All Week 8-10-13 @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER
Learning from returning to the classroom: Setup week
College professor back to teaching. Steep curve ahead. What have I learned so far? I can easily spend roughly $800 getting ready for Kindergarten, but saved a good amount building some things like sand and water tables. The Common Core Standards, for Kindergarten at least, offers me absolutely no guidance whatsoever. It is thin soup. […]
We Were Doing Just Fine, Thanks
The following is an excerpt from my latest book, Uncommon: The Grassroots Movement to Save Our Children and Their Schools. Before NCLB (and even during those years, for some), public education was moving along quite well in many places under locally controlled entities, such as districts. With local determination of how children learn, taking into […]
Passive Radicals: The Manufactured Myth — Writers on Writing — Medium
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Haslam, Bush, WGU, and McGraw-Hill
In 2002 Stephen Metcalf documented the financially incestuous relationship between the Bush family and McGraw-Hill that resulted from a long-established familial system of mutual back-scratching and “cross-pollination and mutual admiration” between the the two fiefdoms. Today that system of good ole boy corruption, cronyism, and corporate welfare continues in State Houses and governors’ mansions
AUG 22
Let me describe in brief a #commoncore oriented math professional development.
Did I experience this or was this explained to me by another? You’ll have to guess. But here it goes. Scheduled for three hours. Arrival. Breakout session one consisted of a room with tables, each with a set of math textbooks. For 30 minutes, examine the textbooks. Breakout session two consisted of a computer lab. […]
More exploration needed, but this is a very intriguing idea. The YAPLT
I just caught this group as a follower on Twitter. THE YAPLT IS A TYPE OF STANDARDIZED TEST PROVIDED TO STUDENTS AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE ACT/ SAT THAT NOT ONLY CALCULATES AN INDIVIDUAL’S INTELLECT, BUT ALSO HIS OR HER LEADERSHIP, CREATIVITY, ORIGINALITY, WISDOM, AND PRACTICAL SKILLS. The practicals escape me. But what an interesting […]
AUG 21
PARCC: A buffet of answers.
PARCC promised us a “next-generation assessment” to help assess whether our children are “college and career ready”. These new super tests must be vastly improved: some of the questions give students six choices instead of the standard four! Here is the full release of new prototypes. Follow Chris Cerrone on twitter: @Stoptesting15 Tagged: ccss, […]
An Alternative to Accountability-Based Education Reform | the becoming radical
During three decades of accountability based on standards and high-stakes testing at the state level and another decade-plus of federal oversight of that accountability, the overwhelming evidence has exposed accountability as a failed network of policies in education reform. Education reform in the U.S. now faces a potential watershed moment in which setting aside accountability and […]
AUG 20
Farewell, John; Hello, Hanna!
I’m feeling a little anxious tonight. You ever get that feeling where you’re about to jump into a situation that can make a big difference, but can also get you in a lot of trouble? Well, I feel that I am on the verge of making a big difference. And, really, the only person who […]
@thechalkface and @slekar mix it up with @henryrollins
Let’s see. We’ve interviewed historians, educators, journalists, activists, moms, dads, and students. Today we got to talk to badass celebrity Henry Rollins. I know Shaun already posted a link to the show but here is another one. In case you’re not sure who Henry Rollins is here’s a quick wickipedia excerpt: Henry Rollins (born February […]
A BIG thank you to @henryrollins for being At the Chalk Face today
I mean, did you ever see this coming? I didn’t. I want to apologize for the one caller who stayed diligently on hold today. I didn’t feel cool with clicking over to callers. I had to do the show from a Starbucks today because of work, and that schools don’t let BlogTalkRadio pass their firewalls. […]
Opting Out is not just in the spring anymore.
For New York Parents: The spring 3-8 state assessments get a great deal of attention, but there are other mandated tests that could be used to evaluate teachers. These additional tests cause our children to lose more instruction time and impact all grade levels- preK-12. Families need to say enough is enough and boycott any […]
A Public School System from Hell
MONDAY, AUG 19, 2013 07:01 PM EDT At Salon.com “Indescribably insane”: A public school system from hell
Quick note on PD in #k12
A quick thought. When consultants do training on products, why do they feel the need to immediately disclaim that they don’t do sales or receive commissions? I know the materials are paid for, but what is this besides sales conference? Tagged: education, k12, professional development
“Honesty is such a lonely word…”: Jeb Bush Lacks Credibility
It is becoming a disturbing refrain in my head whenever I visit Twitter: Where’s the media? Jeb Bush offers a string of claims, no relevant evidence, and the all-too-usual glossing over of real educational problems in “Toward a Better Education System: A set of bold, proven reforms is the key to raising student achievement.” This commentary […]
AUG 19
What We Know Now (and How It Doesn’t Matter) | the becoming radical
What We Know Now (and How It Doesn’t Matter) | the becoming radical.
“The key to school performance is diversity of socioeconomic classes.”
The quote above is from Richard Kahlenberg’s latest study for Little Rock schools. Here is a clip from the Arkansas Times blog about the study. Here’s the full report: . . . .Kahlenberg concludes that the magnet schools and transfer program have been successful in producing both racial and socio-economic integration. But he said that […]
How YOU Doin’?
A friend asked me just a day ago, “How are you holding up? Sending a child off to college and the start of school can be very stressful.” I will admit that I went a bit of a rant – and fortunately for me the friend understood. How am I doing? Turns out – not […]
AUG 18
@drloisweiner is no “liberal.” She’s a “mad democrat!”
Just in case you missed the live version here is your never ending link to @the chalkface radio. We talked to Dr. Lois Weiner. She’s got some serious stuff to say. If you’re a liberal you might not want to listen however, “white christians” are welcome. Listen here. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/chalkface/2013/08/18/at-the-chalk-face-progressive-edreform-radio
My Opt Out/Refusal Letter for 2013-2014
Dear —, My name is Peggy Robertson and my son, Sam, will be attending — High School tomorrow as a freshman. He is beyond excited! We are equally as thrilled to have Sam become a part of the — HS family. I was so impressed at orientation with the focus on community as well as […]
Peter Cunningham Looking for Racists in All the Wrong Places
or, What Corporate Education Reformers Don’t Understand about Opposition to CorpEd When Bush II was in office, anyone who challenged the fanciful notion that 100 percent of U. S. children would be proficient in reading and math was said to be engaged in the “soft bigotry of low expectations.” In an updated version of that […]
Returning to the classroom in Washington, DC
I posted a video discussing this, but I pulled it. It needed tweaking. The thesis: I walked away from teacher education and am returning to classroom teaching. This time, I’ll be teaching Kindergarten at an elementary school in Congress Heights, Washington, DC. It’s not a charter. It’s your everyday DCPS public school. I will have […]
Just When You Think It’s Safe to Go Back into the Media
Yesterday, I shared an excellent collection of investigative journalism confronting the accountability machine in Florida (HERE and HERE), work from as far back as 1999 in the St. Petersburg Times and a recent article in the Miami Herald. Overnight, however, I was prompted to look at Peter Cunningham’s “Ravitch Redux.” Before looking at the shoddy and unsubstantiated […]
AUG 17
The Unintended Lessons from Florida: Class Grades, pt. 2 | the becoming radical
The Unintended Lessons from Florida: Class Grades, pt. 2 | the becoming radical.
As “scary” as it gets, a blank parent report. #optout
See how easy this is? No consequences, just a blank report. That’s all. So, parents, what are you waiting for? An invitation? Tagged: data, optout, refusal, report, testing
Reprise: Corporatism, KIPP, and Cultural Eugenics
Title: Corporatism, KIPP, and Cultural Eugenics (2011) Author: Jim Horn Corporatism is about crushing the capacity for moral choice. Chris Hedges In a 2009 report entitled Parsing the Achievement Gap II, researchers (Barton and Coley 2009) recalibrated the achievement gaps[i] that Barton had first documented in Parsing the Achievement Gap: Baselines for Tracking Progress (Barton […]
Our interview with @henryrollins on education coming up this Tuesday
Yes, reader, some of you might be wondering, “Why Henry Rollins?” Still others, “Who IS Henry Rollins?” I’ve never made it a secret that I am a huge punk rock fan. In fact, I can’t seem to get out of the late 70s, early 80s, musically. I’m “discovering” new bands everyday from that era of […]
EdWeek and the Gates Love Affair that Just Won’t Go Away
In the Digital Education blog at Education Week, Q&A: Bill Gates on Teaching, Ed Tech, and Philanthropy provides Gates with yet another platform to (this time) continue his re-messaging campaign. Yep, he uses words like “magical” (did you get goose bumps?), but if you read carefully, as Jersey Jazzman did, Gates has simply learned to soften his […]