Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee , 'Parent Trigger' Supporters Are Behind Huge L.A. Lawsuit to Strip Teachers of Job Protection - Los Angeles News - The Informer

Michelle Rhee, 'Parent Trigger' Supporters Are Behind Huge L.A. Lawsuit to Strip Teachers of Job Protection - Los Angeles News - The Informer:

Michelle Rhee, 'Parent Trigger' Supporters Are Behind Huge L.A. Lawsuit to Strip Teachers of Job Protection

By Simone Wilson Tue., May 15 2012 at 11:45 AM

Categories: Education

Rhee, ballsy reformer, cracks down on California.

Update: Rhee herself and Parent Revolution didn't file the lawsuit -- they're just on the plaintiff's advisory board. Clarifications throughout.

California's teachers have long been protected by a series of state laws -- lobbied into existence by powerful teachers unions -- that make the ineffective ones almost impossible to fire.

Now, in the largest state lawsuit of kind, a new organization called Students Matter, advised by the key players behind the controversial "Parent Trigger" law, alleges in L.A. Superior Court that strict tenure and seniority rules are ruining the K-12 system:

"These laws force school administrators to grant new teachers 'permanent employment' after only 18 months on the job -- well before the teachers‟ effectiveness can be determined -- and force school administrators to keep teachers in the classroom long after they have demonstrated themselves to be grossly ineffective."

Spokespeople for both the California Teachers Association and United Teachers Lo

Astroturf lobbying refers to political organizations or campaigns that appear to be made up of grassroots activists but are actually organized and run by corporate interests seeking to further their own agendas. Such groups are often typified by innocent-sounding names that have been chosen specifically to disguise the group's true backers

Just Like Michelle Rhee's
 Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better) 

SESISAMESSSESIAMESS SES IS A MESS Supplemental Educational Services

Guidance for Supplemental Educational Services:

Guidance for Supplemental Educational Services

The U.S. Department of Education provides non-regulatory guidance for the implementation of the supplemental educational services provisions of No Child Left Behind. The Department also sends letters to individual jurisdictions with further clarification, if more information is sought, or if a state, district, or local education agency is not in compliance with the law.

GUIDANCE 

• Supplemental Educational Services Guidance
   MS Word (1.15MB) | PDF (304KB)
• Information and guidance for private schools becoming SES providers.

SES IS A MESS: Scientology Tutoring Service Approved By Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee

Supplemental Educational Services Guidance

NYC Public School Parents: Tory Frye on why parents are so angry about testing & how we can fight back!

NYC Public School Parents: Tory Frye on why parents are so angry about testing & how we can fight back!:

Tory Frye on why parents are so angry about testing & how we can fight back!

by Leonie Haimson

The following is by Tory Frye, a NYC public school parent and a member of the Community Education Council in District 6.  She explains why  parents are so angry about the systematic erosion of learning conditions at their children’s schools in recent years and what we can do about it:

Why have so many parents across New York City decided that this year’s state standardized tests have finally crossed the line from distracting, educationally valueless, and overly determinative experiences to damaging, twisted and intolerable ones?  How have they become this year’s radicalizing experience for thousands of new parent-activists determined to change the direction that education policy is taking in New York? 

Last year, the threatened teacher lay-offs and across the board budget cuts galvanized organized opposition and sparked the realization among tens of thousands of NYC public school parents that the Governor and the Mayor’s Office do not hold the interests of “students first.”  This year new parents are joining a growing and increasingly organized activist group that is opposed to high stakes standardized testing.  The parents and guardians of whom I write, from Williamsburg, Bed-Stuy and Park Slope in Brooklyn, East Tremont and Riverdale in the Bronx, Washington Heights/Inwood and the Lower East Side in Manhattan, 

Florida charter schools and the lack of oversight | Seattle Education

Florida charter schools and the lack of oversight | Seattle Education:

Florida charter schools and the lack of oversight

by seattleducation2011

This article first appeared in the Miami Herald last December but as I was going through my links preparing to write a post, I discovered that it was no longer available. Fortunately another source on the internet had copied it in full and I am doing the same here because it is a story to know about.
Florida Charter Schools: big money, little oversight
by Scott Hiaason and Kathleen McGrory

“School districts are limited in their authority over charter schools,” said Schuster, the Miami-Dade spokesman. “They have minimal ability to impose effective consequences.”

Preparing for her daughter’s graduation in the spring, Tuli Chediak received a blunt message from her daughter’s charter high school: Pay us $600 or your daughter won’t graduate.
She also received a harsh lesson about charter schools: Sometimes they play by their own rules.
During the past 15 years, Florida has embarked on a dramatic shift in public education, steering billions in taxpayer dollars from traditional school districts to independently run charter schools. What started as an 

IEA’s pension talking points. Who decided this? « Fred Klonsky

IEA’s pension talking points. Who decided this? « Fred Klonsky:

IEA’s pension talking points. Who decided this?

by Fred Klonsky

“My pal calls me up this afternoon as I’m driving home.
“A buddy from up north sent me this email,” he says. “It’s from a UD (an IEA staff person) up in IEA Region 60.”
That’s like Libertyville.
“It’s got these talking points and the first says, ‘Teachers and other public employees have offered to accept change what would save the state billions, including increasing our contributions to the pension systems. We’re willing to pay more to make sure the systems remain solvent, but there must be shared sacrifice.’”
“That’s bullshit,” I say. “I’ve been on the IEA website. That’s not the IEA talking points. The IEA talking points are 

NYC Public School Parents: Please join us June 12 for the fourth annual "Skinny" awards!

NYC Public School Parents: Please join us June 12 for the fourth annual "Skinny" awards!:

Please join us June 12 for the fourth annual "Skinny" awards!

by Leonie Haimson

More and more of what’s happening in NYC, from the expansion of charter schools and high-stakes testing, to the new teacher evaluation system and the Common Core standards, are coming down on us from the NY State Education Dept. and the Board of Regents.  

Please join us in honoring two women, both former NYC superintendents and now Regents members, working to see our children do not suffer from the negative impacts of these policies, that the quality of our public schools is strengthened rather than undermined, and that the parents’ voice is heard in Albany.

 Leonie Haimson, Diane Ravitch, Patrick Sullivan, Monica Major & Emily Horowitz

invite you to

the fourth annual “Skinny” Awards

When: Tuesday, June 12 at 6:00 PM

 Where: Bistro Lamazou

344 3rd Avenue (betw.25th & 26th St.)

New York, NY 10010 

A fundraiser for Class Size Matters

 Please join us for a special evening where we will honor two celebrated educators who give us the real “skinny” on NYC schools, and stand up for parents, smaller classes and our children’s right to receive a quality education 

 Dr. Kathleen M. Cashin

Brooklyn member of the NYS Board of Regents

 Dr. Betty A. Rosa

Bronx member of the NYS Board of Regents 

A rare opportunity to enjoy a three course dinner with wine, while celebrating two heroes, battling to defend our public schools.

Tickets:  $150 - Patron

                              $75 – Supporter

 To reserve your seat or to contribute, please click here or send a tax-deductible check to: Class Size Matters, 124 Waverly Pl., NY NY 10011

Readers Ask: At Segregated Brooklyn School, Is It Race or Class? – SchoolBook

Readers Ask: At Segregated Brooklyn School, Is It Race or Class? – SchoolBook:

Readers Ask: At Segregated Brooklyn School, Is It Race or Class?

Emily Berl for The New York TimesThird grade students in the library at Explore Charter School in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

This week marks the 58th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the court case that struck down state-sponsored school segregation in the United States. But after six decades, a look at New York City public schools shows a system still divided by race.

An article in the Metropolitan section of The New York Times on Sunday, “Why Don’t We Have Any White Kids?,” by N.R. Kleinfield, looks at the issue through one school, Explore Charter School in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

More than 98 percent of the students there are black or Hispanic, and in poignant interviews many students described what it was like to 

Deception and Spin From the Florida Board of Education | Scathing Purple Musings

Deception and Spin From the Florida Board of Education | Scathing Purple Musings:

Deception and Spin From the Florida Board of Education

by Bob Sikes

Jeb Bush’s cronies blinked.
Lost – for now anyway – in today’s hastily thrown together decision by the Florida Board of Education to reduce passing FCAT Writing scores,  was yesterday’s sloppy attempt to spin the numbers. Gradebook’s Jeff Solochek reports on this response from board member Akshay Desai:

“There was a huge impact when the number of scorers and their options changed. In 2011, there was only one scorer and the scoring choices were even numbers 1 through 6. Last year, our board became worried about the cutback to just one scorer.
 ”Happily, the legislature now supports two scorers, with greater differentiation using half-point