Ed Notes Online
Opt-Out Grows - Long Island High Stakes Testing Forum Monday Nov. 25, 7:30
Thanks to AJ for cluing me in on this. Note LI Opt Out, the Lace to the Top sponsor -- green laces baby - I won a set at the MORE luncheon raffle but my cats love them so much I don't get to wear them – and a BATS speaker too. Just checked my calendar and right now it's an open evening -- I'll see if they let me tape.
New Content at SusanOhanian.Org!
Nothing like starting the weekend with a batch of stuff compiled by Susan with a focus on the common core. I am so far from having been a teacher I can't focus on the educational reasons for opposing CC. I'm more interested in the politics. Like when every enemy of public education and teacher unions unite with these unions to push something down everyone's throats that's all it takes for me to s
Patrick Sullivan and Leonie Haimson on Leo Casey Slam at Carol Burris
Patrick J. Sullivan @PSulliv @leoniehaimson @carolburris Didn't Casey blast @carolburris when she raised issues with the teacher evals? leonie haimson @leoniehaimson .@PSulliv yup, wonder if @LeoECasey will apologize to @carolburris now & admit she was right 10:28 PM - 6 Nov 2013A follow-up to my earlier post: Hypocrisy of the Day: UFT Call for Renegotiating Evals With deB Perdido S
Hypocrisy of the Day: UFT Call for Renegotiating Evals With deB
Those who don't remember history.... are doomed to continue to be doomed by the self-serving UFT. The latest Weingarten/Mulgrew accommodationist party line is that we should oppose the "consequences of high stakes testing." They have discovered and appropriated the word "moratorium." They always sound so reasonable and are always so late. Leading from behind ... Fred SmithThe U
YESTERDAY
MORE Video: The Time is NOW to Say NO to the High Stakes Testing Madness
Now playing at MORE: 11/7 Day of ActionOk. So I'm a day late and a dollar short (what the hell does that mean?). The talented Dan Lupkin, one of MORE media's newer recruits, made this video for the Nov. 7 national day of action protesting testing madness, an idea that came out of MORE's participation in a national consortium of teacher unions that met in Chicago this past summer. (I have video tuc
Naep Results Add To Evidence Of “No Child Left Behind” Failure
A federal report released today shows that NAEP score improvement slowed or stopped in both reading and math after NCLB was implemented. Add Race To The Top failure too.http://www.fairtest.org/fairtest-news-release-2013-naep-results-added-evid FairTest News Release on 2013 NAEP Results, Added Evidence of NCLB FailureSubmitted by fairtest on November 7, 2013 - 1:49pm for further information:
Uft'S Charter School Scores Fall Under Common Core
Lots of meat in this piece. I wonder if there are figures on pushouts and teacher turnover. Just askin'. Isn't Evelyn DeJesus a district or borough rep? Gee, I wish she didn't have to take time away from dealing with member eval issues to deal with the charter school stuff. See Gotham: http://gothamschools.org/2013/02/28/in-a-twist-uft-gets-attacked-over-its-charter-school-co-location/BY ELIZA SHA
NOV 07
New Haven Teachers Union Sells Out - Again - With Old Joel Klein Buddy Garth Harries
"Ciararella, who won reelection unopposed after the last contract..."? Seriously? Are we seriously at the level of discussion where these changes can occur in a New Haven and leadership doesn't even get challenged at the very next election?.... JG Posted to MORE-NewsHarries said Cicarella’s list is “an accurate description of a negotiation position.” But it was a negotiation tactic, he s
Portelos Hearing Continues Today/ Don't Tread on Educators Forum Next Week
I'm just running out to make the hearing and also want to alert everyone to the event Francesco is putting together next Thursday at 6PM in Elmhurst.While I am agreeing to not report details of the testimony at the hearing I will still blog about the atmosphere, who is in the room, who is testifying and any idiot things the DOE lawyers do. One of the major demands we need to make on de Blasio is t
NOV 06
Will de Blasio Make Randi's Folly - er - the UFT Charter - Pay The Damn Rent?
Eva Moskowitz is viewed as a big loser in the election and the UFT even though they jumped on the bandwagon late is viewed as a winner. But what of the charters occupying public school space - given to the UFT by the way by their pal Kathy Cashin when she ran Region 5 (Dist. 19, 23 and 27)? My guess is that it is no longer politically tenable for the UFT to get free space if deB makes Eva pay.DeB
Time Out For Fun: Peter Lugers, Rockaway Ferry and My Backyard Project
I just can't stand to throw anything away – unless I'm blessed by a massive hurricane that floods my entire basement to the ceiling and leaves 5 feet of water in my house. I am wiping pics off my phone and what better place to store them than at ednotes?Peter LugerEvery year we celebrate my wife's cousin's birthday with steaks at Peter Luger in Williamsburg, which by the way is a few blocks from P
Turn on, Tune in, Opt Out: Change the Stakes Featured in Article in The Nation
Diana Zavala says parents are taking the reins of school governance, but with one key difference from administrators: “You can’t fire us.”... The Nation Wooo hooo. Our awesome parent activists make the big time. Now I'm definitely going to the CTS steering committee meeting this afternoon at the very least to congratulate the CTS/MORE crew: Jia Lee (teacher/parent activist, MORE steering committe
NOV 05
AFT Sics the Dogs on Mercedes Schneider
Today AFT went down the chain to reach my local union president and ask her to “rein me in.” .. Mercedes Schneider Norm, In reading the various posts, you may have missed Mercedes' comments below which are quite revealing. It is a classic example of how Unity operates by using intimidation. .. Retired NYC teacher and UFT activist Here are Mercedes' comments today:Today AFT went down the chain
Next MORE Meeting: What do you think about the Common Core?
Some of you might think why does MORE need to decide on a position on the common core? It should be a no-brainer. Well it is not. There are many progressives out there who are not clear about the issue, especially with the propaganda mill from the UFT/AFT, major corporations, the entire educational top level leadership etc. MORE has not had time and now is the time to refine things. Even if you ca
NOV 04
untitled
New York City has slammed the brakes on a plan to expand a much-heralded Brooklyn elementary school after less than 10% of its first class of third-graders passed state exams last spring....Leo Casey, a former vice president of the United Federation of Teachers who sits on the board of the charter school version: “There’s nothing that I have found in my visits or in my conversations or anything el
Page 6 Insanity: de Blasio Wants Randi for Chancellor? Not
We thought the Post was always ridiculous but this one takes it to bizarroland. Which of these assertions on the Richard (Idiot) Johnson piece are false?1. De Blasio really wants Randi for Chancellor.2. Randi really wants the job.3. Randi "is against charter schools, teacher evaluations and most of the other reforms Mayor Bloomberg enacted. Answer: While we can't vouch for 1 and 2, we can gua
Mercedes Schneider Emails Randi Weingarten
I believe that you really do want to support public school teachers. However, I think that in general, you have lost our confidence and our trust. Just read the comments associated with numerous posts tagged using your name on Diane Ravitch’s blog. The negative sentiment is undeniable. Your choices have provoked this loss of our support... Both letters are below, first mine; then Weingarten’s re
NOV 03
Truth-Out on Obamacare: The Biggest Insurance Scam in History
An attack from the left on Obamacare, which many of us supported as being progressive but when examined looks more and more like the health version of Race To The Top, Common bore and other give-aways to the corporations and vested interests.If you add the NSA surveillance, the take away of basic rights and other issues, how funny that many on the left and the tea party on the right are coming ful
NOV 02
Flushing HS Report #3: Letter to Madame Tisch as Grading Saga Continues
Ms. Hansen,While I await response from the NYSED, let me try to illustrate to your office why your interpretation of the High School Academic Policy 2013 concerning grades is ridiculous. The new teacher evaluation system currently in effect uses a scale of 1 - 100. Suppose principals had the option of using only a part of that scale. Mr. Seung Yong OkSeung is replying to the nonsense response (See
Daily Howler on NY Times Ed Reporter Motoko Rich: functionally illiterate
I can't pass this one up from Howler. He takes the article Rich wrote apart with pertinent quotes from the Ravitch book. I don't opt for the "she knows not what she does" POV. I think she lines up with the typical NY Times ed deform agenda that disparages the public school system.We return to that New York Times news report!Posted: 02 Nov 2013 01:16 PM PDTSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2013Motoko
Video: Recchia and District 21 CEC Parents Object to DOE Co-Locations
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvSu_tm5tKMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwKviU6VmLk
Mother Jones on Who is Behind Campbell Brown Anti-Teacher Campaign
Before Brown left CNN three years ago, her evening news show carried a memorable tagline: "No bias. No bull." She can't say the same for her foray into the education wars.... she failed to disclose was that her husband, Dan Senor, sits on the board of the New York affiliate of StudentsFirst, an education lobbying group founded by Michelle Rhee... New York state law also mandates that an
DOE Response to Flushing HS Principal Setting Minimun Grade Score
While STARS offers a variety of grading scales, schools are not required to use the entire 1-100 point scale in their grading policies.... Katie Hansen Office of Academic Policy and Systems Dear DOE administrators, Either you are flagrantly flouting your own grading policy or you are horribly confusing the terms: grading policy versus grading scale. Hurricanes are categorized in a scale of 1 to 5
Norm's Speech at the PEP, October 30, 2013
Charter school parents had their choice of sending their kids to school taken away when charters closed down their schools for a political rally. They are not public schools.