Thursday, February 20, 2014

Missouri Lawmaker Adds Tinfoil Hat Amendment Georgia Common Core Review Bill Clears Senate | Truth in American Education

Missouri Lawmaker Adds Tinfoil Hat Amendment to Insult Common Core Opponents | Truth in American Education:

Georgia Common Core Review Bill Clears Senate Committee Hurdle

The Georgia Senate Education and Youth Committee unanimously passed SB 167 a bill that would repeal the Common Core State Standards in the state. The bill introduced by State Senator William Ligon, Jr. (R-Brunswick) will establish the process for reviewing the standards, allows local districts to go back to the previous, superior GA standards in the interim, and establishes strong protections for

by Shane Vander Hart / 32min

NEA’s Van Roekel Loses Faith in Common Core

National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel in a letter published yesterday that the Common Core implementation has been completely botched. He statements, speaking on behalf of his union (but under the guise of “educators”), in support of the Common Core in this letter reads more like a faith statement than a fact-based case for the Common Core.So when 45 states adopted the Common

by Shane Vander Hart / 42min

Missouri Lawmaker Adds Tinfoil Hat Amendment to Insult Common Core Opponents

Filed in Common Core State Standards, Education at State Level by Shane Vander Hart on February 20, 2014 • 0 Comments

Let’s file this in the “how stupid can you be” category. The Kansas City Star reported that the Missouri House Education Appropriations Committee approved an amendment to the 2015 education budget. It added $8 to be spent on tin foil. The sponsor of the amendment is State Representative Mike Lair (R-Chillicothe) who is the chair of that committee. The language of the amendment said that the money was to be used for “two rolls of high density aluminum to create headgear designed to deflect drone and/or black helicopter mind reading and control technology.”

The Star reported that “some lawmakers aren’t too pleased by what they consider to be paranoia about new Common Core standards for public schools.”

Anne Gassel at Missouri Education Watchdog points out that if you have to resort to tactics like this then your cupboard is bare when it comes to having facts and data on your side.

The opponents of Common Core have offered reviews by content experts including two national experts, selected by the Common Core State Standards Initiative themselves for the validation committee, who refused to sign off on the standards because they were grossly

2-20-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

More Legislative Updates

From Mary Griffin of the Seattle Special Ed PTA: SHB 2605 is a step backwards in Washington state’s efforts to make our education system more transparent and accessible for parents. That’s because this bill will make it harder, not easier, for parents to know and understand school district policies regarding restraint and isolation of students with disabilities.Right now, for students with IEPs an

by Melissa Westbrook / 6min

2-19-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Washington State Legislature Gets Busy on Education BillsMajor news on two important education bills in the Legislature.First, the State Senate REJECTED a teacher-evaluation bill that would have changed using student test scores in teacher evaluations from "can" to "must" because the feds wanted that change. The feds were using - as a carrot or

by mike simpson / 17min

LISTEN: Teachers Union Rolls Out New Website | Talk Radio News ServiceTalk Radio News Service

LISTEN: Teachers Union Rolls Out New Website | Talk Radio News ServiceTalk Radio News Service:

LISTEN: Teachers Union Rolls Out New Website

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten calls it "the fastest growing teacher-sharing site in the United States."

Photo/American Federation of Teachers

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten tells TRNS about the launch of a new website called “Share My Lesson.”

The website includes roughly 30,000 lesson plans for both teachers, and is accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Weingarten also says that there is information for school counselors and educators in other countries outside of the U.S.

All of the lessons, Weingarten says, have been crafted to meet the new Common Core State Standards.

Share My Lesson - Free K-12 Resources By Teachers, For Teachers

www.sharemylesson.com/‎

Find and share teacher resources for K-12 teachers and engage with the largest online community of educators in the world.

Teaching Resources Early Elementary - Late Elementary - Special Populations	The Common Core Math Index Use this index of Common Core State Standards to find ...
Common Core Welcome to the Share My Lesson Information Center for the ...	Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom's resources have generated 14 ...
Common Core English ... Common Core English Language Arts Resources. Resources ...	Sign up Share My Lesson the largest network of teachers in the world ...
More results from sharemylesson.com »

True or false equations

Compare both sides of an equation to determine whether it is true or false

Today's News, Tomorrow's Lesson

Sochi success: It’s a question of physics

Featured Contributors

Ancient Greek Olympics
21st Century Lessons: A Boston Teachers Union InitiativeDownloads 1028
Shaun White & Engineering the Half Pipe
NBC LearnDownloads 486

Discover facts, figures and tips about the Common Core State Standards. Look for this icon to find resources aligned to the K-12 standards in math, English language arts and literacy across all subjects.

CCSS Resources: ELA – Math

Switching Schools May Lead to Psychotic Symptoms in Kids | TIME.com

Switching Schools May Lead to Psychotic Symptoms in Kids | TIME.com:

Study: Switching Schools May Give Your Kids Psychotic Symptoms

Chronic marginalization and chronic exclusion could cause hallucinations and delusions

Charter Schools - Dividing Communities since 1991

Changing schools can be a wrenching social and emotional experience for students, say researchers from Warwick Medical School in the U.K. And the legacy of that struggle may be psychosis-like symptoms of hallucinations and delusions.

Dr. Swaran Singh, a psychiatrist and head of the mental health division at Warwick, became curious about the connection between school moves and mental health issues after a study from Denmark found that children moving from rural to urban settings showed increased signs of psychoses. The authors also noted that the students had to deal with not just a change in their home environment, but in their social network of friends at school as well.

Singh was intrigued by whether school changes, and the social isolation that comes with it, might be an independent factor in contributing to the psychosis-like symptoms.

MORE: Homeland and Bipolar Disorder: How TV Characters Are Changing the Way We View Mental Illness

Working with a database of nearly 14,000 children born between 1991 and 1992 and followed until they were 13 years old, Singh and his colleagues investigated which factors seemed to have the strongest effect on mental health. The children’s mothers answered questions about how many times the students had moved schools by age nine, and the children responded to queries about their experiences either bullying others or being victims of bullying. The survey even included a look at the children’s in utero environments, and their circumstances from birth to age 2, by asking the mothers about where they lived (in urban or village areas, for example), and about financial

To Whom does Teach For America Give Power and Influence? | Cloaking Inequity

To Whom does Teach For America Give Power and Influence? | Cloaking Inequity:

To Whom does Teach For America Give Power and Influence?

A new peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Education Policy reveals the relationships between Teach For America (TFA) and federal charter school “reform” to interrogate how policy decisions are shaped by networks of elite individuals, organizations, and private corporations.

Mapping the Terrain: Teach For America, Charter School Reform, and Corporate Sponsorship provides evidence that TFA is a central and important node in a network promoting the rapid expansion of charter schools, a reform effort that amplifies the voices of an elite network of privately sponsored organizations and individuals, while potentially disenfranchising the voices of community members and educational professionals.

Each year, TFA places over 4,000 recent college graduates, the vast majority of whom have not studied education, in classrooms in low-income communities. TFA teachers are trained in a five-week summer institute before being hired as teachers of record for two years by school districts. TFA founder Wendy Kopp started the organization with the stated dual missions to fill teaching shortages in urban and rural districts and develop leaders for a movement to close the growing “achievement gap.”

Most research on TFA focuses on its effectiveness and impact as a teacher preparation program. Researchers

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The view from L.A.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The view from L.A.:

The view from L.A.

The way schooling is supposed to be-- I'm out on the Left Coast. taking a few days off from Chicago tundra, watching a school field trip to Leo Carrillo State Park.

I'm in L.A. but still envious (no, really) of those who got to join the UIC picket lines or march yesterday in Springfield in defense of public employee pensions. This show of strength, especially in anticipation of upcoming state and local elections, is bound to have some effect.

Now the question is, can this positive motion produce the kind of unity and organization needed to put a hurt on Rahm, Rauner, Madigan and their gang? I don't think the progressive movement really has a horse in the governor's race, but we should be able to use the growing rifts in the enemy's camp to our advantage.

Locally, the Will Guzzardi (39th) and Jay Travis (26th) state rep races are strategically key. The machine, including Boss Madigan's thugs, have jumped into the Guzzardi/Berrios race with both boots as Guzzardi's poll numbers continue to grow. Madigan's people are apparently taking messaging and propaganda duties away from Toni Berrios' own incompetents. As a result the panicky Berrios campaign is headed straight for the gutter.

This from Gapers Block:

Maybe the memory of a close margin explains the recent outflux of advertisements from the 2014 Berrios campaign that range from the sensational

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Teachers union head calls for Core ‘course correction’

Education Headlines

Thursday, February 20, 2014

FCMAT provides links to California K-12 news stories as a service to the industry. However, some stories may not be accessible because of newspapers' subscription policies.

Fillmore teachers say district dragging feet on contract negotiations

More than 30 teachers came to Tuesday night’s Fillmore Unified School District board meeting to demand that officials negotiate a contract in good faith with their union representatives.

Construction firm TELACU bankrolling Centinela Valley school board campaigns, receiving millions in contracts

For a couple of moms from working-class families hoping to retain their seats on the Centinela Valley school board, it was a stark lesson in machine politics.

Eureka City Schools teacher talks continue: No agreement reached; upcoming mediation set

After failed negotiations, the Eureka City Schools District and the Eureka Teachers Association look to meet in early March with a mediator, according to district Superintendent Fred Van Vleck.

School district fires firm, demands money back

A company that was supposed to help clear environmental impact concerns on property that was to be the site of a third high school was fired Wednesday night by the Chico Unified School District board of trustees.

Committee urges Sacramento city schools not to sell closed campus sites without further review

A committee for the Sacramento City Unified School District has finalized recommendations for the future use of seven elementary campuses closed last year due to falling enrollment – urging that none be sold without further evaluation.

Fremont Unified school board members place $650 million bond measure on June ballot

The school district's aging facilities are in such need of major repair that board members have placed Fremont Unified's largest bond, a $650 million campus-improvement measure, on the June ballot.

Now online in Pleasanton: school district public records sought by public

Want to view Pleasanton school district employee salaries, a report on complaints about a principal, or other information disclosed in response to public record requests? All that is now available on the school district's Website.

Aerospace business corridor in El Segundo a cash cow for Centinela Valley school district

The Centinela Valley Union High School District serves a low-income population, but thanks to a quirky boundary line that juts into an unpopulated portion of El Segundo, the district has rare access to a gargantuan cash cow.

Teachers union head calls for Core ‘course correction’

The head of the nation’s largest teachers union said the rollout of the new Common Core academic standards has been “completely botched” in many states and that wholesale changes taking place in U.S. classrooms need an immediate “course correction.”

Los Angeles Unified parents, teachers criticize iPad rollout, call for school repairs

Critics of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s $1 billion iPad program gathered Wednesday outside a downtown school to call for money to be used on school repairs and funding for teachers.

Frey: PTA program creates parent advocates

With 117 years of promoting parent involvement under its collective belt, the PTA thinks it has the right formula for training parents in their new watchdog role under California’s reformed school finance and accountability system.

Adams: Special ed students in isolation at juvenile facilities must receive education, federal government says

Special education students who are locked in isolation in juvenile facilities must receive educational services and behavioral interventions, according to a sweeping assertion of the rights of special education students in detention issued by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education.

More than 600 L.A. school buildings need quake evaluations, retrofits

The Los Angeles Unified School District still has hundreds of school buildings in need of detailed seismic evaluations and strengthening to withstand a major earthquake, according to district data.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Simi Valley midyear school switch goes 'better than expected'

It was another first day of school — this one in the middle of the year — as Simi Elementary students arrived Tuesday at Mountain View School, their new campus.

Desert Sands Unified School Board approves 5 percent raises

The Desert Sands Unified School Board has approved raises for three employee groups, but the mid-valley school district continues negotiation with teachers, its largest group of employees.

CalSTRS financial reforms could hit districts hard

Orange County schools are bracing for a possible spike in pension contributions as the state inches closer to tackling an $80 billion funding shortfall threatening the state’s teacher retirement program.

New computer testing boosts technology in Sacramento area schools

California schools are racing to add computers and improve Internet access in preparation for the debut next school year of state computerized assessments for students.

CalPERS decides to speed up rate increases for state

In a victory for Gov. Jerry Brown and his get-tough approach, the CalPERS board on Tuesday set the stage for a rate increase that will cost the state treasury around $400 million beginning July 1.

Integration: Who Is It Good For? | EduShyster

Integration: Who Is It Good For? | EduShyster:

Integration: Who Is It Good For?

Hint: Middle class white students…

By Jack Schneider
I have watched friends lock their doors as black men crossed between cars on the street. They have done it without breaking conversation and without acknowledgment. My wife and I have had acquaintances challenge our decision to enroll our daughter in the public school across the street from our house. What would we do, one asked, if she were invited to a sleepover in “the projects”?

We have listened to stories in which a person’s race or class was mentioned, despite it being irrelevant. Irrelevant, of course, except for the fact that the person in question was inevitably the story’s villain.

We have heard parents express concern about the *city kids* (a peculiar euphemism to use in an urban area like ours, where all kids are by definition city kids) flooding onto a

Coalition Launches Testing Resistance & Reform Spring - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Coalition Launches Testing Resistance & Reform Spring - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Indiana Vouchers Will Help Fix Church Steeples

Vouchers approved in the state of Indiana are prompting creative bookkeeping on the part of Catholic school leaders, with a significant boon to the churches that run them.

by Anthony Cody / 1min

Coalition Launches Testing Resistance & Reform Spring

By Anthony Cody on February 20, 2014 7:53 AM

Yesterday, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich posted this message on hisFacebook page:

We're turning our schools into test-taking factories. We're teaching children how to take standardized tests rather than how to think. The irony is we're doing this at the very time when the economy is becoming less standardized than ever. Computers and software are taking over all routine, standardized tasks. The challenges of the future require the ability to solve and identify new problems, think creatively outside standard boxes, and work collaboratively with others. An obsessive focus on standardized tests can make our children less prepared for this future rather than better prepared.

Though Reich may not have known it, his statement was very timely, because today, a coalition (which I am a part of) announced the launch of Testing Resistance & Reform Spring, with the slogan "Less Testing, More Learning."

The following statement was released by the coalition:

TESTING RESISTANCE & REFORM SPRING

Our nation can do a much better job evaluating our children, teachers and schools. High-quality assessments promote better teaching, learning and student engagement and help kids develop their abilities. Current one-size-fits-all tests are misused to produce narrow, misleading snapshots of our children and our schools.

Widespread resistance to the overuse and misuse of standardized testing is exploding across the nation. Testing Resistance & Reform Spring (TRRS) is an alliance of organizations that have come together to expand these efforts in order to win local, state and national policy changes: Less

Video: Creating the Schools Children Deserve - MN2020 Hindsight

Video: Creating the Schools Children Deserve - MN2020 Hindsight:

Video: Creating the Schools Children Deserve

By Briana Johnson, Video Production Specialist, February 19, 2014 at 1:00 pm

St. Paul teachers are using their bargaining power to help create the schools children deserve, with fewer standardized tests, smaller class sizes, and media specialists, nurses, counselors and social workers for all schools. Teachers are asking for these elements as part of their contract negations with the district. There's been little progress on these issues since talks began at the beginning of the school year. With a strike vote set for next Monday, teachers are standing with students and parents in urging the district to help them create these conditions that will improve learning.

Children Last: California Trial Showcases the Corporate War on Teachers and Public Education | Julie Gutman Dickinson

Children Last: California Trial Showcases the Corporate War on Teachers and Public Education | Julie Gutman Dickinson:

Children Last: California Trial Showcases the Corporate War on Teachers and Public Education

Are job protections for teachers to blame for educational underachievement among low-income students of color in California? That's the provocative question ostensibly at the heart of Vergara vs. California, which seeks to invalidate the tenure, due process and seniority rights of hundreds of thousands of educators.

Astute observers of the nation's escalating education wars, however, may be asking another question: When did it become permissible to use the welfare of children as a fig leaf for an all-out legal attack on teachers?

Or, as historian and teacher John Thompson wrote recently in Scholastic, "Are corporate reformers unabashedly using the courts as a battleground for battering employees' rights, as opposed to helping children?"

Sadly, the answer to Thompson's question appears to be an unequivocal yes. For while the outcome of Vergara will have far-reaching national implications, it is hardly unique in its attempt to scapegoat teachers for sub-par educational performance. Similar efforts are underway across the country, as some so-called "education reformers" seek to simultaneously privatize public education and weaken the hard-won protections of teachers.

Though efforts to remake public education have attracted both Democrats and Republicans, the three-pronged strategy of austerity, privatization and demonization is familiar to anyone who has watched the conservative movement over the past

Latest News and Comment from Education