7-18-14 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION:

AFT Spanks Duncan (Sort Of)

I know this is old news, but I've been out of town. On Sunday, July 13, I was in the air flying toward the very city where the AFT was kind of taking a stand.The NEA had taken similar steps earlier by calling for the ouster of Arne Duncan, though outbound president Dennis Van Roekel immediately chalked it up to members just being, you know, cranky or in a bad mood, so they just took it out on Arne

by Peter Greene / 22min 

David Coleman To Fix Inequality in America

David Coleman is here (well, not here here-- he's actually in Aspen) to explain how the College Board is going to recapture market share by synergistically monetizing its products break down the walls of inequality in education.David Coleman (Common Core writer and current president of the College Board) is deeply concerned with fairness. Huffington Post has a report from the Aspen Institute (beca

13 by Peter Greene / 1h hide  //  save

YESTERDAY

The Limits of Data

There was a moment during a presentation at last weeks' Professional Learning Communities training (institute? gathering? big thingy?) that really illustrated, I think a bit unintentionally, the nuts-and-bolts problems with using data to "analyze" teacher effectiveness.A chart of data from three classes broken down by three skills was on the screen, presented in student by student format

62 by Peter Greene / 10h 

7-17-14 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION: Joy and Pain in PLC-landOh, if only we could easily sort all education ideas into perfectly embraceable and easily rejectable. But it's rarely that simple; we have to use the Power of Actual Thinking to separate the usable from the risible.Last week I spent two and a half days in the arms of PLC with colleagues from my school. Our administration is looking longingly at taking the P

by mike simpson / 5h 

7-18-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Independent Democrat Jeff Klein Is Mobbed Up

Old timey corruption, Carlo Gambino-style!Development–formerly known as Hutch Realty Partners–kicked in the five figures in June. The donation brings the real estate group’s total contribution to Mr. Klein’s operation to a whopping $93,850 since 2006.Two principals of the company, Michael Contillo and Joseph Deglomini, were indicted in the 1990s of tax evasion, racketeering, and conspiring to raid

by reality-based edu... / 54min 

Was This The Best The LIRR Unions Could Do?

Given the leverage the LIRR unions had in their negotiations, it being an election year and all, if these reports are accurate, this is a pretty bad deal:"Under terms of the deal, current LIRR employees will receive a 17 percent wage increase over six-and-a-half years. The union had been seeking six years, and the MTA seven. To pay for the additional salary expenses, all employees will for th

by reality-based edu... / 18min 

Zephyr Teachout Opposes Common Core

From LoHud:In 2008 Microsoft founder Bill Gates, one of the world's richest men, decided that he should take charge of education policy. He promoted a single set of standards to measure our children's achievements in school. Since then Gates has spent more than $200 million to advance this idea, called the "Common Core." Gov. Andrew Cuomo, since taking office in early 2011, has supported

by reality-based edu... / 7min 

Some Of What Preet Bharara Will Find In His Cuomo/Moreland Investigation

Liz Benjamin puts today's Cuomo/Moreland news in perspective:US attorney's #morelandcommission investigation moves to new stage as assistant to ex-commish director gets subpoena. http://t.co/VaH0xgf1lv— Liz Benjamin (@CTLizB) July 18, 2014 Mylan Denerstein, counsel to @NYGovCuomo , agreed to be interviewed in early Aug by federal prosecutors about her involvement w the panel.— Liz Benjamin (@CTLiz

by reality-based edu... / 20min hide  //  save

US Attorney Subpoenas Communications Between Assistant To Moreland Executive Director And Cuomo And His Aides

What do you make of this news?Federal prosecutors investigating Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s shutdown of an anticorruption commission have subpoenaed the assistant to its former executive director to testify before a grand jury in Manhattan, suggesting that the criminal inquiry has moved to a new stage, people briefed on the matter said on Thursday.Federal agents served the subpoena on the assistant, He

by reality-based edu... / 2h 

7-17-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Governor Cuomo Plays Pre-Election Games With Bridge/Road Toll HikesIt is important that Governor Cuomo be made to publicly defend what his administration is doing here:ALBANY—The state Public Authorities Control Board on Wednesday approved a controversial loan for the Tappan Zee replacement bridge, but not before the amount was cut in half without explanation and officials a

by mike simpson / 8h 

Paul Horton: Will the Market Destroy Public Education? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Paul Horton: Will the Market Destroy Public Education? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Paul Horton: Will the Market Destroy Public Education?

By Anthony Cody on July 18, 2014 9:57 AM

Guest post by Paul Horton.

The ideology that inspires corporate education reform uses the rhetoric of economic freedom. This rhetoric was developed Austrian economist Frederick Hayek and was translated into a libertarian ideology by Milton Friedman within the University of Chicago Economics Department. This ideology has been used to spearhead attacks on the role of government at every level since the conservative ascendency of the late seventies and early eighties brought Reagan, Thatcher, and Deng Xiaopeng to power

Another core aspect of this ideology that many call neoliberalism, according to critic David Harvey, is that it has led to "the financialization of everything. There is unquestionably a power shift away from production to the world of finance." Historian Daniel Steadman Jones, perhaps the most astute definer of neoliberalism says that it (neoliberalism), is "the free market ideology based on individual liberty and limited government that connect human freedom to the actions of the rational, self-interested actor in the competitive marketplace." (Jones, Masters of the Universe, 2).  Moreover, according to Jones, this ideology is defined in opposition to any form of historicized collectivism ranging from the thought of Plato to Marx and any form of collectivized state of which Hilter's Reich, Stalin's Soviet Union, Atlee's Welfare state, and FDR's New Deal represent a continuum running from state control and the absence of freedom to expansive states that should be completely rejected. (Jones, 3-84). The "invisible hand," from this perspective, trumps all forms of centralized government that puts any nation-state "on the road to serfdom."

In effect, "the invisible hand" behind the push to create new education markets is coming from Wall Street investors who are flush with capital for investment. Wall Street bundlers and investment firms are buying up stock in charter school companies and big education vendors. These bundlers not only fund both party's campaigns, they also sell stock, betting on the futures of big education Paul Horton: Will the Market Destroy Public Education? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Vergara Copycat Lawsuit in NY Attacks Teachers Instead of Injustice, Say Experts | janresseger

Vergara Copycat Lawsuit in NY Attacks Teachers Instead of Injustice, Say Experts | janresseger:

Vergara Copycat Lawsuit in NY Attacks Teachers Instead of Injustice, Say Experts

Posted on July 18, 2014 by janresseger

In June of this year, California Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu struck down tenure and seniority protections for California’s K-12 school teachers in the case of Vergara v. California.  According to Treu’s decision, tenure protects bad teachers, bad teachers are more often assigned to the schools serving California’s most disadvantaged students, and the assignment of bad teachers (protected by tenure and seniority rights) violates the students’ civil rights under the equal protection clause of the state constitution. Many speculate the case will be overturned on appeal, and Judge Treu has stayed his decision pending the appeal.

Opponents of tenure have promised to launch copycat lawsuits against school teachers’ job protections in other states. Earlier this month, such a lawsuit was filed in New York on Staten Island by a group called the New York City Parents Union. While Mona Davids, president of the New York City Parents Union, told the NY Times that her lawsuit is different because it is “not being bankrolled by outside interests,” the research blogger, Mother Crusader, has connected the group’s board members to three organizations that actively oppose teachers unions and seek to privatize public education: Democrats for Education Reform, NYCAN, and StudentsFirstNY.

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post reports that Campbell Brown, the former CNN anchor who has transformed herself into an advocate against job protections for teachers, has created her own organization, the Partnership for Educational Justice, for the purpose of her crusade.  She has hired the public relations firm of former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs and former Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt, according to Stephanie Simon of Politico, to “lead a national public relations drive to support a series of lawsuits aimed at challenging tenure, seniority and other job protections that teachers unions have defended.”  Brown has said her organization will be involved in New York.  (This blog covered the Campbell Brown, Robert Gibbs, Ben LaBolt endeavor here.)

On Tuesday of this week, two heavyweight public school justice advocates went on the offensive against the New York attempt to claim that due process protections for teachers deny children’s civil right to an education.  Billy Easton, executive director of the Alliance for Vergara Copycat Lawsuit in NY Attacks Teachers Instead of Injustice, Say Experts | janresseger:

Hard Skills Are Soft Skills Dependent | WagTheDog

Hard Skills Are Soft Skills Dependent | WagTheDog:

Hard Skills Are Soft Skills Dependent

 “If your emotional abilities aren’t in hand, if you don’t have self-awareness, if you are not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you can’t have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far.”

~ Daniel Goleman 

K-12 education programs should focus much more instructional time on helping students acquire and practice soft skills, if they expect them to master and apply hard skills in appropriate and effective ways.

The Common Core ELA standards demand that students provide evidence to support their claims yet the authors of the Standards disregard decades of research and data regarding the importance of emotional intelligence.

The authors of the Common Core continue to claim that the Standards, which emphasize hard skills, will properly prepare our students for college and careers, despite countless surveys and interviews regarding the critical importance of soft skills…

“Do people underperform at your company because they lack these soft skills or do they disappoint because their technical skills aren’t up to snuff?

‘Soft skills are almost always to blame — that’s why we need to get better at measuring Hard Skills Are Soft Skills Dependent | WagTheDog:

Another Bizarre Day in Common Core Land: Name Calling and A Gates Funded Organization Wants to Know Your Opinion on CCSS | Missouri Education Watchdog

Another Bizarre Day in Common Core Land: Name Calling and A Gates Funded Organization Wants to Know Your Opinion on CCSS | Missouri Education Watchdog:

Another Bizarre Day in Common Core Land: Name Calling and A Gates Funded Organization Wants to Know Your Opinion on CCSS

inShare

Is a Wyoming survey to determine citizen CCSS opinion part of a revamped PR campaign by the supporters?

The CCSS supporters really want to know what you think about CCSS.  Really.  It only took them 4 1/2 years after the roll out to invite you to the table and ask your opinion, but be careful before you sit and partake.  Legislators and organizations supposedly want to know what you want, but be careful what/how you answer.  Those answers might be the basis of a new campaign to tell you why you really need them.  The above graphic comes from a presentation by Matt Gandal explaining the reason to up the PR campaign against those who oppose CCSS.  (Gandal’s power point presentation has been pulled from the Internet but visit the MEW link for the majority of the slides).

Why be cynical about legislators’ intentions to NOW ask how you feel about an educational reform plan that circumvented the political process and voters?  Let’s revisit how some legislators view your opinion.  The national media had a field day with Representative Mike Lair in Missouri when he inserted $8.00 into the budget for tin foil.  This was a nudge to the citizens to cease and desist who were raising concern about the Common Core State Standards Initiative at the statehouse during the last legislative session.  National Review Online titled its article about Representative’s Lair attempt at humor: Is This Guy America’s Most Arrogant State Lawmaker?

Rep. Lair might have earned that title for his smug marginalization of those who ask questions of their governmental officials and bureaucrats.  As in any contest, along with the winner, there are runner-ups.  Here is a state legislator who may have seen Lair crowned as the most arrogant and he wants to join the pageant of politicians who slap labels on constituents in an attempt to ridicule Another Bizarre Day in Common Core Land: Name Calling and A Gates Funded Organization Wants to Know Your Opinion on CCSS | Missouri Education Watchdog:

The Kid I Didn’t Kill (Ellie Herman) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The Kid I Didn’t Kill (Ellie Herman) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

The Kid I Didn’t Kill (Ellie Herman)

Taken from “About” in Herman’s blog:

My name is Ellie Herman.  If you want to find out what I’m doing here and why, click here on why I’m writing this blog.  I’ve been working on this project since the beginning of September….

As for my bio, I’m a writer and English teacher.  From 2007 to 2013, I taught Drama, Advanced Drama, Creative Writing, English 11 and 9th grade Composition at a charter high school in South Los Angeles.

Before that, I was a writer/producer for many TV shows, including The Riches, Desperate Housewives, Chicago Hope and Newhart.  My fiction has appeared in many literary journals, including The Massachusetts Review, The Missouri Review and the O.Henry Awards Collection.

I attended public schools in Winnetka, Illinois from kindergarten through high school and graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a degree in English.  I have a teaching credential from Cal State Northridge.  My three children attended Oakwood School, a private school in the San Fernando Valley.  My husband, David Levinson, is a writer who runs the non-profit Big Sunday.  Our basset hound, Lou, appears ineducable, having channeled all of his energy into his good looks.  We live in Los Angeles.

Posted on September 26, 2013

I once ran over a student in the parking lot.  Gio was standing in front of my car, waving, grinning and doing a little hopping dance in apparent joy at seeing me, which made no sense because only an hour earlier he had brought my entire class to a standstill by taking a half-eaten pear and mashing it into the The Kid I Didn’t Kill (Ellie Herman) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Organizing and Action - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform

Organizing and Action - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform:

Organizing and Action

BY MORNA MCDERMOTT · JULY 17, 2014

Don’t let summer pass us by! Now is a great time to begin organzing actions locally and nationally before the next school year begins. UOO state by state are currently being updated and will be ready for fall 2014! Start planning your local/state opt out letter writing parties today.

UOO suggests some of the following guidelines to help move forward in the fight to take back our schools and our children from the grips of corporate interests. It can feel overwhelming and defeating at times. But we know that this fight is win-able. We have to focus, organize and determine what actions are best. here are some tips (also see organizing chart link here):

1) Where to begin? Sometimes parents, teachers and other community members will stop before they even get started because the whole mess just feels so damn overwhelming!

2) To better understand how we are all connected. Its a Catch 22 really. Politicians and legislators are the ones with the power to write bills that end bad policy and initiate good ones. But politicians are motivated by voters. Parents, teachers and community members must put weight on politicians to get them to do anything! Most of them are either woefully uninformed or bought out by corporate interests. So they need educating and serious pressure from us, and;

3) Focusing not only on what we are against but what we are FOR. Effective strategy includes a vision of what we want! And taking steps to manifest it.

The chart itself is rather simple. Here are some suggestions for things to insert into the chart (or to consider):

Who are the People in Your Neighborhood? (sung to a jaunty tune):  Now, what “we” want depends on the “we.” Generally speaking its the real stakeholders: Children in public schools, parents, and members of the local communities most affected by the changes to their public school systems. For example, in your state or district are parents, teachers and communities of color being silenced, sold out, or colonized? (note: this is most likely “yes” where ever you throw a dart at the US map…) Who must have a voice and input for change to be meaningful and effective? Do you have a strong teachers union? Parent organizations? Involvement from Organizing and Action - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform:

Assets or Liabilities? | Taking Note

Assets or Liabilities? | Taking Note:

Assets or Liabilities?

by JOHN MERROW on 18. JUL, 2014 in 2014 BLOGS

If you ask professional educators in a public forum whether they view parents as assets or liabilities, the answers will vary only in decibel level: “Assets,” “Our greatest asset,” “invaluable partners,” and so forth.  But what if you caught them off guard, late at night after a few drinks, say?

Or, better yet, what if you simply examined how most schools treat parents?

In my experience, most administrators and many teachers hold parents in low regard, and their behavior and policies reflect that.

Perhaps that’s an inevitable consequence of attempting to elevate education to a high-status profession.  “After all, you wouldn’t expect a heart surgeon to consult with a child’s parents before replacing a ruptured valve and saving the child’s life,” the thinking goes, as if the work of educating a child were the equivalent of complex surgery.

It seems to me that most schools push parents away in subtle and not-so-subtle ways.  There’s the once-a-year “Back to School Night” and perhaps a “Parent Involvement Committee’ or a “Parent Advisory Board” that meets occasionally with the Principal.  Many schools expect parents to hold bake sales, auctions and fundraising drives (which can be a large chunk of a school’s budget these days) but that doesn’t treat parents as partners in their children’s education.

Unfortunately, it’s the rare educator who says “We cannot do a good job of educating your child without Assets or Liabilities? | Taking Note:

For Sam Pirozzolo Seven Years is Magic southbronxschool

http://www.southbronxschool.com:

For Sam Pirozzolo Seven Years is Magic

Lately on these pages we have been sharing the comedy stylings of Sam Pirozzolo, president of CEC 31 and optical store owner in Queens.

Yesterday we shared how Sam claimed that 80% of students are unable to read or write in NYC. We asked for proof, and Sam shared it with a report by the Annenberg Institute.

Today, Sam Tweeted out (In regards to theAnnenberg report);

We are still a bit confused. According to Sam, 80% of the students of NYC are illustrate. However, the report he cites is specifically geared to middle schools.

On the second tweet from Sam, that our criticism of the ELA and math exams in 2013 based on Common Core is unfounded because the Annenberg Report was written in 2007. Oops! We got caught with our knickers down.

The Crack Team did not read the report properly and did not see that on page 2 that it was written in 2007. We should have known and apologize to Sam.

But 7 years is a long time. How long is 7 years? Well Pon Farr is how long a Vulcan goes without http://www.southbronxschool.com:

NYC Educator: Unity or Non-Unity, You Still Get No Voice in UFT

NYC Educator: Unity or Non-Unity, You Still Get No Voice in UFT:

Unity or Non-Unity, You Still Get No Voice in UFT

Yesterday I wrote a little bit about rigged UFT elections, and I will have more about those tomorrow. Today I'm going to focus on our system of appointing chapter leaders to our schools. Whether or not your chapter leader is Unity, a good one should be able to help you within the school building. A good chapter leader should be familiar with the contract and other work rules, or at least able to access them when necessary. A good CL can advise you of your options when you encounter problems within the building.

Outside of the building, it's another story. If your chapter leader isn't Unity, your chapter gets no voice in UFT politics. When decisions are made behind closed doors, as most are, your chapter leader won't be there. And when there are conventions, your non-Unity chapter leader won't be there either. So even though you've chosen this person to represent you, UFT leadership has decided that the million-name ballot take precedence over your personal choice.

What may be surprising, though, is that if your chapter leader is Unity, as are most, your chapter still gets no voice in UFT, NYSUT, or AFT. If your CL isn't Unity and someone else in your building is, you also get no voice. That's because every single person in Unity has signed the loyalty oath and will vote as instructed in all union elections at every level. In fact, this precludes representing you at all. What if, say, the majority of your members oppose mayoral control, Common Core, charter schools, colocation, VAM, two-tier due process, or any number of things that hurt NYC Educator: Unity or Non-Unity, You Still Get No Voice in UFT:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Water

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Water:

Water

In response to the unraveling situation in Detroit, the United Nations issued a statement out of Geneva last month that said, “Disconnection of water services because of failure to pay due to lack of means constitutes a violation of the human right to water and other international human rights.”

Warring factions in Ukraine are using basic necessities of life, such as water, as weapons against the civilian population. Horrible! A clear violation of basic human rights. The U.N. reports that half of Gaza population, "without water supply". Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon also expressed concern over reports that water supplies in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo were deliberately cut off by armed groups for eight days, depriving at least 2.5 million people of access to safe water for drinking and sanitation.

It raises the question, how can anyone stoop so low as to deny people, including small children, the aged and infirm, access to water? Unthinkable here in the U.S. Right?

The average monthly water bill for a family of four in Detroit is nearly double the national average. Chris Hayes reported on MSNBC that, Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Water: