Electing a school board. « Fred Klonsky

Electing a school board. « Fred Klonsky:

Electing a school board.

by Fred Klonsky

Chicago has a long and proud history of progressive reform.
It also has produced some duds.
Like mayoral control of the public schools.
Mayoral control was an idea that came from the brain of the second Mayor Daley. So right away you can see the problem.
The citizens of Chicago are allowed to elect the board that runs our water filtration plant, but not the board that governs our schools.
Although I have to admit that our water is clean.
To demonstrate how smart this idea of mayoral control is, it led to the hiring of Paul Vallas, Arne Duncan, Ron 

Should Students Wear a Galvanic Skin Response Bracelet? - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Should Students Wear a Galvanic Skin Response Bracelet? - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

Should Students Wear a Galvanic Skin Response Bracelet?

by Diane Ravitch

Dear Deborah,
As you may know, I started my own blog because I found that I needed more room to respond to emerging issues in education. Much as I enjoy our weekly exchanges, and much as I enjoy tweeting, I felt that I needed something between a long letter to you and a 140-character tweet. So I have been waking every day at 5 a.m. to read the latest education news and to comment on it.
The most intriguing topic of the past week was discovering that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been subsidizing research into something called "galvanic skin response monitors." This research is intended to develop a bracelet that may be worn regularly by students and teachers to gauge their physiological reactions to what is happening in the classroom. The first grant that I heard about went to researchers at Clemson University for $498,055 to "determine the feasibility and utility of using such devices regularly in schools with students and teachers." The Gates website said that the Clemson grant was related to MET (Measures of Effective Teaching), its teacher evaluation project, so it was reasonable to assume that the physiological responses might provide an 

Charter Schools : 21 Reasons NOT to have charter schools in the state of Washington | Seattle Education

Charter Schools : 21 Reasons NOT to have charter schools in the state of Washington | Seattle Education:

Charter Schools : 21 Reasons NOT to have charter schools in the state of Washington

by seattleducation2011

Written by Washington State Representative Marice Maxwell:
1. Charters have NOT outperformed public schools – the majority of charter schools have performed equal to or poorer than public schools.
2. Charter schools too often increase segregation of minority students and students of poverty.
3. Charter school legislation has led on to voucher systems which are funding private religious schools or anything that looks like a school – see Florida, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania,etc.
4. Many charter schools in New York are run by unelected boards full of “hedge fund managers”.
5. Our neighborhood schools build strong communities that support the greater needs of families, schools, and businesses.
6. Washington State’s K-12 schools mobility factor is near 40%. In high poverty schools that mobility factor is 

New venture connects US teachers online - Boston.com

New venture connects US teachers online - Boston.com:

New venture connects US teachers online

FILE - In this March 2, 2011, file photo, Randi Weingarten, left, president of the national American Federation of Teachers, waits to speak to a group of teachers and union laborers on the steps of Providence, R.I., City Hall. Concluding her remarks about education reform at Stanford University last year, Weingarten decided to turn the tables and ask a question of the audience. "You're all technology people," she said. "Could you actually help us?" Weingarten said she received one call, from Louise Rogers, chief executive of TSL Education, a United Kingdom-based company that operates an online network that lets teachers around the globe access, review and discuss lesson plans and other learning materials. The result of that call, to be unveiled Tuesday, June 19, 2012, is called Share My Lesson, an online portal that teachers will be able to access free of charge and that is expected to contain more than 100,000 user-generated materials. (AP Photo/Stew Milne, File)

By Christine Armario

AP Education Writer / June 18, 2012

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MIAMI—Discussing education reform at Stanford University last year, the leader of one of the nation's largest teacher unions decided to turn the tables and ask a question of the audience.

"You're all technology people," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. "Could you actually help us?"

Weingarten said she received one call -- from Louise Rogers, chief executive of TSL Education, a United Kingdom-based company that operates an online network that lets teachers around the globe access, review and discuss lesson plans and other learning materials.

The result of that call, to be unveiled Tuesday, is Share My Lesson, an online 

NYC Educator: Tell Us How You Really Feel

NYC Educator: Tell Us How You Really Feel:

Tell Us How You Really Feel

by Miss Eyre

Did you know you can evaluate the Regents exams and the administration thereof?  You can.  The State Education Department wants your feedback.

Here is an excerpt from how I plan to fill out my survey*:

Did the examination as a whole constitute an appropriate measure of the commencement-level expectations set forth in the New York State Learning Standards and core curriculum?

Well, considering that the English Regents asks students to write an essay in a single draft in an hour or less, not really--not when the state learning standards say that students should use the writing process of brainstorming, drafting, revising, and publishing.  

Was the examination generally appropriate in difficulty?

Was it appropriately difficult for my students who read The Great Gatsby independently?  Not so much. 

IRS Examining Charter Schools « Diane Ravitch's blog

IRS Examining Charter Schools « Diane Ravitch's blog:

IRS Examining Charter Schools

by dianerav

A reader sent the following article about IRS scrutiny of the financial management of charters, especially for-profit management companies.

http://www.rothgerber.com/showarticle.aspx?Show=1627

 

Alert: Increased IRS Scrutiny of Charter Schools Operated by For-Profit Management Companies

 

 

Author(s): Eric V. Hall, H. William Mahaffey, Christopher D. Freeman
Published: 06/18/2012

 

In some cases, charter schools are managed by for-profit entities (referred to in this article as “management companies”). The management agreements documenting these relationships range from agreements to provide general administrative support to agreements to provide virtually every service to be offered by the charter school, including curriculum, payroll, compliance reporting, providing teachers and staff through employee leasing, and the purchase and leasing of facilities.

Oklahoma Is Not OK

by dianerav

I recently printed a blog about the Oklahoma Department of Education’s outrageous decision to publish personal information about some two dozen students who got waivers and did not take the state tests. This seemed like permission to publish their vital statistics on the department’s website, an outrageous and unprofessional action.
Now we hear from a teacher in Oklahoma:
Oklahoma is NOT OK…we’ve had the misfortune to elect a public-school-hating dentist as Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state…she’s in Jeb Bush’s back pocket, so all we have to do is look to Florida to see what’s coming at us. In less than two years she’s begun dismantling our schools.
She recently published the names, personal information, IEP status of students who appealed for graduation 

Is Rhode Island the Worst State?

by dianerav

Teachers in Rhode Island frequently write me to tell me that the state is rapidly deteriorating in its commitment to public education, especially after winning $75 million from the Race to the Top. Commissioner Deborah Gist is enamored of evaluating teachers by the test scores of their students, and she fought hard to increase the number of charter schools in the state, over the determined opposition of parents. The parents in Cranston actually defeated the state’s efforts to bring in the charter chain Achievement First, which now is bound for Providence. Commissioner Gist is a member of  the rightwing group called Chiefs for Change, which is affiliated somehow with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and is religiously devoted to data, testing, accountability, grading, ranking, rating, and other means of turning children and teachers into data points. Chiefs for Change sent out a press release congratulating Louisiana on the passage of Jindal’s legislation to dismantle public

Is Ohio the Worst State?

by dianerav

As we scour the nation to identify the state that has reached the zenith in its efforts to destroy our public education system and to discourage its teachers, our eyes must necessarily turn to Ohio. Here a Tea Party Governor, John Kasich, is working in tandem with a Republican-dominated legislature to do their level best to achieve the dubious distinction of creating the most toxic school reforms in the nation. Readers may recall the battle last year when Kasich’s SB 5–which banned collective bargaining–was rejected by 61% of the voters in a referendum. Some observers thought he made a mistake by including police and firefighters along with teachers. That created a united front against SB 5. Of course, that was a minor detail in the ongoing effort to reduce the status of  teachers and their ability to have a say in what happens in the schools of Ohio. Ohio is incredibly welcoming to for-profit charters and for-profit cybercharters.
Here are some readers’ comments:
Ohio is beginning the same idiotic system this coming school year, only 50 percent of our evaluation will be based on student test scores. I hope none of my students have an ear infection, are hungry,had their grammy 

A Letter from Jill Biden to You

by dianerav

Some readers received an email signed by Jill Biden. They asked what I thought of her message. They asked me how I would respond if I were in their place.
The letter says:

Dear  – I’ve been a teacher in public schools and community colleges for more than 30 years. Being an educator is about more than teaching — it’s about instilling confidence. There is no better moment than when I see a student realize that she can do whatever she sets her mind to do. I’m sure you know that feeling, too. President Obama knows what that’s like, too. He understands that improving the education system takes all of us, and that teachers are absolutely critical to those efforts. He listens when teachers explain the challenges they face in overcrowded and underfunded classrooms. And he knows that education is key to a healthy economy and a strong country. That’s why he’s working so hard to improve our schools. You are receiving this email because you have told the campaign you also work in education. Today, I’m proud to invite you to join me as a member of Educators for Obama, a new group of supporters de Vouchers in New York State? by dianerav Legislation was introduced on June 15 proposing to repeal the Blaine Amendment in the New York State constitution. Enacted by many states in the nineteenth century, the Blaine amendment prohibits the allocation of public money to religious schools. The proposed legislation would clear the way for vouchers for religious schools. This is an opportune time for the repeal effort by supporters of religious schools. The proliferation of charter schools has dimmed the bright line that separates public and private schools. Many charter schools are private schools that operate with public funds. They are not open to all. They are free to write their own rules and to kick out kids who don’t live by their rules. They operate with minimal oversight. Most have wealthy directors, usually hedge fund managers, who supply extra funds. Most have a smaller proportion of students with disabilities and A Sickening Feeling in Philadelphia by dianerav I wrote a blog about the press for privatization in Philadelphia, and someone sent me the following email. For a minute, I felt as helpless as he does, then I took a deep breath, redoubled my resolve, and determined to fight back. We can’t let the elites take away what belongs to all of us. He wrote: I read your recent article about privatization in Philly.  Thanks for the support.  We need it.  You likened it to the nineteenth century when we were dependent on the largesse of the wealthy.  The current threat is even worse.  Organized money is picking over the carcass of public education.  Taxpayers pay taxes to enrich the already wealthy who have bought  Update on New Jersey’s Bad Idea by dianerav Earlier today, I posted a blog about a bill in the New Jersey legislature that would remove seniority and tenure from teachers in that state and require that they be fired after two consecutive negative evaluations.. I just received  the  latest report from a reader in New Jersey. You will notice two bad things about this “victory”: 1. Teachers and school boards have been pitted against each other. This is wrong. They should be working together. 2. Teachers have been pushed so far into a corner defending due process and seniority that they have acceded to demands to be evaluated by test scores. Interesting that the US will be the only nation to accept this untried,

Teachers For Social Justice: June 30th Ethnic Studies Fundraiser

Teachers For Social Justice: June 30th Ethnic Studies Fundraiser:

June 30th Ethnic Studies Fundraiser

by sarah-ji

Support the Ethnic Studies Program in Tucson, Arizona and around the nation! Come make connections between Raza Studies in Arizona and Chicago education with a panel discussion, performances and local art work. Indulge in meaning dialogue with the panelist: Dr. David Stovall- UIC professor Dr. Mirna Garcia- Chicago Grassroots Curriculum Taskforce Jonah Bondurant, Jackie Rodriguez & Students -Teachers at Rudy Lozano Academy Performances by: Reggie Eldridge- Spoken Word Kuumba Lynx JaroChicanos Sponsored by Teachers for Social Justice Co-sponsored by: VILLARTE- Little Village Art Festival SURCUL/VILLAPOLOOZA $5 in advance $10 at the door Light refreshments will be served.

What Rodney King Meant To Me | The Jose Vilson

What Rodney King Meant To Me | The Jose Vilson:

What Rodney King Meant To Me

by Jose

I have a student who already glorifies the idea of enrolling for the armed forces. He resolves every imaginary conflict with a shotgun or a mixed martial arts move. I’ve made it a running joke just to show how absurd he sounds every time he puts his fingers up in a shot-trigger motion. Yet, something unnerved me about him. For the last three years, I’ve worked on making him one of my student leaders, and thus, he reflects me in a way no other student in the building does.
His continued impersonation of local and federal officers made me wonder what would happen if his community asked him to keep the peace, where he might offer war.
Growing up, Rodney King symbolized the continued persecution of people of color by local police. It might have shocked the nation, but it only made those of us from the hood nod in unison. While the videotape kept rolling in 

Daily Kos: Juneteenth

Daily Kos: Juneteenth:

Juneteenth

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger, who had arrive with Union troops on Galveston Island the day before, read General Order #3, which began as follows:

The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.

This was the first news in Texas of the Emancipation Proclamation, in which Abraham Lincoln had declared that all slaves in territory still in rebellion against the United States as of January 1, 1863, were liberated.  Starting with Texas the following year, states and localities began to commemorate the day as marking the end of slavery.  It is worth noting that the Emancipation had at the moment it went into effect freed no slaves -  it did not apply to border states that had stayed in the Union or to territory already reconquered by the Union Army.  Its purpose was less the freeing of the slaves than it was setting a marker that prevented Britain from entering the Civil War on behalf of the South - remember that Britain had already moved against slavery, to which much 

DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: "Ouch! My Brain Hurts!": Rigor in the Classroom

DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: "Ouch! My Brain Hurts!": Rigor in the Classroom:

"Ouch! My Brain Hurts!": Rigor in the Classroom

by Lisa M

Popout

I watched this video, and cracked up! I was trying to find articles about rigor and bumped into this video. It's a bit long in making its point, but I get it. This poor teacher is being hounded by her principal, to "perform" , so that her students can learn the parts of speech. I don't have a problem with rigor in the classroom, I embrace it.

I love how a contributor to the article, Rigor:What Does It Mean to You?, described rigor. She said,"Rigor makes 

Using QR Codes to Engage!

by Lisa M

I discovered QR codes about a year ago,  I read about them, downloaded a QR reader, and began to create my own codes. When I attended ISTE11, they were all over the place!  Silly me, I felt like one of the chosen when I had to demonstrate or explain what they were. :)

Well, eventually, the fun of it wore off, you can see them wherever you go, magazines, etc..., so now the question became, "How do I use QR codes in my classroom?" Or better yet, "Can I Use QR codes in My Classroom?" I was perusing Free Technology for Teachers in my Google Reader, and lo and behold, what did I see? A very, cool, way to use QR codes. Now, just to be fair, prior to seeing Bryne's article, I had already bookmarked Steve Anderson's "QR Codes in Education" Livebinder, Richard posted the  QR Treasure Hunt Generator  created by  Classtools.net .

 It was very simple to use and the title says it all.  You create questions. The questions are turned into QR 

Schooling in the Ownership Society: WSJ critical of PA Republicans for being soft on vouchers

Schooling in the Ownership Society: WSJ critical of PA Republicans for being soft on vouchers:

WSJ critical of PA Republicans for being soft on vouchers

by Mike Klonsky

NAACP protest in Harrisburg, slams vouchers & Gov. Corbett's budget cuts.

There's no better place to get the Ownership Society viewpoint on school reform than from the Wall Street Journal (although lately EdWeek has been running a close second). A June 16th, WSJ article, "Keystone State Kop-Out on Education," by David Feith, lambasts Pennsylvania Republicans for not doing enough on passage of a  state-wide voucher bill which could also serve as a bailout for the struggling Catholic school system.

"Without vouchers, we simply can't continue to bear the heavy cost of operating schools that are 

PSAT for 6-19-12: Fight test-based student retention - Parents United for Responsible Education

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » PSAT for 6-19-12: Fight test-based student retention:

PSAT for 6-19-12: Fight test-based student retention

by admin

PURE has been fighting the Chicago Public Schools’ test-based student promotion policy since 1998, and although the rules have changed a bit, there are still thousands of students who are flunked every year based on their state tests scores alone.
The harm begins with the way CPS bars eighth graders from participating in graduation celebrations if their state test scores fall below an artificial cut-off point. Those students along with 3rd and 6th graders with scores below the policy’s cut off point must go to summer school. Some of them may benefit from the extra time, but overall research shows that holding students back does not help them and often harms them educationally.
Many parents in Chicago would like to join the testing opt-out movement, but students in Chicago are threatened 

Missouri Education Watchdog: Jeb Bush, Levesque, Obama, Duncan. No Difference in Educational Philosophy Between Republicans and Democrats. Some Floridians are not Happy with this Bipartisanship.

Missouri Education Watchdog: Jeb Bush, Levesque, Obama, Duncan. No Difference in Educational Philosophy Between Republicans and Democrats. Some Floridians are not Happy with this Bipartisanship.:

Jeb Bush, Levesque, Obama, Duncan. No Difference in Educational Philosophy Between Republicans and Democrats. Some Floridians are not Happy with this Bipartisanship.

by stlgretchen

A trio of elitists applauding the implosion of public education. Is Levesque standing in the wings?

Here's a crosspost of Grumpyelder's blog on what's happening educationally in Florida with Jeb Bush and the boondoggle of common core standards and high stakes testing.

Pay close attention.  This playbook will be coming with a vengeance to your state as well.  Political 

Jersey Jazzman: Tenure Confusion in NJ

Jersey Jazzman: Tenure Confusion in NJ:

Tenure Confusion in NJ

by Duke

I posted a summary of the two competing New Jersey tenure bills over at Blue Jersey earlier today. And the invaluable Deciminyan posted video of today's testimony a few posts above mine.

I was actually feeling a less pessimistic about the ways things are going - but still with some substantial reservations - until I read this post over at Diane Ravich's blog. A reader of Ravitch's reports that tenure can still be revoked with an appeal to a third party.

I don't think that's right... but then I realized that I'm probably reading a different version of the bill than Ravitch's source. The bill on the NJ Legislature's site is the old bill from this winter. But I've been working from the latest revision, posted at NJSpotlight.

According to this report from the Star-Ledger's Jeanette Rundquist, NJEA is supporting the current Ruiz bill. I can't believe they are talking about the old version: that one still bypasses using seniority in layoff decisions, 

Families risk arrest in protesting school closure:

 

Families risk arrest in protesting school closure

Jill Tucker

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Dozens of students, parents and activists who have set up camp at an Oakland elementary school to protest a plan to permanently close the school were risking arrest Monday after police posted orders to vacate the school grounds.
The demonstration started as a sit in at Lakeview Elementary School Friday afternoon and bled into the weekend, organizers said. Roughly 15 students and parents remained at the school Monday morning, down from 40 or so over the weekend.
Citing budget woes and declining enrollment, the school board voted in October to close five elementary schools across Oakland: Lakeview, Santa Fe, Marshall, Maxell Park and Lazear. Parents have been fighting to save the schools ever since.
School district police officers assessed the encampment Monday morning and then posted signs advising the protesters that they were "interfering with the good order of a school," a 

LAUSD & UTLA: A POSITIVE VISION OF WHAT COULD BE? - Perdaily.com

LAUSD & UTLA: A POSITIVE VISION OF WHAT COULD BE? - Perdaily.com:

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LAUSD & UTLA: A POSITIVE VISION OF WHAT COULD BE?

by Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)
Since November of 2009 and with this post, perdaily has published 414 blogs over the last 4 years about the failing of public education at the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and other predominantly minority filled school districts like it around the country. Whether it is the militant ignorance of those running the system or the purposeful structuring of public education to assure no challenge to those in power, that have long called the shots, is of little relevance to the students and teachers forced to continue to function in this dumbed down de facto daycare system.

As we at perdaily go into hiatus for the summer to prepare for the next academic year and the litigation it will bring to hopefully redress the longstanding yet clearly avoidable failure of LAUSD and their facilitators at United Teachers Los Angeles