Post in-Bloom, parents continue to ask for privacy protections
Sarah Darville, Chalkbeat New York
April 29, 2014
http://ny.chalkbeat.org/2014/04/29/after-inblooms-demise-advocates-request-independent-privacy-advocate/
Month: April 2014
Students are fighting for our future
GUEST VIEW: Students are fighting for our future
by Dan Adamek, April 21, 2014
Dan Adamek, a senior at Herkimer Junior-Senior High School in Herkimer, NY, submitted this opinion piece to the Utica Observer Dispatch regarding Governor Cuomo’s failure to fairly and fully fund public schools in New York State. Dan is the president of the student council, the founder of Students for Fair Funding-New York, and collaborates with the Alliance for Quality Education. Most importantly, Dan is a student, and he shares how the Governor has failed the students of New York.
Read Dan’s guest piece here: http://www.uticaod.com/article/20140421/Opinion/140419239#ixzz2zX9om0x7
Bad Math: Cut Scores, VAM, nothing adds up
In the news today:
The ridiculous cut score of the 3-8 NY Common Core tests and what we should do about them
Round the Inkwell: Preserving Public Education
by Carol Corbett Burris, April 15, 2014
“I think all of the billionaires like Bill Gates and Merryl Tisch who are very worried about college readiness should give their millions to make sure that every public school student’s family has at least $160,000 income. Wouldn’t that be a better investment than putting their money into big old databases which no one wants, or into funding Research Fellows to make infomercials and put stuff up on the Engage NY website?”
Also out today:
Statisticians slam popular teacher evaluation method
The Washington Post
by Valerie Strauss, April 15, 2014
“The evidence against VAM is at this point overwhelming. The refusal of school reformers to acknowledge it is outrageous.”
News from the NYSUT Representative Assembly: Delegates Support Parents’ Right to Opt Out
NYSUT votes ‘no confidence’ in King; calls for his removal
April 4, 2014
According to a NYSUT press release dated April 4, 2014, “Delegates to New York State United Teachers’ 42nd Representative Assembly today voted “no confidence” in the policies of State Education Commissioner John King Jr. and called for his immediate removal by the Board of Regents.”
The press release continues, noting, “In a unanimous voice vote, the nearly 3,000 delegates also formally withdrew the union’s support for the Common Core standards as interpreted and implemented in New York state and, in a separate resolution, supported the rights of parents and guardians to opt their children out of high-stakes tests.”[emphasis added]
Read more here:
http://www.nysut.org/news/2014/april/ra-2014/nysut-votes-no-confidence-in-king-calls-for-his-removal
One Year Later
A terrific read from Carol Burris at the Washington Post:
Case study: How politicians ignore parents on school reform
April 1, 2014
This is a partially completed, self-reported and very rough estimate of the number of refusals in New York State. From this we know for sure that the actual number of refusals is much higher. Well done, allies!
NYS Districts and Refusal Policies 2014
Opt Out CNY 