Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 9/29/15

CORPORATE ED REFORM

California denied renewal of federal funding for charter schools | EdSource

California denied renewal of federal funding for charter schools | EdSource: California denied renewal of federal funding for charter schoolsCalifornia, which received $250 million in federal money over the last five years to foster the growth of charter schools, will get none of the $125 million that will be allocated in the next round of funding, the U.S. Department of Education announced Monday

by mike simpson / 0min 

Seattle Educators Score Major Victory for Students - NEA Today

Seattle Educators Score Major Victory for Students - NEA Today: Seattle Educators Score Major Victory for StudentsWhen members of the Seattle Education Association (SEA) ratified a new contract with the school district on September 20 ending a six-day strike, it was a victory not only for educators, but also a major win for students, public schools, and the communities they serve. The contract — a

by mike simpson / 10min 

Jersey Jazzman: Michael Vaughn of @edu_post Responds To My Criticisms

Jersey Jazzman: Michael Vaughn of @edu_post Responds To My Criticisms: Michael Vaughn of @edu_post Responds To My Criticisms Last week, I published a response to a piece by Michael Vaughn at Education Post (Vaughn is their Director of Communications). I found the piece to be, frankly, little more than a collection of reformy bromides. Vaughn responded to me personally via email and asked me to pos

by mike simpson / 35min 

Why Flint’s Water Crisis May Be a Boon for #EdReform | educarenow

Why Flint’s Water Crisis May Be a Boon for #EdReform | educarenow: Why Flint’s Water Crisis May Be a Boon for #EdReformLet me start with some background information.My home state of Michigan has a law that allows an Emergency Manager to be put in place. This  Emergency Manager has dictatorial control. Decisions that were previously made by a democratically elected city council or school board are

by mike simpson / 39min 

Heal Our Schools, a documentary

HearOurTeachersHome: Heal Our Schools, a documentaryHeal Our Schools, a documentary researched, written and directed by Laurie Gabriel, is being produced with the mission of uncovering and solving the real problems of public education in America. This venture is different from other education documentaries in that it fully explores the experience and expertise of our most overlooked resource: teac

by mike simpson / 3h 

LCAP Parent Advisory Committee - Sacramento City Unified School District

LCAP Parent Advisory Committee - Sacramento City Unified School District: LCAP Parent Advisory CommitteeApplication for the 2015-16 school yearIn 2013-14, the state of California changed the way it funds school districts.The new model, called the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), allows districts more freedom in how funds are spent but also requires the development of a Local Control and Accou

by mike simpson / 6h 

PDK/Gallup Poll - October highlights

PDK/Gallup Poll - October highlights: Make teaching more professionalAre Americans signaling that they want changes that would boost the professionalism of teaching?Americans want higher professional requirements for teachers and believe teacher pay is too low, but they don’t like tenure, according to the newest PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.Public school pare

by mike simpson / 6h 

Former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa endorses charter expansion effort - LA Times

Former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa endorses charter expansion effort - LA Times: Former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa endorses charter expansion effortFormer Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has endorsed a controversial effort to more than double the number of the city’s charter schools over the next eight years.Villaraigosa declared his support for the plan in an interview after an ed

by mike simpson / 6h 

Eli Broad's LAUSD? | OpEdNews

Article: Eli Broad's LAUSD? | OpEdNews: Eli Broad's LAUSD?"While working for two years as an accountant, Eli Broad saw his homebuilding clients making much more that he was, and he and Edythe's cousin's husband decided they, too, could build houses."-Broad FoundationThere are some who like to quietly give to charities, being careful not to draw too much attention to themselves. Eli Broad

by mike simpson / 8h 

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan Announces 2015 National Blue Ribbon Schools | U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan Announces 2015 National Blue Ribbon Schools | U.S. Department of Education: U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan Announces 2015 National Blue Ribbon SchoolsU.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today recognized 335 schools as National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2015 based on their overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among st

by mike simpson / 8h 

José Luis Vilson: Stealing Possible | The Progressive

Stealing Possible | The Progressive: Stealing PossibleThe New York charter school group Families of Excellent Schools announced recently that rallying under the banner “Don’t Steal Possible,”on September 30, 2015 “over 10,000 parents, students, and educators are expected to demand an end to education inequality in Brooklyn's Cadman Plaza, followed by hundreds marching across the Brooklyn Bridge an

by mike simpson / 8h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Is Rahm looking for a war on special ed?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Is Rahm looking for a war on special ed?: Is Rahm looking for a war on special ed?As the grandparent of a CPS student with special needs, my message to the mayor is -- if it's a battle you want, it's a battle you'll get.Our autocrat at City Hall appears bent on dismembering special education in Chicago by a thousand cuts. SpEd took its first major deep cut over the s

by mike simpson / 8h 

Another black face on a white education agenda isn't needed — justice is - The Hechinger Report

Another black face on a white education agenda isn't needed — justice is - The Hechinger Report: Another black face on a white education agenda isn’t needed — justice isBoth the current education reform lobby and their progressive opponents feel a certain kinship with the Black Lives Matter movement.They even send subtle and not so subtle overtures soliciting the group’s support.“I would argue we

by mike simpson / 8h 

Cuomo and Malloy – Deaf, Dumb and Blind about the Common Core Testing Opt-Out Movement - Wait What?

Cuomo and Malloy – Deaf, Dumb and Blind about the Common Core Testing Opt-Out Movement - Wait What?: Cuomo and Malloy – Deaf, Dumb and Blind about the Common Core Testing Opt-Out MovementWhen it comes to the Charter School and Corporate Education Reform Industry, Democrat Governors Andrew Cuomo and Dannel Malloy are twins separated at birth.  Proponents of charter schools, the Common Core, the Com

by mike simpson / 8h 

Pennsylvania School Funding War Drags On | janresseger

Pennsylvania School Funding War Drags On | janresseger: Pennsylvania School Funding War Drags OnPennsylvania doesn’t yet have a state budget, something the state is required to have in place on June 30. A protracted, years-long, and politically contentious fight about inadequate and grossly inequitably distributed school funding is a primary reason for the impasse.A Republican-dominated state legi

by mike simpson / 8h 

CURMUDGUCATION: NY: Turning Screws on Opt Out

CURMUDGUCATION: NY: Turning Screws on Opt Out: NY: Turning Screws on Opt OutIf you are a struggling school in New York, congratulations-- you've been drafted to fight against the state's burgeoning opt out movement.As reported yesterday at Politico, one new requirement for struggling and persistently struggling schools to avoid a state takeover is to get their participation on the Big Standardized

by mike simpson / 8h 

Education Research Report: Usage of Policies and Practices Promoted by Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants

Education Research Report: Usage of Policies and Practices Promoted by Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants: Usage of Policies and Practices Promoted by Race to the Top and School Improvement GrantsThe American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 injected $7 billion into two of the Obama administration's signature competitive education grant programs: Race to the Top (RTT) and School Im

by mike simpson / 9h 

Portland Public Schools leader: LGBTQ training makes schools 'safe' for students (Q&A) | OregonLive.com

Portland Public Schools leader: LGBTQ training makes schools 'safe' for students (Q&A) | OregonLive.com: Portland Public Schools leader: LGBTQ training makes schools 'safe' for students (Q&A)(Faith Cathcart)Earlier this week, The Oregonian/OregonLive brought you the story of a transgender teacher in the Gresham-Barlow School District. Oregon and Washington have long barred employers from f

by mike simpson / 9h 

BESE Campaign News as of 9/28/15 | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

BESE Campaign News as of 9/28/15 | Crazy Crawfish's Blog: BESE Campaign News as of 9/28/15Big Education Ape: NPE Endorses Jason France, AKA Crazy Crawfish, for BESE – The Network For Public Education http://bit.ly/1TXoLG8I want to apologize to my regular readers of the blog.  I have been remiss with  my postings of late and there are a lot of great stories to write about.  However one of the bigge

by mike simpson / 9h 

Common Core and Professional Development: Survey Results - Education Week

Common Core and Professional Development: Survey Results - Education Week: Common Core and Professional Development: Survey ResultsIn February 2015, the RAND Corp. surveyed its American Teacher Panel, a random selection of 1,129 K-12 teachers, on current professional-development needs, focusing on topics related to the Common Core State Standards. In all, 655 teachers responded; the results were w

by mike simpson / 9h 

The ‘moral and spiritual culture’ that elevates education - Yahoo News

The ‘moral and spiritual culture’ that elevates education - Yahoo News: The ‘moral and spiritual culture’ that elevates educationA Christian Science perspective: A response to revising American history curriculum. With school in the U.S. and elsewhere in full swing, it’s a good time to remember there’s more to education than just learning core facts and developing basic skills.The Monitor reported

by mike simpson / 9h 

This Is How Out of Control Testing Has Gotten in Schools - Yahoo News

This Is How Out of Control Testing Has Gotten in Schools - Yahoo News: This Is How Out of Control Testing Has Gotten in SchoolsFor anyone who doubts that education in the U.S. has become overrun by testing, consider this. My daughter's first day of kindergarten -- her very first introduction to elementary school -- consisted almost entirely of assessment. She was due at school at 9:30, and I picke

by mike simpson / 9h 

Clinton endorsement divides teachers union - POLITICO

Clinton endorsement divides teachers union - POLITICO: Clinton endorsement divides teachers unionState officials and rank-and-file members plan to protest upcoming vote to endorse Hillary Clinton.Top brass of the 3 million-strong National Education Association, the country's largest union, are recommending an endorsement of Hillary Clinton, according to an email obtained by POLITICO -- a move that

by mike simpson / 9h 

Charter Schools defend law that lets them set aside seats - WSJ

Teachers Union Criticizes Charter Perk - WSJ: Teachers Union Criticizes Charter PerkCharter Schools defend law that lets them set aside seats for employees’ childrenThe new ability of New York charter schools to set aside seats for employees’ children drew fire Monday from the United Federation of Teachers, which said such “nepotism” defied charters’ stated goals of serving the neediest children.A

by mike simpson / 9h 

Point: Charter schools need to be shut down in Washington | Crosscut

Point: Charter schools need to be shut down in Washington | Crosscut: Point: Charter schools need to be shut down in WashingtonLast month, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that charter schools in the state – which voters approved in 2012 – are unconstitutional, due to the fact they are not governed by elected boards and are therefore unaccountable to taxpayers. As Washington Attorney General Bob

by mike simpson / 10h 

What Boehner's Resignation Means for NCLB Rewrite - US News

What Boehner's Resignation Means for NCLB Rewrite - US News: Boehner's Resignation Could Upend NCLB RewriteThe House speaker was a principal architect of the No Child Left Behind Act.Congress is closer than it's ever been to overhauling the No Child Left Behind Act, the much-maligned and latest iteration of the federal K-12 law. But the announcement made last week by House Speaker John Boehner tha

by mike simpson / 10h 

Right Wing School Choice Fan Rep. Kevin McCarthy Could Be Next Speaker - Politics K-12 - Education Week

School Choice Fan Rep. Kevin McCarthy Could Be Next Speaker - Politics K-12 - Education Week: School Choice Fan Rep. Kevin McCarthy Could Be Next SpeakerSo Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, the Speaker of the House, former education chairman, and a lead author of the No Child Left Behind Act, is out as of the end of the month—and Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will almost certaintly replace him.McCarthy

by mike simpson / 10h 

How the GOP Turned on Common Core

How the GOP Turned on Common Core: How the GOP Turned on Common CoreChris Christie was for it before he was against it. So, for that matter, was Mike Huckabee. When the Common Core education standards were introduced in 2009 by the governors and school superintendents of 46 states, most of the would-be Republican nominees for president were for this voluntary approach to kids’ education. In 2013,

by mike simpson / 10h 

YESTERDAY

Guest Post: Deb Herbage on American Institutes for Research (AIR) | deutsch29

Guest Post: Deb Herbage on American Institutes for Research (AIR) | deutsch29: Guest Post: Deb Herbage on American Institutes for Research (AIR)Deb HerbageDeb Herbage (@DebHerbage) was born and raised in Massachusetts and worked for a Fortune 100 company for 20 years as a business analyst.  She relocated to Trinity, Florida in 2007 with her husband and daughter. Deb is an outspoken advocate and ac

by mike simpson / 19h 

Seattle School Board Candidates’ Forum | Seattle Education

Seattle School Board Candidates’ Forum | Seattle Education: Seattle School Board Candidates’ ForumThe League of Women Voters and the Seattle Council PTSA invite you to aSeattle School Board Candidate’s ForumThursday, October 8, 2015 from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PMSeattle First Baptist Church1111 Harvard AvenueSeattle, 98122Seattle is the largest school district in the state, serving over 53,000 students a

by mike simpson / 19h 

Teach for America Deletes Educator Counter-Narratives; Educators Repost EVERY SINGLE ONE! | gadflyonthewallblog

Teach for America Deletes Educator Counter-Narratives; Educators Repost EVERY SINGLE ONE! | gadflyonthewallblog: Teach for America Deletes Educator Counter-Narratives; Educators Repost EVERY SINGLE ONE!On Sept. 23, Teach for America (TFA) published an article on its Website about the “Badass Women of Teach for America.”Many of the more than 56,000 members of the Badass Teachers Association (BATS)c

by mike simpson / 20h 

HOW CRAPPY IS EDUCATION NEWS IN CALIFORNIA? UP to $1.6 BILLION ON COMMON CORE AND NO ONE HAS HEARD OF IT!

Big Education Ape: USC Poll: Californians Don’t Know Much About Common Core http://bit.ly/1NXBWHnCalifornia. California’s Standardized Testing and Reporting Program, which began in 1998, tests students in grades 2–11 in English, math, science, social science, and history.Estimates suggest that it would cost California taxpayers $1.6 billion to replace the existing state standards with the Common C

by mike simpson / 21h 

Congratulations to Denisha Jones! - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform

Congratulations to Denisha Jones! - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform: Congratulations to Denisha Jones!We are honored to have Denisha Jones as one of our eight UOO administrators!Denisha Jones is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Howard University.  She is a former early childhood teacher and preschool director. She received her PhD from Indiana Uni

by mike simpson / 21h 

The Washington Teacher: The Extinct Black Educator and the Death of Transparency in DC

The Washington Teacher: The Extinct Black Educator and the Death of Transparency in DC: The Extinct Black Educator and the Death of Transparency in DCBy Candi Peterson, WTU General Vice PresidentStatements or expressions of opinions herein 'do not' represent the views or official positions of DCPS, AFT, Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) or its members. Views are my own. Think back and try to rememb

by mike simpson / 23h 

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 9/28/15

CORPORATE ED REFORMCURMUDGUCATION: USED: Accountability for Public Schools OnlyCURMUDGUCATION: USED: Accountability for Public Schools Only: USED: Accountability for Public Schools OnlyArne Duncan today held a press chat to announce that USED would be throwing more money ($157 million) at charter schools. Throwing money at public schools is, you may recall, anathema to reformsters, who are concern

by mike simpson / 1d 

California denied renewal of federal funding for charter schools | EdSource

California denied renewal of federal funding for charter schools | EdSource:

California denied renewal of federal funding for charter schools

California, which received $250 million in federal money over the last five years to foster the growth of charter schools, will get none of the $125 million that will be allocated in the next round of funding, the U.S. Department of Education announced Monday.

The Charter Schools Program is the primary source of hundreds of thousands of dollars in startup money for charter schools, particularly small independent operators. Aspiring charter operators will find it extremely difficult to open without that support, said Eric Premack, director of the California Charter Schools Development Center, which guides charters through the process of opening schools. Saying he was “stupefied” by the new allocation, Premack said this will be the first time California, the state with the largest number of charters, has been shut out of federal funding in two decades.

The federal program gave California charters state-administered seed money of  between $200,000 and $500,000 over three years; after that, they depended on state-funded tuition money.

Under a peer-review process, eight states were to divide $125 million in 2015-16. The Department of Education awarded an additional $32 million to a dozen existing, high-performing charter organizations to expand. Only one is based in California. San Jose-based Across the Bridge Foundation, which operates Downtown College Prep, San Jose’s first charter high school, will receive $827,000 this year and a total of $2.4 million over five years to expand to six middle and high schools serving low-income students.

Premack attributed California’s low ranking to changes in the judging criteria. The Department of Education’s new criteria encouraged stronger state oversight of charters and asked states to explain how charters fit into their reform strategy, he said. “It assumes that a state exerts power and authority over charters, which is not the case in California,” he said. California law is structured to leave primary oversight and approval to local districts.

Premack also said judges awarded few points to California for high-quality charters – even though a 2015 national study of urban charters by CREDO, a research a research institute at Stanford University affiliated with the Hoover Institution, found that California’s charters, serving California denied renewal of federal funding for charter schools | EdSource:

Seattle Educators Score Major Victory for Students - NEA Today

Seattle Educators Score Major Victory for Students - NEA Today:

Seattle Educators Score Major Victory for Students

When members of the Seattle Education Association (SEA) ratified a new contract with the school district on September 20 ending a six-day strike, it was a victory not only for educators, but also a major win for students, public schools, and the communities they serve. The contract — approved by 83 percent of teachers, 87 percent of paraprofessionals and 96 percent of office professionals – gives educators a raise, but also guarantees more recess time for elementary students, an educator voice in the standardized testing regime, and new policies to ensure equity at the city’s public schools.

“This is a hard-fought victory for the kids of Seattle, and I am proud of SEA members and our incredible bargaining team,” said Jonathan Knapp, SEA president. “This agreement signals a new era in bargaining in public education. We’ve negotiated a pro-student, pro-parent, pro-educator agreement. We really appreciate the strong support from parents and students.”

When the union, representing 5,000 educators in the Seattle district, voted to go on strike, parents scrambled to find daycare, but they also demonstrated support for their children’s educators by writing op-eds, signing a Change.org petition, rallying in front of the school district’s administrative offices,or by joining the educators picketing at their children’s schools.

Elizabeth Gay, her 10 year old daughter, and 13 year old son, showed up at their elementary school every morning to march with their teachers.

“We wanted them to know we appreciated them, supported them, and recognized Seattle Educators Score Major Victory for Students - NEA Today:

Jersey Jazzman: Michael Vaughn of @edu_post Responds To My Criticisms

Jersey Jazzman: Michael Vaughn of @edu_post Responds To My Criticisms:

Michael Vaughn of @edu_post Responds To My Criticisms 

Last week, I published a response to a piece by Michael Vaughn at Education Post (Vaughn is their Director of Communications). I found the piece to be, frankly, little more than a collection of reformy bromides. Vaughn responded to me personally via email and asked me to post his reply on my blog. 

In the interest of fairness, I post Vaughn's response here in its entirety without comment. Vaughn quotes from my original post in italics. I'll publish whatever I have to say about it in a separate post.

* * *

I appreciate Jersey Jazzman’s very close reading of my blog on teachers unions and the common good. He raises some very good points.

Except it's not a "common" good when those charter schools clearly serve a different student population than their neighboring public district schools: fewer Limited English Proficient students, fewer students with disabilities (particularly the more profound disabilities), and fewer in the deepest level of economic disadvantage. Further, there is more and more evidence that charter school students differ from the neighboring schools' students in ways that can't be measured in the data, including parental involvement and motivation.

I agree that there should be a discussion about access to charter schools and the demographics they serve. And the latest CREDO study shows that urban charters, in some cases, serve more students from low-income families and higher percentages of English-language learners and students with disabilities. I’m all for having a conversation about how to get those percentages higher across the board, and I’m all for shutting down bad charters that are not serving the public well. But unions don’t want to talk about increasing access to charter schools. They want to limit access to them.

Is it wrong to point all this out? To insist that charter[s] be held to higher standards of transparency and accountability? To question whether the use of public monies to fatten the wallets of Wall Street investors is good public policy?

Absolutely not wrong. Very productive conversation. Let’s acknowledge that charters can be very powerful public school options for parents and figure out ways to hold them to higher

- See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2015/09/michael-vaughn-of-edupost-responds-to.html#sthash.ytqW3Pgs.dpuf

Why Flint’s Water Crisis May Be a Boon for #EdReform | educarenow

Why Flint’s Water Crisis May Be a Boon for #EdReform | educarenow:

Why Flint’s Water Crisis May Be a Boon for #EdReform

Let me start with some background information.

My home state of Michigan has a law that allows an Emergency Manager to be put in place. This  Emergency Manager has dictatorial control. Decisions that were previously made by a democratically elected city council or school board are given over to an appointee of the governor.

If you are a citizen of a country that purports itself to be a democracy, you may have some obvious concerns here.

If you are a fan of human rights, there are even more.

One of the decisions that the Emergency Manager of Flint has made is to end its contract with Detroit Water and Sewage Department and instead pump water from the local and polluted Flint River for its residents. The good news is that it saves some money. The bad news is that this move is poisoning the residents of Flint.

According to the Detroit Free Press, “Mona Hanna-Attisha, a researcher at Flint’s Hurley Medical Center, analyzed blood-lead level information collected as part of a routine screening process, and found that the percentage of Flint children with elevated blood-lead levels has increased significantly since the city started pumping water from the Flint River in April 2014. In some ZIP codes — those considered most at-risk — the percentage of kids affected by lead has doubled.”

And how much lead is safe in children?

“The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that there is no safe blood-lead level for children. Lead poisoning causes a host of developmental and behavioral problems in exposed children. It is irreversible.” (Emphasis added)

Which, to me, calls forward a seemingly obvious question: What is more important, economic efficiency or human lives?

I guess we know where the Flint Emergency Manager and Michigan governor stand, because they don’t quite seem to be accepting the data.

“Michigan Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Angela Minicuci told the Free Press on Thursday that the increase was ‘seasonal and not related to the water supply.'”

However,

“Despite the state’s efforts to discredit the Hurley data, the state’s own data show that there are a higher percentage of kids in Flint with elevated lead levels in their blood after the switch.” (Emphasis added)

So, any level of lead in the blood of a human is unsafe, and yet, the state is arguing that the increase in lead in the bodies of children in Flint is seasonal, as if:

1. Such an increase can be rationalized.

2. The state and its governor can wash its hands of this particular situation.

And what does all of this have to do with education reform?

Remember, the way that our current crop of top down, data driven education reformers imagine education is via the vehicle of wishful thinking that assumes that teachers and students are alienated individuals who work in isolation from social systems. This logic thus suggests these teachers and students are responsible for their own success and failure. The way to reform is then to reward the successes of these individuals, and to punish their failures. Failure leads to school closures, which leads to privatization (and its corollary of profit-making for some) often in the form of quasi-public, directly for-profit charters. Distractions offered by the social context that they work within, such as poverty or the poisoning of their water sources, are irrelevant because responsibility for success and failure lies completely within the control of the students and teachers involved.

So, forgive my simplification, but Why Flint’s Water Crisis May Be a Boon for #EdReform | educarenow:

Heal Our Schools, a documentary

HearOurTeachersHome:

Heal Our Schools, a documentary

Heal Our Schools, a documentary researched, written and directed by Laurie Gabriel, is being produced with the mission of uncovering and solving the real problems of public education in America. This venture is different from other education documentaries in that it fully explores the experience and expertise of our most overlooked resource: teachers. Through this platform, educators from all over the country can share their compelling (and strikingly similar) stories and solutions. Hear Our Teachers is an enlightening look into what's really going on behind school doors, as well as a collection of virtually cost-free answers to the education crisis--answers that are based on teachers' caring compassion for the children they serve.

Recent reforms, penned by politicians and policymakers who often have little-to-no classroom experience, have been addressing the same surface issues (testing, teacher evaluation, vouchers, etc.) instead of the real problems: herding of children by subject and by age; daunting bureaucratic paperwork; our society's lack of adult role models who exemplify compassion, honesty, patience, and commitment; parents who do not support the schools; and the reduction of meaningful teacher/student relationships to overcrowded buildings and faceless statistics. Until these truths are acknowledged and addressed, no other reform plan will work.

The teaching profession is currently being maligned by a number of politicians and other persons in the media spotlight, leading to a dangerous plan to replace teachers without finding out what's really keeping them from effectively helping their students. Instead of seeing a turnaround in student achievement, we'll only see a repeat of the same setbacks with the next batch of teachers (if we're able to attract new teachers at all). It's time to set the record straight.

Heal Our Schools 4 minute trailer 2015 from Ethan Gabriel on Vimeo.

See “Heal Our Schools”! Sponsor a Showing in Your Town

Laurie Gabriel is a teacher who decided to take action to save her profession and students. She directed and produced an excellent documentary called “Heal Our Schools.” Below is her schedule of showings.

My favorite scenes: when she interviews three critics of teachers, then invites them to teach a lesson. It is hilarious!

Contact Laurie to show it in your community.

She writes:

Heal Our Schools Fall Screening Schedule – add your city to the list!

Heal Our Schools is a teacher-produced film about giving classroom control back to teachers.

NEED VENUES IN LA ON OCTOBER 18 AND ALBUQUERQUE NOVEMBER 20!

OCTOBER 2 – DENVER
10:00 am, Elvis Cinema, 7400 E. Hampden Ave.

OCTOBER 3 – DENVER
2:30 pm, First Unitarian Church, 4101 E. Hampden Ave.

OCTOBER 18 – LOS ANGELES
evening – looking for venue/charity to share in proceeds!

OCTOBER 19 – SAN FRANCISCO
7:00 pm, – First Unitarian Church, 1187 Franklin St.

OCTOBER 20 – SEATTLE
7:00 pm, Freedom Socialist Hall, 5018 Ranier Ave. S.

OCTOBER 24 – BOULDER / LAFAYETTE CO
2:00 pm, Running River School 1370 Forest Park Circle, Lafayette

NOVEMBER 5-7 MINNEAPOLIS, MN
Details pending

NOVEMBER 12 – 14 YAKIMA /TRI-CITIES WA
Details TBA

NOVEMBER 19 – SANTA FE NM
7:00 pm, Center for Progress and Justice, 1420 Cerrillos Rd.

NOVEMBER 20 – ALBUQUERQUE
evening – looking for venue/charity to share in proceeds!

Call 719-213-6850 or email laurie@healourschools.org for more information.

See “Heal Our Schools”! Sponsor a Showing in Your Town http://bit.ly/1FGoPJf

LCAP Parent Advisory Committee - Sacramento City Unified School District

LCAP Parent Advisory Committee - Sacramento City Unified School District:
LCAP Parent Advisory Committee

Application for the 2015-16 school year

In 2013-14, the state of California changed the way it funds school districts.The new model, called the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), allows districts more freedom in how funds are spent but also requires the development of a Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) that aligns spending to specific district goals for student achievement.

One key aspect of the LCAP process is the engagement of parents/guardians and students — including homeless, foster youth and those from low-income and English learner communities — in providing input and feedback.

Annually, SCUSD will form an LCAP Parent Advisory Committee to review and provide input on sections of the LCAP.  SCUSD has a strong record of parent/guardian engagement in district-level planning and is excited to partner with this group in shaping the district’s vision and actions for the coming years.

Committee Demographics

To be sure that this committee is reflective of the diverse community we serve, as well as subgroups explicitly called out in LCFF, the group must include a minimum number of representatives in key demographic areas.

The LCAP Parent Advisory Committee must include:

• At least ten (10) parents/guardians/caregivers
• At least eleven (11) representatives that represent a Title 1 school (current parent, former parent, student, staff member, parent advocate, community partner or other qualified representative)
• At least three (3) representatives that represent English-learners (current parent, former parent, student or staff member)
• At least two (2) representatives that represent special needs students (current parent, former parent, student or staff member)
• At least one (1) representative from the Homeless or Foster Youth community
• No more than three (3) staff members

Note that these representations are intentionally consistent with the district’s demographic breakdown. In 2014-15, approximately 68% of SCUSD students qualify for Free or Reduced Price Lunch; approximately 22% of SCUSD students are English-learners; approximately 13% of SCUSD students receive special education services. There are approximately 755 homeless students and 176 foster youth in SCUSD.

Deadline to apply: September 30, 2015 at 5pm.

Please note while we will maintain the privacy of personal identification information, answers to questions may be shared publicly.

Application

The application may be completed using this online form, or printed from the attachment linked here.

• Download the Application here
• 
  

LCAP Parent Advisory Committee - Sacramento City Unified School District:

PDK/Gallup Poll - October highlights

PDK/Gallup Poll - October highlights:

Make teaching more professional

Are Americans signaling that they want changes that would boost the professionalism of teaching?

Americans want higher professional requirements for teachers and believe teacher pay is too low, but they don’t like tenure, according to the newest PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.

Public school parents trust and have confidence in the nation’s teachers, and they said communicating with their child’s teacher is easy. In broad terms, the PDK/Gallup poll indicates that Americans believe schools are safe places where children are able to do their best work and that teachers recognize and praise good effort at school.

This year’s PDK/Gallup poll is a nationally representative web survey of 3,499 Americans ages 18 and older with Internet access and an additional telephone survey of 1,001 Americans ages 18 and older. Both surveys were conducted in May 2015. The addition of the web survey this year allows PDK and Gallup to gather larger sample sizes to report in greater detail about segments of the U.S. adult population for the first time. We point to responses from specific groups when we deem them to be significantly different from the total responses. All of the results in this report are taken from the web survey only.

This report follows our initial release of findings in the September issue of Kappan, where we shared poll results regarding testing, the Common Core, choice, and the role of the federal government in education. Still to come are responses to questions regarding college and the American Dream.

Last month, we reported that Americans said there is too much emphasis on standardized testing in public schools. They said student engagement at school and whether students feel hopeful about their future are far better factors to consider when evaluating schools than the results of standardized tests. They rank standardized testing lower than other ways of measuring student progress such as examples of student work, grades awarded by the teacher, or written observations by the teacher.

FindingsPDK/Gallup Poll - October highlights:

Former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa endorses charter expansion effort - LA Times

Former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa endorses charter expansion effort - LA Times:

Former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa endorses charter expansion effort

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has endorsed a controversial effort to more than double the number of the city’s charter schools over the next eight years.

Villaraigosa declared his support for the plan in an interview after an education forum he hosted Monday evening at the University of Southern California.

“I would support any effort to expand high-quality education,” Villaraigosa said. “So I could certainly support that, particularly if it’s spearheaded by the highest-performing charters.”

The draft of the proposal, which was developed by the locally based Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, sets a goal of raising $490 million to open 260 charters, enrolling about 130,000 students.

Charter schools are independently operated and are exempt from some rules that govern traditional campuses. Most are non-union. The L.A. Unified School District already has more than 200 charters, the most of any school system in the country.

Supporters see a rapid expansion as a way to fundamentally and quickly improve the city’s education system, especially for black and Latino students from low-income families. Critics contend that an explosion of new charter schools would sap vital resources from L.A. Unified and leave behind students who are more difficult and more expensive to educate.

Villaraigosa said some of the critics have raised “legitimate questions.”

“Those who are proposing this are going to have to take into account some of those real issues,” he said.

“I don’t think just expanding charter is the path,” Villaraigosa said. “I said while I was mayor that I didn’t care if it was a charter school or a traditional public school or a hybrid … I want to see more success and higher standards and accountability.”

The primary backer of the expansion, Eli Broad, has been a key political ally of Villaraigosa and could be again if the former mayor, as expected, runs to succeed Jerry Brown as governor of California.

Villaraigosa still has a stake in the traditional school system as the political force behind the creation of the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, which began during his eight years as mayor, 2005-13. The partnership manages 16 traditional public schools under a contract with L.A. Unified.

The group’s latest campus, 107th Street Elementary, was added this fall at the request of the district, which was dissatisfied with academic progress at the school.

Villaraigosa deferred comment on the progress of efforts to select a new superintendent for L.A. Unified. When asked if he’d be interested in the job, he replied, with a grin: “I’ve already been asked.”

But he declined to clarify whether he meant that he’d been asked that question before or whether he’d been asked if he would consider taking the job.

The L.A. Board of Education recently launched a search for a new schools' chief; Supt. Ramon C. Cortines has said he would like to leave Former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa endorses charter expansion effort - LA Times: