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Friday, September 26, 2014

People Protest Unprecedented Plan To Privatize All Public Schools In York | PopularResistance.Org

People Protest Unprecedented Plan To Privatize All Public Schools In York | PopularResistance.Org:



People Protest Unprecedented Plan To Privatize All Public Schools In York

York School privatization protest


By Staff, www.PopularResistance.org
September 26th, 2014



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Above: Protest against public school privatization. Above and all photos from Flickr.
York, PA is considering a plan to turn some or all of its schools into charter schools, also known as privatized schools fund ed by the public. An all-charter school switch would be unprecedented in the nation.York protest charter equals segregation Seven providers submitted proposals to the school district this summer and has been narrowed down to two operators. The Community Education Council will rank each proposal and present them to the school board. David Meckley, the district’s Chief Recovery Officer, says he will make a recommendation on how to proceed by October.
York students, educators and families are fighting against the plan by politicians to completely privatize York City public schools. Those involved with the rally included the employee unions, the York NAACP, and York Concerned Clergy.  
The Rev. Aaron Willford, a former member of the city school board, told YDR.com “The main message is to say no to those who (want) to charterize schools,” adding that children shouldn’t be “guinea pigs.”York protest full charter is not a choice They held a rally protesting privatization on Sept. 17, 2014 and again on Sept. 24, 2014.
YDR.com reports: “Some at the rally questioned the track records of the two operators being considered and decried the idea of bringing in for-profit companies to run schools.”  Nikiyah Perry, a senior at William Penn Senior High School, said ‘They say charters are here to give you choice, but if you take away the public school option what choice do you have?”
YDR.com reports “The two operators being considered — Charter Schools USA and Mosaica Education — appeared at a Community Education Council meeting. Beforehand, community members marched at a rally organized by the York NAACP, a group of concerned clergy and district employees.
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Choosing Democracy: Tuck hedges on Proposition 30 school funding extension

Choosing Democracy: Tuck hedges on Proposition 30 school funding extension:



Tuck hedges on Proposition 30 school funding extension

from the Sacramento Bee.  By Alexei Koseff

Published: Thursday, Sep. 25, 2014 - 10:50 pm
State schools chief challenger Marshall Tuck would be open to extending Proposition 30, the temporary school funding tax hike passed by California voters in 2012, but only if it’s tied to other changes to the state’s public education system.
“If you just do the money piece, it’s actually not a great use of taxpayer money,” he said following a speech to the Sacramento Press Club on Thursday.


Tom Torlakson
The initiative has generated billions for education funding by imposing a quarter-cent sales tax increase through 2016 and raising the income tax rate for California’s highest earners through 2018. Tuck said that money was essential for schools coming out of the tremendous budget cuts of the recession, but would not be enough to improve the low national rankings of the state’s public schools.
“We need more funding,” he told the press club, but “we’ve got to prove that we can use that money well” before the state asks the public for more.
Incumbent Tom Torlakson has already called for an  extension of the tax hikes and considers passage of the measure one of the signature accomplishments of his first term.


“We’re not using the money well now,” he added, suggesting that California give school districts more flexibility on how they direct the funding into classrooms and increase accountability for how it is spent. He did not have a specific idea of changes he would want to tie to extending Proposition 30.
Incumbent Tom Torlakson has already called for an  extension of the tax hikes and considers passage of the measure one of the signature accomplishments of his first term.
“Every option has to be on the table when it comes to providing the resources that our schools need, and that has been Tom's mantra since he took office,” Torlakson campaign spokesman Paul Hefner said.
“Marshall Tuck was missing in action when schools were in desperate financial straits,” Hefner added, referring to the Proposition 30 campaign. “When we need everyone working together to convey that the way our schools can improve is by investing in them, it’s a little disappointing” that Tuck is criticizing the work others did.Choosing Democracy: Tuck hedges on Proposition 30 school funding extension:
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Cali Education Headlines 9-26-14 – California School Information Services

Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team | CSIS – California School Information Services:






Education Headlines


Note: 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.
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Russ on Reading: Whither the Joy of Reading?

Russ on Reading: Whither the Joy of Reading?:



Whither the Joy of Reading?

The act of coming to be a reader is infinitely complex. So complex that any attempt to talk about teaching reading is ultimately inadequate. This is certainly true of the recent article I wrote for theWashington Post Answer Sheet. The purpose of that piece was to take a close look at some research purporting the benefits of “frustration level reading” and to argue for the necessity of instruction for students on the instructional level. 

Some readers/commenters on this piece asked a good question: What about the joy of reading? Aren’t we likely to be more successful if we forget all this instructional mumbo-jumbo and focus on the joy?

Of course, the joy of reading matters and it matters a great deal. As Mark Twain has said, “The [person] who can read and chooses not to, has no advantage over the [person] who cannot read.” So yes, the joy of reading, the sheer pleasure of a good book well read, matters. There are those who argue that the biggest literacy problem in this country is not people who cannot read, but people who do not. But while joy is necessary to building a reader, it is not sufficient.

At the risk, again, of oversimplifying this complex process, allow me to posit the three most necessary instructional aspects of making a reader. Each of these is necessary, but of itself, not sufficient.

1.    Developing in the reader the ability to smoothly and fluently process the visual, structural and semantic clues provided by the words of the text. (decoding)
2.    Developing in the reader the ability to comprehend that text on a literal, inferential and evaluative level. (comprehending)
3.    Developing in the reader a deep sense of the life-long joy that can be found through reading a wide variety of books for entertainment and information. (motivating)

While it is true that many children come to reading with minimal Russ on Reading: Whither the Joy of Reading?:
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9-26-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:







Friday Open Thread
This has (and continues to be) an interesting week for me as I stump against the two preschool measures.  More on this to come.From SPS:Hello West Seattle Families, Due to potential family scheduling conflicts, Seattle Public Schools is rescheduling the Monday, Sept. 29, Superintendent meet and greet at the Neighborhood House in West Seattle. We’ve recently learned the Seattle Housing Authority is
by Melissa Westbrook / 40min 




9-25-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Garfield Cancels all Field Trips for the School YearPrincipal Ted Howard II and the Garfield PTSA sent out this message today. It's confusing because he says there will be no field trips "for the current school year" (which would be 2014-2015) but then says it may change in Jan. 2015, depending on the recommendations of the taskforce.  Apparently he didn'
1 by mike simpson / 9min 
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9-26-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):






LAUSD places 9 schools among top 75 in county ‘Challenge Index’
LAUSD places 9 schools among top 75 in county ‘Challenge Index’ Los Angeles School for Enriched Studies Washington Post education reporter Jay Mathews took an in-depth look at Los Angeles County this month when he applied his Challenge Index rankings and came up with a list of the top 75 schools. The results may surprise some, as Mathews noted that only six schools on the list are private, and the
3 by Craig Clough / 58min 

Trouble for the superintendent? It’s a pattern in LA Unified
Trouble for the superintendent? It’s a pattern in LA Unified Uncertainties surround LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy. He doesn’t see eye-to-eye with board members on a host of issues. Questions are swirling about whether he’ll quit or be fired. That was last year. But here he is again, weeks away from his next performance review, and not much has changed. This time, Deasy finds himself at the
2 by Vanessa Romo / 19min hide  //  save
LAUSD’s Beyond the Bell program wins prestigious Air Force award
LAUSD’s Beyond the Bell program wins prestigious Air Force award LA Unified’s Beyond the Bell program received some national recognition last week when it was honored with the prestigious Hoyt S. Vandenberg Award from the Air Force Association. The program was the first educational institution to receive the award, which for 66 years has recognized achievements by individuals or institutions in th
2 by Craig Clough / 1h 
Morning Read: Bond panel gives thumbs down to new computers
Morning Read: Bond panel gives thumbs down to new computers L.A. Unified oversight panel rejects $42 million for computers The Los Angeles school district’s bond oversight panel rejected a move Thursday by officials to spend an additional $42 million on new computers. LA Times Crenshaw principal says teachers’ dismissals not tied to union activity The principal of Crenshaw High School testified i
2 30min 

9-25-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD
LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): 4 LAUSD elementary schools in pilot to improve safety for kids4 LAUSD elementary schools in pilot to improve safety for kids City Attorney Mike Feuer Getting safely to and from school can be tricky in a rough neighborhood. To make it easier, City Attorney Mike Feuer launched a pilot program earlier this m
1 by mike simpson / 19h 


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Why Didn’t LAUSD Perform A Tech Review Before iPad/MiSiS Purchase?

Why Didn’t LAUSD Perform A Tech Review Before iPad/MiSiS Purchase?:



Why Didn’t LAUSD Perform A Tech Review Before iPad/MiSiS Purchase?

 BY  LEAVE A COMMENT
Bad ed tech deals continue to plague LAUSD — currently starting its second month of meltdown, the MiSiS student tracking and class scheduling software mandated by a court-ordered consent decree is a ticking time bomb for high school seniors who need transcripts in order to apply to college and finish classes in order to graduate in June. Special education students, for whom the tracking software was originally developed, are no better served than before the launch of the latest version of the software.
So it’s worth looking to see what kind of due diligence LAUSD did before embarking on its ill-advised iPad purchase under Superintendent Deasy. The Superintendent recently suddenly canceled the iPad contract with Apple and Pearson upon exposure of his chummy emails in 2011 and 2012 with the vendors who ultimately won the lucrative contract in July 2013.
The FCMAT, or Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, is a quasi-governmental agency created by the California legislature to act as an independent, external source of reliable fiscal and other information as school districts seek information to keep them well-managed and in good fiscal health. FCMAT helps districts with budget issues and performs audits and technology reviews upon request.According to the information on the FCMAT website,
The mission of the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team is to help California’s local educational agencies fulfill their financial and management responsibilities by providing fiscal advice, management assistance, training and other related school business services. The Kern County Superintendent of Schools office exists as the administrative and fiscal agent for FCMAT which currently operates within the context of several areas of the California Education Code, primarily those sections having to do with AB 1200 and AB 2756 oversight (EC 42127.1-.8, EC 41326, EC 41327). FCMAT reports to a board of directors comprised of one county superintendent and one district superintendent from each of the state’s 11 service regions. A representative of the California Department of Education also is on the board. Assembly Bill 1200 (AB1200) created FCMAT in 1991. The team can assist county offices of education in understanding their fiscal monitoring duties as required by AB1200, sometimes suggesting specific methods of 
Why Didn’t LAUSD Perform A Tech Review Before iPad/MiSiS Purchase?:
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9-26-14 Curmudgucation - The Financial Fantasies of Choice

CURMUDGUCATION:







The Missing Link in the Reading Debate

The debate du jour is about reading, begun in the Intelligence Squared debate, continued through Carol Burris's follow-up column, and followed up by literacy expert Russ Walsh. Okay, it's debate in the sense that disagreements between regular scientists and the Flat Earth Society are debates. Over at the Fordham, Robert Pondiscio offered his two cents which Mike Petrilli on twitter called a "
4 by Peter Greene / 13min 


9-25-14 Curmudgucation - The Financial Fantasies of Choice
CURMUDGUCATION: The Financial Fantasies of Choice(Originally posted at View from the Cheap Seats) Proponents of choice systems, whether they're talking about charters or vouchers, depend on certain financial fictions to make their case. Like beach-bound vampires wearing SPF 110 sunscreen, these robust and rigorous fictions just won't die. Let's examine some of these dancing unicorns of the choice
1 by mike simpson / 19h 




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Nice piece of writing by Chicago high school teacher and Louder Than a Bomb - Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog:



Nice piece of writing by Chicago high school teacher and Louder Than a Bomb





 Nice piece of writing by Chicago high school teacher and Louder Than a Bomb poetry coach,Dave Stieber at Huffington, "Lessons Learned in Englewood: 8 Years of Reflections From a CPS Teacher". Worth sharing with my students and fellow educators.


Dave Stieber's I Teach website is here.

THE POINT OF PRODUCTION... I did some classroom walk-throughs and observations (not evaluations) with a middle school principal yesterday. Watched him interact and give good, welcomed feedback to teachers. He's trying to help build a professional community based on trust and collaboration.

The classroom, for him, is where most good discussions of school improvement and teaching/learning start. But few principals I see are prepared or have the time or inclination to be instructional leaders, coaches, connoisseurs of good teaching, and many of the new ones, coming out of the power philanthropists' training programs, have little teaching experience themselves. They're increasingly sent in to become building managers and ramrods. Walk-throughs and observations, little Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog:
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Misusing Data in Regard to Public Schools

Misusing Data in Regard to Public Schools:



Drowing-in-Data

Misusing Data in Regard to Public Schools

 BY  LEAVE A COMMENT
Data collection could be used positively and  privately to lift students and teachers and create great public schools. But the fear is that data is currently misused in many ways. Data has also been used to misrepresent America’s schools. Parents have often been deceived, or data collection has been a waste of time because the results have not been used to benefit students. Sometimes data collection is scary.
Like when children in communities around the country came home talking about a survey they took in class. Parents, most of whom hadn’t heard their kids were taking a survey, learned some of the questions were too personal for their taste.
The Tripod, created by a Harvard professor and peddled by the MET project (Gates Foundation) asks children personal questions about their families, for example: how many adults and children live with them, how many books they have in their home/bedroom, and how many years of school the adult with the most education in their home has.
The Tripod also wants to get to know teachers. Here is a sample of the student questions for that:
Early Elementary (K-2) survey:
  • In this class, we learn a lot almost every day.
  • My classmates act the way my teacher wants them to.
Upper Elementary survey:
  • My teacher wants me to explain my answers – why I think what I think.
  • In this class, we learn to correct our mistakes.
Secondary survey:
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How Was The Atlanta Cheating Scandal Was Uncovered - Business Insider

How Was The Atlanta Cheating Scandal Was Uncovered - Business Insider:



Here's How An Alleged Cheating Ring That Could Send Atlanta Teachers To Prison Was Uncovered



Beverly Hall Atlanta schools cheating superintendent


Beverly Hall holds up her award after she was named the 2009 Superintendent of the Year.

A jury has been chosen in an extremely rare criminal cheating prosecution against Atlanta educators, and it all started with a local reporter who noticed "miraculous" test scores.

Prosecutors are using a law originally enacted to go after mobsters to accuse former principals, teachers, and administrators of trying to boost their bonuses by conspiring to artificially raise kids' test scores. While only 12 ex-educators are on trial in Atlanta, dozens of teachers and administrators were initially charged and many have since pleaded guilty in exchange for their cooperation.

The dozen on trial could get up to 20 years in prison, and they might never have been prosecuted if it weren't for a pair of ambitious reporters at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC).

Back in 2008, Heather Vogell, now a reporter for ProPublica, noticed unusual gains at some schools on a standardized test called the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). As she explained to the Huffington Post, the gains seemed unbelievable even to the naked eye.

The article she ended up publishing in December 2008 with computer-assisted reporting specialist John Perry is alarming. That initial article looked at unlikely gains at several schools, including Atherton Elementary School, where nearly 88% of the kids were living in poverty as of 2010. Half of the school's 5th graders had failed the CRCT in the spring of 2008. The 32 kids were all forced to retake the test. Every single one of them passed, and 26 scored at the highest level, Vogell and Perry wrote. More from that article:

A miracle occurred at Atherton Elementary this summer, if its standardized math test scores are to be believed ...

No other Georgia fifth grade pulled off such a feat in the past three years. It was, as one researcher put it, as extraordinary as a snowstorm in July. In Atlanta.

Of course, Atherton was only a small part of the story. Vogell told HuffPost that the story prompted a number of teachers to contact her about rampant cheating at Atlanta's schools under the leadership of Superintendent Beverly Hall, who was indicted along with dozens of others. The AJC kept digging into the story.


A student walks down the street while leaving Gideons Elementary School Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011 in Atlanta.

Meanwhile, the state of Georgia conducted its own investigation, which in 2011 uncovered cheating at 44 schools that involved at least 178 educators, according to The New York Times. That investigation relied largely on a third-grade teacher named Jackie Parks, who admitted to state investigator Richard Hyde that she had sat with six teachers in a windowless room to change test answers the week of state testing.

Parks agreed to wear a wire to school and record her fellow teachers.

"During his 35 years as a Georgia state investigator, Richard Hyde has persuaded all sorts of criminals — corrupt judges, drug dealers, money launderers, racketeers — to turn state’s evidence, but until Jackie Parks, he had never tried to flip an elementary school teacher," The Times reported in March 2013. "It worked."

The current trial is expected to take months, and the potentially high penalties against a group

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-was-the-atlanta-cheating-scandal-was-uncovered-2014-9#ixzz3ERBCiHyr

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U.S. Education Department opens civil rights investigation of New Orleans public school closures | NOLA.com

U.S. Education Department opens civil rights investigation of New Orleans public school closures | NOLA.com:



U.S. Education Department opens civil rights investigation of New Orleans public school closures






 The U.S. Education Department has opened an investigation into charges that the Recovery School District's policy of closing and chartering New Orleans public schools violated the civil rights of African-American students. The complaint, filed in May, said African-American students were disproportionately affected by the Recovery system's decision to close its final five conventional public schools in New Orleans, and that the system did not provide good alternatives for displaced students.

The Education Department's Office of Civil Rights "has determined the allegations are appropriate for investigation," wrote Paul Coxe, regional civil rights supervisor, in a letter that the complainants shared with NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Coxe emphasized that "opening the allegations for investigation in no way implies that OCR has made a determination with regard to the merits."
It could be months before the investigation ends, although the Education Department aims to "resolve complaints within 180 days of their receipt," a federal official said. Complex cases might take longer.
Louisiana Education Superintendent John White said that in the past six years, the federal Office of Civil Rights has resolved 42 of 76 complaints alleging racially discriminatory school closures but required systemic changes in only one case. Raymonde Charles of the U.S. Education Department confirmed the data.
Bradshaw said the federal department aims to "resolve complaints within 180 days of their receipt," though complex cases may take longer.
Among the May allegations were:
  • The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and Recovery system have closed conventional public schools -- which are almost 100 percent African-American -- even when they are improving, but allowed their few whiter schools to remain open despite struggles with academics and management.
  • New Orleans' best public schools have policies that tacitly exclude African-American students. For instance, Edward Hynes and Lusher give priority admission to families who live in their comparatively white neighborhoods.
  • OneApp, the centralized enrollment system for Recovery system and Orleans Parish School Board schools, has become an instrument for exclusion because the best schools aren't on it.
Furthermore, the complaint asserts, it's no accident. "The racial disparity caused by RSD's policy of school closures, authorized by BESE and implemented by LDOE, provides circumstantial evidence of intentional discrimination," the complaint says.
Recovery Superintendent Patrick Dobard disagreed. "Our system of schools in New Orleans seeks to protect the basic civil rights of all students to receive a quality education," he said. "We are confident that the USDOE's OCR shares our commitment to ensuring all students in New Orleans have access to a high-quality school." He also said the percentage of New Orleans' African American youth in failing schools had plummeted since 2005.  
A Board of Elementary and Secondary Education spokesman, Kevin Calbert, would not comment on the investigation. 
In May, White dismissed the complaint as "a joke," saying it was part of a national, politically motivated push by labor unions to regain power in cities where they have lost ground or are fighting with education leadership. Similar complaints were filed the U.S. Education Department opens civil rights investigation of New Orleans public school closures | NOLA.com:
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'Don't Know Much about History': Is Denver the Start of a New Student Movement? | Yohuru Williams

'Don't Know Much about History': Is Denver the Start of a New Student Movement? | Yohuru Williams:



'Don't Know Much about History': Is Denver the Start of a New Student Movement?

DENVER PROTEST




A walkout by students in Denver on Tuesday is just the latest in a series of peaceful student-led protests across the nation aimed at challenging the corrosive effects of corporate education reform. Reportedly, proposed changes to the history curriculum sparked the action. That plan requires teachers to restructure the curriculum to emphasize chapters in American History portraying the nation only in the most positive light. To do so, an oversight committee will examine texts and lesson plans to certify that they "promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials, and benefits of the free-market system, respect for authority, and respect for individual rights" and not "encourage or condone civil disorder, social strike or disregard of the law."
In response to criticism, Denver School Board member Julie Williams, author of the proposal explained: "There are things we may not be proud of as Americans, but we shouldn't be encouraging our kids to think that America is a bad place."
There is a certain irony to Williams's words. Much of what corporate education reformers attempt to force on communities, in terms of budget cuts, the assault on teacher tenure, and the adoption of questionable instructional models, undermines the very essence of American democracy. Such measures compromise free speech, due process and now the First Amendment right to take action-demanding redress. A teacher protest last Friday, over issues of compensation and evaluation methods, in which close to half of Jefferson County's high school teachers called in sick or took personal days and forced the cancellation of classes preceded the student actions. From the perspective of many in the community the protests, though disruptive, finally demonstrated the seriousness of the issues and secured the school board's attention.
The proposal and Williams's response come at a time when students nationwide are demonstrating just how well they have absorbed those civics and history lessons -- subject areas, which receive far less instructional time because they are not always tested. Not surprisingly, for instance, the Denver proposal began with Advanced Placement United States History, because in many districts AP courses constitute the only sustained foray into U.S. History for students. In many communities, history and social studies have become almost an afterthought to math and science. Yet, in what may be the most important test, students are making the connection between what is happening in their schools and their role in what is still a participatory democracy.
The phenomenon is not new but is becoming more widespread. In Providence, Rhode Island, for instance, the Providence Student Union led the charge against corporate education reform with a mission statement declaring their intent to "build the collective power of students" and "ensure youth have a real say in the decisions 'Don't Know Much about History': Is Denver the Start of a New Student Movement? | Yohuru Williams:

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