When Comic Journalism Meets Education Reform « Diane Ravitch's blog

When Comic Journalism Meets Education Reform « Diane Ravitch's blog:

When Comic Journalism Meets Education Reform

by dianerav

What do you do when you want to reach the public but you have no money and no access to the mainstream media?
Here’s what:
Some very brilliant educators decided to try a novel way to explain the issues to the public. They used comic journalism, a simple, direct means of communicating complex ideas.
What do you think? Is it an effective medium?

Pre-K Standards in Common Core

by dianerav

A reader does some Internet searching for pre-K standards and comments:
A simple Google search for “Pre-kindergarten and Common Core State Standards” brings up 4,100,000 matches. Here are just a few interesting links: New York State’s “P-12 Common Core Standards” document: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/common_core_standards/pdfdocs/nysp12cclsmath.pdf From “eye on early education” regarding Massachusetts Pre-K Common Core initiative: http://eyeonearlyeducation.org/2010/12/22/frameworks-include-pre-k-and-common-core-standards/ Maryland’s “Common Core State Curriculum Framework” beginning with PreK Math Standards: http://mdk12.org/share/frameworks/CCSC_Math_grpk.pdf Connecticut’s PreK Common Core 

TO STUDENT LOAN OR NOT TO STUDENT LOAN, THAT IS THE QUESTION (A préstamo de estudiante o de no prestar ESTUDIANTE, ESA ES LA CUESTIÓN) - Perdaily.com

TO STUDENT LOAN OR NOT TO STUDENT LOAN, THAT IS THE QUESTION (A préstamo de estudiante o de no prestar ESTUDIANTE, ESA ES LA CUESTIÓN) - Perdaily.com:

TO STUDENT LOAN OR NOT TO STUDENT LOAN, THAT IS THE QUESTION (A préstamo de estudiante o de no prestar ESTUDIANTE, ESA ES LA CUESTIÓN)

by Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)
Somebody just sent me a post about student loans and the necessity of getting a cosigner. It got me thinking about the whole issue of student loans in the context of 2012, the lingering bad economy, weak job market, and whether I think it is an unequivocal good idea to even get student loans under these circumstances. Some factors that you might consider:

I got a student loan at UCLA and again when I subsequently attended law school In San Francisco, I 

UPDATE: Just back from Springfield, Illinois. Friday, August 17th, 2012. « Fred Klonsky

Just back from Springfield. « Fred Klonsky:

Springfield, Illinois. Friday, August 17th, 2012.

by Fred Klonsky

Just back from Springfield.

by Fred Klonsky

At about noon the rumor was that a deal might have been worked out to take the language of HB1447 and apply it to all the state pension systems in exchange for dropping the pension cost shift.
The HB1447 language was to create a forced choice of health care for a cost of living adjustment. Originally HB1447 only applied to a certain group of state employees.
Arriving home from our trip to the state capital, it now appears that the deal could not be made.
State pensions may be safe at least until the post-election session.
State employees gathered all morning in front of the House chamber with hand written notes. Signs are not permitted on the third floor of the Springfield Capitol building where the House and Senate chambers are located.

Schools Matter: Public Education Being Set on Fire

Schools Matter: Public Education Being Set on Fire:

Public Education Being Set on Fire

by Judy Rabin

Colleges of education can no longer hide the truth about what's in store for future public school teachers.

Barbara Madeloni at UMASS Amherst led the fight against Pearson but the corporate control over schools of education continues. Who will want to teach in the new Walmart version of education?

A Student and Future Teacher’s Voice about “Teachers Rock”

POSTED BY STEPHRRIVERA ⋅ AUGUST 17, 2012 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT

FILED UNDER  BLOG, EDUCATION, EDUCATORS, MEDIA, NEWS, OPINION, PERSONAL, TEACHER, TEACHERS ROCK

I don’t know if I’ll be able to go into a full length post about “Teachers Rock” at the moment, for my mind is still 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: SOS PRESS RELEASE

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: SOS PRESS RELEASE:

SOS PRESS RELEASE

by Mike Klonsky

SOS National Press Release; Ongoing Organizing Roles, Platforms, Action

Save Our Schools: A National Call to Action
www.saveourschoolsmarch.org
For Further Information:
Bob George (708) 692-5818

For Immediate Release August 16, 2012

SAVE OUR SCHOOLS PLANS ONGOING ORGANIZING ROLE;
RELEASES FIRST SET OF EDUCATION PLATFORM PLANKS;
ANNOUNCES INITIAL CAMPAIGN OPPOSING “PARENT TRIGGER” SCHEME 

Energized by the scores of grassroots leaders from across the nation who attended its national convention in Washington, DC earlier this month, Save Our Schools (SOS) will become an ongoing force working to protect public education. The group has released its first set of platform planks, which will be sent to political candidates, and launched a campaign to oppose “Parent Trigger” proposals that allow schools to be turned over to for-profit businesses.

To continue its efforts, the Save Our Schools Steering Committee will apply for tax-exempt status, raise funds, and elect officers to guide its growth. The group’s focus will be on developing strategies to ensure grassroots voices are heard on issues such as testing, privatization, and school funding. “We are building a united front to end policies that harm children, teachers and communities,” explained Dr. Elizabeth Hallmark from Rochester, New York, an SOS Steering Committee member. “We are fed up with the failed, ideologically driven strategies that have dominated public education for the past decade.”

SOS has posted several final platform planks, drafted and debated at the recent convention, on its website http://saveourschoolsmarch.com/about-2/peoples-education-principles/. Adopted planks cover civil rights, labor, early childhood education, parent involvement and student voice. Platform proposals still under consideration will be circulated online for feedback and released when they are complete.

As its initial project, SOS is focusing on the Walmart-sponsored “Teachers Rock” fundraiser, to be broadcast on CBS-TV this Friday, August 17. The show will raise money for the controversial organization Teach for America (TFA). “While we support honoring teachers, we oppose giving a portion of the money to a group which undermines educator professionalism,” said Lee Barrios, a National Board Certified Teacher from Louisiana who also serves on the SOS Steering Committee.

“TFA puts poorly-trained, recent college grads into classrooms with the expectation that they will leave in two or three years. That’s not what U.S. schools serving the most needy students deserve.” Next, SOS will conduct informational picketing around the late September release of “Won’t Back Down,” a movie which promotes “Parent Trigger” legislation. Funded by charter school investors, the proposals have not improved student academic performance.

“Our children need positive solutions that help public school improve, not gimmicks that ignore the root problems of education,” concluded Lesley University Professor Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an expert on early childhood education, who was a keynote speaker at the recent SOS convention.

More information about SOS and its plans will be regularly posted online at saveourschoolsmarch.org

The in box. Teacher MiC concludes his letters to Governor Quinn. « Fred Klonsky

The in box. Teacher MiC concludes his letters to Governor Quinn. « Fred Klonsky:

The in box. Teacher MiC concludes his letters to Governor Quinn.

by Fred Klonsky

In this third letter to Governor Quinn Teacher MiC explains why it isn’t pensions that need reforming. It is Springfield that needs to be reformed.

Dear Governor Quinn,
I saw on the news that you visited the state fair the other day and were booed off the stage. Even after this interaction you said “I think the people of Illinois are with me.” If the people of Illinois are with you Governor, who were those people in the audience booing? Let me give you a hint: that’s your base. You didn’t win the election by a landslide. You won by a few thousand votes. You are in office due to those audience members stuffing envelopes, canvasing their neighborhoods, and 

When the Common Core=Teaching Reading Strategies 2.0 « The Core Knowledge Blog

When the Common Core=Teaching Reading Strategies 2.0 « The Core Knowledge Blog:

When the Common Core=Teaching Reading Strategies 2.0

by Rachel Levy
August 17th, 2012

Tags: Common Core State Standards, Literacy, reading strategies, Teaching
Posted in Education Practice | No Comments »

According to its advocates, the Common Core Standards will usher in an era of equal opportunity to higher quality education via better, richer, and more career and college relevant standards. But if the account presented in this post on Education Sector’s The Quick & The Ed is any indication, I fear the Common Core ELA standards will keep us in the same era we’ve been in.

I first came across Susan Headden’s post, “Getting Complicated With Texts: Understanding the New ELA Standards,” describing a hands-on workshop she attended on the Common Core ELA standards, via a John Thompson post “Does Common Core Have It Backwards?” in This Week in Education. The idea that most struck Thompson (who is no Common Core hater) as concerning was:

“The group was left with the overarching message that mastering text complexity is the secret to reading success.” . . . .Teachers were told that 

Dick Meister: The billionaire's bill of rights | SF Bay Guardian

Dick Meister: The billionaire's bill of rights | SF Bay Guardian:

Dick Meister: The billionaire's bill of rights

08.16.12 - 8:53 pm | 

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By Dick Meister 

Dick Meister, former labor editor of the SF Chronicle and KQED-TV Newsroom, has covered labor and politics for more than a half-century. Contact him through his website, www.dickmeister, which includes more than 350 of his columns.

Billionaire corporate interests and other well financed anti-labor forces are waging a major drive to stifle the political voice of workers and their unions in California that is certain to spread nationwide if not stopped – and stopped now.

At issue is a highly deceptive measure, Proposition 32, on the November election ballot, that its anti-labor sponsors label as an even-handed attempt to limit campaign spending. But actually, it would limit – and severely – only the spending of unions while leaving corporations and other moneyed special interests free to spend as much as they like.

Unions would be prohibited from making political contributions with money collected from voluntary paycheck deductions authorized by their members, which is the main 

Fake special ed vendors stole $1.5 million from city, probe finds | GothamSchools

Fake special ed vendors stole $1.5 million from city, probe finds | GothamSchools:

Fake special ed vendors stole $1.5 million from city, probe finds

by Geoff Decker, at 6:08 pm

Two men used shell companies and forged signatures to charge the Department of Education for sign language services that students didn’t need, an investigation found. The fraud ran for more than two school years and cost the city at least $1.5 million.

The brazen scheme involved claiming payment for services to students who were not enrolled in city schools and, in some cases, offered as proof that services had been provided the forged signatures of people who were retired or even deceased. In one instance, the city paid more than $100,000 over an eight-month period for a student who had left the school system a decade earlier. In another, the city handed out $187,200 in payments that were authorized by someone who had died “several years ago.”

Today, authorities arrested one of the men involved, Nelson Ruiz, while his collaborator, William Cruz, 

Schools Matter: Common Core Comments Tell Different Story

Schools Matter: Common Core Comments Tell Different Story:

Common Core Comments Tell Different Story

by Judy Rabin

Reading through the comments on the National Governor's Association (NGA) Report on Public Feedback on Common Core Standards (2010) you would never know the public would like to see a well-rounded curriculum, less testing and assessment in math and reading, and age level appropriate curriculum that doesn't include standardized testing.

Despite repeated concerns about these and other issues in the report, however, these concerns are being ignored by policy makers and legislators.

In fact, the concluding paragraph of the Governor Association's document  states, "The feedback is, overall, very good news for the standards developers." Hmmm..and who might that be? It certainly isn't good news for the 

RheeFirst! » Three interesting findings in the RomneyFirst report

RheeFirst! » Three interesting findings in the RomneyFirst report:

Three interesting findings in the RomneyFirst report

by admin

The RomneyFirst report released yesterday by New Yorker for Great Public Schools, contains a few findings that are worth highlighting on their own.

• According to the report, StudentsFirst has overwhelmingly endorsed Republicans—according to the report, 68% of StudentsFirst endorsements went to Republicans (page 3).

• A PAC connected to StudentsFirst is run by a former Bush-Cheney 2004 communications staffer (page 3).

• StudentsFirst lobbied against a New York law that would have restricted “co-location” of charter schools (page 16).  At least two StudentsFirstNY board members, Geoffery Canada and Eva Moskowitz, are also charter school operators, who would benefit from lax co-location policies.

You can read the entire report here.

Schools Matter: Parents, Teachers and Citizens Organize to Save Public Education

Schools Matter: Parents, Teachers and Citizens Organize to Save Public Education:

Parents, Teachers and Citizens Organize to Save Public Education

by Judy Rabin

With three months before the election, parents, teachers and citizens join in fight to save public schools and end the reign of high stakes testing as a weapon of mass destruction.  Instead of just one tool, or measurement of ability in a particular area, the tests have produced a steady stream of cash for those who sell them and track the data and a way to close down failing public schools and replace them with for profit private charters or religious schools.

Isn't it time to invest in all children and their teachers, mentors, guidance counselors, librarians, nurses, mental health professionals, and school buildings instead of the tests? The answer seems to be a resounding yes, but is anyone listening?

Parents Across America is doing great work in tracking legislators and candidates on education policy. The information is there to be used and shared to make phone calls, visits and write letters to you local, 

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's Shopping Spree Continues In Florida - Orlando Sentinel

School choice Florida: 'School choice' measure hinges on outcome of Senate races - Orlando Sentinel:

'School choice' measure hinges on outcome of Senate races

1:36 p.m. EST, August 17, 2012|Aaron Deslatte, Capitol View

TALLAHASSEE –Legislative elections this fall may have outsized importance for the future direction of public schools, charters and school vouchers -- and the unions, for-profit companies and education advocates attempting to gain sway.

In last week's primaries, one aim of the "school choice" organizations working under the banner of Florida Federation for Children was to elect Democrats that were more supportive of expanding private school-vouchers. The group's top goal is passing the "parent trigger" bill to let parents in failing schools decide on corrective steps, including turning schools over to for-profit charter companies.

The bill passed the House last spring, but deadlocked 20-20 in the Senate. Its supporters turned out in force in the primaries, from former Washington, D.C., schools chief Michelle Rhee to former Gov. Jeb 

Jersey Jazzman: StudentsFirst & B4K: What's The Connection?

Jersey Jazzman: StudentsFirst & B4K: What's The Connection?:

StudentsFirst & B4K: What's The Connection?

by Duke

Yesterday, I wrote about how New Yorkers for Great Public Schools is trying to tar StudentsFirst with its connections to Mitt Romney (or is it the other way around?). SF is Michelle Rhee's anti-union, anti-tenure, reformy group which gets lots of support from Rupert Murdoch, Eli Broad, and other wealthy conservative funders.

Today, I read the Rhee/Romney report, put out by a group under the name "Alliance for Quality Education." As a Jersey boy, I was especially intrigued by this (p.11):

StudentsFirst’s involvement with the 501(c)3 Better Education for New Jersey Kids (B4BJKids) is not entirely clear. While the nonprofit is not disclosed as a related entity, StudentsFirst shares two directors with the B4NJKids leadership—Michelle Rhee and StudentsFirst COO Dmitri Mehlhorn. Additionally, Executive Director Derrell Bradford, who has never been publicly identified as a StudentsFirst employee, 

Telegenic Cable News Idiots

by Duke

I know; I shouldn't write about this until I see it. But if what Diane Ravitch is saying here is true...

This was one of the most biased interviews I have ever done, and I have done many. 
Randi Kaye asked me about NAEP scale scores, which was technically a very dumb question, and I was stunned. 
She thinks that a scale score of 250 on a 500 point scale is a failing grade, but a scale score is not a grade at all. 
It’s a trend line.
She asserted that the scale scores are a failing grade for the nation.
That is like saying that someone who scores a 600 on the SAT is a C student, because it is only 

Your Summer PD: School Improvement — Whole Child Education

Your Summer PD: School Improvement — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

Your Summer PD: School Improvement

August 17, 2012 by Klea Scharberg

ASCD conducted its second Whole Child Virtual Conference in May. This free conference showcases schools, authors, and research about implementing a whole child approach for a worldwide audience. View and share archived session recordings, presenter handouts, and related resources atwww.ascd.org/wcvirtualconference.

Gain insight into ways to implement comprehensive, sustainable school improvement through these presentations:

• School Improvement for the Whole Child
• How to Make Classrooms Responsive to the Whole Child
• School Improvement: What's Health Got to Do with It?
• Engaging the Whole Child: The Missing Piece in the PD Puzzle

Find additional presentations highlighting aligning health and education, successful schools, and creating a caring and positive school climate.

Your Summer PD: Aligning Health and Education

by Klea Scharberg

ASCD conducted its second Whole Child Virtual Conference in May. This free conference showcases schools, authors, and research about implementing a whole child approach for a worldwide audience. View and share archived session recordings, presenter handouts, and related resources atwww.ascd.org/wcvirtualconference.
Gain further insight into ways to better align health and education in school settings through these presentations:

• Australasian expert panel discussion on health and education
• Mike Anderson's The Well-Balanced Teacher
• The ABCs of Educating the Whole Child
• Michael Opitz's FitLit: Connecting Fitness and Literacy
• School Improvement: What's Health Got to Do with It?
• School Health and Youth Disparities: SOPHE–ASCD Expert Panel

Find additional presentations highlighting successful schools and creating a caring and positive school climate.

Your Summer PD: Creating a Caring and Positive School Climate

by Klea Scharberg

ASCD conducted its second Whole Child Virtual Conference in May. This free conference showcases schools, authors, and research about implementing a whole child approach for a worldwide audience. View and share archived session recordings, presenter handouts, and related resources atwww.ascd.org/wcvirtualconference.
Gain further insight into ways to support a caring and positive school climate through these presentations:

• European expert panel discussion on health and education
• Peter DeWitt on Dignity for All: Safeguarding LGBT Students
• Charles C. Haynes on Bridging Religious and Cultural Divides: Empowering Students from Across the Globe to Learn With, From, and About One Another
• Maurice Elias on School Climate Supporting the Whole Child
• Bob Sullo on Engaging the Whole Child: The Missing Piece in the PD Puzzle

As a part of the 2011 virtual conference, Healthy School Communities mentor site Orange County (N.C.) School District shared how it developed and implemented a critical incident stress management system. View the archived presentation to hear about the process and benefits.
Find additional presentations highlighting successful schools.

Missouri Education Watchdog: Resistance to Common Core State Standards Gaining Steam

Missouri Education Watchdog: Resistance to Common Core State Standards Gaining Steam:

Resistance to Common Core State Standards Gaining Steam

by Anngie

Utah leads the effort to push back against Common Core Standards and all of their associated regulations and requirements. Their state school board has already voted to withdraw from SBAC, the consortium developing the assessments. The fight continues however, as this vote was only step one in divesting themselves of CCSS.

Predictably the USDoE is not going to make backing out of the consortia easy. They are the third and final hurdle a state must get over to actually back out. Now that the state has taken step one, the USDoE is coming in to push back.  Listen to this discussion at the Education Committee hearing in Utah. Jim Stergios from the Pioneer Institute, and Ted Rebarber CEO of AccountabilityWorks, testified on issues with Common Core.

Jaykell Sullivan developed a great infographic, which is included in the information packet shared at the Education Committee hearing, which demonstrates how Common Core is not a departure from NLCB (which it supposedly was in the beginning), but is in fact NCLB on steroids.

 

Utah is leading the way, but Missouri doesn't have to be left behind. We already have the support of the 

Mother Crusader: The Reformy Double Bind

Mother Crusader: The Reformy Double Bind:

The Reformy Double Bind

by darciecima

Jersey Jazzman has a great piece today about the fact that the NJDOE has yet to release the names of the schools participating in the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program for the 2012-2013 school year.

In his post he points out a potential pitfall with the program:

"I am concerned, however, that IPSC creates the same trap that charter schools do: the kids who will use it are going to be the kids with fewer special needs, fewer language issues, and aren't as poor as the kids staying in their home districts. So the money follows the children who are the least expensive to educate, leaving the home district to educate the rest of the kids with fewer resources."

Highland Park almost applied to be an IPSC school as a concession to the founders of Tikun Olam Hebrew