3-13-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

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

“This rigid refusal to look at ourselves may well destroy us” James Baldwin

by plthomasedd / 3min hide  //  save

“The truth is…” James Baldwin

by plthomasedd / 5min 

Beyond “Doubly Disadvantaged”: Race, Class, and Gender in U.S. Schools and Society

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) established the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) for Fair Housing program in the mid-1990: MTO recruited more than 4,600 families with children living in severely distressed public housing projects in five cities (Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City). HUD offered some MTO families the opportunity to use a housing voucher

9 by plthomasedd / 26min hide  //  save

Segregation and Charter Schools: A Reader

In The link between charter school expansion and increasing segregation, Iris C. Rotberg highlights that problems exist in both re-segregation of schools in the U.S. and the rise of charter schools as separate and interrelated forces. Schools in the U.S. are re-segregating, regardless of type—public, private, and charter. And charter schools are not creating the education reform charter advocates

11 by plthomasedd / 2h  

3-12-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): Analysis of Cliches and Abstractions (1949)Analysis of Cliches and Abstractions (1949).1 by plthomasedd / 1h  3-11-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdDthe becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and s

by mike simpson / 8h 

3-13-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School:

Shelly Silver: We Won't Back Cuomo's Charter School Funding Plan

And for now, Shelly Silver holds the line on the charter school funding/co-location issue:Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said he could accept a Senate plan to provide more than $500 million a year for prekindergarten if there are no strings attached. But he was far less receptive to charter school reforms, saying straight out that "I will not be party to second guessing the mayor on decision

by reality-based edu... / 3min 

Senate Bill To Give Governor Control Over Regents Appointments

From Capital NY:ALBANY—The State Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would change the way the Board of Regents is selected, allowing most members to be appointed by the governor and giving more power to minority legislative conferences.The bill, sponsored by Senate higher education committee chair Kenneth LaValle, addresses Republicans' complaints that Democrats, who control the Assembly, have t

by reality-based edu... / 33min

Cuomo: We Will Enshrine Charter Co-Locations Into Law

Eva Moskowitz is getting her $800,000 worth out of Governor Cuomo:Gov. Cuomo says the fight to protect charter schools will be one of he biggest issues in the upcoming state budget negotiations.In a slight jab at Mayor de Blasio, Cuomo said the charter school issue will trump the fight over prekindergarten expansion--declaring that latter battle over."We've been dealing about pre-k for a long

by reality-based edu... / 6min

Christie Plummets In New WSJ/NBC News Poll

And the erosion of Chris Christie as a viable presidential candidate continues:Positive feelings about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are eroding across the board — even among his  once-loyal base of Republicans and Northeasterners – in the wake of allegations that top deputies engineered a massive traffic jam to get back at Democratic mayor who withheld an endorsement. Overall, the potential 201

by reality-based edu... / 10min 

State Senate Undercuts Mayor Control Of NYC Schools Over Charter School Issues

It's interesting how the functionaries of the plutocracy like mayoral control of schools so long as the mayor in charge is pushing their agenda.But when he's not, they undercut it from Albany:The state Senate will propose sweeping measures in its budget bill to undo Mayor de Blasio’s ­moves against charter schools, sources familiar with the plan said. The recommendations — to be released as early

1 by reality-based edu... / 1h hide  //  save

Markos At Daily Kos: Cuomo Like Joe Lieberman

Hammer job from Markos Moulitsas at the Daily Kos on Governor Cuomo - so good, I need to repost it in full:NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the man who will never be president.Exhibit A:Administration officials confirm Gov. Cuomo has hired GOP strategist and commentator Susan Del Percio to the post of special advisor to the governor, focusing on operations and special projects. "I am pleased to welcome

by reality-based edu... / 6h 

3-12-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School: Legislature Appoints "Spiritual Entrepreneur" To Board Of RegentsYou can't make this stuff up.The legislature tossed one Regent overboard yesterday, communicating to him that he did not have the votes to be re-elected to the Board of Regents, and then proceeded to replace him with this:ALBANY—The newest member of the Board of Regents runs a consulting practice in w

by mike simpson / 8h 

John Thompson: One Sided Hardball in New York Charter Fight - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

John Thompson: One Sided Hardball in New York Charter Fight - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

John Thompson: One Sided Hardball in New York Charter Fight

By Anthony Cody on March 13, 2014 9:14 AM

Guest post by John Thompson.

When Bill de Blasio was elected mayor of New York City in a landslide, new hope came to New York City schools. De Blasio named a veteran educator, Carmen Fariña, as chancellor. He risked offending loyal constituencies by offering a generous compromise to charter schools. De Blasio set to work planning and funding pre-kindergarten. It looked like de Blasio marked a sea change from the scorched earth edu-politics of the Bloomberg years. And, it must be emphasized, there remain many reasons to be just as hopeful about de Blasio's new approach to school improvement.

But elite backers of competition-driven reform, like Eva Moskowitz of the Success Academy charter chain and Governor Andrew Cuomo, counter-attacked with a venom that is shocking even for them. Ironically, despite the moderation of de Blasio's first charter school decisions, Moskowitz's and Cuomo's worst assault on the new mayor was directed at his decision on school co-locations. De Blasio inherited 17 applications by charter schools seeking to share the space of existing schools. The new administration approved 14 of those applications, including two by Moskowitz's Success Academies.  

In response, Moskowitz did something that public school educators would never consider. She 

John Thompson: One Sided Hardball in New York Charter Fight - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Yes, Schools Do Discriminate Against Students Of Color -- Reports:

Yes, Schools Do Discriminate Against Students Of Color -- Reports

A so-called school-to-prison pipeline flows from school discipline that lands disproportionately on students with disabilities and students of color, according to a set of reports by 26 experts released on Thursday.

African-American students and students with disabilities are suspended at "hugely disproportionate rates compared to white students," said a report by the Discipline Disparities Research-to-Practice Collaborative, which includes experts from fields such as advocacy, policy, social science and law. Latino students, girls of color, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students also were disproportionately suspended -- a punishment the report said increases dropout risks and helps push troubled students out of classrooms and into the justice system.

"We already knew that African Americans were disproportionately affected, but this new research is also saying that it's also Latino students, it's also students with disabilities, it's also girls of color," said Russell Skiba, the Indiana University professor who directed the project. "LGBT students may be at risk for increased discipline. These things have a big effect on achievement."

The researchers found that black students were 1.78 times as likely to be suspended out of school as white students. Latino students' suspension odds were 2.23 times greater than those of white students. Students with disabilities were suspended at twice the rate of their non-disabled peers, and for longer durations. Worse, 25 percent 

Schools central to Promise Zone anti-poverty strategy | EdSource Today

Schools central to Promise Zone anti-poverty strategy | EdSource Today:

Schools central to Promise Zone anti-poverty strategy

March 13th, 2014 | Add a Comment | 
By Brenda Iasevoli/Correspondent

4

Pablo Dominguez, 21, paints a mural with his sister on volunteer day at Oscar Romero Charter School in central Los Angeles, where Dominguez’s sister is in the sixth grade. Credit: Brenda Iasevoli

LOS ANGELES – Most days, you can find Melissa Estrada at Monseñor Oscar Romero Charter Middle School in Central Los Angeles where her son Angel Hernandez is in eighth grade. While Angel is in school, Estrada has taken classes to learn how to track his attendance and grades online and talk to him about drugs and safe sex.

Estrada never finished high school, but hopes to show Angel and her three other children how much she values education by taking workshops at the Romero school in the largely poor Mexican and Salvadoran neighborhood of Pico Union.

“I don’t know if I’m a good parent, but I want my children to see that I’m trying,” Estrada says. “I tell my son, ‘I want you to be better than I am.’”

Classes for parents offered at the charter school are all part of the plan there and at other schools in some low-income neighborhoods of Los Angeles to connect students’ families and other community residents with the help they need to find housing, health care, counseling and job training.

The concept is one all schools in Central Los Angeles’s “Promise Zone” – encompassing the 

State Board punts, for now, on San Jose’s request for waiver from tenure law - by John Fensterwald

The State Board of Education on Wednesday took no action on a request by the San Jose Unified School District and its teachers union for a waiver from the state’s teacher tenure law, with board members ... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit the Edsource Today website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

by John Fensterwald / 1h 

Improve Democracy, Not Tests - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Improve Democracy, Not Tests - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

Improve Democracy, Not Tests

By Deborah Meier on March 13, 2014 9:03 AM

Deborah Meier continues her conversation with Robert Pondiscio of Democracy Prep.

Dear Robert,

It's not and never will be a perfect world. You've hit upon one example. Is profiteering off school materials not legit? Should teachers get paid less than the market rate because they are teaching in public schools?

Dilemmas abound and exactly where to draw the line will always be tricky. But even if we're not sure we know very well that it's a subject of universal concern. The obligation to pay close attention to conflicts of interest has similar concerns at stake. Even if it's devilishly hard to know when self-interest must give way to public interest it is no reason for ignoring the dilemma.

I was always amused at the quality of masking tape that the board sent to our school. The only nonstick masking tape I ever used. I decided it came from the "seconds" supply. It's easier to get away with shoddy goods when the users are two or more steps removed from the producer.

Similarly, I grumbled when the price of something I ordered through the board cost me MORE than at the local hardware store. I was always irritated when I couldn't buy beautiful second-hand books from my wonderful Book Barn with school funds. Nor could I give away books or furniture that 

CURMUDGUCATION: The Conservative Defense of CCSS

CURMUDGUCATION: The Conservative Defense of CCSS:

The Conservative Defense of CCSS

Over at the Daily Caller, Robby Soave and Rachel Solzfoos wrote a story in which Michael Brickman of the Fordham Institute labors mightily to construct a conservative defense of the Common Core.

It's a heroic struggle to be sure, as the very first sentence acknowledges, "Conservatives remain deeply skeptical of the Common Core education standards." The Daily Caller's robolinker is not helping; I'm looking at links to a story about how a poor school district wasted money "on lavish Common Core spa trip" and an ad for accredited homeschooling. In this exclusive interview, Brickman tries to combat that conservative blowback and runs directly into one of the central problems of conservatism.

Brickman leads with the "mess of fifty standards" defense of the Core. Many of those standards were just so lacking and students were graduating without necessary proficiencies. The standards "outline types of thinking and skills that students should master by certain grade levels" plus calling for "vigorous high-stakes testing to ensure that kids are actually learning the skills."Lots wrong there, but let's move on.

The article acknowledges the political problems for conservatives and the Core. Although developed by the National Governors Association (a pleasant not-exactly-a-lie, not-exactly-the-truth) and supported by moderate GOP governors like Bush, Jindal and Christie, the CCSS also received 

Marie Corfield: How does Gov. Christie sleep at night?

Marie Corfield: How does Gov. Christie sleep at night?:

How does Gov. Christie sleep at night?

As governor, Chris Christie has done a lot of truly awful things to the people of New Jersey in the past 5 years, but even more egregious than promulgating the myth of ‘failing schools’, demonizing teachers and other public employees, leaving Sandy victims sinking without a life boat, calling a Navy Seal an ‘idiot’, telling the press to ‘take a bat out’ on a 78-year old grandmother (who just happens to be the Senate Majority leader), turning his back on the poor, minorities, the middle and working classes, seniors, the LGBT community, commuters, and the homeless, surrounding himself (there are still no dots connecting him) with irresponsible, vindictive, selfish and, dare I say anti-semitic, staff who would put millions of George Washington Bridge commuters at risk for juvenile, political sport, is the report out of the New York Times and picked up by Rachel Maddow Tuesday that he actually gave away pieces of the World Trade Center as political carrots to the top 20 mayors on his  ‘must-get’ endorsements list.

Governor Christie cares so much about winning that he’s willing to trade off pieces of hallowed ground—a burial site—for political favors. It's like FDR giving away pieces of The USS Arizona.

Everyone who lives in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut metro area has a 6-degrees of 

Dangerous Bipartisan Conventional Wisdom Threatens Public Education | janresseger

Dangerous Bipartisan Conventional Wisdom Threatens Public Education | janresseger:

Dangerous Bipartisan Conventional Wisdom Threatens Public Education

Posted on March 13, 2014 by janresseger

Corporate Education Reform Cash is the Mother's Milk of Politics

Public education policy is one area where consensus crosses political party lines—the consensus, that is, about imposing punitive “reforms” like school closures, expanding charterization, and scapegoating public school teachers if they cannot seem to raise their students test scores.  In these days when much of our politics is highly partisan, it may be difficult to grasp and accept that current theories attacking traditional public schools and supporting privatized alternatives are fully bipartisan. But harsh turnourounds, school closures and privatization are supported these days by prominent Democrats as well as the Republicans who are better known for such policies.

Bruce Reed, profiled recently in Inside Philanthropy, provides case in point.  Reed is a long and experienced Democratic operative who, in November 2013, left a job as chief of staff for Vice President Joe Biden to move into a highly influential school “deform” position by becoming president of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.  According to Education Week‘s Marketplace K-12 blog, Reed was chief domestic policy advisor for President Bill Clinton from 1996 to 2001. Inside Philanthropy reports that Reed also served as CEO of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council founded by Bill Clinton. Reed was once a speech writer for Vice President Al Gore.

According to Inside Philanthropy‘s profile, “Ideologically, Reed looks like a perfect fit for Broad, whose political affiliations lean Democratic but who is an ardent foe of teachers unions, a 

Report: Commercialism in schools poses threat to students :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet

Report: Commercialism in schools poses threat to students :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:



MARCH 13, 2014

Report: Commercialism in schools poses threat to students

by Tom Chorneau

(Colo.) Private companies using school facilities to market products to students poses a significant threat to children, argues a new report released Tuesday from researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder.

The list of offenses includes exploiting digital platforms that contain advertising, using fundraising sponsorships to promote products and offering incentives to districts to buy brand-related products or services.

“Commercialism, a value system that promotes profit above all other concerns and that seeks to transform all relationships into commodities that can be exchanged for money, poses profound threats to the well-being of children and the civic purposes of public education,” wrote the research team of Alex Molnar along with Faith Boninger, Joseph Fogarty, and Ken M. Libby.

“The relative lack of legislative or regulatory interest in school commercialism may, in part, be the 

Private Schools: Be prepared to provide services day one

 Comparable and compliant private school allocations are examined during Federal Program Monitoring reviews and historically have generated numerous findings.  Are you compliant?

by Rick Carder / 4h hide  //  save

Coalition urges state to invest in child care

(Calif.) A litany of top experts are lobbying lawmakers to overhaul and reinvest in the state’s early childhood care and education system by restoring more than $1 billion in recessionary cuts, requiring tougher academic standards for teachers and caregivers, and increasing subsidized reimbursement rates for quality programs that are out of reach for many California families.

by Kimberly Beltran / 4h 

NYC Educator: Common Core Good Enough to Judge Teachers but Not Students

NYC Educator: Common Core Good Enough to Judge Teachers but Not Students:

Common Core Good Enough to Judge Teachers but Not Students

So says Governor Andy Cuomo. You see, since kids are not prepared for Common Core, since the tests are unreliable, since no one has ever tested Common Core itself, and since NY State has made it's feelings known, Governor Cuomo has to do something. He has to take decisive action. And that action will perhaps indicate to anxious parents that he, the student lobbyist, will prevent their kids from being hurt by low test scores.

Once parents know that, maybe they'll feel better. After all, those scores won't keep the kids out of college. They won't matter that much. In fact, maybe parents will tell the kids they don't matter. Why study for tests with no consequences? Would you study for a test with no consequence to make a moral statement? I'm not that sure I would.

On the other hand, Andrew Cuomo has no problem using these scores in teacher evaluation. What? The kids put their heads down and slept for 90 minutes because they knew the test scores were meaningless? There must be something wrong with the teacher. Let's rate

Zero Tolerance is a Zero Sum Game for Education | NEA Today

Zero Tolerance is a Zero Sum Game for Education | NEA Today:

Zero Tolerance is a Zero Sum Game for Education

March 13, 2014 by twalker  
Filed under Featured News, Top Stories

Leave a Comment

By Miguel Gonzalez and Cindy Long

Zero tolerance and other exclusionary school discipline policies, which were supposed to make schools safer, have done more harm than good—pushing kids out of the classroom and into the criminal justice system at unprecedented rates, according to new research released today.

The Discipline Disparities Research-to-Practice Collaborative (the Collaborative), a group of 26 nationally recognized experts from the social science, education and legal fields  — finds that students of color, particularly African-Americans, are suspended at hugely disproportionate rates compared to white students. Students with disabilities and LGBT students are also suspended at higher rates than other students.

Citing data from the U.S. Department of Education, the report, How Educators Can Eradicate Disparities in School Discipline, by the Discipline Disparities Collaborative found that more than 3 million students in grades K-12 were suspended during the 2009-10 academic year, reflecting a steady rise since the 1970’s when the suspension rate was half that level.  According to the Collaborative, school leaders either are so overwhelmed with money and testing demands that they gravitate toward what they perceive as “easy” 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: A TWO-TIER SCHOOL SYSTEM

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: A TWO-TIER SCHOOL SYSTEM:

A TWO-TIER SCHOOL SYSTEM

Admission to the city's most exclusive specialized high schools skews white (26 percent) and Asian (53 percent), as usual, while black and Latino students, who make up 70 percent of NYC public schools, were offered just 12 percent of the freshman spots based on single test. At Stuy, offers to black teenagers dropped two, from 9 to 7, with Latinos down to 21 from 24. 

“This is a city blessed with such diversity. Our schools, especially our particularly exceptional schools, need to reflect that diversity.” -- Mayor de Blasio.

But black students continue to be pushed out or excluded altogether from top-tier urban schools and re-segregated charters as cities increasingly become whitenized. New York's selective-enrollment schools are a great example.

This from the N.Y. Times

De Blasio has his work cut out for him if he is serious about reversing the Tale of Two Cities trend. From the moment he was sworn in as mayor, the city's powerful hedge-fund school-reform gang with chief charter hustler Eva Moscowitz as their spear carrier, has gone after him with a fury rarely seen. It's a tale right out of DuBois' Black Reconstruction in America, the story of how the overthrown Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: A TWO-TIER SCHOOL SYSTEM: