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?