THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: Lying like a rug: Concept Schools

THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: Lying like a rug: Concept Schools:

Lying like a rug: Concept Schools

Since Concept Schools is willing to lie to Americans about its very fundamental connection to the Gulen Movement’s (GM) larger school network, then what else is it lying about and why should Americans trust anything it claims?

Despite the GM’s best efforts to stay under the radar, each day a few more Americans are becoming aware of its presence here. As followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish imam who has been living on a secluded compound in rural Pennsylvania since the late 1990s, GM members have been busy building up their enormous network of schools around the world, among which are more than 140 publicly-funded charter schools operating in 26 of the United States.  

However, most American taxpayers still have no idea that they are funding this secretive and highly controversial group’s US set of schools. The GM has been able to take advantage of what Diane Ravitch calls a"Reign of Error," This is the current education reform effort that is driving to privatize the US public school system (she discusses Gulen charter schools on page 166). As the American Foreign Policy Council’s report (“Fethullah Gulen Movement”) explains:

"The charter school experiment has resulted in the United States being the only country in the world where the Gülen Movement has been able to establish schools fully funded 

10-9-13 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Education "Spring" is Already Here

Remember the uprising in Egypt (that really started in Tunisia) called the Arab Spring?We have just such a movement happening - Education Spring - that is traveling across America and nobody is waiting for Spring. Exhibit A: the uprising against testing in Buffalo, New York (and I believe the courageous action by the Garfield High staff has triggered this "we can change this" attitude th

by Melissa Westbrook / 22min 

Growth Boundary Fallout and Infighting

A heartfelt message from David Elliot , principal at Queen Anne Elementary expressing some anguish for a situation out of his control.   I was aware of the unhappiness at Coe over their tight quarters AND that there was some advocacy for QA Elementary's   geozone to change to include more neighborhood students but it looks like it went a step farther.I feel this is an important part of the discuss

by Melissa Westbrook / 13min 

Seattle School Board Executive Committee

No time to do a complete write-up to several major items of note:It appears that some changing are coming to EOCs for algebra and geometry.  It looks like there will be some sort of comprehensive exam coming in the next four years.  Michael Tolley reported this as coming from OSPI and that he had had a meeting with high school principals.  Most seem on-board but a few felt there was too much testi

by Melissa Westbrook / 1h 

10-8-13 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools Community Forum:GET Program - Now Back on TrackRemember how Senator Rodney Tom was telling everyone who would listen what a bad idea it was for the state to continue the GET program (buying prepaid units of college tuition)?   He said, "We don't need to be in that business."  And the Legislature was thinking of getting rid of it despite it

by mike simpson / 6h 

Jesse Hagopian nails it on Education Nation | Seattle Education

Jesse Hagopian nails it on Education Nation | Seattle Education:

Jesse Hagopian nails it on Education Nation

Brian Williams, the host of Education Nation, the ed reform infomercial brought to you by Gates & Co., asked Jesse Hagopian during the Teacher Town Hall, “You’re not against testing are you?” Jesse responded in a kick *** way that had the audience cheering.

As Jesse stated on his blog, “I was very happy to be able to help inject a serious debate on a national level about the corrosive nature of standardized testing on public education and the many important alternative ways to assess student learning that promote the kind of critical thinking education our nation so desperately needs.”

You go Jesse!

Posted by Dora Taylor

The bottom line on SAT scores in one chart:

The bottom line on SAT scores in one chart

By Valerie Strauss, Published: October 9 at 1:52 pmE-mail the writer

Here, in one chart, is pretty much everything you need to know about who does and doesn’t perform well on the SAT. Kids from the wealthiest families do the best, and the kids from the poorest families do the worst. This pattern applies to virtually every high-stakes standardized test that is given to kids.

The chart, which shows national average SAT scores by income band for students in the high school class of 2013,  was done by the non-profit National Center for Fair and Open Testing, known as FairTest, which is dedicated to ending the misuse of standardized tests.

				Critical Reading		Math		Writing		Total
$ 0 -  $20,000				435		462		429		1326
$20,000 – $40,000				465		482		455		1402
$40,000 – $60,000				487		500		474		1461
$60,000 – $80,000				500		511		486		1497
$80,000 – $100,000				512		524		499		1535
$100,000 – $120,000				522		536		511		1569
$120,000 – $140,000				526		540		515		1581
$140,000 – $160,000				533		548		523		1604
$160,000 – $200,000				539		555		531		1625
More than  $200,000				565		586		563		1714
Calculated by FairTest from: College Board, College-Bound Seniors 2013: Total Group Profile Report
and College-Bound Seniors 2006: Total Group Profile Report

Community School Collaborations: A Lifeline for Early Learning Program Success — Whole Child Education

Community School Collaborations: A Lifeline for Early Learning Program Success — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

Community School Collaborations: A Lifeline for Early Learning Program Success

October 9, 2013 by ASCD Whole Child Bloggers

Post written by Janet Brown, Senior Early Childhood Program Specialist, and Kwesi Rollins, Director of Leadership Programs at the Institute for Educational Leadership

In Lifelines for Poor Children, economist and Nobel laureate James Heckman argues that quality early learning programs represent our best national education investment due to evidence of societal benefits from longitudinal studies of Perry Preschool and Abecedarian early childhood programs.  

The Perry Preschool Project and Abecedarian programs worked extensively with families in their home and community contexts. Successes from such early learning and family support efforts suggests that cross sector community collaborations, such as those in community schools are ideal contexts for scaling up early childhood programming for low income children and families. Such schools share program approaches with Perry Preschool and Abecedarian including home visiting and follow up supports for children and families in their communities.

Perry Preschool teachers conducted weekly home visits to families during the two years their 3 and 4 year olds participated in the program. Abecedarian—with 15 home visits per year and ongoing support until age 8—provided children and families with a seamless array of early learning resources including summer activity packets, assistance with summer camp experiences, visits to the public library, and tutoring in reading skills. Similarly, community schools partner extensively with health and social service providers, libraries and 

A Force for Real Education Reform Emerges | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity

A Force for Real Education Reform Emerges | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity:

A Force for Real Education Reform Emerges

Posted on: Wednesday October 9th, 2013

By Jeff Bryant, Education Opportunity Network

Education “reform” wasn’t supposed to turn out like this.

In an ironic coda to the No Child Left Behind era last week, Texas officially turned its back on George W. Bush’s policy triumph by opting out of his signature mandate for schools to achieve “adequate yearly progress.”

Topping the irony of The Lone Star State rejecting a policy based on the Texas Miracle, the leader of the Beltway’s newest brand of “education reform,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, lashed out at critics of his signature education policy, Race to the Top, by saying they … wait for it … “inhabit a Washington bubble.”

Along with those who want “government hands off my Medicare” and Congressional Representatives who insist on being paid while they cut off wages to other federal employees, purveyors of education policy have clearly descended into nonsense.

As the country pivots from the failures of NCLB, what’s needed is not an insistence on the same brand of policies or the outright rejection of those who believe there is a better way forward, but a new course for real education reform based on traditional values that made public education an enduring American institution to begin with.

That new course is indeed emerging in a movement coming not from a Washington bubble but from communities across America.

Community And Labor Organizing Together

At a hotel in downtown Los Angeles last week, hundreds of activists and organizers gathered to voice a common commitment to public education and to plan specific courses of action to disrupt what most in the audience described as a “corporate model of school reform.”

The participants included labor leaders, educators, clergy, members of immigrant communities, civil rights activists, representatives from 

10-9-13 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE:

The Fight to Save Common Core: Count Me Out

I have written a number of posts on the so-called Common Core State Standards (CCSS), an unprecedented effort by those outside of the classroom to exercise control over the classroom by standardizing what is taught in classrooms across the nation. Since CCSS did not originate with those forced to accept it, there has been resistance. Legislators are […]

by deutsch29 / 1h mark as read  //  save

The Fight to Save Common Core: Count Me Out

The Fight to Save Common Core: Count Me Out.   I couldn’t say it any better.

by Michael Paul Gold... / 1h 

Holy hell, that joke Doctor Steve Perry unloads and unhinged on Twitter. Say hey, @drsteveperry

Can you believe this guy? Does he not know the internet is forever?

by Shaun Johnson / 7min 

This is how it’s done, that professional development stuff.

I see how it is. So, teachers are offered the choice to join a pilot for the Kindergarten GOLD assessments.  In exchange, you get an iPad mini, yours to keep. And a “day off” for training. Nicely done, consultants. Nicely done.  

by Shaun Johnson / 7min mark as read  //  save

If you are this person, then you have no business in education. Quit now. Leave. Good-bye.

Here’s the model citizen in question. Are you a homophobe, or just so blatantly stupid that it hurts? Quit.

by Shaun Johnson / 10min 

A New Review of “The Global Achievement Gap”

During my first year teaching, I downloaded Tony Wagner’s breakthrough book, The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need—and What We Can Do About It.  I will henceforth refer to this book as G.A.G., which is simply an unintended coincidence, not a pun.  I promise. At […]

by Kris Nielsen / 5min 

  

10-8-13 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: Ali: “You must listen to me” | the becoming radicalAli: “You must listen to me” | the becoming radical.by plthomasedd / 1h 10-7-13 @ The Chalk Face@ THE CHALK FACE:Returning from a successful trip to Douglas County, CO.Tim and I, along with the Edushyster, visited Douglas County, CO as they gear up for a contentious school board election. All politics are indeed local. From the k

by mike simpson / 6h