A Father’s Day Reminder: Read Aloud to Your Children | Live Long and Prosper

A Father’s Day Reminder: Read Aloud to Your Children | Live Long and Prosper:

A Father’s Day Reminder: Read Aloud to Your Children

READING ALOUD

I started teaching elementary school in 1976 and from my very first day as a teacher I read aloud to my students. I had caught the read aloud bug from Lowell Madden, one of my Education School Professors and had it reinforced by Jim Trelease, whose Read Aloud Handbook is a treasure of information for anyone who is interested in reading aloud to children. [I've referenced Jim Trelease quite a few times on this blog.]

I read aloud to all my classes because I’m convinced that reading aloud is one of the best tools we have to help children learn to read. Reading is, arguably, the single most important skill a child learns in school.

Jim Trelease, in The Read Aloud Handbook reminded us that

In 1985, the commission [on Reading, organized by the National Academy of Education and the National Institute of Education and funded under the U.S. Department of Education] issued its report, Becoming a Nation of Readers. Among its primary findings, two simple declarations rang loud and clear:

“The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.” [Emphasis added]

The commission found conclusive evidence to support reading aloud not only in the home but also in the classroom: “It is a practice that should continue throughout the grades.” 

In its wording—“the single most important activity”—the experts were saying reading aloud was more important than worksheets, homework, assessments, book reports, and flashcards. One of the cheapest, simplest, and oldest tools of teaching was being promoted as a better teaching tool than anything else in the home or classroom. What exactly is so powerful about something so simple you don’t even need a high school diploma in order to do it and how exactly does a person get better at reading? It boils down to a simple, two-

A Father’s Day Reminder: Read Aloud to Your Children | Live Long and Prosper:

Don't Undermine Due Process

Don't Undermine Due Process:

On Tuesday morning, teachers across California got up, went to their schools and dedicated their day to helping students learn and grow.

While our sisters and brothers led their classrooms, a judge in a Los Angeles courtroom said that for students to win, teachers have to lose.

You’ve probably seen news about Vergara v. California. We want you to hear directly from us about how we’re fighting—in California and across the country—to support students, protect teachers and tackle the real issues facing public education.

This ruling was an attack on teachers and our unions. The judge’s decision makes it clear that he’s pushing Sacramento to change the laws that govern tenure, due process and other protections our teachers rely on. It’s important that your representatives in Sacramento hear that we expect them to stand up for teachers so we can serve our students.

Tell your legislators that you want teachers to have fair protections and support on the job.

If we want every child to have a chance to thrive, we must retain and support a stable teaching force—especially in high-poverty schools. By attacking the rules that protect and support teachers, this ruling destabilizes public education.

Make no mistake: Last Tuesday was a sad day for public education. While the decision was not unexpected, the rhetoric and lack of a thorough, well-reasoned opinion are disturbing.

For example, the judge believes that due process is essential, but he ruled California’s protections for teachers unconstitutional because he believes two years is not long enough for probation.

The judge argues that no one should tolerate bad teachers in the classroom. We agree—and in many states we’ve reformed the process to protect teachers and ease the burden on schools. But in focusing on teachers who make up a fraction of the workforce, he strips the hundreds of thousands of good teachers of any right to a voice.

In focusing on who should be laid off in times of budget crises, he omits the larger problem at play: full and fair funding of our schools so all kids have access to the classes—like music, art and physical education—and opportunities they need.

The judge seems to think teachers are the core of the problem facing public education. We know that teachers hold our schools together, especially in the toughest times.

Tell your representatives in Sacramento to stand up for teachers.

Sadly, while the court used its bully pulpit to criticize teacher protections, there was no mention of funding inequities, school segregation, high poverty or any other out-of-school or in-school factors that have been proven to affect student achievement and our children.

And perhaps worst of all, there is nothing in this opinion that suggests a thoughtful analysis of how these statutes should work, or lays groundwork for a path forward. Other states have found ways that don’t pit teachers against students but instead lift up entire communities.

This will not be the last word. As this case makes it through an appeal, we will do what we’ve done in state after state. We will work with parents and communities to fight for safe and welcoming neighborhood public schools that value both kids and the women and men who work with them. No wealthy benefactor with an extreme agenda will detour us from our path to reclaim the promise of public education.

We’re fighting back in every arena. When Secretary Duncan praised this flawed ruling, we publicly called him out for his mistaken views. We’ve been making our case on TV, in print and online, all while gearing up to appeal the case in higher courts.

Stand with us in the fight to reclaim the promise of a high-quality public education for every child. Start by telling your legislators to stand up for teachers.

In unity,

Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers
Joshua Pechthalt, California Federation of Teachers

P.S.: We’ve included some fair, well-reasoned coverage of the case below, in case you’d like to read more.

“Why the California Tenure Decision Is Wrong and Will Hurt Disadvantaged Students,” American Prospect
“Making It Easier to Fire Teachers Won’t Get You Better Ones,” Los Angeles Times
“Why that ruling against teacher tenure won't help your schoolchildren," Los Angeles Times

My Grandfather, the Great Depression, and Today’s Teacher Wage Theft | Reclaim Reform

My Grandfather, the Great Depression, and Today’s Teacher Wage Theft | Reclaim Reform:

My Grandfather, the Great Depression, and Today’s Teacher Wage Theft

Posted on June 15, 2014by Ken Previti

My grandfather, Joe Tagler, was victimized with wage theft during the Great Depression. He was a motorman (driver) of streetcars for the Chicago Surface Lines, later to be taken over by the CTA, the Chicago Transit Authority. He was hired on an hourly basis when needed; that is how it was done for all of their motormen and conductors. Few people had or could afford phones. Motormen worked whatever times they were present in the car-barns, depots; they sat on benches awaiting orders for work. Three hours of work here, four hours there (split shifts), day after day and night after night sitting and waiting for his name to be called.

He learned to sleep sitting up on the benches waiting for work. He took sponge baths, changed shirts and used the restrooms in the depot along with all the other men awaiting a call to work. The motorman’s streetcar windshield was generally open to all the elements no matter how hot or cold, yet he was expected to wear only the uniform he purchased from the company. If he looked too shabby, he was sent home to change. He went home every few days to sleep a bit longer and clean himself and his uniform a little better. He slept.

On paydays he stood in line at a counter with the other motormen and was handed a paycheck with only the backside showing and told to sign and endorse it for cash. He was then handed cash. The records were kept to be handed over to the city My Grandfather, the Great Depression, and Today’s Teacher Wage Theft | Reclaim Reform:

6-15-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy

Wait What?:

Wait What? 

NEWS FLASH: Malloy allied corporate education reformers may bring lawsuit to end teacher tenure in Connecticut

The nation’s leading public education advocate, Diane Ravitch, is reporting today that, “Spokespersons for the corporate reform movement hope to launch legal attacks on tenure and seniority in Connecticut, following the example of the Vergara case in California.” The Vegara case is the one in which a California judge ruled, last week, that California’s teacher […] The post NEWS FLASH: Malloy allie

by jonpelto / 1h 

Libraries are so overrated… (Not)

My children’s high school has a library and full-time library staff.  Their middle school had a library and a full-time librarian; even their elementary school had a library with a librarian. But as a result of inadequate state funding (and outright stupidity on the part of some of our elected officials), many Connecticut children are attending […] The post Libraries are so overrated… (Not) appear

7 by jonpelto / 59min 

6-14-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy

Wait What?:  Wait What? All Week“I don’t need to respond to what Jonathan says,” Malloy told reporters.Governor Dannel “Dan” Malloy is absolutely correct.  He doesn’t need to respond to what I say. In fact, as is his style, Malloy doesn’t need to respond to what anyone says…at least not until the voters have had their say in November. But that said, when it comes Malloy’s anti-teacher, anti-public

by mike simpson / 23h 

6-15-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Seattle Schools This Week

Again, high school graduations are continuing so congrats to all students and their families.As well, Thursday is the last day of school for all students so enjoy these last days. Wednesday, June 18thSchool Board meeting, starting at 4:15 pm.  Agenda.One trend I see that is somewhat disturbing is the number of items now on the Consent agenda.  The Consent agenda gets decided in one fell swoop.  It

by Melissa Westbrook / 1h 

Did You Know?

It's the end of spring so, I'm spring cleaning.  That means going thru my vast SPS files and throwing out/reordering. Naturally, I found some interesting stuff (but threw out two bags of paper).  Among the things I found:- Did you know I was an education activist in high school?  Me, neither but apparently I wrote, for the school newspaper, an op-ed in support of a bond measure to building onto ou

by Melissa Westbrook / 20min 

6-14-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum:Seattle Schools Community ForumLatest on Advanced Learning in Seattle Public SchoolsFrom the SPS webpage:- Summer Testing: For students who moved to Seattle after October 2013 and were not able to test for Advanced Learning eligibility, a summer testing opportunity is available. Information and Application Form. Applications are due by August 1, 2014.- For students

by mike simpson / 23h 

Making Schools Poor by Diane Ravitch | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books

Making Schools Poor by Diane Ravitch | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books:

Making Schools Poor

Diane Ravitch

Ben Margot/AP Photo

A first-grade class of thirty children at the Willow Glen Elementary School in San Jose, California, where budget cuts have led to larger class sizes, January 24, 2013

Last week, Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu in Los Angeles ruled that five California statutes protecting the job security of schoolteachers were unconstitutional. Likening his brief, sixteen-page ruling to the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision outlawing racial segregation in public schools, Judge Treu invalidated laws protecting teacher tenure and seniority. He said that the effect of these laws was to deny high-quality education to minority children by making it difficult to fire “grossly ineffective” teachers.

The plaintiffs in the case, Vergara v. California, have powerful backers and Judge Treu’s decision in their favor could have far-reaching implications. The case was filed by Students Matter, an advocacy group created by a Silicon Valley fiber-optics multi-millionaire named David Welch, and the decision has brought loud cheers from Obama’s Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, as well as from various conservative groups, hedge-funders, and other advocates of tying teachers’ jobs to student test scores. Welch and his allies have said they plan to challenge tenure in other states. But was the judge right?

The case itself, which was brought on behalf of nine minority plaintiffs, was weak. No evidence was presented that any of the plaintiffs had teachers who were “grossly ineffective.” None of the teachers in question had negative evaluations. One student referred by name to a “bad teacher” who had in fact been named Pasadena’s teacher of the year. Two of the nine students were enrolled in charter schools, where teachers have neither tenure nor seniority. The Vergara sisters—after whom the case is named—attend a “pilot” school in Los Angeles where teachers may be dismissed for ineffectiveness.

The theory behind the case is that differences in test scores can be largely attributed to the quality of the teacher. Students who have “great teachers” will get high test scores year after year, which means they are more likely to go to college and earn a higher lifetime income. Even one such teacher, so goes the theory, can have this remarkable effect on students. On the other hand, said one of the expert witnesses cited by the judge, one bad teacher can cause students to lose an entire year of learning.

In fact, however, researchers overwhelmingly agree that family income and family education are the largest determinants of academic performance. Only a few months ago, the American Statistical Association said that teachers account for only between 1 percent and 14 percent of the variation among students in test scores. “The majority of opportunities for quality improvement,” said ASA, “are found in the system-level conditions”—that is, variables such as resources, class size, school leadership, the quality of the curriculum, and other factors that are mostly beyond the control of a single teacher.

In the Vergara case, the California Teachers Association called its own expert witnesses who endorsed this finding. According to these witnesses, the primary cause of variation in test scores is poverty, the effect of which is deepened by inadequately-funded schools. Persistent budget cuts mean that schools have larger class sizes, lose their arts teachers and programs, and are less likely to have a school nurse, counselors, psychologists, and a library with a librarian.

During the Schwarzenegger era in California, public schools had billions of dollars taken away from them through budget cuts, and California now ranks at the very bottom of states in per-pupil spending on education, providing 30 percent less funding than the Making Schools Poor by Diane Ravitch | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books:

‘If you truly cared’ — angry president of largest teachers union sends message to school reformers - The Washington Post

‘If you truly cared’ — angry president of largest teachers union sends message to school reformers - The Washington Post:

‘If you truly cared’ — angry president of largest teachers union sends message to school reformers

 

A 2013 Education Week commentary with the headline “The Plight of Teachers’ Unions” says:

Teachers’ unions are under siege nationwide. Criticism by political leaders and education reformers has snowballed. In recent years, government and unions have battled over tenure, teacher assessment, testing, the length of the school day, class size, school closures, and pay for performance.

A 2013 headline in the Hechinger Report said, “Under siege—and in bid to stay relevant—teacher unions evolve.”

A 2012 story in The New York Times about a teachers strike in Chicago (which, incidentally, didn’t turn out terribly for the teachers) says, “In Standoff, Latest Sign of Unions Under Siege.”

Indeed, teachers unions are facing unprecedented stress as the teaching profession has come under assault from those who want to take away their job protections and cast them as the biggest problems in student underachievement, but all unions in general face stresses for a variety of reasons. In fact, union membership in this country has been falling since 1947, when the Taft-Hartley Act, an anti-union law, was passed.  While it is certainly true that unions were very late in recognizing that they needed to make changes in their views on issues such as teacher evaluation, it would be simplistic to say that unions are doing themselves in all on their own. A shift in the base of the Democratic Party — traditionally a friend to the labor movement — toward Wall Street hasn’t helped.

The ruling earlier this week by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf  M. Treu revealed as much about Treu’s views of the facts as the facts themselves.  He accepted what is really a specious argument offered in the “Vergara trial” that state laws giving job protections to public school teachers deprive students of their constitutional right to an adequate education. The statutes themselves don’t do that. How those statutes are implemented is a different story, but that’s not the fault of the statutes. In any case, Treu’s ruling, which he stayed pending an appeal, sparked victory parties among reformers and promises of more lawsuits against teachers unions around the country.

USA Today ran a full-page ad by an anti-union group urging people to sue teachers and their unions (not a new call by this group) and Politico ran its story, which got a lot of Twitter attention. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the second-largest teachers union, sent a letter to Education Secretary Arne Duncan criticizing his praise for the Treu ruling (which you can read here), and Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, the country’s largest teachers union, made a video, which you can watch (above) or read (see transcript below), expressing unusual public anger for the labor leader.

Of course teachers unions’ leaders are upset and responding publicly to the bad news. There is dissension in the unions, and their leaders are being ‘If you truly cared’ — angry president of largest teachers union sends message to school reformers - The Washington Post:

A Perfect Storm: The Takeover of New Orleans Public Schools Part One 17 Days in November on Vimeo

A Perfect Storm: The Takeover of New Orleans Public Schools Part One 17 Days in November on Vimeo:

A Perfect Storm: The Takeover of New Orleans Public Schools Part One 17 Days in November

from N.O. Education Equity Roundtable 5 days ago / 

Creative Commons License:

 

by

 

nc

 

nd

 ALL AUDIENCES

A Perfect Storm: The Takeover of New Orleans Public Schools is the first in series of short videos, that reveals the real story behind the creation of the nation's first all charter school district. These videos are made possible with the support of the The Schott Foundation and The New Orleans Education Equity Roundtable. They are produced in partnership with Bayou and Me Productions.

For the past seven years, state education officials and corporate school reformers have touted the dramatic turnaround of New Orleans public schools. National media outlets have published numerous articles and TV news stories of the miracle in New Orleans citing unprecedented academic achievement where parents finally had School Choice.

This first Perfect Storm video focuses on the illegal takeover and the academic failure of The Recover School District. The film features interviews with leaders in the New Orleans education community who were faced with the daunting task of reopening schools immediately following Hurricane Katrina.

A Perfect Storm: The Takeover of New Orleans Public Schools Part One 17 Days in November from N.O. Education Equity Roundtable on Vimeo.

The Problem with Philanthropy - In These Times

The Problem with Philanthropy - In These Times:

The Problem with Philanthropy

The occasional $120 million check doesn’t offset tech billionaires’ erosion of the public sector.

BY DAVID SIROTA

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To understand the conflict between democracy and this kind of philanthropy, remember that private donations typically come with conditions about how the money must be allocated.

Inequality and democracy are the kind of topics you may expect to hear about at a political convention, but not necessarily at a tech industry conference. And so former Vice President Al Gore’s discussion at Nashville's tech-focused Southland Conferencethis week could be viewed in context as a jeremiad spotlighting taboo truths about tech culture and philanthropic traditions.

Discussing the economy, Gore lamented that “we have rising levels of inequality and chronic underinvestment” in public programs. He reminded the crowd that when “95 percent of all the additional national income in the U.S., since the recovery began in ’09, goes to the top 1%, that’s not an Occupy Wall Street slogan, that’s a fact.”

Gore may have been alluding to the tech economy becoming a significant driver of that inequality.

As Princeton economist Alan Blinder noted in a January Wall Street Journal op-ed, technology is “clearly the major villain” in rising economic inequality, as “e-commerce eliminated many ‘ordinary’ jobs (while) enhanc(ing) the opportunities and rewards for some ‘extraordinary’ jobs.” One way to see this is in the app economy, which often rewards billions to companies with a relatively few employees, thus concentrating wealth in fewer hands.

Later in his discussion, Gore said that “democracy has been hacked” by moneyed interests. Then, in response to a question about tech billionaires spending big on allegedly philanthropic enterprises, he said: “That’s a good thing, as long as the rest of us don’t ever fall prey to the illusion that charity is going to do the job of what democracy needs to do.”

Those latter comments come only a few weeks after Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg announced a $120 million donation to San Francisco-area schools. That donation came only a few years after California considered a ballot measure to increase funding for its schools. Zuckerberg was notably absent from the campaign to pass the measure.

That detail is germane to Gore’s point about charity and democracy. Indeed, there seems to be a trend of billionaires and tech firms making private donations to public institutions ostensibly with the goal of improving public services. Yet, many of these billionaires are absent from efforts to raise public resources for those same institutions. Zuckerberg is only one example.

For instance, hedge funders make big donations to charter schools. Yet, the hedge fund industry lobbies against higher taxes that would generate new revenue for education.

Likewise, there are the Koch Brothers, who simultaneously finance the nationwide anti-tax movement while making huge The Problem with Philanthropy - In These Times:

Opinion: Don’t tamper with teacher tenure - Opinion - NorthJersey.com

Opinion: Don’t tamper with teacher tenure - Opinion - NorthJersey.com:

Opinion: Don’t tamper with teacher tenure

JUNE 12, 2014, 5:42 PM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2014, 5:42 PM

BY MARK WEBER

THE RECORD

Mark Weber, a member of the New Jersey Education Association, is a New Jersey public school music teacher in Warren Township and a doctoral student in education policy at Rutgers University.

IF THE POLITICIANS who want to get rid of teacher tenure have their way, every school district in New Jersey might soon become as dysfunctional and politically entangled as the Port Authority.

On June 10, a California court ruled that state’s tenure statutes were unconstitutional; one day later, citing the Vergara case, state Sen. Joe Kyrillos, R-Monmouth County, rushed out with a proposal that would upend New Jersey teachers’ workplace protections.

It’s true that tenure and seniority rights have a value for our teachers. But these workplace protections are just as valuable – maybe even more so – for New Jersey’s taxpayers. To understand why, a little history is in order.

American teacher tenure actually started in New Jersey in 1910, when the state granted fair-dismissal rights to college professors. Tenure was extended to school teachers later as part of the suffrage movement of the 1920’s: In a profession that remains overwhelmingly female, tenure helped ensure that teachers couldn’t be fired on the whims of administrators.

Over the years, while so many of New Jersey’s public institutions have fallen victim to cronyism, teaching staffs have remained largely immune from the stench of political

- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-don-t-tamper-with-teacher-tenure-1.1034638#sthash.5jGVxQiZ.dpuf

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 6-15-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

The Kids Crossing The Border

The new crisis at the border: undocumented and unaccompanied minors TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD | http://lat.ms/1jsiznz Immigration authorities have opened a shelter at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas to house a rising number of unaccompanied minors who have been crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. (Department of Health and Human Services) June 15, 2014  ::  Facing a massive rise in the

by smf / 11min 

A Textbook Case Of Meddling In California

TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD | http://lat.ms/1y4tXzP June 15, 2014  ::  For all the criticism that's (justifiably) leveled at Texas over its right-wing rewrite of its history textbooks, California is surely the nation's capital of legislative interference with what should be the job of academics. The latest effort comes from Assemblyman Chris Holden (D-Pasadena). His AB 1912would pressure the state

by smf / 12min 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 6-14-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:4LAKIDS - SOME OF THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT  Lausd To Pay $5 Million In Telfair Child Abuse CaseLAUSD to pay $5 million in Telfair Elementary teacher molestation case By Thomas Himes, Los Angeles Daily News | http://bit.ly/1l8tdpi 6/11/14, 12:25 PM PDT  ::  Los Angeles Unified School District officials agreed to a $5 million payout to settle a lawsuit br

by mike simpson / 1d 

6-15-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University)

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

George Saunders’s Allegory of Scarcity and Slack

The stories themselves, literally, are powerful and engaging or George Orwell’s 1984 and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible would not have endured as they have as literature people read again and again—and possibly should read again and again. However, ultimately, 1984 is not about the future (especially since we have long since passed the future Orwell may have envisioned), and The Crucible is not abou

7 by plthomasedd / 22min 

6-14-14 the becoming radical EMPATHYEDUCATES! | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

THE BECOMING RADICALEMPATHYEDUCATES!the becoming radical  A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by Oscar Wilde on the Poor and SocialismWhile I highly recommend a careful reading of Oscar Wilde’s The Soul of Man under Socialism, I also urge you to consider that this examination of the consequences of private property and how that perpetuates poverty is stunningly similar to the current education refo

by mike simpson / 1d 

6-15-14 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:

Bobby Jindal Vetoes Common Core Bill; Meanwhile Rick Scott Deceitfully Claims “Common Core Is Out”

From New Orleans Times-Picayune reporter Julia O’Donoghue: Gov. Bobby Jindal on Friday vetoed a bill that many had seen as an endorsement of the Common Core academic standards. The governor has recently said he wants to scrap the educational benchmarks and its associated testing in Louisiana, though Common Core advocates doubt he has the authority to do so, now that the Legislature has declined to

by Bob Sikes / 31min 

 

6-14-14 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 WeekStart the Clock: Controversial Voucher Bill Arrives On Rick Scott’s DeskReports Leslie Postal in the Orlando Sentinel: The Florida Legislature has sent Gov. Rick Scott the controversial bill that expands the stat

by mike simpson / 23h