Sunday, July 15, 2012

Mittens.

by Fred Klonsky

Louisiana Turnaround: Year One - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

Louisiana Turnaround: Year One - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

Louisiana Turnaround: Year One

by Nancy Flanagan

If you're a regular reader of Teacher in a Strange Land, you know I've been closely following a turnaround school in Louisiana this year. I had the rich experience of doing professional development work with the staff--at the very beginning, when a potent stew of wariness and possibility filled the room, and a midpoint workshop where trust had taken root and teachers were sharing their beliefs about good teaching, even if it wasn't the party line. I had dinner with some of them, heard some heartbreaking tales about their students--and even got a fuming e-mail from one, who thought I was dismissive of Teach for America corps members who leave "failing" schools in Louisiana to capitalize on their two years' of teaching expertise in ed- policy world.
I also got some irate e-mails from the other side--progressive educators who loathe all four highly prescriptive Race to the Top options for low-performing schools: turnaround, transformation, restart and closure. Writing

What the Bushies “Fail to Acknowledge” | Scathing Purple Musings

What the Bushies “Fail to Acknowledge” | Scathing Purple Musings:

What the Bushies “Fail to Acknowledge”

by Bob Sikes

While the Ocala Star-Banner published the effort of Jeb Bush mouthpiece Matt Lander this morning, editor Brad Rogers clearly doesn’t agree with him. Writes Rogers:

What Ladner and his associates fail to acknowledge, though, is what has been sacrificed in the name of FCAT success. Huge numbers of children have been denied electives so they can be warehoused in remediation classes, decimating bands, athletic teams, and what’s left of our music and art programs. School districts like ours have had to create massive mini-bureaucracies to prepare administer and follow-up on FCAT. And all the while, students, teachers, principals and parents suffer palatable angst throughout the year in fear of “failing” FCAT.

Point of View: Involve teachers, parents in schools | jacksonville.com

Point of View: Involve teachers, parents in schools | jacksonville.com:

Point of View: Involve teachers, parents in schools

Posted: July 14, 2012 - 12:06am | Updated: July 14, 2012 - 2:17am

During his visit to City Hall Tuesday night, Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson listened to citizens and managed to drive nearly all his responses back to the theme on which we all agree: We must improve educational outcomes for all of our children.

In a state where the dominant education reform narrative has flipped public dialogue like a tidal wave, it’s important to take stock of where parent-advocates might agree with Robinson,and why some of us part ways on other issues.

Florida’s students are counting on us to hold all taxpayer-funded schools accountable. Parents like me are not anti-accountability, but we believe all taxpayer-funded schools should be equally accountable.

COMPARE SCHOOLS

If Florida lawmakers continue to prefer privatization, families should be given the opportunity to make

Unexpected allies? « Deborah Meier on Education

Unexpected allies? « Deborah Meier on Education:

http://deborahmeier.com/

Unexpected allies?

by debmeier

Unexpected reminders of importance to those organizing for change!
Howard Anderson of MITs Sloan School of Management is quoted in Commonweal (July 1, 2012) on Catholic Social Teaching. Anderson says, “Private equity doesn’t create jobs; you guys build wealth.” There’s a big difference. “Sometimes you (guys) build jobs. Sometimes you eliminate jobs… ..Private equity is the best of capitalism and it’s the worst of capitalism.” The author, Daniel Finn, of the essay goes on to explain why Catholic thought on capitalism is always a surprise to conservatives–and to me!. E.g. Pope John Paul II: “Ownership of the means of production… is just and legitimate if it serves useful work. It becomes illegitimate, however, when it is not useful or when it serves to impede the work of others, in an effort to gain a profit which is not the result of the overall expansion of work and the wealth of society, but rather is the result of curbing or of

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