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Roger Mancastroppa

Obama bashes his own education policies - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...AFKbDlyB_blog.html

adms707 education reform money Gates Foundation

shared by Roger Mancastroppa on 03 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • Roger Mancastroppa on 03 Apr 11
     
    Obama is critical of his own education policies which means he probably didn't fully support them to begin with. This offers a look into how policy is formed.
REL N

Charles Kolb: Educational Success: America's New Industrial Policy - 1 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...al-success-ameri_b_810464.html

ADMS707 Federal Resource-allocation

shared by REL N on 04 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • And we need to approach our education investment as we approach infrastructure or industrial policy.
    • REL N
      REL N on 04 Feb 11
       
      NOOOO! We need to better define the type of success we can achieve given that individuals are in different places at different times in their lives. We need to support people where they are and help them move forward in areas and at a pace that is right for them. If a 16-year old is able to perform well in a college program then that is where s/he should be. If a student is gifted in math and abhors and does poorly in history, then we should nurture her/his strengths and stop holding them to their social grade level in math and wasting their time and their passion drilling them in history. Ultimately, they will be happier, more productive, and more willing to contribute to society in a math-related endeavor.
  • "define success up." Our new industrial and competitiveness policy as a nation should be focused relentlessly on those talented young children and adolescents who show educational promise. We should double, perhaps triple, federal, state, and private sector resources that support gifted-and-talented programs in our schools. We should nurture this talent the same way some institutions nurture athletic talent. This approach is not elitism; it is smart commonsense.
    • REL N
      REL N on 04 Feb 11
       
      Yeah... I think we all saw what happened when we had a leader who was proud of getting "C's" in college. And, then we are not really sure if a "C" actually meant a "D-" but was given to ensure social promotion. I would not go to a surgeon who either did not want to go to medical school or was not able to succeed in her/his training. That is not elitism. It is more than simply common sense. It is effective data-driven/evidence-based decision-making. A person might be terrific and funny and caring (and perhaps rich and attractive too) but they should not be given a role beyond their knowledge and capabilities.
  • If such an exam cannot be developed within six months, then perhaps we really have wasted a lot of time over the last 30 years. Algebra in New Hampshire is not different from algebra in California. Reading skills and reading-level assessments should be the same in each state. Grammar doesn't vary across state borders, and gravity tends to work the same way everywhere. The governors are well-positioned to lead a national discussion about what our high school graduates should know and be able to do -- and then devise a test that measures the success of our young people in mastering what they need to know to be successful. The National Governors Association is already doing excellent work in this area -- but it has to move faster.
    • REL N
      REL N on 04 Feb 11
       
      f we stopped the gaming in elementary and middle school testing and relied on the teachers and administrators to implement effective local testing and take appropriate actions to ensure learning, we would have more resources (time, money, people) to develop appropriate and resonable assessments at the high school level. These must be based on higher order thinking and include essays, video-taped dialogues/presentations, and some simple answer tests. The evaluation should be done by humans outside the local area and care must be taken to ensure inter-rater reliability. This is done in other countries as well as in the states with the IB diploma programme. It is do-able and the graduates will be well prepared and confident that they can move forward. Our initial pass rates may not be as high as we would like, and we need to be prepared to accept that some students may take more than 12 years or choose to take a less rigorous set of exams; however, we will have a higher level of success overall and our students will be much better prepared as citizens and workers.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • In late December 2010, the Education Trust reported that nearly 25 percent of high school graduates taking the U.S. Army entrance exam cannot answer basic questions in math, science, and reading. Some of the questions were pretty basic: "If 2 plus x equals 4, what is the value of x?"
  • We need to change our approach from preventing failure to promoting success.
  • all children can learn, not all children are ready to learn at the same time. If some of our classrooms have disruptive students, these students should attend other classes until they become serious about learning.
  • And finally, we should learn from the French, who for decades have had a baccalaureate exam that is a prerequisite for advancing to post-secondary education. In France, the "bac" exam is typically taken by 17- and 18-year-olds, but if a student fails the exam, he or she can take it again -- even later in life. The "bac" serves two purposes: it sets a standard for what French high school graduates know and can do, and it serves as a moment of consequence for French young people: they cannot move forward until they have proved their proficiency.
  • In several states, where testing has been adopted, we find large discrepancies between how the states report their children's performance on "No Child Left Behind" tests and the often much lower performance found by the objective National Assessment of Educational Progress.
  • resources we've squandered. We need a more tough-minded and focused approach that identifies, nurtures, and rewards success
  • REL N on 04 Feb 11
     
    I'm not sure how I feel about this blog. Part of me says "Oh no!" while the other part says that we need to make education accessible but we would be better served to go with a more individualized approach. Right now it feels as though we often cater to the lowest common denominator which is not fair to anyone. Can we learn something from the operations concept of mass customization? Educators--feedback please!! I'd love to hear what your experience tells you r.e. these issues.
  • mirabilecp on 05 Feb 11
     
    I am intrigued if not in full agreement with this piece by Kolb. He makes good points about a national baccaulaureate exam...it's true, algebra is algebra, grammar is grammar, in all 50 states. Some of our colleagues would disagree that we need primarily focus on the best and the brightest and that those who are not ready to learn should be sequestered until they are (paraphrasing here). He says, "We really aren't serious as a nation when it comes to education," but I think that we are fast approaching a time when (I hope) it becomes a primary focus of our political debate (from Candy).
REL N

Education Week: State, Local Policies Seen to Slow Personalized Learning - 0 views

www.edweek.org/...25policies.h30.html

NIemeyer ADMS707 Technology Education Policy

shared by REL N on 07 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • K-12 education is at a policy crossroads, experts in educational technology policy say, as seat-time requirements, school funding models, textbook-adoption procedures, and teacher-certification requirements restrict the growth and effectiveness of emerging learning methods.
  • Moves to replace seat-time mandates, which set the amount of time students must spend in a class before completing it, with requirements that students demonstrate competency in the skills needed to master the course appear to be gaining traction
  • But some policy experts caution that a complete abolition of seat-time requirements could adversely affect the social and collaborative aspects of learning
Victoria Schnettler

US Educational Policy Interest Groups: Institutional Profiles - 0 views

books.google.com/books

adms707 education policy interest groups book

shared by Victoria Schnettler on 28 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Victoria Schnettler on 28 Mar 11
     
    A quick view (not the whole book) of educational policy interest groups - tables of number of bills that the groups "testified" for, etc.... if I had extra money, I would totally buy this book.
REL N

Education Week: States Aim to Curb Collective Bargaining - 0 views

www.edweek.org/...20bargaining_ep.h30.html

ADMS707 Teachers Union

shared by REL N on 07 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • REL N on 07 Feb 11
     
    GOP leaders are proposing bills to limit collective bargaining to wages and benefits. They want to exclude teachers/unions from the table when they develop education policy.
  • REL N on 07 Feb 11
     
    GOP leaders are proposing bills to limit collective bargaining to wages and benefits. They want to exclude teachers/unions from the table when they develop education policy.
Angela Winston

The Black-White Achievement Gap: Do State Policies Matter? - 0 views

epaa.asu.edu/v14n8.pdf

state policies Black-White achievement gap Winston ADMS707

shared by Angela Winston on 13 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Angela Winston on 13 Feb 11
     
    Investigates to find out if there is a relationship between state education policies and changes in the black-white achievement gap.
Angela Winston

"The Equitable Powers of the Judge": The Conflict - 1 views

pdfserve.informaworld.com.proxy.library.vcu.edu/153934_731199570_714034605.pdf

local level District Court NCLB Winston ADMS707

shared by Angela Winston on 23 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Angela Winston on 23 Feb 11
     
    Local (US District Court) vs. NCLB legislation (US Dept. of Education): A case study/policy analysis examining how federal law plays out on the local level. A school system in Richmond County, Georgia found difficulty implementing NCLB because of conflict between NCLB and school desegregation policy. This was the cause for the federal-local political disagreement.
Roger Mancastroppa

A Primer on Class Struggle | Common Dreams - 0 views

www.commondreams.org/...31-4

adms707 education policy government

shared by Roger Mancastroppa on 01 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • Roger Mancastroppa on 01 Apr 11
     
    "Class struggle goes on in other realms. In goes on in K-12 education, for example, when business tries to influence what students are taught about everything from nutrition to the virtues of free enterprise; when U.S. labor history is excluded from the required curriculum; and when teachers' unions are blamed for problems of student achievement that are in fact consequences of the maldistribution of income and wealth in U.S. society. It goes on in higher education when corporations lavish funds on commercially viable research; when capitalist-backed pundits attack professors for teaching students to think critically about capitalism; and when they give money in exchange for putting their names on buildings and schools. Class struggle also goes on in higher education when pro-capitalist business schools are exempted from criticism for being ideological and free-market economists are lauded as objective scientists."
Roger Mancastroppa

EBSCOhost: Two Viewpoints. - 0 views

newman.richmond.edu/...pdfviewer

adms707 education reform policy philosophy Gates Foundation

shared by Roger Mancastroppa on 03 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • Roger Mancastroppa on 03 Apr 11
     
    "Like Gates, we feel the US must address the inadequacies in our education system, specifically those that propagate inequalities in our society. However, we caution using global competitiveness as an impetus for education reform - not because we do not believe in maintaining our forward thinking leadership role on the world stage. But rather because such language edges education dangerously close to being about the production of a marketable workforce serving corporate interests instead of about the cultivation of a critically thinking global citizenry serving the advancement of humanity. In place of the language of competition, we would suggest a language of equal opportunity and cooperation."
Roger Mancastroppa

Federal, State, and Local Roles Supporting Alternative Education - 0 views

www.doleta.gov/...cy_and_funding_environment.pdf

ADMS707 education reform school states federal

shared by Roger Mancastroppa on 21 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Roger Mancastroppa on 21 Feb 11
     
    This paper examines the roles that various levels of government play through legislation, policy, and other initiatives that support quality alternative education program store connect youth to education and the workplace ..It raises issues for policy makers at all levels to consider in facilitating the development of expanded alternative education pathways, which reduce the number of students dropping out of school and provide well-lit reentry points for those who leave school before obtaining a diploma.
Georggetta Howie

Center on Education Policy, Washington, DC - 0 views

www.cep-dc.org/press

adms707 education policy

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  • Georggetta Howie on 03 Feb 11
     
    Center on Education Policy various Publications including Press Releases and Media Adivsories
Roger Mancastroppa

Aligned instructional policy and ambitious pedagogy: Exploring instructional reform fro... - 0 views

newman.richmond.edu/...PKGE00PAIHPQA3DIOSFF4ADUNGIIV0

adms707 policy education reform teachers

shared by Roger Mancastroppa on 27 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Roger Mancastroppa on 27 Mar 11
     
    The authors conduct a study to see how teachers actually implement teaching requirements when they are enacted through policy reform by federal, state and local leaders.
Victoria Schnettler

Governor McDonnell's Establishing the: "Governor's Commission on Higher Education Refor... - 2 views

www.governor.virginia.gov/...EO-9.cfm

ADMS707 education higher governor McDonnell

shared by Victoria Schnettler on 08 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Victoria Schnettler on 08 Feb 11
     
    While looking through the governor's education policy, it seems as though higher education is more of his focus than public K-12 education. This brief, from the governor's websites, outlines his view of higher education needs of the state.
Phil Riddle

It May Be A Sputnik Moment, but Science Fairs Are Lagging - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...05science.html

Accountability Global Competition

shared by Phil Riddle on 05 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Phil Riddle on 05 Feb 11
     
    This article describes the disconnect between federal education policy focused on math and reading (and rote memorization in other subjects) and Obama's calls for greater emphasis on science education.
Roger Mancastroppa

Consumers and Education Professionals in the Organisation and Administration of Schools... - 0 views

www.eric.ed.gov/ED347657.pdf

ADMS707 reform education politics states boards

shared by Roger Mancastroppa on 18 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Roger Mancastroppa on 18 Feb 11
     
    What we can learn from England - Findings of a longitudinal study that explored the impact of recent educational reforms in England on the nature of the relationship between headteachers and lay school governors. Recent legislation has increased governors' and consumers' power and reduced the power of the "producers" of education. Governors are members of school governing bodies who have volunteered to work with headteachers in school administration. Findings indicate that the governor/headteacher relationship is not a consensual one. Factors inhibiting the development of a partnership include the micropolitical nature of school governance; the emerging organizational cultures of governing bodies; the loose coupling of governing bodies to schools; the differences between heads and governors about power; the complex and ambiguous nature of reform legislation; and cultural factors, such as race, gender, and ethnicity. The question is raised whether community involvement should extend to nonprofessionals taking a key role in educational decision making and policy formation.
REL N

A Board's Eye View : Education Next - 0 views

educationnext.org/aboardseyeview

ADMS707 Niemeyer Boards reform

shared by REL N on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • “Code of Conduct for School Board Members.” This was intended, wrote the superintendent, in recommending the code, “to set standards for how the Board interacts with itself.” Sounded like sex to me. But the preoccupation with board member behavior was the result of the long-standing tension between the democracy represented by elected officials who oversaw the schools and the professionalism of those hired to run them. The superintendent was definitely attempting to tip the balance in favor of the pros. “We will not attempt to exercise individual authority over the district’s operations, staff, or personnel decisions,” read one of the rules he was proposing for us. Another: “We will not express individual judgments about the performance of the superintendent or staff. . . . We recognize the value of the chain of command. When approached by staff, constituents or the public, we will channel all inquiries to the administrator.” I e-mailed the superintendent, “Is this a joke?” He called and laughed lamely.
    • REL N
      REL N on 17 Feb 11
       
      "... the preoccupation with board member behavior was the result of the long-standing tension between the democracy represented by elected officials who oversaw the schools and the professionalism of those hired to run them."
  • “We should let people know we are looking for quality, of course, but not to the point of advertising outside official channels.”
  • the board never reviewed other major expenditures, such as the installation of a new computer system.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • I asked the superintendent how a new asphalt parking lot was installed at the Greenport School without board approval–or even a bid or a notice or a need. He informed me that a bid wasn’t necessary for a job worth less than $10,000.
  • no clarification of what any of this meant–or cost. Don’t ask. “Mandated” was the knowing word from veteran board members.
  • almost 16 percent of the children in the school district were disabled, almost double the national average.
  • more than 350, were either “emotionally disturbed,” “learning disabled,” or “speech impaired.” These were the kind of catchall categories that allowed a district to dispose of many problem children–in Hudson those children were mostly black–with expensive baby-sitting.
  • over the next several months as I learned that the district had been running a deficit for several years. In fact, the state comptroller’s office, which oversees the fiscal integrity of all state and local government agencies, had conducted its own audit and found the same thing: “overexpenditure of budgetary appropriations and the overestimation of revenues.” Money was being moved around, from one fund to another, which was also against the rules, the comptroller noted. And when auditors had asked for records, they couldn’t be found.
  • the school board was not where the biggest battles would be won or lost.
  • The teacher union president, normally a regular presence at school board meetings, stopped coming so that he wouldn’t have to answer my questions about what was being done to improve things that his teachers controlled. (He had already stopped responding to my phone calls and letters.)
  • the debate was as much cultural–and racial–as educational,
    • REL N
      REL N on 17 Feb 11
       
      The author was frustrated that the board refused to discuss the academic mediocrity in the schools and then he realized that "the debate was as much cultural-and racial-as educational,...."
  • “Mandates” and laws sprouted acres of explanatory weeds–most of them unnecessary. No one ever read the original “mandate.”
  • no one seemed to know why the “Parent/Family/Community Involvement Policy” was necessary, but it was assumed that it was required by some Oz-like authority, passed through the policy-writing machinery at some school board association office, and sent to us for our “approval.”
  • No one else on the board expressed any hint of having read it. And I was beginning to discern a pattern: the more written, the less understood.
  • REL N on 17 Feb 11
     
    A concerned parent joined the local school board in hopes of improving the academics. After 6 frustrating months he resigned from the board believing that "the school board was not where the biggest battles would be won or lost."
REL N

Accountability Lost : Education Next - 0 views

educationnext.org/accountability-lost

ADMS707 Niemeyer Boards accountability

shared by REL N on 17 Feb 11 - Cached
    • REL N
      REL N on 17 Feb 11
       
      Tried to identify confounding variables to increase the likelihood that any changes in voting behavior were due to school performance
  • incumbent school board members won a larger share of the total vote in a precinct when test scores in that precinct improved. We estimate that improvement from the 25th to the 75th percentile of test-score change—that is, moving from a loss of 4 percentile points to a gain of 3.8 percentile points between 1999 and 2000—produced on average an increase of 3 percentage points in an incumbent’s vote share. If precinct test scores dropped from the 75th to the 25th percentile of test-score change, the associated 3-percentage-point decrease in an incumbent’s vote share could substantially erode an incumbent’s margin of victory.
  • percentile scores had increased in the year preceding the election, incumbents won 81 percent of the time in competitive elections; in districts where scores had declined, incumbents won only 69 percent of the time.
  • ...24 more annotations...
  • significant relationship with precinct test scores and the absence of a relationship with district scores suggests that voters were more concerned with school performance within their immediate neighborhood than across the district.
  • all indications of a relationship between school performance and an incumbent school board member’s vote share vanished after the passage of NCLB in 2002.
  • None of these approaches yielded clear evidence of a link between school performance and voter behavior in school board elections.
  • the overwhelming weight of the evidence indicated that school board members were not being judged on improvement or weakening in school test scores.
  • School performance as measured by test scores may have helped determine which candidates sought reelection and which faced a challenger.
  • assess the relationship between test-score trends and incumbents’ decisions to run for reelection, and then to estimate the effect of test-score trends on the probability that an incumbent who runs faces an opponent.
  • incumbents may bow out in anticipation of being held accountable for poor test-score performance by schools in their district.
  • drop from the 75th to the 25th percentile of test-score change, our results lead us to expect that incumbents will be 13 percentage points less likely to run for reelection. In fact, 76 percent of incumbents sought reelection in districts with improving test scores; in districts with falling scores, only 66 percent did.
  • we failed to find any indication that incumbents in 2002 and 2004 based their decisions about running for reelection on student learning trends.
  • In these years, only 30 and 34 percent of articles, respectively, touched on test scores. The decline in media attention leads us to suspect that concerns about student learning trends probably did not stand at the forefront of voters’ or candidates’ thinking in the 2002 and 2004 elections.
  • “The PACT needs to be seen for what it is: a vehicle for politicians to say that they are tough on education (and educators). This may make for good politics, but it makes for bad educational policy.”
  • Reacting to the rising criticisms directed toward PACT, voters may have grown disenchanted with the state’s accountability system and removed test-score performance from among the criteria on which they evaluated school board candidates.
  • if most schools appeared to be average or better, parents may not have been prompted to hold incumbents accountable for poor school performance. Incumbents and potential challengers may also have become less responsive to scores when the testing regimen began to give nearly every school a passing mark.
  • School board elections give the public the leverage to improve their schools. If voters do not cast out incumbents when local school performance is poor, they forfeit that opportunity. As debate continues over components of NCLB, policymakers should consider whether it is realistic to assume voters will in fact use the polls to drive school improvement.
  • Neither the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) nor the states impose direct sanctions on members of school boards that oversee large numbers of underperforming schools.
  • According to a 2002 national survey, student achievement ranks second only to financial concerns as school board members’ highest priority.
  • the basic purpose of all school board activities is to facilitate the day-to-day functioning of schools.
  • analyzed test-score data and election results from 499 races over three election cycles in South Carolina to study whether voters punish and reward incumbent school board members on the basis of changes in student learning, as measured by standardized tests, in district schools
  • impact of school performance on incumbents’ decisions to seek reelection and potential challengers’ decisions to join the race.
  • All but 4 of the state’s 46 counties hold nonpartisan school board elections. Approximately 80 percent of school board members receive some compensation, either a salary, per diem payments, or reimbursement for their expenses. Over 90 percent of South Carolina’s 85 school boards have between 5 and 9 members, while the largest board has 11. And, as is common practice in other states, nearly 9 out of 10 South Carolina school districts hold board elections during the general election in November.
  • the most important difference between South Carolina and most other states when it comes to local school politics is the role played by the state’s teachers unions, which are among the weakest in the country.
  • South Carolina school boards are unlikely to be beholden to the unions, which should make the boards more responsive to the broader public.
  • examine whether voters are more concerned with student performance districtwide or in their local neighborhood, we computed two measures of average school performance to include in our analysis.
  • separate the effect of school performance from the effects of other factors that could reasonably influence an incumbent school board member’s vote share
  • REL N on 17 Feb 11
     
    Details about research on the impact school performance has on how people vote for school board members. The authors conclude "If voters do not cast out incumbents when local school performance is poor, they forfeit that opportunity. As debate continues over components of NCLB, policymakers should consider whether it is realistic to assume voters will in fact use the polls to drive school improvement."
Tara McDaniel

Virginia's Public Education System 4th in Nation - 4 views

www.doe.virginia.gov/...jan21_gov.shtml

shared by Tara McDaniel on 28 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Tara McDaniel on 28 Jan 11
     
    Virginia's public education system's fourth place ranking in Education Week's annual Quality Counts report. The rankings are based on four critical areas: the chance for success, K-12 achievement, school finance, and policies related to transitions and alignment.
  • REL N on 04 Feb 11
     
    Sadly... none of the states got an A or A-. Alas, MS is no longer dead last. Granted they have the lowest C- possible. I know we say that grades are not everything but it is sad that there are no "A" states and our national average is mediocre at best. And, this is not a comparison to other developed countries....
Victoria Schnettler

Code of Virginia - 0 views

lis.virginia.gov/...legp604.exe

ADMS707 education Code of Virginia

shared by Victoria Schnettler on 08 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Victoria Schnettler on 08 Feb 11
     
    Title 22.1 - Education - State laws regarding education policy.
REL N

Superintendents, School Boards, and Policy - February 11, 2011 - Reference Desk Digest ... - 1 views

relnei.org/referencedesk.2011-02-11.php

ADMS707 Niemeyer Superintendents SchoolBoards

shared by REL N on 03 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • REL N on 03 Mar 11
     
    Research syntheses r.e. a superintendent's role in education policy by REL-NEI
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