UPDATE:News Roundup Seattle Schools Community Forum: State-by-State Evidence of Jeb Bush's Ed Reform Machinations #Cheats4Change

Seattle Schools Community Forum: State-by-State Evidence of Jeb Bush's Ed Reform Machinations:

Harmon Leaving Seattle Schools

I cannot print the word that came out of my mouth when I saw this from the Superintendent. It is very, very upsetting because Harmon was truly one of the good guys and one of the most calm and dedicated employees at headquarters.  I had kind of thought he might be promoted to Bob's position. With him leaving (and Bob Boesche), I have deep concerns for the district.  Something has to change to stem

by Melissa Westbrook / 22min mark as read  //  save

Seattle Education News Roundup

KUOW is reporting a sticking point in the SEA and SPS contract negotiations - class size.  Yes, SPS wants to go bigger in the upper grades. Seattle Education Association President Jonathan Knapp says the district’s latest proposal, made last week, would increase class sizes in Seattle by two students per class in grades four through twelve. That would create average class sizes of 30 students in f

by Melissa Westbrook / 49min 

State-by-State Evidence of Jeb Bush's Ed Reform Machinations

I know that many believe that the drumbeat, the concern, the outrage over corporate ed reform is a few voices in a canary mine.  Or exaggerating.  Or those voices are conspiracy therorists.

And yet the evidence is stacking up as I have documented.  Against TFA, against charters, and now, in one of the biggest exposes - corporate ed reform.   The good news is that this house of cards is sagging and will fall. 

From the eagle eye of Washington Post writer of The Answer Sheet, Valerie Strauss, comes a story about thousands of public disclosure e-mails, across six states, that show quite a lot of linkage between corporate ed reform and making money off of it.

The non-profit that did the public disclosure request and released the information is In the Public Interest.   

The correspondence is available at:
• Rhode Island: http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/node/2746
• Oklahoma: http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/node/2745
• New Mexico: http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/node/2744
• Maine: http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/node/2743
• Louisiana: http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/node/2742
• Florida: http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/node/2741

Basically:

Emails between the Foundation for Excellence in Education (FEE), founded and chaired by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and state education officials show that 

8-5-13 Wait, What? - Working to educate, persuade and mobilize through "perceptive and acerbic" observations about Connecticut Government and Politics

Wait, What? - Working to educate, persuade and mobilize through "perceptive and acerbic" observations about Connecticut Government and Politics:

The problem with the Paul Vallas brand of school reform

Categories: Bridgeport Larry Cuban Paul Vallas Valarie StraussTags: BridgeportLarry CubanPaul VallasValarie StraussValerie Strauss is the Washington Post’s education reporter and blogger.  Here blog, The Answer Sheet, is one of the country’s definitive sources of information about the education reform industry.  Yesterday she reported and reposted a piece by Larry Cuban, one of top-notch independ

2 by jonpelto / 5min 

On Vallas and Education Reform: CT Post’s Hugh Bailey calls it like it is…

Categories: Bridgeport Hugh Bailey Paul VallasTags: BridgeportHugh BaileyPaul VallasOnce again, Hugh Baily has produced a commentary piece worthy of national attention. In it, Bailey writes, “Bridgeport didn’t ask to be a microcosm for the national education debate, but that’s part of the deal when a rock star comes to town. Ground zero for school reform is usually someplace like New York or Chic

23 by jonpelto / 1d 

AUG 01

Connecticut’s Governor and elected officials play: “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)”

Categories: Connecticut General Assembly CT Voices for Children Malloy State Budget State Debt State DeficitTags: Connecticut General AssemblyCT Voice for ChildrenMalloyState BudgetState DebtState DeficitDuring the last gubernatorial campaign, each side claimed that they had a deeper commitment to fiscal responsibility and government transparency.  Now more than two and a half years later we are

9 by jonpelto / 4d 

You call it laws, we call it technicalities or guideline or rules or whatever…

Categories: Corporate Welfare Economic Development Freedom of Information MalloyTags: Corporate WelfareEconomic DevelopmentFreedom of InformationMalloyIn the never-ending saga know as, “laws are for normal people” or “those laws are just technicalities” comes news that, “A state economic development agency that approved nearly $37 million in total aid to businesses in 2011 and 2012 failed to give

12 by jonpelto / 4d 

JUL 31

The attack on Bridgeport BOE member Bobby Simmons’ integrity says more about his attackers…

Categories: Bobby Simmons Bridgeport Kenneth Moales Mayor Bill Finch Paul VallasTags: Bobby SimmonsBridgeportKenneth MoalesKenneth Moales Jr.Mayor Bill FinchPaul VallasYesterday, Bridgeport Board of Education Bobby Simmons had an incredibly powerful commentary piece published in the Connecticut Post.  I re-posted it here at Wait, What under the title “Here is what a real Democrat says in the face

by jonpelto / 4d 

Malloy Administration commits $22 million plus for Bass Pro

Categories: BassPro Bridgeport Corporate Welfare Economic Development Malloy Mayor Bill FinchTags: BridgeportCorporate WelfareEconomic DevelopmentMalloyMayor Bill FinchAccording to the Connecticut Post’s Brian Lockhart, “The state will spend at least $22 million to build Bass Pro Shops a mega-store on the [Bridgeport] city’s waterfront.” As Wait, What? readers will recall from previous blog posts

31 by jonpelto / 4d

Automated Teaching Machine: A Graphic Introduction to the End of Human Teachers

Automated Teaching Machine: A Graphic Introduction to the End of Human Teachers:

Automated Teaching Machine: A Graphic Introduction to the End of Human Teachers

Monday, 05 August 2013 10:14By Arthur King and Adam Bessie, Truthout | Graphic Journalism

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(Image: Arthur King)"The machine lasts indefinitely. It gets no wrinkles, no arthritis, no hardening of the arteries . . . Two machines replace 114 men that take no coffee breaks, no sick leaves, no vacations with pay," proclaims the watch-twirling, hard-hearted CEO Wallace V. Whipple in a particularly prescient 1964 episode of The Twilight Zone. Despite the emotional pleas of the workers and their union, Whipple robo-sources 250,000 factory jobs to the "X109B14 modified, transistorized, totally automated machine."  The machine - a cardboard prop filled with vacuum tubes, twirling doo-dads and feverishly blinking diodes may be hilariously outdated, laughable even. But less laughable, though, is that this cautionary tale has come to pass: Today, 50 years later, American workers need not only compete with foreign labor, but with

Missouri Education Watchdog: The Finish Line For K-12 Education - SAT/ACT

Missouri Education Watchdog: The Finish Line For K-12 Education - SAT/ACT:

The Finish Line For K-12 Education - SAT/ACT

Home schooling families and private schools have not been able to completely ignore Common Core because the threat at the finish line, the SAT, was poised to align to CC. The question we have not been able to answer is how big an impact that would have on the curriculums for these non-public school options . The New York Times reported recently on what we might expect from the revised SAT.

 “The heart of the revised SAT will be analyzing evidence,” David Coleman  said. “The College Board is reaching out to teachers and college faculty to help us design questions that, for example, could ask students to use math to analyze the data in an economics study or the results of a scientific experiment, or analyze the evidence provided within texts in literature, history, geography or natural science....

... it shouldn’t just be about picking the right answer,” he said. “It should be about being able to explain, and see, the applications of this math.”

The biggest change will probably come in the essay portion of the test.

"Most likely, he said, the outlines — sections on critical reading and math and a 25-minute essay — will remain the same. But Mr. Coleman has made known his discomfort with the essay, which puts no premium on accuracy. Students can get top marks for declaring that the Declaration of Independence was written by Justin Bieber and sparked the French Revolution, as long as the essay is well organized and develops a point of view"

The ACT has been left out of some of the discussions about Common Core since it was Coleman, as President of the College Board, who made the much publicized statement about aligning the SAT to CC.  However, the ACT has been on 

We Party Patriots » Big Brother? How About Baby Brother? Jeb Bush’s Education Privatization Group Has Child-Harming Emails Unearthed #Cheats4Change

We Party Patriots » Big Brother? How About Baby Brother? Jeb Bush’s Education Privatization Group Has Child-Harming Emails Unearthed:

Big Brother? How About Baby Brother? Jeb Bush’s Education Privatization Group Has Child-Harming Emails Unearthed

   

The non-profit group In the Public Interest has released thousands of e-mails that link former Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s education reform foundation, Chiefs for Change, to corporations and education officials who are attempting to help state legislators write laws that will directly benefit their organizations financially.  The emails are primarily between Chiefs for Change and the Foundation for Excellence in Education (FEE) which both share a vision of for-profit education fueled by charter schools, online education and standardized testing.  The groups share many of the same donors and officials as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) which is pushing for a similar “education” agenda.  

The ties between the groups and ALEC do not stop at surface similarities:

There are strong connections between FEE and the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), according to the nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy:

Aptly named FEE, Bush’s group is backed by many of the same for-profit school corporations that have funded ALEC and vote as equals with its legislators on templates to change laws governing America’s public schools. FEE is also bankrolled by many of the same hard-right foundations bent on privatizing public schools that have funded ALEC. And, they have pushed many of the same changes to the law, 

Electronic delivery of benefits reduces hunger among students during summer SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources:

Print this article

Electronic delivery of benefits reduces hunger among students during summer
By Kimberly Beltran
Monday, August 05, 2013

An experimental program that extended food benefits to needy families electronically substantially reduced the number of children at risk of going hungry during off-school summer months, a just-released analysis shows.

In addition to reducing “very low food security among children” – most of who were from economically-disadvantaged families – the USDA Food and Nutrition Service’s Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Card program produced increases in the consumption of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and dairy foods among kids in households participating in the trial.

In 2012 – the second year of operation, when the demonstration was fully implemented – the evaluation found that this approach could reach up to 75 percent of eligible children and reduce the prevalence of very low food security among children by about one-third, the analysis stated.

“This statistically significant finding constitutes unequivocal evidence that SEBTC achieved its primary goal of reducing VLFS-C (very low food security among children), on average, across the 14 sites” participating in the demo, analysts concluded.

The SEBTC demonstration was designed as a rigorous test of the impact of providing a monthly benefit of $60 per child – using existing electronic benefit transfer systems – on “food insecurity” among children during the summer when school meals are not available.

It is one of several options the Food and Nutrition Service has tested as a way to offer more children greater access to its Summer Food Service Program. Under that program, children 18 and younger may receive at least one free, healthy meal a day – provided they have access to a service site in their area.

While many school districts, local government entities and community organizations prepare and serve meals through 

D.C. stunner: Bipartisanship forms around job training rewrite

An overhaul of the nation’s primary job training and vocational education program is set for passage out of the U.S. Senate – but the headline is that its progress has come on a bipartisan basis.

45min 

NEA Chief Praises New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning as a Model of Teacher Initiated Education Reform | NJCTL

NEA Chief Praises New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning as a Model of Teacher Initiated Education Reform | NJCTL:

NEA Chief Praises New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning as a Model of Teacher Initiated Education Reform

July 19, 2013

The Center’s Accomplishments in Advancing STEM Education Demonstrate the Power of Teachers as Leaders

ATLANTA – July 19, 2013 – The New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning® (CTL) has been singled out as an exemplar for the members of the world’s largest professional education association. As NEA president Dennis Van Roekel urged nearly 9,000 member educators to take a leadership role in education reform, he applauded the accomplishments of CTL.

Saying, “We need millions of educators to be given the opportunity to use their incredible talents and creativity to define solutions that work for students,” Van Roekel proclaimed the importance of teacher-driven efforts to improve student learning.

By highlighting CTL’s work, Van Roekel affirmed the value of its approach to dramatically improving STEM education.

Born out of the New Jersey Education Association in 2006, CTL, a nonprofit organization, improves STEM outcomes. Their teacher-designed solutions provide coherent k-12 math and science curricula that embrace new standards, raise 

National School Boards Action Center » Make Your Voice Heard – Join Friends of Public Education Today

National School Boards Action Center » Make Your Voice Heard – Join Friends of Public Education Today:

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD – JOIN FRIENDS OF PUBLIC EDUCATION TODAY

Join the Friends of Public Education and participate in a voluntary network to urge your U.S. Representatives and Senators to support federal legislation on Capitol Hill that is critical to providing high quality education to America’s schoolchildren.  Federal legislation has direct policy and financial impact on your local public schools and students, and federal legislators need to hear the local impact – directly from you, their constituent.  By becoming a part of the Friends of Public Education, you are joining a national campaign to support a strong public education for all students.

When you sign up, you will receive information on critical education legislation and NSBAC will ask you to contact your members of Congress at key strategic times during the legislative process.  NSBAC will notify you through calls to action and provide sample letters that you can personalize so you can easily communicate with your elected federal leaders.

So, join today.  (…And recruit your friends and family to do the same).

Thank you for your support for America’s schoolchildren.

Michelle Malkin | Rotten to the Core: Jeb Bush’s Crony Republicans Against Higher Standards #Cheats4Change

Michelle Malkin | Rotten to the Core: Jeb Bush’s Crony Republicans Against Higher Standards «:

Rotten to the Core: Jeb Bush’s Crony Republicans Against Higher Standards

By Michelle Malkin  •  August 2, 2013 09:09 AM

Here’s a new installment of my Rotten to the Core series on education and curriculum. This latest scandal has only just begun. I hear from multiple sources that there are more damaging e-mails to come. Jeb World is getting rocked not only by this mess, but by the nationwide, grass-roots revolt against his top-down Common Core scheme — which continues to grow despite Bush’s latest p.r. efforts to bamboozle talk radio and conservative pundits about his education racket.

This is a battle not between left and right, but between right and wrong.

Previous:

Rotten to the Core, Part 1: Obama’s War on Academic Standards
Rotten to the Core, Part 2: Readin’, writin’ and deconstructionism
Rotten to the Core, Part 3: Lessons from Texas and the Growing Grassroots Revolt
Rotten to the Core, Part 4: The Feds’ Invasive Student Tracking Database
Time To Opt Out of Creepy Fed Ed Data-Mining Racket

Jersey Jazzman: Reformy Money Pours Into NJ

Jersey Jazzman: Reformy Money Pours Into NJ:

Reformy Money Pours Into NJ

Anyone else in Jersey want our reformy money? "Cause we've got plenty!

Anthony Cody makes the case that the recent resignation of Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett is the outcome of just one more scandal in long line of "corporate education reform" failures. This entire movement is beginning to collapse under the weight of its own mendacity; the day of reckoning has finally arrived.

That may be, but reforminess isn't going away any time soon, so long as the money to sustain the "reformers" keeps gushing. Take, for example, New Jersey:  

Newark's Teach for America is getting a boost from the Walton Family Foundation, which has pledged $2 million to the program that brings young teachers into under-served classrooms.

Newark was one of several cities that will share the $20 million donation from the foundation.

“With this critical investment, Teach For America will be able to bring effective 

4LAKids - UTLA URGED TO ALLAY PUBLIC DISTRUST

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: UTLA URGED TO ALLAY PUBLIC DISTRUST:

UTLA URGED TO ALLAY PUBLIC DISTRUST

An L.A. school board member tells UTLA activists that the union must fight public perceptions that it protects bad teachers.

BY TERESA WATANABE, LOS ANGELES TIMES | L.A. TEACHERS UNION URGED TO IMPROVE TRAINING FOR BAD TEACHERS - LATIMES.COMHTTP://LAT.MS/15ZPEKE

United Teachers-Los Angeles members gather at a Los Angeles hotel for a weekend of workshops, speakers and political campaigning for new union officers. The weekend’s events were attended by more than 400 mostly activist teachers who represent the union on their school campuses. (Anne Cusack, Los Angeles Times / August 4, 2013)

August 4, 2013, 9:41 p.m.  ::  The Los Angeles teachers union must combat public perceptions that it protects bad teachers and should help them improve with better training, a city school board member told union activists in a wide-ranging speech Sunday.
Monica Ratliff, a fifth-grade teacher who pulled off an upset win in May for the Los Angeles Board of Education, told more than 400 leaders of United Teachers Los Angeles that the public likes teachers but distrusts labor unions.
"People have a fair amount of affection for teachers," said Ratliff, who drew a standing ovation of cheers and chants. "People have a fair amount