Spellings Slams Waivers, Race to the Top - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Spellings Slams Waivers, Race to the Top - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

Spellings Slams Waivers, Race to the Top

by Alyson Klein

Tampa, Fla.
More than a decade ago, Margaret Spellings was a driving force in getting the overwhelmingly bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act over the finish line. But in an interview, she told me she wants to see the civil rights and business coalition that came together to pass the law "power up as we did before. ... I think we have to revive it," she said.
"We need to get the genie back in the bottle," she added on the last day of the Republican National Convention, referring to a strong accountability system.

Spellings, who served as President George W. Bush's domestic policy adviser and then 

Modern School: Global Education Strike

Modern School: Global Education Strike:

Global Education Strike

by Michael Dunn

The International Student Movement is calling for global education strikes on October 18th and November 14-21 to protest education privatization schemes and the corporatization of public education. They want the teachers to join their movement and are asking teachers to check out their website and plan solidarity actions for these dates.

Some of their demands are tangible and achievable—like increasing education budgets, decreasing student debt and slowing or halting the giveaway of public education resources to private business—but not 

Breaking: Chicago strike date set: Monday, September 10th. « Fred Klonsky

Breaking: Chicago strike date set: Monday, September 10th. « Fred Klonsky:

Breaking: Chicago strike date set: Monday, September 10th.

by Fred Klonsky

On Wednesday, a standing-room-only House of Delegates, representing schools & citywide educators across the city set a potential start date of Monday, September 10, 2012, for a strike of more than 26,000 teachers, clinicians and paraprofessionals.
The resolution reads:
RESOLVED that the House of Delegates shall set a strike date of September 10, 2012.
The strike is necessary to achieve a labor contract with acceptable wages, benefits and job protections; and for all other purposes for which a strike is authorized under law. The strike is also necessary to protest unfair labor practices committed by CPS against our membership.

Cutting back on those charitable donations. « Fred Klonsky

Cutting back on those charitable donations. « Fred Klonsky:

Cutting back on those charitable donations.

by Fred Klonsky

This might make the Art Institute Lions roar.

I’ve been hearing this a lot lately.
It came up again the other night when I spoke to a group of 80 retirees at the Wilmette Public Library.
We’re not giving charitable donations to certain organizations anymore.
With the threatened cuts in our pensions and with our promised state pension our main retirement source of income. Well. Something’s got to give.
The gift some gave to the Art Institute. Or the Chicago Symphony. I used to give to the education program at the Goodman. No more.
And people are telling them why. And suggesting they contact whoever they are politically connected to and tell them what’s happening.
I received a sample letter today:

Summer, 2012
To Whom It May Concern:

Future teacher has a brilliant idea: Solidarity.

by Fred Klonsky

.
I got my undergraduate degree in Art Education.
I received a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership.
I’m ABD in Curriculum, Instruction and Evaluation. I just couldn’t get it together to write that damn dissertation.
Oh well.
Too late.
But in all those years of higher education I never had a class in 

The Truth About Healthy Food (and Kids and Schools) - Lily's Blackboard | Lily's Blackboard

The Truth About Healthy Food (and Kids and Schools) - Lily's Blackboard | Lily's Blackboard:

The Truth About Healthy Food (and Kids and Schools)

Aug 30th, 2012 

by Lily.

First, let me just say, that I’m not advocating lying to children. I’m not proposing that moms and dads make up silly lies and tell tall tales just to get kids to eat healthier. I am absolutely not saying that. Lying to your children is wrong. And you get caught.

I did.

Because my (then) four year old, Jeremy, had a sweet tooth, and I got tired of fighting with him about why it just wasn’t good for him to be eating so much sugar and that diabetes runs in my family, and his teeth would rot but, I mean, I was worried about his health, and what else was I supposed to do? So.

I told him it was against the law for kids to buy a cereal with a cartoon on the box unless it was their birthday.

Because “cartoon” cereals are packaged to appeal to kids and in the box of 99.9% of “cartoon” 

5 Ways to Help Your Child Prevent Bullying this School Year | ED.gov Blog

5 Ways to Help Your Child Prevent Bullying this School Year | ED.gov Blog:

5 Ways to Help Your Child Prevent Bullying this School Year

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Deborah Temkin

As children head back to the classroom, now is great time for parents and guardians to talk with your kids about bullying. Here are five tips to help you your child prevent bullying and to help them deal with bullying:

1)     Establish lines of communication and talk for at least 15 minutes a day. Bullying can be difficult for parents to talk about, but it is important that children know they can talk to you, before they are involved in bullying in any way. StopBullying.govand our partners at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) have easy tips and tools that can help start the conversation.

2)     Make sure kids know safe ways to be more than a bystander. When kids witness bullying, it can affect them too. Helping kids learn what they can do to help when they see bullying can help to stop bullying. Click here for more suggestions on how bystanders can help.

3)     Know your state’s anti-bullying law and your school’s anti-bullying policy. Forty-nine states have laws requiring schools to have anti-bullying policies. Know what your school policy says and how to report an incident of bullying if you ever need to.

4)     Learn how to support kids involved in bullying. When you find out your child is involved in bullying, it is important to know how to respond. Whether your child is bullying others or is the one being bullied it is important to know what steps to take, and which to avoid, in order to resolve the situation.

5)     Take an active role in anti-bullying initiatives. The key to addressing bullying is to stop it before it starts. Work with your children, their school, and the community to raise awareness and take action against bullying. Toolkits like the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Community Action Training Modules can help you start an initiative in your community. You can get your children involved, too, by using theYouth Leaders Toolkit to help them mentor younger children.

Visit StopBullying.gov for more helpful tips on how to prevent bullying, and have a great school year!

Deborah Temkin is a Research and Policy Coordinator for Bullying Prevention Initiatives at the Department of Education

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How Testing and School Choice are Undermining Education:

How Testing and School Choice are Undermining Education

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By Bill Shireman, Wed, August 29, 2012

San Francisco, where I live, has a rich array of public school choices – more than 100 different schools or programs that can satisfy almost any need. 

Late last year, my wife Aileen and I joined with thousands of parents to select from those options, and submitted a set of 32 priority choices for our twin five-year-olds. We just received our letter from the district, revealing the result.

San Francisco has a system of school choice, and I think I am grateful for it. But it does have its limitations. In this system, the schools choose the parents, not the other way around. When one of the top-performing or most popular schools fills up, parents are shifted to their second, third, or twentieth choice, to make sure all the schools are, ultimately, full.

Since selecting our 32 priorities was almost a full-time job last January for Aileen, I suspect that the 

Why Progressives Distrust KIPP and TFA « Diane Ravitch's blog

Why Progressives Distrust KIPP and TFA « Diane Ravitch's blog:

Why Progressives Distrust KIPP and TFA

by dianerav

Michael Paul Goldenberg explains why progressives are suspicious of KIPP and TFA:
There are a couple of key issues that seem to arise (or sit just below the surface) in nearly every conversation about educational policy these days. No one who is critical of the school deform movement (in which I squarely place KIPP and TFA) thinks that because poverty is such a devastating factor that no one should try to create better schools with great teachers, and in other ways to improve education for the nearly 25% of American children living below the poverty line. It’s grossly unfair to suggest that in criticizing deformers, their motives, and their policies, Diane Ravitch and many others are saying, “Until poverty is addressed, do nothing about education.”
KIPP, TFA, and other programs may well have started out as well-intentioned attempts to make things better for underserved students, schools, and neighborhoods despite poverty. But they have morphed over time into fiscal 

Daily Kos: StudentsFirst faces protest for naming anti-immigrant bigot 'education reformer of the year'

Daily Kos: StudentsFirst faces protest for naming anti-immigrant bigot 'education reformer of the year':

StudentsFirst faces protest for naming anti-immigrant bigot 'education reformer of the year'

byLaura ClawsonFollowforDaily Kos Labor

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DREAMers protest StudentsFirst's anti-immigrant endorsement.

While Michelle Rhee has been in Tampa, accompanied by former Florida governor and presidential son and little brother Jeb Bush, to flog the "parent trigger"-themed movie Won't Back Down at the Republican National Convention, the New York outpost of her StudentsFirst organization has been facing protests from immigrant groups over the national StudentsFirstendorsement of Georgia state Sen. Chip Rogers as its "education reformer of the year."

StudentsFirst has circulated petitions supporting the DREAM Act, with people who signed the petitions being counted as StudentsFirst members. But the choice of Chip Rogers, among all the legislators around the country pushing corporate education policies, as the top "reformer" of the year shows just how false that interest is. In 2004, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that:

Business and Schools: Cartoons* | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Business and Schools: Cartoons* | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Business and Schools: Cartoons*

by larrycuban

Most of the cartoons I have found about business involvement in K-12 schools scold corporations for seeking profits in schools and students.



Some cartoonists see business-inspired reformers reshaping school practices and how teachers are paid. Such 

The American paradox: Schools stink, but only from a distance - latimes.com

The American paradox: Schools stink, but only from a distance - latimes.com:

The American paradox: Schools stink, but only from a distance

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Burbank teacher Rebecca Mieliwocki was the 2011 California Teacher of the Year. The latest Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll on education finds that Americans generally hold teachers in high esteem.(Los Angeles Times / August 29, 2012) By Karin Klein August 30, 2012, 8:00 a.m. According to the most recent Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll on education, Americans are split over a lot of things about schools -- whether teachers should be evaluated in part on standardized test scores and the degree to which that should happen, whether private-school vouchers are a good idea, whether the children of illegal immigrants should be entitled to a free public education. One thing that Americans have been fairly consistent about in polls for many years, though, is that overall, they don't think very highly of public schools. Except the ones their children attend. The same sentiments held true this year -- but more so. Asked to grade the nation's schools, only 19% were willing to confer an A or B. They were more positive, but evenly split, about the schools in their communities -- 48% would give

High Performing Charter Schools: Beating The Odds, Or Beating The Test? | OurFuture.org

High Performing Charter Schools: Beating The Odds, Or Beating The Test? | OurFuture.org:

High Performing Charter Schools: Beating The Odds, Or Beating The Test?

by Jeff Bryant

[My guest blogger today is Rob Levine. Rob is a Minneapolis-based researcher whose writing focuses on the media, conservative philanthropy and education. His writing can be found at the Cucking Stool blog.]
“Odds-beating charter school.” Those words are like an impenetrable shield for those who operate such places. They are also the holy grail of the education reform movement, which is constantly seeking shortcuts to radically increase measures of educational achievement, which these days is pretty much defined by increased math and language test scores.
One problem with radical test score gains, as many researchers have noted, is that miraculous improvements in test scores over short periods of time are more often the result of cheating, student skimming, or other test manipulation. We’ve seen this pattern repeated all over the nation, starting with the so-called Texas Miracle under former US education secretary Rod Paige's oversight.
Something very similar happened in New York state, where unrevealed relaxations in state testing standards led 

World Teachers Day To Defend Public Education & Fight Privatization | Dailycensored.com

World Teachers Day To Defend Public Education & Fight Privatization | Dailycensored.com:

World Teachers Day To Defend Public Education & Fight Privatization

by Danny Weil

10/5 Action On World Teachers Day To Defend Public Education & Fight Privatization

Picket And Rally Friday October 5, 2012 4:30 PM At WestEd located at 730 Harrison St. San Francisco

October 5, 2012 is recognized as the theInternational Day For Teachers and public teachers, all education

workers and students are under a frontal attack through privatization in San Francisco, California and nationally. The existence of public education is under threat and education workers, students, unions and all working people need to defend our basic right to equal access to a high quality education for all.

Leading this assault are many so called non-profits such as WestEd which are funded by public agencies and school districts but are controlled by reactionary privateers such as  the Lumina Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Packard foundation, The Kellogg foundation, The Teagle Foundation the Broad 

Daily Kos: "No Excuses" and the Culture of Shame: Why Metrics Don't Matter

Daily Kos: "No Excuses" and the Culture of Shame: Why Metrics Don't Matter:

"No Excuses" and the Culture of Shame: Why Metrics Don't Matter

by rss@dailykos.com (plthomasEdD)

"Wouldn’t it be refreshing to hear someone say that 'eliminating poverty in America is the civil rights issue of our day'? Since poverty is the single most reliable predictor of poor performance in school, poor health, poor attendance, dropping out, and almost every negative indicator, wouldn’t it be wonderful to hear some of the politicians addressing the root cause of inequality?" Diane Ravitch

The education reform debate is fueled by a seemingly endless and even fruitless point-counterpoint among the corporate reformers—typically advocates for and from the Gates Foundation (GF), Teach for America (TFA), and charter chains such as Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP)—and educators/scholars of education. Since the political and public machines have embraced the corporate reformers, GF, TFA, and KIPP have acquired the bully pulpit of the debate and thus are afforded most often the ability to frame the point, leaving educators and scholars to be in a constant state of generating counter-points.This pattern disproportionately benefits corporate reformers, but it also exposes how those corporate reformers