4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 8-4-14

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

Updating the ®eform lineup card: MICHELLE RHEE IS OUT, CAMPBELL BROWN IS IN … and who’s bankroll is it anyway?

  Education “reform’s” new Ann Coulter: A reeling Michelle Rhee passes the lead to Campbell Brown Exclusive: As Rhee's efforts flounder, new links emerge between a group she founded and a new face, Campbell Brown by Jeff Bryant in Salon |  http://bit.ly/1nmlH5s (Credit: Jacquelyn Martin) Wednesday, Jul 23, 2014 01:17 PM PST  ::  For years, Michelle Rhee, the former District of

by smf / 35min 

Digital Divide, Lack Of Certified Librarians ‘A National Crisis’

By Jake New, Editor, @eCN_Jake – from eSchool News | http://bit.ly/1o6nlxe   Educators, librarians discuss how schools and libraries can respond to the ‘second wave of the digital divide’ May 8th, 2014 -  Washington, D.C. :: Barbara Stripling, president of the American Library Association, said students, teachers, and librarians are facing “a silent dilemma.” Imagine, she said, you’re one

by smf / 16min 

David Boies joins Campbell Brown: CELEBRATED TRIAL LAWYER TO HEAD GROUP CHALLENGING TEACHER TENURE

By MOTOKO RICH, NY Times | http://nyti.ms/1slITWU AUG. 3, 2014  ::  David Boies, the star trial lawyer who helped lead the legal charge that overturned California’s same-sex marriage ban, is becoming chairman of the Partnership for Educational Justice, a group that former CNN anchor Campbell Brown founded in part to pursue lawsuits challenging teacher tenure. Mr. Boies, the son of two public

by smf / 1min 

Supes Surveyed On Suspensions

from Politico Morning Ed and AASA: The School Superintendents Association and the Children's Defense Fund asked 500 school superintendents how and why they use out-of-school suspension. Out of the 92 percent who thought the punishment leads to negative consequences, more than two-thirds of superintendents said lost class time is the biggest problem. Out of the 85 percent who felt out-of-school

by smf / 5min hide  //  save

The election in LAUSD Board District 1: FOR ALEX JOHNSON, ATTACKING GEORGE MCKENNA'S REPUTATION IS KEY STRATEGY IN RACE FOR L.A. UNIFIED SCHOOL BOARD

L.A. Unified school board race turns negative, focuses on reputation By Howard Blume, LA Times | http://lat.ms/1tNredA George McKenna, left, with retired Inglewood school board member Larry Aubry and county Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, right, in 2013. McKenna is running against Alex Johnson to replace Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, who died in December. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles

by smf / 58min

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 8-2-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:4LAKIDS - SOME OF THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT  Is giving students laptops a terrible idea?: WHY ONE DISTRICT IS THROWING ALL ITS STUDENT LAPTOPS AWAY + smf’s 2¢The Hechinger Report / By Jill Barshay  | http://bit.ly/1xH0mJN July 30, 2014 |   Inside Hoboken’s combined junior-senior high school is a storage closet. Behind the locked door, mothballed laptop c

by mike simpson / 8h 

8-4-14 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):

Denying Impact of Poverty Has an Evidence Problem

As I have noted, denying racism has an evidence problem. But those who persist in denying the impact of poverty also have an evidence problem; thus, they have to manufacture evidence. But manufacture evidence they will—as evidenced by Hanushek, Peterson and Woessmann (2014). However, David Berliner and Stephen Krashen have now unmasked that effort: David Berliner Responds to Economists Who Discoun

by plthomasedd / 38min 

Rational and Evidence-Based Responses to Standards Advocates and Critics

Because the education agendas and discourse by Democrats and Republicans are essentially indistinguishable, as I have argued before, educators have no political party. Educators are similarly trapped, however, in the Common Core debate between standards advocates and standards critics, who are also indistinguishable for two prominent reasons: the failure to start the consideration of standards on

13 by plthomasedd / 1h 

8-2-14 the becoming radical EMPATHYEDUCATES! | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

THE BECOMING RADICALEMPATHYEDUCATES!the becoming radical  A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by James Baldwin, “Unable to Believe” Edu-RefomersO, but if James Baldwin were here to respond to Campbell Brown, Arne Duncan, Bill Gates, or Michelle Rhee … Let’s imagine …2 by plthomasedd / 21h James Baldwin at 90: “‘I can’t believe what you say,’ the song goes, ‘because I see what you do’”January 1, 200

by mike simpson / 8h 

8-4-14 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION:

Does Reformster Character Matter?

When I posted this morning about the giant confluence of issues and money that is K12, Inc., I received this comment from ready Candy Crider:I would rather you address the curriculum - is it sound and will it help students learn and love learning? Bashing the people who built it tells me nothing about the program itself."Bashing" is a fairly plastic term in bloggy circles. Sometimes &quo

5 by Peter Greene / 23min 

K12 Defies... Well, Everything

K12 remains the top dog in the junkyard of cyberschooling. It provides an instructive lesson in how a good pile of cash and friends in the right places can keep a business afloat even after people have poked holes in the hull.There was never anything about the organization that didn't look like a red flag. It was set up by hedge fund manager Ronald Packer and propped up with money from junk bond k

29 by Peter Greene / 2h

8-3-14 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION: The Permanent Politicizing of EducationIt's completely predictable that in the wake of CCSS, other problems will arise. Folks who think that we can chase the Common Core away and afterwards go back to How Things Were Before are kidding themselves-- even if CCSS were to vanish tomorrow, it has already changed the educational landscape in ways we can't fully grasp yet.One sign is in

by mike simpson / 8h 

8-4-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Cuomo's Poll Numbers Fall In New Marist Poll

I'm on vacation, so I'm missing some news and definitely not getting stuff up onto the blog in a timely fashion, but here's one story I didn't want to skip:Republican Rob Astorino is struggling to capitalize with voters on the political difficulties faced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo followings reports the governor's staff interfered with a state anticorruption commission, according to a Wall Street Journ

by reality-based edu... / 18min 

Should Kathy Hochul Be Subpoenaed In Moreland Investigation Too

From the Capital Playbook email this morning:--GREGG BIRNBAUM, on NY1: “Is the U.S. Attorney going to subpoena the lieutenant governor candidate to find out whether Governor Cuomo’s office gave her those taking points? Because she was right on message with that and if that could be witness tampering.” http://goo.gl/8Qj9UQWhen you see stuff like this, that's when you know the shit's gotten real for

by reality-based edu... / 35min 

Former Moreland Co-Chair Kathleen Rice "Assisting" With Federal Prosecutors Looking Into Cuomo's Commission Meddling

So much Moreland news this morning, hard to get it all on the blog.Here's another piece of news via Ken Lovett of the Daily News: Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, one of three former co-chairs of Gov. Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission, is “assisting” a federal probe into the governor’s handling of the panel, the Daily News has learned. Rice has met multiple times with U.S. Attorney

by reality-based edu... / 17min hide  //  save

Fred Dicker: Cuomo "Crazed With Anger" Over Moreland Scandal Fall-Out

So much to like in this Fred Dicker column this morning:Gov. Cuomo, “crazed with anger” and increasingly abusive to those around him, fears the first round of public polling since the “Morelandgate” scandal will take a major toll on his — until-now — sky-high popularity, administration insiders say.He won’t have long to wait.A poll designed to gauge the scandal’s impact will be released this week

1 by reality-based edu... / 2h 

Cuomo Aide Agreed To "Voluntarily" Meet With Ferderal Prosecutors To Avoid Subpoena

Last night's Wall Street Journal "scoop" that former Cuomo aide, Larry Schwartz, agreed to "voluntarily" meet with prosecutors investigating the Moreland mess seemed like a leak from the Cuomo camp putting a positive spin on Schwartz's being interviewed by prosecutors.This morning, Fred Dicker of the NY Post confirms that:The top aide to Gov. Cuomo has agreed to meet with feder

by reality-based edu... / 3h

8-3-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: It Is Time To Revisit Cuomo's Charter School Budget GiveawayLast legislative session, Governor Cuomo engineered a budget giveaway to his charter school campaign donors, forcing New York City to either co-locate future charter schools in public school buildings or pick up the tab for future charter schools on private property.The charter school giveaway is expected to cost th

by mike simpson / 5h 

The Importance of Emotional Leadership | Connected Principals

The Importance of Emotional Leadership | Connected Principals:

The Importance of Emotional Leadership

by George Couros • August 4, 2014 • 0 Comments

In about my sixth year of teaching, I remember sharing a story about my dogs with my grade 9 students.  As I was on my own in a small town where I didn’t know many people, the dogs were a HUGE part of my life and this wasn’t the first or last time I would talk about them.  They were and are like family to me.  When I was really getting into the story, one of my students shouted out in the middle of the class and said, “We don’t want to hear another story about your stupid dog.”

Years prior, I probably would have asked her to leave, got frustrated at the comment, and would have shown anger before anything.  This time I didn’t.  Instead, I said to her, “Those dogs are a huge part of my life and when you say something like that it really hurts me.”  Her facial expression and demeanour changed quickly, as did several of others in the class.  I was no longer simply a “teacher”, but a person, with real feelings and emotions.  After that moment, I felt a real change in how I was treated by students and, in all honesty, how I treated them.  It changed a lot for me.

As a principal, it would have been easy to fake emotions and represent that nothing had bothered or stressed me out, but in reality, I was never like that.  When Kobe (my first dog) had died, I struggled at school.  I spent a lot of time in my office and would often cry to my staff when they shared their condolences.  To many, this would be sign of a weakness, but in reality, I would say the exact opposite.  To be able to show who you are and share emotion is strength. Denying it and pretending I was feeling something else would not be true to myself.  We show our true strength when we accept that that we are vulnerable.

As a speaker, it is not easy to cry in front of people, but sometimes by showing emotion, I feel it is what makes me relatable.  Although I talk a lot about education, it is often the stories of my dad passing away, moments with my family, The Importance of Emotional Leadership | Connected Principals

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

"We tortured some folks." -- Pres. Obama

Columnist Gene Lyons

This is less a war than an uprising in a concentration camp... --Chicago Sun-Times

Bill Clinton 

“I nearly got him [bin Laden]. And I could have killed him, but I would have to destroy a little town called Kandahar in Afghanistan and kill 300 innocent women and children, and then I would have been no better than him.” -- MSNBC

Police Supt. Garry McCarthy on Chicago shooting numbers

"We're pleased with it..." -- 5NBC 

Michelle Gunderson

Chicago teacher Michelle Gunderson

What does this mean? We will no longer blindly open up our checkbooks to the Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

8-2-14 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 SocietyLOLLAPALOOZA: Rahm rides his Texas connectionChicago's biggest and priciest teeny-bopper rock festival jumps off this weekend. Thousands of mainly white, suburban kids are getting dropped off by parents in Grant Park, which is now surrounded by full length "NATO riot fenc

by mike simpson / 8h

NYC Educator: UFT Leadership Election Is Rigged. Here's How and Why.

NYC Educator: UFT Leadership Election Is Rigged. Here's How and Why.:

UFT Leadership Election Is Rigged. Here's How and Why.

I know we talk about this often, but it's important to understand that the fundamental nature of selecting our leadership is dishonest and designed to shut us up rather than elicit our participation. The million name ballot is a problem, of course, because almost no one knows who the hell is on it. Last time I voted, I checked a box for MORE, but I don't really know all of the people for whom I voted. I know and like some people from Unity, but I was voting against a machine, a philosophy.

Here's what that philosophy is--winner take all, no compromise whatsoever, and everyone else can go screw themselves. If you try to take Common Core from Mike Mulgrew he'll punch you in the face, he says, but the election is arranged precisely so no one can lay a hand on his beloved Common Core.

There are flaws in any democracy, of course. You notice when Jimmy Carter runs all over the world monitoring elections, he never establishes electoral colleges. So one point in favor of the UFT election is that the President is selected via majority voting. That's a good thing, particularly if you disregard the fact that most of the vote comes from retirees. Let's do that, for the moment. All working UFT members should and do get a vote on the President.

It's when we move down the ticket that things get confusing. There's a VP for Academic High Schools, for example. Wouldn't it make sense that high school teachers choose that person, who ostensibly represent their interests? Well, it doesn't make sense to UFT-Unity, who lost that office once. As soon as they got it back they changed the rules to make sure it never happened again. This position is now "at-large" and everyone gets to help us make that decision.

Should the entire UFT get to vote for our rep? Of course not. Each branch has different interests, and each branch ought to select the person NYC Educator: UFT Leadership Election Is Rigged. Here's How and Why.:

8-4-14 The New Living in Dialogue | hosted by Anthony Cody

Living in Dialogue | hosted by Anthony Cody:

Follow LiD

Living in Dialogue | hosted by Anthony Cody: 

LivinginDialogue

@LivingnDialogue

On Facebook Living in Dialogue Community

Six Years Under the Masthead: Farewell to Ed Week - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Six Years Under the Masthead: Farewell to Ed Week - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: Six Years Under the Masthead: Farewell to Ed WeekBy Anthony Cody on August 3, 2014 1:33 PMThis post marks my last appearance at Education Week, after six eventful years. The summer of 2008 was the beginning of Living in Dialogue, launched with the help of John Norton. In that first year, I wrote about

by mike simpson / 11h 

Chicago Teachers’ New Political Awakening

By Michelle Gunderson. What would our city look like if it were run by Chicago teachers alongside other labor and community groups? This was the thought that kept running through my head as we gathered to support the launch of the new United Working Families political organization in Chicago. I have strong hope that Chicago would look much different than it does now. It has to. Mayor Emanuel state

2 by Michelle Gunderso... / 17min hide  //  save

School Librarians – Leading Out Loud

By Susan Polos As miners are alerted to dangers from noxious gases when a canary dies in the mine, community members should immediately wake up and take notice when budgets propose cutting school librarians. This is an early sign that the school culture is endangered, that access to information is at risk, and that student-centered learning may well be compromised. School librarians are getting qu

3 by Anthony Cody / 47min 

Charter Schools Fail the Test of Justice | janresseger

Charter Schools Fail the Test of Justice | janresseger:



Charter Schools Fail the Test of Justice

Posted on August 4, 2014 by janresseger

Several weeks ago I was asked by Northeast Ohio Media Group (The Plain Dealer), as part of a point-counterpoint series on charter schools—pro and con, to contribute a short article.  The person who requested the column knew of my concern that it is not possible to create a school system based on school choice that does a good job of serving the needs and protecting the rights of all children.

She asked me to write a piece that summarizes my concerns.  I did not know who would be writing the pro-charter piece.  Yesterday cleveland.com published the articles.  Here is mine:Charter Schools Fail the Test of Justice.  You’ll find a link to the pro-charter article following my piece.

My goal was to examine the role of charter schools in the context of what we have traditionally believed is the mission of public education—to serve all of our society’s children for their benefit and as the foundation of our democratic society.

The piece published yesterday declares: “Justice in education—the idea that schools distribute opportunity to all children—must be systemic. A public education system like ours in the United States—publicly funded, universally available, and accountable to the public—is the best way I know to balance the needs of each particular child with society’s responsibility to protect the rights of all children. While there are some excellent charter schools, I believe the growing charter school movement threatens our system of public education.”

You can read the rest here.

Town Hall Meeting on Local Control of Schools | WeArePCAPS

Town Hall Meeting on Local Control of Schools | WeArePCAPS:

Town Hall Meeting on Local Control of Schools

Posted on August 4, 2014by wearepcaps

Forty Thousand Philadelphia registered voters signed a petition this Spring to put the question of returning our schools to local control and abolishing the School Reform Commission on the ballot in the form of a non-binding referendum. But before this can happen City Council and the Mayor and have to approve. Come to the town meeting to find out how returning our schools to local control can improve education and how can bring pressure on our elected officials to let the people vote on this important question.

TOWN MEETING ON LOCAL CONTROL OF OUR SCHOOLS

THURSDAY, AUGUST 14TH 6:30 P.M.

MONUMENTAL BAPTIST CHURCH

4948 LOCUST ST.

We are urging people to call and tweet Council. For more information go here.

We also are asking people to sign a pledge to support abolishing the SRC and returning the schools to local control. A pdf. is available here.

Sponsored by Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools and the Pennsylvania Working Families Organization.