On Tuesday, March 17, 2015, the Vermont State Board of Education unanimously voted to suspend the use of Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) scores for the 2014-2015 school year for the purpose of annual school evaluation determinations. 

  Some of you have expressed concern about the administration of the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA). Concerns have included questions about the utility of the assessment, the instructional time lost due to testing and the likelihood of lower test scores. 

I would acknowledge that the SBA presents unique challenges - particularly in regard to this year's test administration. Although the amount of SBA testing time for each individual student is relatively small (about eight hours depending on grade level), because of our limited technology, the administration of the test is spread out through much of the spring months.

The SBA however, does take several steps in the right direction. It reflects the higher College and Career Readiness Standards (Common Core) which our students need to compete successfully in a global market for family wage jobs (75% of family wage jobs now require SOME college).

  The Opt Out movement is spreading like wildfire. It is led by parents, not unions, though some union locals have voted to honor the wishes of parents. Parents understand that the tests are designed to fail most children. They understand that test prep and testing are stealing time from instruction. They aren't commanded by anyone. They are listening to their children

  Children who live in poverty come to school at a disadvantage, arriving at their classrooms with far more intensive needs than their middle-class and affluent counterparts. Poor children also lag their peers, on average, on almost every measure of academic achievement.

But in 23 states, state and local governments are together spending less per pupil in the poorest school districts than they are in the most affluent school districts, according to federal data from fiscal year 2012, the most recent figures available.

  Ms. R is one of the best special education teachers I know. For over twenty years, she has been teaching and caring for students placed in her self-contained special education classroom in a small city school district. We worked together for about five years and I always admired how she stayed true to her students' needs even when the many top-down mandates from the district, state, and federal government invaded her classroom. When I became interested in seeing for myself how the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) looked in practice for students with disabilities, I asked Ms. R if I could spend some time in her classroom. "Yes," she said, "please come. I need your help. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to teach all of this. I'm hoping you can help me."

Concerns rising over Pearson, the company behind PARCC and other tests  by Sharon Lurye on the Philly Voice site

  This year, five million kids in the United States, including New Jersey, will take a new standardized test -  the PARCC. Potential new teachers in Pennsylvania will take a new certification test - the PAPA. And thousands of men and women who never finished high school will be betting their futures on the results of a proficiency exam - the GED.

What do all these tests have in common? The company that administers them:Pearson.

Pearson, a London-based international publishing and education company which originally started in construction in 1844, has become a colossus in the U.S. education system. On every level of education, the company has a presence and a product to sell.

   Classroom observations are the most difficult of new evaluation systems to implement.    Why are they so hard to get right?    Districts struggle to train principals to provide reliable ratings based on clear standards. Moreover, it is difficult to monitor the quality of observations to ensure that teachers are getting fair, reliable and valid feedback. Administrators will struggle to find the time to do their newly required observations, and they need better tools to support productive discussions with teachers based on their observations. Finally, in order to gain anything from the process, teachers need to be able to see their own strengths and weaknesses reflected in the observation results.

No Child Left Behind fails to work "miracles," spurs cheating  by Paul Thomas on The Conversation site

   Although re-authorization is still politically complicated, 2015 appears to be the year the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) will be reformed.

Popularly known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), ESEA promised to close the achievement gap and herald an era of evidence-based education policy by giving federal teeth to a state-based accountability process launched in the early 1980s. However, NCLB not only failed to accomplish these goals, but also led to some schools resorting to cheating, so as to increase test scores.

How To Make Innovations Practical    by Fred Janssen, Hanna Westbroek, Walter Doyle & Jan van Driel on the Teachers College Record site

   A fundamental tension has long existed between school reform proposals and actual teaching practice. Despite a large literature on teacher change, the discontinuity between innovation and practice continues and many attempts to reform teaching fail to be enacted in most classrooms.

The purpose of this paper is to present a bridging methodology for connecting pedagogical innovations to the practical demands of teaching. The methodology is framed within practicality theory, which is an ecologically grounded analysis of the design issues and constraints that practitioners face in the everyday work of teaching. To conduct lessons, teachers must construct procedures (instrumentality) that fit circumstances (congruence) within available time and resources (cost). 

Inner-City Schools Find Music Programs Could Be Key To Happier, Harder-Working Students  by Alena Hall on the Huffington Post site

  According to the directors of the SASI program, M.S. 421's attendance rates jumped from 85 percent to 95 percent after the introduction of Carthan's drum line program, and standardized testing scores increased as well. Across all schools integrated in the SASI research projects, 78 percent of teachers have reported that their students gained self-confidence and developed important collaboration skills, and 71 percent reported that their students are more engaged and motivated to learn.
 

   "There is nothing inherently wrong with a sporting tournament making huge amounts of money, but there's something slightly troubling about a billion-dollar sports enterprise where the athletes aren't paid a penny."

Not only do so-called student-athletes receive no financial compensation, they also receive subpar educations, can be dropped from teams in the case of injuries, and must adhere to all regulations stipulated in a 440-page manual. 

 

9 reasons America is a lousy place to raise kids  by Alex Henderson on the AlterNet site

Higher Education Tenure Track Position in School Leadership

To download the full or summary report,

Summary Report, Click here

Full Report, click here

To view in an electronic magazine format,

Summary Report, click here.

Full Report, click here