Sunday, July 28, 2013

Choosing Democracy: Closing Schools, Faulting Teachers in Sacramento

Choosing Democracy: Closing Schools, Faulting Teachers in Sacramento:

Closing Schools, Faulting Teachers in Sacramento


July 25, 2013

By Seth Sandronsky
and Duane Campbell




Seth Sandronsky's ZSpace Page
Officially, a budget shortfall for the Sacramento City Unified School District caused closure of seven elementary schools. Marcos Bretón, a columnist for The Sacramento Bee, weighed in with this: “I honestly don't believe that the district was driven by racial bias in closing schools months ago” http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/14/5565087/marcos-breton-poor-sacramento.html
Excellent in the column is recognition that the SCUSD schools in low-income neighborhoods are disastrously underfunded. Further, as Bretón notes, in low-income neighborhoods the police system does not work, the health system does not work, the garbage goes unpicked up, and water and sewage are problems, along with gangs. Why then, do we expect underfunded schools to work in such neighborhoods?
When it comes to education policy and race, Bretón finds fault in the plaintiffs’ bid to establish legal proof of racial bias in school closures. A federal district judge, Kimberly J. Mueller, agreed on July 22 that the case of the plaintiffs lacked merit.
When it comes to money and policy to close schools and save the district $1 million, we should put this amount in a broader context that Bretón does not. For instance, there is recent and relevant Sacramento history.
Between January 19, 2012, and June 5, 2012, the Walton Family Foundation, the philanthropic arm of retail giant Wal-Mart, donated a total of $500,000 to Stand Sacramento for Sacramento Schools, the 501(c) (3) nonprofit school reform group that Mayor Kevin Johnson founded in 2009 with $500,000 from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. In the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Mayor Kevin Johnson is the Second Vice-President and Education Reform Task Force Chair.
Contacted by one of us for comment, a spokesperson for his Stand Sacramento for Sacramento Schools declined to reply as to how the group is spending the $500,000. We know one thing. Walton Family Foundation money is not bridging a 

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Conservative Christian group blames falling SAT scores on lack of school prayer | The Raw Story

Conservative Christian group blames falling SAT scores on lack of school prayer | The Raw Story:

Conservative Christian group blames falling SAT scores on lack of school prayer


The American Family Association of Kentucky believes school prayer has something to do with SAT scores and the AIDS epidemic.
Right Wing Watch reported that the conservative Christian group recently launched apetition calling for prayer in public schools.
The petition noted that Mississippi and Florida had enacted laws that allowed public prayers to be given at school assemblies, graduation ceremonies and sporting events.
“Prayer was in our schools for over 200 years before the anti-God forces took it out in 1962,” the petition stated. “After prayer was removed from our schools, teen pregnancy went up 500%, STD’s went up 226%, violent crime went up 500% and SAT scores went down for 18 years in a 
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Diane in the Evening 7-28-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:













Connecticut Policy Institute Responds to Critical Comment
In one of the comments on the blog, a reader posted critical comments about the Connecticut Policy Institute. The executive director of the institute, Ben Zimmer, asked me for the opportunity to respond. I agreed. I checked the webpage of the CPI, and note that it is in favor of charter schools in poor districts, using test scores (“effectiveness”) to evaluate teachers, using an A-F grading system
by dianerav / 12min 


LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 7-28-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Children or Lab Mice?A teacher in Broward County writes: “I am tired of hearing about data. We teach CHILDREN, every time I hear about the data, I feel like they think we are training lab mice,”by dianerav / 19minHow “Reformers” Are Lowering Standards for EducatorsA reader sent the following commentary on reformers’ efforts to lowe
by mike simpson / 1h 
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Journalists and their funders: Whose job is it to measure impact, and how should it be done? » Nieman Journalism Lab

Journalists and their funders: Whose job is it to measure impact, and how should it be done? » Nieman Journalism Lab:

Journalists and their funders: Whose job is it to measure impact, and how should it be done?

Nonprofit journalism legend Chuck Lewis on setting benchmarks for the impact of nonprofit news: “The idea of fixing a single standard that everyone’s going to adhere to — talk about herding cats. That’s not even fair to cats.”

Corporate Media = Corporate Lies

By 
Email
Chuck Lewis didn’t mean to become the Yoda of nonprofit journalism — it just sort of happened that way. He was a reporter for decades before founding his first nonprofit, the Center for Public Integrity, in 1996, and later the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University. Now he’s trying to answer a couple fundamental questions that will influence the future of nonprofit news: How can you judge whether a nonprofit outlet is having a positive impact? And who should do the judging?
The past decade has seen an explosion in nonprofit news organizations. The Investigative News Network, which Lewis helped found in 2009, has more than 80 members nationwide. Pew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism counts 172 nonprofit outlets in the U.S. Revenues in the for-profit world have continued to decrease, newsrooms have continued to shrink, and the coverage gap has 
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The Apollo Group and its for-profit University of Phoenix is bilking teacher pension funds, taxpayers and students for hundreds of millions of dollars | DailyCensored.com - Breaking Censored News, World, Independent, Liberal News

The Apollo Group and its for-profit University of Phoenix is bilking teacher pension funds, taxpayers and students for hundreds of millions of dollars | DailyCensored.com - Breaking Censored News, World, Independent, Liberal News:

The Apollo Group and its for-profit University of Phoenix is bilking teacher pension funds, taxpayers and students for hundreds of millions of dollars

By  on July 28, 2013 6:46 pm / no comments

uopbullshit 
For-profit predatoryUniversity of Phoenix shows itself to be a serial criminal enterprise
What can one say about a so-called university and its owners where thirty-two state Attorneys General have worked together to investigate a ‘tax-subsidized university’ and many of them have continuously pursued allegations against it?  We are talking about the Apollo Group, owner of the University of Phoenix (UOP) one of the largest criminal enterprises in the world and a notorious serial violator of the law.

The University of Phoenix is a serial criminal financial organization and in this article it will be important for the reader to see the multiple and egregious acts of the UOP and its mother company, the Apollo Group.  The Apollo Group and its subsidiary, UOP is little more than a financial investment bank posing as an educational organization and the bad news is that it receives the bulk of its revenue and investment funds 
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Seattle Schools Community Forum: From the Washington State PTA

Seattle Schools Community Forum: From the Washington State PTA:

From the Washington State PTA



WAPTA will no longer have a lobbyist at the Legislature.   Expect to be asked to send someone from your school/region to the Legislature to testify; it will become more important than ever.

Dear WSPTA Members: 
As you may have heard, WSPTA took action this week to align our staffing and expenditures with our mission. In particular, WSPTA eliminated three positions on our staff, and made other spending plan changes to align our actions with our mission. We acknowledge these changes will be difficult for the three employees who have left us and for those of you who had meaningful relationships with them. We wish those affected the very best in the future. I want to explain why we took the staffing and cost realignment actions and what we can expect in the future as a result of these changes.

As the WSPTA Executive Director, I understand that “everything we do is for kids.” Every dollar we receive from a member must be spent on our mission. Members must be supported with the tools they need. I was hired by the Board to ensure the organization’s current and future sustainability. When they hired 

Worthy Reading from Warren Buffet's Son
And you'd think he would know as he explains in this op-ed.  He doesn't just take on philanthropic giving and investing - he takes on capitalism.  (Bold mine)Early on in our philanthropic journey, my wife and I became aware of something I started to call Philanthropic Colonialism. I noticed that a donor had the urge to “save the day” in some fashion. People (including me) who had very little knowl
by Melissa Westbrook / 20min 
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Missouri Education Watchdog: Alabama Home Schooled and Private Schooled Students Don't Want to Live in This Village of Government Regulations

Missouri Education Watchdog: Alabama Home Schooled and Private Schooled Students Don't Want to Live in This Village of Government Regulations:

Alabama Home Schooled and Private Schooled Students Don't Want to Live in This Village of Government Regulations

The State Board tried to seal the fate of home and private school students to be under public regulations. 


We had a major alert for Alabama home schooled and private schooled students a few days ago.  The state commissioner of education decided to create new departments and regulations for those students outside the public education system.  These regulations included having to use state certified teachers, the same state curriculum (which is now aligned to Common Core standards)  and register with the state.  Failure to register  do so would prohibit students from attending a 2 or 4 year university.

We have an update reporting the halting of this proposed educational direction in Alabama.  It would have taken the rights of citizens/private institutions to educate students as they see fit.  Thanks to our readers who supplied these comments and alerted us to recent developments: 


ALSDE has issued a response here. 36review has a link to the letter in its post "ALSDE Update: Changes on Hold"

http://the36review.com/

Basically, they've put the new regs on "hold" but have "concluded that not only do the 
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Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » NCLB Twitter Chat

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » NCLB Twitter Chat:



Tweets

  1. Susan DuFresne1 @GetUpStandUp2
    @skrashen @TCBGP @symphily @plthomasEdD Please join me & @NiaWaPo tonight 8 pm EST LIVE Chat, use hashtag.
    Retweeted by Gail Richmond
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  2. Susan DuFresne1 @GetUpStandUp2
    @KarenLewisCTU @CTULocal1 @fklonsky @mikeklonsky Please join me & @NiaWaPo tonight 8 pm EST LIVE Chat, use hashtag.
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  3. Susan DuFresne1 @GetUpStandUp2
    @thechalkface @cjnkira @lanecindy1234 @coachnobody Please join me & @NiaWaPo tonight 8 pm EST LIVE Chat, use hashtag.
  4. Susan DuFresne1 @GetUpStandUp2
    @AngieSullivan0 @ATeacherAnon @addelgado Please join me & @NiaWaPo tonight 8 pm EST LIVE Chat, use hashtag.
  5. Susan DuFresne1 @GetUpStandUp2
    @junziforhire @2011teacher @BillBoyle24 Please join me & @NiaWaPo tonight 8 pm EST LIVE Chat, use hashtag.
  6. Susan DuFresne1 @GetUpStandUp2
    @MNBATs1 @BadassTeacherGA @CaliforniaBATS Please join me & @NiaWaPo tonight 8 pm EST LIVE Chat, use hashtag.
  7. Susan DuFresne1 @GetUpStandUp2
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Outing Bloggers and Correcting Misconceptions | PWC Education Reform Blog

Outing Bloggers and Correcting Misconceptions | PWC Education Reform Blog:

Outing Bloggers and Correcting Misconceptions

July 28, 2013 — pwceducationreform

In recent months / years Prince William County has seen a number of local citizen activists create blogs to inform or inflame the public on issues affecting our county government.  Folks like The Sheriff and The Derecho have joinedVirginia Virtucon, Citizen Tom, Moonhowling, and BVBL , just to name a few, in covering a host of issues going on at the federal, state, and local level.
There a lots of blogs and keeping track of them is difficult. On the education side alone there are two blogs / groups; this blog and Our Schools.
To clarify, this group is not and has never been Our Schools.  Our Schools is a group of concerned parents.  I am not and have never been part of that group. Because education is a focused issue, we sometimes cover the same issues.  As followers of both groups know, we don’t always see eye to eye. The folks behind Our Schools allow me to post articles I write on their facebook page, and I thank them for that.
As for this blog, it was created several years ago as an offshoot of the math wars in PWCS.  The math wars were 
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