Not So Hot for Teacher - NYTimes.com

Not So Hot for Teacher - NYTimes.com:

Not So Hot for Teacher

Illustration by Tom Gauld

By ELIZABETH ALSOP

Published: September 14, 2012 Comment

In his State of the Union address in 2011, President Obama made a point of applauding the nation’s teachers and exhorted Americans to do the same. “In South Korea,” Obama reminded us, “teachers are known as ‘nation builders.’ . . . It’s time we treated the people who educate our children with the same level of respect.”

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Out in TV land, however, we’ve been receiving a different message. In the past few years, viewers saw teachers turning tricks (“Hung”), dealing drugs (“Breaking Bad”) and taunting overweight students (“The Big C”). All, of course, while not teaching. In the opening episode of “The Big C,” a student in Cathy Jamison’s summer-school course asks, “Are you going to teach us anything today?”

“Have I ever taught you anything, really?” Jamison counters, before queuing up a DVD 

Missouri Education Watchdog: Arne Duncan's Vision of Community Schools Realized? Dinner Now Served at Schools.

Missouri Education Watchdog: Arne Duncan's Vision of Community Schools Realized? Dinner Now Served at Schools.:

Arne Duncan's Vision of Community Schools Realized? Dinner Now Served at Schools.

by stlgretchen

Parents don't have to figure out dinner menus. What a deal.

What are food stamps for?....one reader asks in this Ann Althouse blog Who Gets Free School Dinner in Madison Wisconsin:

"Unlike the lunch program, eligibility for a free dinner is based on whether the school qualifies for the program based on school poverty rates, rather than the income level of an individual student. So any student participating in an eligible after-school program can eat the dinner meal for free."

Eligible schools for the dinner program must have at least 50 percent of students qualify as low-income. In Madison last year, 18 elementary schools, seven middle schools and East 

British journalist: Chicago teachers’ strike touches on far-reaching issues | The Raw Story

British journalist: Chicago teachers’ strike touches on far-reaching issues | The Raw Story:

British journalist: Chicago teachers’ strike touches on far-reaching issues

By Arturo Garcia
Sunday, September 16, 2012 15:39 EDT

 

Topics: british journalist ♦ chicago public schools ♦ Chicago teachers

 

As Chicago teachers prepared to vote on a tentative agreement to end their weeklong strike, a British journalist appearing on Up With Chris Hayes Sunday said the issues at hand — not only teachers’ pay but evaluation standards, working conditions and government investment — are not just in play in their city.

“This conversation is taking place all over America and actually pretty much all over the western world,” said Gary Younge, a columnist for The Guardian. “There’s a similar conversation going on in my home country of Britain, which is, a withdrawal of education as a public good, something that is free at the point of service, which is good for the public. Instead, [we're seeing] the introduction of for-profit privatization and rote testing, particularly for poor kids. The rich kids get their art, they get their libraries, they get all of that.”

During the discussion, guest host Sam Seder referred to a blog post by one of the teachers taking

Raw Story (http://s.tt/1nvDJ)

There Is No Going Back - Woodbridge, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post - A Professional Networking Community for Educators

There Is No Going Back - Woodbridge, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post - A Professional Networking Community for Educators:

Looking Ahead

There Is No Going Back

I spent time this weekend visiting a place that has been very significant to me, especially over the last year. I did it to come to terms with the fact that I can’t go ba­ck.

I know they say you can’t go home again. But I found I could go home again when I returned to Massachusetts in the early two-thousands. So I thought I could apply this here. I was wrong.

This visit, my best friend was no longer available to me. The sights didn’t seem as exciting. The food didn’t seem as great. Nothing matched my memories. I was simply visiting a place that used to be where I felt grounded…and now I’m just a visitor.

I share this with you because, as we move forward into whatever the future holds for us as educators and as citizens, as much as we want to…we can’t go back. Our memories are wonderful, our intentions are laudable, but the reality is once things have changed for us there is no going back…because there is no way to recreate the people and circumstances that came 

Walk On

I spent time this weekend visiting a place that has been very significant to me, especially over the last year. I did it to come to terms with the fact that I can’t go ba­ck.

I know they say you can’t go home again. But I found I could go home again when I returned to Massachusetts in the early two-thousands. So I thought I could apply this here. I was wrong.

This visit, my best friend was no longer available to me. The sights didn’t seem as exciting. The food didn’t seem as great. Nothing matched my memories. I was simply visiting a place that used to be where I felt grounded…and now I’m just a visitor.

I share this with you because, as we move forward into whatever the future holds for us as educators and as citizens, as much as we want to…we can’t go back. Our memories are 

Walk On - Woodbridge, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post - A Professional Networking Community for Educators http://bit.ly/QuMUV2

All Eyes On Chicago « Raginghorseblog

All Eyes On Chicago « Raginghorseblog:

All Eyes On Chicago

September 16, 2012

In early July of 1892 an event took place in the industrial town of Homestead, Pennsylvania that would define labor and management relations across the United States for decades to come.
A violent and bloody battle between Andrew Carnegie’s Homestead Steel Works and the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (an early incarnation of the United Steel Workers),  the Homestead Strike of 1892 was a demarcation, a line in the sand, and a tragedy for the American labor movement.

Orchestrated by Henry Clay Frick, whom a vacationing nominally pro-labor Carnegie placed in charge of operations, Frick was resolved, at any cost, to break the union at 

How reformers (unfortunately) get captivated by experimental technology - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

How reformers (unfortunately) get captivated by experimental technology - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:

How reformers (unfortunately) get captivated by experimental technology

By Valerie Strauss

Because teacher evaluation is such an important part of school reform and at the center of the Chicago teachers strike, I have published several pieces on the issue in the last week, here and her e and here. Below is a new historical look on the subject. It was written by Jack Schneider and Ethan Hutt.

Schneider is an assistant professor of education at the College of the Holy Cross and author of “Excellence For All: How a New Breed of Reformers Is Transforming America’s Public Schools.” Hutt is a doctoral candidate at the Stanford University School of Education and has been named “one of the world’s best emerging social entrepreneurs” by the Echoing Green Foundation. A version of this appeared on Larry Cuban’s blog on School Reform and Classroom Practice. Cuban is a former high school social studies teacher (14 years, including seven in Washington D.C.), district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, 

What research really says on teacher evaluation

by Valerie Strauss

The Chicago teachers strike has put the issue of teacher evaluation front and center in the education debate. The popular “value added” method of using student standardized test scores to figure out how effective a teacher is highly controversial; I wrote about it here. Here is a new important look by an education expert, Richard Rothstein.
Read full article >>

Why people look down on teachers

by Valerie Strauss

The Chicago teachers strike has raised a lot of passions about teachers and their unions, the issue taken up here by Corey Robin, an associate professor of political science at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center.
Read full article >>

Meet Ashley, a great teacher with a bad ‘value-added’ score

by Valerie Strauss

How teachers are evaluated has become one of the big issues in the ongoing strike by Chicago public school teachers as well as in the many debates on school reform being conducted around the country.
Assessment experts say that the method of using student standardized scores to gauge a teacher’s effectiveness is unreliable, but reformers still insist on using this “value-added” method of evaluation. Some reformers, such as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, want as much as half of a teacher’s evaluation to be linked to student test scores.
Read full article >>

Democurmudgeon: Charter and Voucher school success Measured by Enrollment, not Grades!!

Democurmudgeon: Charter and Voucher school success Measured by Enrollment, not Grades!!:

Charter and Voucher school success Measured by Enrollment, not Grades!!

by Democurmudgeon

Almost all the media coverage surrounding charter schools, oddly steers clear of their successes and failures, and focuses mostly on their increased enrollment.  And it’s always deceptively packaged it as an educational “sign of success.”

Make it your own test as well, when you read articles about charter and voucher schools.

A perfect example made its way into Education Week recently. Look for any mention of grades. Click on the 

msnbc tv: Teaching conditions on the line in Chicago strikes

msnbc tv: Teaching conditions on the line in Chicago strikes:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Privateers and Public Education: They Want the Money | Firedoglake

Privateers and Public Education: They Want the Money | Firedoglake:

Privateers and Public Education: They Want the Money

by Glenn W. Smith

Message scrawled on temp classroom, Pershing Jr. High

It’s not hard to pierce the rotten veil of today’s so-called public education reformers. Some corporate hacks see all that money spent on public education and, as is their habit, they set out to get it.
First, they embarrass teachers and schools with ridiculous, destructive high-stakes tests and rigged “accountability” measures. Second, create an awkward, exploitative alliance with home-schoolers and religious-based private schools to advance corporate-owned alternatives: vouchers, charter schools and virtual schools.
Let’s put it plainly. This conservative reform movement has come to bury public education not to save it. It is no more complicated than that. It’s simple, but it’s a hard message to communicate because to most Americans it seems so un-American it can’t be true. But it is true.
Chicago teachers, who have reached a tentative agreement in their dispute with Rahm Emanuel’s privateers,

Short Notes: Educator’s Rights Tied To Women’s Rights, Again | The Jose Vilson

Short Notes: Educator’s Rights Tied To Women’s Rights, Again | The Jose Vilson:

Short Notes: Educator’s Rights Tied To Women’s Rights, Again

by Jose

Bill Clinton: Don’t Hate, Calculate

A few notes:

• Erin Gloria Ryan shows three stupid ways to discuss the Chicago Teachers’ Strike. [Jezebel]
• The support / disapproval of the strike seem to lie across racial lines. If you’re surprised, read this. [The American Prospect via Alexander Russo]
• Remember when the terms “liberal” and “progressive” were synonymous? These five prove the shift. [Truth Out]
• Fathers really matter when it comes to children, and not in the ways you think. [New York Times]
• Which UPenn, Penn State, Dickinson grad said that elite, smart people will never be conservative? Rick Santorum, of course. [Gawker]

“If you take away collective bargaining rights, you inevitably create problems. There is no way to work out your 

UPDATE: Seattle Schools Community Forum: School Board meeting agenda for 9/19/12

Seattle Schools Community Forum: School Board meeting agenda for 9/19/12:

School Board meeting agenda for 9/19/12

by Charlie Mas

Here's the agenda for the Seattle School Board Meeting of September 19, 2012.

Not every meeting has a theme, but this one features some interesting timing decisions. Or perhaps the theme is evading public discussion.



The public testimony is still scheduled for 5:00pm. The Board knows that having the testimony at this time creates a barrier to participation by working people. Perhaps that's the intent.

The proclamation for Cheryl Chow is presented for introduction and action at the same meeting. The Board repealed the policy that restricted the practice to emergencies so now they can (and often do) bring motions for introduction and action at the same meeting. Usually they do it when there is some urgency or if they wish to evade public questions about their actions. Take it from me, you do not want to question this proclamation. I

The Times Makes Me Dizzy

by Melissa Westbrook

Over at the Times, they have written an editorial supporting Ref 74, protecting gay marriage rights.  I personally say, Yay!  I will have been married 29 years tomorrow and I want all people who want to get married to have the joys, pain (sometimes more like irritation/annoyance) and slogging that marriage brings to have that right.  They deserve the legal protections, without carrying some card around, that marriage brings.

That said, the Times used to be against gay marriage.  Hmm.

In yet another whiplash moment, here's a headline from the Times:

The Overselling of Charter Schools

It's from 2001.  The Times then did like some form of charters and said:

But charter schools running willy-nilly with too few restrictions and too little oversight is a recipe for troubles showing up Arizona, Texas and Michigan:

• The Texas House of Representatives has passed a bill calling for a two-year moratorium on new charter schools. Several schools have shut down after their leaders ran out of money or left town.

• While many charters in Arizona and Michigan are working well, the problems at other charter schools cry out 

The Weekly Update: The Chicago teachers strike and where it all began | Seattle Education

The Weekly Update: The Chicago teachers strike and where it all began | Seattle Education:

The Weekly Update: The Chicago teachers strike and where it all began

by seattleducation2011

The Weekly Update for the news and views you might have missed.

Words can’t begin to express my gratitude for this. I’m a very proud middle school reading teacher in CPS. I strike not by choice as the mayor has stated but on principle. You have clearly articulated why I am on the picket. My students deserve better. We bailed out the banks while allowing public schools to fail. I stand up for public education and demand that we not allow companies to run schools. I stand up for worker’s rights and for the rights of the poor. Thank you.

From Dissent magazine, Joanne Barkin writes:
Who Is Victimizing Chicago’s Kids?
Yes, schoolchildren in Chicago are victims, but not of their teachers. They are victims of a nationwide education “reform” movement geared to undermine teachers’ unions and shift public resources into private hands; they are victims of wave after wave of ill-conceived and failing policy “innovations”; they are victims of George Bush’s No Child Left Behind law, which turned inner-city public schools into boot camps for standardized test prep; they are 

Jersey Jazzman: Reformy Steve Perry Strikes Again

Jersey Jazzman: Reformy Steve Perry Strikes Again:

Reformy Steve Perry Strikes Again

by Duke

Dear lord:



He's not an educator; he's "delivering a product," like a used car salesman. So he says you should pay teachers what they're worth, but then immediately says you should pay them "what you can afford to pay." You know, like a car: "Hey, I'll take that Lamborghini! I can afford to pay $500 for it, OK?"

Does this man really think the world works this way?

Reformy Steve says he can only make as much, in his capacity as a principal, as the community can afford to pay him. But he misses the question of whether our society is capable of putting much more money into education. He neglects to mention the fact that the wealthy, who are taking more of the money than they have in 100 years, are paying historically low taxes.

NYC Public School Parents: The underlying issues in the Chicago teacher strike according to Julie Cavanagh and Matt Farmer

NYC Public School Parents: The underlying issues in the Chicago teacher strike according to Julie Cavanagh and Matt Farmer:

The underlying issues in the Chicago teacher strike according to Julie Cavanagh and Matt Farmer

See video excerpts from "Up with Chris" this morning, MSNBC's show on the Chicago teacher strike.  Here are NYC teacher Julie Cavanagh and Chicago parent Matt Farmer talking about how this is a "defining moment" in the fight against privatization and corporate education reform, and how the Chicago struggle is really about whether poverty and the highly inequitable conditions in our public schools must be addressed. Clips from the rest of the show can be found here.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The Sunday Mail. « Fred Klonsky

The Sunday Mail. « Fred Klonsky:

The Sunday Mail.

by Fred Klonsky

Students at Chicago’s Benito Juarez High School supporting the teachers’ strike. Photo: Nate Gunderson
John Dillon’s pension vocabulary. Structural revenue problems. Politicians in Illinois are proud of repeating their “new reality” mantra – “we are not going to kick the can down the road anymore,” in actuality, as long as a structural revenue problem exists – that’s all they we ever be able to do.
MSNBC’s Up with Chris Hayes covers the strike issues.
Alex Kotlowitz on Chicago. “One teacher told me last week that if you asked 30 of his colleagues why they 

Protest.

by Fred Klonsky

Karen Lewis. Photo: Anita Evans
Every week my friend Glen Brown sends me a poem.
This week:

Protest by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men. The human race
Has climbed on protest. Had no voice been raised
Against injustice, ignorance, and lust,
The inquisition yet would serve the law,
And guillotines decide our least disputes.
The few who dare must speak and speak again
To right the wrongs of many. Speech, thank God,
No vested power in this great day and land
Can gag or throttle. Press and voice may cry
Loud disapproval of existing ills;
May criticize oppression and condemn
The lawlessness of wealth-protecting laws
That let the children and child bearers toil
To purchase ease for idle millionaires.
Therefore I do protest against the boast
Of independence in this mighty land.
Call no chain strong, which holds one rusted link.
Call no land free that holds one fettered slave.
Until the manacled slim wrists of babes
Are loosed to toss in childish sport and glee,
Until the mother bears no burden, save
The precious one beneath her heart, until
God’s soil is rescued from the clutch of greed
And given back to labor, let no man
Call this the land of freedom.
(1914)

Matt Mezger. RIP.

by Fred Klonsky

I never met Matt Mezger. But he was a frequent voice in the comment section of this blog and a blogger himself.
I always looked forward to his unique take on politics and life, he clever word play and dark sense of humor.
I will miss hearing from him.
Condolences to his family.

Mezger, Matthew “Steve” 58 of North Chicago, IL passed away on Tuesday, July 10, 2012 at Vista East Medical Center in Waukegan. He was born April 3, 1954 in Corona, California and married Josephine Bena on January 7, 1978 at Holy Rosary Church in North Chicago. He retired from Civil Service at Great Lakes in 2001 after 15 years of employment. He was a member of Queen of Peace Church in North Chicago. He enjoyed music, playing the piano, guitar, spending time with his grandkids, watching sports, swimming, roller skating, watching old movies and loved a good political debate. He also enjoyed going to the beach with his children. He is survived by his wife Josephine, his children Jennifer (John) Price of North Chicago, Jackie (Brad) Moon of Sheboygan, WI, Julia (Josiah) Jones, Jr. of Waukegan, Jamie (Ben) Donovan of Milwaukee, Judy and Matthew Mezger, Jr. both of North Chicago. Grandchildren Hailey, Abby, Evan, Emily, Josiah, III, Joey, Julian and Matthew, III; one brother William (Sandra) Mezger of Linnwood, WA and two sisters Lillian Mezger of Gurnee and Cecilia Mezger of Middletown, CT. and one nephew Steve Mezger of Washington State. He was preceded by both his parents. Friends may visit on Thursday, July 12, 2012 from 5-8pm at the Salata Gurnee Funeral Home; 4190 Old Grand Ave., Gurnee and 9-10am Friday at Queen of Peace Church. Mass of christian burial will be celebrated at 10am with interment to follow at Ascension Cemetery, Libertyville. Donations may be made to the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Visit our website at www.salatagurneefuneralhome.com  
To the readers of my dad’s blogs.   Thank you.  My dad was a strong believer in justice and the protection of the rights of the citizens of the United States.  I hope you all can appreciate his efforts to help solve this most heinous act in American history.  He put a lot of his time and effort into this research.  This was nothing taken lightly.  I say on behalf of the family, thank you, and may the truth find its way to the light.   

Modern School: Chicago Teachers, Just Say No

Modern School: Chicago Teachers, Just Say No:

Chicago Teachers, Just Say No

by Michael Dunn

 

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) are were very near a deal by the end of last week. Last minute negotiating today, it is hoped, will lead to a compromise that both sides can accept, allowing teachers and students back in the classroom by Monday. The 800 members of the CTU House of Delegates would have to approve the contract and then teachers would have to ratify it.

The details of the proposal have not yet been made public, but speculation by the mainstream press suggest that it will include the use of student test data in teacher evaluations, but these scores will not count as much toward teachers’ overall scores as CPS had hoped. If this is true, then it is a terrible contract and Chicago teachers should just say no to it.

The test scores are an inconsistent and unreliable proxy for teacher quality. They lead to many

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Week Two 2012

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Week Two 2012:

Week Two 2012

by alicemercer

 I’m doing good. My class, while not perfect, has many positive attributes, and I like the kids even when they cause me to raise my eyebrows at the sort of behavior that one can expect from 11 year olds as hormones overtake all good sense and control.  What did we do? We didn’t take pictures, I didn’t take pictures. I’m sorry I will do better next week, when I start having some of my kids who have gotten permission, to take pictures of our learning. Okay, now for the meat.
We started learning about first humans and the kids really seemed to enjoy it, even though we read two lessons from our rather turgid textbook. I will say they had nice short bios on Mary Leakey and “Lucy”. Additions that engaged the kids were a paper copy of the National Geographic map that went along with their story on early human evolution, the first episode of the NOVA video series “Becoming Human”, and cave handprint stencil