How AI violates civil rights: Biden-era OCR guidance

Happy back to school!
WOW, we are seeing some terrible, no good, very bad AI professional development and recommendations for educators out there!

Is there bad news on AI in education? Edition whatever

 Yes, friends, there is ALWAYS bad news in AI education!

First up, Benjamin Riley is as frustrated as I am about AI in education and this nonsense "moonshot" notion, in a post that I urge you to read from first to last.

Some schools have been using AI surveillance software, and it not only is triggering false alarms; it has resulted in not only student discipline, but also students being arrested.

And yesterday, we had another release of research which tells us the same things we find every time we ask: 

Asked to generate intervention plans for struggling students, AI teacher assistants recommended more-punitive measures for hypothetical students with Black-coded names and more supportive approaches for students the platforms perceived as white, a new study shows...

Common Sense Media found that while these tools could help teachers save time and streamline routine paperwork, AI-generated content could also promote bias in lesson planning and classroom management recommendations.

Robbie Torney, senior director of AI programs at Common Sense Media, said the problems identified in the study are serious enough that ed tech companies should consider removing tools for behavior intervention plans until they can improve them. That’s significant because writing intervention plans of various sorts is a relatively common way teachers use AI.

The report from Common Sense Media can be found here. 

I will echo Riley's post then, here: 

Add to that all of the generative AI systems. 

What did you propose at last night's Worcester School Committee meeting?

 As we opened budget deliberations last night, I shared the following with my colleagues on the Committee: 

June 3, 2021

FY22 WPS budget transfers and additions of Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief funds

Worcester School Committee meets tonight: who's fooling who?

And I know, I know, I'm sorry...I will say that most of the agenda is items that have been postponed from prior meetings, so this isn't going to go through everything, either.

The report of the superintendent is the quick survey of every department that has been on several agendas and keeps being postponed.

The real meat of the meeting, however, and what would be gathering much attention were the community not still in election mode is an updated update on the 14 points the School Committee passed back with the Superintendent's contract.

In sum? There's nineteen pages here, but there's not a lot of content.
Thus the subtitle of the blog post

1.The call is for a "clear and transparent process" for presenting data going back seven years.
The response is to note that the state's report doesn't include yet-to-be released data from other districts--"hey look at them" is not a good plan here--and that they'll get to it when it is.
We don't need to wait on the state to release other districts' data to get ours up.

2. The call is to re-engage with the "Suspension in Worcester: a Continuing Conversation" report from City Lab at WSU.
The response is that the memorandum of understanding with WSU is still being reviewed.
This doesn't answer the re-engagement with the report content.

3. The call is for comprehensive training for all staff, including the Worcester School Committee,
on "understanding cultural differences, unconscious bias, understanding racial disparities, and trauma informed care, including Ch. 222.
The response is four pages of professional development of which, of the above, only trauma informed care is mentioned at all.

If I'm not actively anti-racist, anti-all-oppression, then I'm not trauma-informed.

— Paul Gorski (@pgorski) November 9, 2019

This is a clear attempt to snow the Committee under with lots of information (even bet we hear "clearly there is a lot of work going on" said tonight), distracting from the administration's refusal to work on institutional bias at all.

4. The call is for a comprehensive legal review of the district's implementation of Ch. 222, with a report back on the changes in policy and procedure that are necessary.
The response is a dismissal that it has been done and the district is in compliance.
There has been no evidence offered of any such review, and the data makes it clear that the district is not doing well with this issue. There has been no report and no proposed changes in district policy or procedure.

5. The call is for maintainance of a English Learner Parent Advisory Council which includes community partners.
The response is that there is one with some discussion of what has been done so far.
The important point here? This is an ADVISORY council; they exist to ADVISE the district on the English Learner community.

6-9 are coming in January

10. The call is for the disciplinary practices to not be funneled through a single process.
The response is that they aren't.
My sense is that this is one where the phrasing of the query is the issue.

11. The call is for the hiring of a Chief Diversity Officer.
The response is that there is one.
I will note here that there was and is continues to be community observation that limiting the scope of this position to Human Resources makes it of extremely limited utility, and is counter both to the motivation of the community call and the way in which the position exists in other districts (where it most often is an assistant superintendency).

12. The call is for work with the colleges on focused recruitment and retention of a diverse teaching force.
The response is on the Worcester Teacher Pipeline initiative.
If we continue to ignore retention, all we get is high turnover, which isn't fair to anyone.

13. The call is for a semi-annual report on the English Learner deparment, including compliance with best practices and federal guidelines.
The response is to push the report onto page 11 and following of the printing material here: not to have it be a report of the superintendent, not to have it be a formal discussion, but to bury a list of items, a host of which are a repeat of the PD items above, within this written report.
For a district in which one in three children is currently an English Learner, this is both irresponsible and dismissive.

14. The call is to work to implement the report of the Mayor's Commission.
The response is that the initial report is out but has not been finalized.
The initial report is not included here.

Worcester School Committee meets Thursday, October 17

The agenda is here.
I've somewhat piecemeal posted on this already: there's a response on district technology, which I wrote about here, and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is coming to present, which I noted over here.
Besides the recognitions and the administration forwarding the hirings, resignations, and retirements of staff (this looks like the opening of school list), on the agenda is:

• two approvals of executive session minutes from June and July; there are no notes on the deliberation
• a report on elementary reading materials which uses STAR and curriculuar measurements of progress 
• a copy of the Special Education cluster grant's corrective action
• a list of spring community clean ups
• a 16 page response to a request for "funding of community non-profits" which reaches back to FY17 for information; this is clearly in response to the concerns over lack of cooperation with ACE and other immigrant groups, and...there's some migration
• a response on stipends to athletic coaches
• a response to propose teaching cursive in 3rd grade 
• a result of surveying the schools on lightpole banners (I don't think they understood the question?)
• a list of the first date of fire drills
• three partial responses to the fourteen action items passed with the superintendent's contract renewal; of note, the first response calls for PD on "understanding cultural differences, unconscious bias, understanding racial disparities, and trauma informed care for all staff. Included in this training is MGL c222 for all staff including School Committee" while the response speaks only of trauma care. The review of Ch. 222, as was noted by the Lawyers for Civil Rights and the City Lab at Worcester State University at last week's presentation, does not appear to be resulting in the district observing it districtwide. 

There are two prior year payments: $4,659.53 to Stetson School Inc. for services rendered from June 1, 2019 through June 30, 2019 and $84,985.56 to The Learning Center for the Deaf for services rendered from July 2018 to June 2019.
There is a request to approve the following donations:–

• $300.00 to the George and Marie Maloney Scholarship Fund from various donors
• $10,000 to Rice Square Elementary School for the Seena Levy Reading Fund from Steven & Andrew Levy in memory of their mother, Seena, former 2nd grade reading teacher at Rice Square Elementary School. The donation is intended for the purchase of books for the Rice Square library.
• $320.00 to Worcester Technical High School from the Greater Worcester Community Foundation/Thurston E. Solomon & Everett J. Morter Memorial Fund designated for the Skills USA Program.
• $560.00 to Worcester Technical High School from the Greater Worcester Community Foundation/Saul A. Seder Fund designated for participation in the Skills USA.
• $5,985.00 to Worcester Technical High School from the Greater Worcester Community Foundation/Sarah Daniels Pettit & William O. Pettit, Jr. Fund.
• $40.55 to the Worcester Public Schools from a donor

Miss Biancheria and Mr. Monfredo request "that the Administration investigate ways to market the accomplishments of the Worcester Public Schools by more media press releases and by encouraging schools to forward outstanding events taking place at their schools to the media."
They also want the district to look for more parking.
Also, information on sex trafficking
And, a report on Worcester Tech's evening courses
And, a report on "collaboration between the unions and the Worcester Public Schools in the formulation and execution of various articulation agreements that lead to the awarding of certificates to the students "

Mr. Comparetto and Mr. Monfredo are requesting reports on wraparound services, school health clinics, Family Resource Centers, and Mr. Comparetto further requests a homeless liaison, wraparound coordinators at all schools, a CityConnects program, and policy forums on homelessness.

Did I mention that the DESE department coming out to do the report is the same department that does the Comprehensive District Review that observed and called out the requests for reports from School Committee members, how time intensive they were, and how much they were entirely not concerned with the central work of district governance? It is. 

There is a request to approve nurses.

There is a 6 pm Executive Session for litigation with Steamfitters and Tradesmen.

Yes, I'll be there. Blog to come

A few things we learned from the WPS budget hearing before City Council

Beyond the ever-present "whose job is it anyway?" tussle that there is every year, there were a few things that were new to me that we learned through the testimony:

• Superintendent Binienda plans to give all high schools identical schedules next year, where the first two and last two blocks don't rotate. It seems ('though this wasn't entirely clear) that this is for outside entities to teach and for students to leave campus. This has not had any public airing (I have two high school students and this is the first I am hearing about it) and the impact this would have on a myriad of programs and classes is of significant concern. Switching school schedules is a major undertaking, absolutely ought to be something on which the School Committee is consulted, and ought to involve families in more than their stumbling across it in testimony outside of schools. 
• Superintendent Binienda, in responding to a question on diversifying the teaching force, is looking to echo Framingham in the short-term employment of teachers from Spain. This does not, ethnically or racially, diversify the teaching force, as Councilor Rivera pointed out. In fact, the history of Spain and the history of many of the countries from which many of our residents derive is colonialism. The responses on how we are recruiting, particularly in light of the major state effort going on, are weak. 
• Commissioner Riley told the urban superintendents that this June announcement would include something having to do with voluntarily enlistment in a system with less testing. Note that the degree to which the Commissioner has any discretion on that is limited, as much of the system is in state law. Further, it seems very unlikely to me that any district of concern to the state--as ours most certainly is--would be granted testing discretion. 
• Superintendent Binienda cited the lack of professional development time in explaining why elementary teachers would have to wait until October 2020 to undergo systemic bias training (put on by AVID?). The district has two professional development days prior to the opening of school, one of which, at the Superintendent's insistence, the entire staff spends at a pep rally at the DCU Center. I'd suggest systemic bias training is more important. 
• It is dismaying that the City Manager would attempt to use the city's not creating a Recreation Worcester location in a particular council district to "reclaim" $100,000 from the Worcester Public Schools, as was clearly going on with Councilor Mero-Carlson's question and the Manager's response. We appear to be back to claims of "extra funds" given in particular years--it used to be the Charter funding--without regard to how the city contribution to schools is in fact calculated. This is smoke and mirrors and it doesn't lend itself to what everyone solemnly testifies is a good partnership.

May Board of Ed from the Malden Public Library: teacher diversification

back up is here, but there is a PowerPoint
I actually can't see who is speaking, so IDs are going to be missing, mostly
"have a lot to be proud about, but as we celebrate what we've done well, we have to recognize that we're only number one for some"

And what is going on in Worcester?

My NSFW title for this could be what I was asked by a friend I hadn't seen in awhile that I ran into downtown yesterday: 'What the * is going on with Worcester School Committee?!?"


After a three hour executive session during an off-week meeting, the Worcester School Committee on Thursday night voted 5-2 to grant Maureen Binienda a three year contract at $215,000 a year, with a 2% raise each year, Comparetto and Foley opposed. Further details of the contract have not been released (though it is a public document).
Incidentally, I've requested that the minutes of all executive sessions regarding this negotiation be released, as the reason for the executive session is now complete; the school department has 10 days to respond and 30 days to release them.

There is, of course, much more that has been going this week than that.

• An Open Meeting Law complaint was filed against the Committee for communications regarding the ad in support of Ms. Binienda's contract renewal at three years. The email gathering signatures was sent out by John Monfredo, three members of the Committee signed the ad, and it is known that at least one other received it. It was also circulated to staff of the Worcester Public Schools. 
• I heard (yes, this is literally hearsay) multiple reports of teachers being asked by principals to sign the letter of support of the superintendent. The just-re-elected head of the teachers' union Roger Nugent was also collecting signatures in support of the superintendent. 
• There were, it seems, ongoing meetings with community activists over the course of the week with the Mayor and the Superintendent around the list of action items Mayor Petty has put forward. The discussion, it appears, was around putting those into her contract, or otherwise tying the renewal to those issues. While the Mayor did again read those items at Thursday's meeting and I am told the Committee voted in favor of them, it does not appear those are in her contract, nor that they were issued as goals or otherwise formally part of her evaluation. The Committee has not created new goals for the superintendent since her evaluation in December. Superintendents in Massachusetts have a mid-cycle review halfway through the year, which on this schedule should be taking place around June. 
• There were activists on both sides of the contract renewal at Thursday's meeting; Bill Shaner noted the demographic divide. There were also seven police officers, which is unusual. 
• While committees can and do have who they like in their executive sessions when it comes to staff, it is worth noting that School Safety Manager Rob Pezzella was in the mayor’s office at one point. 
• The Teamsters, who organize the bus drivers who work for Durham, were among those present at the meeting on Thursday; the superintendent has made her support for continuing to work with Durham clear, even as there are continued issues with Durham's service for the Worcester Public Schools. 
• While the vote was 5-2, the Mayor's vote in favor was tempered with a significant amount of critique which extended beyond the issues around disciplinary disparities recently discussed into the bussing contract, the district's lack of a health curriculum, and others. 
• Dante Comparetto released a statement Friday, saying that while he will finish his term (it runs until December), he will no longer be running for re-election due to this vote. Nomination papers for School Committee (300 signatures of registered Worcester voters are needed) are due this coming Tuesday, so it appears unlikely this will add people to the race. This does leave an open seat on the Committee, and I believe means the School Committee will not have a preliminary election in September. 

For those seeking ways forward on systemic bias

I was urge the close reading of this piece from the Hechinger Report regarding work happening most particularly in Cambridge, but also elsewhere. You'll note that it isn't a "one and done" on PD. Because it can't be.

Mitigating the effects of implicit bias on student behavior and performance requires teachers working closely with their peers, and school leaders making those efforts a priority. This isn’t a quick fix. The effort must be ongoing.
“There’s no evidence to show that a one-day training for teachers and staff will foster change,” says Circe Stumbo, president of West Wind Education Policy, an Iowa-based group that provides analysis of school equity policies. What’s needed, she says, is a schoolwide commitment to making cultural proficiency a priority, with systems in place for continual personal reflection and accountability.

Worcester School Committee liveblog (ish)

I'm doing this from home tonight...
Worcester School Committee meeting opening with public testimony. 
Students speaking:
"we will be heard"
"the superintendent does not represent me"
one cannot solve a problem when one denies it exists
notes that the work that students did researching students' perspectives on teaching, initially presented at the Mayor's Commission at which the superintendent confronted the student researchers, was picked up by Harvard University
"how can we solve the problems of tomorrow when the superintendent denies the problems that exist today?"
"she planted fear in me by questioning the work that I do outside of school"
"I care about my community, I care about my fellow peers, and I want to cause change in my community"
"We will not be belittled by the superintendent anymore because enough is enough"
a former member of the Superintendent's council says their perspective was dismissed
"I want to be heard, not shut down"
another "I do not see the superintendent as a role model"
have seen teachers dismiss the experience of immigrant students
"when asked about the role of diversity...she said 'I don't like to label'"
students all are starting "I am a student in the Worcester Public Schools and the superintendent does not represent me" and closing with "enough is enough"
student "has abused her power"
"constantly making comments like 'that is not right' and murmuring under her breath" during the presentation

Principal echoes statement submitted in writing of principals' support, saying system depends on trust between principals and superintendent
Michael Lyons, candidate for EAW president, challenges students to come up with a solution

Student rep Kwaku Nyarko: from my perspective, I have not seen or experienced Ms. Binienda being racist
"more than that, the more important issue...you can't propose a solution if both sides don't see a problem"
majority of people seeing the problem are not Caucasian and the majority of those denying it are
wants statistics of teachers "checked immediately"
has been in Worcester since second grade and "I have never had a teacher that is black"
"you can experience discrimination without teachers being racist"
"there is discrimation happening in Worcester and we have to address it"

Here's Bill Shaner's coverage of tonight. And the T&G is here. 

Update in Worcester this week

The Worcester Coalition for Educational Equity, taking inspiration from the Moral Mondays movement in North Carolina, is calling on others to join them for a 6 pm event on Tuesday (before City Council) and a 6:30 event on Thursday (before Worcester School Committee) in both cases at City Hall.

Also, over the weekend, efforts to gather signatures for an advertisement later this week in the T&G  in support of Superintendent Binienda were being gathered by School Committee member John Monfredo and those who opposed sex ed in the Worcester Public Schools, in at least one case at a local church.

Worcester weekend update

For those looking for the latest updates on what's up in Worcester around concerns of racial equity, systemic bias, the renewal of Superintendent Binienda's contract, and the Worcester School Committee: 

• This was actually earlier last week, but there was this telling not-really-exchange when Dianna Biancheria called Jim Polito's radio show. 
• Thursday morning, Walter Byrd interviewed Superintendent Binienda. 
• John Monfredo was interviewed by Walter Byrd: note his comment on having students come in to talk about overcoming any barriers they had have, and the degree of concern around his former student and her family.
• And then there was this weekend candidancy that wasn't. Consider this a reminder that you really should read this cover story in last week's Worcester Magazine on how sex ed died in Worcester.
• More pastors joined Worcester Interfaith's call for a non-renewal of the superintendent's contract and for Worcester's school leadership to deal with systemic bias. Rev. Aaron Payson of the Unitarian Universalist Church issued this statement of support and Rev. Nathan Pipho of Trinity Lutheran Church this statement, including: 

  Tellingly, Superintendent Binienda’s initial response to our concerns calling us “not well informed,” shows a community leader unwilling, or unable, to respond to this issue. Dismissing our concerns highlights the failure of Superintendent Binienda to maintain the trust and respect of other community leaders necessary for establishing community partnerships crucial for reforming the Worcester Public Schools and providing equitable education for students of color.
  As a faith leader in the City of Worcester, I am motivated by Christian scripture that describes the people of God as “that great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Revelation 7:9). When students in our school system face different treatment because of their skin color or physical ability, demonic cracks appear in holy community. When public leaders dismiss legitimate concerns raised about the treatment of God’s children in the Worcester Public Schools, we turn our backs on holy community. When we fail the least among us, we fail Jesus Christ himself.

  The list of Worcester Interfaith co-signatories can be found here.  

Update from Thursday in Worcester

If you're trying to figure out why it is that there has been this uprising in the community around the renewal of Superintendent Binienda's contract, I highly recommend reading this piece from Bill Shaner (having quite a week) of Worcester Magazine about the superintendent's response to their work on student perspective on their teachers and teaching:

In the meeting, both the students, others present and Binienda herself confirmed she made a comment about Asian students not wanting to be teachers. They don’t want to be teachers, she said, because they’d rather be doctors or work in tech.

If you don't see why the superintendent of a diverse district making this comment is a problem, I would suggest reading up on the myth of the model minority and of stereotype threat. Also statements beginning "X [group] doesn't" is a problem.

Further, the students subsequently were called into their school adminstrations' offices--people who wouldn't know of what had happened were it not for calls from the superintendent--

They said, and the superintendent confirmed, two of the presenting students were called to their respective principals’ office in the days following the presentation

The superintendent said that one was to follow up on a teacher asking about a student's immigration status, but the student's characterization of that is not positive:

The principal met with him and pressured him to give the name of the teacher who asked him questions about immigration, he said. After the student reluctantly gave the principal the name, he said, the principal pulled him in for another meeting, hours later, with the teacher in question. At the meeting, the teacher denied having ever asked about his immigration status, and both the principal and teacher talked about possible damage to the reputation of the school and teacher.

That is not, obviously, the main concern in a teacher asking about a student's immigration status.
This is not at all outside the experience of many students in Worcester.
This ongoing reversal among some of who is threated by racism is represented as well by John Monfredo quitting the Mayor's Commisssion on Latino Education over a meme that quoted him, leading to this column by Clive McFarlane (also having quite a week)

Thus it perhaps is not surprising that this is the front page of today's Telegram and Gazette:

That article is here. Worcester News Tonight covers it here.

More, of course, as I have it.