Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 1/27/15

CORPORATE ED REFORM

Legislator proposes new credentials for dance, theater teachers | 89.3 KPCC

Legislator proposes new credentials for dance, theater teachers | 89.3 KPCC: Legislator proposes new credentials for dance, theater teachersIn an effort to increase the number of public schools offering theater and dance classes and to lure more dance and theater professionals to teaching, Santa Monica-area State Senator Ben Allen unveiled a bill on Wednesday to create, for the first time, teachin

by mike simpson / 1min 

Who is stealing from teachers? Sh-h-h. It’s a trade secret. | Reclaim Reform

Who is stealing from teachers? Sh-h-h. It’s a trade secret. | Reclaim Reform: Who is stealing from teachers? Sh-h-h. It’s a trade secret.After several years of being made to seem like another crazy “conspiracy theory” by corporate media coverage of teacher pension theft, the pension theft pattern has emerged into the open. There can no longer be a conspiracy (secret plan of destruction) theory whe

by mike simpson / 7min 

Schools Matter: Alabama Leads the Way toward 19th Century Education

Schools Matter: Alabama Leads the Way toward 19th Century Education: Alabama Leads the Way toward 19th Century EducationEver heard of an adjunct K-12 teacher?  I had not, either, until Alabama defined it for me, as someone with at least a high school diploma teaching part-time in an Alabama public school.Someone who is not a certified teacher can now teach your children in Alabama.The State Board

by mike simpson / 23min 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Food for Thought - Talking About Teachers

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Food for Thought - Talking About Teachers: Food for Thought - Talking About TeachersTacoma School District's Nate Bowling was recently selected as Washington State's Teacher of the Year.  Mr. Bowling teaches at Tacoma's Lincoln High (which is a success story unto itself.)  He teaches AP Government & Politics and AP Human Geography.  He is one of four finalists

by mike simpson / 28min 

Oh My! Charter schools founder Steve Barr weighs 2017 challenge to Garcetti - LA Times

Charter schools founder Steve Barr weighs 2017 challenge to Garcetti - LA Times:Green Dot Charter Schools founder Steve Barr weighs 2017 challenge to Garcettie founder of a prominent chain of Los Angeles charter schools said Wednesday he is considering running for mayor in 2017, the second person in as many days to muse aloud about challenging incumbent Mayor Eric Garcetti.Steve Barr, who establis

by mike simpson / 1h 

Great Schools Partnership and the Covert Agenda of Assessment Reform – Save Maine Schools

Great Schools Partnership and the Covert Agenda of Assessment Reform – Save Maine Schools: Great Schools Partnership and the Covert Agenda of Assessment ReformDuring a required workshop on proficiency-based education this Monday, I spent most of the day moving between anger and awe at the way this billionaire-funded agenda has made its way so seamlessly into our gymnasium, into every school in Mai

by mike simpson / 1h 

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Who's behind National School Choice Week?

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Who's behind National School Choice Week?: Who's behind National School Choice Week?Launched five years ago by the Gleason Family Foundation—which spent more than $4.3 million on the project in 2014, Nat'l School Choice Week has grown rapidly through the backing of advocacy groups and deep pockets of funders focused on promoting charters, vouchers, and tax credi

by mike simpson / 3h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Little Village schools fighting school crowding hold the line

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Little Village schools fighting school crowding hold the line: Little Village schools fighting school crowding hold the lineCommunity activists gather outside Saucedo/Telpochcalli to demand that CPS postpone its co-location plan. I'm told that CPS has pulled its plan to move Spry Community Links High School into Saucedo/Telpochcalli, off the agenda of the February bo

by mike simpson / 3h 

John Thompson The Gig Economy: Potential promise and pitfalls - NonDoc

The Gig Economy: Potential promise and pitfalls - NonDoc: The Gig Economy: Potential promise and pitfallsLinguist Geoff Nunberg announced his word of the year on NPR’s Fresh Air, and he nailed it: Nunberg’s choice is “gig.”For over a century, gig was “slang for a date or engagement.” In the 1950s, hipsters and the Beats used the term for “any job you took to keep body and soul together while your

by mike simpson / 6h 

Horror Inside Pt. 2: Charter Teacher Turns Whistleblower #SCW – Cloaking Inequity

Horror Inside Pt. 2: Charter Teacher Turns Whistleblower #SCW – Cloaking Inequity: Horror Inside Pt. 2: Charter Teacher Turns Whistleblower #SCWToday Cloaking Inequity concludes an exclusive story written by Jennifer Ventimiglia, a veteran charter school teacher. This post is the continuation of the story that began in the post Horror Inside: A No Excuses Charter School #SCWAfter school on Friday,

by mike simpson / 7h 

Have You Heard? | EduShyster

Have You Heard? | EduShyster: Have You Heard?The podcast series that I’ve been talking about forever is finally a real thing…Reader—or make that, listener: the day that really seemed as though it would never arrive is finally here! You can actually listen to the inaugural episode of our new podcast series,Have You Heard, as soon as you finish reading this page. The concept is simple: the debate ov

by mike simpson / 7h 

In Sacramento, Parents Pitching In

Parents Pitching In:Parents Pitching InIn Sacramento, the school district is getting moms and dads involved, which helps their kids—and the schools When Judy Mont­gomery’s daugh­ter star­ted kinder­garten in 1984, she did what came nat­ur­ally: She joined a par­ent coun­cil at her Sac­ra­mento school. “I just star­ted vo­lun­teer­ing and tak­ing on lead­er­ship roles,” she said. “It’s what my mom

by mike simpson / 7h 

City charter suit caught up in high court turmoil

City charter suit caught up in high court turmoil: City charter suit caught up in high court turmoil A charter-schools suit with major financial implications for the Philadelphia School District is one of 27 cases caught up in the turnover of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.Back in September 2014, the court heard arguments in the case that centers on the School Reform Commission's authority to mana

by mike simpson / 7h 

How Math Class Has Evolved From the Progressive-Education Movement to the Common Core - The Atlantic

How Math Class Has Evolved From the Progressive-Education Movement to the Common Core - The Atlantic: The Man Who Tried to Kill Math in AmericaOne educators’ reform efforts in the early 20th century say a lot about current attacks on the Common Core.The Common Core math standards have been contentious since they were launched several years ago, with many parents taking to social media to complain

by mike simpson / 8h 

EXCLUSIVE: Common Core and ESSA: Part 9 | Diane Ravitch's blog

EXCLUSIVE: Common Core and ESSA: Part 9 | Diane Ravitch's blog: EXCLUSIVE: Common Core and ESSA: Part 9This is the ninth and final installment in a series of exchanges about the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). I wrote the questions, and David P. Cleary, chief of staff to Senator Lamar Alexander, wrote the answers.I may have overlooked important issues. David has agreed to write a follow-up post

by mike simpson / 8h 

Gambling on Fast-Track Teachers in Nevada and Beyond and Personalized Learning

Gambling on Fast-Track Teachers in Nevada and Beyond and Personalized Learning: Gambling on Fast-Track Teachers in Nevada and Beyond and Personalized LearningNevada school officials claim they can’t find 1,000 teachers to fill their classrooms.Education Week is claiming this isn’t much different than what’s found in the rest of the country. In the middle of it all you will think about Personalized

by mike simpson / 9h 

Our Fading Understanding of the Common Good | janresseger

Our Fading Understanding of the Common Good | janresseger:Our Fading Understanding of the Common Good At the top of this blog is a quote from the late Senator Paul Wellstone, who describes our “nation of citizens called to a common purpose… tied to one another by a common bond.”  Wellstone is defining the idea of public responsibility—the common good.  A quaint notion these days. Think about the v

by mike simpson / 9h 

With A Brooklyn Accent: Fordham Alumni For Change Moving Forward

With A Brooklyn Accent: Fordham Alumni For Change Moving Forward: Fordham Alumni For Change Moving ForwardGreat meeting last night of Fordham Alumni for Change. We had alumni there from the class of 1971, 1979, 1997, 2000, 2004 along with one Fordham senior and several more recent grads Marlene Taylor-Ponterotto brought the food and we had many productive discussions about strategy. For those alum

by mike simpson / 9h 

Snake Oil (and vouchers) Don't Work. Community Schools, Do! - Lily's Blackboard

Snake Oil (and vouchers) Don't Work. Community Schools, Do! - Lily's Blackboard: Snake Oil (and vouchers) Don’t Work. Community Schools, Do!It’s fitting that “National School Choice Week,” the annual promotion of vouchers, tuition tax credits, and other schemes that siphon money from public schools and take opportunities away from students, falls in January. Everything about “school choice” leaves

by mike simpson / 9h 

CPS seeks $10 million from convicted Barbara Byrd-Bennett

CPS seeks $$$ from BBB:CPS seeks $$$ from BBBChicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool is demanding that his convicted predecessor, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, reimburse the cash-strapped school district about $10 million — or triple the salary she was paid at CPS and the kickbacks promised her.Last fall, Byrd-Bennett pleaded guilty to a scheme to get a 10 percent kickback from contracts granted to SU

by mike simpson / 9h 

Marcos Breton can’t stop talking Mayor Kevin Johnson | The Sacramento Bee

Marcos Breton: Sacramento can’t stop talking business | The Sacramento Bee: Marcos Breton: Sacramento can’t stop talking businessEven though some of his foes despise him and always will, Mayor Kevin Johnson has been good for the business of Sacramento.His term ends this year and new candidates are vying to replace him, yet Johnson is likely to announce new investment for Sacramento at his State of

by mike simpson / 10h 

A Look at the Education Crisis | Center for American Progress

A Look at the Education Crisis | Center for American Progress: A Look at the Education CrisisTests, Standards, and the Future of American EducationEndnotes and citations are available in the PDF and Scribd versions.Download the report: PDFDownload introduction & summary: PDFRead it in your browser: ScribdIn many ways standards-based school reform is at a crossroads. On one side, the movement h

by mike simpson / 10h 

As charter school expansion continues, regulatory oversight varies: tips for digging into local education - Reynolds Center

As charter school expansion continues, regulatory oversight varies: tips for digging into local education - Reynolds Center:As charter school expansion continues, regulatory oversight varies: tips for digging into local education Backed by wealthy advocacy groups like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation, charter school proponents have long touted the schools as t

by mike simpson / 10h 

Infrastructure Failures, Like Flint, Are a Crisis For Black America - The Root

Infrastructure Failures, Like Flint, Are a Crisis For Black America - The Root: Infrastructure Failures, Like Flint, Are a Crisis For Black America Flint Michigan's water crisis is a prime example of institutional neglect compounding a crumbling infrastructure.The City of Flint Water Plant is illuminated by moonlight on January 23, 2016 in Flint, Michigan. A federal state of emergency has been dec

by mike simpson / 10h 

YESTERDAY

Ashana Bigard: An Insider’s View of Post-Katrina New Orleans Public Education | deutsch29

Ashana Bigard: An Insider’s View of Post-Katrina New Orleans Public Education | deutsch29: Ashana Bigard: An Insider’s View of Post-Katrina New Orleans Public EducationOn January 14 and 15, 2016, renowned education blogger and ed reform podcaster extraordinaire, Jennifer Berkshire, visited me during her time in town to conduct some interviews in New Orleans.In the course of her meetings, she ended

1 by mike simpson / 20h hide  //  save

Top 10 Reasons School Choice is No Choice | gadflyonthewallblog

Top 10 Reasons School Choice is No Choice | gadflyonthewallblog: Top 10 Reasons School Choice is No ChoiceOn the surface of it, school choice sounds like a great idea.Parents will get to shop for schools and pick the one that best suits their children.Oh! Look, Honey! This one has an exceptional music program! That one excels in math and science! The drama program at this one is first in the state

1 by mike simpson / 21h 

CURMUDGUCATION: UT Offers Gobbledeegook Education Program

CURMUDGUCATION: UT Offers Gobbledeegook Education Program:UT Offers Gobbledeegook Education ProgramHere's one for the Has To Be Seen To Be Believed file, or perhaps the Ugly manhandling of English Language file, or most especially, the Why Regular People Don't Listen To Academics file.The University of Texas is launching a... well, to be honest, I'm not sure. Some kind of MOOC. A newly tech-based

1 by mike simpson / 22h 

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 1/26/15

CORPORATE ED REFORMCalifornia School Boards Association says the State is Violating Students’ Rights by Stiffing public schools | EdSourcePlaintiff in lawsuit updates costs of inadequate funding | EdSource: Plaintiff in lawsuit updates costs of inadequate fundingThe California School Boards Association has updated spending numbers from studies published a decade ago to support the argument its att

16 by mike simpson / 23h 

Legislator proposes new credentials for dance, theater teachers | 89.3 KPCC

Legislator proposes new credentials for dance, theater teachers | 89.3 KPCC:

Legislator proposes new credentials for dance, theater teachers

In an effort to increase the number of public schools offering theater and dance classes and to lure more dance and theater professionals to teaching, Santa Monica-area State Senator Ben Allen unveiled a bill on Wednesday to create, for the first time, teaching credentials in those subjects.

“Our message today is that we recognize the specialized training needed for dance and theater, that we value it, like we value these disciplines, like we value our teachers, our student, and our state,” said Allen, surrounded by half a dozen arts advocates at a Sacramento news conference.

Those supporters said the current teacher credentialing process – under which which a teacher who wants to teach theater must earn a credential in English and a dance teacher must earn a physical education license – must change.

Requiring dance teachers to credential in physical education puts the focus of instruction on athleticism and skill building, said Nancy Ng, a past president of theCalifornia Dance Education Association. But “dance as art focuses on creativity, problem solving, and the communication of new ideas, all attributes California kids need as global citizens,” she said. 

Moreover, Ng said that California's system is leading many people who’ve studied theater and dance to go to other states to earn stand-alone credentials in those subjects, and many stay in those states to teach.

The bill, if passed, would direct the California Commission on Teacher Credentialingto begin a process to convene experts in those fields to draw up a new credentialing process and to get feedback from teacher education programs and school districts. The bill would allow current dance and theater teachers to continueLegislator proposes new credentials for dance, theater teachers | 89.3 KPCC:

Who is stealing from teachers? Sh-h-h. It’s a trade secret. | Reclaim Reform

Who is stealing from teachers? Sh-h-h. It’s a trade secret. | Reclaim Reform:

Who is stealing from teachers? Sh-h-h. It’s a trade secret.

After several years of being made to seem like another crazy “conspiracy theory” by corporate media coverage of teacher pension theft, the pension theft pattern has emerged into the open. There can no longer be a conspiracy (secret plan of destruction) theory when corporations and pension raiders have had laws passed to protect them from the open theft of our pensions via undisclosed fees for undisclosed investments to undisclosed sources.

Today the manner of theft is out in the open. Who has stolen how much? That is a (now) a legally protected “trade secret.”

The New York Times reports that New York City’s pensions are “hanging by a thread.”
Why? “Trade secrets.”

Fred Klonsky and David Sirota explain New York City’s and Illinois’ latest “trade secrets” that rip us off and endanger the length, size and existence of our pensions. Undisclosed fees – win or lose. High risk hedge and venture funds. With our money.

Fred says this about Illinois pensions.

“What percentage of Illinois public pensions are invested in the same kind of high risk, alternative investment plans as New York?
Nobody seems to be able or willing to say.
Are there hidden fees?
Can’t say.”

David says this about Illinois, Rhode Island and Kentucky’s teacher pension systems.

“Investors like Warren Buffett are saying public pension systems shouldn’t 

Who is stealing from teachers? Sh-h-h. It’s a trade secret. | Reclaim Reform:

Schools Matter: Alabama Leads the Way toward 19th Century Education

Schools Matter: Alabama Leads the Way toward 19th Century Education:

Alabama Leads the Way toward 19th Century Education

Ever heard of an adjunct K-12 teacher?  I had not, either, until Alabama defined it for me, as someone with at least a high school diploma teaching part-time in an Alabama public school.

Someone who is not a certified teacher can now teach your children in Alabama.

The State Board of Education approved a new category of educators called adjunct teachers.

The board says it is a way to solve the teacher shortage in Alabama for certain subjects.

An adjunct teacher is someone who has worked in a career field other than education, will work part time under a licensed teacher and has a high school diploma or equivalent.

Katy Bryan is a mother of two elementary school kids in Huntsville.  In theory, under the new resolution, her kids could soon be taught by someone who does not have a state teaching certification. Bryan has some concerns with the idea.

"I think that they probably need to have a teaching certificate because just because they're knowledgeable about a Schools Matter: Alabama Leads the Way toward 19th Century Education:

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Food for Thought - Talking About Teachers

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Food for Thought - Talking About Teachers:

Food for Thought - Talking About Teachers

Tacoma School District's Nate Bowling was recently selected as Washington State's Teacher of the Year.  Mr. Bowling teaches at Tacoma's Lincoln High (which is a success story unto itself.)  He teaches AP Government & Politics and AP Human Geography.  He is one of four finalists for the National Teacher of the Year.  That award will be announced in April. 

Part of the role of being selected seems to be going out and telling the world the story of public education from a teacher's POV.  Mr. Bowling seems to be doing this quite well but pulls no punches.  (I will also note he is a "founding member" of Teachers United which is an ed reform teachers group.)  

He recently wrote this piece for his own blog, a Teacher's Evolving Mind, calledThe Conversation I'm Tired of Not Having.  He's pretty blunt from the get-go.  I encourage you to read the entire piece (italics his.)

I want to tell you a secret: America really doesn’t care what happens to poor people and most black people. There I said it.(italics his)

He goes on:

As a nation, we’re nibbling around the edges with accountability measures and other reforms, but we’re ignoring the immutable core issue: much of white and wealthy America is perfectly happy Seattle Schools Community Forum: Food for Thought - Talking About Teachers:

Oh My! Charter schools founder Steve Barr weighs 2017 challenge to Garcetti - LA Times

Charter schools founder Steve Barr weighs 2017 challenge to Garcetti - LA Times:
Green Dot Charter Schools founder Steve Barr weighs 2017 challenge to Garcetti

e founder of a prominent chain of Los Angeles charter schools said Wednesday he is considering running for mayor in 2017, the second person in as many days to muse aloud about challenging incumbent Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Steve Barr, who established the successful Green Dot Charter Schools group and has been a high-profile player in the battle to overhaul the L.A. school system, said his exploration of a potential run was driven by frustration over what he described as Garcetti's hands-off approach to public education.

Although the mayor in L.A. has no formal control over the school district, Barr said Garcetti had abdicated any meaningful involvement in the school system — in contrast to Garcetti's predecessor, former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who placed education reform at the core of his agenda.

See the most-read stories this hour >>

Barr said he believes Garcetti is avoiding education issues out of fear of alienating the powerful interest groups involved in the schools debate.

"When people move to a new neighborhood, their first question is not, 'What's the water system like?' or 'Are there enough press conferences about climate change this week?' It's, 'What are the schools like?'" Barr said. "It seems I've talked to at least a half-dozen people who will tell you he won't get involved because it's too controversial."

Barr, 56, of Silver Lake, said he is meeting with potential supporters and donors but has not decided whether to run. He said he wants to enter the race but will only do so if he can see a path to building a campaign with adequate political and financial backing. He said he expects to make his decision by the beginning of April.

Villaraigosa's foray into public education saw mixed results. His effort to assert mayoral control of the school district, emulating the systems in cities such as New York and Chicago, was defeated in court.

However, he succeeded in establishing direct control over a group of district schools and was an advocate of charter-school expansion. The prolonged fight earned Villaraigosa the enmity of the local and state teachers' unions, the latter a major donor to political Charter schools founder Steve Barr weighs 2017 challenge to Garcetti - LA Times:

Great Schools Partnership and the Covert Agenda of Assessment Reform – Save Maine Schools

Great Schools Partnership and the Covert Agenda of Assessment Reform – Save Maine Schools:

Great Schools Partnership and the Covert Agenda of Assessment Reform

During a required workshop on proficiency-based education this Monday, I spent most of the day moving between anger and awe at the way this billionaire-funded agenda has made its way so seamlessly into our gymnasium, into every school in Maine.

Research to support proficiency-based education does not yet exist, so we were given a copy of the “Ten Principles of Proficiency-Based Learning” instead.

This document, produced by the Great Schools Partnership, states that “students can demonstrate learning progress and achievement in multiple ways through differentiated assessments, personalized-learning options, or alternative learning pathways” and that “students are given opportunities to make important decisions about their learning, which includes contributing to the design of learning experiences and personalized learning pathways.”

The principles match those found in the Foundation for Excellence in Education’s and the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Great Schools Partnership and the Covert Agenda of Assessment Reform – Save Maine Schools:

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Who's behind National School Choice Week?

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Who's behind National School Choice Week?:

Who's behind National School Choice Week?

Launched five years ago by the Gleason Family Foundation—which spent more than $4.3 million on the project in 2014, Nat'l School Choice Week has grown rapidly through the backing of advocacy groups and deep pockets of funders focused on promoting charters, vouchers, and tax credits that aid private schools, including religious and for-profit ventures. -- Dustin Beilke at PR Watch

According to the Center for Media and Democracy:

"The National School Choice Week website’s Partners page provides a who’s-who gallery of Koch network groups, corporations, and billionaires promoting privatization," said Lisa Graves, CMD’s Executive Director, adding: "although the week features many local events, it is backed by national entities, some of which are hostile to the idea of public schools and whose goals have included full privatization. No story about National School Choice Week is complete if it does not mention the special interests behind the choice agenda."

NCSW’s website lists numerous partners, including the Walton Family Fund, ALEC, SPN, the Freedom Foundation, FreedomWorks, Cato Institute, Reason Foundation, the Heritage Foundation, the James Madison Institute, and the U.S. Chamber of Schooling in the Ownership Society: Who's behind National School Choice Week?:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Little Village schools fighting school crowding hold the line

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Little Village schools fighting school crowding hold the line:

Little Village schools fighting school crowding hold the line

Community activists gather outside Saucedo/Telpochcalli to demand that CPS postpone its co-location plan. 

I'm told that CPS has pulled its plan to move Spry Community Links High School into Saucedo/Telpochcalli, off the agenda of the February board meeting and agreed to protesters' demand to review the plan with community input. While there's nothing in writing yet, community activists who staged last week's sit-in against the consolidation plan, are calling it a victory.

This from Progress Illinois:

The district faced community pushback, including a sit-in staged by parents, students and community stakeholders last week, over its plan to co-locate the high school grades of John Spry Community School in the building that houses Maria Saucedo Elementary Scholastic Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Little Village schools fighting school crowding hold the line:

John Thompson The Gig Economy: Potential promise and pitfalls - NonDoc

The Gig Economy: Potential promise and pitfalls - NonDoc:

The Gig Economy: Potential promise and pitfalls

Linguist Geoff Nunberg announced his word of the year on NPR’s Fresh Air, and he nailed it: Nunberg’s choice is “gig.”

For over a century, gig was “slang for a date or engagement.” In the 1950s, hipsters and the Beats used the term for “any job you took to keep body and soul together while your real life was elsewhere.” Nunberg explains, “A gig was a commitment you felt free to walk away from as soon as you had $50 in your pocket.”

Nunberg explains that it was easy to embrace such a gig when a person had access to a “‘real job’” that was “permanent, well-paid and with benefits.” Thanks to the New Deal, strong unions and the postwar boom, he recalls, the 1950s and 1960s were America’s moment.

The gig economy

Now that we live in a “gig economy,” some millennials refer to their jobs as gigs. Other names cited for our economy include “on-demand economy … peer-to-peer economy, and “freelance nation,” as mentioned in the radio show. People who were once known as “employees” are now called “‘solopreneurs’ and ‘free range humans’ with ‘portfolio careers.’” According to Nunberg, there are workers such as “the ill-paid temps and contingent workers that some have called the ‘precariat.’”

The linguist then adds that “calling a job a gig is a luxury reserved for people who can pretend they don’t need [a job].” Most young workers still need careers, but gigs are often the best they can get. Working people must cobble “a livelihood cleaning apartments, delivering groceries and doing other people’s laundry.”

We’ve been here before

On one hand, the economic prospects of millennials are depressing. Wages for males have fallen since 1969, and the wages of women have been almost as stagnant. Truly frightening is how projections for lifetime earnings have been dropping for every generation since 1952, and it’s especially worrisome for today’s low-income children.Poor children in Oklahoma County face economic prospects that are three points lower The Gig Economy: Potential promise and pitfalls - NonDoc:

Horror Inside Pt. 2: Charter Teacher Turns Whistleblower #SCW – Cloaking Inequity

Horror Inside Pt. 2: Charter Teacher Turns Whistleblower #SCW – Cloaking Inequity:

Horror Inside Pt. 2: Charter Teacher Turns Whistleblower #SCW

Today Cloaking Inequity concludes an exclusive story written by Jennifer Ventimiglia, a veteran charter school teacher. This post is the continuation of the story that began in the post Horror Inside: A No Excuses Charter School #SCW

After school on Friday, the day before winter break, I was called into the Site Director’s office…

He said, “I just want to inform you that today is your last day as an Amethod employee.” Then he got up and walked out of the office.

The Amethod Public Schools (AMPS) corporate charter school chain is not required to even give me a reason for my firing— they did not— because all employees are required sign a contract as a condition of employment that says we can be fired at anytime and no reasonhas to be provided.

I was left with a Human Resources employee who had me initial a paper that I was receiving unemployment and Cobra information.  With that I was escorted to my classroom to retrieve my belongings and be seen out of the building.  It was not considered that I had a classroom full of my things including 3 bookshelves, 5 bean bag chairs, about 2000 books, and totes full of materials and supplies I had purchased with my own money for my students. I only had a couple of hours to rent an UHaul, pack up my belongings, and move everything out.

School has been in session for 2 weeks now since winter break and a new teacher still has not been hired to teach my students in 2016.

Jennifer has turned whistleblower and is describing from her experience the detriments of the “no excuses” discipline, special education practices, leadership and teacher quality issues plaguing Oakland Charter Academy (OCA) the first charter school established in Oakland (and one of the first in California). The following information is excerpted and adapted from a letter written by Jennifer Ventimiglia and Karen Horror Inside Pt. 2: Charter Teacher Turns Whistleblower #SCW – Cloaking Inequity:

Have You Heard? | EduShyster

Have You Heard? | EduShyster:

Have You Heard?

The podcast series that I’ve been talking about forever is finally a real thing…

Reader—or make that, listener: the day that really seemed as though it would never arrive is finally here! You can actually listen to the inaugural episode of our new podcast series,Have You Heard, as soon as you finish reading this page. The concept is simple: the debate over public education has been reduced to a stale screaming match. Our hope is that by introducing the kinds of voices that don’t typically make it into the conversation, we can cause a little, well, disruption. In this first episode, we head to Philly to talk to African American parents who are opting their kids out of standardized tests. And that’s just the start. In the coming months, we’ll be heading to New Orleans, Chicago, Detroit, Boston and beyond—the hottest of the hot spots in the battle to determine the future of our public schools. Now I know what you’re thinking: *Jennifer—you’re broke as you are constantly telling us. Did you re-marry up while we weren’t paying attention?* Well, not exactly…

Did I mention that there’s also an ambitious fundraising component to this project that you will be hearing about constantly over the next 30 days? Once again, I’m teaming up with Beacon, the crowdfunding platform that I used to raise money for my projects in Chicago and New Orleans. But this time Beacon has agreed to match Have You Heard? | EduShyster: