Friday, July 15, 2016

Coup in Turkey: Is Fetullah Gulen Behind It? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Coup in Turkey: Is Fetullah Gulen Behind It? | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Coup in Turkey: Is Fetullah Gulen Behind It? 



The news channels report that there is a military coup underway in Turkey.
The prime minister accuses Fetullah Gulen of staging the coup “from Pennsylvania.
Gulen sponsors one of the biggest charter chains in the U.S. and is one of the biggest recipients of HB-1 visas for Turkish teachers to staff his charter schools.
One report:
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Friday evening that an attempted military coup was underway. In Istanbul, bridges were immediately blocked and jets were flying low above the capital city of Ankara. Reports indicated that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube were shut down in the country. Turkish TV showed footage of military tanks at Istanbul’s Atatürk International Airport, where suicide bombers killed more than 40 people last month. Additionally, gunfire was reportedly heard in Ankara.The Turkish Army said in a statement that it had taken over the government, however that does not mean the entire military participated in the coup attempt. “Turkish Armed Forces have completely taken over the administration of the country to reinstate constitutional order, human rights and freedoms, the rule of law and general security that was damaged,” the army said. “All international agreements are still valid. We hope that all of our good relationships with with all countries will continue.”The Turkish government denies those claims. Turkey’s justice minister says followers of a U.S. imam, Fethullah Gulen, are staging the coup. U.S. military officials seemed as surprised by the actions of their NATO partners as everyone else. A defense official told The Daily Beast: “We are watching events on television just like you are.”
Erdogan believes that the Gulenists are behind the coup.
Who knew that “public schools” would be backers of a coup in Turkey, a key ally?Coup in Turkey: Is Fetullah Gulen Behind It? | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Big Education Ape: KILLING ED: 120 American Charter Schools and One Secretive Turkish Cleric -http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/01/killing-ed-120-american-charter-schools.html



 Big Education Ape: Update: Gulen Harmony charter school network accused of bias and self-dealing Dallas Morning News - http://go.shr.lc/1qV85Hm



Big Education Ape: Turkey Links Texas Charter Schools to Dissident - WSJ - http://go.shr.lc/1OW1ZfV

Big Education Ape: Magnolia Science Academy - A Gulen Charter School: Gulen Magnolia Science Academy links discussed at LAUSD board meeting -http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/06/magnolia-science-academy-gulen-charter.html
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How Gov. Mike Pence worked to undermine the will of Indiana’s voters - The Washington Post

How Gov. Mike Pence worked to undermine the will of Indiana’s voters - The Washington Post:

How Gov. Mike Pence worked to undermine the will of Indiana’s voters


Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump (R) points to Indiana Governor Mike Pence (L) during a campaign stop at the Grand Park Events Center in Westfield, Indiana, July 12, 2016. (REUTERS/John Sommers II)
In November 2012, the voters of Indiana chose Glenda Ritz, a veteran educator, to become the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction. Ritz, a Democrat, upset the incumbent, a Republican named Tony Bennett who had become a darling of the corporate school reform. She had campaigned against many of Bennett’s key policies, including merit pay for teachers tied to student standardized test scores, vouchers and high-stakes standardized testing. She won more votes than the governor-elect, Mike Pence and wound up as the only Democrat holding statewide office in the conservative state.
Pence — who has just been chosen by the Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump to be on his ticket as vice president — was upset with the voters’ choice. Pence quickly declared that he supports “the policies and the progress we’ve made on education,” and, the Evansville Courier & Press reported back then, that he and and the outgoing governor, Mitch Daniels,  “began to outline strategies to keep Ritz from reversing policies she campaigned against.”
And Pence, as governor, did just that.
[Republicans hate Obamacare. But Mike Pence expanded it in Indiana.]
In 2013, Pence created a new education agency in Indiana to help further his own education agenda. It was called the Center for Innovation and Career Education, and, by executive order signed by the governor, had its own dedicated funding from state agencies and could apply federal funds as well. Ritz said she found out about its creation from news reports, not from the governor himself.
In 2014, however, Pence decided to dissolve the new agency he had created even as he made a move to have Ritz removed as chair of the State Board of Education. He successfully pushed a 2015 change in state law to make the chair of the state board not the democratically elected How Gov. Mike Pence worked to undermine the will of Indiana’s voters - The Washington Post:

Big Education Ape: Koch Brothers’ Friends Funding Mike Pence | Hoosier School Heist Blog - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2015/07/koch-brothers-friends-funding-mike.html
Big Education Ape: Schools Matter: The Real Story Behind Mike Pence’s Charter School Speech - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2015/07/schools-matter-real-story-behind-mike.html
Big Education Ape: The bigot Mike Pence and his neighbor Bruce Rauner. | Fred Klonsky - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-bigot-mike-pence-and-his-neighbor.html
Big Education Ape: BREAKING NEWS - Trump goes with anti-public education running mate - Wait What? - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/breaking-news-trump-goes-with-anti.html
Big Education Ape: The big trouble in Indiana public schools, as explained by a troubled educator - The Washington Post - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-big-trouble-in-indiana-public.html

Hoosier School Heist TV is Doug Martin's channel featuring videos of his book tour across Indiana speaking on the corporate takeover of public education. Order Hoosier School Heist at http://hoosierschoolheist.com/.
Follow Hoosier School Heist on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HoosierSchoolHeist
Tweet with Doug Martin at: https://twitter.com/DougMartinED



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Destabilize & Replace - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

Destabilize & Replace - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

Destabilize & Replace - Teacher in a Strange Land 


A tweet from Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten), after the DFER vs. actual progressives dust-up over the education plank of the Democratic platform:
#DemPlatform on charters: oppose 4 profits, accountable, transparent, teach all kids & they neither destabilize nor --not replace--pub schls
Lots of folks have written cogent and thoughtful analyses on the issue of how both parties should be re-thinking federal education in their platform documents, instead of offering up sanctimonious blah-blah around "fixes" that end up lining someone's pocket.   Here, here, here and here, for example--all worth perusing as we consider what it means for a political party to resist "destabilizing and replacing" public schools.  (And yes, I do realize that political platforms are not policy, and often have hope-and-change value equivalent to toilet paper: flimsy and disposable.)
But the phrase keeps coming back to me.  The rest of the tweet and platform language consists of weasel words that have lost their original meanings in intra-party ed reform debates.
The education community is thoroughly--depressingly-- familiar with the term "accountable." It's about being constrained to account for easily measured outcomes. It's evaluation of teachers by student test scores. It's shutdowns and turnarounds and pick a bale of cotton, because taxpayers are unhappy about funding the distasteful results of deep and ugly poverty.

So--we're encouraged to hold educators accountable--a different descriptor entirely from the one teachers and school leaders prefer: responsible.  All schoolteachers know, intimately, what accountability means, in practice. Plus--the media consistently bungles the reporting.
We also know how easy it is for non-profit organizations, even those with good intentions, to take what they need to self-perpetuate, all while wearing white hats as a nominal do-gooders. For-profit charters are just a bit more...transparent about their bottom-line goals.  
And speaking of transparency--does that mean we'll be getting more information on how charters are formed, funded and held accountable themselves? In Michigan, charter authorizers get 3% off the top, from taxpayer dollars, simply for saying they'll authorize, then monitor charters. That's a huge disincentive for universities, community colleges, intermediate and local districts to bring the hammer down on an obviously failing charter.
Not having democratically elected school boards? The antithesis of transparency. Does this mean there will be a push to tighten and delineate tougher charter policy, a state-by-state proposition? Doubtful.
Still--the obvious, flashing bit of cognitive dissonance here is the phrase "destabilize and replace." The very heart and soul of opening charter schools is the word school marketeers build their fortunes on: Disruption. 

Disruption is sexy and rebellious. Those old factory-model schools with their desks in rows and hidebound veteran teachers! Let's do something new! And digital! Something that will appeal to the Destabilize & Replace - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:
Big Education Ape: Stop celebrating disruption | The Australian - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2013/08/stop-celebrating-disruption-australian.html

Big Education Ape: The Danger of Creative Disruption as a School Reform Theory | janresseger - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-danger-of-creative-disruption-as.html

Big Education Ape: The D-List Reformer Does Disruption | EduShyster - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-d-list-reformer-does-disruption.html

Big Education Ape: Keep Your 'Disruption' Out of Our Schools | Diane Ravitch - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2013/08/keep-your-disruption-out-of-our-schools.html

Big Education Ape: The Disruption Machine: What the gospel of innovation gets wrong - The New Yorker - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-disruption-machine-what-gospel-of.html

Big Education Ape: The Trouble with “Disruption” and its Effect on Children - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-trouble-with-disruption-and-its.html

Big Education Ape: A Handbook for Creative Disruption of the Public Sector — Yikes! | janresseger - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-handbook-for-creative-disruption-of.html

Big Education Ape: Just Released: My 3rd Book, School Choice: The End of Public Education? | deutsch29 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/just-released-my-3rd-book-school-choice.html

Big Education Ape: The Disruption of America's (Broken) Education System - The Atlantic - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-disruption-of-americas-broken.html

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How charter schools in Michigan have hurt traditional public schools, new research finds - The Washington Post

How charter schools in Michigan have hurt traditional public schools, new research finds - The Washington Post:

How charter schools in Michigan have hurt traditional public schools, new research finds 


How do some charter schools affect the traditional school districts in which they are located? Disastrously in some cases, as a new study about Michigan schools shows.
The study, “Which Districts Get Into Financial Trouble and Why: Michigan’s Story,” finds that among Michigan districts, “80 percent of the explained variation in district fiscal stress is due to changes in districts’ state funding, to enrollment changes including those associated with school choice policies, and to the enrollment of high-cost special education students.” A working paper was released last November and the study will be published in the fall edition of the Journal of Education Finance.
In the following post, Jennifer Berkshire, author of the EduShyster website, interviews the lead author of the study, David Arsen, a professor in the Department of Educational Administration College of Education at Michigan State University about the research and its implications for charter school expansion in other places. He notes in the interview that “overwhelmingly, the biggest financial impact on school districts was the result of declining enrollment and revenue loss, especially where school choice and charters are How charter schools in Michigan have hurt traditional public schools, new research finds - The Washington Post:
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School corporal punishment legislation gridlocked on Capitol Hill

School corporal punishment legislation gridlocked on Capitol Hill:

School corporal punishment legislation gridlocked on Capitol Hill





WASHINGTON (Gray DC) It’s a bill that remains held up in Congress, having a daily effect on children.
For almost a year, legislation that would end corporal punishment in schools remains on the back burner. Right now, only democratic lawmakers have signed onto a bill that would stop it.
Congressman Dave Loebsack (D-IA) is a cosponsor of H.R. 2268, a bill that would end corporal punishment in schools. It was sent to the House subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education last year, and hasn’t budged.
"To me it’s an absolute no-brainer,” said Loebsack. "We know that corporal punishment is not effective. It doesn’t do the job that they claim that it does.”
Congressman Buddy Carter (R-GA) sits on that subcommittee.
"Certainly corporal punishment is something we need to look at and we need to weigh in on, and we will certainly do that as time goes on,” said Carter.
How much time will that take?
"That’s up to the subcommittee Chairman and whether they want to act on it or not,” said Carter. "It has not come before us yet, and whether it does or not will be up to the Chairman.”
Off Capitol Hill, there’s been support from education organizations like the American Federation of Teachers.
“Our students cannot learn unless they feel physically and emotionally safe,” said AFT in a statement. "Physical discipline does nothing to help students solve conflicts or address problems, and it teaches students that violence is acceptable.”
Loebsack says lawmakers need to act now.
"So long as that kind of activity is occurring in the schools, we’re seeing children harmed,” said Loebsack.
As of now, there’s still no timeline as to when the subcommittee will take up Loebsack’s bill.



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School is out, but the fight to preserve public education continues - NPE Action

School is out, but the fight to preserve public education continues - NPE Action:

School is out, but the fight to preserve public education continues



RALLY TO STOP THE ALEC AGENDA



The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has a clear agenda when it comes to public schools—it wants them privatized. ALEC is a Washington D.C. lobbying group funded by corporations and the super-rich, which writes model legislation that promotes private company takeovers of public schools, school vouchers, constriction of collective bargaining and due process for teachers, teacher evaluations based on test scores and other anti-public school bills.
The Center for Media and Democracy outlined the ALEC agenda here.
ALEC will hold its annual meeting July 27 – 29 in Indianapolis. The damage done by ALEC sponsored legislation in Indiana is nearly irreparable. Join the Indiana State Teachers Association and other public education advocates in Indianapolis to rally against ALEC.
Where: Indiana State Museum, 650 W Washington St. Indianapolis, Indiana
When: July 27: 3:30-5:30
You can find additional information here.
WE ARE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT WHEN WE ANGER

Last month NPE Action issued a petition to the Democratic Party that described, in detail, what the party’s platform should contain.  You can read that petitionhere. Many of you, along with 47 pro-public education grassroots groups, signed on. Thanks to the efforts of Chuck Pascal, Troy LaRaviere and others, parts of our petition made it into the platform via amendments. You can find those amendments here. Search for the amendments proposed by Chuck and Troy.  
Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) were not pleased. You can read here about their dismay with the significant changes in the language.  NPE Action sent a similar petition to the Republican Party, which you can find here.

WORKING WITH YOU TO STRENGTHEN OUR MOVEMENT

The Network for Public Education is launching the NPE Grassroots Education Network, an exciting service initiative to help local organizations fight back against corporate reform. NPE believes that it is our obligation to better serve allied groups in the struggle to preserve, promote, improve and strengthen our public schools. Your local or allied group’s participation in the NPE Grassroots Education Network will not only help your organization reach more people who care about your issues, but it will also serve to strengthen the national movement to save our public schools.
NPE wants to amplify your voice and forge alliances as we all fight together to strengthen and preserve our public schools. To learn more and sign up to be part of this exciting new initiative go here.

ESSA REGULATIONS

Network for Public Education began a campaign to fight the “test and punish” ESSA regulations proposed by John King. NPE’s careful analysis was cited by Lamar Alexander, and he placed the statement into the record during the July Senate hearing. Please continue to pressure your representatives using NPE’s letter writing campaign, which you can find here.
Every state education department is also giving feedback on the ESSA regulations. Share our analysis with your state education department as well as parent and teacher groups. The deadline to give input is August 1. There is still a small window of time.
Thanks for all you do,
Carol  Burris
Executive Director, Network for Public Education ActionSchool is out, but the fight to preserve public education continues - NPE Action:
Network for Public Education Action is a 501 (c)(4) organization. You can make a non-tax deductible donation here.
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After hours of testimony, state board adopts history guidelines | EdSource

After hours of testimony, state board adopts history guidelines | EdSource:

After hours of testimony, state board adopts history guidelines



 After listening to five hours of charged disagreements by Hindus, Muslims and others on how their religions and culture should be depicted in California classrooms, the State Board of Education adopted new social science guidelines Thursday that will stress teaching critical thinking and objective inquiry so that students can determine historical truths for themselves.

“We are not the arbiter of historical debate,” State Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Adams, who oversaw the process of approving the guidelines, told the state board. “We will turn it over to students to make their own judgment.”
Seven years in the making and hundreds of pages in length, the new History-Social Science Framework was suspended in 2009 during the economic recession and revived two years ago. The framework is not a curriculum or a textbook; it’s an instruction guide for teachers on the state’s K-12 history and social science standards.
The standards haven’t been updated since 1996 but the new framework will serve as a historical update and the basis for publishers to rewrite K-8 textbooks, which they will start submitting for approval next year. High schools choose After hours of testimony, state board adopts history guidelines | EdSource:
Big Education Ape: History Social Science Framework - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education) - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/history-social-science-framework-year.html
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John Thompson: We will all pay the price for Oklahoma's 'decency deficit' - NonDoc

We will all pay the price for Oklahoma's 'decency deficit' - NonDoc:

We will all pay the price for Oklahoma’s ‘decency deficit’

decency deficit


I‘ve got good news and bad news.
Perhaps the best news is that children’s health outcomes are improving, so now Oklahoma is ranked 34th nationally. Further, Oklahoma children’s well-being is improving — from 37th to 35th in the nation. We now only need to pass four states to become average in our children’s economic welfare. Last, the child-poverty rate dropped by a point to 22 percent, which is average for the nation.
The bad news is that the modestly improving metrics listed above must be considered along with other sad statistics. For example, more than 10 percent of Oklahoma children are in extreme poverty (which is half of the poverty level), and the New York Times’ Nick Kristof recently compared our state’s extreme poverty to that of Bangladesh.
In terms of economic opportunity, poor Oklahoma County children rank 19th nationally, or four points below their counterparts in Baltimore County.
Perhaps worst of all, Oklahoma is tied for first in the nation in the percentage of children who have endured three or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Also, the percentage of children whose parents don’t have secure employment has increased to 30 percent. Perhaps even more frightening, between 9 percent and 18 percent of Oklahoma teens are not in school and unemployed.
Oklahoma has seen minor improvements in student performance and high school graduation rates, but it remains 42nd in the nation in education, depending how you score the topic. Estimates of the Oklahoma City Public School System spending range as low as $8,118 per student. That is 40 percent below the national average, and is even before this year’s and next year’s budget cuts are counted. (Other estimates indicate that the OKCPS spends only 29 percent less.) The OKCPS is 86 percent low-income (as We will all pay the price for Oklahoma's 'decency deficit' - NonDoc:
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NYC Public School Parents: Deborah Meier on the controversy about the principal at Central Park East 1

NYC Public School Parents: Deborah Meier on the controversy about the principal at Central Park East 1:

Deborah Meier on the controversy about the principal at Central Park East 1



Deborah Meier, founder of Central Park East, sent this letter this morning about the ongoing controversy about the principal at CPE 1.  More on this here.  CPE parents demanding the ouster of the principal have a website here.

Dear friends,

I am frequently asked about the situation at Central Park East I that has recently made the news.  Which side am I on, I’m asked.

I’m unequivocally on the side of those who wisely have concluded that the current principal must move on.  She cannot do the job required.  Bringing in someone to “help” her where she is weak is not a solution, but merely a postponing of the inevitable drift into more “standardized”  practice and a more hierarchical school structure. 

What is needed is an interim solution that helps pull the school together, hire new staff, set the tone and continue to improve the practices and approach that has marked CPE I’s 43 year history.  

These include: staff governance, choice for families and staff, strong parental voice and advice, substantial teacher autonomy to develop curriculum,  no admissions requirements re academic or social “fitness”, dedicated to serving predominantly low-income students of color, and the belief that a good open, progressive school should be able to serve all children together without separating them by so-called ability—by tracking in any form including social or racial indicators.   CPE I’s form of progressivism was, on the spectrum, perhaps more inclined to emphasizing “play”—self-initiated cognitive activity--which often includes physical movement, as well as choice, sustained periods for uninterrupted work, peer collaboration, and demonstration versus standardized testing.  Work and Play share common purposes and are, in fact,  hard to distinguish.  Play is at the heart of serious intellectual work, and observation provides teachers with the best means of support for further growth which rests, in professional jargon, in something called self “agency”.

CPE was dedicated to the task of creating a democratic community of citizens with different roles to play--students playing the role of citizens-to-be in some areas and equal citizens in others.  It was based on substantial time set aside for children and their families to meet with their teachers, and open access to classrooms by family members.  

It was also based on an agreement between the staff to meet together several hours a week, mostly during the school day as well as before and after the school year—plus a planning meeting for the fulltime professional staff in mid winter.  If the faculty was responsible for the school’s work it needed time to effectively play such a role—on matters great and small.   

For 32 years this process worked—serving largely District 4 families, plus a very small number of District 5 and others.  We had a commitment not to seek a waiting list!  When we had more applicants than spaces the District agreed to start other schools that worked together with us and had a single application process--thus CPE II and River East.  The teacher-directors (and later principals) of these schools were almost always former teachers in the same or similar schools.

We were just three out of what became a District of 50 small schools during that same period, all with far more autonomy than generally found in urban public schools—including the neighborhood schools (only one was closed due to low enrollment in the district) and the new schools of choice.  

A few years after we opened the District asked us to add white students to help the District to gain access to Federal integration funds—and to NYC Public School Parents: Deborah Meier on the controversy about the principal at Central Park East 1:

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Chicago Principals Speak Out on CPS Budget Cuts – Troy LaRaviere's blog

Chicago Principals Speak Out on CPS Budget Cuts – Troy LaRaviere's blog:

CHICAGO PRINCIPALS SPEAK OUT ON CPS BUDGET CUTS


CPS principals respond to the misleading narrative that “principals are relieved” after avoiding “doomsday” budget cuts
What did principals say after Wednesday’s budget meeting?
“This budget will definitely have a negative impact at the classroom level.”
“The papers they gave us did not match the actual deficits when we opened our real budgets.”
“The repeated statement that the cuts are being kept ‘away from the classroom’ is maddening.”
“It’s like being in an abusive relationship.”
“They got a cookie, took a huge bite, left us the crumbs….”
“This budget is just the latest manifestation of a pattern of CPS officials creating ways to take their horrible decisions and make us responsible for them.”
An ABC7 story declared that principals were “relieved” about their budgets. This narrative is far different than the feedback the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association received from our members. “Dejected” & “Insulted” were just two of the Chicago Principals Speak Out on CPS Budget Cuts – Troy LaRaviere's blog:
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Ohio Pays Millions While Students at ECOT Average Only an Hour a Day at Online School | janresseger

Ohio Pays Millions While Students at ECOT Average Only an Hour a Day at Online School | janresseger:

Ohio Pays Millions While Students at ECOT Average Only an Hour a Day at Online School

Jim Siegel reported yesterday for the Columbus Dispatch that despite Judge Stephen McIntosh’s refusal to grant the restraining order demanded by the state’s largest online charter school to prevent a state audit of its attendance records, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) continues to refuse to share its records openly with the state’s investigators:
“Despite a judge’s ruling this week, the state’s largest online charter school has apparently declined to hand over all records requested by the Ohio Department of Education so it can conduct an attendance audit.  After a Franklin County judge on Monday denied ECOT’s request for a temporary restraining order to block the state from conducting the audit, state investigators moved into the school’s Columbus headquarters to begin reviewing data. But, according to an e-mail sent Tuesday from the Education Department’s attorney to ECOT’s legal counsel, the information ECOT provided was not complete…. The standoff is the latest development in an ongoing battle between the Education Department and the politically well-connected online school….”
Patrick O’Donnell, the Plain Dealer‘s education reporter shares some of the back story about Ohio’s push to audit attendance at the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, which collected over $100 million last year to educate 15,000 students online. Apparently an initial audit of school attendance records earlier in the spring turned up some shocking news: “An initial review this spring raised red flags that students at ECOT, Ohio’s largest online school, may have done far less work than required.” “‘Those (ECOT’s) records did not substantiate the number of educational hours for which ECOT had billed ODE,’ the state’s lawyers added.”
O’Donnell continues: “Many students at the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) online charter school spend just an hour a day online taking their classes… all the while the state pays the school as if they were full-time students.  That detail was included in a filing for the state in Franklin County Common Pleas Court Monday as the Ohio Department of Education audits the giant charter school’s records.” “Unlike a traditional school, where teachers can take attendance every day, students at online schools like ECOT take classes at home by Ohio Pays Millions While Students at ECOT Average Only an Hour a Day at Online School | janresseger:
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In Washington DC ‪#‎PeoplesMarch16‬ By Kelly Ann Braun, BAT Leadership Team - Ohio BAT Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association:

In Washington DC ‪#‎PeoplesMarch16‬

By Kelly Ann Braun, BAT Leadership Team and Ohio BAT



I saw three children with their mom, there for the rally, in the hotel lobby. They taught me that the board there was a touch screen. I forget where they were from, but feel sure of where they are headed.


I saw a child from Chicago step to the mic, and without script or paper, choke up while he realized with deep awareness that he was standing where his great granddaddy had stood. Leading, pleading for still for the same his granddaddy had wanted for him. 






I saw a huge circle of children sitting around a gentleman leading them in simple chants, that they might lead the march.

I saw two children help their daddy take a giant pencil out of a box, and I watched them as they watched him sing out his message once again. The daughter sang every single solitary word right along with him.

I saw two grandchildren there with their activist Florida grandma.

I saw the astute son of twoBadass Teachers Association:


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History Social Science Framework - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education)

History Social Science Framework - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education):
Superintendent Torlakson Announces Approval 
of History–Social Science Framework 

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today announced that the State Board of Education voted to approve the History–Social Science Framework for California Public Schools, which will update and upgrade history and social science instruction in California.
"This is a big win for our students," said Torlakson. "This document will improve the teaching and learning of history and social science. It will give our students access to the latest historical research and help them learn about the diversity of our state and the contributions of people and groups who may not have received the appropriate recognition in the past."
The Framework provides guidance to teachers, administrators, and publishers for the teaching of history and social science. It includes more than 20 detailed classroom examples that show teachers how they can integrate their instruction to build students' history–social science knowledge and skills, literacy skills, and English language development.
"The adoption of this Framework today is an important part of our instructional program, said President Michael Kirst of the California State Board of Education. "Hundreds of people representing broad perspectives contributed to the development of this important tool for teachers and classrooms. The new Framework will help guide classroom instruction at each grade level and will be used with other instructional resources to ensure all students have a broad understanding of history."
The Framework adds considerable information on civic learning, consistent with the work of Torlakson's California Task Force on K–12 Civic Learning. In addition, information was added about financial literacy; voter education; genocide; and the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans and people with disabilities to the history of California and the United States.
Many members of the public participated in the development of the Framework, which received an unprecedented amount of public comments. During the online survey period, for example, the California Department of Education (CDE) received more than 700 public comments from more than 480 different submitters. During the second field review, which lasted from December 17, 2015, to February 29, 2016, CDE received more than 10,000 e-mail comments.
"People are passionate about the way they are portrayed in history," said Torlakson. "We are glad so many people and groups participated in our lengthy public comment and review process."
Many topics in the Framework sparked spirited debates, including "comfort women" in World War II, the Bataan Death March and the Battle of Manila, the roles of LGBT Americans in U.S. and California history, the Armenian Genocide, and discrimination faced by Sikh Americans.History Social Science Framework - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education):
# # # #
Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100
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