8-23-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:

The in box

Latest from the Illinois Gang of Ten’s proposals for pension theft.

From the Springfield Journal Register: The Associated Press on Friday obtained an outline of ideas being considered by the 10-person committee, whose members have said they are making progress on an issue that has vexed the Legislature for years. Sen. Kwame Raoul, a Chicago Democrat and the committee’s chairman, acknowledged the outline but said the document is preliminary and the panel is not re

2 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

The in box. Randy Hultgren. The Congressman from the health insurance industry.

For a politician claiming to value fiscal responsibility, 14th Congressional Representative Randy Hultgren certainly has wasted a lot of our money. Hultgren has voted with the rest of his Tea Party coalition to repeal Obamacare 40 times. According to a recent CBS study, each Republican vote to repeal costs all of us American taxpayers $1.45 million—for a total of about $58 million. Question: Why w

1 by Fred Klonsky / 2h 

The in box. Micah Uetricht on Chicago’s safe passage in murder city.

  Micah Uetricht (right) reports on Chicago’s schools set up for failure. By Micah Uetricht for Al Jazeera Walking along bustling 47th Street in Bronzeville, a poor, almost entirely African-American neighborhood on the city’s South Side, Irene Robinson pointed out two men exchanging money in what looked like a drug deal, and sites where young men, including her godson, have been gunned down in re

by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

From the pen of Ellen Gradman.

  An Ellen Gradman graphic.

1 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

Schools close. Teachers fired.CPS principals receive a Rauner bonus. “Take your spouse to the Four Seasons,” says the Mayor.

  CPS principals receive bonuses paid for by millionaire Bruce Rauner. The first thing right-wing loony Dr. Dathan Paterno did following his election to the Park Ridge school board was vote to give a handful of  Park Ridge administrators thousands of dollars in bonuses. He ran for the board on a platform of cutting teacher salaries. Typical. The Chicago Sun-Times reports today that CPS principals

1 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

8-22-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: The in boxSun-Times, Civic Committee and the Civic Federation: More blame the teacher pensions.  The Civic Federation’s Larry Msall. If ever there was a time for every public and private employee to stand in defense of Illinois teacher pensions, the Sun-Times made it clear, today is the day. Teacher P

by mike simpson / 50min 

8-23-13 teacherken at Daily Kos

teacherken at Daily Kos:

A few thoughts on the intelligence apparatus

which I wrote in a free-flowing discussion on a private list.  Since these are my thoughts, and I do not quote or refer to the words of anyone else, I feel free to share them here. Make of them what you will. -----  do not grant to the military-intelligence complex the right to determine for itself what are legitimate functions and targets of intelligence gathering.  Surely in a system whose gover

2 by rss@dailykos.com ... / 18min

Eugene Robinson: GOP in Fantasyland

The make-believe crusade by publicity-hound Republicans to somehow stop Obamacare is one of the most cynical political exercises we’ve seen in many years. And that, my friends, is saying something. That is the opening paragraph of this Washington Post column in which the Pulitzer Prize winner takes apart those Republicans who are arguing for the GOP to somehow defund or otherwise stop the continua

2 by rss@dailykos.com ... / 0min 

Don't worry, I haven't vanished

even though I have not even been posting comments. This is teacher prep week at my new school. I have had tons of meetings. I have had tos et up my classroom, which was somewhat interfered with because my room was one of four places for the rotations for professional development rotations on Monday morning and this morning. I hope to post a book review of a book on education over the weekend. I am

2 by rss@dailykos.com ... / 9h 

8-18-13 teacherken at Daily Kos

teacherken at Daily Kos: interesting insights on how Brits react to uscan be read as a part of Ta-Ta, London. Hello, Awesome., written by Sarah Lyall, who spent 18 years in the UK as a correspondent of sorts for the New York Times. Several paragraphs jumped out at me: And so a country where even Conservatives are proud of the nationalized health service cannot comprehend a system that leaves tens

by mike simpson / 8h 

8-23-13 The Answer Sheet Can we stop asking what Martin Luther King Jr. would do? + ‘Perfect storm’ threatens Philadelphia schools

The Answer Sheet:

Can we stop asking what Martin Luther King Jr. would do?

Can we stop asking what Martin Luther King Jr. would do? You can’t escape it, on television, on Twitter, on Facebook, everywhere. What would King do about education reform, or the economy, or the huge income gap, or, well, you get … Continue reading →    

7 by Valerie Strauss / 2h 

‘Perfect storm’ threatens Philadelphia schools

The Philadelphia public school system is in a financial and leadership crisis so severe that writer Aaron Kase said in this article on Salon.com that the district is in its “death throes.” While that may be premature, there is no … Continue reading →    

13 by Valerie Strauss / 1h 

Six ways the arts help prepare kids succeed in life

Here’s something a little different. Some time ago I published a post titled “Top 10 skills children learn from the arts” and it turned out to be highly popular. Here is a related post by the same author, Lisa Phillips, … Continue reading →    

19 by Valerie Strauss / 3h 

YESTERDAY

Transcript: Obama’s remarks on college affordability plan

Here are remarks that President Obama made on Thursday when  announcing his new college affordability plan at the State University of New York in Buffalo. This transcript is from the White House. REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON COLLEGE AFFORDABILITY   … Continue reading →    

3 by Valerie Strauss / 7h 

D.C. charter schools to give standardized tests to young children

The use of standardized tests to measure very young students  keeps expanding. Now public charter schools in Washington D.C. will soon be giving new standardized tests to very young children — aged 3, 4 and 5 — for the purposes … Continue reading →    

300+ by Valerie Strauss / 1d 

AUG 21

Poll: Most Americans sick of high-stakes standardized tests

(Correcting description of AP poll) The results of a well-regarded annual poll show that most Americans don’t like the high-stakes standardized testing that dominates education reform today and have never heard of the Common Core standards, which are currently being … Continue reading →    

400+ by Valerie Strauss / 1d 

How Common Core Standards will succeed — even if they don’t

What does success mean when it comes to evaluating the Common Core State Standards? Here to explain is Larry Cuban, a high school social studies teacher for 14 years, a district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, Virginia), and professor emeritus … Continue reading →    

100+ by Valerie Strauss / 2d 

How the ‘reading wars’ are being reignited

This is a new piece about an issue raised in this post last week, titled “Literacy experts say reformers reviving ‘reading wars.’” Both of these refer to ratings published in June by a group called the National Council on Teacher … Continue reading →    

100+ by Valerie Strauss / 2d 

AUG 20

Student test scores now linked to teachers’ licenses

We should have seen this coming. School reformers who love using student standardized test scores as the chief accountability measure in education have found yet a new way to use them against teachers. It’s not enough that many teachers’ salaries … Continue reading →    

1K by Valerie Strauss / 3d 

How distracting are laptops in class?

Here’s a piece looking at how distracting laptops can be in class by cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham, a professor and director of graduate studies in psychology at the University of Virginia and author of “Why Don’t Students Like School?” His … Continue reading →    

100+ by Valerie Strauss / 3d 

AUG 19

What we know about schools — but choose to ignore

Here’s an important piece on school reform by P.L. Thomas, an associate professor of education at Furman University in South Carolina. He edited the 2013 book “Becoming and Being a Teacher,” and wrote the 2012 book, “Ignoring Poverty in the … Continue reading →    

400+ by Valerie Strauss / 3d 

Why teachers feel so alone

Intended or not, school reform has left many teachers feeling isolated and alone. Here’s a post on this by Hillary Greene, who has taught middle school for three years in independent, public, and public charter settings in Massachusetts and New … Continue reading →    

500+ by Valerie Strauss / 3d 

What’s the ‘most pernicious cliché of our time’?

According to a new piece in The New Republic by the magazine’s science editor, Judith Shulevitz, the term “disruption” is, as the headline says, “the most pernicious cliché of our time.” That’s almost right. Shulevitz makes important points about the … Continue reading →    

27 by Valerie Strauss / 4d mark as read  //  save

AUG 17

Maryland university buying bulletproof whiteboards

A sign of the times: The University of Maryland Eastern Shore is planning to buy $60,000 worth of special whiteboards that can be used as  writing pads — and as protection against bullets should there be a need. The historically … Continue reading →    

54 by Valerie Strauss / 5d 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The "perfect storm" hits Philly

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The "perfect storm" hits Philly:

The "perfect storm" hits Philly

In mid afternoon, more than 1,000 protesters, many in red T-shirts and carrying signs and banners, marched from the Comcast Center at 17th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard to the district's offices on North Broad Street.

Philadelphia streets were a sea of red yesterday as red-shirted teachers, parents, students and community activists marched to save the city's public school system from the "perfect storm" that is massive budget cuts, school closings, teacher firings and corporate-style ed "reform."

In today's Washington Post, Valerie Strauss interviews parent and schools activist Helen Gym about the impending storm threatening the very existence of public education -- and not just in Philadelphia. 

Strauss writes: 

...there is no question that the system is in agony, having been starved for funding by the state for years and used as a playground by school reformers who imposed one experiment after another, each which served to undermine the traditional public schools.

 Says Gym:

We’ve burned through countless dollars chasing after the obsessions and frivolities of this so called “education reform” movement – expensive 

Schooling in the Ownership Society: James Meredith: The civil rights issue of our time...

James Meredith: The civil rights issue of our time...

Accompanied by U.S. marshals and surrounded by jeering crowds, James Meredith enrolled as the first African-American student at the University of Mississippi in 1962.

“The civil rights issue of our time is to stop unproven co-called education reforms from totally destroying our children’s public education,” says Meredith, “and to get parents, teachers, community leaders and elders, the whole ‘Family of God,’ to