TFA Tries to Squash Its Critics via Less Than One Degree of Separation | deutsch29

TFA Tries to Squash Its Critics via Less Than One Degree of Separation | deutsch29:

TFA Tries to Squash Its Critics via Less Than One Degree of Separation

 Wonder why this goose is here?

One of the challenges in writing about corporate education reform concerns the complex web of involvement among corporate reformers, which is often evident in their sitting on each others’ nonprofit boards.

Makes it hard to know where one market-worshiping so-called education nonprofit ends and another begins.

One corporate ed reform nonprofit that notoriously spawns nonprofits and overlaps with others is Teach for America (TFA). In fact, many start their corporate ed, “this here’s my nonprofit” careers after serving as TFA temp teachers.

The “just add water” manner in which TFA tosses recruits into classrooms is drawing increasing criticism as the years pass.  So is the manner in which TFA has tried to shut down its critics. Just Google the term “Teach for America criticism,” and you will not want for reading material. Here are some examples:

Washington Post: “Teach for America’s Biggest Problem Isn’t Green Teachers or Failing Schools. It’s That It Can’t Take Criticism.”

The Daily Beast: “Is Teach for America Flunking Out?”

Huffington Post: “Why I Said No to Teach for America, and Why You Should TFA Tries to Squash Its Critics via Less Than One Degree of Separation | deutsch29:

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California approves tougher teacher training standards to help mainstreaming | EdSource

California approves tougher teacher training standards to help mainstreaming | EdSource:

California approves tougher teacher training standards to help mainstreaming

Teachers meet in Burlingame to talk about proposed changes in teacher credentials.

Under federal pressure to increase the amount of time special education students spend in general education classrooms, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing announced it will require  all future teachers to learn techniques proven to foster the success of students with disabilities, including small group instruction, behavior management and using frequent informal assessments to identify and address learning gaps.

The new standards for general education teacher preparation are the first statewide change to emerge from a push to improve the academic outcomes of students with disabilities, prompted in part by warnings from the U.S. Department of Education about the poor academic performance of California students with disabilities, compared to their peers in other states. A second major improvement effort is expected this spring, when new standards for special education teacher preparation are scheduled to be released.

“We have to be more effective in our teaching,” said Teri Clark, director of the professional services division of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, which sets California approves tougher teacher training standards to help mainstreaming | EdSource:

Alabama Teacher of the Year Resigns– The Backstory, Part IV | deutsch29

Alabama Teacher of the Year Resigns– The Backstory, Part IV | deutsch29:

Alabama Teacher of the Year Resigns– The Backstory, Part IV

Ann Marie Corgill

On November 20, 2015, I drove from southern Louisiana to central Alabama in order to interview 2014-15 Alabama Teacher of the Year, Ann Marie Corgill, whose resignation three weeks prior, on October 30, 2015, made national news.

I had the privilege of interviewing Corgill for several hours. She detailed an intriguing story regarding her 21 years in the classroom, a story to which I could not possibly do justice in a single post. Therefore, I decided to write a series of posts about Corgill.

This is number four in that series.

The first post concerns how Corgill’s resignation became public. The second details the exasperating events that led to her deciding to resign. And the third post follows Corgill on the path to becoming Alabama Teacher of the Year for 2014-15 and a top-four finalist for 2015 National Teacher of the Year.

In this fourth post, I offer the section of our interview in which Corgill discusses her years as a public school teacher in New York City– both what enticed her to go to The Big Apple and what prompted her to return to Alabama.

Our discussion of Corgill’s travels to New York transpired near the outset of our four-hour interview. Therefore, in this post I begin at the beginning of our talk, which leads Alabama Teacher of the Year Resigns– The Backstory, Part IV | deutsch29:

The Dea(r)th of Opinions [TFA and Writing As A Whole] | The Jose Vilson

The Dea(r)th of Opinions [TFA and Writing As A Whole] | The Jose Vilson:

The Dea(r)th of Opinions [TFA and Writing As A Whole]

Back in 2009, ChalkbeatNY fka Gotham Schools had its first fundraiser featuring then-NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and NYU researcher and former education reform cheerleader Diane Ravitch. He was there to give one of many speeches about the disruptive education reform he and former mayor Michael Bloomberg embarked on since the early aughts. Ravitch, on the other hand, read an excerpt on said legacy from her best-selling book The Death and Life of the Great American School Ssytem. By then, my blog was already blocked from all NYC public school computers (except those in central and with administrative privileges), so getting an invite to an event with most of the movers and shakers from NYC’s education sphere felt special for a guy who only had a PC and an Internet connection.

The handful of us who were typing about education policy didn’t see a dime off it, and because it was so new, people didn’t think I had ulterior motives.

Fast forward to today and it felt like everyone finally has attempted blogging, and telling folks you use social media for writing doesn’t shoot giggles up people’s throats. In many cases, folks assure youare getting paid if you’re writing on a regular basis. It’s hard to tell whether someone truly believes the things they’ve written, if the person in the avatar is the author of the piece, or who e-mailed the author on key information in the article. Organizations have teams of folks who write pieces, The Dea(r)th of Opinions [TFA and Writing As A Whole] | The Jose Vilson:

An Urban Teacher's Education: The Critical Link Between Education and Health: Why You Must Watch Paper Tigers

An Urban Teacher's Education: The Critical Link Between Education and Health: Why You Must Watch Paper Tigers:

The Critical Link Between Education and Health: Why You Must Watch Paper Tigers

It was an April morning early in my teaching career when, in the middle of a history lecture, I paused because of an unusual noise coming from the hallway.

"Finish copying down the rest of that slide, everyone. I'll be right back," I told my students.

I poked my head out of the door to find out just what was going on in the hallway. Megan (not her real name), one of my students who'd I'd marked absent at the beginning of the period, lay crumpled near the wall rapidly double breathing. I rushed over to help her up and find out what had happened. Her face was red and covered in tears. She couldn't bring herself to speak, so I quickly called the office for assistance.

After school was dismissed that day, I connected with our school counselor and found that just before arriving at school, Megan's cousin had called to tell her that Megan's mother had attempted suicide that morning. The crippling stress of such news was compounded by the fact that Megan had no siblings and that she'd never known her father. Her mom was all she had.

In the mid 1990's, the CDC and Kaiser Permanente partnered to begin the study of how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) impact longterm life outcomes. Nadine Burke Harris speaks eloquently about the study and ACEs in the video below.

Recent advances in neuroscience have helped us understand how ACEs, trauma, and chronic stress affect not only life outcomes, but the ability of students to focus and learn. They also affect our physical health. We know now, as Gabor Maté puts it, that humans are bio-psycho-social beings. Our physical health and optimal functioning is affected as much by diet and exercise as by our social-emotional health and vice versa. The implications of this new knowledge are so significant that An Urban Teacher's Education: The Critical Link Between Education and Health: Why You Must Watch Paper Tigers:

Teachers For Social Justice: TSJ Teach-In Elected Representative School Board Campaign

Teachers For Social Justice: TSJ Teach-In Elected Representative School Board Campaign:

TSJ Teach-In Elected Representative School Board Campaign

 

TSJ Teach-In Elected Representative School Board Campaign Sat, January 9, 2016 5:00 - 7:00 PM UIC College of Education 1040 W. Harrison Street Room 3427 All are welcome!

Did you know that Chicago is the only school district in Illinois (of 891) without an elected school board? Enough is enough! Democracy Now!! Do you want to help win an elected representative school board (ERSB) in Chicago? The purposes of this teach-in are: 1. Learn about the bill in the State Assembly-HB 4268; 2. Learn how to counter the arguments against an ERSB; 3. Learn how to work with your school community, elected officials, and groups/people in your neighborhood, to prepare yourself to help organize for the campaign and the bill. We will leave with specific materials and concrete plans to organize, visit legislators, and spread the word so that we can win this major victory. A registration form will shortly be on the TSJ website so you can sign up for the teach-in. We will ask you for your local school (elementary and high school) and state rep/senator on that form to help us better know what areas of Chicago (and the state) we can cover. PS- Mark your calendars for rallies in Springfield as we take over the Capital rotunda with the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) on Feb 10th and April 12th for the ERSB! PPS- There may be phone banking, canvassing, and other ways of organizing as well, so stay tuned!Teachers For Social Justice: TSJ Teach-In Elected Representative School Board Campaign:

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 12/13/15

CORPORATE ED REFORM

 

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI (December 13)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI (December 13): ICYMI (December 13)Time for that Sunday reading list!What's Your Purpose Rob Miller has one of those posts that is great for refocusing and gearing up for the week to come-- plus a cool diagramShaming the DevilMan. My hat is off-- way off-- to this blogger who decided to call out Steve Perry, the crowd-pleasing, money-grabing, self-aggrandizing reformster. Quit

by mike simpson / 0min 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Asking about Advanced Learning and Highly Capable Issues

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Asking about Advanced Learning and Highly Capable Issues: Asking about Advanced Learning and Highly Capable IssuesBased on reader comments (as well as more than a few e-mails), I queried the district about several Advanced Learning issues.  Here are the replies(italics are SPS.)Thanks for reaching out to us about Advanced Learning. Some of these questions/statement

by mike simpson / 1min 

Peg with Pen: Solidarity on a Sunday Night

Peg with Pen: Solidarity on a Sunday Night: Solidarity on a Sunday NightNot enough time to blog lately but I get in a few short FB messages from time to time. From my FB tonight:Many thanks to everyone that continues to help with the Twitter storm (search hashtag #NPAF #rejectrelay for more info) against Relay fake Graduate School during the National Principal Academy Fellowship in NY this weekend

by mike simpson / 4min 

U.S. Department of Education Enters the Twilight Zone | Save Maine Schools

U.S. Department of Education Enters the Twilight Zone | Save Maine Schools: U.S. Department of Education Enters the Twilight Zone Last week, in a move that was timed to coincide so perfectly with the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that italmost made you wonder if the whole thing was pre-planned behind the scenes, the U.S. Department of Education released its five-yea

by mike simpson / 2h 

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Classroom Update #4 fo 2015

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Classroom Update #4 fo 2015: Classroom Update #4 fo 2015One of the ideas that the ELA curriculum wanted students to get in this first unit was, how author background affects their work. I did like the particular piece they chose for this, Langston Hughes’ Theme for English B. It was a work that I was not familiar with, but it works well with upper elementar

by mike simpson / 3h 

CURMUDGUCATION: TFA Is Rescued!

CURMUDGUCATION: TFA Is Rescued!:TFA Is Rescued!Teach for America continues to take shellacking from people who think to ask questions like "How do you prepare someone to be a teacher in five weeks?" or "Why aren't wealthy, white districts lined up to take advantage of this awesome program?" or "How exactly does it help a high needs school to have an endless parade of untra

by mike simpson / 4h 

THE LAUSD CONSPIRATORIAL CULT OF CONFORMITY - Perdaily.com

THE LAUSD CONSPIRATORIAL CULT OF CONFORMITY - Perdaily.com: THE LAUSD CONSPIRATORIAL CULT OF CONFORMITY (Mensaje se repite en Español)In looking at LAUSD's latest defamatory attack on nationally acclaimed teacher Rafe Esquith, one can only surmise that those running the district are starting to run scared, because Esquith's billion dollar lawsuit brought by lawyer Mark Geragos has too great a prob

by mike simpson / 5h 

A Look Back - Wait, What? Blogs of the past Week - Wait What?

A Look Back - Wait, What? Blogs of the past Week - Wait What?: A Look Back – Wait, What? Blogs of the past WeekWe hold these truths to be self-evident…The Decline of the Great American Middle ClassCT Republican Strategy 101 – Snatching Defeat out of the Jaws of VictoryWhile Team Malloy says full steam ahead on the Common Core and Common Core Testing Mania…Google Spying on 40 Million K-12 Students…

by mike simpson / 5h 

Charter schools and journalistic ethics | Bob Braun's Ledger

Charter schools and journalistic ethics | Bob Braun's Ledger: Charter schools and journalistic ethicsNatasha Levant, from her Facebook entryToday The Star-Ledger published an op-ed column by a woman identified as Natasha Levant in which she credited the school her son attends, the North Star Academy Charter School in Newark, for “changing” her son’s life and “saving” him.  The newspaper described

by mike simpson / 5h 

Schooling in the Ownership Society: The real force behind D.C. school 'reform'

Schooling in the Ownership Society: The real force behind D.C. school 'reform': The real force behind D.C. school 'reform'She's the wife of a media mogul, a friend of the Washington Post’s Graham family. She’s a philanthropist, adviser to public officials, and conduit to private foundations and investors in what has become her life’s work. In D.C., likely no private citizen is more involved in pub

by mike simpson / 5h 

Hundreds of Parents Pull Students Out of San Lorenzo Schools, Demand Raise for Teachers | NBC Bay Area

Hundreds of Parents Pull Students Out of San Lorenzo Schools, Demand Raise for Teachers | NBC Bay Area: Hundreds of Parents Pull Students Out of San Lorenzo Schools, Demand Raise for TeachersHundreds of parents pulled their kids out of school Monday in the San Lorenzo Unified School District and are calling on others to do the same thing on Tuesday.The move was the latest effort to get the distric

by mike simpson / 7h 

BustED Pencils Trending News: Grit; Segregation; Gold | BustED Pencils

BustED Pencils Trending News: Grit; Segregation; Gold | BustED Pencils: BustED Pencils Trending News: Grit; Segregation; Gold“the exposure to trauma has a profound impact…” , writes AISHA SULTANThe Limitations of Teaching ‘Grit’ in the Classroomhttp://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/12/when-grit-isnt-enough/418269/High-achievers segregated.The New ‘Education Segregation’ Hurting the U.S

by mike simpson / 8h 

With A Brooklyn Accent: Fordham, Gentrification and the University's Role in the Bronx

With A Brooklyn Accent: Fordham, Gentrification and the University's Role in the Bronx: Racial Tensions at Fordham are a Harbinger of What Gentrification Might Mean for the BronxFordham used to have a great reputation in the Bronx because it helped save the neighborhoods of the Northwest Bronx from the arson and disinvestment that swept through the Southern sections of the borough. But as the dang

by mike simpson / 8h 

“Good” and “Successful” Teaching: Where Does the Student Enter the Picture? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

“Good” and “Successful” Teaching: Where Does the Student Enter the Picture? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: “Good” and “Successful” Teaching: Where Does the Student Enter the Picture?The singular and important role of the classroom teacher in getting students to learn is well established in the research literature (see here and here). I have no quarrel with that frequent fin

by mike simpson / 8h 

Ed Notes Online: Wonderful Video - Seen Them Opting Out on Broadway - Alan Schwartz - The Bald Piano Man

Ed Notes Online: Wonderful Video - Seen Them Opting Out on Broadway - Alan Schwartz - The Bald Piano Man: Wonderful Video - Seen Them Opting Out on Broadway - Alan Schwartz - The Bald Piano Man-- Or how teachers' asses are being saved by the parent opt out movement."The unions didn't accomplish this. Parental anger at an arrogant state executive forced the change. To the power of parents ever

by mike simpson / 8h 

Russ on Reading: Teaching as Meaningful Work

Russ on Reading: Teaching as Meaningful Work: Teaching as Meaningful WorkIn his terrific 2009 book on the complexity of success, Outliers,Malcolm Gladwell identifies “meaningful work” as one necessary component of a fully successful life. Gladwell defines meaningful work as work that provides a person with autonomy, complexity and rewards that equal the effort put forth. Gladwell identifies teachi

by mike simpson / 8h 

Consolidating Power: Urban and Neighborhood Based Organization Matters - Online University of the Left

Consolidating Power: Urban and Neighborhood Based Organization Matters - Online University of the Left: Consolidating Power: Urban and Neighborhood Based Organization MattersDavid Harvey: ‘The Left Has to Rethink Its Theoretical and Tactical Apparatus.’FROM ROAR MAGAZINE. David Harvey, one of the leading Marxist thinkers of our times, sits down with the activist collective AK Malabocas to discuss

by mike simpson / 8h 

Ohio charter schools that misspent money still owe state $6 million | The Columbus Dispatch

Ohio charter schools that misspent money still owe state $6 million | The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio charter schools that misspent money still owe state $6 millionDozens of Ohio charter schools collectively have failed to repay more than $6 million in misspent tax dollars, a first-time compilation of state audits reveals.The improper spending involved about 40 of the tax-funded, privately operated sc

by mike simpson / 9h 

Report: Most states providing less K-12 funding than before Great Recession - The Washington Post

Report: Most states providing less K-12 funding than before Great Recession - The Washington Post: Report: Most states providing less K-12 funding than before Great RecessionA new report on public school funding across the country finds that most states are now providing less support per K-12 student than before the 2007-2009 Great Recession — and that some states continue to cut funding.The repor

by mike simpson / 9h 

AP: Florida gave charter schools millions before they closed - Washington Times

AP: Florida gave charter schools millions before they closed - Washington Times: AP: Florida gave charter schools millions before they closedTALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Less than a mile from the state Capitol, a former steakhouse shows little evidence that it was once part of a movement to change Florida’s schools.It was on this location nearly two decades ago that the leader of a prominent Tallahass

by mike simpson / 9h 

Educators wondering if John Bel Edwards plans rollback in public school ‘reforms’ | The New Orleans Advocate

Educators wondering if John Bel Edwards plans rollback in public school ‘reforms’ | The New Orleans Advocate — New Orleans, Louisiana: Educators wondering if John Bel Edwards plans rollback in public school ‘reforms’Whether Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards’ alliance with the state’s teacher unions means a push is brewing to undo the sweeping changes in public schools promoted by Gov. Bobby Jindal is a

by mike simpson / 9h 

YESTERDAY

New TNTP President Among the First to Have Her NYC School’s Charter Revoked | deutsch29

New TNTP President Among the First to Have Her NYC School’s Charter Revoked | deutsch29: New TNTP President Among the First to Have Her NYC School’s Charter RevokedIn February 2015, TNTP (used to be The New Teacher Project, but now is just the letters TNTP) announced that effective summer 2015, TNTP will be making some executive-level changes (euphemistically named a “long-term growth strategy”) b

by mike simpson / 21h 

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 12/12/15

CORPORATE ED REFORM New education law's 'flexibility' will require better leadership from Gov. Brown OregonLiveNew education law's 'flexibility' will require better leadership from Gov. Brown: Editorial Agenda 2015 | OregonLive.com: New education law's 'flexibility' will require better leadership from Gov. BrownOregon Gov. Kate Brown and education policymakers must keep students' needs front and c

by mike simpson / 1d