2-24-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

THIS FRIDAY (Feb. 28)! Meet with NYC Parents Who Are Saying NO! (to high stakes testing)

Meet with NYC Parents Who Are Saying NO!     (Please Share Widely with your friends, PTAs, SLTs, Parent Lists, teachers)As children and teachers enter the spring “testing season,” parents must decide if we will continue to allow our children to support high-stakes testing. There are many ways to resist the tests and demand social justice for all public school students.Meet with others who choose

by ed notes online / 50min

2-23-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: REVIVE UFT : Mulgrew Forms New Group to Ally With MORE, Causing Split in Unity"Before we can move forward, we must resolve many outstanding issues from those dark years, starting with our working conditions, which are also our students’ learning conditions."... Michael MulgrewUFT President Mike Mulgrew is finding so much in common with the MORE caucus he has decided to b

by mike simpson / 7h 

2-24-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

Weingarten’s AFL-CIO Power

As I was researching and writing my post, The Gates Grant Addiction, a post in which I use the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) as an illustration of an addiction to Gates money garnered via installments, two pieces of information stood out to me like the final clicking of tumblers in unlocking a revelation. The first […]

2 by deutsch29 / 32min

Knowledge: Not If, but How (and Who Decides)

Knowledge: Not If, but How (and Who Decides). via Knowledge: Not If, but How (and Who Decides).

1 by plthomasedd / 42min hide  //  save

YESTERDAY

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While writing my post on the NEA-Teach Plus “partnership,” my attention was drawn to more of the information available regarding grant payment on the Gates grants search engine. My curiosity concerned the simple word, “term.” Gradual Grant Disbursement (?) On the Gates grants site, “term” definitely means the number of months expected to fulfill the grant agreement. The […]

1 by deutsch29 / 7h  

2-23-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: Fiction changed to informational text, #commoncoreThis looks about right.7 by Shaun Johnson / 25min A lot of discussion about these “data walls” latelyThe concept of the “data wall” has been gathering some attention lately, more so than normal. They’ve been with us, I don’t know, for a few years now.  To be honest, I don’t have much experience with them. I certainly don’t have on

1 by mike simpson / 8h 

2-24-14 V.A.M.: Value Added Measure

V.A.M.: Value Added Measure:

The Bosses of the Department of Re-education

"The business of America is business."  Public education is not a business, however, and whatever strikes at its heart strikes at the foundations of our democracy.  I have to believe some of the corporate "reformers" think they have the best interests of education at heart.  Many may have their millions, but ultimately feel unsatisfied.  They may feel a need to give back to a s

by Adam Bergstein / 3h hide  //  save

The NYCDOE During the Bloomberg Years

Bloomberg at Runnymede and the Magna ChartersHave you ever wondered who worked at the DOE during the Bloomberg years?  Might there possibly have been some "Doedoe" birds? Do you recall the policies of closing rather than fixing public schools?  Do you recall the McGraw- Hill Grading Debacle of June 2013?  Do you recall...

by Adam Bergstein / 3h 

Who's on Students First?

A parody of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First" follows.  It mocks the tangled web of millionaires and billionaires, all working towards the same ends, to dismantle public education in the United States.  The complications in the dialogue below are only a mere pittance compared to the complex diagrams illustrating the interconnectedness of the elite group of educational deformers.  Ab

by Adam Bergstein / 3h 

2-23-14 V.A.M.: Value Added Measure

V.A.M.: Value Added Measure: The Common-Core Pushers Rebrand their ProductAt the Common-Core Beauty Pageant, Rebranding is the Name of the Game.  Who will win this year?  Will it be Miss. Iowa Core, Miss Arizona College and Career Ready Standards, Miss Next Generation Sunshine State Standards, or any of one of a number of the other "Rebranders"? The Common-Core pushers realize the dwindl

by mike simpson / 6h 

2-24-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University):

True Detective: It’s Still a Man’s (Hostile) World, pt. 2

I started to say True Detective (HBO original series) is gold ore and then to pursue a metaphor of finding something of value in an impure original form. But one of the two main characters is named Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) so I will say instead, True Detective is iron ore and we can find something of value—something tarnished, yes—in an impure original form. I want to start with the tarnis

1 by plthomasedd / 11min 

Knowledge: Not If, but How (and Who Decides)

As I have posted before, progressivism and whole language have a long history of being blamed for failure when in reality neither has been practiced in any substantial way by teachers. While school policies and classroom practices have remained committed to traditional approaches and behavioral groundings, it is likely more accurate to describe schooling in the U.S. as dominantly bureaucratic—ofte

10 by plthomasedd / 39min 

2-23-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): remnant 56: “thus I, for example, in the midst of my unhappiness”remnant 56: “thus I, for example, in the midst of my unhappiness”.by plthomasedd / 6min   2-22-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdDTHE BECOMING RADICALRadical Sc

by mike simpson / 7h 

2-24-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Governor Cuomo Says Common Core "Is The Right Direction" But Implementation Has Been "Too Hasty"

Sheriff Andy Cuomo today in Buffalo:Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in Buffalo offering a summary of his executive budget proposal and talking about new IBM jobs, said the implementation of the Common Core standards has been “too hasty” and needs to be slowed down. While the demand for a slowdown of the State Education Department’s rollout of the new national standards — and the related use of tests to measure

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

President Obama Shouldn't Have Disparaged The Liberal Arts

A few weeks ago, Obama made fun of art history, comparing it to a useless endeavor that sentences college students who major in it to a lifetime of poverty and misery.But the NY Post has an editorial that suggests the liberal arts are not the poverty-inducing, misery-causing majors people like Obama claim them to be:In popular lore, a liberal arts major is held to be a prescription for poverty in

by reality-based edu... / 23min 

Wall Street Bankers, CEO For Cuomo

From the Post:Gov. Cuomo is making another pitch Monday for Republican heavy hitters to back his re-election campaign.Home Depot founder Ken Langone is hosting a “Republicans for Cuomo” event at the Harvard Club at 8:30 a.m. Cuomo will address the well-heeled Wall Street and real-estate titans and field questions.David Malpass, who ran in the 2010 Republican US Senate primary, also was involved in

by reality-based edu... / 2h hide  //  save

Governor Cuomo Pals Up With Banker/Criminal John Mack For Wall Street Outreach

Jimmy Vielkind at Capital NY:ALBANY—Governor Andrew Cuomo is utilizing John Mack, a senior adviser to Morgan Stanley who the governor recently brought on to be an adviser on global trade, to help him navigate the titans of Wall Street, according to schedule documents released by Cuomo's office.Cuomo began regular meetings with Mack, a former C.E.O. of the investment bank, in the fall of last year.

by reality-based edu... / 5h 

2-23-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: How The Chinese Rig Their PISA Scores - And Why It Doesn't Matter AnywayThe next time some education reformer type spews alarmist clap trap around the PISA scores, you can lay this on them:Chinese experts are also less impressed than Truss by the Pisa scores. "Even though Shanghai students scored well on the test, this doesn't mean that Shanghai's education system doesn

1 by mike simpson / 8h 

Skip school and lose welfare? The good and bad of Australia’s tough tactics on truancy | HechingerEd Blog

Skip school and lose welfare? The good and bad of Australia’s tough tactics on truancy | HechingerEd Blog:

Skip school and lose welfare? The good and bad of Australia’s tough tactics on truancy

What if the punishment for skipping school was a loss in welfare benefits for your family? It’s a strategy that some politicians are considering in the U.S. – plans have been floated in Missouri and put into action in Michigan last year.

Australian students in their final year of high school take a break during a conference about what to do after graduation. The country is trying to boost its high school completion rates to 90 percent. (Photo: Sarah Butrymowicz)

But in Australia, they’ve already tried it, and the experience is a cautionary tale.

In 2008, Australia’s high school graduation rate was about 75 percent, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. That’s about the same as in the U.S., where it’s nearly 75 percent, but it wasn’t good enough for Australian officials. Many states there allowed students to leave at the age of 15, following their 10th year of schooling and just before college preparation work begins. Thousands dropped out. So that year, the Australian government set a target of 90 percent high school completion. Within a few years nearly all states had increased the age to 17.

Still, the Australians thought they should do more. To make sure all students stayed enrolled until they were 17, officials put strict penalties in place and a series of supports for truants, such as opportunities to work with social workers. Parents could also be fined up to $11,000. And, as a last 

Latest racial incident brings pain, sadness for first black ‘Ole Miss,’ student body president

Rethink Mississippi I never thought that I would meet a historic figure like James Meredith, the first black student admitted to the University of Mississippi. The opportunity presented itself during my junior year. I received a congratulation call from him after I was elected the university’s first black, female student body president. We began to regularly correspond: he even came to visit sever

by Kimbrely Dandridg... / 15min 

Hawthorne Ave suffers as Newark plays Let’s Make a Deal | Bob Braun's Ledger

Hawthorne Ave suffers as Newark plays Let’s Make a Deal | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Hawthorne Ave suffers as Newark plays Let’s Make a Deal

Hawthorne Avenue School–who gets to keep it?

Nothing illustrates the bizarre internal politics of state control of Newark schools more dramatically than the fate of the city’s Hawthorne Avenue school.  Neglected for years, in a bad state of repair, its students failing, the old South Ward castle of a school is now the desired object of a three-way power struggle that leaves local parents frustrated, even frightened, over the future.

“We have one parent with three children—and each of them will probably end up going to different schools,” said Grace Sergio, the president of the school’s parent organization. “They don’t know what to do.’’

What has happened to Hawthorne Avenue probably could not happen anywhere else except in Newark—or, perhaps, other cities where the central administration uses the excuse of reform to spread the wealth of the reform movement:  Control over property, access to grants, expansion of a brand. Money.

One of the three contenders for control of the future of Hawthorne Avenue is the TEAM Academy Charter Schools, a politically well-connected charter franchise 

The Gates Grant Addiction | deutsch29

The Gates Grant Addiction | deutsch29:

The Gates Grant Addiction

February 24, 2014

While writing my post on the NEA-Teach Plus “partnership,” my attention was drawn to more of the information available regarding grant payment on the Gates grants search engine.

My curiosity concerned the simple word, “term.”

Gradual Grant Disbursement (?)

On the Gates grants site, “term” definitely means the number of months expected to fulfill the grant agreement. The “term” may also be connected to monthly payment.

The Gates site does not clearly state that “term” means monthly disbursements; I inferred as much from reading this gates grant recipient progress report form‘s required reporting of “project duration” in months coupled with project “sustainability” “after the grant period has ended” (emphasis mine).

A comparison of Gates’ 2011 and 2012 990s to the information available on the Gates grants site is inconclusive regarding a definite monthly disbursement of grant monies. Based upon the 990-to-grant-search-engine comparison, it seems that some grant monies might be disbursed in one installment and others, definitely not.

In this post, I would like to examine the possibility that Gates pays his grant money in monthly installments. This makes sense for larger sums: It allows his foundation to continue earning interest on the bulk of the money while preventing “take the money 

LAUSD- FIX SCHOOLS AND STUDENT INFRASTRUCTURE AT THE SAME TIME - Perdaily.com

LAUSD- FIX SCHOOLS AND STUDENT INFRASTRUCTURE AT THE SAME TIME - Perdaily.com:



LAUSD- FIX SCHOOLS AND STUDENT INFRASTRUCTURE AT THE SAME TIME

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

In the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the land that time forgot, the motto remains: We've Always Done It That Way...No Matter What The Human Cost, Financial Cost Or Legality. Case in point: The squandering of billions of dollars of bond money on things like IPads without any coherent plan to coordinate the most effective way of maintaining a rapidly deteriorating physical plant, where the average school building is now over 50 years old. It seems that not only are those from Superintendent John Deasy on down not capable of teaching critical thinking skills, they also seem completely incapable of using them. The reason for this is that career upward mobility at LAUSD has always depended on not making waves by deigning to engage in what might be interpreted by your superiors as threatening critical and rational thought supported by an educated analysis of the objectively bleak reality the district presently faces. 

So, to show I bear no hard feelings for my own continuing mistreatment by LAUSD, let me suggest a possible plan of action where LAUSD might efficiently fix schools, while addressing the fact that the vast majority of LAUSD's predominantly poor and minority students of color are leaving 13 years of LAUSD education without the necessary skills to either continue with their schooling or with any skill set necessary to get and maintain gainful employment. The only rational justification for maintaining the existence of a 

NYC Public School Parents: The current sad state of Murry Bergtraum High School - the result of 10 years of DOE failure

NYC Public School Parents: The current sad state of Murry Bergtraum High School - the result of 10 years of DOE failure:

The current sad state of Murry Bergtraum High School - the result of 10 years of DOE failure

John Elfrank-Dana

John Elfrank-Dana has been a teacher and chapter leader at Murry Bergtraum High School for many years, as well as an adjunct professor at Fordham University.  He blogs at Labor's Lessons where this was originally posted.

Murry Bergtraum High School has been in the press yet again. This time in response to a NY Post article two weeks ago about the school's so-called "Blended Learning" program. The article today was about a bunch of letters students wrote  in defense of the program and school's administration, but many were riddled with grammatical errors. It makes one wonder how the administration let this happen, as we know it was orchestrated from the school's principal-appointed Brand Manager.

Why weren't the letters at least proofread before they were sent to Chancellor Fariña as well as the NY Postreporter, Susan Edelman? This madness is symptomatic of the larger failure of education reform in the city.

It's important that we not forget the background that got us here.

Set up for Failure: Murry Bergtraum has been a school that has been set up for failure since the early days of the Bloomberg administration. High academic and social need students were dumped on the school throughout the closing process of other schools. Bloomberg wanted the small schools to have a good shot at success so students whose family had no plan were sent to large schools like Bergtraum and Washington Irving.Diane Ravitch cogently explains how Bergtraum has become a nerve ending for the failed Bloomberg and Klein educational policy.

Lack of Security: In the last three and a half years the school has been under siege from 

Newark Schools Chief Wants Teacher Performance Included in Layoff Criteria - NJ Spotlight

Newark Schools Chief Wants Teacher Performance Included in Layoff Criteria - NJ Spotlight:

NEWARK SCHOOLS CHIEF WANTS TEACHER PERFORMANCE INCLUDED IN LAYOFF CRITERIA

JOHN MOONEY | FEBRUARY 24, 2014

Union leaders leap to defense of long-established contractual practice of basing job cuts on years of experience

Credit: Howard Best/NPS

Newark Superintendent of Schools Cami Anderson

In an unprecedented move, Newark Superintendent Cami Anderson has asked Christie administration to waive seniority rules that dictate how planned teacher layoffs in the state-run district are to be conducted.

The request essentially seeks the state’s permission for Anderson to consider teacher performance in determining the future layoffs of potentially hundreds of the state-run district’s teachers to fend off a looming budget crisis.

“In short, NPS must address its fiscal crisis while increasing teacher quality,” reads a draft of the letter Anderson is expected to release today.

”The only way to do this is to be granted an equivalency to base layoff decisions on both length of service and performance in order to remain competitive and offer quality schooling options for all Newark families. “

But the request, filed on Friday, faces long political and legal odds – and already loud protests -- in the face of a so-far unbendable state law that requires staff reductions to be based solely on years of experience, under a policy known as “last in, first out.”

Anderson already faces intense public criticism of her “One Newark” plan for 

UPDATE: Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog "So if Christian didn’t like the pension bill, then why did he vote for it?" WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

"So if Christian didn’t like the pension bill, then why did he vote for it?"

In this morning's mail... Jay Travis asks a great question of her opponent, incumbent 26th Dist. Rep. Christian Mitchell. He's quoted in the Sun-Times as saying he “didn’t like Senate Bill 1”—that is, House Speaker Michael Madigan’s bill that slashed the retirement security of elderly teachers, social workers, and other state employees. Asks Travis: "So if Christian didn’t like the bill, then

by Mike Klonsky / 57min 

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Michael Brenner

A feature of the Obama presidency has been his campaign against the American public school system, eating way at the foundations of elementary education. That means the erosion of an institution that has been one of the keystones of the Republic. The project to remake it as a mixed public/private hybrid is inspired by a discredited dogma that charter schools perform better. -- The American Public School Under Siege

Ald. Bob Fioretti

“There is a lack of respect for neighborhoods and lack of leadership.” -- Emanuel’s re-election nightmare

Dwayne Truss, Chicago community activist

“They’re blurring the line, big-time.” -- Charter school’s religious affiliation raises