Diane in the Evening 11-5-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Don't Forget to Vote For PUBLIC Education

DC Teacher to Washington State Voters

by dianerav

Erich Martel retired as a much-respected veteran social studies teacher in the DC public schools.
He offered this warning to voters on the other side of the continent, in Washington State:
From: Erich Martel
To: voters in Washington State
November 5, 2012
Charter Expansion (Ballot Initiative I-1240) Will Harm, Not Help, Public School Students in Washington State: Insights from the Other Washington, the Washington (DC) Public Schools
- Charter schools are private schools on the public dole:
– Unlike real public schools, they are not obligated to keep and teach the students they enroll
- They boost their standardized test scores and graduation rates by transferring unwanted students back to the real public school system or LEA.
- Charter advocates, like the Walton & Gates Foundations, aim to break up public schools and replace them with a lots of charter schools, run by charter boards that report to an appointed authorizing body over which neither the public nor the state legislature has oversight authority.
- They view the public the same way they view teachers’ due process rights: obstacles to arbitrary management 

Help Hurricane Victims By Sending Books

by dianerav

The Albert Shanker Institute is collecting money to buy books for children in the devastated areas.
Please read this and send whatever you can.
Every dime will go for books, not a penny for administration.

Rightwing Groups Pour $$$$$ into Tennessee

by dianerav

StudentsFirst and another far-right group called Tennessee Federation for Children are pumping huge amounts of money into state legislative races for candidates who support vouchers and charters.
Tennessee Federation for Children is affiliated with the pro-voucher organization called American Federation for Children, run by billionaire Betsy DeVos of Michigan. AFS honored Michelle Rhee and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin for their efforts on behalf of vouchers in 2010.
This report in the Tessessean says:
The Tennessee PAC affiliated with StudentsFirst, a Sacramento, Calif.-based organization led by former 

TFA: The Goal is Power

by dianerav

Jersey Jazzman points out what has become apparent: Teach for America is not really about teaching. It is about training the leaders who will take power in the education system.
Some work for Senators and members of Congress. Some are embedded in state and city school systems at the highest levels. Some have ascended to six-figure positions in education before the tender age of 30, doubling what classroom teachers make.
Almost every day brings another announcement of a TFA appointment to a high-level position. In Louisiana, the TFA director of charter schools in New Orleans was elected to the State Board, where she votes on contracts for–guess what–TFA.
In Dallas, a TFA alum is in charge of human resources. In Louisiana, a TFA alum of 27 was put in charge of 

The Quick and the Ed » Vouchers Redux: The Possible Unintended Consequences of Victory

The Quick and the Ed » Vouchers Redux: The Possible Unintended Consequences of Victory:

Vouchers Redux: The Possible Unintended Consequences of Victory

by Peter Cookson Jr.

Some issues just won’t go away. Despite two hundred years of debate, Americans still don’t agree about the proper relationship between government and religion. Pity poor James Madison who after writing the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights still had to take quill in hand and argue against the establishment of a state religion. But even his mighty quill was not enough. There remains a movement to marry state and religion. Case in point: Tomorrow, Floridians will go to the polls to vote on Amendment 8 or the Florida Religious Freedom Amendment.
The proposed ballot question reads: Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution providing that no individual or entity may be denied, on the basis of religious identity of belief, governmental benefits, funding, or other support, except as required by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, and deleting the prohibition against using revenues from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or 

SOS Hurricane Sandy Student and Teacher Support FundSave Our Schools

SOS Hurricane Sandy Student and Teacher Support FundSave Our Schools:

SOS Hurricane Sandy Student and Teacher Support Fund

by Server

Save Our Schools Response to Hurricane Sandy

Please Register for/Donate to the
Hurricane Sandy Student and Teacher Support Fund

Save Our Schools calls on all local, state and federal authorities to spare no expense in rushing aide to thousands of school children and teachers affected by hurricane Sandy. The devastating loss of homes, clothing, books and school supplies will result in a serious and prolonged disruption to education. Schools that have suffered destruction from flooding will need immediate assistance to replace materials and restore a healthy, safe environment for all students and employees. Students experiencing the trauma of fear and loss need counseling and other social services to ensure their emotional health and optimize their ability to continue learning. We need to do all that we can to make certain adequate services are provided. Building a sense of connection and care, and providing opportunities to process with others what has just occurred should be a key focus of instruction at this time.
We therefore urge that governments and agencies take the following steps:

• Set up distribution centers in affected communities to provide area teachers and students with free supply of books and school supplies
• Provide immediate assistance to damaged schools to restore all supplies and a healthy and safe environment
• Dispatch counselors and other social service and medical personnel to schools, shelters and community centers to provide support to children and families affected by the storm
• Provide bus service and other transportation to children and teachers in affected areas so that they may resume education at their local (or nearby) schools.
• In all communities affected by the storm, provide free breakfast, lunch and dinner to all students and their families at their own or nearby schools.
• Enact an immediate moratorium on administration of all high stakes standardized testing in the states affected by the storm.

Save Our Schools also calls on its members and endorsers to support communities in need by:

• Supporting our efforts in urging all governments and agencies to take the above steps
• Donating clothing, books and school supplies to children and teachers at shelters, distribution centers and schools
• Volunteering at local shelters to provide educational and recreational activities to children
• Wherever possible, volunteering time and energy to the restoration efforts in affected communities
• Donating generously to the Save Our Schools Hurricane Sandy Student and Teacher Support Fundthrough this link Contribute.

* Please Note
All funds will be used to help teachers, students and their families in need of books and school supplies and will be distributed through union locals, area PTA’s and other education advocacy organizations.
SOS understands as other organizations do, that monetary contributions are best and that Small items such as collections of food, used clothing, and shoes often must be cleaned, sorted, and repackaged. This impedes the valuable resources of money, time, and personnel that are needed for other aspects of our relief operation.
~ Source; The American Red Cross.

UPDATE: The “school conversion” clause in Initiative 1240, the parent trigger and ALEC model legislation | Seattle Education

The “school conversion” clause in Initiative 1240, the parent trigger and ALEC model legislation | Seattle Education:

The “school conversion” clause in Initiative 1240, the parent trigger and ALEC model legislation

by seattleducation2011

The “school conversion” clause in Initiative 1240, the parent trigger and ALEC model legislation

Posted on November 5, 2012 by seattleducation2011 | Leave a comment

There’s a reason why Stand for Children doesn’t want to refer to the school conversion clause in Initiative 1240 as the parent trigger. If you were to Google “parent trigger”, articles come up about how it hasdivided communities, how it has been used as a tool for charter operators to take over existing school buildings and how it started with Steve Barr, then the CEO of the Green Dot charter chain to open a charter school in Compton amidst much uproar by the majority of parents using an existing school building. (Which begs the question, just where do Bill Gates, Alice Walton and Stand for Children see all of these charter schools being located?  The Seattle Public School district is above capacity right now in terms of class space). Oh yeah, and the other reason why Stand for Children denies the fact that the term “school conversion” is not the same as the parent trigger is because the parent trigger has been formalized as a model bill and pushed as legislation in 17 states so far by ALEC.

Even with Steve Barr’s big fail in Compton, CA trying to take over a school building, the Heartland Institute, yes the same one who loves vouchers and 

Parents throughout the US, take note of anti-public school legislation in your state.

Posted on November 5, 2012 by seattleducation2011 | Leave a comment

This is being re-posted from NYC Public School Parents. The original post, written by Parents Across America Founding MemberLeonie Haimson, was titled:

Parents throughout the nation: Use your vote wisely on Tuesday to protect and support your public schools; do not let the privatizers buy your elections!

There are critical elections taking place on Tuesday throughout the country that parents, education advocates, and others who care about preserving and strengthening our public schools need to take notice of and cast their ballot appropriately.  Out-of-state money from billionaires and astroturf groups like Students First are flowing into state races, like this one in Tennessee  and local school board elections, like these  in New Orleans and  New Jersey, to push damaging policies to privatize and digitize our public schools.

There are also referendums and initiatives on the ballot in many states and cities that will affect the future of our public schools for years to come.  In each case, there is tremendous private money being used to facilitate the expansion of charters and vouchers, promote budget cuts, and impose mayoral control, and against allowing elected school boards to protect and support their local public schools.  The hedge funders, billionaires, for-profit charter operators, and right-wingers are using their vast resources to impose their political will, and in most cases are dramatically outspending the good government organizations, education advocates, teachers, and other concerned citizens, who would rather save and strengthen our public schools rather than dismantle them.

For example, there are two statewide referendums on charter schools that people need to vote AGAINST.  The individuals and groups who are pushing them are outspending the opposition in Georgia  twenty to one   and in the state of Washington, more than twelve to one.  If the privateers win out, it will show how the influence of big money can buy elections in the face of local sentiment and good public policy.

•  In Washington State, parents should vote NO on Initiative 1240, which would authorize charter schools to be established in the state for the first time.  Charter schools have already been voted down by the State Legislature six times, including as recently as 2012, and three times by Washington voters.  Yet Bill Gates and his cronies remain determined to overturn the popular will, and have contributed nearly $11 MILLION to achieve this end.  Gates himself has given more than $3 million to the campaign, Alice Walton of Walmart fame has kicked in another $1.7 million, and Gates’ buddies Paul Allen of Microsoft and the Bezos family at Amazon.com have donated millions more.  91 percent of the funding for the massive campaign of this initiative has come from just ten people, all of them billionaires.

Meanwhile, those opposing the initiative include the Washington State PTA, the State Democratic Party, the League of Women Voters, the state Association of School Administrators, the state’s principals, the state teachers union, the Seattle NAACP, El Centro do la Raza, the Seattle Public Schools superintendent and countless school boards. They point out how this initiative would further drain resources from the public schools, which have already been found to be constitutionally underfunded by the courts, and would take accountability out of public hands.  The measure would also allow the privatization of any public school as long as 51 percent of parents voted for it, in an even more radical permutation of the so-called Parent Trigger. In the latest poll, the pro-charter supporters are ahead by nearly 20 points because of the “very lopsided advertising campaign” financed by these ten billionaires; don’t let this Initiative pass!  For more on 1240, visit the No on 1240 website.

• In Georgia, parents should vote NO on Amendment 1, which would create an appointed commission with the power to authorize charter schools over the opposition of democratically elected local school boards and the state Board of Education.  This constitutional amendment is opposed by the state PTA, the state School Superintendent, the Georgia School Boards Association, and many civil rights groups,  who explain how this measure would divert hundreds of millions of dollars annually from the public schools, and into the hands of for-profit corporations, many of them with a lousy record of the schools they currently run, like K12 Inc. According to one report, these new charter schools would also be eligible to receive more state money per pupil than regular public schools.  The vast majority of the contributions  financing the amendment are coming from outside the state, mainly from charter operators, Michelle Rhee’s Students First, Alice Walton, the Koch brothers, and other individuals intent on weakening and privatizing public schools.   Don’t be fooled: here is an explanation of how the amendment has been misleadingly phrased to trick voters, which has already triggered a lawsuit.  For more on why you should vote no on this damaging amendment, see Vote Smart Georgia.

• In Idaho, parents should vote NO on Propositions 1, 2, and 3:  Proposition One would limit the rights of teachers to collectively bargain over working conditions like class size, would effectively eliminate their job security and base their evaluation largely on test scores.  Proposition Two would implement damaging and wasteful merit pay. Proposition Three would spend yet more funding on requiring online learning for students, which was passed into law after substantial contributions from for-profit virtual learning companies to the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna. Many of the same companies, including K12 Inc., have given funds to push this proposition, along with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who contributed $200,000.  Their involvement was only disclosed after a court order demanding that the shadowy group pushing these propositions reveal its donors.

•  In California, parents should vote YES on both Propositions 30 and 38, to enable the state to raise revenue to prevent hugely damaging budget cuts to public schools, which are already critically underfunded.  More on this from the group Educate the State.  Parents and other concerned citizens should also vote NO on Proposition 32, which would prohibit unions from spending money for political purposes, while exempting Super PACs, hedge-funders, billionaires and thousands of big businesses. The League of Women Voters, among many other good government groups, urges a No vote, as do we.

•   In Arizona, parents should vote YES on Proposition 204, which would make permanent a temporary one percent sales tax, with most of the proceeds going to public schools.  Arizona already has seen the most drastic budget cuts to schools in the nation in recent years, resulting in some of the highest class sizes, and its children cannot afford any more cuts to school funding.  Supporters of Proposition 204 include the Arizona State PTA, Voices for Education and the Southern Arizona Leadership Council; opponents include the state Chamber of Commerce. For more on this Proposition, see the Quality Education and Jobs website.

•  Finally, voters in Bridgeport CT should Vote NO on changing the city charter to eliminate their elected school board, which would allow their mayor to wield unilateral control through an appointed school board.  Earlier last year, the hedge-fund backed, pro-charter lobby group ConnCAN conspired with Teach for America and the mayor of Bridgeport, along with the state’s Governor, to oust Bridgeport’s elected school board in what was essentially an illegal coup.  Their actions were later overturned by the courts.  So now, the pro-privatization lobby is spending a record amount to impose mayoral control through a referendum, with Michelle Rhee’s Student First contributing $97,000 and Mayor Bloomberg another $20,000.

As Diane Ravitch has pointed out, mayoral control has a lousy record; our analysis shows that two cities under mayoral control, Cleveland and NYC, have made the  least progress in raising student achievement since 2003 of any the large urban districts on the national assessments called the NAEPs. Here in NYC, after ten years, mayoral control is hugely unpopular, for we have seen how Bloomberg has ignored the priorities of parents in cutting school budgets, increasing class size, closing neighborhood schools, expanding charters and putting them in existing school buildings where they have squeezed out our public school children. In a poll conducted earlier this year, only 13 percent of New Yorkers said the mayor should retain sole control of the public schools. In Chicago, where mayoral control has existed for 17 years, polls show that the system is equally unpopular: 77 percent of Chicago voters oppose continued mayoral control. In fact, on Tuesday in Chicago, there is an advisory referendum on the ballot, urging the state legislature to allow the city to return to an elected school board.

Kevin Johnson, a former NBA basketball player, who used to run charter schools and who is now mayor of Sacramento and is married to Michelle Rhee, came to Connecticut to campaign for the mayoral control referendum.  John Bagley, also a former professional basketball player who is now an elected member of Bridgeport’s school board wrote a great letter to Johnson a week ago, which concluded this way:

“Maybe “KJ” and his `reformers’ can explain why the city of New Haven, which has an appointed board, has more failing schools than Bridgeport. This is true, despite the presence on their appointed Board of Education of the former director of CONNCAN, the Connecticut leader of takeover policies. I have only one final piece of advice for `KJ’, don’t come into my house and mess with my right to vote!”

This is a message we should all take to heart.

Use your vote, Bridgeport residents and all others throughout the nation who care about public education, while you still have it!  Do not give up your democratic rights and allow the billionaires who send their own children to private schools to buy these elections so they can dismantle, plunder and privatize your public schools.

Zombie Functionalism and the Return of Neo-Instrumentality in Education

Zombie Functionalism and the Return of Neo-Instrumentality in Education:

Zombie Functionalism and the Return of Neo-Instrumentality in Education

by Danny Weil

First printed: August 7th, 2012 at:

http://philoforchange.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/zombie-functionalism-and-the-return-of-neo-instrumentality-in-education/

also, Truthout: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/11757-zombie-functionalism-and-the-return-of-neo-instrumentality-in-education

Tuesday, 25 September 2012 10:46

This article is part of Truthout’s ongoing Public Intellectual Project.

For decades now, the debate in America over education has swerved back and forth between student testing, teacher accountability, standards, competitiveness and what curriculum should contain. With No Child Left Behind ushered in at the beginning of the George W. Bush presidency, America entered into the cartographic reality and morbid morass of high stakes testing, the location on the chess board where the Wall Street financiers and seedy politicians wanted to put public school education after years of neglect and underfunding.  Why?  For not only is the attack on public education one aimed at destroying teacher unions and the public commons in general, but it is also an attack on what is to be taught in classes, the actual methods of instruction, what students are to be thinking about and the educational theories behind a ‘neo-functionality’ that reduces students to mere 

Des Moines Education Association: Election Info for Tuesday, November 6

Des Moines Education Association: Election Info for Tuesday, November 6:

Election Info for Tuesday, November 6

by Andrew Rasmussen

The 2012 election is finally here. We wanted to make sure you all have the information you need to make your vote count! The following information is from the Polk County Auditor's office.


Q.  How do I know where to vote?
A.  Your general election polling site is listed on your voter registration card.  Please note that your polling place may differ based on the type of the election. If you have lost your registration card, call our office at 286-3247. To find your voting precinct and where to go vote follow this LINK. If you already know your precinct then follow thisLINK to find out where you will go to vote.


Q. Explain how same day registration will work?
A. With proof of identity and residence you will be allowed to register at your correct polling place on Election Day.  If you do not have proof of residence or identity you will be allowed to vote a provisional ballot.

Who should you vote for? We would recommend you strongly consider voting for candidates who have been recommended by the Iowa State Education Association or the National Education Association.

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

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION:

The NEA has endorsed re-electing Barack Obama for President

CONGRESSIONAL RACES:

ISEA has endorsed Leonard Boswell for the U.S. House of Representatives for the 3rd District.

One Day Before the Election, How You Can Be More Involved | NewsTaco

One Day Before the Election, How You Can Be More Involved | NewsTaco:

One Day Before the Election, How You Can Be More Involved

by Victor Landa

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco
With just a day left before election day many NewsTaco readers have been asking what they can do to help get Latino voters to the polls. The truth is that if you’re reading this, and if you come to NewsTaco regularly, you’re probably well engaged in the political process – registered to vote, plan to vote, follow the election.
If so, and if you’re looking for a way to  be involved in the next week, here’s a place to start: Tonight, Monday November 5, Project Vote and NewsTaco are hosting a Twitter Party where folks like you will gather online to discuss the election, share information, stories and best practices to get Latinos to the polls.
Think of it as a gathering of kindred political spirits, a meeting of the minds of folks with the same goal: Latino voter participation. NewsTaco will be participating, we hope you will too.
I caught up with Project Vote’s Vivana Hurtado who told me about the Party.
Popout

So here are the details:

• Monday, November 5, 2012
• 7:30pm EST
• hashtag #ivotebacause

NewsTaco will be there! We’ll be looking for you!

UPDATE: Seattle Schools Community Forum: OSPI Report on Special Ed in Seattle

Seattle Schools Community Forum: OSPI Report on Special Ed in Seattle:

Election Day

by Melissa Westbrook

Need to get that ballot in?  Here's a link to the ballot drop-off points.   From King County Elections:

Return your ballot through the U.S. Postal Service using a first class stamp or at a ballot drop box or ballot drop-off van (temporary collection point). The deadline to return ballots is Election Day; ballots must be postmarked by Election Day or in a ballot drop box by 8:00 p.m. 

Interesting info from our friends at The Stranger Slog about election results:

 Enter numbers whiz Matt Barreto of the nonpartisan Washington Poll, who is promising to take tomorrow's 8:15 p.m. vote count announcement from King County (which will be King County's only vote count announcement of the night, and only a partial count at that); and then combine King County's results with the results from all the other counties (which should be closer to final counts, hopefully); and then run all those numbers through some fancy mathematical procedures; and then issue a projection in certain statewide races around 9 p.m. or so.

First Quarterly Program Placement Report

by Charlie Mas

In compliance with newly adopted policy 2200, Equitable Access to Programs and Services, the superintendent has made the first quarterly report on program placement decisions.

A link to it is posted on this page: Program Placement. The report is deficient.

There is no new information in the report at all. It is merely a re-cap of decisions made previously, but it is an incomplete re-cap.

The report claims:

"Prior to approval of the new policy, the basis for changes implemented for 2012-13 (completed in February 2012) are attached. (See “Program Placement Decisions for 2012-13” on the enrollment website.) No changes to programs have been made since this information was posted."

This claim is false. The District has obviously made a decision regarding the relocation of The NOVA Project 

OSPI Report on Special Ed in Seattle

by Charlie Mas

Each year the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction prepares a report on Special Education in every district. The report was released on November 1 and the Seattle Times wrote a vague sort ofeditorial about it, although they did not write a news story about it nor did they provide a link to the report.

Here are some facts about the report from the OSPI:

The OSPI web site, for those who are new to it, is a veritable labyrinth of links. None of it is intuitive. It's a freakin' miracle if you can ever find anything you're looking for.

Program Review 

The Special Education Program Review Team (formerly called “monitoring”) collaborates with school districts to ensure improved educational results and functional outcomes for all children with disabilities. Washington’s program review system includes a review of both quantitative data and qualitative information provided by districts to ensure that districts are implementing the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 2004. 

Should You Sign Your Name Here?

by Melissa Westbrook

We had an e-mail from a reader who stated that while he enjoyed the blog, he didn't read as often because people don't sign their names.

We've had some discussion around this before but I thought it worth revisiting.

Now for those who don't know it, we allow monikers because many of our readers are SPS employees who might otherwise face issues if they signed their names.  (Also, we allow NO purely anonymous names because it becomes difficult to follow with multiple anonymous posts and well, if you are unable to think up a blog name, you probably are not in the right place.)