From the White House to Diane Ravitch: A whirlwind week for Parents United | Parents United for Public Education

From the White House to Diane Ravitch: A whirlwind week for Parents United | Parents United for Public Education:





From the White House to Diane Ravitch: A whirlwind week for Parents United

Posted on April 8, 2014 by HELENGYMLeave a comment

The past few weeks have been kind of a whirlwind as a host of events converged around our Parents United work seemingly all at once. I thought I’d share a few thoughts about what it’s been like.

TEDx Philadelphia

(Photo: Philadelphia Inquirer)

By far one of the most intense experiences of my life was going on stage at TEDx Philadelphia at the beautiful Temple Performing Arts Center on March 28. TEDx is quite the production, and my fellow speakers were simply stunning. From the luminous Natalie Nixon who talked about seeing life through jazz, to talks on education from Science Leadership Academy student Nikki Adeli and YouthBuild Executive Director Simran Sidhu, to Austin Seraphin conveying the wonders of accessibility tools when you grow up blind, TEDx was a tribute to the creativity, vitality and energy of so many of our city’s best denizens. I have to say that I struggled mightily in this context, not the least of which is that I decided to largely forego a slide show and do a talk about collective values which engage us around our schools. I spoke about public spaces and collective responsibility for preserving, fighting for and uplifting our public schools despite their struggles. I also realized that when you don’t have slides, you end up on stage in front of 1200 people, 18 minutes on the clock and just your voice and ideas. Not sure I would entirely recommend that approach unless you’re someone like Bryan Stevenson, but I have to thank the entire TEDx audience and organizers for giving me the opportunity and space to try. You can catch all 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm's two biggest scams

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm's two biggest scams:

Rahm's two biggest scams

 

 “Have you changed the way you measure statistics?” one reporter asked.  “I don’t buy the premise of the question,” Emanuel answered and quickly moved on. -- Chicago Magazine

The mayor and his two chiefs, schools CEO Byrd-Bennettand top cop Garry McCarthy, have put together a couple of scams any 3-card-Monte hustler or professional illusionist would be proud of.

The first and most callous is his rigging of crime stats including body counts from Chicago's killing fields, then used to celebrate supposed "record lows" in city gun violence even while shootings in the city's black and Latino neighborhoods were at or near all-time highs. It all laid out beautifully in the first of a two-part series by Chicago Magazine's David Bernstein and Noah Jackson.

Meanwhile, the see-no-evil, hear-no-evil pols on Chicago’s City Council have mostly accepted the police department’s crime numbers at face value. So have most in the media. You can hardly turn on the news without hearing McCarthy or Mayor Rahm Emanuel proclaiming unquestioned: Murders down 18 percent in 2013! Overall crime down 23 percent! Twelve thousand fewer crime victims! “These days, everything is about media and public opinion,” says one longtime officer. “If a number makes people feel safe, then why not give it to them?”

Many officers of different ranks and from different parts of the city recounted instances in which they were asked or pressured by their superiors to reclassify their incident reports or in which their reports were changed by some invisible hand. One detective refers to the “magic ink”: the power to make a case 

Special Late Nite Cap UPDATE 4-7-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

Nite Cap UPDATE

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

CORPORATE ED REFORM

Charter-Mania, High-Stakes Testing and Teacher-Bashing: Can Rhee’s Approach Be Stopped?

Is public education doomed to destruction? Has it already been done in? Everyone has an opinion. The question is will the Vergara v. California court decision permanently define what might be? Will education equity be set free? Stanford Professor Linda Darling-Hammond discusses the case and examines the […]

by empathy / 21min 

Get Schooled: April Fools' Day births a great college prank

Here is a clever prank played on Aquinas College macroeconomics professor Stephen Barrows, who maintains a policy that students who receive a call during class must put it on speakerphone for everyone to hear. Students had fun with that policy on April Fools' Day. (Based on interviews I’ve seen, Barrows ...

2 51min 

On Teachers United, WEA Rep Assembly, and Engaging New Educators

I arrived back in Seattle yesterday morning from my first experience at the WEA's Representative Assembly in Spokane, and I learned a lot.I've been a part of a number of different teachers unions in my day (TEA, WTU, UFT, WEA), and I came back from the WEA RA feeling that the WEA is overwhelmingly the strongest among them.Had you asked me about teachers unions ten years ago, I probably would have

4 by James Boutin / 1h 

Eugene Robinson responds to the Senate Intelligence Report

Torture is immoral, illegal and irreconcilable with this nation’s most cherished values. If defenders of the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” program disagree, they should come out and say so. Instead, they blow smoke. That is the opening paragraph of Here’s an emotional response to the torture report: I’m outraged,  Pulitzer Prize winner Eugene Robinson's column for Tuesday's Washington Post It is

2 by rss@dailykos.com ... / 59min 

Higher ed funding bill sparks high-level differences

It’s rare to see vigorous public debate between the speaker of the House and the lieutenant governor, especially when they’re from the same party. But a proposed higher education funding bill brought out just that at a House Education Committee hearing Monday. At issue is House Bill 14-1319, a proposal by House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver. In broad terms, it would shift funding to “access” i

by Todd Engdahl / 46min 

Gresham Elementary principal fights CPS school ‘turnaround’ plan

If Gresham Elementary School Principal Diedrus Brown is going to lose her job anyway, she said Monday she’ll go down telling the truth. The school she has led for the past decade is one of three slated for a staff reboot, which Chicago Public Schools calls a “turnaround,” saying that Gresham’s academics arepoor enough to warrant a full restaffing. But Brown denies her school is among the worst academically, blatantly accusing the district of other motives for choosing her school to hand over to a nonprofit turnaround organization with past ties to the school board president.

Late Night: Kansas State Legislature Takes Teacher Tenure From Thousands

Weekend, overnight exploits by purchased ideologues and rank amateurs in the Kansas State legislature stripped KS public school teachers of due process rights. This will require all teachers to renegotiate their contracts without any union or other support and make them subject to termination if they don’t. Or if administrators randomly feel like it, or are pressured to do so by rank amateurs, app

7 by kspopulist / 1h 

University of Puerto Rico Students Contemplate Striking Over Tuition Hike

Students at the publicly supported University of Puerto Rico will vote on whether to mount a strike if administrators implement a hike in tuition. The Student Front for an Accessible Public and Quality Education, or FEEPAC, announced on Monday the possibility of staging a 24-hour strike on April 23. The student initiative follows last month’s decision by the UPR board not to extend the moratoriu

52min 

Video: Watch Los Angeles Grow In 36 Seconds

I’m adding this video of Los Angeles’ growth to The Best Sites To Learn About Los Angeles:

by Larry Ferlazzo / 0min hide  //  save

National Awards For Education Reporting Announced

The Education Writers Association just announced the winners of the 2013 National Awards for Education Reporting. It’s an extensive and impressive list, and includes many links. Unfortunately, you have to make a lot of “clicks” to get down to the names of the winners and links to their articles. It’s worth it, but I do hope they figure out a more user-friendly lay-out by next year…

by Larry Ferlazzo / 0min 

Get It Right Podcasts: Terry Holliday, Kentucky State Commissioner of Education

Dr. Terry Holliday, Kentucky’s state commissioner of education, shares the power of engaging educators early and throughout the implementation process and the role Kentucky teachers played in unpacking the standards and building great new state assessments. Download as MP3 Additional Resources Kentucky Core Academic Standards

by Get It Right / 31min hide  //  save

Get It Right Podcasts: Dayna Richardson, Chair, Kansas Learning First Alliance

Dayna Richardson, chair of the Kansas Learning First Alliance, talks about her organization’s role in communicating the need for new standards, deliberately taking implementation one step at a time and the value of multiple measures of success. Download as MP3 Additional Resources Kansas Learning First Alliance KLFA Educational Advocacy Video and Talking Points

by Get It Right / 31min 

Get It Right Podcasts: Terri Hodges, President, Delaware PTA

Dr. Terri Hodges, the president of the Delaware PTA, discusses the importance of proper planning, a collaborative process and the need for the separation of the standards and the tests to ensure progress. In Delaware, parents played a key role in implementation, a process that has taken more than three years. Download as MP3 Additional Resources Delaware PTA DelExcels.org Guide to New Assessment

by Get It Right / 31min 

Important Charter & Voucher Restrictions

Several critical issues related to charter and voucher schools are scheduled to be debated at the House Education Committee this Wednesday, April 9, starting at 9:00 A.M. These bills would help us to defend public schools from predatory charter schools and from further unwarranted expansion of the voucher programs.Please ask your State Representative who serves on the House Education committee to

by Michael Deshotels / 2h

Tigard High School principal says school's 'heterogeneous grouping' program is working

Though he acknowledged some struggles, Tigard High School Principal Mark Neffendorf on Monday evening presented the Tigard-Tualatin School Board with evidence of how the district’s relatively new “heterogeneous grouping” policy is working.

1 by Luke Hammill | lh... / 36min 

Rally planned over raft of charter school bills

Feeling challenged by about a dozen bills under consideration in Springfield, advocates of privately run but publicly funded charters...

Vallas gets new six-figure job as he runs for lieutenant governor

Paul Vallas, who returned to Illinois last month as Gov. Pat Quinn’s running mate, has been hired to a six-figure job as a municipal...

Initiative to reduce Washington school class sizes

SEATTLE (AP) — A group calling itself Class Size Counts is collecting...

City schools honored for music education

Apr 7, 2014, 4:03 p.m.
For the third time in five years, the San Diego Unified School District has been recognized as one of the best communities for music education in the country. The district was one of 376 given the honor last month by the nonprofit National Association of Music Merchants Foundation or NAMM as being a Best Community for Music Education. It earlier received the designation in 2010 and 2013. San Diego Unified was recognized after it submitted a music education survey answering detailed questions about district funding, staffing of highly qualified teachers, commitment to standards and access to music instruction provided to students. Karen Childress-Evans, director of visual and performing arts for city schools, said the designation celebrates the district’s many partnerships with arts organizations and community members that provide such things as field trips to performances and instruments for families that ...

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog 4-7-14

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog: Canada Takes Steps for Country's HealthCanada has taken steps this week to give more information about diabetes to the country. Approximetly one in four Canadians has diabetes or prediabetes. And that statistic costs the country over $1.6 billion yearly, causing some concern for the countries health care system. Canada gives their citizens free health care and large amo

by mike simpson / 5min hide  //  save

The Factoid World of Michael Goodwin of the New York Post southbronxschool.com

http://www.southbronxschool.com: The Factoid World of Michael Goodwin of the New York PostI buy two newspapers on Sunday. The Daily News, I read in the car while my son is in Sunday School and The Times to read throughout the day. The Post, except for Phil Mushnick is a waste of my time.But this past Sunday I was able to read a free copy of the Post. I forgot where I was but I came across Michael

by mike simpson / 3h 

Nite Cap 4-7-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAP4-7-14 Jersey Jazzman Jammin' All WeekJersey Jazzman: Why Is Michelle Rhee Wrong About Everything?Michelle Rhee is consistently wrong about everything.She was wrong about teaching to the test. She was wrong about her grading of state education po

by mike simpson / 3h 

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog 4-7-14

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog:

Canada Takes Steps for Country's Health

Canada has taken steps this week to give more information about diabetes to the country. Approximetly one in four Canadians has diabetes or prediabetes. And that statistic costs the country over $1.6 billion yearly, causing some concern for the countries health care system. Canada gives their citizens free health care and large amount of money focused on one disease, willl eventually the break-dow

by nicole paxton / 48min 

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog 4-5-14

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog:Afghanistan: A Photographer's LegacyAssociated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus was killed in Afghanistan  on Friday, apparently gunned down by an Afghan policeman.  She and Kathy Gannon, a Canadian journalist, were shot while traveling in a government convey as they covered preparations for the Afghanistan presidential election on Saturday.  Gannon was wounded and i

by mike simpson / 8h 

The Factoid World of Michael Goodwin of the New York Post southbronxschool.com

http://www.southbronxschool.com:

The Factoid World of Michael Goodwin of the New York Post

I buy two newspapers on Sunday. The Daily News, I read in the car while my son is in Sunday School and The Times to read throughout the day. The Post, except for Phil Mushnick is a waste of my time.

But this past Sunday I was able to read a free copy of the Post. I forgot where I was but I came across Michael Goodwin's column with a big headline proclaiming,"The False and Ridiculous Claims Against Charter Schools." OK, I have time to waste and in need of a good giggle, so I said to myself, "Why not?" and read.

I have to admit, Goodwin piqued my interest quite a bit as a good writer must. I started to read with bated breath and found the first three paragraphs or so fascinating;

Say anything nice about charter schools, and you are sure to get letters full of rage, false charges and praise for unions. The attacks, often from teachers, follow a format that appears to be scripted by labor bosses and echo the class-warfare bile of Mayor de Blasio.

To wit, charters succeed because they weed out problem students, they discriminate against those with disabilities, and their operators, especially Eva Moskowitz, got special favors from the previous mayor.

Ergo, everything charters achieve is suspect and their methods won’t work on a broad scale.

WHOA! Some awesome writing there! His writing puts me to shame. But the way he grabbed me and  http://www.southbronxschool.com: