Cloaking Inequity

Mr. President, welcome to Austin! I was looking over your “Forward” education platform and I thought I would share it with the readers of Cloaking Inequity. I think they will be super excited about your progressive stances on education. The Democrat’s strategy is based on sound principle. Parents have the right to choose the best […]

Special Education and English Language Learners are considered vulnerable student populations. As a result, our society, courts, and policymakers have afforded these student populations special protections. However, in California, until recently, policy has allowed districts to offer rookie teachers limited access to training for teaching special populations— including Teach For America corps members. I have […]

The debate about the efficacy of Teach For America continued in the Washington Post this past weekend. Yes, it goes on and on. This time we are discussing a recently released study (apparently not peer-reviewed at this point) that says TFA teachers’ student performed better in math but not ELA. There are many non-peer reviewed […]

Teacher evaluation is one of the most contentious issues in educational policy today. Here on CI I recently discussed how policymakers have ignored the experts on the use of VAM statistical models. I will be honest, I have not often been a fan of how the Gates Foundation has typically gone about education reform (See […]

Julian Vasquez Heilig gave an interview about “college” and “career” readiness to Veronica Zaragovia from KUT News. We briefly discussed the education bills passing through the Texas Legislature that are stirring debate on impact to students, especially minorities. See my earlier post Career and Tech: “Show me the money!” for thoughts on funding for career programs and the implications tracking students […]

A Cloaking Inequity reader made me aware of this sincere tell-all from a former TFA teacher that was recently posted on Carla Ranger’s blog, a Dallas ISD School Board member (we have lots and lots and lots of TFA in Texas— Dallas, Houston, Rio Grande Valley etc.). John Bilby’s thoughts reblogged from Ranger’s blog: I left […]

Reblogged from Crazy Crawfish's Blog: I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t feeling overwhelmed by all the rapid changes happening in the education sphere. I’m positive I’m not alone in feeling this way - based on the feedback, articles and correspondence I’ve been receiving from local and national groups and individuals. As I struggled […]

Reblogged from deutsch29: In order to truly understand value added modeling (VAM), forget the likes of me and of others who hold degrees in mathematics, or statistics, or measurement. Forget that we offer solid, detailed discussions of the problems of VAM. Forget also that those who formerly promoted VAM, like Louisiana’s George Noell, are mysteriously ”no longer associated with […]

Is the new Nation At-Risk report for our decade here? The For Each and Every Child report was released at the end of February by the Equity and Excellence Commission, a congressionally mandated group. The Washington Post reported that there was disagreement amongst the committee members on the framing of the report— pitting making a sales pitch […]

Teach for America released a new study this week about their Texas operation. It is nearly 100 pages long, but when I reviewed the study I noted a fatal flaw. See my discussion of the fatal flaw in The Monitor: Study finds Teach for America corps members, alumni had outsized impact on middle schools in several […]

There is an update on the TFA civil war from California…I received the following letter via email from a source within the TFA alum circle. TFA alumni are organizing for teacher quality in the Golden State. TFA wants to be able continue to assign a revolving door of poorly trained (only 5 weeks in the summer) […]

Is a Civil War brewing amongst the legion of highly-educated (mostly temporary) corps alumni? I have been surprised by the recent articles from former Teach For America teachers discussing a variety of critiques. Emma Lind, a Harvard grad and a former corp member, called for a “rethink” of TFA in the Harvard Crimson. Matt Barnum, the […]

When you think of school choice, what comes to mind? Vouchers? Charters? Intra- and Inter- district choice? Magnet schools? Today I received a forwarded email request from a senator that was gathering information in response to pressure for “school choice” bills at the Texas Legislature. I have been pondering “school choice,” and why it is […]

How can we banish NCLB’s top-down and narrow paradigm? Here is how you do it… Accountability should foster collective community goals. In education, there are many measures of student success from school entry through graduation and beyond. Here are Community-Based Accountability Executive Summary and Key Features. Please forward and circulate widely. These are living documents and […]

I find it disconcerting that Cuomo (and the feds) are punishing the New York City Schools by withholding $400 million because they refuse to adopt “value-added” modeling that some consider as “frauds” and “junk science.” Growth models were also an issue in the recent Chicago teacher strike. Who should we listen to on value-added modeling? […]