Sunday, June 23, 2013

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

Back when I was sitting my wife's hospital room on January 27, I raised the subject of her illness with a diary I titled Quakers ask people to hold them in the light. As I take my periodic turn to offer Brothers and Sisters, I thought I would offer some thoughts on this Friendly practice, sharing some thoughts of others as well as my own.
i invite you to continue reading. And remember:

Welcome to Brothers and Sisters, the weekly meetup for prayer* and community at Daily Kos. We put an asterisk on pray* to acknowledge that not everyone uses conventional religious language, but may want to share joys and concerns, or simply take solace in a meditative atmosphere. Anyone who comes in the spirit of mutual respect, warmth and healing is welcome.

Short Notes: What Exactly Is Emancipation? - The Jose Vilson | The Jose Vilson

Short Notes: What Exactly Is Emancipation? - The Jose Vilson | The Jose Vilson:

Short Notes: What Exactly Is Emancipation?

by Jose Vilson

My student Ashley draws me.

A few notes:

My latest post at The Collaborateurs talks about my own journey as an alternative certification teacher to where I am now. [CTQ]
Phillippe Copeland questions the meaning of Juneteenth, especially when there are more black men incarcerated than were enslaved back then. Just saying. [GOOD]
Diane Ravitch’s latest target is Michael Bloomberg, who uses some financial legerdemain to buy out and silence his critics. For New Yorkers, we’ve seen this all along. [Diane Ravitch]
Unions matter, part 1932810: Jennifer Martin believes (and I tend to agree) that unions matter when it

Retired Lt. Colonel from Georgia becomes National PTA... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com

Retired Lt. Colonel from Georgia becomes National PTA... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com:

Get Schooled: Retired Lt. Colonel from Georgia becomes National PTA president. First black male to lead PTA.

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New PTA president: Retired Lt. Colonel from Georgia

Betsy Landers, National PTA President 2011-2013, hands the gavel over to Otha Thornton at today's installation. (Lifetouch photo)

Condensing high school to three years
June 22, 2013
Common Core, common politics: Can someone throw a bucket of water on Cobb board?
June 21, 2013
New president for Fort Valley State University
June 21, 2013

By Maureen Downey

From the National Parent Teacher Association today:

Today, Otha Thornton of Richmond Hill, Ga., was installed as president of the National Parent Teacher Association, making history as the first African-American male chosen to lead the association. The ceremony took place at the PTA’s General Meeting at Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati, where he addressed the more than 1,000 attendees in his first official speech in the position.

Here is an excerpt of Thornton's acceptance speech in Cincinnati:

First and foremost, I would like to thank my family—my wife, Caryn of 24 years, my children, Candice from Houston, Texas, and Tre—for their support. To my mother, Estelle, who told my brothers, sisters, and me that we could be anything that we wanted to be in life, if we number one, kept God first, number two,

NYC Educator: Wolfson's Miraculous Feat

NYC Educator: Wolfson's Miraculous Feat:

Wolfson's Miraculous Feat

by NYC Educator

It's kind of hard to believe the level of nonsense that passes as information yesterday. Despite Mike Bloomberg's education programs having improved, conservatively, nothing, his paid propagandist Howard Wolfson has a piece in the Daily News insisting thatThompson can't be mayor, as he'd be a tool of the union. That's even more absurd than the union endorsement of Thompson.

For one thing, Thompson supports Mayor Bloomberg's unilateral decision to give virtually all city employees but teachers a raise. That alone gives me pause. You'd think that a Bloomberg employee would give the guy a little credit for trying to screw teachers, one of Mayor Mike's key priorities this endless decade. But no.

Now it's certainly noteworthy, as Wolfson points out, that more kids graduate nowadays. After all, when you close schools that don't post high graduation rates, you tend to motivate principals to post them by any means necessary. You can pressure teachers to pass kids who don't merit it, or even promote ridiculous credit recovery schemes. Of course, when college readiness rates linger around 25%, you have to wonder precisely how effective Mayor Bloomberg's magic has been. He did, of course, amazingly raise the city test scores, before we

All Things Education: The opting out conundrum

All Things Education: The opting out conundrum:

The opting out conundrum

by Rachel Levy

I've had this post in the cooker for a few months. This article about a group of Virginia superintendents stepping up to the plate to protest high-stakes testing (the SOLs) has prompted me to finish and publish it. Also motivating is that I am scheduled to host #vachat this Monday, June 24th at 8 pm where I plan to discuss high-stakes testing. Please join us!

Okay, so last spring we were in the midst of third grade testing mania, which I wrote about here and here. We ended up opted one of our children out of the Reading SOL, which we consider to be the least legitimate of the tests. Although the staff and faculty at our children's school were reasonable, kind, and accommodating, it was still quite a difficult process. We had to write an official letter (which I may include in a separate post), we had several conversations with testing coordinators, we had to accept that opting out meant a big fat "FAIL" on my son's score sheet, and we had to coach our son on how to decline to take the test.

In Virginia, or at least as far as we were advised, there is no code for parent opt-out, so our son was listed as "refusal/disruption" and also given a score of "0"/ FAIL. Luckily, there was no retribution for our son not taking the test. When I asked if he would be placed in remedial reading programs, the testing coordinator laughed and

Daily Kos: Fifty years later . . .

Daily Kos: Fifty years later . . .:

Fifty years later . . .

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

Tomorrow will be the exact date and day, because it was Monday June 24, 1963 that 348 members of the Class of 1963 at Mamaroneck High School officially graduated.
This weekend was our 50th reunion, about which I offered some preliminary reflections yesterday.
I drove home to Virginia this morning, remarkably making the trip from Rye NY where I was staying in 4 hours. Along the way I reflected about the weekend, about the past, and even pondered the future.
A number of my classmates are Facebook friends - many asked how my wife is doing, as they are aware of her situation because I post the links to my diaries on Facebook. That was nice,
Yesterday was a very different day - for me it started with conversations in the hotel lobby. Then many of us gathered at Walter's Hot Dog Stand on Palmer Avenue across from the high school, to eat, to share, to catch up. A few additional people had joined us by then. Last night we had a dinner and a dance with a live band -

Jersey Jazzman: Latest "Chiefs For Change" Fail: Skandera in NM

Jersey Jazzman: Latest "Chiefs For Change" Fail: Skandera in NM:

Latest "Chiefs For Change" Fail: Skandera in NM

by Duke

New levels of reformy incompetence from Jeb! Bush's "Chief For Change" in New Mexico, ACTING Education Secretary Hanna Skandera:

School districts around New Mexico are now being asked to pay back money they received due to an accounting error.
The state Public Education Department acknowledged in May that the funding errors affected about 50 districts. At the time, the department said those that were overpaid would not have to return the money.
Education Secretary Hanna Skandera sent an email Wednesday to the Santa Fe school district and others that said state law required them to refund the money, the Santa Fe

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Privatization and the Snowden affair

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Privatization and the Snowden affair:

Privatization and the Snowden affair

by Mike Klonsky

With all the talk about Snowden, it's easy to lose sight of the real issue here --- the surveillance and collection of massive amounts of information on US citizens – from emails, to telephone calls, to videos, under the Prism program and other Fisa court orders.

As juicy to the media as Snowden escape story, or his pole-dancing girlfriend may be, his story is just a sideshow to the debate his whistle-blowing has opened up around the government's violations of its own citizens constitutional rights vs. national security requirements.

The Guardian, which has done most of the heavy lifting and risk-taking (especially ace reporter Glenn Greenwald)

Perdido Street School: Why Are Wolfson And Bloomberg Attacking Thompson?

Perdido Street School: Why Are Wolfson And Bloomberg Attacking Thompson?:

Why Are Wolfson And Bloomberg Attacking Thompson?

by reality-based educator

Political hack Howard Wolfson has been given three pages in the Daily News to attack the UFT and Bill Thompson while shilling for Bloomberg's education policies and legacy.

I'm going to leave the lies and manipulated data Wolfson spews to sell Bloomberg's policies and agenda for others to knock down.

What I'm interested in is why Wolfson and Bloomberg are feeling the need to attack Thompson.

To be frank, while Thompson is talking some about changing Bloomberg's school policies, a lot of his education agenda is little different from Bloomberg's education agenda.

Thompson is not anti-charter.

Summer Sundays mornings on the screen porch. | Fred Klonsky

Summer Sundays mornings on the screen porch. | Fred Klonsky:

Summer Sundays mornings on the screen porch.

by Fred Klonsky

Sao Paulo. “Health and education. Not the Cup.”
CPS corruption. The foxes are guarding the chicken coop.
They break the rules, commit crimes – but remain Chicago cops.
Rahm’s new CPS board member knows how to make money from public education. Here’s her business web site.
Her name is Deborah Quazzo. She replaced another rich, white person. Penny Pritzker is now in Obama’s cabinet.
Better working conditions and benefits for workers doesn’t mean business leaves town.
10,000 NEA delegates will be arriving in Atlanta for the Representative Assembly this time next week. I’m an elected retired delegate from Illinois. That doesn’t mean I’m a retired delegate. That means I’m a delegate elected by IEA retirees. Text, Tweet or come by the Illinois delegation and say hi.
The US government has charged Edward Snowden with three felonies, including two under the

How my original “Opt Out Letter” was converted to a “form” | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

How my original “Opt Out Letter” was converted to a “form” | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

How my original “Opt Out Letter” was converted to a “form”

by crazycrawfish

At the June 18th BESE meeting John White relayed that he did not recall seeing my opt-out letter and did not reply because it was something he characterized as a “form letter.” Technically this was true. Mine was the first letter to get sent, so it was not a form letter, however Tom Aswell at the Louisiana Voice republished it after redacting my personal info so other parents could likewise opt their children out of any data sharing using my letter as a template. (I subsequently learned there was much swearing of my name by John White, as a result of my letter and privacy petition and campaign, but we must pick and choose our battles, right?)
A form letter type approach was adopted because Louisiana has not provided an organized method of

This Teacher Chose to Be Arrested

by crazycrawfish

Great letter from a teacher about what it really means to put student’s first. Hint: it doesn’t involve forming pseudo-grassroots organizations secretly funded by fascist billionaires or corporate leeches. . .

6-23-13 @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:

Be Ready #optout #refusethetest

by peggyrobertson

Obama is planning to roll out high speed internet connection for our public school students within the next 5 years. This was my comment on FB after reading Stephen Krashen’s post: Cut off from good nutrition, health care, libraries much more serious than cut off from the web. While hungry children wrap food […]

And Still I Teach….

by antiqueteacher60

In the past 6 days, the Badass Teachers Association has grown from a handful to over 12,000 members. Earlier this week, Dr. Mark Naison, one of the founders, put out a challenge to all the BATs to take a stab at recreating Maya Angelou’s “And I Still I Rise”. With permission from the author, Sue […]

Chief Kevin Huffman Leads Effort To Kill Teacher Recruiting in Tennessee

by Jim Horn

We know that Tennessee has become the poster state for every untried corporate reform idea that ALEC can craft in a statute and pass on to the semi-literate Republican Taliban which now runs the State–with the support of homegrown oligarch, Bill (Pilot Oil) Haslam. And thanks to coaching by Gates Foundation drones in late 2009, […]

6-22-13 @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 18 hours ago

@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER: Who’s Building the “Army of Teachers” by Kris Nielsen The National Center for Teacher Quality is a bogus organization, since it comes to us from a non-scientific point of view and tons of people who know next to nothing about teaching. When an agenda and a bunch of policy ideas are predetermined, and the studies comes later, you know something’s going on. But the […] End slacktivism in education by Chalk Face, PhD I modeled this image off of a very poignant UNICEF campaign, that “liking” Facebook pages and groups, while important init... more »

Jersey Jazzman: JerseyCAN Can't

Jersey Jazzman: JerseyCAN Can't:

JerseyCAN Can't

by Duke

Some stuff in the reformy world is just so dumb it makes your jaw drop:

A nonprofit education advocacy group released report cards today for all of New Jersey's the state's public schools and ranked elementary, middle and high schools based on test scores on graduation rates, the group's executive director Janellen Duffy said.

Formed in March, JerseyCAN is an off-shoot of a national non-profit group called 50-CAN, which advocates for education policies the group believes can close the achievement gap between wealthy and low income students. Former Gov. Tom Kean serves as co-chair of the group's board.

"We believe in using data to guide decision-making in education, whether it's decisions parents are making about schools or policy

Excellent Letter sent to BESE by one of my readers about data sharing and inBloom | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

Excellent Letter sent to BESE by one of my readers about data sharing and inBloom | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

Excellent Letter sent to BESE by one of my readers about data sharing and inBloom

by crazycrawfish

Dear BESE member, I am writing to voice my concern over the massive student data sharing scheme with InBloom and whomever else is on track to receive information on our students, and even teachers and parents.
Please understand our concerns for this unprecedented and massive information sharing by companies and individuals who may or may not have the best interests of our children in mind. When For Profit companies are given access to private and confidential information, it begins a slippery slope of loosening our rights to privacy. As has already been proven, once this information is out, as so called data, what these companies do with it is now out of our control. We have no idea what they will eventually do with it and who will later have access to it. It is your responsibility to take back control of our children’s education and private information. It seems as if our state is being sold a bill of goods at the expense of our children. For Profit companies are taking over the education of our children. These unregulated, unaccredited ,and uncredentialed “schools” and “teachers” are

NYC Public School Parents: During the last days of session, the Assembly passes two bills to protect student privacy; Senate fails to act

NYC Public School Parents: During the last days of session, the Assembly passes two bills to protect student privacy; Senate fails to act:

During the last days of session, the Assembly passes two bills to protect student privacy; Senate fails to act

by Leonie Haimson

In the last few days of the legislative session, two bills to protect student privacy were approved by the NY Assembly: A.7872, introduced by Education Chair Cathy Nolan, which would allow parents to opt out of their children’s personal identifiable information from being shared with third parties, and A.6059A, introduced earlier by Assemblymember O'Donnell, that would block re-disclosures (as inBloom plans to do) to third parties without parental consent. Unfortunately, the Senate did not act on either of these bills, or a similar bill to protect student privacy, introduced by Senator Grisanti, S.4284, that had strong bipartisan support.

At this juncture,the NY State Education Department continues to ignore the protests of parents and the concerns elected officials, and is going ahead with a risky and unethical plan to share the most confidential, sensitive information of New York state’s public school students with inBloom Inc., to be uploaded onto a

Best of the Ed Blogs | National Education Policy Center

Best of the Ed Blogs | National Education Policy Center:

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June 19, 2013

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