9-19-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

About the radio show

Join Drs. Shaun Johnson and Tim Slekar 

LIVE Sundays at 6PM EST and Wednesdays at 7PM EST 

on Blog Talk Radio for progressive, pro-public education talk radio. 

Call in to speak live with Tim and Shaun during the show, (805) 727-7111. 

You can also listen to our Monday "Sunday-Replay" at 7PM EST, and re-broadcasts of the archives every Tuesday and Thursday at 7PM EST.

Visit the @ the Chalk Face radio main page for more information on the show and syndication.

Patrick Walsh Reviews A Chronicle of Echoes

On September 19, 2014, New York teacher and United Federation of Teachers (UFT) chapter leader Patrick Walsh published the following review of my book, A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who In the Implosion of American Public Education, on the online news site, Truthdig. Patrick Walsh, 2012   My heartfelt thanks to Patrick for his interest in my work. […]

1 by deutsch29 / 14min 

Questions And Answers

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. via QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

2 by David Greene / 42min 

Burris Calls Out Common Core; Duncan-friendly EdPost Indignant

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are really good for American education, but sadly, non-foundation-financed, public school administrators like New York principal Carol Burris seem to have trouble coming around to falling in line with those *higher standards*(c). In fact, Burris had a fantastic opportunity on September 9, 2014, to Embrace the Common Core. Unfortunately, she decided […]

15 by deutsch29 / 9h 

9-18-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: About the radio showJoin Drs. Shaun Johnson and Tim Slekar LIVE Sundays at 6PM EST and Wednesdays at 7PM EST on Blog Talk Radio for progressive, pro-public education talk radio. Call in to speak live with Tim and Shaun during the show, (805) 727-7111. You can also listen to our Monday "Sunday-Replay" at 7PM EST, and re-broadcasts of the archives every Tuesday and Thursd

by mike simpson / 8h 

9-19-14 the becoming radical | How We Raise Our Children: On “Because” and “In Spite Of”

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University):

How We Raise Our Children: On “Because” and “In Spite Of”

While I am disheartened by the cultural tolerance of all sorts of violence that remains in the U.S.—and then particularly in my home region, the South—I am deeply puzzled by a distinction between the public discussions surrounding the NFL’s twin scandals so far this season related to domestic violence and child abuse. In the domestic violence public discourse, one refrain is prominent: “No man sho

12 by plthomasedd / 1h 

9-18-14 the becoming radical | Market Ethics No Ethics at All

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): Market Ethics No Ethics at AllIn the wake of this country’s premier professional sports league fumbling several cases of domestic violence by its players, one high-profile player has become the focus of equally disturbing cases of child abuse. While the league and teams

by mike simpson / 8h 

9-19-14 Hemlock on the Rocks

Hemlock on the Rocks:

KAREN KLIEN DISCUSSES THE URGENCY AND EXTRAORDINARY IMPORTANCE OF LAUSD DEASY's MISSION and Provokes Blow Back from the Trenches

At L.A. Unified, tensions are high and crisis is in the air. The  between Supt. John Deasy and the school board that oversees him is at what is perhaps an all-time low. Deasy is again muttering about quitting; others are grumbling that he should be fired.Leadership  is about forging relationships that are productive and . I find it troubling that  this writer, Karen Klein, will blame the BOE and t

1 by Rene Diedrich / 5min 

Don't Forget South Central: iPads Are Good For Students, Aren't They?

http://dontforgetsouthcentral.blogspot.com/2014/08/ipads-are-good-for-students-arent-they.html iPads Are Good For Students, Aren't They? If you believe technology can replace teachers, then yes. I do not believe it. Let me back up. Hi! My name is Martha Infante and I have been in education for 24 years. I love teaching. I would also love a class set of computers for my students to do researc

by Rene Diedrich / 22min 

A Teacher in Los Angeles Has a Message for Karen Klein, Editorial Writer of the LA Times | Diane Ravitch's blog

http://dianeravitch.net/2014/09/19/a-teacher-in-los-angeles-has-a-message-for-karen-klein-editorial-writer-of-the-la-times/comment-page-1/#comment-2236874Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times published an editorial chastising critics of Superintendent John Deasy and accusing them of wanting to go back to the "good old days" when the teachers' union–United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA)—had mo

by Rene Diedrich / 9:36 AM UTC-7 hide  //  save

L.A. Unified survey finds little use of iPads' curriculum - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-ipad-eval-20140918-story.htmlIn the first formal evaluation of the troubled iPads-for-all project in Los Angeles schools, only one teacher out of 245 classrooms visited was using the costly online curriculum. The reason, according to the report, was related to the program's ambition, size and speed.The analysis found that district staff was so focused on distribu

by Rene Diedrich / 22min 

THEATER OF THE ABSURD: LAUSD BOE AGREES TO DOUBLE STAFF For IPAD ROLLOUT:

Check out this comment: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-computers-la-schools-20140918-story.html#vf-1776500014872www.hemlockontherocks.com

by Rene Diedrich / 4min hide  //  save

NYC TEACHER - CRUSADER Francesco Portelos : How to Use FOIL in LAUSD

On Sat, Sep 13, 2014 at 1:21 AM,   wrote:LA educators,Use the information here http://achieve.lausd.net/Page/3137 in conjunction with our FOIL resources here www.dtoe.org/resources.You may be able to request it by emailing pra@mail.lausd.netOr call and ask for Public Records Officer  contact info. We've had much success here in NYC with FOIL. Emails,  purchases,  video sur

by Rene Diedrich / 11min 

How About a UFT Cut-the-Strings, Free-the-Puppets Caucus?

NYC Educator: How About a UFT Cut-the-Strings, Free-the-Puppets Caucus?: I didn't start out criticizing our Union.  I started out with a sincere concern for the current state of affairs in education and the loss of respect among "reformers" for my profession.  This will always be my bottom line.  I thought my Union would always be with me, but I soon learned this was not the case.  I lea

by Rene Diedrich / 4min hide  //  save

HIRED GUN : David Boies Attacks Teacher Tenure

David Boies helped California gay couples win the right to marry. Now he's attacking teacher tenureDavid Boies is an accomplished civil rights attorney who is probably best known for his Supreme Court cases, in which he has represented Al Gore and Californian gay couples seeking to marry. Now he is working on behalf of kids in urban schools, but his approach is a controversial one. He argues that

by Rene Diedrich / 12min 

LAUSD: Armed, Dangerous & Stupid | Friendly Fire

http://blogs.dailynews.com/friendlyfire/2014/09/18/lausd-armed-dangerous-stupid/ LAUSD: Armed, Dangerous & Stupid Los Angeles Unified School District has decided to give back the Rocket Powered Grenade launchers (RPGs) that they got from the Department Homeland Security. That's probably a good idea–particularly for an organization that can't figure out how to buy, maintain and use iPads. That

by Rene Diedrich / 4h hide  //  save

YESTERDAY

TELL THAT TO ELI BROAD: Patient Capitol Drives Change

Editor’s note: Matthew Pittinsky is the CEO of Parchment.In 2001, Arthur Levine, then president of Columbia University Teacher’s College, predicted that one day faculty members would become free agents, increasingly independent of their colleges and universities. “It is only a matter of time before we see the equivalent of an academic William Morris Agency,” Levine, now president of the Woodrow Wi

1 by Rene Diedrich / 9h 

9-18-14 Hemlock on the Rocks

Hemlock on the Rocks: The bad-old days at LAUSD - LA Timeshttp://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-lausd-utla-teachers-union-superintendent-dea-20140918-story.html?track=rss The bad-old days at LAUSD At L.A. Unified, tensions are high and crisis is in the air. The relationship between Supt. John Deasy and the school board that oversees him is at what is perhaps an all-time low. Deasy is aga

1 by mike simpson / 4h 

9-19-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Cuomo's Memoir "Shelved" Indefinitely, Victim Of Moreland Mess, Cuomo Micromanaging

Gee, who didn't see this coming after the Moreland mess this summer:Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to launch his presidential bid with an inspiring autobiography — the way Barack Obama did with “Dreams of My Father” — has gone haywire, partly because the micromanaging governor doesn’t have enough time. “It’s a disaster,” said one source. “This could be one of those books that is never finished.” The Har

by reality-based edu... / 39min 

NYSED, Regents Look To Test The Arts In Order To Rate Teachers

From Diane Ravitch: “NYSED is convening a panel to examine creating assessments to measure student growth, performance and college and career readiness in the Arts programs. “The Department recommends that the Board of Regents commission an operational study that would establish criteria to identify and evaluate arts assessments in each discipline that signify college and career readiness as well

by reality-based edu... / 3h 

9-18-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: SUNY Chancellor To Promote Business Role In EducationFrom State of Politics:Also at 10 a.m., SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher and IBM Foundation president Stanley Litow discuss the role that business should play in education during the Business Council’s conference, The Sagamore, 110 Sagamore Rd., Bolton Landing.Because Bill Gates, Eli Broad, Michael Bloomberg and a host of edu

by mike simpson / 8h 

Teachers For Social Justice: Register now to attend the 13th Annual TSJ Curriculum Fair!

Teachers For Social Justice: Register now to attend the 13th Annual TSJ Curriculum Fair!:

Register now to attend the 13th Annual TSJ Curriculum Fair!

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014 LEAVE A COMMENT

TSJ Curriculum Fair Registration-NOW OPEN! Click here to register for the 13th annual TSJ Curriculum Fair-Saturday, November 22, 2014, 10:00 - 4:00 PM, at North-Grand HS, Chicago If you're interested in presenting a workshop, exhibiting curriculum or displaying resources click here.

If you are not familiar with the CF, please read this now! And you can see video from past CFs here and here If you want to get involved in planning and volunteering at the CF come to our Sept. 27 meeting... for more info click here.

It’s Time for “Disruptive Change” Within the Ranks of Charter School Profiteers | Life at the Intersections

It’s Time for “Disruptive Change” Within the Ranks of Charter School Profiteers | Life at the Intersections:



IT’S TIME FOR “DISRUPTIVE CHANGE” WITHIN THE RANKS OF CHARTER SCHOOL PROFITEERS

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 BRETT DICKERSON

Leaders in the corporate, hedge fund controlled, charter outfits love to use the phrase “disruptive change” as code for “we are taking over from those slow, stupid public school administrators and teachers because we can do it better.” But judging from their last few years’ track records, it’s looking like they are past due for some “disruptive change” within their own operations to root out the theft of tax dollars and short-changing of students in dire need of a true education.

In just the last 10 days, there have been several reports of exposures of unethical behavior that showed a callous disregard for the welfare of students and the public that expects their tax dollars to actually, you know, provide a consistent education for the children of their communities.

Here is a brief rundown, which is not at all comprehensive:

Tennessee

On September 11th two stories came out about problems with an investor owned edu-corporation called Rocketship that operates for-profit charters in several states using tax money, but not accounting for how it is spent once paid to the corporation. It seems that Rocketship is causing a parent and teacher uprising in Tennessee that they didn’t expect.

One web site created as a direct response to charter misbehavior is a blog called Tennesse Parents. The latest case involves all parents who showed up for an information sharing session about Rocketship. There was not an explicit process of those parents making any kind of commitment to send their children to a Rocketship charter. Yet, when many of them went to their neighborhood school to enroll this Fall, what they found out was that Rocketship had pulled their children’s records and enrolled them in one of their charters without the knowledge of the parents. Then, according to this story:

So they went to Rocketship to get their children switched back to their zoned school, and it was like walking into a high-pressure timeshare sales job. Rocketship pressured them to stick around and try it. It was a nightmare to get Rocketship to release their child’s records to re-enroll in their zoned school. This happened to over 100 families.

From this kind of mistreatment parents have set up another website specifically to expose Rocketship’s mis-handling of the educations of their children. It’s called www.stoprocketship.com.

On that site a well-researched report using public records entitled “Rocketship’s VP of Policy convicted of felony embezzlement at prior nonprofit“ shows that a vice president in the Milwaukee-based corporation who lobbies for the expansion of charters in Wisconsin at taxpayer expense is actually a convicted felon.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee teachers protest

Credit: Milwaukee Teachers Education Association

Also within the last 10 days, on September 16th, another Rocketship fiasco has been brewing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from plans there to radically expand those charters throughout the city. But the Milwaukee Teachers Association along with many concerned parents have managed to stall those efforts by revealing that Rocketship has a host of problems when it comes to providing a quality education for Milwaukee’s children.

Rocketship employs non-certified teachers and doesn’t offer music or art classes or bilingual options for the city’s diverse student population. The school has been criticized for utilizing computer “learning labs” that place students in front of computers for long periods of time with little supervision. Community members also complain the school lacks community control or oversight from the city’s democratically elected School Board.

OhioIt’s Time for “Disruptive Change” Within the Ranks of Charter School Profiteers | Life at the Intersections:

Child Poverty Rate Falls Slightly But Poverty Still Casts a Long Shadow | janresseger

Child Poverty Rate Falls Slightly But Poverty Still Casts a Long Shadow | janresseger:

Child Poverty Rate Falls Slightly But Poverty Still Casts a Long Shadow

Posted on September 19, 2014 by janresseger

Earlier this week the Census released data for 2013 showing that child poverty fell to approximately 20 percent.  Despite the slight improvement, one in five American children still lives below the federal poverty line of $18,769 for a single-parent family of three.  According to the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), “Almost 9 percent of children—6.5 million—were in ‘deeply poor’ families with cash incomes under half of the poverty level (around $9,300 in 2013 for a family of three.)”  Children are far more likely than adults to be poor, and children of color are far more likely to be poor than white children. Last year 38.3 percent of black children were poor and 30.4 percent of Hispanic children were poor, while only 10.7 percent of white children were poor.  According to CLASP’s report, “Children under age three had the highest poverty rates, and the prevalence of poverty was highest during these earliest, most formative years of children’s lives—with potentially lasting consequences for education, health, and other key outcomes.”

Writing for the NY Times on Wednesday, Thomas Edsall examines the issue of how to intervene in the cycle of poverty to help children transcend their parents economic circumstances.  Exploring a well-known Moving to Opportunity study, which tracked whether academic achievement improved for children whose families were given housing vouchers to move to less poor neighborhoods, Edsall explains that moving did not seem to improve the children’s accomplishments at school.  He interviewed Harvard sociologist William Julius Wilson, who points out that flaws in the study may have affected its results.  Wilson notes that while many of the families in the study left public housing, they “moved to segregated neighborhoods nonetheless, far from employment opportunities…. Social conditions were only marginally better than those they had left.”  Edsall also interviewed another Harvard sociologist, Robert Sampson, who explains that “many of the adults in the program had lived in extreme poverty for decades and that the children, who were on average 11 years old when they entered the program, had spent their early years living in adversity.”

Edsall concludes, “Multigenerational poverty is self-evidently more than a question of housing.  It is unlikely to yield to even the best-intentioned one-dimensional approach… We have to figure out a better way to approach intervention, whether it’s education-based or neighborhood-based or both.”

For a deeper exploration of the issues facing children who grow up in poverty, one can turn to a recently published and unusual longitudinal study of the lives of a sizeable group of children in Baltimore.  The authors, sociologists from Johns Hopkins University—Karl Alexander, Doris Entwisle, and Linda Olson—tracked 790 children from 1982 when they Child Poverty Rate Falls Slightly But Poverty Still Casts a Long Shadow | janresseger:

Q&A with Dana Goldstein: How yesterday’s teacher wars explain today’s education battles | The Hechinger Report

Q&A with Dana Goldstein: How yesterday’s teacher wars explain today’s education battles | The Hechinger Report:

Q&A with Dana Goldstein: How yesterday’s teacher wars explain today’s education battles

By Alexandria Neason

On the heels of a summer fraught with drama surrounding teachers and the policies that govern the schools where they work, education reporter Dana Goldstein offers a new look at the deep history of the profession to understand today’s disputes.

Dana Goldstein

In her first book, “The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession,” Goldstein chronicles milestones like the feminization of teaching, labor abuses and the subsequent rise of unions, and the relationship between schools, social justice and politics to remind us that today’s battles, reforms, and even some innovations are, however repackaged, often old news.

Goldstein talked with The Hechinger Report about what makes a good teacher, and how paying more attention to the past could help push American education forward.

Q. An underlying theme of the book is that many modern education reforms are not actually new; they’ve been tried before in what seems like a vicious cycle where we find something that needs fixing, talk about it for a while and then move on to the next issue. How do we break the cycle and start to see actual changes happening?

A. One of the reasons why reform efforts have failed again and again is that they tend to be extremely top down. They ask teachers to change but don’t give them the training and funding they need to make changes. Sustainable reform, in any social institution, is more likely to come from the bottom up than from the top down. [That way] they’re coming up with a plan that can actually be implemented successfully in their setting. A lot of our political systems make it really difficult.

There is a small movement that has existed since the 1970s of teacher-led schools. But in terms of, are we empowering teachers to do this politically? Unfortunately, not yet. There’s so much sense among parents and educators that the very big push on standardized testing has jumped the shark. We’re really looking for new ideas.

If we keep pursuing reform efforts that don’t actually empower teachers instructionally, what is at stake is this continued frustration, political rhetoric and conversation based on the idea of educational failure.

Q. Why haven’t we considered the history of teaching before moving forward with sweeping policy reforms, like the Common Core State Standards, in the past?

“We rarely begin any conversation about what should happen with an explanation about what happened in the past. We are very obsessed in the United States with this idea of innovation and that the newest ideas are always the best ones.” –Dana Goldstein

A. That’s a really good question. I’m not totally sure I know the answer. Generally, in the United States whether we are talking about education or something else, we have a rather ahistorical political culture. We rarely begin any conversation about what should happen with an explanation about what happened in the past. We are very obsessed in the United States with this idea of innovation and that the newest ideas are always the best ones. What’s ironic is that often the things that are presented as innovations aren’t new. We don’t know the history.

Q. There used to be some barriers that prevented people from getting into teaching, namely women and people of color. But today, there’s a common belief that it’s too easy to become a teacher. Do the barriers of the past contribute to that modern belief?Q&A with Dana Goldstein: How yesterday’s teacher wars explain today’s education battles | The Hechinger Report: