Latest News and Comment from Education

Monday, February 18, 2013

"Hipsturbia:" Actually Becoming Browner, Poorer, and Older - Dana Goldstein

"Hipsturbia:" Actually Becoming Browner, Poorer, and Older - Dana Goldstein:


"Hipsturbia:" Actually Becoming Browner, Poorer, and Older

Like a lot of other folks, I was amused by yesterday's Times style section piece proclaiming the birth of "Hipsturbia": a supposedly new cluster of affluent, creative-industry white people who have moved from Brooklyn to the lower Hudson River Valley after procreating, mostly to the suburbs of Irvington, Hastings, Dobbs Ferry, and Tarrytown. As Jess Grose (Irvington's finest) notes at Slate, upscale white families have been moving from the city to those particular towns for many, many decades. The changes are really around the margins; now those emigrants are arriving not only from Manhattan, but also from the gentrified neighborhoods of Brooklyn, which means they're bringing all the associated cultural tics with them, like foodie snobbery. (And trust me, Westchester County could use a few more interesting restaurants.)
If we look at actual data, however, we'll notice that American suburbs are not becoming hipper and younger, but are in fact becoming grayer (as their population ages), browner (as immigrants and African Americans are priced out of central urban neighborhoods), and poorer (as young adults with economic means are increasingly choosing to live in cities). I grew up near the Times' "hipsturbia" in a gorgeous riverfront town that neatly 

Diane in the Evening 2-18-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:






Parent Leaders in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Oppose Gulen Charter School

Two parent leaders in Lancaster, Pennsylvania–John MGrann and Dennis Deslippe–are organizing opposition to a Gulen charter in their community. The Gulen charters are the largest charter chain in the nation. They are associated with a reclusive Turkish imam who lives in the Poconos but has a powerful political movement in Turkey.
This is their petition:
The application for a new charter school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has generated a strong public response in 


Activists in Four States Organize to Support Public Education

If you are in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, or Illinois–or anywhere else–please join with parents, students, and educators to support public schools. These states have been targets for rightwing demands for privatization. Enough is enough. Time to organize and mobilize to fend off the attacks on teachers, principals, and public schools.
Time For Action Update:
Parents Across America, in cooperation with Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education and with other grassroots groups, invites you to “Public Schools Across America,” a 4-state Regional Action Planning Meeting.


Save Texas Schools Rally This Saturday!

I will be in Austin this Saturday to support the children and educators of Texas. Please join me!
Final Countdown
Save Texas Schools March & Rally This Saturday!
Dear Save Texas Schools Supporter,
WE NEED YOU to join thousands from across Texas calling for an end to under-funding and over-testing our children! This is a crucial week at the legislature, with education funding and testing bills being considered. An overwhelming response on Saturday can provide the momentum to turn the tide.
Confirmed speakers include Diane Ravitch, Supt. John Kuhn, Supt. Mary Ann Whitaker, former TEA Commissioner Robert Scott, Dineen Majcher from TAMSA and other Texas business, student, teacher and parent leaders.
According to Politifact, Texas put 25% LESS funding into schools in 2012 than in 2002, while requiring more and more from schools.
Now is the time to stand up to the state and say, “Put the funding back into schools.” Texas kids can’t be left standing outside a courtroom door for the support they need today!
Rally Details
11 am march on Congress Ave., noon to 1:30 pm rally at the Capitol.
Expected Attendance: HUGE! Let’s top 2011′s record of 13,000.
Save Texas Schools is launching a petition drive this week to call for a return of the $5.4 billion needlessly cut from public education in 2011. Sign today and make sure that our legislators hear loud and clear that Texas Kids Can’t Wait!
Just Added
Friday Night Dinner with Diane Ravitch
STS is sponsoring a pre-rally dinner with nationally-known education reformer Diane Ravitch on Friday, Feb. 22 at First United Methodist Church (west side of state capitol) from 6-8 pm. Light dinner included ($10 suggested donation). Click here to register. Open to the public.
Save Texas Schools | 5604 Manor Rd. | Austin | TX | 78723


Corporate Greed Sweeps Away Public Schools in Philadelphia

Abetted by the example of Race to the Top, as well as encouragement from the Gates Foundation, the William Penn Foundation, and the rightwing Corbett administration in Harrisburg, the state-appointed School Reform Commission in Philadelphia is poised to close an unprecedented number of Philadelphia public schools. The schools are under enrolled, says the commission, but the commission created the under-enrollment by opening charter schools. now Philadelphia will run a dual system, like many other cities, even though the charters are no better than the public schools.
Cui bono?

How Tony Bennett Won While Losing

Dan Carpenter explains here how defeated superintendent Tony Bennett plans to keep control of Indiana even though he is now state superintendent in Florida.
Those corporate reformers love to mess up schools and communities with their big ideas.
They don’t like democracy.

When “Reality” Shows Lie

A reader commented on Oprah’s television mockumentary about the “miracle” of charter schools in New Orleans. By the state’s own data, New Orleans ranks 70th of 70 districts. By the admission of the pro-charter Cowen Institute at Tulane, two-thirds of the charters are “failing” schools. But the myth lives on. Another zombie idea.
Now we have the reality TV circuit manufacturing an image (note the overlapping soundtrack) to reinforce the charter school myth. What reality TV constructs is research-lite. It proposes to give insight, yet in this case, the proposal is cloaked with the intent to forward the privatization of education –research bias at its finest. What is consistently apparent in charter schools is the pick and choose basis of its student population while siphoning monies intended for public education –education as commodity while the neo-liberal train rolls on.
A disturbing actuality about the reality-genre, is that TV shows in the past (from Leave it to Beaver to Family Ties 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-18-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Inside the Interlocking Directorate of Corporate Reform by dianerav In this installment of her investigative analysis of the National Council on Teacher Quality, Mercedes Schneider reviews the career of Deborah McGriff. This provides a fascinating insight into the tangled web of the corporate reform movement. How Mayor Vincent Gray Is Failing DC Students by dianerav During Michelle Rhee’s book tour, the nation will hear a lot of claims about the dramatic changes she imposed on the D.C. schools, which qua... more »

School Tech Connect: Screenshots Of The Democratic Process

School Tech Connect: Screenshots Of The Democratic Process:


Screenshots Of The Democratic Process

I hate to keep harping on a local Chicago alderman on my internationally famous blog, so let this be the last one for a bit.....

For those of you reading in Iraq, or any other country where we have inserted freedom, here's how it works.

On August 6, the press learns that a charter school is coming to a neighborhood that never had a public meeting about the topic.


On August 9th, the alderman gets a check from a construction company that builds, among other things, UNO charter schools.




Later on in time, people start to spread the word that the charter organization is a ponzi scheme. But it's more 

Official Poster for Occupy DOE in DC Now Available | United Opt Out National

Official Poster for Occupy DOE in DC Now Available | United Opt Out National:


Official Poster for Occupy DOE in DC Now Available

Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education Releases Statement Opposing Closure of 11 Sacramento City Unified Elementary Schools; Calls 'Process' District Is Using 'Flawed,' Urges Board to Reject Plan | The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education

Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education Releases Statement Opposing Closure of 11 Sacramento City Unified Elementary Schools; Calls 'Process' District Is Using 'Flawed,' Urges Board to Reject Plan | The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education:

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Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education Releases Statement Opposing Closure of 11 Sacramento City Unified Elementary Schools; Calls 'Process' District Is Using 'Flawed,' Urges Board to Reject Plan

SACRAMENTO – The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education joins the Sacramento Council of PTAs, Hmong Innovating Politics (HIP) and Sacramento City Unified teachers in opposing the closure of eleven Sacramento City Unified School District elementary schools.

SCUSD may need to close schools, but the process the district is using a flawed process to arrive at this decision, said the coalition in a statement released Monday.

Sac Coalition, in the statement, said the lack of transparency in how schools were selected, the absence of planning for the safe travel to school for the three thousand plus affected students, and now the last minute subtractions and additions of school sites to the lists demonstrates this. The coalition noted the communities affected by the closures have been engaged after the fact instead of being involved in the decision making process. This leads once again to the public perception that the upcoming vote is "a done deal."

Sac Coalition added that the district made no mention of future school closures when it put two facilities bond measures on the ballot last November, and now, taxpayers face the possibility of paying for the refurbishing and maintenance of vacant buildings, or more likely, charter schools which have no obligation to educate the children 

MAKERS Moment with Cherríe Moraga, Chicana feminist « Feminist Teacher

MAKERS Moment with Cherríe Moraga, Chicana feminist « Feminist Teacher:


MAKERS Moment with Cherríe Moraga, Chicana feminist

Chicana feminist Cherríe Moraga and I at the MAKERS: Women Who Make America premiere in New York (photo credit, Ileana Jiménez).
Chicana feminist Cherríe Moraga and I at the MAKERS: Women Who Make America premiere in New York (photo credit, Ileana Jiménez).
In the spring of 1994 during my first year in college, Cherríe Moraga changed my life forever. Her essay “A Long Line of Vendidas” from Loving in the War Years gave me the language I would forever use to understand my brownness, my queer identity, and my feminism.
“To be a woman fully necessitated my claiming the race of my mother. My brother’s sex was white. Mine, brown.”
I recently met Moraga at the red carpet premiere of the MAKERS documentary Women Who Make America in New York. As I watched the first hour of the film during the premiere, I was excited to see a shot of the now 

Ed Notes Online: youth justice event, Saturday February 23rd

Ed Notes Online: youth justice event, Saturday February 23rd:


youth justice event, Saturday February 23rd

We are having a large event this upcoming Saturday 2/23 to promote our work to raise the age of criminal responsibility in New York- currently we are one of only two states in the whole nation where all 16 and 17 year olds in the justice system are treated as adults. --- Gabrielle Prisco
Gabrielle is the daughter of our pals Gene and Loretta Prisco who have been part of the teacher union political movement since I met them c. 1971. Amongst the founders of the Coalition of School Workers in the 70s and of ICE in 2003 and working with MORE nowadays, they are also key political players in many areas beyond education, mostly in Staten Island.
Gabrielle is a social justice lawyer working with juvenile justice issues. Here is her announcement.

Please join the Correctional Association of New York's Raise the Age Campaign, the National Black Theatre and Lyrics From Lockdown at a FREE COMMUNITY TOWN HALL on Saturday, February 23 at 3:30 pm at the National Black Theatre, where impacted youth, parents, and community members will discuss New York's shameful practice of prosecuting children as adults.

The Town Hall is free and open to all who wish to attend, but we do request that you RSVP.  Register for the FREE February 23 Raise the Age Town Hall here.

You are also invited to purchase tickets for Lyrics From Lockdown, a phenomenal one-man show by Bryonn Bain exploring his own wrongful imprisonment after graduation from Harvard Law School and the story of Nanon Williams, sentenced to death in Texas at age 17. On Saturday February 23rd (the day of the Town Hall) there are shows at both 2pm and 8pm.

After the Sunday February 24th 4pm Lyrics performance (closing night) there will be an Artist talkback featuring Harry Belafonte, Executive Producer of Lyrics From Lockdown.

To purchase your Lyrics from Lockdown tickets, please visit the National Black Theatre’s website:www.nationalblacktheatre.org

NEW YORK IS ONE OF ONLY TWO  STATES IN THE NATION that automatically treats all 16- and 17-year-olds in the criminal justice system as adults. These young people are subject to lifelong criminal records and if detained or incarcerated are almost always right alongside adults in adult jails and prisons. New York also prosecutes children as young as 13, if charged with certain serious offenses, as adults. Children in adult jails are 36 times more likely to commit suicide than children in juvenile detention. Children in adult prisons are twice as likely to be beaten up by staff, five times more likely to be sexually assaulted, and far more likely to be attacked with weapons than youth in juvenile facilities. Children in adult jails and prisons are frequently placed in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day.  To learn more about this issue and join in our efforts, please contact the Correctional Association's Raise the Age Campaign Manager Angelo Pinto atapinto@correctionalassociation.org.

http://www.correctionalassociation.org/news/join-us-for-lyrics-from-lockdown-the-raise-the-age-community-conversation-series.

Schools Matter: Corporate Welfare King, Reed Hastings, Offers Up Another Hollywood Propaganda Film Promoting Corporate Ed Deform

Schools Matter: Corporate Welfare King, Reed Hastings, Offers Up Another Hollywood Propaganda Film Promoting Corporate Ed Deform:


Corporate Welfare King, Reed Hastings, Offers Up Another Hollywood Propaganda Film Promoting Corporate Ed Deform




It's fronted by Reed Hastings and called House of Cards, which would a perfect title if it were about the underpinnings of corporate education reform, but, alas, it is not.  Clips fromMinnPost:
. . . According to Ed Week, the fictional version is a cudgel with which Francis “Frank” Underwood pummels those who get in his way: “Denied a nomination to be secretary of state by the president-elect, Underwood channels his ambitions toward passing a major education bill, the Education Reform and Achievement Act.” 
Apparently the ERAA is indeed ripped from the headlines, albeit headlines most frequently published by scandal sheets like Ed Week. Underwood and his foes debate “testing frequency, teacher evaluation, seniority-based exemptions on value-added measurements, financing of non-public schools, and accountability for charter schools [and] an amendment that would strip federal 

Will The Speaker step down if Lisa is elected governor? « Fred Klonsky

Will The Speaker step down if Lisa is elected governor? « Fred Klonsky:


Will The Speaker step down if Lisa is elected governor?

Will Madigan step down if his step-daughter is elected governor?
A long-time veteran of pension wars told me this story:

There is a story told of a millionaire businessman bested in a complicated financial scheme standing on the edge of a steep canyon ready to end his life when a voice from the darkness stops him.

It is old squeaky voice and he turns to see an old hag dressed all in black, hair like cobwebs, large crooked nose complete with a mole at the end.

She asks him why he is prepared to jump?

He tells her of his failure and she laughs telling that all can be made right. “You 

Mark Naison: Why I am Coming to Occupy DOE 2.0: The Battle for Public Schools | United Opt Out National

Mark Naison: Why I am Coming to Occupy DOE 2.0: The Battle for Public Schools | United Opt Out National:


Mark Naison: Why I am Coming to Occupy DOE 2.0: The Battle for Public Schools

Call for tolerance training in Minneapolis schools after spat becomes 300-person brawl | The Raw Story

Call for tolerance training in Minneapolis schools after spat becomes 300-person brawl | The Raw Story:


Call for tolerance training in Minneapolis schools after spat becomes 300-person brawl

By Stephen C. Webster
Monday, February 18, 2013 13:12 EST
Police on the campus of South High School in Minneapolis. Photo: Screenshot via The Star Ledger.
 
A Minnesota-based Muslim group called for authorities to intervene in a Minneapolis high school with mediation and tolerance training, days following cafeteria spat between two girls that erupted into a 300-person brawl largely divided along racial lines.
The fight was so large that police were called in even after nearly 30 staffers intervened, according to The Star Tribune. Three Minneapolis South High School students and one faculty member were hospitalized following the dust-up, leaving police spokesperson Sgt. William Palmer to marvel that more damage wasn’t inflicted.
“We’re very fortunate no one got seriously injured,” he told the Tribune. “I honestly can’t recall a [similar] situation of this magnitude.”
Lori Saroya, executive director of the Council on Islamic-American Relations (CAIR) for

Raw Story (http://s.tt/1zVhN)

The Parasites known as Charter Schools - Wait, What?

The Parasites known as Charter Schools - Wait, What?:


The Parasites known as Charter Schools

ePortfolio Templates for Teachers & Leaders | Connected Principals

ePortfolio Templates for Teachers & Leaders | Connected Principals:


ePortfolio Templates for Teachers & Leaders

Image credit: danblackleadership.info
Here in Pennsylvania, we’re transitioning to a new evaluation system for educators. The “Educator Effectiveness Project” was designed for teachers, educational specialists, and principals. The system includes a method to assess teaching and leadership practice as well as multiple measures aimed assess that educators, through best practice, have demonstrated a positive impact on student achievement.

The following two ePortfolio templates were created using Livebinders for the use and customization by your teachers, educational specialists and principal colleagues to align with the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s new evaluation system. Feel free to share with those in your circles as an opportunity to move to an 

Jersey Jazzman: More Paterson School Chicanery

Jersey Jazzman: More Paterson School Chicanery:


More Paterson School Chicanery

The City of Paterson, New Jersey, is very lucky to have a journalist keeping an eye on the nonsense being imposed on its school system by the reformy NJDOE. Joe Malinconico's posts for The Alternative Press, an independent hyper-local, are invaluable for unlocking the secrets of the "reforms" that are being implemented by Commissioner Chris Cerf and his merry band of Broad Foundation-backed interns and consultants.

Here are another couple of pearls Maliconico has uncovered:
After more than 20 years as the principal at School 11, Paula Santana was transferred to a new job last summer. 
City education officials put her in the new position of “principal on assignment” at the district’s administrative offices at 90 Delaware Avenue and they kept her annual salary at $143,156.
Now Santana is fighting to get her old job back and one of arguments in the legal petition she filed with the New Jersey Department of Education last September is that there was nothing to do in the new