Wednesday, January 29, 2020

NANCY BAILEY: Common Core, Camouflaged in Testing and Technology

Common Core, Camouflaged in Testing and Technology

Common Core, Camouflaged in Testing and Technology
Common Core State Standards (CCSS) might seem to have diminished, but the standards are still embedded in testing and technology and still hurting students.
When the standards were first imposed on students, parents and teachers complained. Sandra Stotsky, now Professor Emeritus, was an outspoken critic of CCSSs. She had previously helped develop the Massachusetts standards, once considered the best in the nation. As a member of the Common Core Validation Committee, she refused to sign off on the CCSS.
Diane Ravitch, in her book Slaying Goliath, notes that CCSSs were supported by the national teachers’ unions, conservative and liberal think tanks, the National PTA, United Way, and the Chamber of Commerce (p. 230-231). Bill Gates gave education organizations and civil rights groups millions to promote CCSSs. Ravitch states, Gates may have spent as much as $2 billion to develop, implement, and promote the Common Core (231). 
In the last Presidential election, Common Core was said to be the Democrats “third rail.” Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos promised to get rid of Common Core, and CONTINUE READING: Common Core, Camouflaged in Testing and Technology
at

Did Rosa Parks Really Support Charter Schools? | gadflyonthewallblog

Did Rosa Parks Really Support Charter Schools? | gadflyonthewallblog

Did Rosa Parks Really Support Charter Schools?


 They say history is written by the victors.
But fortunes change, and sometimes you can even reclaim a figure from the past who the last round of winners had cast in an unlikely role.
Take Rosa Parks.
She is universally hailed as a hero of the civil rights movement because of her part in the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Everyone knows the story. Parks, a black seamstress in Alabama, refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus and was arrested. Then working with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and many other activists, she helped encourage black people throughout the city to stop riding the buses until they were eventually desegregated.
But did you know that 40 years later after she had moved to Detroit, Parks tried to open a charter school?
It’s true – from a certain point of view.
And school privatization cheerleaders are quick to reference her advocacy.
at

Andre Perry: Advocates for school choice must stop whitewashing ‘choice’

Advocates for school choice must stop whitewashing ‘choice’

Reformers must stop whitewashing ‘choice’
Freedom to choose in privatized school system is illusion where it fails to address inequality born of slavery and ultimate lack of ‘choice’

 "It’s ironic when abortion rights supporters don’t back school choice,” said U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. But her attempt to point out some kind of moral absurdity during her remarks to Colorado Christian College students at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., last week only pointed out her own.

According to the Colorado Times Recorder, Devos also invoked slavery to underline her point. President Abraham Lincoln had to deal with the ‘pro-choice’ arguments of his time, she continued. “They suggested that a state’s ‘choice’ to be slave or to be free had no moral question in it. Well, President Lincoln reminded those pro-choicers that [there] is a vast portion of the American people that do not look upon that matter as being this very little thing. They look upon it as a vast moral evil.’”
Aside from the obvious differences in choice between the expansion of education service providers and a woman’s right to control her reproductive choices and her body, DeVos clearly needs to learn that the Republican understanding of words like choice, freedom, liberty differs significantly for black people with our history of slavery. And this is not the first time DeVos has publicly misinterpreted history. Remember when our education secretary called HBCUs “pioneers of ‘school choice,’” completely missing the fact that black postsecondary institutions were born of government-backed segregation?
When Republicans, who are often the biggest proponents of school choice, use the term and other words like “freedom” and “liberty,” they usually mean it in the sense of freedom from government. “I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism,” said Ronald Reagan in a 1975 interview in Reason magazine. “The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom.” It is assumed that freedom (from government) makes us free to choose. However, the basic liberties black people have gained throughout our time in the U.S. required federal intervention. Thus, the government protection from racism that black CONTINUE READING: Advocates for school choice must stop whitewashing ‘choice’

at

2020 School Climate Survey for Families - Sacramento City Unified School District

2020 School Climate Survey for Families - Sacramento City Unified School District

2020 School Climate Survey for Families
We want to hear from you!


Please take the SCUSD School Climate survey to inform how our district and our schools are meeting the needs of our families and students. The survey will be open from February 3 to March 6, 2020.
The district surveys families every year for their opinion on issues such as safety and feelings of connectedness to school. We hope you will share your opinion every year, and complete one survey for every school that your students attend. 
The survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. Links to the family survey, in 6 different languages, can be found below. If you prefer, printable versions appear in the yellow box at the right.

Links to Online Family Surveys:







printable versions




2020 School Climate Survey for Families - Sacramento City Unified School District
at

Ohio GOP Grovels at Feet of Fordham and ALEC | Diane Ravitch's blog

Ohio GOP Grovels at Feet of Fordham and ALEC | Diane Ravitch's blog

Ohio GOP Grovels at Feet of Fordham and ALEC

Bill Phillis writes about the GOP’s pusillanimous capitulation to its masters and is prepared to sacrifice its public schools to satisfy DC-based Thomas B. Fordham Institute and ALEC, funded by Charles Koch, the Waltons, and DeVos.
He writes:
School choice zealots seem to be driving the state education policy train
In spite of the harm being heaped on school districts due to corruption in the charter industry and the wild expansion of vouchers, the school choice zealots are in control. State officials seem powerless to establish rational Ohio education policy.
According to current media reports, the voucher “fix” being considered in the Ohio Senate, would lessen the harm to some school districts in the near term but would set the stage for a universal voucher system in the future. The local choice zealots and their big boy moneyed allies, such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Fordham Foundation, are driving policy that undercuts the very foundation of the public common school. State officials seem to cower when confronted by the choice crowd.
Time to march on Columbus.
Jan Resseger wrote to me that the “fix” is a fraud and her own integrated, mixed-income district will be devastated.
She wrote:
I noticed you forwarded the Dispatch piece as though it will help anybody.  The Ohio Senate “solution” will simply leave in place all the damage from current year.  In CH-UH we have 478 percent growth in vouchers this year.  These kids will carry those vouchers CONTINUE READING: Ohio GOP Grovels at Feet of Fordham and ALEC | Diane Ravitch's blog
at

Alfie Kohn: Autism and Behaviorism New Research Adds to an Already Compelling Case Against ABA | National Education Policy Center

Alfie Kohn: Autism and Behaviorism New Research Adds to an Already Compelling Case Against ABA | National Education Policy Center

Alfie Kohn: Autism and Behaviorism New Research Adds to an Already Compelling Case Against ABA
When a common practice isn’t necessary or useful even under presumably optimal conditions, it’s time to question whether that practice makes sense at all. For example, if teachers don’t need to give grades even in high school (and if eliminating grades clearly benefits their students), how can we justify grading younger children? If research shows there’s little or no benefit to assigning homework even in math, which is the discipline that proponents assume makes the clearest case for its value, why would we keep assigning it in other subjects?
And if it turns out that, contrary to widespread assumptions, behavior modification techniques aren’t supported by solid data even when used with autistic kids, why would we persist in manipulating anyone with positive reinforcement? A rigorous new meta-analysis utterly debunks the claim that applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy is the only intervention for children with autism that’s “evidence-based.” In fact, it raises serious questions about whether ABA merits that description at all.
Before exploring the new report, let’s take a minute to consider what we know about rewards and positive reinforcement more generally. In 2018, I reviewed two decades of recent research for the 25th-anniversary edition of my book Punished by Rewards. These studies strongly confirm the original findings: Carrots, like sticks, are not merely ineffective over the long haul but often actively counterproductive — at work, at school, and at home — and these negative effects are found across ages, genders, and cultural settings. As a rule, the more you reward people for doing something, the more they tend to lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward. And they often end up being less successful at a task they’re completing than are people who weren’t offered any reward for doing it. (Even more damaging, according to the research, is an arrangement where people are offered a reward for doing something well.)
In the face of such evidence, which has been accumulating for about half a century, the last refuge of CONTINUE READING: Alfie Kohn: Autism and Behaviorism New Research Adds to an Already Compelling Case Against ABA | National Education Policy Center
at

Major resource infusion is in the works for 20 struggling L.A. schools - Los Angeles Times

Major resource infusion is in the works for 20 struggling L.A. schools - Los Angeles Times

Major resource infusion is in the works for 20 struggling L.A. schools
Twenty struggling Los Angeles schools will get a mega-infusion of resources in an aggressive, experimental effort to show that L.A. Unified — if properly funded — can boost student achievement, L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner announced on Tuesday.
The effort, tentatively called Project 2020, seeks to raise standardized test scores in reading and math by 20 percentage points at each of 20 elementary schools within two years, a challenging statistical jump, based on typical school performance.
During a talk at UCLA, Beutner also presented other elements of his core long-term plans for improving the nation’s second-largest school system, where achievement trails state averages and large gaps separate the performance of white and Asian students from black and Latino students. A large gap also separates students from low-income families and those better off. Overall, about 44% of district students test as proficient in English and about 34% in math.
The superintendent highlighted his ongoing project to decentralize — which aims to organize groups of schools within geographic communities, such as Boyle Heights. He also said the district should focus more intensely on early education, increase professional development opportunities aimed at retaining teachers, and expand programs that develop fully bilingual students.
Beutner also intends to revamp the training of aspiring principals. At present, he said, their preparation concentrates too much on how to comply with district procedures. He wants fledgling principals to spend an entire semester shadowing a highly regarded principal. And he wants their training to include community organizing.
But nothing would showcase his efforts more than Project 2020, which envisions placing an extra teacher in every early-grade class to focus on reading and on installing a more engaging math program that is based on recommendations from district teachers.
Although Beutner hasn’t yet selected the schools or set a funding level, he sees the CONTINUE READING: Major resource infusion is in the works for 20 struggling L.A. schools - Los Angeles Times
at

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY

NewBlackMan (in Exile)

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY



Looking Back On A 'Decade Of Fire'

by Mark Anthony Neal / 16h
'In the 1970s, a string of devastating fires would help make the South Bronx a symbol of urban decay. In her documentary Decade of Fire , co-director Vivian Vázquez Irizarry , who grew up in the South Bronx, tries to dissect and counter that negative image through a personal lens. The documentary analyzes how the city, state, and federal governments abandoned the Bronx in the 1970s, and how despi
On The Frontlines Of Autism Research: North Carolina Professors Study Early Detection, Treatment

by Mark Anthony Neal / 16h
'Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill say they can detect autism spectrum disorder before it manifests in some young children, and they’re even developing treatments for some of the conditions that go hand-in-hand with autism. Professors Mark Zylka and Joe Piven work among more than two dozen scientists at UNC focused on autism spectrum disorder, and the National Institu
'Franchise' Tracks The Rise And Role Of Fast Food In Black America

by Mark Anthony Neal / 16h
'History professor Marcia Chatelain 's new book, Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, tracks what she calls the hidden history of the relationships between the struggle for civil rights and the expansion of the fast food industry.' -- All Things Considered
Finding Strength In Fragility: Meet Maya Freelon

by Mark Anthony Neal / 16h
'Durham artist Maya Freelon ’s large tissue paper installations have hung in the halls of the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building and the North Carolina Museum of Art. She has received commissions from Google and Cadillac and was recently named one of five young artists to watch during Miami Art Week 2019. Her techniques transform tissue paper from schoolhouse craft to fine art and create co
The Barriers to Finding Mental Healthcare While Black

by Mark Anthony Neal / 16h
'There are many barriers to mental health care in the United States, including insurance, cost, and availability of therapists or psychiatrists. For people of color, these barriers can be much higher. Only around 4% of therapists are Black, and Black Americans are less likely to seek out mental health care. Dr. Joy Harden Bradford is the host of the podcast Therapy for Black Girls , and she recen
Carrie Mae Weems: 'How Do You Measure a Life'

by Mark Anthony Neal / 17h
'Artist and MacArthur fellow Carrie Mae Weems recites a piece called, “How Do You Measure a Life.” An excerpt from the MLK celebration hosted by Jami Floyd, Alison Stewart and WQXR’s Terrance McKnight at the Apollo. This year’s theme was “The Strategic King: MLK's Visionary Leadership' -- All Of It
How a Lost Recording Became a Philadelphia Soul Classic

by Mark Anthony Neal / 17h
'Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios recorded more than 200 gold and platinum records before closing its doors in 2003, eventually donating 7,000 tapes to Drexel University, including recordings by Stevie Wonder , David Bowie , Gladys Knight and hundreds of other unknown artists. Christoper Booker reports on the search for hidden gems in one of the city's most comprehensive musical archives.' -- P


Imran Mohammad on Genocide, Detention, and Refugeehood

by Mark Anthony Neal / 17h
'Taking advantage of his visit in Chicago, Léopold Lambert talked with our past contributor Imran Mohammad . In November 2017, he wrote a text for us about the Rohingya genocide that he fled while he was living his fourth year of detention in an Australian camp detaining hundreds of exiled people on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. A few weeks later and while many detainees organized forms of revo
NewBlackMan (in Exile)
at