Comply or be Punished – @ the chalk face

Comply or be Punished – @ the chalk face:

Comply or be Punished

by Chris Cerrone

As we inch closer towards spring, most states are heading into the traditional state assessment season. This means OPT OUT time is coming soon as well. In New York the ELA and math state exams start April 16 and run until May 1^st.
Recently a great deal of facebook chatter has developed over a memo from the NYSED Office of State Assessment that basically states that all students in grades 3-8 must be tested in ELA and math.  The facebook opt out group for New York had a good number people asking questions and wondering if opting out is allowed.
We opt outers are facing the same circumstances that most of us dealt with last year: schools say technically we cannot opt out. Last year districts across New York received different answers from NYSED when schools inquired about parents requesting opting out. The memo shows that NYSED is fully aware of the growing movement to boycott the state assessments.
The reality  is that as parents(& students) we can still boycott the testing by “refusing”  The memo is another example of using fear to force compliance by citing a “negative impact” on school districts because of the 95% participation issue. I have talked with many parents who are against the explosion of standardized testing but 

Schools Matter: Haslam and Insurance Execs Hold 150,000 Poor Tennesseans Hostage

Schools Matter: Haslam and Insurance Execs Hold 150,000 Poor Tennesseans Hostage:

Haslam and Insurance Execs Hold 150,000 Poor Tennesseans Hostage

by Jim Horn

At stake for the greedy bastards who made and control Bill Haslam?  A billion dollars in Medicaid that these corporate socialists want to turn into private insurance premiums, rather than offering the poorest Tennesseeans healthcare under the state TennCare program.  From the News-Sentinel:

NASHVILLE — Gov. Bill Haslam told the General Assembly today that he is rejecting an expansion of Medicaid for now because the federal government has not agreed to some aspects of a “Tennessee plan” that involves using federal money to buy private insurance.
“A pure expansion of medicaid, expanding a broken system, doesn’t work,” said Haslam, contending he wants to use federal money to buy private insurance akin to 

CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT FOR AGE AND DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION AGAINST LAUSD - Perdaily.com

CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT FOR AGE AND DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION AGAINST LAUSD - Perdaily.com:

CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT FOR AGE AND DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION AGAINST LAUSD

by Leonard Isenberg

If you would like to get involved in something that Superintendent John Deasy, and LAUSD cannot ignore with impunity, do yourself and your colleagues a favor and fill out the form below.

Last night I had a meeting with a lawyer who is connected to one of the biggest law firms in L.A. They are very interested in going after LAUSD for age and maybe even disability discrimination in a major class action law suit. What they are looking for are teachers who are or were at the top of the salary scale and/or about to vest in lifetime health benefits - that is older- who were forced out of teaching. You don't have to be aged to qualify, just old enough to be or have been removed from teaching because of your age/salary, even though LAUSD never 

CPS School Closings Protest: 150 Arrests After Thousands Jam Loop Streets - DNAinfo.com Chicago

CPS School Closings Protest: 150 Arrests After Thousands Jam Loop Streets - DNAinfo.com Chicago:

CPS School Closings Protest: 150 Arrests After Thousands Jam Loop Streets Updated 2 mins ago

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130327/loop/cps-school-closings-protestors-plan-for-150-arrests#ixzz2OmeuLHpu

 CHICAGO — Thousands of demonstrators poured into Daley Plaza Wednesday afternoon to protest the proposed closings of 54 CPS schools, and about 150 were arrested when they sat down in the street in front of City Hall.

The protestors, who came in buses from all parts of the city, stood shoulder to shoulder and chanted in unison against closing schools across the city.

Shortly before 5 p.m., as some marched toward Chicago Public Schools Headquarters at 125 S. Clark St., about 150 sat down in the middle of LaSalle Street in front of City Hall. They locked arms and chanted, "Save our children." About 5:15 p.m., police started making arrests — but no one appeared to resist as they were taken to a city bus. All 150 were taken to custody within about 20 minutes.

"This is a sign of commitment, a witness," said John Thomas, 62, a teacher at Chicago theologica

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130327/loop/cps-school-closings-protestors-plan-for-150-arrests#ixzz2OmemMIsq

What Has the Gates Foundation Brought to Memphis? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

What Has the Gates Foundation Brought to Memphis? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

What Has the Gates Foundation Brought to Memphis?

by Anthony Cody

Yesterday I voiced concerns about Randi Weingarten's decision to co-sign an article on teacher evaluation with Vicki Phillips of the Gates Foundation. The reason I am so concerned is because we are now more than a decade into Gates-sponsored education reform, and the substance of the change they are driving is profoundly destructive. We can remain in dialogue with them, but we cannot get anywhere by smoothing over core disagreements in a false show of unity.
Diane Ravitch today shared a message from a teacher in Memphis, Tennessee, that sheds light on what the Gates Foundation is bringing to the poverty-stricken schools there.

Public education in Memphis/Shelby County is on the verge of collapse.

Gates gave $90 million to Memphis City Schools, and now he's calling the shots: increased class sizes, no extra pay for advanced degrees, merit pay based on test scores, etc.

The initial budget for the first year of operation for the merged district is already $145 million in the 

The problem with New Jersey’s takeover of Camden schools:

The problem with New Jersey’s takeover of Camden schools

Posted by Valerie Strauss on March 27, 2013 at 4:38 pm

Gov. Chris Christie (Lucas Jackson — Reuters)

Something had to be done for the 16,000 kids in Camden’s very low-achieving public schools, but there are big questions about whether the takeover by the state government of New Jersey will do much to help. After all, the state has in the past few decades taken over three other ailing public school districts, and there is limited progress to show for it.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie just announced the takeover of the Camden district because of its dismal academic record, and when you hear the statistics, you may think a state takeover seems reasonable. After all, 90 percent of Camden public schools are in the bottom 5 percent of the state’s schools according to standardized test scores, more than 80 percent of fourth graders score less than proficient in language arts, and the high school graduation rate is 49 percent. Under the plan, the local school board will have an advisory role, and Christie will appoint a new 

Rahm Lies to Privatize Daily Kos: Chicago Public School Closings to Cost Taxpayers $1 Billion

Daily Kos: Chicago Public School Closings to Cost Taxpayers $1 Billion:

Chicago Public School Closings to Cost Taxpayers $1 Billion

byTristero 312Follow

 
 
• 10 Comments / 10 New

Mass closings of public schools by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Board of Education will cost Chicago Public Schools (CPS) nearly $1 billion, according to Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) analysis of the CPS FY2013 budget, Capital Improvement Program (CIP) data and Board of Education reports. CPS has claimed a “utilization crisis” and $1 billion budget deficit to justify adversely affecting 30,000 students and causing massive upheaval at 61 public elementary schools, but that deficit is nearly equal to resources purportedly allocated for school improvement and student safety.

Based on estimates from the CPS budget and the CIP, it will cost the district approximately $750 million—$15 million per school—to provide 50 schools with computer education, counseling and social work, additional safety and security, and renovations. This figure includes $129 million in CIP costs for pre-kindergarten, students living with disabilities, libraries, play lots, air conditioning and computer labs.

Safety and security is an overwhelming concern for the CTU and the thousands of families who will have children uprooted and traversing gang territories en route to receiving schools. CPS has promised an approximately $676,000 per school to bolster safety programs and add additional security guards and Chicago police support, despite concerns from some alderman that police resources are already stretched thin on the city’s South and West sides.   CPS held that more than $550 million was needed to repair the buildings that housed the schools on its hit list, which supposedly made the structures too costly to manage. But a question remains of how the district can expect to sell or repurpose the buildings without making hundreds of millions in repairs—expenses that are in addition to the resources it says it will provide for thousands of transferred children.  

“CPS is making all of these promises of how it will support these students and their schools, but once again, they’re lying just to make families sympathetic to what they’re doing,” said CTU President Karen GJ Lewis. “They’re promising students all of these things which will cost a billion dollars, which is the same amount of money they’ve claimed not to have.”

The CTU contends that it is no coincidence that the $1 billion dollar deficit CPS has claimed is nearly equal to the cost of all closing actions.

“They’ve had these plans in the works for months, which is extremely insulting and demeaning to all the families and teachers who have been out here fighting for their schools,” Lewis said. “The mayor and CPS had sealed their fate from the very beginning.”

ORIGINALLY POSTED TO TRISTERO 312 ON TUE MAR 26, 2013 AT 11:40 AM PDT.

ALSO REPUBLISHED BY CLASSWARFARE NEWSLETTER: WALLSTREET VS WORKING CLASS GLOBAL OCCUPY MOVEMENT, CHICAGO KOSSACKS, YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK, OCCUPY WALL STREET, AND IN SUPPORT OF LABOR AND UNIONS.

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Diane in the Evening 3-27-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Photos from Chicago Protests

by dianerav

Fred Klonsky has an excellent assortment of photos from the Chicago protest today against school closings.
Parents, students, and teachers will not go quietly.
And they should not.

Bad Bill Alert in Texas!

by dianerav

Raise Your Hand Texas ACTION ALERT
Bad Bill Alert!
Your Action Is Needed TODAY!
March 27, 2013
Let the Senate Education Committee Know You Oppose SB 1263!
SB 1263 by Senator Larry Taylor is the “Parent Trigger” bill.
The “Parent Trigger” Is About Destroying Public Schools, Not Saving Them
SB 1263 radically undermines efforts to turn around a struggling school and may be voted out of committee Thursday (tomorrow) if we don’t act now.
We already have a parent trigger.
Texas’ current parent trigger law operates only after the Commissioner has reconstituted the campus, developed an intervention plan, and the campus has remained academically unacceptable for three years. SB 1263 blows up a campus for two years of academically unacceptable performance before any of the proven methods of 

Breaking News: A Desperate Message from Memphis

by dianerav

I received this email from a high school teacher in Memphis. Please read it and understand that we must organize against the destruction of public education in America. This, plus the court approval of vouchers in Indiana yesterday sends an ominous message: the radical reactionaries are determined to destroy public education. We must fight back. We must awaken parents and civic leaders.
This comes from Memphis:
“Diane,
“Public education in Memphis/Shelby County is on the verge of collapse.
“Gates gave $90 million to Memphis City Schools, and now he’s calling the shots: increased class sizes, no 

Indiana Voucher Decision Allows Public Funding to Schools That Discriminate

by dianerav

This is a thoughtful analysis of the dreadful voucher decision in Indiana yesterday.
It says, “The plaintiffs in the voucher case alleged the program violates three sections of the Indiana Constitution: Article 8, Section 1, which requires a “general and uniform system of Common Schools”; Article 1, Section 4, which says citizens can’t be forced to support a place of worship or ministry; and Article 1, Section 6, which forbids spending state money to support a “religious or theological institution.”
In a 5-0 decision, the state court rejected their case.
The schools getting the vouchers may require students to participate in religious exercise, and they typically do.
The schools getting vouchers may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin, “But they are 

Will Florida Republicans Block Parent Trigger Again?

by dianerav

Coach Bob Sikes wonders if Florida Republicans will learn a lesson from Georgia Republicans.
In Georgia, the Republicans pulled back on a so-called Parent Trigger bill, which would enable a vote of parents to convert their community school into a privately managed charter school.
In Florida, the Jeb Bush foundation and the Chamber of Commerce are beating the drums for the “parent trigger” 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 3-27-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] TeacherEd: Blaming Schools Instead of Taxing Corporations by dianerav We have had a lively conversation on this blog about whether poverty matters in relation to test scores, whether it is a cause or merely correlated with low scores, and whether schools alone (as some “reformers”) claim, cn end poverty. TeacherEd weighs in here: This is just a red herring. It’s been over 45 years since the “War on Poverty” started, which first aimed the focus on “fixing” poo... more »

Destroying Public Education in Chicago - DailyCensored.com - Breaking Censored News, World, Independent, Liberal News

Destroying Public Education in Chicago - DailyCensored.com - Breaking Censored News, World, Independent, Liberal News:

Destroying Public Education in Chicago

by Stephen Lendman

It’s on the chopping block for elimination. It’s happening nationwide. Chicago perhaps reflects the epicenter of what’s wrong.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel spent years waging war on progressive politics. He’s a former investment banker. He’s a corporate predator turned politician. He’s an unindicted war criminal. He belongs in prison, not City Hall.

He’s Obama’s former White House Chief of Staff. Becoming Chicago’s mayor fulfilled his longtime ambition. He’s notoriously anti-populist. He believes anything government does business does better so let it.

He wants corporate profiteers running as many city functions as possible. He bullies, pressures and bribes union officials to go along.

His schemes involve infrastructure projects, city water, airports, public transportation, parks, community colleges, and public schools.

He’s harming Chicago the way Obama and 

Mike Klonsky...: Al Jazeera, Inside Story on Chicago School Closings

Mike Klonsky...: Al Jazeera, Inside Story on Chicago School Closings:

Al Jazeera, Inside Story on Chicago School Closings

by Mike Klonsky

PopoutMarch 26, 2013

Missouri Education Watchdog: Common Core Adoption/Implementation. "This is the Hotel California that Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia Built"

Missouri Education Watchdog: Common Core Adoption/Implementation. "This is the Hotel California that Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia Built":

Common Core Adoption/Implementation. "This is the Hotel California that Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia Built"

by stlgretchen

Private trade organizations NGA/CCSSO say:   This is the house that we built via our specifications that you have to pay for and live in.  Just call it the "Hotel California"

Think of Common Core standards and adoption this way.  States can check in but they can never leave.  (At least not without the approval of the Federal Government).  Here's how CCSS evolved: 

A contractor contacts you and says he will you build you a house in a subdivision of other homes.  He will give you $100,000 toward the construction, but he will build the house of his dreams, not yours.  He promises it will be a mansion and the best on the market.  It will be just as beautiful and quality constructed as the other homes in the subdivision.  He can't show you a blueprint and can't give you an idea of your final cost, but trust him.  It will be great.

You also don't know his credentials and his subcontractors but you decide his promise of giving you 

Daily Kos: A Baby Boomer on Social Security

Daily Kos: A Baby Boomer on Social Security:

A Baby Boomer on Social Security

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

I was born in May of 1946, in the first year of the generation that became known as the Baby Boomers, the last of whose members were born in 1964.   Thus the last three American Presidents have been members of our generation, Clinton and the younger Bush, like me, on the leading edge, and Obama, born in 1961, near its tail.
In June I will attend my 50th high school reunion, Mamaroneck High School class of 1963.  I was one of the younger members, with most of my classmates born in 1945.
Many of us are now retired.   Many of us have lived through the major changes of Social Security.   I would like as my part of the Social Security Defenders blogathan, explore what I have lived through, and what I - and many of my compatriots - face now.

Please join me below the squiggle.

Education: The Invisible Profession | the becoming radical

Education: The Invisible Profession | the becoming radical:

Education: The Invisible Profession

Posted on March 27, 2013 by plthomasedd

“I am an invisible man,” announces the unnamed narrator of Ralph Ellison’sInvisible Man, adding:

I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me….When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, of figments of their imaginations—indeed, everything and anything except me….That invisibility to which I refer occurs because of a peculiar disposition of the eyes of those with whom I come in contact….you often doubt if you really exist….It’s when you feel like this that, out of resentment, you begin to bump back. And, let me confess, you feel that way most of the time. You ache with the need to convince yourself that you exist in the real world, that you’re a part of all the sound and anguish, and you strike out with your fists, you curse and you swear to make them recognize you. And, alas, it’s seldom successful.

After the reader follows the narrator along his journey from naivete and idealism to the battered realism of coming face-to-face with his invisibility, we discover that 

UPDATE: Courant focuses attention on Malloy’s nominee for State Board of Education - Wait, What?

Courant focuses attention on Malloy’s nominee for State Board of Education - Wait, What?:

OMG! Good thing our Education Commissioner is a lawyer and not an educator…

by jonpelto

Otherwise known as, “What do you mean we can’t get paid for work provided after our contract end date has occurred, but you promised!”

Today’s “MUST READ” news article comes via CTNewsjunkie and is entitled “Lawsuit: State Still Owes About $235,000 to Education Reform Consultants”

As Christine Stuart explains;

“Three education consulting firms sued the state this week claiming the Department of Education failed to pay them in full for their work helping the Malloy administration with its reform efforts in 2012.

Leeds Global Partners, the New York firm that helped reorganize the Education Department “and create policies and procedures that promote student achievement in Connecticut” says it has only been paid half of the $200,000 it was promised by the state, according to the complaint.”

Wait, What? readers may recall the series of posts about how Malloy’s Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor, brought in Leeds Global Partners and the other corporate education reform consultants though no-bid contracts to help him write and push through

Courant focuses attention on Malloy’s nominee for State Board of Education

by jonpelto

The Hartford Courant increased media attention on Andrea Comer, Governor Malloy’s nominee for the Connecticut State Board of Education yesterday with a story entitled, “Teachers Union Opposes Nomination Of Charter School Executive To State Board Of Education.”

Comer, who serves as the Chief Operations Officer of FUSE/Jumoke Inc., the charter school management company that owns the Jumoke Academy and the Jumoke Academy at Milner was nominated by Malloy to fill a spot on the State Board that oversees and approves Connecticut’s charter schools, along with setting policy for Connecticut’s public education system.

Prior to working for FUSE/Jumoke, Inc., Comer worked for more than two years for Achievement First, Inc., the large charter school management company that was co-

SBE allows higher student/teacher ratio for online charter schools SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources:

SBE allows higher student/teacher ratio for online charter schools
By Kimberly Beltran
Wednesday, March 27, 2013

California’s State Board of Education approved waiver requests this month increasing the pupil-to-teacher ratio for independent study students at several online charter schools.

The actions, said board members, are consistent with the many routine waiver approvals traditional public schools have received allowing for increased class sizes since the onset of the state’s fiscal crisis.

“With the steadily decreasing per pupil rates and the extreme uncertainty of the state budget, we must take advantage of any relief we can including the small amount of flexibility offered by the waiver process,” said Franci Sassin, business manager at Capistrano Connections Academy Charter School. “This is at a time when brick and mortar schools have been granted quite a bit of flexibility with class size via the state’s budget bills, and that flexibility is awarded regardless of whether increasing class size would or would not affect student achievement.”

California Department of Education staff had recommended denial of the school’s waiver because it had not met a previously-approved waiver condition that it must meet its Academic Performance Index growth targets for 2010-11 and 2011-12. Therefore, said staff, “the educational needs of the pupils are not adequately addressed.”

But charter school supporters and some board members pointed out that the API condition is not applied equitably to 

UPDATE: SB 5242 - Just Say No Seattle Schools Community Forum: Odds and Ends

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Odds and Ends:

SB 5242 - Just Say No

by Melissa Westbrook

You'd think that our state legislators would have their hands full trying to figure out how to fully fund education per the McCleary ruling.

Apparently not.  We have the "give every school a letter grade" bill and now we have SB 5242.  It's short and to the point and I agree with the WEA on this one - it's nothing but a distraction and gives principals too much power.  (It also ties the hands of school boards because they have to follow this directive in all collective bargaining agreements.)

From the WEA website:

This misguided and punitive legislation allows school districts to fire teachers without any kind of fair or objective process and regardless of their job performance or experience. Administrators and principals would be allowed to 

Odds and Ends

by Melissa Westbrook

Rainier Beach is one of three comprehensive high schools to not have a complete renovation.

Chief Sealth has had major work done and got some of it via the fallout of them having to share a campus with Denny.  Ingraham is the other but Ingraham has also had major work done and has been on every single BEX and BTA.   Rainier Beach got a performing arts hall (but no performing arts curriculum or program so it sat, mostly unused for years) and had some building area upgrades but not much else.

According to the Times, the Rainier Beach community isn't going to wait for the district to make their building better.  They would like to make it the greenest high school in the state.  The story in the Times.

The community’s aspirations were announced Tuesday at a news conference where Mayor Mike McGinn and Denis Hayes, president of the Bullitt Foundation, expressed their support, albeit not the financial kind. 

The Bullitt Foundation doesn’t fund capital projects, Hayes said, but it helped the Rainier Beach community benefit from what the foundation learned in building the Bullitt Center, which may be the world’s greenest office building.

Among the participating organizations are the Rainier Beach High PTSA, the Rainier Beach Foundation and the Rainier Beach Empowerment Coalition.

The first fundraiser is scheduled for May 11 at the Sho­Ware Center in Kent, where some of the nation’s best high-school basketball players are expected to participate in a West Coast all-star game. Current NBA players