One Teacher's Perspective: Another Distractor: School Report Cards

One Teacher's Perspective: Another Distractor: School Report Cards:

Another Distractor: School Report Cards

by Imagine Wisconsin

Thrown under the school bus this week by the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) were 76 Wisconsin schools, which "Failed to Meet Expectations" as calculated under the state's new-fangled school accountability system. 

DPI's new school report card system is pay off to Arne Duncan's Department of Education so most Wisconsin schools can avoid federal sanctions imposed by the poorly-designed No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation. 

Trying to spin this federally-mandated school accountability farce, the well-meaning State Superintendent Tony Evers stated, "These preliminary report cards provide valuable information for parents and educators as a foundation for helping all of our 

Democurmudgeon: Illinois Democrats Medicare Ad Most Effective Way to Defend the Program.

Democurmudgeon: Illinois Democrats Medicare Ad Most Effective Way to Defend the Program.:

Illinois Democrats Medicare Ad Most Effective Way to Defend the Program.

I was in Chicago over the weekend, and came across this ad on one of the local channels for Democratic congressional candidate Brad Schneider.

The ad features a clip of President Lyndon Johnson describing the reason why he pushed so hard for Medicare. This ad should have been from the Obama campaign. Incredibly effective, it shows Medicare was created to solve a problem, not spread socialism.

Fort Hernandez | California Father

Fort Hernandez | California Father:

Fort Hernandez

by California Father

Every weekend I drive to Fort Hernandez in Van Nuys a few miles away from where I teach and drop off food.  The Hernandez’s have been fighting eviction for years and now are getting help from 50+ Occupiers camped in their front yard.  Housing is a human right.  I hope they can keep there home.

Diane in the Evening 10-28-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Stand for Children Failed in Chicago

by dianerav

Jersey Jazzman points out in an illuminating post that Jonah Edelman was hired by the plutocrats to make sure teachers would never be able to strike again.
So Jonah Edelman and his deceptively-named group Stand for Children drafted legislation, bought up most of the high-priced lobbyists, and pushed through a bill to make the hedge fund managers happy. Now, said Jonah, the teachers will never be able to get enough member votes to strike again. This is what it means today to bear the mantle of “civil rights leader.” A civil rights leader in these days wants to crush unions and promote privatization.
But it didn’t work! Only months after the passage of Edelman’s historic anti-union legislation, the Chicago Teachers Union authorized a strike. Jonah had predicted it would never get the support of 75% of its members

Bullies in School (They’re Bad) | Mr. Teachbad

Bullies in School (They’re Bad) | Mr. Teachbad:

Bullies in School (They’re Bad)

by teachbad

Mr. Teach­bad is tak­ing the unusual step of invit­ing a guest blog­ger to do the work today. It is also a bit of a depar­ture in that the sole pur­pose with this one is to be helpful.

It’s an arti­cle by about address­ing the prob­lem of bul­ly­ing in schools. At the end I have added my own com­ments about LGBT bullying.

Deal­ing with a Bully Stu­dent: What to Do, How to Cope

by Patrick Del Rosario

Every class has at least one bully, or shall we say at least one poten­tial bully. How far the bully is able to go in antag­o­niz­ing and con­trol­ling those he or she per­ceives as being weaker depends a lot on how quickly and con­sis­tently the teacher is able to respond to the situation.

Sta­tis­tics show that over 30% of stu­dents report that they are or have been bul­lied at school. As a result of bul­ly­ing, these stu­dents are more likely to become involved in phys­i­cal fights at school and suf­fer from depres­sion and other men­tal health prob­lems. Research has also shown that schools where more bul­ly­ing is reported also tend to score lower on stan­dard­ized assess­ments. Clearly, bul­ly­ing is a seri­ous prob­lem and can neg­a­tively affect those involved, but as an edu­ca­tor, you are prob­a­bly all too aware of this fact.

A study car­ried out by the NEA and Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity found that 98% of teach­ers con­sid­ered it “their job” to 

Jersey Jazzman: The Newark Teachers Contract: My Final Word

Jersey Jazzman: The Newark Teachers Contract: My Final Word:

The Newark Teachers Contract: My Final Word

by Duke

Uh, wait... er... what I meant was... um...

Newark teachers were scheduled to vote Monday, 10/29, on the contract negotiated by their union. But the approach of Sandy could delay the vote. Regardless, this should be my final post about the deal.

Once again - and contrary to what some of my commenters here have said - I am not urging anyone to vote either yes or no on this contract. I only ask that every Newark teacher understand what's at stake before they cast their ballot. I also ask you to consider that what you do may very well impact every other teacher in the state. That may not be fair, but it's the truth.

Diane Ravitch put it correctly: the deal gives the reformy ideologues things they desperately want. In exchange, the teachers get a big hunk of private money. There's no doubt in my mind that this money will not be available unless the teachers acquiesce to a merit pay system; that is the trade off. The biggest question teachers need to ask is whether the money is worth it.

Jessica Calefati lays it out in today's Star-Ledger:

Under the contract, teachers can earn annual bonuses up to $5,000 for being 

Walmartization of Washington Schools? Seattle Education

Seattle Education:

Alice Walton is now the 2nd biggest donor to charter school initiative at $1.7M.

From the Walmart 1% website and posted on July 6, 2012:

Walmartization of Washington Schools?

Yesterday, the Washington Secretary of State’s officecertified Initiative 1240 for the state’s November ballot. I-1240 would essentially permit charter schools in Washington, which currently doesn’t accommodate them.  The signature filing deadline was July 6; five days later, Alice Walton—who lives in Texas, not the Pacific Northwest—gave $600,000 to the pro-charter school committee.

If passed, newly created charter schools would be exempt from some of the 

Connecticut seeks to lead the “Local Control is a White People Thing” bandwagon? - Wait, What?

Connecticut seeks to lead the “Local Control is a White People Thing” bandwagon? - Wait, What?:

Connecticut seeks to lead the “Local Control is a White People Thing” bandwagon?

by jonpelto

Banned Halloween Costumes

Yesterday, fellow pro-public education blogger, Jersey Jazzman, wrote a great piece about the fact that a number of school districts in New Jersey – all populated by black and Hispanic citizens – have been under state control for years.  (See: Local Control of Schools: It’s a White People Thing.)

Diane Ravitch, in turn, picked up the piece on her national blog, noting that, “In many districts, especially where the population is non-white, privatizers insist on mayoral control or state control…there is no evidence that taking away popular rule improves the schools…It does make it easier, however, to privatize them.”

We certainly know that reality here, as Governor Malloy’s education reform associates like Mayor Bill Finch, “Education Reformer Extraordinaire” Paul Vallas, and corporate business organizations like Excel Bridgeport and the Council for Education Reform, are spending over $100,000 to eliminate Bridgeport’s democratically elected board of education and replace it with one appointed by the Mayor.

As Diane Ravitch also noted, Michelle Rhee’s husband, Kevin Johnson, a former 

Are these Illinois students getting the wrong lesson about Twitter and free speech? | Dangerously Irrelevant

Are these Illinois students getting the wrong lesson about Twitter and free speech? | Dangerously Irrelevant:

Are these Illinois students getting the wrong lesson about Twitter and free speech?

by dr.scott.mcleod@gmail.com (Scott McLeod)

If a student calls a teacher a MILF on Twitter, should he be suspended? If other students retweet his tweet – or give it a thumbs up – should they be suspended? The school administrators at Granite City High School in Granite City, Illinois think so. They’ve suspended multiple students for 5 to 10 days apiece (the longer suspensions were related to a student’s tweet that she should blow up the school so that she wouldn’t have to attend).
Unsurprisingly, online reactions have been quick and fierce (as has been the conversation on Facebook). Here are a few tweets since the suspensions:
 

Snookered by Bill Gates and the U. S. Department of Education - Dailycensored.com | Dailycensored.com

Snookered by Bill Gates and the U. S. Department of Education - Dailycensored.com | Dailycensored.com:

Snookered by Bill Gates and the U. S. Department of Education

by Susan Ohanian

Attention people who care about children in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

You’ve been snookered.

The truth of the matter is that we’ve all been snookered by the U. S. Department of Education, working in cahoots with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but the release of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium sample assessment items makes the flimflam obvious to people in the above states. Their leaders gave promissory notes to the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.

U. S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says the new assessments will be “an absolute game changer in public education.” Translation: They’ll rob you blind, ruin your curriculum, and turn your children into test-taking drudges.

On Oct. 24, 2012, the Vermont State Department of Education issued an enthusiastic  press release trumpeting these sample test items. Acting as an echo chamber for the U. S. Department of Education, Vermont Education 

In the Face of 'Superstorm' Sandy, Parents are Reminded to "WATCH" your PUBLIC SCHOOLS

In the Face of 'Superstorm' Sandy, 

Parents are Reminded to 

"WATCH" your PUBLIC SCHOOLS

KARRAN HARPER ROYAL KICKOFFS SCHOOL BOARD CAMPAIGN (CLICK PICTURE)

 

“We need volunteers, we need your donations and we need you to tell everyone you know in District 3 to vote for Karran Harper Royal,” she said to rounds of applause during her speech. Harper Royal’s campaign web site can be found at www.karran4kids.com.

Two High School Teachers May Be Better Than One | toteachornototeach

Two High School Teachers May Be Better Than One | toteachornototeach:

Two High School Teachers May Be Better Than One

by aristotlethewise

Two High School Teachers May Be Better Than One

By Kelsey Sheehy
Coteaching can help educators address a variety 
of learning levels in one high school classroom.
Two heads are better than one, or so the saying goes. But in a high school classroom, are two teachers better than one?
“It’s all in how you implement it,” says Susan Fitzell, an educational consultant. “It doesn’t work if you just have two bodies in the room.”
To be effective, both teachers need to be interacting with students, breaking them into small groups, and teaching to the needs of individual students, says Fitzell, a former special education teacher who began coteaching at Londonderry Senior High School in New Hampshire in 1993 and now coaches other educators on how to coteach.
While Fitzell says she’s seen an increase in schools pairing two general education instructors in one classroom 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: A Teacher's Goodbye (with reasons)

Seattle Schools Community Forum: A Teacher's Goodbye (with reasons):

A Teacher's Goodbye (with reasons)

by Melissa Westbrook

This farewell to teaching comes from a teacher in North Carolina via Diane Ravich's blog.  It is heartbreaking.

This could have been written any time in the last 5 years but that it comes as we face the challenge of I-1240 make it particularly applicable.  Why?

Because there are those who want to lay the blame for everything - everything - that is wrong in public education at the feet of public education.  The principals, the administrators and especially, the teachers.

Not the legislators for not funding schools or allowing poor legislation to be created or stand.

Not lazy politicians looking for a quick-fix or the next gimmick or fad.

And not a society that is willing to overlook two things.

One, 23% of American children live in poverty.  We are the only first-world country to have such a damning 

Daily Kos: Ann Romney: "Throw out" the American public education system.

Daily Kos: Ann Romney: "Throw out" the American public education system.:

Ann Romney: "Throw out" the American public education system.

bynoweaselsFollow

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Ann Romney wants to "throw out" the public education system.

Ann Romney and First Lady Michelle Obama were interviewed for the November issue of Good Housekeeping magazine, just out.  Our First Lady, of course was charming, positive and well-informed.

Mrs. Romney? Well . . .

Among her talking points, this:

I've been a First Lady of the State. I have seen what happens to people's lives if they 

"Forward" (Official Video)

A brand new grassroots song and music video in support of President Obama's re-election produced by the Executive Producer behind the iconic "Yes We Can" music video of 2008 with will.i.am.

#forwardsong
http://www.forwardsong.com

Jersey Jazzman: The Charter School Fairy

Jersey Jazzman: The Charter School Fairy:

The Charter School Fairy

by Duke

Meet the Merit Pay Fairy's second cousin: the Charter School Fairy:

Popout

All you people who keep telling me, "Charters are public schools," let me ask you this: if a kid showed up mid-year and demanded entrance at a charter school, would they have to take him? OK, then what about a public school?

Or try this one: if the democratically-elected school board of community didn't want to take tax money away from the local schools to fund a charter, should they be compelled to anyway by an unelected commissioner?

So let's cut the crap on charters, OK? They take public money, but they are not public schools, any more than Halliburton or the Red Cross is a government agency. Some may be non-profit, but they are \

NJ Charter Report Held Hostage: Day 600!

by Duke

(Oops, one day late)

600 days ago, NJ Education Commissioner Chris Cerf was confronted with an inconvenient truth. Cerf, an inveterate charter school pusher, had put out an analysis of charter performance in New Jersey that purported to show that the majority of charter schools in New Jersey outperformed their neighboring public schools. But the report never accounted for student characteristics; there was no acknowledgment that charters were not serving the same kids as public schools.

Matt DiCarlo called him out on it. Bruce Baker called him out on it. Bob Braun called him out on it. Yours trulycalled him out on it.

Fairies are brought to you by 

State overuses easier special ed tests - SFGate

State overuses easier special ed tests - SFGate:

State overuses easier special ed tests

PUBLIC EDUCATION State should expect more of students with disabilities, say federal officials

Jill Tucker

Updated 10:37 p.m., Friday, October 26, 2012

California schools have lowered the academic expectations for tens of thousands of students in special education over the past few years, allowing them take a shorter and easier set of standardized tests at a participation rate that far exceeds federal guidelines.

In the spring of 2012, more than half the state's 400,000 students with disabilities took the simplified version of the math, science and language arts tests.

That's nearly three times higher than it should be, and the state should intervene to make sure the modified test is not overused, federal Department of Education officials told The

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/State-overuses-easier-special-ed-tests-3986019.php#ixzz2AbxUPrIq

Education Reform: Democracy Left Behind | Seattle Education

Education Reform: Democracy Left Behind | Seattle Education:

Education Reform: Democracy Left Behind

Posted on October 28, 2012 by seattleducation2011 | Leave a comment

By its nature, democracy presumes the value of local control. Democracy trusts in the people to rule themselves, based on their collective judgment, freed from externally imposed dictates.

From the National Education Policy Center, policy brief:

How Recent Education Reforms Undermine Local School Governance and Democratic Education

This video provides an overall understanding of the brief.

Some of the recommendations in this study:

· Move from a punitive to a participatory model for engaging local communities in reform efforts. Rather than threatening to withhold funding from struggling schools, provide additional support and incentives for staff, parents, and other 

The Sunday Mail. « Fred Klonsky

The Sunday Mail. « Fred Klonsky:

The Sunday Mail.

by Fred Klonsky

I guess TRS Executive Director Dick Ingram got to keep his job. The TRS board of trustees met in executive session last week but we don’t get to hear what they said. Tom White, TRS retiree and retired Executive Director of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Retirement Fund has plenty to say.
NY keeps last week’s testing secret from parents. Why? Because if has nothing to do with the kids and parents could choose to opt out.
David Stieber and CPS’s open seats. School closings will be announced by December 1st.
Rahm’s sheep. 
Okay, all you polling nerds. The Electoral College pool is now open. I have the +325 Obama square.

Compared to the school board, the City Council’s a bastion of independence!
There were even five aldermen who voted against the last mayor’s bright idea to sell the $10 billion parking meter system for $1 billion.
True, 40 aldermen thought it was a good deal. But five’s better than none, which most assuredly is 

Ten minute drawing. Did anyone say global warming?

by Fred Klonsky

Click on drawing to enlarge.

My Reality Check - Woodbridge, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post - A Professional Networking Community for Educators

My Reality Check - Woodbridge, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post - A Professional Networking Community for Educators:

Looking Ahead

My Reality Check

How do you know if your worldview is based in reality…if your expectations are well-grounded? You need reliable perspective. How do you get solid perspective? You step outside of your own realm of experience and see how others live.

In my fourteenth year of teaching, I was also leading a number of professional development offerings for Spotsylvania County Schools. And like so many of us in ed tech, I was being pushed more and more to train colleagues on technology. It was at this point in my career that the husband of one of my workshop attendees approached me. “I hear you’re really good. Why not do what you do well for more money?”  He worked for a consulting firm that worked with government agencies and private sector firms. They needed a technology trainer.

More money caught my attention…that and the offered title of Senior Technology Trainer made it tempting. After all, there weren’t many options for upward mobility within K-12 other than building and district administration. If I accepted the offer, I