Going to try to post a bi weekly round up so those interested can stay informed about what is happening at the State level and beyond the 2.9 square miles in which we live regarding education policy that will inevitably effect our children and educators here at Spack. All info from Hvacc, for more info/details join parents, officials and educators over at HVACC please. Happy reading!! 1) An update on the NYSER suit of which Hudson Valley Parent Educator Initiative is a member against NYSEDs KIng, Cuomo and the Regents: NYSER (New Yorkers for Students Educational Rights) has filed a motion to have $1 billion in school aid restored to NY schools immediately. Many schools desperately need these funds to provide students with the basic educational opportunities and resources they need to succeed. To learn more, read this article: nydn.us/1nVschw and check out the NYSER website: nyser.org/. To keep informed, please like: https://facebook/campaignforeducationalequity (The State happened to fall into $2.24 Billion dollars. I cant say how the Judge will rule on the NYSER motion, but Id say it was good timing ;-) poughkeepsiejournal/story/news/local/new-york/2014/07/04/state-ponders-billion-windfall/12238129/ 2) Stop common core in NYS is hard at work challenging the common core, please check this great news out. stopcommoncoreballotny/ Zephyr Teachouts bid to Primary Cuomo is going smoothly as well! nypost/2014/07/04/teachout-i-have-petition-signatures-to-run-against-cuomo/ 3) State ponders what to do with Billions of $$ in settlement NYS will recieve. Gee, here is an idea - how about invest in our children? Perhaps this is why NYSER filed the injunction seeking $1 Billion.....hmmmmm..... poughkeepsiejournal/story/news/local/new-york/2014/07/04/state-ponders-billion-windfall/12238129/ 4) Just in case you were wondering.....size really does matter. CLASS SIZE is directly correlated to student achievement: the smaller the class size the greater the outcome. nepc.colorado.edu/files/pb_-_class_size.pdf 5) In an era where teachers are being shut out of the very classrooms in which they are expected to teach and parents are being deprived of the opportunity to parent and educate their own children, its nice to have a celeb speak out on behalf of educators and parents. Thank you Matt Damon! youtu.be/Xh6qnmfYxd8 6) The RTT program actually cost NYC schools - bureaucrats got the lions share of RTT money, not KIDS. From Assemblyman Lalor: Kieran Michael Lalor New York state adopted the untested and fatally flawed Common Core standards so the state could receive millions in Race To the Top Funding from federal tax dollars. We now learn from a study by the Independent Budget Office, that in NYC less than a quarter of the funding went to school systems. $83 million of the $107 million went to the city Dept of Ed for support staff, consultants and fringe benefits a/k/a the bloated government bureaucracy. For a copy of the full IBO report, pls see HVACC. There is no NYS DOE report, we are planning to get one/force a SED review. Stay tuned. wgrz/story/news/education/2014/05/19/race-to-the-top-school-districts/9277183/ 7) Many people ask, if not CCLS then what? Well, NYS has options! This suggestion from Chris Cerrone: Many people ask if we dump the current NYS Assessments, and even the Regents exams, what would replace the tests to see what our children have achieved? 26 schools in NYC & 1 in Rochester have been assessing their students in a much superior manner. The question is: why cant this be done across NYS? New York Performance Standards Consortium fairtest.org/performance-assessments-succeed-new-york Here are some additional alternatives to CCLS for NYS: Why not give the Lost Standards a fair try? NYS was in the process of crafting high standards WITH input of educators State wide, before the plan was hijacked by Coleman at al and CC implemented. lohud/story/news/education/2014/05/10/common-core-derailed-ny-standards/8918925/ English Standards Alternatives NYS could download, for free, the Massachuesetts’ “A”-ranking English standards (which led to the highest test scores in the nation). Here is the link for the download: doe.mass.edu/news/news.aspx?id=5562. Math Alternatives There are several good alternatives for math standards. Any of the standards listed below would be a grave improvement over the faulty Common Core Math Standards, which lower the bar drastically for American children. Here are the old (1997) excellent California Standards, and here is its very good 2005 Framework to go with it. Here are the 2010 Massachusetts Standards that were a minor improvement on their previous excellent 20014 standards but were abandoned in the rush to the Common Core in 2010. And here are the 2009 Indiana Standards also an improvement on the already excellent previous (2005) Indiana standards, also abandoned in the rush to the Common Core in 2010. California: cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/mathstandards.pdf California Framework: cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/mathstandards.pdf Massachusetts: doe.mass.edu/news/news.aspx?id=5562 Indiana: in.gov/edroundtable/files/Math_standards_3-12-09.pdf scpie.org/alternatives/ And last but not least, JICYMI, from Dr Stotsky: Suggestions based on a credible body of research evidence showing a relationship between academically stronger teachers and higher student achievement. breitbart/Big-Government/2014/07/04/What-We-Need-Instead-of-Common-Core So, when people who support CCLS ask what will replace CCLS, feel free to explain to them that we have far superior options and those should be pursued. 8) For those who support Glen Becks efforts against CC, there is an interactve event he is hosting via, closest to us is Danbury. See here: fathomevents/event/we-will-not-conform-live/more-info/details 9) NEA Delegates passed a Rez to axe Arne Duncan, thats the good news. Bad news....they still support CC! dianeravitch.net/2014/07/04/breaking-news-nea-delegates-pass-resolution-calling-for-arne-duncans-resignation/ 10) TFIs Gadfly rips apart CC and Regent Fellow Kate Gerson which is a refreshing change of pace; having had heated debates myself with Petrille et al over their support of CC, its nice to hear a more realistic approach from the Gad Fly. edexcellence.net/articles/a-missed-opportunity-for-common-core 11) In case you are not aware, following the Vergera decision, teacher tenure is under fire in NYS, Campbell Brown expects to file suit shortly. Here is some info you be aware of regarding the basis of that suit: Brown created a group to support the suit. Per the group Ed Justice, here is the basis for the lawsuit - as if CCSS had NOTHING to do with student failure rate and as if the arbitrary cut scores NYSED issued had nothing to do with it either....the problem is CC, lack of resources and inequitable funding- not tenure! Families count on New York’s public schools to put their children on track for success in college and beyond. But last year, only about 3 in 10 students across the state scored “proficient” or better on annual reading and math tests. In two of the state’s largest school districts, fewer than 1 in 10 students passed these tests. Based on current trends, 1 out of every 4 students statewide—and as many as half of all students in the state’s largest districts—won’t be able to graduate from high school on time and prepared for college. Hundreds of thousands of children in New York aren’t getting a sound education. edjustice.org/projects/new-york-lawsuit/ This effort is supported by Arne also, FYI. Additional suits are planned nationwide. The purpose is to bust teachers unions presumably to spearhead and ready the path to privatize education, among other things. 12) In a similar vein, a seperate lawsuit to challenge NYS tenure was filed in Staten Island. 11 plaintiffs- Mona Davids, charter supporter and advocate, also a plaintiff. Attorney Michael Rebell, Esq (who is leading the NYSER case we are involved with and is NOT involved in the teacher tenure suit) spoke to the press commenting about this suit: “It is basically unprecedented for a court to get into the weeds of a controversial education policy matter like this,” said Michael A. Rebell, an education lawyer and professor at Teachers College at Columbia University. “Even if a court agrees there is a problem, they are more likely to defer to the legislative branch, which, in New York, has been trying to deal with these complex tenure issues and knows more about the workings of these policies.” NY Times piece nytimes/2014/07/04/nyregion/lawsuit-contests-new-yorks-teacher-tenure-laws.html The Suit (naming plaintiffs): nytimes/interactive/2014/07/04/nyregion/04TENURE-lawsuit.html Mona Davids organization nycparentsunion.org/about-mona-davids-founder-president Lawsuit and plaintiff info here: nycparentsunion.org/archives/1383
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 04:25:54 +0000
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