NYC Public School Parents: Pearson Contract Rejected

NYC Public School Parents: Last night's historic vote of the Panel for Educat...:  Last night was truly one for the history books, at least in the history of NYC public schools:  the Panel for Educational Policy, composed ...

Deasy out at SUSD

See previous posts on John Deasy, former PG County Superintendent on this blog including this article:  http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2014/08/npr-investigation-by-member-station.html

****

The Stockton Unified School District Board of Education voted 4-3 in favor of accepting the resignation of superintendent John Deasy after a special meeting Tuesday.

Voting in favor of dismissing Deasy were board president Kathy Garcia, board vice president Maria Mendez, Cecilia Mendez and Scott McBrian. Voting no were Candelaria Vargas, Lange Luntao and Angel Ann Flores.

After opening the meeting and listening to 20 minutes of public comments sent to the district via email, the seven-member board went into closed session and announced their decision after about 90 minutes of discussion...

https://www.recordnet.com/news/20200421/deasy-out-at-susd

FBI PSA: EDUCATION TECHNOLOGIES: DATA COLLECTION AND UNSECURED SYSTEMS COULD POSE RISKS TO STUDENTS

The FBI is encouraging public awareness of cyber threat concerns related to K-12 students. The US school systems’ rapid growth of education technologies (EdTech) and widespread collection of student data could have privacy and safety implications if compromised or exploited...


https://www.ic3.gov/media/2018/180913.aspx

MCPS Chief Academic Officer gives Parents Abbreviated version of Why Curriculum RFP was Rescinded

Click here to read the letter MCPS Chief Academic Officer Maria Navarro sent to MCPS staff. 

The letter that parents and guardians received is below. 

May 22, 2018

A Message from Chief Academic Officer,
Dr. Maria V. Navarro

Dear MCPS Community:

Montgomery County Public Schools has been recognized locally and nationally for the high levels of achievement by many of our students. However, many is not enough. We know that some of our students are not meeting their full potential. It is our responsibility to ensure ALL students have the resources, instruction, opportunity and access they need to succeed in college, career and community. One of the ways we are working toward our goal of all students meeting their potential is through enhancements to curricula and professional development for teachers.

To help us better understand how to reach this goal, MCPS commissioned a review of our curriculum, with a specific focus on Kindergarten through Grade 8, for English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics.  The review, which included insight from hundreds of educators, looked at curriculum, classroom practices and student performance and drew several key conclusions:

• While the MCPS curriculum was cutting edge when it was created in 2008-2009, advancement in curriculum developments in recent years provide innovations, such as enhanced digital engagement, more cultural proficiency, and better alignment with state standards.
• Professional learning is fundamental to ensuring successful instruction, especially with the evolution of new standards and curriculum.
• A shift in curricula and professional learning requires a multi-year, multi-pronged effort to ensure a successful transition.

While we anticipated these conclusions, this report confirmed that enhancements to our curricula and professional development are needed in order for us to move closer toward our goal of success for all students.

As you may know, MCPS engaged in a Request for Proposal (RFP) process to select new curricula in April. The selected curricula was scheduled to rollout to a small set of pilot schools in the fall with continued implementation over the next several years. We have decided to postpone this effort to address unanticipated issues in the selection process. The current RFP will be rescinded and a new one will be issued. To ensure full engagement with all stakeholders on this important effort, we intend to resume the selection process at the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year. While we know this delay may cause a disruption for our schools that were to begin implementation next year, we believe this delay will help us ensure transparency and trust in this process. The delay also provides us with the ability to address the feedback we heard from stakeholders about the timeline of this transition.

Though the curriculum acquisition is delayed, we will continue to provide enhanced professional development for staff that will focus on addressing some of the concerns cited in the curriculum review. These focus areas will include developing instructional strategies that support every learner in every classroom; creating high levels of student interaction with rigorous and complex text; and establishing deep levels of mathematical understanding aligned to grade-level standards.

Thank you for your unwavering commitment to ALL our students and schools. We will remain in regular communication with you in the coming weeks and months to provide updates about our continued efforts regarding curricula and professional development for educators.

Sincerely,
Maria V. Navarro, Ed.D.
Chief Academic Officer

MCPS to Rescind RFP for New Curriculum #ethics #procurement #ConflictofInterest #mcps

Dear Colleagues: 
As you know, MCPS has engaged in a Request for Proposal (RFP) process to select new curricula for grades Kindergarten through Grade 8, for English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics. As our curriculum review indicated, a new curriculum is needed to support teaching and learning. 
Unfortunately, we will need to postpone this important process. We recently learned that two MCPS staff members, the associate superintendent in the Office of Curriculum and Instructional Programs and the supervisor for English/Language Arts in the Department of Secondary Curriculum and Districtwide Programs, are retiring and intend to accept job offers with Discovery Education, one of the vendors that submitted a proposal in response to the RFP. These staff members have recused themselves from any further involvement in the RFP process. 
It is important to note that Discovery Education’s leadership acted proactively, diligently and collaboratively throughout this process. As soon as it was brought to the attention of Discovery Education’s leadership that these individuals were connected to the RFP process, the company, citing an abundance of caution, took the initiative and immediately withdrew from consideration. 
While these job offers do not appear to have influenced the RFP process, we want to ensure public confidence in the integrity of this effort. Therefore, Superintendent of Schools Jack Smith is recommending that the Board of Education rescind the current RFP so that a new RFP can be issued at a later time. 
We apologize for the disruption for our students and schools. We remain committed to acquiring a high quality curriculum, but it is critical that our teachers, students and families can have trust in the process. 
Regards, 
Maria V. Navarro, Ed.D. Chief Academic Officer Montgomery County Public Schools 850 Hungerford Drive, Room 129 Rockville, Maryland 20850 301-279-3127 301-279-3099 Fax www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org

Pearson slips after report it tracked students in social 'experiment'

Pearson (PSO -2.3%) has taken a fall this morning as it appears in the spotlight of The Washington Post, which reports the company added language into some of its software programs for college students and tracked how that affected problem-solving, in a "social-psychological" experiment...

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3348015-pearson-slips-report-tracked-students-social-experiment?app=1&uprof=55&utoken=5a9de2a28a500af65b2b7d6fbdae5d06#email_link

The Benjamin Center: Failing the Test #Pearson

by Fred Smith, retired administrative analyst with the New York City public school system, with Robin Jacobowitz, Director of Education Projects at the Benjamin Center

...In a soon-to-be released report, Fred Smith, retired administrative analyst with the New York City public school system, in partnership with the Benjamin Center, explores the efficacy of the testing program by examining the constructed response questions (CRQs) on the ELA tests, with a focus on zero scores. These questions require students to provide written answers which can earn from zero to two (0-2) or zero to four (0-4) points, as judged by trained scorers.
Why zeroes? Because a zero on a CRQ reflects a student’s complete inability to cope with the test material. According to the test scoring rubrics, a zero is given to an answer that is “totally inaccurate,” “unintelligible,” or “indecipherable.” Keep in mind that a student can get a score of one (1) for partial answers and even incomplete sentences. A zero (0), then, represents an irrelevant or incomprehensible answer. We studied how the percentage of zero scores changed with the advent of Common Core-aligned assessments.
A snapshot of our key findings shows:

• A steep increase in the percentage of students receiving zeroes on the CRQs in 2013 when the CC-aligned tests debuted 

• Particularly sharp increases, sustained over time, in the percentage of zeroes for students in Grades 3 and 4 and for English Language Learners and students with disabilities 

• Higher zero scores for Black and Hispanic students compared to White and Asian students...  

https://hawksites.newpaltz.edu/currents/2018/04/13/failing-the-test/

Pearson to Ax 3,000 Jobs, Slash Dividend #mcps #mocoboe #pearsonforward #achievementgap

LONDON—Education company Pearson PLC on Friday said it plans to cut around 3,000 jobs and would slash its dividend, as tough conditions in the industry are forcing it to reshape its business.

The job cuts are the latest as part of a restructuring program as the London-listed...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/pearson-to-axe-3-000-jobs-pretax-loss-narrows-1501830070

I Can’t Answer These Texas Standardized Test Questions About My Own Poems

When I realized I couldn’t answer the questions posed about two of my own poems on the Texas state assessment tests (STAAR Test), I had a flash of panic – oh, no! Not smart enough. Such a dunce. My eyes glazed over. I checked to see if anyone was looking. The questions began to swim on the page. Waves of insecurity. My brain in full spin.

The two poems in question are A REAL CASE, appearing on the 2014 Grade 7 STAAR Reading Test, and MIDNIGHT, appearing on the 2013 Grade 8 STAAR Reading Test. Both poems originally appeared in Walking on the Boundaries of Change, Boyds Mills Press, 1998.

Let me begin by confessing that A REAL CASE is my most neurotic poem. I have a pile of them to be sure, but this one is the sour cherry on top. The written evidence of my anxieties, those evil gremlins that ride around on tricycles in my mind shooting my self-confidence with water pistols. How in the name of all that’s moldy did this poem wind up on a proficiency test?

Dose of reality: test makers are for-profit organizations. My poems are a whole lot cheaper than Mary Oliver’s or Jane Kenyon’s, so there’s that. But how would your vulnerable, nervous, number two pencil-gripping seventh grade self have felt opening your test packet to analyze poetic lines such as this: I’m just down with a sniffly case/of sudden-self-loathing-syndrome…an unexpected extra serving/ of just-for-now-self-hate.

Seriously? Hundreds of my poems in print and they choose THAT one? Self-loathing and self-hate? Kids need an extra serving of those emotions on testing day?

I apologize to those kids. I apologize to their teachers. Boy howdy, I apologize to the entire state of Texas. I know the ‘90s were supposed to be some kind of golden age, but I had my bad days and, clearly, these words are the pan drippings of one of them. Did I have a purpose for writing it?...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/standardized-tests-are-so-bad-i-cant-answer-these_us_586d5517e4b0c3539e80c341

Pearson rejects call by unions to change its test-centric business strategy

A union-backed resolution calling for Pearson to change its business strategy and to stop relying so much on high-stakes testing in the United States was rejected this week at the annual general meeting of the world’s largest education company.
A coalition of unions — the Britain-based TU Fund Managers, the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund and Unison, which is one of the largest trade unions in Britain — along with 130 individuals had offered a resolution demanding that Pearson “conduct a thorough business strategy review of Pearson PLC, including education commercialization and its support of high-stakes testing and low-fee private schools and to report to shareholders within six months.” It sought an end to what they say is Pearson’s “over-reliance” on educational testing in the United States as well as to the company’s growing business of opening and operating private schools in the developing world. (Read the resolution here.)...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/04/30/pearson-rejects-call-by-unions-to-change-its-test-centric-business-strategy/?postshare=2421462035148630&tid=ss_fb

Less than half of students in Maryland pass PARCC

Less than half of Maryland elementary and middle school students can pass the tough new standardized tests, a result school officials attribute to an overhaul of teaching and testing standards in the past several years. Maryland raised the standards for what public school students are expected to learn two years ago and the results show that teachers and students have not yet adjusted to the higher expectations of the new Partnership for Assessments of Career and College Readiness or PARCC.
On the reading test, nearly 40 percent of Maryland students in grades three through eight failed to meet the standard set by educators from Maryland and about 10 other states. Only 30 percent met the standard in math. That standard could be adjusted by the Maryland State school board if they believe it is too high.
"We have set the bar high, and this data reflects that," said Interim State Schools Superintendent Jack Smith, in a statement. "These results should be viewed in combination with other measures when assessing student progress."
The results were not as good as those in Massachusetts and New Jersey, but slightly better than those in Illinois, Louisiana and Rhode Island. Not all of the states that give the test have released all of their data yet...

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/bs-md-parcc-scores-20151208-story.html

Franchot flips out over standardized testing contract #pearson

"I think there's a bigger issue about our state's relationship with this company," said Franchot.

 http://marylandreporter.com/2015/08/26/franchot-flips-out-over-standardized-testing-contract/

PARCC testing is back and concerns about student privacy, test value, gag orders on teachers remain

AFT’s Weingarten to Pearson: Lift Gag Order on Testing

As MCPS students sit for (or refuse) the 2nd round of PARCC testing, the ATF President Randi Weingarten delivers in person a letter to Pearson's shareholders asking the company that administers the PARCC test to stop spying on student social media and lift the gag order on teachers so that teachers, parents and students could review the PARCC test and voice concerns about it. Watch a video of Weingarten's message to Pearson and read her letter here.
  

__._,_.___

L.A. school district demands iPad refund from Apple

From the LA Times, by reporter Howard Blume. For the complete story go here.
Contact info: howard.blume@latimes.com  @HowardBlume

The Los Angeles Unified School District is seeking to recoup millions of dollars from technology giant Apple over a problem-plagued curriculum that was provided with iPads intended to be given to every student, teacher and administrator.

To press its case, the Board of Education on Tuesday authorized its attorneys in a closed-door meeting to explore possible litigation against Apple and Pearson, the company that developed the curriculum as a subcontractor to Apple.

L.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines “made the decision that he wanted to put them on notice, Pearson in particular, that he’s dissatisfied with their product,” said David Holmquist, general counsel for the nation’s second-largest school system. He said millions of dollars could be at stake.

And:

 The $1.3-billion iPad effort was a signature program under then-Supt. John Deasy. But it faltered almost immediately during the fall 2013 rollout of the devices. Questions later arose about whether Apple and Pearson enjoyed an advantage in the bidding process; an FBI criminal investigation is ongoing.

And:

Under the contract, Pearson was to provide English and math curriculum. The district selected Pearson based only on samples of curriculum — nothing more was available.

L.A. Unified made the deal anyway; it wanted to bundle the curriculum and the device into a single price. A three-year license to use the curriculum added about $200 to the $768 cost of each iPad. The entire purchase then was financed through school construction bonds, which can be used to purchase computers.

L.A. Unified bought 43,261 iPads with the Pearson curriculum. The district purchased another 77,175 iPads under the contract without the Pearson curriculum to be used initially for state standardized tests.

L.A. School District Terminates iPad Program and Seeks Refund From Apple

From Slate.com by reporter Lily Hay Newman, 4/16/15, 3:31pm

It's been an interesting ride, but the Los Angeles school iPad program is done. Between the rampant student hacking and the FBI probe, you can see how the focus kind of wandered away from education. But there are millions of dollars tied up in the project, so it's not just lunch money.

As the Los Angeles Times reports, the Unified School District Board of Education told its attorneys that they should consider litigation against Apple and Pearson. (Pearson developed the iPad curriculum as an Apple contractor.) District counsel David Holmquist said that Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines “made the decision that he wanted to put them on notice, Pearson in particular, that he’s dissatisfied with their product.” In a letter to Apple, the school district wrote that it won't continue to pay for the Pearson curriculum or services. And board members are calling for a refund.

For the entire story go here.

MCPS Says Parents Have No Need To Worry About Classroom Chromebook Privacy

Parents at the meeting last week also expressed concern about Pearson Education, the company that has its hands in a number of educational products, including the upcoming Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers or PARCC tests.
Unlike Google, Pearson has not signed the pledge against using student information for advertising purposes. This year, MCPS rolled out myMCPS, a new online class registration system for middle and high schoolers that uses Pearson technology.

 http://www.bethesdanow.com/2015/02/26/mcps-says-parents-have-no-need-to-worry-about-classroom-chromebook-privacy/#more-28240

Tonight: BCC Parents Meeting to Discuss MCPS & Pearson Product Privacy Concerns

Privacy

Informal meeting on Chromebook and Student Privacy

Thursday, February 19, 2015 at 7:00 pm in the Conference room of Jane E. Lawton Community Recreation Center,

4301 Willow Lane, Chevy Chase, MD 20815. 

We are following up on the Chromebook concerns about our students’ personal information, and also responding to those who emailed us back with similar concerns. 

 

While waiting for a response from CCES or MCPS, we ran into another, potentially more serious privacy issue: the newly implemented self-registration system for students and patents to sign up for classes online - see the attached file. 

 

As of Jan. 2015, class selection at Westland Middle School, B-CC High School and throughout MCPS is to be done online by students and parents via a website branded as myMCPS, which is in fact a Pearson’s Student Information System (SIS) PowerSchool. The new registration process was the topic of the recent Westland info sessions at CCES.   We are given till February 14 to register our children for classes for 2015/16 academic year: https://scheduler.mcpsmd.org/public/home.html

 

By registering the students, unbeknownst to us, we parents, consent to Pearson’s Privacy Policy. Pearson collects and data-mines students’ and parents’ personal information including names, home addresses, social security numbers, phone numbers and student grades, health and disciplinary records. To see these capabilities, visit the Pearson’s Features page and scroll down to Family management, Health Screening, Immunization Screening: http://www.pearsonschoolsystems.com/products/powerschool/features/

 

Pearson and Google are companies that refused to sign the voluntary pledge not to collect and sell students’ data proposed by President Obama. Pearson is the company that pioneered the “stealth assessment”- the technology of continuous, secret monitoring and evaluation of student achievement and behavior.

 

Other school districts that use these providers (Google, Pearson) have been a lot more forthcoming about their practices and have informed the parents proactively:

http://www.smusd.us/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=29914&type=d&pREC_ID=590648

Parent says no mush for his first-grader

...“Notice what’s missing,” Petrilli said. “Proper nouns. Which historical figures will he study? Time periods? Which countries or continents? People who study education for a living understand what’s going on — this is straight out of the standards promulgated by the National Council for the Social Studies, a professional organization that has long prized such ‘conceptual understanding’ over ‘rote facts and figures.’ ” He had found the kindergarten fare similarly mushy...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/parent-says-no-mush-for-his-first-grader/2014/10/05/6ce09484-4a9b-11e4-b72e-d60a9229cc10_story.html

Errors in Pearson's LA curriculum

...Also, California education officials have only approved Pearson’s math courses for grades Kindergarten through eighth grade. And the state found errors in every grade, from simple problems, like typos, to bigger issues, like learning standards that were not correctly applied...

http://www.scpr.org/blogs/education/2014/08/25/17192/how-did-la-schools-decide-on-ipad-software-it-star/

NPR: Investigation by member station KPCC, which obtained emails between Deasy and tech executives that bring into question whether the initial bidding process was fair. #JohnDeasy #Pearson #Apple #Ipads

"...Pearson software wasn't ready..." 

Deasy "not uncommon to meet with" vendors prior to competition...

NPR:  The LA School iPad Scandal: What You Need To Know

A massive expansion of classroom technology has come to a grinding halt in Los Angeles.
The L.A. Unified School District had planned to buy some 700,000 iPads for its students and teachers. The Apple tablets would include learning software built by publishing giant Pearson. But Superintendent John Deasy announced earlier this week he is cancelling the contract and restarting the bidding process.
The decision comes on the heels of an investigation by member station KPCC, which obtained emails between Deasy and tech executives that bring into question whether the initial bidding process was fair. First, some context...
The goal of the expansion was simple yet ambitious: to equip every student in the nation's second-largest school district with a tablet computer. The expected price tag for equipment, software and wi-fi upgrades to schools: $1.3 billion...

...Then came the emails.
"Looking forward to further work together for our youth in Los Angeles!" Deasy wrote to Marjorie Scardino, then Pearson's CEO, on Tuesday, May 22, 2012, after hearing an initial pitch over lunch.
"Dear John, It's I who should thank you," Scardino replied. "I really can't wait to work with you."
KPCC reports these notes were going back and forth long before the tech contract was ultimately opened for competitive bidding:
KPCC's investigation found Deasy and his deputies communicated with Pearson employees over pricing, teacher training and technical support — specifications that later resembled the district's request for proposals from vendors. Pearson and Apple emerged as the winning bidders and were awarded the now-abandoned contract in June 2013...