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Saturday, August 15, 2015

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 8/15/15


SPECIAL NITE CAP 

CORPORATE ED REFORM



Jersey Jazzman: How Economists Hired By Hedge Fund Maniacs Justify Shafting Puerto Rico's Students
Jersey Jazzman: How Economists Hired By Hedge Fund Maniacs Justify Shafting Puerto Rico's Students: How Economists Hired By Hedge Fund Maniacs Justify Shafting Puerto Rico's Students Diane Ravitch points us to yet another example of how the very wealthiest in this country are pushing the idea that their having to take a haircut on their investments is a greater threat to our American way of life t
Next Steps for Test Reform Activists on ESEA Reauthorization - Living in Dialogue
Next Steps for Test Reform Activists on ESEA Reauthorization - Living in Dialogue: Next Steps for Test Reform Activists on ESEA Reauthorization By Monty Neill.Testing resistance and reform activists can help determine the result of the House-Senate conference committee that will write a compromise bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA, now named No Child Left Behind)
80 years of Social Security, but we teachers don’t get ours. | Fred Klonsky
80 years of Social Security, but we teachers don’t get ours. | Fred Klonsky: 80 years of Social Security, but we teachers don’t get ours..Yesterday was the 80th anniversary of Social Security.It was an important victory for working people during the Great Depression.Today, the average worker who depends on Social Security as their sole retirement pension lives below the poverty line.Teachers in 15
ARE WE FINALLY GETTING CLOSER TO LAUSD'S JUDGMENT DAY? - Perdaily.com
ARE WE FINALLY GETTING CLOSER TO LAUSD'S JUDGMENT DAY? - Perdaily.com: ARE WE FINALLY GETTING CLOSER TO LAUSD'S JUDGMENT DAY?On Thursday August 13, 2015 the law firm of Geragos & Geragos filed a detailed 91 page cause of action on behalf of nationally acclaimed Hobart Elementary school teacher Rafe Esquith against the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Esquith Complaint (Conformed).p
CURMUDGUCATION: VAM on Trial in NY + Jeb's Amnesia
CURMUDGUCATION: VAM on Trial in NY: VAM on Trial in NYIf you don't know Sheri Lederman's name, you should. She's the New York teacher who, with her lawyer husband, dragged VAM into a courtroom this week and gave it the beatdown it so richly deserved.Lederman's story is, at this point, the story of millions of other teachers. One year, her VAM score indicated that she was awesome. The next year, he
Parents, YOU are the Boss… and you can say NO. | Opt Out Orlando
Parents, YOU are the Boss… and you can say NO. | Opt Out Orlando: Parents, YOU are the Boss… and you can say NO.Across the state of Florida, some parents of rising fourth graders are being informed that their child is being retained in the third grade because their FSA scores were in the bottom 20% of the state – no matter what that score may be. Some middle and high school students are being made
solidaridad: Stoner Elementary community to hold protest against charter school co-location that has taken resources from home school
solidaridad: Stoner Elementary community to hold protest against charter school co-location that has taken resources from home school: Stoner Elementary community to hold protest against charter school co-location that has taken resources from home schoolPress release – Stoner Elementary community to hold protest against charter school co-location that has taken resources from home school.FOR IMME
Common Core: Standard Children? - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.
Common Core: Standard Children? - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.: Common Core: Standard Children?The Common Core Can't Speed Up Child Developmentby Joe GanemRecent evaluations of the state's preschoolers have determined that only 47 percentare ready for kindergarten, compared to 83 percent judged ready last year. This drasticdrop isn't the result of an abrupt, catastrophic decline i
It’s August 2015, and Jeb Bush Doesn’t Know What Common Core Means Anymore. | deutsch29
It’s August 2015, and Jeb Bush Doesn’t Know What Common Core Means Anymore. | deutsch29: It’s August 2015, and Jeb Bush Doesn’t Know What Common Core Means Anymore.Jeb Bush is trying to distance himself from Common Core.He is avoiding using the term, and when he was asked about Common Core while campaigning in Iowa on Friday, August 14, 2015, Bush responded, “The term Common Core is so darned pois
Test-Refusal Movement’s Success Hampers Analysis of New York State Exam Results - The New York Times
Test-Refusal Movement’s Success Hampers Analysis of New York State Exam Results - The New York Times: Test-Refusal Movement’s Success Hampers Analysis of New York State Exam ResultsWith 20 percent of eligible students sitting out the New York state standardized tests this year, even some central organizers of the “opt out” movement were surprised at their own success.But those numbers are more tha
Ms. Katie's Ramblings: Shame on Noble Street
Ms. Katie's Ramblings: Shame on Noble Street: Shame on Noble StreetShame. Shame on Noble St. The Chicago Public Schools is experiencing a manufactured budget crisis of immense proportion leading to truly debilitating cuts to vast numbers of schools around the city. Schools are reporting the loss of teachers and support staff, as well as reductions in after-school programs, elementary sports teams,
Schools Matter: KIPP Non-Profit? Don't Ask David Fox
Schools Matter: KIPP Non-Profit? Don't Ask David Fox: KIPP Non-Profit? Don't Ask David FoxSome hedge fund operators like to point to the evidence of their generosity as measured by huge donations to non-profit charter schools like KIPP.  KIPP's non-profit corporate status, however, only underscores its corporate welfare foundation and its super-lucrative business model.Not only do corporate donors
New Orleans Schools, 10 Years After Katrina: Beacon Or Warning? : NPR Ed : NPR
New Orleans Schools, 10 Years After Katrina: Beacon Or Warning? : NPR Ed : NPR: New Orleans Schools, 10 Years After Katrina: Beacon Or Warning?On Sept. 15, 2005, two weeks after Katrina and the levee breaches, I drove with my parents into New Orleans. It was my 25th birthday.We used my press pass from The Village Voice to get past a military checkpoint so we could assess the damage to their home n
Louisiana Educator: A Practical Approach to Revising Our Louisiana Curriculum Standards
Louisiana Educator: A Practical Approach to Revising Our Louisiana Curriculum Standards: A Practical Approach to Revising Our Louisiana Curriculum StandardsNote to readers: The following is an email I sent to members of the committees of educators and citizens charged with making revisions to the Louisiana Curriculum Standards. I believe that the process for revision of the standards currently bei
Controversial teacher evaluation method is on trial — literally — and the judge is not amused - The Washington Post
Controversial teacher evaluation method is on trial — literally — and the judge is not amused - The Washington Post: Controversial teacher evaluation method is on trial — literally — and the judge is not amusedHere is a report on what happened this week in a New York court where a judge is hearing the case brought by Sheri G. Lederman, a fourth-grade teacher in the Great Neck public school distric
Decision to cancel high school exit exam creates chaos - San Jose Mercury News
Decision to cancel high school exit exam creates chaos - San Jose Mercury News: Decision to cancel high school exit exam creates chaosBig Education Ape: Call for Action for Students Affected by CAHSEE - Year 2015 (CA Dept of Education) http://bit.ly/1DOwDYLSACRAMENTO -- A hasty decision by California education officials to cancel the final high school exit exam for the Class of 2015 has unwittingl
A Civil Rights Legacy Squandered? Bilingual Education and the Reauthorization of No Child Left Behind
A Civil Rights Legacy Squandered? Bilingual Education and the Reauthorization of No Child Left Behind: A Civil Rights Legacy Squandered? Bilingual Education and the Reauthorization of No Child Left BehindAs Congress continues its work on the long-overdue reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), debates about Title I funding, testing, standards, accountability and charter schools have captur
Lawmakers finally consider tighter rules on charter schools - Sun Sentinel
Lawmakers finally consider tighter rules on charter schools - Sun Sentinel: Lawmakers finally consider tighter rules on charter schoolsIt's not often that Florida's lawmakers try to further regulate charter schools, which operate with fewer restrictions than public schools.So it's refreshing to see that Sen. John Legg, R-Lutz, and Rep. Manny Diaz Jr., R-Hialeah Gardens, want to tighten at least on
Opting Out of Standardized Tests Isn’t the Answer - The New York Times
Opting Out of Standardized Tests Isn’t the Answer - The New York Times: Opting Out of Standardized Tests Isn’t the AnswerAn alarming 200,000, or 20 percent, of the students in grades three through eight in New York State public schools this yearrefused to take the state’s standardized tests in reading and math that are supposed to measure progress in meeting national academic standards.This ill-co
Bernie Sanders Explains Puzzling Education Vote – It’s Because Accountability | gadflyonthewallblog
Bernie Sanders Explains Puzzling Education Vote – It’s Because Accountability | gadflyonthewallblog: Bernie Sanders Explains Puzzling Education Vote – It’s Because AccountabilityWhen teachers asked, Bernie Sanders answered.Why, Bernie? Why did you vote this summer against everything you seem to stand for on education policy?You stood against President George W. Bush’s disastrous No Child Left Behi

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Broad's LAUSD WMDs - Badass Teachers Association
Badass Teachers Association: Broad's LAUSD WMDs by Geronimo, NBCT, Honorary BATThe forces that Eil Broad represents are relentless. Their money buys them access and political clout. We are engaged in an endless war with the privatizers.Eli Broad’s methodology is much like TFA’s. You work and groom your people and offer them to the system so that they can implement their corporate ed reform policie
Los Angeles Unified School District Debates Whether to Shoot Its Own Students–With Department of Defense Weapons
Los Angeles Unified School District Debates Whether to Shoot Its Own Students–With Department of Defense Weapons: Los Angeles Unified School District Debates Whether to Shoot Its Own Students–With Department of Defense WeaponsOn Thursday, July 30, 50 Black and Latino students wearing mock bullet proof vests with stickers that stated #StudentsAintBulletProof #End1033, from the Strategy Center’s Fig
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 8/14/15
SPECIAL NITE CAP CORPORATE ED REFORMSacramento school reopening triggers unexpected parent concerns | The Sacramento BeeSacramento school reopening triggers unexpected parent concerns | The Sacramento Bee: Sacramento school reopening triggers unexpected parent concernsWhen local leaders announced plans in June to reopen midtown Sacramento’s Washington Elementary School with an emphasis on rigorous