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Sunday, November 11, 2012

Diane in the Evening 11-11-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:



Teachers’ Facebook and Phone Campaign for Obama

Two teachers have started a campaign to take their message to the White House: stop the Race to the Top!
The message of their campaign:
Give all students the same education your girls are getting! Abandon Race to the Top and stop privatizing public schools.
Join them!


EduShyster Credits Stephanie Rivera for SFER Expose

Earlier, I published a post about Students for Education Reform, linking to a post by EduShyster.
SFER is a junior version of Democrats for Education Reform, the group formed by Wall Street hedge fund managers to promote privatization and high-stakes testing.
EduShyster here says that the credit for investigative reporting goes to Stephanie Rivera, a student at Rutgers, who plans to be a teacher and often engages in dialogue with her peers at SFER and TFA. Her website is calledTeacher Under Construction.
EduShyster writes:
Actually all of the credit for “digging” goes to Stephanie Rivera, a student at Rutgers. She posts regular updates 


Why Tony Bennett Lost

Conservative commentators–and Tony Bennett himself–blame Bennett’s loss on his support for the Common Core standards. They say that Bennett lost the votes of some Republicans who oppose the standards as federal over-reach. It’s hard to over-state how Bennett’s loss shocked and bewildered conservatives. He was their super-star.
Before that hardens into conventional wisdom, please consider the different view of this Hoosier:
Bennett and his policies were incredibly detrimental to the education of Hoosier children. Hatchet men were 


Why Tony Bennett Lost

Conservative commentators–and Tony Bennett himself–blame Bennett’s loss on his support for the Common Core standards. They say that Bennett lost the votes of some Republicans who oppose the standards as federal over-reach. It’s hard to over-state how Bennett’s loss shocked and bewildered conservatives. He was their super-star.
Before that hardens into conventional wisdom, please consider the different view of this Hoosier:
Bennett and his policies were incredibly detrimental to the education of Hoosier children. Hatchet men were placed as trustees of universities – not to support strengthened teacher education program, but to demean and demolish programs that are internationally perceived and practiced as excellent. An all out war was waged to de-


Matt Di Carlo Reviews TNTP Study of Rhee Reforms

Matthew Di Carlo of the Albert Shanker Institute always applies a rigorous analysis to any study or report he reviews.
Here he looks at the methodological issues raised by the TNTP review of the DC reforms. Among his concerns: the teachers who responded to the TNTP survey were a non-random sample, and those who responded might be different from those who did not; in addition, the “evaluation” is based on only a single year of data. Di Carlo concludes that the study isn’t very interesting because of its flaws.
When Gary Rubinstein reviewed the same report, he made the sensible point that TFA and TNTP have been 




LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 11-11-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Don’t Forget the Hurricane Victims by dianerav Robert Pondiscio writes movingly about a school that was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. PS 333 was a Core Knowledge school, exemplary in many respects. It was unprotected from the ferocity of the storm surge. It had 578 students before the storm. It has 30 or so now, and they have been relocated to a school more than an hour and a half away. The principal is distraught, while the city administration pretends that what matters most is to get back to the routines o... more »

A Novel and Worthy Cause « Teaching Between the Lines

A Novel and Worthy Cause « Teaching Between the Lines:


A Novel and Worthy Cause

You are frustrated with the testing emphasis in education, and you really resent politicians and non-educators trying to tell teachers what to do in their classrooms.  You are especially upset over the shift away from creative, artistic pursuits in the classroom as drill-and-kill math and reading replace the arts.  So what can you do to make a difference?
Don’t despair, my friend!  The Office of Letters and Light is a non-profit organization that believes in “ambitious acts of the imagination,” and they really put their money where their mouth is.  They provide the completeNational Novel Writing Month curriculum, including student workbooks, teacher lesson plans, online support for students and teachers, AND it is all linked to the new Common Core Standards AND it is all FREE.  What more could a teacher ask for?  
My daughter and I are fundraising for this most excellent cause so that more students and teachers can write 

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Being Right vs. Being Relevant….

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Being Right vs. Being Relevant….:


Being Right vs. Being Relevant….

As I’ve said before, the saying goes that California is like the rest of the country, only sooner. The GOP in the Golden State has only remained politically relevant because of the bizarre requirement for a two-thirds majority to pass state budgets. Now they may have even lost that perk. I’ll share a couple of observations from what happened here that I think may be germane to the current situation nationally.
The state GOP has never shaken the bad reputation they built with Latino voters and other immigrant groupsfrom the Proposition 187 campaign back in 1994. This statewide initiative banning immigrants from state services was the final hurrah of the California GOP, which was then hit by a wave of immigrants showing up at the polls from which they have never recovered. They perhaps could have, but they seem unable to get agreement within the party on a non-hostile policy towards immigrants, while the Democratic party has been immigration friendly 

Update for Occupy DOE 2.0: The Battle for Public Schools | United Opt Out National

Update for Occupy DOE 2.0: The Battle for Public Schools | United Opt Out National:


Update for Occupy DOE 2.0: The Battle for Public Schools

NYC Public School Parents: PEP's Mayoral Bloc Rejects Call for Delay in Charter School Co-locations

NYC Public School Parents: PEP's Mayoral Bloc Rejects Call for Delay in Charter School Co-locations:


PEP's Mayoral Bloc Rejects Call for Delay in Charter School Co-locations

Thursday's Panel for Educational Policy meeting at Frank Sinatra HS started forty minutes late as Vice Chair Freida Foster waited for enough mayoral bloc appointees to ensure the mayor's super-majority was in place to approve resolutions.

Deferral of Co-Location Votes or "The People's Business"

Brooklyn representative Kelvin Diamond introduced a resolution to defer co-location votes from the rescheduled December PEP meeting to January.  Diamond cited the losses and disruption caused by Hurricane Sandy as obstacles to holding public hearings where the affected communities could weigh in on the decisions.  Chancellor Walcott spoke against the resolution citing the need to proceed with "the people's business".  I joined the Queens representative in supporting the Brooklyn resolution.  The resolution failed as the Staten Island representative joined the mayoral bloc in dismissing our concerns about the ability of the public to focus on these hearings and the larger privatization effort underway in the aftermath of the hurricane. 

School Tech Connect: Do Elections Have Consequences?

School Tech Connect: Do Elections Have Consequences?:


Do Elections Have Consequences?

We'll just see...

One of the things I've learned in the past year is to not be shy about inviting policymakers to meetings.  Just sent an email to my state representative.

Malloy’s decision to coddle the rich = State Budget Deficit - Wait, What?

Malloy’s decision to coddle the rich = State Budget Deficit - Wait, What?:


Malloy’s decision to coddle the rich = State Budget Deficit

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Should Student Tweets Be Revealed?

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Should Student Tweets Be Revealed?:


Should Student Tweets Be Revealed?

Here's a dilemma (or maybe not).

Over at the Jezebel blog, they found that there were a number of teens who, after the reelection of President Obama, sent out very hateful and racist tweets.  Jezebel looked these teens up and where they went to school, checked their school's code of conduct, and then contacted their respective administrations.  In many cases, either the school code of conduct and/or student athletic code of conduct was violate.

Jezebel says:

We contacted their school's administrators with the hope that, if their educators were made aware of their 

Seattle Schools This Week

Monday, November 12th
SPS closed to honor our veterans, both past and present.   I want to thank my father, Sam, and his brothers, Jack, Pat and Bill, all who served in WWII.  I want to thank my mother's cousin, Charles Oles, who served in WWII and died in the Bataan death march.  I would like to thank Harry M. Ravenna, the soldier in Vietnam whose name I carried on a metal bracelet on my wrist in junior high.  I found out decades later that he was killed in action.  Thank you to all who served and are serving.

Community Meeting with Director Peaslee at Lake City Library from 6:30-8:00 pm

Tuesday, November 13th
Road Map to College event.  One of a series, this one at Rainier Beach High School from 3-6 p.m.

Krista Rillo, College Bound Scholarship Counselor, klrillo@seattleschools.org, (206) 252-0075

Fresh Awesome in the Teachbad Store!! | Mr. Teachbad

Fresh Awesome in the Teachbad Store!! | Mr. Teachbad:


Fresh Awesome in the Teachbad Store!!

Last Stand for Children First: Michelle Rhee's Policies Proven a Rousing Success

Last Stand for Children First: Michelle Rhee's Policies Proven a Rousing Success:


Michelle Rhee's Policies Proven a Rousing Success

I was overjoyed yesterday to see the Washington Post trumpeting a new report by the New Teacher Project trumpeting Michelle Rhee's success as Chancellor of the Washington D.C. schools.  We've always known Ms. Rhee was a force of nature since she first appeared on our radar when she founded the New Teacher Project back in 1997. 

As Chancellor, Mr. Rhee was something of a lightening rod for controversy, but even the Washington Post found the report compelling despite the New Teacher Project currently having a contract with the DC schools, many of the Washington D.C. teachers coming from the New Teacher Project, Michelle Rhee running the project for 10 years, and current Washington school chief Kaya Henderson being a former Vice-President of the New Teacher Poject.   Frankly, that's good enough for me.

In 1954, my grandfather Francis was one of the scientists who contributed to the groundbreaking report entitled 

Profiles in Courageousness Tackles Education Reform


A new book has just come out this week from Last Stand for Children Board Member and United States Congressman Jack Kimble of California's 54th District.   The book is a combination of the Congressman's life 

Kimble's Corner: Congressman Kimble Meets the Nation to Talk about GOP Future

Kimble's Corner: Congressman Kimble Meets the Nation to Talk about GOP Future:


Congressman Kimble Meets the Nation to Talk about GOP Future


Greg Roberts: The echoes of Tuesday night's crushing defeat for Mitt Romney and the rest of Republican candidates still echo through the beltway.  The fiscal cliff awaits, but it seems what everybody is talking about is how the Republicans rebound with demographics seemingly working against them for years to come.

Our guest, Jack Kimble from California was a rare Republican winner on Tuesday night, winning his home district 

Math Can Be Truly Painful, Brain Study Shows | toteachornototeach

Math Can Be Truly Painful, Brain Study Shows | toteachornototeach:


Math Can Be Truly Painful, Brain Study Shows

Math Can Be Truly Painful, Brain Study Shows

For math-phobes, anticipation of math work activates pain centers in brain.
by Jeremy Berlin
Does the thought of 1+1= ouch?
If you hate math, it might—literally. According to a new study, the mere prospect of a math problem causes pain centers to light up in number-phobic brains.
Researchers at the University of Chicago measured the neural activity of 28 adults—14 who’d been identified with high math anxiety and 14 with low math anxiety. Each subject was given a series of word and math questions 

2012 election lessons. We don’t have to accept bad legislation. Oust those who proposed it. Build a democratic union. « Fred Klonsky

2012 election lessons. We don’t have to accept bad legislation. Oust those who proposed it. Build a democratic union. « Fred Klonsky:


2012 election lessons. We don’t have to accept bad legislation. Oust those who proposed it. Build a democratic union.

John Wilson is the former Executive Director of the National Education Association. Before that he led the N.C. Association of Educators. He taught special education for 23 years. He is a past chair of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, the Learning First Alliance, and the N.C. Covenant for Children.
Wilson posted on his blog at Ed Week some of his thoughts about last Tuesday’s election.
They are worth reading.

 I hope teachers take a lot of heart and a few lessons from the 2012 election. Lesson 1: Your voice matters, individually and collectively through your association or union. Lesson 2: You do not have to accept bad legislation. Challenge it through the proposition process, the courts, or the next election by 



Call the White House. A national campaign to stop Race to the Top.

Contact the White House weekly at 202-456-1111 on your state’s designated day.Message: Give all students the same education your girls are getting! Abandon Race to the Top and stop privatizing public schools.
MONDAY
1. Alabama
2. Alaska
3. Arizona
4. Arkansas
5. California
6. Colorado

Jersey Jazzman: The Deeply Flawed TNTP Report on DC Schools

Jersey Jazzman: The Deeply Flawed TNTP Report on DC Schools:


The Deeply Flawed TNTP Report on DC Schools

UPDATE: Matt DiCarlo has, as is usual, an excellent analysis. I especially like what he says about the survey TNTP conducted:
Unless I’m missing something, TNTP does not present any basic characteristics of their survey sample, to say nothing of trying to compare them with those of the larger DCPS group (the same was true of the districts in the “Irreplaceables” report). This is always required (even with random samples), but it’s especially important given that TNTP is an advocacy organization, one which is very well-known in DCPS (for example, it was founded by former Chancellor Michelle Rhee), and places many teachers in the district. Attitudes toward them can be very contentious, and it’s certain that at least some people decided for or against completing the survey based in part on their views of TNTP and/or their policy stances.
As far as I'm concerned, the survey in this report is useless. But I still stand by the linking of "Evaluation 

All Education Matters: Rolling Jubilee: You Are Not A Loan

All Education Matters: Rolling Jubilee: You Are Not A Loan:


Rolling Jubilee: You Are Not A Loan

Occupy Wall Street has launched an ingenious campaign, something that is truly beyond capitalism. Just as they have stepped in to help victims of Sandy (OPERATION Occupy Sandy), the collective group of dreamers, activists, and community lovers have decided a new angle to the solving the debt crisis - a bailout for the people and by the people. The People's Bailout, cleverly called a Rolling Jubilee, begins on November 15th!

Short Notes: In a Kendrick Lamar and Lady Gaga Sorta Vibe | The Jose Vilson

Short Notes: In a Kendrick Lamar and Lady Gaga Sorta Vibe | The Jose Vilson:


Short Notes: In a Kendrick Lamar and Lady Gaga Sorta Vibe


Kendrick Lamar
A few notes: