How politicians are robbing NJ’s public schools to reward charter schools | Bob Braun's Ledger

How politicians are robbing NJ’s public schools to reward charter schools | Bob Braun's Ledger:

How politicians are robbing NJ’s public schools to reward charter schools

Christopher Cerf–the state-appointed Newark schools superintendent, former state education commissioner, national charter champion and failed business entrepreneur–has scheduled a forum Thursday night from 6 pm to 8 pm at the Park Elementary School to offer his version of where the money went.

It might be a good time for city residents to ask about the shift of funds from public schools to charter schools–and his staff’s tampering with special education reporting documents.

The city school district, after 20 years of state control, faces a year-end shortfall of some $20 million. Cerf already has ordered cuts of up to 75 percent in what’s left of neighborhood school budgets. Charter school budgets, however, remained untouched.

At the last school board meeting, students from a variety of schools talked about cuts in services and supplies as Cerf looks for a way to cover up the fiscal mismanagement that occurred under the leadership of the woman he appointed to be Newark superintendent–Cami Anderson.

But, when Cerf appeared before the state school board Wednesday, you’d think How politicians are robbing NJ’s public schools to reward charter schools | Bob Braun's Ledger:

KIPP New Orleans: Classroom Hiring that Excludes Most Teach for America “Talent” | deutsch29

KIPP New Orleans: Classroom Hiring that Excludes Most Teach for America “Talent” | deutsch29:

KIPP New Orleans: Classroom Hiring that Excludes Most Teach for America “Talent”

Today I learned an interesting fact about KIPP New Orleans:

Its teacher qualifications include a required minimum of two years of full time teaching experience:

Qualified Candidates Have:

• At least two years of teaching experience (required)
• A bachelor’s degree (required)
• Experience working in urban schools (highly preferred)
• State teaching credentials (preferred)
• An incredible work ethic
• A belief in the mission and values of KIPP

I checked the archives of the KIPP New Orleans website for employment requirements and found that in March 2008, the two-year requirement for full time teaching experience was also in effect, but there were also “Teaching Fellowship Opportunities” for teachers with less than two full-time years of teaching experience (which would have included most Teach for America recruits):

Teaching Fellowship Opportunities (No teaching experience required)

For educators with less than 2 years of full-time teaching experience, KIPP New Orleans offers a Teaching Fellowship Program.  This is an opportunity to work in tandem with an experienced teacher for one year of training and professional development.  Teaching Fellows begin the school year supporting a teacher and throughout the year build the skills needed to transition to a full-time teaching role at KIPP New Orleans.

By April 2010, KIPP New Orleans was no longer advertising the Teaching Fellows option.

It looks like to KIPP New Orleans, teaching experience does matter.

I checked the KIPP Houston employment page and found no minimum teaching experience requirement.

Indeed, it looks like KIPP New Orleans is trying to avoid those inexperienced-KIPP New Orleans: Classroom Hiring that Excludes Most Teach for America “Talent” | deutsch29:

School Choice Is Not Always Democratic - Bridging Differences - Education Week

School Choice Is Not Always Democratic - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

School Choice Is Not Always Democratic

Deborah Meier continues her conversation with Harry Boyte. To read their full exchange, please visit here.

Dear Harry and friends,

As you noted a week ago, Harry, this is getting interesting. I enjoyed the responses of Mike Miller, long time community organizer, to our conversation and want to address both your comments and his. Mike's comments are on the website of the Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship at Augsburg College.

I'd also like readers to take a look at a gathering on Martha's Vineyard that should concern us all called "CampPhilos."

What's our alternative?

I'm struggling to picture the alternative form of organizing you are suggesting, Harry. Miller's comments helped a bit. But, as he notes, he has no successful examples to show us. Yes, I took the path I did (creating small self-governing public schools serving primarily low-income minority kids) because I wanted something to "show" others—and myself. They do have language, their families do care, they can, etc. I wanted to show that relationships based on democratic principles are the vital ground floor for building a better society. I wasn't totally naïve (Mike Miller). I wasn't truly "amazed" at the lack of attention and support as our ideas took on more and more reach. But we kept being told "but what's the alternative"? And by people I respect. So we kept upping the ante. And yes, the Boston project was actually initiated within the teachers union of Boston and it was—as Miller suggests—a way of giving us a legal status and a power base, in the contract. But we got out-foxed. Management undermined the agreement and the leadership of the Boston AFT chapter found it increasingly hard to defend. 

My old mentor, the late Lillian Weber, was not enamored of our decision to create separate small School Choice Is Not Always Democratic - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

It’s Time For The Presidential Candidates To Talk About Education » Missouri Education Watchdog

It’s Time For The Presidential Candidates To Talk About Education » Missouri Education Watchdog:

It’s Time For The Presidential Candidates To Talk About Education

Diane Ravitch wrote in Salon magazine that education was largely ignored by the main stream media in the 2012 Presidential campaigns.

The media and citizens at public forums must not let that happen again. Education is central to our future as a nation; it is also the single largest item in every state’s budget. Yet the candidates for the 2016 race in both parties are talking only about pre-kindergarten and higher education, skipping right over the important issues that face millions of children and educators in public schools today.

The Network For Public Education, a group founded by Ravitch and heavily populated by teachers’ union members, is committed to making all candidates answer their eight questions about education so the public knows where they stand on issues that impact most of our children and significant portions of our state budgets. Those questions are:

1. TESTING: Will you end the federal mandate for annual high-stakes testing?
2. SCHOOL CLOSURES: Will you put an end to school closures based on test scores?
3. PRIVATIZATION: Will you put an end to the privatization of public education?
4. FUNDING: Will you ensure public schools are equitably funded?
5. EQUITY: Will you ensure that all students have equal access the services and resources they need?
6. TEACHER PROFESSIONALISM: What is your position on the deprofessionalization of teachers?
7. DEMOCRATICALLY CONTROLLED SCHOOLS: Will you ensure equity in education without eroding democratic control at the state and local level?
8. STUDENT PRIVACY: Will you defend student privacy?

You can check out the answers NPE would like to hear to these questions on their website.

Tomorrow, Rachel Maddow is scheduled to moderate the Democratic Presidential debate on MSNBC. NPE has sent her their list of questions and is asking the public to let MSNBC know that they support asking the candidates these questions.

The Republican candidates should answer these questions as well at their next debate November 10th hosted by Fox/WSJ.

Congress is poised to push a revision to ESEA in the next few weeks to hand THIS president the blue print the country will operate under during the next presidency. Their goal seems to be to give Obama a bill he will sign. Kinda makes asking these guys their position mute. Maybe we should be asking members of Congress to answer these questions so we know how to vote on THEM next time.It’s Time For The Presidential Candidates To Talk About Education » Missouri Education Watchdog:

NEWS FLASH: Vermont State Board of Education Trashes Common Core SBAC Test - Wait What?

NEWS FLASH:  Vermont State Board of Education Trashes Common Core SBAC Test - Wait What?:

NEWS FLASH:  Vermont State Board of Education Trashes Common Core SBAC Test

Yesterday the Vermont State Board of Education approved a letter that is being sent out to parents of public school students in that state.  Their honest and hard-hitting assessment that the Common Core SBAC test inappropriately labels children as failures and undermines public education is a message that all children, parents, teachers and policymakers need to hear.  By telling the truth and essentially trashing the SBAC test results, the Vermont Board is a shining example that we can fight back against the Corporate Education Reform Industry and its political allies. – Jonathan Pelto

A MUST READ NEWS FLASH – From fellow Connecticut public education advocate and columnist Wendy Lecker;

“Do not let the results wrongly discourage your child from pursuing his or her talents, ambitions, hopes or dreams.

These tests are based on a narrow definition of “college and career ready.” In truth, there are many different careers and colleges, and there are just as many different definitions of essential skills. In fact, many (if not most) successful adults fail to score well on standardized tests. If your child’s scores show that they are not yet proficient, this does not mean that they are not doing well or will not do well in the future.”  – Vermont State Board of Education 11-4-2015

Wendy Lecker explains,

Once again, Vermont’s education officials are leading the way and, frankly, putting all other education officials, state and federal, to shame. These leaders understand the proper place standardized tests should occupy in the educational landscape, and they understand the purpose of education.

With the release of the 2015 test scores, Vermont’s State Board, of which Education Secretary, Rebecca Holcombe, is a member, issued a letter essentially telling parents that tests have limited value in describing the education their children are receiving or the type NEWS FLASH:  Vermont State Board of Education Trashes Common Core SBAC Test - Wait What?:

Distrust of School “Reform” Surfaces in Tuesday’s Election | janresseger

Distrust of School “Reform” Surfaces in Tuesday’s Election | janresseger:

Distrust of School “Reform” Surfaces in Tuesday’s Election

Tuesday’s election brought some positive reversals in support of public schools in places where, at the local level, “corporatized school reform” has, until now, been making headway.

Most notable is the election of Jim Kenney as the new mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Helen Gym, a dogged public school advocate to the city council.  Neither of these people will have direct control over the public schools, which are managed today by a School Reform Commission (SRC) of the state of Pennsylvania and a superintendent who reports to the SRC.  But their voices will add support for the dogged effort of Pennsylvania’s new governor, Tom Wolf, who is locked in a battle for adequate and equitably distributed school funding with the anti-tax state legislature.  A budget that is months’ overdue has created a cash-flow crisis for all state-funded entities, including school districts across the state.  On Monday,  the School District of Philadelphia was forced to borrow $250 million  just to stay open.

For several years now with support from Mayor Michael Nutter and Superintendent William Hite, the School Reform Commission has been implementing a “Portfolio School Plan” originally designed by the Boston Consulting Group.  Kenney’s philosophy of education is a sharp and refreshing contrast. The Philadelphia Public School Notebook reports: “Kenney has promised to work toward universal preschool and has thrown his support behind community schools (that wrap community services into school buildings) as the primary reform strategy for the District.  That is a departure from Mayor Nutter’s approach.  Throughout his administration Nutter supported the strategy that relied heavily on closing low-performing schools and expanding charters with the goal of having “a great school” in every neighborhood.”  This is the language of the pro-privatization, Center on Reinventing Public Education, which actively promotes school choice and the expansion of charters as the centerpiece of urban education policy.  It is becoming increasingly apparent in Philadelphia that, with the school population flat and rapid growth of charter schools that draw money and students from traditional public schools, the expansion of charters is undermining the school district’s capacity to serve the most vulnerable children.

The other huge reversal in Tuesday’s election was in the school board election in a Denver area suburban school district, Jefferson County, Colorado, where three libertarian members of the school board were soundly defeated in a parent-led referendum to recall them.  Here isDistrust of School “Reform” Surfaces in Tuesday’s Election | janresseger:

The not-to-be believed letter sent by U.S. Education Department to Ohio - The Washington Post

The not-to-be believed letter sent by U.S. Education Department to Ohio - The Washington Post:

The not-to-be believed letter sent by U.S. Education Department to Ohio

Put this in the you-can’t-make-up-this-stuff category.

When the U.S. Department of Education last month handed out $157 million in charter school grants, many in the education world couldn’t understand the largest award on the list. It went to the Ohio Department of Education — $32.6 million for the first year, with a recommended multi-year total of $71 million. Why, the question was asked, did the Obama administration give so much money for charter schools in Ohio when the state’s $1 billion charter sector is as scandal-ridden as any in the country?

Now we know.

[Feds didn’t carefully monitor $3 billion it gave for charters — and just awarded $157 more]

Federal education officials just sent a letter (see below) to Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Richard Ross saying that, in fact, it didn’t quite understand the depth of Ohio’s charter problems, and now is putting new restrictions on the grant money, as my colleague Lyndsey Laytonwrote in this story.

The letter says in part:

[I]n making the original grant award, the Department conducted an expedited review of information available at that time and made a preliminary determination that these concerns and issues should not disqualify ODE from the FY 2015 CSP SEA competition. The Department took such concerns into consideration when awarding ODE’s grant, however, and placed special conditions on the grant, pending receipt of more information regarding these matters. Since awarding the grant to ODE, the Department has received additional information that raises continuing concerns regarding ODE’s ability to administer its CSP SEA grant properly, particularly in the areas of oversight and accountability with respect to Ohio’s charter schools.

An expedited review of information available at that time? Who didn’t know that Ohio’s charter schools had become a national joke — literally. The Plain Dealer ran a story this year that started like this:

Ohio, the charter school world is making fun of you.

Ohio’s $1 billion charter school system was the butt of jokes at a 

The not-to-be believed letter sent by U.S. Education Department to Ohio - The Washington Post:

What the Success Academy fight over kicking out students says about the charter movement - Vox

What the Success Academy fight over kicking out students says about the charter movement - Vox:

What the Success Academy fight over kicking out students says about the charter movement

The biggest recent argument about charter schools boils down to this: Is it okay to suspend a 5-year-old from school? What about suspending him 10 or 11 times in a single year? What about making a list of the students you want to push out of your school?

These are the latest controversies boiling around Success Academy, a very successful chain of New York charter schools that are also a lightning rod for political fights. Two recent media reports honed in on the charter schools' strict discipline policies, arguing that the schools succeed in part because of whom they kick out.

This is partly a proxy war in New York politics, because Success Academy's founder, Eva Moskowitz, is an outspoken opponent of Mayor Bill de Blasio's education policies. It's also the latest manifestation of a broader argument about whether charter schools work because of the kids they educate or because of the way they teach. Whether you see Success Academy as an inhumane test-prep factory or an educational godsend for disadvantaged kids is probably a good indication of how you see the charter school movement as a whole.

Beneath the storm of controversy, there's arguably a quiet point of agreement. Charter critics say the results at places like Success Academy are driven by compositional effects — it's easy to have great test scores if you kick out the worst-performing kids. Charter proponents say that's not backed up empirically, and the bulk of the evidence says they're right.

But Moskowitz defends her school's harsh discipline by saying it's integral to the success of the kids who don't get kicked out. This means that even though Success Academy's great test scores probably aren't a direct result of its suspension policy, its record really is partly due to something traditional public schools can't imitate.

Success Academy is a very successful charter school chain — and it kicks out a lot of kids

Students at Success Academy schools do incredibly well on standardized tests, particularly compared with students in New York City schools as a whole. The charter school chain enrolls 11,000 students, most of them black or Hispanic and poor, in 34 schools across the city.

This year, 93 percent of Success Academy students tested as proficient in math in 2015, compared with just 35 percent of kids in New York as a whole; 68 percent tested as proficient in reading, compared with 30 percent citywide.

Even among urban charter networks, those are outstanding results.

"This is not 'remarkable,'" Robert Pondiscio, vice president for external affairs at the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute, wrote when Success Academy's 2014 test results came out. "This is Secretariat winning the Belmont by thirty-one lengths. It’s What the Success Academy fight over kicking out students says about the charter movement - Vox:

To Hell with Good Intentions | Boston Review

To Hell with Good Intentions | Boston Review:

To Hell with Good Intentions

School Reform is Failing America's Children

Public school students rallied in front of Newark City Hall in April 2014 to protest reforms under Superintendant Cami Anderson, depicted here as a "liar." Photo: Newark Student Union

The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools?
Dale Russakoff
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $27 (cloth)

I was the worst teacher in the Houston Independent School District.

I know this from a meeting with a district administrator in the spring of 1993. Hired as a sixth-grade teacher a few days before the start of the school year at Rusk Elementary School, I had come to Houston as part of a large group of young and idealistic Teach For America corps members. My ambitions exceeded my abilities. I knew the subject matter, but I was shaky at classroom management and I knew little about the lives of my students, one-fifth of whom lived in nearby homeless shelters. Nor did I know much about the city; when I arrived in Houston after six weeks of Teach For America summer training in California, it was my first visit there or, indeed, to the state of Texas. Still, when the principal observed my classroom that fall to carry out a state-mandated teacher evaluation—the Texas Teacher Appraisal System, or TTAS, as it was known—she rated me as “above average.”

As I got to know the school, I learned about its chronic low performance and history of administrative and teacher turnover. The school seemed to be in crisis—parents, teachers, and students were all complaining. Together with some other new teachers, I made proposals to the principal for some modest reforms to disciplinary procedures and class scheduling.

I came to realize that the principal—also in her first year at the school and her first job as a principal—didn’t care at all for me, an outsider with an Ivy League degree and a batch of reform ideas offered up a mere few months after arriving. When she returned to my classroom in the spring for my second required evaluation, I received a terrible score, placing me in the lowest ranking on the TTAS scale: unsatisfactory. I went to visit the district supervisor for TTAS, and she informed me that she had never seen such a low rating. I recall the wry smile, kindly signaling her understanding of the desperate situation at Rusk: “Congratulations, Mr. Reich. According to this assessment, you are Houston’s worst teacher.”

A few months later, Rusk Elementary School became ground zero for a new citywide effort in education reform. The superintendent, Rod Paige, who would later serve as secretary of education under President George W. Bush, “reconstituted” the entire school. Every administrator and teacher was reassigned, and a new principal was brought in. It was a particularly severe form of top-down reform: evacuating the building of all adults and starting again with a fresh team. When I was interviewed by the new principal, I stressed my To Hell with Good Intentions | Boston Review:

‘Education’ in a Police State – In California Alone, Schools Call the Cops Every 2.6 Seconds | Alternet

‘Education’ in a Police State – In California Alone, Schools Call the Cops Every 2.6 Seconds | Alternet:

‘Education’ in a Police State – In California Alone, Schools Call the Cops Every 2.6 Seconds

76% of all high schools in the country have police officers working on the campus all day.

San Jose, CA – Police presence in schools has been a topic of heavy debate in recent weeks due to a viral video that showed a police officer brutally assaulting a young girlas she sat at her desk in class. These cases are sadly common, and now seeming to take place on a daily basis all across the country.

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According to figures released by the U.S. Department of Justice, 76% of all high schools in the country have police officers working on the campus all day, and teachers are calling them in for the most trivial disciplinary problems.

According to statistics released by the U.S. Department of Education and published by NBC News, in the 2011-2012 school year, teachers called the cops on students a total of 31,961 times in the state of California alone, leading to 6,341 arrests.

With 175 8-hour-long school days, that means that every 2.6 seconds a cop is called!

At one California school district, in particular, East Side Union High School District in San Jose, police were called on students 1,745 times during the 2011-2012 school year. This one school called the police on students more than ten times a day!

East Side Union Superintendent Chris Funk admitted that his staff relies way too heavily on the police presence at the school.

“I think that we had a practice here where we were relying too much on having the officer do the facilitation and the legwork versus the administration doing the legwork,” Funk said.

“I think what happened was because of zero-tolerance policies, there was a period of time where people just went to the police and had students cited for ‘Education’ in a Police State – In California Alone, Schools Call the Cops Every 2.6 Seconds | Alternet:

students at online charter schools perform much weaker than their peers at other schools - Business Insider

students at online charter schools perform much weaker than their peers at other schools - Business Insider:

One type of charter school has an 'overwhelming negative impact' on students

Charter schools — which are publicly funded but privately run — have proliferated across the US since they first emerged as an alternative to traditional public schools (TPS) in the early 1990s.

In recent years, online charter schools have proliferated in the US, too. Online charter schools, also referred to as cyber or virtual charter schools, offer K-12 education where all the classes are provided online.

Students log into their computers to receive instruction from teachers, but much of the learning is also independently driven, with students reading passages and completing work on their own.

But new research conducted by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) found that online charter schools are falling way behind their peers at TPS.

The study found that online charter school students had much weaker growth in math and reading than their peers in TPS, equating to 72 days of learning lost in reading and 180 days of learning lost in math.

"This is due to the overwhelming negative impact on student growth from attending an online charter school," CREDO wrote, citing data from 158 online schools across 17 states and the District of Columbia.

That's a troubling finding. The average school year is 180 days, according to the Education Commission of the States. So CREDO's assertion that students lose 180 of learning means they lose an entire year of schooling just by attending an online charter school.

It's also interesting in conjunction with the surging popularity of charter schools among hedge fund investors.

Hedge funds and other private businesses are particularly interested in the growth and success of charter schools. The growth of charter networks around the US offer new revenue streams for investing, and the sector is quickly growing. Funding for charter schools is further students at online charter schools perform much weaker than their peers at other schools - Business Insider:

Educators: Common Core Standards Incompatible with Catholic Education

Educators: Common Core Standards Incompatible with Catholic Education:

Educators: Common Core Standards Incompatible with Catholic Education

Administrators from Schools of Excellence on The Cardinal Newman Society’s Catholic Education Honor Roll recently told the Newman Society that Common Core State Standards pose a significant conflict to Catholic curricula, and found the standards severely wanting in crucial areas of faithful Catholic education such as intellectual and moral formation.

“Regardless of the standards employed, Catholic identity must be at the core of instruction and pedagogy, implemented by faithful administrators and teachers who understand the importance of their role in the formation of students,” Jamie Arthur, senior fellow and manager of the Society’s Catholic Education Honor Roll, pointed out.

The Newman Society has documented numerous concerns about the controversial Common Core State Standards through its Catholic is Our Core program, and just this week raised alarms that the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) remains devoted to the Common Core standards, despite serious concerns about their impact on Catholic schools, following the announcement that its annual convention would be headlined by Common Core architect David Coleman.

The most common complaint that educators shared with the Newman Society is Common Core’s single-minded focus on career and college preparation.

“Education should be more than just a means to career-driven pursuits,” Derek Tremblay, headmaster of Mount Royal Academy in Sunapee, N.H., told the Newman Society. Students should be instructed in morality first and foremost, he said.

Moreover, this lopsided focus on job success results in a system that neglects to encourage individual student success, administrators noted.

Tremblay opined that this weakness in Common Core stems from “an ideological starting point that, to some extent,

- See more at: http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/CatholicEducationDaily/DetailsPage/tabid/102/ArticleID/4461/Educators-Common-Core-Standards-Incompatible-with-Catholic-Education.aspx#sthash.eeQGd5N4.dpuf

Did the Common Core assessments cause the decline in NAEP scores? | Brookings Institution

Did the Common Core assessments cause the decline in NAEP scores? | Brookings Institution:

Did the Common Core assessments cause the decline in NAEP scores?

When the NAEP scores were released last week, math achievement had fallen by 1.3 points in fourth grade and 2.4 points in eighth grade.  It was the first time that math achievement had fallen in either fourth grade or eighth grade scores since 1990.  Given the controversy surrounding the Common Core State Standards, and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) exams aligned to them, many commentators have been asking two questions: 

1. Did the states taking the PARCC or SBAC assessments underperform other states with similar prior achievement?
2. Could PARCC/SBAC participation explain the decline?

The answer to the first question, regarding whether the PARCC/SBAC participants had a larger decline than expected, is a tentative “yes.”   The states which administered the PARCC or SBAC tests scored lower in 2015 relative to states with similar 2013 scores.  However, the difference was small, less than one scale score point.  As a result, the answer to the second question is “no."  Even taking the estimated underperformance as a causal effect, the difference between PARCC/SBAC participants and other states accounted for less than one-third of the absolute decline in math achievement between 2013 and 2015.  Many states—not just the PARCC and SBAC participants-- saw a decline in math achievement between 2013 and 2015.

Trends 

Figure 1 reports trends in fourth and eighth grade math and reading scores, relative to 1990 and 1992 respectively on the main NAEP assessment.  Although the cumulative magnitude is not widely appreciated, math scores on the main NAEP assessment have risen steadily since 1990, rising by roughly .9 student-level standard deviations in fourth grade and .6 standard deviations in eighth grade over the past two and a half decades.  However, math scores in both grades dipped in 2015. 

The scores also dipped in eighth grade reading.  However, that dip was much less anomalous, since the cumulative increases in reading scores have been smaller and the biennial changes less consistent over time.

Figures 2 and 3 report the trend in subscale scores in fourth and eighth grade math respectively.  In fourth grade, the decline in 2015 was statistically significant for three subscales, with scores on numbers/operations and measurement remaining largely Did the Common Core assessments cause the decline in NAEP scores? | Brookings Institution:

Philly shows Chicago what democracy looks like. | Fred Klonsky

Philly shows Chicago what democracy looks like. | Fred Klonsky:

Philly shows Chicago what democracy looks like.

Philadelphia mayor-elect Jim Kenney and Helen Gym, council woman-elect.

The city is run by a mayor who pushes a school reform agenda that focuses on closing neighborhood schools and opening the city to charters.

The head of the schools at one time was Paul Vallas.

The school district itself is in dire financial condition.

What once were school district jobs have been outsourced to private companies.

The relationship between the teachers union and the city and school administration couldn’t be worse. Teachers who were promised a contractual raise years ago have yet to see it in their paychecks.

I’m not talking about Chicago.

This describes my birthplace, Philadelphia.

On Tuesday a new mayor was elected and the leader of the community fight Philly shows Chicago what democracy looks like. | Fred Klonsky:

Who Created The Cages? [About That Teacher Life] | The Jose Vilson

Who Created The Cages? [About That Teacher Life] | The Jose Vilson:

Who Created The Cages? [About That Teacher Life]

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak at William Paterson University in New Jersey to their college of education. Their education program definitely has the right leaders to move their future teachers forward. After I spoke at length about being a teacher, cultural competence, and teacher leadership, I was enlightened by so many students, future counselors, and faculty who wanted to push back against our current education reform agenda. They also had a keen eye on equity questions, and I was happy to elucidate wherever possible. I’m blessed to do such things because I don’t know any K-12 educators (if any) who have a similar speaking schedule while full-time teaching.

But don’t let the itineraries fool you: my first professional priority is teaching my students math.

There’s an exhaustive tally of items I have to worry about since the honeymoon period came to an end. A student or two have taken calculators home, perhaps never to be seen again. A student starts off with high expectations for himself and falls off into his own distress and lack of self-confidence. A few students get suspended for the incomprehensible, though I’m sure it made sense to them. A few students learn to love math, while one student spends time with me after class so I can make the case Who Created The Cages? [About That Teacher Life] | The Jose Vilson:

Jersey Jazzman: Charter Schools, An Exchange: Part V

Jersey Jazzman: Charter Schools, An Exchange: Part V:

Charter Schools, An Exchange: Part V

Dmitri Mehlhorn and I continue our exchange about charter schools.

Part I: Mehlhorn's opener.

Part II: My reply.

Part III: Mehlhorn's response.

Part IV: My second reply.

Leave your thoughts in the comments below. My final reply will be up shortly.

* * *

Five Questions for Charter Critics

Jazzman-Mehlhorn Episode V

Reform skeptic Jersey Jazzman is hosting a debate about charter schools. He and I have spent 4 posts and about 10,000 words discussing the past few years’ worth of research by charter advocates, detractors, and academics. We will probably have a “long tail” of comments in social media, but this is the final formal installment of my appeals to Jazzman and the other skeptics who have engaged over the past year or so, including Sue Alexander, Dr. John Thompson, Deb Stahl, Jack Covey, Ajay Srikanth, Daniel Katz, Greg Clark, Mindy Rosier, Ben Spielberg, Peter Greene, Ben Faber, Randi Weingarten, Dr. Bruce Baker, Gail Richmond, Ed Harris, Jennifer Berkshire, and others.

If you’re up for it, I have five questions for all of you. Of course, this is not an exhaustive list – we could talk for years about test scores, poverty, fixed costs, and other issues. But in the spirit of trying to make progress in at least some areas, I’d be grateful for your honest take in these five areas, not conflated with other issues.  

(1) Jazzman, why don’t TPS test results go down as charters expand? 

Mark, the skeptics’ most common and most powerful arguments involve “skimming.” Compared to TPS [traditional public schools], these arguments claim that charter

- See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2015/11/charter-schools-exchange-part-v.html#sthash.9zeoFDZA.dpuf

Commercialism in Schools: No Windfall For Districts and Students Pay a Huge Price - NEA Today

Commercialism in Schools: No Windfall For Districts and Students Pay a Huge Price - NEA Today:

Commercialism in Schools: No Windfall For Districts and Students Pay a Huge Price

Last month, educators, parents and community members mobilized against “McTeacher Night,” an event at which educators sit behind the counter at local McDonald’s franchises and serve up hamburgers, french fries and soda to their students. McDonald’s bills it as a “popular and successful school fundraiser.” Teacher and parent Mark Noltner sees a blatant attempt to market fast food to children.

“It’s hard enough helping my daughter navigate the minefield of unhealthy marketing; the last thing she needs is her teachers hawking junk food. And as a teacher myself, it infuriates me that McDonald’s would manipulate the trust that teachers develop with their students,” said Noltner, who complained to the principal of his daughter’s school and reached out to other educators to create awareness about the event.

A flyer advertising McDonald’s “McTeacher’s Night”

The National Education Association and more than 50 state and local teacher unions sent a letter to McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook, demanding an end to McTeacher’s Night.

“We’re fighting a major national health crisis in childhood obesity, and schools across the nation are doing amazing work to help kids learn about healthy foods,” said Jim Bender, executive director of NEA Healthy Futures. “The practice of exploiting educators and jeopardizing children’s health for the sake of corporate profits is unconscionable.”

The infiltration of public schools by corporate marketing doesn’t begin or end with McTeacher’s Night. Students have been exposed to commercialism in schools for decades and through a variety of methods. Product advertising adorns school hallways, lockers and buses. Teachers use corporate-sponsored materials in their classrooms. Schools enter into exclusive agreements with soda companies to sell their products on school grounds. Corporations often subsidize school events. And yet, these practices – “McTeacher Night” notwithstanding – have generally not registered so much as a blip on the public’s radar screen.

“I think people tend to underestimate the risks and the downsides of these types of activities in schools,” says Faith Boninger, a researcher at the University of Colorado and co-author with Alex Molnar of the new book, “Sold Out: How Marketing in Schools Threatens Student Well-being and Undermines Their Education.” “Advertising is such a big part of our culture, so people just shrug and figure, ‘Well, kids are inundated by commercials in their lives anyway, so what’s the big deal?’

A Captive Audience

Students, like many adults, probably believe that advertising doesn’t influence their attitudes and behavior. But it does, which is why corporations are more than happy to shell out billions of dollars on it annually, although exact figures are hard to pinpoint. In a 2006 report, however, Boninger and Molnar estimated that roughly 83 percent of district public schools had advertising by corporations in schools and Commercialism in Schools: No Windfall For Districts and Students Pay a Huge Price - NEA Today: