National Week of Action May 13-17 | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity

National Week of Action May 13-17 | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity:

National Week of Action May 13-17

Posted on: Monday April 28th, 2014

Fulfilling the Promise of Brown v. Board:Organizing for Educational Justice for All – May 13-17, 2014

To mark the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, parents, students, educators, and community members are organizing actions across the country to continue the struggle for racial and educational justice and win the public schools all our children deserve.

Join the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools for a National Week of Action May 13-17. Help us reclaim the promise of public education as our nation's gateway to a strong democracy and racial and economic justice for all.

The future of public education stands at a critical crossroads. Now, more than ever, access to good public schools is a critical civil and human right. The answer to delivering on the promise of equal opportunity lies in strengthening, not dismantling or privatizing, public education. The Alliance unites parents, students, educators, community organizations, and labor unions fighting for educational justice and equity in access to school resources and opportunities.

Read and sign on to the Alliance platform, "The Schools All Our Children Deserve: The Principles That Unite Us," and view our demands.

Download (and share!) the event flyers and information here. Andclick here to find May 17th events in your community.

If your organization would like to endorse the Week of Action, please let us know!

National Week of Action May 13-17 | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity:

APR 25

"Gag Order" Bars Educators From Talking About Standardized Tests

A "gag order" in New York's contract with test-making giant Pearson bars teachers from talking publicly about mistakes they find on state tests. The American Federation of Teachers has launched a petition asking Pearson to remove the gag order from current and future contracts. Sign on! Teachers in New York recently administered new Common Core-aligned standardized tests, bu

by jocelyn / 2d 

APR 23

Newark Clergy Call for Moratorium on Education "Reforms"

Dozens of Newark clergy members submitted a powerful letter to NJ Gov. Chris Christie calling for a moratorium on the proposed reforms and for meaningful community input moving forward. Photo: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters read more

1 by jocelyn / 5d 

Partnerships, NOT Pushouts: New Policy Guide for School Boards

A new policy guide released today details how school board members can lead the way in securing a high quality education for each and every student in their district. Partnerships, NOT Pushouts New "Whole-Child" Policy Guide for School Board Members read more

63 by jocelyn / 5d 

Revival From the Roots: A Tour of Philly's Neighborhood Schools

Publication Date:  Thu, 2014-04-17 The first video in a three-part series, "Revival From the Roots: A Tour of Philly's Neighborhood Schools" follows Jerry Jordan, President of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, and Hellen Gym, parent and education advocate, as they hear firsthand from students, parents and teachers fighting to turn around public education from the bottom

by jocelyn / 5d 

Huge Drop in Suspensions and Expulsions in Colorado

After years of organizing work, advocates in Colorado won statewide school discipline reform in 2012. Padres & Jovenes Unidos, the leading voice behind the new law, has released a report card detailing the law's success during its first year.  The parents of Padres & Jovenes Unidos have been a leading force in the school discipline reform movement in Colorado. read more

by jocelyn / 5d 

600 Philly Students "Missing" After Mass School Closures

Philadelphia student group Youth United for Change has launched a campaign to identify some 600 students who "went missing" in the wake of the city's mass school closures last year. Photo via Philly.com read more

by jocelyn / 5d 

What Are Community Schools?

At the Community Schools National Forum in Cincinnati last week, top educators from the US and abroad learned about a powerful new model for supporting all students and improving our nation's schools. Check out pictures and video from the event! The key to ensuring access to educational opportunity for each and every child is to build a strong public school at the heart of every commu

by jocelyn / 5d 

Webinar Series: So You Want Fair School Funding...

How do we fund schools fairly and equitably for all children? And how can advocates and organizers lead the way? Join us for two upcoming webinars on April 22 and May 7! Webinar Series: So You Want Fair School Funding... But Where Does the Money Come From? How YOU can lead the fight to invest more in our public schools read more

78 by jocelyn / 5d 

A Snapshot of the Nation's Education Inequities

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights released data from all of the nation's 97,000 public schools, offering the most complete snapshot of educational opportunity in America and shining a light on the deep inequities in access to resources like pre-k, college counselors, advanced courses and experienced teachers.  That disparities exist in access to educational res

by jocelyn / 5d 

NY State Budget Is a Mix of Victories and Setbacks

This year's budget battle in New York State produced a mix of victories and setbacks for public education advocates. The Alliance for Quality Education published a fact sheet to explain how the funding increases, pre-k expansion and charter school supports will impact the fight for high quality education in the state. The following press release was written by the Alliance for Quality

by jocelyn / 5d 

New Jersey Organizers Demand a Voice in Education Debate

On March 27, advocates in NJ rallied to protest the market-based reform policies that are hurting their public schools and to demand a new approach to supporting and improving the state's education system. The fight over public schools is heating up in New Jersey. On March 27, advocates from across the state rallied at the NJ State House to protest the market-based reform policies tha

by jocelyn / 5d 

What Kind of Superintendent Do Boston Students Want?

Students from the Boston Student Advisory Council, Youth and Board, and Boston-area Youth Organizing Project are playing an active role in helping the city select its next superintendent. Hear what they have to say in this great new video! Boston students are playing an active role in helping the city select its new superintendent. Though not officially a part of the search committee,

by jocelyn / 5d hide  //  save

Arne Duncan has labeled my school—and every school in Washington State—a failure. Cue the revolt. | I AM AN EDUCATOR

Arne Duncan has labeled my school—and every school in Washington State—a failure. Cue the revolt. | I AM AN EDUCATOR:

Arne Duncan has labeled my school—and every school in Washington State—a failure. Cue the revolt.

By I AM AN EDUCATOR on April 28, 2014

The ultimate absurdity of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has been visited upon my home state of Washington.

One of the many outlandish propositions of  NCLB was that 100 percent of students at all schools in the United States would be fully proficient in reading and math, as registered by student test scores, by 2014—all without adding the resources needed to support our children.   Because no state has been able to achieve 100 percent proficiency, nearly all of the states have already received a federal waiver from NCLB—on the condition that they implement policies that reduce teaching and learning to a test score.

Now, because our State Legislators did not move to mandated that standardized test scores be attached to teacher evaluations, Washington has become the first state in the country to lose its waiver from the many requirements of the No Child Left Behind act. The U.S. Department of Educationposted a letter about the status of Washington’s waiver on Thursday April 24th. The loss of this waiver means that every parent in the state should expect a letter informing them that their child attends a failing school. It also means that that school districts will lose control of how they spend a portion of the Arne Duncan has labeled my school—and every school in Washington State—a failure. Cue the revolt. | I AM AN EDUCATOR:

4-28-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Impact Philanthropy (Or, Ed Reform for the Young and the Restless)

You'd think our current Democratic administration would have more to do than host a convention for "100 young philanthropists and heirs to billionaire families" at the White House but apparently not.  From the NY Times:Their name tags read like a catalog of the country’s wealthiest and most influential clans: Rockefeller, Pritzker, Marriott. They were there for a discreet, invitation-onl

by Melissa Westbrook / 48min 

Kindergarteners - Get with the System

I come to this issue because of two recent stories about kindergarteners.One was from Oregon where - guess what?  Bad news about testing kindergarteners for "school readiness."  Two state official up the food chain in public education in Oregon called the kindergartener readiness results "sobering."It is important to have a baseline for each child.  But this pressure of testing

by Melissa Westbrook / 59min  

4-27-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools This WeekTuesday, April 29thWork Session: Board Self-Evaluation/Superintendent Evaluation, 4:30-6:00 pm; Executive Session, 6:00-6:30 pm.Wednesday, April 30Work Session: Special Education, 4:00-5:30 pm.  AgendaWork Session: Capital Projects, 5:30-7:00 pm.  Agenda not yet available.Friday, May 2ndKimball Elementary Art Walk from 3 pm to 6 pm.Saturday

by mike simpson / 10h 

Gated communities for already advantaged students Parents United for Responsible Education

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » Gated communities for already advantaged students:

Gated communities for already advantaged students

Today’s story by Chicago Sun-Times Watchdog reporters Tim Novak and Chris Fusco exposes the imbalance of white students in Chicago’s four north side selective enrollment high schools, and the fact that the disproportionate number of white students has become even more lopsided since the courts ended the Desegregation Consent Decree in 2009.

Sun-Times figures show that white students made up an average of 41 percent of freshmen admitted to Jones, Whitney Young, Northside Prep, and Walter Payton over the past four years, compared to 29 percent in 2009. The overall enrollment of white students in CPS is about 9%.

I met with Novak and Fusco as they were preparing the story. I made the point (which did not specifically end up in their story…) that test scores unfairly act to keep low-income students out of selective enrollment high schools, since test scores are most closely aligned to economic status.

But their analysis showed that the system is even more insanely unfair. For 80% of the applicants, test scores are factored in with census tract data in a 4-tier system that actually forces students from

- See more at: http://pureparents.org/?p=21281#sthash.yUSMw7w6.dpuf

Parents facing a charter takeover vow to stay “Steel Strong” | Parents United for Public Education

Parents facing a charter takeover vow to stay “Steel Strong” | Parents United for Public Education:

Parents facing a charter takeover vow to stay “Steel Strong”

Posted on April 28, 2014 by PARENTSUNITEDPHILA

On April 1, the School District of Philadelphia announced that its Renaissance-chosen charter operators Mastery Charter Network and ASPIRA, Inc. would be matched with Steel and Munoz-Marin Elementary schools located within these charter provider’s feeder pattern. Parents had less than one month before a school-wide vote on this process. The charter process has not been particularly welcoming to parents. The District charter office re-organized the parent-led School Advisory Council, directly accepting applicants outside its own rules. In a parent presentation last week, District officials painted a punishing portrait of Steel, calling it one of the worst schools in the city based on test data. But a comparison of test data with other struggling schools shows that not only is Steel far from the worst of Philly public schools; it has significant advantages in test scores even over Mastery schools, especially those that are nearby.

The parent vote will be held this Thursday, May 1st. Steel Elementary parent Kendra Brooks agreed to allow us to re-print her testimony before the School Reform Commission last Thursday. 

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“I am speaking today as the president of the Steel school SAC because I want what I’ve always wanted – whatever is best for my children and the children at Steel school.  I have been a parent and volunteer and booster for Steel School for almost 20 years.  Steel’s children are the reason I became part of the SAC, and that is the reason I have been working diligently as the SAC president.

When the district suddenly announced that they may be turning Steel into a Renaissance Charter that is controlled by Mastery, I continued to stay engaged and focused on making sure parents had a voice in doing what is best for our children.  However I am very concerned about the efforts of the district and the charter office that seem like you want to make sure that Steel School is given to Mastery Charter.

I have been president of the Steel SAC for a year now.  The charter office, however, does not respect our role. First of all, it required us all to re-apply for a new SAC process, with one of the requirements being that new members must visit a Mastery school during the two weeks before the vote or they will be ineligible to vote.  In fact, long-time contributing SAC members who are unable to visit a Mastery school will now be eliminated from Parents facing a charter takeover vow to stay “Steel Strong” | Parents United for Public Education:

Educators Will Never Be 100% Connected. | My Island View

Educators Will Never Be 100% Connected. | My Island View:

Educators Will Never Be 100% Connected.

April 28, 2014 by tomwhitby

Educators like all learners have a preferred way of learning. Some think of it as different “styles of learning”, but even that theory of  “learning styles” has been questioned by some. In a profession, which resides in a world where content and information constantly change and evolve at a rapid rate of speed, educators need to maintain relevance in order to create an authentic and meaningful environment for their students to learn and create.

Educators have always needed to master the understanding of at least two fields of endeavor to be successful. First, they needed to master their content field. They are required to be experts of content. Second, they needed to master the field of education with a clear understanding of the latest and greatest methodology and pedagogy available. The 21^st Century has now further complicated the teaching profession by requiring an additional third area of mastery, digital literacy. This is required to accomplish many of the necessary tasks in the space occupied by our nation in a computer-driven world. It is the mastery of this third element that educators struggle with today. It is this third element that also directly affecting the evolution of content and education.

The problems stemming from this are many. How do we stress the importance of digital literacy to a group of people, many of whom are digitally illiterate in the modern sense of the term? How do we get educators to remain relevant in their areas of expertise, if their access to content is limited to the methods and tools of the 20^th Century? How do we get educators to participate in collaborative learning on a global basis, when they are comfortable with their day-to-day, face-to-face connections with only their building colleagues?

Being a “connected educator” requires collaborative learning as a key to expanding personal learning. It requires at the least, a basic understanding of digital literacy. It requires an understanding of the connected culture in order to reap the full benefits of collaboration. It requires an investment of time that will vary with each individual depending on their learning capacity. Being a Connected Educator is a mindset and not the result of a workshop or seminar for professional development. It is that leap of faith to adopt a mindset for connectedness that will prevent us from soon becoming a profession of connected educators. There will always be some that will keep their feet firmly planted in the Educators Will Never Be 100% Connected. | My Island View:

Stephen Krashen Blog 4-28-14

SKrashen:

Poll of the uninformed

Published in the San Francisco Chronicle, April 28, 2014 "Most in state approve of policy shifts in education," April 24: Yes, 69 percent of Californians polled said they liked the Common Core standards after hearing a brief statement about them. The statement said only that they "are designed to ensure that students graduating from high school have the knowledge and skills they

by skrashen / 23min 

 

Stephen Krashen Blog 4-26-14

SKrashen:‘Bribes’ for Read-Alouds?Published in the School Library Journal, 2014. Introduction by the editors of the School Library Journal:  In School Library Journal‘s January 2014 print issue, Suffolk Cooperative Library System’s youth services coordinator Lisa G. Kropp wrote the article “Vivacious Vocabulary” about how in the interest of building students into critical thinkers and strong reade

by mike simpson / 31min