Update: What Next for TFA?

Read between the lines and there are lots of interesting tidbits in June Kronholz's Education Next piece (Still Teaching for America) for both TFA fans and skeptics.

The piece takes a look at the much-discussed school reform organization as it goes through a key transition of leadership and size.  

Two new co-CEOs have taken over from founder Wendy Kopp, and the annual budget that in 2012 was $320 million is expected to go up to half a billion dollars within the next three years.

Kronholz boils the organization's successful growth (if not large-scale impact on educational outcomes) on things like regional innovations (Houston's content coaches, Jacksonville's localized summer institute, South Dakota's rural principal leadership incubator), and its willingness to create and scrap ideas that don't pan out.

As has become increasingly common in recent years, TFA's new leaders are focusing as much on what alumni do as what they accomplish in the classroom:

"Kramer also paints a vision of TFA as an instigator of change, producing alumni that TFA expects—just expects—will become the sort of shake-up-the-beast leaders who will “do something radically different” for the schools."  

However, TFA won't share its specific leadership goals. And the organization is hampered by the need for more local and regional EDs, says Kronholz. Four of the regions were empty earlier this year, and plans to expand to two new (unnamed) cities) were scrapped for lack of management talent.  How interesting that an organization with such a surplus of applications for initial teaching spots is having trouble finding enough qualified candidates to staff its own expansion.

Image via Education Next.

Morning Video: DFER's New " Education Reform News"

Thompson: Arthur Levine Is Wrong About Teachers & Unions

Arthur Levine’s Education Week Commentary The Plight of Teacher' Unions offers a disheartened, broad brush account of America’s social, political, and economic institutions.

He then presents a narrow, and impoverished, vision of public education -- and in particular, teachers unions.

Levine apparently expects everyone to accept the fate that many policymakers are planning to impose on us.  He seems to argue that our focus on teaching will be replaced by a focus on outcomes, but he does not seem upset at the prospect of teaching being tossed on the ash pile of history. Most of all, Levine is factually incorrect when he writes that all of our institutions are trapped in the industrial era. 

EdSchools: Will 2013 Be Teacher Prep's Big Year?

From the latest Scholastic Administrator Magazine (by me):

For all those reasons, it’s very good and somewhat surprising news that there are now a handful of broad-based efforts and initiatives focused on teacher preparation in 2013 that might actually stand a chance of improving the quality and effectiveness of teachers...

There are predictable disagreements about how hard to make any new preservice exam—and whether to encourage or even require specific elements, or to rely entirely on outcomes such as longevity, evaluation, and effectiveness.

And the question remains: Will the higher education community—as well as state policymakers and the powerful national associations—block or water down the current momentum as they have in the past?

But for the first time in a long time there is activity—and with it, at least, the possibility of substantial progress.

Read all about it here. Agree or disagree?

Maher: Duncan Discredits Himself on Ed School Diversity

This is a guest post from Michael Maher [@mj_maher], who works at the NC State College of Education:

Last week at the Education Writers Association (EWA) National Seminar Secretary Arne Duncan stated “Schools of Education show little interest in increasing diversity among teachers.” 

Once again, Mr. Duncan shows either his disdain for teacher preparation programs, his ignorance of the field of teacher preparation, or both.  Is this just another example of the secretary making a bold, albeit factually inaccurate, statement or is there something more?  Perhaps if Mr. Duncan spent a little more time talking with those of us who dedicate our lives to the work of preparing teachers, he might truly begin to understand where our interests lie.

There is no doubt that we need to increase the diversity of America’s teaching force.  Since colleges of education continue to prepare the majority of America’s teachers it is incumbent on us to increase the number of diverse candidates enrolled in teacher preparation programs.  The secretary needs to remember, however, that we can’t MAKE people become teachers; they have options.  Lack of diversity is not just an education issue. 

Morning Video: Coursera Announces 28 Online PD Courses

 

Here's the full list of courses that have been developed for Coursera's first foray into K12 education. I assumed these MOOCs would be asynchornous/on demand.  Instead, they have start dates and "last" a certain number of weeks.  (There's no "House of Cards" option for on demand bingeing.)

Events: Google Glasses Live from NSVF Summit 2013

Spotted at #NSVFsummit 2013, that's Vivienne Ming @neuraltheory wearing Google Glasses (she took a picture of me using voice commands in much less time than it took me to take one of her).

Pretty soon, I'm guessing, a teacher or student will wear these into class and everyone will freak out.  (Meantime, I'm very excited about the TeachLive simulator they have downstairs, sort of a flight simulator for teachers.)

I'll leave most of the livetweeting to others, weighing in with the occasional tidbit.  

Funny to think that at my first or second of these, in New Orleans shortly after the Hurricane, I had to beg and plead for WiFi access that's now barely a consideration. 

So far I've run into lots of old friends and acquaintances, including several folks doing exciting new things (change is good!).  Please come up and say hello, and apologies if I have to blog or tweet something.

You can follow the event via #nsvfsummit, or watch the video here.

Bruno: Job Search Showdown - myEdmatch Vs. EdJoin

There's been some buzz recently about myEdmatch.com, the new job listing site that promises to better match teachers to schools based on their stated philosophies of education. Prospective teachers sign up, fill out a survey about their educational beliefs, and then, hopefully, find a similarly-aligned school.

Since I'm on the job market myself I signed up for myEdmatch as soon as the site came online at the end of February.

So far I've been underwhelmed.

Events: Livestreaming the NewSchools Venture Summit

There's lots that's familiar about this year's NewSchools Venture Summit taking place tomorrow in Burlingame, California -- but at least one major change: livestreaming!

 

Watch live streaming video from newschools at livestream.com

That's right-- this somewhat expensive,  invitation-only event is going to be putting some of its main speakers and panels out onto the Internet where everybody can see them. Now if NewSchools would only dig up and send me the videotape of the heated 2008 exchanges between Randi Weingarten and Michelle Rhee, I'd be content.

Previous posts: New And Notable At NewSchools 2012; Microblogging The NSVF Summit;  Fashion Hits & Misses At The NSVF Summit; Edupreneurs Invade DC; My NewSchools Venture Fund Summit List

Movements: Lessons From Earth Day 1970

Let's begin by stipulating that any comparisons between the environmental movement and the current school reform movements are ridiculous in the extreme. The environment and public education are totally different, and the issues, histories, and evolution of the movements to improve them are far-fetched, not worth your time. 

Then, let's talk about Nick Lemann's latest New Yorker article, What Happened to the Environmental Movement? 

Loosely built around a review of a recent book and several reports about the history of the environmental movement, the gist of Lemann's piece is that the environmental movement had its biggest successes (Earth Day, the Clean Water Act, etc.) long ago in the 1970s when it was still highly decentralized and community-specific.  

Lemann describes that period as "educational, school-based, widely distributed, locally controlled, and mass-participatory."

The movement's worst failures (most notably 2010's cap and trade debacle) take place when the movement has gone mainstream, according to Lemann:  "Even as the environmental movement has become an established presence in Washington, it has become less able to win legislative victories."

There's been lots of direct mail and social media outreach, too, of course -- but the enviro groups of today treat the public as a kind of background chorus rather than as real leaders, and thus lacks the "ability to generate thousands of events that people actually attend—the kind of activity that creates pressure on legislators."  

There's lots more -- Theda Skocpol, the issue of federated structures and concrete individual benefits vs. broad based social goods. Image via New Yorker. 

Thompson: Michelle Rhee Must Obey the Rule of Law

John Merrow's recent post, Michelle Rhee's Reign of Error, revealed the confidential "smoking gun" memo warning Michelle Rhee of the extent of the cheating that may have occurred in Washington D.C. schools.

But let's not forget that  this is only her most public scandal, and it is not the only case where Rhee's words could come back to haunt her. 

PRWeb links to another: Federal Judge Orders Michelle Rhee Suit to Go Forward, Will Broaden to Concealment and Fraud Claims describes the case which could be another double-barreled shotgun blast at the embattled "reformer."  A 53-year-old teacher, who worked for DCPS for 28 years, was terminated in 2009 due to “budgetary constraints” under a RIF (Reduction in Force).

Federal Judge Rudolph Contreras will allow the teacher to broaden the scope of Rhee’s alleged actions into possible civil fraud and concealment claims. This is based on testimony by the district's former Chief Finance Officer who, in 2009, appeared to admit that he willfully concealed the true accounting figures indicating that the DCPS had no budgetary shortfall. The judge could find that this was done with Rhee's knowledge and as a pretext for the RIF and the mass firings to take place. In that case, PRWeb reports, Rhee’s ideological experiment "may quickly unravel."

I have long been shocked by the cavalier way that "reformers" have brushed off Rhee's situational ethics. They ignore her statement to John Merrow, “If there are rules standing in the way of that, I will question those rules. I will bend those rules.”

Rhee et. al may resent the way that our constitutional democracy complicates school "reform," but sometimes the "rules" they don't like have the force of law. PBS's Merrow exemplifies one foundation for our democracy - a vibrant press.  Rhee never understood another foundation - our nation is based on "the rule of law," not "the rule of man."-JT(@drjohnthompson) Image via. 

Quotes: "Big Data" Doesn't Necessarily Solve Real-World Problems

It can tell you what sort of student is likely to fall behind. But then to actually intervene to help that student, you have to get back in the world of causality, back into the world of responsibility, back in the world of advising someone to do x because it will cause y. - David Brooks New York Times

Update: Unions Try To Organize Charters (Again)

Here's a new WSJ piece on charter organizing in Chicago and nationally (Unions' Charter-School Push) suggesting that the effort continues or is even on the rise, which I hadn't known (and isn't really quantified in the piece).  

Previous pushes on this front have generally stumbled - though the organizers in Chicago have done better than in NYC.  

The focus in the WSJ story is on the agreement between AFT and UNO to share contact information with 400 teachers in Chicago.  (UNO is a controversial operator in Chicago with strong ties to Mayor Emanuel.)

Other drives are happening in San Diego and Philly.  

Nationally about 12 percent of charters are unionized.  

Over all, both AFT and NEA are losing members.

Media: Pretty New Education Site

There's a newish education site out there called Education Dive, which purports to give readers "The Education Industry in 60 Seconds."  

I'm not sure what need or niche it fills, or how good a job it does -- seems sort of like a pretty version of EdSurge.  Here are some recent posts:

• Why MOOCs won't lead to empty classrooms
• Most Read Education News of the Week: Harvard, iPads and Google+
• As online learning rewrites K-12 education, Edgenuity shares its playbook
• Udemy's new iPhone app: The quest for video learning, anytime, anywhere

Do yourself a favor and check out the site. Nice layout, pretty pictures, and yes of course there's an app.

Superintendents: States Switch Between Elected & Appointed

It wasn't much of a surprise to find out from the Council of Chief State School Officers that most state superintendents are still appointed -- by a state board or a governor, usually.  You can see the full list they sent me below.  Only 14 are elected.

What was a bit surprising was that the average tenure is so brief -- 2 years 7 months -- which is more along the lines of what you'd expect from a big-city district superitendent -- and that several states have gone back and for the between elected and appointed (or are considering it now).

For example, I'm told that Louisiana has a proposal to make the state superintendent elected, and that Wyoming has a state director of education along with an elected superintendent. (California has had a version of this at times over the years -- one elected official and a second appointed official working under the governor.) Tennessee switched 20 years ago, and Oregon switched more recently.  

Chiefs list below.  There's also a NASBE document from last spring that includes governance information about state boards and other key features.

Afternoon Video: Deasy Lays Out Accomplishments & Challenges

 

Over the weekend, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy spoke at a TEDx school reform event, outlining the highs and lows of his nearly three-year stint as head of the nation's second-largest school system. Cross-posted from LA School Report. Remarks begin at 54:00. 

Audio: Parent Trigger Ups & Downs

Curious about how the parent trigger is evolving in Los Angeles and nationwide?  Here's the audio from a Friday morning panel at Yale University on the parent trigger featuring Parent Trigger's Ben Austin and former state Senator Gloria Romero, who authored the controversial law, along with the Fordham Foundation's Adam Emerson and moderator Andy Rotherham.

The most interesting tidbits include Austin's description of how the 24th Street parents came up with the idea of having LAUSD and a charter school operator share control of the school -- and how the mere threat of a trigger has persuaded teachers at some schools to approach parents about making changes -- and Emerson's description of how civil rights groups in Florida have come out strongly against the trigger idea there -- a sharp contrast to their role in favor of the trigger legislation in California. [Cross-posted from LA School Report]

Bruno: You Can't Fix Teacher Eval Without Fixing Teacher Supply

Over the past few years education reformers have been pushing officials to adopt new teacher evaluation standards to help remove the least effective teachers from the classroom. As the NYT's  Jenny Anderson's recent report illustrates, however, reformers continue to misunderstand the nature of our teacher quality problems.

As Anderson explains, even states with the strictest new standards continue to rate virtually all of their teachers - often more than 97% - "effective" or better.

One reformer complains that "It would be an unusual profession that at least 5 percent are not deemed ineffective", but that is probably the wrong way to think about teacher evaluation.

 It is unlikely that there is a "correct" fraction of teachers - or workers in any profession - who should be identified as "ineffective".

Rather, whether a teacher should be dismissed depends on the likelihood that replacing him will improve educational outcomes at a school. Those odds, in turn, depend on the built-in costs of employee turnover and the prospects for finding a worthwhile replacement.

Afternoon Audio: EdTech Taking Practitioners For Granted

It's not so much that there weren't many educators at SXSWedu earlier this month, notes this NSVF blog post (Elevating the Educator Voice), but rather that educators and entrepreneurs tended to participate in different tracks and that the business and innovation tracks tended to be more popular.  

So even if you were there, you might have missed 2012 National Teacher of the Year Rebecca Mieliwocki’s half-filled talk on Supercharging the Teaching Profession. Listen to it above.  

Charts: What The Rich Think About Education

Check out the poll results below, which are a followup on Friday's post and discussion about wealthy liberals' abandonment of education reform critics: As you can see, wealthy people -- liberal and conservative alike -- have somewhat different views on education than the general public:

To be sure, the wealthy lean to the right when it comes to ideology, so it's not even-Steven in terms of access to cash.   As the paper notes, "about twice as many of our respondents considered themselves Republicans (58 percent) as considered themselves Democrats (27 percent)."

Then again, there's no shortage of liberal wealthy individuals -- take a look at the Democratic fundraising operation during the 2012 campaign for a sense of that -- and sometimes conservative fatcats create philanthropies that support liberal-leaning causes -- like the Ford Foundation's funding of this week's PBS show, "180 Days."

Thanks again to Sarah Reckhow for pointing me to this article. 

Bruno: The NPE's Positive Agenda

Last week I complained that the Network for Public Education seemed to be defining itself mostly in negative terms.

I'd therefore be remiss if I didn't note that the NPE has since begun articulating an affirmative agenda.

In a note in the group's most recent newsletter, leader Diane Ravitch says that while you probably already "know what we oppose", the NPE also intends to advocate for a variety of education policies.

Some of those policy positions are a bit vague, like "professionalism for teachers" and "democratic control" of schools. And others are still essentially slightly-repackaged opposition statements.

Some of that is inevitable, especially early in a group's development, and as I said before there's nothing wrong with an advocacy organization dedicating itself substantially to opposing policies it considers ill-conceived.

I also happen to like most of what I see in the NPE's "positive agenda," so I'm hoping they flesh it out and advocate for it vigorously. - PB (@MrPABruno) (image source)

Events: Next Week's Yale Summit

There's lots that's familiar about this year's Yale Education Leadership Conference, including the location (New Haven), the visit to Amistad (Thursday morning), and some of the panel topics and panelists.

But there are also some new/newish elements -- a panel on the parent trigger, a segment on building diverse coalitions, and how other non-education sectors have changed. Providence Mayor Angel Taveras or Louisiana State Superintendent John White are doing the Friday morning keynote. See full agenda panel lineups here.    @YaleELC and use #ELC2013

Charts: Education Employment Up Nearly 10 Percent

Here's another chart showing that education was not hit nearly as hard as other fields, at least not initially -- reminding us again that teachers and other educators are in very different economic boats than the communities in which they may work.   

Quotes: Danner Defends Rocketship Changes

Only in public education, would continuous evolution be seen as a negative.   -- Rocketship founder John Danner, via Quora

Update: Growing Criticism Of LA Reform Campaign

The Republican National Campaign isn't the only outfit trying to figure out what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening in the future.  

Somewhat reluctantly, reformers are trying to understand the outcome of the March 5 primary day election for the LAUSD School Board, which included a win for incumbent Monica Garcia but a frustrating loss for challenge Kate Anderson.

According to many observers, absentee ballots played a big part in giving UTLA-endorsed candidate Steve Zimmer a massive lead even before primary day votes were cast -- and before the Coalition-funded campaign got into gear  (How Steve Zimmer *Really* Won).  

But there were other issues.  Challenger Kate Anderson and her allies declined to attack Zimmer for his videotaped 2009 remarks in support of UTLA (The Zimmer Attack Ad That Never Was) or to make him explain his position on the removal of teachers accused of sexual abuse, which is a hot-button issue in LA.  

Most recently, a rival campaign consultant sent a letter to former Mayor Richard Riordan slamming the Coalition-funded campaign for over-relying on mailed flyers and running a static cable TV ad campaign (Coalition Campaign was “Half-Hearted and Incompetent”). 

More to come.  All via LA School Report.  Image via RNC.

Bruno: Exit Exams Are For Students, Not Adults

The Providence Student Union is organizing an anti-high-stakes-testing protest in which adults take a test similar to the one required of students in Rhode Island to graduate high school. This isn't the first time this sort of publicity stunt has been performed, but since it's in the news it's worth remembering that the underlying logic of the protest is totally confused.

The rationale behind the protest isn't always clearly articulated, but the main assumption seems to be that if "accomplished" adults struggle with a test, it's unreasonable or unfair to expect much younger students to complete it successfully.

The problem with that line of thinking is that many adults are well out of school and have long since taken academic and career paths that happen not to involve the specific knowledge covered by the test.

Media: RSS Will Make You Smarter/Faster/Stronger

Should you care that something called Google Reader is shutting down later this summer?  No, probably not.  

But it's still a good occasion to learn a tiny bit about the underlying magic behind Google Reader -- called RSS -- and consider whether you're getting as much of the Internet as easily as you could be.  

A surprising number of folks -- including those who write online regularly -- don't know about RSS and are working harder than they need to (and failing to provide readers with as much quality content as they could).

Pictures: Colorado Reformer Pushing Gun Control

At the risk of fanning the flames of hype and/or fear already surrounding him, I wanted to point out Colorado state lawmaker Mike Johnston is a pretty good example of someone closely associated with school reform (ie SB 191) who doesn't just focus on school reform.

He's been strong on immigration reform for quite a while -- I'm talking about much more than making a speech or issueing a position statement, though that's a start -- and now he's  apparently pushing hard on gun control legislation, too. (image via The Denver Post).

It's on these so-called "side" issues -- the DREAM Act, gun control, postsecondary access, and more resources for schools -- that reformers stand a much better chance of finding partners from within education and among parents that they need, at least some of the time.  

Previous posts: Introducing Mike Johnston, A Softer, Gentler Version Of Reform, Best Education Speech Ever?, Notes From Yale SOM 2011, Few TFA Alums Running For Higher Office.

Reform: Why EdTech Gives Me The Willies

My concerns about edtech aren't so much that someone might make money -- that's already happening in education and everywhere else, and has been for years. It's a big endeavor, this public education thing, and many of us -- including teachers -- are making all or part of a living off it. So some folks are getting rich?  Secondary concern.

Even the personal politics of some of those positioned to take advantage of ed tech -- who include not only the so-called "bad guys" like Gates and Murdoch but also (don't forget!) supposed relatively "good guys" like Amazon and Apple and the College Board -- doesn't bother me a ton.  Everyone's got a view, and generally thinks he or she is right. You're no different; you just don't agree with them.   

What really bothers me -- gives me the willies, actually -- is that the current reform movement (leaders, funders, organizations) may already be turning its relatively small but essential energies away from the success and tough lessons of the last 5-10 years (which include the limits of charter school expansion, value-added, and ending LIFO) towards the new, sexy edtech stuff like MOOCs, tablets, blended learning, big data, and augmented learning -- thereby passing by (again) the really deep and transformative problems facing education (teacher preparation and support, for example, or early literacy) that need everyone's undivided attention.

New ideas and approaches are great, but often don't end up being as transformative as they sound in the early stages and can distract folks from deeper, tougher, more critical endeavors.  If you're going to do edtech, for example, why not do universal access? Image CCFlickr

 

Funders: You Don't Know Broad

Check out this new Scholastic Administrator profile of philanthropist Eli Broad (Impatient Philanthropist) in which you will learn that Broad says he doesn't want to privatize public education and read some of the ways that Broad's approach differs from the Gates Foundation on several key issues (the parent trigger, Michelle Rhee, and TFA, among other things).  

Hate philanthropist reformers on sight?  It won't make any difference to you.  Curious about how they differ and what makes them tick?  You might be interested.  

Other articles worth clicking from Administrator (which sponsors this blog) include The Homeschool Twist: Districts experiment with partial homeschooling for gifted students. Kentucky: The First Domino?  Early Common Core results show a steep drop. Is your state next?  Interview With Terry Grier: A plainspoken leader takes Houston ISD in innovative directions—and holds all parties accountable, Sell Your Schools: Figuring out your schools’ return on investment can be a big selling point when it comes to board and public buy-in.

Media: Reuters' Simon Wins National Education Coverage Award

The National Awards for Education Reporting are out for this past year (2012), and include 62 winning entries from an unknown number of submissions.  Many of them are unfamiliar to me -- things I missed or outlets too small or outside my range for me to notice (Who Killed John Dewey High, City Limits; Death of a District, Texas Tribune) or about states I don't care about (Education Coverage in Connecticut, Connecticut Mirror) or topics (like higher education). No offense, just not my thing.  
The big news is that Stephanie Simon, formerly of the WSJ and now of Reuters, wins for National Education Coverage, along with a special citation for Betsy Hammond, Oregon Education Reporting.  Hammond also gets a nod for IR in Diplomas Denied.  Another double winner is Peg Tyre, who wins and shows for feature writing with her stories The Writing Revolution and Making the Grade: When Do Kids Deserve A's?. Last but not least, Mike Petrilli and all the folks at Fordham win best blog for the Gadfly, thoroughly trouncing their EdSector rivals at The Quick and the Ed. Image via EWA.

Thompson: Partial Takeover Of LAUSD Only Beginning For Bloomberg

The outcome of last Tuesday’s Los Angeles School Board election might have seemed anticlimactic, writes Education Tweak in Bloomberg Acquires Partial Stake in LAUSD,  but the education journal of farce explains that the partial takeover is a part of a longterm strategy:

"Bloomberg’s spokesperson, Ollie Garkey, insists that further acquisitions in this and other districts will take place over the next several years.” Bloomberg still intends to “'liquidate unproductive assets in the LAUSD and we expect new investors to join our team.'” 

The spokesperson says  that Bloomberg has produced better results in the high-risk election market than Karl Rove, but he has a more transformative goal. “As is, the system is unworkable and unacceptable. The entire investment community must now work together to design a more reliable election process.” Garkey asks, “How fair is it when the high bidder is denied the purchase?-JT(@drjohnthompson) Image via.

 

Media: "This American Life" Vs. Oprah Winfrey

Some of the people who've seen Blackboard Wars -- the Oprah Winfrey Network reality series about the effort to fix a New Orleans high school -- are objecting to the depiction of the kids, teachers, and school.

One blog post against the show calls it “Cops” meets “Dangerous Minds,” describing the show as promoting a tired trope about urban teen violence and exploiting poor kids "for ratings and national school reform cred."

To be sure, the decision to invite cameras into John Mac was a controversial one -- not only in the school community -- where 90 percent of kids but only half the teachers signed release forms -- but also within Future Is Now Schools, the nonprofit charged with making things better there. I've written extensively about FIN founder Steve Barr and am no stranger to his strengths and weaknesses as a school reform leader.

But I have to ask, how is Blackboard Wars really all that different underneath it all from This American Life's recent depiction of life at Garfield Harper High School in Chicago, which generated widespread admiration and (so far as I know) very little backlash locally or otherwise?  

Alt Cert: TFA "Interns" Allowed To Keep Teaching ELLs (For Now)

Yesterday afternoon, the California Teaching Commission -- headed by Stanford University education professor Linda Darling-Hammond -- decided to tighten down on alt cert requirements for roughly 2,200 teachers working with ELL kids -- rather than immediately disqualifying the teachers (officially known as "interns".) 

But it was a close call, and TFA and other alternative certification providers aren't out of the woods just yet.  Read all about it: Interns lose status as authorized English learner instructors, Stricter state controls placed on teaching interns, Higher standards coming for state’s intern teachers.

One of those who testified against allowing alternative certification candidates to teach ELLs was a TFA alumna Rigel Massaro (pictured, courtesy EdSource Today).  

This is just the latest in a decade-long skirmish between alternative certification critics such as LDH and TFA over the eligibility of its members to work with disadvantaged children.  In California and nationally, TFA members are deemed to be "highly qualified" according to a controversial Bush-era regulation that's been repeatedly challenged in court and in Congress. 

The TFA loophole was last extended by Congress in 2012, with the requirement for a report on the distribution of alternative certification teachers within a year. Read all about it here:  How TFA Almost Got Left Out Of NCLB.  

Advocacy: Ravitch Creates New, Ravitch-Centered Group

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.  That seems to be the main message behind the creation of a new education advocacy group that is hoping to push its agenda to parents, the public -- and elected officials.  

The Network for Public Education (NfPE?) -- not to be confused with the recently shuttered Public Education Network -- is being created to do what StudentsFirst, DFER, Stand, and 50CAN have been trying to do (organizing as a 501c4 rather than a traditional nonprofit, endorsing candidates, and maybe even creating a PAC).

Only it's an anti-reform kind of group, and for now at least it will rely on social media rather than big funders.  And it's going to be run by Diane Ravitch (plus Anthony Cody, Leonie Haimsen, and the other usual suspects).

According to EdWeek (Diane Ravitch Launches New Education Advocacy Counterforce), Ravitch will be the main spokesperson for the group, and hopes that it serves as some sort of umbrella organization for the other groups -- Save Our Schools (the annual march and yellow icons in peoples' Twitter avatars), Parents Across America, and Broader Bolder.

I wonder how the other anti-reform groups feel about this new entrant, and about relying ever more heavily on Ravitch. Mixed feelings, I would imagine.  I wonder how they'll coordinate and cooperate -- an issue the reform advocacy groups have struggled with.  I wonder what it does to reform critics' purity of message to be doing some of the things that they've long criticized. 

But the sturdy band of reform critics are already very good at social media, and have broken into mainstream media coverage of education as well (a mind meld with some beat reporters if there ever was one).  If a sympathetic funder -- Ford, for example, or one of the unions -- they'd have some resources to expand (if also some credibility and hypocrisy issues to deal with). 

Barnum: Can We Talk About How Expensive TFA Has Become?

This is a guest commentary from Matt Barnum, at TFA 2010 alumnus who's now at the University of Chicago Law School:

Those of us engaged in the education policy debate have heard, many times over, all the arguments for and against Teach For America.

That’s why I was not surprised when much of the response to a recent TFA critique I wrote for the Washington Post “Answer Sheet” blog fell along traditional lines.

A few reform critics posted it gleefully on Twitter; the reform community, on the other hand, by and large ignored it – another day, another critique of TFA. Yawn.

This is understandable insofar as some of my points were old arguments restated and previously rejected by reformers. But I would challenge reformers to seriously consider the cost-effectiveness arguments against TFA.

Why?

Because when thinking about the cost-effectiveness of TFA, I rarely hear discussions about the, uh, costs.

Morning Video: Wealth Inequality In America (Perceptions vs. Reality)

Media: Reuters Story On Data Sharing May Overstate Problem

Over the weekend, Reuters' Stephanie Simon wrote a piece about inBloom, the new Gates-funded data-sharing intiative, that raises concerns about student privacy: K-12 student database jazzes tech startups, spooks parents. According to Simon, the $100M initiative is poised to be tremendously influential -- and controversial -- because of the possiblity that student data including Social Security numbers would be gathered from states and shared among educators.

However, there are some questions about Reuters story.  For example, inBloom says Social Security numbers are not included in its data store and that the use of the data will be done at the direction of school districts.  [Via Twitter, Simon says "inBloom rep told me some social sec #s included; now says no; I'll verify w schools, correct if needed."]

I'm no edtech fanboy, and generally enjoy and appreciate Simon's education coverage.  (There's a quote at the end of her story about edtech hype that is awesome.)  But this piece, like her last one on charter school shenanigans, seems somewhat alarmist and goes out past the edges of the data shared in the story.

Are there problems with state databases being being hacked and releasing sensitive student data? Tell us about them.  How do these issues compare to data security problems in general?  How many states include Social Security data in their student records, and how does this compare with other public agency databases, which have their own Social Security problems? Once again, some context and comparative data would be more helpful than isolated data points suggestively linked together to convey fear.  

Media: What's Really "New" About The LAUSD School Board Race?

I'm happy to see more media outlets paying attention to what's going on in Los Angeles -- it's a good story! -- and so it was nice to see this new Hechinger Report story (Local school districts are new target of education reformers).  

Written by Sarah Garland, the story has some interesting quotes and observations (including the strange path that school reform advocacy has followed starting from state and national efforts rather than from the ground up).  The possibility of a voter backlash against the reform advocacy fundraising is a good point and a real possibility (despite the reality that most of the funding is local).

Knowing that other outlets will likely (hopefully) follow up with coverage of the LAUSD story, however, I have to take issue with three of the story's main narrative points:  

* Outside funding coming into local races isn't really new unless you ignore labor unions.  State and national teacher unions have been helping out local affiliates -- giving and loaning each other funds to help out with political races and ballot initiatives -- for decades.   

*State and national reform advocates have been getting involved in local races for the last two or three election cycles. The Hechinger story acknowledges this further down in the piece but overplays the "newness" angle here, too.

* Campaign-focused reform advocacy at the local level isn't really all that new, either.  There aren't that many big city school systems with elected boards anymore, but in LA reform allies have been recruiting school board candidates and gathering up resources to make the races competitive going back roughly a decade. 

What's really new (or at least newish) is reformers out-raising and out-spending the other side  in a local race -- no longer just trying to level the playing field -- which has previously only happened once to my knowledge, last year in New orleans.  

What's also new is that reformers there are trying to emulate the vaunted union ground game with improved field operations (hiring an Obama field operative, etc).  

What's possibly new is that the AFT isn't riding to the rescue with a big infusion of cash -- either because it doesn't think LAUSD is that important, or winnable, or because it lacks the resources.  In 2010, the AFT reportedly gave the DC teachers $1 million to help defeat Adrien Fenty.  Three years later, all UTLA gets is a visit from Weingarten and a $75,000 check.  

Previous posts: What's *Really* Happening In LA; Reformers Try To Match Union "Ground Game"

Charts: Gender Gap In Education Administration Among Highest

According to this chart from NPR, female education administrators make just 67 percent of what their male counterparts make -- among the highest gender gaps in the nation. 

Morning Video: Schleicher!

 

Don't believe a word this man is saying. He's obviously not from America. You can tell by his name (Andreas Schleicher), his accent, and his bright snug, colored shirt. And, he's talking about differences among nations in terms of education achievement, which, you know, is almost never a good thing to talk about.  People get mad.  (via Amanda Ripley).

Quotes: "Higher Ed Will Go Jihadi" [Against Accountability]

If you think teacher prep negotiated rulemaking was a nightmare, just wait for [higher ed accountability]. Higher ed will go jihadi.  - Anonymous "insider" from Bellwether Partners

Thompson: The Anti-Testing Backlash Reaches a Crescendo

Kathleen Porter-McGee’s Fordham Flypaper post (The Four Biggest Myths of the Anti-Testing Movement) is right on one thing: the backlash against bubble-in accountability has reached a crescendo. 

But, Porter-McGee seems to assume that these primitive metrics are more valuable for poor children than teachers’ "instincts" because educators are contaminated by “low expectations.”

Does that mean that imposing rote instruction on poor children represents “high expectations?”

Porter-McGee recalls that “drill-and-kill” was popular in the era of mimeograph machines, but she provides no evidence for her claim that basic skills instruction is due to something she calls "excessive within-class achievement variability," as opposed to overzealous accountability.

Yes, worksheet-driven instruction is “a function of low teacher capacity,” but it is also due to failed schools and systems.  Often, it is the way that teachers in chaotic inner city schools create some order in systems that refuse to address discipline.  Rather than imposing the lowest-common-denominator of standardized testing on teachers and our students, the better response would have be to invest in capacity-building so that instruction could be improved.

 Porter-McGee is half-right on one point. Testing could put a spotlight on achievement gaps and struggling students and schools.  If assessments were diagnostic, they could drive critical conversations about policies and instruction.  As long as there are stakes attached to those metrics, however, they will remain inaccurate and they will continue to be a barrier to getting struggling students on the path to success.-JT(@drjohnthompson) Image via.

Charts: The Tragedy Of "Big Data"? Spurious Correlations.

"The more variables, the more correlations that can show significance. Falsity also grows faster than information; it is nonlinear (convex) with respect to data." Source: N.N. Taleb

Bruno: Good Formative Assessment Is Hard

The most informative piece I've seen on the Seattle teacher boycott of locally-imposed mid-year testing was written by Sherman Dorn over the weekend, and it's as much about problems with assessment generally as it is about Seattle's MAP exams.

As Dorn points out, while the MAP isn't ideally designed to offer useful formative assessment data for teachers, the fact is that there doesn't appear to be much demand for that sort data to begin with.

Ideally, teachers would be giving quick, frequent assessments to students and then using the results to modify their instructional plans almost immediately. In practice, this doesn't happen with or without the MAP. He attributes this lack of demand for meaningful formative assessments to administrator demand.

There's something to that, but I think it's helpful to recognize a real lack of demand at the teacher level as well. Teacher attitudes toward formative assessments are important both in their own right and for understanding why administrators want these tests to begin with.

I'll elaborate on my thinking below the fold.

Afternoon Video: Rhee, Henderson, & Others Pass Time Until SOTU

Starting today at 1:00, current and former heads of DC public schools, as well as RI chief Deborah Gist and others are scheduled to be at the AEI #cagebusting event, which will "look at the rules, regulations, statutes, and contracts that inhibit their ability to improve schools and systems."  The livestream link is here in case the embed isn't working.

 

Reformers: Make Bold Mistakes, Admit Them, Move On

The best thing I read about the Netflix series House of Cards over the past few days was actually a long feature in GQ about Netflix founder Reed Hastings, who is not only deeply interested in education reform (as well as quite critical of its accomplishments so far) but also a great model of someone who's not afraid to make mistakes, admit them, and move on.  

For Netflix, the most recent (and public) example of this kind of process was Hasting's incredibly unwise decision to divide the DVD and streaming video parts of the Netflix operation, which everyone hated and was quickly undone. Sure, the fiasco took some of the gild off the Netflix lily, but the public approach to its mistake allowed Netflix to recover before too much damage was done and -- this is key -- retain the majority of its credibility.

This kind of speedy response to mistakes  is something that we see all too rarely in education reform these days, with the possible exceptions of KIPP (on college graduation rates) and the Gates Foundation (on small schools and EDIN08, for example).  Most of the time we have the Harlem Children's Zones and TFAs and and Rocketships, which are all presented as having been near perfect from the start, needing only a few small adjustments or re-launches.  

Then -- only after months of questions and defensiveness -- when it comes out that the model has been changed quite substantially, or that some of the initial claims were overblown, skepticism and suspicion sets in even among those inclined to believe.  Claims of success and linear progress may work for funders don't work as well for everyone else, and increasingly reform programs are operating in a world in which the public is watching closely.   Denying mistakes, and spending months hiding or defending them, doesn't seem like a winning strategy in the long run. 

Quotes: The Online Learning Bubble

Is it a bubble? No, but there are signs it’s getting to be a bubble.

- Edtech industry analyst Frank Catalano, in Peg Tyre's latest Take Part column

Reckhow: Gates Shifts Strategy & Schools Get Smaller Share

This is a guest post from Michigan State University political scientist Sarah Reckhow, whose new book Follow the Money came out in December:

From a bird’s eye view, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a behemoth in education philanthropy, with considerably more resources than its peers and a highly targeted agenda that magnetically attracts attention from media and politicians.  

But the decade from 2000 to 2010 was a time of enormous growth and evolution for the Gates Foundation. Warren Buffett’s pledge of more than $30 billion substantially increased the Gates Foundation’s resources, and grant-making more than doubled from 2005 to 2009. Even more marked are the Foundation's dramatically shifted priorities, as illustrated by this chart. 

Read on for some preliminary figures and observations about the Gates Foundation's evolution, as well as some challenges and questions about the strategies the foundation is embracing.

Afternoon Video: Bill Gates Does The "Colbert Report"

The Colbert Report
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In case you missed it (like I did) last week, here's Bill Gates talking with Stephen Colbert about philanthropy and Steve Jobs.  PS:  Rhee is on Colbert (or is it Jon Stewart?) tonight, according to JFR.