12-18-13 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University):

Two-Headed Dragon of Education Policy

Recently, I posted a chart highlighting that current “No Excuses” Reform (NER) claims and policies are no different than traditional problems and policies in public education.* The great ironies of NER include that NER perpetuates the inequities of society and the current education system and that NER does not seek a reformed and revolutionary public education system but a dismantling of public sc

1 by plthomasedd / 10min 

AlterNet: Why Charter Schools Are Foolish Investments for States Facing Economic Challenges

Why Charter Schools Are Foolish Investments for States Facing Economic Challenges

1 by plthomasedd / 4min 

2014 Educators’ Agenda

2014 Educators’ Agenda via 2014 Educators’ Agenda.

1 by plthomasedd / 29min  

12-17-13 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): VAMboozled by Empty-Suit Leadership in SCRep. Andy Patrick, R-Hilton Head Island (SC), has made two flawed claims recently, one about leadership and another about teacher evaluation (“S.C. lawmaker proposes teacher evaluation plan,” Charleston Post and Courier, December

by mike simpson / 8h 

12-18-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Bloomberg Says Municipal Worker Benefits Biggest Threat Facing The Country

I know, I know, sounds like another one of those lame parodies I occasionally do. But it's really not a parody - Bloomberg actually said it:Mayor Michael Bloomberg today took aim at the city’s rising pension and health costs, calling what he dubbed the “labor-electoral complex” the most pressing threat to New York in the final major speech as mayor.Speaking in a grand ballroom in front of members

by reality-based edu... / 50min 

Starting To Look Like No Chancellor Announcement This Week

At least if you buy what's in this NY Times article about de Blasio's chancellor search.  Carmen Farina is supposed to be the frontrunner for the position now, but she told the Times yesterday that she didn't know if she would be offered the position:Carmen Fariña, a former deputy chancellor and the candidate who most closely matches Mr. de Blasio’s own thinking on education, was telling friends a

by reality-based edu... / 2h 

Mayor Bloomberg Plans On Bringing NYC's Homeless Problem To The Rest Of The World

Mayor Bloomberg, fresh from arguing that there's no place as good as NYC to be homeless and down on your luck, brags that the consulting firm he has put together to help governments around the world make their income inequality problems as bad as NYC's is very much in demand:Mayor Michael Bloomberg, burnishing his legacy in all five boroughs this week as he prepares to leave office, shed a sliver

by reality-based edu... / 5h 

12-17-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Jerry Brown Really Gets What Education Is All AboutThese are truly amazing statements from a 21st century politician:MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Gov. Jerry Brown blasted the notion of government-imposed standards for public schools, saying he opposed efforts from Washington and Sacramento to dictate education policy.Using "data on a national or state level I think misses th

by mike simpson / 8h 

Local Activist Exposes How Ohio Charter Funding Undermines Traditional Public Schools | janresseger

Local Activist Exposes How Ohio Charter Funding Undermines Traditional Public Schools | janresseger:

Local Activist Exposes How Ohio Charter Funding Undermines Traditional Public Schools

Posted on December 18, 2013 by janresseger

Susie Kaeser, a long-time public school supporter and activist in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, just researched the way Ohio funds its public schools and siphons local as well as state funds away from public school districts to pay for children attending charter schools.  She has published her conclusions in a local community paper, The Heights Observer.

Her lucid explanation is shocking. It is amazing what we can choose not to see and what the press continues to avoid pointing out.

“Each year the legislature determines the funding level for charter students and those in traditional public schools. According to a 2013 Department of Education report, the funding level for every charter student was set at $5,732. By contrast, state funding for traditional public school students is specific to the school district they attend, based on the property wealth of each district. Because I live in the Cleveland Heights–University Heights City School District, I thought I’d focus on its funding. According to CH-UH treasurer Scott Gainer, our per-pupil allocation in 2012–13 was $1,741, or just 30 percent of the amount promised to charter students.

“Not only do charter students receive more state funds than their public school peers, but the 

New US education mandates hindered by red tape | Al Jazeera America

New US education mandates hindered by red tape | Al Jazeera America:

New US education mandates hindered by red tape

by Andrea Gabor December 18, 2013 6:15AM ET

Bureaucratic obstacles could be hindering progress in public schools, which are in desperate need of reform

Topics:

 

Education

 

Department of Education

 

U.S.

New policies are motivated by federal incentives, especially the competitive grant program Race to the Top.

Steve Ruark/AP

For more than a decade, Brockton High School ushered in each fall with a renewed focus on literacy. For the largest high school in Massachusetts, with 4,000 mostly poor black and Latino students, a near obsessive commitment to improving literacy in every discipline — from science to social studies — was transformative.

Once a failing school, Brockton now boasts that almost all its graduates attend college. And last spring one-third earned merit scholarships to state schools.

But this year, it wasn't until the Saturday before Thanksgiving that Brockton's long-standing restructuring committee gathered at the school to work on refining its literacy strategy, which in recent years has focused on honing students' ability to read graphs and charts.

The reason for the long delay: Brockton High spent months implementing new teacher evaluations, which are mandated by the state as part of an effort to make teachers more accountable.

“Every faculty meeting, with one exception, we focused on preparing for the teacher evaluations,” said Sharon Wolder, Brockton’s new principal.

Meanwhile, at West Side Collaborative, a highly regarded Manhattan middle school, teachers have been trying to understand New York City’s new recommended English-language-arts curricula, which are pegged to the Common Core State Standards — a national effort to improve college and career readiness.

Some are not happy.

“This is paint by numbers,” said Claire Hollander, a West Side teacher and novelist, referring to what she considers an overly scripted curriculum — one of two that the city has recommended schools adopt — with too little emphasis on writing.

As cities and states across the country scramble to adopt the latest education-reform remedies, 

It's A No-Brainer -Two Languages Are Better Than One - Perdaily.com

It's A No-Brainer -Two Languages Are Better Than One - Perdaily.com:

It's A No-Brainer -Two Languages Are Better Than One

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

The strength of the United States is that it has never been a homogeneous culture, but rather continues to redefine its unique and highly successful world view by taking that which exists already and generously mixes it with the contributions of the latest to immigrate here. While one would logically think that the immigrant and their culture and language would be embraced as a necessary source and part of this continuing American pragmatic vitality, both the immigrant and native American in the past have continued to circle their respective wagons trying to "protect" who they are, instead of what they both might become.

Having spent a great deal of time in Europe, I have seen first hand the advantages of bi or multlingualism. Contrary to how it is for the most part treated here, it is not a disease that should be "phased out." Rather, both Anglos and Latinos would benefit significantly from walking a linguistic mile in the others shoes, not just in appreciation of the other's language, but also in appreciation of their own. More than mastery of another language as part of an additive model of language acquisition, both Anglo and Latino would see the unique color that each language offers that somehow is lost in translation.

When I speak Spanish to Latinos that I encounter on a daily basis

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago's Grand School Closing Cost Scandal

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago's Grand School Closing Cost Scandal:

Chicago's Grand School Closing Cost Scandal

Movers haul books from closed schools to shuttered Von Humboldt Elementary for storage. The amount the district is paying to empty the closed schools is poised to triple.  WBEZ Linda Lutton

Board will vote today to triple its payments to GWS

Back in November of 2012, our CReATE research group began warning that the planned closing of more than 50 Chicago schools would not only fail to produce promised academic gains, but would not achieve the anticipated savings being touted by CPS. Then again in March of this year, we warned that district estimates of savings coming directly from school closings were largely overblown. At the time, these warnings wer ignored by the school board and downplayed in the local media.

But I must admit, we never anticipated the extent to which Rahm, Byrd-Bennett and CPS Liar-In-Chief Becky Carroll would go to mislead the public about the massive costs involved in closing those schools.  Thanks to WBEZ's Linda Lutton (apparently the only reporter who will touch this story), we now learn that pretty much any of this year's costs savings associated with the largest district school closings in history will be erased when the Board votes today to triple its payments to logistics firm Global Workplace Solutions.

This according to WBEZ:

Back in April—even before the vote to close 50 schools—the district signed a 

Wanted - Schools Chief Who Has Never Crossed de Blasio on Education - NYTimes.com

Wanted - Schools Chief Who Has Never Crossed de Blasio on Education - NYTimes.com:

Wanted: Schools Chief Who Has Never Crossed de Blasio on Education

Katherine Frey/The Washington Post, via Getty Images; Kris Connor/Getty Images; Jennifer S. Altman for The New York Times

From left, Joshua Starr, Kaya Henderson and Carmen Fariña have all been mentioned as candidates for schools chancellor.

By DAVID W. CHEN and AL BAKER

Published: December 17, 2013

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With a populist pitch forged by his own experiences as a public school parent, Bill de Blasio surged to victory in New York’s mayoral race thanks, in part, to his vow to shift away from Michael R. Bloomberg’s education policies.

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But two weeks before he takes office, Mayor-elect de Blasio has yet to pick a schools chancellor to carry out his own agenda. Indeed, while there is no shortage of people who would love to run the nation’s largest school system, given Mr. de Blasio’s own requirements, the pool of qualified candidates is actually quite small.

No matter where he turns, it is almost impossible to find someone who has run a large school system in the last decade without having to close failing schools, expand charters or comply with state and federal guidelines on using tests to grade schools and teachers — all hallmarks of the education reform movement championed by Mayor Bloomberg, and all policies that Mr. de Blasio has said have serious flaws.

Carmen Fariña, a former deputy chancellor and the candidate who most closely matches Mr. de Blasio’s own thinking on education, was telling friends as recently as November that she was not interested in coming out of retirement and giving up her time spent helping raise her grandchildren.

But the short list of candidates now seems to include her. Recently, Mr. de Blasio called Ms. Fariña, 70, to see if she would reconsider her earlier reluctance, and she said she 

The Educated Reporter: Urban School Reform: Beyond Stars and Scandals

The Educated Reporter: Urban School Reform: Beyond Stars and Scandals:

Urban School Reform: Beyond Stars and Scandals

Rhee-lated $tory: Michelle Rhee answers Ravitch in New Book

al$o $ee Rhee-lated $tory: Excerpts from "Rhee The Art of the Deal" a new $tory about Corporate Education Reform and the Woman that make$ it Happen!

This week, we're revisiting some of the top sessions from EWA's 66th National Seminar held at Stanford University. We asked journalists who attended to contribute posts, and today's guest blogger is Kyla Calvert of San Diego Public Radio. Stream any session from National Seminar in your browser, or subscribe via RSS or iTunes. For more on school leadership, visit EWA's Story Starters online resource. 

Reporters are often missing the story of what reform efforts mean for students, contends author Richard Lee Colvin. In his book “Tilting at Windmills: School Reform, San Diego, and America’s Race to Renew Public Education”, Colvin looks at the seven-year tenure of Alan Bersin as San Diego Unified’s superintendent and the sweeping reforms he implemented while on the job. In his EWA National Seminar presentation, he panned the media’s coverage as stopping at the “he said, she said” controversy and never asking the question of whether the reforms benefit the city’s students.

Colvin argued that in covering the controversy over how San Diego’s schools should be run, reporters missed out on the actual reforms that Bersin put in place. These reforms, including increased after-school tutoring time and long blocks of reading instruction, did get attention from researchers, including UC San Diego’s Julian Betts and Stanford’s Linda Darling-Hammond. Both have come down on the side of saying the changes benefited students, especially in the district’s elementary schools.

David Kirp’s “Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System 

Accountability? Testing Disclaimers for ALL! | Reclaim Reform

Accountability? Testing Disclaimers for ALL! | Reclaim Reform:

Accountability? Testing Disclaimers for ALL!

Posted on December 17, 2013by Ken Previti

Student, teacher and school accountability is absurd if the testing corporations are not held accountable.

This is the actual CCSS disclaimer:

“THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS ARE PROVIDED AS-IS AND WITH ALL FAULTS, AND NGA CENTER/CCSSO MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTIBILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NONINFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, OR THE PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF ERRORS, WHETHER OR NOT DISCOVERABLE.”

Our children, our schools, and our children’s teachers are rated by high stakes testing companies with these disclosures. View the 

Public Comment on First English Framework - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education)

Public Comment on First English Framework - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education):

School Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Invites Public Comment
on First English Framework Based on Common Core

SACRAMENTO—California is taking another step forward in implementing the Common Core for English language arts by gathering public comment on a new framework, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today.

The English Language Arts/English Language Development Framework for California Public Schools: Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve (ELA/ELD Framework) will provide guidance for implementing the new Common Core State Standards and California's new English Language Development Standards. Addressing both English language arts and English language development, the ELA/ELD Framework will help ensure that California's students graduate with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in college and careers. The ELA/ELD Framework will help teachers, publishers, and other educators design instructional materials, curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional learning.

"Across California, teachers and administrators are hard at work making this transition to modern new standards," Torlakson said. "With this framework, we're working to help guide that process, and I look forward to the public's feedback."

Standards define the knowledge and skills students should acquire at each grade level. The State Board of Education adopted the Common Core State Standards for English language arts in 2010, and the new English Language Development Standards in 2012. This new ELA/ELD Framework is aligned to those standards. The Board last approved a framework in this area in 2006. 

The ELA/ELD Framework breaks new ground by providing a blueprint for relating English language development for English learners to the English language arts standards for a cohesive program. The draft framework focuses on the teaching and learning of English literacy and language in the English classroom and includes strategies for extending that focus into all subject areas. It also provides direction to educators to implement the standards in the context of California's diversity and helps them teach the critical thinking skills students will need for 21st century jobs. The ELA/ELD Framework has two primary audiences: educators and developers/publishers of curriculum programs and materials. 

The public has until February 13, 2014, to review the ELA/ELD Framework, available in hard copy throughout the state and also online. The draft framework is on the California Department of Education's Public Review and Comment on the ELA/ELD Framework Web page, where the public may leave comments via the digital survey or by email. Interested parties may also visit one of the 23 Learning Resource Display Centers statewide to review hard copies of the draft framework. 

The public's comments will then be presented to the Instructional Quality Commission in the spring for review and possible inclusion into the final ELA/ELD Framework. Then there will be a second public review in late spring or early summer. The Board is scheduled to take action on the final ELA/ELD Framework next summer.

For more information on the development of the draft framework, visit the California Department of Education's Curriculum Frameworks Web page. 

# # # #

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