September 15, 2007 California Blog Roundup

Today’s Blog Roundup is on the flip. Let me know what I missed.

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Things to do this weekend

Modern Republican
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Air, Land, Water, Energy

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50 State Blog Roundup

This week’s roundup is brought to you by Clem Guttata of West Virginia Blue with a major assist from Mike Paulle. Thank you Mike!

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Alabama

Edwards buys rebuttal time.
Arizona

Culture of corruption?
Illinois

Diarist yinn digs deep, going where Bush war enablers Mark Kirk and Judy Biggert are RINOs.
California

Opposing the dirty tricks campaign. | Governator kills Iraq vote. | Chemical Manufacturers were able to buy enough votes to hold off some end-of-session legislation, with some Democrats voting the wrong way in the Senate
Colorado

Colorado has turned Blue. | The Colorado Green party is being dishonest in its tactics against Congressman Mark Udall | Read Colorado cheers and jeers
Connecticut

Lamont Wins!Oh my.
Delaware

Would Biden plan work?
Georgia

Georgia is a Red State and thus supports Bush and the Iraq War, right? Tondee’s Tavern’s look at a recent poll might surprise you.
Idaho

Craig seal of approval.
Iowa

Will Iowa Clinton backers caucus?
Kentucky

Petraeus: Saint or Suck-Up
Louisiana

Vitter the stud.
Maine

Bob Kerrey is back in action.
Maryland

Free State Politics took note of the recent outbreak of hate crimes in Maryland. Scary stuff.
Massachusetts

Defeating Boehner would be a small price to pay.
Montana

Hsu contribution tests Tester.
Michigan

Pistol-packing teachers in Michigan classrooms? Thank you, House Republicans.
Minnesota

Norm Coleman’s lead in his 2008 Senate race is shrinking rapidly.
Nebraska

Hagel’s friends.
Nebraska

Hagel’s forecast. Why he has such good friends.
Nevada

Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Robert Daskas has filed papers with the FEC to challenge Congressman Jon Porter (R, NV-03). His campaign will be managed by Tessa Hafen’s campaign manager. Hafen lost narrowly last year. This is one of the top pick-up opportunities in the West.
New Mexico

Kos says we still suck. ActBlue, too?
New York

Very naughty bad, bad liberals.
North Carolina

Peacenik Liddy Dole?
Oklahoma

Sooner spirit.
Pennsylvania

Smoke, fire? and comments.
Rhode Island

The RI legislature will be returning to override vetoes of bills to end mandatory minimums, domestic partner benefits & youth voter pre-registration
Texas

If any citizen journalist needs inspiration to keep going, point them to Texas Kaos, where TXSharon shares how one of the largest dailies in the state, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Edits LTE to match (their) bias.
Texas

2008? Texas candidates are already getting their ducks in a row for 2010
Utah

Ralph Becker’s mayoral campaign hitting its stride.
Virginia

Netroots for Virginia.
Wisconsin

Biskupic happy to testify in the Georgia Thompson case.
South Dakota

There’s bi-partisan agreement on the 2008 SD-Sen race.
New Hampshire

Continuing to leverage their access to Dem. Presidential candidates, this week’s policy poll is on China.
Indiana

Republican robo callers may yet be brought to justice.
New Jersey

Here’s good news for reproductive freedoms in New Jersey. It’s also good news for science-based court decisions.

The details are sickening. A judge has to ask what’s wrong with the Republican party in Michigan?
Mississippi

Racism takes many forms. Brown is the new black.
Missouri

Governor Matt Blunt’s Chief of Staff caught in a lie.
Vermont

A Yankee state blog takes a crack at understanding the Southern voter psyche.

A thought-provoking alternative history: what if Timothy McVeigh had never been caught?
Tennessee

A thought for the Jewish New Year 5768
Oregon

Anti-gay activist David Crowe makes bizarre and disgusting 9/11 comparison.

Chet unloads a wagon of snark.
Illinois

IL-03 has a Bush-Dog Democrat.
Missouri

Clark says Skelton Gets It Right, McCaskill Gets It Wrong.
New York

Nancy Scola asks What If You Leaked 30,000,000 Gallons of Oil and No One Really Cared All That Much?
Washington

Drug court graduates largest class ever.
West Virginia

For anyone new to W.Va. politics, you might be surprised to learn how the political families of Dem. Gov. Joe Manchin and Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (WV-02) are related.

School Progress Assessment: George Miller and NCLB

(full disclosure CTA has hired me to do blog outreach on NCLB) (also in orange: Miller and NCLB)

One of the many problems with the current Miller/Pelosi draft of the re-authorization of NCLB is how it assesses schools.  The feds require schools get assessed with an Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) report.  It sets benchmarks.  If you do not meet them, you fail.  It is a very rigid system.  They mandated this program, yet never provided the money for states to actually track schools and students. Thus states have had to cough up the money on their own for data programs.

Here in California we already have a great assessment program called the Academic Performance Index (API).  (Get that AYP (feds) API (Cali)).  The API sets goals based on progress over time.  So if a school is way behind, but they show significant percentage improvement (say 20% or so gains), they don’t get on the failing list and get punished.  Many schools who were really far behind under NCLB were classified as failing and punished, even though they were showing dramatic gains under API.  It was a vicious and disheartening cycle.

California really likes its system.  It still puts a heavy emphasis on improvement, but schools that start out severely underperforming don’t get punished while they are making huge improvements. 

Since NCLB passed, California has put a lot of money into a system to track students under the AYP.  We still are not there yet, years later.  One of the many fixes to NCLB that education advocates both here in CA and across the country have been pushing for is for states to be able to assess students on the API model.  Jack O’Connell, State Superintendent of Schools, wrote a letter to George Miller, where he addressed this problem (sorry no cite, came via email):

After reviewing the discussion draft, I am pleased to see that the Committee recognizes the limitations of the current law’s status model for measuring AYP.  However, I am disappointed to not that the draft does not allow states to use valid improvement measures to hold districts and schools accountable. [snip]

Provisions in the draft would increase technical complexity while reducing academic accountability at the cost of existing, proven and reliable state systems.

Got that.  They are putting more mandates on the schools, thus making the reporting mechanisms even more complicated.  That costs money.  And they are not increasing flexibility so schools can be assessed using other, superior models like the API.

As noted in the reauthorization recommendations I issued earlier this year, the API has been a successful agent of change for our schools and districts.  It is a publicly recognized and understood tool for holding schools accountable for improvement.  Using the notion of “earned autonomy,” the reauthorized law should recognize the authority of states to measure AYP with their own state system, so long as that system meets conditions of peer-reviewed rigor, demonstrated progress and approval by the ED (Education Department).  The federal government would retain the authority to hold states accountable for their results according to an agreed metric.  Our shared focus should be on the academic objectives and not the restricted methodology.

I know it is a bit weird for progressives to be arguing for states rights, but in this case we really do have a better, fairer system and the federal government is forcing us to use a rigid inferior one.

Fourth in a series.
Previous posts:

Nancy Pelosi and George Miller are getting it wrong: NO on NCLB

Getting George Miller’s Attention and the Bad Miller/Pelosi NCLB Bill

Merit Pay and NCLB: George Miller Still Getting it Wrong
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Take Action, contact Miller and Pelosi.  More information on the CTA website.