THIS WEEK NEW BLACK MAN (IN EXILE)
Sunday, November 17, 2019
Little Rock schools and segregation + 50. – Fred Klonsky
Little Rock schools and segregation + 50. – Fred Klonsky
LITTLE ROCK SCHOOLS AND SEGREGATION + 50
LITTLE ROCK SCHOOLS AND SEGREGATION + 50
Teachers in the Little Rock School District, the location of one of the most famous desegregation battles in the U.S., went on one-day strike Thursday.
Union flyer for last Thursday’s one-day strike in Little Rock.
The Arkansas state board of education directly controls the Little Rock School District, and has done so since 2015. State officials justified the takeover through the misuse of the district’s standardized-test scores.
In September officials proposed returning limited local control to the district, but also wanted to reconstitute the district, and divide it in half. Higher-income, predominantly white schools would fall under local control, but lower-income schools in historically black neighborhoods would remain under state control.
Using test scores segregation would return, over half a century after it was supposed to end, to Little Rock.
The community schools, as the state of Arkansas seeks to define them would basically CONTINUE READING: Little Rock schools and segregation + 50. – Fred Klonsky
Listen to this – 2019 #2 | Live Long and Prosper
Listen to this – 2019 #2 | Live Long and Prosper
Listen to this – 2019 #2
Listen to this – 2019 #2
Meaningful quotes…
RED FOR ED IN INDIANA
On November 19th, thousands of teachers across Indiana will converge on the state capital in Indianapolis, or gather in their local communities to draw attention to the lack of government support for public education in Indiana.
Indiana teachers, through the Indiana State Teachers Association, sponsors of the event, have several priorities.
- Increase funding for public schools to increase teacher pay. Currently, Indiana has among the lowest average teacher salary in the Midwest and has had the lowest increase in teacher pay over the last decade and a half in the nation.
- Don’t blame Indiana teachers for student performance on tests. There are too many variables that have an impact on test scores to single out teachers as the only, or even the main cause.
- Repeal the requirement for teachers to spend their valuable time as business interns in their communities.
- Stop the move to grade school systems and schools based on what their students do after graduation. Again, there are too many variables in students’ lives to assume that schools are the only cause of their choices after they graduate.
Hundreds of school systems throughout the state have canceled classes for the day to allow teachers to participate including the largest district in the state, Fort Wayne Community Schools. When FWCS decided to close their Superintendent, Wendy Robinson, Indiana’s 2018 Superintendent of the Year, wrote a letter to CONTINUE READING: Listen to this – 2019 #2 | Live Long and Prosper
Eric Blanc: Why Little Rock Teachers Went on Strike | Diane Ravitch's blog
Eric Blanc: Why Little Rock Teachers Went on Strike | Diane Ravitch's blog
Eric Blanc: Why Little Rock Teachers Went on Strike
Eric Blanc: Why Little Rock Teachers Went on Strike
If you want to understand what is happening in the Little Rock school District today, read Eric Blanc’s article.
Eric Blanc has covered every one of the teachers’ strikes since the West Virginia strike in the spring of 2018. Now he is in Little Rock, where he interviewed teachers who went on strike yesterday to protest the State Board of Education’s heavy-handed control of the district and its decision to strip school employees of collective bargaining rights.
Teachers are outraged that the State Board of Education, which took control of the district in 2015, utterly failed to improve student outcomes, yet refuses to relinquish control to a democratically elected board. Teachers believe that the state wants to resegregate the district.
Blanc writes:
Little Rock teachers today are not demanding raises for themselves, but an end to the state’s push to resegregate schools, its takeover of their district, its decertification of their union, and its disrespect for school support staff. As second grade teacher Jenni White explains, “this is CONTINUE READING: Eric Blanc: Why Little Rock Teachers Went on Strike | Diane Ravitch's blog
NYC Educator: On Writing, and Writing Recommendations
NYC Educator: On Writing, and Writing Recommendations
On Writing, and Writing Recommendations
Unlike some of my colleagues, I don't write many recommendations. It's not that I don't want to--it's that I'm not frequently asked. This is largely because I teach beginning English language learners. Most of them are freshmen when they come to me, and three years later they have other teachers and other priorities.
It's too bad, because I'm pretty good at writing recommendations. Sometimes colleagues give me recommendations to edit. A few weeks ago I got one written about a student I know well. I was a little disappointed he didn't ask me directly, but I made his a little better anyway. I absolutely understand that students might not want to place it front and center that they are (or were) ELLs.
I've seen some overly flowery recommendations that were not altogether persuasive. I particularly recall one that commented on a student's perspicacity, and then went on to praise her perspicuity. This, among other things, led me to believe the teacher was sitting with a thesaurus when he wrote the thing. I'm not ashamed to admit that I didn't know what perspicuity was, and I had to look it up. (Of course, everyone's heard of Perspicacity and the Sundance Kid, so that was no issue.)
Last week I was very pleased to write two recommendations. The first one was for a girl who was in my class three years ago. This girl, however, spent a year revisiting my class one period a day. She was a great help. For one thing, she spoke Chinese. which I do not. She was able to make a few new arrivals feel much more comfortable.
I think this girl's school grades are not reflective of who she is. She's very clever and intuitive. She gets along well with everyone, peers and teachers, and is well-liked. A lot of my students tend to flock only to people who speak their native language. I'm always more impressed by students who get along with everyone, regardless of language. Personally, if I had to work with someone, I'd rather be with someone like that than the student who aced all the exams without those qualities.
I also believe that she, and a lot of people like her, will do better in a college environment. I believe that pretty deeply because I was not a good high school student at all. Despite that, I was a voracious reader in high school, always in the middle of a book or two. In my English classes, we sat and read books one page at a time. Only when the girl in front of me was reading page 152 did I have to scramble to read aloud page 153. In stark contrast to college, there was no discussion, no analysis, and the only benefit was to the English teacher, who got to sit on her ass and reflect on whatever actually interested her. Certainly it wasn't the book in question, which interested no one. My time would have been better spent alone with a book I'd chosen myself.
Nowadays there's not so much of that, but English classes have been seriously degraded by Common Core. I've written extensively about how crappy the tests are. Students CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: On Writing, and Writing Recommendations
On Writing, and Writing Recommendations
It's too bad, because I'm pretty good at writing recommendations. Sometimes colleagues give me recommendations to edit. A few weeks ago I got one written about a student I know well. I was a little disappointed he didn't ask me directly, but I made his a little better anyway. I absolutely understand that students might not want to place it front and center that they are (or were) ELLs.
I've seen some overly flowery recommendations that were not altogether persuasive. I particularly recall one that commented on a student's perspicacity, and then went on to praise her perspicuity. This, among other things, led me to believe the teacher was sitting with a thesaurus when he wrote the thing. I'm not ashamed to admit that I didn't know what perspicuity was, and I had to look it up. (Of course, everyone's heard of Perspicacity and the Sundance Kid, so that was no issue.)
Last week I was very pleased to write two recommendations. The first one was for a girl who was in my class three years ago. This girl, however, spent a year revisiting my class one period a day. She was a great help. For one thing, she spoke Chinese. which I do not. She was able to make a few new arrivals feel much more comfortable.
I think this girl's school grades are not reflective of who she is. She's very clever and intuitive. She gets along well with everyone, peers and teachers, and is well-liked. A lot of my students tend to flock only to people who speak their native language. I'm always more impressed by students who get along with everyone, regardless of language. Personally, if I had to work with someone, I'd rather be with someone like that than the student who aced all the exams without those qualities.
I also believe that she, and a lot of people like her, will do better in a college environment. I believe that pretty deeply because I was not a good high school student at all. Despite that, I was a voracious reader in high school, always in the middle of a book or two. In my English classes, we sat and read books one page at a time. Only when the girl in front of me was reading page 152 did I have to scramble to read aloud page 153. In stark contrast to college, there was no discussion, no analysis, and the only benefit was to the English teacher, who got to sit on her ass and reflect on whatever actually interested her. Certainly it wasn't the book in question, which interested no one. My time would have been better spent alone with a book I'd chosen myself.
Nowadays there's not so much of that, but English classes have been seriously degraded by Common Core. I've written extensively about how crappy the tests are. Students CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: On Writing, and Writing Recommendations
John Bel Edwards Wins Second Term as Louisiana Governor | deutsch29
John Bel Edwards Wins Second Term as Louisiana Governor | deutsch29
John Bel Edwards Wins Second Term as Louisiana Governor
John Bel Edwards Wins Second Term as Louisiana Governor
Democrat John Bel Edwards wins a second term as governor in deep-red, Republican Louisiana.
With 100% of precincts reporting, Edwards has 51.3% of the vote.
President Trump visited Louisiana three times in recent weeks to campaign for Republican gubernatorial challenger, Eddie Rispone.
As of this writing, Trump has been silent on Twitter regarding the Edwards win (Rispone loss).
Edwards’ win is critical for Louisiana’s infrastructure, including education, both K12 and postsecondary. Under Edwards’ leadership (see here also) in his first term (2016-2020), he fully funded Louisiana’s Taylor Opportunity Scholarship Program (TOPS); supported a state raise for teachers and other school personnel, and investing millions in early childhood education.
Rispone’s most notable connection to education is via US ed sec Betsy DeVos and her national, school-choice organization, American Federation for Children (AFC). Risponse is the former chair of the Louisiana branch of AFC, the Louisiana Federation for Children.
In his 2016 campaign, Edwards said he wanted to get rid of Louisiana state superintendent, John White. However, replacing White would involve a supermajority vote (8 out of 11 members) of the state ed board (BESE), which has been a market-based reform stronghold since out-of-state millions have been CONTINUE READING: John Bel Edwards Wins Second Term as Louisiana Governor | deutsch29
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Feedback from Work Group on K-12 State Funding
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Feedback from Work Group on K-12 State Funding
Feedback from Work Group on K-12 State Funding
From Neal Morton at the Seattle Times via Twitter - interesting reading:
Feedback from Work Group on K-12 State Funding
- At the final meeting of a state work group charged with telling lawmakers how to fix K-12 formulas that pay for the adults working in school. Editor's note: when there's link to entire report, I'll put it up. It's due December 1.
- And as a reminder of how many students it takes in a "prototypical" school to generate enough funding for positions beyond teachers (Interesting that only elementaries get cash money for parent involvement staff even tho that's the age when parents typically most involved)
- A public survey got more than 3,000 responses, mostly from teachers and other folks working in education. Only four respondents took the survey in Spanish, which prompted some workgroup members to question how they can represent/amplify more diverse voices in their final report. Editor's note: about one-third of respondents had written comments.
- https://twitter.com/nealtmorton/status/1195417525854461957?s=20Teachers provided a little more than a third of all the responses. Among other educators who took the survey, school psychologists provided the most responses & in written feedback often said CONTINUE READING: Seattle Schools Community Forum: Feedback from Work Group on K-12 State Funding
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