6-15-14 Schools Matter: NYT Finally Gets another Education Reporter who Gets It

Schools Matter: NYT Finally Gets another Education Reporter who Gets It:

NYT Finally Gets another Education Reporter who Gets It

Common Core, in 9-Year-Old EyesBy JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZJUNE 14, 2014On that April day, Chrispin was determined. As one of the smallest children in the fourth grade, he had grown accustomed to being underestimated. With the right luck, he thought, he would earn high marks when test scores came back in August. “If I don’t pass the test,” he said, “I will feel miserable and never come out of my room.”T

by freetoteach / 1h 

6-14-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter:  Schools Matter All WeekToxic Culture of EducationOrlando SentinelFrustrated Orange teacher decries 'toxic culture of education'By Leslie Postal, Orlando Sentinel6:26 PM EDT, June 12, 2014Fed up and fired up, algebra teacher Josh Katz this spring took to the stage for a 17-minute denouncement of what he called the "toxic culture of education" in Florida's public schools.S

by mike simpson / 13h 

6-15-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online:

MORE, Change the Stakes Sponsor Jose Vilson Book Conversation in Inwood

This Is Not a Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class, and Education with Jose VilsonWed. June 18 * 5-7pm * Inwood Local Beer Garden * 4957 BroadwayRSVP on Facebook.Join a discussion with Jose Vilson on the joys and burdens of today’s education system, celebrating the release of his first book, This Is Not a Test, out now from Haymarket Books. A book signing will follow the discussion.Jose Vilson is

by ed notes online / 32min hide  //  save

Jesse Rothstein on Vergara Decision - Taking On Teacher Tenure Backfires

Go ahead, get rid of tenure -- make my day. Oh, this move will backfire big over time because there will be no one left to blame. Note how the poor performing south with no tenure is ignored. And just wait until the job market gets better. Let them go hunting for people who can fog a mirror. Yes, Virginia, even good teachers take the job for its security. Take that away and happy hunting.It is imp

by ed notes online / 32min 

Stephanie Simon in Politico: The fall of teachers unions

Oy vey! Funny Simon mentions Bad Ass, a social media group. Count the number of bad ass people who show up at rallies and struggles around the NYC area and you won't even have to take your shoes off.Simon does not mention the on the ground grassroots organizing caucuses like CORE and MORE - and not to mention real reformers taking control of unions by overturning the old guard like Chicago, LA, Mi

by ed notes online / 1h 

6-14-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online: Ed Notes OnlineUFT Contract Toxic PD Spillover: Parents Unhappy - at DOE and UFTThe calls have been coming in from parents and their reps who are beginning to realize how the new contract will change their lives as the school day gets readjusted in many schools. "WTF," is the basic message.Can Mulgrew clean up the toxic spillover?They tell me there is growing outrage as

by mike simpson / 13h 

Success Academy Charter Schools Force Mayor Bill de Blasio to Confront New Law - NYTimes.com

Success Academy Charter Schools Force Mayor Bill de Blasio to Confront New Law - NYTimes.com:

Success Academy’s Expansion Plans Put de Blasio in a Tough Spot

Success Academy Charter Schools Force Mayor Bill de Blasio to Confront New Law

A charter school network’s plan to double in size over the next few years could reignite a war over classroom space in New York City, only this time with the ground rules already tilted against the mayor.



A new state law passed in April gives the city just two options to meet the demands of the Success Academy network: It can hand over free space in public or private buildings, or give the schools money to find their own space.



The first option has frequently led to angry protests from the parents and teachers in schools that have to share space. The latter route would come with spiraling financial costs, as well as potential political ones, underscoring the new law’s unspoken aim: to get the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio to be more collegial to the charter school sector.



“There are all sorts of hidden ways that this work can be made much harder than it has to be,” said Eva S. Moskowitz, the Success Academy founder. Ms. Moskowitz is adroit at mobilizing support from parents and public officials. Her march on Albany last winter, after the mayor briefly blocked three of her schools from city space, helped set the new law into motion, and she vowed last week to ensure that “the law is followed.”



With 22 schools serving 6,700 students, her network is already larger than many New York State school districts. She already has approval to open 10 more schools in the city, and said last week that she intends to apply to the state for permission to open 14 more, which would give her 46 schools, in every borough but Staten Island, by 2016.



Ms. Moskowitz’s rapid growth and penchant for picking fights over space were tolerated, even encouraged, by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who incubated the charter school movement in New York by giving many of the institutions free space in city schools. Ms. Moskowitz’s schools, known for a hard-driving Success Academy Charter Schools Force Mayor Bill de Blasio to Confront New Law - NYTimes.com:

Answer Sheet 6-15-14 Arne Duncan issues new statement with the ‘right lessons’ from Vergara trial - The Washington Post

Arne Duncan issues new statement with the ‘right lessons’ from Vergara trial - The Washington Post:

Arne Duncan issues new statement with the ‘right lessons’ from Vergara trial

In case you weren’t sure what to think about last week’s verdict in the “Vergara trial” — in which a Los Angeles court judge tossed out state statutes giving job protections to teachers — Education Secretary Arne Duncan issued a new statement on Sunday offering what he thinks are the “right lessons” from the case.

Vergara v. California was brought by nine students who said they had received an awful education in Los Angeles public schools because of bad teachers and who were backed by an organization called Students Matter that itself was funded largely by Silicon Valley multi-millionaire David Welch, who assembled an elite team of lawyers to make the case that job protections — and not inadequate funding, poverty, absent parents, etc. — are to blame for low student achievement.

When the decision was issued last Tuesday by  Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf  M. Treu — who stayed his own decision pending appeal — school “reformers” who have long been trying to weaken teachers unions were thrilled. Duncan himself praised the decision, saying in a statement:

“For students in California and every other state, equal opportunities for learning must include the equal opportunity to be taught by a great teacher. The students who brought this lawsuit are, unfortunately, just nine out of millions of young people in America who are disadvantaged by laws, practices and systems that fail to identify and support our best teachers and match them with our neediest students. Today’s court decision is a mandate to fix these problems. Together, we must work to increase public confidence in public education. This decision presents an opportunity for a progressive state with a tradition of innovation to 

Arne Duncan issues new statement with the ‘right lessons’ from Vergara trial - The Washington Post:

Strauss: Starbucks to offer employees free tuition to complete online bachelor’s degree

Starbucks is planning to announce on Monday a new plan to offer full tuition reimbursement to thousands of  its employees to complete a bachelor’s degree online — with no mandate to stay with the company after graduation. Read full article >>

16 by Valerie Strauss / 19min 

All Week @ The Answer Sheet 6-14-14

The Answer Sheet:All Week @ The Answer Sheet‘ I have very real concerns about the sustainability of public education’ — Virginia teacher’s ‘painful’ decision to quitJosh Waldron is an award-winning teacher in Waynesboro, Virginia — or rather, was an award-winning teacher in Waynesboro, Virginia. In the following sobering post, Waldron explains why he made the “tough decision” to leave the classroo

by mike simpson / 13h 

Father's Day As A Healing Day - The Jose Vilson

Father's Day As A Healing Day - The Jose Vilson:

Father’s Day As A Healing Day

by JOSE VILSON on JUNE 15, 2014

in JOSE

It’s weird.

With the World Cup in Brazil going and Father’s Day happening all around me (and for me), I’m reminded how, once or twice a year, I’d spend hours watching my father watch soccer in my grandmother’s (his mother’s) house in Brooklyn. I didn’t get why it was so exciting, especially since the Italian league games often ended in nil ties and shootouts back then, but he’d try to run down the best teams. For him, it didn’t even seem to matter who was on Telemundo for the matches as much as it was actually on TV for him to watch.

Over time, I learned that tt was a much more fun game to play than to watch. In middle school, I dabbled in futbol (defense) since it seemed to be the only team I could legitimately get on in middle school. I remember my father playing futbol with his friends at a company party and me thinking, “I doubt I’ll be as good as he is,” and to a certain extent, that was true. But I rarely got to see him play because I rarely got to see him period. I relied on my peers and coaches to take me through understanding the game, one I didn’t even try to pursue on a serious level.

The thing is, I’ve been through a series of emotions every father’s day, from longing to anger to disappointment, and recently, understanding. This one is perhaps my most reflective because, as bitter as I could have been for the oft-detached relationship we had, I’m cognizant of the things he left behind for me.  My father’s passing this past December only made these feelings more concrete.

As a father now, I’m even more aware of the things I leave behind for Alejandro, and hoping that they will be plentiful. Before I

- See more at: http://thejosevilson.com/fathers-day-healing-day/#sthash.hz1hoT4z.dpuf