All Week @ THE CHALK FACE
Is this American Justice?
Today, I learned about two “education theft” cases where a parent, Kelley Williams Bollar, served nine days in jail, and a set of parents, Hamlet and Olesia Garcia are facing up to seven years in prison. I’m ashamed I wasn’t aware of this problem before today – January 25th. However, now that I’m aware this practice exists, I’m […]
Would I Lie to You?
Reblogged from An Antique Teacher:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q9zF8OsR_8&w=600&h=450] This week, a very personable "professional developer" from BOCES came to my school to "guide" the K-6 teachers in the use of the Tri-State Quality Rubric - a rubric that is to help us all align our lessons to the CCSS and is to be used as a "learning tool". […]
Dear Hanna: Where Are You?
Dear Education Secretary-Designate Hanna Skandera: I have to admit, I’m starting to get the feeling that you don’t want to talk to me. Or anyone else, for that matter. Just in case you’re not quite sure who I am, here’s a quick reminder. I’m the guy that has already personally seen education reform (as your […]
Duncan’s Bizarro World, Where Lie Is Truth and Truth Is Lie
Superintendent of Montgomery County (MD) Joshua Starr is rightfully disturbed by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s recent comment: What these two places also had in common was a succession of leaders who told educators, parents and the public the truth about educational underperformance and who worked closely with educators to bring about real changes. In order […]
Shooting Ourselves in the Foot
Shooting Ourselves in the Foot No one, myself included, expects a profession to hold lockstep to only one voice—including teachers. But Help teachers improve their craft, an Op-Ed by a public school teacher, calls for helping teachers become better educators, but in fact, perpetuates the worst aspects of the education reform movement. In the end, this […]
YESTERDAY
On Teaching: An Open Letter to Marc Tucker
Marc, I have read your article, On Writing, and I am wondering about a couple of issues that I address in this post. The first issue is pronoun-centered– who “we” are. The second involves your discourse on “lower ranking” teachers. I end by offering my own suggestions. Who Are “We”? One of the striking quotes in your […]
My Article in the Washington Post on January 23, 2014
Below is the text of my article entitled, A Challenge: Teach Eighth Grade Common Core Before Endorsing It, published in the Washington Post on January 23, 2014. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ On January 21, 2014, Valerie Strauss’ Washington Post education blog, The Answer Sheet, ran a supposed “reaction to” education historian Diane
JAN 23
An Opt Out must read.
I have been involved in the Opt Out movement for two years and have read many articles and opinion pieces about boycotting high-stakes standardized testing. This essay from the The New Yorker hits home on many levels, including the history of testing, is the best piece I have read to date. A must read: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2014/01/the-defiant-parents-testings-discontents.
Connecticut Teacher Does Not Want Common Core; Weingarten Refuses to Validate the Sentiment
On January 17, 2014, veteran Connecticut teacher Elizabeth Natale wrote in the Courant about her disillusion with the pressures of corporate reform upon her West Hartford, middle-school classroom. In her article, Natale makes it clear that the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are part of that disillusion– not only the CCSS assessments– but CCSS itself: When […]
On Public Schools and Common Core: Graff’s Critique of Ravitch
On Public Schools and Common Core: Graff\’s Critique of Ravitch. via On Public Schools and Common Core: Graff’s Critique of Ravitch.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical
JAN 22
Sneak peek of @unitedoptout version of Dvorak, only available if you register for their spring event in Denver.
This will be a playable deck of collectible trading cards, people, of all those involved (Defenders) and those against (Deformers). I have not seen anything else like it, anywhere, so get your hands on this one-of-a-kind item. That is, only if you register, and pick them up in person in Denver, although we may make […]
Goodness gracious, the PARCC samples are ready! Thanks @PARCCplace
Is there no irony sensed that PARCC Place is a play on words of the most expensive place on the Monopoly board? Ok, let’s shoot on over to PARCC Place, then, and see what they’re about. Let’s practice! Damn it!! All right, all right. I’ll play along. Even though all the cool kids use Chrome. […]
With all due respect @jeffbcdm, this doesn’t sound like a good idea at all
There are a lot of folks out there nibbling at the edges of this Common Core ordeal. We get it, it’s a “flashpoint,” or what have you. It’s tough to debate because so many emotions enter the conversation; that is, if you care about this sort of thing. I think a poll of the larger […]
A Teacher’s Many Hats
It’s often said, teachers wear many hats throughout the school day. As a teacher, I can certainly attest to this statement. In fact, I believe a teacher wears more hats than any other professional. To prove my point, I’ve decided to compile a list of frequently used “teacher hats” to help support my claim. The […]
Thomas Friedman And The In Crowd
Sometimes really smart people get really dumb. It isn’t on purpose. They just start to believe too much of what they have to say, or write. When they also love to be in the limelight because of what they write, the light that shines on them also blinds them. I believe that is the case […]
Vergara V. California Would Turn Teachers into Second Class Citizens
David Cohen’s “Education Policy vs Litigation” at InterACT provides a balanced analysis of Vergara vs California, a corporate reform effort to kill five California laws because they supposedly violate the rights of poor children of color. Students Matter, a nonprofit founded by entrepreneur David Welch, sponsors Vergara. It asks the Court to strike down teachers’ […]
JAN 21
Cuomo on the Common Core: Another Committee
New York Governor Cuomo has finally started to address the Common Core elephant in the room after months of parent and educator complaints. Vague as usual, Cuomo has called for a committee to “fix the problems”. (another story here) We have been through this before. When a politician hears cries of protest, particularly in an […]
Getting drunk on #edtech: To hell with #poverty.
“Maryland schools need $100 million dollars!” For what? Maybe to, Reduce the rate of low birth weight children among African Americans, Reduce drug and alcohol abuse, Reduce pollutants in our cites and move people away from toxic sites, Provide universal and free medical care for all citizens, Insure that no one suffers from food insecurity, […]
Does Freedom of Speech end at the Principal’s Office?
I’ve watched this video a few times, trying desperately to find any justifiable reason Newark officials suspended these school leaders. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to see anything that would call for such a serious disciplinary action. In fact, it’s quite scary to think that Newark officials suspended these dedicated school leaders for speaking out and defending their […]
Student: We’re Messing Up My Generation
The following speech was written by one of my former students in North Carolina, who also read my resignation letter from October 2012 and told me it brought her to tears. She wrote this before she saw my letter in the Washington Post. This speech shows that our kids are feeling the realities more strongly […]
Raising the (Dun)Bar?
Since August 2013, Dunbar Senior High School has received a great deal of public attention, and rightfully so. A historic DC high school with an important national legacy, Dunbar has long been a unique American institution. But, now that the new paint has dried, Dunbar is bracing for a new round of publicity. This time, […]
Special episode of @thechalkface radio: What’s happening in Newark?
@the chalkface radio special episode-Thursday January 23rd 7:00 pm Eastern. Special Guest: Dr. Leonard Pugliese, Executive Director of the City Association of Supervisors and Administrators (CASA), the union that represents principals and vice principals in the Newark public schools. Shaun and Tim will spend time on Thursday speaking to Dr. Pugliese about the “suspension” of five […]
My second thoughts on DCPS #IMPACT and #teachereval @thewashteacher @rweingarten
I’ve been obsessing just a bit over my first official encounter with one of the crown jewels of the inner city education reform movement: the DCPS IMPACT evaluation scheme. Student growth, or VAM scores, account for a significant portion of any teacher’s overall evaluation. And despite AFT President Randi Weingarten’s recent come to Jesus moment […]
Pulling a Greene: Why Advocacy and Market Forces Fail Education Reform [Redux]
Pulling a Greene: Why Advocacy and Market Forces Fail Education Reform [Redux]. via Pulling a Greene: Why Advocacy and Market Forces Fail Education Reform [Redux].Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical
JAN 20
ALEC and Its (Reluctantly) Newly-created Jeffersonian Project
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has been in existence for over forty years– since 1973. In 1975, ALEC registered as a nonprofit organization. By the late 1980s, ALEC had begun to “actively solicit more input from private sector members” as the ALEC “task forces” became “model bill movers.” Thus, by 1990, the current ALEC practice of involving corporate […]
United Opt Out to hold annual spring event in Denver, CO #edchat #edreform
Here are all of the official details, from United Opt Out National. UOO held its first two spring events in Washington, DC under the banner of “Occupy the DOE.” Occupations, unfortunately, are passe now, don’t you think? More than that, Washington is, honestly, an expensive and ugly place. The USDE building is ugly and isolated. […]
Fordham and Hess Temporarily Acknowledge that Reformers Can’t Have it Both Ways
Voucher advocates are in an absolute tizzy over a recent paper from the pro-education-reform Thomas B. Fordham Institute. It is truly a thing of beauty. Jay P. Greene is not amused. He is a titan in the ed-reformer ranks and the blog-host of such dandies as “New Column on Florida’s Anti-Testing Nihlists” (sic) wherein one finds wisdom touting the […]
Digging deeper into the principal controversy in Newark, NJ #p2
Have you been following it? We have. There may be some connections to the bullying tactics of the Christie administration. There might not be. I don’t know. But what happened Newark in recent days is part and parcel of the assault on meaningful conversations in education, especially when it challenges prevailing reform interests. We’re starting […]
Dream Deferred, MLK Day 2014: “This rigid refusal to look at ourselves”
Dream Deferred, MLK Day 2014: \”This rigid refusal to look at ourselves\”. via Dream Deferred, MLK Day 2014: “This rigid refusal to look at ourselves”.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical
My MLK Post: An Assignment for Test-Driven Reformers
On this day dedicated to the memory of a remarkable man who gave his life (literally) for the sake of civil rights and social equity, I expect that education privatizers will use the opportunity to promote themselves as “overcoming” opposition to their self-serving, destructive policies. They might even go so far as to imply that Martin Luther […]
JAN 18
Don’t drown in the education reform Sea.
Do you show up to your classroom, every single day, ready to influence the lives of your students? Do you arrive at your school building, every single day, ready to change the trajectory of your students’ lives? Do you wish to become a teacher that some student…someday…somewhere will always remember? If so, be careful not to […]
Let’s Help NEA’s Dennis Van Roekel Forsake His Common Core “Guessing”
It seems that National Education Association (NEA) President Dennis Van Roekel is willing to ignore the “forest” of the spectrum of top-down, punitive, privatizer-friendly, anti-democratic, community-school-destroying reforms in favor of the “tree” of his narrow focus on issues regarding concerns over specific items in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). In this January 14, 2014, Education Wee
My first exposure to the DC IMPACT evaluation system
From the very beginning, I’ve noticed that the DCPS teacher evaluation system fosters a mood of suspicion, confrontation, and anxiety. It doesn’t have to be that way. A lot of things don’t have to be that way. But they are, and it is. First, let me do a little math. So far this school year, […]
Common Ground is not so Common
Reblogged from EDCentrist: In the words of Mark Twain, “We have not all had the good fortune to be ladies. We have not all been generals, or poets, or statesmen; but when the toast works down to the babies, we stand on common ground.” Finding common ground is difficult, yet it’s often necessary for producing pragmatic policies. […]