Deb Gist as Hamlet

ProJo:

The lawyer for students at Hope High School has filed a motion in Superior Court that seeks to stop the Providence School Department from continuing to implement a six-period day at the high school.

Miriam Weizenbaum, who represents the students, said she filed the motion Thursday because she was frustrated with the lack of response from state Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist, who has yet to rule on the students’ petition, despite the fact that classes started on Tuesday.

Weizenbaum filed a separate motion asking that the court order Gist to rule on the facts of the case, or, at the very least, to rule on her motion for a temporary restraining order.

All three parties — the School Board, the students and the commissioner’s office — are expected to appear in Superior Court Friday morning during a closed-door session with Judge Jeffrey A. Lanphear.

Reform Traps

One thing I've been working through here and in my mind lately is what you might call "reform traps." This is -- and follow me here -- in response to low test scores you are forced to do something that you believe to be pedagogically sound but not likely to actually raise your test scores quickly and dramatically, which is the explicit goal of the intervention.

So, for example, a friend of mine who teaches 11th grade English got an impressive bump in his student's NECAP scores last year. One of the few advantages of giving the NECAP in October (and there are many disadvantages, including increasing the perceived achievement gap compared to other states due to summer drop-off), is that the 11th grade teacher can just do six weeks of focused test prep, and then go onto the regular college prep curriculum. Based on my anecdotal supposition, I'd say a good teacher can goose the scores between 10 and 20 percent. But this year my friend will not be prepping his 11th graders, he'll be "teaching Beowulf" as required by the new "aligned" curriculum.

On one hand, I'm not Joe Test Prep, and I'm sure he'll do a good job with Beowulf, something kids should at least have a crack at. But look, this is 2010, and what's really happening is the school is being told to compete with one hand tied behind its back if it really follows the mandated curriculum. There is no reason, at this point, to act like this test is not central to the life of the school -- it is one of only two tests which will, starting with this class, determine if they can graduate, determine if the school stays open and, increasingly, whether the they can progress in their career, get a bonus, or simply keep their jobs. Not directly confronting this feels like a big charade. A reform trap.

Hiring Brearn Wright -- reform trap.

My reaction to the turnaround measure's at Alice Mercer's school -- reform trap.

Of course, I hope all of the above actually work out, because, again, they are things I fundamentally agree with, but ultimately it feels like we're just playing a very baroque rigged game.

Know Your Audience. Your Audience Is SkyNet.

Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Careers (PARCC):

ELA grades 9-11: 75 percent of items/tasks AI-scored and 25 percent human scored, followed by a 10-20 percent double score and 10 percent random sample read behind.

My Favorite Genre is Science/Technical

Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Careers (PARCC):

Range of Genres. The CCSS are clear that students must demonstrate the ability to read and comprehend a range of genres. Therefore, across and within grades, the Partnership will determine the appropriate balance of text types in each component in alignment with the CCSS. For example, the balance of text types for grade 6 components might be one-third literary, one-third history/social studies, and one-third science/technical.

1. The high school CCSS do not include a variety of genres, unless a genre is defined as a "text type" like "literary," or "history/social studies."
2. Whose performance is going to be evaluated by the genre/text type/disciplinary literacy scores is going to be a major bone of contention going forward.

So... "School Professionals" Are Responsible for "Inputs?"

Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Careers (PARCC):

This means education leaders can use the assessment system to hold school professionals accountable for outcomes as well as inputs, more strategically manage human resources and make much better-informed personnel decisions. (emphasis in original)

Who are these "education leaders?"

They Understand Their Market!

Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Careers (PARCC):

International comparisons are particularly important to business leaders and governors, but will help parents, educators and the public at large better understand the performance and progress of the education system in each state. (emphasis added)

Stroking the Banksters

Krugthulu:

Andrew Ross Sorkin’s column today makes Wall Street honchos sound like spoiled kids; they went for Obama because he seemed like their kind of guy, then turned on him with a vengeance because they think he’s looking at them funny.

Based on what I know, that’s about right.

I talked to some financial-industry backers of Obama back during primary season; they really didn’t know or care much about policy issues, but were in love with Obama over his style — and also over the prospect of being in his inner circle, something they knew wouldn’t happen with Hillary. Now they’re mad because they don’t feel that they’re getting enough stroking.

And you have to bear in mind that this comes after Obama has made immense efforts to placate the financial industry. There were no bank nationalizations; there were hardly any strings attached to bailouts; the financial reform bill was by no means draconian given the scale of the disaster. But Wall Street is furious that Obama might even hint that they caused the crisis — which he does, now and then, because, well, they did.

My interpretation of the Obama administration's behavior re:Education is pretty simple. There are two groups with money and/or votes and a strong interest in federal education policy: teachers and bankers/CEO types (parents really just care about local policy). Teachers aren't going to become Republicans and, generally speaking, they're still going to vote. Bankers will become Republicans at the drop of a hat (if they aren't already) and have no qualms about moving their entire pile of money from one side of the bench to the other. Therefore, shape your education policy to keep the bankers happy.

That's pretty much it.

Beatles Rock Band

Incidentally, if anyone else is playing Beatles Rock Band on the Wii (I believe this is platform-specific?), you can be my friend -- Tuttle SVC. Or something. I don't know how these newfangled gadgets work.

But Which Version?

Andywonk:

Quick announcement: Starting in September I’m going to write a weekly column on education issues for Time.com and occasionally for the magazine.

TIME Announces New Version Of Magazine Aimed At Adults

SchoolToolBox at Maker Faire RI

Via Make Magazine.

The Current Situation in the PPSD

After spending today as a day-to-day sub in a middle school, my wife will start a long term subbing assignment in a PPSD high school. As a bonus it is one of the few that definitely won't be closed or reconstituted in the next two years. This is a relatively good outcome -- but getting here was incredibly stressful, painful and dispiriting. I'll spare you the melodramatic details and, just to be clear, I'll be avoiding talking about this school at all.

The past year has also been very strange insofar as I had never focused much (and I've been blogging since 2003, in various places) on Providence schools or in particular the school here I helped redesign, and where my wife still worked. But once it was clear the school was not only being closed, but labeled as "persistently low-performing" at exactly the point it became as high performing in test scores as it was in other ways, well, there wasn't much to lose at that point. And I felt I needed to set the record straight.

Nonetheless, the possibility that I was screwing up my wife's career to indulge my own vanity was always in the back of my mind. There has never been any evidence that this was actually happening though, Jennifer stirs up enough trouble on her own, and ultimately, while I would curtail my blogging for practical reasons, I wouldn't stop writing letters, going to the occasional school board meeting and speaking my mind in other ways.

Finally, I will say this: based on what I've heard these past few days, I'm more genuinely worried about the future of Providence's high schools than I was before. Angry, yes. Frustrated, of course. But under that there has been the pervasive sense of inertia that one acquires when working with urban school districts. Things might get a bit better or a bit worse, but really it is all the same.

Right now I've got the feeling in the pit of my stomach that things might really go wrong in the high schools over the next two years, that there are too many schools that are working better than anyone will give them credit for are going to be shaken apart with the belief that things can't get worse, and too little leadership that understands the facts on the ground, especially at RIDE. Things are going to get rocky.

It Would Be Nice If People Would Stop Lying To My Face

Center for American Progress:

International Charter School is open to Rhode Island students statewide, but 85 percent of its students reside in Providence or Central Falls. Another smaller proportion comes from Pawtucket. School principal Julie Nora describes the demographics of her school compared to traditional public schools in the same area, saying, “We have a higher percentage of ELLs; a higher percentage of students living in poverty; and a higher percentage of Latinos.”

C'mon! I don't even know enough about this school to have an opinion on it, but I'm sick of being lied to with every utterance.

• Hispanic/Latino - ICS: 49.5%, PVD: 59%
• African American - ICS: 20.1%, PVD: 22%
• White - ICS: 29.4%, PVD: 12%
• Free/Reduced Lunch - ICS: 55%, PVD elem.: 88%
• ELL: 56%, PVD: 13%
• Special Education: ICS: 8%, PVD 19%

Like most charter schools in RI, this school is significantly more integrated than those in Providence and Central Falls. If accurately and clearly explained, their successes represent an argument for comprehensive integration. Or, you can do the opposite, like CAP.

The Tao of the ELA Common Core

The first step to the Tao of the ELA Common Core is Reading standard number one.

Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

The Teacher said to the True Student of the Common Core, "Agree or disagree with the following statement: The wise soul does without doing, teaches without talking.' Use at least three pieces of textual evidence from the Tao Te Ching to support an original thesis."

And the True Student said, "A thesis is no more a part of the Tao of the Common Core than a pebble is part of a stream. I will cite three pieces of textual evidence that the wise soul does without doing and three showing that he does by doing; three that he teaches without talking, and also three by talking."

Enough Cheerleading, We Need Some Reporting and Context

I think I'd like Brearn Wright and agree with him on a number of things, but we're really past the point in this whole reform agenda where it is ok to write a newspaper profile of a new "turnaround" principal from another city without addressing his track record of data.

I mean, two years after this, their scores crashed:

Truesdell is a restructuring school. So all of the staff at Truesdell have to reapply for their jobs. My biggest focus was to staff a good school, and find good teachers. We had an interview process where staff were interviewed by students, teachers, and they engaged in role-playing scenarios. So, in one room, students came up with questions for the candidates. In one room, they had a team of teachers asking them questions. And in another room, they engaged in a role-playing exercises...

[In the room with the teachers], we started out with Clark teachers who were going with me to Truesdell. Once we decided what Truesdell staff were going to stay, they became involved in the process. Then, we used our connection with New Leaders for New Schools and Center for Inspired Teaching, and I asked them point-blank: Who are some of the best teachers in the city? And from there, we made phone calls. Also, we contacted Teach for America, 'Give me the best teachers in your program.'

That's kind of relevant to the discussion in Providence right now. What happened?

We Meant We'll Close the Figurative Achievement Gap

Jonathan Chait:

Turque's article makes a big deal about Rhee's determination to eliminate the black-white acheivement gap. Taken literally, it's bad news when whites pull ahead faster than blacks. But nobody actually takes it that literally. Blacks and whites are not engaged in some zero sum education contest. The point is to raise everybody's scores, wtih a special emphasis on bringing up the scores of African-Americans, who trail badly. The high scores of white students in D.C. are not actually a problem.

Well, if you go to the website of the Education Equality Project, of which Michelle Rhee is a director, it says in big letters:

WHAT IS THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP?
The huge difference in academic performance between students from different economic circumstances and racial/ethnic backgrounds.

Am I supposed to be reading that figuratively?

If I pick up a copy of a random DCPS document it says right on the cover, amid other exhortations, "We have the power and responsibility to close the achievement gap." Am I supposed to know that this is a noble lie?

This is 100% the reformers own framing. It is idiotic, yes, but it was not foisted upon them, and they can't weasel out when they have to start living up to their own hype.

Neighborhood Schools for Me, Magnets for Thee

I don't understand all the local particulars of the DC public school's drive to "woo white parents," but I think there are subtle differences between real and bogus desegregation initiatives.

In the traditional model you:

• Let some kids from poor neighborhoods go to schools in rich neighborhoods, which have inherent advantages due to being sited in rich neighborhoods.
• Give schools in poor neighborhoods some other advantage as magnets to draw in rich students who would otherwise not want to leave their neighborhood.

But you can't really vary that much without achieving a completely different result. If you stop letting outside kids into the rich neighborhood school, but still let rich kids come into the poor neighborhood's magnet school, you're just doubly screwing the poor kids.

And some of the stories from DC seem to be more complicated variations, like an arts magnet in a gentrifying neighborhood that has traditionally served an African American student body being changed to be more appealing to the neighborhood.

Desegregation requires a comprehensive approach.

PPSD's Argument Re: Hope High School

Linda Borg for the ProJo:

On Friday, Anthony Cottone, the lawyer for the School Board, did not present any witnesses as expected. Instead, he told Avila that Deputy Commissioner David Abbott told the district’s chief academic officer, Sharon Contreras, that the regulations regarding common planning time did not apply to Hope. Since Abbott arguably is Avila’s boss (at least one of them), Cottone wondered whether Avila could remain impartial.

That is apparently their whole argument for reducing common planning time in violation of the Basic Education Plan: "Someone told us it was ok and aren't you violating the chain of command?"

Typical for an interaction with the Brady administration, but surprising they'd try it in this context. Kind of an impressive display of consistency, in its own way.

What Got Me Into The Data Business

Anne O'Brien at Public School Insights:

...when teachers have the data, they can become much more attuned to the personal needs of their students.

Also, good luck Claus!

My Guest Post at The Line

For reasons known only to her, Dina asked me for a guest post on the whole value added thing right after it blew up. After rejecting my first attempt out of hand, and running my second submission through the phalanx of lawyers, fact-checkers and psychometricians, she keeps on retainer, the final result is here.

If you too would like a guest post, I'll be happy to fax you my rate card.

Full Disclosure: some of the above is not true.

How This Plays Out

Based on the Gates-funded Common Core Curriculum Maps, and the general reaction to them thus far, at the high school level these standards won't be taken much more seriously than any other set of high school standards at first.

What's going to come down the pipe shortly thereafter, however, will be a generation of very consistent, narrowly-focused and predictable high school tests, end of course tests, formative assessments, etc., which are exactly aligned to the standards as written, as I'm reading them here. They will also be fairly hard.

So, while schools that aren't really worried about passing the tests thanks to their affluent population can afford to follow, say, this Common Core Curriculum Map, since it is rather loosely aligned with the CCSSI standards, schools with students at risk of not passing the tests will experience a whole new paradigm of rigorous test prep in the high school ELA classroom. A paradigm well suited to hybrid and online instruction.

Why do you think Tom Vander Ark is so excited?

11th Grade is More Aligned

Common Core Curriculum Map, Grade 11, Unit 5:

What are the effects of the shifting point of view on the reader’s understanding of events in As I Lay Dying. Why do you think Faulkner chose to tell the story from different points of view? Use at least three pieces of textual evidence to support an original thesis. (RL.11-12.3, RL.11-12.5, W.11-12.2, W.11-12.9a, L.11-12.5)

RL.11-12.3:

Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).

RL.11-12.5

Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.

So, pretty well aligned, except that why Faulkner might have made this decision is outside the scope of the standard.

There is no reason every question of this type should not be worded in exactly this format:

How does [FAULKNER]'s choice concerning the [SHIFTING POINT OF VIEW] in [AS I LAY DYING] contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact?

Now that's aligned!

Common Core Curriculum Map, Grade 11, Unit 5:

Agree or disagree with the following statement: “Prufrock and Gatsby have similar characters.” Use at least three pieces of textual evidence to support an original thesis. (RL.11-12.1, RL.11-12.5, SL.11-12.4, W.11-12.9a)

RL.11-12.1:

Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Close! You don't need an original thesis, though.

Fundamental Mis-alignment

Alice Mercer:

Our reform program, interestingly enough, will be centered on student writing. Why is that interesting? Well, it’s not currently a tested subject. It used to be tested in fourth grade, but with budget cuts, they eliminated the test because it’s more expensive to grade than multiple-choice.

I, of course, have no problem with this general concept pedagogically, but... wtf? As far as school accountability goes, you might as well focus on gym class. When they come to shut down your school and/or fire you, writing is not even part of the conversation. At all. When they publish your value-added scores in the paper, they ain't going to be writing scores.

Specificity

Common Core Curriculum Map, Grade 9 Unit 3, first sample activity:

Write an essay that compares and contrasts aspects of the use of a literary device in two different poems. Discuss at least three aspects. (RL.9-10.4, W.9-10.2)

RL.9-10.4

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of several word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

RL.9-10.4 is not about literary devices. The phrase "literary device(s)" does not appear in the Common Core standards. Nor, for that matter does it require you to make a comparison between texts. The standard does not ask you to do an open ended analysis of the "aspects of use" of language.

It asks you to do two very specific tasks, and that's it. The rude awakening is going to come when high school principals start looking at each class's scores on RL.9-10.4 every six weeks, and they realize that their 9th grade teachers are using a completely misaligned in-class assessment. Or, based on this month's buzz, when teachers start not getting their performance bonuses because the school's assessments are significantly more difficult than those specified in the standards.

An analogy to a similar sloppy hypothetical alignment in early elementary literacy or math in general would be helpful here, but I can't really generate one.

RIFT and NEA RI Heads Go There

Linda Borg for the ProJo:

SMITHFIELD — The leaders of the state’s two teachers’ unions said that they would not be opposed to consolidating Rhode Island’s 36 school districts into one big district.

Although they cautioned that they were speaking as private citizens, Marcia Reback, president of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers, and Robert A. Walsh Jr., executive director of the National Education Association, Rhode Island, offered the most radical suggestions about how to fix public education. The two made their remarks at a morning-long forum in Smithfield sponsored by the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council.

Reback said a statewide school district might be the only way to level the playing field between rich and poor students in Rhode Island, where the vast majority of poor, urban students attend schools that are largely isolated from their white middle-class peers.

“Desegregation works,” Reback told 200 educators, community leaders and public officials gathered Tuesday at Fidelity Investments. “We need to create opportunities for students of color and those with limited English language skills to go to school with kids who aren’t like them.”

What, she asked, would close the gaps between poor children and privileged ones? Combining the Central Falls and the Cumberland school districts. Joining Lincoln and Pawtucket.

This, she said, is what Rhode Island needs: all-day kindergarten in every city and town, high-quality preschool for children and fresh opportunities to offer vocational education to students who aren’t college-bound.

Extra points for bringing this up on a panel with Commissioner Gist. Make her defend the status quo or advocate for desegregation.

Nobody Could Have Predicted

Palo Alto Online:

California Star Test results shot up this spring for students in the Stanford-sponsored charter school, East Palo Alto Academy Elementary School.

But results of the May test, posted last week, were too late to save the three-year-old school.

Citing poor academic performance, trustees of East Palo Alto's Ravenswood City School District voted April 22 to shut down the charter school. It closed its doors in June.

Watch out for the torrent of apologies and condolences from the right side of the ed reform blogosphere.

Perhaps They Haven't Been Told About "The Secret of Total Student Load"

Will Fitzhugh:

At lunch on the last day, however, I discovered that Florida is a “right to work” state, and that their local union is rather weak, so they each have six classes of 30 or more students (180 students). One teacher is being asked to teach seven classes this year, with 30 or more students in each (210).

After absorbing the fact of this shameful and irresponsible number of assigned students, I realized that if these teachers were to ask for the 20-page history research paper which is typical of the ones I publish in The Concord Review, they would have 3,600 pages to read, correct, and comment on when they were turned in, not to mention the extra hours guiding students through their research and writing efforts. The one teacher with 210 students would have 4,200 pages of papers presented to him at the end of term

You know what would solve this problem? Mayoral control.