3-5-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Andrew Cuomo's Approval Rating Plummets

New Yorkers not so happy with Sheriff Andy these days:New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's job performance rating has dropped to its lowest level since he took office in January 2011, having tumbled by 10 points since November, according to an NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist College poll.Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat facing re-election this year, saw his job approval among voters statewide fall to 42%,

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

Sheldon Silver: What About The Children in The School Trailers?

From Daily Politics:Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver pushed back Wednesday against efforts to boost funding for charter schools.While not ruling out more money for charters, Silver said any effort to aid them must be weighed against other pressing needs in the city, including a space crunch that has kept school children in temporary classroom trailers for years.“When you want to talk about school c

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

Eva Moskowitz: Mayor And Chancellor Not Willing To Learn From Success Academies

Buried near the end of the Times story on the Eva/de Blasio charter fight is this:The mayor’s office noted that while it canceled plans for three Success charter schools last week, it allowed five more to open as planned. It said that it withdrew space from the three not out of animus toward Ms. Moskowitz, but because those schools would have placed elementary school students with high school stud

by reality-based edu... / 0min 

Comptroller Stringer Says NYC Will Have Extra $510 Million In Budget Than Predicted - Can Be Used To Settle Contracts

From the Wall Street Journal:New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer is predicting an extra $510 million in revenue in next year's budget, a windfall that he fears could be eclipsed by the sum needed to settle the city's open labor contracts. Mr. Stringer, who took office Jan. 1, attributed the gain to stronger-than-expected property tax revenue. It marks a slightly rosier financial picture than

by reality-based edu... / 1h hide  //  save

Did Cuomo Administration Officials Coordinate With Charter Operators To Organize Eva's Charter School Rally?

That seems to be the indication from this Daily News story: Cuomo’s appearance before the pro-charter crowd snatched some of the attention that de Blasio and his allies hoped to focus on pre-k funding. Sources with knowledge of the situation say Cuomo urged charter school advocates to turn out for the pro-charter rally. However, Cuomo administration officials denied there was any coordination with

by reality-based edu... / 3h 

3-4-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Andrew Cuomo Uses Felon Who Pleaded Guilty To Federal Tax Evasion To Raise Campaign Donations For HimFrom State of Politics:A former Republican state senator and GOP power broker who pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion in 2012 is co-hosting a high-dollar fund-raiser next month in support of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s re-election effort, Capital Tonight has learned.Addi

by mike simpson / 8h 

Why I should get in-state tuition as an undocumented student | Hechinger Report

Why I should get in-state tuition as an undocumented student | Hechinger Report:

Why I should get in-state tuition as an undocumented student

By Miguel Molina

New Jersey recently became the latest state to join a movement granting equal tuition for undocumented students. But not all do. East Los Angeles College student Miguel Molina shares how the different rules in different states have separated him from his family.

I am told I crossed the border to the United States when I was 2 years old, sitting in the back of a car. But my earliest memories are of South Los Angeles — of my parents staying up until midnight and then waking up every weekday and on Saturdays at 3 a.m. to check on the tamales and boil water mixed with maizena, blocks of chocolate and cinnamon for champurado, a traditional Mexican corn-based drink. My dad would load his yellow vendor tricycle with a huge oya, or pot, of tamales, utensils, and the freshly made champurado. My mom would fill a grocery cart with the prepared foods, which she would push as she walked my sister and me to elementary school.

Miguel Molina

That changed the fall of my senior year in high school. My parents told me they were moving because they feared for their lives. They had reported to the police that a gang member was extorting money from them. When the gang member found out, he threatened to kill them. My parents wanted me to move with them, but I chose to stay to finish high school because I believed there were more opportunities for me in California 

New Book from David Berliner: Update on Manufactured Crisis He Identified 20 Years Ago | janresseger

New Book from David Berliner: Update on Manufactured Crisis He Identified 20 Years Ago | janresseger:

New Book from David Berliner: Update on Manufactured Crisis He Identified 20 Years Ago

Posted on March 5, 2014 by janresseger

In 1995, nearly 20 years ago, Arizona State University education professor David Berliner and University of Missouri professor Bruce Biddle published a prophetic book that anticipated the largely trumped up attack on public education that has brought us vouchers and charter schools; No Child Left Behind with its requirement that the school year be filled with test-prep and high stakes pressure on children and teachers alike; and Race to the Top and the other Obama programs that are transforming the Title I Formula—a civil rights program—into a philanthropy-like grant competition aimed at “incentivizing”  innovation.

In The Manufactured Crisis, Berliner and Biddle wrote:  “The Manufactured Crisis was not an accidental event.  Rather, it appeared within a specific historical context and was led by identifiable critics whose political goals could be furthered by scapegoating educators.  It was also supported from its inception by an assortment of questionable techniques—including misleading methods for analyzing data, distorting reports of findings, and suppressing contradictory evidence.  Moreover, it was tied to misguided schemes for ‘reforming’ education—schemes that would, if adopted, seriously damage American schools.”

Back in 1995, Berliner and Biddle identified serious problems challenging American society and our public schools—income and wealth inequity; stagnation of the economy; racial, ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity; racial discrimination practiced for years against black Americans; segregation in suburbs and ghettos; violence and drugs; the aging of the population; competing demands for funds; and the restructuring of work.  They concluded, “Unfortunately, many people who propose reforms for education seem to be unaware of these problems and as a result their proposals are unrealistic.  Effective reforms must begin by 

Today, I was offered $1,000. By Teach for America. « inspirEDucation

Today, I was offered $1,000. By Teach for America. « inspirEDucation:

Today, I was offered $1,000. By Teach for America.

And I’m turning it down. Here’s why:

As you all may know, I’ve been very busy recently putting together a student-led education conference for youth in LA called EmpowerED: Los Angeles Student Power 2014. I’m incredibly excited for this event, but have been struggling to raise money to fly in student organizers from all over the country. So I’ve been running a crowd-funding campaign to get the funds to make this personal dream of mine come true. Right now, I am a little less than $1000 short of my goal.

Let’s backtrack to a few months ago, when the ideas were still brewing in my mind. I knew that I wanted to provide a space for students to elevate their student voices and organize together for educational justice, but I wasn’t quite sure how at the time. Also during this time, my organization, Students United for Public Education, an entirely student-led, grassroots organization that defends public ed and believes in elevating student/community voice in the struggle for #edujustice (not #edreform), had just launched its first campaign: Students Resisting Teach for America.

After I started participating in the #resistTFA campaign a few months back, TFA folks started to reach out to me to speak with me about the campaign. They were all very respectful, very amicable, and very open to my ideas. We formed friendships, despite our differences in opinions about TFA, based 

Charter Op-Ed Misrepresents (Big Tree): My Response That They Won’t Print (Small Axe) | Cloaking Inequity

Charter Op-Ed Misrepresents (Big Tree): My Response That They Won’t Print (Small Axe) | Cloaking Inequity:

Charter Op-Ed Misrepresents (Big Tree): My Response That They Won’t Print (Small Axe)

If you are the big tree, we are the small axe, ready to cut you down, to cut you down! Bob Marley

I submitted an Op-Ed two weeks ago to the San Antonio Express News (SAEN) and they have refused to print it. The SAEN has not given the cold shoulder to corporate charter proponents. They printed an Op-Ed by Victoria Rico, a trustee of the George W. Brackenridge Foundation which has poured millions into recruiting and establishing corporate charters to San Antonio. The corporate charters that they are welcoming and desiring? KIPP, IDEA, Great Hearts and BASIS (et al)… Incidentely, each of which have appeared previously at Cloaking Inequity. See:

From Friend to Foe: Austin 1, IDEA 0 and Austin American Statesman’s IDEA fact check

Entire KIPP thread here. Also, “Work Hard, Be Nice?”: A Response to KIPP

Great Heart charters say “Diversity is too hard”

and then there is BASIS: What BASIS?: Nepotism and aggrandizement in charters?

Well, the reality of data and research on corporate charters in Texas and elsewhere did not stop Victoria Rico from proclaiming that “Despite social ills, students in charter schools succeed“ The beauty of social media is that the traditional media can no longer silence counter-narrative and dissent. Here is the response to Rico that the SAEN does not want you to see:

Charter proponents do a disservice to the public by misrepresenting what Texas data actually say when comparing charters to traditional public schools, as Victoria Rico did in a Jan. 16 opinion piece in the San Antonio Express-News.

Rico’s opening salvo was to knock public schools for low college readiness rates and college degree attainment. In a study of Texas data I conducted and published on Cloaking Inequity, my educational policy blog, I showed that the vast majority of schools producing college-ready Latino and African-

NYC Educator: Eva Moskowitz Forges a Way to Student Lobbyist Cuomo's Heart

NYC Educator: Eva Moskowitz Forges a Way to Student Lobbyist Cuomo's Heart:

Eva Moskowitz Forges a Way to Student Lobbyist Cuomo's Heart

When folks who make half a million dollars a year have problems, you'd better believe Andrew Cuomo has solutions. If that bad old Bill de Blasio won't give Eva Moskowitz free rent, well, he'll just take our tax dollars and give it to her.

The Post is very happy about that. That's because Murdoch cares deeply about poor people. I mean, he doesn't want to raise their minimum wage, and he probably doesn't think they should have a minimum wage, but it's very important we have charter schools. How else will someone who's never taught a class in her life become an education expert and get paid 500K per year?

After all, folks like that had to suffer through the millionaire tax that Governor Andy, in a principled stand got rid of. Now that they have that money, he can happily take it away from suburban kids via a Gap Elimination Adjustment that gives them less money. As we all know, the less money people have, and the less support we give our children, the better off they are. Everyone was delighted when the new Common Core tests failed 70% of our children, and the only way to keep up Governor Cuomo's brilliant stats is to give them even less.

Of course, things are different when it comes to Moskowitz Charter Schools. In institutions like these, kids have the opportunity to raise their 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm -- 'I don't want to be a phony'

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm -- 'I don't want to be a phony':

Rahm -- 'I don't want to be a phony'

Nixon -- "I am not a crook"

Whenever a politician begins by saying something likeRichard Nixon did -- "I am not a crook", you immediately know that they are crooked. When Rahm Emanuel begins his Sun-Times interview with Fran Spielman by saying, "I don't want to be a phony..." well, you get my point.

I mean, how's this for phony?

"Trust me, I don’t want to close schools."

 "I have a lot [union] support..." 

“It’s not that I’m polarizing [or]…not polarizing.'

"I don't want to be a phony"

"CTA never had any of the problems that other mass transit systems had — not just here, but around the country."

"And our streets were plowed and  passable — not just for police and fire, but for everybody." 

"Bruce [Rauner] and I are friends, [but I] totally disagree with him 100 percent on policy...He didn’t help me. We worked on a transaction together. We 

NYC Public School Parents: inBloom executives finally testify before the NYS Assembly; what a sad spectacle it was

NYC Public School Parents: inBloom executives finally testify before the NYS Assembly; what a sad spectacle it was:

nBloom executives finally testify before the NYS Assembly; what a sad spectacle it was

See the videotaped testimony of NYSED's Ken Wagner, along with a crew from inBloom Inc., including Peggy Brookins, Board Member, Jat Pannu, Senior VP of Services and Virginia Bartlett, Chief Privacy Officer before the NY Assembly Education Committee last Friday, February 28.

Highlights (or low lights): Ken Wagner giving a one sentence testimony at the beginning.  

And inBloom's VP refusing to disclose what other states they are working with, by saying they "respect the confidentiality of their clients"!!!  Too bad they don't respect the confidentiality of NYC public school children or their families. 

Thanks to the Assemblymembers present, especially Chair Cathy Nolan, Danny O'Donnell, Tom Abinante, Ed Graf and Shelley Mayer, who asked great questions but got very little information in return. 

Here is the testimony of Allison White, co-author of the privacy petition. There was no time allotted for parents to speak, but this is how it ends:

I will not allow my children to go to a public school if this is approved. I will protect my children's privacy and private information like medical records which are protected by our government already. I expect our government to be forthcoming about their intentions and inform us (the public) of matters that impact our children and ourselves. I will not allow the government to take away my parental decision making choice. STOP THIS EDUCATIONAL FARCE....

Our children are not employees, they are not commodities, and they are not owned by the government or special interest groups! This unnecessary intrusion into their lives needs to stop.

Parents and children should not lose their rights to privacy. These rights MUST be Protected. I'm completely opposed to any sharing or storage of student data for the OBVIOUS and valid reasons listed in this petition.

See the videotaped testimony of NYSED's Ken Wagner, along with a crew from inBloom Inc. @NYC Public School Parents: inBloom executives finally testify before the NYS Assembly; what a sad spectacle it was: 

‘What’s Next? at TFA’ webcast. Spoiler alert: More of the same | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

‘What’s Next? at TFA’ webcast. Spoiler alert: More of the same | Gary Rubinstein's Blog:

‘What’s Next? at TFA’ webcast. Spoiler alert: More of the same

by Gary Rubinstein

TFA has been recently taking a beating in social media.  Whether in response to this, or if it is just something that’s been planned for a while, the two co-CEOs Elisa Villanueva-Beard and Matt Kramer were part of a live webcast tonight called ‘What’s Next at Teach For America?”

This was an hour long live show broadcast out of Nashville where TFA alum Kevin Huffman is commissioner of education and another TFA alum Chris Barbic is the superintendent of the Achievement School District, which is like the Recovery School District in Louisiana.

As is everything with TFA, this was carefully scripted and controlled.  It began with a high school student.  This Latino student embodied everything that TFA believes in.  She is obviously quite a gifted speaker and she has a TFA teacher as one of her teachers right now.  Of course she proves that ‘poverty is not destiny’ and that every student who is poor and who did not go to college would have if they just had the chance to be taught by a TFA teacher.  Hearing this student speak, I have a feeling that she was going to make it to college even if she had all traditional teachers.  Let’s give the kid some credit, here.

Huffman was next on the bill.  He reminded everyone that on the latest NAEP results, Tennessee had the most ‘growth’ of any state.  Just like ‘miracle schools’ that have 

Parent Power School- Session II « NYC Coalition for Educational Justice

Parent Power School- Session II « NYC Coalition for Educational Justice:

Parent Power School- Session II

Register Now!
Advanced Training for Parent Leaders

Parent Power School educates, empowers and instills confidence and hope for parents to be articulate messengers and change agents on education issues affecting their children and the community. By developing the voices, skills, issue expertise and relationships of public school parents and community members Parent Power School will build and strengthen CEJ.

Saturday, March 29th

10:00AM – 2:00PM 

PSC-CUNY: 61 BROADWAY, 16TH FLOOR

Come to Parent Power School and:

• Learn about community schools, pre-kindergarten, ending the school-to-prison pipeline and successful parent engagement initiatives!
• Gain skills to effectively recruit more parents to be leaders for better schools!
• Join the education justice movement!

A light breakfast, lunch, childcare and translation will be provided.

Register here: Parent Power School

¡Aprenda cómo reclutar más padres para que sean líderes para mejores escuelas! 
¡Aprenda acerca de las políticas importantes que pueden mejorar las escuelas de Nueva York! 

Atende Parent Power School a PSC-CUNY: 61 BROADWAY, Piso 16 el Sab, 29 de marzo de las 10 a.m.-2 p.m.!
Vamos a explorar:

• Las escuelas comunitarias
• Jardín de Infantes (Pre-K)
• Poner fin a los iniciativas que ponen mas jovenes en la carcel
• Iniciativas exitosos de participación de los padres

y la forma de reclutar a otros padres para hablar de estos temas!

Se proporcionará un desayuno ligero, almuerzo, cuidado de niños y traducción.

Registrase aqui: Parent Power School

CURMUDGUCATION: Why the Hell Are We Racing Anywhere?

CURMUDGUCATION: Why the Hell Are We Racing Anywhere?:

Why the Hell Are We Racing Anywhere?

Race to the Top had been rather quiet as a brand until President Obama revived it in his new budget proposal. Unfortunately, the new iteration underlines the metaphorical problems with the nom de regulation. For a guy who launched his career by being a moving speaker, Obama has hit on a real tone-deaf clunker here.

This time, we are racing for equity, which means, I guess, that we are going to Race To The Top To The Middle. Seriously, how does this metaphor even sort of work? How does a race for equality work, exactly?

My first thought is that we are about to see a real-life Diana Moon Glampers to preside over a race in which the swift are properly held back. But no-- we're clearly supposed to be competing for excellence. Excellence in...not being any more or less excellent than anybody else??

But the metaphorical muddle that is Race To The Top To The Middle only raises a more important question which is-- why were we ever racing anywhere?

Competition in pursuit of excellence is highly overrated.

First of all, we only compete with other teams. The five members of a basketball team do not compete with each other to score the most baskets; if they did, they would be a terrible team and they would lose very much, and nobody would say, "Wow, those guys are really excellent!" Not even if they competed with great rigor.

So who is supposed to be the other team in this race? Other schools? We are supposed to beat other schools and teachers and students and leaving them whipped and beaten and in this way we will 

Last Stand for Children First: Not All Parents Oppose Excessive Testing

Last Stand for Children First: Not All Parents Oppose Excessive Testing:

Not All Parents Oppose Excessive Testing

The credit for this article goes to the great Alexander Russo, who urged journalists to do a better job reporting on testing by finding the many parents and students who don't oppose excessive standardized testing.  This is much the same way that the media overemphasized Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, when the vast majority African American ballplayers were content to stay in the Negro Leagues.

Alexander Russo has long been a friend of this blog and that's because he has a clear way of getting to the bottom of a story.  When other "journalists" were reporting on the teachers at two Chicago Public Schools refusing to give the ISAT, Russo saw that the real story was the nearly 50 people on his blog who vented about CPS principals.   

I didn't have to go much further than Chicago's Bernard E. Epton School of Sufficiency.  For those of you who don't remember, the Epton School got in some trouble last year when the principal was caught importing unlicensed standardized tests from China.   The principal, Dr. Michelle Perry claimed she acted at the urging of her teachers who noticed a 2 month period in the beginning of the year when there was no standardized testing in the school.

I was fortunate enough to get a chance to interview an entire family about their pro-standardized testing attitude and how they have found a home at Epton.   I was joined by 

Obama's Budget Boosts Preschool, Access To Top Teachers, But Freezes Many Education Programs:

Obama's Budget Boosts Preschool, Access To Top Teachers, But Freezes Many Education Programs

President Barack Obama sits with Marcus Wesby and other preschool student during his visit to Powell Elementary School in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2014. Obama visited the school to talk about his fiscal 2015 federal budget proposal, which was released today. Powell elementary has seen rapid growth in recent years and serves a predominantly Hispanic student body. Washington DC Mayor Vincent Gray, who greeted Obama at the school, recently directed $20 million to P | ASSOCIATED PRESS

 President Barack Obama's 2015 budget request increases education funding 2 percent over the previous year, cheering many education advocates, and proposes a revamped Race to the Top competition that focuses on opportunity for all students and a tobacco tax to pay for a previously-announced preschool expansion effort.

Obama announced the budget, which would restore across-the-board cuts known as sequestration, at Powell Elementary School in Washington.

"We know -- and this is part of the reason why we’re here today -- that education has to start at the earliest possible ages," Obama said. "So this budget expands access to the kind of high-quality preschool and other early learning programs to give all of our children the same kinds of opportunities that those wonderful children that we just saw are getting right here at Powell."

In a call with reporters, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said the budget speech setting was no accident. "In tough economic times, education is receiving the largest non-defense increase" in discretionary spending, Duncan said.

Many newer education initiatives, such as a high school redesign competition, receive a boost in Obama's budget. But some key programs, including most parts of the 

3-4-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education:

Florida Senate Republicans Ignore Superintendts, Jeb Bush Abandons College Readiness in First Passage of New School Grade Bill

It comes as no surprise the republican-dominated Senate Education Committee didn’t listen to the recommendations of two school superintendents in passing through the new and improved school grade formula. Nor is it any surprise Jeb Bush’s mouthpiece finds it just swell. Reports Miami Herald reporter Kathleen McGrory: The Senate Education Committee got right to work Tuesday morning, approving a pro

by Bob Sikes / 29min 

3-1-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida ALL Week

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education:Scathing Purple Musings  Color me purple in Florida ALL WeekFort Myers News-Press: For Teachers, VAM Doesn’t Add UpFrom the editors of the News-Press: Think back to a schoolteacher who had a positive impact on your life. Chances are, your choice wasn’t based on explanatio

2 by mike simpson / 8h 

Please Refrain from “Think[ing] of VAMs Like an Oak Tree” |:

Please Refrain from “Think[ing] of VAMs Like an Oak Tree”

inShare

 

It happened again. In the Tampa Bay Times a journalist encouraged his readers to, as per the title of his article, “Think of VAMs Like an Oak Tree” as folks in Florida are now beginning to interpret and consume Florida teachers’ “value-added” data. It even seems that folks there are “pass[ing] around the University of Wisconsin’s ‘[O]ak [T]ree [A]nalogy,” to help others understand, unfortunately, what is a very over-simplistic and overoptimistic version of the very complex realities surrounding VAMs.

He, and others, obviously missed the memo.

So, I am redirecting current and future readers to Stanford Professor Edward Haertel’s deconstruction of the “Oak Tree Analogy,” so that we all might better spread the word about this faulty analogy.

I have also re-pasted Professor Haertel’s critique below:

“The Value-Added Research Center’s ‘Oak Tree’ analogy is helpful in conveying the theory [emphasis added] behind value-added models. To compare the two gardeners, we adjust away various influences that are out of the gardeners’ control, and then, as with value added, we just assume that whatever is left over must have been due to the gardener.  But, we can draw some important lessons from this analogy in addition to those