Chicago Public School Parents Oppose New Test

/ Ogo Okoye-johnson / 5 Comments

The Illinois State Board of Education, ISBE, plans to administer a very unpopular 10-hour standardized test, Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, PARCC, next spring in the midst of strong dissent from both parents and educators. On Friday November 21, 2014, 3700 signed petitions against PARCC were delivered by a parent group to the ISBE urging for at least a year’s delay of the test. The parents asked the Board of Education to request a waiver from the US Department of Education, but ISBE intends to administer the test partially out of fear of losing funding from the federal government according to state superintendent Christopher Koch. Joining the call for a year’s delay is Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the Chicago Public Schools CEO who requested the year’s delay for the PARCC implementation because the district is not ready to administer the exam.

 

Every Teacher in the U.S. Should Post This Statement in His or Her Classroom

/ Ogo Okoye-johnson / 2 Comments

dianeravitch's avatarDiane Ravitch's blog

This is the executive summary of the statement of the American Statistical Association on the use of value-added assessment to evaluate teachers. Please share it with other teachers, with principals, and school board members. Please share it with your legislators and other elected officials. Send it to your local news outlets. The words are clear: Teachers account for between 1 and 14% of the variation in test scores. And this is very important to remember: “Ranking teachers by their VAM scores can have unintended consequences that reduce quality.”

ASA Statement onUsing Value-Added Models for Educational Assessment

April 8, 2014

Executive Summary

Many states and school districts have adopted Value-Added Models (VAMs) as part of educational accountability systems. The goal of these models, which are also referred to as Value-Added Assessment (VAA) Models, is to estimate effects of individual teachers or schools on student achievement while accounting for differences…

View original post 288 more words

Closing Educational Attainment Gaps Equals Economic Growth

/ Ogo Okoye-johnson / 3 Comments

The Center for American Progress in a recent study, The Economic Benefits of Closing Educational Achievement Gaps: Promoting Growth and Strengthening the Nation by Improving the Educational Outcomes of Children of Color, conducted by Robert G. Lynch and Patrick Oakford indicates that closing the income, wealth and educational attainment gaps will significantly increase the gross domestic product. As a result, funds spent on closing these gaps will be recouped from future tax revenues and economic growth. An investment in closing the educational attainment gaps is an investment in the nation’s economy.

 

Chicago Principal’s Principled Courage

/ Ogo Okoye-johnson / 2 Comments

In an interview with EduShyster, Troy LaRaviere, a Chicago Public School’s principal at Blaine Elementary School and a leader of the Administrators Alliance for Proven Policy and Legislation in Education, AAPPLE, discussed his aversion to the current climate of education reform in Chicago and in the United States. He indicated that most school administrators choose not to publicly share their truths about the impact of mandated education reform because of fear of consequences. Principal LaRaviere who needs to be commended for his courageous stance said the following to EduShyster:

“I was at an event recently and someone asked *why are principals afraid to speak out?* One of my colleagues responded that *It’s not that we’re afraid; we’re just being strategic about how we move forward.* I’d never really thought about it this way before, and it hit me that the difference between being fearful and being *strategic* is meaningless because, if you’re scared, you avoid telling the truth because you’re afraid of the consequences. But if you’re being strategic, you fail to tell the truth because you’re trying to avoid the consequences. However you define it, fear or strategy, you’re not speaking your truth because you know there will be consequences from the governmental bureaucracy in charge of the public schools. There is no place for such a fear of government in a constitutional democracy.  That is part of why I tell my truth; the primary reason is to stand up for students, but a secondary reason is to test our democracy—to be an example of an ordinary citizen that believes that the First Amendment is both powerful and real.  It is a meaningful expression of my own patriotism.”

In order to encourage other school administrators to use their voices, Principal LaRaviere told EduShyster:

“Tell your truth. If you don’t want to say what you know is right for fear that you’ll be fired by your government, which is who we work for, then go to your eighth grade social studies classrooms where they’re studying the Constitution and tell them that it’s all a lie. Tell your students that the First Amendment is an ideal, but we don’t have it. If you’re not willing to say that to your eighth grade students, than tell your truth. It’s as simple as that. Just tell your truth.”

 

 

 

 

Racial Disparities in Access to Educational Opportunities To Be Rectified in One New Jersey School District

/ Ogo Okoye-johnson / 2 Comments
The School District of South Orange and Maplewood in New Jersey has been prompted to provide its African American students equal access to and equal opportunities to Advanced Placement (AP), Honors and other college and career preparatory courses following a review by the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights which revealed glaring disparities in the opportunities that African American and white students are exposed to. The review was done to make sure that the school district complies with the requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq., as well as implements regulation 34 C.F.R. Part 100, which prohibit discrimination on the bases of race, color and national origin by organizations that receive funds from the Federal government. The review exposed that only 19 percent of African American students are enrolled in the district’s AP courses although they make up 38 percent of the student population. On the other hand, white students who make up 49 percent of the student population in the district hold most of the enrollment in the AP courses. The school district will take action steps to rectify the existing disparities.
The Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, stated that the US Department of Education will conduct investigations to ensure that school districts and states are providing “poor and minority students with access to strong teachers, demanding coursework and facilities that their white peers receive”.

Free CyberSafety Tools for Schools

/ Ogo Okoye-johnson / 3 Comments

Discovery Education and Intel Security in consultation with the National Cyber Security Alliance have developed a free three-part online course for third through eighth grade students called “Think Before You Link“. This course designed to teach students, their families and teachers about cybersafety, online bullying, and Internet ethics will give all its users the necessary tools that will help them surf the internet safely.

The surge in the access to the computer and the use of social media and the internet by teenagers necessitated the development of this course. According to a survey conducted in 2013 by Pew Research Internet Project, ownership of smartphones by teens increased from  23 percent in 2011 to about 37 percent in 2013; and nine out of ten teens have access to computers in their homes.

Lori McFarling of Discovery Education said, “This was a long-identified need which provides educational software to schools and professional development for teachers. We’ve heard from our district partners that what they really needed was help to introduce the concept of online safety to our youngest students. These are tools meant to be used in school and out of school. It’s aimed at helping kids to become confident, safe, digital citizens. We really wanted to target and make sure we spoke to the youngest of learners because we know how early young people are getting online.”

NAEP’s Data Show A Steady Growth in Math for Hispanic Students

/ Ogo Okoye-johnson / 2 Comments

A report released on November 10, 2014 by Child Trends Hispanic Institute based on the analysis of National Assessment of Educational Progress, NAEP’s, data covering the past ten years show a significant and steady growth in federal Math tests by Hispanic students. Major cities such as Houston, Charlotte, Boston and the District showed the most gains.

The nonpartisan, nonprofit research center, Child Trends Hispanic Institute indicated that the growth is about one grade level with fourth grade students’ scores going up nine points and eighth grade students’ scores going up thirteen points. NAEP’s report is also known as the Nation’s Report Card and represents the “most consistent measure of K-12 progress” in the United States.

Natalia Pane, the vice president of research operations at Child Trends who authored the report expressed surprise at her findings and said, “It’s really interesting what’s going on in the large cities. Our large cities were able to keep pace when they’ve got such higher proportions of students coming from low-income families.”

Colorado High School Seniors Boycott State Tests in Unexpected Show of Solidarity and Numbers

/ Ogo Okoye-johnson / 4 Comments

In a strong show of solidarity, thousands of Colorado high school seniors from various schools and districts refused to take the state mandated tests in science and social studies administered on Thursday November 13, 2014. The high school seniors’ stance against taking the state mandated tests bolsters the rising anti-test movement not only in Colorado where both liberals and conservatives are united against over-testing, but also across the the United States.

 

 

 

 

Obama Education Department to Spend $4.2 Million to Help States Create Teacher Assignment Equity Plans

/ Ogo Okoye-johnson / 3 Comments

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 required all states to file an equity plan that explains their teacher assignments in order to ensure that strong teachers are placed in struggling schools and in schools in high poverty areas. However, 2006 is the last year that most states have submitted their plans. According to Catherine Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education in a call with reporters on Monday, “We are all dismayed by the lack of compliance. We’re saying this is critical for us.”

$4.2 million will be spent by the Obama Education Department to provide  “technical assistance network” that will help states and districts develop and implement equity plans that highlight the causes of “their “excellent” teacher imbalance, craft a strategy to correct the problem and publicly report their progress”.

Single Sex Education: A Solution For Low Achieving Inner-City Public Schools?

/ Ogo Okoye-johnson / 3 Comments

Single sex-education in public kindergarten through twelfth grade schools is a fairly new concept. During the past decade, there has been a remarkable increased interest in offering single-sex education in the United States K-12 public schools. The increase in single-sex education could be partly attributed to the May 2002 former President Bush’s proposal to spend $385 million from the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001’s allocation to create separate schools for boys and girls. The Bush administration’s proposal appeared to be in conflict with the 1972’s Title IX regulation 34 CFR106.34 which mandates that schools receiving federal funds shall not create programs and activities on the basis of sex except in cases of few contact sports, sex-education classes, remedial or affirmative action (Bronski, 2002). The appearance of the stated conflict reduced the surge to create single-sex education schools and classes as school districts across the nation cautiously awaited clarification from the Bush administration. The clarification came when the U.S. Department of Education issued final regulations that make it legal to educate boys and girls separately under certain conditions effective November 24, 2006.
The regulations are the U.S. Department of Education’s interpretation of the 1972’s Title IX regulation 34 CFR106.34 federal statute. The Education Department also emphasized that single-sex education is completely voluntary for districts and schools. Stephanie J. Monroe, the Education Department’s assistant secretary for civil rights, stated in a conference call with reporters in November 2006, “This is not a federal mandate. This is an option that can be helpful to some students.” Single-sex education is designed to offer parents more choices in public education (Davis, 2006).
One of the reasons for the rise of these schools and classes is the belief that single-sex education will bring about substantial changes in the academic performance of under-performing public schools which are mostly located in the American inner cities. Proponents of single-sex education believe that high dropout rates and discipline problems stemming from interaction between boys and girls will be reduced in single-sex classrooms and schools, thereby leaving room for higher student achievement. Some schools that have experienced success at varying degrees with single-sex education are spread across several cities in the United States such as Boynton Beach, Florida, Columbus, Ohio, Memphis, Tennessee, and Seattle, Washington.
This paper analyzed the historical background, policies, regulations, practices, challenges and successes of single-sex education in the United States K-12 public schools. The effects of single-sex education on student achievement, with emphasis on under achieving inner-city public schools were focused on. The academic research suggests positive educational benefits of single-sex schooling for girls (if not affluent), at-risk students, and African-American and Hispanic students (regardless of sex). Further, white males either benefit slightly or at worst realize a neutral outcome.