UPDATE: Jeb Bush’s ‘Chiefs for Change’ attack Weingarten for something she didn’t say

Jeb Bush’s ‘Chiefs for Change’ attack Weingarten for something she didn’t say:

Jeb Bush’s ‘Chiefs for Change’ attack Weingarten for something she didn’t say

by Valerie Strauss

Randi Weingarten (AFT)

How’s this for a trick: Jeb Bush’s “Chiefs for Change,” a group of former and current state education superintendents, have attacked American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten for something she didn’t say — without even mentioning her name!

She slapped them back.

Here’s what happened:

A few weeks ago, Weingarten called for a moratorium on the consequences of high-stakes testing because new standardized assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards are unfairly being given to students before teachers have had time to properly absorb and create curriculum around the standards.

In fact, Weingarten has been a supporter of Common Core, but decided that a moratorium was necessary because implementation has been rushed and the initiative is likely to fail if not done well.

Let’s get this straight: Weingarten didn’t argue (as testing experts do) that using student standardized test scores to evaluate teachers and principals is wrong because the results are not reliable. She didn’t call for a permanent ban. She asked for a 

‘What has changed is that it is harder for us to be nice to kids’ — departing veteran principal

by Valerie Strauss

George Wood is retiring this year after serving as principal of Federal Hocking Secondary School in Stewart, Ohio, for 21 years. He will stay on as superintendent of the Federal Hocking District. Wood is a nationally known author, educator, activist … Continue reading →

The college ‘preparation gap’ in a single graphic

by Valerie Strauss

An annual national survey of school curriculum concludes that there is a “large gap” between how high school teachers perceive their graduating students’ readiness for college and what professors expect freshmen to know. While a vast majority of high school … Continue reading →

‘It’s just our job’ — teacher who saved students from tornado

by Valerie Strauss

A CNN video:   In this CNN story, second-grade teacher Tammy Glasgow  talks about the Oklahoma tornado that demolished her school, Briarwood Elementary. Nobody died in the school,  thanks to the efforts of the teachers. The story says in part: … Continue reading →

White House to Honor Gay Officials on Harvey Milk Day

White House to Honor Gay Officials on Harvey Milk Day:

White House to Honor Gay Officials on Harvey Milk Day

RYAN DIXON MAY 21

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The White House has released the list of the 10 openly gay officials it plans [...]

The White House has released the list of the 10 openly gay officials it plans to honor on May 22 as “Harvey Milk Champions of Change.” The event coincides with Harvey Milk Day, a commemoration of the first openly gay elected official’s birthday.

Established in 2011, the White House “Champions of Change” Program regularly spotlights ordinary citizens who are “doing extraordinary things for to their community, their country, and their fellow citizens.”

The list of those to be honored includes the Republican Mayor of Redondo Beach, California, Michael Gin, the first African-American lesbian to serve in a U.S. state legislature, Simone Bell, and the longest serving lesbian state legislator, Karen Clark.

In 2009, President Obama posthumously awarded Harvey Milk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor. Milk, along with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, was assassinated on Nov. 27, 1978 by former San Francisco city supervisor Dan White.

READ: The 2013 Harvey Milk Champions of Change

• Simone Bell – Georgia State Representative, Atlanta, GA
• Angie Buhl O’Donnell – South Dakota State Senator, Sioux Falls, SD
• Karen Clark – Minnesota State Representative, South Minneapolis, MN
• Michael A. Gin – Mayor of Redondo Beach, Redondo Beach, CA
• Kim Coco Iwamoto – Hawaii State Civil Rights Commissioner, Honolulu, HI
• John Laird – California Secretary of Natural Resources, Santa Cruz, CA
• Ricardo Lara – California State Senator, Long Beach, CA
• Kim Painter – Johnson Country Recorder, Iowa City, IA
• Chris Seelbach – Cincinnati City Council Member, Cincinnati, OH
• Pat Steadman – Colorado State Senator, Denver, CO

NYC Educator: The Disappearing Teacher Caf

NYC Educator: The Disappearing Teacher Caf:

The Disappearing Teacher Caf

by NYC Educator

I'm in one of two Queens high schools that still has a teacher cafeteria. It's under threat of closure, as not enough teachers are patronizing it lately. A food truck has parked by our school and has become pretty popular. Mayor Bloombucks has decreed if teacher cafes don't make enough money, too bad for the teachers.

There's something incredibly callous about this. Teachers don't get a whole lot of luxurious perks, and this certainly isn't one of them. I love the kids I teach, but sometimes I want to be with adults. I can't imagine I'm the only teacher who feels that way. It's a pretty basic consideration. Here's the big secret--Mayor Mike doesn't think we deserve any consideration at all.

That's why just about every city union got an 8% raise between 08-10 while he loudly told us to go fish. Some school buildings have been around over a hundred years, but it wasn't until Bloomberg took over that anyone decided teachers didn't warrant anything so basic as a place to talk or get a cup of coffee.

This year, we're facing an evaluation system based on fairy dust, and no one's even seen it. Reformy John King, 

Special Late Nite Cap UPDATE 5-21-13 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

Nite Cap UPDATE

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

CORPORATE ED REFORM

Lawsuit Claims New York City School Admissions System Is Racist

from NewsTaco » Education by NewsTaco

 

By Emily Smith, Opposing Views

New York City parents and activists filed a federal lawsuit with the Office of Civil Rights on Monday, claiming that the city’s high school admissions process discriminates against black and Hispanic students by storing them away in low performing schools and setting them up for failure. They demanded a federal investigation and an overhaul of the admissions system.

Deputy Chancellor Marc Sternberg said that Mayor Bloomberg’s administration inherited a system where zip code once determined a student’s quality of education. Since his first day in office, eliminating the achievement gap is a reform Bloomberg’s administration has championed. Admission to top performing schools is instead based on academic records, test scores, attendance, student preference and other factors.

Click HERE or on the picture to read the full story.

More Articles On Teachers Putting Children First In Oklahoma

by Larry Ferlazzo

Earlier today, I published a post titled Teachers Putting Children First In Oklahoma.

Here are two more articles I’m adding to that list:

Backpacks, Human Shields, Above and Beyond: The Oklahoma Teacher Heroes is from The Atlantic.

Teachers Credited With Saving Students in Okla. is from ABC.

The courage of teachers is from CNN.

Pretty Awful Report On “Reforming” Teacher Observation Practices

by Larry Ferlazzo

Democrats For Education Reform (DFER) has just published a report on “reforming” teacher evaluations that is — how can I put this — just awful.  It’s called Culture of Countenance: Teachers, Observers and the Effort to Reform Teacher Evaluations (thanks to Alexander Russo for the tip).

I suspect, and hope, that others (maybe Bruce D. Baker at School Finance 101) will make a much more careful look at it than I have, but here are a few quick reflections. Let me know if you have others:

Here’s one excerpt:

Administrators recognize that observations are widely viewed as cursory exercises not expected to yield meaningful information. Correspondingly, today’s teachers expect little feedback, positive or negative, from t

The Faces Of Oklahoma’s Tornado Victims Show Diversity Of The Sooner State

by NewsTaco

By Elizabeth Llorente, Fox News Latino

In the tornado-ravaged Oklahoma town of Moore, America’s diversity was displayed in both victims and Good Samaritans.

One out of every four of Moore’s roughly 39,000 residents are white, while Latinos make up 10 percent, or 5,000, of this bedroom community. The rest are Asian, Native American and black.

Moore, which is adjacent to Oklahoma City, reflects the growing diversity of the Sooner State, which saw its Latino community double in the last decade to comprise 10 percent of Oklahoma’s nearly 4 million residents.

Click HERE or on the picture to read the full story.

OUSD special education legal woes on the rise? - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools

OUSD special education legal woes on the rise? - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools:

OUSD special education legal woes on the rise?

By Katy Murphy Tuesday, May 21st, 2013 at 12:48 pm in No Comments

Guest blogger Stacey Smith is an OUSD parent and volunteer who has served on several district committees, including the Community Advisory Committee for Special Education. What she writes about does not reflect the view of any group.
The Oakland Unified School District’s 2011-2016 Strategic Plan calls for “a significant decrease in the number of special education litigious and non-compliant cases” by 2015-2016, a legal problem the district blames on negative relationships and communications with parents and the community.
Unfortunately, data so far shows that non-complaint cases and litigation have remained the same or increased, attorneys’ fees are up about 50 percent, and the real problem may be program implementation and lack of critical student support.
Let me explain:
OUSD has long complained about the high cost of special education litigation and compliance complaints, claiming these costs create a barrier to providing better special education. The goal it developed is hard to measure when there are no specific numbers, dollar figures or percentages included as part of the goal — or 

California Bill Proposes Adding Community College Classes at Higher Cost - Higher Education

California Bill Proposes Adding Community College Classes at Higher Cost - Higher Education:

California Bill Proposes Adding Community College Classes at Higher Cost

by cmaadmin

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Students at California community colleges could see additional class options for short summer and winter sessions under a bill that passed the state Assembly on Monday, but those courses would come with a higher price tag.
The measure from Assemblyman Das Williams, D-Santa Barbara, would allow community colleges to make courses available between the traditional fall and spring semesters. It does not provide additional state funding to pay for the extra classes.
Fees for the classes authorized under AB955 would be charged at nonresident rates. The average cost is $200 per unit, compared with $46 for state-subsidized credits during traditional semesters.
Class offerings at California community colleges have been reduced as a result of state budget cuts, Williams said. Proposals to restore money for higher education would reinstate only part of the $1.5 billion cut from those colleges.

No Such Thing As Free - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

No Such Thing As Free - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

No Such Thing As Free

by Nancy Flanagan

I heard Gary Stager speak at a technology conference, a few years back. I'd been following him for some time, via his intelligent blog posts and articles--and was very surprised that the room where he was speaking was virtually empty, with maybe a dozen people in attendance. Nearly everyone in the audience came from the previous packed keynote, held in the ballroom next door, called "Free is Good!"
Stager's remarks were provocative and smart. He opened his presentation by noting that, contrary to the fast-talking, extended commercial for Web 2-point-whatever no-cost goodies we'd just experienced, none of those tools was truly "free." Someone's making money, he said. And it's almost a certainty that the someone is not in the classroom, or even an educator. While tech-based tools can absolutely transform learning, most of them are now are serving other goals: administrative tasks, jazzing up traditional direct instruction, impressing parents and soaking up public resources in the name of "innovation." It's not about kids' self-directed learning, at all. Don't be 

Tom Vander Ark is selling snake oil. – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

Tom Vander Ark is selling snake oil. – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:

Tom Vander Ark is selling snake oil.

by Timothy D. Slekar

Why do Common Core supporters get to make unsubstantiated statements? Why?

Look at the latest piece in Huffington Post by Tom Vander Ark.  Below are a collection of  statements made by Mr. Vander Ark.

1. It’s exciting to see 45 states voluntarily adopting common college and career ready expectations for students — it makes the U.S. globally competitive, is embraced by teachers, and is unleashing an avalanche of innovation.
2. The new Common Core State Standards give all students a shot at college and family wage jobs.
3. Unlike other efforts, the Common Core goes to the heart of what educators do every day, and the theme of “fewer, deeper, clearer” expectations really strikes a chord with master teachers. This is why they got into the profession.
4. Imagine if we empower teachers to truly be “design thinkers” who continually innovate in their instructional practice. We trust them with the freedom they crave to experiment and ideate around the best way to impart learning to the children in their care. And we offer the potential for translating success at scale. The 

We Are All Chicagoans Now, In Open Rebellion Against the Oppression of Corporate Reform Schools

by Jim Horn

After cataloguing a long list of atrocities, Chris Hedges offers this advice in a recent essay: “Rebel. Even if you fail, even if we all fail, we will have asserted against the corporate forces of exploitation and death our ultimate dignity as human beings. We will have defended what is sacred. Rebellion means steadfast defiance. […]

1. 
   

Judge says Ridgewood eighth-grader's name-calling violated state's anti-bullying law - NorthJersey.com

Judge says Ridgewood eighth-grader's name-calling violated state's anti-bullying law - NorthJersey.com:

Judge says Ridgewood eighth-grader's name-calling violated state's anti-bullying law

TUESDAY MAY 21, 2013, 8:28 PM

BY  LESLIE BRODY

STAFF WRITER

THE RECORD

PAGES: 1 2 > DISPLAY ON ONE PAGE | PRINT | E-MAIL

While educators throughout the state strain to interpret New Jersey’s strict anti-bullying law, a judge has found that an eighth-grade Ridgewood boy violated the rules by calling a fellow student a “horse” and “fat.”
“A reasonable person should know that repeatedly calling a teenage girl ‘fat’ … would have the effect of harming her,” Jeffrey A. Gerson, an administrative law judge in Newark, wrote in the decision, rejecting the boy’s contention that he never intended to harass her. The judge also found that the district’s imposition of two after-school detentions was a fair punishment for a student with no history as a trouble maker.
Gerson noted that the boy had admitted using the word “horse” as a nickname but denied calling the girl overweight.
The case is one of a small but growing number of instances in which families have gone to 

Text of S. 744: Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (Introduced version) - GovTrack.us

Text of S. 744: Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (Introduced version) - GovTrack.us:

Obama’s Statement on the Immigration Overhaul Bill - Washington Wire - WSJ http://on.wsj.com/11a3Pzr

S. 744: Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act

113^th Congress, 2013–2015. Text as of Apr 17, 2013 (Introduced).

Status & Summary | PDF | Source: GPO

S 744 IS

113th CONGRESS

1st Session

S. 744

To provide for comprehensive immigration reform and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

April 17 (legislative day, April 16), 2013

Mr. SCHUMER (for himself, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. BENNET, and Mr. FLAKE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

---

A BILL

To provide for comprehensive immigration reform and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

(a) Short Title- This Act may be cited as the ‘Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act’.

Advocacy philanthropy and the leveraged buy-out of public schools — Part 2 | DailyCensored.com - Breaking Censored News, World, Independent, Liberal News

Advocacy philanthropy and the leveraged buy-out of public schools — Part 2 | DailyCensored.com - Breaking Censored News, World, Independent, Liberal News:

Advocacy philanthropy and the leveraged buy-out of public schools — Part 2

by Danny Weil

by Danny Weil

[Note: This piece concludes the two-part essay. For Part 1, please see: Link]

Ted Forstmann and private advocacy philanthropy as a social movement

When there is an obvious financial pay-off for those promoting public policy changes through ‘advocacy philanthropy’, it behooves citizens to critically examine those advocates, their agendas and the implications of their claims. Sadly, this is not the case in America today nor was it at the time the leverage buy-out of public schools was being driven by those who posed as charitable individuals but whose real agenda was and is the incessant accumulation of profits.  However, in the spirit of critical examination, let us begin with entrepreneur, Ted Forstmann.

Forstmann was not an unfamiliar face at the time he was first advocating for the privatization of education.  Besides being a multimillionaire venture capitalist, Forstmann considered himself, “a pioneer of the leveraged buy-out” [1]. This is not surprising. He served on the boards of, or was a spokesperson for, many conservative 

California drops a notch in public school spending - latimes.com

California drops a notch in public school spending - latimes.com:

California drops a notch in public school spending

by By Teresa Watanabe

California slipped a notch in spending per public school pupil in 2011, falling to 35th among
states in a year that marked the first overall drop across the nation in nearly four decades, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Monday.

The 50 states and Washington, D.C., spent an average $10,560 per student in 2011, down 0.4%  from 2010, according to the report. Most of the top spenders were in the Northeast, while the lowest were in the South and West. New York ranked first, spending $19,076 per
student, while Utah ranked last at $6,212.

California’s national ranking in school spending has steadily declined since 2008, when the severe economic downturn prompted the state to cut $9.3 billion in educational dollars over the following four years. Per-pupil spending dropped to $9,139 in 2011 compared with $9,863 in 2008, when the state ranked 23rd. 

The state is ranked even lower when spending is measured as a percentage of personal income. In 

Schools Face Tough Choices As A Tornado Nears

Schools Face Tough Choices As A Tornado Nears:

Schools Face Tough Choices As A Tornado Nears

by Joy Resmovits

After the educators at Plaza Towers Elementary School learned that a raging tornado was headed their way Monday, they had few options. The decades-old building -- one of five schools hit in the area -- didn't have a "safe room," or a shelter deemed safe for storms of that size.

All hell broke loose. The roof caved in. Teachers carried students out. "They literally were lifting walls up and kids were coming out," Oklahoma State Police Sergeant Jeremy Lewis said, according to Reuters. "They pulled kids out from under cinder blocks without a scratch on them." Tornado drills in Oklahoma traditionally train kids to leave their classrooms, head to the hallways, and duck for cover in fetal position.

According to the latest counts, seven children were found dead at the school -- drowned in water.

As the tornado hit, the Moore, Okla., school evacuated fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders to a nearby church, but left the children in kindergarten through third grade in place. As rescue workers dug through the rubble Tuesday, and a community searched for answers, no word had yet emerged on the reason for the split. Moore's school

Oklahoma Schools Lacked Consistent Tornado Shelter Rules

by Joy Resmovits

The two elementary schools leveled by the deadly tornado that swept through the Oklahoma City area Monday lacked designated safe rooms designed to protect children and teachers, despite state warnings that the absence of such facilities imperils lives.

At least two other schools in Moore -- the epicenter of the disaster -- did have safe rooms. So far no fatalities have been tied to those schools, whose buildings were fortified after a devastating twister hit the area in 1999.

These disparities in structural standards speak to the seeming randomness of who lived and who died in a natural disaster now blamed for taking the lives of at least 24 people, including nine children. Requirements for safe rooms in public schools vary from community to community across the swath of Midwestern and Southern states so accustomed to lethal twisters that it is known as Tornado Alley.

In Oklahoma and in bordering states, land-use regulations are often derided as unnecessary government