|
|
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
MAD - Mothers Respond to Duncan | Truth in American Education
MAD - Mothers Respond to Duncan | Truth in American Education:
MAD – Mothers Respond to Duncan
Press Release: November 19, 2013
FACEBOOK – Miffed Mothers from around the country have their collective hands 
on their hips in response to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s foot in mouth indictment of “white, suburban moms.” Just two days after Duncan commented “some of the pushback is coming from, sort of, white suburban moms who – all of a sudden – their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were…” Georgia moms Teri Sasseville and Meg Norris gave birth to MAD, Moms Against Duncan. “We wanted a place for Moms to vent, but also a place for action,” explains Norris, “We wanted to turn the energy of a country of angry moms into a win for our children.”
on their hips in response to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s foot in mouth indictment of “white, suburban moms.” Just two days after Duncan commented “some of the pushback is coming from, sort of, white suburban moms who – all of a sudden – their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were…” Georgia moms Teri Sasseville and Meg Norris gave birth to MAD, Moms Against Duncan. “We wanted a place for Moms to vent, but also a place for action,” explains Norris, “We wanted to turn the energy of a country of angry moms into a win for our children.”In less than 48 hours, working in conjunction with established state and national groups, like Parents and Educators Against Common Core Standards, we have had an impressive response. Over 2,000 moms shared their indignation, joining the Facebook group “Moms Against Duncan (MAD).“ Included in those numbers are also many dads and grandparents. Members have been stern and quite creative in their responses to Secretary Duncan’s ill-advised attack on America’s Moms. (Arne, don’t make us come up there!) Teri Sasseville says “we hope to use this energy to build on the national network that is already in place and make more people aware of Common Core – it is already in our schools.” Norris added, “We want to empower Moms and protect our schools, our teachers and our children from the abuses of Common Core.” Some very specific strategies are being birthed by the MAD Moms. Stay tuned!
Find us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MomsAgainstDuncan/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MomsAgainstDuncan/
Founders: Teri Sasseville, Meg Norris
Woman's Dream of Autism Center Doused by Officials - Voice of OC | Orange County's Nonprofit Investigative News Agency: Health News
Woman's Dream of Autism Center Doused by Officials - Voice of OC | Orange County's Nonprofit Investigative News Agency: Health News:
Woman's Dream of Autism Center Doused by Officials
Courtni Laughlin is trying to open a center for adults suffering from autism. (Photo by: Rex Dalton)
Posted: Tuesday, November 19, 2013 7:03 am | Updated: 9:56 am, Tue Nov 19, 2013.
With her long-held goal in sight, Courtni Laughlin left Placentia City Hall last July with a new permit to create a nonprofit training center for adults with autism, Down syndrome and similar disorders.
The 23-year-old earned a child-adolescent development degree from Cal State Fullerton, has been working and volunteering with individuals with autism for a decade and even helped establish a special education program in Nairobi, Kenya.
Now she is trying to open the No Limits Learning Center, which would provide life skills to high-functioning adults with such challenges. She signed a lease and has spent $40,000 converting a former mattress showroom into classrooms.
But she has hit a bureaucratic wall. Placentia and the Orange County Fire Authority repeatedly changed requirements, then she couldn’t secure the necessary fire safety
Hillsboro School District: 3 more storylines from Common Core's rollout | OregonLive.com
Hillsboro School District: 3 more storylines from Common Core's rollout | OregonLive.com:
Hillsboro School District: 3 more storylines from Common Core's rollout
Yesterday, I posted a story about College Preparatory Mathematics, or CPM, the math curriculum the Hillsboro School Districtadopted this year to align itself with the new Common Core State Standards. If you missed it,click here.
While reporting the story, I learned some other things about Common Core’s rollout in Hillsboro, particularly at an Oct. 16 information session that the district put on for parents, and during a Nov. 4 visit to the district’s largest elementary school,Witch Hazel.
There have been many arguments both supporting and against Common Core made across the nation and here in Oregon. I won’t get into those here. If you’re interested, here is a list of “frequently asked questions” at the Common Core’s official website, here are some arguments against the standards at a parent-led Oregon group’s website, and here is a PolitiFact post that rates the truth value of the attacks on the standards (it focuses on Florida, but much of the analysis would also apply to Oregon).
And here are three things that didn’t make it into yesterday’s story:
In language-arts, an increased emphasis on language’s function
In Witch Hazel English classes, Common Core drills students on how and when to use
Children’s Coverage on the Eve of the Affordable Care Act « MomsRising Blog
Children’s Coverage on the Eve of the Affordable Care Act « MomsRising Blog:
Read more: http://www.momsrising.org/blog/childrens-coverage-on-the-eve-of-the-affordable-care-act/#ixzz2l8x0LlrM
Children’s Coverage on the Eve of the Affordable Care Act
Posted November 19th, 2013 by Say Ahhh!Read more: http://www.momsrising.org/blog/childrens-coverage-on-the-eve-of-the-affordable-care-act/#ixzz2l8x0LlrM
Parents' Guide to Student Success - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education)
Parents' Guide to Student Success - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education):
State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Partnering with California PTA to Provide Common Core Resources to Parents
SACRAMENTO—State education officials are working with the California State PTA to get information on the Common Core State Standards into the hands of parents across California, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today.
As part of this effort, the organizations are distributing the Parents' Guide to Student Success—a series of resources designed to help parents understand what their children will be learning at each grade level in English-language arts and mathematics.
The guides are available in English and Spanish on the CDE Common Core State Standards Web page, as well as onCalifornia State PTA 
Web site.
Web site.
"Parent Involvement Day is the perfect time to release these guides—because we know that well-informed, engaged parents can make all the difference in our work to give every student a world-class education," Torlakson said. "With modern standards and assessments and a new approach to school funding, we have a historic opportunity for serving these students, their families, and our entire state."
"This is a crucial time for public education," said California State PTA President Colleen A.R. You. "The new Common Core standards will help us prepare all students for college and careers, and help them develop vital critical thinking and deeper learning skills. We're delighted to have Superintendent Torlakson's support in sharing information as widely as possible with parents about what the new standards will mean for their children and schools."
Originally developed by the National PTA, each guide includes:
- An overview of some of the key items students will learn in the Common Core State Standards for English-language arts and mathematics.
- Ideas for activities that enable parents to support learning at home.
- Topics of discussion for talking with teachers about student academic progress.
These state-developed standards, which California and 45 other states have voluntarily adopted over the past few years, are designed to provide all students with the deeper learning, critical thinking, and other skills they need to prepare for college and a career. They describe what students should know and be able to do at each grade level.
# # # #
Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100
Privatization is undoing Brown v. Board of Education - Salon.com
Privatization is undoing Brown v. Board of Education - Salon.com:
Privatization is undoing Brown v. Board of Education
Our school system is increasingly "separate and unequal" -- and we have Michelle Rhee's political allies to thank
This article originally appeared on AlterNet.
Heartland Institute President Joseph Bast called the public school system a “socialist regime.” Michelle Rhee cautions us against commending students for their ‘participation’ in sports and other activities.
Privatizers believe that any form of working together as a community is anti-American. To them, individual achievement is all that matters. They’re now applying their winner-take-all profit motive to our children.
We’re Sliding Backwards, Towards “Separate and Unequal”
In 1954, the Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. the Board of Education seemed to place our country on the right track. Chief Justice Earl Warren said that education “is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.” Thurgood Marshall insisted on “the right of every American to an equal start in life.”
But then we got derailed. We’ve become a nation of inequality, worse than ever before, worse than during the racist “separate but equal” policy of Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896. The Civil Rights Project at UCLA shows that “segregated schools are systematically linked to unequal educational opportunities.” The Economic Policy Institute tells us that “African American students are more isolated than they were 40 years ago.”
The privatizers clamor for vouchers and charters to improve education, but such methods generally don’t serve those who need it most. According to a Center on Education Policy report, private schools serve 12 percent of the nation’s elementary and secondary students, but only one percent of disabled students. Forty-three percent of public school students are from minority
