All Week @ THE CHALK FACE
A great misunderstanding in the conversation on #edreform
A common talking point via social media from the reform minded seems to now be desperate calls for civility in debate. Civility? This is only anecdotal proof on my part, perhaps others have noticed. In any case, calling for civility is akin to a child playing tag, when cornered, immediately declaring “Base!” If only real […]
Deck the halls with No Excuses, Fa La lala, lala la la! #charterschools
‘Tis the season choosy with your students. I am told by reliable sources that many charter schools in our nation’s capital, Washington DC, enjoy very much acquiring valuable per pupil dollars at the start of the school year. Then, after those funds are locked in, PURGE their respective schools of unruly students. Traditional public schools […]
2013 Louisiana School Letter Grades: Recovery School District Gains Nothing
On October 23, 2013, John White released the long-awaited, capriciously calculated 2013 Louisiana school performance scores (SPS) and letter grades. In this “official” LDOE graphic, he attempts to sell the public on the “new,” “simpler” SPS/ letter grade formula and “easy to understand scale”, all the while maintaining that this latest attempt to label Louisiana education is “aligned […]
Methinks KIPP Advocates Protest Too Much
As the wheels appear to be coming off the education reform bus, many reformers are scrambling to change the narratives, shift the arguments, and even retool their foundational commitments. One such retooling may be Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) charters, if this piece at Education Next authored by Alexandra Boyd, Robert Maranto and Caleb Rose is any indication: “The Softer […]
The U.S. Formula for Children and the Choices We Refuse to Make
The U.S. Formula for Children and the Choices We Refuse to Make. via The U.S. Formula for Children and the Choices We Refuse to Make.
OCT 23
My Best Year as a Teacher
I began teaching in my first, full-time classroom in 2006, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was right in the thick of various No Child Left Behind changes and shifts, and it was about the time that data became paramount and a new program was being handed down every other week. Or so it seemed. I […]
Gaiman, Prisons, Literacy, and the Problems with Satire
Gaiman, Prisons, Literacy, and the Problems with Satire. via Gaiman, Prisons, Literacy, and the Problems with Satire.
New Refusal Movement Blossoms in New Mexico
New Mexico has one of the masters of Chiefs for Change, Hanna Skandera, in the chief’s seat of their education department. They are under her thumb and trapped under her policies, which she brought with her, straight outta Florida and straight from Jeb. This week, Albuquerque BOE member Kathy Korte organized and held a rally […]
OCT 22
How About Some Rhee-lated Information from Tax Documents?
I have been reading tax forms. 990s– the form of the nonprofit organization (no 1040s for them). It might sound boring, but I guess that all depends upon whose tax forms they are. Two 990s are the subject of this post. The first is the 2011 (August 2011 to July 2012) 990 for Michelle Rhee’s reform lobbying […]
@ASCD forgets some “facts” about #commoncore
Yesterday this PDF produced by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) was printed and I found it in my mailbox. I’m not sure how it got there but my sense is that since I have been critical of the Common Core’s mandated high stakes assessments someone was trying to help me see that Common […]
Medicating ADHD in the Brave New World of High-Stakes Accountability
Medicating ADHD in the Brave New World of High-Stakes Accountability. via Medicating ADHD in the Brave New World of High-Stakes Accountability.
FedEx Celebrating Holidays with TFA Donations
FedEx has a thing for Teach for America: 2009 2008 And now for the holidays in 2013: Starting Nov. 1, FedEx will kick off the “FedEx One Rate, Countless Possibilities Through Education” promotion, giving customers across the United States a simple way to give the gift of education. Through Dec. 23, $1 from every FedEx […]
OCT 21
Insight into co-location, dirt edition #edchat #TFA
Sort of a follow-up to a previous post of mine. As a public school, your kid shows up, we teach them. It is rather well-documented that charter schools, shall we say, select the most successful students. All I have to say is, “How the HELL are you going to suspend a five year-old SIX times […]
An Industry of Mediocrity?: How about Journalism?
Careless, shoddy, flippant, thoughtless—these are the words that come to mind when I think about most journalism addressing education. There are a few shining examples of journalists doing their work (Valerie Strauss comes to mind), but mostly, those are the words. So when I saw ‘An Industry of Mediocrity’ at The New York Times, and […]
OCT 20
Ok, @Chalkbeat, who’s your daddy? Seriously.
Saw this today, some sort of other newish chalk-education-oriented news service. Apparently, they’re expanding a bit. This has been some time coming, as the next step in evolution for a roughly year-old partnership between EdNews Denver and GothamSchools. According to the USA Today article, they’re mostly “foundation-funded.” There you go. Could not find a website […]
Teaching Strategies GOLD Parent Refusal Letter
Please see my first post regarding GOLD if you are unfamiliar with this assessment. Also, please see our early childhood guide if you are interested in gathering parents to help them in fighting these corporate initiatives. I promise to have this letter uploaded to our website at United Opt Out National soon. Please share this […]
Wisconsin Professor Testifies Against Common Core
In this 20-minute youtube video, Dr. Duke Pesta of the University of Wisconsin offers some informative background on the origins of Common Core (CCSS), including CCSS funding; on the lack of teacher and professor involvement in CCSS development; on the limited input of standards experts in developing CCSS; on the federal government’s role; on CCSS curriculum, and on […]
OCT 19
This Year, Boston is the Epicenter for Public School Destruction
Too bad. You missed it. No, not my birthday. You still have time to prepare for that. (Hint: it’s the 9th day after the New Year starts.) What you missed was the Annual National Summit on Education Reform, held by Jeb Bush and his anti-public-school reform group, Foundation for Excellence in Education (up is down, […]
The DC IMPACT Study Results: Already Obsolete
In October 2013, researchers Thomas Dee of Stanford University and James Wyckoff of the University of Virginia published (or by someone was somehow made public) a working paper on limited aspects of the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) teacher evaluation system, IMPACT, which was introduced in 2009– during the time that Michelle Rhee was chancellor of DC schools. The beginning of […]
WHOA! Major aggregation of anti-#commoncore sentiment from NY
Check it, via Charlene Myers (Thanks). Very retro looking to boot. Tagged: common core, new york, opposition, protest
My little speech post-screening of The Reformers in #DougCo Colorado a couple of weeks ago.
Tagged: colorado, douglas county, education reform, school board
A small anecdotal tidbit on how charter schools select out students
Some charter school chains enact a form of educational Darwinism. Case in point. Let’s say that a certain public school classroom received a new student the other day. The teacher learned that the student came from a local charter school very close by, definitely within the same district. Largely serving the same student population. When […]
From Wayne Au on Facebook: MI teachers’ union encourages boycott of student teachers #highered
What an interesting idea: refuse student teachers from a university that supports a certain reform initiative. As a humble graduate student, like a lot of graduate students everywhere in teacher education, I/we did all of the dirty work. We were the ones low enough on the old totem pole to actually do the field work […]
Scarcity: A Few Thoughts While Reading
Scarcity: A Few Thoughts While Reading. via Scarcity: A Few Thoughts While Reading.
Who Should Listen to Melinda Gates about Education?
I have asked repeatedly a key question about Bill Gates and his hobby of education reform: If Bill Gates had no money, who would listen to him about education reform? No one–the same as who should listen to him now. Now we have an EdWeak interview with Melinda Gates, which forces an additional question: If […]