Sunday, August 3, 2014

8-3-14 Hemlock on the Rocks

by Rene Diedrich / 47min

Local Control Making a Comeback in the City of Angels? | Truth in American Education

WOW, HOW DID I MISS THIS BLOG.? Check it out. http://truthinamericaneducation.com/education-at-state-level/local-control-making-a-comeback-in-the-city-of-angels/

by Rene Diedrich / 32min hide // save

The Common Core Needs Unicorns and Rainbows | Truth in American Education

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by Rene Diedrich / 37min

The Daily Caller: EDUCATION NEEDS A HERO TO CONQUER COMMON CORE ( education is doomed without academic freedom)

I guess that leaves Randi Weingarten out. http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/03/education-expert-people-are-looking-for-a-hero-to-stop-common-core/ SUSAN IS A HERO! www.hemlockontherocks.com

by Rene Diedrich / 39min

Appeals Court Rejects D.C. Teacher's Speech-Retaliation Suit : PRINCIPAL TELLS HIM TO CHEAT, TARGETS HIM FOR REFUSING AND EMAIL TO CHANCELLOR MICHELLE RHEE REPORTING UNETHICAL ANTICS BECOMES EXCUSE TO FIRE HIM wtf?

by Rene Diedrich / 10min hide // save

How Teaching Experience Makes a Difference | Parents Across America

by Rene Diedrich / 21min

LAUSD BOE CANDIDATE ALEX JOHNSON ON NYC GOTCHA SQUAD, FIRING TEACHERS ON BOGUS CHARGES FOR BLOOMBERG Is he planning the more of the same for LA Teachers?

by Rene Diedrich / 2min hide // save

Big Education Ape: “Stupid, absurd, non-defensible”: New NEA presiden...

Big Education Ape: “Stupid, absurd, non-defensible”: New NEA presiden...: “Stupid, absurd, non-defensible”: New NEA president Lily Eskelsen García on the problem with Arne Duncan, standardized tests and the war on ...

by Rene Diedrich / 37min

Big Education Ape: “Stupid, absurd, non-defensible”: New NEA presiden...

by Rene Diedrich / 37min

Big Education Ape: Who's Really Behind Campbell Brown's Sneaky Education Outfit? | Mother Jones

by Rene Diedrich / 42min

Appeals Court Rejects D.C. Teacher's Whistle Blower Retaliation Suit Against Michelle Rhee ( HE REPORTED CHEATING !)

by Rene Diedrich / 3min

Teacher's Blog Posts Slamming Students Not Protected

by Rene Diedrich / 5min

Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Law Curbing Public Unions - The School Law Blog - Education Week

by Rene Diedrich / 5min

Brian Claypool: LAUSD UPPER Ranks Have Known About Abuse for Years

by Rene Diedrich / 1h

YESTERDAY

LAUSD PAY ATTENTION The Contract We Do Not Deserve « Movement of Rank and File Educators

by Rene Diedrich / 9h hide // save

Is Your School Being Reformed by Sociopaths ?

by Rene Diedrich / 9h

8-2-14 Hemlock on the Rocks

Hemlock on the Rocks: Poll: CA voters oppose teacher tenure and layoff laws but only for teachers in the hoodhttp://laschoolreport.com/poll-ca-voters-oppose-teacher-tenure-and-layoff-laws/#comment-2010Greatest Comment Ever to Survive Moderation at LASR By S. Lawler. Look why don't you guys just admit you want to destroy teaching as a profession. The highest achieving school districts have the sam

by mike simpson / 7h

Breaking Down the Natural Isolation and Insulation of High School Teachers | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Breaking Down the Natural Isolation and Insulation of High School Teachers | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Breaking Down the Natural Isolation and Insulation of High School Teachers

A good friend for many years and guest blogger (see here and here), Jerry Brodkey has taught social studies and math for over 30 years at Menlo-Atherton High School (MA) in Northern California. He currently teaches Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus and Integrated Algebra. Well-respected among his colleagues–he has been a member for many years of the union negotiating team that bargains with the district when a contract expires–Brodkey sent out the following email to his colleagues just before the school year ended.

One of the best parts of the school year for me is after the AP test. In addition to some other activities, each student in my AP Calculus classes is asked to speak for approximately 15 minutes about themselves. They may talk about their families, travels, hobbies, sports, college decisions, etc., Some of these presentations are light-hearted, some very serious. We all learn about each other in a gentle, supportive environment. Students seem to love this, and so do I.

I’d like to try this with staff members, too. Even though I have been here many years, I realize that there are many staff I simply don’t know, and even among the members of my own department, I’d like to know them at a more personal level. So I’d like to try this. Some of the best moments I have had at MA have been the results of feeling a sense of community, a deepening of relationships with all who work here.

Although my room is open for students almost every day at lunch, I’d like to dedicate Thursday lunches to this small initiative. I’ll simply tell my students that Thursday at lunch I won’t be available. Instead, I’d like to invite all staff to my room (or some other place ….) for this experiment. We might have a pretty good crowd, or I might be eating lunch by myself. If my room is too small we’ll find another place. I’ll be happy to organize a schedule. Since lunch is short, I think one or perhaps two speakers per week. No obligation, no memberships, Breaking Down the Natural Isolation and Insulation of High School Teachers | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: When tech teaches, what do teacher do?

Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: When tech teaches, what do teacher do?:

When tech teaches, what do teacher do?

When I talk to students these days they tell me when they want to learn something they're interested in, it usually is not teachers or parents they turn to. It’s Google, YouTube, or to others they find online (aka their PLN) who engage in their activities of interest.

These kids aren’t just playing on the computer either. They mean serious business. Teen Jack Andraka turned to Google when doing his research that led to his discovery of a new screening for pancreatic cancer. Teens like Courtney Gressman and Alex Laubscher are building networks using social media to pursue their passions and do work that matters to them and others.

Not only does access to the internet provide limitless access to resources but tools like the iPad (or other tablets) also change with the needs of the user. One device can transform into a piano, drawing canvas, book, publishing press, or whatever a student wants it to be... on demand.

This has come up in my world recently when a parent confess to me that she was unsure of her ability to support her child's learning away from school. It was easy to put her mind at. We simply discussed what her child wants to learn, and then determine available resources for learning.

To follow is a possible curriculum via tablet, customized to one student’s passions and abilities:

Reading

Does your child want to learn to read? There are great research-proven apps out there like Footsteps 2 Brilliance. The books are interactive and give children instant feedback on their reading progress. They’re also smart, increasing with complexity as your child masters basic reading skills.

Writing

Does your child love writing, let them create their own self-illustrated books which they can publish and share with an audience using an app like StoryKit.

Physics

Give your child a primer on how gravity and momentum affect objects in motion with Angry Birds Space. A great feature of this version of Angry Birds is a link to a NASA website, a rich resource with educational links and videos about gravity and the International Space Station.

Music, Art, Geography

Want to help your child learn piano? The tablet can become a piano accompanied with a tutor with an app like Learn Piano on the iPad or Piano Teacher on Android.

Does your child love art? Great. There are numerous high-quality and inexpensive apps to choose from. Here’s a list of five from LifeHacker. Once creations are made they can Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: When tech teaches, what do teacher do?:

Notes about the Parents Across America 2014 Leadership Conference | Seattle Education

Notes about the Parents Across America 2014 Leadership Conference | Seattle Education:

Notes about the Parents Across America 2014 Leadership Conference

The Parents Across America 2014 Leadership Conference was an exciting, productive meeting. 20 of PAA’s chapter and affiliate leaders from 13 states all over the U.S. attended, discussed the issues, and offered their ideas for PAA action for the coming year.

PAA leaders from across the U.S.

Early arrivals to the conference were able to spend most of the day Monday meeting with Congressmen and Senators on Capitol Hill, including some of their own representatives and members of the House and Senate education committees.

We focused on three priority issues:

► Reduce High-Stakes Testing

Congress should begin that project with comprehensive hearings that examine the experiences of students, parents and teachers, as well as the findings of education scholars.
Congress should scale back the number and frequency of standardized tests it requires and provide resources to expand high-quality alternative assessments.

►Strengthen Student Privacy Protections:

Congress should hold hearings on student privacy.
Congress should reverse changes in FERPA laws that undermine student privacy and parental control, and increase privacy safeguards.

►Replace Charter “Choice” with Real Parental Empowerment:

Congress should listen to parents and promote increased resources to all of our schools, a stronger parent voice in education policy, smaller class sizes, pre-K and full-day Kindergarten, experienced, supported teachers, a well-rounded curriculum, and evaluation systems that go beyond test scores.
Congress should reconsider its overemphasis on charter expansion and focus on proven strategies that strengthen public schools for all children.

We met with opposition in some cases and in others we simply got “Thank you for your input,” but some Members were receptive of our ideas. We will continue to reach out to Congress and build on these meetings to strengthen our voices. We were very Notes about the Parents Across America 2014 Leadership Conference | Seattle Education:

Russ on Reading: School Based Day Care: Improving Teaching and Learning

Russ on Reading: School Based Day Care: Improving Teaching and Learning:

School Based Day Care: Improving Teaching and Learning

Improving teaching and learning by doing

something for teachers rather than tothem.

Much of the talk we hear from the corporate education reformers is about what we can do to teachers to make them teach better. Here is a quick list of what has been suggested and in many cases tried to improve teacher performance:

1. Evaluate teachers using student standardized test score data (Value Added Measures or VAMs).

2. Eliminate teacher job protections like tenure and seniority (see California’s Vergara case).

3. Do away with traditional experience and educational level salary advancement and use a system of merit pay designed to reward high performers and punish low performers.

Every one of these ideas is flawed in application and none has been shown to improve instruction. Maybe instead of focusing on what we need to do toteachers we might want to focus on what we can do for teachers to make their very difficult jobs easier. After all, as any good teacher knows, we do not get children to learn well by doing things to them, but by doing things forthem (providing the needed instruction, providing feedback on their progress, providing needed resources, re-teaching when necessary, providing the needed guidance or direction, setting achievable goals, helping them organize for learning, establishing routines, etc.)

One thing we could do that would help many teachers would be to provide on-site, professionally run, school district managed and state regulated day care for teachers who are working parents. Everyday tens of thousands of Russ on Reading: School Based Day Care: Improving Teaching and Learning:

Word of The Day – Subsidiarity | Missouri Education Watchdog

Word of The Day – Subsidiarity | Missouri Education Watchdog:

Word of The Day – Subsidiarity

The Cardinal Newman Society, whose mission is to promote and defend Catholic education, has long been concerned about the encroachment of Common Core into parochial schools. They have been at the forefront in the Catholic church questioning the potential harm that the new standards initiative could have on Catholic education, even though CCSSI is not mandated for Catholic schools. The Holy Father backed up their concerns in an interview on Vatican Radio calling for an end to what he termed “educational experiments” with children and young people, pushing a “dictatorship of one form of thinking” on them in the name of a pretended “modernity”. CNS’sRenewal Report for Summer 2014 sums up their views on Common Core nicely and introduces us to a word that we all should consider adding to our lexicon – Subsidiarity.

CNS writes,

In the Church, the principle of subsidiarity directs that human events are best handled at the lowest possible level, closest to the individuals affected by the decisions being made. …This principle provides a great strength for Catholic schools as it gives the local diocesan and school community the ability to make decisions at the school level related to guidelines and curriculum. It also allows for adjustments and adaptations to be made by teachers and administrators for the children under their care.

So many things wrong in education today are a result of the loss of subsidiarity:

School lunch programs that are resulting in increased cost and waste streams
Age and content inappropriate literature selection in schools due to standards text recommendation
Zero tolerance policies resulting in things like a 5 year old having to sign a confession for sexual harassment.
Washington state losing its NCLB waiver because their teacher evaluation program did not completely match the ideal set in Washington DC.
The eternal beg for money for education because districts are chasing someone else’s goals which were not set with their needs or financial limitations in mind.

We can see how far we have strayed from subsidiarity in Missouri when we look at districts who Word of The Day – Subsidiarity | Missouri Education Watchdog:

The Sacramento Bee Continues Praise for New Sacramento schools chief José L. Banda

The Public Eye: New Sacramento schools chief in line for hefty pension bump - Education - The Sacramento Bee:

The Public Eye: New Sacramento schools chief in line for hefty pension bump

By Loretta Kalb
lkalb@sacbee.com

Published: Sunday, Aug. 3, 2014 - 12:00 am

Last Modified: Sunday, Aug. 3, 2014 - 12:16 am

José L. Banda stands to receive an extra $61,400 annually in retirement for leaving Seattle Public Schools last month to become superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District.

If he completes his new three-year employment contract, he will increase his annual pension benefit to about $223,300, according to a Bee analysis reviewed by a financial planner who is expert in public school pensions.

That’s compared to the $161,900 annual pension he would have received at age 60 had he never re-entered the California State Teachers’Retirement System after leaving the state in 2012 to run the Seattle school system.

Banda, 57, started his Sacramento job on Friday under a three-year contract that pays $290,000 a year. He replaced Jonathan Raymond, who left the district in December after four years, and Sara Noguchi, who served as interim superintendent after Raymond’s departure.

Banda, in an interview, said he is not thinking about his pension.

“There are so many serious challenges that Sacramento City Unified School District faces,” he said. “We’ve got issues with declining enrollment. We have a budget that still isn’t sound. We’re not able to move forward until we address the budget. We have a fractured relationship with the union. I’m really focused on that.”

Banda said he is committed to Sacramento and intends to finish his career here after tackling the issues he described.

“I think this whole thing around the pension is a detractor,” he added. “I’m focused on the work, what needs to be done, how I can help with my experiences and my background.

Banda, however, mentioned the subject in a June interview with Seattle radio station KUOW. In that conversation, Banda said he was interested in moving to Sacramento to be closer to his family – as well as pension considerations.

“As I near the latter part of my career,” he told KUOW, “it’s an opportunity to get back into theretirement system that I spent almost my entire career in.”

CalSTRS did not share Banda’s pension details, since he has not yet applied for retirement. But The Sacramento Bee calculated Banda’s pension benefit using CalSTRS’ basic formula, with guidance from Gregory Lucas, a Sacramento certified financial planner who advises many educators.

Banda spent 32 years as a California educator, most recently as superintendent of Anaheim City School District, before moving to Seattle.

If he had chosen to collect his pension at age 60 without ever returning to work in California, he would have been entitled to an annual benefit of 2.2 percent of $230,000 – his salary when he leftThe Public Eye: New Sacramento schools chief in line for hefty pension bump - Education - The Sacramento Bee:

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/08/03/6600879/new-sacramento-schools-chief-in.html#mi_rss=Education#storylink=cpy

Latest News and Comment from Education

Sunday, August 3, 2014

8-3-14 Hemlock on the Rocks

YESTERDAY

Breaking Down the Natural Isolation and Insulation of High School Teachers | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Breaking Down the Natural Isolation and Insulation of High School Teachers

Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: When tech teaches, what do teacher do?

When tech teaches, what do teacher do?

Notes about the Parents Across America 2014 Leadership Conference | Seattle Education

Notes about the Parents Across America 2014 Leadership Conference

Russ on Reading: School Based Day Care: Improving Teaching and Learning

School Based Day Care: Improving Teaching and Learning

Word of The Day – Subsidiarity | Missouri Education Watchdog

Word of The Day – Subsidiarity

The Sacramento Bee Continues Praise for New Sacramento schools chief José L. Banda

The Public Eye: New Sacramento schools chief in line for hefty pension bump

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