6-5-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:

New Jersey and Illinois have more in common than crooked politicians. Pension theft and a court fight.

Newark Mayor in the 60s, Hugh Addonizio. There was Frank Hague. The Mayor of Jersey City. From 1917 to 1947. Those who wanted favors from Hague would put cash in a special drawer in his desk that he would push open toward them. Despite being the subject of several investigations, Hague was never even charged for any corruption and is said to have retired a multi-millionaire. Then there were Sen.

by Fred Klonsky / 10min 

Governor Quinn. Veto Rahm’s pension theft bill.

by Fred Klonsky / 5min 

Ten minute drawing. Rahm wants Chicago to be a City of Lights.

4 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

George Schmidt. SEIU members were told by their union they had to cross CTU picket lines.

- George Schmidt publishes Substance News. It’s actually worse about the 2012 strike. SEIU members were told by their union they had to cross CTU picket lines. As you remember, CPS opened more than 100 schools, claiming that the children would starve if the schools were not opened. After the first day of the strike, most of the kids refused to cross the picket lines, and instead joined their teac

by Fred Klonsky / 46min hide  //  save

Board member attacks Hinsdale teachers for being unionized. “They’re like Karen Lewis!”

Members of the IEA and NEA affiliated Hinsdale High School Teachers Association voted unanimously last week to authorize a strike, not wanting to leave for the summer without giving demonstrating their full support for their union leadership. Meanwhile the Hinsdale school board has beating the anti-union drums. Two recent letters to The Doings, a local Sun-Times publication: One year leading Hins

by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

6-4-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Dancing with Christian Mitchell.We headed over to the Hideout last night for Joravsky and Dumke Second Tuesdays. The panelists were my rep-elect Will Guzzardi, AFSCME lobbyist Adrienne Alexander and pension thief State Rep Christian Mitchell. Mitchell was why I wanted to go. I think we should confront

by mike simpson / 8h 

6-5-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet:

Two more states pull out of Common Core

Two Republican governors, Mary Fallin of Oklahoma and Nikki Haley of South Carolina, have just signed laws pulling their states out of the Common Core State Standards initiative amid growing anti-Core sentiment around the country. Fallin signed the law on Thursday, while Haley did it last week, joining Indiana in officially rejecting the Core. A few […]

8 by Valerie Strauss / 1h 

U-Va. law school mistakenly sends out e-mail with private student data

Someone at the University of Virginia law school mistakenly sent an e-mail to lots of people containing private information about all of its clerkship applicants, with very detailed data about each one, including grade-point average and where their contacts live. The Above The Law Web site reported it this way: …Ruth Payne, UVA’s Director of […]

by Valerie Strauss / 13min

Judge puts hold on Common Core contract to Pearson

Last month I wrote about how the huge education company Pearson won a huge contract with one of the two multi-state consortia designing new Common Core-aligned tests. Pearson was the only bidder for the contract — to develop test items and forms, deliver paper and online versions, etc. — but as it turns out, an education corporation […]

by Valerie Strauss / 1h 

The education question we should be asking

One area of education that doesn’t get enough attention in the loud education reform debate is exactly what is worth learning. In the following post Alfie Kohn explores this problem. Kohn (www.alfiekohn.org) is the author of 13 books about education, parenting, and human behavior, including “The Myth of the Spoiled Child: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom […]

51 by Valerie Strauss / 4h hide  //  save

A clever way to get rid of teachers

When the North Carolina Senate late last month rolled out a new step salary schedule for teachers, it was reported in the state media as offering a big raise to educators while taking away job protections. But the new plan isn’t exactly what it seems. It  ”incentivizes”  teachers at specific experience levels to leave the […]

100+ by Valerie Strauss / 5h 

6-4-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet: Parent: Why I can’t ‘in good conscience’ leave my kids in public schoolLynne Rigby and her husband Brad live outside of Orlando, Florida, with their five children who have attended a Seminole County public elementary school. Rigby, a former public school teacher and photographer, wrote a letter to state and local officials explaining why, with great sadness, she and her husband are p

by mike simpson / 8h 

6-5-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

KIPP Links, Including Research and Commentary

A reader in California asked for some links, and here is the result I will share with you, too.  This is certainly not an exhaustive list, not even for SM.  A start, nonetheless.One thing you should note from this first link below is that non-profit charters schools are a myth, thanks to some handiwork by Clinton before he left office.http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2014/04/americas-top-corporate-ed

by Jim Horn / 4min 

Marshall Tuck's white male friend Dax Shepard 'splains that cultural sterilization isn't "real racism"

When I taught in the Los Angeles Unified Schools, I openly opposed the Vietnam War and was critical of the system’s race policies.  Fortunately, I was never threatened with dismissal, I belonged to a union. — Professor Rodolfo F. Acuña Students Protesting Marshall Tuck's racist decision to kill Ethnic Studies. Photo by Robert D. Skeels. Eli Broad's California State Superintendent of Public Instru

5 by Robert D. Skeels ... / 6h 

6-4-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: The Pearson Teacher: From Sage on the Stage to Technician in the MechanismWhen Bill Gates came to Memphis in 2009 with $90 million to grease the hinges on every bureaucratic door within a hundred miles, the schools became the laboratory for every self-serving thought disorder that the aging crackpot could come up with.  The latest bad dream brings together Common Core, Pearson, Win

by mike simpson / 6h 

6-5-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: My Personal Journey into Eduction Activism

With A Brooklyn Accent:

The BAT Anamoly

The BAT Anamoly1. We oppose Common Core and fight for our unions to fight Common Core. We oppose it because it is undemocratic, expensive, discriminatory, undermines good teaching and learning and is a cash cow for powerful corporations.2. We part company with other opponents of Common Core when they support charter schools, vouchers, school privatization, and attacks on collective bargaining.3. O

by Mark Naison / 31min 

A Few Historical Reminders to Anti-CCSS Activists Who Have Become Enamored of Charter Schools

Reminder Number One:Remember NY State Education Commissioner John King? The biggest cheerleader for Common Core in the State of New York, who has ignored the voices of parents, teachers and students pointing out the damage done by Common Core Aligned Tests and the teaching methods they inspire? Commisioner King's only public education background, as an adult, was the three years he spent as princi

by Mark Naison / 3min 

Why The Charter School Industry Has Become as Big a Threat to Public Education as Common Core

In many parts of the country, unregulated, Corporate controlled charters are as big a threat to public education as Common Core. They represent crony capitalism at its worst, building on insider deals with politicians to legitimize high CEO salaries, private real estate deals, exemption from regulations that protect students and teachers from abusive practices and sometimes, outright theft of gove

by Mark Naison / 4h 

6-4-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: My Personal Journey into Eduction Activism

With A Brooklyn Accent: My Personal Journey into Eduction ActivismMy journey into education activism began  in the Spring of 2003  when I was asked to start an oral history project documenting the African American presence in Bronx Neighborhoods, which had been neglected by scholars of Bronx History as well as African American History in New York City.  The project was embraced by scores of commun

by mike simpson / 8h 

6-5-14 Curmudgucation Week

CURMUDGUCATION:

The NEA Wants To Organize You

Over at EdWeek Seven Sawchuk writes about NEA's new push to reverse a steady decline in membership. It's about time. Membership is down a reported 230,000 teachers over the last three years. And that's before you even start counting the "reluctant" members. As far as I know, NEA doesn't keep track of this (and is probably happier not knowing), but not every NEA member actually wants to b

6 by Peter Greene / 35min 

FEE: A Floridian Trip through the Reformster Swamp

In twenty-one short paragraphs, Patricia Levesque of FEE (Foundation for Excellence in Education)  manages to set a new record for sheer Density of Wrong. This seems to be FEE's specialty; in the vast coal mine of Common Core Carbonized Crap, FEE demonstrates the Supermaniacal ability to squeeze the raw materials of wrong into a shining diamond of dopiness. Today's sweepstakes entry, "Student

8 by Peter Greene / 2h hide  //  save

An Open Letter To Michelle Labuski

It must have been some time yesterday that you and your colleagues discovered this post, taking you to task for your pro-Common Core post on engageNY. You responded on twitter with a simple "Not okay. And hurtful." A few of your colleagues responded in my comments section. You were all gentler, kinder, and more amenable to reason than I was in the original post. I understand how you migh

18 by Peter Greene / 3h 

6-4-14 Curmudgucation Week

CURMUDGUCATION: Why Your Evaluation Is DumbAs you contemplate your end of the year evaluation paperwork, you are probably thinking (and not for the first time), "This doesn't make any sense." And you are correct. Current practices in teacher evaluation do not make sense-- if you assume that the purpose of these evals is to actually evaluate teachers accurately and effectively.A good eval

by mike simpson / 8h 

6-5-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Nothing More Edifying Than Brooklyn-Queens Day

Did everybody enjoy their PD today?Did anybody find any of it worthwhile?If so would love to hear what it is was.

by reality-based edu... / 46min 

The Information The Education Department Wants Collected On Students

Stephanie Simon at Politico:The Education Department’s list of recommended data points, developed with state officials, is exhaustive. It includes what type of dental insurance a student carries, whether she’s allergic to dog dander and whether she belongs to a sorority in college. Each disciplinary incident is broken down into more than a dozen data points, including the type of firearm involved,

by reality-based edu... / 0min hide  //  save

Juan Gonzalez: Ending Failed Education Policy Means Cleaning House At Tweed

In Juan Gonzalez's column on the Pearson field test protests arising around the state this week is this: Students and teachers at 1,100 city schools — plus an additional 3,000 statewide — are confronting more state-mandated tests this week. For the third straight year, the state and its testing company, Pearson, are conducting stand-alone field testing for several hundred thousand pupils — tests t

by reality-based edu... / 3h 

6-4-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: UFT Members Spoke: The UFT Leadership Couldn't Do Any Better Than This Accountable Talk yesterday:Technically, the contract passed with 77% of the vote of UFT members. I predicted 75%, which was the exact percentage of teachers who voted yes. School secretaries, paras, and social workers, who are not subject to many of the provisions that regular teachers are, voted almost 8

by mike simpson / 8h 

Why Can't Politicians Get Out of Schooling? :: Frederick M. Hess

Why Can't Politicians Get Out of Schooling? :: Frederick M. Hess:

Why Can't Politicians Get Out of Schooling?

by Frederick M. Hess  •  Jun 5, 2014 at 8:25 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

Print

Send

RSS

Share

Well, I'm starting to enter the back stretch on my next book, The Cage-Busting Teacher. It's due off to Harvard Ed Press in September, and should be out in early March. I thought I'd start sharing some of the themes, mostly because I'd love to hear your reactions, criticisms, questions, and suggestions. Today's is a topic that I'm often struck by, particularly when smart and engaged educators bemoan the fact that lawmakers won't let them be.

Talented educators regularly gripe to me about dumb accountability systems, teacher evaluation schemes, and such. They gripe about politicians who aren't willing to spend enough on schools, to listen to them, or to ask their advice. They exclaim that policymakers ought to mind their own business and let educators run the schools.

I get it. It's an understandable premise, especially for a hard-working, talented teacher. But I tell these folks they need to step back and look at this with fresh eyes. See how it looks to the policymakers, say. After all, public schools spend public dollars and hire public employees to serve the public's children. For better or worse, they're going to be governed by public officials. Those officials are going to set the policies that shape what educators can and can't do, how money is to be spent, how performance will be judged, who can be hired, and much else.

Now, you may say, "Hold up. Public officials haven't always done it this way." There are two responses here. One, is that you're wrong. Politicians and state bureaucrats have always written regulations about how money could be spent, how many kids could sit in a classroom, which textbooks would be used, what subjects had to be taught, who could teach, and so on. We're used to all this, though, so it can be less noticeable. Two, the reason that today's policy feels more invasive is because policymakers have been convinced that these older rules and regulations weren't getting the job done. So, they've adopted new policies around Why Can't Politicians Get Out of Schooling? :: Frederick M. Hess:

Stage set for budget fight over more K-12 money :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet

Stage set for budget fight over more K-12 money :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:



JUNE 05, 2014

Stage set for budget fight over more K-12 money

by Kimberly Beltran

(Calif.) It’s not yet official, but school districts could be the beneficiaries of several billion more than what was proposed in Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised 2014-15 budget, released last month.

Still, a legislative conference committee, meeting for the first time Wednesday to reconcile spending differences between the two houses made few decisions on the K-12 proposals before them.

There does, however, appear to be growing consensus among Legislative leaders that more money should be used to support the new Local Control Funding Formula as well as Common Core implementation – how much remains in question.

Both houses also appear to be locked in on a far rosier revenue forecast than the one used by the Brown administration in preparing the revised May budget.

The Senate proposes adding $330 million in Prop. 98 funds to the administration’s plan to provide $4.5 billion for the Local Control Funding Formula. But the Senate would provide only $550,000 in one-time support for continued Common Core Implementation while the Assembly proposes $1.25 million.

Even if negotiations with the governor don’t produce meaningful gains for schools, lawmakers said next year will be a good one for schools.

“The good news is, that regardless of the scenario – whether we go with the administration’s revenue amounts or LAO’s – that our Prop. 98 funding levels will be from $4 billion to $6 billion more in this upcoming budget year than they were in the current budget year, and that is great news for our education system, for our kids and for the staff and teachers,” said Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, co-chair of the conference committee.

“I think it’s more than fair to say that both houses have been very clear in prioritizing the Stage set for budget fight over more K-12 money :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

Education Overturned – redqueeninla

Education Overturned – redqueeninla:

Education Overturned

Written by redqueeninla in Education

 “Teaching To The Test” is a pegagogical revolution. Far from benign, it amounts to a coup d’état of not only the minds of our children, but their hearts as well.

Informally, in my personal experience, I became vaguely aware by rumor during the 70′s that some students broke the rules and gamed standardized tests (e.g., SAT and other nationally-generated and administered, computer-graded, entrance exams) by spending a lot of money cramming extracurricularly, all for purportedly little or no gain. Unprofessionally, it was sniffed, some select classroom teachers even debased their craft by gearing its very content, the “curriculum”, toward standardized tests. In so narrowing the classes’ focus, these practitioners simultaneously devalued the tests by introducing bias, pandered to ambitious students and parents and capitulated to self-aggradizement at the expense of their very profession, scholastics.

Flash-forward forty years and it seems the essence of modern “Educational Reform” is to upend that formerly degenerate state of teaching and retool it as The Solution.

This is a new twist on The Big Lie where something wrong is repeated so loudly and frequently that it becomes gospel; this is actually reversing formerly-believed gospel and rebranding it as wrong while its inverse becomes the New Best Practice. The New Black is not just a competing color, but its reverse, the absence of color, say, White.

So in the New Educational Order, computerized Common Core “State” Standards (CCSS) are manifested in tests generated and administered nationally by non-educators, and instructional materials will be back-filled to “align” with the Standards as manifested in the tests.

Not only has it become desirable, therefore, to teach to a test, it is mandated.Teachers are being trained and installed in computerized lesson-administration, replacing experienced teachers of a previous generation who understood such Education Overturned – redqueeninla: