9-3-14 Hemlock on the Rocks

Hemlock on the Rocks:

L.A. schools Supt. Deasy defends his dealings with Apple, Pearson - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-lausd-ipads-20140903-story.html L.A. schools Supt. Deasy defends his dealings with Apple, Pearson Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy on Tuesday issued his most extensive and passionate defense yet of his actions involving Apple and Pearson, the companies that received the major contract in a $1.3-billion technology program. He asserted that he

by Rene Diedrich / 6min 

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn

                I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.   - rene     Confirm that you know rene       rene diedrich writer/poet at Freelance Greater Los A

by Rene Diedrich / 19min 

WARY EXCHANGE BETWEEN LAUSD SCAPEGOAT TEACHERS That Lays the Scams Out, Exposing much more than iPad and MiSIS

BMW Went to the dentist and read the MSIS article after I returned.Almost all  big projects fail with the district because there are money and other profit to be made from these.  Whenever there are huge projects like is, people see $$$ in them instead of make them successful.  Failed projects cost more and people involved gain more.  As to this MSIS, what all people talked about it in the interv

1 by Rene Diedrich / 29min

Here.Mia the leader of our schools.... “Hedge-Fund Guy” Emails Support to School Reformers - Education Next : Education Next

http://educationnext.org/%E2%80%9Chedge-fund-guy%E2%80%9D-emails-support-to-school-reformers/ "Hedge-Fund Guy" Emails Support to School Reformers It's sunset over Manhattan, and from the 35th floor of a Park Avenue skyscraper the vista is pure gold. The soaring buildings are bathed in the deep rich colors of, well, money. As visitors take their seats in the sedately cavernous room, a s

by Rene Diedrich / 8min 

NPR Whitewashes Charter Schools and Disaster Capitalism in New Orleans | the becoming radical

NPR WHITEWASHES CHARTER SCHOOLS AND DISASTER CAPITALISM IN NEW ORLEANS It was bad enough when NPR whitewashed the "grit" narrative, but now NPR is whitewashing charter schools and disaster capitalism in New Orleans. Framed as "remarkable changes," erasing public schools and firing all public school faculty (a significant percentage of the black middle class in New Orle

by Rene Diedrich / 9h 

Why The Obama Administration Won't Back Off Its Disastrous Education Policies

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2014 Why The Obama Administration Won't Back Off Its Disastrous Education Policies    As I was sitting watching the US Open after a day of preparing for classes, I started thinking of why state after state, with the encouragement of the US Department of Education, keeps subjecting teachers to evaluation systems which are humiliating, time consuming and ina

by Rene Diedrich / 9h 

The Coming Revolution in Public Education - Atlantic Mobile

The Coming Revolution in Public Education - Atlantic MobileIt's always hard to tell for sure exactly when a revolution starts. Is it when a few discontented people gather in a room to discuss how the ruling regime might be opposed? Is it when first shots are fired? When a critical mass forms and the opposition acquires sufficient weight to have a chance of prevailing? I'm not an expert on revoluti

1 by Rene Diedrich / 9h 

ON THIS LABOR DAY LET US REMEMBER THAT ALL STUDENTS NEED MORE EDUCATORS NOT AN ARCHAIC COMPUTER SYSTEM | Parents, Teachers and Students In Action For Better Schools

http://parentsinactionforbetterschools.org/on-this-labor-day-let-us-remember-that-all-students-need-more-educators-not-an-archaic-computer-system/ ON THIS LABOR DAY LET US REMEMBER THAT ALL STUDENTS NEED MORE EDUCATORS NOT AN ARCHAIC COMPUTER SYSTEM Numerous reports have surfaced recently about the failures of MiSiS, the recently installed computer system of the Los Angeles Unified School Distric

by Rene Diedrich / 9h 

Deconstructing Deasy: Annotations on His BOE Letter Expose Flawed Reason

www.hemlockontherocks.com

by Rene Diedrich / 11h 

Education Post aims to take the sting out of national conversations about school reform - The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/education-post-aims-to-take-the-sting-out-of-national-conversations-about-school-reform/2014/09/01/65f11832-2fb2-11e4-bb9b-997ae96fad33_story.html Education Post aims to take the sting out of national conversations about school reform Spend any time on Twitter or in the blogosphere and the national debate about public education quickly resembles a sch

by Rene Diedrich / 12h 

California Governor Appeals Teacher-Tenure Ruling - Education Week

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/08/30/california-appeals-teacher-tenure-ruling_ap.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2 California Governor Appeals Teacher-Tenure Ruling Published Online: September 2, 2014 By The Associated Press Los Angeles Gov. Jerry Brown appealed a court ruling that struck down tenure and other job protections for California's teachers, setting himself apart from leaders in s

by Rene Diedrich / 13h 

'Grit' May Not Spur Creative Success, Scholars Say - Education Week

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/08/20/01grit.h34.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2 'Grit' May Not Spur Creative Success, Scholars Say Published Online: August 19, 2014 Published in Print: August 20, 2014, as 'Grit' May Not Spur Creative Success, Say Researchers By Sarah D. Sparks Washington Inventor Thomas A. Edison once famously said, "Genius is 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspi

by Rene Diedrich / 14h 

Fwd: Petition update – The LAUSD Board of Education: Fire Superintendent John Deasy

Petition Update rene, Carl Petersen just posted an update on the petition you signed: The LAUSD Board of Education: Fire Superintendent John Deasy 139 supporters We are up to 137 signatures... Carl Petersen Petition Organizer Sep 02, 2014 But we need many more if we are going to

by Rene Diedrich / 14h 

Journey to Justice: :death by a thousand cuts. PAGE 5 SCHOOL CLOSURES

by Rene Diedrich / 15h 

Curt Hagman | Join Assemblyman Curt Hagman on KFI as He Speaks on LAUSD’s Failing iPad Project

http://arc.asm.ca.gov/member/AD55/?p=article&sid=214&id=259009 Join Assemblyman Curt Hagman on KFI as He Speaks on LAUSD's Failing iPad Project SACRAMENTO – Tomorrow at 10:30 AM, Assemblyman Curt Hagman (R-Chino Hills) will be on the Bill Carroll Show on KFI AM 640 to speak on Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) failing iPad project. At the end of last year, LAUSD began impleme

by Rene Diedrich / 17h 

Lawmaker Calls For DA To Probe ‘Suspicious’ LAUSD iPad Rollout « CBS Los Angeles

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/09/02/chino-hills-lawmaker-calls-for-da-to-probe-lausd-ipad-rollout/ Lawmaker Calls For DA To Probe 'Suspicious' LAUSD iPad  LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A Chino Hills lawmaker Tuesday called upon Los Angeles County prosecutors to investigate a controversial bidding process used to bring iPad tablets to students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)

by Rene Diedrich / 17h hide  //  save

YESTERDAY

Teachers union to superintendent: Go to 'teacher jail' - LosAngelesRegister.com

http://www.losangelesregister.com/articles/district-604296-deasy-system.html Teachers union to superintendent: Go to 'teacher jail' The Los Angeles Unified School District’s teachers union will call Wednesday on Superintendent John Deasy to report to “teacher jail†until investigations into the district’s much-maligned iPad program and MiSiS student data system have concluded. Leaders of

by Rene Diedrich / 19h 

Largest school district, highest litigation costs: Guest commentary

http://www.sgvtribune.com/opinion/20140902/largest-school-district-highest-litigation-costs-guest-commentary Largest school district, highest litigation costs: Guest commentary Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the largest public school district in California, and second-largest district in the nation. LAUSD provides an educational system for more than 600,000 K-12 students, four

4 by Rene Diedrich / 19h 

9-2-14 Hemlock on the Rocks

Hemlock on the Rocks: Gates and the Teacher Wars: It Matters Where You Stand | Cult of Pedagogyhttp://www.cultofpedagogy.com/gates-teacher-wars/ Gates and the Teacher Wars: It Matters Where You StandDoes staying out of the ed reform debate make you out of touch, a peacekeeper, or a self-serving a-hole? There was a time, not long ago, when I was a Bill Gates defender. His foundation has done incred

by mike simpson / 5h 

9-3-14empathyeducates - Keeping Children Back a Year Doesn’t Help Them Read Better

empathyeducates:

Keeping Children Back a Year Doesn’t Help Them Read Better

Very high stakes. Holtsman, CC BY-NC By Paul Thomas, Ed.D., Furman University | Originally Published at the The Conversation. September 3, 2014 If you’re an eight-year-old living in Charleston, South Carolina, you’re soon going to need to study extra hard at reading. The US state has joined […]

20 by empathy / 2h hide  //  save

5 Reasons We All Need to Talk to Kids About Race in America

Photograph Credit: Chicago Parent By Bree Ervin | Originally Published at Everyday Feminism and re-published at EmpathyEducates with their permission. August 23, 2014. “I don’t see color — I just see people.” “I want to raise my children to treat everyone the same.” “If we stopped pointing […]

100+ by empathy / 18h 

9-3-14 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION:

Can We Renew "The Conversation"?

  There has been a renewal of calls lately to refresh, renew, restart, and otherwise rehabilitate the conversation about Common Core.It has taken a variety of forms. In the Washington Times, Mike Petrilli and Neal McClusky put out a call to retire some of the standard talking points, admitting that the Core is after all kind of curriculummy and probably not the product of a commie conspiracy or o

40 by Peter Greene / 13h hide  //  save

McClusky and Petrilli Reboot CCSS Debate

In Monday's Washington Times, Mike Petrilli of the Fordham Institute and Neal McClusky form Cato made an attempt to reboot the debate about the Common Core by writing a list of basic points on which folks from all sides ought to be able to agree. It's a worthy effort from two men who share a conservative sensibility but not an identical point of view about the Core, and it deserves a serious look.

7 by Peter Greene / 14h 

9-2-14 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION: A (Not So) New Education ConversationA new website debuted September 1st, devoted to bringing a "new conversation" to the world of education. Education Post is here to create this new conversation by relaunching some old familiar reformster talking points. Just four articles in on Day One, and you know that we've seen this movie before. Let me walk you through it so that

1 by mike simpson / 7h 

9-3-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School:

Cuomo: Debates Are Bad For Democracy

You just can't make this stuff up:Mr. Cuomo’s primary challengers include Zephyr Teachout, a law professor, whose candidacy has attracted attention of late partly because of the governor’s simultaneous concern about it (he tried to get her removed from the ballot) and refusal to acknowledge it exists (he avoids uttering Ms. Teachout’s name).  ...Mr. Cuomo was asked about his refusal to debate and

1 by reality-based edu... / 4h hide  //  save

Rob Astorino Says Its Time To Make The Board Of Regents Accountable To Voters

The Times-Union reports that GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino released a 15 point education plan yesterday, with Astorino's call for replacing the Common Core in New York coming at the top of the plan list.But I found this part most interesting:Astorino's plan also includes changing the process for selecting the leaders of the the state's educational system. He'd like to see the 13-member

by reality-based edu... / 9h 

Thoughts On The Teacher Evaluation Results

As I posted yesterday, NYC public school teachers were supposed to receive their APPR evaluation ratings sometime between 4:00 PM and 12:00 AM yesterday.The NYCDOE sent my email notice out at 7:07 PM last night.I didn't check for it until this morning.To be honest, I have contempt for this system, both the observation components and the test-based accountability components.My sense is, the observa

2 by reality-based edu... / 13h 

Cuomo Plays 9/11 Card In Primary Contest

Governor Cuomo must be more concerned about the Democratic Primary vote next Tuesday than his campaign's letting on if he felt the need to play the "Vote For Zephyr Teachout and terrorists will kill you!" card.That's what he did yesterday, sounding very much like George W. Bush:Gov. Cuomo stopped short of bashing his primary rival Zephyr Teachout for refusing to take a position on Israel

by reality-based edu... / 16h 

9-2-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School: Why Isn't The Press Covering The Moreland Investigation Any Longer?Thomas Kaplan reports many people around the state are taking the primary season to publicize their unhappiness with Governor Cuomo:He has been snubbed by unions representing teachers and state workers. Editorial boards are skewering him. Political rivals are lobbing attacks from his left and his right.A year

1 by mike simpson / 8h 

SKrashen: My response to Bill Nye (The Science Guy"): Standards OK but not the Common Core Standards

SKrashen: My response to Bill Nye (The Science Guy"): Standards OK but not the Common Core Standards:

My response to Bill Nye (The Science Guy"): Standards OK but not the Common Core Standards

Response to Bill Nye (“Science Guy”), Posted Sept 2 at: Could Common Core be the antidote for Creationist teachers?
Bill Nye: If I were king of the forest we would have math in the core curriculum. Science would be in the core curriculum. English in the core curriculum. Elementary science is where you get scientists. Everybody in the space program, everybody who's a doctor got interested in science when he or she was seven or eight years old, before they were ten, not when they were 16 or 18. That's where you spend your money is science education in elementary levels. Now, people are opposed to core curriculum I believe for two reasons. One of them good and the other just not.

The first reason, my perception is they are afraid having these core curricula, these standards, prohibits teachers from having time to do other stuff that they're good at. It takes away from other things that a teacher brings to the party. And by that I mean what is your favorite thing about your favorite teacher? And it's his or her passion. It's his or her like I'm so excited about this I want you to get excited about this when you're a little kid or when you're any student at any level, even if you're a 58-year-old guy going to the Smithsonian to take a course in oceanography for fun. It's the passion of the person presenting it that gets you going. So, by having too many standards that have to be met too rigorously, the concern is, and I understand this, that you'll keep students from having any fun and getting excited about anything.

But the other reason people seem to be, my perception of what people don't like about core curricula is that it forces them to learn standard stuff when they could be teaching their kids things that are inconsistent with what we know about science. I'm talking about people that want to teach creationism instead of biology. And that's just bad. And the excuse or the justification is you don't want the government telling you what to do. We all have to learn the alphabet everybody. I'm sorry, if we're we're going to have a successful society, it's not an arbitrary arrangement of letters, you got to learn it. Sorry.

And the same way if you're asking me everybody's got to learn a little bit of physics, chemistry, mathematics and you got to learn some SKrashen: My response to Bill Nye (The Science Guy"): Standards OK but not the Common Core Standards:

Russ on Reading: Keeping Your Balance in Literacy Instruction

Russ on Reading: Keeping Your Balance in Literacy Instruction:

Keeping Your Balance in Literacy Instruction

By now veteran teachers are accustomed to the pendulum swing in literacy instruction that veers wildly from one new best practice to another, often recycling through a back to basics heavy emphasis on phonics and then swinging back to a more holistic comprehension strategies approach. With the advent of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) the pendulum has seemingly swung in another direction with the emphasis on students doing “close readings” of more challenging text so that they may be “college and career ready”, whatever that means.

The latest issue of Reading Today (September/October) that arrived on my desktop yesterday is a case in point. The swinging of the pendulum is on full display as Tim Shanahan, emeritus professor from the University of Illinois at Chicago, contributes an article entitled, Should We Teach Students at their Reading Levels? His answer is no. In the same issue a few pages further back, Jan Burkins and Kim Yaris have an article entitled, Break through the Frustration: Balance vs. all-or-nothing thinking. As the title implies, they argue for a balanced approach that includes plenty of on level guided reading.

What is the poor classroom teacher to do? How does the teacher maintain her balance as the pendulum swings seemingly out of control? Let’s see if we can make some sense of all this for the practitioner in this CCSS age.

Tim Shanahan is a very persuasive literacy expert. He writes and speaks well. Hs arguments are often thoughtful and clear and he makes his ideas easy to implement through his step-by-step instructional style. He is also often wrong and politically motivated. Shanahan is a big booster of the CCSS approach to Russ on Reading: Keeping Your Balance in Literacy Instruction:

On My Son’s First Day of Kindergarten: OurSchoolsAreNotFailing.org organizes communities to defend their schools from NCLB | I AM AN EDUCATOR

On My Son’s First Day of Kindergarten: OurSchoolsAreNotFailing.org organizes communities to defend their schools from NCLB | I AM AN EDUCATOR:

On My Son’s First Day of Kindergarten: OurSchoolsAreNotFailing.org organizes communities to defend their schools from NCLB

By I AM AN EDUCATOR on September 3, 2014

Today is the first day of school in Seattle. I have never been more excited and nervous for the first day because, not only do I start teaching, but my 5-year-old starts kindergarten! My son is so thrilled for his first day of school and our family feels so fortunate to have such a wonderful public school to send him to.

Unfortunately, the irreparably flawed No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has cast a shadow on what should be a joyous start to the year. As explained below, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan revoked the NCLB waiver for Washington state because our legislature would not tie teacher evaluations to test scores. Revoking the NCLB waiver then labelednearly every school in the state a failure and mandated that districts notify parents that their child attends a failing school.

My son’s school is not a failure. The school where I teach is not a failure. It is the test-and-punish policy of NCLB that is failing.

Thankfully, a new initiative from parents, students, educators, and community members has formed to stand up to Arne Duncan’s bullying of our schools called OurSchoolsAreNotFailing.org. Be sure tosign the petition in support Washington state’s schools, share your story on the website about the great work that occurs in your school, and read the following statement from theOurSchoolsAreNotFailing.org website:

Our Schools Are Not Failing: NCLB is Failing Us

This year, most school districts across Washington state were forced by Secretary Arne Duncan’s On My Son’s First Day of Kindergarten: OurSchoolsAreNotFailing.org organizes communities to defend their schools from NCLB | I AM AN EDUCATOR:

How Did Writing My Book Change My Own Opinions? | Dana Goldstein

How Did Writing My Book Change My Own Opinions? | Dana Goldstein:

How Did Writing My Book Change My Own Opinions?

Thanks to Nona Willis Aronowitz for a perceptive interview at NBC.com about The Teacher Wars:

Did any of your opinions change over the course of your research?

I started the project with the assumption that teachers are somewhat unfairly maligned and attacked in our public discourse. And I didn’t necessarily change my mind about that, but I did start to think more deeply about whether some of the attacks on teachers are in fact fair. This really came home to me when I was researching how teachers historically treat children of different races. We see that they often treat them differently, whether it’s the rigor of the curriculum that’s presented to kids or the expectations teachers have of how well a specific student will do, or how a teacher will discipline two children of different races for the same infraction.

I came to understand that this whole reform discussion about having high expectations for all students is very powerful. The teacher who has high expectations is going to see higher performance, especially from students of color and poor students. And that requires teachers to come to terms with their own biases and be aware of the cultural stereotypes that affect every single one of us.

Read the whole thing.

How Teachers Became Both Idealized and ResentedCheck out my interview about The Teacher Wars with Terry Gross of NPR’s Fresh Air: “One of the things I noticed, especially after the recession hit in 2008 and coming into President Obama’s administration, was we were having a big national conversation about inequality,” Goldstein tells Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross. “And teaching was something that was discussed again and again as a potential fix — a f

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PowerPoint Doesn’t Suck; 10 Ideas To Make it Great | Connected Principals

PowerPoint Doesn’t Suck; 10 Ideas To Make it Great | Connected Principals:

PowerPoint Doesn’t Suck; 10 Ideas To Make it Great

by George Couros • September 3, 2014 • 0 Comments

I have often heard of people saying, “we shouldn’t just keep teaching our kids PowerPoint anymore”‘ as if it is some terrible technology.  Presentation software (PowerPoint, HaikuDeck, Keynote, Prezi, etc.) is actually pretty simple once you get the hang of it, but as with many things surrounding the technology, we need to go way past how to create something, and focus on how we use it.

For example, if you create a PowerPoint with tons of text that is hard to read, and you simply copy and paste mass amounts of information into slide after slide, with no compelling visuals, the use of the technology is weal, not the technology itself.  It has done its job.  Now if we teach our students to use limited amount of characters, with great accompanying images, videos, and then work with them to have the ability to tell a story from those visuals, you would probably have much deeper learning from not only the student that created it, but also the students that have been able to hear the presentation as well.

If I wanted to read an essay, I wouldn’t necessarily want to read it from a PowerPoint.

Here are some of the quick tips that I would suggest in teaching these presentation skills:

1. I like to use a simple font throughout that is easy to read and consistent throughout.  That is a personal preference.
2. Try to stay away from text on a page longer than a tweet. There will be times where you will have to go beyond, but quick quotes can add a lot to a presentation.
3. I try to make “one point” per slide.  This is following the “less is more” idea where it is better to go deeper than to share a ton of ideas that no one will remember.  We want ideas to resonate.
4. Visuals with text are helpful if they help tell the story. I use Creative Commons to find images, rather than going to Google Images since it is important that we teach our students to use “copyleft” materials and provide attributionPowerPoint Doesn’t Suck; 10 Ideas To Make it Great | Connected Principals:

LA schools iPads: Superintendent Deasy explains Pearson, Apple meetings | 89.3 KPCC

LA schools iPads: Superintendent Deasy explains Pearson, Apple meetings | 89.3 KPCC:



LA schools iPads: Superintendent Deasy explains Pearson, Apple meetings

 More than a week after new questions arose regarding the bidding process for the 1:1 technology program, Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy sent a six-page memo to the school board Tuesday defending his actions and stating that neither he nor his staff violated any rules.

"I am often times asked to meet with current or potential vendors by Board Members – all appropriate in my responsibility to become aware of the best products and services for LAUSD," Deasy wrote.

On Aug. 22, KPCC published internal emails showing discussions between Deasy, other top school district staffers and executives at Pearson and Apple began nearly a year before the companies won the contract to equip every student with a tablet loaded with educational software. He canceled the contract last week and said he will put the project out for bid again.

Deasy has said publicly that the emails and meetings did not concern planning for the district's 1:1 technology program, but, rather, a pilot program. Pearson has said that pilot involved eight classrooms - which was contradicted by email discussions regarding training thousands of teachers.

In Tuesday's memo, Deasy said the emails concerned a different, paid pilot program that never launched. 

"Instead I believed that because we were less than one year away from full implementation of the new state standards and facing a totally new and different state assessment system--one that would require all state assessments to be taken electronically--we should not do any more pilots where some youths would have an advantage over others and instead we should provide content and technology for all of the LAUSD youth," the memo reads.

He said district officials also met with other vendors to explore a pilot.

"Specifically, Amplify was offered an opportunity to also pilot a no-cost trial of their curriculum materials and devices, however, it was determined that their prototype was not ready at that time," he wrote.

In the memo, Deasy said Pearson's software proposal was one of a kind. 

"There has never been an educational digital product that was designed and developed LA schools iPads: Superintendent Deasy explains Pearson, Apple meetings | 89.3 KPCC:

VAMs in U.S. Healthcare: A Parody |:

VAMs in U.S. Healthcare: A Parody

 Remember the AZ teacher who has written some great posts for us at VAMboozled (seehere and here)? She’s at it again. Read this one for an (unfortunately) humorous parody on the topic of VAMs and how they might also be used to evaluate America’s doctors.

We have a real problem in this country. People are dying. They are dying from heart and blood pressure related illnesses. They are dying from diabetes. In 2010, close to 70,000 people in the U.S. died from diabetes. For heart and blood-pressure related illnesses, the news is even worse: over 700,000 people died. Healthcare in this country is going down the tubes. And when you compare American healthcare with the healthcare in countries like Finland or other some Asian countries, the problem is made even clearer.

How did things get so out of control? And what can be done to fix the problem?

The answer lies in the research: doctors. Research has shown that a doctor’s intervention is the single most important factor in whether a patient lives or dies. Additionally, the research has shown that the quality of a doctor impacts patients’ health outcomes. The solution to our healthcare woes, then, is our doctors. Imagine a country where we have a high-quality doctor in each and every doctor’s office and hospital!

But how might we do this? And how might we ensure that every patient in the United States has access to a high-quality doctor?

Fortunately, we need not look far. The United States education system has, for some time now, been “successfully” using an evaluation system to ensure that every student in VAMs in U.S. Healthcare: A Parody |:

Brazile: It's all about the children by Donna Brazile | The Herald-News

Brazile: It's all about the children | The Herald-News:

Brazile: It's all about the children

Time and again, we hear this refrain from everyone who ever talks about education, from every angle. It’s been the purported basis of speeches, documentaries and now lawsuits.

But how can it be all about the children when you have some – under the guise of “education reform” – undermining America’s public schools?

As kids across the country go back to school, it’s time to get back to the basic values that bind us together. As one of the chairs of a new organization called Democrats for Public Education, I’m part of a group focused on just that – supporting public education. We believe in instilling critical thinking skills needed for 21st-century jobs and the new economy.

We support superior standards and finding ways to make classrooms challenging and rewarding for both teachers and students. And we’re committed to a level playing field for all with well-resourced schools responsive to the needs of our communities.

As a proud graduate of Louisiana’s public schools, I know the importance of a good public education. I know just how tough it is to make something of yourself when you start off with little or nothing. Right now, a galling 22 percent of children in America – the richest country in history – live in poverty, and nearly half come from low-income families struggling to meet basic needs. The only way we can break cycles of poverty, while revitalizing and growing our middle-class, is to support our public schools. Frankly, it’s the way we can provide a springboard for the working poor and preserve our American values.

Education is not a business. Students aren’t robots, and they shouldn’t be treated like assembly line workers at the test prep factory. Attempts to move our classrooms toward an unregulated, survival-of-the-fittest, business-first mentality ignores the purpose of education. Indeed, the very premise of “market-driven education reform” rests on a lie. It’s an outright fallacy that our public school system is in crisis and that the only solution is to let the market pick winners and losers. Our kids are not losers! We must measure success not by how children score on a narrow standardized test, but by how they deal with the varied tests of life.

Tests don’t inspire learning. Teachers and parents do. We should be championing educators as heroes. They’re the ones dedicating their lives to shaping young minds. They’re the ones in the classroom day in and day out. So when education professionals with decades of first-hand experience give constructive criticism, we should listen with open ears and an open mind. Simply put, they’re the ones who know best.

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When (A)=(B), neither is the lesser of two evils. | Reclaim Reform

When (A)=(B), neither is the lesser of two evils. | Reclaim Reform:

When (A)=(B), neither is the lesser of two evils.

Posted on September 2, 2014by Ken Previti

When (A)=(B), neither is the lesser of two evils.

When (D)=(R), neither can claim to be a Democrat or a Republican.

(Who ever said you would never find a use for algebra?)

When one has damaged public education, ignored the state Constitution, or broken contracts while the other promises to damage public education, ignore the state Constitution, and break contracts… Well, how does a voter choose between the lesser of two evils?

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is the (D), and billionaire Bruce Rauner is the (R).

Both are lining up money and political support by demonizing the other. FEAR. BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID. – of the other guy.

Why be so afraid? Rauner says Quinn did all of those things as he himself promises prosperity and the strength to make tough choices.

Why be so afraid? Quinn says Rauner will do all of those things as he himself promises prosperity and the strength to make tough choices.

If, there is any doubt about how much harm either can cause, look at their choices for When (A)=(B), neither is the lesser of two evils. | Reclaim Reform:

L.A. school board member Ratliff pushes for release of iPad report - LA Times

L.A. school board member Ratliff pushes for release of iPad report - LA Times:



L.A. school board member Ratliff pushes for release of iPad report

Los  Angeles school board member Monica Ratliff will seek the release of an internal probe into the decision to provide iPads to every student in the nation’s second-largest school system.



Officials had classified the report, by the school district’s inspector general, as a confidential investigation when it was completed earlier this year. But the Board of Education has the authority to make it public with a majority vote. Members have come under increased pressure to reveal its findings as new questions arise about the bidding process in the $1.3-billion effort.



Concerns about the contract and other issues prompted L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy last week to suspend new purchases under the Apple contract. He also authorized a new bidding process for future purchases. To date, the district has spent about $61 million to purchase 109,000 iPads and carts to store and charge the devices; 62,000 of these iPads have curriculum provided by education publishing giant Pearson under the same contract.



Ratliff's proposal, which she will make next week, would declassify “any report or reports prepared by its Office of the Inspector General relating to the procurement process” for the iPads. Her resolution would direct that future reports also be released “as soon as practicable.”



The proposal justifies the release because “there has been much public and media interest” and because the school board “seeks to promote transparency regarding the procurement of computing devices” that will be used with L.A. school board member Ratliff pushes for release of iPad report - LA Times: