9-13-13 SCHOOLS MATTER @ THE CHALK FACE

SCHOOLS MATTER @ THE CHALK FACE:

Joining Forces for Education’s statement on using Broad’s Jaime Aquino’s resignation to push for authentic reforms

First published on LA Schools Matter on September 14, 2013 “Once Broad alumni are working inside the education system, they naturally favor hiring other Broadies, which ups the leverage…” — Sharon Higgins While Los Angeles’ corporate media bemoans scoundrel Jaime Aquino’s resignation, replete with descriptions of tears from fellow Broadyte John Deasy, there are other […]

6 by Robert D. Skeels ... / 1h 

Somerville Teachers’ Grievance Brings Apology and Purging of Evaluations Based on Immigrant Test Scores

Somerville, Massachusetts has just under 3,400 public school students, and 1,700 of them come from homes where English is the second language.  Many of these students are economically disadvantaged.  This has not stopped Boston Magazine’s racist and classist school rankings from posting Somerville 118th out of 135 systems.  In fact, if you look at the […]

by Jim Horn / 1h 

Almost Half of Tennessee Superintendents Sign Petition Against Huffman

From the Timesfreepress.com: NASHVILLE – State Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman today said he has not moved too quickly on school reforms despite a letter signed by some 60 local school superintendents calling for his boss, Gov. Bill Haslam, and state lawmakers to rein him in. Huffman said he has yet to see a letter that […]

by Jim Horn / 40min 

John Merrow Responds, and So Do I.

Yesterday, I wrote a post about John Merrow’s decisions to both discontinue his reporting on Michelle Rhee, a damaging reformer whom his media attention helped create, and his creating a documentary in which he declares New Orleans schools a success. I showed that since 2004, Merrow has accepted approximately one million dollars from well-established education […]

by deutsch29 / 1min 

Susan O to Vermont Politicos on Common Core

Susan’s op-ed is from VTDigger.org: Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Susan Ohanian of Charlotte [VT], a longtime teacher and author of 25 books on education policy and practice. Her website is at www.susanohanian.org. North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest asked his state Department of Public Instruction 67 questions about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Now […]

2 by Jim Horn / 1h 

9-12-13 Schools Matter @ The Chalk Face

SCHOOLS MATTER @ THE CHALK FACE: As More Children Are Left Behind, CorpEd Turns to Gain Scores to Mask Reform Failure and Increasing GapsA new study is out showing increasing inequality based on race, class, and education, and with it comes the non-startling news that poor and minority children are further behind than they were when NCLB became the law of the Land, signaling as it did the full tra

by mike simpson / 7h 

Tony Bennett's Newest Problem: Illegal Use of His Indiana Office? - State EdWatch - Education Week

Tony Bennett's Newest Problem: Illegal Use of His Indiana Office? - State EdWatch - Education Week:

Tony Bennett's Newest Problem: Illegal Use of His Indiana Office?

By Andrew Ujifusa on September 13, 2013 9:17 AM

Former Indiana K-12 boss Tony Bennett could be facing a fresh bout of trouble in light of a story about how he may have violated state law by using his public office for political purposes during the 2012 campaign for state superintendent.

The story comes via Associated Press reporter Tom LoBianco, who in late July broke the news about changes to the state's A-F school accountability system on Bennett's watch that ultimately led to his resignation as Florida education commissioner. LoBianco highlights an email that Bennett, when he was still Indiana's state superintendent, sent to staff members on Aug. 28, 2012, after his re-election opponent Glenda Ritz gave a campaign speech. Bennett wrote to his staff: "Below is a link to Glenda's forum in Bloomington. It is 1:35 minutes. I would ask that people watch this and scrub it for every inaccuracy and utterance of stupidity that comes out of her mouth."

Indiana law prohibits what LoBianco refers to as "ghost employment," which in this case means using state workers, resources, and time for explicitly political purposes like re-election campaigns. (Ritz would go on to defeat Bennett in the November elections.) In perhaps more direct evidence that Bennett might have flouted this law, Bennett campaign databases were kept on state computers. The databases included three fundraising lists and a "donor call" list. Violating the "ghost employment" statute is punishable by up to three years in prison.

Both Bennett and his then-chief of staff, Heather Neal, denied that they violated the law when LoBianco queried them about the emails, although it's not entirely clear from the AP story how 

Shanker Blog » A Path To Diversifying The Teaching Workforce

Shanker Blog » A Path To Diversifying The Teaching Workforce:

A Path To Diversifying The Teaching Workforce

Posted by Jose Vilson on September 13, 2013

Our guest author today is Jose Vilson, a math educator, writer, and activist in a New York City public school. You can find more of his writing at http://thejosevilson.com and his book, This Is Not A Test, will be released in the spring of 2014.

Travis Bristol’s article on bringing more black men to the classroom has sparked a plethora of conversation around the roles of educators in our school system. If we look at the national educational landscape, educators are still treated with admiration, but our government has yet to see fit to create conditions in schools that promote truly effective teaching and learning. In fact, successful teaching in otherwise struggling environments happens in spiteand not because of the policies of our current school systems.

Even as superintendents see fit to close schools that house large populations of teachers and students of color, we must observe the roles that educators of color play in their schools, whether they consider themselves “loners” or “groupers,” as Bristol describes in the aforementioned article. When the Brown vs. Board of Education decision came down in 1954, districts across the nation were determined to keep as many white educators employed as possible. While integration plays a role in assuring equitable conditions for all children and exposes them to other peoples, segregation’s silver lining was that Black educators taught Black children Black history. Racial identification plays a role in self-confidence, and having immediate role models for our children of color matters for achievement to this day.

Educators in general already have a difficult time getting equal footing in education reform and navigating the dynamics of pedagogy and policy. Even those of us with social media platforms and access to luminaries get dismissed in liberal and conservative circles, which is symptomatic of pervasive racial views in our country. Teachers of color tend to have the added dynamic of living in a nation within a nation, as W.E.B. DuBois put it. They are 

Researchers: bilingual brain doesn't switch, languages are always on | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

Researchers: bilingual brain doesn't switch, languages are always on | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

Researchers: bilingual brain doesn't switch, languages are always on

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez | September 13th, 2013, 6:01am

Maya Sugarman/KPCC

Los Angeles County leads the state in the number of schools that offer bilingual education starting in kindergarten

Since I’ve moved away from my Spanish-speaking relatives in San Diego and Tijuana, I’ve wondered if my Spanish switch is turned off as I go days without speaking a word of my native tongue.

Penn State researchers now believe there’s no such switch - that the multiple languages in fluent bilinguals are always “on” so to speak.  An article in Psych Central details how the brain’s hard wiring in fluent bilingual people creates stronger mental flexibility. Languages seem to be functioning in parallel, regardless of whether the language was used seconds earlier or days ago.

These findings are wind in the sails of a bilingual movement that’s led to a growth of schools offering dual language curriculum in California. (Read more in KPCC's in-depth series, Bilingual Learning.)

Until recent years, policymakers have done more to discourage bilingualism than nurture it.

Some Spanish-speaking senior citizens still remember being punished by teachers for speaking Spanish in Los Angeles schools decades ago.

In 1998 California voters passed a measure to do away with bilingual education in the 

Advance Notices on Public Enemy | Bill Ayers

Advance Notices on Public Enemy | Bill Ayers:

Advance Notices on Public Enemy

Angela Davis:
With incisive humor, Bill Ayers’ captivating memoir reveals that behind the fearsome “public enemy” lies a deeply dedicated parent, compassionate teacher, and principled revolutionary activist, representing this country’s best hopes for a democratic future.

Publishers Weekly:
[A] witty and spirited follow-up to Fugitive Days. . . . Among the book’s many edifying elements, including insight into the inner life and deep humanity of a man portrayed as a “cartoon character,” are the author’s conversational style and whimsical sense of humor. . . Through humor and self-reflection, the book offers a complex portrait of Ayers, including his experiences as an early education specialist, professor, husband (to former Weather Underground leader Bernardine Dohrn), father of three, author, and activist. . .Often times riotously funny, yet also plainspoken and serious, this is a memoir of impressive range.

Amy Goodman host/executive producer Democracy Now! :
In Public Enemy Bill Ayers writes eloquently of the profound challenges, the joys, and the toll of embracing a deep, lifelong commitment to social change.  He has confronted power for more than half a century, in the civil rights movement, against the Vietnam War, living underground for over a decade, and during his long career as a respected educator. This deeply personal memoir spans the gap from the ’60s to the present day, framing the current, so-called ‘war on terror’ in a critical, urgent light.
Junot Diaz:
The legendary Ayers is at his spellbinding best in Public Enemy—a brilliant, spirited document of a revolutionary life in our not-so-revolutionary age.  One of the most compelling insightful memoirs of the year.  

Aleksander Hemon:
Public Enemy: Confessions of an American Dissident is an inspiring, ripping read. Apart from being a committed activist, engaging thinker, brilliant parent, Bill Ayers is a great storyteller. If only our true enemies were anything like that!

Adam Mansbach:
Bill Ayers is a master teacher, a master storyteller, and a clarion-clear voice of conscience and commitment. Here he is, standing calmly at the center of the never-ending maelstrom, a Public Enemy trying to make meaning and change and sense of it all.

BOOKLIST (June Sawyers):
This compelling sequel to Ayers’ Fugitive Days—published on September 11, 2001—describes the author’s chaotic life after he and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, became the topic and target of conversation during Barack Obama’s first run for the presidency. Accused of being a domestic terrorist, Ayers, a popular professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, learned to navigate his new role as the nation’s “public enemy.”
He begins his story in April 2008, when he was watching the presidential primary debate between Hillary Clinton and Obama with a dozen of his graduate students, and one of the debate moderators, George Stephanopoulos, asked Obama to explain his “friendship” with Ayers, a member of the radical 1960s Weather Underground. Ayers describes the nightmares that ensued: hate mail, death threats, cancelled lectures, being denied entry into Canada. He owns up to his activities as an “unrepentant terrorist” with the Underground but points out no one was killed or harmed: “Our notoriety, then and now, outstripped our activity.” Demonized and blacklisted, Ayers maintains not only his sanity but also his humor. When a reporter notes that he doesn’t look like a real Weatherman, Ayers laughs and asks her what a real Weatherman looks like.
A wonderful homage to free speech.

Public Enemy: Confessions of an American Dissident (Heck) Hardcover

by Bill Ayers (Author)

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LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 9-13-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

A Science Teacher Writes to President Obama: Stop!

This letter was posted as a comment: “I just sent the following post to the White House: Dear David Simas, I have supported President Obama and the Democratic Party for some time. However, I’m totally fed up and dismayed by Arne Duncan and the US Department of Education’s assault on Public Education in America. There are a lot of subjects I don’t have much in-depth knowledge about. However, I have

6 by dianerav / 22min 

Reader: The New York Times Violated Its Own Guidelines

A reader posted this comment in response to the article in the New York Times that was a profile of me:   I wrote to the Times public editor. The “portrait” twice quotes unnamed “critics”, a practice I believe is forbidden under NYT editorial rules. The language used is loaded. Her words on her blog are “barbed” and convey “righteous anger”. She displays a “quick temper” and “skewers” individuals.

1 by dianerav / 7min 

Herb Bassett: Why Louisiana’s Teacher Evaluation Is Invalid

Herb Bassett is a teacher in Louisiana. He teaches music, but like Jersey Jazzman, has the ability to understand statistics and how they work in real classrooms. This is a letter that he wrote about Louisiana’s new teacher evaluation system, which is as incoherent as teacher evaluation systems in other states:   State Superintendent John White showed his true colors when he recently praised four F

by dianerav / 1min 

Susan Ohanian: 28 Questions About Common Core

Susan Ohanian addressed this letter to the top officials of the state of Vermont. She asks straightforward questions about the claims made for Common Core: what is the evidence? Who wrote them? Where is TE evidence that Vermont schools were doing a poor job? What will it cost to implement the Common Core? What makes the new assessments better than current ones? Bottom line: where is the evidence?

by dianerav / 1min mark as read  //  save

California Ignores Duncan Ultimatum

When California officials decided to skip its regular state tests while making the transition to the new Common Core tests, Secretary Arne Duncan warned them that he wouldn’t permit it. California’s leaders ignored Duncan’s warnings and threats. The state legislature passed the legislation to suspend the state tests. What a paradox! No one has p us he’d harder for states to adopt the Common Core

11 by dianerav / 1h 

Who ARE Those Guys? Do They Know Everything?

Butch Cassidy asked the Sundance Kid about their pursuers, “Who ARE those guys?” We could well ask the same about the posse now hoping to standardize the nation’s children and teachers. What qualifies Governor Cuomo, Chancellor King, and those others who are cheerleaders for the Common Core (e.g., Joel Klein, Jeb Bush, Michelle Rhee, Arne Duncan, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) to know what children

7 by dianerav / 1h 

Tennessee Superintendents Speak Out Against Kevin Huffman

Nearly half the superintendents in the state of Tennessee took the unusual step of signing a letter in opposition to State Commissioner Kevin Huffman. They were clearly frustrated by Huffman’s arrogant style of leadership. Huffman was chosen to be state commissioner even though he has only three years of experience as a teacher in Teach for America and no administrative experience. When he was hir

4 by dianerav / 26min mark as read  //  save

New Report: Race to the Top Is “Impossible” and “Damaging”

The Broader Bolder Approach released a 100-page report in conjunction with the American Association of School Administrators lambasting the Obama administration’s Race to the Top program. RTTT’s goals are “impossible” and may even be damaging schools, the report said. RTTT handed out $4.35 billion to 11 states to implement changes for which there was no evidence, like test-based teacher evaluation

21 by dianerav / 1h 

Diane in the Evening 9-12-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: John Merrow: Why He Won’t Cover Rhee AnymoreJohn Merrow of PBS helped to make Michelle Rhee the national face of the privatization movement (often mistakenly called the “reform” movement). Merrow featured her on national television a dozen times, often adoringly. Like many others, he was impressed by her tough talk. But he came to

by mike simpson / 2h 

9-13-13 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL:

I’ll Take 90% Student Engagement Over 100% “Compliance” — Any Day

I have students in my mainstream ninth-grade English and in my ESL classes complete a simple “Reading Log” every Friday. It has five columns — ones for the day, title of the book, the number of minutes read, space for a student signature and one for a parent signature. Though I leave it on for a reason, the “parent signature” box has remained blank for years. I tell students at the beginning of th

7 by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h mark as read  //  save

Fun Cartoon For English Teachers: “A Tense Situation”

From Wrong Hands:

17 by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h 

CTA Magazine Runs Interview With Me On Student Motivation

The California Educator, the quarterly magazine of the California Teachers Association, has just published a short interview with me on student motivation. You can read it here.

6 by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h 

Resources For Hispanic Heritage Month

Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15th here in the United States. You might be interested in The Best Resources For Hispanic Heritage Month.

3 by Larry Ferlazzo / 23min  

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Two Important Quotes From Massive NY Times Articles On Tablets In ClassroomToday, The New York Times published a very lengthy piece on the use of tablets in the classroom, focusing on Rupert Murdoch’s Amplify system (which I’ve written about in the past). The Times piece is headlined No Child Left Untableted. I think it’s a

by mike simpson / 11h 

7 Things You Need to Know about Your Public School | GoingPublic

7 Things You Need to Know about Your Public School | GoingPublic:

7 Things You Need to Know about Your Public School

Our public schools are the last real space where people from different classes and different walks of life come together to learn, to share ideas, and to be afforded a fair opportunity to reach for the American dream. At the same time, unless you work in a public school or have a child enrolled in one, chances are you don’t get to spend much time in them.

Two years ago I founded Going Public, a site for those who believe that public education is the heart of our democracy. One of our goals is to educate the average American on what the  challenges and successes of public education really are. To that end, here are seven things you need to know about your local public school.

1. Most parents really, really like their neighborhood schools.
In a recent poll conducted by Hart Research Associates, more than 75 percent of parents surveyed said they are satisfied with their children’ teachers and most would rather see their neighborhood schools strengthened and given more resources than have options to enroll their children elsewhere.

Click here to read to read the rest of Nancy’s 7 Things You Need to Know about Your Public School” on Good

9-13-13 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.:

Urgent. Call ISBE about special education class size. And could someone get IEA to put something on their web page? Please?

I just sent this out to my IEA Retired email list. Please post widely: FROM AN EMAIL ALERT this morning: Urgent!!! Please share and contact Gery Chico’s office at the Illinois State Board of Education today and tell him you are opposed to ISBE removing the caps on class sizes for children with special needs. Really pleasant woman on the other end of the line, and it takes only 3 minutes — less if

by Fred Klonsky / 1min

Rauner dresses like Floyd Turbo. Speaks like Rahm.

  Floyd Turbo or Bruce Rauner. While millionaire mayor Rahm Emanuel wears expensive suits and Republican candidate for governor Bruce Rauner dresses more like Johnny Carson’s old character, Floyd Turbo, you might still confuse the two of them. Aside from record violence in many south and west side communities that is 15 times that of his the area around his north side Lakeview home, Rahm spends h

2 by Fred Klonsky / 27min 

Guzzardi’s kick-off and the youth movement.

  Several hundred young activists fill the room for Will Guzzardi’s kick-off.  When I moved to Logan Square in 1975, with a few exceptions, none of the several hundred activists who filled Cole’s Bar on Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square last night were even born yet. To me, the most striking thing about election politics in Chicago right now is that it is a youth movement. They don’t just look you

3 by Fred Klonsky / 28min 

9-12-13 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.: I say that the NY results are making Rahm nervous and people say I’m crazy.. It’s not the first time I’ve been told I don’t know what I’m talking about. Yesterday I posted a report about the New York mayoral primary in which a progressive Democrat soundly beat the Bloomberg mini-me, Council Speaker Ch

by mike simpson / 8h