Private Prison Corporation Participates in Public School Drug Raid
The administration retains the right and privilege to issue consequences for acts of behavior not specifically stated herein and to alter any consequences, as they consider necessary. Furthermore, the administration reserves the right to amend any provisions in this handbook which they deem to be in the best interest of the educational process. We promise that students are the focus of all our efforts.
Students must have been the focus of their efforts last month when the principal approved the use of Corrections Corporation of America to participate in a drug raid at the school. Could this part of an Adopt-A-School Program, whereby the school collects an institutional bounty for every bed they help fill for one of the
Hey, ExxonMobil: Let's Solve This!
Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 4 hours ago
ExxonMobil is spending millions in PR lying to us about how committed they are to solving the world's biggest problem: *bad teachers.* Meanwhile, their CEO continues as one of the world's richest global warming deniers, even as the grip of climate change begins to cut off our air supply. It provides me no consolation that Exxon Mobil executives will die along along with the rest of our grandchildren as a result of corporate duplicity, lies, and misleading propaganda. Moving forward after Hurricane Sandy has her 15 minutes of infamy, one thing is for sure: ExxonMobil's karma beco... more »
Why Schools Are Tools of Indoctrination
Storm at Schools Matter - 8 hours ago
Wisdom, be attentive. *** Excerpted from Jonathan Schwartz at A Tiny Revolution. *Oliver Stone's Untold, Unboring History of the United States* * * *American history! Whose heart doesn't race when you remember being initiated into its excitement and mystery in high school? There's the Logan Act of 1799! And the presidency of Benjamin Harrison! And the Open Door Policy. And, uh, and the Fordney–McCumber Tariff of 1922...and "A Return to Normalcy"... and the Federal Aid Highway Aczzzzzzzzzzzzzptsphttzzzz.* * * *Almost everyone in high school hates history, and they should. Just 7% of U... more »
Jim McIntyre Tries Pushing Knoxville Onto Dollar Guzzling Charter Reform School Bus
Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 11 hours ago
If there is another thing that Knoxville does not need and can't afford (besides Lane Kiffin) is a string of corporate welfare charter reform schools that will benefit Wall Street hedge fund investors and philanthrocapitalists like Eli Broad, while draining millions from public schools. This was issued this morning: *KCS issues charter school request for proposals* The Knox County Schools is accepting charter school proposals for the 2014-2015 school year to cultivate strong school capacity to provide high quality academic instruction. Proposals will be entertained b... more »
Louisiana Constitution on Trial and Schools on the Chopping Block
Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 1 day ago
Louisiana has the highest number of black student retentions in the nation to go along with the highest black incarceration rate in the U. S. The private prison industry is worth $182 million a year when beds are full, and "Louisiana's incarceration rate is nearly five times Iran's, 13 times China's and 20 times Germany's." To say that it is a police state is hardly an exaggeration, and the charter reform schools in poor black areas are run like junior penitentiaries. The State hired a new State Superintendent a couple of years back, a former English major from UVA with TFA cred... more »
Ohanian: I wonder why The New York Times gives so much space to the opinion of amateurs without even a nod to professionals in the field.
skrashen at Schools Matter - 1 day ago
Susan Ohanian responds to Sara Mosle’s What Should Children Read” (http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/22/what-should-children-read/) “I wonder why The New York Times gives so much space to the opinion of amateurs without even a nod to professionals in the field.” Dear Editor: Bringing about 20 years more teaching experience than Sara Mosle brought to her out-of-balance article (“What should children read?” Nov. 25), I can cite hundreds of instances of student writing being informed by the fiction they love, though, admittedly, I'm not talking about a fixation on sentence ... more »
A very short open letter to President Obama
skrashen at Schools Matter - 1 day ago
A very short open letter to President Obama There is enormous frustration and dissatisfaction among professional educators about current educational policy. Many, especially those in the classroom and closest to the children, feel that current policy, one of closing public schools, encouraging privatization, and imposing more testing than has ever been seen on this planet, is badly misguided and will lead to tragic consequences for our children, damage that will take decades to repair. Professional educators feel that government is not paying attention to their expert opinions, an... more »
Long-Term English Learners: Invest in Libraries and Librarians
skrashen at Schools Matter - 2 days ago
Sent to the Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA, Nov. 25, 2012 Most of the proposals to deal with long-term English learners (“California's English language learners getting stuck in schools' remedial programs,” November 25) focus on tracking and measurement. None discuss a cure. Our research shows that students who develop a pleasure reading habit in English do better on English language tests, and a number of case histories confirm that those who successfully acquire “academic English” were dedicated readers. California makes this very difficult to happen. Many English learners come from ... more »
Refocusing LAUSD on reading and learning instead of testing
Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene at Schools Matter - 3 days ago
First published on Robert D. Skeels for School Board on November 24, 2012. ------------------------------ *It's difficult to explain exactly what being poor is all about, or why access to books and ideas might be as important as a free breakfast. — Walter Dean Myers* [image: The Power of Reading by Stephen Krashen]*Hope Is an Open Book*, an op-ed piece by author Walter Dean Myers, was tweeted this morning by educator Susan Ohanian. While written in 2005, Myers' message about access to books is profound and even more urgent today with canned corporate education solutions that narr... more »
Division of Labor: Conquering the "Public"
P. L. Thomas at Schools Matter - 3 days ago
Anthony Cody, in his Living in Dialogue blog, has recently addressed the strategy common among "No Excuses" Reformers (NER) using a corporate playbook to render all that is public *private*: Cody identifies "division [as] the key weapon that reformers will be using in the years to come." Divide and conquer has never been more powerful and subtle than it is in the education reform debate, driven by Big Money (Bill Gate), faux-progressives (Michelle Rhee and Arne Duncan), and tepid political leadership (Barack Obama). To the strategies aimed at dividing workers against themselves, the... more »
Walmart "Associates" and Charter School "Scholars"
Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 4 days ago
The Gates Team out in Washington are trying to scare up some media attention on a "study" bought by the charter reform school industry that purportedly shows that charters, long known to exclude special ed kids, are, indeed, enrolling larger numbers of them. Even if you were to believe the findings, we still have the more serious and widespread law-breaking that takes place when no special ed teachers are to found in the charter reform schools that have special ed kids with IEPs. I recently visited a charter reform school in Memphis that provided a clear example of special needs c... more »
Let's Be Thankful for Karen Lewis: Hear a Real Union Leader's Vision for Education
Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 6 days ago
You won't get this kind of honesty and genuine care from the mealy-mouthed sellouts who run AFT and NEA. Karen Lewis speaking at the City Club of Chicago on November 20:
Houston, You've Got a Problem: It's Called EVAAS
Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 6 days ago
Never really understood what value-added test scores mean, and how they affect teachers and kids? Ever wondered why the National Academy of Sciences sent a a 14-page letter to Arne Duncan warning him against high stakes use of value-added in RTTT. That's okay, you're not alone--many of us are puzzled. One thing is for sure, however--when teachers band together and get a couple of good lawyers to shine a penetrating light on this Oz-inspired scheme and the wreckage it is causing, that's when this house of cards will come tumbling down. Take a few minutes to have a look at this vide... more »
Rhee Announces Teachers Should Suffer During Holidays, Too
Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 6 days ago
Exclusive: Michelle Rhee Takes Aim at Teachers During Holidays [image: Michelle Rhee] The former D.C. chancellor, leader of Michelle First, believes that if we’re going to use tenure to retain teachers, we must do it 'based on measures that matter' to Eli Broad and Bill Gates Read More >> When you get on the *Waiting for Superman* email list like I did, you get an uninterrupted supply of propaganda, with headlines, stories, and pics like the one above (slightly altered) of Eli Broad's poisonous puppet, Michelle Rhee, in one her most Hitlerian poses, complete with backlighting spots.... more »
