One Teacher's Perspective: Restore Pride in Wisconsin Schools

One Teacher's Perspective: Restore Pride in Wisconsin Schools:

Restore Pride in Wisconsin Schools

by Imagine Wisconsin

With my teaching schedule, I am unable to attend the public hearings on this year's state budget, so I sent the following letter to Wisconsin state legislators to express my serious concerns about inadequate funding for public schools. 

Wisconsin Legislators:

As you ponder this season's state budget, you should weigh heavily this reporting out of Evansville. This story adds to the mounting accounts of how the recent state cuts to public education are not working for Evansville or Wisconsin. 

Evansville's story is Wisconsin's story. Educators and school leaders in this small community have done nearly everything asked under the state proposals of the past two years. Nevertheless, this tight-knit community is being ripped apart from the outside by the reckless state government policies of the past couple years. 

Community leaders have tried to keep it taped together. Since Act 10, the Evansville Community School District (ECSD) has cut to the bone, drained its reserves, and petitioned for savings from school staff.  The teachers and school staff have negotiated significant savings not once, but twice with thrice in the works for the upcoming school year. Yet, today the community still faces another district budget deficit and rounds of damaging cuts to 

Test scores under investigation at Burbank school - latimes.com

Test scores under investigation at Burbank school - latimes.com:

Test scores under investigation at Burbank school

by By Kelly Corrigan

A McKinley Elementary teacher has been placed on administrative leave after a third-grade student reported that the teacher helped a class answer questions on state standardized tests this week.

Burbank Unified Supt. Jan Britz, who made the announcement during Thursday's school board meeting, added that state officials are investigating the case.

Still uncertain of the alleged infraction's full consequences, Britz said state officials could mark the test scores as invalid and potentially strip McKinley of its Academic Performance Index, or API, score, later this year.

"We are sorry to report this, but at the same time too, we want everyone to know what actually has happened for this testing round," Britz said.

School officials would not confirm the teacher's name, citing personnel issues.

McKinley students began taking the standardized tests, known as STAR exams, last week.

A third-grade student reportedly told McKinley's principal, Bobbie Kavanaugh, on April 16 that a 

From the Rick Smith Show, Part I of Live Interviews from Occupy 2.0 – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

From the Rick Smith Show, Part I of Live Interviews from Occupy 2.0 – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:

From the Rick Smith Show, Part I of Live Interviews from Occupy 2.0

by Chalk Face, PhD

APRIL 21, 2013 BY CHALK FACE, PHD LEAVE A COMMENT

11:00 Galen Munroe, Teamsters Press Secretary on why so many Teamsters are setting up picket lines against Republic Services
33:04 Matt Farmer, Chicago Parent on the current wave of community destruction and how Arne Duncan started the process years ago
48:54 Kris Neilson on how we can fight for equitable education outside the classroom
1:02:46 Ken Durstein, Retired Philadelphia Teacher on the Broad Foundation
1:17:23 Karen Newman, Pittsburgh parent on why her son isn’t taking the PSSA

Part II of the Interviews at Occupy 2.0 from the Rick Smith Show

by Chalk Face, PhD

11:42 Shaun Johnson, Organizer of Occupy the DOE 2.0 and radio host 25:00 Sara Wattowa, NY Opt Out on what parents need to know and how they can connect to build a better future 34:00 Tim Slekar on the PSSA and why we need to do some serious opt out organizing before next school year [...]

Short Notes: Pearson Makes Money, Whether You Like It Or Not | The Jose Vilson

Short Notes: Pearson Makes Money, Whether You Like It Or Not | The Jose Vilson:

Short Notes: Pearson Makes Money, Whether You Like It Or Not

by Jose Vilson

Chris Rock as Rufus in Dogma on Ideas

A few notes:

• William J. Reese lets the world know that none of this testing business is new. Good read. [New York Times]
• Pearson apologized for errors on the gifted and talented test. They get a stern warning, and get to sit in the corner for millions of dollars. (Commentary mine.) [GothamSchools]
• I was asked to write why Michelle Rhee isn’t going to face jail time, but Dr. Beverly Hall, former head honcho of Atlanta Public Schools, might. Jersey Jazzman said what I might right here. [Jersey Jazzman]
• A heartwrenching story about living in the memory of Hadiya Pendleton. [Chicago Now]
• Chloe Angyal reports on punishments and suspensions. Worth noting: Black girls with disabilities are suspended at a rate sixteen percent higher than white girls with disabilities. Goodness. [The Nation]

How did we in the teacher unions create MichelleRhee? We were too intransigent, says Merrow. If 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ravitch Blogs about WA State PTA and McDonald's Connection

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ravitch Blogs about WA State PTA and McDonald's Connection:

Ravitch Blogs about WA State PTA and McDonald's Connection

by Melissa Westbrook

Over at Diane Ravitch's blog, there was a discussion about the national PTA and links to the Gates Foundation (and maybe that is why the PTA showed Waiting for Superman" at their national convention in 2011.)

Turns out that the National PTA received a grant in Feb. 2013 from the GE Foundation to further the PTA efforts for Common Core.

Here's what the national PTA president had to say:

 "As the largest child advocacy organization in the country, National PTA has played a leading role in educating families and communities about the Common Core State Standards for years, creating a groundswell of support for this historic reform," said Betsy Landers, National PTA President. "The need for creating awareness of the standards remains a high priority. We believe that new resources focused on assessments and accountability 

Moving Ahead With Common Core - NYTimes.com

Moving Ahead With Common Core - NYTimes.com:

Moving Ahead With Common Core

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Published: April 20, 2013

Holy...

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New York City parents are understandably nervous about tough new state tests that were rolled out last week. And some parents whose children have already taken the tests are outraged. They shouldn’t be: the tests, which measure math and English skills, are an essential part of rigorous education reforms known as Common Core that seek to improve reasoning skills and have been adopted by 45 states.

Related News

• Students Face Tougher Tests That Outpace Lesson Plans(April 15, 2013)

Today's Editorials

• Editorial: Immigration and Fear(April 21, 2013)

• Editorial: The Right to Remain Silent (April 21, 2013)

• Editorial | Notebook: The Man Who Saved CUNY (April 21, 2013)

• Editorial | Notebook: A New, Flexible Kerry (April 21, 2013)

The city says that it provided adequate advance notice of the tests and that last year more than 90 percent of New York teachers said they understood the Common Core material. The outreach program could have been more aggressive. But with that proviso, New York deserves enormous credit for being one of the first states to carry out what is clearly the most important education reform in the country’s history.

The Common Core standards were the product of a heavily researched, bipartisan effort pioneered by the National Governors Association in collaboration with the Council of Chief State School Officers. The effort arose from a broad recognition that the United States was losing ground to many of its competitors abroad because the learning standards as applied in most states were pathetically weak. The problem came to light when students who sailed through 

Students Last: This Test Brought To You By....

Students Last: This Test Brought To You By....:

This Test Brought To You By....

by Students Last

McDonalds is just one of many  corporations interested in the program

Albany, NY - Responding to budget cuts, officials at New York State's Education Department unveiled a new program for public schools that has the potential to raise millions of dollars - product placement. At a press conference on Friday inside the newly named "Staples Building," Commissioner of Education Dr. John King was all smiles as he described the novel program. "With a nod to the movie-making industry and the recognition that many of our school districts are financially strapped, we have decided to allow corporations to place their product names in state and local tests administered to students throughout the year."

As described by Commissioner King, the program works much as it does in Hollywood, with corporations paying for the right to have their name (or a product's name) featured prominently during a movie or in this case, an exam. The program has already been tested at several schools around the state, including on this year's Common Core English Language Arts and Math exams. "Oh sure, somebody always complains about something," responded King to a question about selling the state's young to the highest bidder. "But we need the money and the kids are so used to advertising anyhow. They probably won't even notice."

Students at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens, which was part of the pilot program, may or may not have noticed that their eighth grade science exam featured several questions "bought" by corporations. For instance, one of the questions prodded students to, 

The Opt Out Update: Protests planned in Chicago and Colorado this week as the Opt Out Movement continues to grow and Louisiana opts out of the Common Core Standards | Seattle Education

The Opt Out Update: Protests planned in Chicago and Colorado this week as the Opt Out Movement continues to grow and Louisiana opts out of the Common Core Standards | Seattle Education:

The Opt Out Update: Protests planned in Chicago and Colorado this week as the Opt Out Movement continues to grow and Louisiana opts out of the Common Core Standards

by seattleducation2011

Bush, Obama focus on standardized testing leads to ‘opt-out’ parents’ movement

A decade into the school accountability movement, pockets of resistance to standardized testing are sprouting up around the country, with parents and students opting out of the high-stakes tests used to evaluate schools and teachers.

From Seattle, where 600 high school students refused to take a standardized test in January, to Texas, where 86 percent of school districts say the tests are “strangling our public schools,” anti-testing groups argue that bubble exams have proliferated beyond reason, delivering more angst than benefits.

“Over the last couple of years, they’ve turned this one test into the all and everything,” said Cindy Hamilton, a 50-year-old mother of three in Florida who founded Opt Out Orlando in response to the annual Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, which starts again Monday. Her group is one of dozens of new organizations opposed to such testing.

The opt-out movement is nascent but growing, propelled by parents, students and some 

Quality journalism? | Fred Klonsky

Quality journalism? | Fred Klonsky:

Quality journalism?

by Fred Klonsky

“Karen Lewis should step down as president of the Chicago Teachers Union.” – Chicago Tribune’s Eric Zorn
“In any big wrangle about school reform, teachers unions start at a disadvantage: They don’t speak for the children.” – Eric Zorn
Speaking about the CTU and school closings: ‘As long as we’re playing ‘Let’s Pretend,’ let’s also pretend lobbing accusations of racism is an effective negotiating gambit and a good lever to pull if you want to move public opinion toward your side.” -Eric Zorn
In an exchange with Glen Brown: “My view, which is based neither on case law nor an educated analysis of Constitutional intent, is that future pension benefits based on future service ought to be as re-negotiable as is 

NYC Public School Parents: Parents: please send a message to the Regents asking them to withdraw from inBloomtoday!

NYC Public School Parents: Parents: please send a message to the Regents asking them to withdraw from inBloomtoday!:

Parents: please send a message to the Regents asking them to withdraw from inBloomtoday!

by Leonie Haimson

Tomorrow, the members of NY Board of Regents are meeting to discuss the state's plan to share highly confidential, personally identifiable student data with a corporation called inBloom Inc., which intends to share it with for-profit vendors without parental notification or consent.  On Friday, John White, the State Education Commissioner of Louisiana, announced he was pulling his state's data out of inBloom, because of the privacy concerns expressed by parents and the members of his state's Board of Education.

Please send a message to the NY Board of Regents today, asking them to follow Louisiana's lead.  A sample message follows, along with the Regents' email addresses.  Feel free to alter the message any way you like, but please send it today!

To: mhtisch@mhtisch.com; RegentCashin@mail.nysed.gov;
  regentnorwood@mail.nysed.gov; regentcea@mail.nysed.gov;
  regentyoung@mail.nysed.gov;  regentrosa@mail.nysed.gov;
regentbendit@mail.nysed.gov;  regentjackson@mail.nysed.gov; 
 regenttilles@mail.nysed.gov; regenttallon@mail.nysed.gov; 
regentphillips@mail.nysed.gov;  regentchapey@mail.nysed.gov;
regentbottar@mail.nysed.gov;  regentdawson@mail.nysed.gov;
regentbennett@mail.nysed.gov; regentcofield@mail.nysed.gov;
regenttisch@mail.nysed.gov;  regentsoffice@mail.nysed.gov;
 regentcottrell@mail.nysed.gov;  RegentBrown@mail.nysed.gov


Dear Board of Regents:

Last week, John White, the State Education Commissioner of Louisiana, announced he was pulling his state's student data out of inBloom Inc., because of the strong privacy concerns expressed by parents and the members of his state's Board of Education.  As I parent, I urge you to do the same.

Louisiana is the only state along with New York that was planning on sharing student data with inBloom Inc. statewide. The data which New York State Education Department is providing to inBloom will reportedly include student names, addresses, emails, phone numbers, along with their grades, test scores, racial, special education and economic status, as well as disciplinary records.

inBloom intends to store this highly sensitive data on a cloud, and has already said that it will not be responsible if the data leaks out in storage or transmission.  New York and inBloom then plan to provide  this highly sensitive personally identifiable data to for-profit vendors without parental notification or consent. Articles about this controversial plan have appeared in Reuters and the Daily News, among other media outlets.

I urge you to follow Louisiana's lead, and pull our student data out of this risky project immediately.  Do New York children deserve less privacy than children in Louisiana?  If the data leaks out or is used inappropriately by vendors, it could damage a student's prospects for his or her life.

If you do not decide to withdraw all the state's data, I ask that you at least require parental consent, so that I as well as other parents can decide for ourselves if we would like our children's most sensitive information shared with inBloom and other corporations.

Yours sincerely,

Your name, address

John White's letter to his Board of Education about pulling out of inBloom

by Leonie Haimson

John White, the Louisiana State Commissioner of Education, announced Friday he was pulling the state's student data out of inBloom Inc., because of the protests and privacy concerns of students, parents and the some members of Louisiana Board of Education.  Parents and privacy advocates in the eight other states participating in inBloom should urge their officials and Boards of education to immediately follow Louisiana's lead.

Here is the letter White sent the board Thursday evening:  

From: John White <john.white@la.gov>> Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:16:59 -0500 To: Chas Roemer <ChasRoemer@hotmail.com>>, "James_Garvey@hmhlp.com" <James_Garvey@hmhlp.com>>, Holly Boffy <holly.boffy@gmail.com>>, "Orange Jones, Kira" <Kira.OrangeJones@teachforamerica.org>>, Carolyn Hill <carolyn.hill2@la.gov>>, Lottie Beebe <lottie_beebe@stmartin.k12.la.us>>, Jay Guillot <jguillot@hga-llc.com>>, Walter Lee <wclee1@att.net>>, Connie Bradford <cebradford@suddenlink.net>>, Stephen Waguespack <SWaguespack@joneswalker.com>>, "<jmiranti@xula.edu>>" <jmiranti@xula.edu>> Cc: Heather Cope <Heather.Cope@LA.GOV>> Subject: Update Members: At Wednesday's meeting we heard some compelling testimony regarding the state's and school districts' data storage practices. It's an issue worth continued discussion with the board. The data storage agreement with the inBloom database was undertaken with caution and a sense of responsibility. However, because of the concerns expressed by some parents, and because we have not yet had an in-depth discussion with the board and public about data storage at the agency or district level, I think that it is best for now that we withdraw student information from the inBloom database. I have told our staff to do so and have informed inBloom of our decision. We have protected student information for decades and take security very seriously. Given the concerns expressed by our most important constituents -- students and families -- I'd like a chance to discuss our policies and procedures with you before we enter into new relationships with partners providing this service Thanks as always for your time. Have a great weekend. John John White Louisiana Department of Education Twitter @LouisianaSupe

What’s up in Digital Media class? | Teaching Between the Lines

What’s up in Digital Media class? | Teaching Between the Lines:

What’s up in Digital Media class?

by Laura

I’ve been teaching English language arts for over 20 years, and as much as I love it, I have always wanted to add some variety to my work load by teaching an elective class.  I envisioned this class as a break from the deluge of papers and a respite from the pressure of test scores, a place where I could have more fun with my students and let them explore interests outside of the traditional academic subjects.  And I was right.
Last year my principal asked me to design an elective class around digital media, and she put her money where her mouth was by sending me to the CUE conference in Palm Springs, the ISTE conference in San Diego and aGoogle Apps for Education Summit in Santa Clara; and when I got accepted to the Google Teacher Academy, she paid my way there, too.  I spent last summer building a Moodle page for this new class, offering my students choices and tutorials in a wide range of digital media opportunities.
Our digital media class changes as often as we find more websites, programs and tutorials to add to our list of choices.  Take a look at what we have done so far:
Popout

Rick Scott’s a Sitting Duck on Parent Trigger | Scathing Purple Musings

Rick Scott’s a Sitting Duck on Parent Trigger | Scathing Purple Musings:

Rick Scott’s a Sitting Duck on Parent Trigger

by Bob Sikes

Rick Scott has not yet earned the trust of Florida public school teachers and advocates. His increase in funding last year was only a return to the level he cut the year before and his failure to admit as much continues to be a drag on his credibility. Scott’s  proposal to raise teacher salaries can only been considered as a cynical political ploy unless it emerges without any legislative merit pay strings attached.
Like other republican rock star governors who were on board with Jeb Bush’s Common Core State Standards (CCSS) gambit, he was blindsided by the sudden  and vigorous opposition from the RNC and conservative media giants like Michelle Malkin and Glenn Beck. It will have wide-ranging ramifications for future policy decisions – including Parent Trigger.
You can be sure that Scott is aware of the affects that implementation of CCSS will have on the state’s schools. 

New Jersey Parent/Teacher Keeps Talking – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

New Jersey Parent/Teacher Keeps Talking – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:

New Jersey Parent/Teacher Keeps Talking

by Timothy D. Slekar

Last night Shaun and I interviewed a parent/teacher from New Jersey about the opt out process and the dilemma faced when engaging in the opt out process while also being a teacher.  It’s tricky right?

So as a parent I can choose to “opt out,” “refuse,” “boycott” on behalf of my own children.  But then if I’m also a public school teacher I have to administer the same tests that I refuse to allow my own children to take. Talk about a philosophical conodrum.  For more on this listen here.  Listen to the frustration and anguish.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/chalkface/2013/04/19/uber-special-episode-of-at-the-chalk-face-6pm-est

I’m sure you can hear the anguish and disgust the reform movement is having on the mom/teacher. Later that evening I received the message below from NJ 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools This Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools This Week:

Seattle Schools This Week

by Melissa Westbrook

Wednesday, April 24th
Oversight Work Session - Teaching & Learning, 4-5:30 pm.   No agenda yet available.
This is a work session where a department walks the Board through their operations and updated them on their current status.   This is a hard stop at 5:30 pm as the Board has an Executive Session from 5:30 pm to 6 pm.

Work Session:Strategic Plan from 6-7:30 pm.  No agenda yet available.

Special Education PTSA from 7-9 pm. in Room 2700.

Thursday, April 25th
Operations Committee Meeting, 4-6 pm.  No agenda yet available.

Saturday, April 27th
Community Meeting with Director Patu from 10 am to noon at Cafe Vita

Jeb Bush Salutes David Coleman and Common Core | Diane Ravitch's blog

Jeb Bush Salutes David Coleman and Common Core | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Jeb Bush Salutes David Coleman and Common Core

by dianerav

The Republican Party is divided about the Common Core standards.
The Republican National Committee has come out in opposition to the Common Core, calling it “an inappropriate overreach to standardize and control” education. Senator Charles Grassley wants to defund the Common Core.
But Jeb Bush is one the loudest cheerleaders for the Common Core. When his sidekick Tony Bennett lost the state superintendent job in Indiana, In part because of Tea Party opposition to Common Core, Jeb Bush made sure he landed on his feet as state commissioner in Florid.
Now Jeb has declared in TIME that David Coleman, the architect of the Common Core, is one of the world’s 100 most influential people. Jeb adores the Common Core. So do the high-tech corporations that back Jeb’s Foundation for Educational Excellence.
The Republicans will have to duke this out over the next few years. Do they support federal control or local