Friday, December 30, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Education and Poverty: Confronting the Evidence
Title: Education and Poverty: Confronting the Evidence
Author(s): Ladd, Helen F.
Date: 11/4/2011
Paper Number: SAN11-01
Topic: Education, Poverty, No Child Left Behind, SES
Citation: Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (forthcoming in 2012)
Author(s): Ladd, Helen F.
Date: 11/4/2011
Paper Number: SAN11-01
Topic: Education, Poverty, No Child Left Behind, SES
Citation: Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (forthcoming in 2012)
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
190. The Social Cost of Open Enrollment as a School Choice Policy. 2010
NCSPE: Research Publications
190. The Social Cost of Open Enrollment as a School Choice Policy. 2010.
Author: Cory Koedel, Julian R. Betts, Lorien A. Rice, & Andrew C. Zau
We evaluate the integrating and segregating effects of school choice in a large, urban school district. Our findings suggest that open enrollment, a school-choice program without explicit integrative objectives which does not provide busing, segregates students along three socioeconomic dimensions – race/ethnicity, student achievement and parental-education status. Using information on expenditures to promote integration at the district, we back out estimates of the social cost of open enrollment realized in terms of student segregation. Our estimates vary widely depending on several assumptions, but a social-cost estimate of roughly 10 million dollars per year is on the high end of our range of estimates for this single district. Although this number represents a sizeable portion of the district’s integrative-busing budget, it is a small fraction of the district’s total budget (≈1.4 billion dollars). Further, we note that this cost may be offset by benefits not related to integration.
Click here to view publication as a PDF
190. The Social Cost of Open Enrollment as a School Choice Policy. 2010.
Author: Cory Koedel, Julian R. Betts, Lorien A. Rice, & Andrew C. Zau
We evaluate the integrating and segregating effects of school choice in a large, urban school district. Our findings suggest that open enrollment, a school-choice program without explicit integrative objectives which does not provide busing, segregates students along three socioeconomic dimensions – race/ethnicity, student achievement and parental-education status. Using information on expenditures to promote integration at the district, we back out estimates of the social cost of open enrollment realized in terms of student segregation. Our estimates vary widely depending on several assumptions, but a social-cost estimate of roughly 10 million dollars per year is on the high end of our range of estimates for this single district. Although this number represents a sizeable portion of the district’s integrative-busing budget, it is a small fraction of the district’s total budget (≈1.4 billion dollars). Further, we note that this cost may be offset by benefits not related to integration.
Click here to view publication as a PDF
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Paul Gorski to speak at Furman University on poverty (UPDATE)
A Cultural Life Program on poverty will be sponsored by the Furman University chapter of the NAACP this coming WEDNESDAY October 26 in Patrick Lecture Hall/Plyler 126 at 7 pm.
Gorski is one of the first scholars to challenge the workshops and ideology of Ruby Payne. His work confronts assumptions about the culture of poverty and deficit perspectives related to poverty and people living in poverty.
See information about him and some of his work at these links:
http://paulgorski.efoliomn.com/
http://paulgorski.efoliomn.com/Publications
http://rubypayneiswrong.blogspot.com/p/scholarship-debunking-payne.html
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Ravitch on "Texas Miracle" Scam
Diane Ravitch: 20 years later, debunking the ‘Texas Miracle’
The current national school reform was born in Texas, probably hatched in Dallas. During the presidential campaign of 2000, the nation learned about “the Texas miracle.” The achievement gap would close, we were told, by testing and accountability. Test every student every year, and post the results. Public exposure would encourage successful schools and humiliate the low performers into improving. Throw merit pay into the mix to push even bigger gains.
About the same time, the research department at the [ http://topics.dallasnews.com/topic/Dallas_Independent_School_District ]Dallas Independent School District discovered that children who had three great teachers in a row would see dramatic test-score gains. This is now the battle cry of the national school reform movement, which says schools will get better if we test more, award merit pay for higher scores and fire teachers whose students don’t get higher scores.
Dallas knew this 20 years ago. How come it still struggles with a daunting achievement gap and low (but rising) graduation rates? We now know there was no “Texas miracle,” and yet No Child Left Behind is still the law of the land. Across the nation, schools are being closed and educators fired because they couldn’t meet the law’s utopian goals. Neither Dallas nor any other school district has figured out how to deliver on that claim about “three great teachers in a row.” It turns out to be a wishful slogan, not a policy proposal. And merit pay, wherever it has been tried, has failed.
If Dallas wants to see success for its children, it must improve both schools and social conditions.
Every child needs a great education, one that includes the arts, history, civics, foreign languages and other studies. DISD should hire teachers who are well-educated and who understand how to address the needs of children who are learning English and children with disabilities. Once hired, they should have the community’s respect and support, as well as opportunities to improve their teaching.
Dallas has superb cultural resources. They should be utilized to encourage students, teachers and principals to love learning. No cultural institution in the nation [ http://topics.dallasnews.com/topic/Equals_%28musician%29 ]equals the Dallas Institute of Culture and the Humanities. It literally changes teachers’ and principals’ lives by immersing them in the joys of great literature. The [ http://topics.dallasnews.com/topic/Dallas_Symphony_Orchestra ]Dallas Symphony Orchestra has an exemplary program for young musicians called Young Strings. More programs like these will support genuine learning, not just rote preparation for the next state tests.
But that is not enough. Poverty matters. Eighty-five percent of DISD students live in poverty. City leaders should ensure that these students and their families have access to nutrition and medical care. Healthy children are better prepared to learn than children who suffer from preventable illnesses. Every pregnant woman should receive good prenatal care; those who don’t are apt to have low-birth-weight babies, who are at risk of learning disabilities.
The achievement gap begins long before children enter school. Schools and community groups must collaborate to provide excellent early-childhood education for every child, not just daycare. When children regularly engage in healthy play and interact with educated adults, their vocabulary and their social skills increase. Parent education is important, too, so that parents learn how they can provide positive support for their child’s development.
None of this is cost-free. But none of it is beyond the reach of Dallas, which is rich with ideas, rich with entrepreneurs and rich with philanthropists.
As Dallas seeks a new superintendent, I have this advice: Find an experienced educator, someone who was a master teacher and then a highly successful principal. Don’t recruit a corporate leader who knows nothing about teaching and learning. Find a man or woman who knows how children learn, who knows how to encourage teachers and principals, who knows how to reach out to all parts of the community and bring them together to support Dallas’ children. Above all, look for someone who has a compelling vision of what a great education is and the energy to make it happen for all the children.
Diane Ravitch is the author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. Her website is www.dianeravitch.com.
The current national school reform was born in Texas, probably hatched in Dallas. During the presidential campaign of 2000, the nation learned about “the Texas miracle.” The achievement gap would close, we were told, by testing and accountability. Test every student every year, and post the results. Public exposure would encourage successful schools and humiliate the low performers into improving. Throw merit pay into the mix to push even bigger gains.
About the same time, the research department at the [ http://topics.dallasnews.com/topic/Dallas_Independent_School_District ]Dallas Independent School District discovered that children who had three great teachers in a row would see dramatic test-score gains. This is now the battle cry of the national school reform movement, which says schools will get better if we test more, award merit pay for higher scores and fire teachers whose students don’t get higher scores.
Dallas knew this 20 years ago. How come it still struggles with a daunting achievement gap and low (but rising) graduation rates? We now know there was no “Texas miracle,” and yet No Child Left Behind is still the law of the land. Across the nation, schools are being closed and educators fired because they couldn’t meet the law’s utopian goals. Neither Dallas nor any other school district has figured out how to deliver on that claim about “three great teachers in a row.” It turns out to be a wishful slogan, not a policy proposal. And merit pay, wherever it has been tried, has failed.
If Dallas wants to see success for its children, it must improve both schools and social conditions.
Every child needs a great education, one that includes the arts, history, civics, foreign languages and other studies. DISD should hire teachers who are well-educated and who understand how to address the needs of children who are learning English and children with disabilities. Once hired, they should have the community’s respect and support, as well as opportunities to improve their teaching.
Dallas has superb cultural resources. They should be utilized to encourage students, teachers and principals to love learning. No cultural institution in the nation [ http://topics.dallasnews.com/topic/Equals_%28musician%29 ]equals the Dallas Institute of Culture and the Humanities. It literally changes teachers’ and principals’ lives by immersing them in the joys of great literature. The [ http://topics.dallasnews.com/topic/Dallas_Symphony_Orchestra ]Dallas Symphony Orchestra has an exemplary program for young musicians called Young Strings. More programs like these will support genuine learning, not just rote preparation for the next state tests.
But that is not enough. Poverty matters. Eighty-five percent of DISD students live in poverty. City leaders should ensure that these students and their families have access to nutrition and medical care. Healthy children are better prepared to learn than children who suffer from preventable illnesses. Every pregnant woman should receive good prenatal care; those who don’t are apt to have low-birth-weight babies, who are at risk of learning disabilities.
The achievement gap begins long before children enter school. Schools and community groups must collaborate to provide excellent early-childhood education for every child, not just daycare. When children regularly engage in healthy play and interact with educated adults, their vocabulary and their social skills increase. Parent education is important, too, so that parents learn how they can provide positive support for their child’s development.
None of this is cost-free. But none of it is beyond the reach of Dallas, which is rich with ideas, rich with entrepreneurs and rich with philanthropists.
As Dallas seeks a new superintendent, I have this advice: Find an experienced educator, someone who was a master teacher and then a highly successful principal. Don’t recruit a corporate leader who knows nothing about teaching and learning. Find a man or woman who knows how children learn, who knows how to encourage teachers and principals, who knows how to reach out to all parts of the community and bring them together to support Dallas’ children. Above all, look for someone who has a compelling vision of what a great education is and the energy to make it happen for all the children.
Diane Ravitch is the author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. Her website is www.dianeravitch.com.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
Schools Matter: More Than 4 of 10 Children Born into Poverty Will ...
Schools Matter: More Than 4 of 10 Children Born into Poverty Will ...: Mike Feinberg was the guest on Tuesday of Wall Street's Cowen Institute at Tulane University, a propaganda tank set up at Tulane to provid...
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Radical Scholarship: Poverty and Education in SC and the US
Radical Scholarship: Poverty and Education in SC and the US: Op-Eds in The State and The Greenville News : As children across South Carolina re-enter our schools across the state, two recent reports...
Friday, August 26, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Taxing the Poor
shankerblog Shanker Blog
Article: How regressive state and local taxation exacerbates poverty - bit.ly/r3m567
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Schools Matter: Poverty and Testing in Education: “The Present Sci...
Schools Matter: Poverty and Testing in Education: “The Present Sci...: "Poverty and Testing in Education: “The Present Scientifico-legal Complex” pt. 1 Poverty and Testing in Education: “The Present Scientifico..."
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Welfare myth, welfare reality, welfare failure
Welfare in the rugged-individualism U.S. suffers two serious burdens: (1) lingering mythologies built on inaccuracies and (2) purposeful distortions of welfare by powerful political figures and groups.
Pre-1996 welfare differs significantly from post-1996 welfare, but pre-1996 welfare has its share of lies and manipulations. See the unmasking of the key unfounded claims about welfare promoted by the folks at CATO:
And this, as another example:
Myth: The U.S. has wasted over $5 trillion on the war on poverty.
Fact: The U.S. has spent about $700 billion on the war on poverty.
Thus, powerful Urban legends born in pre-1996 lore about welfare suggest, for example, that welfare pays better than work; but it didn't then (see the report above) and doesn't now.
But, this all should be irrelevant (although the misleading claims by CATO do persist even today, driven by the "welfare queen" claims of Ronald Reagan from the early 1980s) because in 1996, welfare changed dramatically:
This revision of welfare placed strict limits on how long people can be on welfare (5 years), required a transition to and a search for work, and erased the automatic benefit increase for additional children (as well as requiring teen mothers to live with responsible adults and unwed fathers to prove paternity).
The result of the changes have been about a two-third's reduction in people on welfare from 1996-2010—despite a sharp rise in childhood poverty, overall poverty, and the unemployment rate during severe economic downturns during the late 2000s:
Year | Average monthly TANF recipients | Poverty rate (%) | Annual unemployment rate (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 12,320,970 (see note) | 11.0 | 5.4 |
| 1997 | 10,375,993 | 10.3 | 4.9 |
| 1998 | 8,347,136 | 10.0 | 4.5 |
| 1999 | 6,824,347 | 9.3 | 4.2 |
| 2000 | 5,778,034 | 8.7 | 4.0 |
| 2001 | 5,359,180 | 9.2 | 4.7 |
| 2002 | 5,069,010 | 9.6 | 5.8 |
| 2003 | 4,928,878 | 10.0 | 6.0 |
| 2004 | 4,748,115 | 10.2 | 5.5 |
| 2005 | 4,471,393 | 9.9 | 5.1 |
| 2006 | 4,166,659 | 9.8 | 4.6 |
| 2007 | 3,895,407 | 9.8 | 4.5 |
| 2008 | 3,795,007 | 10.3 | 5.4 |
| 2009 | 4,154,366 | 11.1 | 8.1 |
| 2010 | 4,375,022 | -- | 8.6 |
Children in poverty have experienced the same decline in support, as noted by the Child Trend Data Bank:
"After rising from 6.1 million in 1970 to 9.5 million in 1993,7 the number of children receiving AFDC/TANF payments fell to 3.1 million in 2008. (Figure 1) Similarly, the percentage of all children receiving AFDC/TANF steadily decreased from 14 percent in 1993 to four percent in 2008. (Figure 2) Among children below the poverty threshold, the proportion of children receiving AFDC/TANF decreased from 62 percent in 1995 to 22 percent in 2008). (Figure 2) In 2009, preliminary data show the first increase in 14 years in the number of children receiving TANF, and in the percentage of all children receiving TANF. However, as a proportion of all children living in poverty, the percentage receiving TANF continued to decline."
And what about the "welfare queen" myth, that women have babies to get more money?
While the average number of children in families with children is 1.86, let's look at the facts about families receiving TANF:
"The average number of persons in TANF families was 2.3, including an average of 1.8 recipient children. One in two recipient families had only one child. One in 10 families had more than three children. The average number of children in closed-case families was 1.8. Nearly one in two closed case families had one child, and only six percent had more than three children."
Then, about 90% of welfare families with children average 1.2 children per family. . .
Then, about 90% of welfare families with children average 1.2 children per family. . .
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Achievement gap and testing posts
Achievement gap and testing posts: "Why the Achievement Gap Matters and Will Remain Bitter Lessons from Chasing Better Tests"
Sunday, June 12, 2011
The Hunger Crisis
The Hunger Crisis
Right here in the United States, one in four children don't have enough to eat. The impact this has on their health, their development -- their future -- is staggering. Our special report introduces you to two families who struggle every single day to put food on the table.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Move over Finland: The New International Lie about Education (Germany)
See "The German Example" in the NYT.
Specifically:
"Beyond the job market, Germany has also made a big effort to improve its education system. Eric Hanushek, a Stanford University economist, notes that Germany’s performance on the main international math, reading and science tests have become such a matter of national concern that the name of the tests — Pisa — is now a household word. 'In the U.S.,' he says, 'Pisa is still a bell tower in Italy.'”
Wow, all the U.S. needs to do is focus on PISA, like Germany!
Except, Germany has half (10%) the childhood poverty of the U.S. (20%), and when you consider poverty. . .oops!. . .the U.S. has HIGHER PISA scores than Germany.
So Germany is the New Finland in the misleading education reform debate. . .
Specifically:
"Beyond the job market, Germany has also made a big effort to improve its education system. Eric Hanushek, a Stanford University economist, notes that Germany’s performance on the main international math, reading and science tests have become such a matter of national concern that the name of the tests — Pisa — is now a household word. 'In the U.S.,' he says, 'Pisa is still a bell tower in Italy.'”
Wow, all the U.S. needs to do is focus on PISA, like Germany!
Except, Germany has half (10%) the childhood poverty of the U.S. (20%), and when you consider poverty. . .oops!. . .the U.S. has HIGHER PISA scores than Germany.
So Germany is the New Finland in the misleading education reform debate. . .
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Being Poor Can Suppress Children's Genetic Potentials
Being Poor Can Suppress Children's Genetic Potentials
"AUSTIN, Texas — Growing up poor can suppress a child's genetic potential to excel cognitively even before the age of 2, according to research from psychologists at The University of Texas at Austin.
"Half of the gains that wealthier children show on tests of mental ability between 10 months and 2 years of age can be attributed to their genes, the study finds. But children from poorer families, who already lag behind their peers by that age, show almost no improvements that are driven by their genetic makeup. . . ."
"AUSTIN, Texas — Growing up poor can suppress a child's genetic potential to excel cognitively even before the age of 2, according to research from psychologists at The University of Texas at Austin.
"Half of the gains that wealthier children show on tests of mental ability between 10 months and 2 years of age can be attributed to their genes, the study finds. But children from poorer families, who already lag behind their peers by that age, show almost no improvements that are driven by their genetic makeup. . . ."
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
"Miracle" schools just aren't what people claim. . .
The push back against claims of "miracle" schools is gaining some momentum. . .
Let's recall a great piece by Gerald Bracey, who argued, rightfully, that "miracle" schools were more often than not mirages back in 2007. . .
It's Being Done. Oh, Really?
Let's recall a great piece by Gerald Bracey, who argued, rightfully, that "miracle" schools were more often than not mirages back in 2007. . .
It's Being Done. Oh, Really?
Friday, June 3, 2011
Radical Scholarship: NBA Finals and "No Excuses" Charters
Radical Scholarship: NBA Finals and "No Excuses" Charters: "NBA Finals and 'No Excuses' Charters"
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Teacher accountability, poverty, and "miracle" schools
Policy makers and pundits would do well simply to consider the evidence:
Waiting for a School Miracle By DIANE RAVITCH
Inputs Do Matter in Education
The Ethics of Testing Children Solely To Evaluate Adults
Waiting for a School Miracle By DIANE RAVITCH
Inputs Do Matter in Education
The Ethics of Testing Children Solely To Evaluate Adults
Monday, May 30, 2011
Radical Scholarship: Avoiding the Poverty Issue at NYT
Radical Scholarship: Avoiding the Poverty Issue at NYT: "Avoiding the Poverty Issue @ NYT's Room for Debate Testing Students to Grade Teachers"
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Challenging Ruby Payne's Framework of Poverty
(*Special thanks to Paul Gorski for assisting in compiling these resources.)
Bohn, A. (2006, Winter). A framework for understanding Ruby Payne. Rethinking Schools, 21(2). http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/21_02/fram212.shtml
Bohn, A. (2006, Winter). A framework for understanding Ruby Payne. Rethinking Schools, 21(2). http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/21_02/fram212.shtml
Bomer, R., Dworin, J. E., May, L., & Semingson, P. (2008). Miseducating teachers about the poor: A critical analysis of Ruby Payne's claims about poverty. Teachers College Record, 110(11).
Bomer, R., Dworin, J. E., May, L., & Semingson, P. (2009, June 3). What’s wrong with a deficit perspective? Teachers College Record. Retrieved 12 June 2009 from http://www.tcrecord.org
Dudley-Marling, C. (2007). Return of the deficit. Journal of Educational Controversy, 2(1). Retrieved 29 June 2009 from http://www.wce.wwu.edu/Resources/CEP/eJournal/v002n001/a004.shtml
Dudley-Marling, C., & Lucas, K. (2009, May). Pathologizing the language and culture of poor children. Language Arts, 86(5), 362-370.
Dworin, J. E., & Bomer, R. (2008, January). What we all (supposedly) know about the poor: A critical discourse analysis of Ruby Payne’s “Framework.” English Education, 40(2), 101-121.
Gorski, P. (2006a, February 9). The Classist underpinnings of Ruby Payne’s Framework. Teachers College Record. Retrieved 24 June 2007 from http://www.tcrecord.org
———. (2008). Peddling poverty for profit: Elements of oppression in Ruby Payne's Framework. Equity & Excellence in Education, 41(1), 130-148. http://www.edchange.org/publications/Peddling-Poverty-Payne.pdf
———. (2006b, July 19). Responding to Payne’s Response. Teachers College Record. Retrieved 12 June 2009 from http://www.tcrecord.org
———. (2006c, Winter). Savage unrealities: Classism and racism around Ruby Payne's Framework. Rethinking Schools, 21(2). http://www.edchange.org/publications/Savage_Unrealities.pdf
———. (2008, April). The myth of the “Culture of Poverty.” Educational Leadership, 65(7), 32-36. http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr08/vol65/num07/The-Myth-of-the-Culture-of-Poverty.aspx
Howley, C. B., Howley, A. A., Howley, C. W., & Howley, M. D. (2006). Saving the children of the poor in rural schools. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, California. Available at http://www.eric.ed.gov:80/PDFS/ED495031.pdf
Howley, C. B., Howley, A. A., & Huber, D. S. (2005). Prescriptions for rural mathematics instruction: Analysis of the rhetorical literature. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 20(7), 1–16.
Ng, J. C., & Rury, J. L. (2006, July 18). Poverty and education: A critical analysis of the Ruby Payne phenomenon. Teachers College Record. Retrieved 24 June 2007 from http://www.tcrecord.org
Osei-Kofi, N. (2005). Pathologizing the poor: A framework for understanding Ruby Payne's work. Equity & Excellence in Education, (38), 367–375.
Sato, M., & Lensmire, T. J. (2009, January). Poverty and Payne: Supporting teachers to work with children of poverty. Phi Delta Kappan, 9(5), 365-370.
Smiley, A. D. Becoming teachers: The Payne effect. Multicultural Perspectives.
Starnes, B. A. (2008, June). On lilacs, tap-dancing, and children of poverty. Phi Delta Kappan. 779-780.
Thomas, P. L. (2010, November 28). Our faith in a "culture of poverty" never left. The Daily Censored. http://dailycensored.com/2010/11/28/our-faith-in-a-culture-of-poverty-never-left/
———. (2010, July). The Payne of addressing race and poverty in public education: Utopian accountability and deficit assumptions of middle class America. Souls, 12(3), 262-283. http://bit.ly/kva8Mm
———. (2009b). Shifting from deficit to generative practices: Addressing impoverished and all students. Teaching Children of Poverty, 1(1). Retrieved 13 September 2009 from http://journals.sfu.ca/tcop/index.php/tcop/article/view/8/1
Weiderspan, J. P., & Danziger, S. K. (2009). Review: A framework for understanding poverty. Social Work, 54(4), 376.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
New piece at The Daily Censored and Daily Kos
New piece at The Daily Censored and Daily Kos: "Maher’s “Real Time” Education Debate Failure Redux: Legend of the Fall, pt. VII and re-posted at Daily Kos"
Friday, May 13, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
"The Children Do Listen" at Daily Kos
"The Children Do Listen" at Daily Kos: "Thomas, P. L. (2011, May 9). 'The children do listen.' Daily Kos ."
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Piece reposted at NEPC
Piece reposted at NEPC: "Shifting Talking Points among School Choice Advocates"
Teachers are not to blame
Teachers are not to blame
excerpt:
"This view—that the right incentives (positive or negative) will produce the necessary changes in teaching—may be a very common one, but there is no data to back it up. Indeed, a close look at MCAS results shows there is surprisingly little difference between the quality of teaching in so-called 'good' schools (wealthy, suburban schools with high MCAS scores)and 'bad' schools (inner-city schools with low scores) when the results are averaged across all teachers in the district and disaggregated by student demographics, specifically race and poverty. Put another way, a low-income white student in a 'good' suburban school tests essentially the same as a low-income white student in a 'bad' inner-city school."
excerpt:
"This view—that the right incentives (positive or negative) will produce the necessary changes in teaching—may be a very common one, but there is no data to back it up. Indeed, a close look at MCAS results shows there is surprisingly little difference between the quality of teaching in so-called 'good' schools (wealthy, suburban schools with high MCAS scores)and 'bad' schools (inner-city schools with low scores) when the results are averaged across all teachers in the district and disaggregated by student demographics, specifically race and poverty. Put another way, a low-income white student in a 'good' suburban school tests essentially the same as a low-income white student in a 'bad' inner-city school."
Friday, May 6, 2011
Superman is fantasy, teaching is reality
Superman is fantasy, teaching is reality: "Thomas, P. L. (2011, May 6). Superman is fantasy, teaching is reality . Daily Kos ."
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Is Poverty the Key Factor in Student Outcomes?
Is Poverty the Key Factor in Student Outcomes?
"After looking at the data, Marder has yet to be convinced that any teaching solution has been found that can overcome the detrimental effects of poverty on a large scale — and that we may be looking for solutions in the wrong place."
"After looking at the data, Marder has yet to be convinced that any teaching solution has been found that can overcome the detrimental effects of poverty on a large scale — and that we may be looking for solutions in the wrong place."
Monday, May 2, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
If There Remains any Question @ The Daily Kos
If There Remains any Question @ The Daily Kos: "If There Remains any Question"
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
The Limits of School Reform By JOE NOCERA
The Limits of School Reform By JOE NOCERA
"Yet the reformers act as if a student’s home life is irrelevant.. . .What needs to be acknowledged, however, is that school reform won’t fix everything. Though some poor students will succeed, others will fail. Demonizing teachers for the failures of poor students, and pretending that reforming the schools is all that is needed, as the reformers tend to do, is both misguided and counterproductive."
"Yet the reformers act as if a student’s home life is irrelevant.. . .What needs to be acknowledged, however, is that school reform won’t fix everything. Though some poor students will succeed, others will fail. Demonizing teachers for the failures of poor students, and pretending that reforming the schools is all that is needed, as the reformers tend to do, is both misguided and counterproductive."
Monday, April 25, 2011
Poor Teaching for Poor Children … in the Name of Reform By Alfie Kohn
"Not only is the teaching scripted, with students required to answer fact-based questions on command, but a system of almost militaristic behavior control is common, with public humiliation for noncompliance and an array of rewards for obedience that calls to mind the token economy programs developed in prisons and psychiatric hospitals….One [study] found that black children are much more likely than white children to be taught with workbooks or worksheets on a daily basis. The other revealed a racial disparity in how computers are used for instruction, with African Americans mostly getting drill and practice exercises (which, the study also found, are associated with poorer results)."
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Test scores? Look at the child's home
New study from Florida reveals--again--that out-of-school factors strongest when looking at education outcomes:
"Researchers discovered the groups’ socio-economic level corresponded with their group ranking on FCAT scores. The most affluent lifestyle group registered the highest FCAT scores, the second richest group ranked second in test scores, and so on. On the math tests, the gap between the highest and lowest scoring lifestyle groups was more than two grade levels."
[But someone needs to inform the journalists that poverty is not a "lifestyle."]
"Researchers discovered the groups’ socio-economic level corresponded with their group ranking on FCAT scores. The most affluent lifestyle group registered the highest FCAT scores, the second richest group ranked second in test scores, and so on. On the math tests, the gap between the highest and lowest scoring lifestyle groups was more than two grade levels."
[But someone needs to inform the journalists that poverty is not a "lifestyle."]
Friday, April 22, 2011
New piece at truthout
New piece at truthout: "Why Advocacy and Market Forces Fail Education Reform Why advocacy and market forces fail education reform Why Advocacy and Market Forces Fa..."
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Meritocracy Myth v. the Advantages of Privilege (A...
Meritocracy Myth v. the Advantages of Privilege (A...: "Meritocracy Myth v. the Advantages of Privilege (A Tale of Hubris)"
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Journalists, Media Fail Education Reform Debate @ ...
Journalists, Media Fail Education Reform Debate @ ...: "Journalists, Media Fail Education Reform Debate"
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
The potential power of full integration
See Bob Herbert's piece in The New York Times
And the study he references.
From the study:
"The education reform debate is dominated by efforts to make high-poverty schools work better, but a new report released by The Century Foundation suggests that a more promising strategy involves providing low-income families a chance to live in more-advantaged neighborhoods, where their children can attend low-poverty public schools.
. . .
"Among the studies key findings are the following:
And the study he references.
From the study:
"The education reform debate is dominated by efforts to make high-poverty schools work better, but a new report released by The Century Foundation suggests that a more promising strategy involves providing low-income families a chance to live in more-advantaged neighborhoods, where their children can attend low-poverty public schools.
. . .
"Among the studies key findings are the following:
- "By the end of elementary school, students in public housing who attend more-affluent green zone schools through the inclusionary housing program cut the achievement gap with non-poor students in the district by one-half in math, and by by one-third in reading.
- "Despite the district’s extra investments in its most disadvantaged (red zone) schools, by the end of elementary school, children living in public housing who attended lower poverty (green zone) schools far outperformed their public housing peers in red zone schools. The size of the effect from attending a low-poverty (green zone) school for children living in public housing in math was 0.4 compared with attending a higher-poverty (red zone) school. This low-poverty effect is quite large relative to other educational interventions, where research has often identified an effect of approximately 0.1 on student test scores.
- "The educational benefits of socioeconomic integration are significant, but they take time. Only after four years in the district did public housing children in low-poverty schools notably outperform public housing children in the district’s moderate-poverty schools."
Friday, March 18, 2011
18 March 2011 Commentary at The Daily Censored
18 March 2011 Commentary at The Daily Censored: "Test Scores Fail Students, Teachers, But Remain a Political Prop"
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
13 March 2011 Commentary in OpEdNews
13 March 2011 Commentary in OpEdNews: "'A Question of Power': Of Accountability and Teaching by Numbers"
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Reform Agenda Commentary at The Daily Censored (7 ...
Reform Agenda Commentary at The Daily Censored (7 ...: "My Challenge to the False Prophets of Education Reform"
Friday, March 4, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
1 March 2011 Commentary at OpEdNews
1 March 2011 Commentary at OpEdNews: "Ironic Lessons in Education Reform from Bill Gates"
Sunday, February 27, 2011
27 February 2011 Commentary @ The Daily Censored
27 February 2011 Commentary @ The Daily Censored: "Celebrity “Common Sense” Reform for Education–Legend of the Fall pt. VI"
Friday, February 25, 2011
Social reform to support whole life of children (U...
Palmetto Educators Network: Social reform to support whole life of children (U...: "Response to the UK Government's Tackling Child Poverty and Improving Life Chances: Consulting on a New Approach from the Joseph Rowntree Fo..."
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Commentary on The Control Freaks @ The Daily Censored
P. L. Thomas, Publications & Scholarship: Commentary on The Control Freaks @ The Daily Censo...: "The Great Accountability and “World-Class Workforce” Scam"
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
"It Takes a Village, Not a Tiger," Pollitt (The Nation)
It Takes a Village, Not a Tiger
Excerpt:
"Inconveniently, though, the poor and near poor, whom we don’t care about, come attached to children, for whom we supposedly have some concern. So how are the kids doing?
"Some facts from the National Center for Children in Poverty: one in five families is food-insecure, i.e., they don’t have enough food for everyone in the family at least some of the time. Health? Poor children are far more at risk than better-off kids: from secondhand smoke (32 percent vs. 12 percent of nonpoor children), low or moderate levels of lead in their blood (30 percent vs. 15 percent), lack of health insurance (16 percent vs. 8 percent) and lack of dental care (18 percent of poor kids hadn’t seen a dentist in the past year vs. 11 percent of nonpoor children, which is bad enough). Poor children are more likely to have asthma (18 percent vs. 13 percent). They are more likely to have missed five or more days of school for health-related reasons (20 percent vs. 15 percent). Twice as many poor parents report that their child has “definite or severe” emotional, behavioral or social problems (10 percent vs. 5 percent). Poor kids are also more likely to be obese, to get insufficient exercise, to be diagnosed with ADHD or other learning disabilities and to have mothers who are in poor health themselves. No wonder they are less likely to be described by their parents as being in very good or excellent health (71 percent vs. 87 percent)."
Excerpt:
"Inconveniently, though, the poor and near poor, whom we don’t care about, come attached to children, for whom we supposedly have some concern. So how are the kids doing?
"Some facts from the National Center for Children in Poverty: one in five families is food-insecure, i.e., they don’t have enough food for everyone in the family at least some of the time. Health? Poor children are far more at risk than better-off kids: from secondhand smoke (32 percent vs. 12 percent of nonpoor children), low or moderate levels of lead in their blood (30 percent vs. 15 percent), lack of health insurance (16 percent vs. 8 percent) and lack of dental care (18 percent of poor kids hadn’t seen a dentist in the past year vs. 11 percent of nonpoor children, which is bad enough). Poor children are more likely to have asthma (18 percent vs. 13 percent). They are more likely to have missed five or more days of school for health-related reasons (20 percent vs. 15 percent). Twice as many poor parents report that their child has “definite or severe” emotional, behavioral or social problems (10 percent vs. 5 percent). Poor kids are also more likely to be obese, to get insufficient exercise, to be diagnosed with ADHD or other learning disabilities and to have mothers who are in poor health themselves. No wonder they are less likely to be described by their parents as being in very good or excellent health (71 percent vs. 87 percent)."
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Inequity all around. . .so schools can do miracles alone?
The education debate is mired in a Utopian view of education that is paired with a stubborn refusal to admit that students live in a world outside of schools. The students most often marginalized once they enter schools face a triple assault that corporate and political leaders refuse to acknowledge, much less address.
Consider the evidence of students' lives before they enter schools (and as they live when not in schools), what occurs in schools, and what faces them once they leave—especially if the child is poor, especially if the child is of color, especially if the child has a home language other than English:
• The U.S. has one of the highest childhood poverty rates in the world, approximately 21-22% (see 2005 report and 2007 report).
• Once they enter schools, students most likely to struggle because of the conditions of their lives are also most likely to sit in large classrooms with inexperienced teachers who are un- and under-qualified (see Peske and Haycock).
• While the body of evidence shows that 80-90% of student achievement is linked to out-of-school factors (see study from UK, commentary by Rothstein, and report from Berliner), when the students are subjected to narrow and misleading tests (PISA) and ranked against the world, political leaders, corporate leaders, and the media falsely claim the schools, teachers, and students are failure—ignoring that the tests reveal the corrosive power of poverty, not failed schools or children.
• But the inequity doesn't stop here. A new study shows that the same students living under the weight of inequity in their lives and often finding the same inequity in their educations are faced with tremendous inequity once they graduate and enter the workforce.
Simplistic faith in Utopian expectations for schools fails us all since the idealism blinds those in power and the public to the need to address inequity in all aspects of society—not just our schools.
Consider the evidence of students' lives before they enter schools (and as they live when not in schools), what occurs in schools, and what faces them once they leave—especially if the child is poor, especially if the child is of color, especially if the child has a home language other than English:
• The U.S. has one of the highest childhood poverty rates in the world, approximately 21-22% (see 2005 report and 2007 report).
• Once they enter schools, students most likely to struggle because of the conditions of their lives are also most likely to sit in large classrooms with inexperienced teachers who are un- and under-qualified (see Peske and Haycock).
• While the body of evidence shows that 80-90% of student achievement is linked to out-of-school factors (see study from UK, commentary by Rothstein, and report from Berliner), when the students are subjected to narrow and misleading tests (PISA) and ranked against the world, political leaders, corporate leaders, and the media falsely claim the schools, teachers, and students are failure—ignoring that the tests reveal the corrosive power of poverty, not failed schools or children.
• But the inequity doesn't stop here. A new study shows that the same students living under the weight of inequity in their lives and often finding the same inequity in their educations are faced with tremendous inequity once they graduate and enter the workforce.
Simplistic faith in Utopian expectations for schools fails us all since the idealism blinds those in power and the public to the need to address inequity in all aspects of society—not just our schools.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
3 February 2011 Op-Ed in The State (Columbia, SC)
Thursday, Feb. 03, 2011
Thomas: Smarter ways to spend education dollars
Thomas: Smarter ways to spend education dollars
Wonderful proposal to NCTE from Krashen/Ohanian
This proposal includes an apt nod to Kurt Vonnegut. . .
A Suggestion for NCTE: Ensure that Our Children Aren't Hungry or Cold or Illiterate or Scared to Death
A Suggestion for NCTE: Ensure that Our Children Aren't Hungry or Cold or Illiterate or Scared to Death
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Important Charter Schools Study
From NEPC:
Adding Up The Spending: Fiscal Disparities and Philanthropy Among New York City Charter Schools
by
In prominent Hollywood movies and even in some research studies, New York City (NYC) charter schools have been held up as unusually successful. This research brief presents a new study that analyzes the resources available to those charter schools, and it also looks at their performance on state standardized tests. The study reaches some surprising conclusions, some of which include the following:
• Spending by NYC charter schools varies widely, and these differences in spending per pupil appear to be driven primarily by differences in access to private donors. The most well-endowed charters receive additional private funds exceeding $10,000 per pupil more than traditional public schools receive. Other charters receive almost no private donations. (The study’s analysis is based on data from 2006 to 2008 contained in audited annual financial reports, IRS tax filings of non-profit boards overseeing charter schools and charter management organizations.)
• Outcomes also vary widely. However, there is little or no relationship between spending and test score outcomes after including appropriate controls. Some high-spending and some low-spending charters perform well, while others perform quite poorly. The study also finds that charters are, on average, not outperforming non-charter publics in NYC.
• NYC charter schools serve, on average, far fewer students who are classified as English Learners or who are very poor. Both groups of students require more resources to teach than do other students, meaning that charters with lower enrollments of these more resource-intensive students can devote their funding to other purposes.
The findings with regard to New York City Charter Schools may or may not be transferable to other settings across the country. Certainly, the wealth and philanthropic culture of NYC is unique. Further, NYC is much larger than other cities and more racially and socioeconomically diverse as well, creating greater opportunities for cream-skimming, segregation, and neighborhood selection. But, many other cities—including Philadelphia, Houston and San Francisco—are struggling with similar issues and adopting comparable policies for mediating within-district funding equities, while simultaneously the number of charter schools is increasing. Leaders in these cities would do well to consider carefully the information and questions raised in this new study.
Adding Up The Spending: Fiscal Disparities and Philanthropy Among New York City Charter Schools
by
January 26, 2011
In prominent Hollywood movies and even in some research studies, New York City (NYC) charter schools have been held up as unusually successful. This research brief presents a new study that analyzes the resources available to those charter schools, and it also looks at their performance on state standardized tests. The study reaches some surprising conclusions, some of which include the following:
• Spending by NYC charter schools varies widely, and these differences in spending per pupil appear to be driven primarily by differences in access to private donors. The most well-endowed charters receive additional private funds exceeding $10,000 per pupil more than traditional public schools receive. Other charters receive almost no private donations. (The study’s analysis is based on data from 2006 to 2008 contained in audited annual financial reports, IRS tax filings of non-profit boards overseeing charter schools and charter management organizations.)
• Outcomes also vary widely. However, there is little or no relationship between spending and test score outcomes after including appropriate controls. Some high-spending and some low-spending charters perform well, while others perform quite poorly. The study also finds that charters are, on average, not outperforming non-charter publics in NYC.
• NYC charter schools serve, on average, far fewer students who are classified as English Learners or who are very poor. Both groups of students require more resources to teach than do other students, meaning that charters with lower enrollments of these more resource-intensive students can devote their funding to other purposes.
The findings with regard to New York City Charter Schools may or may not be transferable to other settings across the country. Certainly, the wealth and philanthropic culture of NYC is unique. Further, NYC is much larger than other cities and more racially and socioeconomically diverse as well, creating greater opportunities for cream-skimming, segregation, and neighborhood selection. But, many other cities—including Philadelphia, Houston and San Francisco—are struggling with similar issues and adopting comparable policies for mediating within-district funding equities, while simultaneously the number of charter schools is increasing. Leaders in these cities would do well to consider carefully the information and questions raised in this new study.
Suggested Citation:
Baker, B.D. & Ferris, R. (2011). Adding Up the Spending: Fiscal Disparities and Philanthropy among New York City Charter Schools. Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center. Retrieved [date] from http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/NYC-charter-disparities.
Baker, B.D. & Ferris, R. (2011). Adding Up the Spending: Fiscal Disparities and Philanthropy among New York City Charter Schools. Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center. Retrieved [date] from http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/NYC-charter-disparities.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
The importance of being a radical. . .
The editor at truthout has recently reminded me of this outstanding and apt passage from Zinn:
"From that moment on, I was no longer a liberal, a believer in the self-correcting character of American democracy. I was a radical, believing that something fundamental was wrong in this country - not just the existence of poverty amidst great wealth, not just the horrible treatment of black people, but something rotten at the root. The situation required not just a new president or new laws, but an uprooting of the old order, the introduction of a new kind of society - cooperative, peaceful, egalitarian."
-Howard Zinn, from his 1994 memoir, You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train
"From that moment on, I was no longer a liberal, a believer in the self-correcting character of American democracy. I was a radical, believing that something fundamental was wrong in this country - not just the existence of poverty amidst great wealth, not just the horrible treatment of black people, but something rotten at the root. The situation required not just a new president or new laws, but an uprooting of the old order, the introduction of a new kind of society - cooperative, peaceful, egalitarian."
-Howard Zinn, from his 1994 memoir, You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Bomer @ Furman University/ SCCTE January 27-28, 2011
Randy Bomer
Randy Bomer, former NCTE President, holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and is currently a language and literacy specialist at the University of Texas and director of the Heart of Texas Writing Project. For two decades Bomer has worked as a literacy consultant with K-12 teachers and administrators in districts around the country. He assists teachers of all levels launch writing and reading workshops in their classrooms and teach effectively within those environments. Bomer has conducted research on professional development as well as on teaching and learning interactions in classrooms. He is the author of Time for Meaning (1995) and For a Better World (2001), as well as recent journal articles analyzing the implications of the deficit perspective in discussions of educating children of poverty. |
Follow Randy on Twitter @rbomer
Visit Randy’s page on the NCTE Ning
Check out the abstracts for Randy’s articles about the deficit perspective and teaching children of poverty from Teachers College Record and English Education
Furman University, January 27, 2011 (Thursday)
Sponsored by Issues in American Education (Education Department)
Moving Beyond Deficit Views of Poverty and Learning
7-8:30 pm/ McEachern (Furman Hall 214)
Dr. Randy Bomer will lecture on what the "deficit perspective" is in regards to teaching and learning and how this perspective relates to poverty. He will draw from recent events in politics and education to speak to what the discourse surrounding poverty and education should be, as opposed to what it currently is. Following his lecture, there will be a substantial amount of time allocated to questions, as the previous "poverty and education" CLPs have seen a great interest in asking questions of the speaker and have been a great asset to the event.
South Carolina Council of Teachers of English (SCCTE), January 28, 2011 (Friday)
General Session (GS.2) Governor’s Hall C/D/E 2:00-2:50 p.m. |
Appreciative Teaching vs. Deficit Thinking: Supporting All Students in Claiming Their Literate Lives Randy Bomer, University of Texas This address will help teachers think about what their students bring with them to school, the knowledge, competence, experience, and language upon which we can build more academic kinds of learning. It will also explore the ways deficit thinking—the belief that there is something fundamentally wrong with students’ minds, families, or communities–can actually get in the way of effective teaching. Randy will describe very practical, research-based ways of building on students’ strengths and passions as a foundation for a school year in reading and writing. Randy Bomer, former NCTE President, is currently a language and literacy specialist at the University of Texas and director of the Heart of Texas Writing Project. For two decades Bomer has worked as a literacy consultant with K-12 teachers and administrators in districts around the country. He is the author of Time for Meaning (1995) and For a Better World (2001), as well as recent articles analyzing the implications of the deficit perspective in discussions of educating children of poverty. |
Friday Workshops 4:00-5:30 p.m. | |
Session FW.1 Vanderhorst 1/2/3 Topic: EL, CC, M Audience: G | Literacy, Schooling, and Children from Economically Disadvantaged Communities: Countering the Effects of Deficit Thinkers Like Ruby Payne Randy Bomer, University of Texas In this workshop, participants will compare perspectives on students from communities that experience financial poverty. Randy will lead participants in comparing a deficit perspective, especially that of Ruby K. Payne, with an asset-based perspective. He will also discuss the differences these perspectives make for teachers in leading students to higher levels of academic achievement. Teachers will learn to detect deficit language and to reframe such thinking toward a more democratic valuing of the capacities diverse students bring to school. |
Suggested Reading
Bomer, R., Dworin, J. E., May, L., & Semingson, P. (2008). Miseducating teachers about the poor: A critical analysis of Ruby Payne's claims about poverty. Teachers College Record, 110(11).
Bomer, R., Dworin, J. E., May, L., & Semingson, P. (2009, June 3). What’s wrong with a deficit perspective? Teachers College Record. Retrieved 12 June 2009 from http://www.tcrecord.org
Dworin, J. E., & Bomer, R. (2008). What we all (supposedly) know about the poor: A critical discourse analysis of Ruby Payne's "framework." English Education, 40(2), 101-121.
Monday, January 17, 2011
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