Tuesday, February 25, 2014

On Saturday, February 16, 2014 a Jacksonville, Florida jury declared it impossible to come to a unanimous decision. Michael Dunn, a forty-seven year old white man who admits to shooting Jordan Davis, a 17-year-old African American, was ultimately convicted but not on the charge of first-degree murder. Three counts of attempted murder for shooting into a car full of teenagers in 2012 was all the jury could, metaphorically, see. It is defenseless to riddle a vehicle with bullets. But to stand face-to-face with an unarmed teen and scream, “You’re not going to kill me, you son of a bitch.” Then “point,” not aim, and not use the sight…that is defendable, or is if you exclaim that you were in “fear for [your] life”? After all, it is understood; jails [are]“full of blacks and they all act like thugs,” or do they?

That is the question Black Twitter asks us. In response to the verdict, a hash tag was born.#DangerousBlackKids emerged on Sunday, February 17th, Jordon Davis’ birth date. Black Twitter challenged the ruling and also long-held stereotypes. This is the latest campaign and perhaps the most effective. A picture is worth a thousand words. Tens of thousands of images are priceless.

Twitter users posted photographs of children. Adorable, sweet, and a few were captioned with words that might be thought a little sassy. Look at that face and tell me, is this child dangerous? A #dangerousblackkid? Peruse through the tweets, and then, only after much reflection, ask yourself where do I stand. Do any of us

empathyeducates – This Is Your Brain on Poverty: What Science Tells Us About Poverty

empathyeducates – This Is Your Brain on Poverty: What Science Tells Us About Poverty: This Is Your Brain on Poverty: What Science Tells Us About Poverty(Photo: Franco Folini / Flickr)Poverty has been identified as a causal factor in lower IQ and psychiatric disorders. What can this tell us about public policy and the minimum wage?By Christian Exoo and Calvin F. Exoo | Originally Published at Truth

by mike simpson / 33min

2-25-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

How Is Pushing Through A Mandated Teacher Evaluation System Not "Setting Education Policy"?

From State of Politics:It’s a “silly question” to wonder who should setting education policy in New York: the governor, or the state Education Department, Gov. Andrew Cuomo argued in a radio interview on The Capitol Pressroom on Tuesday.Cuomo was responding to a Siena College poll released this morning that found a broad majority of New Yorkers — 62 percent to 21 percent — support the state Educat

by reality-based edu... / 3h

Will Governor Cuomo Help His Charter School Allies?

Eliza Shapiro at Capital NY:Operators of charter schools in New York City are looking to Albany for support after failing to gain traction on a series of core issues with local elected officials or the de Blasio administration....Charter groups are beginning to plan Capitol-based actions for the next few weeks and looking to assemblymembers from city districts to push for state funding to help co-

by reality-based edu... / 12min hide // save

Siena Poll On Common Core Almost Worthless

The headlines on all the stories about the Siena poll released this morning that asked New Yorkers about Common Core look something like this one from the Rochester paper:Poll: NY voters split on the Common Core, back moratorium The story starts like this:Half of New York voters believe the state should delay implementation of the Common Core, according to a poll released Tuesday.Siena College fou

by reality-based edu... / 2h

2-24-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Wall Street Bankers, CEO For CuomoFrom 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 th

by mike simpson / 8h

Vergara v. California's Corporate Heart | California Progress Report

Vergara v. California's Corporate Heart | California Progress Report:

Vergara v. California's Corporate Heart

Posted on 25 February 2014

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By Julie Gutman Dickinson

Are job protections for teachers to blame for educational underachievement among low-income students of color in California? That’s the provocative question ostensibly at the heart of Vergara vs. California, which seeks to invalidate the tenure, due process and seniority rights of hundreds of thousands of educators.

Astute observers of the nation’s escalating education wars, however, may be asking another question: When did it become permissible to use the welfare of children as a fig leaf for an all-out legal attack on teachers?

Or, as historian and teacher John Thompson wrote recently in Scholastic, “Are corporate reformers unabashedly using the courts as a battleground for battering employees’ rights, as opposed to helping children?”

Sadly, the answer to Thompson’s question appears to be an unequivocal yes. For while the outcome of Vergara will have far-reaching national implications, it is hardly unique in its attempt to scapegoat teachers for sub-par educational performance. Similar efforts are underway across the country, as some so-called “education reformers” seek to simultaneously privatize public education and weaken the hard-won protections of teachers.

Though efforts to remake public education have attracted both Democrats and Republicans, the three-pronged strategy of austerity, privatization and demonization is familiar to

We 'Choose' for Poor Children Every Day - Bridging Differences - Education Week

We 'Choose' for Poor Children Every Day - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

We 'Choose' for Poor Children Every Day

By Deborah Meier on February 25, 2014 9:04 AM

Deborah Meier continues her blog correspondence with Robert Pondiscio today.

Dear Robert,

I'm in complete support of the title of your letter last Thursday. "Running the wrong race" is precisely at the heart of the problems we face—you and me both.

I get confused at times about who "we" are. The businesses that are leading the current school reform drive in education have invested in the whole world—they have no stake in "beating" this or that country. They will do well regardless. Many even live abroad in mansions here and there around the world. They have no particular roots, loyalties to this town or that, except affection for their place of birth, perhaps. If they do have loyalties, they are completely a matter of choice. The "race" to beat x or y is being run mostly by our most vulnerable children, who have become a larger and larger slice of our nation.

We tell 5-year-olds they better get down to business or else they'll never have a job, and certainly not one that pays a living wage. And jobs that once were done by folks with less than a high school education now require B.A.s. (This fact strikes close to home.)

Meanwhile, we all know (or think we know) that the good spots go either to exceptional geniuses or

UT/TT Poll: Partisan Harmony, Dissonance on Education | The Texas Tribune

UT/TT Poll: Partisan Harmony, Dissonance on Education | The Texas Tribune:

UT/TT Poll: Partisan Harmony, Dissonance on Education

by Ross Ramsey
Feb. 25, 2014
2Comments

photo by: Todd Wiseman

Increasing funding for public schools and reducing the number of standardized tests students must take top the list of most effective changes Texas could make in public education, according to the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

Creating a school voucher program and increasing teacher pay tied for third when the respondents were asked to select one change they would make to public education.

Some of the numbers point to partisan differences among Texas registered voters, while others win high marks from both conservatives and liberals.

“One of the things that you see here is that, for all the fiscal conservatism in the state and the way that that inflected the public education system in 2011, liking your teachers and wanting to help them is a bipartisan position,” said Jim Henson, who runs the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin and co-directs the UT/TT Poll.

Henson said voters who said they support Democrat Wendy Davis in the governor’s race favor increasing teacher pay by a 90 percent to 7 percent margin. Voters who support Republican Greg Abbott in that race favor that proposal 62 percent to 34 percent. Broken

NJ Education Commissioner Chris Cerf Pushes Corporate School Reform As He Leaves His Position | janresseger

NJ Education Commissioner Chris Cerf Pushes Corporate School Reform As He Leaves His Position | janresseger:

NJ Education Commissioner Chris Cerf Pushes Corporate School Reform As He Leaves His Position

Posted on February 25, 2014 by janresseger

Christopher Cerf will leave his position as Governor Chris Christie’s New Jersey state school commissioner this coming Friday, February 28, to join Amplify, the school assessment, consulting, and tablet division of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. Cerf is leaving to work for his former boss, Joel Klein, who served as New York City’s school chancellor when Cerf was an assistant. Perhaps because of Cerf’s pending departure, there is much scurrying around by those wanting quickly to solidify New Jersey’s steps toward so called “school reform” undertaken during his tenure. Here are two changes being pushed through in this final week.

Newark is a school district operating under state control. Cami Anderson, Newark’s state-appointed, Broad Academy-trained, caretaker superintendent, has asked Cerf to waive the seniority rights of perhaps 700 teachers to pave the way for mass firings and replacement of half of them, it is speculated, by cheaper Teach for America (TFA) recruits. Anderson is a former TFA teacher and an executive with TFA.

Longtime New Jersey journalist Bob Braun reports that the mass firings are confirmed by sources in the teacher’s union and on the website of the Walton Family Foundation, which has “announced that they will support the recruitment, training and support of nearly 370 Newark area teachers over the next two years.” Anderson’s request for Cerf’s approval is to be discussed at a meeting of the Newark School Board later today. Cerf’s signature “would permit their firing without resort to the detenuring process.” “To fire tenured teachers she (Anderson) must gain state approval of a ‘waiver’ of seniority rules. Cerf, a strong backer of

Malawi Educator starts #TeacherTuesday | My Island View

Malawi Educator starts #TeacherTuesday | My Island View:

Malawi Educator starts #TeacherTuesday

February 25, 2014 by tomwhitby

The World Education Blog in association with Education For All Global Monitoring Report is sponsoring #Teacher Tuesday. Each week for the next ten weeks they will share blog posts from ten different educators from around the world. The intent is to give voice to educators from around the world in an international discussion of education. Feel free to comment and enter the discussion.

SPEECH – 2013/4 EFA GMR

Esnart Chapomba, Teacher Educator in Malawi

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is great honour for me to be here in front of you today. As you have already heard, my name is Esnart Chapomba from Malawi. I would like to share with you some of the teaching and learning experiences from

Malawi. As most of you might have already known, Malawi is one of the countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa.

After adopting a Free Education Policy in 1994, the primary education sector in Malawi has been facing a learning crisis affecting the disadvantaged the most.

Teachers are few and far between. Class sizes are enormous and from the facts that I am going to share with you, I think that you will all agree that this has to change.

In Malawi children are not getting the best education and the quality of education is poor. Let me share with you some examples of what I mean by

Write the Bee to Let Readers Know Rep. Miller is Wrong on Vergara Case - California Teachers Association

Write the Bee to Let Readers Know Rep. Miller is Wrong on Vergara Case - California Teachers Association:

WRITE THE BEE TO LET READERS KNOW REP. MILLER IS WRONG ON VERGARA CASE

Undeterred by the facts, U.S. Congressman George Miller and an educator coauthor have authored a Sacramento Bee Op-Ed that slams teachers for having due process rights.

The retiring congressman and one Los Angeles Unified School District educator have teamed up to declare that the Vergara v. State of California assault on teachers’ due-process protections is a good thing.

Unlike the congressman, teachers know that these procedures have for more than 80 years protected academic freedom and helped attract and keep highly qualified teachers for our students.

The congressman and his collaborator are championing a lawsuit that is being funded by Silicon Valley mogul David Welch, a lawsuit that if successful would do nothing to improve the teaching and learning environment in our schools.

The millionaires and corporate interests behind this suit want to wipe out basic due process for dismissing teachers. They are seeking to let go of experienced teachers for no reason. That isn’t fair, and it isn’t good for our students or our profession.

On the positive side, the fact the Bee has published this diatribe opens an opportunity for working classroom professionals to write to the newspaper’s editor to help educate the readers about the realities, including the importance of the provisions of law that the special interests behind Vergara would love to destroy.

Take a moment to read the editorial and respond. Let the Bee’s readers know that:

Rep. Miller and his collaborator are wrong: eliminating these key provisions will make it harder for districts to attract and keep highly qualified teachers.
The suit does nothing to address the real problems that are hurting schools, including years of underfunding that have in many schools eliminated librarians, nurse, counselors and other vital personnel.
Every student should have access to fully qualified teachers. By attacking five statutory protections, Vergara v. the State of California would undermine fair treatment and the due-process procedures that are vital to attracting and keeping a highly qualified workforce.

You can write a letter to the Bee using the newspaper’s letters to the editor link.

More Cartoons on Parents, Teachers, and Kids | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

More Cartoons on Parents, Teachers, and Kids | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

More Cartoons on Parents, Teachers, and Kids

This month’s featured cartoons takes up again the interactions between parents, kids, and teachers. Much to chuckle about. Enjoy.

More Cartoons on Parents, Teachers, and Kids | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

California Corporate Education Reform Scandal: Sen. Calderon wants to see evidence before taking leave or resigning - latimes.com

Sen. Calderon wants to see evidence before taking leave or resigning - latimes.com:

Sen. Calderon wants to see evidence before taking leave or resigning

U.S. Atty. Andre Birotte Jr., center, speaks during a news conference Friday to announce charges in a case involving state Sen. Ronald S. Calderon. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times / February 21, 2014)

By Victoria Kim and Patrick McGreevy

February 25, 2014, 6:00 a.m.

State Sen. Ronald S. Calderon, indicted for allegedly taking $100,000 in bribes, will not make any decisions on whether to take a leave of absence or resign until he reviews the evidence against him, his attorney said.

Calderon, 56, pleaded not guilty in federal court Monday afternoon. He is facing 24 counts of fraud, wire fraud, honest services fraud, bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering and aiding in the filing of false tax returns.

Federal authorities allege that Calderon (D-Montebello) took the bribes from a Long Beach hospital official, as well as people connected to what he believed was a Hollywood studio. In fact, the studio was an FBI front and the business associates were FBI agents.

INTERACTIVE: Calderon family connections

"This today is just the first step in a long process to seek justice against corrupt politicians," Assistant U.S. Atty. Mack Jenkins said.

Senate leaders said Monday they will give Calderon one week, until March 3, to either take a leave of absence or resign, after which he will face a possible Senate vote to suspend him from office.

“I think it is fair that we give Sen. Calderon a chance to consider the request we made” last Friday, said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento). “We are being very deliberative.”

FULL COVERAGE: Calderon family probes

Senate Republican leader Bob Huff of Diamond Bar said he is willing to go along with the Democrats' move to give Calderon more time, even though some Republicans are getting impatient to act on both Calderon and Sen. Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood), who was convicted last month of eight felonies, including perjury and voter fraud.

Calderon's attorney, Mark Geragos, said he has not received any discovery from the prosecution, and he expects it will take "at least a week" before he receives any.

Once they review the evidence and the strength of the case, Calderon will evaluate how much of his time is needed and decide whether to take a leave or resign, Geragos said.

Geragos said last week that Calderon welcomes "the opportunity to disprove these allegations in a

Rheevealing FBI filing charges in Southeast L.A. corruption probe, source says - latimes.com

FBI filing charges in Southeast L.A. corruption probe, source says - latimes.com: FBI filing charges in Southeast L.A. corruption probe, source saysRhee-lated $tory: Michelle Rhee answers Ravitch in New Bookal$o $ee Rhee-lated $tory: Excerpts from "Rhee The Art of the Deal" a new $tory about Corporate Education Reform and the Woman that make$ it Happen!National education reform advocate

by mike simpson / 5h

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-calderon-evidence-20140224,0,1607394.story#ixzz2uLOsp61E

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