9-24-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:

Update. Mr. P’s ukes are fully funded.

A few days ago I posted about my neighborhood school.  Darwin Elementary. And its music teacher, Joe Panganiban. AKA, Mr. P. Darwin is an increasingly rare thing in Chicago. It is a public neighborhood elementary school. It is open to any child in the neighborhood. Just the kind of school Rahm wants to get rid of. There are area of Chicago that are three and four miles square without a traditiona

3 by Fred Klonsky / 27min 

Seven countries in six years.

2 by Fred Klonsky / 22min 

Opt out news. Brooklyn testing boycott leads to NY dropping the mandated test.

Last Spring: A group of teachers at the International High School at Prospect Heights refused to administer a city-mandated writing test they say is unsuitable for their students, many of whom are recent immigrants learning English. The test, called the Measures of English Language Arts Performance Assessment, is essay-based and aligned to Common Core standards. Students took a similar test in th

2 by Fred Klonsky / 1h hide  //  save

In Arizona every week is Banned Book Week for Chicanos.

Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street is banned in Arizona under House Bill 2282, which prohibits any courses or classes that “promote the overthrow of the government.” Arizona’s HB 2281 bans all Chicano Studies programs, claiming they are aimed at overthrowing the government. Arizona officials banned 80 books. Some were even carted out of classrooms and boxed during class time. The books we

3 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

Dyett community. “Hey Rahm. Do we matter?”

Brother Jitu and others are chained together outside Rahm’s fifth floor city hall office. If Dyett High School closes there will be no neighborhood public high school in Bronzeville. None in Oakland. None in Kenwood. Parents, teachers and community members have presented an alternative program that would leave Dyett open. CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennet and the mayor have refused to listen or conside

7 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

9-23-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Kathy Myalls committed voter fraud.17th District Republican challenger Kathy Myalls and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. She committed voter fraud to vote for him. I’ve always made the argument that the Republicans exaggerate the problem of voter fraud to push voter suppression rules that are aimed at

by mike simpson / 8h 

9-24-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

Roots of the UFT: Max Shachtman, Al Shanker Mentor

Vera Pavone and I wrote a review of the Shanker bio in New Politics: Albert Shanker: Ruthless Neo-Con | New Politics which delved into the roots of Shankerism which still dominates the UFT today.It is important for people to know how the UFT/Unity party was born out of Trotskyism and the the firmament of left-wing politics, then morphing into socialism and then into vicious anti-left right wing so

1 by ed notes online / 51min 

Where Are the People of Color in the Movement?

....there aren't enough people of color in this picture... Jersey Jazzman raised this issue on his blog after a meeting of Jersey bloggers.I left this comment:JJ - you make a point that I've been hearing here in NYC in all the various white dominated activist groups. It always seems to come down to something we're doing wrong - we're not sensitive enough. People of color feel uncomfortable in a ro

1 by ed notes online / 35min hide  //  save

YESTERDAY

Teachers and Police

After the roiling of the waters between the PBA and the UFT I've started writing a series of articles for my column in The Wave on teachers and police. Here are the first two.School Scope: Teachers and CopsBy Norm ScottPublished in The Wave, Sept. 5, 2014 Welcome to the new school year to teacher and parent School Scope readers. For those involved in schools, the new year really begins in Septembe

2 by ed notes online / 9h 

9-22-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: I Didn't March Anymore on Climate But Did Pick up and Plant a Fig TreeI really was going to go to the climate march even though I wrote- Another March and Why I Ain't Marchin' Anymore - U...I did include the caveat that I would march if I could get a beer at a bar afterwards. And lo and behold I received an offer from 2 lovely young ladies that if I marched they would buy me a bee

1 by mike simpson / 8h 

Don’t Let Foundation Money Be A Trojan Horse CT News Junkie | OP-ED |

CT News Junkie | OP-ED | Don’t Let Foundation Money Be A Trojan Horse:

OP-ED | Don’t Let Foundation Money Be A Trojan Horse

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 

Sarah Darer Littman: The Gates Foundation as a Trojan Horse, Disabling Democracy

Sarah Darer Littman, who writes about education issues in Connecticut, tells a shocking story here of power and money. The Hartford, Connecticut, schools are under mayoral control; the mayor appoints 5 of 9 members of the board of education. The other four are elected by the public. But the Board is bound by its bylaws to act as a whole. The five are not supposed to hold secret meetings to make p

2 by dianeravitch / 1h 

by Sarah Darer Littman | Sep 19, 2014 11:00am 
(17) Comments | Log in to Post a Comment
Posted to: Education, Opinion

SARAH DARER LITTMAN

I’ve written a great deal — some complain too much — about the corporate education reform issues in our state. It’s gotten to the point where I feel like Cassandra of Greek mythology, but the reason politicians don’t believe me isn’t because I’ve denied them favors like the Cassie of yore. Rather, it’s because I haven’t given them big enough campaign donations.

Then this week I read the Hartford Courant report on the discovery that computers and equipment are missingfrom the Jumoke Academy at Milner, and realized that despite all I’ve written previously, it’s time for this Cassandra to revisit the Trojan Horse story.

Last year, Hartford received a “gift” in the form of a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Hartford is a city where the Board of Education is under mayoral control — a situation the corporate education reformers in this state (and many forces from outside the state) tried extremely hard and spent a lot of money to try to replicate, unsuccessfully, in Bridgeport in 2012

This means that Mayor Pedro Segarra appoints five members of the Hartford Board of Education, and four are elected by the people of Hartford. However, according to its bylaws, the Board is meant to act as a whole.

But that’s not what happened in the case of the $5 million grant announced back in December 2012.

On June 29, 2012, staff members of the Gates Foundation came to Hartford for a meeting. According to a memo former Hartford Schools Superintendent Christina Kishimoto sent to the Board on October 12, 2012 — which was the first time the wider board knew of the meeting — “Participants included Board of Education Chair Matthew Poland, Mayor Segarra, Hartford Public Schools, Achievement First and Jumoke Academy senior staff members, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Connecticut Council for Education Reform, ConnCAN, and other corporate, community and philanthropic partners.”

The grant was paid through the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, which receives 3 percent of the total ($150,000) for serving as fiscal agent. $150,000. Just think of all the Donors Choose literacy programs in Hartford that money would fund, saving teachers the indignity of having to beg donations for sets of classroom books.

But that’s not the worst part about the Gates grant. What’s really disturbing is that by funneling a grant through another foundation, a private foundation was able to impose public policy behind closed doors, and what’s more, impose policy that required taxpayer money — all without transparency or accountability.

I had to file a Freedom of Information request in order to get a copy of the paperwork on the Gates grant and what I received was only the partial information, because as Connecticut taxpayers will have learned from the Jumoke/FUSE fiasco, while charter schools consistently argue they are “public” when it comes to accepting money from the state, they are quick to claim that they are private institutions when it comes to transparency and accountability.

But what is clear from the grant paperwork is that Hartford Public Schools committed to giving more schools to Achievement First and Jumoke Academy/Fuse, a commitment made by just some members of the Board of Education in applying for the grant, which appears to be a clear abrogation of the bylaws. Further, as a result of the commitment made by those board members, financial costs would accrue to Hartford Public Schools that were not covered by the grant — for example, the technology to administer the NWEA map tests, something I wrote about back in December 2012, just after the grant was announced.

One of the Gates Foundation grant’s four initiatives was to “Build the district’s capacity to retain quality school leaders through the transformation of low-performing schools, replicating Jumoke Academy’s successful model of a holistic education approach.”

I wrote to the Gates Foundation this week asking them what due diligence they did on Jumoke and how a foundation with the legal and accounting resources that surely must be available to them could have missed the kind of financial improprieties that were going on at the charter school management organization that managed the school. They did not comment prior to deadline.

Family Urban School of Excellence (FUSE) — the charter school organization that oversaw Jumoke Academy and Hartford’s Milner Elementary School — no longer manages any Connecticut schools and is the subject of an FBI investigation. It’s also the subject of a state Education Department investigation. Those investigations were prompted after Michael Sharpe, the charter school management group’s CEO, resigned following news reports revealing his criminal past. Sharpe also admitted to a Hartford Courant reporter that he had lied about his education credentials.

I’m also curious as to how the familiar alphabet soup of edreform organizations who were involved in the private meeting in June 2012, and who consistently showed up at Board of Education meetings supporting charter takeovers by Sharpe and FUSE, were so surprised by that organization’s financial and ethical improprieties. Aren’t CT News Junkie | OP-ED | Don’t Let Foundation Money Be A Trojan Horse:

9-24-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Why I Won't Discourage My Students from Becoming Teachers.

With A Brooklyn Accent:

Why I Won't Discourage My Students from Becoming Teachers.

Every day, I get personal messages from teachers describing how their jobs have been turned nightmarish by tests, assessments, scripting and micromanagement and abusive treatment by administrators. When I posed the question here of whether things are better or worse for teachers than they were 10 years ago, well over 95% said they were much worse; many people said they were planning to leave the p

3 by Mark Naison / 5h

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-interest

by mike simpson / 8h 

9-24-14 Curmudgucation - Reforming Accountability: Does CRPE Have Something New To Say?

CURMUDGUCATION:

Reforming Accountability: Does CRPE Have Something New To Say?

News comes this morning of yet another initiative, this one aimed squarely at school accountability. Or as Michael Petrilli put it on twitter, "Not just a change in tone."It's the Center on Reinventing Public Education (and why couldn't they be reinventing Excellent public education, because then they would be CREPE instead of CRPE). And they are going to deserve a look on their own. CRP

4 by Peter Greene / 1h 

9-23-14 Curmudgucation - Can We Be Less Nice, Please and Thank You?

CURMUDGUCATION: Can We Be Less Nice, Please and Thank You?I recently stumbled across a blog by mommy/teacher Katie Knight. It's an interesting read in that we appear to come from completely opposite ends of the bloggy spectrum. "Teacher to the Core" is awash in pink and is so precious that it nearly sent me into sugar shock, and Mrs. Knight is the sort of woman who has tiny dogs that she

1 by mike simpson / 6h 

9-25-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Astorino: Why Are Cuomo And Christie Best Buddies?

GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino makes a very good point: Republican candidate for governor Rob Astorino doesn’t approve of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s recent appearances with Gov. Cuomo to discuss security. “I’m not so sure why Gov. Christie would want to be hanging out with Gov. Cuomo,” Astorino told Time Warner Cable News after an appearance in Kingston. “The governor is under inve

by reality-based edu... / 30min 

Run, Jeb, Run

Jeb Bush is making noises for 2016:A dozen years after he ran his last political campaign, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is gearing up for a 2016 presidential bid – a campaign that would open up a new front in the Republican Party’s ongoing civil war.Mike Allen reports in today’s Politico Playbook that according to Bush’s friends, he’s “leaning more yes than no” on launching a run. He’s campaigning

by reality-based edu... / 52min 

Cuomo, Christie Hold Joint Campaign Appearance

The two governors who can't get the PATH running are going to keep you safe from terrorism - oh, and burnish their "national security" credentials at the same time:New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will appear alongside New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday for the second time this month.The governors will make the joint appearance in New York 10 days after coming together to announce a r

by reality-based edu... / 24min 

Cuomo Has Big Lead Over Astorino But His Job Approval Matches All-Time Low

If the election were held today, a weakened Andrew Cuomo would win re-election pretty handily - but that doesn't mean he hasn't been damaged by months of scandal and controversy:New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo holds a wide lead over his Republican gubernatorial challenger even as the governor's job-performance rating has fallen back to its lowest point since taking office, according to a Wall Street Jo

by reality-based edu... / 2h 

9-24-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Cuomo/Hochul Spent $5.9 Million On PrimaryThis 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 mill

1 by mike simpson / 8h 

Fear is not an option when it comes to social media in schools - Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator

Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: Fear is not an option when it comes to social media in schools:

Fear is not an option when it comes to social media in schools

By Chris Casal + Lisa Nielsen

Cross posted at http://thecasalos.blogspot.com

Innovative educators know first hand that social media like Twitter, Facebook, Google, and Instagram can be a powerful tool for teaching, learning, leading, and strengthening the home-school connection. In many cases though, others may need to be brought on board. Especially when parents are expressing concerns and unsure of how a platform can be used successfully.

It is the job of innovative educators to ensure parents, colleagues, and administrators know how to embrace the power of social media and also how to address their concerns.  

Here are suggestions for parents, teachers, and administrators in schools embracing social media.  

Parents
As stated by Tom Whitby in a recent Edutopia article, "Today, educators are doing many things that are not in the education experiences of parents or teachers. We can't expect parents to understand these new dynamics of education if they aren't taught about them." Parents need to ask their child's teacher to help them become smarter about learning in the digital age. Here are some ideas on how to do that. 

• Your child's new teacher tweets but you’re not familiar with Twitter? No problem. Talk to their teacher. Ask how and why they use it. Then step back and get ready for amazing examples (like this: Twitter with Second Graders) of it's benefits.
• You may not be familiar with a particular platform or may have heard negative things about it, but remember a platform has no intent. It is all about how it is being used. Talk to your child's teacher. Like first grade teacher Erin Shoening, they are likely to have a wealth of examples of the positive impact.
• As our world becomes ever more connected using social media is a valuable part of the learning process. You don’t want your child to have to wait for a "better time to learn it." These are resources that can support students in developing a strong learning network today. Teachers like Linda Yollis, who are excited to support a child in communicating and collaborating positively on the global stage, are a powerful resource. Embrace it.
• Social media can be an essential tool in your child’s curriculum and required by the new Common Core Standards. My students do my tweeting is one such example. Social media is real-world resource that teachers are incorporating in powerful ways. With social media students are connecting with politicians, scientists, astronauts, and historians. If you are lucky enough to have a pioneering teacher who understands how to embrace these tools, your child will become prepared for success in the globally-connected world in which they live.
• Your child is living in a world where more than 90% of employers use social media for recruiting.  If students are not savvy users of social media, they can kill their chance of getting many jobs. In fact 1 in 3 employers said candidates weren't hired because of something they said online. This is why you want your child to have a teacher who can support students in using social media to shine.
• Your child's teacher is there to nurture, support, encourage, and protect your child when you are not. Part of that responsibility means guiding them in the digital landscape which is a part of our world. Teachers who are embracing digital media for learning are the most connected educators your children will have. They are ready to ensure your child can safely and responsibly succeed in the digital landscape that is necessary for academic, career, and social success.  

Teachers

More and more educators are becoming connected. Not only is this a good thing, it is supported by the United States Department of Education. In the aforementioned Edutopia article, Tom Whitby explains that teaching in new ways is scary for teachers, administrators, and parents because they, "were educated by teachers who employed 20th century pedagogy and methodology, which means that the 20th century is the basis of our educational experience. Since we are now almost Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: Fear is not an option when it comes to social media in schools: 

Preparing Teachers for Urban Schools | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Preparing Teachers for Urban Schools | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Preparing Teachers for Urban Schools

“Please to God, if you are going to send … [new teachers] into urban schools, prepare them a bit better than I was prepared.” (quoted inBethany Rogers, pp. 353-354)

If I asked you to guess when this novice teacher said the above words, a good guess might be last week, last month, or last year. Actually, it came from a new teacher who had graduated from a university-based teacher education program in 1967.

I am reminded of this nearly half-century ago quote after reading Dana Goldstein’s book, Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession . In one chapter, Goldstein does a balanced job of reporting on Teach for America, a quarter-century effort that has brought liberal arts graduates from top colleges and universities into teaching. She points out the negatives (five weeks of summer training before assuming a full-time post in an urban school; only a two-year commitment to teach; high attrition rates after two years are completed) and positives (TFA secondary school math teachers outperformed a matched group of regular teachers as measured by standardized test scores; the funneling of TFA graduates into policy posts since the early 1990s). She sums up her experiences as an education reporter by saying:

Teach for America recruits are neither the saviors nor the banes of public education. Rather, like novice educators I’ve observed and interviewed, they run the gamut from talented and passionate to lackluster and burned out. What corps members share is the experience of being introduced to teaching through a truncated training process that stresses strict discipline and quantifiable results (p.197).

I had reached a similar conclusion.

Goldstein then goes on to recommend residency programs where newcomers to the profession are supervised by experienced teachers equipped with the expertise to model effective teaching and skills and be both sandpaper and a pillow to novices. Immersion into full-time classrooms is measured and Preparing Teachers for Urban Schools | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

CPS Blacklist: Meet the People Banned From Board of Education Meetings - Downtown - DNAinfo.com Chicago

CPS Blacklist: Meet the People Banned From Board of Education Meetings - Downtown - DNAinfo.com Chicago:

CPS Blacklist: Meet the People Banned From Board of Education Meetings

Rousemary Vega (r.), her husband and daughter holed themselves in Lafayette Elementary School after its last day of school ever last summer. They both have been banned from Chicago Board of Education meetings.

DOWNTOWN — When Rousemary Vega screamed at a Chicago Board of Education member and called him a "coward" during a meeting, and her husband fought with security guards as the couple were escorted out, they joined a small list of activists who have been barred from CPS meetings in the past year.

Since December, the district has banned four people from attending the typically contentious meetings, documents obtained by DNAinfo Chicago through a Freedom of Information Act request show. They are the first people banned from the monthly meetings — including one Wednesday — at 125 S. Clark St. under rule changes implemented in August 2013.

Ben Woodard explains how he got the blacklist and why people are on it:

The set of guidelines issued by board president David Vitale dictate the terms of public participation at board meetings and prohibit "unsolicited comments and disruptive behavior. ... If any individual is removed from a meeting as a result of disruptive behavior, then the individual may forfeit their right of reentry to future Chicago Board of Education meetings."

A CPS spokeswoman said the rules "ensure that the public's right to be informed of the Board's proceedings and actions is honored, and not impeded."

In addition to Vega and her husband Jesus Ramos, the other bans were issued after one man allegedly got into an altercation with a speaker at a meeting, while another man allegedly threatened to go to an administrator's CPS Blacklist: Meet the People Banned From Board of Education Meetings - Downtown - DNAinfo.com Chicago:

Louisiana Educator: Experienced Educator on Predatory Charters

Louisiana Educator: Experienced Educator on Predatory Charters:

Experienced Educator on Predatory Charters

Note to my readers: The following is a letter to the editor that was printed in shortened form here in The Lafayette Advertiser. This letter by an experienced school principal warns us about the destructive influence of  a special group of charter schools that I refer to as predatory charters. All parents and educators should read and listen to the advice in this letter.

Letter to the editor:
If charter schools can’t deliver high scores, then what? The Daily Advertiser asked this question in its editorial on July 10. As a public educator with 31 years of experience, I have some thoughts.

As stated in the editorial, the students of the two for-profit charter companies that edged their way into Lafayette Parish fared about as well as their counterparts in traditional public schools. The response from the companies was that their students had taken more difficult assessments in 2013-2014. As pointed out in the editorial, So did public school students. So where does this leave us?

There is no magic bullet in education that will automatically produce higher test scores. Research has shown over and over that open admission charters perform no better than traditional public schools. The charter schools that produce higher scores generally have selective admission policies that allow for mostly higher performing students to attend. This gives the false impression that charter schools provide better education than traditional public schools. This is what the out of state for- profit charter companies and members of the privatization movement would have you believe. This is just one more farce of the education reform/privatization movement that has swept across the US and Louisiana.

What will begin to happen, and already has, is that as greater numbers of higher performing students are “accepted” into charter schools, the charter scores will naturally increase. So would any schools. Charters will continue to drain money out of the public school system, as they already have, which will cause teachers, programs, and facility upgrades to be cut. As time goes by, the Lafayette Parish School System will come to look very similar to what has evolved in Recovery School District-New Orleans and RSD-Baton Rouge, the lowest performing public schools in the state. There will come a future day when citizens of Lafayette Louisiana Educator: Experienced Educator on Predatory Charters:

NYC Educator: Chemistry

NYC Educator: Chemistry:

Chemistry

You don't really know what will happen when you place kids together. A kid who's troublesome in one group may be a valuable addition to another. Last year, I had one kid moved from my AM class to my PM class, and I knew it would be a disaster. He was kind of the last straw. The PM class was on the edge and I was absolutely sure his presence would push it over. Surely enough, it did just that.

There are only so many trouble spots you can keep your eye on at one time. That's why so many people will tell me, "I don't know what to do with my 6th period class," or something like that. I'm sure John King would simply conclude they were ineffective and move to have them fired. After all, he taught one full year of public school before his two years in charters, and he knows everything. Surely he could control anyone. Except an audience of parents and teachers with real questions. And they're special interests anyway. If they weren't, they'd send their kids to Montessori schools just like Reformy John.

On the other hand, these teachers are doing just fine with their other four or five classes. So maybe they aren't so ineffective after all. If they were, wouldn't all their classes be bedlam? How do you know where the tipping point is? It really depends on who the kids are. Last year I was in the trailer and I placed the seats in a U shape to encourage communication. After they moved that last kid in, I moved the seats back into rows to discourage communication. It was a lot of work teaching that class.

There's really only one solution to the problem of class chemistry, and no, it isn't Common Core. Kids will be kids no matter how awful you make the curriculum. In fact, if you make them analyze things to death until you squeeze any and all potential enjoyment out of it, you'll likely make things even worse. Teenagers have all sorts of things running through their bodies and minds and that 17th reading may be just the thing to push them NYC Educator: Chemistry: