Monday, November 26, 2018

In Case You Missed It – Nov 26, 2018

Here are links to the articles receiving the most attention in NEIFPE's social media. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column to be informed when our blog posts are published.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF STANDARDIZED TESTING?

"Exploring Assessment Literacy Knowledge in Hoosiers"

So, the state wants to know what we think of standardized testing. Please be sure to give them an opinion or ten.

NOTE: There is no indication on the cover page as to how long this survey will remain active.

From Ball State University
The purpose of our study is to gather data and gauge opinion on the public’s perception of education and standardized testing in Indiana. The data collected will be used to improve the Indiana Department of Education’s messaging efforts, and hopefully, the state of education in Indiana.


IS ED "REFORM" OVER?

Is This The End Of Ed Reform Policy?

From Curmudgucation
...thinky tanks and reformists and wealthy dilettantes and government bureaucrats can continue fiddling and analyzing their fiddlings as they search for the next great Big New Thing in policy. In the meantime, teachers have work to do.


ACCOUNTABILITY FOR VOUCHER PROGRAM NEEDED

Carol Burris: Indiana’s Scandalous Voucher Program

From Diane Ravitch
We are reminded yet again that the allocation of public money without strict accountability is an invitation to commit fraud and self-dealing.


KENTUCKY GOVERNOR BLAMES IT ON THE UNION

Kentucky: Governor Calls for “Breaking the Back” of the Teachers’ Union

From Diane Ravitch
Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin is one of the most revolting figures in the Republican Party. He is a former hedge fund manager and current Tea Party shill.

He calls for “breaking the back” of the teachers union. He says the union is “suffocating” teachers and students.


CLOSING A CHARTER SCHOOL

Marshall Academy faces closure: May shutter by year's end; state board weighs viability

From The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
The Indiana Charter School Board is considering closing the Thurgood Marshall Leadership Academy, possibly by the end of the year.

A dispute with the school's management company could be the last straw for a school that has performed dismally, said Jim Betley, executive director of the Indiana Charter School Board.

“It's never a good time to close a school but if we have concerns about the viability of a school we have to weigh the pros and cons of that,” he said. “The circumstances don't even look like they are there or will be there in the foreseeable future to show improvement.”

Turnover, academic failure, an enrollment drop and management concerns since the conditional renewal of the school's charter in mid-2017 have Thurgood Marshall on tenuous ground.


TALK TO YOUR FAMILY ABOUT PRIVATIZATION

How to Talk to Your Family About Privatization

From Diane Ravitch
Like anything involving extended family, Thanksgiving can turn into a combat zone at the first mention of privatization. Just the words “public-private partnership” can send grandma out the door for a cigarette. Is this the year your nephew drops “neoliberalism” at the dinner table?

Here’s some advice to calm the inevitable tension this time around.


ONLINE PRESCHOOL

Online Preschool - An Oxymoron

From Live Long and Prosper
The latest "reform" insanity is online preschool.

By preschool, I mean a developmentally appropriate environment where young children can experience social interaction, develop an understanding of literature by being read to, and have direct contact with the real world.

Developmentally appropriate does not mean that three- and four-year-olds do so-called "academic" work on worksheets or computers. It means approaching instruction based on research into how children develop and grow. Preschoolers need clay and water-tables, not worksheets. They need blocks, watercolors, and dress up clothes, not tablets and calculators. They need climbers, sandboxes, and slides, not standardized tests and "performance assessments." They need to experience the world with their whole bodies and all of their senses.

Why then, would anyone think that young children would benefit from something called an "online preschool?"


ISTA AND STAND FOR CHILDREN ON THE SAME SIDE?

Indiana’s push to raise teacher pay is creating some unlikely allies

Disturbingly ironic that groups like Stand and Teach for America, who work diligently to take $$ away from public schools, are climbing on a bandwagon to increase teacher pay.

From Chalkbeat
It’s not every day that the state’s teachers union, Republican leaders, and education advocacy groups find themselves working toward the same goal. But this year, as Indiana puts teacher pay at the forefront of its legislative priorities, there seems to be an all-hands-on-deck approach to make it happen — and that means some unlikely allies.


NO LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

Why not grade all schools on growth only?

From School Matters
Most Indiana schools earn A-to-F grades on a formula that gives equal weight to performance and growth on standardized tests. But schools in their first three years of operation – most of which are new charter schools and Indianapolis or Gary “innovation network” schools – can have their grades calculated on growth only, with no consideration of performance. Those schools have an advantage.

As Dylan Peers McCoy of Chalkbeat Indiana pointed out, it means you can’t use the grades to compare schools in a district like IPS. “Of the 11 out of 70 Indianapolis Public Schools campuses that received A marks from the state,” she wrote, “eight were graded based on growth alone.”

So why not grade all schools on growth only, not performance? It seems like that would make a lot of sense. In any given year, schools may not have a lot of control over where their students start out in their math and reading performance. What matters is, do schools help students grow?


TEACHER PAY HIKE ON THE 2019 INDIANA GENERAL ASSEMBLY AGENDA

Senate Democrats vow to fight for teacher pay hikes during 2019 General Assembly

From The Times nwi.com
On Friday, Melton and Senate Democratic Leader Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, announced they'll be filing legislation next year to increase state funding for education, contingent upon schools providing annual teacher pay raises of 2.5 percent during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years.

"Our public school teachers are being drastically underpaid for the important work that they do to prepare our children for their future," Melton said. "Teacher salaries in Indiana have not kept up with inflation, meaning their paychecks have remained stagnant since 2009."


THE BENEFITS OF PRESCHOOL

Pre-K sends students on their way

From The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
Early research for a longitudinal study about the state's On My Way Pre-K program shows the initiative has potential to improve students' early learning skills and readiness for kindergarten, according to a report published last month.

The program serves only 20 of Indiana's 92 counties. Expanding On My Way Pre-K is among the Indiana Department of Education's 2019 legislative priorities.

Stacy Geimer, a kindergarten teacher at Franke Park, can tell which of her students attended preschool.

“They are very independent when they come from pre-K,” Geimer said.

They also come to her classroom knowing their colors, shapes and letters as well as basic skills, including how to hold a pencil and a book.

“It helps tremendously,” Geimer said.


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