3-31-14 The Whole Child Blog — Building Support for Teacher Leaders — Whole Child Education

Building Support for Teacher Leaders — Whole Child Education:

Lines of Thinking From the 2014 ASCD Conference

Post written by Jeffrey Benson and originally published on his blog. The ASCD Annual Conference took place in Los Angeles from March 14–17. It was consistently thrilling to be among a diverse group of 9,000 educators. Everyone had stories to tell, aspirations to share, and good work to do. You just had to sit down next to anyone and say, "Where are you from? What do you do?" and an hour

by Whole Child Sympo... / 21min 

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

Building Support for Teacher Leaders

March 31, 2014 by Melanie Olmstead

Teachers are increasingly embracing leadership roles that allow them to use their skills and expertise outside of the classroom. Yet many schools are facing challenges in implementing distributed leadership models that empower teachers to become influencers and decision makers. ASCD's latest Policy Priorities examines teacher leadership and the obstacles practitioners face from the classroom to the central office in cultivating programs that expand and enhance professional growth and leadership.

The publication also explores the historical context of teacher leaders, provides examples of the various ways that teachers can be leaders, and includes insights and examples from on-the-ground educators. Read the issue and participate in the ASCD Forum, a global discussion on how schools can develop and support teacher leaders. Teachers and school administrators are encouraged to participate in the Forum through April 11, 2014. ASCD will use the discussion to inform its work on teacher leadership.

Notably, the growing focus on teacher leadership extends well beyond ASCD and its members. At a recent conference for educators, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan unveiled a new initiative intended to 

3-29-14 THE WHOLE WEEK @ The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education

The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE WEEK @ The Whole Child Blog Engage Students with Motivation 3.0In this video, Daniel Pink talks to the Patterson Foundation about the need to upgrade our approach to motivation in schools. He uses the metaphor of an outdated computer operating system to characterize motivational practices that rely on punishments and rewards to elicit desired

by mike simpson / 44min 

Parents, educators, students contemplate opt-out strategy for standardized tests | KDVR.com

Parents, educators, students contemplate opt-out strategy for standardized tests | KDVR.com:

Parents, educators, students contemplate opt-out strategy for standardized tests

Posted on: 9:50 pm, March 29, 2014, by Kent Erdahl

DENVER — A growing movement of parents and educators are standing up to standardized testing nationwide, and this weekend they meet in Denver to come up with a plan to change the educational system.

Inside the ballroom of the Denver Athletic Club, a group of parents, educators and a handful of students spent the weekend quietly plotting what they hope is a revolution.

“(We are looking at) how to set forth a plan of action that will take down corporate education reform in Colorado,” said Peggy Robertson, one of the founders of United Opt Out National. “And we’re hoping that this model can be used in other states across the country.”

For four years, United Opt Out National has offered state-by-state models for parents looking to opt-out of standardized testing. In many states, opting out could often lead to confrontations, pitting a parent’s rights against a school’s obligation to enforce state testing laws.

Now, with the opt-out movement gaining momentum in response to national reform efforts like the Common Core, leaders are looking to advance beyond protesting the tests. They are focused on changing policy.

The first-of-its-kind conference in Denver, brought in experts and activists from across the country.

Pasi Sahlberg, a visiting professor at Harvard and author of “Finnish Lesson: What Can the World Learn About Educational Change in Finland?,” was among the many who advocated for a new system that relies less on standardized tests.

“There’s no successful education system in the world that has built its success on competition and standardized testing,” Sahlberg said. “My question often is, if the United States or Colorado is going to be successful with this, it’s going to be the first time in the universe when it happens.”

But the Colorado Department of Education, many education reformers and advocacy groups argued that opting out doesn’t solve anything.

“If you start having certain subsets of students not participate in the tests, you’re not really getting the whole picture,” said Reilly Pharo with the Colorado Children’s Campaign.

Pharo said the Colorado Children’s Campaign uses testing data to help its mission to 

3-31-14 Wait What?

Wait What?:

Key Bridgeport activist in battle to stop education reform industry leaves Working Families Party

Maria Pereira, the former Bridgeport Board of Education member who fought Paul Vallas and his corporate education reform initiatives, helped lead the effort to strike down the Malloy administration’s illegal takeover of the Bridgeport Schools System, played a pivotal role in defeating Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch’s failed initiative to do away with an elected board […] The post Key Bridgeport activ

by jonpelto / 5min 

Will State Board of Education over look conflicts of interest to approve more charter schools

While Governor Dannel “Dan” Malloy’s budget fails to properly fund public schools in Connecticut it does provide for an increase in the number of privately run charter schools. This Wednesday, April 2, 2014, the Connecticut State Board of Education will meet to consider applications for new charter schools in Connecticut. The list of applicants include, […] The post Will State Board of Education o

by jonpelto / 12min 

3-30-14 Wait What? All Week

Wait What?: A MUST WATCH Video of public school students, teacher and administrators fighting back“No Mo Cuomo Music Video – New York Middletown High School” In response to Coumo’s decision to fund charter schools while failing to provide money to public schools. Swap Malloy for Coumo and you have the same thing in here in Connecticut! Watch these amazing students, teachers and administrators figh

by mike simpson / 3min 

White Anti-Racist Activism

White Anti-Racist Activism:

A Long Path to Anti-Racist Scholarship and Activism

By Mark Naison

The subject of this essay is my evolution as an anti-racist activist, which led from cautious participation in the Northern Civil Rights movement, to involvement in the Columbia Strike and New York and National SDS as a theoretician on race and Black nationalism, to the founder of an anti-racist and anti-war organizing group in the Bronx, to my becoming what was most likely the first white scholar hired by a Black studies program or Department in 1970.

Though this odyssey was unusual in some respects, it paralleled a generational experience for many white Baby Boomers who became political activists. What I would like to do today is explore my own upbringing and experiences in post war Brooklyn to explore the different cultural traditions that shaped my own encounters with race and then discuss how these made my experience slightly different from those of most white anti-racist activists I met at Columbia University or in National SDS

I was from a lower middle class family in a Jewish and Italian working class neighborhood in Brooklyn that had a handful of Black families. My parents, school teachers who were second-generation immigrants, were strong trade union supporters who could probably best be classified as liberal Social Democrats. They came from a tradition that saw all workers as having common interests, but that did not emphasize the fight against Black racism in the United States as a moral commitment equal to that of fighting for workers rights. This led to a series of complicated negotiations with the lived reality of race in American society that I often, as a child, found confusing.

To start with, my parents never used the word “nigger” and if I had they would have washed my mouth out with soap. They despised Southern racists who denied Blacks their constitutional rights and spoke very highly of Black leaders like Martin Luther King who took the moral and intellectual high ground in fighting for civil rights.

But at the same time, they regularly used the term “schvartes”—and not in a flattering way—to refer to Black people who lived, worked and went to school in New York City, and periodically had conversations in Yiddish, which I couldn’t understand, when referring to those mysterious individuals. In their personal dealings with African Americans, whether it was with the housekeeper they hired, our building superintendent, or in my mother’s case, with teachers and students in the vocational high school she taught in, they seemed decent, fair, and occasionally caring.

But there was no question that there was a deep undercurrent of resentment, even contempt, in those discussions they were having in Yiddish about Black people as a collective entity, something I would come to understand, in more explicit form, when I became an adolescent and showed some interest in Civil Rights activism. But until then, what I encountered was a mixture of confusing, even contradictory views about race some of which my parents seemed embarrassed to share with me  White Anti-Racist Activism:

Diane Ravitch on Charters in New York City | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!

Diane Ravitch on Charters in New York City | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!:

Diane Ravitch on Charters in New York City

Filed under: Charter Schools,Ravitch — millerlf @ 10:45 am 

New York Schools: The Roar of the Charters
Diane Ravitch March 27, 2014

In his speech at Riverside Church last Sunday, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio tried to end weeks of attacks on his schools policies by striking a conciliatory tone toward the city’s privately managed charter schools. He used the charter sector’s own rhetoric of “crisis” and “failure” to describe the school system that he inherited from Mayor Bloomberg. He spoke of parents eager to escape failing schools and condemned the “status quo” without noting that it was Bloomberg’s status quo. He opposed the idea that public schools and charter schools are competing and called for a new era “in which our charter schools help to uplift our traditional schools.” According to The New York Times, he called some of the financial leaders on Wall Street, the billionaires who have paid millions of dollars for the ads attacking him, to plead for a truce.

De Blasio decided he could not win this war. The other side had too much money and proved it could drive down his poll numbers. He said that the charter schools could help public schools, but in reality, charter schools could learn a few things from the public schools, like how to teach children with disabilities and second-language English learners. Contrary to popular myth, the charter schools are more racially segregated than public schools and have performed no better than the public schools on the most recent state tests. But what they have behind them is vast resources, and de Blasio capitulated.

The underlying question remains: How did a privately managed school franchise that serves a tiny portion of New York’s students manage to hijack the education reforms of a new mayor with a huge popular mandate?

When Bill de Blasio was running for mayor of New York City last year, he set out an ambitious plan for reforming education. After twelve years of Mayor Bloomberg’s obsession with testing, the public was eager for a fresh approach, one that was focused more on helping students than on closing their schools. Bloomberg’s haughty indifference to public opinion did not endear him to parents. He displaced tens of thousands of students from their public schools, with never a show of remorse, as he opened hundreds of new small public schools and nearly two hundred privately managed charter schools. Bloomberg’s preference for small public schools came at a price; they were unable to offer the full array of advanced courses in math and science, electives, and the choice of foreign languages that larger schools offered. He appointed three chancellors who were not professional educators, one of whom—a publisher—lasted all of ninety days before he removed her. He showed preferential treatment to the hundreds of small public schools that his administration opened, granting them extra resources and 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 3-31-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

A Teacher in L.A: WHO IS JOHN DEASY??

by “Geronimo” from Diane Ravitch’s blog | http://bit.ly/Pa0Sko March 15, 2014 dianeravitch writes: A teacher in Los Angeles has a gripe about his superintendent, John Deasy: he says Deasy is an uninspiring technocrat, not an educator. He has no educational vision. The LAUSD board recently extended Deasy’s contract to 2016, despite the fiasco in which Deasy committed to spend $1 billion on

by smf / 4min 

 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 3-30-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Los Angeles Says Goodbye To Celes King Iv30 March 2014  ::  The community, the Greater Community, The City of Angels we aspire to be, bid farewell to Celes King IV at his funeral yesterday morning and afternoon. We celebrated a life well and completely lived – even if cut short. We prayed and wept and laughed and  sang – and learned things we probably s

by mike simpson / 19h 

Public Schools for Sale? | Moyers & Company | BillMoyers.com

Public Schools for Sale? | Moyers & Company | BillMoyers.com:

Public Schools for Sale?

March 28, 2014



READ THE TRANSCRIPT

Public education is becoming big business as bankers, hedge fund managers and private equity investors are entering what they consider to be an “emerging market.” As Rupert Murdoch put it after purchasing an education technology company, “When it comes to K through 12 education, we see a $500 billion sector in the US alone.”

Education historian Diane Ravitch says the privatization of public education has to stop. As assistant secretary of education under President George H.W. Bush, she was an advocate of school choice and charter schools; under George W. Bush, she supported the No Child Left Behind initiative. But after careful investigation, she changed her mind, and has become, according to Salon, “the nation’s highest profile opponent” of charter-based education.

On this week’s Moyers & Company, she tells Bill Moyers, ”I think what’s at stake is the future of American public education. I believe it is one of the foundation stones of our democracy: So an attack on public education is an attack on democracy.”

Diane Ravitch is America’s preeminent historian of public education. Her newest book is Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools.


Additional video from Bill’s conversation with Diane Ravitch will be online soon.

Producer: Candace White. Segment Producer: Robert Booth. Editor: Rob Kuhns.

UPDATE: Schools’ Bad Behavior Toward Parents Seeking Assessment Opt-Out | Truth in American Education

Schools’ Bad Behavior Toward Parents Seeking Assessment Opt-Out | Truth in American Education:

Common Core is for the Birds

You may (or may not) have heard about the current news surrounding Kansas and the lesser prairie chicken…. Kansas will join lawsuit over federal listing of lesser prairie chicken as threatenedEXCERPT:Kansas will join a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over listing the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species, Gov. Sam Brownback announced Friday.“The federal governme

by Kristin George / 33min 

Schools’ Bad Behavior Toward Parents Seeking Assessment Opt-Out

Filed in Common Core Assessments by Shane Vander Hart on March 31, 2014 • 0 Comments

It seems that some schools are not handling parents seeking to opt their students out of assessments, in particular Common Core-aligned assessments, very well.

I reported on Friday at Caffeinated Thoughts that a California mom, Katherine Duran,  was literally “suspended” from her school for 14 days after a brief conversation with her son’s principal.  She tried to reclaim assessment packets her 12-year-old son gave out that were deemed “inappropriate” by the principal and confiscated.  The principal, Rosario Guillen, claimed Duran was physically aggressive.  Duran denies that ever occurred.

After the “suspension” Duran claims her son continued to be harassed when he brought more packets to school.

“In the school’s repeated attempts to block the information from being disseminated to the kids on campus, my son has been abused, his right to distribute leaflets on campus violated, his opt out forms confiscated. When he returned each day with more, the kids who had previously had their forms and letters confiscated received replacements, only to have them confiscated, yet again. My son was removed from class, double-teamed and harassed by the principal and another teacher, his lunch pail searched, his friends made to fear taking the forms and another kid forced to open his backpack in search of this ‘offensive, inappropriate material,’” Duran shared.

Duran alleges that her son was denied classroom instruction several times throughout the ordeal this week and last, once when he was pulled out for 90 minutes (on Tuesday 3/26/14),  while he was interrogated and intimidated, the principal double-teaming him with 

3-31-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

Education is a Human Right: Stop the Human Rights Violations

A few relevant Articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:Article 22.         Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free

by Jim Horn / 19min 

 

3-30-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: A Response to NPR's Corporate Socialist "Understanding" of United Opt OutUOO Response to NPR's Total Misunderstanding of What United Opt Out:Of Me I Sing?… Really?(A response from the United Opt Out organizers: Morna McDermott, Tim Slekar, Ruth Rodriguez, Peggy Robertson, Ceresta Smith and Shaun Johnson)In the effort to stay “current” in reporting about the rising tide of

by mike simpson / 6min 

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Monday, March 31, 2014

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Teaches union fights new plan by Sacramento and other school districts to address low-performing schools - Education - The Sacramento Bee

Education Headlines

Monday, March 31, 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.

More California children unvaccinated due to parental concerns

More than 16,000 California children entered kindergarten this school year without vaccinations because of their parents’ personal beliefs, up 15 percent from the prior year and more than double the number from six years ago, according to new figures from the California Department of Public Health.

School district's refinancing measures saves taxpayers

La Mesa-Spring Valley School District has been able to refinance a portion of the Proposition M general obligation bonds and save taxpayers more than half a million dollars.

After-school program goes out to bid

National School District officials reversed course this week and decided to put out to bid a $1 million contract to replace its before- and after-school program provider.

Modesto school safety patrols step up, but adults have to do their part

The need for someone to help young children cross busy streets as schools let out got a tragic underscoring this week. At some schools, professionals work the crosswalks. At others, staff members do extra duty as the school day starts and ends. But most campuses rely on the nearly century-old tradition of student safety patrols.

Modesto City Schools to weigh administrative help and plans for facilities

The Modesto City Schools board will consider adding administrators and approving the first steps toward a new facilities master plan tonight. Board members will also vote on a basic summer school and discuss after-school programs.

Personal losses fuel El Camino Real Charter decathletes

Under the direction of sixth-year coach Stephanie Franklin, Thasneem Syed and her eight colleagues on the El Camino Real Academic Decathlon team beat out 64 other schools to win the state title last weekend, earning the highest score in the country this year and the chance to compete at the nationals in Honolulu in late April alongside second-place, three-time defending national champion Granada Hills Charter High School.

Should Contra Costa school volunteers be trained to report child abuse?

Contra Costa school employees and possibly even volunteers who deal with students should be trained annually to report child abuse, according to recommendations by the Contra Costa Civil Grand Jury.

Fensterwald: Attorneys give final arguments in Vergara suit challenging laws for teacher hiring, firing

Attorneys in Vergara v. California made their final pitches Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The four hours of closing arguments paralleled opening statements two months to the day and 52 witnesses ago, with diametrically different views on whether teachers’ workplace protections harm  many – or any –  of the state’s most vulnerable schoolchildren.

California students' verdict on new tests: Tech is a breeze, content is tougher

he high-tech successor to California's annual STAR exam has been deployed, and the informal verdicts are in. Mastery of online graphing tools and directional arrows is no sweat, even for students who don't use computers at home. But the content is more challenging -- and at times intriguing.

Teachers union fights new plan by Sacramento and other school districts to address low-performing schools

Even as the district rolls out the plan, the teachers union – which never signed on – is fighting to stop it. The Sacramento City Teachers Association, in particular, objects to a promise that Sacramento City Unified and seven other districts made to link student test scores to teacher evaluations.

Maitre: Oakland Unified considering parcel tax to fund college, career readiness programs

The Oakland Unified School District is studying the feasibility of placing a parcel tax on the November ballot to help fund efforts to expand so-called linked learning, or career pathways, programs at its high schools.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Popular math and science program reaches compromise with school district

Months after supporters of the Monterey Academy of Oceanographic Science proposed the idea of becoming a charter school, they have reached an agreement with the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District that will give them some of the stability they were seeking.

Sausalito Marin City School District makes cuts, staff changes

Facing a sizeable deficit and an expiring grant, the Sausalito Marin City School District is making some cuts.

Attorneys argue value of California teacher tenure laws

Attorneys for a group seeking to eliminate tenure protection for California teachers argued Thursday that such iron-clad job security makes it almost impossible to fire an incompetent instructor.

Documents destroyed at Rialto Unified, interim superintendent says

After Judith Marie Oakes was arrested Aug. 7 on suspicion of embezzling more than a million dollars in lunch money, no one in Rialto Unified mentioned it in an email, a memo or even a Post-It Note, according to district officials.

Artesia residents concerned about ABC Unified trustee districts plan

Artesia residents expressed concern over developing districts for school board members in the ABC Unified School District at a public meeting Wednesday. In each of the three proposed maps dividing the district into seven parts, residents said Artesia wasn't well represented during the meeting at Ross Middle School.

Twin Rivers pays $225,000 settlement for 2010 incident

 Twin Rivers Unified School District has paid Ricardo Sazo $225,000 to settle a lawsuit filed in 2011 alleging excessive force and negligence by its Police Department and Officer Jason Smith.

West Contra Costa school leaders vote to boost reserves

With new state funding in the pipeline and an eye on past fiscal troubles, West Contra Costa schools trustees made a goal Wednesday night to maintain 6 percent of their budget in reserves.

Claim: Tracy principal uses parent's undocumented immigration status to keep her from reporting teacher molestation

According to a $10 million claim filed against Jefferson School District on Dec. 5, Principal Susan Moffitt said she had to protect her teacher's reputation and implied that a mother risked deportation if she reported her child's abuse to police. The mother, who is undocumented, kept quiet.

Fensterwald: Attorneys give final arguments in Vergara suit challenging laws for teacher hiring, firing

The future of tenure and other laws governing how teachers are hired and fired in California is now in the hands of Judge Rolf Treu.

The legacy of César Chávez:

The legacy of César Chávez

 When you enter “César Chávez” into a google search box, you get back a little over 92 million results. Despite growing up in the pre-computer era, I knew all about Chávez and the United Farm Workers (UFW) thanks to my activist, minister father. We practiced ‘meatless Wednesdays’, recycling (before it was common practice), and energy conservation. Dinner discussions centered around the current events of the day. The Vietnam War, the war on poverty, civil rights, and the rights of migrant farm workers were all on the table. Our fruits and vegetables came from local farms in Rockland County but there were no grapes on our table for years. Boycotts became a way of life for us. Speaking with our feet and our dollars became our language.

chavezfoundation.org

The Presidential proclamation for  César Chávez Day was signed on March 28th, the document calls on us to mark the day with service, community, and educational programs in honor of Chávez’ legacy. So what exactly is his legacy?

A first generation American,  Chávez was born in Arizona where he and his siblings worked on their family’s farm after school. After a shady business deal the family lost their lands and they became migrant farm workers. While he was seen as an educated man later in life, Chávez actually discontinued formal education after eighth grade when he began working the fields to help support his family. As a man who believed that education was important, he never stopped learning and sought information everywhere he went. Following a stint in the Navy, and marriage to Helen, he came into contact with Fred Ross and began working for the Community Service Organization where he worked on voter registration. While helping others had been ingrained into him by his family, service to others became his passion under Ross’ mentoring. It was while he was working at the CSO, that Chávez met Dolores Huerta and a powerhouse team was born.

The unionizing of farm workers was a natural progression from the National Farm Workers Association and their home-grown credit union. The United Farm Workers of America (UFW) was established in 1962. The logo initially drawn by Chávez’ brother, became a stylized eagle, with squared off wings, to make it easy for