Perdido Street School:
UFT To Open Casino In NYC
Obama Goes To P-Tech To Find Somebody To Fix Obamacare "Glitches"
Perdido Street School
When Did The Word "Test" Disappear?
These ed deform criminals love euphemisms, don't they?What’s the right amount of assessment? See my letter on the Regents' plan to address appropriate amount of testing http://t.co/izc5dv7fVX— John King (@JohnKingNYSED) October 25, 2013For those of you who don't understand reformy geekspeak, King means "tests."For some reason, the ed deformers decided they can't say "test" anym
UFT To Open Casino In NYC
Via Jeff Kaufman at ICE UFT, we learn that the UFT gave $250,000 to help Sheriff Andy Cuomo get his casino referendum passed.Some people may be wondering why the UFT would give money to support gambling, but if you think closely about it, it makes total sense that the organized crime interests who run the teachers union would give a quarter of a million of your hard-earned dues money to the organi
Obama Goes To P-Tech To Find Somebody To Fix Obamacare "Glitches"
Okay, some irony here.Self-described Mike Bloomberg spent $2 billion on a 911 system redo that is so faulty it freezes up sometimes as often as four times a day and just may have contributed to the death of a four year.Another self-described genius, Barack Obama, has signature medical program that forces anyone without medical insurance to buy it, except for one big problem - the website doesn't w
John King Says NYSED Won't Help Teachers Who Were Rated Using Faulty Data
Jessica Bakeman at Capital NY reports that NYSED Commissioner King says SED will do nothing to help teachers who were rated using erroneous data:ALBANY—The state Education Department is telling teachers whose evaluations were based on faulty data they will have to deal with their local school districts to make corrections. Some teachers, including many in Syracuse, are appealing their evaluations
Speakers At Commissioner King's Common Core Forum Overwhelmingly Negative Over Common Core, NYSED Agenda
The NYSED is trying to spin yesterday's Commissioner King public forum on Common Core and the SED reform agenda as a victory because King didn't do or say anything stupid and there were no major "ferret moments."Nonetheless Capital Confidential reports that there were 67 speakers at last night's forum and the overwhelming majority of those were not King- or SED-supporters:The good news f
Commissioner King "Listens" To The Public, But Was Persuaded By Nothing They Said
Again, I was at parent teacher conferences yesterday, so I was unable to watch the live stream of Commissioner King's Albany town hall meeting with parents over Common Core.But here's the takeaway I got from Jessica Bakeman's reporting on the meeting at Capital NY.500 parents, teachers and administrators showed up to talk to the King.The crowd was "rambunctious" but "ultimately resp
Parents Let Commissioner King, Know, Common Core Is Dying, It's Time To Take Our Schools Back!
I was doing the usual twelve hour work day for parent teacher conferences, so I missed the first John King parent forum on Common Core, but there's a trail of tweets that indicates Commissioner King said something stupid and lots of parents gave King the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth:King concludes that teachers need more professional development http://t.co/myjEK0Hapd— leonie h
I'm Getting Old
Friday morning after Thursday night parent conferences kicks my ass more and more every year.But of course I'd better not tell anybody.Someone told me "Bouncing back quickly after parent conference night" is competency 5c on the Danielson rubric.Wouldn't want to get dinged "ineffective" on that, would I?
OCT 24
NEA President Says Get Rid Of Step And Lane Increases For Teachers
Time to get rid of Dennis Van Roekel:Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, or NEA, came out strongly against single-salary teacher-compensation systems at an Education Writers Association, or EWA, event held earlier this month in Chicago. “Let’s get rid of step and lane,” he declared. “I don’t like it.” Van Roekel’s comments about trading in one-size-fits-all salary s
Another Bloomberg Innovation That Should Go The Way Of The Betamax
The Mayor of Money defended his pedestrian plazas today:“The pedestrian plazas have been phenomenally successful,” Bloomberg said at a Brooklyn press conference Thursday. At Tuesday night’s debate, both Bill de Blasio and Joe Lhota said they were unsure if they would keep the pedestrian plazas at Times Square and Herald Square that have closed Broadway to cars in place. But Bloomberg said the ve
Let The UFT Leadership Know How You Feel About ADVANCE, Danielson And The Common Core
Here was my response to Peter Goodman, Unity hack extraordinaire, who left some spin at Gotham Schools on the new evaluation system that went like this:First Goodman:On the just released state teacher evaluation 50% of teachers were "highly effective" and 41% "effective" with 1% "ineffective," these do include NYC, our plan just started, so, just maybe, teachers were
Newsday Poll: 47% Say Limit Charter School Growth, 40% Say Increase Charter School Growth
From a Newsday poll on the NYC mayor's race:According to the poll, de Blasio's plan to limit the growth of charter schools is favored by only 47 percent, while 40 percent echo Lhota's position that the city needs more charter schools.While de Blasio's plan to limit charter school growth may be supported by "only" 47%, that's 7% more than support Lhota's plan to increase charter school gr
UFT Spins The Evaluation System As A Win
NYC Educator has a post up this morning noting that Peter Goodman, retired Unity hack extraordinaire, left a comment at Gotham Charter Schools on their post about the just released teacher evaluation results.Goodman wrote the following:On the just released state teacher evaluation 50% of teachers were "highly effective" and 41% "effective" with 1% "ineffective," thes
CEO's Should Lay Off The Common Core Propaganda And Focus On Their Own Businesses
The latest business genius to weigh in on the Common Core - the CEO of Xerox.My first thought reading this opinion piece was, Xerox is still in business?Huh.Who knew?I sure didn't.So I decided to check and see what's going on for them in the news.It's not good, that's for sure.Xerox Glitch Halts Food-Stamp UseSEC Probes Xerox Unit's Accounting PracticesThat SEC probe into the Xerox unit accounting
OCT 23
Governor Cuomo Backs John King, Echoes Commissioner By Saying "Change Is Hard"
Sheriff Andy has a lot on his plate these days, with the legislature in almost full rebellion over the Moreland Commission subpoenas, his casino proposal facing trouble, and both pro-and anti-fracking groups wondering just when Hamlet on the Hudson Jr. is going to make a decision on fracking - but that didn't stop him from publicly backing embattled NYSED Commissioner King:As to whether he thinks
Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti Renews Call For Commissioner King To Resign
Apparently the assemblyman is not assuaged by the vaunted new Common Core forums NYSED Commissioner King announced late last week after canceling four parent forums on the Common Core the week before, because he continues to call for King's resignation:Education Commissioner John King should resign immediately. His rigidity makes him unsuited for the position of Education Commissioner.For quite so
Daily News, Post: Fire More Teachers!
Both the Daily News and the Post were very, very sad that the teacher evaluation ratings results showed 92% of teachers around the state were effective or highly effective while 7% were rated developing and 1% ineffective.The Newsies and Posties wanted the evaluation ratings to reflect the proficiency ratings students had on the state test results released earlier this year.In other words, they wa
Carol Burris: Teacher Evaluation Results Were Politically Motivated
From Newsday: Long Island school administrators cast doubt on the merit and usefulness of data released Tuesday by the state Department of Education on teacher and principal performance. Some veteran educators questioned the timing of the announcement about job evaluations, saying it was politically motivated. Districts had earlier received their own results. Carol Burris, principal of South Side
A Syracuse Mother Thanks Her Children's Teachers
This made the rounds on the Internet yesterday, but in case you haven't seen it, give it a listen.It should be required listening at SED and the Board of Regents, where they think their "objective" and "scientific" APPR teacher evaluation system measures the true worth and value of teachers.That evaluation system does no such thing.A video like this, from a mother reading a let
OCT 22
Regents Chancellor Tisch Lectures Her Critics
Merryl Tisch told the citizens of this state that they had better tone the rhetoric against SED, the Regents and the Common Core down or she is going to turn this car right around:“We're in the middle of a large reform effort,” Tisch told Capital Tuesday, responding to the criticisms. “People are feeling really unsettled. My admonition to everyone is: 'Let's tone it down, and let's focus on the wo
NY State Teacher Evaluation System Results Reflect Political Decisions, Not "Objective" Reality
The message from the SED and Regents today as they released the results of teacher evaluations from around the state was "Relax...this is not a 'gotcha system'...most teachers were rated effective and highly effective..."And indeed, the top numbers released seem to reflect that - 92% of teachers around the state were given effective or highly effective ratings, only 1% were rated "i
Parents Upset At Start Time For Commissioner King's First Common Core Forum
From FOX23 News:ALBANY, N.Y. – On Thursday a forum will be held in Albany to address concerns about the states implementation of new common core standards in schools, but many parents are upset that the event is set to begin at 4 p.m. The meeting will take place at Stephen and Harriet Myers Middle School, which can hold 600 people inside its auditorium along with an overflow room.But the number o
Compare And Contrast the DN Treatment of John King To Newsday's Treatment
The Daily News ran with a pro-King editorial entitled "Lomg Live The King!" yesterday.The title tells you everything you need to know about what tack they took in the King/Common Core meeting controversy.Leaving aside that it took them 11 days to come out and defend him (though we will note that they waited for the announcement of new parent forums before they finally took a public stanc
Changing The Parent Forums To Almost All Q&A Doesn't Matter If You Have NO Intention To Change The Policies
Newsday reports the NYSED and Regents are aware they have a big p.r. problem over their radical education reform agenda and they're looking for ways to "relieve" it:Top state education officials, stung by rising public anger over testing, declared Monday that they will seek ways to relieve some pressures on students and will reach out to parents and teachers who have mobilized against th
Daily News Only Likes Teachers Were They're Trying To Stop People With Guns
Did you ever notice how the coverage of teachers and the teaching profession in the New York Daily News is overwhelmingly negative - unless the story is about a teacher trying to stop somebody with a gun?Take this story of a tragedy in Nevada from yesterday:A teacher died heroically in Nevada on Monday, using his body as a human shield to protect students after a middle-schooler opened fire with a
OCT 21
NYSED Commissioner King Makes First Common Core Meeting By "Invitation-Only"
From WNYT: Town hall education forums, canceled due to disruptions, will be rescheduled. After the first in a series of public meetings scheduled to discuss the controversial common core curriculum became unruly in Poughkeepsie last week, Education Commissioner John King called off the remaining forums in the state. According to the state Education Department, new events will be scheduled around t
Quinnipiac Poll: 53% Say Do Not Add More Charter Schools
Buried in the crosstabs of the Quinnipiac poll on the mayoral race released tonight is this question:As you may know, charter schools are operated by private or non-profit organizations.The schools are paid for with public funds and do not charge tuition. Do you think the next Mayor should increase the number of charter schools, decrease the number of charter schools, or keep the number of charter
Bloomberg, Media Hypocrisy Over Charter Schools
Charter schools do not have to use the state's teacher evaluation system to evaluate teachers.Most charter schools in the city have chosen not to use it.Considering how badly designed and harmful it is, that's a good idea on their part.The UFT runs a charter school that opted not to use the evaluation system.Mayor Bloomberg and the Post hammered the UFT charter school for opting out of the evaluat
Siena Poll: Public Does Not Approve Of Cuomo's Handling Of Public Education
Latest Siena poll released this morning finds 29% of New Yorkers think Andrew Cuomo is doing an excellent or good job handling public education issues while 66% think he is doing a fair or poor job handing those issues.You can see the crosstabs from that poll here.Regionally the break down goes like this:NYC - 60% think he is doing a fair/poor job on education.Suburbs - 66% think he is doing a fai
Parents Will NOT Be Fooled By John King's And Merryl Tisch's Common Core Propaganda Extravaganza
A commenter at the Journal News on the newly announced Common Core parent forums:A show of hands ... who expects these new, controlled and smaller venues to actually open more communication lines with parents?C'mon, Commissioner King ... not a soul is fooled. You want to control the dialogue ... something you tried a week or so ago ... with wretched results. Not a soul wants to see you squirm or s
OCT 20
The Burgeoning Counterattacks Against The NYSED/Regents Reform Agenda - When Will The Teachers Unions Get On The Right Side Of The Fight?
In the middle of this Capital NY article about the teachers unions in Rochester and Syracuse appealing the many "developing" and "ineffective" ratings handed out to teachers in those two cities is this:“The results of this process are a clear indictment of this process,” said Adam Urbanski, president of the Rochester Teachers Association. “If the commissioner and the Regents co
Journal News: Commissioner King Should Listen To Parents Or Be Fired
Here in NYC, the newspaper editorial writers treat NYSED Commissioner John King with kid gloves, lovingly framing everything this edu-hack does as visionary and critical for helping students to learn.A Lohud Journal News editorial, however takes the kid gloves off and gives him a well-deserved working over:The state Education Department has announced a series of 12 new forums on Common Core standa
Daily News: Pearson's Common Core Curriculum Is A Mess
Yesterday I posted about complaints teachers and students have over the Engage NY Common Core ELA curriculum provided by he NY State Education Department.Today the New York Daily News reports the Common Core curriculum developed by Pearson for kindergarten is is problematic as well:Are you smarter than a kindergartner?Adults asked by the Daily News to complete a new vocabulary exercise offered to
Why Won't NYSED Commissioner John King Hold A Common Core Meeting In NYC?
.@jessicabakeman pl ask Tisch or King why no forums out of 16 to take place in NYC where 1/3 of all students reside— leonie haimson (@leoniehaimson) October 19, 2013Surely Bloomberg and Walcott can provide the same NYPD cops they have at the PEP rubber stamp meetings to make sure NYSED Commissioner John King feels safe at a NYC town hall meeting on Common Core?And yet, no meeting here in NYC where
OCT 19
Where's Howard Wolfson When You Need Him?
On Monday, Bloomberg shill Howard Wolfson tweeted the following:No murders in NYC last week. Murders down 26% this year off last year's record low.— howard wolfson (@howiewolf) October 14, 2013The NY Times today:After a seven-day stretch in which no homicides were recorded in New York City, five occurred in 10 hours on Friday and Saturday. Three killings occurred in the Bronx, and two in Brooklyn.
NYSED ELA Lesson Module - 17 Days On One Short Story
As I posted earlier this week, the teachers who have had the misfortune to have to use the Common Core lesson modules provided for by NYSED at a website they called Engage NY have found that the material is so full of mind-numbing, soul-sucking drudgery that they had lost the interest of students by the second week of school.I have heard many complaints from teachers about one module that has stud
Regent Harry Phillips: John King A "Good Guy," Regents Won't Fire HIm
After a week of getting beat up in the press and on the Internet with nary a prominent education reform voice coming to defend him, NYSED Commissioner John King received support from a member of the Board of Regents:A member of the state Education Department’s Board of Regents said Commissioner John King has made mistakes in his handling of a contentious public forum and its aftermath, but said th
Greedy Geoffrey Canada: Privatize Education AND Social Security Too!
Geoffrey Canada has been going around the country with some Wall Street criminals to talk to the youth of America about how they're getting screwed by old people.It started earlier this year (as announced in this Wall Street Journal opinion piece co-written by Canada), but WNYC just picked up the story and Gotham Charter Schools ran with it last night on their "Remainders" list.The gist