Merrow takes a Jab at Ravitch. #NotTooHeroic | Continuing Change

Merrow takes a Jab at Ravitch. #NotTooHeroic | Continuing Change:

Merrow takes a Jab at Ravitch. #NotTooHeroic

 My response to John Merrow, article:

http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=6556

Mr. Merrow,

You write, “These people inhabit a comic book world without ambiguity where heroes require villains.” I personally found that insulting.

Maybe it is just me, but anytime anyone starts a sentence with “These people” it is usually insulting. Couple that comment with “comic book world” and you’ve managed to insult parents everywhere.

Perhaps, that was your point?

Well, we parents are not living in a comic book world. We are living in a world of rigorous accountability for our children and high stakes testing all the way down to Kindergarten. I am not sure what comic books you read, sir, but that’s not the world we parents want for our kids.

And, when you spew these insults under the guise of 

"Education Spring" is Here to Stay | Alternet

"Education Spring" is Here to Stay | Alternet:

"Education Spring" is Here to Stay

Tired of endless accountability mandates, parents and teachers are stepping up the fight to preserve public education -- and using the ballot box to do it.

Photo Credit: Yoki5270 via Shutterstock.com

September 26, 2013  |  

 

Earlier this year, spontaneous rebellions against top-down mandates and budget cuts inflicted on public schools erupted around the nation.

In a months-long Education Spring, students, parents, teachers and community activists staged boisterous rallies, street demonstrations, school walkouts, test boycotts, and other actions to protest government austerity and top-down “accountability” mandates that damage community schools and diminish students’ opportunities to learn.

The protests spanned the nation and generated national media attention, resulting in a policy impasse in Washington D.C. and many state capitals, as government leaders and politicians scrambled to pause the rollouts of new heavy-handed school punishments.

Prominent pundits began to openly question the intention of a self-defined “reform” movement that has reigned for years but failed to produce any direct benefits to 

EdSource feature turns states’ ed data into charts in motion | EdSource Today

EdSource feature turns states’ ed data into charts in motion | EdSource Today:

EdSource feature turns states’ ed data into charts in motion

September 26th, 2013 | Add a Comment | 
By John Fensterwald

How has California’s per student spending changed over the past four decades? And how has its level of spending compared with other states?

For 20 seconds of your time – as long as it takes to watch a graphic – you’ll get the answers to these and other questions, through a new feature, “States in Motion: Tracking Education Over Time,” that EdSource Today is introducing today. “States in Motion” visualizes datasets, including per capita income, teacher salaries, student to teacher ratios, growth in enrollments and scores on the National Assessment on Educational Progress to make state comparisons using one and multiple variables. It’s a more interesting and potentially useful way to view data than poring over dozens of tables.

“States in Motion” is the creation of Jeff Camp, who has made it available to EdSource for wider distribution. Camp, an occasional commentary contributor to EdSource Today and the primary 

Top 20 Reasons Clancy Dubois Thinks I’m an “educational knuckle dragger” | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

Top 20 Reasons Clancy Dubois Thinks I’m an “educational knuckle dragger” | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

Top 20 Reasons Clancy Dubois Thinks I’m an “educational knuckle dragger”

Posted on September 26, 2013

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For those of you other Knuckle Draggers out there, here is the amazingly patronizing and ignorant rant by Clancy Dubois, which inspired this post.

http://www.wwltv.com/news/clancys-commentaries/DuBos-Jindal-should-stick-to-guns-on-Common-Core-225112232.html

“Now, Gov. Bobby Jindal and some lawmakers are sheepishly retreating from that bold step, because a vocal minority of educational knuckle-draggers is making noise about a federal takeover of local education” Clancy Dubois

1. I believe that just because 46 states were bribed into accepting a set of “Standards” with many millions of dollars in incentives before they had ever seen them, this is not a reason to adopt them. I also do not jump off of bridges just because everyone else does. This makes me a knuckle dragger.
2. I think elementary and secondary educators; child psychologists and developmental specialists; (not Governors, private companies hoping to reap large profits off them and liberal and conservative think-tanks) should have been involved in drafting and approving the standards. This 

Louisiana Educator: Performance Analysis of RSD Schools

Louisiana Educator: Performance Analysis of RSD Schools:

Performance Analysis of RSD Schools

Student Performance in RSD Not What We Have Been Led to Believe

Our State Department of Education keeps telling us (and the rest of the country) what a fabulous success Louisiana has achieved with the Louisiana Recovery District. The RSD was created by the legislature in 2003 for the purpose of taking over and converting so called "failing" schools into successful schools and then returning them to their local school boards. The plan for success was to turn these takeover schools over to charter school operators who would use innovation and lots of enrichment funding to convert them into schools where all students would achieve at a high level.

Somehow the Louisiana Recovery District captured the imagination of the media and elitist education reformers such as Bill Gates, Arne Duncan, and most of the wealthy foundations that have appointed themselves as experts in eduction reform. Education philanthropies and the Federal Government have pumped countless millions of dollars into the RSD charter schools since Hurricane Katrina. Very soon after the school takeovers by the state, glowing reports about the amazing success of the new charter schools were accepted at face value by the media and education philanthropists. The message was that the Louisiana Recovery District had finally cracked the formula for turning around failing schools. The alleged success formula was simple. Just fire all the administrators and most of the teachers and replace them 

9-26-13 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

Susan Ohanian New Content: Sept. 26, 2013

I never get to all of the stuff Susan compiles with her great comments but am posting so we have an archive of links, especially when we need to collate stuff on common core. Can we work with the right/tea party gang to defeat this sucker? If I ever get some time off from sitting in the backyard and contemplating something or other I will write a piece based on my discussion with my friend's colle

1 by ed notes online / 1h mark as read  //  save

Councilman Stephen Levin to Eva Moskowitz: "Prioritize pupils instead of politics"

Levin for KING! “Forcing parents and children to march in a political rally is obscene and has no place in our schools,” said Levin. “It is insulting that someone who is supposed to be educating New York City’s children would choose to pull kids out of school in order to benefit her political agenda.”Levin calls on Department of Education Chancellor Dennis Walcott to intervene and prevent the poli

1 by ed notes online / 1h 

Shame on NYC Ed Reporters for Supporting E4E in Event Closed to Anyone Who Doesn't Sign Their Pledge

I saw the names of the reporters who are going to be on the panel and was sort of shocked that the "neutral" press would be on a panel for an organization that has banned people who do not agree with their pledge. In fact at one point I tried to go in with my press pass and they had CUNY security throw me out. They said press had to pre-register. I asked the rest of the press if they had

1 by ed notes online / 10min mark as read  //  save

MORE/Change the Stakes Jia Lee and Fred Smith on Panel HST Panel with Shael Polokow-Suransky

I hope Shael doesn't join Marc Sternberg in jumping the Tweed ship before this event. Does he think he has a chance to be chancellor? (I'm betting on Cathie Cashin). But the word is that Shael could be interim Chancellor until the Sandanista appoints Raul Castro to the PEP. You are invited to come to our Community Education Council District 15 Public Meeting  High-Stakes Testing and District

1 by ed notes online / 10min 

Message from Eva, La General: Parents, You Don't Have a Choice NOT to Attend

And if your choice is to have your little scholars be in school that morning instead of being force marched over the bridge, screw you!EvaPS: I'm going to run for mayor against that sorry-assed Sandanista in 2017 and need you and your scholars for political fodder. Then there is this post from Diane RavitchAs previously reported on this blog by an anonymous teacher at Eva Moskowitz's Success Acade

1 by ed notes online / 10min 

Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: Portelos Hearing: DOE Legal Invalidates Chapter Leader Election at IS 49SIImagine a union allowing the employer to invalidate an election for building rep and remaining mute.  Multiple contract violations involved in principal's refusal to meet w. elected CL on a regular basis, consult committee, etc. Not that they ( union bureaucracy)  care.... observer at Portelos hearingHow abs

by mike simpson / 23h

Take Back Our Schools Conferences in Missouri | Truth in American Education

Take Back Our Schools Conferences in Missouri | Truth in American Education:

Take Back Our Schools Conferences in Missouri

Filed in Common Core State Standards, Education at State Level by Shane Vander Hart on September 26, 2013 • 0 Comments

• 1

The Missouri Coalition Against Common Core in conjunction with Americans for Prosperity Missouriannounced three conferences they are holding in different areas of Missouri on the Common Core State Standards and Student Data Collection.  Each event will have national Common Core experts (I will be speaking in Kansas City).

Here are the dates:

• Kansas City – Saturday October 5, 2013  at the North Kansas City Community Center (1p –6p)
• St. Louis – Sunday October 20, 2013  at the Wildwood Hotel (1p – 6p)
• Springfield – Saturday October 26, 2013 at the University Plaza Hotel (9a –2p)

Topics covered:

• The History of Common Core Standards – How Did We Get Here?
• High Quality Standards For Everyone? Not so much. What about special needs kids? How could
• CC harm early learners?
• Testing Testing Testing
• Data Collection – The government wants to know everything about your children. How can you protect their privacy?
• What are your rights according to Missouri state law? How can you begin to assert those rights?
• What is happening at the federal level when it comes to Common Core, Data Collection and state’s rights to control education
• The future of education in Missouri – a common sense approach based on local assertion of rights already granted by our constitution and legislature.

They will also be offering the following break out sessions for various interest groups so they can network with other grassroots activists:

School Board Members – Know your rights as a School Board member. Compare experiences and network with other board members who are trying to get their district out of the public/private system of common standards.

Grassroots Activists – For parents, taxpayers, teachers, legislators. We’ll talk about everything in our activist kit, answer questions and get you networking.

Non-Public Schools (Catholic/Private/Home Schools) – Whether or not CC is in or coming to your school, you need to know what to watch for and how to keep the quality education you are paying for or providing.

You can download their flyer here.

You can pre-register for these conferences here (note the times on Eventbrite are not accurate).  The cost is $25 per person.

Connected Principals Teaming Up With NASSP, NAESP for Connected Educator Month | Connected Principals

Connected Principals Teaming Up With NASSP, NAESP for Connected Educator Month | Connected Principals:

Connected Principals Teaming Up With NASSP, NAESP for Connected Educator Month

September 26, 2013

By Patrick Larkin

We are excited to announce that Connected Principals will be working in conjunction with theNational Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) during the month of October to help promote Connected Educator Month and National Principals Month. In case you missed the post earlier in the week on Connected Educator Month, the United States Department of Education has designated October as Connected Educator Month in an effort to promote the ever-growing resources available to bring educators from around the world together in order to create a more collaborative profession.
With this in mind, we are excited to announce a series of Twitter chats that we will host on our #CPCHAT hashtag with our colleagues from NASSP and NAESP. Starting on Wednesday October 9 and running on each of the following Wednesdays in October from 8-9 p.m. EST, we will be taking part in chats on the following topics:

• October 9 –  Getting your colleagues connected
• October 16 – Getting recognition for informal PD like connecting in online networks
• October 23 – What could we do in our schools if we had really really great broadband?
• October 30-  A crowdsourced topic to be announced

Please mark your calendars and share this information with the educators you know.

9-26-13 Wait What?

Wait What?:

Is that your credit card? Why yes, yes it is….

[Or perhaps a better title would be:  Didn’t that sign back there say… “Bridge Out” to which the elected official responded…what sign?] Earlier this week, the CT Mirror ran a story entitled “Debate intensifies over CT’s credit card,“ while CT Newsjunkie’s story was State On Pace to Exceed Malloy’s Self-Imposed Debt Limit. Since the stories […]The post Is that your credit card? Why yes, yes it is….

2 by jonpelto / 1h 

Missing Bridgeport Democrats campaign finance report shows up, but is missing tens of thousands in expenditures

That’s right… The missing Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee campaign finance report has finally shown up but it is missing tens of thousands in expenditures. The missing Bridgeport Democrat Town Committee campaign finance report that was due seven days before the Democratic Primary made it to the State Elections Enforcement Commission along with the required one […]The post Missing Bridgeport D

5 by jonpelto / 4min 

9-25-13 Wait What?

Wait What?: The Paul Vallas ScamNew Monastic Individuals is a blog that should definitely be in your bookmarks.  He is a friend, fellow blogger and part of the team working to take back public education in Connecticut. His latest post is entitled, “The Paul Vallas Scam” As the Connecticut Supreme Court considers whether to sustain (or over-rule) a Superior Court […]The post The Paul Vallas Scam (a

by mike simpson / 23h 

Why the new SAT scores are meaningless:

Why the new SAT scores are meaningless

By Valerie Strauss, Published: September 26 at 12:40 pmE-mail the writer

The 2013 SAT scores are out and states around the country are either crowing or crying over the results. They shouldn’t expend the energy.

Virginia, for example, is thrilled that students there got the highest scores ever on the exam, and officials are crediting the improvement on school reform. Maryland is unhappy about seeing a drop in scores for the third straight year but you won’t hear officials blaming their reform efforts.

The real question isn’t about why the scores went up or down, but whether or not the results tell us anything valuable about a student’s achievement and abilities. They don’t.

Even David Coleman, president of the College Board, the organization that owns the SAT, has for some time now been bashing his own test and promising that it is going to be substantially rewritten.

The vocabulary portion is silly, he says, because the words are too esoteric for everyday use; the essay is problematic because it doesn’t value accuracy; the math section isn’t 

First Hand Report on New Orleans Recovery School District: You Decide | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!

First Hand Report on New Orleans Recovery School District: You Decide | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!:

First Hand Report on New Orleans Recovery School District: You Decide

Filed under: Charter Schools,Recovery District — millerlf @ 11:50 am 

The Great Charter Tryout

By Andrea Gabor
September 26, 2013 The Investigative Fund

Long before Sci Academy, a charter school in New Orleans, had graduated its first senior class, the school was being heaped with accolades.

In September 2010, when Sci Academy was just two years old, its 200 excited students — then all freshmen and sophomores — filed into Greater St. Stephen Baptist church, next door to the school. Together with local dignitaries, journalists, and a brass band, the students watched on jumbo screens as the leaders of six charter schools from around the country appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show. At the end of the show, they watched as Oprah handed each charter-school leader — including Ben Marcovitz, Sci Academy’s founder — a $1 million check.

Sci Academy is a flagship charter school and a model of the new data-driven, business-infused approach to education that has reached its apotheosis in New Orleans. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, education reformers swept away what remained of the traditional public schools in what had been one of the nation’s lowest-performing districts. In their place, charters promised choice and increased accountability. More than 75 percent of New Orleans kids landed in schools controlled by the so-called Recovery School District, which was heavily dominated by charter schools.

“This transformation of the New Orleans educational system may turn out to be the most significant national development in education since desegregation,” wrote Neerav Kingsland, the CEO of New Schools for New Orleans, the city’s leading venture-philanthropy group incubating local charter schools, a year ago. “New Orleans students have access to educational opportunities that are far superior to any in recent memory.”

But eight years after Hurricane Katrina, there is evidence that the picture is far more complicated. Seventy-nine percent of RSD charters are still rated D or F by the Louisiana Department of Education. (To be sure, some charter operators argue that the grading system in Louisiana, which keeps moving the bar upward, doesn’t sufficiently capture the improvements schools have achieved.) Sci is one of two RSD high schools to earn a B; there are no A-rated open-admission schools. In a school system with about 42,000 mostly poor African-American kids, every year thousands are out of school at any given time — because they are on suspension, have 

Common Ground on Common Core | NEA Today

Common Ground on Common Core | NEA Today:

Common Ground on Common Core

By John Rosales As implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is introduced in classrooms across the country, one question among educators is emerging: Where do paraeducators fit in? “Most times, paras aren’t included in the implementation of curriculum, which makes it difficult to know what students can do and what students are required to learn,” says Dr. Tonia Mason-Cantlow, principa

by egraham / 18min mark as read  //  save

A Teacher’s Defense of Homework

I am a parent, and I struggle daily with making sure my daughter does her homework. I can certainly identify with the anxiety Karl Taro Greenfeld describes in his essay “My Daughter’s Homework Is Killing Me.” Here, however, I’d like to speak as a teacher rather than a parent. I’d like to explain why, in my professional opinion, American kids need homework. Source: The Atlantic   Related posts: Wha

by egraham / 18min 

Should Public School Students Get Mandatory Vaccines?

When should vaccinations be mandatory? This question pops up every now and again, and it’s in the news again: 750 students face suspension in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system in North Carolina for not having their TDaP (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) booster. Students must have up-to-date vaccinations or face suspension by state law. I’ll note there is no real financial burden o

by egraham / 18min