Dropout Nation on Twitter for 2010-05-06

• @Barack_On_Blast Black mayors don’t need conventions. Need to do work. Less conversation, more action, please. Especially in Detroit/Bmore in reply to Barack_On_Blast #
• @Barack_On_Blast This, by the way, also applies to white mayors. in reply to Barack_On_Blast #
• What black mayors need to do: #
• What black mayors conference should do: Gather together some grassroots activists, #edreformers philanthropies, entrepreneurs, solve issues #
• We see this with #
• We see this with @CoryBooker, we saw this with the great Maynard Jackson in Atlanta. #Fenty makes stab at #edreform w/#DCPS. But #
• we need more of them. But it’s not just the mayors. It is all of us. #
• RT @ChitownStu: RT @kpcceducation: UCLA conference seeks betterment of young black males http://bit.ly/bN836T// anyone going? #blacked #
• @dsmorgan77 @sourcepov Also applies to charter schools in many states, including Indiana. So it has a more expansive term these days #ecosys #
• @DianeRav @avalonsensei: Actually, the folks being mentioned-Rick Hess and Jay Greene-have always been less focused on test scores, but then #
• @DianeRav @avalonsensei: You’d have to actually read their stuff. Charles Murray, on the other hand, hasn’t had much credibility since #
• @DianeRav @avalonsensei “The Bell Curve”. Try again, Diane. Maybe you will one day actually merit your former standing as a #edu historian. #
• @DianeRav @avalonsensei By the way: Murray generally comes from the school of thought that thinks #edreform isn’t worth doing because #
• @DianeRav @avalonsensei most kids aren’t smart enough to actually attend college. #
• @avalonsensei Actually, pretty accurate if you consider what bears out in other factors such as graduation rates, college completion, etc. in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei This isn’t to say that test scores are perfect, but they are the best most-objective evidence of student/school/teacher in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei performance. In the case of charters and vouchers, the data is actually more mixed than either Ravitch or even my fellow in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei charter school supporters will say. There are plenty of high-performing charter schools that advance student performance in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei at a higher growth rate than trad. public schools (and also have higher grad rates and college completion levels). But in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei one must remember that most charters are taking students whose achievement levels are often lower than students in trad. in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei schools. The growth must be considered alongside the raw score. This said, there are plenty of abysmal charters. in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei They should be shut down. It’s that simple. I don’t cry over a shutdown of a dropout factory, no matter who operates them. in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei In the case of test scores, they are the most-objective because it is based on the curricula standards for what kids should in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei learn. These aren’t classroom grades, which are often inflated and subjective (a teacher who dislikes a student=F; lobbying by in reply to avalonsensei #
• parents; social promotion, etc). Portfolios, like class grades, are also far too subjective in interpretation to be reliable indicators #
• @avalonsensei achievement. This doesn’t make test scores perfect. It does make them the best out of all measures. in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei And when measured longitudinally, one can see how well students/teachers/students are doing. in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei The thing is the future of the student is endangered not because of the test. The test merely tells whether a student is in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei progressing academically. The students do suffer the consequences, but that’s because of the adults failing the students. in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei Improve teacher quality, curricula, enact reading remediation once a child’s academic issues are diagnosed and we wouldn’t in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei have a dropout crisis. If we simply had children reading to children for hours at a time after school, it would greatly in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei improve the underlying literacy problems that foster dropouts. It goes back to a system that doesn’t reward great teaching, in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei allows laggard teachers to remain in positions, and school bureaucrats failing to embrace data, objective evaluation. in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei Thanks for your thoughts as welll. in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei Let’s try that without typing so fast: Thanks for your thoughts as well (with two l’s) in reply to avalonsensei #
• RT @EdEquality: News from Hill w/#edreform implications Obey retires, Fattah runs 4 top replace him on appropriations http://bit.ly/aIXOo5 #
• Fattah also a major equity/adequacy suit supporter. Helped announce ED’s efforts back in November at Schott Foundation conference. #
• Nice. RT @EdEquality @edReformer: My visit to the historic Central High School, in Little Rock, AR http://bit.ly/9NoFOw #edreform #
• Sadly, no parent trigger. RT @pienetwork: CT approves #edreform bill… ConnCAN calls it “a significant step forward.” http://bit.ly/aNw0t6 #
• RT @Steve_Simon: 40yrs of swelling payrolls, 4.2 mill to 6.2 mill amid nation’s dropout crisis http://ow.ly/1Ha4k #edreform #RiShawnBiddle #
• True. RT @whatedsaid: It’s about the learning, not the tools http://bit.ly/cw2Is0 #edchat #education #edtech #
• #headshaker tweet of week. Not even close to facts. RT @hhuynh: Charter Schools move focus from test scores to choice. http://nyti.ms/8XS9g2 #
• #headshaker piece of week. RT @Zimteachnetwork NJ.com Gov. Chris Christie: Sworn enemy of NJ’s public schools #edreform http://bit.ly/9aOCP2 #
• RT @dlg1972 @dropoutnation: The Dropout Nation Podcast: Save 150 Teens An Hour (need for #edreform http://bit.ly/bR6AYE #edgap #gradrate #
• RT @CampusReport: FL Blog: NEA-Funded Orgs: In the 04/10 Labor Watch, RiShawn Biddle takes aim at the #NEA .. http://bit.ly/bm0mmw #edreform #
• Grat moments in #literacy RT @stevejmoore: Today in 1940, Steinbeck wins Pulitzer for Grapes of Wrath http://bit.ly/d4jm3i #
• On last hired-first fired: NYC to lay off 6,400 teachers. All likely to be among 30,000 new hires this decade http://bit.ly/9SaI87 #edreform #
• Colo. #AFT breaks with #NEA supports teacher eval/tenure reform bill SB10-191 http://bit.ly/9eihGg #edreform #RttT (via @JennaMSchuette) #
• Nice piece, but fails to realize the importance of tests in measuring, evaluating teaching quality. RT @akamrt: http://is.gd/bXkqz #edreform #
• Checker Finn might like this. RT @PSBJ: Gates Foundation: $8M for Calif.charter schools http://bit.ly/co4EJc #edreform #
• Because we know he doesn’t like this: Foundations, fed gov’t too cozy for his taste http://bit.ly/acajcm #edreform #
• Meanwhile, off-ed: British PM Brown will either form govt with rivals, or David Cameron will win w/hung parliament http://bit.ly/9Kj3Yt #
• Honestly, I’d prefer Sir Humphrey Appleby and Jim Hacker myself #BritishComedy #YesPrimeMinister #ThankYouWNET #
• @akamrt When your performance is tied to the job of educating kids. If you have to ask that question, sir, then you shouldn’t be teaching. in reply to akamrt #
• Educating children is the service you provide. The quality of the education is related to the quality of instruction. #
• Or, to say it kindly, if you can’t teach, the kid isn’t going to learn. #
• @akamrt No. But if the diner tosses it back because it tastes terrible and walks out hungry, then yes, it is quite telling. in reply to akamrt #
• @akamrt No. But a child will spend more of his time in a classroom and in school between the ages of 4 and 18 than anywhere else. in reply to akamrt #
• @akamrt And, as the evidence is bearing out, the quality of teaching can affect student achievement more than socioeconomic background. in reply to akamrt #
• @akamrt At a certain point, teachers must stop making excuses for the quality of their work. If I can’t blame the weather for the quality in reply to akamrt #
• @akamrt of my prose, then you can’t blame everything under the sun for the quality of your instruction. #quitelogical in reply to akamrt #
• @akamrt No, testing tells us whether the teacher is teaching and reaching. Let’s be clear, don’t demand more authority, autonomy, then in reply to akamrt #
• @akamrt not take responsibility for the results. It is just that simple. in reply to akamrt #
• @akamrt And, let’s start with some evidence, courtesy of Kevin Carey: http://bit.ly/9TDKyk #edreform in reply to akamrt #
• @akamrt It isn’t about vilifying teachers. It is about improving the instruction children receive in school and stemming a crisis in which in reply to akamrt #
• @akamrt 1.2 million of our children — especially black and Latino children — drop out into poverty, prison, welfare. Believe you me in reply to akamrt #
• @akamrt I don’t vilify teachers. I shed light on practices, worldviews that damage the lives of children. Period. If you’re in that category in reply to akamrt #
• @akamrt then you don’t deserve to be in a classroom. in reply to akamrt #
• @akamrt In life, you have to take responsibility before you even get autonomy. That’s the underlying principle behind every great thing that in reply to akamrt #
• @akamrt ever happens. The Founding Fathers had to take responsibility for their own destiny before they broke away from the British. in reply to akamrt #
• @akamrt That’s how it works. If you want teaching to be treated as the profession it should be, then you must take charge of it, and call in reply to akamrt #
• @akamrt out those among you who can’t hack it. And advocate for systems, eval regimes that offer the objective data needed for the job. in reply to akamrt #
• By the way: Dear teachers. Please don’t tell us you don’t have power. You do have it. When your union donates $66 million of your funds #
• during one political cycle and is the biggest political donor in most states, this is a clear sign of power. #
• The problem is that you have invested that power in unions in exchange for defined-benefit pensions, tenure. #
• If you feel powerless, get together and vote out your union reps at every level. They represent you at the table of education decisionmaking #
• This also applies to the rest of us in the form of our elected politicians. #
• The Dropout Nation Podcast: Save 150 Teens An Hour (why #edreform is needed) http://dropoutnation.net/sos #edgap #gradrate #
• Empire strikes back RT @TerriGreenUSA: RT @ajc: 7 districts sue state over local control of charter schools http://bit.ly/debilU #edreform #
• In the American Spectator’s May edition: Race to the Top–of What? (PDF version) http://dropoutnation.net/rtt #edreform #RttT #edpolicy #
• This is Dropout Nation: Why Reading Matters or Why Atlanta Students are Failing Math http://dropoutnation.net/sos #edgap #education #
• RT @dynarski@detnews: Appeals court rules in favor of Bobb on Detroit schools plans. Update coming at http://bit.ly/PWxBn #DPS #edreform #
• “No [pensions will] not going to bankrupt the state. My guess is that the State of Calif… is going to cease to pay them.” Willie Brown #
• In Houston, districts are playing games with truancy/attendance data http://bit.ly/bqLaCG #HISD #truancy #eddata #
• Coming Sunday: The Dropout Nation Podcast: Read to Your Boys (solving the #edgap for young men) at http://www.dropoutnation.net #edgap #
• RT @ChitownStu: Too many want to use “excuse” of slavery..to bind us into a passive mentality which inhibits too many in community. #blacked #
• There was never a time in the history of American public education in which there was high quality education… #BlackEd #
• But there was a time when we as a people didn’t wait on others to improve the quality of education #BlackEd #
• Think of Mary McLeod Bethune. She and her students took a little house and turned it into a school, elderberry juice and turned it into ink #
• Think of Mary McLeod Bethune. She and her students took a little house, turned it into a school, turned elderberry juice into ink #BlackEd #
• Or think of Booker T. Washington and the formation of Tuskegee. We had help from some white people. Jeanes Program, for one #BlackEd #
• There was also Sears founder Julius Rosenwald, who built thousands of schools in the segregated South. #BlackEd #
• But for the most part, it was just us. Our community players had high expectations for all children to write their own story #BlackEd #
• What we have done is invested in a vision of Black America as a nation of victims… #BlackEd #
• We should have a vision of ourselves as people on the rise after decades of falling behind. #BlackEd #
• And it starts with our children. We have to educate millions of young black men and women well to build an army of millions… #BlackEd #
• Because an army of millions can never be stopped #BlackEd #
• RT @DR_E_WATERS: RT @cybraryman1 You have to set the bar high & keep the students focused. #BlackEd #
• @DR_E_WATERS Where we are? We have a long way to go. Fifty-two percent of black students read Below Basic proficiency on NAEP 2009 #BlackEd in reply to DR_E_WATERS #
• We have urban school districts–run by our own people–who are failing our children badly. #BlackEd #
• But we also have promising efforts among grassroots activists, educators, caring adults, that need support #BlackEd #
• @ChitownStu You are right. We need TFAs that attract aspiring minority teachers. We also need to take advantage of what exists #BlackEd in reply to ChitownStu #
• @DR_E_WATERS I’d argue that while the first 75 years was excellence, the seeds of our problems began in part in the 1940s. #BlackEd in reply to DR_E_WATERS #
• @DR_E_WATERS The development of the first housing projects-as much an effort at segregation as it was benevolent housing policy-fostered in reply to DR_E_WATERS #
• @DR_E_WATERS the levels of underachievement. in reply to DR_E_WATERS #
• @DR_E_WATERS When you tell women that they can only get welfare if they aren’t married, they will behave accordingly. So will men. #BlackEd in reply to DR_E_WATERS #
• @DR_E_WATERS It didn’t hurt the black middle class as much, but for the poor, it was devastation. We see those results in #BlackEd in reply to DR_E_WATERS #
• @DR_E_WATERS the New Jack Cities of the 1970s through 1990s, the drive-bys in So. Central, and ultimately, in low #gradrates #BlackEd in reply to DR_E_WATERS #
• @DR_E_WATERS But it didn’t just happen to us. We embraced these decisions. We even made them in conjunction with whites. #BlackEd in reply to DR_E_WATERS #
• @EDUCATIONCEO No one wants to invest in anyone. You invest in people if you think you will get something in return. #BlackEd in reply to EDUCATIONCEO #
• @EDUCATIONCEO So forget about anyone investing in you. Invest in yourself. We have to invest in us. #BlackEd in reply to EDUCATIONCEO #
• @EDUCATIONCEO Or, as they say, each one, teach one. in reply to EDUCATIONCEO #
• @EDUCATIONCEO Or, as they say, each one, teach one. #BlackEd #
• @ToughLoveforX You mean test score growth/growth models? This is the underlying basis of value-added assessment #edreform in reply to ToughLoveforX #
• @ToughLoveforX Everyone in #edreform should be for that. At least on the data-driven end of the movement. It can show that an urban school in reply to ToughLoveforX #
• @ToughLoveforX with low test scores may be doing a better job of improving achievement than an suburban school with already-high test scores in reply to ToughLoveforX #
• @EDUCATIONCEO The Urban Teacher Residency Institute recruits as much as 57 percent of staff from minorities… #BlackEd in reply to EDUCATIONCEO #
• @EDUCATIONCEO And it was funded to the tune of $1.6 million by Gates last year http://bit.ly/9JRk7u #BlackEd in reply to EDUCATIONCEO #
• @EDUCATIONCEO There is money out there. But, like everything, it is about building the connections, playing the game. #BlackEd in reply to EDUCATIONCEO #
• @EDUCATIONCEO We must play the game and play it better #BlackEd in reply to EDUCATIONCEO #
• @EDUCATIONCEO And we have to teach our colleagues, friends, understudies how to play too. Share the knowledge. #BlackEd in reply to EDUCATIONCEO #
• @ToughLoveforX There are those who argue against growth models largely because of the use of test score data. If you oppose testing… in reply to ToughLoveforX #
• @ToughLoveforX you will oppose value-added assessment and growth models. in reply to ToughLoveforX #
• RT @EDUCATIONCEO: @DR_E_WATERS When u have Black tchrs buying into the myth that single parents or low-income parents do not care #BlackEd #
• @EDUCATIONCEO Get moving. I am. #BlackEd in reply to EDUCATIONCEO #
• @ToughLoveforX That’s an interesting question. #edtech and #onlinelearning may help provide that real-time information in reply to ToughLoveforX #
• @ToughLoveforX I know that some GED centers that use some version of this. But I have to explore that myself. in reply to ToughLoveforX #
• @drchuckwilliams I disagree. There are some parents who don’t do the job at home. There are also parents who don’t know how. #BlackEd in reply to drchuckwilliams #

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