Friday, January 4, 2013

by jonpelto

Lured by Governor Malloy’s education reform efforts and the prospect of easier access to taxpayer funds, the NEW YORK CHARTER SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION is expanding into Connecticut.

According to a press release issued in Albany, New York, “The New York State Charter Schools Association (NYCSA) today announced that it is growing into a regional organization with the new inclusion of charter schools in Connecticut.”

The release stated that with the “agreement and support of the Connecticut Charter Schools Network (CCSN),” the new expanded association will represent the owners of over 200 charter schools in the two states.

Considering Malloy’s Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor, co-founded Achievement First, Inc. the large charter school management company with twenty schools in New York and Connecticut, it was probably only a matter of time before the charter school

Beware of AstroTurf Ed Reformers

Just Like Michelle Rhee's Students first only BETTER

Astroturf lobbying refers to political organizations or campaigns that appear to be made up of grassroots activists but are actually organized and run by corporate interests seeking to further their own agendas. Such groups are often typified by innocent-sounding names that have been chosen specifically to disguise the group's true backers

Just Like Michelle Rhee's

Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better)

Other Astroturf lobbying groups

Just Like Michelle Rhee's

Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better)

Florida HS Grades Show No Difference Between Charter Schools and Public Schools | Scathing Purple Musings

Florida HS Grades Show No Difference Between Charter Schools and Public Schools | Scathing Purple Musings:

Florida HS Grades Show No Difference Between Charter Schools and Public Schools

by Bob Sikes

While the Florida media are obliged to publish whatever conclusions that the hacks at the FLDOE Bush Foundation release , Dr. Stanley Smith of UCF has emerged as a counterweight to their predictable everything is just swell fluff. Gina Jordan of StateImpact has Dr. Smith’s comparison of charter schools to public schools from Florida’ just released high school grades.

Smith examined 491 high schools. 46 of them are charter schools.
He says that at first glance, the average scores suggest charters are the stronger performers.
“Without any adjustments for poverty or minority status, it appears that the charter high schools perform better by a statistically significant difference of 4.37 percent,” Smith said.
But he says this is misleading because charter schools serve a higher percentage of minority

(TRIGGER WARNING) It’s Time to Have a Conversation About Personal Responsibility, Rape, and Public Schools! « Cooperative Catalyst

(TRIGGER WARNING) It’s Time to Have a Conversation About Personal Responsibility, Rape, and Public Schools! « Cooperative Catalyst:

(TRIGGER WARNING) It’s Time to Have a Conversation About Personal Responsibility, Rape, and Public Schools!

by Jabreel Chisley

Greene County, Missouri (Republic School District)
Memphis, Tennessee (Memphis Public School District)
Jackson Township, Ohio (Jackson Local School District)
Bibb County, Macon, Georgia (Bibb County Public School District)
Gwinett County, Georgia ( Gwinett County Public School District)
University Park, Texas ( Highland Park Independent School District)
Richmond, California (West Contra Costa Unified School District)
Chestnut Ridge (Ramapo), New York (East Ramapo Central Public School District)
Lakewood, Washington (Clover Park School District)
Detroit, Michigan (Detroit Public Schools)
Cleveland Heights, Ohio (Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public School District)
Henry County, Georgia (Henry County School District)
Hillsborough County, Florida (Hillsborough County Public School District)
Spring, Texas (Spring Independent School District)
Redwood City, California (Redwood City School District)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia City School District)
Raytown, Missouri (Raytown City School District)
Stubenville, Ohio (Stubenville Local School District)
Boston, Massachusetts (Groton School)
Dekalb County, Georgia (Dekalb County Public Schools)
Pasco County, Florida (Pasco County School District)
Portsmouth, Virginia (Portsmouth Public School District)
Scottsdale, Arizona (Scottsdale Unified School District)

America has a social climate where when rape occurs, the victim undergoes public attack, and when it comes to the offender, there is usually offender worshipping, weak punishment, or offender protection. That attitude toward rape has unfortunately grown as generations of children enter the public school system in a society where sex is idealized and glorified and rape is trivialized and everyone is eager to teach girls not to get raped but hesitant to teach boys not to rape. However, since 2002, 23 school districts across the nation have had some type of relation to a sexual assault, most often at the school district’s school. Moreover, while each story was different and some were more heinous than others were, most if not all shared common themes where school officials

UPDATE: Schools Matter: SCAM ALERT: Coleman as Perpetual Huckster

Schools Matter: SCAM ALERT: Coleman as Perpetual Huckster:

SCAM ALERT: Coleman as Perpetual Huckster

by P. L. Thomas

There's an allegory that is popular among lawyers called the allegory of the river. [1]

In this allegory, people find themselves near a river and confronted with a stream of babies floating helplessly by in the current. Many begin frantically to wade into the rushing water, saving as many babies as possible.

Then one walks away. The others are stunned and ask why this one person is abandoning the mission to rescue the babies floating down the river.

The one walking away says, "I am going upstream to find who is throwing the babies in and stop them."

•

If David Coleman found himself among these people, he would be the one crafting (and selling) a strategy to

New Hope for Socio-Economic Integration

by John Thompson

Richard Kahlenberg’s “From All Walks of Life, New Hope for School Integration,” updates the evidence in favor of socio-economic integration as the best single way to improve outcomes for poor children. He also gives reason for measured hope that it can be expanded, perhaps replacing failed test-driven attempts to improve poor schools. I remain unconvinced, however, that Kahlenberg’s wisdom will be scaled up.

Kahlenberg summarizes research explaining that socio-economic integration works because it involves all three of the essential factors of effective schools. Low-income students in schools where less than 50% of students are eligible for free and reduced lunch are surrounded by peers that are academically engaged, have larger vocabularies, and who are less likely to disrupt class. They also benefit from a community of involved parents, and teachers with higher expectations.

Kahlenberg cites research showing that a school’s socio-economic status has as much influence on a student’s performance as his individual status. Another study found that the racial achievement gap is likely to be smaller when

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-4-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch

As Detroit Public Schools Shrink, Proportion of Special Ed Kids Soar

by dianerav

http://www.freep.com/article/20121224/NEWS01/312240091/As-Detroit-Public-Schools-rolls-fall-proportion-of-special-needs-students-on-rise?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFrontpage

School Board Showdown in Los Angeles

by dianerav

Steve Zimmer is an alumnus of Teach for America.
He is not your typical TFA-er.
He was elected to the Los Angeles Unified school board in 2009, after seventeen years as a public school teacher.
He will be opposed by Kate Anderson, who has endorsements and major funding from the powerful charter

The Dichotomy Between Corporate Reform and Real Reform

by dianerav

Anthony Cody has written a crisp analysis of the differences between what corporate reformers want and what supporters of public education want.
People like Anthony and me are often told to be accommodating, to be more receptive of the corporate style ideas.
But, as Anthony shows in this article, there are genuine differences.
Public education is facing an existential threat to its existence from people

Peter Goodman: NYC Needs a Chancellor Who Can Lead

by dianerav

New York City has been swaddled in hype and spin for the past dozen years. The mayor gained control of the schools in 2002 and he appoints the chancellor. He also appoints a majority of the school board, who serve at his pleasure. He has appointed three chancellors in a row who were not educators.
Peter Goodman, who writes a blog called Ed in the Apple, says that the next mayor should appoint a chancellor whom educators can respect. NYC has been subjected to an endless parade of reforms, initiatives, accountability measures, and reorganizations. Disruption has been the only constant. Teachers keep on keeping

Diane in the EVENING 1-3-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 17 minutes ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: FOUND: One Brave Superintendent in Connecticut! by dianerav Earlier today, I posted Wendy Lecker’s article, in which she said she was in search of one brave superintendent in Connecticut, who would stand up against the data-driven, test-obsessed climate of the times. I have found him. He is Thomas Starice, the superintendent of the Madison, Connecticut, public schools. Superintendent Scarice consulted with his school board, parents and the local community. He has shown leadership in responding to the state’s recently passed legislation about linking tea... more »

Daily Kos: Our clown-around Congress

Daily Kos: Our clown-around Congress:

Our clown-around Congress

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

To say that Congress looked like a clown show this week is an insult to self-respecting clowns.

So begins Eugene Robinson in this Washington Post column this morning, whose title I have borrowed for this posting.He begins by reminding us, as painful as it might be, that the so-called fiscal cliff was a fake crisis, manufactured by legislators (and "aided and abetted" by the President), who

then proceeded to handle it so incompetently that they turned it into a real one.

. And we off to the races with another powerful column by the Pulitzer Prize winner.He outright calls the fiscal cliff "bogus" - and asks that we never again use those words.
He says our leaders really did not decide much of anything, and all we as a nation gained from the show was to avoid temporarily the

hardships that its elected leaders were bizarrely threatening to impose on the citizens who elected

UPDATE: Ed Notes Online: Ed Deformer Biddle Muddles While Randi Fiddles

Ed Notes Online: Ed Deformer Biddle Muddles While Randi Fiddles:

Norm in The Wave: What Were We Thinking, Part 2: Living in the middle of an ocean

by ed notes online

Read Part 1.

By Norm Scott

I last left you at around 4:30 on October 29 as the waters from the ocean three and a half blocks away started coming up the bay block I live on. Knowing high tide was around 9 PM, this was not a good sign. The earlier morning tide had the waters over the curb and lapping at my garage door where I had placed two rows, of what turned out to be, paltry, 12 bright yellow sand bags we had laboriously filled the day before.

Seeing a neighbor, who in the morning had said we would be on our porches toasting bloody marys during the storm, leave in a hurry around 4PM certainly didn’t give me confidence. I went down to a basement so full of stuff there was almost no path to walk to see what I could get off the floor. I raised a few things – putting tools on a table -- but every ounce of space seemed filled and I gave up fairly quickly. Oh, I did take my deceased aunt’s

Ed Deformer Biddle Muddles While Randi Fiddles

by ed notes online

Declared Weingarten on Twitter: “retirees do not sway local elections”.

Really, Randi should think twice before she tweets. Thanks to Jeff Kaufman for digging this up from dropout nation's RiShawn Biddle, my new fave ed deformer for the material he provides us, in this follow-up piece to his attack on Randi when she called for more teacher voice (which means SHE gets to talk and no one else). Here is the Ed Notes link (Irony: Randi's Call for Teacher Voices to Be Heard...) to the first piece where Biddle while going after Randi does an assault on Karen Lewis, the real enemy of ed deformers.

Clueless - or propagandist - Biddle and Randi ought to walk off into the sunset together. Even a blind squirrel finds a chestnut once in a while. At least he got the impact of the retirees in UFT elections right (he ought to

EdWatch 2013: School finance reform redux | EdSource Today

EdWatch 2013: School finance reform redux | EdSource Today:

EdWatch 2013: School finance reform redux

January 4th, 2013 | Add a Comment |
By John FensterwaldShare on twitter

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Gov. Jerry Brown won’t speak the words “weighted student funding formula” when he presents a new state budget next week, along with his plan to refashion the state’s complex and inequitable school finance system. The concept of funneling more education dollars to high-needs children is very much alive, and Brown will press the Legislature to act on it this year. But rebranding his plan to reform school finance is one of the changes that the governor will make to seek more support than he got last year when he introduced a similar plan.

Gov. Jerry Brown won’t speak the words “weighted student funding formula” when he presents a new state budget next week, along with his plan to refashion the state’s complex and inequitable school finance system. The concept of funneling more education dollars to high-needs children is very much alive, and Brown will press the Legislature to act on it this year. But rebranding his plan to reform school finance is one of the changes that the governor will make to seek more support than he got last year when he introduced a similar plan.

Department of Finance officials and Brown’s advisers won’t disclose the new name. But they say the governor wants to clear up misperceptions associated with a “weighted student formula” and to stress key features of the plan: transferring accountability and responsibility for spending decisions from Sacramento to local school boards, freeing up dollars through flexibility and simplifying an

Resolving to transform our school finance system - by Ted Lempert

by Ted Lempert

Each new year brings the opportunity for a fresh start and renewed purpose. For many of us committed to improving student achievement and promoting excellence in all of California’s schools, our resolve in 2013 is aimed at finally reforming the state’s convoluted education finance system. Governor Jerry Brown wants to get this critical education reform done in 2013, giving us a historic...

Local-state funding should sync like a tandem bike - by Jeff Camp

by Jeff Camp

In 2013, most California education-watchers expect two policy debates about school finance. Two is not enough; there will need to be three. Weighted student funding The first debate will probably be about how to inject a level of principle into the capricious way that state funds are apportioned to school districts. The arcane term in this debate is “weighted student funding,” which...

Engaging Parents In School…

Engaging Parents In School…:

My Parent Engagement Book

“Community School Model Seen as Valuable to Rural Areas”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 8 hours ago

Community School Model Seen as Valuable to Rural Areas is an interesting article over at Education Week. I’ve written very positively about community schools in the past, as well as expressing my concerns about them.

Making Parents Pay A School Anytime Their Child Is Given Detention Is Not A Wise Parent Engagement Strategy

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 8 hours ago

The Noble Network has ten charter schools in Chicago. Parents are charged $5 everytime their child is given a detention: In addition to receiving detention (and, thus, having to pay a fee) for violating rules like having their shoes untied and bringing potato chips to school, Noble Street students can rack up demerits for failing [...]

Guest Post: Did the Tech fail or was there a failure to connect to the Tech?

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 8 hours ago

I invited Myrdin Thompson to write a guest commentary on the article discussed in my last post, Tech May Have A Role, But Is Not Cure-All, For Parent Engagement. Myrdin is Contributing Editor at MOMentumNation, Group Leader at RESULTSLouisville, Advocate for the UNF Shot@Life program, White House Champion of Change (Parents on Education), Regional Director [...]

Tech May Have A Role, But Is Not Cure-All, For Parent Engagement

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 8 hours ago

Web app that links parents to kids’ schools has few takers in Dallas ISD is the headline in a recent Dallas Morning News article. Here are some excerpts: The application, called Parent Portal, makes an extraordinary amount of information available to parents. It shows students’ grades, attendance records and notes from their teachers on how [...]

This week’s #PTchat On Twitter

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 8 hours ago

Guest post by Joe Mazza On Wednesday, January 2, 2013, weekly #ptchat returns with a goal setting conversation. We’ll discuss short and long term family engagement goals from the classroom, administrative and parent leadership lens. How can we best involve student voice to maximize our engagement goals? Join us at 9PM EDT for our first [...]

“Tour helps ease immigrants’ worries about school menus”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 8 hours ago

Tour helps ease immigrants’ worries about school menus is an interesting article from Minnesota about how a school gave Somali refugee parents a tour of their cafeteria and food to allay concerns about food not acceptable to Muslims. Thanks to Ken Libby for the tip.

“Interactive Homework Spurs Parent Involvement, Study Finds”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 8 hours ago

Interactive Homework Spurs Parent Involvement, Study Finds is the title of a useful blog post by Sarah Sparks over at Education Week. Here’s an excerpt: Homework assignments that require help from family members can get parents more involved in middle school, a time many parents become less visible in school, concludes a new study in [...]

My Most Popular Parent Engagement Posts Of The Year — 2012

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 8 hours ago

Here are the ten most popular posts from this blog over the past year: 1. Another Reason Why We Need To Be Careful How We Speak To Parents About Their Children 2. The Best Sources Of Parent Engagement Advice For Teachers 3. A Collection Of “The Best…” Lists On Parent Engagement 4. Good Middle School [...]

Charter school ruled private entity for labor relations

Charter school ruled private entity for labor relations:

Charter school ruled private entity for labor relations

Posted by Valerie Strauss on January 4, 2013 at 6:00 am

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The question of just how public charter schools really are has been further muddied by aruling by the National Labor Relations Board in a case involving a Chicago charter school.

Critics of charter schools have long contended that private companies that run publicly funded charters don’t act like public organizations and that charter schools represent the privatization of public education in the United States. I recently published this post about whether judges are increasingly viewing charters as private.

Now we have a decision by the board, made last month and just publicized, involving efforts by teachers at the Chicago Math and Science Academy to form a union. Teachers organized under the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, which regulates labor relations between public schools and their employees, with two-thirds of the teachers voting in favor, according to WBEZ.org. The private managers of the academy, however, wanted

The Hobbit: A Common Core literature unit falls short

by Valerie Strauss

There's no end to discussion and controversy about the Common Core State Standards in English-Language Arts. Here's a look at the inadequacies of one literature exemplar offered by a state Education Department, an issue that more broadly highlights some of the basic problems that are bound to accompany implementation of the standards. This was written by Darcy Pattison, a children's book author and writing teacher (darcypattison.com). She often provides professional development to educators in the area of English Language Arts and blogs about Common Core issues. She was the keynote speaker for ELA Grades 6-8 for the 2012 Smarter Online Common Core Educator's Roundtable webinar from The Principal Center. A version of this appeared on her blog, Making the Common Core Practical.
Read full article >>

Jersey Jazzman: Joel Klein: As Excellent As He Says He Is? Part III

Jersey Jazzman: Joel Klein: As Excellent As He Says He Is? Part III:

Joel Klein: As Excellent As He Says He Is? Part III

by Duke

Joel Klein is one of America's foremost proponents of corporate education "reform." He asserts that public education is in such a crisis that it constitutes a national security threat - a threat that can be dealt with by buying technology from the firm he runs for Rupert Murdoch, Amplify. He also believes that the "reforms" he and Mayor Michael Bloomberg instituted in New York City - including mayoral control, school closings, charter expansion, and test-based teacher evaluations - should be replicated across the country, based on what he terms the "compelling" improvements made under his tenure.

But does the record support his claims? What is the legacy of Joel Klein in New York City? I'm looking at the