2-21-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

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

Life in Rahm’s Chicago. But don’t believe the hype. There is no art.

Rahm is so busted. As part of its arts education plan, for example, the “Arts Abstract 2012-2015” states the first goal of its the CPS District Arts Policy is to “make arts a core subject by dedicating 120 minutes of arts instruction per week for elementary schools.” The plan goes on to set “minimum staffing requirements in the arts at once certified full-time employee per school, or an improved

by Fred Klonsky / 19min 

Ten minute drawing. Arizona.

by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

Running for Retired NEA Representative Assembly delegate ain’t beanbag. And I’ll post this again.

“Politics ain’t beanbag,”  Chicago Mayor Harold Washington used to say. And it’s should not be a spectator sport. On the list of political activities being a candidate for NEA RA retired delegate is pretty far down on the list. But, since I am a critic of the current leadership, they don’t make it easy. Unlike local elections, to get elected as a Retired Delegate I have to run state-wide. A lot of

1 by Fred Klonsky / 8min

Dennis Van Roekel’s call for Common Core course correction.

The response to NEA President Dennis Van Roekel’s call for a course correction in the implementation of Common Core State Standards has been all over the ideological map. This might be expected when DVR in his statement took a swipe at “the detractors from the left and the right who oppose the standards.” As if those with a vision of what good schools and good teaching should look like are someho

by Fred Klonsky / 5min 

Glen Brown. The Arizona pension ruling and what it means for Illinois.

 - Glen Brown is a teacher and expert on public pension law. “The Arizona Supreme Court says the Legislature can’t cut cost-of-living increases promised to state retirees. The ruling released Thursday [February 20] comes in a case brought after the Legislature cut the increases in 2011 for retirees in the state plan for judges and elected officials. A Superior Court judge ruled in favor of reti

2 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

2-20-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: I just want to read Dillard’s ALEC letter.  Senator Kirk Dillard’s Capitol office yesterday. When the IEA endorsed Senator Kirk Dillard for governor in the Illinois primary I brought up the fact that he was Illinois Chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC is a notorious union busti

by mike simpson / 7h 

2-21-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

MORE: The Contract NYC Educators Deserve Video

Produced by Dan Lupkin for the MORE media team.morecaucusnyc The Contract NYC Educators Deserve Video -

by ed notes online / 54min hide  //  save

Newark's Crooks: Cami Goes After ATRs - Wants Tenure Abolished - Asks Cerf for Ruling

Will this be CamiGate3 or 4? I'm losing count. The Three C's -- Cami, Cerf and Cristie -- are aiming a missile at Newark teachers. Hey [NTU leader] Joe Del Grosso and [AFT Pres] Randi Weingarten, how has that contract you raved about not even a year and a half ago worked out?Bob Braun's Ledger has the gory story:He [Del Grosso] said he believed Anderson, a former executive director of Teach for Am

by ed notes online / 1h 

 

2-20-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: Self-Serving Manhattan Inst Research on Charter Co-Locos Exposed by Bruce BakerThe Manhattan Institute report provides little useful guidance for New York City with respect to the narrow question of whether the city should charge rent to charter operators.... Bruce BakerHow great to have people like Bruce Baker around to expose the sham ideologically tainted research being done by

by mike simpson / 7h 

2-21-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All Week

With A Brooklyn Accent:

When I Talk About Prison and Prison Education: It's Personal

Some of you may be wondering why I am defending a Prison Education initiative offered by a Governor whose other Education policies I despise. I can give you a detailed political explanation for my position, and ask you to read Michelle Alexander's "The New Jim Crow" but in truth, the reasons why this issue is so important to me are as much personal as political, rooted in a few powerful

by Mark Naison / 2h hide  //  save

What Testing is Doing to Special Needs Students: An NYC Teacher's Lament

I teach high school economics. Due to our absurd scheduling policy anyone can end up in this class, anyone from freshmen to seniors. Before I begin to tell the plight of my students it would be pertinent to mention that I am dual certified in social studies and special education, and I'm finally teaching what I am certified to teach. Out of all my IEPs a whopping 60% are out of compliance, and th

by Mark Naison / 3h 

 

2-20-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All Week

With A Brooklyn Accent: A History Lesson from the Civil Rights Movement for Anti-Testing ActivistsThe non violent Civil Rights movement of the 1950's and 1960's did not hold most of their meetings in public. If they did, those meetings would have been broken up and those organizing and attending them would have faced severe retaliation. Organizers persuaded frightened people to get up the courage

by mike simpson / 8h 

2-21-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

The New Teacher Project Attacks The Unions For Pulling Back On Common Core

New Teacher Project leader Tim Daly wrote the following on his official TNTP blog today in response to NEA President Van Roekel calling for a "course correction" on Common Core: Change is hard – but this has almost nothing to do with “botched” implementation. Or standards. “Implementation” is a catch-all complaint that union leaders have often—and successfully—used to extract themselves

by reality-based edu... / 6min 

Andrew Cuomo's Common Core Panel Shills For The Common Core

Governor Andrew Cuomo may have tried to distance himself from the state education reform agenda yesterday when faced with parents protesting the Common Core outside a budget hearing, but the panel he named to look into Common Core implementation in NY State sure sounds like it's still fully on board with the state reform agenda:ALBANY—At the top of the agenda for Andrew Cuomo's expert panel on Com

by reality-based edu... / 58min 

2-20-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Cuomo's Pre-K Plan Won't Work The Way Cuomo Says It WillJessica Bakeman at Capital NY:ALBANY—Andrew Cuomo has all but won the battle with Mayor Bill de Blasio over how to pay for pre-kindergarten in New York, but experts say the governor's plan won't provide enough money to serve every child in the state. Researchers estimate it will run anywhere from $10,000 to $13,000 per

by mike simpson / 8h 

Washington State May Be Forced To Revive No Child Left Behind:

Washington State May Be Forced To Revive No Child Left Behind

As states face mounting criticism for rushing to grade teachers based on students' standardized test scores, they confront a crucial choice: Move ahead full-speed on teacher evaluations, or slow down to calm teachers and ensure permanent changes take root.

But for those who choose to slow down, there likely will be consequences -- including the resurrection of a law whose name stirs fear in teachers nationwide. Most recently, these tensions peaked in Washington state -- and the resolution will show other states whether U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is serious about holding states to their promises.

Earlier this week, Republicans and Democrats in Washington's state legislature killed a bill that would have brought it into compliance with the federal government's requirements for escaping part of the No Child Left Behind Act. Unless the state takes other action, it may face No Child Left Behind's cumbersome requirements yet again.

Current Washington law says new teacher evaluations can rely on state standardized tests. The bill that had been under consideration would have instead required teacher evaluations to use state standardized testing data, instead of local tests. The bill failed with bipartisan opposition -- despite the U.S. Education Department's warning that failing to expand the use of standardized testing in teacher evaluations may cause the return of No Child Left Behind.

Congress so far has failed to rewrite No Child Left Behind -- the George W. Bush law 

When Classroom Culture Conflicts With EdTech (Christina Quattrocchi) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

When Classroom Culture Conflicts With EdTech (Christina Quattrocchi) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

When Classroom Culture Conflicts With EdTech (Christina Quattrocchi)

The following guest post appeared in EdSurge, February 9, 2014

 Teachers have a multitude of tools to choose from. Not every tool can exactly match every teachers’ pedagogical approach. However, for some when it doesn’t quite match up it can be the difference between trying it out or walking away.

Elementary teachers Erin Klein and Karen Lirenman share their thoughts aboutClassDojo, a free tool for classroom management used by … million[s of] teachers. The tool allows teachers to give students points to reinforce positive behaviors, assign negative points for undesirable behaviors and allows teachers to track behavior data over time, sharing with parents and administrators through reports.

Here’s how these two teachers address the conflicts that arise between a tool and the culture of learning in their classrooms.

Karen Lirenman: Can’t See Eye To Eye

Before I begin I need to be perfectly honest that I have never tried ClassDojo with my grade one students. Normally I wouldn’t critique something without trying it first, however, philosophically ClassDojo just doesn’t sit right with me. I strongly believe children should be in charge of their behaviour through being 

Edcamp Silicon Valley Tomorrow | InterACT

Edcamp Silicon Valley Tomorrow | InterACT:

Edcamp Silicon Valley Tomorrow

FEBRUARY 21, 2014

tags: edcamp, edcampsv

by David B. Cohen

After several months of planning, the first ever Edcamp Silicon Valley is only hours away. I’ve been working with a wonderful organizing team made up of colleagues from within my school and district. Maybe it was a bit of a reach for us to think we could pull this off without much collective edcamp experience, (and no prior edcamp planning experience), but it looks like we’re in good shape for Saturday – getting by with a little help from our friends!

Palo Alto High School (photo by the author)

I suppose every edcamp is a little bit different, and here’s some information about our plans, in case you’re coming, or interested in running your own edcamp. We’ll be at the Palo Alto High School library, and starting a little bit later than some edcamps, with a 9:00 a.m. arrival, with time for a light breakfast, networking, swag-browsing, and suggesting sessions. Some edcamps go with a voting process to allow the attendees to select the topics with the highest interest level. Others take all suggestions and look for ways to combine topics so that everyone has a chance to help lead. We are going with the latter approach. With the first session starting at 10 a.m., we’ll have time for two before lunch. At lunchtime, we’re suggesting that edcampers head across the street from Palo Alto High School, where the Town and Country shopping center has a multitude of good lunch options. After lunch, we’ll have one more session, and then reconvene in the library for the “eduslam” and a raffle.

One feature about our edcamp that I’m particularly proud of is that we are sponsored by several local teachers associations, and we had some help from the California Teachers Association as 

UPDATE: The Trojan Horse in South Carolina | VAMboozled! A blog by Audrey Amrein-Beardsley

| VAMboozled! A blog by Audrey Amrein-Beardsley:

The Trojan Horse in South Carolina

Following one of our most recent posts re: Rhee in South Carolina, a reader (Ian Kay) wrote in the following comment I thought important to share out with the rest of you. Ian writes: [Rhee] will succeed here in south Carolina, because she has the backing of the monied interests, including Gates, and Jeff Bezos and others. The newspapers will not print any criticism of this bunch, because they are

by Audrey Amrein-Bea... / 33min 

 On a More Positive Note…

Contrary to what is going on in South Carolina and its House Bill 4419 (thanks in large part to Rhee and her “supportive” efforts, as posted also today here), in the state of Washington its State Senate just voted “No” against evaluating teachers in the state using student test scores. Interesting that this happened in Bill Gates’s homestead state, given his current and widespread educational “ref

by Audrey Amrein-Bea... / 7h 

Rhee Coming to AZ?!?

Speaking of Rhee, mentioned in a prior post today, it seems that she is to be in my state of Arizona, as part of her most recent “tour.” Arizona, continuously basking in the glow of negative attention, coming largely from the uber conservative policies supported by our current Republican Governor Jan Brewer, is to potentially have another gubernatorial leader – Scott Smith. I was sent, in secret,

by Audrey Amrein-Bea... / 8h hide  //  save

Michelle Rhee Rhumbuggery

Michelle Rhee who, as many of you know, is the founder and current CEO of StudentsFirst, as well as former Chancellor of Washington D.C.’s public schools who during her tenure there, enacted a strict, controversial teacher evaluation system (i.e., IMPACT) that has been at the source of different posts here and here, most recently following the “gross” errors in 44 D.C. public school teachers’ eval

by Audrey Amrein-Bea... / 8h 

Common Core: Same Exclusion, Different Century | Cloaking Inequity

Common Core: Same Exclusion, Different Century | Cloaking Inequity:

Common Core: Same Exclusion, Different Century

For well over 100 years educational leaders in the field of curriculum have gathered to try and figure out what children in the U.S. ought to be learning. In 1893, for instance, the Committee of Ten published its report on the organization of secondary education in the U.S. In 1895 the Committee of Fifteen was similarly formed to organize the elementary level curriculum. There was also the 1913-1918 Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education, as well as the 1931 Committee on the Relation of School and College, the 1934 Commission on the Social Studies in the Schools, and the 1945 Commission on the English Curriculum. Indeed, readers might recall the National Commission on Excellence in Education and their 1983 report, A Nation At Risk, which kicked off the modern era of high-stakes, standardized testing. The United States simply has a long history of relatively small groups of people influencing the direction and tenor of education policy and curriculum nationally.

Over the last few years my friend and colleague Anthony Brown (University of Texas, Austin) and I have been looking at who was included and who was excluded in the early history of curriculum development in the United States. In surveying the decades around the turn of the 20^th century we saw a clear pattern: There were numerous “official” conversations about the curriculum in the United States, but the only conversations that were being heard, discussed, and acknowledged in education policy circles consisted mainly of white men hailing from universities and other official educational institutions like the National Education Association or governmental agencies, with the occasional mention of Jane Addams, Carter G. Woodson, or W.E.B. DuBois included for token diversity.

As scholars of color who teach and research about curriculum studies as well as educational history and policy

Cami asks state approval to ignore seniority in teacher layoff | Bob Braun's Ledger

Cami asks state approval to ignore seniority in teacher layoff | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Cami asks state approval to ignore seniority in teacher layoff

Chris Christie and Cami Anderson

Cami Anderson, the state-appointed superintendent of Newark schools, has dramatically ratcheted up her war on the district’s employee unions by proposing to lay off possibly  hundreds of tenured teachers without regard to their seniority rights. Anderson indicated she would ask outgoing state Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf to grant her what is called a “waiver or equivalency,” a little known and little used provision in state regulations that permits school districts to ignore long-standing rules in order to achieve a legitimate purpose. That could happen as quickly as March 5.

If, as expected, Cerf grants the request, Anderson—facing serious fiscal problems after hiring many new teachers since her appointment three years ago—would be able to keep newly hired teachers while firing teachers with extensive experience.

“We are seeking an equivalency…to consider quality along with years of service while making decisions about ‘right-sizing’ our workforce,” Anderson wrote in a final version of her controversial “One Newark” plan.  Although she has previously spoken about “right-sizing” the teaching force, this is the first time she revealed she 

The Political Mess around Michigan Governor Snyder’s “Turnarounds” for Struggling Schools | janresseger

The Political Mess around Michigan Governor Snyder’s “Turnarounds” for Struggling Schools | janresseger:

The Political Mess around Michigan Governor Snyder’s “Turnarounds” for Struggling Schools

Posted on February 21, 2014 by janresseger

There is a political mess in Michigan around the performance and the role of Governor Rick Snyder’s Education Achievement Authority (EAA).  The EAA was intended by the Governor to function like the Louisiana Recovery School District (RSD) that took over many so called “failing” schools in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and then was expanded to take over struggling schools across the state. (Its primary role has been to privatize schools in New Orleans.) As bits and pieces of news filter out of Michigan, it’s hard to piece together what is happening.  This is my attempt to connect at least some of the dots.

Michigan’s Governor Snyder created the EAA as an independent agency in 2011 to take over Michigan’s lowest performing schools, those whose test scores fall in the bottom 5 percent.  Currently the EAA operates as a partnership of the Detroit Pubic Schools and Eastern Michigan University (EMU), although the EAA is unpopular at EMU.  The latest massive rally against the arrangement by students and faculty at EMU took place only yesterday, February 20.  The EAA currently runs 15 of Detroit’s lowest performing schools.

Michigan’s general assembly has been unable to agree on legislation to expand the EAA beyond the current arrangement involving Detroit and EMU.  According to the Detroit News, a bill currently being considered by the House would establish the EAA as a freestanding school district and expand the EAA’s management to 50 schools across the state.  The bill would cap 

TESTING RESISTANCE & REFORM SPRING: A new national coalition coordinating the uprising against standardized testing! | I AM AN EDUCATOR

TESTING RESISTANCE & REFORM SPRING: A new national coalition coordinating the uprising against standardized testing! | I AM AN EDUCATOR:

TESTING RESISTANCE & REFORM SPRING: A new national coalition coordinating the uprising against standardized testing!

By I AM AN EDUCATOR on February 20, 2014

I am excited to announce that a new national coalition has formed for the purpose of encouraging an uprising against standardized testing this spring. Dubbed the “Testing Resistance and Reform Spring,” some of the most prominent national grassroots organizations in defense of public education have joined together in this effort, including FairTest, Network for Public Education, Parents Across America, Save Our Schools, and United Opt Out.

After months of organizing, we now have a website that allows anyone to upload information about their action to challenge high stakes test and punish policy, enter their zip code and find people in their area who may be interested in organizing an event, download materials to aid in their efforts, and much more.

I encourage everyone who follows this blog to help organize or participate in some action against the testing-industrial-complex this spring.  Hold a movie showing, leaflet at your school, start a petition, refuse to teach to the test, opt your child out, boycott a test.  Invite others to join your action by posting it on our new website, and be part of perhaps the largest revolt against high-stakes standardized testing in U.S. history.

Check out the details about this new initiative:

Testing Resistance & Reform Spring: Less Testing, More Learning

The U.S. can do a much better job evaluating children, teachers and schools. That’s why protests