6-16-14 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):

The Very Disappointing Teacher Impact Numbers from Chetty

It appears that Raj Chetty, of the very famous and mostly hypothetical Chetty et al. study addressing teacher quality’s impact on students’ lifetime earning potential, had a big influence on the Vergara case in California: Testimony in Vergara by Harvard profs. Does anybody–other than Judge Treu–really believe these guys?! Amazing! pic.twitter.com/MvHVCEiUuj — Gene V Glass (@GeneVGlass) June 13, 2

by plthomasedd / 43min 

“Click, Clack, Moo”: Why the 1% Always Wins

[Originally posted at Daily Kos and Truthout, "Click, Clack, Moo": Why the 1% Always Wins is a powerful companion to George Saunders's Allegory of Scarcity and Slack.] As a high school English teacher for nearly two decades, I came to embrace a need to offer students a wide range of lenses for interacting with and learning from many different texts, but I also learned that coming to read

9 by plthomasedd / 1h

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 SlackThe 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 ag

by mike simpson / 8h 

6-16-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School:

Zephyr Teachout Attacks Cuomo For "Looting" Public Schools

From Daily Politics: Zephyr Teachout opened her “Summer of Democracy” by trying to put some progressive political heat on Gov. Cuomo. Teachout, the upstart Fordham University law professor, formally launched her Democratic primary campaign by attacking Cuomo as the benefactor and protector of a corrupt political system that favors only the wealthy and most powerful segments of society. “Four years

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

Public Trusts Teachers A Lot More Than NYSED Commissioner John King

There's a lot of bad news lately for teachers. but here's one piece of good news:If you missed it, upstate NYers trust teachers over Cuomo/Tisch/King to do what's right 4 kids http://t.co/GieoAh1q0A— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) June 15, 2014 .@JohnKingNYSED Overall, 88% of upstate NYers trust teachers over 43% who trust you to do what's right for students.— realitybasededucator (@perdi

by reality-based edu... / 48min 

Governor Cuomo Apologized To Hedge Fund Managers Via Video About Skipping Lake Placid Education Reform Conference

Who's your daddy, Andy?ALBANY—Governor Andrew Cuomo apologized to hedge funders who gathered in Lake Placid that he wasn't able to attend their pro-charter school conference, despite having been made “honorary chair."“I wish I could be with you in person, but I am stuck downstate today,” Cuomo said in a four-minute video he sent on May 5 in place of his attendance. “But thank you for coming.

by reality-based edu... / 4min 

De Blasio Finally Gets Some Profession Public Relations Help

From State of Politics:

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

Eva Moskowitz Plans To Double Success Academies Network In Size In The Next Few Years

From the NY Times:The network, the Success Academy, said that it was submitting applications to the state to open schools in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens. The move comes just two months after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and state lawmakers granted charter schools in New York City some of the most generous protections in the country, requiring that the city find space for them or help pay the

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

Times-Union/Siena Poll: 43% Do Not Support Current Use Of Standardized Tests

So many great things in the Times-Union/Siena poll on education issues that was released yesterday.I have already posted how the public overwhelmingly supports teachers over the NYSED, the Regents and Governor Cuomo when it comes to doing what is right for children.I have posted too about how the public isn't buying into the argument that schools are suffering from substandard technology and need

by reality-based edu... / 5h 

6-15-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School: OPEN THREAD: What Is The UFT/AFT Strategy To Counter Attacks On Teacher Tenure/Due Process Protections?The NY Times published an attack on teacher tenure earlier in the week in an editorial and today the NY Post followed up with a sensationalized PERV TEACHER story that is meant to drive the "Reform Tenure" narrative and bring about political action.The attacks on

by mike simpson / 9h 

Louisiana Educator: New Educational Series on Recovery District

Louisiana Educator: New Educational Series on Recovery District:

New Educational Series on Recovery District

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 New Orleans Equity Roundtable has produced a series of short videos that tell the true story about the takeover of public schools in New Orleans by the state and their conversion to semi-private charter schools. Click here for the first video in the series.

These videos are extremely instructive about the whole issue of school takeover. They effectively expose the myth of "amazing transformation" and "dramatic progress" in educating the at risk children in New Orleans.

Right after the devastation of hurricane Katrina, a whole new group of education entrepreneurs were encouraged by our Louisiana Department of Education to take over any school that was rated as performing below the state average. These charter school developers were given school buildings and almost Cart Blanche to do innovative stuff to close the achievement gap of the mostly poor and at risk student population in New Orleans students. Most of the leaders of this movement adopted a "no excuses" policy for driving up student performance. They diagnosed the problem in New Orleans schools as one of corrupt school management, lazy, uncaring teachers and administrators and low expectations of students. Their remedy was to not rehire the 7,000 educators that were  laid off as a result of the destruction of schools by Katrina. Instead, the new charter schools were encouraged to hire many untrained recent college graduates who would not carry all of the baggage of "low Louisiana Educator: New Educational Series on Recovery District:

Teacher tenure ruling energizes race for state school chief :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet

Teacher tenure ruling energizes race for state school chief :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

JUNE 16, 2014

Teacher tenure ruling energizes race for state school chief

by Tom Chorneau

(Calif.) Last week’s decision that invalidated the state’s teacher tenure law sent proponents on both sides scrambling to prepare for the appeals process and to do battle in other states over similar protections.

But pundits say the Vergara decision has also energized the already bitter race for state superintendent of schools – a contest where simmering hostilities over education reforms, mostly among Democrats, have broken into the mainstream.

“This is a battle that has been raging with the Democratic Party for about 20 years but it has today become quite fierce,” said Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles. “In California, with the Democrats so dominant, you look for issues that are going to divide the majority party and I think this one is pretty close to the top.”

The first days of the charter movement might serve as the starting point of confrontation but the issues today include a variety of policies aimed at shaking up the status quo such as teacher evaluations, school choice, parent rights and interventions of struggling schools.

Teacher tenure and dismissal laws are probably most polarizing, a status that has only grown since Los Angeles County Judge Rolf M. Treu issued his 16-page ruling striking down state laws that Teacher tenure ruling energizes race for state school chief :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

Reserve cap blemishes otherwise good news budget

(Calif.) Despite strong opposition from school management groups, the final state budget approved Sunday night includes provisions restricting the size of reserves that districts can accumulate under certain economic conditions.

by Tom Chorneau / 2min 

David Berliner—Witness in Vergara Courtroom—Denies He Called Any Teachers “Grossly Ineffective” | janresseger

David Berliner—Witness in Vergara Courtroom—Denies He Called Any Teachers “Grossly Ineffective” | janresseger:

David Berliner—Witness in Vergara Courtroom—Denies He Called Any Teachers “Grossly Ineffective”

Posted on June 16, 2014 by janresseger

Last week I blogged on the California teacher tenure decision in Vergara v. California. I concluded overall that, “The Vergara attorneys sought to portray the needs of children as separate and very different from the needs of their teachers.  In fact, teachers and children in our poorest communities share the need for society to invest in improving their public schools.”

But what had struck me as I read the decision was the supposed statistical evidence incorporated right into the decision itself by Judge Rolf Treu to prove that tenure among teachers violates the civil rights of California’s poorest children of color.  I was particularly struck by the judge’s interpretation of evidence from respected education researcher David Berliner, professor emeritus at Arizona State University and a long supporter of teachers and their need for unions.  I wrote about my puzzlement: “In one case the judge seems to have extrapolated from what he heard—from expert David Berliner, who is described to have “testified that 1–3 % of teachers in California are grossly ineffective.”  Treu continues, “Given that the evidence showed roughly 275,000 active teachers in this state, the extrapolated number of grossly ineffective teachers ranges from 2,750 to 8,250.”

I thank Diane Ravitch who posted The Statistical Error at the Heart of the Vergara Decision, for bringing to my attention an important piece published on June 12 by Jordan Weissmann, the senior business and economics correspondent for Slate.  Weissmann interviewed David Berliner by telephone about his testimony that between one and three percent of California’s teachers are grossly ineffective:  “But where did this number come from?  Nowhere, it turns out.  It’s made up.  Or a ‘guesstimate,’ as David Berliner, the expert witness Treu quoted, explained to me when I called him on Wednesday.  It’s not based on any specific data, or any rigorous research about California schools in particular.  ‘I pulled that out of the air,’ sayDavid Berliner—Witness in Vergara Courtroom—Denies He Called Any Teachers “Grossly Ineffective” | janresseger:

Did Cami lose–or is she just lying again? | Bob Braun's Ledger

Did Cami lose–or is she just lying again? | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Did Cami lose–or is she just lying again?

Cami Anderson: Beaten–or just lying?

Cami Anderson, the state-imposed Newark school superintendent,  can be beaten and already has lost a major battle in her drive to privatize Newark schools to help her friends in the charter school industry. That’s what parent leaders at the Hawthorne Avenue school are saying in response to a letter from Anderson saying the school will not be closed and privatized after all.

Or is this just another scam by Cami Anderson and her puppeteers in Trenton?

Parents are claiming victory:

“This concludes an almost seven-month battle for the Hawthorne Avenue community to keep their top performing K-8 elementary school open under the leadership of principal H. Grady James,” declared a press release issued by Grace Sergio, the president of the school’s parent-teacher-student association.

Under Anderson’s “One Newark” plan, originally devised by a private consulting firm headed by the entrepreneur who would later be named state education commissioner, the Hawthorne Avenue  school was slated to be closed and turned over to the TEAM Academy charter schools as part of a plan to hand all South Ward schools over to the national charter school chain. Former Education Did Cami lose–or is she just lying again? | Bob Braun's Ledger:

NYC Educator: Teacher Season Begins Nationwide

NYC Educator: Teacher Season Begins Nationwide:

Teacher Season Begins Nationwide

In the wake of Vergara, corporate reformers are smelling blood in the water, and see this as the time to pounce. How else would you explain the sudden return of education expert Campbell Brown to the tabloids, and the banner article on the cover of yesterday's Post? (I'm not linking to it.)

The recipe is quite simple. Take a few cases, sensationalize them, and apply them to every member of a group. This sort of argument resonates with the public. I hate that group of people. They get too many privileges. Who the hell do they think they are wanting to sit in front of the bus?

And no, I do not see the distinction between using this line of argument against teachers or against racial or ethnic groups. I'm honestly not certain the Post, or the DOE even knows what a bad teacher is. Thus, they grab whatever they can find, blow it up to define the teacher they pick, and then display that image as representative of all teachers. That's simply ridiculous.

When demagogues like Bloomberg pack children like sardines into trailers, hallways, bathrooms and worse, these self-appointed protectors of our children are completely silent. When money-grubbing parasites establish virtual charters in which kids don't even turn on their computers, you hear crickets. When the saviors of the universe, the charter school owners, fail to take in kids with extensive special needs, when they make parents jump through hoops, when they indulge in practices that exclude those who need the most help, that's fine as long as Eva Moskowitz can be compensated at a higher rate than, say, the President of the United States.

This is only the beginning. And unfortunately, PR is one area in which the UFT is even worse than other NYC Educator: Teacher Season Begins Nationwide:

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Billionaire Griffin's influence will be felt no matter who wins the election

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Billionaire Griffin's influence will be felt no matter who wins the election:

Billionaire Griffin's influence will be felt no matter who wins the election

Chicago Magazine

The Billionaire Boys Club is flexing it's electoral political muscles again in Illinois. The Sun-Times reports that Citadel hedge-fund CEO Ken Griffinhas kicked in a tidy $2.5 million to fellow billionaireBruce Rauner's already bloated campaign fund. That includes $71,000 worth of in-kind contributions for the use of Griffin's private jet. It's reportedly the biggest single Illinois political donation ever — in the modern-day era — to a candidate for governor of Illinois. It's also the biggest ever from an individual other than the candidate himself  in the post-Watergate era when public disclosure records were first required, said one political scientist.

Griffin has also given more than $1 million to Karl Rove’s American CrossroadsSchooling in the Ownership Society: Billionaire Griffin's influence will be felt no matter who wins the election:

6-15-14 Schools Matter: NYT Finally Gets another Education Reporter who Gets It

Schools Matter: NYT Finally Gets another Education Reporter who Gets It:

NYT Finally Gets another Education Reporter who Gets It

Common Core, in 9-Year-Old EyesBy JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZJUNE 14, 2014On that April day, Chrispin was determined. As one of the smallest children in the fourth grade, he had grown accustomed to being underestimated. With the right luck, he thought, he would earn high marks when test scores came back in August. “If I don’t pass the test,” he said, “I will feel miserable and never come out of my room.”T

by freetoteach / 1h 

6-14-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter:  Schools Matter All WeekToxic Culture of EducationOrlando SentinelFrustrated Orange teacher decries 'toxic culture of education'By Leslie Postal, Orlando Sentinel6:26 PM EDT, June 12, 2014Fed up and fired up, algebra teacher Josh Katz this spring took to the stage for a 17-minute denouncement of what he called the "toxic culture of education" in Florida's public schools.S

by mike simpson / 13h 

6-15-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online:

MORE, Change the Stakes Sponsor Jose Vilson Book Conversation in Inwood

This Is Not a Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class, and Education with Jose VilsonWed. June 18 * 5-7pm * Inwood Local Beer Garden * 4957 BroadwayRSVP on Facebook.Join a discussion with Jose Vilson on the joys and burdens of today’s education system, celebrating the release of his first book, This Is Not a Test, out now from Haymarket Books. A book signing will follow the discussion.Jose Vilson is

by ed notes online / 32min hide  //  save

Jesse Rothstein on Vergara Decision - Taking On Teacher Tenure Backfires

Go ahead, get rid of tenure -- make my day. Oh, this move will backfire big over time because there will be no one left to blame. Note how the poor performing south with no tenure is ignored. And just wait until the job market gets better. Let them go hunting for people who can fog a mirror. Yes, Virginia, even good teachers take the job for its security. Take that away and happy hunting.It is imp

by ed notes online / 32min 

Stephanie Simon in Politico: The fall of teachers unions

Oy vey! Funny Simon mentions Bad Ass, a social media group. Count the number of bad ass people who show up at rallies and struggles around the NYC area and you won't even have to take your shoes off.Simon does not mention the on the ground grassroots organizing caucuses like CORE and MORE - and not to mention real reformers taking control of unions by overturning the old guard like Chicago, LA, Mi

by ed notes online / 1h 

6-14-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online: Ed Notes OnlineUFT Contract Toxic PD Spillover: Parents Unhappy - at DOE and UFTThe calls have been coming in from parents and their reps who are beginning to realize how the new contract will change their lives as the school day gets readjusted in many schools. "WTF," is the basic message.Can Mulgrew clean up the toxic spillover?They tell me there is growing outrage as

by mike simpson / 13h 

Success Academy Charter Schools Force Mayor Bill de Blasio to Confront New Law - NYTimes.com

Success Academy Charter Schools Force Mayor Bill de Blasio to Confront New Law - NYTimes.com:

Success Academy’s Expansion Plans Put de Blasio in a Tough Spot

Success Academy Charter Schools Force Mayor Bill de Blasio to Confront New Law

A charter school network’s plan to double in size over the next few years could reignite a war over classroom space in New York City, only this time with the ground rules already tilted against the mayor.



A new state law passed in April gives the city just two options to meet the demands of the Success Academy network: It can hand over free space in public or private buildings, or give the schools money to find their own space.



The first option has frequently led to angry protests from the parents and teachers in schools that have to share space. The latter route would come with spiraling financial costs, as well as potential political ones, underscoring the new law’s unspoken aim: to get the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio to be more collegial to the charter school sector.



“There are all sorts of hidden ways that this work can be made much harder than it has to be,” said Eva S. Moskowitz, the Success Academy founder. Ms. Moskowitz is adroit at mobilizing support from parents and public officials. Her march on Albany last winter, after the mayor briefly blocked three of her schools from city space, helped set the new law into motion, and she vowed last week to ensure that “the law is followed.”



With 22 schools serving 6,700 students, her network is already larger than many New York State school districts. She already has approval to open 10 more schools in the city, and said last week that she intends to apply to the state for permission to open 14 more, which would give her 46 schools, in every borough but Staten Island, by 2016.



Ms. Moskowitz’s rapid growth and penchant for picking fights over space were tolerated, even encouraged, by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who incubated the charter school movement in New York by giving many of the institutions free space in city schools. Ms. Moskowitz’s schools, known for a hard-driving Success Academy Charter Schools Force Mayor Bill de Blasio to Confront New Law - NYTimes.com:

Answer Sheet 6-15-14 Arne Duncan issues new statement with the ‘right lessons’ from Vergara trial - The Washington Post

Arne Duncan issues new statement with the ‘right lessons’ from Vergara trial - The Washington Post:

Arne Duncan issues new statement with the ‘right lessons’ from Vergara trial

In case you weren’t sure what to think about last week’s verdict in the “Vergara trial” — in which a Los Angeles court judge tossed out state statutes giving job protections to teachers — Education Secretary Arne Duncan issued a new statement on Sunday offering what he thinks are the “right lessons” from the case.

Vergara v. California was brought by nine students who said they had received an awful education in Los Angeles public schools because of bad teachers and who were backed by an organization called Students Matter that itself was funded largely by Silicon Valley multi-millionaire David Welch, who assembled an elite team of lawyers to make the case that job protections — and not inadequate funding, poverty, absent parents, etc. — are to blame for low student achievement.

When the decision was issued last Tuesday by  Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf  M. Treu — who stayed his own decision pending appeal — school “reformers” who have long been trying to weaken teachers unions were thrilled. Duncan himself praised the decision, saying in a statement:

“For students in California and every other state, equal opportunities for learning must include the equal opportunity to be taught by a great teacher. The students who brought this lawsuit are, unfortunately, just nine out of millions of young people in America who are disadvantaged by laws, practices and systems that fail to identify and support our best teachers and match them with our neediest students. Today’s court decision is a mandate to fix these problems. Together, we must work to increase public confidence in public education. This decision presents an opportunity for a progressive state with a tradition of innovation to 

Arne Duncan issues new statement with the ‘right lessons’ from Vergara trial - The Washington Post:

Strauss: Starbucks to offer employees free tuition to complete online bachelor’s degree

Starbucks is planning to announce on Monday a new plan to offer full tuition reimbursement to thousands of  its employees to complete a bachelor’s degree online — with no mandate to stay with the company after graduation. Read full article >>

16 by Valerie Strauss / 19min 

All Week @ The Answer Sheet 6-14-14

The Answer Sheet:All Week @ The Answer Sheet‘ I have very real concerns about the sustainability of public education’ — Virginia teacher’s ‘painful’ decision to quitJosh Waldron is an award-winning teacher in Waynesboro, Virginia — or rather, was an award-winning teacher in Waynesboro, Virginia. In the following sobering post, Waldron explains why he made the “tough decision” to leave the classroo

by mike simpson / 13h