GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• Some principals have frighteningly few thoughts about good instruction. (John Thompson)
• Klein complained the Times’ test score coverage was “outrageous.” (NYC Public School Parents)
• New Cleveland contract saves jobs, cuts training days, expands peer review. (Catalyst Ohio)
• Colorado seemed certain to pass common core standards. Not anymore. (Ed News Colorado)
• Having a working mother won’t harm children after all, study says. (Washington Post)
• Rick Hess liked Obama’s speech, but doesn’t want words to lead to “over-reach.” (Hess Straight Up)
• Randi Weingarten found something to like about Race to the Top, too. (Teacher Beat)
• A Bronx Prep educator took part in a Capitol Hill briefing urging cross-discipline work. (ACSD In Service)
• A new paper on teacher pensions finds that unions aren’t the only ones to blame. (Eduwonk)

What does it mean for tests to get easier? And is that really what happened to New York’s tests?

The analysis that has spurred that idea in the last few weeks actually found something slightly different. The tests aren’t necessarily easier, in the way that a kindergarten spelling bee is easier than the SAT. Instead, between 2007 and 2009, students who hadn’t learned much came out looking like they had.

This is an important distinction because it points to a different culprit behind the dropping standards than simply the individual test items themselves. Instead, Harvard professor Daniel Koretz – the lead author of the analysis commissioned by the state education department — names two possible causes: a phenomenon called “score inflation” and a possible psychometric error tied to an obscure state law.

The actual questions on the test play a role in both, but just as important is the practice of prepping students extensively for tests. Another key is a state law that forces New York to release all test items publicly, making it easier for teachers to practice test prep and making it harder for officials to keep tests consistent over time. (more…)

• Michelle Rhee fired 241 of 4,000 D.C. teachers (6%) today citing poor performance. (WashPost)
• 737 of D.C. teachers were rated “minimally effective” by the new IMPACT eval. (Teacher Beat)
• Geoffrey Canada responds to critical analyses of the Harlem Children’s Zone. (Ed Week)
• “Big money has a way of making itself heard over hard data.” (Walt Gardner)
• A brief video history of P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights. (Brooklyn Heights Blog)
• Submit questions to Arne Duncan for a July 29 radio town hall with teachers. (ed.gov)
• USDOE has a tool showing where Promise Neighborhood grants came from. (data.ed.gov)
• Duncan is also cracking down on for-profit universities, and their stocks follow. (Hechinger)
• The Education Voters of New York group released its first report. (Imagine: NY Schools)
• Mayor Bloomberg sympathizes with child abuse victims: he once cried as a baby. (Daily News)

UPDATE: I changed the headline in response to Smith’s comment below.

• New York has quietly adopted “common core” aka national standards. (Curriculum Matters)
• New research finds black males are more likely to get a rookie high school teacher. (EdWeek)
• Voices against national standards worry about routinization, lack of rigor. (Room for Debate)
• Those in favor say debate can lead to consensus and poor kids will win. (Room for Debate)
• Al Shanker is no longer with us, but now his namesake institute has a blog. (Shanker Blog)
• Shifting leadership helped a “principal from hell” go unnoticed. (GothamSchools)
• The new leader at the Chicago teachers union is cleaning house — and hiring up. (District 299)
• The teachers’ contract isn’t the problem; state legislation is. (Education Next via Rick Hess)
• The school that canceled prom when a same-sex couple tried to go lost its court case. (Daily News)
• The “Drunken Pirate” case of a teaching license denied due to Facebook is historic. (New York Times)

• Bloomberg: If you send your kid to a once-closing school, you need “an education.” (Daily News)
• More concerns e-mailed in about the principal at Columbia Secondary School. (City Room)
• Teachers, mark Staples’ teacher-discount-day on your calendars. (NYSUT)
• Edward Cullen did pass the twelfth grade, and beyond, thank you very much. (Answer Sheet)
• New Orleans is trying to rebuild its education system — and its school buildings. (Good)
• One-time Race to the Top enemy Obey now favors spending more on it. (EdWeek)
• A Wisconsin court finds that teacher e-mails are private. (Milwaukee J-S)
• What it looks like inside the Gates Foundation’s Seattle headquarters. (The Guardian)
• College students say they didn’t learn to write papers in high school. (Class Struggle)

• Most school districts have already run out of stimulus dollars. (Ed Money Watch)
• How a real first-grade teacher uses Facebook to enhance her class. (Innovative Educator)
• Parents wading in to high school admissions, read this and start now! (Insideschools)
• In a cover profile, Bill Gates says it’s “not fair” to say small schools failed. (Business Week)
• Gates recently attacked “fraudulent” accounting for misreporting teacher pension costs. (WSJ)
• Coming national are high but not as rigorous as Massachusetts’. (Boston Globe blog)
• Many suburban Chicago-area teachers make six figure salaries. (Tribune)
• New opportunities to nurture education entrepreneurs emerge. (Flypaper)
• An arts education expert reminds us that “schooling is hard change.” (Dewey21C)

• A veteran education reporter is now on Baltimore’s school board. (Baltimore Sun via Russo)
• An Astoria principal who served in the rubber room feels mistreated. (Western Queens Gazette)
• Districts receiving school turnaround grants will have to involve parents. (EdWeek)
• In the ed tech battle, the curmudgeons are winning — at least the media vote. (Learning First)
• Arthur Levine, who grew up in the South Bronx, has a book about kids there now. (NPR)
• Bill Gates got boo’d at the AFT convention, but also a lot of cheers. (YouTube)
• Running for reelection, Maryland’s governor offers to cover the cost of AP tests. (EdWeek)
• Creativity scores are declining as IQ scores increase. (Newsweek via Joanne Jacobs)

A reader recently drew my attention to a deceptively unassuming chart that the city often uses to defend its heavy reliance on state tests.

The chart shows how neatly eighth graders’ scores on the tests predict their future academic success. The higher the score they get, the better their shot at graduating high school with a Regents diploma — the only kind that will count come 2014.

But the reader pointed out that the chart also includes a more frightening statistic: Students who score at a level considered proficient by every measure, a 3 out of possible 4, only have a 55% shot of getting a Regents diploma.

(more…)

• Brian Austin Green and Megan Fox fight against budget cuts with a video. (Funny or Die)
• The AFT now has 1.5 million members. To celebrate, Randi danced. (EdWeek)
• A call for ideas about what to cut besides Race to the Top. (Flypaper)
• Diane Ravitch responds to criticism that she cherry-picks evidence. (Answer Sheeet)
• An argument that school reform rhetoric is counter-productive. (Learning First)
• Don’t forget to come see and discuss “Waiting for Superman” tomorrow. (GothamSchools)
• The DOE is looking for someone to run its iLearnNYC initiative. (SimplyHired)

• A breakdown of snarky coverage from the AFT’s national convention. (Antonucci)
• So far Randi Weingarten has promised to be the union of solutions. (Seattle PI)
• She also promised to “fight smart.” Read a hilarious dispatch from an opponent. (EdNotes)
• Learning to teach by practicing on Second Life-style student “avatars.” (Inside Higher Ed)
• City charter and district schools both suspend about 8% of their students on average. (Curious 2)
• Meet the group that brought the new Chicago teachers union president to power. (Notebook)
• How a college graduate today compares to a college grad of the 1930s. (Quick and the Ed)
• Should schools really spend millions buying new technologies? (Larry Cuban)
• Obama’s edu-research team will focus on finding ways to support learning. (EdWeek)