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School closing controversy in Chicago

pureparents at Parents Across America - 39 minutes ago

PAA co-founder Julie Woestehoff was quoted in several newspaper stories (Chicago Tribune here, Sun-Times here) about Mayor Emanuel’s proposal to push a school closing announcement deadline back several months. Emanuel wants to close as many as 100 Chicago schools in 2013. The Tribune editorial board, which usually takes the corporate reform side, quoted a PURE blog post in agreeing with PURE’s opposition to the mayor’s plan. Unfortunately, the state legislature handed Emanuel the extension today, Julie reports.

More tests, more parents opting out: radio interview includes PAA’s Julie Woestehoff

pureparents at Parents Across America - 39 minutes ago

Local Chicago NPR station interviewed PAA co-founder Julie Woestehoff of PAA affiliate PURE for a story about parents opting out of testing in the city. The story highlighted the resources PURE offers to parents concerned about excessive testing in the schools.

“Educate All Kids Like Sasha and Malia” by PAA co-founder Leonie Haimson

pureparents at Parents Across America - 39 minutes ago

“Obama’s education policies are failing children, except for his own,” writes PAA co-founder Leonie Haimson, of NYC’s Class Size Matters, in an essay published by In These Times. Leonie writes: Rather than follow blindly in the path of privatization and unleashed free-market competition that led to the collapse of our economy, it’s time for Obama to start listening to the priorities of parents and treating teachers as professionals. Cramming kids into classes of 30 or more and putting them on … →

PAA-CT leader’s article on Washington Post Answer Sheet

pureparents at Parents Across America - 39 minutes ago

This excellent piece on school funding was co-written by PAA-CT founder Wendy Lecker and reposted on the Washington Post Answer Sheet blog. Here’s a quote: In Connecticut and nationally, courts have consistently ruled that underfunded schools amount to constitutional violations of children’s right to an education. In New York, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Washington and many other states, courts determined that there is a causal connection between students’ poor performance and inadequate school funding. Unlike the modern corporate education reformers, who … →

Action of the week for 11-29-12: No “Cliff”hanger for our children!

pureparents at Parents Across America - 1 hour ago

Congress and the White House are working to resolve the “sequestration” threat set up by their failure to agree on a federal budget last year. Without a budget agreement, massive across-the-board program cuts will kick in. This may include: Loss of 100,000 Head Start slots. * Service cuts to 500,000 special needs students. * An end to Title 1 grants, affecting 2 million students. * Huge class size increases and service cuts as districts are forced to terminate tens of … →

Part 4: High Stakes Testing and Opting Out : The Consequences

DoraTaylor at Parents Across America - 6 days ago

The Consequences As long as policy and funding are determined by test results, we will be dealing with the consequences. There is the narrowing of focus to math and reading and less focus on history, social studies, the arts, foreign languages, writing, physical education, or developing research and critical thinking skills. The emphasis on test scores precludes looking more carefully at the cause of low test scores which include poverty, health and family issues as well as the effect … →

Schooled by experts: Chicago researchers share some facts about school reform

pureparents at Parents Across America - 1 week ago

This morning I attended an excellent symposium on a variety of education issues presented by CReATE (Chicagoland Researchers and Advocates for Transformative Education), the nearly two-year-old group of 100 Chicago-area academic experts who have already created some excellent resources to help parents, community groups, students and others to better understand the truth about corporate school reform. CReATE’s first effort was a paper called “Chicago School Reform: Myths, Realities, and New Visions”, which clarified some of the education issues discussed during … →

Voters have spoken: No corporate school reform in Bridgeport!

pureparents at Parents Across America - 1 week ago

By Wendy Lecker Originally published on November 18, 2012 in the Stamford Advocate In this age of instantaneous global communication, it is incredible that a simple message sent by voters in Bridgeport has not reached leaders in Hartford, just 50 miles away. On Nov. 6, a rare event in modern politics occurred: democracy prevailed over money. Average citizens defeated a Bridgeport charter revision proposal backed by a veritable who’s who of well-endowed corporate education reformers. This David-vs.-Goliath victory is also … →

Part 3: High Stakes Testing and Opting Out: The Variables

DoraTaylor at Parents Across America - 1 week ago

The Variables High stakes testing has ramifications including ending careers and affecting communities by closing schools. Hence, we need to look carefully at the variables that might affect a student’s performance on a test. Teachers and principals do not work in a vacuum. They have students with lives outside school. Students live in a real world. The real world affects how they behave and their ability to focus in class. These factors include: English being a second language The physical … →

PAA Action News Nov. 29, 2012

Dear Leonie, Welcome to PAA Action News, the information and action newsletter of Parents Across America, a network of activist parents coming together to strengthen our public schools. If you have questions, comments, suggestions or stories to share, please e-mail us at info@parentsacrossamerica.org or visit www.parentsacrossamerica.org. Looking for regular updates on key education stories? Join the PAA News List by e-mailing PAAnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.  IN THIS ISSUE PAA Action of the Week PAA News Join us! PAA Chapter and Affiliate News Blog Highlights Connect With Us Join Our Mailing List Forward to a Friend PAA Action Alert No cliffhanger for children and schools!  Congress and the White House are working to resolve the "sequestration" threat set up by their failure to agree on a federal budget last year. Without a budget agreement, massive across-the-board program cuts will kick in. This may include: Loss of 100,000 Head Start slots. Service cuts to 500,000 special needs students. An end to Title 1 grants, affecting 2 million students. Huge class size increases and service cuts as districts are forced to terminate tens of thousands of teachers and support staff.      PAA supports saving money by cutting ineffective and damaging programs like Race to the Top, massive new testing systems to support the Common Core, and further expansion of charter schools. We oppose cuts that harm the neediest children and communities. What can you do?  Call your Congressman and Senators today and make sure they support education spending - but only those programs that are supported by research, not wealthy philanthropists. E-mail them PAA's fact sheet, "Research showing NCLB Doesn't Work and PAA Positions Do." (downloadable pdf here). And consider signing this petition, "Do not throw our kids over the fiscal cliff; raise taxes on wealthy & cut Race to the Top instead!" by Class Size Matters and PAA co-founder Leonie Haimson.  PAA News This excellent piece on school funding co-written by our Connecticut PAA leader,Wendy Lecker, was printed in the Hartford (CT) Courant, and reposted on the Washington Post Answer Sheet blog. Here's an excerpt: PAA-CT members In Connecticut and nationally, courts have consistently ruled that underfunded schools amount to constitutional violations of children's right to an education. In New York, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Washington and many other states, courts determined that there is a causal connection between students' poor performance and inadequate school funding. Unlike the modern corporate education reformers, who vilify teachers and educational experts, courts value their firsthand knowledge of school conditions and the resources needed to give all students an equal opportunity to learn. When shown evidence of conditions in schools, courts consistently find what CCM contends - without adequate funding, schools cannot provide an adequate education.    **** "Educate All Kids Like Sasha and Malia: Obama's education policies are failing children, except for his own," by PAA co-founder Leonie Haimson, of NYC's Class Size Matters, was published by In These Times. Rather than follow blindly in the path of privatization and unleashed free-market competition that led to the collapse of our economy, it's time for Obama to start listening to the priorities of parents and treating teachers as professionals. Cramming kids into classes of 30 or more and putting them on laptops while supervised by novices will never enhance their creativity or critical thinking skills. ****  PAA co-founder Julie Woestehoff, of affiliate Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE) in Chicago, was interviewed for a local NPR station story on parents opting out of testing.  She was also quoted in several newspaper stories (Chicago Tribune here, Sun-Times here) about Mayor Emanuel's proposal to push a school closing announcement deadline back several months. Emanuel wants to close as many as 100 Chicago schools in 2013. The Tribune editorial board, which usually takes the corporate reform side, quoted a PURE blog post in agreeing with PURE's opposition to the mayor's plan. Unfortunately, the state legislature handed Emanuel the extension today, Julie reports.    Join us! If you share our overall goals of progressive, positive education reform and more parent input in education policy making, we invite you to affiliate with us if you are an existing group, or to form a new PAA chapter. The more of us there are, the stronger our voice will be at every level. Here's how! PAA Chapter and Affiliate News Welcome new chapter, PAA-Atlanta/GA/Atlanta Public Schools!   We're delighted to welcome another new chapter, this one in Atlanta. Founder Kimberly Brooks is a former PTA president who is studying for her masters degree. Parents in Atlanta are discouraged by the well-known test cheating scandal and recent passage of charter school expansion laws in the state. They feel their voices are not being heard. Kimberly brings a lot of enthusiasm to our national network! You can contact her at kimberlybrooks.kim@gmail.com Welcome, Kimberly and Atlanta! Philly's Parents United for Public Education has a new web site! Check it out! From PAA leader Helen Gym:    The pro-privatization president of the area's largest foundation (controlling $2B in assets) was effectively and abruptly fired. Two weeks ago, Parents United sent a letter to the foundation stating that we believe it violated local lobbying regulations by failing to file as lobbyists and file appropriate disclosure reports on their activities. 5 days after we sent our letter, the board met and I assume let him go at that time. They made the announcement today.          I have no idea if our complaint had anything to do with it, but I wrote this piece on our NEW WEBSITE (yay) to highlight the new "philanthropy" influence peddling in school districts nationwide. Would love for you to share this piece if you like it and let me know your thoughts.           We will be filing a complaint with the city ethics board next week with the local chapter of the NAACP. Try PAA affiliate SOS-Portland's testing survey From our Portland OR affiliate leader Susan Barrett:    This survey was created rather quickly. Kind of a response to a local issue where the Portland Public Schools are taking heat from the Portland Business Alliance for not going after RttT. More accurately, the teachers are taking the heat. Did anyone ever ask parents what they think? No. But, it is a pretty generic survey about testing.Please take it and share. It is not meant to be a scientific survey. :-) A conversation starter for some, at least.      Deb Meier to speak at CPS forum this week  Boston-based PAA affiliate Citizens for Publc Schools is hosting an education  forum on Monday, Dec. 3, 2012, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the main branch of the Brookline Public Library.   "Come listen and join in a discussion of democracy and the future of public education:  What can we do to stop the privatization of our public schools, and empower parents, teachers and our communities to ensure all our students have the opportunity to learn?" Forum speakers include Deb Meier. For more information and to register today, clickhere.   PAA Blog Highlights We're really excited that PAA-Seattle founder Dora Taylor has started posting her  PAA founding member Dora Taylor wonderful Weekly Update on the PAA blog. Don't miss this great resource every Friday. Here's the post from last Friday: Dora's Weekly Update 11/17.  Dora also posted parts 2,3 and 4 of her excellent series on testing: Part 2: High Stakes Testing: The Types of Tests  Part 3: High Stakes and Opting Out: The Variables  Part 4: High Stakes and Opting Out: The Consequences  Other new blog posts include: Voters Have Spoken: No Corporate Reform in Bridgeport!  Schooled by experts: Chicago researchers share some facts about school reform

Again; Relevance, Why Twitter? « My Island View

Again; Relevance, Why Twitter? « My Island View:

Again; Relevance, Why Twitter?

by tomwhitby

Twitter has been a topic for educational Bloggers for several years now. I believe that those educators using Twitter are drawn to those posts, while other educators, not using Twitter, are driven away. Maybe the problem is the emphasis, or focus of the blog posts. Maybe the focus should be on relevance and no mention of twitter. Are educators relevant in our technology-driven society?  The obvious answer is that some are, and some are not. A more important question is which of these two groups is growing?
I earned an advanced degree in Educational Technology over 30 years ago. From the day that I received that degree, things have evolved at an unbelievable pace, driven by technology. Not one piece of the hardware or software, that I used to earn that degree, existed five years later. How does any educator keep up with the changes not only in technology and methodology of the profession, but the content of subject matter itself, as 

UPDATE: Seattle Schools Community Forum: It's a School Zone, Folks

Seattle Schools Community Forum: It's a School Zone, Folks:

It's a School Zone, Folks

by Melissa Westbrook

Unbelievable.  From the Times:

Mayor Mike McGinn said he expected traffic cameras near four Seattle schools to catch a lot of speeding drivers when the devices went live Nov. 1.

But almost 6,000 in less than a month?

"We were surprised," McGinn said.

Because there were so many speeders, the warning-citation period that was to end this week has been extended to Monday, Dec. 10, he said. From that day on, the registered owners of vehicles caught driving faster than 20 mph in those school zones while beacons are flashing will receive a $189 ticket in the mail.

Cameras have been installed in front of Broadview-Thomson K-8 School on Greenwood Avenue North, near 

Wash Your Hands, Washington

by Melissa Westbrook

A cute and catchy video (show the kids!) reminding us about good habits during cold and flu season from our friends at the Washington State Department of Health.

Inslee Names Renton Superintendent as Chief of Staff

by Melissa Westbrook

From the Times:

Gov.-elect Jay Inslee named Renton Schools Superintendent Mary Alice Heuschel as his chief of staff in a news conference in Seattle on Thursday morning.

Heuschel, one of three co-chairs of Inslee’s transition team, led Renton schools for seven years and last year was a finalist for national superintendent of the year. She also served as deputy superintendent of the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for six years.

I personally like Superintendent Heuschel and while I don't always agree with her, find her a thoughtful person.  I 

"Learning Is More Than a Test Score" CampaignSave Our Schools

"Learning Is More Than a Test Score" CampaignSave Our Schools:

“Learning Is More Than a Test Score” Campaign

by Server

Save Our Schools: A National Call to Action
www.saveourschoolsmarch.org

Learning Is More Than a Test Score Campaign

“Promoting a lifelong love of reading is one of the most important things I do as an English language arts teacher. But we are sacrificing time that could be spent on learning and promoting reading in order to focus on tests that too often are unreliable indicators of student performance, poor quality and full of errors.”—A dedicated New York teacher
Dear Save Our Schools Supporters…
Those sentiments, which I have heard expressed by so many educators, should be of concern to parents and students, as well. This growing fixation with high-stakes testing in schools is getting in the way of our efforts to educate children in our public schools, and it’s why we are announcing a new phase in our campaign against excessive testing called Learning Is More Than a Test Score.


The campaign is focused on the need to restore a proper balance to our schools and make sure that teaching and learning—not testing—drive classroom instruction so that we can give all children the rich, meaningful public education they deserve.

Join our effort by signing our petition.


As we launch this new phase of the campaign, Washington, D.C., is dealing with federal budget issues known as the fiscal cliff. Although Learning Is More than a Test Score is a longer-term campaign, our efforts to reform schools and restore more sensible testing programs and policies will be severely limited if Congress and the White House end up agreeing on approaches to the deficit and taxes that impose huge cuts on public education and other public services. You’ll be hearing more about our efforts in that area, too, as we mount an aggressive effort on Capitol Hill to give voice to the AFT’s views.
This week, I’ll be with other national union leaders on the Hill, and in the following weeks, we’ll bring in activists from around the country. AFT local and state leaders also will be coming to Washington, D.C. 

Meanwhile, I urge you to visit LearningIsMore.org and join thousands of educators, parents, students and concerned citizens who already are working to de-emphasize tests, and to restore teaching and learning to their proper roles at the forefront of the education process.
Join them in expressing your support for an education system in which assessments play an appropriate role, but one in which teachers have the time they need to help their students think critically and creatively. Add your voice to the growing group that believes learning is more than a test score.

Sign the Learning Is More Than a Test Score petition today, and share it with your friends.


In unity,

Randi Weingarten
AFT President

P.S. Like the Learning Is More Than a Test Score Facebook page and follow the campaign on Twitter.

NYC Public School Parents: CFE may sue for money owed & lessons learned re accountability and oversight

NYC Public School Parents: CFE may sue for money owed & lessons learned re accountability and oversight:

CFE may sue for money owed & lessons learned re accountability and oversight

by Leonie Haimson

Exciting news! The Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) announced in a letter today that it was considering re-opening the lawsuit against New York State, on the basis that the funding promised NYC and other high-needs school districts has never been fulfilled.

The current plan puts off full funding "until at least 16 years from now, in 2028. Thus, two more generations of New York children will pass through our schools before the State even begins to approach meeting its constitutional obligation to adequately fund its public schools through implementation of the CFE remedy."

See the letter below, from David Sciarra of the Education Law Center, which has taken over the case, to the Governor and the leaders of the NY Legislature.

Coincidentally,  I  gave a class on CFE  Monday night at Princeton, for  a course on urban education policy.  See my powerpoint  below the Sciarra letter, in which I  summarize the history of the case, as well as where it 

Lurking in the Bushes: Peeking at Florida Education Miracle | Cloaking Inequity

Lurking in the Bushes: Peeking at Florida Education Miracle | Cloaking Inequity:

Lurking in the Bushes: Peeking at Florida Education Miracle

• 2 Comments

 

There is another education presidential candidate lurking in the Bushes with an education “miracle” being discussed extensively in the media and elsewhere. Critics have pointed out that the miracle in Florida is no more real than the education miracle in Texas that spawned No Child Left Behind a decade ago— another elegant illusion of numbers? Some say the skeptics are wrong in their analyses of recent educational success in Florida. So what is the real story?

As we were preparing the Education: Texas vs. California vs. New York vs. Nation policy report, we also concurrently gathered data for Florida that ultimately ended up on the cutting floor. For your educational policy and descriptive statistical pleasure I have now included the data from the past decade for Florida below. I won’t extensively discuss the Texas, California and 

The Texas Miracle, The Florida Miracle, and Rush | Andrew Tobias

The Texas Miracle, The Florida Miracle, and Rush | Andrew Tobias:

The Texas Miracle, The Florida Miracle, and Rush

by A.T. on JULY 14, 2003

You saw the front page of Friday’s Times? The Texas education miracle touted during the 2000 campaign appears now to have been slightly less miraculous. An audit of 16Houston schools for the school year 2000-2001 recommended reclassifying 14 of them from ‘best’ to . . . well . . . there’s no easy way to put a good face on this . . . ‘worst.’ It seems that – for example – one school that had reported no drop-outs for the year had . . . well . . . 462 drop-outs. Stuff like that.

Is it possible we were misled?

It reminds one of the other Governor Bush – the one in Florida – who slashed the budget for drug treatment programs by 85% but claimed in a televised gubernatorial debate to have raised funding by 60%. He accomplished this miracle by shifting employees – who continued to do precisely what they had been doing before – from one accounting category to another. Honest, compassionate conservatism.

I know one risks being branded unpatriotic for suggesting it, but one almost senses the possibility the Bushes are not entirely honest with their followers.

We were told President Bush barely even knew Ken Lay, and thought of him as an Ann Richards supporter. We were told that the secret energy policy discussions – with a long list of industry executives not even a lawsuit by the General Accounting Office could pry loose – were designed to benefit the public. We were told that California‘s

No consensus on which skills should be included in teacher evaluations | Hechinger Report

No consensus on which skills should be included in teacher evaluations | Hechinger Report:

No consensus on which skills should be included in teacher evaluations

By Jackie Mader
From the blog: HechingerEd

At least 30 states are launching new systems to evaluate teachers using more rigorous criteria about what makes a good teacher, but so far there is little consensus on what that criteria should be.

Teacher evaluations have become highly controversial as states introduce increasingly different models.

Can the quality of a teacher be measured by looking at just a few key skills such as setting academic goals and running an effective class discussion? Or should teachers be evaluated based on a broader range of abilities, including lesson planning and knowledge of content?

In Los Angeles, teachers will soon be evaluated by a list of 61 criteria during classroom observations conducted by school administrators. Louisiana, by contrast, requires principals to look at just five skills in the observation portion of the state’s new teacher evaluations. In most classrooms in Tennessee, principals use a checklist that includes 19 skills during observations that are part of a new, more intensive evaluation system launched last year. In each place, a teacher’s 

School Tech Connect: Chartering For The Sake of Chartering

School Tech Connect: Chartering For The Sake of Chartering:

Chartering For The Sake of Chartering

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)

Bruce Baker has written a scintillating analysis of a CREDO study in NJ here, and it makes my head hurt.... it also makes me melancholy for brainpower I was never blessed with.

Howevs, toward the end of the post, there's this:

While it is likely that there exists some strategies employed by some charters (as well as some strategies employed by some district schools) that are working quite well – THE CREDO REPORT PROVIDES ABSOLUTELY NO INSIGHTS IN THIS REGARD.  It’s a classic “charter v. district” comparison – where it is assumed that “chartering” represents one set of educational/programmatic strategies and “districting” represents another – when in fact, neither is true (see the scatter of dots in my plots above to see the variations in each group!).

I recently read somewhere that B3  was "tired" of the charter vs. take-all-comers traditional schools debate, and 

What I learned about successful organizing from Chicago teachers strike leaders | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

What I learned about successful organizing from Chicago teachers strike leaders | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

What I learned about successful organizing from Chicago teachers strike leaders

by thenotebook

by Beth Pulcinella
On Nov. 17, three leaders from the Chicago Teachers Union came to Philadelphia to share stories and strategies from their work as educational advocates and activists. The event, From Chicago to Philadelphia, revealed to me how the movement to challenge privatization and promote educational justice in Philadelphia has matured and honed its political savvy.

Image: 

read more

Stonehaven Development and “Getting” a High School « PWC Education Reform Blog

Several days ago Planning Office Director Chris Price presented the recommendation for development of the Stonehaven property in the Gainesville / Bristow area.  The proposal from county staff was to reduce the amount of land in that parcel that was to be dedicated to employment centers and increase the number of houses to be built there from about 1200 to 2000.  During the presentation it was implied that this would be a good thing for area residents as we’d “get” a much needed high school that would relive overcrowding at Patriot and Battlefield high schools.

This folks, is malarkey.

First, we county residents won’t be getting anything.  Under state law developers are required to provide land or cash when they want to build in Virginia to compensate residents for the cost of providing infrastructure to support that development (like schools, roads, sewer, police, and fire and rescue).  How much they have to provide, called a proffer, is set by the county or jurisdiction; in PWC the proffer amounts are set by the PWC BOCS.

So, with the Stonehaven development, county residents won’t be getting anything they aren’t legally entitled to receive and 

Stonehaven Development and “Getting” a High School « PWC Education Reform Blog:

Stonehaven Development and “Getting” a High School

November 29, 2012 — pwceducationreform

'Isolation box:' Abuse or therapy for Longview school kids? | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News

'Isolation box:' Abuse or therapy for Longview school kids? | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News:

'Isolation box:' Abuse or therapy for Longview school kids?

By Patrick Preston KATU News and KATU.com Staff Published: Nov 28, 2012 at 8:16 AM PST Last Updated: Nov 28, 2012 at 9:37 AM PST

»PLAY VIDEO

One of the photos posted on Facebook shows the isolation box at Mint Valley Elementary School in Longview, Wash.

LONGVIEW, Wash. -- Longview Public Schools administrators call it an "isolation booth" and photos of it are creating a Facebook firestorm.

Some parents say they're worried kids are being abused when they're locked inside it at school.

The isolation booth has been at Mint Valley Elementary School for the past four years. That's because the school hosts a special education program for disabled students with behavioral issues. The booth is used to calm down some of the students when they're at risk of hurting themselves or others.

Just hours after they were posted, photos of the isolation booth were shared on Facebook about 100 times.

The pictures show that from the outside, the booth is located in a storage area and has two