6-10-13 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION:

Arne Tells Teachers To Go To Hell (Again)

Arne has popped up with a statement in reaction to the Vergara tenure-FILO-smashing verdict. You will be shocked to discover that Arne sides with the billionaire backers of this attack on the teaching profession. Let me break it down and translate for you:For students in California and every other state, equal opportunities for learning must include the equal opportunity to be taught by a great te

by Peter Greene / 1min 

Well, Damn

The interwebs are currently blowing up with reaction to the Vergara verdict in California which, and there's no way to soft-pedal this, rips the guts out of tenure and seniority for teachers. If this stands, we will all be at-will employees soon enough.My default setting is to assume that people mean well, or at least mean to do what they believe is right. I find it kind of rage-inducing to encoun

12 by Peter Greene / 34min 

What Do We Do About Bad Teachers?

I believe bad teachers exist. I believe that on any given day, in many schools in this country, there's a person standing in a classroom doing a lousy job. I just spent a chunk of bandwidth explaining that I don't believe Find and Fire is the correct policy response to bad teaching. So what do I propose instead?The Heart of the ProblemI'm going to spend the least amount of time on the hugest part

10 by Peter Greene / 1h hide  //  save

Firing the Right People

One theory of education that reformsters like to put forward is the idea that if we fire the right people, schools will get better.We hear this refrain every time reformsters go after tenure and FILO (as they are currently doing in Pennsylvania) with the usual anecdotal evidence that [insert school district here] had to lay off [insert number here] fantastic young teachers because of that stupid F

12 by Peter Greene / 2h 

6-9-13 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION: Never Mind the SATToday's Slate includes an intriguing report of the non-traditional application process for Bard College. Rebecca Shuman presents the new elective small-college alternative:Bard College, a highly selective liberal-arts school in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, is about to enter the second year of a revolutionary college-admissions experiment: four wickedly challengi

by mike simpson / 8h 

6-10-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

The Lesson For Liberals And Progressives In The Eric Cantor Defeat

Buh-bye, Eric:House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was defeated Tuesday by a little-known economics professor in Virginia’s Republican primary, a stunning upset and major victory for the tea party. Cantor is the second-most powerful member of the U.S. House and was seen by some as a possible successor to the House speaker.His loss to Dave Brat, a political novice with little money marks a huge victor

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

No Court Case On Teacher Tenure In Works For New York - Yet

From Politicker:A California court ruling striking down teacher tenure laws as unconstitutional prompted an outpouring of applause from education reform advocates–and a chorus of boos from supporters of public school instructors. ...“It is fantastic news,” said TV anchor-turned-public education critic Campbell Brown. “The parents in California clearly felt the same frustration that many parents ar

by reality-based edu... / 3h 

Pro-Reform Propaganda Juggernaut And More Court Cases To Follow California Teacher Tenure Ruling

Get ready for millions of dollars in propaganda in the wake of a judge ruling teacher tenure laws in California unconstitutional:A court ruling on Tuesday striking down job protections for teachers in California deals a sharp blow to unions — and will likely fuel political movements across the nation to eliminate teacher tenure.Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu found five California la

by reality-based edu... / 5h 

Highly Visible Gates Foundation Gets Less Visible After Washington Post Common Core Expose

Anya Kamenetz at NPR:Speaking of millions of dollars, the money behind the Common Core was the topic of a that focused on Microsoft founder Bill Gates' role in the creation of the standards and in encouraging their implementation. The story detailed how the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has spent some $200 million on the development of the standards, political lobbying, and grants to organizat

by reality-based edu... / 1min 

Diane Ravitch Calls For An Investigation Into Bill Gates' Common Core Coup

How did the richest man in America buy himself the public education system?The story about Bill Gates' swift and silent takeover of American education is startling. His role and the role of the U.S. Department of Education in drafting and imposing the Common Core standards on almost every state should be investigated by Congress.The idea that the richest man in America can purchase and -- working

1 by reality-based edu... / 2h 

6-9-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: UFT President Mulgrew Takes On The Test From State of Politics:At 10 a.m., UFT President Michael Mulgrew will be joined by Sen. Adriano Espaillat, Assemblymen Karim Camara, Ron Kim, and other legislators to announce the introduction a bill that would mandate the use of multiple academic measures rather than the current single multiple-choice test, Stuyvesant High School, 345

by mike simpson / 8h 

Strict rules have helped boost academic performance in New Orleans, but some schools go too far | Hechinger Report

Strict rules have helped boost academic performance in New Orleans, but some schools go too far | Hechinger Report:

Strict rules have helped boost academic performance in New Orleans, but some schools go too far

By Merlin George

School was a complete joke to me as a young child. I thought it was just a place where I could come and socialize, play around, eat the free lunch and wander up and down the halls. There was a time in the third grade when I listened to James Brown music and danced to it while the other students reviewed nouns. This type of behavior led to my having to repeat the fourth grade. In my own way, I contributed to New Orleans’low academic performance prior to Hurricane Katrina.

Merlin George graduated this spring from New Orleans’ Lake Area New Tech Early College High School. He will attend the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the fall.

Before Katrina, New Orleans schools were among the nation’s worst when it came to graduation rates, standardized test scores, and other measurements. Partly for this reason, the Recovery School District (RSD) took over most public schools in New Orleans after the storm.

Most RSD schools have been very strict— much stricter than the old schools I attended as a young child. Overall, I think this has helped students progress, although sometimes I worry that some schools go too far. Not only did the RSD take over most schools after Hurricane Katrina, but all of the system’s teachers were fired. The schools started hiring more teachers through Teach for America, which recruits recent college graduates to teach for at least two years in low-income schools. These are mostly white teachers from elite colleges and universities across the country who help enforce the new style of discipline in New Orleans schools.

Under the new approach, schools have implemented policies controlling which accessories (hats, jewelry, etc.) are acceptable to wear, along with strict school-uniform codes. Students are restricted from wearing certain color socks, shoes, hair colors, and excessive jewelry. We also can’t wear certain hair designs (including dreadlocks and natural afros), clothing that doesn’t have a school name on it, and we are limited to specific types of backpacks. These rules are helpful at maintaining order, but I question whether they are necessary in the long-term.

STUDENT VOICES:
NEW ORLEANS PERSPECTIVES

This essay is part of a collaboration betweenThe Hechinger Report and high school students at Bard’s Early College in New Orleans. The teenagers wrote opinion pieces on whether all students should be encouraged to attend college, the value of alternative teacher preparation programs such as Teach For America, the importance of desegregation, or the best approach to school discipline.

The accessories we wear with our uniforms won’t determine how successful we will be in life. The color of our socks or shoes won’t determine whether we will get into college. And learning how to walk in a straight line, as required by many charter schools, won’t determine whether we know how to behave as adults. Too much focus on monitoring students in the hallway and sitting up straight in class is unnecessary because its takes the focus away from books and learning.

We all know that rules and regulations are placed in a school to ensure order, which is important. But cutting down on some of rules would mean that students wouldn’t have to spend so much time worrying about being stopped every Strict rules have helped boost academic performance in New Orleans, but some schools go too far | Hechinger Report:

 

Q & A with Dick Molpus: Anatomy of historic apology for hometown’s racist and violence past on eve of Freedom Summer anniversary

Mississippi’s former Democratic Secretary of State Dick Molpus, born and raised in Neshoba County, stood up 25 years ago at the Mount Zion Church in his hometown of Philadelphia and officially apologized to the families of the three slain civil rights workers murdered when they came to help blacks register to vote. In 1989, some 25 years after the murders, Dick Molpus became the only public offici

by Liz Willen / 3h 

Thompson: It's Not Just Teachers Who Need to Make Their Peace with Politics :: Frederick M. Hess

Thompson: It's Not Just Teachers Who Need to Make Their Peace with Politics :: Frederick M. Hess:

Thompson: It's Not Just Teachers Who Need to Make Their Peace with Politics

by Frederick M. Hess  •  Jun 10, 2014 at 8:01 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

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I was struck by some of the feedback to last Thursday's post on the whole "why can't pols get out of schooling?" question. "Eduwonk" Andy Rotherham pithily noted I was just explaining "life in a liberal democracy." He was right. I also found it intriguing that much of the response didn't really map onto the usual "reformer" v. "anti-corporate" divide. (I take the whole thing a promising sing for The Cage-Busting Teacher.) Meanwhile, reform skeptic John Thompson continued our occasional, engaging, correspondence, penning a thoughtful missive that took the blog to heart while arguing that reformers ought be equally willing to make their peace with the ways of liberal democracy. His take is constructive and applies the insights usefully (though you'll note parts that I obviously don't buy), and I agreed to run it as a follow-up:

Although we don't necessarily like hearing it from the sharp-penned Rick Hess, his "Why Can't Politicians Get Out of Schooling?" is right on both of its points. "Public schools spend public dollars and hire public employees to serve the public's children," so "for better or worse, they're going to be governed by public officials." Secondly, talented educators have plenty of gripes about "dumb accountability systems, teacher evaluation schemes, and such."

That is why teachers must explain how our educational civil war is rooted in high-stakes standardized testing. Were it not for that issue, we would have plenty to argue over, but none of our differences would be worth such a vicious fight.

Numerous reformers have confided with me about their growing concerns over bubble-in accountability. They know that testing has spun out of control. Often, they voice fears about conceding victory to teachers and unions. Equally often, I get a sincere request - what are the alternatives to attaching consequences to tests?

Test-driven reforms are like chemotherapy. They might produce some benefits but, kept up too long, they become poisonous. I urge vigilance regarding the inherent dangers of punitive policies. Even if "win-win" Thompson: It's Not Just Teachers Who Need to Make Their Peace with Politics :: Frederick M. Hess:

My Cabbie and Oklahoma's Quest for the un-Common Core

It's been a tough stretch for the Common Core. South Carolina and Oklahoma have followed Indiana in abandoning the enterprise. North Carolina may be about to join them. Education Week's Catherine Gewertz reports that, as things stand, just 42% of K-12...

1h hide  //  save

Governor Corbett runs from Philadelphia voters – again | Parents United for Public Education

Governor Corbett runs from Philadelphia voters – again | Parents United for Public Education:





Governor Corbett runs from Philadelphia voters – again

Posted on June 10, 2014 by HELENGYMLeave a comment

 

Helen Gym: “We must convert mass action into political power!” (Photo via Twitter @trayf)

In a large rally yesterday, Parents United for Public Education joined with our partners at PCAPS and PA Working Families to greet Governor Tom Corbett who was trolling for campaign dollars with Gov. Chris Christie at an event hosted by the Republican Governors Association. Originally intended for the Union League, the campaign suddenly switched locations the day of the event – surprising members of the Union League. It moved instead to the headquarters of Comcast Corporation, which has pledged to back Governor Corbett in the gubernatorial race.

It’s not the first time Corbett has run from his own constituents. In January, the governor refused to face the students and staff at Central High School, suddenly switching his appearance from his first public school visit to sequestration inside his offices at the Bellevue Hotel.

You have to wonder about the leadership of a governor who runs from the very people who live the consequences of the policies he imposes.

Yesterday, 1,000 people marched from the Union League to Comcast headquarters. We are parents, students, teachers, staff,

Parents United is well represented by members Kendra Brooks, Helen Gym and Sophia Saunders, among others.

community leaders, and voters who are concerned about our schools and our communities under the leadership of a governor who has staked his political legacy on the purposeful de-funding of public schools statewide. The crowd included a number of people from cities in New Jersey – Newark, Patterson, and Camden – uniting with Philadelphians to decry the botched ed reform policies of their governor, Chris Christie.

Our communities are united by opposition and resistance to an ed reform agenda that isn’t locally grown or locally supported. It’s a manufactured brand of crisis management, exported and mcfranchised, brought in by lobbyists and outsiders – from One Newark toUniversal Enrollment. From Cami Anderson to the disgraced School Reform Commission – 40,000 Governor Corbett runs from Philadelphia voters – again | Parents United for Public Education:

NYC Educator: Fred and Wilma

NYC Educator: Fred and Wilma:

Fred and Wilma

My afternoon class is a little crazy. Of course I pride myself on being the craziest person in the room, but there are a few kids who give me a run for my money. For the purposes of this blog I'll call them Fred and Wilma.

I usually seat my classes in a horseshoe so as to encourage dialogue. I've moved this class into rows so as to impede it a little. And I've carefully calculated where kids should go. This is very tough to do because 90% of my students speak the same first language, and it's literally unnatural for them not to use it. But my job entails battling nature at every turn.

I do get quite a bit of English out of this group. But I get it at odd times. Fred likes to speak his first language, and I've moved his seat on multiple occasions. There are really no places to put him where he won't find people with whom he can speak. His verbal English is not bad, but he can't seem to control himself. The odd word in his first language comes out here or there, now and then, but several times in every class.

Wilma is different. She'll speak English all day long, but has a voice that can cut through anything, and she's not afraid to use it. She's challenging because she has a 95 average, and is likely as not the smartest person in the room. My go-to remedy for overly loud students is calling the home, but for her it's problematic. Last time I did that, her parents took her phone away and she sat in the class for two weeks with her arms folded, refusing to utter a word. I found that a lot worse than her outbursts.

But she's got a sense of decorum. For instance, she knows people aren't supposed to shout. And if anyone doesNYC Educator: Fred and Wilma:

Parents offer an earful about the ‘welcoming environment’ :: SI&A Cabinet Report

Parents offer an earful about the ‘welcoming environment’ :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:



JUNE 10, 2014

Parents offer an earful about the ‘welcoming environment’

by Alisha Kirby

(Calif.) It isn’t rare to see a parent wandering around their child’s elementary school in search of an office, classroom or auditorium entrance.

But parents gathered at a forum last week in Stockton on school climate said getting help from school personnel isn’t easy. They noted that custodial and cafeteria staff was more likely to be welcoming and helpful than anyone from the school office.

That lack of a welcoming environment was often cited by parents participating in the focus group put on by Families in Schools in an effort to learn more about the barriers parents perceive around schools.

Diana Wiley, who led Friday’s discussion, said they hope to compile a list of the most pressing obstacles for parents who want to participate more in their childrens’ education and, potentially, offer some suggestions on how to fix them as well.

“We’re compiling all the recommendations and concerns, and we’re going to share that with the California Department of Education because they’re interested in creating a project to help address welcoming environments statewide,” said Wiley, the organization’s Improving Education Initiative manager.

The effort comes as school districts statewide face a July1 deadline for adopting their first Local Accountability Control Plan – a requirement under California’s new funding system that gives local authorities more control over spending decisions but also new responsibility to partner with parents and the community on those decisions.

Families in Schools, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Los Angeles, has put on similar events in the Inland Empire, Central Valley and the greater Los Angeles areas.

Parental engagement is just one of eight statewide priorities districts must now include in their LCAPs  – which also call for accountability on issues such as  teacher qualifications, facility Parents offer an earful about the ‘welcoming environment’ :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

Healthy food mandate extends to school fundraisers

(Kan.) School administrators would have the option of banning less healthy snacks from fundraising events next year under a proposed wellness policy being considered by the state board of education.

by Tom Chorneau / 6h

Must Read: How Bill Gates’ Power Drives Education Policy | janresseger

Must Read: How Bill Gates’ Power Drives Education Policy | janresseger:

Must Read: How Bill Gates’ Power Drives Education Policy

Posted on June 10, 2014 by janresseger

The Common Core Standards are the culmination of the wave of accountability-based school reform that has swept the country since the A Nation At Risk report in 1983.  Like the other test-and-punish reforms, the Common Core Standards fail to address the deep and seemingly intractable problems in American public schooling—inequality—shocking and immoral opportunity gaps in a society that supposedly believes in equality of opportunity—high dropout rates among the poorest and most vulnerable adolescents.  This blog focuses on these deeper issues, and you can read recent posts here on opportunity gaps, and here on reducing the dropout rate.

But Lindsey Layton’s recent blockbuster piece in the Washington Post, How Bill Gates Pulled Off the Swift Common Core Revolution, is a Common Core story that relates to all the deeper issues, because Layton addresses the issue of power and money in policy-making these days.  How is it that the school “reformers” can get programs established that lack a research base?  And how can it be done in a way that skirts the checks and balances of our democratic system and that even rearranges the prescribed roles of the federal government and the states in school policy? What is the role of today’s mega-philanthropy, especially these days when, ironically, relatively low taxes for the wealthiest Americans allow them to amass fortunes they can spend to impact policy in an underfunded public sector.

Diane Ravitch answers these questions theoretically in her 2010 book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System.  “It is worth reflecting on the wisdom of allowing education policy to be directed or, one might say, captured by private foundations.  There is something fundamentally antidemocratic about relinquishing control of the public education policy agenda to private foundations run by society’s wealthiest people….  These foundations, no matter how worthy and high-minded, are after all, not public agencies.  They are not subject to public oversight or review, as a public agency would be.  They have taken it upon themselves to reform public education, perhaps in ways that would never survive the scrutiny of voters in any district or state.  If voters don’t like the foundations’ reform agenda, they can’t vote them out of office… If their plans fail, no sanctions are levied against them.  They are bastions of unaccountable power.” (pp. 200-201)

In her blockbuster article this past weekend, Layton provides an example of the power of venture philanthropy—the real-life story of how Bill Gates, the most powerful member of Must Read: How Bill Gates’ Power Drives Education Policy | janresseger:

K-12 News Network | iPad Watchdog Stuart Magruder’s Re-Appointment: Which Way Will LAUSD Go?

K-12 News Network | iPad Watchdog Stuart Magruder’s Re-Appointment: Which Way Will LAUSD Go?:

iPad Watchdog Stuart Magruder’s Re-Appointment: Which Way Will LAUSD Go?

admin June 10, 2014

The question for many school districts around the country this spring was this: how are they supposed to give computer-based, end-of-year Common Core State Standards (CCSS) tests?

For over a year in Los Angeles Unified, parents, students, teachers, and community members have wrestled with the details of Superintendent John Deasy’s 1:1 iPad program and its $1 billion price tag. The second-largest school district in the nation serves about 650,000 K-12 students.

Disagreements over the iPad program are now culminating in a battle to re-appoint one of the most vocal watchdogs of the program, an architect and citizen volunteer named Stuart Magruder to the Bond Oversight Committee that is supposed to vet funds that pay for the iPad rollout.

On Tuesday, June 10, 2014, we’ll find out if LAUSD school board member Tamar Galatzan is successful with her argument that the school board need not honor a 2002 Memorandum of Understanding between the American Institute of Architects (Los Angeles) as key appointer of an architect and the school board. (The MOU says that the AIA appoints and the LAUSD school board is simply the body that approves the AIA’s pick.) Now Bennett Kayser, a second LAUSD school board member, has joined the fraysaying he opposes Galatzan and believes the AIA’s appointment should be approved by the LAUSD school board.

Superintendent Deasy’s iPad rollout has been rife with problems since the fall of 2013, when reporters began questioning key terms of the district’s deal with Apple: was it ok to use $1 billion for iPads paid for out of facilities bond funds when voters thought they were voting to fix schools plagued by crumbling ceilings, leaky roofs, broken drinking fountains, and non-functioning toilets? Were tablets loaded with curriculum “textbooks” (able to leave the building to go home with students) or were they “fixtures” that stayed in the classroom minus any curriculum, and therefore a legitimate part of a facilities revamp?

Stuart Magruder called attention to the fact that LAUSD had planned the effort poorly, did not sufficiently collaborate with teacherswho have to integrate the devices into the classroom, and paid top dollar for an old, legacy version of the IPad. Due to his K-12 News Network | iPad Watchdog Stuart Magruder’s Re-Appointment: Which Way Will LAUSD Go?: