A Reminder About Teaching Students Math in NYC (And Beyond) | The Jose Vilson

A Reminder About Teaching Students Math in NYC (And Beyond) | The Jose Vilson

A REMINDER ABOUT TEACHING STUDENTS MATH IN NYC (AND BEYOND)

“So what you’re saying is that the statement at the top of this paper is for me to prove using these equations?”

I nod.

“OK, but I don’t get what f and g actually do. That’s making like no sense.”

[scribbles a bunch of notes on a board and, over the course of five minutes, gets to why mathematicians decided to write “f of g” with a dot but not explain how it actually works]

“OK, that was really good.”

“Was it?”

After all these years of taking time after school to show my former students – now high schoolers – what their teacher meant, I turned to the work I need to do from 8am – 2:20pm: my current students. I’ve had hundreds of students come back either in person or through video chats to concretize the math they’re learning outside of my schools. Each session, I’m taking a few minutes of free time and then imploring them to talk privately with their current math teachers. Some come out with more confidence in advocating for themselves. Others say their teacher won’t slow down for them. Others Continue reading: A Reminder About Teaching Students Math in NYC (And Beyond) | The Jose Vilson

Indy Voters: Here’s Your Chance to Oust an Ed-Reform School Board Incumbent. | deutsch29

Indy Voters: Here’s Your Chance to Oust an Ed-Reform School Board Incumbent. | deutsch29

Indy Voters: Here’s Your Chance to Oust an Ed-Reform School Board Incumbent.

When it comes to killing traditional public education in favor of market-based ed reform models that remove the community control from its own schools, market-based ed reformers means business– and the public would do best to believe that there is a market for the usurping of community influence over schools.

Consider the situation of Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS), as captured in this July 12, 2018, Washington Post feature written by my friend and colleague, Network for Public Education (NPE) communication director, Darcie Cimarusti, and presented here in part:

When schools reopen in Indianapolis, Indiana in July, the doors of three legacy high schools will remain shuttered. The Indianapolis Public School (IPS) board voted last fall to close them after six months of raucous meetings where community members accused the board and superintendent of ignoring community concerns. Like many school closures, the recent shuttering of what were once three great high schools would disproportionately impact low-income children of color.

Superintendent Lewis Ferebee cited budget concerns and declining enrollment throughout the district as justification. But as the traditional public high schools the community fought to keep open were closed, the district opened a charter high school co-founded by  Mitch Daniels, former Indiana governor and education reform stalwart.

Daniels, now president of Purdue University and a founder of Purdue Polytechnic High School, spoke to the inaugural class of 159 students on their first day of school, July 31, 2017. Before Daniels’s new high school had even completed its first year, the Indianapolis Charter School Board approved the charter’s request to open an additional location.

The second Purdue Polytechnic High School wants to take over the Broad Ripple High School building, one of the schools the IPS board closed just last Continue reading: Indy Voters: Here’s Your Chance to Oust an Ed-Reform School Board Incumbent. | deutsch29

Big Education Ape: We Discover Outstanding Candidates That Support Our Public Schools - NPE Action Endorsements - NPE Action - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2018/10/we-discover-outstanding-candidates-that.html

ISTA and Stand for Children. For or Against? – Live Long and Prosper

ISTA and Stand for Children. For or Against? – Live Long and Prosper

ISTA and Stand for Children. For or Against?

WAITING FOR AN ANSWER

In my last post I wrote that ISTA was “joining” with Stand for Children (SFC) to work for more state funding for education. At least that’s what I think they meant when they said,

ISTA is reaching out to a broad number of groups to help achieve increased school funding and teacher compensation – Stand is just one of these organizations.

I don’t know any more details than that.

ISTA’s President told a colleague that we should talk to her directly instead of posting on social media. I admit…the first thing I did when I heard that ISTA was “reaching out” to SFC was to tweet a “say it isn’t so” tweet. Since then, however, I have emailed the leadership twice – once on October 21, and again on October 23.

[I understand that they are busy. I’m retired. The leadership of ISTA is not. I have noticed that they have been having a variety of meetings lately. So, I’m not complaining that I haven’t heard from them. I appreciate the work they do for the teachers of Indiana. That’s why I was a member every year that I taught, and have Continue reading: ISTA and Stand for Children. For or Against? – Live Long and Prosper

Anna Molander for School Board

Anna Molander for School Board

Anna Molander for School Board

Time-tested and ready to go — on day one.

It’s time Sacramento City School Board knuckled down and genuinely dealt with the budget. As a parent/advocate, I have been deeply engaged in district issues and aggressively pushed back when board decisions weren’t good for families. I helped lead a collaborative effort to mitigate the negative impacts following the board’s decision to close seven schools. Now I’d like to bring my success to our school board.

My hands-on experience gives me a thorough understanding of the dire, complex budget issues faced by our district. I have a clear vision, ideas for stabilizing our budget, and the fundamental understanding necessary to be effective and successful in implementing meaningful solutions.

Good schools create vibrant neighborhoods. Healthy school districts increase home values and benefit families, neighborhoods and the community. My commitment is entirely grounded in serving the families that make up our amazing community. Let’s bring our community together, get the right skills to the table, collaborate with teachers, and find effective solutions that work for the students and communities we serve.

I would be honored to have your vote on Tuesday, November 6.

 Click this link to find out why you should vote for
 Anna Molander for School Board

Anna Molander for School Board

 Click this link to find out why you should vote for

 Anna Molander for School Board

I Endorse Anna Molander for 
Sacramento City School Board 
Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-l0e via @dianeravitch

We Discover Outstanding Candidates That Support Our Public Schools - NPE Action Endorsements - NPE Action

Endorsements - NPE Action

NPE Action Endorsements

When we discover outstanding candidates that support our issues, and it is a race that we are able to support, we endorse. Candidates must complete a questionnaire and have the support of our supporters in the area. We do our best to contact all candidates in the race. For more information contact carol@npeaction.org.

Endorsements - NPE Action

Dan Rather: My Love for Public Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Dan Rather: My Love for Public Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Dan Rather: My Love for Public Schools

Dan Rather, superstar broadcast journalist, recently made a trip home to Houston to visit his elementary school, Love Elementary School.

He was deeply moved and reminded why he loves public schools.

Please leave a comment.

He writes:

I am a product of public schools, and proudly so. Even in the midst of so many crises in our national moment, I hope that the plight of public education is not overlooked. Our classrooms can serve, must serve, as incubators: for our common decency, for our sense of fairness, for our bonds of citizenship and for the foundation of a more just nation.

I was reminded of all this in an emotional return last week to Love Elementary in Houston, where I first set foot more than 80 years ago (to write the sentence is to catch my breath in wonder at this span of time). The neighborhood has changed greatly since my youth. It is much more ethnically diverse, much like the larger city around it and the United States itself. But as I walked the hallways and met the children, I found so much in common with when I went there. There were the committed teachers and an inspiring principal – Melba Heredia Johnson. There was the spirit of optimism and the strong sense of community from the students and their families, many of which, as in my time, is positioned at the lower rungs of the ladder of the American Dream.

I knew I had come to Love to plant a tree, alongside trees I planted with my classmates so many decades ago. But this visit turned out to be so Continue reading: Dan Rather: My Love for Public Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Drilling Down into the “Grading the States” Report on School Privatization | janresseger

Drilling Down into the “Grading the States” Report on School Privatization | janresseger

Drilling Down into the “Grading the States” Report on School Privatization

I was privileged to participate in the 5th Annual Conference of the Network for Public Education (NPE) in Indianapolis this past weekend.  I have been posting  reflections about what I learned at this important meeting.

One of the most fascinating workshops at the conference explored the complexity of researching the groundbreaking, June 2018 report, Grading the States: A Report Card on Our Nation’s Commitment to Public Schools, and the importance of the report, the first comprehensive effort to track and compare the growth of privatization and the characteristics of state vouchers and charters. The report, a collaboration of the Network for Public Education and the Schott Foundation for Public Education, defines its purpose: “States are rated on the extent to which they have instituted policies and practices that lead toward fewer democratic opportunities and more privatization, as well as the guardrails they have (or have not) put into place to protect the rights of students, communities and taxpayers.  This is not an assessment of the overall quality of the public education system in the state—rather it is an analysis of the laws that support privatized alternatives to public schools.” (emphasis in the original)

The primary assumption of a report about the privatization of education but whose title incorporates these words, “a report card on our nation’s commitment to public schools,” is that the growth of several privatized education sectors at public expense—charter schools, vouchers, tuition tax credits and education savings accounts—reflects diminishing commitment to the inclusive mission of public education.  Sure enough, the report confirms that assumption, most clearly in the diversion of tax funds away from public schools: “Vouchers and charters do not decrease education costs, but instead divert tax dollars ordinarily directed to public schools thus limiting the capacity of public schools to educate the remaining students.”

Last weekend’s workshop featured three speakers: the Executive Director of the Network for Public Education (NPE), Dr. Carol Burris, who was one of the report’s researchers; Tanya Clay House, the report’s primary author and researcher—also an attorney and consultant who has previously served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the U.S. Department of Continue reading: Drilling Down into the “Grading the States” Report on School Privatization | janresseger