Des Moines Education Association: It's Election Time!

Des Moines Education Association: It's Election Time!:

It's Election Time!

by Andrew Rasmussen

September 27 is the first day that voters in Iowa can start voting by absentee ballot or at satellite voting stations. We hope every DMEA member votes in the upcoming election and encourage you to consider voting absentee. One of the benefits of casting an absentee ballot early is that your name will be taken off the calling lists of candidates and political parties! If you wish to vote by absentee ballot print off a copy of an absentee ballot request form (LINK), send it in, and in a few days your ballot will arrive. Mark your ballot and send it back in and you have completed your civic duty!

Need to register to vote? Click HERE

Need to find locations of satellite voting stations near you? Click HERE

When voting we hope you consider supporting the ISEA recommended candidate for state legislature in your district. If you are not sure what legislative district you live in you can find out by check your voter registration card or visit the Polk County Auditor's website to check the maps of legislative districts.

A little background on how a candidate gets "recommended" by ISEA:

The ISEA Political Action Committee (PAC) is used exclusively for Iowa Governor, Senate, House, and school board elections. The committee is composed of equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans with the single goal of electing pro-education candidates. The voting record of incumbents is reviewed by members of the PAC, and those incumbents who have voted consistently for pro-education legislation may be recommended as "friendly incumbents." All other candidates running for office are invited to interview with local interview teams made up of members, and those candidates who are pro-public education may be recommended by the ISEA.

For the purposes of the ISEA PAC, pro-education means candidates whose answers to questions about education, working conditions, and employee benefits most closely reflect the views of the Association.

Here is a list of ISEA recommended candidates in the legislative districts around the Des Moines metro:

DES MOINES

House District 31 (East side of DSM and Pleasant Hill) – Rick Olson

House District 32 (North/central side of DSM) – Ruth Ann Gaines

House District 33 (Southeast side of DSM) – Kevin McCarthy

House District 34 (Southwest side of DSM) – Bruce Hunter

House District 35 (West side of DSM) – Ako Abdul Samad

House District 36 (Far west side of DSM) – Marti Anderson

House District 41 (Far southwest side of DSM/West DSM) – Jo Oldson

Senate District 16 (East side DSM) – Dick Dearden

Senate District 18 (West side of DSM) – Janet Peterson

THE ‘BURBS

House District 25 (Norwalk) – Katie Routh

House District 26 (Carlisle) – Scott Ourth

House District 30 (Altoona/Bondurant) – Joe Riding

House District 38 (Southside of Ankeny/Saylorville Township) – John Phoenix

House District 39 (Grimes/Johnston) – Kelsey Clark

House District 40 (Urbandale) – John Forbes

House District 43 (Clive) – Susan Judkins

House District 44 (Waukee) – Eric Brenneman

Senate District 10 (Grimes/Urbandale) – ISEA action pending

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION:

The NEA has endorsed re-electing Barack Obama for President

CONGRESSIONAL RACES:

The candidates for the House of Representatives for this congressional district are...

- Leonard Boswell (D)

- Tom Latham (R)

Andre Dunbar's Journey for Justice - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Andre Dunbar's Journey for Justice - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Andre Dunbar's Journey for Justice

by Anthony Cody

Guest post by Andre Dunbar.
My name is Andre Dunbar. I am a senior at William L. Sayre High School in Philadelphia, and I am a student organizer with the Philadelphia Student Union.
The Philadelphia Student Union is fighting back against school closures and the transformation plans we are seeing in Philadelphia and nationally. As students we don't want to see what other cities are seeing now--closures that that are hurting their communities. These closures destroy our education.
Governor Corbett's cuts to education leave my district with less money, which leads the district to say that they cannot afford to keeps our schools open. But at the same time that Governor Corbett is cutting school funding, he is spending more money on prisons. This shows us his perception of us as students and where he expects us to end up in our future. Not 

The Educated Reporter: Who Really Won in the Chicago Teachers' Strike?

The Educated Reporter: Who Really Won in the Chicago Teachers' Strike?:

Who Really Won in the Chicago Teachers' Strike?

by Emily Richmond

Students picket with striking Chicago school teachers outside Lane Tech College Prep High School Sept. 11, 2012, in Chicago. (Getty Images)

Both the Chicago Teachers' Union and Mayor Rahm Emanuel are claiming some victories in the end of the strike that shut down the Windy City's schools for seven days. The teachers' strike -- the city's first in 25 years --ended late Tuesday after the union's delegates voted to return to work.

According to the Chicago Tribune, there wasn't a clear winner in this fight. Both sides made notable concessions. The teachers will see their salary scale increase by double digits over the next three years, although it's not the 30 percent boost union president Karen Lewis initially sought. As for Emanuel's priorities, principals will continue to control staffing at schools, and Chicago will adopt an evaluation system that uses student test scores as a factor in evaluating teachers' job performance.

(For more coverage of the strike, check out the Chicago Sun-Times, as well as Catalyst Chicago. )

There was plenty of debate that a prolonged strike would hurt President Obama's re-election chances, as his 

Chicago strike ends, but debate continues over how we regard and treat teachers in America | Get Schooled

Chicago strike ends, but debate continues over how we regard and treat teachers in America | Get Schooled:

Chicago strike ends, but debate continues over how we regard and treat teachers in America

9:56 am September 19, 2012, by Maureen Downey

A relieved Chicago sent its children back to school today as teachers agree to tentative contract. (AP Images)

Today, 350,000 students return to school in Chicago where the striking teachers’ union has agreed to a tentative contract.

Much commentary has been written about the seven-day strike but I found this piece by New York Times columnist Joe Nocera among the most interesting. He talks to noted education researcher Marc Tucker, quoted here on the blog a few months on why Finnish schools perform so well.

An ongoing frustration with education debates — including many on this blog — is that we focus on things that don’t matter, that appeal to ideologues and bumper sticker voters who don’t have time to read the fine print.

Georgia is now in a frenzy over a charter school amendment that will do nothing to dramatically 

Fox Won't Disclose News Corp. Testing Contracts At Heart Of The Chicago Teachers' Strike | Blog | Media Matters for America

Fox Won't Disclose News Corp. Testing Contracts At Heart Of The Chicago Teachers' Strike | Blog | Media Matters for America:

Fox Won't Disclose News Corp. Testing Contracts At Heart Of The Chicago Teachers' Strike

BLOG ››› 56 MINUTES AGO ››› ROB SAVILLO

7

In 89 segments between September 10 and 16, Fox News reported on the Chicago Teachers Union's strike without disclosing its financial ties to the educational technology company administering the standardized tests with which the union takes issue.  

Fox News parent company News Corp. acquired a 90-percent stake in Wireless Generation in 2010. Last May, the company agreed to provide Early Mathematics Assessment Services and Early Literacy Assessment Services to Chicago Public Schools. These contracts total $4.7 million. A central reason the Chicago Teachers Union decided to strike is their objection to the school district's call for heavily weighing such standardized testing to ultimately determine teacher pay and layoffs.

But Fox News anchors and reporters never once disclosed its parent company's ties to Wireless Generation even as the network routinely criticized the strike and the Chicago Teachers Union.

Modern School: Research Shows: Evaluating Teachers Based on Student Tests is Bad for Students

Modern School: Research Shows: Evaluating Teachers Based on Student Tests is Bad for Students:

Shanker Blog » Does It Matter How We Measure Schools' Test-Based Performance?

Shanker Blog » Does It Matter How We Measure Schools' Test-Based Performance?:

Does It Matter How We Measure Schools’ Test-Based Performance?

by Matthew Di Carlo

In education policy debates, we like the “big picture.” We love to say things like “hold schools accountable” and “set high expectations.” Much less frequent are substantive discussions about the details of accountability systems, but it’s these details that make or break policy. The technical specs just aren’t that sexy. But even the best ideas with the sexiest catchphrases won’t improve things a bit unless they’re designed and executed well.
In this vein, I want to recommend a very interesting CALDER working paper by Mark Ehlert, Cory Koedel, Eric Parsons and Michael Podgursky. The paper takes a quick look at one of these extremely important, yet frequently under-discussed details in school (and teacher) accountability systems: The choice of growth model.
When value-added or other growth models come up in our debates, they’re usually discussed en masse, as if they’re all the same. They’re not. It’s well-known (though perhaps overstated) that different models can, in many cases, lead to different conclusions for the same school or teacher. This paper, which focuses on school-level models but might easily be extended to teacher evaluations as well, helps illustrate this point in a policy-relevant 

Hechinger Report | Blaming U.S. teachers for poor performance of students is not the answer

Hechinger Report | Blaming U.S. teachers for poor performance of students is not the answer:

Blaming U.S. teachers for poor performance of students is not the answer

by Marc Tucker

To some, the Chicago teachers’ strike that ended Tuesday proves what they’ve been saying all along: That the teachers and their unions, when you get right down to it, care more about protecting bad teachers, seniority and pay than they do about what is good for kids. So it’s no surprise that people who hold those views also think the most important reform we should pursue is to use standardized test results to identify our worst teachers. And, of course, they will get behind any measure that will weaken the unions generally.

Marc Tucker

Those people are just plain wrong. Their “reform” agenda has driven our teachers into a bunker—a bunker that teachers have invited their unions to join because they now think the unions are the only friends they have left.
No nation has ever fired its way to a top-quality teaching staff. No nation has gotten to the top of the world’s education league tables by going to war with its teacher unions. And there is no country in the world that has produced a first-class education system by firing its worst teachers.
There’s only one way to catch up to the countries that are beating the pants off us in the world’s education 

Schools Matter: Journey for Education Justice Campaign

Schools Matter: Journey for Education Justice Campaign:

Journey for Education Justice Campaign

by Jim Horn

ht to Stan Karp:

“Journey for Justice” is a national campaign against school closings led by parents, youth and community activists. Supporters from more than a dozen states, including NJ, will head to Washington, DC this Thursday and Friday to highlight this issue and the need for alternative models of school improvement and transformation. Details and contact info below.

Journey for Justice  2012

The Ride for Education Justice 

September 20-21 2012, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6X5rRI7MyE&feature=youtu.be

SEPTEMBER 20 

Rally @ Central Office for District of Columbia Public Schools

March to U.S. Department of Education and Rally 

SEPTEMBER 21 

Rally @ Congressional Black Caucus Convention  

Youth Listening Session with Congressional Youth Caucus

What We Want:

• Support For Community Models Of School Improvement

• A Process For School Transformation That Engages Parents And Community on the Front End!

• A National Moratorium On All School Closings, Turnarounds, Phase-Outs and Co-Locations.

• A Meeting with President Obama.

• A Federal Hearing on the Impact of the Impact of These Policies.

Contact

Johnnie Lattner   973 855-7329    Newark

Sharon Smith       973 336-8426    Newark

Lorenzo Richardson           201 240-4712    Jersey City

Bro Burns               973 460-4682    Paterson

Email :  nwkschoolclosings@gmail.com

WHO’S RIDING WITH US SO FAR?

Atlanta

Eureka, Mississippi

Baltimore

Boston

Philadelphia

Chicago

Dallas

Detroit

District of Columbia

New York

New Orleans

Wichita, KS

Newark, NJ

Oakland, CA

Kansas City, MO

Chicago school teachers give us all a lesson - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Chicago school teachers give us all a lesson - Opinion - Al Jazeera English:

Chicago school teachers give us all a lesson

Two-thirds of parents supported the Chicago school teachers' protest in spite of the inconvenience caused by the strike. Last Modified: 17 Sep 2012 10:13 inShare1 Email Print Share Feedback

Firings based narrowly on test scores may cause "many dedicated and competent teachers to lose their jobs" [EPA]

We don't know the final terms of the settlement yet, but it appears that the Chicago public school teachers managed to score a major victory over Rahm Emanuel, Chicago's business-oriented mayor. Testing will not comprise as large a share in teachers’ evaluations as Emanuel had wanted; there will be a serious appeals process for teachers whom the school district wants to fire, and laid off teachers will have priority in applying for new positions. If these seem like narrow self-interested gains for the teachers and their union, think again. Teaching in inner city schools is a difficult and demanding job. Most of the children in Chicago's public schools are poor. Their families are struggling with all the issues presented by poverty. Many of the schools are in high crime areas and serious crimes often take place on school premises. It can

Modern School: Chicago Teachers Strike Ends in Defeat for Teachers and Unions

Modern School: Chicago Teachers Strike Ends in Defeat for Teachers and Unions:

Chicago Teachers Strike Ends in Defeat for Teachers and Unions

by Michael Dunn

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) voted today to end their strike. 98% of the 800 delegates voted in favor of ending the strike, according to the New York Times, though the union’s 26,000 members would still have to ratify the new contract, which could take several weeks.

The new contract would give teachers a modest raise and prohibit merit pay, but it would also lengthen the work day by 90 minutes and require that 30% of teachers’ evaluations be based 

Ten minute drawing. Lewis for Mayor. « Fred Klonsky

Ten minute drawing. Lewis for Mayor. « Fred Klonsky:

Ten minute drawing. Lewis for Mayor.

by Fred Klonsky

Click on drawing to enlarge.

Is poverty destiny? Ideology vs. evidence in school reform - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Is poverty destiny? Ideology vs. evidence in school reform - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:

Is poverty destiny? Ideology vs. evidence in school reform

By Valerie Strauss

At the center of the school reform debate is the role that poverty playsin student achievement, as explained well in the following post. It was written by Paul Thomas, an associate professor of education at Furman University in South Carolina. His newest book, “Ignoring Poverty in the U.S. — The Corporate Takeover of Public Education,” was recently published. A version of this post appeared on dailykos.com. This is long but worth the time.

By Paul Thomas

Science educator and activist Anthony Cody had a five-part exchange with the Gates Foundation about education reform on his Education Week blog, Living in Dialogue

These point-counterpoint posts serve well to illustrate the essential difference between Social Context Reformers, represented by Cody, and “No Excuses” Reformers, represented by the Gates Foundation

Tennessee punishing Nashville for refusing to open charter school

by Valerie Strauss

Tennessee officials, led by Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman, are withholding $3.4 million from the Nashville public schools because the state told the system to open a controversial charter school and the local school board refused.
Read full article >>

Who won the Chicago teachers strike?

by Valerie Strauss

The Chicago teachers have called off their strike after seven days as members of the union vote on a proposed contract hammered out in tough negotiations. Who won? Was it Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel or the union?
Read full article >>

Teachers Need To Find their Voice:

Teachers Need To Find their Voice

Participating in the excellent Twitter #edchat discussion at noon today I was reminded, no matter what the pundits say, how many intelligent, caring teachers there are. The discussion was lively and, as always, made me think.

Today’s discussion centered on the question, “What is your opinion on the number one reason education reform is being blocked? As always, participants looked at the question from different perspectives, yet several threads emerged that troubled me. 

Teachers are afraid to be publically vocal with their opinions on the direction (or lack thereof) of education reform. There was concern that teachers 

Chicago’s War on Education | Dailycensored.com

Chicago’s War on Education | Dailycensored.com:

Chicago’s War on Education

by stephenl

Corrupt city officials and union bosses want teacher rights marginalized and kids denied education. It’s longstanding policy.

War is waged on labor. Doing so harms parents and children. Public education’s future is up for grabs. A nearly four century American tradition is disappearing.

It’s on the chopping block for elimination. It’s being commodified. It’s being handed to corporate predators. They’re concerned only about bottom line priorities. Teaching and learning don’t matter. 

On September 10, Chicago teachers walked out. By the time this article circulates, they may be back in classrooms. Since last November, they’ve been fighting stiff headwinds fo

Schools Matter: Access to books is not always enough: An example from Gate C-5

Schools Matter: Access to books is not always enough: An example from Gate C-5:

Access to books is not always enough: An example from Gate C-5

by skrashen

Access to books is not always enough: An example from Gate C-5
Published as: Airport Amenities, Taipei Times, September 19, 2012

As a researcher who has investigated the role of self-selected leisure reading for the past three decades, I was, at first, very happy to see that there is a reading zone at the Taipei airport (at Gate C-5, Eva Airlines).

Our research has concluded that leisure reading has a powerful effect on both first and second-language development: Those who read a great deal on their own develop large vocabularies, good writing style, better 

NYC Educator: An Open Conversation, Even in Chicago, about Union Leadership?

NYC Educator: An Open Conversation, Even in Chicago, about Union Leadership?:

An Open Conversation, Even in Chicago, about Union Leadership?

by Miss Eyre

Listening to coverage of the now-concluded teachers' strike in Chicago on NPR on my way back to the 5 boroughs from the hinterlands yesterday, one thing really struck me in how the Chicago teachers discussed the CTU: the openness with which CTU members discussed Karen Lewis, President of the CTU.  There is far from a universal opinion on how Lewis has handled the breakdown in contract negotiations and the strike, even though the CTU delegates have voted to approve the framework for a new contract and end the strike effective today.

Members of the CTU frankly discussed Lewis's leadership in this time of what must be called a crisis.  Several bluntly questioned her ability to lead following the drastic measure of a teachers' strike.  Others called her too confrontational, while yet others defended her as tough yet pragmatic.  This will clearly be a discussion in the CTU for the coming days, but 

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Rahm's billionaire Republican pal goes off on the CTU

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Rahm's billionaire Republican pal goes off on the CTU:

Rahm's billionaire Republican pal goes off on the CTU

by Mike Klonsky

"The critical issue is to separate the union from the teachers. They're not the same thing." -- Bruce Rauner

Yesterday it was Rupert Murdoch bag man, Joel Klein hating on the CTU. Today its Rahm's billionaire Republican pal Bruce Rauner who's in a rage over the teachers' strike victory. Rauner thinks that Rahm gave away the store in his negotiations with the union.

According to the Tribune,

Rauner, a wealthy venture capitalist who is helping lead a drive for more charter schools in the city, 

Jersey Jazzman: The Strike Is Dead; Long Live the Strike!

Jersey Jazzman: The Strike Is Dead; Long Live the Strike!:

The Strike Is Dead; Long Live the Strike!

by Duke

There's one thing I've learned about Chicago during the teachers strike: the Tribune is a rag. So I'm linking to theSun-Times for news about the suspension of the strike:

The Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates voted Tuesday to end its strike after seven days, meaning classes will be in session Wednesday for 350,000 Chicago Public Schools students.

“Everybody is going back to school,” said Jay Rehak, a delegate from Whitney Young High School.

Delegate Mike Bochner said “an overwhelming majority” of delegates voted to suspend the strike 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Back in school with heads held high

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Back in school with heads held high:

Back in school with heads held high

by Mike Klonsky

Chicago Teachers Union delegates embrace after voting to end their strike. (Scott Olson, Getty Images /

Who won?

They put on their red T-shirts and commanded the attention of the nation and the admiration of millions of teachers. Powerless no more, they showed that unity made them strong. Ninety-eight percent voted to authorize the strike, and 98% voted to end it... Regardless of the terms of the contract, the teachers won. -- Diane Ravitch, Washington Post

We won so much more than a contract says TSJ

In this strike, so much more was won than a contract. After 17 punishing years of corporate,