Schooling in the Ownership Society: Koch Bros. Bankroll Legal Dream Team to Defend Wisc. Union Busting

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Koch Bros. Bankroll Legal Dream Team to Defend Wisc. Union Busting

Koch Bros. Bankroll Legal Dream Team to Defend Wisc. Union Busting

by Mike Klonsky

From Uppity Wisconsin

One of the Koch brothers front-groups, the union-busting group National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, is rolling their tanks into Wisconsin to defend against a lawsuit from Dane County Firefighters and other public employee unions challenging the constitutionality of Walker's union-busting bill.

A 4/26 NRWLDF letter sent to numerous right-wing leaders in Wisconsin, said:

Dear Right to Work Supporter:
As you may know, three Madison local AFL-CIO unions, Laborers Local 236, Firefighters Local 311, and AFSCME Local 60, have sued the State of Wisconsin and Governor Walker to have the courts declare unconstitional the "budget repair bill," 2011 Wisconsin Act 10. This is an attempt to reverse the decision of the legislature to repeal compulsory unionism for most public sector

This Week In Education: Thompson: Private Foundations, Risk Tolerance, & Public Schools

This Week In Education: Thompson: Private Foundations, Risk Tolerance, & Public Schools

Thompson: Private Foundations, Risk Tolerance, & Public Schools [image: image from scholasticadministrator.typepad.com]My take on the Columbia Journalism School workshop on foundations and education (and the subsequent panel with Wendy Kopp, the Ford Foundation's Jeannie Oakes, and NYC's Shael Polakow-Suransky) ...

Thompson: Other Teachers' Students [image: Spring]Central Park was full of students on post-test field trips last week and I couldn't resist interacting with a class of 8th graders I came across. I told the teacher that his kids made me miss the classroom, and a wiry, assertive black ...

NCLB: Reformers Alienate Spellings At A Price [image: image from images.politico.com]Politico's story about Margaret Spellings (Talks leave Margaret Spellings behind) paints a pretty negative picture of Spellings' prospects for influencing NCLB reauthorization. Former colleague Russ Whitehurst ...

ASCD Inservice: Duncan Denies Waiver, But Kansas May Catch Rebound

ASCD Inservice: Duncan Denies Waiver, But Kansas May Catch Rebound

Duncan Denies Waiver, But Kansas May Catch Rebound

The Kansas State Board of Education's long-shot bid seeking a waiver of NCLB's 2013–14 deadline for all students to be proficient in reading and math has been denied by the U.S. Department of Education.

The news is neither surprising nor discouraging to those interested in similar flexibility. It's just not the right time. "Not now . . . but let's talk later," federal officials seem to be whispering to states.

To be sure, the denial is consistent with Secretary Duncan's oft-stated position that it is premature to be issuing NCLB waivers—particularly from the sine qua non of the federal education law—while ESEA reauthorization is pending in Congress (dim as those prospects may be). But the implied message seems to be that once ESEA reauthorization is no longer a legislative possibility this Congress, then Duncan is prepared to reauthorize portions of the law through regulatory changes (or at least this is the hope of common core

Jesse Cheng Resigns As UC Student Regent « Student Activism #UCDavis

Jesse Cheng Resigns As UC Student Regent « Student Activism

Jesse Cheng Resigns As UC Student Regent

by Angus Johnston

Jesse Cheng announced on Monday that he would be stepping down as Student Regent of the University of California system. The announcement came just days before the final Regents meeting of his term.

The student conduct office at UC Irvine, Cheng’s home campus, ruled in March that Cheng had sexually assaulted a former girlfriend the previous fall. He appealed the finding, stepping down only after his appeal was rejected. (Cheng had admitted to sexual assault in an email to the woman, but later claimed that the confession was false, and written under pressure from his accuser. He was arrested in connection with the incident a few weeks after it allegedly occurred, but released without charges.)

In an era in which the University of California has pursued student activists with the aggressive use of both criminal and campus judicial sanctions, the mild treatment of Cheng — who, though he now denies any wrongdoing, both admitted to and was found guilty of sexual assault — stands out. In particular, it contrasts dramatically with how the university and local prosecutors have treated the “Irvine 11,” a group of students who

Illegal Meeting Aborted; Co. Starts Work, Anyway | New Haven Independent

Illegal Meeting Aborted; Co. Starts Work, Anyway | New Haven Independent

Illegal Meeting Aborted; Co. Starts Work, Anyway

BY Melissa Bailey | MAY 17, 2011 7:25 AM

(36) Comments | Post a Comment | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Schools, The Hill, School Reform

The Board of Ed postponed a vote on turning over the first city school to a for-profit entity, as the company revealed it has already secretly begun working at the Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy, anyway, before the public received notice.

School board President Carlos Torre opened a special board meeting at 6 p.m. Monday night to vote on a $456,000 contract with Renaissance School Services, LLC, a Califon, N.J.-based school management company, to run Clemente next fall.

Clemente, which has been considered a failing school for nearly a decade, has been tapped as a “turnaround” school as part of the city’s new school reform effort. Schools Superintendent Reggie Mayo first revealed in March that he was in talks with a company to manage the neighborhood school, which serves 538 students in grades pre-K to 8 at 360 Columbus Ave. in the Hill.

School officials talked to Clemente parents and staff last week about Renaissance, but refused to hold any public discussions ahead of Monday’s meeting and barred the press from a community meeting with parents about the deal. (Read about that here).

As Torre opened the board meeting Monday, the Independent objected to the proceedings on the

Summer Time is Time for Kamp?

Great novelty song from Allan Sherman.
LYRICS BELOW.

Hello Muddah, hello Fadduh,
Here I am at Camp Grenada
Camp is very entertaining
and they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining.

I went hiking with Joe Spivy
He developed poison ivy
You remember Leonard Skinner
He got ptomaine poisoning last night after dinner.

All the counselors hate the waiters
And the lake has alligators
And the head coach wants no sissies
So he reads to us from something called Ulysses.

Now I don't want this should scare ya
But my bunkmate has malaria
You remember Jeffrey Hardy
They're about to organize a searching party.

Take me home, oh muddah fadduh, take me home, I hate Grenada
Don't leave me out in the forest where I might get eaten by a bear.
Take me home, I promise I will not make noise or mess the house with
other boys, oh please don't make me stay, I've been here one whole day.

Dearest fadduh, darling muddah,
How's my precious little bruddah?
Let me come home if ya miss me
I will even let Aunt Bertha hug and kiss me.

Wait a minute, it stopped hailing,
Guys are swimming, guys are sailing,
Playing baseball, gee that's better,
Muddah Fadduh please disregard this letter.

Race and The (mis)Measures of Academic Progress | Seattle Education

Race and The (mis)Measures of Academic Progress | Seattle Education

Race and The (mis)Measures of Academic Progress

by seattleducation2011

An Op-Ed by Guest Contributor Jesse Hagopian:

There is a lot of talk in well-financed education reform circles about “closing the achievement gap” – the difference in academic performance between more affluent white children and underprivileged kids of color. Plagiarizing phrases from the Civil Rights movement, these politically-connected reformers talk of a “revolution” in education accountability and claim to be building a high-stakes testing “movement” to measure the needs of students who have traditionally been left behind. Education Secretary Arne Duncan even referred to the opening of the film Waiting for “Superman”– which advocates charter schools and demonizes teachers’ unions in part for opposing the accountability of testing–as a “Rosa Parks moment.”

Cribbing from these reformers, The Seattle School District, in its most recent contract negotiations with the teacher’s union, the Seattle Education Association, pushed through a provision mandating the rating of teachers based on their students’ test scores.

But can these tests improve learning and teaching?

While there can be no doubt our schools need important changes in order to meet the needs of all children, the

Shaums Cooke: The Democrats' Attack on Unions

Shaums Cooke: The Democrats' Attack on Unions

The Democrats' Attack on Unions

By SHAMUS COOKE

Obvious political truths are sometimes smothered by special interests. The cover-up of the Democrats' national anti-union agenda is possible because the truth would cause enormous disturbances for the Democratic Party, some labor leaders, liberal organizations and, consequently, the larger political system.

Here is the short list of states that have Democratic governors where labor unions are undergoing severe attacks: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oregon, California, New York, Illinois, Washington, Hawaii, Minnesota, Maryland and New Hampshire. Other states with Democratic governors are attacking unions to a lesser degree.

The Democrats in these states have sought to distance themselves from the Republican governors of Wisconsin and Ohio, who have specifically attacked the collective bargaining rights of unions. The above Democrats all hide their anti-union attacks behind a "deep respect for collective bargaining;" akin to a thief who will steal your car but, out of respect, will not target your deceased Grandma's diamond earrings.

For example, the anti-union Democratic governor of Connecticut is demanding $1.6 billion in cuts from state workers! The contract has not been ratified yet, but Governor Malloy referred to the agreement as: "historic because of the way we achieved it - we respected the collective bargaining process and we respected each other, negotiating in good faith, without fireworks and

Teacher-Activist Reflects on State of Emergency | The American Dream Movement

Teacher-Activist Reflects on State of Emergency | The American Dream Movement

Teacher-Activist Reflects on State of Emergency

Posted about 20 hours ago

Sacramento educator Alice Mercer has posted some reflections on last week’s State of Emergencyaction at the Capitol in Sacramento. She describes it as a long, grueling week–but absolutely worth it. She also raised some interesting points about how saving public education traverses the partisan divide:

While there was strong language against GOP policy and proposals all week long, what the public, and some in the Capitol, do not always realize is that there are teachers and CTA members who are registered Republicans, and they were among us at every step of this campaign. This was critical because it shows that even among their fellow Republicans, GOP lawmakers have constituents who do not support their policies on education, and the budget. My own Superintendent, Jonathan Raymond is a Republican and has been vocal in his pleas for extending taxes. I ran into a local parent at the Capitol who is a Republican and was visiting GOP lawmakers to share why she supports the extensions.

Parents that participated in State of Emergency also were difficult to stereotype politically:

Rural locals were strongly represented in this campaign, and while not all their members were Republican, they are more likely to have a GOP representative. This is critical, because they can

Shanker Blog » To Understand The Impact Of Teacher-Focused Reforms, Pay Attention To Teachers

Shanker Blog » To Understand The Impact Of Teacher-Focused Reforms, Pay Attention To Teachers

To Understand The Impact Of Teacher-Focused Reforms, Pay Attention To Teachers

by Matthew Di Carlo

You don’ t need to be a policy analyst to know that huge changes in education are happening at the state- and local-levels right now – teacher performance pay, the restriction of teachers’ collective bargaining rights, the incorporation of heavily-weighted growth model estimates in teacher evaluations, the elimination of tenure, etc. Like many, I am concerned about the possible consequences of some of these new policies (particularly about their details), as well as about the apparent lack of serious efforts to monitor them.

Our “traditional” gauge of “what works” – cross-sectional test score gains – is totally inadequate, even under ideal circumstances. Even assuming high quality tests that are closely aligned to what has been taught, raw test scores alone cannot account for changes in the student population over time and are subject to measurement error. There is also no way to know whether fluctuations in test scores (even fluctuations that are real) are the result of any particular policy (or lack thereof).

Needless to say, test scores can (and will) play some role, but I for one would like to see more states and districts commissioning reputable, independent researchers to perform thorough, longitudinal analyses of their assessment data (which would at least mitigate the measurement issues). Even so, there is really no way to know how these new, high-stakes test-based policies will influence the validity of testing data, and, as I have argued elsewhere, we should not expect large, immediate testing gains even if policies are working well. If we

Teacher Workforce Data Education Research Report

Education Research Report: Teacher Workforce Data

Teacher Workforce Data

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

Ω

The Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning has posted new teacher workforce data from the 2009-10 school year. The content, platform and format for the site were designed especially for use by policymakers, academic researchers, philanthropic organizations, journalists and others interested in public education in California.

This important resource provides access to data that has been compiled and analyzed in unique ways for the Center by SRI International. These data sets, which are not found elsewhere, are available free of charge.

The new data allow users to examine the distribution of novice teachers by school characteristics such as the percentage of minority students and students in poverty in the school, as well as the percentage of students passing the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). All data are also available on a county-by-county basis.

Funding for the Center's Web-based data resource was provided by the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation. It can be accessed online at

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm: I don't like what they're doing in Wisconsin. However...

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm: I don't like what they're doing in Wisconsin. However...

Rahm: I don't like what they're doing in Wisconsin. However...

by Mike Klonsky

Our new mayor's inauguration speech yesterday takes demagogy to new heights.

"I reject how leaders in Wisconsin and Ohio are exploiting their fiscal crisis to achieve a political goal. That course is not the right course for Chicago's future. However..."

Yes, if you want to know what these guys really think, always ignore the part that comes before the but or the however.

The mayor reminds me of Bush's Ed Sec. Rod Paige who wrote in his book, The War Against Hope, "I have no problem with teachers," he wrote. "What I do have a problem with are the powerful unions."

Whenever you hear someone begin a statement with, “I have no problem with…(blacks, Mexicans, Jews, or fill in the blank (_____), you know there’s a “but” coming and that they actually do have said problem. Paige definitely had a problem with teachers.

Rahm implies he doesn't go along with Gov. Walker's attacks on public employees'

What Works Best: Help or Punishment? - Bridging Differences - Education Week

What Works Best: Help or Punishment? - Bridging Differences - Education Week

What Works Best: Help or Punishment?

by Diane Ravitch

Dear Deborah,

Your last column reminded me of fruitless debates that I have had with education "reformers" who are extremely certain about their views. They are convinced that they have exactly the right solutions for fixing schools—firing teachers and closing schools—and that anyone who disagrees with them is a "defender of the status quo." I have heard exactly this charge, again and again.

A friend and former student, Kevin Kosar, created a fascinating graph in which he traced the historical usage of the term "failing schools." The term was seldom used until the mid-1990s, when it appeared with frequency. After 2000, it became a common term. Now we hear public officials use the label often and unquestioningly. There are many ways to interpret Kosar's chart. Perhaps there was an explosion of "failing schools," beginning in the late 1990s; or, perhaps federal policy created the terminology, preferring to blame the schools for low performance rather than to look at other possible causes, such as poverty, language, or resources. So are the schools failing because the staff is incompetent, or do the schools have low scores because they serve many children with high needs? I tend to think it is the latter, but the corporate reformers are quite certain that schools with low scores

ASCD Inservice: Making the Public School Curriculum Public Property (1953)

ASCD Inservice: Making the Public School Curriculum Public Property (1953)

Making the Public School Curriculum Public Property (1953) Are public schools public enough? Education professor Harold C. Hand argued, in the January 1953 issue of Educational Leadership, that they are not and presented a case study of action research that involved community members in evaluating and updating ...

Preparing Students for a STEM-Filled World The pace of technological change has never been faster, or possibly more disruptive, in history than it is now. The students of today will be the leaders and innovators of tomorrow, but how well are schools preparing them for a...

Are We there yet? Brown v. Board of Education

Brown v. Board of Education

Civil Rights Leaders Changing the Laws The Fight for Equal Education Timeline Use these links to return to the page you got here from or to investigate other issues related to this topic. If the Civil Rights Movement is new to you, you can visit our dictionary page from any page in the entire web site by clicking here. Imagine you are a seven year old and have to walk one mile to a bus stop by walking through a railroad switching station and then waiting for a school bus to go to a "black elementary school" or a school where only African American children went. This is what happened to Linda Brown, an African American third grader from Topeka, Kansas, even though there was a "white elementary school" only seven blocks away. A "white elementary school" was a school where only white students were able to attend. The Lawsuit Begins This is how the Brown vs. Board of Education lawsuit was started in 1951. Linda’s father, Oliver Brown, and thirteen other parents tried to enroll their children in the local "white schools" in the summer of 1950, but were turned down because they were African Americans. They were told they must attend one of the four schools in the city for African American children. These parents filed suit against the Topeka Board of Education for their children. Oliver Brown was the first parent listed in the lawsuit, so the case was named after him. At the time of the lawsuit, Blacks everywhere were not treated fairly. For every $150.00 spent on white children at the "white schools" only $50.00 was spent on African American children at the "black schools." The parents of the African American children thought that their school was not treated as fairly because they were colored. They did not have the most current textbooks, not enough school supplies, and overcrowded classrooms. After Oliver was turned down by the school, he went to the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) to fight to get Linda in the school. The NAACP hired lawyers to fight for African American children all around the United States to be able to go to the same schools as white children. This case was lost at the state level. The state courts referred to the case of Plessy v. Fergusonwhich allowed separate but equal school systems for black and white children. Since no court had ever overturned this case, the state courts thought there was no problem treating the black children that way. The state courts also stated that by treating the African American students like that now, they would better accept when they were treated like that when they were older. This was a time when black people of all ages were treated like they were a lower class or segregated. They were unable to eat in the same restaurants, drink from the same drinking fountains, or even ride in the same train cars as white people

This Week In Education: Video: Obama Visits Memphis School, Mulls Career Moves

This Week In Education: Video: Obama Visits Memphis School, Mulls Career Moves

Video: Obama Visits Memphis School, Mulls Future Career Moves

by Alexander Russo

Popout
Here's a brief clip from the Obama visit to a Memphis high school yesterday, plus some news coverage of the event: Obama: I'm president because of education USAT: President Obama got personal today, telling newly minted high school graduates in Memphis, "I'm standing here as president because of the education that I received."... Obama Delivers Commencement Address At Memphis High School AP: Offering a lift to a flood beleaguered city, President Barack Obama hailed the transformation of a once struggling but venerable Memphis

AM News: Court Decisions Influence Reform In HI, TX, and GA

by Alexander Russo

Court nixes case over anonymity at Hawaiian school  AP:  The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a dispute over whether to identify students challenging a private school system's admissions policy that gives preference to those of Hawaiian ancestry.... In Texas, school growth clashes with a shrinking budget Stateline Staff Writer: As Texas schools enroll 500 new students a day, state leaders are lopping billions of dollars from the education budget... SIG EdWeek:  The administration's four school improvement models would stay pretty much intact—with some important tweaks... In Georgia, Court Ruling Could Close Some Charter Schools NYT:  A ruling by the Georgia Supreme Court on Monday cast doubt on the future of 17 charter schools there.... Who Can Authorize Charter Schools? HuffED:  A Georgia Supreme Court decision that challenges a state commission’s