Perhaps President Obama would choose libraries instead of a mausoleum. | Reclaim Reform

Perhaps President Obama would choose libraries instead of a mausoleum. | Reclaim Reform:

Perhaps President Obama would choose libraries instead of a mausoleum.

Libraries for the living seem much more valuable than a mausoleum for one past political leader.

The Pyramid at Giza is indeed impressive. The dead guy who was in there must have been pretty important in his day.

The President Ronald Reagan Library continues the tradition of burying a VIP’s favorite items along with the personal doodads of the dead leader. Air Force One (a big airplane), his helicopter, his armored limousine, a few extraneous police-type vehicles and other stuff loom inside and above the heads of lunchroom diners and gift shop souvenir vendors. Lots and lots of big kind of important (to him) things abound. There is no mention of the Iran/Contra Scandal, the secret swap of weapons to Iran and those who used the weapons to shoot American troops. Lest anyone think this is merely some anti-republican rant, the President Lyndon Baines Johnson Library has incredible photos and oversized quotations about the war in Vietnam and cute gift shop items. Upon examining these, it appears that Perhaps President Obama would choose libraries instead of a mausoleum. | Reclaim Reform:

Deborah Meier: Let Us Stand Together to Change Our Schools–and Stop Squabbling | Diane Ravitch's blog

Deborah Meier: Let Us Stand Together to Change Our Schools–and Stop Squabbling | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Deborah Meier: Let Us Stand Together to Change Our Schools–and Stop Squabbling

Deborah Meier, a long-time leader of genuine school reform and an opponent of standardized testing, read an article by Jom Horn of “Schools Matter” that referenced a simmering feud among allies. The basis for the article was a series of posts (see here andhere) and comments on this blog. Several readers watched the angry comments and wondered what was going on.

As you will see in Horn’s piece, he and others are angry at Fairtest, which has led the fight against high-stakes testing for many years. Horn, Mary Porter, and Emily Talmadge warned that Fairtest was taking Gates money and was no longer trustworthy. Lisa Guisbond of Fairtest replied several times on the blog, insisting that Fairtest had not sold out, that it had taken a one-times Gates grant of $5,000 to study performance assessment. There was a lot of back and forth.
Deb Meier wrote this email to me:
“Wow. Shades of past history.
“Many decisions go into finding and financing different strategies. But if we decide its worth attacking each other rather than trying to persuade each other we are truly killing ourselves. Surely some of you have held views that have over time changed…
“I could weep.
“FairTest and Monty have a long long history of exposing bad tests, long before many others were even worrying about the subject. Neither FairTest, nor Monty nor Bob nor Lisa are getting wealthy doing this for so many years, years, and years. They may even occasionally be wrong. I know I have. I amstill unsettled re the issue of the use of choice, for example. And I took money for our small schools from many sources, as long as they didn’t compromise our work. Maybe we shouldn’t have? I’m not sure.
“CCE was founded in the early 90s to support the work of Coalition of Essential Schools that pioneered a very different form of “high stakes” assessment–what we call Portfolio reviews by Panels. (Read the work of Ted Sizer) They were the upfront fighters on behalf of the Pilot schools, and while Dan French and I disagree now and then, I’ve yet to find an ally that I Deborah Meier: Let Us Stand Together to Change Our Schools–and Stop Squabbling | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Ray Salazar: If you’re a teacher, say “please” and “thank you” « NewsTaco

If you’re a teacher, say “please” and “thank you” « NewsTaco:

If you’re a teacher, say “please” and “thank you”

 *Ray Salazar tells us there’s a new no-nonsense trend in education. It requires teachers to be direct and to focus on instruction – “don’t say please and thankyou.” Ray takes exception to that and tells us how his years of experience in the classroom have tought him that basic respect is essential. VL

---

By Ray Salazar, The White Rhino

In all the years I’ve taught in the Chicago Public Schools, I cannot recall a time when the art of teaching—the art of good teaching—has been strategically watered down to one thing: compliance.  A recent NPR story covered a “No-Nonsense” approach to teaching where teachers do not say “please” or “thank you.”  Directions are bluntly given and interactions remain brusque because the focus, they say, is on instruction.

“Your pencil is in your hand. Your voice is on zero. If you got the problem correct, you’re following along and checking off the answer. If you got the problem incorrect, you are erasing it and correcting it on your paper.”

This is what the teacher in the NPR piece commands.

So what do students in these contexts—in some charter AND some traditional schools—learn?  They learn that they don’t deserve to be spoken to with professional kindness.

A few years ago, I escaped an Academy for Urban School Leadership “teaching training” program I got grandfathered into.  The guiding text for training the next generation of teachers was Teach Like a Champion.  Our coach told us not to say “please” or “thank you” to students.  We were supposed to be no nonsense.

That didn’t sit well with me.  I left that nonsense after a semester.

Listen to anyone teaching with this no-nonsense style and their tone is cold, distant, mechanical.  This approach ignores everything that intellectual and personal development is based on—professional relationships.

This no-nonsense approach reminds me of many bosses at my first job.  At fifteen, I started working at Burger King.  Many of those managers carried a persona of superiority and distance.  “Drop another basket of fries!” I’d hear on Friday nights.  “Punch out when you finish sweeping.”  I hated that tone.  They spoke to us as if they hated being there.

When I became assistant manager at sixteen, I fell into some of this, too.  That was the training model I saw.  I hated the way I felt after a shift: tense, angry, bitter because of my impatience.

There was one boss, however, Diane, who managed differently.  She always kept her cool when we got hit with long lines.  She If you’re a teacher, say “please” and “thank you” « NewsTaco:

A Strong Voice from the Classroom

A Strong Voice from the Classroom:

A Strong Voice from the Classroom

About the Book | A Teacher's Tale by John Thompson http://bit.ly/1RE04lF

John Thompson is a truth-teller. A Teacher's Tale, his new book, honestly addresses the toughest issue in American education--how to improve urban schools impacted by concentrations of poor children.

Thompson worked in higher education and then did legislative lobbying until at the age of 39 he decided to become a teacher in an inner city area of Oklahoma City. He spent nearly two decades teaching high school social sciences. He loved teaching.

Thompson says that students taught him to teach, and that included the need to understand their problems. Some were in gangs; some feared gangs; some were involved with drugs; some had parents who were. Friends watched friends get shot and die. Amidst all this, Thompson respected his students, spent time visiting their homes, playing sports with the kids, taking them on excursions, and letting them vent in his classroom when necessary for their psychological well-being.

There is no doubt he cared, and cared deeply, about his students. Yet, he was physically assaulted many times. At the end of the book, he acknowledges that after several decades he was burned out. Just before he retired, he was hit so hard he fell to his knees and became semi-conscious. Thompson suggests that teachers leave inner city schools because of verbal and physical abuse, not because of the exhausting pressure and the low pay. He should know! But, he himself did not leave until retirement age, and then he asked to come back.

Thompson places heavy blame for the sorry state of many urban schools on the "reforms" of school choice and test-driven accountability. His school went from being a "run-of-the-mill inner city school into the type of brutal urban school that defies improvement," as the book jacket explains.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act epitomized test-driven accountability. Teachers were pressured to raise student test scores, or face penalties. According to Thompson, this resulted in educators caring as much about raising scores by a few points as about the physical and mental well-being of students.

The choice movement promoted policies for parents to determine the public school that their child would attend, including newly created independent schools run by private corporations or non-profit organizations. In Oklahoma City, motivated parents moved their children from neighborhood schools to charter and magnet schools. Regular public schools were left with concentrations of traumatized kids having mental or physical problems and suffering from generations of poverty.

Based on these experiences, Thompson asserts that two fundamental elements must be present for improvement to occur in inner city schools enrolling concentrations of poor students. Ensuring safety and teaching social skills are these prerequisites.

Teachers must be able to take charge of their classrooms creating a secure and safe environment for students. School choice undercut that, according to Thompson, because regular school leaders would not suspend students who should have been sent home because they did not want their enrollments to look bad in the competition with charter and magnet schools. Another factor was that the federal rule limiting suspensions for certain children with disabilities meant that many of these students were immune to disciplinary measures.

The second necessity is to teach students the non-cognitive skills they do not learn at home. Their schooling must include the nurturing of social graces, communication skills, delayed gratification, conflict resolution, and teamwork.

Thompson argues that liberals must overcome their reluctance to address these family and character issues. An honest conversation must occur about how parents raise their children, as well as about the effects of racism on students and the hindrances resulting from a lack of money. The past and current misdeeds of students and their parents must be discussed and the ensuing trauma of students acknowledged.

Conservatives who for decades have demeaned the concept of public education as A Strong Voice from the Classroom:

Mark Naison: Teachers and the President: Love Meets Indifference and Condescension - BK Nation

Teachers and the President: Love Meets Indifference and Condescension - BK Nation:

Teachers and the President: Love Meets Indifference and Condescension

By Mark Naison

I received a photo from an enraged Michigan teacher with whom I communicate on a regular basis. Dated January 20, 2016, it showed President Obama with a huge smile in a Detroit pizza shop preparing to visit the city’s auto show.

What a slap in the face! A smiling President visiting a city where teachers engaged in an ongoing sick-out to protest intolerable conditions in the schools where they work. Did the President care that thousands of teachers put their jobs in jeopardy to fight for decent conditions for their students? Did he say anything about the desperate conditions in Detroit schools? What kind of President visits a city in crisis and refuses to acknowledge that a crisis exists?

We expected such deplorable behavior from George W. Bush–the kind he displayed during Hurricane Katrina. From Barack Obama, who swept into the White House with teacher votes in 2008, this came as another example in a litany of betrayals.

Barack Obama said nothing during the great Chicago Teachers’ Strike of 2014. He never defended the teachers who lost their collective bargaining rights in the state of Wisconsin a few years earlier nor did he ever demonstrate that he appreciates the efforts of our nation’s educators enough to encourage them to play a role in shaping education policy.

Given the overwhelming support he received from the nation’s public-school teachers, why does he continue to ignore them as a positive force in the nation’s political life and as a bulwark of its middle class? The President’s close friend, the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, provides some clues.

Duncan’s words and deeds reflect contempt for our nation’s educators. He views them as incapable of rising to the challenge of preparing children for global economic competition—graduates from second-tier colleges and universities who entered their chosen profession by default. UnworthyTeachers and the President: Love Meets Indifference and Condescension - BK Nation:

CURMUDGUCATION: The GOP, Trump and the Bear: A Parable

CURMUDGUCATION: The GOP, Trump and the Bear: A Parable:

The GOP, Trump and the Bear: A Parable

Once upon a time, a large hunting parties came to live in two gigantic, beautiful lodges high on a mountainside-- the red and the blue.

The red lodge was home to a wide variety of people. Upstairs in the luxury suites were the richest, most wealthy and powerful members of the party. A few floors below them were well-to-do members of the party who were only too happy to help the top floor party members out. Way down in the basement were the least well-off members, living in squallor and want.

For many years, all the red lodged worked together to keep the giant building strong and clean and in good repair. Even the basement dwellers pitched in. "We don't want those crazy blue-lodgers to come in here and take over," they'd say.

Occasionally the basement dwellers in the red lodge would question the order of things. "Why do we live down here in the basement," they'd say. "Why can't the people on the top floor at least send down some lobster bisque and champagne?"

To help keep the peace, the penthouse dwellers would send word down, often through their assistants on the lower floor-- "We have to stay up here to keep you safe! We have a better view from these windows. We can keep an eye on the world, and we can watch out for danger-- you know there's a bear out there and we don't want him to surprise us. Trust us. We know best. Besides, if you work really hard, some day you may earn a spot up here on the top floor." And for many generations, that was good enough. Even though the penthouse dwellers chose new leaders from among their own ranks, many of those top floor dwellers were responsible and capable leaders, and those on the lower floors trusted their word.

But over the years, the top floor dwellers got sloppy and lazy. They rarely left their comfy rooms, simply luxuriating and eating all day. They and their helpers on the not-quite-floors discovered they could use the bear to get more. "What about new bedsheets for our rooms," someone on a lower floor would say, and the word would come down-- "We've seen the bear in the neighborhood; you'd better trust us so he doesn't attack." And when it came time to install new leaders, the penthouse crowd made poor choices, but kept the crowd in line by reminding them, "You don't want a bear attack, do you? You'd better support our guy because he can save you from the bear."

The more the penthouse crowd grasped for power, the more useful they found the bear. The stories grew wilder, more terrifying, more frequent. The bears are angrier and hungrier. There's a family of bears. The blue lodge has been training the bears to attack us. The bears have laser beans strapped to their heads and carry dynamite in their paws. So give us your money, your food, your CURMUDGUCATION: The GOP, Trump and the Bear: A Parable:

Using Robots to Teach Kids a Second Language - The Atlantic

Using Robots to Teach Kids a Second Language - The Atlantic:

When Class Is Run by a Robot
Researchers in Europe and Turkey are working to develop teaching machines that help preschool-aged kids learn a new language

The first “teaching machine” was invented nearly a century ago by Sydney Pressey, a psychologist at Ohio University, out of spare typewriter parts. The device was simple, presenting the user with a multiple-choice question and a set of answers. In “teach mode,” the machine would advance to the next question only once the user chose the correct answer. Pressey declared that his invention marked the beginning of “the industrial revolution in education”—but despite his grand claims, the teaching machine failed to gain much attention, and soon faded into obscurity.

It stayed there until the 1950s, when the famed behaviorist B.F. Skinner introduced a teaching machine of his own (Skinner  blamed “cultural inertia” for Pressey’s previous lack of success.) His new device taught by showing students questions one at a time, with the idea that the user would be rewarded for each right answer.

This time, there was no “cultural inertia.” Teaching machines flooded the market, and backlash soon followed. Kurt Vonnegut called the machines “playthings” and argued that they couldn’t prepare a kid for “one-millionth of what is going to hit him in the teeth, ready or not.” Fortune ran a story headlined “Can People Be Taught Like Pigeons?” By the end of the ‘60s, teaching machines had once again fallen out of favor. The concept briefly resurfaced again in the ‘80s, but the lack of quality educational software—and the public’s perception of mechanized teachers as something vaguely Orwellian—meant they once again failed to gain much traction.

But now, they’re back for another try.Using Robots to Teach Kids a Second Language - The Atlantic:

Bill to end physical punishment in schools stalls in Congress - Linkis.com

Bill to end physical punishment in schools stalls in Congress - Linkis.com:

Bill to end physical punishment in schools stalls in Congress 

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - Many complain about the pace with which Congress moves legislation, but lawmakers say it is simply unacceptable to hold up certain bills. A bill working to end physical punishment in schools is stalled and some are worried it won’t budge.

It’s a bill stuck in the House that has daily consequences. A democratic initiative to ban corporal punishment in schools isn’t moving anywhere anytime soon, especially when 19 states still explicitly allow the practice.

HR. 2268, The Ending Corporal Punishment in Schools Act of 2015, was introduced in May and assigned a subcommittee in November, meaning in eight months one move was made. Dr. Elizabeth Gershoff, a Developmental psychologist and Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences at University of Texas Austin, says this should be bipartisan or nonpartisan, not a democratic crusade.

"I think people don’t care about the science, they just care about their own personal experience,” said Gershoff. "And they seem to think it worked, quote, un-quote. When really what works for children is talking to them, giving them natural consequences.”

Congressman Dave Loebsack (D-IA) is a cosponsor on the legislation, which eliminates corporal punishment and assists local educational agencies to change the disciplinary climate in schools that maintain the practice. Loebsack says every day of inaction with the bill affects children. He says the slow pace is what has many Americans fed up with Congress.

"There are other ways that we can get kids to do the things that they need to do to be responsible, to take personal responsibility,” said Loebsack. "Corporal punishment has never been one of those ways, and it won’t be.”

Gershoff’s research shows that corporal punishment does not promote appropriate behavior, yet the practice continues, especially in the southeast U.S. School districts in the 19 states that allow corporal punishment use what they call paddles to hit children, but Gershoff says they’re really boards.

"So it’s basically a piece of wood that they’re hitting kids with,” said Gershoff. "And if an adult was hit by that, say somebody got into a fight in a bar and was hit by a piece of wood that big, that would be called a weapon.”

Loebsack says he’ll do everything in his power to get this legislation moving, but says he needs other members to work with him on this.

"There are a lot of folks who think this is the right thing to do,” said Loebsack. "They think it’s the right thing to do because they think it has the positive effects that they want it to have, but we know that it doesn’t, that’s the problem.”

To see if your elected representative is on the education committee, visit the Education and the Workplace website [link in the 'related links' section]Bill to end physical punishment in schools stalls in Congress - Linkis.com:.

ChildrenNow :: 2016 CA Children's Report Card

ChildrenNow :: 2016 CA Children's Report Card:

2016 CA Children's Report Card

A survey of kids' well-being and a roadmap for the future

We’re told income inequality in California is among the highest in the US. We’re told some families can’t meet basic needs, even with two parents working full-time. We’re told the dream of providing a better future for our kids is dying, replaced by an economic reality in which stable employment and a comfortable income are accessible to a few, while the majority are left behind. 

What gets lost in these conversations is the most powerful solution: investing in quality programs for kids. Not only do children suffer disproportionately from poverty, they also hold the key to ending it. Making sure all children have the supports they need to thrive will dramatically lower the poverty rate in the future.

We know the devastating impact poverty has on kids affecting a range of outcomes, from health, to brain development, to their chances of success in school. Over four million California children come from low-income households, and more than two million live below the poverty line. Those numbers are too big to ignore. The future of millions of children depends on California’s ability to make smart, quality investments in children’s well-being. 

In this year’s Report Card you’ll find statistics that bear out what we’re told about inequality and the widening opportunity gap kids face. For example, you’ll read about disparities in school suspensions and expulsions for African American students, who are three times more likely to experience those disciplinary measures than white students. But you’ll also find strong evidence that inequities can be addressed with smart policies, like investing in quality child care and preschool and reforms like the Local Control Funding Formula, which helps ensure that English language learners, kids in foster care and the more than three million low-income students in our state will have more resources directed to them. 

California is a wealthy state, with more assets than most to devote to its children’s well-being. It’s time to put more of our resources to work for kids, by investing in quality programs to help lift them out of poverty and set them on the road to success.

California's Children

California is home to more than 9 million children. With 12 percent of the nation’s children, the well-being of California kids has a big impact on the well-being of children nationally. Unfortunately, California recently ranked 38th out of 50 states in children’s well-being. 

Research has shown a strong connection between children’s socioeconomic status and overall well-being. California ranks 49th on measures of kids’ economic well-being, surpassing only Mississippi. While it is a prosperous state, around 1 in 4 California children lives in poverty. 

California is also one of the most diverse states in the US. The state’s children are racially, ethnically, linguistically and culturally diverse. Today, 1 in every 2 children are Latino, and 22 percent of students are English learners (EL) from at least 60 different language groups. Nearly half the state’s children (4.4 million) live in immigrant families, and the majority of those (91%) are U.S. citizens. 

Yet research consistently finds large disparities in kids’ well-being based on racial, ethnic and language background.15, 16 In a state as diverse as California, our future civic and economic well-being hinges on closing those gaps, and ensuring every child is healthy, well-educated and safe.

DOWNLOAD THE 2016 REPORT CARD

SEE INDIVIDUAL SECTIONS OF THE REPORTChildrenNow :: 2016 CA Children's Report Card: 

 ChildrenNow :: 2016 CA Children's Report Card:

Will Ethical Walls Protect Education Journalism from Billionaire Influence? - Living in Dialogue

Will Ethical Walls Protect Education Journalism from Billionaire Influence? - Living in Dialogue:

Will Ethical Walls Protect Education Journalism from Billionaire Influence? 

By Anthony Cody.

Alexander Russo is an unlikely ombudsman for education journalism, given that he is paid to blog by publishing giant Scholastic. But he has taken on the role, and in this column, he argues that Eli Broad’s ownership of the Los Angeles Times, and Broad Foundation sponsorship of education coverage there is not worthy of the ethical fuss that education advocates have made of it.

The brouhaha kicked off when Peter Sussman, who literally helped write the 1996 Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, was asked to comment on the fact that Eli Broad now owns the Los Angeles Times, and is sponsoring a very controversial project that would turn half of the Los Angeles Schools over to charter operators. Sussman offered this statement:

…trust and credibility are the life’s blood of journalism, and without it, a “news” organization is no different than any other partisan in public disputes, with the added problem that there is no major paper to hold it accountable, although in this case a blogger has apparently stepped into the breach. People have jeopardized and lost their jobs for defending their editorial independence and standing up to such conflicts of interest. I haven’t read the background on the issue you’ve highlighted, but if all your information is accurate, the Times’ problem extends beyond opinions to reporting, however well-intentioned their education reporters are.

Russo then offers two main lines of defense. The first is an impermeable wall he asserts exists between the editorial division of a newspaper and the journalistic side. According to this theory, journalists are utterly objective, and not subject to the influence of their owners. Russo writes:

However, at the LAT and at most other papers, these two parts of the paper are developed independently. The editorial page is where the paper takes a position on an issue. The news page is where reporters cover the story but do not take a position.

I think we have all seen ample evidence that reporting is skewed according to the political perspective and economic interests of the ownership of media outlets. But this supposed wall is good enough for some.

The second defense Russo offers is based on a supposed lack of consistency on the part of the critics.

Russo writes:

There’s also the issue of a double-standard.  Where are the objections from Sussman and Ravitch to the Ford Foundation funding the LAT, or the Robert Wood Johnson funding for PBS health care coverage, or Gates Foundation funding for 

Will Ethical Walls Protect Education Journalism from Billionaire Influence? - Living in Dialogue:

The Future Makers – Save Maine Schools

The Future Makers – Save Maine Schools:

The Future Makers

In September 2013, the Center for the Future of Museums and The Henry Ford Foundation invited a group of “policy experts, practitioners, funders, education innovators, reformers, student activists and others shaping the conversation about U.S. education” to a conference at National Building Museum in Washington, DC.

According to Elizabeth Merritt, founding director of CFM and a “professional museum futurist,” they were invited “in response to forecasts from CFM and other futures organizations that America is on the cusp of transformational change in the educational system.”

If you weren’t aware that there are powerful groups that forecast (plan) our future for us, read here for more.  Essentially, these groups, including Global Education Futures and KnowledgeWorks – both of which work with organizations as high up the chain as UNESCO – get together to create maps of the future they envision for the rest of us.

Curiously, despite their rhetoric of innovation and “disruptive” ideas, these forecasters all seem to have the very same vision of the future: doing away with our education system as we know it and replacing it with a digitalized, personalized-standardized, data-cized, competency-based system.

Oddly enough, this just so happens to be the same vision that giant corporations like Microsoft, Pearson, McGraw-Hill, and Exxon-Mobile have projected for us, along with members of the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Oh – and the US. Department of Education.

Merritt, of course, and her fellow futurists, are well aware of the The Future Makers – Save Maine Schools:

Gov. Rick Snyder Should Be Forced to Drink Nothing But Contaminated Flint Water for the Rest of His Life | gadflyonthewallblog

Gov. Rick Snyder Should Be Forced to Drink Nothing But Contaminated Flint Water for the Rest of His Life | gadflyonthewallblog:

Gov. Rick Snyder Should Be Forced to Drink Nothing But Contaminated Flint Water for the Rest of His Life

As I write this, I have a fresh glass of ice cold water sitting next to me.

It is so clear I can see the wood grain of the the table through it. When I put it to my mouth, my lips almost go numb from the cold.

I gulp down way more than I should. In moments, it seems, the glass is empty.

Nothing satisfies like a crisp simple glass of water.

But in Flint, Michigan, that straightforward, easy pleasure can kill you.

And-or poison your children, cause learning disabilities, hearing loss, vomiting, high blood pressure, pain or numbness in the extremities, infertility or miscarriage. Among a host of other equally terrible maladies.

From the water.

Nine months ago the state officials who took over running Flint because the city was just too darn poor for self government, they shut off the flow of already treated Lake Huron water from Detroit. They replaced it with untreated raw water from the Flint River. The plan was to save money by treating this water, themselves, from a source that had been continually polluted for decades by the disappearing auto industry.

However, this noxious brew corroded the pipes, stripped out the lead and put it right into the water glasses Flint parents were using to hydrate their children.

More than 8,500 children. With high amounts of lead in their blood. Suffering untold Gov. Rick Snyder Should Be Forced to Drink Nothing But Contaminated Flint Water for the Rest of His Life | gadflyonthewallblog:

Education Secretary John King Apologizes for Politicized Education Atmosphere - US News

Education Secretary John King Apologizes for Politicized Education Atmosphere - US News:
New Education Secretary to Teachers: Our Bad
John King on Thursday said federal officials are partially responsible for the contentious climate surrounding education reform.

 Acting Education Secretary John King offered teachers an olive branch of sorts Thursday, acknowledging his department's role in creating a politicized education environment that sometimes led to them being painted as villains.

"As everyone in this room knows, the education policy discussions of the last few years have often been characterized by more heat than light," he said to a room of teachers at the School of the Future in Philadelphia, a public school formed through a partnership between the city school district and Microsoft that focuses on digital learning.

RELATED CONTENT

Education Department to Prioritize College Completion

"And despite the best of intentions, teachers and principals have felt attacked and unfairly blamed for the challenges our nation faces as we strive to improve outcomes for all students," King said.

He continued: "All of us – at the local, state and federal level, the Education Department included – have to take responsibility for the climate that exists. There is no question that the contentious tone has made it harder to have productive conversations."

King, in what was an honest speech that included personal stories about his tough upbringing, specifically addressed the Education Department's laser-like focus on getting states to adopt new teacher evaluations that take into account student test scores – a priority he acknowledged was largely to blame for the difficult relationship that's transpired between the department and those in the teaching profession over the past seven years.

"I'll start by being frank – if maybe also obvious – and say this conversation hasn't always gone well," King said. "A discussion that began with shared interests and shared values – the importance of learning and growth for all our children – ended up with a lot of teachers feeling attacked and blamed."

The Obama administration's hallmark competitive grant program, Race to the Top, and its offer of waivers from the then-federal education law, No Child Left Behind,​​ both pushed states to adopt new evaluation systems. But King conceded that teachers were not always adequately engaged by policymakers in the development of those systems.

"And when they disagreed with evaluation systems, it appeared to pit them against those who they cherished most – their students," he said. "That was no one's desire."

RELATED CONTENT

Education Department to Prioritize College Completion

The new federal education law replacing No Child Left Behind, King said, gives everyone a "fresh start" and a "much needed do-over." Moving forward, he emphasized, teachers and principals must be part of the state- and district-level conversations about plans to implement the K-12 law, which shifts a significant amount of control away from the federal level.

King characterized teacher evaluations as "the elephant in the room," but said they are a critical part of any conversation about teaching and the professions.

And despite his previous comments about not always being inclusive of teachers, King reiterated the Obama administration's continued belief that students' test scores should be part of an evaluation system, along with a varietEducation Secretary John King Apologizes for Politicized Education Atmosphere - US News:

Minneapolis HS Students Walk Out To Protest ICE & Deportations | PopularResistance.Org

Minneapolis HS Students Walk Out To Protest ICE & Deportations | PopularResistance.Org:

Minneapolis HS Students Walk Out To Protest ICE & Deportations

 Above Photo: Minneapolis high school students protest ICE raids and deportations (Fight Back! News/Staff)

Minneapolis, MN – Students from at least 12 Minneapolis and suburban high schools walked out of school, Jan. 20. at noon to protest the current wave of immigration raids and deportations happening around the country. After walking out, the students converged at Martin Luther King Park in south Minneapolis for food and an open mic where students spoke about their experience with family members and friends being deported. Students then left the park and marched down major Minneapolis streets including Nicollet Avenue and Lake Street.

Students participated from high schools including Washburn, Southwest, South, Roosevelt, El Colegio, Hiawatha, Cristo Rey, Kennedy, Richfield and others. Several cars full of students even came to join the protest from Northfield, more than an hour away from Minneapolis.

The walkout was initiated by high school students who saw an injustice happening and decided to take the initiative. One of the organizers, Julio Martinez, said, “We protest because we want to stop deportations. We’re standing up for our rights, and we want other young people know to speak up when something is wrong, to stand up for their rights.”

Samantha Compean Morales, another student organizer, said, “We are doing this walkout to show solidarity with the families that are being ripped away from each other by ICE Minneapolis HS Students Walk Out To Protest ICE & Deportations | PopularResistance.Org:

'School Choice' Mantra Masks the Harm of Siphoning Funds from Public Education - NEA Today

'School Choice' Mantra Masks the Harm of Siphoning Funds from Public Education - NEA Today:

‘School Choice’ Mantra Masks the Harm of Siphoning Funds from Public Education

 Ask an education “reform” proponent about any issue facing public education and the answer is always the same: “school choice.” Whether they’re championing charter schools, vouchers or Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), advocates prefer to frame the debate around the right of parents to send their child to a better-performing school. This is merely a smokescreen to divert attention away from what school choice is really about: the transfer of public money to the private sector without accountability or transparency.

Many school choice campaigns are bankrolled by a faction of incredibly wealthy conservative donors and political groups, including the Koch Brothers and the American Legislative Exchange Council (better known as ALEC). Their agenda is clear: dismantle public education.

But it’s a safe bet you won’t hear their names during National School Choice Week (Jan 25-30). What you will hear is a lot of people parroting messages about “freedom,” “innovation,” “options,” even “civil rights” – buzzwords that underpin the campaigns to expand charter schools, vouchers and ESAs across the country. But the jargon masks the devastating impact these policies have had on public education, particularly on those students who are supposed to benefit the most.

Unaccountable Charter Schools: The Truth Hurts

Many people support the idea behind charter schools, but how many are aware of the mounting troubles the charter industry has experienced lately? Probably not enough. Its proponents work very, very hard to maintain a facade of success and transparency in the face of evidence that many of these schools operate without any oversight, while wasting taxpayer money and fostering inequity and racial segregation.

Take the North Carolina State Board of Education, which just this month rejected the Department of Public Instruction’s annual report on charter schools as “too negative.” Dominated by school privatization stalwarts, the board is determined to prevent any meaningful oversight of the state’s charters and demanded revisions to the report before it could be submitted to the legislature.

Scrutiny over mismanagement in the charter sector is intensifying, The Center for Popular Democracy estimated that charter school waste and fraud squandered $1.5 billion in taxpayer money in 2015.

North Carolina educator Stuart Egan took the board to task in an open letter to Lt. Governor and board member Dan Forrest: “Overall, charter schools seem to lack diversity and operate under a different set of rules according to the report you are trying to squelch. The fact is that many of the charter schools you have enabled are perpetuating segregation 'School Choice' Mantra Masks the Harm of Siphoning Funds from Public Education - NEA Today:

VIDEO SERIES: Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed Explained In Detail

Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública: VIDEO SERIES: Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed Explained In Detail:

VIDEO SERIES: Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed Explained In Deta

Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed Broken Down Point By Point

Prof. Jason J. Campbell gives us 10 videos that help us understand the central ideas of Paulo Freire's seminal work on how the oppressed learn about the world about them and their power to transform it on their terms and not on the terms of the oppressor.

 ------------------------------

 ------------------

 Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública: VIDEO SERIES: Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed Explained In Detail: