Budget Ideologies

Geroge Cunningham makes a lot of sense.

With few exceptions, the options proposed by the Legislature, pundits, business groups, think tanks, lobbyists and others to address the $3.5 billion annual budget deficit fall into one of two categories: (1) cut spending, resulting in service levels below taxpayers' expectations, or (2) increase revenue (taxes), resulting in funding-service levels that meet or exceed taxpayers' expectations.

Unfortunately, the options presented are more likely to be based upon the person's or entity's ideological notion of government's role in our society rather than upon sound economic and public-finance policies.

Be sure to read his lists of statistics about the budget. Arizona is a low-tax state. That is in large part why we are in our current crisis.

Student Loans to Become 'Cleaner'

President Obama and Congress are making some changes to student loans and Pell Grants.

Every year, taxpayers subsidize student loans to the tune of $9 billion. Banks service these loans, collect the debt, keep the interest, and turn a profit. When borrowers default on their loans, taxpayers foot the bill, and banks still reap the interest.

It's a great deal for banks and a terrible one for taxpayers.

John Wright Discusses Investing in Education Reform

This is from a longer segment which aired on PBS Horizon last Thursday (02.18.2010).

Watch how Mathew Ladner from the Goldwater Institute wants to talk a lot about the high expectations of increased student achievement, but does NOT want to talk about the investment of dollars it will take to reach those lofty goals.

Modern Disaster Drill

Vouchers

The so-called Institute for Justice is asking the US Supreme Court to reverse a ruling which questions the religious ties to voucher/tax credit programs in Arizona.

60,000 Unemployed Teachers

Most estimates for 2010-2011 see this number increasing significantly.

I wonder if we can do anything to change this forecast.

Gilbert Legislator Pushes to End Career Ladder

Rep Lauren Hendrix (R-Gilbert) is pushing a new bill which will end Career Ladder.

This comes on the heels of an Arizona Superior Court decision which declared the program unconstitutional citing the "fair and uniform" clause in the AZ Constitution regarding public schools.

There is Opportunity in Every Crisis

Those that hate everything public are now attacking tenure full throttle.

If New York City is forced to lay off some of the more than 30,000 new teachers it has hired in the past five years, it is "going to be catastrophic," said Joel Klein, chancellor of the city's school system. "We're going to be losing a lot of great new teachers that we hired" in recent years, the chancellor said.

Mr. Klein added that another problem with "last in, first out" was that because newer teachers earn less than veterans, more teachers will end up losing their jobs.

What Mr. Klein "is really trying to say is, 'I would like to churn the work force by keeping cheaper teachers on the payroll,' " said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, the teachers union in New York. "If we can do our work in a constructive and collaborative way, we can avoid the layoffs. That's where we should be focusing our energy."

Why Stop With Just Ads On School Buses?

Indeed. If Scottsdale is expecting upwards of $1 million dollars from stamping ads on the sides of their school buses, why not adopt full corporate sponsorship?

Do Rural Students Count in the Budget?

Does the legislature pay attention to statistics? They and the governor are proposing major cuts to education. Career and Technical Education (CTE) finds itself on the cutting board this go 'round. That is not sitting well with the editorial board of the Willcox Range News

In St. David, of 123 high school students, 119 are enrolled in CTE. In Benson, 332 of the 341 students, or a whopping 97.4 percent are in these classes. That is overwhelming support from students and parents.

School is more than readin' writin' and 'rithmetic. For many students who won't go on to college, some kind of vocational education is key to their being able to support themselves. But for all students, education should include enrichment beyond the basics that will get them a good score on the AIMS test.

Smoke and Mirrors on Pensions

Watch closely the discussion on our public pensions. They have been targeted for years by the for-profit investment industry. They would love us to all have 401K's instead of our solid, tested-and-true defined benefits plans. Those industries are using the current crisis to push for dissolving public pensions.

In this news story, many public pensions are grouped together so they can write about a "trillion dollar gap." That's silly. The pensions are not funded together. Why report on them like it was a collective debt unless you wanted to make the situation appear more dire than it is?

Two things have caused pensions to be devalued, but I rarely see anyone addressing them.

First, many states can and do borrow money from their state pension, as if it doubled as a "rainy day" fund. In the same way Congress has repeatedly spent the Social Security surpluses, this leaves the remaining funds inadequate to cover known costs.

Second, all of the poisonous and deceptive stock market trading over the past two years found their way into pensions. Much of the bad mortgages and loans were packaged and put out on the market with unrealistic projections. The public pensions, which have an obligation to purchase bonds, futures, etc with the highest yields, unknowingly took on these risks.

Here is the data presented in the study. It is from 2008.

Peoria Forum on Ed Budget

March 4th activities in Peoria will include speakers addressing the budget issues facing the local schools on the west side.

What are you doing on March 4th?

Touching the Untouchable: Sports

Budget cuts have forced Yuma to tread on sacred ground: high school athletics. Due to high transportation costs, Yuma will no longer travel to sporting events... except for state tournaments.

Of course.

Parents Claim School Spying on Student via Laptop

I doubt anyone involved thought this might happen when the school in this well-to-do community offered laptops for students to use to study.

Move On When Ready

Arizona is looking at this.

Dozens of public high schools in eight states will introduce a program next year allowing 10th graders who pass a battery of tests to get a diploma two years early and immediately enroll in community college.

Judge Says OK for Students to Facebook Teachers

This one could have some interesting ramifications.

While a senior at Pembroke Pines Charter School, Evans created a Facebook page entitled “Ms. Sarah Phelps is the worst teacher I’ve ever had” from her home computer and invited other students to voice their dislike of her teacher. After several students’ postings defended the teacher and berated Evans for her opinion, Evans took the page down.

The principal and teacher only became aware of the posting after it had been taken down, and never even saw it. Nevertheless, Evans was suspended for three days and removed from Advanced Placement classes as a punishment for her Internet posting. Evans sued Bayer for injunctive relief, seeking to clear her record, and nominal damages. The Principal moved to dismiss the case.

The Court’s ruling recognizes that Evans’ off-campus Facebook posting of her opinion about a teacher “falls under the wide umbrella of protected speech. It was a student’s opinion about a teacher, which was published off campus, did not cause any disruption on campus, and was not lewd, vulgar, threatening, or advocating illegal or dangerous behavior.”

Bad Math

The 65% Deception is back.

The basic idea is that schools should spend 65% of every dollar inside the classroom. The downside is that the heat and cooling of the classroom is not considered inside the classroom... nor are librarians, counselors, security guards, or even instructional aides.

Bad idea.

Retired Teacher Backs Payson Override

Retired and on a fixed income, he lays out his support for supporting his local school district:

The children in this community did not cause the recession. Nor did they vote for a state Legislature, which appears to be unwilling or unable to adequately provide funding or academic oversight for public education.

Seriously?

From the Payson Roundup Editor:

It cost Arizona $143,000 per year for each juvenile held in a detention center.

If that is true, it is only 15 times what we spend on educating that same child in public school.

Rep Steve Farley Gives Insider Report on Voucher Expansion

It's a bit biased, but does offer some good information.

Meanwhile, all Arizona kids are gearing up for more cuts to our public schools. What are Republicans doing about that? Apparently their solution is to dramatically increase the private school voucher program that has been providing huge tax breaks for rich families to send their kids to private schools on the public dime.

He goes on to tell how one major School Tuition Organization (STO) is against some of the voucher expansions-- but no one will listen.

School bus goes hi-tech

Educators in Vail may have stumbled upon something.

...school officials mounted a mobile Internet router to bus No. 92’s sheet-metal frame, enabling students to surf the Web. The students call it the Internet Bus, and what began as a high-tech experiment has had an old-fashioned — and unexpected — result. Wi-Fi access has transformed what was often a boisterous bus ride into a rolling study hall, and behavioral problems have virtually disappeared.

Total cost was under $200.

Move on When Ready

I am reposting this one in its entirety. It is from the Arizona Guardian. I hope they forgive me. Of course, if you had a subscription ($15 per month for educators) you would have already seen it.

Is the push for early graduation student-centered or money-centered? And by money, I don't just mean how much money the state might be saved (in the short run) if students graduated in fewer than four years of high school.

How many "Early Graduation" charter High Schools will spring up because of this?

There's the real money angle.

Education reformers push early graduation

Tuesday, 26 January 2010 22:42

By Amanda Soares
The Arizona Guardian

High school students could graduate by age 16 if a new, more rigorous academic plan in a sweeping education bill becomes law.

The measure, set to be introduced today, is an attempt to reconcile comprehensive education reform with state budget cuts, said House Education Committee Chairman Rich Crandall, the bill's sponsor.

The "Move on When Ready" initiative aims to give high school students an incentive for choosing a tougher academic path, Crandall said.

"What we're saying to kids is, if you achieve this high bar, we'll reward you," he said.

Under Crandall's bill, high schools across the state would be eligible, but not required, to offer an alternative, internationally benchmarked two-year curriculum to their freshmen.

Those students who choose to study under the new program would be required to take rigorous college and career readiness exams at the end of the two years.

Some of the exams being discussed include the ACT, Cambridge, and Edexcel exams.

High school sophomores who pass the assessment would then receive a so-called "Grand Canyon diploma" and be able to pick one of three options:

• Enroll in community college courses. Students choosing to stay on their high school campus to take the courses could participate in extracurricular activities, such as sports.

• Enroll in a special continuation program, offered by the high school, to prepare them for college.

• Move on to a full-time technical school.

In addition to graduating early, students in the program would be eligible to receive community college and university scholarships. The bill also would give cash bonuses to outstanding teachers.

And all of it would be done with no extra money from the state, Crandall said.

"This moves funding around so it's an incentive rather than a disincentive," he said. "We're using the money much more efficiently."

Schools would continue to receive state funding through 12th grade for the students who graduate early. The school would then pay the community college for the courses in which its graduates are enrolled.

Schools would get to keep the remaining balance to use toward program expenses, including exams and financial incentives for teachers and students.

Sybil Francis, executive director of the nonprofit Center for the Future of Arizona, said the program will have a transition cost during its first couple of years.

Schools that decide to participate in the plan will have to pay $100 for each student who enrolls, she said. After kids begin graduating early, the money the state saves from the students' last two years of school would repay the investment.

But even with the startup cost, Francis said, 15 school districts are already willing to sign up.

"I'm not going to minimize some of the concerns," she said. "But most districts we've talked to have shown interest."

Francis said AIMS, the high-stakes test given in the 10th grade, is not preparing kids for college admission exams and that most seniors who successfully complete AIMS do not know they're not ready.

Moreover, she said the bill is an attempt to improve stalled high school and college graduation rates in Arizona.

She also said it would help many high school dropouts who lose interest in their studies because they do not feel challenged by them.

"They would feel much more empowered to take their future in their own hands," she said.

High school students already have the option of graduating early under Arizona law, said Penny Kotterman, chair of the Education Coalition, a collection of advocacy groups.

"We just don't have it very well systemized," she said.

She said she likes the concept of "Move on When Ready," but hopes lawmakers are also considering students who take longer to learn.

Francis said schools could give more assistance to struggling students with the money that early graduates will save the state.

The initiative is part of a national push to standardize education curricula. Behind the effort is "Race to the Top," a federal competition for $4.5 billion that will be distributed to states taking bold steps toward education reform.

Arizona is one of roughly 10 states that signed up for a Board Examination Systems consortium aiming to jointly set higher bars for their students.

"In Race to the Top, they're really looking for extremely innovative states that are pushing higher standards," Crandall said.

Moreover, Crandall said the consortium would allow for states to get a better deal on exam prices from providers.

The governor's office is supportive of the "Move on When Ready" bill, said Karla Phillips, Gov. Jan Brewer's education advisor.

This bill is one of five initiatives the governor's office is pursuing this session to help make Arizona's application more competitive, Phillips said. The state stands to win up to $250 million in federal Race to the top grants.

But the proposed national standardization is worrying some education experts.

Jaime Molera, former state school superintendent and a member of the state Board of Education, said what other states believe is important for their education systems may not work for Arizona.

"Whatever they believe in Massachusetts, New York, South Carolina, that may be different for Arizona," he said. "We should prioritize what we think is important."

He also said the new programs would take much authority away from local school boards.

"It's all starting to gravitate toward Washington D.C.," he said. "We have a constitutional duty to oversee state education."

Senate Education Chairman John Huppenthal said he supports the measure and thinks it could "potentially shake the foundation" of the state's high schools.

"It's a big deal," he said.

Horizon Discusses the "Orphan" Budget

Horizon recently hosted a discussion with Chad Campbell and Bill Konopnicki regarding an "orphan" budget. It looks to be the best budget proposed thus far, but is it too politically toxic for either Democrats or Republicans to claim?

Studies Indicate Charter Schools Re-Segregating Students

Through Race to the Top is Obama unwittingly promoting a new wave of school segregation?

The growth of charter schools has promoted segregation both in California and nationwide, increasing the odds that black, Latino and white students will attend class with fewer children who look different from themselves, according to two new studies.

End of Tax Credits?

Pat Kossan reports that there are three bills circulating in the Arizona legislature which could suspend or kill the private school scholarship tax credit program.

I'll wager none of them make it out of committee.

The Republicans held a few open hearings over tax credits after the Tribune and Republic both published a week's worth of investigative reporting and criticisms of the shady world of private school tax credits.

The resulting recommendations included spending more money on tax credits.

Berliner Nails Testing

Dr David Berliner has penned a must-read for every person concerned about education.

But because Secretary Duncan does not have classroom experience, he may not know that teachers evaluate their students every day, 180 times a school year. The fact that under our laws these teachers have no say in evaluating their students’ skills and abilities is really quite ludicrous.

Wright on the Money

AEA President John Wright on the "jobs bill" coursing through the legislature:

[Speaker Kirk] Adams' attempt to slash taxes

for corporations and the very rich in House Bill 2250 will guarantee that budget shortfalls will not only continue but grow for the foreseeable future.

Movie: Race to Nowhere

From the movie's description:

Director Vicki Abeles turns the personal political by igniting a national conversation in this groundbreaking documentary about the pressures American schoolchildren and their teachers face moving into the 21st century. What started as a private family matter widened into a cogent examination of systematic pressures faced by youth and teachers today amid dropping test scores, a shrinking global economy and increasingly unrealistic expectations of parents, universities, school districts and society at large. The demands have crushing, widespread consequences. Cheating has becoming commonplace, stress-related illness, depression and burnout are rampant, teenage suicide is on the rise and sutednts arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired.

Umm...

"I think the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina. That education system was a disaster, and it took Hurricane Katrina to wake up the community to say that 'we have to do better.' And the progress that they've made in four years since the hurricane is unbelievable. They have a chance to create a phenomenal school district. Long way to go, but that -- that city was not serious about its education." -- Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

Voodoo Education

USA Today opines that schools are setting the bar too low for graduation, resulting in too many students not ready for college or the workplace.

But for state officials, the path of least resistance when parents complain about their kids' grades, and teachers complain about standardized testing, is to make diploma requirements so easy that even the worst-prepared students can meet them. That isn't accountability. It's voodoo education.

Far better would be for states to set the bar for graduation exams high, and help weak students reach it. Some states are doing it the right way, by sticking with tough standards, holding teachers accountable and offering remedial class work.

It's a shame they didn't call for adequate funding, smaller class sizes, highly qualified teachers, and tougher truancy standards. You know, things which might make a difference.

Caution

Dr Margaret E. Raymond, Director of Stanford's Center for Research on Education Outcomes on charters:

The record of charter schools suggests that we should move forward with caution.

Revelation

From the New Yorker interview with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan:

Many people who voted for Obama are finding out that on education, as on other issues, he is more of a centrist than they ever imagined.

Yeah. Too bad some are so far to the right that they confuse "center" with "socialist".

Unintended Con$equence$

Twin Falls (ID) School District Superintendent Wiley Dobbs reacting to the idea of adopting a merit pay system for his teachers.

"You might discourage teachers from working with other teachers if they're competing for dollars. If I'm in competition with a teacher across the hall, I‘m not as likely to share strategies. That wouldn't be a good model." --

Hmm...

Bye Bye NCLB

Obama proposes major changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (aka NCLB).

Educators who have been briefed by administration officials said the proposals for changes in the main law governing the federal role in public schools would eliminate or rework many of the provisions that teachers’ unions, associations of principals, school boards and other groups have found most objectionable.

Replacing those old objectionable items are new ones: national "common" standards, unbridled charter school expansion, achievement-driven Title funding, and teacher "bonus-pay" based on student test scores.

I must get some of those teleprompters for my classroom.

Post-desegregation

TUSD charts a new course to narrow the achievement gap between their students.

Arne Duncan Talks Education to Politico

The good people over at Politico.com sat down with Education Secretary Arne Duncan and talked about the future role of the federal government in our schools.

Part 1: Data Firewalls

Politico: What are the programs you don't want to see cut.

Duncan: Well, obviously things like Race to the Top. We've seen-- before we've spent a dime-- we've seen massive change around the country. Forty-eight states working on common standards. Many, many states reducing restrictions on innovation. Folks tearing down data firewalls between teacher performance and student achievement. And so, programs like that.

Tearing down the firewalls between teacher performance and student achievement. I hope someone got a raise for coming up with that one.

Part 2: The Truth

Duncan: I think we’ve been, as a country, far too reluctant to tell the truth,” he said. “The truth can be good, it can be bad, it can be ugly, it can be somewhere in the middle. It could be that a school isn’t working or the school is doing a phenomenal job. Or a district or, for that matter, a state. Or take it all the way down to the classroom.

Part 3: Childhood Obesity

Politico: You've recently met with the First Lady on her anti-obesity efforts. What's going to be your part in that?

Duncan: All of us have to work together to make sure that our students are healthy. There is so much that I want to do to improve academic achievement. But if students aren't safe, they can't see the blackboard, they don't have clues, if they're not eating the right types of foods, they are not going to be successful academically. These, to me, are like foundational building blocks to making sure students have a chance to fulfill their true academic and social potential.

Sixth Time the Charm?

The Governor called the Sixth Special Session of the AZ Legislature Monday at 1:45 pm. They are going to discuss closing the budget gap by sending a 1 cent sales tax proposal to voters for a May election. They are also going to "roll over" more education funding into the next budget year, rework some tax loopholes for out-of-state tax filers, and borrow more money against the lottery.

You know, what the Republicans used to call "accounting tricks" when Napolitano was at the helm.

Here are some other bills being heard this year at the legislature that impact education. I copied this from an Arizona Guardian article. You should really consider getting a subscription for yourself. There is a special rate for being a teacher. Call and tell them Joe Thomas sent you.

On Monday, Jonathan Paton’s (R-Tucson) Judiciary Committee will take up two bills that would further expand gun rights in Arizona, both sponsored by Sen. Russell Pearce (R-Mesa) and both held over from last week‘s hearing.

SB 1098 would allow guns and ammunition manufactured in Arizona to be exempt from federal regulations, mirroring laws in Tennessee and Montana.

SB 1102 would make concealed weapons permits and background checks optional, and do away with the requirement for a firearms safety class. Concealed weapons would be legal at any public event or in any public building. An identical bill, HB 2347, will be heard Wednesday morning in the House Military Affairs and Public Safety Committee.

Imagine how fun working security at the next game between your school and your biggest rival with half of the crowd armed. magine "wanding" every parent who comes onto campus. That will sure build a positive relationship. Fun.

The House Education Committee will consider a bill Monday to make it easier to become certified to teach in the classroom. Most teachers are certified through universities and community colleges, but HB 2298 would allow new, private companies to offer preparation programs and certify teachers.

Brewer and Republicans say it’s important to ease requirements, particularly for college-educated, second-career professionals who don’t have the time or money to get another degree. But the teachers union [that's me!] is concerned that the standards will be lowered and a glut of teachers will crowd an already crowded market.

I truly believe Governor Brewer is trying to make education part of her "jobs program" by making it so that recently laid off people can apply to teach at schools. This would only work once you decoupled RIF procedures from tenure so you could create job openings by letting go of all of your "expensive", veteran teachers. Oh yeah, the legislature did that already.

On Tuesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to hear Pearce’s bill to put repeal of the Voter Protection Act on the ballot. SCR 1033, held from last week’s agenda, would be a straight repeal of the measure passed by voters in 1998, which prevents lawmakers from tinkering with voter-approved programs.

Brewer has proposed a temporary repeal of the act so that funds for education, health care and early childhood development, among others, could be used to help balance the budget. Under that plan, lawmakers would only be able to tap the funds in fiscal emergencies.

Either one of these proposals would allow the state to "sweep" revenue from the Classroom Site Fund (aka Prop 301), which would result in teachers losing money from their base salary AND those summer performance-pay checks. Classified staff would likely lose money as districts would move funds from the classified to certified to offset a bit of the salary cuts.

The idea of tapping funds only in "fiscal emergencies" is silly. The legislature could slice away vital revenue (like they are proposing now) and artificially create such emergencies every year.

Disconnect

Proposed cuts will end many popular school programs. Are education leaders and legislative leaders even communicating with each other?

"We cannot predict what the Legislature will do" -- Yuma Union High School Superintendent


"Clearly, we're conducting ourselves with education as a priority." -- Senator John Huppenthal, R-Chandler.

Corporations to Take Over Local Elections

From the Republic:

Several experts said they fear the landmark ruling will skew elections and city council decisions in favor of companies and special interest groups with deep pockets. Others believe savvy voters and funding disclosure will prevent the scales from tipping in big contributors' favor.

Savvy voters? In Arizona?

Coverage of Idaho School Opting Out of RTTT

"The school district is not going to pursue nickels and dimes on the sidewalk, while letting dollars slip out our pockets -- while looking at the priorities we've already established," said Boise School District Superintendent Dr. Stan Olson.

Will RTTT Become Political Chip?

Education Week takes a look at how RTTT funds might be used as a political chip to garner favor for passage of ESEA reauthorization or impact Congressional elections in purple states.

Surely not.

If you can't beat 'em...

Mesa goes charter.

Lawmakers Stealing from Kids

Teachers sue state lawmakers for sweeping funds earmarked for education.

ASU to Revamp Teacher Ed

It's a press release, which should not be confused with objective journalism. Here is a taste:

Through this partnership, ASU will adapt TFA's most successful tools in order to attract, prepare, support and retain more highly-effective teachers.

I assume TFA will focus on the 31% of their program which stays in education .

Teacher Facebooked By Student

A seventh-grader at a suburban Syracuse middle school has been suspended for setting up a Facebook page that officials say hosted a barrage of libelous, obscene and inappropriate postings about a teacher.

One parent disagrees with the district punishing his daughter for joining the "group".

For him to think he has the authority to step in and discipline my child over something that has nothing to do with school is overstepping his bounds.

Video

Education in State of the Union

RTTT Director Joanne Weiss Explains the Grant

Legislature: Teachers Too Vocal

Wow.

AEA stops bad legislation aimed at preventing something as simple as payroll deduction for membership dues, and the press has to wonder what those big bad union people are doing to make everyone so mad.

I mean, they must be doing SOMEthing to deserve this retribution.

Right?

The legislators couldn't just be targeting teachers for political reasons.

Could they?

I don't know if the answer makes me want to laugh or cry.

BeverlyKidd: Yeah, Frank, what kind of tactics is (sic) the education union using that is angered (sic) some of the other unions and the legislators as well?

Frank Camacho: It's because they are very vocal about what they do. Their protests out here at the capitol are indeed very vocal.

In other words, the legislature thinks teachers should just shut up and teach.

Huppenthal's Trouble with Signs

Seeing Red AZ has the early scoop, but it seems the man who would be Superintendent of Public Instruction got a little overzealous wanting to hang up his TWENTY-FOUR-foot banner at the recent AZ GOP meeting this past weekend.

He gets an F- for thinking that it was acceptable to personally drill numerous holes in the wall of the auditorium at Saguaro High School where the GOP statutory meeting was held this past Saturday. School administrators were not amused and are billing the state party for the necessary repairs.

Isn't vandalism a crime in Arizona? Ah yes... seems ARS 13-1602 says:

13-1602. Criminal damage; classification

A. A person commits criminal damage by recklessly:

1. Defacing or damaging property of another person; or

2. Tampering with property of another person so as substantially to impair its function or value; or

3. Tampering with or damaging the property of a utility.

4. Parking any vehicle in such a manner as to deprive livestock of access to the only reasonably available water.

5. Drawing or inscribing a message, slogan, sign or symbol that is made on any public or private building, structure or surface, except the ground, and that is made without permission of the owner.

Teachers Plan to Boycott Tests

From The Sydney Morning Herald:

Tension between the national teacher union and Labor governments will escalate into industrial warfare as teachers prepare to boycott national literacy and numeracy testing this year.

The Australian Education Union, which represents more than 180,000 teachers in public schools around the country, will put the recommendation to delegates at its annual federal conference in Melbourne today.

The president of the union, Angelo Gavrielatos, said the looming threat of school league tables [school rankings based on student test scores] had ''united the profession in a way not seen before in Australia''.

He said despite their stated opposition to league tables and the simplistic ranking and comparison of schools, state and federal governments had failed to prevent them.

Tax Credit Primer

The South Carolina PTA and The Alliance for Quality Education put together a pretty good fact sheet on tuition tax credits.

The whole document is a good read, here being but one example of how they debunk the typical talking points put out by pro-voucher advocates.

Tracking ARRA in Education

A new website says it "will document spending of ARRA funds in states, school districts and schools." EdMoney.org is backed with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Politics of Testing Gaps

Testing was once used to measure what a student learned. NCLB turned it into a political tool.

Testing Wisdom

An eighty-year-old former teacher provides her insight to the testing madness and mandates:

I am 86 years old and taught frequently until I was 80. I get annoyed by the controversy of “No Child Left Behind.” Of course, some children will be left behind others. They were born that way. Height, weight, IQ, interests, ambitions – the Good Lord made us that way.

A teacher’s job is to evaluate students, accept those differences, and working effectively with them – not to reject or warp them by forcing them to work at an impossible level.

Testing students should be for three purposes:

– To determine what the group as a whole knows and to identify those who need special attention;

– to use the information and instruct effectively to do the maximum good;

– And to determine the effectiveness of your program.

No teacher can ever expect to make all students equal. The challenge is to find ways to meet the needs of students at their level, accepting that there will be a need to group, individualize or accept that some students will not be capable of achieving at a higher level. So help them achieve at their level.

As for “teaching the test,” why not? It makes no sense to test for what has not been taught. Teach in Greek and test in English?

Give students a list of answers? No. But teach the test and then test to see if they are capable of understanding and retaining the material. That’s what politicians consider “teaching the test.”

It is remarkable that, 40 or 50 years ago, we were capable of graduating doctors, lawyers, rocket scientists, bank presidents, journalist, and we enjoyed seeing the students progress at their intended level.

Now we are expected to make geniuses of normal students, so we wind up with frustrated students, irate parents, and criminal teachers.

Who is Supporting RTTT?

Here is a list of the thirty-one state teacher associations which somewhat or fully support their state's RTTT application:

Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

Here is a list of nine state teacher associations which did NOT support their state's RTTT application:

California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, South Dakota.

Finally, a list of ten states which did not send in RTTT applications:

Alaska, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Washington.

From what I understand, the Arizona Education Association was unable to fully support Arizona's RTTT application because not enough data could be supplied by the DOE before the due date.

Kindergarten Make Your Belly Ache?

Well, probably not if you attended Kindergarten over two decades ago. Since then things have dramatically changed.

What we expected of first-graders 20 years ago is being required of kindergartners today. Reading. Sight vocabulary. Spelling. Writing. Yes, many 5-year-olds can learn those things, but many can't pass the stress test. They react with belly-aches, misbehavior and hating school.

That, my friends, is the unintended consequence of No Child Left Behind and any other legislation that rewards performance on multiple choice tests over authentic learning. Kids burn out. Kids drop out.

Who would say such? A Kindergarten teacher.

Holy cow! REAL news!

What a refreshing change from the normal local newstertainment...

Good for the Gander?

The Arizona Guardian (subscription required) yesterday reported on the state's RTTT application. Governor Brewer's P-20 Council submitted the 300-page document to the US Secretary of Education just before the deadline. My former superintendent, Dr Debra Duvall, took the lead in the grant request.

A particular comment by Dr Duvall regarding how the new Arizona plan could impact teachers caught my eye.

Arizona's Race to The Top application proposes that local school districs craft new teacher evaluations so that half of a teacher's grade will be determined by his or her students' improvement.

That means that teachers of students that consistenly fail will be held accountable, said Deb Duvall, special advisor to Brewer on Race to the Top.

"One would have to question the teacher's effectiveness," she said.

Hmm. Dr Duvall was superintendent of Mesa during the years of NCLB. Under her watch, dozens of schools "failed" to reach Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and the district is currently in their fourth year of being labeled "In Need of Improvement."

What does that say about you, Dr Duvall?

Is Education Too Big to Fail?

An interesting take on Race to The Top by school leaders from districts in California which do not wish to participate in the federal grant.

The RTTT initiative provides $4.5 billion nationally for qualifying states. California may be eligible for up to $700 million. Based on projected estimates, for many districts this would mean eligibility to receive one-time funds equaling about 1-2% of the average operating budget over the next two to four years. So while the RTTT has been "sold" as a major game-changing investment or "bailout" of public schools, local school districts know better.

So while Wall Street was given hundreds of billions of dollars with little to no conditions, schools are offered a fraction of the Wall Street monies with restrictive and costly mandates. Is not public education too big and too important to fail? All this said, districts were left questioning whether this money was a big enough carrot for large scale reform required of RTTT.

I wish there were more news about RTTT so that people could have made a rationale decision about it. Instead, there was a quick deadline. No time to be deliberate.

Will that come back to haunt us?

Teachers or Trainers

In replying to an article written by Diana Senechal (There is No Such Thing As Teaching), Diane Ravitch offers a sharp rebuke for those who believe tests are the best or the only way to measure what a student has learned.

“Diana Senechal is absolutely right. The economists, statisticans, and number-crunchers with MBA degrees are trying to turn education into a data-driven activity, where we can keep score and find out who "won." But that’s not education! As Senechal points out, good teachers have mastery and love of whatever they teach, and the data will not reflect that. In fact, the data will capture only the narrowest aspects of schooling (not education), which is whether students get higher scores on standardized tests of basic skills. Children can be trained to get the right answer, like parrots or seals, but the higher scores are not a measure of a good education or a good teacher.”

The Governor Hates Kindergartners

OK... a little over the top. My apologies.

The Governor released a budget proposal Friday which would effectively end Arizona's very popular all-day Kindergarten program established less than a decade ago. That may not be "hating" kids, but it certainly makes it harder for them to learn. You can find a budget summary here from the Arizona Education Association.

They recently sent out an alert about the budget.

The governor's budget proposes permanently eliminating several non-formula education programs as well as funding for full-day kindergarten. The proposal also targets health care for Arizona's children and families by cutting funding for several health and human service programs such as KidsCare, which provides health insurance for nearly 47,000 children, and AHCCCS, which provides health care coverage to over 300,000 Arizonans. In addition, the budget eliminates behavioral health services for people who aren't eligible for Medicaid, impacting over 17,000 seriously mentally-ill adults.

Dumbing Down Teaching

ASU's Statepress debunk's Governor Brewer's State of the State remarks regarding Bill Gates not being "qualified" to teach in an Arizona classroom.

Lisa Flesher, an undergraduate adviser for the College of Teacher Education and Leadership, said someone like Gates would not have taken the classes on teacher instruction required by the Arizona Department of Education.

The teacher education school works alongside the Arizona Department of Education to ensure its students complete the certification process and develop the skills necessary to teach elementary, secondary and special education, Flesher said.

“You can take some of the most intelligent people and throw them in a classroom, and they would struggle,” she said.

It's really not as easy as a good teacher makes it look.

Chino Valley Teacher Nails It

Jeanette Bray is encouraging her community to pass a budget override for the Chino Valley School District. She wrote an informative piece worth reading. If only more of our teachers would reach out to the community to make them aware of what is going on in education.

From her story:

The AZ state legislature, for years, has proven that its dedication to school improvement isn't backed up with money. This continues to leave AZ at the bottom of the nationwide research on teacher pay, student teacher ratios, amount of money spent per student, extra programs. As a teacher in Arizona, I can tell you, the disconnect we feel from our state legislators can not be made up for by the great administrative support we have at the district and school level. Not only that, but the state is getting ready to announce, what will surely be, additional and significant cuts in the states education fund for the 10/11 school year. For the collection of teachers and programs that survived the Reduction In Force (RIF) last year, this new impending series of cuts is daunting. We are asking ourselves "How can I do my job if you cut any more?" All is not lost however, in this state budget crisis there has also been individual school districts within the state that achieve great accomplishments, namely because it has the unwavering support of their community and parents.

[...]

I am asking you to think about what our community and children need. In this economic recession we know how hard that is for some families to do. Some of those families that are struggling the most are our friends and family that were laid off last year or had their pay cut in half due to previous cuts at the school. My heart hurts for them and I understand their struggle. But I also feel that the survival of our schools and the dedication to our children is too important not to sacrifice for. The override election will be held on March 9th 2010; save our community, save our kids and vote yes.

Weighty Decision

Arizona has submitted their Race to the Top (RTTT) application to Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan. In hopes of receiving a one time grant of a few hundred million dollars, Arizona is willing to create new standardized tests for kindergartners, shut down more "failing" schools (which implies we have schools which fail... and are doing nothing about them), and replace our state mandated AIMS test with a new, shiny, nationally-mandated, standardized test.

Oh... and require that 50% of a teacher's job evaluation be tied to student scores on all of those tests.

Chuck Essigs lobbies for the Arizona Association for School Business Officials. He is a smart man, and someone who always does seem to be wanting what is best for schools. That is why I am confused by his quote:

"(Schools are) going to have to do most of it anyway, so why not get the extra money to do it."

Gee, Chuck. Don't you watch TV? Iraq. Afghanistan. CEO Pay. Health Care. Nothing has gone the way the administration said it would.

Nothing.

Why are schools the only ones not willing to push back against federal mandates?

Education Support Professionals

I watched this video at the recent NEA Western States Region Leadership Conference held in Mesa. It aired during one of the workshops I attended about Education Support Professionals (ESP) and their particular workplace issues.

What is an ESP? The video makes it pretty clear. ESP are indispensable people who work in our schools.

The video was filmed by ESP, teachers and parents (in Illinois, if I remember correctly) who believe that everyone who works in schools plays an important role in the daily activities of schoolchildren.

KJZZ's Legislative Preview

Here and Now looked at the challenges ahead for state lawmakers as the legislature begins a new session.

KJZZ capitol reporter Mark Brodie and reporter Dennis Welch of ArizonaGuardian.com discussed Governor Jan Brewer's State of the State, address, legislative reaction, and what issues other than budget lawmakers make deal with.

Rep. Chad Campbell talked about Democrats' hope for the session. Senator Jim Waring talked about Republicans hope to achieve. And the Arizona Republic's Bob Robb discussed the difficulties that lie ahead for lawmakers.

Words Matter

People need to be careful what they say, especially Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett.

Here is what he recently said regarding his state's RTTT application:

"I think it’s a pretty clear indication that Indiana is a reform-ready state and that the stakeholders in this state are ready for education reform," Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett said.

What he meant to say was:

We had no plans to implement any of these new policies, but the state is cash strapped, and we will evidently do anything-- including jumping through numerous new hoops and fundamentally changing our professional evaluation programs-- just to get more money.

It's not the same thing.

If people begin to confuse the reasons states are "rushing to the Race" then it will become easier to make more drastic reforms.

Check your assumptions, please

As far as I can tell, here is the central theme to Race to the Top: improve education through teacher evaluations.

Here is how The Apple puts it:

The Obama administration is concentrating on teacher effectiveness, he said last week. No Child focused on whether a teacher was qualified to be in the classroom; Race to the Top looks at whether a teacher is effectively educating students.

The teacher is central to education, no argument there. The parent and student play a very important role as well. If we could add evaluations of students and of parents to the plan, we might have a more accurate picture.

I wouldn't hold my breath.

Who Needs Privacy?

Certainly a teacher's personnel file shouldn't be private, at least that is what the Illinois State-Journal editorial board says:

If this law is going to leave that decision [to hire or fire a teacher] with the school district, then we believe parents deserve to know that the teacher in their child’s classroom has failed to live up to the professional standards established by the school district

.

I'm not sure of a single job anywhere where the public has access to personnel files. It's a basic right of privacy for the individual.

Isn't it?

13 State Parks Slated for Closure

Most state parks actually INCREASE state revenue through the tourism and taxes they generate, but they do require a base level of funding to remain open. That funding is no longer there. Many business leaders in towns close to the parks will feel the pinch of lost revenue.

This is a good example to show there is no overall plan for economic recovery in the state.

That's Amore!

Dean Martin has officially announced his candidacy for Arizona governor.

Pay attention to the Republican primary. It will be worth watching.

So far we have an "incumbent" in Jan Brewer, a Treasurer with a history of shady campaigning in Dean Martin, an out-of-nowhere-candidate with $2 million dollars to spend in gun range owner Owen "Buzz" Mills, a former state GOP chairman (and early Brewer critic) in John Munger, and an underdog mayor of Paradise Valley (Vernon Parker) who has already been slapped on the wrist for coming thisclose to violating Clean Elections law... before he's received any clean elections money.

Five candidates. Plenty of barbs already being thrown around.

That's Amore!

Birther Legislation Submitted in Arizona

Some of our legislators never cease to amaze me.

Rep. Judy Burges, R-Skull Valley, is crafting a measure to require anyone running for president or vice president to provide proof to the Arizona Secretary of State's Office that they are legally eligible to seek the office. The U.S. Constitution requires the president - and, by extension, the vice president - to be "a natural born citizen."

More to the point, Burges would require the secretary of state to verify, independently, that the information is accurate.

"And if it's not certifiable, then that person's name would not go on the ballot," she said.

Burges told Capitol Media Services the measure is not necessarily about Obama, though she admitted she has her doubts that he was born in Hawaii as he claims and, even if so, that he can show he is a U.S. citizen.

"With what's happening throughout the world, we need to make sure that our candidates are certifiable," she said.

Someone's certainly certifiable.

Two States, Two Different Stories

The Tennessee Education Association has reluctantly endorsed measures which will put Tennessee in a more competitive position on their RTTT application.

A major sticking point in debate has been a decision on how much weight to give student testing data in evaluating teachers. Bredesen had previously insisted that results from the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System should count for 50 percent of an evaluation score. The teachers union had insisted on no more than 35 percent.

Under the compromise announced Wednesday after lengthy negotiations, the "student growth data" from value-added testing will be the basis for 35 percent of an evaluation.

While in Michigan, the state teachers association is concerned new legislation passed there in December went too far.

Teachers are unhappy with reforms passed by lawmakers in December that link teacher pay, promotions and tenure to their students' performance on standardized tests. The union members also are upset that they haven't seen the final application yet, though a summary is posted on the state Web site.

[emphasis mine]

Whoa... I can see what they are saying. There is no call for movement or tenure to be tied to student test scores. Why would the Michigan legislature take those extra steps?

Arizona Teacher Named Best

The National Rural Education Association named Amy McBroom their small school educator of the year. She teachers art in Grand Canyon Unified.

A very interesting article. GCU is the only high school located in a national park. The students are the children of the rangers and other employees who work in and around the park.

Gilbert Teachers Seek Important Answers

This is happening in too many articles I am reading. This time it was in Gilbert, where a crowd of teachers pressed their governing board for information regarding RTTT.

The [Gilbert] teachers questioned how Race to the Top will help them improve their teaching, instead of being a hindrance.

They had questions about how the money will be used, how struggling students will affect their evaluations and how professional development works into the plan. They wondered what happens after the four-year plan and after money runs out, and if it would force teachers to teach to the tests.

Teachers questioned how students and teachers will be held accountable.

Jo Bell, a Mesquite English teacher and president of the Gilbert Education Association, said she has held out signing the Race to the Top memorandum of understanding because "teachers are nervous and scared."

Board President Thad Stump said he has many of the same questions the teachers asked, and said the answers to those questions don't exist.

No one knows the answers, but few will risk being left out of the money chase.

Kleenex, Ken Bennett, and the AZ Budget

Secretary of State Ken Bennett uses Kleenex boxes to explain how the Arizona budget works. It's somewhat free of bias and fairly rhetoric free.

via Tucson Weekly: