All Week @ THE CHALK FACE
California LOVES Common Core!
I’ve heard the title of this article proclaimed no fewer than five times in the past two weeks. I hear it in response to those questions I ask about the validity, efficacy, and usefulness of the Common Core State Standards. “Where’s the evidence?” I ask. You want evidence? CALIFORNIA LOVES COMMON CORE! There’s your evidence! […]
Guest Post from Paul Horton. Standards?
National Standards not Common Core Standards Rather than permitting the issue of the Common Core Standards (CCS) to be a political hot potato in the upcoming election season, I call for our education secretary to establish a national commission on creating national standards. Currently, a few foundations, Microsoft, Pearson Education, and several governors, the Fordham Institute, and our education
A Tale of Two NGA Press Releases, and Then Some
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are at the stormy center of unprecedented controversy regarding a supposed set of K-12 “standards.” The closest “standards storm” that I can think of as being somewhat similar to the current CCSS uproar occurred in 1994, twenty years ago, and concerned the national history standards. Let us pause and briefly […]
APR 24
Cuomo: Education Conference without Educators.
Guest post from Bianca Tanis: Upstate NY Educator and Parent: Beginning on May 4th, Governor Andrew Cuomo will chair Camp Philos, a three day Adirondack retreat for “Education Reform Philosophers.” The event is being planned and facilitated by Education Reform Now, a non-profit that strongly supports charter schools and to date has donated over $60,000 […]
White Suprmacy: Alive and Well
Originally posted on Bill Ayers:The Supreme Court continued its long backward march yesterday, ruling 6-2 that Michigan could ban race as a factor in college admissions. Affirmative action is alive and well for white people, for the children of wealthy donors and alumni, but dead for people who suffered centuries of slavery, Jim Crow…
APR 23
Those 24 Common Core 2009 Work Group Members
In May 2009, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and former State Education Superintendent Paul Pastorek signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). This CCSS MOU would become “Appendix B” for the US Department of Education’s (USDOE’s) Race to the Top (RTTT) program. In June 2009, the National Governors Association (NGA), […]
Guest Post: Ken Derstine. “Talking Back to Mark Gleason”
The 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, held in Philadelphia from April 3rd – 7th, has come and gone. The thousands of delegates have left town, but for the general public of Philadelphia, the most memorable and long lasting thing to come out of the conference was to get a glimpse of […]
APR 22
The Week That Was – Oklahoma School Reform Comes Crashing Down
Six days into the week that may mark the end of test-driven school “reform” in Oklahoma, our state may foreshadow the way that corporate reform collapses nationally. As the parent/volunteer leader of Central Parent Legislative Action Committee, Meredith Exline says, “the trend in Oklahoma is not isolated. ‘I really feel like any story I read […]
REVIEW: Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems, James Baldwin
REVIEW: Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems, James Baldwin. via REVIEW: Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems, James Baldwin.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical
APR 21
Vergara v. California Part One: Thoughts on Hannah Arendt, a New Totalitarianism and Completing The Circle of Domination
Originally posted on Raginghorseblog:The Vergara Nine surrounded by handlers. It is a peculiar, dark and unhinged world in which we dwell and it seems to grow more so all the time. Consider the extraordinary case of Vergara v. California, now winding down and awaiting a judgment. Here we have nine students, bankrolled by Silicon…
Five Louisiana “Educators” Want Common Core
On April 21, 2014, the Baton Rouge Advocate ran an article by Will Sentell entitled, Educators Renew Support for Common Core and Its Tests. The first line of the article is comical: Five educators said Monday morning that they will urge state House and Senate members to support the Common Core academic standards and the controversial tests that go with […]
A Panel Discussion You Don’t Want to Miss
http://www.thefire.org/video-the-state-of-free-speech-in-america-with-lukianoff-fish-rauch-posner-rosen/ Or watch it now: http://youtu.be/DYs-1cGo28o Filed under: MICHAEL PAUL GOLDENBERG: Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like an S.O.B.
Legalizing Marijuana Offers Lesson for Changing Course in Education Reform
Legalizing Marijuana Offers Lesson for Changing Course in Education Reform. via Legalizing Marijuana Offers Lesson for Changing Course in Education Reform.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical
APR 20
Common Core Prescription Will Not Heal Education
During my presentations, I make the case that the Common Core Standards are a prescriptive list of content standards, rather than a descriptive framework. The other night, in Santa Fe, one of my more well-known audience members disagreed, based on her opinion. What’s the difference? And why does it matter? First of all, let’s consider […]
@DCSDFagen pushing propaganda: “No Shelter” for Professional teachers.
In this video Liz Fagen (Douglas County Schools Superintendent in Colorado) attempts to spew mythology concerning market place tactics for employing and keeping teachers (pay for performance). First let it be known that since 1710, market principles such as merit pay have been tried to motivate and keep teachers. The result was a narrowed curriculum which […]
Spend part of your holiday with us at 6PM EST as we speak to GA parents with a strange #optout story
Here’s the deets. Now listen to the story.Filed under: SHAUN JOHNSON, PHD: Musings from the Chalk Face Tagged: at the chalk face, opt out, testing
My progressive friends prefer demagoguery over truth on education reform
My progressive friends in the broader media have it frequently wrong on corporate education reform, touting views that are hardly socially just. Instead, they mine their neoliberal connections to peddle the same corporate canards. It is obvious to me that mainstream progressive media are so disinterested in education that their reporting on the issue is […]
My Easter Post
Today is Easter, the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Who claimed to be the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. George Friedric Handel wrote about Him in the famous musical composition, Messiah, first performed on Easter Sunday in the Musick Hall in Dublin on April 13, 1742. I believe Jesus is the Messiah. On September 13, 1981, […]
APR 19
Let It Go for the test refusers
Originally posted on An Antique Teacher:I was making my way around the internet and found this, which was billed as a “parody”. I guess in the simplest terms, it is a parody, but sadly as I watched it, I realized that it was a video encouraging students to do their very best on the…
Two Americas: George W. Bush and Neil deGrasse Tyson
Two Americas: George W. Bush and Neil deGrasse Tyson. via Two Americas: George W. Bush and Neil deGrasse Tyson.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical