Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 10/27/15

CORPORATE ED REFORM

Progressive Educational Policies LA’s Democrats Should Embrace

Progressive Educational Policies: Progressive Educational Policies LA’s Democrats Should Embraces LAUSD searches for a new Superintendent, there has been a call not to “politicize” the process by people who mysteriously or calculatingly believe that the job itself isn’t political.Well let’s disabuse everyone of that notion right now.There is nothing in human experience more political than Educatio

by mike simpson / 1h 

Why Obama’s new plan to cap standardized testing won’t work - The Washington Post

Why Obama’s new plan to cap standardized testing won’t work - The Washington Post: Why Obama’s new plan to cap standardized testing won’t workLet’s ignore the fact that in releasing its new “Fact Sheet: Testing Action Plan,” the Obama administration included information from a two-year studythat was under embargo (forcing the organization that had commissioned the report to move up its own release

by mike simpson / 2h 

Stanford study shows that online charter school students are lagging - The Washington Post

Stanford study shows that online charter school students are lagging - The Washington Post: Stanford study shows that online charter school students are laggingStudents in the nation’s virtual K-12 charter schools — with students who take all of their classes via computer from home — learn significantly less on average than students at traditional public schools, a new study has found.The online c

by mike simpson / 2h 

Once home to WFSB Channel 3 – the upscale apartment project is now a source of campaign donations for Luke Bronin. - Wait What?

Once home to WFSB Channel 3 – the upscale apartment project is now a source of campaign donations for Luke Bronin. - Wait What?:Once home to WFSB Channel 3 – the upscale apartment project is now a source of campaign donations for Luke Bronin.In November 2014, the Hartford Business Journal reported on a project called the “Residences at River View,” a new building designed to replace what was once

by mike simpson / 3h 

solidaridad: Policing students and testocracy

solidaridad: Policing students and testocracy: Policing students and testocracyWhile the individuals responsible for brutality at Spring Valley High School need to be held accountable, we also need to see the context in which this type of response to students is systemic within #testocracy. There is increased pressure for compliance in drill and kill test prep and producing the data on test scores

by mike simpson / 3h 

The Obama Administration’s (Smoke and Mirrors) Calls for “Less Testing” | VAMboozled!

The Obama Administration’s (Smoke and Mirrors) Calls for “Less Testing” | VAMboozled!: The Obama Administration’s (Smoke and Mirrors) Calls for “Less Testing”For those of you who have not yet heard, last weekend the Obama Administration released a new “Testing Action Plan” in which the administration calls for a “decreased,” “curbed,” “reversed,” less “obsessed,” etc. emphasis on standardized test

by mike simpson / 4h 

Mayor: Dissolve the School Reform Commission | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Mayor: Dissolve the School Reform Commission | Philadelphia Public School Notebook: Mayor: Dissolve the School Reform CommissionIn a major education policy speech this morning, Mayor Nutter called for the dissolution of the School Reform Commission and the return of a local board of education."Of all the policy recommendations I make today, none will have a bigger impact on Philadelphia than

by mike simpson / 4h 

CURMUDGUCATION: Cartman Rules

CURMUDGUCATION: Cartman Rules: Cartman RulesWhat is absolutely guaranteed to pop the wheels right off the school bus when it comes to order and atmosphere and culture and just plain treating children with the decency to which they are entitled because they are A) living human beings and B) here?Cartman rules. (NSFW ahead)Yeah, that's the whole point of a Cartman Rule. You will respect my authorita

by mike simpson / 6h 

New corporate misconduct database reveals top violators

New corporate misconduct database reveals top violators: New corporate misconduct database reveals top violatorsLarge corporations are responsible for a vast majority of penalties levied over the past five years on companies that have violated American environmental, health and safety laws. According to a new corporate misconduct database compiled by the think tank Good Jobs First, Fortune 500 com

by mike simpson / 6h 

If the president won’t put children first, who will? - The Hechinger Report

If the president won’t put children first, who will? - The Hechinger Report: If the president won’t put children first, who will? hools of all types have failed black and brown students as well as families in poverty and we need a president devoted to equity, accountability and achievement.So why are Democratic presidential candidates backing off education reform?During the most recent Democratic

by mike simpson / 6h 

Links to PAA charter school webinar and slide show | Parents Across America

Links to PAA charter school webinar and slide show | Parents Across America: Links to PAA charter school webinar and slide showHi Folks- If you missed our Oct. 25 webinar on the Washington Sate Supreme Court ruling that charter school funding in the state is unconstitutional, you can watch the 45-minute video here and review the full slide show presentation here.Many thanks to panelists Dr. Wayne

by mike simpson / 6h 

1.5 million current and former student SSNs at risk says MO Auditor » Missouri Education Watchdog

1.5 million current and former student SSNs at risk says MO Auditor » Missouri Education Watchdog: 1.5 million current and former student SSNs at risk says MO AuditorA recently released cyber audit of DESE’s student data system (MOSIS) revealed several weaknesses that MO State Auditor Galloway said placed 1.5 million current and former students’ personal information, such as social security number

by mike simpson / 6h 

How “all kids” is the current LAUSD? | Opinion | Jewish Journal

How “all kids” is the current LAUSD? | Opinion | Jewish Journal: How “all kids” is the current LAUSD?Steve Zimmer. Photo by Carla Acevedo-BlumenkrantzIn decrying the recently leaked memo outlining a plan to create more high-quality public charter schools in our city, LAUSD School Board President Steve Zimmer said: “This is not an all-kids plan or an all-kids strategy…it’s very explicitly a some-ki

by mike simpson / 6h 

Luke Bronin hauls in Lobbyist cash, generates multiple violations of CT Campaign Finance Law - Wait What?

Luke Bronin hauls in Lobbyist cash, generates multiple violations of CT Campaign Finance Law - Wait What?: Luke Bronin hauls in Lobbyist cash, generates multiple violations of CT Campaign Finance LawHaving spent in excess of $1 million on his initial run for public office, political newcomer and Greenwich native Luke Bronin is expecting the voters of Hartford to make him their next mayor on Electi

by mike simpson / 6h 

Obama’s stunning reversal on standardized testing: Why his latest comments could spell doom for “reformers” - Salon.com

Obama’s stunning reversal on standardized testing: Why his latest comments could spell doom for “reformers” - Salon.com: Obama’s stunning reversal on standardized testing: Why his latest comments could spell doom for “reformers”The president came out last weekend against the overemphasis on testing, breaking with 20 years of precedentThe activist/performance art group The Yes Men’s signature techn

by mike simpson / 6h 

These are the states that really have the best schools in the US - Vox

These are the states that really have the best schools in the US - Vox: These are the states that really have the best schools in the USTexas and Florida, not usually renowned for quality education, turn out to be educational powerhouses once you adjust for student demographics.A new report from the Urban Institute looked at how students from each state compare with similar students in other state

by mike simpson / 7h 

Head of LAUSD search says community wants pro-public education superintendent | 89.3 KPCC

Q&A: Inside the search for the next LAUSD superintendent | 89.3 KPCC:  Head of LAUSD search says community wants pro-public education superintendentThe man who heads the hunt for the next Los Angeles Unified superintendent says the size of the 650,000-student school district and its high-profile search are adding to the challenge of finding a new leader. Hank Gmitro, president of Hazard, Young

by mike simpson / 7h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The flip side of testing madness. 'You will test only 2% of the time'

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The flip side of testing madness. 'You will test only 2% of the time': The flip side of testing madness. 'You will test only 2% of the time'Duncan and Casserly making the media rounds... Last night on the PBS News Hour, no matter what Gwen Ifill asked about the administration's supposed shift on testing. Duncan responded with his stock answers. Michael Casserly, Dire

by mike simpson / 7h 

Gates Undercover | Save Maine Schools

Gates Undercover | Save Maine Schools: Gates UndercoverSeveral months ago, while conducting some much overdue research into the back-story of Common Core, I stumbled across a document from the Gates Foundation that painted such a frighteningly clear picture of next-gen ed-reform that I actually wondered for a time if perhaps I was hallucinating.I wasn’t, and within a very short time, it became unm

by mike simpson / 7h 

L.A. school board will consider appointing outside superintendent search committee - LA Times

L.A. school board will consider appointing outside superintendent search committee - LA Times: L.A. school board will consider appointing outside superintendent search committeeThe Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday is expected to consider appointing an outside committee to guide its search for the next superintendent of schools.A group of civic leaders has pressed the school board repeated

by mike simpson / 7h 

Ohio school district asks state to reimburse $5 million given to charter schools - The Washington Post

Ohio school district asks state to reimburse $5 million given to charter schools - The Washington Post: Ohio school district asks state to reimburse $5 million given to charter schoolsLast March, the Board of Education of the Woodridge Local Schools district in Ohio passed a resolution calling on policymakers to take steps to clean up its  scandal-ridden $1 billion charter school sector. Now it is

by mike simpson / 8h 

'The diplomacy is over': Protesters blast Cerf, derail Newark meeting | NJ.com

'The diplomacy is over': Protesters blast Cerf, derail Newark meeting | NJ.com: 'The diplomacy is over': Protesters blast Cerf, derail Newark meetingNEWARK – Just three months after his appointment, it appears the welcome wagon for Superintendent of Schools Christopher Cerf has worn thin.A meeting of the city's School Advisory Board was derailed after members of the Newark Student Union and other

by mike simpson / 8h 

Obama's School Testing Talk Is Meaningless - US News

Obama's School Testing Talk Is Meaningless - US News: Obama's Empty Testing TalkThe president's pledge to reduce school tests is meaningless.Over the weekend, President Barack Obama received high praise from parents and teachers foracknowledging that testing is taking too much time away from teaching, learning and fostering creativity in schools, and recommending that standardized tests take no mo

by mike simpson / 8h 

No Child Left Behind: What Worked, What Didn't : NPR Ed : NPR

No Child Left Behind: What Worked, What Didn't : NPR Ed : NPR: No Child Left Behind: What Worked, What Didn'tCross your fingers.Congress is trying to do something it was supposed to do back in 2007: agree on a rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It's not controversial to say the law is in desperate need of an update.The ESEA is hugely important, not just to our nation's schools

by mike simpson / 8h 

Too many tests? Obama's plan treats the symptoms, not the cause. - LA Times

Too many tests? Obama's plan treats the symptoms, not the cause. - LA Times: Too many tests? Obama's plan treats the symptoms, not the cause.e backlash against education reform as practiced by the Obama administration has been fierce and persistent, and not just from teachers. Parents have mounted their own protests by opting their children out of the annual tests that the 2001 No Child Left Behin

by mike simpson / 8h 

Charter School Chain Accused of Union Busting - Courthouse News Service

Courthouse News Service: Charter School Chain Accused of Union Busting LOS ANGELES (CN) - A chain of public charter schools is using its charter status to harass and threaten teachers for trying to unionize, California's Public Employment Relations Board claims in court.     The PERB sued Alliance College-Ready Public Charter Schools and its 27 Los Angeles area campuses in Superior Court on Friday

by mike simpson / 8h 

California NAACP takes stand on limiting role of School Resource Officers #AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh | Cloaking Inequity

California NAACP takes stand on limiting role of School Resource Officers #AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh | Cloaking Inequity: California NAACP takes stand on limiting role of School Resource Officers #AssaultAtSpringValleyHighMSNBC reported,A cell phone video shot inside a South Carolina high school Monday appeared to show a police officer body-slamming a female student and dragging her across a class

by mike simpson / 16h 

Fragile Truce Shows Signs of Crumbling During Newark School Board Meeting - NJ Spotlight

Fragile Truce Shows Signs of Crumbling During Newark School Board Meeting - NJ Spotlight: FRAGILE TRUCE SHOWS SIGNS OF CRUMBLING DURING NEWARK SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGCharter-school advocates clash with teachers’ union leader, students disrupt gathering and chant ‘Cerf must go’Protesting students disrupt yesterday's meeting of the Newark school board.It’s not like he had a wide berth to begin with, bu

by mike simpson / 16h 

YESTERDAY

Star-Ledger Says NJ Parents Who Opted-Out of PARCC are "Sabotaging the Data" | Truth in American Education

Star-Ledger Says NJ Parents Who Opted-Out of PARCC are "Sabotaging the Data" | Truth in American Education: Star-Ledger Says NJ Parents Who Opted-Out of PARCC are “Sabotaging the Data”Hubris.And that raises a core question for opponents of this test, and all those who boycotted it: Would New Jersey somehow be better off not knowingthese facts? To ask that question is to answer it. The no

by mike simpson / 18h 

An Open Letter to America's Parents and Teachers: Let's Make Our Testing Smarter | Barack Obama

An Open Letter to America's Parents and Teachers: Let's Make Our Testing Smarter | Barack Obama: An Open Letter to America's Parents and Teachers: Let's Make Our Testing SmarterHere's a simple question: If your kids had more free time at school, what would you want them to do with it?If you're like most parents, here's what I suspect you wouldn't want your children to be doing with their extra tim

by mike simpson / 19h 

Tensions erupt at Newark school board meeting | Bob Braun's Ledger

Tensions erupt at Newark school board meeting | Bob Braun's Ledger: Tensions erupt at Newark school board meetingA growing sense of impatience and frustration over continued state control of the Newark schools and increasing encroachment by privately-operated charter schools boiled over into disruption Monday night at a regular meeting of the city’s school board. A pro-public school activist, Jimm

by mike simpson / 19h 

The Waltons Promote the (Failing) Tennessee ASD | deutsch29

The Waltons Promote the (Failing) Tennessee ASD | deutsch29: The Waltons Promote the (Failing) Tennessee ASDOn October 26, 2015, the Walton Foundation sent this email to subscribers of its Walton Family Foundation (WFF) list, wffnews@wffmail.com.  Here is an excerpt:Dear [Name],Bobby White graduated from Frayser High School in Memphis in 1990. Last fall, he came back — not just as an alumnus but a

by mike simpson / 20h 

Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch won't seek another term | WBFO

Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch won't seek another term | WBFO: Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch won't seek another termThe leader of the New York State Board of Regents will not seek a new term. Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch made the announcement at the start of board meeting in Albany Monday morning.ListenListening...0:58WBFO's Eileen Buckley has reaction on Chancellor Tisch's plans not to seek

by mike simpson / 20h hide  //  save

Greater Wisdom — Hmong Innovating Politics

Greater Wisdom — Hmong Innovating Politics: HOW GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN MISSED AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE CALIFORNIA SMARTER BY VETOING AB 176By Andy Le, HIP MemberOn October 7, 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed AB 176, a bill that would have required California’s Community College system to collect disaggregated data on Asian American and Pacific Islander (API) subgroups. In his veto message,

by mike simpson / 22h 

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 10/26/15

CORPORATE ED REFORMBlack Lives and Police Lies | Bill Ayers #BlackLivesMatterBlack Lives and Police Lies | Bill Ayers: Black Lives and Police LiesBIG LIES!!!The Top Cop in the country, FBI Director James B. Comey, is in a blue rage and on a public relations rampage.He’s worried, he tells audiences and media outlets across the country, that “a chill wind that has blown through American law enforcem

by mike simpson / 23h 

Progressive Educational Policies:

Progressive Educational Policies LA’s Democrats Should Embrace

s LAUSD searches for a new Superintendent, there has been a call not to “politicize” the process by people who mysteriously or calculatingly believe that the job itself isn’t political.

Well let’s disabuse everyone of that notion right now.

There is nothing in human experience more political than Education. Whatever education you and I received over the course of our lives was part and parcel with a larger political/cultural/racial philosophy that shaped who we all are. Whatever “schools” our children go to are also part of a larger system that most certainly is not neutral.

A person’s belief in WHAT education is and HOW it is “managed” tells us a great deal about that individual.

Former LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy’s pedagogy and methodology was extremely political and his backers like Eli Broad, The United Way, the Chamber of Commerce are all very well-versed in power politics. These players seek to put in place a profit-driven political agenda in Los Angeles in regards to education. Their notion of education where charters ”compete” with the true public school system, a demonized and neutered teacher’s union, a notion of “accountability” through testing and haphazard teacher evaluations and a rigid curriculum is the exact opposite of what Progressive Education looks like.

Democrats have used their (rather timid) liberalism on social issues to keep their core members appeased while their top earners have embraced Neo-liberal economic policies that keep them rich and comfortable.

There is an obvious split in the Democratic Party over the issue of Education Reform that in past years would have been described as Republican versus Democrat. Determined as the current presidential candidates are to avoid it, this is a debate about what actually constitutes Democratic education policy has to happen and it is verytelling who supports what. At the top of the chain is President Obama who through his Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (and now John King) has embraced much of George Bush’s education ideas. Self-described Democrats like Michelle Rhee and John Deasy also follow this script.

It is helpful to understand how the political parties are realigning themselves. The Old Guard moneyed-Republican establishment are far more liberal than the less well-off Fox News supporters on social issues like gay rights, women’s contraception and most of the moral/cultural war agenda—but they have had to embrace those boogeyman issues as a way of appeasing their base. Money and corporate freedom are paramount to the guys who historically have run the Party.

Meanwhile, the Democrats have used their (rather timid) liberalism on social issues to keep their core members appeased while their top earners have embraced Neo-liberal economic policies that keep them rich and comfortable. Claiming the traditional mantle of Champions of Public Education, these DINOS (“Democrats in Name Only”) shun truly public education. The primary supporters of Ed Reform in the Democrats are 1%ers whose own children are not subjected to the Reforms they would place on urban working class children.

The New York Times ran an Op Ed by Thomas B. Edsall earlier this month with the headline: How Did the Democrats Become Favorites of the Rich?

The areas where mainstream Republican “values” intersects with the Neo-liberal Democrats are financial policies and Education policies. It is because the Education Reform Democrats (and Republicans) always use Civil Rights language as justification for their motives, that a true honest debate on classism and racism in Education Reform has been successfully evaded. That debate is Progressive Educational Policies:

Why Obama’s new plan to cap standardized testing won’t work - The Washington Post

Why Obama’s new plan to cap standardized testing won’t work - The Washington Post:

Why Obama’s new plan to cap standardized testing won’t work

Let’s ignore the fact that in releasing its new “Fact Sheet: Testing Action Plan,” the Obama administration included information from a two-year studythat was under embargo (forcing the organization that had commissioned the report to move up its own release).

And let’s ignore the fact that the open letter President Obama wrote on Huffington Post to teachers and parents, calling for fewer and better standardized exams, comes seven years into an administration that was in large part responsible for the country’s testing obsession.

[Study says standardized testing is overwhelming nation’s public schools]

A look at the Testing Action Plan itself reveals that the authors have fumbled the policy as much as the plan’s release, even as it concedes that the administration’s policies fueled a high-stakes testing obsession in U.S. public schools. It says:

In too many schools, there is unnecessary testing and not enough clarity of purpose applied to the task of assessing students, consuming too much instructional time and creating undue stress for educators and students. The Administration bears some of the responsibility for this, and we are committed to being part of the solution.

Admitting a problem late is better than never, but the solutions offered by the administration — apparently to calm an anti-testing rebellion around the country — don’t much move the needle. They won’t cut into testing time and test prep all that much, if at all, and they won’t eliminate what is arguably a bigger problem: the high stakes associated with the exams.

[Five reasons standardized testing isn’t likely to let up]

Let’s quickly review how the administration got here.

The focus on high-stakes standardized tests started in force with the 2002 No Child Left Behind law, which mandated testing in a number of grades to hold schools “accountable” for educating students. The law had a goal that virtually all students would be proficient in math and reading by 2014, and though this was literally impossible to achieve (something the authors knew), schools became obsessed with the scores on English and math tests, leading to a Why Obama’s new plan to cap standardized testing won’t work - The Washington Post:

Stanford study shows that online charter school students are lagging - The Washington Post

Stanford study shows that online charter school students are lagging - The Washington Post:

Stanford study shows that online charter school students are lagging

Students in the nation’s virtual K-12 charter schools — with students who take all of their classes via computer from home — learn significantly less on average than students at traditional public schools, a new study has found.

The online charter students lost an average of about 72 days of learning in reading and 180 days of learning in math during the course of a 180-day school year, the study found. In other words, when it comes to math, it’s as if the students did not attend school at all.

“There’s still some possibility that there’s positive learning, but it’s so statistically significantly different from the average, it is literally as if the kid did not go to school for an entire year,” said Margaret E. Raymond, project director at the Center for Research on Education Outcomes, or CREDO, at Stanford University.

[Read the full CREDO study]

It was the first national study of its kind to examine the academic impact of online public charter schools, which receive tax dollars but operate privately, often under the leadership of for-profit companies.

The study looked at students attending full-time, publicly funded virtual schools in 17 states and the District of Columbia and annual academic performance between 2008 and 2013. It excluded students who take one or two online courses but spend the bulk of their time in a “brick and mortar school” and those who attend blended learning schools, which offer a mix of traditional and online instruction.

The average online charter student lagged in reading achievement behind their counterparts attending traditional schools in all states except for Wisconsin and Georgia, where their growth was “significantly stronger.”

When it comes to math, students attending online charters did worse in 14 states and performed the same as their counterparts at traditional schools in three states — Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.

“It may be good for some students, but the evidence suggests for the majority of online students, the online charters are not serving them very well when it comes to academic growth,” said James L. Woodworth of CREDO, which collaborated on the study with the Center on Reinventing Public Education at Stanford study shows that online charter school students are lagging - The Washington Post:

Once home to WFSB Channel 3 – the upscale apartment project is now a source of campaign donations for Luke Bronin. - Wait What?

Once home to WFSB Channel 3 – the upscale apartment project is now a source of campaign donations for Luke Bronin. - Wait What?:

Once home to WFSB Channel 3 – the upscale apartment project is now a source of campaign donations for Luke Bronin.

In November 2014, the Hartford Business Journal reported on a project called the “Residences at River View,” a new building designed to replace what was once the WFSB Ch. 3 studios.  The HBJ wrote;

Engineer-developer Abul Islam [President and CEO of AI Engineers, Inc. of Middletown, Connecticut] has gotten state and city funding commitments to proceed with opening a $17.7 million, six-story office-apartment tower in downtown Hartford’s Constitution Plaza within two years, authorities say.

Residences at Riverview will have 49 upscale apartments atop some 16,000 square feet of street-level office-retail space on No. 3 Constitution Plaza…

According to the news report, Governor Dannel Malloy got the State Bond Commission to provide $4.2 million for the project and Malloy’s Department of Housing added another $1.8 million.  The City of Hartford is putting up $973,000.  In addition to the $7 million in public funds, the remainder of the project comes via an $8 million loan from “an unidentified lender” and private funds from the developer.

According to the published reports, in addition to the 49 luxury apartments,

“Eight apartments will be earmarked as affordable.”

Enter Hartford Mayoral candidate Luke Bronin;

Two months ago A.I. Engineers’ Abul Islam, a Glastonbury resident, provided Luke Bronin with a $1,000 check to help fund his campaign to become Mayor of Hartford.

A couple weeks later the developer’s son who resides at the same address added another $1,000.  According to Bronin’s campaign finance report, the son is a “Business Development Associate” at AI Engineers, although he isn’t actually listed on the company’s website.

The Company’s General Counsel has donated $750 to Bronin’s campaign so far and two of Once home to WFSB Channel 3 – the upscale apartment project is now a source of campaign donations for Luke Bronin. - Wait What?:

solidaridad: Policing students and testocracy

solidaridad: Policing students and testocracy:

Policing students and testocracy

While the individuals responsible for brutality at Spring Valley High School need to be held accountable, we also need to see the context in which this type of response to students is systemic within #testocracy. There is increased pressure for compliance in drill and kill test prep and producing the data on test scores. This is apparent in public schools and also in charters that get pushed by billionaires and corporations using testing as a tool to attack public schools and privatize them. 

Look at examples of the school to prison pipeline in Chicago where Rahm promoted one charter that doled out over $400,000 in fines to students for things like chewing gum or slouching.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/education/in-chicago-noble-charter-schools-punish-with-cash-fines.html?_r=0

Also the Moskowitz’s ‘Suspension’ Academy’s Code of Misconduct
(Success Academy)  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/moskowitzs-suspension-aca_b_8388616.html

And  At KIPP, “they wouldn’t have desks at first” and then they are “chained to a desk 10 hours a day”http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2014/07/at-kipp-they-wouldnt-have-desks-at.html

This is good background on Fields, Spring Valley High School and other incidents involving SROs.http://www.attn.com/stories/3856/high-school-police-officers-spring-valley?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=internal

Also many more connections from a previous collection herehttp://itspeoplepower.tumblr.com/post/107889945593/blacklivesmatter-racist-testing-and-prison

solidaridad: Policing students and testocracy:

The Obama Administration’s (Smoke and Mirrors) Calls for “Less Testing” | VAMboozled!

The Obama Administration’s (Smoke and Mirrors) Calls for “Less Testing” | VAMboozled!:

The Obama Administration’s (Smoke and Mirrors) Calls for “Less Testing”

For those of you who have not yet heard, last weekend the Obama Administration released a new “Testing Action Plan” in which the administration calls for a “decreased,” “curbed,” “reversed,” less “obsessed,” etc. emphasis on standardized testing for the nation. The plan, headlined as such, has hit the proverbial “front pages” of many news (and other) outlets since. See, for example, articles in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, CNN, US News & World Report,Education Week, and the like.

The gist of the “Testing Action Plan” is that student-level tests, when “[d]one poorly, in excess, or without clear purpose…take valuable time away from teaching and learning, draining creative approaches from our classrooms.” It is about time the federal government acknowledges this, officially, and kudos to them for “bear[ing] some of the responsibility for this” throughout the nation. However, they also assert that testing is, nevertheless, still essential as long as tests “take up the minimum necessary time, and reflect the expectation that students will be prepared for success.”

What is this “necessary time” of which they speak?

They set the testing limits for all states not to exceed 2%. More specifically, they, “recommend that states place a cap on the percentage of instructional time students spend taking required statewide standardized assessments to ensure that… [pause marker added] no child spends more than 2 percent of her classroom time taking these tests [emphasis added].” Notice the circumlocution here as per No Child Left Behind(NCLB) — that which substantively helped bring us to become such a test-crazed nation in the first place.

When I first heard this, though, the first thing I did was pull out my trusty calculator to The Obama Administration’s (Smoke and Mirrors) Calls for “Less Testing” | VAMboozled!:

Mayor: Dissolve the School Reform Commission | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Mayor: Dissolve the School Reform Commission | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

Mayor: Dissolve the School Reform Commission

In a major education policy speech this morning, Mayor Nutter called for the dissolution of the School Reform Commission and the return of a local board of education.

"Of all the policy recommendations I make today, none will have a bigger impact on Philadelphia than a return to local control," he told an audience of invited guests at WHYY.

After 15 years, Nutter said, "it's time for the experiment to end."

In addition to shifting power to a nine-member, mayorally appointed board, Nutter called for School Advisory Councils at every neighborhood school.

"While I believe that the SRC and its many members have functioned to the best of their abilities and with good intentions, we Philadelphians deserve to govern our own schools," Nutter said. "A return to local control would give us real authority over the education of our children."

He laid out a plan that would complete the transfer of power in September 2018. Conditions for the changeover would include "full funding for public education" by the state and a "student-weighted" education funding formula. This would allow the District, he said, to "adhere to its five-year financial-stability planning process that demonstrates the District's structural balance."

Then there would be a year of "public hearings on governance, debates, and forums on how best to improve education," said Nutter. "Only then will we be in the right place to govern our schools locally." 

By 2017, he said, the District would put in place "new accountability practices" and begin the legal process for the transfer of power together with the governor, secretary of education, and the SRC. The changeover would occur the following September.

In Nutter's vision, the new Board of Education, like the one the SRC displaced, would have nine members: five appointed outright by the mayor, four chosen from 12 recommended by City Council.

The SRC can only be dissolved if the members vote the commission out of existence or if the state legislature changes the law that created it.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates. Mayor: Dissolve the School Reform Commission | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

CURMUDGUCATION: Cartman Rules

CURMUDGUCATION: Cartman Rules:

Cartman Rules

What is absolutely guaranteed to pop the wheels right off the school bus when it comes to order and atmosphere and culture and just plain treating children with the decency to which they are entitled because they are A) living human beings and B) here?

Cartman rules. (NSFW ahead)

Yeah, that's the whole point of a Cartman Rule. You will respect my authoritah. You will acknowledge that I am The Man. You will do whatever the hell I say because I AM the boss of you.

Is there anything more ridiculous, more silly, more counterproductive, more flat out disrespectful than getting in a grudge match with a child or young adult with absolutely no intent except to force them, through word or deed, to acknowledge that they respect your authority?

I wish it weren't true, but we've all seen it too many times within the walls of a school. The kid laughs with the wrong kind of smile. The kid responds to a direction with a shrug instead of quick compliance. The kid gives all the appearance of not giving a rat's rear about what he's just been told.

And the Enforcer of the Cartman Rule completely loses the thread. What were we trying to do? Were we trying to cover the instruction for today's lesson? Were we trying to get the class focused on a CURMUDGUCATION: Cartman Rules:

New corporate misconduct database reveals top violators

New corporate misconduct database reveals top violators:

New corporate misconduct database reveals top violators

Large corporations are responsible for a vast majority of penalties levied over the past five years on companies that have violated American environmental, health and safety laws. According to a new corporate misconduct database compiled by the think tank Good Jobs First, Fortune 500 companies and non-U.S. Fortune Global 500 companies account for over 80 percent of the $60 billion in penalties imposed by U.S. federal regulatory agencies since 2010.

“The never-ending cases of corporate wrongdoing, seen most recently in the Volkswagen emissions scandal, make it essential for policymakers, advocates, journalists, and the general public to have access to systematic information across agencies,” Philip Mattera, the first research director at Good Jobs First, said in a statement accompanying the report.

Toward this end, the so-called Violation Tracker database includes approximately 100,000 cases with penalties of $5,000 or more initiated by 13 federal agencies dealing with the environment and a wide range of health and safety issues. In order to track these penalties, the database matches parent with subsidiary companies.

The top 10 parent companies with $100 million or more in environmental, health and safety penalties since the beginning of 2010.  Good Jobs First/BP And Its Brethren

Unsurprisingly, British oil giant BP PLC -- responsible for the disastrous 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico -- tops the list of violators. The company’s massive $25.4 billion fine far exceeds that of any other company and puts the oil and gas sector at the top of the sectors most affected by penalties.

According to the database, BP has 66 recorded violations -- most of them smaller than $100,000 -- from a variety of subsidiaries.

“Also high on the list is Transocean -- the company from which BP leased the ill-fated offshore drilling rig -- as a result of two settlements totaling $1.4 billion it reached with the Justice Department in 2013 on civil and criminal charges,” the report found.

However, in terms of the number of recorded violations, Virginia-based mining company Alpha Natural Resources tops the list, with nearly 2,500 violations and over $500 million in fines since 2010.

In total, 40 parent companies have paid more than $100 million in penalties since 2010, while eight large corporations and their subsidiaries have paid over $1 billion for environmental, health and safety violations.

“The fact that so many of the companies in Violation Tracker are repeat offenders highlights the need to find more effective ways to deter corporate recidivists,” Mattera added, in the statement.New corporate misconduct database reveals top violators:

Discover Which Corporations are the Biggest Violators of Environmental, Health and Safety Laws Throughout the United States

Violation Tracker is the first national search engine on corporate misconduct. Version 1.0 covers environmental, health and safety cases initiated by 13 federal regulatory agencies since 2010, including those referred to the Justice Department. Other violations (banking, antitrust, wage & hour, etc.) will be added later. Violation Tracker is produced by the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First.

BP and Its Brethren (a report analyzing the largest violators)
Data Sources
User Guide

Send questions or comments to Philip Mattera of the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First.

The Violation Tracker site was built with the help of Rich Puchalsky of Grassroots Connection.

http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/violation-tracker

If the president won’t put children first, who will? - The Hechinger Report

If the president won’t put children first, who will? - The Hechinger Report:

If the president won’t put children first, who will? 

hools of all types have failed black and brown students as well as families in poverty and we need a president devoted to equity, accountability and achievement.

So why are Democratic presidential candidates backing off education reform?

During the most recent Democratic presidential debate, not one candidate pushed a position of any substance on elementary and secondary education.

Their silence says a lot.

It’s politically smart for Democrats to avoid family feuds. They are taking full advantage of a fractured Republican Party, and they certainly don’t want to split Democrats because of differing views on education.

Related: Early education popular with voters, but what about candidates?

An aspiring nominee must unify the diversity within the base, and education won’t provide the political glue for the Democratic party – Republican dysfunction is providing that.

Education only became a problem for Dems because the Obama administration put on the reformer cape. The administration’s use of Race to the Top and I3 grants to push ideology over enforcement solidified that identity.

This is an unfortunate situation.

Saying you’re pro-charter doesn’t make you progressive, innovative or a Democrat. Charter schools simply institute changes in governance. It’s what you do with a charter that distinguishes your party lines. Actually, a walk in most charter schools feel like a walk in a traditional public school.

Nevertheless, the ambiguity is what makes reform a hot potato.

Related: State of confusion: Mississippians baffled over upcoming school funding vote

There are simply too many reformers who offend Democratic party principles for reform to be Democratic. The next president doesn’t have to be a loyalist to charter or traditional school. The next president must represent his or her party and find ways to force states to deliver good schools to underserved communities.

Dems must focus on holding states as well as universities If the president won’t put children first, who will? - The Hechinger Report:

Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, left, speaks as Hillary Rodham Clinton looks on during the CNN Democratic presidential debate Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015, in Las Vegas. Photo: AP Photo/John Locher

Links to PAA charter school webinar and slide show | Parents Across America

Links to PAA charter school webinar and slide show | Parents Across America:

Links to PAA charter school webinar and slide show

Hi Folks- If you missed our Oct. 25 webinar on the Washington Sate Supreme Court ruling that charter school funding in the state is unconstitutional, you can watch the 45-minute video here and review the full slide show presentation here.

Many thanks to panelists Dr. Wayne Au and the League of Women Voters – WA State’s Catherine Ahl for sharing their expertise with our audience. PAA President Dora Taylor moderated the meeting and shared lots of good information as well.

We learned that Washington State’s constitution is somewhat unique in its definition of “common schools” — that is, schools that are governed by elected, representative boards — which made the ruling possible, since charter schools are run by appointed boards who are not accountable to communities.

The court also agreed with plaintiffs Au and others that charter schools take resources away from democratic public schools, which is also unconstitutional in Washington.

Participants were urged to take a look at their states’ constitutions — with legal assistance, if possible — for language that might leverage a challenge to charter schools in their states.

We also talked about the importance of sharing the message underlined by this court ruling: that charter schools undermine democratic public education.

- See more at: http://parentsacrossamerica.org/links-paa-charter-school-webinar-slide-show/#sthash.MCVt1QWa.dpuf