Dear Colleague,
In light of the Vergara
ruling, legislators in Sacramento have been busy trying to get some replacement
laws on the books, but the going hasn’t been easy. Three Republican bills and
one by a Democrat have been killed in the Assembly Education Committee where
the California Teachers Association reigns. The bills dealt with tenure,
seniority and teacher evaluations. None were particularly draconian, but with
Vergara in the appeal stage, it seems that the unions are not yet willing to do
any compromising. They have not yet taken a position, however, on SB 499 which
would subject teacher evaluations to collective bargaining. To learn more about
the legislative doings …or lack thereof, go to http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article19903074.html , http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/apr/30/state-panel-blocks-teacher-evaluation-tenure-bills/ and
http://edsource.org/2015/teacher-evaluation-bills-face-stiff-resistance/78911#.VVOMIBvaA26
At the same time it
is fighting reforms to traditional public schools, CTA is sponsoring four bills
that would make life more difficult for charter schools. LA School Report explains,
If passed, the package of bills would bring big changes to the charter schools, including a requirement that they be run as non-profits, that charters be considered government entities and that all of their workers be public employees. One of them would also make it easier for charter school teachers to unionize.
To read more, go to http://laschoolreport.com/state-lawmakers-call-for-deeper-regulation-of-charter-schools/ To read what the California Charter School Association thinks of the bills, go here - http://www.calcharters.org/blog/2015/03/ccsa-issues-statement-on-california-teachers-association-anti-charter-legislation.html
A recent report
informs us that both graduation rates and dropout rates have inched up in the
Golden State. How is that possible? According to the San Jose Mercury News,
California's
high school graduation rate continued its steady climb last year -- but
paradoxically, its dropout rate nudged up as well, according to figures
released Tuesday by the state Department of Education.
About four out of five students who
entered high school in fall 2010 graduated last June -- 80.8 percent, up from
80.4 percent for the previous class. But 11.6 percent of those destined for the
class of 2014 dropped out, up from 11.4 percent for the previous year's class.
Both figures can rise because neither
includes students who continue their education without graduating.
To continue reading,
go to http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_28006935/graduation-rates-rise-so-do-dropout-rates
Much has been
written over the past few years about how teachers in the U.S. spend
upwards of 50 percent more time in front of their students than educators in
other countries. But according to a recent study by Samuel Abrams, director
of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Columbia
University Teachers College, it’s not true.
In reality, U.S. primary teachers spend about
12 percent more time leading classes than their OECD counterparts, not 50
percent; U.S. lower -- secondary teachers spend about 14 percent more time, not
65 percent; and U.S. upper -- secondary teachers spend about 11 percent more
time, not 73 percent.
Also, there are
several interesting charts in the report, including one which shows a
state-by-state comparison of daily teaching time, and California comes in at 5
hours and 59 minutes – one minute under the national average of exactly six
hours. To read the report, go here - http://cbcse.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/The-MismeasureofTeachingTime-SA-1.14.15.pdf
“Shockingly Few
Students Are Proficient In U.S. History” read the headline in a Huffington Post piece a few weeks ago.
And if the latest NAEP history scores are any indication, the headline is
accurate.
If you chose b, you're smarter than more than 40 percent of America’s eighth graders. But that's a stubbornly low bar, according to a report released Wednesday by the federal government’s educational research arm.
To continue reading,
go to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/29/national-assessment-of-educational-progress-2015_n_7164984.html
Common Core still is
getting a large share of the edu-headlines these days and the testing opt-out
movement seems to be gaining strength on both the political right and left. Researcher
and Professor Jay Greene gave a particularly articulate statement to the Arkansas
Common Core Council a couple of weeks ago. In part, he said,
Standards are about what we value. They communicate
what we think is important for our children to learn, when they should learn
it, and ultimately what kinds of adults we hope they will grow up to be.
Because standards are about values, their
content is not merely a technical issue that can be determined by scientific
methods. There is no technically correct set of standards, just as there is no
technically correct political party or religion. Reasonable people have
legitimate differences of opinion about what they want their children taught. A
fundamental problem with national standards efforts, like Common Core, is that
they are attempting to impose a single vision of a proper education on a large
and diverse country with differing views.
To read more of
Greene’s testimony, go to http://jaypgreene.com/2015/05/04/testimony-to-the-arkansas-common-core-council/
The “free community
college” idea is still being bandied about. But is it really “free?” “No” says
Heritage Foundation’s Lindsey Burke. She points out that “Over the past
several decades, college costs have risen at more than twice the rate of
inflation, thanks in large part to federal subsidies.” To read more, go here - http://dailysignal.com/2015/01/09/free-community-college-anything-free/
Barry Garelick, co-founder of the U.S. Coalition for World
Class Math, which has provided extensive comments on the deficiencies of the
Common Core standards for mathematics, has written Teaching Math in the 21st Century, an honest, critical and entertaining look at math education
from the inside.
I am not an outright
proponent of the philosophy that ‘If you want something done right, you have to
live in the past’, but when it comes to how to teach math there are worse
philosophies to embrace.
To learn more about the book, go here - http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Math-Century-Barry-Garelick/dp/1511632887
And finally, this is
your last chance to take advantage of the following:
This
coming June and July, the Independent Institute is hosting “Challenge of Liberty,” a free
market seminar for students who are at least 18 years old.
The five-day series of
lectures, readings, films, multimedia presentations, and debates teach
participants what economics is, how it affects their lives, and how
understanding it can help them achieve better lives for themselves, their
communities, and the world at large. Challenge of Liberty illuminates
the intimate connection between principles of free market economics and public
policy decisions. Informative, inspiring, and fun, Challenge of Liberty is
an ideal way stay intellectually engaged over the summer while bolstering your
personal network and building your skill set.
CTEN has two Facebook pages. If you have a Facebook account,
we urge you to join us and let us know your thoughts. Having a dialogue among
teachers is an effective way to spread information, and to share experiences
and ideas. Our original Facebook page can be found here http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=125866159932&ref=ts A second page, which deals with
teacher evaluation and transparency, can be accessed here - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=126900987357825&ref=ts
Also, please
visit “Teachers for School Choice” here - https://www.facebook.com/teachersforchoice
As always, thanks for your continued interest and support
of CTEN.
Sincerely,
Larry Sand
CTEN President
