Wall Street ♥ charter schools | Muckety - See the news

Wall Street ♥ charter schools | Muckety - See the news:

Wall Street ♥ charter schools

By Laurie Bennett

May 5, 2013 at 9:37am

Call them cynical, but the widespread involvement of financial firms in the charter school movement raises suspicion among many public school advocates.

The map below illustrates just a few entanglements of big league investors in national school-choice organizations.

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Many hedge funders and financiers contribute to state-level groups or to individual schools. Billionaire Carl Icahn founded the Bronx charter school named for him. Spencer Robertson, son of billionaire Julian Robertson, started PAVE Academy in Red Hook, NY.

Hedge funder John Arnold, founder of Centaurus Advisors, is one of the most generous advocates for school choice.

His foundation has given millions of dollars to charter school networks such as KIPP and YES Prep.

New Markets Tax Credit

One of the perks of investment in charter schools came with passage in 2000 of the New Markets Tax Credit, a federal tax break for investors in community development projects.

Big banks have seen the allure. The map below shows banks and other organizations that have put

UPDATE: No more AYP + DeKalb marches to own tune: Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com

DeKalb marches to own tune: Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com:

Get Schooled: No more AYP. Here comes College & Career Ready Index.

By Maureen Downey

The state releases scores for schools next week using the new College & Career Ready Performance Index.

We had a primer on the index with DOE on Friday. It's a complex and comprehensive system. It will be interesting to see if parents warm to it. The index awards schools a numerical grade on a 100-point scale. So, schools will be graded 75 or 80 or 95.  But behind those grades are loads of data.

The index replaces Adequate Yearly Progress as the measure of a school’s success. My colleage Nancy Badertscher would like to hear from parents and teachers, both pro and con on this.

Do you believe a numerical grade will be more illuminating? How much stock do you put in either 

Get Schooled: DeKalb marches to own tune: Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to court we go

 By Maureen Downey

The AJC has a story that will not surprise faithful DeKalb Schools watchers:  The DeKalb County School District has spent more on lawyers than comparable Atlanta school systems for years, and is on track to spend even more.

Cultures develop in any institution, and DeKalb seems to have developed one in which going to court to resolve issues is a way of life. Once a court fight starts, the school district is resolved to see it through,  no matter the mounting legal bills. The district also has more law firms on retainer than other districts, a situation for which no one has yet to offer a clear explanation.

According to the AJC:

The millions of dollars DeKalb pays for lawsuits and other legal expenses could instead be paying for badly needed teachers and classroom aides. Like other districts, DeKalb has watched tax receipts shrivel and has slashed its budget, imposing furlough days and driving up class sizes while cutting back on support services such as bus maintenance.

However, unlike other districts DeKalb has increased its anticipated legal expenses. The 

National Teacher Day, May 7, 2013

NEA - National Teacher Day:

National Teacher Day, May 7, 2013

What's New? 

• Parents: Show your support for educators by taking our pledge.
• Teachers: Celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week with Carnegie Corporation and our partners. Upload your photo of inspired teaching and you could win $3,500 for your favorite school!
• Congratulations to the five outstanding teachers who have been selected for induction into the National Teachers Hall of Fame as members of the Class of 2013.

Help Us Spread the Word!

Join our celebration by updating your social media to thank a teacher. On Tuesday, May 7, change your Facebook status to thank a teacher who made a difference in your life. Orchange your profile and cover photos with images from our NEA Today Facebook page.

Send appreciation messages on Twitter. Be sure to use our #thankateacher hashtag.

Sample posts:

• If you can write your name, #thankateacher
• If you followed your dreams, #thankateacher
• If you can read, #thankateacher

You can also share our videos promoting National Teacher Day and encouraging your networks to thank a teacher.

Resources for Celebrating National Teacher Day

• Ideas and activities for celebrating National Teacher Day
• Five easy ways to make a difference in the lives of teachers
• Artwork and posters
• Sample proclamation
• Sample news release
• Quotes about teaching
• Celebrities Name Their Most Memorable Teachers (PDF, 306 KB, 38pp)
• History of National Teacher Day

Information on the Teaching Profession

• Key trends facing the teaching profession
• Want to Teach?

Show Your Support and Thank a Teacher by updating your profile and cover image!

Download a vibrant cover photo to feature on your Facebook Timeline. It's easy!

Instructions:

1. Choose an image below.
2. Right-click on the image and "Save Image As" to your computer.
3. Go to your personal Facebook Timeline and click "Change Cover" (or "Add a Cover" if you're new to Timeline).
4. Select "Upload Photo" and choose your saved image.
5. Click "Save Changes" and you're done!

Profile image (You can also use this one for Twitter)

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 5-6-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Teachers College to Honor Doyenne of High-Stakes Testing

by dianerav

Teachers College, Columbia University, will honor Merryl Tisch at its 2013 Convocation.
As Chancellor of the New York Board of Regents, Tisch has launched the state’s most demanding regime of high-stakes testing in history. Teachers College specifically congratulates Tisch’s leadership not only in tying test scores to teacher evaluations but in tying test scores to the school of education that prepared the teachers.
The press release notes these accomplishments:
“TC alumna Merryl Tisch, Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents. Tisch will speak at the first master’s degree ceremony on May 21st, which starts at 9:30 a.m. As Chancellor, Tisch, a former first-grade teacher, has championed public education as “the greatest civic and civil liberties issue of our time.” She 

York, PA, Will Not Privatize

by dianerav

A proposal to turn the public schools of York, Pennsylvania, into an all charter district was overwhelmingly rejected.
Do you think someone told them that the Néw Orleans Recovery School District is the lowest rated district in Louisiana?

Scofflaws in Louisiana

by dianerav

Louisiana is expanding the number of students attending voucher schools to 8,000, despite a court ruling that it is unconstitutional to take money from the dedicated public school fund for non-public schools.
Bobby Jindal thinks either that the law doesn’t mean him or that he knows more than the courts and can ignore their rulings. (L ‘etat c’est moi.)
Which schools get vouchers?
New Living Word got the most. It won an additional 117 vouchers, bringing its total to 214.
A Reuters article described the top voucher school as follows:
“The school willing to accept the most voucher students — 314 — is New Living Word in Ruston, which has

How the “Rich Boyz” of School Reform Struck Out in Boston

by dianerav

EduShyster here tells the heartwarming story of how DFER tried to elect one of their own in Boston (white, privileged, no experience or knowledge of public schools necessary) and lost.
If you recall, the California Democratic Party called out DFER as a front for Republican and corporate interests.
Here are the key paragraphs of the resolution:
“Whereas, the political action committee, entitled Democrats for Education Reform is funded by corporations, 

Will Michael Fullan Stop NCLB and RTTT?

by dianerav

Officials in California have been meeting with Michael Fullan of Ontario to learn about the impressive improvements there.
Fullan wants to turn the state of California away from the carrots-and-sticks of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.
The story linked her says:
“I want California to become an alternative model to No Child Left Behind; that would be a great thing to aspire to,” Fullan said last month during an interview in Sacramento. Instead of improvement through the “negative 

Diane in the Evening 5-5-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Why Business Models Fail in Education by dianerav A comment on the post about “Zombie Education Policies”: Having spent years in business, I cringe at blindly applying business models to education. 360 evaluation is a business fad that will join MBOs and matrix management. I tried student evaluations. Students are usually upset over not getting a certain grade on the most recent test, angry over a detention, or at the other extreme, like the teacher and don’t want to say anything negative. I eavesdropped on two ... more »

Louisiana Educator: The Course Choice Cancer

Louisiana Educator: The Course Choice Cancer:

The Course Choice Cancer

by Michael Deshotels

The campaign is already starting up. There will be millions devoted to marketing alone. Despite the court decision finding Course Choice unconstitutional, Jindal and White have given the green light to for-profit companies to go right ahead with marketing.

These are millions that will be taken from Louisiana taxpayers and possibly from the scarce MFP dollars that were once dedicated by the voters and going to our legitimate public schools systems. Jindal and White's strategy is obviously to sign up as many students as possible, so that they will have a pressure group built up when it comes time to get legislative approval for continuing the program no matter what the Supreme Court decides. One of my readers found some ads that are now being run all over Lousiana to hire salesmen to hawk these courses to parents in high poverty neighborhoods:

Free ipad; cost to parents zero; costs to Louisiana, only $1,200 per course..

Here are some of the ads being run accross the state on Craigs list for a program that as of today has 

Did John White lean on LPB to get reporter terminated? Follow the money to Course Choice and Iberville Parish | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

Did John White lean on LPB to get reporter terminated? Follow the money to Course Choice and Iberville Parish | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

Did John White lean on LPB to get reporter terminated? Follow the money to Course Choice and Iberville Parish

by crazycrawfish

 Reblogged from Louisiana Voice:

Blind, unquestioning loyalty has long been a prerequisite for serving in the administration of Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Any administrator, of course, expects his appointees to be loyal, and rightfully so. There’s no argument at any level with that basic principle of employment, whether one works for a bicycle shop or the President.
Generally, though, an intelligent CEO will seek candid input from subordinates—even if that input differs from his management philosophy.

Read more… 1,391 more words

I have an update on the Shadow Schools story I was sitting on. I will finish it this week. They never even aired her story with me, they killed it twice because they are lying cowards afraid of the truth. All the top brass and BESE members know about Shadow Schools but the Jindal appointees and bought members think they are a wonderful idea, even though Iberville's scores are still in the toilet as a district and they refuse to release the 

UPDATE: The problem with Pearson-designed tests + They made him take the test

They made him take the test:

The problem with Pearson-designed tests that threatens thousands of scores

by Valerie Strauss

I’ve written about some of the problems with new standardized tests given to students in New York — including mistakes with scoring for gifted and talented programs, concerns about product placement in  test questions and badly written questions and possible answers — but here is a piece on a different issue surrounding the exams and the company that designed them, Pearson. This was written by Kathleen Porter-Magee is a Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and the editor of the Common Core Watch blog, where this post first appeared. Previously, she served as a middle school and high school teacher and as the founding curriculum and professional development director for Achievement First, a network of public charter schools. She can be found on Twitter at @kportermagee.

By Kathleen Porter-Magee

It’s testing season in New York, which can mean only one thing: It’s open season on

They made him take the test

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

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cfnews13.com

Nobody stopped it.

Nobody in Florida with the power to do so stopped the state from forcing a 9-year-old boy named Michael, who was born with a brain stem but not a complete brain, from taking an alternative version of the standardized Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

He is blind and he can’t talk, nor can he understand basic information, but, yes, Michael had to “take” the test.

I wrote about Michael recently when it became news that he was going to have to take the test. For those who didn’t see that post, here’s some background: Michael, shortly after birth, came into the care of a woman named Judy Harris who owns and operates an Orlando care facility for children called the Russell House. The facility is under school board jurisdiction and, therefore, is subject to the same rules and regulations as other schools, including the requirement that every child must take some version of the FCAT.

A News 13 story reported that the state provided a teacher to work with Michael twice a week for an hour, but his ability to comprehend is beyond extremely limited. News 13

Eighteen myths about education

by Valerie Strauss

Here’s an infographic about some myths about education, from InformED, a blog by Open Colleges, an online education provider based in Sydney, Australia. An Infographic by Open Colleges  

UPDATE: Just as basketball doesn’t define who I am, neither does being gay.Daily Kos: "The Chutzpah Caucus"

Daily Kos: Krugman writes about "The Chutzpah Caucus":

"Just as basketball doesn’t define who I am, neither does being gay."

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

That is just one line from Griner Is Part of Mission to Help All Live in Truth, a New York Times op ed by the two-time Naismith Trophy winner that i urge people to read.
She begins by praising Jason Collins for his recent statement, expresses a hope that it will indicate our approaching a new era when

people accept and celebrate one another’s differences. I think that’s what makes life beautiful: everyone is different and we can all learn from one another.

 and immediately notes that it takes a lot of courage to come out.She explains that she first came out to her mom in an unplanned utterance in 9th grade.  Her mother simply hugged her and said she loved her, which enable Griner to write

I knew then that it didn’t matter what my sexuality was; my mom and family would always love me for who I am. For me, the simplicity behind coming out was both powerful and beautiful. No drama, just acceptance and love.

But acceptance by her family was not the only experience with which she had to live.

Krugman writes about "The Chutzpah Caucus"

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

in this op-ed for Monday's New York Times.
There is much solid economic history, taking about the arguments of those who still advocate for the now thoroughly discredit approach of austerity.  Krugman takes their claims and presents the history that proves them wrong. I will present the arguments in Italics and follow with summaries of Krugman's rebuttals.  For example.
Stimulus programs never go away  - in fact, they are rare and short-lived. FDR cut back on his in 1937, plunging the country back into recession, Obama's peaked in 2010 and has faded, which is a major reason the recovery is struggling.
programs to help those hurt go on forever - not really.  When employment recovers unemployment goes down, and are now down to half of their recent peak.  Food support also fluctuates.
The Keynesian idea to run deficits in bad times is supposed to be accompanied by paying down debt in good times, and that won't happen - well, Krugman says what you need to look at is the ratio of debt to GDP, not just raw numbers.  And now he gets blunt:

And if you look at United States history since World War II, you find that of the 10 presidents who preceded Barack Obama, seven left office with a debt ratio lower than when they came in. Who 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

by Mike Klonsky

Roberts was told to "blow up" and "dismantle" Detroit schools

Roy Roberts, Emergency Manager of Detroit Public Schools 

According to a Detroit Free Press article, he also revealed that when he first entered his job in 2011, he was told to "blow up the district and dismantle it."  --Huffpost Detroit

Dana Goldstein

 If smaller, themed schools are better for kids -- and there is significant evidence they are -- the question then becomes, how can districts transition to such a system without leaving behind those students who most need help? Crenshaw was already pursuing a themed school-within-a-school reform plan, and it is discouraging, I think, that the Social Justice and Law Academy, whose work was politically and intellectually challenging, will be discontinued, with its leaders dispersed. -- An Activist Teacher, a Struggling School, and the School Closure Movement: A Story from L.A.

Diane Ravitch

Bill Gates is wrong. American education is not “broken.” Federal education policy is

Student's-Eye View of NJ's Statewide Tests - NJ Spotlight

Student's-Eye View of NJ's Statewide Tests - NJ Spotlight:

Student's-Eye View of NJ's Statewide Tests

When your kids sit down to one of NJ's state tests, what do they need to know?

For all the talk these days about the value of New Jersey’s state tests for judging schools and teachers, here’s your chance to judge for yourself.

Related Links

NJ ASK Grades 3-5 Parent, Student & Teacher Information Guide

For the next five days, as students across the state take the NJ ASK elementary school tests, NJ Spotlight will run sample questions from the exams to give you a view into what the state expects your kids to know and do each step of the way.

We start with a handful of math questions for grades 3-5, both multiple choice and extended-response questions, which require several related answers. As New Jersey begins moving to the Common Core State Standards, the math questions will likely see the most change in this first year.

After you've gotten a feel for the questions, NJ Spotlight invites you to share your thoughts in the comments section about what New Jersey tests and how. We plan on republishing excerpts of your comments at the end of this five-day series.

One more thing: You can check your work against the answers at the end of this story. But no peeking.

Money Spurs Use of New Technologies in Medical Practice: Schools Also? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Money Spurs Use of New Technologies in Medical Practice: Schools Also? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Money Spurs Use of New Technologies in Medical Practice: Schools Also?

by larrycuban

Physicians have steadily adopted new technologies from the early 19^th century stethoscope to the X-ray decades later to late-20^th century computer-tomography scans. Such rapid adoption of new technologies has been (and is) common in medicine. What is uncommon is that medical technology spurred by new ways of funding in the past half-century has come to dominate clinical practice among specialty doctors (but less so among primary care physicians whose revenue is largely generated by office visits). How come? [i]
Public and private insurers pay doctors not only for visits to offices, clinics, and hospitals but also for the diagnostic tests they order such as blood work, sonograms, X-rays, scans, and the treatments they deem best in light of an emerging diagnosis. They also prescribe medications and screen healthy patients for possible diseases including more tests since this system of payments–called fee-for-service–encourage such practices. Fee-for-service payments from private and public insurers depend upon counting patient visits, diagnostic tests, and treatments.

Surveys of physicians, in part, support this view of doctors ordering additional tests beyond what may be