Ravitch on the Ed Show: The War on Public Education
Gov. Walker called on Rhee to help him fight Wisc. teachers
Soon after Wisconsin's Gov. Scott Walker moved to crush the state's teacher unions, he called on Michelle Rhee for help. While she declined to actually come to Wisconsin and stand behind Walker in the face of angry teacher protests, Rhee did come to Walker's rescue on more than one occasion. Mother Jones writer Andy Kroll gleaned this from some of Walker's newly released internal emails. *Rhee did defend some of Walker's anti-union measures twice on television soon after he announced his plan. "The move to try to limit what [public-sector unions] bargain over is an incredibly imp... more »
Matt Farmer's great speech at CTU rally
*Matt Farmer* is a lawyer and a Chicago Public School Parent. Watch him cross-examine Hyatt Hotel heiress and CPS board member *Penny Pritzker* in his May 23rd speech to 4,000 union teachers at the Auditorium Theater. BTW, Pritzker is also national finance chairperson of the Obama campaign. She is one of three cousins who manage their dynasty’s financial empire, which includes the Hyatt hotel chain, casinos and many other ventures. But according to the New York Times, she was also involved in running and overseeing Superior Bank, an Illinois institution co-owned by her family th... more »
Common Core architect tied up with Rhee's group
Common Core has made for some strange bedfellows. Most Democrats support it. Lots of good educators, unions and civil rights organizations currently back the idea of Common Core State Standards as an equity measure and alternative to current state standards. Others like Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier oppose their imposition by the DOE while others see it as another boondoggle for private curriculum contractors. Things get really dicey when it comes to the high-stakes, standardized testing regimen that comes with CCSS. Even more so when you throw voucher supporters, anti-union and ... more »
Thieves fall out over Springfield pension heist
MadiganThe great Illinois state pension robbery has been foiled, at least for now, as thieving political bosses Madigan and Cross fought over how to divvy up the loot past the deadline for the bill's passage. According to one report: *The pension plan began listing badly around mid-day Thursday after Madigan indicated he wouldn’t support it. He and Cross were dug in on an ideological dispute over whether suburban and Downstate school districts should partly relieve the state of the funding load for teacher and administrator pensions.* But all was not lost for the thieves and their ... more »
Do you need another reason to resist the testing madness?
Here's a good one. It comes from veteran high school English teacher, Larry Strauss, posting at Huffington: *A colleague of mine who works as a home and hospital school teacher for those sick and disabled children who cannot make it to school, told me he is required to test all of his students, regardless of the severity of their illness or injury. In most cases, disabled students are given testing accommodations according to their individualized educational plans (IEPs) but he teaches one boy who was, just weeks ago, paralyzed in a car accident. With no IEP to indicate any accommo... more »
Chicago charters use 'scorched earth' tactics to beat unionization
Pro-union Chicago Math and Science Academy teachers and supporters before a board meeting in 2011. Teachers and staff at Youth Connection Leadership Academy, a charter school on Chicago's south side, have voted to join the teacher union. The response from Youth Connection Charter School's management? They are threatening to close the school and fire everyone rather than allow their teachers to have collective-bargaining rights. So far, teachers and staff at 13 Chicago charters now have union representation. Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff (ACTS), the American Federat... more »
Skip the serious face, Arne
*How do we as a teaching profession create a climate in which everyone is clamoring to come into schools like this ... where this is a badge of honor?" *-- Arne Duncan Serious face... Arne Duncan looks so intense, like he's seriously listening and looking for answers. Don't be fooled. He's not. He's done these "listening tours" before. They make for great photo ops. ** H*ow do we get more Tamara Raifords “clamoring” to teach in low-performing schools? he asks some New Haven Teachers. Tamara Raiford who teaches pre-K at Brennan/Rogers, introduced herself as the only teacher in the ... more »
NEPC announces it annual Bunkum Awards
For Immediate Release Thursday, May 31, 2012 Contact: Jamie Horwitz (202) 549-492, jhdcpr@starpower.net** *BUNKUM AWARDS FOR SHODDY EDUCATION RESEARCH ANNOUNCED* Grand Prize Winner Compares Charters Schools to Cancer – Where Cancer is a Good Thing National Education Policy Center for the First Time Awards a “Get a Life(time) Achievement Award” to an Individual – Dr. Matthew Ladner, an Advisor to Jeb Bush’s Advocacy Organization *Boulder, Colo. --* The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), housed at the University of Colorado Boulder, has announced via online video the winners ... more »
Broward Board Says 'No' to FCAT
Broward County, the nation's 6th largest school district, has put their T-Party governor on notice. They hate FCAT and Florida's preoccupation with standardized testing. The School Board unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday opposing standardized testing as the primary means for evaluating schools, students and teachers. *"This is destroying public education, destroying the teaching profession and destroying children," School Board member Robin Bartleman said. "The classroom should be fun. Kids should be excited about learning and not be afraid they're going to be punished for o... more »
Romney throws a right. Obama ducks.
I must admit, I was glad when *Mitt Romney* fired the first education salvo across the Democrats' bow last Wednesday at the Latino Coalition annual economic summit in Washington. My fear was that both parties were going to avoid mentioning the E-word right up through November. I thought, now that Romney has come out openly and purposefully, in a white paper, with his party's anti-public school line, including support for vouchers, larger class size and a direct, unambiguous assault on teacher unions, *Pres. Obama * would have no choice other than to respond. But not only did the p... more »
Hot town, summer in the city. Only the beer was cold.
Brother Fred and the Carpenter Ukulele Society It's 4 p.m., another day of 90+ Chicago weather and I'm still trying to get my head straight after yesterday's festivities. First Jesse Sharkey's C.O.R.E. BBQ Picnic with a few hundred union teachers (you could hear the strains of *Solidarity Forever* blocks away) and then on to my brother Fred's retirement party -- back-to-back and luckily within walking distance. Great music at both. Good food and open bar. Lots of CTU'ers came over from the picnic to the party where everyone signed in on a wall petition to save the Teachers Retireme... more »
WEEKEND QUOTABLES
Pedro Noguera *"The way we are now as a country, not only aren't we living up to the Brown decision, we're not even living up the Plessy v. Ferguson of separate but equal." *-- Up W/ Chris Hayes Melissa Harris-Perry *"I live in the 7th ward of New Orleans, and I don't like what I see happening there in the KIPP schools. I am distressed by the movement away from teachers unions that can actually fight for teachers." *-- MSNBC John McCain *Defending Romney's record at Bain Capital: "And yes, the free enterprise system can be cruel”* -- TPM Charles Blow *Louisiana is the... more »