4-5-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter: 

 Schools Matter All Week

See "Standardized" at Sewanee, TN on April 8

by Jim Horn / 1h 

Common Core Corporate Standards Floating Around in an Evidence Free Zone

 A compacted version of this op-ed was published by the Memphis Commercial Appeal.Arguments for Common Core Offer No Evidence that Learning Will ImproveJim HornThe implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) represents the most grand curriculum experiment in educational history with the least amount of evidence to back it up.  Even so, Common Core enthusiasts often ridicule detractors of

9 by Jim Horn / 22h 

APR 02

Whose Interests Are Served When United Opt Out Website Goes Down

With hundreds of billions of dollars depending upon the continuation of high stakes testing, the corporate fascists of the technology-testing complex have sent their dirty tricksters to detonate the United Opt Out website. If you don't think these billionaire thugs and their stooges are not playing for keeps, you're wrong. Until UOO gets another website up, those needing information should go here

15 by Jim Horn / 2d 

Beware of STEM Fever

Sent to the Register-Guard, April 2, 2014Before Eugene's educators continue with their plans ("Leaders eye transforming academy to STEM school," April 1), they should know that a number of studies have concluded that there is no shortage of science-technology trained potential workers in the US.Rutgers University professor Hal Salzman has concluded that there are approximately three qual

1 by skrashen / 2d 

Weingarten Pumps Common Core

Randi Weingarten just won't stop digging when she find herself in a hole dug for her by Gates and Bloomberg.  She used the latest PISA announcement yesterday to manufacture another reason to support the chosen solution that has no proof that it will do anything other than to serve as the testing delivery system for another generation of human rights abuses in schools.  

2 by Jim Horn / 2d 

APR 01

SAMS Academy of Corruption, Albuquerque

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – Scott Glasrud oversees about 800 public school students grades 4 through 12, but he makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a year doing it.That has the state’s attention.The SchoolsGlasrud’s charter schools are high-performing. Southwest Learning Center in the Heights and SAMS Academy, located next to Double Eagle, focus on science and aviation.Some students can even get

3 by Jim Horn / 3d 

TN BATs Out of the Cave and Into the Limelight

Democracy is alive and well in those organizations that truly advocate for children and public education.  Two such organizations are Tennesseans Reclaiming Educational Excellence (TREE) and Badass Teachers of Tennessee (BATS).  Jim Horn and Denise Wilburn, authors of The Mismeasure of Education, were the guest speakers on March 1 at a Community Forum on Standardized Testing: Tested to Death in Na

68 by Jim Horn / 3d 

MAR 31

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

1 by Jim Horn / 4d 

MAR 30

Misinformed about the common core

Too many people remain misinformed about the common core. Here is the latest distortion.Alan Greenblatt just attacked the Opt-Out movement, saying that it is irresponsible and selfish.  There are over 300 comments on the website.  Greeenblatt and most of those who commented have no idea what is going on. His review appears at: > http://www.npr.org/2014/03/28/295270259/of-me-i-sing-americans-cons

34 by skrashen / 5d 

A Response to NPR's Corporate Socialist "Understanding" of United Opt Out

UOO 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 the Opt Out movement (aka high stakes standardized testing refusal), journalists are eager to tell

2 by Jim Horn / 5d 

MAR 29

We Need 6 Percent of Students to Opt Out

7 by Jim Horn / 6d hide  //  save

GERM Does Not Work, and NCLB's Effects Are Clear

A slide on effects of Global Education Reform Movement from Pasi Sahlberg's presentation at UOO, going on now in Denver:

4 by Jim Horn / 6d 

All Week 4-5-14 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE : 

All Week @ THE CHALK FACE 

Teachers. Remember #optout is for you.

Now that the opt out season is in full swing and the Testing Resistance has spread across the country, we should take a minute to reflect and remember the purpose of opt out. Despite what the “chancellor” Rhee has to say, opt out is the only movement that can save the idea of public education […]

38 by Timothy D. Slekar / 46min 

Fordham’s Mike Petrilli: Selling Common Core in States with Better Standards

  This post is about the for-profit “reform”-promoting think tank, the Fordham Institute. The Fordham Institute likes to grade. Mind you, Fordham doesn’t bother to grade itself. But it does promote the grading of teacher training programs via an entity it birthed in 2001, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), and it also promotes the grading of teachers […]

3 by deutsch29 / 1h 

Remember the musicians who changed their tune

As organizations jumble and revise their official positions, remember those who tried to stifle you in the past. Forgive, cooperate, but never forget those who told you that, for instance, opting out was a great and radical evil. Remember those who called you crazy, passionate with no sense, and tried to tease you into submission, […]

1 by Shaun Johnson / 18min 

Use caution with those attempting to write books on the backs of your labors @testingtalk @Skrashen

I viewed a passing mention of some new phenomenon called “Testing Talk,” which is a website devoted to soliciting feedback on the slate of Common Core tests being implemented nationwide. I have one very simple question: who is sponsoring this? Another simple question: why the lack of overall diversity on the “committee.” And, what does […]

1 by Shaun Johnson / 47min 

What an anti-test activist can do in a school during testing

For me, nothing, just stand aside. That’s all I can do, unless I’m prepared to jeopardize my employment and, selfishly, the employment of others in my school. I’m a Kindergarten teacher, so thankfully we are insulated from most of testing’s ill effects. But I can report on how the administration of testing during the specific […]

2 by Shaun Johnson / 1h 

YESTERDAY

Skepticism or Cynicism for Obama Education Agenda?

Skepticism or Cynicism for Obama Education Agenda?. via Skepticism or Cynicism for Obama Education Agenda?.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical

3 by plthomasedd / 1d 

APR 03

Common Core Can’t Bring Teaching Back to Teachers

Before attending the United Opt Out conference in Denver, I began to do a little more research on the trends in the Common Core debate for some of my upcoming presentations.  One of the interesting things I came across was a PowerPoint created by Ellen Bernstein of the Albuquerque Teachers Federation (ATF), a local chapter of […]

400+ by Kris Nielsen / 1d 

National Poetry Month: “What is the message when some children are not represented in those books?”

National Poetry Month: “What is the message when some children are not represented in those books?”. via National Poetry Month: “What is the message when some children are not represented in those books?”.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical

1 by plthomasedd / 2d 

APR 02

The Common Core License: Open for NGA and CCSSO Alteration

The so-called Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are being billed as “Preparing America’s Students for Success“; as “important for your child”; indeed, as The American Education Solution: The Common Core is a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA). These learning goals outline what a student should know and be able to do at the […]

8 by deutsch29 / 2d 

The Ongoing Debate on Public and Private School Effectiveness: Vouchers, Representative Samples, Fundamentalism and Wal-Mart

To no one’s surprise, the market-oriented EducationNext, “a journal of opinion and research,” does not like the findings outlined in the recent book, The Public School Advantage: Why Public Schools Outperform Private Schools, which I wrote with Prof. Sarah Theule Lubienski. After all, the two large, nationally representative datasets we analyzed do not lend support […]

6 by Chris Lubienski / 2d 

On Children and Childhood

On Children and Childhood. via On Children and Childhood.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical

1 by plthomasedd / 3d 

APR 01

Some High-profilers Gunning for Common CoreSome High-profilers Gunning for Common Core

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) surely are causing quite a stir. That is what happens when non-teachers try to impose their wills upon the American classroom. (I have written extensively on CCSS, including its creation, promotion and funding. For hours of enlightening CCSS reading, click here. To read about the contract between states and the […]

9 by deutsch29 / 3d 

Why Did Raj Chetty Allow His Research to Be Used Against Teachers in Vergara?

An expert witness for the plaintiffs in Vergara v California, Tom Kane, argued that effective teaching, and presumably ineffective teaching, in the Los Angeles schools can be measured. Vergara, of course, seeks to strike down teacher due process and it is about as overtly anti-teacher of an action as can be imagined.  In a previous […]

7 by John Thompson / 3d 

MAR 31

Whatever Will We Do If We Dump Common Core?

A component of pushing the so-called Common Core State Standards (CCSS) involves panicking the public into believing that in the absence of CCSS, states will have no standards. This message is promoted in the Associated Press. On March 30, 2014, Melinda Deslatte offers the following If Not CCSS, Then What? message in her coverage of the Louisiana capitol: […]

11 by deutsch29 / 4d 

MAR 30

Video: iRefuse Rally in Long Island, NY (March 29, 2014)

In my post, The Deceptive Push to “Implement” Common Core, I mentioned that my discussion of deceptive “implementation” was part of my remarks at the iRefuse Rally in Long Island, NY, on March 29. I noted that I would post a video link as soon as one was available. Here it is, in this post. Approximately […]

12 by deutsch29 / 5d 

We are officially in syndication, and have an updated show page

At the Chalk Face is now officially in syndication, with our first two stations secured in the Boston area. I also updated our main show page, and then stuck it to the blog’s homepage. We have to get this show out there as an oppositional voice to the corporate reform movement. Let any local radio […]

7 by Shaun Johnson / 5d 

The Deceptive Push to “Implement” Common Core

I just returned home from speaking at the iRefuse Rally on March 29, 2014, in Port Jefferson Station, New York. My trip was an adventure in many ways, not the least of which was in my managing to get to New York. In short, my flight to NYC was canceled; I was able to fly to Baltimore […]

36 by deutsch29 / 5d 

Unions? We Don’t Need No Stinking Unions

Unions? We Don’t Need No Stinking Unions. via Unions? We Don’t Need No Stinking Unions.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical

4 by plthomasedd / 5d 

The Edtech Trinity: Time, Training, and Tools

Edtech tools will never replace teachers, but teachers who use edtech tools will replace those who don’t. There’s absolutely no denying that edtech tools are changing the teaching profession. As a result, I’ll argue that the edtech trinity in education must include time, training, and tool searching. As the edtech industry grows and becomes more […]

6 by Angel Cintron Jr. / 5d 

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 the Opt Out movement (aka high stakes standardized testing refusal), journalists are eager to tell the story…but do they do their […]

93 by educationalchemy / 5d 

MAR 29

Recent #optout episodes of @thechalkface

As testing season is upon us, we’ve got a couple of recent, special episodes on the subject of opting out or refusing state testing. In the few years we’ve been covering this issue, this is the first time, at least to my knowledge that, one, massive opt outs are occurring, two, they’re being covered extensively, […]

11 by Shaun Johnson / 6d hide  //  save

College Athletes’ Academic Cheating a Harbinger of a Failed System

College Athletes’ Academic Cheating a Harbinger of a Failed System. via College Athletes’ Academic Cheating a Harbinger of a Failed System.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical

1 by plthomasedd / 7d