Like Father, Like Son - Fathers Day & School to Prison Pipeline

Like Father, Like Son - Fathers Day & School to Prison Pipeline:

Like Father, Like Son - Fathers Day & School to Prison Pipeline

Pleas e join Internet radio host Dr. James Avington Miller Jr. for a special Father's Day show - Like Father, like Son and the School to Prison Pipeline.

Dr. Miller will be explaining the latest truths about this awful thing called the School to Prison Pipeline and how it impacts our children. 70% of children who have a parent in prison or a parent who has been in prison will go prison themselves.

How do we, as a civil and just society, approach this issue and change the statistics? 

Dr. Miller will be talking about the FATHER and the impact he has on a child's life. 

Please listen in and call in on Sunday and learn about the devastation of young lives and what we MUST do to reverse and negate these statistics.

Also, we encourage you to call in and give a Happy Father's Day shout out to your Dad or a story about the influence of your father on your life.

Knowledge is power !

RESISTANCE MATTERS

RESISTANCE IS NOT FUTILE

RESISTANCE IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF EXPRESSION OF DEMOCRACY

RESISTANCE IS SURVIVAL

Please click on the website below to listen live:

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The War Report on Public Education with Dr James Avington Miller Jr

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 Like Father, Like Son - Fathers Day & School to Prison Pipeline:

Silicon Valley Philanthropy Opens Classrooms to De-Personalized Learning - Living in Dialogue

Silicon Valley Philanthropy Opens Classrooms to De-Personalized Learning - Living in Dialogue:

Silicon Valley Philanthropy Opens Classrooms to De-Personalized Learning

By John Thompson.

David Callahan’s The Givers begins with the first politicized think tanks of the 1960s and 1970s, such as the American Enterprise Institute. At least these rightwing organizations were open about their desire to maximize profits. But as Callahan shows, they led the way to neo-liberal donors, who seemed to be sincere about scaling up market-driven approaches to improve education and other sectors of the society.

About the only debate about the outcomes produced by the resulting corporate school reform era is whether it was a big fiasco, or was it merely a huge disappointment. I see its test-driven, competition-driven reforms as one of the worse social policy disasters of modern American political history. Callahan explains, “Making a bundle in software or short trading doesn’t mean you’ll know the first thing about, say, K-12 education, and it’s easy for misguided philanthropists to do a lot of damage.”  He concludes, It’s hard to think of many social entrepreneurs who’ve succeeded in bringing about changes on a truly large scale.”

Whether we are talking about the scaling up of charter schools or funding public relations campaigns and dubious lawsuits like Vergara v California, big donors have produced minimal improvements in schools, created unintended negative outcomes for children, and sown discord among the education profession and the Democratic Party. Callahan notes, “The only thing that’s really clear is that, compared to the systematic revolution that charter funders were hoping for, the results have been disappointing.” Moreover, “The new givers have made a lot of noise on K-12, the Vergara lawsuit in California being a good example, but it’s not clear they’ve actually done much to improve outcomes for the vast majority of U.S. students.”

The Givers concludes with sensible and seemingly doable suggestions for regulating big philanthropy. But the Silicon Valley Philanthropy Opens Classrooms to De-Personalized Learning - Living in Dialogue:

Turning Pain Into Power: 2017 Black Education Matters Student Activist Award winners | I AM AN EDUCATOR

Turning Pain Into Power: 2017 Black Education Matters Student Activist Award winners | I AM AN EDUCATOR:

Turning Pain Into Power: 2017 Black Education Matters Student Activist Award winners

Black Education Matters Student Activist Award winners, with Michael and Martellus Bennett, Jesse Hagopian, and NAACP education chair Rita Green. (Photo by Sara Bernard)

It was one of the most triumphant days of my life.

Thursday, June 15th was a day when I took the most painful moment in my life and used it to produce one of the most joyous days of my life. This was the day I had the honor to present the Black Education Matters Student Activist Award to four incredible young changemakers in the Seattle Public Schools. The Student Activist Award fund offers a cash scholarship and community support to deserving Seattle public school students who demonstrate exceptional leadership in struggles for social justice and against institutional racism. Our winners this year were Jelani Howard, Baily Adams, Precious Manning-Isabell, and Mahala Provost—young activists who you will undoubtedly hear much more about in the future as they continue to challenge racism and transform every institution they encounter.

Each student received $1,000 from the fund I started after winning a settlement when I was assaulted by a Seattle police officer. I won this settlement by launching a federal lawsuit against the City and the Seattle Police Department after being pepper sprayed without provocation at the 2015 Martin Luther King Day rally in Seattle. While the officer who doused me with pepper spray, officer Sandra DeLaFuente, didn’t even receive a one-day suspension for assaulting me on the sidewalk, I was at least able to win some compensation that I could put to good use. I then partnered with leaders in the Seattle NAACP–education chair Rita Green and youth outreach coordinator Rachael DeCruz–to form a committee for finding and selecting leading student activists.

Joining us for the award ceremony were the Super Bowl champion Bennett brothers, Michael and Martellus–two of the greatest football players in the NFL and two of the greatest activist athletes in the world. Having these two celebrated athletes and powerful spokesmen for justice made the awardTurning Pain Into Power: 2017 Black Education Matters Student Activist Award winners | I AM AN EDUCATOR:

Jane Mayer: What Happened When PBS Aired a Documentary about the Koch Brothers | Diane Ravitch's blog

Jane Mayer: What Happened When PBS Aired a Documentary about the Koch Brothers | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Jane Mayer: What Happened When PBS Aired a Documentary about the Koch Brothers

Jane Mayer, author of “Dark Money” and other exposes of the power of big money, wrote an article In 2013 for the New Yorker about the difficulty that NYC’s PBS station encountered when it agreed to run a documentary that focused on David Koch and other super-rich who live in a luxury high rise apartment building on Park Avenue.

PBS gets so little public funding that it depends on the gifts from fabulously wealthy people. Can PBS afford to bite the hand that funds it?

“Park Avenue” includes a multifaceted portrait of the Koch brothers, telling the history of their family company and chronicling their many donations to universities and think tanks. It features comments from allies like Tim Phillips, the president of the Kochs’ main advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity, and from activists in the Tea Party, including Representative Michele Bachmann, of Minnesota, who share the Kochs’ opposition to high taxes and regulation. (It also contains a few quotes from me; in 2010, I wrote an article about the Kochs for this magazine, noting that they were funding much of the opposition to President Barack Obama by quietly subsidizing an array of advocacy groups.)”

“A large part of the film, however, subjects the Kochs to tough scrutiny. “Nobody’s money talks louder than David Koch’s,” the narrator, Gibney, says, describing him as a “right-wing oil tycoon” whose company had to pay what was then “the largest civil penalty in the E.P.A.’s history” for its role in more than thirty oil spills in 2000. At one point, a former doorman—Jane Mayer: What Happened When PBS Aired a Documentary about the Koch Brothers | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Calling Nurturing Men to the Teaching Profession

Calling Nurturing Men to the Teaching Profession:

Calling Nurturing Men to the Teaching Profession

Happy Father’s Day! I am proud to know many nurturing fathers who are also teachers and who fight for public education. I have also known men who are not fathers, but who are marvelous teachers, who view their students like their own children.

Men are needed to teach in this country. There’s supposedly a teacher shortage, but there has always been a shortage of male teachers. There’s still a huge gender gap when it comes to teaching.

When men do teach, it’s usually high school. But good male teachers are needed at the early childhood and middle school levels. Male teachers who stand up for the profession and public schools, and who stand next to female teachers, show how important this profession and public schools are to this country. They are valuable role models for both girls and boys.

Men who teach early childhood education have a lot of moxie. It can’t be easy to walk into an elementary school of strong-willed women who know the craft of teaching. But their expertise is also needed!

In 2014, Motoko Rich authored an article in The New York Times titled “Why Don’t More Men Go Into Teaching?” He gives excellent reasons why men avoid Calling Nurturing Men to the Teaching Profession:

Randi Weingarten rebukes politicians, says get involved

Federal teacher union leader rebukes politicians, says get involved:

Federal teacher union leader rebukes politicians, says get involved

The president of the American Federation of Teachers in El Paso Saturday rebuked state and national politicians whose policies she says are hurting students, encouraging educators to make an impact in the current political climate.

Randi Weingarten’s riling keynote address, part of the annual Texas AFT Convention in Downtown El Paso, was met by cheers and standing ovations from educators.

"It has been a really hard road, and trying to sugarcoat that would be dishonest," Weingarten said to hundreds of Texas educators from all over the state.

She sharply criticized Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and President Donald Trump.

Weingarten did not hold back on her disappointment in national and state elected officials. She chided Abbott for his upcoming special session and his handling of the "bathroom bill," saying the move was about power instead of helping Texas schools and students.

"You're trying to demonize kids who are trans and prevent them from going to the bathroom? How dare you?" Weingarten said.

Supporters of the bill had argued that transgender people should use public restrooms based on their biological sex, not their gender identity.

Weingarten also addressed the Texas Legislature's and Trump's increased support for school choice and vouchers, which would allow parents to use public school dollars to send their children to private schools.

"This is the first administration to say 'hell no' to public education, and we're going to say 'hell no' to them," Weingarten said.

More: EPISD outspends peers on superintendent, board travel

EPISD will create its own charter schools

Supporters of vouchers argue they give parents and students more choices and promote competition, therefore driving up the quality and diversity of programs offered.

Despite her expressed frustration at elected officials, Weingarten said educators play Federal teacher union leader rebukes politicians, says get involved:

Poverty, Dropouts, Pregnancy, Suicide: What The Numbers Say About Fatherless Kids : NPR Ed : NPR

Poverty, Dropouts, Pregnancy, Suicide: What The Numbers Say About Fatherless Kids : NPR Ed : NPR:

Poverty, Dropouts, Pregnancy, Suicide: What The Numbers Say About Fatherless Kids

Eva Bee/Getty Images/Ikon Images

The growing number of fatherless children in this country poses one of the the most serious problems in education today, according to best-selling author Alan Blankstein.

He has spent most of his life advocating for kids who struggle in school. He wrote Failure is Not an Option, a guide to creating high-performing schools for all students.

So, just how many kids are fatherless? NPR Ed put that question to Blankstein, who told us that 24.7 million kidsin the U.S. don't live with a biological father.

Our interview with Blankstein has been edited for clarity.

You cite a U.S. Department of Education study that found 39 percent of students, first through 12th grade, are fatherless.

Fatherlessness is having a great impact on education. First of all, it's growing, and the correlations with any number of risk issues are considerable.

Children are four-times more likely to be poor if the father is not around. And we know that poverty is heavily associated with academic success. [Fatherless kids] are also twice as likely to drop out.

Dropping out of school, growing up fatherless and incarceration appear to be connected. One study you cite from 2012 titled, "The Vital Importance of Paternal Presence in Children's Lives," shows that seven out of 10 high school dropouts are fatherless. 

Do school officials acknowledge that this "chain reaction" clearly gets in the way of children's academic success?

You know, I've been in this for 30 years, and when I speak to superintendents, social service people and counselors in schools, they'll easily acknowledge that at the root of kids' [academic] problems, is the lack of a relationship with their father.

Does fatherlessness affect boys differently than girls?

The research that I've seen says that girls are twice as likely to suffer from obesitywithout the father present. They're four-times more likely to get pregnant as teenagers. Boys are more likely to act out, which is why we're more aware [of how they're affected], but if a young girl is imploding, we don' t see it.

What's the role of race and class?

Race and class matter, as it does in everything in America, but the overall trend [of fatherlessness] is up for all families. So we're looking at a 20 percent rate among white Poverty, Dropouts, Pregnancy, Suicide: What The Numbers Say About Fatherless Kids : NPR Ed : NPR:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Cesar Chavez Charter School in D.C. finally has a union

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Cesar Chavez Charter School in D.C. finally has a union:

Cesar Chavez Charter School in D.C. finally has a union

A SmallTalk Salute goes out to the teachers and staff at Cesar Chavez Public Charter School at Chavez Prep Middle School in D.C. who voted 31-2 Thursday to unionize, the first time a charter in the District has taken such a step. The educators organized through the District of Columbia Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, which is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers.

Staff at the school say they want to unionize to give teachers a voice in decision-making. Jenny Tomlinson, the school librarian, told WAMU in May that staff hoped unionizing would reduce teacher turnover, increase teacher input in the curriculum and attract more experienced teachers.

If you were listening to Hitting Left on Friday, you heard news of this victory from ChiACTS Pres. Chris Baehrend who was our in-studio guest along with CTU's Political and Legislative Dir. Stacy Davis Gates. If you missed it, you can still listen to the podcast where our guests discuss the planned merger of ChiACTS and the CTU Local #1. The Chicago Tribune recently referred to Chicago as the "epicenter" of charter school unionization.

When you think about it, it's kind of amazing that for all these years, there's been schools named after the renowned union leader, Cesar Chavez, that resisted unionization and collective bargaining rights for teachers. Detroit's Cesar Chavez Charter School was unionized Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Cesar Chavez Charter School in D.C. finally has a union:

Russ on Reading: Military Vouchers: Choice Comes to Our Defense

Russ on Reading: Military Vouchers: Choice Comes to Our Defense:

Military Vouchers: Choice Comes to Our Defense

Inspired by Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, and her school choice agenda, Secretary of Defense James "Mad Dog" Mattis has declared that we are doing away with our traditional army, navy and air force in favor of giving each and every American family a 10,000 dollar military voucher that they can use to shop for the military protection they need. "Look", said Mattis, "it is obvious that the American military has failed. International assessments show us to be lagging behind others in military preparedness. Russia is rubbing our nose in it all over the place and that little twit in North Korea is a real danger that we have no idea how to deal with. And, by the way, when was the last time we won a war? What we need is good old-fashioned American competition in the form of military choice."

According to Mattis, military choice vouchers will allow families to purchase the kind of armed military protection they want. Some people may choose to "home-defend", using the money to arm the wife and children and build bunkers and bomb shelters. Others may avail themselves of special charter Russ on Reading: Military Vouchers: Choice Comes to Our Defense:

Here’s an Idea: Guarantee Every Child an Excellent Education | gadflyonthewallblog

Here’s an Idea: Guarantee Every Child an Excellent Education | gadflyonthewallblog:

Here’s an Idea: Guarantee Every Child an Excellent Education

Let’s get one thing straight: there are plenty of things wrong with America’s school system. But they almost all stem from one major error.

We don’t guarantee every child an excellent education.

Instead, we strive to guarantee every child THE CHANCE at an excellent education. In other words, we’ll provide a bunch of different options that parents and children can choose from – public schools, charter schools, cyber schools, voucher schools, etc.

Some of these options will be great. Some will be terrible. It’s up to the consumer (i.e. parents and children) to decide which one to bet on.

In many places this results in children bouncing from school-to-school. One school is woefully deficient, they enroll in another one. One school closes suddenly, they start over again at another.

It’s terribly inefficient and does very little good for most children.

But that’s because it’s not designed with them in mind. It does not put the child first. It puts the education provider first.

It is a distinctly privatized system. As such, the most important element in this system is the corporation, business, administrator or entrepreneurial entity that provides an education.

We guarantee the businessperson a potential client. We guarantee the investor a market. We guarantee the hedge fund manager a path to increased equity. We Here’s an Idea: Guarantee Every Child an Excellent Education | gadflyonthewallblog:

My Dad. | Fred Klonsky

My Dad. | Fred Klonsky:

My Dad

Photograph: Robert Klonsky; Photograph by Peter Stackpole for Life Magazine.

My Dad. | Fred Klonsky:

CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Testing Non-Reform

CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Testing Non-Reform:

PA: Testing Non-Reform

In Pennsylvania, our Big Standardized Test for high school students is the Keystone Exam. Its history is a sad study in BS Testing. Its future is cloudy. Unfortunately, while the Keystones may be on the way out, there's no reason to believe they won't be replaced with something worse.

Back in the (pre-Common Core) day, PA used the PSSA tests to measure student achievement of some sort for reasons of some sort. Our elementary schools still use the PSSA tests on the elementary level. But by the Fall of 2010 we were all being hyped up for the New! Improved! Keystone exams (I'm looking at some of the handouts from the era which were still tucked in a corner of my desk). 

For those of you who don't know what a keystone is, actually

Keystone plans were ambitious. Pennsylvania would offer "end-of-course assessments designed to assess proficiency in various subject areas." The list was extensive-- Algebra I, Algebra II, Biology, Chemistry, Civics and Government, Geometry, English Composition, Literature, U.S.History, and World History. Note-- these were not just supposed to be Big Standardized Stand-alone Tests, but the actual final exam for these courses.

The graduating class of 2016 was going to take the first four-- Algebra I, Biology, Literature, and English Composition. And those tests were going to account for one third of their final course grade. Other tests were going to be field tested and rolled out in 2011, 2012 and 2015. 

Mostly that didn't happen. 

It's 2017, and only three of the tests have been completed. The Literature, Biology and Mathy CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Testing Non-Reform:

Mayoral Control and Charter Schools: Pawns on the Chessboard of Politics | Ed In The Apple

Mayoral Control and Charter Schools: Pawns on the Chessboard of Politics | Ed In The Apple:

Mayoral Control and Charter Schools: Pawns on the Chessboard of Politics

Back in the eighties a major issue in Albany was the death penalty; Republicans and DINOs (Democrats in Name Only) supported a death penalty law opposed by progressive Democrats. After a few years a death penalty law passed in both houses and Governor Cuomo pere vetoed the bill; the legislature overrode the veto – New York State had a death penalty law.

A few years later a Republican operative bemoaned the passage, “It was stupid, we gave up a great election issue.”

Politics is about gaining advantage, the Republicans “intimation” that Obama was not born in the nation, constant subtle racism, Bengazi, e-mails, etc.,  have nothing to do with policy, in fact, the only policy issue – “repeal and replace” of Obamacare, is turning out to be a major negative for Republicans.

The consistent attacks worked, a Republican president, although for the party insiders the wrong Republican and both houses of Congress.

In New York State linking mayoral control to charter schools has enabled the Senate Republicans to collect substantial campaign dollars from charter school supporters across the nation by forcing reluctant Democrats to support charter school issues in order to retain mayoral control.

This year the Assembly Democrats taking a firm line.

Both houses of the state legislature, the Assembly and the Senate will adjourn on Wednesday, June 21st.

If mayoral control is not renewed New York City will revert to the prior management model – decentralization. A seven-member school board: one appointed by each of the five borough presidents and two by the mayor and 40 elected school boards, the elections would be held in May, 2018. (See Mayoral Control and Charter Schools: Pawns on the Chessboard of Politics | Ed In The Apple

Badass Teachers Association: From the Trenches of Public Education by Christine Gill

Badass Teachers Association: From the Trenches of Public Education by Christine Gill:

From the Trenches of Public Education by Christine Gill

This is in response to someone trying to lecture us on how we in public ed sound greedy and like we do not care about our students, just ourselves. Feel free to grab a cup of covfefe before you read my rant:

You have bought the propaganda people like the current Michigan GOP, the Mackinac Center, and The Great Lakes Education Project (all three highly funded by Betsy DeVos and her family, by the way) have offered up to the good people of Michigan for YEARS. We do not think we are more important, it is our students who are the MOST important otherwise none of us could stay working in these often toxic work environments because yes the pay and total compensation package is just not worth it.

Imagine being a highly motivated, master teacher in a work environment where you cannot take your act down the road for a higher rate of pay, more prestige, and better working conditions. Yes that is what public educators face every day. So is individual merit pay the solution? No, it is not for a variety of reasons. Do I think I am more important than my son the Funeral Director? No. People need his knowledgeable, calm caring presence when they are saying goodbye to a loved one. Am I more important than any one of my six cousins who are nurses or nurses to be? No. Without them we Badass Teachers Association: From the Trenches of Public Education by Christine Gill:

#30+ Happy Famous Fathers Day Quotes - Messages - Wishes - Greetings 2017 ~ Happy Father's day 2017 - # Wishes Quotes Messages #

#30+ Happy Famous Fathers Day Quotes - Messages - Wishes - Greetings 2017 ~ Happy Father's day 2017 - # Wishes Quotes Messages #:

#30+ Happy Famous Fathers Day Quotes - Messages - Wishes - Greetings 2017

Happy Father's day 2017

Hey there are you looking for some of the best father's day quotes for your father on this father's day ? then you are at the right place, we Happy Father's Day 2017 have published the bestcollection of father's day quotes specially for you.

Hi! Do you want to give your father surprise on the fathers day with the most charming fathers day quotes? then you are at the perfect place to get all the best of best fathers day quotes that will express your highest level of gratitude for your father who has made you the person today you are. As the Fathers day is approaching, We Happy fathers day 2017 have compiled the list of images and quotes that you send or print on a card and show your feelings of love towards your dad. International Fathers day is celebrated every year on te third Sunday of June, In this year, Fathers day will be celebrated on 19th of June 2017.

Famous Fathers Day Quotes - Messages - Sayings

Famous Fathers Day Quotes - Messages - Sayings

There is an Indian saying "maata, pita, guru, prabhu", which means the first position in a man's life goes to his MOTHER- "MAATA" (in Sanskrit), as she is the one who gave birth to us and introduced us to this world and then FATHER - "PITA" (in Sanskrit), a person who has an equal share in getting us to this world and helping us to grow by supporting us at all the stages in life. Only after our parents the third place goes to "GURU" - TEACHER (in Sanskrit),  who taught us the subject and other values in life and then comes the GOD - "PRABHU" (in Sanskrit), who has a last position in this phrase since all the other three are god like people who guide us and show us the path to reach GOD. they are the living god's for a man's life.

Happy Father's Day 2017 Wishes Quotes Messages Sayings Greetings And Images

1. Happy Fathers Day Quotes
2. Happy Fathers Day Wishes
3. Happy Fathers Day Messages
4. Happy Fathers Day Greetings
5. Happy Fathers Day Poems
6. Happy Fathers Day SMS
7. Happy Fathers Day Sayings
8. Happy Fathers Day Images

Here are some famous quotes to wish him and make his face glitter  #30+ Happy Famous Fathers Day Quotes - Messages - Wishes - Greetings 2017 ~ Happy Father's day 2017 - # Wishes Quotes Messages #: