Diane in the Evening 4-30-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Walton Foundation Gives $8 Million to Rhee’s StudentsFirst

by dianerav

Indifferent to John Merrow’s investigative reports on the cheating scandal during Michelle Rhee’s tenure as DC Chancellor, the Walton Family Foundation gave her organization $8 million to continue pushing its radical agenda of attacking teachers and promoting privatization of the nation’s public schools.
StudentsFirst advocates that test scores should count for 50% of teacher evaluation, although most researchers 

Don’t You Love the Providence Student Union?

by dianerav

The Providence Student Union delivered the First Annual State of the Student Address today, right before State Commissioner Denorah Gist gave her annual State of Education Address.
**********************
Hello. Attached please find the materials from the Providence Student Union’s First Annual State of the Student Address, including a press release, a list of PSU’s policy recommendations, and a one-page document detailing PSU’s idea for assessment reform.
PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT: Hector Perea | Contact@ProvidenceStudentUnion.org | 401-545-1973
STUDENTS COUNTER ED. COMMISSIONER’S “STATE OF EDUCATION” SPEECH –
OFFER THEIR OWN VISION FOR RI EDUCATION IN “STATE OF THE STUDENT” ADDRESS
Providence, Rhode Island – April 30, 2013 – A crowd of students, parents and teachers gathered in front of the State House today before the Commissioner of Education’s yearly State of Education address for what members of the Providence Student Union (PSU) called their First Annual State of the Student Address.
“Commissioner Gist’s education addresses have been one-sided,” said PSU member and Hope High School junior Kelvis Hernandez. “They have not told the full story about Rhode Island education because they have never been given from the student’s perspective. Rhode Island students know what is actually happening in our

Teachers: Deasy Killing Off Crenshaw High School

by dianerav

Teachers at Crenshaw High School are trying to stop the executioners’ axe from falling on their school, as it has fallen on so many others. Is it too late?
They write:
“The last few days have been hard to bear—especially for those of us who want UTLA to become an organizing union, which puts forth our vision for how we can best educate our kids. Last night, teachers at Crenshaw High School—who, despite the most valiant and strategic fight we’ve seen yet against a reconstitution, had been forced to reapply for their jobs under the district’s “magnet conversion”—began receiving news about whether 

Sickest Testing Story of All Time

by dianerav

Fourth-grader Joey Furlong was in the hospital in New York, hooked up to intravenous tubes and preparing for brain surgery, when a stranger arrived in his room. It was a teacher with a test. She said it was time for him to take the test. It turns out that the hospital has five full-time teachers on staff to make sure that any child who is in the hospital for more than three days receives instruction and testing.
No child escapes testing. Even while they are waiting for brain surgery.

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-30-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] McGill on Testing: Preparing Kids for the 1950s by dianerav Michael McGill is superintendent of schools in Scarsdale, Ne York, one of the nation’s most affluent districts. It has an excellent school system. Its students go to fine colleges. Yet even Scarsdale must submit to the half-brained testing and evaluation strategies dreamed up by non-educators and educators with minimal experience. McGill is an articulate and wise leader. Here are his thoughts on the... more »

The deception continues on the parent trigger… | Parents Across America

The deception continues on the parent trigger… | Parents Across America:

The deception continues on the parent trigger…

by pureparents

This blog was written last night by PAA founding member Rita Solnet. Today’s news was huge – Rita, PAA and other parents and parent groups in Florida have defeated the parent trigger there. More on that later, But meanwhile, some valuable insight from Rita:

Watching the Florida Senate debate the so-called Parent Empowerment bill, is like watching an episode of Truth or Dare.

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Kelli Stargel (R)- Lakeland,  clumsily danced around answers to pertinent questions, like, “Why is a parent trigger even needed in Florida?”  or, “Who supports parent trigger in Florida?”

I’m tired of the non answers, the wrong answers, and frankly, the lies presented with gusto such as the fabricated parent group with the slick video that support this bill. The truth about SB 862, aka, the Parent Trigger bill is as follows:

1)   Does the parent trigger bill offer a new option to parents?
No, it does not.  Florida already has a law permitting public school conversion to charter school. That law gives the parents power to initiate a conversion of a school to charter. It was used in Key Biscayne and in 

PSAT for 4-30-13, Part 1: Stop shopping at Walmart!!! Parents United for Responsible Education

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » PSAT for 4-30-13, Part 1: Stop shopping at Walmart!!!:

PSAT for 4-30-13, Part 1: Stop shopping at Walmart!!!

by admin

Why would anyone who cares about public schools shop at Walmart?
Really, folks. It’s your money. And when you shop at WalMart, your money goes to support:

• more charter schools: $3.8 million in Chicago alone  including $230,000 for UNO charter schools.
• more school closings: $500,000 to pay for Chicago’s sham “public engagement” school closing hearings.
• more astroturf “parent” groups like Stand for Children (millions) and Parent Revolution ($6.3 million) to push the parent trigger and other corporate reforms.
• more high-stakes standardized testing: Walton supports teacher bonuses linked to raising test scores.
• more vouchers for private and religious schools.
• more Michelle Rhee: despite the recent scandals involving Rhee, WalMart just upped their giving to $8 million.

According to Diane Ravitch, “they commit about $160 million each year for charters, vouchers, Teach for America, think tanks, and media. Everything they do has the singular goal of dismantling public education and opening the schools to untrained, uncertified teachers.”
Maybe if every parent, every teacher, and every student in Chicago stopped shopping at WalMart, we wouldn’t all have to be out in the streets time and time again, like the three-day demonstration planned for May 18-19-20. 
Why boycott?
I had a plan to raise a boycott issue once a month, taking a cue from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s strategy – “our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from (businesses).”
I’ve also pointed out that, even without an admittedly unlikely crippling nationwide boycott of WalMart, Microsoft, Hyatt Hotels, etc., we can effectively put pressure where it really hurts: that is, in the corporate image of these companies.
I haven’t stuck with that plan, with so many other actions to take over the past months, but I remain convinced that we have the power to stop these corporate school raiders. WE JUST HAVE TO USE IT.
So. I guess I’m going to be harping on boycotts and attacking the corporate image of these corporate reformers once a month again for a while. I hope you’ll help spread the word.

It's All About the Leadership — Whole Child Education

It's All About the Leadership — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

It’s All About the Leadership

April 30, 2013 by Kay Wejrowski

Recently, I dropped off more than one hundred certificates for our principal, Mat McRae, to sign for winners in our high school's March Into Reading challenge. For the contest, students could draw or paint a new cover for their favorite book; create a book out of metal, wood, clay, or the medium of their choice; or create a graphic design that promotes reading. When all the entries were in, we had nearly three hundred projects to judge, out of a school of 650 students. Our principal's response to the overwhelming participation in our school was, "It's all about the leadership."

Teachers promoted the competition in their classes, and some worked side-by-side with students, assisting with the multimedia creations. In our school, literacy, reading, and library activities are threaded throughout lessons, driving cross-curricular interdisciplinary projects:

• Students in AP World History classes read How Do You Kill 11 Million People? Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think by Andy Andrews, examined genocide that exists in the world today, and then used Prezi to inform classmates about these atrocities.
• Composition students read Andrews' book, along with The Hunger Games, The Lottery, and Schindler's 

May Day 2013: LA Schedule | OccupyWallSt.org

May Day 2013: LA Schedule | OccupyWallSt.org:

May Day 2013: LA Schedule

Posted 1 hour ago on April 30, 2013, 1:07 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Tags: los angeles, may day

Schedule of Events:

12:00pm: Long Beach Revolutionaries : Back in Actions @ Pershing Square
2:00pm: Occupy LA Meet @ Pershing Square
2:30pm: March to Olympic and Figueroa
3:00pm: Join with Occupy Fights Foreclosures to SHUT DOWN Wells Fargo
4:00pm: Join the SCIC march @ Broadway & Olympic to march for FULL legalization for all!
7:30pm OLA General Assembly @ Pershing Square
Neighboring Occupations are also holding their own events this year! For more information, please visit their Facebook pages:

• Occupy San Fernando Valley
• Occupy Venice Beach

Additional Information:

• http://occupylosangeles.org/
• http://www.immigrationcoalition.org/
• http://www.occupyfightsforeclosures.org/
• https://www.facebook.com/events/127870004066163/

UPDATE: Moales, Jr.’s financial empire collapsing? +Funny, I thought you said Malloy’s E and E Protection Comm was on an NU - Wait, What?

Funny, I thought you said Malloy’s Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner was on an NU - Wall Street Conference Call - Wait, What?:

Is Bridgeport Board of Education Chairman Kenneth Moales, Jr.’s financial empire collapsing?

by jonpelto

“I have the financial means to give my children the best. Why would I not give my children the best? … The best for my sons is at Fairfield Country Day,” said Moales, adding that he has 400 children from his church, the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, in the public school because he doesn’t have the means to send them all to private school.”  (CT Post 4/9/2013)

Humble is certainly not a word one might use to describe Kenneth Moales, Jr., who served as Mayor Bill Finch’s campaign treasurer and now serves as the Chairman of 

Funny, I thought you said Malloy’s Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner was on an NU – Wall Street Conference Call

by jonpelto

As Connecticut residents are now learning, one of the primary speakers on a recent Northeast Utilities/UBS  Wall Street conference call with more than 150 analysts, stock brokers and investors was Connecticut’s Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection.

The issue was the development of a new set of electric transmission lines that would allow Canadian company, Hydro-Quebec, to deliver its electricity to southern New England, providing Hydro-Quebec and Northeast Utilities with hundreds of  millions of dollars in new revenue and hopefully lowering electric rates for Connecticut consumers.

According the CTNewsjunkie, “Malloy said he read the transcript of Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Daniel C. Esty’s call with UBS investors and 

FairTest to honor Jonathan Kozol with Deborah W. Meier Hero in Education Award | FairTest

FairTest to honor Jonathan Kozol with Deborah W. Meier Hero in Education Award | FairTest:

FairTest to honor Jonathan Kozol with Deborah W. Meier Hero in Education Award

Submitted by fairtest on March 8, 2013 - 1:36pm 

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Date and Time: Thursday May 9, 2013; 6:00 – 8:30 pm

Place: Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts
(please visit http://www.multiculturalartscenter.org for directions)

In the passion of the civil rights movement of the1960s, Jonathan Kozol gave up the prospect of an academic career, moved from Harvard Square to a poor black Boston neighborhood, and became a fourth grade teacher. Since then, he has devoted his life to advocating for equal educational opportunity.

Jonathan’s brilliant and inspiring books include Death at an Early Age, Rachel and Her Children, Savage Inequalities, Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children, The Conscience of a Nation, and The Shame of the Nation. Amazing Grace won the 1996 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, an honor it shares with the works of Langston Hughes and Dr. Martin Luther King.

His new work, Fire in the Ashes, is a culmination of the stories he has told over a quarter-century about the children of the poorest urban neighborhoods in this country and the teachers who fight against the odds to defend the dignity of children who are largely written off by society.

Jonathan has also worked to persuade the U.S. Congress to free our schools and children from the punitive and failed federal testing law No Child Left Behind.

Order your tickets or place an ad in the Celebration Program using this downloadable form.

Hors d’oeuvres and drinks will be served. Business attire.

If you are unable to attend, we hope you will place an ad in the program or make a donation in honor of Jonathan here.

Please use this flyer to help spread the word about the event.

HONORARY CHAIRS
Nancy Carlsson-Paige
Tom Gosnell
John Jackson
Richard Stutman

HOST COMMITTEE
Vicki Abeles
Fred Bay
Linda Darling-Hammond
Ruth Kaplan
John Maher
Jose Masso
Jean McGuire
Steve Nelson
Linda Nathan
Carl Sciortino
(Committee in formation)

Download the response card (PDF): http://fairtest.org/sites/default/files/KozolReplyForm.pdf

UPDATE: PSAT for 4-30-13, Part 2: Sign this student’s petition! + School closings “another trauma,” say child mental health professionals Support PURE!

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » School closings “another trauma,” say child mental health professionals:

PSAT for 4-30-13, Part 2: Sign this student’s petition!

by admin

He has asked twice, very nicely, and he is right on target: Stop tying teacher evaluation to test scores!
He’s Aaron Shafer, a senior at Miami University of Ohio, and his petition says, “Standardized tests are not a sound or fair way to evaluate teachers. The higher the stakes we give these tests, the more we will see test prep and test cheating, which goes against the positive, democratic nature of public education.”
I signed it – please sign it, too.

School closings “another trauma,” say child mental health professionals

by admin

Here is the letter written by Erika Schmidt, Director of the Center for Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy in Chicago, and her staff, to CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett. Byrd-Bennett did not respond. Background on this letter here.

CENTER FOR CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOTHERAPY

Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis

122 South Michigan Avenue Suite 1301

Chicago IL 60603

April 12, 2013
Barbara Byrd-Bennett
Chief Executive Officer
Chicago Public Schools
125 South Clark Street
Chicago IL 60603

Dear Ms. Byrd-Bennett:
For the past 4 years, I have had the privilege of directing a unique project at the Granville T. Woods Math and Science Academy in the Englewood neighborhood. This project provides group counseling services to children who have been exposed to violence at Woods, as well as several other schools in Englewood. Children are referred because they exhibit behavior problems in the classroom or home, because they do not learn at the level of their potential, and because they cannot negotiate interpersonal relationships successfully. Our goal is to help ameliorate the corrosive impact of exposure to violence on these children’s self-esteem, sense of safety, and hope for the future. We have had the support of the principal, Ms. Rosalyn Armour, and her staff, as well as the dedicated staff from Family Focus of Englewood, who have all contributed to the positive impact of this project on the lives and learning of the children we serve.
As we have helped the children become more effective learners, we have also learned a great deal from them. The most important lesson they have taught us is how the school becomes a vital community for these children, a “safe haven” where they feel protected from the violence outside, supported in their development, and can be respected members of the school community. Many of these children struggle with the problems of poverty, racism, and inadequate resources as well as the traumatic effect of violence. One child said to the group therapist, “If I can run really, really fast, maybe I won’t get hit by a bullet going to the library.” This poignant wish to avoid a bullet in order to read speaks volumes about the challenge these children face. When a child attends a school that inspires him to want to read anyway, that school has become a place that represents a child’s hope for their own future.
Woods School is a safe haven for these children, a source of continuity for them, and a place that represents the possibility for growth and development. The loss of the school environment, and the meaningful relationships they have established there, is another trauma in the lives of children who are exposed to too much trauma. We do recognize the challenge of providing for the educational needs of these children, but we are concerned that the children’s need for a secure community environment, which is absolutely essential for learning to take place, is being overlooked.
We request that you reconsider the decision to close Granville T. Woods Math and Science Academy.
Sincerely,

Erika Schmidt, LCSW
Director, Center for Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy
Director, Englewood Project

Englewood Project Staff:
Stephanie Beiser, LCSW, Project Coordinator
Sarah Clarke, LCSW
Marcie Hromas
Eva Johnson, LCSW
Sonia Kennedy, EdD, MSW, LSW
Aileen Schloerb, LCSW
Sivan Schneider, PsyD
Deborah R.Weaver, LCSW

UNO charter school scandals- Part 2

by admin

 Part 1 here (press release re: PURE letter to Executive Inspector General asking for wider UNO probe in light of these photos).

Two more schools join the Seattle MAP test boycott and USDOE study on the MAP test gives it a failing grade | Seattle Education

Two more schools join the Seattle MAP test boycott and USDOE study on the MAP test gives it a failing grade | Seattle Education:

Two more schools join the Seattle MAP test boycott and USDOE study on the MAP test gives it a failing grade

by seattleducation2011

 …and the Washington Education Association Assembly has voted to support the boycott.

     Ingraham High School and Thornton Creek Elementary have joined the MAP test boycott which brings the number of schools opting out of the MAP test to seven. 30 teachers at Roosevelt High School have also joined the protest and teachers at Franklin High School stated that if the test is to be given next year, they will boycott the MAP test also.

     The list of boycotting schools as of today is:

Ballard High School

The Center School

Chief Sealth International High School

Garfield High School

Orca K-8 School

Thornton Creek K-8

Ingraham High School

     At a press conference held yesterday afternoon, students, parents and teachers 

UPDATE: RFA: TUPE County Technical Assistance & Leadership Funds (CA Dept of Education)

RFA: TUPE County Technical Assistance & Leadership Funds (CA Dept of Education):

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Announces Winner of the
2013 Grazer Outstanding Achievement in Learning Award

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today announced that the 2013 Grazer Outstanding Achievement in Learning (GOAL) award will be presented to the CHIME Institute's Schwarzenegger Community School, a K-8 public charter school in Woodland Hills.

"We have a responsibility to provide all of our students in California with the education, support, and tools necessary to realize their dreams," said Torlakson. "I commend CHIME for its exceptional work educating our youth and hope others can learn from its academic and social achievement in educating students of all abilities."

CHIME Institute's Schwarzenegger Community School will receive the prestigious award May 2, 2013, during the meeting of the California Advisory Commission on Special Education (ACSE) at the California Department of Education. The meeting and presentation can be viewed live via Web cast at ACSE Meeting Webcast - Administration & Support.

"CHIME is the gold standard when it comes to the implementation of evidence-based inclusive practices," said ACSE Chair Kristin Wright. "We often hear from schools and districts throughout California that have visited and networked with CHIME so they have the opportunity to observe and model their inclusive education model."

The ACSE is an advisory body required by federal and state statutes that provides recommendations and advice to the State Board of Education, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Legislature, and the Governor in new or continuing areas of research, program development, and evaluation in California special education.

The GOAL award was created in 2005-06 and was funded by Hollywood producer Brian Grazer's family to recognize exemplary practices in special education and to celebrate programs that serve California youth with disabilities along with the professionals who provide them.

This year's GOAL winner receives a $5,000 check to invest back into their program. For more information, please visit Advisory Commission on Special Education (ACSE) - Administration & Support on the CDE Web site. More information on the CHIME Institute's Schwarzenegger Community School can be found at The Chime Institute .

# # # #

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

Request for Applications

TUPE County Technical Assistance & Leadership Funds

---

Due: Friday, May 31, 2013

The Tobacco-Use Prevention Education (TUPE) County Technical Assistance and Leadership Funds (CTALF) provide funding to county offices of education to plan, develop, and implement capacity building, technical assistance and training, evaluation, program improvement services, and coordination activities for TUPE activities for local educational agencies.

Program Questions: John Lagomarsino, e-mail: jlagomarsino@cde.ca.gov, tel. 916-323-1540

Downloading Questions: Rachael Gutierrez, Coordinated School Health and Safety Office, e-mail:rguiterr@cde.ca.gov, tel. 916-319-0196

Document	Description
Cover Letter	TUPE CTALF Request for Applications Cover Letter
Request for Applications (DOC)	Application Guidelines and Instructions
Attachment A (DOC)	Application and Intent to Apply
Attachment B (DOC)	Scope of Work
Attachment C (DOC)	Application Cover Page
Attachment D (DOC)	Program Assurances
Attachment E (DOC)	Allocation Table

Certifications and Assurances

Document

Description

General Assurances & Certifications (Posted June-2012)

Required as a condition of receiving funds. Applicants do not need to sign and return them with the application; they must be downloaded and kept on file for compliance reviews, complaint investigations, or audits. Applicants that participate in the Consolidated Application - ConApp - should have a copy on file and do not need another copy. Program-specific assurances are not included here and should be listed separately on the Request for Application (RFA).

More about TUPE County Technical Assistance & Leadership Funds

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Tuesday, April 30, 2013

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Fensterwald: Advocacy groups urge rejection of NCLB waiver for California districts

Education Headlines

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

New middle school to open in Carmel Valley in 2015

In about two years, San Dieguito Union High School District officials plan to have a new middle school in Carmel Valley that will help reduce the number of students at another nearly campus.

Employees thank Monterey school board

Monterey Peninsula Unified School District trustees will take at least another week to decide how to proceed in the search for a new superintendent.

Johnson: Oakland charter school a cautionary tale

The pending closure of three Oakland charter schools that operate as part of American Indian Model Schools is a bona fide disaster for the institution's 1,200 students but a necessary evil for Oakland school board members who voted 4-3 last month to shut them down because of fiscal mismanagement.

TEMECULA: Claim filed against school district in drug bust

The parents of a student with autism who was accused of selling marijuana last year to an undercover deputy at a Temecula high school say they have filed a claim for damages against the school district.

Mt. Diablo school board narrows applicant pool for interim superintendent

The Mt. Diablo school board began whittling down applicants for interim superintendent Sunday, three days after severing ties with Superintendent Steven Lawrence and General Counsel Greg Rolen.

Freedberg: Washington and Sacramento must end cold war on education

Some high level diplomacy is called for to end the Cold War between Sacramento and Washington that has frozen out the state from benefiting from the major education initiatives of President Obama’s education reform agenda.

L.A. Unified board will back classroom breakfast program

A majority of L.A. Unified School Board members said they will vote to continue a classroom breakfast program that feeds nearly 200,000 children but was in danger of being axed after sharp criticism by the teachers union.

Fensterwald: Advocacy groups urge rejection of NCLB waiver for California districts

Seven advocacy and civil rights organizations, led by Washington-based The Education Trust, have called on Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to deny nine California districts a waiver from the No Child Left Behind law, saying any deviation from a statewide waiver “would be the wrong path forward.”

Brown's "principle of subsidiarity" draws support - with an asterisk

There's a paradox in many of the reactions to Governor Jerry Brown's proposal to give California schools more flexibility on how they spend their state tax dollars. There's general support around the Capitol for breaking down the funding walls surrounding several dozen programs. But everyone seems to have a favorite program they want to protect.

Adams: Positive school climate boosts test scores, study says

It’s the million-dollar question or, given the size of the California education budget, the $50-billion-dollar question: What makes extraordinarily successful schools different from other schools? The answer: school climate, according to a new study from WestEd, a San Francisco-based research agency.

High-stakes test time for state's schools

At Beaumont Elementary and K-12 schools across California, state-mandated standardized testing is a high-stakes affair reflected in all manner of preparations by teachers and administrators.

Monday, April 29, 2013

CHRISTINE FRAZIER: A new funding model for next generation of students

This year, Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed a complete overhaul of education funding that I believe will provide greater equity in funding to California's school districts based on the differential costs of educating California's students.

Skelton: Gov. Brown as Robin Hood

His plan to shift money from suburban to urban districts might help disadvantaged students but it could hurt other kids.

Linden schools simmer with unhappiness

Tensions remain high in the Linden Unified School District, where parents have expressed frustration and distrust in Superintendent Michael Gonzales.

UPDATE: Consumed by Advocacy in the Marketplace of Mendacity – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

Consumed by Advocacy in the Marketplace of Mendacity – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:

Colorado Observer and Sunana Batra (@cold666pack) Censor Comments supportive of Teacher Brian White

by Timothy D. Slekar

Do you remember Brian White?  You know…the teacher from Colorado that decided to fight back against corporate education reform.  The teacher who spoke these words at his local school board meeting: Good evening. My name is Brian White. I’m a parent of two young children currently enrolled in Douglas County schools, a taxpayer, involved community [...]

The Benefits (and Costs) of School Reform in Three Cities Part I

by John Thompson

The contemporary school “reform” movement has been amazingly brazen in proclaiming their supposed successes in increasing student performance. A study by Elaine Weiss and Don Long of the Broader Bolder Approach shows, however, that those achievements evaporate upon close examination. “Market-Oriented Education Reforms’ Rhetoric Trumps Reality” documents the minimal gains and the significant damage done [...]

Consumed by Advocacy in the Marketplace of Mendacity

by plthomasedd

Big Daddy and Brick confront the power of mendacity in a key scene from Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, swept into popular culture by the1958 film starring Elizabeth Taylor (Maggie), Paul Newman (Brick), and Burl Ives (Big Daddy).

In the play, Big Daddy replies to Brick’s question, “Have you ever heard the word ‘mendacity’?”:

Sure. Mendacity is one of them five dollar words that politicians throw back and forth at each other….

Don’t it mean lying and liars?…

I’ve lived with mendacity!—Why can’t you live with it? Hell, you

New national goals set for teaching professionSI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources:

New national goals set for teaching profession
By Tom Chorneau
Wednesday, May 01, 2013

A blueprint for improving the teaching profession nationally calls for more emphasis on quality preparation programs, higher standards for entry into the profession and better compensation for both classroom educators and school administrators.

Released by the U.S. Department of Education, the report represents collaboration between federal officials and a number of private school organizations including Council of Chief State School Officers, American Federation of Teachers, the National School Board Association and the Association of School Administrators.

Noting that U.S. education is under increasing pressure to produce college and career ready students, the authors pointed out that many educators view the current setting not so much as a crisis but as an opportunity for reform.

“The American education system is situated at a historic crossroads where we have the ability to continue on our current trajectory or to chart a new course,” the report’s authors said. ‘“This is our Moon Landing moment,” a principal 

Updated classroom textbook guide includes gay, lesbian uses

A statewide social content guide for school leaders is set for revision this month to incorporate a newly adopted state law requiring classroom textbooks to recognize the contributions of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals.

The guide, which was originally adopted in 2000, is used by school administrators and local district boards to evaluate instructional materials in  context of issues of social importance.

The update to the Standards for Evaluating Instructional Materials for Social Content is scheduled to come before the California State Board of Education next week. The changes were prompted by the adoption in July 2011 of SB 48 – by state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco – which made California the first state in the nation to require that school textbooks and history lessons include the contributions of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans.

Tom Torlakson, state schools superintendent and Mike Kirst, state board president, said in the foreword of the proposed updated content guide that instructional materials used in California classrooms need to provide a positive educational experience for all students.

“Instructional materials play an important role in forming a child’s attitudes; therefore, these materials need to reflect a multicultural society and to avoid stereotyping,” Torlakson and Kirst said. “The following standards ensure that