6-30-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:

“It bears note in this regard that the cost of an IUD is nearly equivalent to a month’s full-time pay to workers earning the minimum wage.” – Justice Ginsburg.

5 by Fred Klonsky / 48min 

Ten minute drawing. Writing for the majority Supreme Court justice Alito beats the crap out of America’s women.

by Fred Klonsky / 4min 

#Notmyboss’business

by Fred Klonsky / 13min 

SCOTUS rules against unions in Harris V. Quinn. But not entirely.

Justice Kagan. ” The good news out of this case is clear: The majority declined that radical request.” In a 5-4 ruling the Supreme Court ruled against unions in our attempt to expand fair share fee payment among home care and other public sector workers, providing the benefits of union collective bargaining to those not yet protected. Not surprisingly, Justice Alioto wrote the majority opinion. A

by Fred Klonsky / 0min 

DVR says goodbye to the retirees.

These are the final days for Dennis Van Roekel as President of the NEA. VP Lily Eskelsen Garcia will be elected to replace him later this week. His appearance an speech Sunday in front of the 350 or so retired delegates at our pre-RA conference was warmly received. DVR usually doesn’t so much fire up as make us all a little sleepy. But the retired delegates responded to a president who genuinely

2 by Fred Klonsky / 2h

6-29-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Sunday reads.At the NEA RA with the next president of the NEA, Lily Eskelsen Garcia. It’s the final day of the NEA Retired Conference, Happy birthday to my Skokie Organization of Retired Educators (IEA-R) member and fellow Illinois delegate Bob Kaplan. Nine thousand delegates arrive in Denver for NEA

by mike simpson / 8h 

6-30-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

How Will UFT Be Affected if Supreme Court Rules Negative on Dues?

Will disaffected UFTers quit the union? Will people think they are not getting their dues money's worth?I know this decision might come down any minute but I wanted to speculate a bit before it does on how the UFT might be affected.First, the essence of the case: You don't want to pay union dues (agency shop fees) if you don't support the union. So the court may rule you don't, what will that mean

by ed notes online / 0min 

6-29-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online: Eterno on End to Jamaica HS 122 Year History - Farina/deBlasio Silence is Endorsement of Bloomberg Closing Schools Policy“This is the end,” said longtime teacher James Eterno, a 28-year veteran of the school, while choking up. “It’s bittersweet. It’s a celebration, but it feels like a funeral.”Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/24-students-graduate-jamaica-high-

by mike simpson / 8h 

6-30-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy

Wait What?:

Wait What? All Week

The attack on the fundamental rights workers continues

Here in Connecticut we have a Democratic Governor who proposed doing away with teacher tenure, which is the basic due process protection for those who devote their lives to educating, nurturing and supporting our state’s public school children. In the same piece of legislation, Senate Bill 24, Dannel “Dan’ Malloy also proposed completely doing away […] The post The attack on the fundamental rights

1 by jonpelto / 1h 

News Flash:  Malloy/Pryor hand another top job to an Achievement First Inc. staffer

The Malloy administration has given the one-hundred thousand dollar a year plus job of “Bureau Chief for District and School Transformation” to William (Billy) Johnson, a former employee of Achievement First Inc. Of course, Achievement First, Inc. being the large charter school management company that was co-founded by Stefan Pryor, Malloy’s Education Commissioner.   The company […] The post News

12 by jonpelto / 1h 

6-29-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy

Wait What?: Wait What? All Week“Disruptive innovation’ policies hurting state’s children” (By Wendy Lecker)The Corporate Education Reform Industry calls it “Disruptive Innovation.” Translated into English, it describes the process by which an “education reformer” claims that they are improving the quality of education for our children by blowing up and undermining our public schools, turning them

by mike simpson / 8h 

6-30-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet:

The segregation of kindergartners — by the numbers

Here, from the non-profit Economic Policy Institute, is a snapshot of how segregated public schools are, starting in kindergarten. It was written by Elaine Weiss and Emma García. Weiss  has served as the national coordinator for the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education since 2011. García,  who joined the Economic Policy Institute in 2013, specializes in the […]

1 by Valerie Strauss / 1h 

6-29-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet: Common Core’s testing framework is crumblingIn 2010, Education Secretary Arne Duncan gave a major speech praising the Common Core State Standards and new Core-aligned standardized tests that the Obama administration was funding and that would be developed by two multi-state consortia. He said: Our children deserve that — and to remain competitive, our country does too. States in each

by mike simpson / 7h 

How Finland Keeps Kids Focused Through Free Play - Tim Walker - The Atlantic

How Finland Keeps Kids Focused Through Free Play - Tim Walker - The Atlantic:

How Finland Keeps Kids Focused Through Free Play

An American teacher in Helsinki questions the national practice of giving 15 minute breaks each hour—until he sees the difference it makes in his classroom.

wsilver/Flickr

Like a zombie, Sami—one of my fifth graders—lumbered over to me and hissed, “I think I’m going to explode! I’m not used to this schedule.” And I believed him. An angry red rash was starting to form on his forehead.

Yikes, I thought. What a way to begin my first year of teaching in Finland. It was only the third day of school and I was already pushing a student to the breaking point. When I took him aside, I quickly discovered why he was so upset.

Throughout this first week of school, I had gotten creative with my fifth grade timetable. Normally, students and teachers in Finland take a 15-minute break after every 45 minutes of instruction. During a typical break, students head outside to play and socialize with friends while teachers disappear to the lounge to chat over coffee.

I didn’t see the point of these frequent pit stops. As a teacher in the United States, I’d spent several consecutive hours with my students in the classroom. And I was trying to replicate this model in Finland. The Finnish way seemed soft and I was convinced that kids learned better with longer stretches of instructional time. So I decided to hold my students back from their regularly scheduled break and teach two 45-minute lessons in a row, followed by a double break of 30 minutes. Now I knew why the red dots had appeared on Sami’s forehead.

Come to think of it, I wasn’t sure if the American approach had ever worked very well. My students in the States had always seemed to drag their feet after about 45 minutes in the classroom. But they’d never thought of revolting like this shrimpy Finnish fifth grader, who was digging in his heels on the third day of school. At that moment, I decided to embrace the Finnish model of taking breaks.

Once I incorporated these short recesses into our timetable, I no longer saw feet-dragging, zombie-like kids in my classroom. Throughout the school year, my Finnish students would—without fail—enter the classroom with a bounce in their steps after a 15-minute break. And most importantly, they were more focused How Finland Keeps Kids Focused Through Free Play - Tim Walker - The Atlantic:

6-30-14 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION:

Thomas Newkirk's Superlative Look at CCSS

Thomas Newkirk's Holding Onto Good Ideas in a Time of Bad Ones was already a book worth reading. In 2009, it was a very thoughtful response to some of the twisting of instruction that was happening in English classrooms. Not a practical strategies book, but a book for thinking about the philosophical foundations of what we do.Turns out that in 2013 Newkirk added a Postscript to the book entitled &

7 by Peter Greene / 1h 

A Little Help, Please!

Next week, I'm off to Seattle for a 2.5 day session on PLCs. Our school district is trying to pilot PLCs, and my principal has asked me to attend. He's working his posterior off to get our school on track, so I would probably walk across coals if he asked, but the fact that my daughter and son-in-law just moved to Seattle is definitely a bonus.Anyway, we have a variety of breakout sessions to atte

2 by Peter Greene / 36min 

The Mystery of Excellence

Diane Ravitch's recent columns about Ms. McLaughlin, one of the undeservingly employed terrible teachers of the Vergara trial, underlines one of the central problems of the whole teacher evaluation portion of the reformster dream.Ms. McLaughlin won awards for teaching excellence not once, but twice in her career. And yet one of the plaintiffs found her to be grossly ineffective. Now, it's possible

26 by Peter Greene / 2h 

6-29-14 Curmudgucation Week

CURMUDGUCATION: Being White GuysI'm going to write this companion piece to last night's post about race and gender and then I'm going to set this topic aside (until I don't).Preamble and Disclaimer Let me make two points before I start this exercise in gross generalization. These apply to the previous post as well.1) I cannot possibly speak for everybody in any category and to every person's exper

by mike simpson / 8h 

6-30-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

A Closer Look At The Polling On The Common Core

Neal McCluskey at Cato has done a great job of showing how much of the polling around the Common Core is problematic.If you haven't read his posts, they are here, here and here.Next time you see a poll purporting to show support for the Common Core, look to see what wording the pollsters used before they asked the questions around CCSS support.When pollsters read the boilerplate from the Gates Fou

by reality-based edu... / 2min 

Chamber Of Commerce Common Core Ads Fail To Persuade Republican Base

Pro-Common Core business entities have been putting up money to try and sell the CCSS to the public for a while now, with many aiming to change the way people on the right feel about the standards.Libby Nelson at Vox reports the efforts to convince people on the right about the wonders of the Core aren't working:The big political narrative around the Common Core this summer is that the national ed

by reality-based edu... / 34min 

Why Is Governor Cuomo Still Paying Full Salary To The Executive Director Of The Defunct Moreland Commission?

Quid Pro Cuomo at it again: Three months after Gov. Cuomo said he was pulling the plug on his anti-corruption commission, the panel’s lightening rod executive director is still drawing a hefty paycheck. State payroll records show that Moreland Commission Executive Director Regina Calcaterra, who at $175,000 a year makes just $4,000 less than the governor, is still receiving about $6,700 every two

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

State Comptroller Criticizes NYSED For Lax Oversight Of Special Education Services

From Ken Lovett in the Daily News: A Queens-based provider of bilingual pre-school special education services was hit by state Controller Thomas DiNapoli in a new audit for improperly spending taxpayer money on fancy cars, a Manhattan apartment, and even a recent hire's funeral expenses. The audit, set to be released Monday, found that Bilinguals Inc. received reimbursements to help cover the cost

by reality-based edu... / 3h 

6-29-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School: Time For Dennis Walcott To Just Go The AwayDennis Walcott shares the results of his latest physical for all New Yorkers to rejoice in:Smart government policies to improve longevity and health outcomes for the public are critical. But it is ultimately our own individual responsibility to chart a healthier course for ourselves. You don’t need to run marathons. A modest change

by mike simpson / 8h 

School’s Out … Now What?? – redqueeninla

School’s Out … Now What?? – redqueeninla:



School’s Out … Now What??

Written by redqueeninla in Education

There seems to be some rather large unfinished business on the newly-approved seven-billion-dollar-budget-strong LAUSD table.

Namely, the approximately one-billion dollar ipad program. The great “social equity” push that places electronic toys in the hands of every tot to teen in LAUSD just like those available to their more privileged and/or pecunious counterparts attending private school.

“It’s a civil rights issue”, declaims our Superintendent. And yet what’s missing from this equation is the other components of injustice. Because everything’s relative and priorities are what matter.

Sure it’s a terrific idea for everyone to have equal access to the tools of power, the media, communications. There is no question that those who run the world utilize technology. And there is no question that those who would be part of the ruling class must be fluent with its fixings.

But there are no educators who mistake the reading of a book with the pencil used to write it. The pencil brings no comprehension of Truth, though without the means to debate its meaning, there would be no scholarship. Pencils deserve every bit as much accolade in our history as the printing press and the computer. But none of these means is the end itself.

So among the conversation about ipads for all, is lost the question of what we let go in securing all this. It’s easy to lose focus of the gritty reality when contemplating sparkly new toys.

But summertime underscores the real nature of the political choices we make, because summertime in Los Angeles can be hot. When school reconvenes in a School’s Out … Now What?? – redqueeninla:

The Danger of Creative Disruption as a School Reform Theory | janresseger

The Danger of Creative Disruption as a School Reform Theory | janresseger:

The Danger of Creative Disruption as a School Reform Theory

Posted on June 30, 2014 by janresseger

According to The Economist, “Higher education suffers from Baumol’s disease—the tendency of costs to soar in labour-intensive sectors with stagnant productivity.  Whereas the prices of cars, computers and much else have fallen dramatically, universities, protected by public-sector funding and the premium employers place on degrees, have been able to charge ever more for the same device.”

Clayton Christensen’s business-school theory of creative disruption, adapted from Joseph Schumpeter’s 1942 economic theory of disruptive innovation, developed as a way to explain the role of technical innovation in the rise and fall of companies.  Christensen’s theory of creative disruption emanated from the Harvard Business School as the story of the tech companies that developed mainframe computers, floppy disks, compact discs, I-Phones, and apps.  Today the theory of creative disruption is also being prescribed in education as the cure for the supposed stagnation of the status quo.  And, suggests The Economist, the answer is clear for higher education. MOOCs—Massive Open Online Courses—will “offer students the chance to listen to star lecturers and get a degree for a fraction of the cost of attending a university.”

Jill Lepore’s recent and provocative  New Yorker essay, The Disruption Machine, asks us to examine some of the assumptions of those who promote creative disruption in the business schools and those who advocate applying theories of disruption for the sake of innovation to other areas of our common life.

Lepore is a professor of history at Harvard University.  She writes: “Every age has a theory of rising and falling, of growth and decay, of bloom and wilt: a theory of nature.  Every age also has a theory about the past and the present, of what was and what is, a notion of time: a theory of history. Theories of history used to be supernatural: the divine ruled time; the hand of God, a special providence, lay behind the fall of each sparrow…  Our era has disruption, which, despite its futurism, is atavistic.  It’s a theory of history founded on a profound anxiety about financial collapse, an apocalyptic fear of global devastation, and shaky evidence.  Most big ideas have loud critics.  Not disruption.  Disruptive innovation as the explanation for how change happens has been subject to little serious criticism, partly because it’s headlong, while critical inquiry is unhurried; partly because disrupters ridicule doubters by charging them The Danger of Creative Disruption as a School Reform Theory | janresseger:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Byrd-Bennett takes umbrage

Barbara Byrd-Bennett

She also took umbrage with the use of the term "layoffs," instead preferring to call those who were released "impacted teachers." “I really want to correct the language because I think it’s misleading when we say ‘layoffs’ and it’s not semantics actually," the Sun-Times quoted Byrd-Bennett as saying. --Chicagoist

Karen Lewis

Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis called the layoffs "yet another brutal attack on public education in Chicago." Do we want “Star Wars” museums or public, neighborhood schools? Do we want presidential libraries or librarians for every child?” -- CTU Blog

Rev. Jesse Jackson

“Did you know that in the 11 Southern states that had slaves . . . those who were Jefferson Davis Democrats are now Reagan Republicans?”  -- Early & Often

Rush Limbaugh

“Black Uncle Tom voters.” --  Laura Washington's S-T column

Baton Rouge parent, Rebekah Nelams 

“They say this is rigorous because it teaches them higher thinking, but it just looks tedious.” -- NYT, Math Under Common Core Has Even Parents Stumbling

6-28-14 Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Schooling in the Ownership Society All Week

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog:Schooling in the Ownership SocietyMike Klonsky's SmallTalk Schooling in the Ownership SocietyFinally, a viable opponent for Mayor One-Percent?“I’m a little sick of the mayor and I don’t see anyone stepping up,” Lewis told the Chicago Sun-Times by telephone Thursday evening. “I am seriously thinking about it.”"Do we want 'Star Wars' museums or public, neighborhood

by mike simpson / 11h 

Louisiana Educator: Statement to BESE on CCSS and PARCC

Louisiana Educator: Statement to BESE on CCSS and PARCC:

Statement to BESE on CCSS and PARCC

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has scheduled a special meeting On July 1, at 11:30 A.M., to respond to the executive orders by Governor Jindal that would stop the implementation of the Common Core State Standards and the related PARCC testing. Assuming that BESE allows the public to comment before taking action, the following is the statement I plan to make before BESE:

My name is Michael Deshotels, and I am a retired Louisiana educator who writes a blog for educators and for parents. I am here to request that BESE consider at least a suspension of Common Core and the related PARCC testing in Louisiana until Louisiana educators can revise and improve our present Louisiana standards. I am talking about the standards that were rated second in the nation by Education Weekly just over 2 years ago. I believe there are several good reasons for a change in policy on CCSS and there is nothing more appropriate than correcting a policy that we have come to understand is wrong and harmful to our students.

There is growing evidence that the CCSS are poorly designed and the implementation of them is a boondoggle. Why would we want to subject our Louisiana students to this unnecessary experiment? Let other states use their children as guinea pigs while we in Louisiana continue and improve our own system.

In January of this year, I asked the readers of my blog to give their opinion on Common Core and PARCC. I have asked that each BESE member be provided with a copy of my post describing the results of the survey, but I will briefly summarize results of that survey here:

2,724 persons responded to the survey which was available on my blog for a 10 day period near the end of January of this year. My 

NYC Educator: If Union Is a Choice, Why Not Government?

NYC Educator: If Union Is a Choice, Why Not Government?:

If Union Is a Choice, Why Not Government?

Today the Supreme Court is expected to have a decision on whether the entire country will be subject toso-called right to work laws. Basically, a union in Illinois unionized, union officials negotiated over a 50% raise in wages, but some workers were dredged up by anti-union forces to protest the outrage of having to pay for this service. In RTW states, union dues are not mandatory and thus union is not all that strong.

It's human nature to be selfish and wonder why we ought to pay for things we can get for free. With a Supreme Court that voted to hand an election to GW Bush rather than count votes, freeloaders may have reason to rejoice later today. I hope not.

But since we have a choice, I fail to see why it ought to apply only to union. For example, I didn't vote for Barack Obama the second time he ran. Therefore, why should I be subject to the junk science his idiot education secretary blackmailed the country into? I choose to be rated S or U. I choose not to have a rubric that pretends to foster objectivity when everyone knows a supervisor with an agenda will see what he or she wants no matter what.

In fact, I didn't vote for GW Bush either. I therefore demand a refund of any and all of my tax dollars that went to support wars in Iraq I did not support. I also decline to fund a Supreme Court that will consider breaking the back of union in the United States. That's not what I voted for when I voted for Al Gore or John Kerry. It's certainly not what I had in mind when I chose Green candidate JilNYC Educator: If Union Is a Choice, Why Not Government?:

Analysis: School Chief’s Rehiring Raises Questions, Reflects Broader Issues - NJ Spotlight

Analysis: School Chief’s Rehiring Raises Questions, Reflects Broader Issues - NJ Spotlight:

ANALYSIS: SCHOOL CHIEF’S REHIRING RAISES QUESTIONS, REFLECTS BROADER ISSUES

JOHN MOONEY | JUNE 30, 2014

While new pact reflects lukewarm endorsement of Newark Superintendent Cami Anderson, keeping her in post underscores larger school-reform agenda

Credit: NJTV

Newark schools Superintendent Cami Anderson

Gov. Chris Christie’s renewal of Cami Anderson’s contract to continue running Newark public schools was replete with questions about exactly what it means in relation to school-reform efforts in the state’s largest district – and the governor’s own legacy.

Announced after business hours on Friday – at 5:23 p.m. to be exact – the long-expected renewal was not something the governor and his administration were playing up, to be sure.

RELATED LINKS

Cami Anderson's New Contract

The fact that it came with the announcement of a new local “working group” in Newark to advise Anderson was duly noted, too.

And the other strings attached to the new three-year contract, including a nominal raise and a year-to-year review, were not exactly a big vote of confidence for the controversial superintendent.

Nonetheless, Anderson’s new pact is not terribly different from the one she received in headier times in 2011, when she embarked on her much-ballyhooed reform initiative, and it mostly left her powers intact.

She will be renewed at her current pay, with cost-of-living increases that will bring her annual salary to $251,500 next year. She will also be eligible for up to $50,000 in bonuses based on yet-to-be-prescribed criteria.

And while the new local advisory group – its members have not been named -- will have the immediate task of reviewing Anderson’s “One Newark” school reorganization plan for the district, the fact is that there isn’t much time to revise it before its launch in September.

State Education Commissioner David Hespe, who was at the center of the contract negotiations, wasn’t available for comment this weekend, leaving it to others to speculate about his motives and thinking.

But most agreed the timing of upcoming changes in the district under Anderson’s reorganization plan left a narrow window for a leadership change at this point.

“As the clock ticked, options became narrower, and that very well may have been Analysis: School Chief’s Rehiring Raises Questions, Reflects Broader Issues - NJ Spotlight: