Saturday, May 12, 2012

Joel Klein’s emails. Going after the union, Ravitch and Meier. Courting “overweight billionaires.” « Fred Klonsky

Joel Klein’s emails. Going after the union, Ravitch and Meier. Courting “overweight billionaires.” « Fred Klonsky:


Joel Klein’s emails. Going after the union, Ravitch and Meier. Courting “overweight billionaires.”

by Fred Klonsky
When Kyle Olson FOIAed my work emails he didn’t find anything.
Now that former NY school’s Chancellor Joel Klein’s emails have been released, it reveals a lot. An enemies list that included the AFT, Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier. And charter school friendly hedge fund managers that Klein was courting on the one hand but describing as “overweight billionaires.” on the other. The emails concerned Klein’s battle to establish more charters schools.
Klein in now an executive with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
A lot of the emails are between Joe Williams and Klein. Williams runs DFER, Democrats for Education Reform. DFER is heavily funded by the overweight billionaires.
From the NY Times:

But one of the callers on the line with Mr. Klein in 2010 said Friday that the chancellor did ask the Robin Hood board to commit more funding to Educatio

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“Tell us a secret” – another creepy test question

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » “Tell us a secret” – another creepy test question:


“Tell us a secret” – another creepy test question

by admin
The skeletons are flying out of the test publishers’ closets, and parents are getting angrier and angrier.
This week it was an essay question on the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge, which asked students to write about a secret that was hard to keep.
According to the AP story, the dad who learned about this question from his twin 9-year-old sons said, “All of the 
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At Explore Charter School, a Portrait of Segregated Education - NYTimes.com

At Explore Charter School, a Portrait of Segregated Education - NYTimes.com:


A SYSTEM DIVIDED

‘Why Don’t We Have Any White Kids?’

  • Emily Berl for The New York Times
  • Emily Berl for The New York Times
  • Emily Berl for The New York Times
  • Emily Berl for The New York Times
  • Emily Berl for The New York Times
  • Emily Berl for The New York Times
  • Emily Berl for The New York Times
  • Emily Berl for The New York Times
  • Emily Berl for The New York Times
  • Emily Berl for The New York Times
The Explore Charter School in Flatbush, Brooklyn, is 92.7 percent black.
By 
Published: May 11, 2012
IN seventh-grade English class, sun leaked in through the windows. Horns bleated outside. The assignment was for the arrayed students to identify a turning point in their lives. Was it positive or negative? They hunched over and wrote fervidly.

A System Divided

Separate but Uneasy
This is the second article in a series examining the changing racial distribution of students in New York City's public schools and its impact on their opportunities and achievements. The previous article chronicled the experience of Rudi-Ann Miller, one of 40 black students at Stuyvesant High School, which has 3,295 students.
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A Portrait of Segregation in New York City’s Schools
Metropolitan | The New York Times
Read more articles in this week's Metropolitan section.

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Emily Berl for The New York Times
Students outside the Explore Charter School in Flatbush, Brooklyn, on March 28.

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Floriande Augustin, a first-year teacher at the school, invited students to share their choices. Hands waved for attention. One girl said it was when she got a cat, though she was unsure why. Another selected a car crash. A third brought up the time when her cousin got shot and “it was positive because he felt his life was crazy and he went to college so he couldn’t get shot anymore.”
The lesson detoured into Martin Luther King Jr. and his 

Charter Schools - Dividing Communities since 1991
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Weekly Update : The Philadelphia horror story, no more school libraries (another WTF Moment in EDucation)

Weekly Update : The Philadelphia horror story, no more school libraries in DC if the school chancellor has anything to do with it, other privatizing insanity and the push back | Seattle Education:


Weekly Update : The Philadelphia horror story, no more school libraries in DC if the school chancellor has anything to do with it, other privatizing insanity and the push back

by seattleducation2011
All the news that fits…and there is a lot of it this week.
I

f you haven’t watch it yet, The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman is a must watch on the subject of charter schools. We have the ability in our state to learn from the mistakes of others who have gone down the road of privatization of their public schools. To put it simply, the process of corporatizing a public trust does far more harm than good.
One action that the corporate privatizers of education do, instead of supporting our public schools and the individuals and institutions that support our schools, they simply close them and replace them with privatized services or don’t replace them at all.
They demand more than anyone could possibly live up to and when these individuals and institutions “fail” they state that the effort is a waste of time and money and shut them down. An easy solution for them but one that is painful, disorienting and damaging to the communities where these schools and institutions are located.
One action that happened recently that defies all logic is the shutting down of libraries, a place that provides 
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Advisory Commission on Special Education (ACSE) meeting Agenda May 24 and 25, 2012

Agenda May 24 and 25, 2012 - Administration & Support (CA Dept of Education):


Agenda May 24 and 25, 2012

Advisory Commission on Special Education (ACSE) meeting agenda.
Advisory Commission on Special Education Members
Kristin Wright, Chair
Feda Almaliti
Janice Brown
Maureen Burness
Kenneth Denman
Diane Fazzi
Morena de Grimaldi
Betty Karnette
Susan Martinez
Laurie Newton
Tomislav Peraic
Naomi Rainey
Laureen Sills
James Woodhead
Student Members
Alexa McBride
Matthew Stacy
Legislative Members
Carol Liu, Senate
Joan Buchanan, Assembly
State Board of Education
Carl Cohn, Liaison
State Special Schools
Scott Kerby, Director, State Special Schools & Services Division
California Department of Education
Executive Secretary
Fred Balcom, Director, Special Education Division
California Department of Education
Agenda Times Are Approximate and Are Provided for Convenience Only
All items may be re-ordered to be heard on any day of the noticed meeting. The order of business may be changed without notice.
Advisory Commission on Special Education
Schedule of MeetingLocation

Thursday, May 24, 2012
10:00 a.m. ± Pacific Time		California Department of Education
1430 N Street, Room 1101
Sacramento, California
916-445-4602

Friday, May 25, 2012
8:45 a.m. ± Pacific Time 		California Department of Education
1430 N Street, Room 1101
Sacramento, California
916-445-4602
Please see the detailed agenda for more information about the items to be considered and acted upon. The public is welcome.
Guidelines for Public Input Sessions
The Commission welcomes public involvement. Opportunities for public comment are provided at every Commission meeting.
Reasonable Accommodation for Any Individual With a Disability
Pursuant to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, any individual with a disability who requires reasonable accommodation to attend or participate in a meeting or function of the Advisory Commission on Special Education (ACSE), may request assistance by contacting the Special Education Division, 1430 N Street, Suite 2401, Sacramento, CA, 95814; telephone, 916-445-4602; fax, 916-327-3706.
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The Huntington Teacher: Meet a Common Problem in Public Education

The Huntington Teacher: Meet a Common Problem in Public Education:


Meet a Common Problem in Public Education

Meet A Common Core Problem

 in Public Education




In a conversation with co-founder of DumpDuncan.org, Dr. Robert Valiant said, 
"Some of are here because we are against Common Core State Standards (I am one.)  Some of us are here because we are against high stakes testing (I am one.) or vouchers (I am one.)... you get the point."  
What we need is for every one of these people to stand up in a collective voice and say "NO."


If you are against vouchers, standardized testing, or any piece of the federal government plan to dismantle public education which replaces autonomous decisions-making with the hands of private corporations,  please take time to research the articles below.  You will find that common core is like a keystone that holds all the other stones in place.

Be sure to listen to Chalk Face Internet Radio, Sunday at 6:00 pm EST.  Common Core will be a main topic.  

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Jersey Jazzman: Big Brother (NJDOE) is Watching?

Jersey Jazzman: Big Brother (NJDOE) is Watching?:


Big Brother (NJDOE) is Watching?

by Duke

Eyes Animated Gif

Diane Ravitch reports on what it's like to dare to criticize the reformyists:
I got an email last night from Leo Casey at the United Federation of Teachers, informing me that the UFT had just received a dump of emails from the New York City Department of Education, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Leo noticed that Deborah Meier and I were mentioned several times in the emails and so he shared the trove with us.
Pretty ugly stuff. Read it here, in two parts, if you can open a google document: 
The first thing I noticed was the chummy exchanges between the public officials in change of the New York City public school system and the top dogs of the 
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Oh, it’s good to be Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee; - Wait, What?

Oh, it’s good to be Michelle Rhee; - Wait, What?:


Oh, it’s good to be Michelle Rhee;

by jonpelto




Imagine.  Knowing you are always right…
And regardless of whether you are right or wrong, having the resources to influence public policy at any time and in any place around the nation.
GNEPSA – the group formerly known as StudentsFirst (well, the group StudentsFirst created to be their more politically acceptable front in Connecticut), dropped another $283,889 on behalf of Governor Malloy’s “Education Reform” bill in the last month of the legislative session.  That brings her reported total Connecticut lobbying expenditures over the past three months to just about $640,000 and counting.
Michelle Rhee, the woman Malloy refused to stand with at an “education” rally was, none the less, kind enough to pay for a half a million dollars in radio and television advertising proclaiming Malloy and his plan the savior when it came to putting Connecticut’s public 


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The Abe Keller Peace Education Fund recognizes two Seattle educators for excellence and innovation in peace education | Seattle Education

The Abe Keller Peace Education Fund recognizes two Seattle educators for excellence and innovation in peace education | Seattle Education:


The Abe Keller Peace Education Fund recognizes two Seattle educators for excellence and innovation in peace education

by seattleducation2011

At its 2012 Annual Meeting on Tuesday, May 1, the Abe Keller Peace Education Fund (AKPEF) hosted a panel, “Peace Education for the Next Generation, Want Peace? Let’s Teach Peace!” and recognized two Seattle educators for excellence and innovation in peace education. Recipients of the Abe Keller Peace Education Fund 2012 Peace Education Award are Jesse Hagopian, a Garfield high school history instructor, and Beth Brunton, an instructor at Middle College High School, an alternative Seattle high school.

In addition to the award recipients, the panelists also included Jerry Large, noted “Seattle Times” columnist, and astute observer on human interest topics, and Karen Gourd, Professor of Education at the University of Washington Bothell, where she focuses on equity, education and social change, and multicultural education. The panelists presented insights and perspectives on the need for peace education in our communities, and discussed steps and models for incorporating peace education into our classrooms.

Hagopian was recognized for his exceptional work at Garfield High School. His innovative teaching methods include using Paulo Freire’s problem-posing pedagogy to teach students to think critically about American wars and role plays to motivate their research into historical events, and writing ten-point programs to try to mobilize 
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