9-23-14 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement":

Georgia School Board Member Won’t Let A Bad Idea Die: No Grad Tickets For Parents If They Don’t Come To Open House

Earlier in the year, I posted a news report about a Georgia School Board member who wanted to ban parents from their children’s high school graduation. It appears he has now refined his idea a bit further: “I think a parent should earn the right to attend a graduation,” he said. “How do you earn that right? Come to the open house. Come to curriculum night. And any other third thing that we deem im

2 by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h 

“Three Tips to Focus Parent-Teacher Conferences On Creating a Partnership”

Three Tips to Focus Parent-Teacher Conferences On Creating a Partnership is a useful post from MindShift. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On Parent/Teacher Conferences.

2 by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h 

NYC School Threatens Parents With A Call To Child-Welfare Agency If They Pick-Up Their Kids Late

Charter school parents warned that late pick-ups could mean child-welfare report is the headline of an article in Chalkbeat: New York. Here’s how the article begins: A charter elementary school on the Lower East Side is telling families they will be reported to the city’s child-welfare agency if they make a habit of not picking up their child on time. And this story is the newest additions to The

6 by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h 

NPR Offers Parent-Teacher Conference Advice

NPR offered two separate shows on Rethinking A Fall Classic: The Parent-Teacher Conference. I’m adding them to The Best Resources On Parent/Teacher Conferences.

2 by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h hide  //  save

“Parent Communication Toolbox”

Parent Communication Toolbox is a very useful post from Edutopia, written by Gwen Pescatore. I’m adding it to A Beginning List Of The Best Resources On Using Technology To Help Engage Parents.

3 by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h 

Parent Trigger Ready To Bring Chaos To Ohio Schools

Schools in Columbus, Ohio, are bracing for chaos as they become a pilot project for using the parent trigger. The former superintendent (don’t you love it when people make decisions and don’t hang around to deal with the consequences?) offered the city up to the state as a place to experiment. The state has chosen StudentsFirst as a “neutral party” to be responsible for informing parents — Unbelie

2 by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h 

9-20-14 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement":“With Tech Taking Over in Schools, Worries Rise”Parent are rightfully concerned about who will be controlling school data about their child (see The Best Posts On The inBloom Data Fiasco). The New York Times just published With Tech Taking Over in Schools, Worries Rise, which gives a pretty good overview of the issue.2 by La

1 by mike simpson / 9h 

9-23-14 @ 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.

@homedepot foundation rejected my small grant application. We don’t have enough needs, apparently.

I put in for a $750 grant for the Home Depot Foundation to get some start up funding for a school garden, meeting space that would eventually generate revenue at a local farmer’s market in Ward 8, DC. I get the automatic reply: Dear Applicant, The Home Depot Foundation appreciated the opportunity to consider your […]

3 by Shaun Johnson / 1h hide  //  save

_____________________________________?

I am about six weeks into the new school year. You may have noticed, maybe not, that my personal contributions here, and to the “radio” show, dropped off precipitously. Teaching is a busy job, as you know. I have hobbies, a personal life, and other interests that supersede the old education reform commentary. Beyond the […]

2 by Shaun Johnson / 2h 

Obsessions with the f-word. I mean, FRUSTRATION

I saw this posted today from the Answer Sheet on reading in our current standards-obsessed era. The article poses an interesting question: is cultivating frustration in children something we should embrace? My instincts tell me no, and I’ll let you debate that answer for yourself. But what I will say is that I’ve seen this word, […]

1 by Shaun Johnson / 2h 

Bronx Tales

BRONX TALES. via BRONX TALES.

1 by David Greene / 53min 

On the BUS: First-Hand Tales of Teaching, Speaking Out, and Consequences

Originally posted on WeActEd:What happens to teachers who speak out about problems they see in their work? Join the next Education Town Hall BUS as two educators tell first-hand stories and discuss the larger issues, including whistle-blowing, teachers unions, job protections, and the impact of school reform policies on teachers of color. Tune in…

4 by denishanjones / 28min 

La. Legis Auditor Steps Into Common-Core-Promoting Game

On September 22, 2014, Louisiana Auditor Daryl Purpera issued a report on his objective opinion (?) of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Whether Purpera intended it or not, he is now part of the game. Purpera’s report is little more than another brochure for CCSS, one that glosses over issues such as who actually […]

1 by deutsch29 / 8h 

9-22-14 @ 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 

9-23-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: The "Data Driven" Nightmare Imposed by the Duncan Regime in the US DOE.

With A Brooklyn Accent:

The "Data Driven" Nightmare Imposed by the Duncan Regime in the US DOE.

When you base policy on "data" and discount "soft" information such as personal testimony, the hallmark of the Duncan Regime in the US Department of Education, you can produce a policy disaster of epic proportions. Why? Because data can be easily manipulated by self-interested parties. No better example of this can be found than in the sub prime mortgage crisis where Moody's an

1 by Mark Naison / 4h  

9-21-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Educational Malpractice and the Tragedy of America's Teachers

With A Brooklyn Accent: Educational Malpractice and the Tragedy of America's TeachersSomeday, though I don't exactly know when or how, there will be a full account of the tragedy of America's teachers being forced to commit educational malpractice and deciding between keeping the jobs they need to feed their families and jeopardizing the educational well being and emotional health of the children

1 by mike simpson / 8h 

9-23-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Cuomo/Hochul Spent $5.9 Million On Primary

This says everything you need to know about the corrupt nature of our politics:ALBANY – They were never worried about their Democratic Party primary challengers earlier this month, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and his running mate, Erie County’s Kathy Hochul, insisted over and over again. Worries aside, Cuomo and Hochul spent about $5.9 million in the final couple of weeks and days immediately following t

by reality-based edu... / 10min hide  //  save

What Common Core Proponents Like David Coleman Have Wrought In Kindergarten

Remember when ELA Common Core architect David Coleman famously told parents at a NY State Board of Regents meeting that no one gives a shit what their kids think or feel about things?Here's how some of that Coleman wisdom is playing out in kindergarten these days:Writing lessons also have changed."In kindergarten we always taught them writing," she said. "But 15 years ago it was mor

1 by reality-based edu... / 2h 

9-22-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Cuomo Reneges On Deal To Working Families PartyGee, here's a surprise:ALBANY—Late last week, Governor Andrew Cuomo sat next to Senate co-leaders Jeff Klein and Dean Skelos at a press conference and announced they had reached a "handshake agreement" on an multi-million dollar item in next year's budget to fund anti-terror efforts. Left unsaid was the fact that such

by mike simpson / 8h 

Report focuses attention on English learners | EdSource

Report focuses attention on English learners | EdSource:

CREDIT: LILLIAN MONGEAU FOR EDSOURCE

Report focuses attention on English learners

September 23, 2014 | By Susan Frey | No Comments



•  SHARE THIS ARTICLE

As accountability for student progress in California becomes more local, a new report focuses on how school districts can better educate their English learners – calling on administrators to embrace biliteracy, provide a rigorous curriculum and train all teachers in how to support language development in core courses, not just English language development classes.

The report, by Oakland-based advocacy group The Education Trust–West, also recommends that the state continue to provide more funds for these students for up to two years after they have become fluent in English. That way districts will not have the “perverse incentive” to keep the students as English learners – in many cases denying them a more rigorous curriculum – to generate more funds, the authors say.

Under the Local Control Funding Formula, districts receive extra funding for English learners, but that funding disappears when the students are designated as fluent.

The report, “The Language of Reform: English learners in California’s shifting education landscape,” reviewed the progress of English learners in 276 unified districts serving at least 100 of those students in 2012-13. Tables in the report include the data from all 276 districts.

Nearly one of four students in California is learning English, and 85 percent of them live in low-income households. They have more than 60 home languages, though 85 percent speak Spanish. “Too often,” the report authors say, “they encounter insufficient academic supports, ill-prepared teachers and less rigorous coursework.”

Nearly one of four students in California is learning English, and 85 percent of them live in low-income households.

The researchers found 11 districts “that break the pattern” with better achievement, language acquisition and reclassification patterns. Those districts, the report said:

• Believe that students’ native languages are cultural and linguistic assets;
• Offer professional learning opportunities and collaboration time to ensure all teachers are able to support English learners;
• Offer English learners access to a full Common Core–aligned curriculum;
• Engage parents and forge strong home-school connections.

The districts’ approach to achieving those goals varied considerably, said lead author Carrie Hahnel, adding that “there are multiple pathways to achieve success with English learners.”

“We did not see a clear pattern or a couple of interventions that are needed in order to achieve success,” she said.

The researchers used four measures to determine how well districts were doing: proficiency rates on the English Language Arts portion of the California Standards Test; annual progress on the California English Learners Development Test, which measures how well Report focuses attention on English learners | EdSource:

Charter school movement must focus on excellence

When the California Charter Schools Association released our first “Portrait of the Movement” report in 2011, it revealed a stark picture of uneven performance among the state’s charter schools. While California’s charter sector had evolved to produce a substantial number of schools generating among the highest levels of student learning in the state, the movement was... [[ This is a content summ

by EdSource Commenta... / 8h

Whither Democracy and Unionism - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Whither Democracy and Unionism - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

Whither Democracy and Unionism

By Deborah Meier on September 23, 2014 8:19 AM

Bridging Differences returns from its summer break today. Deborah Meier launches the new blog year with Leo Casey, the executive director of the Albert Shanker Institute, a policy and research think tank affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers.

Dear Leo,

We've known each other for a long time, and had our agreements and disagreements—partially related to the positions we held and thus our relationship to the AFT/UFT.  There are, as a result, dozens of issues it might be fun to explore. Picking one to start with, however ...

When people ask me to speak, and ask me for a topic, I always just say, Whither Democracy?

It's in trouble—to say the least. We have our moments of hope that too often get crushed. But while I was working on the inside with kids and families and colleagues my hope vs. despair ratio was very positive because I could re-energize myself daily within the school itself. It's harder these days.

Equally vile is the related issue of "whither unionism." Not only it is vital for raising wages and cutting back on exploitation, but unions are both an opportunity to practice democracy, to get it in our bones and blood, as well as to create the balance of power democracy rests on. To get into the habit of demanding a voice and a place at the table requires organization as well as chutzpah.

It's not enough for our leaders to crave a place at the table. Similarly, it's not enough to know that our leaders were consulted, had a voice at the table when decisions affecting teachers were made.  We needed—long, long ago—to tackle how schools could become places where democracy operates daily—where kids and families and community members could witness it, participate with us in creating a lived form of democracy. One kids could see, too.

Schools, as you know, are hardly democratic institutions in almost any sense of the word. Some principals make space for other voices, but in the end they view themselves as the final authority—bowing only to those above them (and that's a pretty common phenomenon). Ditto for teachers and students. While classrooms with teachers who provide space for student voices are important, a "democratic classroom" does not make it a democratic institution. Teachers are, after all, a highly educated workforce, with expertise in education at least equal, if not often superior, to their Whither Democracy and Unionism - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

La. Legis Auditor Steps Into Common-Core-Promoting Game | deutsch29

La. Legis Auditor Steps Into Common-Core-Promoting Game | deutsch29:

La. Legis Auditor Steps Into Common-Core-Promoting Game

September 23, 2014

On September 22, 2014, Louisiana Auditor Daryl Purpera issued a report on his objective opinion (?) of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Whether Purpera intended it or not, he is now part of the game.

Purpera’s report is little more than another brochure for CCSS, one that glosses over issues such as who actually controlled the writing of CCSS– not the least of whom is David Coleman, a non-teacher who cashed in on No Child Left Behind (NCLB)-related assessment work with his first company, Grow Network– and whoseconnections to current US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan extend back to Duncan’s days as Chicago schools CEO– and who then benefited from CCSS via his second education business-gone-nonprofit, Student Achievement Partners (SAP), and who now conveniently is president of College Board, one of the three insider groups specifically named for CCSS development (the other two were ACT and Achieve).

Cozy– and worthy of closer scrutiny of one called “auditor.”

Purpera’s report also makes no mention of Coleman’s and then-CEO of Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) gene Wilhoit’s asking billionaire Bill Gates to bankroll CCSS in 2008.

As a billionaire funding a major American education initiative, Gates escapes audit. However, he has not escaped public suspicion for his continued purchasing and actively promoting– often via some strategic speeches — his views of how mass education “should be.”

The Gates role in buying CCSS– and a former CCSSO president’s asking him to do so– should have given Purpera pause.

Should have.

I suppose the most obvious indicator for me of Purpera’s blindly accepting the brochured CCSS “history” is the fact that he writes of the CCSS “anchors” and states that such can be found in Appendix B of his report– yet there exist no “officially publicized” math anchors. The CCSS website has none. (Google “common core anchor standards”– only ELA anchors appear.) The CCSS math anchors mysteriously went missing in 2009. So, contrary to Purpera’s report, CCSS math is “unanchored.”

Surely Purpera investigated this.

Now, Purpera’s Appendix B does include purported CCSS math anchors– a brief La. Legis Auditor Steps Into Common-Core-Promoting Game | deutsch29:

Increase Teacher Diversity in New York City! Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública: Increase Teacher Diversity in New York City!

Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública: Increase Teacher Diversity in New York City!:

Increase Teacher Diversity in New York City!

Demand New York City's Board of MisEducation to Have Black & Latino Educators Be at Parity with its Black & Latino Student Population!

Sign the Petition and Pass It Along 

SIGN AT: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/increase-teacher-diversity?source=c.tw&r_by=1921406

Increase Teacher Diversity in New York City!

Petition by Teacher Diversity Committee

 

To be delivered to Carmen Fariña and The New York City Panel for Educational Policy

Since the 2001-2002 academic year, there has been a 57.4% decrease in the number of Black teachers hired by the New York City Department of Education, and a 22.9% increase for white teachers hired during this same period of time.

We ask Chancellor Fariña and the Panel for Education Policy to:

• Make a policy statement that acknowledges the value of teacher diversity and the lack of such diversity in New York City public schools.

• Centrally monitor the racial demographic of hiring and firing in NYC public and charter schools. In public school data reports include the racial profile for the teachers and administrators in each school as is currently done for the students.

• Raise the percentage of Black and Latino teachers hired in the system overall, with a special focus on raising the percentage of male teachers in those groups.

• Raise the percentage of persons of color in the NYC Teaching Fellows program to more closely match the NYC student body demographic. Make public the number and racial demographic of NYC Teaching Fellows hired.

• Settle Gulino vs. Board of Education, in which a recent court ruling found that the NY State LAST certification exam was not validated yet was used in 2002 to dismiss thousands of NYC teachers who were disproportionately Black and Latino.

• Invest in a clear and distinct paraprofessional-to-teacher career path that offers qualified applicants provisional teaching licenses while completing graduate degree requirements and subsidizes both undergraduate and graduate tuition at CUNY and SUNY

There are currently 114 signatures. NEW goal - We need 200 signatures!

Petition Background

In a school system that is 67.5% Black and Latino (as of 2012 - 13), the 34% combined percentage of Black and Latino teachers in the system is disappointing at best.

This lack of diversity reinforces already existing practices of segregation and leaves out diverse cultural perspectives that inform curriculum, pedagogy and practice. It also shortchanges our students by replicating and reinforcing false societal structures that devalue the contribution and perspectives of non-dominant racial and cultural groups.

SIGN AT: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/increase-teacher-diversity?source=c.tw&r_by=1921406

Ohio Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments Today in Case Involving White Hat Management | janresseger

Ohio Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments Today in Case Involving White Hat Management | janresseger:

Ohio Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments Today in Case Involving White Hat Management

Posted on September 23, 2014 by janresseger

Today, September 23, 2014, the Ohio Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a long running case that has pitted Ohio’s notorious White Hat Management Company, which manages charter schools for-profit, against ten of its schools whose boards set out to dissolve ties to the management company and bring in a new manager.  White Hat at first refused to disclose to its schools how it had spent the 96 percent of taxpayer funding for the schools that went directly to the management company without the charter boards’ oversight.  The schools had to go to court to force White Hat to disclose this information to the schools it managed.  Now the question is: Who owns the school buildings, furniture, and all equipment?

The case involves basic and important questions: whether charter school boards are in charge and can cleanly terminate contracts with poorly performing management companies they have hired to run the schools, whether management companies can create subsidiaries with taxpayer funds to amass real estate empires and then rent buildings back to the management companies with whom they are affiliated at rents well over market rates, whether buildings and other assets purchased by the management companies with tax dollars are owned by the charter school boards or the private management companies, and finally whether charter schools themselves—that draw funding from Ohio’s state education fund and the state’s over 600 public school districts—are public or private entities.

Doug Livingston, an Akron Beacon Journal reporter and Ohio’s top education writer, explains the case succinctly: “The case involves Akron-based White Hat Management and 10 charter schools.  The schools’ boards, after paying White Hat millions to run what turned out to be poorly performing schools, fired the company when they were unable to obtain answers as to how the money was spent.  But after the firing, White Hat argued that it owned most of the assets and it would be the boards that would have to move and start up new schools from scratch.  Meanwhile, the buildings that were vacated often became the home for new charter schools run by the for-profit White Hat… The case illustrates a larger issue: Ohio charter schools were created more than 15 years ago as independent public agencies.  But as so many for-profit companies now own the real estate, furniture and computers, the questions are raised: Are charter schools still public?  Are they independent? Or are they now privately run, for-proft businesses?”

Livingston points out that a recent investigation by the Beacon Journal and the News Outlet at Youngstown State University uncovered a number of instances when members of charter Ohio Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments Today in Case Involving White Hat Management | janresseger:

NYC Educator: When Zephyr's Away, the Rats Will Play...

NYC Educator: When Zephyr's Away, the Rats Will Play...:

When Zephyr's Away, the Rats Will Play...

Nowhere is the craven opportunism of Andrew Cuomo more evident than in his own words. When he was facing opposition in the Working Families Party, he was a liberal, a progressive, a true blue Democrat. He was gonna reign in those nasty independent Democrats, the ones who acted like Republicans, so our bold UFT and NYSUT leadership made sure that scary Zephyr Teachout didn't take that mantle from him.

And when Teachout mustered the temerity to run against him in the primary, we heard not a word from him. Except that this deal to appease progressives in WFP? Forget about it.

Of course, he spent a few millions fighting Zephyr in court, claiming this Fordham law professor who's been working in NY since 2009 commuted to Vermont or something. This is the sort of sterling judgment we can expect from our fearless leader. Now that she pulled over a third of a vote from him in the primary, and things look safe, he can tell us what he really thinks.

The governor also noted how he took on the teachers union to bolster accountability in public schools.

We all know how that's worked out. Aren't things in your classrooms just humming now that you're being observed 200 times a year? Don't you feel valued, trusted and professional? And isn't it a fine thing that teachers are being evaluated by test scores even though there is not only no evidence NYC Educator: When Zephyr's Away, the Rats Will Play...: