Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 2/5/17

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 2/5/17

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How much does it cost to sell your vote and soul to DeVos? | Reclaim Reform

Irrational Fears vs Rational Compassion | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing

by mike simpson / 1h

Irrational Fears vs Rational Compassion | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing : Irrational Fears vs Rational Compassion This essay by Jon Meacham struck a chord in me as I have been pondering the history of our on again off again love hate affair with immigrants and immigration. Let us count the off again – hatred times: Note that there is only 1 anti-immigration law until 1882. Between 1882 and 1

Schools Matter: Anti-DeVos Sentiment Almost Makes Us Forget Dems' Privatization Efforts

by mike simpson / 3h

Schools Matter: Anti-DeVos Sentiment Almost Makes Us Forget Dems' Privatization Efforts : Anti-DeVos Sentiment Almost Makes Us Forget Dems' Privatization Efforts Charter schools are not the issue here. --Senator Al Franken at Betsy DeVos hearing Indeed, charter schools are not the issue, since Democrats have long supported the billions of federal dollars that Team Obama gave to vastly increase th

Someone Is Paying Strangers Online to Beg For Betsy DeVos's Confirmation

by mike simpson / 3h

Someone Is Paying Strangers Online to Beg For Betsy DeVos's Confirmation : Someone Is Paying Strangers Online to Beg For Betsy DeVos's Confirmation Swagbucks.com and Instagc.com are sites where users can, in exchange for a few cents, complete small tasks such as filling out forms or surveys and—as of yesterday—begging the Senate to confirm Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s education secretary nominee.

The Ballad of Joseph Olchefske: Middle College, Ed-Reform Market Failure, and the March of Online Learning. | Seattle Education

by mike simpson / 4h

The Ballad of Joseph Olchefske: Middle College, Ed-Reform Market Failure, and the March of Online Learning. | Seattle Education : The Ballad of Joseph Olchefske: Middle College, Ed-Reform Market Failure, and the March of Online Learning. What do you think should happen in this scenario? The superintendent of the largest school district in the state, through mismanagement and carelessness, runs up

NYC Public School Parents: Make your calls now - to the Senators who haven't announced their vote! then watch these segments from SNL and Maddow!

by mike simpson / 5h

NYC Public School Parents: Make your calls now - to the Senators who haven't announced their vote! then watch these segments from SNL and Maddow! : Make your calls now - to the Senators who haven't announced their vote! then watch these segments from SNL and Maddow! The final vote in the Senate on Betsy DeVos in now scheduled for Tuesday. According to informed sources, the best chances we have no

CURMUDGUCATION: Chiefs' New Hilarious Practical Joke

by mike simpson / 6h

CURMUDGUCATION: Chiefs' New Hilarious Practical Joke : Chiefs' New Hilarious Practical Joke I am about 72% certain that this is a practical joke, right down to this stock photo: "Seriously, dude?" That photo is on the top of a Chiefs for Change news item for the new Student Growth Simulator. A new web-based tool will offer far greater ease and clarity for state and district leaders seeking to set

SNL takes a jab at Betsy DeVos during a mock Sean Spicer press conference - The Washington Post

by mike simpson / 6h

SNL takes a jab at Betsy DeVos during a mock Sean Spicer press conference - The Washington Post : SNL takes a jab at Betsy DeVos during a mock Sean Spicer press conference It was inevitable. The unprecedented controversy surrounding Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s nominee for education secretary, gave “Saturday Night Live” a new target — and Kate McKinnon, who had previously played Hillary Clinton

Breaking the Fundamental Rule of the Math Class Game – and paying the price | JD2718

by mike simpson / 7h

Breaking the Fundamental Rule of the Math Class Game – and paying the price | JD2718 : Breaking the Fundamental Rule of the Math Class Game – and paying the price The Fundamental Rule of Math Class: I teach something, you go home, open up the homework, do what I showed you in class, and you’ll be fine. Same thing on the test. If a student gets some math published, should that hurt the teacher’s e

Try to Keep Up - Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

by mike simpson / 7h

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all : Try to Keep Up - Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education Aaron Pallas Reviews Betsy DeVos’ Performance and Responses by dianeravitch / 21min Aaron Pallas of Teachers College, Columbia University, reviewed Betsy DeVos in The Hechinger Report. In her testimony and in her written responses, he found her to be large

Superhero Songs Countdown (Blue Cereal Edition) | Blue Cereal Education

by mike simpson / 7h

Superhero Songs Countdown (Blue Cereal Edition) | Blue Cereal Education : Superhero Songs Countdown (Blue Cereal Edition) What do superhero songs have to do with history or education? Nothing. Nothing at all. I've been sick all week. I don't have the energy to write anything meaningful, and yet I'm restless... it's been too long since a new post. Besides, I'm a sucker for superhero stories. When

Schools Matter: Why Eli Broad opposes Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education

by mike simpson / 7h

Schools Matter: Why Eli Broad opposes Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education : Why Eli Broad opposes Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education By Tim Scott Eli Broad’s opposition to Betsy DeVos further exposes the current financialization model of education he and his peers maintain, which is based on funneling public funds to seed and support government protected/regulated (NCLB, RTTT, ESSA, etc) edu

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Some Game Today Edition + Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION

by mike simpson / 7h

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Some Game Today Edition (2/5) : ICYMI: Some Game Today Edition (2/5) Is there some sort of sporting event going on today? I've heard rumors, and I may find it in me later to care. But in the meantime, here's some readings for the day. And remember-- there's still time to bother your senator about the upcoming DeVos vote. American Schools are Still Segregated. These Parents

Live from Chicago. It’s Sunday morning. | Fred Klonsky

by mike simpson / 8h

Live from Chicago. It’s Sunday morning. | Fred Klonsky : Live from Chicago. It’s Sunday morning . A top ally of Gov. Bruce Rauner warned members of the largest state employee union to be “careful” about “crossing” the Republican governor by going on strike, suggesting that individual jobs are more important than the group’s political standing in Springfield. The comments by House Republican leade

Russ on Reading: Beyond Grades: How Are We Doing?

by mike simpson / 8h

Russ on Reading: Beyond Grades: How Are We Doing? : Beyond Grades: How Are We Doing? The fourth in a series on grades and grading In previous posts I have argued that we need to move away from grades as a method of assessment because grades are a poor way to provide feedback to students and also a poor way to provide feedback to parents . In this last in the series on grades, I will argue that gr

How much does it cost to sell your vote and soul to DeVos? | Reclaim Reform

by mike simpson / 8h

How much does it cost to sell your vote and soul to DeVos? | Reclaim Reform : How much does it cost to sell your vote and soul to DeVos? Senators sell their votes. This used to be illegal. It was called corruption for which elected office holders could go to jail. Today with PACs, SuperPACs and new laws made by lawmakers who take this money, it is now legal. Perfectly legal. Illegal “Quid pro quo

THE BEACON ON THE HILL « Dad Gone Wild

by mike simpson / 9h

THE BEACON ON THE HILL « Dad Gone Wild : THE BEACON ON THE HILL Last week President Trump enacted an Executive Order banning the entry of refugees for the next 90 days and Syrian refugees indefinitely, under the guise of a need to further vet them. Since my kids go to a school with a large refugee and immigrant population , I have some observations I’d like to share. By no means are my observatio

YESTERDAY

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 2/4/17

9by mike simpson / 22h

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 2/4/17 Featured Post Politico: Opposition to DeVos “Snowballs into an Avalanche” | Diane Ravitch's blog ODAY Silicon Valley Investor Arthur Rock Joins Eli Broad In Concern On Betsy DeVos 

Top Posts This Week

• 

  GoFundMe Campaign to Buy a “No” Vote on DeVos from PA Senator Pat Toomey | deutsch29
• Trump Says He Heard Frederick Douglass Was Alive from Betsy DeVos - The New Yorker
• 

  Choosing Democracy: Defeat DeVos- Call Your Senator Now tout de suite
• Classroom Seating: A Clue to Teacher Beliefs about Learning (Angela Watson) | Larry Cuban
• 

  Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 1/29/17
• DeVos and the Domino Effect on State Legislatures
• 

  Betsy DeVos Likely To Spread Quack Science Instead Of Teaching The Real Thing
• 

  Eli Broad’s opposition to DeVos reveals faultlines in charter school movement | EdSource
• 

  Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 2/3/17
• 

  Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 2/4/17

Irrational Fears vs Rational Compassion | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing

Irrational Fears vs Rational Compassion | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:

Irrational Fears vs Rational Compassion

This essay by Jon Meacham struck a chord in me as I have been pondering the history of our on again off again love hate affair with immigrants and immigration.

Let us count the off again – hatred times:

Note that there is only 1 anti-immigration law until 1882.

Between 1882 and 1952 there are 10!

• Alien and Sedition Act: 1798
• Rise of the 19th century Know Nothings (American Party): 1848 They sought to permit only native-born Americans ( not Native Americans) to run for office and try to raise the residency requirement to 25 years.
• Chinese Exclusion Act: 1882
•  Anarchist Exclusion Act: 1903  denies anarchists, other political extremists, beggars, and epileptics entry into the U.S.
• The Immigration Act of 1907:  The list of excluded now adds “imbeciles,” “feeble-minded” people, those with physical or mental disabilities that prevent them from working, tuberculosis victims, children who enter the U.S. without parents, and those who committed crimes of “moral turpitude.”
• Gentlemen’s Agreement barring Japanese: 1907
• Immigration Act of 1917 (Asiatic Barred Zone Act): restricted immigration, particularly of people from a large swath of Asia and the Pacific Islands. The act also bars homosexuals, “idiots,” “feeble-minded persons,” “criminals,” “insane persons,” alcoholics, and other categories.
• The Emergency Quota Law of 1921 limits the number of immigrants entering the U.S. each year to 350,000 and implements a nationality quota. Immigration from any country is capped at 3% of the population of that nationality based on the 1910 census. The law reduces immigration from eastern and southern Europe while favoring immigrants from Northern Europe.
• The National Origins Act of 1924: reduces the number of immigrants Irrational Fears vs Rational Compassion | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:

Schools Matter: Anti-DeVos Sentiment Almost Makes Us Forget Dems' Privatization Efforts

Schools Matter: Anti-DeVos Sentiment Almost Makes Us Forget Dems' Privatization Efforts:

Anti-DeVos Sentiment Almost Makes Us Forget Dems' Privatization Efforts

Charter schools are not the issue here.  --Senator Al Franken at Betsy DeVos hearing

Indeed, charter schools are not the issue, since Democrats have long supported the billions of federal dollars that Team Obama gave to vastly increase the number of charter schools over the past 8 years.

During the failed Clinton campaign of 2016, NPE, NEA, and AFT were on the hot seat for their candidate's staunch support for even more charters. 

Now they have launched campaigns against the nomination of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education.  DeVos supports privatization of schools, and she doesn't much care how she does it.  Charter, voucher, private, for-profit charter, non-profit charter--it just doesn't matter--she is on a mission from god, or someone.

NPE, NEA, and AFT, however, have more discriminating tastes when it comes to school privatization. They Schools Matter: Anti-DeVos Sentiment Almost Makes Us Forget Dems' Privatization Efforts:

Someone Is Paying Strangers Online to Beg For Betsy DeVos's Confirmation

Someone Is Paying Strangers Online to Beg For Betsy DeVos's Confirmation:

Someone Is Paying Strangers Online to Beg For Betsy DeVos's Confirmation

Swagbucks.com and Instagc.com are sites where users can, in exchange for a few cents, complete small tasks such as filling out forms or surveys and—as of yesterday—begging the Senate to confirm Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s education secretary nominee. Someone is paying these sites to pay people to go to SupportDeVos.com, a website run by the formerly DeVos-led American Federation for Children, to express their support for her nomination.

The campaign was first spotted by a user over at Daily Kos, who found the offer on Swagbucks. Several Reddit users claimed to have discovered the same thing on Swagbucks and similar sites yesterday.

redirected to a website urging them to tell government officials to confirm DeVos’s nomination:

Once at SupportDeVos.com, all you have to do is enter your name and address, hit submit, and sit back while the quarters roll in. In the meantime, some “official” (presumably in the Senate) receives this:

Dear Official,

I am writing to ask and encourage you to confirm Betsy DeVos as our next Secretary of Education. Betsy DeVos is one of the most accomplished and dedicated advocates for children and education reform in America. Mrs. DeVos has nearly three decades of experience successfully improving our nation’s education system and ensuring all children have access to a quality school, especially the most disadvantaged children in our country.

Betsy DeVos believes the best education decisions are made at the state and local level and she will fight relentlessly on behalf of all families. Mrs. DeVos is an experienced, proven and dedicated leader who will empower parents, protect students and support teachers.

You can change the letter to say whatever you like—and some people have done exactly that as a protest against her nomination—but if you’re filling out forms for pennies online, you’re probably more concerned with how many forms you’ve filled out than what they say.Someone Is Paying Strangers Online to Beg For Betsy DeVos's Confirmation:

The Ballad of Joseph Olchefske: Middle College, Ed-Reform Market Failure, and the March of Online Learning. | Seattle Education

The Ballad of Joseph Olchefske: Middle College, Ed-Reform Market Failure, and the March of Online Learning. | Seattle Education:

The Ballad of Joseph Olchefske: Middle College, Ed-Reform Market Failure, and the March of Online Learning.

What do you think should happen in this scenario?

The superintendent of the largest school district in the state, through mismanagement and carelessness, runs up a crippling 35 million dollar deficit?

If you believe in the efficiency of the market, the answer should be easy.

The superintendent would be immediately fired. Since his actions lost the school district money or in business terms – became extremely unprofitable,  he would never again have a job related to education.

Meet Joseph Olchefske, an expert in finance, and a rising star in Seattle Public Schools in the late ’90s. After the untimely death of his mentor, John Stanford, Olchefske officially became Superintendent of SPS in February of 1999.

Within four years of his tenure, the district would be facing a 34 million dollar deficit and Olchefske would be on the receiving end of two separate votes of no confidence.

Here’s a timeline from the Post-Intelligence which documents the unravelling.

Timeline

Sept. 14, 1995: Seattle Schools Superintendent John Stanford appoints Olchefske to be chief financial officer for district. He had been a public-finance manager for brokerage firm Piper Jaffray in Seattle since 1986.

Nov. 28, 1998: Stanford dies of acute myelogenous leukemia.

Feb. 09, 1999: Olchefske, who had been interim superintendent after Stanford’s death, is named permanent superintendent.

Aug. 16, 2002: Olchefske’s chief financial officer, Geri Lim, resigns in exchange for $51,000, a letter of reference and $1,000 for job-hunting costs.

Oct. 4, 2002: Olchefske announces that accounting glitches and computer problems led to a $35 million budget shortfall.

Oct. 28, 2002: Principals Association of Seattle Schools votes against holding a no-confidence vote.

Nov. 1, 2002: Seattle School Board votes in support of Olchefske.

Nov. 05, 2002: Seattle Education Association, the teachers union, publicly calls for Olchefske to resign.

March 28, 2003: Principals Association executive board votes no confidence in Olchefske.

April 4, 2003: Teachers union votes no confidence in Olchefske. “I’m committed to being superintendent,” he responds.

April 14, 2003: Olchefske resigns.

You would think a 35 million dollar financial meltdown would be a big red flag on The Ballad of Joseph Olchefske: Middle College, Ed-Reform Market Failure, and the March of Online Learning. | Seattle Education:

NYC Public School Parents: Make your calls now - to the Senators who haven't announced their vote! then watch these segments from SNL and Maddow!

NYC Public School Parents: Make your calls now - to the Senators who haven't announced their vote! then watch these segments from SNL and Maddow!:

Make your calls now - to the Senators who haven't announced their vote! then watch these segments from SNL and Maddow!

The final vote in the Senate on Betsy DeVos in now scheduled for Tuesday.   

According to informed sources, the best chances we have now against her appointment as Education Secretary lie with Sens. Thad Cochran (MS) and John Barrasso(WY) who haven't yet announced their positions.   Remember we need only one more vote against her to defeat her nomination.

If you live in either of these states, please call these offices today today or early Monday.  If you know someone who does, please share this information with them: 

Cochran: 202.224.5054 or 601.965.4459 or 662-236-1018 or 228-867-9710  

Barrasso: 307.261.6413 or 307-261-6413 or 307.772.2451 or 307.856.6642


That these two men have not yet announced their vote appears to be confirmed by this helpful list,  posted two days ago that includes all the Senators and cites their positions on DeVos, along with links to their contact information.  

There are other GOP Senators that according to this list hadn't announced their position on DeVos by Friday, including those from Idaho, Indiana, South Dakota and Utah.  Check to see what your Senator has said or not said about DeVos here:
www.romper.com/p/does-my-representative-support-betsy-devos-one-republican-senators-vote-needs-to-change-35360/

After you've checked the list, and called your Senators, watch this hilarious sketch on last night's Saturday Night Live, featuring Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer and Kate McKinnon as Betsy DeVos.   

You can also check out Friday's Rachel Maddow show on the unprecedented grassroots opposition to the DeVos nomination throughout the nation.  

NYC Public School Parents: Make your calls now - to the Senators who haven't announced their vote! then watch these segments from SNL and Maddow!:

CURMUDGUCATION: Chiefs' New Hilarious Practical Joke

CURMUDGUCATION: Chiefs' New Hilarious Practical Joke:

Chiefs' New Hilarious Practical Joke

I am about 72% certain that this is a practical joke, right down to this stock photo:

"Seriously, dude?"

That photo is on the top of a Chiefs for Change news item for the new Student Growth Simulator. 

A new web-based tool will offer far greater ease and clarity for state and district leaders seeking to set learning goals and measure progress under the sweeping Every Student Succeeds Act.

The Chiefs for Change, you may recall, was part of the Jeb Bush Edu-reform Complex, and was going to be a group of the very reformiest education chiefs in the country, helping to sweep Jeb to power. Things haven't quite worked out (though Chief Hanna Skandera does seem poised to sweep into DC as part of an ed department that doesn't look too much different from the one that President Bush III would have installed), and it turns out that Hot Ed Reformster Celebrities don't have a very long shelf life (how's Chris Barbic doing these days, anyway?) and the whole Chiefs thing has been losing steam, even going so far as to let people into the club who aren't even actual chiefs!

So, anyway-- since the Simulatoir is web-based, I thought I'd see if i could use it-- and it turns out that anyone can. Which is cool, because this thing was developed by Chiefs for Change, researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Education, and Tembo, an education technology firm.

I'll put some screen shots further down the page so you know i'm not making this up, but let me describe how it works. First, you enter the name of your indicator (I went with "BS Test") and your target year. then you tell it what percentage of students fall into which ethnic groups, and how CURMUDGUCATION: Chiefs' New Hilarious Practical Joke:

SNL takes a jab at Betsy DeVos during a mock Sean Spicer press conference - The Washington Post

SNL takes a jab at Betsy DeVos during a mock Sean Spicer press conference - The Washington Post:

SNL takes a jab at Betsy DeVos during a mock Sean Spicer press conference

It was inevitable. The unprecedented controversy surrounding Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s nominee for education secretary, gave “Saturday Night Live” a new target — and Kate McKinnon, who had previously played Hillary Clinton and Kellyanne Conway, got the role.

“DeVos” appeared on the Feb. 4 show during a mock press conference by White House press secretary Sean Spicer, played by Melissa McCarthy.

At one point during the press conference, Spicer brings out “DeVos,” saying, “I’ve been getting a lot of questions about Betsy DeVos” — mispronouncing her last name — “so we have her here to field some simple questions, which I’m sure she’s capable of doing.”

A “reporter” asked her this: “How do you value growth versus proficiency in measuring progress in students?”

That may sound technical, but it is actually a fundamental question in the world of education and has been for years. During the real DeVos’s Senate confirmation hearing on Jan. 17, the real Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) — who was an SNL player before he was a senator — asked her about it, and she looked at him with something resembling a blank stare. He said: “It surprises me that you don’t know this issue.” And then he said, “No, it doesn’t” surprise him.

[Six astonishing things Betsy DeVos said — and refused to say — at her confirmation hearing]

That was a reference to the nominee’s inability to speak knowledgeably about a number of important education issues. Her confirmation-hearing performance, not to mention the facts that she never attended a public school, never sent her children to one and has called the SNL takes a jab at Betsy DeVos during a mock Sean Spicer press conference - The Washington Post:

Breaking the Fundamental Rule of the Math Class Game – and paying the price | JD2718

Breaking the Fundamental Rule of the Math Class Game – and paying the price | JD2718:

Breaking the Fundamental Rule of the Math Class Game – and paying the price

The Fundamental Rule of Math Class:  I teach something, you go home, open up the homework, do what I showed you in class, and you’ll be fine. Same thing on the test.

If a student gets some math published, should that hurt the teacher’s evaluation?

Many teachers never deviate from the rule. And me?  I obey the rule, too. Most of the time. Even those of us who don’t always do it, we do it more than we used to. (thanks to standardized testing and the insane link between standardized test scores and the teacher’s evaluation score.)

I taught you how to simplify square roots? When you look at the home work, you’ll be asked to simplify square roots. Do what we did in class, and you’ll be fine.

Breaking the Rule

But some days are different. I introduce “problems” – little ones that take a few minutes, and big ones, where I have moved ahead in my curriculum so that we can carve out a day or day and a half here or there. I offer problems that do not fit the Math Class Game – always off-topic, usually using skills from prior units, or prior years. How many games will there be in a single elimination tennis tournament (singles) with 73 players? How many times a day do the minute and hour hands point in the same direction? What’s the biggest perfect square with only even digits?

“… I ask a group of you a question, unrelated to what we did yesterday, seemingly out of left field, that requires only math that you already know, but without any of the usual cues about what tool to use… Questions mix counting, arithmetic, organization, and visualization skills. They require reasoning, planning.”

Going Further

And for the last three years, I have asked the students to do more, and more. Take one of the “problems” that you already solved, and propose an extension. Change it up to make a new problem, and solve that one. Mostly I get variations of the checkerboard, how many subsets, and Ghost the Bunny.

The Price or the Payoff?

As these are the same students whose standardized test scores determine my year-end rating (Thank you Breaking the Fundamental Rule of the Math Class Game – and paying the price | JD2718: