3-23-14 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE:

An Urgent Call to Action for Massachusetts BATs and Their Colleagues

As the PARCC is about to be piloted in school districts across Massachusetts, news reports have been swirling. The major issue at hand? Whether parents have the right to “opt-out” their children from taking this assessment. A small number of districts have made headlines for “allowing” parents this choice, but could they really have said otherwise? […]

by jillconroy / 3min 

Of the thousands of slacktivists, we only have 1,756 signatures?

I know what you’re going to say: petitions don’t matter. I get it. But I’ve seen one of the most respected authors and activists around, Susan Ohanian, publish a new White House petition to “Direct the Department of Education and Congress to Remove Annual Standardized Testing Mandates of NCLB and RtTT.” Just this morning, I […]

5 by Shaun Johnson / 33min hide  //  save

Random thought to start the day, on #grit and instructional time

Katie Osgood once again waxes defiantly against the most ridiculous concept of “grit.” I suggest reading that. I want to support this with my own experience. It is one thing to ensure that all students are reading, or what have you, on the monolithic concept of “grade level,” which is in and of itself an […]

2 by Shaun Johnson / 45min 

All Week 3-22-14 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE : All Week @ THE CHALK FACE 46 States Tied to Common Core in 2009??In June 2009, the National Governors Association (NGA) held an education symposium in which NGA outlined its plans for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) money. Twenty-one governors attended; so did US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. The following information is included a part of that June 2009 repo

by mike simpson / 12h 

3-23-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All Week

With A Brooklyn Accent:

Is High Stakes Testing the Best Way to Improve Educational Performance Among Students of Color and Students Living in Poverty?

     Since the passage of No Child Left Behind, there has been a concerted effort to reduce gaps in educational  performance  by race and class by promoting regular testing in all grades and subjects and rating schools and teachers on the basis those tests.  As a consequence of such policies, thousands of  public schools in low income neighborhoods and communities of color have been closed, tens o

by Mark Naison / 2h hide  //  save

Time to Close the GATES on an Ugly Chapter in American Education History.

When historians review the last 20 years, the rise of Bill Gates to the position of education power broker supreme and the most important single person shaping public education policy in the US will be one of the most curious phenomena they study. Here is a man who never taught a day in his life and never attended public school who presumes to know how to reshape public education in the United Sta

by Mark Naison / 2h 

3-22-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All Week

With A Brooklyn Accent:With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All WeekHip Hop Commentary on the Prison System: An Unrecognized Antecedent to" The New Jim Crow You ain't gotta be locked up to be in prisonLook how we livin, thirty thousand niggas a dayUp in the bing, standard routineThey put us in a box just like our life on the blockDead Prez  “Behind Enemy Lines”   When Michelle Alexander published T

by mike simpson / 11h 

3-23-14 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):

The Politics of Misinformation in Education Reform

Appointed and elected officials related to education have some important characteristics in common. Consider U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and South Carolina Superintendent of Education Mick Zais. Neither have experience or education in the field of K-12 education, despite their primary responsibilities being related to K-12 education. And because of their appointed (Duncan) or elected (

11 by plthomasedd / 1h 

3-22-14 the becoming radical EMPATHYEDUCATES! | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

THE BECOMING RADICALRadical ScholarshipEMPATHYEDUCATES!the becoming radical  A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by The Big Topic on Campus: Racial ‘Microaggressions’A student performed a monologue in March in which he describes how he was misidentified as the help at a cocktail party he attended in the play, “I, Too, Am Harvard,” in Cambridge, Mass. Credit; Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times By

by mike simpson / 12h 

3-23-14 EMPATHYEDUCATES! | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

empathyeducates:

Parents Livid Over CPS Investigators Questioning Kids Over ISAT Boycott

Photograph; Drummond Montessori School students were pulled out of class and questioned about the recent ISAT tests Thursday afternoon 3-20-14. | Kevin Tanaka/For Sun-Times Media By Jon Seidel And Mitch Dudek | Originally Published at Chicago Sun Times. March 20, 2014 Furious Bucktown elementary school parents said […]

by empathy / 11min hide  //  save

CNN’s Chicagoland Does No Good For Chicago Public Schools Students

By Ray Salazar, The White Rhino: A Chicago Latino English Teacher | Originally Published at Chicago Now. March 14, 2014 at 12:27 am A couple of weeks ago, I participated in a conversation about Chicago Public Schools with a group that learned about our schools mainly through […]

by empathy / 11min 

Don’t Help Your Kids With Their Homework

Illustration; By Jean Jullien By Dana Goldstein | Originally Published at The Atlantic. March 19 2014, 9:06 PM ET One of the central tenets of raising kids in America is that parents should be actively involved in their children’s education: meeting with teachers, volunteering at school, helping […]

by empathy / 3h 

3-22-14 the becoming radical EMPATHYEDUCATES! | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

THE BECOMING RADICALRadical ScholarshipEMPATHYEDUCATES!the becoming radical  A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by The Big Topic on Campus: Racial ‘Microaggressions’A student performed a monologue in March in which he describes how he was misidentified as the help at a cocktail party he attended in the play, “I, Too, Am Harvard,” in Cambridge, Mass. Credit; Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times By

by mike simpson / 12h 

3-23-13 CURMUDGUCATION

CURMUDGUCATION:

The Coming Teacher Shortage

Friday I sat down for coffee with the president of a local university (in my other incarnation as a local newspaper columnists, I get the occasional request to chat). Among other things, she confirmed what I have been hearing for a while-- enrollment in state school teacher programs is plummeting.Part of the problem is that, at least in my part of Pennsylvania, the college-age demographic sector i

by Peter A. Greene / 1h

News from Institute of Grittology

Here at the Institute of Grittology, we're committed to helping monetize the work of our research partners, The Research Institute for the Study of Obvious Conclusions ("Working hard to recycle conventional wisdom as proprietary programing").

Our speakers bureau has determined that statements such as "treating children with support and kindness helps them do better in life" do not enhance the revenue stream. However, folks will fork over good money to hear "it is our collective responsibility to strive at all levels of our educational communities to provide environments for students that are calm, supportive, encouraging, thoughtful, and planned, which provide opportunities for students to ignite their latent capabilities to be resilient." 

In addition to repackaging such insights as "people who don't quit tend to finish more stuff," we have found that Grittology also provides good cover for traditional management insights such as, "If people think you're abusive, they just need to suck it up and grow a pair." If people find a situation  

3-22-13 CURMUDGUCATION Week

CURMUDGUCATION:Who Puts the Scary in Pearson? Meet Knewton.Behind the data generating-and-collecting behemoth that is Pearson is a company called Knewton. And here's a video from the November 2012 Education Datapallooza (a name that I did NOT make up, but was officially given the event by the Dept of Education, because they are so hip. I believe they also listen to the rap music).  In just under t

by mike simpson / 11h 

3-23-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School:

De Blasio's Vision For Public Schools - Fairness And Opportunity For All

Leonie Haimson has posted about the Riverside Church speech Mayor de Blasio gave today, articulating his vision for the public school system.Here is an excerpt in which he addresses the charter co-location controversy:“The answer is not to save a few of our children only.  The answer is not to find an escape route that some can follow and others can’t. The answer is to fix the entire system.  (sus

by reality-based edu... / 17min 

How Education Reform Is Harming The Health Of Children

There is a horrific story in the NY Post this morning about a rash of suicides involving NYC school children over the last seven weeks: The city’s public schools are in the grip of a suicide epidemic. Ten students have taken their own lives in the past seven weeks, according to remarks made Saturday by Chancellor Carmen Fariña. “As chancellor, I’ve been on the job seven weeks, and there have alrea

by reality-based edu... / 32min 

3-22-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School: Perdido Street School WeekWhy Isn't Eva Moskowitz Under Attack For The Harm Her "No Tolerance!" Policies Do To Minority Children?From the Daily News: WASHINGTON — Black students — even tiny preschoolers — are more likely than white students to be suspended from public school, a study disclosed Friday. It has been well-documented that black children in elementary, m

by mike simpson / 12h 

NYC Educator: On Timeliness and Learning

NYC Educator: On Timeliness and Learning:

On Timeliness and Learning

I apologize to regular readers of this little blog for not posting as frequently as usual. I'm sure you know I'm a full-time teacher. In addition, I've been running for Executive VP of NYSUT these last few weeks.

Last Tuesday, I went to a forum in Manhattan. On Wednesday, there was one in Newburgh. On Thursday, there was another in Mt. Kisco. And then, of course, there was my job. These forums pop up with short notice, and I'm all in.

Our opponents favor forums like the one in Mt. Kisco, where there was no interaction whatsoever. My direct opponent reads very well (though that can't be said for everyone on his slate). In Melville, they did not look good, as they had to face not only unexpected questions, but also unwelcome and inconvenient contrary opinions. In Lake Placid, they tossed about sleazy and transparent innuendo, winning over no one.

In Newburgh, they didn't even bother to show up, and sent out a ridiculous email contending to be grassroots working teachers. I'm a grassroots working teacher, and I don't have the UFT-Unity machine behind me. I drove over two hours through the most miserable rainstorm I've ever seen to get home, and went to work the following day. In fact, Port Jefferson Station Union President Beth Dimino is also a working teacher, and managed to come all the way from the Far East of Suffolk County.

In any case, since I got more involved with union matters I've come to value teaching more than I once did. When I first started as CL, and dozens of people were coming up to me with questions for which I had no answers, it was very challenging. When I stepped into the classroom, I realized I really knew 

solidaridad: Open note to Bill Gaffney of Steve Barr and Bill Gates' Teacher Action Network

solidaridad: Open note to Bill Gaffney of Steve Barr and Bill Gates' Teacher Action Network:

Open note to Bill Gaffney of Steve Barr and Bill Gates' Teacher Action Network

Mr. Gaffney:

Last time we spoke you were very angry that I had exposed your ties with Bill Gates and Steve Barr's privatization organization. That's understandable, since no public school teacher would want to be associated with wealthy individuals bent on privatizing education. You abruptly left our conversation with the following statement:

Bill Gaffney: Please become a real teacher and then we can talk. Sorry you lost the campaign for school board.

I wanted to respond, but was very busy with both my course-load at UCLA, and my full time job. Now is my chance to return your pleasantries.

Sorry you lost the campaign for UTLA President, and I'll become a "real teacher" so we can talk just as soon as Bill Gates and Steve Barr do.

Your attempts to silence those that speak truth to power are hypocritical at best when your exhortation to become a "full time classroom teacher" would also have to apply equally to all of the politicians, corporate education reformers, and nonprofit industrial complex operatives meddling in education if it was to have any weight.

Moreover, for all your mocking of my school board run, at least I garnered a double digit percentage of votes. In fact, I managed to triple your vote percentage without the backing of one of the world's wealthiest billionaires. Put another way, you were the candidate for the 1% and your colleagues voted accordingly.

I would like extend to you my sincere wish that you sit down with the social justice crowd and listen to the case against school privatization. I'd be willing to make the case to you if you were willing to listen. I'm clear that you're not the enemy, the people you work for are. At the end of the day Steve Barr's involvement with education has netted him millions of dollars, while my involvement with public education has earned me the thanks of my community.

Best of luck in your future endeavors

Robert D. Skeels

2014 UTLA Election Information Center
Candidate	Votes	Vote%
Bill Gaffney	323	4.55

Los Angeles Unified School District 2, 2013
Candidate	Votes	Vote%
Robert D. Skeels	5,244	15.2

Conversation With Bill Gaffney by Robert D. Skeels

Conversation With Bill Gaffney

John Deasy created a culture of secrecy and intimidation in our school community

A colleague located this brilliant letter from a Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District parent in 2010 reminds us of how Deasy's neoliberal scorched earth policies on behalf of his masters Broad and Gates is nothing new. Sadly, SMMUSD parents had the political savvy and the wherewithal to run Deasy out of town, but not before he used their tax dollars to give convicted felon Robert Felner a h

by Robert D. Skeels ... / 7h hide  //  save

New Content at SusanOhanian.Org! March 22, 2014

Susan Ohanian's email from this week merits reproduction here. If you haven't signed the petition, please do so right away. I've spent the entire week—dawn to midnight— pestering people about the White House petition: My message is not quite 'Sign or die.' But close. As I mention in 'White House Petition to Stop Data Obscenity,' I'm not so naive as to 'believe' in petitions… particularly petitio

by Robert D. Skeels ... / 7h 

Eva Moskowitz's secret to charter school "success?" IEP discrimination, just like all charters.

Eva Moskowitz's secret to charter school success—IEP discrimination, just like all charters. http://t.co/U2He14Zre1 pic.twitter.com/cJ16dLMQPk— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) August 30, 2013 Success Academy parent's secret tapes reveal attempt to push out special needs student

by Robert D. Skeels ... / 7h 

New Orleans charter schools scramble to teach non-English speakers | Hechinger Report

New Orleans charter schools scramble to teach non-English speakers | Hechinger Report:

New Orleans charter schools scramble to teach non-English speakers

By Katy Reckdahl

This story also appeared at:

NEW ORLEANS — Every school night, Ramon Leon helps his older son, a third grader at a New Orleans charter school, with his homework. Typically, they speed through the math worksheets. Word problems take longer because Leon’s son has to translate them into Spanish for his father, who speaks little English. Grammar worksheets sometimes stump them both. (Leon does not want to identify the school to protect his sons’ privacy.)

Leon, who moved to New Orleans from Mexico with his two sons just before the start of the school year, is an involved parent: He attends all report card conferences — using his third grader as an interpreter. On the nights when he can’t help his older son figure out an assignment, he won’t sign the homework form. Instead, he writes “No entiendo” — Spanish for “I don’t understand.”

Usually, the teacher responds with a note to him in English. And the confusion goes on.

Ramon Leon helps his son, third-grade Ramon Leon Jr., 10, by using the Google Translate app which will scan words from a page and translate them from English into Spanish at the VAYLA community office in New Orleans East in New Orleans, La. Sunday, March 16, 2014. VAYLA community organizer Cristiane Wijngaarde, left, also helps out the Leon family with translation. (Photo: Matthew Hinton/The New Orleans Advocate)

The Leon family’s dilemma is typical of the challenges facing families that speak Spanish and Vietnamese in New Orleans. Households where the two languages are spoken make up the overwhelming majority of non-English-speakers in New Orleans; and most of their children attend a decentralized school system dominated by independently operated charter schools. Interviews with a dozen families whose children are enrolled in a range of schools found that many charters fail to 

Success Academy parent's secret tapes reveal attempt to push out special needs student - NY Daily News

Success Academy parent's secret tapes reveal attempt to push out special needs student - NY Daily News:

Success Academy parent's secret tapes reveal attempt to push out special needs student

The Upper West Side Success Academy charter school has touted itself for not trying to push out kids with special needs or behavior problems, but a parent has audio to the contrary.

Call them the charter school tapes.

The parent of a special education kindergarten pupil at the Upper West Side Success Academy charter school secretly tape recorded meetings in which school administrators pressed her to transfer her son back into the public school system.

The tapes, a copy of which the mother supplied the Daily News, poke a hole in claims by the fast-growing Success Academy chain founded by former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz that it doesn’t try to push out students with special needs or behavior problems.

Nancy Zapata said she resorted to the secret tapes last December and again in March after school officials used their “zero tolerance” discipline policy to repeatedly suspend her son, Yael, kept telephoning her at work to pick him up from school in the middle of the day and urged her to transfer him.

The News reported earlier this week that the Success network, which boasts some of the highest test scores in the city, also has far higher suspension rates  Success Academy parent's secret tapes reveal attempt to push out special needs student - NY Daily News: 

Thinking About Schools: An Open Letter to State Legislators Everywhere

Thinking About Schools: An Open Letter to State Legislators Everywhere:

An Open Letter to State Legislators Everywhere

Public education is the only form of education where every principle and practice of democracy is enacted by local citizens. 

Public education is the only form of education that does not exclude children for any reason.

• Please support the mission, intention, and benefit of public education! (I can't believe I actually have to write that sentence in 2014).
• Please invest funds in public education that support the level and quality of education the State and our citizens demand. Spending costs out of our control have increased well beyond revenue to achieve those ends.
• Please spend public funds where public funds should be spent and not divert those funds to those schools which do not include all children and schools that do not face the same and regulations and expectations of the public schools.

Private schools, parochial schools, and charter schools have their place in our American society; however, they are not all accessible to every child, they exclude children who do not behave or fit their niche; and they do not operate with the same restrictive regulations, underfunded mandates, unfunded mandates, and State laws that you have enacted in recent years. 

 

So, how does one justify their receipt of public funds under the conditions by which these schools are governed and operated. Furthermore, how does one rationalize providing these exclusive schools with funds that reduce funding for our all-inclusive public schools? 

You wouldn't allow a tax credit for the country club member who doesn't use the public pool (I hope). You wouldn't allow tax dollars for snow removal and street maintenance of private gated communities (I hope).  A pretty simple analogy but it is as simple as that.

Schools with means are being squeezed by understandable pleas to reduce local taxes; states that withhold funds in the form of IOUs; and ignored unfunded, underfunded, and unnecessary mandates - while students, parents, and innovative educators seek state of the art teaching and programs! Imagine what you've done to those withoutmeans. 

• Stop diverting funds from the last bastion of true democracy and common space in our nation.
• Stop manipulating voting rights so the underserved lose their voice.
• Stop selling out to privatizers and contracted business models of McSchools with McTeachers.
• Stop rationalizing that regimented students in segregated programs is the new civil rights
• Stop the takeover of local and State Boards of Education with special economic and ideological interests. 

Since 1954, your predecessors fought hard to make schools accessible to and inclusive of all students, not some.  You are on a trajectory to a pre-Brown, pre-Title IX, pre-IDEA, pre-Plyler v. Doe era. 

 

Please - go back and read the Constitution (U.S. and State) whose principles you swore to uphold for every citizen.  Go back to high school English and your thoughts on "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

 

Be courageous and lead for all children, not the segregated re-isolation of some which allows some to be less equal than others.

Be courageous and lead for all children, not enacting laws which allows some to be more equal than others. 

Be courageous.  Rise above the culture of testing, gotcha accountability laws, and micromanaged curriculum; and resist special interests.
Let leaders lead and teachers teach.