disciples.  Washington Post

Concern about environment creates shift in school design   Nestled in the lush trees of suburban Atlanta's Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve sits the foundation of a school that is being built with partly recycled materials.  Baltimore Sun (AP)

Workers' comp rate reduction pushed   California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner recommended Tuesday that insurers slash the rates they charge businesses for workers' compensation coverage by 14.2%, topping the 8% cut proposed by the largest insurer.  Los Angeles Times

Limit on pay-bias lawsuits upheld A deeply divided Supreme Court ruling sharply limits the ability of workers to sue employers for gender pay discrimination linked to actions taken years earlier.  Baltimore Sun

NWA flight attendants OK givebacks  By a narrow margin Tuesday, Northwest Airlines flight attendants became the last union to accept a concessionary contract with the airline, just as Northwest prepares to leave bankruptcy protection. Detroit Free Press

Posted by John at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Education Wonks are hosting this week's Carnival of Education Blogs.  Carnival entrants include:

• Mr. Teacher, who has the courage to ask his students what they thought of him;
• Mr. Meyer, who says one of the keys to classroom management is how you answer the question, "Are you secure enough in Who You Are As A Person not to care" about some student comments and behaviors? and
• Dr. Homeslice, who writes about a 40-year-old teacher with a nose ring.
  

Why no links to these Carnival entries?  Because The Education Wonks go to a lot of trouble to put on this to-do every week.  You can go to their site and click away.

Posted by John at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I do a little volunteer work, reading books for the blind.  Over the past few months, I've read parts of a Saxon Math text, a book about overcoming compulsive behavior, and a history of the Ottoman Empire. 

Last night, I picked up something titled The Language of Literature (one of these?).  I was hoping to kill two birds: soak up a little literature while doing my recording.  But before I got to the recording booth, I was told there was a rush job -- a boring book, but it needed to be done.  The book turned out to be Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Special Education: featuring the names of some of the usual suspects whose work is sometimes mentioned on this blog: Hess, Greene and Forster as authors of a few sections, with Rotherham and Finn as editors of one of the pieces excerpted for the book.

The disturbing part of this -- in addition to the fact that my work life was intruding on my free time -- is I didn't think the book was boring.  Once the book is recorded, volunteers like me can keep them, so I've asked them to hold it for me.  The Language of Literature will have to wait.

Posted by John at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’ve been informed by Edwize that I linked to an article that didn’t tell the whole story of English language learners and test scores in NYC.  Another Daily News article informs us that test scores were purposely exempted during the mayoral race of 2005 and the school system looked very good as a result.  Now that the scores have to be included, the mayor and chancellor are blaming the federal rules for the drop in scores. 

This gaming of the system is exactly the kind of thing that that NCLB was trying to avoid.  Alas, implementation and human nature mucked everything up and, as I said in the original post, we still can’t tell if NCLB is working. But, if this allegation is true, shame on the mayor and chancellor for using children to win political races.

Posted by Beth at 08:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A somewhat random collection of education articles from the past few days.

Impostor Allegedly Lived at Stanford, Chicago Tribune
Drawn to the culture of black colleges Cleveland Plain Dealer
Teachers Lacking Certification Face Dismissal Washington Post
Good News for Middle Schoolers New York Times
The sciences for the fittest Baltimore Sun
Panel discusses school security Baltimore Sun
For graduates who return home Baltimore Sun
State test bars thousands from high school diploma Cleveland Plain Dealer
Budget deal a blow to colleges Detroit Free Press
Testing Industry Feels Own Pressure Washington Post
Parents Challenge Request By Army Washington Post
Colleges try to get high schoolers to take classes Cleveland Plain Dealer
Ohio school reformers say Maryland is a model Cleveland Plain Dealer
The Education Dept. on the Loan Scandal New York Times
'No Child' Tests Hard on English Learners Washington Post
Work vs. Play in Kindergarten Washington Post
Teachers to return to schools today in Richmond Hts. Cleveland Plain Dealer

Posted by John at 03:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Public School Notebook have obtained a copy of yet another report finding that the district's experiment with privatization has failed.  The report, conducted by the district’s Office of Accountability, Assessment, and Intervention, recommends cancelling all contracts with the for-profits, not-for-profits and universities contracted to manage public schools. 

Despite the findings and recommendations, some state and local politicians, whose faith in privatizing can't be shaken by mere facts, are supporting the privateers' efforts to continue mismanaging schools.  One of them even fessed up to having received more than $15,000 in campaign contributions from two of the providers but says he was for privatizing long before he was bought off.

The school district's governing body, the School Reform Commission, is set to meet today to consider whether to renew the contracts.

Full report is here.

Posted by John at 02:08 PM | Permalink

In response to a post by Beth last week, blogger Alexander Russo wrote: "...it's easy to read this and end up thinking that teachers are losing their jobs over kids' test scores. They're not."

He was disagreeing, sorta kinda, with Beth, who had raised concern about the issue before concluding, "Teachers are not yet losing their jobs because of students’ poor test performance." 

It turns out that at least one teacher did lose her job because of test scores, according to this comment on Beth's post:

FYI: I did lose my job because of student test scores. I taught at a public inner-city high school with a 95%+ poverty rate and large numbers of recent immigrant students. When we failed to make AYP for two years in a row, all teachers were fired.

Posted by John at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

if the American labor movement isn't part of the curriculum.

Posted by John at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How is a student loan recipient like a taxpayer?  When either one falls behind on payments, a collection agency comes knocking.  And in either case the collection agency may be Sallie Mae. 

A House Ways and Means hearing last week about Collection Agencies Gone Wild questioned the tactics and costs of two IRS-contracted collection agencies: CBE Group and Pioneer Credit Recovery, a Sallie Mae subsidiary.

CBE and Pioneer also work for the U.S. Department of Education (ED), tracking down delinquent student loan recipients. ED's 2006 contract with Pioneer is worth $37 million, while ED's contract with CBE Group is a mere $7 million.  (Thanks again to OMB Watch for the Web site about government contracts.)

The kicker is that the IRS has acknowledged that the plan to use private collection agencies "will cost more than hiring additional agents to do the same work."

Posted by John at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ED expanded its growth model pilot to two more states, Iowa and Ohio, in a stealthy late Thursday announcement.  It is a good move as most everyone agrees that NCLB 2.0 will allow for growth, and the slow review process by ED is probably warranted given that they’re doing this outside of statute or regulation.

Here’s my gripe: of the peer reviewers, three are supposed to represent “education organizations.” Two of those reviewers are from the same group, and they don’t represent schools or those who work in them.  I am not arguing that CCCR is a not a good group, and I think that a civil rights group should be at the table in this discussion, but so should a true education group.

Posted by Beth at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We've blogged already about the appearances by some of the presidential candidates at the recent AFT executive council meeting.  As part of AFT's efforts to put members' concerns front and center we conducted a contest where union members questions and comments. An online election was held to pick three of these questions to be submitted by members to the candidates themselves.  The winners received an all expense paid trip to the National Labor College in Silver Spring MD, where they had the opportunity to quiz the candidates directly. The video is available on the AFT - You Decide website.

Posted by Ed at AFT at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via the good doctor, I've been catching up on the story of a New Mexico high school senior who deployed his politically connected parents in an effort to get the administration change a teacher's grade and thus let the kid graduate on time. The coverage includes a shout out to Ellen Bernstein, the president of the Albuquerque Teachers Federation for the union's work to stand behind the teacher in question and to work with the school district to see that this sort of thing doesn't happen again. 

I've blogged about this before, and it appears to be something that isn't going away.  This year, the Georgia legislature has even sent the governor a bill that mandates that any change of grade by an administrator be reflected by a notation in the permanent record. I'm not sure that legislation is the right solution to this problem, but I suspect that if school boards and administrators don't stick up for teachers on these issues, there will be more efforts like the one in Georgia.

Posted by Ed at AFT at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This Daily News article explains how achievement scores are down in New York state, but how the decline can be at least partially attributable to the fact that English language learners' scores are included this year while they weren’t last year.  The article also highlights a larger issue with NCLB: that we can’t really tell what the impact of NCLB is on student achievement, because every year, rules change.  This year, scores for many more ELLs than in prior years were included in AYP calculations.  Rule changes in the past have altered the number of students with disabilities included in AYP, whether AYP is calculated based on one or two subjects, and the minimum subgroup size in order for the subgroup to count in AYP calculations.  The effects of these rule changes are an important piece that that often gets lost in the polarizing debate over whether NCLB is either the greatest or the worst thing to ever happen to schools.                                                                                          

The NYTimes gives its take on the same set of scores here. 

Posted by Beth at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Or make it.  That's my thought after reading this post by Matthew Yglesias about union organizing in luxury hotels. Matt raised the issue of why it might make sense to focus on luxury hotels.  I suspect that "luxury" hotels might compose a dispropotionate share of the hotel market. 

But more importantly, organizing strategies are built around a lot more than the economics of the employer in a given worksite. Given the nature of the hotel industry in particular, employers who own groups of hotels don’t necessarily just own hotels in one niche – luxury vs. economy. Factors ranging from the strength of the local Central Labor Council to whether public funds are subsidizing the construction of the hotel could play a role in these matters– particularly if the union is looking to curtail illegal union busting by management. And now UNITE-HERE is building its organizing efforts in large part around its contract campaigns, attempting to achieve neutrality agreements with those employers where there is a union foothold in part of a chain, in order to make easier to organize the rest.  Finally, the sentiment of the employees themselves is something that too many people leave out when looking at this. The employees are the union.

It may well be the case that management is more desirious of labor peace at upscale hotels and that this would affect things like contract negotiations.  But I’m not sure it would make them more open to having those hotels be organized. 

Congratulations to Matt and all at the American Prospect on the Sidney Hillman award. And if you want to find out more about the working conditions in a luxury hotel, check this out.

Posted by Ed at AFT at 08:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the past couple of days, Secretary Spellings has given speeches at the Daisy Bates Education Fund and the Manhattan Institute.  In both speeches, she cites the increase in social studies NAEP scores as evidence that NCLB is working. As John pointed out, the NAEP data don’t really show that NCLB is working.  But no matter, the Administration will keep saying it.

Spellings also said that because of these increases, “people are starting to have more confidence in public schools.” Really? Based on what poll? The one that was administered, compiled, and released between the May 16 release of the NAEP social studies data and the May 19 speech? 

Maybe she is confusing “public schools” with “public money.” Apparently, parents who receive vouchers in Washington, D.C. are happy with them.  Alas, those aren’t public schools, and we don’t have any info on how the students are actually performing, but it feels good to say that NCLB is working and parents are happy.

Posted by Beth at 02:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Head of teachers union says strike isn't out of the question (ABC 7 News - Chicago)

State employee union lauds Rep. Hines (Delta Democrat Times)

Districts aim to retain new teachers, ease frustration, with mentorships (Star Tribune)

Albuquerque Teachers' Union Files Protest In Grade Dispute (Education Week)

Teachers to get merit pay at Chicago schools (Associated Press)

Posted by Jaime at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I promised all you lucky readers some more property tax blogging last week, and here it is.  In a couple of my earlier posts on the blog I wrote about the pressures on the property tax that are created by the booming housing market.  There is some belief in the conservative camp that the next wave of Proposition 13 style tax rebellions are here. The Wall Street Journal had an editorial touting this idea a couple weeks back.

There are still some places where this could be an issue. In Florida, the House has certainly given it their best shot. And in New Jersey and Pennsylvania the issue continues to cause concern.  But in New York, thanks to a strong budget with a major infusion of school funding, local voters approved the budget for their schools in 95.5 percent of the state's school districts.  That's the highest percentage since we began keeping track. 

In Montana, Governor Brian Schweitzer and the legislature have put together a property tax rebate program that gives $400 to each Montana household.  I like this better than a rebate based on a percent of the tax because it puts more cash in the hands of lower income home owners. And it preserves the tax base.  McJouan at Daily Kos picks up on this story, and I'll have more about the Montana legislature generally later on this week.

Improvements in revenue colletions and some wise decisions on state funding appear to be taking some of the heat off of this issue. We'll see soon enough whether it's enough.

Posted by Ed at AFT at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This news out if California is just plain sad…             

California’s budget allocates more for prisons than it does for higher education. Read on.

Somewhat related, the New Yorker offers a profile of Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who dropped out of high school before going on to become a union organizer and mayor with sights on the state’s governorship.  Maybe he could then combine his two big initiatives so far—reforming the school system and reducing gangs—into a platform and plan to funnel state spending on prisons to its education systems.

Posted by Beth at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Legal Victory for Families of Disabled Students (New York Times)

Labor wielding clout in U.S. presidential race (Washington Post)

Treasury Union Wins Fight Over Border Officers (Washington Post)

Education put to the humor test (USA Today)

Why AP and IB Schools Soar (Washington Post)

La. Senator Blocked Vote On D.C. Schools Measure (Washington Post)

Posted by Jaime at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday, Fred Hiatt wrote about parental satisfaction with the voucher program in DC  I'm now waiting for the Washington Post to advocate for this to be an alternative means of gaining AYP. Simply put in a nation that feels it is important to judge public schools by test scores alone it is hypocritical to hang your hat on this.  It is, however, the one metric where voucher advocates can consistently find evidence that their project is successful.  Test scores, not so much.

I'd ask Hiatt to look at this study, by the esteemed Marc Schneider now of NCES and Jack Buckley, whose career rise is so meteoric that I'm not even sure where he's working now.  They found that the first data parents looked to in DC when shopping for schools was racial composition. Lots of other research from outside DC has similar findings.  And see this study, which finds charter school parents in DC to be more satisfied than DCPS parents, but that this satisfaction shrinks over time. Satisfaction doesn’t necessarily mean what Hiatt assumes it does, and it doesn’t necessarily last past the first blush. I understand that there will be some student achievement results from this project, courtesy of Patrick Wolf of the University of Arkansas (Yes, that University of Arkansas), He's a one time associate of Paul Peterson.  All brought to us by the Annie E Casey Foundation. I can’t wait.  Also, see Yglesias. 

Posted by Ed at AFT at 06:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Catching up on last week's news...the U.S. Department of Education says the rise in NAEP history and civics* scores "proves NCLB is working."  Scores are rising, so it makes sense to say something's working.  But is it NCLB?  If NCLB were working, then scores would go up faster after its passage, right?  Let's check the stats from NCES.

• Fourth-grade history rose 3 points between 1994 and 2001, and 2 points between 2001 and 2006.
• Eighth-grade history rose 3 points between 1994 and 2001, and 3 points between 2001 and 2006.
• Twelfth-grade history rose 1 point between 1994 and 2001, and 3 points between 2001 and 2006.

Using the same logic and looking all the way back to 1994, President Clinton's Improving America's Schools Act was working, too -- working better than NCLB for fourth-graders, not as well for 12th-graders, but working. 

I'm not trying to argue for President Clinton's law, just trying to point out the folly of judging everything that happens in education in terms of NCLB.  Other factors affect students and their families: poverty, health care, teacher labor market forces, immigration patterns, tax cuts for the rich that cripple state budgets, etc.  It's ludicrous to single out one of the factors without some kind of statistical analysis.  Ludicrous -- but that's what Sec. Spellings did to conclude that "NCLB is working."

*The civics scores go back only to 1998, so there's no way to tell if NCLB "is working" better than what was happening before or, for that matter, how much of the rise occurred before NCLB was signed in the pre-NCLB era of 1998-2002 and how much occurred in the NCLB-era of 2002-2006.

Posted by John at 03:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Clinton Wants Pre-K for All 4-Year-Olds Baltimore Sun

Contractor wears 2 hats on jobs for L.A. Unified Los Angeles Times  

A 'Burnham Plan' for schools Chicago Tribune  

What teachers want -- and do not need Los Angeles Times

Annual College Survey Criticized Washington Post

In Higher Ed, the Year of Dishonesty Baltimore Sun

Teachers re-elect their union chief Chicago Tribune

Montessori and Me Washington Post

Mayor drops school fight Los Angeles Times

Schools Amid Uncertainty, Janey Keeps Focus on Reforms Washington Post

Posted by John at 01:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Inside Higher Ed is reporting that Education Secretary Margaret Spellings will be on the Daily Show tomorrow.  US News' Paul Bedard has that info -- and the news that Sec. Spellings was in the audience of a recent American Idol show. 

A fan of Melinda Doolittle, Sec. Spellings wasn't aware of the Byzantine nature of the voting on American Idol until recently, and she is "shocked over the Melinda situation."  Rumor has it that Sec. Spellings is forming a task force to make sure future AI voting is free of corruption and cronyism.

Posted by John at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Over the weekend, NPR looked at a school in Oprah's hometown of Baltimore, the city's Northwestern High School, which is focusing on the so-called bubble kid.  Those are the students just short of passing the state's high school assessment, or HSA. 

NPR's Larry Abramson reports, "Two to three times a week, certain students are pulled out of their regular classes and put into these special test preparation sessions.

The principal, Tajah Gross, says the students are chosen because they're believed to be just a hair's breadth from passing the HSA.

A state department of education official objects to the school's test preparation regimen, saying, "We would prefer that school systems consider the entire school year as preparation for the test."

Professor Daniel Koretz of Harvard says the school's strategy may distort the test: "If it's done intensively, it inflates them, produces gains in test scores that are much larger than the real increases in student learning."

Education Trust's Amy Wilkins says, "What people are, sort of, doing is rather than saying we're going to have teachers that can teach all kids, they're pulling the classes apart now and saying, you get this, you get that. I'm not sure that's really the way to do this.

Text here, audio here.

Posted by John at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You think they'll blame the doctors and nurses?  And sanction the hospitals with the worst morbidity and mortality statistics?

I got the above e-mail in reference to this Reuters article about a report released last week finding that "Americans get the poorest health care and yet pay the most compared to five other rich countries."

Posted by John at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This folksy song is making the email rounds.  Every time someone sends it to me, I re-listen to it, so I guess that means I think it is pretty funny, or that I like to procrastinate. (I still am not used to the idea that blogging is real work.)

Anyway, here is the line that got me thinking this morning:

Remember you teachers. Their jobs are at stake.

Thankfully, for the most part, and for now, this is not really true.  Teachers are not yet losing their jobs because of students’ poor test performance.  But it is a frightening concept.  A teacher’s career and livelihood could depend upon the performance of a bunch of eight-year olds. Think about any eight year-old that you know. Even the best kid is probably a spaz. There is a reason we don’t let eight year-olds drive or light a fire or really do anything without adult supervision. Would you want your career to hinge upon an eight year-old's (or for that matter an 11- or 14-year-old's) performance on one test given over a couple of days in May?

Posted by Beth at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yesterday I had the pleasure of listening to Dal Lawrence address an AFT leadership meeting. Lawrence is the former president of the Toledo Federation of Teachers and is the father of the school district’s peer assistance and review plan for evaluating teachers. For those who don’t know, peer assistance and review is a program wherein new teachers are mentored and evaluated by experienced teachers. Evidence indicates that it has been effective in helping to improve the quality of teaching and in retaining new teachers. AFT has long supported peer assistance and review, and this conversation was designed to review the practice and get the word out on how it can be done well.

Part of the discussion looked at bumps in the road that experienced by peer review pioneers. Finances were a big issue. "If the economy went down, the program was in trouble" was a quote from one leader. Whether teachers were ready to step into this role or administrators were ready to cooperate in building a profession were also discussed. Should consulting teachers still have a foot in the classroom or be able to commit to the work full time ? If you leave the classroom altogether, are you still a peer? Or are you a de facto administrator? It was a fascinating discussion about the craft of teaching and the nature of the profession.

In New York state, all new teachers are to be evaluated "where practicable" using peer review in addition to principal evaluation as a result of the budget deal struck a couple of weeks ago. I understand this to mean it will be pretty near universally implemented. It might seem like a big step, but one leader whose local has used it for a long time noted "Peer review is only controversial where it doesn’t exist." I’ll momentarily let Education Sector out of the Frozen Assets doghouse (igloo?) they built for themselves and note that this is one of their policy recommendations for presidential candidates to consider. And, in writing about it here, we didn’t note that John Edwards had something to say about peer review as well when he talked to the AFT executive council earlier this week.

Posted by Ed at AFT at 04:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I was reading the other day about a board that was having trouble with an employee they believed had violated the ethics of the profession. There was an investigation, a lot of back and forth and the final finding by the board was that the employee believed he was acting appropriately and the board accepted that.

At the same time the employee resigned. When you look at the statistics though, this will turn out to be just another case where a teacher like Mr. Wolfowitz…, er a World Bank President like Mr. Wolfowitz could not be fired for cause because of the darned uni… oops. Wait, you mean you can’t just snap your hand and get rid of non union employees you don’t like? Wow!

Moreover we know that Paul Wolfowitz no longer has his job, but if he were a teacher and you looked at the statistics, this could and would be seen as a case where the school board was unable to do anything about their concerns over his acts. When someone looks at teacher evaluation and dismissal just examining the "body count" of teachers fired for cause, and not looking at the sort of exit taken by Mr. Wolfowitz, it creates a warped perception of how the process really works. As for the broader issue of whether teacher dismissal should be more like what’s found in the private sector, according to this story in Business Week, the differences might not be as large as you think.

Update: Note this post doesn't mean I think we can't do better. As for this, I get where Andy is going. That Green Dot's contract hasn't been tested is further evidence that a lot of the work of evaluation is done informally, but the contract does have an effect even here in setting the tone.  As for thin contracts, thinness on its own is not a virtue.  Some good things can take space. And I know of at least one charter school management team that started negotiations by putting a phonebook on the table.  It takes two to tango.  More to come on this in days ahead.

Posted by Ed at AFT at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Five presidential candidates spoke to the AFT's Executive Council yesterday. Questions from three AFT rank-and-file members were selected -- through a contest on our AFT You Decide 2008 Web site -- for the candidates.

Below are the questions, asked directly by the three rank-and-file members, who attended the meeting:

1. The current administration has entangled the United States in a war in Iraq that seems to have no end. At the same time, domestic programs that receive federal funding are being cut. How will you end the conflict in Iraq, at what cost, and when?
   Jim Close, Public Employees Federation
   
2. How will you assist states in providing quality early childhood education programs for all children so that they can begin school ready to learn?
   Allan Grant, Education Minnesota-Osseo
   
3. How will you ensure that our healthcare, pension, and our right to be part of a union and negotiate fairly with our employer will be protected and preserved?
   Richard Charap, United Federation of Teachers

Posted by John at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today is the 53rd anniversay of the landmark Supreme Court Brown vs. Board of Education decision that outlawed racial segregation in public schools.

Happy birthday, but we've still got a long way to go. 

Posted by Beth at 03:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last week we blogged about the United Federation of Teachers' efforts to represent home based child care workers in New York City.  There's a lot more on this campaign from Michelle Boden, a UFT and AFT Vice President, writing over at FireDogLake.

Posted by Ed at AFT at 02:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sen. Clinton spoke to our executive council last night, the last of five 2008 presidential candidates to address the council.  She spoke about universal healthcare, energy independence, universal preschool, college affordability, vocational education, and reform of the federal government.

Posted by John at 09:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sen. Barack Obama spoke to the executive council yesterday afternoon, the fourth of five 2008 presidential candidates to address the council in a two-day period.  Sen. Obama said early childhood education was one of his highest priorities, called for universal healthcare and said it is right to oppose NCLB in its current form but that can't be the end of the discussion.

Posted by John at 09:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson spoke to the AFT's executive council this afternoon.  He told the council he had led New Mexico's effort to create a Kindergarten Plus program (which extends the kindergarten year for at-risk students and is based on a proposal by former AFT president Sandra Feldman), pass a constitutional amendment to increase education funding, adopt universal early childhood education for children 4 and under, and implement full-day kindergarten across the state.

Next up is Sen. Obama. 

Posted by John at 04:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Former Senator John Edwards told the AFT's Executive Council that, if elected president, he would advocate for universal healthcare, universal early childhood education (for younger than four, younger than three), and for a College for Everyone initiative modeled on a program he has created in North Carolina.

Governor Bill Richardson is next on the schedule.

Posted by John at 02:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Gov. Mitt Romney at last night's Republican debate: 

As I've been a governor and seen the impact that the federal government can have holding down the interest of the teachers' unions and instead putting the interests of the kids and the parents and the teachers first, I see that the Department of Education can actually make a difference. So I supported No Child Left Behind.

Video here (Select part 8, move the timer down to 1:49).  Transcript is here.

Posted by John at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Senator Biden spoke to the AFT's executive council yesterday, unveiling a plan to make college more affordable.

The sometimes speechwriter in me enjoyed Biden's quotation of Seamus Heaney:

History says, Don't hope
on this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
the longed for tidal wave
of justice can rise up,
and hope and history rhyme.

So I'm filing that away for future use. 

(Buried lede alert)  Biden is one of several presidential candidates scheduled to speak to the AFT's executive council.  Today's schedule includes: Sen. Clinton, former Sen. Edwards, Sen. Obama and Gov. Richardson.

Posted by John at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by John at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I saw Josh Marshall's post this morning about a group of teachers who made their 6th graders believe there was an armed gunman loose on a field trip, I cringed.  Reading more into it, there is a "traditional prank" at the end of the annual field trip these kids were on.  As someone who taught in urban schools where gun violence was something that was not exactly remote, I find this to be a bit of a strange thing to want to do.

All the facts aren't in and it's important not to prejudge these matters. But the thought that teachers would, on their own, do something like this simply amazed me.  I'm not exactly relieved, however, to see from reading the actual press coverage that the Assistant Principal who led the trip was - at the least - in on this prank and initially saw it as a "learning experience."

Posted by Ed at AFT at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On Friday, AFT member Joan Bibeau testified before the House Education and Labor Committee on teacher quality and NCLB.  She brought her 34 years as a Minnesota classroom educator to the hearing.  Here is an excerpt from her testimony:

Here is my view of NCLB, and the view of many other teachers: It often seems as though the rules were made without regard to the actual needs of our students and the realities of our work as teachers. If I had one suggestion for the Committee, it would be this: Improve the law so that it recognizes the actual world we teach in and then provide educators with the tools and resources we know are essential to helping our students succeed.

Ms. Bibeau’s testimony points out many of the challenges facing teachers and offers solutions in the following areas for the federal government to support the work of teachers:

• Financial incentives
• Mentoring and induction
• Professional development
• Developing teacher leaders
• Encouraging collaboration
• Improving teaching and learning conditions.

Read Ms. Bibeau's full testimony here.

Posted by Beth at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Daily Show looks at President Bush's differing notions of accountability for 8th grade teachers and for the administration.

Posted by John at 08:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Actually, he's just writing about Secretary Spellings and yesterday's hearings at Huffington Post.  Good stuff.  Check it out.

Posted by John at 05:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For some time the