Seattle Schools Community Forum: What Did I Miss? #tBATs

Seattle Schools Community Forum: What Did I Miss?

What Did I Miss?

Why hello there! Long time, no see. 

I first want to acknowledge and bow my head to all that has happened to our country and countries throughout the world  I have continued to monitor several parent Facebook pages and one WA state teacher page (not WEA). It has been a deeply frustrating, frightening, exhausting time for teachers, parents, and students. I cannot imagine being a parent who has to keep explaining, month after month, why your child cannot go back to school, go be in sports, play with friends, etc. Or a teacher who has to flip learning on its head, keeping it going as the teachers ALSO learn. And administrators who had to try to figure out how to serve and keep a school community together. When I think of the kindergarten class that I tutored in for three years, I cannot imagine having small children try to comprehend their schooling on a screen. 

I most of all feel sadness for students. School is their second life, their second home and where  a lot of teaching and learning beyond the classroom happens. I acknowledge that some children faced far more injury than others but I know that ALL kids suffer from this time and that should be noted. 

I urge you to have your child either dictate their thoughts to you or have them write about their COVID experience. This is an important time to document, if only for your family’s future generations.You can tell your children - no one ever gets to pick the history that they live through but other generations will want to hear their stories.

SPS

One of the many vagaries of COVID is that we all had time on our hands (or at least far fewer events to be at). However, because most government meetings, including SPS’, were held online, I was able to go to quite a few Board meetings, committee meetings and work sessions.

As the year went on, I kept wondering, what the heck was happening in SPS? My verdict is that it was a year of power struggle, largely based on personality. And it was largely among a small circle of people who, CONTINUE READING: Seattle Schools Community Forum: What Did I Miss?

An Update on My Health | Diane Ravitch's blog

An Update on My Health | Diane Ravitch's blog

An Update on My Health

A month ago, I wrote to tell you that I was going to the hospital for open-heart surgery. I lined up guest bloggers who filled in for me in my absence, and I thank them all for keeping the conversation going.

I checked into the hospital in NYC on April 7. Surgery was early the next morning. I had an ascending aortic aneurysm and a leaky heart valve that had to be replaced. The surgeon explained that he would cut upon my breast bone to gain access to my heart.

Needless to say, I have no recollection of the surgery or its aftermath. I was sedated for five days. One member of my family was allowed to visit each day. When I was finally allowed to regain consciousness, I had no voice (due to intubation), a bad cough, and could not walk. I spent two weeks in the Intensive Care Unit, two days in regular care, then moved to the Rehabilitation Unit, where I am relearning how to walk.

I’m going home on April 7 and bringing a walker with me until I have fully regained the use of my legs and can CONTINUE READING: An Update on My Health | Diane Ravitch's blog

Teacher Tom: "Art Therapy is Therapy"

Teacher Tom: "Art Therapy is Therapy"

"Art Therapy is Therapy"

Conversation isn't always the best way to get to know a child. This is true of adults as well, but it is especially true of children who are still developing their language skills. The words they say are important, of course, but more revealing is often how they interact with their environment, including the other people in their world. How they use art materials can be especially instructive to someone committed to listening.

This is part of the art and science of art therapists, for instance. Nona Orbach, author of The Good Enough Studio and presenter at the upcoming Teacher Tom's Play Summit, says, "Art therapy is therapy," although not necessarily of the "talk therapy" variety. 

A classic example, are drawings children make of their families. A lot can be determined from, say, the relative size of the individuals portrayed. The mother, for instance, is often portrayed as the largest figure, representing the out-sized importance the child places on her. Older siblings might be represented as being smaller, revealing a sense of rivalry. The child sometimes makes themself the largest figure and we CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: "Art Therapy is Therapy"

can’t-miss UK/NAACP Education & Civil Rights Initiative VIRTUAL CONFERENCE | Cloaking Inequity

can’t-miss UK/NAACP Education & Civil Rights Initiative VIRTUAL CONFERENCE | Cloaking Inequity

CAN’T-MISS UK/NAACP EDUCATION & CIVIL RIGHTS INITIATIVE VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

Talk with National Leaders and Experts! Register now for this can’t-miss virtual conference hosted by the University of Kentucky’s Education & Civil Rights Initiative May 7-8, 2021 Register here by Thursday, May 6, for Education & Civil Rights for the New Decade!

Explore some of the most pressing issues of our time in this two-day, virtual conference. You’ll have the opportunity to take part in multiple tracks hosted by expert community partners.

The conference is provided through a partnership between the Education and Civil Rights Initiative at the University of Kentucky College of Education, the UK Rosenberg College of Law, the NAACP, and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. The conference is free and open to all, through the generous support of WesBanco. View Agenda & Register You won’t want to miss featured speakers and panel events such as: Friday, May 7 Conference Keynote 10:45 – 11:15 a.m. EST Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP, will open the conference. President Johnson formerly served as vice chairman of the NAACP National Board of Directors, as well as state president for the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP. A longstanding member and leader of the NAACP, Mr. Johnson has helped guide the Association through a period of re-envisioning and reinvigoration. Saturday, May 8, 10-11 a.m. EST Opening Keynote Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings will open the second day of the conference. As the former Kellner Family Distinguished Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Dr. Ladson-Billings is known for her work in the fields of culturally relevant pedagogy and critical race theory. Saturday, May 8, 5:45-6:45 p.m. EST Closing Keynote Raymond Pierce, CEO of the Southern Education Foundation, will close the conference with a keynote. In his work with the Southern Education Foundation (SEF), Pierce leads the organization’s historic mission of advancing educational opportunities for African American and low-income students in the southern states. Since joining SEF in January 2018, Pierce has focused the organization on policy research, education legislation and leadership development. SEF has also launched a workforce development initiative and is expanding its efforts to strengthen parental engagement in support of improving student learning. Saturday, May 8, 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. EST Plenary: A Conversation with National Education Leaders Dr. Walter Bumphus, President and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges Dr. Norma Cantú, Commissioner of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and Professor of Law and Education at the University of Texas-Austin Dr. Belle Wheelan, President of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. Thank you to our KCTCS partners for making this plenary possible.Register by Thursday, May 6 to reserve your spot! Conference tracks will include:  ● Law & Justice* ● K-12 Education* ● Community Organization ● Post-Secondary ● Financial Literacy *Continuing education credit is available upon request. Law and Justice continuing education credit is pending CLE approval.Housed in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation, the Education and Civil Rights Initiative is a research collaboration with the NAACP, the nation’s largest and most preeminent civil rights organization. The focus of this collaboration is to ensure that every child in America experiences equitable access to education. Learn more about the initiative on our website.

can’t-miss UK/NAACP Education & Civil Rights Initiative VIRTUAL CONFERENCE | Cloaking Inequity

Important: Let's Thank Those House Members Who Support Charter Reform - Network For Public Education

Important: Let's Thank Those House Members Who Support Charter Reform - Network For Public Education

Important: Let’s Thank Those House Members Who Support Charter Reform

Good news. Fifteen members of the House of Representatives led by Mark Pocan and Jamaal Bowman signed a letter to Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies House Appropriations Committee, Rosa DeLauro, and the subcommittee’s Ranking Member, Tom Cole. 

You can read that letter here. The letter not only asks for a reduction in Charter School Program (CSP) funds in the next budget, it also asks for real CSP reform. In addition to more oversight, members ask that any charter school run by a for-profit management company be ineligible to receive CSP funds. 

Now is the time we show our thanks. Click on the four tweets below to send that message of thanks. It takes seconds to do!

Teacher Appreciation Week

It is Teacher Appreciation Week! Please be sure to thank all of the teachers you know. This year, more than ever, they deserve our appreciation for all that they do. NPE loves America’s teachers. I bet you do too!

Are you following our new NPE blog? You should be! Every day, we can deliver important blogs and news right to your email inbox. You will also receive a notice any time we put new content on our website. To subscribe, go here.

Our new Privatization Toolkit is out! Visit our updated toolkit page. Read and share what we know about charters, vouchers, micro-schools, and other forms of privatization. Each two-page fact-based sheet answers a different critical question about the attempt to privatize and commercialize public schools.

Will Staff Returning from Obama/Duncan Years Compromise Biden’s Public Education Promises? | janresseger

Will Staff Returning from Obama/Duncan Years Compromise Biden’s Public Education Promises? | janresseger

Will Staff Returning from Obama/Duncan Years Compromise Biden’s Public Education Promises?

At the end of his first hundred days, President Joe Biden deserves credit for taking important steps to help public schools serving children living in communities where family poverty is concentrated.

First, the President promised during the campaign to triple funding for Title I schools, and the federal budget he has proposed for FY22 would accomplish two-thirds of that promise by doubling the federal investment in Title I, whose funding has lagged for decades behind what is needed for equity.

Second, in the American Rescue Plan federal stimulus passed in March, the President expanded and made fully refundable the Child Tax Credit. In his new American Family Plan he has proposed to extend these urgently needed changes in the Child Tax Credit until 2025.  The expansion of the Child Tax Credit will make it possible for America’s poorest families with children to qualify for this program for the first time. We know that poverty is an overwhelming impediment for children, and ameliorating child poverty is an important step toward helping America’s poorest children thrive at school.

During the campaign, Biden also promised to move public school policy away from two decades of standardized testing.  That is a promise he has, at least until now, entirely broken.

In a letter, dated February 22, 2021, Acting Assistant Secretary of Education, Ian Rosenblum informed states they must test students this year on the mandated annual high-stakes CONTINUE READING: Will Staff Returning from Obama/Duncan Years Compromise Biden’s Public Education Promises? | janresseger

Russ on Reading: Defeating the Science of Reading Narrative, Part 1: Focus on the Child

Russ on Reading: Defeating the Science of Reading Narrative, Part 1: Focus on the Child

Defeating the Science of Reading Narrative, Part 1: Focus on the Child

Last week I wrote a post, Unsettling the Science of Reading Narrative that highlighted a new report from the Literacy Research Association, on dyslexia and the Science of Reading. The report titled An Examination of Literacy Research and Instruction, with Policy Implications,  by Peter Johnston and Donna Scanlon, posits that 1) "dyslexia" is not a useful term for guiding teachers in making literacy instructional decisions and that 2) the "Science of Reading (SOR)" narrative, which states that a heavy phonics emphasis is the best and only way to teach reading to dyslexics and everyone else, is neither accurate nor scientific. Several readers of that post responded favorably, but asked, "Given that SOR has the support of the media, powerful parent lobbying groups, and state legislatures, what can we as teachers and literacy leaders do about it?" The question is a good one and the answer is complex. I will try to respond to that question over the next CONTINUE READING: Russ on Reading: Defeating the Science of Reading Narrative, Part 1: Focus on the Child

Good News from Oakland! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Good News from Oakland! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Good News from Oakland!

Several years ago, the Walton Family Foundation and the Gates Foundation decided that it was not enough to open new charter schools. No, they had to devise mechanisms to make sure that school officials put charters on an equal footing with public schools and that the public didn’t care whether schools were run by their elected school board or a private board of directors.

The Gates Foundation created something called “the Gates Compact,” paying districts to treat public and charter schools the same.

The Waltons played a different angle. To advance their agenda of embedding charters and wiping out any differences between public schools and charter schools, they pushed for the adoption of a common enrollment form. The two sectors are intermingled, and neither students nor parents know which schools are public and which have private or corporate management.

In Oakland, where a slate of pro-public school parents won the last school board election, the board voted to eliminate the OneApp system.

Jane Nylund, a parent activist in Oakland, sent the CONTINUE READING: Good News from Oakland! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Democracy Prep’s Fiscal Tottering | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

Democracy Prep’s Fiscal Tottering | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

Democracy Prep’s Fiscal Tottering

In March 2019 and October 2019, Democracy Prep charter chain founder and former employee Seth Andrew stole a total of $218K from three Democracy Prep escrow accounts. He was able to do so because two years after leaving Democracy Prep (in 2017), Andrew still had access to his school email account and could falsely portray himself as still associated with the charter chain. Andrew also still had access to the escrow accounts because he remained listed on documentation related to those accounts. Finally, given that Andrew was able to steal funds from the third escrow account five months after he depleted the first two accounts, it is obvious that Democracy Prep officials failed to adequately monitor all of the chain’s bank accounts.

In my May 01, 2021, post on the situation, I surmised that Andrew may have believed that Democracy Prep would not competently monitor its finances, thereby causing him to believe that he could get away with the theft. Indeed, the complaint against Andrew details the passage of 14 months from the first thefts (March 2019) to the maturing of a six-month certificate of deposit (CD) that Andrew purchased using the stolen funds (May 2020).

To lock that stolen money up for six months and patiently wait for it to mature demonstrates a level of certaintly that no one would be coming for that stolen cash.

Examination of Democracy Prep’s tax forms from 2007 to 2018 shows that the charter chain struggled to manage its money and to keep a positive balance CONTINUE READING: Democracy Prep’s Fiscal Tottering | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY #BLM #BLACKLIVESMATTER

 NewBlackMan (in Exile)

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY

Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK WITH NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE) -

https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/05/this-week-with-newblackman-in-exile-blm.html

Brené Brown and Tarana Burke on their Anthology 'You Are Your Best Thing'

by Mark Anthony Neal / 42min

'Author, speaker and life coach Brené Brown and #MeToo co-founder Tarana Burke join us to share their experiences working together as editors of You Are Your Best Thing: An Anthology of Vulnerability, Shame, Resilience and the Black Experience. '

W. Kamau Bell Is A 'Wall-Tearer-Downer' In 'United Shades Of America'

by Mark Anthony Neal / 56min

'Since 2016, comedian W. Kamau Bell has been traveling the country for his TV show United Shades of America . He asks serious questions, but always with a bit of humor thrown in. " United Shades of America is just Sesame Street for grown-ups," he tells All Things Considered 's Michel Martin . The goal of the show is to explore the unique challenges of communities around the United States.'

With 'Trojan Horse' Animation, 'Yasuke' Creators Honor True Story Of Black Samurai

by Mark Anthony Neal / 1h

'A new anime series on Netflix brings a little-known figure from Japanese feudal history to the small screen: Yasuke . A Black samurai portrayed as an aging, stoic loner reflecting on his past.' -- All Things Considered

John Legend: "Bring your own unique gifts to the table to engage in the real, tangible bettering of your community."

by Mark Anthony Neal / 3h

“We see [zero-sum thinking] in efforts to hoard economic opportunity, too. Today, the 26 wealthiest people on the planet own as much as the 3.5 billion poorest. And powerful people are spending lots of money lobbying to keep it that way," said Singer-Songwriter John Legend who addressed Duke University's Class of 2021 on Sunday, May 2, 2021. “And, of course, we see it in our policing and carceral

DJ Khaled - WHERE YOU COME FROM (Official Video) ft. Buju Banton, Capleton, Bounty Killer and Barrington Levy

by Mark Anthony Neal / 13h

'Official music video for DJ Khaled feat. Buju Banton, Capleton & Bounty Killer “Where You Come From”from Khaled Khaled (2021). Production by DJ Khaled , 9th Wonder , StreetRunner and Tarik Azzouz .'

Phylicia Rashad On Alpha Kappa Alpha and Howard University History

by Mark Anthony Neal / 1d

' Phylicia Rashad on the the history of her cherished sorority and alma mater with ESSENCE Social Media Director, Charisma Deberry .'

Black Intimacy in R&B and Hip-Hop with Robert Patterson, Antonia Randolph, and Elliott Powell

by Mark Anthony Neal / 1d

"The session of PMBiP involves a conversation between Antonia Randolph and Robert J. Patterson about the representations of Black intimate life in R&B and hip-hop music during the Post-Civil Rights Era, with Elliott H. Powell serving as interlocutor. Patterson talks about his recent book Destructive Desires: Rhythm and Blues Culture and the Politics of Racial Equality (Rutgers University Press, 2

The New Conversation with Dr. Dwight A. McBride | Ep. 3 Jonathan Holloway

by Mark Anthony Neal / 2d

" Jonathan Holloway , a U.S. historian, took office as the 21st president of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, on July 1, 2020. He also serves as a University Professor and Distinguished Professor. In this series, Dr. Dwight A. McBride , President of The New School, converses with scholars,

NewBlackMan (in Exile)