WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Gov. Rauner brimming with success while IL burns

"“Well, I take long walks with our dog and ride my motorcycle. I head out alone and explore roads or find a little park to sit and think. Or a brew pub to strike up conversations. It’s really wonderful when people describing themselves as Democrats tell me to stay the course. That I’m doing the right thing. That energizes me and I know it sounds strange, but my wife tells me she hasn’t seen me this happy in 20 years. I feel totally honored and humbled to get the opportunity to improve the future of 13 million people.” -- Sneed

Trump on Obama

“He actually used my term: ‘mean’. That was my term,” Trump said. “Because I want to see – and I speak from the heart – that’s what I want to see, I want to see a bill with heart.” -- Guardian 

Suburban Supt. Raymond Lechner on NCLB redux

"That's what I'm afraid of — that it's going to be the same approach as NCLB, though NCLB said 100 percent," said Wilmette School District 39 Supt. Raymond Lechner. His affluent, high-scoring North Shore district, and others like it, likely will have a better chance than most schools to reach the 90 percent proficiency goal.

"In a district like ours, we'll be able to do that," Lechner said. "Definitely, some districts will. But mostly no — most districts will not be able to deliver that." -- Chicago Tribune

 Rachel Levy, teacher, writer, parent

We can take nothing for granted—power concedes nothing without a demand, and if the people don’t demand preservation of our public schools, power may concede them to those who won’t. -- The Progressive

Dave Zirin quotes Gould 

 "I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops." - Stephen Jay Gould -- FB 

Live in 10 on @LumpenRadio with @mikeklonsky & Fred Klonsky pic.twitter.com/p42B2x5QBs

— #intsxsurgeryispetty (@Pidgejen) June 23, 2017

New legislators' report on reform is a step up from current policies

“High-performing countries have consciously decided to prioritize education over testing.” — State Senator Joyce Elliott, D-Ark.

Will a Clinton administration bring a shift in federal education policy? Will we see a break from corporate-style reform practices--racing to the top, no child left behind, testing madness, school closings and the unfettered move to privately-run charter schools that marked the Obama/Duncan era? We can only guess right now.

Recent Clinton speeches to the teacher union conventions sounded good. But we've all been there before. The new party platform plank on education reflects some positive changes pushed mainly by Sanders members of the platform committee. But platforms are soon forgotten once November is in the rear view.

The latest indicator that change may be in the wind comes from a new report from a bipartisan group of state legislators who studied and were impressed by the most successful approaches in Finland and other developed countries. "No Time to Lose: How to Build a World-Class Education System State by State’. 

The 28 legislators and staff members focused on the highest performing countries on PISA to discover commonalities across their policies and practices. They met with education leaders from these countries, along with national and international experts who study their systems. They also visited several countries to see the differences firsthand.

I read the report with a skeptical eye, especially after I saw AFT President and Clinton cheerleader-in-chief Randi Weingarten giving it a giddy endorsement, calling the report "a model" and claiming that "the committee sets aside political ideologies to work together for what’s best for students and educators."

Doubtful.

AFT is listed as a partner on the project though it appears, after scanning the list of partners and consultants, that no k-12 educators were involved in creating he report. So no, Randi -- not a "model".

Actually, the report does represent a step up from where we've been for the past three decades since A Nation at Risk" set us on our current destructive course. In some ways, both documents are similar with each taking globalism and the race for American supremacy as its starting point. The new report is filled with much of the same empty reformy rhetoric about our failing schools and the need for "world standards" and "alignment."

“In several of the countries studied, teaching is regarded as an honorable and respected profession, comparable to medicine and law, and not a burden on the local property tax.” — State Representative Mary Stuart Gile, -- D-N.H.

On the positive side, the report contains no mention of standardized testing, school choice, charter schools or privatization in its list of recommendations. Instead it calls for "a strong early education system, a re-imagined and professionalized teacher workforce [I sensed Linda Darling-Hammond's presence here], robust career and technical education programs, and a comprehensive, aligned system of education."

Most importantly, there was a strong statement on the effects of poverty as a key determinant in student academic success.

In the United States, children in poverty now account for about a quarter of all children in public schools. Large numbers of American children enter first grade with disadvantages that may overwhelm the school’s capacity to provide an adequate education. Because high-performing countries provide supports to ensure that children are ready for school, their schools typically do not face similar challenges.

Once students in top-performing countries are in school, those who struggle receive extra help to reach the same high standards other students will reach more easily. Providing additional resources to schools serving disadvantaged, struggling students is a priority.

More teachers are typically allocated to such schools, with the best teachers serving in the most challenged ones. Resources are also reallocated within schools to reach those most in need of extra support. These countries demonstrate that, with added support, struggling students can meet high expectations. Inversely, American students from the wealthiest communities are most likely to get the best teachers and the finest facilities because of the way we structure our finance systems.

A far cry from the reformers' current "no excuses" rhetoric.

The report takes notice of Finland's focus on equity:

Finland prides itself on providing equity of opportunity to learn and inclusion. Resources are directed to the most high-need students and schools. Students with special needs are often mainstreamed in regular classrooms but receive significant additional support. Ninety-eight percent of the cost of education is covered by government.

However, no mention of the effects of race, racism or segregation. The word, unions, appears only once in the report. This, despite the fact that most of the countries investigated have a strong unionized teacher force. But the one reference is positive, a recommendation that unions have a seat at the reform table. No wonder Randi is so enthusiastic.

How much influence "No Time To Lose" will have is anyone's guess. With the passage of ESSA and the weakened federal role in influencing state ed policy -- in part, a backlash against Duncan's overreach, Common Core and Race To The Top -- it's doubtful that this report will have much weight in red states.

Unless of course, the Republican crisis that is Trumpism, turns many of them blue or at least purple.

Today's knee-slappers

Funniest Quotables:

Fariley

"I plan to operate independently. That’s how I operated as a federal prosecutor. I would go off and do the investigations and report on them and take my actions. Nor do I feel any pressure from the mayor to conduct my work in any way.”-- IPRA chief, Sharon Fairley  

“Urban Prep has always respected teachers’ right to organize, and as such, would never dismiss any teacher because of his or her organizing activity.” -- Chief operations officer Evan Lewis 

Patton 

“He's [Dan Webb] not going to sully his reputation by not doing a good and thorough job, and I don't want him to." -- Rahm's top City Hall lawyer, Steve Patton 

 The bipartisan reform of No Child Left Behind was an important start, and together, we’ve increased early childhood education, lifted high school graduation rates to new highs, and boosted graduates in fields like engineering. -- Pres. Obama's SOTU speech 

Dying laughing. Oregon "militia" said people keep sending "bags of dicks" to their camp. Dildos from Amazon. 😂😂😂 https://t.co/cZAVJjmYQM

— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) January 13, 2016

IPRA chief vows to cut umbilical cord to City Hall to help restore public trust broken by Laquan McDonald case https://t.co/1bNWHSOlTe

— Fran Spielman (@fspielman) January 12, 2016

Darling-Hammond has some smart things to say about testing

Linda Darling-Hammond thinks that passage of a new bipartisan ESEA bill is "really possible". I doubt it. But I don't run in those circles.

Writing this week in Huffington Post, she says any new federal legislation has to represent a break from the old No Child Left Behind, especially on testing and assessment. She correctly points out that despite NCLB's focus on more and more standardized testing, "achievement gains have slowed in the NCLB era, and achievement gaps have remained stubbornly large". Many of her criticisms of current testing approaches also apply to the new PARCC exams.

You might remember that Darling-Hammond was unceremoniously dumped and exiled back to Palo Alto by an Obama administration that had bought uncritically into the worst aspects of corporate-style reform. Fearful that she was too teacher/union friendly, they handed the D.O.E. over to Arne Duncan instead. The consequences have been disastrous for public education.

I still think Darling-Hammond is too accepting of Common Core standards and of testing as a driver of curriculum. But, I think she offers some smart ideas about how and why we test. They include:

• Assessment results should be reported and used for information and improvement, rather than for labeling schools or administering sanctions, a purpose for which they were never intended. 

• Federal law should no longer prescribe technical features of tests - how they are designed and administered -- in ways that prevent innovation and change. 

• States should be invited to create integrated systems of state- and locally-administered assessments that provide information for the multiple purposes they need to serve, combining rich assessments to describe annual student learning and progress in ways that can inform teaching. 

• ESEA should encourage accountability systems based on multiple measures of student success, as well as students' opportunities to learn.

She gives examples from other countries like Singapore, New Zealand and Australia (What? No Finland?), where externally-administered tests are less frequent (usually once or twice before high school, plus examinations at the end of high school to inform college and career decisions), but much deeper than in the U.S.

These open-ended exams, which feature essay questions and complex problems, often include project-based components completed during the school year and scored by teachers who are trained to ensure consistency. Rather than treating tests as black boxes to use as hammers for sanctions, these countries understand that assessments of, as, and for learning should be integrated into instruction and support better teaching. 

Good ideas, Linda. Good luck in getting any of them through this congress.

Researchers Call For an End To Test-based Reforms

Open Letter to Congress and the Obama Administration from Educational Researchers Nationwide

Dear Members of Congress and the Obama Administration:

We are researchers and professors in colleges, universities, and other research institutions throughout the United States with scholarly and practical expertise in public education, including education policy, school reform, teaching and learning, assessment, and educational equity. As Congress revises and reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, we strongly urge departing from test-focused reforms that not only have been discredited for high-stakes decisions, but also have shown to widen, not close, gaps and inequities. The current reauthorization provides an historic opportunity to leverage federal resources to address the deeper and more systemic problems with strategies that research has compellingly demonstrated to be far more effective in improving the educational opportunities and success of all students, particularly those in highest need. Specifically, we write to endorse the concerns, analyses, and recommendations in the recently released policy memo from the National Education Policy Center, “Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act: Time to Move Beyond Test-focused Policies,” which is available online at http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/esea.

The following researchers endorse the NEPC memo, as of February 14, 2015. Affiliations are listed for identification purposes only.

Contact Person: Kevin Kumashiro, Dean, University of San Francisco School of Education, kkumashiro@usfca.edu

Adriana Tapanes, Professor, Harold Washington College-City Colleges of Chicago

Aimee LaPointe Terosky, Faculty, Saint Joseph's University

Al Schademan, Associate Professor, CSU Chico

Alan Singer, Faculty, Hofstra University

Alan W. Garrett, Faculty, Eastern New Mexico University

Alan Young, Resource Teacher/Project Manager-JCPS Educator Growth System, Jefferson County Public Schools/Jefferson County Teachers Association (KY)

Alberto Lopez-Carrasquillo, Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Northeastern Illinois University

Alex Molnar, Research Professor, University of Colorado Boulder

Alicia A Bower, Graduate Student/Assistant, University of Nebraska at Omaha

Alisa Leckie, Assistant Professor, Georgia Southern University

Alyson Martin, Assistant Professor Special Education, Fairfield University

Alyssa Dunn, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University

Amanda Moreno, Assistant Professor, Erikson Institute

Amy Boelé, Assistant Professor, University of Colorado Denver

Amy Brown, Ph.D., Faculty, University of Pennsylvania Critical Writing Program

Amy Frederick, Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin River Falls

Amy Levin, Professor, California State University, Northridge

Amy Millikan, Director of Clinical Education, San Francisco Teacher Residency

Anaida Colon-Muniz, Associate Professor, Chapman University

Andrea Gelfuso, Faculty Researcher, University of Central Florida

Andrea Hyde, Associate Professor, Western Illinois University

Andrea Word, Faculty, The University of Alabama in Huntsville

Anita Fernández, Faculty/Director, Prescott College

Anita S. Charles, Dir of Teacher Education, Bates College

Ann Bracken, Lecturer, University of Maryland

Ann Mogush Mason, Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin, River Falls

Ann Schulte, Professor, California State University, Chico

Anna Lou Herzer, Independent Researcher, None - Independent

Anna O. Graeber, Faculty/Associate Professor Emeriti, University of Maryland

Anna O. Soter, Professor Emerita, The Ohio State University

Anne E Campbell, Associate Dean and Director TESOL and Bilingual Education Programs, Fairfield University

Annette M. Daoud, Professor, California State University, San Marcos

Annie Adamian, Adjunct Faculty, CSU-Chico

Anthony Costa, Director of Field Experiences, Fairfield University

Anthony J. Moss, Researcher / Data Analyst, Kansas State Dept. of Education

Anthony Kenneth Tufie Francis, Assistant Professor of Teacher Development, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan

Antonette Aragon, Associate Professor, Colorado State University

Arnold Danzig, Professor, San Jose State University

Arshad I. Ali, Assistant Professor, George Washington University

Aryn Kruse, Faculty, Simpson College

Barbara Adams, Assistant Professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Barbara Ferman, Professor of Political Science, Temple University

Barbara Garii, Dean, CEIT, LIU-Post

Barbara McClanahan, Associate Professor, Southeastern Oklahoma State University

Barbara Morgan-Fleming, Professor, College of Education, Texas Tech University

Barbara Torre Veltri, Associate Professor, Northern Arizona University

Beatriz Quintos, Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Maryland

Benjamin C. Herman, Assistant Professor of Science Education, University of South Florida

Beth Graue, Sorenson Professor of Childhood Studies, University of Wisconsin Madison

Beth Nason Quick, Dean, College of Education, University of Alabama in Huntsville

Betsy Gilliland, Assistant Professor, University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa

Bette J. Shellhorn, Associate Professor, Eastern Michigan University

Bettina Mileur, Teacher/Researcher, UAA

Bill Rosenthal, Associate Professor, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY

Brad Alan Biggs, Assistant Professor, California State University Fullerton

Bradley Porfilio, Associate Professor, California State University, East Bay

Brandelyn Tosolt, Associate Professor, Northern Kentucky University

Brandon S. Diamond, Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Miami

Bree Picower, Faculty, Montclair State University

Brian D. Schultz, Professor and Chair, Northeastern Illinois University

Brian Dotts, Associate Clinical Professor, University of Georgia

Brian Horn, Assistant Professor, Illinois State University

Bruce J. Biddle, Professor Emeritus, University of Missouri

Bruce Marlowe, Professor of Educational Psychology and Special Education, Roger Williams University

Bryan Ripley Crandall, Assistant Professor, Director of Connecticut Writing Project-Fairfield, Fairfield University

Bryan, Faculty, Portland State University

Burcu Ates, Faculty, Sam Houston State University

C.J. Pascoe, Assistant Professor, University of Oregon

Candice Dawson, Chief Executive Officer, dreaM Endlessly Consulting

Carie Green, Assistant Professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Carol Burris, Principal and NEPC Fellow, South Side High School

Carol Caref, Researcher, Chicago Teachers Union

Carol M. Pate, Ed.D., Faculty researcher, La Salle University

Carolina Napp-Avelli, Clinical faculty, University of Maryland

Carolyn Walker Hitchens, Associate Professor, Ball State University

Carolyne J. White, Professor, Rutgers University-Newark

Carrie Anna Courtad, Assistant Professor, Illinois State University

Carrie Semmelroth, Lecturer, Boise State University

Casey D. Cobb, Associate Dean, Neag School of Education

Cassondra Gendron, Adjunct Faculty, Supplemental Instruction Coordinator, Westfield State University

Catherine Lugg, Professor, Rutgers University

Catherine M. Koehler, Faculty, Southern Connecticut State University

Cathy Coulter, Associate Professor, University of Alaska Anchorage

Charles Timothy Dickel, EdD, Professor of Education (Counseling and Educational Psychology), Creighton University

Chela Delgad PhD, Coliseum College Prep Academy

Cheryl E. Matias, Assistant Professor, University of Colorado Denver

Christian Rewoldt, Ph.D. Candidate, Educational Policy and Leadership Studies, University of Texas at Arlington

Christian Z. Goering, Faculty, University of Arkansas

Christine Irujo, Associate Professor, Westfield State University

Christine Nganga, Assistant Professor, South Dakota State University

Christine Purkiss, Associate Professor of Teacher Education, Angelo State University

Christine Sleeter, Professor Emerita, California State University Monterey Bay

Christine von Renesse, Faculty (Associate Professor), Westfield State University

Christopher Bjork, Professor, Vassar College

Christopher Buttimer, doctoral student/researcher/instructor, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Christopher C. Martell, Clinical Assistant Professor, Boston University

Christopher P. Brown, Associate Professor, The University of Texas at Austin

Christopher Tienken, Faculty, Seton Hall University

Cindy Cruz, Faculty, UC Santa Cruz

Cindy Lutenbacher, Associate Professor of English, Morehouse College

Claire Fontaine, Adjunct Faculty, Long Island University

Colette N. Cann, Assistant Professor, Vassar College

Colette, Faculty, San Jose State University

Colleen M. Fairbanks, Professor, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Connie North, Counselor, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Cristen Jenkins, Faculty, Northeastern Illinois University

Cristian Aquino-Sterling, Assistant Professor, School of Education - San Diego State University

Cynthia L. Carver, Associate Professor, Oakland University

Cynthia Lewis, Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota

Dan Clawson, Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Dan Hanley, Educational Researcher/Evaluator, Western Washington University

Dana A. Robertson, Assistant Professor, University of Wyoming

Dana Wright, Assistant Professor, Connecticut College

Daniel Glisczinski, Associate Professor, University of Minnesota Duluth

Daniel Meier, Professor, San Francisco State University

Daniel R. Hittleman, Professor Emeritus of Literacy Education, The City University of New York/Queens

Darlene Yee-Melichar, Professor, Gerontology, San Francisco State University

Darrell C. Hucks, Assistant Professor, Keene State College

Dave F. Brown, Ed. D., Educational Researcher, West Chester University, PA

David A. Raker, Ed.D, Professor of Education, Westfield State University

David F. Hemphill, Professor of Education, San Francisco State University

David Goodwin, Associate Professor, Missouri State University

David Gray Matthews, Assistant Professor, University of Memphis

David Kopperud, Education Programs Consultant, California Association of Supervisors of Child Welfare and Attendance

David Meens, Ph.D. Candidate and Instructor, University of Colorado Boulder

David R. Stronck, Professor, California State University, East Bay

David Schaafsma, Professor of English, University of Illinois at Chicago

David Spring M. Ed., Educational Researcher, Formerly University of Washington

David Stovall, Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago

David V. Madrigal, Supervisor, Teacher Ed., California State University, East Bay

Dawn Hunter, Professor, Director of Ph.D. Program, Chapman University

Debbie Sonu, Assistant Professor, Hunter College, CUNY

Deborah A. Brown Ed. D., Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas

Deborah Amchin, Doctoral Student/Researcher, University of the Cumberlands

Deborah L. Garvey, Treasurer & Director, Friends of African Village Libraries

Deborah L. Hanuscin, Associate Professor, University of Missouri

Deborah Lutz Associate Professor, Long Island University, C.W. Post

Deborah Walker, Grant Manager, Georgia Southern University

Denise Fleming, Professor, California State University, East Bay

Denise Oen, Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Georgia

Derrick Mears, Ed.S. Program Coordinator/Clinical Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction/Educational Technology, University of Arkansas

Diane Horwitz, Coordinator Education Forums, DePaul University

Diane Ketelle, Professor of Education, Mills College

Dianne R. Layden, Retired Faculty, Central New Mexico Community College

Don Zancanella, Professor, University of New Mexico

Doris A Santoro, Associate Professor, Bowdoin College

Doug Holton, Associate Director, Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Douglas Cosr, Researcher, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Douglas Kaufman, Associate Professor, University of Connecticut

Douglas Larkin, Assistant Professor, Montclair State University, New Jersey

Dr. Arnold Dodge, Associate Professor/Chair, Long Island University/C.W. Post Campus

Dr. Kevin J. Miller, Professor, Chair of Exceptional Education Dept.,SUNY - Buffalo State

Dr. Randal M. Ernst, Curriculum Specialist, Lincoln Public Schools (NE)

Dr. Sandra Howard, Associate Professor, Keene State College

E. Wayne Ross, Professor, University of British Columbia

Edmund C. Short, Associate Faculty, University of Central Florida College of Education and Human Performance

Edward Haertel, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University

Elaine Mo, Assistant Professor, University of the Pacific

Elaine Pierce Chakonas, Associate Professor, Northeastern Illinois University

Elaine Radmer, Assistant Professor, Gonzaga University

Elizabeth A. St.Pierre , Professor, University of Georgia

Elizabeth Brockman, English Professor, Central Michigan University

Elizabeth DeMulder, Faculty, College of Education and Human Development/George Mason University

Elizabeth H. DeBray, Faculty, University of Georgia

Elizabeth J. Meyer, Assistant Professor, California Polytechnic State University

Elizabeth Kean, Professor Emerita, California State University, Sacramento

Elizabeth V Moore, Associate Professor of Practice, Northern Arizona University

Emilie Berruezo Rodger, Associate Professor, Northern Arizona University

Encarna Rodriguez, Faculty, Saint Joseph's Unversity

Eric Engdahl, Faculty/Chair, California State University, East Bay

Eric Freeman, Faculty, Wichita State University

Eric Milou, Faculty, Professor of Mathematics, Rowan University

Erica Hernandez-Scott, Associate Teaching Professor, University of Missouri-Kansas City

Erica Meiners, Professor, Northeastern Illinois University

Erik Jacobson, Associate Professor, Montclair State University

Erin Hurt, Assistant Professor, West Chester University

Erin McCloskey, Chair, Associate Professor of Education, Vassar College

Erin McNamara Horvat, Associate Professor, Temple University

Erin Ramos, Educator & Advocate, Good Shepherd Services, NYC

Ernest Rose, Professor, Loyola Marymount University

Ethan Margolis, Director of Education Leadership, University of Bridgeport

Eunsook Hong, Professor, College of Education, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Eva Travers, Prof. Emerita, Swarthmore College

Evan Sterling, Researcher, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Eve Tuck, Associate Professor of Educational Foundations, State University of New York at New Paltz

Faith Boninger, Researcher, University of Colorado Boulder

Federico R. Waitoller, Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago

Florence R. Sullivan, Faculty, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Forrest W. Parkay, Professor, Educational Leadership, Washington State University

Frances Julia Riemer, Professor, Northern Arizona University

Francine Hultgren, Professor and Chair, University of Maryland

Francisco Rios, Dean, Western Washington University

Frank Adamson, Senior Policy and Research Analyst, Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education

Frank Bernt, Professor, Saint Joseph's University

Frank Goeddeke, Jr., Adjunct Assistant Professor, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Frank M Bernt, Professor and Chair, Teacher Education Department, Saint Joseph's University

Gail Sunderman, Senior Research Scientist, College of Education, University of Maryland

Gary Galluzzo, Professor, George Mason University

Gary Troia, Associate Professor, Michigan State University

Gayle Andrews, Professor, University of Georgia

Gene V Glass, Researcher, Arizona State University

George Lipsitz, Faculty, University of California, Santa Barbara

George Yonge, Professor emeritus, University of California @ Davis

Gil Naizer, Professor, Texas A&M University-Commerce

Gilda Bloom-Leiva, Professor, San Francisco State University

Giselle Abed, Associate Director, Career Center, Westfield State University

Glen I. Earthman, Professor Emeritus - Educational Leadership, Virginia Tech

Grace Maes, Lecturer Teacher Education, CSU EASTBAY

Graciela Slesaransky-Poe, Professor and Dean, Arcadia University

Gregory J. Marchant, Professor of Educational Psychology, Ball State University

Grisel Y. Acosta, Assistant Professor, Bronx Community College-City University of New York

Gustavo E. Fischman, Professor, Arizona State University

Guy Senese, Professor, Northern Arizona University

Hans Brügelmann, Professor, University of Siegen/ Germany

Heather Hickman, Adjunct Faculty, Lewis University

Heather Lattimer, Assoc. Professor & Chair, University of San Diego

Heidi Stevenson, Associate Professor , University of the Pacific

Heinz-Dieter Meyer, Associate Professor, SUNY Albany

Helen Berg, Faculty, Sam Houston State University

Ingrid Seyer-Ochi, Faculty, Mills College, School of Education

IRMA OLMEDO, ASSOC. PROF. EMERITA, U. ILLINOIS-CHICAGO

Isabel Nunez, Faculty, University of San Francisco

Jaekyung Lee, The Graduate School of Education, The University at Buffalo, SUNY

James Bucky Carter, Ph.D., Independent Scholar, Formerly of Washington State University, Pullman, and the University of Texas at El Paso Dean, The Graduate School of Education, The University at Buffalo, SUNY

James H. Nehring, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell

James MaKinster, Professor of Education, Hobart and William Smith Colleges

James Martinez, Faculty/Assistant Professor, Valdosta State University

James P. Burns, Assistant Professor, South Dakota State University

James R. King, Faculty, University of South Florida

James S. Cruz, Researcher/ Practitioner, CSU East Bay

Jamie B. Lewiz, Assistant Professor, Georgia Gwinnett College

Jan Nespor, Professor, The Ohio State University

Jane C. Chauvin, Professor, Loyola University New Orleans

Jane M. Gangi, PhD, Associate Professor, Mount Saint Mary College

Jane Piirto, Trustees, Distinguished Professor, Ashland University

Janelle Scott, Associate Professor, UC Berkeley

Janet E. Helms, Augustus Long Professor, Institute for the Study & Promotion of Race and Culture at Boston College

Janet Isbell, Assistant Professor, Tennessee Technological University

Janet L Miller, Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University

Janice Koch, Professor Emerita/ Researcher, Hofstra University

Janine Dahms Walker, Associate Professor

Jason Fitzgerald, Assistant Professor, Wagner College

Jason L. Endacott, Assistant Profesdor, University of Arkansas

Jeanne Henry, Associate Professor, Hofstra University

Jeannie Oakes, Presidential Professor Emeritus, UCLA

Jennifer Barrett-Tatum, Assistant professor, College of Charleston

Jennifer Edstrom, Field Supervisor University of San Diego

Jennifer Oloff-Lewis, Assistant Professor, CSU, Chico

Jeong-eun Rhee, Faculty, Long Island University, Post

Jeong-Hee Kim, Associate Professor, Kansas State University

Jerry Page Becker, Professor, Southern Illinois University

Jerry Rosiek, Associate Professor, University of Oregon

Jerusha Conner, Associate Professor, Villanova University

Jesse Wilcox, Assistant Professor, Grand View University

Jessica Bacon, Assistant Professor, Lehman College, CUNY

Jessica H. Stubbs, Ph.D., Resource Helping Teacher, St. Tammany Parish Public Schools, USM grad

Jessie B. Ramey, Visiting Scholar, University of Pittsburgh

Jill Klefstad, Faculty, University of Wisconsin-Stout

Jim La Prad, Associate Professor, Philosophical and Social Foundations of Education, Western Illinois University

Joan C. Grim, Lecturer, University of TN, Knoxville

Joan T. Wynne, Faculty/Program Leader Urban Education, Florida International University

Joanne Healy, Asssistant Professor of Special Education, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Joanne Olson, Director, Center for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, & Engineering Education, Iowa State University

Joe Bishop, Professor, Eastern Michigan University

John E. McEneane, Professor, Oakland University

John Kohl, Retired Prof and Dean Emeritus, Montana State University

John Lutz, Associate Professor and Chair of English, Long Island University, Post Campus

John M. Davis, Ph.D., Chair, Educational Psychology, CSU East Bay

John R. Staver, Professor of Science Education and Chemistry, Purdue University

John Wesley White, Associate Professor, University of North Florida

Joi Spencer, Associate Professor, University of San Diego

Jose M. Cobos, Faculty, James Logan H.S.

José Paez, Full Time Lecturer, California State University, Northridge

Joseph J. Ferrare, Assistant Professor, University of Kentucky

Joseph Levine, Professor of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Joseph Sanacore, Professor, Long Island University

Joyce Strand, Faculty, University of Minnesota Duluth

Judith A. Gouwens, Professor of Elementary Education, Roosevelt University

Judith Brooks-Buck, PhD, Professor, Virginia State University

Judith Calhoon, Associate Professor, College of Education, University of New Mexico

Judith Reed, Ed.D., Associate Professor of Education, Keene State College

Judy Helfand, Instructor of Humanities, Santa Rosa Junior College

Julia Sass Rubin, Associate Professor, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University

Julian F. Fleron, Professor of Mathematics, Westfield State University

Julian Vasquez Heilig, Professor, California State University Sacramento

Julie F. Mead, Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Julie Gorlewski, Assistant Professor, SUNY New Paltz

Julie Westerlund, Associate Professor, Texas State University

Julie, Associate Professor of Practice, Mills College

June M. Robinson, Director of Special Education programs, University of St. Francis

Kaia Tollefson, PhD, Associate Professor of Education, California State University Channel Islands

Kara Mitchell Viesca, Faculty, University of Colorado Denver

Karen Cadiero-Kaplan, Professor, San Diego State University

Karen DeMoss, Faculty, Wagner College

Karen Kusiak, Faculty-Education Program, Colby College

Karen M. Wieland, Assistant Professor, Graduate Literacy Education, St. Bonaventure University

Karl Lashley, Faculty, UNC Greensboro

Karl Wheatley, Associate Professor, Cleveland State University

Kate Bielaczyc, Associate Professor, Clark University

Katherine Bertolini, Faculty-Assistant Professor, South Dakota State University

Katherine Ryan, Professor Emerita, University of Illinois at Urbana

Katherine Schultz, Dean, Mills College, School of Education

Kathleen A. Gormley, Professor, The Sage Colleges

Kathleen Crawford, Faculty, Georgia Southern University

Kathleen D. Rowlands, Professor, California State University, Northridge

Kathleen Dunn, Professor Emerita and a current school board member, Simmons College

Kathleen McInerney, Associate Professor, Saint Xavier University

Kathleen Nolan, Lecturer, Princeton University

Kathleen Riley, Faculty, West Chester University of Pennsylvania

Kathleen Scott, Adjunct Faculty, Ashland University

Kathleen Wagner, Assistant Professor, Eastern New Mexico University

Kathy Escamilla, Professor, University of Colorado, Boulder

Kathy M. Newman, Associate Professor of English, Carnegie Mellon University

Katie Brkich, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education, Georgia Southern University

Katie Zahedi, Assistant Professor, State University of New York, New Paltz

Katya Aguilar, Associate Professor, San Jose State University

Kay Ann Taylor, Associate Professor, Kansas State University

Kay Hutchins Sato, Assistant Provost, LIU Post

Keith Adolphson, Associate Professor, Eastern Washington University

Kelly Mogiefsky, Instructor, University Supervisor, California State University, East Bay

Kenneth Haar, Associate Professor, Westfield State University

Kenneth Jerich, Professor Emeritus, Illinois State University School of Teaching and Learning, College of Education, Illinois State University

Kerry Enright, Associate Professor, University of California, Davis

Kerry Kretchmar, Assistant Professor of Education, Carroll University

Kevin Brady, Lecturer (retired), Univ. of New Mexico

Kevin Brown, Richard S Melvin Professor, Indiana University Maurer School of Law

Kevin D. Finson, Faculty, Bradley University

Kevin Gary, Associate Professor, Valparaiso University

Kevin Welner, Faculty, University of Colorado Boulder

Kimberly E. Lewinski, Assistant Professor, La Salle University

Kimberly Kopfman, Researcher, George Mason University

Kris, Director of Assessment, USF College of Education

Kristien Zenkov, Associate Professor, George Mason University

Kurt Killion, Professor, Mathematics Education, Missouri State University

Kyounghee Seo, St. Cloud State University

Lacey Peters, Assistant Professor, Hunter College, CUNY

Laura Ramirez, Faculty, Concordia University

Laurel Puchner, Professor, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Lauren Anderson, Assistant Professor, Connecticut College

Lauren Gatti, Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska

Lauren Madden, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, The College of New Jersey

Laurence Parker, Faculty, University of Utah

Lawrence Baines, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, University of Oklahoma

Lawrence Blum, Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Education, University of Massachusetts Boston

Lee Anne Bell, Professor, Barnard College

Leigh Patel, Associate Professor, Boston College

Leslie P. Steffe, Research Professor, University of Georgia

Leslie Rebecca Bloom, Faculty, Roosevelt University

Lettie Ramirez, Faculty, CSU East Bay

Linda Bynoe, Faculty, California State University, Monterey By

Linda M Espinosa, Professor, University of Missouri-Columbia

Linda Valli, Faculty, University of Maryland

Lindsay Portnoy, Assistant Professor, Hunter College, CUNY, NYC

Ling Liang, Associate Professor, La Salle University

Lisa A. Escarcega, Chief Accountability/Research Officer, Aurora Public Schools

Lisa Edstrom, Faculty, Barnard College

Lisa M. Jones, Ph.D., Program Evaluator, Aurora Public Schools

Lisa Martin-Hansen, Professor, Science Education, California State University, Long Beach

Lisa Zagumny, Associate dean, College of Education, Tennessee Technological University

Lloyd Komatsu, Assessment and Evaluation Coordinator, Forest Lake Area Schools

Lorena Guillen, Instructor, University of Washington

Lucia Figueras, Math Content Specialist, NYC Department of Education

Luis O.Reyes, Research Associate, Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College, CUNY

Lunetta Williams, Associate Professor, University of North Florida

Luz A. Murillo, Associate Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Lynn Gatto, Professor/Director of Elementary Education, Warner School/University of Rochester

Lynne E. Houtz, MS, PhD, Professor, Creighton University, Education Department

M Bruce King, Faculty Associate, University of Wisconsin-Madison

M Cecil Smith, Professor of Learning Sciences & Human Development, West Virginia University

M. Najeeb Shafiq, Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh

Magali Sarfatti Larson, Professor Emerita, Temple University

Maika Watanabe, Associate Professor, San Francisco State University

Makeba Jones, Faculty and researcher, UC San Diego

Makenzie Selland, Assistant Professor, Utah Valley University

Marc A. Markell, Professor, St. Cloud State University

Marcia B. Imbeau, Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Arkansas

Marco Gemignani, Associate Professor, Duquesne University

Marcus B. Weaver-Hightower, Professor and Chair, Educational Foundations and Research, University of North Dakota

Mardi Schmeichel, Assistant Professor, University of Georgia

Margaret Austin Smith, Instructor, University of Maryland

Margaret Gail Shroyer, Professor, College of Education, Kansas State University

Margaret Sauceda Curwen, Assistant Professor, Chapman University

Margaret Walker, Faculty, University of MD

Margo Dichtelmiller, Professor, Eastern Michigan University

Maria Hantzopoulos, Assistant Professor, Vassar College

Maria Isabel Quita, Professor, San Francisco State University

Maria José Botelho, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Mariana Souto-Manning, Associate Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University

Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Cawthorne Professor of Teacher education for Urban Schools, Boston College

Marilyn Grave, Associate Professor, Teacher Education, University of Minnesota Crookston Professor, Director of Ph.D. Program, Chapman University

Mark Nagasawa, Assistant Professor, Erikson Institute

Mark Stern, Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Studies, Colgate University

Marla King Robertson, Researcher, University of North Texas

Martina Nieswandt, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Marvin Lynn, Dean, School of Education, Indiana University South Bend

Mary Ann Wallace, Assistant Professor, Secondary Education, McNeese State University

Mary Beth Noll, Professor, St. Cloud State University

Mary DeKonty Applegate, Professor and Researcher, St. Joseph's University

Mary Guay, Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Georgia

Mary Inglis Burke Givens, Faculty, The University of Alabama

Mary Yee Ed.d, Candidate and Research Assistant, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education

Marya Levenson, Professor of the Practice in Education, Brandeis University

Máté Wierdl, Faculty, University of Memphis

Maureen P Hogan, Associate Professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Meg Callahan-Steckley, Associate Professor, Nazareth College

Meg J. Petersen, Professor, Plymouth State University

Megan Hopkins, Assistant Professor, Pennsylvania State University

Mel Freilicher, Lecturer, University of California San Diego

Meredith Mountford, Professor/Director, UCEA Center for Research on District Governance, Florida Atlantic University

Merril Simon, Faculty, California State Univ., Northridge

Meta Van Sickle, Professor, College of Charleston

Michael Hass, Professor, Chapman University

Michael J. Carter, Assistant Professor, California State University, Northridge

Michael K. Barbour, Director of Doctoral Studies, Sacred Heart University

Michael Klonsky, Faculty, DePaul University

Michael McVey, Associate Professor, Eastern Michigan University

Michael P. Clough, Professor of Science Education, Iowa State University

Michael Svec, Associate Professor, Furman University

Michele Dornisch, Associate Professor, Long Island University

Michele S. Moses, Faculty, University of Colorado Boulder

Michelle Jewett, Faculty, Central NM Community College

Michelle Proctor, Department Chair – Education, The College of Lake County

Michelle Reidel, Associate Professor of Social Studies Education

Michelle Renee, Associate Director/Adjunct Assistant Professor, Annenberg Institute for School Reform Brown University , Georgia Southern University

Miguel Zavala, Assistant Professor, California State University, Fullerton, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, UCLA

Mindy Legard Larson, Associate Professor of Education, Linfield College

Mitchell J. Chang, Professor, UCLA

Monica Taylor, Associate Professor, Montclair State University

Moreen Carvan, Director of Assurance for Learning (Admin), Marian University Wisconsin

Morgan V Lewis, Research Scientist, Retired, Ohio State University

Morna McDermott, Professor, Towson University

Nancy Dulberg, Professor of Education, Saint Mary's College of California

Nancy Flanagan Knapp, Associate Professor, University of Georgia, College of Education

Nancy Frye, Professor, Long Island University, Post

Nancy S. Niemi, Professor and Chair, University of New Haven

Natalia Smirnov, Doctoral Student/Researcher, Northwestern University

Nathan Snaza, Faculty in English; Education and Society; Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Richmond

Nathan Taylor, Assistant Professor, Robert Morris University

Nelly Stromquist, Professor, University of Maryland

Nelson Flores, Assistant, Professor, University of Pennsylvania

Nicholas D. Hartlep, Assistant Professor of Educational Foundations, Illinois State University

Nikola Hobbel, Associate Professor, English Education, Humboldt State University, California

Nikole Richardson, Assistant Professor, Mills College

Noah A. Rubin, Director of Elementary Education, Wellesley College

Nora Hyland, Associate Professor, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Norman A Stahl, Professor Emeritus, Northern Illinois University

Patriann Smith, Faculty Researcher, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign

Patricia A. Whang, Professor, CSU Monterey Bay

Patricia A. Woodward-Young, Professor, Simpson College

Patricia Burch, Associate Professor, University of Southern California Rossier School of Education

Patricia Donohue, Assistant Professor and Researcher, San Francisco State University

Patricia H. Hinchey, Professor of Education, Penn State

Patricia Irvine, Associate Dean, San Francisco State University

Patricia McGuire, President, Trinity Washington University

Patricia Morrell, Professor, University of Portland

Patricia Stall, Professor, California State University San Marcos

Patrick Henry Smith, Associate Professor Bilingual Education and Literacy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Patrick McQuillan, Associate Professor, Lynch School of Education, Boston College

Patrick Pritchett, Visiting Assistant Professor, Amherst College

Paul C. Gorski, Associate Professor, George Mason University

Paul L. Thomas, Associate Professor, Faculty Director First Year Seminars, Furman University

Paul Tractenberg, Board of Governors Public Service Professor of Law, Director, Institute on Education Law & Policy, Rutgers University-Newark

Penelope Earley, Professor, Education Policy, George Mason University

Pete Farruggio, Associate Professor, Bilingual Education

Peter C. Cormas, Assistant Professor, California University of Pennsylvania

Peter Jones, Director, Institutional Effectiveness, California Institute of Integral Studies, University of Texas Pan American

Peter McLaren, Distinguished Professor in Critical Studies, Chapman University

Peter Pereira, Professor Emeritus, DePaul University

Peter Smagorinsky, Distinguished Research Professor, The University of Georgia

Peter Taubman, Faculty, Brooklyn College

Phil Smith, Professor of Special Education, Eastern Michigan University

Philip E. Kovacs, Associate Professor, University of Alabama in Huntsville

Philip P. Patterson, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Special Education, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Philip Ross, EdD/Faculty administrator, Southeast Community College

Phillip Harris, Executive Director, ASSOCIATION FOR EDUCATIONAL COMMUNICATION & TECHNOLOGY

Phyllis Fernlund, Professor, California State University Chico

Pradeep M. Dass, Director, Center for Science Teaching and Learning, Northern Arizona University

Preston D. Feden, Faculty, LaSalle University

Priscilla Sanville, Associate Professor, Lesley University

R. Clarke Fowler, Professor and Chair, Salem State University

Rachel Lambert, Assistant Professor, College of Educational Studies, Chapman University

Rafael Gomez, Independent Researcher, Family & Education Research on Achievement

Raymond R. Isola, Ed.D, Retired Principal, Independent Writer & Researcher, San Francisco Unified School District

Rebecca A. Goldstein, Associate Professor of Secondary and Special Education, Montclair State University

Rebecca Crawford, Educator, Indiana University

Rebecca T. Barber, Faculty Associate, Arizona State University

Regina Figueiredo-Brown, Assistant Professor, East Carolina University

Rhea Settles, Ed.D, Clinical Faculty, California State University, East Bay

Ricardo D. Rosa, Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth

Richard L. Allington, Professor of Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee

Richard R. Valencia, Faculty, University of Texas at Austin

Richard Strot, Faculty, Baylor University

Rob Erwin, Associate Professor, College of Education, Niagara University

Rob Linne, Professor, Adelphi University

Robert A. Domingo, Associate Professor; Chair, LIU / Post Campus

Robert A. Wiggins, Professor, Oakland University

Robert Ceglie, Assistant Professor, Queens University of Charlotte

Robert D Hannafin, Dean, Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions, Fairfield University

Robert L Jarvis, Ph.D., Administrator, University of Pennsylvania

Robert L. Blomeyer, Jr. Ph.D., Retired Ed. Researcher & Teacher Educator, Senior Research Associate @ NCREL

Robert M Gray, PhD, Faculty/Administrator, University of South Alabama

Robert McEntarffer, Assessment/Evaluation Specialist, Lincoln Public Schools

Roberta Ahlquist, Professor, Faculty, San Jose State University

Roberta Levitt, PhD, Associate Professor, LIU Post

Robin Marion, Faculty, Westfield State University

Robin R. Jones, Retired Faculty, University of South Florida

Rose Marie Codling, Faculty, College of Southern Maryland

Rosemarie Michaels, Assistant professor, chair of Elementary Teacher Preparation, Dominican University of California

Roxana Marachi, Associate Professor of Education, San Jose State University

Ruchi Agarwal- Rangnath, Adjunct Professor, San Francisco State University

Ruth Burkett, Associate Professor of Science Education, University of Central Missouri

Ruth Kermish-Allen, Executive Director, Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance

Ruth Powers Silverberg, Faculty, City University of New York College of Staten Island

Ruthann Kurth-Schai, Professor & Chair, Educational Studies, Macalester College

S. Maxwell Hines, Ph.D., Professor of Education, Winston-Salem State University

Samantha Frizzell, Faculty, Westfield State University

Samuel D. Rocha, Faculty, University of British Columbia

Sandra Mathison, Professor, University of British Columbia

Sandra Torrence, Faculty, Westfield State University

Sandy Grande, Chair, Associate Professor, Connecticut College

Sara Miller, Assistant Professor, Longwood University

Sarah Hochstetler, Assistant Professor of English Education, Illinois State University

Sarah Kondratuk, Assistant Professor, Northern Arizona University

Sarah La Belle, Staff/Student, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Scott L. Kight, Associate Professor of Biology, Montclair State University

Sergio M. Pesqueira Jr., Assistant Director, Department of Educational Leadership, Loyola Marymount University

Seth A. Parsons, Associate Professor, George Mason University

Seung Lee, Professor of Art, Long Island University

Sharon Dole, Faculty/Professor, Western Carolina University

Sharon Merritt, Asst. Professor, Director, Master of Arts in Teaching, Fresno Pacific University

Shawgi Tell, Associate Professor of Education, Nazareth College

Sheri Leafgren, Associate Professor/Teacher Education, Miami University

Sherry Sanden, Assistant Professor, Illinois State University

Shirin Vossoughi, Assistant Professor, Northwestern University

Siddharth Lodaya, Admin Asst, Westfield State University

Skyler Wiseman, Faculty, Washington University in St Louis

Sonia M. Rosen, Faculty, Arcadia University School of Education

Sonia Nieto, Professor Emerita, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Soonhyang Kim, Assistant Professor, Pace University

Sophia Tatiana Sarigianides, Associate Professor of English Education, Westfield State University

Sophie Degener, Associate Professor, Reading & Language, National Louis University

Stacy Olitsky, Assistant Professor, Saint Joseph's University

Starlin D. Weaver, Professor of Science Teacher Education, Salisbury University

Stephanie Jones, Professor, College of Education, The University of Georgia

Steve Cohen, Senior Lecturer in Education, Tufts University

Steven Greenstein, Assistant Professor, Montclair State University

Steven Wolk, Professor, Northeastern Illinois University

Stuart Chen-Hayes, Associate Professor, CUNY Lehman College

Sumer Seiki, Visiting Assistant Professor, University of San Francisco

Sunita Mayor, Associate Professor, West Chester University, PA

Suresh Appavoo, Dean for Diversity and Equity/Associate Professor of Education, Dominican University of California

Susan Auerbach, Professor, CA State University, Northridge

Susan F. Bohrer, PhD, Faculty, UC Merced

Susan Hupp, Professor, University of Minnesota

Susan K. Brown, Faculty, Georgia Southern University

Susan M Moore, Clinical Professor, University of Colorado, Boulder

Susan M. Luppino, Visiting Instructor, Westfield State University

Susan Ohanian, Researcher, New England Society for the Study of Education

Susan P. Maude, Associate Professor, Iowa State University

Susan Sullivan, Professor, The College of Staten Island, CUNY

Susanne Chuku, Assistant Professor, Westfield State University

Suzann Girtz, Assistant Professor, Gonzaga University Educational Leadership, St Cloud State University

Suzanne Ehst, Associate Professor of Education, Goshen College

Sylvia Blake, Dean and Chief Operating Officer, Long Island University Hudson Campuses

Sylvia Y. Sanchez, Associate Professor, George Mason University

Tanya Velasquez, Faculty, University of Washington Tacoma

Teresa Wanser, Psychometrician, Lincoln Public Schools, Nebraska

Theresa Catalano, Faculty, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Theresa Montaño, Professor, CSU Northridge

Thomas Nelson, Associate Professor, University of the Pacific

Thomas Newkirk, Professor of English, University of New Hampshire

Thomas W. Bean, Faculty & Graduate Program Director, Old Dominion University

Timothy A. Micek, Associate Professor, Education, Ohio Dominican University

Timothy G. Larrabee, Associate Professor, Oakland University

Timothy J. Cook, Professor of Education, Creighton University

Timothy J. Voskuil, Coordinator, Calhoun ISD

Timothy San Pedro, Assistant Professor, Ohio State University

Tina Trujillo, Assistant Professor, UC Berkeley

Tirza Wilbon White, Faculty, University of Maryland, College Park

Toby Daspit, Associate Professor, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Tom Meyer, Director, Hudson Valley Writing Project & Associate Professor Secondary Education, SUNY New Paltz

Tomás Galguera, Professor, Mills College

Tomas R Giberson, Associate Professor, Oakland University

Trudy Knowles, Professor, Westfield State University, Westfield, MA

Uma M. Jayakumar, Assistant Professor, University of San Francisco

Vicki Bartolini, Ph.D., Chair, Professor of Education, Wheaton College, MA

Victor L. Willson, Head and Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University

Victoria Gillis, Endowed Chair of Excellence in Literacy, University of Wyoming

Vilma Seeberg, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Kent State University, College of Education, Health and Human Services

Virginia Mary Lea, Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin-Stout

Vladimir G. Ivanovic, Trustee, Los Altos School District

Vonzell Agosto, Assistant Professor, University of South Florida

Wendy Kohli, Professor of Educational Studies and Teacher Preparation, Fairfield University

Westry Whitaker, Assistant Professor, University of North Georgia

William G. Wraga, Professor

William J. Mathis, Researcher, University of Colorado Boulder, College of Education, University of Georgia

William Sandoval, Professor

Yael Wyner, Assistant Professor/Secondary Education, City College of New York

Yen Yen Woo, Associate Professor, Long Island University, C.W.Post

Yurimi Grigsby, Faculty, Concordia University Chicago

Zeynep Ercan, Faculty/Associate Professor, Rowan University

Zoe Burkholder, Associate Professor of Educational Foundations, Montclair State University

Duncan: 'The fierce urgency of whatchamacallit'

For some reason, I've gotten into the habit of watching the Today Show for morning "news" and weather. I usually resist being turned into to a total airhead and remind myself that I am still alive by muttering back snarky, bitter comments at Matt Lauer (and these days at Al Roker).

But, lo and behold, this morning there was actually a report that was worth a listen. Many Florida schools are increasingly cutting out recess in elementary schools to allow for more test-prep time for 5-year-olds. Outrageous? Viewers thought so. The show's polling of its viewers showed 99% of more that 13,000 views favoring recess and only 1% opposing, leaving one of the hosts wondering who the 1% are?

At the center of the issue in Florida are Common Core exams, mandatory standardized tests in math, language arts and literacy, where the students' performance often dictates teachers' pay and sometimes their jobs. Many teachers are using that extra 20 minutes that would have been spent on the playground at recess in order to teach the test.  "Because so much of the money is tied to the schools' scores and their grades, everybody's pressured,'' Diana Moore, president of the Orange Count Classroom Teachers Association, told TODAY. 

I almost fell off my chair when Savannah Guthrie chimed in at the end with this:

"There are a lot of studies now which show the importance of play for cognitive development and all that stuff." 

All that stuff, indeed.

For those who want to read more on the topic of the importance of play in early learning, I recommend Playing for Keeps: Life and Learning on a Public School Playground by Deborah Meier,  Brenda Engel and Beth Taylor (Teachers College Press).

'Dump NCLB but keep the tests'

The story comes on the heels of Arne Duncan's speech on Monday, where he called, in bizarro-world fashion, for dumping No Child Left Behind but keeping its tests. I do have to credit Arne, the king of cliches, for coming up with this one:

"This country can't afford to replace 'the fierce urgency of now' with the soft bigotry of 'It's optional.' "

He forgot to mention, the hidden legacy of whatchamacallit.

THOUGHTFUL...Arthur Camins posting on WaPo's Answer Sheet poses the question: Federal overreach or reaching for the wrong things?

Arthur's answer --

In the absence of a broadly based, values-driven movement for a more just and equitable society, the diminution of a federal role in education is likely to undermine efforts to support the nation-wide, democratically governed public education system that is essential to successfully prepare all students for life, work and citizenship.

 A shift in who wields power and in what location does not necessarily mean better policies. It is more likely that a shift away from federal authority in education will increase the influence those with power and money, rather than enhancing democratic participation of average citizens.

He goes on to spell out the role federal government should have as "the guarantor of justice and equity."

As I Tweeted to Arthur -- Federal power in education has now become nearly synonymous with corporate power and increasing the influence of "those with power and money".

A "shift in who wields power" could only help.

Public support for Obama's school policies is plunging

That's the good news.

If you combine Bush and Obama, which is easy to do when it comes to education policy, we're coming up on 15 years of No Child Left Behind/Race To The Top (with waivers).

That will make 15 straight years of corporate-style, top-down, metrics-driven, test-based reform. That includes more than 6 years of Arne Duncan's unfettered, single-handed use of federal dollars to impose a system which promotes  mayoral control of   the schools, coupled with the closing thousands of public schools and replacing them with privately-run charters. This strategy, based on the notion of a speedy "radical disruption," has steamrolled along like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with no need for a bipartisan consensus and with token opposition from Republicans.

It's likely that, in upcoming mid-term elections, it will be the Republicans who benefit from the growing public disenchantment with current education policies. (This despite the fact that mainline Republicans like Bush and Christie have been strong supporters of Duncan-ism.)

The Hill reports that Obama/Duncan school reform is faring poorly in the arena of public opinion -- meaning among the folks who use and pay for the nation's public schools and the folks who vote. Public support for President Obama’s education policies is plunging, according to the latest Gallup/PDK survey.

Only 27 percent of people give Obama an “A” or “B” for his support of public schools, down 9 percent from last year, in a new poll from PDK/Gallup that was released Wednesday. An equal amount of people — 27 percent — said Obama deserves a failing grade on education.

The survey shows a growing disenchantment with top-down reform including imposed Common Core standards. Opposition to Common Core seems evenly distributed between right and left.

Fifty-six percent of respondents said they believe their local school board should have the greatest influence in deciding the curriculum. Only 28 percent of Democrats said the federal government should have the greatest control, while 45 percent of Democrats said the local school board should be in charge.

The Gallup poll found that 81% of the public had heard of Common Core, with 60% opposing it. The most common reason cited for opposition was the belief that the standards limit the flexibility of teachers.

This administration, despite its call for "better" tests, will go down as the greatest over-testers of children in history. The attachment of Common Core to a never-ending battery of standardized tests doesn't sit well with teachers or parents, and has cost Obama a splintering of his previously formidable base among teacher unions--the largest unions in the land.

An area where a majority of Democrats and Republicans agreed is a negative view of standardized testing. A majority of all respondents in the poll — 54 percent — said they don’t think standardized testing helps schools or teachers. And parents of public school students viewed testing even more negatively, with 68 percent saying it isn’t helpful.

Among the likely political victims of Duncanism are a group of big-city mayors who capitalized on the mayoral-control fad to push local versions of corporate-style reform. In addition to control of school policy, these mayors captured control over school contracts, prime real estate, and thousands of patronage jobs.

Case in point:  Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is now heading into an election campaign with sinking ratings, mainly resulting from his faithful implementation of Obama/Duncan school policies--despite massive public opposition.

Remember, it was Duncan back in 2009, who promised that he would make mayoral control his number-one priority.

"At the end of my tenure, if only seven mayors are in control, I think I will have failed." 

Prophetic. 

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Louis C.K.

"Well, the way I understand it, if a school’s kids don’t test well, they burn the school down. It’s pretty high-pressure." -- Actually, Louis C.K. was right about Common Core — Ravitch

Washington school board member tells Arne Duncan...

"You can keep the waiver. And regarding your failure letter – I have little interest in using our Lake Stevens letterhead to tell our students and educators they’re failures, because they are not." --Answer Sheet

Baraka

Ras Baraka

“Some people believe we have to eradicate crime altogether and then do economic development. I tend to believe that economic development is a lever to help us reduce crime, as are art and literacy and all kinds of other things.” -- New Jersey Jewish News

James Mason, PARCC state leader

...the contract with Pearson [is] one of "unprecedented scale". -- Pearson Wins Major Contract From Common-Core Testing Consortium

David Horowitz (Bigger bigot that Sterling?) 

"...In America today if you are black you do get a free ride.” -- Crooks & Liars

 Ralph Ratto, an elementary school teacher from Long Island

‘Today was the first day I was ever ashamed to be a teacher’--Answer Sheet

May Day Warning: 'We're rapidly returning to the conditions of Ludlow days.'

Ludlow: The striking miners and their families, 1914

BILL MOYERS' blog has an excellent piece on the 100th anniversary of the Ludlow strike and massacre, by Erik Loomis, "US Workers Were Once Massacred Fighting for the Protections Being Rolled Back Today." The headline says it all.

A century later, the bloody incident might seem a relic of the distant past, but the Ludlow Massacre retains a powerful, disturbing and growing relevance to the present. After a century of struggling against powerful interests to make American workplaces safer and corporations responsive to their employees, the US is rapidly returning to the conditions of rampant exploitation that contributed to Ludlow.

The same theme is picked up by Thai Jones, writing in The Nation. He writes, "One hundred years on, the Ludlow Massacre is a starkly contemporary tragedy." Thai's book, "More Powerful Than Dynamite" is the best thing written yet on that period. Here's Rick Ayers' review at Huffington.

BROOKLYN TEACHERS aren't going for it -- Common Core that is. Prospect Heights International HS teachers in Brooklyn are refusing to administer an English Language Arts test Thursday because they believe it is useless to their non-native-English-speaking students. Twenty-six of the school’s 30 teachers sent a letter to Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña urging her to drop the test for the city’s immigrant students still learning English. School leaders said they will still administer the test. -- N.Y. Post

KIDS FOR CASH...Okay, I admit I'm inconsistent when it comes to my opposition to prisons. In the case of Judge Mark Ciavarella, I think the punishment of 28 years in the slammer, fit the crime. What I don't understand is why the builder of the for-profit youth detention centers, Robert Mericle, only got a year and a fine for his role in the notorious juvenile justice scandal in which thousands of children were sent to his facilities by the judges who took $2.1 million in kick-backs from him. Actually, the prosecutors only recommended 6 months. What?? The Pennsylvania Supreme Court thankfully, threw out some 4,000 juvenile convictions after the scheme was uncovered.

ANOTHER DUNCAN DONUT...When Washington State Legislators did not move to mandate that standardized test scores be attached to teacher evaluations, WA became the first state in the country to have their NCLB waiver pulled by Sec. Duncan. NCLB calls for 100% of students at all schools in the United States to  be fully proficient in reading and math, as registered by student test scores, by 2014. Was that a cruel joke?

The loss of this waiver means that every parent in the state should expect a letter informing them that their child attends a "failing school". It also means that school districts will lose control of how they spend a portion of the federal funding they receive—some $40 million statewide. Schools may also be taken over by the state and forced to replace all or most of the staff. Here's Jesse Hagopian's post on Duncan's labeling of his school as a "failure." Jesse is running on the RESPECT ticket to be President of the Seattle Education Association.

The Children Left Behind

Thanks to journalist Debbie Nathan writing for In These Times, for putting a human face on the disaster that is No Child Left Behind.

Students began to notice weird goings-on at the international bridge near campus—specifically, Bowie administrators stationed there with cameras. What the students didn’t know was that García had ordered an employee to take photos of students crossing in the morning from Juárez to identify which ones did not live in El Paso. For generations, a custom of this bi-national community was to recognize that kids tended to have complicated citizenship and living arrangements, and it was far better to educate them than to deny them over where they slept at night. But Garcia’s main concern was that bi-national students tended to have limited English skills and would likely score low on TAKS tests. They needed to go.

Read the entire piece, "The Children Left Behind", here.

Finn (R) and his Fordham boys

Michael Petrilli (top center in picture) has been appointed head of the right-wing Fordham Institute, a position he inherited from his mentor, Checker Finn. Readers will remember charter school hustler Finn from this 2009 quotable:

"In K-12 education, we submit, greed can be good, albeit ugly."

Petrilli will likely carry on Fordham's greed-is-good tradition only without Finn's smarts. He's the guy who, in a debate with Deb Meier, called for barring poor women from bearing children in the name of fighting poverty. Fordham (no relation to the university) has been a key player in the war on poverty -- only on the other side.




Here's another sign that the City Council's Black Caucus wants to distance itself from the increasingly unpopular Chicago Mayor who rapidly losing support in the black community and throughout the city.

Check out the heated exchange between between Alderman Jason Ervin and Chicago Police superintendent Garry McCarthy over whether the department is promoting minorities to high-ranking positions. Both men were admonished several times for cutting each other off, and Ervin took offense to McCarthy not looking at him while he was speaking.

But it was committee chairman Ald. Carrie Austin who refused to let McCarthy have the last word. "I'm going on to the next person. This is one day you gonna sit it down, because I'm the one running the show today," Austin told McCarthy.

As NBC5’S Political Reporter Mary Ann Ahern reports, there hasn’t been this kind of exchange before in the Emanuel administration.

Yes, another sign that Rahm can be had in the next election.

A new (even worse) version of NCLB is on the table

It's been 12 years since Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law with support from the Democrats.

After 6 years of failed attempts to reauthorize NCLB, a new bill, named as you might expect -- the Student Success Act --  has been brought to the House floor for a vote. But this bill is even worse than than the old one -- if that's possible.  The latest version is sponsored by  Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), a Romney/McCain conservative with presidential ambitions, who chairs the House Education and Workforce Committee. Kline has enriched himself and his campaign coffers by fronting for education profiteers and the student-loan banking industry.

Kline

Kline has championed linking teacher evaluations to student test scores—but on Thursday he backed killing the requirement, leaving it up to the states, most of which are all too eager to use the link to punish teachers and bust union contracts.

But while it does essentially get rid of Common Core standards -- not a bad thing in my opinion -- the so-called Student Success Act still  preserves the standardized testing regimen in reading and math first imposed by No Child. It severely cuts federal funding for the neediest kids and their schools, locking sequestration cuts into place. And it basically returns schools to the states' rights era when racial segregation was the law of the land.

 During a six-hour debate Thursday, though, one point of unanimity emerged: Republicans and Democrats want almost nothing to do with President George W. Bush’s signature 2001 education law. The bill would repeal the federal requirement that schools make “adequate yearly progress” – the heart of No Child Left Behind. States would still be required to test students in reading, math and science, but they could set their own standards and punish failing schools in their own way. -- Politico

While the Student Success Act will likely pass in the House, Republicans will probably have to wait until after the mid-term elections, when they are likely to gain the majority in the Senate needed to make the bill law. Obama has promised to veto it. But Obama has promised a lot of things.  Democrats are attacking the bill for retreating from the civil rights protections that they said the original law was meant to provide -- but didn't. The problem is that the Democrats have no viable alternative to offer except a rehash of NCLB in the form of Arne Duncan's Race To The Top, and couldn't get anything passed if they did.

On second thought, I should never underestimate the willingness of Dems and some union leaders to cave in and play ball with anti-public-school conservatives on this to preserve their "seat at the table". Maybe a tweaked version of the bill could make it through the Senate after all.